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FawkesthePhoenix Joined: 31 December 2006 Posts: 3523 Location: No idea, all I know is that there are a LOT of felt-tipped pens...	Posted: Saturday 19 July 2008 12 36 12 pm    Post subject: Re: Montez Pub & Brewery ((RP & Help needed)) in topic:Montez Pub & Brewery ((RP & Help needed)) *a girl with long brown hair and blue eyes wearing sky blue robes glides in* *asks in a lofty voice* Might I have a gillywater?
Hermione1981 Joined: 19 July 2008 Posts: 15 Location: USA	Posted: Saturday 19 July 2008 12 05 36 pm    Post subject: The boy who live and the Vampires Slayer comes to Hogwart sc in topic:The boy who live and the Vampires Slayer comes to Hogwart sc [img]http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n281/shannonrosewiley/Harry%20Potter/TheboywholiveandtheVampiresSlaye-1.jpg[/img] Full Title: The boy who live and the Vampires Slayer comes to Hogwart school of witchcraft and wizardry Fan fiction Rating: Mature Ship/s (if applicable): Fred Wesley and Bethany Tonks Summary: It takes place doing Harry, Ron, Hermione and Bethany ( born Aug 31 1978) first year at Hogwart school of witchcraft and wizardry. Bethany befriends Harry, Ron and Hermione, But hang out mostly with the students her own age and she also start to date Fred Wesley. Bethany also has to balance being a normal everyday Hogwart student and a vampire slayer at the sometime. Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in the Harry Potter books or Movies J. K. Rowling's own them . I did make up Bethany and her deceased mom and dad. Chapter one: The secret and double life Bethany’s has to lead! It is August thirty first, 1991 and Bethany is shopping in Diagon Alley with her aunt Andromeda Tonks and Cousin Nympadora Tonks for her schools supplies. They have just walk out of Gringotts wizarding bank, when she Bethany sees Harry Potter walking by her with Hagrid the gatekeeper at Hogwart school of witchcraft and wizards. She stops walking and stares at Harry and Hagrid. When Harry sees the girl has stop walking and that she is staring at him, he walks over to her and stops in front of her. Hagrid, Andromeda and Nympadora walk over to Harry and Bethany. Harry’s see that she is looking at his lighting blot shape scar on his forehead. She knew that Harry Potter was starting at Hogwart that year, but she hope not to see him yet seeing that she is two years old then him and is just starting there too, but the reason she was hoping not to see him was that she was at his parent’s house the day they were killed. She was playing hide and seek with Lily and James Potter and was hiding in the closet in Harry room when Lord Voldemort show up. She stays hiding because see had already seen Voldemort kill her parents a few days before. As she was hiding in the closet and she saw Lord Voldemort’s kill Lily through the crack in the door. She stops staring at Harry when her cousin tap her on the shoulder. Harry: I am Harry Potter. What is your name and do you know me because you could not stop looking at me? Bethany: My name is Bethany Tonks and yeah I know you when you were a baby and till you went to live with your aunt and uncle at the age of one. Harry: How do you remember me then, because I do not remember you? Bethany: Because I was three years old then. Harry: So you going to Hogwart for you third year then? Bethany: No, I am just starting Hogwart this year, I had personal issues that keep me from starting two years ago. Harry: So that would make you thirteen year old then right? Bethany: Yeah I turn thirteen today. Hagrid: I hate to break up the reunion but we need to get to Gringotts wizarding bank and get your money Harry. Harry: Ok, Nice to meet you again Bethany. Bethany: Yeah, see you at school. Harry and Hagrid walk towards the bank and Bethany, Andromeda and Nympadora walk down the street and into Quality Quidditch Supplies. Bethany and her aunt heads over to look at the new Nimbus 2000. While Nympadora sees a friend and goes over to talk to her. Bethany looks over at her cousin then back at her aunt who is holding a new Nimbus 2000 in her hands and give it a good look over. Bethany leans towards her aunt and whisper quietly to her. Bethany: I do not know why I can’t take Nympadora old broom to school, see that it not for playing Quidditch, but for slayer related business and beside first years are not even allowed to have brooms. Andromeda: Because Nympadora needs her broom for Auror school that way. Bethany: But she says she does not mind if I used her broom, she will just buy a new one. Andromeda: No, I buying you a new one, you had enough hand me down from your cousin in your life since you come to live with us, for once I am buying you all new items for school. Bethany: But I’m not your daughter and I am ok with hand me downs. Andromeda: You are my niece and you mom and dad did leave me and Ted money to buy you school supplies when you start Hogwart, so let me buy you new items this year. Bethany: All right. Andromeda: I think this Nimbus 200 we do just fine, lets go pay for it. Why Andromeda goes and pays for the broom, Bethany walks over to her cousin. Once her aunt had finish pay for the broom and the sale person had warped it up and put it into a large bag. Bethany, Andromeda and Nympadora left Quality Quidditch Supplies and walks over to Ollivander's to buy Bethany some wands. Both Andromeda and Nympadora take a set in the chair by the door and Bethany walks up to the counter and rings the bell to get Mr. Ollivander attention. Mr. Ollivander walks downstairs and passes Nympadora and Andromeda and heads behind the counter. At the sometime Andromeda stand up and walks up to the counter next to Bethany. Mr. Ollivander: I see that Bethany is finally starting at Hogwart this year and I see you change the look of you hair by add pink highlights since the last time I saw you Bethany, did you dye your hair or are you a Metamorphmagus Like Nympadora? Bethany: Yeah I am starting Hogwart and I want a change from my plain light brown hair. I did not dye my hair I am a Metamorphmagus like my cousin. Mr. Ollivander: I finally get to sale Bethany a wand and on the someday as I sale Harry Potter his first wand. Andromeda: She going to need a couple of wands one for school and a few for her slayer duty. Mr. Ollivander: Oh yes, I remember talking to you about that and yes I did make seven wands with cores that I normally don’t use for her to try out. First lets try wands out for school. First I will have you try out this 12 in. wand that is made from rosewood and a Unicorn Tail for the core. Bethany: Ok Bethany takes the wand from Mr. Ollivander and move the wand up and down but nothing moves. Mr. Ollivander takes the wand back from Bethany and puts the wand away. He picks up another wand box. He then hand her a box with a, 15 1/2 in rosewood wand with a Unicorn Tail as it core. Mr. Ollivander: I know it still has the some core as the last one but I think that is the core that would work for your school wand. Bethany: Ok I will try it. She tries that wand and gets the book on the counter to move a little. Mr. Ollivander shakes his head and takes the wand from Bethany. He puts that wand a way and goes over to the back shelve and grab a black box. He walks over to the counter and hands Bethany the next box, which has a 15 1/2 in rosewood wand with a phoenix father has the core. Bethany picks the wand up and boxes go fly everywhere. Mr. Ollivander: That is not the wand for you. Lets try this 15 1/2 in Willow with a Dragon Heartstring core. Bethany: I hope this wand works? Bethany picks up the wand and the area around her light up in a gold color. Bethany, Andromeda, Nympadora and Mr. Ollivander smile at eachother. Mr. Ollivander box up the wand and put it into a bag and he marks the first wand down in his book. He then grabs the first box out from under the courter that has a 15 1/2 in made from Willow with a Leprechaun hair. Mr. Ollivander: Now I do not think this wand will work for you, because Leprechaun hair cores tend to favor only the Irish but we will see if it works. Bethany nods her head yes and picks up the wand and once again boxes go fly everywhere. Bethany then tries the 15 1/2 wand that is made of willow with the demiguise hair core next but nothing happens. Mr. Ollivander then hand Bethany’s another 15 1/2 in wand that is made of willow with a Hippogriff Talon core to try, when Bethany flick the wand it make Mr. Ollivander hair turn green. He takes the wand form her and hand her another 15 1/2 in wand that is made of Willow with a Runespoor Fang core and the room turn a gold color again. She also buy two more 15 1/2 in wands made from willow one with Chimaera Scale core and one with Ashwinder Ash core (which cast awesome protection charms.) Bethany’s aunt pays for the four wands and Mr. Ollivander hand the bag with the wands in it to Bethany. The three ladies walk out of Ollivander’s and walk down the street and into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Madam Malkin looks up from fitting Hermione Granger robe and smile at the ladies when they walk into the store. Madam Malkin: I will be with you in a few minutes Mrs. Tonks. Andromeda: That fine. Three minutes later a girl with long brown hair walks over to Bethany and stop in front her. Bethany smiles at her the girl. Bethany looks at the girl and she smiles back at her. Bethany: Hi my name Bethany Tonks, what is your name? Hermione: My name Hermione Granger, are you getting robes for Hogwart school of witchcraft and wizardry? Bethany: Yeah Hermione: So am I, It is my first year. I am so excite, because I am the first witch in my family. Are you the only witch in your family or is everyone one in your family witches and wizards? Bethany: My Mom pure blood, my dad was muggle born but get chosen to go to Hogwart. My dad brother also went to Hogwart. My aunts are also pure blood. Hermione mom and dad walk up behind her and then the three of them leave the shop. Bethany gets fitted for her robes and cloak and also gets a point hat and protective gloves. When her robes and cloak are ready, they pay for them all the items they are buying. Then Andromeda, Nympadora and Bethany go and gets strawberry ice cream cones from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlou. Once they have getting they ice cream they walks down Diagon Alley to head to Flourish and Blotts. When the three of them walk into Flourish & Blotts Nympadora head to the section where the textbooks she needs are and Bethany and Andromeda go over to the section where Hogwart first year textbooks are location at. Bethany looks down at the list of books she needs to buy and see the first one on the list is standing book of spell grade one which is by Miranda Gosghawk. She has just grab a book off the shelve when she hear Mrs. Wesley fighting with her youngest son Ron about the fight having to buy used books and not new books. Bethany quietly grabs a copy of a history of magic by Bathilda Bagshot, a beginner’s guide to transfiguration by Emeric Switch, one thousand magical herbal and fungi by Phyllida Spore, magical drafts and potions by Arsenius Jigger, Fantastic beast and where to find them by Newt Scamander and the dark farce guide to self protection by Quentin Trimble. Andromeda goes to pay for the books and Bethany to find her cousin to see if she is ready to go. Bethany finds that her cousin had already pay for her books and she is waiting for her mom and Bethany to finish up in the book store. Bethany and Andromeda leave the book store and head to the Cauldron Shop, they only in the shop for two minutes because the only item Bethany’s need from there is a size two Pewter cauldron. Nympadora goes to the Apothecary and picks her cousin up two set of crystal phials, bass scale. Nympadora then goes to one of the street stall and buy Bethany the telescope she needs for school. Nympadora meets up with her mom and cousin at Eeylops Owl Emporium. When she walks into the store, she sees Bethany is looking at one of the white snow owls. Once Bethany had chosen the white snow owl that she wanting Nympadora, Andromeda and Bethany head to the Leaky Cauldron for some dinner. The three ladies are walking over to a table when Harry and Hagrid walk into the Leaky Cauldron and over to them. As Harry walks over to her Bethany puts her hands into her jean pockets. Harry: Hi Bethany can I ask you something about when you were three years old? Bethany: Yeah Harry: Hagrid says that you were at my parents house the night they dead, did my parents try to fight back against Lord Voldemort? Bethany: Yes. Harry: Hagrid also told me that you mom and dad were kill two nights before by Lord Voldemort is that way you were staying with my parents? Bethany: Yeah Harry! As Bethany is answering, Harry questions her hair change from light brown with pink highlight to a light gray color. Nympadora puts her right arm around her cousin and whispers into her ear that she was doing the right thing by answers Harry questions. When they finish talking Bethany, Nympadora and Andromeda head home for the night. The Next morning Bethany wakes up at the creak of dawn and quietly finish packing, because she share a bedroom with her cousin and Nympadora is still sleeping. First Bethany packs her school supplies, textbooks and clothing into one truck. She then packs her slayer supplies into a second truck and has to pack all her slayers relate books into a third truck. She has just lock up the third truck when Nympadora rolls over in her bed to face Bethany. Nympadora opens up her eyes and looks at her younger cousin. Bethany: Did I walk you up, Nympadora? Nympadora: Yeah, but it all right and how many times do I have to tell you Bethany call me Tonks, I hate being called Nympadora. Bethany: Ok, I will call you Tonks for now on. Bethany and her cousin then leave their bedroom and head into the Kitchen for breakfast. After breakfast everyone gets ready to take Bethany to the train station and to meet up with the Wesley at the station.
Ms. Elsewhere Joined: 13 January 2008 Posts: 878 Location: In role play game of course!	Posted: Saturday 19 July 2008 05 49 04 am    Post subject: Re: Montez Pub & Brewery ((RP & Help needed)) in topic:Montez Pub & Brewery ((RP & Help needed)) *Tall man with black hair and brown robes wanders in* good afternoon! I noticed your sign? I'm interested in establishing your brewery. I have great experience in brewing all sorts f beer, and my speciality is butter beer! *Notices the brewing section of the pub* I'm also an excellent cook.. I make a mean beer batter fish and chips! would u like a sample?
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2495 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Wednesday 16 July 2008 02 18 25 pm    Post subject: Re: The Unnamed Albus Sequel in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind Chapter 12: Four Paw Prints Albus was helping himself to some pumpkin juice when the post arrived on Tuesday morning. He looked up and noticed a small brown owl flying towards him. He immediately recognized it as Victoire's owl. "Victoire's sent me something," Albus announced as the owl landed next to his plate. Albus took the letter and gave the owl a piece of toast before it flew off. "Look, it's addressed to all of us," Rose commented as she glanced at the letter. Albus turned the envelope over, wondering what it could be about. Victoire had sent him a couple letters so far this year, most of them sent along with Amy's letters to Matt. These usually arrived a couple days after the full moon, as Amy always wanted to know how Matt was. Since the full moon had been a few weeks ago, Albus was curious as to what Victoire had to tell them. He opened the letter and began to read it. Rose, Matt, John, and Amanda read it over his shoulder. [i]Dear Albus, Matt, Rose, John, and Amanda, How have you been? I hope you're enjoying classes and not making too much trouble. Congratulations on your successes in the dueling tournament, especially you, Rose. I hope there are many great victories to come. Good luck in your first Quidditch match, Albus. We hope to be able to attend, but it depends on work and healer training schedules. Training has been going well. We've been attending classes in the morning and training at St. Mungo's in the afternoon, like always. Teddy has been very busy with Auror training as well. By now you're probably wondering why we're writing to you now, as it's not our usual time to write. We're not sure if you read the[/i] Prophet [i]regularly, which is why we're telling you this in a letter. Quinton Willinson was spotted yesterday-[/i] Albus immediately stopped reading the letter and glanced at his friends. As Albus fell back into his school routine, he had almost forgotten about Washburn and the Willinsons. He felt his fear come back as soon as he read that Willinson had been spotted. Albus returned his eyes to the letter without saying anything. [i]He was spotted in a Muggle village in Southern England, quite far from Hogwarts. The Aurors are already on his tail and are tracking him this very minute. Teddy heard about it while he was at training, and we decided to give you a heads up. Uncle Harry will probably tell you as well. Don't worry about it too much. He can't get into Hogwarts and Uncle Harry has it under control. Good luck with Quidditch, dueling, and classes, and we hope to see you soon. Love, Victoire, Teddy, and Amy[/i] "I'd nearly forgotten about Willinson," John said darkly after they'd finished reading the letter. "Me, too," Albus agreed. "It explains why Professor Potter isn't here," Matt commented. Albus looked up at the staff table and noticed that his father was missing. "Guess so." "Don't worry," Rose said, "I mean, it's kind of good that someone spotted him. Before they had no leads, and now they sort of know where he is." "I suppose," Albus replied. He hadn't thought of that. But what about the other two? Were they with Quinton or had they parted ways? Albus just hoped his dad and the other Aurors managed to capture him. "Could I see the [i]Prophet[/i]?" Rose asked one of the older students who was sitting across from her. The girl nodded and handed her the paper. "Let's find the article." Rose scanned the front page and found a short article on the left side of the page. She read it aloud. "[i]'Eighteen-year-old Quinton Willinson was seen near the Muggle town, Hythe, in Southern England early yesterday morning. A wizard who prefers not to be named in this article saw him and immediately informed the Ministry. Willinson has been wanted by the Auror department since his attack on Head Auror and Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter, last Spring. Five underage Hogwarts students were also attacked. Willinson, along with his father, Jaret Willinson, and the former Charms professor, Jameson Washburn, attacked Potter and the five students on the grounds. Potter declined comment for this article. The Head Auror has informed the wizarding public that all three men are dangerous and not to attempt to fight them. If any of them are seen, people are requested to inform the Ministry immediately. Ministry Aurors responded to the sighting and are currently investigating.'[/i]" "Wow," Rose said once she'd finished reading the article, "I hope they catch him soon." "Me, too," Albus agreed, "I'm glad he's so far away, though." "But they're going to come back," Rose sighed, "To find the, you-know-whats." "Well, hopefully Professor Potter will catch them before they get the chance," Matt replied, "Anyway, I hope Amy and Victoire come to the Quidditch match. I haven't seen Amy in ages." Albus looked over and saw that Matt was looking a bit sad. Albus knew he and Amy were very close, but hadn't really thought about how different it must be for Matt this year. Albus didn't think Matt had ever gone this long without seeing her. "They'll probably come," Albus assured him, "And if they can't, they'll visit when they can." "Yeah," Matt gave a half-hearted smile. "We'd better get to Charms," Rose announced. The five second years got up from the table and made their way out of the Great Hall. Albus noticed that Kaden was sitting next to James, talking animatedly about something. James didn't appear too happy about this and had the look of someone pretending to listen, but not really listening. Albus almost felt bad about James having to deal with Kaden, but not bad enough to make up with his cousin. Professor Cedonia spent the first half of class teaching the charm for tying shoes, and during the second half, the class practiced. Unlike last year, Albus thoroughly enjoyed practical lessons in Charms this year. Professor Cedonia did not mind them talking with each other as they practiced, and although she watched their progress, she didn't hover like Washburn had done. "Excuse me, Professor?" Rose announced shortly after she succeeded in charming her shoes to tie themselves. "Rose, don't," Albus whispered. He knew she was about to ask if they were going to have any tests. "Yes, Rose?" Cedonia walked over to her desk and immediately spotted her perfectly tied shoes. "Oh, wonderful job!" "Thank you, Professor," Rose replied. "But I was just wondering, are we going to have any exams in this class?" Everyone in the entire room stopped what they were doing and looked over at Rose. Most of them looked horrified, but a few appeared to also be wondering if they would have any exams. Since they had Charms with the Ravenclaws, this didn't really surprise Albus. "Ah, yes," Cedonia smiled, "I was wondering if anyone would ask. I, unlike the other teachers at this school, do not believe in testing students in the conventional way. I prefer to assign essays that are done outside of class, where you are free to use your books, to assess your knowledge of theory. As far as practical exams go, I prefer to assess your progress in class. If I have any belief that you are not mastering the task at hand, I will give you extra help until you can master it. However, in accordance with Hogwarts tradition, there will be a practical exam at the end of the semester. The theory exam will be an essay that you can complete using your book, in class." "Oh," Rose said. She looked a bit stunned. "All right." "If you'd like an exam, I will create one for you, but no one else will have to take it unless they want to," Cedonia announced. "No, that's all right," Rose replied. "Excellent. I assure you, Rose, that you will have a perfect understanding of second year Charms by the time the year is up, and you will be in excellent shape to move on to third year." Rose nodded and Cedonia walked back to the front of the room. Albus turned to John and grinned. "Yes, no exams!" he said. "Brilliant," John agreed, "I really thought Rose was going to convince her to test us." "Well, I suppose she kind of is testing us," Matt explained, "Just in a different way. I've never had a teacher like her before." "Me, neither," John said. Albus nodded. All of his teachers in primary school had been like the ones at Hogwarts, with conventional exams and homework. "I went to a Muggle school and all of the teachers gave us exams. Rose went to the same one." "Same here," John replied, "Normal Muggle school." "Not me," Matt announced, "I was home-schooled. You can probably guess why. Amy went to Muggle school, though." "All the teachers were like Cedonia at my school," Amanda turned around to talk to the boys. "We didn't have exams or grades or anything like that. It was fun. I really liked going to school. Except when I made strange stuff happen. People thought I was weird. Turns out I was, but in a good way," she laughed. "I suppose this will work," Rose sighed, "She is assessing us, just in a different way. At least she's nice. Everyone seems to like her." "We don't really have any mean teachers this year," Albus commented. "I hadn't really thought about that," John said, "But you're right." "Who knows about next year, though," Matt replied, "We'll start new subjects and who knows what those teachers will be like." "Hagrid teaches Care of Magical Creatures and he's great," Albus told them. "What kind of magical creatures?" John grinned at Matt. "Don't even go there," Matt grinned back. "Amy says the Arithmancy teacher is nice." "Trelawney's kind of strange, but nice enough," Albus commented. "She teaches Divination." "No way am I taking that," Matt announced, "I don't want to know what my future holds." "Ancient runes sounds really interesting," Rose said, "And Georgia told me the teacher is strict, but not mean." "Well, good," Albus replied, "But we've got months before we have to decide what new subjects we'll take." "I wish I could take them all," Rose sighed. "You could," Albus laughed, "But I don't think it would turn out well." Albus and Rose shared a laugh that the others didn't really understand. Albus saw their confused faces and decided to tell them about Hermione's third year schedule sometime soon. ****** Harry was back at Hogwarts in time for Albus's DADA class on Thursday. Harry called Albus up to his desk after class. Albus had been anxiously waiting the whole class to see if Harry managed to catch Quinton Willinson. Albus had a feeling he hadn't because there wasn't any mention of it in the Prophet that morning. "Hi, Al," Harry gave Albus a hug once all the other students left. "I'm guessing you know why I left?" "Yeah," Albus replied, "Victoire sent us a letter and I read it in the [i]Prophet[/i], too." "Good," Harry sighed, "I'm glad Victoire told you before you read it in the [i]Prophet[/i]. I had to leave very abruptly and was afraid you wouldn't know what happened." "Well, did you catch him?" Albus asked. The suspense was killing him and he didn't want to wait any longer. Harry sighed again and put his hand around his son's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Al. He got away. We got some more leads, though. Talked to a few Muggles and a wizard who were around when Quinton showed up. I still haven't heard anything about Quinton's father or Washburn. But we're still searching and it's only a matter of time." Albus's face fell and he became more worried as he realized that not much progress had been made. He had been so sure that his dad would get Quinton this time. But he hadn't. Washburn and both Willinsons were still out there. How long would it be until they went back to Hogwarts? "What if they come back here?" he asked quietly. "I'm not going to deny it. They probably will come back here. But there is a large amount of protection around the school. Last year, it was easy for them to be on the grounds since Washburn was a professor and Quinton was a student here. They don't have that going for them now. And I don't think any of them could step foot in Hogsmeade without someone alerting me or the Ministry." Albus thought about this for a moment and felt a bit better. "All right. Are you leaving again?" "Not unless one of them is seen," Harry explained, "The other Aurors have it under control." "Good," Albus smiled. He felt a lot better knowing his dad was at the school. "Well, we'd better head to the Great Hall," Harry gave Albus another hug. "Yeah," Albus agreed, "If we don't hurry, John will eat all the food." Harry laughed and the two of them left the room together. ****** Albus wandered sleepily into the common room the next week completely tired out from Quidditch Practice. The first match, against Slytherin, was on Saturday and Georgia was having them practice every evening. It had been a drizzly evening and Albus's robes were soaked. He went up to his dormitory to put away his broom and change. Once he was done, he grabbed his books and went back to the common room to do his homework. When he got there, he couldn't find his friends anywhere. Albus sighed. Where could they be? They weren't in the dormitory, Albus had just been up there. Albus squeezed his way through the crowded common room until he found Bilius and Ethan studying at a nearby table. "Have you seen John and Matt anywhere?" Albus asked. "Oh, hi Albus," Ethan looked up from his book. "How's practice going? We're going to beat Slytherin, right?" "'Course we are," Albus gave a tired grin, "They're pathetic." "Excellent," Bilius replied, "I think John and Matt left an hour or so ago. I'm not sure where." "Yeah," Ethan agreed, "Rose and Amanda were with them. Matt didn't look so good. Maybe they went to the hospital wing." Oh, yeah! Albus had completely forgotten that the full moon was the next night. They must have gone to the Room of Requirement. Albus had also momentarily forgotten about the Room due to the fact that Kaden was always hanging around them, and they did not want him to know about the Room. "Thanks," Albus replied, "I think I know where they are now." Albus waved to Bilius and Ethan and left the room. Albus walked down the corridor as fast as he could without actually running. He slowed down as he reached the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy, as there was a prefect roaming nearby. Albus loitered until the prefect turned a corner and then he started pacing in front of the wall. Three paces later, the door appeared and Albus walked in. "There you are!" Albus announced after he shut the door. "I thought you'd be in the common room." Rose, John, and Amanda were all furiously scribbling on pieces of parchment and they looked up as Albus came in. Matt was sleeping on a nearby chair and didn't notice Albus. "We were," Rose said, "But it was awfully loud in there. Plus, now that Kaden has left us alone we thought we'd start coming in here again." "Sounds good," Albus agreed. He grabbed a chair and sat down next to John. "What are you lot working on?" "Transfiguration," John groaned, "Eight inch essay due tomorrow. I've got four inches so far." "History of Magic," Amanda said, "Also due tomorrow." "I finished those a while ago," Rose commented, "Now I'm doing Herbology." "I still have the History of Magic stuff to do," Albus said as he pulled out his history book. "How long has he been asleep?" Albus pointed to Matt. "Since we got here," John answered. "Probably just as well since before that he was just rambling about how Malfoy's going to explore the Whomping Willow tomorrow night." "Why would Malfoy do it at night?" Albus asked, "He'll get in more trouble if he's out past curfew." "That's what we told him," Rose explained without looking up from her book. "I think he gets kind of delirious and doesn't think straight at this time of the month." "You're probably right," Albus agreed, "But can you blame him?" "No, not really," Rose sighed. Albus started to leaf through his History of Magic book, but he couldn't concentrate. It wasn't past curfew now; what if Malfoy was exploring the tree right now? Albus closed his book and started rifling through his bag. He pulled out the Marauder's Map and set it down on the table. "What are you doing?" Amanda asked. "Looking for Malfoy," Albus replied. Everyone looked up from their work and watched Albus. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Albus pointed his wand at the map. Albus searched the map for a few moments before his eyes rested on Malfoy's dot. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that Malfoy's dot was currently residing in the Slytherin common room. "He's in his common room." "Oh, good," Rose smiled. "I really don't think he's going to investigate that tree." "Why's that?" John asked skeptically. "He'll get in big trouble if he gets caught," Rose reminded him. "So? That probably wouldn't stop me," John laughed. Albus was relieved that Malfoy wasn't currently trying to get into the Whomping Willow, but he did agree with John that Malfoy would eventually try. The thing was, what were the chances of it happening while Albus was looking at the map? Not very high. And what would Albus do if he did see Malfoy near the tree? Albus had no idea. He sighed as he whispered, "Mischief managed." Albus watched as all the ink disappeared from the map. He still didn't want to do his homework, but he had to. He started to put the map back in his bag, but the sight of a small mark on one of the corners made him stop. Albus slowly lifted the map back out of his bag and stared at the corner. He had never seen any marks on the map after he wiped it clean before. But this mark was so small it could have easily been missed. He peered at the tiny marking until he noticed what it was. It was four paw prints. A wolf, dog, stag, and rat print. It obviously meant the Marauders. Albus knew he had seen it somewhere before, but where? He continued to stare at the paw prints, wracking his brain to try and remember why it seemed so familiar. "Albus," Rose was watching him. "What are you doing?" Albus looked up at the sound of her voice, "Oh, there's something on the map. I never noticed it before. It's a wolf, dog, stag, and rat foot print. Here, look." Rose, John, and Amanda all leaned in to look at the mark. Rose furrowed her brow and tilted her head as she looked at it. "Why did the Marauders have this thing stay on the map? All the other ink disappears. Now it's just a random piece of parchment with these paw prints on it." Suddenly, Albus remembered where he'd seen the paw prints before. The piece of parchment that fell out of the photo album in the attic of Grimmauld Place! Albus had completely forgotten about that during the course of the school year. The symbols were exactly the same. They must mean something, Albus thought. He jumped up from his seat. "I've seen it before! Remember when we were exploring the attic at my house, John?" John nodded his head. "Yeah..." "And the photo album we found in that box?" Albus continued, "And the piece of parchment that fell out of it?" Realization dawned on John's face. "Oh! I'd forgotten about that! Do you still have it?" "Yup!" Albus shouted excitedly, "In my trunk. I'll go get it!" Albus ran out of the room, leaving a very excited John and a thoroughly confused Rose and Amanda.
Q.Araignee Joined: 4 January 2006 Posts: 4983 Location: Daydreaming about my now fiancé *squee*	Posted: Tuesday 15 July 2008 02 55 51 pm    Post subject: Re: RPG: Law of the Serpent in topic:RPG: Law of the Serpent [Suspended] She obviously was having no look in removing the offending smudge, so Rowena gave up with a sigh of exasperation. She straightened her robes and took a bite of the now cold teacake. As she picked up her tea and turned to leave, Rowena saw that Professor Demont had come in at some point. He was looking over at her, and she smiled a bit sheepishly. "How was your first lesson of the year, Marc?"
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2495 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Sunday 6 July 2008 09 18 59 pm    Post subject: Re: The Next Generation in topic:The Next Generation Galena quickly ran down the stairs leading to the Hufflepuff common room. She was immediately reminded of all the times she snuck back down in the dead of night when she was a student. She pushed all her memories aside as she strode down the corridor. No time for reminiscing now. Galena stopped in front of the portrait guarding the Hufflepuff common room. "Amarillo Sunset," she said, and the portrait immediately moved aside. The room was deserted. It was also incredibly neat and tidy, which meant that the House elves had already been there. The fire had long since died out and not a sound could be heard. She imagined all the kids asleep in their beds, unknowing of anything that was going on in the castle. She sighed and pulled out her wand. She pointed it at her own throat and whispered, "Sonorus." Galena walked over to the door leading to the boys' dormitory. She opened it and shouted, "Attention Hufflepuffs! Please come into the common room for a very important House meeting! Everyone must be there! Quickly please!" Once she heard the audible groans and complaints of the students, she opened the door to the girls' dormitories and shouted the same thing. She muttered the counter charm for the Sonorus charm and waited for the students to assemble. A few minutes later, the entire Hufflepuff house was congregated in the common room. Most of them looked annoyed and vaguely curious. A few of the first and second years looked scared. They were all clad in pajamas and looked exhausted. Galena took a deep breath and began. This seemed harder than telling the other teachers, she thought. "I know none of you are happy about being woken up at this hour. But I have to inform you that there is a battle going on right now in this very castle." Galena went on to explain that the headmaster had been killed and that someone was trying to bring back Voldemort. She explained that she was going to ward the common room and dormitories and that anyone who was of age could fight if they wanted to. Every single seventh year and one sixth year who had just turned seventeen immediately ran to their dormitories to put on robes. They appeared minutes later, wands at the ready. Galena assured the younger students that they would be safe, and pushed open the portrait hole. The older students left and Galena followed. She muttered a few charms and wards that would protect the occupants of Hufflepuff. Galena instructed the older students to make their way to the Entrance Hall and wait for her there. First, she had to ward the other common rooms. Off to Slytherin, she sighed. Even as Headmistress, Galena really didn't feel comfortable entering that particular common room.
*Riley* Joined: 30 November 2007 Posts: 2027 Location: Celebrating with good friends	Posted: Sunday 6 July 2008 07 27 01 am    Post subject: Re: The Next Generation in topic:The Next Generation Liam felt Geneve's darkness overpowering her, he reached out his hand out took Geneve's. "I accept" he said softly while trying to hold back his urge to punch her. "Very intelligent of you, but when you accepted you made a pledge to my army, I have total control. There is no use fighting this war little boy, everyone knows evil conquers. Liam just stood there, motionless and already feeling the darkness over power him. 'No' he thought, he had to save Geneve and everybody else who was innocent. A surge of energy went through his brain as he whipped his arm from Geneve's grip. He felt a prickling sensation run dwn his spine as he dusted his robes off with his hand. "You shouldn't of done that" he sad while smiling, A tinkle of glass rattled over in the trophy cabinet then a creaking of a door hinge at the entrance was all Liam needed. He felt the explosive ancient Veela magic power through him like a electrical cord, he trust out his arm and the nearest table exploded in, bits of wood splinters flew thorugh the air and lLiam guided them with his hand over to Geneve who stood motionless at the wall.
Q.Araignee Joined: 4 January 2006 Posts: 4983 Location: Daydreaming about my now fiancé *squee*	Posted: Sunday 6 July 2008 05 48 44 am    Post subject: Re: RPG: Law of the Serpent in topic:RPG: Law of the Serpent [Suspended] Having found the class eventually- apparently they had actually had to move to an empty classroom on the Fourth floor after a case of Peeves, which they found out after having ink bottles thrown at them- Rowena made her way down to the Staff Room. Peering around the door there seemed to be few there, and a glance at the dusty clock on the wall told her why. It was getting close to the next lesson. With a dark look on her face, Rowena hastily made a cup of tea and grabbed the last teacake to eat on her way back upstairs for the Fourth years. Seeing her reflection on the silver teacake tray, she saw there was a rather large and very obvious smudge of ink on her nose. Putting down the tea she tried to rub it off with her thumb...then with the sleeve of her robes... then a litle spell...
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2495 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Monday 30 June 2008 03 04 42 pm    Post subject: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow Edit: 10/24/2008. I made a new banner for HPFF and I thought I'd put it on here, too. It's down the page a little ways. Edit: 7/18/2008. I have a title! Fawkes came up with the best title for this fic, In Moonlight's Shadow, so I decided to take her up on her suggestion for it. All credit for the title goes to Fawkes. This is a much better title than any of the ones I've come up with. Here is my newest fan fic endeavor. This one is a spin-off of my Albus Potter series, so if you have not read Albus Potter and the Secrets Within , I highly suggest reading that one first. It's not necessary to understand the story, but there are spoilers for my AP&TSW in this fic. This one is about Amy Eckerton and what led her, Matt, and their parents to move to England. It pretty much tells the story Matt tells in the 'Explanations' chapters in AP&TSW in more detail and from Amy's point of view. I have 6 or 7 chapters written so far and am not really sure how many chapters it will be in the end. I'm sure it will be quite long, though. I have yet to write about any canon characters in it, although there will be a few in the later chapters. Not very many, though. In fact, the only canon characters that will actually be in it are Victoire, Teddy, and a few teachers. It is also written in first person, which I have never done before in fan fic. So enough rambling, here is the first chapter! Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or anything in the Wizarding World. I only own the OCs and the plot. [img]http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p301/PupBenedict/Banners/imsbanner2.jpg[/img] Chapter 1: Welcome Home I flung the front door open and ran into my house, throwing my bag down on the newly polished floor. "Yes!" I shouted, "School is over! A whole month off! Third year is done!" I started dancing around the foyer shrieking at the top of my lungs. It's not that I don't like school, I like it a lot. It just gets monotonous after a while and it's nice to have a break. Especially the break in between years. That one is always the longest. "Amy Marie!" my mother began in a warning tone. I rolled my eyes and turned around to look at her. She, my father, and my little brother had just walked into the house. My mother was eying my bag and I knew just what she was going to tell me. "Amy, pick up your bag," I said at the same time she did. Mum sighed, "Amy...." "I'll pick it up, don't have a hippogriff." I ran over to where my bag had landed, picked it up, and slung it over my shoulder. "Don't use that tone with me," Mum said. "I'll just put your trunk upstairs," Dad interjected. He usually liked to get out of the room whenever Mum and I started arguing, which happens a lot. This was our usual 'coming home after school' argument. I always dropped my bag on the floor and Mum always told me to pick it up. "I want you to go empty your trunk and put all your dirty robes in the basket," Mum told me. "By the time you're done with that I'll have dinner ready." I nodded, "Whatever. I'll be in my room." I darted past Mum and ran up the main staircase. Yes, main staircase. There are three sets of stairs leading to the upper floors of my house. I suppose you could call my house a mansion, but I don't think of it that way. It's actually smaller than my grandparents' house. My parents are rich, but you'd never guess it. They dress like regular people and they don't buy my brother and I whatever we want. Well, they do kind of spoil my little brother in my opinion. They don't buy me whatever I want because they want to 'teach me the value of a galleon'. I get an allowance, but it's no bigger than my friend Olivia's. My parents didn't work particularly hard to get all their money, they inherited it. My dad's parents died right after I was born and Dad inherited this house. My dad couldn't bear to sell it so we just moved in. It's fine with me because I get my own bathroom, even though I'm not even here most of the year. When I got to my room, Dad had already dropped off my trunk and left. Who knows where he went. You could easily live a week in this house without seeing another person. In fact when I was a toddler, I would sneak off to other parts of the house and hide from my parents. I thought this was incredibly funny, but my parents did not. Mum tells me I was a real handful as a little kid and that it hasn't changed much. I like to think that's why they waited so long to have another kid after they had me. My brother is six and a half years younger than me. I wish they had had a baby in between my brother and I, preferably a girl. I think it would be great to have a little sister who isn't that much younger than me. Someone I could talk about what goes on in school with. But instead I just have one brother, who I really don't have much in common with. He's only seven and all he likes to do is go outside and run around and make a huge mess with mud and dirt. It's utterly disgusting. Of course, Mum doesn't really let him do that very often. She's very protective of him. I secretly think he is her favorite. It's probably because we don't agree on anything. If you haven't guessed already, I have a very strange family. On the outside, we look pretty average. Two parents who aren't divorced with one daughter and one son. Pretty boring, right? Almost too boring and too average. For a while, we were almost that boring average family. Besides the whole inheriting large sums of money thing. When I was younger, we went to all sorts of charity events we were featured in newspapers and magazines. Again, this isn't due to anything my parents did. My mum's parents are rich as well. They're also pretty famous, although I'm not exactly sure why. But since they're famous, my mum is as well. Therefor, so are my brother and I. Well, we were. Of course, even when we were appearing in the newspaper every week, we were still hiding a secret from most of the world. The Muggle world, that is. My mum is Muggle-born, so my grandparents are Muggles. That meant that we had to pretend we were Muggles at all of these events. Then there were the events in the wizarding world. Those ones were easier since we didn't have to hide anything. I actually liked these events when I was little. I got to dress up in fancy clothes and play with other kids while the adults all got drunk. However, as I got older they started to become extremely boring. The other kids became all snooty and all they did was compare their latest clothes and broomsticks and other things their parents had bought them. The Muggle ones were worse since everyone compared their electronics and I obviously don't have any of those. Little did I know that I wasn't going to have to attend many more of those. Almost two years ago my little brother was bitten by a werewolf. We were camping and he stupidly left the tent by himself and got attacked by some werewolf. So now my little brother becomes a raging monster once a month and because of that we don't go to anymore Muggle charity events. We still go to the occasional wizarding one, but not many. Nobody knows that Matt is a werewolf and my parents want to keep it that way. So there you have it, the Eckerton family is anything but normal. Now I've got to go empty my trunk. I really hate emptying it, but my mum makes me do it after every year. I'm a very messy person and would prefer to never have to clean anything in my life. Mum is the complete opposite and everything has to be neat. I'm just glad she doesn't insist that my room be clean. I opened my trunk and gazed around my messy bedroom as I threw robes haphazardly into the hamper. The walls of my room are purple, courtesy of my four-year-old self. I really dislike the color now and wish my parents would let me change it. I'd really like it to be a nice deep navy with white stars painted along the top. Dad says I might be able to paint my walls if I keep my grades up next year. For now I've settled for charming twinkling stars onto the walls. I really love stars and the night sky in general. Astronomy is my favorite class. At least my bed is a nice color. It's a canopy bed with dark red hangings and matching sheets and blankets. That bed was my reward for decent grades last year. All my furniture is made out of some kind of dark wood that I don't remember the name of. What I like best about my room is the utter state of chaos that its always in. My stuff is strewn all over the floor and nothing is 'put away' as my mum likes to say. Just as I was throwing the last few broken quills from my trunk into the trash, I heard a small pop and Ellie appeared into my room. "Mistress wants Ellie to tell you that dinner is ready." "Thanks, Ellie," I grinned at our house elf. I like Ellie. She always helps me persuade Mum to let me keep my room a mess. "Welcome home, by the way," Ellie smiled. "Aw, thanks," I smiled back, "Nice to be back, even if Mum is yelling at me already." "I will be telling Mistress to leave you alone." "You don't have to, it's ok. I'll deal with her." Ellie nodded and snapped her fingers. She disappeared into thin air as I got up from the floor. I wish I could Apparate like Ellie can. Then I could visit Olivia whenever I wanted to. Olivia is my best friend from school. Mum never lets her come visit, but I go to her house quite a bit. I sauntered into the formal dining room and the rest of my family was already sitting down. We always eat in the formal dining room the day I come back from school. Mum also makes my favorite meal, spaghetti and meat balls. Today was no different and there was a large platter of pasta and a tossed salad sitting in the middle of the table. I took my seat next to Ellie and stared ravenously at the food. The snacks I had on the train seemed so long ago. "Sorry I snapped at you earlier," Mum smiled at me as she served me up a large dish of spaghetti. "That's all right." This was another part of our routine. Mum always apologized for yelling. "All my laundry is in the hamper." "Thank you, dear." "Are we doing anything fun this holiday?" I asked in between bites. My friend Kenzie's family always went away in January, but we rarely did. "Hadn't really thought about it," Dad shrugged, "I didn't take any time off work. I have Christmas Eve through New Year's Day off, though." "You know we can't do anything then," Mum replied quietly. I did some quick counting in my head and figured out that this month's full moon was on the twenty-eighth. Of course. Dad only takes time off work around the full moon. "How about over the weekend or something in January?" "I wanna go visit Uncle Jack," Matt announced with his mouth full of pasta. "That's gross," I made a face and handed him a napkin. "Sweetie, Uncle Jack lives too far away to visit him over the weekend," Mum told him. I would like to go visit Uncle Jack, too. We haven't seen him in a year and a half. He lives in New York, in some town called Horseheads. That's got to be the craziest town name I've ever heard of, but Uncle Jack likes it there. "I'm sure we'll think of something to do," Dad assured me. I wasn't so sure. We didn't do anything fun over last Christmas, so why should this one be any different? "If not this holiday then the next one. I'll try and book some time off." "We're getting the tree on Christmas Eve, right?" I asked, changing the subject. "Like we usually do?" "Of course. We'll decorate that day, too," Mum said. "Good. I'm thinking we should go with a 12 foot tree this year." "You say that every year," Dad laughed. "And you never get one! I'm serious! The ceiling is so high in the living room so we should get a tall tree! It's not like it would be that much more work. All you have to do is flick your wand and it would be all set up. Then we'll decorate it and you can levitate the ornaments up to the high parts." "I suppose we could," Dad grinned, "I have always wanted to try that." "Where are you going to get such a large tree?" Mum asked, shaking her head. No doubt she was thinking about the large amount of needles that would fall off the tree. "They won't have one at the tree farm." "We'll go find one in the forest," Dad told her, "No big deal." "Yes!" I shouted, "Finally, the big tree!" "Are your parents coming this year?" Dad asked. "Yes, they're coming on Christmas Eve and they'll stay until the full moon," Mum explained. My grandparents always come to our house on Christmas. It's generally a very quiet affair because I don't have any cousins. ****** I woke up bright and early on Christmas Eve morning. The house was dead quiet as I ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. Nobody else was up that early. My parents are both late sleepers, which is always funny on Christmas morning because Matt and I have to practically drag them out of bed to open presents. Today, however, I was going to have to wait until they got up to go get the tree. Dad said we wouldn't get it until the afternoon, since he and Mum were going to get my grandparents this morning. My grandparents live near Sydney and we live near Brisbane, so my parents always just Apparate them to our house. I sighed loudly. Patience was not one of my virtues. I really didn't want to wait until the afternoon to get the tree. Getting the tree has always been my favorite part of Christmas. We usually make a whole day of it. We go to the tree farm and spend a few hours picking out the perfect tree. Then we'd sneak off some place away from all the Muggles and Apparate home with it. The decorating itself would take the rest of the day. Dad always does the charm work to get the tree to light up and then Mum does the tinsel. After that Matt and I get to hang all the ornaments. This year would be different, though, since they were just going to get a tree from the nearby forest. I think it will be funner. We won't have to worry about any Muggles seeing us Apparate and Dad can just chop the tree down with his wand. Of course, I'll miss seeing him trying to use the Muggle ax. I decided to rifle through the cupboards to see what there was to eat. My all-time favorite breakfast is this Muggle cereal called Lucky Charms. Mum only buys it when I'm home because she doesn't want Matt to eat sugar for breakfast. She really would prefer that I not eat it either, but she figures I get healthy breakfasts at school, so it's ok to eat sugar while I'm home. Sadly, Mum has not boughten this holiday's supply of Lucky Charms and the only cereal I see is healthy stuff. I shut the cupboard and just decide to have some toast. I grab a few slices of bread and shove them in the toaster. Yes, our house does have Muggle appliances because Mum likes those better for cooking. Once I finished making the toast I settled down and waited for everyone else to get up. By the time I was done eating, the house was still completely quiet. I love being at home, but sometimes it's just too quiet. The common room at school is always loud and there's never a dull moment. I suppose I could start my homework, but there's so much time left to do that. Eventually I just decided to wander into the living room and start a new book until everyone woke up. I must have fallen asleep because before I knew it someone was shaking my shoulder and whispering, "Amy, Amy...." I jumped, "What?!" "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." It was Dad. "What time did you get up?" "Erm, maybe around five?" "No wonder you were asleep," Dad laughed, "It's nearly eleven now. Mum and I have to go get your grandparents. We should be back soon. I need you to keep an eye on Matt for us." "All right," I yawned and got up. "Where is he?" "Still sleeping. He hasn't gotten up yet." "Ok, see you soon," I gave him a hug goodbye. "Bye, Mum!" "Bye, Amy," Mum shouted from the kitchen, "We'll be back in a half hour." Dad went into the kitchen and a few seconds later I heard a loud crack and the two of them were gone. Quiet again. I always get used to the quiet that is my house during the holiday, but it's a bit unnerving at first. I suppose if I listen close enough, there is some noise. I could hear Ellie doing something in the kitchen, probably cooking lunch. But it's still too quiet. I picked up my book that had fallen on the ground and flipped through the pages to find my spot. I hadn't read half a page before I heard a loud scream come from upstairs followed quickly by a loud bang from the kitchen. I jumped up and ran into the kitchen on my way to the stairs. "You all right?" I asked Ellie as I passed through. "Yes, Ellie is fine. Just dropped this platter," Ellie gestured to a plastic platter on the floor. At least it was plastic, I thought. "Good," I smiled at her as I ran out of the kitchen. Once I reached the stairs the screaming had stopped but as I started climbing I could hear faint sobbing. I really wasn't too worried. Matt always had nightmares a few days before the full moon. He usually woke up screaming and couldn't remember what his nightmare had been about. I took a left at the top of the stairs and headed down the long hallway towards Matt's room. His room was closer to my parents', which was also on the left side of the main staircase. My room was on the right side. I pushed the door to his room open and my eyes rested on his bed. He was curled up in the middle of the bed, covered completely by a few blankets, and was shaking. I sighed and walked over to the bed. "What's wrong?" I asked as I sat down. No answer. "C'mon, Matt." I pulled the blankets off of him and saw tears streaked on his red face. "You can't bury yourself in all these blankets when it's this hot," I said. "You're red." He nodded and looked at me. "Where's Mum?" "Went to go get Cinda and Richard with Dad," I explained as I pulled him into my lap. "Are you all right?" "Yeah, I just had a bad dream again," he mumbled. "Want to go downstairs? Mum and Dad should be home soon." "Can I have some Lucky Charms?" "Sorry, Mum hasn't bought any yet," I laughed, "And Ellie's making lunch right now. After that we're going to get the tree." Matt's face brightened, "Oh yeah! Christmas is tomorrow!" He jumped off the bed and ran out the door. I laughed to myself as I chased after him. Nothing cheers him up like thoughts of Christmas. I found him in the kitchen watching Ellie prepare lunch. I sat down next to him and talked to Ellie about school. Ten minutes later I heard the door open and Matt jumped off his stool and ran into the foyer. I followed more slowly. "Hi Cinda, hi Richard," I greeted my grandparents. A long time ago my grandmother told me not to call her Grandma because it makes her feel old. She insisted that I call both her and my grandfather by their first names. "Amy, darling!" Cinda kissed both of my cheeks, "How was school?" "Great," I grinned. My grandmother was definitely strange enough to fit in with the rest of the family. She has this obsession with looking young, despite her real age. She has probably had more Botox than any of the American celebrities I've heard about. Her hair is dyed light brown and is always curled perfectly. She wears stylish (well, stylish for an old lady) pants suits that probably cost more than the latest broomstick. Richard on the other hand, couldn't care less about his appearance. That's probably a good thing since most of their money is spent on Cinda's clothes, hair, and various Botox and plastic surgeries. Richard is shorter than Cinda by about a head and he looks about ten years older. This makes them quite the interesting couple. "Matt, you're up!" Mum picked him up and kissed his forehead. "He had another nightmare," I told them. "Oh, dear," Mum gave Dad a significant glance and then looked at Matt again, "Are you all better now?" "Uh-huh! And we're getting the tree today!" "Oh, honey, I'm not sure-" "Let him go, Julie. He'll be fine. We're not going far," Dad insisted. I had a feeling this was going to happen. Mum is always over-protective of Matt especially around the full moon. Dad thinks she needs to loosen up. I agree with Dad. She can't baby him forever. It's not like the full moon was tonight, it was still four days away. "Oh, all right," Mum sighed, "Let's go get some lunch for now." "Amy, darling," Cinda said as we went into the regular dining room, "I saw the most adorable dress the other day! I'm sure it would look striking on you." I groaned inwardly. Cinda was always trying to get me to wear fancy clothing. "Cinda, you know I don't like getting dressed up." "You did when you were little." "I know," I sighed as I sat down at the table, "When would I wear it anyway? I wear robes at school." "You can wear it to our New Year's Party!" Cinda announced. I blinked at her. New Year's party? I hadn't heard about any New Year's party. I turned to my parents who were looking just as clueless as I was. "What New Year's party?" "Oh, that's right! I haven't told you yet. I'm sorry. I always forget that I can't mail invitations to you. Unless I want to use one of those birds! Anyway, I've decided that it's been too long since I hosted a good party. You don't have plans already, do you? It starts at seven." "Cinda..." Mum sighed, "New Year's isn't really a good time for us. The full moon's on the 28th." "He'll be better by then!" Cinda assured her. "You don't know that." "Just try and come, ok?" Cinda asked, "Amy will already be there if the full moon is on the 28th." I groaned again. Great, just great. I was being swindled into going to some fancy party at my grandparents house. There was no way out of it. I always stayed with them on the full moon and the days following it. Mum says it's easier that way. I have never been at home during a full moon. My parents never really talk about it either, so I don't even know exactly what happens those nights. All I know is that Matt turns into a wolf and Mum and Dad lock him up in the basement. Then he hurts himself and it takes a few days for him to recover. "I guess we could try," Mum said slowly. "Good. It's been so long since you went to one of these parties. Everyone is wondering what happened to you!" "I know, Cinda, I know. We've just had a lot on our plate." "It will be fun for all of you!" Cinda replied excitedly, "And I'll take Amy to look at that dress once we're back at my house." "Great. I can't wait," I said flatly. "Oh, cheer up Amy. You'll love it." I highly doubted that, but I just smiled and nodded to keep Cinda from saying anything else. The remainder of the meal was spent with Cinda telling my parents who was going to be at the party and what they were all up to. I found this all dreadfully boring and tuned out most of the conversation. I wound up watching Matt make a tower out of his peas until it collapsed and they all rolled onto the floor. It was pretty funny, especially when Mum made him pick all of them up. "Can we go get the tree now?" I asked loudly once Cinda stopped gossiping. "Er, yes, good idea!" Richard, who had been sleeping, woke up suddenly and stood up. "Let's get the tree!" I laughed to myself. Richard never liked listening to Cinda's gossip and never pretended to either. Cinda didn't really care because Mum was at least pretending to listen and she was the one Cinda was talking to in the first place. Well, Mum and I, because towards the end she had started talking about all the kids and what they were up to lately. I really didn't care whose parents had gotten whom a sports car for their birthday or who got in trouble for going skinny dipping in the neighbor's pool. "Who's coming?" Dad asked as he stood up. "Me!" Matt shouted and knocked over his newest pea tower. Luckily for him, this one stayed on his plate. "Do you even have to ask?" I grinned. "Stay here with me, Julie," Cinda said to Mum, "I didn't wear the right shoes." I looked at Cinda's shoes and had to agree with her. She was wearing four inch stiletto heels, and I'm not sure why. She knows we get the tree every Christmas Eve. "I could transfigure those into sneakers, Cinda," Mum commented. Cinda looked appalled, "My favorite heels? I think not!" "I suppose I could stay and get started on the cookies," Mum sighed. "But next year you're either wearing the right shoes or I'll transfigure them against your will!" "All right," Cinda laughed, "Next year..." "Have fun, kids," Mum gave Matt and I each a hug and then she kissed Dad. "Come back if he's not feeling good," she warned. "Don't worry," Dad rolled his eyes, "I think I can take care of my own son." "I know you can. I just worry."