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Running into an Old Friend
Author: Carys
Date: 06-10-11 13:14
Carys sat in the library at St. Emrys and attempted to write a letter in French to her father. Her grasp of the language had improved greatly ever since she'd started taking classes, but writing complete paragraphs in perfect grammar still posed a bit of a challenge.
She periodically consulted a dictionary to check her spelling and the proper placement of accent marks. In French, there were four for vowels: the accent aigu (´), the accent grave (`), the accent circonflexe (&Mac246;), and the accent tréma (¨). A fifth accent, the cédille, was found only on the letter C (ç). As English didn't use accents other than in the words it borrowed from foreign languages, Carys sometimes had trouble assigning the correct accent mark to the corresponding letter.
She was enrolled in Advanced French Grammar this term, which would hopefully improve her writing skills and knowledge of the various accent marks a great deal. Besides French, Carys was taking another photography class and three more remedial courses. Trinity Term would be her last in the Wizarding Education Diploma program. Next year, she would enroll in the NEWT program.
Carys wrote until about twenty till her Herbology class, but instead of going straight there, she went across the street to The Wyrding Way for a pastry. Luckily, there wasn't a long line. She ordered a lemon custard slice and prepared to head back to the university.
"Carys?"
"Urania!"
Carys stepped out of the way so that Urania Jones could approach the counter, but Urania waved for the person behind her to go in front.
"It's been a while!" Urania exclaimed.
Carys thought back to the last time she'd seen Urania and felt her smile slip a little from her face. They'd not talked since Goen Bren.
Urania seemed to come to the same realization at the same time. She quickly attempted to lighten the mood. "Are you taking classes at St. Emrys?"
"Yes, five this term. And you?"
"I'm not enrolled. I'm actually here for work." At that, Urania glanced around the coffee shop as if looking for somebody. She turned back to Carys, whose mouth was full with lemon custard.
"I work at the Ministry of Magic, and I'm meeting with one of the university students who is interested in an internship position."
Carys swallowed her mouthful. "Really? What do you do at the Ministry?"
Urania smiled sheepishly. "I'm afraid that classified information."
Carys's eyebrows rose into her hairline. "Wow. You must be really important, then."
Urania laughed. "Well, I don't know about that. Say, do you want to sit and talk for a while?"
"I can't, actually. I've got class in a few minutes. Maybe we can get together another time?"
"Definitely." The person in front of Urania left with his order, and now it was her turn to approach the counter. "I'll send you an owl later, okay?"
"Sure. Nice seeing you again," Carys said. She shot Urania a smile and then stepped outside with her pastry. She booked it back to campus and made it to her Herbology class with only seconds to spare.
(Weston) Morning Glory
Author: Marzipan
Date: 06-10-11 14:28
The Ravenclaw and Slytherin third years kneeled in the flower beds outside the greenhouses and planted morning glory. Earlier, they'd been in Greenhouse Three and had listened to Professor Weston Ravenscroft lecture about the flowering plant. This was his last week filling in for his wife. She would return to teaching on Monday, May 2nd.
The morning glories the third years planted came in a variety of colors. Felicia and Johanna worked together to plant a beautiful, baby blue variety. Ramona poured potting soil around her plant, whose blossoms were deep purple with dark fuchsia accents. Gus, meanwhile, planted a bright pink variety and didn't seem the least bit bothered by its girly coloring.
Other colors included white, ruby and white, fuchsia and white, pink and fuchsia; bright blue, navy blue, purple, purple and yellow, pale pink, striped and speckled.
Professor Ravenscroft gave everybody enough time to finish planting the morning glories and then had them return to the greenhouse. There, they changed gears and began to discuss turkey rhubarb.
His students were a little wound up from having been outside in the fresh air, so it took some doing to get their full attentions again.
"Turkey rhubarb is also known as Chinese rhubarb, ornamental rhubarb, and East Indian rhubarb. The Latin name is Rheum palmatum. Roger, can you pass these out to everyone?"
Roger, who had been turned toward Johanna, got up at the sound of his name and took the handful of seed-like objects from Professor Ravenscrofts hands.
"What are these?" he asked, as he went around the table and handed one to each student.
Weston said, "You tell me."
The objects were small and hard. They looked a bit shriveled and were black in the middle and brown everywhere else. "Are they seeds?"
"No, not seeds. Who has a guess?"
Cyril Middleton said, "They look like nuts that have been flattened or crushed."
"They do a little bit, don't they?" Weston replied with a smile. "These are the fruits of turkey rhubarb."
He talked more about the fruits and the plant itself, which had the appearance of a bush-sized head of lettuce. Before long, class ended. Weston sent them off with a promise to finish the lecture on Thursday. The third years went off in a hurry, leaving their teacher alone for a few moments to get ready for his next class.
No sooner had he put the turkey rhubarb away did the first of his Gryffindor and Hufflepuff fourth years enter the greenhouse. Today, they would be discussing bladderwrack, a type of seaweed.
Stupid Prank (Drucilla)
Author: Sirius Padfoot Black
Date: 06-10-11 17:42
Drucilla is due for work at the Ministry very soon but after dropping the twins off at Blossom's she remembered something she didn't do before leaving the house. So, it was back down the High, stopping briefly at the bakery for some flakey, buttery croissants to go with the chicken salad she packed for her lunch, Dru returns home to the East Lane. There she double checks to make sure that Wendy's food and water bowls are full then goes into the study. On the desk is an almost completed letter to her mother. Dru sits to finish the last few sentences, sign it, and put it in an envelope. That done she goes to the door, thinking to walk quickly back to the High Street to the Owl Post.
No sooner has Drucilla opened the front door then an owl glides in from her left, drops an envelope at her feet, flies off to the right a short way then wheels back around and flies back off to her left. She bends at the knees to scoop up the envelope then, mindful of the time, sets off for the Owl Post at a somewhat fast clip.
Curious as to who the letter is from, Drucilla shifts items in her hands so that she might open the envelope and read its contents while she walks. The letter isn't so much a letter as it is a note of a few lines and written in a hand she doesn't immediately recognize. Dru reads the first line then the second, her puzzlement growing.
Still suffering, dear Dru,
from memory troubles?
Loyal You-Know-Who
follower can't remember?
Not so true blue
and faithful afterall.
Reading through the strange note a second time, Drucilla stops walking. While it's true there is a portion of her memory gone from several years ago, what the hell does the note mean? The You-Know-Who reference can only mean Voldemort. The way she's reading this, it implies she was loyal to him.
Like hell she was.
Right?
She might be missing some of her memory but surely if she'd believed in Voldemort's tenents she'd have continued to at least support his ideals, right? She wouldn't have to remember everything to hold such deep seated beliefs and to think that notions such as pureblood superiority are the standards to live by.
Crumbling the note and shoving it in her pocket so as not to litter, she continues on her way to the Owl Post. She's part Veela, so why in bloody hell would have for a second questioned herself just then. Of course she wouldn't haven't followed that lunatic! She would have worked against him just as she worked against Euphemia Smythe-Jones.
She has no idea who the arse was who sent the note but if it's meant to be as some sort of joke, Drucilla is not in the least bit amused.
By the time she's owled off the letter to her mum, Drucilla's still ticked at the note but she's already let most of the anger go, dismissing the note as nothing more than an exceedingly stupid prank from someone too cowardly to sign the note. Without giving it more thought, Dru apparates to a favored spot then walks the short distance to the Ministry entrance she generally uses.
Office Hours
Author: Illyria
Date: 06-11-11 12:54
With it still being early in Spring Term, Illyria didn't have anybody turning up for office hours. Since her students weren't at the OWL or NEWT level, they didn't have the same worries as their older housemates. Illyria didn't think they would wait until finals to start showing up, but she expected the rather quiet afternoons to continue for a little while yet.
She spent her time marking the first year essay papers she'd collected last night. Her students had studied comets last week and had been asked to write about their physical characteristics. Last night, Illyria had begun lecturing on specific comets, beginning with Halley's Comet and Comet Encke. She would give the same lecture tonight for her second set of first years.
When she finished with the essays, she moved on to the third year assignments she'd collected yesterday. They had learned about the constellation Leo and had filled out a star chart as homework.
When Illyria finished with those, she found herself with nothing left to do. She twiddled her thumbs a bit and then thought about Olympia and Lyell, who were getting married on Saturday morning. As Arsinoe and Erigone had done before her, Olympia had had her sisters draw straws to see who would be her maid or matron of honor. This time, Illyria had drawn the short straw.
The wedding would be taking place at the estate of Lyell's parents, who lived on a plot of land outside of London. Olympia had chosen watermelon pink as her color and had chosen a satin, strapless gown for Illyria to wear. The dress had a belt with a rhinestone clasp and fell to just below Illyria's knees. Peeptoe heels in the same watermelon pink shade complimented the outfit. Illyria rather looked forward to the big event.
She wondered if Nathan would be there. He had been at Arsinoe's ceremony and at Erigone's in Mumbai of all places, always as a guest of the groom. What were the chances of him also knowing Lyell? It would be a strange coincidence, but Illyria was kind of hoping to see him again.
She found herself daydreaming about him, until a knock on the door startled her from her reverie.
"Professor Jones? I have a question about the homework."
Perhaps her afternoon wouldn't be so quiet after all. "Come in, Alcmene. What is your question?"
She spent the rest of her office hours working with Alcmene.
Rainy Mood
Author: Adina Blackwood
Date: 06-11-11 18:18
A couch had been Adina's perch for several hours as she looked longingly out the window. It had started raining around dark and that in and of itself had put the second year in a foul mood. She was supposed to be going running tonight and there had been some scattered lightning and Professor Dumbledore had come to her and told her that he did not think it would be wise of her to go out tonight.
That had been several hours ago, and at the moment it was getting closer to curfew and she would have to head back to Slytherin house before too long. She was almost wishing that it was Wednesday instead of Tuesday because she'd be getting ready to head to Astronomy instead of to the Slytherin Commons and ultimately her bed in her dormroom. She'd tried doing some schoolwork, but had absolutely no concentration. As it was she had been an idiot with Professor Black and had no idea what the hell to do to about that situation - though she'd apologized profusely for it.
She had subsequently tuned out the WWN station that was playing, not even the announcements from the dj could grab her attention and they were interviewing one of her favorite singers. She hadn't even heard someone come up behind her until she felt the hand on her shoulder. She shrieked and spun away from the window ready to ream someone out, but the angry words died in her throat when she came face to face with Arthur, her boyfriend.
"Sorry. I thought you heard me." He said, leaning into press a kiss to my cheek. "Thought I'd walk you back to Slytherin before curfew." He said and helped me get my things together and tugging me from my unpleasent perch at the window.
"I know you wanted to go running tonight, I'm sorry you couldn't." He said lightly, we'd had the conversation a couple of weeks ago when we'd officially started dating or whatever this could be.
Adina shruged and leaned herself against his arm, winding her arm around his. "It happens. Though Professor Dumbledore said I can hopefully go out Friday evening if the weather is good. Which is good because that means that we can go to the spring social on Saturday without issue."
"Good." And soon enough they had reached the expanse of the house door, and Arthur gave the password for this week. "Waterproof" and we were entering the Slytherin common room.
O.W.L. Review
Author: Minerva McGonagall
Date: 06-12-11 12:10
Professor McGonagall stood at the front of her classroom and instructed her Hufflepuff and Slytherin fifth years on animate to inanimate transfiguration. It was first and second year spellwork, reviewed now in anticipation of the Ordinary Wizarding Level Transfiguration exam that would take place in the middle of June. The first years practiced transfiguring mice into snuffboxes.
For some, it took a bit of repetition to get the hang of the spell again. Others remembered the proper wand movement and incantation from all those years ago and practiced making their snuffboxes fancier and fancier.
After some time, Professor McGonagall left the students to their own devices and retreated to her desk to make sure she had everything prepared for the rest of her Wednesday classes. There wasn't much to do, as all were continuing lessons from Monday.
She turned to duties more administrative in nature and immediately thought of her great nephew Madoc, who had been asking her a series of very persistent questions lately. Only one was business related: What had happened to Penn Ellison?
All of the professors knew the truth about Penn, but none of the students did and likely never would. Minerva hated to lie to Madoc, but she wanted to shield him from the awful truth. How would his classmates feel, especially those who'd been his roommates, if they'd known he was really an older woman and a dark witch besides?
Minerva had simply told Madoc that Penn had transferred out of Hogwarts quite unexpectedly. The end.
The fact that Madoc constantly asked her about him made it obvious that he didn't quite accept her answer, but she refused to budge and provide him with the sordid details.
The other questions Madoc pestered her with as of late regarded her past and why she and his grandfather didn't get along. Minerva had thought long and hard about telling him, but she felt some hesitation because she didn't want to sully her brother in front of grandson's eyes. Madoc loved his grandfather, as he should, and Minerva didn't want to take that love away from him. Assuming Madoc would even believe anything she told him, of course.
For now she left it be, to perhaps tell him when he grew a little older.
"All right, class. That is enough for today. We will continue on Friday. Please place your mice or snuffboxes in this box," she said, indicating to a cardboard box on her desk.
The fifth years came forward and placed mice, snuffboxes, and a combination of both into the box and then left the classroom with their things. A few minutes later, the next group of fifth years came into the classroom. During the interim, Professor McGonagall had transfigured all the snuffboxes and partial snuffboxes back into mice.
The Gryffindor and Ravenclaws set down their things and at Minerva's instruction, came forward to choose a mouse from the box.
Delivery
Author: Lysander Stratford
Date: 06-12-11 13:35
A Eurasian Eagle-owl bearing a heavy crate in its talons touched down outside the open door of Twice Told Tales and focused its orange-yellow eyes on the large tabby cat that eyed it with a mixture of fear and curiosity. The owl was as big as the cat, if not a little larger, and looked rather intimidating with its horn-like feathers, bright eyes, and sharp claws.
Although the owl was not prevented from entering the shop and wasn't the least bit frightened by the cat, it refused to leave its cargo alone. The charm, on the other hand, prevented the cat from leaving the bookshop.
Lysander noticed Dexter's rigid posture and went to investigate.
"Delivery!" he shouted over his shoulder to Julian, who had the office door ajar and was working on some figures.
Lysander scooped up the cat and carried him to the counter, where he kept some treats for both feline and fowl. He fed Dexter a few bites of dried salmon and then carried a long piece of beef jerky to the owl. It accepted the jerky as a proper trade for the crate and then launched itself into flight.
Lysander used Wingardium Leviosa on the crate and brought it inside.
"Did you order anything?" Julian asked. He crossed the room and scratched Dexter behind the ears. The cat was too busy eating his snack to purr out of affection for his owner.
"No, did you?"
"No." A look of concern crossed Julian's face.
Lysander noticed his friend's expression and asked, "What? You don't think Fox sent us a surprise, do you?"
"Can't be too cautious," Julian replied, "and frankly, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised."
Lysander had been all set to open the crate, but now he hesitated. What if Kristos had sent the crate? What if it was rigged to explode upon opening or contained some kind of curse?
Julian waved his wand over the crate, speaking every curse-revealing spell he knew. He even went so far as to summon a sneakoscope, but the device didn't react to the crate at all.
"I'm going to open it," Lysander finally decided. He did so from a distance, and then both men peered into the crate without drawing near it. They visibly relaxed.
"Journals," Julian said.
They'd had a longstanding relationship with a company that produced blank journals. Sometimes they purchased some to sell or give away. Other times they received freebies.
Lysander approached the crate and pulled out one of the leatherbound books. "When's the next Hogsmeade trip?"
"End of May," Julian said.
"Looks like we have some giveaways, then," Lysander said.
Better than whatever surprise Kristos Fox might have cooked up, for sure!