|
Harry Potter Jeweled Long Sleeve Tour Jersey by Bejeweled
This boutique style limited edition Harry Potter long sleeve jersey is hand embellished with high quality Swarovski diamonds and studs. The front features an image of Harry, and on back a list of 'Tour' stops including Spain, Korea, Thailand and more along with "Harry Potter" spelled out in various languages. The variations and shading inherent in the dyeing process for this luxurious garment guarantees a unique look, no two t-shirts will ever look the same! This black shirt is 100% cotton and available in ladies' sizes.
$75.95
|
|
How Jane Won
Ask successful women what the secret to success is and you'll get a thousand answers. Every woman's story is unique. In this companion volume to the bestselling See Jane Win, Dr. Sylvia Rimm lets more than fifty women from all walks of life tell their own stories of success in their own words. Among them are plenty of household names, including Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, singer and actress Florence Henderson, New Jersey Governor Christine Whitman, space shuttle commander Eileen Collins, Harry Potter artist Mary GrandPre, novelist Jacquelyn Mitchard, and more. But there are also women you've never heard of — scientists, teachers, artists, homemakers, doctors, publishers, and more — who are every bit as successful. To learn how these women earned, struggled, and lucked their way to the top is both fun and inspiring.How do you define success? In Dr. Rimm's definition, success is more than a six-figure paycheck or a fancy title; it's a sense of happiness and satisfaction in what you do. Lisa Hayes-Taylor's account of why she loves being an elementary schoolteacher, Roberta Baldwin's eloquent sonnet on the virtues of volunteering, Tamara Minick-Scokalo's story of rising to become one of Procter & Gamble's first female marketing directors, and Catherine Callaway's description of the road to CNN offer four routes to completely different experiences of success. You'll find dozens of hard-earned life lessons here to inspire your own path, among them: be willing to fail; don't be afraid to be the smart girl; it's okay to fall from one career into another; if a mentor offers you a hand, take it; you don't have to know everything; transfer your talents from one field into the next; and don't worry if you're not certain about what you want to do with your life. The common thread through these life stories is the wisdom of nurturing a passion, paying attention to what brings you happiness, persevering, and appreciating that the path between points A and B is seldom a straight line. Sometimes the first step to success is believing it's possible. How Jane Won shows the many roads from possibility to achievement and the inspiration you need to make your own unique journey.
$3.98
|
|
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
by Geoff O'Callaghan ISBN 978 1 846930249 Published: 2007 Pages: 240 Description The Sorcerer's Apprentice This is an anthology of seven of my short stories which tell the story of Mark Anderson, who becomes a sorcerer's apprentice. They form a continuous story. Mark is a runaway thirteen year old, fleeing his step father's demonic abuse. He is taken in by a gipsy shopkeeper, Dr. Kieran Guyot. who was an industrial chemist before he retired. Kieran is not your story-book gypsy. He lives in town, is a master of 'The Craft' and fights evil in all its forms. Mark's evil stepfather wants the boys soul to feed on for eternity, but Mark has other ideas. In the second story, mark and Kieran fight a terrible vampire who has picked their town as a hunting ground. A parapsychologist, who hates Magic, abducts mark to force him to develop his psychic abilities. Mark inherits a fortune when his billionaire uncle dies. He is dragged into African politics, when a dictator tries to extort millions of dollars from his company. Mark meets Philip, a mute boy, who is orphaned in a car crash. With his new found friend, Mark fights a demonic cult that enjoys human sacrifice. Finally, Mark and Philip become involved in the politics of magic, when one of the Council of Nine, who govern the Magical Craft, tries to eliminate Mark as a potential rival for membership. The stories were written long before Harry Potter appeared on the scene. A favourite of boys, who discover that Magic is not just for girls. About the Author Geoff was born in Jersey, then under German occupation, during World War II. Soon after the war, his family moved to Brisbane, Australia. He was educated at All Souls' School, Charters Towers - a rather traditional boarding school after the English style. What knowledge one didn't learn through the ears was well and truly belted in through the rear end, complete with blood blisters. His first contact with the cane was for not running around a sports oval fast enough. He now prides himself on a complete disinterest on sports and knows nothing about cricket. This led to his creative and artistic sides developing. He had a way with words, and was a skilled debater. After secondary school, he took to teaching, graduated, and then obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Aboriginal Education. For the next thirty years, he lived with remote aborigines in the Great Western Desert, firstly as a primary school teacher, and later as a School Principal and Administrator. During this time, he took up writing, mostly short stories and film scripts. It was a good way to while away lonely hours in the desert evenings. The development of miniature computers took his interest, and He wrote to the Department suggesting they take a serious look at the use of Computers in Education. Because of the proximity of a U.S. Sigint facility at Alice Springs, many of the students, especially the American kids, were interested in computing. At first they used Tandy Level One...
$22.98
|
Visit our friendly Harry Potter Forum to discuss the latest clothing and style in the magical world, like these recent posts:
|
|
| Author |
Message |
DucksRMagical
Joined: 28 December 2006
Posts: 2535
Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal
|
Posted: Sunday 6 September 2009 11 24 22 am Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow |
|
Thanks hprocks!
Chapter 60: Cannons Quidditch
The next day reminded me of the previous summer. Dad was at work and the rest of us spent the day at home, basically being lazy. I brewed potions and then Mum reluctantly let Matt go exploring in the bush with me. She didn't really need to worry. I knew my way around that bush and it was a warm day with hardly a cloud in the sky. Very strange for Britain. It reminded me of Australia.
Uncle Jack flew in very early on Saturday morning. By very early I mean that his plane arrived in London at 5:30. I went with Dad to meet him, but Mum and Matt stayed home. They were both asleep.
Mum was awake by the time we got back home around 6:30. We stopped in Diagon Alley to pick up muffins for brekkie. I had never seen Diagon Alley so empty before. It seemed like the ideal time to go grocery shopping.
“Now this is a house!” Jack announced as soon as he walked inside. He stood in the doorway looking around with a big grin on his face.
“I thought of you as soon as we first saw it,” Dad smirked.
“It's my kind of place,” Jack said as he walked into the living room.
“Jack,” Mum walked into the room, “How was your flight?”
“Same as usual,” Jack replied, “How have you been?”
Mum and Dad updated Jack on their lives as we walked into the kitchen. Dad set the muffins down on the table and we all settled down to eat.
“Are you liking Hogwarts any better now, Amy?” Uncle Jack asked me.
“Yeah,” I shrugged, “It's nothing like Australia, but I'm getting used to it. But I don't think I'll ever get used to watching Quidditch matches in the middle of blizzards. I don't know why Professor Kendrick doesn't just postpone them.”
“Probably because there just aren't enough Saturdays with good weather here during the Quidditch season,” Uncle Jack explained.
“I just hope it's warm when we go to that Cannons match this week,” I said.
We saved a few muffins for Matt and then gave Uncle Jack the grand tour of the house. He absolutely loved my new potions room and the big library upstairs. We stayed in there for a while because Uncle Jack wanted to browse through Dad's books.
“I didn't know you had half of these,” Jack said as he picked up one of the numerous books on lycanthropy.
“Feel free to borrow any of them,” Dad said, “I've read all of them anyway.”
“All of them?” Jack raised his eyebrows.
“All of the ones on lycanthropy,” Dad said quietly.
“You should write a book on lycanthropy,” Jack replied.
“I probably could,” Dad said.
Once we finished giving Uncle Jack the tour of the house, I played chess against him in the living room. He won every single match. That was one thing I liked about Uncle Jack; he never let me win anything. When I was younger, my parents always let me win games. Uncle Jack never did. He never let Matt win anything either.
“Uncle Jack!” Matt came running down the stairs a little while later. He promptly tripped over Uncle Jack's suitcase and landed on top of our chess board, much to the dismay of the chessmen.
“Careful,” Jack said as he pulled Matt onto his lap, “You all right?”
“Fine,” Matt shrugged, “When did you get here?”
“About three hours ago,” Uncle Jack replied.
“You should've woken me up,” Matt said.
“Your parents don't like it when people wake you up,” Uncle Jack told him.
“Want to go explore the bush?” Matt asked him, “Amy, do you want to?”
“Of course,” I grinned.
“You have to eat brekkie first,” Mum told Matt, “There's muffins in the kitchen.”
Matt decided to just eat his muffins as we were walking to the bush. The hours flew by while we were out there and we didn't return home until it began to sprinkle and it was time for lunch. I could've stayed out longer, though.
Uncle Jack is probably my favorite person to go exploring with. He knows so much random stuff about wildlife. Even in England, a place he has only visited and never lived before, he had so much to tell us about the plants and animals we saw.
One thing that I found really interesting was that you could brew a potion to negate the effects of poisonous snake venom with dandelion roots, maple leaves, and bark from a pine tree.
The whole weekend and beginning of the following week passed much like that day had. Matt, Uncle Jack, and I would go exploring everyday. Mum and Dad would occasionally join us. Jack introduced himself to the farmer who lived next door and they talked for quite a while about growing vegetables.
******
Matt was the first one up the day of the Chudley Cannons match. I couldn't remember the last time he had been the first one to wake up in the morning. I guess there was something about the anticipation of seeing Quidditch players clad in orange robes lose spectacularly to another team that caused one to not need a full night's sleep.
“Amy, wake up!”
“Huh?” I blinked and saw Matt, clad in his oversized Cannons jersey, with a big grin on his face. “What time is it?”
“Seven o'clock,” he replied.
“You're up,” I yawned, “Really early.”
“I know.”
“The match isn't until two,” I groaned.
“I know,” he said and then ran out of the room.
Despite the earliness, I was very happy to see him so excited. I honestly couldn't remember the last time I had seen him this excited about something and that was kind of sad. Maybe I didn't like Quidditch that much. Maybe the idea of watching Matt's new favorite team get their arses kicked didn't interest me. But I was going to pretend to be excited for Matt's sake.
Going back to bed was a fruitless effort, so I went downstairs and found that Mum and Dad were awake as well. They were both drinking cups of coffee while Matt rattled off Chudley Cannons statistics.
“And in 1972 they changed their motto to 'Let's just cross our fingers and hope for the best',” Matt said, “It used to be 'We shall conquer', but they hadn't won the league since 1892, and they still haven't.”
“Morning, Amy,” Dad said.
“Morning,” I replied as I dug through the cabinets for some cereal, “Uncle Jack still asleep?”
“Yeah, I couldn't get him up,” Matt shrugged.
“You get your ability to sleep through anything from him,” Dad smirked, “I used to shave off his eyebrows in his sleep when we were kids. He never once woke up while I did it.”
“Did you know that Dragomir Gorgovitch holds the record for most Quaffle drops in one season?” Matt asked, “He used to play for the Cannons.”
“That's not something to be proud of,” Dad laughed.
“I don't think he is,” Matt replied, “But he's famous for it.”
By the time afternoon arrived and it was time for the match, I knew more Chudley Cannons trivia than I ever cared to. Matt was still reading the trivia book out loud as we left the house and walked to the end of our property to Apparate. The only reprieve I got from his trivia reading was during the side-along Apparition. I went with Dad and Matt went with Uncle Jack.
The Quidditch pitch was located in Exmoor National Park, which I had never heard of before we got there. There were a lot of people Apparating nearby the pitch and most of them were clad in blue and gold. A very small, but boisterous, group was wearing bright orange. It appeared that there were far more Puddlemere United fans than Cudley Cannons fans.
There was a wizard taking tickets near the door to the pitch and Dad handed him all of ours. We followed the signs to the top level of stands and located our seats. They were very good. With Quidditch, it's best to be higher up in the stands. Then you don't have to crane your neck to see what's going on.
We were surrounded by Puddlemere United fans. A fair few of them had painted their faces blue and gold and all of them were wearing jerseys. My family looked quite out of place. Matt because of his Cannons jersey and the rest of us because of our lack of jerseys.
“Welcome to the Puddlemere United versus Chudley Cannons match at the Exmoor pitch!” a wizard announced, “The match will commence shortly. Please find your seats.”
Five minutes later, the wizard was back to commentating. “The teams have walked out onto the pitch! Captain Spencer Wilson of Puddlemere United is shaking hands with Captain Francis Piedmont of the Chudley Cannons. The teams mount their brooms, and they're off!”
I watched as all fourteen players flew into the air. One of the Puddlemere players took immediate possession of the Quaffle and scored a goal within two minutes.
The Puddlemere fans sitting near us jumped up and started shouting and high-fiving each other. Puddlemere scored three goals shortly after and they performed the same ritual after each goal.
“Damorofitz of the Cannons is in possession!” the commentator shouted, “Oh, and he dropped it.”
I glanced over at Matt and saw that he was paying rapt attention. He didn't look that disappointed for someone whose team was losing 0-50.
This Quidditch match was unlike any I had seen before. Most of the Quidditch matches I'd been to had been at school. The main difference was that I was pretty sure the Chudley Cannons were worse than any of the teams at Hogwarts or Australia. I had never seen such an awful Quidditch team before. It was kind of weird that any of the players had made it to professional Quidditch, due to their apparent lack of skill.
“Damorofitz has hold of the Quaffle again!” the commentator said, “And he's flying down the pitch. And he's still flying down the pitch! Merlin, he's done it! Damorofitz of the Chudley Cannons has scored their first goal of the match.”
Matt started jumping up and down and cheering. The Puddlemere fans looked at him and smiled. I overheard the one who was sitting next to me say how adorable he was. I could sort of see why. He was the only one in our general vicinity rooting for the Cannons (well, the rest of my family was, but not nearly as vigorously as Matt was) and he was wearing a very oversized jersey. Plus, before the match started, he had asked Uncle Jack to write 'Go Cannons' on his forehead in orange marker.
“If they catch the Snitch, they'll win!” Matt said excitedly.
The Puddlemere fans stifled their laughs and we all got back to watching the match.
“Puddlemere is in possession,” the commentator went on, “They are passing the Quaffle faster than the Cannons can keep up. And, oh! Beater Loyd of the Cannons has somehow managed to hit a Bludger at himself. Seeker Biner has managed to catch him as he fell off his broom. Well, now we know Biner can catch something, even if it's not the Snitch. Medi-wizards have ran onto the field to assist Loyd. Looks like the Cannons will have to bring in a reserve beater.”
It soon became apparent that the Cannons' reserve beater couldn't hit Bludgers at anything, not even himself. Every time he swung his bat, he would nearly fall off his broom.
The Cannons did manage to score a few more goals during the first half hour of the match, bringing the score to 100-30 Puddlemere. Matt cheered loudly every time the Cannons scored, earning him more of those grins adults give children when they're being cute from the Puddlemere fans.
“Seeker Avon of Puddlemere is now flying straight towards the middle of the Cannons goal posts!” the commentator said, “And Seeker Biner did some sort of turn around move, not sure what that was, and is now trying to follow Avon. Ouch! Bludger to the stomach for Biner. That must hurt.”
Avon made it to the goal posts and pulled up with his hand clamped around what must have been the Snitch. All the Puddlemere fans stood up and started cheering. I stood up just to see what was going on. Uncle Jack lifted Matt up to see what was going on.
“Avon has caught the Snitch! Puddlmere wins 260-30!”
Medi-wizards were once again flocking the pitch and I saw them carry Biner away on a stretcher. Two of the Cannons' players had been injured in one match.
“So, you're a Cannons fan?” the witch sitting next to me asked Matt.
“Yeah,” he nodded.
“Well, better luck next time,” she smiled and then went back to cheering with everyone else.
It took us a while to leave the stands, but eventually we found our way back into the park.
“How did you like the match?” Dad asked Matt.
“It was brilliant!” Matt said, “I mean, it's not brilliant that the Cannons lost, but it was still fun. I didn't really expect them to win. They just need some new players. They would've won if their Seeker was better.”
And their Keeper, Beaters, and Chasers, I thought. It was nice that Matt was so optimistic about it. He could have been their spokesperson for their motto. If there was anyone who was crossing his fingers and hoping for the best, it was Matt.
We went to Diagon Alley because my parents needed to do some shopping and then we had dinner at the Leaky Cauldron because Uncle Jack really liked that place. I did, too, and we didn't eat there nearly as often as I would've liked. Hannah Longbottom, makes the best sandwiches I've ever had in my life.
“How much more school do you have?” Matt asked me as he ate his bacon sandwich.
“A little less than two months, I think,” I replied.
“I hope it goes by fast because Mum never lets me go exploring in the bush by myself,” Matt said.
“We can go exploring all the time in the summer,” I told him, “What are we going to do this summer anyway? Can we go on a holiday?”
“Possibly,” Dad shrugged, “We haven't really been on a proper holiday in a few years.”
That was for sure. The only times we had traveled recently was to look at houses.
After we went back home we played a few rounds of Gobstones before Matt went to bed. Then I read in the living room while listening to Mum, Dad, and Uncle Jack's conversation.
“We should go to more Quidditch matches,” Mum said, “I haven't seen Matt that happy in months.”
“It was definitely a success,” Dad agreed, “If we had done that nine months ago, he would've spent the whole time too scared to watch.”
“He's changed so much since I last saw him,” Uncle Jack commented.
“We owe it all to Healer Norlam,” Dad said, “The man can work miracles.”
“It's you two as well,” Jack said, “You never give yourselves enough credit.”
“Perhaps,” Dad mused, “But we really couldn't have done it without Norlam.”
I hadn't really thought about it until my parents brought it up, but Matt really was a lot different. He hadn't been afraid of anyone at that Quidditch match and it had been very crowded.
“He'll never get completely over it, though,” Dad said quietly, “He'll never be the same.”
“Of course not,” Uncle Jack agreed, “People never stay the same. None of us are the same as we were when we were eight. Our experiences change us.”
“He's had experiences I wish he'd never had,” Dad sighed.
“I wish he hadn't, either, but we can't change the past. I'm not entirely convinced horrible experiences are bad for us, either. They make us appreciate the good times. Of course, I'd give anything to change the past so that Matt didn't have to go through all of that.”
“You've always been the optimist,” Dad said, “You see the good in everything.”
“I try,” Uncle Jack shrugged.
The room lapsed into comfortable silence and I got absorbed in my book once again. I went to bed a little while later and dreamt that Matt was the Chudley Cannons Seeker. And that his clumsy self was the best player on the team.
******
The remainder of the holiday went by fast. I brewed potions with Uncle Jack while Matt begged my parents to let him join us. That was one thing they were still very overprotective with, him brewing potions. They refused to let him brew with me before he had potions class at Hogwarts. I was kind of happy about that because as much as I liked spending time with Matt now, I liked being able to brew alone.
Mum, Dad, and Uncle Jack went out to dinner one evening without Matt and I because they needed 'adult time'. That was a sign that Mum thought I was mature because she had never let Matt stay home alone with me in the evenings before.
Uncle Jack flew back to New York on Saturday, the day before I went back to Hogwarts. We all went to the airport to see him off. His visit had gone by fast and I was sad to see him leave. He didn't know when he'd next be able to visit.
Everyone went with me to King's Cross the next day s well. I wasn't really that sad about going back to Hogwarts. I would miss my family, but there was less than two months of school left and I was looking forward to seeing Victoire again.
I spent the entire train ride doing the homework I had neglected to do over the holiday. One thing I wasn't looking forward to about going back to school was the fact that exams were coming up. I had yet to hear anything good about Hogwarts end of the year exams.
It was already dark by the time the train pulled into Hogsmeade. I climbed into one of the four carriages along with three students I didn't know. We arrived at the castle just in time for dinner and I squeezed in between Victoire and Landon at the Gryffindor table.
“How was your holiday?” Victoire asked.
“Fun,” I grinned, “My uncle was there for a week and we went to a Chudley Cannons match.”
Teddy and Landon burst out laughing. Teddy started coughing and turned red as he caught his breath. Then they both looked at each other and laughed some more.
“What?” I asked.
“How badly did they lose?” Teddy smirked.
“50-260,” I replied.
“Not so bad, then,” Teddy said, “50 points in a match, that's not bad for the Cannons. But why in the name of Merlin did you go to one of their matches? Do you support them? I know you're new to British Quidditch and all, but there are so much better teams out there.”
“Matt supports them,” I answered, “I got him a Cannons jersey for Christmas and he's been obsessed with them ever since.”
“Why a Cannons jersey?” Landon asked.
“They're the underdog,” I shrugged, “And my brother's always kind of been an underdog. I thought it was appropriate.”
“Wow, another Cannons fan,” Victoire sighed, “My Uncle Ron will be excited about this. He's the world's biggest Cannons fan.”
The rest of dinner was spent with Teddy and Landon explaining the details of all the British Quidditch teams, which to be honest, was not that interesting. The only interesting bit of information they told me was that one of the Montrose Magpies' current Chasers played for the Cannons for a year before joining the Magpies. Apparently she was the best player the Cannons had had in decades.
Victoire and I stayed up late talking about everything except Quidditch. By the time I crawled into my four-poster bed I was very content. I realized that it was the first time I went to bed completely happy and calm at Hogwarts. And that was a nice feeling. |
|
|
|
 |
DucksRMagical
Joined: 28 December 2006
Posts: 2535
Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal
|
|
Posted: Sunday 30 August 2009 09 47 40 am Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow |
|
Thanks hprocks and Wratha! Nope, not going to stop writing! Well, I have actually finished writing this story, but there's more to post!
Chapter 59: Moaning Myrtle
“Victoire, Victoire, wake up!” I hissed as I nudged her arm.
I had woken up two minutes ago and realized we were still in the Room of Requirement. That and it was nine o'clock, which was when we were supposed to be in double potions.
“What is it?” she yawned.
“It's after nine o'clock,” I told her, “We're late for potions.”
“Shit!” she shouted and jumped off the pink couch.
We ran out of the Room as fast as we could and went back to Gryffindor Tower. It took us five minutes to change and grab our books before running all the way down to the dungeons. We skipped brekkie.
Everyone was already brewing when we slowly pushed open the door to the dungeon. Slughorn was at his desk.
“You two are late,” he announced as we walked in.
“Sorry, sir,” we said at the same time.
“We're brewing in pairs today, so you two can work together,” Slughorn told us, “And five points from Gryffindor for your tardiness.”
Victoire and I set to work at brewing that day's potion. Willinson was nowhere near us, so we didn't have to deal with his comments. It didn't seem to matter that we were late since the potion didn't need the entire two classes to simmer. Slughorn even pronounced it excellent when we handed in our flask at the end of class.
“That's probably the best I've ever done in potions,” Victoire said as we left, “I think I'll brew with you every class.”
“Then you can help me in Transfiguration,” I said.
“Sure,” Victoire said, “I just desperately need to do better in potions next year if I want to become a Healer.”
In the chaos that had been waking up late and nearly missing potions, I had completely forgotten about the full moon. It was the first time that had happened since before Matt was bitten. I was immediately reminded when Jasper showed up at lunch, however.
“Oh, he's a nice owl,” Victoire commented.
“Thanks,” I said, “He's my parents' owl.”
“Is that about the detention?” Victoire gestured to the letter.
“Probably,” I said as I put it in my robes, “I'll open it later.”
“At least you didn't get a howler,” Teddy said as he sat down, “You two missed it this morning. My gran sent it. She sends a mean howler.”
“I've never gotten one,” I said.
“Consider yourself lucky,” Teddy replied, “I get at least two every year. Once I got one from my gran and Victoire's grandma for the same thing.”
“Which is why I'm not depressed that I missed this one,” Victoire smirked, “I'm sure I'll get to see another soon.”
I opened the letter after classes were over. Victoire had to go talk to Slughorn about doing extra credit for potions, so I went to the Room and read the letter in private.
[i]Dear Amy,
How is school? We miss you a lot.
Things are pretty much the same
at home. Nothing unusual happened
during the full moon.
We got a letter from Professor
Longbottom about you being disruptive
in the library. That's not like you.
We'll talk about it over the Easter
holiday.
Speaking of Easter, Uncle Jack was
able to get a few days off work and
he's going to come and visit. Write
soon and we'll see you in a month!
Love,
Mum, Dad, Matt, and Ellie[/i]
I grinned as I folded the letter up, despite the fact that my parents wanted to talk about the incident in the library. Uncle Jack was going to visit! He had never seen our house in England. The best part was that he was coming while I was home.
“Are your parents angry about the library thing?” Victoire asked when she returned with her extra credit.
“They want to talk about it over Easter,” I groaned.
“Oh, you're going home for Easter?” Victoire asked.
“Er, yeah,” I said, “Don't most people?”
“No,” Victoire shook her head, “Most of us just stay here and study for our exams.”
“Well, my uncle's coming to visit over the holiday, so I'm definitely coming home. He lives in New York and we don't see him a lot,” I explained.
“That'll be fun, then,” Victoire said.
******
Three months and five days. That was how long it had been since Olivia sent me a letter. Her owl showed up a week after the full moon and I dug through her old letters to find out exactly how long it had been.
I sat on my bed holding the letter in my hands, staring at it. Why had she waited three months to send me a letter? What made her send one now?
The door opened and Victoire walked into the room. “Want to go to the kitchens with me? I'm starved.”
I didn't reply. I had never been to the kitchens and on any other day I may have wanted to go.
“Amy?” Victoire asked, “Are you ok?”
“Olivia sent me a letter,” I said, “After three months of not sending one.”
“Have you opened it?” Victoire asked as she sat down on my bed.
I shook my head.
“Open it,” she said.
I nodded and started ripping the envelope open. I pulled the letter out and read it silently, not even caring if Victoire read it over my shoulder.
[i]Amy,
I'm really sorry I haven't written
you back until now. I guess I just
got busy. Fifth year started a few
months ago. The amount of work is
insane.
How have you been? How is Hogwarts?
Are you still really behind in your
classes? I hope you made some new
friends. How's your brother doing?
I don't know exactly how to tell you
this, so I'm just going to say it.
Lisa is sharing my dorm with me now.
She and Carmen had this huge fight and
she asked for a dorm change this year.
They assigned her to our room.
I was really mad about it at first,
because I didn't want another roommate
ever. But she's honestly not that bad.
I think she was rude to us because of
Carmen.
I'm going to her house for Easter. I'll
try and let you know how it goes, but
I'll apologize in advance if I don't
send letters as often.
You'll always be my friend, but it's
just hard because we never see each
other. Even when you're in Australia
we can't see each other.
Your friend,
Olivia[/i]
I set the letter down on my bed and squeezed my eyes shut. Victoire put her hand on my shoulder, which told me that she had read the letter.
I should have known it was coming. How can two people stay best friends when they never see each other? Olivia would see Lisa all the time. They were now roommates like Olivia and I had once been.
Olivia was going to Lisa's house. After they'd been friends for three months. Olivia didn't go to my house until a little over a year ago.
“Do you want to write her back?” Victoire asked quietly.
“I'll do it later,” I stuffed the letter back into the envelope and put it in my trunk, “Show me the kitchens.”
Victoire nodded and we left Gryffindor Tower. She didn't say one word about the letter on our way to the kitchens, which I was grateful for. I didn't want to talk about it.
The kitchens were under the Great Hall, behind a large portrait of a bowl of fruit. All you had to do to get in was tickle the pear and a doorknob would appear.
“How do you know so much about the castle?” I asked.
“That map Teddy was talking about,” Victoire said, “And my aunts and uncles know more about this place than Kendrick probably does.”
I never found the kitchens in Australia, so I was amazed by the kitchens at Hogwarts. It was one very large room filled with tables, ovens, and more food than I had ever seen in my life. There were more House Elves than I had ever seen in my life and five of them ran up to us when we walked in.
“Can we get yous anything?” one of them asked.
“Chocolate cake,” Victoire said immediately and then looked at me.
“Anything I want?” I asked.
“Yep,” Victoire nodded.
“Chocolate ice cream with whipped cream,” I said.
The House Elves left and Victoire and I waited near the door.
“They just get you anything you want whenever you want?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Victoire said, “They love it when students come down here.”
“Is this against the rules?” I asked.
“I'm not even sure,” Victoire shrugged, “Everyone who knows where the kitchens are comes down here.”
One of the House Elves returned a few minutes later with a large slab of chocolate cake and a huge bowl of chocolate ice cream. We went up to the Room of Requirement to eat it and I imagined what Matt was going to think when I told him you could get chocolate cake and ice cream whenever you wanted at Hogwarts.
******
My friendship with Victoire reminded me of a potion that would refuse to boil for a half hour and then all of a sudden it would boil over the top of the cauldron. For months we had hardly said anything to each other and then all of a sudden, we did everything together. I soon learned that we really had a lot in common.
Our family lives couldn't have been anymore different, though. Victoire's family was loud, boisterous, and huge. I soon met all of her cousins that were at Hogwarts, although I'd never remember all of their names. In a way they all reminded me of Kenzie's family. Everyone looked after each other and I almost wished I had that many cousins. Or any first cousins, really.
Despite our familial differences, we really were quite alike. Both of us were very studious, even though we had subjects we were awful at. We could both sit in the library reading for hours without talking to anyone. Neither of us were really into Quidditch, although we both had brothers who loved it yet had no skill at it whatsoever.
I never mentioned Monica and Victoire never mentioned Olivia. I did write Olivia back, but didn't really expect her to write me again anytime soon. For some reason it didn't even bother me. I had been upset when her letter arrived, but it just didn't bother me anymore.
There was still the issue of me keeping secrets from Victoire, though. When the next full moon came, I tried as hard as I could to act normal and not make my worrying too obvious, but I wasn't sure if it worked.
It had been the second full moon in a row that I hadn't spent in the Hospital Wing helping Madam Pomfrey. I spent the evening studying with Victoire, Teddy, and Landon, and realized that I didn't want to go bottle potions.
Jasper turned up at lunch and it was then that I realized how hard it would be to keep Matt's lycanthropy a secret. Victoire and I spent every second of every day with each other, pretty much. I was going to have to sneak off to the toilet to read the letter.
“I'll meet you in Ancient Runes,” I told Victoire as I got up, “I've got to use the toilet.”
Victoire nodded and I left. There wasn't much time before Ancient Runes and I was going to have to use the second floor bathroom, which was closest to the Runes classroom. I hated that bathroom. It was always flooded. Actually, I hadn't actually used it yet because the water leaking out of the bottom of the door put me off from it.
The bathroom was flooded as usual and I shut myself in a stall to open the letter. It was very short. Mum just told me that Matt was ok and she'd see me in a few days when the Easter holiday started.
“Ooo, a letter!” A ghost of a very young girl flew through the stall door.
I shrieked. I shrieked like Monica had when Teddy howled during that detention.
The ghost laughed manically and flew up to the ceiling. She floated down until she was hovering right in front of me.
“Bad news?” she asked excitedly, “From home?”
“Er, no,” I said, my heart still pounding fast, “Very good news, actually.”
“Well, isn't that just lovely!” the ghost burst out in tears, “Everyone gloats about their good news in front of poor Myrtle! Poor Myrtle doesn't get good news! You want to know why? Because she's dead, that's why!”
The ghost (who I presumed was named Myrtle) soared up to the ceiling again and then plunged herself into the toilet.
“Er, well, I've got to get to class, then,” I said awkwardly as I left the stall and then ran out of the bathroom as fast as my soaking wet feet could take me.
Whenever I thought I was finally getting used to Hogwarts, something weird would happen. The ghost in the bathroom was a perfect example. Back to avoiding the place, I guessed. As it turned out, there was a better reason than a flood to avoid it.
“Did you know,” I whispered to Victoire as I slid into the seat next to hers in Ancient Runes, “That there is a mad ghost in the girls' bathroom on the second floor?”
Victoire laughed. “Oh, you mean Moaning Myrtle?”
“That's an understatement,” I rolled my eyes, “She started crying hysterically and plunged herself into the toilet because I told her my letter from home wasn't bad news.”
“That's normal for Myrtle,” Victoire replied, “She's obsessed with death. I mean, even for a ghost, she's obsessed with death. I try to avoid the place.”
“I will, too, from now on,” I said.
******
When Victoire said everyone stayed at Hogwarts over the Easter holidays, she meant it. There were probably around 15 people on the Hogwarts Express that Thursday. About half of them were first years and only two were older than me. None of them were students I recognized.
I got a compartment to myself, which wasn't all that difficult. It would have been harder to locate a compartment that had someone else in it, actually. The trip was relatively boring and I read for part of it and slept the rest.
Dad was the only one waiting for me on the platform when the train arrived in London. He was still wearing his work robes, so I figured he went straight to the station from the Ministry.
“Amy,” he gave me a hug, “I missed you.”
“Missed you, too,” I said and hugged him back. Dad grabbed my trunk and put his other arm around me and we Apparated home.
The house was quiet when we walked through the door. Dad dragged my trunk upstairs while I wandered into the kitchen. Mum and Ellie were cooking dinner and Matt was sitting at the island. He turned around when I came in and jumped off the stool. He ran towards me and threw his arms around me.
“Matt,” I picked him up and hugged him, “I missed you.”
“I'm glad you're back,” he said as I set him down on the stool, “Uncle Jack's coming on Saturday.”
“Oh, is he flying in that day?” I asked Mum.
“Yes,” Mum put down a wooden spoon and gave me a hug, “Welcome home.”
“So, what are we going to do while he's here?” I asked as I sat down next to Matt.
“We're going to a Chudley Cannons match!” Matt said excitedly.
“Seriously?” I raised my eyebrows at Mum. The Quidditch World Cup in Australia had been fun, but that was the World Cup. The Cannons were some random British team that apparently were really bad. Going to one of their matches wasn't exactly my idea of fun.
“Yes, we're all going,” Mum smiled, “Matt's been begging to go to one ever since you got him that jersey for Christmas. We figured we'd wait until you were home.”
“Thanks,” I rolled my eyes. Why had I gotten him that jersey again?
“It'll be fun,” Dad said as he walked into the kitchen, “They're playing some team called Puddlemere United.”
“If what I've heard is true, Puddlemere United is going to kill the Cannons,” I replied, “So don't bet any money on the Cannons winning.”
“No one's betting any money on anything,” Mum said as she set a large bowl of salad on the table.
My parents wanted to hear all about school during dinner, so I told them about Victoire, Teddy, and Landon. They looked very happy that I had managed to find friends, but neither of them mentioned my detention.
Matt and I played Exploding Snap while Mum and Dad cleaned up the kitchen, until Matt's face was covered in so much ash that Mum made him go wash it. Then Dad beat me in a few rounds of wizard's chess while Matt fell asleep on the couch. I guess he was still tired from the full moon.
After Dad carried Matt upstairs to bed, he and Mum sat down on the couch opposite from the chair I was sitting in and I could tell from the looks on their faces that they were going to bring up the detention.
“Amy, what happened?” Dad asked quietly.
“Remember that girl, Monica?” I sighed, “Well, I was studying with Victoire, Teddy, and Landon in the library....”
I told them the entire story. Monica's harsh statements to Victoire, Teddy and Monica's near duel, and the detention itself. Plus, I told them that Victoire and I really hadn't done anything besides yell a bit too loudly in the library. By the time I finished the story, my parents looked relieved.
“Just please try to ignore this Monica girl,” Mum sighed and shook her head.
“I do,” I replied, “And it'll be easier now that Victoire's not friends with her anymore.”
“And don't shout in the library anymore,” Dad said, “You know better than that.”
“I know,” I shrugged, “It's just hard to keep quiet when Monica starts talking. She knows how to get to me.”
Mum and Dad looked at each other. “We understand,” Dad said quietly. I was pretty sure both he and Mum were thinking about Ralph Lubar.
“I'm going to go upstairs,” I said, figuring the conversation was over, “Good night.”
My parents said good night back and I went upstairs to my room. I dug some pajamas out of my trunk and climbed into bed after I changed. It was kind of early to go to bed, so I read for a few hours before falling asleep.
I was asleep very quickly. Even though I was getting along well with most of my roommates, there was something comforting about sleeping in your own bed. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't have to put a silencing charm around it before drifting off to sleep. Or perhaps it was the solitude of being alone in my room. But I think it was more because I knew I was home, surrounded by the people who cared about me. |
|
|
|
|
|
DucksRMagical
Joined: 28 December 2006
Posts: 2535
Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal
|
|
Posted: Friday 24 July 2009 10 21 20 am Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow |
|
Thanks Fawkes, hprocks, and Obladi!  Here's an early update since I'm going on vacation tomorrow.
Chapter 55: Christmas in Australia
Healer Norlam was still at the house when we returned. Mum told me to go up to my room and stay there until she said I could leave. This didn't surprise me in the slightest.
What did surprise me was the amount of time I had to stay up there. An hour passed and Mum still hadn't told me I could come out. I was beginning to think they just forgot. How long could it possibly take for Mum to talk with Norlam?
I was contemplating using the Extendable Ear and finding out what they were talking about, when Mum knocked on my door. I told her to come in and she walked inside, looking much more worn out than she had earlier.
"Dad and I have decided to see Healer Norlam on a regular basis," Mum said as she sat down on my bed.
I sat down next to her. "What do you mean? Like what Matt did over the summer?"
"Sort of," Mum said, "We have some issues to work through and we think Norlam can help."
"Wait, you're not having marriage issues, are you?" I asked anxiously. I had seen sitcoms on the television at Kenzie's house and married couples who were thinking of divorce went to see psychologists.
"No, nothing like that," she assured me, "Don't worry. Dad and I are perfectly happy together. Mainly, we want to work on our parenting techniques."
"Oh," I breathed a sigh of relief. This was about what they talked about the previous night. But they weren't to know that I knew about that.
"We just wanted you to know," Mum said as she stood up, "And if you could pack for the trip soon, I'd appreciate it."
I nodded as she left. Mum and Dad in therapy. I wasn't sure what I thought about that. What sort of parenting techniques were they going to learn? Were they just going to change the way they parented Matt, or would it affect me too?
The remainder of the day was very quiet. We ate dinner in silence and it was hard to tell whether Matt was still mad at Mum and Dad. Although, I'm not sure mad was the right term. Matt just sort of sat in a stunned silence throughout the meal. He methodically at his food, but never said a word or moved much. In fact, it reminded me of what he was like after Lubar kidnapped him.
I didn't get much sleep that night. I tossed and turned the whole night, no longer that excited about going to Australia. It was almost like Matt's fear was haunting me. I couldn't muster an ounce of excitement after seeing how scared he still was.
The next morning was just a duplicate of the previous night. Silence, fatigue, and going through the motions. I wondered how long it would go on. I had been expecting the Christmas holiday to be exciting and a nice break from school, but so far it hadn't been that.
We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare before our flight left. Going through security had become so much of a habit that it no longer fazed me. It just took a very long time. Mum and Dad whispered to each other the whole time and Matt clung to Mum like she was going to side-along Apparate with him at any moment.
It was almost a relief to get on the plane. Matt refused to sit anywhere besides next to Mum, so I sat with Dad behind them. He let me have the aisle seat.
"Are Richard and Cinda picking us up?" Dad leaned forward and asked Mum.
"Yes," Mum said.
That was the only amount of discussion between them throughout the entire flight. It didn't seem like they were mad at each other, more like they were worried. I couldn't really blame them. Matt had yet to say anything the entire day.
I slept most of the flight. Luckily it was a very smooth trip without much turbulence. We arrived in Australia only a half hour later than scheduled.
It was very strange to be back in Australia. I got this weird feeling in my stomach as soon as we left the plane that had nothing to do with the flight. Nearly six months had passed since I was last in Australia. I swallowed hard as we went through security. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I wasn't going to want to leave.
"Julie!" Cinda, dressed in a sky blue pants suit, ran as fast as her spiky heels could carry her towards us, "You're here!"
"We're here," Mum smiled wearily. Cinda threw her arms around her in a very un-Cinda like manner. This looked kind of awkward since Mum was carrying Matt.
"Walter," Richard stuck out his hand.
"Richard," Dad shook it.
"Good flight?"
"It was all right," Dad replied.
"Amy!" Cinda let go of Mum and flung her arms around me, "How is your new school? How are the kids there?"
"School's all right," I shrugged.
The one good thing about Cinda's personality was that short, ambiguous answers satisfied her. She asked nothing else about school and began to fill Mum in on all the gossip as we walked to the car. It was like nothing had changed since we moved. If I tried really hard, I could pretend we hadn't even moved in the first place and were just returning from a long holiday.
"I just couldn't believe it!" Cinda exclaimed as we drove back to their house, "Pregnant! At her age!"
"How are Breanne and Carmine taking it?" Mum asked.
Cinda had just explained that Breanne's mum was pregnant. I was surprised, but didn't really care. Breanne's mum wasn't that nice of a person.
"They don't care," Cinda replied, "Apparently when she told them about it, Breanne just asked if the new baby would get her own nanny or if Carmine's nanny would take care of the baby."
Classic Breanne, I thought. I just hoped I wouldn't have to see her while I was in Australia.
The gossip continued until we reached the house. It may have went on longer than that, but I escaped to my pink bedroom.
It looked exactly the same as it had before I left. I doubted Richard and Cinda had even gone in it. I was sure they would leave it that way forever, since they had so many other rooms. Matt's room probably looked the same, too, although I had my doubts as to whether he would use it while we were there.
Cinda informed me that Kenzie was spending Christmas at her grandparents' house and wouldn't be back until after. I didn't dare bring up the possibility of visiting Olivia. Maybe over the summer, if my parents had worked through their parenting issues by then.
The Christmas holiday at Richard and Cinda's wasn't much different than it had been at home. The only difference was that Cinda filled in the silence with gossip and the occasional question about England.
Matt hardly ever left Mum's side. It seemed that being in Australia wasn't doing anything to ebb his fears. I would have thought that after two days of being there would give him a bit of reassurance that nothing was going to happen, but it didn't.
Christmas Eve came and I realized that we hadn't even gotten a Christmas tree. Everyone seemed to have forgotten about it.
"Where are we getting the tree from?" I asked at lunch.
"Er, I'm not sure," Dad glanced at Richard.
"There's a tree farm a few miles away," Richard told him, "We always used to get trees there when Julie was little."
"A tree farm?" I sighed. That wasn't nearly as fun as going into the bush and cutting one down yourself.
"They have cut your own trees," Richard said, "It's like a bush, only the trees are all in rows and were planted by people."
"All right," I said resignedly. It was better than nothing.
"We'll go as soon as we're done eating. It'll be fun," Richard said.
"I don't want to go," Matt mumbled. He had been picking at his food and not really eating. It was strange since he could usually eat a hippogriff when it wasn't around the full moon.
"You'll be safe," Mum assured him, "It's a Muggle place. Nobody will know you."
"No, I don't feel good," he said.
Mum immediately put her hand on his forehead. "You don't feel warm."
"He's probably just overly tired," Dad said quietly, "I don't think he's slept more than ten hours since we got here."
"You're right," Mum sighed.
"Can't you just give him that potion that makes you fall asleep?" Cinda asked.
"Couldn't bring it on the plane," Mum explained, "Couldn't transfigure it into something normal either. Transfiguration of potions changes their effectiveness."
"We're going to have to go buy some," Dad said.
"No place is open on Christmas Eve," Mum pointed out, "You guys just go get the tree. I'll stay here with him."
A little while later, Richard, Dad, and I were riding in Richard's huge SUV to go get the tree. Cinda had decided to stay home in order to spend 'quality time with her daughter and grandson', but everyone knew she just didn't want to go to the tree farm. She had never liked getting Christmas trees.
The tree farm was really crowded. Richard had to circle the parking lot twice just to find a spot. Then we walked up a small dirt road until we reached the farthest spot of the farm, which was relatively empty.
"A year ago we were doing this in the bush behind your old house," Richard said as we began looking at trees, "Things sure do change."
"That they do," Dad mused, "But change is good."
"Is Matt ok?" Richard asked, "He hasn't seemed well over the past few days. Has something happened?"
"He's afraid to be here," Dad sighed, "Because of what happened before we moved. The psychologist we've been seeing thought it would be a good idea for him to confront the fear, but so far all its done is made him sleep deprived."
"I'm surprised Julie allowed that."
"She's the one who originally suggested it," Dad told him, "But the psychologist agreed and here we are."
"That's possibly the most surprising thing I've heard since you told me you were moving. Julie has babied that boy ever since he was born."
"We both have," Dad said a bit louder, "It's part of the problem and it's taken us nearly nine years to realize it. We're not doing it anymore. We've stopped giving in to everything. We've spoiled him."
"I've been telling you that since he was three," Richard chuckled, "I tell you, the best thing for a boy is to fall down and get a few bumps and bruises. Then he picks himself up and gets on with life."
"Believe me, he's had more bumps and bruises than the average kid. And half the time he can't just pick himself up and get on with life. I guess that's the issue. Julie and I have to learn when he really needs us and when he doesn't."
"You'll figure it out. And you know how I know that?" Richard put his arm around me and smiled, "Because you did something right with this one."
I couldn't help but grin. Richard was usually very quiet. He rarely said more than a sentence or two within a fifteen minute time frame. People said he had to be like that in order to be married to Cinda, the queen of talking. Richard never commented on how my parents raised me. He said plenty about how they raised Matt, but never me. I guess that was a good thing.
Mum always said I took after Cinda, but I liked Richard more. Cinda's constant jabbering was irritating and she always tried to get what she wanted. Whenever I complained to Mum about her, she just smiled and laughed and said I didn't like Cinda because I was so much like her.
"You'd think we would have gotten better with the second one, not worse," Dad muttered.
"Don't think too much about it now. It's Christmas," Richard said, "And we've got a tree to find."
We wound up finding a tree that was about half the size of one we had last year. Richard refused to get a twelve-foot tree since he was sure Cinda would have a hippogriff if he did so. Well, he used the term, 'have a cow'. It was funny to watch Dad help him tie it to the roof of the car, though. Dad had obviously never done such a thing before and he muttered something about how much easier it would be to just use a sticking charm.
Getting the tree off the car once we drove back to Richard and Cinda's house was much easier. Dad just used magic since no one else was around. He levitated it through the double doors in the back of the house and stood it up in the corner of the living room.
Cinda and Mum were talking on the couch in the living room. Well, Cinda was talking and Mum was nodding and muttering 'mm-hmm' every so often. I doubted she was really listening. One of her hands was holding an open book and the other was rubbing Matt's back, who was lying next to her.
"Have fun?" Mum set down her book.
Dad nodded. "When should we decorate?"
Decorate. I suddenly realized that we left all our decorations at home. "Er, we don't have any decorations."
Richard laughed. "Yes we do. Haven't used them in years, but we've got them. Your mum made some of them."
"Oh, right," I said. Of course they had decorations.
"Let's do it after dinner," Cinda said as she stood up, "There's a lovely lasagna in the oven."
"Had it delivered while we were gone?" Richard smirked.
"Yes," Cinda grinned.
******
"What is this supposed to be?" I asked as I pulled a misshapen piece of wood with a string attached out of the box of ornaments.
"It's a dog," Mum laughed, "I made it when I was five."
I turned the dog around in my hand and squinted. "Erm, I sort of see it."
It was actually really fun to use Richard and Cinda's ornaments. There was a story behind every single one. The crystal husband and wife one that they had gotten at their wedding, the little set of golf clubs Richard had had since he was a teenager, the witch's hat and broom Mum had gotten after she found out she was a witch, and of course all the homemade ornaments.
Even Matt seemed to perk up as we looked through the ornaments. He loved Mum's homemade ornaments. It even seemed like he wasn't sleep deprived.
Mum, Dad, Richard, and Cinda sat on the couch and let us decorate the tree. They told stories about the ornaments, but the decorating was up to us. Matt decorated the bottom half and I decorated the top. I had to use a ladder for the very top and Mum forbade Matt from getting on it.
Eventually we got the tree completely decorated. My parents and grandparents loved it and Richard took a bunch of pictures. Even though the tree had no theme whatsoever, I liked it. It was different, but nothing about this holiday was normal, so it fit well.
I fell asleep quickly that night since I had gotten used to Australian time. I had also gotten used to my pink bedroom again. In fact, I slept late and didn't wake up until nearly ten o'clock. It marked the second year in a row that Matt hadn't woken me up on Christmas.
The sun was shining into my window, but I didn't pay much attention to it. It was almost ten and nobody else seemed to be up. I ran out of my room and down the corridor to my parents'.
They were sitting up in bed whispering to each other, but stopped as soon as I walked in.
"Happy Christmas," Mum smiled.
"Happy Christmas," I said as I sat down on the bed, "Is anyone else up?"
"I don't think so," Dad replied, "We're going to wait for presents until Matt's up. He's been sound asleep since three in the morning."
I looked down and saw that Matt was sound asleep in the middle of the bed. I sighed. It would be a while until he got up. He'd probably sleep until dinner time. At least he finally fell asleep, though.
It was strange not to open presents right away. I went downstairs and saw that Ellie must have Apparated to the house at some point because she was making brekkie in Richard and Cinda's kitchen.
Richard and Cinda woke up a little while later and we all ate brekkie while Matt slept. No one really knew what to do after that since Christmas morning was usually spent opening and admiring gifts.
I sat in the living room staring at the presents while Richard read the paper and Mum and Cinda talked. There was one huge present that was addressed to me and I really wanted to open it.
After a few more hours of boredom, Matt finally walked sleepily into the room. He looked like he could use another day's worth of sleep, but I was glad he got up.
"Can we open presents now?" I asked as he climbed onto Mum's lap.
"Yes," Mum grinned, "You can go first."
I leaped off the chair and grabbed the big present I had been gazing at. It was from Mum and Dad and weighed a ton. Did they get me a box of bricks or something?
I ripped the paper off and tore open the plain brown box that was underneath. There was a bunch of crumpled up newspaper in the box and I threw it all over the room as I dug around in the box.
When all the newspaper was finally on the floor and not in the box, I pulled out a silver cauldron that was slightly bigger than the one I already had.
"You've already got one of those," Matt announced.
"This one's self-stirring," I grinned as I noticed the self-stirring symbol etched onto the side. I set it down and ran over to Mum and Dad, giving them each a huge hug. "Thank you so much!"
Self-stirring cauldrons open up a wealth of brewing opportunities. Some potions require constant stirring, which makes it difficult to prepare ingredients as you brew. Some ingredients had to be prepared right before you added them. So you either needed another person or a self-stirring cauldron.
I was surprised they got me another silver cauldron. They had been reluctant enough to get me the first one. It was a good sign; they were trusting me more.
Matt went next and he picked the present from me. His eyes got huge when he saw the box of chocolate frogs and Mum laughed. Then he held up the Chudley Cannons jersey and Cinda's eyes got huge with disgust. I giggled. She probably wouldn't have let me bring that into the house if she had known about it. She claims orange looks good on nobody.
"What is that?" she asked.
"A Quidditch jersey!" Matt said excitedly, "Chudley Cannons? Who are they?"
"A team in the British league," I explained, "The store in Hogsmeade didn't have any Australian jerseys, so I picked another team. Apparently they're not very good, but they need support."
"I like it," Matt said as he pulled it on. It went reached halfway down his thighs and was wide enough to fit three of him into it, but he had a big grin on his face.
The present opening continued for the rest of the afternoon. Mum and Dad both loved what I got them. I think Dad wished I had gotten him a Gryffindor scarf as well, though. Hell, Matt seemed to want one, too. I could get him one for his birthday.
Cinda got me a bag, which I thought was kind of funny since Mum got her one, too. This one was tiny and pink with silver dangly things attached to the zipper. It was something I would never use. I had no use for girly bags. Pockets worked just as well for holding stuff and I carried my school bag around Hogwarts. Not even one book would fit in this pink bag.
Cinda liked her bag much more than I liked mine. She said she had about ten different outfits to go with it and I was sure all of them were pants suits. Richard was thrilled with his golf club and said he'd have to go golfing soon.
Mum and Ellie prepared dinner afterwards. Cinda sat in the kitchen with them, but didn't help with the cooking. It was just as well since the only thing she could do was heat stuff up in the microwave.
Dad and Richard talked quietly in the den and I wanted to listen in on what they were saying, but Matt kept me occupied playing with his new Quidditch game with him in the living room. It was a model game that you could tell the players where to fly to, sort of like Wizard's Chess.
Matt seemed completely different than he had been the previous day. I mentioned this to Mum and she told me that a good night's sleep could do wonders. Maybe the sleep helped him realize that nothing would happen to him in Australia anymore.
Dinner was delicious and fun. Mum and Dad seemed so much happier now that Matt wasn't as scared. I think we were all relieved about that. Nobody said a word about anything related to Lubar or the Australian Ministry or wizarding Australia in general.
Ellie Apparated back to England after we finished dessert. She had to take my cauldron back to our house, since there would be no explaining that to airport security. Come to think of it, she had probably brought it that morning. Mum also wanted it in my potions room as soon as possible. She may be trusting me more, but she was still worried about Matt being around it.
I was really glad we had gone to Australia for Christmas. It had been a really good day. I don't think it would have been all that enjoyable if Matt hadn't gotten any sleep, but he did so it turned out well. Having Christmas in England would have just been too strange. I hoped we'd go to Australia for every Christmas. |
|
|
|
|
|
DucksRMagical
Joined: 28 December 2006
Posts: 2535
Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal
|
|
Posted: Sunday 12 July 2009 06 59 52 pm Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow |
|
Thanks Obladi!
Chapter 53: The Chudley Cannons
I failed the charms test. Miserably. Even though I spent most of the weekend studying, the test was like a foreign language. I knew I failed it even before we got the marks back the next class. The large, red 'P' written over my pathetic answers was only a reminder.
Charms has never been my best subject, but I always managed to squeeze by in Australia. Olivia and I would study for hours before the exam and then get passing marks.
Charms at Hogwarts was a different story. Professor Washburn was relentless and the way he stared at you during class made you too nervous to do anything properly. He breathed down your neck during exams as well. It was enough to make anyone too nervous to do well.
This failed exam was only one of many I had failed so far that year. I was about ready to just give up. No amount of studying seemed to help.
Studying paid off for most of my other classes, though. I spent most of my time studying since I really had nothing else to do. On any given night I was either in my dormitory studying or in the common room studying, depending on where Monica was.
The night of the full moon came around sooner than I would have liked. My parents sent me a letter the day of, telling me that they were going to St. Mungo's. Just reading that letter made my heart speed up. I got the letter at dinner, so the moon was going to rise in a little over an hour.
Doing homework was pointless after I got that letter. There would be no way I could concentrate while I was worrying about Matt. Instead, I wandered around the castle until I wound up at the Astronomy Tower.
The tower was completely deserted. Quiet, empty, with only the telescopes for company. Just the way I like it.
I sighed and sat down on the ground. The moon was nearly risen. I could see the faint light of it slowly rising above the horizon.
No matter how hard I tried, I could never imagine what it would be like to turn into a werewolf. Matt had never described it to us, so I had to use my imagination along with what I read. All I knew was that it was extremely painful.
I stayed on the Astronomy Tower until the moon rose. I stared at it for a while before realizing that it was extremely cold and I was shivering.
The castle was warm, but I didn't know where to go. The Astronomy Tower had been the perfect place, but it was too cold out to spend the night.
A few minutes later I found myself in front of the hospital wing. I suppose that was where I had been heading the whole time, but just hadn't realized it.
Luckily the place was empty. Madam Pomfrey was bottling potions at a table, which reminded me a lot of when Matt had been at St. Mungo's a few months ago. She looked up when I came in the room.
"Amy," she said as she set down a flask, "Are you all right? You look kind of pale."
"Well, it's the full moon," I whispered.
Madam Pomfrey walked out from behind the table and looked at me sympathetically. "You're shivering."
"I was watching the moon rise," I began, "On the Astronomy Tower."
"The Astronomy Tower?" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed, "For Merlin's sake, it's below freezing out there!"
She ushered me over to the nearest bed and made me lie down in it. I could not believe my luck. All I had to do was spend a half hour outside in freezing temperatures and I could avoid sleeping in my dormitory on the worst night of the month.
Madam Pomfrey gave me a potion that immediately warmed me. Then she sat down on the bed and smoothed her robes.
"Amy," she began, "Is this going to be a usual full moon occurrence?"
I bit my bottom lip and looked down at the sheets. There was a loose thread on the blanket and I began to mess with it. It wasn't that I was consciously going to the hospital wing for every full moon. It just sort of happened.
"I don't know," I muttered, "It's just that tonight- Um, have you heard about Healer Sterling's Wolfsbane study?"
"I have," she nodded.
"My brother's in that study," I told her, "He's transforming at St. Mungo's tonight. The full moons are always worse when he transforms in new places."
"Ah," Madam Pomfrey replied, "You're worried about him."
"Yeah," I said, "I am, but it's worse tonight."
"I am sure he will be fine," she patted my leg and stood up.
I nodded and laid down on the pillow. Madam Pomfrey went back to her potions and I watched as she worked. But I wasn't tired in the slightest.
"What potions are you bottling?" I asked.
"Dreamless sleep, fever reducer, and pain potion," she answered, "The most commonly used potions."
Those were the three my parents always had on hand. "I'm going to brew those someday."
"Are you interested in potions?"
I sat up. "Yeah. I brew potions at home all the time. I make up my own stuff. It's fun."
"That is wonderful," she said, "A lot of students seem to have an extreme dislike for the subject."
"I've always liked potions," I mused as I got up and walked over to Madam Pomfrey, "They're just so interesting. The affects they have on people and stuff."
"That is a very intriguing topic," Madam Pomfrey agreed, "Would you like to help me bottle some of these?"
"Really?" I grinned, "Definitely.
"Of course," Madam Pomfrey smiled and handed me a jug of bluish potion, "That's the-"
"Pain potion," I said.
"You certainly know your potions," Madam Pomfrey remarked.
"I bottled potions with the nurses at St. Mungo's while Matt was there a few months ago."
"You've got experience, then," she said, "What other subjects do you enjoy?"
"Astronomy," I said immediately, "That's pretty much it. Transfiguration is fun, too, but not as fun as Astronomy and Potions."
"Astronomy and Potions," the nurse mused, "Interesting combination."
I stopped pouring and looked up at her. She had a knowing smile on her face. That was the same exact thing Healer Norlam had said, but I still had no clue what he meant by it. Now Madam Pomfrey was saying the same thing.
The conversation slowly stopped and we bottled in silence. A first year came in after accidentally stabbing himself with a quill, but other than that the ward remained empty. It was relaxing and reminded me a lot of helping the nurses at St. Mungo's.
Eventually we ran out of potions to bottle and Madam Pomfrey decided to call it a night. She let me stay overnight, despite the fact that I was clearly not ill. Somehow I managed to fall asleep and I didn't wake up until morning.
******
"He fell off his broom!" someone shouted, "I think his arm's broken!"
I snapped my eyes open and saw two boys standing in the doorway. One was holding his left arm and was clearly in pain. Madam Pomfrey was ushering him to the bed across from mine.
"What were you doing playing Quidditch at seven in the morning?" she demanded.
"We were bored," the uninjured boy shrugged.
"Next time you're bored, study something," the nurse muttered.
There was no point in going back to sleep, so I got out of bed and said goodbye to Madam Pomfrey before leaving. I ran up to my dormitory and collected my books, then headed down to the Great Hall for brekkie.
I waited for Jasper or Pollux to show up with a letter from my parents all day. All throughout my classes I looked at the windows and willed one of the owls to materialize. Even during potions I was distracted, which Quinton Willinson was all too quick to point out. He was thrilled that he was able to tell me that I was stirring my potion in the wrong direction. I had a feeling he would lord that over me for the remainder of the year.
If someone asked me what Binns talked about during History of Magic, the most specific topic I'd be able to tell them was history. Everything he said just went in one ear and out the other. It was worse than usual. My eyes focused on the window to my right rather than his ghostly form.
Herbology was just as bad since the greenhouses are obviously all windows. Luckily, Laney Hall was oblivious to my distractedness and kept chattering on and on about something I didn't even remember.
By the time I was done with classes, I was about ready to break into one of the teachers' studies to floo to St. Mungo's. I was sure Matt was still there. Why else would my parents not send me a letter?
I was putting my books away in my dormitory and contemplating how I could sneak into someone's study when Jasper finally showed up. He flew into the room and I snatched the letter from his leg a little more aggressively than I should have. Jasper hooted his dislike and flew off again before I could give him an owl treat.
Dear Amy,
Sorry for the late letter. Hope
you weren't too worried. We've
been occupied with the tests
Sterling has been doing on Matt.
We'll explain more about the tests
when you come home for Christmas.
It's a bit much to put into a letter.
Matt is doing all right. The
transformation was a bit rough, as was
expected. But after a few days' rest,
he'll be fine.
We left the hospital around noon and
are back home now.
Let us know how your classes are going
and everything else about life at
Hogwarts.
Love,
Mum, Dad, Matt, and Ellie
I breathed a sigh of relief as I put the letter in my pocket. They were just preoccupied with the tests, that was all. Matt wasn't much worse than usual.
He only had one more transformation until the study began. I wasn't sure exactly what was going to happen with that. Hopefully my parents would tell me once I went home.
I collapsed onto my bed. Another full moon was gone. We survived one more. I was finally beginning to understand what my parents went through each month. I may never completely understand what Matt goes through, but I was beginning to understand my parents' worry. How could they stand it each month?
How much longer would we have to go through it? Would Matt have to go through it? Sterling's study would have to help. People were working on new forms of Wolfsbane and on cures, weren't they? Someone would find something eventually. Then maybe I wouldn't be waiting anxiously for a letter from my parents each month.
******
November turned into December with the same monotony that the past few months had brought. I studied, argued with Willinson, avoided Monica, and failed another Charms exam.
The only real difference between November and December was the amount of snow that covered the grounds. The grounds began to resemble those of the Adirondack Academy of Magic during the time we visited. Only now it was never ending. I wasn't just visiting the snowy place, I lived there.
It was just so strange to have snow in December. In Australia, December is one of the warmest months and it never ever snows. Christmas is spent going swimming and holding outdoor celebrations. Those days were long over for me. Christmas would now be spent inside with a crackling fire.
I do like snow. It's fun to play in and very beautiful. But I really didn't see the point in holding classes outside during a raging blizzard. Why couldn't Hagrid just get a classroom so we wouldn't have to freeze our arses off? I was so cold during Care of Magical Creatures that I couldn't focus at all on what we were learning. And judging by the other students' reactions, holding Care of Magical Creatures during snow storms was a normal occurrence.
Much to my relief, the snow seemed to let up for the December Hogsmeade visit. Not that I was as excited about it as the rest of the students, since I had no one to go with, but I did want to get my Christmas shopping done.
I left the castle before the rest of my roommates were even awake. Well, I had heard Victoire moving around in her bed, so she was probably awake, but the rest of them were sound asleep.
The walk to Hogsmeade was relaxing. The snow crunching beneath my feet was the only noise. A very small amount of snow was falling; enough to be noticeable, but not so much that the walk would be unbearable.
I had finally learned how to bundle up properly for the cold weather, so I was comfortable. Although I had a feeling that after I had walked around Hogsmeade for a half hour or so, I'd be ready for a Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks. Or the Hog's Head.
My first stop was Honeyduke's, which was mostly filled with third years and a few students my age. I guessed that most of the older students were still sleeping.
I bought an assortment of chocolates and other sweets for Matt and a few for myself as well before leaving the shop. Chocolate was always the best way to go when buying presents for Matt. Or me for that matter. I figured I'd get him something at the Quidditch shop as well. He's always liked Quidditch.
My parents were a different story, especially Mum. Every year I went through the same ritual. Looking through every store, trying to find the perfect gift. Nothing ever seemed right, although I knew my parents would like whatever I got them.
Dad's present was the first one I found. It was a name block for his desk. His old one said 'Head of the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures' on it, so it was useless for his new job. I didn't think Mum had boughten him a new one yet, so I got one at Scrivenshaft's.
Mum was more difficult, but I decided on a scarf. She only had one and it wasn't the most fashionable of things. She wasn't big on fashion, but I thought a red and gold scarf was nicer than the boring grey one she had. Plus, it was Gryffindor colored.
I decided to have a Butterbeer before going to the Quidditch shop, but the Three Broomsticks was yet again so crowded that there was barely room to move. Two minutes after I entered, I left and went to the Hog's Head.
"You again," the barkeep grunted as I walked in the door.
"Yeah," I said as I sat down at the bar and set my bags down on the floor.
"Something wrong with Rosmerta's place?"
"Too crowded," I muttered.
"Tends to happen during Hogsmeade visits," he said as he handed me a Butterbeer.
"Thanks," I replied.
I sipped my Butterbeer in silence as I watched the barkeep putter around with a goat following him. The whole 'goat in the bar' thing still puzzled me, but the last thing I wanted to do was ask him about it.
Two cloaked men eyed me suspiciously as they sat down a few stools away and I took that as my cue to leave. I paid for my drink and the barkeep muttered goodbye as I left.
The Quidditch shop was a little ways down the road. I had never been to it before. There were a few brooms in the window and a large sign above it said 'The Quaffle Shop'. I certainly hoped the place sold more than brooms and Quaffles.
It was filled with students talking about Quidditch and I hardly understood any of it. I began to browse around, not really knowing what I was looking for. They certainly didn't have any Australian team products.
"Amy?" someone said to the left of me.
I turned to see Samantha Meyers looking at me curiously. "Oh, hi Samantha."
"I had no idea you liked Quidditch," she said, "Didn't you say you weren't a Quidditch person?"
"Erm, I'm actually here to get my little brother a Christmas present," I told her.
"What sort of present are you looking for?" she asked.
"I don't know," I sighed.
"Does he play Quidditch?"
I had to stifle my laughter at that. Matt was lucky if he could walk without tripping over his own feet, let alone fly a broom. Not to mention the fact that my parents were so strict with 'dangerous' things anyway.
"No, he just likes to watch matches."
"What team does he support?"
"Australia," I said, "But there obviously isn't any of that stuff here."
"Right," Samantha grinned, "So he needs a new team to support. Puddlemere United is a good team. So are the Ballycastle Bats. I personally support the Holyhead Harpies."
"How about this team?" I gestured to a very bright orange jersey that said 'The Chudley Cannons' in big black letters.
Samantha burst out laughing. "The Cannons? They're a joke. Haven't won a match in years. Their motto is 'let's just cross our fingers and hope for the best'. That pretty much sums them up."
"So it's a team full of uncoordinated Quidditch players?" I asked.
"Yeah," Samantha giggled, "That's pretty much it."
"That's perfect," I grinned. A team consisting of Quidditch players who were like Matt.
Samantha stared at me like I had three heads. "All right. If you say so." She raised her eyebrows at me and then wandered away towards the Holyhead Harpies merchandise.
I grabbed the jersey in the smallest size they had, which I think was still too big for Matt and bought it. I really had no idea if he would actually like it, but it was worth a try. He did need a British team to support. And if what Samantha said was true, the Cannons needed all the support they could get.
The snow had picked up and my face was blasted with tiny crystals of ice after I left the Quaffle Shop, so I decided to just head back to Hogwarts. I had done everything I needed to do in Hogsmeade anyway.
Despite the storm, a lot of students were outside on the grounds. Most were having snowball fights, but a few were building snow wizards.
The dormitory was empty when I got there so I quickly stowed my gifts in my trunk and grabbed my books. Studying never seemed to end.
******
"Amy!" Slughorn shouted as I went to leave the Potions classroom the following week. I turned around and went back to his desk. Willinson was standing in front of it as well.
"I'm holding a Christmas party," Slughorn said excitedly, "This Friday. I know you've been too busy to attend the most recent Slug Club meeting, but I do hope you can make it to the party."
"You should come," Willinson drawled, "Perhaps I can show you how to properly stir a potion."
I rolled my eyes. He wasn't ever going to let that go. "I'll think about it."
"Harry Potter himself will be there!" Slughorn continued.
I nodded and left as quickly as I could. The party sounded interesting, but I had been trying to avoid the Slug Club since Willinson attended.
The more I thought about the party, the more I sort of wanted to go. I kind of wanted to meet Harry Potter and I had nothing else to do that night.
I wound up going, since Monica was holding a party of her own in our dormitory. She and Victoire had quite the fight about it. Monica wanted Victoire to attend her party, but Victoire wanted to go to the Slug Club party since her entire family was going. Monica had not been invited.
I arrived later than the party started not because Cinda had taught me to be fashionably late, but because I wanted to slip in unnoticed. The more time I could spend avoiding Willinson, the better.
The dungeon the party was held in was packed. I hardly recognized anyone and there weren't only students there. A fair amount of adults were there along with little kids. A good portion of them had red hair, which I took to mean they were related to Victoire.
I squeezed my way through the crowd and eventually made it to the food table. I avoided the pheasant and went with the chicken and potatoes. Then I maneuvered to the back wall and watched everyone else as I ate.
Teddy was entertaining a bunch of red-haired kids by changing his hair and face. I almost snorted pumpkin juice out my nose when he turned his nose into a duck beak.
Slughorn was talking with Professor Kendrick and a very old strict looking witch. She looked very familiar and then I realized that she looked just like the picture of the witch who wrote The Rise and Fall of Lord Voldemort. She was Minerva McGonagall.
"You came," a voice said to the right of me.
It was Willinson. I groaned inwardly. "I did."
"The Christmas parties are always good," Willinson said, "Better than the regular meetings. All sorts of famous people come. My father is here."
"Really," I said flatly. I couldn't care less if Willinson's father was famous enough to attend the Slug Club Christmas party or not.
"Yes, he works for the Ministry," Willinson went on.
"Good for him," I muttered.
"What are you getting for Christmas?" Willinson asked, "My father is getting me a larger gold cauldron. The one I have now is far too small."
"My parents prefer to surprise me on Christmas," I said.
Willinson continued talking about what he was getting for Christmas, but I paid no attention. I had just spotted Harry Potter. But what surprised me even more was the witch he was talking with. She was the same witch who we had seen at the Auror office. The one with the three little kids.
The kids were there as well. The two boys were throwing pieces of biscuit at each other and the little girl was trying to catch the biscuits.
Harry picked up the little girl and gave him one of his own biscuits. He put his free arm around the witch. She must be his wife. The boys ran off and joined the group of kids surrounding Teddy.
"What did you get on the last Potions exam?" Willinson asked.
"An O."
"Me, too," he said.
I managed to shake Willinson by telling him I had to use the toilet, but instead disappeared into the crowd. I didn't really know what to do. The only people I actually knew were Teddy, Landon, and Victoire, but I didn't know them well enough to hang out with. They were busy anyway. Victoire was talking with a Ravenclaw from our year and Landon was with Teddy and the little kids.
Nor did I have the nerve to go meet Harry Potter. What was I going to say? 'I just read all about your life and it turns out I saw your wife and kids at the Auror office and your daughter had no idea what my brother's crutches were?' That would be kind of awkward.
Eventually I just decided to leave. There wasn't anything else to do. I had eaten my fill and didn't want to risk running into Willinson again.
Monica was still holding her party in our dormitory, so I read in the common room while watching the younger students goof around. I was looking forward to the end of term, when I could go home and feel free to go wherever I pleased in my house. |
|
|
|
|
|
DucksRMagical
Joined: 28 December 2006
Posts: 2535
Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal
|
|
Posted: Wednesday 22 October 2008 06 33 48 pm Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind |
|
Thanks, Obladi! I love that line, too. 
Special thanks to Obladi for coming up with the riddle that's in this chapter! I'm horrible with riddles, so the help was greatly appreciated!
Questions, comments, and general reviews are always appreciated!
Chapter 29: Light Saber Conquers All
"Willinson is acting civil," Albus commented as they were running up a flight of stairs.
"Yeah," Matt agreed, "Kind of surprising. Either he really wants to win or he's not as confident without Malfoy."
"Probably both," Albus said, "Whatever the reason, we lucked out."
Everyone stared as Albus and Matt ran into the common room completely out of breath. "Scavenger hunt," Albus muttered to his cousins Ben and Cedric as he ran by.
"Excellent," Ben grinned, "Can't wait until our turn next Saturday."
Bilius was also in their dormitory collecting items when Albus and Matt entered. They nodded to each other, but didn't say anything.
Albus wrenched open his trunk and started rifling through it. He found a bag of Bertie Botts Beans, a Dumbledore chocolate frog card, his copy of [i]Hogwarts, A History[/i], one Extendable Ear, and the photo album he found in the attic of his house. The graduation picture in the back would work for the Hogwarts graduation picture.
"What have you got?" he asked Matt once he emerged from his trunk.
"My wand's holly, a muggle pen, band aids, Chudley Cannon jersey, and a Nintendo DS, although I'm not sure why I still bother to bring it since it doesn't work here."
"Excellent," Albus grinned, "Let's get back to the Great Hall."
When Albus and Matt got back to the Hufflepuff table, Willinson and Rodner had already returned. There was a pile of stuff on the table between them. Albus looked through it and saw that they now had a copy of The Hobbit, color changing ink, a beater's bat, Muggle playing cards, and a sneakoscope.
"All right, we've got a good start," Albus said as he added his and Matt's stuff to the pile. "I guess we'll have to ask the older students to borrow the rest.
"Rodner," Albus began, "You see if you can get a light saber, a Quaffle signed by Oliver Wood, a Shooting Star broomstick, drum sticks, a receipt from Madam Malkin's, foe glass, and a Beatles CD."
"Sure," Rodner said and took off out of the room.
"Willinson," Albus turned to the Slytherin, "Go down to the kitchens and see if you can get a silver goblet, tortilla chips, a tea cozy, the names of five House Elves, and a Hershey bar."
"Why should I?" Willinson grumbled, "Who put you in charge?"
"Someone's got to do it," Albus told him.
"Make Eckerton do it."
"Him and I are getting the rest," Albus replied, "If you want to win, you'll get the stuff."
"Fine," Willinson muttered and left the Great Hall.
"Ok, that leaves the shoe laces, empty green potions bottle, purple gloves, a My Little Hippogriff, a toad, purple parchment, a rubber duck, two batteries, and five more Extendable Ears. Oh, and Filch's autograph."
"We'll do that one last," Matt shuddered. "We can probably just go back to the common room and ask if anyone's got this stuff."
"Good idea," Albus agreed.
The two boys set off at a run back to their common room. Luckily it was still packed with students and some of them grinned as Albus and Matt entered.
"How's it going?" Ben asked.
"Good," Albus grinned back, "But we've got a bunch of stuff to find. Listen up everyone!" he shouted.
The entire common room quieted and turned to Albus. Albus was momentarily shocked that everyone actually stopped what they were doing to pay attention to him.
"Er, we're doing the scavenger hunt and need some stuff. Has anyone got a My Little Hippogriff, purple gloves, a toad, purple parchment, a rubber duck, batteries, or Extandable Ears? Also, we need twenty shoe laces. I promise we'll return it all once we're done."
About half the students got up and went up to their dormitories. A few minutes later they came back down with various items for Albus. He managed to borrow a rubber duck, purple parchment, and a few Extendable Ears. Plus he got at least twenty shoe laces.
"That worked well," Albus said as he and Matt left the room.
"I'd say so," Matt agreed, "Now Filch's autograph. This ought to be fun."
Albus smacked his hand to his forehead, "I should have grabbed the map!"
Albus groaned and ran back to the common room. Everyone laughed as he ran up to his dormitory and back down to the common room. Albus ignored them and pointed his wand to the map. A few seconds later he saw that Filch was lurking near the library.
Albus and Matt took off for the library and spotted Filch a few yards away from the door.
"How are we supposed to ask him?" Albus whispered.
"No idea," Matt said back.
Albus's heart sped up as he got closer to the old caretaker. "Er, Mr. Filch?" he asked.
Filch startled and turned around. He saw Albus and smirked. "Potter. Up to no good again? In need of another detention, perhaps?"
"Uh, no," Albus replied, "Actually, I was just, er, well, we're doing this scavenger hunt. Maybe Kendrick told you about it. It's to promote Inter House Unity and we have to find all this stuff throughout the castle and-"
"We need your autograph," Matt interrupted, holding a piece of parchment and the Muggle pen in his outstretched hand.
Filch stared at them and then started muttering to himself. "Don't see why I should bother... Students never do anything for me..."
Nevertheless, Filch took the pen and scribbled his name onto the purple parchment. He thrust it wordlessly back into Matt's hand and shuffled off down the corridor.
"That went better than expected," Matt said.
"Yeah, thanks. I couldn't really figure out how to ask him."
"I figured," Matt grinned, "Anyway, we still need a few things. Hey, Kendrick never mentioned anything about the Room. Do you think we could just ask it for the rest of this?"
Albus wondered why he hadn't thought of that. It almost seemed like cheating, but Kendrick never said anything. "That's brilliant!"
The two of them set off for the Room, but when they got there, there was a Hufflepuff prefect milling around right in front of the Room. Albus slowly walked back and forth in front of it, keeping an eye on the prefect.
He was about to make his third pass, when the prefect stopped him. "Sorry," he said, "You can't go in there if you're in the scavenger hunt. Kendrick's rule."
Albus sighed, "All right."
"Of course," Matt muttered as they left, "Kendrick couldn't announce that rule because then everyone would find out about the Room. Oh, well. What have we got left?"
Albus handed Matt the list and he looked it over for a few seconds. "Hey, I know Madam Pomfrey's got green potion bottles."
"Let's go," Albus said, "We'd better hurry, there's only fifteen minutes left."
They made it to the Hospital Wing in record time. Albus pushed the door open and walked in, followed by Matt.
"I've got patients to tend to!" Madam Pomfrey was shouting at a Ravenclaw first year, "I haven't got time for this scavenger hunt nonsense! You're the fifth person I've had come in here looking for potions bottles and band aids! I haven't got any!"
The girl nodded and ran quickly out of the room, completely ignoring Albus and Matt as she went.
"Er, she says she hasn't got any," Albus whispered.
"I know she does," Matt whispered back, "Let me just ask her."
Albus shrugged and followed Matt over to the nurse, who was bent over one of the beds.
"Hello, Madam Pomfrey," Matt greeted her.
Madam Pomfrey turned around and her irritated face softened immediately when she saw Matt.
"Hello, Matt, dear. Are you all right? You look a bit flushed," Madam Pomfrey said and put her hand to his forehead.
"I'm fine," Matt assured her, "I've just been running around working on the scavenger hunt."
"Not you, too," Madam Pomfrey sighed and then noticed Albus, "Oh and Albus as well."
"Yeah," Matt said, "We were just wondering if you might have an empty green potions bottle."
The nurse sighed and walked over to her potions cabinet. "I suppose. Just be sure to return it."
Albus watched in shock as she returned with the exact item they were looking for. Matt grinned at Albus and took the bottle.
"Thanks," Matt smiled.
Madam Pomfrey shook her head, "No problem. Have fun, boys."
"We will," Matt said as he turned to leave the room.
Albus followed him out the door, still in shock that the nurse had actually given them the bottle when she had yelled at that first year only minutes ago.
"You're certainly on her good side," Albus muttered after they left the room.
"One of the few perks of being there once a month," Matt said dryly.
"We'd better get back to the Great Hall," Albus said as he looked at his watch.
Albus and Matt ran as fast as they could back to where their team was. The rest of the team was working hard to finish the remaining trivia. Rachel herself was dressed up as Godric Gryffindor, complete with a fake beard. Rodner was dressed up as Helga Hufflepuff.
However, neither was as funny as what Willinson was wearing. He was decked out in Gryffindor finest, with robes, a scarf, and a 'Loyal Gryffindor' hat. Albus could hardly stifle his laughter.
"Don't say a word, Potter," Willinson growled.
"Albus!" Rachel shouted, "You've got to dress up as a Slytherin! The robes I've got are too big for Matt and Abby." Rachel pointed to the other Gryffindor on the team.
Albus groaned and Willinson burst out laughing. Albus reluctantly put on the Slytherin robes, scarf, and 'Slytherins Are Best' hat. It would only be for a few minutes and if it helped them win....
Albus did feel a bit strange in the Slytherin robes. He couldn't help but remember back to his sorting and how the hat had wanted to put him in Slytherin at first. If it had, he would be wearing these robes all the time. He might have even been more friendly with Malfoy at first. He probably wouldn't have really befriended John, Matt, or Amanda if he'd been in Slytherin. Albus shook the thought from his head and concentrated on the fact that he was just wearing the robes to help his team win.
Rachel took stock of the items on the list as Matt tied all the shoelaces together. It turns out that the only things they were missing were the light saber, Quaffle signed by Oliver Wood, Shooting Star broomstick, foe glass, Hershey's bar, toad, and one battery. Rachel thought that was pretty good.
The other Ravenclaw returned a minute later and told everyone that he had finished the riddle quest and had managed to get the bonus points.
"Time is up!" Kendrick announced, "The professors will be around soon to check your lists. They will also collect your trivia sheets which will be marked later today. The winner will be announced at dinner tonight."
Patil came over to Albus's team a few moments later and looked over their list. She took a picture of the four people who were dressed up, much to Albus's dismay. Now there would be permanent evidence of his Slytherin moment. As soon as the picture was taken, Albus took off the robes and he noticed Willinson doing the same.
"Ok," Patil announced as she gathered up the pieces of parchment, "You can leave. Please return anything you borrowed."
Albus and Matt gathered up their stuff as well as everything they'd borrowed from various Gryffindors. They stopped by the Hospital Wing to return the bottle and then headed back to their common room.
The two of them passed out everyone's stuff and then went to sit down at their usual table. Rose, John, Amanda, and Kaden joined them shortly.
"That was fun," Rose said as she sat down.
"Yeah," Albus agreed, "Even though we were with Slytherins. Willinson wasn't too bad."
"That's good," John said, "I caught a glimpse of him in the Gryffindor robes. Priceless."
"Yeah, I thought so. Until I had to put on the Slytherin ones," Albus replied.
John burst out laughing, "I wish I'd seen that!"
"You'll be able to," Albus told him, "Patil took a picture."
"Excellent."
"Didn't any of you lot have to dress up?" Albus asked.
"I was Helga Hufflepuff," John said.
"And I was Godric Gryffindor," Amanda added.
"How did everyone do on the list of stuff to find?" Matt asked.
"I'm pretty sure my team was the only one with a light saber!" Kaden said excitedly, "I'm so glad I decided to bring it."
"We did all right," Rose shrugged, "Missed a lot of stuff, but I think we did well in the trivia."
"Of course you did," John grinned. "Hey, did anyone manage to find the potions bottle? Slughorn didn't have any green ones and Madam Pomfrey looked ready to hex me when I asked her. It's not really fair that Kendrick put something on there that was impossible to get."
Albus grinned at Matt, who grinned back.
"What?" John asked.
"We got it," Matt told him.
"How?" Kaden asked, "Madam Pomfrey was downright scary when I asked her. May have been because she was busy fixing someone's broken arm, but still...."
"Matt asked her and she gave him one," Albus explained.
Matt shrugged, "Simple, really."
John sighed, "Well, you're probably the only one in the school who could get it. She'd probably give you whatever you asked for."
"Why?" Kaden asked curiously.
"Sorry, not telling," John replied.
Kaden sighed, "Oh, part of that whole secret I can't know about?"
"Yeah," John said and then changed the subject, "Hey, did any of you do the riddle thing?"
"I did," Rose said, "Want to hear it?"
"Of course," John said.
"Ok, I'll see if you can get it. I thought it was a bit simple, really," Rose said. She pulled a piece of parchment out of her robes and read off of it. "
'In an event known by wizards worldwide
Where good and evil are forced to collide
A terrible force can now no longer reside.
A place where just one part of Voldemort died.'"
Albus looked at John, Matt, and Amanda and shrugged. He didn't think it was simple, but Rose was good at those sorts of things.
"No idea," John announced.
"Dunno," Matt shrugged.
"Hmm," Amanda muttered.
"Don't look at me," Kaden said.
"The Great Hall?" Albus asked, thinking of the place where Voldemort died.
"Nope," Rose grinned, "That was the trick part. It's actually that monument outside, where Professor Longbottom killed Voldemort's snake."
"Oh," Albus groaned, "Of course! Didn't even think of that."
"How long did it take you to figure it out?" Matt asked.
"Not long," Rose smiled, "But then I had to follow the clues to find the bit of information to give Professor Kendrick."
"And where was that?" Amanda asked.
"Library," Rose grinned, "Herbology section."
"Wonder how many teams got it," Albus thought aloud.
"Well, my team did, obviously," Rose said, "And you said your team did, Albus. What about you two?"
"We didn't," John sighed and Amanda shook her head.
"We did," Kaden put in.
"Guess we'll find out tonight how everyone did," Albus said.
"Yeah," Rose agreed, "But I'm not going to think about it now. Might as well get some homework done."
Albus managed to get half an essay done before dinner. Rose wrote an entire essay and did a set of homework questions. Matt helped Amanda with her Astronomy and still got his Herbology done. John and Kaden on the other hand, spent he rest of the afternoon goofing off and playing chess.
The excitement was running high in the Great Hall during dinner that evening. Everyone was comparing what they managed to find during the Scavenger Hunt. Albus kept glancing up to the staff table to see when Kendrick would make the announcement, but he seemed to be waiting until the last minute to do so.
After what seemed like forever, Kendrick got to his feet. "Good evening, everyone. I hope all the first and second years enjoyed the Scavenger Hunt. It was certainly a success and I'm sure the older students will look forward to their turns.
"And, without any further waiting, I shall announce the results. The first, second, and third place teams will all be awarded medals.
"In third place, with 572 points, Team Two!" Kendrick announced, "Will the members of Team Two please come up here."
"Yes!" Albus shouted and jumped up, "Third place, that's not bad!"
"Yeah, I'd say that's pretty good," Matt grinned and followed Albus up to the staff table.
Albus and Matt joined the rest of their team in front of the staff table. Kendrick put a bronze medal over each of their necks and pulled out a camera. He took a few pictures and then told them to return to their seats.
Rose, Amanda, John, and Kaden congratulated Albus and Matt as they sat back down. A few of Albus's cousins patted him on the back and told him good job.
"Excellent, Albus," James grinned, "But my team will get first place next week."
"I'll believe it when I see it," Albus rolled his eyes.
"And in second place, with 580 points, is Team Seven!" Kendrick announced.
The members of Team Seven ran up to the staff table to get their silver medals and have their picture taken.
"And in first place, with 673 points, is Team Six!" Kendrick shouted. "Congratulations to the winning team!"
"Woohoo!" Kaden stood up and started jumping up and down as he ran up to the staff table, "Yes!"
"Wow, who would've thought that," Rose grinned, "Kaden's team won."
"Well, he does have a very large amount of random stuff in his dormitory," Albus commented.
"I'll bet it was the light saber that put his team over the edge," John shook his head, "I mean, I think his team was the only one to get it."
"Probably," Albus shrugged.
"I can't believe I won!" Kaden shouted as he sat back down with his big gold medal a few minutes later.
"Congratulations," Albus grinned, "At least one of us got first place."
"We were so close to second," Matt groaned, "Eight measly points!"
"Well, third's good," John muttered, "Better than not getting a medal at all."
"Oh, John, it's just a game," Amanda said, "The point is that we all had fun."
"Congratulations to our winning teams and everyone else that participated," Kendrick said, "I will be looking forward to the next round, third and fourth years, a week from today!"
Albus hung his bronze medal from his bed post before he went to bed that night. He crawled beneath the covers feeling very content with third place. He hadn't really been expecting to win at all. The Scavenger Hunt had been a lot of fun, and Albus hoped Kendrick would hold it again sometime. It had been so much fun, that Albus hadn't even thought about the new map the entire day. He made a mental note to ask Rose about the Sileo Altus charm the next day. They would have to tell Kaden about everything soon if they wanted to make anymore progress on the map. Plus, they'd have to research more about how to prove to the map that they really were like the Marauders. |
|
|
|
|
|
DucksRMagical
Joined: 28 December 2006
Posts: 2535
Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal
|
|
Posted: Friday 17 October 2008 05 23 58 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 Teyannanecole!
Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter. Nor do I own [i]The Hobbit[/i], Hershey's, Nintendo, or the Beatles.
Also, the idea for the scavenger hunt isn't mine either. I got it from the resort we go to on vacation. They organize a scavenger hunt just like this one. <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.woodlochpines.com">www.woodlochpines.com</a><!-- w -->
Chapter 28: Scavenger Hunt
When Albus awoke the next morning, he felt much better. In fact, he felt mostly normal. He wasn't achy anymore and his head felt better as well. He hungrily ate all the breakfast Madam Pomfrey provided.
The same couldn't be said for Matt, who was looking much worse than the previous day. He was either asleep or unconscious, Albus was betting on the latter, and he had numerous cuts and scrapes on his face. His right arm and forehead were covered in a large bandages.
"So when can I leave?" Albus asked as Madam Pomfrey performed some kind of spell on Matt.
"Later today, most likely," she said after she'd finished her incantation.
Albus sighed. He had been hoping he'd be able to leave that morning. He was starting to feel incredibly bored with the Hospital Wing, although not bored enough to start the homework Rose had brought the previous evening.
Albus spent the remainder of the morning drifting in and out of sleep out of lack of anything else to do. Madam Pomfrey gave him a few more nasty tasting potions and lunch, which Albus ate ravenously. After going two days without food, he was starving.
The doors to the Hospital Wing opened just as Albus was finishing his lunch. John, Rose, and Amanda walked inside and immediately headed for Albus's bed. Madam Pomfrey was in her office and didn't seem to notice the visitors.
"Hey, how are you?" Rose asked.
"Bored," Albus replied.
"That's good," Rose grinned.
"Are you better now?" Amanda asked.
"Pretty much. Madam Pomfrey won't let me leave until later, though. Wish she'd let me leave now."
"She just wants to make sure you're completely better," Rose said, "And it's not like you're missing class since this is our afternoon off."
"Exactly!" John sighed, "He could be doing much better stuff on his afternoon off if he wasn't here."
"Yeah," Albus agreed, "Like figuring out the new map."
"How are we going to do that anyway?" John asked.
"Go to the library," Albus replied, "We've got to look for ways of proving who we are."
John groaned, "And I doubt there will just be a book titled 'Prove Who You Are to a Piece of Parchment."
"Probably not," Rose laughed. "But we'll find it."
"Making anymore progress on the charm for Kaden?" Albus asked.
"A bit, yeah. I tried it again last night on John and this time he couldn't even move his mouth like last time. Now I've just got to figure out how to involve other people in the secret."
"And then all we've got to do is convince Matt that the charm is foolproof," John said.
Everyone glanced over at Matt's bed, where he was still sleeping.
"He been asleep all day?" Amanda asked.
"Yeah," Albus said, "Ever since I've been awake."
Matt groaned and opened his eyes, "You lot here?"
"Yeah," John replied, "How are you?"
"Horrible," Matt said flatly, "My head is killing me. Were you talking about me?"
"A bit," John said, "Just about that charm for Kaden. We're going to get working on the map once you two are out of here. Got to find some way to prove to it that we're like the Marauders."
"Sounds good," Matt yawned.
"When do you get to leave?" Amanda asked, "Albus is leaving later today."
"No idea," Matt said, "Not until at least tomorrow night. Might be out in time for Astronomy."
"Can't you not be outside when the moon is close to full?" Amanda asked.
"Only when it's waxing. When it's waning I'm fine."
"So, we'll plan on working on the map this weekend, then," Albus said. "Unless any of you catch what I had."
"Hope not," John said. "Maybe Malfoy will catch it," he added gleefully.
"John, that's not funny," Rose scolded, "He'd be really sick."
"He'd get better. Albus is fine now."
Albus heard a door open and Madam Pomfrey came strolling out of her office. She looked up and saw the crowd around Albus and Matt's beds and made a beeline for them.
"What are you lot doing here?" she demanded.
"Visiting Albus and Matt," Rose answered.
"Oh, you're awake!" the nurse exclaimed and went over to Matt's bed, apparently forgetting that Rose, John, and Amanda had burst in without her permission. "How do you feel?"
"Awful," Matt replied. "My head hurts and so does pretty much everything else."
"You must have hit your head much worse than usual last night," Madam Pomfrey sighed, "You had quite the concussion earlier. I'll go get some pain potions."
She returned a minute later with a potion for Matt, who drank it in one gulp.
"Now, you three have to leave," Madam Pomfrey said to Rose, John, and Matt, "Albus will be out later and you can see him then."
Boredom set in for Albus shortly after his friends left. Matt had fallen back asleep quickly after he took his pain potion. Albus couldn't even sleep anymore because he had already slept so much that day.
******
"What are we supposed to be looking for anyway?" John sighed as he slammed a book shut.
Albus, John, Matt, Rose, and Amanda were all crowded around a secluded table in the library. It was covered in books that covered all sorts of topics. The five of them had spent the last hour searching for ways to prove to the new map that they were like the Marauders. So far, nobody had found anything useful.
"I don't know," Albus replied, "Anything that might prove that we're like the Marauders."
"That's not very specific," John muttered, "I really don't want to spend an entire Saturday here."
"It'll do you some good," Rose said.
"Wish we could just use that book that you used to find the other charm," Albus said to Rose, thinking of Flitwick's book.
"Me too, but it's in the Restricted Section," Rose said.
"Why can't we just get Professor Potter to give us a note? Bet he would," John said.
"Bet he wouldn't," Albus disagreed, "He'd know we're up to something."
"Besides," Rose interjected, "It might not be a Charm we're looking for."
"We're just going to have to keep looking," Albus said as he opened another book. "But I've got Quidditch practice in a half hour."
"We'll just look every time we can get away from Kaden," Matt suggested.
"Where is he anyway?" Amanda asked.
"Dunno," Albus shrugged. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Kaden since breakfast. It was kind of strange since Kaden spent every waking moment of his day (when he wasn't in class) no less than four feet away from Albus.
"There he is," Matt pointed to somewhere behind Albus.
Albus turned around and saw his cousin running through the library with a clipboard in his hand.
"Albus!" he shouted.
"Quiet!" Madam Pince shouted even louder, "Or I'll throw you all out!"
"Albus," Kaden said more quietly as he sat down in an empty chair at their table.
Albus eyed Kaden's clipboard but he couldn't read what it said. "Hi Kaden."
"Hi," Kaden replied, "Will you sign my petition?"
"Petition?" Albus asked, "What in the name of Merlin are you petitioning for?"
"TVs in the common rooms," Kaden grinned.
"What?!" John and Matt shouted.
"Quiet!" Madam Pince screeched.
Rose laughed, "What on earth for?"
"I wouldn't mind having a TV in the common room," Amanda commented.
"Exactly," Kaden said, "It's hard enough for us Muggle-borns to adjust to Hogwarts and if we had TVs, it would make it easier."
"You're kidding, right?" John laughed.
"Nope, not kidding," Kaden said, "I've got loads of signatures already. I'm not really sure how many I'll need, though. I figure I'll try and get as many as I can in a few days and then give it to Professor Longbottom."
Albus tried to suppress his grin, but he couldn't. The idea of Kaden trying to get televisions put into the common rooms was just too funny. There would be no way any of the teachers would agree to it even if everyone in Hogwarts signed the petition.
"So will you sign it?" Kaden asked, "If this goes through, I'll try for computers next."
"Computers," Matt laughed, "You're mad."
"I'll sign," Amanda grabbed the clipboard and quill.
"Sure, why not?" Albus shrugged. It couldn't hurt to sign the thing, and he was sure Kaden wouldn't stop bugging them unless they did.
John and Matt signed as well, although they were laughing the whole time. Rose signed a bit reluctantly, but she eventually gave in.
"So what are you doing?" Kaden asked after Rose finished signing.
"Homework," Albus replied automatically.
Kaden stared at the large pile of books, "Second year must be bloody insane."
"Oh, it is," John said, "You won't have any time to watch any TV."
"I'll make time," Kaden said as he stood up, "Well, I'm going to get more signatures."
Albus watched as his cousin went from table to table trying to get people to sign. Some of them liked the idea and signed willingly. Others laughed until Kaden gave up and others looked at him like he was crazy. Eventually, Madam Pince found out what he was doing and threw him out of the library.
"Your cousin is the weirdest bloke I've ever met," John said after Kaden was kicked out.
"Yeah, he is a bit strange," Albus agreed and closed the book he was reading, "Well, I'm off to practice. I'll see you lot later."
After practice, Albus went to the common room and found his friends sitting around their usual table doing homework. Unfortunately, none of them had found anything that would help them to prove that they were like the Marauders. Albus was beginning to wonder if they'd ever get that map working. Even if they did find a way to prove they were like the Marauders, what would they have to do next? How many things would they have to do before they would actually be able to see the map? Albus had no idea, but he knew the Marauders weren't going to make this easy.
******
The rest of February passed quickly. Albus and his friends continued to scour the library for any sort of charm, spell, or potion that would help them in their quest to reveal the map. None of them found anything. Kaden thought they were all doing homework as they searched the books every weekend. Rose was making progress with the Sileo Altus charm, but it wasn't quite perfected enough to use yet. Rose was sure she'd have it learned by the end of the month. Matt never said much when the charm was brought up and Albus was hoping he would still agree to tell Kaden once Rose perfected the charm.
Kaden's petition to have televisions put into the common room was rejected shortly after he gave it to Neville. Kaden didn't seem in the least bit deterred by this. He insisted it was rejected due to lack of convincing evidence as to how the televisions would benefit the students. He was planning on resubmitting it along with a detailed essay on the subject later on in the term.
"You know, Kaden," Rose said at dinner one night, "Even if the teachers accepted your petition, the televisions wouldn't even work here. There's too much magic."
"Oh, I'm sure there's a charm that would counteract that," Kaden said.
"It won't work," Matt said, "Magic just doesn't agree with electronics. This one time when we were visiting my Uncle Jack in the United States, Amy accidentally broke one of the metal detectors at the airport. It wasn't her fault or anything, the magic just interrupted it or something. The thing started beeping and wouldn't stop until they turned it off."
John laughed, "That would've been hilarious to see."
"Amy didn't think so. She was mortified," Matt said, "It was a while ago, before we even moved here. I think she was fourteen."
"Well, I still say they could find a way," Kaden said.
"Hey, look," Albus pointed to the Head table. Professor Kendrick was standing up.
"Wonder what he's got to say?" John asked.
"Hope it's nothing bad," Rose said.
"He looks happy enough," Amanda commented.
"May I have your attention!" Kendrick announced. The room fell silent. "Thank you. Don't worry, I'm not giving out bad news. In fact, I think you'll find this announcement most exciting."
There was a general murmur of excitement throughout the Great Hall at this. Kendrick waited for everyone to stop talking before he continued.
"If you'll remember at the beginning of the year, when I announced the changes for the Dueling Club, that that would only be one part of the House unity effort. I am announcing today that the other professors and I have organized another unity event. It will be a scavenger hunt, with inter-house teams, of course."
Albus groaned. A scavenger hunt would be fun, but not if he had to do it with Slytherins. Everyone else seemed to be in agreement, because there was a general groaning throughout.
"I know you don't like it, but the school needs to be unified. Now, I will explain the event. It will not be like a regular scavenger hunt. It will take place on the next three Saturdays. This Saturday will be for the first and second years. The following will be for third and fourth years. The last will be for fifth, sixth, and seventh years.
"The other professors and I will be organizing the teams, which will consist of members of other years and other houses. Each team will have about ten members. You will have one hour to complete the tasks given.
"You will receive a list of items to obtain before this hour is up. There are rules, of course. Some of these items will be required to obtain without magic. We will be performing charms on these items and if we find that any of them were spelled, transfigured, conjured, charmed, etc. within the hour they will be disqualified.
"However, the scavenger hunt will not only include a list of items to find. You will also receive multiple trivia sheets. These will include both wizard and Muggle trivia.
"Finally, each team will receive a riddle, which if they deceiver correctly, will lead them on a quest throughout the castle and grounds. When you reach the end, there will be a bit of information that must be returned to me. If you are successful, you'll get a 100 point bonus. However, there is also a false trail that will lead you to worthless information. If that is brought back, you'll receive no bonus.
"I will give you a more detailed list of rules on the day of the event. Until then, keep your brains sharp and don't get rid of anything you would otherwise deem useless," Kendrick smiled and returned to his seat.
Albus turned to his friends, "This sounds, er, interesting."
"It's really an excellent idea," Rose grinned, "I mean, there's no way a single person would be able to achieve all of it alone. It's a great idea for House unity."
"It'd be better if we didn't have to team up with Slytherins," John muttered.
"But what if there's something on that list that's in the Slytherin common room or something?" Rose pointed out.
John groaned, "I guess you're right."
"Sounds fun, though," Amanda said.
"Yeah. Wonder what we get if we win?" Matt asked.
"Hopefully some coupons to get out of homework or something," John said.
"Since when have they given away those?" Albus laughed.
"Now's the perfect time for them to start," John replied.
"I hope I'm on your team, Albus," Kaden piped up.
"That would be great," Albus smiled, and he actually meant it. It sounded like there was going to be a lot of random stuff on that list and if there was anyone in the school that had loads of random stuff, it was Kaden.
******
The next few days seemed to drag on forever for Albus and the rest of the first and second years. Everyone was getting excited about the scavenger hunt and the teachers were getting a bit annoyed that nobody was paying attention in class.
Soon enough, Saturday arrived and Kendrick announced at lunch for all the first and second years to remain seated after they were done eating. Once all the older students left, Kendrick got to his feet once more.
"Now, the moment you've all been waiting for," Kendrick said, "The Scavenger Hunt will begin shortly. First, I have a few more rules to go over.
"As I said earlier in the week, there are items on this list that are not allowed to be created using magic. You may not conjure, transfigure, spell, or charm any of those items. Asking an older student to do so is also against the rules. We have spells that will detect if any item was magicked during the hour of the scavenger hunt.
"The items must be found within the school and grounds. Hogsmeade, the Forbidden Forest, the Whomping Willow, and Hagrid's hut are all out of bounds and you may not search for items in or around them. You may not ask older students or teachers for help, nor may you owl family members or other people. However, you may ask older students if they have any of the items on the list. It is up to them if they let you borrow them or not. Do not steal anything from anyone or there will be punishment. You are permitted to use the library for help with the trivia."
Rose's face lit up at that and Albus knew she would be the official library researcher for her team.
"There are going to be eight teams of approximately ten students each. Your House prefects have your team assignments. Teams one and two are to gather at the Hufflepuff table, one at each end. Teams three and four at the Gryffindor table, five and six at Ravenclaw, and seven and eight at Slytherin. You will be given a few minutes to get organized in your teams and then the other professors will hand out the appropriate material. Each team is given one set of material, no more. If you lose it, tough luck. Now please see your prefects."
Albus got up from the table and looked around until he spotted Georgia. He and his friends wound their way through the crowd until they managed to get to her.
"Hey, Albus!" Georgia grinned and looked at her clipboard, "Ready?"
"Yeah," Albus smiled, "I'm on a good team, right?"
"Well, there are Slytherins on all the teams, if that's what you mean," Georgia laughed, "Anyway, you're on Team Two."
Albus nodded and waited for his friends to get their team assignments.
Georgia scanned her clipboard again, "Let's see, Rose is on Team One, John is on Team Four, Matt's on Team Two..."
Albus grinned at Matt. He was relieved that one of his friends was on his team. Now all he had to do was hope Malfoy wasn't on his team.
"Amanda's on Team Four, and Kaden's on Team Six," Georgia looked up at them, "Have fun."
"Thanks," Albus said and then turned to his friends, "Guess we'll see you after. Good luck."
Albus and Matt worked their way through the crowds to the Hufflepuff table along with Rose. Albus was a bit disappointed that Kaden wasn't on his team, but there wasn't anything he could do about that. The chances weren't great that he would have two of his friends on his same team. He was just lucky he had one of his friends on the same team.
The Hufflepuff table was already filling with people from teams one and two. Team Two was gathering at the half closest to the staff table, so Albus and Matt made their way there.
There seemed to be a fairly even number of each house at the table. Besides Albus and Matt, there was one other Gryffindor, a first year girl Albus had seen but didn't know her name. There were also two Ravenclaws Albus didn't know, three Hufflepuffs, and two Slytherins. Albus groaned when he saw who the Slytherins were, Felix Willinson and Leigh Montague. Leigh was Rose's potions partner and not the sharpest quill in the box.
Felix Willinson narrowed his eyes when he saw Albus and Matt coming over. Albus found seats far away from him and sat down, waiting for the scavenger hunt to begin.
One of the Ravenclaws stood up a few seconds later, "Hi, I'm Rachel Underwood and I've been assigned as team captain."
Everyone muttered hello to her and Rachel had everyone introduce themselves. So far, Willinson and Montague didn't seem enthused about their team, but Rachel didn't pay any attention to their animosity.
Professor Patil came over a little while later with a handful of parchment. Albus assumed they were the lists of stuff to look for and the trivia.
"The hunt will start in one minute!" Kendrick announced, "The professors will give you your lists as soon as I say go. You'll have one hour to be back here with as much stuff you can possibly get."
A minute later, Kendrick shot out a shower of blue sparks from his wand and Patil handed the stack of parchment to Rachel.
"All right!" Rachel shouted as she leafed through the parchment, "We need someone to decipher the riddle and run around to get the bonus points."
"I'll do it," the other Ravenclaw volunteered. Rachel nodded and handed him the parchment. He ran out of the Great Hall while reading the riddle.
"Ok, here's the trivia," Rachel continued, "We've got Famous Witches and Wizards, Famous Muggles, What Not To Do While Interacting With Muggles, What Do You Know About Quidditch, and What Do You Know About Football."
Albus turned to Matt and laughed. Kaden would surely love the football one.
Rachel handed out the trivia to the people who thought they'd be able to do it. Willinson hadn't taken any of the trivia sheets, but Montague took the Quidditch one. Albus hoped she actually knew something about Quidditch.
"Now we've just got the list of items to find," Rachel announced to the remaining team members, which were Albus, Matt, Willinson, and one of the Hufflepuffs. "You four get started while I work on the trivia. Oh, but I'll take care of the costumes. You'll just have to wear them."
Albus nodded and took the parchment from her. Costumes? He hoped he wouldn't have to wear anything too humiliating. He set it down on the table and began to read it, with everyone else looking over his shoulder.
'Items Are To Be Gathered Without Magic
-holly wand
-five vomit flavored Bertie Botts Beans
-Slytherin wearing Gryffindor robes
-Gryffindor wearing Slytherin robes
-light saber
-Dumbledore Chocolate frog card
-twenty shoelaces tied together
-Quaffle signed by Oliver Wood
-Shooting Star broomstick
-Muggle pen
-copy of [i]The Hobbit[/i], by J.R.R. Tolkein
-a Nintendo DS
-girl dressed up as Godric Gryffindor
-boy dressed up as Helga Hufflepuff
-color changing ink
-beater bat
-drum sticks
-silver goblet
-Chudley Cannons jersey
-six Extendable Ears
-Muggle playing cards
-receipt from Madam Malkins
-Argus Filch's autograph
-the names of five Hogwarts House Elves
-rubber duck
-copy of [i]Hogwarts, A History[/i]
-sneakoscope
-foe glass
-tea cozy
-Hogwarts graduation picture
-band aids
-green empty potions bottle
-Beatles CD
-purple gloves
-Hershey's chocolate bar
-My Little Hippogriff
-pet toad
-purple parchment
-two batteries
-tortilla chips'
Albus looked up from the list and waited for everyone else to finish reading.
"What the bloody hell is a CD?" Willinson asked.
"Muggle way of listening to music," Albus explained, "One of my cousins might have one."
"I've got one," the Hufflepuff, who Albus now knew to be Nelson Rodner, said.
"Good," Albus replied, "Anyone else know they've got some of this stuff?"
Everyone nodded.
"Let's go get the stuff we know we've got and then meet back here," Albus said as he got up. "Then we can work on the stuff we don't."
The other three boys agreed and Albus ran out of the Great Hall with Matt. The two of them ran as fast as they could up to Gryffindor Tower. |
|
|
|
|
|
DucksRMagical
Joined: 28 December 2006
Posts: 2535
Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal
|
|
Posted: Tuesday 12 February 2008 05 43 43 pm in topic:Albus Potter and the Secrets Within |
|
Chapter 24: Birthday Stories and Suspicious Jobs
The rest of the week flew by in a flurry of classes and homework. Albus and his friends found that they had no time to do anything other than homework during their spare time. They had not even found time to visit Matt, but they didn't even know if he was awake yet. Rose was already freaking out over the end of term exams, which were still over four months away, and was using every waking moment to study. Albus was not yet worried about exams and was more concerned about just completing all the assigned homework.
Quinton Willinson had not bothered Albus or any of his friends since Albus had left the Hospital Wing. Albus was not sure whether this was due to Willinson's upcoming N.E.W.T. exams, the large amount of detentions he received, or fear of what Harry would do if he continued tormenting Albus. Albus did not care which one it was, he was just glad Willinson had given up for the time being. However, the same could not be said about Scorpius Malfoy. Malfoy continued to pester Albus, Rose, John, and Amanda about what was wrong with Matt whenever they were in class together. Albus found this more annoying than anything else, because Malfoy rarely ever brought out his wand during these confrontations. Malfoy kind of reminded Albus of his Great Aunt Petunia because she was also very nosy. Malfoy stood no chance of ever finding out about Matt from Albus or the others, but Albus did worry about what would happen if Malfoy found out on his own.
Albus slept late on Saturday morning and woke up with just enough time to grab a bite to eat in the Great Hall before rushing off to his detention with Washburn. As much as Albus hated these detentions, he had become kind of immune to them. Albus had been upset about the first few, but lately he had started to take them in stride. As long as it was just lines, Albus didn't worry about them too much.
When Albus arrived in the Charms classroom at noon, Professor Washburn was sitting at his desk with the usual scowl on his face. "Sit down, Potter," he barked.
"Yes, sir," Albus responded quietly while taking a seat at the front table.
"Get out your parchment and ink. Write 'I will not misbehave in Charms' until I tell you to stop."
"Yes, sir," Albus repeated as he took out a roll of parchment and a quill. He started to write. Washburn never told Albus how many times he would have to write the line. He supposed Washburn liked to keep Albus there until he looked sufficiently tired and uncomfortable. Washburn had no way of knowing how many lines that would take. However, he never kept Albus in detention for less than an hour. Albus kept repeating the line on his parchment while trying hard not to look at the clock. He found that looking at the clock just made the time go by slower. Eventually, Albus stole a glance at the clock and found that it had only been 45 minutes. He sighed.
"You say something?" Washburn growled.
"No, sir," Albus said without looking up from his paper. He wrote a few more lines and was startled when he heard footsteps come into the room. He glanced up to see that a tall man he didn't recognize walking towards Washburn. The man was wearing a black cloak and had short brown hair. It reminded Albus of the kind of haircut Muggles in the army had. Washburn got up from his seat when the man approached.
Washburn turned to Albus, "Don't go anywhere. If you do, I'll have you in detention for the rest of term."
Albus nodded, but didn't say a word. The strange man followed Washburn into his office and shut the door behind them. There was silence for a moment and then Albus was able to hear raised voices coming from the office. They had forgotten to cast Muffliato before they started talking. It sounded like they were arguing about something, but Albus couldn't make out what it was. He wished they'd argue a bit louder. Albus put down his quill and strained to hear what they were saying. The two men stayed in the office for about fifteen minutes before Washburn stormed out of it, looking quite angry, followed by the other man who seemed rather calm. Albus quickly picked up his quill and continued his lines.
Washburn returned to his desk while the strange man walked over to the door. He turned around to look at Washburn and said icily, "Remember, this is your job, no one else's. And I expect you to complete it soon." Then the man left, shutting the door behind him.
Washburn stared at the back of the door for a few minutes, before turning and glaring at Albus. "You're done. Get back to your common room," he seethed.
Albus did not hesitate. He got up quickly and ran out of the room. Today's detention had been much shorter than others. Albus suspected that this was due to whatever Washburn and the other wizard were talking about. Washburn was definitely up to something. Apparently he had a job to do. But what could it be? Albus couldn't help but wonder if the Charms professor was involved with something evil. He ran all the way to the common room to tell his friends what he had overheard.
When Albus rushed through the portrait hole, he immediately spotted his friends at one of the tables. He grabbed a chair and sat down next to Rose.
"That was short," Rose commented.
"I know, I lucked out today," Albus responded, "But I've got to tell you about Washburn."
"What about him?" John asked, looking up from his book.
"In the middle of my detention, some strange wizard came barging into the room," Albus told them.
"Who was he?" Rose asked.
"I dunno, that's the thing. I'd never seen him before."
"What did he look like?" Amanda asked. Albus described the man, but none of his friends recognized the description either.
"Maybe he was a parent of one of the students," Rose suggested.
"Who knows?" Albus said, "But he got into a huge argument with Washburn."
"Well, that's not difficult," John laughed, "Anything will set him off."
"What did they argue about?" Rose asked.
"I'm not sure. They were in Washburn's office. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but they were definitely arguing about something. And then, right before the guy left, he said 'remember, this is your job to do and I want it done soon' to Washburn. Or something like that."
Rose, John, and Amanda stared at Albus for a moment before Rose replied, "That's so strange. So Washburn's doing something for this wizard?"
"Yeah, I think so. He's definitely up to something. And I don't think it's anything good," Albus informed them.
"You think they're doing something evil?" John asked skeptically.
"Maybe, but I don't really know."
"I dunno," John said warily, "I mean, Washburn's horrible to you and James, and all the Gryffindors, really. But I don't know if he's really into the Dark Arts or anything."
"Yeah," Rose agreed, "That 'job' could be anything. It doesn't have to be something bad."
"But Washburn seemed so mad about it. Just seems weird to me."
"It's definitely fishy, but I don't think we should jump to conclusions," Rose replied, "I mean, look at Snape. Uncle Harry thought he was evil, but he wasn't."
"I suppose," Albus sighed.
"Anyone want to go see if we can visit Matt?" John asked a few minutes later.
"Good idea," Albus agreed, "I hope Madam Pomfrey lets us."
"I hope he's awake," Rose closed her books and put them away in her bag.
"We can at least try to convince Madam Pomfrey to let us visit him on his birthday if she doesn't let us today," John reasoned.
The four friends packed up their books and put them away in their dormitories. A few minutes later, they found themselves walking to the Hospital Wing. They walked in silence the whole way there, each one knowing what the other was thinking about. All four of them were hoping Matt was awake and worrying about him. Albus had been worrying ever since the morning he found out Matt was a werewolf. But at the same time, Albus felt a bit angry that Matt wouldn't trust him with his secret. Albus's rational side knew why Matt wasn't very trusting, but couldn't help wishing that Matt would confide in him. Albus supposed that part of this was due to his dad not trusting him with knowing what the 'Hallows' were. He wished more people would trust him.
When they reached the Hospital Wing, they noticed that the doors were still shut, and when John tried to open them, they found out that they were still locked as well.
"This isn't a good sign," John sighed.
Rose banged on the doors and shouted, "Madam Pomfrey!"
A minute later, Madam Pomfrey opened the door a crack and stuck her head out. "What do you need?"
"Is Matt awake?" Rose whispered.
"Yes, he woke up last night."
"Well, can we see him?" Rose asked hopefully.
"No, I'm sorry, but he really can't have visitors right now," Madam Pomfrey sighed.
"Is he all right?" John interrupted.
"He'll be fine in a couple of weeks or so."
"Can we come visit him on his birthday? It's next Wednesday. Please?" Albus pleaded.
Madam Pomfrey's expression softened, "I think that would be all right. Not before Wednesday, though. I'll see you then."
"Great! Thanks, Madam Pomfrey," Albus smiled as she closed the door to the ward.
"I'm glad he's awake now," Rose said as they walked back to the common room, "And we get to see him on his birthday."
"Yeah, and we didn't even need Amy to convince her!" John grinned.
"Can't wait until Wednesday," Albus said.
"Definitely," Amanda agreed.
"Boo!" a voice said from behind them. Amanda shrieked and they all turned around. Bradley and Mark were laughing.
"Gotcha!" Bradley shouted.
"We got your stuff from Hogsmeade," Mark told them. He handed them two bags filled with butterbeer and sweets.
"Awesome," Albus took the bags.
"And here's the Chudley Canons jersey. Although, what he sees in them..." Bradley shook his head as he handed John the jersey.
"Thanks, guys," Albus said to his cousins.
"No problem," Bradley said, "I remember the days of not being able to go to Hogsmeade. We always got Stanley and Heather to get our stuff for us. Glad those days are over now."
"I can't wait to go to Hogsmeade," John announced, "Think of all the pranking stuff we'll be able to buy. There's only so much you can fit in your trunk and bring from home."
"Endless possibilities, Mate," Mark told John, "Well, we'd better be off. We've put off the homework long enough. Play first, work later. That's our motto."
"Bad motto, if you ask me," Rose whispered as her cousins took off for the common room.
"They'll survive," Albus assured her, "Haven't failed a class yet, have they?"
"No, they haven't," Rose agreed, "We'd better go, too."
"Yeah, I've still got to write that whole essay for Potions," Amanda sighed.
Albus groaned, "I'd forgotten about that. Haven't even started."
Albus, Rose, John, and Amanda continued walking to the common room. Once they were there, they spent the remainder of the afternoon writing essays about the properties of moonstone.
******
During the next few days, Albus and his friends debated about whether they should ask Matt how he wound up in the Hospital Wing when they went to see him on his birthday. Albus thought they should avoid the topic altogether, still believing that Matt would tell them when he was ready. However, Rose thought it would seem suspicious if they didn't ask what happened, because if your friend gets injured, you would want to know what happened. As it stood right now, the only people in the castle who knew what really happened were the teachers, Amy, Albus, Rose, John, and Amanda. Of course, no one knew that Albus and his friends knew what happened. Despite this, many people asked them what happened. Albus just told them he had no idea and after a few days, they gave up asking. Albus had heard quite a few ridiculous rumors about it. He overheard a few second year Hufflepuffs telling a couple Ravenclaws that Matt had been attacked by a thestral. This same story had been repeated throughout the castle, only with a different creature being substituted each time, including a Hippogriff and a centaur. The centaur story was especially ridiculous and Albus was sure the centaurs would not be happy if that story reached their ears.
In the end, Albus and his friends decided that they would ask Matt what happened, but they would not dwell on the subject. Albus was sure that Matt, or maybe even Amy, had come up with some kind of story to cover up what happened. Despite this, Amy was not telling anyone the story. She just ignored anyone who brought it up. Her friends, including Victoire, stayed close by her at all times and wouldn't let anyone push the matter. Albus suspected that Victoire had already been fed the fake story, but he didn't ask her about it.
After dinner on February sixth, Albus, Rose, John, and Amanda found themselves walking to the Hospital Wing armed with party supplies and a wrapped present.
Rose was the first to reach the door and when she went to knock, everyone was surprised to find that the door pushed open. "It's unlocked!" Rose gasped.
"That must mean Matt's doing better!" Albus said excitedly.
"Let's go, then!" John pushed past Albus and Rose and walked into the room. Amanda followed him and then Albus and Rose walked in. Albus spotted Matt's bed, but the curtains were pulled around it. He didn't see Madam Pomfrey anywhere.
"Madam Pomfrey!" Rose shouted, "Are you here?"
Madam Pomfrey peeked her head out from behind the curtains and smiled at them. "Rose! You can visit as soon as I'm done giving him his evening potions."
"Ok, thanks, Madam Pomfrey," Rose responded.
A few minutes later, Madam Pomfrey came back out and walked over to where Albus and his friends were standing. "What do you have in those bags?" she eyed their packages suspiciously.
"Oh, just some Honeydukes stuff, Butterbeer, and a present," Albus told her.
"But none of it's Weasley products, is it?"
"No."
Madam Pomfrey relaxed, "Ok, good. The last thing I need is to have this place destroyed while you have your party! You can go see him now."
Albus ran to the bed, followed by his friends, and pulled back the curtain. Amy was sitting in a chair next to the bed and whispering to Matt. She stopped abruptly when the curtain opened.
"Hey, Matt!" Albus grinned and sat down at the end of the bed. "How are you?"
"I'm all right," Matt replied hoarsely, "But I've been better."
"Glad to see you're awake, mate," John sat down next to Albus and set the bag of party stuff on the floor.
Rose and Amy smiled and sat in chairs that Amy had conjured after they came in. Rose pulled the curtains closed and handed Matt his present. "Happy Birthday!" everyone shouted.
"Thanks, guys!" Matt grinned and tore open the wrapping. "Wow! A Chudley Canons jersey! This is brilliant!"
"I'm glad you like it," Albus said, "My cousins picked it up in Hogsmeade for us. They also got us Butterbeers and sweets."
"Excellent!" Matt replied excitedly.
John picked up the bag and passed out butterbeer and jelly slugs. "So," he began once everyone started eating, "What exactly happened to you? We've heard the craziest rumors. You didn't really get attacked by a herd of thestrals, did you?"
Matt started choking on his butterbeer and Amy slapped him on the back. He gave her a worried look and then looked back at John. "Really?" he sputtered.
It a bit hard to believe that Matt had been attacked by thestrals, when Hagrid had the school thestrals very well trained. But on the other hand, Matt did look like he'd been attacked by a large creature. He had partially healed cuts, bites, and scratches all over all his body. His arms and legs were covered in bandages and just about all of his body was bruised. Albus could see how someone would suspect he was attacked by a thestral.
"Well, that's what the Hufflepuffs are saying," John told him.
"The Ravenclaws think it was a Hippogriff," Amanda chimed in.
Matt sighed and glanced at Amy, who gave him a look. "It wasn't either," Matt began, "I got a bit too close to the Whomping Willow."
"What?!" John exclaimed, "Really?
"Er, yeah," Matt said.
Albus was debating about whether to ask Matt to elaborate or not when Matt continued.
"I spent the night here when Albus took me that one night. Then I left in the morning and went for a walk on the grounds. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and the tree gave me quite a beating."
"Wow," Albus responded, "I'm glad you're ok."
"Yeah," John said, "But when do you get to leave here?"
"I'm not really sure," Matt told them, "Not for at least another week. Madam Pomfrey wants the cuts healed and the bruises faded before I leave. And I can't really walk that well."
"A whole week?" Rose exclaimed.
"At least," Matt responded, "I hope it's not more. I'm getting so bored. What's been going on in the rest of the castle?"
"Well, did you see that article Rita Skeeter wrote last week?" Albus asked.
"Yeah, I read it yesterday. But Amy told me there wasn't anything to worry about."
"She's right. But the whole castle's talking about it. Dad thinks it'll blow over when the next Quidditch match arrives."
"He's probably right," Rose agreed.
"I hope I get to leave here before the next match. I don't want to miss it," Matt said.
"I hope so too," John took a sip of butterbeer, "Nothing worse than missing Quidditch."
"I can think of no less than ten things," Rose muttered.
"I think we might have a chance of winning the cup," Albus said excitedly.
"That would be so cool!" Amanda shouted, "I love Quidditch. I was never into Muggle sports, but Quidditch is awesome."
"Definitely," John agreed, "I never saw the point of Muggle sports, but I guess if you can't play Quidditch..."
They spent the next hour talking about Quidditch and everything else that was going on in the castle. Albus told Matt about how Xavier Goyle had melted his cauldron in potions the other day. The potion had spread across the floor and burned through Scorpius Malfoy and his friend, Jackson Limbert's, shoes. The Gryffindors had thought this was very funny, especially when they found out that the potion had turned both boys feet pink. Other than that, nothing too exciting had happened in class during Matt's absence. Washburn had continued being horrible to Albus and the other Gryffindors. In Transfiguration, they had started transfiguring Muggle pencils into quills. Rose, John, and a couple of the Ravenclaws were the only ones who had managed to do it.
After they had exhausted the topic of lessons, the conversation turned back to Quidditch. Professional Quidditch this time. No one seemed to think the Chudley Canons had any hope of ever making it to the Cup. Even Matt seemed to agree. No one had any idea who would be playing in the Cup this year, but it didn't matter much because it had already been decided that the Cup would take place in Russia and none of them would get to go anyway.
Amy spent the entire visit sitting next to Matt, so Albus was unable to share the contents of his newest dream or what had happened in detention the previous Saturday. Albus found out that Amy spent most of her spare time visiting Matt. He had never seen such a devoted sister before. Albus had thought his older cousins were protective, but they were nothing compared to Amy.
Eventually, Madam Pomfrey came back to tell them that they had stayed long enough and it was time for them to leave.
"Well, I hope you can leave soon," Albus said as he stood up.
"'Night, Matt," John cleaned up the leftover food and put it back in the bag.
"See you soon," Rose told him.
"Bye," Amanda stood up and followed everyone out from behind the curtains.
"Bye, guys," Matt yawned as they left.
"He doesn't look good," Albus whispered once they had left the room.
"No, he doesn't," Rose agreed, "But at least he's awake."
"Good point, but I can see why Madam Pomfrey won't let him leave yet. Everyone would bombard him with questions about what happened," John pointed out.
"I don't think he knows you were in the Hospital Wing that night, Albus," Amanda said, "He says he spent the night in the Hospital Wing, but you know he didn't."
"Yeah," Albus agreed, "And they brought him back there so early, there wouldn't have been any time for him to wander the grounds."
"Don't point it out, though," Rose warned him.
"I won't," Albus assured her, "We agreed that we wouldn't say anything about what happened now that we've heard the story."
"He'll have to tell us eventually," John reasoned.
"I know. I hope it's soon," Albus said.
"I bet it will be soon," Rose told them, "How many stories can he come up with about what happens every full moon?"
"Yeah," Albus said, "I just hope it's not worse next month."
No one said anything else the rest of the way to the common room. Albus knew that everyone else was thinking what he was thinking. That it was very much a possibility that next month would be worse. |
|
|
|
|
|
DucksRMagical
Joined: 28 December 2006
Posts: 2535
Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal
|
|
Posted: Tuesday 29 January 2008 04 52 02 pm in topic:Albus Potter and the Secrets Within |
|
Chapter 22: A New Nightmare
Shortly before seven the next evening, James and Albus headed to Occlumency, while John, Rose, and Amanda went to the Hospital Wing. As it turned out, the teachers told Rose that they had already sent Matt's homework to the Hospital Wing and there was no need for her to collect it.
"People talking about that article in your classes?" Albus asked his brother on the way to the Transfiguration classroom.
"Yeah," James responded, "They always stop right when the teacher comes in, though."
"Everyone in my classes have been whispering about it. They try to talk quietly so I can't hear them, but I can," Albus informed him.
"That's what it's like for me, too," James said, "But you know Peyton Haines, the Slytherin Chaser? Well, he keeps loudly discussing how the Auror Department unable to do anything and everyone's in severe danger. Always within earshot of me, too."
"Git," Albus growled.
"I heard he scared the hell out of the Hufflepuffs in Charms today. Said he heard all the Death Eaters had broken out of Azkaban and no one had caught them yet. Load of rubbish. Got away with it, too, because Washburn wasn't in the room yet."
"Probably wouldn't have mattered if he was in the room," Albus muttered, "Slytherins can do no wrong in his eyes."
James opened the door to the Transfiguration room and walked inside, Albus followed. Hermione was already there.
"Hi, boys!" she smiled and gave them each a hug.
"Hi, Aunt Hermione," Albus and James greeted her.
"When's Dad coming back?" Albus asked.
"Yeah, good question," James chimed in, "And what's with that article?"
Hermione's smile faded and she gestured for the boys to sit down. "He'll be back later tonight, so don't worry about that. And as for the article... Well, you both know that most everything Rita Skeeter writes is rubbish."
James and Albus nodded.
"That article was written for the sole purpose of scaring people. All the article did was raise questions. The article itself was just a load of questions. The murders do remind people of Voldemort's reign, so it was quite easy to just write this article and send people into a panic. The fact that the Aurors have no leads in either murder just fueled the fire. But I can assure you that whatever is going on, your father and the other Aurors are taking care of it. And he is perfectly capable of teaching here and heading the Auror department," Hermione told them.
"So there is something going on?" Albus asked.
"Yes, of course something's going on. There have been two mysterious murders, and someone is trying to see your thoughts," Hermione explained, "But it is nothing the Ministry can't handle."
"So, do you know what's going on?" James asked.
"Your dad has a few inklings and he has expressed them to me, but I can't tell you them," Hermione answered, "Now we've got to start the lesson. Open your books to page 50."
Albus and James opened their books and Hermione lectured them for a half hour. Albus found this part of the lessons extremely boring, but every lesson started this way. Albus didn't expect any different from his Aunt Hermione, who was always trying to get him to read a lot of books. Eventually, the lecture part of the lesson was over and the practical part began.
Albus had been getting better at Occlumency. He had yet to prevent Hermione from entering his mind, but usually managed to force her out after a few minutes.
"Albus, you first."
Albus got up from his chair and stood in front of his aunt. "Remember to close your mind. Legilemens!" she shouted.
Albus stood there, being flooded with his own memories, for a few minutes. He saw James levitating Albus's glass of pumpkin juice at last summer's family reunion, the time he got lost in a Muggle grocery store when he was five, and the first time he ever rode a broom. Albus concentrated hard on blocking out all thoughts, and he was able to force Hermione out of his mind.
"Good job, Al!" Hermione congratulated him, "It took you less time than last lesson."
Albus tried two more times, both times producing the same results as the first, and then he sat down to watch James.
James had been having a much more difficult time than Albus. He had only been successful once, and it had taken him nearly ten minutes. This time proved to be no different, and after fifteen minutes, James had not been able to force Hermione out of his mind. The last try, he had even wound up laying on the floor. Hermione had thought that was enough, and James and Albus went back to the common room.
"How'd it go?" Rose asked, when Albus sat down next to her. Rose, John, and Amanda were all sitting at one of the tables, doing homework.
"Pretty good," Albus answered, "It's taking me less time to get your mum out of my mind. But James can't get her out at all."
"He'll get there eventually," Rose responded.
"Did you get to see Matt?" Albus asked as he pulled out his Potions homework.
"No," John said sadly, "He's still unconscious. And Madam Pomfrey still has the doors locked. She's got a really short temper, too."
"Yeah, Scorpius Malfoy was skulking around!" Rose exclaimed, "We went up there and he was trying to listen in through the door."
"Little git," Albus muttered, "So what happened?"
"We told him to go away, but he wouldn't," John explained, "He whipped out his wand and tried to hex Amanda, but missed her. Madam Pomfrey came out when she heard the commotion and told him to get back to his common room or she'd get Slughorn. Then she told us Matt was still unconscious and we wouldn't be able to see him."
"Malfoy's really got to stop investigating this," Albus responded, "He can't find out. He's got to mind his own business."
"We can't let anyone find out," Rose agreed.
"But he's still not up?" Albus sighed, "Whatever is going on, it sounds really bad."
"I know," Rose shook her head.
"Well, his birthday is next week," John reminded them.
"Oh, yeah, on the sixth, Wednesday," Albus remembered.
"I think we should do something for it," John stated, "Even if he's still in the Hospital Wing."
"I bet he will be," Rose said, "But we can still do something if we're allowed in."
"Let's plan it, then," John announced, "Our first Hogwarts birthday party. Because you guys didn't do anything for mine," he added.
"Your birthday was over break!" Rose lightly smacked him with her DADA book.
"I know," John grinned, "Anyway, we could bring some food into the Hospital Wing and have the party there."
"Great idea!" Albus grinned.
"But none of us know where the kitchens are," Amanda reminded them.
"No problem," Albus glanced around the common room, "Oi! Bradley, Mark!" he waved his two cousins over.
"Whatcha need, Albus?" Bradley asked as he sat down in an empty chair at the table.
"We're going to have a little birthday party for our friend, Matt," Albus told them, "But none of us know where the kitchens are. So, since there's a Hogsmeade visit on Saturday, could you get us some stuff?"
"Sure, no problem," Mark said, "Butterbeers and some stuff from Honeyduke's sound good?"
"Yeah, that'd be great."
"What should we get him for a present?" Rose asked.
"Hmm, I dunno..." John stopped to think, "Stuff from Weasley's is always good."
"How about a Chudley Cannons jersey?" Albus suggested.
"Sounds good!" John agreed. Rose and Amanda nodded their heads.
"Anywhere in Hogsmeade that you could get one of those?" Albus asked his cousins.
"The Quaffle Shop should have it. I've only been there once. It just opened up this past summer," Bradley told them, "I can get you one."
"Thanks!" Albus grinned.
"But you'll have to give us money for everything," Mark told them.
Albus, John, Rose, and Amanda each forked over a couple sickles and handed them to Mark.
"Ok, we'll get the stuff and give it to you when we get back," Bradley said, and he and Mark rejoined their friends on the other side of the common room.
"It's really rotten luck that he's going to be in the Hospital Wing on his birthday," John commented.
"Yeah, but we'll try to cheer him up," Albus reasoned.
"What if Madam Pomfrey doesn't let us in?" Amanda wondered.
"She better," Rose stated, "But she's got to, it'll be his birthday. If anything, we can always get Amy to let us in."
"True, she'd be able to convince Madam Pomfrey. She's got some temper," John laughed.
"Just as long as we don't ask her too many questions," Rose said, "Amy obviously doesn't want anyone knowing about Matt's, er, problem."
"We won't," Albus told her, "Hopefully Madam Pomfrey will just let us in and we won't need Amy to do any convincing."
Rose glanced at her watch, "Well, it's getting kind of late. I'm going to bed," she started packing up her books, "Did you all finish your homework?"
"Yep," they all answered.
"Good night, then," Rose got up and walked over to the girl's dormitories.
"I guess I'll go to bed, too," Albus put his books away and got up.
"Me, too," John and Amanda put their stuff away. Amanda caught up with Rose and followed her up the stairs.
John headed up to the boy's dormitories with Albus. As Albus got ready for bed, he thought about Matt's birthday party. He hoped that Matt would be up for it, and that Madam Pomfrey would let them in. Hopefully, they would be able to have the party and that it would cheer Matt up. He also wondered how much longer Matt would be able to keep his secret from his friends. Albus only hoped that someday, Matt would trust them enough to tell them. He got into bed and his thoughts drifted to Scorpius Malfoy and how suspicious he was about Matt. Would they be able to keep him from finding out? And what would happen if he did find out one day? The thought of Scorpius finding out worried Albus right until he fell asleep.
******
[i]"His ideals will be realized," a cold voice surrounded Albus.
"Whose ideals?" Albus asked.
"The one you fear the most," the voice answered. It was coming from a cloaked figure that was circling Albus. They were in a dark, small room. Albus was sitting in a hard chair in the middle.
"Voldemort?" Albus responded nervously, "But he's dead."
"It doesn't matter!" the voice screamed, "There are others to carry out his plans!"
"They're all in Azkaban." Albus tried to make out who the cloaked figure was, but it was too dark.
"Not all of them. There are some who roam free," the figure whispered in Albus's ear, "Now, perhaps you can help me."
"Sorry, I can't," Albus glared at him, feeling braver than he had a second ago.
"Oh, I think you can," the figure pulled out his wand and pointed it at Albus. He muttered a spell and Albus's hands and feet became bound by magical rope. "Now, maybe you can tell me where the Hallows are?"
Albus's eyes widened and he stared at the man, "What do you know about Hallows?"
"Not nearly as much as you do," the man answered, "Now tell me where they are!"
"I don't know!" Albus shouted, feeling the ropes constrict his hands. He winced in pain.
"I'm sure you do!"
"NO! I don't!" The ropes dug into his wrists even more as he felt the circulation to his hands being cut off.
"Tell me!" The man forcefully shook Albus's chair. "You don't want to know what I'll do if you don't!"
"But I don't even know what Hallows are!" Albus screamed in pain, "What are they?!"
"You know perfectly well what they are! Now tell me where they are!"
"NO!"
"Tell!" the man shook the chair so hard it fell over, taking Albus with it. He screamed as his head hit the cold, hard floor.[/i]
A/N: Nice cliffhanger, right?  I think that's the first big cliffhanger of the fic. |
|
|
|
|
|
Scarlet Lioness
Joined: 14 May 2005
Posts: 3840
Location: Music Studio in the depths of the Castle.
|
|
Posted: Thursday 9 November 2006 09 26 20 pm in topic:Hogwarts '06/7 |
|
Misty rose in the morning very sleepy, it felt as though 5mins had passed while she was aleep. Though when looking at her clock realised that she was late to breakfast.
Hurriedly she got dressed and did her hair, she clambered down the stairs putting her jersey on and fastening her robes.
[i]I won't get any breakfast now...it would've gone...but I'll check anyway.[/i] |
|
|
|
|
|
Please bookmark Broomsticks and Owls for Harry Potter Clothing including Polo Shirts and much more.
Plus, check out our home page for a huge range of Harry Potter merchandise and collectible items including:
© BroomsticksAndOwls.com
