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The Lost Book
Author: Nathaniel Ross
Date: 07-24-12 07:17
Even if it was just the first day of Spring term, Nate did not lost a minute and went to the library early in the morning, right before Potions, in order to fetch some books required for his N.E.W.T study. He placed his bag on one of the wooden tables and lost himself among the tall shelves, a list of books the wanted in his right hand.
His mind went to the time spent at home during the Easter vacations and how he spent it inquiring his parents about Muggle ancestors in their family. Apparently there hadn't been any and the second time Nate asked them if they were sure about it his father told him to stop insisting on the matter and to just forget about it, since it was not important. But Nate couldn't take Phyllida's book out of his mind and its unpleasant message when he used his blood on it.
He had already asked for her to lend his book to him one more time and he thought about testing it again tonight at his dorm. For now the book was inside his bag.
"Good morning, Professor Fairchild," Nate heard Miss Bramble voice, greeting the lower years Charms teacher.
He went to another section related to History of Magic and goblins where he found a first year Ravenclaw girl struggling to get a book that was at an upper shelf. She had taken her wand from her robes and it seemed like she was trying to figure out a spell to use to reach the book she wanted. Before she would turn the library upside down Nate put himself on his tiptoes and fetched the book for her. It was a red covered book about famous goblin lost treasures and their most possible locations. He wondered if the girl was planning on doing some treasure hunt.
After helping her, Nate picked up the book he wanted, and a few moments later, he returned to the table where his bag was, a considerable pile of library books in his hands. He went to see Miss Bramble and after registering the books he put them in his bag and went to the dungeons for his Potion class.
He sat between Phyllida and Ferne and while he searched for his Potion's book inside his bag he noticed something was missing.
"Something wrong, Mr. Ross?"
"No, Professor," Nate replied to Snape, his hands still inside his bag searching for Phyllida's book. He couldn't tell her he lost it or she would be really mad. He wondered if he forgot the book at the library, or maybe at the Great Hall. Maybe he didn't even put it inside his bag in the first place, maybe it was still in his dormitory.
"Then why ,Mr. Ross ,are you still stalling my class by taking an excessive amount of time to put your manual on the table? 5 points from Hufflepuff."
He quickly took the Potions' manual out of his bag and the class started.
A Few Flaws
Author: Lucius Malfoy
Date: 07-24-12 13:28
A self satisfied smirk playing across her lips, Bellatrix straightens from the to scale mock-up of Azkaban, pointing to a trio of little figures running from the structure. "I will then retrieve the wands hidden and the three of us apparate away."
When neither Barty nor Lucius say anything she cocks her head, eyes narrowing slightly. "Well? Say something." Her tone borders on petulant.
Barty looks to Lucius, his expression very clearly saying, "I live here. YOU say something."
Lucius's return glance is an, "Oh, very well, if I must."
By this time, the never much for patience Bellatrix is glowering, one foot tapping, a hand fisted on her hip. Lucius takes a deep inhalation of breath, now wishing he'd asked for a fire whiskey instead of tea. "I know you don't want to hear this, Bellatrix, but there are a few flaws in your plan."
Her eyes dart from Lucius to Bertie to the Azkaban mock-up where the trio of figures is now meandering around. Eye back to Lucius she snippily says, "Flaws? Do tell."
"As you've long known, one cannot apparate to or from the island itself."
"That had crossed my mind which is why I have considered having Barty right about here in a boat." Bellatrix conjures a little boat and a fourth figure, sticking it in between two paper mache waves surrounding her Azkaban model.
"According to Draco, ever since Harrie Harsnip escaped in a boat, boat access is even more tightly controlled and monitored."
"Barty takes Polyjuice Potion, posing as one of the regular ferry captains." Bellatrix moves the boat from its random location to the Azkaban boat dock. "Once clear of the no apparition zone, we'd apparate then, all four of us."
"You have not taken into account the fact that once inside Azkaban, the corridors change several times a day." Lucius does not point out that this too is something Bellatrix should know as she has gone in disguise to visit Rudolphus and Rabastan any number of times in recent months.
"So we might be a little slower getting out of the building. We'll force a guard to show us the way."
"Were you listening to Draco the other night at dinner? He mentioned that Azkaban will, or possibly already has, implemented anti-disguise measures much like those employed by Gringotts."
Bellatrix goes from childishly stubborn and petulant to full blown raving mad. She grabs up the tea pot and hurls it across the room. A bust of Merlin explodes into tiny fragments. Sparks fly from her wand as she stalks across the room to the door. Barty and Lucius hear her stomps down the hallway accompanied by the sounds of wood splintering, glass breaking, and ceramics shatterings.
Even though she cannot hear him Barty whispers, "She never mentioned the part she expected you to play in this."
Having risen to help himself to the fire whiskey, Lucius sloshes some into two glasses, downs one, then after pouring a refill, carries the second glass to Barty. "She mentioned something about me drinking Polyjuice and going to one of the markets she frequents where eyewitnesses would attest to seeing Bellatrix Lestrange there at the exact time the Lestrange brothers escape from Azkanban with the aid of an unknown person. She most likely was going to go looking like whatever Muggle she happened to get a hair sample from, though whether male or female I don't know. Her figures there aren't of much help on that score as two of them are female."
As noises of further destruction reverberate through the house, the two men drink their fire whiskeys saying more for two or three minutes. When one of them does speak again, it's Barty. "Do you mind terribly if I stay at your house for the night?"
"Under the circumstances, that's probably wise."
The sounds of havoc being wreaked grow closer, indicating Bellatrix is coming back their direction. Lucius downs what's left in his glass. "Now might be a very good time for us to take our leave."
Barty sets his also empty glass onto the table between them. "Excellent suggestion."
As they get up to do just that, Lucius says with a very slight hint of amusement. "I must say I am rather glad we did not have this meeting at my place."
Very near to the room they are in something falls to the floor with a heavy thud, the sound of fragmenting glass nearly drowning out the crash to the floor. Lucius is fairly sure that was the large, gilded mirror hanging just opposite the door to this room. Taking that as their cue to leave, the two men disapparate for Saint Tropez, leaving Bellatrix to finish her temper tantrum alone.
Neutron Stars
Author: Celeste Quigley
Date: 07-25-12 03:36
Celeste was in her office, a book on comets opened in her desk, but despite flipping its pages, she was not paying any attention to it. Her mind was at the Easter day when she and Eugene had went to a cemetery in Filwood, Bristol, to pay their respects to someone that was very dear to them.
Alison had been dead for some years now and despite her good and kind nature, Celeste could help to still feel a tip of jealousy of her when it came to her husband Eugene.
The idea of visiting her grave had been his and he bought some tulips, her favorite flowers, to put above her grave. Celeste had to help him to deal with the Muggle flower vendor, because for a moment, Eugene forgot he did not know what a sickle was. Celeste who knew how to deal with Muggle money, ended up solving the issue, trying to justify to the vendor saying her husband was somewhat a lunatic. The Muggle seemed to accept that fact because Eugene light yellow robes and pointy hat had already convinced him somewhat of that fact.
Celeste had insisted with him to use Muggle clothes but he refused, saying Alison always liked him when he used this set of robes.
They had stood there in front of her grave and noticing Eugene's pain expression she held his hand tightly. There were so many things she would like to say about Alison but the moment was not right. Once they left the cemetery and went back to their living quarters at Hogwarts, Celeste wondered if he still wanted to have children with her. Maybe thinking about Alison made him change his mind about their relationship. Not that she wanted children but she thought it could be a nice trade off in order to have Eugene always next to her.
"Professor?"
Celeste raised her eyes from the book. William Henshaw was at the door, waiting for her permission to enter.
"Come on in and have a sit, Mr. Henshaw. What can I do for you?"
"I know we have a class tomorrow, but I was getting ahead in the chapter and there is a concept that I am having troubles with."
Celeste nodded and told him to proceed. He had a doubt on the density of neutron stars. He was worried that could be a major O.W.L topic. Celeste started her explanation on the topic and then she gave him a simple example:
"Let's put it this way, Mr. Henshaw: neutron stars are so dense that if you filled a soup can with neutron star material it would have more mass than the moon."
"Wow that's…"
"Impressive, I know,"she smiled to William and then she continued explaining him all about the density of neutron stars.
For now Alison was erased from her mind.
Preparing for the First Day of Spring Term
Author: Lawrence Masterson
Date: 07-25-12 05:23
Office hours started at twelve thirty, and already I was in the green house, working on getting things together for the first round of students coming in for the week. Class one of of my fifth years was today, the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students were going to be working on a personal project for the spring semester that would, for fifth and seventh years be complete before the start of O.W.L and N.E.W.T examinations, and for sixth years would culminate at the end of the term during the week of finals.
There were planter boxes scattered throughout the cleared section of the greenhouse, they would be creating flower boxes that would with the passing of the spring months begin blooming and be ready for showing off at the End of Term. As of this point I had decided to take this term off of St. Emrys because I would be adding extra office hours during this term due to the hectic nature and the fact that most of my students would be stressing and worrying about their upcoming examinations at the end of the term.
He would probably start up again to finish his advanced degree the following term toward the beginning of the following term. He moved through and made sure that the seeds were properly positioned before he moved to settle at his desk and made sure that everything was ready for the start of the term at two later this afternoon. It was eleven thirty by the time he finished everything, and prep for his class was done, and tomorrow would be a touch more hectic in the prep for classes, but that was quite alright.
He'd gotten to spend some time with Maggie over break and the birthday dinner for Bronwyn had been fantastic and completely a surprise for her, Karma had done absolutely fantastic in getting things together, even though it had been a simple birthday dinner. After a few more minutes in the greenhouse, he headed toward the castle to grab something for lunch with Ariella before she headed off to her classes this term at St. Emrys.
(Evan Carter) First Day of Classes
Author: Cai Pembroke Carter
Date: 07-25-12 05:53
Last week I'd gotten a tour of campus from a rather cute witch who had ended up telling me to fire chat her later that night and I'd gone out with once or twice since then, and she'd been fun, but now was the first day of classes and I had a total of seven classes with five of them running three days a week and the remaining two running the other two days of the week. This term was basically all introduction courses, which is good, and the following term he'd get into the swing of his core classes of Merlin College.
He'd spoken with his advisor for Merlin College, a wizard named Kevin Thompson and gotten some great advise for when he set up his classes. He would also be trying out for the 06-07 Quidditch season this coming July and adding that to my list of things. I needed the work out that came with Quidditch, otherwise I'd become lazy and that was not an option.
I'd already sat through three of my five classes today: Introduction to Financial Accounting, Introduction to International Affairs, and Introduction to Magical Trading Standards. At the moment I'd stopped into Orange and grabbed something to eat for lunch and wished I didn't have to carry around so many books, but I was getting better at it. I didn't have time to apparate between here and home between classes so I simply dealt with it. There was no way I was living on campus either so that was not an option.
Currently I flipped through my Introduction to Magical Research text and in my bag was also my text for Introduction to Potions I text as well as the lab workbook. I had lab first thing tomorrow morning and then the remainder of my classes to get through.
"Hey Evan."
At the sound of my name I looked up and came face to face with the delightful visage of the cute girl who had given me a tour last week.
"Hi Josie, how are you?"
"I'm doing great. Mind if I join you? How are your classes going?"
"Sure, have a seat, though not going to be here much longer have Intro to Magical Research coming up soon and don't want to be late. Everything else is going well, if not a little dry first thing in the morning. Why I signed up for the early accounting class I will never know."
She giggled and it was a cute sound. I could continue to date her for a bit, but I truly don't see her as long-term girlfriend material (not that I'm looking for that just yet).
"This is my second term and I've currently got a somewhat light load this term because I'm also stuck watching my little brother who isn't old enough to go to Hogwarts or anything."
"Cool, and that's awesome that you're taking care of your little brother. I've got a brother and three sisters. All but one should be in class at Hogwarts right about now."
"Why aren't all of them?"
"My little sister Aderyn is a couple of months shy of age eleven, which is the age that students start at Hogwarts, though she'd nearly completed her first year when we were in Japan, but had to move here and she's stuck with tutors to ensure she doesn't lose any of the knowledge."
"That sucks."
We talked a bit more over lunch and I left with about ten minutes to get to Introduction to Magical Research, and find a decent seat in the classroom.
First Day of Spring Term: Complete
Author: Cai Pembroke Carter
Date: 07-25-12 06:15
Today had started busy as all hell, but then again it was mainly because Coral had decided to toy with my tie. After getting it back from her, and hitting it with a mending charm to remove all of the little tear-aways in the fabric from her claws, I put it on and grabbed my bag which had my notebook and texts for DADA, History of Magic and Ancient Runes. I'd have time between Ancient Runes and Transfiguration for lunch and to come back and switch out my books for my afternoon classes.
Classes had been good, and I was glad I was not Broderick who had major exams to take at the end of the term, and I made certain to rib him about it when I could. As of right now, I was waiting for him to get back from the loo so we could spend a little bit together before we headed down to dinner and ultimately got down to getting homework done. Though, he had astronomy tonight at midnight tonight, while I would be sitting through it on Wednesday.
"Hey. So what are your classes like this term?"
"Busy as all hell. Most of them are Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and I've even got classes with Angharad, which is unfortunate."
Broderick laughed and shook his head. "You'll live. Aderyn is going to love it here when she can come in the fall, it is unfortunate that she has to go until the fall and is stuck with tutors while we are in actual classes."
"Yeah, I know. I've already started writing a letter to her that I'm going to send with Sora probably later this week."
"Sounds like a plan. I am going to grab something to eat and take a nap before Astronomy at midnight. I'll catch you later."
"Alright. I'm going to head to dinner and then probably chill in the Common Commons and catch up on stuff on the WWN while reading through TeenWitch, you know, girly stuff."
"Later."
Broderick and I headed down to the Great Hall, and I was slightly shocked that he excused himself after only two plates, and didn't even grab dessert. "Enjoy your nap."
I spent some time with my dormmates and then slipped off to the Common Commons and found a secluded little nook for the WWN listening stations and pulled the copy of TeenWitch out of my bag before activating the listening station and settled into the cushions to relax.
Fifth Year Crunch Time
Author: Saffron
Date: 07-25-12 14:09
As the fifth years enter the Arithmancy & Divination tower classroom Saffron hands each a sheet of parchment printed with what looks to be an outline of some sort. Most study it as they take their seats though a few hardly glance at it. When everyone's arrived Saffron strides over to what passes with the current arrangement of tables and chairs as the front of the classroom.
"Good afternoon! I trust you all had an excellent break. Getting back into the routine of school work won't be easy for many of you but as I'm sure you've heard countless times today, you are now facing crunch time in your OWL preparation. The parchment I handed out as you came in is the start of our official review. It is an outline of information from the third year curriculum that you may encounter on the exam. If you did not take this course third year, then that piece of parchment is a valuable guide you do not want to lose." A hand shoots up so Saffron pauses. "Yes, Abigail?"
"Do you know if the OWL leans more heavily to one year in particular? What I mean is, are their more questions on certain topics?"
"There is no straightforward answer to that. The exam is often quite balanced but there have been times when there are more questions on a particular subject matter. For example, I know that one year there were twenty-two tassiography questions while the next there were only four." To cut the nervous tension visible on several faces Saffron jokes, "If my divination skills worked as well as they used to, I'd do my best to see the exam beforehand and report back to you all."
This has Damian sitting up straighter. "Professor, may I check out a crystal ball?"
Saffron chuckles, "You may if you really want but as you've no training yet with crystals balls and won't until sixth year, I'm not sure it will do you any good."
After the laughter from the class has died down, Saffron finishes what she has to say about the outlines they have. "Between now and Friday, look over your outlines. We will spend some time that period and every class that follows in review. As we near an end to this outline I have ones for you that cover fourth year material. Starting today I have expanded office hours. You are also welcome to schedule time with me outside of office hours and you all know where my fifth floor flat is. Now, moving on. Let's see who read about the Chaldean system. Who is able to name one difference between the Chaldean and the Agrippan, also called the Pythagorean, methods?" Saffron nods at the student whose hand was first up. "Sadie?"
"In the Agrippan, the numbers used are 1 through 9. In the Chaldean, they are 1 through 8."
"Correct, five points to Hufflepuff. Anyone else? Baltus?"
"With the Chaldean, the name a person is know by is what's used but in the other, it's the name given at birth, so like yours under the Chaldean would use Sacheverelle but the Agrippan would use, ummmm, Porter?"
"Porter, yes. And yes, the name used differs. Five points for Slytherin."
Saffron directs the students' attention to one of the blackboards as they begin delving more fulling into the Chaldean method of arithmancy, or as some call it numerology.
Spring Term Starts with a Run
Author: Adina Blackwood
Date: 07-25-12 17:31
History of Magic, Transfiguration, Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts had all started off the term with a bang. We had officially three months left of school and most professors were going to be testing us at the end of the year on things that we've learned during the ENTIRE YEAR. Already I was worrying about my finals coming up at June, but I'm not as hectic and crazed as the fifth and seventh years that would be taking OWLs and NEWTs during the month of June.
I'd had lunch with Arthur earlier and he was currently playing a game of Wizarding Chess with a first year Gryffindor while I flipped through a novel by AJ Hundle, she did like his series. She currently was cuddled next to Arthur while she read. She was reading something non-school related for a change. She'd also gotten all of AJ Hundle's books for Easter from her Dad in Greece. She'd also gotten a few other things, but the most of it was a lot of it from the Easter Egg hunt here at the castle prior to break.
"Falling asleep?" Arthur whispered in her ear and she looked up at him smiling a bit.
"Maybe. Sorry, not used back into the routine." After a few minutes I settled back into my book, but I had a butterbeer to drink with it and was less likely to fall asleep as I'd sat up and shifted position.
"No falling asleep yet. Aren't you going out tonight?" Arthur asked.
"Oh! Crap, what time is it? I've got my usual hour for tonight." She flicked her gaze up to the clock and sighed. "Take my book back with you. I'll see you in the commons in about an hour and a half."
She kissed him on the cheek and headed out of the Common Commons and ultimately out on to the grounds where Hagrid was waiting for her. He'd be supervising her run tonight. Within minutes her clothes were tucked behind a tree and there was the howl of a silver wolf heard on the edge of the grounds. Freedom in the form of a wolf allowed her to run off some extra energy.
Gorse
Author: Marzipan
Date: 07-26-12 17:50
"Now that we are all settled again," Professor Ravenscroft began after her Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students had finished harvesting the leaves of the flannel bush, a shrub with leathery, fuzzy leaves, "we can move on to our next and final topic of the day, gorse."
She flicked her wand at the main work table to clear it of the remaining flannel bush plants and then summoned several pots of a different sort of shrub. Gorse went by a few other names, such as furze and whin, and was a thorny, evergreen shrub with yellow flowers.
"Gorse is best handled while wearing gloves, since the thorns are quite long and can cause one injury," she said, pulling on a pair of dragon-hide gloves.
"This is a young plant," she said, pulling one of the pots toward her. She pulled at some of the leaves and explained, "Younger plants are much easier to handle. They don't yet have fully developed spines. Instead, they have leaves that are trifoliate. Write down that word, trifoliate. Any guesses what it means?"
Augustus Hodfuffer raised his hand. "Tri means three, doesn't it? And foliate sounds like foliage, so they have three leaves? That is to say, not three leaves only, but each leaf has three leaves."
"Nicely done," Professor Ravenscroft said with a grin. "Take five points for Hufflepuff. Trifoliate means that each leaf is divided into three leaflets. Now, a more mature gorse plant is something to watch out for."
She pulled over a bigger plant and moved some of the blooms out of the way to expose the thorns. They ranged in length from 1-4 cm and looked quite threatening.
"We won't be handling these plants today," she said, "but expect to next time."
She went on to talk more about gorse, pointing out the plant's other characteristics and its uses before it was time to dismiss the class for lunch.