Harry Potter Robes and Costumes

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Ms. Elsewhere Joined: 13 January 2008 Posts: 881 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: 2535 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: 5000 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: 2535 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: 2031 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: 5000 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: 2535 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."
Ms. Elsewhere Joined: 13 January 2008 Posts: 881 Location: In role play game of course!	Posted: Friday 27 June 2008 12 28 13 am    Post subject: Re: The Next Generation in topic:The Next Generation Geneve could hear the comotion in the great hall, and couldn't help herself. She turned around and made her way down the corridor, then peered around the wall. A wizard stood over what appeared to be... a werewolf? He was giving him an injection, and then, the werewolf changed into a man. The other wizard covered the man in some robes, and when the man woke, he helped him up. Then, Geneve noticed someone standing in the hall, watching just as she was. He approached the pair of wizards. He spoke, and then raised his wand. He had them trapped. Geneve decended the stairs, cautiously. She held Liam in front of her , her wand poking him in the back. "Don't make me harm you Liam. Walk, and you will be fine." Unoticed by the people below, she reached the bottom of the stairs, and then she realised who the man was. A deatheater; a follower of her grandfather...... "You!" she spoke coldly. The man took a quick look, still holding his wand steady. He sighed. "Geneve Riddle. Are you quite yourself yet?" the man spoke over his shoulder, eyes still on his captives. "Nearly. What do you know of the gathering?" Geneve asked. "Only that your forces are strong and Hogwarts barriers have been destroyed. I have been waiting here, waiting for you to arrive. I knew you would return. That's why I took the teaching post here, so you would have someone inside just in case." The man continued. "What are your orders for this filth?" he lifted his chin at the other two wizards. Geneve looked at them. "A werewolf... and an auror. Dangerous combination. I doubt somehow they will join us. I feel age works against me now. Time for a new young following I think." she walked closer, Liam in front of her. The aurors would not meet her eyes. She smiled. "Kill them." she scowled.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Tuesday 27 May 2008 02 04 44 pm    Post subject: Re: The Unnamed Albus Sequel in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind Thanks Fawkes! You'll get to meet Kaden in the third chapter. Chapter 2: Exploring "Can we go now, Dad?" Albus asked impatiently. He was supposed to meet Matt at the Leaky Cauldron in five minutes, but Harry was on the phone talking to Dudley. "Dudley, you just have to tell them, all right?" Harry sighed, "You can't keep it from them forever." "Dad..." Albus tapped his foot. Harry said he would take Albus to Diagon Alley a half hour ago, but then Dudley had called. The two of them had been talking for the past half hour. "Listen, Dudley," Harry began, "I've got to take Albus to Diagon Alley. Yes, that's the place Kaden will go to get his stuff. Ok, I'll talk to you later. Bye." Harry closed the phone and set it down on the windowsill. "Finally!" Albus sighed, "Can we go now?" "Yes," Harry told him, "Sorry about that. Dudley still hasn't told Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia about Kaden. I've told him he's got to do it soon." Albus followed his dad to the fireplace and the two of them flooed to the Leaky Cauldron. The pub was very crowded since it was a Saturday. Albus tried to peek through the crowd in order to find his friend, but he didn't see Matt. "Hey, it's Harry Potter!" someone sitting at the bar shouted. He was clearly drunk. "Hi Harry Potter!" he waved lazily. Everyone else in the pub looked over at the fireplace that Harry and Albus just came through. Harry nodded to the drunken wizard as he and Albus walked past the bar. The crowd parted in order to allow them through. Once they made it through the crowd, Albus spotted his friend at one of the tables in the back. Albus hurried over to him with Harry following closely behind. "Matt!" Albus shouted as he sat down, "How are you?" "I'm great! How are you?" "Brilliant," Albus grinned, "I'm so glad you could come." "Me, too. I've been bored out of my mind," Matt told him, "I've even started some of my homework." "Wow, you must've been bored," Albus laughed. Harry sat down next to Mr. Eckerton and the two of them shook hands. "Why don't we get some lunch?" Harry suggested. Everyone agreed. "Hi, Harry!" A pregnant Hannah Longbottom walked over to their table. "Hannah, how've you been?" Harry asked. "Fine," Hannah grinned, "Just a couple more months and there will be another Baby Longbottom! So, what can I get you?" The group ordered their food and a short while later it arrived. Albus and Matt spent the whole time telling each other about their weeks apart while the adults talked quietly with each other. "So guess what?" Albus said while eating a bit of his sandwich. "What?" Matt asked. "You know my cousin, Kaden?" Albus grinned. "Is he your dad's cousin Dudley's kid?" "Yeah, and he's a wizard!" "What?!" Matt spat out a mouthful of pumpkin juice. "Matthew," Mrs. Eckerton scolded, "Be polite." "Sorry, Mum," Matt wiped the pumpkin juice up off the table and turned back to Albus, "Are you serious?" "Yup, he got his letter a couple weeks ago," Albus told him, "Mad, isn't it? Of course, it isn't that surprising. I mean, there's obviously magic in the family." "Yeah," Matt laughed, "But what did your Uncle Vernon say?" "Dunno, Dudley hasn't told him yet," Albus said, "That's why we were a little late. Dad was on the phone with Dudley trying to convince him to tell Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia." "We'd better be getting home," Harry stood up, "See you in a few days, Walter and Julie." Albus, Matt, and his parents stood up as well, "See you then," Mr. Ecketon replied and turned to Matt, "Have fun, and don't make too much trouble." Mrs. Eckerton hugged Matt tightly, "I love you, Matthew. Don't hesitate to owl if you need us." "I'll be fine, Mum," Matt replied once his mother stopped hugging him. "Don't worry, Julie," Mr. Eckerton put an arm around his wife, "Let's go visit Amy before we go home." Mrs. Eckerton nodded and the two of them left the pub. "We're flooing home," Harry said as they walked over to the fireplace, "Have you ever done that, Matt?" "Er, yeah, but not in a couple years," Matt eyed the fireplace nervously. "You'll be fine," Harry told him, "Just throw the powder in and say 'Number 12 Grimmauld Place." "12 Grimmauld Place," Matt repeated, "Got it." "You can go first, Al," Harry handed him the bag of floo powder. Albus threw it into the fire and shouted, "Number 12 Grimmuald Place!" He was whisked away in a swirl of green fire and came out in the drawing room of his house. He quickly stepped away and waited for Matt and his dad to appear. A few minutes later, Matt fell out of the fire and landed on the floor. He was coughing and sputtering. "I didn't like that," he groaned as he stood up. "You'd better step away," Albus pulled Matt away from the fire just before Harry appeared. "Are you all right?" Harry asked when he saw Matt coughing. "Yeah, I think so," Matt coughed, "But I think I prefer Apparation." "You get used to it," Albus told him, "Come on, you can drop your stuff in my room." "Wow, this is a pretty big house," Matt gazed around as he followed Albus up the stairs. "Reminds me of the house we had in Australia." "Yeah, it used to be Sirius's house," Albus told him, "It was a lot different then. It had a lot of creepy and Dark stuff in it. The Black family was pretty involved in the Dark Arts. Except for Sirius, and his brother Regulus changed his views at the end of his life and tried to destroy a Horcrux. Anyway, my dad managed to get most of the Dark stuff out." "Well, that's good," Matt said as they entered the next floor. "My room's the last one on the right, but first I've got to show you something," Albus led Matt into one of the other rooms, "This is James's room. But it used to be Sirius's." "Your brother's not very neat, is he?" Matt asked as he stepped over a pile of dirty school robes and books. "Nope, he's not," Albus said and walked over to one of the walls, "Here's what I wanted to show you," he pointed to a picture of four boys, "Sirius put a bunch of pictures up on the wall and no one can get them off. My dad covered up most of them, but he left this one. It's my grandpa, Sirius, Teddy's dad, and Peter Pettigrew." "Wow," Matt stared at the picture, "So that's Moony, the only other, you know, to have gone to Hogwarts?" "Yup," Albus told him, "Thought you'd like to see it." "Yeah, thanks," Matt said, still looking at the picture. "Well, do you want to go to my room?" Albus asked after a few minutes. "Sure," Matt replied, turning away from the picture. "Let's go." ****** A few days later, John arrived at Grimmauld Place. The boys spent their time playing games and talking. John was just as shocked as Matt was that Kaden was a wizard. Harry took them to Rose's house to play Quidditch a few times. Amanda was there and the five of them managed to do a bit of homework after Rose prodded them a few times. "So, what do you want to do now?" John asked. The three boys were lounging around in Albus's room, tossing a Quaffle back and forth. "I dunno," Matt threw the Quaffle to Albus, "What do you want to do?" "Hmm," Albus caught the Quaffle and stopped to think. He had given his friends the grand tour of Grimmauld Place as soon as they'd arrived, but there was one place he had yet to show them. "Want to explore the attic?" he grinned mischievously. "Yeah!" John jumped up from the bed. "What's in it?" "All sorts of old stuff," Albus replied. "I don't go up there very often, but it's great for exploring." "Let's go," Matt agreed and got up. Albus led his friends down the hall and towards the stairs. They climbed all the way up to the top and opened the door. The attic of Number 12 Grimmauld Place was a very large room, filled with old boxes and furniture. It was dark, cramped, and dusty and it was hard to move around. "Here we are," Albus announced and walked into the room. "Whoa," John exclaimed, "What is all this stuff?" "Mostly old Black family heirlooms and other stuff that belonged to the Black family. But some of it is my mum and dad's. When they moved in, they moved a lot of the stuff that was here originally into the attic," Albus explained. "It's not dangerous, is it?" Matt asked as he peered into one of the boxes. "Nah," Albus assured him, "My parents got rid of all the dangerous and dark stuff." "Wicked!" John shouted as he pulled out an old silver tea tray, "I'll bet this is worth loads of galleons." "Probably," Albus agreed and went over to examine the tray, "It's got the Black family crest on it, too." "What's in there?" Matt had walked over to the only door leading off the room, besides the one they had come in. Albus jumped over three boxes and threw himself against the door. "Don't go in there!" he shouted. "Why not?" Matt asked curiously. "There's a portrait of Sirius's mum in there," Albus told them, "She's horrible. The portrait used to be in the hallway downstairs, but my dad managed to use a relocation charm to get it up here. He couldn't banish it from the house, though. There's some sort of charm on it that keeps it in the house." "What did she do to make you keep her up here?" John asked. "She insults everyone who comes into the house. The screaming's awful. My Uncle Percy came up here once looking for some spare kitchen utensils and we hadn't told him not to go in there. It took three hours to shut her up." "She sounds horrible," Matt agreed. "I bet she was worse when she was alive," Albus commented. The two of them walked back over to the box John was rifling through. "Look at all this!" John grinned, "The whole box is filled with fancy stuff. Goblets, silverware." John pulled out a very large candelabra and examined it. "Are those, snakes?" he pointed to the parts of the candelabra that would hold candles. Each of them was a snake's head, and the candle would sit in the snake's mouth. "I think so," Albus took it from John and stared at it, "That's kind of creepy. No wonder it's up here." "Not to mention the fact that it's very Slytherin," John commented. Albus and John bent down and continued to look through the box, while Matt watched them. "Funny," John announced as he picked up yet another silver item. It was an old teapot that looked like it went with the tray, "There's not much gold up here. If the Blacks were so rich, why didn't they have any gold?" "It's too Gryffindor," Albus laughed. "True," John replied. He examined the teapot more closely. "Hey, Matt, could you hand me that tray?" He pointed to the tea tray that he had set on the floor earlier. "Erm," Matt glanced from the try and then to John, "Sorry, I can't. I'm allergic to silver." "Really?" John asked as he picked up the tray himself. "Uh, yeah, all werewolves are," Matt explained. "That's interesting," John said. "How did we go a whole year without knowing that?" Albus asked. "Well," Matt grinned, "There's not much silver in the Gryffindor common room. It's too Slytherin." The boys all laughed. "These definitely go together," John announced, holding up the tray and teapot. "I'll bet there's a whole set." "Probably," Albus agreed and stood up, "Let's find another box, one that doesn't have silver in it." John agreed and put down the tray and teapot. Matt looked very grateful as they started wandering around the attic. Albus and John peered into the boxes, looking for one that didn't have any silver in it. "Are there any without silver?" John asked after they'd looked at at least ten different boxes. "Here!" Albus announced, pointing to a large box at the far end of the room. "This says 'Sirius' on the side. I'm sure there's no silver in it. It would be too Slytherin. Plus, Sirius hated his family." "Excellent," John sat down and opened the box. Albus and Matt joined him and started pulling stuff out. "Look at these old robes," Albus held up a very old set of Gryffindor robes. "And this," John pulled out an old copy of 1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi. "Bet it hasn't changed in the least." "Broken Snitch," Matt announced, "Broken Sneakoscope, a few dungbombs, broken quills, nothing too exciting." "Wait, what's that?" Albus pointed to a small, worn out, leather book at the bottom. It didn't look much like a text book. Albus reached into the box and pulled it out. He opened it up in silence, while John and Matt looked over his shoulder. On the first page was a picture of four boys. "It's photo album," he murmured. He flipped through the next few pages, noticing that the pictures were always of the same four boys, though occasionally one or two of them were missing. "Who are they?" John asked. "I think they're the Marauders," Albus pointed to a picture of a messy haired boy with glasses, "Because that is definitely my grandfather." "Makes sense, since it was in Sirius's box," John agreed, "Which one is Sirius?" "Probably him," Albus pointed to the tall, long haired boy. "And the short chubby one has got to be Peter Pettigrew. So, that's Remus," Albus pointed to the skinnier boy. "Wow," Matt whispered, "Wonder if your dad knows it was here." "Dunno," Albus replied. He continued to turn the pages, looking at each picture. It was a bit strange looking at all these pictures, seeing the Marauders at Hogwarts. There were pictures of them in their dormitory, in the common room, on the grounds, in Hogsmeade. There was even one of them with the Whomping Willow in the background. There were also a couple of James playing Quidditch. In all the pictures, all four boys waved wildly at Albus, John, and Matt. They all looked so happy. It felt weird to know that only a few years after these pictures had been taken, Peter would betray James and Lily. The Marauders had trusted each other with their lives, literally. Kind of like how Albus trusted his friends. But they would never betray each other. Albus knew that. None of them were rats like Pettigrew was. Towards the end of the photo album, a girl started appearing in a lot of the pictures. She would have her arms wrapped around James and would kiss him every once in a while. "Who's that?" Matt asked, pointing to the girl. "My grandmother," Albus explained. "I think this has all their years of Hogwarts in it." Albus flipped to the very last page and saw that the last picture was of all the Marauders, plus Lily, standing in front of the lake in their school robes, holding diplomas. They all wore huge grins on their faces. "Graduation," John commented. "Yup," Albus replied, "They look very happy there." "Yeah," Matt agreed, "But it doesn't look like it was a good time of the month." Albus looked more closely at the picture and noticed that Remus looked very tired and worn out. Albus probably wouldn't have even noticed if Matt hadn't have pointed it out. "Guess not." "What are you going to do with it?" John asked. "I think I'll keep it," Albus replied. "I mean, no one's going to miss it if it's up here." Albus closed the photo album and a folded up piece of parchment fell out. "What's this?" Matt picked it up. "Looks blank." Albus took it from him, unfolded it, and examined it. It was almost blank. In one of the corners were four very small paw prints. "No it's not. Look," Albus pointed to the corner. John and Matt peered at the parchment and looked at the paw prints. "What's that mean?" John asked. "I've never seen it before," Albus replied, "But I think it's supposed to represent the Marauders. I'm guessing they're a wolf, dog, stag, and rat prints." "It's blank, though," John commented, "I mean besides that. Why would Sirius keep an old piece of parchment?" "Dunno," Albus shrugged. But in his gut, he had a feeling that it wasn't a meaningless piece of parchment. After all, to the average person, the Marauder's Map was just a meaningless piece of parchment. Albus shoved the parchment back in the album, which he then shoved at the bottom of his trunk once the boys returned to Albus's room. ****** "Are you kids ready to leave?" Harry shouted up the stairs, the day of Albus and Rose's birthday party. "Yeah!" Albus shouted back. He ran down the stairs with John and Matt following him. They ran into the drawing room, where Albus's parents were, along with James and Lily. "We're ready!" "Good," Harry replied, "Have you got everything, Ginny?" "I think so. I took most everything to the Burrow earlier." "Like my present?" Albus hinted. "Yes, like your present," Ginny laughed. "Are we going by floo?" Matt eyed the fireplace warily. "I thought we would," Harry told him, "Don't worry, it'll be better this time." Harry was right. This time, Matt did not inhale nearly as much smoke and managed to not fall over as he arrived at the Burrow. When they got there, the house was already crowded with people. "Albus!" Molly Weasley came running over to them and gave Albus a big hug, "Happy Birthday!" "Thanks, Grandmum," Albus replied. "Oh, are these your friends?" Molly asked. "Yeah, this is John Brickston and Matt Eckerton," Albus gestured to his friends. "Nice to meet you," Molly smiled, "Now, Ginny, I need your help in the kitchen. Harry, would you help Ron set up the tables in the yard?" The adults quickly left to set up for the party, leaving Albus and the other kids alone. "I'm off to find Cedric and Ben," James announced, "See you later." "Let's go to the yard," Albus suggested. "Is everyone here related to you?" Matt asked as they walked through the house towards the back door. "Pretty much," Albus laughed, "If they've got red hair, chances are they're related." "Wow, I can't imagine having this many cousins," Matt replied, "Well, I haven't got any cousins." The group managed to make it through the crowd and into the backyard. They saw Harry and Ron setting up the tables magically. A few of Albus's cousins were in the air on brooms and a few others were playing with the gnomes in the garden. Albus spotted Rose and Amanda at a nearby table. "Rose!" Albus ran over to them, "Amanda!" "Hello," Rose and Amanda greeted them. "Did you just get here?" Rose asked. "Yeah, have you been here for a while?" Albus asked as he sat down. "For about a half hour. We flooed," Rose told them. "Us, too." "I hate flooing," Amanda groaned, "Took me fifteen minutes to stop coughing." "It gets better," Matt assured her, "I hadn't done it in years, but I did it to get to Albus's house. Took me forever to stop coughing. But then when we came here, I was fine." "Did Kaden come with you?" Rose peered around at the yard like she was looking for Albus's cousin. "Oh, no. Dad invited him, and Dudley, too. But they were having dinner with Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia," Albus explained. "Did Dudley tell them?" Rose asked. "Sure did. Apparently Uncle Vernon went mad. He was shouting and swearing. Said he wasn't going to have anymore 'abnormalness' in the family. But Aunt Petunia got him to stop. She's actually ok with it." "Wow," Rose replied, "Still can't believe it." "Me, neither," Albus laughed. "Hi, kids!" Bill had appeared next to the table, holding what appeared to be a gigantic Gryffindor lion. "Everyone's arrived, so I think we're going to do the pinata soon." "Brilliant!" Albus grinned. Bill set the pinata down on the table and glanced out across the yard. "Oi! Teddy! Want to do the pinata?" Teddy, who had turned his hair scarlet and gold for the occasion, came running over to the table. "Sure! We doing it in the middle of the yard?" "That would probably be best," Bill replied. The two of them set off to clear a place for the pinata. "There's no trees there," Amanda commented, "What are they planning to hang it on?" "Hang it on?" Albus asked. "Well, yeah. That's what you do with pinatas. You hang them on trees so they're in the air," Amanda said. "Oh! That's how Muggles do it!" Albus realized, "Teddy's just going to levitate it. He'll move it around and it'll be really hard to hit." "Whoever wants to do the pinata can come over here now!" Teddy shouted. All at once, all of Albus's cousins ran over to Teddy. Albus, Rose, and their friends managed to push their way through the crowd to the front. "All right!" Bill shouted, "Albus and Rose first, then youngest to oldest." Rose went first. Bill put a blind-fold charm over her eyes and handed her an old broom. Teddy levitated the pinata and flung it around Rose. After a few poorly aimed hits, her turn was over. Albus was up next. He took the broom from Rose and was blind-folded. He loved this part of his birthday parties, but he was never very good at it. "To the right!" someone shouted. Albus swung the broom around to his right, but didn't make contact with anything. Teddy always made it difficult. "I bet you anything that Bradley's going to burst it open," Albus said once his turn was over. "He does at everyone's parties." "Well, this is the kind of thing a beater would be good at," Rose pointed out. "I know," Albus replied. The pinata bashing continued for a while and no one had managed to even touch it. Teddy was laughing hysterically as everyone flung the broom around. Soon, all the little kids had finished and Albus's friends were up. Amanda was the first one to actually touch the pinata with the broom, but she didn't make any progress in smashing it open. Matt actually managed to hit himself in the head with the broom, instead of the large Gryffindor lion. "See, I wasn't exactly lying when I told you I was clumsy last year," he whispered to Albus as he rubbed his head. John was up next and he hit the pinata with a loud crunch that sounded like it should have smashed the whole thing. "Yes!" he shouted. "Sorry, it's a magically reinforced pinata since there's so many of us," Teddy grinned, "It'll take a few more of those." As usual, Bradley was the one to give the final blow to the pinata. Everyone rushed forward to grab the sweets that had fallen out of it. Albus and his friends each got a large bagful of sweets. "Time for presents!" Molly shouted over the crowd. Albus and Rose sat down at one one of the tables next to two large piles of presents. They alternated opening them, each receiving a lot of books, sweets, Weasley Wizard Wheezes products, and various clothing items. Soon, there was just one present left. "It's from us, Al," Harry smiled as he handed Albus a long, rectangular box. Albus took the box and tore the wrappings off. Excitement washed over him as he saw what it was. "A Firebolt 2000!" he shouted, "Wow! This is bloody brilliant! Just like Georgia's! Thanks Mum and Dad!" "You're welcome," Harry grinned, "It'll be perfect for when you get on the Quidditch team this year." "If I get on the team," Albus replied. "You will," James assured him. "I'm going to try it out now!" Albus grinned. He ran to the middle of the yard with his friends and cousins following. He mounted the broom and took off into the air. The evening breeze felt cool as he soared higher and higher. It flew just like Georgia's did. The acceleration was wonderful and it turned at the slightest touch. Albus flew around the yard for a few minutes, enjoying the thrill that only flying could bring. Albus had loved flying and Quidditch for as long as he could remember. He had received his first toy broom on his first birthday. He promptly crashed into a tree the next day and broke it. Albus had gotten a lot better at flying since then, but he still wasn't nearly as good as James was. After a few more minutes, Albus descended and landed on the ground. "How is it?" John asked. "Completely wonderful," Albus grinned, "Want to try?" "Of course!" John took the broom and flew off into the sky. Albus spent the next half hour lending his broom to his cousins and friends. They all agreed that it was a superb broom and that Albus was sure to make Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Molly served dinner shortly after everyone had tried out Albus's new broom. The discussion centered mainly around Quidditch, like it often did when all the Weasleys got together. With such a large number of people, there was always a good bit of disagreement about which teams were the best. Matt was thrilled that Albus's Uncle Ron was a Chudley Cannons fan and the two of them defended their team to the rest of the group. The evening ended with a magnificent Gryffindor lion shaped cake that Molly had made. Hermione had enchanted it to roar realistically when it was first cut. Shortly after everyone finished their cake, they started going home. Albus's family were some of the last to leave. "I'm going to Apparate home with Lily," Harry said as they walked to the fireplace. Lily was asleep in his arms. "All right," Ginny replied. Harry turned on the spot and disappeared. "You boys go first," Ginny gestured to the pot of floo powder. Albus stepped out of the fireplace at Grimmauld Place and waited for John and Matt. They appeared a few minutes later, and the three of them went up to Albus's room. "That was really fun, Albus," Matt yawned as they lay down to go to sleep, "Your family is fun. Makes me wish I had some cousins." "You're welcome to share mine," Albus laughed. "Mine, too," John agreed, "If you think Albus's family is nuts, you should meet mine. You'll meet one of my cousins this year. It's her first year at Hogwarts. All my cousins are younger than me." "The only one of my cousins coming to Hogwarts this year is Kaden," Albus told them. "Well, half of Gryffindor is your cousins, Albus," John laughed, "And if you make the Quidditch team, Ryan will be the only non-Weasley and non-Potter on the team." "Yeah, we're taking over," Albus joked. "Well, good night." "Night," John replied. "Night," Matt said.