|
|
(Undisclosed Location) Seven Days is Long Enough
Author: Xiomara Sofia Serano
Date: 05-27-13 15:44
A span of seven days I'd been within the abbey, the screams of the men held within had gone off in tandem and one after the other for nearly the duration of that time. Berthold, from what I'd seen was in about as good a shape as Hans was currently as he remained slumped in his chair, though this particular wizard was not suffering the debilitating effects of frostbite that Berthold was suffering.
He had yet to acknowledge my presence within the room, no doubt still in that sweet little slice of sub space that he allowed himself to slip into so that he did not have to deal with the pain that his body was suffering.
"Herr Freitag...come back to me...I'm not quite done with you..."
I allowed my voice to fall into the guteral cadence of German, speaking it as if I'd been born in the country and lived there all my life – such was my gift with linguistics. He stirred slightly but did not yet pull himself fully into the present. Delicately I let my fingertips trail over the expanse of his chest, pressing with cat-like tread upon the slash that had been opened in the flesh but a day ago.
The motion drew the reaction that I wanted, that hissed intake of breath.
"When will you be done with me?"
The question was one so innocent, and yet expected as he'd asked it at least twice a day for the past six when I'd come to see him, either alone or with Ivanova to check on my progress and report to Adriana like a good little minion.
"Soon sweet one, I shall be done with you when I have all the information needed and can be certain that your loyalties are in the proper place." The words cooed out softly as I came up behind him, careful not to breathe in the stench of excrement and body odor that clung to him like a garment during his interrogation.
Pushing myself upward, I once more circled him, with the clicking of heels upon the stone floor, I felt his eyes on me, filled with fear as to what I'd do to him next. Already the bones within his right hand were broken, and his right knee shattered. He'd need healing, of course, but he'd gain it and he wouldn't spill a word about what had happened to him, else he find himself in a much more permanent state of torment.
"Tell me once more, refresh my memory Herr Freitag...what knowledge did you possess about Berthold, and why were you so eager to lead him to Adriana?"
It took him several moments to find breath to wheeze out the answer to my inquiries. "He was a friend of my father that I promised to aid. Loyal to my father, I did as he asked me when Berthold came to my home inquiring about the young Fairchild woman."
"Had you knowledge that he wished to kill her when he came to your home that day?"
He managed to find the energy to shake his head when he replied to me. "No, but I knew of his background and my father had instructed me to aid Berthold in what he needed, thus I did."
After seveal moments more, and more screaming that echoed from the room, I concluded my interrogation with the German man and stepped free of the room, cleansing the layer of blood and grime that had landed upon my robes before seeking out Adriana and informing her of the infromation garnished from the interrogation of Hans Frietag.
Once I'd passed on the information to Adriana I lingered for several moments, and spoke quietly with her and Ivanova both about the woman that I'd spoken to in Prague that was receptive to the cause and would be coming during the next summons.
My newest assignment learned, I would be watching Hans closely for a period of time not yet determined to ensure that he does not find himself earning a slow, painful death at the hands of Adriana.
Still a Tied Score
Author: Cai Pembroke Carter
Date: 05-27-13 16:05
The weather was as it had been for the past two weeks – bloody cold, and it meant that flying above the pitch would require extra layers – but at least they didn't require the charms on their brooms that they did during the last match to ward off layers of ice that would make flying all the more difficult.
I'd gotten up early this morning and spent some time with Eric, because he'd spent the last two days in the Hospital wing with some sort of stomach bug or something. I'd gotten some breakfast at the Great Hall and then headed out to the pitch despite the cold. I promised Eric I'd tell him how the match went once I got in.
We'd gotten a pep talk from Etta and Marjani before they'd taken to the air at the announcement at the beginning of the game. Not even ten minutes into the game and already Gryffindor was behind by ten points thanks to a goal scored by Sadie Mickle of Hufflepuff.
However, several moments later, with some skillful playing by Madoc, hitting a bludger and striking Glori's hip, allowed Etta's attempt to score to be successful and soar through the hoop, evening the score at 10 points apiece.
Higher above the pitch, I shifte on my broom, legs cramping slightly from the cold, but it was all well and good for now. I let my gaze wander over the pitch, surveying and hunting for that glimmering, golden ball amidst the other players, heavy bludgers and bright red quaffle. I was hoping that it would make itself known soon so that I could catch it and we could all venture back inside and find something warm to drink to chase off the lingering cold.
I disregarded my hunt for the snitch for a few moments to watch the play beneaht me, currently the quaffle was being passed between Etta, Marjani and Hunter R. with Madoc and Edgar doing a smashing job of keeping the bludgers from getting to them, but all it would take, and we all knew it was a slight miscalculation of a bludger hit to send the quaffle back into the hands of the Hufflepuff chasers.
No sooner had I had the thought, than that very thing happened. Edgar's hit to the bludger had been just a hair off and caught the quaffle in the middle of a pass between Marjani and Hunter R, and sent the red ball into a free-fall which was soon rectified by Hufflepuff chaser Marlow MacDougal, who quickly turned on her broom after tucking the quaffle close to her and raced toward the hoops guarded by Gryffindor keeper Hunter G.
Sadie and Jasper quickly worked to get close to Marlow, to attempt to keep the trio of Gryffindor chasers from getting close and the beaters from both teams attempted to do their best to keep the opposing from retaining possession of the quaffle or losing posession of the quaffle.
When they'd come close to scoring distance the quaffle was in the hands of Sadie Mickle, the girl who had scored the first goal of this match and the Gryffindor team was desperately trying to keep from making another goal. She launched the ball, only when she thought she had a clear shot, but, thankfully Hunter was quicker than the soaring ball and caught it before it could sail past the hoops and put Hufflepuff in the lead.
With the ball back in play, I turned my attention to Aleydis, studying her position for a moment I wondered if she'd caught sight of the snitch yet, but was attempting to keep the knowledge to herself – it was possible, Merlin knows I would have done the same thing for as long as possible, but from where I'm sitting it doesn't look as though she's seen the snitch yet.
Distractions tucked away after a few moments, I turned my attention back to the task at hand and began hunting the snitch, working in a loose pattern over the pitch, mindful of bludgers and the mob of chasers and beaters moving from one end of the pitch to the other.
I merely hoped that it would be Gryffindor that caught the snitch first and ended the match.
(Angharad Carter-Cadin) No Team Spirit Today
Author: Cai Pembroke Carter
Date: 05-27-13 16:20
This morning had started like every other Saturday morning for the duration of the school year. I'd gotten up, gone to breakfast, and though this was the day Hufflepuff was supposed to play Gryffindor, I simply could not find it in myself to have any form of team spirit or pep to support my house team, or my half-sister who was playing Seeker for Gryffindor.
In fact, I'd hardly had any energy or want to do anything beyond mindlessly go through the things that needed to be done. I'd holed myself up in the library, to avoid questions, stares and interactions with others. The day before had been one that had rocked me to my very core, and it was something the entire school had learned.
It was from Perla, during lunch that I'd learned what everyone else had learned at breakfast when they'd read their own copies of The Daily Prophet. My mother was dead, and had been murdered during Adriana's raid on that muggle shop having a Valentine's Day sale.
Her body had only just been identified because they'd not been able to get ahold of my father to have him come in and identify her until earlier this week. It was the beginning of March, and they'd only just found out who she was, it wouldn't have taken this long if she'd been a Wizard instead of a Muggle.
At the moment, I should be working on my assignments, but honestly I couldn't find the energy to focus. I was merely hiding, keeping myself away from everyone so I didn't have to answer questions, I didn't have to deal with the pity in the stares of others. Eventually I would leave the library, but probably not until I was told by one of the house elves or the librarian that it was closing time.
Curling up in the seat that I'd claimed as mine, tucked away in one of the corners I sobbed softly. Never would I see her face again, and I wouldn't be able to tell her about me and Perla, or any of the other achievements that I will make in my life as I get older.
Finally giving up, while everyone was still at the pitch I stuffed my things back into my bag and all but ran to my room. Drawing the curtains to my bed, I enveloped myself in the darkness and continued to mourn the loss of my mother - the one person who never judged me and looked at me as if I was an outcast - at least until I'd met Perla.
What is This?
Author: Oreileah McCoi
Date: 05-27-13 21:17
After spending most of Saturday morning running errands, Meagan and I were currently playing with her blocks on the living room floor. She was rapidly coming upon her second birthday, and already her vocabulary was improving, as were her fine motor skills.
After a few times of playing with the blocks, she got lunch and then was spirited up to her crib for a nap, while I tended to some work that needed to be done for the office on Monday. I was also keeping tabs on the Quidditch match, and would get the full score in the evening issue of the Prophet before Jim got home. Our houses were playing each other today, and we had a little wager on who would win.
Currently, I had a couple of documents that were needed for a case Christian was trying come Tuesday, and I wanted to get those out of the way so he had time to go over them on Monday, and then I had my own case work to get done before I could get dinner started for when Jim got home from work.
Ultimately, I'd been right about him looking into that clinic, and now he was actually putting to use the things he was learning at St. Emrys and not having to lie about his medical knowledge or be relegated to pushing papers for the remainder of his time working at the facility.
Legs curled beneath me, I worked on the deposition of an individual that had been called to submit a testimony, but was unable to actually attend the trial being held due to being in a wizarding hospital in the severe north of Russia.
I worked through the translation, which was difficult enough as my Russian was rusty, as was my ice troll. Sliding a hand through my hair, I continued to work on a few things, working out what I could of the Russian, I would ultimately have to grab my books on the differing troll dialects to finish the document.
After spending thirty minutes scouring the bookshelves in the house, I determined that I'd left it at work when I'd been translating something for one of the girls who wasn't familiar with any of the troll dialects.
Though, honestly I only had about twenty words left to translate, which were all in ice troll, and ultimately would drive me crazy, however I couldn't leave Meagan unattended while I went to the office to grab the book I needed. Shifting, I spent some time trying to figure out if I could work the translations out myself, by using the surrounding words.
After getting nearly all twenty words completed, I was stumped on the last four.
Putting the parchment work away, I headed upstairs to check on Meagan, who was just starting to stir. After checking her for any accidents, potty training was going well enough, but there were still accidents, she went potty, and then we headed downstairs to start dinner and wait on Daddy to get home.
I set Meagan in her seat at the table and gave her a handful of small snacks that she could nibble on that wouldn't ruin her dinner, as I turned and started the steak and potatoes that would make up tonight's dinner.
"Mama?"
"Yes Meagan?"
"Wha dis is?"
I turned my attention to my daughter, curious as to what she was inquiring about and looked at what she was pointing to.
Apparently Jim had left his anatomy flash cards on the kitchen table and my daughter had chosen one that depicted a rather intimate part of the male anatomy, and I was not ready to discuss that with my not yet two year old daughter.
"One of daddy's cards for school."
I explained as I quickly gathered the cards and tucked them away, I'd let Jim know where they were later.
Forced Concentration (Etta)
Author: Jared
Date: 05-28-13 09:10
Few yet know of what's going on with Jared so when someone comments on how distracted Etta has seemed lately her reply of, "I'm just trying to concentrate on NEWT prep," is wholly believable. The effort to keep her focus while staying on task, getting her assignments done, doing that NEWT prep, and keeping her grades up has her feeling somewhat drained. If not for Marjani practically shoving her out of bed this morning Etta has no doubt she'd still be there, dead to the world.
At least with Quidditch she has to be attentive for the most part. One of the few times she did find her mind wandering she got smacked hard in the shoulder by a bludger she would have otherwise seen and been able to avoid. A hand goes to that shoulder now, rubbing the spot that still stings. No doubt there will be a lovely blue and purple bruise there when she changes clothes after the match.
Hufflepuff has the quaffle, Jasper just having intercepted a pass from Hunter R. to Etta. Ignoring the continued pain in her shoulder Etta accelerates as curves around to head the direction Jasper has taken off. She reaches the Hufflepuff chaser just as he's dropped the ball down to Sadie. Sadie, in turn, shoots away, climbing slightly to bring herself back up to the level of the hoops.
Marjani gets in front of Sadie in an effort to slow the other girl down. Hunter R. is shadowing Marlow but a bludger forces him to fall back just enough that Marlow is easily able to take a pass from Sadie. Marlow drives in to where Hunter G. is on guard, quaffle ready to throw. Hunter G. slaps the quaffle away, it going off at an odd angle. There's a scramble to get there, with Etta somehow getting her hands on the ball first.
Taking off back the other direction Etta has the thought that at least with all this cold air streaming in her face, she's fully awake. She's also pretty sure that if she could go crawl back into bed this second, she'd just as quickly be back in her dead to the world state.
A Fall (Marlow, Hunter, & Jasper)
Author: Aaron Miller
Date: 05-28-13 16:01
Marlow sneezes several times, nearly causing her to miss seeing the bludger coming her way. She's able to roll out of the way while simultaneously wiping her nose - unfortunately with her sleeve as she has nothing else in the middle of the match - and hoping she's not coming down with a cold, or worse.
Gryffindor had gained possession but before getting the quaffle to mid-pitch Marlow had been able to steal the ball back. She'd hardly gone a few yards when Marjani took advantage of a bludger clipping the top of Marlow's shoulder to steal the quaffle right back. In the roughly fifteen minutes since then, there had been something like seven turnovers. That last one put the quaffle back in Hufflepuff hands, Sadie's to be exact. Marlow figures that quaffle she just ducked was sent her way instead of Sadie's because there are three people between Sadie and Edgar, who had sent the bludger. As it looked like Sadie might be passing to Marlow, attempting to hit Marlow with the black ball makes sense.
Between Marlow's sneezing and bludger avoidance, Sadie has ended up passing to Jasper. Or that was the plan. Hunter Rabnott was able to get fingers on the quaffle, though he wasn't as on the spot as needed to make an actual interception. His interference has the quaffle off its intended course, with Hunter right there to try and snap it, Jasper shoving in close try and get it as well.
The cousins somehow end up with brooms locked and elbows tangled. Jasper wrenches his broom away with a great deal of force, not realizing Hunter and he have snagged body parts. The result of Jasper jerking his broom away is that Hunter becomes dislodged from his own broom, falling to the ground. Luckily, in the process of going for the quaffle and then becoming tangled, the players had drifted more towards the ground. It's still about a ten foot drop that Hunter takes but compared to what it could have been, it's not that bad and he did have time to react so that he didn't fall on his head or neck or overly jar his spine.
The game comes to a stop as Krum, Broadmoor, and Lynch converge on Hunter to check on him. Though a little shaky, Hunter gets to his feet, eyes searching for his broom as Coach Krum ensures nothing's broken. Worried for Hunter both as a fellow player and as his cousin, Jasper hovers, waiting to find out how Hunter is. Meanwhile, Gus Hodfuffer has captures Hunter's broom and brings it over.
Hunter hurts all over and he thinks he has a sprain but feels broken. He assures Coach Krum he's good to return to the match and promises to go see Madam Pomfrey when the game ends. Half a minute later he's back on his broom, quaffle in hand, ready to put it back in play for Gryffindor.
He throws to Etta who then does a long pass to Marjani. Caerwyn gets a bludger off at her but Madoc turns it aside, sending it towards Sadie. Marlow moves in to see if she can either steal or mess up any pass Marjani might make. She nearly does just that when Marjani passes the ball along to Hunter. He's close enough to try for goal but he's on the outer extreme of the optimal scoring zone so he pushes in closer, dodging around Jasper and narrowly avoiding a bludger from Gus.
Hunter lefts the ball go but Glori stops it by reaching out a foot and kicking it away. Etta catches it and throws again but once more Glori turns the ball back. Marlow is the one who catches but she fumbles it, allowing Marjani to snatch it away and again throw for a Gryffindor goal. Glori thinks she has it but finds she's actually a hairsbreadth short and the quaffle just barely gets by her but get by her it does.
Gryffindor now leads with match with a score of 20 to Hufflepuff's 10.
First Snog…Oh My!
Author: Araxie Loren
Date: 05-28-13 19:10
The weather was as it had been for the past few weeks and I'd debated on heading out to the pitch for the match, even though Ravenclaw wasn't playing, I would have been able to get a couple of awesome sketches done, provided it didn't start snowing and force me to put my sketching supplies away – but to have gotten a seat decent enough to have seen the action to sketch I would have had to have been one of the first people out at the pitch, and as it was Saturday, I had no intention of getting up that early.
As it was, the Apparation lesson was already underway when I managed to make it down to the Great Hall, so I'd ended up grabbing something from the Common Commons, before heading back to the Common room. I'd gone back to my room and opted for my drawing supplies instead of my coursework, and I wanted to work on the piece that I was already in the middle of, and had to get the sketch ready to be transferred to canvas and painted when I went home for the upcoming hols.
"What are you working on?"
I blinked, as a voice finally cut through the artists haze that had settled around me and my world was narrowed down to the artwork that I was currently working on.
"Huh?"
The boy laughed, and repeated his question.
"What are you working on?"
"Oh, sorry, takes me a minute to come back to reality after working on a piece. I'm working on a scene from the Common Commons during the Valentine's Day thing that was in there. I wasn't there with a date or anything, but just sketching randomly in one of the corners, until I was asked to leave due to being without a date."
"Oh, cool."
"Didn't feel like braving the cold to go to the match today?"
"Nope, besides, I wanted to get most of my work done so I could spend tomorrow relaxing."
"Sounds the opposite of what I intended on doing, but if you want we can work together and get things done?"
"Sounds like a plan to me."
"Sure, gimme a sec to put this away and grab what I need for coursework. I'll be down in a min."
Ector helped me put my stuff away and we spent the rest of the afternoon working on our assignments, and nearly had all of them done before we decided to take a break and head down to dinner. We were on our way back to the common room from dinner, when he pulled me off to the side into one of the alcoves.
"You know, you could have had a date for Valentine's day…"
I blinked, and studied him for a moment.
"What do you…?"
I didn't get a chance to finish the question as he kissed me quickly, and then offered me a bright smile.
"I've had a crush on you for ages, and didn't have the courage to ask you to the Valentine's Day thing, but I don't know, figured today would be a good day to tell you…"
I grinned and leaned over and kissed him quickly, before we headed back into the common room, mindful of any prefects or teachers that were between where we were and the commons so we didn't get in trouble. We settled down to finish the rest of our assignments, but all the while I couldn't wipe the smile from my face…I'd just gotten my first snog!