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Feeling Lazy
Author: Nymphadora Tonks
Date: 05-17-07 20:30
Still on leave from work, Tonks found herself strangely listless when home. She was normally always on the go, even on her days off, but lately felt lazy and at peace with herself. She lazed around in bed until late morning and lounged around with a book or listened to the WWN in the afternoons, not wanting to do much else most of the time. She only felt energetic when Remus visited her.
The moment she laid eyes on him each day, her heart skipped a beat and she felt all the nerves in her arms and legs dance around madly, tingling all the more when he touched her skin. It was nice, finally having him see eye to eye with her on the matter of their relationship. For so long, she'd waited for him to see what they could have. She'd even gone to the point of making it her New Year's Resolution to move on, if he hadn't changed his mind about her before the new year.
Good thing he had changed his mind, and with almost six months to spare.
Remus was currently at St. Emrys, wrapping up the last day of Trinity Term. He'd promised to stop by later and cook supper for Tonks.
She, meanwhile, padded from her bedroom to her living room and flicked on the wireless with a lazy wave of her wand. She conjured a spoon and bowl of cereal and milk and sunk into the sofa, folding her legs beneath her.
As it happened, a news report on the recent dissolution of the second office of the Resistance in Paris currently aired. Tonks listened intently to the commentary until it ended and then changed the station to one playing music. She couldn't help but wonder how many offices of the Resistance there were. Cape Town had been #12 and Algiers had been #9. With Paris as #2, Tonks didn't get a clearer understanding of the quantity but did surmise that the Paris office must be one of the oldest and possibly more important ones.
Surprisingly, Tonks wasn't in such a hurry to jump back into work despite all her questions regarding the organization. She knew there were offices in Taipei and London and fully intended on resuming her investigations eventually, but the lazy feeling won out over everything else. She sank back into the pillows behind her and hummed along to the Weird Sisters song playing on the WWN while she finished her breakfast.
Diva Attitude
Author: Sage Porter
Date: 05-17-07 23:54
Sage walks into the Great Hall and goes straight to the Hufflepuff table. Much as he's looking forward to getting Herbology out of the way just after lunch, Sage hates that his last class as a fifth year is one with Aubrey. As if to punctuate his feelings, Euan intercepts Sage just a few feet from the Hufflepuff table.
"Aubrey would like to speak with you."
"Then Aubrey needs to come tell me that herself."
"Over at the Gryffindor table," Euan continues on as if Sage hadn't just spoken.
Sage rolls his eyes and turns slightly to go around Euan. The older boy shoves his palm against Sage's shoulder. "I said Aubrey wants to speak to you."
Sage turns to look Euan in the eyes. "Tell your sister that I don't ask how high when she says jump. If Aubrey has something she wants to say, then she comes to me and says it. She doesn't send her bulldog to fetch me."
Ignoring Euan's angrey protest at being called his sister's bulldong, Sage moves along to the table and sits down, already asking Jim to pass the platter of sandwiches. A shadow falls across the table. Sage looks up into Euan's angry face.
"What is with you, Porter? It's a simple request. My sister wants to talk to you so you need to go talk," Euan growls.
"What is with you and your sister, Abercrombie, that you both think the world revolves around her? She and I haven't been dating for awhile now and even when we were, I never ran to be at her side when she snapped her fingers. For the last time, if Aubrey wants to talk, she can come over and tell me that herself. I'll be here until just before 12:30 and then I'll be on my way to Herbology. That's a class, by the way, that Aubrey has as well. If she's still dying to talk to me after lunch, she can always say what she has to say on our way to the greenhouses."
Euan makes a grunting noise but for once wisely stops pushing the matter. A few seconds later Jim tells Sage, "Euan's telling Aubrey what you said. She doesn't look very happy about it."
"That's too bad," Sage replies with a shrug.
He doesn't bother looking over at the Gryffindor table to see her reaction himself. Although Sage hasn't dated anyone since Aubrey, he's moved on. Every time something like this happens, Sage becomes more convnced that break off with Aubrey was something he should have done sooner.
Halfway through his lunch, another shadow falls across Sage. When he looks up this time it's the diva herself. Aubrey looks peeved and stands with hands on hips.
"You know, Sage, I was going to give you a second chance. We could have made the most of the time between now and when I leave for Milan,. You'd have something more to look forward to each day than whatever OWL is being taken to be over. Let me tell you though, you've blown it. We are entirely over, Sage Porter!"
Sage has an urge to laugh. Jim actually does laugh aloud, earning him a scorching look from Aubrey. After boring a hole through Jim with her hard gaze, she turns it back to Sage, petulently demanding, "Well?"
"Well what?"
"Are you going to say something?"
"Nothing to say, Aubrey. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to finish eating before it's time for class."
Making a growling noise very similar to one that Euan had made, Aubrey turns and stomps off. Sage can't help but roll his eyes again and wonder why it had taken him so long to realize what a queen diva Aubrey Abercrombie can be.
Jim, who'd watched Aubrey walk away, says to no one in particular, "Too bad she probably won't make it as a high fashion model in Milan like she's wanting."
Duncan Day, sitting directly across from Jim, asks, "Why do you say that?"
"She's too short," is Jim's matter of fact answer.
"How do you know?" Duncan asks.
"It's common knowledge. High fashion models, especially ones doing a lot of runway work, are always tall. Aubrey's thin enough but not tall enough."
Olivia O'Toole nods. "That is true. How do you know that though, Jim?"
"I have a cousin who models. She's tall and thin but still ends up doing mainly catalog work because she's not considered tall enough by the industry standards to be truly in when it comes to the world of high fashion."
Sage doesn't say anything as the conversation continues. He does, however, silently hope Aubrey the best and that she doesn't eventually realize that quitting school to model full time was a huge mistake. Sage might find Aubrey's attitude to be too diva-ish but that doesn't mean he wishes her to fail.
When it's time to head to Herbology, Sage waits to leave the Great Hall until he's sure Aubrey has left. When he does leave, Olivia walks along beside him asking, "So, Sage, what are your plans this summer?"
Last Day at St. Emrys University
Author: Hermione Granger
Date: 05-18-07 15:21
Hermione had just given her very last presentation to Dr. Mallory, the professor overseeing her research projects the last three terms at Oxford, and had thereby wrapped up her third and final year in the pre-med program. She'd never considered herself a quitter before, but Hermione simply knew that she could not continue on with her studies at both Oxford and St. Emrys. She wasn't superhuman, after all, even with all her magical abilities. Perhaps someday, if she still longed to finish her studies in medicine, she could continue where she left off, but for now she would only pursue healing. She had three years of medical rotations ahead of her before she'd officially be a healer in her own right.
Hermione still had one more final to go, however, and it was this afternoon in Potion and Plant Poisoning class. She presently sat in Orange, picking at her lunch while she reviewed her notes.
Unfortunately, Hermione had a lot on her mind and found it very difficult to focus on the task at hand. It disappointed her greatly that once again, she'd been too slow in finding a solution to a family member's serious problem. True, Bill wasn't her biological family, but the Weasleys and Harry were like Hermione's family, especially since she no longer had her own. Hermione had searched every reference she knew of, and many more beyond that for the mysterious powder that had caused Bill to eventually fall into his coma. She feared that he would suffer the exact same fate her father had, that he would lie unconscious for years and then die.
She fervently wished for a better outcome.
She lifted her head to the sound of the legs of the chair in front of her scraping over the floor. Ron seated himself opposite her with a tray of food.
"Hey," he murmured.
"Hey."
He looked tired and extremely upset.
Hermione's heart went out to him, but before she could say anything to him he told her that Harry and Janine had invited them to hit a few parties that evening that some of their classmates were throwing to signal not only the end of term but also their graduation. "I could use a bit of a distraction," Ron added. "Do you want to come with us?"
Hermione nodded her head. "Absolutely." Frankly, she could use the distraction too and spending time with her closest friends was something she didn't often do these days anyway.
Noting the time, she got up suddenly and stuffed her notes into her book. She stepped out from behind the table and stopped by Ron, dropping a kiss onto his cheek. "I'm going to be late to my final if I don't leave now. I'll see you later."
"Good luck," Ron offered, managing a smile. "Not that you really need it."
"I need it," Hermione replied. She squeezed Ron's shoulder and then left Orange to take her last final at St. Emrys University.
Last Few Days to Cram
Author: Fritz Schnackenpfefferhausen
Date: 05-18-07 17:29
Directly after Fritz's last class, History of Magic, he goes to Ravenclaw Tower to pick up all of his books and notes. Domino weaves between his legs, demanding attention, but Fritz can only spare the kneazle a quick scratch behind the ears before he's out the door for the library. His book bag is so heavy that he winds up putting a featherweight spell on it, so that he doesn't have to break his back carrying it from the Ravenclaw common room to the library.
The library is precisely the way Fritz imagines it is: completely overflowing with franctic fifth and seventh years attempting to get some last minute studying in before OWLs and NEWTs begin on Monday. Fritz winds up walking the entire length of the library two times in a bid to find an empty table or study carrell before he finally finds an available seat. He only gets it because its previous occupant winds up getting escorted to the Hospital Wing by one of the library house elves.
Fritz sits down, nodding his head to the others at the same table who dare look up from their own work to see who is joining them, and then begins pulling out his study material. Monday's OWL exam is Charms, so he decides to start with his Charms notes. After that it'll be Transfiguration, Herbology, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. He'll have a break from exams Friday morning, since that's when the Ancient Runes OWL will take place, and he doesn't take that course. He will have Arithmancy that afternoon, though, so he won't get much of a break after all.
The following week it'll be Potions, Care of Magical Creatures and Astronomy. Because Astronomy is both in the morning and in the evening, he'll have a break Wednesday afternoon. Thursday and Friday morning will also be free, with his final OWL, History of Magic, scheduled for Friday. It's a long road ahead until the end, but Fritz can already see the end in sight. He just hopes he passes everything so that he can get into all the NEWT classes he wants to take next year!
No Day But Today
Author: Remus Lupin
Date: 05-18-07 20:17
Remus locked his office door and walked along the dark green line on the floor to the administration offices, where he submitted his grades for term. He'd just completed his second year, his sixth term, at St. Emrys University. Remus had known that he'd loved teaching when he first taught at Hogwarts years ago, but found teaching older students even more enjoyable. Most of them were in his classes because they wanted to be there. Hogwarts students didn't have much of a choice most of the time.
Nevertheless, Remus was glad summer holidays had finally come. Now he could spend time getting to know Tonks better. He knew very well that he'd been a grand fool when it came to dealing with her affections from him. He had liked her very much, but had felt that his age and ailment made him ill-fit for someone as young and vibrant as Tonks. She'd persisted, despite everything, and yet Remus had still said no. It had taken her almost dying for Remus to realize how daft he'd been. Life was too short to have regrets. There was no day like the present day.
Especially when someone like Fenrir Greyback was back on the streets.
Remus read the Daily Prophet every morning, seeking out any news on Fenrir or werewolf attacks. Before being sent to Azkaban, Fenrir had been on a monthly spree in which he attacked children and killed anyone in their vicinity. One of Lupin's worries upon learning of Greyback's flight from prison had been the continuation of the Death Eater's game. Would he continue where he left off? His last attack had been in Iverness, but his copycat, Acheron Rookwood, who'd been the unfortunate victim of a dementor during the mass breakout at Azkaban, had been captured in Manchester, exactly where Fenrir's first attack in the ABC spree had taken place.
The last full moon had been ten days ago, but Fenrir had either remained low key or his crimes hadn't been discovered. Remus had been relieved not to find a story about another werewolf attack in the paper but was sorry that Fenrir was still on the loose. At least it seemed unlikely that Remus would once again be accused of the wizard's crimes. His name had been cleared right and proper the last time.
After visiting the administration offices, Remus went to the nearest home and called out Tonks' address. He arrived, swirling up soot onto the carpet before the fireplace, and found Tonks sprawled out on the sofa, sucking on a fruit smoothee through a thick straw.
Her eyes lit up the moment she saw him, and she leapt up, tossing the cup onto the end table, and threw herself into Lupin's arms.
"Hi!!" she exclaimed.
He chuckled and hugged her. "Hi. I'm getting you sooty."
"That's OK!" She pulled away from him and used her wand to clean them both and the carpet. Then she took his briefcase and tossed it onto the coffee table. She hugged him again, squeezing him tightly.
Lupin chuckled again, resting his chin onto her head. Her hair had gone from the mousy brown she'd worn it lately to bright pink again. "What say you to dinner?" he asked.
"I don't want to go out, but let's cook something together," Tonks suggested.
"How about spaghetti?" asked Remus.
"Perfecto!"
Chuckling some more, Remus led Tonks into the kitchen and set her to boiling a pot of water while he rummaged around her cubbard for some pasta sauce.