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Easy Fix
Author: Hermione Granger
Date: 11-14-10 14:21
A boy of perhaps ten was rushed down the hall on a slightly raised gurney. He had his head between his knees, where a metal pail collected the vomit that spewed from his mouth. The boy's face had turned a sickly green color from all the vomiting. A woman with short, curly dark hair and rather chubby cheeks ran behind the gurney.
"I don't know what happened!" she exclaimed between heavy intakes of air after the healers had wheeled her son into an examination room. "One moment, he was reading a book, the next he was throwing up all over it and himself!"
Because the vomiting seemed nonstop, the cause appeared to be more magical in nature than just something like food poisoning or a symptom of the flu. The boy could hardly come up for air from the bucket between his knees.
"Do you keep any poisons in your house?" asked Pieter Vanderbilt.
Hermione quickly exchanged the full bucket for an empty one and then set about cleaning the used one with a disinfectant charm.
"No. All the potions we keep are utterly harmless! We don't even have any poisonous plants around, and even if we did, Hubert is old enough to know what is safe to eat and what isn't!"
Pieter looked at Hubert, who had dark auburn hair and brown eyes. The boy shuddered and then ducked his head back into the pail between his legs.
"Did you ingest anything before you became ill, Hubert?" asked the healer.
Hubert nodded his head.
His mother looked aghast. "What did you eat, son?"
He threw up again and then reached his hand into the pocket of his jeans, revealing an orange piece of candy.
"A puking pastille?" Hermione asked.
Hubert nodded his head.
"What's a puking pastille?" Hubert's mother asked.
Pieter, having become familiar with the product since it had sent a few people to the hospital, explained, "It's a joke product. There is an easy remedy for it. Do you have the purple one with you, Hubert?" he asked the young boy.
Hubert shook his head and then puked again.
"I'll get one straightaway," Hermione said.
Pieter nodded and waved her away. Hermione hurried off, thankful that the boy wasn't seriously sick and that there was a quick fix for his uncontrollable vomiting.
Library Conversation
Author: Zabrynna
Date: 11-14-10 16:38
In one of those rare times when neither Anne nor Philippa is around and most likely won't be the rest of the evening, Zabrynna sits in the library going over her Astronomy for this evening and getting in some studying for the NEWTs. While the library is nowhere near empty, there also aren't that many students here tonight. Zabrynna supposes that with the IQT excitement and building buzz many students have their minds occupied on going to Sydney's School of Wizardry.
Her Astronomy review for class done, Zabrynna decides to stick with that subject and opens one of two NEWT test prep books she brought with her to the library this evening. Finding the Astronomy section, she sets to work, reading the information and answering the sample questions. She looks up when a feminine voice asks, "Not down in the commons talking about the Quidditch match and visiting Sydney?"
"I'm not much for Quidditch. I'm not sure I'll go to Sydney?"
Kissy Isuki is surprised at this. "Not going? I thought every student here could think about nothing but. There's been some sort of record of good behavior the past two weeks along with a lack of tardies and skivving offs, and from what I hear no one's had to chastise anyone for not turning in assignments."
One of Zabrynna's shoulders rises and falls. "As I said, I'm not much for Quidditch."
Professor Isuki pulls out the chair opposte Zabrynna and sits. "You aren't interested in seeing anothing school? Meeting new people?"
The one shouldered shrug again. "I suppose that would be nice but it's not as huge a deal for me."
"Because you've attended another school?"
"Two. Durmstrang for four years and a summer program at La Escuela de la Esperanza de Artes Mágicas."
"Right, I remember that now."
"Other students have seen some of the other schools. There was some sort of tournament I've heard them talk about."
"The Scholastic Aptitude Tournament, or SAT. The big difference in the excitement, at least in my opinion, is that with the SATs, only those students entered into specific events would make the trip to another school. Allowing all qualifying students to attend the IQT matches at other schools is huge. Even if not much of a Quidditch fan and even if other schools of magic are old hat for you, you should still consider going."
Zabrynna looks down at her NEWT prep book then back across the table. She looks directly in Professor Isuki's eyes and says, "Don't take this the wrong way as I don't mean it rudely but why do you care whether I go or not?"
The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is momentarily taken aback by the question. She gives a small shake of her head and does her own version of the one shouldered shrug. "I care about all my students; about all Hogwarts students, mine or not."
Zabrynna doesn't say anything to that at first. She continues the direct gaze then glances away. When she does speak, her eyes are fixed on a book shelf just to the right of where the professor is sitting. "There are always exceptions."
"I thought we'd cleared the air on that. Sounds like I was wrong to think that."
Zabrynna does a quick check to see if anyone is lurking about or sitting nearby. She doesn't see anyone but nonetheless leans forward and drops her voice. "I'm sort of over thinking you hate me. That doesn't mean though that I think you like me or even care."
Professor Isuki puts a hand out and clasps it on top of Zabrynna's, now the one looking to make direct eye contact. "You're wrong, Zabrynna. My initial reactions were based on shock and indignation for a friend. As time went by, my feelings, as I have explained, were of disappointment and loss of respect. Think of it like this: A child does something outrageous. The parents are shocked, upset, angry, disappointed. They don't stop caring for the child or stop loving it. It's similar for teachers and their students."
"I'm not so sure about the whole parents don't stop loving their child part."
"That's very cynical." Professor Isuki, hand still clasped on top of Zabrynna's, tilts her head slightly sideways, her eyes narrowing shrewdly. "You can't think your parents don't love you any longer," she states.
"Can't I?"
"They've been harsh and difficult, I understand that, but to no longer love you over this?"
Zabrynna blurts out, "Mum kicked me out."
"What?"
"Over the summer, we were disagreeing again about my coming back to Hogwarts. I insisted, pointing out that I'm seventeen now and legally an adult. Mum told me she hated how I'd manipulated to get my way to come back last term and how Hogwarts had warped me from an obedient, polite child. She said that if I was so damned set on continuing to do whatever the hell I pleased by now claiming oooh, I'm an adult, you can't tell me what to do, I could bloody well move out of her house. Then she went upstairs, threw a bunch of my things in a bag and told me to get out."
"But surely she cooled off and you two have smoothed things over, and what of your father?"
"Dad never said a word. Didn't try and stop her from kicking me out. Didn't ask me where I'd go or if I'd be all right."
"Where did you go?"
"My sister had a place of her own by then. She'd been living over here to go to St. Emrys. At first she stayed at the house but decided she wanted her own place so her mum and stepdad bought her a little cottage just down the road from Stratford-Upon-Avon. Mariposa let me come there. I don't think she told Dad or my mum. They aren't paying for her place but I guess she thought it was easier not to make even more waves. She also saw to packing up the rest of my things."
"I'm sorry that happened. Having had my own family troubles I can understand how you came to the conclusion that your parents don't love you any longer. I think you're wrong. I think your mum's anger and disappointment is just deeper than you realize."
Zabrynna looks away. "Yeah. Maybe. Just another example of the long term consequences of what I did."
Professor Isuki doesn't reply. She just gives Zabrynna's hand a squeeze then stands up. "I'll leave you to your studies. Do consider going to Sydney's. You might meet people who will become good friends for life."
Zabrynna, not looking up from her book, nods. "I'll consider it."
Then she was alone again, trying to get back into study mode, shoving raw emotions down so that she doesn't make a fool of herself by bursting into tears in the library. Though, with a NEWT preparation book in front of her, if she does start sobbing Zabrynna's sure she'd be the subject of rumor by the morning as the first person to crack this term under NEWT test pressure.
Learning About S'mores (Etta)
Author: Jared
Date: 11-15-10 18:03
Sitting in lawn chair not all that far from the door to the Hogwats RV, Etta gazes up at the clear, starry sky. The forecast for tomorrow is good, another beautiful, sunny spring day in Sydney. Or near Sydney. Even after the sight seeing trip and even after reading the informational brochure they were each given that contained salient information about Sydney's School of Wizardry, Etta is still not exactly sure where the school is in relation to the actual city of Sydney, Australia. She kept forgetting to ask and whenever she's thought about looking at it on a map, she's not been where there's a map at hand and didn't want to bother with having to accio a map to her.
Beside her Jade Green says, "I'm still not used to the idea that here we've already had a full day and back at Hogwarts they're only partway through the morning."
Etta's good friend and Jade's sister, Olive, agrees. "I know what you mean. It took a little adjusting to the time difference between home home and first visiting England."
"We've traveled but not that far out of our own time zone, except for once on a trip to the US and Canada. This is the furthest I've been. It's strange to think that tomorrow afternoon after the match those portkeying back are returning to early morning Saturday."
"Who all is out here?" Coach Batuti asks, stepping from the RV. "Time to make sure everyone is accounted for." It only takes a second to do a quick headcount. As she turns to go back inside the says to those sitting there, "Don't stay up much longer. I want all of you rested for tomorrow." To Viktor Krum, who's been sitting out enjoying the evening as well, she makes a request. "See that they come inside in about half an hour?"
"Definitely," Mr. Krum tells her.
Etta asks Olive, "What were those sweets you were telling me about?"
"S'mores. Hang on. I brought everything we need. I'll grab the stuff and see if anyone wants to join us."
Olive dashes inside so Etta asks Jade, "S'mores are chocolate, toasted marshmallows and something else, right?"
"Graham crackers."
"I'm not familiar with those."
Deak, who'd just come out, supplies, "Aaron told me that a graham cracker is sort of like a digestive biscuit."
"These s'mores thingys sound yum."
Viktor Krum asks, "May I try one do you think?"
Etta and Jade both respond with Etta saying, "Of course!" and Jade telling him, "We brought plenty so we could share."
Jade and Olive's brother Hunter comes bouncing outside carrying a bag. "I've got marshmallows and the skewers. We can start toasting the marshmallows."
They get skewers passed around and everyone takes a couple of marshmallows and soon the air is filled with the pleasant aroma of marshmallows toasting. Olive came back out right after Hunter and with Etta's help is breaking up the chocolate bars and dividing up the graham crackers, which Etta has now learned come in rectangles made up of other rectangles that had perferations down the sides. She follows Olive's lead and soon they have stacks of graham cracker rectangles and chocolate bars ready for the first of the marshmallows. The gooey brown marshmallows they slide between a sandwich of two graham crackers and a piece of chocolate. Etta and the others outside, including Mr. Krum who's helping toast the marshmallows, get the first ones that are ready but after that they start sending some inside for those there who also want to try a s'more.
In between building the s'mores for others, Etta is eating her third, wishing that Olive had introduced these to her before now!
(Gus) Anxiety
Author: Johanna Steele
Date: 11-16-10 02:23
Gus had been enjoying his trip to Sidney so far. But the match was tomorrow and he was starting to feel a bit nervous.
He thought on those Australian girls he met. Some were really hot and he liked the time he had spent them. They had showed Gus their school and there was even one girl who started to talk about their quidditch team, giving Gus some useful information for the match. Unfortunately he knew that those girls wouldn’t be sheering up for him during the match.
Laid on his bed, having troubles falling asleep, Gus hoped that tomorrow he would have on the stands the usually group of girls supporting him. They gave him confidence.
Overall he felt prepared for the match. Today’s practice went well and Gus knew as soon as he entered the pitch he would forget about all these butterflies in his stomach. But now they didn’t seem eager to leave him alone.
“Mark?” Gus called in a whisper. His friend muttered something like ‘Leave me alone’ and turned to the other side of his bed. Gus sighed. He wanted to ask him how he felt during his first official quidditch game.
His mind went to the Australians girls again. He would write to them, for sure. At least to that tall blond one with long legs. He smiled trying to remember her name, but it was hard. He just knew she was hot.
Gus ended up falling asleep, dreaming about the Australian girl and how she ended up cheering for him at tomorrow’s game, next to the other girls from Hogwarts.
Waking Up Very Early (Mason)
Author: Pyrrhus
Date: 11-16-10 15:20
"Pssst. Hunter. You awake?"
From the bunk below Mason's, Hunter quietly answers. "Sort of."
Mason snorts softly. "Does that mean you're talking in your sleep to answer me?"
Over the side of the bed Hunter's hand appears in the dim morning light, swiping at Mason. Mason flicks the hand away. "Missed."
Hunter snorts back. "Doesn't mean I'm gonna kiss you."
"You think they know that one?"
"What? Missed me, missed me... "
"Yeah."
"Dunno. Probably not. Since coming to live in the Wizarding World there's lots I would have thought they knew but don't and stuff I wouldn't have thought they'd even have heard of that they're familiar with."
"So how old were you?"
"Jade and I were seven; just turned."
Mason hangs his head over the bed to look down at the younger boy. He knows that the Green siblings had lived in America. He knows that Olive is in Slytherin like him and because of the twins being on the Quidditch team he now knows that Hunter is a Gryffindor and Jade a Ravenclaw. He thinks the older sister was in Hufflepuff but he doesn't know for sure. The only other tidbit of information Mason does definitely know about Hunter and his sisters, and Mason doesn't really know where he heard it, is that just like him, despite having a Wizarding parent, the Green siblings hadn't known such as thing as the Wizarding World existed. Curious as to what caused them to be informed of it, Mason asks another question.
"How come you didn't know that you are a wizard until then?"
"Our parents died."
"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't know that. You don't have to tell me anything else."
"Nah, it's okay. I don't mind. Anyway, we were in England with Dad on a business trip when it happen. Mom didn't have any close relatives and we didn't think Dad had any so while the social services people were trying to find out if a guardian was named in a will or if they needed to try and locate one of Mom's distance relatives or whatever, someone found out that Dad had a sister there in the UK. Aunt Blythe came and got us and that's when we found out Dad had been a wizard. It was hardest on Emmie because she was fifteen and had to cram all summer and then work extra hard with tutoring and stuff once school started so she could be a fifth year and she had to try and take the OWLs. Olive was ten when Mom and Dad died - a car hit them by the way - but turned eleven that summer so she started Hogwarts with only a little bit more info than a Muggle born. What about you?"
"Dad was living as a Muggle under a different name. He'd once been undercover as a Voldemort supporter. A bunch of stuff happened that he won't tell me about. It was bad and he ended up letting everyone think he'd died. He stayed living as a Muggle and eventually met my mum and they had me. They never married and aren't a couple at the moment - they have been on and off for years. As I got closer to turning eleven, Dad decided it was time to reveal himself and clue me in on some stuff, like Hogwarts."
"Isn't that guy Pyrrhus Fine who plays for the Humbatas and is Professor Weasley's brother, your brother too?"
"Yeah. Before Dad let everyone think he'd died, he and another woman were going to have a baby. She died not long after she had Py and her best friends adopted him. Dad got in touch with Py and explained things to him and Py started hanging out with me, showing me stuff in the Wizarding World."
"Is it cool having a professional Quidditch player for a brother?"
"Wicked cool! He takes me to practices and I've been to a bunch of matches with him where introduced me to the other team. I've got loads of autographs and pictures now."
"Awesome! You think we'll win today?"
"Hope so. In that one practice we got to see some of, their team looked pretty good."
"Too bad we couldn't have seen more of their practices to get a better idea. Okay, I'm going to try to sleep a little more before we have to be up for breakfast."
"Yeah, me too. You aren't half bad, Green, for a Gryffindor."
Hunter chuckles lightly. "Thanks. Same goes for you, Slytherin."
The boys go silent, Mason listening to the various levels of snoring going on around him. He doesn't think all the others in the room are sound asleep and thinks that those who are have also had moments of being wide awake with eagnerness for and anticipation of the upcoming match. Turning over in his bunk to get more comfortable, Mason closes his eyes and falls back asleep after than he would have thought possible as wide awake as he's been.
Staying Behind
Author: Marzipan
Date: 11-16-10 19:06
Although the desire to see her alma mater and the school where her father had worked as Ancient Runes professor was strong, Marzipan had elected to stay behind for the match between Hogwarts and Sydney's School of Wizardry. It was necessary that someone remain at the castle to watch over any student not attending the match.
She doubted very much that there were many who had no interest in going. As far as she knew, none of her colleagues had issued any detentions recently, not even Professor Snape who tended to hand them out more freely than all the others. She could be wrong on that account, of course, and perhaps something had changed in the last few hours. At any rate, she would remain at Hogwarts overnight, while most everyone else traveled abroad.
The main reason Marzi chose to stay behind was because of Carter. Upon finalizing his adoption, Marzi and Weston had moved him to their quarters at Hogwarts. It hadn't taken much to convert the space to include a crib and other baby accessories. The real challenge had been adjusting to having Carter in the lives fulltime.
He cried a lot, especially at night. Marzi wasn't sure if it was just a baby thing or if he missed the parents he'd barely known. Because he rarely slept through the night, Marzi didn't want to leave him, though she knew she could drop him off at her mother's or go off to Sydney without Weston. Despite as easy as it might be finding a babysitter for just one night, Marzi simply couldn't leave him. It would feel like abandoning him, and she felt he'd already been abandoned enough.
It wouldn't be long before those going to the match would wake up from their naps (if they had even managed to suppress their excitement and attempt to get some shut-eye) and travel via portkey all the way to the land down under.