To add to the excitement, the charm on the game itself allowed any number of accoutrements to magically appear as necessary to fulfill a Deeds card’s requirements.
Hermione was guessing that they just popped into the air and then were whisked away when no longer needed, although she had no idea how a card deck could be spelled to do such a thing, honestly.
So, one could literally put just about anything down on a Deeds card and the magic would assure that any necessary items to fulfill that card’s requirements would be made conveniently available.
On the other hand… if a person was uncomfortable answering a question from the Interrogations deck, they could choose to pass and draw instead from the Forfeits deck.
The intent of this deck was to punish those who wimped out.
These cards were penalties made up by the players, too, and contained shocking and scandalous fines; anything causing permanent physical damage, blood loss, or psychological trauma was caveat understood as absolutely notbeing allowed, and no spells were to be used against anyone for any reason, according to the rules.
Everything had to be physically performed on your partner, not magically.
The trick in writing up your Forfeits cards was to balance out what you wanted to discipline others with versus what you, yourself, would tolerate acting out, in case you picked your own card.
The amount of time to indulge in each Deeds card or to participate in a Forfeit card was exactly twenty-five minutes per action.
Meaning, you and your partner would typically closet yourselves away from the others to act out your cards for a total of fifty minutes per round, with the remaining ten minutes in the hour relegated as a ‘rest’ period – read: making yourself presentable again for public view, or getting your emotions under control.
The game ended when the last Interrogations card was turned, or when one of the two finalist partners caved, refusing to perform a Forfeit, whichever came first.
The team with the most players still ‘standing’ at that point won.
Hermione realized with a start that this game set could quite possibly string out into a full twenty-four hour ordeal given that there would be twenty-four questions to answer, and each round lasted approximately an hour.
No wonder Malfoy picked Saturday night to start; that way they could have all of Sunday night to recover from whatever happened.
Ugh.
Seriously, could she really do this?
Looking across at Harry’s eager face, she realized that this was her chance to sock it good to that Malfoy git for all of the years of torture he’d rained upon her head – if she was lucky enough to be partnered with him, that was to say.
If not, at least she could stick it to that snob Zabini, or finally get a chance to get even with Theo, or maybe even have some fun with Seamus, Harry, or Ron, all of whom she wouldn’t mind a one-off opportunity with, as there was some fine meatin that group.
If she played, it would be a win-win for her, no matter who she ended up with, she realized.
Besides, she’d always had Harry’s back, and he’d always had hers.
They’d been there for each other through thick and thin, and the way he was looking at her now–as if the whole world’s survival hinged on her acceptance of his invitation to play the game–she knew she would not say ‘no’ to him.
Looking back down at the rumpled paper in her sweaty, ink-stained hand, two words stuck out like a beacon of hateful contention to rile her anger once more into a whipping fury.
Too chicken?
Yeah, he’d like her to be, wouldn’t he?
That monstrously stuck-up, rodent-faced Pygmy Puff!
Swallowing back her fear, Hermione looked Harry in the eye and nodded.
“I say we take the challenge.” The others all gaped at her, mouths hinging open like rusted steel traps, this clearly being the last thing they’d expected her to announce.
“Really?” her best male friend asked, his emerald, shimmering eyes alight with a combination of relief and skepticism.
“I mean, well, anything goes in this game, ‘Mione. Anything. You know… sex stuff.”
Raising an eyebrow at him, she smirked.
“It’s not as if I’m unfamiliar with what to do behind closed doors, and Malfoy did specify ‘no cherries.'” She looked at her two girl friends sitting at her side on Seamus’ bed, then at the three men sitting opposite her on Harry’s twin.
“I don’t think that will be a problem with this group, and we all know it.” Ginny face vaulted, her pretty cheeks flaming red with embarrassment.
Lavender giggled, and the three wizards across from them all looked somewhat sheepish, staring at their feet or the wall as to avoid Hermione’s direct gaze.
Really, it’s not like they were children anymore!
How did they expect to beat the Slytherins at a game of naughty sex fetish if they grew embarrassed about just conversing on the subject?
It was no secret, after all, that Hermione and Ron had lost their virginities to each other last summer, after they’d tried dating for two months.
She really hadn’t seen what all the fuss had been about in the afters, as she’d received more pleasure from chewing a stick of Drooble’s Strawberry Gum and her own fingers wiggling under her knickers than she’d ever gotten from Ron’s penis.
Not that he wasn’t a fun lover, but she’d just never gotten off with him.
Harry and Ginny had gone for it just this last February, she knew, breaking each other in on Valentine’s Day.
However, the novelty had worn off quickly for both of them, and they’d realized they’d had even less in common than she and Ron had had.
They’d amicably parted ways a month later.
Ginny had then hooked up with Seamus once, who’d already been with quite a few girls by then.
It had just been a bit of fun for them, though, and not repeated since.