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DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Monday 13 October 2008 07 27 11 pm    Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow Questions, comments, and general reviews are always appreciated! Chapter 16: Turbulence My parents were still whispering to themselves. I set my book down and leaned forward to try and hear what they were saying. One good thing about being stuck in this plane was that they couldn't hole themselves up in a separate room to talk. Maybe this was my chance to find out more about everything that was going on. "I'm still surprised you were able to take this much time off from work," Mum was saying. "Well, er, I'm Head of the department, so no one could really say I couldn't take the time off... I mean...I haven't taken too much time off in the past year, so it's not like they could've stopped me..." Dad stammered. "What exactly happened when you said you were taking time off?" Mum asked curiously. "Er, they weren't too happy about it. They demanded to know why." "And what did you tell them?" "Well, you know they know that we pulled Amy out of school. They know we had an, er, disagreement with the headmaster, although they don't know what it was about. I told them I just needed to take some time off to relax with my family, so we were going to visit Jack in New York. Wasn't exactly a lie." "I'm guessing they weren't pleased." "Oh, not at all. There was a fair bit of yelling. But like I said, I haven't used up my holiday days yet this year, so they couldn't do anything." Mum sighed, "They could fire you." "They could," Dad agreed, "But they won't have the grounds to do it if I take a week off from work. I'm perfectly within reason to do that." "Nevertheless, it's a strike against you. I really hope you don't get fired over this." "Honestly, Julie, what would it even matter if I did? I'm going to have to quit anyway when we move." That was definitely a good point. Although I did wonder what job Dad would find when we moved. There wasn't exactly a high demand for Heads of Departments for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures. It's not the kind of job you just apply for anyway. You had to start out in a lower level job within that department. That's how Dad landed his job in the first place. He started out in the Werewolf Control Unit and then got promoted. "You know full well that it matters," Mum replied, "You'll want to leave on good terms if you've got any hopes of finding a job somewhere else. They'll contact the Australian Ministry, wherever you decide to apply." "Julie, I'm not ever going to be able to leave on good terms. Not when I'm vetoing all their laws. The only way I'd leave on good terms is if I passed all the proposed legislation. And there is no way I could do that, you know that." "I do. I wouldn't pass it either." "I think I'll be getting out of a sinking ship anyway," Dad continued, "The Ministry's gone down hill ever since Gabishi became Minister." Vincent Gabishi was elected Minister a few years ago. He had actually been the Head of the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures before Dad. Dad got promoted to the position after Gabishi left it vacant to become Minister. I met Gabishi once and did not like him one bit. He's a tall lean man with a pointy mustache and sinister grin. He struck me as extremely creepy. His policies are harsh, yet he puts on a kind face when he addresses the public. That's how he got elected. There was no doubt in my mind that whatever anti-werewolf legislation slipped past Dad would get signed and put into law by Vincent Gabishi. "I've never liked that man," Mum muttered. "You and me both," Dad agreed, "The amount of rows we got into when he was Head..." Mum and Dad were silent for a moment. I rarely ever got to hear them talk about the Minister and the rest of the Ministry. They usually talked about such things behind closed doors. Hell, they probably thought I wasn't even listening right now. "I have to admit that it kind of worries me what kind of legislation will be passed after we move," Dad admitted, "I'm the one reason most of these laws haven't been passed. Most of the department wants them passed and Gabishi is all for them as well." "I've thought about that as well," Mum said, "But sometimes you have to put your family before the general public, Walter." "I know. And that's why we're headed to New York," Dad reminded her. "Any idea who's going to replace you as Head?" Dad sighed, "To be honest, it'll probably be Lubar." Ralph Lubar? That arse who was quoted in the article? I didn't know the man at all, but judging by his comments, he'd make a horrible Head of Dad's department. "Lubar?" Mum said skeptically, "They can't find anyone better?" "Lubar's tight with the Minister," Dad said. "And connections are meaning more and more these days." "You didn't need any connections," Mum pointed out. "Afton appointed me, remember?" Zachary Afton had been Minister before Gabishi. He lost to Gabishi, but Gabishi had vacated his spot as Head of Dad's department before he actually won the election. Pretty arrogant, if you ask me. What would he have done if he lost? He would've been out of a job. Plus, he didn't get to appoint the next Head. He was probably regretting that now. Anyway, Afton got to appoint the new Head of department and he appointed Dad. "Yes, but not just because he knew you," Mum said. Afton had shared Dad's view about werewolves. He was sympathetic towards them, as well as centaurs, merpeople, house elves, and goblins. Afton was a kind man who always gave people the benefit of the doubt. Pretty much the complete opposite of Gabishi. "I know, I know. And Gabishi will appoint Lubar because they share the same views." "When are you going to let them know you're resigning?" Mum asked quietly. "Not yet. I'm not telling anyone about our plans until they're final. Once we have Amy enrolled in her new school and our new house bought, I'll put in my two weeks. Then Gabishi can go ahead and appoint Lubar or whomever he wants." "Good idea," Mum said. Neither of them said anything else. I heard Mum rummaging around in her bag and I knew their conversation was over. I stuck my own nose back into my potions book and got absorbed into it for the next hour or so. The first five or six hours of the flight went by surprisingly fast. I read a few chapters of my potions book and read an entire novel (yes, that one was actually a novel). I also did a little more Muggle-watching. Most of the parents on the plane spent the entire flight so far chasing their kids around and taking them to the bathroom. The businesswoman, along with a few other people I assumed to be businessmen and women, spent the time on their laptops and talking on the phone. Black-clad teenage boy listened to his music and slept. Hawaiian t-shirt man and his wife spent the time complaining and flagging down flight attendants in order to complain to them. The young couple who had been arguing at the airport had apparently made up and were kissing each other, causing Charlie and Tara to shriek 'ew, gross!'. I smirked to myself as I saw the couple break apart from each other on my way back from the bathroom. Charlie had just ran up to them and shouted 'Mum, they're kissing!'. Charlie's mum was looking more and more stressed out and tired. She grabbed Charlie by his arm, muttered an apology to the couple, and gave Charlie a glare that I had seen on my own Mum on multiple occasions. When I returned to my seat, Mum and Dad were talking again, but not about Dad's job. This time they were talking about what kind of house they wanted to buy. I didn't want to listen in on that conversation. I just didn't want to think about buying a new house. "I'm bored," Matt said once I had sat down, "And hungry." "Well, I saw them getting ready to serve the disgusting meal back there," I told him. "Good," Matt replied, completely ignoring the fact that I had said the meal was disgusting. For some reason, Matt actually liked the food they served on planes. Either that or the last time we were on a plane, he was so hungry he would've eaten anything. "99 bottles of butterbeer on the wall, 99 bottles of butterbeer. Take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of butterbeer on the wall," Matt sung quietly. "Ugh, not that song again!" I groaned. The last time we flew to New York, Matt had gone through the entire thing three times. It drove me mad. I was well on my way to madness when the nasty meal arrived. Matt had made it down to 67 bottles of butterbeer, but stopped singing when the flight attendant put his meal down on his tray. I glanced at my own food. There was a piece of meat that slightly resembled chicken, but I couldn't be sure. The mystery meat was drowning in some kind of creamy sauce with chunks of who-knows-what in it. Then there was a baked potato wrapped in tin foil. I took off the foil and found that it actually looked like a normal potato. That might actually be edible, I thought. There was also a pile of mixed vegetables that made an odd squishing noise when I tapped them with my plastic fork. Besides that, there was a cardboard cube of chocolate milk and a little tub of chocolate pudding. At least they knew to give me chocolate. Matt was already digging into his meal. I tentatively stabbed at the chicken and ate a bite of it. I immediately regretted it. The 'chicken' tasted like a combination of cardboard and socks, not that I'd ever tried either. Well, ok, I did eat a bit of cardboard once, but it was on a dare. I'd never tried socks, though. The only part of the dinner I actually ate was the potato, pudding and milk. The rest of it was just too disgusting. I'd just have to eat a whole lot once we got to Uncle Jack's. That wouldn't be a problem, though, since Uncle Jack always cooked the best food. "Are you going to eat that?" Matt pointed to my uneaten chicken. "Uh, no," I raised an eyebrow at him, "You can have it if you want it." "Excellent," he grinned and grabbed my plate. Sometimes I wondered how he could still be so skinny and short when he ate so much. Of course, he hardly ate anything the day of the full moon and a couple days after, so I guess it evened out. I drifted off to sleep shortly after I finished my mediocre dinner. There wasn't really anything else to do besides sleep at that point. I had already gone through an entire book and didn't want to start another one yet. I was jolted awake by the pilot announcing something on the loudspeaker. I had no idea what time it was. "Hello, everyone, this is your pilot. I just wanted to let you know that we have crossed the International Date Line. It is now, well, yesterday! It's March 17th. Although we will be arriving in New York on March 18th." Thinking about that just made my brain hurt. How could it be yesterday? I didn't even want to think about it. I yawned and rubbed my eyes. The plane was dark now, with only the lights from the inside to illuminate it. A fair few of the passengers were sleeping and most of the others were watching the movie that was playing. Both of my parents were asleep and they were leaning on each other's shoulders. Matt was asleep as well. He had curled up in his chair like a cat and had his head leaned up against the window. That was one good part about being short. You could curl up on an airplane seat. I was much too tall to do that now. It was still dark out when I next woke up. I kind of liked it when it was dark. I could see the stars and the moon through the window. It was also hard to tell that we were so high up when it was so dark. Mum and Dad were awake as well. Once again, they were whispering, only this time it was so quiet that I couldn't hear them. I started and finished another book before we landed in Los Angeles to refuel. By that time, the sun had risen and was lighting up the plane again. Despite this, only about half the passengers were actually awake. I was extremely knackered and was feeling achy due to lack of movement. Matt was awake as well and was singing '99 bottles of butterbeer' again. I had long since given up on trying to get him to stop and was trying to ignore his redundant song. Shortly after we took off again from Los Angeles, we were treated to yet another wonderful in-flight meal. This one was actually somewhat edible since it was breakfast. I received a dried out bagel, some warm cream cheese, a cube of orange juice, and a not quite ripe banana. I ate all of it since I was starving. I hadn't eaten much of the previous meals and this one was a bit better than those. I fell asleep again after eating because the only other alternative was listening to Matt comment on the ground outside. When I woke up a few hours later, the sky outside was ominously dark. I saw a bolt of lightning and swallowed hard. Great, I thought, we're going to be stuck in a storm. A loud dinging noise started and the fasten seat belt light started blinking. I grabbed for my seat belt and shakily buckled it. "We're going to be flying through a storm," the pilot said in an annoyingly cheery voice, "Nothing to worry about, but please fasten your seat belt." "Nothing to worry about?" I muttered, "We're flying through a thunderstorm and that's nothing to worry about?" Dad turned around. "It'll be fine, Amy," he assured me. I nodded but didn't say anything. Thunder and lightning were surrounding the plane and I could see rain drops on the window. We were in the midst of it now. I closed my eyes and gripped the arm rests, waiting for it to be over. The plane started shaking a few minutes later. It was crashing, I just knew it. We were all going to die in a fiery plane crash. "Dad?" I whispered, "I think the plane's going to crash." "It's just turbulence," he replied. Sure enough, the pilot was on the loudspeaker again. "We're experiencing a bit of turbulence, nothing to worry about!" What was with this bloke? The plane was shaking and he said there was nothing to worry about? My stomach was starting to hurt again and I was regretting eating my entire breakfast. Why did the turbulence have to come after breakfast? I opened my eyes and looked out the window, where it was still storming. Matt was sleeping through the whole thing, figures. He can sleep through anything. The thunder clapped loudly and the plane lit up with lightning. A kid shrieked and my stomach churned. I grabbed for my chunder bag. I bent over and retched into it. Dad turned around again. "Amy, are you all right?" I nodded, wishing more than ever that we could have brought potions on the plane. But no, all liquids had to be less than 4 ounces. This was beyond disgusting. It was one thing to chunder in your own house, but on an airplane where everyone could see? Once we had flown out of the storm, my stomach felt much better. The remainder of the flight was boring but not nearly as nerve wracking as the storm had been. The plane landed in New York about two hours later than it was scheduled to. We exited the plane and immediately had to go through security and the passport place again. Both went smoothly and I was relieved that I did not set off any metal detectors. When we finally had finished collecting our luggage and getting through security, we went into the crowded sitting area and I immediately spotted Uncle Jack. "Uncle Jack!" Matt shouted and ran over to him. "Hey! Matt, you've gotten so big!" Uncle Jack grinned and picked him up, "How's my little guy doing?" "Good," Matt replied. Uncle Jack is my dad's little brother. He's four years younger than Dad, but he acts even younger. He's even taller than my dad and keeps his dirty blond hair in a long ponytail, much to the dislike of Mum. Unlike Dad, his hair has hardly any grey in it and his face isn't lined with wrinkles. My dad and Uncle Jack get along wonderfully, despite their differences in lifestyles. When they were just out of school, they traveled all over the world together, looking to find the 'Deathly Hallows'. These are a cloak that renders the wearer invisible, a stone that can sort of bring back the dead, and an unbeatable wand. They're explained in this kid's story, [i]The Tale of the Three Brothers[/i] and most people don't really believe they actually exist, but Dad and Uncle Jack do. Even Mum went with them to look after my parents got married, but eventually she and Dad gave up because they wanted to settle down and start a family. Uncle Jack, on the other hand, kept looking. He stopped looking actively years ago, but I'm pretty sure he still thinks they're out there. I'll bet if he heard any rumors about them, he'd go check it out wherever it was. He's a very spontaneous and active person. He moved to New York after he actively gave up finding the Hallows because that's just the last place he had traced them to. He liked it there and just decided to stay. Whereas Dad has a high-powered job in the Ministry, Uncle Jack dislikes the government and wouldn't want to work for them. However he does respect Dad's career. Uncle Jack works at a used book store and does random jobs that I think involve tracing people and magical objects. He makes a decent living and he's got inheritance money, too. I don't think he's ever really had a serious girlfriend and I honestly can't see him getting married. The best thing is, is that he doesn't care at all that Matt is a werewolf. Richard and Cinda pretend they're ok with it, but I've heard them talking to Mum about it and they're really kind of nervous about it. Uncle Jack, on the other hand, isn't bothered in the slightest by it. He treats Matt exactly the same as he did before he was bitten. Even my parents don't do that. "Jack," Dad grinned, "How the hell are ya?" "Brilliant!" Jack grinned back, "I've been waiting here for the past two hours, but no matter. I don't have to work tomorrow so it doesn't matter." "Hi, Jack," Mum smiled. "Julie, how have you been?" "Oh, you know. Surviving," Mum replied. "Hey, Uncle Jack!" I grinned at him. "Amy!" Uncle Jack shifted Matt over to one side and hugged me with his other arm. "Guess what I've got at home, just for you?" "Spiedies?" I guessed. One of my favorite things about going to Uncle Jack's house is the spiedies. Spiedies are little pieces of marinated meat that you barbecue or cook in the oven. Uncle Jack's preferred method is to barbecue them, Muggle style. They're usually made with chicken or pork, but there are lamb ones too. I like the chicken ones best. You're supposed to eat them on a roll or in a salad, without any ketchup or mustard or any other condiments. They originated in the Southern Tier of New York and Uncle Jack discovered them during his travels. I absolutely adore them and can't get them in Australia. They've stayed pretty local anyway. Uncle Jack says it's hard to find them outside of the Southern Tier and even harder to find them in other states. "Sure do," Uncle Jack replied, "I'll just cook them up as soon as we get home." "Excellent," I grinned, "I'm starving. Airplane food is awful." "Let's go, then," Uncle Jack said and started leading us out of the airport. "There's a Floo station a couple blocks down. Oh, but you ought to put on your winter coats. It's quite chilly out." I laughed as I looked at us in our t-shirts. I had completely forgotten about the whole winter thing. I opened up my suitcase and pulled out my puffy jacket. The rest of my family did the same and as soon as we were all bundled up, Uncle Jack led us out the door. I followed, trailing my suitcase behind me. I was immediately hit by the image of New York City in the winter. There were huge buildings all around, cars and buses clogging the streets, steam coming up from the sidewalks, and piles of black snow. There wasn't any white snow in sight. I guess I'd have to wait until we got to Uncle Jack's to see that. Then there was the noise. Cars were honking their horns, brakes were screeching, people were yelling, dogs were barking, and music was blasting out of cars. "This way!" Uncle Jack shouted and led us to the left, "Stick with me now, it's crazy tonight!" Matt, who was still in Uncle Jack's arms, had clamped his hands over his ears as a car honked its horn right next to us. I couldn't blame him one bit. Even I hated the noise and I didn't have super sensitive hearing. Cities have never been my favorite places. I much prefer a rural setting. A few minutes later, Uncle Jack led us into a crowded pub that the Muggles walked past without even noticing. It was dark and there was smoke everywhere. Not the kind of place I would want to frequent very often. "Floo's in the back," Uncle Jack muttered, "Dodgy place, don't make eye contact with anyone." I heeded his advice and followed him quickly to the fireplace. I could feel people's eyes on me and wanted to get to Uncle Jack's as soon as possible. Uncle Jack pulled out a bag of Floo powder and passed it around. Dad went first, then Mum, and then me. I threw in the powder, shouted the name of Uncle Jack's house, and stepped in. A few moments later, I stepped out of the fireplace and into Uncle Jack's house.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Tuesday 7 October 2008 01 42 52 pm    Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow Questions, comments, and general reviews are welcome! Chapter 15: Muggle Watching We got lost twice trying to find the security area. Mum wound up asking a Muggle who worked at a fast food place for directions and we finally got there. The line at the ticket counter was nothing compared to the line for security. This line was so long that I couldn't even see the security center. "Here we are," Dad said as we got into one of the lines, "We'll just have to wait for a while." A while was an understatement. I think we stood in that line for nearly an hour. I had gotten so bored that I had started listening in on other people's conversations and counting the different number of accents and languages I'd heard. So far I'd heard about six different accents of English, and five different languages that I couldn't understand. "Can we get something to eat now?" Matt asked for what must have been the tenth time. "I told you, we'll eat after security," Dad said shortly. "But I'm hungry now," Matt whined. "I know. But we're almost to the front of the line and we're not going to wait in this again." "And my feet hurt," Matt added. "So do mine. Would you just shut up?" I snapped at him. I was thoroughly sick of his complaining. It was his fault we had to go to New York anyway. "Amy, don't say 'shut up'. Matt, we'll be done soon. Want me to carry you?" Dad asked. Matt nodded and Dad picked him up. I rolled my eyes. He was such a baby sometimes. Of course, Mum and Dad kind of enabled it. After another fifteen minutes of complete boredom, in which I counted twenty sunburned and confused looking tourists, our turn at the security center finally arrived. "Put your bags up here," a bored looking woman, who was loudly smacking her gum, pointed to a conveyor belt that led to an x-ray machine. It looked pretty much the same way it did the last time we flew to New York. Mum and I lifted all the suitcases and carry-on bags onto the belt and watched as they made their way down to the machine. "Good, good," gum-chewing lady muttered after all our bags had gone through the machine. "Carry-on?" she pointed to the four smaller bags. "Yes," Dad replied. The woman nodded and picked up the four smaller bags. She set them down on the floor and then put the bigger suitcases onto the back of a nearby cart. "All right," she said after she was done, "Take off any metal you've got on, and your shoes. Empty your pockets. Put them in this bucket." The woman put a bucket onto the conveyor belt. I couldn't help but start to giggle at those instructions. Muggles were strange sometimes. I pulled off my shoes and threw them into the bucket. I reached into my pockets and pulled out a few Bertie Bott's Beans, a hair tie, and to my horror, a few Knuts. Why were those still in there? I thought I'd taken them out. Great, now the Muggles were going to see wizard money. I groaned inwardly and tossed them into the bucket. Maybe the woman would just think they were some sort of novelty item. "Why do we have to take off our shoes?" Matt asked as he pulled off his left sneaker. "That's just the way they do things here," Mum replied, tossing her wallet into the bucket. Once we had all finished emptying our pockets and taking off our shoes, the woman gestured for us to go through the metal detector. Mum went through first, then Dad, and then Matt. The three of them went through fine, but when I went through, the machine emitted a loud beeping noise. I shrieked and jumped over to where my family was standing. "What was that?" "Step back through, please," the woman said. I sighed and did what she told me to do. Why had it been me to set off the metal detector? I emptied my pockets. I didn't have anymore metal on me. "Did you put all your metal in the bucket? Empty your pockets?" the woman asked. "Haven't got any jewelry on?" "I took it all off," I muttered. "Step through again," the woman said in a bored voice. I went through the metal detector again and it started beeping. I stepped back over to where the woman was standing, but the beeping didn't stop. She sighed and started fiddling around with the machine. People were starting to stare now. There were a few other lines of people waiting their turn at the security center and most of them were now looking in our direction. "Figures," a large man wearing a horribly tacky Hawaiian T-shirt muttered, "Always get in the line with the dodgy metal detector." "Is it going to take long to fix, mam?" the large man's wife shouted. "I don't know," gum-chewing lady answered, not looking up from the machine. "Can you at least turn off the beeping?" the wife asked. "I'm trying!" gum-chewing lady replied shortly. I edged away from the metal detector towards where my family was standing. Mum was staring at the machine and shaking her head. Dad had an amused look on his face and was trying not to laugh. He gave me a half-hearted smile and shrugged. "Make it stop!" Matt screwed up his eyes and covered his ears. Dad picked him up again and he buried his face in Dad's shoulder. "I'm sorry about this," the lady stopped messing with the machine and turned to my parents, "I don't know what's wrong with it. If you'll just hang on a second." She pulled out a phone and started muttering into it. A few moments later, a man appeared and started talking to the lady. I couldn't hear what they were saying over the beeping, though. "That your daughter?" the man shouted over the beeping. "Yes," Dad replied. "She empty her pockets?" "Yes, we all did," Dad answered. I could feel my cheeks burning. Why had I set the thing off? And why was it still beeping? Maybe it was broken. The man seemed to be thinking the same thing because he was now inspecting the metal detector. He pushed a few buttons and it started beeping even louder. People were now stopping to stare at us. The man pulled out his own phone and muttered something into it. Then he did something else to the metal detector and it finally stopped beeping. "It's broken," the man said to the gum-chewing lady. "I'll have her go through another one." The man gestured for me to follow him. I turned around and looked at my parents. Dad nodded his head and I started to follow the man. He led me to the next security station, which was only a few meters away. He said something to the man who was running the station and then told me to go through the metal detector. I closed my eyes as I did so, hoping there wouldn't be any beeping. Thankfully, there wasn't. I stepped through it without it making any noise at all. "Sorry about that," the man said once we had rejoined my family and were collecting our stuff, "I don't know why the machine broke." "That's all right," Dad replied. The man and the gum-chewing woman were now trying to explain to the people waiting behind us in line that the machine was broken and they'd have to join a different line. The large man and his wife were not taking the news very well and were yelling at the two workers and waving their arms around. "Glad that's done with," I said once we started walking away from the security center. "Stupid bloody machine." "Amy, it's actually the magic that was causing the machine to not work correctly," Dad told me, "All four of us emit a kind of magical impulse all the time and the machine kind of went haywire with so much magic around." "Didn't happen last time," I pointed out. "Different machine," Dad shrugged, "Anyway, we've got to go get our passports checked." I followed my parents through the mass of people towards the passport area. I hoped there wouldn't be any metal detectors to go through. As it turned out, the passport thing only involved standing in another boring line (surprise, surprise), and then Dad handing our passports to the lady behind the counter. She stamped something on them and then handed them back. "Now can we eat?" Matt asked as we walked away from the passport counter. "Yes," Dad smiled at him, "Now all we've got to do is go to Terminal 16 and wait for the plane. We've got about an hour. There'll be someplace to buy food at the terminal." Terminal 16 was far away from the passport counter. We had to squeeze through loads of people to get there. When we got there, I saw that it was basically a huge waiting area surrounded by a few little shops and fast food places. There were couches and chairs and random newspapers and magazines laying around. There were also three or four televisions mounted on the walls, but they were all tuned to boring Muggle news stations. Dad led us over to a few empty chairs and set his carry-on bag down onto one of them. He started looking around the terminal and said, "Well, what should we have to eat? I see McDonald's and what appears to be some kind of sandwich shop." "Why don't you just go get a few sandwiches?" Mum suggested, "We'll wait here." "Sounds good," Dad replied and set off to get food. I dropped my bag onto the ground and sat down on one of the chairs. A whole hour until the plane was supposed to arrive. An hour of boredom in an airport. And then over twenty hours of boredom on a plane. I leafed through the Muggle magazines that were on the table next to me. [i]Preventative Health[/i], [i]Star Watch[/i] (which, to my dismay, did not have anything to do with stars in the sky), [i]Cars & Trucks[/i], [i]Surfer's Weekly[/i], and numerous newspapers. I sighed and tossed them all back down onto the table. Why didn't they put anything interesting to read down on the tables? Dad returned a little while later with sandwiches, drinks, and biscuits. I practically inhaled mine. It was amazing how you could get so hungry just by waiting in a bunch of lines all morning. I was just happy that that part of the trip was over. Of course, we'd have to wait in more lines when we got to New York, but that was still hours away. After I finished my food, I resorted to 'Muggle Watching', which I really had been doing all morning and hadn't had a good name for. The large man in the ugly shirt and his wife showed up shortly after I finished eating. They took seats opposite us and started looking through the pathetic assortment of magazines. The man picked up [i]Cars & Trucks[/i], while his wife (who was almost as large as her husband) chose [i]Preventative Health[/i]. The two of them quickly became absorbed into their reading material and I gave up on watching them. Behind me, a couple were in the midst of an argument about what they would do first when they reached New York. "I think we ought to just go to the hotel. We're going to be completely exhausted," the man was saying. "I told my parents we'd go to their flat first," the woman said, "You'll have plenty of time to sleep after." "I don't want to go to your parents' on practically no sleep," the man insisted. "Fine, you get your beauty sleep. And after we'll go see my parents. Maybe we'll spend the entire week with them." "Oh, no. This was supposed to be our holiday. We're not spending the whole time with them." "We'll see," the woman muttered. In the middle of the waiting area, a husband and wife were chasing five little kids around. None of the kids looked above the age of eight. How they were going to keep the kids still on the plane was a mystery to me. "Charlie! Get back here!" the wife shouted at the oldest, who was climbing all over the empty chairs. Charlie jumped off the chair and ran in the opposite direction that his mother was standing. His sister, who looked about five or six, had meanwhile found the remote to the television and was pressing random buttons. The channel changed from a weather station to a loud music station that blasted rap throughout the waiting area. "Tara!" her mother shouted and grabbed the remote from her hands. She switched the channel back, muttering apologies to the people sitting nearby. The husband had caught up with the other two kids, who I thought were twins. They had been picking up newspapers and throwing them all over the floor. One of the twins started screaming when his dad took away the newspapers. He picked up both kids at once and carried them over to where he and his wife had dumped their carry-on bags. The wife met him over there a few minutes later, with Charlie and Tara's hands clamped firmly in her own. Other people were peering at them over their reading material, probably grateful that they didn't have to travel with four young children. Once the kids settled down, I continued to take count of who else would be traveling on the plane with us. A bloke who looked to be in his late teens was sleeping in a chair next to the one Charlie had been climbing on. He was dressed in all black and had ear buds in his ears. A few chairs down from him was a businesswoman typing on a laptop. It was definitely an interesting group of people to be traveling on a plane together. I turned away from the businesswoman and looked to see what my own family was up to. Dad had picked up one of the Muggle newspapers and was reading it, shaking his head and smirking every so often. Mum was reading a novel that she had brought. Matt was sitting in between them, completely absorbed in his Nintendo DS. They weren't nearly as interesting as the Muggles who were in the waiting area. Of course, if the Muggles knew we were witches and wizards, they would probably think we were the most interesting people in the entire airport. As the time wore on, more and more people began to congregate in the waiting area for Terminal 16. I soon lost track of the young family, black-clad teenager, businesswoman, arguing couple, and the couple from the security center. "Should be boarding anytime now," Dad mentioned as he glanced at his watch. He had put down his Muggle newspaper and was watching the television that was displaying the weather. "Looks like we'll have good weather for at least part of the flight." The last time we flew to New York, there had been a huge thunderstorm during the flight. It was pretty scary. Lightning is much scarier when you're up close and personal with it. I had been hoping this flight would be storm free. "Jack said there's about three inches of snow on the ground right now," Dad continued, "And they're expecting a storm a couple days from now. You kids will be able to see a real blizzard." "Excellent," I grinned. I had never seen snow in real life and couldn't wait to experience it. That was one good thing about this trip. "Flight 531, Sydney to New York, is now boarding at Terminal 16," someone announced over the loudspeaker. People all around us started getting up and collecting their things. Parents were shouting their kids names, trying to find them. I got up and swung my bag over my shoulder. Dad fished the tickets out of his pocket and we followed him to the back of the boarding line. I peeked out from the line and saw that there was another metal detector at the front of it. Great, I thought, another one. I only hoped the magic wouldn't interfere with this one. The line to board the plane moved relatively fast, compared to all the other lines we had waited in that day. Dad handed the ticket lady our tickets and she gestured for us to step through the metal detector. I held my breath as I followed Dad through it. Then I breathed a big sigh of relief when it didn't make a sound. Mum and Matt walked through after us and neither of them set it off either. We walked towards the plane, following the businesswoman, and finally emerged into the coach section. It was already crowded with people settling in for the long flight ahead. Dad looked at our ticket stubs and gestured to us to follow him. Our seats were about halfway down the plane on the right side. Mum and Dad got the two seats closest to the front of the plane, and Matt and I sat behind them. I gladly let Matt have the window seat. I didn't want to look out the window at all during the entire flight. Then I could just pretend that we were still on the ground, even though I obviously knew we weren't. "We're lucky we got seats together," Dad commented, "Considering how last minute I bought these." "I like this seat," Matt said, "Look how tiny the people are." He peered out the window. If they were tiny now, they would be impossible to see after we took off. I put my bag under my seat and sat back in it. It was relatively comfortable, but I knew I would think otherwise in a few hours. There was a light above me, along with a set of headphones. On the side of the plane, just below the window, was a phone. Maybe I could call Kenzie if I got bored. Matt had started fiddling with everything. He was turning the light on and off, messing with the headphones, and pulling the tray up and down. This was going to be a long flight. The last time we flew to New York, he had been hyper the first half and then slept the entire second half. After what seemed like forever, one of the flight attendants finally announced that we were going to prepare for take-off. The seat belt lights came on and everyone made their way to their seats. The plane was packed with people and I couldn't see any empty seats. I closed my eyes and squeezed the arm rests as the plane started up. I knew it wouldn't be taking off for a little while, since we had to get in line behind other planes and wait for our turn. That's pretty much all we'd been doing all day, was waiting in lines. But I was freaked out anyway. Take-off was my least favorite part of flying, well, that and landing. I wished I could just sleep through those parts. That was impossible, though, since they were also the noisiest. The plane started moving forward and I opened my eyes a bit. Matt had closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears. Ever since he became a werewolf, he's hated loud noises. Dad told me that his ears are more sensitive now and every noise is a lot louder than normal for him. A little while later, the flight attendant announced that we were going to begin take-off. I shut my eyes again and listened the engine rumble louder and louder. The plane vibrated and I could feel it tipping up and up into the air. My stomach churned and I swallowed, trying to keep my sandwich where it belonged. That was another thing I hated about flying, it always made me sick. "How are you two doing?" I heard Dad ask. "I feel sick," I muttered, my eyes still closed and hands still firmly holding onto the arm rests. "My ears hurt," Matt's voice cracked, "It's too loud." "It'll be quieter once we're fully in the air," Dad assured him, "You need a barf bag, Amy?" "I've got one," I replied, hoping I wouldn't have to use it. I opened my eyes and loosened my grip on the arm rests when the plane was finally fully in the air. "You are now free to move about the cabin," the flight attendant announced. Mum turned around in her seat and looked at us, "Better now?" she asked. I nodded, not wanting to open my mouth. My stomach still felt uneasy, but it was starting to settle down. "My ears still hurt," Matt said as he rubbed his ears. "It's the air pressure changes," Mum explained, "Here, chew a piece of gum and they'll feel better." Mum handed Matt a pack of Muggle gum. "Ta," Matt took the gum and started chewing a piece, "Hey, this stuff is good!" Mum laughed, "Dad bought it where he bought the sandwiches." "Want any, Amy?" Matt offered. I shook my head and stared directly at the tray in front of me, trying not to think about the fact that we were hundreds of meters in the air. "Welcome everybody," a voice announced, "This is your pilot speaking. I would like to welcome you to Air Australia Flight 531, Sydney to New York. There will be a brief layover in Los Angeles in order to re-fuel. Please see one of the flight attendants if you are in need of anything." I was in need of being back on the ground, but I doubted the flight attendants would be able to give me that. The noise of the engines quieted down to a low roar and the plane started flying a bit more steady. Around me, the other passengers were settling in for a long flight. A few of them had already started leaning their heads back on pillows and closed their eyes. A fair amount of them had ear buds shoved into their ears. Others had pulled out various books, magazines, and newspapers. The business woman I had seen earlier had her laptop out again and was typing away. A few other people had laptops out as well. There were also some kids running up and down the aisles, followed quickly by their stressed out parents. I dug around in my bag until I found one of my potions books. Of course, to the Muggle eye, it merely looked like a regular old novel. Mum had put charms on all the books I brought before we left so I could read them on the plane. She had even transfigured all of our wands to look like everyday objects. Mine looked like a Muggle pencil and was currently in my pocket. Not that I could really use it or anything, since I was underage. But if anything really bad happened, I'd be able to do something. Mum and Dad had started talking to each other in low whispers. No doubt it was something not for the Muggles to hear. Matt was staring out the window and shouting out in delight at how small everything looked. It was becoming increasingly annoying. "Amy, look! The houses look like someone put a shrinking charm on them!" "Uh-huh," I muttered as I tried to focus on a chapter about the effects of clockwise stirring versus counterclockwise stirring on various potions. "I'd really rather not look." "It's not that scary," Matt replied. "I don't like heights." "But you climb the wall into the bush," Matt pointed out, "And trees." "That wall's not that high. And trees are different. I can climb down whenever I like and you can't even compare a tree's height to how high we are now." "Yeah, but it's not like we're going to crash or anything," Matt said. Great, now I was thinking about the plane hurtling to the ground and all of us dying a horribly slow fiery death. Clockwise and counterclockwise stirring, I thought, think about potions. Think about anything other than the plane crashing. "And even if it did start to crash," Matt continued, "Mum and Dad would just Apparate us out of the plane." Unless I was in the bathroom when it happened, I thought. Why did I always have to think the worst when we were flying? Breath, I told myself, breath. I continued reading my book and ignored everything my brother said. He finally stopped talking and started playing his DS.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Wednesday 10 September 2008 11 50 42 am    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind It's almost Christmas time in this fic! I know Fawkes told me she was looking forward to the Christmas chapters. Well, the one after this begins the Christmas chapters! I have come up with a plot for the sequel to this and can't wait to get started. I'll be tying in elements and characters from [i]In Moonlight's Shadow[/i] as well, so if you haven't started reading that, I'd suggest it! Questions, comments, and general reviews are always welcome! Chapter 20: The Missing Map Saturday was soon upon them and with it came a howling snow storm. Albus was very happy that there was a dueling tournament and not a Quidditch match. He had played Quidditch in snow before, but never in conditions that prevented him from seeing his own hands in front of him. Today's storm was so bad that Kendrick forbade anyone from going outside, but he needn't have bothered since no one wanted to go outside in the first place. After lunch, half the school migrated into the dueling room and waited for the tournament to begin. Albus and Amanda said goodbye to their friends and sat down at the table they had been at the previous tournament. "Hi Albus, hi Amanda!" Kate greeted them energetically. "Hi Kate!" Albus grinned. He sat down at the only remaining seat, which happened to be next to Malfoy. Amanda had managed to snag a seat next to Kate. "Malfoy," Albus said politely. "Potter," Malfoy muttered. The tournament commenced much as it had the previous time, only this time everyone knew what they were doing and it went smoother. There was still a lot of sitting around time and Albus was very happy that Amanda was on his team so he had someone to talk to. So far, there were still tensions between the Slytherins and everybody else. Kendrick's plan to have everyone get along was not working. After about a half hour, it was finally Albus's turn to duel. Malfoy had just completed his first duel and beat his Ravenclaw opponent. Albus congratulated him as he went up to the dueling area. He was up against a Hufflepuff third year. Albus and the other boy bowed and the two of them started dueling. The Hufflepuff sent two jinxes at Albus, but Albus blocked them both. Albus hit the boy with a trip jinx and then disarmed him. The whole thing took about a minute. "Point to Potter!" Neville announced. "Good job, Albus!" Kate and Amanda said in unison once Albus returned to his seat. "Thanks." "Hardly counts," Malfoy commented, "You dueled a bloody Hufflepuff. A first year could've beat that one." "Shut up, Malfoy. You'll duel a Hufflepuff eventually and I doubt you'll say the same thing." "Your short friend is up," Malfoy pointed to the dueling area that Harry was presiding over. Albus looked up and saw that Matt was about to duel one of the other Hufflepuffs. "I'll bet that Hufflepuff beats him," Malfoy laughed, "He doesn't look that good." Albus personally thought Matt looked all right, considering he had just gotten out of the Hospital Wing the day before. "Where's he been anyway?" "He was sick." "Oh, right," Malfoy grinned, "With that disease he's got. The one your stupid cousin told me about. If there's anyone who should've been a Hufflepuff, it's that cousin of yours." "Don't call him stupid. And the Hat knows better than you do about where to put him," Albus snapped. He didn't tell Malfoy that he had thought Kaden would have been a Hufflepuff. "Whatever you say. I wonder if your cousin's got anymore information that I'd like to know." "Don't go near my cousin," Albus growled. "Cut it out, you two!" Kate interrupted. "In case you haven't realized by now, you're on the same team." Albus glared at Malfoy and then turned to watch the rest of Matt's duel. It took him a while, but Matt did eventually beat the Hufflepuff. He looked worn out, but happy. "Told you he could beat him," Albus muttered. "Lucky shot," Malfoy whispered back. Albus and Malfoy didn't talk to each other for the rest of the tournament. Both boys won their next duels, Malfoy against a Slytherin and Albus against a Ravenclaw. Amanda lost her first duel and won her second. John won his first and lost his second. Matt lost his second one and Rose managed to win both of hers. But despite their best efforts, none of their teams won the tournament. It didn't really matter though because the points were so close. The final tournament was still very up in the air and any of the teams had a chance of making it. ****** The remaining days until the end of term went by very fast for Albus. Albus was especially excited about the Christmas holiday this year because it meant that Albus and his friends would acquire two more of the paw prints needed for the map. Rose had just perfected the transference charm and had already started searching for the charm to keep Kaden quiet. After Christmas, the only thing left to do would be to get the rat print. Albus thought it was quite funny that the smallest and theoretically easiest print to get was taking the longest. John had yet to manage to catch a rat during potions class and was getting frustrated about it. "Every time I see a rat, one of the bloody Slytherins is looking!" John vented the evening before their last day of classes. The group of Gryffindors were in the Room of Requirement, enjoying some peace and quiet while Kaden was being tutored by one of the Ravenclaws. "Try luring one over to your desk with cheese or something," Amanda suggested, "Then just stun it below the desk." "Hadn't thought of that," John muttered, "I'd been trying to stun them across the room." "I wonder why anyone would notice that?" Rose said sarcastically. "Shut it, Rose." "Well, you've got plenty of time to get it," Albus reminded him, "We still haven't got the dog or the stag prints." "We'll get them soon," Rose replied, "Amanda will get the dog and we'll get the stag, Albus. You can come over to my house after we leave the Burrow." "Sounds good," Albus agreed, "I'm not staying at the Burrow the whole holiday anyway." "Oh, yeah," Rose smirked, "Gran and Granddad are going on holiday together, alone." "That's not something I really care to think about, Rose," Albus groaned. His grandparents had decided to go to Scotland together a few days after Christmas and spend new year's alone. "Moving on. What are you lot doing for the holiday?" "The usual," John said immediately, "All my cousins coming over at various times. Should be crazy as always." "I've really got to go to your house sometime," Albus grinned, "You always say your cousins are mad, but I really don't think your family is as insane as mine is." "I'm sure it is. My great-great grandpa is coming this year. He's hilarious, especially after he's had a couple firewhiskeys." "Your great-great grandpa drinks firewhiskey?" Matt laughed, "That's something I've got to see." "He sure does. Then he starts telling ridiculous stories about 'back in my day'." "Sounds like we should hook him up with Auntie Muriel, eh Rose?" Albus winked at his cousin. "That would be the funniest thing ever," Rose grinned. "Your great-great grandpa sounds like our Auntie Muriel. She's 127 and loves to gossip," Albus explained. "I wish I had mad relatives," Amanda commented, "My family sounds pretty normal compared to yours." "But you celebrate Hannukah, so that makes up for it," John replied, "I mean, who wouldn't like eight days of presents? I wish I celebrated both, that would be the best thing ever." "Amy has a Muggle friend who celebrates both. But she doesn't get presents on every night of Hannukah," Matt told them. "I get small presents each night and then one big one on the last night," Amanda explained. "That's still cool," John said, "So, Matt, do you have to go visit your grandparents this year?" "Ugh, don't remind me," Matt groaned, "Of course I do. But only for five days this year. We're leaving right before new year's. Amy has to be back at St. Mungo's a few days before term starts." "That's good," Albus smiled. "At least you don't have to be there as long." "It'll still be boring. The only thing to do down there is homework or read. It's not like I can play Quidditch or anything." "What day are you coming back? Maybe you can come over to Rose's house with me. Then we can play Quidditch," Albus offered. "The 28th. I'll ask my parents." "Great. You should come too, John and Amanda," Albus suggested. "I'll ask, I'm sure my parents will let me," John replied. "I can probably only stay a day or so," Amanda told them, "Hannukah is late this year and starts on Christmas, so it'll still be going on on the 28th. I'll have to be home by the evening." "That'll work. Maybe we can all get the stag print together," Albus said. "Good idea," John grinned and everyone else nodded. "I should probably tell you now, just in case I don't get to go to Rose's house," Matt began quietly, "I'm not coming back to Hogwarts on the train with everyone else." Albus stared at his friend, who was looking a little forlorn. "Why not? Everything ok?" "I guess. It's just that I'm starting that new potion I told you about at the beginning of the term. The full moon's on the 9th and someone has to observe me once I start taking it a few days before. Then I've got to go to St. Mungo's the morning after and stay a couple days." "Oh," Albus wasn't really sure what to say. He wished more than ever that someone would just discover a potion that would work for him. "Look on the bright side," John said, "At least you don't have to transform at your grandparents house again." "And if I have my way I'll never have to do that again," Matt shook his head, "But let's talk about something else. Did you see in the Prophet that the Cannons almost won that game against the Fitchburg Finches? You know, that American team they were playing for practice." "Didn't the Finches beat them by 50 points?" Albus asked. "Yeah, but that's close!" Matt grinned, "They're making a comeback, I just know it!" "Well, with a name like 'Finches', what do you expect? It wouldn't have surprised me if the Cannons beat them," John laughed, "Well, maybe a little. But seriously, who names a team the 'Finches'?" ****** The term ended the next day with a bang, literally. James and a few of his friends thought it would be funny to put a few Weasley fireworks into the suits of armor and charm them to go off at certain times during the day. After the tenth explosion the teachers gave up trying to teach anything and just let their students do what they wanted during class, within reason of course. Unfortunately for James and his friends, Professor Cedonia spotted them refilling the armor on the second floor corridor with fresh fireworks and gave them one of her rare detentions. For this one, they had to clean every single suit of armor on the second floor corridor that evening. James said it was worth it, though. "We really ought to come up with a few good pranks," John decided as they were traveling through the hills on the train. "That's what the Marauders did, was prank people, so we should, too." Albus shrugged. He really wasn't very good at coming up with pranks. That was James's area of expertise. Plus, if the result of such pranks was cleaning suits of armor, Albus really didn't want to pull a whole lot of pranks. "Maybe a few minor ones, that don't get us in huge trouble." "I'm sure we could do some of those. There's loads of stuff we could do to the Slytherins." "Yeah, like that one James did before the first dueling tournament," Matt laughed. The rest of the train ride went quickly and soon Albus and his friends found themselves at King's Cross. Albus climbed off the train and saw his parents standing with Rose's parents and Lily and Hugo. But before Albus could go over to see them, John grabbed his arm and steered him in another direction. "C'mon, you can meet my great-great grandpa!" Albus saw a very frail, completely bald, old man with a long white beard standing next to John's parents. John lead their group over to the three adults. "Johnny-Boy!" the old man shouted and gave John a tight hug, "How're things at that school? How is Professor Dippet?" "He died years ago, Grandpa, like I told you over the summer. Like I tell you every summer," John stifled a laugh. "Oh, right! Probably all new teachers, a bunch of young'ins I bet! Back in my day none of the teachers were under 50, and now some of em are 30! What has gotten into these new headmasters...." "Grandpa," John shook his head, "The teachers are fine. But I want you to meet my friends. This is Matt Eckerton, Albus Potter-" "Potter!?" John's great-great grandpa peered into Albus's eyes and grinned, "Albus Potter? Well I'll be. If it isn't Harry Potter's son! I remember back in the days of You-know-who and nobody thought he would ever be defeated, and then along comes little Harry Potter and poof! You-know-who's gone! Then he comes back and what should happen again? Harry Potter makes 'im disappear again and for good this time!" Albus, who was used to this kind of attention but not someone shouting it at the top of their lungs, blushed and tried to ignore the stares of everyone around him. "Er, nice to meet you." "You, too," the old man smiled, "And who are these girls? Have you got yourself two girlfriends, Johnny-Boy? I wouldn't recommend it. I did it once and wound up with no girlfriends after they found out!" "No, Grandpa," John laughed, "They're just friends. Amanda Tagger and Rose Weasley." "Are you sure? I could see you with the redhead. Just wait till you're older." "Just friends, Grandpa," John's cheeks turned red. "He's like the male version of Muriel," Albus whispered to Rose. "Muriel!?" John's grandpa shouted. Albus jumped. He hadn't expected that the elderly man would be able to hear him. "I used to know a Muriel! Went to school with her. Then she married some Weasley. I haven't seen her in decades!" Albus looked at Rose. What a coincidence. "Er, Albus and I have an Aunt Muriel Weasley," Rose giggled. "Well I'll be! I should owl her sometime." "I'm sure she'd love that," Rose smiled. "We're going to have to go now," John's mum announced. "See you later," John waved. "Bye," Albus grinned. "Tell your dad I said hi!" John's great-great grandpa shouted. ****** Albus spent the next few days hanging around Grimmauld Place with James and the rest of his family. Lily was thrilled to have both her brothers and her dad home and she had been demanding to know everything that had gone on the past term. "That way I'll know everything about Hogwarts before I'm even there!" she said excitedly at breakfast the day before Christmas Eve. "You still haven't told me how I'll get sorted." "We're not going to tell you, Lily," Ginny smiled as she handed Lily a glass of juice, "It's a surprise." "That's not fair," Lily whined. "Nobody told me or Al how we got sorted, so how is it not fair for you not to know?" James asked. "I'm the youngest. I should know everything about Hogwarts because you two have been there for a few years! And then all the Muggle-born kids will ask me questions and I'll be able to answer them." "You'll find out soon enough, Lily," Ginny assured her. "How much longer?" Lily asked excitedly. "There's still 9 months." "That's forever!" "She's going to be a nightmare this summer," James whispered to Albus. "Morning, everyone!" Harry descended the steps into the kitchen and pulled up a chair. "Hi, Dad," Albus greeted him. "Hey, Ginny?" Harry asked as he grabbed the Prophet, "Have you seen the Marauder's Map?" James choked on his juice and sprayed it across the table at Albus, as he turned bright red. "Ew, watch it!" Albus jumped back. "You ok, James?" Harry looked at him curiously. "Fine. The article on the front of the paper, it's, er, shocking," James blushed some more and pointed to the front of the Prophet, which was facing him. "Witch Tries to Decrease Size of Her Ears, Charms Them Off Instead?" Harry read. "Yes, very shocking. People ought to be more careful!" James sputtered. He gave Albus a look that Albus interpreted to mean 'meet me upstairs'. James excused himself and ran out of the room. "What's with him?" Harry asked. "No idea," Ginny shrugged. "Er, I've got to go change," Albus jumped up and followed James. Harry had noticed that the map was gone! Now he was going to have to give it back. Albus was going to miss it, but it would only be a matter of time before he had the other one working. "Albus!" James pulled him into the drawing room and shut the door. "He wants the map back!" "I kind of figured that," Albus smirked, "We're just going to have to sneak it back into his room. Let's do it now." "Wait, Albus!" James grabbed his arm, "The thing is, er, well, I..." He shuffled from foot to foot looking very nervous. "What?" "I, er, can't find it!" James whispered. "What am I going to do? I can't have lost it...." Albus started laughing. "It's not funny!" James insisted. "You didn't lose it!" Albus grinned, "I've got it. I took it from you months ago and didn't want to give it back." "You idiot!" James shouted, "Here I thought I'd lost it and you stole it from me!" "It doesn't matter now. We've got to give it back anyway." "You're giving it back. You're the one who stole it from me." "Well you stole it from Dad in the first place," Albus reminded him. "Only to get you out of trouble!" He had a point there. If Albus hadn't have been in Kendrick's office the previous year, James never would have taken the map in the first place. "All right. I'll just go sneak it into his room. Maybe he'll think he just forgot to bring it to Hogwarts." "Let's hope so. Go do it now." Albus nodded and ran up to his bedroom. He knew his dad would want the map back eventually, he just hadn't given it much thought. At least he hadn't noticed it was missing at school. Albus threw open his trunk and rifled through his school stuff. He still hadn't unpacked everything or packed a bag for his stay at the Burrow. The map was inside the photo album Albus found over the summer, along with the new map. Hopefully they wouldn't need the Marauder's Map to decipher the new map. Albus pulled out the map and ran into his parents' room. He shoved the map under a pile of defensive magic books and quickly left the room. "Done?" James asked anxiously when Albus ran back into the drawing room. "Yup. I put it under a stack of books, with one corner sticking out." "Perfect. You might want to go change your shirt now." "Oh, right," Albus looked down at his juice splattered t-shirt, "Thanks for that, by the way." "No problem," James laughed, "Come to me for all your juice spraying needs." "I'll do that," Albus rolled his eyes as he left the room to change his shirt.
Hermione1981 Joined: 19 July 2008 Posts: 27 Location: USA	Posted: Friday 22 August 2008 04 50 04 pm    Post subject: Staying strong for all my family and friends! in topic:Staying strong for all my family and friends! [img]http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n281/shannonrosewiley/Harry%20Potter/Stayingstrongforallmyfamilyandfrien.jpg[/img] Full Title: Staying strong for all my family and friends! Summary: This story takes place during Harry, Ron, Hermione along with Bethany (I made up) Sixth year at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and Wizards. Bethany is balance going to school, Being a slayer and raise her and Fred Weasley daughter Lily-May Eileen Weasley and son James Sirius Weasley. Why she is at school and take care of the babies Fred and his twin Brother George are running Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes joke shop at number ninety Three-Diagon Alley. Disclaimer: I do not owner Harry potter characters, there are own by J.K. Rowling, I did make up Bethany and her parents. I also made up The Tonks next door neighbor Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s and their daughters’ Terri. I also made up Luikin wand shop and owner Mrs. And Mr. Luikin. I made up two stores in Knockturn Alley so far there names are Rocks Dark arts creatures store and David’s Dangerous Dark Art Potions shop. Chapter one: Reaching out to Draco Malfoy It is August 3, 1996 at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes joke shop and the store is packed full of past, currently and future Hogwarts students, so Fred and George are busy helping customers out, Meanwhile Bethany is upstairs in the apartment above the store getting her and Fred two month old (born May 1, 1996) daughter and son Lily-May and James Sirius dress. She can hear the voices of all the customers yelling to eachother downstairs in the stores. She has finish changing James diaper and is takes off his yellow robe. She has just reaches for his orange light weight long sleeve onies t-shirt that has a seahorse on it, when she hears a knock on the apartment door and then the door opening. She looks up to see her cousin Tonks, Remus Lupin, Ginny, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley standing in the open doorway. Bethany takes a good look at the eight people standing by the door and she notices that Tonks hair is still a mouse brown color instead of the normal purple, which means that she and Lupin are still not seeing eye to eye. Remus Lupin: You should keep the door locked! Tonks: Give her a break, besides Bethany know that the two of us were coming over. Remus Lupin: But with he who must not be named back she needs to be careful. Mr. Weasley: And I am sure she will for now on. Bethany: I could hear you coming and Fred’s forget to lock the door on his way out. Mrs. Weasley: We come in through the door at the back of the building because Ginny, Hermione, Harry and Ron wanting to stop in and see Lily-May and James Sirius before going into the joke shop. Ginny: Mom we wanting to go to the shop first, but you want to come up here first and see you grandchildren! Ron: Yeah, don’t blame us! Hermione: Lilly-May and James Sirius has getting so big since the last time I sew them before going home for the summer. Bethany: I know James Sirius wight seven and half lbs now and Lilly-May weights eight and half lbs. Ron: And look Bethany even get back into her pre-pregnancy clothing. Mrs. Weasley: Ron that the wrong way to say it, you should have say Bethany you look great and I notice you lost the baby weight, which you did Bethany. Bethany: Thanks Mr. Weasley: Is that a muggle double stroller over by the chair Bethany? Bethany: Yes. Mr. Weasley runs over to the double stroller and starts to look it over, as Hermione, Ginny and Harry walk over to Bethany and the babies and the three of them seat down on the floor around the babies and Bethany. Ginny, Hermione has taken over getting Lily-May dress. Ginny pulls in her pink shirt over Lily -May head and the little girl laughs . Hermione then pulls Lily Skirt that is pink, green and white with pink and green polka dot skirt on. Once the skirt is on her niece Ginny puts on Lily socks which are pink, white and green shock that has pink, orange and red flowers on them. Harry turns James Sirius towards him and then button up his long sleeve onies t-shirts. Harry then picks up the tan pants and puts them on James Sirius . Harry then puts James Sirius tan and orange booties on his feet and then Ron pick James Sirius up off the floor and is now holding his nephew. Tonks walk over to the couch and set down, why Remus Lupin stays standing and walking around the room. Mrs. Weasley stands by the door till the babies are dress then goes over and set down next to Ginny. Just in time for Lily-May to need a diaper change. Ron: What is that smell, that come from by Hermione, Ginny and mom? Mr. Weasley: I believe that Lily-May has bowel movement Ron! Mrs. Weasley: Mind if I change her diaper Bethany? Bethany: No, you can change her diaper. Mrs. Weasley take off Lily-May Skirt then takes the dirty diaper off and clean Lily-May up, she then puts a clean diaper on her and Ginny outs her niece skirt back on. After a few minutes of playing with the babies all four Weasley’s, along with Harry and Hermione leave the apartment and heads down to the joke shop. As Ron is walking out of the apartment, he hands James Sirius to Remus Lupin and Harry heads Lilly-May to Tonks, who still setting on the couch and Remus Lupin is walking around the room with James to claim him down because he has starts to cry as soon as Ron stop holding him. Bethany walk passes the stroller and over to the door for her and Fred room which on the wall that the couch is up against and the door is just after the Antique chair that the strollers up against. Bethany walks into the room and grabs the diaper bag. She walks out of the room and starts to pack up the diaper bag with a couple changes of clothing for both babies. She also puts diaper and baby wipes. Remus Lupin: I see you still plan on taken James Sirius and Lilly-May with you to Borgin and Burkes to talk with Draco! Tonks: You don’t have to taken them we could watch them for you Beth. Bethany: I know, but I thought it might help to soften Draco up some, if the smallest members of the family are with me. Tonks: But aren’t you worry about what other witches and Wizards are going to thinks about you going into Knockturn Alley with them and for they safe once there? Bethany: I going to be careful, so not too many people see us and no one will touch them because they know I beat them up if they lay a hand on either one of my babies. Remus Lupin: At lest let me or Tonks come with you! Bethany: No, the two of you need to talk, so stay here in the apartment since no one going to be empty for a couple hours and talk to eachother. Remus Lupin: It will not solve anything, Bethany! Bethany: Tonks love you Lupin and I know that you love for Tonks too. Remus Lupin: You need to get going. Bethany: Not to you and my cousin agree to talk to eachother, Let Tonks no what you worry about and let Tonks share her feeling with you Lupin. Remus Lupin: Fine, but for now on you stay out of my personal life Bethany, I am your watcher and ex -teacher! Bethany: Fine, I have to grab some baby items out of the kitchen. Bethany then walks past the love seat and into the kitchen with the diaper bag and walks over to the shelves on that on the wall to the right as you enter the kitchen. Tonks carrying Lily-May and Lupin carrying James Sirius fellow Bethany into the kitchen where Bethany takes three twenty-oz bottles of water of the top shelf and puts them into the diaper bag. Bethany then puts baby Formula into each of the six bottles and puts the nipples onto the bottles. Then Lupin puts on the screw ring to hold the nipples in places, as he finishes screwing on ring Tonks puts the cup on the bottle. After all six bottles are ready Bethany puts them into the diaper bag. Remus Lupin: Bethany are you going to go and get your school supplies why you are out? Bethany: Yeah Remus Lupin: Ok, I will be here when you get back, that way you can tell me how it went with Draco. Bethany: Ok The three of them head into the living room and Remus Lupin walks over to the double stroller and lays James Sirius down in the seat on the side closed to the front of the Antique chair. Tonks also walk over to the strollers and lays Lilly-May into the seat closes to the back of the Antique chair. Bethany takes hold of the foot rest and pulls the strollers forward some then get behind the stroller and pushes it towards the door. Tonks walk beside Bethany and close the apartment door once she is out of the apartment. Bethany reaches into the front pocket of the diaper bag and pulls out her one of her wand, the one she pulls out is the purple shade and it is made of Willow, it is 15 1/2 in long and has an Ashwinder Ash core, which is good for protection spells. Bethany moves her wand and she case mobilarbus (move items) on the stroller to get it down the staircase. Once at the base of the staircase, she opens the door that leads into back room of the shop. She pushes the stroller into the room and Fred walks over to Bethany and hugs her. Fred: It is a bit nippy outsides I would put Lily-May white sweater with the pink rose on before head out and the blanket over them. Bethany: Thanks for letting me know. Bethany takes the sweater out of the diaper bag, as Fred takes Lily-May out of the stroller. Bethany unbutton the sweater and puts Lily-May right arm through first and then her left arm into the sleeve. She then button the sweater up and Fred puts his daughter back into the stroller. Bethany then covers the babies up with a white blanket with strawberry on it from the shoulders down. Bethany then grabs her weight light brownish black jacket that has the flower on the left shoulder off of the coat rack that in the back room. She puts the jacket on and zips it up. She then steps behind the double stroller and takes the handler. Bethany then starts to pushes her son and daughter out of the back room and into the front of the store. Fred walks ahead of her and opens the door. When Bethany pushes the stroller into the main floor of the stores all the customers move towards the walls so Bethany and the babies can get through. As she pushes the stroller out of the store door, which across from Magical Menagerie and a young girl that has blonde hair and blue eyes come run up to her and the girls mother who has long blonde hair and hazel eyes walk up to Bethany and she taps Bethany on the shoulder, at the sometime the girl father who also has blonde hair and blue eyes walk up to Bethany. Bethany: Mrs. Smith? Mrs. Smith: Yeah, can you tell me where I can buy Terri her first wand because Ollivander's is closed. Bethany: Sure I can show you, if you like me too? Terri: That would be nice. Bethany turn right and leads Terri and Mrs and Mr Smith past a little tea shop, the ice cream parlor. She then stops and turns into the only other wands shop, which called Luikin which is in between Florean Fortescues’s and Magical Instruments. Mrs. Luikin walks up to the counter at the sometime Terri walks up to the counter. Bethany: Mrs. Luikin, take good care of Terri and her parents they are my aunt and uncle neighbors. Mrs. Luikin: I will. Bethany: I have to go now, but I will see you at Hogwarts. Terri: Ok Bethany turns herself and the stroller around and pushes the stroller out of the store door. Bethany turns left and heads towards Knockturn Alley. When she gets to the entrance of the alley, she looks around to make sure no one look then pushes the stroller into Knockturn Alley. Bethany pushes the stroller pasts the giant spider, shrunken heads stores and turns into Borgin and Burkes which is across from shrunken head shop. Mr. Borgin: Hello Miss. Tonks your watcher tell me you were coming if you go behind the large shelve unit that the curse mama hands, skulls and other large items are on Draco Malfoy will not know you are here. Bethany: Thanks. Mr. Borgin: By the way your son and daughter are very cute. Bethany: Thanks Bethany pushes the stroller behind the shelved unit that Mr. Borgin told her about and was relived that she could see the door from there so she will be able to see Draco enter the store and she is also close enough to the sale counter to see Draco talk to Mr. Borgin and hear them talk. Bethany takes out a bottle of water from the diaper book and two of the baby bottles, she unscrews the bottles top and pours water into each bottle. She recaps the bottles and shakes them up. She has just give James Sirius and Lily-May their bottle when Draco walks through the store door. Bethany notices that he is wearing all black and that he does not look happy. Draco walks over to the sales counter and Mr. Borgin walk up to the counter, Draco pulls up the left sleeve of his dress jacket and shows Mr. Borgin the dark mark on his left forearm. Bethany then listen close to the conversation between Mr. Borgin see Draco points to the Vanishing cabinet and then ask Mr. Borgin is he know what to fix it, because he need to fixes the one at Hogwarts on, He who must not be name orders, so the death eater can enter Hogwarts. Mr. Borgin tells Draco he does not know if the one at Hogwarts can be fixed at all, but the one his owner will work if he does get the Hogwarts one fixes. Draco then points to the opal necklace in the display case under the counter and hands him an address to sent the necklace to and then he pays for it. Draco then turns around and starts walks to the door of the store, Bethany takes hold of the stroller handler and start following Draco out. Draco knows that Bethany and her son and daughter is following her but turns right out of the stores and keeps walking, when he gets near the entrance way of Knockturn alley and notices they are alone he stop walking and looks at Lily-May, James Sirius and then Bethany as he rubbing the spots on his left forearm where the dark mark has only been branded on a few days earlier . Bethany can see that he is scary and know he is afraid of what will happen if, He who must not be name finds out that we have talk to eachother and that Bethany also over heard him in Borgin and Burkes. Draco: How did you know I was going to be at Borgin and Burkes today and on, he who must not be named orders Bethany Tonks and can he who must not be named read your mind? Bethany: No, He who must not be named can’t read my mind, because I practice Occlumency to keep him out of my thoughts and I know you were going to be there because of my slayer dreams. Draco: He will kill me and my family if he finds out I talk to you about this and that you over hear me in Borgin and Burkes today. Bethany: Haven’t your Mom, dad or Snape teach you how to do Occlumency? Draco: Yeah, My mom had Snape taught me, I just do not know if I am good enough to keep, He who must not be named out of my thoughts? Bethany: Have faith in yourself Draco you are a very talent wizard and very smart too. Draco: Why are you been so nice to me, is it because you feel sorry for me? Bethany: No, I was raised by your aunt Andromeda Black Tonks and Uncle Ted Tonks and they daughters’ was like a sister to me and my first cousin Severus Snape treat you like family, so that makes you family in my book Draco. Draco: I am going to tell you something that I can’t tell anyone else Bethany! Bethany: Go head Draco: I am so scary, what if I can’t fix the Vanishing cabinet at Hogwarts or I am not able to Kill Dumbledore like, He who must not be name order me too, will he really kill my mom and dad? Bethany: You know the answer about, He who must not be name killing you parents, you know he will, Draco if you don’t won’t to go through with the plan the order of Phoenix can keep your mom, dad and you safe from, He who must not be named and the death eater Draco. Draco: Dumbledore would let the order protect me and my family? Bethany: You know that Dumbledore believe that everyone deserves a second choice that including your family too Draco or a would not be here! Draco: By how can Dumbledore help by dad with him locked up in Azkaban? Bethany: He would find a way to get him out and to safety Draco. Lily-May and James: (Loudly) Fussing Bethany and Draco turn to so they are looking at Lily-May and James and they Narcissa Malfoy (Draco Mom) and Bellatrix Lestrange walking up behind Lily-May and James Sirius Double stroller. Both Draco and Bethany are shock to see that Bellatrix Lestrange has her wand out and it point straight ahead. Narcissa Malfoy looks down at Bethany’s baby girl and baby boy and then looks over at her son. Bellatrix looks at her sister, then at the babies. Then to Narcissa, Draco and Bethany surprise Bellatrix points her wand towards the baby stroller. Draco: (Yell) Bellatrix put your wand down Lily-May Eileen and James Sirius Weasley is only two months old and is not a threat to, He who must not be named. Bellatrix: How dare you talk to me in that tone Draco, Lily-May Eileen and James Sirius Weasley are the off springs off a half blood and a blood traitors and, He who would not be name would want them killed! Bethany: (Yelling) Leave my son and daughter alone, if you lay a hand or a wand on them I will Kill you myself. Bellatrix: (Laughing) Vampire slayers not kill human, you only kill demons, Vampires and other soulless being! Bethany: (Still yelling) If I have to kill you to keep my son and daughter safe I will! Narcissa” (Touch her sister shoulder) Put your wand away, we do not want to start a scene here and it would not make, He who must not me name happy if you are killed! Bellatrix: And what are you doing in Knockturn Alley anywhere Bethany Tonks? Bethany: Slayer business, Dracula has been spots in town so I am here to going into David Dangerous Dark Art Potions shop to buy some Killer of the Dead. Bellatrix: Cool, I love to meet him, but thinking about you fight him and wining makes me want to laugh, But Draco why were you talking to Bethany? Draco: I just run into her as I was leaving Mom and Bellatrix. Narcissa: See there is nothing to worry about let go Draco. Draco followers his aunt and mom out of knockturn alley and Bethany take hold of the stroller holder and pushes it back down Knockturn Alley. She gets to the part of the alley where you need to turn left to go into one of the five shops on that side or turn right and go into one of the two shops on that side. Bethany turns right and she passes a store called Rocks Dark Creatures store and head straight back to and into David’s Dangerous Dark Art Potions shop. (David’s Dangerous Dark Art Potions shop is behind one of an unknown store on Diagon Alley that on the right of the junk shop.) Bethany stops pushes the stroller and opens the door to the shop and notices the bad odor of the shop drift out and it worse then the Apothecary on Diagon Alley. But just like the store in Diagon Alley there are barrels of potions ingredients all around the store, but they not the everyday ingredients. As she pushes the stroller through the shop door she notice two tables set up in the center of the store where bottles of already made potions of every color are for sale. The store owner looks up from reading the Daily Prophet when Bethany, Lily-May and James come into the shop and he looks at Bethany with a large smirk on his face. David: So, what gives me the pleasure of having the vampire slayer in my shop today? Bethany: I need a bottle of the Killer of the Dead potion, do you have any pre made or do I need to wait as you make some up? David: There are few bottles made up they are the black color potions on the table to your right. Bethany: Thanks Bethany looks at the table on her right and sees two bottles with a black liquid with the name killer of the dead writing across the front. Bethany picks up both of the bottles and then looks around to see if this shop has the potion ingredients that she will need for potions class, she relived to see there is, which save her a trip to the apothecary shop on Diagon Alley. She collects the ingredients she needs for potion classes. Bethany grabs the diaper bag and then goes up to the counter to pay every thing. The owner of the shop David slower rings up all the Potion Ingredients one by one and put them in there own unmark small brown bag and them put then in a large unmark bag. He rings up the two bottle of killer of the dead last and then place them at the top of the bigger bag. David: The total cost is Twenty galleons, ten sickles and five knuts. Bethany: ok Bethany unzips the front pocket of the diaper bag and takes out her coin purse. She counter out Twenty galleons, ten sickles and five knuts and heads them to the shop owner and he hands her the bag with the items she just bought. Bethany walks back over to the stroller which is by the table in between the two table the pre made potions are on. She put the diaper bag back on the roof of the stroller and then puts the store bag on the storage rack under Lily-May stroller seats. Bethany takes hold of the stroller and pushes out of the stores. She pushes the stroller very fast out of Knockturn Alley, once back in Diagon Alley she pusher Lily-May and James to Flourish & Blotts. Bethany had just pushes the stroller over to the potions section and is looking for Advanced Potion Making by Libatius Borage, which is the new textbook for potion class. When Luna Lovegood comes running over to her and kneels down in front of Lily-May and James Sirius. Luna smiles at Bethany and then tickler by Lily-May foot and James Sirius foot, both baby start laughing and smile really big at Luna. Bethany: Hi Luna, how has your summer been so far? Luna: Good, how your summer been? Bethany: Busy, helping Fred and George with Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes joke shop, slaying and being a mother. Luna: Do you know what happen to Ollivander or the owner of the ice cream parlor? Bethany: Kidnaped by death eater during the middle of the night and the next morning we saw the sark mark above they shop, I was one of the first to check out both building with Mad eye moody and Tonks. Luna: Could you tell if they were taken alive or killed? Bethany: There were no signs that either of them was killed, must likely knock out and taking to, He who must not be named. Luna: I have to go now, see you at Hogwarts. Bethany: Bye Bethany grabs her potions textbook and at the sometime her cousin Tonks comes walking over to her. She takes hold of the holder of the baby stroller. Tonks: I come to help you out with your school shopping. Bethany: Thanks Bethany heads towards the section that the Ancient Runes books are kept. Tonks pushes Lily-May and James Sirius Stroller to the Ancient Runes sections of the store and is watching her cousin closely. The whole time the four of them were shopping for Bethany school supplies Tonks try to get Bethany to talk about what happened with Draco, but she would not say a word about it. It takes Bethany a hour to buy the supplies she need and then her, Lily-May, James and Tonks heads back to the store and then upstairs to the apartment. Fred who was set on the couch talking on his muggle cellphone gets up and walks over to his girlfriend and they son and daughter. Tonks unhook Lily-May and James Sirius form the stroller and then pick them up and Tonks carries them over to the couch. Fred: Everything ok? Bethany: Yeah Fred: I’ll put your school supplies away for you. Bethany: Thanks. Bethany walks over to the chair closes to her and Fred bedroom door and takes a set in the chair. Remus Lupin stops walking around the room and looks at Bethany and then over at the two babies set on the couch with Tonks. He pushes his feeling for Tonks to the back of his brain and turn to look at Bethany as Fred walks back over to them. Remus Lupin: How did it go with Draco? Bethany: We talk and I found out he is scary and I think I could have get through to him if his mom and Bellatrix did not show up. Remus Lupin: I want you to be a friend to him this year at school and try to get him to see reason that the order will be able to keep his parents and him safe if he does not want to do, He who must not be name order. Bethany: I do think that Draco has good in him when Bellatrix point her wand at Lily -May and James Sirius He yell at her Fred: What did Draco say? Bethany: Draco say this “Bellatrix put your wand down Lily-May Eileen and James Sirius Weasley is only two months old and is not a threat to, He who must not be named. “ Tonks: Bellatrix must have been mad at him for talk to her like that! Bethany: She was. Remus Lupin: I think James Sirius and Lily-May might be the key to win Draco over, I want to have him spent time with them between class and baby sit Lily-May and James Sirius when you are slaying at night. Tonks: Are you sure that safe. Bethany: Yeah, it be safe and I am sure Snape will help Draco if he needs some help. Tonks: I will be station in Hogsmade to keep an eye on Hogwart, so if you need help I can watch my second cousin. Bethany: Thanks Remus Lupin: We should be going Tonks and Bethany will have a order meeting at the Burrow. Bethany looks over at her son and daughter and then goes over and gives them both a kiss. Fred pulls Bethany into a hug and rubs her back. Fred: Are you sure you still want me to bring Lily-May and James Sirius over once the shop closed for the night or do you want to take them with you? Bethany: No, you bring them over this evening, you need to spent has much time with your son and daughter before September 1, because Lily-May, James Sirius and I have to head back to Hogwarts. Fred: And as I tell you before I come out and see you every weekend. Bethany lets go of Fred and then, Lupin, Tonks and Bethany leave the apartment and leave for the burrow.
FawkesthePhoenix Joined: 31 December 2006 Posts: 3534 Location: No idea, all I know is that there are a LOT of felt-tipped pens...	Posted: Friday 15 August 2008 10 05 37 am    Post subject: Re: The Six Wizards in topic:The Six Wizards Name: Yuta Tanuki Blood: Pureblood Month of Birth: October Year of Birth: 1972 Year If Student: Occupation If Adult: Member of Sadistic Six House: Ravenclaw Best Subject: Arithmency Worst Subject: Charms Height: 5 foot 2 inches Physical Description: BLack hair that barely grazes her shoulders, with a streak of pure silver on the right side of her face. Silver eyes. May be short, but is strong as anyone. Long legs that make her a fast runner, despiter her height. Usually wears black flared pants that are slightlyto long on her, a black and silver fitted T-shirt, and black running shoes. Is a pro at theivery and can easily get past enchantments unprotected. Wand: 11 inch ivy dragon heartstring Pet: none Best Friend(s): None Broomstick: Nimbus 1000 Quidditch Position: none Special Ability: Can absorb spells and use the magic in them to further her own powers Fear or Weakness: paper cuts
salemboy Joined: 20 May 2008 Posts: 1762 Location: Enjoying being a Senior whilst my friends merely become Juniors.	Posted: Thursday 7 August 2008 06 33 01 am    Post subject: Re: Next Generation 2 in topic:Next Generation 2 Damien woke up the next morning to the sound of loud knocking. He slowly came to remember what had happened last night, and when he looked at his watch, he groaned. It was half-way into his first potions class. He rolled out of bed and crawled over to the sink. He splashed his face with cold water, and pulled on some jeans and a T-shirt. The knocking persisted. "Coming, I'm coming." He opened the door. A little girl was standing there. "Professor- Hey, you aren't Professor Slughorn," she squeaked. Damien rubbed his eyes as he said, "He resigned. I'm his replacement. Please, just take a seat, I had a long night." The little girl did as told. He finally looked out over the classroom. There were a bunch of children wearing Ravenclaw robes. Then he asked, "Can somebody tell me which year this is?" All of the children yelled "First years!" "Ok, my name is Professor Nomare. I am replacing Professor Slughorn as your potions teacher. So, can somebody please tell me what Slughorn had you do last?" The same girl who'd been knocking raised her hand. "Yes, Ms., um, Ms.-" "Arian. Laura Arian." "Well, Ms. Arian, can you please tell me what you studied last time?" "Well, Professor just had us get to know everybody." Damien wasn't surprised in the least. Slughorn had not too honorable rumors about his singling out of students to put into his own personal club. He recalled back to his first day of potions class when he himself had gone to Hogwarts.. "Ok, first things first. By show of hands, how many of you have a grudge with somebody in this class?" The entire class raised their hands. "Ok, I don't care what they did to you, what happens outside of this class stays outside of this class. Any arguing will result in loss of house points. Horseplay or actual fights will result in detention, and repeated offenses will result in Parent-teacher conference, and I'm sure that parents don't want to take time out of their busy schedules to deal with misbehaving children. Potion-making is a very dangerous art and hundreds of Japanese wizards are killed each day by incorrectly made potions." All of the children looked ahead attentively, they obviously had thought that this was going to be an easy class, thanks to Slughorn. Damien would need to change that. "So," he said, clapping his hands together. "Who wants to play a game." The students looked astonished as he said the word game. Some even slacked back in their chairs. "We are going to make a potion together. And we will feed it to my monkey." The class looked in awe as Suge jumped out of Damien's room and climbed up Damien's shoulder. Just because Damien was going to make the class work hard didn't mean he was going to make them hate the class. "Here's what we'll do. I'm mainly doing this because I don't know any of you. I'm going to get out everything you need to make the potion, and I'm going to write the instructions on the board. Then each of you will come up, introduce yourselves, and do a step in the potion. When it's all done, we'll feed it to my monkey." So, Damien rummaged through the cupboards, and pulled out a cauldron, green beans, tinder, a ladle, nirnroot leaves, knives, and banana tree leaves. Then he set it all on a table at the front of the classroom, and wrote the instructions on the board. Then, "Aaaaannnd GO!" The class began following the steps on the board, and introducing themselves. Damien did his best to remember every name. Eventually, the potion was finished. Damien had been smart in his choice of potion. Every student had gotten to go up exactly once. Then Damien took a flask for every student, filled them, corked them and set them on the students' desks. Then he took a vial and and filled it with the leftover potion. "So," he yelled. "Who wants my monkey to drink this?!!!" The class cheered. "I cant here youuuuuuuu!" The class was on its feet cheering. Then Damien gave the potion to Suge, who drank the whole vial. The class quited down as it waited for something to happen. Then Laura yelled, "Look at its fur!!!" Suge's fur had changed to a stark green. Then Damien lead the class in an applause saying, "Congratulations. You just made green hair dye. Twenty points to Ravenclaw." The class cheered some more. "Now, take out a piece of parchment and write down the instructions on the board, titled 'Green Hair Dye.' Study it. You'll have a quiz next class. You can keep the flasks of potion on your desks. Class dismissed."
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2535 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Monday 4 August 2008 07 20 36 pm    Post subject: Re: In Moonlight's Shadow in topic:In Moonlight's Shadow Sorry for the lack of updates! It's been nearly 2 weeks since I posted a chapter. I was going to post right before we left for vacation, but I didn't have time. Chapter 5: Shopping With Cinda After arriving in the middle of Cinda and Richard's drawing room, I immediately ran up to my bedroom and remained there the rest of the day. The last thing I felt like doing was being social with my grandparents. I knew Cinda would immediately want to show me the dress she had picked out for me, but I wanted no part of it. My bedroom at Richard and Cinda's makes me cringe every time I go in it. The large chamber is the exact opposite of what I would want a place of my own to look like. The walls are a sickening pink color, adorned with flowery wallpaper running along the top. The bed is a canopy bed complete with a flowery canopy that matches the walls. Atop the cushy mattress are pink linens with a pink rose print comforter. 'What little girl doesn't want a pink canopy bed?' Cinda had giggled when she bought it years ago. The thing was, I didn't want it, even back then. I tried to tell Cinda this, but she wouldn't listen. To go along with the pink walls and pink bedding, all the furniture is white with a little pink rose on each drawer. The carpet is plushy and white, but Cinda added a couple rose shaped pink throw rugs. The entire room looks like it belongs in a Muggle fairy tale, which is probably what Cinda had been thinking when she decorated it. Despite the sheer ugliness of the room, I spent the remainder of the afternoon there. It was the only place where Cinda wouldn't bother me. I wanted to be alone with my thoughts and not be interrupted by anyone, especially my grandmother. I pondered about what I had found in Dad's office until my brain hurt and I still didn't come up with any conclusions about it. The only way I was going to get any answers was if I constantly hounded my parents about it. Which I was planning on doing as I got back home. I wasn't going to let it go this time, either. I would keep asking them about it until I got the answers I needed. Eventually, hunger drew me out of my pink bedroom and downstairs into the kitchen. I quietly slipped out of my room and into the hallway. My grandparents' house is even bigger than mine and my bedroom is on the second floor. The top floor is mostly storage and guest bedrooms and I hardly ever go up there. It also houses the room my parents stay in when they spend the night. Not that that happens very often. I'm really the only one who spends a significant amount of time in the large house. Along with my bedroom, my grandparents' and Matt's bedrooms are also on the second floor. The ballroom is on that floor as well. Yes, they have a ballroom. I personally think it's a bit excessive, but Cinda hosts parties so she thinks it's completely necessary. The first floor consists of the kitchen, formal and regular living rooms and dining rooms, Richard and Cinda's offices, the drawing room, various other small rooms, and the library. Richard and Cinda were sitting at the table in the dining room when I entered a few minutes later. Cinda had heated up leftovers from Christmas dinner and she and Richard were eating them. There was a third plate on the table and I sat down in front of it. "Feeling better?" Cinda asked. "Fine," I mumbled as I started to eat the lukewarm turkey. "Good," Cinda smiled, "We'll be going shopping for your dress tomorrow." "Wonderful," I replied flatly. "You're welcome to invite Kenzie to come," Cinda said, an obvious attempt to make me happy about this shopping trip. "Misery loves company," I commented, "I'll call her after dinner." "Tell her we'll leave at ten." I nodded and went back to my food. I continued to shovel it into my mouth, wanting to finish before Cinda launched into another gossip fest. Fifteen minutes later I had returned to my pink sanctuary, free from an evening of boredom with my grandparents. Well, as free as I could get in this room. I supposed that I could sneak out if I wanted to, but I just didn't have the energy tonight. I would be seeing Kenzie the next day anyway. I grabbed the cordless phone (pink of course) that was always on my dresser and threw myself onto the bed. My fingers typed Kenzie's phone number into the device and waited for her to pick up. There were only two phone numbers I ever called and I had them both memorized. Richard and Cinda's, and Kenzie's. Someone picked up on the sixth ring. "Hello?" It was Kenzie's mum and she sounded out of breath. "Mrs. Dawe? It's Amy," I told her. "Oh, Amy! Hi! You're with your grandparents, then? Kenzie told me you'd be coming sometime shortly after Christmas, but she didn't say when. How is your brother?" "He's ok," I answered. The first time I ever spent the full moon with my grandparents, Mum told Kenzie's parents that I stayed with them while Matt received treatment for some kind of illness at a Muggle hospital in Sydney. "Tell him and your parents I pray for him everyday," Mrs. Dawe continued, "Why these things happen to kids, God only knows..." I could imagine her shaking her head as she said it. "Yeah," I replied uncomfortably. Mrs. Dawe really did think Matt had some kind of incurable Muggle disease and I hated lying to her. Mum told me it really wasn't that much of a lie, since lycanthropy was really a disease. "Well, how was school?" Mrs. Dawe sounded a bit happier as she changed the subject. "It was good. I'm glad to be done for now, though." "Glad to hear it. Well, you probably want to talk to Kenzie, so I'll stop rambling." "Ok, bye Mrs. Dawe." "Bye, Amy." I really did like Kenzie's mum. She was so motherly. She kind of had to be with five kids. Kenzie is the oldest and she has three sisters and one brother. "Amy?" Kenzie came onto the phone a few moments later. "Kenzie!" I shouted in delight. It had been so long since I had last talked to her. "I'm with my grandparents now." "Mum told me! Listen, we've got to get together!" "I know. Cinda's having a New Year's Eve party." "Yeah, she invited us but we're going to my cousins' house. I'm sorry, I know how you hate those things," Kenzie sighed. "I'll survive. Hey, she's dragging me around dress shopping tomorrow. Want to come?" "Sure, why not?" Kenzie laughed, "A day shopping with your grandmother, sounds like a blast." "With any luck she'll find something satisfactory in the first shop we get to. It's not like I'm going to have any choice in what dress I wear." Kenzie laughed, "True. But it'll be fun just hanging out. What time should I be over?" "She said ten." Kenzie groaned, "God, that's early. Whatever, I'll be there." "Ok, see you then," I said. "Bye," Kenzie replied. "Bye." I got up off the bed and hung up the phone. My telephone conversations with Kenzie were always short. We never really talked much on the phone, preferring to wait until we saw each other to really talk. It was probably because I'm not really used to talking on the phone. I really only talk to Kenzie and my grandparents, since no one else I knew used phones. I was glad that Kenzie was coming with us shopping, though. She always made shopping trips interesting to say the least. I sighed and looked around at my room until my eyes came to rest on the clock. It was still early, too early to go to bed. The days spent at my grandparents' house were always incredibly boring. Cinda was sure to rope me into getting ready for the party, but that probably wouldn't start for a couple days. I'm somewhat curious as to what theme Cinda was planning for this party, but not enough to actually go ask her. After a few more minutes of thinking about the next day's activities, I dug a book out of my bag and sat down on my bed to read. I quickly became lost in the story and didn't even know how late it became until Richard and Cinda came in to say good night. By then it was nearly eleven and I decided to attempt to go to sleep. I never sleep well the night of the full moon. I think it's mainly due to curiosity about what goes on at my house, but I worry as well. My worrying doesn't even come close to Mum's, though. Mum and Dad have never really explained what happens these nights, so I don't entirely understand her worrying. Sure, I know the basics of what goes on, but nothing more than you would read in a book. Mum never fully answers my questions about it and even Dad seems keen on keeping me in the dark. What their reasons for not telling me anything about it are, I have no idea. So I lay awake every full moon, until I fall asleep out of sheer boredom. I was not exactly sure when I fell asleep that night, but it must have been sometime after three in the morning. I pried my eyes open at half past nine the next morning to the sound of Cinda yelling at me to get up. Despite my late sleeping, I was incredibly exhausted. This is so unlike me, I thought as I got up off the bed. I quickly threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, which would surely send Cinda into a tizzy as soon as she saw them. I ran a brush through my hair and put it up in my standard ponytail, and then ran down to the kitchen. My grandparents were both eating bowls of cereal and drinking coffee when I entered the room a few minutes later. Richard was still in his pajamas, which wasn't surprising since he wasn't joining us on our shopping excursion. Cinda was the complete opposite, dressed in an expensive green pants suit with her hair perfectly styled. "Oh Amy," Cinda shook her head as I poured myself a bowl of Cheerios, "Can't you wear something a bit more, sophisticated?" "Would you rather I wear robes, Cinda?" I grinned mischievously at her. "R-robes?" Cinda visibly paled. "No, I was thinking more along the lines of a skirt and blouse." I gave her a look, "You're lucky you're getting me into a dress for this party. I'm wearing this when we go shopping." I gestured to the outfit I had on. "Fine," Cinda muttered and took a sip of her coffee. I smiled to myself as I ate my brekky, looking out the window at the cloudy sky. Richard and Cinda's kitchen had a wonderful view of their backyard. The entire yard was surrounded by tall trees, but not a bush like at my house. These trees were planted there years ago by whoever built the house. They are to provide privacy, Cinda told me when I was four or five, not for you to climb. Contained inside the perimeter of trees are two tennis courts and an in ground swimming pool. The pool has a load of landscaping around it in order to make it look like a natural pond. I'm really not sure why it was done that way, since there is a real koi pond not ten meters from the pool. Swimming is not allowed in the koi pond, as I found out when I was seven. I did enjoy my brief swim with the koi, though. A loud bell jolted me out of my day dreaming and I jumped up and ran over to the intercom. I pushed the button and shouted into it, "Hello?" "Amy! It's Kenzie! Let me in!" Kenzie shouted back. I grinned and pushed another button, which opened the gates at the bottom of the driveway. "We'll be leaving now, Amy, since Kenzie is here," Cinda got up from her place and gave Richard a kiss on top of his bald head, "See you later, Richard." "Have fun, girls," he smiled at us. Kenzie opened the door to the Entrance Hall and walked in just as Cinda and I left the kitchen. "Kenzie!" I shrieked and ran over to her, giving her a big hug. "Amy!" she hugged me back. "Holy crap, you've gotten tall!" "Yeah, I grew about four inches since I last saw you," I laughed. "Geez, you're almost as tall as me," Kenzie replied. "You're not a shrimp anymore." Up until a few months ago, I had always been kind of short. Then I went through a growth spurt and am no longer the shortest person in my year at school. I hated being so short and Mum always told me to be patient and I would eventually catch up. She was short as a kid, too, and then she caught up to everyone else. Kenzie has always been tall. She was always at least a head taller than me when we were little, but now I'm just a couple inches shorter. He hair is extremely curly and is brown to match her eyes. Kenzie's features may be average, but her personality is anything but. "I was never a shrimp," I told her. "You were a giraffe." "Was not," Kenzie insisted, "And you were short." "Oh, fine, I was short. But you are tall." "C'mon, girls," Cinda interrupted, "You're both shorter than me, so it doesn't matter." Cinda threw open the doors and started walking haughtily down the steps. Kenzie and I giggled as we followed her to the garage. Cinda unlocked the doors of her black BMW and got into the driver's seat while Kenzie and I climbed in the back. Riding in cars is another thing I only do at Richard and Cinda's. My parents don't own any cars and they really don't need any. "I always feel rich when I ride in this," Kenzie commented as she sat down on the black leather seat. "To the mall, Driver!" I rolled my eyes at her and watched the scenery as we turned off the driveway and onto the road. "So what's new at your fancy school?" Kenzie asked eagerly. "Not much," I replied, "Passed everything and am glad to be home, although Mum is getting on my nerves already." "Your mum is just too strict, no offense." "None taken," I replied, "I agree, she is too strict. I wish she was more like your mum." "Yeah, my Mum is pretty cool. But I have four siblings to deal with, so that kind of off-sets it." "Are they driving you mad again?" "Of course, they always do. They keep going through my stuff all the time. Especially Morgan," Kenzie groaned. Morgan is her twelve-year-old sister she has to share a room with. "At least you only have one brother, and he's so quiet anyway." "Trust me, you don't want to have to deal with my brother," I sighed, wishing I could tell her the truth about my brother. "We should trade families for a week or something," Kenzie joked. "You'd be begging for your crazy siblings after living with my mum for a week," I told her. "Amy, pick up your stuff! Amy, be quiet you'll wake up your brother! Amy, don't climb over the wall!" I mocked. "Amy, don't make fun of your mother," Cinda warned. Kenzie was laughing hysterically, "My mum does that, too, especially the don't wake up your brother one. Anyway, did you get anything good for Chrissie?" "Oh, yeah, I got the telescope I wanted!" "That's great!" Kenzie grinned, "I got a bunch of art supplies and clothes." "That's good. I got clothes, too. Plus an iPod." "Finally!" Kenzie laughed, "I've been telling you to get one for ages. Do you have any music on it?" "Er, no," I replied. Life would be so much easier if I could just tell Kenzie that I was a witch. "Well, come over to my house after this and we'll put some on it," Kenzie announced. "Sure, if this doesn't take all day." A few minutes later, Cinda pulled the car over to the side of the road in front of an expensive looking boutique. The place had a pink awning with 'Lisa Mae Libere's Fashions' written in gold script atop it. I rolled my eyes as I got out of the car. I could tell already that I wouldn't find a single dress I would like at this place. "Hello, lacy pink dress," Kenzie muttered as we followed Cinda into the shop. The store was small, with bright lighting and soft classical music playing in the background. The walls and floor were both white, although the walls were mostly covered by dress displays and mirrors. A skinny, short saleslady approached us as soon as we walked in. "Mrs. Bailey!" she greeted us, "How nice to see you again!" "You, too, Kadre," Cinda smiled at her. "What brings you here today?" "I'm hosting a party this New Year's Eve and my granddaughter," Cinda gestured to me, "Is in need of a dress. I was hoping you still have that pale pink one with the beads embroidered onto it that was in the display the other day?" "Oh, yes, we still have that one! I'll get it and bring it into the fitting room." Kadre smiled and walked to a rack that was in the middle of the store. "Come along, girls," Cinda started walking towards the back of the store. Kenzie and I followed. "She seems...perky," Kenzie whispered to me. "I'll say," I replied. I knew that Cinda frequents this store a lot and have been here a few times, but I have never met Kadre before. Cinda, Kenzie, and I entered one of the large fitting rooms and waited for Kadre to return. When she came back, her arms were laden with not only the dress Cinda was talking about, but a few other colors, too. "Here's the pink one," Kadre held it up. The sight of it made me want to gag. It was the exact same color of my walls at Cinda's house. There were beads and sparkles all over it, with their intensity gradually increasing towards the bottom. The straps were thin with silver stitching. I groaned inwardly. "I also brought a few other colors," Kadre gestured to a pale blue, mint green, and bright red versions of it. "I like the red," I announced. "It's too bright," Cinda replied immediately. "I like it too," Kenzie agreed. "Try on the pink," Cinda held it up to me. I took it and pulled it on. Both Cinda and Kadre immediately pronounced it 'charming' and cooed over how beautiful I looked in it. Kenzie was sitting on a nearby chair and I could tell she was trying not to laugh. She was probably very happy that I was the one trying on dresses and not her. I tried on the blue, green, and red ones after the pink one. Cinda and Kadre agreed that the pink one looked best, but I wanted the red. I absolutely detested the style, but I love red. If I am going to have to wear a fancy dress to this party, I want it to be red. "I'll take the red one," I said adamantly after I changed back into my clothes. "The pink looks better," Cinda insisted, "You'll wear the pink one." "Cinda," I began, "I don't even want to wear a dress. If it were up to me, I'd wear what I'm wearing now to your party. That, or my school uniform," I smirked at her. "All right, fine!" Cinda relented, "You can get the red one. Now let's go look for shoes." Kenzie gave me a questioning look as we left the small room and headed over to the shoe section. "She gave in pretty easily." "She hates my school uniform and knows that I would probably show up in it if she bought me that pink dress," I explained. The thought of wearing robes to Cinda's party made me want to laugh out loud. All the explaining she'd have to do to her Muggle friends.... Cinda and Kadre spent nearly an hour mulling over the choices for shoes. Kenzie and I became so bored with it that we decided to stand in the display windows and pretend to be mannequins. Then we would startle passersby by suddenly moving. "Stop that, Amy!" Cinda scolded us once she noticed. "We've found shoes for you." "Great," I climbed off the display and sat down. Cinda pulled out a pair of strappy red sandals with a two inch heel. I tried them on, walked around a little bit, and told her I would wear them. By then I would have agreed to just about anything, considering how bored I was. Cinda paid for my outfit and we finally left the boutique. I was thrilled to be done with shopping, although I still had to endure the party. At least the dress was a decent color. I don't think I could have tolerated wearing that pink dress. Kenzie and I ran up to my room as soon as we got back to Richard and Cinda's house, grabbed my iPod, and went back to her house to put music on it. Kenzie's house was as chaotic as ever and we had to wait a good half hour for Morgan to get off the computer so we could use it. I didn't mind since I didn't really care if I got music on my iPod or not. Once we were on the computer, Kenzie did most of the work since I was clueless as to how to download music. I was just happy to be at Kenzie's house and not at my grandparents'. Kenzie's house felt so homey and comfortable to me. I couldn't really explain it, but I was more comfortable there than at Richard and Cinda's. My grandparents' house felt so empty, probably because it was so big for only a couple people. I wound up spending the night at Kenzie's house, forgetting for the first time in days the things my parents were obviously keeping from me.
salemboy Joined: 20 May 2008 Posts: 1762 Location: Enjoying being a Senior whilst my friends merely become Juniors.	Posted: Saturday 2 August 2008 11 57 02 pm    Post subject: Re: Next Generation 2 in topic:Next Generation 2 Damien left the table as he felt his hunger begin to overpower him. He needed to get away from the food. He walked out of the castle onto the grounds and watched as Suge attemted to climb the whomping willow. It was amusing to watch as the tree shook violently, trying to fling the small monkey to the ground. Damien heard somebody walk behind him. He pulled out his wand and turned, directing it at the person. Damien lowered his wand when he saw it was Ryu. "I thought the Order had told me to come here," Damien said in a low voice. "They did," Ryu replied. "And they wish for you to stay here. I just came here to give you something and tell you something." "And?" Damien asked. "I have this." Ryu pulled out a potions vest from a mokeskin bag he was wearing around his neck. "The order heard about what happened to yours, so they told me to give you this one. It's fully stocked, already, and they added in magical barriers between each vial holder so that if the vials break, the potions won't mix." "Thanks," Damien said as he put the vest over his t-shirt. It fit nicely. "Now, what is it you wanted to tell me?" "It's bad. There's been a breakout at Oni prison." Damien nearly dropped his wand when he heard this. "Who broke out?" "Yuta Tanuki, Ushione Buta, Ouki Kaba, Nagai Neko, and Chi Inu all broke out." "Is that all?" "Damien, you know they'll come after you, but the Order thinks that they won't. Damien, you can't stay here. You know they'll target you and whoever you're with." Damien remembered the group of five. For over a year, they'd terrorized Japan, until Damien was able to lead the Japanese ministry to them. The five had fought a great fight against the ministry, killing many, but eventually, Damien was able to take them down, and get them locked up. It had been when Damien was only eighteen, and it had been the reason why he decided he wanted to be an auror. "Listen, Ryu. I need to stay here. They won't be able to find me here. Ok? It is as Hagrid has told several, Hogwarts is the safest place for anything. Also, I feel the need to stay here and watch over these people. They just went through a great tragedy, and they need all the help they can get." Ryu then said in an enraged voice, "You staying here is going to cause another tragedy, and get them killed!" Then Ryu stormed away angrily. Damien suddenly felt a surge of doubt. What if Ryu was right? Why was he even here? He hardly even knew these people, and he felt like he needed to be here. He knew it wasn't because the order had assigned him to do it, but then what was it? He scratched Suge as the monkey climbed onto his shoulder. "I need to see Hagrid," He said to nobody in particular.