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(Enid) Houseguest
Author: Ronan Eastwick
Date: 02-03-09 18:21
Enid studied the young woman seated opposite her at the dining table. Until Saturday, when the young woman had arrived quite unexpectedly via floo, Enid hadn't known Urania Jones personally. She'd known, from her observations of Caden before he knew of her return, that Urania had dated Caden for a short while. Caden himself had never discussed Urania with his mother, but Enid had made it her business to know everything about her son, whether he confided in her or not.
The young woman who sat before her now looked sickly and thin, but Enid could tell that she had once been beautiful. With time, she would look like her old self again.
Enid could have cast her out of the house the moment she arrived and probably would have, had the haggard appearance of the girl not reminded her of what Ronan must have looked like during his stay at Happy Haven. Enid had no way of knowing for sure, since she hadn't seen him then and still hadn't found him to see how he fared now, but she could imagine the similarities between her son and Urania Jones. Besides, Urania knew Ronan personally and sympathized with Enid over his absence.
In the end, Enid had decided to take it upon herself to protect the girl. She clothed and fed her (in moderation, as long as she wasn't used to eating much), and promised she would do what she could to find Urania's family, after she found her own, of course.
Enid hadn't given up on Ronan yet. Although she didn't know for certain, she felt strongly that he was somewhere safe now. Still, she longed for the reunion between them and hoped it would happen soon. When not out searching for clues or meeting contacts of hers throughout the world, Enid used every method of divination to find Ronan, but her gift had yet to help her locate him.
"This is good," Urania remarked, jarring Enid from her thoughts of Ronan.
Enid gave the younger woman a stiff smile. "Thank you."
She'd made creamy potato soup for dinner, thinking it something light enough for Urania to eat without filling her up too much or making her abused stomach feel uncomfortable. Urania still had a long way to go before she could eat like a normal person again. She might regain her health, but Enid wondered if Urania would ever truly be the same again. She hadn't asked the younger woman much about what she'd endured while at Goen Bren, but Urania had spoken freely about it, as if she wanted to get everything off her chest. As Enid had listened, she'd once again thought of Ronan and the horrors he must have endured at Happy Haven. It had made her long for the reunion all the more.
And then, as if everything were finally going her way, an owl started pecking at the window in the dining room. Both heads swiveled in the direction of the sound, and it was Enid he rose and admitted the barn owl into the room. It swooped into the room and landed on the table, where it unfolded one of its legs and revealed a tiny, rolled up piece of parchment previously concealed.
Enid took the note from the bird's leg and unfurled the tight roll.
R safe. Galata Bridge. 29-3, 16:00.
Enid looked up sharply at Urania's question, "Is everything all right?"
Enid didn't want to get her hopes up, but she couldn't help but feel elated by the mysterious note. She cocked her head to the side and studied the younger woman for a long moment before she asked, "You wouldn't happen to know where Galata Bridge is, do you?"
Dumbledore's Story
Author: Jet
Date: 02-03-09 18:46
Entering the room, Jet finds it already crowded. Word has not spread yet that Albus Dumbledore has been found alive and as well as could be under the circumstances but of those who are in the know most, if not all, are pressed together in this room. From their expressions, they are all as impatient as Jet to hear Dumbledore's story.
Wending his way across the room to get a good spot, Jet scowls. If not for his Blood Hound device, the others here would be no closer to figuring out even where to narrow down the search. It's only right and fitting Jet is in one of the comfortable chairs near Dumbledore.
Jet's scowl deepens, not at the others but at himself. Dark thoughts constantly plague him. At times Jet thinks he'll go mad or, worse, give in to them again.
Plopping down into an airchair, Jet scans the room again. It's the biggest in this house but by most standards it's still a small room. Perhaps a different location should have been chosen. The mansion at St. John's Wood has ample room. Even its broom closets are bigger than this room.
Then again, perhaps if something larger had been chosen, the urge to tell more people, to have more come and see for themselves, to hear the story the first time it's told would have been too great. The limited number who currently know and this small cottage were Dumbledore's requests.
Voices quiet and those standing move to find seats or spots along the walls. Albus Dumbledore enters, supported on one side by Aberforth Dumbledore and on the other by Arthur Weasley. There's far more color in the man's cheeks than there had been on Saturday when Hermione and Jet rescued him. Dumbledore's hair and beard are much neater, trimmed and cleaned. Dumbledore is a thinner but not as much as Jet would have thought.
Seated now, Dumbledore raises a hand in greeting. "Hello, my friends, it is very good to see all of you again. Forgive my frail voice. It has grown thin and raspy from disuse.
Much has happened since I vanished nearly two years ago. We have much to accomplish if we are to undo the evil wrought across Great Britain; but first, I do believe I promised to give an accounting of what became of me.
I was to attend a conference. Just prior to leaving I received an owl carrying the message that the venue was changed. The seals and signatures were as they should be so I left for the new venue. When I arrived, there was a woman who said she was the official greeter. She came forward and shook my hand.
When next I was aware of my surroundings, I was magically bound and my wand lost to me. I can only surmise that the woman had a potion on her hand that rendered me instantly unconsious or if she used a spell, it was so potent that I do not recall her ever bringing her wand to bear.
The woman had shed her disguise, revealing herself to be Euphemia Smythe-Jones. I was given a choice: die on the spot or step into the mirror."
Ginny Weasley asks, "Why do you think she didn't just simply kill you, Professor?"
"I have long thought about that, my dear. I can only offer theories."
Severus Snape drawls, "I'm sure we'd all love to hear them but there are more pressing things at the moment."
Jet wants to hear Dumbledore's theories but thinks Snape has a point. Others jump in with their own comments only quiting down when Dumbledore's begins speaking again. "I shall be happy to share my thoughts with those wishing to hear them when time allows. Now, however, I believe we need to discuss when I would like the others in the Order,"
"And the Resistance," someone says.
"Yes, thank you. We need to discuss when I would like the others in the Order and the Resistance to know I am of the real world once more and when this information should reach Ministry ears."
Everyone starts talking at once again, clammoring for their ideas and suggestions to be heard and discussed. For the most part, Jet sits there quietly, listening to what's being said but offering up none of his own opinions.
Who's The Other Woman
Author: Jared
Date: 02-04-09 18:08
Fitness & Athletics had ended a few minutes early with Coach Batuti reminding the seven years, "Meet down on the pitch next week unless it's pouring rain. Meet here if it is."
Jared suggests, "Grab a snack in the commons?"
Alanna laughs, "It's not been all that long since breakfast."
"I worked it all off and it's ages till lunch. Coming with, Sage?"
"Meet you there. I have to owl off a reply to that Esperanza person that my stepmum has me writing."
Looping his fingers through Alanna's, Jared and she walk to the common commons, talking about the Herbology assignment due today and what magazine Professor Farnon will read during class. As they enter the commons, Jared says, "If you're right, I'll carry your books for the rest of the term."
Playfully nudging him, Alanna grins. "You carry my books anyway. You'll have to do better than that."
"But what if you don't win? What if I win? Want anything?"
"Raspberry lemonade, please. Oh, are those fresh baked chocolate chip biscuits from Briar's?"
The aromantic scent of the still warm cookies wafts by them. Jared says, "Looks like."
"I'll have one of those as well. A big one. A big, really gooey one."
"I thought you said it was too soon after breakfast to be eating again," Jared chuckles.
"Fresh baked biscuits from Briar's don't count. Besides, maybe they were made by...," Alanna's voice trails off and she shrugs.
Jared supposes Alanna was about to say that maybe the cookies were made by Ariella. With a few House Elves in the commons who might go tattling to Snider if Alanna mentions the sister she claims to have nothing more to do with, it's little wonder Alanna chooses not to finish her thought.
Jared impulsively leans over and kisses Alanna then goes over to the counter to get their orders. When he returns and is placing her drink and large, ooey, gooey, chocolate chip cookie in front of her, Alanna says, "I have given some thought to the wager. If I win, I will tell you after Herbology what you'll have to do to pay."
"That hardly seems fair," Jared laughs.
"Coward," Alanna teases, a twinkle in her eyes.
"I accept the bet. If I win, hmmmm, what should you have to do? Or what should you have to allow me to do?"
"What does that mean?"
"Oh, like say, what if I wanted to go on a date with someone else?"
Alanna's eyebrows quirk upward. "Are you saying you're tired of me already?"
"Hardly!" Jared reaches for a napkin only to realize he's knocked it on the floor, as he bends to retrieve it he mutters, "Not when I waited more than six and a half years for you."
"What was that?"
Sitting back up, Jared's face flushes slightly. He hadn't meant to actually say that aloud. "Nothing."
"So who's the other woman?"
"Who said there is one?"
Sage walks up as this exchange is taking place. Sliding into a chair he asks Alanna, "Jared finally coming clean on his unrequited love for Snider? Maybe you'd have a better chance against her, Alanna, if you grew a mustache."
By the time the three leave the commons to walk to Herbology, their sides hurt from laughing.
Talking to an Old Friend
Author: Minerva McGonagall
Date: 02-04-09 18:16
In what served as the St. John's Wood mansion's library, Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore sat and sipped cups of tea while they caught up on old times. There wasn't much more to tell on Dumbledore's part, so McGonagall did most of the talking. Dumbledore listened attentatively and occasionally asked questions, but for the most part he sat quietly and processed all McGonagall told him.
She'd spent a lot of time discussing her time in Azkaban and at Goen Bren, but the topic she currently spoke on, and which made her the most animated in her speech, was that of Hogwarts.
"It's a travesty, really, what that hag did to the children last school year. It was wrong of her to segregate them from the others, though I believe with all my heart that they were better off with us and not them." She knew that not all of the professors who'd been assigned to teach the pures last year had been on par with Harriet Snider, but in that moment she didn't feel like differentiating between the good pure professors and the bad ones.
"Worse still is the fact she and the staff members she held in her pocket––Yaxley and the Carrows, mainly––used the Cruciatus Curse on the children. That woman has no regard for the law, but then it seems anyone who thinks like she does is above it."
Dumbledore listened to McGonagall's tirade silently, unhappy by her news though not in the least bit surprised to hear it. Though much of what she described seemed perfectly lawful under Euphemia Smythe-Jones' administration, it nevertheless seemed as if the world had fallen into utter chaos in the two years he'd been trapped in that mirror.
"And what of Hogwarts now?" McGonagall went on, trying to imagine the school she hadn't seen in a year. She turned her eyes onto Dumbledore pleadingly. "We have to set things right again."
Dumbledore leaned forward and rested his hand on hers. "We will, Minerva. We will. When the time is right."
Then, You Can Have Your Dreams...
Author: Analeigh Ivy
Date: 02-05-09 16:35
I walked down the halls of Hogwarts while the kids were in their class. My blond hair was up in a loose ponytail, and my blue eyes scanned the halls of the familiar school. The school was the same. The people had moved in the portraits, the stairs still moved, just like it was when I was here.
I walked down the narrow hallway to the headmaster's room, biting my tongue, hoping I wouldn't do something stupid or be stupid altogether. I stopped in my tracks and grabbed my head. You can't be thinking like this. You won't get anywhere.
I refocused myself on my task at hand. If I was ever going to make it in the Wizard World, I had to build up some courage. I couldn't be what I was when I was here.
I instantly thought about my years here at Hogwarts and stopped in my tracks again. Alone. Alone at lunch. Alone in class. Alone. Alone. Alone! That's all I ever was, alone!
I felt a sharp pain in my knee and I looked down. I had fallen to the ground, but I quickly picked myself back and concentrated on one of the portraits on the wall. I focused on the colors and breathed. I couldn't freak out. I haven't even started.
I went on my way again and came to the end of the hallway where a statue stood. I looked up at the ceiling, trying to remember what they told me was the password. I clicked my tongue and sighed. Oh, what was it?
"Lemon drops!" I whisper-yelled. The statue went into a circle and stairs surrounded it. I took a step onto one and sighed. No more freaking out from now on. If I was going to become a teacher here at Hogwarts, I had to change.
You only have to be a student for a little longer, I thought. Then, you can become a teacher...Then, you can have your dreams.
Estate Sale
Author: Lysander Stratford
Date: 02-05-09 18:19
A handful of individuals walked through an enormous manor home in rural Aberdeenshire and perused the many items up for grabs in the estate sale currently underway. The family, of mixed heritage, could no longer afford to keep the house or the bulk of their belongings, partly because of the squandering of money and poor budgeting of the pureblood relations and also because the majority of the family members who had been snatched had been the breadwinners. With no income and reckless spending, coupled with the poor economy, the family simply couldn't hang onto the house or their things any longer.
Upon hearing about the estate sale, Julian and Lysander decided to attend. Business wasn't booming at Twice Told Tales by any means, though they still received some customers. When other forms of entertainment became too expensive or difficult to arrange under current circumstances for many people, curling up with a good book seemed like a good way to pass the time.
Personally, Lysander had no interest in the manor house or the majority of the items posted for sale. He wanted to see what books the family offered and whether or not they were suitable for purchase for Twice Told Tales. Lysander knew Julian had the same objective in mind, though perhaps some of the other items interested him as well.
Each room they visted thus far during their walk-through contained a bookshelf or two, and they had yet to reach the rumored library. Lysander got the impression that the house had been in the family for generations and that someone at one point in time had been a great collector of books. A fair amount of the ones he'd seen so far were very old, and they were also covered in a thick layer of dust. Evidently, the younger generation didn't read as much.
"What do you think?" Lysander asked Julian, as they scanned the titles on a narrow shelf in a parlor.
"I see some items of interest, that's for sure."
"Many Muggle books in here as well," Lysander said, tipping forward a first edition copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula. He pushed it back into place, since it wasn't something he wanted or needed for his store in Hogsmeade.
Both men had pads and quills in their hands and jotted down the titles they wanted, since they quickly anticipated the final tally would be large and that it wouldn't be ideal to carry everything they wanted through the entire house. They moved into the next room, which only had a few titles on top of the fireplace mantle.
After visiting a few more rooms, they reached the library, a sprawling room with two story-high bookshelves and a ladder that ran on wheels all the way around the semi-circular room. Stunned by the absolute wealth of books in the room, Julian and Lysander didn't say anything for a long time.
"Maybe we should get a couple of boxes," Lysander suggested later.
"Maybe we should owl Briar and tell her we'll be gone longer than planned," Julian thought aloud. Lysander had left Charlotte with Briar and Grace before leaving for the estate sale with Julian.
Lysander figured the owners wouldn't want them staying for longer than a few hours, but perhaps they would let them return tomorrow night since he doubted very much they would get through everything in this room in only a few hours.
He clapped Julian on the back. "Let me see if I can get us some boxes or crates. I have a feeling we won't come away empty handed from this room."
Julian nodded and moved to the nearest shelf, while Lysander left to find one of the owners to see about borrowing a box or two.
An Encounter of the Fatherly Kind
Author: Plum
Date: 02-05-09 18:51
Plum cleans up the coloring project some of the children had been doing then asks Azara, "Is there anything else?"
"You've already stayed later than you were supposed to Plum."
"So that's a no."
"It's a no. Now off with you. I know you've got a date with Anthony."
Plum can't help but grin at that. Since living at the Reese-Emerson's, she's been able to have a life again without having to sacrifice caring for Alex. She grabs her brother's coat and gets the wiggling child to hold still long enough to put it on. They head out of Blossom's to go to the bakery to pick up a treat for Alex and Plum wants to take something to Anthony.
As they walk down High Street, Alex is running around and around Plum. Despite being around Alex every day and working with other children at Blossom's, Plum still finds it hard to believe sometimes just how much energy Alex at this time of day.
A man bundled up against the evening chill is coming towards them. It's only when he's nearly upon them that Plum sees who it is. Bending, she ignores Alex's protests and scoops him up. Fixing her eyes on the bakery, Plum skirts around Evan and keeps walking.
From the way he was stumbling and now his slow speech, it's obvious the man is drunk again. She can hear him shifting direction behind her, slurringly calling, "Plum! Alexsh!"
Plum's nearly to the bakery when a hand grabs her. "Shpeakin to you."
Plum whirls around, a sharp edge to her voice. "What do you want?"
"No way to shpeak to yer father."
"Some father."
"Bin a hard year fer me."
"For you? You think it's been hard on you? You don't think Alex or I have had a rough go of it?"
"Not the sh sh same."
"How is it not the same?"
In her arms, Alex squeals, not liking how hard Plum is holding him nor the harsh sounds of the words being spoken. She lets him down but keeps a hold of his hand.
"Wouldn't unnershtand. I need money. Ran out."
"I think you're the one who doesn't understand, Evan."
Plum takes a step forward and opens the bakery door, letting Alex into Briar's. He scurries in, eager to see what there is for him to get for his promised treat. Evan grabs Plum again before she can follow Alex inside.
"Shaid I need galleonsh. Shicklesh'll do."
"No. I'm not funding your drinks."
"Fer the rent."
"Right. I believe that."
Plum jerks her arm free but Evan grabs it again, shaking her hard. Plum hits her head on the door she's been holding open then ends up smacking her shoulder into the frame when avoiding Evan's hands fumbling at her pockets in an effort to grab whatever money he can.
Plum shoves her father. "Stop!"
"Don' be shelfish bitch."
"Plum, is there a problem?"
Ariella's voice comes from inside Briar's. Plum calls in reply, "Just having a word with my father, Ariella. I'll be right in."
No sooner have the words left her mouth then Evan slaps Plum, hard enough her head snaps back into the door again. Plum shoves once more, causing Evan to stumble backwards. He glares and raises his fist as if to hit a second time but when Ariella's voice filters outside again Evan drops his hands and spins around.
Plum watches him stalking off then turns to finally go inside. For some reason, a sound perhaps, Plum looks back. Evan is on the ground. At first Plum thinks he's simply stumbled in his drunken stupor but she realizes he's not moving. Rushing over, Plum gets Evan turn onto his back. He's breathing but it's shallow. She can't see that any obvious sign that he hit his head but that doesn't mean anything.
Going to back to the bakery door, Plum calls in, playing down what's really going on. "Ariella, watch Alex for me a few minutes? I need to help Dad to St. Mungo's. I won't be long."
"Yes, of course. Do you need any help?"
"No, I'll manage, thanks."
Rushing back over to Evan, Plum grabs his arm and disappates with him to St. Mungo's. She stays long enough to give them his name then returns to Hogsmeade, trying not to feel guilty for leaving her unconscious father like that.