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DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2095 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Sunday 28 September 2008 12 38 08 pm    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind Thanks, Obladi! Gotta love the word, authory. I'm going to start posting 2 chapters a week instead of just 1, because I only have 1 more chapter to write in this story! Questions, comments, and general reviews are appreciated, like always! Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter, Wii (and Nintendo in general), or Barbie. Chapter 23: Dinner With The Dursleys Albus's family came to pick him up from Rose's house the next afternoon. They were all dressed in Muggle clothing, although Harry looked a little uncomfortable in his Muggle suit. Probably due to the tie, Albus thought. He could never understand why Muggles wore those. "Ready, Al?" Harry asked after a few minutes of visiting with Rose's family. "Yeah," Albus replied. He had to admit that he was a bit nervous about this dinner, but there was nothing he could do about it now. "See you at school, Rose." "Bye," Rose smiled. The rest of the Potters and Weasleys said goodbye to each other and then Albus disapparated with his family. They appeared in a dark alley near a deserted street. Harry motioned for them to follow him and the family started down the street. They made a few more turns until they came upon a neighborhood of average sized houses. The houses all looked different, but seemed to be well cared for. It was a very quiet neighborhood with few people out and about. There were a couple people outside shoveling the newly fallen snow off their driveways, but none of them seemed to notice Albus and his family. Eventually, Harry led them up a driveway towards a gray house Albus recognized as Kaden's. Before they could even reach the door, it was thrown open and Kaden came running out. "Albus!" he shouted. "Hi, Kaden," Albus greeted him. "How are you?" "Great!" Kaden grinned, "I can't tell you how much I've missed school. It seems so boring here compared to school." "I haven't missed it. I like being on holiday," Albus said. "Yeah, but it's so boring without," Kaden whispered in Albus's ear, "Magic." Albus stifled a laugh and followed Kaden into the house. Kaden led them to the living room, where Dudley was fidgeting with his tie. Christina was setting out bowls of grapes and nuts and Bethany was helping. "Get anything good for Christmas?" Kaden asked Albus once they sat down on the couch. "I got a few new games for my Wii, a new football, a skateboard, and a bunch of clothes." "What's a Wii?" Albus asked. "Video game system," Kaden explained, "It's really fun. I'll show you sometime." "Oh," Albus nodded, "I got some clothes, books, a load of sweets, stuff from my Uncle George's shop, and my dad's Invisibility Cloak." Kaden's mouth fell open, "He gave it to you?!" "Yup," Albus grinned. He had told Kaden about the Cloak a while ago, although Kaden had never seen it. He pulled it out of his bag and handed it to Kaden. "Whoa, that's brilliant!" Kaden threw the cloak around himself, "Look, I'm invisible!" All the adults looked over at him. "Albus, you'd better put that away before Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia get here," Harry warned. Albus nodded and took the cloak back from Kaden. He knew Uncle Vernon would be less than enthusiastic about any sort of magical object. "Er, speaking of my parents," Dudley shifted uncomfortably, "They don't, well, they aren't aware that you're, er, here tonight." Albus watched as his parents looked at each other and then back at Dudley. "What do you mean, Dudley?" Harry asked nervously. "I knew they wouldn't come if they knew you were here, so I didn't tell them," Dudley confessed. Harry groaned, "Dudley... You know this could go horribly wrong." "Well, I was kind of hoping you would all make up," Dudley mumbled. Harry shook his head and looked back at Ginny, who looked worried. Then the doorbell rang and Harry turned to Dudley. Dudley gave him a small smile and turned to get the door. Albus gulped and looked at James. Albus could only ever recall seeing his Uncle Vernon once. Albus was only five or six at the time and the only thing he remembered was Vernon asking Harry if Albus was 'a freak like you are'. Albus had no desire to ever see the man again, and now he had to spend the evening with him. The voices of Dudley greeting his parents started to become louder as they came into the living room. Albus got up from the couch and stood next to James, who was hiding behind Harry. Vernon and Petunia followed Dudley into the room and their faces visibly paled as they saw the Potters. "Wha-wha, Dudley?" Vernon gaped at Harry and then looked at his son. Albus watched as pandemonium broke out amongst the adults. Vernon's face turned various shades of red and purple as he tried to grasp what was happening. Petunia clung to her husband with a combined look of dislike and fear on her face. "Vernon, Vernon! Did you know they would be here?" Petunia asked shrilly. Once Vernon regained his ability to speak coherently, he started yelling at Harry, who yelled back. "You!" Vernon pointed at Harry, "Why are you here, boy?" Christina stood near the entrance to the kitchen, looking uncomfortable. Bethany clung to her leg and hid her face, clearly afraid of her grandfather's shouting. Albus, James, Lily, and Kaden glanced around at the adults, paying rapt attention to the unfolding argument, but not saying a word. Ginny pursed her lips and watched her husband with a disapproving look. Albus had to admit that his Uncle Vernon was a bit scary right now and Albus had no desire to cross paths with him. Dudley looked nervous as he tried to make peace between his relatives. His voice was drowned out amongst Vernon and Harry's yelling, and Petunia's shrieking. "Mum, Dad," Dudley stood in front of his parents, "I invited them here, so we could all get reacquainted." "Why would you do that?" Vernon demanded. "Kaden's a wizard, Dad, so Harry's a part of his life now. You know he's one of Kaden's teachers." Vernon's face turned from ghostly white to a deep shade of purple. "What could he possibly teach? Abnormalness?" "Magic, Dad, it's called magic," Dudley sighed. Vernon's eyes narrowed and he glared at Harry. "You're filling his head with all that junk you learned as a child! Don't stand for it, Dudley! He's got you tricked or something! Send him to Smeltings!" "Dad, Harry didn't trick me. Kaden's a wizard and you're just going to have to live with it," Dudley replied. "Nothing good will come of this, Dudley! I assure you of that!" Vernon shouted. "Vernon," Petunia put her hand on her husband's arm, "Let it go." "You do realize that this kind of abnormality is what got your sister killed!" "I'm fully aware of what happened to my sister," Petunia snapped. "This doesn't have anything to do with that. It's about accepting your grandson for who he is." Vernon continued glaring at Harry, but he didn't say anything. "Let's all sit down," Dudley suggested. "And I'll get us some drinks!" Christina announced eagerly. She rushed into the kitchen and came back with a bottle of brandy, a bottle of wine, and a some glasses, along with fizzy drinks for the kids. Vernon and Petunia regained their composure and Petunia gave Dudley a bone crunching hug and smothered him with kisses. She then moved on and did the same with both her grandchildren, making sure to completely ignore Albus, James, and Lily. Albus sat down on the couch, and to his dislike Vernon chose to sit next to him. After a few moments of awkward silence, Vernon turned to Albus. "So," he began, causing Albus to jump, "You go to this, school, too?" "Er, yeah," Albus replied quickly, not looking at Vernon. "Look at me when I'm talking to you," Vernon spat, "I see manners aren't high on their priority list. What classes do you take there?" Albus forced himself to look at Vernon. "I'm taking Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, Astronomy, History of Magic, and Defense Against the Dark Arts," he mumbled quietly. Vernon seemed to flinch at the sound of those names. "I see. And are you any good at them?" "Um, I guess so," Albus replied. He was wishing more and more that he could have just stayed at Rose's house instead of coming here. Why was Vernon questioning him? Why not James or Kaden? "What subject does your father teach?" Vernon barked. "Defense Against the Dark Arts," Albus muttered. "And what is that, exactly?" "Defensive spells, dueling, stuff you use to defeat Dark wizards like Voldemort." "Yeah, and Professor Potter defeated Voldemort!" Kaden interrupted and for once Albus was grateful for his cousin's big mouth. "So I've heard," Vernon replied. "He's a great teacher, Grandpa! I love my new school. It's much better than Muggle school," Kaden grinned. "I'll be right back." He ran up the stairs and came back a few seconds later with his wand. "Look at this!" Vernon narrowed his eyes and gazed at his grandson. "You've got one, too." "Of course I do!" Kaden laughed, "I wish I could show you some magic, though. I can't do it outside school. Hey, Professor Potter can show you!" "No! I ruddy hell think not!" Vernon shouted. "No thanks!" Petunia shouted at the same time. Kaden looked disappointed. "Sorry, Kaden," Harry with an apologetic look, "Maybe another day." "Or never," Vernon muttered. Nobody said much after that. Albus preferred it that way. He was very happy that Uncle Vernon appeared to have given up his question and answer session. Christina announced that dinner was ready a few minutes later, and everyone eagerly went into the dining room. Albus made sure that he wasn't sitting next to Vernon and relaxed a little as he began to eat. The Dursleys dominated most of the dinner conversation, with Vernon and Petunia asking Dudley and Christina about what was new in their lives. They wanted to know every last detail, down to what grade Bethany had gotten on her latest book report in school. Eventually they had exhausted this topic and the table descended into an awkward silence before Vernon started drilling Harry about his life. "So, boy, what exactly do you do for a living?" Vernon barked. "I'm the Head of the Auror Department at the Ministry of Magic," Harry smiled. "Auror?" Vernon repeated, "What would that be?" "A Dark wizard catcher," Harry explained. "Oh, like a policeman. Wouldn't have guessed you were doing that, what with all the trouble you caused as a child." Harry sighed, "You know most of that wasn't my fault." "Like hell it wasn't. It was all due to your abnormality," Vernon replied. "Dad, can't you just drop it?" Dudley asked. "No, Duddy, I won't! Vernon slammed his fist on the table, "He's obviously done something to Kaden to make him abnormal!" That had to be the most ridiculous thing Albus had ever heard. A wizard could not turn a Muggle into a wizard. If they could, there wouldn't be any Squibs in the world, and there would certainly be more wizards. "Oh come off it, Dad!" Dudley shouted. "Harry didn't do this! Kaden was born a wizard!" "No he wasn't!" Vernon yelled, his face turning purple again. "And I want the boy to change him back!" "Uncle Vernon, listen to me," Harry announced, "You can't turn someone into a wizard, it just doesn't work. Kaden was born a wizard, which doesn't surprise me at all. There is magic in his blood, the same magic that was in my mother's and is in mine." "Wonderful," Vernon spat, "And I suppose you're going to tell me that Bethany will be abnormal, too?" "There's a chance she'll be a witch, yes," Harry told him. "I am not going to stand for anymore abonormalness in this family!" Vernon roared. "Vernon, there's nothing we can do!" Petunia shrieked, "I don't like it either, but the boy did not do this!" "How do you know?" "Because my freak of a sister told me it's not possible, that's how!" "Don't call her a freak!" Harry glared at both of them. Petunia ignored him. "I asked her, when I was an arrogant child. I asked her if someone could turn me into a witch before I knew any better. She said no. There is not one thing we can do to change Kaden. We just have to hope that he's going to be smarter than my sister was and not get killed just out of school." "Fine," Vernon snapped, "But I don't like it. I don't like it one bit." "Neither do I, neither do I," Petunia agree. Albus glanced nervously from one adult to the next, hoping that the fight was over. He realized now how much Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia hated magic now. The two of them were still going on about how Albus's grandmother had been killed, thirty-some years later. Albus was still amazed that Vernon had actually blamed Harry for Kaden being a wizard. Albus knew Vernon disliked Harry, but he didn't think Vernon would still blame Harry for things he didn't like, this many years later. "You'd be better off just keeping him out of that school," Vernon announced after a few minutes of silence. "There's no law requiring him to go, is there?" "No," Dudley replied. "But he likes it there, so he's staying." "This is utterly ridiculous," Vernon muttered, "Wait till Marge hears about it." "I hate Aunt Marge," Kaden said loudly, causing Albus to snort into his juice. "All she talks about is breeding dogs." "Don't say that about your aunt," Vernon scolded. "What?" Kaden shrugged, "Professor Potter must not like her either." Harry, who had been laughing behind his glass, immediately stopped and looked at Kaden. "Really, Kaden, it's not nice to say you hate people." He turned to Vernon, "You haven't told her?" "Of course I haven't!" Vernon raised his voice, "Can you imagine what she is going to think? That someone, like, like you is actually related to her? She takes comfort in the fact that you aren't actually related to her! But to have Kaden be one of your lot, she'll be horrified! And I should think so after what you blew her up years ago!" "What?!" Kaden and Bethany shouted at the same time. Kaden spat his juice out and started choking. Albus slapped him on the back, trying to control his own laughter. Harry told them this story a long time ago and just thinking about it made Albus laugh. "That wasn't his fault!" Ginny came to Harry's defense, "He couldn't control it! What your sister said about his parents was absolutely rotten and you know it!" "It was the truth!" Vernon shouted, rising to his feet. "No it wasn't!" Ginny stood up as well. "What do you mean, blew her up?" Kaden asked. "His parents were idiots and that's why they were killed!" Vernon continued. "No they weren't!" Harry stood and stared at his uncle. Albus had rarely ever seen his father so angry before. "They were working against Voldemort." "Another one of your lot who went on a killing rampage!" Vernon yelled. "They should have just ignored him and minded their own business," Petunia announced. Albus didn't really think she should be telling someone to mind their own business, when she thrived off of gossip. "You couldn't ignore Voldemort!" Harry and Ginny said at the same time. "Can someone please tell me how Aunt Marge got blown up?!" Kaden shouted again. "Dad, just forget about it, all right? Harry's parents weren't lazy," Dudley pleaded. "Leave this to me, Dudley. You're obviously under a bad influence right now." Dudley heaved a huge sigh, "Dad... You're forgetting that Harry saved my life once!" "Oh, from those dementy things? They wouldn't have even been around if it weren't for the boy!" "The point is that they were! And Harry saved me from them! He also kept us all safe while he was hunting down that Voldemort bloke. He didn't have to do that, you know." "What's a dementy thing?" Kaden asked loudly. "Dementors," Albus corrected, "They're these cloaked creatures that suck out your soul." Kaden stared at Albus, "They what?" "Suck out your soul," Albus repeated, "They feed on happy thoughts, until you're only left with the sad ones." Kaden shuddered, "They sound bloody horrible. Professor Potter saved Dad from one?" "Yeah, when they were 15. There's a charm, the Patronus Charm, that drives them away. It's really advanced magic not taught until seventh year, but Dad learned in his third year." "Wow, your dad's brilliant," Kaden grinned. "But I don't fancy running into one of those dementors. Have you ever seen one?" "No and I hope never to," Albus replied. "We would have been fine without those weirdos 'protecting' us!" Vernon raged. "No we wouldn't! We'd all be dead!" Dudley insisted. "What would that Voldemort bloke have wanted with us anyway?" Vernon bellowed, "It's not like we're weirdos like him." "Don't you get it?" Harry sighed, "He didn't care about anyone! He would've killed anyone to get to me, including you." "Everybody, just shut it!" The five adults who were arguing turned to the source of the new voice that rang out louder than theirs. It was Christina. Everyone stopped arguing and stared at her. "Thank you. Now I only understand parts of this row, but everything you're rowing about has happened in the past. Can't you just put it behind you and try to get along? Look at you, you're standing there arguing about stuff you can't change, in front of your children. What kind of example are you setting? Put aside your differences, if not for yourselves, do it for the kids." The adults said nothing for a few moments while Christina glared at every one of them. Eventually, Harry spoke, "She's right. We should just try and get along." Ginny nodded in agreement. "That's what I was trying to tell you," Dudley commented. "Fine," Vernon spat, "I'll tolerate the boy. But you are making a grave mistake with Kaden, Dudley." "Good," Christina replied and stood up. "I'll go get the pudding." The rest of the dinner was much more enjoyable. Harry quickly told the story of when he blew up Marge to douse Kaden and Bethany's curiosity, but there was no more mention of magic throughout the rest of the meal. The conversation centered on topics that could be equally relative to Muggles and wizards, such as the weather. Albus didn't say anything, choosing instead to quietly eat his pudding while listening to the adults' strained conversations. He was just happy that they were no longer arguing with each other. After dinner, Albus, James, and Kaden escaped to Kaden's bedroom, which he was eager to show off. The entire thing was decorated with various football paraphernalia, with a lot of emphasis on Manchester United. James found this highly entertaining and spent quite a few minutes laughing at the posters, in which the players remained completely still. Kaden spent a while showing off his Christmas presents to Albus and James and soon wanted to show them how to play his Wii. Kaden led Albus and James back downstairs, where the adults were discussing cars over coffee. Albus was very happy that he did not have to sit through that discussion. Albus followed as Kaden went down another flight of stairs and they descended into the basement. The basement was clearly the playroom of the house, as it was cluttered with all sorts of Muggle toys. Lily and Bethany were playing with Bethany's Barbies in one corner and neither of them paid much attention as the boys entered the room. The Wii was set up in the middle of the room and attached to a television that was against the wall. Albus had never played a Wii before and was kind of curious about it. James was as well, although he got sidetracked by a remote control car. He drove it all over the room, completely amazed at how the car seemed to move by magic. "The things Muggles come up with," James grinned as he joined Albus and Kaden in front of the television. Kaden spent the next hour teaching James and Albus how to play the Wii. They started with Kaden's new racing game, which was actually pretty complicated. It took Albus the better part of an hour to figure out how to play it. James caught on a bit faster, but neither of them could top Kaden in skill. Albus found that the game was incredibly fun and almost wished he had one at his house. Once they successfully learned the racing game, Kaden went on to teach them how to play a couple more games. Lily eventually wandered over and wanted to learn, too. By the time midnight came around, all five of them were taking turns playing games and Albus was having a great time. Albus was kind of disappointed when his dad called them back upstairs to count down to the new year and hoped that everyone was still acting civilly. They were, as Albus found when he entered the living room. It didn't really look like the adults were enjoying themselves, but they were at least acting polite, which was good enough for Albus. Shortly after they rang in the new year, Albus's parents decided it was time to leave. Albus had no arguments against this because he was tired and didn't really want to spend anymore time in the same house as Uncle Vernon. Harry politely shook hands with Vernon, said goodbye to Petunia, and told Dudley he would owl him soon. Vernon kind of flinched at the mention of the word 'owl.' Albus completely ignored Vernon and Petunia, and told Kaden he would see him on the train ride back to school. Once the obligatory goodbyes were said, Albus and his family left the house, only to Apparate back to Grimmauld Place a few streets away.
FawkesthePhoenix Joined: 31 December 2006 Posts: 3050 Location: Dancing circles around Voldemort, singing poetry into a hairbrush and dodging curses.	Posted: Saturday 27 September 2008 12 27 01 pm    Post subject: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Gelato Stand in topic:Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Gelato Stand Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Gelato Stand I, Harry Potter, am here to tell you what really happened in my first year. I can no longer stand the lies of my editors. They took my story and crippled it, changing the title and general plot so as not to violate any copyright laws. Then they published it under the name of my therapist, Jo Rowling. I had told her everything, my feelings, my thoughts, so she knew how to make it seem Potter-like. But you, readers, deserve to know the truth. So, without further ado, here is the story of what really happened when I entered year #1 at Hogwarts. * * * My childhood pretty much sucked. My cousin Dudley bullied me, stealing my frozen desserts and locking me into freezers. But for some strange reason, I never had an emotional breakdown until after I had left the Dursleys. Maybe the strange feeling of pleasure I got from doing accidental magic had something to do with it. At any rate, life sucked at my aunt and uncle's house. In case you're wondering, my parents are dead. Yeah. Traumatized childhood or what? Dudley got everything. Presents, love, friends. One time he went to the Zoo for his birthday, and I only got to come because Mrs. Figg broke her leg. But at least I got to sick a snake on him. But everything changed a few weeks before my eleventh birthday. I got a letter, from some place that knew exactly where I lived, even where I slept. Before I got to read it, however, Uncle Vernon ripped it to shreds. Yeah. Temperamental or what? But they kept coming. Through the windows, in the eggs, everywhere. Uncle Vernon went into a crazed mental state, nailing the mail slot, door, and windows shut. He was only ever at peace on Sundays, when the mail didn't come. Until the letters started shooting down the chimney, of course. Then he lugged us off to some shack on the ocean where everything was wet and cold. Yeah. Paranoid or what? That turned out to be a rotten waste of time. On my birthday, a giant man knocks down our door in the middle of a storm, and tells me I'm a wizard. Yeah. Far-fetched or what? But it actually turned out to be true. I, Harry Potter, had finally found out the truth of my lineage. So here's my tragic childhood: Voldemort killed my parents but couldn't kill me. Then he lost his power or some trite thing like that, so now I'm a hero. A hero who will be going off to magic school in September! Take that, Dudders! A Smeltings stick will never beat a magic wand! So I went to this weird place called Diagon Alley with Hagrid to get school supplies. But you know what? Not a single street there was arranged diagonally. Misleading or what? So at some point or another, I was told that my magic wand shared a core source with Voldemort. Sick, right? What if he uses some creepy weirdo magic to make me fall in love with a teacher or something? Eww..... Sick thought. Soon it was time to go. The Dursleys dropped me off and left without a second thought. Which left me running around, trying to find an invisible platform labeled 9 3/4 before 11:00. Stress much? But my distress turned out to be a good thing, as it lead me to meet the Weasleys. Mrs. Weasley told me how to run straight through a brick wall and into Platform 9 3/4, which really made things more convenient. Soon I got onto the train, where I made friends with Ron Weasley and met Hermione Granger for the first time. She struck me as quite the bossy know it all then, until a brush with danger brought Ron, Hermione and I together by way of-- but I'm getting ahead of myself. The train ride was long, but nowhere near tedious. I learned more about the world of magic than I ever wanted to know. It was on the back of a collectible playing card that I first read the name Nicholas Flamel. I didn't know it at the time of course, but that article mention of Flamel's work on gelato would be crucial to find the Philosopher's Gelato Stand. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Once at Hogwarts, the new students were sorted by the the Sorting Hat, and I entered the House of Gryffindor. Classes were anything but boring. The Professors had us working day and night on spells and enchantments. Then came Halloween. Ron had upset Hermione to the point of tears, and I was beginning to feel a bit antsy, because she hadn't left the bathroom all afternoon. But all thoughts of my soon-to-be friend was banished by the feast that night. The food was decadent, the decor fantastic. But it wasn't to last. Just as I was reaching out to snag a pastry, Professor Quirrell ran screaming into the Great Hall, blubbering about a pudding cup in the dungeons. As the terrified teacher collapsed in a heap, it became apparent that this was no ordinary dessert. It had somehow mutated, and was now terrorizing the school. The students were quickly shepherded off to our Common Rooms, but then I remembered Hermione. Ron and I set off at a run towards the girl's lavatories. Just in time to see a trickle of chocolate pudding destroying the bathroom. Ron was the hero in this scenario. Just when all seemed lost, he casted a levitation charm that saved our lives. Bonded by trauma, Ron, Hermione, and I became friends. But you already knew that. Soon it became apparent that something was being hidden in the school. A three-headed dog sat day and night on a trap-door in the third-floor corridor. And it all came back to Nickolas Flamel. When we came to believe that Professor Snape was going to steal the stone, we knew it was time to go through the trap-door. We got past the dog without incident. Music made it fall right asleep. The plant that tried to strangle us was a different story. As was the giant chess set, troll, room of flying keys, and table of unknown potions with only a riddle as a guide. Soon I was the only one left in action. Going through the last door, I was struck dumb. Standing in front of a white plasticine counter, was a figure. But it wasn't Snape. Pause for dramatic effect. It was Quirrell. Stroking the pale surface, the teacher spoke. “Hello Potter.” He said softly. “I've been expecting you.” “Why?” I asked. “Why, because you are going to make me a gelato. One that will bring the Dark Lord back. He's ever so hungry.” Quirrell turned to face me. “Watermelon with chocolate custard.” he demanded. I didn't know what to do. So I made the gelato of immortality. Quirrell started forward to grab it, but I batted his hand away reflexively. Before my very eyes, Quirrell's hand melted like so much Italian ice left out in the sun. Then a ghostly voice issued from nowhere. “Kill the boy.” I knew it was Voldemort. It all happened very quickly then. Quirrell tried to draw his wand, but I lurched forward and grabbed his face. My scar began to burn, someone was screaming, but I would not let go. Then darkness over took me, and I fell into unconsciousness. I awoke in the Hospital Wing, where Prof. Dumbledore was waiting for me. He explained that Quirrell had died, Voldemort had escaped, The Philosopher's Gelato Stand had been destroyed, and the Flamels would soon leave the world of the living. Oh well. I suppose it's all for the best. So that's the real story. Up yours, Publishers!
*Riley* Joined: 30 November 2007 Posts: 1764 Location: Celebrating with good friends	Posted: Wednesday 24 September 2008 09 30 28 pm    Post subject: Re: avatars in topic:avatars I've made some too! Gimp's awesome. I'm still trying to figure out how to make animated avatar's but Ive made a few anyhow. Like my current one ? It's one of my favorite Harry Potter slogans.. 'I was all like avada kedavra, and he was all like 'dead''
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2095 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Wednesday 24 September 2008 11 52 57 am    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind Thanks, Obladi! Just thought I'd mention that it was exactly a year ago that I posted the first chapter of [i]Albus Potter and the Secrets Within[/i]. Hard to believe that it's been a year already. Chapter 22: The Stag Albus, Rose, and Hermione went to the Leaky Cauldron the next day to meet Matt and Amanda, who was also being dropped off there. John had arrived earlier by Floo and went with them as well. When they got there, both Matt and Amanda were already there. "Hi!" Albus greeted them as he stepped out of the Floo. "Hi Albus," Matt grinned, "How was your Christmas?" "It was brilliant," Albus replied, "Wait till you see what I got." "What?" Amanda asked. "Can't show you here," Albus whispered. "I'll show you when we get back." "Let's go now," Matt said impatiently. "You kids go ahead," Hermione told them, "I've got a bit of shopping to do." Albus bade goodbye to his aunt and turned back to the Floo. Within seconds he was back in Rose's living room. A few minutes later all his friends were back as well. Matt and Amanda stared around the room. "Nice house," Amanda smiled. "Yeah," Matt agreed, "Kind of looks like mine." "Thanks," Rose replied. "So, Albus, what did you get for Christmas?" Matt asked. "This," Albus pulled the Invisibility Cloak out of his cloak pocket. He had been carrying it around with him ever since Christmas. Matt let out a gasp. "Whoa! You really got the Cloak? That's completely amazing!" "I love that cloak," Amanda grinned. "And to think we stole it just a few weeks ago," John snorted. "Shush!" Albus hissed, "Uncle Ron and Hugo are here." "Oh, sorry." "But this isn't all," Albus continued, "James got the Marauder's Map." "He didn't!" John shouted. "He did." "You two are so lucky," Matt replied. "But we'll have our own Map soon anyway," Amanda pointed out as she dug around in the bag she brought. She produced a crumpled piece of parchment with a paw print on it that was slightly smaller than the werewolf print. "You got it!" Albus took it from her. "We're halfway there now." "I hope it'll work. Newton wouldn't stay still and the parchment is kind of wrinkled." "I'm sure it will work," Albus said. "Good thing we didn't have the prints go directly on the map," Matt replied. "So today we get the stag print," Albus announced. "Right after lunch." Everyone agreed and headed into the kitchen to scrounge up some food. Ron had already created an enormous sandwich and was eating it when Albus and the others walked in. They all liked the idea of making giant sandwiches and were soon eating alongside Ron. Albus thought John's sandwich looked disgusting because it was piled high with turkey, pickles, and peanut butter. Rose shuddered as she saw him bite into it, but he thought it tasted delicious. "I can't believe you ate that entire thing," Rose screwed up her face in disgust after John ate the last bite of his lunch. "It was good," he shrugged. "Hey, Uncle Ron," Albus began, "We're going to go explore the forest." "All right. Have fun. But try and be back by three. Teddy's coming over and so are James and your dad. We're all going to play Quidditch." "Sure, we'll be back by then," Albus was excited about playing Quidditch. It was always better when Teddy was there. Once they were all done with lunch, Rose and Albus led the way outside and over to the forest. The forest was situated next to the large open field that was next to the house. Albus and Rose went exploring in it quite a bit and knew their way around it well. The group crunched across the snow laden field until they came to the forest's edge. Rose found the path they usually took and lead the group down it. "Keep your eyes pealed for a stag," she told everyone. "This reminds me of the forest near my old house in Australia," Matt commented after a few minutes of walking. "How was Australia this year?" Albus asked, remembering that his friend just returned to Britain the previous day. "It was all right. No different than usual. It was boring of course, and my grandmother kept telling us how we should visit more often." "You're not going to, are you?" John asked. "Don't think so. Mum and Dad don't really want to. Plus they want to go visit my Uncle Jack in New York this summer." "That would be fun," Amanda replied. "Yeah, I hope we get to go." The group continued walking into the forest until Rose announced that it would be better if they sat completely still and waited for a stag to walk by. She said their movement would scare the creatures away. Albus sat down in the snow behind a shrub with his friends and watched and listened for animals. After a half hour of waiting, Albus was bored. How long was it going to take for a stag to cross their path? He would much rather just walk around to find one. Rose seemed perfectly content to sit still, as did Matt. John had made a large pile of snow balls, along with a snow wizard. Amanda was busy creating a snow witch to go along with his wizard. "I'm bored," John sighed as he made yet another snow ball. "How long is this going to take?" "I don't know," Rose shrugged, "We don't see stags that often in here, so it might be a while." Albus glanced at his watch, "Well it's just after two, so if we don't find one soon, we'll have to go back." He stared into the forest and willed a stag to come. Albus was getting frustrated by this point. They needed that stag print for the map! There was no place else to find one. What if they couldn't find a stag before the end of the holiday? They would have to wait until the summer to search again. Albus couldn't wait that long. He needed the map now. "Wait," Matt stood up and turned around, "I think I hear something over there." He pointed to a cluster of bushes a couple meters away. "I don't hear it," John replied. "Shush!" Matt whispered, "You know I can hear things you can't." Matt started slowly making his way towards the cluster of bushes. Albus and the others followed behind, nobody saying a word. "Wands ready," Matt whispered. Albus pulled out his wand and pointed it towards the bushes, his mind racing with excitement as he went. This was it! They were going to get the stag print! Part of Albus's mind knew that this wasn't necessarily a stag, but he didn't pay attention to that. What else could it be? Most of the animals in the forest were too small to be rustling the bushes this much. As Albus got closer to it, he could distinctly hear the footprints of the animal, and they were much too loud to be a rabbit or a squirrel. There weren't many large animals in the forest, stags being some of the few. It could be a doe, but Albus hoped it wasn't. The group was now only a couple feet away from the bushes. Everyone had their wand pointed at them, waiting for the animal to make its appearance. The moment Albus saw the leaves part, he shouted, "Stupefy!" "Stupefy!" Rose, John, Matt, and Amanda all shouted at once. Whatever was in the bushes jumped to the side and missed all five stunning spells. "Whoa! What the bloody hell do you lot think you're doing!" It was Teddy. The noise Matt had heard in the bushes was Teddy. Albus lowered his wand and sighed. So much for finding a stag. Now that Teddy was with them, they would no longer be able to look. Albus turned to his friends and saw them all put their wands away. Teddy fully emerged from the bush and walked over to where Albus was with a bewildered look on his face. "Do I even want to know what you're up to?" "Er," Albus began, trying to think up an excuse fast. "We're just taking a walk in the forest and you scared us!" Rose announced, "Sneaking up on us like that, what did you think we'd do?" "Shriek, maybe?" Teddy gave them a lopsided grin, "But not attack me." "So you were trying to scare us?" Rose said exasperatingly "A bit, yeah," Teddy laughed. "Worked, didn't it?" "I'll say," Rose muttered. Albus listened to the two of them but didn't add anything. He was forever grateful that his cousin was a better liar than he was. "It's kind of cold to be going for a hike," Teddy commented, "But Ron said you were here, so I figured I'd see if I could find you." He eyed John's pile of snowballs and grinned, "Planning on having a snow ball fight?" Teddy didn't wait for an answer and picked up a few of John's snowballs. He threw one at Albus and the other at Rose. "Watch it!" Albus shouted as the snowball made contact with his face. He spat out the snow and bent down to make his own snow ball. He aimed it at Teddy but Teddy jumped out of the way and it hit Matt instead. "Hey!" Matt shouted as he picked up one of John's snowballs and threw it at Albus. It landed square on Albus's chest. A few moments later, a huge snowball fight broke out. It was every man for himself for a while and Albus was getting pummeled by Teddy's snowballs. He tried to get Teddy back, but Teddy was too quick for him. Instead, Albus decided to focus on Matt, who was trying to get Albus back for the snowball that had hit him instead of Teddy. Rose eventually joined Albus in his attempt to get Matt, while Amanda evened out the odds by joining Matt's side. John, who seemed to be the only one with enough skill to hit Teddy, was having a one-on-one fight with the blue haired boy and was actually doing well. The six of them were completely soaked by the time the fight ended. Matt and Amanda surrendered to Rose and Albus after the cousins decided to create about twenty snowballs and lob them constantly at their two friends. John surrendered to Teddy a few minutes later, once Teddy decided to charm a pile of snow to turn itself into snowballs, resulting in a never-ending supply of ammunition for Teddy. John didn't know that spell and was stuck hand making his snow balls while Teddy continuously sent snowballs at him. "Who's up for Quidditch?" Teddy asked as they were walking back through the forest to Rose's house. "M-maybe after I d-dry off," Albus shivered. The snow had completely penetrated his cloak and was now freezing it into an icicle. His friends nodded in agreement. "Sounds good," Teddy replied, "Harry and James should be at the house by now. A little while later, Albus found himself back at Rose's house, where everyone was waiting for the Quidditch match to start. Albus, along with his friends, ran upstairs to dry off and change quickly. "Ready?" Teddy jumped up from the chair he was sitting on once Albus and his friends descended the stairs. "Who hasn't got a broom with them?" "Me," Amanda said. She was the only one. John and Matt, who both had brooms, had brought them knowing they would play Quidditch. "We've got spares," Ron announced, holding a couple brooms in his hand. Once everyone had a broom to use, Teddy started to take charge of creating teams. "All right. Let's see, we've got Me, Harry, Ron, James, Albus, John, Matt, Amanda, Hugo, and Rose, are you playing?" "Sure, why not?" Rose shrugged. "Good, then we've got ten players. That's five per team. So each team will have a Seeker, a beater, a Keeper, and two chasers, that'll work. I'll be one of the Seekers," he turned to Harry and James, "Which one of you will be the other?" "You can, James," Harry offered, "I'll do whatever is needed." After a few minutes of organizing, the two teams were created. Albus's team consisted of Teddy as Seeker, Ron as Keeper, Hugo as the only Beater, and Matt and himself as the two Chasers. On the other team, James was Seeker, Amanda was Keeper, John was the Beater, and Rose and Harry as Chasers. The two teams trooped outside into the cold winter day. It was just starting to snow a little, but Albus didn't mind. He would keep warm while he was playing anyway. Harry and Ron conjured goal hoops and everyone flew into the air. Hermione released the balls (only one Bludger, since there were only two beaters) and threw the Quaffle into the air, then conjured herself a chair to watch. The match was nothing like the ones at Hogwarts. It was much more informal, and in a way, Albus enjoyed it more. There was only friendly competition between the two teams and no one got angry when someone dropped the Quaffle, which happened a lot. The two teams were pretty evenly matched in terms of Chasing skills. Albus, who was the only real Chaser on either team, was easily the best. Harry was a decent Chaser, but it was clear that Seeking was his real skill. Rose was absolutely dreadful and was the first to admit it. She wasn't a big fan of flying in the first place and didn't like to take her hands off her broom in order to catch and throw the Quaffle. Matt was better than Rose, but dropped the Quaffle numerous times. Albus and Matt scored more points than Harry and Rose did. Ron, of course, was a very good Keeper and Amanda was as well. Albus was kind of surprised at this, because she never really played Quidditch before. Maybe she could try out for the Gryffindor team once Georgia left. John was an amazing Beater and Albus already knew that he'd be trying out for the team after Bradley and Ryan left. Hugo was also a very good Beater and it was obvious he had received all the Quidditch genes in his family. Then, of course, there were the Seekers. Both Teddy and James were amazing Seekers and by far two of the best players on either team. After about an hour of playing, during which Albus was sure both Teddy and James had seen the Snitch but ignored it in order to drag the game on longer, both Seekers flew directly up into the air. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch. A few seconds later, they both came flying back down and James had the Snitch clutched in his hand. "I got it!" he shouted. "That puts your team ahead," Hermione announced, "You won 270 to 210." "Yes!" James exclaimed, landing on the ground. Albus and the rest of the players landed after him and congratulated him and his team for winning. "Ha! I beat you at Quidditch, Teddy!" James gloated. "Yeah, yeah, good job," Teddy sighed, "Knew I shouldn't have trained you that well." "You'll be saying otherwise when we win the Cup this year!" James grinned, "We already beat Slytherin." "I know, I was there," Teddy laughed, "Anyway, I'm just joking." Despite the fact that his team didn't win, Albus was happy. He loved playing Quidditch with his family, even more than playing on his House team. It was even better with his friends there, too. He walked back into the house with his friends and family, cold but very content. Hermione had made a plate of sandwiches for them, which everyone ate enthusiastically once they had dried off. After all the food had been eaten, John Flooed back to his house and Albus, Rose, and Hermione went with Matt and Amanda back to the Leaky Cauldron to meet their families. It had been a short visit, but a fun one nonetheless. Albus only wished that they had managed to get the stag print. He and Rose were planning on trying again the next day, and the next if it was necessary. They had three more days to do it and Albus was determined to succeed. ****** Albus and Rose spent as much time as they could in the forest looking for stags the next day. When they weren't in the forest, they spent their time in the library in Rose's house, looking for a charm to keep Kaden quiet. "There's books in here that aren't in the school library," Rose announced as they walked into the room after a particularly cold jaunt in the forest. "I'm still not sure we should take a break from looking for a stag," Albus replied. "It's too cold out there now. Plus there's a storm coming and it won't do us any good if we get lost out there." Rose went over to a book shelf and Albus followed. He had been in this room plenty of times before, just never to look for a specific charm. "How are we supposed to find one charm hidden in all these books?" Albus sighed, "We don't even know what it's called." "That's what this is for," Rose slammed a heavy book down on the table nearest to the shelf she pulled it off of. Albus looked at the book, "[i]An Encyclopedia of Charms[/i] by Filius Flitwick. That's who Mum and Dad had for Charms, isn't it?" "Yes," Rose confirmed as she opened the cover, "It's a rather ingenious idea, really. All I've got to do is take my wand, point it at the book, and say 'I need a charm to keep someone quiet' and it will flip to the right page." "That would certainly speed things along," Albus replied. "Try it." "All right," Rose pointed her wand at the book, "I need a charm to keep someone quiet." The book's pages immediately started turning until they stopped about a quarter of the way into the book. Rose peered at it and then shook her head. "Nope, that's not it. This one's just a silencing charm." "Maybe you've got to be more specific," Albus suggested. Rose nodded. "I need a charm to prevent someone from talking about something." The pages started turning again and stopped a few seconds later. Rose sighed after she read the description. "This one charms a person's mouth shut." Albus laughed, "Well that would definitely keep Kaden from talking about the map!" "People might notice, though," Rose smirked, "Although it does have it's advantages. I'll try something else." "I think you'd better tell the book exactly what we need the charm to do. Tell it that Kaden has to not talk about a specific thing." "Good idea," Rose poised her wand above the book, "I need to keep Kaden Durlsey from revealing secrets about Matt Eckerton. He must only be able to talk about these secrets with five other people and not mention them to anyone else. He should be able to converse normally about other topics." "That ought to be specific enough." Albus watched as the book hesitated for a few moments and then turn its pages to one of the last ones. Both Rose and Albus leaned over the book while Rose read aloud. "'[i]The Sileo Altus Charm is the most complex and intricate of the silencing charms. This charm has the ability to keep a person from revealing one specific piece of information to others, unlike other silencing charms which prevent a person from speaking at all. The charm also has the ability to involve others, which will result in the person the charm is cast on to be able to converse about the secret with those specific people. When done correctly, this charm will last forever or until the counter charm is performed. The Sileo Altus Charm keeps a person's secret safe much like the Fidelius Charm keeps a person's location secret and is said to be just as safe.'[/i] "Then there's a whole bunch of spells that are required," Rose scanned the remainder of the entry. "There's a spell that has to be performed on each person who is involved, one on Kaden, one on the secret-keeper-" "There's a secret keeper?" Albus asked. "Yeah, I guess so. Then there's the overall charm," Rose continued, "It sounds complicated. But I'm up for it. This doesn't really tell me how to do it, though. There's just a list of spells." Albus glanced at the entry, "Oh, it says there's more information in [i]Charms of Protection[/i] by Natalia Journo." "You're right, I hadn't noticed that," Rose leaned over the book again and read the title of the recommended book. "I think we might actually have that one." Rose jumped up from her seat and ran across the room. Albus sat back and watched her. He had no idea how she could possibly know if she had that book or not. The entire room was filled with shelves and shelves of books. Albus wouldn't even know where to look to find the book they needed. Rose returned a few minutes later with a book in her arms and a smile on her face. "We do have it! This was easier than I thought it would be." "I think doing the actual charm is going to off-set the ease of finding it," Albus pointed out. Rose shrugged, "I think I can figure it out within a few weeks." She sat back down and opened the book. Albus watched as his cousin flipped through the pages of the book until she found the charm they were looking for. He was very happy that Rose was so eager to learn new charms. It certainly helped that she was good at it, too. Albus had made a lot of progress in charms ever since Professor Cedonia arrived, but he was still average. Rose was easily the best in their class. That and her eagerness to learn would certainly help if she was going to master this charm. Rose read in silence for a few minutes and then turned to Albus. "All right. This explains it pretty well. First, of course, we've got to tell Kaden the secrets. Then we've got to pick the secret keeper. I'm thinking that I'll have to be the secret keeper since the secret keeper is the one to perform the charms." Albus nodded, "I'm fine with that. We've just got to make sure Matt is. What does the secret keeper do?" "Just perform the charms. And the secret keeper is the only one who can perform the counter charm on Kaden. Normally the secret keeper would be the only one the person could talk about the secret with as well. But we'll use another charm to ensure that Kaden can talk about the secrets with you, John, Matt, and Amanda as well." "That sounds good," Albus replied. "What else?" "Well, the secret keeper performs a charm on themselves, which turns them into the secret keeper. Then they perform a charm on Kaden. Then Kaden will recite the secrets in detail. After that, the secret keeper performs another charm on Kaden. Then charms are performed on the rest of the people involved. Then a final sealing charm on everyone, including Kaden and the secret keeper, and it's done." The idea of all those different spells made Albus's brain hurt. "Wow, that's a lot of charms. We've never done ones that are a combination of multiple charms." "The transference charm is one of those, but it only uses two. This one is five." "What's the counter charm involve?" Albus asked, thinking that maybe there would be a time when Kaden would mature and they wouldn't have to rely on magic to keep him from spilling secrets to Malfoy. "Erm, it seems pretty much like the actual charm," Rose looked back at the book, "You pretty much go backwards, using different charms." "Makes sense." "I'll start practicing as soon as we're back at school," Rose shut the book and got up. "I'll bring the book. Mum'll never know, she's got way too many to keep track of." "All right," Albus got up and followed her to the door, "Now we've just got to find that stag." "It's going to have to wait until tomorrow, Albus," Rose pointed to the window. It was white with swirling snow and the wind was howling. "Mum and Dad'll never let us out in that." ****** Albus was getting quite fed up with the stag search by the time late afternoon arrived the next day. He and Rose spent the entire morning in the forest, taking a break for lunch, and then returning in the afternoon. Albus looked at his watch and saw that they would have to be starting to return to the house soon. "We're never going to find a stag!" he groaned. Rose, who had brought the charm book they had found the previous day, looked up. "You've just got to be patient. I told you one won't come if we're noisy." "We've been quiet for the past two hours," Albus said flatly. "You're not being quiet now," Rose whispered and returned to her book. Albus sighed and stared out into the forest. So far Albus had seen no less than ten rabbits and four owls, but no stags. He was getting very cold sitting in the snow and his cloak had long since soaked through. Albus was determined, however, and refused to go back to Rose's house until they found a stag. It had seemed so simple at first, to stun a stag in the forest and get its footprint. This was not supposed to be the hardest print to get. Looking back, even the werewolf one seemed easier. Sure, they got locked out of Hogwarts, but they never got in trouble for it. The dog print had been the easiest, since Amanda had a dog. The rat would be easy, too, once John managed to catch one. Albus pulled out his wand and started to poke at the snow wizard he had constructed earlier. The wand melted holes into the snow wizard until it started to resemble a piece of snow swiss cheese. Albus was just beginning to do the same to the snow hippogriff that had been formed after the wizard when Rose poked him and hissed, "Albus, look!" Albus raised his head and looked in the direction Rose was pointing. Directly in front of them was a majestic looking doe, standing completely still and staring just to the left of where the two cousins were sitting. "It's just a doe," Albus whispered back, "It won't work." "I know, but there's usually a stag around when there's a doe." Albus sat completely still with his wand facing towards the doe. Rose did the same and the two of them didn't move for a good five minutes. The doe inched slowly ahead, walking to the left of Albus and Rose. Then Albus heard a rustling behind the doe and excitement washed over him as he saw a huge stag appear from behind a cluster of trees. "This is it," he whispered to Rose. She nodded but didn't say anything. The stag walked towards the doe, who had turned around to look at her mate. "On the count of three. One...two...three. Stupefy!" Albus shouted. "Stupefy!" Rose shouted at the same time. The doe shot off like a rocket as soon as the cousins shouted the spell. The stag started to follow but was hit by Albus's stunner. Rose's spell hit a nearby tree and burned a small hole into the bark. "Excellent shot, Albus!" Rose grinned at him as they ran towards the stag. "Thanks." "Let's hurry. We won't have much time before he wakes up," Rose reached into her robes and pulled out a piece of parchment, a bottle of ink, and a paint brush. The stag was even bigger up close. Its eyes darted around nervously as Rose painted the ink onto its front hoof. Albus quickly pressed the parchment onto the hoof and pulled it away. A perfect hoof print appeared on the parchment. "This one's good," Albus showed it to Rose. "Good," she put the stopper on her ink and stowed both it and the brush back in her cloak, "Now let's go. He won't be happy when he wakes up." Albus didn't need telling twice. He blew onto the parchment a few times to dry the ink and then put it in his cloak. The two cousins ran through the trees and back to the house. It only took them a few minutes as they weren't very far. Albus was thrilled that they had actually managed to get the print. The only print left was the rat one and then they would be able to try out the map.
Comma Joined: 4 September 2008 Posts: 14	Posted: Tuesday 23 September 2008 08 07 16 pm    Post subject: Re: A Gaunt Tale in topic:A Gaunt Tale No one's replied in quite a while, but I figure I'll put up the rest of the prologue really quick. It's 3,771 words long - longer than what I've been posting - but I'm up to chapter 8 already in my rewrite so I'm just going to go ahead and post the rest. --- (Prologue, last part) Katalina waited until the last minute of the train ride to change into her Hogwarts uniform. She was dreading the sorting ceremony. She didn’t care at that point in time how she was to be sorted. All she knew was that she didn’t want to be sorted at all. Slytherin was the last thing she wanted, but at the same time, she wanted it more than anything. She hadn’t waited eleven years to get away from her father just so she could be taken back home for being sorted in a house he considered to be wrong. However, she didn’t want to be in the same house as Lucius Malfoy or Narcissa Black or even her own brother. They repulsed her in a way that words could even begin to describe. Her father often spoke of how they had propper beliefs of their kind, how they knew what sort of witches and wizards they should associate with and which sort they shouldn’t. Her own father made her sick with his constant preaching of the old ways. She never would have told him so to his face, but he really did aggravate her. She felt her stomach turn in apprehension as she followed an extremely tall man, along with the rest of the first years, to a fleet of small boats fit to seat four people. She joined the girl that had been in the compartment with her earlier, along with the boy she had left with, and found out they were Lily Evans and Severus Snape, who both already seemed to loathe James Potter, who was the boy in the round glasses. They seemed nice enough, so she decided to keep close to them as they got off of the boats after a long ride and were ushered into the castle. “Come on, firs’ years!” the tall man was saying to the few who were straying off. Katalina was starting to wonder if maybe he was a giant, or at least part giant. “This way! Come on!” They followed him to a halt as the doors opened. Katalina, Lily, and Severus all craned their necks to see over the crowd in front of them. An old witch in green robes with her hair in a tight, neat black bun stood at the door. Katalina decided immediately that should she stay here, she wouldn’t even think about crossing this witch, as she didn’t look particularly tolerant. After the tall man introduced her as Professor McGonagall, they followed her down a hallway and into an empty classroom, and they stopped inside. She shut the door behind her and turned to face the crowd. “Welcome to Hogwarts,” she said. “You will all be sorted into your houses very soon. The Sorting Ceremony is very important – while you are here, your house will be like your family. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in the same dormitory as those in your year in the same house, and spend free time in the house common room. “The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Your triumphs at Hogwarts will earn you points for your house. Rule-breaking will lose house points. These points will be counted at the end of the year, and the house with the most points is awarded with the house cup. I hope each of you will be a good addition to the house you are sorted into. “The Sorting Ceremony will take place in front of the rest of the students in a few short moments. I shall return when we are ready for you,” she concluded, her hand on the doorknob. “Please wait here quietly.” Katalina’s stomach churned even more as excited whispers broke out when McGonagall left. Lily looked almost as nervous, though Severus didn’t quite as much. “What do they do to sort us, exactly?” she asked Katalina quietly. “I don’t know, my brother wouldn’t tell me.” “D’you know what they do?” Lily asked Severus. “My mother said something about a hat,” he said. “Th… that’s all?” Lily asked, sounding surprised, but still relieved. “Oh, good. I was worried we were going to have to do actual magic. I’ve practiced some, but I didn’t know if it was enough or not. Have either of you practiced anything?” “Only a bit,” Severus said. “My dad made me learn a few things,” said Katalina, looking around the empty classroom. “Not much though, since I didn’t have a wand until a few weeks ago.” “What sort of things?” Lily asked curiously. Katalina was thankful that McGonagall came back before she had the chance to answer. She didn’t feel like telling anyone she had been forced to learn about dark magic before she even entered school. McGonagall guided them away to the Great Hall, where there were four tables of students. She saw her brother at one and assumed it to be the Slytherin table. Her suspicions were confirmed when she spotted Lucius Malfoy, a prefect with platinum blond hair. They all stopped at the Great Hall, where a hat sat upon a stool up near the teacher’s table. McGonagall stood next to the hat. They stood through a song sung by the hat, but Katalina was too busy trying to hold down the sweets she had eaten on the train to listen to it. She almost hoped it would sort her into Slytherin just for being a Gaunt, but there was really no telling. She didn’t want to go home. The first Slytherin to be sorted was Bellatrix Black. Katalina gave a slight grimace when that name was called, having come into contact with this girl before. The hat shouted Slytherin after having barely touched her hair and, looking rather smug, she hurried over to sit at the Slytherin table next to a girl that Katalina assumed was her sister, Narcissa Black. The next to be sorted was Sirius Black, one of the boys that had been in the same compartment as her and James Potter. He was sorted into Gryffindor. A few more names later was Lily, who was also sorted into Gryffindor. Shortly after was Katalina. Katalina walked slowly up to the hat, wondering what would happen. She picked it up and put it on her head as she sat upon the wooden stool in front of the Great Hall. She couldn’t see the faces looking up at her, as the hat covered her eyes. She heard a voice in her ear, and she assumed it had to be the hat. “Gaunt, eh? Doesn’t seem like the lot of them…. Witty, yes, definitely, but not prejudiced. No, definitely not…” Put me in Slytherin, please, I need to stay here… she thought. “Slytherin?” Her heart jumped when she comprehended that the hat could read her mind. “No, definitely not Slytherin, you don’t belong there. I’d say… GRYFFINDOR!” She flinched slightly, though the Gryffindor table seemed to be cheering and clapping. She took the hat off of her head and walked slowly over to the table Lily had joined. She sat between Sirius Black and Lily, as Lily had been glaring at Sirius upon accidently sitting down next to him. “Sev’ll probably be in Slytherin like he wanted,” Lily said. “Where were you hoping to go?” “Slytherin,” she said quietly. “I really didn’t want to, but I… my dad told me he’d pull me out to be homeschooled if I was sorted anywhere – ow!” She rubbed the back of her head when she felt something hit it. She looked behind her and saw the culprit – a balled up piece of parchment. She picked it up and unfolded it, and immediately recognized the handwriting to be her brother’s. There were only five words written upon it: Dad’s going to kill you. “… said he’d pull me out if I was sorted anywhere other than Slytherin…” she finished with a sigh, staring at the paper. She looked behind her at the Slytherin table, where her brother was looking quite smug. She glared at him for a moment before turning back around. “What’s that?” “My brother…” she grumbled, crumbling the paper back up and putting it in a pocket in her robes. “Not important.” “Your brother’s here too?” “Yeah, Slytherin. He’d be home if he were in any other house.” She bit the side of her fist, staring up at the front of the Great Hall for a moment, then she looked back at Lily. “My dad’s going to kill me.” “I don’t think he’d actually kill you,” Lily said comfortingly. “I mean, he’s your dad, after all, right?” “My dad is the root of all evil,” she said, shaking her head. “You have no idea what he’s like.” –– After a week at the school, Katalina started to become confident that maybe her father would let her be, let her stay at Hogwarts as a Gryffindor. However, on one weekend when she was sitting outside on the grounds with Lily and Severus, the three of them attempting to look up things for the Potions essay they had been assigned, her hopes were shattered. She flinched as she felt someone poke her sharply in the shoulder, at which she looked up. “What do you want?” she asked her brother. “I thought you didn’t know me?” Despite her bored tone, she was absolutely horrified at the look on his face. “Oh, I know you,” he said happily. “You’re my sister who’s going to be leaving tomorrow.” At once, her heart stopped for a moment, her stomach turned to lead, and breathing became a very hard task. She blinked at him, silently praying he was lying. “Y– you’re – you’re not – you’re lying,” she managed to stammer, shutting her Potions book and standing up. He handed her a piece of parchment. “McGonagall told me. She didn’t look very happy about it. You’re supposed to go see the headmaster, it should all be there. Hope you have a nice first year.” He walked back towards the castle. Katalina sat back down on the grass near the lake with Lily and Severus, unfolding the parchment and reading: Miss Gaunt, Headmaster Dumbledore requires that you come to his office at once. Please see me in my office immediately and I will take you there. Professor McGonagall Katalina looked up, her mouth hanging open a little. Lily and Severus stared back apprehensively. At lack of words, she swallowed and handed Lily the letter. Severus also read it over her shoulder. “B– but that could mean anything, couldn’t it?” Lily asked. “It might be about something else entirely!” Katalina shook her head, taking the letter back and putting it in her pocket. “I’ll let you know…” she said, picking up her Potions book. She stood. Lily stood up as well, and so did Severus. “I’m coming with you,” she said. “McGonagall probably won’t let you –” “Then we’ll follow you to her office, if it is true you might get rushed off too fast to tell us anything so we should go with you.” Katalina looked between the two of them. Even though it had only been a week, they had been good friends so far. Keeping them in the dark would have been wrong. Slowly, she nodded. “You can follow me there, but don’t try to sneak around McGonagall if she tells you not to follow her to Dumbledore’s office.” “Of course not,” Lily said, shaking her head, “that would loose house points for Gryffindor, I wouldn’t do that!” “All right… come on, then.” They hurried to the castle doors. Katalina stopped once inside and looked from Lily to Severus, who stopped in front of her. “Why –?” began Lily. “If I’m being sent home,” Katalina said quietly, looking around the entrance hall, “then I will come back. I don’t know when, it might not be next year, but I’ll come back before our seventh year.” “How’re you planning to talk your father into it?” Severus asked. “My mum knows him because of Voldemort, says he’s really stubborn.” “V– Voldemort?” Lily said, looking between them. “He’s real? I heard people saying there were rumors.” Katalina nodded, her head stooping to look at her feet. “And my dad’s his number one supporter. He’s been around for quite a while now, he’s only just let people that aren’t on his side start to know that he exists.” “I… is he powerful?” asked Lily nervously as they began walking again. “From what I’ve heard, he is,” said Severus. “He’s openly said that he believes himself to be more powerful than Dumbledore.” “More powerful than Dumbledore?” Lily repeated incredulously. “That’s mad, Dumbledore’s supposed to be one of the greatest sorcerers to have ever lived, according to our History of Magic textbook.” “Voldemort’s extremely pompous,” said Katalina quietly as Bellatrix and Narcissa Black passed them on their way outside – if either of them heard her say that, she would have been on the floor, there was no doubt in that. “He’s under the impression that he’s the most powerful sorcerer to have ever walked the earth, and so he thinks he’s better than Dumbledore.” They hurried on to Professor McGonagall’s office, and she looked somewhere between frustrated and very tired when they got there. She looked at the three of them, particularly at Lily and Severus. “I do apologize,” she said, “but I need to speak with Miss Gaunt in private, if you don’t mind.” Lily looked most disappointed. “Yes, professor…” she said quietly, turning to walk out of the office along with Severus. As the door shut behind them, Professor McGonagall sat behind her desk and motioned for Katalina to sit in the chair across from it. She did as instructed and stared at her knees, waiting for McGonagall to say the words she was absolutely dreading to hear. “Miss Gaunt,” she began, “it is to my understanding that your family has been sorted into Slytherin for generations, is that true?” “Yes, ma’am,” Katalina said, not bothering to look up. She was just waiting for it to come. She heard a sigh. “That is what your father told us…. He seems to believe you… aren’t ready to come to Hogwarts yet, for whatever reasons.’” Katalina was happy to hear skepticism in McGonagall’s words at this, but not entirely sure she was happy to hear the words themselves. “If Hogwarts had any say in it, you would be staying, but your own father has more of one than we do. He… he has written to us asking that you be removed from Hogwarts to be homeschooled.” Katalina nodded gravely – there was no point in protesting it. “The letter said I had to speak with Professor Dumbledore?” “Yes,” said McGonagall, standing. “He will give you more details pertaining to… to the situation.” Katalina stood and followed Professor McGonagall, wondering what else need be explained. She already knew the details – her father wanted her in Slytherin, and she ended up in Gryffindor. In a family like the Gaunts, that was utter blasphemy. She did her best to memorize as much of the hallways as she could in her last minutes here, on her way to Dumbledore’s office. She had never imagined Hogwarts would be so amazing, since she avoided asking her brother questions about anything as often as possible. After a few flights of stairs and a walk down a corridor on the second floor, Professor McGonagall stopped in front of a statue of a gargoyle. “Ice Mice.” The statue of the gargoyle leapt aside. Katalina tilted her head slightly, contemplating both the rotating spiral staircase in the opening of the wall and the headmaster’s strange choice of passwords. She stepped onto the stairway with Professor McGonagall. The gargoyle moved back into place behind them as the stairs took them up, much like an escalator in a Muggle shopping mall – she had always found those rather fascinating. It stopped in front of a door, behind which Katalina could hear not one, but two voices. Her heart sank – one belonged to her father. “… just don’t think she is ready to work with other witches and wizards her age yet, Dumbledore,” she heard him saying as they approached the door. “Much the same was the situation with my aunt, Merope Gaunt. I’ve heard her parents withdrew her for the same reason.” “Not so much,” said a second voice calmly; Katalina assumed this was Dumbledore. “Marvolo Gaunt withdrew Merope from Hogwarts because he was infuriated she wasn’t sorted into Slytherin, I remember it quite well as I was working here at the time as a Transfiguration teacher. I suppose you didn’t know about this?” “That was the situation?” he asked curiously. He could be a good actor when he needed to be…. “My, I never knew, my father told me his sister just had problems working around other students. I’m merely worried that my daughter may have that very problem, I wouldn’t ever take her from as fine a school as Hogwarts just because she was sorted into the ‘wrong’ house.” Professor McGonagall knocked on the door as they approached it, her lips thin. She obviously trusted Timothy Gaunt about as far as she could have thrown him. Katalina couldn’t blame her at all for this. She opened the door when a voice from inside told her it was fine to do so, and Katalina followed her into the office. If it weren’t for the situation in play at the moment, Katalina would have taken a moment to look around at the place. It was rather interesting, really. It was definitely in one of the towers of the castle, as the room itself was somewhat circular. There were strange little silver instruments strewn about different tables, and portraits of old headmasters on the wall, all snoring – though, Katalina noticed, they would occasionally open their eyes to see what was happening, then quickly shut them and continue snoring. Situated on a perch next to the desk in the room was a large, red bird, about the size of an eagle or a hawk, with long tail feathers. It looked like the descriptions she had heard of phoenixes, so she assumed it was one. Katalina took a seat in a chair next to her father in the office and did her best not to look him in the eye. She guessed the man sitting behind the desk in the office was Dumbledore. He looked old, even ancient, with long white hair and a white beard past his belt. His nose appeared to have been broken once or twice, with as long and crooked as it was. He didn’t look overly angry about the situation as McGonagall did, but he gave off the impression of being able to hide such things rather well. “Miss Gaunt,” he said, “I am very regretful to inform you that you will not be able to remain at Hogwarts.” Katalina nodded, choosing to look at the phoenix next to the desk rather than at any of the other people in the room. “I’m terribly sorry, dear,” she heard her father saying. She felt like hexing him. “I’m just not sure you’re ready to cooperate with other students.” “She has done fine so far.” Katalina tried to suppress a grin at Professor McGonagall’s words. “If anything, she’s more advanced than most other first years. Any teacher here will attest to it.” “Oh, no doubt she’s good with magic itself,” Timothy said calmly. “I taught her a bit myself before she entered school so she would know what to expect. As I said, I’m merely afraid she will have problems getting along with other students.” “Why?” Katalina managed to keep herself from recoiling at her own words as she looked at her father. “Because I was sorted into a house you don’t think a Gaunt should be in?” She knew she would regret this later. He wouldn’t do anything with McGonagall and Dumbledore standing by, but he would later. A flash of something like infuriation came across his face for a moment, but he managed to keep calm. “You know that isn’t the case, Ka –” “Then why did you tell me that you’d pull me out of Hogwarts if I wasn’t sorted into Slytherin when I got my letter? Al said you told him that your granddad did the same thing to our great aunt, except she was put in Ravenclaw. You’re just upset because things didn’t go the way you wanted them to and I got sorted into Gryffindor!” Now the flicker of anger stayed burning upon his face as he glared at Katalina. His eyes were narrowed and when he spoke, it was barely in more than a hiss. “What have I told you about back talking me?” “I’m not back talking you, I’m telling the truth!” “They don’t need to know anything about the ‘truth,’” he shot back at her. She realized quite suddenly that his voice seemed like a hiss for the simple reason that it was one. “They do need to know the truth, and there’s no point speaking in Parseltongue, I’ll just translate everything you say.” She crossed her arms and glared at him indignantly. He stared back, his eyes cold as ice. Katalina wasn’t sure where her sudden nerve was coming from, but she was sure her father would beat whatever was left of it out of her later. Something kept her going, though, and she absolutely detested whatever it was. “Even if you pull me out, I’m going to come back,” said Katalina, pointing at him. “I might not be able to for a few more years, but I will.” He turned from Katalina to look back at Dumbledore. “When will I be taking her home?” “As soon as she has packed her things,” said Dumbledore. Professor McGonagall escorted Katalina out of the office and up to the seventh floor, where the Gryffindor common room was located, explaining on the way that they would be leaving by Portkey. She had only traveled by Portkey once before and hadn’t enjoyed it at all, but she wasn’t much in the mood to protest anything else. She was still leaving Hogwarts and was probably going to be in quite a bit of trouble with her father when she arrived home. She was going to be forced to learn about the Dark Arts and the old ways. As she packed, all she could think of was whether or not there was some way to get out of it. The only conclusion she could come to was to sneak back to Hogwarts – she just wasn’t sure how that was going to work.
salemboy Joined: 20 May 2008 Posts: 1232 Location: Salemboy Land, Where Monkeys and Wizards Coexist in Wondrous Harmony	Posted: Saturday 20 September 2008 07 58 41 pm    Post subject: Re: Broomsticks and Owls in topic:Broomsticks and Owls Yeah, you moderators have fun with that. *Sits back, drinking a sprite, knowing that he doesn't have any moderating responsibilities.* Now, if only I could figure out a way to get my book published. *Gets up and walks away muttering something about needing to create an official website for his book.*
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2095 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Wednesday 17 September 2008 01 45 35 pm    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind Thanks, Obladi and Fawkes! And yes, Fawkes, it is a bit familiar. Questions, comments, and general reviews always appreciated! Chapter 21: Cloak and Map On Christmas Eve the Potters went to Godric's Hollow, like usual. It was completely dark by the time they Apparated to the Burrow, but there was plenty of light streaming out of the tall house's windows. As they walked closer to the place, Albus could hear the roars of laughter coming from inside. "Harry!" the door to the Burrow flew open and George stood in the doorway to greet them, a mug of eggnog in his hand. "How are ya, mate?" "I'm great, George. I see you're already drunk," Harry grinned at him. "A drunkness only Mum's eggnog can bring," George went back into the house and Albus and his family followed. Albus smiled to himself as he saw the usual chaos that is Christmas Eve at his grandparents' house. His sea of redheaded cousins were milling around eating and laughing with each other. This was what Albus loved about Christmas at the Burrow. He grabbed a couple biscuits from the nearby table and went to find Rose. She was sitting on the floor near the fireplace with Hugo, Victoire, and Teddy. "Albus!" she shouted over the noise, "Over here!" Albus pushed his way past Georgia and Gabriella who were laughing at something Fred was saying. "Hi Rose! What's been going on?" "Not much. Uncle George, Uncle Bill, and Uncle Charlie are drunk. My dad's on his way and so is Aunt Alicia." "Wouldn't be Christmas Eve if they weren't," Albus laughed. "Gran's been refilling the biscuit platters and talking with my mum and Aunt Fleur. I think she's about to put on Celestina Warbeck," Rose gestured to the nearby wireless that Molly, Hermione, and Fleur were looking at. Fleur threw her hands up in the air and glared at Molly. "Yup, here comes Celestina." "Mum hates her," Victoire shook her head, "She'll be heading for the eggnog now." Sure enough, Fleur poured herself a large mug of eggnog as Molly settled down to listen to the wireless. She was the only one listening, though. Albus could hear bits and pieces of a heated Quidditch discussion going on between his Uncle Charlie, Uncle George, Aunt Alicia, and Heather. Harry was making his way over to them now. It amazed Albus that his uncles and aunt could carry on a fully understandable Quidditch discussion while drunk. "How long are you staying, Victoire?" Albus asked. "Just until after Christmas. I've got to get back to St. Mungo's in a couple days. But I've been here since yesterday when Amy left for Australia. I didn't want to be alone in the apartment, it would've gotten awfully boring." "You wouldn't have had to be alone," Teddy winked, "And it wouldn't have been boring." Victoire playfully slapped him. "Teddy! Don't let Mum hear you say that." "Oh, Albus," Rose began, "Both John and Amanda can come to my house on the 28th. Well, they can only come over for the day, but that should be enough time. Matt's still not sure. He said he won't know until after he gets back from Australia." "Ok. Great, we can play Quidditch!" "Quidditch?" Hugo snapped his head away from his chocolate frog cards, "Can I play?" "Sure," Albus replied. "The 28th?" Teddy commented, "I'll come over, too. I don't have to be back at the Ministry until the 29th. I'm up for some Quidditch." "Excellent," Albus grinned, "We can get a real game going. I'll just tell my dad I'm going home with you." Albus looked around the room and saw Harry in the midst of a Quidditch discussion. "Hey, Dad!" "What is it, Al?" Harry got up and squeezed his way through the crowd over to Albus. "It's all right if I go to Rose's house on the 28th, right? And stay a couple days?" "That would be fine," Harry said, "But we're actually going to Dudley's house for New Year's Eve, so we'll come get you on the 31st before we leave." "We're going to Dudley's?" Albus stared at his dad. "Er, yeah," Harry gave Albus a half smile, "Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon will be there as well...." "What?!" "Dudley thought it would be a good idea, considering that Kaden is a wizard," Harry explained. "All right," Albus shrugged. He didn't really want to see Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, but he didn't really have a choice. "I'm sure they'll be...civilized, at least," Harry gave Albus a hug before leaving to rejoin his Quidditch discussion. "Well, at least I can come over for a few days," Albus said. "Yeah, but you've got to go see the Dursleys," Teddy screwed up his face in disgust. "It's definitely going to be an interesting day," Albus replied. "I'm sure it'll be fine," Rose assured him. "Plus, Kaden will be there." "That'll make it even more interesting," Albus grinned. "You know, he'd fit right in with this lot," Rose gestured to the loud and boisterous Weasley family around them. "Except without the red hair." "Hey, I haven't got red hair!" "Neither do I," Victoire agreed. "I do," Teddy laughed as he changed his hair from its usual blue to red. "You're not technically a Weasley," Rose commented. "Close enough. And anyway, who knows what'll happen in the next few years," Teddy winked at Victoire, who giggled. Teddy threw his arms around Victoire and kissed her. "Better not let Gran see you doing that," Rose warned. "Always a stickler for the rules, huh Rosie?" Teddy laughed and lengthened his hair until it was the perfect replica of Rose's. "Don't do that!" Rose groaned, "And I do break rules. Just ask Albus." Teddy shortened his hair again and turned to Albus. "Really?" "She does," Albus confirmed, "Quite a few times, actually." "This I've got to hear." "Maybe another time," Albus glanced at Rose. Albus hadn't really decided whether or not to tell Teddy about the new map. Most of Rose's and Albus's most recent rule breaking was done in order to decipher it. Albus knew he wasn't going to tell his cousins about it, but he wasn't sure about Teddy and James. One part of him thought they deserved to know, considering that their father and grandfather were both Marauders, but on the other hand he kind of liked keeping it a secret. "Aw, come on, tell me." "Another time," Rose said adamantly. "Oh, fine," Teddy huffed, "But I will find out." Albus spent the rest of the evening talking and playing games with Rose, Teddy, and Victoire. He was really enjoying the time off from school and getting to spend time with his entire family at once. By the time he climbed up to the attic bedroom that he shared with James and a few of their cousins, he was tired and stuffed from all the biscuits. ****** "James! Albus!" Albus snapped his eyes open at the sound of his name the next morning. He immediately recognized the voice as belonging to Lily. He heard her footsteps bounding into the room. "Albus, James! It's Christmas! Wake up!" "Hi Lily," Albus yawned. "Good, you're up! James! Get up!" "I'm up, I'm up!" James mumbled. "We've got presents, James!" Lily grinned. "Right!" James said excitedly and Albus heard him crawling to the end of the top bunk to his pile of presents. "I'm going to open mine!" Lily shouted as she ran out of the room. After Lily's early wake-up call, everyone in Albus's room was up. Albus settled down to open his own pile of presents with the other boys. The first few boxes were filled with sweets and various Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products. The next was this year's Weasley jumper. It had a red quaffle stitched onto the front with a navy blue background. "Opened your jumper yet, James?" "Sure did," James replied, "Red with a green dragon on it." "Mine's blue with a red quaffle." "Excellent." Albus opened the next few presents, which consisted of numerous books and other clothing items. He also got a Broomstick Servicing Kit, which would be useful since his Firebolt 2000 had a few twigs that needed to be plucked. Albus saved the present from his parents for last and was about to open it when James gave an excited shout from the bed above. "Whoa!" "What is it?" Cedric asked and jumped off his bed. Ben followed and the two of them ran over to James's bed. Albus crawled out of his bed and joined his cousins. "What?" he asked. James had a huge grin on his face as he held up a blank piece of parchment. "Look what I got." Albus stared at the parchment. "You're kidding! Dad gave you the Marauder's Map?" "He sure did!" James shouted. "This is perfect!" Cedric exclaimed. "I can't believe he gave it to you," Ben grinned. "That's great, James," Albus smiled, "But why you and not me?" Albus couldn't help but feel a little left out, even though he now had his own Marauder's Map that would potentially be better than the original. But his dad didn't know about that, so why did he give the Map to James? "Dunno," James shrugged. "What did they get you?" "Haven't opened it yet." Albus picked up the package from his parents and tore off the wrapping. What he saw made his mouth fall open in shock. This would explain why James got the Map! Sitting in the middle of the torn wrapping, was the Invisibility Cloak. "He, he gave me the Cloak," Albus whispered. "Well, that's why you didn't get the map," James replied, "This is brilliant!" "Yeah," Albus agreed, pulling the cloak out of the wrapping. He laughed to himself as he thought of how he and Rose went through all that trouble of stealing it earlier in the month and now he got it for Christmas. "Guess this is why Dad wanted the Map back." James laughed, "We gave it back only for him to give it to me. I think we ought to share them." "That's a good idea," Albus agreed, not mentioning that hopefully he would have his own map working soon. "And share them with us, too," Cedric gestured to himself and Ben. "Of course we will," James assured them. "We just have to be sneaky about it. We can't let all of Hogwarts know we've got these." "I'm going to go tell Rose," Albus wrapped the Cloak around himself and left the room. He had never worn the Cloak at the Burrow before and he thought it was really funny that he passed Eddie on the stairs and Eddie didn't even notice him. He pushed open the door to the room that Rose shared with Victoire, Georgia, Gabriella, and Heather and waited for the girls' reactions. Heather jumped when she heard the door open and saw that no one was there. Victoire and Gabriella laughed and then shrugged. Rose got up from her bed and walked cautiously over to the door. "Boo," Albus pulled the Cloak off and grinned. All five girls shrieked as they saw Albus emerge from the Cloak, then they all started laughing. "Where did you get that?" Rose demanded. "Dad gave it to me!" "He did?" Victoire stared in amazement. "Wow, that is really great." "I just can't believe he gave you that," Rose grinned, "I'll bet James is jealous." "He got the Marauder's Map, so he's fine." "Wow!" Rose shouted, "That's incredible. And you can share them." "That's the plan," Albus grinned. "Well, I'll see you lot downstairs." He wrapped the Cloak around himself once more and left the room. Albus couldn't believe that his dad had actually given him the Cloak! He didn't think Harry would ever give it up. The best part was, was that he was now even more like his grandfather had been at Hogwarts. Albus was even more of a Marauder now that he had the Cloak. Albus continued down the stairs and into the kitchen of the Burrow. A few of his cousins, aunts, and uncles were already up and starting to eat breakfast. Harry and Ginny were there as well, along with Lily. His grandmother was tending to multiple cauldrons at once, while simultaneously bringing various items to the table. Albus watched them all for a few moments before pulling the Cloak off and shouting, "Happy Christmas!" Bill choked on his coffee and spat it across the table at George, who had started laughing. Harry, who had probably been expecting this, grinned and looked at Ginny, who was smiling back. Lily was staring at Albus with her mouth wide open. Molly dropped the bowl of oatmeal she had been bringing to the table. Everyone else looked at Albus with various looks of shock and amusement. "Albus!" Molly shrieked as she cleaned up the spilled oatmeal with a wave of her wand, "Don't do that!" "You gave him the Cloak?" George asked. "Yep," Harry replied, "I take it you're enjoying it, Al?" "Sure am!" Albus went over to where his parents were sitting and gave them each a huge hug, "Thanks!" "You're welcome," Harry smiled, "I figured you should be able to enjoy it while you're at Hogwarts, like I did. Although I expect you to use it more responsibly than I did." "I'll try," Albus said, thinking of when he snuck down to the Whomping Willow with it only two weeks ago. "James and I are going to share it. Same with the Map." "Wait, you got the Marauder's Map, too?" George stared at Harry. "No, James got that." "I didn't think you'd ever give that away," George laughed. "Well, I can wander the castle whenever I want and it won't matter who's around," Harry explained, "The boys can't. Plus, I didn't want to deny them the fun of it." "Are you sure that's safe, Harry?" Molly asked anxiously. "The castle is perfectly safe, even at night. I'm not saying I approve of you wandering around at night," Harry gave Albus a stern gaze, "But there are more enchantments than ever protecting it." "That won't protect them from wizards already in the castle!" Molly commented, "Remember that Willinson kid last year?" "How could I forget? Sometimes, you just have to take risks in order to live a little. I trust the boys enough to know they won't go wandering around late at night very often. And if you see anything suspicious on the Map," Harry turned to Albus, "Tell me about it right away." Albus nodded. "Sure." He took a seat at the table, with the Cloak on his lap, just as James ran into the room holding the Map in his hands. "Thanks, Dad!" James shouted, "This is brilliant!" "I'll tell you what I told Al. Don't use that to break too many rules and if you see anything abnormal on it, tell me right away." "Hello, Weasleys!" Teddy strolled into the room, his hair half green and half red. He sat down next to Albus and pulled a platter of eggs towards him. "Happy Christmas." "I know your hair is Christmas colored, but those two colors just shouldn't be paired together," James shuddered as he noticed Teddy's hair. "I mean, Gryffindor and Slytherin at the same time?" "It's festive," Teddy grinned. "You want me to charm yours to be red and green, too? Just learned some excellent charms for that sort of thing in training. Not that I'll need them." "No thanks," James had a look of disgust on his face. "I'll keep the plain red." "Is that..." Teddy looked at the parchment James was holding, "The Marauder's Map?" "Oh, yeah! Sure is!" James handed it to Teddy, "Got it for Christmas!" "That's great!" Teddy grinned. "What did you get Albus? Don't think Harry could top that." "I got the Cloak." Teddy turned to Albus, "Really? That's great, too! Wish I had an Invisibility Cloak." "But you can cast those Disillusionment charms," Albus pointed out. "Not nearly as fun as that Cloak, though," Teddy commented. "Oh, boys," Harry began, "You're going to have to share those with Lily once she gets to Hogwarts." "Aw, come on," James groaned. "If you don't I'll just steal them," Lily smirked, "And hide them in my dormitory, which you two won't be able to get into." "She's got a point," Ginny grinned. "We'll share," Albus assured them. He wouldn't mind sharing with Lily, just as long as she kept the Cloak secret. The last thing they needed was the entire castle knowing about it. "Good," Harry smiled, "Now who's up for a little winter Quidditch?" "Me!" Albus, James, Teddy, and mostly everyone else shouted at the same time. ****** Albus spent most of the day playing Quidditch outside with his family. Eventually they all had to come in because they were too cold to play any longer. Plus, it started snowing pretty hard and nobody wanted to lose the Snitch. Albus spent the rest of the day with Rose and reading a few of his new books. The Cloak was passed around between his cousins, and most of them were amazed Harry had given it to him, and a little jealous as well. James passed the Map around and everyone had fun watching the few dots that were left in the castle. Christmas dinner came and went in its usual chaotic state. It was loud and funny and Albus enjoyed every minute of it. He went to bed feeling very full and very content. The next day Albus's aunts, uncles, and cousins all started to leave. Albus and Rose's families stayed for a couple more days, but they soon had to leave so Albus's grandparents could go on holiday for New Year's. Albus was actually excited to leave because he would be going to Rose's house and hopefully getting the stag print. Albus landed in Rose's living room after Flooing from the Burrow. His Uncle Ron, Rose, and Hugo had already arrived and his Aunt Hermione was right behind him. There was an owl waiting next to the window and Hermione ran over to let it in. "That's Matt's owl," Albus announced as he and Rose went over to retrieve the letter. Albus opened the envelope and scanned the letter, "He can come, but only for tomorrow. We're supposed to meet him at the Leaky Cauldron at eleven." "Sure," Hermione smiled, "Tell him that will work." Albus found a quill and quickly scribbled a response on the back of the letter and sent it off with the owl. He and Rose ran up the stairs and into Rose's room to talk about plans for getting the print. "I hope you've got some ideas," Albus said as he shut Rose's door. "Of course I do," Rose grinned. "We'll tell my parents that we're going to go exploring in the forest and we'll look for a stag while we're in there. Once we find one, we'll all try and stun it-" "What about the underage magic laws?" Albus definitely didn't want someone from the Ministry showing up shortly after they stunned a stag. The last thing he wanted to do was explain why he had done it. Rose laughed, "Haven't you figured it out yet? They can't tell who's done the magic, only that magic's been done. The Ministry has no way to tell if it was us or my parents who performed the magic." Albus hadn't thought of that. All last summer he could have done magic and the Ministry wouldn't have found out. "Really?" "Yes, really. The Ministry just relies on parents to not let their kids use magic outside school. So I wouldn't suggest doing it a lot. I'm sure we'd get in big trouble with our parents. I wouldn't even be suggesting we do this if there was another way to get the print." Albus nodded. He didn't really want to break the law either, but what could they do? There was no way to get a stag print if the stag wasn't stunned. "I just hope we actually find one tomorrow." "Me, too. But we do have a couple days. You'll be here until the 31st, so that's 4 days to get it." "Yeah, but John and Matt want to help, too." "I know and we'll try. Hey, I'll bet Amanda's gotten the dog print by now!" "Oh, yeah!" Albus said excitedly, "So we're pretty much halfway there." "Yup," Rose grinned. "Now we've just got to find the charm to keep Kaden quiet," Albus replied. "You're going to tell him everything after I find that charm?" Rose asked. "I think so. I mean, as long as the charm works he can't tell anyone about it. It's obvious now that he's Wormtail, although I'm sure he'll be a better one. But it's up to Matt whether he wants to tell Kaden he's a werewolf." "Isn't it kind of necessary for this?" "Probably, but I can't exactly tell Kaden that." "Yeah, you definitely can't," Rose agreed. "Let's just try and get the stag print first," Albus suggested, "Then we'll figure out the Kaden thing."
Paul Joined: 4 November 2001 Posts: 2963 Location: Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, England	Posted: Tuesday 16 September 2008 06 02 40 pm    Post subject: Re: Broomsticks and Owls in topic:Broomsticks and Owls Aha - you're asking what came first, the chicken or the egg BaO has always been designed as both. The shopping side helps with the costs of running what is now hoppy the server (BaO was on a slower shared server initially). When I launched BaO there were very few Harry Potter forums and most of the ones that did exist were horribly arranged. I figured the web needed somewhere well arranged in a good proper forum for HP discussions in a pleasant and safe atmosphere. Because of time constraints I couln't keep updating the news part of the front page. Apart from a small number of exceptions (which you'll notice if you click on them anyway), the shopping par