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Night of Horror
Author: Sophie McCourt
Date: 10-12-19 10:06
Sophie went to have dinner at her mother's house. Surprisingly the Poles had nothing scheduled for Halloween night, and Jasper had to work until late. Martin, her stepfather, had a two day conference in London related with work and so he was also away. It was nice to be alone with her mother. Sophie was looking forward to some maternal advise that would raise her spirits.
Learning about her pregnancy at St. Mungo's had been a complete shock. She was not expecting to be a mother at nineteen. She did not feel capable and the baby had ruined all her plans for the future. The Poles had convinced her it was better to cancel her enrollment at St. Emrys. It would make no sense to start her studies when she would be having a baby next spring and would have to quit classes for a while. They were very excited about having a grandchild so soon, that would give continuation to the Pole lineage. Jasper was excited as well and he decided they should continue living at Pole manor. He wanted his wife to live in the best conditions until her due date and he did not think that an apartment on St. Emrys campus would be appropriate to raise his child. All of Sophie's projects had been shattered and her life would never be the same. She was counting with her mother to give her some comfort and help.
Leslie served a Lancashire hotpot, a typical comfort food dish. Sophie savored the mutton stew, with its roasted potatoes and onions, and she started feeling better already. Her cheeks got rosy with the warm environment as Leslie had turned on the fireplace. The radio was on and soft music played.
"How have you been feeling?" Her mother asked.
"I still have some nausea in the morning, and sometimes I feel tired, but otherwise I am well."
"I can tell you aren't being honest with me," Leslie said in a tender voice.
Sophie looked down at her plate. Her hand was playing with her glass, nervously.
"I'm sorry…it's just…everyone around me is so happy with my pregnancy while I…well…I feel sad and scared," She tried to control a sob, but she wasn't very successful at it. "What kind of person am I, for being sad about having a child? Does that make me a bad mother already? I feel horrible!"
"Oh darling, no. You are not horrible," her mother assured her. "You are only nineteen, and you had your life ahead of you. I know how badly you wanted to study Astronomy and to live a more relaxed life with Jasper, away from your in laws. It is natural that you feel frustrated and also frightened."
Sophie felt a little bit relieved to know that her feelings were somewhat acceptable. But nevertheless she was not able to control her tears.
"It hurt when I had to go to St. Emrys to cancel my enrollment. I saw a few familiar faces from Hogwarts. They all seemed so…so free! I felt envy of them. Oh gosh, I'm terrible!" She started sobbing again.
Her mother caressed her arm, trying to soothe her.
"Sophie, darling it's all right. Listen…it's not too late. If you want you can still have the same life as your former colleagues."
"What do you mean?" she asked hopeful that her mother would know how to make things better.
Leslie stood up went to a drawer and took something out of it. She showed it to Sophie. It was a small tin can with some herbs inside.
"I can prepare you a tea with these herbs. We can do it during the weekend, you can tell Jasper I invited you to spend some days with me, that I wanted to buy something for my grandchild. I can send Martin away. Hopefully it will be not very painful…"
"Painful?" She asked confused.
"Yes. I will be here with you during the entire process, so there is nothing to be afraid of." Her mother picked up Sophie's hands. "You are still very young, and you and your husband can have more children later, when you are older. You don't want to give up your dreams and waste your life so soon, do you? Look at you, you are almost a child yourself. This tea will give you another chance in life. Trust me."
Sophie looked at her mother, in horror. Leslie was suggesting she should make an abortion. She had to admit that doing so would solve all her problems. She looked down at her belly and she knew she couldn't do it. There was a living creature inside of her. She was not capable of killing it.
Sophie let go of her mother's hands.
"No! It's an innocent baby, mother. It's your grandchild! I can't do this."
"Don't be foolish. This innocent baby that you now seem to care so much will ruin your life. Don't you see what it has done already? I know the idea sounds scary but you will be free again. You can go back to college, and pursuit your dreams and ambitions. Everything will be all right again. I am only suggesting this because I love you and I cannot stand watching you suffer."
"I can't do this, " Sophie repeated. She stood up and used her wand to summon her coat. "Goodbye, mom." She said, leaving the herbs on the table. The Lancashire hotpot was now completely cold.
"Promise me you will think about it…you still got time, but you need to think fast! The clock is ticking, Sophie. Soon it will be too late!"
Sophie left the house, still in shock, and completely frighted. She felt more alone than ever. It had been a night of horror at her mother's house, which in a way made justice to the fact it was Halloween.
Noah, Sophia & Charlotte
Author: Lysander Stratford
Date: 10-12-19 14:13
Ever since his first year when Brianna Wentworth asked him to be the second half of a unicorn, Noah hadn't dressed up for Halloween. He decided to give it another try this year, but rather than dress up with a partner or wear something elaborate, he decided to don wizardwear in the Japanese style. Japanese wizards wore robes, too, but they were often embroidered silks. The set Noah wore were beige with a pattern of tree lilacs with clusters of white blossoms, orange and red crysanthemums, and three large cranes on the back.
He had written home with his idea early enough for his mother to order him a new set of robes directly from her favorite shop in Japan. His mother also sent a package to Sophia.
Sophia hadn't dressed up last year because she thought the custom far too Muggle. After seeing all the costumes last year, Sophia felt like she had missed out on having fun. While in the library at the start of term, she happened upon a book of historical dress that someone had left on a table. Finding a Rococo-style dress particularly beautiful, Sophia checked out the book and sketched a drawing of it into her letter home. Sophia was actually quite good at drawing and had joined the Art Society during Club Day.
The dress she wore was very grand. It was made of green satin with golden embroidery and white lace on the sleeves. She looked like Slytherin royalty from another time.
Charlotte, meanwhile, was dressed in the Sverigedräkten, a traditional Swedish folk costume Astrid bought her during their last trip to Sweden. It consisted of a white blouse, a blue dress, and a yellow apron. The dress and apron were both embroidered with daisies. They had seen the dress and other traditional outfits on display at a corner shop while sightseeing in Stockholm.
Charlotte was feeling quite good. It was the Halloween Feast, and the Great Hall was decked out in floating Jack-o'-lanterns. The four house tables were laden with the tastiest, most aromatic of foods. And best of all, the first Quidditch match of the season was just two weeks away, and Charlotte had no doubt in her mind that Slytherin would destroy Gryffindor!
Fancy Dress (Alectrona)
Author: Harry Potter
Date: 10-12-19 14:45
As a first year Alectrona had attended the Hogwarts Halloween feast dressed in 1960s mod clothing, right down to the go-go boots. This year Alectrona is in tie dye dress, fringed vest, and other "hippie" accoutrements. She even looked up slang that would fit with her outfit. When she gestures towards the Hufflepuff table and says, "That Chinese Fireball outfit is groovy," Ruth's reply is, "Don't you know some other word than groovy?"
"Far out. That Chinese Fireball outfit is far out."
Ruth laughs and Chloe asks, "Does your brother's school do fancy dress?"
Taking Chloe to mean Argyll she nods. "Optional like here. He said he was going to dress as troll but didn't say what sort of troll."
Pausing in the process of buttering a bite of bread Ruth uses her knife to point out one of the older Slytherins. "What do you suppose that one is?"
"Sort of Mermish but also not." Alectrona's turning her head from one side to the other even though she knows it's not giving her any better a view of the costume in question.
Chloe's also stumped. "Half Merman, half horse maybe?"
"You think he's going for kelpie?"
Alectrona nods at Ruth. "Yeah, probably. That seems to make the most sense but there's something off about the overall effect he has going on. Now, that one, the girl there at the Gryffindor table, I think is a garden gnome."
"And there's another there," Ruth points out farther down their own table. "I don't know who or what the next girl is."
"It's Muggle inspired, a flight attendant from the looks of it," Chloe tells Ruth.
"Ooooh, what do you think of that one?" Alectrona asks of a somewhat elaborate outfit worn by a girl at the Gryffindor table.
Ruth, Chloe, and Alectrona speculate on what the costume might then move on to commenting about another fancy dress outfit, and then another, having fun seeing what others have worn. Alectrona is also getting ideas for what she might do for the next time fancy dress is required or optional.
(Tessa) Opposites
Author: Bronwyn Dewhurst
Date: 10-13-19 07:54
Tessa ignored the look Blakeney gave her. It was not the first time her best friend expressed her disappointment in her choice of fancy dress. Whereas Blakeney had gone all out to make herself especially pretty––no doubt to try and catch the eye of a handsome member of law enforcement––Tessa had deliberately made herself undesirable. Admittebly, she'd done it to get under Blakeney's skin since she was so determined to find Tessa a new boyfriend despite never having been in a real relationship herself.
"Umm, you're losing straw," Blakeney said, pointing to a bit of hay that had fallen onto Tessa's plate.
Tessa tried to keep her smirk inward and brushed the piece of straw onto the floor.
She had gotten her idea for a Halloween costume while heading to Care of Magical Creatures class one day. Hagrid had been in the process of erecting a scarecrow over the pumpkin patch. Tessa had actually gone to him to get straw for her costume and had used a mix of her own clothing and things specially owl ordered to complete her look. She'd done her makeup herself, since Blakeney didn't approve.
Blakeney, meanwhile, was dressed as a femme fatale. She had seen images of such women on different DVD covers at Cloud's Kiss during Muggle Studies class but hadn't been sure how to get her hands on a leather catsuit and spiked boots, knowing her mother wouldn't approve. Fortunately, an advertisement for a new fall line of nightlife clothing at Twilfitt & Tattings featured sexy robes that were either buttoned or zipped under the bust but open from the waist down to reveal chic pants and footwear. Blakeney inquired about the pants part of the outfit, which could either be simple leggings or an actual jumpsuit.
Since Twilfitt & Tattings was a more high-end store compared to Gladrags Wizardwear, Blakeney ended up spending her entire allowance for the black jumpsuit, which she fortunately could purchase separately from the whole outfit. The jumpsuit was form-fitting, sleeveless, with a zipper down the front, which Blakeney had pulled down just low enough to not get in trouble with Professor McGonagall, though the Headmistress had already given her plenty of disapproving looks.
To accessorize, Blakeney wore black knee-high boots with heels and had her long hair in a high ponytail.
She sat up straight and put her hands on her tummy, which was flat and trapped by the tight outfit she wore.
"See," Tessa teased, "you should have realized that wearing tight clothing to a Hogwarts feast was a bad idea."
Blakeney looked at her with eyes made-up with smokey eye shadow. "Sometimes you have to make sacrifices," she said. "Either you eat well or you look good." She spotted a particularly handsome member of law enforcement and tugged on her zipper just a little bit.
Tessa rolled her eyes and picked up an enormous turkey leg, spilling straw out of her sleeves in the process. "Suit yourself," she said.
Funny Costumes
Author: Saffron
Date: 10-13-19 19:35
Saffron watches Niccola sitting with Joshua, her head tilted towards Cassie Flefferfore laughing at something the other girl has said. Saffron can't believe her baby turns 11 in just over two weeks. This time next year Nic will be seated at a house table because she'll be a student. She will still sleep in the castle but instead of her room in the family flat she'll be in a dorm with other first year girls. When Aaron asks quietly in her ear, "Thinking again about Nic's turning 11?" Saffron nods.
"Where did the time go?" she asks.
At the Ravenclaw table, wearing a dark purple version of Princess Aurora's dress, Nic is telling Cassie, "That girl over there is sort of Snow White. And Senna," she indicates her younger aunt resplendent in a spring green dress sitting with Brandon, "is based on Belle but Belle's ball gown is known to most as yellow."
On her other side Josh dryly inserts into the conversation, "And I am the bedsheet wearing ghost but in a blue sheet instead of a white one with papers chains that don't rattle because metal ones were too heavy."
Nic laughs at her cousin. "Then why not use smaller chains?"
On the other side of the table from Josh, Jordan chuckles at the expression that crosses his brother's face, wondering if Josh hadn't thought about smaller metal chains or he had but couldn't get what he wanted and doesn't know the magic needed to reduce the size of the larger ones he must have tried.
Like his brother Jordan had decided to keep his costume simple but then decided to go for laughs instead. He's dressed much like the sweets cart lady on the Hogsmeade Express and even has a small toy carts with fake sweets on it. Friend and roommate Erik had wanted to know why he's only got fake sweets when he could easily have real ones. Jordan had shrugged at him, not really having an answer.
Not far from where Jordan is sitting, Doug Hyland is also in a costume to garner laughs. He's dressed as a deviled egg with the deviled part being because he's also got devil's horns and a devil tail, a red cape, a pitchfork, and, because he thinks it looks cool, a goatee. Ingrid, on the other hand, looks more serious all in gray as a "living statue" while Bran is dressed as a barbarian. He passes a casserole with au gratin potatoes to Kurt as Brom von Roon says, "I give. What are you?"
Kurt grins at Brom. "What does it look like?"
"Sort of like a chess knight."
Kurt's grin grows broader. He taps what looks like shiny metal plating but is actually just lightweight cardboard made to look metallic. "I'm a knight in shining armor."
"Ooooh. That's bad. So, so bad," Abernathy Jones laughs.
Next to Abernathy Estella agrees but says nothing aloud. That would be the pot calling the kettle black as Estella is dressed in dark clothes and carrying a sack from which toy cats stick out. She's a cat burglar. She catches Nic's eye to ask, "Is Brandon a pig in a blanket?"
Nodding, Niccola giggles, looking to where Brandon sits dressed as a pig with a blanket wrapped around him. She'd thought Mum or Dad suggested the fancy dress but as they were coming into the Great Hall, he'd told her it was his own idea. Seeing the nearby bread basket has refilled with still steaming rolls, she reaches for one, thinking she could make a meal on nothing but the rolls with a bit of honey butter but, taking in all the other food for the feast so far, she's happy with the wide variety and can't wait to see what all the sweets are when it's time for the pudding course.
Too Many Sweets
Author: Philippa Hainault
Date: 10-15-19 02:02
Philippa had dressed up as a medieval queen for Halloween. She was wearing a red dress and a fake crown on the top of her head. She felt pretty, even if the crown wasn't made of real gold. There was no royalty in the wizarding world but the Hainaults had always favored the cult of royalty and nobility fomented by Muggles. Her grandfather Maximilian liked to boast that five out of his six grandchildren possessed names linked to the Muggle royalty. Mark was the exception.
Philippa knew Maximilian had wanted Mark to be named after him. But he had been born abroad and was under the care of his maternal grandfather Ferdinand, who was rumored to have chosen the boy's name himself, ignoring his mother's wishes, who had wanted to call him John. Philippa had never seen her brother Mark. Or her baby sister Catherine, for that matter.
She let go a frightened squeak and placed her hands above her head, when a squad of bats passed only a few inches above her crown. Vincent Bouvier laughed.
"They are not going to hurt you," he told her.
"It's an instinctive reaction," Philippa excused herself.
She didn't like the bats fluttering around the Great Hall. She couldn't tell if they were real or fake as her crown, but they sort of scared her. From time to time she would watch them by the corner of her eyes, and she was only able to go eat again when they were far away from her. Like Vincent said the bats were not going to hurt her, but she was still afraid of them.
"Hey Philippa, does that dress have pockets?" Nelson Amadopolis asked.
"Yes, why?"
"Could you do me a favor and store some of these?"
Nelson passed Philippa a bunch of Halloween sweets, wrapped in colorful packages. Nelson was a bit of a cheap person and he wanted to be sure he would bring as much sweets as he could with him so he wouldn't have to spend money on it for the rest of the term.
Philippa obliged just to be nice, and she put as much sweets as she could inside her pockets. She hoped none of the teachers or prefects caught them on their way out. They weren't technically stealing but she still felt that large quantity of sweets they would be transporting out of the Great Hall was an abuse.
Need To Be Rolled Out
Author: Blossom
Date: 10-15-19 19:49
With the feast nearing its end, Gideon is attempting to stuff as many of the puddings on offer into his mouth. He swallows a bite of chocolate cake, his fork ready with a bite of a tangy lemon tart. When he finishes off the slice of tart he's thinking of what looks like an apple walnut pie. Or maybe he'll go with what Schuyler next to him says is spiced caramel cake. Or there's that berry trifle there. At least one bite of each. Or two. Two bites of each and one of those frosted sugar biscuits.
Directly across from him Larkin rolls her eyes. "Slow down and breathe, Gideon."
"No time. Anyone still here before long will be sent out. I could have chewed and swallowed a bite of something in the time it's taken to answer you." He shoves a forkful of the apple walnut pie into his mouth.
Watching him, third year Ilsa Ludlow asks in wonderment, "Where do boys put it all?" She shakes her head and shrugs then asks Gideon, "What are you, anyway? A funny deer?"
As he's just crammed more into his mouth Larkin answers for him. "He's a moose. Ilsa, what kind of flower are you?" Larkin, dressed herself as a flame lily, loves her fancy dress but likes Ilsa's a tiny bit more.
"Purple passionflower," Ilsa replies. "It's also called maypop and wild apricot and a few other things. Did you see the bird of paradise at the Ravenclaw table?"
"I don't think so." Larkin looks in the direction of the Ravenclaw table, Ilsa telling her, "Just down from your brother."
At the Ravenclaw table, unaware that Larkin is using him as a base point to look for someone in a bird of paradise costume, Seth is thinking he'll just pull his arms and legs into his puffskein costume and let someone roll him out of the Great Hall. Even as he thinks this he accepts the last bit of an almond toffee cake, wishing the small piece was a big slice.
Right next to him Lisa McCallister asks out of the blue, "Say, Seth, when do your little brothers start Hogwarts next year?"
Hastily licking a smear of almond frosting from his lips he shakes his head once. "Year after. Freddie and Fabian don't turn eleven until December of next year."
"That will be two more Weasleys." She makes a sweeping gesture towards the Gryffindor table. "There's six right there," she says of Gideon, Larkin, Miranda, Georgie, Schuyler, and Artie.
"Oh yeah. Lots." He ticks off on fingers. "There are Ava, Victoire, Dominique, Louis, Lucy, Audrey, Hugo, Rose, Jamie, Albus, and Lily. Don't know of any of the aunts and uncles are thinking of having more. Hey, what is that just past your cup?"
"This? Key lime cheesecake with another flavor I'm not sure of. Mango maybe?"
He holds out his plate to her. "Please? Thanks."
As she slides a slice onto the plate she laughs, "You're going to need to be rolled out of here if you eat much more."
He grins at her. "I was just thinking that."