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Tiny Egg = Monstrous Gift (Cat)
Author: Fionna
Date: 05-18-14 16:06
The first few minutes after Christopher's arrival are spent in happy silence, he and Cat enjoying each other's company. Christopher breaks the silence by asking, "Did your mum or dad decide to come?"
"No, neither of them. Leslie either. You'll have to suffer me alone."
"I'm tough. I think I can handle it."
Cat grins at him and loops an arm with his. "I hope you don't mind that I filled the time waiting for you by finding eggs."
Christopher nods down at the basket in her opposite hand. "I see that. Anything good yet?"
"Don't know. I've not opened any. Wait. I take that back. I opened one that was balanced on the bridge of my nose when I woke this morning."
"Balanced on your nose? That's a first I think, or that I've heard of anyway. What was in it?"
"A lovely tray with a full breakfast. It had so much food I shared with my roomies. The plates cleared themselves away but the tray stayed. It's really very pretty so I'm glad I get to keep it." Cat changes topics. "You didn't say much in your owl about how your exams went."
"They went really well I think but I'll know for sure soon enough."
"Is that girl still bothering you?"
"Amalia Ricchetti? Eh, sort of; or that's how it comes across to me. She may not mean anything and not realize that some of what she says seems as though she's flirting and wanting me to either dump you or cheat on you."
"It's sad if she is. She could spend her time looking elsewhere."
"Yes, and it's also too bad because she's otherwise nice."
Cat squeezes Christopher's arm. "At least you don't have a girlfriend who's mad with jealousy."
She says it jokingly but Christopher replies quite seriously, "I'm glad you trust me and I hope you know I trust you just as much."
Christopher suddenly bends, making a scooping motion with his hand. "Almost missed this."
It's a tiny egg, the sort Catriona might think is that of a hummingbird or other bird with eggs so small as to be overly cute. That this one is decorated makes it even more sweet. She takes it from him ready to drop it in her basket but Christopher suggests, "Why not open it now? The prize might be monstrous in size."
"If it is, you'll have to help me squeeze it back into the egg so it won't be a problem carrying it around the rest of the day."
Christopher holds Cat's basket so she can better grasp the teeny egg to gently pull it open. A darkly blue velvet jeweler's ring box plops out into her hand. The basket on the ground now Christopher takes the box from her before Cat can react. Opening it reveals a prettily etched silver band with a stone as darkly blue as the velvet of the jeweler's box.
"It's not an engagement ring but it is a promise ring if you'll have me."
Feeling so giddy she's not sure she can keep standing properly, Cat throws her arms around Christpher. "You've had me all these years just as I've had you so you know my answer is yes."
Ring now on her left hand, and a grinning like the lovesick fool she is, Cat and Christopher continue on around the grounds, looking for more eggs and talking about plans for after Cat's finished with Hogwarts in June.
Summons
Author: Lee Sickleby
Date: 05-18-14 19:07
The corridors of the Ministry of Magic were virtually empty when Lee answered his summons. Some departments saw more activity than others on the weekends, but even the ones that never shut down such as the Department of Magical Law Enforcement seemed quiet. Lee entered a room that served the dual purpose of being a laboratory and storage for evidence and approached a wizard dressed all in white.
The wizard whose name was Nottingham looked up from his examination of the substance Lee had recently acquired while on a job. "Ah, Sickleby. You came."
"You called," Lee stated. "What's the news?"
"It's as we suspected," the older wizard began, standing up straight after being hunched over the table for too long. "The sweets have been compromised."
"Drugs?"
"Of a terribly addicting sort and," the wizard went on, heaving a deep sigh, "attached to sweets, they are meant to interest the very young. The trouble is, the dangerous substances are well hidden. If not for this unending analysis, I might never have discovered anything out of the ordinary."
Lee looked down at the crushed hard candy under examination on the table. "They must have an expert potioneer in their ranks," he mused aloud. "Also, why hide the drug if the allure of the product is the drug itself?"
"Perhaps it's not the drug that's meant to be the draw. Perhaps the goal is to have one get a taste of the sweet and then need it so badly that no price is too high."
"Can't that be done without using illegal substances?" Lee asked.
Nottingham spread out his hands. "I guess we won't know their reasoning until we ask those involved. Now, I suppose you'll be wanting your orders."
Lee left the Ministry a short time later. He had work to do, but he also wanted to visit with Alaia. He was falling for her, slowly but surely, and yet Lee knew it was a supremely bad idea for him to get involved with anybody in his line of work. He couldn't be completely honest with her, and he couldn't even act as if there were things he couldn't tell her about his work. He had to lie, period. Then, there was the danger he put himself in and could potential put her in if he were ever compromised.
He knew he shouldn't actively pursue a relationship with Alaia, but he hadn't yet stopped himself from doing so. Despite his better judgment, Lee went to Diagon Alley...
Eggs And More Eggs (Kurt, Bran, Estella)
Author: Saffron
Date: 05-18-14 20:11
Hungry, Kurt sprawls on the grass, eating some of the food provided as refreshments while opening a few eggs. He's excited with each prize but being hungry he's most keen right now for the ones with sweets or other edibles. Someone else approaching his position has him looking up. "Oh, hi. Finding anything good?"
Bram takes up a spot opposite Kurt, wishing there was a tree or something to lean against. "Don't know. I've not opened any yet but I see you have."
"Mainly looking for chocolates but I've got a few excellent prizes so far, like this small portable wireless set."
"It's so small. You've tried it?"
"Yeah. Works really well."
"That's bloody brilliant."
Bram takes a sip of the drink he'd gotten before spotting Kurt and coming this way. "You didn't look around much here before sitting, did you?"
"Not really, why?"
"There's an egg just to your right. You're practically sitting on it."
Looking then reaching for the egg Kurt laughs. "I thought it was a stone and it was just starting to get uncomfortable. Here, it's yours by rights."
"Open it. If it's something we can split, let's do that."
Kurt pulls open the mossy green egg, the color possibly being why he'd not spotted it immediately upon sitting. Chocolate frog packet after chocolate frog packet spills out. When the chocolate frog waterfall ends, there are twenty of them. Bram smiles broadly. "Ten each and maybe they've all got really good Wizarding trading cards."
The boys divy them up, with Bram opening one of his to eat. The card is one he's not got, Merwyn the Malicious, so no matter what the others turn out to be, he's happy. When the boys get up soon after they decide to hunt together for awhile, Bram opening one other egg for the time being. It's a container of ice cream, guaranteed not to melt for two weeks if kept only in the container. Even if it weren't guaranteed to last that long on its own, Bram works on it so steadily as he adds more eggs to his basket, sharing a little with Kurt, that the chocolate hazelnut ice cream doesn't last for very long.
They cross paths with Estella who looks somewhat disgruntled. "What's wrong?" Bram asks.
"I was slow to get going this morning. I still don't feel all the way awake and now it seems I'm behind." She says this with a slight shake of her Easter basket.
"You know there are loads of eggs so why worry?"
She gives Kurt a frown. "Because there might be lots but that doesn't mean all the good ones haven't been gotten already."
"The day's hardly begun still so I doubt that."
"I heard a few empty eggs have been found inside. Some of mine are from inside."
Bram looks a little worried. "So are some of mine."
Kurt glances at his basket. He found some inside as well. "Why are some empty? Was there a mistake?"
Estella shrugs. "I don't know but if I get an empty one or several of them, I'm going to ask if I can still have something."
Kurt nods. "Good idea."
The three talk another minute before the boys continue in one direction while Estella goes in another, seeing her roommate and friend Alys Ellis, stopping along the way to pick up a few eggs.
One she's rather intrigued with as it's parchment ivory with black musical notes on it and though it's faint there's a song emanating from it that sounds like the current popular hit by The Rusty Cauldrons. Estella starts to open it on the spot but makes herself put the egg into her basket and continue on. If she stops to open everything she finds, she'll never catch up!
Glad she's got the charm on her basket to keep someone with sticky fingers from "borrowing" anything in it without her permission, Estella hurries on, keeping eyes (and ears) peeled for other eggs as she calls Alys's name and gives a wave.
Seeing Pink and Blue
Author: Chance Morgan Lovell
Date: 05-19-14 09:40
Chance had just returned home from St. Mungo's Hospital and getting blood work to see if she was pregnant; and she was. She had smiled at the nurse who gave her the news and then began to cry out of sheer happiness. With all the problems that she and Torrance had had trying to get pregnant only to be told by the Doctors that she could not have children. Chance had been heart broken.
Disaparating home Chance found Jonathan and gave him the good news. He was so happy. He held a hand over her belly and then got down on his knees a pushed her shirt up and kissed her now pregnant belly. Chance giggled and pulled him up into a kiss she was so happy.
"When are you due?" Jonathan asked her.
"September 26th." Chance replied in a rather giddy voice. "The doctors said everything looks good so far but with my not supposed to be being able to conceive I am going to have to be monitored very closely." Jonathan nodded his head and picked Chance up and swung her around.
"I am so happy!"
Finally parting from Jonathan she sat down at her desk and pulled out some parchment and began writing a letter to Bronwyn telling her that she was pregnant. She hoped her friend would be happy for her. Along with the news she asked Bron if they could get together soon and have lunch and go shopping. Once done with the letter she folded up the parchment and placed it in an envelope and sent it off with Jonathan's owl.
A Good Egg
Author: Gerry
Date: 05-19-14 14:33
Gerry Martini-Blackwell was a boy of ten, nearly eleven, and lived in Hogsmeade with his parents and younger siblings. His mother Gigi ran the library in the village, while his father Geoffrey worked as an auror for the Ministry of Magic. On this day, Gerry and Geoffrey were at Hogwarts to take part in the Easter Egg Hunt. They went alone because the rest of the family suffered from winter colds.
"Do you think my Hogwarts letter will arrive for my birthday?" Gerry asked. He found a low tree branch and sat down on it as if it were a bench. There was even a perfectly flat little knot that faced up and on which Gerry set down his Easter basket.
Geoffrey, who was also technically on security duty, swept his eyes across the grounds before finally settling them onto his oldest son. "I would think so, unless it turns out you're just a squib." He said the last part teasingly, since there was no doubt at all that Gerry was a full-fledged wizard.
"Will you still love me if I am a squib?" Gerry asked, being one to go along with jokes rather than act offended by them.
"Yes, but then I suppose I'll have to groom Gareth into becoming an auror and give up on you."
As it turned out, both boys wanted to follow in their father's foosteps and become aurors. Their mother teased that they idolized him more than they did her and feigned disappointment that neither wanted to become librarians. All was not lost, however. Gigi's third born, Graham, was the little reader in the family.
Gerry turned to his basket and reached for a deep, midnight blue egg speckled with tiny silver stars. "What do you think is in here?"
"The universe," Geoffrey quipped. "An entire planetary system."
"Hopefully small enough to fit in my room," Gerry replied. He cracked open the egg, revealing not planets and stars but a table-top telescope.
"Not bad," Geoffrey said. "You can get a head start on your astronomy in case it turns out you're not a squib."
"Can we try it out tonight?" Gerry asked.
"Sure. Going to open up another or start hunting again?"
Gerry debated for half a second and then reached for another egg from his basket.
Fire!
Author: Alaia Rothstein
Date: 05-19-14 15:54
Divina worked away in the kitchen while Alaia busied herself in the front of the shoppe.
"How's it going back there?" Alaia called, "it smells like something is burning?"
"Oh, I just scorched some sugar and had to start over on the Carmel I was making."
"Okay." Alaia said and then helped the person who had come in. "Hello and welcome to Decadence."
"Thank you!" The young woman said with a smile as she peered at the delightful treats in the case. "I am having a party tonight and I was wondering if you have any fresh chocolate covered strawberries?"
"I don't." Alaia said. "I'm sorry. For special orders you have to owl ahead of time.
"I understand. I knew it would be a long shot but I thought I would ask." Alaia smiled and nodded at the young woman.
"I do have some wonderful Caramels here that are hand dipped in dark chocolate and some that are in milk chocolate."
"Oh, those sound wonderful." The young woman said with a smile. "I'll take a dozen Milk chocolate and a dozen dark chocolate."
Alaia boxed up the Caramels and handed her the box. "That will be 3 Galleons 9 Sickles and 21 Knuts."
The young woman counted out the money and handed it to Alaia who counted it again and put it in the cash register and watched as she left.
"Divina did you burn your sugar again?" Alaia called into the kitchen. But before Alaia could say anything else Davina came running out of the kitchen to yelling fire!
"Davina what did you do?" Alaia asked as she pushed the kitchen door open to see her kitchen filled with smoke.
"I'm sorry Alaia! I didn't mean to…" the pot on the stove was ablaze.
The door tinkled and Alaia turned to tell the customer to leave because there was a fire and to get help but she turned and found Lee standing there. "Lee help! There is a fire."
Lee rushed to the kitchen and put the fire out. Once the fire was out he turned to Alaia and Davina and asked if they were both okay?
Both women nodded their heads and Alaia closed her eyes and sighed. "Davina why don't you put the closed sign up and go home and I'll start working on cleaning up.
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." Davina protested.
"It's alright accidents happen." Alaia said and watched as Davina did as Alaia had asked and left the shoppe. With a flick of her wand Alaia locked the door and headed back to the kitchen to start cleaning up. She made a face when she saw the mess.
"Would you like some help?" Lee asked softly as he walked into the kitchen and stood next to Alaia.
"Sure." She said and sighed again. It was good seeing Lee, she was happy and grateful that he had been there to think so quickly and get the fire out before it spread.
She watched as Lee flourished his wand and watched as the mess slowly started cleaning it's self up. She flourished her wand too and the mess started getting cleaned up faster.
"Would you like to go out to lunch after we get this mess cleaned up? Or you could come upstairs and I can cook for you?"
Ignoring his better judgment Lee opted for the second choice and when they had finished they headed upstairs where Alaia poured them drinks and began making lunch. She liked Lee and knew that the more time they spent together the more she would fall for him…she couldn't help herself. She looked up at Lee as he sipped his drink and smiled. Maybe she would tell him how she felt but that was a big step and she was kind of afraid to see what he would say.
With Filius
Author: Minerva McGonagall
Date: 05-19-14 17:15
Professor McGonagall walked the Hogwarts grounds with Professor Flitwick at her side. It was a lovely, sunny day––perfect for an Easter egg hunt that covered no only the whole of the castle but the outdoor spaces as well. All around the pair, students and guests roamed with baskets filled with multicolored eggs and a hodgepodge of prizes.
"Thus far, I think the festivities are going off without a hitch!" the tiny teacher exclaimed. He stepped over a cream-colored egg no one had found, even though it stood out against the green grass.
"Other than the issue of a few eggs lacking prizes, I am inclined to agree with you, Filius," Professor McGonagall replied.
The day was far from done, though. Aurors and other law enforcement personnel patrolled the grounds, and all the teachers were on alert, just in case an emergency were to arise. Professor McGonagall didn't think anything would happen, but as Alastor Moody always said, "Constant vigilance!"
She looked around and happened to see her great nephew Madoc bend down and retrieve a polka-dotted egg. The boy contemplated opening the egg right then and there but ultimately dropped it into his already very full basket.
Watching him, Minerva inevitably thought about the conversation she had had with his father in her quarters the night after Parents Weekend. He had taken her explanation as to why she and Menelaus didn't get along calmly, though it had been clear that her description of Menelaus didn't match what Myron had always known about him.
Menelaus had never outwardly told Myron about his interests and had only shielded his son from the influences of Albus Dumbledore and other like-minded wizards by keeping him out of Hogwarts. Myron had no reason to believe anything his aunt told him, but he didn't think her a liar either. He simply didn't know what to think.
Minerva couldn't blame him. She knew without a doubt that she would have trouble accepting something that countered what she had always thought of as true.
She hadn't heard from Myron since that night, though they had parted on good terms.
As if sensing someone watching him, Madoc looked up and saw Professors McGonagall and Flitwick across the lawn. He raised his hand to give a friendly wave and then resumed his searching for eggs.
"He's a nice boy," Filius remarked.
"Yes, he is," Minerva agreed.
The conversation turned to other matters then, starting with Rita Skeeter's apparent decision to pick on the students of Hogwarts.
Dancing To Make Room For More Cake
Author: Jared
Date: 05-19-14 17:49
Jared has dance mostly with his bride but he's also danced with his various new sisters-in-law, his mother, and Alanna's grandmother Josefine. Locating his sister, he now approaches. "Etta, I believe it's your turn."
Once on the small dance floor he asks, "Having a good time?"
"No, I hate weddings and having to watch my brother... " Etta laughs. Turning more serious she tells Jared, "I'm so very happy for you. You deserve bright spots like this after the time you've had."
"I've had a bright spot all along. Alanna."
"When you say things like that it makes you sound all mushy and romantic, which in turns makes me wonder what you'd done with my real brother."
They pull faces at each other, much as they had done as small children, before dissolving into more laughter. After that, they continue snickering so much they end up having to leave the dance floor. Though she's fairly stuffed at this point Etta does not turn down another piece of cake. Jared needlessly says, "Both cakes are from Briar's.
"Which is why I'm having more even though I have no room."
"Be sure when you leave to take one of the little gift boxes."
"I saw those and meant to ask earlier what that's all about."
He explains, "We wanted to give everyone a little something. Bronwyn's got a friend who has a bakery and candy shoppe in Diagon Alley, not far from Briar Rose's Flour Shoppe location. Each of those boxes has a small selection of the specialty truffles this lady does."
"That sounds scrumptious."
"They are. Alanna and I tried an assortment before settling on what ones for the gift boxes. I think I gained a stone that day and I gained another stone tasting cakes at Briar's and a third when we picked out the other food to serve."
Etta reaches over to pat Jared's stomach. "I thought you were looking a little hefty," she says with a wink.
Jared makes another face at her, thinking he'll probably never be to old to exchange goofy looks with his sister.
"Have you two decided on a honeymoon spot?"
"An Asian tour of several countries."
"Oooh. Fun. May I stow away in one of your bags?"
"Ha! You wish. I'll bring you something. How's that?"
"I suppose that will do," she says with a smile.
After another minute he excuses himself to find his wife, leaving Etta working her way through a piece of the other cake. She's starting to think she'll have to stand and jump up and down to make more room in her stomach when Basil takes the seat Jared so recently vacated.
"You're making me want to have more cake too."
"So have some."
"I'll explode I'm already so full."
Etta giggles, "I know exactly what you mean."
Not even half a minute later Basil has caved and is working his way through more cake as well. Using his fork to sweep the room full of so many people who are coupled up he asks, "Do you feel left out?"
"Sort of. I considered asking someone but I decided my brother's wedding wasn't the right place to bring a person I've not really dated before. Missing Aleydis?"
"So very much."
"You've change a great deal since becoming interested in her."
Basil shrugs. "What can I say? Aleydis makes me want to be a better man."
"Since when have all the men around me become so mushy?"
"I think it's called being in love."
"Whatever you call it, next time Aleydis is mad at you for something, tell her that and you'll be golden for weeks."
Basil just grins then after putting down his now empty plates holds a hand out to her. "Want to dance and work off some of this food so we'll have room for even more?"
"As long as there's more cake to eat, definitely yes!" Etta replies with mirth, taking her cousin's hand.