Birthday Dinner
Author: Bronwyn Dewhurst 
Date:   05-25-11 18:01

The dinner party in Bronwyn's honor was in full swing already, even though no one had actually sat down to eat yet. Toby poured each new arrival a drink––wine, beer, or something else of their choosing––and had everyone mingling happily. A table in the living room was already laden with gifts, and the pile kept growing.

A commotion at the fireplace announced another arrival. This time it was Karma carrying a big box.

Bronwyn gave her newest friend a hug and showed her where to stash the gift. Knowing Karma's knack for shopping, Bronwyn had no doubts at all that she would love whatever she'd bought her for her birthday.

Karma had already met Toby but she didn't really know anybody else. All of the Becks had come with their significant others. Anthony and Plum had brought Alex. Bronwyn's dad had Wolfie for the week, so he was there too. Wolfie was a bit young to be Alex's playmate, but at least there was another little boy in the house.

Siegfried and Asa arrived after Karma, coming in through the front door instead of the floo.

"Your not-so-secret crush is outside," Siegfried teased to Bronwyn after telling her "Happy Birthday."

"Ethan?" Bronwyn asked with a small smile. She felt sooooo bad for him, even if his loss made him a single man again. "I actually invited him to dinner but he politely declined. I don't think he wants a lot of company right now."

"That's understandable," Siegfried said.

Bronwyn had already decided that she would bring her neighbor some leftovers in the morning. She imagined Ethan was too busy to cook for himself right now and depending on his state of mind, he might not even be eating that well or that much.

"Drinks?" Toby asked, sidling up to his brother-in-law and Asa with two, frosty beers.

"Thanks!" they said in unison.

Bronwyn glanced out the window and saw Ethan in the front yard with his baby daughter. He looked very faraway.

"He's attractive," Karma admitted.

"Yes, and remember that I saw him first!" Bronwyn joked. Then realization dawned. "Oh, you're so lucky! You're going to be working with him next year. He is one of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers."

"Good to know!"

There was another knock on the door at that moment. Bronwyn excused herself from Karma by introducing her to Ariella and Lawrence, who would also be her future colleague, and then left to answer the door. This time it was Desi.

"Hey," Bronwyn greeted, surprised and happy to see her best friend.

"Hey," Desi replied. She held out a gift bag.

"Thanks. I wasn't sure if you would come."

"It's your birthday, Bronwyn. I wouldn't miss it." She spotted Wolfie across the room and actually broke out into a grin. "Let me say hi to my little brother."

Desi brushed past Bronwyn and swept Wolfie up in her arms. The little guy squealed happily.

Bronwyn carried her present to the gift table and turned to Anthony, who had just taken her by the arm.

"Have you made any more progress with your memories?" he asked.

"Yes, but none of them are pleasant. First I see blood, then I see myself in Knockturn Alley. I wasn't going to schedule a session on my birthday but I wound up going in today anyway. I wouldn't call today's memory unpleasant exactly, but I would call it weird."

"Weird how?"

"I saw a pentagram burned into somebody's hand. Whose hand, I don't know."

Alarm bells went off in Anthony's head. "A pentagram? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Very sure. That's a weird place for a tattoo, isn't it? The palm of one's hand, I mean."

"But it was more of a branding than a tattoo?" Anthony asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

Anthony swore under his breath. "When was this again?"

"Four years ago," Bronwyn replied, looking surprised by Anthony's reaction.

"What date exactly?"

"It was something like five days, around the middle or end of June."

Anthony started to swear again, but Alex came up to him and said, "Can I have birthday cake?"

"Not yet, Alex. After dinner."

Alex pouted. "When is dinnertime?"

"We can eat right now," Bronwyn said to him, kneeling down so that she was at eye level with him. "Everyone who was invited to my party is here now. Do you want to pick a spot at the table?"

Alex nodded and ran off to the magically elongated table to pick a seat.

Bronwyn got back up, which was a feat in itself because she was wearing a tight dress. She gazed at her brother-in-law questioningly. "What's the matter?"

"I think I might have an idea of what happened to you. Well, not exactly, but partially."

Bronwyn looked intrigued, but she shook her head. "We can't talk about this now, as much as I'd like to. Later?"

"Definitely. Can you come by the office tomorrow?"

"After work."

"Great." Anthony gestured to the dinner table. "After you."

Bronwyn put a smile on her face, even though Anthony's allusions whirled around in her mind and had her wondering what he knew about her lost days.

Disturbing Conversation
Author: Declan 
Date:   05-25-11 18:02

His sixth years deep into a history simulation using one of the scenario games created by former Hogwartian Rolf Haaken, Declan finds it difficult to keep his mind from going back a little earlier in the afternoon. After his class of seventh years ended at twelve Declan had followed most of the students down to the Great Hall for lunch. He'd grabbed a couple of sandwiches, talked some with Jolyon Kent and AJ Hodfuffer. Around twenty of he left the Great Hall, wanting to read a letter that came just before his first class this morning. He can tell from the thickness of the envelope that Finella, his sister, sent a lengthy letter so his plan was to take his time reading it in the time left until the start of his office hours at one. He could read it during office hours of course but has a textbook to finish going through and make a decision on whether to change over to it for his fifth years in the fall.

That was a the plan at any rate.

What ended up happening was that Declan spotted Zabrynna Ravensdale and Anne Kendrick talking as Magretta Ravensdale entered the castle. Declan hadn't meant to overhear the conversation but once Margretta opened her mouth and addressed Zabrynna in a tone that was somehow dispassionate, condescending, snobbish, and cold all at the same time, he'd stood rooted to the spot. This was the same woman who claimed time and again that while upset, disappointed, and hurt over what Zabrynna had done, she still loved her daughter greatly. What Declan saw and heard indicated otherwise.

He knew things were not going well between them. He knew that Nolan and Margretta Ravensdale are in the midst of a divorce initiated by her. Declan knew these things mainly from Mariposa Ravensdale, Zabrynna's half-sister, and some from AJ Hoduffer, who's dating Mariposa. He'd even learned a few things from Zabrynna from time to time but until that moment standing there observing and hearing Margretta Ravendale, Declan had no idea of the depth of the woman's antipathy towards this daughter she professed so many times to love.

He'd ended up standing there, not moving and not speaking. Anne noticed him when she parted ways with Zabrynna and went in the direction of the Great Hall. Zabrynna never saw him or if she did, she gave no indication of it. Declan had stood there a little longer then walking with haste exited through the same door that Margretta Ravensdale had used. She'd gone much further than he'd anticipated, walking with a speed that bordered on jogging. He'd ended up jogging to catch up with her, calling her name once in the process.

Margretta Ravensdale had slowed but not stopped altogether. When Declan caught up with her, she still didn't stop. "Mrs. Ravensdale, may I speak to you a moment?"

"You're speaking to me now," she snippily replied.

Declan wanted to reach out and grab her arm and make her stop but he didn't. "Mrs. Ravensdale, please."

She'd stopped then. "What?" she'd snapped.

"I ," Declan faltered suddenly not really sure what to say.

"You what, Professor Douglass?" she'd snapped again, clearly irritated.

"I overheard between Zabrynna and you. Aren't you being overly harsh?"

"HA! That's rich coming from you of all people."

"I admit that after... that after we knew what she'd done, Zabrynna wasn't my favorite person. I would probably have even said I hated her but not now. I forgave her. I think she's well on the road to forgiving herself. You're her mother. Shouldn't you have some compassion for your own child?"

With eyes narrowed, Magretta Ravensdale had pointed a finger at Declan, stabbing it jerkily at him with her every word. "What I do or do not feel towards that girl is none of your concern. Frankly, I don't know why you'd care what my feelings are."

"Zabrynna messed up and it was a doozy but look at how much time has passed since then. She made a collosal error in judgement and she will have that hanging over her most likely for the rest of her life. But she's paid for it and is still paying. Instead of forgiving her and moving on as time has gone by, you've gotten harder towards her. I would venture to say that based just on that brief conversation with her a bit ago, you loathe Zabrynna. What happened to the woman who swore many times she still loved her daughter no matter what?"

Magretta Ravensdale derisively snorted. "I tried. I did. How though can I love her now? Look at what she's done."

"I know better than anyone what she did."

"You think this is only about that, don't you? You all do."

"Isn't it?"

"It's part, of course, and a big part at that, but there's so much more."

"Enlighten me."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

Margetta Ravensdale had set her jaw and stonily stared at him for a long minute. Declan met her hard gaze and waited.

She folded her arms and looking over Declan's shoulder back in the direction of the castle, said between gritted teeth, "I never wanted her to come here. I wanted her at Durmstrang. When Albus Dumbledore vanished and a new head was named, Nolan convinced me to give Hogwarts a try. I was concerned that Harriet Snider wouldn't be any improvement over Dumbledore. Durmstrang has a solid foundation of beliefs that I firmly back. But then some of Minister Smythe-Jones's policies were being implemented and as she was the one who named Snider as headmistress, I had a glimmer of hope. I resisted Nolan though until after that first year Snider was here. When it was clear that only the right ideas and right people would be educated at Hogwarts, I agreed with Nolan and we made the arrangements for a transfer from Durmstrang to Hogwarts for that second fall Harriet Snider was headmistress.

"That girl was a good student and a good daughter. She did what we told her. Then she came here and everything went to hell. Snider and Yaxley lost control; Smythe-Jones allowed herself to be overthrown; Dumbledore returned; we learned that our good, obedient daughter had done something vile and potentially embarassing for Nolan and me should news of it ever get out. Making matters worse, she resisted doing what we said. Sending her to Mexico for the summer was no easy feat. Then she dug in her heels and refused to return to Durmstrang. REFUSED! She never refused me before.

"Not only did she stand up to us, she made it clear she'd defy us if we sent her back to Durmstrang anyway. I couldn't have it known that my child was being a bitchy little brat. What would people say? That year was hard, knowing she was here against my wishes. It was only made tolerable in that I didn't have to face her very often. Not coming home, not going into Hogsmeade, not seeing us much, all that was part of her punishment you know. I didn't think it was harsh enough. Then the year ended and she stood up to us again. Said she was of age and she was finishing here at Hogwarts. That doesn't seem so bad to you, I'm sure, but by then Nolan was caving. He thought I was being too hard on her. We've had more fights about all this since start of term than we've had in all our years of marriage. I couldn't believe how spineless he'd become. She threw away everything she learned at Durmstrang, everything I wanted her to be. She disappointed me and thumbed her nose at me. I couldn't have that and thought he backed me but no, Nolan chose her. He decided it was time to fully forgive and chose her over me."

Declan had listened to all this without interrupting even once, noting that at no time did Margretta Ravensdale ever say her daughter's name. Zabrynna is always she or that girl. And for all the woman was saying Declan wasn't understanding all this anger and hatred over something that boils down to one teenager acting on a supremely bloody stupid mistake in judgement.

Then she got to the crux of the matter for her and things became very clear to Declan. Margretta Ravensdale is all about appearances. He'd known that for awhile now. It was eating at her all this time that Zabrynna did something that looks as bad as it actually was and then began standing up to her and defying her. The frosting on the cake is that Magretta Ravensdale is jealous of Zabrynna because Nolan wants a relationship with his daughter instead of continuing to punish her for dinging how Magretta looks in the eyes of the few who know what happened. She's jealous that her husband now appears weak to her for giving in to love for his child. For whatever warped reason, Magretta Ravensdale thinks that her husband cannot resume a supportive, normal fatherly relationship with Zabrynna and at the same time be the husband to her she expects him to be. For her, it's an either-or situation.

It's very warped and it boggles the mind.

Declan didn't even bother giving his opinion. She wouldn't have listened. Margretta Ravensdale only wants to hear herself.

Declan had let her end the conversation there, just nodding at her, letting her think he understood her reasonings. Maybe she even thinks he agrees with her after hearing her out. He didn't know and didn't care to continue talking with her to find out. He'd only said, "Thank you for your time. I'm late getting back to work now."

"I've an appointment anyway," she'd replied. Without further comment they'd both turned, her in the direction of the gates and Hogsmeade, him towards the castle.

For the remainder of his office hours, all that Margretta Ravensdale said looped repeatedly through Declan's head. He was grateful to have a class at two, welcoming the respite from her appalling words. Once he got class underway though, the scene starting playing again.

"Catch it, Professor Douglass!"

Declan looks up at Tim Gabble's words. "I'm sorry, what?"

"That Ogre! Catch it!"

Declan catches sight of one of the scenario game's figures running behind the legs of a chair not far from him. One of the Ogres has pulled off an escape. Not just any Ogre either. Crannock. Instigator of a rebellion in 1310. Because of him politics with Ogres, which had been dicey to begin with, went to hell. It was ten years before a truce was agreed to by both sides that each side actually stuck to for more than a day.

Taking a few steps, Declan bends to pick up the game figure. "Got you, Crannock. Back to the board you go."

Action figure Crannock lets out a roar that if he were an actual Ogre would have knocked Declan over. As he's only a few inches high, the sound comes out somewhat comically. Smiling genuinely for the first time since leaving the Great Hall from lunch, Declan returns Crannock to the scenario and forces himself to engage more with the sixth years as they go through the game simulation.