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DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2098 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Sunday 12 October 2008 03 18 04 pm    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind Thanks, Obladi! Questions, comments, and general reviews always appreciated! Chapter 27: Slytherpuff Matt's birthday was a few days after the Dueling Tournament. Albus and his friends didn't throw him a party like they had last year. That had mostly been done to cheer him up since he had been in the Hospital Wing at the time. This year they went down to the kitchens and got a cake, and then ate it in their dormitory. By the time the Quidditch match arrived the following Saturday, Albus was utterly exhausted. Between Quidditch practice and homework, he hardly had anytime to sleep. Throw in a trip down to the kitchens for Matt's birthday after Quidditch practice the other night, and Albus was ready to sleep through an entire day. Albus yawned, got out of bed, and looked out the window. He had been hoping that the raging blizzard would have let up, but it hadn't. Wonderful, he thought, James wouldn't be catching the Snitch quickly in this weather. A few hours later, Albus bade his friends goodbye and headed down to the changing rooms at the Quidditch pitch. His friends had bundled themselves up in as much scarlet and gold clothing as they owned and were ready to huddle against the howling wind for a few hours of Quidditch. John, Matt, and Amanda didn't seem to mind the weather at all and were excited about the match. Rose, on the other hand, clearly would have rather spent the afternoon in the castle studying. Kaden still liked football better than Quidditch and Albus had a feeling he wouldn't have minded the storm if he was watching a football game. "Ok!" Georgia shouted a few minutes after Albus entered the changing rooms, "Everyone come over here!" "I know the weather isn't ideal," Georgia began once everyone was gathered around her, "But we've played in worse than this!" "Yeah, if you count that flood we played in during third year," Fred muttered, "But other than that...." Georgia glared at Fred, "Anyway, we're playing Hufflepuff, so we'll win. Harper's still captain, but it's her last year, so she'll be dead set on getting the Cup. That means she'll have trained his team even harder. They've got a new Keeper, though. Someone named Tanner Royce. He's a fifth year. Other than him, the team's the same as last year. So, with that, get out there and kick some badger ass!" Albus grinned to himself as he picked up his broom and started to walk to the door. Georgia was a great captain, but wasn't much for long winded speeches. "Albus," Georgia whispered and put her hand on his shoulder. "Yeah?" "You're, er, less nervous this match, right?" "Oh, yeah," Albus smiled, remembering how he had told her he was extremely nervous the last match. In reality, he'd been too preoccupied with the new map. Sure, he'd been a little nervous, but not as much as Georgia thought he had been. This match, however, he wasn't nearly as distracted, although he still was a bit nervous. "I'm a bit nervous, but not as much." "Good," Georgia grinned and walked out the door and onto the pitch. Albus followed his cousin onto the pitch and was immediately hit by the forceful winds that were prevailing. "Welcome to the Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff match!" Todd Smith's voice sounded over the pitch. It sounded faint and kind of far away in the wind. "It's bloody cold out here so let's make it quick! "Here are the Gryffindors! Captain Georgia Weasley, followed by Ryan O'Malley, Albus Potter, James Potter, Bradley Weasley, Fred Weasley, and Heather Weasley! "And the Hufflepuffs! Captain Jessica Harper, followed by Shawn Ames, Lisa Galivant, Andy Kaper, Stacey Manson, Anna Reilly, and Tanner Royce!" Professor Oteski motioned for Georgia and Harper to shake hands and as soon as they did so, Albus and the rest of the players rose into the air. Oteski released the balls and Heather immediately took possession of the Quaffle. "And Heather's got the Quaffle! She passes to Fred, then back to Heather, and to Albus." Albus caught the Quaffle and started flying towards the Hufflepuff goals. He was amazed that he had actually caught it since the weather was so awful. He could hardly see two feet in front of him. His robes were already soaked with snow and ice and he was frigidly cold. Nevertheless, he kept flying towards the goal until he had to stop short and toss the Quaffle back to Heather, since he almost flew straight into an oncoming Hufflepuff chaser. Heather caught the Quaffle and flew it the rest of the way to the goal. She threw it in and it easily went past Hufflepuff's new Keeper. "Goal! Ten-zero Gryffindor! Now hurry up and catch that Snitch, James! I'm freezing my bloody-" "Smith!" Patil shouted, "Watch your language!" "Sorry, Professor." The Quaffle was now back in play and was in Hufflepuff possession. Albus wasn't even sure which Chaser had it, but he knew it was a Hufflepuff. Whichever Hufflepuff had the Quaffle managed to take it to the Gryffindor goals, but Georgia saved it. Fred took the Quaffle and flew it back to the other end of the pitch, scoring another goal for Gryffindor. The game continued this way for the next half hour. Hufflepuff managed to score two goals, but Gryffindor scored about eight. Albus currently had the Quaffle and was flying straight at the Hufflepuff goals. He narrowly avoided a bludger and both Hufflepuff beaters, but soon he was within throwing distance of the goals. He faked to the right and then threw the Quaffle at the left hoop. Royce tried to save it, but he wasn't quick enough. "Goal! Albus Potter has scored against Hufflepuff! The score is now 90-20 Gryffindor!" Albus was ecstatic. That was the first goal he had ever scored in a Quidditch match. Up until now, all he'd done were assists. Albus took a victory lap around the pitch and then caught the Quaffle from Heather. Albus managed to score another goal and Heather scored two more in the next half hour of the match. Hufflepuff scored a few more goals, but were still far behind. By now, Albus was sure he had turned into an icicle and was getting a bit sick of flying around in the cold. He was even getting a bit of a headache from it. Albus wasn't even sure if he'd know if James or Galivant caught the Snitch, due to the increasingly bad visibility and snowfall. The blizzard seemed to be getting worse by the minute. If Hogwarts actually called off Quidditch, they would have called it off a while ago. A few minutes later, cheers broke out in the stands and Albus was sure someone must have caught the Snitch. He was very happy to land his broom and knew he'd be even happier when he finally got into the warm common room. The rest of his team was shouting in glee and were surrounding James. He must have caught the Snitch, Albus thought. The rest of the Gryffindors were swarming the pitch and soon James was lifted onto a few people's shoulders. Albus joined the throngs of his house and started his way back to the castle. On his way back to the common room, numerous people stopped him in order to congratulate him on the win. Albus was thrilled that they had won, but all he really wanted to do was find his friends and get into some warm robes. James loved the attention he got after winning a Quidditch match, but Albus could take it or leave it. Right now, he could leave it, since his headache was getting worse. The party in the common room was just getting started when Albus entered a few minutes later. Someone must have snuck down to the kitchens because there was an entire table filled with food. Someone else had obviously gotten into Hogsmeade because just about everyone had a butterbeer in their hand. Somebody shoved a butterbeer into Albus's hand as he made his way through the crowd. James was in the thick of it as usual and was rehashing how he caught the Snitch. "And I saw it lurking near one of the goal posts. Galivant was on the other end of the pitch, so I knew she had no hope..." James was saying to a couple of giggling girls. The rest of the team was nearby and were digging into the food that was on one of the tables. "Great job, Albus!" Georgia shouted as he passed, "I knew you could get over those nerves!" "Thanks," Albus smiled as he went up the stairs to his dormitory. Albus quickly changed out of his cold, wet robes and felt a bit better afterwards. He went back down to the common room and it was even fuller than before. It looked like all the Gryffindors had returned from the pitch and the party was in full swing. Albus found his friends sitting at their usual table and they all seemed to be enjoying the party. "Albus!" John shouted as Albus sat down, "Brilliant playing!" "Definitely," Matt agreed. "You're quite a good Chaser, Albus," Rose said, "Although I honestly don't know why they didn't cancel the match with this blizzard..." "Cancel the match?" John stared at her, "Never!" "If it was football, it would've been canceled," Kaden commented. "Yeah, because you wouldn't be able to run around in two feet of snow," John laughed, "But Quidditch is in the air, so it doesn't matter." "Will you two just quit arguing about football?" Rose sighed. "Just trying to turn Kaden into a proper wizard," John shrugged. "Quidditch is hardly the definition of a proper wizard," Rose said, "I believe potion brewing is a bit more important and I'm sure Kaden could teach you a thing about it, Mr. Exploding Potions." "That was Goyle's fault," John muttered. "Why don't all three of you just quit arguing?" Albus snapped. His head was pounding and listening to his friends' arguing was not helping. "What's with you?" John asked, "We're not fighting anymore than normal." "Maybe it's got to do that he's been flying around in a blizzard for the past two hours?" Rose suggested, "If they'd just have canceled the match-" "They don't cancel Quidditch!" John shouted and then turned to Matt, "You understand this, don't you?" "It's true," Matt agreed, "Quidditch isn't ever canceled for trivial things like blizzards." "I think the weather just makes it more interesting," Amanda commented. "Not you too!" Rose groaned. "Football's only played in the warm months anyway," Kaden said, "They wouldn't even schedule an outdoor football match in the winter." "Well that's boring," John replied. Albus leaned his head on his hand and closed his eyes while trying to drown out his friends conversation. John, Rose, and Kaden continued to argue about the merits of Quidditch and football. Matt and Amanda stayed out of it for the most part and seemed kind of amused with the entire thing. Albus wasn't, though. He wished they'd just shut up. Albus's head was steadily feeling worse, like he was being hit with a bludger over and over again. Besides that, he still hadn't completely warmed up from the match and was shivering, despite his dry robes. "I think football would be a decent sport if it were played on brooms," John said. "Oh come on, John!" Rose sighed, "Be serious! You can't play football on brooms. How would you kick the ball?" "Not to mention that Muggles play football!" Kaden shouted, "Muggles can't fly!" "I'm not saying that Muggles should play football on brooms. I meant if football were ever played by wizards, it should be done on brooms." Football on brooms, Albus thought, what an insane idea. His friends were now trying to merge football and Quidditch. "Albus, are you all right?" Matt asked. Albus opened his eyes and lifted his head off his hand. "I dunno." "You don't look that great," Matt said concernedly. John, Rose, and Kaden stopped arguing and looked at Albus. "Yeah, you look worse than Matt does when he gets sick," Kaden said loudly. "Thanks," Matt muttered. "Matt's right," Rose said, "You do look awful, Albus." "I've got a headache," Albus mumbled. "You should go see Madam Pomfrey," Kaden told him. "I think I'll just go to bed," Albus got up from his chair, "I haven't really slept much the past few nights. I'm probably just tired." Albus stumbled over to the dormitory door, feeling worse than he had a few minutes ago. He collapsed into his bed and fell asleep minutes later. ****** Albus awoke with a start and he wasn't sure how much time had passed since he went to sleep. He still felt extremely tired and his head still hurt. He groaned and closed his eyes again, wanting only to sleep for a few days straight. Right when he was about to drift off again, someone threw the curtains back and Albus's bed was flooded in light. "Ugh," Albus groaned and covered his eyes with his hands. "What was that for?" "You've slept almost an entire day," someone said. Albus moved his hands and slowly opened his eyes. John was standing over his bed with a look of concern on his face. "And I'd like to sleep a bit more if you don't mind," Albus mumbled. "You slept through dinner last night, and breakfast and lunch today. Aren't you hungry?" "Not really." "Are you sure you're ok?" John asked, "Rose sent me up here to check on you." Honestly, Albus wasn't sure he was ok. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept an entire day. But right now all he wanted was for John to go away so he could sleep some more. "I'll be fine once I sleep some more," Albus replied and rolled over away from John. "If you're sure," John said quietly and closed the curtains. It didn't take Albus long to fall back asleep. He had some strange dreams that involved Teddy telling him his broom broke and he'd have to play Quidditch without it by running around on the ground. Then, instead of a Quaffle, the match was played with a football. Albus woke up briefly after one of these dreams, only to find that the dormitory was dark. He could hear Ethan's muffled snoring and an owl hooting outside. Unfortunately, he didn't feel any better than he had when John woke him up. In fact, he now felt worse. Every one of his muscles were aching, like he had fallen from his broom during the match. But Albus couldn't recall falling from his broom. When had the match been anyway? Yesterday or the day before? Albus couldn't even remember and he didn't even know what day it was currently. "Albus!" Someone shouted. Albus was dreaming about Quidditch again and someone was hitting him with their beater's bat. "Quit it," Albus mumbled. "Albus, are you all right?" "Go away," Albus said, "And stop smacking me with that beater's bat." "Beater's bat?" they repeated, "That's it, I'm getting Professor Potter." "I'll go," someone else said, "You stay here with him." Whoever had been hitting Albus with the bat had stopped, and he was grateful. Georgia had taken the bat away and was now yelling at its owner. Then she announced that they would be playing football instead of Quidditch. James complained loudly, since there weren't any Seekers in football. "Albus, wake up!" "I think Kaden said you'll have to play defense, James," Albus mumbled in his sleep. "There isn't a Snitch in football." "Hang on, Albus, John's getting your dad." "My dad? He'll have to play defense, too." "What's wrong?" someone new shouted. "He's been sleeping since after the match, Professor Potter. I think he's sick." "Since after the match?" "Er, yeah. We thought he was just tired, but he's been sleeping for two days." "The match?" Albus muttered, "Did we beat Slytherpuff yet?" Albus felt himself being lifted out of his bed and into someone's arms. He rested his head on their shoulder and shivered as his blanket fell back onto the bed. Albus fell back into a deep sleep and next woke up as he was being laid down on another bed. Albus heard people talking all around him, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Someone poured a few disgusting potions down his throat and forced him to swallow them. There was more muttering around him, but Albus soon drifted off to sleep again. The room was quieter when Albus next woke up. He opened his eyes and looked around. Where was he? Albus was certain he had fallen asleep in his dormitory, but now it looked as if he was in the Hospital Wing. The place was nearly deserted, save for Madam Pomfrey sitting at her desk. Albus yawned and tried to sit up, but he was still dizzy. The good thing was that his head felt much better. However, his body still ached. Madam Pomfrey looked up from her desk and got up once she saw that Albus was awake. She grabbed a few bottles and put them on a tray, which she then carried over to Albus's bed and set it on the bedside table. "Good, you're up," Madam Pomfrey said as she poured one of the potions into a cup, "You gave us all quite a fright." "What time is it?" Albus asked, still confused about what he was doing there. "Just after six o'clock." "Er, and what day?" "Monday," the nurse said as she thrust the cup under Albus's nose, "Drink that." Albus downed the potion quickly, "Yuck. It's really Monday? I've missed classes?" "I'd say so." "Er, what exactly happened? I mean, I went to bed in my dormitory and now I'm here..." "You're ill," Madam Pomfrey said, "You've caught the flu. Your friends told me you slept for almost two days and then they went to get your father since you weren't getting any better and had started becoming delirious. You've been here since around lunch time." "Oh. Well, how long do I have to stay?" "Another two days, probably," Madam Pomfrey told him. "Now I want you to drink these other two potions and eat that bowl of soup." Albus nodded and Madam Pomfrey strode back over to her desk. Albus thought back and could vaguely remember being taken out of his dormitory, but it was only a foggy memory. The last thing he could really remember well was the Quidditch match. He was very happy he hadn't fallen ill before the match. No sooner had Albus drank the first potion that the doors to the Hospital Wing swung open and John, Matt, Rose, and Amanda came bursting through. Madam Pomfrey got up quickly from her desk and met them halfway. "Is Albus awake?" Rose asked. "Yes, he's only just woken up. I suppose you can visit him for a few minutes. But calmly! He needs to rest!" "Albus!" Rose shrieked when she ran over to his bed, "Thank Merlin you're all right!" "How are you?" Amanda asked. "Doing better?" John asked. "Well," Matt said with a half smile on his pale face, "This is a switch." Albus grinned at them, "Yeah, can't really remember a time where it was [i]you[/i] visiting [i]me[/i] here." "What exactly have you got anyway?" Amanda asked. "Flu," Albus answered, "But I'm getting better. Not nearly as tired as before." "I would hope so," John smirked, "You slept two days." "I'll probably sleep another two," Albus said, "Pomfrey said I've got to stay another two days." "We'll be here together, then," Matt replied. Albus looked at his friend, who was looking a bit exhausted himself. "When's the full moon again?" "Tomorrow," Matt sighed. "Did you take that new potion?" Albus asked. Matt nodded, "Yeah, and I'm more knackered than usual." "He fell asleep in History of Magic and almost fell asleep in Potions," John said. "Well, you didn't sleep through two whole days like I did," Albus pointed out. "I've done it before. I've slept through more than two days actually. I think four is my record." "All right!" Madam Pomfrey announced, "Time for you lot to be off to bed, especially you, Matt. And Albus needs to rest." "See you tomorrow," Albus said as his friends left the room. "Sure will," Matt replied. Albus slept on and off throughout the night and the next morning. He was still tired, but felt much better when he woke up late the next morning. His dad had stopped by earlier before class, but Albus fell back asleep after he left. Madam Pomfrey was fussing over him and giving him numerous potions to drink. Albus was the only patient in the entire ward, so the nurse's fussing was all focused on him. The nurse had been giving Albus what must have been his tenth glass of water that morning when the doors to the ward opened. Matt stumbled inside and walked shakily over to the bed next to Albus's. He collapsed onto it and winced in pain. Madam Pomfrey immediately put down the water pitcher and descended upon Matt. "You're here earlier than usual," she said as she felt his head, "And you're burning up." "Why are you here earlier?" Albus asked once Madam Pomfrey had gone to get another potion. "Tired," Matt mumbled, "Fell asleep in Defense and your dad told me to come here." "Is it the new potion?" "Yeah, it doesn't exactly help much, does it?" "I thought you said they were going to find something to counteract the part of it that makes you tired," Albus said. "They are, they just haven't found it yet." "Oh." Madam Pomfrey returned a moment later and gave Matt a few potions. He drank them and was asleep minutes later. Albus wasn't really tired, but he fell asleep anyway out of lack of anything else to do. John, Rose, and Amanda stopped by after dinner to see Albus and Matt, but Madam Pomfrey didn't let them stay long. Matt had been asleep anyway. Shortly after their friends left, Madam Pomfrey woke Matt up and took him down to the Whomping Wilow.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2098 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Wednesday 1 October 2008 02 00 57 pm    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind Thanks Obladi! I figured Dudley would accept it, but Vernon and Petunia wouldn't. Perhaps I'll put them into future stories. They're pretty fun to write about. I'm happy to announce that I have finished this story! I will be starting the sequel soon, but I realized that there are certain chapters of In Moonlight's Shadow that I should post before I post any of the sequel. There's a character in the sequel that's also in In Moonlight's Shadow and I think it'd be better to meet him in that story first, in order to understand certain aspects of his personality. If you haven't started reading In Moonlight's Shadow, I'd suggest starting now. Comments, questions, and general reviews are always appreciated! Chapter 24: Evening Confrontation Albus had to admit that he was happy to be going back to Hogwarts. After the nearly disastrous dinner with the Dursleys, Albus spent his time working on homework or goofing off with James and Lily. By the end of the holiday he was actually kind of bored and happy to be seeing his friends again. Plus, the sooner he got back to school, the sooner he could try out the new map. The Potters met the Weasleys and the Dursleys at King's Cross and entered Platform 9 3/4 together. Both families were running late again and Albus, Rose, James, and Kaden only just made it onto the train before it left. James immediately left to find his friends while Albus, Rose, and Kaden wandered around trying to find their friends. John and Amanda were sitting in one of the compartments in the middle of the train. Albus opened the door and walked in, followed by Rose and Kaden. "Hey!" John greeted them. "There you are," Amanda smirked, "Almost miss the train again?" "Yeah," Albus laughed and sat down next to her. He wished more than anything that Kaden would leave so he could tell John and Amanda that he and Rose managed to get the stag print. All the prints were currently residing in Albus's bag, just waiting to be transferred onto the map. "So how was your family dinner?" John grinned and looked from Albus to Kaden. Albus and Kaden exchanged glances. Rose stifled a laugh. She had already heard about the dinner shortly after it happened. "It was...eventful," Albus said. "Not something I want to do again." "What happened?" John asked eagerly. "My grandpa went mad," Kaden shook his head. "And my grandma sort of did." "What did they do?" Amanda asked. "Well, they kind of didn't know we were coming," Albus began, "So they started off by yelling about that." "Then they started shouting about how my dad shouldn't let me go to school here," Kaden continued. "And Uncle Vernon wound up claiming that Dad had somehow used a charm to turn Kaden into a wizard," Albus explained. John and Amanda burst out laughing. "You're kidding!" John exclaimed. "He actually thought that?!" "Sure did," Albus grinned. Now that the dinner was behind him, he was able to laugh about it. Looking back, his Uncle Vernon did seem mad, and not nearly as scary as Albus first thought. "And my grandma of all people told him it wasn't possible," Kaden laughed. "Apparently she wanted to be a witch when she was a kid. But the best part was when Grandpa brought up Aunt Marge." "Who's that?" Amanda asked. "My grandpa's sister," Kaden explained, "I can't stand her. But apparently Professor Potter blew her up when he was 13!" John and Amanda started howling with laughter. "That is absolutely brilliant!" John shouted. "This I've got to hear!" Amanda grinned. Albus smiled at them and told the story of his Aunt Marge. John and Amanda laughed even harder when they had heard the whole thing. "What happened next?" John asked once he had calmed down. "Well, we went down to the basement and played with Kaden's Muggle video games, which was a lot of fun." "And the adults stayed upstairs," Kaden added. "Which was probably bloody awkward." "Then we left shortly after midnight," Albus told them. "Hey, Kaden, what happened after we left?" "Oh, yeah. Grandpa tried to convince Dad to not let me go back to Hogwarts. He thought Dad would be more likely to agree without you lot there. Dad told him to stop and eventually he gave up and left." "You going to do that again anytime soon?" John asked. "Hopefully not," Albus replied. "Let's do it at your house next," Kaden grinned, "I want to see a wizard house." "I doubt Dad will let Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia in the house," Albus told him, "But you're welcome to come." "Over the summer, then," Kaden said. "We'll come, too," Rose announced. John and Amanda nodded. "And Matt." Kaden looked around the compartment and then back at Albus. "Where is he, anyway?" "Er, he had some, er, Healer appointments," Albus said quickly. Hopefully that would satisfy Kaden's curiosity. "Oh, for that disease he's got?" "Yeah, the one you can't say a thing about to anybody," Albus glared at him, "And that includes this. Don't tell anyone where he is." Kaden nodded. "I won't. I'll keep away from Malfoy and Willinson." "Good," Albus said. ****** Over the next few days, Albus kept trying to find some time to tell John and Amanda about the stag print, but it was hard to shake Kaden off. It seemed the only times they were away from him was when they were in class or in their dormitory at night. Neither were good opportunities to talk about the map. In the meantime, Malfoy was trying to figure out why Matt wasn't in school. The full moon wasn't until the following week, so Albus was going to have to endure Malfoy's questioning for a while longer. Nothing seemed to satisfy him. Albus was also preoccupied with what was going to happen this full moon. He was kind of worried about Matt taking the new wolfsbane potion. All the students and teachers seemed to be falling into their usual routines. Dueling and Quidditch practices started up again. Both Kate and Georgia were working their teams hard and Albus was feeling the effects. Between that and the increased amount of homework the teachers were intent on assigning, he had hardly any time for anything else. A couple days into the term, Kaden finally had one of his tutoring sessions. Albus and his friends seized the opportunity and ran to the Room of Requirement as soon as Kaden left the common room. "Finally!" John exclaimed as he threw himself onto one of the couches in the room. "I thought I was going to die of curiosity!" "I never thought we'd get away from him!" Amanda said as she sat down next to him. "It'll be easier once Rose figures out the charm to keep him quiet," Albus replied. "You found one!" John sat up and stared at Rose. "Sure did," Rose grinned and pulled the book of charms from her house out of her bag. She opened it to the proper page and handed it to John and Amanda. The two of them read it for a few minutes. "This is incredible," Amanda smiled, "You think you can do it?" "Given a bit of practice, sure," Rose replied. "We just have to make sure Matt agrees to it." "I'm sure he will," John said, "I mean, this charm will definitely keep Kaden from telling anyone." "I'll start working on it now," Rose took the book back, "I haven't started yet because I don't want anyone to ask why I'm trying to learn it." "So, did you get the stag print?" John asked eagerly. "Sure did!" Albus reached into his bag and pulled out the three prints. "We just need the rat now." John picked them up and looked at him. "Excellent! I'll try and get the rat soon. Then we can transfer them." "We should wait for Matt," Albus told him, "He's a part of this as much as we are." "Oh, yeah, that's a good idea," John set the prints down on a nearby table. "You know, I think this is the first time we've been in here without him." "I think you're right," Albus commented. It was kind of strange, really. All the other times they had been in the Room, Matt had been the one to ask for it. Nobody said anything for a few minutes. Albus could tell that everyone was thinking the same thing he was, what would happen with Matt's new potion. "Well, he'll be back soon," John said after a while. "As long as nothing goes wrong," Albus said quietly. "Yeah, but just think if this potion works. That would be great, wouldn't it?" "Definitely," Albus agreed, but he couldn't help but think the new potion wouldn't work any better than the old one. Why should it? If Matt was resistant to Wolfsbane potion, why should a different variety of it work? The four of them spent the remainder of the evening in the Room. Rose worked steadily on figuring out the charm, but didn't really get anywhere. It was an extremely difficult charm, after all. Albus, John, and Amanda worked on their homework and talked about what they thought the new map would have on it. ****** Albus became more and more anxious as the full moon approached. His friends seemed to as well, and John especially developed a very short fuse. Kaden seemed to get the brunt of this but he took it in stride. The night of the actual full moon, Albus had Quidditch practice. He became so distracted during it that Georgia called for a break during practice and demanded to know why Albus was dropping so many Quaffles. He lied and told her he was worried about a Transfiguration exam the next day. Luckily she seemed to accept this and wished him luck on his exam. Albus tried extra hard during the second half of practice but still missed a lot of easy passes. Albus entered the common room after practice feeling incredibly sore but not at all tired. He had been hit with numerous bludgers due to his lack of concentration. Normally Albus would have been exhausted after such a practice but he was too anxious to be tired tonight. His friends were sitting at their usual table which was covered in homework. Not that much of it was being done. Kaden was the only one feverishly working away at an essay. John, Amanda, and even Rose were staring off into nothing with their untouched homework in front of them. Albus quickly stowed his broom in his dormitory and joined his friends at the table. "Hey," Albus said as he sat down next to Rose. "Hi," Rose mumbled. John and Amanda gave equally unenthusiastic greetings. "Hi Albus!" Kaden looked up, "I'm glad you're back. This lot has been incredibly dull." Even at a time like this, Albus couldn't help but laugh at Kaden's cluelessness. "Hi, Kaden." "How was practice?" Kaden asked. "Not that great. I got hit with a couple bludgers." "Ouch," Kaden winced. "Yeah, my arm hurts pretty bad," Albus commented. "Just go see Madam Pomfrey," Rose suggested, "Your arm looks nasty." Albus glanced at his arm. It had turned a lovely purplish blue color in the time since he had received the blow. "All right," he stood up. "I'll see you in a bit." Kaden stood up as well. "I'll come with you." Albus didn't feel like telling Kaden not to bother, so he nodded and Kaden followed him out of the common room. Albus didn't talk much on the way to the hospital wing, but Kaden kept up a streaming commentary about what went on in his classes that day. Kaden must have felt the need to share it even though nothing particularly exciting had happened that day. The corridors were utterly deserted and Kaden's voice seemed awfully loud. Albus glanced at his watch and saw that it was almost curfew. He wished he had brought his Invisibility Cloak. Of course, none of the teachers could give him detention for being out of his common room in order to go see Madam Pomfrey, could they? Albus pushed the door to the hospital wing open slowly and saw that Madam Pomfrey was sitting at her desk, writing something, and glancing out the window every few seconds. The moonlight was streaming through and illuminating one of the beds. There weren't any patients in the ward, which Albus thought was kind of strange. Albus rarely ever saw the place empty. He walked quietly up to Madam Pomfrey and Kaden followed. The nurse didn't even seem to have noticed them come in. "Er, excuse me, Madam Pomfrey?" Albus said once he was a couple feet in front of the desk. The nurse jumped and looked up, clutching her heart. "Oh, Albus! You scared me. What are you doing here?" It suddenly occurred to Albus that Madam Pomfrey was probably thinking about Matt as well, since she usually took care of him after the full moon. "I got hit with a couple bludgers at practice tonight. I was, er, kind of distracted." Madam Pomfrey stood up and gave him a sympathetic look. "I understand. Let me see." Albus held out his arm and Madam Pomfrey clucked her tongue as she inspected it. She pulled out her wand and touched it to his arm, muttering a spell as she did so. Albus's arm felt warm and tingly, and then normal again. The pain was gone. "Thanks," Albus replied. "No problem. Anywhere else?" "I got hit on my back too and it kind of hurts. I've got no idea if it's bruised or not." Madam Pomfrey looked at Albus's back and performed the same healing charm. It felt immensely better. "I think that's it," Albus said once she was done. "You'd better be off to bed, then," she said. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon." Albus nodded and turned to leave. He and Kaden were soon back in the empty corridor. "Why were you distracted during practice?" Kaden asked loudly. "Shush," Albus hissed, "Transfiguration exam tomorrow." "Oh, that's probably why John, Rose, and Amanda were so quiet." "Yeah, that was it." The two of them continued their trek to the common room until they practically bumped into two other people as they turned a corner. "Watch it!" a cold voice shouted and shoved Albus aside. Albus pulled out his wand and lit it, shoving the light in the faces of the two strangers. They were Malfoy and Willinson. "You watch it," Albus muttered. "Get your wand out of my face," Malfoy seethed. "What are you doing here anyway?" "What are you doing here?" Albus asked. "None of your business." "You just answered your own question, then." Malfoy turned to Kaden. "Ah, it's the Mudblood cousin." "Don't call him that!" Albus shouted. Malfoy ignored him and continued to glare at Kaden. "Maybe you know where Eckerton is these days?" Kaden glanced nervously at Albus before answering. "Uh, no, I don't." "Fine," Malfoy snapped. "I know you won't say anything with Potter around anyway. I'll just wait until you're alone. C'mon, Willinson, we're leaving." "You'll do no such thing, Mr. Malfoy," someone said from behind Albus. Albus jumped in fright and turned around to see Professor Patil. Great, he thought, now they were going to wind up in detention. Why did they always wind up in detention with Malfoy? "What are you four doing out of bed?" Patil asked briskly, "You know you're not allowed to be wandering around after hours." "Uh," Malfoy stammered, "We were, er, uh, well we just wanted to, um-" "Don't bother, Mr. Maloy," Patil cut him off. "Whatever lie you come up with is not going to convince me." She turned to Albus and Kaden, "I'm assuming you were not out for a stroll with Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Willinson?" "No," Albus confirmed, "I was actually just in the hospital wing. I got hurt at Quidditch practice. Kaden was with me." Patil looked at Kaden. "Is that true, Mr. Dursley?" "Yes, ma'am," Kaden replied quietly. "We were there, too, Professor!" Malfoy shouted out, "Willinson stabbed himself with his quill while we were doing homework." Patil glanced at him skeptically. "Well, we'll just go see Madam Pomfrey and confirm all your stories." Any color that had been in Malfoy's face drained. The four boys quietly followed Professor Patil to the hospital wing. Albus was very relieved. Madam Pomfrey would tell Patil that he and Kaden had been there, and then she wouldn't give them detention. Patil opened the doors to the hospital wing, but Madam Pomfrey was no longer there. Patil motioned for the boys to stay there and she strode over to the nurse's office. She knocked lightly and waited for Madam Pomfrey to appear. "I hope I'm not bothering you," Patil said once Madam Pomfrey came out. "Not at all, Padma," Madam Pomfrey smiled, "I wasn't asleep. Is there something you need?" "I was wondering if any of these four boys," she gestured to Albus, Kaden, and the two Slytherins, "Were here recently? I caught them all out of bed and all of them insist they were here." Madam Pomfrey gazed at the boys. "Well, Albus and Kaden were here about fifteen minutes ago, but I haven't seen the other two in quite a while." "That's what I thought," Patil nodded, "Thank you." "Not a problem," the nurse replied. "I'll take you two back to your common room," Patil said to Albus and Kaden. "As for you," she glared at Malfoy and Willinson, "You will come back to my office and we shall arrange for detention." Malfoy and Willinson sulked and muttered under their breath as the five of them exited the ward. Albus laughed to himself on their way back to Gryffindor Tower. Malfoy and Willinson were glaring daggers at Albus and Kaden the whole way back, but Albus just smirked at them. They couldn't do anything now anyway, not with Patil around. But surely they would blame Albus and Kaden for their detention and Albus would have to watch out the next few days. ****** Albus didn't sleep very well that night, despite his fatigue from Quidditch practice. He fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning and woke up only a few hours later. John was just as exhausted and the two of them stumbled down into the common room, only to find Rose slumped over a book at their usual table. "Rose!" Albus shook his cousin's shoulder, "Wake up!" Rose slowly lifted her head and then jumped at the sight of Albus and John. "Wha-what are you two doing?" "Uh, it's morning, Rose," Albus explained, "We've got to get to Transfiguration in an hour." "Oh!" Rose jumped up and pushed her bushy hair out of her face. "What were you doing down here? Did you ever go to bed?" Albus asked. "No, couldn't sleep," Rose shrugged, "So I came back down and worked on the Sileo Altus Charm. I just can't figure it out. It's driving me mad!" "That's a really high level charm, Rose. You know it's going to take you a while," Albus reminded her. "I know, I know. I'll get it eventually," Rose sighed, "I guess I'll go change and find Amanda. Then we can go down to breakfast." A few minutes later, Albus and his friends walked to the Great Hall. Albus noticed Malfoy and Willinson at the Slytherin table as they walked by and both of the Slytherins were shooting daggers at Albus. Kaden was already at the Gryffindor table and immediately hailed Albus and the others to sit near him. "Did you see Malfoy this morning?" Kaden asked once Albus had sat down. "Yeah, he's not too happy." "Wonder when his detention is?" Kaden asked. "Who knows," Albus shrugged. He didn't particularly care when Malfoy and Willinson were going to serve detention. Kaden began to talk about some potion he was going to be brewing that day, but Albus tuned him out. All Albus seemed to be able to think about at the moment was whether the new potion Matt had taken worked. As if on cue, a large brown owl flew down and landed neatly next to Albus's plate. "You've got a letter!" Kaden shouted eagerly. "I know," Albus rolled his eyes and pulled the letter off the owl's leg. He gave the owl a few bits of toast and the large bird flew off. Rose, who was on Albus's other side, looked over his shoulder as he looked at the envelope. John and Amanda were leaning over the table and Kaden was leaning over Albus's other shoulder. "Wonder who it's from," Kaden said. "It's from Matt," Albus told him. "That was his owl." "Maybe he's telling you when he's coming back!" Kaden shouted. "Shush!" Albus, John, Rose, and Amanda said at once. "Well, we'd better be off to Transfiguration," Albus said and gave Rose a significant glance. "Yes, we'd better," Rose stood up. "Aren't you going to open it?" Kaden asked. "On the way," Albus told him. "I'll come, too!" Albus sighed and got up from the table. He couldn't open that letter in front of Kaden. Rose, John, and Amanda got up as well and followed Albus out of the Great Hall. Kaden was right behind him, but Albus didn't dare open it yet. Kaden stalled in the Entrance Hall, but eventually gave up and headed down to the dungeons for Potions. "Well, now we haven't got time to read it," Albus groaned and glanced at his watch. "Why couldn't he have left sooner?" "'Cause he's Kaden," John shook his head. "We'll just read it after History of Magic," Rose said as they climbed the stairs, "We've got the whole afternoon off." The morning dragged by at an extremely slow pace, in Albus's opinion. Transfiguration wasn't too bad, since it was a practical lesson. Malfoy and Willinson descended upon Albus and the others after the class was over, wanting to know where Matt was. Albus lied and told them Matt was having a late holiday with his grandparents and then took off for History of Magic, ignoring Malfoy's complaints about detention that followed. History of Magic was as boring as usual. Albus thought he saw the clock's hands go backwards at one point. He passed notes with John and Amanda while Rose took notes. She seemed to have inherited her mother's ability to stay awake during that class. John nodded off at one point and Albus had to prod him awake with his quill. Professor Binns didn't even seem to notice. After History of Magic finally ended, Albus and his friends went to the Great Hall to grab a quick lunch. Kaden was there when they arrived and immediately launched into an explanation of the potion he had just brewed. Apparently it was so impressive that Slughorn gave him a bar of Honeyduke's chocolate and an invitation to the next Slug Club meeting. "What?!" Albus choked on his pumpkin juice. "Yup," Kaden grinned. "The next meeting is this Saturday. He told me that a lot of your cousins go." "Er, yeah, they do," Albus coughed. He had not been expecting Kaden to get invited to any Slug Club meetings. Albus hadn't even gone to any since the previous year. He just told Slughorn he had Quidditch practice or too much homework to go. Slughorn hadn't even had his Christmas party this year. Albus wasn't sure why, but he was guessing it was because he hadn't been able to find anyone famous to attend. "But he said you're always too busy to go," Kaden said, "Will you go to this one?" Albus groaned inwardly, "Oh, I don't know...." "Please?" Kaden pleaded. "Fine," Albus sighed. It couldn't be that bad now that Quinton Willinson was gone. And it was just one meeting. "But just this once. And if Georgia calls for Quidditch practice, I won't go to the meeting." "Yay!" Kaden shouted. Once Kaden left for his next class, Albus and his friends went straight for the Room of Requirement. Albus and Rose sat on one of the couches while John and Amanda sat on the opposite one. Albus reached into his bag and found the letter. "Here it goes," Albus whispered. "That potion better have worked," John said. Albus tore open the envelope and unfolded the letter. He read it aloud. [i]Dear Albus, Rose, John, and Amanda, Last night Matt told me to write you and tell you what happened if he couldn't. Since he can't, you have probably guessed that the potion did not work.[/i] "Damn!" John shouted. [i]Matt will explain more when he gets back to Hogwarts. I'll just say that it's not worse than usual. He's at St. Mungo's right now so the Healers can observe the after affects of the potion and the transformation. He only has to stay in St. Mungo's overnight and then tomorrow he'll be back at home. I'm pretty sure he'll be back at Hogwarts on Sunday, but we're not exactly sure. Hope you are all doing well. I'll see you soon, maybe at the next Gryffindor Quidditch match. From, Amy[/i] Albus folded up the letter and looked at his friends. "Well, I guess that's it, then." "At least it wasn't any worse," Amanda said quietly. "Yeah," Rose agreed. Nobody said anything for a few minutes. Albus felt very disappointed that the potion hadn't worked, but he was sure it didn't even come close to what Matt was feeling. "Maybe he'll let us become Animagi now," John suggested. Rose glared at him, "He won't. He's still in that study, which means he's still got to take that potion for the next two years or so. Then there'll probably be another one for him to test. And maybe that one will work." "Well, it would still be cool to become an Animagus." "Then you can do it when you're older," Rose said, "You couldn't do it now anyway, it's too advanced." "Albus's grandfather did it." "When he was in fifth year," Rose reminded him. "Fine, three more years then," John shrugged. Rose sighed, "Matt won't let you join him on the full moon, though. And I wouldn't suggest doing it behind his back." "I won't," John assured her, "I just think it would be a fun thing to do, be an Animagus." "Definitely," Rose agreed. Albus and his friends spent the better part of the next hour talking about what they would do if they could transform into animals. They all agreed that listening in on people's conversations and sneaking up on people like Malfoy would be top on the list of stuff to do. Eventually, Rose insisted that they all start their homework, which took them most of the evening to complete.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2098 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Monday 29 September 2008 01 08 40 pm    Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter, or Lucky Charms. Questions, comments, and general reviews are always appreciated! Chapter 13: Stricter Legislation Matt's birthday dinner seemed to be the high point of the summer. The few weeks following it were much like the time before it. My parents went right back to their secretive meetings and as far as I could tell, things at Dad's work were only getting worse. He returned home later and later everyday and left early in the morning. Dad never talked much about work, but I walked in on him whispering to Mum a few times and they immediately stopped talking when they saw me. I continued sending letters to both Olivia and Kenzie. Olivia was keeping me updated on all things to do with the Australian School of Sorcery. The new Transfiguration teacher was nice, although Olivia said she was a bit strange. Olivia didn't seem to care. She also told me that Carmen had given up on complaining that Olivia had her own room. In ever letter, she asked for updates about the move. This was the one thing Olivia and Kenzie's letters had in common. Kenzie also constantly wanted moving updates. Unfortunately, I couldn't give either of them any moving updates. That was because there weren't any. It had been over a month since I found out we were moving and I still had no idea where we were moving to. I asked Mum and Dad about it once a day and they said the same thing every day 'we'll tell you when we know something'. Well, so far they hadn't. The February full moon came and went, and with it another trip to Richard and Cinda's. This one had been on a Monday, so I had hardly any time with Kenzie at all. I went over to her house when she was done with school, but that was only for a couple hours. Mostly I just lounged by the pool and read. Cinda told me all about her party plans, but I wanted nothing to do with them. Apparently the party was going to be much like the New Year's party. I hoped Cinda wouldn't make me buy a new dress. My house was very much the same when I returned two days after the full moon. Quiet and empty. Dad left for work as soon as he brought me home. I wasn't sure where Mum was, but she wasn't in the kitchen or the living room. Matt was probably still sleeping since it was incredibly early. Ellie wasn't around either and I figured she was cleaning some other room. She had been doing more and more work ever since Mum started holing up in Dad's study all day. I poured myself a glass of juice and a bowl of Lucky Charms and sat down at the table to eat them. I hadn't had brekkie at Richard and Cinda's since I left so early. There was a pile of newspapers sitting on the table and I decided to look through them. I rarely ever read the newspaper since it was usually rather boring. Occasionally there were exciting stories, like ones about escaped convicts and the like, but those were rare. I tossed aside the first paper since the most exciting story appeared to be some old witch out bush who thought she saw a Muggle UFO. The next paper's headline made me spit out my juice all over the table. I quickly grabbed a napkin to wipe it up and then looked more closely at the front page article. [i]Werewolf Brutally Attacks and Kills Child[/i] My stomach constricted and I pushed my bowl of cereal aside, pulling the article closer to me. That could have been my brother, two years ago, I thought. If Dad hadn't been able to get the werewolf off of him. Then I really felt sick as I realized that my brother could be the one doing the killing now, if Mum and Dad didn't lock him up every month. A smaller headline underneath the big one read [i]Wizards and Witches Everywhere Demand Tighter Restrictions and Laws[/i]. The article then went on to describe the attack, which had happened just outside some tiny town in the northern part of the country. [i]Wizards and witches all over the country are writing to the Ministry, demanding they tighten the restrictions on werewolves. 'They're dangerous creatures.' Says Aromina Zander, mother of three young children. 'I won't let the children outside on the full moon anymore. I really think the Ministry ought to draft new laws to increase restrictions on werewolves. They need to be kept away from regular folk.' However, not everyone in the Ministry agrees with Ms. Zander's statement. To read what Walter Eckerton, Head of the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures, has to say, turn to page six.[/i] I put the paper down and stared into the now disgusting mixture of soggy cereal and milk. I had no appetite whatsoever now. I felt like I was going to chunder, and not just because of the attack. Aromina Zander's comment was almost as bad as that. The way she talked made it seem like werewolves weren't even people. But not all werewolves attacked people. There were plenty of werewolves who were good and made sure they were locked up on the full moon. [i]To read what Walter Eckerton has to say, turn to page six.[/i] I read again. Dad issued a statement about this. For the first time, I realized how hard a job he must have. I wondered how he could react rationally to people like Aromina Zander when they say such awful things. I quickly flipped to page six, where there was a picture of my dad. He looked knackered and he wasn't smiling. [i]Walter Eckerton has been known for his sympathy towards werewolves during his three years as Head of the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures. He had advocated on their behalf and has rejected numerous amounts of legislation that would restrict the rights of werewolves. 'What the public has to be aware of,' Eckerton said to reporters the day after Monday night's attack, 'is that not all werewolves are irresponsible like the man who murdered the child last night. Plenty of werewolves are responsible citizens who lock themselves up so as to not attack anyone. It is not fair to punish all werewolves for the faults of a couple. Punish those who have attacked and try to prevent future attacks, but we cannot restrict rights that we are all entitled to.' But are werewolves entitled to the same rights everyone else is? That is what many wizards and witches are wondering right now. Many are also wondering if it is enough to trust werewolves to set up their own places to spend full moons. Protections, spells, charms, and the like are not always foolproof. 'Spells werewolves use on their safe rooms have been known to fail,' Ralph Lubar of the Werewolf Control Unit said on Tuesday, 'There have been attacks that occur because of charms that do not hold. I myself am in favor of more strict regulations on safe rooms and werewolf rights in general.' There are others in the Werewolf Control Unit who agree with Lubar. In fact, 70% of them polled on Tuesday agreed that tighter restrictions are needed. Eckerton does not agree. In the wake of the recent attacks, much of wizarding Australia is becoming concerned with his sympathy towards werewolves and might soon demand stricter legislation.[/i] I continued to stare at the paper long after I finished reading it. Words kept popping out at me. Tighter restrictions, 70%, charms that do not hold, stricter legislation.... Was this the stress at work that Dad had mentioned? Was this what him and Mum were so worried about? It seemed like Dad was the only one in his office who cared at all about werewolf rights. He was clearly trying to keep the tight laws from going through. What kind of laws was the article talking about anyway? The article never mentioned what the tighter restrictions were. I heard footsteps coming into the room, but I didn't look up from the paper. The fridge opened and then closed. The footsteps began again and started coming closer to me. "Hi Amy." It was Mum. She said as she walked over to the table. "How was Richard and Cinda's?" I ignored her question and continued staring at the paper. "What's going on?" I asked in a shaky voice. "What do you mean?" Mum asked as she sat down across from me. She glanced from me and then to the paper. "Oh, you saw the article. I-I meant to put that away before you came home." "Why?" I demanded, glaring at her, "So you could hide something else from me?" "No, so your father and I could explain properly, without you getting one-sided facts from this paper!" Mum replied. "Really? Because it sounds like this has been going on for a while. Is this what Dad's so stressed about? He's been stressed for an awful long time. I asked him why and he said I didn't need to know." "You didn't. You still don't," Mum said, "We don't know what's going to happen with this. We didn't want you to worry about it." "Well, I've worried about other stuff!" I shouted, all my shock from the article turning into anger, "I worried about the two of you! Dad constantly being home late, completely knackered! The two of you always in Dad's study doing who knows what! I want to know what's going on!" "Oh, Amy, I had no idea that you'd been paying that much attention to us," Mum sighed. "How could I not notice Dad coming home later and later every night? Not notice that he's always worn out? Not notice that you haven't been cleaning all the time? It's not like you, Mum, to not help Ellie with the cleaning. She's been doing all of it lately. Not to mention the fact that you don't pay nearly as much attention to Matt as you used to. You used to watch him like a hawk and now you let him go off and do whatever he wants. That's why he tried to climb the wall last month, because you weren't watching him. I can't stop him from doing stuff when he wants to." "I'm so sorry," Mum whispered, "We didn't mean to make you worry that much." "It's all right," I mumbled, "Just tell me what's going on. I want to know. I hate not knowing. I hate being the only one in the family who's clueless about everything." "Matt doesn't know about this either," Mum replied and then looked at me sharply, "And you won't tell him about it." "I know. I won't." I could only imagine what he would think if he read that article. It would be worse than when he found out he couldn't go to school in Australia. "Now can you please tell me what's going on?" "I will when your father gets home. We'll tell you about it together. Can you wait that long?" I nodded, "Yeah." "Good," Mum wrapped me into a hug, "And again, I am very sorry about making you worry." "It's ok," I told her. "All right. I've got stuff to do. Will you be ok?" I nodded again. Mum kissed my forehead and then got up from the table. "Would it make you feel better if I went and helped Ellie with the cleaning?" I smiled a little, "Maybe. But I think you ought to go help Ellie anyway." "I will. Now go put your laundry in the hamper and put your bag away," Mum eyed my bag that I had thrown onto the kitchen floor. I smiled to myself as I picked up the bag. Mum may be irritating at times with her obsessive neatness, but that was just Mum. I was used to her constantly telling me to pick up after myself and it had been strange not to have her do that. Too strange. She was my mum, and I loved her no matter how neat and obsessive she was. After I put all my clothes in the hamper and put my stuff away, I went to my potions room. I spent the next few hours brewing, until I got hungry. Mum and Matt were in the kitchen when I wandered down to find something to eat. Mum was looking more like herself than she had in weeks. Maybe things were finally looking up. She had cleared away all the newspapers and had set down a plate of sandwiches and grapes. Matt was already chowing down on a sandwich. I sat down across from him and picked up a sandwich of my own. He still looked tired, despite the fact that he only just got up. He had a yellowish bruise on his left cheek and a large scab on his forehead. Other than this, he looked fine. Just looking at him reminded me of the article and made me wonder what kind of restrictions Aromina Zander and Ralph Lubar wanted to put on Matt and all the other werewolves in the country. I doubted that either of them had ever really personally known a werewolf, or they probably would have had a different opinion about the whole thing. I wasn't even sure how I felt about it. I mean, I obviously didn't want my brother's rights taken away because of a few idiots who didn't lock themselves up on the full moon. But on the other hand, it was one of those idiots who turned Matt into a werewolf in the first place. If there had been tighter restrictions a few years ago, Matt may not have ever gotten bit. Which meant that we wouldn't have to move, that I wouldn't have to switch schools. ****** Dad didn't get home until nearly eight o'clock that night. Mum, Matt, Ellie, and I had already eaten dinner and I was patiently waiting for Dad to come home so he could explain about the article in the paper. Well, ok, maybe not so patiently. When Dad finally stepped out of the fireplace, I had to wait even longer. Mum told me that she and Dad wouldn't explain until Matt had gone to bed, since they had no plans on telling him about what was going on. Luckily he went to bed around 8:30, so I didn't have to wait long. "Are you going to explain now?" I asked Mum when she stepped into the living room after putting Matt to bed. "Yes, Amy, we'll explain now," Mum sat down next to Dad on the couch. "Explain about what?" Dad asked as he ate his dinner. "Amy saw the article that was in the paper yesterday," Mum explained. Dad put down his fork, "Oh. I thought you were going to move those papers." "I was, but it honestly wasn't the first thing on my mind this morning. I had been giving Matt his potions when Amy got back home," Mum sighed. "Right. But we weren't planning on telling her about this," Dad pointed out. "I thought we agreed on that." "She's read the article, Walter," Mum raised her voice a bit, "We have to explain." Great, I thought, now my parents were going to get into a huge row and not tell me anything. Plus, they were talking about me like I wasn't there. I hated when they did that. Dad shook his head, "It'll just worry her." "She's already worried!" Mum snapped, "Ever since she got back from school! She's noticed that you're always at work and I'm always in your study." Dad sighed, "All right. I see your point. It's just been a hard day." "I'm sure it has. But you need to concentrate on our family now. And Amy needs an explanation." "Does Matt know?" Dad asked quietly. "No. He still hasn't got a clue," Mum told him. "Good. It'll stay that way," Dad said sternly. I nodded, "I won't tell him a thing." "All right," Dad took a deep breath and then turned to me, "You know there has been an increase in werewolf attacks over the past few months?" "Yeah, that's what it said in the article." "Well, the article didn't really specify what's going on. The increase has taken place over the past six months. Before that, there would be one, maybe two attacks every couple of months. There were plenty of months without any attacks. Then, six months ago, there were four attacks all on the same night." I stared at him in shock. I had had no idea about that. Maybe I should start reading the paper more often. Dad never elaborated on what went on at work, but I was amazed he hadn't mentioned that at all. "Yes, four attacks. Two were on children, only one survived. The other two were on adults, both survived. Next month, two attacks. Then three. Then one. Then three. Then three more. Last week, there was just one. But there has been at least one every month since August. In September, one attack was on a Muggle. He survived, and is now coping with not only that he is a werewolf, but that magic exists. "The paper has been reporting all of these attacks and hyping them up. Yes, it is something to worry about, but the paper seems to want to create mass hysteria." I really had been living in the dark. I could only remember really hearing about a couple of those attacks. I had no idea there had been so many. "Um, were the werewolves caught?" I asked tentatively. "Most of them. The thing is, we often cannot tell who did the attacking. The only way we can know for sure is if someone catches the werewolf in the middle of the attack," Dad lowered his voice, "Like what happened with your brother." "What about Wolfsbane Potion, though. Aren't the werewolves taking that?" I asked, thinking of the potion that wouldn't work for my brother. "Or are these werewolves like Matt and it just won't work?" "Mostly they just can't afford it," Dad answered, "The stuff is expensive since there is only one Potions Master in Australia who can brew it. Most of it is imported from other countries. And a lot of werewolves just can't afford it since it's hard for them to get jobs." "Oh. That stinks," I replied. It really did. If they could afford the Wolfsbane, they could probably get better jobs. "Anyway, ever since September or so, more and more people have been demanding stricter laws regarding werewolves. Plenty of legislation has been suggested and presented, and most of it I have turned down. People have not been happy about this, but I've felt that most of the legislation has been too strict and is taking away too many rights." "What kind of laws?" I asked quietly. Dad sighed, "Awful laws. The paper never elaborates on what kind of laws. It just calls it 'stricter legislation' and people immediately think that's a good thing. The fact is, that they aren't good laws. "Laws have been presented that would have a building built with extremely powerful spells on it for werewolves to spend the full moon. This in itself would probably be a good idea, since many werewolves aren't able to create their own safe places. But the law would require all werewolves to spend full moons there." I shuddered. All the werewolves in one building? Were there any spells that were powerful enough to keep that many of them in? What if they all ganged up on each other and wound up killing one of them? I couldn't imagine Matt in a place like that. "I had to reject that law. It would take away too many rights. It wouldn't be fair at all to require werewolves that already had safe places to go to one of these buildings. Plus, I could never allow Matt to go to one. Many of my colleagues were upset that I rejected the law, but they didn't have enough support to override my decision. "Another law would have prevented werewolves from acquiring wands-" "What?!" I shouted, "That's horrible." "Indeed. That had a surprisingly large amount of support, especially from other departments, but I rejected it as well. I have rejected numerous others since September. "The people in my department are starting to get fed up with my rejecting their legislation. They think I'm too soft on werewolves and it's causing innocent people to be harmed. "I say otherwise. We have to remember that the more rights we take away from werewolves, the more angry and upset they'll become. I think this will cause more attacks. "Only the people in the Werewolf Control Unit know that Matt is a werewolf. After he was bit and we had to register him, they found out. They are sworn to secrecy and are not allowed to tell anyone, due to the fact that he is underage. They think that the only reason I am rejecting the laws is because of Matt, because I don't want my son to be forced to live by these awful rules. I have to admit that that is partly the reason, but not all of it. I know that stricter legislation is only going to breed more contempt and cause more attacks." I nodded. So this was why Dad was so stressed lately. His colleagues were putting pressure on him to pass these horrible laws. "Today," Dad began and turned to Mum, "You don't know about this yet, Julie. Today, they managed to override my rejection of a law." Mum's face paled, "Which one?" she whispered. "This one isn't that bad," Dad assured her, "If the Minister signs it, then all werewolves will have to have their places of transformation inspected by the Werewolf Control Unit. Unless they're on Wolfsbane, of course." "Oh, all right," Mum said, "That's not too bad, then. Do you think the Minister will sign it?" "Most likely. However, the Minister is very busy and it could be weeks before it reaches his desk. It's got to go through the Magical Legislation Department anyway. It'll go through no problem there, I'm sure of it. They've just been very busy lately as well so it might take a while," Dad replied, "But it's only one small step away from the law requiring werewolves to transform in a Ministry built facility. If a werewolf's place of transformation doesn't pass inspection, then they have to transform in a Ministry facility." Mum nodded, "Ok, we can deal with that. The basement will surely pass inspection." "It will," Dad replied and then turned to me, "Does that answer your questions, Amy?" "Yeah," I nodded. I couldn't believe that they'd been hiding all of this from me. If these laws passed, it could drastically alter our lives. Of course, our lives were being drastically altered already since we were moving. The laws would only affect us if we stayed here, which we weren't. So, it wasn't that bad. I mean, how many laws could get passed between now and when we moved? "Anything else you care to tell me that you've been hiding?" I asked, thinking of how Mum and Dad had been spending so much time in Dad's study. Mum and Dad glanced at each other. "No, that's about it," Mum replied. I sighed. I really didn't think they'd tell me what they were doing in Dad's study, but it was worth a shot. I guess that was one mystery I'd have to solve on my own. "Well, I'm going to go upstairs," Dad picked up his empty dinner plate and got up. "I'm positively knackered." "I'll join you," Mum replied, "'Night, Amy." "'Night, Mum. 'Night, Dad," I said. "Good night, Amy," Dad said and the two of them left the room, whispering to themselves. I sat in the living room thinking about what Dad had told me for a long time. It still amazed me that I hadn't heard much about these attacks. I really was secluded at school. Nobody at my school really read the paper. Occasionally if something big happened, we would find out, but most of the time we were clueless as to what went on in the outside world. I was definitely going to read the paper from now on, that was for sure. I wouldn't be left in the dark at my new school. Even if I was the only kid who read the paper at my new school, I would read it. I was sick of being clueless, sick of not knowing what was going on. What was going to happen with these new laws anyway? How many would pass before we moved? My parents seemed extremely worried about it. I wondered if this issue with the legislation may have contributed to their decision to move. Would they still have decided to move even if Matt could have gone to school in Australia? Maybe the whole moving thing hadn't been so sudden. Maybe my parents had been thinking about it for months and Matt not being able to attend the Australian School of Sorcery was just the last straw.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2098 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Monday 22 September 2008 12 06 49 pm    Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow Disclaimer- I do not own Nintendo or Mario Kart. Chapter 12: Muggle Encyclopedias Life at home returned to normal as soon as I got back. Well, as normal as it had been since I wen home for the holidays after third year. I wouldn't have considered that normal a few months ago, but it was starting to feel normal now. Dad still hadn't elaborated on his issues at work and I had just given up on asking him. It would probably be better to focus my attention on weaseling information about the move out of them. I deserved to know what was going on with the move anyway, since it directly involved me. Mum and Dad didn't seem to pay any attention to that, though, since they just told me that they would tell me more about the move when they were ready to. I took this to meaning they still hadn't found a school that would accept Matt. The two of them still hadn't told me any new information when Matt's birthday arrived the following week. "Come on, Mum, you've got to know something else about it now," I said. "I've told you, we don't know anything new right now," Mum replied as she frosted Matt's cake. "Which schools have you written to?" I asked. "You already know which ones. One in New York, one in Massachusetts, one in Canada, one in Scotland." "That's it? There have got to be others." Mum sighed and set down the frosting. "All right. We've also written to schools in Pennsylvania and Illinois. Those are just to start. We'll write to every school in the States if it comes to that." "Illinois and Pennsylvania?" I repeated and stared at her, "The only place I might consider moving to in the States is New York and that's only because Uncle Jack lives there." "Well you don't really have a say in this, Amy," Mum shook her head, "Your father and I will be making this decision." "What are the schools like?" I asked, "I don't want to go to one I'll wind up hating." "We'll visit them, if they agree to let Matt attend. If there are a couple that will accept him, you might have a say in the decision." "They'd better all accept him, then," I muttered. "Haven't you gotten any response letters yet?" "Just that rejection one from New Zealand. I'll tell you when we get one," Mum said as she put the left-over frosting into the fridge. "I need you to watch your brother while I go get Richard and Cinda." I glanced at my watch. It was almost half-past five. "I thought Dad was getting them." "He was, but he sent an owl a little while ago to tell me that he had to stay late at work. He won't be back until six-thirty." "Oh," I replied. He was always staying late at work lately. "I'll be back soon," Mum replied, and with a crack, she was gone. I got up from the table and wandered into the hall. I didn't even know where Matt was. The house seemed empty with only the two of us there. I went upstairs and found Matt in his room. He was laying on his bed rifling through his collection of chocolate frog cards. "Mum's getting Richard and Cinda," I announced and walked into his room. "Ok," Matt replied without looking up, "Have you got any Dumbledores?" "Nope," I said as I sat down on the bed. I collected chocolate frog cards as well, but had never gotten Dumbledore. "Bugger," Matt replied, "I've got about twenty Merlins, but not a single Dumbledore." "You'll get one eventually," I assured him. "Yeah, probably. Hey, Mum said we might get to go to Hogwarts. That's where Dumbledore was headmaster. Wouldn't that be neat?" I honestly wouldn't care if Merlin himself was currently headmaster at that school, I still wouldn't want to go there. "I guess," I replied. There was a loud crack coming from downstairs and another one a few seconds later. "Richard or Cinda is here. Let's go downstairs," I suggested. Matt followed me as I went downstairs and into the kitchen. Cinda was standing next to the table in a lavender colored pants suit. She had been looking at the cake, but looked up when she heard us walk in. "Happy Birthday, Matt!" Cinda smiled and gave my brother a hug. "Ta," Matt grinned "Hi, Amy," Cinda kissed both of my cheeks once and gave me a hug. "Hey, Cinda," I replied. There was another crack and Mum and Richard Apparated into the room. Richard wished Matt a happy birthday and said hello to me. After that, Mum took my grandparents into the living room to talk before dinner. Matt and I followed them and settled down on the floor to play a few games of Exploding Snap. I listened to Mum and my grandparents talk as I played Exploding Snap. They really weren't talking about anything that interesting. Richard had immediately asked about the move, but Mum told him pretty much the same thing she told me: That they were still waiting for letters from schools. Cinda hadn't said a word about the party she was planning on throwing. I was sure she was still going to have it, though. Maybe she was thinking of having a surprise party. That would probably go over even worse than a regular party. I could only imagine Mum's reaction to showing up at Cinda's house one day to find a party going on. "What's so funny?" Matt asked. I stifled my laughter about the surprise party. "Nothing." Matt and I continued to play Exploding Snap while Mum talked to Richard and Cinda. I noticed that Mum kept glancing at the clock and then to the fireplace. "When's Dad coming home?" Matt asked after I beat him in yet another game of Exploding Snap. "Anytime now," Mum replied. "I'm hungry," he whined. "I know, honey. We'll eat as soon as Dad gets home," Mum said. Dad finally appeared in the floo a little after seven o'clock, a half hour later than he said he'd be. "Sorry I'm late," he said as he brushed ash off of his robes. "Dad!" Matt jumped up and ran over to the fireplace. "Hey!" Dad grinned and picked him up, "Happy Birthday!" "Let's eat now!" Matt announced. "All right," Dad smiled and let him down. Matt ran into the hall and Richard and Cinda followed him. I decided to hang back a bit because Dad had started whispering to Mum. I strained to listen in on what they were saying. "Everything ok at work?" Mum asked. Dad sighed, "Not really. Everything is just escalating. It's only a matter of time...." Until what? I thought. What was escalating? I took a step towards them, but both of them had gone silent. It didn't seem like Dad was going to elaborate on the topic. Probably since Mum obviously already knew what was escalating. I quietly followed them out of the room and into the formal dining room. Richard, Cinda, Matt, and Ellie were already sitting down. Ellie must have taken all the food out of the fridge and heated it up, since it was all on the table with steam wafting off of it. I took my seat in between Matt and Ellie while Mum and Dad took their seats on the opposite ends of the table. Dad said the prayer and then served everyone up heaping plates of food. I dug into my portion and nobody said much for a while. It was a bit strange being home for Matt's birthday dinner. For the past three years, I had been at school on his birthday, so I missed the celebration. Hell, I hadn't even been home on my own birthday for the past three years. My birthday is October 27, which is during the last term of the school year. I had been having my birthday dinner during the holiday in between the third and fourth terms for the past few years. Before I started going to school at the Australian School of Sorcery, Cinda would throw me a birthday party every year. I loved it when I was little, but by the time I was ten I was sick of them. The last one I had was when I turned eleven and I put up with it because I knew it was the last one. The parties just became too big and I hardly knew half the people who went to them. I would have been satisfied with having Kenzie over to my house to sleep over, but Cinda had other ideas. Matt used to have big parties at Cinda and Richard's house, too. His last one had been the year he turned six, which was only a month and a half after he got bit. I didn't go since I was in school, but Mum and Dad told me it was an absolute disaster. It was only a week after the full moon, which had been his first transformation ever. That transformation had gone terribly and Matt was still worn out and cranky from it when the day of the party arrived. Not to mention the fact that he was covered in fresh scars and partially healed cuts. Dad told me that everyone was asking about them and that in itself was exhausting. Apparently Matt fell asleep shortly into the party and he and my parents were the first ones to leave. Mum told Cinda flat out no more big birthday parties after that. Ever since then, Matt had been having small birthday dinners like I had. Usually they were a bit more fun than tonight's, though. Tonight, everyone was quiet. Even Matt was kind of subdued, which was a bit strange since he had been hyper all day. He must have been picking up on Mum and Dad's stress. I certainly was. Richard and Cinda weren't saying much either. Richard was a normally quiet person but it was rare to see Cinda not talking. Just when I thought I wouldn't be able to stand the silence any longer, Cinda finally decided to say something. "Any idea when you're moving?" Cinda asked. I groaned inwardly. The only reason she was asking was so she could plan that goodbye party, that was now destined to be a surprise party. "I've told you, Cinda, I really don't know," Mum said. "Where are we moving?" Matt asked for what must have been the hundredth time since Mum and Dad told us we were leaving the country. "I don't know," Mum told him. "Can we move to where Uncle Jack lives?" "I really don't know," Mum sighed. "I've been meaning to ask you, Walter," Richard began, "What about your job?" Dad and Mum exchanged another one of those glances and Dad didn't say anything for a few moments. This just confirmed what I'd already been thinking. Something was going on at Dad's work and whatever it was, it wasn't good. "I'll find something wherever we go," Dad finally said, "The number one priority is finding a school for Amy and Matt." Finding a school for Matt, I thought to myself. I could get an education anywhere. "Are you going to sell the house?" Richard asked. "We're not exactly sure," Dad replied, "I've got to talk to my brother before we do anything with the house." I stared at Dad, "Wait, we're not selling it?" "I didn't say that," Dad said, "I said we're not sure what we're doing with it." "So there's a chance we'll keep it?" I asked eagerly. I thought it was a given that we'd sell the house, but maybe I'd guessed wrong. Maybe they would keep it and I could move back after I graduated! "We don't know, Amy," Dad replied adamantly, "I'm not promising anything." "Can we have cake now?" Matt asked loudly. "Good idea," Mum hastily got up from the table and returned moments later with a large cake. She set it down on the table and I looked at it. It was a two-layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Atop it was a green dragon made out of frosting that was breathing red frosting fire. It said 'Happy 8th Birthday, Matt!' on it and had eight green candles. "Wow!" Matt grinned at Mum, "Cool cake!" It was somewhat of a tradition in my family for the birthday person not to see the cake before dessert. We all liked to be surprised on our birthdays. "Thanks," Mum smiled back and pointed her wand at the candles. Flames erupted on each candle and with another flick of Mum's wand, the lights dimmed and only the candlelight remained. We all broke out into an off-key rendition of 'Happy Birthday', which we all sang in different tunes. Dad's ended last and once he was finished, Matt took a deep breath and blew out all the candles at once. "What'd you wish for?" I asked as Dad cut slices of cake. "Can't tell you," Matt said, "Or it won't come true." "I know," I grinned, "Just asking anyway." Dad passed Matt a piece of cake and he immediately stopped talking and took a bite. He gave Mum a wide grin after swallowing it, but didn't say anything. Another one of our traditions. The birthday person was not allowed to talk from the moment they took their first bite of cake until they finished the last bite. Then everyone else would try and get them to talk. No one ever managed to convince me to talk, but I had Matt talking before he was halfway done with his cake on his fourth birthday. That was the last one I had been home for. Of course, now he was twice that age and it would probably be harder to get him to talk. I took a bite of my cake and thought about what to ask him as I chewed. I figured I might as well start with what had gotten him to talk when he turned four. "So, Matt," I smirked, "I know what Mum and Dad got you." He completely ignored me and continued eating his cake. I actually saw Dad crack a bit of a smile at this. I hadn't seen him smile in weeks. "Yeah," I continued, "They got you a nice set of encyclopedias." Matt snorted into his cake and started coughing. He took a gulp of milk and then shook his head. Bugger, I thought, this was harder than it was four years ago. "They're Muggle encyclopedias." Mum and Dad were trying to stifle their laughter. Richard and Cinda were smiling a bit, but didn't seem quite as amused as Mum and Dad. Matt took another bite of cake and I could tell he was trying hard not to laugh. His face was bright red. "They're quite nice, really. All of them have a nice blue cover and gold edged pages." "Everyone needs a good set of encyclopedias," Dad chimed in, "Amy got some when she turned eight." This time it was my turn to laugh into my cake. "Mine are purple. They're upstairs in my potions room. Yours are in that closet upstairs that's always locked." "Tradition in the family, to get encyclopedias on your eighth birthday," Mum commented. Matt was beetroot red now and shoveling in his last bite of cake. He looked ready to burst with laughter. I knew he didn't actually believe the encyclopedia thing, but it was still funny. Plus, it had gotten my parents laughing a bit, which was great. Matt took a large gulp of milk and slammed down his glass. "All right, where are my encyclopedias? I've always wanted a set of them." Everyone, including Matt, burst out laughing. We laughed for what must have been five minutes before we all calmed down. "Where's my real prezzie?" Matt asked, grinning, "It's not in that closet, is it?" "No," Mum laughed, "Not in that closet. I'll be right back." Mum got up from the table and left the room. My present for Matt was already sitting on the counter in the kitchen, so I got it and returned to the table before Mum did. Mum came back with a rectangular box wrapped in shiny green wrapping paper and a gold bow. "This is from Dad and I," Mum said as she set the box down in front of Matt. He tore into the wrapping and pulled out a box. I leaned over and saw that it was a gobstones set. The board was oak and the gobstones were green and red. "Wow!" Matt grinned, "Thanks Mum and Dad." "You're welcome," Mum and Dad said at the same time. "Here's one from me," I handed Matt a small box wrapped in the same green paper. I had had no idea what to get him for his birthday, so I just went with something I knew he'd like. Matt took the box and unwrapped a box of Chocolate Frogs. "This is great, Amy! Thanks!" I smiled at him, "You're welcome." I knew he'd like those, due to his chocolate addiction. Only my own chocolate addiction could top his. There were twelve Chocolate Frogs in that box and I hoped one of them had Dumbledore in it. Cinda excused herself from the table and returned a few moments later with another box. This one was smaller than the gobstones set, but bigger than the Chocolate Frogs. It was wrapped in blue paper. "This is from Richard and I," Cinda said as she handed Matt the box. Matt quickly unwrapped the box and then stared at it. "What's this?" he asked. I looked at the box and started laughing. "What's so funny?" "It's a Nintendo DS. A gaming system," I explained. Kenzie had one and I'd played it a few times. It was pretty fun. "What does it do?" Matt asked. "You can play virtual games on it," I told him, "What game did you get with it?" Matt picked up another box that had come with it. "Mario Kart 7." "Oh, Kenzie's got that one. It's a car racing game. You'll like it." "You got him a Muggle electronic game system?" Dad asked. "Yes. All the kids like them," Cinda said. "First the music thing and now this," Dad muttered. "I like it," Matt announced, "It looks fun. Thanks Richard and Cinda." "All right, if you say so," Dad shook his head. He often seemed reluctant about the Muggle devices. He didn't even like to use the microwave. Matt opened the box and pulled out the red DS. "How does it work?" "You've got to charge it first," I told him and reached over to grab the box. I pulled the charger out and unwrapped it. "See this plug? One end goes into the DS and the other into the socket in the wall." I got up and went over to the socket that was near the kitchen counter. Our house doesn't have many electrical outlets, but there were a couple in the kitchen. I plugged the DS in and set it down on the counter. "Can I play it now?" Matt asked. "It's not charged yet. It takes a lot longer than with magic." "Oh. Do you want to play gobstones, then?" "Sure," I said. The rest of the evening was quite relaxing. Matt and I played match after match of gobstones, most of which I won. Matt didn't really care, though, since Mum would vanish all the slime off of him whenever he got squirted. Mum, Dad, Richard, and Cinda talked more about the move, but none of them said anything I didn't already know. Cinda still hadn't said anything about the party, which confirmed my suspicions that it would be a surprise party. At least she had dropped the idea of me helping her with it. Richard and Cinda spent the night, since it was already late when we finished dinner. I went up to my room when Mum and Dad told Matt it was time to go to bed. I decided to spend the night on my balcony. I dragged a blanket out there and laid on my back, looking up at the stars. It was a clear night and I could see loads of constellations. It was a good end to what had turned out to be a great evening. Once Dad had come home, the evening had been fun. Him and Mum were a bit tense, but that seemed to dissipate a bit once I started joking around during the cake. I should do more of that, I thought. My family was in dire need of more humor in our lives.
salemboy Joined: 20 May 2008 Posts: 1233 Location: Salemboy Land, Where Monkeys and Wizards Coexist in Wondrous Harmony	Posted: Saturday 20 September 2008 07 51 29 am    Post subject: Re: Introductions and FAQ's in topic:Introductions and FAQ's And yet another reason for us to party and for me to procrastinate going to bed. Welcome to BaO. Honestly, I think it's really cool how BaO is like a melting pot of different nationalities. It really goes to show how small the world can become with just the click of a button.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2098 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Monday 15 September 2008 12 48 05 pm    Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow Here's the next chapter. Comments, questions, and general reviews are always appreciated! Chapter 11: Life Goes On At School I was still tired when I got up the next morning, probably because I spent half the night looking through my telescope. The house was quiet like usual as I went to the kitchen to find something to eat. Even Mum was no where to be seen, but I noticed that the door to Dad's study was closed, which meant she was probably in there. I was starting to get vaguely curious about what she and Dad were doing when they were by themselves in there. I couldn't really tell if Dad was in there with her or not. It was Saturday, which meant that Dad shouldn't be at work, but he had been working the past few Saturdays. After I ate brekkie, I spent the remainder of the morning working on various potions. There was no way I would get behind in Potions, whether Mum actually taught me anything or not. How she expected to home school me when she was cooped up in Dad's study all the time was beyond me, not that I really cared. The only schooling I wanted was schooling from the Australian School of Sorcery anyway. Olivia's owl was sitting on my balcony when I forced myself to stop brewing and start packing for my stay at Richard and Cinda's. All thoughts of packing flew out of my head when I saw the owl. I retrieved the letter, gave the owl a piece of a biscuit that I had on my desk, and sat down on my bed to read the letter. [i]Dear Amy, I still can't believe that you're not here. It totally sucks. The train ride was dead boring without you there. I wound up sitting with a couple of first years. One of them kept picking his nose the whole ride. Ew. The feast was just like it always is. The food was great and Killigan's speech was boring. We've got a new Transfiguration teacher. He looks nicer than the old one, but I won't really know until I've been to one of his classes. The dormitory is so quiet without you here. I hate it. It's kind of sad, really. I only decorated my half, because it felt really weird to take over the whole room. That way if your parents change their minds, you'll have your half back. Thank Merlin they didn't stick some first year in with me. I think I would have just left if they did. Everyone is wondering where you are. Well, ok, not everyone. The rest of our year kept asking me if I knew where you were. I told them that your parents had a row with Killigan and you weren't coming back. They were all surprised and wanted to know what the row was about. I told them I didn't know, which is the truth anyway. Carmen is jealous of my room now. She wants her own room and has been whining all evening that it's not fair how I've got my own now. I told her to just stuff it and have been ignoring her ever since. She's such a bitch. Doesn't even care that you're not going to come back. The other girls haven't been that bad. Izzy is even kind of sympathetic. I wish you were here. Write back soon about all the new stuff about your move! I want to know everything as soon as it happens. I'll keep you updated about everything here at school. Good luck with all the moving stuff. Your friend, Olivia[/i] I bit back tears as I folded the letter. Reading it just made me miss school even more. Merlin, I was even starting to miss Carmen and her bitchiness. She and I have disliked each other ever since first year. Olivia can't stand her either. She's just very snotty and thinks that just because her parents are rich she can do whatever she wants. I guess she kind of thought we'd be friends, since my parents are rich too, but I couldn't stand being around her. She wasn't too happy about that. Olivia wasn't even going to use the entire dormitory, that was so sweet. She's really the best friend I could ever have. I wished she didn't have to deal with everyone asking questions about me. I felt guilty that I couldn't even tell her the truth. She was such a good friend to me and I had to lie to her and keep secrets from her. It just wasn't fair. I put the letter in my desk and pulled my overnight bag out from my closet. This thing would be getting a lot of use the next few months. I tossed a bunch of Muggle clothes haphazardly into it and realized that I wouldn't be wearing robes very much for the next few months. A few hours later, which I spent writing my Astronomy essay, it was time for me to go to Richard and Cinda's. I still hadn't seen much of Mum, Dad, or Matt, but found them all in the living room when it was time for me to leave. Matt was laying on the couch with her head on Mum's lap while Mum leaved through a pamphlet of some kind. Dad was in his work robes and was sitting in an armchair reading a piece of parchment while rubbing his temple. "Did you go to work today, Dad?" I asked as I entered the room. "Yeah," Dad said absentmindedly, "Loads of work to do right now." "Are you going back later?" Mum asked, looking up from her pamphlet. Dad nodded, "I've got to. I'll be back later this evening. I should have all of tomorrow off, though." "Good," Mum said and then turned to me, "Bye, Amy. I'll see you in a few days, ok?" I nodded and bent down to give her a hug. "Bye, Mum." "I love you, Amy," Mum hugged me back. "Love you, too," I replied and stood up again. "See ya, Matt." "Bye," Matt mumbled sleepily. Dad and I Apparated a few moments late