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DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2095 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	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: 2095 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Sunday 28 September 2008 12 38 08 pm    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind Thanks, Obladi! Gotta love the word, authory. I'm going to start posting 2 chapters a week instead of just 1, because I only have 1 more chapter to write in this story! Questions, comments, and general reviews are appreciated, like always! Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter, Wii (and Nintendo in general), or Barbie. Chapter 23: Dinner With The Dursleys Albus's family came to pick him up from Rose's house the next afternoon. They were all dressed in Muggle clothing, although Harry looked a little uncomfortable in his Muggle suit. Probably due to the tie, Albus thought. He could never understand why Muggles wore those. "Ready, Al?" Harry asked after a few minutes of visiting with Rose's family. "Yeah," Albus replied. He had to admit that he was a bit nervous about this dinner, but there was nothing he could do about it now. "See you at school, Rose." "Bye," Rose smiled. The rest of the Potters and Weasleys said goodbye to each other and then Albus disapparated with his family. They appeared in a dark alley near a deserted street. Harry motioned for them to follow him and the family started down the street. They made a few more turns until they came upon a neighborhood of average sized houses. The houses all looked different, but seemed to be well cared for. It was a very quiet neighborhood with few people out and about. There were a couple people outside shoveling the newly fallen snow off their driveways, but none of them seemed to notice Albus and his family. Eventually, Harry led them up a driveway towards a gray house Albus recognized as Kaden's. Before they could even reach the door, it was thrown open and Kaden came running out. "Albus!" he shouted. "Hi, Kaden," Albus greeted him. "How are you?" "Great!" Kaden grinned, "I can't tell you how much I've missed school. It seems so boring here compared to school." "I haven't missed it. I like being on holiday," Albus said. "Yeah, but it's so boring without," Kaden whispered in Albus's ear, "Magic." Albus stifled a laugh and followed Kaden into the house. Kaden led them to the living room, where Dudley was fidgeting with his tie. Christina was setting out bowls of grapes and nuts and Bethany was helping. "Get anything good for Christmas?" Kaden asked Albus once they sat down on the couch. "I got a few new games for my Wii, a new football, a skateboard, and a bunch of clothes." "What's a Wii?" Albus asked. "Video game system," Kaden explained, "It's really fun. I'll show you sometime." "Oh," Albus nodded, "I got some clothes, books, a load of sweets, stuff from my Uncle George's shop, and my dad's Invisibility Cloak." Kaden's mouth fell open, "He gave it to you?!" "Yup," Albus grinned. He had told Kaden about the Cloak a while ago, although Kaden had never seen it. He pulled it out of his bag and handed it to Kaden. "Whoa, that's brilliant!" Kaden threw the cloak around himself, "Look, I'm invisible!" All the adults looked over at him. "Albus, you'd better put that away before Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia get here," Harry warned. Albus nodded and took the cloak back from Kaden. He knew Uncle Vernon would be less than enthusiastic about any sort of magical object. "Er, speaking of my parents," Dudley shifted uncomfortably, "They don't, well, they aren't aware that you're, er, here tonight." Albus watched as his parents looked at each other and then back at Dudley. "What do you mean, Dudley?" Harry asked nervously. "I knew they wouldn't come if they knew you were here, so I didn't tell them," Dudley confessed. Harry groaned, "Dudley... You know this could go horribly wrong." "Well, I was kind of hoping you would all make up," Dudley mumbled. Harry shook his head and looked back at Ginny, who looked worried. Then the doorbell rang and Harry turned to Dudley. Dudley gave him a small smile and turned to get the door. Albus gulped and looked at James. Albus could only ever recall seeing his Uncle Vernon once. Albus was only five or six at the time and the only thing he remembered was Vernon asking Harry if Albus was 'a freak like you are'. Albus had no desire to ever see the man again, and now he had to spend the evening with him. The voices of Dudley greeting his parents started to become louder as they came into the living room. Albus got up from the couch and stood next to James, who was hiding behind Harry. Vernon and Petunia followed Dudley into the room and their faces visibly paled as they saw the Potters. "Wha-wha, Dudley?" Vernon gaped at Harry and then looked at his son. Albus watched as pandemonium broke out amongst the adults. Vernon's face turned various shades of red and purple as he tried to grasp what was happening. Petunia clung to her husband with a combined look of dislike and fear on her face. "Vernon, Vernon! Did you know they would be here?" Petunia asked shrilly. Once Vernon regained his ability to speak coherently, he started yelling at Harry, who yelled back. "You!" Vernon pointed at Harry, "Why are you here, boy?" Christina stood near the entrance to the kitchen, looking uncomfortable. Bethany clung to her leg and hid her face, clearly afraid of her grandfather's shouting. Albus, James, Lily, and Kaden glanced around at the adults, paying rapt attention to the unfolding argument, but not saying a word. Ginny pursed her lips and watched her husband with a disapproving look. Albus had to admit that his Uncle Vernon was a bit scary right now and Albus had no desire to cross paths with him. Dudley looked nervous as he tried to make peace between his relatives. His voice was drowned out amongst Vernon and Harry's yelling, and Petunia's shrieking. "Mum, Dad," Dudley stood in front of his parents, "I invited them here, so we could all get reacquainted." "Why would you do that?" Vernon demanded. "Kaden's a wizard, Dad, so Harry's a part of his life now. You know he's one of Kaden's teachers." Vernon's face turned from ghostly white to a deep shade of purple. "What could he possibly teach? Abnormalness?" "Magic, Dad, it's called magic," Dudley sighed. Vernon's eyes narrowed and he glared at Harry. "You're filling his head with all that junk you learned as a child! Don't stand for it, Dudley! He's got you tricked or something! Send him to Smeltings!" "Dad, Harry didn't trick me. Kaden's a wizard and you're just going to have to live with it," Dudley replied. "Nothing good will come of this, Dudley! I assure you of that!" Vernon shouted. "Vernon," Petunia put her hand on her husband's arm, "Let it go." "You do realize that this kind of abnormality is what got your sister killed!" "I'm fully aware of what happened to my sister," Petunia snapped. "This doesn't have anything to do with that. It's about accepting your grandson for who he is." Vernon continued glaring at Harry, but he didn't say anything. "Let's all sit down," Dudley suggested. "And I'll get us some drinks!" Christina announced eagerly. She rushed into the kitchen and came back with a bottle of brandy, a bottle of wine, and a some glasses, along with fizzy drinks for the kids. Vernon and Petunia regained their composure and Petunia gave Dudley a bone crunching hug and smothered him with kisses. She then moved on and did the same with both her grandchildren, making sure to completely ignore Albus, James, and Lily. Albus sat down on the couch, and to his dislike Vernon chose to sit next to him. After a few moments of awkward silence, Vernon turned to Albus. "So," he began, causing Albus to jump, "You go to this, school, too?" "Er, yeah," Albus replied quickly, not looking at Vernon. "Look at me when I'm talking to you," Vernon spat, "I see manners aren't high on their priority list. What classes do you take there?" Albus forced himself to look at Vernon. "I'm taking Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, Astronomy, History of Magic, and Defense Against the Dark Arts," he mumbled quietly. Vernon seemed to flinch at the sound of those names. "I see. And are you any good at them?" "Um, I guess so," Albus replied. He was wishing more and more that he could have just stayed at Rose's house instead of coming here. Why was Vernon questioning him? Why not James or Kaden? "What subject does your father teach?" Vernon barked. "Defense Against the Dark Arts," Albus muttered. "And what is that, exactly?" "Defensive spells, dueling, stuff you use to defeat Dark wizards like Voldemort." "Yeah, and Professor Potter defeated Voldemort!" Kaden interrupted and for once Albus was grateful for his cousin's big mouth. "So I've heard," Vernon replied. "He's a great teacher, Grandpa! I love my new school. It's much better than Muggle school," Kaden grinned. "I'll be right back." He ran up the stairs and came back a few seconds later with his wand. "Look at this!" Vernon narrowed his eyes and gazed at his grandson. "You've got one, too." "Of course I do!" Kaden laughed, "I wish I could show you some magic, though. I can't do it outside school. Hey, Professor Potter can show you!" "No! I ruddy hell think not!" Vernon shouted. "No thanks!" Petunia shouted at the same time. Kaden looked disappointed. "Sorry, Kaden," Harry with an apologetic look, "Maybe another day." "Or never," Vernon muttered. Nobody said much after that. Albus preferred it that way. He was very happy that Uncle Vernon appeared to have given up his question and answer session. Christina announced that dinner was ready a few minutes later, and everyone eagerly went into the dining room. Albus made sure that he wasn't sitting next to Vernon and relaxed a little as he began to eat. The Dursleys dominated most of the dinner conversation, with Vernon and Petunia asking Dudley and Christina about what was new in their lives. They wanted to know every last detail, down to what grade Bethany had gotten on her latest book report in school. Eventually they had exhausted this topic and the table descended into an awkward silence before Vernon started drilling Harry about his life. "So, boy, what exactly do you do for a living?" Vernon barked. "I'm the Head of the Auror Department at the Ministry of Magic," Harry smiled. "Auror?" Vernon repeated, "What would that be?" "A Dark wizard catcher," Harry explained. "Oh, like a policeman. Wouldn't have guessed you were doing that, what with all the trouble you caused as a child." Harry sighed, "You know most of that wasn't my fault." "Like hell it wasn't. It was all due to your abnormality," Vernon replied. "Dad, can't you just drop it?" Dudley asked. "No, Duddy, I won't! Vernon slammed his fist on the table, "He's obviously done something to Kaden to make him abnormal!" That had to be the most ridiculous thing Albus had ever heard. A wizard could not turn a Muggle into a wizard. If they could, there wouldn't be any Squibs in the world, and there would certainly be more wizards. "Oh come off it, Dad!" Dudley shouted. "Harry didn't do this! Kaden was born a wizard!" "No he wasn't!" Vernon yelled, his face turning purple again. "And I want the boy to change him back!" "Uncle Vernon, listen to me," Harry announced, "You can't turn someone into a wizard, it just doesn't work. Kaden was born a wizard, which doesn't surprise me at all. There is magic in his blood, the same magic that was in my mother's and is in mine." "Wonderful," Vernon spat, "And I suppose you're going to tell me that Bethany will be abnormal, too?" "There's a chance she'll be a witch, yes," Harry told him. "I am not going to stand for anymore abonormalness in this family!" Vernon roared. "Vernon, there's nothing we can do!" Petunia shrieked, "I don't like it either, but the boy did not do this!" "How do you know?" "Because my freak of a sister told me it's not possible, that's how!" "Don't call her a freak!" Harry glared at both of them. Petunia ignored him. "I asked her, when I was an arrogant child. I asked her if someone could turn me into a witch before I knew any better. She said no. There is not one thing we can do to change Kaden. We just have to hope that he's going to be smarter than my sister was and not get killed just out of school." "Fine," Vernon snapped, "But I don't like it. I don't like it one bit." "Neither do I, neither do I," Petunia agree. Albus glanced nervously from one adult to the next, hoping that the fight was over. He realized now how much Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia hated magic now. The two of them were still going on about how Albus's grandmother had been killed, thirty-some years later. Albus was still amazed that Vernon had actually blamed Harry for Kaden being a wizard. Albus knew Vernon disliked Harry, but he didn't think Vernon would still blame Harry for things he didn't like, this many years later. "You'd be better off just keeping him out of that school," Vernon announced after a few minutes of silence. "There's no law requiring him to go, is there?" "No," Dudley replied. "But he likes it there, so he's staying." "This is utterly ridiculous," Vernon muttered, "Wait till Marge hears about it." "I hate Aunt Marge," Kaden said loudly, causing Albus to snort into his juice. "All she talks about is breeding dogs." "Don't say that about your aunt," Vernon scolded. "What?" Kaden shrugged, "Professor Potter must not like her either." Harry, who had been laughing behind his glass, immediately stopped and looked at Kaden. "Really, Kaden, it's not nice to say you hate people." He turned to Vernon, "You haven't told her?" "Of course I haven't!" Vernon raised his voice, "Can you imagine what she is going to think? That someone, like, like you is actually related to her? She takes comfort in the fact that you aren't actually related to her! But to have Kaden be one of your lot, she'll be horrified! And I should think so after what you blew her up years ago!" "What?!" Kaden and Bethany shouted at the same time. Kaden spat his juice out and started choking. Albus slapped him on the back, trying to control his own laughter. Harry told them this story a long time ago and just thinking about it made Albus laugh. "That wasn't his fault!" Ginny came to Harry's defense, "He couldn't control it! What your sister said about his parents was absolutely rotten and you know it!" "It was the truth!" Vernon shouted, rising to his feet. "No it wasn't!" Ginny stood up as well. "What do you mean, blew her up?" Kaden asked. "His parents were idiots and that's why they were killed!" Vernon continued. "No they weren't!" Harry stood and stared at his uncle. Albus had rarely ever seen his father so angry before. "They were working against Voldemort." "Another one of your lot who went on a killing rampage!" Vernon yelled. "They should have just ignored him and minded their own business," Petunia announced. Albus didn't really think she should be telling someone to mind their own business, when she thrived off of gossip. "You couldn't ignore Voldemort!" Harry and Ginny said at the same time. "Can someone please tell me how Aunt Marge got blown up?!" Kaden shouted again. "Dad, just forget about it, all right? Harry's parents weren't lazy," Dudley pleaded. "Leave this to me, Dudley. You're obviously under a bad influence right now." Dudley heaved a huge sigh, "Dad... You're forgetting that Harry saved my life once!" "Oh, from those dementy things? They wouldn't have even been around if it weren't for the boy!" "The point is that they were! And Harry saved me from them! He also kept us all safe while he was hunting down that Voldemort bloke. He didn't have to do that, you know." "What's a dementy thing?" Kaden asked loudly. "Dementors," Albus corrected, "They're these cloaked creatures that suck out your soul." Kaden stared at Albus, "They what?" "Suck out your soul," Albus repeated, "They feed on happy thoughts, until you're only left with the sad ones." Kaden shuddered, "They sound bloody horrible. Professor Potter saved Dad from one?" "Yeah, when they were 15. There's a charm, the Patronus Charm, that drives them away. It's really advanced magic not taught until seventh year, but Dad learned in his third year." "Wow, your dad's brilliant," Kaden grinned. "But I don't fancy running into one of those dementors. Have you ever seen one?" "No and I hope never to," Albus replied. "We would have been fine without those weirdos 'protecting' us!" Vernon raged. "No we wouldn't! We'd all be dead!" Dudley insisted. "What would that Voldemort bloke have wanted with us anyway?" Vernon bellowed, "It's not like we're weirdos like him." "Don't you get it?" Harry sighed, "He didn't care about anyone! He would've killed anyone to get to me, including you." "Everybody, just shut it!" The five adults who were arguing turned to the source of the new voice that rang out louder than theirs. It was Christina. Everyone stopped arguing and stared at her. "Thank you. Now I only understand parts of this row, but everything you're rowing about has happened in the past. Can't you just put it behind you and try to get along? Look at you, you're standing there arguing about stuff you can't change, in front of your children. What kind of example are you setting? Put aside your differences, if not for yourselves, do it for the kids." The adults said nothing for a few moments while Christina glared at every one of them. Eventually, Harry spoke, "She's right. We should just try and get along." Ginny nodded in agreement. "That's what I was trying to tell you," Dudley commented. "Fine," Vernon spat, "I'll tolerate the boy. But you are making a grave mistake with Kaden, Dudley." "Good," Christina replied and stood up. "I'll go get the pudding." The rest of the dinner was much more enjoyable. Harry quickly told the story of when he blew up Marge to douse Kaden and Bethany's curiosity, but there was no more mention of magic throughout the rest of the meal. The conversation centered on topics that could be equally relative to Muggles and wizards, such as the weather. Albus didn't say anything, choosing instead to quietly eat his pudding while listening to the adults' strained conversations. He was just happy that they were no longer arguing with each other. After dinner, Albus, James, and Kaden escaped to Kaden's bedroom, which he was eager to show off. The entire thing was decorated with various football paraphernalia, with a lot of emphasis on Manchester United. James found this highly entertaining and spent quite a few minutes laughing at the posters, in which the players remained completely still. Kaden spent a while showing off his Christmas presents to Albus and James and soon wanted to show them how to play his Wii. Kaden led Albus and James back downstairs, where the adults were discussing cars over coffee. Albus was very happy that he did not have to sit through that discussion. Albus followed as Kaden went down another flight of stairs and they descended into the basement. The basement was clearly the playroom of the house, as it was cluttered with all sorts of Muggle toys. Lily and Bethany were playing with Bethany's Barbies in one corner and neither of them paid much attention as the boys entered the room. The Wii was set up in the middle of the room and attached to a television that was against the wall. Albus had never played a Wii before and was kind of curious about it. James was as well, although he got sidetracked by a remote control car. He drove it all over the room, completely amazed at how the car seemed to move by magic. "The things Muggles come up with," James grinned as he joined Albus and Kaden in front of the television. Kaden spent the next hour teaching James and Albus how to play the Wii. They started with Kaden's new racing game, which was actually pretty complicated. It took Albus the better part of an hour to figure out how to play it. James caught on a bit faster, but neither of them could top Kaden in skill. Albus found that the game was incredibly fun and almost wished he had one at his house. Once they successfully learned the racing game, Kaden went on to teach them how to play a couple more games. Lily eventually wandered over and wanted to learn, too. By the time midnight came around, all five of them were taking turns playing games and Albus was having a great time. Albus was kind of disappointed when his dad called them back upstairs to count down to the new year and hoped that everyone was still acting civilly. They were, as Albus found when he entered the living room. It didn't really look like the adults were enjoying themselves, but they were at least acting polite, which was good enough for Albus. Shortly after they rang in the new year, Albus's parents decided it was time to leave. Albus had no arguments against this because he was tired and didn't really want to spend anymore time in the same house as Uncle Vernon. Harry politely shook hands with Vernon, said goodbye to Petunia, and told Dudley he would owl him soon. Vernon kind of flinched at the mention of the word 'owl.' Albus completely ignored Vernon and Petunia, and told Kaden he would see him on the train ride back to school. Once the obligatory goodbyes were said, Albus and his family left the house, only to Apparate back to Grimmauld Place a few streets away.
FawkesthePhoenix Joined: 31 December 2006 Posts: 3050 Location: Dancing circles around Voldemort, singing poetry into a hairbrush and dodging curses.	Posted: Saturday 27 September 2008 12 27 01 pm    Post subject: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Gelato Stand in topic:Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Gelato Stand Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Gelato Stand I, Harry Potter, am here to tell you what really happened in my first year. I can no longer stand the lies of my editors. They took my story and crippled it, changing the title and general plot so as not to violate any copyright laws. Then they published it under the name of my therapist, Jo Rowling. I had told her everything, my feelings, my thoughts, so she knew how to make it seem Potter-like. But you, readers, deserve to know the truth. So, without further ado, here is the story of what really happened when I entered year #1 at Hogwarts. * * * My childhood pretty much sucked. My cousin Dudley bullied me, stealing my frozen desserts and locking me into freezers. But for some strange reason, I never had an emotional breakdown until after I had left the Dursleys. Maybe the strange feeling of pleasure I got from doing accidental magic had something to do with it. At any rate, life sucked at my aunt and uncle's house. In case you're wondering, my parents are dead. Yeah. Traumatized childhood or what? Dudley got everything. Presents, love, friends. One time he went to the Zoo for his birthday, and I only got to come because Mrs. Figg broke her leg. But at least I got to sick a snake on him. But everything changed a few weeks before my eleventh birthday. I got a letter, from some place that knew exactly where I lived, even where I slept. Before I got to read it, however, Uncle Vernon ripped it to shreds. Yeah. Temperamental or what? But they kept coming. Through the windows, in the eggs, everywhere. Uncle Vernon went into a crazed mental state, nailing the mail slot, door, and windows shut. He was only ever at peace on Sundays, when the mail didn't come. Until the letters started shooting down the chimney, of course. Then he lugged us off to some shack on the ocean where everything was wet and cold. Yeah. Paranoid or what? That turned out to be a rotten waste of time. On my birthday, a giant man knocks down our door in the middle of a storm, and tells me I'm a wizard. Yeah. Far-fetched or what? But it actually turned out to be true. I, Harry Potter, had finally found out the truth of my lineage. So here's my tragic childhood: Voldemort killed my parents but couldn't kill me. Then he lost his power or some trite thing like that, so now I'm a hero. A hero who will be going off to magic school in September! Take that, Dudders! A Smeltings stick will never beat a magic wand! So I went to this weird place called Diagon Alley with Hagrid to get school supplies. But you know what? Not a single street there was arranged diagonally. Misleading or what? So at some point or another, I was told that my magic wand shared a core source with Voldemort. Sick, right? What if he uses some creepy weirdo magic to make me fall in love with a teacher or something? Eww..... Sick thought. Soon it was time to go. The Dursleys dropped me off and left without a second thought. Which left me running around, trying to find an invisible platform labeled 9 3/4 before 11:00. Stress much? But my distress turned out to be a good thing, as it lead me to meet the Weasleys. Mrs. Weasley told me how to run straight through a brick wall and into Platform 9 3/4, which really made things more convenient. Soon I got onto the train, where I made friends with Ron Weasley and met Hermione Granger for the first time. She struck me as quite the bossy know it all then, until a brush with danger brought Ron, Hermione and I together by way of-- but I'm getting ahead of myself. The train ride was long, but nowhere near tedious. I learned more about the world of magic than I ever wanted to know. It was on the back of a collectible playing card that I first read the name Nicholas Flamel. I didn't know it at the time of course, but that article mention of Flamel's work on gelato would be crucial to find the Philosopher's Gelato Stand. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Once at Hogwarts, the new students were sorted by the the Sorting Hat, and I entered the House of Gryffindor. Classes were anything but boring. The Professors had us working day and night on spells and enchantments. Then came Halloween. Ron had upset Hermione to the point of tears, and I was beginning to feel a bit antsy, because she hadn't left the bathroom all afternoon. But all thoughts of my soon-to-be friend was banished by the feast that night. The food was decadent, the decor fantastic. But it wasn't to last. Just as I was reaching out to snag a pastry, Professor Quirrell ran screaming into the Great Hall, blubbering about a pudding cup in the dungeons. As the terrified teacher collapsed in a heap, it became apparent that this was no ordinary dessert. It had somehow mutated, and was now terrorizing the school. The students were quickly shepherded off to our Common Rooms, but then I remembered Hermione. Ron and I set off at a run towards the girl's lavatories. Just in time to see a trickle of chocolate pudding destroying the bathroom. Ron was the hero in this scenario. Just when all seemed lost, he casted a levitation charm that saved our lives. Bonded by trauma, Ron, Hermione, and I became friends. But you already knew that. Soon it became apparent that something was being hidden in the school. A three-headed dog sat day and night on a trap-door in the third-floor corridor. And it all came back to Nickolas Flamel. When we came to believe that Professor Snape was going to steal the stone, we knew it was time to go through the trap-door. We got past the dog without incident. Music made it fall right asleep. The plant that tried to strangle us was a different story. As was the giant chess set, troll, room of flying keys, and table of unknown potions with only a riddle as a guide. Soon I was the only one left in action. Going through the last door, I was struck dumb. Standing in front of a white plasticine counter, was a figure. But it wasn't Snape. Pause for dramatic effect. It was Quirrell. Stroking the pale surface, the teacher spoke. “Hello Potter.” He said softly. “I've been expecting you.” “Why?” I asked. “Why, because you are going to make me a gelato. One that will bring the Dark Lord back. He's ever so hungry.” Quirrell turned to face me. “Watermelon with chocolate custard.” he demanded. I didn't know what to do. So I made the gelato of immortality. Quirrell started forward to grab it, but I batted his hand away reflexively. Before my very eyes, Quirrell's hand melted like so much Italian ice left out in the sun. Then a ghostly voice issued from nowhere. “Kill the boy.” I knew it was Voldemort. It all happened very quickly then. Quirrell tried to draw his wand, but I lurched forward and grabbed his face. My scar began to burn, someone was screaming, but I would not let go. Then darkness over took me, and I fell into unconsciousness. I awoke in the Hospital Wing, where Prof. Dumbledore was waiting for me. He explained that Quirrell had died, Voldemort had escaped, The Philosopher's Gelato Stand had been destroyed, and the Flamels would soon leave the world of the living. Oh well. I suppose it's all for the best. So that's the real story. Up yours, Publishers!
Comma Joined: 4 September 2008 Posts: 14	Posted: Tuesday 23 September 2008 08 07 16 pm    Post subject: Re: A Gaunt Tale in topic:A Gaunt Tale No one's replied in quite a while, but I figure I'll put up the rest of the prologue really quick. It's 3,771 words long - longer than what I've been posting - but I'm up to chapter 8 already in my rewrite so I'm just going to go ahead and post the rest. --- (Prologue, last part) Katalina waited until the last minute of the train ride to change into her Hogwarts uniform. She was dreading the sorting ceremony. She didn’t care at that point in time how she was to be sorted. All she knew was that she didn’t want to be sorted at all. Slytherin was the last thing she wanted, but at the same time, she wanted it more than anything. She hadn’t waited eleven years to get away from her father just so she could be taken back home for being sorted in a house he considered to be wrong. However, she didn’t want to be in the same house as Lucius Malfoy or Narcissa Black or even her own brother. They repulsed her in a way that words could even begin to describe. Her father often spoke of how they had propper beliefs of their kind, how they knew what sort of witches and wizards they should associate with and which sort they shouldn’t. Her own father made her sick with his constant preaching of the old ways. She never would have told him so to his face, but he really did aggravate her. She felt her stomach turn in apprehension as she followed an extremely tall man, along with the rest of the first years, to a fleet of small boats fit to seat four people. She joined the girl that had been in the compartment with her earlier, along with the boy she had left with, and found out they were Lily Evans and Severus Snape, who both already seemed to loathe James Potter, who was the boy in the round glasses. They seemed nice enough, so she decided to keep close to them as they got off of the boats after a long ride and were ushered into the castle. “Come on, firs’ years!” the tall man was saying to the few who were straying off. Katalina was starting to wonder if maybe he was a giant, or at least part giant. “This way! Come on!” They followed him to a halt as the doors opened. Katalina, Lily, and Severus all craned their necks to see over the crowd in front of them. An old witch in green robes with her hair in a tight, neat black bun stood at the door. Katalina decided immediately that should she stay here, she wouldn’t even think about crossing this witch, as she didn’t look particularly tolerant. After the tall man introduced her as Professor McGonagall, they followed her down a hallway and into an empty classroom, and they stopped inside. She shut the door behind her and turned to face the crowd. “Welcome to Hogwarts,” she said. “You will all be sorted into your houses very soon. The Sorting Ceremony is very important – while you are here, your house will be like your family. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in the same dormitory as those in your year in the same house, and spend free time in the house common room. “The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Your triumphs at Hogwarts will earn you points for your house. Rule-breaking will lose house points. These points will be counted at the end of the year, and the house with the most points is awarded with the house cup. I hope each of you will be a good addition to the house you are sorted into. “The Sorting Ceremony will take place in front of the rest of the students in a few short moments. I shall return when we are ready for you,” she concluded, her hand on the doorknob. “Please wait here quietly.” Katalina’s stomach churned even more as excited whispers broke out when McGonagall left. Lily looked almost as nervous, though Severus didn’t quite as much. “What do they do to sort us, exactly?” she asked Katalina quietly. “I don’t know, my brother wouldn’t tell me.” “D’you know what they do?” Lily asked Severus. “My mother said something about a hat,” he said. “Th… that’s all?” Lily asked, sounding surprised, but still relieved. “Oh, good. I was worried we were going to have to do actual magic. I’ve practiced some, but I didn’t know if it was enough or not. Have either of you practiced anything?” “Only a bit,” Severus said. “My dad made me learn a few things,” said Katalina, looking around the empty classroom. “Not much though, since I didn’t have a wand until a few weeks ago.” “What sort of things?” Lily asked curiously. Katalina was thankful that McGonagall came back before she had the chance to answer. She didn’t feel like telling anyone she had been forced to learn about dark magic before she even entered school. McGonagall guided them away to the Great Hall, where there were four tables of students. She saw her brother at one and assumed it to be the Slytherin table. Her suspicions were confirmed when she spotted Lucius Malfoy, a prefect with platinum blond hair. They all stopped at the Great Hall, where a hat sat upon a stool up near the teacher’s table. McGonagall stood next to the hat. They stood through a song sung by the hat, but Katalina was too busy trying to hold down the sweets she had eaten on the train to listen to it. She almost hoped it would sort her into Slytherin just for being a Gaunt, but there was really no telling. She didn’t want to go home. The first Slytherin to be sorted was Bellatrix Black. Katalina gave a slight grimace when that name was called, having come into contact with this girl before. The hat shouted Slytherin after having barely touched her hair and, looking rather smug, she hurried over to sit at the Slytherin table next to a girl that Katalina assumed was her sister, Narcissa Black. The next to be sorted was Sirius Black, one of the boys that had been in the same compartment as her and James Potter. He was sorted into Gryffindor. A few more names later was Lily, who was also sorted into Gryffindor. Shortly after was Katalina. Katalina walked slowly up to the hat, wondering what would happen. She picked it up and put it on her head as she sat upon the wooden stool in front of the Great Hall. She couldn’t see the faces looking up at her, as the hat covered her eyes. She heard a voice in her ear, and she assumed it had to be the hat. “Gaunt, eh? Doesn’t seem like the lot of them…. Witty, yes, definitely, but not prejudiced. No, definitely not…” Put me in Slytherin, please, I need to stay here… she thought. “Slytherin?” Her heart jumped when she comprehended that the hat could read her mind. “No, definitely not Slytherin, you don’t belong there. I’d say… GRYFFINDOR!” She flinched slightly, though the Gryffindor table seemed to be cheering and clapping. She took the hat off of her head and walked slowly over to the table Lily had joined. She sat between Sirius Black and Lily, as Lily had been glaring at Sirius upon accidently sitting down next to him. “Sev’ll probably be in Slytherin like he wanted,” Lily said. “Where were you hoping to go?” “Slytherin,” she said quietly. “I really didn’t want to, but I… my dad told me he’d pull me out to be homeschooled if I was sorted anywhere – ow!” She rubbed the back of her head when she felt something hit it. She looked behind her and saw the culprit – a balled up piece of parchment. She picked it up and unfolded it, and immediately recognized the handwriting to be her brother’s. There were only five words written upon it: Dad’s going to kill you. “… said he’d pull me out if I was sorted anywhere other than Slytherin…” she finished with a sigh, staring at the paper. She looked behind her at the Slytherin table, where her brother was looking quite smug. She glared at him for a moment before turning back around. “What’s that?” “My brother…” she grumbled, crumbling the paper back up and putting it in a pocket in her robes. “Not important.” “Your brother’s here too?” “Yeah, Slytherin. He’d be home if he were in any other house.” She bit the side of her fist, staring up at the front of the Great Hall for a moment, then she looked back at Lily. “My dad’s going to kill me.” “I don’t think he’d actually kill you,” Lily said comfortingly. “I mean, he’s your dad, after all, right?” “My dad is the root of all evil,” she said, shaking her head. “You have no idea what he’s like.” –– After a week at the school, Katalina started to become confident that maybe her father would let her be, let her stay at Hogwarts as a Gryffindor. However, on one weekend when she was sitting outside on the grounds with Lily and Severus, the three of them attempting to look up things for the Potions essay they had been assigned, her hopes were shattered. She flinched as she felt someone poke her sharply in the shoulder, at which she looked up. “What do you want?” she asked her brother. “I thought you didn’t know me?” Despite her bored tone, she was absolutely horrified at the look on his face. “Oh, I know you,” he said happily. “You’re my sister who’s going to be leaving tomorrow.” At once, her heart stopped for a moment, her stomach turned to lead, and breathing became a very hard task. She blinked at him, silently praying he was lying. “Y– you’re – you’re not – you’re lying,” she managed to stammer, shutting her Potions book and standing up. He handed her a piece of parchment. “McGonagall told me. She didn’t look very happy about it. You’re supposed to go see the headmaster, it should all be there. Hope you have a nice first year.” He walked back towards the castle. Katalina sat back down on the grass near the lake with Lily and Severus, unfolding the parchment and reading: Miss Gaunt, Headmaster Dumbledore requires that you come to his office at once. Please see me in my office immediately and I will take you there. Professor McGonagall Katalina looked up, her mouth hanging open a little. Lily and Severus stared back apprehensively. At lack of words, she swallowed and handed Lily the letter. Severus also read it over her shoulder. “B– but that could mean anything, couldn’t it?” Lily asked. “It might be about something else entirely!” Katalina shook her head, taking the letter back and putting it in her pocket. “I’ll let you know…” she said, picking up her Potions book. She stood. Lily stood up as well, and so did Severus. “I’m coming with you,” she said. “McGonagall probably won’t let you –” “Then we’ll follow you to her office, if it is true you might get rushed off too fast to tell us anything so we should go with you.” Katalina looked between the two of them. Even though it had only been a week, they had been good friends so far. Keeping them in the dark would have been wrong. Slowly, she nodded. “You can follow me there, but don’t try to sneak around McGonagall if she tells you not to follow her to Dumbledore’s office.” “Of course not,” Lily said, shaking her head, “that would loose house points for Gryffindor, I wouldn’t do that!” “All right… come on, then.” They hurried to the castle doors. Katalina stopped once inside and looked from Lily to Severus, who stopped in front of her. “Why –?” began Lily. “If I’m being sent home,” Katalina said quietly, looking around the entrance hall, “then I will come back. I don’t know when, it might not be next year, but I’ll come back before our seventh year.” “How’re you planning to talk your father into it?” Severus asked. “My mum knows him because of Voldemort, says he’s really stubborn.” “V– Voldemort?” Lily said, looking between them. “He’s real? I heard people saying there were rumors.” Katalina nodded, her head stooping to look at her feet. “And my dad’s his number one supporter. He’s been around for quite a while now, he’s only just let people that aren’t on his side start to know that he exists.” “I… is he powerful?” asked Lily nervously as they began walking again. “From what I’ve heard, he is,” said Severus. “He’s openly said that he believes himself to be more powerful than Dumbledore.” “More powerful than Dumbledore?” Lily repeated incredulously. “That’s mad, Dumbledore’s supposed to be one of the greatest sorcerers to have ever lived, according to our History of Magic textbook.” “Voldemort’s extremely pompous,” said Katalina quietly as Bellatrix and Narcissa Black passed them on their way outside – if either of them heard her say that, she would have been on the floor, there was no doubt in that. “He’s under the impression that he’s the most powerful sorcerer to have ever walked the earth, and so he thinks he’s better than Dumbledore.” They hurried on to Professor McGonagall’s office, and she looked somewhere between frustrated and very tired when they got there. She looked at the three of them, particularly at Lily and Severus. “I do apologize,” she said, “but I need to speak with Miss Gaunt in private, if you don’t mind.” Lily looked most disappointed. “Yes, professor…” she said quietly, turning to walk out of the office along with Severus. As the door shut behind them, Professor McGonagall sat behind her desk and motioned for Katalina to sit in the chair across from it. She did as instructed and stared at her knees, waiting for McGonagall to say the words she was absolutely dreading to hear. “Miss Gaunt,” she began, “it is to my understanding that your family has been sorted into Slytherin for generations, is that true?” “Yes, ma’am,” Katalina said, not bothering to look up. She was just waiting for it to come. She heard a sigh. “That is what your father told us…. He seems to believe you… aren’t ready to come to Hogwarts yet, for whatever reasons.’” Katalina was happy to hear skepticism in McGonagall’s words at this, but not entirely sure she was happy to hear the words themselves. “If Hogwarts had any say in it, you would be staying, but your own father has more of one than we do. He… he has written to us asking that you be removed from Hogwarts to be homeschooled.” Katalina nodded gravely – there was no point in protesting it. “The letter said I had to speak with Professor Dumbledore?” “Yes,” said McGonagall, standing. “He will give you more details pertaining to… to the situation.” Katalina stood and followed Professor McGonagall, wondering what else need be explained. She already knew the details – her father wanted her in Slytherin, and she ended up in Gryffindor. In a family like the Gaunts, that was utter blasphemy. She did her best to memorize as much of the hallways as she could in her last minutes here, on her way to Dumbledore’s office. She had never imagined Hogwarts would be so amazing, since she avoided asking her brother questions about anything as often as possible. After a few flights of stairs and a walk down a corridor on the second floor, Professor McGonagall stopped in front of a statue of a gargoyle. “Ice Mice.” The statue of the gargoyle leapt aside. Katalina tilted her head slightly, contemplating both the rotating spiral staircase in the opening of the wall and the headmaster’s strange choice of passwords. She stepped onto the stairway with Professor McGonagall. The gargoyle moved back into place behind them as the stairs took them up, much like an escalator in a Muggle shopping mall – she had always found those rather fascinating. It stopped in front of a door, behind which Katalina could hear not one, but two voices. Her heart sank – one belonged to her father. “… just don’t think she is ready to work with other witches and wizards her age yet, Dumbledore,” she heard him saying as they approached the door. “Much the same was the situation with my aunt, Merope Gaunt. I’ve heard her parents withdrew her for the same reason.” “Not so much,” said a second voice calmly; Katalina assumed this was Dumbledore. “Marvolo Gaunt withdrew Merope from Hogwarts because he was infuriated she wasn’t sorted into Slytherin, I remember it quite well as I was working here at the time as a Transfiguration teacher. I suppose you didn’t know about this?” “That was the situation?” he asked curiously. He could be a good actor when he needed to be…. “My, I never knew, my father told me his sister just had problems working around other students. I’m merely worried that my daughter may have that very problem, I wouldn’t ever take her from as fine a school as Hogwarts just because she was sorted into the ‘wrong’ house.” Professor McGonagall knocked on the door as they approached it, her lips thin. She obviously trusted Timothy Gaunt about as far as she could have thrown him. Katalina couldn’t blame her at all for this. She opened the door when a voice from inside told her it was fine to do so, and Katalina followed her into the office. If it weren’t for the situation in play at the moment, Katalina would have taken a moment to look around at the place. It was rather interesting, really. It was definitely in one of the towers of the castle, as the room itself was somewhat circular. There were strange little silver instruments strewn about different tables, and portraits of old headmasters on the wall, all snoring – though, Katalina noticed, they would occasionally open their eyes to see what was happening, then quickly shut them and continue snoring. Situated on a perch next to the desk in the room was a large, red bird, about the size of an eagle or a hawk, with long tail feathers. It looked like the descriptions she had heard of phoenixes, so she assumed it was one. Katalina took a seat in a chair next to her father in the office and did her best not to look him in the eye. She guessed the man sitting behind the desk in the office was Dumbledore. He looked old, even ancient, with long white hair and a white beard past his belt. His nose appeared to have been broken once or twice, with as long and crooked as it was. He didn’t look overly angry about the situation as McGonagall did, but he gave off the impression of being able to hide such things rather well. “Miss Gaunt,” he said, “I am very regretful to inform you that you will not be able to remain at Hogwarts.” Katalina nodded, choosing to look at the phoenix next to the desk rather than at any of the other people in the room. “I’m terribly sorry, dear,” she heard her father saying. She felt like hexing him. “I’m just not sure you’re ready to cooperate with other students.” “She has done fine so far.” Katalina tried to suppress a grin at Professor McGonagall’s words. “If anything, she’s more advanced than most other first years. Any teacher here will attest to it.” “Oh, no doubt she’s good with magic itself,” Timothy said calmly. “I taught her a bit myself before she entered school so she would know what to expect. As I said, I’m merely afraid she will have problems getting along with other students.” “Why?” Katalina managed to keep herself from recoiling at her own words as she looked at her father. “Because I was sorted into a house you don’t think a Gaunt should be in?” She knew she would regret this later. He wouldn’t do anything with McGonagall and Dumbledore standing by, but he would later. A flash of something like infuriation came across his face for a moment, but he managed to keep calm. “You know that isn’t the case, Ka –” “Then why did you tell me that you’d pull me out of Hogwarts if I wasn’t sorted into Slytherin when I got my letter? Al said you told him that your granddad did the same thing to our great aunt, except she was put in Ravenclaw. You’re just upset because things didn’t go the way you wanted them to and I got sorted into Gryffindor!” Now the flicker of anger stayed burning upon his face as he glared at Katalina. His eyes were narrowed and when he spoke, it was barely in more than a hiss. “What have I told you about back talking me?” “I’m not back talking you, I’m telling the truth!” “They don’t need to know anything about the ‘truth,’” he shot back at her. She realized quite suddenly that his voice seemed like a hiss for the simple reason that it was one. “They do need to know the truth, and there’s no point speaking in Parseltongue, I’ll just translate everything you say.” She crossed her arms and glared at him indignantly. He stared back, his eyes cold as ice. Katalina wasn’t sure where her sudden nerve was coming from, but she was sure her father would beat whatever was left of it out of her later. Something kept her going, though, and she absolutely detested whatever it was. “Even if you pull me out, I’m going to come back,” said Katalina, pointing at him. “I might not be able to for a few more years, but I will.” He turned from Katalina to look back at Dumbledore. “When will I be taking her home?” “As soon as she has packed her things,” said Dumbledore. Professor McGonagall escorted Katalina out of the office and up to the seventh floor, where the Gryffindor common room was located, explaining on the way that they would be leaving by Portkey. She had only traveled by Portkey once before and hadn’t enjoyed it at all, but she wasn’t much in the mood to protest anything else. She was still leaving Hogwarts and was probably going to be in quite a bit of trouble with her father when she arrived home. She was going to be forced to learn about the Dark Arts and the old ways. As she packed, all she could think of was whether or not there was some way to get out of it. The only conclusion she could come to was to sneak back to Hogwarts – she just wasn’t sure how that was going to work.
Distortia Joined: 13 January 2008 Posts: 527 Location: Over the sea	Posted: Wednesday 17 September 2008 07 16 28 pm    Post subject: Re: RPG: The Six Wizards in topic:RPG: The Six Wizards Inu stalked in a nearby alley, eyeing off a group of young muggles gathered outside the entrance of a night club. He waited, patiently, crouching silently with Neko by his side. She was nearly invisible, both by sound and sight, and the only way he knew she was there was the heat of her body leaning against his. His eyes rolled back, he was aching for a kill. And not just any kill; a proper kill that first was hunted, terrified, and then begged for it's life. Two muggles, a girl with long blonde hair pressed straight around her face and down her back, and a boy with black hair with red spiked tips, parted from the group, stumbling toward Inu and Neko. Inu crouched lower, and the two muggles passed them, grabbing at each other as they disappeared, away from safety, into the darkness. Inu eyed the girl, who was wearing a very short skirt and long boots. The flesh on her thighs was not covered with clothing, and he licked his lips, tasting the blood already. Neko seemed to sense his anticipation to begin and so they moved forward. The boy pushed the girl against the wall and started to kiss her. She pulled away, giggling. "Stop it! Are you sure no one is here?" She looked up into the empty windows of the buildings that created the alley. "Let em watch..." the boy growled and burried his face into her neck. She shrieked and leaned into the kiss. Then she gasped and pushed him off. "What?" he asked, and turned to look where she was staring, covering her mouth in horror. Behind a large rubbish bin, Two eyes flashed. What light caught them was impossible to tell; perhaps the moon? Because there was no other light in the alley. "Who's there?" the boy called bravely. The eyes closed, and the boys heart nearly stopped. "Hey!" he called. "Where did it go?" the girl whispered. And then she screamed when she felt something brush her legs. "What? What is that?!" the boy yelled. "Show yourself!" he yelled, holding the girl. And then the girl was ripped from his hands with such force it knocked him to the concrete. He couldn't tell where she had gone. The sounds in the alley echoed off the walls. He listened for an eternity, and then he heard her again. She was whimpering, crying softly. "Ilinois?" he called out, surprised by the fear in his voice. It was coming from behind the bin where the eyes had been. He stood up slowly, his legs like lead. He approached. "Honey? are you ok?" he stepped one foot in front of the other, closer, closer. The half moon cast light on the area, and there she was lying on the ground, looking at him, her eyes dull and wet. He smiled that he had found her and ran to her. Then her heard her speak, her soft whisper bounced off the dark walls. "No..." she called in vain. Inu showed himself once to the boy, before dragging the girl deeper into the darkness. He could sense Neko was already drinking in the boys fear, stalking him even now as he dragged the girl away into the darkness. He had held her there for only 5 minutes, making the boy wait. He had rattled her tiny body so completely that her back had snapped, but she still lived. He now looked down into her face and he stroked the white blonde hair with his hand, streaking it with dark lines of blood. He relished in her suffering and her fear. "Are you afraid?" he growled. Her eyes went round. How could a beast speak? He smiled. "You should be."
choki Joined: 1 May 2003 Posts: 3150 Location: In the Land of chicken worshippers, trying to open a fried chicken fastfood chain	Posted: Monday 8 September 2008 09 13 21 am    Post subject: Re: Next Generation 2 in topic:Next Generation 2 Nikolaus hastened his pace. "Mr. Nikolaus~" A cheery, faint echo rang across the corridor, "where are you~" The voice got nearer and nearer and so was Nikolaus as he moved swiftly toward both the source of the voice and Geneve's location. Eventually Nikolaus saw a sight that made him queasy. A transulent figure floated to him, with his loop-sided head looking at him in an upside down manner. "Yes?" Nikolaus answered in a face of doubt. "Oooh, so you are Mr. Nikolaus! What a fine young man, indeed worthy of having the same name as me..." The ghost chatted merrily, but upon seeing the doubt on his face, he introduced himself. "Ghost of Gryffindor, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington... you can refer me as Nearly Headless Nick! And I have found you... it's a request from a rather loud man..." "Loud?" The only person that sprung into his mind was Damien - the loud man who gave him a wallop moments ago. "Yes, he seemed to be in a fluster. Bye bye for now~ I'm off to find others~" "Wait, what else did he-" Before Nikolaus could finish his sentence, the ghost has vanished through the wall. Feeling strangely puzzled, Nikolaus moved on, increasing the speed of his pace. Then a new message from Geneve arrived. He was quite taken aback by the spell Geneve had casted on herself. At such alarming rate Geneve was able to decode his knowledge, it would be catastrophic if Damien ever finds out about Geneve's hidden 'talents'. He had never really explained to anyone else what really happened between them during the showdown only days ago. Although the transfer of knowledge was initially a grave mistake, it did not very take long before Nikolaus realised such a prodigy like her was hard to come along. Maybe, under good tutorage, Geneve would even surpass him, but the balancing act between good and evil was hard to grasp. Right now, teaching Geneve the ways of dark arts was not advisable, she need to attain better control of her own magic before everything else. A door was left ajar, not far from him.