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Punishment
Author: Courtney Ryan
Date: 05-22-12 14:24
Courtney made a short and quiet grumble as she moved down the hill to Hagrid's cabin. Thanks to the presence of Aunt Bridgette showing up out of virtually nowhere in Hogsmeade, Court and her sisters, with some of their friends, were caught red-handed off Hogwarts' grounds. She must admit that it was their fault for deciding to leave on Parent's Weekend, but it was still an irritating mess.
Now the three were doomed to serve detention under the advisory of the school's groundkeeper, Hagrid. And not one of them was happy about the matter.
"Suck it up," Meg said as she pushed herself in front of her sisters. "You don't see me complaining." She bragged since, according to her she never complained about a single thing which nearly everyone knew wasn't true.
"We are complaining because you were the one who came up with the idea and pretty much forced us to go along with you." Court responded to her twin's statement, her anger at the bold and uncaring personality of her evil twin mounting with each word.
"Yea," Aly agreed. "What made you decide to suddenly do it during Parent's Weekend? It would have been easier for us to get caught."
Meg didn't answer as the neared Hagrid's cabin. Court pushed herself in front of her twin, trying to hide her snippy and rude personality from a member of Hogwarts' staff. She tapped on the door lightly and it was soon replied with the opening of the door.
"Ah!" He exclaimed on spotting the three. "I've been expecting you three." He shuffled them out of the door and ushered them in the way of the Forbidden Forest. "We'll be working in there on my garden."
He ushered the three in the direction of the Forest, lecturing on some of the animals that lived there. Court pushed Meg in front of her once she noticed her twin was slowing down to walk behind her and Aly.
"Easy," Meg whispered to her turning her head to look at her.
"No. I'm not letting you get us in any more trouble." She snapped and exchanged a look with her youngest sister.
The Draught of Twitching Death
Author: Severus Snape
Date: 05-22-12 14:32
Nathaniel Ross' test subject, a white mouse, twitched uncontrollably on the desk.
"That seems a little off the mark, Mr Ross." Professor Snape pointed his wand at the mouse, shooting a spiderweb-fine scarlet jet that was sufficient to incapacitate the small and barely-conscious mammal. He picked up the glass vial of the slightly cloudy lilac liquid, swirling it against the murky dungeon lights. "I believe we'd call this particular creation Draught of Twitching Death. Well done, Mr Ross. You should consider a career in joke potions."
The professor left Nathaniel to blush a deep shade of vermillion, while moving down the table to examine his partner's. Miss Grimshaw-Spore gnawed her lower lip and tucked back a strand of her red hair. Her mouse was still as the professor moved past; but just before he had turned his attention to Miss Scrivener's subject, Phyllida's mouse's left forepaw twitched.
"Disappointing, Miss Grimshaw-Spore. Perhaps you should apply yourself more to your N.E.W.T. revision than inventive and humiliating jinxes." He gave Nathaniel a pointed glance.
"I'm sorry, Professor," she muttered, avoiding his eyes.
"Miss Scrivener, wonderfully done. That concludes our lessons with ten points to Slytherin – with the exception of the Two Miss Ryans, who will remain behind to place the mice back in their cages, as their potions induced actual death on their subjects."
His students performed their exeunt with all haste, not trying their luck. Phyllida and Nathaniel seemed to be at particular pains to leave quickly – so much so that a small book slipped from the bundle in her arms.
Severus picked the book up – it seemed heavier than its size warranted, the cover as dark as dried blood. A deep crease formed on his brow. He had seen this book, many years ago. "A curious object. Where did you find this?"
Flustered, she approached him. "It was my father's…"
"Yes," he said grimly, opening the cover. "I am aware of that."
"Do you know anything about it?" There was a tentative hope in her voice. "How to read it? There's a verse in the front, I think it means…"
"You have to be a pureblood, yes." What did Phineus mean by sending his daughter a book such as this? "As you may have surmised, this is a dangerous book."
"But why can't I read it?"
"This clumsily written verse was penned, I regret to say, by your own father, who thought he was ever so clever for placing the clues. It requires a sample of your blood – the book has been enchanted as so to differentiate the taste of a pureblood from half-breeds and muggle-borns."
This seemed only to pique her curiosity further. "Do you know what is inside?"
The professor paused, recalling his unpleasant past; the faces of his friends shadowed in the dark dungeon, Phineus Grimshaw-Spore's twisted smirk, the trails of blood dripping from the gash in his hand…He still felt the knot in his stomach as they had urged him to take the knife.
"I never had the opportunity to read it in depth, but I have no doubt it was well beyond the scope of your father's abilities…"
The Grimshaw-Spores' long lineage, despite outward appearances, had boasted few real talent – Phineus was as mediocre a wizard as he was vain a fop – but he was proud and cruel. His daughter was a different brand of Spore entirely – she was too clever by half. And she held her father in some peculiar adoration, entirely undeserved, that Professor Snape could only attribute to that most inconvenient phenomenon known as unconditional love.
"Thank you," she said softly. "I just want to know what he desired me to learn."
The professor nodded curtly. "You had best be on your way."
Moving In
Author: Bridgette Phillips
Date: 05-22-12 15:02
"Ricky!" Bridgette screamed to her family's baby. She ran and caught up to him, grabbing the five year old boy by the hands and leading him away from the street. It was unbelievable; she couldn't leave her boy alone with her husband for a minute without her second son to run about and causing havoc.
She walked him back into the direction of the new home they had found and bought the day she had caught her niece's walking about in Hogsmeade. Ricky moved around as she released his hand with her right one, still holding on to his other hand with her left. She pushed open the door, smiling as she saw Henrietta, Jenny and little Georgie doing their best to help with the furnishing.
Calling out to her eldest, Bridgette handed Ricky over to Henrietta, instructing her to take the boy to the room destined to be his. She walked into the kitchen and began unpacking one of the many boxes they had brought with them from their old sad burnt down home. After it had caught on fire, they had decided to move on with their lives in a new location. They wanted to be far away from the place where they had many good memories, the place that was destroyed while they, as a family, were out on holiday.
And so they quickly came up with the idea of moving to Hogsmeade. They highly enjoyed the place from their previous visits, and both John and Bridgette had many fond memories from back when they were still students at Hogwarts. Another reason for this was that when it eventually came time for their children to attend Hogwarts, they would always be close by in case of any form of emergency. Plus, it made it easier on them when it would be time for them to come home on holiday and any other permitted time for them to be in the village. Another reason for this move was that they would not even think of leaving the school when they weren't supposed to, as they had proved just days before.
They were getting too far ahead with their thinking since Henrietta, their oldest, wasn't even going to begin school until two years from now. But still, it was good to be as prepared as anyone can be for any situation.
When she finished with her first box, she moved on to the next but stopped in the middle of cutting away at the tape that bound it. She pushed it aside, deciding to do that one at a later time. She knew that the contents of that specific box held pictures of her and her brother's parents right before they were killed. They were so happy then, so alive and looking at the pictures always caused her a great pain. Especially since those pictures were taken at her wedding ceremony.
She walked back into the living room and leaned against the wall, watching as Henrietta discussed with Jenny the importance of putting everything in the way she wanted. Bridgette laughed lightly and suggested that they go out shopping for sweets.
Rush
Author: Meghan Ryan
Date: 05-22-12 15:42
As always, Meghan was in a rush. And when she was in any rush she really didn't pay attention to where she was going. As she rounded a corner, she felt her shoulder smack into someone. She recognized her as being a girl named Phyllida, a student from her same house and also in her seventh year.
"Sorry," Meghan said under her breath as she turned back into the direction she was headed in.
She didn't care that she had to get to DADA and already had too many tardies in the class. How could she care when she had something better to do?
She nearly always had something better to do, and she was told countless of times that it would eventually result in a loss of trust that anyone could potentially ever trust her. No one currently trusted her much, so why should she care anyway?
She was worse than most troublemakers and she knew that, tending to use that fact to her advantage. It had made the few who really, truly knew her frightened due to the fact that she wasn't afraid to do anything and didn't care what it could possibly result in.
And what was worse was that she would do anything and everything that might benefit her over anyone else. When it came down to it, she really didn't care about the feelings of others and that what she might do could end up hurting them.
Why should she care about others anyway? From personal experience, it only made things worse for her.
Blending In - Ministère de la Magie
Author: Orion Howell
Date: 05-22-12 19:07
Orion cursed under his breath, glancing quickly around his office. He'd been undercover for the last six months, infiltrating the French Ministry on a hunch, one shared by a number of Unspeakables in the British Ministry.
With the anniversary of Voldemort's death approaching, everyone in the British Ministry was a little twitchy. But Unspeakables were twitchy to begin with. He'd often thought Mad-Eye Moody would've made a great Unspeakable, he had the right frame of mind, he just was far too distinctive in appearance. But Polyjuice was decidedly useful in some situations as well.
With another muffled curse, Orion shifted his attention back to the papers on his desk. Six months and not a blasted thing more than they'd had at the beginning. There were rumors, but there were always rumors. He needed something more concrete than whispers and guesses.
He reached for a quill, scribbling a quick, coded message that would look like nothing more than personal correspondence if anyone else dared to look, and added it to another sheet before scribbling an innocuous address on the front and sealing it. If he didn't find anything soon, he'd have to wrap it up, stage an accident or something for his current identity and make his way back to England.
That was what he did best, infiltrate places, investigate, and then stage some sort of accident and disappear. It was a lonely life, but it worked for him. At least for now. Perhaps someday, he could leave it behind, get himself a cushy desk job in the Ministry and be Orion again. He was jerked out of his reverie by a knock at the door, followed by a petite brunette peeking in the door. "Luc? Have you eaten?"
"Non, will you join me?" he asked, shooting her a charming wink. After all, he might as well enjoy his time in Paris, short as it may be. And Isabelle was a delightful distraction in an office that rarely blinked an eye at lunch running a bit long.
Never Too Early
Author: Christopher Chant
Date: 05-23-12 17:13
Scrubbing a towel across his head Christopher enters his dorm room, eager to finish drying off and finish dressing so he can get to dinner. He's starving and the only reason he didn't go straight from Care of Magical Creatures to the Great Hall is because he helped clean some of the stable stalls. Tossing the towel onto the top of his trunk, Christopher grabs a blue sweatshirt with RAVENCLAW stamped across it in bronze. Leaning against his bed to put on clean socks and his shoes, wondering what's on tonight's menu. He'd love some sort of thick stew with a crusty bread to go with it, but if there isn't any at least there's always a wide enough variety of food that not having what he's most got a taste is no big deal.
Finger combing his stilly slightly damp hair, he his way from his dorm room to the Ravenclaw common room, stopping when he sees Cat sitting in one of the chairs, thumbing through a pamphlet. "You ate already?" He asks, dropping a kiss on her upturned cheek.
"Nope. Waiting on you," she replies, tossing the pamphlet onto a side table.
Christopher takes hold of Cat's hand to pull her up. "You didn't have to."
"Are you complaining?"
"Of course not," he chuckles before nodding at the pamphlet. "Magical transportation?"
"Just curious what it says. It's one of the ones that's shown up recently as we get closer to having to pick classes for the fall. Unlike you, not all of us know what career we want. I think I know but I'm not sure."
"Never too early to explore all the options. I might be going into veterinary healing but I'm still considering adding Astronomy back to my schedule."
"Will you drop anything?"
"No, though I wish I could Herbology after the way this term began. Without a NEWT in it, getting caught up on it at St. Emrys would put me behind in the veterinary healing program. I'm about to pass out from hunger. Let's talk about this on the way to the Great Hall."
They exit Ravenclaw House hand in hand, Cat asking Christopher about the pros and cons of a few of his NEWT level classes since she'll be a sixth year next term.
Death's Door
Author: Jolyon
Date: 05-23-12 18:21
After Christopher Chant finished mucking out the stable stalls and left for the castle, Jolyon retired to the loft to read more of the research essays that had been turned in during his classes last week. He normally kept on top of the assignments his students turned in, but he had fallen behind lately. His father's illness and his mother's worry consumed much of his time.
Emanuel Kent had contracted dragon pox and seemed to be on death's door. Jolyon might not have believed it, since there was precedence for his father faking a terminal illness, but one look had told him everything he needed to know. Emanuel's skin had turned a sickly shade of green and he had blisters and pustules all over his body. He also lacked any energy and could hardly speak at times.
On more than one occasion, Jolyon had witnessed his mother begging Emanuel to tell her it was all a joke. She wouldn't be angry with him, she promised. She just wanted everything to go back to normal.
Jolyon didn't want Emanuel to die, not when the very thought devastated his mother. For the first time in his life, he also felt better about his relationship with his dad. Growing up, Jolyon had feared Emanuel, and that fear had even crossed over into adulthood. It seemed like only recently they had decided to start anew and act like a real family.
Realizing he didn't know what he'd just read, Jolyon shelved marking parchments and decided to go to St. Mungo's.
A short while later he arrived on the second floor, went to the appropriate ward, and entered his father's room. For once, Bridget Kent wasn't by her husband's side. Jolyon guessed that she had probably gone to get something to eat.
Emanuel appeared to be sleeping, but he opened his eyes when Jolyon sank into the nearby chair.
"I've been waiting for you," Emanuel murmured sleepily.
"I'm here," Jolyon said, leaning forward.
Emanuel slowly moved one of his green-tinted hands in Jolyon's direction. Jolyon clasped it gently in his own.
"I'm sorry."
Jolyon frowned. "For what?"
"For everything," Emanuel replied. "I was too hard on you. I did… wrong by you."
Jolyon wanted to tell him it was all right, but it wasn't. He had been abused by this man.
"I accept your apology," he finally said, "and I'm sorry this has happened to you."
Emanuel started to laugh, but it sounded extremely wheezy and eventually led to a violent fit of coughing. Jolyon let go of his dad's hand to get a glass of water, which he helped Emanuel drink once the coughing had mostly subsided. Emanuel sank back into his pillows and shut his eyes.
Jolyon sat down in his chair.
"I laughed because I deserve to die this way," Emanuel eventually said. "I tempted the fates, and here I am."
Jolyon didn't believe in divine intervention, but he did believe in coincidences. "I guess in your next life you should live straight as an arrow. No more lies, no more schemes. Don't ever pretend to be dying so that you can get everyone you've ever met to tell you their deepest, darkest secrets. Did you ever blackmail all those people? Wait, I'm not sure I want to know."
Emanuel smiled. "I know I never told you before, Jolyon, but I mean it when I say I'm glad your mother trusted me to raise you as my son. I know I wasn't a good father. I know your mother should have left me long ago. But I'm glad she didn't. And I'm very proud of you."
Jolyon had never received such praise from his father before in all his life. It was sad that it came when the wizard was on his death bed, but Jolyon knew it came from the heart. Maybe dying for real had made Emanuel a better man.
Jolyon reached over and took his father's hand in his own again. He gave it a gentle squeeze. "Thanks... Dad."
Hate
Author: Johanna Steele
Date: 05-24-12 12:15
Once again Gus had arrived late for Potions and Professor Weasley told him to sit with Polly. Johanna had turned herself behind as she watched Gus taking his Potions text book out of his bag, a scroll and a quill. Their eyes met and he smiled victorious because his little trick had worked. Johanna turned her back to him, trying to play attention to class. But it was not working. It seemed her hand was mechanically copying some notes Professor Weasley had wrote at the blackboard into her scroll, but her mind was elsewhere.
She had told Kate and Felicia what happened. Kate had showed herself comprehensive, but Felicia could not help to tease her a bit, saying that Johanna had become another member of Gus' fan club. Johanna did not laugh at the joke. She explained to her friends it was as if suddenly she had earned a pair of glasses and Gus had turned into something completely different.
He was still the same person of course, but now she saw him from another angle. More than a friend, she kept thinking of him as a potential boyfriend. A very handsome one. And of course she only realized she had a crush for him when he mentioned Polly Potts.
Kate suggested that maybe after a while Gus would be over her, but Johanna was not very sure of that. She knew he had told Mark about Polly, because yesterday as they were having lunch at the Great Hall and Polly had passed by, Gus had pointed her out to Mark and he had said something like: 'she looks nice'.
But Polly Potts wasn't that nice. Polly was not even pretty! Johanna couldn't see why Gus had picked her from all the girls at school. Why not Sonya Silver with her raven hair? Or maybe Marian Rourke from Ravenclaw, with her green eyes? Perhaps the kind Wilhemina Kluck who was Kate's friend? Even the awful Joanna Porter would be a reasonable choice. Johanna wouldn't even be surprised if Gus had picked someone older from the quidditch like Alexa Wenlock or Cornelia Vanderbilt.
If Johanna had to describe Polly Potts she would only use words like 'tall' and 'plain'. She had brown hair and brown eyes. Polly was not a quidditch a player or the cleverest student in class. She did not seem to have any special talent at all. She was a Gryffindor, and Gus had always scorned that house more than any of the others. What did he see in Polly?
Johanna made Kate and Felicia to keep her crush a secret and not tell Gus about it. But she didn't have to worry much about hiding it from him because right now he was so focused on Polly he did not notice anything else around him. He seemed like a puppy, waving his tail whenever she was around. The situation was already starting to become unbearable for Johanna and not even a week had passed.
Pain hit her finger and she noticed she had cut herself as she was cutting some roots for the potion they were brewing.
"That's a deep cut," Felicia noticed, as the blood started to stain the table.
"I will be fine." Johanna replied, but Felicia was right and the bleed did not stop.
She asked permission to Professor Weasley to leave the dungeons and go to the Hospital Wing. Some students turned their heads as she walked out of the classroom, curious to what might have happened. But Gus seemed too busy working on his potion with Polly to even look at her.
That was the moment Johanna officially started to hate Polly Potts.
Slow Day So Far
Author: Marzipan
Date: 05-25-12 09:00
Several large pots containing bushy plants with purple flowers sat on the large work table in the greenhouse. Professor Ravenscroft had just finished lecturing her Ravenclaw and Slytherin third years about pennyroyal, a plant in the mint family that was also poisonous. The double class was approximately halfway over, which meant it was time to turn to the next subject on the syllabus.
"Before we move on to rosary peas, does anyone have a question about pennyroyal?" she asked her students.
When no one said anything, she said, "Then your homework assignment due next class meeting is to sketch and label the parts of pennyroyal. You may either use the example from your textbook as a guide or visit the greenhouse during office hours to sketch from a live specimen. Now, let's move on to our next topic for the day."
Marzi produced her wand and flicked it at each pennyroyal plant in turn, levitating them a few inches into the air and moving them to an empty space along the greenhouse wall. Then she summoned several smaller pots, which contained stakes or small, trellis-like implements, on which slender vines wound their way. Bright red berries appeared to dot the vines.
"The scientific name for this plant is Abrus precatorius, but it is more commonly known as crab's eye, indian licorice, jumble bead or rosary pea, to name just a few. It should be noted that these," and here Marzi pointed out the red berries on the vine directly in front of her, "are not beads or peas or berries. They are actually seeds, and they are toxic."
The lecture continued, and time seemed to pass by slowly because Marzi hadn't assigned a hands-on activity for today's class. Some of her students asked questions here and there or answered the questions she posed, but for the most part, even student participation felt limited today. Marzi didn't think she could attribute the apathy of her students to Easter, because the holiday was more than a month away. Perhaps the feeling was simply spillover from yesterday being Monday. Whatever the case may be, Marzi hoped that her next two classes would pass a little more quickly and that her students would show more interest in the topics at hand.