It was like a sharp blow to her chest. Anything but this... anything.

Trembling, she looked up at her partner, at the raven haired boy whom she respected and admired so much during their time at Hogwarts... her first date... her first friend.

"Harry?"

******

"Right," Harry said, rubbing his hands together. "Let's do this."

He had a good feeling about this. Ever since he'd stepped inside the game hall and discovered it was a replica of his birth town - the place his parents died to keep him alive - he knew it was a sign he was meant to win.

But for some reason, Luna was looking up at him as though she had just witnessed someone kicking a fucking puppy around.

"Harry," she trembled, her voice barely a whisper, "playing means one of us will die."

Well... duh.

"Kind of what we signed up for, though," Harry shrugged, trying not to click his tongue in impatience. They were wasting valuable playing time by having this pointless conversation. "Now, are we just going to stand around and die together, or do you want to die on my behalf?"

Luna just stared at him.

"So..." Harry said, wanting to get on with it. "You've played Marbles before, right?"

Mutely, Luna shook her head.

Well, this was a promising start. At this rate he should be back in the dormitory in time for a quick power nap before dinner.

"It's easy. You just have to guess if the number of marbles in my fist is odd or even." Harry mansplained.

"That's all?"

"Yes. Now give it some thought and bet your marbles on either one. I'm going to suggest you start small whilst you get your head around the rules."

It was a good job this game relied heavily on luck, Harry thought wryly. Because it may perhaps be the only way he will be able to beat a Ravenclaw.

Turned out, though, Luna's luck was very much in.

"Even."

Damn. Harry opened his hand, revealing two marbles. But thankfully, Luna only bet one. She only ever bet one.

Sighing, he went to hand her the marble, but she refused to take it, tears in her eyes as she shook her head.

"I don't want to do this with you." Luna whispered, before standing up and whirling round to face the pink guard behind her. "Please, sir, I want to play with someone else. Harry and I, you see, we go way back. We are friends- good friends. He even came to rescue me one time when I was captured and locked up in the Malfoy's cellar-"

"Stop talking nonsense and take the marbles." Harry hissed, feeling embarrassed. She was talking about him as though he were some kind of hero. He wasn't that at all, he'd always just been someone trying to survive, too much of a coward to walk to his death during the Battle of Hogwarts when Voldemort had summoned him to the Forbidden Forest.

Maybe in another life he would have done exactly that... another life where Harry Potter was indeed a hero and had sacrificed himself to save the world from Voldemort.

But not in this one. In this life, he would do anything to survive.

So, on he and Luna played, with Harry silently pleading to his dead parents to save his backside once more.

However, they were clearly not doing a very good job.

"Even."

Harry said it quickly, closing his eyes. But when he opened them again, Luna's hand was still firmly shut, her expression pained.

"What are you doing?" Harry demanded. "Why haven't you opened your hand? I said even."

"I don't- I don't want to," she whispered as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Harry's heart sank. So it was odd. He glanced into his pouch. Fuck, he only had one marble left. This was not happening. With a wave of panic, he glared up at her.

"You're cheating, aren't you?"

She flinched, as though he had just reached out and slapped her.

"Harry, what are you talking about?"

"How come you keep winning?" He angrily demanded. "You only have a 50-50 chance of getting it right. This doesn't make any fucking sense!"

"No, I promise you," she said hurriedly, "I didn't do anything."

"You bitch," he spat, jumping to his feet and reaching down to roughly grab the front of her tracksuit, making her gasp in surprise as he pulled her up. "You played innocent all this time, tricking me! You said you've never done this before! How did you do it? Tell me!"

"Harry, you're hurting me," she cried as he shook her like a rag doll, her dirty blonde hair falling across her frightened, tear streaked face.

He only stopped when he heard a terrifying click next to his ear.

"Violence in this game is not permitted." The pink guard demanded as he rather ironically pointed a gun to Harry's head.

Releasing a heavy sigh, Harry slowly let go of a sobbing Luna, holding his hands up in peace.

Before he could apologise, a loud gunshot caused him to nearly shit himself, convinced for a moment that it had been for him.

"Player 453, eliminated."

Ah, fuck. There goes Oliver Wood. So much for being a great Keeper when he couldn't even keep hold of ten measly marbles.

And Harry was determined not to lose his.

No... he was going to have to try another tack to win this game.

*****

Luna looked on helplessly as Harry sank down to his knees in front of her, sobbing. "I'm sorry, Luna. I mistook you. But I can't die like this. If I die here... my parents will have sacrificed their lives for nothing."

"I'm sorry, Harry," she whispered, feeling frightened, but desperately trying to keep it together. "I'm so sorry, but I have to think of Daddy."

Just saying his name made Luna breakdown, the heaviness in her heart all too much for her. She was so scared for her father, wondering what would become of him if she never returned with the money to save him.

Harry shuffled forward on his knees, reaching up to grapple at her hands, his own desperation to survive tearing her up inside.

"Listen, Luna," he said pleadingly, Luna instantly recognising the bargaining tone in his voice. "If you help me, there's a way both of us can make it out alive. You got this far all thanks to me. I've saved you in more ways than one in the past! Who do you think stopped Voldemort from stealing the Philosopher's Stone? Or single handedly destroyed the monster in the Chamber of Secrets? You would all be dead long before now if wasn't for me!"

Luna knew it was all bullshit. Of course there was no saving both of them. But she could see the utter desperation swimming in poor Harry's eyes and she could never turn her back on someone in so much distress. Her compassionate nature was what her father said made her so special.

So, she took a deep breath, silently apologising to the man who had been relying on her. "Okay, Harry. What's your plan?"

The flood of relief on Harry's face as he quickly scrambled back up to his feet actually made her feel quite dizzy. She did not want to see it, did not want his gratitude in the slightest, not when it was at the cost of her father's life.

"My guess is that some of the teams won't be able to decide the winner in time." Harry rushed out, with Luna only half listening, every now and then nodding, pretending to believe his crap. "Do you remember the rule? The person who takes their partner's marbles in thirty minutes wins. But think about it. Neither player might win all the marbles in that time. They win, lose, go back and forth. I'm sure there will be teams without any winners. What will they do then? Eliminate all those people? That makes no sense. They must decide the winner. Right?"

Luna felt numb as Harry looked at her expectantly, trying to summon up everything she had inside of her to show some morsel of enthusiasm. "Right."

"Then, I'm sure they'll make us compete in teams. Each team will add up their marbles, and play against another team with twenty marbles. We'll get to play as a team as we'd originally planned. We can leave this place together."

She half smiled, the effort making her chest hurt. She knew she should just insist that they continue on with the game. She couldn't lose - Harry only had one marble left.

But if she did that, she was as good as killing him herself. And she couldn't, no she wouldn't go through the tug-of-war situation again, could not bear to see someone else die so that she could survive.

"So," she said, her eyes stinging from trying desperately not to cry, "tell me what you want me to do."

*****

Harry watched as Luna walked away with the bag of pebbles around her neck.

He had a sneaking suspicion, however, as he had fed her some cock and bull story about making her pouch safe for her, that she knew exactly what he was doing.

Because he had seen it in her eyes once he had made the switch. The disappointment.

But this is what survivors did. Anything it takes. Nice people always come last.

And more fool them.

He waited until she disappeared around the corner before he turned to the armed guard and lifted up his full pouch of marbles.

"I have twenty marbles," he stated without feeling. "The rule is that, no matter what the game is, I have to obtain all my partner's without using any violence. I didn't use any form of violence."

Harry held his breath as he waited for the guard to respond, and for a fleeting, frightening second, he thought he was going to be killed.

But with a nod of the head, Luna's fate was sealed.

******

Luna looked up dreamily to the sky, smiling to herself as, in the far off distance, a purple creature with spiral horns and a nose like a pig flew amongst the clouds.

"Would you look at that," she breathed, a calmness flowing through her body as a gentle breeze fanned her hair across her face, tickling her skin, "Crumple-Horned Snorkacks fly."

And her last thought, before the sound of a gunshot ripped violently through the air, was that she could not wait to share this exciting new discovery with her father.

*****

"Player 456, eliminated."

*****

A/N: In hindsight, I can see that I should have made Luna player 199. She did, after all, make the perfect Ali (her personality definitely fits the role a lot better than Alia's). But I'm not going to cause confusion by going back and changing it. After all, it is just a number. What counts are the characters and how they play out as individuals. I hope so far, I am not disappointing.

Also, once again, I apologise for anyone who is offended about how I have written Harry. But in a way (in my mind at least), he makes a good Sang-woo character. I am aware that I have gone away from certain canon personalities, so please don't tell me that canon Harry would never do that - because I know he wouldn't!

(I'm simply pointing this out because, in the past, I have been sent literal death threats for not writing a character in the way they are 'supposed' to be written.)

Anyway, thank you for reading, voting, commenting etc. Your support means the world ❤️

Next up, for what hopefully will be a less emotional round, Crabbe and Draco...

*****