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After The Fitness & Athletics Exam
Author: Emerald Green
Date: 06-16-10 19:38
Emerald sits at a table in the library, staring at the notebooks and textbooks stacked in two neat piles in front of her. Six exams behind her. Arthimancy & Divination, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, and Potions to go. Sometimes Emerald wonders why she didn't go ahead and take History of Magic. Once term began and she learned about this whole lower years/upper years deal and that Binns would NOT have the upper years for History of Magic and that professor who would be teaching seventh years, Declan Douglass, was by all accounts a nice man and a good teacher, Emerald should have signed up for the course. She's certain it would have been allowed because others make schedule changes within those first few days after school has started.
Really, what would one more class have been? The history of the Wizarding World, particularly when it collides with major events in the Muggle World, is actually pretty interesting. Binns was always just so, so boring. Professor Whitman, Ivy Whitman, was a nice change and she did seem to love what she did but Emerald had known that Professor Whitman wouldn't be at Hogwarts this year. Emerald has no idea what became of Bruno Pilliwickle, the professor who taught the Pures during Emerald's sixth year when classes were segregated. Her impression of him hadn't been a good one and she hadn't known that Professor Pilliwickle wasn't with the school last school year and that there was yet another new History of Magic professor in the form of Declan Douglass. All she'd known is that there was a chance she'd have Boring Binns.
Mindlessly flipping pages in her Potions notebook, Emerald finds that while yes, it would have been one more NEWT to get through, she regrets not signing up for the history course as soon as she knew that Binns or some awful person wasn't teaching the class. With every other course offered at Hogwarts this year on her schedule, she can't think of why she hadn't gone on and signed up for History of Magic once school began.
"Aunt Blythe sent cookies. I still don't get why they're called biscuits over here. I want biscuits like Mom always made. Hot from the oven. Butter melting all over or, better yet, the ones she'd put butter on before baking. I'd want some for lunch or supper with some kind of gravy. Oh, and breakfast with blackberry jelly. Did you know that over here, they usually call jelly jam and that if they talk about jelly it's what we'd call Jell-O?"
"Emmie?"
Emerald tears her eyes off the Potions notes she wasn't really seeing to look at her sister. "I'm sorry, Olive. I only caught part of that."
"Potions is all right but I don't find it so interesting I ignore everything around me."
"I wasn't really paying much attention to Potions yet. I know it's silly but I was distracting myself by thinking about how I should have signed up for History of Magic when school started."
"You're nuts, you know that?"
"I think I'm still trying to compensate for all those years we didn't even know places like this existed."
"You're still nuts. Here are your share of the cookies Aunt Blythe sent. The twins said to make sure you know they helped. How were your tests today?"
"Ancient Runes was pretty much what I expected. No one knew what to expect for Fitness & Athletics, not even Professor Batuti. It went okay I think."
"What was it like?"
"I had Professor Brecknock and was asked questions about rules and regulations of some of the things we've learned in the class and I had to demonstrate a few things. There was also a models and I had to identify things."
"What do you mean models? Like people?"
Emerald shakes her head. "No, like toy models. One was a little swimming pool and had swimmers in it. Professor Brecknock had me identify three different swimming strokes the swimmers were doing. The professor said that the Weasley twins, you know the ones with the joke shops, made them."
"Did it take very long?"
"We were told that it would be about 15 minutes each but I was in there at least 25 minutes. I think Professor Brecknock was having fun with those models and lost track of time. With the sixth years not taking this test, there were less of us to have to deal with."
"How come?"
"How come what? The sixth years?" At Olive's nod Emerald repies, "Fitness & Athletics wasn't offered when they would have originally taken their OWLs."
"But they have the class now. How is it any different from you seventh years?"
"Because those sixth years didn't have the course offered to them during their fifth year. It's not a test they would have taken then."
"I guess that makes sense sort of," Olive says with a shrug. "My friends are waiting. We're going to go outside before supper and just hang out. You should do that too. It is Friday afterall."
"Yes, but I have five NEWTs left and most of them are a written and a practical. The only one I'm really worried about though is Potions," she says, tapping the notebook in front of her.
"Why when Snape isn't giving it?"
"I won't bother to answer that," Emerald laughs.
"Whatever." Olive rolls her eyes then grins. "See you later, Emmie. Don't forget to take a break. Get some sleep."
Olive puts the tin of cookies on the table and turns to leave. Emerald reaches out and stops her by lightly grabbing her wrist. "I know where Mom's recipes are packed away. We'll find the biscuit recipe and make some this summer, okay?"
Olive looks misty eyed for a second then nods. "Yeah. That would be fun. Thanks, Emmie."
Olive leaves, heading out of the library to join her friends while Emerald gives her full attention to actually going over Potions work.
Ironic, Isn't It?
Author: Sirius Padfoot Black
Date: 06-17-10 17:37
Looking out over the rows of fifth, sixth, and seventh years writing their Potions OWLs or NEWTs, Sirius considers how the irony that of all the exams to be proctored he was assigned this one is lost to these students. Remus certainly had a good laugh when Sirius told him of the duty given to him, mostly likely by Minerva though Sirius can defiinitely see Albus finding this somewhat droll and asking Minerva to schedule Sirius for today. Prongs would definitely have found this chortle worthy and would give both Sirius and Severus grief over it.
Amazing how so many years can have gone by yet still miss someone so much.
Sirius can't help but wonder what James and Lily would be like now. He has no doubt that James would still have the same sense of humor but would that cruel streak James had, much like the one Sirius has, be tempered by age and maturity? Would there be siblings for Harry? It's not at all difficult to imagine Lily with several children to give her special brand of mothering to. Maybe a girl who in constrast to Harry would have Prongs's eyes and Lily's hair. She'd be every bit as good at Quidditch as Harry was while at Hogwarts and then at St. Emrys.
Sirius hopes Mira and his own James will love Quidditch. He doesn't even care if they are stars or even any good, so long as they enjoy it. Now that the twins are four, Sirius has them signed up for one of those Quidditch little league teams. They've each already been up on a miniature broom but any real flying lessons for them are on hold while this Hogwarts term finishes up. That's not so much because Sirius is busier than usual these last few weeks of school but because Drucilla's taken the children to see some of her family, her mother in particular. They don't see enough of the Eternal relatives so Sirius was all for Dru taking the children. He just wishes he could have gone as well for more than part of this past weekend. He feels as though he hardly knows any of Dru's family, even her mother who has stayed with them for short stays.
Sirius has never been able to determine from Dru whether she's simply not that close with her family, even her mother, or whether they are close but some sort of conflict has come between them all, or if the huge gaps in Dru's memory play a role in it, or if there are a combination of factors, or just what. When they are together and Sirius is able, he studies them to see the dynamics there.
As important to him as Drucilla, his children are, Harry, and others who aren't related by blood but are family nonetheless, Sirius is nevertheless extremely glad that his own parents are not around. They would attempt to taint his children with their vile thoughts on the heinousness of not being pureblooded. He has no trouble imaginine his mother turning Mira or James in as foul, blood tainted little beasts during Smythe-Jones's reign as Minister. Sirius is sort of sorry that Regulus isn't around. Based on things Sirius now knows of his brother, Regulus might not have the same pure blooded mindset he did all those years ago.
Coco Nutt's hand waving catches Sirius's eyes. With the time for the written Potions exam three-quarters gone, Sirius is mindful of what little time there is left so walks at a fast, purposeful clip to reach Coco. When he draws near she whispers, "I'm missing a page." As she says this she shows Sirius a page in which the last question begins but isn't finished. The following page, the last of the exam, is entirely blank.
Sirius hastily summons an extra copy of the NEWT exam to him, checks the last page and sees it looks as though it should. He detaches it from the unused exam booklet then uses his wand to fasten it to Coco's test.
"Thank you," the petite, blue haired seventh year quietly says, her head already bent over her last page of questions, quill at the ready to begin writing once she's formulated the answer she wants to write.
Another hand has gone up, this time William Reade needing more ink and then Erebus Mars's quill snaps in half and needs to be replaced. Before resuming his position of leaning against the table on which the hour glass shaped timer is sitting, Sirius writes the approximate time remaining for this portion of the exam his thoughts, even as he picks up the piece of chalk, straying once more, not to the importance of family, but back to the irony of proctoring Potions.
Still Not Certain
Author: Lysander Stratford
Date: 06-17-10 19:33
When Lysander had first started to tell Astrid about what had led him to tamper not only with Aralyn Fox's memory, but also the memories of her immediate family, he'd thought that she would think him mad. After all, a normal wizard would have just notified the authorities and had Aralyn and her brother Kristos, who had conspired to kill Lysander during his visit to Argentina with Charlotte, arrested.
Perhaps it would have been the right thing to do, but Lysander had had only Charlotte's well-being in mind. Aralyn had been an unfit mother, and Kristos wasn't good enough in Lysander's mind to be Charlotte's uncle. For him, it had simply just been better to rid him and his daughter of the Foxes by making them forget she even existed.
At first, Astrid had taken in everything without saying a word. Lysander immediately had wanted to know whether or not her opinion of him had changed, but he'd done his very best to remain patient. At last, after Astrid had had ample opportunity to process everything, she'd said that she probably would have done the same thing, had she been in his shoes. Astrid didn't know what it was like to be a mother, but she could well imagine that she would do whatever it took to protect her child, even if it meant doing something that could get her into severe trouble if it were ever discovered.
Lysander had breathed a great sigh of relief. He hadn't wanted Astrid to think of him as anything less than a good man. He knew he had his quirks, that he wasn't always the most self-assured and that he had several dark marks in his past, but what he'd done in Argentina had been for Charlotte's sake, moreso than for his own.
With the confession off of his chest, Lysander could now work with Astrid to try to determine whether someone associated with the Foxes had something to do with the threats he'd received over the course of the last year. Lysander started by thinking back to his visit to Santa Cruz and wrote down a list of all the individuals he'd met there. There was Aralyn and Kristos, of course, as well as Aralyn's husband Vincente and her parents Michael and Dawn. All had been obliviated by himself and Julian.
Astrid had wondered if the Fox-Wolf family had kept any servants or ranch hands, but Lysander didn't remember seeing any. Perhaps there had been, but they'd been just as servants were meant to be, in the background and unnoticed. If there had been one who'd seen what Lysander had done, why threaten him? For money? And why not threaten Julian too?
Astrid didn't know about everything in Lysander's past and didn't know that there were others who might have cause to threaten him. She really believed that the Foxes, or someone who knew them, was behind the letters. Lysander, however, wasn't so sure.
He stood at the counter at Twice Told Tales, which had just opened for business that morning. It was slow so far, and gave Lysander the opportunity to drift off into his thoughts. He was far enough away that he didn't notice the owl drift in through the propped-open front door, nor pay attention as it went straight for him and dropped a letter on the counter top.
Only when Dexter spotted it and went on a rampage to catch it did Lysander take notice. The owl flew away before Dexter could do it any harm, and with the charm in place preventing Dexter from going outside, he could only whine from the doorway as his prey flew farther and farther away.
Lysander saw the letter and shivered involuntarily. He recognized the handwriting on the envelope. It did not belong to his mysterious enemy but to none other than Aralyn Fox.
Still in Hospital
Author: Christopher Chant
Date: 06-18-10 16:36
"Has Madam Pomfrey said how much longer she's keeping you here?" Catriona Amherst asks.
"Tomorrow maybe."
"Are you sure you don't want any ice cream? I don't mind getting it for you."
A few days ago Madam Pomfrey had given the okay for Christopher to have ice cream but at the time his throat was still too sore to want to eat anything even if he'd had the appetite. Even though it's no longer extremely painful to swallow, Christopher still doesn't have much of an appetite.
"Can you tell that they're gone?"
Christopher shakes his head slightly. "At first I noticed only because after they were taken out, but that's only because even though my throat was still really sore, a whole lot of the pain wasn't there anymore."
The they in question were Christopher's tonsils. The strep infection was severe enough that his tonsils ended up being a lost cause. He'd also gotten a bad rash that had his really bad case of strep being officially deemed scarlet fever. Luckily for others who'd been in contact with Christopher, the preventative potion taken kept most from getting sick too. Of those that did, they ended up with only mild cases and none of them are still in the Hogwarts hospital wing with it.
As tired and weak as he still feels, Christopher is extremely glad that he's no longer in isolation. Friends have come by regularly to see him since he's been allowed visitors and Cat comes every day. She was taking care of his cat at first but one day last week when his mum had come to check on him herself, she'd gone on and take the cat, Beetle, home. Beetle had no started out with that name but after Christopher became fixated with insects and got his first beetle, named Ra, Beetle would sit in front of the terrarium for hours, fascinated with watching Ra crawl around.
Cat nods at the books on Christpher's bed. "Been able to get any catching up done?"
The only bad thing about being allowed visitors is that it's also meant being expected to do classwork from his hospital bed.
"A little. All my professors but Binns have come by to see me and talk to me about classes and missed assignments. The good thing is that it was mainly last week that I missed out. This week most everyone's doing reviews and getting practicals out of the way."
"You're missing out on that," Cat points out.
"Yeah, but at least I'm not missing being in class for lots of new stuff."
"True."
Cat gets up from the end of Christopher's bed where she'd been sitting. "It's supper soon but I'm coming back after. Unless you don't want company then."
"No! I do want company," Christopher says emphatically.
"I'll bring cards or chess or something."
"I'd like that, thanks."
Cat smiles and walks out of hospital with what Christopher has come to think of as her perky, bouncy walk. With no one else there to keep him occupied, Christopher sighs softly and reaches for his History of Magic book, the class in which he's got the most new material to study up on for final examinations next week.
Potions Practical
Author: Ronan Eastwick
Date: 06-18-10 17:26
"Go ahead, Ronan," Professor Black stated, as he cracked open the door to the Great Hall where the Potions practical exams were currently underway.
Ronan took a deep breath and entered the Great Hall. The door clicking shut behind him urged him onwards to where Professor Huntingdon of the Ministry of Magic's Wizarding Examinations Authority waited. The other three examiners, Professors Marchbanks, Tofty and Brecknock, were already busy questioning the three seventh years who had come before Ronan.
He tried his hardest to tune them out, but he couldn't help but catch bits and pieces as he made his way over to where Professor Huntingdon stood behind a table on which were various ingredients, a cauldron, and some glassware.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Eastwick," Professor Huntingdon greeted, when Ronan finally made his arrival to his workstation.
"Hello," Ronan politely replied.
"I wonder if you might identify these ingredients for me, as well as give a potion in which they are used?" Professor Huntingdon asked.
Ronan looked at the ingredients in question. Among them were a petri dish containing a glob of yellowish brown fluid, slugs writhing in a dissection pan, and an herb with small white blossoms.
"That there is armadillo bile, which is used in a Wit-Sharpening Potion. Those are horned slugs, used in boil-cure potions," Ronan said, pointing to each in turn. "And that," he started, turning to the herb. It looked like so many he had learned about in Herbology. "Yarrow? No, sneezewort," he finally decided.
"Used in?" Professor Huntingdon prompted.
"Oh, erm, befuddlement drafts."
"Yes, good. Now, tell me what this potion is," Professor Huntington said, indicating to the cauldron.
Ronan peered in and took in its color, thickness and smell. He ultimately decided it was a Calming Draught.
Professor Huntingdon nodded and waved his wand over the cauldron, emptying and cleaning it with that single movement. He conjured a number of ingredients, as well as tools like a knife, and said, "You have five minutes to brew a Deflating Draught. I know it's not enough time to complete the potion, but do what you can. You'll be marked on whether or not you take the proper steps."
Ronan didn't waste any time and immediately set to work. He didn't think about anything but his exam, not even the fact that he still didn't know when he would have to testify at Marcus Hubbs' trial.