Buzzed

Marsh of Mallow and Pumpkin-Balls

Hermione woke up groggily the next morning to the buzz of her alarm clock. She was confused to find herself not in her bed, but in the window seat with a terrible crick in her neck. She lifted her head from the cool-paned window and glanced down at her surroundings.

There was a mug of coffee situated between her and the window and her book was still open in her lap. After some squinting, wincing, and comprehension composure, she found the book to be Madam Bovary. She rubbed her eyes and picked up her wand that was still illuminated. She muttered the counter-spell and then charmed her buzzing clock silent.

In the room, Erica was heard moaning and tossing over in obvious disapproval of opening her eyes to face the day. Hermione found herself agreeing and cast a look over to bed in thoughts of crawling in under her scarlet comforter.

She then examined her situation and wondered how she ever ended up leaning against the window and drifting to sleep.

Oh, that's right. Another rendezvous in the kitchens. Well, if you can call it a rendezvous. It was. It just happened to be missing the prearranged time and specific obligations part.

The conversation that occurred the previous night, however odd it was (odd being civil of course), went to an uncomfortably early hour and ended in an abrupt silence and short, irritated and dry farewells. Missing the entire good wishing towards the other. The fact that a civil conversation had occurred made the both of them squirm with discontent. Even so, the conversation was a giddy one.

Zabini said he grew up in Oxford where he started football in a league. He didn't say when, but it was obvious that he started young like Hermione. They talked about their injuries and triumphs, Zabini's a little more excessive, extravagant and not-so-humble as Hermione's. They also discussed they're favourite teams and their favourite (and not-so-favourite) players.

However, as abruptly the conversation had started, the conversation died and Hermione found her way here, reading under dim wand light until she evidently and accidentally fell asleep. That gave her about two and a half hours of sleep without the addition of the other four hours of more ‘accidental’ sleep that occurred before midnight. Hermione was surprised at the amount of sleep she actually obtained. It was more than most nights.

She hopped down from the window seat and tried to shake the rest of the sleep from her. It was easier than expected given that lately, she hadn’t gotten much sleep.

She decided that she would skip the kitchens for the rest of the week and actually get some sleep. A good eight hours a night for a few days would catch her up and have her ready for the upcoming mid-term exams. She'd have to live without her coffee fix for a while if it meant passing the course. Not that she was in danger or anything.

***

A week later exactly, Hermione found herself awake at five in the morning. She was frustrated at this point, because she had been trying to get more sleep, but she only found herself waking up before her alarm clock even had a chance to count down to the point it would buzz. She had been forfeiting her beloved late night escapades for some health matters and her body was refusing her.

She pulled the covers up to her chin and stared at the ceiling of her canopy. This was pathetic. She had always been a light sleeper but never really had difficulty getting to sleep, she just didn't need a lot to run. But she did happen to realize that the past months have been beating her down. Her friends had started to notice. So, now that she wanted sleep, what was the deal with not getting it?

She grumbled and violently kicked the comforter back and got up to go to the common room. It was too late (or early) to go to the kitchens. The house elves were probably up now preparing breakfast for a school full of rhinoceroses of males and pygmy monkeys of females. Save the few that weren't bints and had the mind to actually eat. She marched down the stairs, making more noise than necessary. She flopped down onto a couch and mused to herself.

What was really bothering her? The lack of sleep or missing her coffee fix? Or was it the annoying prat that was interrupting her coffee fix? Hermione scowled at this.

Stupid Slytherins. Moronic Slytherins. Monstrous Slytherins. Pathetic fuzzball-eating, squiggles of vice-swallowing, vomit-inducing, queer-as-tinsel, goblins with the qualities of dumbass hyenas. Slytherins.

She avoided bringing up the Football Conversation in her head. It was just a poor judgment that was doomed if it thought it would be the demise of her hatred for Slytherins and all of their raw, pathetic qualities. This was not going to posses her thoughts for all of her life. She tried to think of something else.

Wait- what is today? Friday? Oh, goody.

Dumbledore had given a speech at the Halloween Ball (God forbid) about how Hogwarts was a place of traditions and for reasons unknown, he decided to create a new one. Because between the Hat Sorting, the Halloween Feast, Holiday Feast, Yule Ball, Triwizard Tournament, Quidditch, and House Cup, Hogwarts certainly didn't have enough traditions, Hermione remembered passively.

Hagrid had his overgrown garden with each drifting season and ritually, Hagrid had his giant pumpkins each fall. The pumpkins went to use at the Halloween Ball and the Feast this year like every year (save the Halloween Ball, obviously another new tradition). And like every year, there were dozens of left over, mutant-sized, abnormal pumpkins to use.

They were sent to the kitchens to be tackled (literally) by the House Elves to make pies with, but otherwise, pumpkins weren't really useful outside those reasons. Pumpkins weren't necessarily the key to curing World Hunger either.

Therefore, instead of having the mundane teachers do the trying task of getting rid of the pumpkins one eve each year, the staff had decided that the pumpkins would go to a more exciting cause. The students were to exterminate the pumpkins this year.

Consequently, Hagrid seemed to have lost count of his pumpkin seeds, either that or the seeds had a multiplying gene in them, for the pumpkins' number increased by double. Thus produced another tempting gesture to create an activity of orange produce.

The event that was to occur that morning was somewhat of a fair. There were three activities that everyone was to participate in to ensure the success of Dumbledore's wild insinuations.

There were also two others, supposedly ‘classic Muggle games’ that required signing a sheet to register. Hermione was in neither of these. She, in fact, was wary of the entire morning that was ahead of her. The whole school was. Most of them believed that the day was going to be a childish fest of unentertaining games and hopeless attempts at fun. But the prize in it all was House points and pride. So, people signed up and there was a bit of hype in it all.

Hermione was involved in it, being a Prefect. She had been in charge of organizing the event and suggesting ideas to make it more exciting and in fact, more controversial. She then had to help the evening before, to haul the pumpkins that were near two and a half times her height, and probably fifteen times as wide. The Prefects, Heads, and Professors all helped in levitation charms to get the pumpkins in rows for the next morning's events.

The day did not require the usual uniforms to be worn. In fact, they suggested that the events could be messy and to wear Muggle clothes or old, worthless wizarding clothing. Evidently, pumpkin gunk stained.

The events would last until mid-afternoon with a picnic lunch in between, and a dinner on the lake. The students were perplexed about how this would work, but the Prefects and Heads were sworn to secrecy. No details were allowed except for the two activities the students had signed up for. It was a confidential annual thing, which Hermione didn't understand, but the idea was out of her hands.

She was allowed to participate in the events, in fact, she was forced. And like the rest of the students, she didn't know some of the details. She wasn't sure whether or not to be excited or wary. She shook her head and pulled herself up off of the couch.

***

Hermione found herself getting excited about the pumpkin festivities. She was just a kid when she participated in Halloween favourites. She was the only one of her female playmates to scope out the gunk (not without squeals of disgust mixed with glee) that made the pumpkin heavy. She remembered sitting out in her sweats of purple and pink, scooping out sloppy messes of cool, sticky and altogether not really appetizing slop on a weeks worth of newspaper, splattering the insides onto the face of the Prime Minister or the Queen.

She also like to salt the seeds with her mother and watch the wet, washed, orange-tinted ovals dry to a crunchy, fresh nibbler. Her parents would then help her carve her pumpkin, then carve their own, normally with depictions of big smiles, even mastering braces once (suggest by May, the eccentric orthodontist). Hermione's pictures normally ended up with squiggly triangles, squa-ircles for noses, and tiny little Chiclets for teeth. She was just happy her parents let her handle a carving knife.

She found it disappointing that she didn't get her annual pumpkin carving when she arrived at Hogwarts, young and still into holiday traditions. She was excited, now at sixteen, that after six years, she'd be doing something with pumpkins other than drinking pumpkin juice daily and poking the filling of the common pies.

***

After a shower and a couple of hours of silence later, Hermione was wearing her Muggle jeans and a plain blue, over-washed tee that seem to have shrunk after years of neglect. Hermione shrugged and stuffed her football sweatshirt in her bag, knowing very well that the temperatures had dropped in the past week and a too small, too old t-shirt wouldn't help in the warmth factor.

She tied her wet, tangled curls into a messy ponytail. And looked at herself in the mirror. She blinked at her sloppy style and ruffled, tom-boy look. She almost wrinkled her nose. But she always appeared so proper, so she decided smirking at her reflection (who gasped in surprise. Hermione Granger is approving a look so... gross? Never!) was a good way to go.

She shrugged and walked down to the common room, where there were students milling around, now that it was an appropriate hour to actually be up. Hermione spotted Ginny and she waved at her. Ginny was clad in ragged jeans and a even more ragged t-shirt, but she pulled it off as sexy. Hermione wanted to scoff. She looked like a tom-boy. Ginny looked like a model on a coffee run.

Hermione shook her head in distaste. But she walked up to Ginny and greeted her with a smile.

"Morning Hermione," Ginny said brightly. Hermione smiled in return and with a couple of steps, Ginny was following Hermione out of the common room to the Great Hall.

"Excited for this...thing?" Ginny asked. "What is it called?"

Hermione laughed. "Hogwarts’ First Annual Pumpkin Extermination and Day of Festivities of Over-Populated Pumpkins. We thought it was a bit long, so we shortened it to Pumpkin Day."

"Creative. Are you serious about the first one?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow. Hermione nodded solemnly.

"It is painful for me to admit to you that our current assortment of Prefects and Heads have the creativity capacity of a marshmallow."

"A marshmallow?" Ginny gasped in mock horror. "But I absolutely adore marshmallows. My dear Hermione, what do you have against the world of mallows of marsh? Wait. Are you blokes those mini marshmallows or the big fluffy ones that Muggles use on those disgusting crackers?"

"Gin, dear, those would be graham crackers, (an ‘oh, right’ look from Ginny) and I am even more somber to admit that we are those tiny, minuscule marshmallows that are not good for much of anything other than bobbing around helplessly in a cold cup of hot chocolate," Hermione said with an ‘it's-so-tragic’ look on her face.

"But I love those! The big fluffy ones may be fun. But the tiny ones, now those, are fun stuff," Ginny said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Oh, really? Pray tell, where does you adoration for pebble-sized marshmallows come from Ginny, dear?"

"The land of mallows of marsh, of course," Ginny stated. She gave Hermione a grin, she was obviously proud of the hopelessly random conversation that had fallen upon the two of them.

They approached the Great Hall which was set up in proper decor. The usual floating pumpkins, orange-themed table decorations, orange, yellow and red hues in rich tones. It was nicely set up; Hermione was just worried about the approach the ‘Pumpkin Day’ was going into. She shrugged and sat at the house table and eyed the ‘Pumpkin Day’ associated food.

"Really, the pumpkin is not that appetizing of a fruit," Ginny said with a questioning look at orange colored porridge. She poked it with her spoon, then after getting some sort of disapproving reaction, she opted for the normal porridge.

"I thought the pumpkin was a vegetable?" Ron asked as he sat across from the two girls, Harry after him.

"Gee, Ron, good morning to you too. You would like to be in our conversation?" Ginny asked with fake sincerity. Hermione smirked at her callous greeting.

"It's kind of like the tomato," Hermione said with a smile that said, 'lecture, my loves.' "It's in the gourd family that has some long Latin name of course. It's like a big, round squash-melon thing. It's biologically a fruit by the shape and way the seeds form. But in culinary use, it's a vegetable," Hermione said while pushing around an egg.

"The tomato is in the gourd family?" Ron said, confusion laced with his voice and the current pastry on his tongue. Ginny rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Ron, you dunce," Ginny muttered.

"What?" Ron cried out, even more thoroughly confused. The entire group shook their heads.

"Hermione, do you know everything?" Harry asked, not even sure why he was asking. Hermione shook her head with a small smile.

"'Pumpkin Day' random facts. All Prefects and Heads have to know them," she said with a shrug.

Ginny turned her attention back to Hermione. "So, 'Mione, you never answered my question. Are you excited for 'Pumpkin Day?' I'm trying to get vibes from you to know what to expect. You're one of the only ones who know what we're getting ourselves into," she pointed out to her.

Hermione ‘hmmm'ed’ then shrugged. "It might be fun. If the school gets into it. But I'm afraid some of the older years might not be into it. I think it'll be fun, because I used to do a few of the activities as a child. But it might come off as a bit...childish," Hermione said. The three others looked at each other.

"Any chance that you'll let us in on what's going to happen?" Harry asked hopefully.

Hermione laughed. "Nope, sorry Harry. For some reason, Professor Dumbledore doesn't want the rest of the school knowing what's going to happen until it actually happens. I will let you in on one little, depressing-slash-opportune fact. It's an inter-house thing. You know, to put an end to the current feuds," Hermione said skeptically. The reaction from the others was not appealing.

"You mean, we'll be participation in festivities with Slytherins?" Ron exclaimed. "Why, that's not a festivity at all. That's...that's...that's..."

"Almost capitol punishment!" Ginny cried, aghast. Hermione looked at the two of the wearily.

"Exactly Professor's point. And you're not going to die. And you are going to have fun. You hear me? This will not be some embarrassing lump of a tradition," Hermione hissed.

She had a lot more in her head, but they were meaningless protests to the school's, the Headmaster's, the Prefect's and the Head's reputations. She shook her head. Breakfast went through meaningless conversation and soon the Headmaster stood up to announce where they were to go and when to do it.

"Students, students. Could I please have your attention?" Attention was had. "I would like to explain what is going to occur in today's hopefully successful, and exciting events." Excitement Explained. "The games about to occur are for fun and fun only. There is the prize of a good deal of House Points awarded along with a small numerical prize." Attention Really Was Had. Hermione didn't know about that.

"Please follow all rules and play fair." Fairness executed. "And let Hogwarts’ First Annual Pumpkin Extermination and Day of Festivities of Over-Populated Pumpkins begin!" Dumbledore sat down and Professor McGonagall stood up.

"If you would, look now at your empty plates. In a few moments, a randomly selected word and colour will appear on the plate. This combination is the code for your team. Memorize the colour and word and we'll direct you to your pumpkins. The pumpkins are painted with the same colour and word. This is your team's pumpkin. There will be eight of you to a team.

“And yes, this will be an inter-housel competition. You are to make up a team name to call yourselves, preferably using the word assigned to your team. Be appropriate. Again, play fair," McGonagall concluded. She made sure she had the room's attention and with a wave of her wand, dim lights of purple, red, green, blue, yellow etc., etc. gleamed on every student's plate.

Hermione glanced down to see a dim green light illuminate from her plate. The word silhouetted against the limelight background was ‘demise.’ Hermione blinked. Who wins with the word demise in their name? She shrugged and looked up.

Ginny was grinning at her. "We're on the same team," she exclaimed happily. Hermione sighed relief.

"Good, now I don't have to worry about working with any dumb blokes," she said with a big smile. Ginny smirked and looked around, but there were way more than six other plates glowing green.

Harry was chatting with a Ravenclaw on his team at the neighboring table who was evidently on his team. His plate was growing blue with the word ‘tiny’ on it. She then looked to Ron who was searching for someone on his team. Collin approached him with a big grin, Ron gave him a wary one.

Hermione looked to Ginny. "So, what will we name our team?" she asked. Ginny scoffed.

"Something lackluster like The Pumpkin's Demise," she mused. "Or maybe, The Apathetic, Mysterious Abominable Demise-ees," she said like she had just come up with a great idea. She turned to Hermione who had an eyebrow raised in wonder. Ginny giggled.

"I like the Demise-ees part," Hermione said absently.

Ginny agreed with a laugh. "The Apathetic part a bit much?" Ginny asked. Hermione nodded solemnly.

McGonagall then stood up. "Please follow the Professors outside to where your team's pumpkin is located," she said in a full-of-pep way. Everyone stood up hurriedly with an excited buzz to hurry and file out onto the campus of Hogwarts.

The morning was crisp and cold. Hermione dug out her football sweatshirt and threw it over her tomboyish t-shirt and jeans. The hem fell down to mid-thigh. She then walked with the rest of the school to the vast openness of the Hogwarts campus. The group eyed the giant pumpkins, two times, sometimes three times as high as the students (depending on their year) did. They then separated into groups to find their specific pumpkin. They were assorted in lines by color, then alphabetically by the word.

Ginny and Hermione passed ‘abnormal’ and ‘baffled’ before they got to ‘demise.’ There waiting were two small girls in younger years, Hannah Bones, Ernie MacMillan, and one small first year boy who didn't seem to know anybody in the group.

Hermione hmmm’ed and recounted. That was only seven. She looked around and smiled at her team. Ernie was trying to look cool by leaning against the pumpkin, but the early morning dew caused him to slip and roll over the round side of the pumpkin. Hannah started to the giggle and the two younger girls were whispering to each other. The poor first year looked frightened and Hermione and Ginny must've looked like idiots just standing there, not talking to their team.

Hermione sorted through the houses. There wasn't one Slytherin in their group so far. Which made the pit of her stomach fall out. If Fate had any caring intention in her heart, she definitely would not do what Hermione was thinking she was going to do.

"Demise. What in Merlin's Love Life's Name? If that's not an omen, then I don't know what is," said a voice behind Ginny and Hermione.

Okay, Fate is officially a cold hearted bitch.

Hermione turned around and she heard Ginny mumble a curse word under her breath and saw MacMillan smirk and walk up to their eighth teammate and shake his hand.

"Zabini," he said with a smirk and a nod (those annoying, male types). Zabini shook MacMillan's hand and gave left the nod alone. Hermione tried to keep the grimace off her face. This was her ‘abnormal’ ‘demise’, which would leave her ‘baffled’ at Fate's nerve for all of eternity.

"Granger, don't look so disgusted. Pumpkin Day, although ridiculous and another remarkable attack on Hogwart's student population to bring down their maturity levels to an all time low from the ingenious mind of that too old quack, isn't worth looking like you would rather impale your eyeball with a pumpkin seed then shove it down my all-too-special and vile throat," he said with out a stutter, pause or smile. Just that one annoying smirk.

"You give yourself too much credit, Zabini," Hermione muttered, not intending him to hear it, and heading to the ladder that was supplied to them to climb to the top of the pumpkin.

"How so, Miss Granger?" he asked sweetly. Hermione turned around.

"I'd shove it into your ear canal," she deadpanned, turning back around and stepping onto the first ladder ring. Ginny laughed with disbelief in her voice and followed Hermione up the ladder.

Zabini didn't say anything, and if he did, Hermione didn't hear him from the top of the pumpkin. The top of the pumpkin was large enough for each person to sit comfortably and watch for the Professors to explain the first activity.

Hermione was irked beyond irritation with her new teammate. This was ridiculous, and all too predictable. She would be more proud of Fate's creativity if she placed Malfoy on their team. But from their pumpkintop, she could see that the fair-headed albino was grouped with an none-too-happy Ronald Weasley. Hermione cast a genuinely pathetic look in Ginny's way and Ginny grimaced in her own distaste.

Professor Dumbledore stood up on a wooden platform and pointed his wand to his voice box. Hermione saw his mouth move and in a moment, him clearing his voice was audible for an acre. He smiled as he cleared his throat.

"Good morning, again. I am glad to see that the easiest portion of our evening went smoothly. But now that we are together in our teams, you need to work together and using the word assigned to you, make up a team name. You have ten minutes before I will stop you. A Professor is assigned to each colour and they will charm the name of your team to your pumpkin. This will be what your team is referred to for the rest of the event. Please be practical. Go ahead."

Chatter fluttered up around them and Hermione turned around. There was a circle of her teammates, bordering along the side of the pumpkin. Ginny followed suit.

"What do you have in mind, with...demise?" Ginny started. The rest of the group seemed to be thinking about it. One of the two younger girls looked at Ginny.

"Well, we kind of don't know what demise means," she said, her voice pinched and nasally. Hermione heard the older years sigh in annoyance.

"It means downfall, nemesis, the bad ending of something," Hermione said simply and the two girls nodded, but Hermione could tell that it didn't register with either of them. The other boy was quiet and just took the other seven of his teammates in. Hermione looked to Hannah and Ernie, avoiding Zabini at all costs. Ernie seemed to be thinking things over in the slow-witted mind of his. Hermione had been harboring a dislike for him ever since her second year. He was just a pain in her rear.

"How about Pumpkin's Demise?" he offered. Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Yeah, it's really creative," Hermione said dryly. Ernie cocked his head to the side and tried to figure out if she was being serious. Hermione sighed and began to think. Something... something... could she dare dig into that part of her brain and think of something that she would put in her crazy book?

"Hogwarts Demise?" Hannah shot off. Ginny shrugged and Hermione nodded. It was better than the pumpkin thing.

"Hey Gin, how about that Demise-ee thing you mentioned?" Hermione offered. Hermione watched Zabini's head raise and look at her. Ernie shrugged and Hannah seemed to muse it over. Ginny looked at her.

"It was just a joke. Uhhh... what was it? The Apathetic, Mysterious Abominable Demise-ees?" Ginny muttered. Hermione smiled and nodded.

"How about the Omnipotent Abominable Demise-ees?" Hermione said on a whim. Zabini raised an eyebrow and looked at her with a look that expressed some sort of impression. Hannah smiled and Ernie laughed.

"It's...interesting," Ernie said. Zabini still hadn't said anything, but his eyes were still fixated on Hermione with the same look plastered on his face.

Hermione looked up with a dark look in her eyes. Then he talked saying, “Abominable sounds savage. How about...robust?" he suggested. Hermione scoffed.

"It's a suitable word, Zabini. If we plan on pumping steroids and whacking each other with bludgeons like barbarians on a ego trip," Hermione said sarcastically.

"In that case, how does negativistic work for you? If we're going along with parallel personalities," Zabini said smoothly.

"Well, Zabini, just to go along with a theme, then draconian would be perfect then, wouldn't it?" Hermione said, a sneer creeping into her features. A smirk curved it's way in his lips and amusement smothered his previously expressionless face.

"It's perfect. The Omnipotent, Draconian Demise-ees," he said nodding. Hannah was thinking it over, Ernie seemed to be a little lost, the two third-year girls had began conversing about their finger nails, the younger boy actually seemed to be understanding and Ginny was just observing.

"Yeah, I believe that the rest of the world will understand what it means," Ginny said dryly. Hermione was a bit confused too. If she recalled correctly, that was a pretty harsh insult (and one she was proud of). Did she miss something? Zabini seemed to read Hermione's, and everyone else's, dazed faces.

"Well, it's aggressive, confident and pretty impressive when it comes to intimidation." A few less dazed looks. Except from Ernie and the two girls. Zabini rolled his eyes.

"Omnipotent. All powerful. Draconian. Excessively merciless," he said thoughtlessly. 'You stupid bints' was the unfinished sentence fragment. The rest of the group seemed to understand. Hermione was again shocked by the Slytherin civility. Would it ever end?

***

"Now that we have the team names, we can begin the festivities," Dumbledore began. "For all of the students associated with Muggle living and customs, some should be familiar with the activity of pumpkin carving. It is a time-honoured tradition in the Muggle world in which Muggles carve a face in the pumpkins side to create eerie glows on Halloween night. This is present on our campus during the Halloween feast."

"Your first task is to remove the contents of your pumpkin, emptying it of any seeds or," pause, ‘gunk.’

Hermione began thinking of several spells she could use. Certainly everyone would be using the levitating spell. She knew many others that would take two small seconds to get rid of the waste.

"The first ten teams to empty their pumpkin first will go to the next activity that includes carving a face onto your pumpkin. When you are done, send a red flare to signify that you have finished." Dumbledore paused and waited a moment. "This, students, is the only time you are to use your wands in this part of the competition."

Hermione's jaw dropped. He didn't mean they had to gouge a mutant pumpkin using-

"Students, you are being supplied with eight silver spoons per team. You are to use your self and these spoons to remove the pumpkin's contents until the pumpkin is empty. No magic. Work as a team," Dumbledore concluded. Hermione sighed. That old bat was a loon.

Silver spoons were indeed supplied for them, now laying at the base of the tree stump of a stem. She also noted a line that circled around the top of the pumpkin.

"If you would notice the circular cut out of the top of the pumpkin. Please take your spoons and stand outside that line," Dumbledore said notably.

Hermione leaned over and grabbed a spoon, as did her teammates. She stood and walked outside the line. Everyone else did the same. After a few moments, the pumpkin's ‘lid’ disappeared and the eight of them were standing before a giant pit of orange gunk.

"If you would pocket your wands. Any use of magic other than sending flares is illegal in this competitions and you will be disqualified," Dumbledore noted gravely.

"And you can begin, now," Dumbledore said. The grounds were silent for a few moments until chatter rose once more. Hermione looked around.

"I guess we better get going, and going fast," she said. She got on her knees and bent over to take out her first scoop of pumpkin gunk. She stared at it in her tiny spoon compared to the giant pumpkin. She flicked it over her shoulder.

"This'll be interesting," she muttered.

"This'll be chaos," Ginny concluded. She joined Hermione on her knees and began scooping. The rest of the team followed, some more unwilling than others.

Hermione found this work tedious and not as much fun as it was when the pumpkin was the size of her head, not the size of jungle gym. This was Cinderella's Carriage gone limo, big. This was tedious labor. Not competitive fun.

But as she was flinging some gunk over her shoulder, the slickness of the gooey gunk slid between her fingers and the spoon, causing the gunk to go flying in any direction other than her shoulder. This soared right over to the tamed hair of Blaise Zabini, clashing wildly against his black locks.

Hermione straightened and her eyes widened but not before thinking, 'For the love of Merlin.'

Her orange-stained hand went over her mouth as his orange-stained hand went to his hair. In horror, Hermione watched as everyone looked up to Zabini stopping what he was doing to pull the gunk out of his curly mane. His eyes flickered over to her and Hermione waited to be berated for the capricious accident.

Instead, Hermione watched as Zabini's expressionless face remained expressionless as he tossed the indifferent slop over his shoulder, only to grab his spoon and scooping more into to slickened concave interior. His eyes never left hers. Hermione was beginning to wonder what was going on. Then something hit her cheek. It was cold, it was wet, and it wasn't very viscous.

Ginny gasped in delight when she realized what had just happened and a few other teammates laughed. Hermione tried to register what had just happened. Her hand that was covering her mouth went to her cheek to find a lump of pumpkin seeds and gunk sliding down to her chin.

The littlest Weasley was beginning to laugh hysterically as Hermione's mouth dropped in disbelief. She stared at Zabini.

Did he really just do that?

The smirk that was broadening on his face due to his obvious retaliation brought Hermione to the distinct belief that the Slytherin hyena had just hit her with his own ammunition of cold and soggy pumpkin guts. He just made he a casualty! Hermione thought quickly.

Her hand dipped into the cold, wet, slimy, (did we mention wet?) gunk to shovel a rather large handful into her small palms. She formed her own smirk and aiming right for his chest, Hermione smacked him right in the abdomen, splattering orange goop everywhere.

Ginny stopped laughing to gape at the new scene. Hermione grinned at her new achievement but was taken by surprise again when Zabini hit her shoulder with his own handful of pumpkin flesh. Ginny began to giggle insanely again and instead of retaliating against Zabini, she dropped gunk into Ginny's jean-clad lap. Then she retaliated against Zabini.

And in that moment, all eight teammates joined in on the pumpkin-ball fight. Hermione was engaged in mustering throws at both Zabini and Ginny, getting smacked viciously in the head by stray ‘balls’ a couple of times. She'd sling one in the general direction just to hit someone who might've done it.

Halfway through the battering of pumpkin-drizzle, Hermione had thrown her arm into one eager throw to find it plastered all over the front of Zabini's face. His hand had been cradling his own pumpkin-ball at the time of the hit. His eyes were now shut tight, his mouth the same. His hand was in mid air and his other hand made move to wipe away the mess of his face.

Hermione didn't mean to strike his face, but the scene was contagiously funny. A giggle began to rise in her throat and although she wanted to smother it in presence of ill tempered Slytherins, Ginny began to giggle too. That sent Hermione over the edge in which she was almost cackling. That was until she was served her own pumpkin-ball to the face. At that moment Hermione was clutching her side in hysterics and her laughter was coming out silent at times. She could hear Ginny in the same position and was it possible? Zabini was laughing himself!

The bushy-haired Gryffindor tried to compose herself. Gulping back her demeanor, she calmed her laughter to the point where she could function. The rest of the team had stopped and they were all staring at each other, covered in pumpkin gunk and grinning faces.

"Well, I guess that's a way to make progress," Hermione said. A few of them laughed a bit. Hermione then leaned over, discarding her spoon and started to scoop with her hands.

Everyone joined in on this and they made much more progress that way. But they were getting to a point where they couldn't reach the gunk from where they were. Hermione wiped her hands on her jeans and then stood up. She wiped her face with the back of her hand and stared at their progress. They had almost gotten halfway there. Ginny stood up with her, as did a few others.

"I think we're going to have to get in there," Hermione said.

"That'll be a comfy experience," Ginny said with a smirk. Hermione looked at Ginny with a wary look. Ginny's eyes narrowed and a mischievous smile played on her lips.

"Ginny..." Hermione warned. She began to back up. "Ginny, Don't."

Hermione had to turn around so she wouldn't step off the side of the pumpkin. That's when Ginny grabbed her by the sides of the arms and gently swung Hermione so that she lost her balance and tipped into the insides of the pumpkin. Hermione let out a squeal of surprise and anger as she fell and sunk into the ‘comfy’ cushioning of the pumpkin. Ginny was grinning up at her.

"Start scooping, sweetheart," she said sweetly. Hermione glared up at her.

"Ginny Weasley, you get me out of this pumpkin, or I swear on Merlin's name..." Hermione threatened as she stuck out her hand. Ginny crossed her arms.

"Nuh-uh," she said. Hermione huffed.

"You put me in here, now get me out!" Hermione exclaimed angrily.

Zabini was smirking down over her, but to her surprise, he stuck out his hand to offer help. Hermione was again shocked.

The Slytherin civility! Again. 'This is getting ridiculous," Hermione thought to herself.

Nevertheless, she took Zabini's hand, but as she felt him begin to tug, she smirked her own smirk and tugged her own tug. Hard enough to cause him to lose his balance and tumble into the half-hallow pumpkin. She heard him curse and then she saw him turn to her.

"Figures as much, Granger," he said huffily. Hermione almost had the urge to stick her tongue out at him. Instead she turned to Ginny and with a withering glare she ordered her to get the ladder and set it down in the pumpkin so the could all get out. They were all certainly getting in.

They worked like that for a while. They were flinging gunk over the top of the pumpkin, trying their best to get it there, but sometimes they would throw it too vertically and it would come down on another individual, or another teammate, in which they would get smack in the face with more pumpkin gunk.

Finally Hannah exclaimed that she felt the bottom of the pumpkin and all eight of them work furiously to finish scooping out all of the gunk. It got too claustrophobic so they sent the three smaller kids to the top and Ernie too. The four left worked until they realized that the pumpkin was clean thoroughly. Hermione squealed and scampered to get her wand out of her bag on the top of the pumpkin.

Who would've thought that, with all of the fighting, they'd end up sixth in the running?