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Busy Thursday
Author: Lawrence Masterson
Date: 04-01-12 06:32
Yesterday had been a long day for Lawrence, after duties at Hogwarts, he had class from five thirty to seven forty-five, then came home and finished grading some assignments for his classes in the morning. Tuesdays and Thursdays were some of his busiest days, because that was when he had the bulk of his classes, and unfortunately he still had a class at St. Emry's tonight because it was the only available slot for the class.
He'd given Ariella a kiss good morning, before he'd left to check on things in the greenhouse before breakfast, and then grabbed something quick in the Great Hall before heading back to the greenhouse to look over the text for his Ethnobotany course which was tonight for the first time. It would be easy as the meetings had been all week for the most part, but he was fairly certain that there would be homework assigned (even on the first day), and he'd add that to his weekend to-do list.
This term was going to be busy, but he was looking forward to it, and he was looking forward to sharing this new knowledge with his students when he worked on formulating the lesson plans for next year, as well as perhaps adding some extra credit assignments that would broaden his student's horizons. Either way, it was going to be a good term.
At the sound of a clearing throat he looked up from the ethnobotany text on his desk and smiled as Ariella stood there ready herself to head to St. Emrys for her own classes. "Good morning again love," he said sliding an arm around her and pulling her in for a kiss. He still had about twenty minutes before his first group of students were going to show up.
"I was thinking, this weekend we spend the night in a quaint little B&B in muggle Ireland. Just some time alone, since we are both going to be super busy." She suggested with an mischievous grin.
"I'll make the arrangements during lunch. Two nights, Friday and Saturday, because I do not think that I will be needed for Career Day activities on Saturday." He said giving her a light kiss before releasing her. "Alright, you've got class soon and I'll be having fifth years milling in here soon enough. I will see you when I get home tonight from my class." Another kiss, and Ariella headed to the gates to apparate from the village to St. Emrys and he turned and headed into the greenhouse once more to make one final check of what was going to be discussed in class today.
Maybe
Author: Isolde
Date: 04-01-12 14:38
A half dozen paper airplanes buzzed over Isolde's head as she waited for the lift. She had just met with Angelina Johnson at the British and Irish Quidditch Little League Headquarters office. The season was not even halfway through yet and Isolde was already needing to replace some of the equipment. She'd filled out the proper paperwork and had turned it in to Angelina for her approval.
The Plymouth Polliwogs weren't the top team this season, but they were in the upper half of the league. Isolde doubted the Polliwogs would climb all the way up the ranks by season's end, but she supposed that it was still early enough and that anything could happen.
The brass gate slid open, allowing Isolde and the six paper airplanes to enter the lift. There were a few other witches and wizards already inside, and they shifted positions slightly to make room for Isolde. One of the wizards was someone she knew well.
"Robert! Hi!"
"Nice to see you, Isolde!" Robert Blackheart replied, smiling. "What are you doing here?"
"Had some Little League business. What about you? I didn't realize you were in town."
Robert worked for the Department of International Magical Cooperation and tended to travel more often than not.
"I just got in last night and don't leave again for a whole week. I'm actually really glad I bumped into you. Do you have a free moment? There's something important I'd like to ask you."
"Sure," Isolde said. She had planned to run a few errands in Diagon Alley but that would wait.
They got off at Level 8 and went to the cafeteria. It was early, so Isolde and Robert selected brunch appropriate snacks like croissants with hazelnut spread and cups of hot chocolate.
Once they were seated, Robert announced, "I want to ask Azaelia to marry me, but I wanted to get your permission before I do."
Isolde laughed. "My permission? I'm not her father, you know."
"I know," Robert replied with a grin, "but I also know that besides being your cousin, she's your best friend. It's important that I get your approval."
Isolde surveyed Robert over her cup of hot cocoa. She remembered him from Hogwarts and she remembered how well he had fit her cousin. If he hadn't moved away when they'd still be kids, Isolde felt certain that he and Azaelia would have long gotten married.
"Maybe," she finally said, feigning utter seriousness.
"Maybe?" Robert asked. He looked a bit crestfallen.
Isolde broke out into a grin. "Don't be silly, Robert. Of course I approve of you marrying Azaelia. You two are made for each other. I think it's destiny that brought you two back together."
"You do?"
"Well, don't you think it was meant to be?"
"We were just kids when we dated the first time around."
"I know. Py and I were just kids when we started dating too."
Robert smiled. "So, I should ask Azaelia to marry me."
"Yes, and I promise I will act surprised when she tells me she got engaged."
Robert grinned. "You're the best."
"Maybe," Isolde replied, "but don't tell your future fiancée that," she added with an impish grin.
(Aleydis) Guess Who Likes You
Author: Griet
Date: 04-01-12 15:17
After History of Magic ended, Aleydis went to the library to get in a little studying before lunchtime. As a fifth year, she felt quite overwhelmed with all the homework her professors assigned each and every day. On top of all that, she had the Ordinary Wizarding Levels to study for. Aleydis hadn't really started studying for those exams in earnest yet, but she had been making notecards to study from later.
She was currently reviewing her reading for this afternoon's Muggle Studies class when Abigail Tibbs sat down across from her at the table, leaned forward and whispered, "I just heard something very interesting."
Aleydis looked up from the fourth volume of Muggle Life and whispered back, "What?"
"Oh, it's really juicy. I almost shouldn't tell you here in the library," Abigail said. She looked like she could hardly contain herself, though, and was practically vibrating in her seat.
"Just tell me already," Aleydis said.
"Well, it's about you…"
Aleydis grew alarmed. "What? Is it bad?" She tried to think of something having to do with her that would qualify as being "really juicy", but she couldn't think of anything scandalous she might have done.
"Well," Abigail teased, "somebody likes you."
"Who?" but when Abigail didn't answer fast enough, Aleydis said rather loudly, "Just tell me already!", which drew a "Shhh!" from Miss Bramble and looks from students studying at nearby tables.
"Who?" Aleydis asked again in a whisper.
"Basil Wynbourne," Abigail said smugly. "Can you believe it?"
Aleydis didn't know whether to take offense. Was Abigail implying that any boy, especially an older, Slytherin boy, wouldn't find her attractive or dateable?
Aleydis knew Basil from Quidditch and also knew that he was a supreme jerk. She wasn't sure she welcomed Abigail's news.
"Well, he's not bad-looking," Aleydis finally said, "but…"
"I know," Abigail said. "I know. Why him and not somebody else, like Deak Bennett? Well, I better leave you to your…" Abigail's eyes flickered over Aleydis' Muggle Studies book. "… thoughts," she finally said, before getting up and going somewhere else.
Aleydis started reading again, but she quickly found that she could no longer concentrate. She closed her book and stuffed it into the pretty floral bag Adina Blackwood had given her for Christmas. Aleydis then shouldered the back and walked out of the library. It was too early for lunch still, so she went to the common room to kill some time.
Still Suspended
Author: Harry Potter
Date: 04-01-12 16:35
Both hands palm down as he leans slightly over the Minister of Magic's desk, Harry pleads, "Aw, come on, Kingsley. It's near enough."
"No. Go home, Harry."
"Kingsley, "
"You want me to have you forcibly removed from my office?"
"But "
"I am not giving you special treatment."
"I'm not "
"Yes, you are. I will not play favorites and I will not be lenient simply because you are the famous Boy Who Lived and the One Who Killed Voldemort. Your punishment was what I would have given anyone under the same circumstances. Go home. Enjoy the rest of your time off. Spend it with that lovely new wife of yours."
"We already took an extended honeymoon."
"You're complaining about that?"
"No, not complaining. I just want to get back to work now that we're home."
"You've had my reply to that."
"Will you at least tell me what you've done with Pettigrew?"
"He's in protective custody, helping us with some open cases. Under Smythe-Jones he was formally pardoned but there are enough other things to allow us to keep watch over him. He's not in Azkaban and as he still has this unnamed fear driving him to remain hidden, he hasn't much minded, though he has complained about the location not having that Muggle veltivision."
"Television."
"Yes, that's the word. For some reason I always get it wrong unless I stick to the nickname for it, the telly. It seems that Pettigrew grew quite fond of several programmes and complains about missing something called EastEnders. Why do the Muggles have a programme about London's East End?"
"It's what's called a soap opera. Actors and actresses playing fictional characters with a made up setting placed in the East End. Strictly mindless entertainment. If you want, move Pettigrew back to where I last had him."
"I shall consider it but don't take that as in invitation to show up there. I still don't understand why you'd even want to see him much less give him safe harbor."
"I'm still trying to figure that one out myself."
"I've a meeting in five minutes so you really do need to leave now, Harry. Unless you have legitimate business, I do not want you in the Ministry until your suspension is ended. Show up without legitimate purpose and I will extend the suspension."
Harry gives an exasperated sigh. "Okay. Fine. I'm going." He knows he sounds on the petulant side but he doesn't much care at the moment. Shoulders drooping slightly, he exits Kingsley's office, guessing he'll spend the rest of the day looking at properties like he'd told Ginny he was going to do.
No Idea What You're Talking About (Basil)
Author: Jared
Date: 04-01-12 20:49
Basil is trying to finish a History of Magic assignment due at two so he can go to the Great Hall for some lunch, trying being the operative word. At the other end of the library table Thalia Brown and some Hufflepuff girl, Taffy? Tabby? Abby? yeah, Abby or, rather, Abigail, are whispering and tittering. He's pretty sure they are looking his way from time to time.
Catching them looking his way again, followed by another annoying bout of giggling, Basil glares and wills them to shut up. Abigail quickly looks away, though her snickering increases. Thalia returns Basil's stare, a somewhat Slytherin gleam accompanied by lips slyly quirking up.
What is their deal? And since when is Thalia friends with a younger Hufflepuff? Are they maybe cousins?
A minute or two later Abigail gathers up her things and leaves, shooting Basil one last giggling glance. Thalia is also packing up to go but at a more leisurely pace, that weird smile still playing across her lips. Basil blurts out, "What is your problem, Thalia?"
"Problem? No idea what you're on about."
"Why are you hanging out in the library with a fourth year Hufflepuff?"
"Fifth year." Thalia gives a slow, casual shrug. "Working off a detention. Professor Miller has me helping Abigail with a project."
"Why all the looks? The giggling?"
"Oh, just discussing the pool and who will win it."
"What pool?"
"On whether or not you'll get the girl."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Thalia."
"You have a bit of a bad reputation, Basil. Your disdain for anyone not a Slytherin is no secret. Fall for a sweet little Hufflepuff and people are going to make bets on whether you'll get anywhere with her."
"I still have no idea what, or who, you're talking about."
"Right, and just after lunch I'm switching over to Gryffindor. Ta. I'm off to lunch."
Thalia swishes by in a swirl of spicy citrus scent, leaving Basil to puzzle over what the hell she was talking about. The distraction means he's longer at finishing the History of Magic assignment, which means he's later going to lunch than he would have liked, especially given how hungry he is. When he does go, he thinks he's pegged onto Thalia's nattering and if he's right, Basil is going to need to find a new best friend because Ivan Grimsby is going to find himself throttled and tied to naked to a tree deep in the heart of the Forbidden Forest.
Murderous Foliage
Author: Phyllida
Date: 04-02-12 15:51
Phyllida and Ferne wore matching frowns of concentration as they dragged the enormous pot across the polished stone floor of their dormitory. Ferne had placed an old schoolrobe under the massive slab of stone and soil and plant, so that they could move it more easily without encountering the snapping maws at the end of each green stem. It didn't seem to help.
"Try pushing it from this side," hissed Ferne, moving around to the other end of the flower pot.
"Do we really have to move this thing?" Phyllida winced. "There's no way we can carry it up stairs while this thing keeps trying to eat us."
"I just fed her," Ferne muttered. "She had three mice."
"Three mice? That's not even an appetiser for this thing. And when did you decide it's a she?"
Ferne looked a bit affronted. "I didn't decide it. It's a female plant. Her flowers have pistils."
Phyllida stood back, looking at the vicious magenta flowers that were interspersed between the hungry maws. How her cousin had gotten near enough to the plant to examine its pistils or lack thereof, she could not comprehend. "If you say so." She was mildly allergic to most plants, so she had no desire to go any closer to the perpetually ravenous Venus Bloodsucker.
"We have to get this out of here…"
"Before it eats Ptolemy?"
The stone grey British Shorthair was perched nervously at the top of one of Ferne's bedposts, hissing at the giant plant below.
"It's your fault she grew so big…"
"You're the one who was scared it would starve during Christmas!"
The day before they had left on the Hogwarts Express, Phyllida had searched her advanced potions books for an elixir to keep potted plants alive – and had settled on the Nourishing Potion. She'd brewed it in a hurry, not certain of its effects, and the girls had administered it to the hungry Bloodsucker, transferring it carefully into a slightly larger pot in case it grew.
And it had.
"I wonder if a sleeping draught would work on it?" said Phyllida, ducking to avoid a particularly hungry frond that had aimed for her neck. "There's no way we can move it like this."
Ferne stepped away. "Fine. We'll get her to the greenhouse another day."
Phyllida gave a grateful sigh of relief and threw herself on her bed, groaning against the green quilted silk. Ptolemy, sensing the danger had passed, plopped down on the bed beside her, and rubbed his thick fur along her side, mewling. She sat up a little to rub his ears.
"Mrrraaaow." Ptolemy's eyes nearly rolled back in his head in pleasure.
"I'm going to the library," Ferne announced, arranging the books in her bag. "Coming?"
"I must regretfully decline," Phyllida grinned as Ptolemy gave a long, low purr. "His Highness has needs that must be seen to."
Her cousin drew a small book from the bag, tossing it on Phyllida's bed. "I asked Miss Turner about this, but she hadn't seen anything like it."
"No problem. I'll write Papa later."
Among the numerous gifts Phyllida had received on her birthday last week, the gift from her father had definitely been the most enigmatic (perhaps aside from Nathaniels' box tickets to the Wimbourne Wasps and Appleby Arrows match in the Easter holidays). She picked up the book, running her hand down the embossed leather cover, the colour of dried blood. The title page had a curious verse printed on it, but the book had no title, and the remaining pages were blank. She flicked through them half-heartedly with her free hand, knowing better than to interrupt Ptolemy's massage. Still blank.
"Papa's really lost his mind, Ptolemy," she said with a little sigh.
Ptolemy turned his yellow eyes to her face, and gave a look of unequivocal agreement.
I'm Fine
Author: Illyria
Date: 04-02-12 18:33
The Great Hall seemed crowded when Illyria entered and made her way up the center aisle to the staff table. She'd accidentally fallen asleep at her desk and had only just woken up again. Illyria wasn't sure what triggered her nodding off, because she wasn't sick and she hadn't slept particularly badly last night. All she knew was that one moment she was marking homework assignments, and the next, she was drooling on Blake Holloway's essay on the terrain of planet Mars.
She slid into the empty chair between Marzipan and Ethan.
"I wondered if you'd gone out tonight," Marzi murmured, passing Illyria a tureen of creamy potato soup.
"No, I took a nap and lost track of time."
"Are you feeling all right?"
"Yes, I'm fine," Illyria said, tearing off a piece of bread from a long baguette.
Marzi frowned.
"What? I am," Illyria said a little too vehemently.
Marzi pulled her lips together into a thin line and seemed to debate whether to call Illyria out or to just let it lie. She knew that Illyria was still hurting over the fact that Nathan and Urania had gotten married and were starting a family together. It didn't matter that Illyria had ultimately encouraged the reunion.
She spooned some soup in her mouth.
"Oh, there's something you should know," Marzi said, but she seemed to doubt whether or not tonight was a good time to tell Illyria what she'd heard.
"What's that?" Illyria asked.
"Well, you know how Career Day is this weekend?"
"Yeah? What about it?"
"Well, I think I've mentioned that Weston will be involved, representing the Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Education."
Illyria nodded, waiting for Marzi to go on.
"He's bringing a partner. I think you should know that it's going to be Roland Gray."
Illyria let this sink in before saying, "Roland and I have agreed to be friends. I'm glad he seems to have his life in order, and it will be good to see him again."
Marzi raised her brows at Illyria's almost robotic answer. "That's… good."
"Where is Weston anyway?"
"He fell asleep with the boys so I left them and came to dinner."
"So it's not just me nodding off then."
"I guess not," Marzi replied.
Illyria finished her soup and bread and looked for something with chocolate or ice cream for dessert. As if the house-elves could read her mind, a bowl of chocolate ice cream with big chocolate chunks appeared before her. She savored each bite, which had the unfortunate effect of making her feel cold, but at least it tasted delicious.
Outside The Ravenclaw Portal (Alastor & Heather)
Author: Aaron Miller
Date: 04-02-12 19:52
At the entrance to Ravenclaw House Alastor Jenkins says, "Hemiptera."
When nothing happens, he grumbles at himself at forgetting that today a new word starts. He searches his memory for it, on the verge of dropping bookbag to search for where he'd jotted it down in the margin of something.
"It's Mecoptera."
Alastor hadn't even heard his little cousin Heather Rabnott and one of her friends come up right behind him.
"Thanks."
"You know Penny, right? Penny Puckett."
Alastor hadn't been sure of the second year's name but he still replies, "Yeah, I've seen you with Heather, Penny."
Alastor moves slightly to allow the two girls to proceed him into the Ravenclaw common room but the exchange a look with each other, Penny giving Heather a tiny nudge. "You ask."
"You're the one wanting to know," Heather counters.
"Ask what? Know what?"
Penny arches eyebrows at Heather. "I am NOT the only one wanting to know."
"Okay, I'll ask," Heather says with a slight eyeroll.
Alastor impatiently questions, "Ask me what?"
"Are girls safe when that one roommate of yours is around?"
Alastor isn't surprised that they'd heard the rumors about Errol Anderson. Having gotten to know Errol some before learning what brought him to Hogwarts and knowing him even better now, Alastor personally thinks Errol was scapegoated. "Let me answer that with a couple of questions. Do you really think Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall would let him around girls if Errol is a danger to them? Do you think Megara Flynn would hang around him so much if she though he was going to attack her?"
Penny uncomfortably shifts from one foot to the other, her eyes not focused on anything in particular as she thinks about it. Heather studiously fiddles with a buckle on her satchel for several seconds before looking to Alastory's face. "No, I guess not. But, "
"Yes?"
"But what if they don't know the same thing we've heard?"
Alastor supposes that's a fair point. "That's possible but I don't think it's likely. Errol isn't even allowed to go on field trips so don't think you'd they'd be curious about that?"
"They could be curious but Errol's uncle wouldn't have to tell them," Penny quietly says, wincing as she does, almost as if she's worried she'll make Alastor mad at her for it.
He nods. "That's true, Penny, but I think Dumbledore and McGonagall do know at least some of it."
"Megara could just be the sort who goes for bad boys," Heather says, though the tone she uses lacks conviction.
"Look, if you don't think you're safe around him, then make sure you aren't alone with Errol. Shouldn't be much of a problem given that you're second years. Soon, we should all know the truth, if things go as planned."
"What things?" Penny asks.
"Megara's got some Veritaserum." Realizing that second years might not be familiar with the word, Alastor clarifies, "It's a truth potion. Errol got sick though and then he's been working to catch up on all the missed classwork and assignments. Megara was going to see if she could get him to sit down and take it tonight or tomorrow."
"And then we'll know he really didn't do what they say?" Heather asks.
"If the potion is the real deal and if Errol will take it, then yeah, it should. Don't say anything about it just yet, please?"
"Yeah, okay." "Sure." They agree.
"If you're done with me, I have some homework to finish up."
As they have no further questions for Alastor and also have some homework to get to, Penny and Heather enter the common room with Alastor following right behind.