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Taking A Break
Author: Harry Potter
Date: 02-20-11 13:25
Frustrated for a number of reasons, Harry shoves the files he's holding onto his desk and gets up with enough force he knocks his chair backwards. Adding to matters the hand injured months ago by a poisoned, cursed memo starts tingling with the vague itchy burning sensation that has him unconsciously scratching, scratching, scratching. As he treads heavily from his cubicle Harry's scowl is so fierce that two people who's way Harry shoved have moved from move out of his way instead.
Deciding to bypass the lifts for a change, Harry takes stairs to reach the floor where the canteen is located. After buying a cup of coffee and a danish, he takes a table in a far corner where he practically flops into a chair nearly spilling coffee on himself in the process, which only serves to deepen his scowl.
Harry's frowning down into his coffee cup when a familiar voice says, "Is the coffee that bad? Maybe I can see about improving it."
Puzzled by the comment Harry looks up to say, "Hello, Kingsley. I don't follow about the coffee. It tastes fine to me."
Without being asked, not that he needs to be, Kingsley Shacklebolt sits down in the only other chair at the small table. "You were looking at your coffee like it's the foulest thing you've ever had. If not the coffee, what has your Monday off to such a bad start, Harry?"
Harry's lips tighten but he simply shrugs. "Oh, you know, just... things."
"Love life things? Work things?"
"Mainly work."
"The Rufus Henshaw case in particular?"
"Yes. Griffin Price and I really thought we were on to something but ," Harry ends the sentence with a sigh instead of words.
"What else is bothering you?"
"There's been no progress in learning who was behind the attacks and whenever I ask what has been done, I get stonewalled. Same with Ron. We want to be part of the investigation."
"Ron and you aren't exactly objective."
"When two of the attacks happened right here in the Ministry, are any of us truly objective about the case?"
"That's a good point but Ron and you least of all. Even if I were to agree to let you be placed on the case, you would not be in charge of it nor will it help you get over your anger at the stumbling blocks you've encountered in the Henshaw investigation."
"I know that. It's just ,"
"It's just that you don't want anyone else you care about getting seriously injured or, worse, killed because of another attack aimed at you. I fully understand that. I also have come to understand you somewhat, Harry. Don't let me find out you've been investigating this on your own. I'm saying this as both your friend and as Minister of Magic."
Harry picks at his danish for a few seconds before glumly saying, "Yes, Minister."
Kingsley stands to leave but before going he puts a hand on Harry's shoulder and says in an almost fatherly way, "Don't let any of these feelings fester, Harry. Come talk to me any time you need. Take a step back from the Henshaw case. I know you have other things to work on so concentrate on tose cases for a bit. As for the other, I will look into where the investigation stands myself."
"Thanks, Kingsley."
Kingsley pats Harry's shoulder then walks towards the canteen exit, leaving Harry staring once more into his coffee.
Running into Adriana
Author: Bill Weasley
Date: 02-20-11 14:11
With briefcase in hand, Bill hurried through the lobby at Gringotts Bank in Diagon Alley. He didn't necessarily have anywhere pressing to be; it was just that Diagon Alley was a much more bustling part of the wizarding world than was quiet Hogsmeade village.
He got as far as the front doors when he found himself face to face with none other than Adriana Fairchild.
She beamed at him. "Fancy meeting you here."
Bill sidestepped the flow of traffic, with Adriana following him to an out of the way spot in the lobby.
"I just got out of a meeting," he said to her. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I thought I would check on my vault. I'm not sure what happens to vaults when people die, or are thought dead. Would it still be in my name? Is my stuff still in there?"
"The only time vaults close is if the customer, or a customer's legal heirs, chooses to do so. It's still your vault, and everything should be as you left it last."
Adriana felt pleased to hear this and asked, "Are you in much of a hurry? Would you mind going with me to access my vault?"
"Do you have your key?" Bill asked.
Adriana reached into the pocket of her cloak and held up the shiny brass instrument. "I suppose it's lucky I'd put it in my purse when we went to the wedding. Otherwise, I'm not sure what might have become of it."
Bill's only plan had been to return to Hogsmeade, but he had time to spare. He led Adriana back through the lobby to one of the teller counters. There was a slight wait.
"Actually, Dumbledore probably would have kept it. Did you know that he packed up all of my things after I disappeared? Well, I don't know if he did it personally. He probably had a house elf do it, but all the things I left behind at Hogwarts are packed away in neat boxes in some out of the way classroom. Or they were until Dumbledore released them back to me."
Bill hadn't known any of that and found it surprising.
"It's like he knew I would be back."
Which Bill knew to be patently untrue.
"Except I think he really just didn't know who would want my things. You or Harry would be the likely suspects, I suppose."
"Have you seen Harry at all since you've come back?" Bill asked. He knew that Harry knew she was alive. Who didn't by now? He just hadn't heard if they'd crossed paths yet.
Adriana shook her head. "Not yet. I've been meaning to contact him, but if it's not one thing, it's another."
A goblin became available, so Bill and Adriana stepped forward. Adriana presented her key, and the goblin produced a matching one. Since Bill worked for Gringotts, they didn't need a goblin escort to take them to the vaults. He took her via cart down the familiar twisting passage until they reached the correct level.
They disembarked and inserted the pair of keys into the locks.
The inside was just as Bill remembered. Piles of money. A trunk full of heirlooms.
Adriana turned a whole circle inside the vault and then pocketed some of her coins. "Do you remember when you first took me here?"
"Like it was yesterday," Bill could honestly say.
Adriana looked sad all of a sudden. "What do you think might have happened to us if I'd never disappeared? Do you think we would be married now? Do you think we'd have children?"
Bill didn't even want to think about it. "I don't know, and I suppose we never will. Have you got everything you want from here?"
Adriana nodded solemnly. "For now."
Bill stepped out of the vault, waited for Adriana to follow, shut the door and then turned both keys in their locks. He handed Adriana hers and silently got into cart. She climbed in beside him, and then they were off, down the winding track.
Lunch With Uncle Malachi
Author: Plum
Date: 02-20-11 16:41
Plum enters the seafood restaurant, not one she had even known about until the day before, and approaches the maitre d'. He must have been told to expect her about then because before Plum opens her mouth he says, "Miss Lancaster?" and to Plum's nod and reply of, "Yes," he says, "This way, please."
Malachi Hodges is perusing a wine list, which he puts aside to stand and greet his niece. "Plum! I'm so glad you could make it on a work day on such short notice."
Plum gives Malachi one of those cordial pecks on the cheek that's friendly but not overly so then sits, looking around the dining room as she does. "This is a very nice place, Uncle Malachi. I didn't even know about it until talking with you yesterday. How do you know of it?"
"Business. Two of the people I meet with most often when in London consider this one of the best so I've been a number of times now. Everything I've had is excellent. I brought Ava a couple of times and she raved about the shrimp and lobster lunch salad."
"Shrimp and lobster salad sounds really lovely," Plum replies, opening her menu to see if there is any sort of description and to see if anything else jumps out as sounding as appealing as that salad."
Malachi waits until they've ordered to let Plum know he wanted to lunch with her today for reasons beyond just the social. He clears his throat and looks somewhat uncomfortable when he says, "After that day in your flat when I apologized for not being there for you all those years, I did some serious soul searching. What I want to is nothing more than an explanation that I feel you deserve to have. In no way does it excuse me."
Plum shakes her head. "You don't have to say anything, Uncle Malachi."
"But I do, Plum. I do."
He nervously takes a sip of water, clears his throat again then jumps right in. "Watching Mary's downward spiral wasn't easy. She and I had plenty of rows about it though not nearly as many as she had with Mum. When our dad was still living he and she had their fair share of arguments as well. Mary was always stubborn, wanting to go her own way. When she and Evan first got together I was so happy because he was a friend of mine but with them both drinking and shutting themselves off from the rest of the family and all the arguments when we were together, a huge gulf developed. I was back and forth a lot to Australia, getting serious with Ava. The breach widened. Then we were expecting our own child and living full time in Australia. Mary hardly spoke to me. Being so far away, with a job I was still fairly new to, getting settled into marriage and a home, and a baby on the way, it was easy to tell myself that Mary had chosen her own path. It was easy to forget you were part of the equation."
"Easy to forget, huh? Thanks," Plum says somewhat flatly.
"As I said, this is not an excuse. I'm not looking for forgiveness. I just want to try and explain what happened though I know I'm not doing a very good job of that."
"I know, but that doesn't mean there isn't a sting there at having been 'forgotten' when I was just a baby." Plum makes air quotes when she says the word forgotten.
"The more I was away and the more time passed, the easier it was to justify to myself not doing anything about the rift or checking on Mary's or your well being. Job. Wife. The kids. Betsy coming along after Logan then Martha only a year after that then Justin a few years later. I'd see Mum and Dad and we'd not mention either of you. It was as if Mary never existed and so by extension neither did you. When Dad died, Mary came to the funeral without either Evan or you. She did not sit with us, did not speak to us, and left the second the service was over, before I could approach her to speak first. By then I didn't even know where you lived. I was a coward. It was easier to withdraw to a life in Australia then face what was going on with my big sister and you suffered for it. I can't ever make up to you those years nor can I ever ask your forgiveness."
Malachi's expression is so haunted and full of guilt that Plum fully understands in that moment that Malachi isn't asking her forgiveness because he isn't able to forgive himself. She would be lying if she said she weren't hurt to hear about being forgotten because that was easier than dealing with the facts of Mary and Evan Lancaster's life with alcohol. Plum doesn't want to keep dwelling in the past with Malachi, especially when she has Evan as an almost daily reminder of that life.
Reaching out to place a hand on her uncle's Plum softly says, "Let's look to the future from here on out and on the relationship we've been building, Uncle Malachi. I would love to get to know my cousins better and Aunt Ava, and you. I'm happy now and in love. I'm trying not to get hung up in the past. It's difficult at times but I'm getting better at it."
Malachi offers her a water smile. "We'd love to get to know you better too. Alex and Anthony too."
Their food arrives then and as if that's their cue to move forward as they'd just discussed, Malachi says, "Ava, Betsy, and Martha are dying to know if you've set a wedding date yet."
Plum grins at the thought of getting married as she tells him, "We've narrowed down the dates but haven't settled on just one yet."
When a potion turns the wrong color
Author: Lilac Middleton
Date: 02-20-11 17:51
“Uh-oh!” Cee said looking over at the cauldron.
“Uh-oh?” Lilac asked peering over the cauldron too. She gasped.
“Oh no.” Cee said.
“What did do you wrong?!!!” Lilac asked her cousin. “It’s supposed to be--- Oh no, here comes Professor—Hide it!”
“Hide what?” Cee asked.
“Oh, it’s not very green is it girls?” Professor Weasley asked the two cousins as they both peered up at her. Lilac pinched Cecilia.
“It was her fault. “ Cecilia said pointing at Lilac.
“It was not!” Lilac said like a five year old caught in a lie.
“I don’t care whose fault it was. The potion should be green. Not blue. Figure out what you did wrong, and fix it.”
“Can’t you just tell us?’ Lilac asked.
“Then you wouldn’t learn anything.” The Professor walked over to the next cauldron. Lilac turned to Cecila and glared at her.
“ Thanks, for blaming me.” Lilac said.
“Well, it had to be someone and you were the closes person next to me.”
“Seriously, Cee.”
“Yep. Besides, I think I know where we went wrong. See these; they were supposed to be chopped into cubes not cut the long way.”
“Oh. How do you do that?”
“Didn’t you ever watch Mom, cook?”
“No, why would I? That’s her job.”
“Lilac, you will never become a house wife.”
“Of course not, I am a Witch. Not a house wife.”
“Witches are house wives too.”
“Phooey.” Cecila stuck her tongue out at her cousin.
“When you marry Nate, you’ll find out.”
Just Another Monday
Author: Adina Blackwood
Date: 02-20-11 18:26
The morning started early for Adina, well, if one could call a ten am class early. However, she'd been up since six-thirty, had already showered and dressed for classes and had headed down to the Great Hall for an early breakfast and go over some homework that was due today for Charms at ten, and DADA at eleven. Everything else was already done for the day, she just wanted to put some finishing touches on the pair of assignments.
At about eight thirty she was joined by Whitney, Kida, Lucy, Daisy and Mason Jeffers. "My, aren't we the overachiever." Kida said as she settled down to Adina's right, and Whitney laid claim to the seat at her left, Lucy, Daisy and Mason sat across from her at the Slytherin Table.
"Woke up at about six and couldn't sleep, so I got a jump on getting in the shower, and headed down here for an early breakfast." She said, tucking away the assignments she'd just finished working on.
"I heard you get up, but wasn't ready to get out of bed yet." Daisy said adding bacon, eggs, and some toast to her plate and pouring herself a glass of orange juice.
"I don't think I've ever been up that early, unless it involves coming to Hogwarts or leaving Hogwarts." Whitney said laughing as she herself got a bowl of apple and cinnamon oatmeal, sausage, and whole wheat toast. She had a glass of cranberry juice with her breakfast.
"I know what you mean, I'm just glad that the time difference wasn't greater between the Congo and here, or I'd be dead on my feet still." It had taken her a couple of days to recover from the trip to Sydney when they'd gone earlier this school year.
"But, unfortunately, I will be watching the rest of the games as a spectator. Mum was not pleased with my grades last term, and this was the last game that I was allowed to play in." Adina said, clearly unhappy with the result. "But, I will play next year, even though I doubt there will be another tournament like this."
There was a murmur of condolences from the group of friends before they finished their breakfast, with Arthur, Gaston, and Boris joining them a few minutes left before they had to head to their first class - the nine Slytherin had the same schedule and usually ended up doing study groups together for their course work.
"Alright, everyone ready for Charms this morning?" Whitney said cheerfully as the nine friends stepped into the classroom and headed for their desks. Charms passed quickly enough and then they headed to DADA, a class where all five girls had a bit of a crush on their professor, because well, Professor Somerset was kinda cute!
"Today, we are going to be discussing Engorgio. Can anyone tell me what it does?" Professor Somerset said at the beginning of class and several hands went up.
"Kida." Professor Somerset said.
"Engorgio makes the target swell in size." Kida answered.
The class continued, and eventually they would practice the jinx and its counterpart, and there was lots and lots of giggling much like there had been when they'd discussed densaugeo.
Something Stinks
Author: Marzipan
Date: 02-21-11 08:07
The greenhouse was very warm and cozy when Marzi arrived there after having lunch in the Great Hall. A few of her second years had beaten her there, but Marzi had gotten much slower lately. She was due to have her baby next month. So far she planned on working until she went into labor, but anything could change before then. Weston was ready to step in and teach Marzi's classes at any time.
"Good afternoon, class," she greeted her second years. A few Ravenclaw and Slytherin students trickled in after her, pulling off coats, scarves and gloves once they entered the warmth of the greenhouse.
"Today we're going to talk about two plants, the corpse lily and the death lily."
She summoned two very different looking plants. The corpse lily was large and rather ugly. It was planted in a large, stone pot and had been sitting on the floor. The death lily, in contrast, was much smaller and quite pretty to look at. It had little white blossoms.
The moment the plants were brought to the center table, a strong smell of decay filled the greenhouse. Sarah Edwards wrinkled her nose, while Lucy Lehane looked downright nauseated. She covered her nose with her hand.
"Which one do you think stinks so much?" Marzi asked.
Most of the students pointed at the uglier of the two plants, but a few pointed at the death lily, thinking their professor was asking them a trick question.
"As the name suggests, the corpse lily smells like something decomposing. It only smells this way when it's in bloom, however. Most of the time, it has no smell at all."
"Does that mean it rarely blooms?" Adina Blackwood asked.
"Exactly. Two points for asking such an insightful question," Marzi said with a smile. "The corpse lily flowers infrequently in the wild and even less so when cultivated. This plant here has been magically induced to bloom. It will remain in bloom for several days. As time goes on, the smell will become less potent before disappearing all together."
Rusty Zabowski raised his hand. "My parents took me to the Royal Botanic Gardens when I was younger. We saw one of those in bloom there."
Marzi grinned. "Good for you! The Royal Botanic Gardens, or Kew Gardens, has several corpse lily plants. They've had at least four blooms that I know of in recent years. How did your parents hear about it?"
"I think it was in the newspaper," Rusty said.
Marzi nodded. "Because it's so rare an event, it usually gets heavily publicized. Now, let's switch gears and discuss the death lily. Why does this beautiful plant have such a terrible name?"
Beatrix Vanderbilt raised her hand. "Because it's very poisonous."
"Correct. Two points."
"Death lilies are in fact deadly when ingested by livestock or humans alike. Muggles claim that eating rich fish, beef broth, grease or butter will counteract the effects of the poison, but there is no proof that those remedies are effective. As you have no doubt learned in potions class, there are some potions or even singular ingredients that tend to reverse the effects of poison. Ingesting death lily doesn't have to be fatal, but it can certainly be."
The rest of the class was devoted to the practical exercise of the day. Marzi summoned enough death lily plants for everyone and had them divide the bulbs and replant them.