All's Fair in Truth or Dare

4

"Parvati, I need you to do me a favor." It was Lavender's third day in the hospital wing, and although the grass growing on her had been mowed and she was only now slightly green, her mood hadn't improved. She forbid visits from anyone except Parvati; she didn't want anyone to see her in her green state.

"What do you need? More water? More medicine? Name it and I'll get it!" Parvati did a mock salute at the end of this.

"I need you to go up to the owlery and send an owl to Hermione Granger. I need it to be a declaration of War." Lavender shook slightly with anger as she said this.

"Wait, you mean war, not War, don't you?" Lavender shook her head. "But you haven't declared War on anyone since third year when Hannah Abbott stole your boyfriend!"

"Precisely. Hermione Granger and I are in a bit of a...competition. The prize, (a boy) is well worth the work. I just need you to send her a declaration of War, okay?" Parvati still looked unsure. "You said you'd do me a favor."

Slowly, Parvati nodded her head and stood to leave the infirmary. "Are you sure about this, Lavender?" Lavender gave her a look that showed there were no doubts behind her decision. Sighing, Parvati headed to the Owlery.

* * *

"It's a bit quiet around here without Lavender's gossip, isn't it?"

Hermione looked at Ron like he had three heads. They were in Transfiguration and had to keep on pretending that they were working as McGonagall flitted about. "What do you mean? You never paid her any attention anyway. Why is it different now that she's in the infirmary?"

"Well," Harry began, exchanging looks with Ron. "It's just that she normally talked a lot during classes and such. I know she wasn't all that smart, but it is odd not to have her here."

"What's also odd-" Ron swore at the mouse he was supposed to be turning into a rat. "How are you supposed to know the difference between a mouse and a rat anyway?" he swore again and began poking the mouse with his wand. "Anyway, what's really odd is the spell that was cast on her. Everyone's talking about it. Supposedly she turned green and had all this grassy stuff on her that sang. I mean honestly! Who would come up with that?"

"It is a bit strange," Harry said as his mouse's tail grew about an inch. "Ron's right. That's no ordinary spell. Whoever did it must have found it in a book that was probably in the restricted section."

"Yeah. That, or they're really good at Charms." Ron swore rather loudly as his mouse fell over onto its side. "I GIVE UP!"

"Oh, Ron! You've killed your mouse! Look, you need to wave the wand in more of an arc like this," Hermione explained, demonstrating with her mouse which quickly turned into a rat. She was keen to get off the topic of Lavender and had taken the first opportunity she could find.

Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to make Harry forget Lavender. "Hermione, have you ever come across anything like that in your reading? It seems to be a quite advanced spell and maybe you-"

"Alright, class. Put your mice and rats in the box in the corner of the room," McGonagall instructed just then. The class obeyed and was dismissed to lunch.

Hermione sat down at the Gryffindor table, only to be followed by Ron and Harry who began to hungrily pile food onto their plates.

"Hey there, Hermione." Ginny sat down on Hermione's left. "Did you hear about Lavender? Crazy, isn't it? We've been trying to figure out what happened. Do you know anything about it, 'Mione?"

Hermione shot her a fierce look. "No, not more then anyone else. I just found her in the dormitories and went to go find Madame Pomfrey. Nothing else really happened."

Just then, a screeching filled the hall and owls entered to deliver the post. Hedwig showed up with a parcel from Mrs. Weasley in her mouth, Pig following just behind her.

A spot of black broke off from the main group of owls and flew towards where Hermione was sitting. The bird landed on the table, a black letter in its mouth.

"Is that a crow?" Ron asked, staring at it interestedly.

"No, a raven," Hermione replied as she reached for the letter in its beak. As soon as she had taken it, the raven flew off in a flurry of feathers. Cautiously, Hermione opened the letter. The message was written on black parchment in something that looked horribly like blood.

You have angered her. Beware. War is upon you. Brace yourself.

The first attack has been received....

The War shall begin....

Be ready.

Hermione stared at the message for only a moment, and then placed it in her bag, deft to the requests to read it from Ron, Ginny and Harry. She looked down the table quickly.

She could have sworn she saw Parvati looking her way.