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Paul Joined: 4 November 2001 Posts: 2958 Location: Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, England	Posted: Tuesday 28 October 2008 07 41 15 pm    Post subject: Volume 3 Chapter 4 in topic:Volume 3 Chapter 4 [i]I am Become Death[/i] opens in Mohinder's Loft. His rash is getting worse. Mohinder hears screaming from a neighborng apartment and goes to investigate. A guy there tells Mohinder to back off in an abusive way, at which Mohinder hits him with his newly aquired strength. Tracey is told that she was one of 3 identical triplets, herself, Nikki and Baba. When their birth parents died the 3 triplets were separated and DNA manipulation was performed on them. Tracey asks the doctor to take her ability away but he can't. In Africa, Matt has a vision of the future... The two Peters have arrived in New York 4 years in the future - it looks like today with one big difference - people are zooming and flying around. Abilities are available to everyone by injection. Future Peter tells his younger self that so many people with abilities can't be trusted with abilities - they can be the weapon of choice. Someone from younger-Peter's time is putting togetrher a formula that gives people abilities - he has to stop them. Future Peter tells his younger self that he needs to find Silar - with his ability he won't make the same mistakes as Future-Peter has done. He explains that In the past some were born like this, some were made - lines were drawn and sides were chosen. As he is speaking, Claire shoots him, accompanied by the Haitian. Younger Peter runs. Ando and Hiro are incarcerated on Level 2 of Primatech. Hiro spots a vent as a possible escape but Ando thinks Hiro is still upset that future-Ando murders Future-Hiro. Hiro says he is. Nathan is trying to work out how he is seeing Linderman and what Linderman wants. Maya wants to take Mohinder out in the fresh air outside but Mohinder snaps at her saying he is working for her - trying to take away her ability. Mohinder fears his aggression and what he is becoming. We fast forward 4 years to the future, Younger Peter has arrived at Mohinder's loft. Mohinder is covered in a hood and explains he got the formula wrong. Peter looks into Mohonder's thoughts to find where Silar is - he's at the Bennett hous in Costa Verde. Peter teleports there to find....a pleasant Gabriel (not calling himself Silar any more) cooking waffles for Gabriel's son. Gabriel tells Peter they are brothers, and that his ability isn't just knowing how things work, it comes with a terrble hunger. Gabriel doesn't want to condemn Peter to this but Peter asks Silar to see for himself what is to come by painting the future. Still in the future, Daphne is at home with Matt, Mollie and Matt & Daphne's young baby. Daphne wants Matt to let Mollie find where Peter is. Later, oustide the aparment, Daphne tells Claire and the black guy who escaped from Level 5 (sorry, I don't know his name yet) that Peter is in Costa Verde. Back at the Bennett House, Gabriel's has painted the world being split in two! He gives Peter his watch and explains if Peter wants to know how to access his ability he should fix the watch. Peter does, and acquires Gabriel's ability . Claire, Daphne and Level 5 guy arrive. In the middle of a scuffle, Gabriel's son is accidentally killed. Gabriel is so distraught that he is unable to control himself, and goes nuclear, destroying all of Costa Verde in an atomic explosion. Ando succeeds in opening the vent but tells Hiro to escape on his own. As Hiro is trying to make it into the vent, the Haitian appears. Tracey tries to turn herself in for killing the reporter, but her phone freezes before she can tell the police. Mohinder realises he can't reverse the process which is changing him, or remove Maya's ability just as a there's a knock on the door. It's the abusive guy that Mohinder hit earlier. He hits Mohinder but Mohinder pulls him inside... Tracey hands in her resignation to Nathan. She knows what she has to do now. Linderman tells Nathan he must help her. Tracey throws herself off a bridge but Nathan flies in and catches her. Later, Tracey shows Nathan her freezing ability. They kiss..... Fast forwarding to the future, President Nathan Petrelli and First Lady, Tracey are talking to the press conference about Costa Verde's destruction. In some kind of medical laboratory, future-Claire starts to torture younger Peter with a knife she wants him to feel the pain of every death of the 200,000 people who died in Costa Verde. Nathan enters and asks for a moment alone with Peter. Nathan has seen the paintings of the world spliting and heard the dreams - he knows what's going on but doesn't think that one man can save the world.It's everyone's responsibilty. Nathan mentions an army of abilities and that congress has agreed to full proliferation. Nathan asks Peter to read his mind. Peter undrestands nathan's intentions and that he blieves he is doing the right thing but says that Nathan is wrong - Silar's abilities are at work in Peter now and he throws Nathan against a wall...Peter needs to understand....he cuts Nathan's head open in the way Silar used to. Shocked at what he has done and hearing knocking on the door from outside, Peter teleports back to the present day and Sylar's cell in Level 5. Peter tells Sylar he has been to the future and has taken Silar's abilities but would never let himself become Silar. Silar says he already is. Matt and Molly are watching a news report in the futire about Costa Verde when ther's a knock on the door. Daphne has arrived back home alive but she was too slow. With radiation burns on her back, she collapses into Matts arms, just like in the picture that Matts African frond had drawn. Matt wakes up in the present. He wants to find Daphne. His African friend tells him he must find his Totem - a spirit guide who will lead him on his journey - it's usually an animal. Matt spots the turtle that he saw when first waking from his collapsed state when his African friend found him. Angela has brought Hiro and Ando to see her. She wants to know where Kyto's part of the formula is...it can turn people like Ando into people like Hiro and Angela. Angela tells Hiro that someone hidden and powerful is manipulating them. Hiro has the key to unlocking the mystery. Later, in a dark cemetary, Hiro and Ando dig up the coffin that Hiro had put Kensei/Adam in. Adam wakes up and grabs Hiro's neck... ----------------------- Woow, a brilliant and packed chapter! I loved the good Gabriel being a responsible waffle-cooking father, and taking care of Mr Muggles. How will Peter control the hunger that his newly acquire Silar-ability though? Future-Claire is scary! How has she become so mean? What she was doing to Peter with that knife before Nathan walked in was just evil...whatevermay have happened to make her that way, Peter didn't deserve that, especially younger-Peter who has always looked out for her since he realised Claire was his neice. Is Future-Nathan dead? He certainly didn' t look very healthy but Peter didn't cut his head entirely off so maybe he's still alive. I quite like Nathan, but what was he talking about "Full Proliferation"? Is he creating some kind of army of people with abilities? Hee hee - Matt may have a long journey with his newly found spirit-guide. Adam he may have had a flawed idea of how to save the world but I think trapping him forever in a coffin was a bit nasty of Hiro. It's nice to see Adam being freed before going totally mad in such a confined and alone place, and good that I don't have to feel Hiro has kept him trapped that way forever.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2090 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Sunday 26 October 2008 06 13 07 pm    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind Thanks, Obladi! I'm sure your writing skills are fine! Questions, comments, and general reviews are always appreciated. Chapter 30: Wizard's Finger Print Throughout the rest of the month, Rose continued to make progress on the Sileo Altus charm, and by the time April rolled around, she was confident in her ability to perform it. Albus wished the same could be said for the progress with finding out how to prove to the map that he and his friends were like the Marauders. Albus spent every waking moment that he wasn't doing homework, attending Quidditch practice, or dueling practice, in the library trying to find out a spell or charm that would work. His efforts were fruitless, though, because he still hadn't found anything promising. Albus also had another successful dueling tournament. He won both of his duels as did Malfoy, but their team still hadn't won. Albus was beginning to doubt whether they'd ever win. Albus's next Quidditch match was the first Saturday in April. He found himself distracted by the map even before he entered the changing room. They were playing Ravenclaw, and it was hard to tell who had the better team, Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. Albus pushed thoughts of the map from his head as he walked into the changing room. Georgia gave the team the usual pep talk, which this time included telling them that if they won this match, they'd be in the final. If Ravenclaw got less than 180 points, then they might not make it to the final. Georgia didn't particularly care who they played in the final, just so long as they won. The match went smoothly, in Albus's opinion. Much better than the previous match, in which Albus got sick partway through. The weather was better for this match as well. Albus managed to keep from thinking about the map, which was good since it was a very high-scoring match for both sides and Albus was constantly being thrown the Quaffle. After only an hour of play, James went into a dive and caught the Snitch, right out from under one of the Ravenclaw beater's broom. The usual party in the common room ensued after the students returned to the castle, but Albus wasn't really interested in it. Now that the match was over, all he could think about was trying out the Sileo Altus charm on Kaden. Albus figured the best time to do it would be in the evening and the best place would be the Room. Shortly after Rose had succeeded in performing the charm on John, Matt had reluctantly given into trying it with Kaden. His only condition was first trying it with a harmless secret, and if that worked, to move onto the bigger one. "Are we doing it tonight?" John asked as he sipped his butterbeer. "Yeah," Albus whispered back, "After dinner." The rest of the afternoon and dinner seemed to go by at an alarmingly slow rate. Time seemed to go by much like it did in History of Magic. "Kaden," Albus said after they had finished eating, "We're not going to the common room now. We're going to show you a different room in the castle, one you've never seen." "Excellent," Kaden grinned, "What kind of room?" "You'll see when we get there," Albus replied. "Let's go." Kaden followed Albus and his friends through the castle, with a constant stream of questions that Albus ignored. "Are you sure this is going to work?" Matt whispered nervously as they stopped in front of the blank space of wall where the Room of Requirement was. "Yes," Rose assured him, "It will work." Matt nodded and started pacing in front of the wall. "Why did we stop?" Kaden asked, and then his eyes popped out of his head as he saw the door appear from nowhere. "Wicked." "C'mon," Albus said as he opened the door. "What is this place?" Kaden asked in awe. "Room of Requirement," Albus told him, "Room that gives you what you need." "I can't believe you didn't show me this yet!" "Well, it's not something we want you to tell anyone about." "I won't," Kaden said, "So it'll give me anything I ask it for? I think I want an entire cake...." "It doesn't do food," Rose explained. "Oh, well, it's still brilliant." "Kaden, come sit down," Albus told his cousin. "You're all so quiet," Kaden said as he took a seat on the couch next to Albus, "What's going on?" "Well," Albus began, "We're going to test something. Rose found a charm that's supposed to make someone not be able to tell other people's secrets. If it works, we're going to tell you a bunch of stuff and you won't be able to tell anyone." "What are you going to tell me?" Kaden asked excitedly. "We have to make sure the charm works first," Albus sighed, "Which is why we're here. Rose is going to perform the charm, using your knowledge of this room as the secret. If you haven't told anyone by next Saturday, we'll tell you the rest of it." "Fine," Kaden sighed, "I can't believe you won't tell me without this charm." "Um, Kaden, you've told Malfoy stuff I told you not to tell anyone," Albus reminded him. "That wasn't my fault!" "I know, but we're not risking this. If you want to know the secrets, you'll have to have Rose do the charm." "Ok, ok, I'll do it," Kaden said. "Good," Rose smiled, "Now let's get started." It took Rose about ten minutes to perform the charm. Kaden was thoroughly amazed by the charm and Rose's ability to perform it. "Let's test it," Rose decided once they left the Room. She pointed to a girl who was walking towards them. "Go tell her about the Room." Kaden shrugged and ran up to the girl, who looked to be around Kaden's age and was in Hufflepuff. "Er," Kaden began, "So there's this place-" Kaden turned around and looked confusedly at Albus, then turned back to the girl. "Anyway, at this place, you can-" "What's wrong with you?" the girl asked, trying to cover up her giggling. "Are you ok?" "Fine, fine," Kaden muttered, "Never mind." Kaden ran back to Albus and the others, blushing furiously. "It worked, but now everyone's going to think I'm an idiot." Albus laughed, "No they won't. But that's good that it worked." "Yeah," Kaden grinned, "Definitely worth it." ****** Albus kept a close eye on Kaden throughout the next week. As far as he could tell, his cousin didn't tell anyone about the Room of Requirement. They tested the charm a few more times, telling Kaden to tell someone about it, but Kaden was never able to. Albus was fully convinced that the Sileo Altus charm was a success. Kaden was positively beaming by the time Saturday arrived. Albus was kind of excited as well, because they would officially have Wormtail in their group of new Marauders. John, Rose, and Amanda were excited as well. The only thing left to do after this would be to find a way to prove to the map that they were like the Marauders. Matt didn't seem excited at all. He was clearly nervous about telling Kaden that he was a werewolf. It probably didn't help that the full moon was only a few days away. Albus couldn't really blame Matt for his nerves, but Albus was sure the charm would continue to work. After dinner, Albus led his friends back to the Room of Requirement, with the new Map in his robes. "Ok, what's the secret?" Kaden said as he bounced around the Room once they were inside. "You've got to sit down first," Albus told him. "And Matt's going to tell you the first one." "Oh!" A look of comprehension appeared on Kaden's face. "Is this about how you get sick every month?" "Yes," Matt sighed. "And this is what you don't want Malfoy to know about?" "Yes," Matt said shortly, "Now just let me tell you what it is." "Sorry," Kaden muttered. "It's ok," Matt said, "First, you can't tell anyone this. I mean, don't even try to test the charm like we've been doing all week. You can't even try to tell anyone this. Never mention it to anyone except us." "I won't," Kaden said. "Good. Now, you know that werewolves are real, right?" Kaden nodded, "What does that have to do with you getting sick?" "Everything," Matt said quietly, "I am a werewolf." "What?!" Kaden shouted, "That is the coolest thing ever!" "No it's not," Matt sighed, "You don't even really know what happens when I turn into a werewolf." Kaden shrugged, "I've seen movies." "It's not like that," Matt told him, "I get sick a few days before the full moon, and then the night of the full moon, I turn into a wolf and bite myself because there's nothing else for me to bite." "Oh," Kaden deflated, "So where do you go when you turn into a wolf?" "A shack in Hogsmeade." "The Shrieking Shack?" "Yes, that," Matt replied, "I'm the one who does the shrieking." "Now that is cool," Kaden grinned. "How long have you been a werewolf?" "Since I was five." "That's a long time," Kaden said. "Most of my life," Matt explained, "It's horrible, really." "And that's the big secret?" Kaden asked, "Why can't anyone know that?" "Because most wizards don't like werewolves," Matt explained. "Well that's stupid." "Yeah, it is, but it's reality." "But why isn't there a spell to make you not a werewolf anymore? Or a potion?" "Magic doesn't fix everything," Matt sighed. "Yeah, that's what I've been trying tell you for the whole year," Albus pointed out. "But why?" "Dunno," Matt shrugged, "But there is a potion, called the Wolfsbane Potion, that's supposed to make it so you keep your human mind when you turn into a wolf. So you don't want to attack anyone or yourself." "Why don't you take that?" Kaden asked. "I do," Matt told him, "Actually, I take a different variety than most werewolves take. For some reason, Wolfsbane doesn't work for me. I'm in this study at St. Mungo's to figure out why and right now they've got me taking a new kind of Wolfsbane." "Does it work?" "Uh, no," Matt replied, "That's kind of why I still bite myself every full moon." "Oh," Kaden said. "So someday they might find a potion that will work?" Matt shrugged, "Maybe. But I'm not getting my hopes up." "So I'll be charmed not to say anything about this?" Kaden asked after a few moments of silence. "Yes," Albus replied, pulling the new map out of his robes, "And about this." Albus spent the next half hour showing Kaden the new map. Kaden thought it was the best thing he had seen yet at Hogwarts and couldn't wait for it to completely work. "So we need you to represent Peter Pettigrew," Albus said after he'd finished explaining about the map. "Peter Pettigrew?" Kaden raised his eyebrows, "That evil bloke who betrayed your grandparents?" "Er, yes," Albus sighed. "You know my mum wanted to name me Peter, but Dad said no because he didn't want me to have the same name as that idiot," Kaden commented, "So it's my middle name." "Perfect," John grinned, "You even sort of share his name." "Will you do it?" Albus asked. "I guess so," Kaden said slowly, "I mean, it's not like I'm going to be like Pettigrew now." "No," Albus agreed, "But you have to be sort of like him for it to work. And you are because you've sort of got the same name." Kaden shrugged, "I guess. Anyway, when are you going to get the map to work?" "Whenever we figure out how to prove to it that we're like the Marauders. Somehow we've got to show the map that we are similar to the Marauders," Albus explained, "Which is taking forever." "Oh, you mean like a finger print?" Kaden asked. "What?" Albus asked. "You know, a finger print. Everyone's is different, but your finger print is similar to your relatives. It's how Muggle cops find people and stuff when they're missing. And how they identify bodies." "A finger print!" Rose exclaimed, "That's it! I can't believe I didn't think of it!" "What are you talking about?" John asked. "Kaden just said everyone's is different. So how will ours be like the Marauders'?" "Not Muggle finger prints," Rose said, "Wizard ones. There's a spell to get your Wizard's Finger Print. It reveals your name, relatives, even your personality." "That's kind of scary," Albus said, "Anyone can find that stuff out if they've got your finger print?" "Yeah," Rose shrugged, "But I think it will work for this." "Hope so," Albus grinned. He couldn't believe that Kaden had actually given Rose an idea about the map. Kaden had helped with it. If this finger print thing worked, they could have the map figured out in no time. "We'll look for it tomorrow," Rose stood up and drew her wand, "Now let's do the charm." Albus nodded, feeling more excited than he had in months. They were so close, he could just feel it. The map would be working soon. Of course, there was a nagging doubt in Albus's gut that was telling him that there would be something to figure out even after the finger print thing. ****** "What are you going to sign up for?" John asked as he glanced over the parchment all the second years had received just a minute earlier. "Dunno," Albus shrugged, "What about you, Matt?" "Care of Magical Creatures," Matt replied, "Not sure what else." "I'll do that one, too," Albus decided and wrote it down on his parchment. "Hagrid teaches it, so it'll be fun." "Sign me up," John said, "I could use with a fun class." "You ought to think about what will be useful in your future careers," Rose told them. "But I've got no idea what I want to do," John said. Albus had no idea either. He hadn't really thought about it. He thought being an Auror would be a good job, but he wasn't sure that that was what he wanted to do. He still had five years at Hogwarts anyway, why decide now? "Me either," Amanda agreed, "I think I'll do Care of Magical Creatures, too." "I'm taking Muggle Studies," Rose announced, "Plus Arithmancy and Ancient Runes." "All three?" John asked, "But we only have to take two." "Yeah, but I want to take all of them. I'd really like to take Care of Magical Creatures, too, but there's not enough time." "Maybe I'll do Divination," John shrugged. Rose snorted, "Divination? Mum says that shouldn't even be a subject. There's no real learning involved." "But is it easy?" John asked. "Uncle Ron said all you've got to do is make up predictions about your death if you've got Trelawney," Albus explained. "Excellent," John scribbled onto his parchment, "I'll take that and hope I've got Trelawney." "I'm taking that, too," Amanda said, "It actually sounds interesting." "Fine," Rose sighed, "But I still say it's not really a subject." "Maybe I'll do Ancient Runes," Albus thought aloud, "I think it's easier than Arithmancy. What about you, Matt? What else do you think you'll take?" "Ancient Runes sounds good," Matt yawned, "I guess I'll take that. Amy took it. She hated it in Australia, but she said it's better here." "I'd take everything," Kaden announced, "I couldn't decide." "You can't take everything," Rose laughed, "You'd have to be in two places at once." "Oh, well I'm pretty sure that's impossible," Kaden sighed. Albus turned and grinned at Rose, who grinned back. Albus could only imagine Kaden's reaction to a time-turner. "Yeah, the most classes you can take is three," Rose explained. "Then I'll take three," Kaden decided. "Are you lot done choosing classes?" Rose asked as she stood up, "We'd better get to Transfiguration." Albus spent the entire Transfiguration class trying to turn his plate into a bowl, and had almost managed to do it by the time the class was over. Rose, of course, did it within ten minutes and spent the remainder of the class helping Albus and the rest of their friends. History of Magic was as boring as ever. Matt slept the entire class, and Albus felt himself nod off a few times. Matt had seemed very tired in Transfiguration and probably would have fallen asleep in that class if it weren't for the fact that it was a practical lesson. This wasn't surprising considering the fact that the full moon was the next day. The Healers still hadn't found something to counteract the side effect of extreme fatigue of the new Wolfsbane that Matt was on. Double Potions was after lunch, and Albus felt drowsy as soon as he walked into the room. This was odd since he had felt fine a moment before. He didn't seem to be the only one who felt this either. Both John and Amanda yawned as soon as they sat down, and even Rose's eyes drooped a bit as she pulled out her parchment. Matt laid his head down on the desk and fell immediately asleep. "Good afternoon, everyone!" Slughorn said, "Now, I'm sure you're all feeling a bit tired, which is perfectly normal. "This," Slughorn gestured to a smoking cauldron on his desk, "Is Drowsiness Potion. All it takes is one whiff of this potion to put you into a state of fatigue. If you drink it, you'll fall into an almost sleep-like state for about a half hour. Of course, you'd know this if you did the reading that was due today." Albus remembered being assigned the reading, but he hadn't done it. He had just been too busy with Quidditch practice, dueling practice, and all his other homework. "You will be trying to brew this today, but you will only do half of it," Slughorn announced, "It needs to simmer for about a week before you can complete it. Instructions are on the board. Work with your usual partners." Albus yawned and got up from his table. He joined Limbert at his table and lit the fire under the cauldron while Limbert collected ingredients. The entire class was moving at a slower pace than usual, and everyone was yawning every few minutes. It was kind of strange. Nobody was arguing with their partners either. Albus wondered if Slughorn had picked this particular potion for a reason. The past week, a duel had broken out between John and Goyle, resulting in both of them being sent to the Hospital Wing for burns and then being assigned a week's worth of detention. Limbert returned wit the ingredients and he and Albus started to prepare them, without exchanging any conversation. No different than usual. Albus dumped some ingredients into the cauldron and began to stir it. He watched Matt and Malfoy as he did so. Malfoy had returned with ingredients and was prodding Matt with his wand to get him to wake up. "What are you doing?" Albus whispered to Malfoy. "Waking him up," Malfoy said. "Wha-what's going on?" Matt lifted up his head. "Chop up those cherry roots," Malfoy instructed. Albus was surprised with how calm Malfoy seemed. Matt nodded and picked up his knife. Albus went back to stirring his potion. "Professor!" Malfoy said after a few minutes. "He keeps falling asleep." Albus looked up from the beetle eyes he was mincing. Matt was once again asleep on the table. "Ah," Slughorn waddled over to Matt and Malfoy's table, "The Drowsiness Potion affects everyone differently." Slughorn shook Matt's shoulder. "Dear boy, you might want to go to the Hospital Wing. I don't think the fumes from this potion are agreeing with you. They're not supposed to put you into a deep sleep." Matt nodded and stood up. He stumbled and leaned back onto the desk. "Albus," Slughorn turned to Albus, "Perhaps you could escort him. I'm sure Mr. Limbert can handle your potion." "All right," Albus laid down his knife and went over to where Matt was standing. Albus grabbed his arm and led him out of the room. Albus felt immediately better as soon as they shut the door. The drowsiness went away completely. "I've got to sit down," Matt mumbled and sat down on the floor. "Are you all right?" Albus asked, sitting down next to him. "I dunno," Matt shrugged, "I'm guessing that that potion just made me even more tired than I already am." "Do you feel better now?" Albus asked. "Not really," Matt replied. "Then you'd better get to the Hospital Wing." "Yeah, I suppose." Madam Pomfrey wanted Matt to stay for the rest of the afternoon. Albus wasn't even sure if she'd let him leave at all before the full moon. Knowing the nurse, she probably wouldn't. Matt never came back from the Hospital Wing that night, so Albus assumed Madam Pomfrey was keeping him there until after the full moon. Albus and the rest of his friends decided that as soon as Matt was out of the Hospital Wing, they would start looking for the Wizard's Finger Print charm. Rose was pretty sure she had seen it in the library somewhere, but she couldn't remember where. That meant that they would spend hours scouring the entire library for it. This was in addition to all the extra studying they had to do now that the end of term exams were less than two months away. Albus just hoped they'd be able to figure out the map before school was over. It would be pointless to figure it out during the summer, when they wouldn't even be able to use it.
Paul Joined: 4 November 2001 Posts: 2958 Location: Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, England	Posted: Wednesday 15 October 2008 12 43 36 pm    Post subject: Heroes Series 3 Chapter 2 in topic:Heroes Series 3 Chapter 2 Heroes Season 3. Chapter 2, [b]The Butterfly Effect[/b] Starts with Claire discussing Silar's break in with her mother. Claire's mum notices that there's a shard of glassin Claire's hand but Claire didn'y realise it was there as she couldn't feel the pain. We see into a dream that Angla is having, in which Hiro is sat dead on the floor, with his Kensei sword stuck in him. Matt's throat is cut, Clare is being attacked, her Dad lying already dead on the floor. The next thing we see is Claire's lifeless and headless body being pulled away from her severed head. Angela rurns to see what appear to be the perpetrators, including Nikki Sanders (or Traky Strauss), Matt's Dad and two others. Behind Angela appears Silar, at which point Angelsa wakes up. Later at Peter's apartment Angela tells Peteerr she had another dream and that he should go back to where he came from. "It's called the Butterfly Effect" she explains. Angela tells him that Claire listened to Peter when he told her not to go to Odessa, and had a pretty bad day because of it. In Manhattan, Maya finds Suresh hanging from the rafters, using his new powers of hightened strength and energy. He crawls up the wall and explains that if he can give powers he can find how to take them away. Mohinder and Maya then get much more close. Matt continues to walk through the desert and collapses exhausted. A video of Silar being shot is being watched by Bob and Elle. Bob tells Elle that Elle is letting him and herself down. At Yamagoto industries, fingerprints have been found of Speedster-girls and her name, Daphne milbrook is identified by detectives Tracy Strauss talks the Geovernor (Bruce Boxleitner) into choosing Nathan for a place on the Senate. Whist leaving, a reporter confronts Tracy about Nikki's past stripping days. Tracy explains that's not her. Claire tries to thro herself in front of a train but issaved by a flying Peter - she explains she just needed to feel somethin and tells Peter about Silar taking her powers. Peter tells Caire it was his fault and it nevershould have happened. Claire asks for Peter's help to teach her about her powers but Peter can't help as something could go wrong. Tracy meets with Nathan and proposes her offer of a place on the Senate. Nathan tells her he knows her but Tracy tells him she's not Nikki. After she leaves, Linderman tells him this is God's plan. Elle enters her father's room but finds that Silar has got to him, his head missing. She frees Mr Bennett who shoots Silar but, with Claire's powers, it has little effect. Silar tries to take Elle's powers but she shorts out, taking the entire electical supply of level 5 out oo, freeing the prisoners kept there. At Daphne's apartment, Hiro tells him that Ando was a villain in the future. In Nathan;s hospital room, Future-Peter explains he is from a future where people with powers have been hunted, slaughtered and used because of what Nathan told the world in the Press conference. He asks Nathan's forgiveness for shooting him. Nathan decides to takeup the offer of junior senator fir New York. After tracy takes his call, the reported shows her a video of herself and Nathan together. Tracy grabs the reporter by the arm and to her own surprise, turns him to ice which crashes to the floor. Angela tells Elle she Angela is now in charge, and that Elle's services are no longer needed. Hiro teases Elle with her medal which he gives to Ando as a trade for the formula Elle takes oth however, and makes a shoallow cut to Ando's throat. Hiro explains that he has a tracking device under the medallion's ribbon. Ando is a bit upset that Hiro didn'ttrust him enough to tell him the whole plan. Meanwhile mohionder is starting to fall apart. Parts of his skin are peeling off. In the desert, Matt wakes to a voice. He is in Africa. Somehow the guy who has found him knows his name and tells him that it's not right that he's there. Noah is back home but Claire realises he is not staying. Noah tells Claire of the prisoners who have escaped Level 5. Claire's ral mother is there to ensure the family stays safe however. Whist playing a game of chess, Nathan realises that only he can see Linderman when a nurse enters the room. At level 5, Future-Peter finds that the prisoners have esaped. He explains to Angela that he put current-day Peter in the Jessie's body to keep him safe. Angela tells him to bring her son back and then go back where he came from. Curent-Peter is relecuantly with the prisoners who are "having fun" terrorising inncont people though. Back at Level 5 Angela tells a captures Silar that she is his mother! ------------------------------------------------- Oh my gosh! No way did I ever guess that about Angela and Silar. Does this mean that Silar is about to come over to the good side? Like I was wondering last week, we've actually found out more about Angela's powers now too, and even seen into one of her dreams. After seeing this chapter twice, carefully looking at the end of her dream, it almost looked like Silar appeared behind her in a protective way, but it was all so quick that it's difficult to know for sure. One thing that really struck me about Angela is that with her powers, she has to, and certainly does exhibit a very machiavellian personality - the ends justify the means. I'm not sure if I quite get Maya - one day she's so mad at Mohinder for using her blood to create something that will actually give powers to others, and the next day she's getting very close indeed to him. What is Mohinder turning into though? Poor old Ando - Hiro needs to trust him until and unless Ando does something untrustworthy, no matter what Hiro saw in the future. I'm sure Ando is the most devoted of companions and wouldn't go to the dark side, but Hiro is risking pushing him away and alienating hime, which could create exactly the scenario that Hiro fears.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2090 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	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.
salemboy Joined: 20 May 2008 Posts: 1232 Location: Salemboy Land, Where Monkeys and Wizards Coexist in Wondrous Harmony	Posted: Monday 13 October 2008 09 22 07 am    Post subject: Re: Next Generation 2 in topic:Next Generation 2 The very first Damien noticed in the next hall was that, unlike the rest of the castle except for the chamber above him, it was not lit by torches. He raised his wand even higher, trying to illuminate the hall as much as possible, when he realized that while they were not lit, there were torches along the walls. He walked up to it, the sea of dust around him, ankle deep, was kicked up even more around him, put did not reach much higher than his knees. He aimed his wand at the torch, and said quietly, "Incendio." The torch lit up, and through some irreversible magic placed upon the torches, they all lit up. "Handy," he thought to himself. He walked along the hall until he came into a chamber. Nothing seemed exeptional about it, so he just continued through. The next chamber caught his attention. Covering the floor were hundreds and hundreds of keys. Just sitting there, doing nothing. "Repulso," He said, knocking them away, unsure of what might happen if he touched one. The sound of the clanking and clattering was deafening. He covered his ears as the sounds continued to clank, clatter, never stopping as the sound continued to bounce off of the walls. He finally couldn't take it. He dropped to his knees, raised his wand, and yelled the silencing spell. Then, all of the sounds stopped, only his voice echoing three or four times on the walls, before eventually receding into nothingness. He gave a sigh of relief as it stopped. Never before in his life had he hated sound more. And never before had he loved silence more. He sighed again. He got back up to his feet, and slowly tiptoed over to a door at the far side of the room, avoiding touching the keys at all cost. He looked at the door, a key was already jammed into the keyhole above the handle. He grasped the handle lightly, and turned it, opening the door with a quiet creeeeaaaaak. The door opened into yet another very large chamber. The floor was covered in a pattern of black square, then white square, black square, then white square. To Damien, it looked just like a giant chess board. Then Damien the noticed hundreds of scratches, scuffs, burns, and even craters all over the floor. It would seem that there had been a great duel within this chamber. Suge scampered off of his arm, down onto the floor, and looked around bewildered. This shocked Damien. He had completely forgotten that he had brought Suge with him. How the monkey had survived the Devil's Snare, he had no idea. Yet, even with his great amount of surprise, Damien was unsurprised. The monkey was rather clever. Then Damien realized, with a start, that this really must have been a giant chess board. Not a great duel, but a giant game of wizarding chess. There were exactly the correct amount of squares, and off in the corner, he actually saw a stone arm. "Wow," he thought to himself. "The teachers at this time sure knew their magic." He walked across the room, wondering what it must have been like with the enchantments intact. Well, whatever is- "Or was," he thought to himself, realizing that if it was still there, the enchantments would still be going at it- must have been important. He decided that it was going to be another thing to talk to Hagrid about. He slowly opened the next door, beginning to hate the creeeeaaaak sound. This was a chamber, with nothing in it, the only remarkable features being the two deep black scorch marks on opposite sides of the room, going the width of the room, leaving scorch marks along even the walls. As Damien began to walk through the door, he felt the alarm he had set go off again. He pulled out his parchment, hoping that it was Geneve. He scanned all the way to the bottom, until he eventually came to the last name on the list. Etched clearly on the parchment was Nikolaus's name. Damien almost crumpled the paper into a ball, the only thing causing him to refrain from doing so was the fact that it was the only thing that actually kept records of when his alarm was set off. He punched the wall. Where was that man? Damien needed his help finding Geneve, and there he was, playing with dark magic. Playing with Dark Magic. Damien dropped to his knees. Playing with Dark Magic. A tear rolled down his cheek. Playing with Dark Magic. Another tear fell down his face. Playing with Dark Magic. Playing with Dark Magic. Playing with Dark Magic. Those words, "Playing With Dark Magic," danced around his head repeatedly, as his memory opened up. He was there again, watching Chi Inu, and his mother. Damien had a bite mark in his shoulder, where Chi Inu had bitten him right before the sun had risen. Damien had been protecting his mother, telling her that Chi Inu didn't know what he had been doing. That had been a lie. Damien knew perfectly well that Chi Inu had planted himself as close to civilization as possible. As close to his mother as possible. The last second before Chi Inu had turned back into a human, Damien's mother had pushed him away, wandless, not wanting for him to get into the ensuing fight. When Chi Inu was finished changing into Human form, he had not seen Damien. The homocidal maniac had then drawn his wand, and without thinking twice, snuffed the life out of Damien's mother. And then he left, without making so much of a sound, and Damien knew that Chi Inu knew who that woman had been. Damien had shown him a picture of her. And all of this started when Damien decided that he had wanted to play with Dark Magic, and became a killer, and had joined Chi Inu's gang, the Sadistic Six. Damien looked down at his hands as he kneeled in the fire-schorched room. He imagined seeing the blood of every single person he had killed. Had he been no different? Just a misguided boy who loved Dark Magic a little too much? No, there was no difference between the man Damien was twenty years ago, and Nikolaus. That meant that Nikolaus had to be saved from Dark Magic, even if it meant losing his life in the process. Damien slowly stumbled to his feet. From now on, Hogwarts, and the inhabitants thereof, had his wholly undivided attention. And that included finding Geneve. He stumbled, wiping his eyes, into the next room, where, unbeknownst to anybody at this castle besides Proffessor Longbottom, Harry Potter had taken down Quirrel, and protected the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's stone.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2090 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Wednesday 8 October 2008 01 12 42 pm    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind Thanks, Obladi! I try to have Kaden use Muggle expressions like 'crap' instead of wizard ones like 'Merlin'. Although I'm not entirely sure if 'crap' is a common term used by British kids. Questions, comments, and general reviews are always appreciated! Chapter 26: Filch? Dancing?! Albus and John were immediately bombarded by Kaden when they entered the common room. Rose, Amanda, and Matt were standing just behind Kaden with smirks on their faces. "Did your cauldron really explode?" Kaden asked excitedly. "The potion did," John replied, "And it was completely Goyle's fault, really. I gave him directions as to what to do and he screwed it up." "You know," Rose said, "You're not exactly the best potion brewer either, John." "Are you two all right?" Amanda asked. "Oh, yeah. Madam Pomfrey sorted everything out," Albus assured her. "So what are you doing tonight, Albus?" Kaden asked excitedly as he followed Albus and John to the dormitory door. Albus groaned inwardly. He had been planning on grabbing a quick dinner with his friends after he changed robes, and then head to the Room to try out the new map. They had all the paw prints (John had gone up to the dormitory ahead of Albus with the rat and got the print from it. Albus didn't want to know what happened to the rat afterwards) now, so Albus was impatient to try it out. But they wouldn't be able to if Kaden was around. "Dunno," Albus shrugged. Kaden spent the entire evening with Albus and his friends. Normally, this really wouldn't have bothered Albus, but that night his cousin was driving him mad. All Albus wanted to do was try out the map, but he couldn't think up a good excuse for them to go somewhere and not let Kaden follow. So they spent the evening in the common room, working on homework. Albus and his friends were far too busy the next few days to try out the new map. Albus had Quidditch practice on Tuesday and Thursday and dueling practice on Wednesday. Rose had dueling practice on Friday. John normally had his practice on Saturday, but due to the Quidditch match, it had been rescheduled for Sunday. Any bit of time where neither Albus or his friends had any practices, Kaden was around. It wasn't until Saturday, following Slytherin's spectacular loss to Ravenclaw, that they were finally able to try out the map. Kaden had been recruited to tutor a fellow first year in Potions and was going to be spending a few hours in the dungeons after the Quidditch match. "Come on, let's go try it now," Albus whispered to his friends after Kaden left the common room. "Got the prints?" Matt asked. Albus nodded and grabbed his bag. They quickly left the common room and ran for the Room of Requirement. They almost bumped into a Ravenclaw prefect, but luckily he was feeling generous and didn't scold them for running in the corridors. Matt paced three times in front of the empty wall and as soon as the door appeared, the five friends ran inside. Albus set his bag down on the table and everyone crowded around it. Albus pulled out all four prints and the map. "All right," Albus unfolded the map, "Rose, you're good with the charm, right?" Rose nodded, "I've practiced it and it works every time." "Good," Albus stared at the map, unsure of how to begin, "Er, maybe I should do what I did last time to get it to tell us we've got to prove we know the Marauders?" "Probably," Rose agreed. "Wait!" John shouted, "Can I do it this time?" "Sure," Albus shrugged and handed John the map. "Excellent," John grinned and pointed his wand at the map, "I solemnly swear that I am Messr Padfoot." Ink appeared on the map, but not nearly as much as when Albus had done it earlier in the year. 'No, you're not.' The ink disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. "What?" John shouted, "But it worked last time!" Albus's hopes plummeted. Why wasn't it working now? Was it on some kind of a timer? Like it could only work on a certain day of the month? He had been so excited about getting the new map to work, and now it wouldn't even tell them to prove they knew the Marauders. "Let me try," Matt grabbed the parchment and pointed his wand at it, "I solemnly swear that I am Messr Moony." 'No, you're not.' The map said once again. "This sucks," John muttered, "It worked last time." "Maybe it's got to be Albus," Rose suggested. Albus wordlessly grabbed the map and pointed his own wand at it, "I solemnly swear that I am Messr Prongs." The ink he had been expecting to appear rose to the surface of the parchment and formed the familiar words. 'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs welcome you to the Marauder's Map, Second Edition.' "Ha!" Albus grinned in excitement, "There it is!" "But why didn't it work for us?" John asked dejectedly. "Does that mean we can't be Padfoot and Moony?" "Dunno," Albus sighed. He really hoped his friends would be able to be Padfoot and Moony. Who else could be Padfoot and Moony? The map wouldn't even work without someone to be Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail. Albus couldn't do it alone. 'Mr. Prongs disagrees with you and insists that you are not Prongs. However, you could be the second Prongs.' "See? Why didn't it say 'However, you could be the second Padfoot' when I did it?" 'When four boys, who are Gryffindors, are linked together through friendship and mischief, they may present themselves as the next generation of Marauders. These four friends must each represent one of the Marauders, for if even one is missing, this map will not work. Before this goes any further, you must prove that you know the secrets of the Marauders. Prove that you know, and you may continue along the path of discovery.' 'The path of discovery? I never knew you were so poetic, Mr. Prongs.' 'Oh, believe me, Mr. Padfoot, I am not. Mr. Moony came up with that whole thing.' 'Then I pay my compliments on the wording to Mr. Moony.' 'Mr. Moony advises that whomever is reading this ignore Mr. Prongs and Mr. Padfoot and start proving that they know the Marauders.' 'Mr. Padfoot agrees with Mr. Moony and also advises that if whomever is reading this has no idea who the Marauders are, that they quit while they're ahead.' 'The Marauders wish you good luck.' "Well, now what?" John asked. "I guess we've just got to transfer the paw prints," Albus said tentatively. Rose picked up the paw prints and the map, setting them down in front of her. She pulled out her wand and muttered an incantation at the werewolf print. Then she muttered another incantation at the map. The werewolf print appeared on the map, just as it had been on the other piece of parchment. "That, was bloody amazing," John said in awe. Albus agreed. He was forever grateful that his cousin was so brilliant. Albus didn't think he'd ever be able to pull off something like that. At least not until he was at least in fifth year. Rose repeated the procedure with the dog, stag, and rat prints, positioning them in the exact same way that the little mark that the Marauders had put on the map. "There," she said once she was done. The five friends stared at the map for a few seconds, waiting for something to happen. The paw prints weren't doing anything and neither was the map. No new ink had appeared and the paw prints weren't disappearing or anything. "Er," Albus began, "Maybe I've got to tell the map that we know the Marauders?" "Worth a shot," John shrugged. Albus pulled the map over to him and tapped his wand to it, "I, Albus Severus Potter, the second Prongs, know the Marauders." The paw prints quickly faded until there was nothing left but a blank parchment. Albus glanced up and looked at his friends before returning his gaze to the new map. 'Prongs agrees that you do know the Marauders, and is especially impressed that you managed to get a werewolf paw print.' "It worked!" Albus shouted happily. 'Due to your obvious knowledge of the Marauders' secrets, we shall now tell you more about this map. When the Marauders were seventh years, they realized that within a few short months, they would be gone from Hogwarts, and the school would be left without their chief mischief makers. 'Prongs suggested-' 'Do you always talk about yourself in the third person, Prongs?' 'Only when I have a stroke of brilliance, Padfoot.' 'Not too often then, right?' 'Oh, get on with the explanation, Prongs.' 'Calm yourself, Moony. You're letting your furry self show.' 'Shut it, Prongs.' 'All right. Anyway, I (happy now, Padfoot?) had a stroke of brilliance that the Marauders could find a way to ensure that they would never be gone from Hogwarts.' "I knew it!" Rose shouted in glee, "I knew that was what this was about!" 'The Marauders decided to create another map. The first map was only the beginning. The Marauders wanted to find a way to put themselves into a map, in order to help the next generation of mischief makers. That is what this map is about. 'However, not just anyone would be able to have access to the map.' 'Yeah, we wouldn't want any old dunderheads stumbling upon it.' 'Right, Padfoot. Or even worse, having Slytherins get their slimy paws on it.' 'I shudder at that thought, Moony. Anyway, the Marauders had to figure out a way to ensure that only those worthy would be able to access this map. The Marauder's Map is actually quite simple to figure out, compared to this one. All you have to do to open that is say a certain phrase. For this map, you have to be a certain person to open it. 'You may or may not have figured out that in order to get the first bit of information out of this map, you have to be a blood relative of one of the Marauders. However, not everyone representing the Marauders must be related. Because, you know, we might not all have kids.' 'Yeah, you wouldn't want to be passing along any genes, Prongs.' 'Better mine than yours, Padfoot.' "That's why only Albus could do it!" John shouted. Albus felt immense relief from this. John and Matt would be able to represent Padfoot and Moony. "So really, only James, Lily, Teddy, my dad, and I could get it open," Albus said. 'The rest of you must be Gryffindor boys, because we want you to be like us.' 'Lily won't like that, Prongs.' 'I know, Moony, but Lily doesn't know about this. I don't plan on telling her, either.' "Guess that counts out my sister," Albus commented. 'So, now you've proven that you know the Marauders. Your next step is to prove that you are the next Marauders.' The ink slowly faded once again until the parchment was as blank as before. Albus stared at it for a few moments, thinking about what he had just found out. The map wasn't going to work yet. He had been so sure that all they'd have to do was prove they knew the Marauders. But now they had yet another thing to do. They had to prove that they were the next Marauders. How were they going to do that? "That was weird," John said. "I'll say," Matt agreed, "They didn't even really tell us what it was a map of." "Yeah, they just said they wanted to make sure they'd never leave Hogwarts. Like the map is a part of them," John replied. "To be honest, it sounds a bit like a Horcrux," Rose commented. "Yeah, but it's not like they put their souls in there, Rose," Albus pointed out. "It's like the Marauder's Map. It's just enchanted." "I still wish we knew what it was a map of," John muttered, "I mean, this isn't fair! We spend weeks getting those paw prints and we still haven't figured the map out." "I knew you'd have to do something like this," Rose said, "Otherwise it wouldn't matter if there were four of you to represent the Marauders. If it was just this, Albus could have done the whole thing himself." She made a good point. Albus hadn't really thought about that, but it was true. They had to do something that required each of them to represent one of the Marauders. "I guess we've got to prove we are the Marauders, then," Albus said, "Wonder what that involves." "Maybe we've got to do something the Marauders would have done," Matt suggested. "Like become illegal Animagi?" John grinned mischievously. "No!" Matt sighed, "I told you, you're not doing that!" "I don't think that's it," Rose began, "How would you go about proving to a piece of paper that you're illegal Animagi?" "Maybe we've got to pull a huge prank or something," Albus said. "Again, how would you prove that to the map?" Rose asked. "Well, does anyone have any other ideas?" Albus asked. "We'll think of something," Amanda said, "I mean, there's got to be a way." "Of course their is!" Rose said, "We've just got to go to the library and see if we can find anything there." "We can't do anything anyway until you've got that Sileo Altus charm down, Rose," Albus pointed out. "Right," Rose replied, "It's coming along well. I just need to get some practice. Anyone want to be my tester?" "I will!" John shouted and jumped up out of his chair. "Ok, come here," Rose got up and went to the other side of the room. Albus watched as the two of them worked. First, they had to think up a secret, which took a good bit of time. John finally suggested that the secret be 'Filch likes to dance in the moonlight with a long handle mop with Frank Sinatra music playing in the background.' Albus burst out laughing at that. "Filch? Dancing?" "Yes," John said in a serious tone, "I saw him once. He was rubbing the mop head to his face and had on a look of pure joy." "And soon you won't be able to tell anyone about it," Amanda grinned. "What a shame." "Yes, it is, isn't it?" John laughed. "You lot can still spread it around, though." "Ok, John, let's try it," Rose said. Rose pointed her wand at herself and recited the charm that would make her the secret keeper. Then, she pointed her wand at John and said a slightly different charm. "Now you say the secret, John." "Filch likes to dance in the moonlight with a long handle mop with Frank Sinatra music playing in the background," John smirked. "Good," Rose replied and then performed another charm on John. "I'm not ready to try including other people yet, so John will only be able to talk about Filch's little habit to me." Rose waved her wand around in an intricate pattern and then said one last incantation. She lowered her wand and stared at John. Then she turned to face Albus. "There. Now you can try asking him about it, Albus." Albus grinned, "All right. So, John, heard anything interesting about Filch lately?" "Yeah!" John shouted, "Actually, just the other night I saw him and he was-" John's mouth continued moving but no sound was coming out of it. Albus and Amanda burst out laughing. John looked like a fish out of water. "I think it worked!" Albus shouted. Rose was staring at John with a slight look of disappointment. "Not quite. He wasn't even supposed to be able to move his mouth. You know, in case people can read lips. I guess it's a start, though." "Definitely. I mean, this is a really advanced charm. You can't have expected to get it on the first try," Albus pointed out. Although, he did kind of think Rose expected to get it on the first try. "I suppose," Rose sighed, "I'll just undo it." Rose waved her wand around and muttered some more incantations. "Ok, he should be able to talk about it now." "Heard anything funny about Filch recently?" Amanda asked. "Yeah, he likes to dance with a long handle mop by moonlight while Frank Sinatra plays in the background," John told her. "Looks like the countercharm worked," Albus said. "But that's not even what we'll need," Rose pointed out, "We're not going to perform the countercharm on Kaden. Not for another few years at least." "Yeah, but it's lucky for John that it worked," Albus grinned, "Otherwise he wouldn't be able to share Filch's secret joys of life." ****** Over the next few days, John actually did share that Filch liked to dance with a long handle mop by the moonlight with Frank Sinatra playing in the background. All he had to do was mention it to a few other Gryffindors at meal times and the bit of gossip was soon spreading throughout the school. The reactions from students ranged from hysterical laughter to raised eyebrows to exclamations of 'Who the hell is Frank Sinatra?' Albus couldn't help but smirk every time he heard his fellow students mentioning the story. Filch, on the other hand, was actively trying to find the culprit. There wasn't really any point, since he wouldn't be able to find who started it, but he tried. He spent the days prowling the halls and listening in on students' conversations, trying to find out any sort of information regarding the false story. Whenever the students noticed him, they would burst out laughing, which would cause Filch to start muttering about 'rotten students' and 'ought to whip them all'. Filch's main suspect was Kaden, which Albus found kind of funny. Kaden of course had laughed the loudest when he heard the story. Since Filch had developed an intense dislike for Kaden since their detention months ago, he gave Kaden ominous stares every time Kaden passed him in the corridors. Kaden just found this funny, since he knew John had invented the story. The story about Filch provided a nice break from the intense studying that all the students were occupied with. Like usual, the teachers had increased the homework after the holidays. Albus was happy it wasn't yet his O.W.L. year and he couldn't imagine how he would manage to cope with that in three short years. Along with homework, Albus also had Quidditch and dueling practice. Both Georgia and Kate had increased practice times in order to prepare for the upcoming match and tournament. The third dueling tournament was to take place the first weekend of February and Quidditch on the following weekend. Albus now had Quidditch practice on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Dueling practices were as usual, not mandatory, but were now not only on Wednesdays, but on Fridays as well. The only day Albus had off was Sunday, which didn't give much time for him to try and figure out how to prove he was like the Marauders to the new map. The morning of the Dueling Tournament was cold, snowy, and blustery. Albus was very happy the Quidditch match wasn't that day. He got up a few hours before the tournament started and went down to breakfast with his friends. "I can't wait until I can duel next year," Kaden said in between bites of egg. "It's not really as cool as it's made out to be," John commented, "A lot of waiting around time during tournaments." "That's because there's so many of us," Rose explained, "In the regular Dueling Club, the one that you can only be in if you're fifth year or above, not everyone gets on the teams. It's like Quidditch and you have to try out." "That sounds better," John said, "But I don't know if I'd make the team." "I know I wouldn't," Amanda replied. "You're getting better," Albus assured her, "You might make it by the time you're a fifth year." "Yeah, that's the point of the junior's club," Rose said, "So you can get better. They don't expect us all to be expert duelers." "Albus is," Amanda grinned, "He's brilliant." Albus felt his face turn red, "Well, I'm not that great...I mean, there are loads of people who are better than me." "Not on our team," Amanda continued, "He's beat almost everyone on the team." "Yeah, everyone except Malfoy," Albus muttered. He still hadn't managed to beat Malfoy during their practice duels. "That's good, though!" Rose sighed, "You're both excellent duelers, so you've got a good team!" Albus shrugged. He kind of would rather just be able to beat Malfoy than beat the other teams, but he didn't mention anything about it. Albus and his friends continued their talk about dueling throughout breakfast and as they sat around the common room afterwards. Soon, it was time for them to go down to the dueling chamber for the tournament. They passed Filch on their way down the stairs, and he was muttering to himself as usual. "Damn kids...better when Umbridge was around...wonder if she'll come back...she'd let me whip them..." "I swear he's gotten more mad over the year," John muttered to Albus as they passed him. "Dad says he's getting senile," Albus whispered back. The dueling chamber was packed with students, just like the past two tournaments. Albus and Amanda squeezed their way through the crowd to their usual table, where their team was sitting. "Hi Albus, Amanda," Kate greeted them. "Ready to win?" "Definitely," Albus grinned. The tournament got under way a few minutes later. It was much like the past two tournaments, with a lot of sitting around time. Albus was happy that he and Amanda were on the same team so they were able to talk to each other in between duels. Albus won both of his duels, just like the last two tournaments. So did Malfoy and once again, Albus found that he was kind of happy and kind of angry about that. Amanda won one of her duels, which Albus was very happy about. He knew half her dueling issues were from nerves and the fact that she thought she wouldn't do well. Rose, John, and Matt each won one of their duels as well. Albus clapped for them even though they were on other teams, which earned him glares from Malfoy. Albus didn't care, though. Malfoy could sulk as long as he wanted, it wasn't going to stop Albus from cheering for his friends. The points were tallied after the last duel and John's team was declared the winner. Albus was slightly disappointed, but there were still three more tournaments before the final. Harry announced the point totals for the entire year and Rose's team was in first place so far. In second was the team led by Hufflepuff Paul Galivant and in third was John's team, led by Albus's cousin Bradley. Albus didn't think that the inter-house dueling was decreasing the rivalry between houses. Albus wasn't anymore fond of the Slytherins than he had been in the beginning of the year. None of the Slytherins really got along with the Gryffindors on his team, and vice versa. He wasn't exactly sure how it was working with the regular dueling club, but he had overheard Stanley complaining about how uncooperative the Slytherins on his team were. But that was months ago and he didn't know what had been going on with it recently.