Michael ran a long way before finding an ideal spot.
It was probably a fort built by former students for themselves, dilapidated wardrobes and legless tables barely formed the semblance of a house, leaving only a narrow gap in the middle.
"This is it!" Michael said, "Quick, we need to block all the large gaps."
Vid waved his magic wand, and a nearby chair flew up, blocking the large opening, while smaller debris automatically filled the smaller gaps, leaving only three or four observation holes.
"The gameplay of this escape game is very simple," Michael said, "Firstly, avoid being hit; secondly, avoid being discovered; thirdly, try to capture their queen."
"The queen?" Vid asked.
"Yes... don't speak, they're here!"
Michael gestured for silence and urged Vid to look out through the observation holes.
They saw a large group of small humanoid creatures fluttering their wings, clutching small magic wands as they flew aggressively through the alleyway.
Vid widened his eyes, looked at Michael, and asked in a low voice, "Fairies?"
Michael nodded and grinned. One green fairy seemed to have heard a noise, flying over to peek through the gaps.
Michael and Vid had already hidden on both sides, revealing nothing to be seen.
The fairy raised its small magic wand, and "poof poof," two blobs of red berry juice shot from the wand's tip, hitting the table opposite and leaving a sweet-smelling mark.
Convinced no one was there, the fairy turned and flew away.
"Ahh... we've been discovered!"
A scream rang nearby, a boy and girl pushed aside the cover in front of them, held hands, and ran into the distance. The fairies pursed them with a whoosh, firing dozens of blobs of berry juice at them.
"Poof poof poof..."
A fragrant trail followed them.
Vid glanced at Michael.
"I could take them all down with one hand."
"I could too, but we can't use powerful magic on them."
"Even when capturing the queen?"
"The only magic we can use on fairies is this one."
Michael raised his magic wand and whispered a spell, creating a small soap bubble at the tip, just big enough to trap a fairy.
"It's simple, I'll teach you." Michael said.
"No need, I've already learned it."
Vid raised his wand, and a bubble ten times larger emerged.
A fairy flew nearby and noticed people through the gap.
It raised its small wand with murderous intent, but upon seeing Vid's expanding giant bubble, it shrieked and flew away rapidly.
The duo looked at the direction where the fairy disappeared, then at each other.
"Vid, cheating is not allowed."
"How can this be cheating? I'm using the same spell as everyone else."
"...Exceeding the spell's power limit is cheating."
"...Alright."
Vid regretfully popped his soap bubble.
The two guarded the "fort" inside, trapping lone fairies in bubbles and hiding from larger groups. Sometimes when there were too many fairies, they even blocked the observation holes.
Fairies are simple-minded creatures; as long as they don't directly see a person, they'll assume no one is there. Vid often captured them when they turned to leave.
As the number of fairies diminished, students came out from their covers to ambush and capture them from all sides.
The fairy queen wore a golden dress with large, splendid wings. It always flew at the center of many fairies, but as the soldiers got captured, the queen gradually became exposed.
During the fairy roundup, a Gryffindor girl leapt from a high place, catching the glittering queen with a well-timed soap bubble before the fairies could react.
"I won!" She raised her magic wand and cheered loudly.
Her companions bounced and jumped with her, while the remaining fairies angrily tugged at her hair, but they paid no mind.
"Hey, what's so great about catching the queen? Why don't we compete to see who caught the most?"
Another Slytherin boy took out a bag filled with fairies trapped in bubbles.
"We have thirty-five!"
"We have thirty-eight!"
"Forty-seven!"
Everyone took turns showcasing their captured fairies.
"Ahem." Michael coughed deliberately twice, then drew everyone's attention before waving his magic wand.
With a "whirl," a pile of fairy balls rolled out like a small mountain.
"I haven't counted much..." Michael pretended to be modest, boasting, "But it's probably around two hundred?"
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
"Shall we go eat?"
"Sure, I'm starving!"
"Shall we go to the library after eating?"
"Sure, let's do homework."
Everyone scattered in an instant, Michael blinked in confusion.
After the students walked away, Vid overheard someone say, "No wonder... I thought today's game ended a bit quickly..."
"Surely Vid caught most of them!" someone else remarked.
"Humph, all jealous!" Michael said angrily, without receiving admiring praises.
"Oh oh, it looks like the game is over."
Professor Flitwick appeared, casting a spell with his wand, causing the bubbles trapping the fairies to disappear.
The fairies flew out and gathered around Professor Flitwick, buzzing complaints about the students.
"Alright, alright." Professor Flitwick took out a large jar, comforting them, "Have some nectar!"
The fairies instantly forgot what they wanted to say and obediently settled on the jar.
"How was it, Vid?" Professor Flitwick asked, "Was this escape game fun?"
"It's fun, but lacks excitement." Vid raised his brows, "Professor, I have an idea..."
Michael joined, listening in, while a few fairies landed on their shoulders, gently flapping their wings.
Professor Flitwick listened and nodded, "Very good, very interesting… but it's a lot of work, I'll have to call in other professors for help and get Professor McGonagall's permission…"
"Don't worry, Professor McGonagall will surely approve… but this scoreboard… can we make it? It sounds complex…" Michael said.
"It's not very difficult," Vid said, "I'll get Fred and George to help, we can have it done in an afternoon…"
"Then I can call on others to help." Michael said, "Padma can draw the sketches, Theo and I will work on the monster classifications, and scoring needs to be fair…"
"For building, we can enlist the older students."
"Cedric is very influential, he can call in a crowd to help with the work."
"Finished within a day?"
"No problem!" Michael confidently made an "OK" gesture.