|
|
Summer Holiday's Nearly Here! (Deak)
Author: Aaron Miller
Date: 06-11-07 18:44
"Time! Quills down now."
Deak, frowning over the last question he'd had to write an answer for on his Potions final, puts his quill aside."
"Papers to the front."
The papers go flying forth as bidden. The anti-cheating quills are collected next then the second year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs are dismissed. Deak and the other Ravenclaws walk with the Hufflepuffs until separating for the Hufflepuffs to go to Transfiguration and the Ravenclaws to the third floor for Charms.
In addition to Charms, the Ravenclaws still have the Herbology exam at 11 am. They'll be completely done by noon with all their exams, as will the Slytherin second years. The Hufflepuff and Gryffindor second years won't be entirely done until 11 pm tonight when their Astronomy exam ends.
Yesterday, Deak had had Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, History, and Astronomy. He's really glad yesterday was his long day. It's going to be great to be totally free of studying and exams when he goes to the Great Hall for lunch.
What's more, Aaron has sat down with Deak and Sage to come up with a vacation trip. As a family, meaning Saffron and Drake and even Frannie and Payton, whom Deak now calls Gran and Gramps, they'll go to Los Angeles. For a just the guys trip, Aaron's going to take Deak, his friend Wiggy, Sage, and Sage's friend Jim camping at this really great Muggle tourist place called the Grand Canyon. They'll not only camp but go white water rafting and do some rock climbing. Drake and Kody might come too, which would be great!
Deak can hardly contain his excitement! For now though, he's got to get this Charms exam out of the way and then Herbology. Sliding into his seat in Charms, Deak grins at Wiggy, who looks like he's itching to be done and on to summer holiday as well. Professor Flitwick quickly calls for order, pointing out that the sooner they get started, the more time they'll have for writing the exam. There's also a small practical for each student to take while the written portion is taking place. There's been a practical in other classes as well, like in Potions last week.
His exam in front of him and another anti-cheating quill, Deak gets to writing, listening for his name to be called to do the practical portion.
Ready and Waiting (Alix Gauthier)
Author: Forest
Date: 06-11-07 21:39
The dragon the kidnappers of Indigo McFusty were waiting on to die, finally did just that. Just after 8 pm yesterday, the dragon breathed its last. By 9 pm instructions had been owled to Kellan McFusty. The rapidity of the message arriving served to solidify in Kellan's mind as well as Alix's that the kidnappers were working with someone at the McFusty Dragon Preserve.
While Alix and the others working with him on the case have prepared as much as possible for this moment, there is no way to prepare for every single little thing. One of the things they planned for but has so many possible variations is an exchange taking place in the Muggle World. Having it take place in a Wizarding location would be difficult enough. Having it in a Muggle one presents challenges Alix is sure they've not even thought to account for.
The kidnappers of course knew how much harder it would be for them to be caught if they did the exchange in a Muggle location so a Muggle location they picked. A busy one at that. The Glasgow park is jammed with children and adults. Alix had hoped his people would have at least caught a break with rotten weather that would have kept more people indoors but there's no such luck. The sun is out and brightly shining with only a few, lazy clouds slowly scudding across the sky.
Standing near a bench just across from a portion of the park's car park are Kellan McFusty and his cousin, who is Indigo's father, Rupert McFusty. Charlie Weasley has wanted to be here as well but he agreed to hang around the preserve, watching to see if any of the other employees are acting strange or take a break from the preserve about the time of the exchange.
In the closest parking spot to the bench is a Muggle vehicle that Alix has been told is called a lorry. The backend of the vehicle is loaded with the crates containing the remains of the deceased dragon. Hidden by an invisibility cloak, a wireless extendable ear and a wireless extendable mouth to communicate with, Alix now waits on the lorry as well, more a little impatiently, for the kidnappers to show.
Speaking with Kate
Author: Skyler
Date: 06-12-07 03:51
Skyler sat in the common room reading. She didn't know what else to do with herself. The search was going way wrong and coming to a stand still slowly. Deely was doing her best but it was hard. All she knew at this point was her father's name and that he was probably dead. Not only that but there was family, but as they said "information cannot be located at this time" along with a few personal letters that she received from the office people on the island her father supposedly used to live. One person told her to stop searching and they were all sorry "for her loss." When Skyler read that she couldn't help but laugh at them.
"How can I lose something I never had to begin with?" she replied aloud. Skyler tossed the letters in her trunk. Deely wrote her constantly always letting her know how things were going and what she was up to and how she could wait to see her. Skyler snapped her book shut. It was one she read a million times and wasn't in the mood to make it a million and one.
Sky got up and returned her book to her trunk then headed back toward the common room. She wanted to take her usual walk before bed. As Sky was about to leave a group of girls walked in.
"Hi Sky," one said and stopped. Skyler turned around. She was one of the few girls she tolerated.
"Hi Katie, how are you?" Sky asked with a strained smile.
"I'm okay. Can't wait to go home. Where are you going to stay this summer?" Kate asked with a huge smile. She knew Skyler's situation unlike most.
"I'm staying with a friend, Kordelia this summer. We met at the orphanage now she has her own flat with a spare bedroom and she invited me to stay with her," Sky replied casually. Kate nodded and her smiled faded.
"Have you decided whether or not to find your dad?" she asked. Sky nodded.
"Yeah, um I'm going to find my family. I heard my father is dead as well and as for the rest, I dont know. Deely, that's Kordelia's nickname, and I are trying to find them but it's going to be hard," Sky told her quietly. Kate hugged her and gave Sky her condolences. Sky shugged.
"You'll find them Sky. I wanted to let you know that you are welcome to stay with me and my family any time you like. You should definitely visit and write this summer," Kate said, her smile slowly crossing her face. She was always smiling Sky noticed.
"Yea, of course" Sky said. Kate hugged her again then walked away. Oddly enough she liked Kate and her sister Isabel. Isabel was older and entering her 7th year while Kate was the same year as Skyler. Sky wondered if Kate and Deely were right and they would find them or would their search forever be empty and pointless. Sky sighed and headed out for a walk.
Potions Interning
Author: Majandra
Date: 06-12-07 10:09
"Skele-Gro in that cauldron and the blood replenshing potion in that one. After that you can start the prep for the sleeping draught ingredients."
Ivy Kettleburn taps a finger to her chin before pronouncing, "Yes, I think that's it for now."
Majandra walks over to the nearest of the cauldrons she's to use. Peering in, she sighs. Just as she expected. Whomever used it last did not clean it. So far Maj hasn't figured out if it's the same person or if there are several who are slack about cleaning out the cauldrons. All it would take for St. Mungo's to get into some serious legal trouble is for a potion to be made in an unclean cauldron that had Merlin only knows what in it last and then administered to patients.
The only person so far that Maj is sure it isn't is Arsinoe Jones. Or is she going by Crumm now? Either way, Maj has seen Arsinoe a number of times cleaning up after herself. Maj would have thought by now she'd have seen more potions being begun, ended, or prepped but so far in this portion of her interning and apprenticing towards becoming a potions mistress, Maj has only seen others working on potions in progress.
Pointing her wand into the dirty cauldron, Maj scourgifies it three times to be sure it's good and truly clean before she starts making the batch of Skele-Gro. The other cauldron appears to be clean but just to be on the safe side, Maj scourgifies it as well. She begins making the Skele-Gro, making sure the stand in front of the cauldron is clearly labeled so that whomever relieves her on the next shift knows what it is she's brewing up.
When both cauldrons are bubbling as they should be, the potions in each the right colors, Maj hums to herself as she cleans out a third cauldron and uses the preparation table in front of it to begin getting the sleeping draught ingredients ready to use. If there's time on her next break, she'll pop around to Bill's room to see how he's doing. Like everyone else in the family, Maj hopes Hermione's on to something with this trip she's taken to Egypt.
At The Exchange (Indigo)
Author: Travis
Date: 06-12-07 13:22
Indigo knows a few days have passed since he was hit over the head near the pet shoppe. He just doesn't know exactly how many days it's been. However much time has past, Indi's head still hurts. Indi figures he's damned lucky the concussion, because it's got to be a concussion for his head to still be pounding as much as it is and for the nausea he keeps experiencing, hasn't been so bad that he slipped into a coma.
The place where Indi was held was dark. He's sure that if it hadn't been the headache would be even worse from being exposed to light. As it is, getting out the backend of some sort of Muggle vehicle - a van he overheard one of the kidnappers call it - that had been sort of dark, the bright sun that hits Indi in the face has pain exploding anew in his head and Indi squinting his eyes so tight they are practically shut.
"There they are," a gruff voice says right at Indi's ear. "Right where you told them to be."
The man on Indi's other side says, "And there's the lorry."
Indi's eyes, still adjusting to the light and being more slow about it thanks to his tight squint, can make out the forms of two people in the direction the kidnappers are talking about. Opening his eyes a little bit more, Indi can now see that one of the forms is his father and the other is his cousin Kellan.
The kidnappers hadn't revealed their true faces around Indi and even now aren't showing their real appearances. Indi doesn't even know their names other than the one with the deep, gruff voice was called by the nickname Eagle and the other, who seems to be the leader of the pair, as Lion. There's a third man, not here at the moment, whom they referred to as Panther.
What the three don't realize is that Panther should have taken care to disguise his voice. Indi recognized it immediately as that of Clyde Nutcombe, one of the dragon keepers at the McFusty Dragon Preserve.
Indi heard enough from then to know they took him so they could get their hands on an entire dragon, the parts of which would bring a small fortune on the black market. If this exchange goes well, Indi will be able to tell the authorities to look no further than Clyde as being behind all this.
The one named Lion shoves his wand into Indi's back. "Walk slowly towards those two at the bench."
Doing as bidden, mindful of all the Muggles in this park, particularly the children, who could be seriously hurt or even killed if a fight breaks out between the McFustys and the two kidnappers, Indi starts walking towards the park bench.
Across The Miles
Author: Julian Valentine
Date: 06-12-07 17:42
Sitting on the beach, already late into the night, Julian is covered with such a sheen of sweat one would think he's out in the blistering swelter of the hottest part of the day. Even here on the Valentines' private island in the Pacific Julian can hear the call of Geheimzinnige Zilver.
On Friday, when he could not take another second of it, Julian had left Hogsmeade and come to the island. At first there was blessed respite but as the weekend progressed into Monday the call of the book grew louder, more insistent. It's worse even then when he was in Hogsmeade.
Facing the direction the book lies across thousands of miles, Julian clasps his hands around his knees. He wonders if it would really be so bad to retrieve Geheimzinnige Zilver. Open it. Read its contents. How bad could it be?
"Stop!"
Julian yells the command to himself. He's got to stop wondering how bad the book can be. Julian's seen more dark arts books than he can count and none have held sway over a person like Geheimzinnige Zilver is trying to do. That alone speaks volumes on just how dark the book is.
Pushing up off the sand, his legs feeling rubbery, Julian resolutely marches back to the main house. He'll return to Hogsmeade. He WILL get the book and destroy it. Without bothering to change into clothes that aren't wet from sweat, Julian steps into the Floo.
Washington DC, Spicer House - Coming to terms with moving
Author: Cailyn Spicer
Date: 06-12-07 20:38
“But Daddy, I don’t want to move. I like Washington DC. I like America. I like Walting’s. I don’t want to move to gloomy old England! How do I know I will like Hogwarts?” Cailyn Spicer asked her father for the millionth time while she packed away some school books into a wooden crate.
“You never liked Walting’s darling. You wined everytime I sent you there.” Nicko said. “You said you didn’t have any friends there. Maybe you can make some new friends at Hogwarts.”
“I won't. I don’t make friends dad.” Cailyn said throwing her books into the crate and running to her room.
Once she was inside her bedroom, she slammed her bedroom door good and hard. When she slammed the door, she made the wall shake and a painting fell down. But it didn’t break. Cailyn kicked at her bedpost. How could her father move her to a foreign country? One she knew nothing about? Or rather one she knew very little about? Tears stung in her eyes and she felt a great big lump of fear in her throat. What if they didn’t like her just like they didn’t like her in America.
She swung around and walked over to the window. Wonderful. Another school. More kids. Only this time they aren’t American kids. This time, she really would be an outcast. But this time, she also had a chance to change things around. She could be whoever she wanted. Not just the little geek in class no one liked.
Maybe going to England would be a good thing. She thought walking back over to the door. She could put her entire past behind her and make some friends. Make a new life. She sighed opening the door and looked down the hallway towards her father’s room.
“All right, Daddy! I’ll go to England with you!” Cailyn yelled through the hallway.
“You don’t have any choice!” Nicko yelled back through the hallway.
“Yes I do! I could stay with Aunt Nora!”
“Darling, I am your full and legal guardian. And your Aunt Nora has enough people to take care of without you adding to it. You are coming with me.”
“I already said I was!” Cailyn shouted and slammed the door shut.
Cairo, Egypt: Robbery
Author: Hermione Granger
Date: 06-12-07 20:47
Baniti, Alistair and Hermione found themselves unable to enter Gringotts yesterday. A crowd of gawkers stood behind barriers set up by Egyptian law enforcement officers. The trio quickly discovered that a bank robbery had only just taken place, but further details were not to be had. They would not be allowed entry into the building that day and would no nothing more of what occurred until the next morning, when an auror came calling to Baniti's waterfront home.
Evidently, it was Baniti's own vault that had been victimized during the robbery, and, surely enough, his copy of the manuscript was now missing. In fact, it was the only item of all his treasures and gold that was unaccounted for.
Why would someone go to great lengths to steal every copy of the book? Hermione wondered. Were they that valuable and rare that a single person need all in existence? Or was someone trying to hide the information the book held between its covers?
Her mind immediately recalled Khalid Adallah, who held a large enough grudge against Bill that he broke out of prison just to get his revenge. How had Adallah known about the poison? Did he know of the book's existence? Had he gone after all the owners to get his hands on their books?
Baniti was lucky in that whoever was after the books decided to go to his vault first, rather than try his home. All the other owners had been killed during the burglaries.
Now it was late afternoon and Baniti, Alistair and Hermione sat on the back porch and sipped tall glasses of lemonade. It was hot, and the sun reflected off the water and blinded their eyes.
"Is there really no other copy of the manuscript?" Hermione asked.
"None known," Baniti replied, shrugging his shoulders, "but that doesn't mean no others exist."
Hermione frowned. It seemed as if Bill's luck had run short. Would it have been better to let him die rather than keep him in his coma, if Hermione couldn't ever find his cure?
"I guess we have no further reason to stay," Alistair said gently.
"Return tomorrow," Baniti suggested. "Stay one more night and then leave in the morning."
Alistair looked at Hermione to get her thoughts. She nodded.
"One more night then," Alistair agreed.
Expecting Trouble, But Hoping There's None (Alix Gauthier)
Author: Forest
Date: 06-12-07 21:18
The second a van with the back windows darkly veiled pulled into the car park, Auror Brent Trentson was on his wireless extendable mouth. "Looks like our targets."
From his hiding place in the bed of the lorry, Alix whispers a stern reminder, "Everyone hold your places."
Alix peers out from underneath the invisibility cloak, moving slightly to get a better view though the wooden slats that make up part of the lorry's sides. Two men on either side of Indigo McFusty have come into view.
Both are on the tall side but one has a large frame and is husky with a thick, dirty blonde beard. The other has wide set shoulders that seem at odds with the thinness of the rest of him. He's clean shaven with shoulder length medium brown hair that's shot through with gray.
Indigo McFusty is pale, his complexion almost sallow. His expression is that of someone who's queasy though McFusty is trying not to show it.
From his position, Alix can hear what's said when the kidnappers and Indigo reach Kellan and Rupert McFusty. "Keys?" a raspy voice demands.
Rupert McFusty replies, "Here."
"Eagle, check some of the boxes."
"Right-o."
The large, bearded blonde easily jumps into the back of the lorry and randomly pries off the lids of some of the crates. Staying on the truck bed, Eagle walks to the end and says to the other, "All looks in order."
At that exact moment Indigo McFusty bends over and starts retching all over the feet of the brown headed one with the raspy voice. Taking advantage of the one named Eagle having his back to Alix and the other one now occupied with being disgusted at having the younger McFusty vomiting all over his feet, Alix yells, "Move! Move!" to spur his people into action, even as he's already in motion, launching himself at Eagle's back.
Alix hits Eagle low and hard, sending the larger man sprawling off the back of the lorry. Alix, holding on tightly, goes over as well but the oversized Eagle cushions the landing for him. Eagle's head cracks sharply on the pavement but doesn't knock him out. He's pushing himself up but Alix isn't making it easy. Still gripping the man tightly, Alix gets his wand hand around to shove the wand into Eagle's side.
"Stupify!"
Eagle goes limp but Alix keeps his wand aimed on the hulking brute as he jumps up to assess what's going on with the other man. That one is also on the ground but very much conscious. Brent Trentson, two hit wizards, and Kellan McFusty have their wands trained on him. The guy's wand is shattered. Alix can't wait to hear what he missed in such a short span of time that had the man's wand shattering into countless splinters.
Indigo McFusty is seating on the bench, bent over, head between his knees as his father Rupert kneels in front of the young man, talking softly to him.
Alix glances around, notices that they are starting to attract attention. Shoving his wand out of sight he says to the others. "Good job. Now let's get this mess cleaned up before we attract any more Muggle attention than is strictly necessary."