Firstie Heist
From Np Hogwarts
[Charmed. Only readers aged 13 and older can read the true document. Anyone younger reads a list of the natural flora and fauna found on the Hogwarts Grounds.]
A tradition enacted in the last decade at Hogwarts, the Firstie Heist occurs on the first day of the term in January. A successful heist will capture and hold three firsties – one from each other House – before the other Houses are able to do the same. To announce the winning of the race to “collect them all,” a representative from the winning House goes to the Great Hall and leaves a charmed banner floating, announcing that their house has won the Heist and that ransom must be paid. The losing Houses must pay ransom in the form of sweets or acts of humiliation in order to get their firsties returned to their proper dormitory before curfew.
The original Heist was performed by a small group of Slytherins at the end of the Winter Hols who decided it would be fun to kidnap firsties in order to benefit from the sweets that their fellow students brought from home.
These Slytherins then grew up to be of no particular social or political importance.
However, contemporary to these Slytherins were Ravenclaws Anton Pilot and Gerry Flav, [See pages 815 and 1080 respectively.] who heard of the plot and heisted firsties in self-defense. Though the first Heist was won by the Slytherins, no heist has been won by them since.
Like most traditions at Hogwarts, there are strict rules and regulations that are to be abided by.
1) All documentation about the Heist must be charmed so that no one under the age of thirteen can read it. This way, no firstie (who may be aged 11 or 12) will be able to read about their impending doom adventure and plan accordingly. This excludes many second years from being able to read the information on the heist, and thus second years are traditionally neither heisted nor heisting.
2) No one may speak about the heist to firsties either – the tradition is founded on the element of surprise. All third through seventh years are thus bound to secrecy and denial when it comes to questioning by firsties about the heist.
3) The Heist may not begin until breakfast ends, as every firstie has the right to one meal before they are ensconced in an unfamiliar common room for the rest of the day. As an addendum to this rule, no firstie should see another firstie being heisted – this ensures that everyone has the same advantage of surprise. As well, it is a lot of fun for the firsties to wonder where the others have gone.
4) Firsties are not able to be hoarded. Gryffindors in 2000 tried to heist all of the Ravenclaw firsties, and were disqualified as they violated the spirit of fairness in the game. They were also unsuccessful in getting the Ravenclaw Firsties to do their homework. Curiously, for many weeks afterwards, Potions essays turned in by Gryffindors expounded on the proper milk-to-chocolate ratio for chocolate milk, rather than the proper topic.
5) No headlines should be made of the Firstie Heist. No letters home should be written. The Heist is a tradition which should stay within the walls of Hogwarts, and not spoken of to parents or to younger siblings. No firstie should be harmed, no firstie should end up in the Hospital Wing. Though, any injuries sustained by those heisting should be openly mocked. An eleven year old – a first year! – got the better of you.
