Taking A Trip Author: Georgia Copperpot Date: 03-29-09 14:39
"We're to go where Libby is? Why?" Isabella asks me.
"Don't know. Be a nice change from Tulip-A-Go-Go Land though, even if it is to go visit my vair mental sister."
Izzy turns away from the mirror she'd been looking in while fixing her hair. "I'll go with you to see Libby but you have to buy me a new lippy."
"You can buy your own."
"You owe me one. Two actually if you count the one that Libby used as a war paint stick. Did anyone ever figure out what she was going to war against?"
"Everyone. This is Libby we're talking about."
"Psychotics do run in your family," Izzy says matter of factly.
"Yes, Vati is rather the loon isn't he?"
"I wasn't speaking of your father," Izzy says giving me a pointed look.
Ignoring her dig I sigh, "I never thought I'd miss that old barmy berk."
"I know what you mean," she replies, mouth turning down in a sad frown.
"Off to Licksalot-A-Go-Go Land to see Libs and get you Licksalot-A-Go-Go Land lippy," I cheerily announce though I don't feel all that cheery.
A minute later Izzy's stepping out of the Floo behind me into a room in Franka Kügelgen's house. From across the room Libby squeals, "Cheeky monkey has come to play! Look, Gingy! I's has a cat."
Izzy steps up beside me as we look on with amazement at the fluffy cat sitting calmly at Libby's feet, a frilly bonnet tied around its head. "That cat is yours?" I ask my sister.
"His name is Angus," she informs us. Holding up a porcelein figuring of Merlin the Magician that's dressed in a bright red dolls clothes in the form of an evening gown and with what looks like yarn - in an extremely vivid blue - on its head, Libby adds, "Sandra helped me name him."
Izzy futilly points out, "That's not a doll, Libby."
Libby glowers. "You will kiss Sandra and say sorry."
"Libs has her murderous face on, Iz. Better kiss Sandra."
My bestest chum is saved from kissing Sandra by the arrival of two more people from the Floo, the first knocking us down as she came tumbling out of the fireplace and the second stumbling and landing on us to make a pile of four.
Libby doubles over laughing as if the spectacle is the funniest thing she's ever seen. The cat Angus continues sitting and staring to the point that I'm starting to wonder if he's as fake as Sandra is.
Distentangling ourselves and getting up, Izzy and I are happy to see that the new arrivals are Edith and Catherine. We see each other regularly but it's hardly the same as hanging out every day like we used to back at Hogwarts and to some degree even at Happy Haven.
"Blimey! Wasn't expecting to see either of you today. Did you know, Izzy?"
"No, I'm as surprised as you are, Georgia."
Edith says, "We were told to come here and that you'd both be here."
"But we weren't told why," Catherine finishes.
Franka Kügelgen enters the room just then. "Welcome, girls," she says with a bright smile. "Up for another trip? Georgia, you'll need to be sure and hold Libby's had tightly."
Ms. Kügelgen tells them an address in Lausanne, Switzerland then with Izzy holding Angus, whom Libby refuses to go without, me holding onto Libby and Libby with a firm grasp on Sandra, the four of us Floo to the address. Libs and I are the last to step from the Floo.
The room is spacious though it might look larger than it is due to the fact that it's empty. The four older of us stand looking at each other and shrugging while Libby and Angus take off running. I give chase with Izzy, Edith, and Catherine following at a more sedate pace. We end up going through most of the rooms, all of which are just as empty. Back in the room where we'd arrived, Catherine says, "I don't understand why we'd be asked to come to an empty house."
From the doorway comes a voice I'd hoped to hear again but had no idea when that would be. "It's only empty for now. Within a few days we'll have some furniture."
Libby shrieks, "Daddy!" and even I can't help myself from saying, "Vati!" and running to him for a bear hug.
Catherine, Edith, and Izzy are close behind. With their own dads still unaccounted for, having mine is the next best thing, only I would admit that to Vati.
When we finally let go of the group hug I ask, "What's this house, Vati?"
"It's our house for now, Georgia. I found you lot thanks to some lists with the help of the two groups behind putting those lists together, I was able to rent this house and get a job. You know, until things are as they should be back home."
Another voice says, "We'll all live here if that's all right with you girls."
Vati winces at the screams of delight punctuating the air. If I hadn't thought to see Vati again anytime soon, I'd definately not thought I'd be seeing Mum for a vair long time. The only thing that would make today better would be if my sex god boyfriend Sage Porter were here as well.
Tranlsations: Tulip-A-Go-Go Land = The Netherlands vair = very lippy = lipstick vati = male parental unit barmy = crazy berk = idiot, fool Licksalot-A-Go-Go Land = Liechtenstein sex god boyfriend = really, if I have to explain this one again you are NOT paying attention
A Little Drop of Rain Author: Isolde Date: 03-30-09 08:24
Isolde sat in the stands at the Humbatas stadium in Hogsmeade and watched the Quidditch practice in progress. Dark clouds rolled in overhead with the occasional strong gusts of wind, threatening not only rain but storms as well. Having anticipated the bad weather, Isolde had come to the stadium dressed in a dark blue raincoat.
Practice ended abruptly when the first flashes of lightning streaked across the ever darkening sky. Just as suddenly, the sky opened and a torrential downpour struck anyone not under the cover of a roof or awning. Isolde rose as quickly as her body allowed her, and hobbled beneath the stadium, where Pyrrhus met her, slick from the rain. He threw an arm around her shoulder and shook his hair, so that some of his raindrops joined the ones on her face.
She laughed. "You know, there are drying charms for times like these."
"Where's the fun in that?" Pyrrhus joked, but then he grew serious. "Are you getting cold?"
"When the wind blows," Isolde replied, "otherwise I'm a little cool but not freezing."
Pyrrhus produced his wand and wordlessly cast the drying charm on first Isolde and then herself. The raincoat had protected some of her clothing, but the rain had still managed to penetrate the rest.
They stood together, watching the rain strike the turf and the lightning brighten the black sky. For a long time they said nothing and just listened to the pelting rain and the thunderclaps.
Then, Isolde said, "Yesterday was Alexis' birthday. Did you remember?"
Pyrrhus shook his head solemnly. "I completely forgot."
"So did I," Isolde admitted. She missed her friend.
Pyrrhus kissed Isolde's temple. "We should celebrate in her honor. How about a late lunch at the Imperial Crown & Cauldron?"
"I like that. We can get cake for dessert, either at the restaurant or at Briar's Bakery."
Pyrrhus took Isolde by the hand. "Do you want to walk in the rain and get wet all over again or do you want to apparate?"
"As slow as I am these days, and as hungry as my stomach is getting now that I've mentioned cake, I think we should apparate!"
Pyrrhus laughed. "On three then. One. Two. Three!"
Letting Off Steam Author: Sirius Padfoot Black Date: 03-30-09 15:14
For the duration of the meeting, Sirius stewed in silence, only speaking if asked a direct question and when that occurred, if he could get away with a grunt rather than actual words, he did. When the meeting ended, Sirius was the first one up and out of the room, not even looking back to acknowledge Remus calling his name.
Sirius had gone straight to a small office - small being a relative term in the large rooms that make up the St. John's Wood mansion - where he's been working on putting together a small birthday party for the twins. They turn three in a week, one the 13th, and while the party won't be anything lavish or large, Sirius does want to have something nice for them. It irks him no end that he's planning it without benefit of Drucilla's imput.
"There's no need to act so immature that you go storming off."
"Don't start another of your lectures, Remus."
"Then stop acting like you're the same age as your children. You made your point long ago. Quit shoving it down our throats."
"Quit acting so sanctimonious."
Remus's eyebrows quirk up, his stare growing cold. Sirius snarls, "Don't pretend you'd be happy if it were Tonks. Saying it doesn't make it so."
"I've never said I'd be happy if it was my wife. I've said that I would respect and support her decision to do the job. I don't control Tonks. If she'd decided to take on such a mission, she would have made her decision, she would have told me, and then she and I would discuss it and then... Then she would go do the mission."
"You honestly think after all this time that my anger is about me controlling what Dru does? About not respecting her decision?" Sirius snaps.
"Isn't it?" Remus asks in a decidedly mild tone.
Sirius whirls away from Remus and paces over to one of the office windows. "It's about people going behind my back to talk Dru into this. It's about having all the decisions made without me being included until things were pretty much set. It's about how horrible things were after the twins were born, then Mira being kidnapped. How we'd not had her back all that long, how we were finally, finally a real family. A cohesive family. Then Arthur and you go behind my back. I don't care that you made mission plans with Dru. I care that it was done in such a way as to have Dru excluding me from what she was thinking. So of course when I did learn of it, I hotheadedly overreacted. The twins are young enough that as long as it's been since they've seen her, they might not remember her as they should. Don't you dare stand there and tell me, Remus, that if Teddy had been taken from Tonks and you, then you found him and you'd become a family again that you'd not be infuriated if others came to Tonks and convinced her to go on a dangerous missions and only after the fact let you in on what was going to happen, that you'd be one hundred percent supportive. That you'd not be just a little angry. That every time someone told you to calm down and respect your wife's wishes that it wouldn't make you just a little more angry."
With those last words Sirius had once again turned to face Remus. The other man returns Sirius's stare for several long seconds before wordlessly shrugging. Then, with a shake of his head, Remus admits, "I don't know how upset and angry I'd be if that were the situation with my family."
"Exactly. Yet day after day you've told me how to behave. Told me to respect my wife. Told me what a valuable contribution she's making. If it were Tonks, you'd have one less thing to worry about than I do. Tonks doesn't have to rely on Polyjuice Potion and other transfiguration tricks. You cannot ever know the anguish of worrying constantly that the potion will start wearing off before she can do something about it or that one of the spells she's using will start to go before she can renew it."
Turning back to the window, Sirius's voice drops, the anger melting away to be replaced by that very anguish he'd must mentioned. "After years of darkness there was finally some light in my life. Every time things would seem to be going well, some of that darkness would intrude. Is it really so very selfish of me to want my family whole and well? To want the light back?"
Remus says nothing to that, just comes over and puts a brotherly arm around Sirius's shoulders. After long minutes of staring out at the rain thundering down outside, Sirius pulls away from his friend and moves to the desk. "I've got to make sure things are set with the cakes."
"Molly isn't making one for you?"
"I didn't ask her or any of the others who bake. I want cakes from Briar's Bakery."
"Is that wise?"
"There will be two small cakes." Sirius pulls out a sketches of the cakes. "This one will be sent to address in Belgium on the 11th and this one is being sent to an address in Ireland on the 12th."
Remus looks first at one sketch and then the other. "Malichi and Farahilde?"
"Molly's going to fix the names."
Remus takes a chair near the desk. "What can Uncle Remus do to help?"
Sirius shuffles through the papers. "I've got a list of things like balloons and streamers. What sort of food do you think? The kids would eat bangers and mash and be happy but for the adults, something else would probably be better."
Remus chuckles, "I quite like bangers and mash, thank you." Tunnels, A Friendly Dog, and The Tallyphone (Jewel) Author: Phinfilius Date: 03-31-09 13:10
Security has been increased to the point that of those who know about the natural caves and tunnels beneath 485, opportunities to explore further are rare. Descending down the shaft that's under the women's dorm, Jewel thinks back to when she was last able to take a turn. It had been at night and she'd had to wait until others were sleeping because of how not everyone is in on the potential escape route directly below them. Jewel's last trip down had been more than two weeks ago.
Jewel and the others who have been doing the exploring are getting antsy. So far the ways to the surface they've found that could be made easy enough for everyone to get out through are too close to the prison perimeter. With only one wand, there's no way a single person could conceal everyone until all were safely hidden in the woods and even if one person could do that, once in the woods, what then? Without knowing if any roads are close by or a community of some sort, a mass exodus out of the cavern and into the woods isn't going to do them much good.
They could do with some help. More wands or people who could be waiting in the caverns or in the woods with portkeys or who could safely do side-along apparations with an adult in tow. Even if they could get wands for everyone or nearly everyone, many are weak enough now that apparating alone could be risky. Fear of splinching inside the cavern walls is what's kept Jewel from apparating straight to where she wants to pick up exploring. If she's going to risk apparating, it would be to make outside contact and then return so no one is the wiser that she'd been gone.
The question is where would she apparate to? Or if not Jewel, one of the others, like Siegfried? Most of them have family or friends they could rely on but none know if any of those people are still living where they'd been before those at 485 were arrested and sent to the prison camp. There's also the distance involved. They don't know where exactly they are and if distances to outside help are great, in the weakened condition the 485ers are in, taking one long jump or a series of small ones would be extremely taxing. Hell, even a single small one could take a serious toll.
Jewel follows a tunnel, making marks with the wand to notate each time she takes a branch. She feels like she's going in circles again when a branch leads into a cave she doesn't remember from before. There is only one other tunnel connected to it and it goes upward at such a slight angle that at first Jewel isn't aware of it.
The tunnel constricts then opens up again though it's narrower than before. There's a sharp curve and a noticeable slant upwards and then it abruptly ends. Jewel's heart sinks and she's turning to go back when something above catches the light from the wand.
The ceiling is low enough at this branch's end that Jewel can reach up and touch it so holding the wand up illuminates the ceiling extremely well for her to see. What the light had caught were lots of white and pale brown roots. A grin creases Jewel's face at the sight and feel of sod. This section of ceiling is just dirt held together by grass and roots.
Having no idea where she is in relation to 485's walls, Jewel uses the wand to move a large enough rock for her to stand on. This allows her to more easily break through the sod to let sunlight stream into the tunnel through a small opening. Using the wand again, Jewel summons one of the makeshift ladders they've put together in the caves to help them explore places out of arm's length.
Positioning the ladder to allow her the best view possible without having to open up the hole to the surface even more, Jewel can't see any signs of 485. Emboldened, Jewel widens the hole more and takes a better, longer look at the surroundings. Only after she's ascertained that she's not within view of 485, Jewel climbs through the hole, being careful not to let the weight of her body send more of the dirt crashing down into the tunnel.
Moving as quickly as she's able, Jewel rushes into some nearby brush for cover. From there she takes another look around. In the near distance there's a small house with a chicken coop, vegetable garden, and some couple of cows in a tiny pasture. There are also some poles with wires stretched between them.
Seeing those, Jewel grins. It's a Muggle home most likely if there are electrical wires and, oooh, what's that thing called? Television lines? No, that's not it. Tallypone? That doesn't sound right either but that's closer.
If it's got a tallypone, then Jewel knows who to try for help. First though is getting down to that house and inside if no one's home and not being seen doing it.
Going as fast as she dares while being as careful as possible, Jewel reaches the house without incident. She then spends a good ten, very impatient minutes, being doubly certain that no one is home and that the dog isn't going to tear her to shreds. She could always stun the dog if she has to but will only do that as a last resort.
Fortunately, the dog is very friendly and very excited that someone is there to let him out to answer a call of nature. He runs in circles before gambolling back to Jewel and following her with tongue licking her legs and tail wagging like mad back into the house.
It takes Jewel another couple of minutes to locate the tallypone. She might not remember the exact name of the thing but she remembers how to use it from Muggle Studies. Now, if she can just remember the numbers to enter in the correct sequence.
Sitting on the floor, Jewel concentrates on remembering the numbers while scratching the dog's belly. The numbers clear in her mind, Jewel takes a deep breath and begins punching the numbers in, a great sigh of relief escaping her when the voice on the other end telling her to leave a voice mail message at the beep is the voice she was hoping to hear.
Wednesday Morning Classes Author: Jared Date: 03-31-09 17:54
Wednesday morning has been so-so. An owl had arrived from Ariella bearing two photos of possible birthday cakes for Alanna. Ariella hadn't signed the brief missive that went with the pictures but she and Jared had been writing back and forth about Alanna's birthday, which is now one week away. Ariella wants to provide the cake but shouldn't openly be sending Alanna anything. With Ariella working at Briar's Bakery, Jared has been sending things there and if anyone asks he can honestly say the cake is coming from Briar's and that he arranged for it.
Ariella and the other Beck family members are sending or have already sent gifts as well. Anything for Alanna from them is going to Jared's father Gawain. Gawain hands the items over to his wife Abigail. Abigail's then forwarded the gifts to Etta and Jared with Etta keeping the gifts in her room. Jared was going to but after Alanna nearly found one present when in Jared's and Sage's room doing NEWT review, he decided it was better if Etta kept everything in her room.
Alanna had nearly seen the photos of the two possible birthday cakes at breakfast when Jared had been shoving them into his bookbag just as she walked up and in his haste had dropped them both. Then, just to be annoying because he can, Sage keeps asking to see the pictures so he can give his opinion on which to choose. With Alanna at breakfast with them and then in Fitness & Athletics, followed by Herbology, Sage certainly succeeded in the annoying front. And he has done it all with a great bloody grin. To get him back, Jared's thinking of something that will involve Sage and Georgia Copperpot. It's just a matter of what, especially since Georgia isn't exactly able to be around Hogwarts or Hogsmeade.
Fitness & Athletics had been okay but they were all disappointed at being stuck indoors. If it were just rain, they would have gone down to the pitch for whatever Professor Batuti had originally planned. With the lightening though, and a threat of possible springtime hail, she'd had them meet in what used to be the common commons and is now the Fitness & Athletic room. They were hoping for some pool time if they had to be stuck inside but no.
It's not that Jared disliked what they did in Fitness & Athletics today. On the contrary, he thoroughly enjoyed it. It's just that he'd been really looking forward to being outside and potentially doing something at the pitch that involved flying. Taking a page out of Professor Isuki's book and Majandra Weasley's, who had gotten the paint ball and laser tag courses going in Hogsmeade, Professor Batuti had transformed the F&A room into an obstacle course. The seventh years found themselves faced with a steamy jungle through which they had to climb trees, swing on vines, wade through quicksandy type bogs, and other jungle related physical activity. Not only were they trying to best each others' times but Coach Batuti had gotten a few House Elves to play angry jungle natives. They had what looked like blow guns and if you got hit by one of their darts, you were tagged with a bright color plus were frozen in place for varying lengths of time, with that time acting like a time penalty.
From F&A Alanna, Sage, three other seventh years, and Jared trudged through the downpour to the greenhouses for Herbology. There's not a lesson today, just NEWT review, which means that Professor Farnon is sitting with his feet up, reading something while the students quiz each other with questions and by working on various plants they'd studied over the years.
Alanna goes over to work a few minutes with Cailyn, Orei, and Maddie. As soon as she's out of earshot Sage whispers, "Show me the pictures now."
"Later."
"Now."
"Get them yourself then and if Alanna sees you owe me."
Sage flashes that dimpled grin that the girls find charming but Jared finds just adds to Sage's annoyance factor. Half a minute later, the photos stuffed safely out of sight, Sage says, "Hard decision."
"Tell me about it. They're very different."
Sage's brow furrows for a second then his grin returns and he shrugs. "They're both nice. Oh, I forgot to tell you that Etta passed me a note when we were leaving the Great Hall this morning. A gift from your mum arrived along with some things Etta and you had ordered."
"Great! I wonder what Mum sent. She hadn't said she was getting Alanna anything. I know Etta got some butterfly shoe clips."
"Shoe clips?"
"Yeah. They sort of look like hair clips but girls put them in their shoes."
"What did you get?"
"That butterfly covered backpack I showed you in a catalog and a necklace with butterlies on it."
"Between whichever cake you decide on and the gifts, sounds like you've got a butterfly theme going."
"Yeah. Alanna really likes butterflies."
"I got her something too. Even without knowing about the butterfly theme, it fits," Sage grins again.
"What is it? Never mind. Here she comes. Tell me later."
Sage and Jared quickly return to quizzing each other so that when Alanna joins them, she has no idea they'd been doing anything but Herbology NEWT review. When noon rolls around, none are sad that Herbology has ended though it does mean another trek through the pouring rain back to the castle.
