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Just A Game Of Snap
By MissK

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Category: Canon Challenge (2004-4)
Characters:None
Genres: Comedy, Fluff, General
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 34
Summary: Exploding Snap can be a vicious game...
Hitcount: Story Total: 5597







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Staff Notice
This story is submitted as part of the Canon Challenge. If you read it and find any Canon errors, please describe it in a review. If you can point to the book and chapter, that would be brilliant! Duplicate finds are not necessary. But you are still encouraged to leave a review. Thanks.


Just A Game Of Snap



It had all started out so innocently.


“Do you want to play a game of Exploding Snap, Harry?”


What was he supposed to say? No? Ron and Hermione were occupied with Prefect duty, he had no homework to speak of, and he was bored out of his mind. A game of snap with Ginny had sounded like a good idea at the time.


How wrong he was.


He knew that Ginny was a competitive player. He had seen her play against Ron plenty of times, and in all the games he had witnessed, she had never ever lost. He should have known that agreeing to play would be dangerous, but she looked so innocent as she dealt the cards out that all those thoughts were wiped from his mind.


Settling down in his seat, he watched as Ginny lay her first card down on the table, and they began.


Jack… Ace… Four… Seven… Two… Nine…


Ginny placed each of her cards carefully down on the pile, keeping the pace of the game relaxed and casual. Harry was grateful for it. He was far too tired to be able to keep up with a faster paced game.


Queen… Jack… Three… Ten… Ace…


“Are you looking forward to the Quidditch try-outs tomorrow, Harry?” Ginny asked, as she put down her card.


King… Five… King… Eight…


“Umm… yeah,” Harry said, momentarily distracted from the game. “You’re trying out, right?”


Six… Two… Four…


“Yeah,” Ginny said, nodding. “I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve been researching some moves, but there’s this one I don’t understand - the Woollongolly Shimmy. Could you explain it to me?”


Nine… Jack…


“Sure,” Harry said, taking his eyes off the game as he started to explain. “What you do is move in a…”


Jack…


“SNAP!” Ginny yelled, smacking her hand down on the pile of cards, which smoked slightly, but did not explode. Scooping them up in her hand, she shot Harry a sympathetic smile. “Better luck next time.”


They started again, putting down the cards at the same slow, casual pace.


Eight… Four… Ace… Ten…


“So… this formation,” Ginny said. “Do your Chasers use it often?”


Nine… Jack… Two… Nine…


“Sometimes,” Harry said, vowing to himself that he would keep his eyes on the game from now on. “It’s really difficult to pull off though.”


King… Five… Jack…


“It sounds it,” Ginny said, a sly smile playing on her lips. Harry wondered what the joke was, but he didn’t like to ask.


Three… Eight…


He felt Ginny’s knee bump against his own, and goosebumps ran up his leg.


Is she doing that on purpose? he wondered. But no. Ginny would never do anything like that. Would she?


Queen… Eight… Ten…


Harry had never been able to pinpoint the exact time when he had stopped thinking of Ginny Weasley as ‘just a friend’. It had sneaked up on him, rather like the changing of the seasons. You never really noticed it happening, until one morning you just woke up and it was there. That was exactly like what had happened with Ginny.


Six… Four…


They had been making their way from Grimmauld Place to King’s Cross Station, ready to start their current, Harry’s Sixth, year at Hogwarts, and sometime during that half an hour journey, he had realised. He had seen her strolling along, chatting animatedly to Hermione, her arms holding her coat closed against the chilly September breeze that was whipping her long hair out so violently, and his stomach had started doing summersaults. Ever since that moment, Harry had known that Ginny was no longer simply Ron’s little sister.


Queen… Five…


He felt Ginny’s leg brush against his again, and this time it lingered there, rubbing his ankle gently. He looked up, surprised, but Ginny gave no sign that she knew what she was doing. Her eyes were focused on the game, and she was chewing her lip in apparent concentration.


Five…


“SNAP!” she yelled again, smacking her hand down on the cards before Harry could even register the match. Giggling at Harry’s dazed expression at being beaten again, she said, “You really should concentrate more, Harry. You’re not even trying!”


Her green eyes twinkled mischievously as she laid down her next card.


Then he realised what she was up to.


Two could play at that game.


He started to put his cards down a little bit faster now, pushing up the pace of the game ever so slightly.


Jack. Seven. Three. Ten. Eight.


“How are your OWLs coming along, Ginny?” he asked casually as he placed down another card.


“Okay, I think,” Ginny said, frowning slightly. “It’s a lot of work though.”


Seven. Two. Jack. Five.


“It gets worse you know,” he warned. “After Christmas, Snape’ll start giving detentions to anyone who gets less than an A in their homework.”


Four. King. Four. Three.


“Really?” Ginny asked, looking panicked.


Harry nodded, putting what he hoped was a grave expression on his face. “Yeah. Even Trelawney tightens things up. If you can’t see anything in the crystal ball she makes you come in during the evenings for one on one tutoring.”


King. Ten. Ace.


“Oh no,” Ginny said, looking forlorn and no longer even glancing at the cards she was putting down. “I’ve never seen anything in there!”


Two. Two.


“SNAP!” Harry yelled triumphantly, ignoring the streams of ominous smoke that issued from the cards as he slapped them. Ginny jumped, taken by surprise by his sudden outburst, and then her face lost its forlorn quality. She didn’t say anything, but her eyes narrowed suspiciously, and Harry knew that she was on to him, just as he was on to her.


He scooped up the cards he had won, and then started the game up again, dimly aware of Crookshanks bounding onto his lap and settling down to sleep.


Three, Six, Ace, Six, Five,


Ginny had lost her relaxed air. She still placed her cards down carefully, but she did so at a rapid speed.


Queen, Ace, Seven, Nine,


“You know, I could do with some help with my Defence Against the Dark Arts,” she commented in a would be casual voice, a facade that was ruined by the look of intense concentration on her face. “I thought maybe you could help me.”


Eight, Two, Four, Six, Ace,


“What do you want me to do?” Harry asked politely, refusing to look up at her. She wasn’t going to distract him so easily again.


Ten, King, Jack,


“Well. . .” Ginny said slowly, “It’s never really come alive to me as a subject, and Professor Lockhart once told me that you were wonderful at acting out scenes from his books. I thought maybe you could give me a demonstration.”


Two, Seven, Nine,


“How about,” Harry said, still staring determinedly at the pile of cards on the table, “you give me a demonstration? Ron’s told me all about your talent for karaoke singing.”


King, Jack, Five, Seven,


“At least my artistic skills are better than yours!” Ginny retorted, blushing. “I’ve seen those love poems you wrote to Cho, and I have to tell you, Harry, they really weren’t up to scratch.”


Nine, Three,


“Love poems?” Harry asked, staring at her in confusion. “I never wrote--“


“SNAP!” Harry looked down at the pile of cards, now popping ominously under Ginny’s hand, and was dismayed to see that another three had been placed down while he was talking. Crookshanks, startled by the sudden noise, leapt off Harry’s knees and disappeared into a dark corner of the common room, his lamp-like eyes glaring at him out of the shadows.


This means war! he thought furiously, slapping his next card down on the table so hard and fast that it let out a faint crackle, but thankfully did not explode.


Jack-Ten-Eight-Nine-Eight< /I>


“His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad--” he began, keeping one eye on Ginny as they threw their cards down on the table in quick succession.


Seven-Eight-Two-Ten


“--his hair is as dark as a blackboard--”


Six-Jack-Four-Five


“--I wish he was mine, he’s simply divine--”


Three-Four-King


“-- the hero who conquered the--”


Queen-Queen


“SNAP!” he yelled, smashing his hand down on the cards so forcefully that the image of Morgana that graced the front of the Queen card glowered at him reproachfully, tossing her long blonde hair her shoulder as she did so. Ginny, who had been about to hit the cards too, pulled her hand back and placed it gently back on the edge of the table, an angry blush rising in her cheeks.


Harry had thought that the game had been competitive before, but it was nothing compared to the next round. They slapped down their cards so fast they were almost a blur, yelling insults at each other that got more and more ludicrous as time went on.


“Harry fancies McGonagall!”


“Ginny eats dungbombs!”


SixKingAceFourThreeFive


“Harry looks like a Blast Ended Skrewt!”


“Ginny smells like a Bundimum!”


QueenAceTenSevenAce


“Harry snogged Moaning Myrtle in the Prefect’s Bathroom!”


“So did Ginny!”


NineTwoEightJackTenThreeThr ee


“SNAP!” they both yelled together, smacking their hands down on the pile of cards. Harry’s got there first, but only just. The cards had had enough, however. With a loud BANG, they exploded in a shower of sparks, and Harry, whose hand was being held down directly over the explosion by Ginny’s, felt them burning into his skin.


“Guess that’s game over then,” Ginny said, looking extremely disappointed and not noticing Harry’s pain. “Looks like you win.” She released Harry’s hand from under her own, and then gasped when she saw the underside of it. “Harry, what happened?”


“They’re not called ‘Exploding Cards’ for nothing, Ginny.”


“Oh, no,” Ginny said, hurrying around the table and grabbing his hand. “I’m so sorry.” She did seem extremely concerned about him, especially for a person who had been yelling insults at him barely a moment before. “I have some burn cream in my room, I’ll just go get it.”


She hurried away up the stairway on the left, and returned a moment later with a small tube of burn-healing paste in her hand. After squeezing the red cream out onto Harry’s hand, she started to carefully rub it in, her fingers working in delicate circles around his palm. Harry felt his burns healing with vague tingling sensations, but he barely noticed it compared with the shivers that where running up and down his arm.


“There,” Ginny said finally. She stopped moving her fingertips, but Harry couldn’t help but notice that she did not drop his hand. “Better?”


“Yeah,” Harry said, his voice cracking. “Yeah, it feels loads better.”


“Good.”


Harry was now intensely aware of the fact that Ginny was standing so close to him that if he bent down just a little, they would be nose to nose. And, if he bent down just a little bit more… but did he dare?


The question was answered for him by Ginny herself, who was moving slowly up on tiptoes, so close to him now that he could feel her breath lingering on his lips. Her big eyes stared into his, and he knew that she was waiting for him to make the final move.


He was just about to close the final gap between them when he heard voices coming from just outside the portrait hole. He jumped away from Ginny, crashing into the table in the process and knocking Ginny’s copy of ‘Ancient Runes Made Simple’ to the floor.


He hadn’t moved a moment too soon. Before Harry could move to pick up the dropped book, the portrait hole opened and Ron and Hermione entered, looking extremely disgruntled.


“I’m knackered,” Ron proclaimed loudly, flopping down in a chair near the fire. “We caught Roger Davies snogging Patricia Stimpson down by the kitchens. I took us ages to get them to give it up and go away,” he gave Hermione a look that made it very clear that, if it had been up to him, he wouldn’t have bothered at all, “and then we go up to the Fourth Floor, and find them at it again, behind that statue of Boris the Bewildered.” He looked up at Ginny. “Are you all right, Gin?” he asked. “You don’t look too good.”


Harry could feel that his face was hot, but it was nothing compared to Ginny’s. Blushing deeper than he had ever seen, she said. “I’m fine. I’m just… off to bed. Night!” With that, she turned and set off for the girl’s staircase for a run.


“What was that about?” Ron asked once she had gone.


“We, err… we played a game of snap while you out,” Harry said, gesturing towards the cards still smoking on the table.


“Lemme guess - she lost, right?” Ron asked, grinning. “She’s really competitive like that. I’m surprised she didn’t try to cheat. She always tries that with me.”


Harry nodded, making a silent vow never, EVER to play Exploding Snap again. You never knew what could happen.
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