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(Adriana) An Offer He Can't Refuse
Author: Bill Weasley
Date: 03-18-13 17:56
For a brief moment, the only sounds were birds calling to each other around the cliffs. Adriana stared at Lysander with a knowing smile on her face, fully aware that he would take the bait, even if his better judgment urged him otherwise. Lysander, meanwhile, stood a short distance away from the rock upon which she sat and mulled over her last words.
Finally, he seemed to come to his senses. "Don't tempt me with the impossible!" Lysander spat. "It can't be done. Her body's gone. Long gone." This, he said more gently, wishing above all that it weren't true.
Adriana shook her head in frustration. "He didn't have a body and he came back."
"That was different and you know it."
"How?" Adriana asked, rising to her feet.
Lysander stared at her. "He wasn't dead. Chyler is. Has been for ten bloody years."
Adriana shook her head. "It doesn't matter. It can be done, I swear it."
"It can't!" Lysander shouted at her. "I know, because I tried."
"It didn't work because you didn't have the one thing that can bring her back," Adriana retorted. "Whatever dark arts book you got your resurrection spell from is garbage. They all are if they don't mention a certain object that I will soon have in my possession, if only you'll help me find it."
"Oh, yeah? And what's that?"
Adriana looked him squarely in the eye. "The resurrection stone."
Lysander studied Adriana for one moment and then waved his hand dismissively at her. "It doesn't exist."
"It does."
"How do you know?"
"Because my father told me to look for it."
"Your father? The one who died ages ago, who made you forget your life and raised you as a Muggle? That father?"
"I'm not talking about flesh and blood," Adriana said, shaking her head. "I'm talking about a spiritual connection."
"You do realize you sound raving mad?" Lysander said, gazing at her as if she needed a straitjacket. He had heard the rumors about Voldemort being her spiritual father, but he was so blind with rage that he couldn't think straight. "I guess being on the lam might do that to a person."
Adriana shot him an angry look. "I'm going to prove it to you, and then we'll see what you think of me." She stormed past him, heedless of the hazardous conditions on the rocks, but not before casting a stern look at him over her shoulder. "I'm going to give you the one thing you want most in your world, besides your daughter back, of course. And when I do, you will worship me at my feet."
She summoned his wand off its precarious perch and left it on the ground where he could reach it. Before disapparating for the confines of the old abbey she now called home, Adriana shot Lysander one final look. His face revealed a mixture of emotions, but there was one among them Adriana knew would force him into action:
Hope.
One Last Class (Duncan)
Author: Briar Rose
Date: 03-18-13 21:00
Using a spoon heaped with creamy chocolate custard as a pointer Hiram Young states, "You'd have had the day free and clear if you weren't taking Fitness & Athletics."
Ollie Choate, looking up from some sort of nutty cake drizzled with caramel sauce, nods as if this is the first time the subject has ever come up. "Your last day of term would have been yesterday."
Duncan Dippet shrugs. "As I've said before I like Fitness & Athletics. I'm glad I took it. It's a fun class. You should both consider it for second year."
As neither Hiram nor Ollie are sure they want to add to what they both feel is an over abundant courseload, they make non-committal noises and rapidly change the topic of conversation with Ollie asking, "Either of you open your Secret Santa gifts yet?"
Duncan makes a funny face at Ollie. "You were there when I did. Remember? The game. You played it. Several times now."
"Right. I forgot that's where that game came from."
Hiram snickers at that before saying, "I haven't opened mine yet. I want to but I also want to have more to open at home."
"I haven't opened mine either but only because no one's left me one yet. I plan to stake out the commons today and check every present I see going under it."
Duncan points out, "It could be under the Hufflepuff common room tree."
"I've looked there too, several times a day."
Hiram then reminds, "It could go to your home sometime during the holiday."
Ollie frowns. "I know but I'm hoping to have it before we go home in the morning."
"What if it turns out to be some lame gift that wasn't worth the wait?"
"Then I will practice some hex and use it to let the person know to do better."
This elicits snickers from all three, snickers that turn to full blown laughter as the boys get creative thinking up hexes suitable for poor gift givers. By the time Duncan has polished off the last of a slice of spice cake with a maple frosting and is leaving the Great Hall for Fitness & Athletics his sides hurt from the laughing.
As he exits the Great Hall he wonders if librarian Azaelia Blackheart will think his Secret Santa gift to her lame. Duncan's mother had sent him some catalogs marked with items she felt were both appropriate and in the price range she set for him. He'd mulled over several of the items before picking a pretty perfume bottle that looks like it only holds one scent but but depending on how many times the topper is twisted before being removed, the bottle holds up to three scents.
Accepting a candy cane from a student he doesn't know, Duncan breaks off a small part of it to eat for the rest of the short walk to class.
(Joseph) A Good Deed
Author: Mildred
Date: 03-19-13 03:28
This was Joseph Connells's first visit, and probably the last, to Azkaban. Of course he had read about the prison in the books, and he had seen pictures of it, however the massive building located in such inhospitable island had caught him by surprise. After being put threw the security measures, he waited at one of the tables of the visitation room for Alexander Campbell's arrival. Nervous, he looked down at his hands, as if they were the most important thing in the world right now.
"You must have a lot of nerve to come here," an angry voice declared.
Joseph looked up and what he saw shocked him even more than the vision of the prison. Alexander seemed to have aged faster than he should and there was no glow in his brown eyes. He used to be well built but now he was very thin and even looked unhealthy. This was what was left of one of the most talented healers of St. Mungo's.
Guilt started to bite Joseph's feelings with its sharp teeth. He had done the best he could to forget the incidents of that terrible summer evening, shut down those memories inside his mind. But now suddenly it seemed like some sort of comport had been opened as images and sounds started to flood his head.
"Erica Sims, eleven years old, unconscious…" the first data arrived, coming from one of the nurses. The girl was wearing a green dress and her long dark hair had been arranged in a perfect braid. They never reached to hear her voice.
"Alexander, please…we need to talk."
"I have nothing to discuss with you," he declared and he was ready to walk away when Joseph said in an urgent tone:
"It's about Mildred."
Alexander sat heavily in front of Joseph Connell. They used to be best friends and Joseph worked as his assistant at St. Mungo's. They made a good team until that fatidic day when everything seemed to go wrong. But he remembered that both Alexander and he just left the hospital thinking they only had a bad day and that tomorrow they would do better.
"What about my daughter?" Mentioning Mildred was enough to get Alexander's attention. Joseph knew how much he loved his daughter and how he would do anything for her.
"We met."
"I told you to stay away from my family."
"Yes, I know. And I did so. It wasn't my fault that she happened to go study in the school I work for."
"You work at Salem's?!"
"Why so surprised? There aren't many places that would accept a healer who had lost his license. I had to leave the country and I was lucky enough to be accepted at the institute as a caretaker. It's not the best job in the world, of course…" but it's better than being imprisoned, he thought, not daring to say such thing out loud in front of Alexander.
"What about Mildred?" he repeated the question, impatient.
"She and I became friends. Don't look at me that way: Mildred was the one who came to me. She looks a lot like Sarah and it didn't take me long to discover she was your daughter. I didn't tell her who I was, of course. I planned to just do my work and treat her as any other student. I tried, yes, but I couldn't. Not when she spends her days alone, hidden in my office."
Joseph then told Alexander how Mildred didn't feel happy about studying at Salem. He mentioned her struggles and how she didn't dare to tell so to her aunt.
"She feels like a burden and she doesn't want to make her aunt unhappy by telling her she doesn't want to live with her and go back to Hogwarts instead. I also caught her writing a letter for you where she writes about her friends. She is lying to you; she has no friends in that school, Alexander. But she doesn't like to bother you with that; she keeps it all to herself. I just thought you had the right to know. Maybe you could write to your sister in law, and arrange things so she can go back to Hogwarts. And if she does so, I won't be in her life again, and I believe that will make you sleep better at night."
There was a deep silence. Then a guard warned that the visitation hour was almost over. Joseph felt the time was running out. There were a lot of things he wanted to tell Alexander: how he was sorry, how he should have been sent to Azkaban alongside with him, that they did everything they could to save Erica Sims…But it seemed that he had lost the ability to speak.
Alexander seemed lost on his own thoughts. Mercifully the visit ended. Joseph, knowing he had done the right thing, was relieved. He said goodbye to Alexander and turned his back to him, ready to live this dreadful place that he had escaped by some miracle.
"Joseph?" Alexander called.
"Yes?" he replied turning back.
"Thank you."
They shook hands and for a moment Joseph felt like they had returned to the past and were friends again.
Decision At Last (Catriona)
Author: Fionna
Date: 03-19-13 06:26
With History of Magic officially ended at 10:45 and with having two afternoon exams, Arithmancy & Divination at 1:30 followed by Muggle Studies at 3:15, Catriona had gone to lunch earlier than she normally does. She'd read over a few notes while eating then came to her dorm room where she has been getting in more studying but she's also been debating the same thing she's been debating for days: which gift to give Kate Dewhurst, whose name she drew for Secret Santa.
Cat is once again standing by her bed, holding up the two blouses she's trying to make a decision on when Megara Flynn walks in grumbling. She looks over her shoulder at Megara to ask, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing other than my own stupidity. I didn't put one of the newer bottles of ink in my bag this morning. I thought I was going to run out when writing my Ancient Runes exam."
"I'm sure Professor Hodfuffer would have left you use some of his."
"Probably, but the point is I knew I needed to grab another bottle this morning and I didn't. I hurried eating lunch to make sure I had time before Arithmancy & Divination. Why is it nearly every time I come into the room lately and you're here you're holding up those same two tops?"
"Secret Santa gift. I can't decide if I want to give both or just one and if just one, which one. If I didn't have another gift, the same thing I'm giving each of my friends, I'd give one as Secret Santa and one as present from a friend. I've got Kate's name," Cat clarifies.
Megara comes over for a closer inspection of the blouses. "I like them both."
"Me too, which is why it's so hard to decide."
"Why did you buy two?"
"I don't know. I think it's because the holiday sale prices were so good and I had a coupon from the newspaper for an additional percentage off."
Megara studies the two tops and at the same time Cat blurts out, "I'll give both," Megara also says, "Give her both," causing both of them to laugh.
Cat folds both blouses into a box, which she then starts wrapping with a festive paper. When done she gathers her things for class and picks up the present now bedecked with glittery ribbon and bow. "Ready to go?"
"I suppose though I wouldn't mind if both Professor Sacheverelle and Miller were to cancel classes."
Cat points to something on top of Megara's trunk. "Your ink."
Making a face and grumbling, "Bloody hell," Megara walks over to snatch up the ink bottle before saying, "Thank you."
On the way to class Cat and Megara quiz each other with questions they think may be on their Arithmancy & Divination exam.
Impossible
Author: Declan
Date: 03-19-13 21:19
After lingering over hot chocolate in the Great Hall where students in a festive mood not ready to return to their houses yet were beginning to move to the commons until forced by curfew to leave, Declan climbs one set of stairs to the third floor. After stopping at his office to ensure he left it in a somewhat ordered, organized manner he continued on to his quarters located on the castle's seventh floor.
Since reaching his residence Declan has been sprawled on the couch, book in hand, WWN program playing. In one corner, livening up the room somewhat is a small tree he'd decorated earlier in the month. There are a few wrapped gifts under it, including one for Zabrynna that he is still unsure whether to give. He couldn't even put into words a reason why he got her something. If Declan does give Zabrynna the present, he doesn't know if he'd do it at the Christmas party AJ and Mariposa are giving again this year or if he'd somehow find a reason to get her alone somewhere so that there would be no potential witnesses to the embarrassed prat he'll surely make of himself.
One gift, with three parts, is no longer under Declan's tree but now under another is the secret Santa gift for Ethan Somerset. Declan had had great difficulty finding something for his colleague. Far easier was finding something to add to the gift for Ethan's daughter Lilly. The happy, silly looking tree is charmed to sing and gyrate as if dancing. If Lilly is like his niece was at that age, she'll enjoy the toy to the point she'll want it to play the assortment of tunes over and over until Ethan most likely comes hate Declan for giving it to her.
What to give Ethan eluded Declan for days. He thought he might have to get help and consult someone, probably Mariposa who would then find a reason to bring Zabrynna in on it. He considered asking Kissy instead but then she complained about having a difficult time picking gifts for some of the men in her life.
After spending what most would consider to be way to much time thinking about something that shouldn't be this bloody hard, Declan feels that some, even Ethan perhaps, will think he put no thought into it whatsoever. He feels this because he finally decided to get Ethan a nice tie since he, like Declan and the other male professors, wear a tie as part of their work "uniform." It's a nice tie, or so Declan thinks, but it doesn't scream being a gift that someone put as much thought into as he did.
Declan then decided to get Ethan something he could wear when dressed more casually, selecting a striped purple polo style shirt. Again, nothing about the present would appear to have required any huge amount of time, effort, thought, or energy. It, the tie, and Christmas tree toy were wrapped and delivered only this morning.
With secret Santa sitting under a tree, be it the one in the commons or now under Ethan's tree, with all the exams from the week graded and grade sheets turned in, with all other gifts that he knows he needed to get taken care of and many of them already delivered, Declan's one big obstacle is what to do with the Zabrynna present. The gift is so dominant in his thoughts he realizes he's not read beyond the two pages he'd open his book to. Sighing, he sets the book aside to stare at the gift.
After several minutes Declan utters an oath, getting up to stomp to his bedroom. Though not tired enough to sleep just yet at least in his bedroom he doesn't have the gift in his line of sight, making it impossible for him to think about anything else.