Harry Potter Robes and Costumes

Visit our friendly Harry Potter Forum to discuss wizarding style and more, like these posts:

Author	Message
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Sunday 5 October 2008 12 07 12 pm    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind Awesomey! That's a cool word, too! Thanks, Obladi. Comments, questions, and general reviews are always appreciated! Chapter 25: Explosion Potion Despite the fact that Quinton Willinson was no longer at Hogwarts, Albus still dreaded the Slug Club meeting on Saturday. His rational side told him that it wouldn't be nearly as bad with Willinson gone, but Albus still wasn't looking forward to it. Kaden, on the other hand, spent the days leading up to Saturday talking non-stop about the Slug Club meeting. Albus had already explained in detail what they involve, but that didn't stop Kaden from constantly wondering aloud about what the meeting would be like. Saturday arrived quickly and Albus was still without an excuse to not attend the meeting. Georgia had not called for Quidditch practice that day, mainly due to the fact that the Ravenclaws booked the pitch all morning and the Slytherins had it all afternoon. The two houses were scheduled to play each other the following Saturday. "It's time for the Slug Club meeting, Albus!" Kaden shouted excitedly a few minutes before eleven. Albus sighed and got up out of his chair in the common room. "See you lot in a little while," he said to John and Amanda. "Have loads of fun!" John laughed. "See you later," Amanda grinned. Albus, Kaden, and Rose, who had also decided to go, set off for the dungeons. Albus hoped he would only have to stay for a little while, maybe an hour at most. Just long enough for Kaden to see what the meetings were like. The meeting was held in the Potions classroom and a few students were milling about when Albus, Rose, and Kaden walked into the room. Albus recognized most of them from last year's meetings. A few of his cousins were there as well, but not all of them. James wasn't there, but Albus knew he had dueling practice that day. Albus was also happy to note that Felix Willinson was not there. Of course, after what happened with Quinton and his father, Albus guessed he shouldn't be surprised that Quinton's cousin wouldn't be invited to the Slug Club. There was a table full of food along one of the side walls and most everyone was crowding around it trying to get some lunch. Slughorn had a plate of food in front of him and was sitting at a large table in the front of the room. Albus led Rose and Kaden over to the table and picked up a plate. "What is this stuff?" Kaden pointed to a platter of some sort of meat. "Pheasant," Albus replied. Slughorn always served pheasant at his meetings. Albus tried it last year and hated it. Kaden shrugged and piled the pheasant onto his plate. Once Albus and his cousins had gotten enough food, they sat down at the table across from Slughorn. Shortly after, everyone else had sat down at the table as well. "Good to see you all again!" Slughorn greeted them and then turned to Albus. "And Albus and Rose! I'm very happy that you two decided to come! Haven't had you come in quite a while now. How have classes been going?" "Good," Albus replied. "Excellent, excellent," Slughorn nodded, "We also have someone new here today. This is Kaden Dursley," Slughorn gestured to Kaden. "He's Albus's cousin and is turning out to be quite the Potions brewer! Lily's genes must be coming out in you!" Kaden grinned, "Potions is fun. Loads better than Transfiguration." Slughorn laughed, "Don't let Professor McGonagall hear you say that. But I daresay I agree with you." Kaden laughed as well and then took a large bite of pheasant. Albus watched him as he did so, wondering if he'd like it. Kaden chewed for a few moments before a big smile appeared on his face. "This stuff is excellent!" "I'm glad you like it!" Slughorn said. Albus chuckled to himself. Of course Kaden liked the pheasant. If there was one thing Albus had learned about his cousin over the past six months, it was that he'd eat pretty much anything. This was obviously something he had inherited from his father. Slughorn soon launched into a lengthy explanation of what he did over his holiday and who he had spent time with. ("Barry Ryan used to play for Ireland, you know.") Albus found the whole thing rather boring but he noticed that Kaden seemed to hang on Slughorn's every word. Rose seemed to be paying attention as well, but probably only out of courtesy. Albus let his mind wander as Slughorn continued talking about his dinner with Barry Ryan. Matt was supposed to return to Hogwarts the next day, which meant that in as little as twenty-four hours, they could be having the map working. Well, if they could sneak away to the Room of Requirement, that is. Albus hoped Rose would have that charm working soon. Then they could just do all of this with Kaden. It would make it a whole lot easier. Of course, Matt still hadn't said that he agreed to tell Kaden even with the charm. Albus kept forgetting about that part. But why wouldn't he agree? The charm seemed like it would work well. Albus, Kaden, and Rose wound up staying until the end of the meeting. Kaden was enthralled by the entire thing and Albus knew he would refuse to leave early. Albus was incredibly bored by the time the thing was over and Rose looked as bored as Albus felt. Once the meeting was finally over, the three of them said goodbye to Slughorn and left the dungeons. "That was so cool," Kaden grinned. "Boring's more like it," Albus replied. "How can you think it was boring?" Kaden stared at Albus, "Slughorn knows so many famous people." "Trust me, it gets old after a while," Albus said. "Well, are you two going to the next one?" Albus looked at Rose. She didn't look like she wanted to go to the next one either. "Er, well, I might have Quidditch practice." "And I'll probably have too much homework," Rose explained. "I'd go even if I did have too much homework," Kaden told them. "That really isn't a good idea," Rose warned him. "You'll get behind." Albus laughed as Rose launched into a discussion about how important time management is and how homework should always come first. The three of them were nearly to the common room by the time Rose finished, and Kaden was wearing a blank look on his face much like the one Albus had worn during the Slug Club meeting. ****** "Got any idea what time he's coming back?" John asked shortly after lunch the next day in the common room. "No idea," Albus shrugged. Albus, John, Kaden, Rose, and Amanda were all sitting around their usual table in the common room. Rose and Kaden were playing chess and it was apparent that Rose was going easy on Kaden. The two of them had been playing the same game for fifteen minutes. If Rose wanted to, she probably could have beat Kaden in five minutes. John and Amanda were both working on the Transfiguration essay that was due the next day. Albus had already finished that particular essay and was watching Rose and Kaden's chess match. "Queen to D3," Kaden said. The queen gave Kaden a menacing glare and then reluctantly moved to the square. "Bishop to D3." Rose's bishop smashed Kaden's queen to pieces. "Checkmate," Rose grinned. "Crap," Kaden muttered as his king dropped its sword in defeat. "You're getting a bit better," Rose said as she repaired all the pieces with a wave of her wand. "Do you have Quidditch practice today, Albus?" John asked. "Yeah. Georgia managed to reserve the pitch for an hour after dinner. The Hufflepuffs weren't too happy, but Georgia got it first." "I hope Matt gets back before you leave," Amanda said. "Me, too," Albus agreed. "But Amy didn't say when he'd be coming back." "He's going to have a load of homework to make up," Kaden announced. "That sounds like something you'd say, Rose," John laughed. "How's your essay coming, John?" Rose smirked. "Yeah, yeah. I've got the first paragraph done," John grumbled. "I've only got one more to go," Amanda said. "Want to play again, Rose?" Kaden asked. Rose shrugged. "Sure, why not." Rose and Kaden set up their pieces and started to play again. Albus watched them. It was pretty funny to watch the two of them play chess. Kaden would sit there forever figuring out what move to make and once he made it, Rose would smile and move one of her own pieces within seconds. Rose's moves usually involved killing one of Kaden's pieces. The portrait hole to the common room opened a few minutes later and Albus looked up. Matt was just climbing through and headed straight for Albus's table once he noticed them. "Hey, Matt!" Albus grinned, "Welcome back!" "Hi Albus," Matt grinned back. He looked tired, but happy. There was still a yellowish bruise on his forehead, but other than that he looked fine. John, Rose, Amanda, and Kaden all looked up from what they were doing and greeted Matt as well. Matt grabbed a chair from a nearby table and sat down next to Albus. "How are you?" Albus asked. "All right," Matt shrugged. "Er, Kaden," Albus began, "You know how you said Matt's got a lot of homework to make up?" "Uh-huh," Kaden nodded as Rose declared checkmate once again, "Crap!" "Well, it would probably be a good idea for him to go see all the teachers now about it. So, we'll all go with him to do that, since we're in his classes. We'll help. You can stay here since you'd probably be bored." "Ok, I've got my own homework to start on anyway." "Good," Albus replied, "John? Amanda, Rose? You can come with us." "Sure, anything to put off finishing this essay," John closed his book and stood up. Once they were out of the common room and into the corridor, Matt turned around and looked at Albus. "You're not really making me go collect all my homework are you?" Albus laughed, "No. Just had to think of an excuse for Kaden to stay there while we went to the Room." "Good," John said, "I don't really want to go collect your homework with you." "You won't have to. I've already gotten it. They owled it to me over the holiday. I've already finished it all," Matt explained. "You're farther along than John, then," Rose laughed. "Shut it, Rose," John said. The five friends continued their walk to the Room of Requirement, which manifested itself in its usual form for them. They walked into the Room and settled onto the usual scarlet and gold furniture. "So," Albus began, "What happened with this new potion?" "Well, it didn't work the way it was supposed to, but Amy already told you that," Matt said. "Did it help at all?" Rose asked. "Nope." "And you'll still have to keep taking it?" John asked. "Yeah, that's what stinks," Matt sighed. "It didn't work the way it was supposed to, but it did other stuff." "I thought it wasn't going to have any bad effects," Albus said. "They weren't really dangerous side effects. It just made me really tired." "But you're always tired before the full moon," John pointed out. "I know, but the potion made it worse. Usually I can at least go to morning classes on the day of the full moon but with the new potion I'll just sleep right through them. It makes me tired as soon as I start taking it, which is a week before the full moon, just like the regular Wolfsbane was." "So you'll be tired for an entire week?" Amanda asked. "Dunno," Matt shrugged, "The Healers are trying to find a potion to counteract the fatigue, but I doubt they'll have one in time for next month." "I don't get why you have to keep taking it if it doesn't even work," John shook his head. "Because they have to make sure it wasn't just a fluke or something. That's the thing about these studies, they have to do multiple trials to analyze the effects and stuff." "There's a chance it might work next month?" Amanda asked confusedly. "I suppose, but I doubt it." "You don't seem that upset or anything," Rose commented. "I honestly didn't think it was going to work. My parents told me not to get my hopes up about any of these experimental potions. Plus, this was only the first one I've tried. They'll come up with others." "I just hope one of them actually works," John replied. "Me, too," Matt agreed, "You've got no idea how much I wish that. "Let's not talk about it anymore now, though. You've got to tell me if you got the stag print! It's been driving me mad for weeks now." "Oh, yeah!" Albus grinned. He had almost forgotten about that. Almost being the key word. The new map was always on Albus's mind now. "We got it. Rose and I did." "Brilliant!" Matt exclaimed. "And I've got the transference charm all worked out," Rose told him. "John's just got to get the rat print," Albus said. "I'm working on it!" John replied, "It's harder than you'd think to spot a rat during Potions." "Well, we've got Double Potions tomorrow, so try then. Slughorn'll be having us brew the whole class probably, so just keep your eye out," Albus told him. "I will. I'll pay more attention to potential rats than to my potion," John grinned. "I wouldn't suggest that," Rose smirked. "It'll explode or something, since you've got Goyle as a partner." "Eh, I'll take one failing grade if I can get the rat print," John shrugged. "Well, try to get the rat without destroying your potion," Rose sighed. "Just think, this time tomorrow, we may have the map working," Matt commented, "That would be awesome." "We'll have to get away from Kaden first," Amanda pointed out. "And I'm not entirely sure the map will work after we do this," Albus said, "It almost seems too simple." Albus had been thinking this for a few days now. They had had an incredibly easy time getting the prints. Almost too easy a time. Dogs, stags, and rats were quite common and anyone who could cast a simple Petrificus Totalus charm could get those prints. The only one that would be difficult for the average wizard to get was the werewolf print. Even so, Albus didn't think the Marauders would make it this easy to access the map. "I've been thinking the same thing," Rose agreed. John groaned, "That would suck." "We'll get it eventually," Albus assured him. "Plus, the map said we had to be like the Marauders. We haven't done anything that only the Marauders could have done so far. We got a bunch of paw prints. Anyone can do that." "Not anyone could get a werewolf print," John pointed out. "I know. But it's not something only the Marauders could have done," Albus told him. "Speaking of the Marauders," John turned to Rose, "How's the Sileo Altus charm coming?" "The what?" Matt asked. "Oh, yeah, we've got to tell you about that," John said. "Want to explain it, Rose?" "Sure," Rose shrugged, "It's a charm I found in a book at my house. It's a way to make sure someone keeps something a secret. Kind of like the Fidelius Charm, only it's for verbal secrets, not places. Whomever performs the charm is the Secret Keeper and only that person can undo the charm. After the charm is performed, the person can't talk about the secret with anyone except the Secret Keeper and anyone else who was involved in the charm performing. It's a way to keep Kaden from telling anyone that you're a werewolf." Albus held his breath as Rose explained and hoped that Matt would think it was a good idea. Albus watched as Matt thought about what Rose had said. Albus couldn't really tell what he thought. Matt looked a bit surprised, almost like he didn't think Rose would have ever found a charm to do that. "Well, what do you think?" Albus asked after a few moments silence. "I'm not sure," Matt said quietly, "Will it really work?" "I'm pretty sure it will," Rose said, "The only thing that will overcome it is Veritaserum." "And what if Kaden drinks Veritaserum?" Matt asked. "When would he drink that?" John raised his eyebrows. "I don't know," Matt sighed, "But he could." "I really don't think he would." "What if he did? What if he spewed all about me in the middle of the Great Hall or something?" "I doubt he's ever going to drink any Veritaserum," Rose said. "Is there even any of that in the castle?" Amanda asked. "There's some in Slughorn's private Potions cupboard, but that's it," Albus answered, "But that's locked anyway." "See? Hardly any chance of Kaden drinking any," John said. "Yeah, but still... I don't know..." Matt groaned, "I just don't really want to tell him." "I know. Just think about it, ok?" Albus gave Matt a half smile. "All right," Matt sighed, "We don't need Kaden yet, do we?" "No," Albus replied, "I'm not sure when we'll need him. The map just said we had to be like the Marauders, which means we'll need someone to be Wormtail at some point." "And I want to test that charm out before we use it on Kaden," Matt said. "We will," Rose assured him, "I've got to practice it anyway." "So, anyone got any secrets we can practice with?" John grinned mischievously. ****** "Settle down, settle down," Slughorn barked at his class. Albus turned around in his seat. He had been talking to John, who was sitting behind him next to Goyle. Albus was sitting next to Limbert and Matt was looking thoroughly miserable next to Maloy in the next row over at the front. Slughorn was still plowing forward with his inter-house partners in class, but Albus didn't think it was helping to decrease the hostility between Gryffindor and Slytherin. So far, the best that had happened was silent loathing during practical lessons and jinxing and hexing at worst. Based on the little duel between Ethan and Garth Octavius the previous week, it was only a matter of time before things really got out of hand. "Thank you," Slughorn said once everyone was paying attention, "Today you'll be brewing the Confusion Potion I taught you about on Friday. He waved his wand at the blackboard, "Directions are on the board. You have the entire class." "Light the fire," Limbert grunted as he got up from his chair. Albus nodded and pulled out his wand. Albus and Limbert had come to an unspoken agreement with brewing potions. Limbert would collect ingredients while Albus lit the fire and unpacked all the various scales and knives. Then, Albus would prepare the ingredients while Limbert added them and stirred the cauldron. Albus was fine with this since Limbert was a better Potions brewer than he was. Limbert returned with the ingredients and Albus started chopping them. He never said anything to Limbert while they worked and Limbert never said anything to Albus besides the occasional 'pass the asphodel' or something of the like. Albus listened to everyone else in the class as he chopped up ingredients. He thought it was especially amusing to listen to John and Goyle. "No, that's not clockwise," John groaned, "You're stirring counter-clockwise." "Oh." "Stir it the other way!" John shouted. Albus stifled a laugh and glanced to his left, where Rose and Leigh Montague were having a similar conversation. "They've got to be chopped finer than that. It says minced, not diced," Rose instructed. "They look fine to me," Leigh snapped. "No, they won't work like that. Let me do it," Rose grabbed a knife and started mincing the shrivelfig. "Fine. You do the whole thing if you're so smart," Leigh huffed. "You can stir the cauldron. Clockwise," Rose replied. Albus wasn't close enough to either Amanda or Matt to hear what was going on at their tables. It looked like Amanda and Dalila Avish were working much the same way Albus and Limbert were, since neither of their mouths were moving. Malfoy appeared to be yelling at Matt for something, but Albus couldn't quite make out what it was. Matt got up from the table with a bowl full of something and then emptied it in the bin. When he returned to his table, he started carefully chopping something up. Albus was guessing it was more of whatever he had thrown away. Albus continued mincing his shrivelfig and listened mostly to John and Goyle. Limbert kept smirking every so often, which gave Albus the impression he was listening to John and Goyle, too. "Keep stirring CLOCKWISE for another minute," John said slowly and clearly, "Then switch to COUNTERCLOCKWISE. I've got to go get something. Don't do anything besides the stirring." Goyle grunted and Albus heard John get up. Albus felt a prod in his side and looked up to see John standing next to him. "What?" Albus whispered. John pointed to a corner of the room, near the cupboard of ingredients. There was a large rat sitting there. Albus shuddered and looked back at John. "I'll be back," John winked at him. Albus tried to concentrate on his shrivelfig, but he couldn't stop glancing up at John. He was almost to the cupboard now, and the rat still hadn't moved. Albus watched as John pointed his wand at the rat, but he couldn't hear what spell John was using due to the noise in the room. Luckily everyone was concentrating on their potions and not paying an ounce of attention to John. Albus grimaced as John picked up the rat and shoved it inside his robes. Albus was incredibly happy that John was willing to do the rat print. The thought of putting a rat in his robes creeped Albus out. John went into the cupboard for a few moments and came back out carrying a jar of something. Probably a cover story, Albus thought. "Got it," John whispered to Albus on his way back to his desk. "Excellent," Albus said. Suddenly there was a loud explosion from somewhere behind Albus and he felt a hot liquid land on his head and drip down the back of his robes. "Ouch!" he and Limbert shouted at the same time. "Boody Hell!" John exclaimed as the orange potion landed on the front of his robes. Pandemonium erupted in the classroom. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at the exploded potion. Albus turned around and saw that the explosion had come from John and Goyle's cauldron. Goyle was wearing a stupefied expression on his face and was staring into space while holding his ladle in the air. His face was covered with potion as well as his robes. His hair was singed and there was a small fire on his table. Albus could feel the potion burning down his back and it hurt like hell. It felt like his skin was on fire. He got up from his chair and felt his back. His robes were burnt straight through. John's and Limbert's were as well. "What did you do?" Slughorn asked as he strode to John and Goyle's table. "Uh...," Goyle stared up at the ceiling. "You must've gotten potion in your mouth," Slughorn shook his head. "Hospital Wing. Who else got hit?" "I did," Albus, John, Limbert, as well as Karina and Celeste Yeardly (who had been sitting behind John and Goyle) said at the same time. "Hospital Wing, all of you," Slughorn replied, "If one of you could please make sure Mr. Goyle arrives there, that would be appreciated." Limbert immediately dragged Goyle out of the room with Celeste following. Albus and John walked a little ways behind them and Karina behind them. "Idiot," John muttered as they climbed the stairs out of the dungeons. "What did he do?" Albus asked. "Not a clue," John shrugged, "Not what I told him to do." "I heard you talking to him. It seemed pretty straightforward." "Well, he's dumber than a troll," John groaned, "Merlin this stuff burns." "At least we didn't eat any of it," Albus pointed to Goyle, who was stumbling down the corridor like he was drunk. "True," John laughed and then lowered his voice, "Hey, it was worth it since I got the rat." "That thing's not still in your robes, is it?" Albus glanced warily at John. "Er, yeah, haven't had a chance to take it out." "I just hope it stays stunned." "It should," John said as they followed Goyle and Limbert into the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey was already busy taking care of a girl who had gotten bitten by something in Care of Magical Creatures and told them they would have to wait. Once she had finished healing the girl, she moved on to Goyle, since he wasn't able to sit still and was wandering around the room tripping over things. She took care of Limbert, Celeste, and Karina, and then moved on to the bed Albus and John were sitting on. "You lot again?" she sighed, "I'm surprised it's only the two of you." "Well, Matt, Rose, and Amanda were all too far away to be hit by the potion," Albus explained. "I swear the lot of you are exactly like your grandfather and his friends," Madam Pomfrey shook her head as she handed Albus a potion. John, who had just started drinking his own potion, choked and coughed the potion up onto the bed. He turned and grinned at Albus, who grinned back. Well, Albus thought, that was the general idea of the map. Madam Pomfrey sighed and with a wave of her wand the potion was cleaned up. "Drink the rest of it," she instructed them. Madam Pomfrey applied some sort of salve to their burns and a few minutes later they were allowed to leave. The nurse told them to go directly to their dormitory to get new robes and that she didn't want to see them in the Hospital Wing for the next few weeks. "Fat chance that'll happen," John smirked as they started back to Gryffindor Tower. "Yeah," Albus agreed. It seemed like one of them was always winding up in the Hospital Wing. Albus himself had already been there twice since returning to school after the Christmas holiday. "Next Quidditch match is what, in three weeks?" John asked. "Just about," Albus said. "Then you might be back there soon," John joked. "Shut it," Albus replied, "I didn't land myself there last match."
Scellanis Joined: 11 September 2002 Posts: 6457 Location: Pretending to be a sea slug with 'go faster' stripes...	Posted: Thursday 25 September 2008 03 29 15 pm    Post subject: Re: Broomsticks and Owls in topic:Broomsticks and Owls Aww I want it for Paddy!! *giggles* He will look extra special grumpy if I give him another doggy costume.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Wednesday 24 September 2008 07 53 25 pm    Post subject: Re: Broomsticks and Owls in topic:Broomsticks and Owls Never did I ever think I'd want to put Benny in a costume, but oh my gosh, that is the cutest thing ever!!! Too bad it's out of stock. Benny's afraid of Halloween, though, and spends the night at the kennel. He could wear it other days.
Paul Joined: 4 November 2001 Posts: 3026 Location: Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, England	Posted: Wednesday 24 September 2008 05 52 48 pm    Post subject: Re: Broomsticks and Owls in topic:Broomsticks and Owls Hee hee - you had me scared there for a moment. She seems quite innocent though...I'll let Naughty Wizard Girl stay unless she does anything too mischevious! I've just noticed there's a new Harry Potter Dog Costume that's appeared on the Robes and Costumes pages too...awww, he looks so cute. Accio bone!....woof!
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Wednesday 24 September 2008 11 52 57 am    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind Thanks, Obladi! Just thought I'd mention that it was exactly a year ago that I posted the first chapter of [i]Albus Potter and the Secrets Within[/i]. Hard to believe that it's been a year already. Chapter 22: The Stag Albus, Rose, and Hermione went to the Leaky Cauldron the next day to meet Matt and Amanda, who was also being dropped off there. John had arrived earlier by Floo and went with them as well. When they got there, both Matt and Amanda were already there. "Hi!" Albus greeted them as he stepped out of the Floo. "Hi Albus," Matt grinned, "How was your Christmas?" "It was brilliant," Albus replied, "Wait till you see what I got." "What?" Amanda asked. "Can't show you here," Albus whispered. "I'll show you when we get back." "Let's go now," Matt said impatiently. "You kids go ahead," Hermione told them, "I've got a bit of shopping to do." Albus bade goodbye to his aunt and turned back to the Floo. Within seconds he was back in Rose's living room. A few minutes later all his friends were back as well. Matt and Amanda stared around the room. "Nice house," Amanda smiled. "Yeah," Matt agreed, "Kind of looks like mine." "Thanks," Rose replied. "So, Albus, what did you get for Christmas?" Matt asked. "This," Albus pulled the Invisibility Cloak out of his cloak pocket. He had been carrying it around with him ever since Christmas. Matt let out a gasp. "Whoa! You really got the Cloak? That's completely amazing!" "I love that cloak," Amanda grinned. "And to think we stole it just a few weeks ago," John snorted. "Shush!" Albus hissed, "Uncle Ron and Hugo are here." "Oh, sorry." "But this isn't all," Albus continued, "James got the Marauder's Map." "He didn't!" John shouted. "He did." "You two are so lucky," Matt replied. "But we'll have our own Map soon anyway," Amanda pointed out as she dug around in the bag she brought. She produced a crumpled piece of parchment with a paw print on it that was slightly smaller than the werewolf print. "You got it!" Albus took it from her. "We're halfway there now." "I hope it'll work. Newton wouldn't stay still and the parchment is kind of wrinkled." "I'm sure it will work," Albus said. "Good thing we didn't have the prints go directly on the map," Matt replied. "So today we get the stag print," Albus announced. "Right after lunch." Everyone agreed and headed into the kitchen to scrounge up some food. Ron had already created an enormous sandwich and was eating it when Albus and the others walked in. They all liked the idea of making giant sandwiches and were soon eating alongside Ron. Albus thought John's sandwich looked disgusting because it was piled high with turkey, pickles, and peanut butter. Rose shuddered as she saw him bite into it, but he thought it tasted delicious. "I can't believe you ate that entire thing," Rose screwed up her face in disgust after John ate the last bite of his lunch. "It was good," he shrugged. "Hey, Uncle Ron," Albus began, "We're going to go explore the forest." "All right. Have fun. But try and be back by three. Teddy's coming over and so are James and your dad. We're all going to play Quidditch." "Sure, we'll be back by then," Albus was excited about playing Quidditch. It was always better when Teddy was there. Once they were all done with lunch, Rose and Albus led the way outside and over to the forest. The forest was situated next to the large open field that was next to the house. Albus and Rose went exploring in it quite a bit and knew their way around it well. The group crunched across the snow laden field until they came to the forest's edge. Rose found the path they usually took and lead the group down it. "Keep your eyes pealed for a stag," she told everyone. "This reminds me of the forest near my old house in Australia," Matt commented after a few minutes of walking. "How was Australia this year?" Albus asked, remembering that his friend just returned to Britain the previous day. "It was all right. No different than usual. It was boring of course, and my grandmother kept telling us how we should visit more often." "You're not going to, are you?" John asked. "Don't think so. Mum and Dad don't really want to. Plus they want to go visit my Uncle Jack in New York this summer." "That would be fun," Amanda replied. "Yeah, I hope we get to go." The group continued walking into the forest until Rose announced that it would be better if they sat completely still and waited for a stag to walk by. She said their movement would scare the creatures away. Albus sat down in the snow behind a shrub with his friends and watched and listened for animals. After a half hour of waiting, Albus was bored. How long was it going to take for a stag to cross their path? He would much rather just walk around to find one. Rose seemed perfectly content to sit still, as did Matt. John had made a large pile of snow balls, along with a snow wizard. Amanda was busy creating a snow witch to go along with his wizard. "I'm bored," John sighed as he made yet another snow ball. "How long is this going to take?" "I don't know," Rose shrugged, "We don't see stags that often in here, so it might be a while." Albus glanced at his watch, "Well it's just after two, so if we don't find one soon, we'll have to go back." He stared into the forest and willed a stag to come. Albus was getting frustrated by this point. They needed that stag print for the map! There was no place else to find one. What if they couldn't find a stag before the end of the holiday? They would have to wait until the summer to search again. Albus couldn't wait that long. He needed the map now. "Wait," Matt stood up and turned around, "I think I hear something over there." He pointed to a cluster of bushes a couple meters away. "I don't hear it," John replied. "Shush!" Matt whispered, "You know I can hear things you can't." Matt started slowly making his way towards the cluster of bushes. Albus and the others followed behind, nobody saying a word. "Wands ready," Matt whispered. Albus pulled out his wand and pointed it towards the bushes, his mind racing with excitement as he went. This was it! They were going to get the stag print! Part of Albus's mind knew that this wasn't necessarily a stag, but he didn't pay attention to that. What else could it be? Most of the animals in the forest were too small to be rustling the bushes this much. As Albus got closer to it, he could distinctly hear the footprints of the animal, and they were much too loud to be a rabbit or a squirrel. There weren't many large animals in the forest, stags being some of the few. It could be a doe, but Albus hoped it wasn't. The group was now only a couple feet away from the bushes. Everyone had their wand pointed at them, waiting for the animal to make its appearance. The moment Albus saw the leaves part, he shouted, "Stupefy!" "Stupefy!" Rose, John, Matt, and Amanda all shouted at once. Whatever was in the bushes jumped to the side and missed all five stunning spells. "Whoa! What the bloody hell do you lot think you're doing!" It was Teddy. The noise Matt had heard in the bushes was Teddy. Albus lowered his wand and sighed. So much for finding a stag. Now that Teddy was with them, they would no longer be able to look. Albus turned to his friends and saw them all put their wands away. Teddy fully emerged from the bush and walked over to where Albus was with a bewildered look on his face. "Do I even want to know what you're up to?" "Er," Albus began, trying to think up an excuse fast. "We're just taking a walk in the forest and you scared us!" Rose announced, "Sneaking up on us like that, what did you think we'd do?" "Shriek, maybe?" Teddy gave them a lopsided grin, "But not attack me." "So you were trying to scare us?" Rose said exasperatingly "A bit, yeah," Teddy laughed. "Worked, didn't it?" "I'll say," Rose muttered. Albus listened to the two of them but didn't add anything. He was forever grateful that his cousin was a better liar than he was. "It's kind of cold to be going for a hike," Teddy commented, "But Ron said you were here, so I figured I'd see if I could find you." He eyed John's pile of snowballs and grinned, "Planning on having a snow ball fight?" Teddy didn't wait for an answer and picked up a few of John's snowballs. He threw one at Albus and the other at Rose. "Watch it!" Albus shouted as the snowball made contact with his face. He spat out the snow and bent down to make his own snow ball. He aimed it at Teddy but Teddy jumped out of the way and it hit Matt instead. "Hey!" Matt shouted as he picked up one of John's snowballs and threw it at Albus. It landed square on Albus's chest. A few moments later, a huge snowball fight broke out. It was every man for himself for a while and Albus was getting pummeled by Teddy's snowballs. He tried to get Teddy back, but Teddy was too quick for him. Instead, Albus decided to focus on Matt, who was trying to get Albus back for the snowball that had hit him instead of Teddy. Rose eventually joined Albus in his attempt to get Matt, while Amanda evened out the odds by joining Matt's side. John, who seemed to be the only one with enough skill to hit Teddy, was having a one-on-one fight with the blue haired boy and was actually doing well. The six of them were completely soaked by the time the fight ended. Matt and Amanda surrendered to Rose and Albus after the cousins decided to create about twenty snowballs and lob them constantly at their two friends. John surrendered to Teddy a few minutes later, once Teddy decided to charm a pile of snow to turn itself into snowballs, resulting in a never-ending supply of ammunition for Teddy. John didn't know that spell and was stuck hand making his snow balls while Teddy continuously sent snowballs at him. "Who's up for Quidditch?" Teddy asked as they were walking back through the forest to Rose's house. "M-maybe after I d-dry off," Albus shivered. The snow had completely penetrated his cloak and was now freezing it into an icicle. His friends nodded in agreement. "Sounds good," Teddy replied, "Harry and James should be at the house by now. A little while later, Albus found himself back at Rose's house, where everyone was waiting for the Quidditch match to start. Albus, along with his friends, ran upstairs to dry off and change quickly. "Ready?" Teddy jumped up from the chair he was sitting on once Albus and his friends descended the stairs. "Who hasn't got a broom with them?" "Me," Amanda said. She was the only one. John and Matt, who both had brooms, had brought them knowing they would play Quidditch. "We've got spares," Ron announced, holding a couple brooms in his hand. Once everyone had a broom to use, Teddy started to take charge of creating teams. "All right. Let's see, we've got Me, Harry, Ron, James, Albus, John, Matt, Amanda, Hugo, and Rose, are you playing?" "Sure, why not?" Rose shrugged. "Good, then we've got ten players. That's five per team. So each team will have a Seeker, a beater, a Keeper, and two chasers, that'll work. I'll be one of the Seekers," he turned to Harry and James, "Which one of you will be the other?" "You can, James," Harry offered, "I'll do whatever is needed." After a few minutes of organizing, the two teams were created. Albus's team consisted of Teddy as Seeker, Ron as Keeper, Hugo as the only Beater, and Matt and himself as the two Chasers. On the other team, James was Seeker, Amanda was Keeper, John was the Beater, and Rose and Harry as Chasers. The two teams trooped outside into the cold winter day. It was just starting to snow a little, but Albus didn't mind. He would keep warm while he was playing anyway. Harry and Ron conjured goal hoops and everyone flew into the air. Hermione released the balls (only one Bludger, since there were only two beaters) and threw the Quaffle into the air, then conjured herself a chair to watch. The match was nothing like the ones at Hogwarts. It was much more informal, and in a way, Albus enjoyed it more. There was only friendly competition between the two teams and no one got angry when someone dropped the Quaffle, which happened a lot. The two teams were pretty evenly matched in terms of Chasing skills. Albus, who was the only real Chaser on either team, was easily the best. Harry was a decent Chaser, but it was clear that Seeking was his real skill. Rose was absolutely dreadful and was the first to admit it. She wasn't a big fan of flying in the first place and didn't like to take her hands off her broom in order to catch and throw the Quaffle. Matt was better than Rose, but dropped the Quaffle numerous times. Albus and Matt scored more points than Harry and Rose did. Ron, of course, was a very good Keeper and Amanda was as well. Albus was kind of surprised at this, because she never really played Quidditch before. Maybe she could try out for the Gryffindor team once Georgia left. John was an amazing Beater and Albus already knew that he'd be trying out for the team after Bradley and Ryan left. Hugo was also a very good Beater and it was obvious he had received all the Quidditch genes in his family. Then, of course, there were the Seekers. Both Teddy and James were amazing Seekers and by far two of the best players on either team. After about an hour of playing, during which Albus was sure both Teddy and James had seen the Snitch but ignored it in order to drag the game on longer, both Seekers flew directly up into the air. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch. A few seconds later, they both came flying back down and James had the Snitch clutched in his hand. "I got it!" he shouted. "That puts your team ahead," Hermione announced, "You won 270 to 210." "Yes!" James exclaimed, landing on the ground. Albus and the rest of the players landed after him and congratulated him and his team for winning. "Ha! I beat you at Quidditch, Teddy!" James gloated. "Yeah, yeah, good job," Teddy sighed, "Knew I shouldn't have trained you that well." "You'll be saying otherwise when we win the Cup this year!" James grinned, "We already beat Slytherin." "I know, I was there," Teddy laughed, "Anyway, I'm just joking." Despite the fact that his team didn't win, Albus was happy. He loved playing Quidditch with his family, even more than playing on his House team. It was even better with his friends there, too. He walked back into the house with his friends and family, cold but very content. Hermione had made a plate of sandwiches for them, which everyone ate enthusiastically once they had dried off. After all the food had been eaten, John Flooed back to his house and Albus, Rose, and Hermione went with Matt and Amanda back to the Leaky Cauldron to meet their families. It had been a short visit, but a fun one nonetheless. Albus only wished that they had managed to get the stag print. He and Rose were planning on trying again the next day, and the next if it was necessary. They had three more days to do it and Albus was determined to succeed. ****** Albus and Rose spent as much time as they could in the forest looking for stags the next day. When they weren't in the forest, they spent their time in the library in Rose's house, looking for a charm to keep Kaden quiet. "There's books in here that aren't in the school library," Rose announced as they walked into the room after a particularly cold jaunt in the forest. "I'm still not sure we should take a break from looking for a stag," Albus replied. "It's too cold out there now. Plus there's a storm coming and it won't do us any good if we get lost out there." Rose went over to a book shelf and Albus followed. He had been in this room plenty of times before, just never to look for a specific charm. "How are we supposed to find one charm hidden in all these books?" Albus sighed, "We don't even know what it's called." "That's what this is for," Rose slammed a heavy book down on the table nearest to the shelf she pulled it off of. Albus looked at the book, "[i]An Encyclopedia of Charms[/i] by Filius Flitwick. That's who Mum and Dad had for Charms, isn't it?" "Yes," Rose confirmed as she opened the cover, "It's a rather ingenious idea, really. All I've got to do is take my wand, point it at the book, and say 'I need a charm to keep someone quiet' and it will flip to the right page." "That would certainly speed things along," Albus replied. "Try it." "All right," Rose pointed her wand at the book, "I need a charm to keep someone quiet." The book's pages immediately started turning until they stopped about a quarter of the way into the book. Rose peered at it and then shook her head. "Nope, that's not it. This one's just a silencing charm." "Maybe you've got to be more specific," Albus suggested. Rose nodded. "I need a charm to prevent someone from talking about something." The pages started turning again and stopped a few seconds later. Rose sighed after she read the description. "This one charms a person's mouth shut." Albus laughed, "Well that would definitely keep Kaden from talking about the map!" "People might notice, though," Rose smirked, "Although it does have it's advantages. I'll try something else." "I think you'd better tell the book exactly what we need the charm to do. Tell it that Kaden has to not talk about a specific thing." "Good idea," Rose poised her wand above the book, "I need to keep Kaden Durlsey from revealing secrets about Matt Eckerton. He must only be able to talk about these secrets with five other people and not mention them to anyone else. He should be able to converse normally about other topics." "That ought to be specific enough." Albus watched as the book hesitated for a few moments and then turn its pages to one of the last ones. Both Rose and Albus leaned over the book while Rose read aloud. "'[i]The Sileo Altus Charm is the most complex and intricate of the silencing charms. This charm has the ability to keep a person from revealing one specific piece of information to others, unlike other silencing charms which prevent a person from speaking at all. The charm also has the ability to involve others, which will result in the person the charm is cast on to be able to converse about the secret with those specific people. When done correctly, this charm will last forever or until the counter charm is performed. The Sileo Altus Charm keeps a person's secret safe much like the Fidelius Charm keeps a person's location secret and is said to be just as safe.'[/i] "Then there's a whole bunch of spells that are required," Rose scanned the remainder of the entry. "There's a spell that has to be performed on each person who is involved, one on Kaden, one on the secret-keeper-" "There's a secret keeper?" Albus asked. "Yeah, I guess so. Then there's the overall charm," Rose continued, "It sounds complicated. But I'm up for it. This doesn't really tell me how to do it, though. There's just a list of spells." Albus glanced at the entry, "Oh, it says there's more information in [i]Charms of Protection[/i] by Natalia Journo." "You're right, I hadn't noticed that," Rose leaned over the book again and read the title of the recommended book. "I think we might actually have that one." Rose jumped up from her seat and ran across the room. Albus sat back and watched her. He had no idea how she could possibly know if she had that book or not. The entire room was filled with shelves and shelves of books. Albus wouldn't even know where to look to find the book they needed. Rose returned a few minutes later with a book in her arms and a smile on her face. "We do have it! This was easier than I thought it would be." "I think doing the actual charm is going to off-set the ease of finding it," Albus pointed out. Rose shrugged, "I think I can figure it out within a few weeks." She sat back down and opened the book. Albus watched as his cousin flipped through the pages of the book until she found the charm they were looking for. He was very happy that Rose was so eager to learn new charms. It certainly helped that she was good at it, too. Albus had made a lot of progress in charms ever since Professor Cedonia arrived, but he was still average. Rose was easily the best in their class. That and her eagerness to learn would certainly help if she was going to master this charm. Rose read in silence for a few minutes and then turned to Albus. "All right. This explains it pretty well. First, of course, we've got to tell Kaden the secrets. Then we've got to pick the secret keeper. I'm thinking that I'll have to be the secret keeper since the secret keeper is the one to perform the charms." Albus nodded, "I'm fine with that. We've just got to make sure Matt is. What does the secret keeper do?" "Just perform the charms. And the secret keeper is the only one who can perform the counter charm on Kaden. Normally the secret keeper would be the only one the person could talk about the secret with as well. But we'll use another charm to ensure that Kaden can talk about the secrets with you, John, Matt, and Amanda as well." "That sounds good," Albus replied. "What else?" "Well, the secret keeper performs a charm on themselves, which turns them into the secret keeper. Then they perform a charm on Kaden. Then Kaden will recite the secrets in detail. After that, the secret keeper performs another charm on Kaden. Then charms are performed on the rest of the people involved. Then a final sealing charm on everyone, including Kaden and the secret keeper, and it's done." The idea of all those different spells made Albus's brain hurt. "Wow, that's a lot of charms. We've never done ones that are a combination of multiple charms." "The transference charm is one of those, but it only uses two. This one is five." "What's the counter charm involve?" Albus asked, thinking that maybe there would be a time when Kaden would mature and they wouldn't have to rely on magic to keep him from spilling secrets to Malfoy. "Erm, it seems pretty much like the actual charm," Rose looked back at the book, "You pretty much go backwards, using different charms." "Makes sense." "I'll start practicing as soon as we're back at school," Rose shut the book and got up. "I'll bring the book. Mum'll never know, she's got way too many to keep track of." "All right," Albus got up and followed her to the door, "Now we've just got to find that stag." "It's going to have to wait until tomorrow, Albus," Rose pointed to the window. It was white with swirling snow and the wind was howling. "Mum and Dad'll never let us out in that." ****** Albus was getting quite fed up with the stag search by the time late afternoon arrived the next day. He and Rose spent the entire morning in the forest, taking a break for lunch, and then returning in the afternoon. Albus looked at his watch and saw that they would have to be starting to return to the house soon. "We're never going to find a stag!" he groaned. Rose, who had brought the charm book they had found the previous day, looked up. "You've just got to be patient. I told you one won't come if we're noisy." "We've been quiet for the past two hours," Albus said flatly. "You're not being quiet now," Rose whispered and returned to her book. Albus sighed and stared out into the forest. So far Albus had seen no less than ten rabbits and four owls, but no stags. He was getting very cold sitting in the snow and his cloak had long since soaked through. Albus was determined, however, and refused to go back to Rose's house until they found a stag. It had seemed so simple at first, to stun a stag in the forest and get its footprint. This was not supposed to be the hardest print to get. Looking back, even the werewolf one seemed easier. Sure, they got locked out of Hogwarts, but they never got in trouble for it. The dog print had been the easiest, since Amanda had a dog. The rat would be easy, too, once John managed to catch one. Albus pulled out his wand and started to poke at the snow wizard he had constructed earlier. The wand melted holes into the snow wizard until it started to resemble a piece of snow swiss cheese. Albus was just beginning to do the same to the snow hippogriff that had been formed after the wizard when Rose poked him and hissed, "Albus, look!" Albus raised his head and looked in the direction Rose was pointing. Directly in front of them was a majestic looking doe, standing completely still and staring just to the left of where the two cousins were sitting. "It's just a doe," Albus whispered back, "It won't work." "I know, but there's usually a stag around when there's a doe." Albus sat completely still with his wand facing towards the doe. Rose did the same and the two of them didn't move for a good five minutes. The doe inched slowly ahead, walking to the left of Albus and Rose. Then Albus heard a rustling behind the doe and excitement washed over him as he saw a huge stag appear from behind a cluster of trees. "This is it," he whispered to Rose. She nodded but didn't say anything. The stag walked towards the doe, who had turned around to look at her mate. "On the count of three. One...two...three. Stupefy!" Albus shouted. "Stupefy!" Rose shouted at the same time. The doe shot off like a rocket as soon as the cousins shouted the spell. The stag started to follow but was hit by Albus's stunner. Rose's spell hit a nearby tree and burned a small hole into the bark. "Excellent shot, Albus!" Rose grinned at him as they ran towards the stag. "Thanks." "Let's hurry. We won't have much time before he wakes up," Rose reached into her robes and pulled out a piece of parchment, a bottle of ink, and a paint brush. The stag was even bigger up close. Its eyes darted around nervously as Rose painted the ink onto its front hoof. Albus quickly pressed the parchment onto the hoof and pulled it away. A perfect hoof print appeared on the parchment. "This one's good," Albus showed it to Rose. "Good," she put the stopper on her ink and stowed both it and the brush back in her cloak, "Now let's go. He won't be happy when he wakes up." Albus didn't need telling twice. He blew onto the parchment a few times to dry the ink and then put it in his cloak. The two cousins ran through the trees and back to the house. It only took them a few minutes as they weren't very far. Albus was thrilled that they had actually managed to get the print. The only print left was the rat one and then they would be able to try out the map.
Comma Joined: 4 September 2008 Posts: 14	Posted: Tuesday 23 September 2008 08 07 16 pm    Post subject: Re: A Gaunt Tale in topic:A Gaunt Tale No one's replied in quite a while, but I figure I'll put up the rest of the prologue really quick. It's 3,771 words long - longer than what I've been posting - but I'm up to chapter 8 already in my rewrite so I'm just going to go ahead and post the rest. --- (Prologue, last part) Katalina waited until the last minute of the train ride to change into her Hogwarts uniform. She was dreading the sorting ceremony. She didn’t care at that point in time how she was to be sorted. All she knew was that she didn’t want to be sorted at all. Slytherin was the last thing she wanted, but at the same time, she wanted it more than anything. She hadn’t waited eleven years to get away from her father just so she could be taken back home for being sorted in a house he considered to be wrong. However, she didn’t want to be in the same house as Lucius Malfoy or Narcissa Black or even her own brother. They repulsed her in a way that words could even begin to describe. Her father often spoke of how they had propper beliefs of their kind, how they knew what sort of witches and wizards they should associate with and which sort they shouldn’t. Her own father made her sick with his constant preaching of the old ways. She never would have told him so to his face, but he really did aggravate her. She felt her stomach turn in apprehension as she followed an extremely tall man, along with the rest of the first years, to a fleet of small boats fit to seat four people. She joined the girl that had been in the compartment with her earlier, along with the boy she had left with, and found out they were Lily Evans and Severus Snape, who both already seemed to loathe James Potter, who was the boy in the round glasses. They seemed nice enough, so she decided to keep close to them as they got off of the boats after a long ride and were ushered into the castle. “Come on, firs’ years!” the tall man was saying to the few who were straying off. Katalina was starting to wonder if maybe he was a giant, or at least part giant. “This way! Come on!” They followed him to a halt as the doors opened. Katalina, Lily, and Severus all craned their necks to see over the crowd in front of them. An old witch in green robes with her hair in a tight, neat black bun stood at the door. Katalina decided immediately that should she stay here, she wouldn’t even think about crossing this witch, as she didn’t look particularly tolerant. After the tall man introduced her as Professor McGonagall, they followed her down a hallway and into an empty classroom, and they stopped inside. She shut the door behind her and turned to face the crowd. “Welcome to Hogwarts,” she said. “You will all be sorted into your houses very soon. The Sorting Ceremony is very important – while you are here, your house will be like your family. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in the same dormitory as those in your year in the same house, and spend free time in the house common room. “The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Your triumphs at Hogwarts will earn you points for your house. Rule-breaking will lose house points. These points will be counted at the end of the year, and the house with the most points is awarded with the house cup. I hope each of you will be a good addition to the house you are sorted into. “The Sorting Ceremony will take place in front of the rest of the students in a few short moments. I shall return when we are ready for you,” she concluded, her hand on the doorknob. “Please wait here quietly.” Katalina’s stomach churned even more as excited whispers broke out when McGonagall left. Lily looked almost as nervous, though Severus didn’t quite as much. “What do they do to sort us, exactly?” she asked Katalina quietly. “I don’t know, my brother wouldn’t tell me.” “D’you know what they do?” Lily asked Severus. “My mother said something about a hat,” he said. “Th… that’s all?” Lily asked, sounding surprised, but still relieved. “Oh, good. I was worried we were going to have to do actual magic. I’ve practiced some, but I didn’t know if it was enough or not. Have either of you practiced anything?” “Only a bit,” Severus said. “My dad made me learn a few things,” said Katalina, looking around the empty classroom. “Not much though, since I didn’t have a wand until a few weeks ago.” “What sort of things?” Lily asked curiously. Katalina was thankful that McGonagall came back before she had the chance to answer. She didn’t feel like telling anyone she had been forced to learn about dark magic before she even entered school. McGonagall guided them away to the Great Hall, where there were four tables of students. She saw her brother at one and assumed it to be the Slytherin table. Her suspicions were confirmed when she spotted Lucius Malfoy, a prefect with platinum blond hair. They all stopped at the Great Hall, where a hat sat upon a stool up near the teacher’s table. McGonagall stood next to the hat. They stood through a song sung by the hat, but Katalina was too busy trying to hold down the sweets she had eaten on the train to listen to it. She almost hoped it would sort her into Slytherin just for being a Gaunt, but there was really no telling. She didn’t want to go home. The first Slytherin to be sorted was Bellatrix Black. Katalina gave a slight grimace when that name was called, having come into contact with this girl before. The hat shouted Slytherin after having barely touched her hair and, looking rather smug, she hurried over to sit at the Slytherin table next to a girl that Katalina assumed was her sister, Narcissa Black. The next to be sorted was Sirius Black, one of the boys that had been in the same compartment as her and James Potter. He was sorted into Gryffindor. A few more names later was Lily, who was also sorted into Gryffindor. Shortly after was Katalina. Katalina walked slowly up to the hat, wondering what would happen. She picked it up and put it on her head as she sat upon the wooden stool in front of the Great Hall. She couldn’t see the faces looking up at her, as the hat covered her eyes. She heard a voice in her ear, and she assumed it had to be the hat. “Gaunt, eh? Doesn’t seem like the lot of them…. Witty, yes, definitely, but not prejudiced. No, definitely not…” Put me in Slytherin, please, I need to stay here… she thought. “Slytherin?” Her heart jumped when she comprehended that the hat could read her mind. “No, definitely not Slytherin, you don’t belong there. I’d say… GRYFFINDOR!” She flinched slightly, though the Gryffindor table seemed to be cheering and clapping. She took the hat off of her head and walked slowly over to the table Lily had joined. She sat between Sirius Black and Lily, as Lily had been glaring at Sirius upon accidently sitting down next to him. “Sev’ll probably be in Slytherin like he wanted,” Lily said. “Where were you hoping to go?” “Slytherin,” she said quietly. “I really didn’t want to, but I… my dad told me he’d pull me out to be homeschooled if I was sorted anywhere – ow!” She rubbed the back of her head when she felt something hit it. She looked behind her and saw the culprit – a balled up piece of parchment. She picked it up and unfolded it, and immediately recognized the handwriting to be her brother’s. There were only five words written upon it: Dad’s going to kill you. “… said he’d pull me out if I was sorted anywhere other than Slytherin…” she finished with a sigh, staring at the paper. She looked behind her at the Slytherin table, where her brother was looking quite smug. She glared at him for a moment before turning back around. “What’s that?” “My brother…” she grumbled, crumbling the paper back up and putting it in a pocket in her robes. “Not important.” “Your brother’s here too?” “Yeah, Slytherin. He’d be home if he were in any other house.” She bit the side of her fist, staring up at the front of the Great Hall for a moment, then she looked back at Lily. “My dad’s going to kill me.” “I don’t think he’d actually kill you,” Lily said comfortingly. “I mean, he’s your dad, after all, right?” “My dad is the root of all evil,” she said, shaking her head. “You have no idea what he’s like.” –– After a week at the school, Katalina started to become confident that maybe her father would let her be, let her stay at Hogwarts as a Gryffindor. However, on one weekend when she was sitting outside on the grounds with Lily and Severus, the three of them attempting to look up things for the Potions essay they had been assigned, her hopes were shattered. She flinched as she felt someone poke her sharply in the shoulder, at which she looked up. “What do you want?” she asked her brother. “I thought you didn’t know me?” Despite her bored tone, she was absolutely horrified at the look on his face. “Oh, I know you,” he said happily. “You’re my sister who’s going to be leaving tomorrow.” At once, her heart stopped for a moment, her stomach turned to lead, and breathing became a very hard task. She blinked at him, silently praying he was lying. “Y– you’re – you’re not – you’re lying,” she managed to stammer, shutting her Potions book and standing up. He handed her a piece of parchment. “McGonagall told me. She didn’t look very happy about it. You’re supposed to go see the headmaster, it should all be there. Hope you have a nice first year.” He walked back towards the castle. Katalina sat back down on the grass near the lake with Lily and Severus, unfolding the parchment and reading: Miss Gaunt, Headmaster Dumbledore requires that you come to his office at once. Please see me in my office immediately and I will take you there. Professor McGonagall Katalina looked up, her mouth hanging open a little. Lily and Severus stared back apprehensively. At lack of words, she swallowed and handed Lily the letter. Severus also read it over her shoulder. “B– but that could mean anything, couldn’t it?” Lily asked. “It might be about something else entirely!” Katalina shook her head, taking the letter back and putting it in her pocket. “I’ll let you know…” she said, picking up her Potions book. She stood. Lily stood up as well, and so did Severus. “I’m coming with you,” she said. “McGonagall probably won’t let you –” “Then we’ll follow you to her office, if it is true you might get rushed off too fast to tell us anything so we should go with you.” Katalina looked between the two of them. Even though it had only been a week, they had been good friends so far. Keeping them in the dark would have been wrong. Slowly, she nodded. “You can follow me there, but don’t try to sneak around McGonagall if she tells you not to follow her to Dumbledore’s office.” “Of course not,” Lily said, shaking her head, “that would loose house points for Gryffindor, I wouldn’t do that!” “All right… come on, then.” They hurried to the castle doors. Katalina stopped once inside and looked from Lily to Severus, who stopped in front of her. “Why –?” began Lily. “If I’m being sent home,” Katalina said quietly, looking around the entrance hall, “then I will come back. I don’t know when, it might not be next year, but I’ll come back before our seventh year.” “How’re you planning to talk your father into it?” Severus asked. “My mum knows him because of Voldemort, says he’s really stubborn.” “V– Voldemort?” Lily said, looking between them. “He’s real? I heard people saying there were rumors.” Katalina nodded, her head stooping to look at her feet. “And my dad’s his number one supporter. He’s been around for quite a while now, he’s only just let people that aren’t on his side start to know that he exists.” “I… is he powerful?” asked Lily nervously as they began walking again. “From what I’ve heard, he is,” said Severus. “He’s openly said that he believes himself to be more powerful than Dumbledore.” “More powerful than Dumbledore?” Lily repeated incredulously. “That’s mad, Dumbledore’s supposed to be one of the greatest sorcerers to have ever lived, according to our History of Magic textbook.” “Voldemort’s extremely pompous,” said Katalina quietly as Bellatrix and Narcissa Black passed them on their way outside – if either of them heard her say that, she would have been on the floor, there was no doubt in that. “He’s under the impression that he’s the most powerful sorcerer to have ever walked the earth, and so he thinks he’s better than Dumbledore.” They hurried on to Professor McGonagall’s office, and she looked somewhere between frustrated and very tired when they got there. She looked at the three of them, particularly at Lily and Severus. “I do apologize,” she said, “but I need to speak with Miss Gaunt in private, if you don’t mind.” Lily looked most disappointed. “Yes, professor…” she said quietly, turning to walk out of the office along with Severus. As the door shut behind them, Professor McGonagall sat behind her desk and motioned for Katalina to sit in the chair across from it. She did as instructed and stared at her knees, waiting for McGonagall to say the words she was absolutely dreading to hear. “Miss Gaunt,” she began, “it is to my understanding that your family has been sorted into Slytherin for generations, is that true?” “Yes, ma’am,” Katalina said, not bothering to look up. She was just waiting for it to come. She heard a sigh. “That is what your father told us…. He seems to believe you… aren’t ready to come to Hogwarts yet, for whatever reasons.’” Katalina was happy to hear skepticism in McGonagall’s words at this, but not entirely sure she was happy to hear the words themselves. “If Hogwarts had any say in it, you would be staying, but your own father has more of one than we do. He… he has written to us asking that you be removed from Hogwarts to be homeschooled.” Katalina nodded gravely – there was no point in protesting it. “The letter said I had to speak with Professor Dumbledore?” “Yes,” said McGonagall, standing. “He will give you more details pertaining to… to the situation.” Katalina stood and followed Professor McGonagall, wondering what else need be explained. She already knew the details – her father wanted her in Slytherin, and she ended up in Gryffindor. In a family like the Gaunts, that was utter blasphemy. She did her best to memorize as much of the hallways as she could in her last minutes here, on her way to Dumbledore’s office. She had never imagined Hogwarts would be so amazing, since she avoided asking her brother questions about anything as often as possible. After a few flights of stairs and a walk down a corridor on the second floor, Professor McGonagall stopped in front of a statue of a gargoyle. “Ice Mice.” The statue of the gargoyle leapt aside. Katalina tilted her head slightly, contemplating both the rotating spiral staircase in the opening of the wall and the headmaster’s strange choice of passwords. She stepped onto the stairway with Professor McGonagall. The gargoyle moved back into place behind them as the stairs took them up, much like an escalator in a Muggle shopping mall – she had always found those rather fascinating. It stopped in front of a door, behind which Katalina could hear not one, but two voices. Her heart sank – one belonged to her father. “… just don’t think she is ready to work with other witches and wizards her age yet, Dumbledore,” she heard him saying as they approached the door. “Much the same was the situation with my aunt, Merope Gaunt. I’ve heard her parents withdrew her for the same reason.” “Not so much,” said a second voice calmly; Katalina assumed this was Dumbledore. “Marvolo Gaunt withdrew Merope from Hogwarts because he was infuriated she wasn’t sorted into Slytherin, I remember it quite well as I was working here at the time as a Transfiguration teacher. I suppose you didn’t know about this?” “That was the situation?” he asked curiously. He could be a good actor when he needed to be…. “My, I never knew, my father told me his sister just had problems working around other students. I’m merely worried that my daughter may have that very problem, I wouldn’t ever take her from as fine a school as Hogwarts just because she was sorted into the ‘wrong’ house.” Professor McGonagall knocked on the door as they approached it, her lips thin. She obviously trusted Timothy Gaunt about as far as she could have thrown him. Katalina couldn’t blame her at all for this. She opened the door when a voice from inside told her it was fine to do so, and Katalina followed her into the office. If it weren’t for the situation in play at the moment, Katalina would have taken a moment to look around at the place. It was rather interesting, really. It was definitely in one of the towers of the castle, as the room itself was somewhat circular. There were strange little silver instruments strewn about different tables, and portraits of old headmasters on the wall, all snoring – though, Katalina noticed, they would occasionally open their eyes to see what was happening, then quickly shut them and continue snoring. Situated on a perch next to the desk in the room was a large, red bird, about the size of an eagle or a hawk, with long tail feathers. It looked like the descriptions she had heard of phoenixes, so she assumed it was one. Katalina took a seat in a chair next to her father in the office and did her best not to look him in the eye. She guessed the man sitting behind the desk in the office was Dumbledore. He looked old, even ancient, with long white hair and a white beard past his belt. His nose appeared to have been broken once or twice, with as long and crooked as it was. He didn’t look overly angry about the situation as McGonagall did, but he gave off the impression of being able to hide such things rather well. “Miss Gaunt,” he said, “I am very regretful to inform you that you will not be able to remain at Hogwarts.” Katalina nodded, choosing to look at the phoenix next to the desk rather than at any of the other people in the room. “I’m terribly sorry, dear,” she heard her father saying. She felt like hexing him. “I’m just not sure you’re ready to cooperate with other students.” “She has done fine so far.” Katalina tried to suppress a grin at Professor McGonagall’s words. “If anything, she’s more advanced than most other first years. Any teacher here will attest to it.” “Oh, no doubt she’s good with magic itself,” Timothy said calmly. “I taught her a bit myself before she entered school so she would know what to expect. As I said, I’m merely afraid she will have problems getting along with other students.” “Why?” Katalina managed to keep herself from recoiling at her own words as she looked at her father. “Because I was sorted into a house you don’t think a Gaunt should be in?” She knew she would regret this later. He wouldn’t do anything with McGonagall and Dumbledore standing by, but he would later. A flash of something like infuriation came across his face for a moment, but he managed to keep calm. “You know that isn’t the case, Ka –” “Then why did you tell me that you’d pull me out of Hogwarts if I wasn’t sorted into Slytherin when I got my letter? Al said you told him that your granddad did the same thing to our great aunt, except she was put in Ravenclaw. You’re just upset because things didn’t go the way you wanted them to and I got sorted into Gryffindor!” Now the flicker of anger stayed burning upon his face as he glared at Katalina. His eyes were narrowed and when he spoke, it was barely in more than a hiss. “What have I told you about back talking me?” “I’m not back talking you, I’m telling the truth!” “They don’t need to know anything about the ‘truth,’” he shot back at her. She realized quite suddenly that his voice seemed like a hiss for the simple reason that it was one. “They do need to know the truth, and there’s no point speaking in Parseltongue, I’ll just translate everything you say.” She crossed her arms and glared at him indignantly. He stared back, his eyes cold as ice. Katalina wasn’t sure where her sudden nerve was coming from, but she was sure her father would beat whatever was left of it out of her later. Something kept her going, though, and she absolutely detested whatever it was. “Even if you pull me out, I’m going to come back,” said Katalina, pointing at him. “I might not be able to for a few more years, but I will.” He turned from Katalina to look back at Dumbledore. “When will I be taking her home?” “As soon as she has packed her things,” said Dumbledore. Professor McGonagall escorted Katalina out of the office and up to the seventh floor, where the Gryffindor common room was located, explaining on the way that they would be leaving by Portkey. She had only traveled by Portkey once before and hadn’t enjoyed it at all, but she wasn’t much in the mood to protest anything else. She was still leaving Hogwarts and was probably going to be in quite a bit of trouble with her father when she arrived home. She was going to be forced to learn about the Dark Arts and the old ways. As she packed, all she could think of was whether or not there was some way to get out of it. The only conclusion she could come to was to sneak back to Hogwarts – she just wasn’t sure how that was going to work.
GodrictheGriffon Joined: 27 December 2006 Posts: 3955 Location: Beside the veil, waiting for Sirius.... And Midnight! I wonder how long your location can be?....	Posted: Tuesday 23 September 2008 02 20 27 pm    Post subject: Re: Broomsticks and Owls in topic:Broomsticks and Owls He-he! For Halloween I think that I'll be a dementor with a Hermione wig on. Or the Naughty Wizard Costume. J/K. Paul's never going to live that one down.
Scellanis Joined: 11 September 2002 Posts: 6457 Location: Pretending to be a sea slug with 'go faster' stripes...	Posted: Monday 22 September 2008 01 38 29 pm    Post subject: Re: Broomsticks and Owls in topic:Broomsticks and Owls *giggles* I wonder....does Paul know he is selling "Adult Naughty Wizard Girl" costume Don't worry, its not that naughty...it just amuses me. But anyways, have you seen the cute kiddie's owl costume? I vote we club together, buy one, kidnap Riley and put him in it...
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Monday 22 September 2008 12 06 49 pm    Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow Disclaimer- I do not own Nintendo or Mario Kart. Chapter 12: Muggle Encyclopedias Life at home returned to normal as soon as I got back. Well, as normal as it had been since I wen home for the holidays after third year. I wouldn't have considered that normal a few months ago, but it was starting to feel normal now. Dad still hadn't elaborated on his issues at work and I had just given up on asking him. It would probably be better to focus my attention on weaseling information about the move out of them. I deserved to know what was going on with the move anyway, since it directly involved me. Mum and Dad didn't seem to pay any attention to that, though, since they just told me that they would tell me more about the move when they were ready to. I took this to meaning they still hadn't found a school that would accept Matt. The two of them still hadn't told me any new information when Matt's birthday arrived the following week. "Come on, Mum, you've got to know something else about it now," I said. "I've told you, we don't know anything new right now," Mum replied as she frosted Matt's cake. "Which schools have you written to?" I asked. "You already know which ones. One in New York, one in Massachusetts, one in Canada, one in Scotland." "That's it? There have got to be others." Mum sighed and set down the frosting. "All right. We've also written to schools in Pennsylvania and Illinois. Those are just to start. We'll write to every school in the States if it comes to that." "Illinois and Pennsylvania?" I repeated and stared at her, "The only place I might consider moving to in the States is New York and that's only because Uncle Jack lives there." "Well you don't really have a say in this, Amy," Mum shook her head, "Your father and I will be making this decision." "What are the schools like?" I asked, "I don't want to go to one I'll wind up hating." "We'll visit them, if they agree to let Matt attend. If there are a couple that will accept him, you might have a say in the decision." "They'd better all accept him, then," I muttered. "Haven't you gotten any response letters yet?" "Just that rejection one from New Zealand. I'll tell you when we get one," Mum said as she put the left-over frosting into the fridge. "I need you to watch your brother while I go get Richard and Cinda." I glanced at my watch. It was almost half-past five. "I thought Dad was getting them." "He was, but he sent an owl a little while ago to tell me that he had to stay late at work. He won't be back until six-thirty." "Oh," I replied. He was always staying late at work lately. "I'll be back soon," Mum replied, and with a crack, she was gone. I got up from the table and wandered into the hall. I didn't even know where Matt was. The house seemed empty with only the two of us there. I went upstairs and found Matt in his room. He was laying on his bed rifling through his collection of chocolate frog cards. "Mum's getting Richard and Cinda," I announced and walked into his room. "Ok," Matt replied without looking up, "Have you got any Dumbledores?" "Nope," I said as I sat down on the bed. I collected chocolate frog cards as well, but had never gotten Dumbledore. "Bugger," Matt replied, "I've got about twenty Merlins, but not a single Dumbledore." "You'll get one eventually," I assured him. "Yeah, probably. Hey, Mum said we might get to go to Hogwarts. That's where Dumbledore was headmaster. Wouldn't that be neat?" I honestly wouldn't care if Merlin himself was currently headmaster at that school, I still wouldn't want to go there. "I guess," I replied. There was a loud crack coming from downstairs and another one a few seconds later. "Richard or Cinda is here. Let's go downstairs," I suggested. Matt followed me as I went downstairs and into the kitchen. Cinda was standing next to the table in a lavender colored pants suit. She had been looking at the cake, but looked up when she heard us walk in. "Happy Birthday, Matt!" Cinda smiled and gave my brother a hug. "Ta," Matt grinned "Hi, Amy," Cinda kissed both of my cheeks once and gave me a hug. "Hey, Cinda," I replied. There was another crack and Mum and Richard Apparated into the room. Richard wished Matt a happy birthday and said hello to me. After that, Mum took my grandparents into the living room to talk before dinner. Matt and I followed them and settled down on the floor to play a few games of Exploding Snap. I listened to Mum and my grandparents talk as I played Exploding Snap. They really weren't talking about anything that interesting. Richard had immediately asked about the move, but Mum told him pretty much the same thing she told me: That they were still waiting for letters from schools. Cinda hadn't said a word about the party she was planning on throwing. I was sure she was still going to have it, though. Maybe she was thinking of having a surprise party. That would probably go over even worse than a regular party. I could only imagine Mum's reaction to showing up at Cinda's house one day to find a party going on. "What's so funny?" Matt asked. I stifled my laughter about the surprise party. "Nothing." Matt and I continued to play Exploding Snap while Mum talked to Richard and Cinda. I noticed that Mum kept glancing at the clock and then to the fireplace. "When's Dad coming home?" Matt asked after I beat him in yet another game of Exploding Snap. "Anytime now," Mum replied. "I'm hungry," he whined. "I know, honey. We'll eat as soon as Dad gets home," Mum said. Dad finally appeared in the floo a little after seven o'clock, a half hour later than he said he'd be. "Sorry I'm late," he said as he brushed ash off of his robes. "Dad!" Matt jumped up and ran over to the fireplace. "Hey!" Dad grinned and picked him up, "Happy Birthday!" "Let's eat now!" Matt announced. "All right," Dad smiled and let him down. Matt ran into the hall and Richard and Cinda followed him. I decided to hang back a bit because Dad had started whispering to Mum. I strained to listen in on what they were saying. "Everything ok at work?" Mum asked. Dad sighed, "Not really. Everything is just escalating. It's only a matter of time...." Until what? I thought. What was escalating? I took a step towards them, but both of them had gone silent. It didn't seem like Dad was going to elaborate on the topic. Probably since Mum obviously already knew what was escalating. I quietly followed them out of the room and into the formal dining room. Richard, Cinda, Matt, and Ellie were already sitting down. Ellie must have taken all the food out of the fridge and heated it up, since it was all on the table with steam wafting off of it. I took my seat in between Matt and Ellie while Mum and Dad took their seats on the opposite ends of the table. Dad said the prayer and then served everyone up heaping plates of food. I dug into my portion and nobody said much for a while. It was a bit strange being home for Matt's birthday dinner. For the past three years, I had been at school on his birthday, so I missed the celebration. Hell, I hadn't even been home on my own birthday for the past three years. My birthday is October 27, which is during the last term of the school year. I had been having my birthday dinner during the holiday in between the third and fourth terms for the past few years. Before I started going to school at the Australian School of Sorcery, Cinda would throw me a birthday party every year. I loved it when I was little, but by the time I was ten I was sick of them. The last one I had was when I turned eleven and I put up with it because I knew it was the last one. The parties just became too big and I hardly knew half the people who went to them. I would have been satisfied with having Kenzie over to my house to sleep over, but Cinda had other ideas. Matt used to have big parties at Cinda and Richard's house, too. His last one had been the year he turned six, which was only a month and a half after he got bit. I didn't go since I was in school, but Mum and Dad told me it was an absolute disaster. It was only a week after the full moon, which had been his first transformation ever. That transformation had gone terribly and Matt was still worn out and cranky from it when the day of the party arrived. Not to mention the fact that he was covered in fresh scars and partially healed cuts. Dad told me that everyone was asking about them and that in itself was exhausting. Apparently Matt fell asleep shortly into the party and he and my parents were the first ones to leave. Mum told Cinda flat out no more big birthday parties after that. Ever since then, Matt had been having small birthday dinners like I had. Usually they were a bit more fun than tonight's, though. Tonight, everyone was quiet. Even Matt was kind of subdued, which was a bit strange since he had been hyper all day. He must have been picking up on Mum and Dad's stress. I certainly was. Richard and Cinda weren't saying much either. Richard was a normally quiet person but it was rare to see Cinda not talking. Just when I thought I wouldn't be able to stand the silence any longer, Cinda finally decided to say something. "Any idea when you're moving?" Cinda asked. I groaned inwardly. The only reason she was asking was so she could plan that goodbye party, that was now destined to be a surprise party. "I've told you, Cinda, I really don't know," Mum said. "Where are we moving?" Matt asked for what must have been the hundredth time since Mum and Dad told us we were leaving the country. "I don't know," Mum told him. "Can we move to where Uncle Jack lives?" "I really don't know," Mum sighed. "I've been meaning to ask you, Walter," Richard began, "What about your job?" Dad and Mum exchanged another one of those glances and Dad didn't say anything for a few moments. This just confirmed what I'd already been thinking. Something was going on at Dad's work and whatever it was, it wasn't good. "I'll find something wherever we go," Dad finally said, "The number one priority is finding a school for Amy and Matt." Finding a school for Matt, I thought to myself. I could get an education anywhere. "Are you going to sell the house?" Richard asked. "We're not exactly sure," Dad replied, "I've got to talk to my brother before we do anything with the house." I stared at Dad, "Wait, we're not selling it?" "I didn't say that," Dad said, "I said we're not sure what we're doing with it." "So there's a chance we'll keep it?" I asked eagerly. I thought it was a given that we'd sell the house, but maybe I'd guessed wrong. Maybe they would keep it and I could move back after I graduated! "We don't know, Amy," Dad replied adamantly, "I'm not promising anything." "Can we have cake now?" Matt asked loudly. "Good idea," Mum hastily got up from the table and returned moments later with a large cake. She set it down on the table and I looked at it. It was a two-layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Atop it was a green dragon made out of frosting that was breathing red frosting fire. It said 'Happy 8th Birthday, Matt!' on it and had eight green candles. "Wow!" Matt grinned at Mum, "Cool cake!" It was somewhat of a tradition in my family for the birthday person not to see the cake before dessert. We all liked to be surprised on our birthdays. "Thanks," Mum smiled back and pointed her wand at the candles. Flames erupted on each candle and with another flick of Mum's wand, the lights dimmed and only the candlelight remained. We all broke out into an off-key rendition of 'Happy Birthday', which we all sang in different tunes. Dad's ended last and once he was finished, Matt took a deep breath and blew out all the candles at once. "What'd you wish for?" I asked as Dad cut slices of cake. "Can't tell you," Matt said, "Or it won't come true." "I know," I grinned, "Just asking anyway." Dad passed Matt a piece of cake and he immediately stopped talking and took a bite. He gave Mum a wide grin after swallowing it, but didn't say anything. Another one of our traditions. The birthday person was not allowed to talk from the moment they took their first bite of cake until they finished the last bite. Then everyone else would try and get them to talk. No one ever managed to convince me to talk, but I had Matt talking before he was halfway done with his cake on his fourth birthday. That was the last one I had been home for. Of course, now he was twice that age and it would probably be harder to get him to talk. I took a bite of my cake and thought about what to ask him as I chewed. I figured I might as well start with what had gotten him to talk when he turned four. "So, Matt," I smirked, "I know what Mum and Dad got you." He completely ignored me and continued eating his cake. I actually saw Dad crack a bit of a smile at this. I hadn't seen him smile in weeks. "Yeah," I continued, "They got you a nice set of encyclopedias." Matt snorted into his cake and started coughing. He took a gulp of milk and then shook his head. Bugger, I thought, this was harder than it was four years ago. "They're Muggle encyclopedias." Mum and Dad were trying to stifle their laughter. Richard and Cinda were smiling a bit, but didn't seem quite as amused as Mum and Dad. Matt took another bite of cake and I could tell he was trying hard not to laugh. His face was bright red. "They're quite nice, really. All of them have a nice blue cover and gold edged pages." "Everyone needs a good set of encyclopedias," Dad chimed in, "Amy got some when she turned eight." This time it was my turn to laugh into my cake. "Mine are purple. They're upstairs in my potions room. Yours are in that closet upstairs that's always locked." "Tradition in the family, to get encyclopedias on your eighth birthday," Mum commented. Matt was beetroot red now and shoveling in his last bite of cake. He looked ready to burst with laughter. I knew he didn't actually believe the encyclopedia thing, but it was still funny. Plus, it had gotten my parents laughing a bit, which was great. Matt took a large gulp of milk and slammed down his glass. "All right, where are my encyclopedias? I've always wanted a set of them." Everyone, including Matt, burst out laughing. We laughed for what must have been five minutes before we all calmed down. "Where's my real prezzie?" Matt asked, grinning, "It's not in that closet, is it?" "No," Mum laughed, "Not in that closet. I'll be right back." Mum got up from the table and left the room. My present for Matt was already sitting on the counter in the kitchen, so I got it and returned to the table before Mum did. Mum came back with a rectangular box wrapped in shiny green wrapping paper and a gold bow. "This is from Dad and I," Mum said as she set the box down in front of Matt. He tore into the wrapping and pulled out a box. I leaned over and saw that it was a gobstones set. The board was oak and the gobstones were green and red. "Wow!" Matt grinned, "Thanks Mum and Dad." "You're welcome," Mum and Dad said at the same time. "Here's one from me," I handed Matt a small box wrapped in the same green paper. I had had no idea what to get him for his birthday, so I just went with something I knew he'd like. Matt took the box and unwrapped a box of Chocolate Frogs. "This is great, Amy! Thanks!" I smiled at him, "You're welcome." I knew he'd like those, due to his chocolate addiction. Only my own chocolate addiction could top his. There were twelve Chocolate Frogs in that box and I hoped one of them had Dumbledore in it. Cinda excused herself from the table and returned a few moments later with another box. This one was smaller than the gobstones set, but bigger than the Chocolate Frogs. It was wrapped in blue paper. "This is from Richard and I," Cinda said as she handed Matt the box. Matt quickly unwrapped the box and then stared at it. "What's this?" he asked. I looked at the box and started laughing. "What's so funny?" "It's a Nintendo DS. A gaming system," I explained. Kenzie had one and I'd played it a few times. It was pretty fun. "What does it do?" Matt asked. "You can play virtual games on it," I told him, "What game did you get with it?" Matt picked up another box that had come with it. "Mario Kart 7." "Oh, Kenzie's got that one. It's a car racing game. You'll like it." "You got him a Muggle electronic game system?" Dad asked. "Yes. All the kids like them," Cinda said. "First the music thing and now this," Dad muttered. "I like it," Matt announced, "It looks fun. Thanks Richard and Cinda." "All right, if you say so," Dad shook his head. He often seemed reluctant about the Muggle devices. He didn't even like to use the microwave. Matt opened the box and pulled out the red DS. "How does it work?" "You've got to charge it first," I told him and reached over to grab the box. I pulled the charger out and unwrapped it. "See this plug? One end goes into the DS and the other into the socket in the wall." I got up and went over to the socket that was near the kitchen counter. Our house doesn't have many electrical outlets, but there were a couple in the kitchen. I plugged the DS in and set it down on the counter. "Can I play it now?" Matt asked. "It's not charged yet. It takes a lot longer than with magic." "Oh. Do you want to play gobstones, then?" "Sure," I said. The rest of the evening was quite relaxing. Matt and I played match after match of gobstones, most of which I won. Matt didn't really care, though, since Mum would vanish all the slime off of him whenever he got squirted. Mum, Dad, Richard, and Cinda talked more about the move, but none of them said anything I didn't already know. Cinda still hadn't said anything about the party, which confirmed my suspicions that it would be a surprise party. At least she had dropped the idea of me helping her with it. Richard and Cinda spent the night, since it was already late when we finished dinner. I went up to my room when Mum and Dad told Matt it was time to go to bed. I decided to spend the night on my balcony. I dragged a blanket out there and laid on my back, looking up at the stars. It was a clear night and I could see loads of constellations. It was a good end to what had turned out to be a great evening. Once Dad had come home, the evening had been fun. Him and Mum were a bit tense, but that seemed to dissipate a bit once I started joking around during the cake. I should do more of that, I thought. My family was in dire need of more humor in our lives.