Snakes, Why Not Ladders (1st Year of Hogwarts)
"So..." Harry began, shifting a bit from side to side. He exchanged a quick look with Ron, who seemed just as uncomfortable as Harry felt, which made Harry feel a bit better. At least he wasn't the only one who felt sort of weird about the whole thing.
It was funny how fast things could change between people, Harry thought.
The previous day, Harry and Ron wouldn't have dreamt of trying to have a civil conversation with Hermione "Miss Know-It-All" Granger.
The previous day, the only interaction they'd have with her would have been a snide comment here and there.
But it wasn't the previous day. And after the troll-in-the-washrooms incident of the previous night, none of them could deny that something about the relationship Harry and Ron had with Hermione had changed.
The two boys had risked their lives to save her, and she had risked the grades she'd worked so hard for in order to repay them. Harry felt...strangely grateful about that. And he couldn't shake the feeling that the brown-haired, bossy, slightly snobbish first-year was someone he wanted to be friends with. After all, he kind of had to like her, after defeating a troll by her side.
To his surprise, Hermione looked as awkward as the two boys, if not more. Her normal self-assured, loud personality had disappeared, and she looked like she wanted to sink into the large red couch she was sitting on. Harry sympathized, his mind moving at a thousand miles an hour to try and figure out a conversation starter.
"Do you have any siblings?" He said, before looking away. The black-haired Gryffindor quickly looked away, feeling his face heat up. He glanced at his best friend, who cocked up his eyebrow, like seriously?
At least he was actually trying to start a conversation! Ron had no right to judge.
Harry looked back at the brunette, who looked like she was trying to suppress a giggle, though she quickly got rid of the smile when she caught Harry giving her a slightly offended look. "Uh, no, I don't. It's just me, my mum, and my dad." She winced when she looked at Harry as if she'd just remembered Harry's backstory.
The orphan nodded. He wasn't upset by Hermione's mention of her parents. If anything, he was sort of annoyed that the girl would think he'd get upset over something as small as her mentioning her parent's existence.
"Oh, that's nice I guess," Harry replied, picking up two boxes of chocolate frogs from the coffee table, and offering one to Hermione, who accepted with a small reserved smile.
Ron gave a little laugh. "Oh, that's probably for the best. Having brothers and sisters is horrid! I mean, have you met mine?"
Hermione didn't quite smile, but Harry was glad Ron had spoken up. The black-haired boy could practically feel the tension melting.
"Your brother Percy is nice," The brunette commented, though her haughty voice sounded fairly amused.
"Percy has the personality of an old dusty broomstick, but at least he isn't as insufferable as the twins."
Harry couldn't help but laugh. Despite Ron's complaints about Fred and George Weasley, he couldn't help but like them more than he liked their uptight elder brother. They treated him like he was a genuine part of their family, and tended to sneak him candy after dinner.
And sure, Harry ended up being pranked by them once or twice...or three times...maybe four, but they weren't the kind of pranks Dudley would play on him.
Dudley's pranks were cruel, the twins' pranks ended in Harry laughing as much as the pranksters were.
Ron was now telling Hermione some story about a family board game gone wrong ("Fred just flipped the table over, and we were all like 'Bloody Hell Fred!"), when Hermione put her hand up, in the universal ' one-second' motion. "That reminds me, I want to show you something."
And off she went, leaving Harry and Ron alone wondering what the hell was going on.
Hermione came sprinting down the stairs from her dorm to the commons, beaming in a way Harry had never seen her do before. In her right hand, she held a long cardboard box.
The brown cardboard was covered in different colored marker drawings, making various patterns. The drawings were most likely made by a young child, with all the scribbling and messy drawing skills that were associated with children, but the messiness was...oddly charming.
It was very obviously Muggle, Harry didn't think the Wizarding world knew what cardboard was. It was weird, thinking that Hermione, despite her perfect grades and magical expertise, was just as new to the wizarding world as Harry was.
"This," Hermione slammed the box onto the table excitedly, making Harry and Ron flinch a bit. "I haven't opened this since I got here. I just remembered I had it. Want to play?"
"...play what?" Harry asked.
"Have you heard of Snakes and Ladders?"
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"What?" Ron screeched. "It was a one out of 6 chance of landing on the bloody snake, and yet, look who FINALLY beat those odds!"
Harry laughed so hard, he feared he'd cough up one of his lungs, and Hermione wasn't any better. The black-haired boy hoped the wizarding world could regrow organs, or neither of them would survive the game.
"Come on, Ron," Hermione managed. "Put the piece in the square."
"Rigged I tell you. This bloody game is rigged," Ron grumbled under his breath as he reluctantly moved his red piece down the snake, from square number 62 to square 18. "For example, how did Hermione never land on one of these devil creatures?"
"It's called skill and strategy."
"We're using dice!"
Ron did have a point, but Harry wasn't going to admit it.
Honestly, he was just glad that Ron was actually liking the game.
The fact that it was a Muggle game made Ron somewhat doubtful. Hermione mentioning that it was probably created in the 13th century, back when witch hunters were around and killing wizards, didn't help much either.
Not to mention the snake imagery, which was apparently enough to cause a rant about how 'Muggles needed to stop validating creatures that want nothing more than to kill them.'
It was funny how different Muggles' and Wizards' cultures were, despite them living so close together.
"Harry - it's your turn." Ron nudged Harry with his elbow, snapping the latter out of his thoughts. "C'mon mate, can't let Hermione win!"
Harry snorted. Some things never changed, it seemed. He picked up the dice and landed on a ladder, much to Ron's delight.
'Well', Harry thought as he watched Hermione land on a ladder as well, which started another round of playful bickering between the ginger and the brunette. 'There they go again.'
But the thought was a fond one. Because, while their new friendship was definitely not going to be perfect, they cared about one another, and well, perfection was overrated.