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With Titus
Author: Tiberius Nott
Date: 05-01-15 14:54
Tiberius was seated at Common Commons, looking by the window. He watched the happy families at the school grounds, and he was glad the agitation inside the castle had a smaller magnitude compared with the one outdoors. He noticed a boy throwing an egg at the lake and making his little sister to cry about it. The moment their father was about to reprehend him, the egg emerged from the lake and fell on the girl's hands. Tiberius was pretty much sure it had been the giant squid's doing.
"All right…I think…these…are enough…for now…"
Titus was breathing with difficulty. He had been running all over the castle gathering eggs. His basket was full of them. Tiberius had opted not to participate in the egg hunt, and he preferred to quietly wait for his brother to be done. Titus took a seat next to Tiberius, eager to start opening the eggs. He was glad his uncle and aunt didn't come today and instead he could spend time with Tiberius.
He had chosen the biggest egg of the lot and opened it. Inside there was a single knut. Titus looked disappointed and Tiberius grinned, teasing him. Then it was his turn to pick an egg. He chose a black one and opened it with careful. Inside of it there was a silver hairpin with the shape of the Ravenclaw eagle.
"Here," Tiberius said, passing it to Titus. "You can give it to a future girlfriend, if she's a Ravenclaw. Girls really like these sort of presents. If you spoil them, they will be all over you."
"I don't want that hairpin. Or a girlfriend. You can have it," Titus said, giving Tiberius the pin back as if it was a cursed object. He then opened a new egg.
Tiberius put the hairpin in his pocket after taking a look at it once again. He thought about offering it to Miss Evercreech. He was convinced his tutor would stop being so harsh with him if he offered her a present. Last Friday, Elphaba made him stand outside with his telescope for hours , drawing a star map and lecturing him about Jupiter's moons. She had ruined his plans for the evening, when she barged into his house in the middle of his dinner, announcing that it was the perfect night to watch the stars and the planets since the sky was perfectly clear. Tiberius asked her if she didn't had a social life and she sent him one of her defensive looks. She refused to join him in the meal, and told him to hurry while she settled his telescope outside. He didn't manage to enjoy the lamb roasted leg Lottie had cooked with so much care.
"Oh look at this!" Titus was delighted with what he had just received. "Merlin this was something I've wanted for ages!"
He was holding a large square package. Tiberius noticed it was a model of the Hogwarts castle. It included not only the figures of ghosts but also the one of Albus Dumbledore. Titus enjoyed building models and he had one of a Quidditch pitch at Endhope Abbey. Tiberius didn't know how badly his brother wanted this Hogwarts model, or else he would have bought it for his birthday or for Christmas.
Titus didn't seem to care about the rest of the eggs. He had put the basket aside and started to open the box, to check its content. It surprised Tiberius how Titus didn't use to be a very patient person, but he dedicated himself to such hobby. He tried to become interested in what his brother was doing, but he found it quite dull. It became even more annoying when a minuscule version of Peeves left the package and started flying around his face, wanting to get inside his nostrils. Titus had a hard trying getting him back into the box but he finally managed to do so, before Tiberius would destroy it with a spell.
Minuscule Egg, Big Prize (Devon)
Author: Christopher Chant
Date: 05-01-15 20:05
Inspecting an egg she's just pulled from underneath a bush, Devon holds it up so that it catches the light. Duncan cocks his head at how it not only sparkles but the sparkles have a prismatic effect. "You think it's a grander prize than that biscuit you just got?"
"That was not just any cookie."
Dusting crumbs off his front, Duncan agrees. "That as a bloody marvelous biscuit."
Devon had found pretty blue with yellow speckles hummingbird sized egg. It had looked so real that at first she was afraid to touch it, casting her eyes about for a hummingbird nest. Not seeing anything that might pass for such a nest, she'd more closely inspected the minuscule egg, finally spotting what looked look a perfectly straight line going around the middle, the type of line that would indicate where the two parts of a faux egg would come apart.
Deciding it was indeed an one of the many Easter eggs hidden by the Hogwarts house elves, Devon had picked it up. She'd added it to her basket only to pick it right back up. Gingerly pulling on each half, Devon was practically knocked over by the humongous, taller than she is peanut butter and chocolate biscuit. She'd ended up calling for help, knowing that Duncan Dippet and Hiram Young were within earshot.
The biscuit was so giant that after those two helped her try to get it back into the egg but failing, they called over several other students of varying houses and years to assist in breaking it apart, each taking a large chunk and one producing a pitcher of milk that had come out of an faintly mooing cow patterned egg. Devon thought it odd that an egg would have a pitcher of milk though she enjoyed every drop of what she had of it to drink, making the biscuit taste even better. All that's now left of that massive biscuit is a palm sized piece that's covered in a napkin, resting in Devon's basket.
Adding the sparkly egg to the basket she smiles at Duncan. "I hope so it's something that's as sparkly as the egg is but if it's not, I'll still be happy with it."
Understanding the sentiment, Duncan nods then crouches to peer under the bush, searching for any other eggs that might be there as Devon looks through the bush branches.
Not Napping
Author: Blossom
Date: 05-02-15 19:33
Blossom sits on a blanket with Freddie and Fabian who despite earlier claims that they are five and don't nap like babies have both conked out. One second they were comparing eggs in their baskets and the next both were sleeping, Freddie bent with his face in his basket and Fabian leaning into him, using Freddie's back as a pillow. Blossom had gently rearranged them, glad for a respite from the mad dashing about in the search for eggs.
Felicity is with her cousin Miranda while Seth and Gideon are together. None of the four think they need an adult hovering but Fred and George are lurking somewhere in case any of them do need assistance or get up to something they shouldn't. Georgie wanted to show equal independence but ended up asking Majandra to go around with him because he couldn't always reach eggs he found and some weren't in spots that he could climb or had arms long enough to get to.
Reaching for a drink and half a sandwich from a picnic basket, Blossom looks over the eggs in the twins' baskets. Some of them are just regular looking, simply decorated eggs. Others have interesting designs, some spectacular. One of the more wildly decorated ones has a humming sound. Another has an aroma that reminds her of freshly baked bread. Blossom would love to open a few but not knowing which of them have prizes that would be easy to return to their respective eggs and put the two sides of each back together, she refrains, not wanting to spoil the fun for Fabian and Freddie.
Blossom has had the daycare do an egg hunt for a number of years now and one for Hogsmeade Primary Day since starting that school. This year, the daycare's is on Wednesday, part of an all day party. Class parties and egg hunts for the primary school students are spread over Thursday and Friday, ensuring each grade level has plenty of time to hunt eggs and allow time for more eggs to be hidden for the next group.
Wanting something more along the lines of the eggs for the non-Hogwarts students, Blossom ended up speaking with Dobby, the House Elf largely responsible for the annual egg hunt here at Hogwarts. Dobby didn't just give Blossom ideas, tips, and pointers. He volunteered to assist her and anyone else putting the hunts together for the daycare and primary school. The eggs in previous years had good, nice prizes but with Dobby's help and contacts used for the Hogwarts egg hunt, this year will far surpass those other hunts. Blossom can't wait to see all the happy faces.
Fabian begins stirring. Sitting up, rubbing his eyes, looking confused. "I didn't take a nap, Mummy."
"No?"
"I was resting my eyes."
Blossom smiles. "Do you want to rest your eyes a little longer?"
"I want to look for more eggs," he says, already on his feet.
"Okay, but don't go very far. Freddie will probably wake up soon and want to hunt more with you."
"Mummy, will you help me if I need?"
"I would be happy to help you."
"Even if Freddie's napping?"
"He's not resting his eyes?"
"He's still 'sleep so that's napping."
"I see. Yes, even if Freddie is still napping, I will come help. If you'll need help, that's another reason not to go very far. I won't hear you if you get off."
"'K." With that he bounds away, though Fabian does make sure to stay where he can see Blossom, the sleeping Freddie, and the blanket.
It's not long, though, that Freddie too is awake and ready to get back into the thick of things, slightly upset that he lost hunting time by closing his eyes. Trailing along behind them as they search, staying where she can see them and give them help if they need but not so close they feel she is hovering, Blossom plucks a bright green egg from a low hanging branch. Instead of calling out to either of the twins to add to one of the baskets, she opens it, grinning at the green garland crown with vividly colored flowers. Putting it on her head, she wonders if she can find one with a bit of chocolate in it.
Eggs
Author: Ellis
Date: 05-03-15 08:36
Blakeney stood on her tiptoes to reach a rainbow patterned egg nestled between two twigs. She could barely reach it, only managing to push it from the bottom and hope that it didn't contain anything fragile if it came crashing to the ground. Blakeney had nothing to worry about, however. The rainbow egg rolled over one twig and landed neatly in her open palm.
"Open it, or wait?" she asked Tessa, who stood nearby with a basket brimming with multicolored eggs.
"I say wait," Tessa replied. She hadn't opened any of her eggs, deciding it best to wait till they got back to the Hufflepuff common room or dormitory. Tessa didn't want to have to carry all the different things that might be hidden in her eggs.
"You say that every time," Blakeney said, who unlike Tessa, had opened a few of her eggs already. So far, the things she'd found had been small and manageable, like a candy bracelet that was on her wrist and halfway eaten up, rhinestone shoe clips already clipped to the shoes on her feet, and a tiny coin purse patterned with colorful birds.
"Then open it, if you want," Tessa said, with a shrug of her shoulders.
Blakeney debated internally a bit longer, interrupted only when she spotted her sister with Chip Winters. Alys and Chip saw her almost immediately and started to make their way over even before she started frantically waving at them.
"Hi!" Blakeney exclaimed.
"Hi," Alys said. "Hey, Blakeney," said Chip. "Found anything good?"
"Oh, a few things," Blakeney said, still holding onto the rainbow egg. "I'm trying to decide if I want to open this one or just wait."
"I think you should open it."
"Okay!"
Blakeney cracked it open and gasped when a rainbow chevron-patterned sundress popped out of the egg. It was just Blakeney's size and stood out brightly against the green of the lawn and the blue of the spring sky.
"That looks really pretty, Blakeney," Alys said.
Tessa nodded her head and said, "Yeah, it does."
Blakeney turned to Chip and held the dress against her. "What do you think, Chip?"
"It's nice, Blakeney."
Blakeney couldn't decide what to make of his comment. She wanted him to say that she would look really pretty in it, but maybe she actually needed to put the dress on in order to get the compliment she desired most. She decided he meant no harm in simply calling the dress 'nice' and smiled at him.
"Thanks," she said. She carefully folded the dress over her arm and asked both Alys and Chip, "Do you want to go around with us?"
They agreed and set off with the younger girls, hunting for more eggs.
Patrolling the Grounds
Author: Minerva McGonagall
Date: 05-03-15 09:55
Professor McGonagall walked around the Hogwarts grounds and watched as students and their families participated in the annual Easter egg hunt. As usual when a school event took place and included outside guests, there was extra security on campus. Minerva herself was especially vigilant. The last thing she wanted was a repeat of what happened during the Spring Social, even though Karina Masterson's kidnapping had occurred in Hogsmeade and not on the Hogwarts grounds or inside the castle.
Despite the extra security, Minerva was hyper aware that something untoward could happen right under her nose. With so many visitors, there was simply no way to keep track of every single person once they crossed the security checkpoint at the gates. The grounds and the castle itself were vast and concealed a great many hiding places for anyone up to no good. Minerva could do nothing more than hope that everyone visiting Hogwarts for the Easter egg hunt had the best of intentions.
She invariably thought about the security of her own office, which had been breached the night of the Valentine's day ball. Everything disturbed that night had been set to rights, but Minerva still had no idea what trinket had been taken. She wished she had paid more attention to the innumerable objects in the glass cabinets in the office, but she had never given any of it more than a passing glance. Maybe the object taken was truly valuable, or maybe it was just something someone, like a rebellious student, found interesting for whatever reason.
She had tried asking the many portraits in the office about the items in the cabinet, as well as what, if anything, had been seen the night of the break-in. Not even Dumbledore's portrait could shed any light on the matter. Like cats, portraits of former headmasters and headmistresses seemed to spend more time asleep than awake. Minerva hoped that hers would be an exception, but things didn't look very promising on that front.
She continued patrolling the grounds, speaking to students and guests as she went along and occasionally nudging a child in the direction of a egg. She pointed a pig-tailed younger sibling of a Hogwarts student in the direction of a shiny, golden egg when she had the distinct feeling of being watched. Minerva looked around, scanning faces for anyone looking in her direction, but nobody, not even the child, seemed to be paying her any mind.
Minerva moved on after a moment, never once spotting the fire-bellied toad staring at her from the bushes.
Wasted Effort
Author: Gerry
Date: 05-03-15 15:56
Gerry and Gareth glanced at each other sharply to see if either had noticed the metallic-colored egg hidden in a flower bed near the greenhouses. From the looks on both of their faces, the shiny egg hadn't escaped their notice at all. Without wasting another moment, they dashed towards the flower bed, which was blooming with daffodils, and practically slid through the grass to get to the egg.
Gerry almost fell face first into the flowers, while Gareth felt wetness on his knees and knew that he had probably stained his pants with mud and dirt. They both reached for the metallic egg at the same time, but it was Gerry who managed to get a better hold on it. He pulled it out of Gareth's grasp and quickly scrambled to his feet.
"You snooze, you lose!" he boasted, clutching the shiny egg tightly in his hand.
"Gerry, Gareth!" shouted their mother.
Gareth climbed to his feet and turned with Gerry to look at her. Their mother stood with her hands on her hips and an expression that suggested she was not at all amused by their behavior.
"I don't think anyone appreciates you trampling through the flower beds," she stated, first eyeing one son and then the other, and then peering around them to look at the daffodils. Some of them had certainly looked better prior to Gerry and Gareth's mad dash for the metallic egg.
"I also don't appreciate you dirtying up your clothing, or acting like heathens!" Gigi continued, looking at her two eldest boys again. Then she held out her hand.
Gerry, still clutching onto the egg, looked at her hand and then asked, "What?"
"Hand it over, Gerry."
Gerry hesitated, not wanting to give up the egg he had worked so hard to get, but his mother's look grew sterner. Reluctantly, he placed it into her palm.
His mother closed her fingers over it and said, "How about you hunt for eggs a bit less destructively?"
Gerry and Gareth exchanged glances and mumbled, "Fine," and "Okay."
Their mother, meanwhile, tucked the egg she had taken from Gerry into her purse. He watched the movement with a frown on his face and wondered if she would ever give it back to him. He thought probably not!
Fabbity Fab [Sylvestor]
Author: Georgia Copperpot
Date: 05-04-15 18:51
Holding an egg decorated with vivid blue swirls, Fitzwilliam Bates asks Sylvestor, "Your parents and sister coming at some point?"
"No, something else going on today. Winnie owled in a bloody snit as if I could do anything about it. What about your family?"
"Other plans too." Frowning at the egg, Fitz drops it into his basket only to pick it back up. "There's a swishy rattle."
"How can a rattle be swishy?"
"I don't know but that's what it is. Here. Listen."
Sylvestor holds the egg to his ear but hears nothing. He shakes his head, handing it back. "No swish. No rattle."
"Huh. Strange. I kind of want to open it now. When I heard a swishy rattle I thought maybe a broom."
"So open it."
Fitz again holds the blue swirled egg to his ear then stares at it. Pulling the egg apart more gently than Sylvestor would have thought his friend capable, they both jump back when a two person kayak with oars pops out. Fitz first looks thrilled then his expression changes to a mild scowl, his shoulders sagging somewhat.
"How am I supposed to get this all the way back to the room? Where will I store it?"
"Wingardium leviosa should help get it there." Sylvestor notices something affixed to the side of the kayak. He points. "What's that?"
Fitz bends for a closer look, pulling whatever it is from the kayak's side. "It's a booklet in a waterproof casing."
Removing it from the casing, Fitz thumbs through it before looking up with relief. "Instructions on how to shrink it down to portable and storage size and back to usable size again."
"You think McGonagall will let us use it on the lake?"
"We can hope."
They put their heads together to look over the instructions. As the shrinking process seems easy enough without the need for a more experience wizard or witch, Fitz and Sylvestor spend a few minutes shrinking the kayak with oars, restoring it to normal size, then back down again. Picking it up, Fitz sticks it along with the instruction manual into his basket.
"You've only opened one egg so far," Fitz points out, selecting a chocolate from one of many he'd gotten out of an earlier opened egg. "Only one egg and not even something for you. Or is it?"
Sylvestor rolls his eyes. "I already said I'm giving it to my sister." The prize he'd gotten from the only egg he's opened so far is a set of pink jeweled hair clips. He supposes they would be considered pretty by those who like that sort of thing.
He selects an egg so simply adorned it seems plain compared to many of the others they've found. It's one of the first he added to his basket this morning, found nestled in the towel he'd used when showering before breakfast.
Sylvestor pries the egg open, making a face that involves his tongue sticking out partway when what looks like a hand towel falls out. It's only when he picks it up that he can tell the fabric is not the same sort used for towels. There's also something odd about the rectangle of material. He holds it this way and that, mouth falling open as Fitz makes a choking sound following by a, "Blood hell, that's fab."
"Fabbity fab as my cousin Georgia might say."
The only part of Sylvestor's hand that's visible under the hand towel sized cloth is his thumb. He experiments with putting it over other body parts and over some of the eggs in his basket. Awed, Fitz asks, "Do you know what you have there?"
"Yeah. I didn't know this stuff came in small sizes like this."
"We'll never fit under it to sneak around," Fitz moans. "What use is invisibility cloth that size?"
Sylvestor already has ideas. "Hiding money. Keeping Edwina out of my sweets stash. Things like that."
After spending a little more time playing around with the invisibility cloth, Fitz and Sylvestor continue egg hunting, Fitz running through a list of possible spells they should research to see how to make the hand towel size cloth more like blanket size so they can use it to sneak into the village during the next Hogsmeade weekend and events such as Emrys Fest and Quidditch Con this summer.
Working Together (Ingrid & Rex)
Author: Saffron
Date: 05-05-15 19:24
"Steady." Ingrid nearly snaps the word out but as all that would accomplish is Rex shoving her off his shoulders, while her tone is tight, it's calm, civil.
"I'm trying. You're heavier than you look, you know." Rex speaks through gritted teeth as he concentrates on keeping his balance, hands on Ingrid's legs, as she stands with one foot on each of his shoulders.
"Are you saying I'm fat?" Now she's indignant.
"Just hurry up, would you. Maybe next time I stand on your shoulders."
Straining, rising up on tiptoes, which is no easy feat when perched on someone else's shoulders, Ingrid retrieves first one egg then the other. "Got them!"
After Ingrid puts the eggs in a pocket, she grasps each of his upreaching hands then Rex bends his knees slightly and bows his head forward, letting Ingrid hop off. She turns, pulls the eggs out of her pocket and holds them out. "Which do you want?"
Rex looks from a boldly striped egg in her left hand to the egg in her right, which has different colored blinking dots. He points right. "That one."
As he lifts the egg from her outstretched palm Ingrid grins. "No claiming you really wanted this one when the prize in it turns out to be better than that one."
"You'd do that before I would," he smirks back.
"True," she admits.
"It's good we're in different houses. I'd have to hide the eggs and prizes so you couldn't sneak into my room and knick something."
"I only did that once. It was chocolate and we were four. If you'd shared like your mum told you I wouldn't have done it."
"Yeah, yeah. I need one of those invisibility towel things Sylvestor got."
"Maybe you did."
Rex looks down at all the eggs in his basket. "Yeah, guess I could have."
Out of nowhere Ingrid says, "It's funny seeing all you blokes carrying baskets around when you normally wouldn't be caught dead with one."
Rex looks down at his basket again. It's manly as Easter baskets go with dark gray lining and black trim. No bows, ruffles, or ribbons in sight. Still, Ingrid has a point. "Could be worse," he shrugs. "Could be purses and handbags instead of baskets."
"That's when all of you would insist that a backpack or satchel is like a handbag."
"Or learn how to do extension charms on all our trouser pockets to hold all the eggs. There's another," Rex says, practically diving for a smallish egg. At the same time, Ingrid spies an egg so large she thinks it's got to be ostrich egg sized. Adding it to her basket she wonders aloud, "If the eggs are magical and can hold prizes of any size, why aren't all the eggs the same size?"
"Make it more interesting?"
"Yeah, maybe."
The time for the hunt to be over is nearing so they slowly make their way back to the castle, stopping of course to collect more eggs here and there. As yet, neither has opened a single egg though earlier today when he was going around with Cornington Marchbanks, Rex was sorely tempted.
Ingrid proclaims, "I'll open one egg this evening and then one a day until I run out."
"I'm not going to open all mine before bed but maybe only five or ten. I hope I get a broom."
"You and at least half of everyone else here."
"You know you want one too."
"I never said I didn't."
Rex sticks his tongue out at Ingrid who sticks her tongue out right back at him. Seeing more eggs, they stop being silly long enough to retrieve them then continue on their way, both of them starting to realize they're hungry for dinner. And eager to get at least one egg open.