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Wellesbourne Wood
Author: Fritz Schnackenpfefferhausen
Date: 01-12-14 14:29
Fritz lingers behind in his Selected Topics in Organic Chemistry class to ask his professor a few questions. As expected, his classes at the secondary level are more difficult and consume much more of his time than those at the tertiary level, but he doesn't feel too overwhelmed. Besides, he's taking a chemistry class this term, and chemistry just happens to be his all-time favorite Muggle school subject.
After getting his questions in and receiving satisfactory answers, Fritz leaves the classroom and heads for the library, where he needs to check out a few books and also hopes to get a little studying in before he has to go to Hogsmeade for work. With the start of term in October, Fritz has severely cut down on his hours at J. Pippin's, but he still keeps a busy schedule.
As he walks into the library, his eyes are drawn to a bulletin board in the foyer. Posted on it are notices for various study groups, school activities, job opportunities, and even news items. Fritz slows to a stop when he notices a series of tiny wanted posters in the corner of the bulletin board. There are the usual suspects like Adriana Fairchild and various Death Eaters, and then there is Berthold Beatenberg.
Fritz stares at the menacing moving photograph of the wizard, whose beady eyes seem to pierce Fritz where he stands. Fritz still feels terrible for getting duped into setting the evil wizard free, but he no longer blames himself for Berthold's actions. Fritz wonders where Berthold is now. Little does he know that Berthold is only a hop, skip, and a jump away in Wellesbourne Wood.
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Wellesbourne Wood is one of many forests in the vicinity of Stratford-upon-Avon. A band of wizards, many of whom are quite elderly, has set up camp there and cast numerous protection charms to shield their group not only from enemies but from Muggles too.
To Berthold, one of the younger wizards in the gathering (at least in appearance), his compatriots look comical. Here are wizards with bent backs, long beards, rheumy eyes, and liver spots. He's not entirely positive they can hold up in a duel, if it comes down to one, but so far they have managed to keep up with his demands.
Berthold is well aware the risk he is taking in stepping foot on English soil, but then he has been back for weeks and no one has discovered him yet. Already, the group has scoured other woods looking for Fairchild and her loyal followers, but so far, she has escaped their notice. Berthold is certain they simply haven't searched the right woods yet, but he is confident they will find her eventually, and then he will have his revenge.
He smiles at the prospect of ending her life. Perhaps he will do it with his hook and clamp.
Johann calls him over to a small table, where a map is weighed down with small rocks. Red Xs mark areas they have already searched, such as neighboring Red Hill Wood and Smatchley Wood.
"Louis is checking Blackwells Coppice," Johann said, indicating to a tiny patch of green just south of Wellesbourne. "I've asked him to also search Oakham and Farm Fields."
"Too small an area," Berthold remarks, shaking his head. "He won't find anything there."
"Should I call him back?" asks Johann.
Berthold hesitates and then shakes his head. "No, let him look. Better we are thorough."
As much as he wants Fairchild dead, he is in no hurry to see it done. Just knowing that she will eventually die by his hands (or the implements he now considers hands), is satisfaction enough for the time-being.
Fire
Author: Josie
Date: 01-13-14 12:04
Some students were still up and talking when I entered the classroom. It was Monday afternoon but it seemed that the excitement of the weekend hadn't vanished yet and almost everyone had still a lot to talk about.
"Please sit down, and let us begin," I told to the sixth years.
Promptly they obeyed, and I didn't lose anytime waving my wand and making the word 'Fire' appear on the blackboard.
"Today we are going to continue our study of the four elements. Last class we talked about air and now is it time to move on to fire. Fire is considered by a large number of alchemists the most fundamental element of all and therefore, I will give some special attention to it. It is not only in the branch of alchemy that fire is important. Not only it was responsible for the evolution of mankind, but also you can see that fire exists in every culture and religion."
I paused and looked around.
"What are the first words that come to your mind when you think about fire?"
"Warmth," Ramona Mickle said.
"Energy," Caerwyn Valentine added.
"Passion," Marian Rourke told the class which made some of the boys to roll their eyes.
Other words were suggested and I nodded in agreement accepting them all. They were added to the blackboard. After this I started to formalize the element, giving it a definition and a more specific description. I asked the Gryffindor Charisma Stone to produce a fire in front of her colleagues, so as I spoke the effect of the flames might serve as an example, making it easier to visualize the element in question. I awarded her house with 2 points for her collaboration.
Time seemed to fly. I knew this class might sound tedious but it was important for the students to know the elements correctly, since they were the basis of alchemy. Later, of course, we would test the elements and mix them together. The class was almost at an end and I concluded:
"It is believed that fire lives inside of us. It appears when we display bravery, when are valiant and rebellious, when we feel passion…but you can also feel the fire when you are consumed by rage and you are hot-tempered. Or even, when you feel jealousy burning inside of you. My point is that fire might be very useful and important but you must not forget to respect it. We are going to work with fire in the next classes and not play with it. Mark my words: who plays with fire gets burn."
There were some amusing smiles here and there. The bell rang and I dismissed the class, after assigned their homework for next week. I erased the blackboard with my wand, ready to now teach the seventh years.
Monday Evening
Author: Carys
Date: 01-13-14 18:40
Snowy bounded onto a chair and from there onto the dining table, where Carys had spread out her school work. The fluffy, white cat deliberately trod on everything before deciding to make a bed out of a textbook on potions.
Carys eyed the cat with an expression that was both stern and amused. "What did I tell you about getting on the table, Snowy?"
Snowy regarded her as if he couldn't be bothered and gradually slid his eyes shut.
Carys sighed and shook her head. At least she wasn't working on her potions homework at the moment. She turned to the open page in her Business Management textbook and started to read, when Tristan padded into the room.
"Mum, I'm hungry."
"Dad is bringing takeout," Carys replied without taking her eyes off the words on the page.
"What's he bringing?" Tristan asked, going over to where Snowy had made himself comfortable.
"Vietnamese," Carys replied.
"I don't want any," Tristan declared. He reached over and began scratching the cat behind the ears.
"It's hot soup."
"I don't want hot soup."
"No bubble tea either, then," Carys said, giving up on her reading and closing her book.
"I didn't say that," Tristan said, being rather fond of the smoothie-like drink with tapioca balls in the bottom. "What flavor?"
"I don't know," Carys replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Probably something horrid like strawberry or green apple."
Tristan could tell his mum was teasing him and frowned. "Is Dad coming home soon?"
Carys checked the watch on her wrist and nodded. "He should be here any min–– Ah, there he is."
Griff walked in the door bearing takeout sacks, which he carried into the kitchen. Tristan set off to inspect what flavor bubble tea his dad had gotten him, when Carys said, "Wait a moment. I want you to get Snowy off the table and then fetch your great granddad."
Tristan obediently turned back to Snowy and scooped the cat up in his arms. Snowy looked a bit disgruntled but allowed Tristan to throw him over his shoulder and carry him to the back of the house, where Alun's bedroom was located.
Carys, meanwhile, cleared her books and parchment from the table and set them aside before joining Griff in the kitchen. He was pouring the soup fixings from the takeout containers into bowls.
"Hi," Carys said, giving him a hello peck.
"Hi," Griff replied, handing her a very warm bowl of soup and a pair of chopsticks. "Did you get much work done?"
"Hardly," Carys replied, "but I suppose I have all night to prepare for tomorrow."
"No need. I'll keep man and beast occupied after supper while you get your readings done."
Carys grinned. "And which category does our son fall into, man or beast?"
"I think that depends on the day of the week," Griff said, with a grin and a wink.
The family gathered around the table to eat, even Tristan who ate his hot soup between sips of his chilled, mango-flavored drink.
Excellent Progress
Author: Jet
Date: 01-13-14 21:06
"Tea."
Laurette Reed walks to the bureau and unceremoniously drops the tray. The small table where Jet works is covered with parchment, quills, ink bottles, and Salazar Slytherin's manuscript. Not sounding the least bit apologetic she says, "Sorry to be late with it."
Sidling to the table she asks, "Have you made further progress?"
"Not since you last asked." Jet pushes from the table, moving to the tea tray, mentally bracing himself in case Laurette casts the Cruciatus Curse.
Early on, despite being overruled by her husband and daughter, one day when neither were there, Laurette had tried the Imperius Curse. To her chagrin, Jet made no progress on deciphering the manuscript that day, proving to her he wasn't stalling or lying. She's not tried it since but from time to time, whenever the whim strikes and when neither Alden nor Emerson are there to stop her, she Crucios Jet. Never much or for long but that doesn't make it any less painful. Concerned that she would be worse if he said anything to either Emerson or Alden, Jet has kept silent so far.
Jet has yet to understand why this woman so desperate to have the manuscript deciphered would purposely and repeatedly inflict pain. The only reason he's been able to come up with is that in her mind she's giving him added incentive, especially since he's finally made some progress with the manuscript.
One afternoon, a few days after Alden Reed had used Veritaserum to establish that Jet truly had been trying and that he wasn't lying about the effort making him ill, Jet had been staring at the manuscript as he'd done for hours on end for enough days he's lost track. His eyes had gone out of focus and suddenly he could read a few sentences. Sort of like trying to see one of those 3-D stereogram images known as Magic Eye that a friend once showed him, Jet finally discovered the trick to accessing the key is to stare at a page in the manuscript at the same time he lets his eyes defocus and relax.
It's still a great effort and he's continued having ill effects so the going have been slow. Making the going even slower has been picking and choosing what to decipher. Parts of the manuscript are fairly dull. Not at all what the Reeds and, by extension, their secret organization Cymdeithas y Sarff expects from this manuscript. Those are exactly the parts he's been giving them.
Though hugely disappointed with the results so far Emerson has been optimistic there's more there. Alden is also optimistic, just not as much as his daughter. Laurette believes Jet is making it all up. He fully expects her to Imperius him again to prove her point.
Teacup in hand, Jet stands watching Laurette bending over the day's scant amount of work. Thinking again about how much she seems to enjoy inflicting pain he puts the cup down and picks up the teapot. Before he's even realized what he's doing, Jet has come up behind Laurette, crashing the teapot down on her head. She slumps over the table, not moving.
Nauseaous and dizzy from having spent hours again today bent over the manuscript it takes a second or two for what he's done to fully sink in. After dumbly blinking down at her still body, Jet moves as quickly as he's able to find her wand before she begins coming to or someone else walks in. Triumphantly holding Laurette's wand aloft, Jet allows himself a small smile before grabbing up his notes and the manuscript and disapparating from wherever the hell Emerson and her family have been holding him thinking that today he's made rather excellent progress.
Back to Work (Ravenscrofte Rare and Antiquarian Books, Knockturn Alley)
Author: Cassandra Catesby
Date: 01-14-14 05:34
Cassandra skimmed the last page of the Prophet and then tossed the newspaper on to the counter. Since Camille Revanche had been taken into custody by the Blackguard, there had been no more exposès of Callandra Catesby by Rita Skeeter. It seemed as if their supposition that she was the one leaking details to the scandalmongering journalist was correct. Her parents, Cassandra knew, would be pleased that Catesby skeletons were no longer being dragged out of their closets.
As to Revanche's connection to the Wonderland Gang, from the comments Nephele had made Cassandra gathered that was still under investigation. She didn't envy Nephele or Pip the job of interrogating Camille one little bit.
A black cat leapt up on to the counter. The feline purred as Cassandra ran her fingers down her spine.
"What do you think, Malantha? Was Camille really involved with that explosion at King's Cross station?" Cassandra said aloud. "I can't imagine her getting her hands dirty somehow." Maybe others in the Gang were not so finicky however.
That, though, was for Nephele and the Blackguard to uncover. She had her own business to take care of. One she'd been neglecting somewhat with the investigation into who was feeding Rita Skeeter gossip about Callandra.
She fished out her ledger. "Let's see... another volume on antivenoms for Perfidius Netherby," she said, "and a first edition of Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes. Well, they shouldn't be too difficult to track down."
She set to work.
Saving the Day
Author: Nathaniel Ross
Date: 01-14-14 13:20
People moved fast in the streets, not wanting to stay at the cold's mercy for more than the necessary time. Nate was no exception and as he crossed the busy street he decided to cancel his walks to work until the weather became pleasant again. The Floo network would have to do for now on.
The cold pierced into the parts of his skin that were exposed to the elements and he adjusted his scarf closer to his face. Reminding himself of a short cut, Nate turned abruptly to the left, changing his course and making a few walkers to protest. He ignored them and kept his accelerated pace, his mind already visualizing the warm vestibule of the Ministry of Magic.
Nate passed by a small park that seemed empty at a first sight. It was too cold for the little children to play, and even the morning joggers were not motivated for their daily race. The faint singing of the birds mixed with the noise of the roaring motors of the cars. Sometimes a furious horn would sound or a motorbike at a high speed. Nate was walking in a rush, without appreciating the park's beauty when he saw a group of four men surrounding a woman. They seemed to be picking on her, calling for her attention by rudely flirting with her. But there was no fear in the woman's eyes. Instead she replied to them in the same way.
Nate watched from a distance, observing the woman. She was quite young and must be around his age, if not younger. Her hair was the color of cinnamon, a detail that he would never forget, and she was wearing a leather jacket. He wasn't able to see her face very well, because she moved around rapidly, trying to give an answer to all her attackers. But she was being cornered. Nate was divided between using his wand discreetly or just step in and interrupt the confrontation, but before he could decide himself he saw the girl draw out her own wand.
"Don't get any closer!" she warned, circling the group, her wand ready.
But the young men laughed. They were Muggles, because they did not knew what was the wand about.
"What? Do you plan to attack us with that stick?"
"Oohh I'm so scared…" one teased.
One of them was about to step closer and Nate had no doubt the girl with the cinnamon hair was going to use her wand to attack. He couldn't let her do so. It was against the law to use magic in front of Muggles and it would be even worse to use it against them. Even if the circumstances were in the witch's favor, Nate still thought it was not worth to break a law, because he was there.
"Oi!" he called, gaining courage and showing himself. "Is something wrong here?" He tried to act superior, as if the fact he was a man on his way to work would make these bullies to respect him.
Wrong move: that made them to instantly dislike him and he was branded as a target to cull. Surprisingly Cinnamon (like Nate called her now) said:
"Stay out of this. Just continue with your way."
"You heard her," one of the bullies said.
But Nate was determined to avoid a magical accident in that cold November morning. He was ,after all, an employer of the Ministry of Magic. It was his job to make sure everything was according to the law and no Muggles should witness magic being performed or being harmed by it.
"Don't use your wand," he told to Cinnamon, looking her in the eyes, hoping she would get the message.
She looked back at him with bemusement but only for a brief moment, because then her mouth, (a very beautiful mouth, Nate couldn't help to think), twitched with irritation. His words passed unnoticed to the bullies, who had started to walk in his direction. It didn't take long for the first punch to hit Nate's stomach. As a rain of punches fell down his body, he was able to hear the familiar cracking sound of someone who had just apparated. He realized Cinnamon had used apparition to escape.
It took the bullies a while to realize that. Nate was already in a somewhat bad shape when one of them warned the others about their initial target's absence. Last thing Nate heard was their heavy steps echoing in the gravel as they ran away, trying to chase Cinnamon, having no idea that she was probably miles and miles away.
On his knees and noticing no one was around Nate finally took his wand out of his pocket, thanking Merlin it hadn't broken during the comfort. He used some minor healing spells on himself and then he continued his way towards the Ministry of Magic, limping and feeling pretty sore, but glad he had avoid the law to be broken and that he saved a damsel in distress in the process.
Enrolling New Students
Author: Blossom
Date: 01-15-14 15:44
Showing Wilma Langford a chair, Blossom asks, "Tea?"
"Yes, please. A dollop of cream."
After handing Mrs. Langford a pale yellow cup with splashes of blue flowers Blossom takes the chair next to her rather than sitting behind her desk.
"Now that the tour is complete do you have any questions?"
"It's not too late to have Becky and Dawn enroll?"
"No, not at all. It's not unusual for a school to get new students after the official start of school. There's also the fact that the pre-school portion is not as traditional as some."
"Like that Dartford Preparatory School."
"Yes, though I am sure under certain circumstances Dartford does take students after a term has begun."
"I didn't feel welcome there and it's far too much for the budget that's been forced onto me."
Mrs. Langford's husband has left her after nearly emptying their Gringotts account. She's been forced to rejoin the work force after eleven years away, which is why she's seeking somewhere for her daughters during the day.
She leans to set her teacup down on the desk before asking, "Are you not as traditional because of the daycare element?"
"Yes, precisely. Some of our children are only here once or twice a week or only part of the day. There are children who will be there two days in a row then we don't see again for a month or more. As you saw, the classes for those here regularly, as Dawn would be, are structured somewhat differently."
"And Becky won't have any problems entering Hogsmeade Primary Day now that it's mid-November?"
"There will be an adjustment, but there will be for Dawn as well. They both are having to get used to you working outside the home and to someone other than you teaching them. They have to get used to new schedules and having other children around."
Mrs. Langford sighs heavily. "I know I must seem like one of those smothering mothers and, perhaps to a point, I am. It's simply that one of the reasons I stopped working after I got married was we were wanting to start a family right away and I wanted to be there for my children. Teach them. Prepare them for Hogwarts."
Blossom lightly lays a hand on the other woman's arm. "Based on the preliminary evaluations Dawn and Becky took, you've done very well up until now. You cannot berate yourself for a change in circumstances."
"I blame that piece of shi ." Mrs. Langford clears her throat. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't say such things out loud."
Blossom offers a small smile. "I don't mind. Your feelings are understandable."
Wilma Langford takes another deep breath then gives a smile that only wavers slightly. "What do I need to do to finalize enrollment?"
Blossom stands to retrieve two files from her desk. "There are some forms for you to read over and sign. I have supply lists for both your girls. As of this moment, Hogsmeade Primary Day does not have a uniform requirement but we will starting next fall."
Mrs. Langford murmurs something about uniforms being one less thing to buy on a tight budget as she scrawls her name on the forms at each line indicated by Blossom.