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DucksRMagical
Joined: 28 December 2006
Posts: 2535
Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal
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Posted: Sunday 11 July 2010 04 45 38 pm Post subject: Re: Beyond the Shadow in topic:Beyond the Shadow |
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Chapter 12: Victoire's News
I thought it would have been easy to get sucked into work again and not think about my lunch with Dillan, but even while my mind was on wizards with plants sprouting out of their ears, witches with odd orange rashes, and children with spattergroit, Dillan was there in the back of my mind. It was strange since every other time I'd gone on a date I'd easily been able to forget about the blokes at work. Although, thinking about that now, it probably wasn't a good thing.
Victoire bombarded me with questions about the lunch as I was walking back to my study after clinic duty and I told her everything, as I promised. She was thoroughly excited and promised to help me pick out an outfit for our date on Friday. However we couldn't talk for very long since she was seeing patients all afternoon. As she headed back to the Spell Damage floor I headed off to find Morris to see if he'd ran Matt's tests yet.
Morris was in his study writing up notes when I entered a little while later. He must have known immediately why I was there because as soon as I sat down he handed me a piece of parchment with Matt's name, the date, and a time stamp of an hour earlier. It was his test results and according to them he no longer had any Wolfsbane in his system.
“Thank Merlin,” I muttered. “Did you run it twice to be sure?”
“Three times,” he answered. “They all gave the same results and Matt seems much better. He's tired of course, but I'm planning on discharging him before I go home tonight.”
I nodded. I'd insist he stay with me for the night, but he'd be far less bored in my flat than in the ward. “Mind if I keep this?”
“Go right ahead,” Morris said. “I've got another copy.”
“Thanks. I'm not starting a new version of the potion until I figure out why he reacted like this. I don't want it happening again,” I said.
“Probably a good idea,” Morris agreed. “Let me know what you find out.”
“I will,” I answered as I left his study.
My next stop was the ward, where I found Matt sitting up in bed reading some sort of book on the Chudley Cannons. He has so many books on that team that it makes me wonder not only where he finds them but what sort of authors would actually want to write books about such an awful Quidditch team. And I mean awful as in their playing, not that I hate them, because I'm quite indifferent about Quidditch.
“Hey, Amy,” he greeted me. “Hear the good news?”
“Sure did,” I replied. “All the Wolfsbane is gone, but we still haven't got a clue as to why it stayed in there. Morris said he's going to discharge you sometime today, but I think you should come spend the night at my place.”
“Sounds good.”
“And you're not going back to work tomorrow. I think you need to rest another day,” I told him.
“Seriously? But I've already missed so many days.”
“Don't tell me you're starting to become a workaholic, too.” I groaned.
“No, you got all of those genes. It's just I know the only reason I got that job is because of Dad and I don't want to give the Ministry anymore reasons to dislike the fact that I'm working there.”
“They don't dislike it,” I argued.
“I'm not five anymore,” Matt said. “You can't hide stuff like that from me anymore.”
He had a point, I thought. “All right, we'll compromise. You can go in in the afternoon so long as you continue to get better tonight. I'm sure Morris would agree with me on this.”
“Ok, that'll work,” Matt agreed.
“Good,” I replied. “I'm going down to the basement to work for the rest of the afternoon, but I haven't got anymore patients to see today so when Morris discharges you we'll go home.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
After swinging by my study to gather my very large collection of notes on every single version of Wolfsbane I had ever created, along with Matt's medical file from Morris's study, I headed down to the brewing rooms. By some stroke of luck I wasn't stopped by anyone on my way. I wasn't planning on doing any actual brewing that day, but experience had taught me that holing myself up in a brewing room would result in less interruptions than doing the same in my study.
My usual room was empty so I dumped the stack of notes onto the desk and settled down for what was sure to be a long afternoon. I couldn't risk creating a potion like my most recent one again so I had to figure out what had caused Matt to have such an awful reaction. The only way to do that was to study my notes until I reached some sort of conclusion.
Now that Matt was better and I had had a day to think about what had happened I realized that Morris was right. As awful as it had been for Matt to have a reaction like that to a potion, it was helpful in the long run. Generally, with experimental potions, negative reactions were better than no reaction at all when it came to figuring out how to make the potion better. When Matt had no reaction to a potion I created I had nothing to go on; all I was able to say was that that specific potion didn't work. Now I had a clue, something to tell me what was going wrong. If only I knew what that specific clue was.
No matter what Matt's reaction was to new potions, my first step afterwards was to add a new line into my ever expanding chart of failed potions. Each potion had a line that included the ingredients, the type of cauldron it was brewed in, the amounts of ingredients, and every other seemingly insignificant step that went into brewing potions. The littlest thing could be the difference between a useful and useless potion. Along with information about the actual potion I also kept a separate chart of each person who had taken each potion. The people varied, although Matt had taken each one. For that very reason (and of course the fact that he was my brother) I was focusing the most on his reactions.
Each year I created and tested either three or four potions and since I had been working on it for six years, there were a lot of entries. Some had been as useless as original Wolfsbane and others had had awful side effects, but the most recent one was the worst yet.
After entering the new information into the charts, the first thing I looked at was the concentration of pure Wolfsbane in the potion. Wolfsbane potion was different from pure Wolfsbane, the latter being the active ingredient in the potion. It is the most tricky ingredient to add and if the proportion of it to the other ingredients isn't right, it can have disastrous effects, which is why I thought it had something to do with Matt's reaction.
Regular Wolfsbane potion uses a concentration of .01 percent pure Wolfsbane. Most brewers agree that anything less than .008 concentration is completely useless while anything above .05 percent is deadly. My potions have ranged between .007 and .49 in terms of concentration, with the most recent having .04 percent.
Matt's reaction would have made more sense if the potion had had a higher concentration, especially since the potion made with .49 percent had had no effect on him whatsoever, with the Wolfsbane filtering out of his system in the normal twelve hour window. That meant that this was far more complicated than the concentration of pure Wolfsbane. It meant that it had something to do with a reaction amongst the ingredients.
To make matters even more confusing, Morris had discovered years ago that Matt had a very high metabolism, which was part of the reason why he believed Wolfsbane potion didn't work for him. Morris discovered that Matt's body processed Wolfsbane between eight and nine hours rather than the standard twelve, but even when he was given Wolfsbane potion every eight hours instead of twelve, it still didn't help him. But it made it even more confusing that this time the Wolfsbane wouldn't filter at all.
Scouring my notes for anything that might help is a very tedious task and after working at it for two hours I still came up with nothing. I was about to start my third time reading them when there was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” I said, thinking it was probably one of the junior brewers with a question.
“I knew I'd find you here.”
I looked up and saw Victoire, looking if possible, even more pregnant than she had the previous day. “It's where I'll be for the foreseeable future until I figure this potion out.”
“Well can you pry yourself away from your notes long enough to hear my good news?” Victoire asked.
I glanced up again and really looked at Victoire. She was glowing, positively glowing, and had a huge smile on her face. She looked even more excited than she did when she was told her baby didn't have lycanthropy. “Of course.”
“Just had another Healer appointment,” she told me.
“You did?” I asked. I couldn't recall her telling me about it. “I don't remember you saying anything about it.”
“I mentioned it a while ago, but I'm sure you forgot after what happened,” she said. “Anyway, they ran another test, this one to tell us the sex-”
“Did you find out?” I interrupted.
“Yup,” Victoire said. “But that's not the best part. The best part is that I'm having twins!”
“Oh my God!” I shrieked and got up to hug her. “Congratulations!”
“Thanks. Teddy's thrilled, especially since they're both boys.”
“Poor Sophie!” I laughed.
“I know. I'm hoping she'll eventually have some cousins who are girls, but I think Weasleys tend to be prone to having boys.”
“Well you can always try for another girl after those boys are born,” I pointed out.
“I was just told that I'm going to have to give birth to not one but two boys in June. The last thing I want to do is thinking about having a fourth,” Victoire said.
“Fair point,” I agreed. “I haven't even had one and I can't even imagine it. I love Sophie of course, but she's like the perfect kid. Surely they're not all like her.”
“Trust me, they're not. I'm sure these boys will be like my Uncles Fred and George, only worse. I've got it coming to me after only having Sophie for five years.”
“Sophie will keep them in line,” I said.
“Even Sophie wouldn't be able to control them if they're like Fred and George,” Victoire said. “Merlin, Amy, even if they're like Sophie I'm still going to have three times as many kids. It's all Teddy and I can do to make sure someone's always around to watch Sophie. We can't rely on my parents and grandparents to watch three kids.”
“But Sophie will be in school soon,” I pointed out. “Are you starting her at that preschool soon?”
“Not all the time. Teddy and I both work a lot of weekends and Sophie won't have school on weekends,” Victoire said. “And yes, she's starting next week. She's so excited!”
“Good.” I smiled. Sophie needed to be around kids her own age.
“I just don't think I can do the working full time thing with two newborn babies and a five-year-old.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I mean...” she paused and sat down in one of my extra chairs, “that I'm thinking of not coming back to St. Mungo's after my maternity leave is up.”
I said nothing for a few minutes. While after hearing what Victoire was saying about taking care of three kids and working full time I sort of expected her to say that, it was still a shock. Victoire wasn't nearly as much of a workaholic as I was, but she had always been determined to work hard at what she does and I couldn't see her not working. Ever since I met her she knew exactly what she wanted career wise and nothing had ever swayed her.
“Have you talked to Teddy about it yet?” I asked.
“Yes,” Victoire answered. “He agrees with me. I mean, he makes a decent salary as an Auror so we don't necessarily need my income. It's weird. When I was in Hogwarts I always imagined having a job and kids but I never thought about how the two would compete. My mum stayed home with me and Gabriella and Ben when we were little and it was so much fun. We weren't ever shuttled off to anyone else's house for a weekend and we never waited until ten or eleven at night for our parents to come home to say good night while a baby-sitter sat in our living room.”
“Sophie doesn't mind that,” I said quietly. “Has she ever complained once about having to spend the day with your parents or grandparents?”
“No,” Victoire said. “But that doesn't mean she doesn't miss us. It wouldn't be forever. Just until the boys were at Hogwarts.” She looked down and placed her hands on her stomach.
“It's up to you,” I said. “My mum was home with Matt and I when we were little, too, so I can see why you would want to. I'll miss you here, if you don't come back.”
“And I'll miss you too. I'll miss everything about this place. It's why I'm so torn. I'm not deciding yet since I won't even leave on maternity leave until May or so.”
“Farina won't be pleased.” I laughed.
“No, definitely not,” Victoire agreed. “So what were you working on when I so rudely interrupted you?”
“You're always welcome to interrupt me,” I said. “Anyone else will get yelled at, but you can.”
“I feel so honored.” Victoire grinned. “So what are you up to? I don't see any steaming cauldrons filled with disgusting tasting liquids that will save the world.”
“Very funny,” I replied. “And I'm not brewing anything today. I'm trying to look at years of notes in order to figure out why Matt had that awful of a reaction to the potion. I get interrupted less down here than in my study, due to my reputation of hexing people who barge in on my brewing.”
“Ah, yes, that intern who you hexed last week never did return.”
“Again, very funny. I did not hex an intern.”
“So I take it you're staying late tonight? I was going to invite you over to dinner tonight. It's just Gabriella, Sophie, and I since Teddy's working,” Victoire explained.
“Nope, not staying late, since Morris is releasing Matt today, but he's coming over to my place for the night. I've got to stay with him.”
“Another time, then. Going to bring all of this home with you?”
“Of course,” I said. “Has Gabriella made any mention of taking off again?”
“No,” Victoire replied. “But she disappears everyday so she must be actually doing something here.”
“If she wasn't, you could hire her as your nanny.”
Victoire and I looked at each other and then burst out laughing at the thought of Gabriella being a nanny. That girl would be a nanny the day John Brickston managed to have a girlfriend for more than a month.
“It's so weird,” I began, “because when we were kids Gabriella was so responsible. She was a prefect and everything.”
“Hey, I suppose some kids rebel in their teenage years and others wait until they're out of Hogwarts.” Victoire shrugged.
“And others don't ever rebel,” I pointed out, thinking of Victoire herself.
“I'm hoping Sophie will take after me.”
My Galleon alert vibrated and I pulled it out of the pocket of my robes. Morris was paging me so that meant he was probably ready to discharge Matt. “I've got to go,” I said. “I think Matt's going to be leaving.”
“All right,” Victoire said as she stood up. “I'll see you tomorrow.”
“Yep, sounds good.” I grabbed all of my paperwork and notes and followed Victoire out of the room, being sure to lock it behind me.
******
Morris was waiting in the Dai Lewellyn ward when I got there a few minutes later, and so was Mum. She was wearing nurse robes and had a stack of clipboards in her arms, so presumably she had snuck away from clinicals for a few minutes to see Matt before he went home. Judging by the irritated look on Matt's face and the bemused one on Morris's, Mum was doing more than just saying hi to her son.
“I just don't think it's a good idea for you to go back to work tomorrow,” Mum said as I shut the door to the ward. “You need another day to rest.”
“Mum.” Matt sighed. “I've been resting for the past three days.”
“You've been here! In the hospital! Twenty-four hours ago you were practically unconscious on that bed, so you can't tell me you don't need another day of rest.”
“I'm practically unconscious once a month but I still only take a couple of days off,” Matt pointed out. “If I rested as much as you wanted me to I'd never get anything done.”
Morris and I shared a look, knowing that this could go on for ages. Despite the fact that both of us had degrees in healing, neither of us had any say in whether Matt went to work tomorrow where Mum is concerned. We could both assure her that Matt was as healthy as she was but she would still insist he stay in bed and eat soup all day. Degrees were nothing compared to motherly love.
When Matt was little, Mum constantly told him to rest and she hardly let him do anything that other little kids did. As he got older he got fed up with it and started arguing with her, but even now that he's in his twenties she still has that pull over him. Hell, she still has that pull over me. If she demanded that I stay in bed and rest I'd probably listen to her, even if Farina was barking in my other ear to get to work.
“Amy said I could go in in the afternoon if I rested in the morning,” Matt said. “Isn't that a good compromise?”
Instead of agreeing with him, Mum turned around and glared at me, as if that wasn't a compromise at all. “Amy's not your mother,” Mum said.
“But she's a Healer!” Matt shouted.
“Not your Healer,” Mum countered.
“Healer Sterling agrees with her,” Matt pointed out.
Morris sighed and shook his head, looking as if he wished he hadn't gotten involved with this, even though he really hadn't. Matt dragged him into it.
“We're busy at work, Mum. We're looking at that proposal Amy did for the foundation and Dad thinks we might be able to get funding for it if you work with the Ministry and it gets declared an official Werewolf Support Services program. I really need to be there.”
I looked at Matt, raising my eyebrows and trying to silently ask him why he hadn't told me about that. Last I knew we were putting that off until after the holidays. Plus, the Ministry had never gotten involved with anything the foundation did.
Mum sighed, clearly defeated. She glanced at her watch and I realized that her defeat probably had less to do with Matt's reasoning than the fact that she needed to get back to work. “Fine. Rest in the morning and work in the afternoon. Dad will tell me if you show up early, so don't.”
Mum set down her clipboards and gave Matt a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek before turning to me. “Don't let him go if he seems to get ill again.” She picked up her clipboards and gave me a one-armed hug before leaving the ward.
“Merlin,” Matt groaned as he sat back down on the bed. “You'd think I was twelve again.”
“She's your mother,” Morris said as he flicked his wand above Matt's head. “She'll worry about you forever, no matter how old you are. Your vitals are normal, so you're good to go.”
“Thanks,” Matt said as he got up. “I'm sure I'll be seeing you again soon.”
“Hopefully not too soon,” Morris replied and then turned to me. “Amy, I'll see you tomorrow.”
I nodded and Matt and I followed Morris out of the now empty ward. I stopped at my study to pick up a few more things and then we headed off for the Floo room. With any luck, I'd have a few hours to try and figure out my notes later that evening. |
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Paul
Joined: 4 November 2001
Posts: 3026
Location: Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, England
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DucksRMagical
Joined: 28 December 2006
Posts: 2535
Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal
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Posted: Sunday 28 March 2010 01 24 40 pm Post subject: Re: Beyond the Shadow in topic:Beyond the Shadow |
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Chapter 5: A Surprise
Matt and Sophie were both asleep when I returned to my flat. It was kind of cute. Sophie was curled up on the foot of his bed, the copy of Beedle the Bard next to her head. I reached down to pick it up and she opened her eyes and yawned.
“When's Mummy coming back?” she asked.
“In an hour or so,” I replied, “Do you want to help me make dinner? I bet she'll be back just when it's ready.”
“Yeah!” Sophie said excitedly.
She ran ahead of me into the kitchen and was already wearing an apron that was way too large for her by the time I got there.
Sophie absolutely loves to cook. I'm sure that in a few years she'll be a better cook than I am. Mum always told me that cooking was like potions, but I never got the hang of it. Maybe Sophie will be good at both.
We decided to make chicken parmesan, one of Sophie's favorites. Her favorite thing to do was grate the cheese and half of it wound up in her mouth. She grinned sheepishly as I took the remaining cheese and I had to hide my laughter.
There was a knock on the door while the chicken was in the oven and Sophie made a beeline towards it. I followed her and found Victoire letting herself in.
“I snuck away,” she grinned as she picked up Sophie, “How's my little angel?”
“We're making chicken parmesan for dinner!” Sophie said excitedly, “Only I think Uncle Matt's going to sleep through it.”
“Why don't you go wake him up and see if he's hungry?” I suggested.
Victoire put Sophie down and she disappeared into the bedroom. I went into the kitchen to discover that I had nearly burnt the chicken.
“How was she?” Victoire asked as she began to set the table.
“Fine,” I said, “I found her asleep on Matt's bed when I got back. Then we made dinner.”
“Good,” Victoire smiled, “Teddy and I are thinking of enrolling her in a preschool program.”
“This year?” I asked, “Isn't she a bit old for that?”
“We've been researching and we found one that takes kids up to age six,” Victoire said, “It's private, in London. They only go three days a week, too. Mum keeps telling me that she's bored during the day.”
I nodded as I scooped spaghetti onto all the plates. Victoire's grandmother watches Sophie most days, but she also watches a few other kids. Victoire's cousins kids, to be specific. Sophie's better off at my flat after full moons, where it's quiet.
“That would probably be good for her,” I said.
“I think so too,” Victoire replied, “It'll get her ready for next year, if we send her to Kindergarten. I think she's just bored at Grandma's. She's the oldest one there. Andrew's only two and he's closest to her age.”
Andrew was Victoire's cousin Fred's son. The rest of the kids that Victoire's grandma watched were babies.
“She needs to play with kids her own age,” I agreed, “And if it's only three days a week, some months she won't even have to miss any days.”
“Exactly,” Victoire said, “No one's going to notice. Kids get sick a lot. No one will pay attention that she misses a few days every few months.”
“Can you enroll this late in the school year?” I asked.
“I think we'll have to wait until after Christmas,” Victoire said, “So don't mention anything to her.”
“What's for dinner?”
I turned around and saw Matt slowly following Sophie into the room. He still looked utterly exhausted, with large purple bags under his eyes and a yellowish bruise on his forehead. His arm was still wrapped up in bandages and he was limping slightly.
“Chicken parmesan,” I replied, “Are you hungry enough to eat?”
“I'll probably just have spaghetti,” Matt said as he collapsed into the nearest chair.
“How are you?” Victoire asked him.
“Awful,” he muttered, “My head is killing me.”
“Here,” I set a goblet of pain potion in front of him, “I'm sure you're due for a dose.”
“Thanks,” Matt said and downed the potion.
Sophie dominated the dinner conversation. Matt was far too tired to pay attention, much less participate in the conversation. Victoire always listened to everything her daughter said, careful not to interrupt. I paid vague attention, but my mind kept wandering towards the poor Muggle who had been attacked by a werewolf. I was hungry for more information about it. Who did it? Why were they out in the open?
“Have you got any pickles?” Victoire asked as we were cleaning up the kitchen.
“Pickles?” I stared at her, “Er, possibly in the fridge, but why?”
“I just feel like a pickle,” Victoire shrugged as she looked in the fridge. “Excellent,” she grinned as she pulled out a jar.
“You're strange, you know,” I laughed.
“I know,” Victoire shrugged, “I blame it on the odd hours Ted and I keep.”
“What time is he done at work?” I asked.
“Nine,” Victoire answered as she took a bite out of one of the pickles, “But he's got the weekend off. We're visiting my parents.”
“That'll be nice,” I said as I loaded the dishwasher.
“Yep,” Victoire said as she polished off the pickle, “And then back to the grind on Monday.”
******
Monday was very chaotic. Not only did I have to catch myself up on what had gone on in the ward over the weekend, but I also had to track down the two trainee Healers who were in charge of data collection for the study Rose and I were running.
Trainee Healers basically have to do fully qualified Healers' bidding, much like assistant brewers. This often included data collection for Healers who were running studies. Luckily for me, the two trainees involved with my study had actually wanted the job.
Finding them was often a whole day process since they were never in the same place for more than ten minutes. I finally managed to find one after I finished up my clinic hours at eleven o'clock.
Lianne Dorsay had been studying to become a Healer for just over a year and was very interested in the research aspect of it. Her short stature, round face, and curly brown hair gave her the look of someone still in Hogwarts, but she was far more mature than she looked.
“Lianne!” I shouted as I ran to catch up with her.
She turned around and smiled when she saw me. “Amy! I've been looking for you.”
“Where are you headed?” I asked.
“Spell damage,” she replied, “They're short handed today.”
“I'll walk with you,” I said as we continued down the corridor, “How did data collection go?”
“Fine,” Lianne said, “Eight people showed up and none of them had any issues with the charms and potions.”
“Good,” I said, “All the data look usable?”
“Yep,” Lianne said, “It's all entered into the book.”
“Thanks,” I said as we got into one of the lifts.
“No problem,” Lianne replied.
The study Rose and I were conducting was slow going. We could only collect data once a month and we usually only got five or so participants each time. I had yet to get enough data to reach any conclusions, so we kept going at it.
I didn't have any time to look at the data that day. Morris was busy with the Muggle who had begun to come to terms with the fact that he was now a werewolf and did not have much time to deal with the rest of our patients. I spent my day with the rest, healing various burns, bites, and stings, and administering potions to the people who had had to spend the night.
Five o'clock arrived and I was finally able to escape to the basement to brew. It wasn't that I hated working with patients; it just got draining after a while. Spending my evening hours in solitude with only simmering solutions for company was a nice break.
Even while my newest version of Wolfsbane is being tested, I still have to brew regular Wolfsbane. It's a month long process for each batch and there are not many Brewers who can manage it. Three at St. Mungo's can, including Morris and I. There's an old witch who can brew it as well, but she's getting on in years and is looking to retire.
“Merlin, Amy, what is that smell?”
I jumped and turned to the door. Victoire was standing there, with her hand over her mouth, looking a tad green. I glanced at the clock. I'd been brewing for nearly two hours.
“Wolfsbane,” I said as I stood up stirred one of the cauldrons, “Same as always.”
“Really?” Victoire said, “Did you do anything funny to it?”
“No,” I shook my head curiously, “This is the normal kind. Are you sure you're ok?”
“Fine, really,” Victoire shrugged, “The smell of Wolfsbane never makes me feel ill. Except-”
She cut herself off and we looked at each other. A look of horror appeared on her face and she slowly sat down on the nearest chair, looking greener than before.
“Let's get out of here,” I said, grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the room. I quickly locked it and we headed to the nearest loo. Luckily no one was in it.
Victoire leaned against one of the sinks and slowly shook her head. “Why didn't I realize it before. Vomiting in the morning, wanting pickles of all things after dinner....”
“How long has it been going on?” I asked.
“Few days,” Victoire sighed, “And I'm late. I thought it was stress. Ted's been working longer shifts, Sophie's growing up and I'm trying to decide whether to send her to school. I just, it never crossed my mind. Ted and I weren't going to do this again! We swore!”
I stood perfectly still and didn't say a word. Victoire looked worried and slightly scared. I couldn't blame her. After Sophie was born, Victoire and Ted decided not to have anymore children. It was too risky. There was very little known about children who were born as werewolves and every case seemed to be different. Whose to say if Victoire and Ted had a second child the pregnancy would go as well as it did for Sophie?
“You don't know for sure,” I said quietly, knowing without a doubt that she was pregnant. Nothing made Victoire feel ill, ever. It was one of the traits that made her an excellent Healer.
When Victoire was pregnant with Sophie, the smell of Wolfsbane made her positively ill. If she was near it too long, it made her dizzy, gave her a headache, and made her vomit. The same thing happened to Matt whenever he was around it. At first she thought it was just one of those weird pregnancy things, but once she found out Sophie was a werewolf, she knew otherwise.
“Ted's going to be so angry,” Victoire groaned, “We agreed, no more kids!”
“It's half his fault!” I rolled my eyes at the thought of Ted ever getting angry. I could count the number of times he'd been angry on one hand. He and Victoire never fought.
“I guess,” Victoire giggled, “But still, Amy this is so bad. What if the kid's like Sophie? Or, what if, you know, if the kid's like Matt.”
“Then you'll deal with it,” I told her, “You guys are great with Sophie. She's such an awesome kid, Victoire. Honestly, there's kids who don't have lycanthropy who are more difficult than she is. And if the kid's like Matt? Well, then even more incentive for me to get this potion right.”
“I know, I know,” Victoire sighed, “We can do it, it's just is it even fair for the kid?”
“Plenty of kids deal with things that aren't fair, many worse than lycanthropy,” I said quietly, “Look, first you've got to take a pregnancy test. Tomorrow, right when you get to work.”
Victoire nodded. “All right. I'm not saying a word to Teddy until I know for sure.”
“Makes sense,” I agreed, “Is he going to the meeting?”
“Yeah,” Victoire said and glanced at her watch. “Merlin, we'd better leave now. Your mum'll murder us if we're late.”
******
The Lycanthropic Children's Foundation is a very small organization that meets every Monday at my parents' house. There are only six members, which is all we really need for what we do. Basically, we obtain donations and then people with lycanthropic children seek us out, usually through St. Mungo's. Most of our donations come in the form of spare change tossed into the containers we have set out at various shops, and large anonymous donations. The money is then given out anonymously, through me. I have access to the children's information through work anyway, so applications are sent to me and then I present them, omitting names.
Besides Victoire, Mum, Teddy, and I there were two other members. Joe Gordon was our Treasurer and Betsy Wrigley worked with Teddy to seek donations.
Everyone else was there when we arrived, even Teddy and he was usually late. Mum had set out a tray of biscuits and a pot of tea.
“Amy, Victoire, you're nearly late,” she said as we entered the living room.
“Sorry,” I replied, “Work.”
“Well, you're here now,” Mum said, “Anyway, I was about to tell everyone that we received another 100 Galleon donation the other day.”
“Brilliant!” I grinned. Donations that large were rare.
Once everyone had announced their excitement over the donation, we spent the remainder of the meeting deciding who to give it to. It was always so difficult to decide who to give donations to. Every single one of the kids deserved something, but we just did not have the funds to give everyone something.
After a bit of debating, we decided to split it between three different kids. Victoire wrote the checks and I got the envelopes ready for owling the next day.
“Does anyone else have anything to discuss?” Mum asked.
“I do,” I stood up and took a deep breath. Here it goes. The proposal.
Mum looked at me curiously, but didn't say anything.
“All right,” I said, “We've spent the past few years drumming up donations and giving them to children, which is extraordinary. The money is so helpful for the kids and their families. It pays for hospital bills and Wolfsbane.
“However, I feel that we can do more, so much more. Working at St. Mungo's I've seen that these kids need more than money. They need support and so do their families. The parents feel so alone and so do the kids.
“Money helps them, it really does, but no amount of Galleons can ease the loneliness and feeling that it's you against the world. Which is why I feel that we need to expand what we do. I think we could organize support groups. One for the kids, the parents, and even siblings. I really think it would help a lot.”
I stopped and looked out at everyone. Mum and Betsy looked shocked, grins were slowly appearing on Victoire and Teddy's faces, and Joe looked skeptical.
“But if we do that, people are going to find out who the kids are,” Joe pointed out.
“Only the other people in the support groups and us, and I don't think anyone who would be attending the support groups would use that information against the kids,” I said.
“Good point,” Joe agreed.
“I think it's a great idea,” Teddy said. Victoire nodded.
“Why don't we think on it for a week and if we all still agree next week, we'll start making plans,” Mum decided.
Everyone thought that was a good idea. Mum adjourned the meeting and Betsy and Joe left shortly after that. Teddy and Victoire stuck around for a little while to eat a few more biscuits, and then left as well.
“It's going to be ok,” I whispered to Victoire as they left. She nodded and then left. She was going to have a hell of a time keeping her suspicions from Teddy; she looked so worried.
“Is everything ok with Victoire?” Mum asked as we cleaned up, “She looked preoccupied tonight.”
“It's work,” I said quietly, “Don't worry, she'll be fine.”
“The lot of you need to take a holiday,” Mum said, “You, Victoire, Teddy, your father. All of you, workaholics.”
“Healing is a time consuming profession,” I shrugged, “I knew that when I started.”
“Still, you could surely take a week and go to France or something,” Mum told me.
“What would I do in France?” I sighed, “I'd worry about my patients and lose a week of brewing. I can't afford to do that. You know that.”
Mum turned and looked at me. Her eyes looked strangely sad. “Amy, just keep in mind that it's good to take some time for yourself. If you don't, you'll regret it when you're older.”
******
“I feel like we're sixteen and trying to secretly take a pregnancy test at Hogwarts or something,” Victoire whispered to me the next morning.
Victoire had appeared in the doorway to my study five minutes earlier, clutching a paper bag in her hand and looking paler than I'd ever seen her. I immediately got up, told Morris to cover my patients until I returned, and rushed out the door.
“Well, we're not sixteen. You're twenty-nine and married. There's nothing wrong with you being pregnant,” I told her.
“Then why are we sneaking around, trying to find an empty loo?” Victoire asked.
“Do you really want to do this with strangers around?” I pointed out.
“Very true,” Victoire agreed.
We slowed down as we neared the next ladies' loo and I began to push the door open.
“Lupin! Eckerton!”
I groaned inwardly and lowered my hand. Farina. How was she always able to pop up at the worst moment?
“What are you two doing on the Magical Bugs floor?” Farina barked, “Lupin, you're due in the clinic in ten minutes!”
“Er,” I began, trying to think up a good excuse.
“I have to do something,” Victoire muttered, gesturing to the bag, “But I'll be in the clinic as soon as I can.”
Farina's eyes narrowed on the bag and then her stern face softened. I had to rub my eyes to make sure I was seeing clearly. Farina's gaze never softened. But I was seeing clearly. Farina's expression was almost sympathetic.
“Take all the time you need, Lupin,” Farina said, “Eckerton, Spell Damage is running low on Skele-Gro, I'll need you to brew more this afternoon.”
“Right,” I nodded as she walked away. I quickly opened the door to the loo, hoping no one else was inside.
“What was that about?” I asked as I peeked under all the stalls, “Ok, this one's empty.”
“No idea,” Victoire shrugged as she entered one of the stalls, “I've never seen her like that before.”
“Does she know about Sophie?” I asked.
“No,” Victoire answered, “I mean, she knows I had a difficult pregnancy but she doesn't know Sophie's got lycanthropy.”
“Do you think she's actually worried?” I asked.
“Possibly, but I find it hard to believe,” Victoire said, “I've never seen Farina show any emotion besides anger and indifference.”
“Me either,” I said as the door opened.
I turned and saw a witch with a bright green hat entering the bathroom.
“Sorry, this one's closed,” I told her, “Toilet's been regurgitating.”
“Then you should lock it!” the witch said as she left in a hurry.
She had a point, I thought as I pulled out my wand and locked the door. Victoire came out of the stall, holding a small cup and looking quite worried. She wordlessly set the cup down on one of the sinks and we stood next to each other, staring at it.
If Victoire was pregnant, the solution would emit blue hearts in ten minutes. If she wasn't pregnant, the solution would turn green and emit nothing.
“Remember when I found out I was pregnant with Sophie?” Victoire said quietly.
I nodded. I remembered that day like it was yesterday. I was the one who had first suggested to her that she may be pregnant. Victoire denied it, thinking she was just overtired and getting ill. Fresh out of Healer training, we were given the worst hours, occasionally having to pull twelve hour shifts.
We were both coming off a twelve hour shift and I insisted she come over to my flat and take the test before going home. She agreed and did. The test was positive and we were both thrilled. Ted had been on a mission and the day long wait for him to return seemed to take forever. When Victoire was finally able to tell him, he was so tired that after he woke up, he thought it had been a dream.
This was so different. Victoire had been nervous before, but that was nothing compared to now. Then, we had been hoping the test was positive. Now, we were hoping for a negative.
“I wanted a huge family, Amy,” Victoire said in a shaky voice, “I wanted at least four kids. But now...” her voice trailed off.
“I know,” I said, “But things don't always work out the way you want.”
“Amy, if this is positive-” Victoire cut herself off.
The cup was bubbling. Any second now we would know the result. I held my breath and didn't blink. Then it happened. A tiny blue heart rose above the surface and popped immediately. It was followed by more and soon the potion was bubbling and emitting heart after blue heart.
I turned and looked at Victoire. She was staring at the potion, her face as white as Nearly Headless Nick. Then, all of a sudden, she burst into tears and I put my arm around her.
“Wh-what am I g-going to do?” she sobbed, “I can't be p-pregnant again, I just c-can't. I got lucky last time, Amy. I won't get lucky again, that just d-doesn't happen!”
“Maybe it will,” I soothed, “You're going to get through this.”
“What's T-Teddy going to say?” Victoire wailed, “We swore we wouldn't d-do it again!”
“Like I said last night, this is half his fault,” I told her.
“I know, but it's not T-Teddy who's pregnant!” Victoire cried, “I'm p-pregnant!”
“Listen, we're going to go to the Ministry and tell him right now,” I said, “Take deep breaths. In and out. Teddy is not going to be mad.”
“I can't!” Victoire said as she glanced at her watch, “Merlin, I'm ten minutes late for the clinic! Farina's going to murder me!”
“No,” I shook my head, “We're going to tell Farina you've got to go home early. You saw her face when we went in here, she might actually let you.”
“N-no she won't,” Victoire sobbed, “I have to get to the clinic.”
“No,” I said a bit louder, “You're going see Teddy and then you're going to go home.”
It took another five minutes to convince Victoire to go home and then another five to calm her down. She still looked like she'd been crying for fifteen minutes, but better than before. |
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salemboy
Joined: 20 May 2008
Posts: 1762
Location: Enjoying being a Senior whilst my friends merely become Juniors.
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Posted: Saturday 9 January 2010 05 57 49 am Post subject: Re: What was the last movie you watched at the cinema? in topic:What was the last movie you watched at the cinema? |
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Just saw Avatar. One of the Best. Movies. Ever. I am definitely going to see it again. And again. And again.
Sure, there might parts that are definitely predictable, but I think that made it even grander. I am definitely going to add this to my collection.
(Didn't get to see it in 3D, though. Our theater might be cheap, but it still sucks.) |
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Ms. Elsewhere
Joined: 13 January 2008
Posts: 881
Location: In role play game of course!
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Posted: Wednesday 4 November 2009 01 07 13 am Post subject: Re: The Sorting Hat in topic:The Sorting Hat |
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*makes an appearance at the sorting hat thread*
"Whyyyyyyyy does everyone always either want to be in Gryffindor or Slytherin? Sounds a bit like me in the beginning until I realised the perfect place for me was in HUFFLEPUFF! Now, who wants to buy my Gryffindor uniform, my 2 Gryffindor scarves, my Gryffindor emblem for my shirt, my Gryffindor socks, my I love Gryffindor Poster, and whatever else Gryfindor I might have so I can go out and buy myself something Hufflepuff!"
*moves eyes from the screen to stare at her collection of HP collectables that are far too Gold and red*
Grrrrr.............. |
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DucksRMagical
Joined: 28 December 2006
Posts: 2535
Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal
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Posted: Sunday 20 September 2009 09 53 16 am Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow |
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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. |
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Ms. Elsewhere
Joined: 13 January 2008
Posts: 881
Location: In role play game of course!
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Posted: Monday 10 August 2009 11 48 47 pm Post subject: Re: RPG: The Six Wizards in topic:RPG: The Six Wizards |
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Ouki grabbed a towel and dried her hair. The black hair dye stained it a bit, but Ouki shrugged. That's what we're paying for, she thought. She walked over to the wall and pulled down a robe, which she wrapped herself in. Her waist length hair draped over her shoulders and down her back. She took the hair dryer from the wall and started blow drying her hair. It didn't take her long; her hair was long but it was fine. She took some hair product she had bought to tame how fine and whispy it was, and made it sleek and straight. Then she took off her robe and started to dress. She pulled a multicoloured dress off the back of the door; it was a spring dress, something from the new season collection. She giggled because it was just so sweet. The colours were bright and cheerful, something she never had the chance to wear. She usually wore jeans and shirts, but tonight, she was going to be girly. She pulled the dress over her head and it fell beautifully over her curves, just like in the shops. She didn't need much make up, so she simply powdered her cheeks and put on some lipgloss - her eyes were pale but she had naturally dark features that outlined them beautifully. She slipped on her shoes and walked out into the hotel room. Damien was playing with his camera. He looked up and stared for a long moment. Ouki felt herself blushing. "Do you like it?" she turned on the spot. Damien brought his camera up and snapped a photo. |
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