The Adventure of the Oragami Triangles

“That was cool, Seamus, where’d you learn that?”

“I have a cousin who lives in America and he showed us when he visited last summer. They call it a ‘paper football’.”

“It really doesn’t look like a football, though . . .”

“American Football, you git!” Seamus corrected.

“That’s pretty cool, all the same . . .” Ron said as they headed to lunch. Slightly ahead of them, Hermione shook her head, mentally accosting them for wasting their time. They let her study while they sat and started eating.

“Hey, Seamus, do you think you could flick it across the Great Hall?” Neville asked.

“What, you mean try to hit someone on the Slytherin Table?”

“I’m sure Malfoy wouldn’t be expecting that!” Harry said.

Seamus smirked. “Well, I could always try!”

“Fifty points if you hit Malfoy!” Ron said.

“Ten if you hit Parkinson,” Harry offered.

“Five each for Crabbe and Goyle.”

“Okay, then, I’m going for the jackpot . . . .” Seamus held the paper football up between his index finger and thumb and carefully aimed before flicking it. Again, they all waited as if watching the World Quidditch Cup, their breath caught . . . .

“That brings your score up to 100!” Ron said.

“Yah!!!! Nice shot, Seamus!!” Harry cheered.

“Accio paper football!” Seamus said. Malfoy looked around, confused; he hadn’t seen what hit him!

“Again, Seamus, do it again!” Dean pushed.

“No, no, he’ll be on to us.”

“Try and hit Percy!” Ron whispered. Seamus looked at the prefect.

“Pft, that’ll be easy!”

“Okay, Ten points then, if you hit his nose. Five if you hit anything else.”

“Five for any other part of Percy, nothing if he doesn’t hit Percy.”

“You don’t think he can make it?”

“Hey, guys, what’s going on?” Fred and George appeared and sat down next to them.

“Seamus made a ‘paper football’ and just hit Malfoy!”

“Yeah, now we’re going to see if he can hit Percy!” Ron laughed.

“Great! Lets see it!” George said.

Seamus aimed, flicked, and missed.

“Can’t win them all, I guess . . .” Harry said as Seamus called the paper football back from under the table.

“Can I try?” Fred asked. Seamus handed him the paper football.

“You don’t think you can hit him on the nose, now do you?” George asked.

“It’s worth a try . . .”

He flicked, hitting Percy squarely on the nose.

The prefect was a little more adept than Malfoy, however, and looked directly at Fred.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Just having a little fun! Can’t blame me for that, can you?”

“Watch me,” Percy replied, with a look that indicated he was just moments away from taking points form Gryffindor.

“Accio paper football,” Hermione said. The guys watched in despair as she took the folded parchment and tapped it with her wand while saying something. She handed it to Harry. “Throw it at Parkinson.” She said, a strange gleam in her eye.

“I’m not going to get in trouble for this, am I?” Harry asked.

Hermione shrugged. “It’ll be a good thing that they won’t know who threw it, will they?” She said, winking.

“Guess I’ll have to trust you . . .” Harry said. He took the paper triangle and started to aim.

“Fifty points if you nail her forehead,” Hermione added.

Harry flicked.