|
|
Keeping Busy
Author: Ethan Somerset
Date: 05-02-09 11:03
The Department of Magical Law Enforcement buzzed with activity these days. Wizards bustled about, some conferring in meetings or filing paperwork while others set off to follow new leads in the never-ending slew of open cases, more and more of which presented themselves each day. Part of the difficulty was assigning priority to each case, all of which were important and urgent.
With the former Minister's crimes at the forefront of everyone's minds, rounding up those involved in the communities for nons and the Ministry's Relocation Assistance Committee became most critical when it came to prioritizing cases. The process wasn't as easy as putting someone on trial and placing them in a cell at Azkaban, though. Not everyone involved behaved in the same manner or possessed the same beliefs. Some wizards did what they did to protect themselves and their families. But then the question became, was it any less wrong, what they did?
Other cases, such as the early releases of so many prisoners that should have remained behind bars longer or forever would be addressed in time, though hopefully sooner rather than later.
Ethan himself, who'd returned to work as soon as he learned his position was still available and his for the taking if he so chose, kept himself very busy and happily so. He'd reunited with his family, who'd all been worried sick about him, and none more so than his brother Callum who'd actually gone looking for him when he'd first disappeared. Ethan had told them everything, and though they were still new to the world of magic, prejudice wasn't a concept just for wizards––all humans experienced it.
Unfortunately, Ethan's duplex had been looted at some point during his absence. So had some other homes on his street. Many of his things had been left untouched and undamaged, but he'd had to throw away some items and was certain others had been stolen. He kept himself busy outside of work by cleaning up the mess his uninvited visitors had made.
He'd just finished repairing a broken hinge on one of his kitchen cabinets when he realized that it had gotten late and he was actually quite tired. He had to work tomorrow, too. Ethan detoured by the bathroom to brush his teeth and relieve himself and then slipped out of his clothes and into his pajamas before climbing into bed for the night.
Tired But Not Too Tired
Author: Saffron
Date: 05-02-09 21:14
Entering her castle flat, Saffron maneuvers around furniture easily enough without putting on a light, her eyes adjusted to the dark after having spent time on the Astronomy tower as OWL and NEWT proctor. She goes straight to the door leading into Niccola's room, easing open the already partially open door . It still seems odd, even though it's been a couple of weeks now, having everyone knowing about Niccola and not having to hide evidence of the baby when having her in the flat should someone come by.
The months following Aaron's arrest and knowing nothing of him after that save for her visions and dreams - what good they are these days - and getting confirmation from Poppy Pomfrey that she was pregnant were far harder on Saffron than she's let on. Perhaps Deak, Sage, and Drake wouldn't have been upset with her at all if they knew the strain, if they knew she nearly miscarried twice and still the baby came a little sooner than expected, not by much but under the circumstances Niccola not waiting until her due date force Saffron to alter how she had planned on dealing with hiding labor and delivery.
Harder still was maintaining the illusion that nothing had changed. Having the baby at Hogwarts from time to time with the help of the house elves from Cloud's Kiss. The rest of the time Niccola was with them and the Bingleys, also from Cloud's Kiss. Poppy and Aberforth Dumbledore helped Saffron, with Aberforth allowing Saffron to use the room into which the secret passage from the Room of Requirement opens to apparate from Hogsmeade and back again. He'd also been the one who'd gotten her a wand to use when apparating since hers was locked away in Harriet Snider's office.
Saffron reflexively pats the pocket her wand is in. Her original wand. Professor Dumbledore had returned it shortly after getting settled back into his office.
Finding Aaron asleep in the nursery rocking chair, Saffron gently wakes him and sends him to their bed. She checks the baby, bends to settle a light kiss on soft, powdery scented head, then quietly exits the nursery for her own room. Aaron is already a lump in the bed.
She stands a few seconds debated whether to take a quick shower or go to bed as is. The thought of a shower, even a two minute one, is tempting enough that Saffron decides that tired as she is, a quick shower it is. The quick shower turns into more like twenty minutes, the water so soothing that Saffron hates to get out.
When she at least pulls herself out from under the stream of warm water, Saffron pads to the bedroom, a towel wrapped around her. She grabs the long, oversized t-shirt she took to sleeping in after Aaron was taken. It had been his, an old one he scuffed around in sometimes.
Sliding into bed next to Aaron, Saffron can't help but think again how odd the contrast is of Aaron's being so much thinner thanks to the near starvation diet while on that island yet his leaner body is actually more tightly toned muscle thanks to such hard daily labor. As she snuggles closer, Aaron drapes an arm around her waist. She can't tell if he's consciously doing it or if he's actually good and well asleep.
In case he's somewhat awake still, she whispers, "Goodnight."
"Night," he mumbles against the back of her neck.
"Not quite asleep then, are you? Sorry if you were and I woke you."
"No, wasn't fully back asleep from coming in from the nursery."
"Do you like her?"
"Like who?"
"Niccola."
"You can't tell how utterly besotted I am with our daughter?"
"Do you want another? Or a son maybe?"
"Yeah, at some point."
"I was thinking it would be nice if they weren't spaced too far apart."
"Is that an invitation?" Aaron asks, now nuzzling the back of her neck.
"Are you taking it as one?" Saffron giggles.
"I'm a man. We don't generally need much more than just the idea that there might be an invitation, even if only implied."
Giggling again, Saffron rolls over to kiss Aaron. She only has office hours in the morning and Aaron doesn't have the sixth years until tomorrow afternoon, or is it his turn at proctoring OWLs and NEWTs? No matter. He can sleep in and no one will care if she's sleepier than usual while in her office at her desk.
Deciding How To Handle The Muggle Studies Exams
Author: Aaron Miller
Date: 05-03-09 16:47
Getting up this morning had not been easy. Saffron had grumbled something about no one caring if she were a little late for office hours. When I reminded her she had a 10:30 class with the third years she'd said, "No, that's Thursdays."
Nuzzling her with a kiss I'd replied, "Right, and this is Thursday."
"Then why did you keep me up all night?"
"Who kept whom up?" I'd chuckled, nipping her ear.
"You could have reminded me I had a class," came a muffle reply as she burrowed deeper under the covers.
"I was suppose to know you were thinking today is Friday?"
"Oh, shut up."
At least she'd said it with good humor and wasn't snappish about it.
There's a Thursday morning Muggle Studies class but it's fifth years. That left me free to be available to any who wanted last minute help for the Muggle Studies OWL tomorrow. That also meant I was available for the seventh years as well. Anyone else who had the time to stop by and ask me something pertaining to upcoming final exams was free to do so.
I used the time not occupied with someone to figure out what the hell to test the third, fourth, and sixth years on next week because I am damn well NOT going to test them on that crap spewed at them by Pansy Parkinson.
By the time I took a break for lunch I'd reached a decision on how to handle the exams. I'll do them much like some of the lab practicals I had in college. There will be stations with each station having a set of questions or a task. Students will rotate through the stations, moving from one station to another. I'll get Mom and a few others to help me oversee a few of the stations where the students will have to do more than just answer a question or do a task and from that task answer a question. For instance, I can have a telephone and the student will have to demonstrate certain things for the proctor of that station.
Because they've not have a proper Muggle Studies class, the students can't really be expected to know everything I've been working so hard with them on since my return to Hogwarts there will be more points to be earned than actually needed and I'll make hints available.
If one of the students fails the exam, I'll figure something out for that student. Points for effort? Points for showing up? Hell, I don't know. All I know is that these kids are not going to be made to suffer a failing grade because of Pansy Parkinson and the rot Harriet Snider had her teaching.
When lunch ended I came to the classroom Pansy used and started looking at it with a critical eye for setting up the stations. I also began making a list of what items I'd need and what questions to ask. I also need to determine how many people I'll need as station proctors. With so few students in each class, there will be far more stations than students. That means if I set things up right, one proctor can float between several stations.
I hope by the end of the day I have it all figured out.
Theory of Muggle Studies
Author: Minerva McGonagall
Date: 05-04-09 08:51
Until returning to Hogwarts very recently, Professor McGonagall hadn't realized how much she'd missed the school. She'd missed teaching Transfiguration, though Professor Grubbly-Plank had done an admirable job in the position during her absence. She'd missed the daily routine of preparing for her classes, lecturing, and mentoring the students. She'd missed seeing familiar people in the familiar setting of the castle––Professor Snape, Professor Flitwick, Hagrid, but most especially Professor Dumbledore.
Not everything was as it had been before Dumbledore's disappearance, however. The student body was still small in comparison to normal years, since the students who'd been shipped out to Happy Haven or had gone elsewhere during the past year hadn't returned to Hogwarts yet. Also, the four Hogwarts houses––Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin––had been disbanded this year.
More changes would certainly come in time for the new school year, when things would more or less be normal again.
This morning, Professor McGonagall stood in the Great Hall and waited for all of the students taking the Muggle Studies OWL and NEWT exams to be seated. It was small group, much smaller than it normally would have been, had Happy Haven and the other communities not existed. At promptly 9 am, she began reading the instructions for the exam. The students were professionals at taking the OWLs and NEWTs by now, particularly since it was the very last day of testing. Professor McGonagall could sense the relief and anticipation that flooded through them, knowing that after today, they would be free for the summer.
The rest of the students would have finals at the beginning of next week. Then everyone would attend the End of Term Feast before setting out for home the next day.
Professor McGonagall made sure everyone had a test booklet and anti-cheating quills before having them begin on the Theory of Muggle Studies examination.
Olive The Shadow
Author: Emerald Green
Date: 05-04-09 20:47
Standing in one of the greenhouses where her aunt and uncle grow plants for medicinal healing, Emerald is staring at one interesting bloom but not really seeing it. From behind her a voice tentatively speaks, "Emerald?"
"Yes, Olive?" Emerald asks in reply, not sure of how well she did with keeping the impatience with her sister out of her tone.
"Are you just going to stand there all day?"
"I might."
"Oh."
"If there's something you want to do, Olive, then go do it."
"Are you mad at me?"
"No, I'm not mad at you."
"You don't talk to me anymore. You don't talk to anyone anymore. You don't even talk to Phin."
Emerald really wants to yell, "Maybe if you weren't shadowing me every second of the day I could find something to talk to you about!"
She doesn't say that. She doesn't say anything.
"You're mad that I nearly killed someone. I only did it because she said you were dead and"
"I know why you tried to do it. I'm not angry or upset with you over it. I would have done the same thing."
"There's got to be something. You don't talk and you look sad all the time and flinch when someone touches you."
Emerald wants to tell Olive what's been going on. The words are there but her tongue has suddenly swollen, her throat closed up, and her lips have been glued shut. "I thought I was pregnant because of things that happened at City of Hope; but I'm not. The relief is so great it hurts. I need time and I need distance from what happened and from everyone, even you, Olive."
Emerald keeps looking at the interesting bloom, sensing Olive's eyes on her back, the plaintive stare. After a few seconds when her mouth and throat feel somewhat normal again, Emerald turns to her sister and holds out a hand. "How about we make some chocolate chip cookies? I know Mom's recipe."
"Don't you mean biscuits? This is England. They don't eat cookies, they eat biscuits," Olive says with a smile in her voice.
"Then let's go make chocolate chip biscuits."
Taking Emerald's hand Olive grins, "I'd like that."
Exiting the greenhouse hand in hand with Olive, Emerald begins thinking of things she can get the younger girl interested in that would leave her free, even if only for short periods, to be alone without her shadow named Olive.
Double Wedding
Author: Marzipan
Date: 05-05-09 17:27
Carolina Ravenscroft, now Carolina Black, was to have gotten married exactly one year ago. Her wedding plans were put on hold, however, when her half-sister and maid of honor, Marzi, went missing. Carolina and her new husband Caleb were purebloods and never had to worry about the Ministry of Magic's policies, but it hadn't felt right to marry without Marzi in attendance.
When Marzi and Weston returned home less than a week ago, Carolina had insisted on delaying her wedding no longer. She'd also suggested something Marzi and Weston had no problem agreeing to: a double wedding.
The two couples invited only immediate family on such short notice, and even then the gathering turned out to be extremely small. The ceremony took place in the gardens at the South Kensington, London home of Georgia FitzRoy. Carolina stood in as Marzi's maid of honor and Marzi vice versa, just as they'd planned before the RAC took Marzi to 14-15-14 nearly a year ago. At long last, Carolina married her fiancé Caleb, and Marzi became Mrs. Weston Ravenscroft.
The family all sat outside in the garden now and enjoyed a light supper and cake. Marzi leaned against Weston and murmured, "Marzipan Ravenscroft. How does that sound?"
"A more perfect name I've never imagined," Weston replied, and then he kissed his wife lightly on the lips.
She smiled, not remembering a time when she'd been as happy as she was now.
Georgia flitted over and placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "I wonder if we might talk for a moment, just the two of us?"
Marzi gave Weston a reassuring smile and then got up and joined her mother on a short stroll through the gardens. Georgia had never formally patched things up with her daughter, whom she had blamed for the death of Constantius Ravenscroft. Marzi's questioning had drudged up old hostilities between Constantius and Percival FitzRoy, and had ultimately led to Percival's murder and Constantius' suicide.
Georgia knew better than to blame Marzi, though. Marzi had done nothing more than ask questions about her past and about her parents' past. It was Constantius who had acted and Constantius alone.
She looked at her daughter, who looked so lovely in elegant summer robes of the purest white. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry... for everything."
Marzi looked surprised. "You don't have to apologize––"
"No, I do," Georgia cut in. "I know I already said I'm sorry for abandoning you as a baby, and I don't think there is anything I can do to make up our lost time together. But," she paused, inhaling the sweet scent of some of the blossoms in the yard, "I should have never blamed you for what my husband did."
Marzi knew that by "husband" Georgia meant Constantius and not Percival, who'd been her legal husband until his untimely death.
"You were upset," Marzi said after a while. "You'd just lost the love of your life."
Georgia nodded her head a single time. "Yes, but it was still wrong, and I apologize." She sighed deeply. "I thought I lost you. To know that you were gone, possibly forever, and to have never made amends with you... it broke my heart."
She turned away from the flowers and looked Marzi in the eyes. "I consider myself very lucky, if not undeserving, to have a second chance with you."
Marzi put her hands on her mother's shoulders. "It would make me very happy if we could pretend like the past never happened and to just move forward, starting today."
"I would like that," Georgia replied, smiling.
Marzi smiled and hugged her mother. "Me too."