Harry Potter Robes and Costumes

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

Author	Message
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: 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: 881 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: 2535 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: 881 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: 2535 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: 5000 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: 1762 Location: Enjoying being a Senior whilst my friends merely become Juniors.	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?"
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Sunday 6 September 2009 11 24 22 am    Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow Thanks hprocks! Chapter 60: Cannons Quidditch The next day reminded me of the previous summer. Dad was at work and the rest of us spent the day at home, basically being lazy. I brewed potions and then Mum reluctantly let Matt go exploring in the bush with me. She didn't really need to worry. I knew my way around that bush and it was a warm day with hardly a cloud in the sky. Very strange for Britain. It reminded me of Australia. Uncle Jack flew in very early on Saturday morning. By very early I mean that his plane arrived in London at 5:30. I went with Dad to meet him, but Mum and Matt stayed home. They were both asleep. Mum was awake by the time we got back home around 6:30. We stopped in Diagon Alley to pick up muffins for brekkie. I had never seen Diagon Alley so empty before. It seemed like the ideal time to go grocery shopping. “Now this is a house!” Jack announced as soon as he walked inside. He stood in the doorway looking around with a big grin on his face. “I thought of you as soon as we first saw it,” Dad smirked. “It's my kind of place,” Jack said as he walked into the living room. “Jack,” Mum walked into the room, “How was your flight?” “Same as usual,” Jack replied, “How have you been?” Mum and Dad updated Jack on their lives as we walked into the kitchen. Dad set the muffins down on the table and we all settled down to eat. “Are you liking Hogwarts any better now, Amy?” Uncle Jack asked me. “Yeah,” I shrugged, “It's nothing like Australia, but I'm getting used to it. But I don't think I'll ever get used to watching Quidditch matches in the middle of blizzards. I don't know why Professor Kendrick doesn't just postpone them.” “Probably because there just aren't enough Saturdays with good weather here during the Quidditch season,” Uncle Jack explained. “I just hope it's warm when we go to that Cannons match this week,” I said. We saved a few muffins for Matt and then gave Uncle Jack the grand tour of the house. He absolutely loved my new potions room and the big library upstairs. We stayed in there for a while because Uncle Jack wanted to browse through Dad's books. “I didn't know you had half of these,” Jack said as he picked up one of the numerous books on lycanthropy. “Feel free to borrow any of them,” Dad said, “I've read all of them anyway.” “All of them?” Jack raised his eyebrows. “All of the ones on lycanthropy,” Dad said quietly. “You should write a book on lycanthropy,” Jack replied. “I probably could,” Dad said. Once we finished giving Uncle Jack the tour of the house, I played chess against him in the living room. He won every single match. That was one thing I liked about Uncle Jack; he never let me win anything. When I was younger, my parents always let me win games. Uncle Jack never did. He never let Matt win anything either. “Uncle Jack!” Matt came running down the stairs a little while later. He promptly tripped over Uncle Jack's suitcase and landed on top of our chess board, much to the dismay of the chessmen. “Careful,” Jack said as he pulled Matt onto his lap, “You all right?” “Fine,” Matt shrugged, “When did you get here?” “About three hours ago,” Uncle Jack replied. “You should've woken me up,” Matt said. “Your parents don't like it when people wake you up,” Uncle Jack told him. “Want to go explore the bush?” Matt asked him, “Amy, do you want to?” “Of course,” I grinned. “You have to eat brekkie first,” Mum told Matt, “There's muffins in the kitchen.” Matt decided to just eat his muffins as we were walking to the bush. The hours flew by while we were out there and we didn't return home until it began to sprinkle and it was time for lunch. I could've stayed out longer, though. Uncle Jack is probably my favorite person to go exploring with. He knows so much random stuff about wildlife. Even in England, a place he has only visited and never lived before, he had so much to tell us about the plants and animals we saw. One thing that I found really interesting was that you could brew a potion to negate the effects of poisonous snake venom with dandelion roots, maple leaves, and bark from a pine tree. The whole weekend and beginning of the following week passed much like that day had. Matt, Uncle Jack, and I would go exploring everyday. Mum and Dad would occasionally join us. Jack introduced himself to the farmer who lived next door and they talked for quite a while about growing vegetables. ****** Matt was the first one up the day of the Chudley Cannons match. I couldn't remember the last time he had been the first one to wake up in the morning. I guess there was something about the anticipation of seeing Quidditch players clad in orange robes lose spectacularly to another team that caused one to not need a full night's sleep. “Amy, wake up!” “Huh?” I blinked and saw Matt, clad in his oversized Cannons jersey, with a big grin on his face. “What time is it?” “Seven o'clock,” he replied. “You're up,” I yawned, “Really early.” “I know.” “The match isn't until two,” I groaned. “I know,” he said and then ran out of the room. Despite the earliness, I was very happy to see him so excited. I honestly couldn't remember the last time I had seen him this excited about something and that was kind of sad. Maybe I didn't like Quidditch that much. Maybe the idea of watching Matt's new favorite team get their arses kicked didn't interest me. But I was going to pretend to be excited for Matt's sake. Going back to bed was a fruitless effort, so I went downstairs and found that Mum and Dad were awake as well. They were both drinking cups of coffee while Matt rattled off Chudley Cannons statistics. “And in 1972 they changed their motto to 'Let's just cross our fingers and hope for the best',” Matt said, “It used to be 'We shall conquer', but they hadn't won the league since 1892, and they still haven't.” “Morning, Amy,” Dad said. “Morning,” I replied as I dug through the cabinets for some cereal, “Uncle Jack still asleep?” “Yeah, I couldn't get him up,” Matt shrugged. “You get your ability to sleep through anything from him,” Dad smirked, “I used to shave off his eyebrows in his sleep when we were kids. He never once woke up while I did it.” “Did you know that Dragomir Gorgovitch holds the record for most Quaffle drops in one season?” Matt asked, “He used to play for the Cannons.” “That's not something to be proud of,” Dad laughed. “I don't think he is,” Matt replied, “But he's famous for it.” By the time afternoon arrived and it was time for the match, I knew more Chudley Cannons trivia than I ever cared to. Matt was still reading the trivia book out loud as we left the house and walked to the end of our property to Apparate. The only reprieve I got from his trivia reading was during the side-along Apparition. I went with Dad and Matt went with Uncle Jack. The Quidditch pitch was located in Exmoor National Park, which I had never heard of before we got there. There were a lot of people Apparating nearby the pitch and most of them were clad in blue and gold. A very small, but boisterous, group was wearing bright orange. It appeared that there were far more Puddlemere United fans than Cudley Cannons fans. There was a wizard taking tickets near the door to the pitch and Dad handed him all of ours. We followed the signs to the top level of stands and located our seats. They were very good. With Quidditch, it's best to be higher up in the stands. Then you don't have to crane your neck to see what's going on. We were surrounded by Puddlemere United fans. A fair few of them had painted their faces blue and gold and all of them were wearing jerseys. My family looked quite out of place. Matt because of his Cannons jersey and the rest of us because of our lack of jerseys. “Welcome to the Puddlemere United versus Chudley Cannons match at the Exmoor pitch!” a wizard announced, “The match will commence shortly. Please find your seats.” Five minutes later, the wizard was back to commentating. “The teams have walked out onto the pitch! Captain Spencer Wilson of Puddlemere United is shaking hands with Captain Francis Piedmont of the Chudley Cannons. The teams mount their brooms, and they're off!” I watched as all fourteen players flew into the air. One of the Puddlemere players took immediate possession of the Quaffle and scored a goal within two minutes. The Puddlemere fans sitting near us jumped up and started shouting and high-fiving each other. Puddlemere scored three goals shortly after and they performed the same ritual after each goal. “Damorofitz of the Cannons is in possession!” the commentator shouted, “Oh, and he dropped it.” I glanced over at Matt and saw that he was paying rapt attention. He didn't look that disappointed for someone whose team was losing 0-50. This Quidditch match was unlike any I had seen before. Most of the Quidditch matches I'd been to had been at school. The main difference was that I was pretty sure the Chudley Cannons were worse than any of the teams at Hogwarts or Australia. I had never seen such an awful Quidditch team before. It was kind of weird that any of the players had made it to professional Quidditch, due to their apparent lack of skill. “Damorofitz has hold of the Quaffle again!” the commentator said, “And he's flying down the pitch. And he's still flying down the pitch! Merlin, he's done it! Damorofitz of the Chudley Cannons has scored their first goal of the match.” Matt started jumping up and down and cheering. The Puddlemere fans looked at him and smiled. I overheard the one who was sitting next to me say how adorable he was. I could sort of see why. He was the only one in our general vicinity rooting for the Cannons (well, the rest of my family was, but not nearly as vigorously as Matt was) and he was wearing a very oversized jersey. Plus, before the match started, he had asked Uncle Jack to write 'Go Cannons' on his forehead in orange marker. “If they catch the Snitch, they'll win!” Matt said excitedly. The Puddlemere fans stifled their laughs and we all got back to watching the match. “Puddlemere is in possession,” the commentator went on, “They are passing the Quaffle faster than the Cannons can keep up. And, oh! Beater Loyd of the Cannons has somehow managed to hit a Bludger at himself. Seeker Biner has managed to catch him as he fell off his broom. Well, now we know Biner can catch something, even if it's not the Snitch. Medi-wizards have ran onto the field to assist Loyd. Looks like the Cannons will have to bring in a reserve beater.” It soon became apparent that the Cannons' reserve beater couldn't hit Bludgers at anything, not even himself. Every time he swung his bat, he would nearly fall off his broom. The Cannons did manage to score a few more goals during the first half hour of the match, bringing the score to 100-30 Puddlemere. Matt cheered loudly every time the Cannons scored, earning him more of those grins adults give children when they're being cute from the Puddlemere fans. “Seeker Avon of Puddlemere is now flying straight towards the middle of the Cannons goal posts!” the commentator said, “And Seeker Biner did some sort of turn around move, not sure what that was, and is now trying to follow Avon. Ouch! Bludger to the stomach for Biner. That must hurt.” Avon made it to the goal posts and pulled up with his hand clamped around what must have been the Snitch. All the Puddlemere fans stood up and started cheering. I stood up just to see what was going on. Uncle Jack lifted Matt up to see what was going on. “Avon has caught the Snitch! Puddlmere wins 260-30!” Medi-wizards were once again flocking the pitch and I saw them carry Biner away on a stretcher. Two of the Cannons' players had been injured in one match. “So, you're a Cannons fan?” the witch sitting next to me asked Matt. “Yeah,” he nodded. “Well, better luck next time,” she smiled and then went back to cheering with everyone else. It took us a while to leave the stands, but eventually we found our way back into the park. “How did you like the match?” Dad asked Matt. “It was brilliant!” Matt said, “I mean, it's not brilliant that the Cannons lost, but it was still fun. I didn't really expect them to win. They just need some new players. They would've won if their Seeker was better.” And their Keeper, Beaters, and Chasers, I thought. It was nice that Matt was so optimistic about it. He could have been their spokesperson for their motto. If there was anyone who was crossing his fingers and hoping for the best, it was Matt. We went to Diagon Alley because my parents needed to do some shopping and then we had dinner at the Leaky Cauldron because Uncle Jack really liked that place. I did, too, and we didn't eat there nearly as often as I would've liked. Hannah Longbottom, makes the best sandwiches I've ever had in my life. “How much more school do you have?” Matt asked me as he ate his bacon sandwich. “A little less than two months, I think,” I replied. “I hope it goes by fast because Mum never lets me go exploring in the bush by myself,” Matt said. “We can go exploring all the time in the summer,” I told him, “What are we going to do this summer anyway? Can we go on a holiday?” “Possibly,” Dad shrugged, “We haven't really been on a proper holiday in a few years.” That was for sure. The only times we had traveled recently was to look at houses. After we went back home we played a few rounds of Gobstones before Matt went to bed. Then I read in the living room while listening to Mum, Dad, and Uncle Jack's conversation. “We should go to more Quidditch matches,” Mum said, “I haven't seen Matt that happy in months.” “It was definitely a success,” Dad agreed, “If we had done that nine months ago, he would've spent the whole time too scared to watch.” “He's changed so much since I last saw him,” Uncle Jack commented. “We owe it all to Healer Norlam,” Dad said, “The man can work miracles.” “It's you two as well,” Jack said, “You never give yourselves enough credit.” “Perhaps,” Dad mused, “But we really couldn't have done it without Norlam.” I hadn't really thought about it until my parents brought it up, but Matt really was a lot different. He hadn't been afraid of anyone at that Quidditch match and it had been very crowded. “He'll never get completely over it, though,” Dad said quietly, “He'll never be the same.” “Of course not,” Uncle Jack agreed, “People never stay the same. None of us are the same as we were when we were eight. Our experiences change us.” “He's had experiences I wish he'd never had,” Dad sighed. “I wish he hadn't, either, but we can't change the past. I'm not entirely convinced horrible experiences are bad for us, either. They make us appreciate the good times. Of course, I'd give anything to change the past so that Matt didn't have to go through all of that.” “You've always been the optimist,” Dad said, “You see the good in everything.” “I try,” Uncle Jack shrugged. The room lapsed into comfortable silence and I got absorbed in my book once again. I went to bed a little while later and dreamt that Matt was the Chudley Cannons Seeker. And that his clumsy self was the best player on the team. ****** The remainder of the holiday went by fast. I brewed potions with Uncle Jack while Matt begged my parents to let him join us. That was one thing they were still very overprotective with, him brewing potions. They refused to let him brew with me before he had potions class at Hogwarts. I was kind of happy about that because as much as I liked spending time with Matt now, I liked being able to brew alone. Mum, Dad, and Uncle Jack went out to dinner one evening without Matt and I because they needed 'adult time'. That was a sign that Mum thought I was mature because she had never let Matt stay home alone with me in the evenings before. Uncle Jack flew back to New York on Saturday, the day before I went back to Hogwarts. We all went to the airport to see him off. His visit had gone by fast and I was sad to see him leave. He didn't know when he'd next be able to visit. Everyone went with me to King's Cross the next day s well. I wasn't really that sad about going back to Hogwarts. I would miss my family, but there was less than two months of school left and I was looking forward to seeing Victoire again. I spent the entire train ride doing the homework I had neglected to do over the holiday. One thing I wasn't looking forward to about going back to school was the fact that exams were coming up. I had yet to hear anything good about Hogwarts end of the year exams. It was already dark by the time the train pulled into Hogsmeade. I climbed into one of the four carriages along with three students I didn't know. We arrived at the castle just in time for dinner and I squeezed in between Victoire and Landon at the Gryffindor table. “How was your holiday?” Victoire asked. “Fun,” I grinned, “My uncle was there for a week and we went to a Chudley Cannons match.” Teddy and Landon burst out laughing. Teddy started coughing and turned red as he caught his breath. Then they both looked at each other and laughed some more. “What?” I asked. “How badly did they lose?” Teddy smirked. “50-260,” I replied. “Not so bad, then,” Teddy said, “50 points in a match, that's not bad for the Cannons. But why in the name of Merlin did you go to one of their matches? Do you support them? I know you're new to British Quidditch and all, but there are so much better teams out there.” “Matt supports them,” I answered, “I got him a Cannons jersey for Christmas and he's been obsessed with them ever since.” “Why a Cannons jersey?” Landon asked. “They're the underdog,” I shrugged, “And my brother's always kind of been an underdog. I thought it was appropriate.” “Wow, another Cannons fan,” Victoire sighed, “My Uncle Ron will be excited about this. He's the world's biggest Cannons fan.” The rest of dinner was spent with Teddy and Landon explaining the details of all the British Quidditch teams, which to be honest, was not that interesting. The only interesting bit of information they told me was that one of the Montrose Magpies' current Chasers played for the Cannons for a year before joining the Magpies. Apparently she was the best player the Cannons had had in decades. Victoire and I stayed up late talking about everything except Quidditch. By the time I crawled into my four-poster bed I was very content. I realized that it was the first time I went to bed completely happy and calm at Hogwarts. And that was a nice feeling.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Sunday 30 August 2009 09 47 40 am    Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow Thanks hprocks and Wratha! Nope, not going to stop writing! Well, I have actually finished writing this story, but there's more to post! Chapter 59: Moaning Myrtle “Victoire, Victoire, wake up!” I hissed as I nudged her arm. I had woken up two minutes ago and realized we were still in the Room of Requirement. That and it was nine o'clock, which was when we were supposed to be in double potions. “What is it?” she yawned. “It's after nine o'clock,” I told her, “We're late for potions.” “Shit!” she shouted and jumped off the pink couch. We ran out of the Room as fast as we could and went back to Gryffindor Tower. It took us five minutes to change and grab our books before running all the way down to the dungeons. We skipped brekkie. Everyone was already brewing when we slowly pushed open the door to the dungeon. Slughorn was at his desk. “You two are late,” he announced as we walked in. “Sorry, sir,” we said at the same time. “We're brewing in pairs today, so you two can work together,” Slughorn told us, “And five points from Gryffindor for your tardiness.” Victoire and I set to work at brewing that day's potion. Willinson was nowhere near us, so we didn't have to deal with his comments. It didn't seem to matter that we were late since the potion didn't need the entire two classes to simmer. Slughorn even pronounced it excellent when we handed in our flask at the end of class. “That's probably the best I've ever done in potions,” Victoire said as we left, “I think I'll brew with you every class.” “Then you can help me in Transfiguration,” I said. “Sure,” Victoire said, “I just desperately need to do better in potions next year if I want to become a Healer.” In the chaos that had been waking up late and nearly missing potions, I had completely forgotten about the full moon. It was the first time that had happened since before Matt was bitten. I was immediately reminded when Jasper showed up at lunch, however. “Oh, he's a nice owl,” Victoire commented. “Thanks,” I said, “He's my parents' owl.” “Is that about the detention?” Victoire gestured to the letter. “Probably,” I said as I put it in my robes, “I'll open it later.” “At least you didn't get a howler,” Teddy said as he sat down, “You two missed it this morning. My gran sent it. She sends a mean howler.” “I've never gotten one,” I said. “Consider yourself lucky,” Teddy replied, “I get at least two every year. Once I got one from my gran and Victoire's grandma for the same thing.” “Which is why I'm not depressed that I missed this one,” Victoire smirked, “I'm sure I'll get to see another soon.” I opened the letter after classes were over. Victoire had to go talk to Slughorn about doing extra credit for potions, so I went to the Room and read the letter in private. [i]Dear Amy, How is school? We miss you a lot. Things are pretty much the same at home. Nothing unusual happened during the full moon. We got a letter from Professor Longbottom about you being disruptive in the library. That's not like you. We'll talk about it over the Easter holiday. Speaking of Easter, Uncle Jack was able to get a few days off work and he's going to come and visit. Write soon and we'll see you in a month! Love, Mum, Dad, Matt, and Ellie[/i] I grinned as I folded the letter up, despite the fact that my parents wanted to talk about the incident in the library. Uncle Jack was going to visit! He had never seen our house in England. The best part was that he was coming while I was home. “Are your parents angry about the library thing?” Victoire asked when she returned with her extra credit. “They want to talk about it over Easter,” I groaned. “Oh, you're going home for Easter?” Victoire asked. “Er, yeah,” I said, “Don't most people?” “No,” Victoire shook her head, “Most of us just stay here and study for our exams.” “Well, my uncle's coming to visit over the holiday, so I'm definitely coming home. He lives in New York and we don't see him a lot,” I explained. “That'll be fun, then,” Victoire said. ****** Three months and five days. That was how long it had been since Olivia sent me a letter. Her owl showed up a week after the full moon and I dug through her old letters to find out exactly how long it had been. I sat on my bed holding the letter in my hands, staring at it. Why had she waited three months to send me a letter? What made her send one now? The door opened and Victoire walked into the room. “Want to go to the kitchens with me? I'm starved.” I didn't reply. I had never been to the kitchens and on any other day I may have wanted to go. “Amy?” Victoire asked, “Are you ok?” “Olivia sent me a letter,” I said, “After three months of not sending one.” “Have you opened it?” Victoire asked as she sat down on my bed. I shook my head. “Open it,” she said. I nodded and started ripping the envelope open. I pulled the letter out and read it silently, not even caring if Victoire read it over my shoulder. [i]Amy, I'm really sorry I haven't written you back until now. I guess I just got busy. Fifth year started a few months ago. The amount of work is insane. How have you been? How is Hogwarts? Are you still really behind in your classes? I hope you made some new friends. How's your brother doing? I don't know exactly how to tell you this, so I'm just going to say it. Lisa is sharing my dorm with me now. She and Carmen had this huge fight and she asked for a dorm change this year. They assigned her to our room. I was really mad about it at first, because I didn't want another roommate ever. But she's honestly not that bad. I think she was rude to us because of Carmen. I'm going to her house for Easter. I'll try and let you know how it goes, but I'll apologize in advance if I don't send letters as often. You'll always be my friend, but it's just hard because we never see each other. Even when you're in Australia we can't see each other. Your friend, Olivia[/i] I set the letter down on my bed and squeezed my eyes shut. Victoire put her hand on my shoulder, which told me that she had read the letter. I should have known it was coming. How can two people stay best friends when they never see each other? Olivia would see Lisa all the time. They were now roommates like Olivia and I had once been. Olivia was going to Lisa's house. After they'd been friends for three months. Olivia didn't go to my house until a little over a year ago. “Do you want to write her back?” Victoire asked quietly. “I'll do it later,” I stuffed the letter back into the envelope and put it in my trunk, “Show me the kitchens.” Victoire nodded and we left Gryffindor Tower. She didn't say one word about the letter on our way to the kitchens, which I was grateful for. I didn't want to talk about it. The kitchens were under the Great Hall, behind a large portrait of a bowl of fruit. All you had to do to get in was tickle the pear and a doorknob would appear. “How do you know so much about the castle?” I asked. “That map Teddy was talking about,” Victoire said, “And my aunts and uncles know more about this place than Kendrick probably does.” I never found the kitchens in Australia, so I was amazed by the kitchens at Hogwarts. It was one very large room filled with tables, ovens, and more food than I had ever seen in my life. There were more House Elves than I had ever seen in my life and five of them ran up to us when we walked in. “Can we get yous anything?” one of them asked. “Chocolate cake,” Victoire said immediately and then looked at me. “Anything I want?” I asked. “Yep,” Victoire nodded. “Chocolate ice cream with whipped cream,” I said. The House Elves left and Victoire and I waited near the door. “They just get you anything you want whenever you want?” I asked. “Yeah,” Victoire said, “They love it when students come down here.” “Is this against the rules?” I asked. “I'm not even sure,” Victoire shrugged, “Everyone who knows where the kitchens are comes down here.” One of the House Elves returned a few minutes later with a large slab of chocolate cake and a huge bowl of chocolate ice cream. We went up to the Room of Requirement to eat it and I imagined what Matt was going to think when I told him you could get chocolate cake and ice cream whenever you wanted at Hogwarts. ****** My friendship with Victoire reminded me of a potion that would refuse to boil for a half hour and then all of a sudden it would boil over the top of the cauldron. For months we had hardly said anything to each other and then all of a sudden, we did everything together. I soon learned that we really had a lot in common. Our family lives couldn't have been anymore different, though. Victoire's family was loud, boisterous, and huge. I soon met all of her cousins that were at Hogwarts, although I'd never remember all of their names. In a way they all reminded me of Kenzie's family. Everyone looked after each other and I almost wished I had that many cousins. Or any first cousins, really. Despite our familial differences, we really were quite alike. Both of us were very studious, even though we had subjects we were awful at. We could both sit in the library reading for hours without talking to anyone. Neither of us were really into Quidditch, although we both had brothers who loved it yet had no skill at it whatsoever. I never mentioned Monica and Victoire never mentioned Olivia. I did write Olivia back, but didn't really expect her to write me again anytime soon. For some reason it didn't even bother me. I had been upset when her letter arrived, but it just didn't bother me anymore. There was still the issue of me keeping secrets from Victoire, though. When the next full moon came, I tried as hard as I could to act normal and not make my worrying too obvious, but I wasn't sure if it worked. It had been the second full moon in a row that I hadn't spent in the Hospital Wing helping Madam Pomfrey. I spent the evening studying with Victoire, Teddy, and Landon, and realized that I didn't want to go bottle potions. Jasper turned up at lunch and it was then that I realized how hard it would be to keep Matt's lycanthropy a secret. Victoire and I spent every second of every day with each other, pretty much. I was going to have to sneak off to the toilet to read the letter. “I'll meet you in Ancient Runes,” I told Victoire as I got up, “I've got to use the toilet.” Victoire nodded and I left. There wasn't much time before Ancient Runes and I was going to have to use the second floor bathroom, which was closest to the Runes classroom. I hated that bathroom. It was always flooded. Actually, I hadn't actually used it yet because the water leaking out of the bottom of the door put me off from it. The bathroom was flooded as usual and I shut myself in a stall to open the letter. It was very short. Mum just told me that Matt was ok and she'd see me in a few days when the Easter holiday started. “Ooo, a letter!” A ghost of a very young girl flew through the stall door. I shrieked. I shrieked like Monica had when Teddy howled during that detention. The ghost laughed manically and flew up to the ceiling. She floated down until she was hovering right in front of me. “Bad news?” she asked excitedly, “From home?” “Er, no,” I said, my heart still pounding fast, “Very good news, actually.” “Well, isn't that just lovely!” the ghost burst out in tears, “Everyone gloats about their good news in front of poor Myrtle! Poor Myrtle doesn't get good news! You want to know why? Because she's dead, that's why!” The ghost (who I presumed was named Myrtle) soared up to the ceiling again and then plunged herself into the toilet. “Er, well, I've got to get to class, then,” I said awkwardly as I left the stall and then ran out of the bathroom as fast as my soaking wet feet could take me. Whenever I thought I was finally getting used to Hogwarts, something weird would happen. The ghost in the bathroom was a perfect example. Back to avoiding the place, I guessed. As it turned out, there was a better reason than a flood to avoid it. “Did you know,” I whispered to Victoire as I slid into the seat next to hers in Ancient Runes, “That there is a mad ghost in the girls' bathroom on the second floor?” Victoire laughed. “Oh, you mean Moaning Myrtle?” “That's an understatement,” I rolled my eyes, “She started crying hysterically and plunged herself into the toilet because I told her my letter from home wasn't bad news.” “That's normal for Myrtle,” Victoire replied, “She's obsessed with death. I mean, even for a ghost, she's obsessed with death. I try to avoid the place.” “I will, too, from now on,” I said. ****** When Victoire said everyone stayed at Hogwarts over the Easter holidays, she meant it. There were probably around 15 people on the Hogwarts Express that Thursday. About half of them were first years and only two were older than me. None of them were students I recognized. I got a compartment to myself, which wasn't all that difficult. It would have been harder to locate a compartment that had someone else in it, actually. The trip was relatively boring and I read for part of it and slept the rest. Dad was the only one waiting for me on the platform when the train arrived in London. He was still wearing his work robes, so I figured he went straight to the station from the Ministry. “Amy,” he gave me a hug, “I missed you.” “Missed you, too,” I said and hugged him back. Dad grabbed my trunk and put his other arm around me and we Apparated home. The house was quiet when we walked through the door. Dad dragged my trunk upstairs while I wandered into the kitchen. Mum and Ellie were cooking dinner and Matt was sitting at the island. He turned around when I came in and jumped off the stool. He ran towards me and threw his arms around me. “Matt,” I picked him up and hugged him, “I missed you.” “I'm glad you're back,” he said as I set him down on the stool, “Uncle Jack's coming on Saturday.” “Oh, is he flying in that day?” I asked Mum. “Yes,” Mum put down a wooden spoon and gave me a hug, “Welcome home.” “So, what are we going to do while he's here?” I asked as I sat down next to Matt. “We're going to a Chudley Cannons match!” Matt said excitedly. “Seriously?” I raised my eyebrows at Mum. The Quidditch World Cup in Australia had been fun, but that was the World Cup. The Cannons were some random British team that apparently were really bad. Going to one of their matches wasn't exactly my idea of fun. “Yes, we're all going,” Mum smiled, “Matt's been begging to go to one ever since you got him that jersey for Christmas. We figured we'd wait until you were home.” “Thanks,” I rolled my eyes. Why had I gotten him that jersey again? “It'll be fun,” Dad said as he walked into the kitchen, “They're playing some team called Puddlemere United.” “If what I've heard is true, Puddlemere United is going to kill the Cannons,” I replied, “So don't bet any money on the Cannons winning.” “No one's betting any money on anything,” Mum said as she set a large bowl of salad on the table. My parents wanted to hear all about school during dinner, so I told them about Victoire, Teddy, and Landon. They looked very happy that I had managed to find friends, but neither of them mentioned my detention. Matt and I played Exploding Snap while Mum and Dad cleaned up the kitchen, until Matt's face was covered in so much ash that Mum made him go wash it. Then Dad beat me in a few rounds of wizard's chess while Matt fell asleep on the couch. I guess he was still tired from the full moon. After Dad carried Matt upstairs to bed, he and Mum sat down on the couch opposite from the chair I was sitting in and I could tell from the looks on their faces that they were going to bring up the detention. “Amy, what happened?” Dad asked quietly. “Remember that girl, Monica?” I sighed, “Well, I was studying with Victoire, Teddy, and Landon in the library....” I told them the entire story. Monica's harsh statements to Victoire, Teddy and Monica's near duel, and the detention itself. Plus, I told them that Victoire and I really hadn't done anything besides yell a bit too loudly in the library. By the time I finished the story, my parents looked relieved. “Just please try to ignore this Monica girl,” Mum sighed and shook her head. “I do,” I replied, “And it'll be easier now that Victoire's not friends with her anymore.” “And don't shout in the library anymore,” Dad said, “You know better than that.” “I know,” I shrugged, “It's just hard to keep quiet when Monica starts talking. She knows how to get to me.” Mum and Dad looked at each other. “We understand,” Dad said quietly. I was pretty sure both he and Mum were thinking about Ralph Lubar. “I'm going to go upstairs,” I said, figuring the conversation was over, “Good night.” My parents said good night back and I went upstairs to my room. I dug some pajamas out of my trunk and climbed into bed after I changed. It was kind of early to go to bed, so I read for a few hours before falling asleep. I was asleep very quickly. Even though I was getting along well with most of my roommates, there was something comforting about sleeping in your own bed. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't have to put a silencing charm around it before drifting off to sleep. Or perhaps it was the solitude of being alone in my room. But I think it was more because I knew I was home, surrounded by the people who cared about me.