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(Caleb) Same Level
Author: Celeste Quigley
Date: 02-14-16 13:59
"How many doxy eggs are we supposed to use?"
"Two," Caleb replied to Sophie.
Their first Wednesday class was Potions and just like the rest of the class they were trying to brew the Girding potion. They were supposed to work individually, but Sophie kept asking Caleb for instructions. At first he did not mind to lend her a hand, but he was starting to feel she was abusing a little bit of his good will. He couldn't focus on his own potion.
"Didn't you prepare for the class?" he asked. Professor Weasley had told them to read about the Girding potion, telling them they should be prepared to brew it next class.
"I had Quidditch practice on Monday. And then Mickey and I got caught up with some Arithmancy & Divination homework. We were studying horoscope charts. It was really funny!"
Caleb did not share Sophie's interest in that subject. He thought that learning about horoscope charts was a waste of time, and it would be better for her if she focused on more serious matters, like Potions. But he didn't tell her that.
"Mickey, huh?" that's all he asked.
"Caleb, don't start," Sophie begged him, as she opened her doxy's eggs and poured its content into her cauldron. The potion turned into a beautiful sapphire blue.
"What? I'm not starting anything. I'm just saying he's a bad influence, that's all. You spend all this time with him, at the grounds playing Quidditch, or at the common commons talking and goofing around. You should be doing school work."
"And we do homework together. Didn't you hear me saying a minute ago that we were doing horoscope charts for the Arithmancy & Divination class?"
He didn't reply. Instead, he used a small knife to cut the dead dragonfly in front of him and remove its thorax. He repeated this procedure five times and then he added the thoraxes one by one into the cauldron. There was a soft curling smoke coming out of his cauldron when he finished. That was a good sign. Sophie on the other hand, had used a spoon to mix her potion, but she had done it in a very rushed way and now her potion was of a metallic blue.
"Caleb? Can you help me? Please?" she asked.
They were friends and so he did so, even if it was against his will. As they waited for her potion to cool down, he noticed Sophie was using the earrings he had given to her. She had picked a florescent yellow color, to match the color of her fingernails. When did Sophie paint her fingernails? She noticed to where he was looking at and smiled.
"Mickey challenged me. We saw this nail polish at Hogsmeade and he asked me if I dared to paint my nails with this yellow. I told him I would if he bought me the bottle. Well it took me a while, but I finally did so. And I like it!"
He wanted to say the florescent yellow nails suited her, despite being a little bit extravagant. But he didn't do it. Instead he started complaining about Mickey again. This time it was harmless nail polish, but what if he challenged her to do something stupid, like breaking a school rule, or jumping down a cliff? He was a bad influence, he concluded one more time.
"I am not stupid Caleb. I am not doing all sort of things just because Mickey challenges me to. Will you relax, please? He's my friend, just like you. And if you have a problem with that, then maybe you and I shouldn't be friends at all."
He promised he would not mention Mickey again. He spent the rest of the class in silence, only speaking to keep helping Sophie. He could not believe she had placed Mickey on the same level as him. He had met Sophie before they went to Hogwarts, they were good friends since then. Best friends. It made him feel a bit offended that she thought Mickey would be able to know her the way he did.
(Ash) A Feeling
Author: Rowan Westwick
Date: 02-15-16 17:34
Ash clocked out, exited the office, and made his way over to the bank of lifts. It was the time of day when the Ministry of Magic's corridors were especially busy, since most workers kept the same business hours. He had to wait a little while for a lift, and the one he ended up boarding turned out to be quite full. He squeezed in, feeling like a sardine in a tin can.
The lift eventually dumped him out at the Atrium, where Ash made his way to the fireplaces. He was about halfway there when he felt the hairs on his arms raise in alarm. There was nothing happening at the time. No invading Death Eaters, no spells ricocheting in all directions, no destruction, and no death. Everything seemed perfectly routine, in fact.
Other Ministry workers stepped around where he'd stopped to reach the fireplaces. Some decided to stop by the snack cart or pop into the canteen. Others congregated around the fountain or in the seating areas, getting in some last minute gossip or business-talk before heading home for the evening.
Ash scanned the scene, looking for the reason he felt so on edge, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary at all. He decided his cause for alarm was just the memory of the attack passing over him for some unexplained reason. Ash conducted another quick scan of the Atrium and then pressed onwards to the fireplace. He queued up, and when it was his turn, he flooed to The Leaky Cauldron.
The pub and inn was crowded. Ash looked for an empty seat in case he had arrived before the person he was meeting. It so happened that she had gotten to the pub first and recognized him from the photograph she had been given at Magical Match. She waved him over to her table, which was small and square and pressed against the wall not far from one of the hearths.
Ash never would have thought himself the type to date through a dating service, but he generally didn't go out much after work and rarely found the opportunity to meet someone. He discovered himself feeling a little lonely as of late for some inexplicable reason and decided to give Magical Match a try.
"Ash Westwick? I'm Jupiter James." His blind date had plain, light brown hair that swept over the side of her forehead and fell to her shoulders. Her eyes were an even lighter shade of brown. She had pale bronze skin and a light dusting of freckles over her nose.
"Pleased to meet you," Ash said, taking her offered hand. "I'm sorry if I kept you waiting."
"Oh, no," Jupiter replied. "I only arrived a few minutes before you."
Ash pulled out the chair opposite hers, and sat while placing his briefcase on the floor. "I must confess that I've never done this before," he said.
"Date, or date via dating service?" Jupiter playfully asked.
"A little bit of both," Ash replied. Though he had dated during his first life decades ago, he hadn't had any sort of relationship since the curse broke. He certainly could have, but he'd been perfectly content being single until now.
Jupiter smiled at him. "That's hard to believe."
Ash smiled back and said, "So, tell me about yourself."
Jupiter talked about her job and her interests and a little bit about her family and where she grew up. Ash listened attentively up until they received their food. It was while Jupiter told him about a dog she once had that the hairs on Ash's arms raised up again. He immediately tuned Jupiter out and glanced over his shoulder to see what had him so distracted.
The Leaky Cauldron was crowded and busy. There were people everywhere, some in groups, some alone. Nobody seemed to be paying him any mind, but then Ash couldn't exactly see everybody in the room.
"Ash?"
He turned at the sound of his name and found Jupiter looking at him with a questioning look on her face. "Are you all right? I don't think you heard anything I said after the dog show."
He shook his head and apologized. "Something distracted me. I think I'm just tired after a long day at work."
"Do you want to leave early? I won't be offended if you do."
Ash shook his head again and said, "No, not at all. Fill me in on what I missed."
At that, Jupiter smiled again and talked passionately about the copper spaniel she once had who'd done the dog show circuit for many consecutive years. Ash still had the feeling something wasn't right, but he forced himself to give his date his undivided attention and therefore never noticed the wizard on the upstairs landing, gazing down at him.
A Shock At The Museum
Author: Zabrynna
Date: 02-15-16 19:13
Zabrynna's morning was spent in classes at St. Emrys. After lunch at Hogwarts with Declan, she went to the museum to get in some work on a new project. Two lower level storerooms that had been blocked off for years were recently rediscovered. Not only are the two rooms stacked full of artifacts, but there are boxes of information on those artifacts. Unfortunately, nothing is organized. Its as if someone took any information on these artifacts and threw them haphazardly into the boxes without thought or care. Zabrynna's been put in charge of going through those boxes to make sense of them then once she it all in some sort of order, matching everything to the artifacts to determine whether anything is missing even an index card with basic information on it.
After working steadily in her small office for over an hour, Zabrynna takes a break to get either tea or coffee. She's not sure which she wants, thinking she'll decide when she gets to the break room. As she's walking down the hall she hears a voice that sounds familiar but can't place it.
She follows the sound by turning down a short, dead end hallway. The hallway terminates at the office of Gemma Layton, the person in charge of the museum's social events, including field trips for schools ranging from Hogsmeade Primary Day to Hogwarts to St. Emrys, and even non-UK schools such as Beauxbatons. With Gemma is the person whose voice caught Zabrynna's attention.
Mercy Carlyle has been in some of the same classes as Zabrynna. Her family is immensely wealthy and though she's around the same age as Zabrynna, Mercy did not attend Hogwarts. Her mother insisted Mercy go to the same small school in Switzerland that she'd attended. The school is so exclusive few outside of a certain level of wealth have ever even heard of the place.
Amazingly, Mercy is one of the most unpretentious, sweet people Zabrynna has ever met.
Mercy is the first to see Zabrynna. She lifts a hand in greeting. "Do your ears burn? I was just mentioning you to Ms. Layton."
"Scalding hot," Zabrynna jokes.
"Gemma, please," Gemma says to Mercy in the sort of pleasing voice that should be a WWN presenter before turning a smile on Zabrynna. "I had just asked Miss Carlyle, Mercy, if she knew we did events because she had attended some or if she heard about us from someone else."
Gemma indicates they should walk so Zabrynna goes along with Mercy and the older witch as Mercy fills in, "And I was telling Gemma that while I had been to some of the galas here, I hadn't known events such as a private wedding reception could be held here until talking with you one day."
Zabrynna looks at Mercy in surprise. "You're getting married?"
"No, not me. Dad is getting remarried and his fiancée was thinking a reception somewhere unique would be lovely. I told her about what you'd said and offered to find out more and if the date they have in mind is available for this venue."
"I was just going to walk Mercy around to show her the different rooms and spaces available for what they have in mind and give ideas on where the tables for the refreshments might be set up," Gemma says.
"Are you busy, Zabrynna? If not, come with us."
"I am on a coffee break but I don't want to interfere with whatever Gemma has in mind."
"Nonsense, come with," Gemma says in a way that lets Zabrynna know she's being genuine and not hinting that Zabrynna should go off on her coffee break then get back to work.
"All right then, but only for a bit as I should get back to the project I'm knee deep in."
A short time later, Gemma is explaining to Mercy about how some of the museum's displays would be off limits for reception guests to freely meander through but if desired, tours could be given throughout the evening to anyone interested. The room they are in is one of the museum's smaller ones, housing cases of priceless jewels and gemstones. Mercy nods, tilting her head toward a necklace worth tens of millions of galleons. "Margretta would love getting a private tour."
Zabrynna goes cold at the name. As far as she knows Margretta is not all that common a name in the UK, much less in the British Wizarding community.
"Margretta is Ms. Mathau's name?" Gemma asks.
Hearing the surname Zabrynna thinks her heard skips a beat then stops altogether.
"Yes, sorry. Margretta Mathau is my father's fiancée."
Gemma is nodding. "I believe I know her from a few of the galas and charity events."
Standing frozen, Zabrynna weakly smiles at them both. "I should get back to work. I'll see you in class tomorrow, Mercy."
She bids Gemma goodbye as well then makes her way back to the break room, pouring herself a cup of coffee, then returning to her office where she sits and stares at nothing in particular, in shock to learn her mother is not only getting remarried but to someone with Mt. Everest sized mountains of galleons in some bank vault somewhere.
Trying To Be A Patient Friend
Author: Sage Porter
Date: 02-16-16 19:37
"We have plenty of time to go somewhere else. We've not been to that great Greek place in awhile."
Jared's smile is tight. "The canteen's fine."
Sage catches himself before he heaves a heavy sigh. He forces himself to say in a patient, even tone, "It's good to get out sometimes."
"Maybe tomorrow."
Maybe tomorrow. Jared's answer to pretty much any suggestion or question that would get him out of the Ministry or out of his flat.
Sage changes tack. "Come to my place tonight for dinner. It would just be you, me, and Ezra."
They move forward in the canteen line, Jared quiet a few seconds as he studies, or pretends to study, some of the fruit offerings. Taking an orange he finally replies, "My mum was wanting me over tonight."
"Tomorrow night then."
"Uh, let me think about it."
Jared is Sage's best friend and he's been having a rough go of it since even before Alanna told Jared she wanted a divorce. As difficult as being around Jared has been, Sage is not going to give up on him.
He takes a deep breath, reminding himself not to show just how bloody irritated he is with the other man. There are times Sage wants to take Jared by the shoulders and give him a good shake, reminding him that Alanna has moved on and it's past time for Jared to take steps to do so as well. Long practice with dealing with Da has helped Sage refrain from snapping at Jared or showing extreme frustration. A little frustration leaks out, sure, but Jared has no idea how exasperated Sage and others are with him.
He also reminds himself that could be Jared simply needs more time to mope, to be morose, and depressed. While Sage thinks that the amount of time that has gone by is enough for Jared to snap out of his deeply low funk, he admits he could be wrong. When Georgia and he broke up, Sage wasn't all sunshine and smiles about it. He wasn't as bad off as Jared but for a time he wasn't his usual self either. Sage wasn't glum and moody for as long as Jared has been, or at least he doesn't think he was, and he definitely was much happier once Georgia and he became a couple again.
Their lunch, what of it there is for Jared as he hardly took anything as they went through the line, is interrupted three different times by three different women, all clearly with an interest in his friend. After the third one has gone Jared looks at Sage. "Maybe tomorrow really will be a good time to go out somewhere for lunch."
Progress at last. It may only be because Jared is tired of their daily lunch routine here at the canteen being interrupted several times each meal by the same handful of women hoping the single Jared will ask one of them out but it is still progress nevertheless. Sage will take it.
"Greek tomorrow then or something else sound good?"
"Yeah, that's fine."
They make it through the rest of the lunch break without another interruption. When they part ways it's with plans to meet at one of the outgoing Floos tomorrow rather than at the canteen. Only after he's back at his desk does Sage wonder if Jared really is going to his parents' tonight or if that was just an excuse to get out of a dinner with a third person, even if that person is Sage's stepbrother Ezra and not one of the girls.
Smoking Rose Bush
Author: Marzipan
Date: 02-17-16 18:44
The Ravenclaw and Slytherin fourth year students stood around the main work table in Greenhouse Two and practiced pruning smoking rose bushes. Smoking rose bushes looked like mundane rose bushes except they tended to emit tendrils of smoke. Usually the plant was merely warm to the touch, but occasionally it burned. Although uncommon, the smoking rose bush had the ability to spontaneously combust.
Professor Ravenscroft didn't anticipate any problems, but as a precaution, she had her students wearing dragon-hide gloves and aprons while they worked on their plants. Each plant was a different variety of smoking rose. Lilith Balfour carefully removed branches from a pale pink Belle Portugaise. Andrina Fricks worked on bright red miniature Scarlet Moss. Malden McGonagall, meanwhile, used a little less care on his yellow Winter Sunset. If not for his gloves, he probably would have pricked himself on a thorn.
Eventually, time began running out and Professor Ravenscroft had no choice but to have the fourth years wrap things up. She asked everyone to put away their tools and any aprons or gloves they borrowed. The roses were left on the table, all of them emitting curling tendrils of smoke that drifted up to the glass ceiling of the greenhouse.
"Next week, we'll discuss blue cohosh and snow pea. Don't forget that you'll have a quiz on Thursday!"
Someone groaned aloud. Professor Ravenscroft felt a smile tug the corners of her lips, but she didn't say anything other than to tell her students goodbye. They put on their cloaks and stepped out into the January chill.
Before the last student even left the greenhouse, Marzi turned her attention to the rose bushes. She reached for the first big pot, a white Madame Hardy, but drew back quickly when it went up in flames. She felt the heat on her face and a burning pain on her hands.
"Professor! Are you all right?" Caleb Quigley asked.
The flames had gone out and all that remained were smoldering remains on the table, which looked a little charred from the combustion.
Marzi looked down at her hands and mentally scolded herself for not donning any gloves. She had managed to avoid more widespread burns but hadn't drawn her hands back in time. They were red and starting to blister.
"Well!" she exclaimed, wincing. "You just witnessed something rare! I suppose it's lucky Mr. Avery wasn't working on his rose anymore, or there might have been a serious accident." She grimaced, aware of her own grave injury, and added, "I should go see Madam Pomfrey."
"I'll go with you," Caleb offered.
Marzi forced a smile and said, "That's nice of you. Take five points for Ravenclaw."
Caleb shook his head and said, "It's no trouble, really."
"Let's walk through the castle," Marzi said, though perhaps a walk in the cold would make her hands hurt less.
Caleb escorted her all the way to the Hospital Wing, where she assured him she was in good hands with Madam Pomfrey. His good deed done, he left to get lunch.
Madam Pomfrey, meanwhile, tsked tsked at the sight of Marzi's hands. "You should have worn gloves!" she exclaimed.
Marzi hung her head, chastised. "I know." A lesson learned, the hard way!
Mission
Author: Lee Sickleby
Date: 02-18-16 19:11
A light drizzle descended from the low, grey clouds and made the cold feel all the more miserable. Lee, hunched behind a massive concrete block, waited for Newell to give the all clear from his own vantage point across a wide, smooth driveway. Like Lee, Newell was dressed in unobtrusive, comfortable clothing that blended in with the weather and the scenery. It suited the chill but didn't manage to protect from the wetness.
Newell didn't seem as bothered by the cold, however, and focused on a security officer walking in their direction. After a while, he looked at his partner and simultaneously gave a hand signal Lee knew all too well. Lee listened for the approaching footsteps, then poked his head and arm up from behind the concrete block. "Stupefy!" he quietly said, and he watched as the armed man went down.
Newell quickly stepped out of the safety of his own block to drag the fallen man out of plain sight, when a rain of bullets struck the pavement, pinging as they ricocheted this way and that. One bounced off the concrete and struck Newell in the neck. He dropped the security officer and staggered back behind the concrete block, falling to the ground while keeping a hand pressed to the blood spurting from his wound. Lee, meanwhile, stayed down and watched worriedly as Newell frantically tried to staunch the bleeding.
When Rowle told Lee he would have to go to Sayanogorsk, Russia and infiltrate a highly-secured Muggle hydroelectric plant to steal information, he couldn't help but question why. Why was a dam in the middle of Russia of any interest to wizards, and British wizards at that? It turned out there was a secret office belonging to the Russia Ministry of Magic inside the dam.
Lee and Newell's assignment was to infiltrate the dam, disarm and/or obliviate anyone they encountered, and gather intel on a Lada Priora belonging to the Russian Ministry. What the Russian wizards wanted or planned on doing with a popular Muggle sedan was anyone's guess.
Luckily for Newell, the bullet only grazed his neck, but it was enough of a graze to bleed quite heavily. He waved at Lee to indicate he would be fine and clutched at his wand with a bloodied hand. Lee understood that there was no time to worry over Newell and prepared to take on the owner of the heavy boots that ran across the pavement in his direction.
An idea came quickly, and Lee cast an invisible tripwire between the two concrete blocks. The runner hit the invisible barrier and went flying, landing with a thud on the ground. His assault rifle clattered on the pavement. Newell banished it with a flick of his wand, while Lee took care of the security guard. Both unconscious bodies were stashed behind the block with Newell.
With that squared away, Lee took a risk and gaze over the top of his block. There was a squat tower a short distance away, which served as lookout and also an entrance into the belly of the dam. It was also the likely source of the gunshots. The tower appeared empty now. Lee also didn't see any other guards elsewhere on the dam, but someone had to have heard the gunshots.
He and Newell remained put for a long time and waited for someone else to come running, but strangely, when no one ever did, Lee decided to press forward on his own. Newell would have come along, but he'd lost enough blood to not feel his strongest.
An image of Alaia appeared before Lee's eyes before he left the safety of the concrete block. He turned up the collar of his coat, kept his wand firmly in his grasp, and crept toward the first tower.
Dinner With Friends
Author: Errol
Date: 02-19-16 19:55
Megara takes one of the stuffed mushroom starters then moves the plate so that William Henshaw has an easier reach to serve himself. Meanwhile, Abigail Tibbs scoops a little of the goat cheese dip onto her small plate as she asks Errol, "What do you think of Professor Nordling?"
"Going to be a hell of a term," Errol replies with a roll of his eyes.
"Who's this Nordling?" William asks.
Megara is the one who answers. "I've never had him but have heard scads about him. A real slave driver."
Abigail roots in her bookbag to pull out the syllabus for the Nordling course both Errol and she are taking. "Here is his outline."
William flips through the several pages, "This is an outline?"
Errol scowls and nods. "Unfortunately."
Abigail turns to look directly at Errol. "Say, what's with you and that bloke you got paired with for the first project?"
Errol's scowl deepens. "Someone I used to be friends with when I went to Sequoia Creek Academy back in California."
Megara sits up straighter at this. As Abigail and Errol only had their first class meeting of this course this afternoon she's not had a chance to catch up on the latest with him. "Which one?"
"Wally Milner. You've met him a few times now, Megara."
She grins at the memory of the first meeting and tells William and Abigail, "Dear Wally knows me as Elsinore Hottentot of the Westbrook Institute."
"Elsinore Hottentot?" Abigail laughs then snaps her fingers. "Wait! Wasn't that a Halloween fancy dress for you once at Hogwarts?"
"Good memory! It was meeting Wally and someone else that Elsinore came about. I couldn't resist using her for Halloween that year."
William scratches one temple. "I sort of remember that. You were all glammed up and talked funny."
Megara nods, her grin wide. "That's Elsinore."
"So you are't friends with this Wally person?" Abigail wants to know.
"I was once. He was one of my best friends but Wally's one of the reasons I ended up at Hogwarts instead of finishing school at Sequoia Creek."
Megara grins again and reaches across the table to pat Errol on the arm. "I'll have to remember to thank him, or any of them, next I see them. I wouldn't have a specially challenged little brother if not for them."
Errol makes a face at her as William and Abigail chuckle. William then picks up his glass and offers a toast to Wally and "the others" for running Errol out of California to Hogwarts. Errol's rolling his eyes again, grumbling about how there were criminal charges so how was that a good thing but then taking the toast and Megara's comment in the spirit intended, is soon smiling and laughing again, Wally and the others quickly forgotten for the moment.