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Olympia and Arsinoe at Career Day
Author: Illyria
Date: 02-05-16 14:36
Olympia manned her usual table at the annual Hogwarts Career Day and spoke to interested students about what it was like being an obliviator for the Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. Most students found it rather cool that she wiped or modified memories for a living.
It was cool, but a job like that came with a lot of responsibility and required an extremely ethical constitution. Olympia couldn't just change anybody's memory on a whim without consequences (and most likely prosecution), and all her assignments came with very specific instructions.
In order to become an obliviator, not only did one have to be morally sound, but one had to be extremely skilled at performing charms. Messing with the brain could lead to major problems if a charm didn't go as planned. The wrong memories might get suppressed, or memories could get changed for the worse. Severe brain trauma could happen, too.
Advancements in healing over the years did seem to help in terms of recovering lost memories, but it was much better to get it right the first time than to cause someone an unintentional life-altering problem. Being an obliviator was serious business!
Olympia wasn't the only Jones sister in the Great Hall on Career Day. Arisnoe was nearby, talking about her work as an apothecary at St. Mungo's Hospital. It was her job to dispense healing potions and herbs to patients, usually via a nurse. She was also responsible for brewing the potions not purchased through a specific vendor.
Working in an apothecary meant that one had to be knowledgeable in Potions and Herbology, as well as healing to some extent. Arsinoe didn't have to know all the ins and outs of treating a patient, but she had to know which potion or herb best reversed a particular condition and which ones would cause a patient to worsen. Certain potions and herbs weren't necessary always the right remedy, depending on what was wrong with the patient.
Illyria stopped by Arsinoe's table after a group of children walked away to peruse someone else's booth.
"You look terrible," Arsinoe commented.
Illyria wore no makeup and had her hair in a simple ponytail. She wore plain grey robes that made her pale skin look even more washed-out. "I feel terrible," she admitted. "What do you recommend for morning sickness?"
"I'll owl you what I always use for myself," Arsinoe said.
"I don't know how you've done this four times already," Illyria said. "I'm barely into my pregnancy and I'm already thinking this will be the one and only time."
Arsinoe laughed. "Wait till the baby's born, and then you'll change your mind. Trust me."
"So does that mean you want more children?"
Arsinoe laughed again. "Quin and I want to try one more time. He wants a boy, but he'll settle for being the only man in the house if #5 does turn out to be another girl."
It was Illyria's turn to laugh. "Are you competing with Erigone for number of children?" Erigone was due two months before Illyria with her fourth child, and she recently found out she was having a girl. That made two boys and two girls for the Jones-Bones family.
"Maybe," Arsinoe replied, laughing. "You should join in on the fun."
Illyria touched her unsettled and still small belly and shook her head. "I so very doubt it."
Arsinoe laughed. "Look, Olympia is free. You should go say hello. Looks like I've got a gaggle of kids heading my way."
Illyria took her sister's advice and headed over to chat with Olympia, who had two boys and couldn't have anymore children unless she decided to adopt.
Hermione the Healer
Author: Hermione Granger
Date: 02-05-16 17:32
"What is the worst disease you ever treated?" asked a student who looked like a first year but was actually a few years older.
"When still a trainee healer, I once assisted with a patient suffering from Scrofungulus. It's a very contagious disease affecting the neck, and it can also be fatal."
The student instinctively raised her hands to her own neck, as if to make sure there wasn't anything abnormal about it.
Hermione smiled to herself and added, "My speciality is actually spell damage, so I don't typically treat disease in my line of work. That's not to say that some of the things I've encountered aren't infectious––some spell damage can be passed on from wizard to wizard––but for the most part, every case is an isolated event."
The student seemed satisfied with the state of her neck and lowered her hands. She asked, "What is the worst case of spell damage you ever saw?"
Hermione thought about it for a quick moment. She had seen plenty of terrible things, some gruesome and some awful and amusing but definitely not appropriate for sharing with the students of Hogwarts. She played it safe by giving an example of something she treated recently.
"Just yesterday, I treated a patient who'd used the Sonorus charm on himself to ill effects. His voice was so loud, he shattered all the glass around him when he talked and even burst some eardrums. Luckily, he'd stopped talking by the time he reached St. Mungo's, so my ears and the windows were spared."
The student cocked her head to the side and said, "Yeah, but is that really the worst kind of spell damage you ever treated?"
Hermione pressed her lips together in a tight smile. "Well, it certainly would have been if he hadn't resorted to writing everything down yesterday."
Maybe she would have gotten her eardrums healed and been able to attend Career Day today, but given how many others would have been injured yesterday, she might not have been a priority case. Or, she'd have to work at the hospital to help heal everyone else affected. It could have been bad, but no, it wasn't the worst case of spell damage she'd ever seen.
"Is there anything else you'd like to know about healing?" Hermione asked.
The girl mulled over the question for a moment, opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it again and shook her head. "No, thanks. I'm going to talk to the Quidditch players now. I want to know what the worst injuries they ever suffered are."
Hermione smiled politely and waved goodbye to the girl. "Enjoy the rest of your day," she said.
Another girl came up a moment later. Unlike the previous girl, this one didn't seem fixated by terrible diseases and accidents. Instead, she asked about the types of courses one needed to take in order to become a healer. She wanted to know how many years of extra schooling and training she needed and whether she had to know what she wanted to specialize in from the very beginning. Hermione happily answered all her questions, using her own experience for reference.
A Passion (Jasper & Liannah)
Author: Aaron Miller
Date: 02-05-16 18:53
Jasper lightly leans against Liannah's shoulder. "I just don't know."
"You mean you aren't like Baron Marchbanks and have known what you wanted to do in life since you were in nappies?"
Jasper makes a face at his cousin. "Of course I've known but I've come to realize that being a professional Exploding Snap player is more of a hobby than a career."
Liannah laughs then asks, "Where do you want to start? Is there a booth that seems more appealing?"
Jasper heavily expels air. "I'm starting to think I'll just be a bum. A vagrant. I'll live off donations I'll get for being really good at asking for handouts."
"That will go over well with your parents."
"What about you? Still want to go into fashion?"
"In a manner of speaking. I want to design but not clothes. I want to design the fabrics."
"Huh?"
"The patterns and colors."
"Oh, right. I thought you were thinking of being a healer or something else health related."
"For a long time I thought about all that and about law as well but I've got a passion for fabric design. Everything else I just think of as eh, it would be a decent job."
"A passion, huh?"
"Yes."
"I've got a passion too."
"Oh? Well then that's where we start."
Jasper leads Liannah over to a refreshment table. At her confused expression he says, "I have a passion for a Danish. You want something?"
Botanicals and Beyond at Career Day
Author: Travis
Date: 02-06-16 11:12
Travis offers a student a candy from a tray. The boy scrutinizes the different shapes, colors, and sizes, pointing to one and asking, "What's this one?"
"That is a licorice wheel that doesn't have anise seed oil like some licorice candy does."
"And this one?"
"Chamomile and honey candy. It not only tastes good but can be medicinal, such as helping if you have a cold."
"You made all this from things in your shoppe?"
"Yes, and the biscuits and ice cream."
"I knew from Herbology class some tasty things could be made from herbs and other plants but I didn't know how much." Realizing he's more or less implied plants don't have much food value he amends, "I meant for sweets and that sort of thing."
"But even a number of vegetables can be used for sweets of various types. Carrot cake. Zucchini bread. Potato candy."
"Potato candy? Never heard of that."
"Popular in the States are sweets from sweet potatoes and yams but regular potato candy is from those same potatoes you'd have as a jacket potato*."
"Huh."
They speak for another few minutes, the sixth year boy full of questions. When he leaves it's with a piece of the chamomile and honey candy and a green tea fairy cake.
Alone with her thoughts for a moment before she's approached by more curious students, Travis attempts not to dwell on her frustration with the pace of the secret investigation against Ogden Fitzmorris. With the help of Kellen Fitzmorris, Travis has accumulated quite a bit of evidence against Ogden but the rate they've been going hasn't been much faster than what she was doing on her own. This is on Kellen's insistence.
Kellen wants no chance of Ogden figuring out someone's on to him. Travis sometimes puts out there that the slower the go and the longer they take, the more chance Ogden has of just that. Kellen counters that a good investigation of this sort is best done slowly. As he seems to know what he's talking about, Travis has deferred to him. Unfortunately, in the meantime Ogden has attempted to become closer with Travis, even implying at one of Morticia's parties that they are now a couple.
Shuddering at the thought of officially, or even unofficially, being Ogden's girlfriend and how Morticia and Ogden's mother are doing their best to assist Ogden in bringing the two of them together - Morticia even said just the other day how lovely spring weddings are - Travis forces herself back to the here and now. Better to think about Career Day and having a smile for those who come to the Botanicals & Beyond booth than to think about the odious Ogden Fitzmorris.
Though Neville works for her now in only a limited capacity, what with being full-time at St. Emrys University, he's coming in soon to help her out as he's often done for these Hogwarts Career Days. When he gets here, she thinks she'll take a bit of a break to walk around, talk to a few people, and get a bite to eat. And to not think further about Ogden and the sluggish investigation.
Isolde and Mark
Author: Isolde
Date: 02-06-16 11:49
Isolde stood next to a table with a trifold display board with photographs of the various British and Irish Quidditch Little League teams on it, including some actual game action. Obviously, her table had nothing to do with actually playing Quidditch professionally, since the members of the Little League were all under the age of eleven. Instead, Isolde was at Career Day to talk about coaching, and specifically about coaching children vs professional players.
"Coaching in the Little League isn't for everyone," Isolde explained to a group of girls from her own former house, Slytherin. "You have to like children, for one."
There was some laughter at that comment. Isolde herself hadn't exactly been all that keen on little kids when she'd first started coaching, but after nine seasons with the League, they'd certainly grown on her. In fact, she finally felt ready to become a parent herself.
"You also have to be prepared to deal with the parents who sometimes don't agree with the role you've given their child," Isolde went on, thinking about a recent encounter with a mother who insisted her child play seeker and first string at that, even though the child's talent really lay elsewhere.
"Are the rules different in the Little League?" asked one of the girls. She had bright red hair and the demeanor of a mean girl, though she didn't appear rude or insubordinate while talking to Isolde.
Isolde nodded. "Yes. The biggest difference is the games are timed. It's not like in a professional match, where the game will go on forever until the snitch is caught."
"Makes sense," the girl said. She looked over to her friends when they started giggling and saw that they were staring at one of the other volunteers. Isolde followed their gaze and realized they were looking at her cousin. She decided not to enlighten them with the fact that the object of their desire was related to her or even someone she knew.
The girls wandered off in his direction without so much as a thank you or a goodbye. They queued up in front of the table, which had to do with the Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Transportation. Besides the cute younger wizard, there was another guy there who seemed to be doing most of the talking.
Mark didn't expect to be at Career Day, but his boss asked him to assist Kastor Jorgenson at the very last minute. Assisting pretty much consisted of fetching Kastor something to eat or drink every so often or replenishing the flyers and giveaways on the table. Otherwise, Mark felt rather useless and wished he could spend his Saturday anywhere else.
He had moved in with his mother after Christmas. Living with her was a temporary solution until he found himself a flat. Mark still didn't feel entirely comfortable around his mother, given how she had lied to him for so very long, but deep down he really wanted things to go back to the way they were. It helped that she'd insisted he move in, and it was obvious that she was trying to repair their relationship too.
Mark had not seen or heard from Capri since Christmas. He didn't so much care about how she was, but he did think about Zoe from time to time. Was the baby all right? Did she miss him? At least she was young and would forget him eventually.
A gaggle of girls appeared in front of the table. Mark casually looked them over but didn't say anything, since Kastor was the one doing the presenting. All of them except one had flirty smiles on their faces.
Andromeda Brycin wore an expression Mark couldn't quite decipher. He doubted that she was angry for what he'd done to Capri, since as long as he had known them, the two sisters had never gotten along. If anything, he figured Andromeda would revel in Capri's misfortune. Nevertheless, the red-haired Slytherin girl did not seem pleased to see him there.
Vanderbilts at Career Day
Author: Griet
Date: 02-06-16 13:48
"So are you basically an auror?"
Cornelia snorted. "No. I'm so much better than an auror."
The boy speaking with her raised his eyebrows but didn't respond.
"It's not like I'm not bound by the law," Cornelia explained, "but I don't work for the government and therefore tend to have a lot more freedom. I get an assignment and I can tackle it however I wish––lawfully, of course. If you're an auror, then you have to do what your supervisor says, and sometimes you've got a partner or a group of other aurors you're working with. 99% of the time, I work alone, which is exactly how I like it."
"But what do you do with a criminal once you catch them? Send them directly to jail?"
"Well, no," Cornelia admitted. "That's when we call someone over from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. We're not the same entity but we still work together in the end."
"Sounds interesting," the boy remarked. "What subjects should I take at St. Emrys to be a recovery agent?"
"None," Cornelia answered. "Why would you want to go to university anyway? Aren't you tired of school?"
Griet was at the next table and actually laughed out loud when she heard her sister's question. Luckily, she wasn't talking to anybody at the moment, or it would have been evident that she wasn't giving her undivided attention to the students visiting her table.
She was at Career Day representing the field of human resources on behalf of the company for which she worked, HR Solutions. Students were interested to hear that she sacked wizards for a living and generally found the position powerful and exciting, but Griet knew better. Telling someone they no longer had a job was a terrible and difficult thing.
She thought about Gervaise, who was still sleeping on Cornelia's sofa. She wished she could get him a job at her place of work, but he would never accept her charity, and he most certainly wouldn't want to be her coworker. Her job was stressful enough without him being there anyway.
"Has anyone ever threatened you for being let go?" asked a student after reading some of the information Griet had posted at her table.
Griet thought about Gervaise again and then shook her head. "Not really, but I wouldn't be surprised if it ever happened. No one wants to hear they don't have a job anymore, and unfortunately, emotions can get the better of anyone."
"Why did you want to become an Exit Liaison?"
"I'll admit it wasn't my planned career," Griet said. "When I was at St. Emrys, I got interested in business, and after I graduated, I was hired on by my company. It was just one of those things that happened."
"Do you think you'll keep doing it?"
"For now," Griet said. "I haven't been in my position for very long, but I imagine unless you are a cold-hearted sort of person, this is one field most individuals will find discouraging after a while."
It took sacking a friend for Griet to become discouraged, but then firing strangers wasn't exactly easy either.
"Thanks for your time," said the student, who then wandered off to listen to Cornelia tell a story about a criminal she subdued. Griet listened in too until another student came up to speak with her.
Harebell Inn
Author: Nathaniel Ross
Date: 02-06-16 14:21
It was nice to be back to Hogwarts for Career Day. However this time Nate was not representing the Muggle Relations field. He and Jenny had their own booth, this time under the category 'hospitality'. The inn had not open yet, but they wanted to share their knowledge of the branch with the students. Jenny was also hoping to recruit students who might be interested in a summer job at the inn. They had planned to open the inn after Jenny graduated from St. Emrys, right before the Hogwarts school year ended.
Nate greeted Hecubia and Mortimer, their previous work colleagues with a wave. Later, he had plans to talk to them, see how they were doing. But now it was time to answer possible questions students might have. For his surprise Bowen approached.
"Harebell Inn," he read, picking up a brochure with the photograph of the cottage, and a violet colored flower painted next to the name. Jenny had made brochures in case a student might take some with them, and who knows show it to their parents or mention it on a letter. She was eager to advertise as much as could, even if Nate reminded her that was not the goal of Career Day. "You finally decided the name! But I think The Goodnight Inn would be way funnier."
During the Christmas holidays, when Bowen learned that Jenny and Nate were picking names for the inn, he had suggested using his surname. It was a funny idea, but Jenny wanted something more serious. They ended up choosing Harebell. It was the name of a violet colored flower that grew in Yorkshire, where the inn was located. Besides, harebells were also known as witch's bells or witch's thimbles, and since the place was run by a witch, they thought it would match the place. It also had that countryside simplicity, which they hoped to pass to the inn.
"Interested in a career in hospitality?" Nate asked.
"Nah. I was hoping you would offer me a free night at the inn, when it opened," he joked. "I could bring my friend Pelinore along."
Bowen's parents were Muggles and Nate knew he wanted to invite his friend Pelinore to his house for a few days, during the summer. But Mr. and Mrs. Goodnight did not feel comfortable with the idea of having another wizard under their roof. Nate knew his mother had offered to take Pelinore at her home and use Nate's old bedroom, but now that Nate moved back in after his father's death, it had not been possible.
"You'll have to ask Jenny about that," Nate ended up saying.
"I thought you were also the manager."
"In theory. But you know how women are. They like to boss us men around," he joked.
"I've heard that!" Jenny said, after a student she was talking too stepped away. "Interested on a career in hospitality, Bowen?" she asked, repeating Nate's earlier question.
"No, thanks. Actually I need to keep going. I've homework to do. Nice to see you," and he walked away.
Another student approached and both Nate and Jenny were happy to answer her questions. At first he wasn't feeling that confident about talking about the management of an inn, but now he was feeling more comfortable about it. It made him happy to talk about what he had accomplished so far, and what he hoped to be a stable business. A hard working one, yes, but satisfactory no less. And Jenny would be there at his side. Somehow, that had become the best part of all this for him.