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To Do List and Seventh Years
Author: Lawrence Masterson
Date: 12-01-11 18:08
Tuesdays and Thursdays were Lawrence's busiest days, and today was no exception. He closed his eyes for a moment between classes, and still had to work on getting things situated to sell the flat in London, he and Ariella had discussed it and had figured that keeping the flat was something they didn't have to do since Hogwarts provided enough of a home for them and they had everything they needed. So, he had owled a real estate agent and was working on getting things together for a proper sale.
He was at this moment penning a response to the real estate agent, Genivive Newsome, and trying to get things worked out with her. He needed to go this weekend and get the loft sorted out, and get the remainder of the things moved over into their Quarters at the castle. He'd opted to eat lunch in the Greenhouse while he worked on grading the last of the assignments that he would be handing back during his last class before handing out the quiz that would comprise today's lesson.
Once he was done grading, he left the Greenhouse long enough to visit the owlery and send off the letter to the real estate agent and begin getting things moving on the flat. Finishing the last of his chicken caeser salad and pumpkin juice he pulled out the book he was thumbing through, a potential new addition for his seventh years next year but it was not something he was definitive on just yet, right now, he was just hoping that the newly revised syllabus that would be handed out today after the quiz for the month of October and onward would bring a bit more energy to his classes throughout the school year.
He looked up as the first of his seventh years entered. "Good afternoon." He said once everyone was seated and he moved to the front of the class. "First and foremost, Ferne can you please redistribute the assignments on my desk. After you've gotten your assignments back, there will be a quick, simple four question examination and then I've the newly revised syllabus for the remainder of the year, starting with the month of October."
He said simply, before he would allow Ferne to hand out the assignments and then he would hand out the examination. "You will have about thirty minutes for the quiz."
He worked on the assignments that would be handed back during his fifth year Gryffindor and Hufflepuff class tomorrow and finishing up their quiz as well as looking over their revised syllabus before calling time and collecting the quizzes from his seventh year students.
"Now, I've gathered that there was some discention over the fact that I had chosen originally to use the same coursework and then forbidden you from using the same assignments and examinations - I admit it was a mistake, but you will find this revised syllabus one that I do hope will provide you all with challenges befitting your seventh and final year here at Hogwarts. You will find that there will be things somewhat similar to my first year teaching here, which was about two to three school years ago."
He placed a hand on the stack of syllabi to be handed out. "Georgia, please hand these out. Thank you, and if any of you have questions, my office hours begin the moment this class is over and continue until five."
Once Georgia handed out the syllabi, he addressed the class once more. "Alright, that is all I have for you today. I will see you all on Tuesday." With that he dismissed all of them.
Talking With Clarissa
Author: Pyrrhus
Date: 12-01-11 19:40
Holding his left arm gingerly against his body Pyrrhus settles in a seat next to Clarissa Greenhill. "How bad?" she asks.
"Dislocated shoulder and cracked ulna. Don't know anything about Marmaduke yet," Py says in reference to Marmaduke Flower, whom he'd had a collision with during the Humbatas scrimmage taking place.
"Ouch. I take it they got your shoulder reset."
"Thankfully, yes. It's tender and sore but the worse of the pain is gone. Skele-Gro is working on the cracked ulna. I would have thought by now I'd be used to drinking that stuff but it's as awful as ever. What about you?"
"What about me?"
"You haven't participated at all today. No drills. No scrimmage so far. You all right?"
"Yes, I'm actually extremely well, but as of today I am sidelined for several months. Seven and a half to be exact."
"No? Really? Congratulations! No wonder Brent's been grinning ear to ear all morning."
"We're pretty excited. Not only will this be our first but the baby will be the first grandchild on both sides of the family. Yesterday when we got official confirmation, Brent immediately went and bought one of those cute, tiny brooms."
"All you need now is one of those infant Humbatas uniforms."
Clarissa reaches down to a bag at her feet and pulls out one of the Hogsmeade Humbatas baby outfits. "Way ahead of you. Have you and Isolde considered having children?"
"We've talked about it."
"I've seen you with your niece and nephew and I've watched you with your brother. I think you'd be a great father."
"Thank you for saying so."
"Unless Isolde is one of those people who works with children but actually hates them, I'd think she'd make a good mum. She seems to interact so well with her little leaguers."
"I think Isolde would be an awesome mum. Like I said, we've talked some but with her accident, the rehabilitation, and the long term effect the accident had on her overall health... " Py lets the sentence hang with a shrug.
From Clarissa's expression she's about to say something in response but she ends up pointing and nodding in the same direction. "There's Marmaduke. He's walking under his own steam so that's a good sign."
With a grimace, Py stands to wave, gaining Marmaduke's attention, interested in knowing who got the worst of their mid air bang up.
(Evelyn) A Good Actress
Author: Johanna Steele
Date: 12-02-11 13:18
Evelyn scribbled furiously with her quill. She wanted to be done with her Charm's homework so she could revise her Herbology knowledge for the quiz tomorrow.
She looked to her left. Dinah flipped the pages of her Charms book clearly not finding what she wanted. On her right side Envirude seemed to have given up completely. She had her arms crossed on the table and her head rested there. She was observing that first year girl from Slytherin, Rylee Marks. More than once Envirude had mentioned that girl to Evelyn. Clearly she envied her fancy clothes and style and they seemed somewhat friends. Evelyn didn't really have an opinion formed in her head about the first year. She actually couldn't care less right now. She just wanted to finish this bloody homework.
Distracted, she observed the surroundings of the Common Commons. On the other side of the room there was her brother, Edgar and her cousin, Luke. They didn't seem busy at all. They were just chatting and laughing and seemed very relaxed. Probably they already did their homework. Evelyn looked down to her essay and then back to Dinah who kept doing a very enervating noise, flipping the pages of her textbook. She then looked back to Edgar and Luke and making up her mind she left her chair and moved towards them.
"Hello boys!" She used a cheerful tone.
"If you're going to ask us for homework you better forget about it," Edgar said, guessing what his sister wanted.
"I didn't come for that," she lied. "I wanted to know if you received any letters from mom. Lately she seemed to forget about me."
Edgar looked to his twin sister incredulous. Evelyn tried to make the unhappier face she could. She thought maybe she should have signed into the Drama Club. She was a good actress.
"Maybe the owl got lost…"Edgar suggested.
"Maybe…I don't know. I was wondering if you could tell mom about it, can you? I can't even focus on my Charms' homework because I keep thinking what if is something happened to her?"
"Cut with that act Ev! You can trick Edgar but you can't trick me." Luke stood up from his armchair. Evelyn looked at him furious. He had ruined everything. She was sure Edgar would lend her his homework. "Do you want anything else?"
She didn't reply to her cousin and started to walk away. She was so furious she didn't even hear Luke whispering to a surprised Edgar:"The funny thing is we had Charms today and Professor Fairchild got our essays. There would be no way she could copy them."
Pavo
Author: Illyria
Date: 12-02-11 18:47
After supper, Illyria went to the Astronomy classroom and marked homework assignments until the second years arrived for class. Their first order of business was a comprehensive quiz, covering everything they had discussed since the start of term. The quiz included basic questions on constellations in general as well as questions on the specific constellations like Aquila, Cygnus and Equuleus.
After twenty minutes, Illyria took up all the quizzes, filed them away on her desk, and then had her students stand and join her up on the observation deck. Although the classroom experience wasn't too dull, thanks to the ceiling charmed to look like the cosmos, the students preferred class held on the observation deck to the classroom any day. Bad weather didn't seem to bother them too terribly much.
Thankfully, it was a very nice night tonight. Cold, yes, but it wasn't windy, rainy or snowy. The perfect night for stargazing.
"Let's take out our telescopes and have a look towards the south," Illyria instructed.
The students turned as one in the direction Professor Jones pointed and set up their telescopes. They peered through the lenses, unsure of what they ought to see.
"Today, we will discuss Pavo. Pavo is the Latin word for peacock. It was discovered by Petrus Plancius, the Dutch astronomer who is responsible for creating twelve constellations. You might recall that Plancius was not only an astronomer but also a cartographer who sailed with the Dutch East India Company. He produced numerous maps, both terrestrial and celestial. Pavo first appeared on a globe published in the late 1590s by Plancius.
"There is a book in the library I want you all to take the time to look at before next class," Illyria went on. "It's called Uranometria and is a star atlas published shortly after the celestial globe I just mentioned. It has the distinction of being the first atlas to cover the entire celestial sphere. It also contains the first depiction of Pavo in an atlas."
She went on to talk about Pavo's nickname, "the Saucepan", and how it was sometimes used as a guide for finding the south. She also talked about its most notable stars, Delta Pavonis and Phi Pavonis.
Strained Relationship
Author: Harry Potter
Date: 12-02-11 20:09
Watching Ginny as she silently goes through the motions of making tea, Harry wonders how long it's going to take to return to the easy moments of quiet they once shared. The silence between them now is strained. At least she does still talk to him. Sirius only does if in a social setting with others around and only when it's unavoidable. Remus is nearly as bad. Ron is still ticked and Hermione is... Harry's not exactly sure what Hermione's current demeanor towards him is. He's not seen much of Hermione since dinner the night he'd told her, Ginny, and Ron about Pettigrew. He'd like to think it's just a matter of her being wrapped up with the hospital.
"You want honey or lemon?" Ginny asks, stirring a dollop of cream into her own teacup.
"No, I don't think so, thanks."
He accepts the cup, eyes meeting hers as Ginny sits at the small kitchen table across from him. He opens his mouth to say he might have a slice of cake, did she want one too, only what comes out is, "Ginny, are you stalling on rethinking the wedding date because you're having second thoughts?"
Ginny's eyebrows both go up, her expression incredulous. "I'm not sure if I should address that or pretend you didn't ask such a thing."
"I'm sorry, it's just that there's been some tension since ," Ginny holds a finger up to indicate Harry should stop speaking.
Her low, calm tone lets Harry know that Ginny's actually to angry to yell or even talk heatedly. "I cannot speak for anyone else, Harry, but my irritation with you isn't because you've been harboring Peter Pettigrew. Was I happy to find out what you've been doing? No. Is that the cause of the tension? No."
"Then what is?"
"You waited how long to tell me? Us?"
"Months."
"I understand that as an Auror, there are going to be things you can't talk about with me; but, this has nothing to do with work. It was a secret that has to do with someone who is responsible, directly and indirectly, for your horrible childhood and how much shit for the rest of us? When has keeping that sort of secret from any of us ever turned out well, Harry?"
"I'm sorry, Ginny. I didn't know what to tell any of you."
"You tell us that Peter Pettigrew came begging for help."
"It didn't seem that easy."
"Only because you didn't let it be. You have complained at times of how so many around you over the years kept secrets. How are you any different from them?"
While Harry is trying to think of a decent response that does not involve claiming, "This is different," Ginny gets up from the table and grabs something off a nearby counter. She slaps it down on the table in front of Harry and only then does he see it's a calendar.
"I was going to ask you what you thought of this date," she says, tapping one of the calendar squares with numbers circles in a teal green ink, "but, oddly enough, I'm not in the mood to discuss setting a date. I'm going to bed. If you leave by the door, be sure to lock it behind you."
It's a good five minutes before Harry quietly leaves. Pulling the door shut, double checking it is locked, he disapparates from the landing, thinking that he certainly has a talent for continually mucking things up.
Easy Friday
Author: Karma Davyd
Date: 12-03-11 10:07
"Good morning every one..." I said as I slipped into my first class, still clinging to my mug of coffee dosed with hazelnut creamer and some sugar to make things more pleasant this morning. I moved quickly to the head of the room filled with my third year Ravenclaw and Slytherin students.
"Jasper, please collect the assignments and place them on my desk. Liannah, please hand out the updated assignment list for next month."
I reported two points per student that aided, and then once everything was neatly passed out and collected which took about five minutes, I turned to the class. "Right, now down to the focus of today's class, your end of topic examination. Preston, please pass out the test booklets. Once all the booklets have been received, you will have until the end of class to complete the exam. If you complete the examination before the end of class, you are free to leave, begin reading your topics for next week and formulating the outline for your assignments."
While the class worked on their examinations, I turned my attention begin grading the assignments that had been collected. About nine-thirty students began turning in exams, and slipped free of the classroom quietly to not disturb those that were still taking their exams.
Ten o'clock came and all the exams were turned in. I bundled them and tucked them in my bag for grading this weekend, just in time for my fourth year Gryffindor and Hufflepuffs to begin filtering in. I'd also summoned a house elf with another mug of coffee, I was being bad, though it was Friday, I still had a long weekend ahead of me.
"Morning to you all. Settle down, and Kate please collect the assignments that were due and Charisma please hand out the updated assignments for the next month." I said as I moved to put the reading assignment on the blackboard for my fourth years.
"I know you all have Hogsmeade tomorrow, but, you also need to work on some homework, I'd start your reading concerning Harpo the Foul and his works as soon as possible." I said with a smile. "Now, that everything has been collected and things distributed it is time to get to your examination from the month's topic. You will have until the end of class to complete the exam. Hugo, please hand out the exam booklets please. Once you've finished you are free to go even if it is before eleven."
This would be how my day would go until three, as I didn't have office hours today, I would focus on getting some grading done. I would be starting St. Emry's on the tenth of October and I had three courses and one lab, and thankfully everything would be on Thursday and Friday beginning at five and going till about nine.
After my three o'clock second year Ravenclaw and Slytherin class completed their exams and filed out to either take another class or head to wherever, I gathered up my things and slipped from my classroom, heading toward my quarters for a shower and possibly a fireside chat with my mother who had, thankfully not set me up on another blind date. I also had plans tomorrow for a lunch with Kissy and was trying to set something up with Bronwyn on Sunday if she was available.
Making Plans with Blake
Author: Charisma Stone
Date: 12-03-11 16:44
"So what are we going to do in the village tomorrow?" Blake asked as he plopped down next to Isma, nearly making her topple her mug of hot chocolate in her lap.
Narrowly missing a chocolate saturated robe, she set the mug down on the low table in front of her and reclined against Blake as he settled neatly, and hooked an arm around her shoulders.
"I think maybe lunch at the Crown and Cauldron, and some shopping to get some holiday stuff done even though there will be some time before christmas." Isma said looking up at him.
"Sounds like a plan. Are we going down early or just going to drop in for the afternoon?" He asked curiously.
"You are free to go down early, I might sleep in and meet you down there. I'm guessing you want to get down early and get in a couple of games at Blossom's?" Isma asked grinning at her boyfriend impishly.
Blake laughed and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Yeah. Eric and a couple of the others want to play a couple of rounds early in the day before it gets too busy." He said with a light sigh.
"Thankfully our weekend starts early. Though, I wasn't entirely thrilled with the fact that we have five scrolls in History of Magic to get done this month, but it could be worse, it could be five scrolls each week to get done." She said and sighed lightly.
"This is true, but next year is going to be crazier what with it being OWL year and then we go right into NEWT course work and then we will be in our last year." He said idly toying with a strand of hair.
"I know it. By the way, Mum said that dad is doing well and he's home and they were going to try and make it to the Village this weekend but he isn't quite feeling up to being out and about yet." Isma said with a smile.
"Well, it is good to hear that he is doing well." He said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Unfortunate that we can't see your parents this weekend."
They shifted and settled once more into the expanse of relaxation and Isma cast a warmth spell on her cocoa to once more give it some heat, and she shared a sip of her cocoa with Blake and then let him up to get some biscuits for them to share.
Hogsmeade Weekend?
Author: Errol
Date: 12-03-11 17:26
On the way to Potions Errol had heard a couple of others say something about going into Hogsmeade. He'd been going to ask someone about it but by then they were at the Potions classroom and Professor Snape was impatiently waiting for everyone get there and settled. The last thing Errol was going to do was become the object of Severus Snape's ire, landing him with weekend detention. He could practically hear Uncle Ross's howler about how Errol had managed to get detention less than two weeks being at the new school. Wouldn't matter that until the incident, Ross had never been in trouble at school much less served a detention.
After Potions, walking to the Great Hall for lunch, Errol's mind is on the potion just brewed, debating with himself on whether he messed up a step somehow. While the potion he turned in was the right color, consistency, and texture, something about it seemed off. He just can't put his finger on what exactly that was as he went through the steps again in his head. By the time he'd reached the Great Hall, he'd not figured it out, which was all the more frustrating.
He's pulled from his thoughts when Alastor Jenkins says, "Pass the roast beef."
"Yeah, sure."
"Thanks. What I wouldn't give to be a sixth year like I'm supposed to be and have the stress of O.W.L.s behind me. You have the O.W.L.s at your old school?"
"Yeah. I think a lot of American schools do but they don't all call them O.W.L.s. Same with the N.E.W.T.s, but some just have exit exams. How come you should be a sixth years? Did you fail?"
"I was at Happy Haven a few years ago."
"Happy Haven?"
"Happy Haven School for Nons. It was part of the pureblood segregation movement a few years back. It was a prison and not a real school so all of us there lost a year here."
"I heard some about that and read some of the news. My uncle bitched constantly about how some of his most lucrative business deals were screwed up because of all that. Sucks that any of it happened and that it put you a year behind here."
"Sucks is an understatement. Anyway, even though it's not October yet, I'm already tired of all the professors and my parents yammering about studying for the O.W.L.s. Mum wants me to pick up some study guides in Hogsmeade tomorrow. Say, some of us are getting up a couple of laser tag and paint ball teams. Want to join?"
"I don't know what those are and besides, I don't know anything about going into Hogsmeade tomorrow."
"How can you not know we get a day in the village every few months. Tomorrow is the first of the term and the next will be sometime just before Christmas holiday. First and second years aren't allowed, never have known why exactly, but practically everyone else will be going."
"Probably takes permission since it involves leaving the school grounds."
"Yeah, there's a permission slip that has to be signed and turned in. Anyone not already turning it in has to have it to hand to either Filch or McGonagall at the doors."
"I can't do that tag or paint thing then, sorry."
"Your permission slip didn't get signed when you were enrolled? I bet if you sent one now with a rush on it, you could get it back in time to come into the village for at least a little while tomorrow."
"Uncle Ross wouldn't sign."
Errol, expecting to be asked why, isn't expecting what Alastor, somewhat bluntly, does ask.
"Are your parents dead?"
"No idea. My mother never wanted me. I don't even know her last name, just her first. Uncle Ross once said the only reason she didn't get an abortion was because she didn't believe in them. She left me at the hospital for my dad to take home. I lived with him until I was nearly five. One day he left me with a neighbor to watch for a few hours. That was the last time I saw him. When he didn't return the neighbor contacted his brother. I've lived with Uncle Ross ever since."
"You think something happened to your dad?"
"Sometimes I think so. Maybe Uncle Ross knows what happened to him but maybe not. Other times I think maybe he just got tired of being a single father who couldn't go out and party as much as he wanted."
"And you're sure your uncle won't let you go into the village?"
"I'm sure."
"That's too bloody bad. We could really use you in paint ball and laser tag."
"Which I know nothing about."
Alastor launches into a description of paint ball followed by describing laser tag. Errol interrupts every now and again to clarify something the other boy has said. They are still talking about the two games when it's time to wrap up lunch and get to Defense Against the Dart Arts.