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The Other Redhead
Author: Nathaniel Ross
Date: 09-26-12 01:35
When Nate saw the crystal ball set on the table in front of him, he panicked. He was expecting to do some basic Tasseography like Francis Yao next to him, who was holding a cup of tea and examining it carefully. At worst, he'd thought he would have to do Palmistry because Adelaide Adams had mentioned it when she left the Great Hall, once she had completed her exam. She said how odd it felt to hold Professor Tofty's hand and tell him she saw some troubles in his love life. She was still red from blushing as she told this to her friends.
Deep down, Nate knew he didn't really need a good grade for his Arithmancy & Divination exam, but it was a course he had always enjoyed and he thought Professor Sacheverelle would disapprove if he didn't make an effort to complete his exam. So he took a deep breath and focused on the crystal ball, ignoring everything around him, including Professor Tofty, who was evaluating him.
At first there was nothing but fog inside the ball, but suddenly images started to form inside of it. He recognized the garden his mother had at home, but instead of its usual chaotic presentation with weeds growing everywhere, the place was immaculate. There was a girl kneeling over the grass, and she was clearly working on the garden as she hummed a song. Her long auburn hair indicated without a doubt that he was seeing Phyllida. But what was she doing at his house gardening? Phyllida never enjoyed Herbology, and she was not the type of girl who'd stain her clothes with dirt or hum as she worked.
Suddenly Nate saw himself coming from behind the hard working Phyllida. He placed his hands over her eyes and asked her to guess who it was. The girl giggled and then she turned around to Nate with a smile. They kissed and then fog engulfed the images in the crystal ball.
Nate blinked, in shock. He had made a mistake: the girl working in the garden and whom he'd kissed was Ferne, and not Phyllida.
"So what did you see, Mr. Ross?" Professor Tofty asked with interest, his quill ready to take some notes.
Nate told him everything, still puzzled, and left the Great Hall slowly. He knew he was no Seer, and he could not believe that such a vision could be a glimpse of the future. He liked Phyllida. Despite their occasional fights and quarrels, they couldn't live an entire day without kissing each other. Nate was friends with Ferne, but the idea of dating her was unthinkable. She was not his type at all, always working on some project that involved studying plants with such methodical fervour that way that he wondered if she actually even enjoyed Herbology.
"So, how did it go?" Phyllida asked.
She had waited for him at the Great Hall's door. He shrugged his shoulders.
"I had to look into a crystal ball. It was odd: Ferne and I were dating," he laughed.
Phyllida did not seem to consider this funny, however, and looked at him with an irritated expression on her face.
"Oh, come on, it's just a crystal ball, you know how those things are!"
"Yes, but if you saw Ferne it means you were thinking about her. You should have seen you and me at our wedding, for example."
"As if your parents would give me their blessing for that. No, I think I have more chances marrying Ferne, than you," Nate joked. She hit him with her heavy bag. "Hey! I was joking!"
"You'd better be Nathaniel Archibald, you'd better be…"
"Hey, look at me," he said making her stop. "I like you, all right? It's with you I want to be. Not Ferne, or any other girl."
"Not even your Hufflepuff friends?"
"Not even my Hufflepuff friends," he assured. Then, after looking around to make sure there weren't any prying professors around, he kissed her.
(Broderick Carter) Almost Done, Maybe?
Author: Cai Pembroke Carter
Date: 09-26-12 05:58
After yesterday's cram session and destressing with Cai at dinner and then spending some time with my friends I was ready for the exam this morning. It was my final OWL and I would ultimately be done for the term. At least next year I wouldn't have to stress about actual exams, but will be taking regular finals.
Right now, I was currently sitting in the Great Hall working on my Muggle Studies written exam. My quill was holding at the moment, but that may or may not last considering I've at least a three quill trend for all written exams thus far. I was currently trying to recall three muggle devices that are communication related that we'd worked with this year...or that I could remember that I've used.
I went with the computer, the telephone, and the mobile phone because I've seen them used, I don't have one, don't really see the need when I live in the wizarding world and there is magic. Moving on, I continued to work through the expanse of the exam.
Within the first thirty minutes of the exam, there was a whimper from someone behind me and within minutes Professor Snape was delivering a new anti-cheating quill to the student. Shifting slightly to keep my butt from falling asleep, I moved on to another short essay question.
I was really looking forward to the practical portion of this exam, because I was in the first group, which meant that I would officially be done with the school year by around two thirty or two forty-five at the latest!
I'd let my thoughts drift for a few minutes, and realized that I'd just lost about fifteen minutes on my thoughts wandering. Brief flare of panic as I turned my attention back to my exam, trying to make up for lost time.
Last Day of Classes
Author: Cai Pembroke Carter
Date: 09-26-12 06:12
Exiting History of Magic, I waved to Professor Davyd, before heading down the corridor to Ancient Runes, which meant that since I was heading to Ancient Runes that Brody was nearly done with his last written portion of his Muggle Studies OWL, and the jerk would be done with his term a full week before I would be. Oh well, next year it will be the reverse because he will be taking regular finals, but I will be taking my OWLs.
I sat down next to Eric and sighed, leaning my head against his shoulder for the few minutes that we had before Professor Hodfuffer would start class. "Ready for the weekend, before finals start on Monday?"
"More than ready for the weekend but we still have two more classes to get through today." I said, only slightly whining but I'd deal as usual. Within a few minutes we were focused on going through our study guide for next week's final which would be given on Wednesday.
After Ancient Runes, we headed back to Gryffindor Tower to change out our stuff from this morning into stuff for this afternoon and then went to sit and wait for lunch to be opened up in the Great Hall.
Gearing up for Finals
Author: Lawrence Masterson
Date: 09-26-12 12:45
I'd spent the morning in the village, a lazy morning breakfast with my wife at Crown & Cauldron before she had to go do an afternoon shift at Briar's and I'd done a little bit of shopping and had somethings sent over to the flat for Maggie's graduation gift. I'd also gotten Ariella a few things as well as something for Plum's birthday that will be coming up in a couple of weeks.
Having everything taken back to my quarters in the Castle, I head back down to the greenhouse to finish going over coursework from the term that still needs to get graded and ultimately handed back to my students. Sixth years will be getting things back as well as a parting gift for the summer after their finals.
Beyond that, he was planning on enjoying a summer at home with his wife instead of traveling abroad like they usually do. However, he is booking a weekend trip to celebrate their "first" wedding, and then there will be the standard trip to Sydney when they will celebrate their "second" wedding anniversary. He was still unable to believe that they'd been married for four years already, and he still loved her more and more each day.
Once he was done finishing grading papers, he quickly set up the greenhouse, that would be used for his finals on Thursday. The practical portion would be given throughout the hour and consist of a single task for each student that wouldn't take long for them to complete, and then there would be the written portion of the examination.
The rest of his day would be spent within the greenhouses before he would head back to his quarters and shower, before heading down to the Great Hall to meet Ariella for dinner.
Next to the Last Class of the Term
Author: Karma Davyd
Date: 09-26-12 14:01
"Good afternoon class, and now we are finally ready to finish off the review for your final next week. Your final exam will be given Wednesday afternoon at this point in time. There will be twenty questions total, most of them will be short answer. There will also be three long essay questions of which you will have to chose one to answer to the best of your ability."
I started handing out the study guides that the students would be filling out throughout the class today and ultimately be working on throughout the weekend. "I will be available through the weekend if you have any questions, merely send an owl to Hogsmeade and I will get it, or I will be in the Great Hall for meals throughout the weekend. Or you are free to stop by during my office hours or before class."
That said, I started with the review questions. "Who can tell me the four founders of Hogwarts and give me the year of the devices associated with them?"
Several hands rose in the air. "Luke, give me one."
"Godric Gryffindor, and his device was the lion."
"Very good Luke, two points to Gryffindor, now for the second one, Kay?"
"Helga Hufflepuff and her device was the badger."
"Very nicely done, and that is two points to Hufflepuff. Now that we have those two houses out of the way, who can name me the last two?"
Several hands went up and I smiled, "Hunter Green."
"Salazar Slytherin and his device is the snake. The fourth is Rowena Ravenclaw and her device is the diadem."
"Very good Hunter. Now, time jump, who can tell me something about the Salem Witch Burnings and how they impacted relations during the time period?"
The discussion went on, and ultimately we managed to cover about half the study guide before the class ended for the day. "Alright, I will see you all Wednesday and do not hesitate to come find me if you need additional help."
As they headed out, I quickly set the classroom up for my final official class of the term, my second year Ravenclaw and Slytherin who would be filing in momentarily. I'd be on castle grounds for the remainder of the day, but would ultimately head into the village where I'd be meeting Dex, Ember, and Cameron for dinner at the house.
Study Time
Author: Mildred
Date: 09-27-12 03:10
Since she had spent most of her free time to try and find what happened to her father and Achilles' memory, Mildred had put her studies somewhat aside. The little witch felt repented by this decision the moment she saw the amount of things she needed to revise for her finals. She was starting to feel really nervous about it and she would find herself biting her nails whenever one of her teachers was revising and she did not know the answer to their questions.
The first years Gryffindor didn't have classes Friday afternoon and Melpomene, the best student of the group, had been kind enough to help everyone. She even managed to make a pineapple dance and that spell always seemed to provoke a laugh attack on Queenie whose eyes would get filled with tears. It take some moments until she would compose herself.
Achilles had challenged Melpomene to try making a banana to dance as well, but she just told him to focus on reading his History of Magic book. Apparently he had confused Emeric the Evil with Uric the Oddball, and according to Melpomene that was a terribly mistake and if he wrote that in his final she was sure Professor Davvyd would fail him.
Mildred was glad that at least she could tell the difference between the two. Her major difficulty was Herbology and no matter how she tried there was always some plant she would forget to mention, or some of its properties. Mildred knew that deep down it was because she wasn't focused enough. No matter what, her mind would always disconnect from One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and travel to the future where she kept thinking what to say to her father the next time she would see him, or how her aunt's house where she was going to live looked like.
"Earth calling Mildred!" Amelia's voice sounded.
They were all gathered at the Gryffindor common room. It was a warm day outside and Mildred wished she could be outside but of course the priority now was to have good grades at her finals.
"I'm sorry?" the little witch asked. She had been thinking once again about her aunt's house. She said the house had a garden and she was wondering if it had some powder pods. Mildred had fun during that class at Herbology when they had to take the powder from the plant. She could ask her aunt if she could be in charge of it.
"Your eyes looked distant. It seemed like you were under some odd spell, or something."
"Sorry. My mind was somewhere else…"
"Again?" Melpomene asked, hearing the conversation. "Mildred, you have to focus!"
"I know it's just…" how would she explain it to them?
"Focus!" Melpomene ordered.
Achilles looked at them amused but soon he was being lecture by her as well. Mildred's mind returned to Herbology. One thing was for sure: when all of this was over and if she managed to have good marks, she was going to buy Melpomene a huge box of chocolate frogs for all her patience and help.
Nott's Ruin
Author: Tiberius Nott
Date: 09-27-12 12:33
A black-gloved hand touched the iron gate that towered over the main entrance to the grounds of Hogwarts. Far away, the castle glowed in the dark night, with its high towers and more than a thousand little windows. He wondered what would happen if he used his wand to force the gate to open and enter the grounds. Would he be welcomed in his old school with open arms? Or would he be considered an untimely intruder? He turned his back to the castle and began to walk away, his steps echoing on the road. He preferred to remain ignorant to the answer.
Soon, his figure was illuminated by the warm light of the Hogsmeade's lamps. Summer had arrived, and there were still many people in the streets, walking around, and the vibrant chatter of animated voices. Everyone was relaxing after a long day of work. Tiberius envied them all, but at the same time he could not help to feel himself superior: they were but insignificant, unenlightened fools. He was not - but he had paid a price for it.
He kept walking, hands tucked in his pockets, draped in his dark, warm robes. His appearance attracted stares. Tiberius could guess they were thinking that he must be removed from his senses for wearing heavy robes when the night was mild and clear. But he was cold. Since that fatal day, many years ago, he had never felt comfortable without his warm clothes. No spell or potion could to cure him from the chill - not permanently. But it did not matter anymore: Tiberius had gotten used to it long ago, and now it was just a small discomfort, nothing else.
He arrived at his destination and raised a hand to push the door; soon, music invaded his sensitive ears. Too loud. Grimacing, he sat in his usual spot, ordered a Firewhiskey and watched the dancers while a hand touched his chin. But, truth be told, he was hardly paying attention to the show - as it so happened, this one's name was 'Melinda'. His eyes watched without seeing, as he meditated on his affliction. It seemed to grow worse each day. He could barely tolerate the din. He desperately needed a solution.
In the past, Tiberius had sought the answer in libraries and bookshops. He had consulted numerous important wizards and witches. But all those attempts had wound up in failure, and he'd convinced himself that he could make better use of his time. And here he was, staring at a full glass, and admiring an evening's performance at Petals. People had done stupider things in their desperation, he mused bitterly.
He took a galleon from his pocket and threw it to the stage, rewarding Melinda for her performance. He could not help but to give a pained smile, amused by the thought that perhaps his father had been right when he said that women would be his ruin.
Job Interview
Author: Josie
Date: 09-27-12 12:57
I held the briefcase on my lap nervously as I watched the other witches and wizards seated or standing nearby. They were all relatively older than me and one of them even sent me a glance behind his glasses as if questioning my presence here. But I had to come to Hogwarts today, once I read Albus Dumbledore was looking for an Alchemy teacher. Not only it was a great honor to be part of the school's staff but it would also combine by two passions: teaching and Alchemy. A short witch with grey hair left Dumbledore's office and my name was the next one to be called.
I stood up, adjusted my robes and entered the well decorated room. Dumbledore was by his desk and we shook hands. He hadn't changed at all since my days at Hogwarts with his long white beard and his blue eyes.
"Please have a sit, Miss Fanshawe," he invited.
"Thank you, Professor," I replied, taking off a parchment with my curriculum and recommendations to show him. I watched in silence as he read and feeling a bit nervous I decided to joke:
"I am sure it is not a list as long or impressive as the other candidates…"
I was younger and still finishing my studies in advanced Alchemy at Blane College, St. Emrys. All the other people waiting for an interview with Dumbledore were more experienced and some even had their own laboratories and books on the subject. I was nothing alike them. I was still starting my life and career.
"No, it is not," Dumbledore agreed and I felt a not forming in my throat. "But it is by far the most interesting one," he smiled and I my mouth opened into a grin, feeling relieved.
He then told me about the details of the course: one class per week about the basics of alchemy. It would be an optional course for those who were attending the 6th and 7th grade and they wanted to learn a bit on the matter and extend their knowledge on the subject.
I nodded and I told Dumbledore the reasons why I thought he should hire me instead of one of my wisest colleagues. I said it was not only a good chance for the students to expand their school curriculum but also a good opportunity for me. I admitted humbly that the others might have far more experience than I but since I was younger I might bind better with the students.
Once I had defended my position and Dumbledore had no further questions we shake hands again and he said goodbye, promising to send me an owl whether I get the job or not.
I left the Hogwarts Headmaster's office without knowing if the interview had been a success or not. It was hard to read Dumbledore's expression when we said goodbye. I walked towards the school corridors, passing by open doors where classes were being taken. A nostalgic feeling took over as I thought about my years at Hogwarts. I left the castle into the grounds and I decided to walk to Hogsmeade since it was a pleasant day. I would then catch the Floo Network there back home.
Still Not Interested
Author: Jet
Date: 09-27-12 14:24
One of Jet's more immediate bosses from when he worked for the Department of Mysteries, spots the outside table Jet has staked out at Delia's Deli. Approaching the table Broderick Bode offers Jet a big smile, hand extended. Rising only part of the way from his chair, he accepts the proffered hand.
"Thank you for agreeing to meet, Jet." Broderick pulls out a chair to sit and reaches for one of the table menus. "I skipped my regular lunch knowing I was meeting you here. I like their sandwiches just a little too much." This is accompanied by a pat to his slight paunch.
"It's convenient to work so some days I prefer coming here over packing a lunch or eating elsewhere. It's good you're getting lunch out of this because I've already told you a number of times I'm not coming back to the department or anywhere else in the Ministry."
"We're offering a substantial raise, even more than discussed last time."
"Not interested."
Broderick gives an almost inaudible sigh before giving his attention to placing his lunch order. Once that's accomplished he fixes his gaze on Jet. "What's it going to take to bring you back into the fold?"
"You want to study me and keep me under observation. There's nothing you can offer to induce me to work there again."
"While it is true we'd like to find out more about your missing time and if it's related to the other, we want you back because you are a valued employee."
"So valued that you persisted in putting me on projects where I was never more than a second assistant."
"You know why that is."
"I got obsessive with Blood Hound but given the circumstances, can you blame me?"
"No, of course not, but nevertheless you couldn't continue on Blood Hound without risk of making yourself seriously ill. It was for your own good."
Jet's reply is something of a grunt. He can see Broderick's point, has always been able to when it came to Blood Hound, but that doesn't mean he agrees or that it helps with the feeling that something very important was stolen from him.
The service at Delia's has always been excellent so though only a short time has passed Broderick's sandwich is already being brought to the table. When the waitress has moved on to check at another table Broderick shifts to another topic. "You had a birthday earlier this month. I'm curious. Do you now consider yourself 25 or do you think of yourself as being 22?"
Broderick's not the first to ask this question and Jet tells him what he's told others. "For me, those three years never happened. I can't help but think of myself as being 22."
Jet begins gathering the remains of his own lunch. "I need to go soon. I'm due back at the Astronomer's Nook."
Broderick purses his lips and gives a slow nod of his head. "I do wish you'd reconsider coming back to us. We have a great interest in you."
"And here you just tried to convince me you're here mainly to regain a valued employee."
"I never denied we want you back for other reasons as well. I only hope that those above me don't push the issue."
"By push the issue you mean compel me back by force. Would this be with or without Minister Shacklebolt's approval?"
"I'm not at liberty to discuss more with you, Jet."
"That's rich. You're not allowed to discuss with me the lengths the Department would go to 'compel' me to return. You do realize that's yet another inducement to stay as far away from there as I can."
"I know, and I've tried to tell them that they're going about this all wrong."
"Get this straight, Broderick, there's no way to go about it, period. I have no interest in working there again."
"I don't want to see you force their hand, Jet. I'm concerned about you."
"I'm not forcing them to do anything. That's their choice. They have plenty of other things to keep them occupied. I hear there are two girls who were trapped in cursed objects far longer than I was. That alone should keep them busy for awhile."
"Yours is a unique situation and you know it. Add in this second incident of lost time and that makes it even more so."
"I wasn't trapped in something for those weeks. How could they possibly be related?"
"That's just it, we don't know, do we? Don't you want to find out?"
"Of course I do but not by being one of your guinea pigs in one of those secret Department of the Mysteries laboratories. There's a round of memory study starting up at St. Mungo's soon. Maybe I'll look into that to find out where I was those weeks I was gone."
"That might not be safe, not with your history. You need a more controlled environment overseen by those in the know."
"You're being a little dramatic there, Broderick."
"And you are trying to be too blasé that one is not related to the other."
Jet picks up the trash from his lunch to deposit in one of the nearby bins. The wait staff here busses the tables but some people are still pretty good about helping out by dropping off waste in one of the dustbins. "Whatever I am about it isn't your concern, Broderick, nor is it any of theirs. I'll handle this is my own way and that way does not involve being poked and prodded by you lot at the Department of Mysteries. I really need to get going."
As Jet stands Broderick shoots out a hand to grab him by the wrist. "Whatever you do, be careful. I wasn't lying when I said I'm concerned about you."
"Thanks. Enjoy the rest of your lunch."
Jet pulls his arm free and walks away, feeling Broderick's eyes on him until he's too far from Delia's Deli to be seen.