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Easter at the Burrow
Author: Hermione Granger
Date: 03-19-10 14:10
The Burrow was already a full house when Hermione and Ron arrived for the Weasley family's Easter celebration. The children, feeling very much caged in, kept trying to steal glances out the window, where some of the adults were hiding Easter eggs. Harry waved to the newcomers from an armchair in the living room.
"Hi, Harry," Hermione greeted, bending to give him a quick hug.
"Wondered when you two would get here," Harry said. "Nice dress."
"Thanks." Hermione looked down at the dress she'd gotten herself for the occasion. It was white with blue embroidery along the bottom hem. She wore white ballet flats and a thin silver headband. A blue cardigan completed the ensemble.
"I was shocked when she decided to go shopping for clothes. Usually it's books," Ron commented, grinning.
Hermione stuck her tongue out at Ron and then turned to greet Molly and Blossom. Each was holding one of the twins, both of whom seemed very content to be held by grandmother and mother, respectively.
"Ginny's outside with Fred and George," Molly said. "Majandra is helping in the kitchen, and there's Charlie," she went on, smiling at him as he came through the door. Hendrika and the boys followed.
"Hold him, dear," Molly said, handing Fabian to Hermione before planting a kiss on Charlie's cheek.
Fabian seemed unsure in Hermione's arms and started to whimper almost immediately.
"Don't cry," Hermione murmured.
Blossom stepped closer to her son and smiled at him. "He just needs a moment to get used to you, is all," she said to reassure Hermione. Although Hermione had held him more than once since his birth, she didn't see him every single day and knew he was much closer to his mother and grandmother, as he should be.
Fabian's wide eyes flickered from his mum to his brother and finally to Hermione, and just as he let out a loud wail, Fred came in through the back door.
"Oy, Hermione! What are you doing to my son?"
Hermione held him out to Fred. "He wants someone he knows better than me," she said.
Fred took Fabian and grinned. "Just means you'll have to babysit him every now and again so that he gets to know you better. Everyone here yet?" he asked his mother.
"Bill and Percy aren't––oh, there's Bill," Molly amended.
Arthur came in from outside too. "All the kids here?"
"Yes, yes, I think so. Shall we start the hunt?" Molly asked, looking at her grandchildren.
The oldest ones jumped up and down and shouted, "Yes!"
"Off with you then," Molly said.
Hermione moved out of the way as the oldest children ran for the back door, clutching their Easter baskets. Everyone else went outside to watch and help the younger kids fill their baskets.
Easter with Family
Author: Ethan Somerset
Date: 03-19-10 15:07
In the little more than a week since Ethan had celebrated his birthday with his family and Rosamond in Bristol, he hadn't done any more research on Meadow O'Guinn. Even armed with information from his brother Callum, Ethan simply hadn't had the time to do any serious investigation on the woman. It had been the last week of Winter Term at Hogwarts, and all of Ethan's time had been devoted to offering extended office hours, testing his students in class both via parchment and practical demonstration, and then marking all of the written tests. Even yesterday, after many of the students had gone home via the Hogwarts Express, Ethan had found himself in his office marking the last of the tests and preparing lesson plans for when Spring Term began after next week.
Now he found himself back at the Towneley home in Bristol in celebration of Easter. The whole family was there, but Ethan had come without Rosamond, since she'd been invited to her biological family's home for brunch.
The Towneleys sat at a patio table on the back porch and watched as Alton's four children hunted for Easter eggs. The three boys, Joshua, Liam and Oliver were very competitive and scrambled over each other to get to each egg first. There was enough to go around and before long, all three baskets were quite full. The youngest and only girl, Emily, was much slower and as a result, didn't find as many eggs. She looked at her brothers' full baskets and started to frown.
Ethan got up and knelt by her, looking into her basket. "Let's see what else we can find, shall we?"
She nodded her head, but tears had already begun to collect in her eyes. Ethan guided her around the yard, and when no one was looking, even little Emily through her tears, he got out his wand and pointed it at the basket. All of a sudden, it was filled to the brim.
Emily continued to pout when it was obvious there were no more eggs in the yard. Her brothers had hogged them all!
"Well look, Em. Your basket is quite full!" Ethan said, pointing to the pastel plastic eggs that contained all sorts of treasures and the brighter foil eggs that covered chocolate of varying kinds.
The look of surprise on Emily's face was classic. Instantly, her tears dried and her face lit up in an enormous smile. She ran up to the porch and showed her parents.
Ethan, grinning, came up behind her and reclaimed his seat at the table.
"How did you find all those?" Callum asked.
Ethan shrugged. "Maybe it was magic."
"Hey, where did all those eggs come from?" Joshua asked, disappointed that he hadn't found them first.
"They're your sister's," Alton said, reading his eldest son's mind.
Not satisfied with his own lot, even though it rivaled his sister's, Joshua went off to sulk.
Callum turned back to Ethan. "So, what did you find out about Meadow?"
Ethan shook his head. "Nothing yet." He filled his brother in on how his week had gone and he planned on resuming his investigation into Meadow as soon as he could. Perhaps she meant no harm in wanting the book Blackest Magick, but Ethan couldn't be sure.
Meeting the Abbotts
Author: Jolyon
Date: 03-19-10 18:23
The house in Bury St. Edmunds at the address written on the slip of paper in Jolyon's hand was stately and stood on a large expanse of well-kept land. In one way, the area reminded Jolyon of the neighborhood where his parents lived just outside of Glasgow. It was also mostly rural, with each home sitting on a sizeable piece of property. it differed in that the Kent home was considerably smaller, and that there were other houses nearby. Here, only this house stood, with the town not all that far away.
The front door to the house opened and Charles Abbott stepped out onto the front porch, holding a cup and saucer in his hands.
"Won't you come inside, Jolyon?" he called out.
Jolyon had only approached the house halfway in his hesitancy to not only meet his birth father's family but also to intrude upon their Easter celebration, even though he'd been invited. He nodded and continued on his way to the house. When he stepped up onto the front stoop, Charles stopped him.
"I'm glad you came," he said. "It means a lot to me."
"Thanks for inviting me," Jolyon replied, meaning it. He did want to meet the others. He just hoped they were all keen on meeting him, too.
Charles turned and headed inside with Jolyon following.
"Edith, we have company!" he called out.
A head poked out of the kitchen, and then the whole woman followed. She was short, with gray hair that fell in curls around her face. She wore a white apron over her Easter clothes.
"You must be Jolyon. I've heard so much about you. My name is Edith. I'm Charles' wife."
She extended her hand to Jolyon. He took it and smiled at her. She seemed like a very nice person and not at all unhappy to have him in her husband's life.
"Nice to meet you too. Thanks for having me."
"Would you like some tea? Come and meet the rest of the family."
Edith bustled Jolyon into the formal living room, where several others were sitting or standing. They all looked up at Jolyon's arrival. He felt like he was standing in the spotlight, to be scrutinized by all.
Edith shoved a teacup into his hand. "There you are."
Charles put a hand on Jolyon's shoulder. "Everyone, this is Jolyon, my son."
Charles then pointed to everyone in turn, starting with his two children with Edith, Julia and James. Julia was five years younger than Jolyon, and James was two years younger than his sister. Also present at the family gathering was Charles' brother Nicholas with his wife Ann and children Roger and George who were roughly the same age as James.
No one seemed unhappy to meet Jolyon, though there were mostly curious looks. Charles steered Jolyon to an empty seat and sat down next to him.
"Is it true that you teach at Hogwarts?" Julia asked from across the room.
"Yes," Jolyon answered. "I teach Care of Magical Creatures."
Jolyon and Julia would later find out that they actually attended Hogwarts at the same time for a couple of years, they just never knew each other because of their age difference and the fact they were in different houses. it didn't take long for Jolyon to feel comfortable with the Abbotts, and for them to grow comfortable with him.
Family Meeting
Author: Johanna Steele
Date: 03-20-10 10:03
“I’m still wondering why we’re going to do this. He has never shown any concern for any of us when Smythe – Jones was in the power. “ Aunt Angela said.
“He was scared. He’s never been courageous like you. Give him a chance.” Johanna’s father, Anthony replied.
“Well I’m just doing this for the children. Scared or not Albert chose the blood status upon his family. “
“Any more objections?” Anthony asked looked to the others members of the family:
John shrugged his shoulders and Johanna looked down to the grass. Little Luke looked to his mother.
“Good.” He rang the doorbell of the big house and some moments later an old house elf opened the door.
“Good afeternoon Melvin.”
“Master Steele! An honor, sir.” He did a bow to Anthony and then let him and the group entering to the hall. He greeted everyone with another deep bow. “I shall call the master. ” He informed and then disappeared.
After some time a middle aged, black haired wizard appeared, coming down the staircase. Albert Steele was Anthony and Angela’s brother.
Johanna wasn’t very eager to see her uncle again. He didn’t move a muscle when she was in troubles because of her blood status. Instead he cut all the relationship with the family and kept living his life with normality.
“Anthony!”
“Albert! Glad you have invited us.” They hugged.
“Oh it’s a pleasure to have the family well and all reunited again. “ He gave a step in John’s direction.
“Hello John. How have you been doing? Almost at the end of your course at St. Emrys huh? You must be proud Anthony.”
“Indeed I am.”
John and Albert shook their hands. Her uncle then changed his attention to Johanna.
“And our first witch in the family to be in Slytherin after me! You are so grown!”
Johanna gave her uncle a fake smile.
Angela greeted his brother but without the same enthusiasm as Anthony.
“My dear little sister. And this must be young Luke. “ Luke greeted his uncle in a polite but distant way. Albert continued:
“Now let’s go to the living room; Yvonne and the children are so happy to have you all here! Melvin will collect your coats.”
The group delivered their coats to the house elf and then followed Albert to the living room. Johanna’s eyes open wide. The living room was very well decorated and the theme seemed to be the house of Slytherin since only two colors were the green and the silver.
“So many green it’s making me sick.” Aunt Angela whispered. She had been in Gryffindor while at Hogwarts. Luke laughed and John smiled. Johanna didn’t agree with them. The room was beautiful, full of luxurious furniture.
“So what do you think about the new decoration? Yvonne lost some hours working on it.” Albert said with proud putting himself near a blonde witch that was his wife. He hadn’t listened to Angela’s comments.
The group greeted her as well as the couple’s children, the fake twins Evelyn and Edgar. They had Luke’s age and like him would attend Hogwarts the next school year.
“I am so sorry that your husband isn’t here with us Angela. “ Yvonne said, with a fake disappointed. She didn’t like Luke very much. She thought he didn’t have class, due to his profession. He deal with magic sea creatures making sure they didn’t bother the muggles.
“He’s dealing with some Grindylows now. But he might join us if things don’t get too complicated. “
“Good good. And how about Grace?” Anthony asked referring himself to Johanna’s mother.
“Well, she was feeling a bit ill so she stayed at home.” It wasn’t the truth. Anthony was in fact protecting his muggle wife from Albert. Not that he was going to try anything but he didn’t felt secure in bringing Grace to a home that had been a supportive of blood status.
“Oh poor Grace.” Yvonne said. “Maybe next year you could bring Isabel. She’s a great witch. How is she doing?”
This question was for John. Johanna knew that Albert and Yvonne had been against Anthony’s wedding with Grace. They liked Anthony’s first wife a lot, not because of the person she was but because she descended from an important Spanish family of wizards and witches.
“My mother is doing very well, thank you.”
The couple continued with the questionnaire. They didn’t mentioned what had happened last year, like there was a gap in time and nothing had happened. Happy not being part of the adults’ conversation Johanna turned to her younger cousins. Luke seemed to be in a discussion with Evelyn about Hogwarts.
“…and that’s why Slytherin is the best house.”
“Ugh! No way. That’s the worse.” Luke contested Evelyn in a loud tone.
“They are all good houses…”Edgar tried to calm them down.
“Hush Ed! You have to defend Slytherin. “ Evelyn said in an authority tone.
“But I’m not even at Hogwarts!”
“We are almost there. Help me with this Johanna. Tell Luke how the other houses’ members are losers!”
“Well not all house members…John was from Hufflepuff and I know a girl called Kate who is really nice. “
“You are not helping me!” Evelyn complained.
“Is it true there’s a giant squib on the lake? Dad told me he once saw it…” Luke asked.
“Don’t know. I never saw it. But I guess there’s one.”
“We should try catching her.” Edgar planned.
The three cousins started to make all types of questions to Johanna about Hogwarts. Their eyes glowed with the perspective of entering in such a magic world. Johanna also mentioned that she had muggle cousin from her mother’s side that would probably join them. Grace had told her about Melchior’s birthday cake and she knew that it only meant one thing: he was a wizard. Evelyn rolled her eyes. She didn’t like muggle born too much. But Edgar and Luke sounded excited, because even if Melchior wasn’t really from their family it would be nice to know him.
The hours passed and then it was time to return home.
“So it wasn’t that bad right?” Anthony asked Angela when they were no longer at the house.
“Yes, it could be worse. He hasn’t changed a bit. All that need to show off the house and the children. I didn’t believe him when he told Edgar could read the runes or when Yvonne mentioned Evelyn could levitate heavy objects without using a wand. She had never learned magic!”
“You know they tend to exaggerate. But Albert sounded sincere when he said he was happy to have the family all together again.”
They arrived to a desert ally.
“This is our stop.” Angela said looking around for her portkey.
She found it on a corner, a old shoe. She said goodbye to Johanna, John and her brother and Luke did the same. Then John also said goodbye, and left using apparition. Anthony and Johanna walked together along the empty street, to the car. Grace wasn’t a fan of the Floo powder and when she married Anthony she made him get his driving lesson. Anthony drove back home, listening to Johanna talk about her cousins and their plans for next school year.
(East Lothian, Scotland) The Perfect Easter Gift
Author: Adina Blackwood
Date: 03-20-10 21:35
Adina had been woken up early this morning because hser Aunt and Mother had planned a special surprise for her for Easter. They were taking her to a pretty place in the Scottish Highlands. She was going to be able to spend the entire day running, and exercising in both forms. Her aunt said something about a hot spring in the area that she could relax in.
Her Aunt and Mom would be staying with one of her Aunt's friends, who happened to be a muggle herbologist. They were getting some information on some of the ways that muggles use herbs in their healing, and things like that while Adina ran throughout the forest. Thankfully - at least one good thing came about her being an animagus, it helped her improve her sense of direction.
For now, she was resting - as a petite wolfess - on a rocky ledge over the hot springs. Tail lazily rocked back and forth and ears flicked - listening to the sounds around her. She opened her eyes and looked to the sky briefly, guaging the position of the sun - she had to be back at the house just before sunset.
Eyes flicked open as she caught scent of a rabbit - debating on going to chase it, but decided not to. Pushing herself upward and then lept into the large hot spring. The shift upwards would see her human form on the edge of the spring and she quickly toweled off with the towel she'd brought with her in her pack, tucked under the ledge. Then, dressing in her jeans and hiking boots she would head back to the house, and let herself in through the kitchen door.
The trio of witches would remain with Angeline Muskovitz for the evening, and then head back to London via a portkey from a remote location about three miles from the Muskovitz house.