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Fall Fair
Author: Marzipan
Date: 09-14-09 14:30
Like the previous evening at the Halloween Feast and costume party, the Great Hall looked out of the ordinary for the Fall Fair. Instead of the long tables and benches usually found there, individual tables were set up with snacks and drinks. Game booths and playing areas occupied the rest of the space. All of them were overseen by various staff members, student volunteers, and others who'd offered to give some of their time for the festival.
Professor Ravenscroft had the duty of overseeing a few of the booths in the Great Hall, as well as a couple of attractions outside on the Hogwarts grounds. Even her husband had signed up for a few shifts in various places. Both had had a wonderful time last night and looked forward to the continuing entertainment all day today.
What differed at this year's Fall Fair from last year's "Fall Festival" was not only the smaller student body in attendance but also the fact that last year's games and attractions had been purely wizarding in nature. Then-Headmistress Harriet Snider had expected nothing less. This year, games typically found at Muggle festivals were also included, many of them at Professor Miller's suggestion.
Marzipan's first obligation of the day was to oversee the Balloon Dart Game. There were two versions, the wizarding one introduced last year that involved a wand and the charm Dartus and the Muggle version which utilized actual darts thrown by hand. In each case, the object of the game was to use three opportunities to pop balloons and win any prizes contained therein. The balloons were attached to an upright board, though not all of them contained actual prizes. Some just had confetti inside, and others nothing but air. Participants would have to stand behind a line magically painted on the floor and take aim from there.
It wasn't long after Professor Ravenscroft took her position at the game that the Great Hall filled with students. Most milled about to take everything in before lining up at the games they wanted to try out first. Marzi waited patiently for her first contestant and then queried the student on which version of the game he intended to play. He could always try the other version next time.
Pablo Carioca thought it over for only half a second. He wasn't sure about the Dartus spell and wanted to try his hand at throwing darts first. Marzi handed him three and stepped out of the way.
His first shot missed, but just barely. His second one struck an empty balloon. Pablo's third shot hit a yellow one and spilled candy onto the ground. His face lit up as he came over to collect his win and then he got back in line behind the growing queue to try out that spell afterall.
Bob for Apples
Author: Ethan Somerset
Date: 09-14-09 15:24
The last time Ethan had been a professor at Hogwarts, he hadn't remembered so many special events beyond Quidditch matches happening throughout the school year. Then again, he'd been occupied with the fact that Lord Voldemort had had him under an enchantment do to his evil bidding and Ethan had evacuated the castle in early winter for fear of discovery by Albus Dumbledore.
He was glad times were happier now.
Ethan had volunteered for the first shift of the Bob for Apples game in the Great Hall. His station consisted of a large tarp spread over the flagstones, in the center of which sat a large wooden basin. The basin was filled with water and in the water bobbed two dozen apples of varying colors. The colors corresponded to the amount of points a contestant could accumulate during the minute allotted to retrieve as many apples as possible from the basin. The catch was, the contestant could only use his or her teeth to remove the apples from the basin.
Prizes were awarded based on the points accumulated, and consisted of anything from coupons from the local establishments in Hogsmeade to candy and trinkets of varying kinds.
After his time with the Bob for Apples game, Ethan would get a break and a chance to see the other booths both inside the Great Hall and out on the Hogwarts grounds. He hoped the weather wasn't too cool to spoil the outside entertainment.
After his break, he would come back into the Great Hall and monitor the Catch the Snitch booth. It consisted of a glass enclosed box tall and wide enough to comfortably fit a person and a lot of snitches. The object of the Catch the Snitch game was to catch as many snitches as possible during a certain amount of time.
Ethan would have other obligations at the fair as the day progressed and would get more opportunities to take some time for himself, too. At the end of the evening, after the Fall Fair closed down, he would go on his first official date with Rosamond Boggs. It had been a long time coming, and Ethan couldn't wait for the moment to finally arrive!
Cake Walk Two Ways
Author: Briar Rose
Date: 09-14-09 18:15
Briar had been delighted to have her bakery asked again to provide sweets for some of the Hogwarts Fall Fair activities, namely the Cake Walk. The Hogwarts kitchen elves do a marvelous job but it's also very nice that the school is so supportive of the businesses in Hogsmeade. As with last year, Cake Walk involves a student picking a sweet and having it walk a given course. The distance the sweet must travel is based on the student's year in school. A student successfully completing the challenge then gets to pick a sweet from the variety Briar's provided.
Also this year is a typical American Muggle style cake walk. There's a large square made up of smaller, numbered squares. As music plays, participants walk around the large square. When the music stops, each participant stays in whatever numbered box he or she was in at that time. A number is drawn at random from a bowl and if anyone's standing on that number, a sweet is won. If necessary, one or more numbers are drawn to find a winner. Then it all starts over again.
When the arrangements were made for her bakery to provide the sweets for the two versions of Cake Walk, Briar volunteered to help out with working the event. In addition to everything, Briar thought it would be nice that winners have an option to defer collecting their winnings. Afterall, there is the potential to win a large number of sweets and other foods at the Fall Fair in addition to the regular food booths giving out edibles. Students can take a voucher for the sweets of choice and owl it in another time. That way, instead of having a heap of baked goods to eat within a few days or have to use a preservation charm, students can have freshly made items for however long they wish to take to send in the vouchers.
A second option Briar thought would be nice to offer allows winners to fill out an information card and have the sweet sent to someone else.
Briar applauds as a second year successful walks a chess pie along the Cake Walk path. She takes her time choosing a prize, finally settling on the chess pie she'd used.
"Mummy! I rode a broom!"
Turning a smile on Grace, Briar asks, "Did you have fun?"
"Lots!"
"Are you done or do you want to stay and do more?"
"More."
Knowing what her mum was about to ask, Grace turns to Aegean the House Elf, "Please?"
Aegean nods, then allows her hand to be taken by Grace and dragged off, Grace's butterfly costume fluttering as they go. Grace had wanted a costume after hearing that the Eternal-Black twins and Miranda Weasley would have them. It didn't matter to her that their fancy dress was for the previous night's festivities at Hogwarts in celebration of Halloween. When Sirius had told Briar that Mira and James were wearing their costumes again today, Briar didn't see any reason not to let Grace wear hers as well.
Enough students have gathered to do the Muggle style cake walk so Briar turns from watching her child skipping with joy to instruct the Cake Walkers, "Pick a numbered square, one person per box."
A few seconds later she's waving her wand at a music box to start a lively tune playing. After enough time has elapsed she waves her wand again while saying, "Stay where you are."
With the bowl of numbers in hand, she steps over to one of the students. The boy reads out, "Fifteen!"
"That's me!"
"Come pick a prize," Briar smiles.
"What sort of chocolate is that?"
"It's a milk chocolate mocha."
"I'll have that one then, please."
The cake is quickly boxed with a string for easy carrying and by that time there is another student for the magical Cake Walk and enough for the Muggle style.
Gnome Toss
Author: Jolyon
Date: 09-15-09 19:23
The Hogwarts grounds buzzed with activity, even though it was quite cool outside and somewhat uncomfortable. Few complained about the weather, being distracted enough by the various entertainment venues to notice. Jolyon reasoned that it could be worse. It could be raining.
He had been charged with overseeing the Gnome Toss game. A section of the grounds was marked with white lines measuring distance in meters. The farther a constestant threw, the better the prize awarded to him or her would be. To prevent the gnomes from running off after being tossed, Jolyon quickly summoned them back to the throw line, where he kept a small pen with the disgruntled creatures.
A first year Jolyon didn't really know, since she wasn't one of his students, came forward to try her hand at tossing a gnome. She introduced herself as Audrey Appleseed from Gryffindor. Jolyon had her reach into the pen and get a gnome. She grabbed it firmly by the ankles and pulled it out of the pen upside-down. It struggled a little, but it wasn't strong enough to remove itself from her grasp.
Jolyon instructed her to swing around in circles as much as she liked and then to release the gnome in the direction of the painted lines on the grass. She nodded her head in understanding, having seen others trying their hand at gnome tossing earlier, and then started to spin. Around and around and around she went before stopping abruptly and letting go of the gnome. it sailed over three painted lines before landing in the grass with a thud.
"Accio gnome!" Jolyon exclaimed, with his wand pointed at the creature, which had already scrambled to its feet and made an attempt to scamper in the direction of the Forbidden Forest.
It came sailing backwards, its arms and legs flailing in protest. Jolyon set it into the pen and then awarded Audrey a prize of her choice for the distance she achieved. She went away smiling, and Jolyon turned to the next person in line.
Human Gobstones
Author: Christopher Chant
Date: 09-15-09 21:03
Christopher's already made two trips to his room to deposit stuff he's won so far at this year's fall fete. He's not sure why this one is called Fall Fair versus Fall Festival versus whatever else names similar functions have had but it's not something he's dwelt on either as the name is wholly unimportant. What matters is what there is to do and how fun those things are.
Christopher has mainly gone around with Milo Martin this morning but at various times they've joined up with others and later today, around lunch, he's meeting Catriona. He's also getting together with some of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team to cram together in the dunking booth, where they plan to hurl insults at other Quidditch players. They'll probably take a number of good dunkings but it's all in good fun and at least they can use quick drying spells if none want to trek driping wet in this chill weather to change clothes.
Milo and Christopher arrive for the third time at the Human Gobstones field. They'd had a blast with it the previous year and were excited and eager to learn it would be part of today's festivities. A match is underway as they approach, one of the large gobstones with a person inside barrelling their direction. Christopher pulls Milo aside just in the nick of time to avoid getting squirted with the nasty smelling excretion gobstones shoot out. With these gobstones being so much larger than normal ones, the amount of fluid sprayed out is proportionally larger. Getting doused from head to toe in that awful aroma is enough to make anyone run and throw themselves into the dunk tank water or dashing down to hurl themselves into the frigid waters of the lake.
"Excellent. If you two join us, we'll have a full team," Hadrian Rabnott says upon seeing Milo and Christopher and referring to the fact that each team can have up to six players for a match.
"Works for me," Christopher replies, nodding at Hadrian and the three others with him - Alastor Jenkins, Daniel Gelson, and Hunter Rabnott.
"Looks like this match is about to end," Milo remarks.
They watch the remaining forty-five seconds of the three minute match, quickly figuring out who to cheer for. Three minutes doesn't seem like very long but as Christopher well remembers from last fall, once inside the large balls and trying to get them rolling and smashing into other balls with enough force to knock the others from the ring causes the time to seem ten times as long. Christopher recalls how sweaty he'd been when those three minutes had ended after playing his first full match of Human Gobstones.
The current match ends and those inside the gobstones in use are helped out. The adult overseeing the game at the moment does a quick wand wave inside each gobstone to make sure there's nothing to interfere with the next person's traction. Christopher and his five friends take gobstones that have a lines of purple on them.
Only after Christopher is inside his gobstone, making sure it's properly positioned for the start, does he pay attention to who the opposing team members are for the match. He can't help but grin at seeing that each one is not only a girl but a girl from first or second year. Five of his team are fourth year and one is third year. On top of being older, they have the advantage of being larger and more muscular.
This should be a breeze.
Just over three minutes later, a now damp Christopher stands with his five friends, looking on with mouth agape as the sole person to have still had a gobstone in the ring when time was up collects her prize. How did first year Gloriaspasiana Hodfuffer beat them all?
Daniel says in a low voice, "We can't ever admit we were the ones she beat so soundly."
"To heck with that. I'm challenging her to a rematch," Hunter declares. "One on one."
"You do that, little brother. Don't mind me when I'm standing her laughing my arse off," Hadrian says with a grin.
Thinking it might be fun to watch, Christopher moves to the sidelines to watch. As they wait for the next match to begin, Milo, some of the others, and he debate whether to play again soon or wait a little while. Personally, Christopher is itching to be a gobstone again sooner rather than later in hopes of turning his bad showing in his first match around.
The Next Day
Author: Griet
Date: 09-16-09 17:26
Even though the Fall Fair was supposed to be a lot of fun, Griet couldn't get interested in any of the activities both inside the Great Hall and outside on the Hogwarts grounds. She kept reliving the events from last night in her mind. Griet and Oberon making out in the broom closet. Gervaise and Cornelia catching them in the act. Gervaise confessing his feelings. Cornelia's stony silence.
If there had been any two people Griet would have been okay with knowing about her secret "relationship" with Oberon, it would have been Gervaise and Cornelia. Never in a million years would she have anticipated their reaction to the news. She'd had no idea that Gervaise had feelings for her, though in hindsight maybe she should have recognized the signs. They weren't obvious to her, even now, but she remembered how he'd stayed with her when Professor Snider had locked her up for the full moon. No one else had done that.
As for Cornelia, Griet hadn't realized the intensity of her feelings for Gervaise. She had noticed how talkative Cornelia seemed around him, but Griet thought their affection for each other was purely platonic. That obviously wasn't the case as far as Cornelia was concerned, and now that she knew of Gervaise's feelings for Griet, she hated her again.
Neither Gervaise nor Cornelia had spoken with Griet since last night, and Griet had hardly spoken with Oberon since then either. She wondered if Gervaise was giving Oberon a cold shoulder, too. They'd been best friends since first year, and it would be a shame to let a girl become between them.
Griet walked around outside and eventually entered the Magic Maze, if only because she'd grown tired of walking around the other rides and games. She walked aimlessly, following random paths unless she reached a deadend and had to turn around again. If she ever stumbled upon a prize, she didn't collect it, and instead ambled on somewhere else.
She turned a bend in the line of hedges, when they suddenly shifted and revealed none other than Oberon. He looked equally uninterested in collecting prizes and finding the exit to the maze.
"Hi," she said, crossing the distance between them, though she stopped a couple feet before him.
"Hi," he said, studying her face. "How did you sleep?"
"Not well," Griet replied. "You?"
Oberon shrugged. "I thought I would get an earful from Gervaise, but he didn't say anything to me when he finally returned to the dorm room. He wouldn't even look at me."
"Did you try to say something to him?"
"No," Oberon admitted. "He'll get over it."
Griet looked down. "I hope so. I feel so bad. I had no idea. And Cornelia..."
"Surely you knew how she felt? She broadcasted it to the world without saying anything."
Griet met Oberon's gaze. "Well, even if I did, it's not like I can control how Gervaise feels about me. I hope he does get over it, if only for Cornelia's sake."
Oberon took a step closer to Griet and placed a hand on her cheek. She didn't flinch, like she thought she might. She still liked him (and loved to hate him) but last night had really shaken her.
The hedge suddenly moved again, and Oberon quickly dropped his hand and stepped away. A moment later, a couple of first years came into view, though they stopped short at seeing the Slytherin seventh years. Oberon gave them a scowl, causing them to turn on their heels and go the other way.
Griet found herself smiling. She hadn't done that in a while.
"Let's get out of here," Oberon suggested.
"Yeah. Let's go."
Not So Little Thing Number Two
Author: Zabrynna
Date: 09-16-09 17:56
As far as customs and feasts go, last night had been a success. The party afterwards was equally awesome.
Everything would have been near to perfect except for one not so little thing.
Okay. Make that two.
Obviously, one was that Declan is still so near yet so distant. As per the agreement for being allowed back at Hogwarts, Zabrynna is never alone with him, even if she has to speak with him concerning something related to History of Magic.
If by chance she encounters in a hallway when both are alone, Declan keeps walking, never even hinting that he sees her there. In class and other settings such as the Great Hall, if he looks her way at all it's with a cold neutrality that hurts Zabrynna even more than the ignoring in corridors.
She knows she deserves his contempt but that doesn't keep Zabrynna from having all those same feelings for Declan that led her to do what she did in the first place. She just wishes she could get him alone for five minutes to let him hear her out and to apologize in person.
Walking alongside Anne and Phillipa going from the House of Horrors to the Magic Carpet Ride, Zabrynna catches sight of not so little thing number two.
Clearly Declan does like redheads, which Zabrynna takes as a good sign.
Does he really need to bring not so little thing two to Hogwarts functions? There really wasn't a need to have not so little thing two here last night AND here again today.
Zabrynna clenches her jaw so tightly the muscles start to ache. With one look back at not so little thing two - all right, a dagger filled glare - Zabrynna controls her voice and expression well enough that neither Anne nor Philippa have any hint that something is wrong when she suggests, "After the Magic Carpet, how about we head inside for a bit to do some of the booths?"
"I could do with a break from out of doors," Anne agrees never knowing that the suggestion has been made because Zabrynna has a sudden, fierce urge to visit the Troll Smash booth.
Saturday
Author: Hermione Granger
Date: 09-17-09 18:58
The first three weeks of Hermione's review session at St. Mungo's had flown by. She was already in the middle of her second mini term, which continued the Medical Charms and Medical Potions courses but introduced a lecture and observational rotation on Creature-Induced Injuries. As expected, Hermione did quite well during the first mini session and continued to impress her professors and classmates as the second term progressed.
When not in class or at the hospital, Hermione went to her job at the Ministry of Magic. She intended on working their until her normal rotations at St. Mungo's resumed, but that wouldn't be for a while yet. Hermione worked less hours these days than before she returned to school, but she still put in as much time as she could manage, if only to help pad her Gringotts vault.
She found herself at the Ministry of Magic's Office of Magical Maladies now, catching up on some filing. Hermione let the time get away from her and only noticed that someone else had entered the quiet, deserted office when a shadow fell over her paperwork. She looked up from where she sat cross-legged on the floor and saw Ron towering over her. He stooped to her level and kissed her.
"Hey."
"Hey." Hermione smiled at him. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you, of course," Ron replied, with a lopsided grin. "Will you be working much longer?"
Hermione took the opportunity to look at the watch on her arm. "Oh, I didn't realize the time. I was supposed to clock out half an hour ago." She climbed to her feet, collecting the files scattered on the floor as she did so and deposited them on the small surface that served as her workspace.
"I heard there's a festival of some sort happening at Hogwarts," Ron said. "I think outsiders are welcome, even though it's not officially an alumni event like Homecoming."
"Sounds fun," Hermione said, turning to him. "And I'm sure Dumbledore wouldn't mind if we showed up and said hello."
"So it's a date then?"
"It's a date!"