Michael ran for a long time before he found a suitable spot. It was likely a fortress built by a previous student, with a dilapidated wardrobe and a table with a broken leg piled together to form a rough house, leaving only a narrow gap in the middle.
"This is the spot!" Michael said. "Hurry, we need to block all the big gaps."
Wade waved his wand. A nearby stool flew up to block a large opening, and the surrounding small debris automatically filled in the smaller gaps, leaving only three or four observation holes.
"The rules of this survival game are simple," Michael said. "First, don't get hit. Second, don't get found. Third, find a way to capture their queen."
"The queen?" Wade asked.
"Yes... Shh, they're here!"
Michael made a silencing gesture, prompting Wade to look outside through an observation hole. A large group of small, humanoid creatures fluttered their wings, holding tiny wands, and flew menacingly through the middle of the alley.
Wade's eyes widened. He looked at Michael and whispered, "Fairies?"
Michael nodded, grinning. A green fairy seemed to hear a sound. It flew over and peered through a gap. Michael and Wade had already hidden on opposite sides, so it saw nothing.
The fairy raised its tiny wand, and with two "plop plop" sounds, its wand tip shot two clumps of red berry juice, hitting the table opposite and leaving behind a sweet-smsmelling stain. Thinking no one was there, the fairy turned and flew away.
"Oh no... we've been spotted!"
A startled cry came from nearby. A boy and a girl pushed aside their cover, held hands, and ran into the distance. The fairies all swarmed after them, dozens of berry juice clumps chasing and hitting them from behind.
"Plop plop plop..."
They left a trail of sweet scents in their wake.
Wade looked at Michael. "I can take all of them down with one hand."
"I can too, but we can't. You're not allowed to use powerful magic on them."
"Not even when we're capturing the queen?"
"The only magic you can use on a fairy is this."
Michael raised his wand and muttered a spell. A small soap bubble emerged from the tip of his wand, just big enough to trap one fairy. "It's easy. I'll teach you," Michael said.
"No need, I've already learned."
Wade raised his wand, and a bubble ten times the size of Michael's appeared. Just then, a fairy flew nearby and spotted the two inside through a gap. It menacingly raised its tiny wand, but as soon as it got inside, it saw Wade's gigantic, still-expanding bubble. It shrieked and quickly flew away, flapping its wings.
The two watched the fairy disappear, then looked at each other.
"Wade, cheating is not allowed."
"How is this cheating? I used the same spell as you."
"...Casting a spell that exceeds the power limit is cheating."
"...Fine." Wade reluctantly popped the soap bubble.
The two guarded their "fortress." When they encountered a lone fairy, they would trap it in a bubble. When they saw a swarm of fairies, they would hide. Sometimes, when the numbers were too great, they would even block up the observation holes.
Fairies are simple-minded creatures. As long as they don't see you directly, they assume no one is there. Wade had managed to trap several of the little creatures by waiting until they turned to leave.
When the number of fairies dwindled, the students emerged from their respective hiding spots and began to ambush and capture fairies from all directions.
The fairy queen wore a small golden dress and had a pair of wide, brilliant wings. She had been flying in the center of the swarm, but as her soldiers were captured, her figure became gradually exposed. As everyone was busy capturing fairies, a Gryffindor girl leaped from a high point. While the fairies were still in a state of confusion, she cast a perfectly timed soap bubble that trapped the golden queen.
"I won!" she cheered loudly, holding her wand high.
Her companions also jumped and cheered with her. The remaining fairies angrily flew over and tried to grab her hair, but they paid no mind.
"Hey, what's so great about catching the queen! How about we compare who's caught the most?" another Slytherin boy said, pulling out a bag filled with fairies trapped in bubbles.
"We have thirty-five!"
"We have thirty-eight!"
"Forty-seven!"
The students showed off the fairies they had captured.
"Ahem." Michael coughed deliberately twice. When he had everyone's attention, he waved his wand. With a "whoosh," a small mountain of fairy bubbles tumbled out.
"I didn't really count how many there are..." Michael said, feigning humility while boasting. "But there are probably more than two hundred?"
The crowd fell silent for a moment.
"Want to get some dinner?"
"Sure, I'm starving!"
"Library after dinner?"
"Yeah, let's go do our homework."
Everyone scattered instantly. Michael blinked. After the students were gone, Wade heard someone say, "No wonder... I thought the game ended a little too quickly today..."
"Most of them must have been caught by Wade!" another person said.
"Hmph, they're just jealous!" Michael said, annoyed at not receiving any admiration.
"Oh, it looks like the game is over."
Professor Flitwick appeared. He waved his wand, and all the bubbles trapping the fairies disappeared. The fairies flew out and surrounded Professor Flitwick, buzzing and complaining about the students.
"Alright, alright," Professor Flitwick said, pulling out a large jar. "Come have some flower nectar!"
The fairies immediately forgot what they were going to say and obediently landed on the jar.
"So, Wade?" Professor Flitwick asked. "Did you enjoy the survival game?"
"It was fun, but it lacked a bit of a challenge." Wade raised an eyebrow. "Professor, I have an idea..."
Michael leaned in to listen. A few fairies landed on their shoulders, gently flapping their wings.
Professor Flitwick listened and nodded. "Not bad, not bad. That would be much more interesting... But it's a lot of work. I'll have to ask the other professors for help and get Professor McGonagall's permission..."
"Don't worry, Professor McGonagall will definitely approve... but this scoreboard... can you make it? It sounds very complicated..." Michael said.
"The difficulty isn't very high," Wade said. "I'll get Fred and George to help. We can get it done in an afternoon..."
"Then I can get other people to help," Michael said. "Padma can draw the blueprints, and Theo and I can create the monster tiers. The scoring also needs to be fair..."
"As for the construction, we can ask the older students for help."
"Cedric has a lot of charisma. He can get a huge crowd to help out."
"Can we finish it in one day?"
"No problem!" Michael confidently gave an "OK" sign.