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Special Event
Author: Minerva McGonagall
Date: 09-04-09 09:01
On the morning of October 25th, Professor McGonagall rose early and dressed in a thick set of velvety black robes. She threw a gold-clasped, black cloak over her shoulders and added a small Gryffindor pin to the ensemble to show spirit for her own house, which would participate in several miniature Quidditch matches during the first ever homecoming event at Hogwarts.
Minerva wondered how many alumni would attend the all-day event, which would not only include the Quidditch matches but booths with other forms of entertainment, food tables, and even more activities for students and visitors.
She ate a quick breakfast in her quarters before setting out for the grounds to survey the setup of the various tables. Despite the cool weather, the Hogwarts grounds bustled with activity. Many booths were already set up, but others were still in the process of getting situated. For the relatively early morning hour and it not being a school day, Professor McGonagall was surprised to see so many students milling about.
The time passed quickly before Argus Filch hobbled down to the gate at the edge of the grounds and unlocked it to admit the alumni and their families, some of whom had already gathered in Hogsmeade. Minerva greeted everyone she saw and engaged in conversation with some before it was time to go to the Quidditch Pitch to watch the very first mini match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.
The miniature matches would be the first time, outside of the Quidditch trials and any pickup games around the school, that the complete teams would get an opportunity to play against each other before the actual matches occurring throughout the entire school year. Being the Quidditch fan that she was, Professor McGonagall couldn't wait to see how Gryffindor fared.
She made her way to the staff box and took a seat next to some of her colleagues.
Nostalgia
Author: Isolde
Date: 09-04-09 09:58
When Isolde first heard about the homecoming event at Hogwarts, she jumped at the chance to attend. The seven years she'd spent at the castle had been some of the happiest in her life. She'd met Pyrrhus, her one true love, at Hogwarts, and had spent many years on Slytherin's Quidditch team. Her nostalgia for Hogwarts and the fact that Azaelia worked there now were reasons enough for Isolde to visit campus on homecoming day.
Luckily, she didn't have a little league game today, and Pyrrhus didn't have a Humbatas match either. The happy couple disapparated from their Salisbury bungalow to Hogsmeade and ate breakfast at Briar's Bakery. The village buzzed with excitement, since many individuals and families were visiting and planning on attending the castle events throughout the day.
After breakfast, Isolde and Pyrrhus made their way to the Hogwarts grounds, where they found many tables set up. Some promoted the various clubs Hogwarts offered. Others were laden with snacks they could purchase. They browsed the various booths, having heard that the first Quidditch match of the day would be between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, two teams Isolde had little interest in viewing.
The first familiar face they ran into was Isolde's cousin Mark, who would be playing in Slytherin's matches. Isolde promised to watch every single one, and then Mark went on his way to do whatever it was he planned on doing. They ran into Py's half-brother Mason next, who seemed to be adjusting to Hogwarts quite well, despite never having known about being a wizard or anything at all about magic until very recently. Mason left them for his friends after a little while, only for Azaelia to find them next.
Isolde, Pyrrhus and Azaelia walked around together, as they had years ago at Hogwarts. All they lacked was Alexis's presence, which unfortunately could never happen again. They rememebered the good times as well as the bad, but more than anything were just happy to all be at Hogwarts together again.
Hufflepuff Colors
Author: Julian Valentine
Date: 09-04-09 18:36
Down on one knee in front of his daughter, Julian holds up a jumper in one hand that's mostly green shot through with silver threads. In his other is a jumper that's equally silver and green. "Which one do you think, Grace?"
"That one."
"This one?" he asks, holding up the one that she sort of seems to be pointing towards.
"No," the six year old states with that parents are such idiots tone perfected. "That one."
Lysander chuckles, reaching past Julian to hold up another jumper. Julian looks over his shoulder at it then back at his daughter with a roll of his eyes. "You don't seriously want to wear Hufflepuff colors?"
"Caerwyn does," Grace states, crossing her eyes as if inviting Julian to contradict her.
"That's because he has to," Julian calmly points out, wondering at what point in Grace's six years had he started having to rationalize something for her because of her having just made a very good point. "Charlotte likes her Slytherin jumper."
"I want Caerwyn's colors, Dad."
"What if I get both?"
"Okay."
Turning to hand the green with silver threads to the person working the booth, Julian checks the sizes of the Hufflepuff jumpers, finds the right size for Grace then turns to her with it to ask, "This one all right or the other Hufflepuff one?"
"That one."
Handing over coins to the clerk, Julian asks Lysander in a whisper, "You think she planned all along to get me to buy both?"
Lysander smirks with the retort, "She's your daughter, isn't she?"
Taking the bag from the booth clerk, Julian takes out the Hufflepuff jumper. "I'm guessing this is the one you want to put on right now."
Grace affirms, "Good guess, Dad. Pom poms now?"
Charlotte perks up to chime in, "Yeah! Pom poms!"
The two men follow their daughters to a booth so covered in pom poms that the structure itself is hidden. It's a few minutes later when they are at a booth with hats of the four house mascots, Julian really not wanting to buy Grace a badger to perch on her head, when a distraction comes in the form of Caerwyn.
"Grace! Dad!" Caerwyn calls out, threading his way at a fast clip around people at booths. "Hi, Uncle Lysander! Charlotte!"
The girls squeal and throw themselves at Caerwyn for hugs and as always when it comes to Grace and Charlotte, Caerwyn unabashedly hugs them back.
"Where's Briar?"
"She ran us off while she was setting up a picnic," Julian says, giving Caerwyn's shoulder a squeeze seeing as how the girls won't move back long enough for Julian to "hug" any other part of his son. "You are going to eat with us, aren't you?"
"Yes, but I don't think I can eat much."
"Nerves before your first match?" Lysander asks.
"Something like that."
Later, when the first of the exhibition matches has started, Caerwyn's stomach is flip flopping like crazy, making him regret having that third slice of cake Briar brought. He worries about how he's not all that he's on the slim side compared to some of the other beaters and that up against another team, all that extra weight training he's been doing will be for naught.
Augustus - Gus - gives him a thumbs up from where he's ready with his broom. Caerwyn weakly grins back, thinking that he's sure he's going to do something embarrassing, like hit himself with his own bat or hit a bludger the wrong way so that it gets one of his own team instead of a Gryffindor.
A half minute into the match, Caerwyn forget all about being nervous when the bludger he's just hit prevents Marjania Batuti from making the first goal of the match and allows Hufflepuff's Milo Martin to steal.
In the stands, his family is cheering wildly for him, even his dad and Uncle Lysander, both of whom are HUGE Slytherin supporters. Feeling more confident, Caerwyn chasers down one of the hard black balls, arm swinging his back to easily connect with the bludger, grinning as the ball makes that screaming sound it has. His grin gets bigger when he scores a solid hit on Gryffindor Etta Wynbourne just as she's she's stolen the quaffle. Hufflepuff's Emerald takes the red ball right back, shooting down the pitch to get set up for a goal attempt. Caerwyn is on the trail of the bludger he just hit so he can help Emerald with her goal effort.
The Wynbournes At Homecoming
Author: Jared
Date: 09-05-09 09:09
Not long after arriving at Hogwarts for the homecoming event, walking alongside his parents, Jared's eyes swept the area for any signs of Alanna. He was so intent on looking for any of the Beck contingent that when massive arms went around him and lifted him off the ground in a bear hug, he was caught unawares. When he's dropped back down, Jared struggled to catch his breath, made all the harder because he was also laughing.
"Still ticklish just from a big hug, are you?" Uncle Edward had said, slapping Jared on the arm.
Jared's Uncle Edward is his father's big brother, with big having double meaning. Edward Wynbourne is tall and broad and has often been described as bear-like. His son Basil is built more like his mother but does have some of Edward's muscle giving Basil the abilty to knock a bludger from the long end of the pitch to the other. Jared's always supposed that's what makes Basil a more effective beater than you'd think just looking at him.
Jared stuck out his hand to shake his uncle's, no longer thinking that one day he's hand would be closer in size to Edward's. At 18, it's possible Jared might have another growth spurt or two in him but he's long given up thinking as he did when he was a child that one day he'd be as large, as tall, and as muscular as his uncle.
Jared had greeted Aunt Faye, Edward's wife then fell into step with his parents, aunt, and uncle as they started towards a booth selling items in the colors of and with the crests of each of the Hogwarts houses. From the looks of it, there are other booths with House-centric items though so far he couldn't tell if any have identical items.
It wasn't long after that when they reached the spot where Abigail had arranged with Etta to meet her. Unfortunately, Basil was there as well and from the look he'd had on his face, he didn't seem at all thrilled to have been standing around with Etta while waiting for the parents to arrive.
About that same time Jared had spotted Alanna. Excusing himself from his family, he'd hurried over to greet her and the others with her. Several minutes were then spent with the Wynbournes and the Becks exchanging greetings and talking about this first ever Hogwarts homecoming.
Jared and Alanna had talked some with Etta about the matches she would be in today, largely ignored Basil who ignored them right back, then with promises to meet others for lunch later, Alanna and Jared broke away for a little while to stroll from booth to booth and check out the various entertainment.
Later still, after a lunch comprised of a mix of picnic items they'd all brought and food gotten at some of the booths, Jared had eaten until he felt like he would burst. Etta ate but not much, saying she didn't want to feel bogged down for her first match, which was against Hufflepuff. She said she'd eat more at supper when all her matches are done. First there's a mini-match against Hufflepuff, then one against Ravenclaw, and last off all one against Slytherin.
The stands were pretty packed for the first match, Jared whooping loudly for his sister. Alanna cheered for Etta too but also enthusiastically cheered for Hufflepuff, her former house.
As the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff game ended. Basil paced on the sidelines, eager those players to clear off so he and his teammates can take to the air and get some warming up done before Slytherin's first match of the day, which is against Ravenclaw. The one he's most anxious to get here is against Gryffindor. Basil loves nothing more than to harass horsey-faced Etta with one bludger after another.
With the tip off quaffle went to Jack Emerson. Basil got right on it though, knocking a bludger right into back, loving the way the bat sounds when it connects with the bludger for a solid hit. Jack lurches forward over his broom from the impact of the bludger right between his shoulder blades. His momentary gasping for air lets Olive easily steal the quaffle away. She sets off for the hoops guarded by Daniel Gelson, Basil racing ahead so that he can harass Daniel with a bludger just in time to screw up the block of a Slytherin chaser scoring a goal.
Slytherin vs Ravenclaw
Author: Griet
Date: 09-05-09 10:42
Olive quickly found herself boxed in by the Ravenclaw chasers, but when a bludger courtesy of Mark slammed into Deak's shoulder a moment later, she found an opening and threw the quaffle overhand to Griet. Hadrian seemed to anticipate Olive's quick thinking and very nearly plucked the quaffle from the sky, but a cool draft of air buffeted the red ball just slightly out of reach. Griet adjusted her position and claimed the quaffle before Hadrian or anyone else could.
She darted ahead, when something hard made impact with the middle of her back. Griet buckled forward and lost her grip on the quaffle, which plummeted to the ground. She saw only stars before her eyes and couldn't tell what had happened to the ball.
For the briefest of moments, as Griet attempted to collect herself, time stood still.
After the Hogsmeade visit, she and Oberon had remained true to their final words to each other at The Three Broomsticks. They ended whatever had been between them, never speaking of it or acting upon their feelings since that time. Oberon still made Griet angry, and vice versa, and sometimes those old feelings of lust crept up again, but they pretended as if the attraction between them no longer existed.
If Cornelia and Gervaise sensed a change in the others, they didn't acknowledge it aloud.
"Are you okay?"
Griet looked up and saw Cornelia hovering near her with a look of concern.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. I'm all right. That hit just knocked the wind right out of me."
"Okay, well you looked like you were in la-la land for a moment. Don't forget that we're in the middle of a match."
With that Cornelia sped away, presumably having spotted the snitch.
Griet looked around and realized that Olive and recovered the quaffle and battled the other chasers and the beaters and their bludgers for a chance to score for Slytherin. The older girl, feeling better now and more importantly seeing clearly again, bounded ahead to lend her assistance to Olive.
Weasleys at Hogwarts
Author: Bill Weasley
Date: 09-05-09 12:05
Thoroughly unfamiliar with the Muggle concept of homecoming, Bill nevertheless thought it high-time that Hogwarts arranged something like today's event. Alumni and other guests had always been welcome to watch Quidditch matches and certain other productions or activities at Hogwarts, but never had an event been organized with the purpose of inviting alumni and their guests to the castle.
Bill had enjoyed his time as a student at Hogwarts, though it had been many years since then and much had changed in the interim. Still, he had fond memories of the school and looked forward to visiting again for more than an ordinary Quidditch match. The last time he'd stepped foot on campus had been for the battle against former Minister Smythe-Jones. It would be nice to return under happier circumstances!
Because he had a small child with a short attention span and no comprehension of the significance of homecoming and its events, Bill had no plans to spend all day at Hogwarts. Depending on how Victoire fared as the day progressed, the family might make more than one trip to the grounds though. It was certainly convenient that they lived in Hogsmeade and could easily go back and forth if they wanted.
Fleur wanted to attend homecoming too. She had spent one whole year at Hogwarts, when she'd been Beauxbatons Academy of Magic's contestant in the Triwizard Tournament. Officially, she might only be an alumni of the French school of magic, but a small part of her felt like she could claim Hogwarts too. Also, she looked forward to seeing her sister Gabrielle.
Shortly after arriving at Hogwarts, the couple and their child ran into Charlie, Hendrika and the boys. The group stuck together and eventually acquired Percy and Penny and later Ginny. Other members of the Weasley family soon glommed onto the group, until what appeared to be a mass of mostly redheaded people happily milled about the Hogwarts grounds and the Quidditch Pitch.
Family
Author: Zabrynna
Date: 09-05-09 20:01
All morning Zabrynna has put up with her parents looking down their noses at some of the other Hogwarts alumni. Worse than that though was Margretta's distinctively cool reception of Anne and Philippa. As soon as she'd returned from greeting the Kendricks and the Foxes to the blanket the Ravensdales had spread out near one of the small entertainment venues, Zabrynna had hissed at her mother, "I can't believe you treated them like that!"
"I was perfectly cordial."
"Cordial my arse," Zabrynna had muttered.
Margretta wasn't sure what Zabrynna said but from the tone knew it wasn't something she'd find acceptable. Eyes narrowed at her daughter she warned, "Keep it up and you will find yourself confined to your room for the day or working on that project Professor Dumbledore gave you."
Zabrynna flounced down to sit cross legged but moderated her tone to ask, "Why do you hate my friends?"
"Don't be silly, Zabrynna. Of course I don't hate them. I simply feel, quite strongly, that if they truly were your friends they would have been more aware of your amorous scheme and made efforts to prevent you from acting in such a supremely idiotic fashion."
Cheeks burning Zabrynna had been on the verge of saying something to get herself banned from the rest of homecoming, even if it meant coming up with yet another lie to tell Philippa and Anne, when her half-sister of all people saved her from making a snippy retort. With an escort of males, Mariposa arrived at the blanket all smiles and flirty looks, her hair impeccible and her designer outfit clearly new, most likely chosen with today in mind.
In her lilting, slightly accented English Mariposa announced, "There are some very nice, handsome men here today." She waves a hand in the direction of the entourage standing a respectable several spaces behind her, "Friendly and helpful. I would probably still be wandering lost near the gates if not for these lovely gentlemen."
Zabrynna rolled her eyes. The only thing that kept her from a display of gagging at Mariposa were her parents sitting there. She also refrained from making a show of holding her nose at Mariposa over the utter poo her sister was spouting for the benefit of those guys.
What Zabrynna did do was say in as flat a tone as she could given how snitty she was feeling, "No one told me Mariposa was coming."
Mariposa had turned her big, brown eyes at Zabrynna, giving that wistful doe look she's perfected and that Zabrynna really wished she could master, "If you don't want me here, Zabrynna, I can find something else to do today. Now that I'm at St. Emrys, there is always coursework in need of doing."
Zabrynna does like her sister. She does. It's just that sometimes Mariposa can be a bit much, especially when there are new boys to flirt with and even more so when Zabrynna's overly peeved with Margretta. Trying not to sound tragically put upon Zabrynna had shaken her head. "No, it's nice that you came. I was only saying I didn't know you were coming."
Extending a hand to one of the young men already deeply smitten with her, Mariposa requested, "Help me up?"
Several hands had shot out to give her aid, earning them all beneficent smiles from Mariposa as she purred, "Thank you." Turning to Zabrynna she'd said, "Come, show me your Hogwarts; introduce me to your friends."
Glad of a perfect excuse to be rid of her mum for awhile, Zabrynna couldn't get up quickly enough to suit her. Mariposa hooked am arm through Zabrynna's and as soon as they were out of earshot of Nolan and Margretta, she said in a very low voice, "Now, you really MUST point out your professor to me. I have been dying to have a look."
"I don't want to get in trouble," Zabrynna had replied even though she was already guiding them in the direction she had seen Declan Douglass going a short time earlier.
Mariposa teased, "It's good I am a nice sister or I would drive you mad by flirting outrageously with him until he asked me for coffee."
"You would be so dead if you did," Zabrynna had snapped.
"Ooooh. Not so over him as you have led Poppa and Margretta to believe."
"You can't tell!"
"I promise not to as long as you behave yourself."
"I have been."
"Yes, but you still have months of school left. What you need is to find a boy you find even slightly tolerable and start dating him."
"Why?"
With a you-are-so-naive smile at her sister, Mariposa began spelling out for Zabrynna the use of having a boyfriend, even if it's someone only slightly tolerable.