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More than Anything
Author: Bronwyn Dewhurst
Date: 03-24-10 07:42
More than anything, Bronwyn wanted to stumble into bed after work. Well, maybe not more than anything. There was still the matter of Arley having been kidnapped and mutilated by his father and the fact that Seb was far too frightened to get the authorities involved. More than anything, Bronwyn wanted Arley rescued and returned to his Seb, safe and sound, or as safe and sound as one could be with a hand no longer attached to his body.
Sebastian continued to cling to the box in which Arley's severed hand and wand were stashed, though one time while he was sleeping, Toby managed to cast a complicated anti-decomposition spell on it. Bronwyn stuffed some potpourri inside the box (with minimal looking inside) to keep everything smelling fresh.
In a rare instance, Seb agreed to let Desi borrow the box. Back when Bronwyn, Toby and Seb had first gone to visit Desi at the Ministry of Magic with the latest developments on Arley's case, she had agreed not to launch an official investigation at Seb's wishes (despite how she truly felt on the matter). Seb was deathly afraid that Mr. Montgomery would follow through with his threat and kill Arley if they continued looking for him.
What Desi didn't tell him, though, was that she would begin investigating on her own. Back in Seattle, Desi had gotten used to working long hours and on weekends, so it was easy to fall into that habit again. It did cut down on her free time, though, but Xavier had just started touring with his side project band and was kind of busy too.
With the Ministry's resources at her fingertips, she could do a lot, but she also didn't want to do anything to get her work noticed by Mr. Montgomery. At least, not yet. He would notice her for sure when she punched him in the face and rescued Arley.
Bronwyn came home from the station and found Toby serving pancakes to Seb, who once again had the box in his lap. Bronwyn was silently thankful that he at least hadn't set it on the table next to his plate.
She kissed her husband and then gave Seb a quick hug.
"How are you doing?" she asked, sitting down next to him at the table. She was hungry for dinner food, not breakfast food, but started serving herself pancakes and syrup.
Seb didn't say anything for a long moment. "As well as can be expected," he finally answered.
Bronwyn nodded.
Toby turned to her. "How was work?"
"Same old, same old. There are talks that I might get a day shift soon. I sure hope so."
"I do too," Toby replied. He sat down beside her and started wolfing down his tall stack of pancakes.
Tomorrow was Bronwyn's birthday, her 23rd. Toby had made dinner reservations for tomorrow evening before Bronwyn had to go to work. The whole Dewhurst family, as well as Desi and possibly some of the Becks were invited to attend. Seb, of course, would go with them, provided he was up to going out for dinner.
Bronwyn only wanted one thing for her birthday, to have Arley rescued, but somehow she thought it was a present she wouldn't be getting.
Poetry Slam
Author: Jared
Date: 03-24-10 22:16
Making a wretching noise Jared crumples up the piece of parchment he'd been writing on and tosses it into the now overflowing bin to join his other less than stellar efforts. Julietta is walking past his room at the same time and with the partially open, the sound of someone on the verge of upchucking easily reaches her. Tapping on the door and pushing it open in one motion Etta looks on her brother with great curiosity. "Are you all right? I know kidney pie isn't your favorite but aren't you being a little extreme sitting here practicing sounds to make just before having lunch?"
"Funny, Etta. I'm sort of busy at the moment so I'll make a note to laugh later."
"That's just your slow wit taking time to process keen humor."
"You call that keen?"
In reply, Etta hits Jared on the head with several of his crumped up balls of paper. Curious she holds on to the last of those she scooped up and starts smoothing the parchment out. Jared snatches it away but not before she's gotten a look at what's written there. "That's private, thank you very much."
"As bad as that is, I'd want to keep it private too if I were you."
"I know it's bad. Why do you think it's in the rubbish."
"Is it suppose to be a poem?"
"That was the intent."
"All of these?" Etta sweeps her hand to indicate the many balls of parchments heaped in and around the trash can by Jared's desk.
"Those are just from the last hour."
"How long have you been trying to write a poem for Alanna? It is for Alanna?"
"Yeah, for Alanna as part of her birthday present."
Etta grabs back the page Jared had only moments before jerked out of her grasp. Jared moves to retrieve it once more but stops when Etta says, "It's obvious you're trying too hard and you do know that every line doesn't have to rhyme. None of them have to actually."
"I know but I can't seem to help it. I start one and before I know it, I've made each line rhyme, which isn't a bad thing if the lines were any good."
Etta hands the page back to Jared. "You've got a month before Alanna's birthday. Keep working at it and you just might have a decent line, maybe even two by then."
"Thanks for the encouragement," Jared says with a tinge of sarcasm after crumpling the parchment up again and using it to hit Etta in the forehead. "You may go now."
Etta pulls a face and moves to leave, stopping when Jared asks, "Is kidney pie really for lunch?"
Etta lifts one shoulder in a shrug. "It will be once I tell Mum you specifically said you hoped we'd have it one day this week."
"Do that and I'll be sure to let slip to her how much you've been wanting Grandmum's recipe for liver."
Etta shudders. "Don't even tease about that."
Jared finds himself shuddering as well. "You're right. That was low. If kidney pie is on today's menu though, I'll just claim I'm meeting someone and leave you here to eat it so you can let Mum see that you love it as much as I do."
Etta laughs, "Cheat."
She starts for the door again. "Mum isn't even home at the moment so I guess we'll just have to wait for kidney pie since neither of us know how to make it."
"Want pizza?"
"I'm supposed to meet Olive soon."
"So have her join us or meet her after. I'm going to see if Alanna's up for some. Maybe Sage and Georgia too."
"Yeah, okay. If she's not eaten yet, I bet Olive would want to come."
Realizing that they now both want to firetalk with friends to issue the lunch invitations, Etta takes off at a run out of Jared's bedroom but his longer legs quickly overtake her, both of them laughing hysterically as she tries to stop him from jockeying past her in the hallway on the way to the fireplace on the Floo Network.
Visiting grandpa
Author: Linnea Rose
Date: 03-25-10 10:50
Today was the day we were to visited grandpa and we were to celebrate Easter again. We had wake up early to been on St. Mungo’s early to spend much time with grandpa.
When we came to St. Mungo’s we went up to the fourth floor where grandpa was lying since he was in the accident with he fell holding his wand and the made some kind of spell which wasn’t really meant to be. So when we came in the room we looked around to see if we found him. Lucky we found him lying in a bed with fresh flowers next to him.
We gather all around him and he smiled happy to see us. Grandma helped him sit up so and we talked for a long time with him. He even asked how it was going on for us at Hogwarts. Maria and I said everything is fine and that we do are best. He seemed please with our answers which made us feel happy know he liked our answers. When we had talked for a long-time we went to have lunch in the hospital dinner-room and we mange to get grandpa out of the bed and in to a wheelchair.
When we came to the dining room we sat down around one table and started to celebrate our second Easter. We ate and talked a lot about almost everything. We ate for an hour and then it was time for us to leave since my cousin was going home and it was a long way home for them. But we also saw that grandpa needed to rest little. So we took him back to his room and then we said goodbye and we all went out from the room.
We walked down to the entry and walked out of the Hospital. Outside we said goodbye to grandma, aunt and our cousins and they walked a separate way and we went to the car to get home. The day had been lovely and I could now go back to Hogwarts know that my grandpa was not that ill as I first imagined.
Three's a Crowd
Author: Ella
Date: 03-27-10 06:05
The waters around the island of Capri glistened a shade of blue Ella had never before seen. It was breathtakingly beautiful from her vantage point at the Villa San Michele, where her father and Delilah had taken her today. She could see not only the gorgeous water but the boats in the harbor, the beaches, and the summer homes that dotted the coast.
She climbed up onto the narrow wall that encircled the rotunda at the villa and leaned up against a column that had been on the site since the days of the Muggle Emperor Tiberius. Her father and his girlfriend were standing across from her, standing arm in arm and gazing out to sea.
Ella had dreaded attending the trip with her father and his girlfriend. She hadn't wanted to see her father with someone who wasn't her mother, and she was sure that Delilah wouldn't want her getting in the way of what could be a romantic vacation for two. She wasn't wrong on that account. Delilah was cordial enough but obviously would have rather had her beau all to herself. She often suggested that Ella go off on her own, which Ella sometimes did, but not always.
The fact remained that Ella did want to spend time with her father, and she wanted to bring back information for her mother as requested. And it turned out that despite feeling like the third wheel and rather uncomfortable and unwanted at times, Ella was glad she'd agreed to go. There were moments when she and her dad were alone together. Short moments, but moments all the same. Also, Capri was nicer than any place she'd ever visited.
She couldn't wait to tell Francis all about it. She hadn't written him any letters, or any to her mum, afraid that Delilah and Dunstan might see what she wrote, especially if it concerned them. Instead, she filed away everything in her mind, hoping she wouldn't forget any details by the time it came to spill everything to her mum and best friend.
Ella continued to sit on the wall, both observing and not observing her dad and Delilah, who had started kissing. She really wished they would get a room. On second thought, maybe not. Ella didn't like the thought of them being alone in a room together. She was pretty sure they had already had sex, but she didn't like to think of it. Of course, she didn't like to think about her parents doing it together either, but it was better than thinking about her dad being with someone else.
"Is that an owl?" her dad asked, cutting in to her thoughts and redirecting her gaze out to sea.
Sure enough, a large dark owl swooped through the air, making an arc for the island and the villa where Ella, Dunstan and Delilah were. As it drew nearer, Ella began to recognize it. It didn't belong to anyone in particular. It belonged to the post office in Hogsmeade. Ella recognized it because it was one that Zane had often used to send her missives at the castle.
Zane. She hadn't thought of him in a while. It was easy to push him from her mind when she was at school because she had Francis in her life now. They weren't a couple and Ella didn't see him that way anyway. They were friends. Good friends, even. Up until now, Ella hadn't even considered him once. It was hard to have any care in the world on the island of Capri, even if she was there with her dad and his girlfriend.
The owl touched down on the wall next to Ella and extended its leg. A small roll of parchment scrap was tied to one.
By now, Dunstan and Delilah had come over and were looking at Ella and the owl curiously.
"Who's it from, Ella?" Dunstan asked.
She carefully untied the parchment from the owl's leg and unfurled it. Ella had never told her parents about Zane. She'd never told them about him because she was afraid that they would want to meet him, and she really didn't want them to do that since Zane was an adult thinking Ella was older than she really was. It would have been bad for everyone all around.
The note read simply:
Ella,
I can't stop thinking about you. Are you at Hogwarts?
Zane
Azkaban Meeting With Agnes Halford
Author: Griffin Price
Date: 03-28-10 12:44
The familiar face of Harry Potter pokes into Griff's cubicle. "You're here. Good. Means I don't have to try and catch up with you later. I was just at Azkaban and the warden asked if I'd deliver this to you. Not knowing how important it is, I didn't want to just leave it on your desk if you weren't here."
Griff accepts the small, sealed enveloped thrust towards him. "Thanks, Harry. Appreciate you playing messenger."
Harry makes a deep bow with a lavish flourish of his hands. "I live to serve."
Griff grabs his empty coffee cup and holds it out to Harry while saying, "In that case, more coffee. Extra cream. And a pastry freshly made from a Paris patisserie."
Harry chuckles. "You wish. Got a meeting. See you later."
"Thanks again."
Griff uses a letter opener on his desk to open the envelope then extracts a single, small rectangle of parchment on which is written in a scraggly hand
Price,
Have information to exchange for a reduced sentence. Please come soon.
Agnes Halford
Curious both as to why Agnes, who'd been passing herself off most recently as Elizabeth Stanley, contacted him instead of the hit wizard she's had more dealings with, Ebony Urban, and as to what information she had that she thinks will get her Azkaban sentence reduced, Griff decides to go now. He's going out with another auror later and has a meeting on different case this afternoon at four so if he's going to make it over there today, now is the best time.
After letting someone know where he'd be, Griff left the Ministry by Floo and then took the boat that ran from the mainland to the island on which Azkaban is located. After passing through the various checkpoints, Griff is eventually shown into a room not all that dissimilar to one of the rooms used for questioning at the Ministry.
A few minutes later a door on the wall opposite from where Griff is sitting opens and Agnes walks in with the guard reminding her of the rules regarding meeting with visitors. Agnes looks now much as she did when Griff was a kid. She's stick thin with mouse brown hair. The only difference in her appearance now from those in his memories are the gray streaks causing the mouse brown to have a slightly dirty look.
Taking the only other chair in the room, Agnes noisely scrapes it across the floor as she scootches close enough to the table to fold her hands on top of it. She runs her eyes over Griff then says without preamble, "You look like your brother and father but have your mother's coloring. The other day your name didn't immediately register with me, probably because last I saw you, you were just a boy. A shame about your family. Hear your uncle is inside these walls. About time he was locked away for good."
"With your history, you're one to talk."
"I never physically harmed anyone, much less killed my own blood."
It's a good point and one Griff had already made silently even as he'd spoken those words. He keeps the thought to himself and says instead, "Why did you want to see me? And why me and not one of the arresting hit wizards on record?"
"I know you in a way and your mum was always nice to me no matter how much trouble I was in with the law. I would rather work with you than with someone I don't know."
"You don't know me anymore."
"True, but my instinct tells me you'll do me fair. I can't handle being in a place like this for long. I have information I'm willing to trade in exchange for a reduced sentence."
"You do realize I"m not authorized to agree to anything like that."
"I know, but I trust you to take the tidbit I give you and get me a deal cut with your superiors."
"And what's the tidbit."
"I know of someone who's not only fleecing Muggles but has killed a few times."
"That's not even a tidbit. It's hardly a crumb."
"Fine, a crumb. Take it and see if I can get a reduced sentence."
"Don't be surprised if the answer is that you need to give us more before we put anything in writing."
"I understand."
"Anything else?"
"Not until you get back to me with a response."
"I'll see what I can do."
"That's all I ask."
Agnes and Griff get up at the same time with Agnes going to the door she'd entered from and Griff going to the other and knocking to let the guard know he's done. On the boat ride back to the mainland, Griff wonders how much the Ministry is going to be willing to work with Agnes. He hopes they can reach something amenable to both sides because if there's someone out there not only conning Muggles but killing them, Griff would rather have Agnes serve less time on her sentence if it means getting the necessary information on person to make an arrest and put the person in jail for a long time.