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Finals Are Finally Here (Daria)
Author: Blossom
Date: 06-09-07 11:42
Daria's first exam is not until 11 am. As much as she would have liked to sleep in, Daria didn't want to go to the Ancient Runes exam still groggy and yawning a great deal. She'd made herself get up to have breakfast at the usual time and since then has been sitting at a table in the libary doing a review, not for Ancient Runes but for Transfiguration, which is later today at 2 pm.
Of her nine finals, Daria has only three today. There's Ancient Runes at 11 am, Defense Against the Dark Arts at 1 pm, and then Transfiguration at 2 pm. Tomorrow will be a bloody, hellish day. Only one of Daria's six exams tomorrow is before lunch, Muggle Studies at 11 am. The rest of Tuesday will be an afternoon with four back to back exams, starting with Potions at 1 pm, followed by Charms, then Herbology, and then at 4 pm there's Arithmancy. Daria's ninth, and last, exam is Astronomy at 1 am tomorrow night.
Daria's not sure if it were better that she has the schedule she has or if the days were switched around. She's thinking that it's probably best the way it is. If she were to have six test the first day, with one of them not ending until 2 am, and then have to get up to take the remaining three, Daria thinks it would be far worse on her.
Reaching for a couple of notecards she sees sticking out of a side pocket of her haversack, Blossom is reminded of a letter she'd gotten this morning but not yet read. Getting it out, Blossom smiles at seeing it's from Jon Matadi, an extremely nice - and nice looking - guy who attends Okapi Ecole de Sorcellerie she'd met during the SATs. Reading it, Daria smiles even more. Jon will be in England this early August and hopes to meet up with her.
Knowing she should concentrate on going over problem areas for her various exams, Daria still pulls out a fresh sheet of parchment, gets out a bottle of dark blue ink, and selects a quill with a good point on it. By the time Daria's done writing, she has just enough time to get the letter off by owl before going to the Ancient Runes classroom for the sixth years' final examination.
Midmorning Visitor
Author: Griffin Price
Date: 06-09-07 13:13
Griff's pulled from his dreams by an insistent knocking at the door. At first he burrows deeper under the covers, shutting his eyes more tightly, and tries to pretend the persistent rapping isn't at his flat but the one next door. The noise continues, cutting through the layers of covering and pillows. Adding to the sound is Seeayetee meowing loudly to be fed.
Muttering an oath, Griff rolls out of bed. Still ignoring the knocking at the door, Griff walks barefoot to the kitchen to get Seeayetee's breakfast and to check her water bowl. When he's done, the knocking is still going on so Griff, with another muttered oath, goes to the door and looks out the peep hole.
At seeing Jacob standing there, looking irritated as hell, Griff goes from muttering oaths to swearing aloud. Jerking open the door he snarls, "What?"
"Is that any way to greet your favorite uncle?" Jacob retorts, shoving past Griff to walk in uninvited.
Jacob goes straight for the most comfortable looking of the chairs, dropping into it and giving a disdainful sniff. "Merlin's beard I don't know how you live surrounded by so many Muggles."
"This is a Wizarding set of apartments," Griff flatly replies.
"Yes, yes, I know that. It's just so jammed in between all things Muggle," Jacob sniffs again.
"How did you get my address?"
"Barnabus. The lad is very obliging, especially after a few stiff drinks. What took you so damn long to answer the door?"
"I was sleeping."
"It's midmorning, slug."
"I worked until nearly 6 am. That and I've had three other very late nights in the past eight days, four long shifts at the shoppe, another day of it being just me at the shoppe from opening until closing. I'm knackered. What do you want?"
"Can't a man visit his nephew without there being an ulterior motive?" Jacob attempts an innocent smile.
"A man may. What do you want?"
Jacob snorts. "Not going to offer me a spot of tea? Coffee? I've some whiskey in a flask," Jacob pulls out the flask to show, "if you've coffee we can add a nip to it."
"Just tell me your reason for coming then leave. It will take all day to disinfect the place once you've left," Griff dryly states.
"I was hoping to spend some time with you. Catch up. Hear all about this adoptive Aunt Ruth I've heard mention."
There.
The ulterior motive.
Griff's reply is in clipped, brusque sentences. "Ruth. She's family after you murdered mine. I call her Aunt."
"Come now. I want details, my boy. Details."
"What details? Ones like how I long I was in the hospital recovering? Want to see the physical scars?" Griff bites out.
Jacob leans back, looking as though he's getting more comfortable, settling in. Griff's eyes narrow, his gaze growing even harder. Through clenched teeth Griff says, "I'm going to get dressed and brush my teeth. I'd prefer you were gone before I'm done."
"I don't mind waiting," Jacob smiles benevolently. "I'll just go poke around the kitchen for the coffee."
Jacob will probably do more snooping then that. Good thing all photos and anything else pointing to Tristan and Carys are safely tucked away at Ruth's.
Language Club
Author: Plum
Date: 06-09-07 14:27
"The castle is soooooo quiet," Plum comments as she bounces her little brother on her knees.
The sixth month old Alex gurgles happily, bubbles blowing from his mouth. Plum bends over more to playfully nibble at Alex's chubby neck, causing the baby to break into peals of laughter.
Walking out of the kitchen, Mary pauses for a moment to enjoy the sight of her daughter playing merrily with her son. The thought creeps into her head, not for the first time, that Plum is old enough to have a child of her own. Having a second, unexpected child is hard enough. Mary really does not want to contemplate the thought of being a grandmother just yet.
Taking a seat across from Plum and Alex, Mary sets two cups on the coffee table between them. "I could hear you saying something but couldn't make out what."
"Oh, I was just saying the castle is so very quiet."
"I imagine that even with the weekend gone, the fifth and seventh years are still collapsed from their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.Ts."
"You're probably right," Plum agrees. "With all the other students either sitting exams right this second or frantically reviewing for exams to come, everyone is so quiet it's like this is an uninhabited castle. I guess we were always this quiet during exams when I was here." One of Plum's shoulders rises. "It just seems quieter somehow than I recall it being."
Shifting Alex so that she can reach for the cup of tea Mary had made for her, Plum uses her chin to point to some papers her mum's just picked up. "What's that?"
"The order forms for the workbooks and other materials I'm ordering for a language club."
"For St. Emrys?"
"No, for Hogwarts. I held a handful of impromptu meetings over this last term. It generated enough interest that Professor Dumbledore's given me the go ahead to make the club official and to be its sponsor. The students who attended the meetings have asked a great deal about both Gobbledigook and Mermish so I'm going to focus on those this coming term."
Plum turns Alex around to face Mary then points to their mother, "Look, Alex. That's Mum's excited face."
Alex burbles and grins toothlessly.
Plum says, "Alex just said for you to let us know how we can help with your club."
Mary laughs. "If you could write a language guide on Alex's various burbles, giggles, cries, grunts, and other sounds, that would be most helpful."
Plum joins the laughing then says, "Stick to languages, Mum. Comedy isn't really your forte." She suddenly stops laughing and pulls a face. "Oh. My. Goodness. What is that horrid smell?"
Mary laughs again and stands, holding out her arms for Alex. "Smells like it's time for a new nappy."
Although she's changed her share of diapers since Alex was born, Plum is more than happy to pass the baby off to her mum to let Mary handle changing him. As Mary walks off with Alex, Plum picks up some of the materials that are under the order forms Mary had put down, and starts thumbing through a book on Mermish, thinking it could be interesting to give a hand with the club.
[Deely] Searching More
Author: Skyler
Date: 06-10-07 02:22
Deely sat in her kitchen and sipped some tea. She didn't know what else to do at the moment. She knew she had more searching to do but how was the question. As she got lost deep in thought she heard a soft pecking on the window.
"Ello Silver," she said softly, opening the window. She patted his head and took the letter. Deely read it over carefully and knew Skyler was disappointed, and she was too. As Deely sat down to answer her, another owl came and dropped off several papers. She opened and shifted through them. It was more on Skyler's family. Only it was more bad news. She found a letter at the end of it.
Kordelia Krewlin and Skyler Johnson
Here is the request information on the LeBranch family. If anything else is needed send a message back and I will see to getting it for you.
Sincerely,
Erin Lane
Deely sighed and sent it along with a letter from herself to Sky then wondered how she would feel after reading those papers. Deely knew everything about her family, she went through what Skyler was going through now and Deely was determined to help Sky anyway she could. She signed the letter and sent it was Silver, Deely knew there was more searching to be done and decided to call it a night early.
Cairo, Egypt: Meeting Baniti Wahbi
Author: Hermione Granger
Date: 06-10-07 09:35
Alistair Mickle had gotten in contact with his apothecarist friend in Egypt, who'd promptly invited him and Hermione to visit him in Cairo. They'd decided to make it an official business trip, for the visit would involve research on behalf of a St. Mungo's patient, and left just that Monday morning for North Africa.
Hermione had never been to Egypt before, though she'd heard a lot about it from Bill himself, as well as from Ron when he and his entire family went many years ago. Her imagination of what Cairo must be like was vastily different than what she saw.
She pictured sand and dunes as far as the eye could see and tan and sun-burnt colored buildings shimmering under a vibrant sun. Instead, Cairo was a city full of color, and Hermione saw water and trees, not sand.
Alistair led Hermione to one of several wizarding sectors in Cairo, which was right on the water. They went to a blue house and knocked on the door.
A house elf opened it and peered up at Alistair and Hermione with big eyes. It spoke something in arabic. When neither wizard responded, it switched to English.
"How can Ana be helping you?"
"We would like to speak to your master, Baniti Wahbi. Tell him Alistair Mickle and Hermione Granger have come to see him."
Ana nodded her head and disappeared from the doorway. A moment later she returned, telling them to follow her into the house. She led them towards the back of the house and out onto a patio that looked over the water. In fact, it extended over the water. She could barely make out the gentle waves through the cracks in the floorboards.
A tan-skilled man dressed in all beige sat on a wicker chair and read the newspaper. He rose when he saw his guests and extended his hand to each of them.
"Nice to see you again, Alistair. It's been a long time."
"Indeed it has, old friend. This is Hermione Granger."
"How do you do?" Hermione asked, shaking Baniti's hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. Please, sit down. Ana, serve our guests some tea."
Everyone sat down, except for the house elf who filled two cups of tea for her master's guests.
"Alistair tells me you are looking for information on a rare, poisonous powder that may be local to Egypt," Baniti says. "Can you tell me the symptoms your friend is experiencing?"
Hermione told Baniti everything, from what Bill had told the authorities about the time of his infection, to the symptons he'd experienced before his coma. She even told him about how a bezoar was used to avoid his death.
When she finished, Baniti said, "I have a rare manuscript that I believe has the exact information you need."
"Might I see it?" Hermione asked.
"Of course, only I had to move it recently and I no longer keep it here at the house."
"Why is that?" Alistair asked, curiously.
Baniti slid the newspaper over the table towards Alistair. It happened to be an English-language newspaper. The article on the first page was about a murder and theft that had occured only yesterday evening. According to the article, it was the 3rd such crime in recent days.
"Because someone is desperately trying to steal all known copies of the manuscript," Baniti answered gravely. "There are only four in the world, that we know of, and mine's the only one left."
Hermione suddenly felt very uneasy. If the crimes had happened in the last few days, then it probably wasn't safe being in Baniti's home, especially if it was known he had the last copy of the manuscript.
As if reading her mind, Alistair hurriedly asked, "Is it safe?"
"The manuscript?" Baniti nodded. "For now, and I've heightened security on the house, so there is no need to feel too alarmed. If you would like, we can go to the manuscript right now. I will probably have to move it again, lest the thieves and murderers figure out what I've done with it."
Hermione nodded. "Yes, I'd like to see it, if it's not too much trouble."
"None at all. It's in my Gringotts Vault."
A Free Man
Author: Severus Snape
Date: 06-10-07 12:38
The dust that had long-covered every surface in the brick row house in Spinner's End had been removed only that morning, and all the cobwebs that had overtaken every corner in every room in the house had also been cleared away, turning the virtually abandoned place into a habitable one. Severus had worked hard in making the place livable again, wanting some semblance of a real home after having spent the past year in a cramped cell at Azkaban.
As expected, Dumbledore had arrived at Azkaban yesterday morning for Snape's release. Severus had to fill out paperwork before he could finally enjoy his freedom, but it was only a small price to pay for finally stepping off the rock Azkaban towered over.
Snape declined Dumbledore's offer to immediately return to Hogwarts and instead went to Spinner's End, to enjoy the rest of his summer on his own until September 1st. One might think Severus wanted human contact after spending a full year by himself in a cell, but even in Azkaban, Snape never had real solitude. He wanted to revel in his newfound freedom all by himself.
After cleaning the entire interior of his home, Severus set to working on the outside. The sun seemed almost inhumanly bright, and Snape squinted in his attempt to adjust to the light, yet he basked in its warmth, remembering all too clearly how cool and damp it had been in his cell in Azkaban.
The bricks at the foundation could use a good wash, Snape decided, and then he would work on the garden.
Aren't We Done Yet? (Jewel)
Author: Phinfilius
Date: 06-10-07 17:49
Professor McGonagall calls time. Jewel bites her lower lip in frustration. She had only half a sentence left to write to finish completely finish the Transfiguration exam. Nothing she can do about it now but put her quill down. She daren't try scribbling the remainder of that last line after the professor has called time. If caught, Jewel might end up having the entire answer not counting.
Her test turned in along with the others in the class, Jewel joins those filing out to head to the History of Magic exam. With three tests behind her but with the History final exam still to write, Jewel's hand is throbbing at the thought of it. All those dates. All those little details Professor Binns wants.
Bailey moves to walk instep with Jewel. She casts a glance over at him, "You don't have to come with me. Go enjoy as much of your break as you can before Divination."
"I want to walk you. I only lose a few minutes." Bailey moves a little closer to Jewel and takes her hand in his.
Poor Bailey has already had four exams today with a fifth in about an hour. He started off with Care of Magic Creatures then both he and Jewel had Ancient Runes, a break for lunch, then Defense Against the Dark Arts followed by the Transfiguration exam they just finished. Tomorrow is worse for them. Bailey has another five exams and Jewel has six.
As bad as things are now in the minds of all the sixth years, by this time next year with the stress of the NEWTs, they'll be wishing they could turn back the clock to go back to writing regular final exams.
Reaching the History of Magic classroom, Bailey drops a quick kiss on Jewel's cheek and wishes her luck.
Jewel squeezes Bailey's hand. "Good luck in Divination. I'll be waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs when you're done."
Another squeezing of hands then Jewel goes in and takes her seat, having the whiny thought of, "Aren't we done yet?"
Frustrated
Author: Ethan Somerset
Date: 06-10-07 19:30
Carrying a manila folder with his latest proposal for Berwyck Oldridge regarding the release of the Project 25ers still in Azkaban, Ethan navigated his way through the corridors on Level 2 and eventually came upon the desk of Oldridge's secretary.
She looked up at Ethan's approach and asked, "May I help you?"
Ethan opened his mouth to speak but said nothing when he distinctly heard Oldridge's shouts from his office.
"Who authorized the release of Severus Snape?" he exclaimed. "I didn't approve of it."
"Sir, his sentence was given to him before you became the department head. Madam Bones..."
"Madam Bones has no more authority within these walls. From now on, all impending releases from Azkaban go through me first. Get me that warden right now, and find out who else signed the papers releasing that man. They have to answer to me."
"Yes, sir."
A young man hardly older than eighteen stepped out of the office and hurried off in one direction. Oldridge stepped out of the office a moment later and glanced right at Ethan.
Ethan took the opportunity to speak, though judging on the conversation he overheard, he couldn't imagine Oldridge giving him the time of day.
"I want to talk to you about Project 25 if you have a moment."
"If it's another proposal for the release of the others, I'm afraid that you're wasting your time."
"Can you at least tell me your reasoning?" Ethan asked, stepping in Oldridge's way when the man tried to move past him.
"They committed terrorist acts. It doesn't matter that they weren't acting of their own accord. The fact is they did terrible things and will suffer the consequences. Now if you'll excuse me." Oldridge sidestepped Ethan and brushed past him.
"What of me, then?" Ethan asked. "I'm no different than any of them, and yet here I stand, a free man."
Oldridge stopped and turned to look at Ethan. Just when Ethan thought Oldridge might say something, Oldridge turned back around and continued on his way.
Despite his frustration, Ethan decided not to follow. Instead, he returned to his office, thinking it too bad that Amelia Bones had gotten replaced by someone who didn't see eye to eye with Ethan.