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School Days Again
Author: Emerald Green
Date: 07-08-08 20:20
After a breakfast not worth remembering, Olive went with her friends to the classroom designated for Potions while Emerald and her friends tromped out to the recently erected greenhouses. Once inside the four different years automatically grouped themselves together, none having any idea what to expect.
Promptly at 9 am an elderly woman, shriveled and stooped with age and so wrinkled that her face makes a white raisin look young and smooth, entered the greenhouse. In a voice deceptively loud for someone so small and aged, the students were ordered to align themselves by year. Without bothering to wait for them to move and without noting they were already grouped as she wanted them, names were rapidly called off of a roster, her gnarled hand making quick work of checking off each name.
After a brief lecture on what she expects of them, during which time she never introduced herself, not so much as even her name, each year group was directed to a different corner of the greenhouse. The professor stood on a platform and from there gave directions to each group.
The seventh years were put to work harvesting bubotubers. Since this is something most of them did during their fourth year at Hogwarts, they can't help but wonder what sort of lesson this is, especially since the only instructions they were given were the ones telling them to harvest the bubotubers.
Emerald hadn't been at Hogwarts or any other school of magic when the lesson on how to harvest bubotubers was given. Luckily, it's something Uncle Woody taught her during the time period before she began fifth year at Hogwarts. His teaching her was part of the efforts to get Emerald prepared for taking the O.W.L.s. Still, Emerald watched the others closely, making sure to don the protective gear before handling any of the bubotuber plants.
When class ends at 11:00, someone Emerald could hear but not see remarked, "If it's running on time, the Hogwarts Express is leaving right now from King's Cross Station."
Someone else commented on the remark but Emerald didn't catch what was said. She's on lunch duty today so needs to hurry to the dining hall. The only good thing about having lunch duty today is that at least with the meal preparation she won't have too much time to wonder what Shop class or Home Economics will be like this afternoon.
(Mark) Hogwarts Bound
Author: Isolde
Date: 07-09-08 08:12
Mark stretched out on one of the seats in the compartment he had all to himself and thumbed through the latest edition of Quidditch Weekly. Empty candy wrappers littered the seat across from him. His new kitten, Cavall, swatted at the wrappers, knocking them onto the floor. He'd purchased Cavall, a snow-white kitten, at the Magical Menagerie just yesterday.
Although it was nice having a compartment all to himself, Mark couldn't help but feel a little bored. Tossing the magazine aside, he climbed to his feet, careful not to step on Cavall, who now pounced around on the candy wrappers littering the floor, and slid open the door to his compartment. He slid the door shut behind him so that the playful kitten couldn't escape and run rampant down the train's corridor, and then he started walking down the hallway himself, peeking into the compartments as he passed.
For the most part, they were just as empty as Mark's own. He spotted several people napping. Here and there, a few people were clustered together, trading Chocolate Frog cards or just conversing with one another. Some of the compartments were completely empty.
Mark walked all the way down the corridor until he reached the end, where the prefects had just gathered to hold their annual on-the-train-to-school meeting. He took an about-face and walked the other way until he reached the end, then he doubled-back and returned to his compartment. Cavall now slept in the seat Mark had vacated, perhaps basking in the warmth he'd left behind.
After brushing away the remaining candy wrappers from the opposite seat, Mark sat down and leaned his head against the window. He wasn't sure where exactly they were, but he guessed they were halfway to Hogwarts by now.
Meeting Philippa
Author: Zabrynna
Date: 07-09-08 09:11
Zabrynna was more than happy to sit by herself in a train compartment. It meant she didn't yet have to deal with small talk and she could concentrate on her book. Shortly after she'd eaten the sandwich her mum had insisted on sending, Zabrynna looked up from her book with surprise when a teenage girl came flouncing in uninvited.
The girl's face is flushed and her nostrils flair angrily as she settles herself on the other seat. Zabrynna looks over her book at the intruder, eyebrows arched inquiringly.
Feeling eyes upon her, the girl looks across at Zabrynna. "Sorry," she huffs. "Victoria and I just had a disagreement. At first I didn't pay attention to other compartments when I passed but when I did, yours was the first I saw and you had an empty seat."
"Victoria?"
"Victoria Visconti. Apparently my only sometimes best friend."
That said, the girl gives Zabrynna an appraising look. "I don't know everyone at Hogwarts, especially those not in my house, but even ones I don't know, I often know the faces. I don't know yours and with that hair of yours I think I'd remember you."
"I've never attended Hogwarts before."
The girl sits up straighter. "Philippa Fox, fifth year Slytherin."
"Zabrynna Ravensdale. Fifth year as well."
"Do you know anything about the Hogwarts houses? Slytherin is best."
"My parents attended. My mother was Slytherin and my father was Ravenclaw. They still good naturedly argue over which house is better."
"You were taught at home before now?"
Zabrynna shakes her head. "Durmstrang."
Philippa's eyes widen and she leans forward. "Really? I wanted to go there for the tournament a couple of years ago but I didn't qualify for any of the events at Durmstrang. I did get to go to Watling's Wizarding Academy in American and La Escuela de Hechiceria in Chile."
"I didn't participate in any of the events. I tried out for a couple but didn't make the cut."
"Our flying instructor went to Durmstrang. Former flying instructor. Or maybe he's going to be there still."
"He wasn't sure about returning?"
"No, it's that we had two instructors last year; one for the Pures and one for the Nons. He was put in charge of the Nons. No Nons are on the train today that I can tell so that could mean he's not needed. Or maybe Coach Batuti will be the one gone. Or maybe both will be."
Philippa then went on to explain about how the Nons were taken somewhere when term ended last year. No one knew if that meant they were gone for good or just being kept somewhere together until Hogwarts began again. She finishes with, "If the Express stops to pick up some extra cars, then we'll know the Nons are coming back. Otherwise I suppose we won't know until we get to Hogwarts."
Not knowing how to respond to that Zabrynna asks, "What about the other professors? What are they like?"
Philippa lifts one shoulder in a half-shrug. "We don't know who's still there. It wasn't announced at the end of term feast. Some of the teachers for the Pures had been reduced to Non status and some of the other professors were also Nons, so the only thing I know for sure is none of them will be back. Professor Yaxley will be there. He'd deputy head and taught the Pures Defense Against the Dark Arts. He's nice enough to look at but I preferred the class under Professor Isuki. She made it fun but she taught only Nons last year."
"We didn't have Defense Against the Dark Arts at Durmstrang. We had one called Dark Arts though. I had hoped to see Dueling on the list of classes I was sent to choose from. We had that at Durmstrang."
"Professor Isuki made dueling part of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Yaxley let us do it some but never much and never for long. Some years there's a dueling club. You going to try for Quidditch?"
"I prefer to watch," Zabrynna answers, leaving out the part about how she hates to flying around on brooms.
"I'm one of Slytherin's beaters. Should be again this year unless Batuti or whoever the flying instructor is changes up how things are done with the teams."
"I'll be sure to root you on if you are part of the team, even if I don't get sorted into Slytherin."
Philippa gets more comfortable on her seat. "Tell me more about Durmstrang," she requests.
Zabrynna describes the school and in between answering Philippa's questions about it, she gets in a few herself about Hogwarts, wanting a student's perspective on the things her parents had told her.
From One Community To Another (Hydrangea)
Author: Phinfilius
Date: 07-10-08 09:41
Until this morning Hydrangea Marchbanks had been at a miserable place called Camp Lollipop. Even with buildings named things like Chocolate Frog and Cauldron Cake, there's nothing sweet about Camp Lollipop. The only good there had been that at least Hydrangea was with her siblings and one of her cousins. There were also two whom she knew through her cousin Phin plus some nice adult Nons.
At Camp Lollipop Hydrangea's job had been peeling vegetables like carrots and potatoes. She has no idea where all those peeled vegetables went. All that Hydrangea knew was that only some went to the Camp Lollipop kitchen.
This morning, just after she'd eaten breakfast but before she'd left the dining hall, some of those mean looking Snatchers showed up. They called off names of kids who'd turned eleven by today, which turned out to be September 1st, then gave those kids, a group that included Hydrangea, five minutes to gather what possessions they might have. It was pure luck that Hydrangea was able to locate her three brothers and bid them a tearful goobye. With them being younger than Hydrangea, she almost felt as though she were abandoning her little brothers despite her not having any say in the matter.
The group was taken through a Floo where they were met by an evil looking woman who introduced herself as Happy Haven School for Nons Headmistress Alecto Carrow. She quickly ran through the rules then told them they would be late for their first class if they didn't hurry and get their things stowed in the dorms.
The kids had run to the buildings they were told were the dorms. In the girls' dorm, Hydrangea hastily found a cot that had no blanket on it yet then just as quickly ran to look at the schedule posted near the dorm doors. Potions was first and she along with the other new arrivals made their way to the designated classroom where other students were already clustered.
Hydrangea soon came to realize she didn't care much for Potions, mainly because for the first assignment she ended up having to peel some vegetable looking things. She's had enough peeling of vegetables to last her a lifetime!
It was on the way from the building with the classrooms to the dining hall that Hydrangea spotted one of the sisters of the twins from Camp Lollipop, the ones she knew through her cousin Phin. It was with relief that Hydrangea caught up to Olive and reminder the older girl who she was. Olive had promptly taken Hydrangea by the hand and, along with a girl Olive introduced as Jill, she'd gone to where she said the older students were coming from the greenhouse. Hydrangea actually spotted him first, throwing herself at her cousin Wiggersmythe.
Once Wiggy got over the surprise at having a girl launch herself at him, he'd hugged Hydrangea back and started quizzing her on where she'd been, had she seen his sister, and countless other questions.
When it came time for lunch to be over and for the first through third years to go to something called Home Ec, Hydrangea wasn't feeling as lost or as scared anymore. She didn't, however, think she was going to like Home Ec much either.
Changes
Author: Ethan Somerset
Date: 07-10-08 11:19
When the guards came to collect Ethan from his prison cell, he felt surprised and cautious. They had come a few weeks ago for Siegfried Dewhurst, who'd only been sentenced to a six-month term in Azkaban. Ethan envied the younger man's freedom and wished for as much himself, but he didn't think he was lucky enough to get his life sentence overturned a second time.
The guards who removed him from his cell mentioned nothing of a premature release. They said little to nothing at all, even when Ethan casually questioned their intentions. It wasn't long before he got the answers he sought, and in a very direct manner.
They flooed to the island of Brecqhou, where Ethan was stripped of his prison robes and outfitted with equally bland and prisonlike clothing. He received a rather painful tattoo of an N on the back of one hand. The area around the ugly mark reddened almost immediately and was extremely tender to the touch.
After the initiation any new member to Brecqhou endured ceased to be, Ethan found himself in an office with an individual he knew quite well and another he'd certainly heard of but had never had the circumstance of meeting. Maverick Pilot, nursing his own tattooed hand, exchanged an almost inperceptable nod with Ethan before redirecting his eyes on the other wizard, Rodolphus Lestrange.
Rodolphus introduced himself as the warden of the community of Brecqhou and made short order of explaining what was expected of the newcomers. They would like know many of the other community members, Rodolphus explained, as they all came from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Ethan, naturally, had been an auror before his arrest last February. Maverick's last occupation before his own arrest had been to work in the department's record division, albeit under the alias Grady O'Neill.
News from the outside world rarely reached those at Azkaban, usually only arriving with the latest incarcerated wizards. From those who had entered Azkaban after him, Ethan had heard bits and pieces about what was happening in the wizarding world, but he'd had no idea the extent of it. Gathering up all wizards who lacked pure bloodlines and all those considered blood traitors was a dastardly plan. Not even Lord Voldemort had thought to do something to massive.
Ethan and Maverick were soon escorted from the warden's office and assigned to hard labor, which only made the burning ache in their tattoed hands last longer and made them all the more suspectible to infection. Although not even one day into his new life, Ethan almost wondered if he'd have rather stayed locked away in Azkaban.
Welcoming the Students
Author: Iris Tabu
Date: 07-10-08 12:33
Iris waved to the students as they left the train and, with a single hand motion, she bade them closer.
"Ok, all new students, listen carefully" she called, a spell enhancing her voice to make it louder, "please begin to get into a boat. There's no need to worry, the boats will take you straight across the Lake to the castle."
She motioned to the boats behind her, "no more then four students in a boat at once!"
As soon as the last few students were in a boat, Iris wafted her wand which set them in motion. She hadn't learned how to do the spell properly without the wand yet, but there was a whole year left in which to learn.
Her form stooped and changed. Great flapping wings could be heard as a swallow-tailed kite took to the air. Eying each student for a moment, she glided gently over the water's surface as they silently made their way to Hogwarts castle.
Landing on the other side, she turned back into a woman and watched the students climbing out of the boats, one by one.
They all walked up the main staircase.