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Making Plans
Author: Rowan Westwick
Date: 06-10-12 13:19
Elgiva Finch peered into the bedroom Rowan Westwick called her own and smiled at the sight of the young girl standing before a full-length mirror, holding up the new clothes they had purchased together just that morning. The clothing consisted of a mixture of Muggle-style wear like jeans and jumpers and wizardwear like robes. All of it seemed to fascinate Rowan, who last remembered bell bottoms and go-go boots being in fashion.
Rowan suddenly noticed Elgiva through the mirror and gave a little jump.
"I'm sorry," Elgiva said, entering the bedroom fully. "I didn't mean to startle you."
"It's all right," Rowan said. She took the new clothes back to her closet and then sat down on the edge of her bed. Elgiva crossed the room to sit beside her.
"I wrote a letter to Albus Dumbledore," Elgiva began, "to see about sending you back to Hogwarts. I suspect it's too late in the year for you to resume classes in the current term, but I think there will be a place for you in the fall. How do you feel about going back to school?"
To be honest, the thought hadn't crossed Rowan's mind. She'd been far too preoccupied with the loss of two and a half decades and the fact that all but one of her family seemed completely lost to her to even think about going back to Hogwarts.
"I had just finished my third year when Dolohov cursed us," Rowan said. "Would that mean I would go into the fourth year next term?"
"I would think so," Elgiva said, "and in the meantime we can find a tutor for you so that you can refresh your memory on what you've already learned."
"Okay," Rowan said.
"I've also been thinking about your family's house. Without your parents around or until you come of age yourself, you obviously can't live there, but until one or the other happens, we can work on fixing the place up again. I checked. The home still belongs to your family. No one's tried to sell it or claim it for their own. Would you like us to go over there, maybe on the weekends, and begin cleaning it out?"
Rowan nodded. "That would be great, actually, but it'll take a lot of work."
"That's all right. I could use a good weekend project," Elgiva said, smiling. "Well, I suppose that's settled then." Elgiva got up and said, "I think I will write to Ms. Croft at the Ministry of Magic now and see how her research is getting on."
"Okay."
Elgiva smiled and left Rowan's bedroom.
"She's quite nice, isn't she?"
The voice came from the little portrait of Laurel Westwick, which Rowan had set on her bedside table. Rowan pulled herself up to her pillow and put down her head, facing Laurel's portrait.
"She is very nice," Rowan agreed. "I'm sad for her that she can't have children of her own. She would make a very good mother."
"You should ask her to find someone to fix my canvas," Laurel suggested.
"I'll do that," Rowan said, "and then you'll be as good as new." She sighed then and thought about the little doll under scrutiny in the Department of Mysteries. With any luck, Willow Westwick, the girl trapped inside that doll, would be as good as new very soon too.
(Aralyn & Kristos) Crack of Dawn
Author: Lysander Stratford
Date: 06-10-12 15:14
Kristos and Aralyn stood in the shade of a elm tree and watched the front of their family home. They had just seen the wizard posing as Michael Fox leave the house and could see the witch pretending to be Dawn Fox tidying up the parlor through the front window.
"It's cold," Aralyn complained under her breath. "Can we go in now?"
"Just a few more minutes," Kristos answered. He wanted to make sure that Michael wouldn't doubleback, but he also didn't want to wait too long in case the excursion was meant to be a short one.
For Aralyn, those few minutes felt like hours. She shifted from foot to foot and shivered under her threadbare coat. Kristos wasn't dressed any more warmly, but the cold weather didn't seem to bother him as much. He seemed entirely too focused on what they planned on doing.
"Okay, now," Kristos finally said, and together brother and sister crossed over to the house where they grew up and where two impostors lived today.
Mrs. Fox noticed them when they reached the front walk and went to greet them at the front door. "What brings you two to the neighborhood?" she asked, kissing first Kristos and then Aralyn. Kristos kept up the pretense that everything was normal, but Aralyn reacted rather stiffly. She wasn't the actor her brother was and had difficulty masking her true feelings.
Dawn didn't seem to notice her daughter's odd behavior. She shut the door behind her children, took their coats, and led them to the fireplace in the living room.
"Do we need a reason to visit you, Mum?" Aralyn asked, debating whether to sit on the comfortable rocking armchair she'd always favored or to stay standing with Kristos.
Dawn looked at her daughter with an honest but not unkind expression. "Usually, but a mother is always happy to see her children."
Kristos could see what Aralyn was thinking clear across her face and just knew she would blow things before he even had a chance to act. He pulled his mother into a hug and shot Aralyn a look over Dawn's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Mum. I mean to visit you more but it seems like I'm always busy with something. But we're here now. That has to mean something, doesn't it?"
"Of course it does, darling." Mrs. Fox stepped out of her son's embrace and asked, "Are you thirsty? I can make us some hot cocoa."
"I'm fine."
"I want cocoa," Aralyn blurted out.
Kristos took a breath. "Where's Dad?"
"Oh, he went to London to run some errands. He'll be gone for hours, I'm sure."
Mrs. Fox started to head into the kitchen to fix hot cocoa for Aralyn and herself, but the minute she turned her back on Kristos, he produced his wand and stunned her. She fell to the floor in an unconscious heap.
"Find her wand," Kristos instructed Aralyn. While she did that, he went to his coat and reached into the inside pocket to remove the vial he'd procured at The Rotting Flesh.
Aralyn took Dawn's wand and summoned a chair from the dining room table. She levitated her mother into the chair and then produced silvery threads that wound themselves tightly around Dawn's body.
Kristos checked his sister's handiwork and then pointed his wand at Dawn. "Renervate," he said.
Mrs. Fox's eyes fluttered open. Before she could truly come to grips with her situation, Aralyn pried open her mouth and Kristos poured a couple drops of liquid from the vial down his mother's throat. She choked on them, and very nearly spit on Kristos, but some of the potion made its way to her stomach.
"What is today's date?" Kristos asked.
The question was quite simple, but Mrs. Fox's seemed to fight in having to answer it.
"W-Wednesday, M-March 8," she ground out.
"What is my name?"
"K-Kristos F-Fox."
"What is your name?"
"D-Danae."
"Danae what?"
"D-Danae W-Webb."
Kristos looked at his sister. "Do we know any Webbs?"
Aralyn shook her head. "I don't think so."
Kristos looked down at Danae, whose eyes were wild and angry and who was breathing so hard, he feared she might induce a heart attack or something.
"Where is Dawn Fox?"
"D-dead and buried," Danae growled.
"Who is the man pretending to be Michael Fox?"
Danae gritted her teeth together, but the magic in the potion made it impossible for her to refuse to answer Kristos. "M-Moses A-Allenham."
"I know that name," Aralyn murmured. "Allenham, I mean."
"How?" Kristos asked.
"I don't remember."
"Think, Aralyn."
"I'm trying! Just give me a minute."
Danae Webb watched the exchange silently. Kristos turned back to her. "Are you using Polyjuice Potion to pose as Dawn Fox?"
"Y-yes."
Kristos didn't even have to ask Aralyn to look for it. She pointed her wand nowhere in particular and said, "Accio Polyjuice Potion!"
There was a great deal of noise and then a large trunk of vials rocketed into the room and landed with a heavy thud at Aralyn's feet. A bubbling cauldron sloshing liquid everywhere followed.
Aralyn and Kristos exchanged looks. "How have you managed not to run out of ingredients after all this time?" Kristos asked Danae.
Danae still didn't want to answer his questions, but she relaxed and said, "It only takes a single hair to make up the potion." She left the rest unsaid.
Aralyn swallowed a lump in her throat and said, "Accio Michael and Dawn Fox's hair!"
Two clear bags of hair whizzed into the room and landed on top of the trunk. The bag containing Michael's hair wasn't empty but there wasn't very much in it. Dawn's still contained quite a bit.
Kristos felt sick. He wanted to know how Danae Webb and Moses Allenham had gotten the hair from his deceased parents, or had they gotten it while Michael and Dawn Fox had still lived? And then there were other questions, such as why pretend to be them?
He realized he might be questioning Danae for hours, and Moses was bound to walk in at some point. He couldn't very well hold Danae hostage at the Hogsmeade Inn, in the room he and Aralyn still shared.
The only viable option would be to overtake Moses when he came home and then hold both of them hostage until he and Aralyn had all the answers they needed. And after that? Well, they would cross that bridge when they reached it.
Lunch Torment (Marjani & Zuberi)
Author: Viktor Krum
Date: 06-10-12 16:40
Spotting Olive and his sister sitting together Zuberi saunters over to slide into the empty seat beside Olive. She turns her head for a quick hello kiss, which is met with Marjani's, "Ewwww. I don't need my lunch spoiled by having my brother snogging one of my best friends."
Olive pragmatically asks, "Don't you think I'm a better choice to kiss your brother than a few others, who shall remain nameless? You don't have to fake tolerating Zuberi's girlfriend."
Zuberi chimes in. "Don't you prefer I'm with one of your friends when that could possibly lead to us being a couple long term, getting married, making your friend a member of the family?"
Olive leans in Zuberi, who puts an arm around her, both of them beaming angelic smiles at Marjani. She glowers for a second before laughing, "You two rehearsed that, right?"
Olive shakes her head, eyes going wide with innocence. "I have no idea what you mean."
Zuberi grins, "Me either. Pass those potatoes au gratin, please."
Marjani hands the potatoes to Olive who hands them to Zuberi. "Did you finish your Transfiguration work, brother dear."
"I did. Have it tucked away in my bookbag, ready to hand in."
"I don't understand how it is I have more classes than you do but you are the one always working on assignments last minute."
"You have ONE more class than I do so don't make it sound like I'm carrying half your load, Miss Perfect."
Marjani tears off a bit of roll and chuck it at Zuberi. "You know I don't like when you call me that."
Zuberi reaches around Olive to graze his fingers along Marjani's ribs, tickling her. She wiggles out of reach, laughing. "Stop that. Play fair."
"I am a Slytherin. Our definition of fair differs from that of you lowly Gryffindors."
"I might not be able to do anything to you while you sleep here and I bet Olive wouldn't assist me in that but there's always Alexa; or, I wait until we're home at Viktor's."
"Home at Viktor's where I can pin you down and tickle you until you are breathless like when we were little."
Olive looks to Zuberi. "Switch seats with me?"
"Oh yeah."
"Hey!" Marjani protests. "You traitor, putting me closer to this overly immature juvenile."
Olive shrugs. "I'm not being a traitor. I'm being practical. I would very much like to each my lunch but I'm finding that difficult to do with you two constantly reaching around me. You would not have switched places with me had I asked so it's only logical that I asked Zuberi."
Over Zuberi's laughter Marjani, pulling a face, rhetorically states, "Tell me again, Olive, why I count you as one of my best friends."
Deaf And Blind Moment
Author: Ron Weasley
Date: 06-11-12 16:03
"Ron."
"Ron?"
"Raaaa awwwn."
"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY."
"Wha Huh?" Ron gives a start, blinking owlishly at the hand waving less than a quarter inch from his face. "Geez, Harry. No need to practically shout."
"There is when you're playing at being deaf. Blind too for that matter."
"Sorry. I was lost in thought."
"That's a rarity." Harry snickers.
"Are you really one of the twins masquerading as Harry?" Ron asks somewhat blandly.
Harry laughs again. "You know, I wouldn't put something like that past them." Sobering somewhat he asks, "Dwelling on a case or something else?"
"Something else. Someone, actually, if you want to get technical. There's going to be a baby looking to me to be its father. I'm still in shock over the news so getting my head wrapped around being a dad and being a good one is more than a little overwhelming."
"Stop worry about it. You'll be a great father. Look at your role model and at how well all of you turned out. Molly deserves a great deal of credit, of course, but Arthur is just as deserving."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Anyway, were you needing something?"
"I'm done for the day and on my way out. Are you doing a shift on the prostitution ring case tonight?"
"Not tonight, no."
"If the girls are up for it, want to go out for a bite?"
"Yeah, sounds good." Ron locks a couple of files in a desk drawer then gets up. "Meet at your place in an hour, hour and a half unless one of us contacts the other first?"
"That works."
They begin walking out, Harry asking, "Everything set for Hermione's graduation party?"
"A few things left to do but they are things that can't be done until the day of."
The remainder of the trip to the bank of Floos lining a long stretch of the Atrium is spent talking about the upcoming party, the planning and preparation for which has been going so smoothly Ron's convinced there's going to be a last minute hitch.
Sleepyheads
Author: Marzipan
Date: 06-11-12 17:41
Marzi stepped out of the shower and started to towel herself off. It never failed that after a day of teaching, she found herself covered in soil. Depending on her level of activity, she ended up more dirty than on other days, but she never came away from the greenhouses without a thin layer of dirt coating every visible inch of her.
Mostly dry, she wrapped a towel around her body and used a second one to wrap up her hair. Then she padded into the bedroom where she found her husband snoring in the middle of the bed with two toddlers dozing off on either side of him. Marzi smiled at the three of them and then pulled clean undergarments out of her dresser and a plain, cream-colored robe from the wardrobe. She dressed quickly and then climbed onto the bed next to Vallon.
She couldn't believe that his first birthday was next week. Where had the time gone?
The baby stirred and then opened his eyes. He patted his daddy's cheek with a small hand and then turned his head to smile at his mother.
Marzi kissed him on the nose.
"Should we forget about supper?" Weston drowsily murmured.
"I'm actually hungry," Marzi replied, "but if you want to stay with the boys..."
Vallon sat up between them and started playing with his toes.
"Take Val with you," Weston said. "He looks awake."
"I'll bring back something for you and Carter, in case you both catch a second wind tonight."
Weston yawned. "Not likely, but thanks."
Marzi leaned over to kiss him and then got up, scooping Vallon up into her arms. "Let's go to the Great Hall, my big boy."
The pair had barely left the room when Weston began snoring again.
Day Spent at the Office
Author: Oreileah McCoi
Date: 06-13-12 01:35
The week had been stressful enough, and yet she'd managed to survive the beginning of it and so far the end was in sight. Her finals were nearly complete, and she was thankful for that, Jim's were nearly complete as well and they could both use the break, and thankfully the next term would be Orei's last for a bit before she would go on for her advanced level in linguistics.
At the moment she stood in the center of her linguistics office, a smile curling on her lips. They were slated to open this coming Monday, and already they had clients that had followed them from the ministry. Descending the stairs she stepped into the foyer and nodded her head at the waiting area.
"Everything alright?" Christian's voice pulled her from her thoughts and she offered him a bright smile.
"Couldn't be better. Though, I would have loved to have seen Reed Wyncombe's face when he actually had to work for a change," she said with a laugh and settled down on one of the comfortable sofas in the foyer and he joined her.
"I know, and I've heard that some of the others are really rather pissed that I'd left. I just hope he doesn't take too much of his irritation out on Alanna Beck, she's really a good girl and I know she's going to have her own place in the Ministry eventually and I know she can handle Reed being an arse, some of the other interns may not handle it as well and that will be a pity," he said sighing and looking over the foyer.
"Everything looks fantastic, and I am amazed we managed to throw it together so fast, especially since you have finals this week and Meagan to take care of, " Christian said, amazement in his voice.
Orei smiled and curled deeper into the cushions of the sofa in the foyer. "I can't believe it either, but then most of my time not studying or dealing with domestic life has had me here, and I know I'm going to have to find away to better juggle things because while this is our business, I don't want it to rule every waking moment."
"Understandable, now, I think it's time we head out, collect that adorable little girl from daycare and the five of us have dinner out to celebrate that we finally have everything in place for our grand opening on Monday," Christian said with a smile.
"Sounds like a plan. Let me grab my purse from upstairs," with that she headed up to her office, grabbed her purse and soon enough they were headed from Raynor-Evans Linguistics and Legal Services to collect Meagan from daycare and head back to the house so that Orei could get ready and they could wait for Jim to get home and Christian could alert Daniel to their dinner plans.
Cosmology
Author: Celeste Quigley
Date: 06-13-12 12:57
"Let's revise what we studied last week. I hope all of you have done the homework. I want the essays on my desk before you leave the classroom."
Celeste opened her copy of The Study and Practice of Astronomy: The N.E.W.T. Edition and started inquiring her students about last week's lecture.
"How many galaxies are there in the observable universe?"
Deacon Bennett was the first one to raise his hand.
"Yes, Mr. Bennett?"
"There are more than one hundred billion galaxies. Galaxies come in three main types: elliptical, spirals and irregulars."
"Very good, Mr. Bennett. Five points to Ravenclaw. And who can tell me what is the consistence of a galaxy? Mr. Yao?"
Francis Yao thought for a moment but then he replied:
"Stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust and, of course, dark matter. I'm not sure, but I think dark matter represents around 90% of the mass in most galaxies."
"That is correct. 5 points to Gryffindor."
After inquiring some other students, Celeste proceeded with her class.
"Today we are going to start our study in Cosmology. I urge those who did not get it yet, to buy the book Fundamental Cosmology by America Wynward. It is one of the required texts for this course and by next week who doesn't have the book will lose house points. There are quite a number of copies available at the library as well. Today I am going to give you all a simple introduction on Cosmology and the notes on the blackboard should be enough."
She waved her wand and the word 'Cosmology' appeared at the blackboard, underlined.
"Since your first year you have been studied the many aspects of the universe. The planets, its moons, the sun, comets, constellations and so on. But what we will do with Cosmology is to study the origin of the universe. We are going to learn about its structure and the natural laws that keep it in order. We are going to start by discussing the Big Ben theory that I am sure some of you are already familiar with. Most Muggles also study this theory at school."
She paused for a moment. Everyone seemed to be paying attention, which pleased Celeste. She did not tolerate distractions in her classroom. he waved her wand once again, and notes started to invade the blackboard. The students used their quills and scrolls to copy them down. Celeste proceeded as they wrote:
"What is the origin of the universe? What are the ultimate materials of the universe? Does the cosmos have a purpose? What is the cosmos' dimension? The answers to these questions will be learned here as we dedicate ourselves to the study of Cosmology. Please have in mind that there are many theories about all this and the ones we are going to study are all in the text book I talked about early. If you get very interested in this subject and want to read more on these topics I will be more than welcome to suggest other books. You can also ask Miss Bramble at the library, if you like."
And Celeste proceeded with her lesson about Cosmology.