Hogwarts Host Club

Sunday came, and the entire host club was prepared for their performance. All dressed in black cloaks, somewhat resembling Dementors. They had left a notice on the club room’s door, notifying that today’s activities would be taking place out by the lake. By the lakeside they left Ashley, Brie, Annette and Kristie, whilst the rest of the Host Club, plus the Weasley twins, began to put their plan into action. They had used charms to send Dungbombs into the ship’s portholes, and were fairly sure the ship was now deserted. They carefully boarded the ship, Lauren and her friends raced about like ninjas, checking the ship all over for anyone unfortunate enough to stay behind.

All clear. Rachel sent a shower of pink sparks into the air to tell the others on the shore all was good to go, just as the first bewildered guests began to arrive at the planned destination. Annette watched carefully as Harry Potter and his friend Hermione passed, chattering anxiously and looking clearly frustrated about something. By the time all of the booked guests had arrived, Malfoy included, Harry and Hermione had passed twice more.

Annette sent purple sparks into the air, and the game began. The guests that were waiting around with Annette, Ashley, Brie and Kristie were getting curious about what was going on, but didn’t get to see what happened next. There was a loud bang through the morning mist that obscured the Durmstrang ship from view, and suddenly the group on the shore was shrouded in darkness.
There were a few screams and surprised yelps, and then silence as the charms cast on the guests by the four girls took effect. Their guests were now sleeping peacefully, and would wake up and find themselves in quite a predicament.

***

Draco Malfoy was the first to wake. One of twenty or so people tied to a railing on board what he guessed to be the Durmstrang ship. He shook his head slightly, trying to get rid of the groggy feeling that followed enchanted sleep. Nobody was hurt or anything, just tied up. Draco looked around the foggy deck, gritting his teeth when he saw a figure approaching him through the fog.
He put on his best Malfoy scowl, but felt it slip as he recognised the young witch before him. It was Rachel, from the Host Club. He now understood what had happened, this was all an act of the Host Club.

Rachel was dressed like a pirate, her costume consisting of what appeared to be a one-piece swimsuit – black with a large yellow arrow pointing to her face with a ruffled purple skirt over the top. Thigh-high pink and purple socks inside knee-high leather boots. She also wore black fingerless gloves that reached all the way up almost to her shoulders.
Her hair was in its usual style, complete with the golden yellow ribbon. She glanced at Draco, and drew her cutlass. It was no plastic fake, it was a serious weapon, and in Draco’s current state, he could only hold very still as she held it to his throat.

“Well well, we seem to have a live one.” She snickered. There were more footsteps, and more pirate-clad Hosts came into view.
Lindsay had gone all out with the beard, a parrot, eye patch, golden teeth, even a giant hat with oversized feathers. He wore a large red coat with large golden buttons, and had transfigured one of his legs to look like a wooden stump. He was chewing on the end of a carved wooden pipe, which had bubbles slowly issuing out of it in colourful streams.

Michael was dressed in a very accurate, almost carbon copy of the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow. He was drinking from an unmarked bottle – Draco wondered if it was seriously rum. Ashley stood beside him dressed as he guessed to be Elizabeth Swann, wearing a plain, stained white dress with smudges on her face and dress, and her hair was wild and un-brushed.
Even Professor Char was here; dressed in a fancy poet’s shirt, leather pants and a bright green bandanna. She surveyed Draco for a moment before walking away to take over steering the ship. It seemed they were sailing around the lake, or so it felt. Draco was glad he didn’t get seasick.

Then Edward appeared. He was dressed in a plain white shirt, half unbuttoned and showing much of his chest. He also wore black pants and shoes, and his hair seemed longer than it had been yesterday. Rachel moved to stand beside him, and his arm snaked around her waist. Draco scowled, as the other guests made small noises that signalled the real show was about to begin.

***

Snape was stalking through the corridors in search of his assistant. He had searched the castle three times over, and no sigh of her. He passed one of the higher windows, and froze. The Durmstrang ship was moving, not away from the castle, but more like parallel to it. He stared for a good long time, thinking over and over that he was certain that none of the Durmstrang students were on that boat. He saw Viktor Krum heading towards him, no doubt returning from another lengthy session in the library. He looked somewhat disappointed, not that Snape really cared.

“You, Krum. Come here a moment, please.” Snape hissed, trying to sound inviting. Krum slouched over, looking out the window too. He looked confused as he watched the ship sail smoothly over the lake.
“It should not be doing that. Vat is going on Professor Snape?” Krum drawled, looking at Snape in mild concern. Snape resisted the urge to whack him.
“I would like to know that myself. Let us go and see our headmasters, shall we?” Snape said icily, leading Krum in the direction of Dumbledore’s office.

***

The ‘hostages’ had been separated into small groups, each with two or three pirate-clad hosts to ‘entertain’ them. Draco was in a small group of mainly Slytherin boys who were being threatened by Jesse with various things, all of which sounded incredibly painful. Draco was watching her carefully, and not only her, but all the other Hosts as well. Only every time Jesse caught his gaze wandering, she would slide her sword under his chin and ask him questions.
Draco was plotting to overtake the ship, perhaps just for fun. He wanted to see if he could overpower the entire Host Club on his own. It would be a challenge, but if he took the right hostage he was sure to gain control of the ship, and therefore impress the Durmstrang students by returning their ship.
He sneered, earning another stream of threats from Jesse for smirking at her without being told to.

Rachel had been watching him, she knew he was up to something, and so did Edward. They had been keeping an eye on Draco for most of the morning, before settling before their guests and talking with them. Edward was sitting cross-legged on the deck against the ship’s railing. Rachel was sitting in his lap with her back against his chest. She was talking with some of her ‘hostages’ about various things, laughing and listening as they in turn told her stories. She was cut short in her telling of a funny story from her childhood when a water balloon was thrown at her from above. Edward caught it in his hand, but it still busted and rained water down on Rachel’s head.

“Ah, sorry.” He said, tossing the busted balloon aside. Looking up, he and Rachel saw Annette and Kristie in the Crow’s Nest, they were supposed to be watching out for anyone trying to board the ship and so forth. Instead they had a wealthy supply of water bombs, and were using their wands to send them hurling to various targets. Michael had been hit several times, and looked like a sad sodden mess. Lindsay was out for the count, completely soaked.
Lauren, Renee and Ruby were all taking cover, preparing their own water bombs for assault. Soon enough it was an all out war, Kellie had all but hidden herself below deck to escape the onslaught, along with Ashley. Jesse was summoning large bubbles of water from the lake and freezing them into shields to protect the ‘hostages’ from getting too wet.

Draco had managed to work free of his bonds, and was now sitting very still, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
At some unspoken command, the guests were freed from their bonds, and were sneaking away to the lifeboats. Their eyes were glazed over, Draco guessed some sort of charm had been put on them to have them flee when it looked like the party was over.

Jesse’s ice shields melted, and in one swift movement Draco was on his feet and had grabbed a fallen sword. He grabbed the nearest pirate-clad Host, and pulled her against his body. For a brief moment he thought he had grabbed Jesse, which would have been the end for him.
Bt the squirming girl in his arms wasn’t Jesse after all, it was Rachel. She scowled up at him, he had her own sword in the hand wrapped around her waist, it’s sharp edge pointed away from her to keep attackers at bay. Draco had his wand out, and was warding off Jesse, the first to notice his actions. Soon the water fight stopped, and everyone turned to see that the tables had turned on Rachel. And she did not look the least bit pleased about it.

She looked pleadingly at Edward, he was edging closer, but knew full well that if he got much closer he was in danger of being cut by the sword. At this point he cursed whoever chose to have real swords instead of plastic ones. Then he remembered Jesse saying plastic wasn’t very threatening. He glanced over at her and scowled. She grinned sheepishly, guessing his thoughts.

“Well, now that I have your fairy princess hostage, you will turn the ship over to me and I will spare her from serious harm...” Draco said evenly, watching the various reactions of the hosts. Michael had stepped up to stand just behind Edward. They were both watching Rachel’s hands, which were pinned behind her back. She seemed to be making hand signs of some sort, and Michael was watching intently. Edward nudged him with a confused expression.
“She is saying that when she distracts him, we have to get the weapons away from him and tie him up.” Michael whispered, looking at Edward carefully, then at Jesse to convey the message. Jesse nodded to know that she understood. Then a thought crossed Edward’s mind.

“How is she going to distract him?”

As if to answer him, Rachel twisted her arms up and managed to throw them around Draco’s neck. Then she slammed her mouth against his. It all happened very fast. It turned out the Hosts only had to pick up the sword and Draco’s wand; he all but dropped both in shock when Rachel kissed him.
Equally as quickly Rachel let Draco go, and stepped back into Edward’s embrace. His arms encircled her shoulders protectively as he stared daggers at Draco. Draco swallowed awkwardly; he now had the wrath of Von Rüch on his shoulders, probably Jesse too. Not to mention the other Host Club members.
Suddenly the ship lurched violently to the left, causing everyone to fall over; Annette and Kristie nearly fell out of the Crows Nest. Kellie and Ashley came up from below deck, looking alarmed.
Kellie looked in the direction they were heading, and a sheepish smile spread over her face.

“Looks like the party is over, ladies and gentlemen.” She said, dusting off her shirt. The entire Host Club assembled on the main deck, Draco now tied to the mast with thick ropes. The ship stopped gently in its place, and a plank extended to the shore, Dumbledore, Snape, Karkaroff and McGonagall striding up to see what was going on. When they boarded the ship, the Host Club was assembled in two lines, forming an aisle. The teachers looked at each other in bewilderment.
“What is the meaning of this?” Snape hissed at Kellie. She merely smiled, and waved her hand so that Snape examined the ship more closely. What had been a grubby, musty and smelly ship mere hours ago was now a grand vessel that gleamed and sparkled with a clean fresh woody smell.
Karkaroff looked slightly suspicious still, but in awe of how amazingly clean his ship was. He turned to the Host Club.
“You lot did this?” he asked. Jesse nodded.

“Free of charge; consider it a gift from us to you, and your students.” She said in an unusually soft voice. Karkaroff blushed. Dumbledore laughed, and led the Hosts off the ship. Snape looked darkly at Draco. Rachel leaned against the mast beside him with a smirk.
“We had ourselves a little stowaway. You can have him now though, we had our... fun with him.” She sneered, prodding Draco’s face. He growled, and glared darkly at the polished deck of the ship, cheeks flushed.
Snape released him, and billowed back down the ramp, Draco hot on his heels. Rachel laughed, and hurried down the ramp to where Edward was waiting for her.