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Skinny Witch
Author: Hermione Granger
Date: 07-26-13 16:50
When it seemed that Hermione finally had a moment, she decided to slip into the lounge and grab a quick bite to eat. She got as far as the door to the staff area, when one of the nurses called out to her. Hermione turned, her quest to eat lunch invariably delayed, and hurried over to the nurse.
"I've never seen anything like it!" Nurse Lockhart exclaimed. "She's rail thin, literally!"
Not quite, but the witch seated on the hospital bed looked unnaturally emaciated. Her cheek and shoulder bones stood out at sharp angles, and her skin looked almost translucent. Her small body appeared so fragile, that the slightest bump might cause her to fall to pieces.
Hermione gently picked up the witch's delicate wrist to feel for a pulse. It was faint and slow, but there.
"How did this happen?" Hermione asked firstly of the nurse.
Nurse Lockhart shook her head. "I don't know. She seems disoriented. She's not making much sense."
The mediwizard who had brought the patient in explained, "She keeps saying that something didn't work, but we don't know what she did to cause this reaction."
Hermione turned to the witch. "Ma'am, can you tell me how this happened?"
The witch shook her head almost imperceptibly and murmured, "It didn't work, it didn't work, it didn't work."
"What didn't work?" Hermione asked. "What spell did you use to make yourself so thin?"
Finally, the witch's eyes, which had been distant and somewhat glazed over, focused on Hermione. "I only meant to take off a few pounds. I wanted to look trim, not sick. It didn't work. Oh, it didn't work!"
"We will make it right, but it will go faster if you can tell me what spell you used," Hermione said.
"No spell," the witch replied. She indicated with her eyes to a large purse on the floor.
The mediwizard exchanged a look with Hermione and then knelt to open the purse. He carefully ran his fingers through the contents and closed his hand on a thin bottle. He lifted it up for Hermione to see and turned it upside-down to show that there wasn't anything in it.
Hermione instructed Nurse Lockhart to bring back the gurney. "We need to get her down to Potion and Plant Poisoning," she said. "She's overdosed on Dr. Pinguis Thinning Elixir."
Hermione strongly suspected the witch drank more than one entire bottle of the thinning elixir to get such a disastrous and dangerous result, but there was no evidence of other bottles in her large handbag. Hermione aided in getting the patient to the right floor and informed the healer who would be tending to her what she had discovered.
After a few more minutes on the third floor, Hermione returned to the fourth floor and made haste to the staff lounge. Luckily, no one intercepted her this time around, allowing her to finally have a few moments to herself.
Patching Things Up
Author: Zabrynna
Date: 07-26-13 19:42
Zabrynna looks at the clock above the main library desk. With a blink and a small shake of her head she returns to making flash cards from recently transcribed notes from her only Tuesday morning class this term. It seems far later in the day, more like midnight or 1 am instead of not long past the noon hour. She's had a sense of time displacement ever since the article about Declan Douglass appeared in the Daily Prophet. Time either drags or seems on, as one of her Muggle born friends with a fixation on something called Star Trek would say, warp speed.
Flipping one note card into the completed stack and grabbing another blank one, Zabrynna supposes that how fast or slow time seems to be passing by doesn't matter much right now. It's not like she has much of a life at the moment. Classes. Work for AJ. Study. Do homework. That's the sum total of how she spends her days.
At least things have died down enough since the article that no one is obviously talking about her, no sudden hushing of conversations when Zabrynna walks into a room. There are some who probably do talk about her, make jokes but most people have moved on to gossiping about other people and events. Zabrynna is something of yesterday's news, which is just fine with her.
As expected, the Ministry did question Declan, Zabrynna, and a few others about whether the two did carry on an actual affair while she was both underage and his student. Thankfully, it didn't take long for those doing the questioning to realize that particular tidbit from Skeeter's article had no foundation.
A hand knocks on the table in front of Zabrynna's notes. Looking up she's more than a little surprised to see both Anne and Philippa standing there. Anne hadn't reacted much one way or the other over the article but she's been more scarce than usual, as if distancing herself from Zabrynna. Philippa had reacted and badly at that. She was angry and hurt that even when confessing to her Zabrynna had left out some important details, with the fact that the person Zabrynna told her about is Declan Douglass.
Zabrynna starts to say hello but Anne speaks first. "We're going for lunch. If you've not eaten, want to come with us?"
"You want me to go to lunch with you?"
Philippa cocks an eyebrow. "No, we asked because we can't stand the sight of you and are hoping you'll say no so we can talk about you while we eat."
Without pausing for Zabrynna to react Pippa continues with a grin. "Of course we want you to come with, silly. Grabbing lunch together is what friends do."
"I didn't know we were still friends."
Anne frowns at that. "Of course we are. Friends just sometimes need time to process certain information. Now that we have, you can set straight all the lies in that article."
"There's truth to it."
"Yes, but that article was all skewed and twisted," Anne replies.
Philippa's grin is now a sheepish smile. "I was a total bitch. I don't know why I overreacted and then I was embarrassed."
"And I wasn't sure how to take any of it when I found out you'd confided some things to Pippa but not to me. I realized that I've spent so much time being the lovey dovey bride still deeply in the honeymoon phase that I've hardly spent time with either of you. I only had myself to blame for not being around more, being around when you decided you could trust someone enough to take into confidence." There is a brief flash of guilty across Anne's face.
Philippa says, "I'd say friends again but we never weren't friends. Say you forgive us and let's get to lunch. I'm famished."
"I forgive you both if you forgive me."
Anne and Pippa make duh noises as they help Zabrynna pack up her things, Anne telling her, "We were thinking that German place. I'm wanting some spaetzle and schnitzel."
"Sounds good to me."
It does sound good though a little heavy for lunch but Zabrynna isn't going to say that when Anne and Philippa are trying to make amends. Shouldering her bookbag, she exits the library with her two friends, asking Anne how her how she and John, her husband, are doing.
The Corridor Outside History of Magic - 3rd Floor
Author: Valeria Mockridge
Date: 07-26-13 20:24
Valeria's wicked smirk was cold, lacking all of the minuscule warmth she showed inside the safety of Slytherin's Common Room. "Why don't you say that again, Larson?" she said, her quiet words easily heard in the suddenly silent hallway.
The Ravenclaw froze, fumbling for his wand with nervous fingers. "Bit late for that," Petula added, her mocking tone showing she wasn't about to stop Valeria this time. Dark eyes flickered over to Anton, then to Titus and the other Slytherins they had been walking to History of Magic with.
Peter Larson turned around, his blue eyes widening when he saw the dangerous glare in Valeria's. But with so many of his own housemates nearby, he didn't have the sense to back down. "So I said you're not worth the bother of kissing. Slapper," he tried, his bravado obviously false.
"You mean you didn't enjoy trying to snog me against my will?" she asked, her tone innocent and deceptively sweet. "Or was it Anton hexing you that started these silly rumors? Because really, if you weren't too afraid, you'd call him out rather than spread stupid rumors about his parents, who are far better than yours ever were. Filthy Muggle," she added, her voice growing dark and dangerous before the first hex flew from her lips, her wand moving automatically.
The other students stood back, not daring to intervene as her stinging hex hit, and Larson's eyes filled with tears. "Oh, look, Larson's a silly, little baby. He can't handle a single stinging hex without crying like a little girl. Tosser," she said, shoving past him and heading into the History of Magic classroom, bag bouncing against her hip.
Petula looked at Anton before turning her eyes to the rest, making sure no one was stupid enough to hex Valeria when her back was turned. "Now do you see why I said not to cheese her off this morning?" she murmured as they shoved through the others. When she thought no one else could hear, she added, "She's right tetchy when it's this time of the month."
"I can hear you, Pet," Valeria answered and the brunette blanched, sliding into her seat beside the blonde.
Back to Normal
Author: Ella
Date: 07-27-13 10:03
"I think I burned them, damn!" exclaimed Dunstan, as he peered into oven where a tray of star-shaped biscuits had begun turning black along the edges.
"It's all right, Dad," Ella said from her seat at the kitchen table. "They smell good."
"Maybe they are still edible, then," her father replied, removing the biscuit tray with an oven mitt shaped like a fish. He set the tray on top of the stove to allow the biscuits a chance to cool and then slipped off the mitt, setting it aside on the counter. He walked over to where his daughter sat and pulled out the neighboring chair.
"I was thinking we could go on holiday, maybe visit the relatives?"
"If it's all right with you, I would rather stay here at home. I've been gone for so long…" Ella trailed off, thinking about what had amounted to nearly a year of time away from her family and friends.
She remembered much of the last year, though bits of pieces of her time with Zane eluded her, thanks to the fog she had been under while influenced by the Imperius Curse. He had certainly addled her brain to make her think certain falsehoods were real and vice versa. In some aspects, she couldn't keep fact from fiction straight, but her father and Francis were doing their best to help her understand everything. It would be a long road to recovery, but Ella had a strong support system.
"Of course, Ella. I didn't think of that," Dunstan stated. "I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay. I do want to see everyone, but maybe later. Or maybe they can visit us," she said. "I'm just happy to be home."
"And I'm happy you are home again," Dunstan said, "but I'm worried about your safety." And mine, he thought to himself, not wishing to concern Ella.
"He's a wanted wizard, Dad," Ella said. "He's not going to try anything, not with someone watching the house."
"If he's smart, he will stay far away from you, but sometimes decisions are made with no thought involved."
"I think he did a great deal of thinking when he hatched his plan for me, and when he set out to hurt you," Ella said, "but I get what you are saying. He can be impulsive."
Following her rescue, aurors had raided Zane's flat in Knockturn Alley and the house in Leigh-on-Sea. They had even searched the little shack in Broadhaven, but there had been no sign of him. He had vanished without a trace.
"I won't relax until he's captured," Dunstan said. "I can't, not after what he did to you."
"And what he did to you," Ella added with a frown.
Dunstan was fully healed, but sometimes he felt a little stiff around where the wound had been. It was most certainly a mental reaction, and not something he could easily forget.
It bothered Ella that she hadn't been there to take care of her dad, but Francis had been there, and for that, Ella would always feel indebted to him. He had done so much for her father while she'd been gone.
As if he knew she were thinking of him, Francis came in through the floo. He set his book bag on a side table and sniffed the air.
"Smells good in here," he stated. "Biscuits?"
"Yes, slightly burned, but at least they smell okay," Dunstan replied. He got up to check on the biscuits. Francis took his seat.
"How were your classes?" Ella asked.
"Fine. How was your day?" Francis asked.
"Uneventful," Ella replied with a small smile. "Just the way I like it."
"Good!"
Dunstan came over with the biscuit tray. "Let's give them a try, shall we?"
They each grabbed one and gave them a taste. For the most part, the flavor was delicious, just like the aroma, though there was a slight charred taste to the edges. Ella helped herself to a second biscuit and then a third, feeling very thankful for the normal things in life.
(Evan Carter) Home of My Own
Author: Cai Pembroke Carter
Date: 07-27-13 11:15
"You will be quite pleased with this particular home, and the view is quite nice."
Evan moved through the small two bedroom, one bathroom house on the outskirts of Wizarding Coventry. A smile upon his face, after a moment he turned to the real estate agent, Samantha Woolerton, from Hawthorne and Emerson Properties.
"It does indeed have quite a very good view, and of the four properties we'd looked at. This was my favorite, I'm just glad that the couple took the offer on the house, and that it's on the floo network."
"Indeed, that will make it easier for you to get to work and to your classes at St. Emry's. And, being on the floo network, it will make it easier for guests to come and go. Also, you are far enough away that any traces of the Wizarding World will not require much shielding from Muggle sight."
"Which is good, though I do not tend to have events that require shielding."
"Very good. Now, if you want we can head back to the office and go over the paperwork for the property?"
"Of course."
They stepped out of the house, and the agent locked the property once more, before they would apparate back to the office on Diagon Alley.
He had finished the meeting with the property agent, just in time to head back to St. Emry's for his afternoon session of Legal Ethics and his meeting with his group from Jurisprudence for their group project due in the next couple of weeks.
There was even time by the time he finished Jurisprudence to grab something quick to eat at Orange before heading to his group meeting at Carrie's apartment in Wizarding SoHo. He was even generous and brought Thai to the group meeting, since it was going to probably run kinda late into the evening.
Another One
Author: Minerva McGonagall
Date: 07-27-13 11:20
Professor McGonagall sat at her desk and reviewed the list of children already eleven or who would turn eleven before the start of next term. Not everyone had received their letter yet, but already a diverse group of children were confirmed to start at Hogwarts in the fall. As always, Professor McGonagall looked forward to getting to know all of the new faces.
She glanced up at the door when a knock sounded. She invited her visitor in and found Professor Flitwick making his way to her desk. Minerva got up to greet him, her eyes falling to a rolled up piece of parchment clutched in his hand.
"Filius, is something the matter?" she inquired, taking in the pinched expression on his face.
"Minerva, I thought you should be made aware of an article set to appear in the Evening Prophet," he gravely said.
"Not another one!" she exclaimed, having the sudden feeling that her time had finally come.
"Yes, I'm afraid so," Professor Flitwick solemnly replied. He held out the parchment. "A friend is a printer at The Daily Prophet. When this crossed his path, he immediately thought to send me a copy. I believe it may be a cause of some concern."
Professor McGonagall took the parchment from him and unrolled it. The article was not about her as she initially thought, but about Professor Flitwick.
What was Filius Flitwick really doing in Romania? He claims to have been on sabbatical from teaching at Hogwarts, but it is now known that he traveled to Romania at Albus Dumbledore's request with the alleged task of determining Adriana Fairchild's whereabouts and actions during her missing years. It is clear we are to believe that Dumbledore asked Flitwick to investigate Fairchild to judge her character prior to her known crimes, but it is all the more likely that Flitwick is an agent of Fairchild. She took his place during his alleged sabbatical, setting her up in the position to commit a most grievous murder. Flitwick resumed his post after Fairchild went into hiding. The link is quite obvious.
"How preposterous!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed.
"Yes," Professor Flitwick agreed. "Curious that she knows Albus asked me to look into things in Romania, isn't it?"
"She has a way of finding out things she shouldn't," Professor McGonagall crossly replied. "And to think you are an agent of Adriana Fairchild! It's ludicrous!"
"Ah, but there are plenty who will see the link of which she writes!" Professor Flitwick exclaimed. He appeared far less perturbed than Professor McGonagall, considering he was the subject matter of Rita Skeeter's latest article.
"Only the foolish," Professor McGonagall amended. "Well, I suppose we ought to prepare for the worst. Thank you for the advanced warning, Filius. I trust you will be available to make whatever statements are necessary when the time comes?"
"Barring the unforeseen," Professor Flitwick replied, "though I imagine I should anticipate being taken into custody, if law enforcement finds the allegations worth investigating. And here I thought I would only get arrested at Hogwarts once in my lifetime!"
"Filius! Now is not the time for jokes," Professor McGonagall scolded, and in her mind she pictured the day of her own arrest. The situation today was not nearly as serious as it had been back then. No one was getting abused, except on parchment and in mostly ridiculous ways.
She allowed herself to relax and said, "Let us hope law enforcement has more sense than to instantly believe that you have a connection to Adriana Fairchild."
"Shall I leave you alone, or do you wish to put our heads together and come up with a response to the questions that will certainly arise?" asked Professor Flitwick.
Professor McGonagall answered, "Yes, perhaps the best offense is a well-prepared defense. Let's plan our course of action. Tea, Filius?"
"Yes, thank you." He climbed into the chair in front of her desk, while she resumed her seat behind it. Soon, they exchanged ideas over a pot of English Afternoon tea.
Dinner Date
Author: Ginny Weasley
Date: 07-27-13 16:57
Selma Hollingberry, the newest chaser for the Harpies, vigorously rubs a towel through damp hair. Seeing Ginny sitting on the bench putting on socks and shoes she asks, "Any improvement?"
Ginny has been asked variations of this same question since shortly after the small bomb went off. She has no need to ask Selma for clarification. "There seems to be a little. With this time of brain trauma we just have to take things one day at a time."
"I don't think I could be as stoic as you if it were my husband in hospital but who knows. Maybe if I had been dealing with it for weeks as you've been, I'd find a way to be just to get through the day."
"That's it in a nutshell. I have to keep functioning and going on with life and doing my best to cope. I've Jamie to think of. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have a job to help keep me occupied."
Ginny stands, reaching for her sports duffle. "Speaking of my son, I promised Mum I'd pick him up as soon as I was finished here."
"I thought he goes to your sister-in-law day care."
"Normally he does but he's got a mild bug with a low grade fever. It's made him overly fussy and if it's contagious he shouldn't be around the other children."
"I hope he feels better soon. Let me know if you ever need a sitter. I'd be happy to watch Jamie so you can have some alone time or get your shopping done without juggling him as well or if you want to go and sit for a longer period with Harry. I know you have a large family but after awhile it's easy to start feeling like you're taking advantage."
"You sound like you speak from experience."
"My gran had a sharp decline. Mum and Dad were doing what they could for the eight months before she passed. As I'm an only child I got called on a great deal. Mum's brothers and sister and their families did some but always grudgingly. You're lucky your family is so supportive."
"I am at that. Sorry about your gran." Ginny repositions the strap of her duffle before bidding Selma, "Bye, see you tomorrow. And thanks."
Ginny exits the locker room to a spot favored by many from which to disapparte. She appears in the backyard of the Burrow, not far from the backdoor. Jamie seems a little better, his temperature currently normal but she knows that fevers sometimes make a reappearance with evening. Molly offers her supper but she declines, "I'm promised elsewhere."
Easter excepting, it's rare for anyone to mention Harry here or any of the Weasley homes in any context but as someone in a coma at St. Mungo's. No one speaks of St. John's Wood or Harry being alive and impatient to reveal the explosion kept him in the hospital for only a short time. Ginny kisses her mum on the cheek then laden with duffle bag, Jamie's baby bag, and Jamie in his carrier, she leaves the Burrow, apparating to a garden spot near the kitchen door of the St. John's Wood manor. Harry has been watching for them and is quickly there to greet Ginny and to take the growing heavier almost by the day Jamie. "How was practice?" he asks, holding the door for her.
Ginny tells him about the day thus far and updates Harry on how Jamie's been as she helps him put dinner on the table. When the meal is over she grins at him. "Keep improving your cooking and you'll be doing half the meals."
"If it means being home again, I'm happy with that. Dessert? I made cake."
"Harry Potter made a cake."
"It's easier than I thought so I'm starting to think Hagrid's just always been a terrible cook."
"You're only starting to think that?" Ginny laughs, accepting the slice of what Harry tells her is a simple white cake with coconut frosting.
The meal spent talking and laughing is wonderful. The only negative to it is they are not snug in their own home, without the spectre of a bomber still out there somewhere hanging over them.
Surpises - And Not the Good Kind - (Orion's Flat, London)
Author: Orion Howell
Date: 07-27-13 17:36
Orion eyed the official parchment envelope in front of him with a wary expression. It was from the Ministry, but not from any department he'd ever dealt with previously. As he opened it, his wariness shifted to outright shock. "Bloody hell," he muttered, rubbing his hand over his face.
His first thought was to Floo Desi, though she was as shocked as he was by the fact that not only had his parents passed away but his brothers had as well. The news that he was now guardian of his niece just added to it. She offered to come through, but he said no. Not when his niece would be arriving via apparition with the family's attorney.
"Merlin, Des, I have no idea how to deal with a kid. Let alone a girl. If I know Castor, he's left her to Mother to deal with, and she's probably spoiled rotten," he said.
"I don't know what to tell you, Orion. But I'll come over tomorrow after work, maybe we can take her to visit with Fallon and Etch, Crew's about her age," Desi suggested.
Orion nodded. He hated to ask for help, but it definitely looked like he might have to. It definitely made him glad that Driver was the only one of Desi's friends who really disliked him. He didn't have many friends of his own and certainly none that he could have asked for help.
A distinct pop sounded in the hallway. "I have to go, Des, I'll Floo you tomorrow," he said, pulling his head out of the fire and going to answer the door.
"Mr. Orion Howell?" the man said.
"Yes."
"Your niece," he said, letting go of the small hand he'd held and dropping the suitcase he'd carried onto the floor before disapparating away without any introductions at all. Orion muttered a non-complimentary term before he looked at the petite redhead in front of him with her pigtails in disarray and her clothes somewhat dirty, as if she'd been wearing them for a few days.
"Sagitta?" he said gently. She looked up, her face streaked with soot and tears. "Come on in, honey. I'm your Uncle Orion," he said, stepping aside to let her in. He could do this. Maybe. With a lot of help. He bent down to get her bag and closed the door. He almost hoped Desi had called the others despite him saying he thought it best no one else show up. He had no idea what he was doing.