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No Sign Of Henshaw Yet
Author: Harry Potter
Date: 09-17-11 18:41
Two of Henshaw's Wizards had just created a hole in a wall, raining debris on Harry and Hit Wizard Willis Patrick. One hand tightly clutching his wand and the other covering his mouth and nose from all the dust particles clouding the air, Harry asks, "You okay, Willis?"
Willis had ducked when the blast flew across the room at them so now, like Harry, he's covered in dust and plaster. He shifts some of the larger pieces off him before replying, "Yeah, you?"
"Yeah, but I've lost sight of them."
Working together to continue moving down the hallway, eyes peeled for the two who'd fired on them a minute or two ago, both stop at exactly the same time, hearing a nose coming from a bend in the corridor just ahead. Willis goes low, practically on his belly, inching forward. Harry waits a few beats then crouching as well, moves carefully along. Willis stops then using his wand to send some objects flying around the corner at whomever is there. The two Wizards react to the objects and stupidly move into view, allowing Harry and Willis to easily disarm and drop them while they are busy blasting apart a large vase with a plant in it and an office chair that someone had rolled into the hallway, probably when realizing law enforcement was in the building.
The two are quickly bound and sent by port key to the Ministry. Willis and Harry, now at the end of the hallway, clear the rooms there then start up the stairs. They work methodically, joining up with three others on the next floor to rapidly check the entire space. There's probably a cellar or basement of some sort and there's one other floor above this one. So far there's no word that Henshaw's been arrested. Looking up one set of stairs to the top floor, Harry hopes like hell the man is holed up there. If not, it could be months or years before they get another bead on him.
Visiting Erigone
Author: Illyria
Date: 09-18-11 08:19
Torrential rain hammered the coastline of Mumbai City and had done so nonstop since Illyria had arrived at the home of her sister and brother-in-law a few days ago. She and Erigone sat on the terrace of the flat, with baby Adrian between them. Earlier, the wind had blown the rain directly against the terrace, but now the wind blew in the other direction. Illyria and Erigone had used their wands to dry off the wicker patio furniture before seating themselves to watch the rain.
"Tell me why I decided to visit you during one of the monsoon months?" Illyria asked her sister with a grin.
"Because you wanted a holiday away from home and I'm the only family you have who doesn't live locally?" Erigone responded.
They had to speak pretty loudly over the rain.
"That's right," Illyria said. She had wanted to get away from home, not merely because everybody needed to get away from time to time, but because she wanted time away from Nathan and Urania.
She'd not admitted to anybody how she felt about the situation. Nobody, but Nathan himself, of course, knew that they'd had a quasi-relationship themselves. Relationship was perhaps a strong word to describe what they'd had, but they'd certainly had something.
"Knut for your thoughts," Erigone said, sensing that Illyria had drifted into her own little world.
Illyria shook her head. "It's nothing, really."
"So not a thing but a somebody, perhaps?" Erigone pressed.
Illyria didn't want to lie to her sister, but she also didn't want to open up a can of worms and ruin whatever Nathan and Urania had. As far as she knew, Nathan hadn't come clean to Urania. Maybe Urania wouldn't care. Perhaps Illyria should have said something from the very beginning, though.
"Oh, Illyria," Erigone finally said, when Illyria didn't answer, "are you lonely? Everyone has gotten married or is in a relationship but you."
"You certainly know how to make a girl feel better," Illyria quipped, lightly sarcastic. She shrugged. "It's not that, exactly. My work keeps me busy and most of the time I don't even think about dating. Roland was the last serious boyfriend I had, and that was years ago."
"What's going on with him these days? Are you still talking from time to time?"
"Occasionally, but not very often. I'm certainly not interested in picking up where we left off, if you're wondering."
"I wasn't," Erigone admitted. "He doesn't seem like your type anymore. The question is, who is your type?"
Illyria didn't answer, watching the rain bombard the beach and ocean in the near distance. She knew who her type was, but unfortunately, he was very much off limits nowadays.
(Ariella) Mirror Image
Author: Beck
Date: 09-18-11 09:40
Ariella was in a hurry. Today, Lawrence planned on whisking her off on a summer holiday. The destination as always was a complete surprise. Thanks to Lawrence, Ariella had gotten bit by the travel bug and loved every single one of the trips he'd taken her on. She couldn't wait to discover where they were headed today.
But first, she had some last minute business to take care of at St. Emrys. There'd been a mistake on her schedule for Michaelmas Term, and Ariella wanted to get it straightened out before she left on her trip. True, Michaelmas Term didn't start till October and there was plenty of time till then, but sometimes classes filled up early. Better to be safe than sorry.
She stepped into the registration office and reached for one of the thick course schedules stacked onto a side table in the room. Ariella leafed through it quickly, knowing exactly which page she needed. She found the correct class and section and approached the counter to make the necessary changes to her schedule.
Ariella was still rather undecided when it came to picking a definite course of study. She had an interest in invention and design and spell research, as well as teaching and international studies. For now, she was taking classes in all of those subjects.
It didn't take Ariella long to get her schedule straightened out. She was glad that she didn't have any trouble and that she could hurry home now so that she and Lawrence could take off for their next big adventure.
She turned and headed for the office exit, when a witch around her age entered the room. Both women stopped in their tracks as they took in each other's appearances.
The witch had hair the exact same shade as Ariella. She wore it half up, half down, clipped on the side over her left ear. She was the same height and body shape as Ariella, too. Their faces weren't exactly the same, but they shared enough similar features that it was almost as if the two were looking into a mirror at their own reflections.
"What's your name?" Ariella blurted out.
"Gillian Colley. You?" She spoke with an Australian accent.
"Ariella Masterson. Where are you from?"
"Wellington, New Zealand. You?"
"Manchester. Erm... Do you have a moment?"
"Yes, of course," Gillian said.
She and Ariella left the office and sat down on a nearby bench in the hall.
"This might be an awkward question, but do you know who your father is?" Ariella asked. If not for Katherine Spinnet's existence, Ariella might think the fact that she and Gillian looked alike was a coincidence.
"My mum said he was an Englishman," Gillian replied, "but I've never met him."
"You wouldn't happen to know his name, would you?" Ariella asked. It had to be her dad. It just had to be.
"It's not a Mr. Masterson, if that's what you're wondering," Gillian replied, not noticing Ariella's wedding ring. "His name is Fredegar Fiske. I've come here to find him, and while I'm here, I thought I might enroll in the university."
Ariella couldn't believe her gut feeling was wrong.
"It's weird that we look so alike, isn't it?" Gillian asked. "Were you thinking we were long lost sisters or something?"
"Something like that," Ariella replied. She wasn't sure why she felt so disappointed. It wasn't exactly a good thing that her father had had at least one affair that she knew of.
"My dad had an extramarital affair. I've got at least one half-sister that I didn't know about until relatively recently. When I saw you, I wondered if Dad maybe had had another affair."
"I guess that's not something you want to ask him, is it?"
"Even if I did, I couldn't. He died when I was very young."
"Sorry to hear that. I guess we both grew up without our fathers then."
"Yeah," Ariella said. "Well, I ought to be going. It was nice meeting you, Gillian. If you need somebody to show you around, I'd be happy to help. Otherwise, maybe I'll see you when term starts."
"Thanks, and yes. I'm sure I'll see you around."
The witches said their goodbyes, and then Ariella left for Hogwarts, her mind reeling over the face that looked so much like hers.
Getting Henshaw
Author: Griffin Price
Date: 09-18-11 15:36
Geoffrey and Griff had worked together on the ground floor and on part of the next but upon learning that a couple of the people who were to check the basement level had been injured, Griff headed back downstairs. He wasn't worried about someone hiding in the basement and then sneaking out while the raid was going on because there's a perimeter of law enforcement around the building. The concern is someone hiding there until the Ministry is done with the building and scarping off, possibly with parchments or items that could be used against Henshaw and his organization.
There are a few down on the basement level but reaching a set of stairs leading down to it, Griff proceeds with caution. At the bottom of the stairs he finds one of the Hit Wizards making sure no one can use the stairs to sneak out. There's another set off stairs somewhere on the other side of the basement, which should, by now, also be guarded. The Hit Wizard, Latetia Lewiston indicates for Griff where she knows for certain has been swept. With a nod of thanks he moves away from the basement landing to where a hallway opens to the right. Wand at the ready, Griff reaches a partially closed door. He positions himself so that he can ease it open with his free hand, while also keeping an eye on the rest of the hallway.
The room is a medium sized one packed with boxes. After squeezing through a tight walkway to make sure there are no nooks and crannies where someone could be hiding, he randomly checks the contents of boxes. Every one he looks into has nothing more than office supplies. With two of the boxes he even unloads them far enough down to see if the way they were packed was just a cover for some other inventory. Just because his quick search doesn't uncover anything to use as further evidence against Henshaw doesn't mean there's none to be found in any of these boxes. They will all have to be thoroughly checked later.
Before stepping back into the hallway, Griff uses a little magic to make sure the storeroom's door stays open. Just outside the door he uses his wand to make an X on the wall to indicate the room has been checked. The next room is a small office and the one after that has two round tables, some chairs, a fake window charmed to shows scenes of an orchard with chirping birds and chittering squirrels and, faintly, the moos and bleated baas indicating cows and sheep somewhere in the distance. There's a counter with cabinets and a sink along with a small stove on which a tea kettle sits. Even before he checks the cabinets Griff has surmised this is a break room for those who work on this level. Or perhaps is the break room for everyone who works in the building. It doesn't really matter. Nothing here worth seeing.
The only other door along this section of corridor leads into a large room with a platform and podium and neat row after neat row of chairs. Griff has no idea if it's a meeting room of some sort for part of Henshaw's legitimate business concerns or if he uses it for the seamier side of business, or both. Whatever the case, it too is empty.
The hall doglegs and Griff starts methodically working his way down it as he had the first section. The end of hallway opens into a large warehouse-like room but just before it there's a door with a name plate, marking it as someone's office. It too is clear though there's several filing cabinets that will need to be gleaned for possible information on Henshaw's less than legimate dealings. There's also a safe that will need to be opened and checked. All things that can wait.
The warehouse-like room appears to be empty but it's shadowed and Griff can't immediately tell if there are any doors leading elsewhere. There are stacks of crates and he can make out a set of shelves off to his left. Perfect places for hiding. He's just about to send his patronus off to get someone here to back him up when he hears footsteps coming from deeper inside the room, somewhere beyond those shelves.
Moving as quickly as he can without making enough noise to give himself away, Griff makes his way in the direction of the footsteps, using whatever he can along the way for cover. Just past the last of the shelving units, he's no longer hearing the footsteps but does hear whispered voices. In the gloom just ahead he can see the shape of two men, standing close together. One of them keeps gesturing in the direction Griff's just come from while the other is shaking his head and pointing the other way. He can hear them speaking but still can't distinguish specific words.
He creeps a little closer then stands, wand pointed. "Drop your wands. Hands up!" he commands.
The one who'd been pointing the direction Griff just came from rapidly complies. The other snorts derisively at how easly his companion has given up, grabs the man and gets behind him, wand alternating between pointing at his human shield and at Griff. "You drop your or I kill him."
The shield squawks in protest at being made a shield. Griff ignores him and says to the other, "You won't kill him. If you do, that gives me a clear shot at you."
"Was worth a try. Some of you Ministry types aren't the brightest."
Since there's no reason for stealth any longer Griff lights the end of his wand to help illuminate his immediate surroundings. It's enough to let him make out both men's faces. The shield he recognizes from one of the files. The man is Henshaw's head accountant, keeping the books for both the legitimate and the criminal aspects of the organization. The other man is Rufus Henshaw.
Griff tells him, "You might as well save time and trouble. Let him go and drop the wand."
Henshaw's response is to start walking backwards, forcing his accountant to move as well.
"We've got a perimeter around the building. No use going to whatever exit you're headed for. Can't apparate out. The Floos won't work for you."
"He's got a port key in a room that way," accountant informs Griff with a jerk of his head.
"Now you see why I made you take a secret keeping oath for the accounts, you bloody idiot?" Henshaw snaps at the man. He rapidly shifted gears to shout, "Expelliarmus!" at Griff.
Griff's guard was up so he was able to deflect the spell and not lose his wand in the process. He countered with, "Petrificus totalus," but Henshaw not only blocked it but made sure it bounced onto the accountant. Griff saw no point in that because now Henshaw's shield is standing stiff and could fall over easily.
It's apparently an effort to distract Griff, even if only for a second, because Henshaw rapidly fires several spells off at him. Griff counters while also seeking better cover. If he can just manuever around slightly to where the rigid accountant isn't directly in the line of fire between Henshaw and him, he might be able to get a spell past Henshaw's defenses.
That was his plan anyway but then Henshaw explodes some crates that had been giving Griff partial protection. Griff's forced to duck and cover, which in turn gives Henshaw an opening to dive for better cover himself, leaving the accountant standing stiff as a board.
Now that his lit wand is serving as a beacon for Henshaw, Griff quickly puts it out, while wishing he knew where the warehouse-like rooms lights are. Henshaw has the advantage of knowing this room much better in this gloomy, shadowy light than he does. Shifting slightly to peer out in the direction Henshaw dived, Griff takes a couple of seconds to send his patronus to Latetia. She will, in turn, notify others. Hopefully, backup will arrive within no more than a minute or two. In the meantime, he needs to keep Henshaw too occupied to make it to wherever that room is with the port key.
Griff sends a couple of blast at some stacked barrels, earning himself return fire from Henshaw. He's further away than Griff had thought so Griff starts working his way forward, continuing to fire on Henshaw and countering anything the other man sends that gets close.
That minute has passed and number two is nearly up. Where are they? Griff can now make out the room he thinks the accountant was indicating. As if confirming this, he spots movement just ahead as Henshaw belly crawls from one set of crates to the cover provided by more free standing shelves laden with an assortment of items. Griff fires low, hoping to hit Henshaw while he's crawling. From the muffled oath that reaches him, he hit something, which in turn got Henshaw. Not a direct hit though, damn it.
Henshaw reaches the shelves and better positioned again to fire back, lets forth a steady stream of shots. Griff returns fire, bringing one of the shelves down in the process, leaving Henshaw exposed. Griff fires again but not before Henshaw gets off a blast of his own. It knocks Griff back, sending him flying several feet. He's dazed and it takes him a few seconds to roll around to where he can even try to stand. The room suddenly explodes with light and sounds as assistance arrives.
Henshaw is down, but attempting to crawl. From the looks of him, he's feeling every bit as bruised and battered and short of breath from Griff's blast as Griff is from Henshaw's. Good.
Letting the others move in and finish things, Griff staggers back to sit down, rubbing the spot on his chest that took the direct hit, thankful that Henshaw hadn't used that moment to send a killing curse.
(Bucharest, Hungary) Vacation Begins - Muggle Style
Author: Lawrence Masterson
Date: 09-18-11 18:08
The trip wasn't all that long from London to Hungary, and they arrived in Bucharest a day before their tour was to begin. They checked in to the Muggle B&B they would be staying at for tonight before their tour began at first light tomorrow morning.
He'd intended the first day to be downtime, relaxation time for the pair of them before the first of their two tours began. They'd left shortly after Ariella had gotten back from dealing with things at St. Emry's, and she'd told him about the mirror image of herself that she'd run into.
After they checked in, Ariella was lounging on the bed and rolled over to look at her husband. "So are you going to tell me what all we are doing on this trip?"
"We are doing an eleven day tour of some historical sites throughout the Black Sea coast and an extension on the Danube. That is the first eleven days. Then an explorer tour through Budapest and Transylvania. That is eight days. And we will be spending an extra four days here in Bucharest after that before heading back to London." He said, smiling lightly and handing her the information packets of their interary* for the first nineteen days of their trip.
Ariella grinned and looked over the packets, and the pair of them began discussing a variety of sites that they were most looking forward to seeing. Yes, this trip they would be sightseeing the muggle way the entire way through. Lawrence had even gone through and bought a muggle camera for them to take pictures with throughout the trip. They were with a larger tour group that would be leaving out of Bucharest in the morning after breakfast.
"We will sightsee wizarding highlights the last four days of our trip, but for the bulk of our trip it will be entirely muggle." He said, wrapping his arms around her as she settled in his lap on the chair near the window. "I'm feeling a bit hungry, lets go grab something to eat and see the sights a little bit."
Lawrence grabbed the camera and the keys to their room and together they headed out into the early evening in the city. Travel maps in hand, they occasionally stopped and asked for directions and some of the best places to eat while they were in the city.
*11 Day Trip: Bucharest - The Black Sea Coast & Histria - Danube Delta Cruise - Moldavia - Bucovina Monasteries - Maramures - Transylvanian Highlights - Brasov - Bran Castle - Sinaia Resort - Bucharest
*8 Day Trip: Budapest City Tour & Danube Cruise - Visegrad & Szentendre - Overnight First Class Sleeper to Romania - Sinaia & Peles Castle - Brasov - Sighisoara - Bucharest City Tour
Quidditch Con
Author: Kody
Date: 09-19-11 14:42
Cleansweep Arena is fairly crowded for this first ever Quidditch Con. Walking along with Drake and Phin, and with Deak, Jack, and Wiggy a few feet ahead, Kody wonders how many different countries are represented by the crowd today. If the entire day has this type of turnout he can easily see Quidditch Con being deemed a raging success with plans already in the works for another next year.
So far their little group has gotten several autographs and pictures taken with celebrity Quidditch players, tried out a new model of Firebolt that's set to hit the market in the fall, bought a few things, sat in to listen to a panel discussion about the movement to change certain Quidditch rules to allow for things like in-game substitutions, and eaten. And eaten. And eaten.
Now they are headed to a game that required purchasing tickets for. It's a catch the snitch type game. There's a large booth and one single snitch is turned loose. Catch it and win a prize. The faster it's caught, the bigger the prize. There is a time limit. Don't catch the snitch before time's up, then you've had the fun of standing in a see through booth hopping around grabbing at air. There are several of the booths operating but there's still a decent sized line.
The six young men queue up, Deak starting a bet among them on who will catch their snitches the quickest. Kody gets in on the bet though he's secretly hoping he doesn't get in there and be the only one of the group not to catch the snitch. As the line moves at a somewhat steady pace, he guesses he'll see soon enough if he has what it takes.
At the Convention
Author: Isolde
Date: 09-19-11 19:08
Angelina Johnson looked over at Isolde and remarked, "I'd say this is a success, wouldn't you?"
"Without a doubt," Isolde replied.
The British and Irish Quidditch Little League had been invited to operate a booth at the first ever Quidditch Con, which took place in Cornwall this year. Angelina, the director of the league, had wanted to represent it herself and had recruited Isolde to help.
Since the convention opened its doors hours ago, business had been nonstop at the booth, even if it was only little league and not professional Quidditch.
"Hey, Isolde."
Isolde turned to the familiar voice and saw her cousin Mark and his friend Gus. Both held an armful of Quidditch paraphernalia and wore gleeful expressions on their faces.
"Hi, guys. I didn't know you would be here," she said to her cousin.
"Likewise," Mark replied, "but I guess it makes sense that the Little League would be here too."
"It's still Quidditch," Isolde said with a smile. "Are you guys having fun?"
"Totally! I got Gwenog Jones to sign her name on my abs!" Gus exclaimed. He thrust all his goodies into Mark's arms and then raised his shirt for Angelina and Isolde to see. "Nice, huh?"
If he'd been older, Angelina and Isolde might have murmured yes. Gus had grown up last summer, but after one year, he looked even better than ever. Girls passing by the booth saw him with his shirt raised and openly gawked at his physique.
Gus, who had grown to like the attention of girls, didn't even notice them. He was too hyped up about Quidditch at the moment. He lowered his shirt and took back his things from Mark.
"Want to see what else there is?" he asked Mark.
Mark nodded, eager to move on to another booth. He said bye to his cousin, and then the two were gone.
Isolde and Angelina exchanged amused looks, and soon they were busy with customers again.