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DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2495 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Friday 23 October 2009 03 03 13 pm    Post subject: Re: Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden in topic:Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden Chapter 6: Flobberworms and Boggarts As it turned out, Albus didn't have to wait until classes to know if Linda Morales was his age or not. Rose and Amanda burst out of the girls' dormitory as Albus, Matt, and John were heading down to breakfast. "Albus!" Rose caught up with him, "Linda is our age. She's in our dormitory." "Really?" Albus replied, realizing that he hadn't really thought about which dormitory the new students would be in. "Where is she now?" John asked. "Still up there," Amanda said, "She's been in the bathroom for ages." "Girls," John muttered, "I'll never understand them." The group hurried down to the Great Hall and ate a quick breakfast before their first class. Neville handed out schedules and Albus saw that he had Care of Magical Creatures first. "Blimey, this schedule is packed," John said as they headed out of the castle towards Hagrid's hut. "Well, we are taking two extra classes now," Albus pointed out. "Wonder who we'll have this class with," Matt said. "With our luck, it'll be the Slytherins," Amanda groaned. "Maybe Linda's taking this class," John said hopefully. Amanda sighed, "You haven't even met her." "Yeah, but this class would be the perfect time to do that!" John pointed out. Amanda groaned and they continued their trek to Hagrid's hut. Once they got there, they saw that they were indeed with the Slytherins. Albus groaned inwardly and stood with his friends as everyone waited for Hagrid to appear. "'Ello, everyone!" Hagrid said as he stepped out of his hut a few minutes later, "Welcome to Care o' Magical Creatures." "Hi, Hagrid," Albus grinned. "'Ello, Albus," Hagrid grinned back, "Now, today's lesson's abou' Flobberworms. Can anyone tell me anything abou' them?" Flobberworms, Albus thought. Flobberworms were about the least exciting magical creatures in the world. Albus wished they were doing something a bit more exciting. "Nobody?" Hagrid said, "Well, I know they aren't the most excitin' creatures, but we've got to start somewhere. Now, flobberworms are small white worms...." Albus listened as Hagrid explained about flobberworms, but he didn't take any notes. Rose would have, but Albus didn't see the point. Flobberworms were pretty basic. "Now, everyone can take a worm," Hagrid held up a box, "An' draw them into yer notes an' observe 'em." Albus and his friends each took a worm and began the tedious task of recording the worms' every movement and sketching them. Albus thought the rest of the class was rather boring and was a bit disappointed. He had kind of been expecting Hagrid to bring in some sort of dangerous creature, like he had when his dad was at Hogwarts. Although, come to think of it, his cousins had said Hagrid had adopted a more normal curriculum. "I wish Hagrid would bring in a dragon or something," John said as they made their way back to the castle for Transfiguration. "He probably wishes that, too," Albus laughed. The Transfiguration classroom was already filling up by the time Albus and his friends entered. Albus noticed that they had this class with the Hufflepuffs. Rose was already inside, sitting at her usual table in the front. Amanda quickly joined her. Linda was there as well, but she was sitting by herself at the other front desk. "Let's go sit by Linda!" John said excitedly. "Sure," Albus grinned and started to walk towards her table. "Wait," Matt said, "There's only two seats. And do you really want to sit in the front?" "Er, that's true," John said, "We'll sit behind her then." Albus vaguely wondered why Matt so set on not sitting with Linda, but he didn't dwell on it and sat down at the table behind Linda. Patil walked in a moment later and everyone quieted down. "For the first few classes we shall be learning about a very difficult branch of transfiguration," Patil said after she took attendance, "And it is called the Animagus Transfiguration. Can anyone tell me what that is?" Albus smirked as Rose's hand shot into the air. Albus knew the answer, of course, but he was perfectly happy to let Rose answer. "Yes, Miss Morales?" Patil pointed to Linda. Albus turned away from Rose and saw that Linda had half-way raised her hand. The rest of the class was staring at her as well, probably because Rose always answered the preliminary questions in class. "The Animagus Transfiguration is the act of transfiguring oneself into an animal," Linda answered. "Yes, that is correct," Patil smiled. Albus noticed that Rose was staring in shock at Linda. He had to stifle a laugh at this. Patil went on to describe Animagi in more detail and Albus took a few notes. "Can anyone name a registered Animagus they may have heard about in another class?" Patil asked. Both Rose and Linda's hands shot up into the air. Patil called on Rose this time. "Minerva McGonagall," Rose answered. "Yes, she turns into a cat. She used to teach Transfiguration here and was the Headmistress for a few years. How about an illegal Animagus?" Albus scribbled the words 'Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs' onto a piece of parchment and showed it to Matt and John. All three of them stifled laughter and then looked back up at Patil. "Rita Skeeter," Rose grinned. Patil smiled. "Yes, and it was your mother who discovered her." The rest of the class passed by at a reasonably quick pace and once it was over, Albus and his friends went to the Great Hall for lunch. "You've got some competition, Rose," John grinned as they walked down the corridor. "Shut up," Rose muttered. "She might beat you on the next test," John laughed. "And your point is?" Rose snapped. They walked the rest of the way in silence, as no one wanted to set Rose off even more. Albus had no idea she would get that competitive about grades. Although after two years of easily being the smartest in their year, Rose hadn't previously had any competition. Half the Gryffindor table was roaring with laughter when they arrived for lunch. James quickly filled Albus in on the fact that Hugo had exploded his first potion earlier in the morning and was apparently quite proud of it. "Well, you'll have no competition from him," John muttered to Rose. Rose sent him a withered look and sat down to eat. Albus spent lunch telling Kaden about Care of Magical Creatures. Despite the fact that they learned about flobberworms, Kaden was jealous. The third year Gryffindors had double potions after lunch, with the Slytherins again. Slughorn started the class with a review of the previous year's potions. Once again, Rose and Linda both knew the answer to every question. Then, when Slughorn had them brew a new potion, both Rose and Linda tied for best potion. Slughorn gave them each a bar of Honeyduke's chocolate. Albus was quite surprised that Linda seemed as smart as Rose. He had never met anyone his age who could compete with Rose with grades. John was right. Rose did have some competition. ****** "Well, time to go meet the new Defense teacher," Albus said as he finished breakfast the next morning. "I wish your dad was still teaching," Matt sighed. "Yeah," John agreed, "The new teacher looks like the kind of bloke who gives a lot of homework." "You really ought to just keep an open mind," Rose commented as they left the Great Hall. "Easy for you to say," John muttered, "You're freakishly smart." "You have got to be kidding me!" Albus groaned as they reached the classroom, "We're with the Slytherins, again!" "Great," Matt sighed, "Three years in a row, what are the chances of that?" Albus led the way into the classroom. Linda Morales was already seated at one of the front tables. Rose and Amanda immediately took the other front table. "Let's sit in the back," Matt muttered. Albus nodded. He really didn't want to sit near the front. The teacher was already there and was wearing an unreadable expression. If he turned out to be mean, Albus preferred to be as far away as possible. The classroom looked exactly the same as it had the year before, except for a trunk that was sitting in front of the teacher's desk. A few more students trickled in and once the bell rang, the teacher waved his wand and the door slammed loudly. Albus jumped in surprise and snapped his attention back to the new teacher. He walked slowly from behind his desk and stood in front of it. He was holding a piece of parchment and a quill. Albus noticed that he was wearing the same black robes, except now he noticed that there were intricately designed silver fastenings on them. "Please raise your hand and say 'present' when I call your name," he said in a stern voice. He ran through the list, fixing each student with a piercing gaze when he called on them. "Brilliant," he said flatly, "All here. I am Professor Balladanis, as you all know from Professor Kendrick's speech. You will address me as Professor Balladanis, or Professor, or Sir. I will not tolerate speaking out of turn or misbehavior of any kind in my classroom. I expect all homework and other assignments to be completed on time, no excuses." Professor Balladanis began to pace back and forth in front of his desk. "As you shall discover throughout the year, I take defensive magic very seriously." He paused and glared sharply at Linda and Janie Creevey, who had sat next to Linda. "Defensive magic is a very very important branch of magic. I would make the argument that is the most important. It can save your life. It has saved my life on numerous occasions. I have no doubt that your previous two years of instruction were very extensive and I am sure you all have a basic knowledge of defensive spells courtesy of Professor Potter." Balladanis stopped pacing and paused before continuing his speech. "However, the third year Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum focuses on defense against dark creatures." He turned to Albus's table and gave Albus, Matt, and John a piercing stare. "I will be continuing the curriculum that has been used in this school since after the final battle," Balladanis continued, "I have looked over the curriculum and have deemed it satisfactory. I immensely approve of the first day's lesson for third years. I've always thought a practical approach was good for Defense, although I do expect you to carefully read your text book as well. "In this box," Balladanis gestured to the trunk, which jumped a little as he touched it, "Lives a boggart. Can anyone tell me what a boggart is?" Rose and Linda's hands shot up into the air. Balladanis smirked and pointed to Rose. "Yes, Miss...?" "Weasley, sir," Rose replied, "A boggart is a shape shifter. It takes the form of whatever scares you most. No one knows what one really looks like." Balladanis nodded. "Correct. 5 points to Gryffindor. Boggarts," he began pacing again, "Take the form of whatever scares us most. The boggart focuses on the nearest person and turns into whatever scares them. "We will have an advantage over our boggart. There are a lot of us, which means the boggart will become confused about what to turn into. However, that is not enough. There is a necessary incantation for defeating boggarts. It is 'Riddikulus'. Repeat after me, 'Riddikulus'." "Riddikulus," Albus said along with everyone else. "Good," Balladanis said, although his voice wasn't exactly cheerful, "You'll also need to think of a way to turn whatever your most feared thing is into something funny. Laughter is what really finishes off a boggart. Then, think of that as you're saying the incantation. Now, take out your wands and stand up." Albus pulled his wand out of his bag and stood up. He wasn't even sure what he was most afraid of. Snakes? No, he really didn't fear snakes. Spiders? Nope, not them either. He had no idea what that boggart was going to turn into, and that made it even scarier. Balladanis waved his wand and all the tables and chairs moved to the sides of the classroom. "Form a line," he instructed. Everyone pushed to be at the front of the line. Albus wound up being towards the back, behind John and in front of Matt. "Miss Weasley," Balladanis motioned for Rose to step forward, "Perhaps you could go first." Rose nodded and stepped out of the line. She stood in front of the trunk with her wand raised. Albus had no idea what the boggart would turn into for Rose either. Nor did he have a clue what John and Amanda's boggarts would be. He had an inkling about Matt's, though. Balladanis stood off to the side and pointed his wand at the trunk. The lid slowly opened and out stepped...Neville. Albus gaped at the boggart. The boggart Neville opened his mouth. "I'm sorry, Rose, you did not get the highest grades in your year. You've been beaten." Oh, Albus thought, that kind of made sense. For a moment there, Albus actually thought Rose was afraid of Neville, which was ridiculous. "Riddikulus!" Rose shouted. The boggart Neville swayed, but didn't look any different. He opened his mouth again. "Rose, you have beaten everyone in the entire school! You have the best grades in the history of Hogwarts." Albus smirked. It wasn't entirely funny, but it fit Rose perfectly. "Interesting," Balladanis muttered, "Next!" Rose stood off to the side and grinned as Amanda stepped forward. Albus watched as the boggart turned into a very large snake. Amanda stared at it for a few moments and then shouted, "Riddikulus!" The snake twirled around and tied itself into a knot. Amanda, along with most of the rest of the class, burst out laughing. Amanda stepped to the side next to Rose and Janie Creevey stepped forward. Janie's boggart turned into a giant rat, which then got transformed into tiny mouse. A few Slytherins were up after her, and then it was Linda Morales's turn. Albus watched intently as the boggart that had previously been a dragon turn into a raging fire. Linda raised her wand and shouted, "Riddikulus!" The fire turned into a waterfall and Linda joined the growing group of students off to the side. Marina Jordan-Bell was next, and her boggart turned into a spider, as did her sister, Karina's. Karina had a bit of trouble, but eventually managed to turn the spider rainbow colors. Ethan and a couple of the Slytherins had difficulty as well. Leigh Montague charmed her mummy boggart into a strait jacket and then it was John's turn. He stepped forward and the mummy turned into a clown. A clown, complete with a big red nose and huge shoes. Albus could hear a few of the other students snickering already. Albus wasn't exactly a fan of clowns, but he could think of at least ten things that were scarier than them. "Riddikulus!" John shouted. The clown boggart started to walk forward, but it tripped over its ridiculously large feet, which were growing at an alarming rate. The entire class burst out in the loudest laughter yet as John joined Rose and Amanda. Albus took a deep breath and stepped forward. The clown with the huge feet started spinning again and when it stopped, it looked like Professor Oteski. The Oteski boggart stepped towards Albus. "You did not make the Hogwarts Quidditch team," it said. Albus gulped. Come to think of it, that was what he was most afraid of at that moment. But how could he make it funny. He racked his brains as the Oteski boggart continued walking towards him. "Riddikulus!" Albus shouted. The boggart spun around again and then stopped. "You did make the team!" it said, "In fact, everyone is on the team! All of Hogwarts will play at once and therefore win the competition!" Albus laughed at the thought of a Quidditch team consisting of over 200 people on it and joined John at the side of the classroom. Albus watched as Matt stepped forward. "Hey, Potter," Scorpius whispered, "I bet the boggart won't know what to turn into with Eckerton. He's afraid of everything." "Shut it, Malfoy," Albus growled. "Quiet over there!" Balladanis shouted. Albus immediately shut his mouth and Scorpius didn't say anything else. The boggart was spinning around again and when it stopped, it didn't turn into the bright full moon that Albus had been expecting. It had turned into a very sinister looking man. He was skinny and rather short and had a mop of untidy brown hair on his head. It wasn't like Roberts's hair, though. This bloke's hair was stringy and dirty looking. His eyes were piercing, not unlike Balladanis's, and he was sneering at Matt. Albus didn't recognize who it was. He hadn't seen anyone that resembled the boggart. The boggart stepped slowly towards Matt, who looked frozen in place. Albus could see his wand shaking in his hand. "Who's that bloke?" John whispered. "No idea," Albus said. Albus continued to watch as the boggart advanced towards Matt. Balladanis wasn't doing anything besides watching with an unreadable expression on his face. The boggart was now only a couple feet away from Matt, who still wasn't doing anything. The boggart began to slowly raise its hands and muttered something that Albus couldn't quite catch. At that moment, Matt seemed to unfreeze. He stepped back and all of a sudden ran towards the door. He wrenched it open and disappeared from the room. Everyone who had already faced the boggart started whispering amongst themselves Albus turned to John, who shrugged. Albus couldn't even begin to imagine why Matt was afraid of that strange man, but he could sense that it went beyond a normal fear. "I'm going after him," Albus whispered to John. John nodded and Albus ran from the room without asking Balladanis or even looking back at him. Albus could hear Balladanis trying to quiet the rest of the students down as he walked quickly down the corridor. Matt wasn't anywhere to be found. Albus continued to walk down the corridor, not really knowing where he was going. Where would Matt go? The dormitory? Room of Requirement? Marauder's Den? That was it, Albus thought. That's where Matt would go. After all, only a few people knew about that. Albus walked through the empty corridors, thankful that nobody else was wandering around. He glanced at his watch. There was only ten minutes left in class. The fifth floor corridor was also deserted. Albus quickly pulled up the arm on the appropriate suit of armor and then searched the opposite wall for the tiny paw prints. He found them and glanced up and down the corridor once more before wrenching the door open. The room looked empty when Albus stepped inside. In fact, it looked just like they left it at the end of the previous year. Albus hadn't been in it for months. He quietly walked further into the room and headed straight for Matt's alcove. Matt was sitting on his four-poster bed, just staring directly at the wall in front of him. Albus wordlessly sat down on the bed, not sure of what to say. Matt didn't even acknowledge the fact that Albus was there. Either that or he didn't notice. "Er, are you ok?" Albus asked after a few moments of awkward silence. Matt looked over at him. He didn't look all right. His face was pale white. "I guess," he said quietly, "But everyone probably thinks I'm afraid of everything now. Nobody else ran out of the room." "Maybe everyone else's boggarts weren't as scary," Albus suggested. "Maybe," Matt muttered. Albus heard the door open and he craned his head around to see that Rose, John, and Amanda had come inside. John and the girls walked over to where Albus and Matt were. "We've got your bags," John said as he dropped Albus and Matt's bags on the floor. "Thanks," Albus replied. "Are you all right?" John asked Matt. "Yeah," Matt sighed. "What have we got next?" Albus asked. "Herbology," Rose answered, "And we'd better go if we don't want to be late." "Are you coming?" Albus asked Matt. "Yeah," Matt got up off the bed, "Let's go. I just hope we don't have it with the Slytherins. I'd bet my last Galleon that Malfoy's going to make fun of me for this for rest of the year." Albus would have been willing to bet that as well. Fortunately, the third year Gryffindors had Herbology with the Ravenclaws that year. A few of the other Gryffindors stole quick glances at Matt during the beginning part of the class, but nobody said anything to him. Neville quizzed them about a few plants they had learned about the previous year for a few minutes. Rose and Linda answered all of them. Then he gave a broad overview of what they'd be doing that year.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2495 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Thursday 15 October 2009 07 59 13 pm    Post subject: Re: Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden in topic:Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden Chapter 5: Linda Morales Professor Kendrick rose to his feet. "May I have your attention!" he shouted and the room quieted down, "Thank you. Now, I have a few rather boring announcements, two somewhat exciting ones, and one really exciting one. I shall start with the boring ones. "As usual, the forest and Whomping Willow are out of bounds to everyone. If you wish to try-out for your house's Quidditch team, give your name to your head of house. The Dueling Club and Junior's Dueling Club will be starting up again and once meetings have been set up, I shall let you know. "As for the somewhat exciting announcements, we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Please welcome Professor Balladanis." The stern looking professor stood up for a few seconds and received mediocre applause. He resumed his seat and Professor Kendrick turned back to the students. "The other somewhat interesting announcement is that Hogwarts will be patrolled by Aurors a few days a week. After last year's incident, the Ministry has deemed this a necessary precaution to take. The Aurors are positive that Jarrett Willinson and Jameson Washburn will try to return to Hogwarts at some point this year. I do not tell you this to scare you, but to make you aware of the situation. If anyone sees any suspicious behavior or has any information regarding the whereabouts of either fugitive, please tell a teacher." The entire Gryffindor table turned to Albus and his friends at this announcement. Albus felt his face turn red and he stared down at his plate. He really hated all the attention he got from what happened the previous two years. "And now," Kendrick continued, "I have a very exciting announcement to make." Albus grinned and turned to his friends, who were all wearing equal faces of excitement, and then turned back to the headmaster. "First, I would like you all to remember the inter-house dueling from last year." The entire hall groaned and people started whispering amongst themselves. "Quiet down," Kendrick said, "There was a reason why I enacted that last year. More than just school unity, that is. I wanted the school to become more united because of an event that is taking place this year. An event that will put us into competition with other magical schools-" "The Triwizard Tournament?!" Bradley exclaimed, "Is that it?" "No," Kendrick replied, "This is not the Triwzard Tournament. It is a different competition that will involve more than just one student from each school. "Tomorrow evening, shortly before dinner, a select group of students from the Adirondack Academy of Magic, which is in New York State, and the Australian School of Sorcery will travel to Hogwarts, where they will live and attend classes for the duration of the year." Albus turned to look at Matt, who was gaping at Kendrick. "The students from both schools will be Sorted into the four Hogwarts houses during a special Sorting ceremony tomorrow evening. They will live in whichever house they are Sorted into and attend classes with those in their year. I expect you all to treat them like they are fellow Hogwarts students. "However, you will also be competing against them. There are two events. The first is Qudditch. Each of the schools has created a Quidditch team comprised of the best Quidditch players in their respective school. We will be doing the same thing here. The three teams will play each other throughout the year and whichever team wins shall receive the Quidditch Cup for Schools. "The other event will be dueling. Each of the schools has also put together a team of the best duelers in their respective school. Again, we shall do the same. The tournaments will work much like the Dueling Club works here." The entire school started talking at once. Albus thought the whole thing was brilliant. It was like the Triwizard Tournament, only less dangerous. Maybe he could even participate. He was a decent Chaser and dueler. "Albus, you've got to try out for the Hogwarts Quidditch team!" John shouted. "I will!" Albus grinned, "As long as they don't have an age limit or anything." "I don't think they will," Rose said, "Quidditch isn't that dangerous." "It kind of is," John laughed. "Maybe I can duel," Kaden said, "I'm a second year now." "I think it'll be great just to go to school with kids from Australia and New York!" Rose exclaimed, "Think of all we can learn from them!" "Yeah," Amanda agreed. "Quiet!" Kendrick shouted over the chatter and everyone settled down, "The Hogwarts Quidditch team is open to anyone who is currently on a House Quidditch team. I'm sorry if that upsets some of you, but it would be impossible to hold try-outs for the entire school, and I think it would be better if our team were comprised of those who have experience on a Quidditch team. If you have interest in trying out, please tell your head of house. "Try-outs for the Hogwarts Dueling Team will be open to fifth through seventh years only." "Crap," Kaden muttered. "If you want to try out, give your name to your head of house. Try-outs for both teams will most likely be next weekend. I believe that is all I have to say for now. First years, please follow a prefect to your common room. Good night, everyone." Albus got up from the table and walked to Gryffindor tower with his friends. They talked about the competition the entire time. Albus was incredibly excited about the prospect of playing for the Hogwarts Quidditch team, and a little nervous at the same time. Of course, his chances of getting picked were kind of slim. He was the youngest Chaser eligible to try out. "Albus!" James pushed his way through the crowd of Gryffindors in the common room, "Are you trying out?" "Of course!" Albus grinned, "You?" "Yeah!" James exclaimed, "That's everybody! Everyone on the Gryffindor team is trying out! Wouldn't that be amazing if we were all picked?" "You won't be," Rose said, "The whole point is to have a Hogwarts team, not a Gryffindor team." "Albus and James will get picked," Kaden said adamantly, "You two are both great Quidditch players." "Thanks, Kaden," Albus smiled, "But all the other Chasers are older than me." "Doesn't matter," John assured him, "They'll be searching for skill, not age." "Who's picking the team?" Amanda asked. "Probably Professor Oteski," James said, "And maybe the heads of houses will help." Albus and his friends talked about the Quidditch competition for another few minutes before retiring to their dormitories for the night. Albus climbed into his familiar four-poster bed, but found that he was too excited to sleep. The more he thought about the Hogwarts Quidditch team, the more he thought he actually had a chance of making it. He was also excited about having the Australian and American students at Hogwarts. He hadn't really met many foreign witches and wizards before, not including his Aunt Fleur's family. Matt and Amy and their parents were the closest he'd come, and they'd been living in England for a while. Matt didn't seem very excited about the whole thing, though. In fact, he had remained rather quiet ever since Kendrick made the announcement. ****** It was easy to feel the excitement at Hogwarts the next day. Since it was Sunday, classes weren't starting yet. Most people slept late, and the main topic of conversation in the Great Hall at lunchtime was the competition and the students from Australia and New York. Georgia organized a spur of the moment Quidditch practice for the Gryffindor team in order to prepare for the Hogwarts Team try-outs. Albus and the rest of the team practiced for at least two hours that afternoon. "You're a shoo-in, James," Albus told his brother as the two of them began to walk off the pitch, "Everyone knows you're the best Seeker in the school." "Well, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are the only other houses that are keeping their Seekers from last year," James pointed out, "So I'll only be competing against Lisa Galivant and Miranda Corner." "And you're better than both of them," Albus said, "I'll be competing against at least six other Chasers." "Yeah, but you're a good Chaser," James assured him. Albus nodded and shouldered his broom. He was already nervous about the try-out, and it was almost a week away. What if he was so nervous during the try-out that he completely messed up? He'd just have to be sure to calm down by then. Albus sighed and continued walking off the pitch. Just as he was getting close to the stands, he noticed someone sitting alone in the lower level. It was Matt. "I'll see you back in the common room," Albus said to his brother as he detoured towards the stands. James nodded and continued back towards the castle. Matt had hardly said a word the entire day. He was normally quiet, but it was never a good sign when he was completely silent. Albus knew better than to ask why, but he was still curious. He had a feeling it had to do with the Australian students. "Hey," Albus sat down next to Matt. "Hi," Matt mumbled. "Where's everyone else?" Albus asked. "Rose is in the library researching about the magical schools in Australia and New York," Matt explained, "Amanda is with her." "Why does that not surprise me," Albus smirked, "I'm assuming John isn't with them?" "No," Matt gave a half-hearted laugh, "He and Kaden are in the Marauder's Den. I was there with them, but they kept talking about Quidditch and Dueling competitions and I just got sick of it, so I came out here." Albus nodded. Matt was going to have a hard time finding someplace in the school where no one was talking about the competitions. "Er, are you ok?" Albus asked tentatively, "I mean, you've been kind of quiet." Matt sighed. "I," he paused, "I'm just not that excited about the competition thing. Well, it's not that, it's the fact that we're doing it with Australia." "Oh," Albus said, not sure what to say next. "I was supposed to go to the Australian School of Sorcery," Matt continued, "That's where Amy went. Then the headmaster told my parents I couldn't. In fact, he said it in a downright cruel way. I never read that letter. I think Mum burned it. But she never told me what it said. She just said it was mean. The headmaster hates, well, people like me." Albus hadn't even thought about that. He turned to look at Matt. He looked quite upset about the whole thing. Albus had no idea what to say. "I don't want the headmaster to come here," Matt said quietly, "I know that's stupid, really. I mean, he's never met me. And we moved five years ago. He probably wouldn't even recognize my last name." "It's not stupid," Albus assured him. Albus couldn't really imagine what this was like for Matt, though. He supposed the only thing close would be if Washburn came back to teach or something. "But I don't think you'll really come into contact with their headmaster much. You can't try out for the Quidditch team or the Dueling Team, so I don't think you'll do much more than pass him in the corridor." "I guess," Matt sighed, "It's just going to be so weird." "Yeah," Albus agreed, "But I don't think anything will happen. This is Kendrick's school. Even if the Australian headmaster is here, he can't really do anything. He's got no control over anything here." Matt nodded. "That's true. I hadn't really thought about that." Albus stood up. "Come on, let's go find John and Kaden. I'm sure we can convince them not to talk about the competition. We could ask them how their plans for swimming in the Black Lake are coming." Matt laughed, "They're all ready to do it. They just didn't want to do it today since you were practicing Quidditch and Rose and Amanda were in the library." The rest of the afternoon went by very quickly. Shortly before dinner, Albus and his friends made their way into the Great Hall. The entire room was buzzing with excitement. Albus noticed that nearly all of the professors were wearing dress robes. The only one who wasn't was Professor Balladanis, who as wearing the same black robes as the previous day. Albus sat down at the Gryffindor table, where everyone was talking about the foreign schools. "I heard that the Australian School of Sorcery is underground!" Hugo shouted excitedly. Matt snorted. "It's not." "Oh, maybe it was the Adirondack Academy of Magic," Hugo replied. "That one's not underground either," Matt laughed. "How do you know they're not?" Hugo asked. "My sister used to go to the Australian School of Sorcery," Matt explained, "And my uncle lives in New York. I've seen that school, too." "Well, that's boring," Hugo muttered, "Would have been better if one of them was underground." "Hey, Hugo," Kaden grinned, "Guess what the initials of Australian School of Sorcery are?" "A, S, S," Hugo shrugged and then a big grin appeared on his face, "Ass! That's brilliant!" "Quiet, please!" Kendrick shouted over the crowd, "The students from the Adirondack Academy of Magic shall be arriving at any moment!" No sooner had Kendrick finished his sentence, people began to whisper and turn their heads towards the door. Albus craned his head up and saw a tall man striding into the Great Hall. He was wearing navy blue robes and had a rather large amount of messy grey hair on his head. Behind him were a dozen or so students wearing identical blue robes. Most of the students looked to be a few years older than Albus. They all stared around at the Great Hall, a couple of them pointing excitedly at the ceiling. The tall man (who Albus presumed to be their headmaster) led the students to the staff table. Kendrick greeted them and then looked up at his own students. "Let me introduce Professor Marvin Roberts, headmaster of the Adirondack Academy of Magic, and his students," Kendrick announced, "Welcome to Hogwarts." Albus and the rest of the Hogwarts student body burst into applause. Once it died down, Kendrick opened his mouth again. "And now, if I'm not mistaken, the students from the Australian School of Sorcery are arriving at the very moment." Albus turned back towards the door and saw another man entering the room. He wore emerald green robes and was completely bald. He made up for the lack of hair on his head by sporting a pointy mustache and goatee. He wasn't nearly as tall as Roberts, but not short either. He walked purposefully towards the staff table with his group of students clad in matching emerald green robes following him. Albus noticed that Matt didn't take his eyes off the man. It was almost like he was frozen in place, except for his eyes, which followed the man to the staff table. "Now I'll introduce Professor Addair Killigan," Kendrick said, "And the students of the Australian School of Sorcery." Albus clapped along with everyone else, but it was more subdued. He took an immediate dislike to Killigan just because of what Matt had said. Albus noticed that Matt didn't really clap at all. "Thank you," Kendrick said once the clapping stopped, "Now, we shall have a special Sorting ceremony in order to find out which house you belong in. The four houses are Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. While you are here at Hogwarts, you will live in your house dormitories, spend free time in your house common rooms, and attend classes with the other students in your house." "You know, it'll be interesting to see if they adopt the house prejudices like we have," Rose whispered, "What if two of them are really good friends and then one is sorted into Gryffindor and the other into Slytherin?" "I dunno," Albus shrugged. Rose had a point, though. "To be Sorted, all you have to do is put on the Sorting Hat," Kendrick continued, "It will tell you where you should be." Professor Patil stood up and walked around to the other side of the staff table. She was holding the three-legged stool and the Sorting Hat. She set the hat down on the stool and it burst into song. There were loud gasps from all of the students from the other two schools. A few of the Hogwarts students giggled at this. All the foreign students stared intently at the hat and whispered amongst themselves. "When I call your name, come sit on the stool and put on the hat. It will tell you which house you're in and then you can go sit at the appropriate table," Patil said after the hat stopped singing. "Allen, Gregory." A tall and lanky boy with messy brown hair stepped away from the group and sat down on the stool. He was wearing navy blue robes, so he must have been from New York. "Slytherin!" the hat shouted. Gregory Allen took the hat off and went to join the Slytherin table. The Sorting continued and Albus clapped loudly whenever anyone got Sorted into Gryffindor. So far, all the new Gryffindors looked at least two years older than Albus. "I think that bloke is going to have to lose the green robes," John commented as one of the Australian students was Sorted into Gryffindor, "It's just not normal to wear green robes when you're a Gryffindor." "I imagine they'll get Gryffindor robes soon," Rose said. "Do they even have houses at the Australian School of Sorcery?" John wondered aloud, "I mean, all their robes look alike." "They do," Matt told him, "But those are the plain school robes." "I'm guessing they wanted to look unified," Rose suggested, "I doubt Albus will wear Gryffindor Quidditch robes when he plays on the house team. They'll probably have special Hogwarts robes." "If I'm on the team, Rose," Albus sighed. Everyone seemed to think he was going to make the team. What if he didn't? Everyone would be disappointed. Albus didn't really like the pressure. "Morales, Linda," Patil shouted. Albus turned back to the Sorting and saw a rather short girl step forward. Albus watched as she walked towards the three-legged stool and he couldn't take his eyes off her. She was beautiful. There wasn't really any other way to describe her. Albus hadn't ever seen a girl as pretty as she was. Her dark brown hair cascaded down her back in soft waves. It didn't quite match her surprisingly pale skin, but it was beautiful nonetheless. Her light skin went well with her emerald green robes. She looked a bit nervous as she sat down and Patil dropped the hat on her head. Albus turned to look at his friends. Matt, John, and Kaden were all staring at the girl. So was James. In fact, all the boys at the Gryffindor table seemed to be staring at her. The girls were whispering to each other and glancing up at Linda Morales every so often. The hat seemed to be taking forever to decide. The entire Great Hall had erupted in whispers. Finally, the brim of the hat burst open and shouted out, "Gryffindor!" Linda Morales took off the hat and walked quickly towards the Gryffindor table. "Bloody hell," John whispered as she took a seat a few places down from Albus. Albus nodded and turned to look at the girl. She looked, if possible, even more nervous now that she was sitting down. "Albus!" Rose seethed, "Don't stare at her!" Albus shook his head to clear his thoughts and tried to turn his attention back to the Sorting. A little while later, the last student was Sorted into Hufflepuff and Patil and the other headmasters took seats behind the staff table. Kendrick stood up. "I'm sure you are all quite famished by now, so without further ado, dinner is served." Kendrick waved his wand and the golden plates filled with food. None of the new students had sat near Albus and his friends, so they didn't get a chance to really get to know any of them. Most of them were older anyway. Albus's cousins struck up conversations with a few of them, though. Albus did notice that Linda wasn't saying much, despite the fact that she had quite a few Gryffindors trying to talk to her. "Well, I certainly hope everyone enjoyed the feast," Kendrick announced after the plates cleaned themselves of dessert, "I have just a few announcements. The new students need to take note of the fact that the forest and the Whomping Willow are out of bounds. There is also a rather large list of forbidden objects. The entire list can be viewed on the caretaker's door, which is located on this level. Or, you can ask your fellow students. Anyone with the last name of Weasley has a particularly extensive knowledge on the subject." There was a large amount of laughter at this, mostly from the Gryffindor table. "Also, try-outs for the Hogwarts Quidditch team will be held this Saturday at one in the afternoon. Dueling Team try-outs will be held a week from today, also at one in the afternoon. And with that, I suggest you all turn in early, as classes start tomorrow." When Albus and his friends returned to the Gryffindor common room, Linda Morales was already there, surrounded by a rather large group of boys and a couple girls. She didn't appear to be enjoying it, though. She looked as nervous as she had been in the Great Hall and was mostly just nodding. "I'll bet anything all those blokes have asked her out already," Rose muttered as they watched the group. "Probably," Amanda agreed. "They should just leave her alone," Rose went on, "It doesn't look like she wants all that attention. I'll bet she's overwhelmed by everything." "I wonder how old she is," Albus said. He'd been trying to figure that out all evening. "Dunno," Rose shrugged, "She looks our age, but older at the same time. It's kind of odd." "Guess we'll find out tomorrow," Albus said, "She might be in our classes." "Well, I'm going to bed," Matt turned away from Linda and stood up. "He's been quiet all evening," John commented as Matt left. Albus leaned over to John. "That Killigan bloke, the headmaster, is the reason he couldn't go to school in Australia," Albus whispered. "Oh," John said, "Well, that would explain it." Albus and his friends stayed up for a few more minutes before turning in for the night. Albus laid awake for a while, though, thinking about Linda Morales.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2495 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Friday 9 October 2009 08 20 43 am    Post subject: Re: Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden in topic:Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden Chapter 4: Tipping the Boats The remainder of the visit at Matt's house went by very fast for Albus. Albus and the other boys spent the next few days playing various games and doing some of the homework they had put off until the last minute. Amy visited for dinner one evening and let Kaden brew something in her potions room. Kaden was thrilled and after he and Amy had finished, he pronounced Amy the best potions brewer he'd met besides Slughorn. Albus, Matt, and John did not participate in the brewing since all three of them got enough of potions at Hogwarts. Albus threw his bag over his shoulder and went downstairs with Matt, John, and Kaden. Mrs. Eckerton and Amy were waiting by the door. "Are you boys ready?" Mrs. Eckerton asked. "Yeah," Matt answered. Mrs. Eckerton opened the door and Albus followed everyone outside. They walked a few meters away from the house and then Mrs. Eckerton put an arm around Matt and the other around Albus. Amy did the same with John and Kaden and all six of them disappeared with a crack. They reappeared in the middle of the Leaky Cauldron, which was practically empty. Albus wasn't surprised since it was early afternoon on a weekday. Albus looked around the pub and saw his mum, Uncle Ron, James, Rose, Hugo, and Lily sitting at a nearby table. John's mum and sisters were sitting with them. James looked bored out of his mind and a little annoyed as John's sisters ran around the room. The adults greeted each other while Lily, Hugo, and John's sister, Ashtyn, flew out of their seats and over to Albus and the other boys. Rose followed them and stood next to Albus. "We're getting our wands today!" Lily announced. "Yeah!" Ashtyn grinned, "And books and robes and cauldrons and-" "We know, Ashtyn," John groaned, "You've been telling me about it since I got home from school." "Me and Lily are going to be in Gryffindor," Ashtyn said proudly, "But Lily says Hugo is going to be in Hufflepuff." "Am not," Hugo retorted. "There's nothing wrong with Hufflepuff," John said, "My cousin is in Hufflepuff." "Well, anything's better than Slytherin, right Albus?" Lily said. "Er, right," Albus agreed. "Kids!" Ginny shouted, "We're going to go to Flourish and Blotts first, then Madam Malkins. Al, you need new robes." "So do you, Rose," Ron put in. "As do you, Johnny," Mrs. Brickston said. "I want my wand!" Lily whined. "You'll get it," Ginny said, "But you need robes too. And your wand will be useless without books." Lily pouted and folded her arms across her chest, but followed Ginny out of the pub. Albus and his friends followed the adults, James, and the girls out of the pub and into Diagon Alley. Diagon Alley was a bit more crowded than the Leaky Cauldron, but still rather deserted. Albus walked with the large group into Flourish and Blotts, where the salesman took one look at them and ran into the back room. He returned with a saleslady. Ginny walked up to them. "Let's see, I have four Hogwarts book lists." "And I have two," Ron rummaged around in his robes and pulled out two wrinkled pieces of parchment. "I've got two as well," Mrs. Brickston said. "And I have one," Mrs. Eckerton said. "Ok, if you'll just give us a few minutes, we'll get them for you," the salesman took the lists and gave half the stack to the saleslady. "So, what did you lot do at Matt's house?" Rose asked as they were waiting. Albus looked at John and burst out laughing. "John had fun with the microwave," Albus smirked. Rose groaned. "What did you do?" "Microwaved an egg," John replied, "It made a nice explosion." "Bet your mum wasn't happy," Rose said to Matt. "She just made him clean it up. My dad did the same thing after we moved here. We didn't have a microwave in Australia," Matt said. "Muggle studies ought to be mandatory," Rose sighed. Albus spent a few more minutes telling Rose about what they had done at Matt's house, although he left out the part about the padded room. Matt could tell Rose that later if he wanted to. "Here you go, Al," Ginny dumped a stack of books into Albus's arms. Once everyone had a stack of books in their arms, the group left the book store. They walked down the street until they reached Madam Malkin's. Luckily, the shop was empty, although they'd have to wait a while until everyone was fitted for robes. Lily and Ashtyn went first, since they were eager to get their new robes. Hugo was excited about going to Hogwarts, but he couldn't care less about robes. Albus sat down on a chair as he waited for his turn. Matt and John sat down on either side of him. Albus glanced over and saw that Matt was staring wide eyed at his stack of books. Albus peered down at his own stack of books, but the one on top was [i]Intermediate Transfiguration[/i]. Albus looked over at Matt's stack of books and he gaped when he saw which book was on top. It was the exact same book that Kaden had found at Flourish and Blotts a year ago. The one entitled [i]Dark Creatures: How to Protect Yourself[/i]. "Interesting book choice," Albus muttered. Matt looked up at Albus. "This doesn't bode well for the new defense teacher." Albus shrugged. "Well, third year defense does focus on dark creatures." "It does?" Matt groaned, "Great. That's just what I need, for everyone to learn about you know what." "I doubt they will," Albus replied, "No one's going to pay that much attention in class. The only one in our year who would've put the clues together after learning it in class is Rose, and she already knows." "I guess," Matt muttered, "I just hope the teacher is nice." A half hour later, everyone had new robes who needed them and the large group exited Madam Malkin's. They made their way down the street and towards Olivander's. Lily, Hugo, and Ashtyn arrived before anyone else did and couldn't wait to start trying out wands. Albus watched as his sister waved numerous wands and subsequently broke everything on Olivander's desk. After she tried a few more, Lily found her wand and proudly held the box as carefully as she could. Hugo and Ashtyn found wands a few minutes later and the group set off to the Apothecary. After a visit to the Apothecary, Eyelops, and Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, everyone had what they needed for the upcoming school year. Albus was rather tired by the time they finished, but Lily, Hugo, and Ashtyn seemed to have endless energy. They kind of reminded Albus of the way Kaden had been the previous year. Granted, Kaden still had endless energy, but the three eleven-year-olds had surpassed him. Albus said goodbye to his friends in the Leaky Cauldron and then Flooed back to Grimmauld Place with his mum, Kaden, James, and Lily. He and Kaden watched Lily try to perform spells with her new wand while they waited for Dudley to pick Kaden up. Lily was kind of frustrated that she was unable to do much of anything besides 'Lumos'. ****** In an effort to try and avoid nearly missing the train like they had the previous year, Ginny insisted that Albus, James, and Lily pack their trunks the night before. Despite this, Albus awoke to the shouts of his mother. "Albus Severus Potter!" she shrieked, "Get up! We have to leave in ten minutes! I seriously hope you've got your trunk packed!" Albus slowly got out of bed as he listened to the loud footsteps of his mother in the corridor. "James Sirius Potter! Get out of bed this instant!" The door to his bedroom opened and Lily came bounding in, already dressed in her Hogwarts robes. "Al! We've got to leave!" "I know, Lily!" Albus said in an annoyed tone, "Now get out so I can get dressed!" Albus hurriedly threw on some clothes once his sister left. He grabbed his owl cage and school bag and quickly left the room. He was quite glad his trunk was packed and already downstairs. Harry was sitting on top of Albus's trunk in the drawing room when Albus walked in. Lily was once again trying to perform spells with her wand. "Hey, Al," Harry grinned, "Ready?" "Yeah," Albus nodded, "We leaving soon?" "As soon as James packs his trunk," Harry smirked. "James Sirius Potter!" Ginny shouted from upstairs, "I told you to pack that last night! Hurry up!" "Daddy, why can't you teach Defense this year?" Lily asked. "Because I have too much work at the Ministry," Harry explained as he pulled her onto his lap. "But it's not fair," Lily whined, "James and Al got to have you teach them for two years." "The new teacher is very competent," Harry assured her. "Is he nice?" Albus asked. "Well, he's," Harry paused, "He's fair. That's a good way of putting it. He'll treat everyone the same." At least he didn't sound like Washburn, Albus thought. But on the other hand, he didn't sound like Neville or Cedonia either. "And just because I'm not teaching, doesn't mean I won't be around," Harry grinned. "What do you mean?" Albus asked. "I'm not giving anything away, but Hogwarts will be an exciting place to be this year," Harry said, "Plus, the Ministry decided that Hogwarts needs more protection in the form of Aurors after last year's incident. And the year before's." That certainly spiked Albus's curiosity. What could be going on that would make Hogwarts more exciting than usual? "Come on," Albus replied, "Can't you give us a hint?" "Nope," Harry laughed, "I probably shouldn't have even said that." Albus groaned. "Aw, just tell us." "Tell us what?" James asked as he entered the room. "Dad says something exciting is happening at Hogwarts this year but he won't tell us what." "Please, Dad?" James whined. "No," Harry lifted Lily off his lap and stood up, "Now we'd better go or you'll miss the train." The Potters arrived on Platform 9 3/4 with fifteen minutes to spare, which was actually earlier than they had arrived the previous year. They met Kaden and his family as well as Rose, Hugo and their parents. Harry and Ron loaded all the trunks onto the train and then returned to say goodbye. "I'll see you soon, Al," Harry said as he gave Albus a hug. "Be good, Albus," Ginny smiled, "And take care of Lily." "I will," Albus replied, "Bye, Mum. Bye, Dad." Once everyone had said goodbye, Albus headed to the train with Rose and Kaden. James immediately left to find his friends, and Lily and Hugo followed Albus and Rose. They climbed on just before the train started moving and waved to their parents until the train left the station. Albus peered into all the compartments trying to find the one that his friends were in. He eventually found them halfway down the train and pulled the door open. "Hey," Albus grinned as he sat down next to Matt. "Hi, Albus, Rose, Kaden," Matt greeted them. Kaden sat down next to John and Rose sat next to Amanda. Hugo and Lily sat down near Ashtyn and the three of them immediately started talking about the Sorting and the Hogwarts houses. Albus, who had been listening to Lily talk about that all summer, did not want to participate in that conversation. He turned to Matt. "Guess what?" "What?" Matt asked. "My dad says something exciting is happening at Hogwarts this year, but he won't tell me what," Albus said. "Really? Wish he'd tell you what it was," Matt replied. "How could he say that and not tell you?" John groaned. "Any ideas what it is?" Matt asked. "Nope," Albus shook his head and then turned to Rose, "Has Uncle Ron said anything?" "Just that it was something exciting," Rose sighed, "The only thing I can think of is the Triwizard Tournament." "The what?" Matt, Amanda, and Kaden asked at the same time. "Didn't someone die the last time they had that?" John asked. Albus nodded. "The Triwizard Tournament is a contest that involves three wizarding schools: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion from each school participates in three magical tasks and whichever champion wins gets the Triwizard Cup. "The last time they had it was in my dad's fourth year and a Death Eater tricked the cup into choosing my dad as a fourth champion. He won, but the other Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory, died during the final task." "Whoa," Matt stared at him, "Do you really think they'd do that again?" "No," Rose shook her head, "There's no way they'd do that again. At least not for years. Cedric's death is too fresh in a lot of people's minds to have that tournament again. So I have no idea what my dad and Uncle Harry were talking about." "I wish they'd do the tournament again," John said, "I fancy myself as the Hogwarts champion." "Me, too," Kaden grinned, "That would be brilliant." "Not me," Albus shook his head. He hated being in the spotlight. "I bet James would do it, though." "I wouldn't," Matt said. "Me, either," Amanda agreed, "What about you, Rose?" "I'd probably enter," Rose replied, "But last time they did it, you had to be seventeen. So even if that is what was going on this year, none of us would be able to enter." "I bet Georgia would enter," Albus commented. "No doubt about that," Rose agreed. "Oh, and my dad knows who the new Defense teacher is," Albus announced. "Is he nice?" Matt asked immediately. "All my dad said was that he was fair," Albus sighed, "He kind of dodged the question when I asked if he was nice." "That's a bad sign," Matt groaned. "If he's fair, then he won't be favoring the Slytherins," John pointed out. "Have you looked at that book yet?" Albus whispered to Matt. "Nope," Matt replied, "Haven't wanted to." "Well," John began, "If he's mean to you, we can try and get him sacked before he starts the you-know-what unit. That unit's not until the end of the year." "And how are you going to do that?" Rose raised her eyebrows. "Dunno," John shrugged, "We'll think of something." "That," Rose sighed, "Has got to be the dumbest idea you've come up with. And that includes microwaving the egg." "Well, have you got any better ideas?" John asked. "Why don't we just wait and see what the teacher is like before we start thinking about getting him sacked?" Rose suggested. The rest of the train ride passed quickly. The entire compartment participated in an Exploding Snap contest, which Rose won. Then they bought a large amount of snacks from the trolley. Albus fell asleep shortly after he finished eating and the next thing he knew, Rose was nudging him awake and telling him to change into his robes. The sky had turned dark and the weather stormy while Albus had been sleeping. Thunder sounded and lightning flashed as he pulled on his robes. He was very glad he wasn't going to be crossing the Black Lake like Lily was. He'd much rather take a thestral-pulled carriage and stay dry. The train pulled into Hogsmeade station and Albus joined the throngs of students heading out into the rainy weather. He heard Hagrid calling the first years and said goodbye to Lily, Hugo, and Ashtyn. Albus found an empty carriage and led his friends inside. "The first years are going to get soaked," John said as he wrung out his hat onto the bottom of the carriage. "Spooky crossing the lake in this weather," Kaden grinned, "Makes me wish I was crossing the lake." "Maybe the Giant Squid will tip over one of the boats," John grinned mischievously, "I've heard it doesn't like this kind of weather." Rose rolled her eyes. "The Squid is not going to flip one of the boats." If the Squid tipped Lily's boat, she would freak out. Albus's sister had always scared easily, a trait that James and Albus always took full advantage of. "James purposely tipped his boat when he crossed the lake," Albus said. He still remembered his mother receiving an owl telling her about that. She wasted no time in getting a howler off to James. "That's brilliant!" Kaden exclaimed, "Wish I'd thought of that." "Me, too!" John agreed. "I'm glad you didn't," Albus laughed, "We all would have been soaked." "Yeah," Matt agreed, "That would not have been pleasant." The remainder of the trip up to the castle was spent discussing the likelihood of one of the boats being tipped over by the Giant Squid. John and Kaden decided that they wanted to find the Giant Squid that year and agreed to take a swim in the Black Lake during the first available weekend. The entire Entrance Hall was covered in water by the time Albus and his friends entered the castle. Albus was sure Filch would have a hippogriff when he saw it. Albus led his friends to the familiar Gryffindor table and sat down, eager for the feast to start. Albus scanned the staff table and his eyes rested on the only unfamiliar face. A stern looking man with his black hair cut in a Muggle military style was sitting completely still. His eyes seemed to penetrate every student in the entire room at the same time. Albus did not get the sense that this teacher would be nice, although he lacked the hatred that Washburn had emanated. "That must be the new Defense teacher," Matt whispered to Albus, "Merlin, he does not look happy." "Looks like his face is frozen that way," Kaden muttered. "I wouldn't want to be on his bad side," Albus replied. "Looks to me like he had a bit too much U-No-Poo," John laughed. Albus snorted and shook his head. It did kind of look like the professor had a bit too much of that certain Weasley product. His Uncle Percy wore that same look when his Uncle George put U-No-Poo in his tea over the summer. The Great Hall immediately quieted down as Professor Patil led the first years into the room and towards the staff table. They congregated near the three-legged stool upon which the Sorting Hat sat. "They look shorter than last year's first years," John whispered as the Sorting Hat began singing. "They are," Kaden agreed, "I wasn't that short last year." "Yeah, you actually were," John replied, "Hey, Matt, I think these first years might actually be shorter than you. A few of them, that is." Matt rolled his eyes. "At least I'm not a giraffe like you." "Hey, height has its benefits," John retorted. "And so does lack of height," Matt pointed out, "At least I didn't have to stand still while Madam Malkin poked me with needles like you did." "Shush!" Rose hissed, "They're starting the Sorting!" Albus watched as a chubby boy was sorted into Ravenclaw. The next first year became a Slytherin and the next was another Ravenclaw. "Brickston, Ashtyn!" Patil announced. John's sister ran forward and jammed the hat onto her head with a big smile on her face. Mere seconds later, the hat exclaimed, "Gryffindor!" Ashtyn practically flew across the room and sat down across from John. "Congratulations, Ashtyn!" John grinned, "Gryffindor really is the best house." "Yeah," Ashtyn agreed, "Although Isabelle kept telling me to hope for Hufflepuff." "Well, she is a Hufflepuff...." Albus didn't really pay attention to the next few Sortings. He vaguely recognized a few names, but didn't really know any of them. He snapped back into reality when he heard Patil announce, "Potter, Lily!" Lily ran forward with almost as much excitement as Ashtyn. The hat took a little more time to decide than it had with Ashtyn, but it soon shouted, "Gryffindor!" The Gryffindor table erupted with cheers as Lily ran towards it. Albus clapped her on the back, as did James and all their cousins, and Lily took a seat next to Ashtyn. Soon, Hugo was the only first year left standing near the hat. Hugo had already started putting the hat on when Patil called out his name, which caused a few of Albus's cousins to burst out in laughter. "He may be the only Weasley to ever be in Hufflepuff," Cedric smirked. "Gryffindor!" the hat announced a minute later. "Or not," Cedric grinned as he clapped along with everyone else. Hugo sat across from Lily and Ashtyn. "Told you I'd be in Gryffindor," he said to Lily. Lily shrugged. Professor Kendrick stood up. "Welcome, students and staff! As usual, I will save all the speech making for after the feast." He waved his wand and sat back down. Food appeared on all the golden plates and Albus helped himself to some of everything. He was hungry, although this year he had kind of wanted Kendrick to announce what the exciting thing was before the feast. The topics of discussion varied greatly during the feast, and Albus mostly listened. John and Matt had a heated argument about the Quidditch season, primarily the Chudley Cannons' spectacular loss to the Holyhead Harpies that had taken place a few days previously. Rose chattered non-stop about the new classes she was taking and bombarded her older cousins with questions about them. Albus was amazed she had any questions left, since she had done the same thing during the Weasley Family Dinner prior to the start of term. Kaden talked to whoever would listen about the prospect of adding Muggle technology to Hogwarts. Albus groaned to himself as he heard Kaden tell one of the first years about his petition to have televisions put into the common rooms. Amanda listened to Kaden, although it didn't seem like she was nearly as excited as Kaden was. "So, how was the trip across the lake?" John asked Ashtyn as the desserts appeared. "Wet," Ashtyn replied. "Any of the boats tip over?" he asked eagerly. "No," Ashtyn laughed. "Hagrid said he had anti-tipping charms put on them after James tipped his a few years ago," Hugo announced. "That's no fun," John sighed. A little while later, the golden plates became clean once again and Albus looked eagerly up at the staff table.
Ms. Elsewhere Joined: 13 January 2008 Posts: 878 Location: In role play game of course!	Posted: Tuesday 29 September 2009 06 55 50 pm    Post subject: Re: RPG: The Six Wizards in topic:RPG: The Six Wizards Inu turned to respond to Yuta. "Ah. You're awake then." The man groaned. Inu allowed it, and started to walk around the table. Then he reached into the man's robes and found what he was looking for - identification. He opened the wallet and the badge within it was the symbol of the United Kingdom Ministry of Magic. He grinned. "An Auror. And by the look of this badge, a representative for the London Police Force. How clever..." Inu turned the badge and like a hologram it changed, now looking like a London police badge. "What are you doing so far from home? " Inu set the badge onto the man's chest and patted it. The man started to breath faster. "He seems to know you, Inu." Ouki interupted, judging the man's responses. "Yes, I know you. I know all of you." the man rasped. He turned onto his front and tried to sit up. Ouki drew her wand and held it on him. "Careful." she threatened. The man looked at her and he sighed. "Of course. I'm not a fool." the man coughed and then he pulled his hankerchief from his sleeve, and wiped his mouth. There was blood in his phlem. "I have something to exchange with you. Information, for my freedom. " the old man looked up at Inu now, that determination still there. Inu smiled at how sure this man seemed to be of himself.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2495 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Sunday 20 September 2009 09 53 16 am    Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow Thanks hprocks and Wratha! This is the second to last chapter! Chapter 62: Home The day before the Hogwarts Express left for London was spent packing. Samantha took down all her Quidditch posters, Victoire neatly folded all her clothes and somehow fit them all into her trunk, Monica threw everything haphazardly into her trunk and then snuck off to Hogsmeade with her friends, Teddy scoured the castle for all the stuff he'd lost over the year, and I watched everyone as I packed my own trunk. It was times like these that made me realize how alike Hogwarts and the Australian School of Sorcery were. Though they were thousands of miles apart, the routines were the same. The last day of school was spent the same. As I sat in the common room with Victoire that night, I suddenly realized that I was actually going to miss the place. It was a very shocking realization. I was going to miss the Gryffindor common room, the Room of Requirement, Astronomy classes every Thursday, beating Willinson at Slughorn's potions contests, the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin. I had adjusted to it and come to enjoy it. Hogwarts was my home now, for a good part of the year, and I was going to miss it. The castle had become my home away from home. “I am going to miss Hogwarts,” I said in awe. “I miss it every summer,” Victoire said, “Hey, do you want to come visit me this summer?” “Yeah, sure,” I grinned, “When?” “Probably in August,” Victoire replied, “I'm going to France to stay with my grandparents for two weeks in July.” “I'll ask my parents,” I said. “And I'll owl you with the exact dates,” Victoire said, “But we've got to owl each other all the time before that.” “Victoire!” Teddy came running into the common room, “Aussie! Might want to get down to the grounds.” “What did you do this time?” Victoire groaned and stood up. Victoire and I followed Teddy and Landon down to the grounds, followed by most of the rest of the people who were in the common room. Everyone was wondering aloud as to what the two boys could have done this time. We heard the fireworks before we saw them. They started going off as we were crossing the Entrance Hall. Everyone broke into a run and we wound up scattered throughout the grounds. The fireworks were the most amazing ones I had ever seen. Big Snitches, broomsticks, and a variety of magical creatures. They all moved and seemed to last forever. They floated and soared around in the sky. They kept going for about a half hour. “Wait for it,” Teddy said, “Not quite over yet.” There was a bang louder than all the rest and I craned my neck to see what it was. As soon as it appeared, there was a lot of shouting and cheering. The final firework featured a huge Gryffindor lion surrounded by red and gold sparks. The lion had a green snake in its mouth. The lion shook the snake around and then the snake burst apart in a flash of green sparks. “That was brilliant, Teddy,” Victoire said. “Courtesy of your uncle,” Teddy grinned, “I set them up a few hours ago and put timers on all of them.” “Back inside, all of you!” Professor Patil shouted as she walked amongst the students, “It's past curfew!” Nobody complained about going back inside. Patil made no move to try and find the culprit of the fireworks, which was good for Teddy and Landon. The whole stunt was just a nice way to celebrate the end of the year. ****** The next morning was a chaotic frenzy of last minute packing and shoveling down brekkie before getting into a thestral pulled carriage. I shared a carriage with Victoire, Teddy, and Landon. “You know, I shared one of these with your sister in the beginning of the year,” I told Victoire, “And one of your cousins, and some other girl.” “Wow, what a coincidence,” Victoire laughed. “They were arguing about whether these were really pulled by thestrals or not. Apparently Teddy told them they were, but they weren't sure they believed him,” I said, “I told them that Teddy was right.” “I'm always right,” Teddy said pompously. “No, you're not,” Victoire sighed, “If you were, you'd have better grades.” We found a compartment to ourselves on the train and were only interrupted a few times by various cousins of Victoire. It still amazed me just how many cousins she had. “What do your grandparents do at Christmas?” I asked her after two more of her cousins left. “My grandma knits us all jumpers,” Victoire said and Teddy burst out laughing. “What's so funny?” I asked. “The jumpers. Everyone wears them on Christmas and we all sort of match. She knits one for me, too. Everyone in the family's got a rather large collection of Weasley jumpers,” Teddy grinned. “That must take forever, knitting all those jumpers,” I said. “She spends the whole year on them,” Victoire said. “Wow,” I said. “So, Victoire,” Teddy began, “Prefects get chosen for your year this summer. I'd bet my whole Gringott's vault that it'll be you.” I hadn't even thought about that yet. I agreed with Teddy, though. Victoire would make a good Prefect. “I don't know, Teddy,” Victoire sighed, “I mean, Samantha would make a good Prefect....” “You'd make a better one,” Landon said, “You'd make a better Prefect than me.” “I won't argue with that,” Victoire laughed. “Wait,” I said, “I just have to ask this. Landon, when I first met you, I thought you were one of those blokes who likes rules because you told me I couldn't sleep in the common room. But you obviously don't care much about rules. Why the bloody hell did you tell me I couldn't sleep in the common room?” “It was my first week as a Prefect,” Landon shrugged, “I thought I had to do that. But if you did it now, I wouldn't do anything about it.” “And next year it'll be Victoire who's telling people they can't sleep in the common room,” Teddy said. “I might not be a Prefect,” Victoire groaned. The remainder of the trip was spent talking about what we thought would happen next year. Teddy and Landon both took pleasure in the fact that Victoire and I would be doing our O.W.L.s and they wouldn't, until Victoire reminded them that their N.E.W.T. Level classes would be incredibly hard. Soon, the train pulled into London and everyone scrambled to get their stuff together. I walked through the corridor of the train with Victoire, Teddy, and Landon, and we made our way to the platform. We saw Monica on our way, and she threw us a dirty look. I just turned away and ignored her. One good thing about the year being over was that I wouldn't have to see Monica for months. “I'll owl you soon,” I said to Victoire on the platform. “Me, too,” Victoire agreed and gave me a hug, “I'll miss you.” “Miss you, too,” I replied. “See you next year, Aussie!” Teddy shouted, “Don't move again!” “I won't,” I laughed. “Bye, everyone!” Landon shouted before going to find his parents. I said goodbye to Victoire and Teddy one more time and then found my dad, who was wearing his work robes. “Amy,” Dad said as he hugged me, “I missed you. Ready to go home?” “Yeah,” I replied, “I missed you, too.” ****** Mum, Matt, and Ellie were in the kitchen when we arrived home a little while later. There was a large platter of spaghetti and meatballs on the table and I was immediately taken back to when I got back home after fourth year. It seemed like such a long time ago, even though it had only been a year and a half. “How did your exams go?” Mum asked once we were all sitting down. “Good,” I replied, “I passed everything.” “Glad to hear it,” Mum smiled, “We're so proud of you. I know this past year has been hard, but you've done so well.” “Thanks,” I said, “I have something to tell you, too.” “What?” Dad asked in between bites of spaghetti. “I'm going to become a Healer,” I said quietly, “You know, once I'm done with Hogwarts.” I had decided not to tell them about my plans on discovering a better version of the Wolfsbane Potion, at least not while Matt was in the room. I didn't want to get his hopes up. Mum and Dad were quiet for a few moments and they shared one of those parental silent communication glances. “When did you realize this?” Dad asked. “Beginning of May,” I replied, “Teddy and Landon had career meetings and there were pamphlets in the common room. I saw the Healer one and it just sort of hit me. Then I talked to Madam Pomfrey and she tried to tell me that I didn't have to make up my mind now, but I have. All the career tests she gave me said I'm suited to be a Healer, and it's what I want to do.” “I agree with the tests,” Dad smiled, “I think Healing would be an excellent field to get into.” “I think you would make a great Healer,” Mum agreed, “What field are you interested in.” I glanced at Matt and then replied, “Erm, creature-induced injuries. And...research.” “Ah,” Dad smiled knowingly, “It will be a good day for those fields when you become certified.” “I wouldn't want to be a Healer,” Matt announced, “I hate hospitals. But I think you'd be a good Healer.” “Thanks,” I smiled. ****** It was strange how you settled back into life at home so easily after life at school. During the last few days of any given year, I would always think about how weird it would be to go back home and be around my family all the time. But when the time came to go back home, it wasn't that strange. That year was not much different. I settled back into my usual routine of brewing potions, reading, and wandering around the bush. Every few days I would go shopping with Mum in Diagon Alley, usually depending on whether she was going to Gringotts or not. I still hated that place. There were noticeable differences, though. For one, nobody was that stressed out. It was almost like we were living that carefree life [i]Aussie Magik]/i] had said we once had in that article. Dad came home happy from work and rarely had to stay late. Mum wasn't tense and she didn't yell at me every ten minutes. Matt wasn't scared all the time. And I didn't spend all my time by myself. My parents and I rarely fought anymore. That was the most noticeable difference. Two weeks after I went home, Mum and I hadn't had more than a small argument over whether my bedroom was clean enough for her liking. That was pretty amazing on our part. Matt and I seemed to spend most of our time together. The only thing I did without him was brew potions. It didn't really bother me, either. As much as I had liked exploring the bush by myself, having Matt there made it fun as well. There was so much that he didn't know about the bush, mostly due to Mum's overprotectiveness, and it was fun to teach him about the plants. “What's Hogwarts like?” Matt asked as we tramped through the bush a few weeks after I returned home. “Do you mean the actual castle? Or the students? Or the classes?” I grinned back at him. “Everything,” he shrugged, “What about Gryffindor Tower?” “The common room is round. The dormitories are, too. Everything's scarlet and gold. It's cozy, but kind of cramped,” I explained, “But, you might not be in Gryffindor.” “I will to!” he shouted as he ran to catch up with me. “Yeah, you probably will,” I stopped to wait for him, “But there's always a chance you won't.” “What else?” Matt asked, “What's the rest of the castle like?” “It's big. So big you'll get lost a lot during your first week. But there's some really cool rooms. Like the kitchens,” I told him as we fell into step beside each other, “Victoire showed them to me. There's more house elves than I've ever seen in my life-” “More than Jacqueline's got?” Matt asked in awe. “Way more,” I replied, “They're happier, though. Kendrick treats them well. Anyway, you can get whatever you want to eat there. The house elves will give you anything.” “Anything?” Matt's eyes opened wide, “An entire chocolate cake?” “Yep,” I grinned. “What else?” Matt pressed. “Well, there's this room...” I paused. I had been toying with the idea of telling Matt about the Room of Requirement ever since I found it. I finally decided just to do it, since it would be useful for him to know about it. “And generations of Hogwarts students, the ones who know about the room that is, probably wouldn't want me to tell you about it since it's pretty much a secret unless you discover it yourself....” “Can't you tell me?” he begged, putting on that face he uses to get my parents to give him whatever he wants. “I am,” I sighed, “But only because I think you'll need it while you're at Hogwarts. And you can't tell anyone about it.” “I won't,” he said quickly, “But what is it?” “It's a room that will give you whatever you want,” I said. Matt stopped dead in his tracks and stared at me. “What?” I laughed. Even for magic, a room that could give you whatever you wanted was kind of remarkable. “It's across from this portrait of a bloke teaching trolls to dance ballet on the seventh floor. Right down the corridor from the Gryffindor common room. Very convenient, really. You pace in front of it three times, thinking about what you need, and a door appears. When you open it, the room is exactly how you imagined it.” “That is brilliant!” Matt grinned, “It'll really give you anything?” “Pretty much. I mean, it won't give you food because of some Transfiguration laws that I forgot what they were called, but it's always been able to give me what I want,” I shrugged. “What did you turn it into?” Matt asked as we began walking again. “My room from Australia,” I replied, “And a few other random rooms.” “It really looked like your room from Australia?” Matt looked skeptical. “Down to the pair of dirty Australian School of Sorcery robes on the floor,” I nodded. “I can't wait to try that out,” Matt said, “But why did you want me to know about it?” “I think it would be a good place for you to go if you're really tired before full moons. If you don't want to go to the hospital wing, that is,” I said quietly, “You can ask the Room not to make itself available to others if you want privacy. If you sleep in your dormitory before full moons, your roommates are going to get suspicious.” “Oh,” Matt said, and we walked silently for a few minutes. “Amy?” he asked. “Yeah?” “Do you think anyone is going to find out?” he said in barely more than a whisper. I sighed and sat down on a nearby rock. Matt sat down next to me. I said nothing as I thought back to when Teddy told me about the Marauders. How they had guessed that his dad was a werewolf and then became illegal animagi. “Do you remember how Kendrick said there was a werewolf who went to Hogwarts decades ago?” I asked. Matt nodded. “And you know my friend, Teddy?” Matt nodded agin. “Well,” I continued, “That werewolf was Teddy's dad.” Matt's mouth fell open. “Really?” I nodded. “Yes, and Teddy told me about him. He had three really good friends,” I left out the part about Peter Pettigrew betraying James and Lily Potter, “They found out that Teddy's dad was a werewolf, but they didn't care.” I also left out the illegal animagus part. “So,” I said, “There's a chance that if you make friends who are that smart, they might find out. But, if you make friends like Teddy's dad's friends, they're not going to tell anyone and they're not going to abandon you.” “But,” Matt said quietly, “But I don't want anyone to find out.” “That's where the Room of Requirement is going to come in,” I told him, “And I'll still be at Hogwarts during your first year. We'll make it work.” Matt nodded, but didn't say anything. I could see that the idea of people possibly finding out about his lycanthropy scared the hell out of him and half of me regretted telling him about Teddy's dad. I thought it would have just reassured him, but it obviously hadn't. Telling him that nobody would find out would have been giving him false hope, though. My parents thought it was going to work, but they didn't know much about life in Gryffindor Tower. Everyone had at least three roommates, more often four or five. Matt was going to have at least 60 full moons at school during his Hogwarts career. That was 60 full moons where he got sick, which would be witnessed by the same four people every month. They were bound to get suspicious and do some research eventually. I would if I were in their position. Unless they were complete dunderheads, but what were the chances that all four would be idiots? Mum and Dad could believe what they wanted, but I had a feeling someone was going to find out eventually. I had no plans of telling my parents about my suspicions, though. It might scare them enough to homeschool Matt and not let him go to Hogwarts at all, which would be horrible. If there was anything my brother needed, it was to go to Hogwarts. He needed to be around people his age and not have Mum hovering over him every minute of the day. It wasn't like it didn't scare me, though. The idea of people finding out about Matt's lycanthropy did worry me. After all, when people had found out in Australia, we had to leave the country. If anyone like Monica found out, it could have really bad repercussions. I glanced at my watch. “We should get back,” I said, “Mum'll start worrying soon.” Matt nodded and we got up. The walk back through the bush was quiet. So quiet that we could hear our feet crunching sticks, the birds flying over head, and the cows mooing once we emerged from the bush. Half of them were lying down, which Uncle Jack said meant it was going to rain. There weren't many clouds in the sky, though. “Look, I didn't mean to scare you with the story about Teddy's dad,” I said as we walked through out backyard. “I know,” Matt said, “I just don't want anyone to find out, whether they're friends or not.” “I never said they would. I just said there was a chance,” I said, “Plus, Teddy's dad didn't have an older sister to protect him. If anyone starts anything with you, whether they know about the lycanthropy or not, I'll knock them out. Muggle style of course, since I'm rubbish at dueling.” “I don't think Mum and Dad would be happy with that, since you'd get detention,” Matt said, but smiled anyway. “There are some things that are worth detention,” I said as I put my arm around him.
Ms. Elsewhere Joined: 13 January 2008 Posts: 878 Location: In role play game of course!	Posted: Friday 18 September 2009 08 18 58 am    Post subject: Re: RPG: The Six Wizards in topic:RPG: The Six Wizards Inu noticed a faint light in the kitchen turn on again as it illuminated the trees again. Someone was up, but they were only using the light above the stove. He heard the water pipes in the walls creak and decided that a cup of tea was being made. He stood up and looked over the balcony. There was wooden decking beneath him. He looked behind him and tilted his head slightly so he could see through the otherwise tinted windows, and layed his eyes on Neko's sleeping form. She was still deeply asleep. Satisfied, he lept over the balcony and landed silently on the decking. He stood up and walked toward the sliding glass doors where he could see beyond into the house. It was Yuta, looking very nocturnal indeed in her night robes, and as she poured her tea, the steam from the kettle billowed up to the ceiling and dispursed. Inu smiled. Yuta was very good at finding remedies for ailments. Hers must be insomnia tonight. Inu decided that he would join her. He was about to put his hand out to open the sliding door, when his ears caught the sound of something new. A low growl rumbled in his throat; he turned and scanned the woods, the darkness was thick and blinding. He focused, looking for warmth more than form. One... two of them. He crouched down behind some lounge furniture and waited. He was suddenly aware of the roaring sound of the waterfall, which would have made any intruder think they could approach unheard and undetected. How wrong they were. Inu breathed in. One Pureblood, he confirmed. He snorted. And the undeniable scent of males. He waited still, and watched the trees.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2495 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Wednesday 16 September 2009 09 10 32 pm    Post subject: Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden in topic:Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden Here's the third story in my Albus series! I had previously posted part of it, but deleted that topic because I had to do a lot of editing. Now I'll be posting the edited version. Thanks to FawkesthePhoenix for her help on this, including coming up with the title. Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter. Chapter 1: Prologue A mother kangaroo stood absolutely still in the moonlit forest, watching her child play in the bushes in front of her. The mother would gently pull the roo back every time he got too far away. She was watching him carefully when a loud pop startled her. The roo hopped back over to his mother and jumped into her pouch. They hopped away quickly, not noticing the man who had just appeared a few meters away. The man swore under his breath as his face contorted. His round face was elongating and his black hair lightened to a brownish shade. He stumbled around and kicked off his shoes as his feet grew too large for them. It was not only his feet that were growing, but his entire body. The man was now six inches taller than he had been when he first Apparated into the forest. Finally, it stopped. The man now looked completely different and kind of strange in Muggle clothing that was far too small for him. He opened his bag and pulled out a set of black wizard robes, changing into them quickly. He tossed the Muggle clothing into the bag and set off at a brisk pace. "Bloody Muggle airplanes," he muttered to himself, "Ministry ought to just allow international Flooing." It was a very quiet night, with only the occasional owl hooting in the distance. The moon was not full enough to provide enough light to illuminate the path, but the man did not want to draw attention to himself by lighting his wand. He merely stumbled along, swearing every time he tripped over a rock or a tree root. The tall man was not entirely sure how far he would have to walk to find the place he was looking for. In fact, the man he was going to visit did not even know he was coming. Nevertheless, he kept walking through the forest, until he finally came to the edge. A short distance away stood a rather large house. It was not big enough to be considered a mansion, but substantially larger than most houses. The man glanced at his watch before continuing towards the house. "Damn," he muttered as he noticed that his watch was still set for British time. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at his wrist. The hands on the watch swirled until coming to a stop. It was nearly midnight. There was one lone light on in the house. Other than that, the place seemed either deserted or its occupants asleep. The man did not care if everyone was asleep; he would merely wake them up. He picked up his pace as he crossed the yard and ascended the steps up to the front door. The man knocked three times and stood waiting for someone to let him in. A short while later, the door opened a crack. However, it did not appear that anyone had actually answered it. "Is you needing something, sir?" a squeaky voice asked. The man looked down and saw a house elf peeking his head around the door. "Why yes," the man replied, "Is Lubar in?" "Master Lubar?" the elf asked, "He is." "I need to speak to him," the man said. "Come in," the elf replied, "Is you wanting a drink?" "No," the man muttered as he entered the house, "Just show me to Lubar." "Yes, sir. This way." The man followed the elf through the extravagant house. He always wondered how Lubar managed to afford everything. It's not like he made much money at his job. There were statues, works of art, gold encrusted tables, oriental rugs, and the fanciest furniture in all of the rooms he passed. The elf led him to a room with the door halfway open. Light was streaming out of it, but the man couldn't hear any voices. Lubar must be alone, he thought. That would be best anyway. The man pushed past the elf and into the room without knocking. He didn't see the need. Lubar was family. Sure, the man hadn't seen him in years, but he was family nonetheless. Lubar was the man's wife's cousin, to be specific. Lubar was sitting at his desk, perusing a book. His untidy brown hair was dangling over his face. He looked up when the man stepped into the room. He looked momentarily shocked, but regained his composure and stood up. Lubar was quite a bit shorter than the man in the doorway and was wearing similar black robes. "Jarrett," Lubar gestured for him to come in, "What an, unusual, surprise." The man, Jarrett, walked in and took a seat in the red leather chair in front of the desk. Lubar resumed his position behind the desk. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" Lubar asked, folding his hands in front of him. "It's been a long time, Jarrett." "I know, Ralph, it has indeed," Jarrett mused. "I have half a mind to throw you out of this house after what your brother-in-law did to my brother," Lubar growled. "And I assure you that I understand," Jarrett replied, "I do not approve of what my brother-in-law did. I have not spoken to the man since." Lubar raised his eyebrow. "Interesting. And has your wife been in contact with him?" "She has," Jarrett sighed, "But that is just one of the many things we have different opinions on. I am well aware that you have no plans to forgive her brother, which is why I am here unbeknownst to her. I would like to put that issue behind us and rekindle our friendship, Lubar." "I will have to think about that," Lubar said. "I understand," Jarrett said, "That's all I can ask you to do." "I am quite curious as to how you managed to get here. Isn't your entire ministry after you? I pay attention to magical news all around the world, you know. I have been following your story for the past year," Lubar changed the subject. Jarrett smiled. It had been surprisingly easy to get to Australia with Muggle transportation. It took a while and was rather annoying, but easy. "Yes, the Ministry is after me. However, I took the liberty of using Muggle transportation to arrive here. I simply took some Polyjuice Potion, bought an airplane ticket, and now I'm here." "Impressive," Lubar replied, "You used the new 24 hour Polyjuice?" "Obviously," Jarrett smirked, "Otherwise I would have turned back into myself in the middle of an airport." "True. Now, what can I do for you? What could you possibly need that would cause you to take Muggle transportation to get here? Somehow, I don't think you would go through such extreme measures to rekindle a friendship that died a decade ago." "Do you know why the Ministry wants me?" "Something about dueling Harry Potter?" Lubar smirked, "That might be the stupidest thing you have ever done." "That's the gist of it," Jarrett muttered, "But we had reasons for doing it." "We?" "Yes. Myself, my son, and one of my friends." "Ah," Lubar leaned back in his chair, "Do you care to enlighten me about your reasons?" "We want to unite the Deathly Hallows in order to help our mission to continue the plans of Lord Voldemort," Jarrett explained, "Harry Potter knows the location of all three of the Deathly Hallows and currently possesses two of them. Have you heard of the Hallows?" "Of course I have," Lubar snapped, "Mind you, I thought it was just a children's story." "I assure you, it's not," Jarrett said, "I myself saw the Invisibility Cloak. They exist and had something to do with Voldemort's downfall." "Lord Voldemort," Lubar mused, "I understand. I myself agree with his ideas about the wizarding world. Especially when it comes to half-breeds." "I was hoping you'd say that. Now, we have been on the run for over a year. After our first unsuccessful attempt at obtaining the Hallows, we chose to lay low for a while." "You know where all of the Hallows are? You said Potter's got them?" "Two of them," Jarrett corrected him, "We thought we knew where all three were, but we were wrong about the Elder Wand. Well, Potter could be lying to us. That's entirely possible. But even if he does not currently have it in his possession, I am sure he knows where it is. The Invisibility Cloak is currently in possession of Harry Potter's middle child, Albus. The Resurrection Stone is residing in the forest next to Hogwarts, although I am not sure where." "Interesting," Lubar mused, "But what do you need me to do?" "I'm getting to that. Recently, my son and I came up with a plan to obtain the Invisibility Cloak. My son was to lure Albus Potter out of school by capturing his cousin. To make a long story short, it ended in a duel between my son and Harry Potter. Potter captured him and he now resides in Azkaban," Jarrett seethed. "That sounds like an absolutely abysmal plan. Did you actually believe Potter's kid wouldn't tell him his cousin was captured?" "We kind of hoped so-" "Shut up. The point is, that was a horrible plan, and now your son is in prison." "Yes," Jarrett sighed, "And I was kind of hoping you could help get him out." Lubar stared at him and then smirked. "Me? Help get your son out of prison? How in the name of Merlin do you suppose I'll be able to do that?" "Well, you're a high ranking Ministry official, you must have a lot of influence in these kinds of things," Jarrett stammered. "I am a high ranking Ministry official in Australia, not Britain," Lubar laughed, "Why do you think I have any influence over there?" "But don't you keep in contact with Britain's Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures?" Jarrett asked. Lubar laughed. "I do not contact Britain's Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. My opinions are vastly different from those in Britain. I would not want to associate myself with the blokes there. Plus, my name is mud with the British Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures." Jarrett looked curiously at Lubar. "That is hard to believe. What did you possibly do to make them dislike you?" "That, is a very long story," Lubar replied, "The old head of my department was a very liberal man. He sympathized with werewolves and disliked any sort of strict legislation dealing with them. His reason for this was because his own son is a werewolf." "Really?" "Yes. Anyway, he was fired after he broke one of the werewolf laws. Then I became head of the department and passed more laws. He hated me. He moved his family to Britain, where he got a job in Werewolf Support Services. Turns out, he was planning on moving anyway, even before he got fired. He wanted his werewolf kid to attend school. The headmaster of the Australian School of Sorcery obviously did not let him attend. The Hogwarts headmaster did. As far as I know, he's there now. Once there, he made sure everyone in his department knew my name and what I believed. They do not speak kindly of me." Jarrett rubbed his chin. "Interesting. So there's a werewolf at Hogwarts? Quinton never told me anything about that." "He probably doesn't know," Lubar smirked, "I tend to doubt that the werewolf would announce it to the whole school." "Do you know the werewolf's name?" Jarrett asked. "Don't remember his first name. Last name's Eckerton." Jarrett thought for a moment and then his eyes popped out of his head. "Eckerton?! Quinton's mentioned that kid. He's one of the ones we dueled with last year! He's friends with Potter's kid." "Really?" Lubar smirked, "How interesting." "Yes, extremely interesting," Jarrett rolled his eyes, "Potter's kid befriended a werewolf. Thrilling, really. Now, can you help get Quinton out of Azkaban or not." "Talk like that and I won't help you," Lubar muttered. Jarrett's eyes lit up. "So you can help?" "Possibly," Lubar said, "But I could most certainly help you get the Hallows." "And how would you do that?" "First, I give you advice," Lubar began, "You're going about this all wrong. Your first priority should have been the Resurrection Stone, not that Invisibility Cloak. Yes, the Stone will be difficult to find, but nobody currently owns it. It's sitting in the bush. You've got to search that bush and get that Stone. Then, you use the Stone." "Use it?" "Yes, use it!" Lubar shouted, "Honestly, I don't know what my cousin sees in you. But anyway, use it to talk to Voldemort!" "Oh, right." "Then, you ask Voldemort what happened to the Elder Wand!" Lubar continued, "That thing is the best Hallow. The Cloak is the least useful. Anyone can make themselves invisible with a Disillusionment Charm. You've got to get that wand and stone first." "Oh, I'll get looking for the Stone," Jarrett muttered. "Good," Lubar replied, "And I'll go to Britain and help you." "Seriously?" "Yes. I'll make sure you do it properly. And I can check up on that werewolf kid," Lubar sneered. "What about the Ministry? I thought they hated you." "They do," Lubar said, "But I can come up with a good reason to be at Hogwarts this year." "What might that be?" "I cannot explain in detail. There is an event happening at Hogwarts this year. Students from Australia are participating. I have reasons to be there." "Shall I wait for you to search for the Stone?" "Yes," Lubar said, "I'll make sure you don't screw it up. And perhaps, while I'm there, we can work out some way to break your idiot son out of Azkaban." "Thanks," Jarrett muttered. "Just remember, you owe me for this."
Q.Araignee Joined: 4 January 2006 Posts: 4983 Location: Daydreaming about my now fiancé *squee*	Posted: Saturday 12 September 2009 03 54 53 am    Post subject: Re: Next Generation 2 in topic:Next Generation 2 Gwydion could have sworn that his robes had moved a moment ago, but there was no breeze and no one was around. Not visibly at least, and it certainly wasn’t any of the ghosts...there were a few spells for this situation which he cast in quick and silent succession. Hmm, four living souls- himself, Madam Pomfrey in her office, Nikolaus and one other. Young, female- well now, that explained who that was didn’t it? Gwydion smiled briefly, she could listen and it wouldn’t bother him. It was just as he reached this conclusion that he noticed a movement to his right, as Nikolaus sat bolt upright in his bed. The man looked positively fevered and distraught over something, then looked straight at him when he moved his arm and let his robes rustle slightly. “Well, Nikolaus, you seem to be a bit worse for wear.” Gwydion walked over and conjured a chair next to the bed which he then sat in. “I thought I’d pop in before Nomare does, see how you are, ask what the hell happened and why you had a piece of thoroughly enchanted glass in your arm, offer to tell you what I tried to tell Nomare except he skipped on our meeting...but let’s start with the first one shall we? Drink?”
salemboy Joined: 20 May 2008 Posts: 1754 Location: NanoWrimo, baby! I'm gonna write until my hands bleed!!!	Posted: Tuesday 8 September 2009 05 48 11 am    Post subject: Re: Next Generation 2 in topic:Next Generation 2 "Heeey," Damien said softly. "Don't let that get the best of ya." He gave her a short, encouraging embrace. Noticing the syrup on her robes, he pointed his wand at them, and said a quick, "Scourgify." The syrup vanished away. Sitting down next to her, he grabbed himself a plate of waffles. "So," he began. "Are you going to try out for quidditch?"