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(Aleydis) In the Library
Author: Griet
Date: 03-29-17 18:17
Aleydis sat in the library at St. Emrys and worked on her final paper for Clinical Funeral Service Rotation II. She had spent this term shadowing staff and sometimes actually participating in the process of arranging and conducting funeral services at a funeral home associated with the university.
It wasn't easy, dealing with death, but working with the saddened families was even more difficult. Aleydis found it rewarding, though, because her job was to help ease the burden of saying goodbye to a loved one. The importance of the role staff played in the process of saying goodbye was the thesis of her final paper.
Aleydis was busy writing while consulting some notes she had made during the course of her clinical rotation, when she had the sudden urge to look around her. Her eyes zeroed in on her sister Cornelia striding purposefully around the library. At first, Aleydis thought that Cornelia might be looking for her, Beatrix, or one of their Mickle cousins, but then she realized that Cornelia was on a job.
Aleydis watched her sister scoping out study carrels, tables, and long ranges of bookshelves. Cornelia did not seem to find what she was looking for and started to head out of the library, when she noticed Aleydis and walked over to her. She pulled out a chair from the table and sat.
"Hey," she said, a bit louder than one should in a quiet library.
"Hi, what are you doing here?" Aleydis whispered.
"Looking for a perp, you?" Cornelia replied, taking her sister's cue and lowering her voice slightly.
"Working on a paper," Aleydis answered. She leaned forward and said, "Griet told me you both saw Clover and Oberon at dinner recently."
Cornelia picked at some lint on her jumper. "That's right," she answered nonchalantly.
"She said you didn't seem bothered," Aleydis went on. Her eyes were briefly drawn to the thin pink line on Cornelia's neck.
"Griet certainly was," Cornelia replied, seemingly avoiding the statement. "To have both of her ex-boyfriends in the same room as her and with them having members of the Blakely family as significant others…" She shook her head and let the rest of her thought go unsaid.
Aleydis had already heard from Griet about how awkward that evening had been, even if there had been no intermingling between the two groups. She may have managed to attend Clover's wedding to Oberon, but everything had gone south all over again after Tucker had stepped out with Kelly. Griet would rather not have anything to do with the Blakelys anymore.
Aleydis also knew that Cornelia would never get over Clover trying to kill her, no matter how tough she acted. She decided to let the topic go and asked, "Are you free for lunch, or do you need to continue looking for your perp?"
Cornelia shrugged. "He's not here, so I'll have to explore other places he might be. Since I don't have a definitive idea right now, I can eat. Where do you want to go?"
They went to Demeter's Diner a few minutes later.
Scintillating
Author: Harry Potter
Date: 03-29-17 19:10
The elderly witch glares at Harry when he cannot contain a massive yawn. "Am I boring you?"
"No, ma'am. Sorry. Fairly new baby who decided she wanted to be a night owl who wanted company and a wife and two sons sick with a stomach bug."
Her expression instantly changes. "You poor dear."
Harry manages to stifle another yawn before prompting, "You were saying you believe your neighbor is stealing from your garden..."
"Yes, she is and I don't know how. As soon as things seemed off in the garden I spelled it to keep out intruders."
"She may have anticipated you'd do that if you realized vegetables"
"and herbs."
"And herbs were missing and set a spell of her own before you put your own over the garden."
"She probably did! That sneak! She always was envious that I'm a better gardener than she is!"
"I'll file your complaint and what most likely will happen first is an officer will pay her a visit."
"How long?"
"I can't say for certain but probably within the next 48 hours."
"I hope you're not just saying that. If that thief isn't stopped I'll handle her myself."
"An officer will speak to her," Harry assures.
She gives Harry a somewhat grudging thanks, leaving the same way she came in, mumbling to herself about how low a person must have sunk to steal her neighbor's late winter vegetables. As no one's in the queue behind her to lodge a complain or file a grievance, Harry gets up to grab a coffee refill. He doesn't notice Ron until he turns back to his desk.
"That was scintillating."
"Getting coffee?"
"That witch's complaint."
"That. Yeah. Sometimes, I can hardly contain myself on this job."
"When are you on lunch?"
"About a half hour."
"Want to go out instead of the canteen or a food cart?"
"Sure, where?"
"Anything."
"I don't have a preference either."
"Well, be thinking about it and meet me in the Atrium in a half hour. If you're still awake that is."
"Lily decided to stay awake most of the night and decided someone had to be with her that entire time. Ginny and the boys are still under the weather so I had the pleasure."
"How about we do sweets for lunch? Load you up with sugar to help you stay awake."
Harry laughs. "Might just have to do that though we couldn't tell our wives we gorged cakes, pies, pastries, or whatever else and had no real lunch."
"I'm a grown man. I can eat what I want, when I want."
"Hermione know that?"
"Yeah, yeah," Ron says making a face then grins. "See you in about a half hour."
Ron leaves Harry to speak with a forty-ish man who's just entered asking, "Is this where I talk to someone about suspected dark arts activity?"
Harry, complaint form and quill at the ready, nods a goodbye to Ron while asking the wizard to take a seat.
(Malden) Terrible Turnip
Author: Minerva McGonagall
Date: 03-31-17 13:38
Malden sat at the main work table in one of the greenhouses and half-listened to Professor Ravenscroft discuss the terrible turnip. His mind was on other things, mainly the meeting of like minds he held in the Room of Requirement last Friday evening.
Malden had been very nervous to conduct the meeting on his own. For one thing, he didn't consider himself half the leader his grandfather was. For another, he didn't think he could facilitate a discussion on wizarding world politics, among other matters. He also didn't want to disappoint his grandfather, who would no doubt learn of his failure one way or another.
In the end, the meeting had gone all right. Malden had followed his grandfather's example as best he could. Most of those who'd attended the meeting in Hogsmeade had come to the Room of Requirement to learn more. Some of the others might have been discouraged to see Malden at the helm rather than the mysterious Sam, but he'd held his own well enough to keep most everybody interested, or at least he thought so.
At the end of the meeting, Malden had even opened up the discussion to suggestions on things they should talk about next time they met. He'd gotten a lot of ideas, as well as other comments, such as the manner in which they should contact one another and when they should next meet. Overall, it had been a good meeting.
Malden had written a letter to his grandfather the next day, describing the meeting itself without giving specifics that might give cause for alarm if the letter fell into the wrong hands. His grandfather had not yet written him back, which made Malden feel extremely nervous.
"Malden?"
He suddenly realized that everybody was looking at him. Asher was smirking.
"I asked you to explain how you can tell the difference between a terrible turnip seed and an ordinary turnip seed."
Malden had no idea. "I've no idea," he said, after trying to come up with an answer fast.
Professor Ravenscroft shook her head and said, "Please pay attention, Malden."
Malden nodded as if he would, but then his mind drifted back to other things.
Etta Stops By
Author: Jared
Date: 03-31-17 19:34
Etta sits on Jared's desk, going through a stack of notecards.
"Don't you have an exam to write? Study group? Something that doesn't involve taking up half my desk?"
"Half? Half? Closer to a quarter. A third at most."
"Whatever. Why are you here?" Jared reads over a memo that had come in a few seconds ago, nearly hitting Etta in the head.
"I'm starting to get the impression my brother doesn't want me around." Etta pretends to pout.
Jared crumples the memo then tosses it into the waste bin. Rolling his eyes at her he replies with exasperation. "You know that's not true."
"I don't know that. Since you returned I've seen less of you than when you were in Germany."
"That's not true."
Etta's eyebrows arch. "You sure of that?"
Jared frowns. He thinks about it a few seconds. Sighing, he shrugs. "I guess you're right." When Etta flashes a knowing smirk he asks, "But, really, why are you here right now?"
"Needed to pick up an application for a summer internship. It's for St. Mungo's but for some reason the applications are here. Thought I might as well come and say hello as long as I were here."
Jared cocks his head to one side, eyes narrowing. "And as long as you're here to say hello you'd try to figure out if she's back at work."
"I admit I'm curious."
"I have no idea if she is or not. If she is, I've not seen her nor have I heard any gossip."
Etta's the one with narrowed eyes now. "You've still not spoken with her or even a letter."
Confused he asks, "Why would I?"
"Because with the trial you know more."
"So?"
"Sooooo, by writing or speaking with her you could get an even fuller picture and then maybe you could start losing the bitterness."
"I was her husband, someone she should have trusted and come to with whatever the hell was going on. Instead, she shut me out without even a hint of explanation. For months I tried to get her to talk to me, to figure out what was wrong. All I got for my efforts were the cold shoulder and a divorce. I am not about to go crawling to her now to make nice, get all the details, show empathy."
"What if she were to come to you? Want to explain? To apologize?"
"The easy answer is that I'd walk away without acknowledging her. The truthful answer is I actually have no idea."
"Mum, Dad, and I sent the Beck family a sympathy card when Mrs. Beck died."
"I sent one to Tobias."
Jared stands so abruptly Etta is startled to the point of nearly falling off the desk. "I didn't have breakfast so should get something for lunch. So you don't think I'm trying to ditch you if you want to come with, that would be great. If you need to get that application then get going, we can have dinner this week or lunch another day as your exams allow."
Knowing she won't get much more, if anything, out of him about the Becks, Alanna in particular, Etta hops off the desk saying, "I have time for lunch and getting the application before an exam later, and because you are dying to know about my love life I'll tell you all about the last three blokes I went out with, one of them being Deak."
"You had a date date with Deak?"
"I'm not sure. We're friends and have done a few things together of late but this felt more like an actual date."
On the way to the nearest bank of lifts Etta fills Jared in, wanting his opinion on whether Deak and she are getting back into more than just friends territory.
(Ash) Waiting Game
Author: Rowan Westwick
Date: 04-01-17 14:09
After eating lunch in the canteen, Ash made his way back to the Wizarding Audit Office to carry out the second half of his workday. As he strolled over to the bank of lifts and waited for one to admit him, he scanned his surroundings. The Atrium was always busy. Ministry workers went about their business or socialized with colleagues as they went from Point A to Point B. Ministry visitors either waited to be met by staff or studied the directory. Some guests moved around purposefully, having visited before, while others seemed completely lost.
Ash knew there was a strong chance that someone or maybe more than someone among the crowd was watching him. Despite knowing of the possibility, Ash didn't notice anybody paying him any mind.
Over a week ago, in a room at The Leaky Cauldron, Ash had listened to the auror Connor MacRoth describe an investigation into a man suspected to be working with dark wizards, perhaps even Death Eaters. Ash had been shocked to learn that the wizard under investigation appeared to be working with Janus and Jupiter Jones. Those three, along with the Jones parents, Bowman and Otilie, seemed to be reporting to a so-far unidentified wizard known only as "the man in the red hat".
Although the motive was uncertain, it was believed that the unknown wizard recruited new Death Eaters, although no one in the Jones family appeared to be fully-inducted. Connor wagered that recruiting the son of two defected Death Eaters might earn the foursome their Dark Marks.
"So here's where I need your help," Connor had said, and then he'd asked Ash to go undercover for the Ministry of Magic.
Ash's initial reaction had been a resounding no, but when he realized that his help just might lead the Ministry of Magic straight to Adriana Fairchild's lair, he decided it was his duty to accept. Besides, he knew that his parents would have wanted to help if it had been them in his shoes. Ash knew his father still felt guilty for ever aligning himself with the Death Eaters at all.
So now all Ash and the Ministry could do was wait to see what Jupiter's next move was.
A lift arrived and dinged when the grate opened. Ash got in and allowed it to sweep him away to Level 1.
Meeting The Uncle
Author: Eoghan
Date: 04-01-17 20:22
It's late and Eoghan is hungry. The day has been such he can't even remember now if he ever had lunch beyond a handful of cheese biscuits. Today had been one of those busy, crazy, chaotic days, resulting in a mound of parchment work to write up and file.
There'd been two cases of erratic, violent behavior as a result of that designer drug combination that involves both temptation and sparkle. Both are now in a locked St. Mungo's ward with one of them possibly permanently brain damaged from the drug.
The cursing of a Muggle object - a device known as a laptop computer - required the intervention of Eoghan, someone from the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department and an Obliviator.
A raid with a number of other Aurors and Hit Wizards on a suspected dark arts supply shoppe.
Eoghan's first exposure to a mystery that is plaguing the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, that of the bodies that seem melted into each other.
It has been one of those days that no sooner did he return to the Ministry to start working on his part of the reports for each case so far that day then he'd be sent out again.
Once Eoghan's shift was supposed to be over he'd stayed at his desk trying to make a dent in the parchment work while everything was still somewhat fresh in his mind. He gotten most of it done, stopping when he hunger dictated. He thought about eating in the Ministry canteen but ended up walked several blocks to a Wizarding restaurant a colleague had mentioned.
The place looks like a tiny hole in the wall but the inside is nice sized. It's Honduran cuisine though Eoghan isn't exactly clear on what's different from say Spanish or Mexican or Cuban. He'll find out soon enough.
He barely has a chance to look at the menu when a shadow falls across the table. Expecting the server he's surprised to see Rodolphus Lestrange standing there with another man beside him.
"Sorry if we're interrupting. I want you to meet my brother, Rabastan. Rabastan, this is Eoghan."
Eoghan would have known who the man with Rodolphus is without an introduction. Few over a certain age in Wizarding Britain would not know who either of these men are. Few would want to be introduced but he understands why Rodolphus has done so.
Have no idea what to say to this infamous wizard he keeps it simple. "Hello."
"So, you're my nephew."
"Apparently."
"You're an Auror."
"Yes, I am now but not initially."
"Oh?" From Rabastan's expression Eoghan takes it his brother hasn't filled him in on what Eoghan had been doing.
It's safer to give the explanation, "I was law enforcement but did a great deal of undercover work."
"That sounds exciting."
"It could be but it also could be tedious and after awhile all the lying to friends and family about work is wearing."
Rodolphus looks as though he'd love to sit down for a long natter but instead says, "We were just finishing up. We'll leave you to your own meal."
Rabastan smiles though Eoghan can't tell if it's sincere or not. "Nice to meet you, Eoghan."
"Nice to meet you too." Or is it? Eoghan can't think why he said that other than the it being an automatic, ingrained response.
"Goodnight. Enjoy your dinner."
Eoghan nods at Rodolphus. "Thank you, and good night as well."
After the two older wizards have left, and after Eoghan has looked over the menu and placed his order, he wonders not for the first time if he should tell someone at work - his immediate boss, the head of the department, or even the Minister of Magic, just someone - about who his birth parents are. Now that he's not doing black ops type work if he were to be seen, be it in a public place such as this or somewhere more discreet, speaking in what appears to be a cordial manner to the likes of Rodolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix Lestrange, or Rabastan Lestrange, he could be pegged as one of the insiders spying for that Fairchild woman or someone else with equally dark intentions.
In the short time it takes for his food to arrive Eoghan has made the decision to speak to someone as soon as he gets to the Ministry in the morning.
Kaycee - I Know What You Did
Author: Lee Sickleby
Date: 04-02-17 08:42
Kaycee entered the Great Hall and made her way over to the Hufflepuff table, where she sat and immediately helped herself to some pumpkin juice. She then piled a few strawberry pancakes onto her plate and added fresh strawberry slices and whipped cream on top. Lastly, she speared a few breakfast sausages and cut them into bite-sized pieces.
Wednesday was her least busy day of the week. She only had two classes, both doubles: Charms in the morning and Potions in the afternoon. Professors Flitwick and Weasley were some of the nicest on the Hogwarts staff, too. Kaycee was fully expecting it to be a decent day.
She was halfway through her breakfast when her mood shifted from contented to concerned. Kaycee had been engrossed in her meal and thinking about the leaping toadstool she was showing for the Best in Show: Magical Plants SAT event. She never noticed Gerry and Will stroll through the double doors.
Will went straight over to the Gryffindor table, but Gerry took the long way around. He stopped just behind Kaycee and said in a low tone, "I know what you did."
Kaycee almost choked on the piece of sausage in her mouth. She heard Gerry snicker and then peel away from the Hufflepuff table.
Kaycee turned to watch him and saw Will smirking at her. Just what did they think she had done? The only thing she knew of for sure was that she had given them both U-No-Poo. Surely they hadn't figured out she had done it, though? She'd been in complete disguise and no one, not even her roommates, had seen her costume.
Kaycee turned back around and proceeded to finish her breakfast. They had to be bluffing. That, or they were messing with her for no reason other than just because.
She decided she didn't want to be in their presence any longer than she had to be. Kaycee stuffed the remainder of her breakfast down her throat, washed it all down with a long swig of pumpkin juice, and then hurried out of the Great Hall to class.