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Scellanis Joined: 11 September 2002 Posts: 6564 Location: Pretending to be a sea slug with 'go faster' stripes...	Posted: Saturday 11 June 2011 11 08 16 am    Post subject: Deathly Hallows Part 2 trailor in topic:Deathly Hallows Part 2 trailor I saw it the other week, looked incredibly exciting but I'm sure Harry Potter never throws Voldemort off the top of a Hogwarts tower..what? Looks like this one wont be as true to the books as the first part was but it does look very very EPIC! The battle scenes are spectacular. I can't wait till July! I been struggling since the first part came out on DVD to work out whether I should buy it and watch it again before going to see the second part or whether I should wait and see if they release a fancy DVD containing both parts after this 2nd one reaches DVD time.
VampireOutlaw Joined: 14 December 2010 Posts: 11	Posted: Friday 17 December 2010 05 15 25 pm    Post subject: A movie about the year 1981? in topic:A movie about the year 1981? No, they're not making such movie but for some years I've been thinking it might be cool if they did. But then again, someone's made a good point that at least Hollywood probably wouldn't make a movie that would do justice to the darkness of the era because HP movies are forced into PG/PG-13 ratings so that kids could watch it too. But I dream anyway. Pretending it could be possible to make a descent movie about it. That someone would pick every single little detail from the books, regarding that year and the years before it. More Voldemort, more Death Eaters, more Marauders, more Lily and James and more of my all time favourite character, Barty Crouch Jr. and for the love of Rowling they should stay loyal to the book version of him and not turn him into an evil psycho at that point of his life. So, of course I'd want a movie only if the film makers actually respected the events and characters in the books and made the film as extremely book-loyal as possible with only the most necessary changes made in order to make it work as a film. To make it pretty much the opposite of what the current HP movies are (apart from DH Part 1 which quality was a pleasent surprise.) If they made such soon, I'd wish Ralph Fiennes would play Voldemort again. And Helena Bonham Carter as Bella. I'd like to see the actors chosen for the Marauders because OotP film didn't bother to give them but some five seconds of screen time. They might as well have not been there at all. Tennant would be too old to play an 18 to 19 years old, plus I'm not too sure he could pull of the Barty Jr. from the novel. I'd like to see the British actor Jamie Bell in the role - not only because he's one of my favourite actors and I chose him for my vision of the character years ago but I truly think he could pull it off, judging by his role portrayals in his movies 'Undertow' and 'Jumper', in example.) I think such movie would be a great hook for those not yet into the fandom. And at least for me it would be tons of entertainment if done well. In the first movie, we got to see so little about the night Potters died. And if they're gonna ditch it from DH Part 2, I'm gonna scream. Though, if they do, it would lessen the impressivness of the scene in a movie about the year but so what. The year has so much more impressive in it than just that... What do you think, would a movie about that year be nice? What cast would you prefer for it?
Comma Joined: 4 September 2008 Posts: 16	Posted: Thursday 2 December 2010 03 45 14 am    Post subject: Re: A Gaunt Tale in topic:A Gaunt Tale [i]Thanks, hprocks ^_^ I'm actually going to be rewriting this pretty soon. I've worked it into a series in and of itself, and I'm actually working out the timeline for everything right now. But, I figure I may as well post what I've got of this one here for people to read. Why not?[/i] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [b]Chapter 4: Train[/b] As she picked up a few belongings of hers that had fallen off of her luggage cart, Katalina looked up at the red steam engine train with relish. It hadn’t changed a bit since the first day she had seen it, but the foreboding sense it had given her back in her first year was gone, replaced with hope and utter delight. It was earlier than eleven o’ clock and so Katalina was one of the only people on the platform, though she had felt as though she was being watched ever since waking up to find her window open in her inn room at the Leaky Cauldron. She had the same dream for the following nights, all ending with that same word. She could almost understand why the word was riddle; the dream itself was a riddle that she couldn’t make any sense of. It could have just been a sort of underlying guilt for leaving her father playing games with her mind while she looked for some more sinister explanation, but she somehow didn’t think so. Her paranoia was getting the better of her; she was almost sure she felt someone standing behind her. She first thought to laugh it off, but she glanced over her shoulder beforehand. At doing so, she spun around and pointed her wand and then, scowling, she shoved it back in her pocket. She turned back around to face the train. “What do [i]you[/i] want?” she snarled, glaring behind her. “I [i]did[/i] leave for a reason, you know.” The voice that replied wasn’t anywhere near as ferocious; if anything, it was confused. “Father’s been acting quite strange.” “Is that so?” said Katalina airily, looking over as her brother walked next to her. “That was actually the reason I left, to get him off my bloody back. Did you know that?” “My [i]Lord[/i], is there [i]any[/i] chance you could stop being hostile for a [i]moment[/i]?” Katalina remained silent. “Good,” Alfred snapped. “I know he’s been writing letters to Dumbledore about something since before you even left, I heard the house elf mumbling to herself about it. And before I left… [i]don’t[/i] think I’ll be doing it just because he said to,” he added, and she wasn’t sure if he sounded antagonistic or frenetic about it. “Before I left, he said I should watch out for you.” Katalina raised her eyebrows. “I don’t know why, like I said, he’s been acting strange.” “Anything else?” “Yeah…” he said slowly, leaning back against his own luggage cart and crossing his arms. “He didn’t think I saw it, but I’ve been keeping my eye on him since I found out about the letter’s he’s been writing to Dumbledore. I believe he’s working on writing a will.” Katalina felt her eyes widen involuntarily, but she regained her composure… on the outside. Inside, her mind was racing now—[i]that[/i] was why he was afraid, he was going to… die? But who was going to kill him? Surely it couldn’t be Voldemort. With the letters he had been writing to Dumbledore, maybe he had turned into a spy of some sort for Dumbledore and Voldemort found out? No… it was probably more likely that Voldemort forced him to become a double agent and pretend to work for Dumbledore, then Voldemort became paranoid and lost trust in him. Her father wouldn’t double-cross Voldemort if his life depended on it, she knew that for a fact. “So?” “What d’you [i]mean[/i], ‘so’?” asked Alfred, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. “I [i]mean[/i], why did you see fit to tell me? You said you weren’t going to hold to Dad’s word and ‘watch out for me’ or whatever it was, so there’s not really any point, is there?” “I didn’t say I [i]wasn’t[/i] going to, I said don’t expect me to. Anyway,” he added quickly, “I figure with everything Father’s taught you with all that about Occlumency and Legilimency, you might be able to figure something out.” “I haven’t got a clue,” she said. It wasn’t really a lie; she had quite a few theories already circling around in her mind, but she didn’t know how close any of them were to being right. “I’d have to be right there to attempt to employ Legilimency on him, you know, and considering he taught it to me, he’d be able to use Occlumency more than well enough to block me out.” “I don’t know that much about it. If you care to remember, I was sorted into the [i]right[/i] house when [i]I[/i] got to Hogwarts.” “Ah, back to the ‘I’m a better pureblood than you’ game, are we?” said Katalina brightly, if only to annoy her brother. “Here, I’ll help you. I forfeit.” She grabbed her luggage cart and started to walk off, but he caught up with her. She rolled her eyes and stopped a few feet from the entrance to the train. “So you really don’t have any theory as to what could be going on?” he said. The hostility was gone from his voice again, and this really surprised Katalina. He had been nothing [i]but[/i] hostile towards her for the past fifteen years, so this change was a little bit troubling. Of course, she supposed, Alfred was bound to be worried about the situation; he and their father definitely did have a decent father/son relationship. She couldn’t forget that—their father only treated [i]her[/i] like dirt. “I have [i]theories[/i],” she said, starting walking again. She managed to haul her trunk of supplies up the stairs that lead into the train and continued, “but there’s no point in taking them seriously. I’m not psychic.” “Actually,” he said, pushing his own Hogwarts trunk onto the train once she was out of the way, “I’ve heard Father mention that Mum was fairly gifted in Divination, and things like that tend to run in families, so you could be.” She scoffed. “Right, I’m psychic,” said Katalina. “I’d lose my bloody ‘ead if it weren’t attached, but I can see the future. Really funny.” “[i]You’re[/i] the one who wants to work in the Department of Mysteries if it’s still around after the Dark Lord’s through with the Ministry,” said Alfred. “You need some sort of knowledge of those sorts of things if you’re going to work there, you know.” Katalina looked into an empty compartment. Her trunk was heavy and she didn’t feel like going much further than a few doors down from the entrance. “First off,” she said, opening the door to that compartment, “I need a [i]knowledge[/i] of the theory behind it, I don’t need to be able to see spectral images in blobs of tea leaves myself. Second,” she said, hauling her trunk onto one of the bench seats in the train compartment and turning to face her brother. She pointed at him and continued on, “Lord [i]Voldy-thing[/i] isn’t going to take over the Ministry for the simple reasons that he’s got the dorkiest name I’ve ever heard, friends that could get him into severe trouble one day, and he [i]looks[/i] funny.” She managed to lift her trunk to shove it into the luggage rack above the seats as her brother glared at her, his face starting to turn a bit red. She looked over at him as she finished putting up her trunk and sniggered. “Oh, [i]I’m[/i] sorry, have I hurt your feelings? Shall I get you a band-aid?” “A—what?” “Things Muggles use to cover their cuts until they heal. Quite handy when you’re in a situation where you can’t use magic.” “R—right.” She could tell he was trying his best to be nice, for whatever reason, or else he would have said something about how stupid Muggles were. “But anyway, what are your theories on… you know.” “On Dad?” She shrugged and sat down on one of the seats in the compartment, crossing her legs and staring upwards. “The only one that there is a good chance of is that he’s going to die sometime in the near future, but I’m sure you could’ve guessed that from seeing the will.” “Yeah, I did figure that…” he said with a sigh, looking at the floor. “I also imagine it’s got something to do with Voldemort.” Katalina noticed the glare she received from her brother for having the nerve to use the ‘Dark Lord’s’ name. “Quit giving me that look!” she snapped, directing her range of sight from the bottom of the luggage rack above her head to her brother. “I’m doing my best to be helpful, thank you. I don’t know what it has to do with [i]him[/i],” she continued, “but if Dad’s suddenly started writing to Dumbledore out of nowhere, he might be looking for help or something.” Alfred looked thoughtful about this. “That seems to make sense, actually,” he said. “If Father’s gone and gotten himself into a bad situation with the Death Eaters or the Dark Lord, then Dumbledore would be the person to go to for help. Everyone says he’s the only person who would even possibly stand a chance against the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord’s even said it himself, from what I’ve heard about the meetings from Malfoy.” She shuddered at the sound of that name; many people shuddered at the sound of Voldemort’s name, but just the thought of Lucius Malfoy disturbed her. She did [i]not[/i] like him. “He’s graduated, hasn’t he?” “Couple years ago, yeah.” “Oh, thank Merlin. I was about to get off the train and leave if you said he was still there.” After a few more minutes of discussion on what their father was hiding, Alfred rushed off to change into his Hogwarts robes, having been forced to arrive early because he had prefect duty. The one thing she hadn’t bothered asking him was why their father hadn’t come like he did every year. She imagined it probably had to do with her; she was sure that he didn’t want to talk to her at this point. She scoffed at this though; what a wonderful father figure [i]he[/i] was. It was another thirty minutes before other students started boarding the train. A few of the first ones to enter slowed down by Katalina’s compartment and looked in on her for a moment, probably both surprised to see someone new who wasn’t a first year as well as to see someone on the train before them looking as though they had been sitting there for quite a while. One student, a girl with long red hair and bright green eyes that was already changed into her Hogwarts robes slowed down by the door at first, passed the compartment, and then came back only a moment later to open the door, looking vaguely confused. “K… Katalina Gaunt?” she said uncertainly. “Hello, Lily,” replied Katalina calmly, looking over. She moved her hands out from behind her head and sat up a bit straighter. “Didn’t I tell you I’d be back?” She blinked a few times and looked behind her as the crowds of students started growing louder. After a moment of what appeared to be a bit of self-debating, she came into the compartment and closed the door, and then sat across from Katalina. “I can’t [i]believe[/i]—” she started, shaking her head. “How’d you manage to get out of it?” “Well—” “Did you run away or something?” “I did, act—” “I thought you had to have a parent’s permission to attend!” “Well, see—” “Your father could pull you out again, couldn’t he?” “If you’d just slow down,” said Katalina, laughing. “You’re a prefect?” she added, noting the badge Lily was wearing on her robes. “That’s why I’m trying to ask quickly,” she said, glancing at the door again. “I’m supposed to be on duty right now to make sure no one’s trying to kill anyone else to get compartments. Did you know your brother’s Head Boy this year?” “H—how the bloody—[i]what[/i]?” She shook her head. “Dumbledore must be out of his mind.” Lily shrugged. “There are a lot of people who say he is. He’s really quite brilliant.” “There’s a thin line between genius an insanity. If Dumbledore’s going around making aspiring Death Eaters into Head Boys and prefects, then I’d say he’s more than a toe over the line.” “Death Eaters…?” “You’ve got prefect duty,” said Katalina, “you can ask more when you’re finished with it.” “Yes, I suppose so…” she said reluctantly. “I get to keep my luggage in the prefects’ compartment, at least, so I won’t have to lug it in here when I’m through. I’ll be back as soon as I can and I want to know what in the world ‘Death Eaters’ are.” “You don’t—?” Katalina started, then thought for a moment—Lily not only didn’t live with crazy purebloods who thought Muggles deserved to die, but she was also a Muggleborn. Not many people had the pleasure of knowing as much as Katalina did about the subject. “Never mind, I’ll tell you when you get back.” “All right,” Lily said, standing and walking towards the door of the compartment. “But you [i]will[/i] tell me,” she added, opening the door. Katalina was about to reply, but was interrupted by a voice from outside their compartment that made Lily grimace. “Evans!” Katalina heard it say fondly, and she recognized the voice immediately as her source of suffering over the past few days. “Hope you’ve had a good summer?” “Was nice,” she said shortly. “I’ve got to be off. Prefect duty.” And with that, she disappeared into a crowd, leaving a very disappointed looking boy with messy hair and glasses to stand next to the open door while looking after her as she walked off. Katalina kept deathly silent, silently praying he wouldn’t notice her if she didn’t make any sound. Evidently, she had more luck than ever today. Unfortunately, the luck she had wasn’t good luck at all, as James spotted her a moment later. “Ay! Gaunt!” he said, quickly dropping his formal tones and coming into the compartment without bothering to close the door and sitting where Lily had just sat. “How’re you this morning? Didn’t see you headed out of the Leaky Cauldron this morning with the rest of the Hogwarts crowd.” “I flew here out my window on a magic carpet,” she said sarcastically. “Magic carpet, eh? Got it with you now?” “Yes. But it’ll never leave the ground if you’re thinking about pink elephants when you’re standing on it.” “I don’t ever think about pink elephants. Only purple.” “Doesn’t fly for them, either. And I know you know that there’s no such thing as magic carpets and you’re just keeping this conversation because you have an extremely annoying fascination with getting on my nerves. Evidently,” she added with a laugh, “you also seem to have a fascination with Lily Evans that gets on [i]her[/i] nerves.” “Don’t let her fool you,” he said, shaking his head. “She [i]knows[/i] she doesn’t actually despise me. She’s just refusing to go out with me out of habit at this point. It’s nothing to do with me as a person.” “No, it’s just to do with you as an idiot.” “Hey—!” “What happened to your friend that was supposed to be staying at the Leaky Cauldron?” She changed the subject rapidly to avoid arguing. “His mum find him?” “She caught him just now outside the train,” he said. “She’s telling him off now I believe. He’s moving in with me and my parents next summer if he can manage to run away without [i]his[/i] mum and dad noticing.” Katalina laughed. “I’ve only got [i]one[/i] psycho pureblood parent and [i]he[/i] noticed.” “Yeah, but he’s a Gaunt. They’re notorious for being extra psychotic. Even more so than the Blacks. Which is [i]really[/i] saying something, considering they have a family tree in their house that his mum tends to blast faces off of if they’ve done something to wrong the family name. The thing about the Gaunt family is that if a family member does something to wrong [i]their[/i] family name, then they get their [i]actual[/i] face blasted off.” “My face is still intact.” “I’m just saying. They’re extra psychotic.” “All of them, then?” “Definitely.” “Oh, well, [i]thanks[/i]…” she said sarcastically. “You’re quite welcome.” Katalina glared. “I swear, I’m going to knock you over the head with my magic carpet once I [i]do[/i] dig it out of my luggage.” “See?” said James matter-of-factly. “You’re so deranged you’re going to beat me with an imaginary rug that only pretends to fly when you’re not thinking of oddly colored animals. If [i]that’s[/i] not psychotic, I don’t know [i]what[/i] is.” Katalina shook her head helplessly and put her face in her hands. If she was going to have to endure [i]this[/i] all the way to Hogwarts, she might just find a [i]real[/i] rug to beat him with. She was sure that the only person she had ever wanted to seriously injure this badly was her brother. She did have some fireworks that she could light and shove down the back of his robes when he wasn’t looking…. No, that could result in serious injury. Of course, she wouldn’t have minded such a thing at all, if it would keep him out of her hair for a little while. If he bothered Lily this often, she was surprised that Lily hadn’t cracked and hexed his ears off. He took a different approach to bothering her, however, as he did appear to want to seem more mature to her. Lily was lucky not to fall for the act. She had never even met a three-year-old that acted more like a three-year-old than James Potter did. “Oi, Prongs,” said a rather irritable voice from the open door. James looked up. “We’re finding my brother.” “Are we?” James asked Sirius, who was looking just as irritable as he sounded. “What for?” “Because he needs to relearn what happens when he bothers me.” “That sounds interesting,” James said, standing up. “I say you should switch his feet around again.” “I’m thinking of just cutting his feet off completely this time.” James shrugged as he reached the door. “That would do the trick. See you ‘round, Gaunt,” he added as they both left. A moment later, she heard a surprised-sounding voice echo from up the corridor of the train: “Did you say [i]Gaunt[/i]?” Katalina rolled her eyes—she knew she was probably going to be getting a lot of [i]that[/i] this year.
GodrictheGriffon Joined: 27 December 2006 Posts: 3990 Location: Beside the veil, waiting for Sirius.... And Midnight! I wonder how long your location can be?....	Posted: Sunday 28 November 2010 12 25 37 am    Post subject: Re: 2010 Christmas Special Trailer! in topic:2010 Christmas Special Trailer! I worry that I'll just be laughing and shouting "Diduputyernameinthegobletafire!?!?!" the whole time I watch it because of Michael Gambon.
GodrictheGriffon Joined: 27 December 2006 Posts: 3990 Location: Beside the veil, waiting for Sirius.... And Midnight! I wonder how long your location can be?....	Posted: Friday 19 November 2010 06 07 57 pm    Post subject: Re: ROLL CALL: Anyone alive out there?!? in topic:ROLL CALL: Anyone alive out there?!? Yeah I think they've aired over here. I watch them online so I see them only a few hours after all you Brits do. I wound up being quite pleased (and slightly confused as always) with Matt in the end.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2538 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Sunday 8 August 2010 04 51 20 pm    Post subject: Re: Beyond the Shadow in topic:Beyond the Shadow Chapter 13: The Riddleless Ravenclaw I was honestly worried that I would not get out of work in time to go out with Dillan, and what was more shocking was that I was actually upset about it. Usually when work got in the way of social engagements I didn't care and was often even relieved. For whatever reason this was different and I wanted nothing more than to leave the hospital and go to whatever restaurant Dillan had reservations at. No sooner had Matt vacated the Dai Lewellyn ward had a couple idiots turned up who decided to get into it with a hippogriff, resulting in bites that would scar. Served them right, I thought, aggravating a poor hippogriff. As much as I loved how much I helped people in my job, I hated the fact that part of it was cleaning up the messes of idiots. That cut into my brewing time so I had to stay late to work on a batch of Skele-Gro, which resulted in my staying at St. Mungo's until 7:30 on Friday night. Fifteen minutes later I was back in my flat taking a very fast shower and hoping I had something in my closet that was nice enough to wear to a fancy restaurant with Dillan. Once I stepped back into my bedroom, I found Victoire sitting on my bed alongside a very elegant navy blue dress with long sleeves that looked like it would go down to my knees. “You are a godsend,” I said as I grabbed the dress and walked back into the bathroom. “Where did you get it?” “My closet,” she shouted through the door. “Another one of those things I actually thought I might be able to fit into again after having Sophie but now have no hope whatsoever since having twins will surely be twice as bad for my body.” “Well, my wardrobe has certainly benefited from your pregnancies,” I replied. “Thanks.” “Hey, that dress did its magic on Teddy and now it's time for it to do the same with Dillan.” “Victoire!” I shouted as I stuck my head out into the hall. She was grinning mischievously. “This is only our second date. It's not like I'm going to marry the guy.” “You never know. I never thought I'd marry the kid who I played Exploding Snap with while our grandmothers baked banana bread in the other room,” Victoire pointed out. “I still don't even want to think about marriage at this point. I just want to have a good evening,” I said. “You will,” Victoire said as she stood up. She flicked her wand a few times to dry and straighten my hair. “Now stop worrying and just loosen up.” “I'm not worried; why do you think I'm worried?” “We've been friends for fifteen years. I know when you're worried,” Victoire said. “Oh, I meant to ask you earlier, I'm on call this weekend, so could you watch Sophie if I get called in? Ted's on another mission.” “Of course. How long does he think this one's going to last?” “He doesn't think it'll go past Sunday,” Victoire replied. “Let me know if anything exciting happens tonight and I really want to hear all about this bloke. Come over to dinner at my place tomorrow if I'm not called in.” “Definitely,” I said. “See you tomorrow, then,” Victoire said as she left the flat. I paced in my living room for a few minutes before there was a knock on the door at exactly eight-thirty. Dillan was punctual, that was for sure. The last bloke I had dated was always at least ten minutes late for anything, which was one of the many reasons I broke it off with him. I opened the door and saw Dillan standing in the corridor with a bouquet of wildflowers. They were various shades of blue and green. “You look great in that dress,” he said as he handed me the flowers. “Hope you like wildflowers. I was going to go with roses, but I thought these were more your style.” I stepped aside to let him in and went to put the flowers in a vase, leaving him in the entryway, which gave me time to return my breathing back to normal. How did he know I hated roses? I never mentioned a thing about how Cinda decorated my bedroom in her house with a rose theme, resulting in my hatred of the flower. “I love the flowers,” I said once I returned. “And I hate roses. Did you take Divination?” “For a year. Thought it would be an easy class. I was wrong, so I switched to Ancient Runes,” he replied. “Well, I've got reservations at a French restaurant a few blocks away. It's a Muggle one, so I thought we'd walk.” “You sure like Muggle restaurants, don't you?” I commented as we left the flat. “Muggles have a way with food that most wizards don't. Magic tends to ruin food, I've noticed.” “You've never eaten my friend Victoire's grandmother's cooking then,” I said. “Nope, can't say that I have. What about your grandmothers? Are they the cooking type?” “Let's put it this way, when my mum's mother, Cinda, lived in her house in Australia, her oven and stove were just for show. My dad's mum, she cooked a bit, but I don't really remember much. She died when I was young.” “We're in the same boat, then. My grandmothers, bless their hearts, wouldn't have known what to do with a spatula if it came with an instruction manual. Guess that's why I've eaten at practically every restaurant in London.” It wasn't a very long walk to the restaurant and the weather was surprisingly nice anyway. Cold, but not windy, which was pretty much considered beautiful for January. It was a very small and quiet restaurant with dim lighting and cozy booths. Nobody in it seemed to be under the age of twenty and all of the waiters and waitresses were wearing suits. The maitre d' led us to a booth in the back and lit the candle on the table before producing two menus and telling us that our server would be with us shortly. I opened my menu only to discover that the entire thing was in French and the extent of my knowledge of the French language is 'bonjour', 'fromage', and 'ou es la toilet?'. Sure, knowing French was common for a lot of people in England but since I spent my first fourteen years in Australia I never bothered learning it. I should have Victoire give me a brief lesson in it sometime. “I haven't the slightest idea what any of this means,” I whispered across the table. “It's ok,” he assured me. “I'll order for you.” I suppressed the urge to rattle off a list of foods I didn't like and decided to just let him order for me. French food was French food, right? It was all going to be gourmet and amazing. I could always just eat around the mushrooms, trying not to be very obvious with picking them out. The waiter arrived and Dillan must have ordered something in French because a few minutes later the waiter delivered a bottle of red wine, a baguette, and a platter of cheese to the table. I assumed it was brie, and tentatively put some onto a piece of baguette while Dillan poured two glasses of wine. The French cheese was actually really good. “So,” I began as I spread a bit more cheese on another piece of bread, “what house were in you in at Hogwarts?” “Ravenclaw,” Dillan answered after setting down his glass. “Spent most of my time wishing I was in Hufflepuff because I'm terrible with riddles. Usually had to wait until someone else wanted to get into the common room before I could. Bloody embarrassing as a seventh year, waiting for the eleven-year-olds to let me in.” I didn't even try to suppress my laugh. “Poor Dillan, forced to wait every time he wanted to get into the common room.” “You'd think the Sorting Hat, having the brains of Godric Gryffindor, would have been able to tell that I couldn't solve a riddle to save my life, let alone gain me entrance into the common room,” Dillan muttered. “Maybe it likes a joke?” I suggested. “Pretty awful joke if you ask me, making someone be the butt of everyone's jokes for seven years. The only Ravenclaw too stupid to get into his own common room. The Slytherins called me 'Dumb Dillan' for two years before they realized it had gotten old. Then they dubbed me the 'Riddleless Ravenclaw'.” “Really? You were known throughout the school for this?” I asked. I'd never heard of anyone not being able to get into their common room. Either Dillan was a lot older or younger than me, or I was clueless while at Hogwarts. “What year did you graduate?” “2013. What about you?” “2017, but I didn't move to England until 2013, so I started Hogwarts the year after you graduated. That would explain why I hadn't heard of the Riddleless Ravenclaw.” “If you call me that I'll order you the escargot,” Dillan said as he ripped off a chunk of bread. “That's one bit of French that I do know and I won't let you order me snails.” “Too bad. They're tasty.” The waiter returned and Dillan ordered something in French. I did hear the word 'escargot', but I really hoped he was ordering them for himself. But really, who could possibly enjoy eating snails? Even Victoire didn't like them and she was half-French. “You really like escargot?” I asked after the waiter left. “Sure,” Dillan replied. “It's an acquired taste, but it's pretty good.” “Is there any food you don't like?” “Nope.” Dillan grinned. We both reached for our wine glasses at the same time, resulting in a few moments of silence, but it wasn't awkward like so many silences during other dates I'd been on. I set down my glass. “So how did a Ravenclaw such as yourself start working as a counterfeit coin checker at Gringotts?” “That would be the result of my inability to make a decision about what I wanted to do with my life so I got a menial job to do while I decided and well, sixteen years later, I still haven't decided. Well, I've sort of decided.” Completely the opposite of me, I thought, as I had my entire career planned out at the age of fifteen. “What did you decide on?” “You're going to think I'm crazy,” Dillan began. “But I would love to open my own restaurant. “Like a pub?” “No, like a real restaurant, like this only less fancy,” Dillan explained. “I like to cook, Muggle style, of course. That's the idea, I'll start a restaurant in the magical world, only I wouldn't use magic to cook. Some place like Diagon Alley or something.” “That's not crazy,” I said. “You should do what you really want to do.” “You think?” Dillan asked. “It would be a risk, of course, starting a business always is, but my parents left me enough when they died and I haven't spent it. They weren't rich by any means, but it's enough start-up for a restaurant.” “Then do it,” I told him. “You obviously want to.” “It's weird, though, I always thought I'd work for the Ministry like my dad did and his dad before him, doing some sort of middle of the road job and then retiring with enough to get by.” “My dad works for the Ministry and so does my brother. I couldn't do it, though. I wouldn't be able to keep my mouth shut when I needed to. Politics are just too...political,” I replied. “What department did your dad work in?” “He was an obliviator, so he worked wherever he was needed. Definitely an interesting department and he always had stories when he came home, but I just can't see myself being a Ministry worker. What about your dad and your brother?” “My dad's Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and my brother works in Werewolf Support Services,” I said. “Wow, your dad's pretty high up there. Is your brother going to follow in his footsteps?” “I don't know. I mean, my dad's never been one to sit back and watch things happen, which is how he got that position. He started in Werewolf Support Services here, but he had been Head of the entire magical creatures department in Australia, too. My whole family's like that, though, wanting to change the world kind of thing, always have been. Matt's different, though.” I paused, trying to figure out the best way to say it. There was no way Matt would ever be head of the department, being a werewolf. “I don't think he's outspoken enough.” “What about you?” Dillan asked. “Are you going to change the world?” At that moment the waiter arrived with our food. Even though I had already decided I wasn't going to tell Dillan about my work with the Wolfsbane, at least not yet, I was grateful. Maybe he would forget his question. I knew there was a big difference between telling him about the Wolfsbane and telling him about Matt, but the two were so interconnected for me that telling him about the first would almost be like telling him about the latter. The waiter set some sort of chicken dish in front of me and luckily it did not contain any mushrooms. It actually looked quite good. Dillan had his escargot along with some sort of steak dish. Like with the pizza, Dillan waited for me to try my meal before he tried his own. I took a bite and yet again, Dillan had introduced me to an amazing dish. “Delicious,” I said after I had swallowed. “Glad you like it, but I'm not waiting for you to try the food, you know.” He smiled and I realized he was waiting for me to answer the question about changing the world. “I guess you could say I'm not trying to change the world like my dad is, but I'm just trying to make it easier for a few people.” “See, that to me is changing the world more than what they do at the Ministry, no offense to your dad or anything.” “None taken,” I replied as I began to dig into my chicken. I never really thought of what I was doing as changing the world anyway. Changing the world to me seemed like something that would involve bringing about world peace or solving poverty or ending world hunger, or even like what Harry Potter did, but not fixing a potion that someone else created. Whether Dillan was analyzing my answer or merely enjoying his steak, I didn't know, but we were silent for the next few minutes, each of us lost in our food and thoughts. I'd never met anyone like Dillan before, and it both excited and scared me. The last thing I wanted was for him to be like the few blokes I had dated before, but it's honestly what I expected. I expected him to be a nine-to-five Ministry drone who wanted to spend every minute of every weekend together completely forgetting the fact that my job wouldn't allow for that. But Dillan didn't give off that vibe, simply because he wanted to open a restaurant and that would require a lot of his time. We finished our dinners over the next half hour, pausing for sips of wine and tales of our times at Hogwarts. We both ranted about Professor Washburn and the Slytherins who had tormented us. But we also talked about the good times, the times we snuck out of our dormitories with our friends and impromptu trips to the kitchens. By the time dessert arrived (crème brule, something surprisingly tasty for not having any chocolate in it), we were laughing and had earned glares by other patrons. I suppose loud raucous laughter was frowned upon in fancy restaurants. Dillan paid the bill and we were soon back out in the cold winter night. The sidewalks were less crowded now, and the only people out and about were hurrying towards buildings, most likely due to the fact that the wind had picked up. I wrapped my jacket tighter around myself as Dillan took my hand and squeezed it. “I had fun tonight.” I said as I smiled up at him. “Me too,” Dillan agreed. “I was wondering if maybe I could cook dinner for you sometime, now that I've told you about my restaurant idea.” “I'd like that.” “Next weekend then? Friday or Saturday, whichever works better for you,” Dillan suggested. Next weekend. Next weekend I was on call. I was a little taken aback at how upset I was about this. Normally when blokes asked for second or third dates I hoped they'd pick a day when I was on call, just so I'd have a decent excuse to say no, but not this time. This time I wished I wasn't. “I'm actually on call next weekend,” I said quietly. “I wish I could, though.” “Not a problem. How about the weekend after?” “That would be great.” I smiled. A few minutes later we reached my flat building. We paused at the door and Dillan took both of my hands. I gazed into his eyes and smiled as I noticed they were the perfect chocolate color. He smiled back and tilted his head as he leaned closer to me. His lips met mine and I closed my eyes. The kiss was brief, like all first kisses are, but to me it was the perfect length. We were both smiling when we pulled apart and I could feel the heat in my cheeks, despite the frigid air. “Good night, Amy,” he said quietly, still smiling at me. “Good night, Dillan,” I echoed, still in a daze from the kiss. He walked away slowly, looking back every so often to gaze at me. I stood at the door until he disappeared into a nearby alley and I imagined the sound of him Apparating. Only then did I walk inside, still feeling his lips on mine.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2538 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Sunday 11 July 2010 04 45 38 pm    Post subject: Re: Beyond the Shadow in topic:Beyond the Shadow Chapter 12: Victoire's News I thought it would have been easy to get sucked into work again and not think about my lunch with Dillan, but even while my mind was on wizards with plants sprouting out of their ears, witches with odd orange rashes, and children with spattergroit, Dillan was there in the back of my mind. It was strange since every other time I'd gone on a date I'd easily been able to forget about the blokes at work. Although, thinking about that now, it probably wasn't a good thing. Victoire bombarded me with questions about the lunch as I was walking back to my study after clinic duty and I told her everything, as I promised. She was thoroughly excited and promised to help me pick out an outfit for our date on Friday. However we couldn't talk for very long since she was seeing patients all afternoon. As she headed back to the Spell Damage floor I headed off to find Morris to see if he'd ran Matt's tests yet. Morris was in his study writing up notes when I entered a little while later. He must have known immediately why I was there because as soon as I sat down he handed me a piece of parchment with Matt's name, the date, and a time stamp of an hour earlier. It was his test results and according to them he no longer had any Wolfsbane in his system. “Thank Merlin,” I muttered. “Did you run it twice to be sure?” “Three times,” he answered. “They all gave the same results and Matt seems much better. He's tired of course, but I'm planning on discharging him before I go home tonight.” I nodded. I'd insist he stay with me for the night, but he'd be far less bored in my flat than in the ward. “Mind if I keep this?” “Go right ahead,” Morris said. “I've got another copy.” “Thanks. I'm not starting a new version of the potion until I figure out why he reacted like this. I don't want it happening again,” I said. “Probably a good idea,” Morris agreed. “Let me know what you find out.” “I will,” I answered as I left his study. My next stop was the ward, where I found Matt sitting up in bed reading some sort of book on the Chudley Cannons. He has so many books on that team that it makes me wonder not only where he finds them but what sort of authors would actually want to write books about such an awful Quidditch team. And I mean awful as in their playing, not that I hate them, because I'm quite indifferent about Quidditch. “Hey, Amy,” he greeted me. “Hear the good news?” “Sure did,” I replied. “All the Wolfsbane is gone, but we still haven't got a clue as to why it stayed in there. Morris said he's going to discharge you sometime today, but I think you should come spend the night at my place.” “Sounds good.” “And you're not going back to work tomorrow. I think you need to rest another day,” I told him. “Seriously? But I've already missed so many days.” “Don't tell me you're starting to become a workaholic, too.” I groaned. “No, you got all of those genes. It's just I know the only reason I got that job is because of Dad and I don't want to give the Ministry anymore reasons to dislike the fact that I'm working there.” “They don't dislike it,” I argued. “I'm not five anymore,” Matt said. “You can't hide stuff like that from me anymore.” He had a point, I thought. “All right, we'll compromise. You can go in in the afternoon so long as you continue to get better tonight. I'm sure Morris would agree with me on this.” “Ok, that'll work,” Matt agreed. “Good,” I replied. “I'm going down to the basement to work for the rest of the afternoon, but I haven't got anymore patients to see today so when Morris discharges you we'll go home.” “Sounds like a plan.” After swinging by my study to gather my very large collection of notes on every single version of Wolfsbane I had ever created, along with Matt's medical file from Morris's study, I headed down to the brewing rooms. By some stroke of luck I wasn't stopped by anyone on my way. I wasn't planning on doing any actual brewing that day, but experience had taught me that holing myself up in a brewing room would result in less interruptions than doing the same in my study. My usual room was empty so I dumped the stack of notes onto the desk and settled down for what was sure to be a long afternoon. I couldn't risk creating a potion like my most recent one again so I had to figure out what had caused Matt to have such an awful reaction. The only way to do that was to study my notes until I reached some sort of conclusion. Now that Matt was better and I had had a day to think about what had happened I realized that Morris was right. As awful as it had been for Matt to have a reaction like that to a potion, it was helpful in the long run. Generally, with experimental potions, negative reactions were better than no reaction at all when it came to figuring out how to make the potion better. When Matt had no reaction to a potion I created I had nothing to go on; all I was able to say was that that specific potion didn't work. Now I had a clue, something to tell me what was going wrong. If only I knew what that specific clue was. No matter what Matt's reaction was to new potions, my first step afterwards was to add a new line into my ever expanding chart of failed potions. Each potion had a line that included the ingredients, the type of cauldron it was brewed in, the amounts of ingredients, and every other seemingly insignificant step that went into brewing potions. The littlest thing could be the difference between a useful and useless potion. Along with information about the actual potion I also kept a separate chart of each person who had taken each potion. The people varied, although Matt had taken each one. For that very reason (and of course the fact that he was my brother) I was focusing the most on his reactions. Each year I created and tested either three or four potions and since I had been working on it for six years, there were a lot of entries. Some had been as useless as original Wolfsbane and others had had awful side effects, but the most recent one was the worst yet. After entering the new information into the charts, the first thing I looked at was the concentration of pure Wolfsbane in the potion. Wolfsbane potion was different from pure Wolfsbane, the latter being the active ingredient in the potion. It is the most tricky ingredient to add and if the proportion of it to the other ingredients isn't right, it can have disastrous effects, which is why I thought it had something to do with Matt's reaction. Regular Wolfsbane potion uses a concentration of .01 percent pure Wolfsbane. Most brewers agree that anything less than .008 concentration is completely useless while anything above .05 percent is deadly. My potions have ranged between .007 and .49 in terms of concentration, with the most recent having .04 percent. Matt's reaction would have made more sense if the potion had had a higher concentration, especially since the potion made with .49 percent had had no effect on him whatsoever, with the Wolfsbane filtering out of his system in the normal twelve hour window. That meant that this was far more complicated than the concentration of pure Wolfsbane. It meant that it had something to do with a reaction amongst the ingredients. To make matters even more confusing, Morris had discovered years ago that Matt had a very high metabolism, which was part of the reason why he believed Wolfsbane potion didn't work for him. Morris discovered that Matt's body processed Wolfsbane between eight and nine hours rather than the standard twelve, but even when he was given Wolfsbane potion every eight hours instead of twelve, it still didn't help him. But it made it even more confusing that this time the Wolfsbane wouldn't filter at all. Scouring my notes for anything that might help is a very tedious task and after working at it for two hours I still came up with nothing. I was about to start my third time reading them when there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” I said, thinking it was probably one of the junior brewers with a question. “I knew I'd find you here.” I looked up and saw Victoire, looking if possible, even more pregnant than she had the previous day. “It's where I'll be for the foreseeable future until I figure this potion out.” “Well can you pry yourself away from your notes long enough to hear my good news?” Victoire asked. I glanced up again and really looked at Victoire. She was glowing, positively glowing, and had a huge smile on her face. She looked even more excited than she did when she was told her baby didn't have lycanthropy. “Of course.” “Just had another Healer appointment,” she told me. “You did?” I asked. I couldn't recall her telling me about it. “I don't remember you saying anything about it.” “I mentioned it a while ago, but I'm sure you forgot after what happened,” she said. “Anyway, they ran another test, this one to tell us the sex-” “Did you find out?” I interrupted. “Yup,” Victoire said. “But that's not the best part. The best part is that I'm having twins!” “Oh my God!” I shrieked and got up to hug her. “Congratulations!” “Thanks. Teddy's thrilled, especially since they're both boys.” “Poor Sophie!” I laughed. “I know. I'm hoping she'll eventually have some cousins who are girls, but I think Weasleys tend to be prone to having boys.” “Well you can always try for another girl after those boys are born,” I pointed out. “I was just told that I'm going to have to give birth to not one but two boys in June. The last thing I want to do is thinking about having a fourth,” Victoire said. “Fair point,” I agreed. “I haven't even had one and I can't even imagine it. I love Sophie of course, but she's like the perfect kid. Surely they're not all like her.” “Trust me, they're not. I'm sure these boys will be like my Uncles Fred and George, only worse. I've got it coming to me after only having Sophie for five years.” “Sophie will keep them in line,” I said. “Even Sophie wouldn't be able to control them if they're like Fred and George,” Victoire said. “Merlin, Amy, even if they're like Sophie I'm still going to have three times as many kids. It's all Teddy and I can do to make sure someone's always around to watch Sophie. We can't rely on my parents and grandparents to watch three kids.” “But Sophie will be in school soon,” I pointed out. “Are you starting her at that preschool soon?” “Not all the time. Teddy and I both work a lot of weekends and Sophie won't have school on weekends,” Victoire said. “And yes, she's starting next week. She's so excited!” “Good.” I smiled. Sophie needed to be around kids her own age. “I just don't think I can do the working full time thing with two newborn babies and a five-year-old.” “What do you mean?” I asked. “I mean...” she paused and sat down in one of my extra chairs, “that I'm thinking of not coming back to St. Mungo's after my maternity leave is up.” I said nothing for a few minutes. While after hearing what Victoire was saying about taking care of three kids and working full time I sort of expected her to say that, it was still a shock. Victoire wasn't nearly as much of a workaholic as I was, but she had always been determined to work hard at what she does and I couldn't see her not working. Ever since I met her she knew exactly what she wanted career wise and nothing had ever swayed her. “Have you talked to Teddy about it yet?” I asked. “Yes,” Victoire answered. “He agrees with me. I mean, he makes a decent salary as an Auror so we don't necessarily need my income. It's weird. When I was in Hogwarts I always imagined having a job and kids but I never thought about how the two would compete. My mum stayed home with me and Gabriella and Ben when we were little and it was so much fun. We weren't ever shuttled off to anyone else's house for a weekend and we never waited until ten or eleven at night for our parents to come home to say good night while a baby-sitter sat in our living room.” “Sophie doesn't mind that,” I said quietly. “Has she ever complained once about having to spend the day with your parents or grandparents?” “No,” Victoire said. “But that doesn't mean she doesn't miss us. It wouldn't be forever. Just until the boys were at Hogwarts.” She looked down and placed her hands on her stomach. “It's up to you,” I said. “My mum was home with Matt and I when we were little, too, so I can see why you would want to. I'll miss you here, if you don't come back.” “And I'll miss you too. I'll miss everything about this place. It's why I'm so torn. I'm not deciding yet since I won't even leave on maternity leave until May or so.” “Farina won't be pleased.” I laughed. “No, definitely not,” Victoire agreed. “So what were you working on when I so rudely interrupted you?” “You're always welcome to interrupt me,” I said. “Anyone else will get yelled at, but you can.” “I feel so honored.” Victoire grinned. “So what are you up to? I don't see any steaming cauldrons filled with disgusting tasting liquids that will save the world.” “Very funny,” I replied. “And I'm not brewing anything today. I'm trying to look at years of notes in order to figure out why Matt had that awful of a reaction to the potion. I get interrupted less down here than in my study, due to my reputation of hexing people who barge in on my brewing.” “Ah, yes, that intern who you hexed last week never did return.” “Again, very funny. I did not hex an intern.” “So I take it you're staying late tonight? I was going to invite you over to dinner tonight. It's just Gabriella, Sophie, and I since Teddy's working,” Victoire explained. “Nope, not staying late, since Morris is releasing Matt today, but he's coming over to my place for the night. I've got to stay with him.” “Another time, then. Going to bring all of this home with you?” “Of course,” I said. “Has Gabriella made any mention of taking off again?” “No,” Victoire replied. “But she disappears everyday so she must be actually doing something here.” “If she wasn't, you could hire her as your nanny.” Victoire and I looked at each other and then burst out laughing at the thought of Gabriella being a nanny. That girl would be a nanny the day John Brickston managed to have a girlfriend for more than a month. “It's so weird,” I began, “because when we were kids Gabriella was so responsible. She was a prefect and everything.” “Hey, I suppose some kids rebel in their teenage years and others wait until they're out of Hogwarts.” Victoire shrugged. “And others don't ever rebel,” I pointed out, thinking of Victoire herself. “I'm hoping Sophie will take after me.” My Galleon alert vibrated and I pulled it out of the pocket of my robes. Morris was paging me so that meant he was probably ready to discharge Matt. “I've got to go,” I said. “I think Matt's going to be leaving.” “All right,” Victoire said as she stood up. “I'll see you tomorrow.” “Yep, sounds good.” I grabbed all of my paperwork and notes and followed Victoire out of the room, being sure to lock it behind me. ****** Morris was waiting in the Dai Lewellyn ward when I got there a few minutes later, and so was Mum. She was wearing nurse robes and had a stack of clipboards in her arms, so presumably she had snuck away from clinicals for a few minutes to see Matt before he went home. Judging by the irritated look on Matt's face and the bemused one on Morris's, Mum was doing more than just saying hi to her son. “I just don't think it's a good idea for you to go back to work tomorrow,” Mum said as I shut the door to the ward. “You need another day to rest.” “Mum.” Matt sighed. “I've been resting for the past three days.” “You've been here! In the hospital! Twenty-four hours ago you were practically unconscious on that bed, so you can't tell me you don't need another day of rest.” “I'm practically unconscious once a month but I still only take a couple of days off,” Matt pointed out. “If I rested as much as you wanted me to I'd never get anything done.” Morris and I shared a look, knowing that this could go on for ages. Despite the fact that both of us had degrees in healing, neither of us had any say in whether Matt went to work tomorrow where Mum is concerned. We could both assure her that Matt was as healthy as she was but she would still insist he stay in bed and eat soup all day. Degrees were nothing compared to motherly love. When Matt was little, Mum constantly told him to rest and she hardly let him do anything that other little kids did. As he got older he got fed up with it and started arguing with her, but even now that he's in his twenties she still has that pull over him. Hell, she still has that pull over me. If she demanded that I stay in bed and rest I'd probably listen to her, even if Farina was barking in my other ear to get to work. “Amy said I could go in in the afternoon if I rested in the morning,” Matt said. “Isn't that a good compromise?” Instead of agreeing with him, Mum turned around and glared at me, as if that wasn't a compromise at all. “Amy's not your mother,” Mum said. “But she's a Healer!” Matt shouted. “Not your Healer,” Mum countered. “Healer Sterling agrees with her,” Matt pointed out. Morris sighed and shook his head, looking as if he wished he hadn't gotten involved with this, even though he really hadn't. Matt dragged him into it. “We're busy at work, Mum. We're looking at that proposal Amy did for the foundation and Dad thinks we might be able to get funding for it if you work with the Ministry and it gets declared an official Werewolf Support Services program. I really need to be there.” I looked at Matt, raising my eyebrows and trying to silently ask him why he hadn't told me about that. Last I knew we were putting that off until after the holidays. Plus, the Ministry had never gotten involved with anything the foundation did. Mum sighed, clearly defeated. She glanced at her watch and I realized that her defeat probably had less to do with Matt's reasoning than the fact that she needed to get back to work. “Fine. Rest in the morning and work in the afternoon. Dad will tell me if you show up early, so don't.” Mum set down her clipboards and gave Matt a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek before turning to me. “Don't let him go if he seems to get ill again.” She picked up her clipboards and gave me a one-armed hug before leaving the ward. “Merlin,” Matt groaned as he sat back down on the bed. “You'd think I was twelve again.” “She's your mother,” Morris said as he flicked his wand above Matt's head. “She'll worry about you forever, no matter how old you are. Your vitals are normal, so you're good to go.” “Thanks,” Matt said as he got up. “I'm sure I'll be seeing you again soon.” “Hopefully not too soon,” Morris replied and then turned to me. “Amy, I'll see you tomorrow.” I nodded and Matt and I followed Morris out of the now empty ward. I stopped at my study to pick up a few more things and then we headed off for the Floo room. With any luck, I'd have a few hours to try and figure out my notes later that evening.
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2538 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Monday 28 June 2010 05 23 43 pm    Post subject: Re: Beyond the Shadow in topic:Beyond the Shadow Chapter 11: Dillan Blayney It was a very odd feeling to sit in my study and have absolutely nothing to do and it was a feeling that I never had very often. I felt like there was something I should be doing, but after replying to George's letter, there really wasn't anything left, since Farina had given me the day off I had no clinic hours, the only patient in the Dai Lewellyn Ward was Matt, and I hadn't started over on the Wolfsbane yet. The only thing I could have possibly done was look over the data I had just received, but my headache was slowly breaking through the potion I had taken and I knew there would be no way to concentrate on it. Instead, I just waited. I sat in my chair and did absolutely nothing and it was actually quite refreshing. I couldn't remember the last time I had absolutely nothing to do. Morris was obviously running late, since 4:30 came and went without him showing up. When I finally heard footsteps I got up and met him in Natalie's study. “Morris,” I said as he set a chart down on Natalie's desk and then picked up another. “How is Matt doing?” Morris paused and set the chart back down again. “Cancel my five o'clock,” he said to Natalie, who immediately got up and left, presumably to find Morris's five o'clock. My heart started beating fast as Morris gestured for me to follow him into his study. If Matt had been doing all right, Morris wouldn't have canceled an appointment. What had happened that was so awful he needed an entire appointment time to tell me about? Morris's study looks exactly like mine except it was filled with far more books and several pictures of his wife, children, and grandchildren adorned the walls and sat upon his desk. I sat in in the leather armchair in front of his desk while he took the seat behind it. He flipped through a stack of parchment and set a sheet in front of me. I glanced at it. “Matt's results from yesterday?” I asked, curious as to why he was showing them to me again. “No,” Morris said quietly. “Those are new. Results from a blood test taken only three hours ago.” He pointed to the date in the upper right hand corner. January second, 2:07pm. Morris set another piece of parchment alongside it. Matt's results from the day before. The numbers were exactly the same. The exact same amount of Wolfsbane was running through Matt's system that afternoon as had been the previous day. Why wasn't it getting processed? Why was it staying in his system? Why was a medicine that was supposed to be filtered through a person's system in less than twelve hours staying there for nearly forty-eight? “Again, I ran the same test three times. I had three different technicians run it and used three separate test potions. Then I had the test potions sent for testing and ran three tests each on each of them. The potions are fine. The results are as they are,” Morris said quietly. I swallowed hard. In all my years of studying lycanthropy, all my years of treating people with it, and all my years of brewing various types of Wolfsbane I had never seen a case where Wolfsbane did not filter out of a person's system in twelve hours, give or take a few. And if had never happened before, what were we supposed to do? “Have you ever known this to happen before?” I asked, hoping that since Morris had been working as a Healer far longer than she had, he would know something. “No,” he replied. “But I think if we treat the Wolfsbane as any other toxin, because it is a toxin to someone with lycanthropy, we should be able to flush it out. That made sense. It was a good thing Morris was able to remain calm enough to think clearly. I suppose that was why I'm not Matt's Healer. Morris was able to separate the rational thinking from his emotions when it came to Matt, whereas I certainly wasn't. “What about the after effects?” I asked. “That is what I am more worried about,” he replied. “We won't know what they are until the Wolfsbane is gone and he's awake and conscious. At the very least he's going to be incredibly exhausted. Other than that, I really don't know. The best thing we can do is flush out the Wolfsbane as quickly as possible.” “Well let's start right now, then.” I stood up, wondering why we were wasting time talking. “I already have. I've had the potion running intravenously for the past hour.” Of course he had, Morris was always on top of things. “Have my parents been by?” “This morning, and on their lunch breaks,” Morris answered. “I expect they'll be back once they're done with work.” “I'm going to go sit with him.” “I'll go with you,” Morris said. “I've got to check the IV.” Morris and I walked in silence to the ward. Matt was curled up on his side on the bed, covered in three of those flannel hospital blankets that weren't really very warm, a tall pole with a bag of potion danging from it next to the bed. A tube ran from the bag into the back of Matt's hand, which was resting upon the blankets. It was a Muggle IV contraption since magic couldn't replicate the steady drip that an IV had. In order for his system to be properly flushed, he had to have constant potion dripping into his body. As we drew nearer I saw that his face was still flushed with fever, yet he was sleeping soundly. Morris drew his wand and waved it over Matt. “His fever's gone down.” “That's a good sign,” I said as I sat down in a chair next to the bed. “Definitely,” Morris agreed as he fiddled with the bag of potion. “I'm going to leave this in for twenty-four hours and then we'll test again.” I nodded. Morris finished doing whatever he was doing with the potion and left. Then it was quiet. Matt was sleeping very soundly and not snoring at all and the lack of other patients of course attributed to the silence. I was alone with my thoughts and at the moment which was kind of a scary thing. Deep down, I knew Dad was right that I couldn't liken this potion disaster to what had happened when Matt was eight, but on the surface it was hard not to. Plus, regardless of whether the two were similar or not something I had created had still harmed my brother and there was no getting around that. People could assure me time and time again that Matt had consented to take the Wolfsbane but that didn't matter. He didn't have a degree in healing or brewing so he counted on me to tell him what was safe and what wasn't when it came to those fields. I hadn't done that. The door to the ward opened and Mum and Dad walked in, both looking in dire need of a nap. They took seats on the other side of Matt's bed. “The Wolfsbane is still in his system,” I told them, and proceeded to explain everything Morris had already told me. “Nothing to do but wait, then,” Dad said quietly. “Sometimes I wonder if it'll even be worth it, in the end,” I said. “What?” Mum asked. “This,” I gestured to Matt. “Giving him potions that nearly kill him just for the small chance that I might come up with one that will work. What if in the end I don't come up with one? Then he will have gone through all of this for nothing.” “You will come up with one,” Dad assured me. “Stop thinking you won't. And it's not for nothing because even though this one didn't work, it will provide answers once you sit down and compare it with the others.” “But is it worth it to use my own brother as a guinea pig?” “That's a question that has no answer,” Dad said. “If he comes out of this not wanting to test anymore potions then fine. But if he still wants to try them, that's his decision.” I nodded, mostly to appease my father and not because I necessarily agreed, because I was not sure that I did. My father, as intelligent as he was, did not have the training in healing and medicine that I had. Give him a complicated question about a magical creature and he'd give you the answer with hardly a thought and no doubt it would be correct, but there were aspects to the morals of healing that he did not understand. Even I did not completely understand them because they were beyond the scope of the few morals classes I took in training. Patients don't get to decide what treatment they get even if a healer explains the risks and they claim they understand the risks. A healer still has the final say. If Jamie's parents had wanted to start him on my experimental Wolfsbane as soon as he'd stopped taking normal Wolfsbane, even claiming to understand the risks, I would have said no. Similarly, it was not solely Matt's decision whether or not to continue taking experimental potions; it was up to Morris and I as well. However, so long as I kept those potions available for any of age lycanthropic witches and wizards to try, I had to let Matt use them if he wished. The only way I could stop him is if I found a medical reason for him not to, and without understanding why this particular potion had affected him so badly, I would not have a medical reason for him not to try the next one. ****** Farina greeted me the next morning without any recognition that she'd given me the previous day off. It was like it never happened. Instead she told me I was due in the clinic as soon as my lunch hour was over, and not a minute later. My morning was filled with three routine appointments and going over that month's data. Since we have such a small amount of data I cannot draw any conclusions yet, but I still like to look it over to make sure it's useable. Luckily all of this month's looked fine. It wasn't until nearly eleven-thirty that I remembered that I had told Victoire I would meet the bloke from the pub for lunch. I cringed when I realized all I had on underneath my healer robes was a pair of old jeans and a sweater Victoire's grandmother had knitted for me, one adorned with a Gryffindor lion. I didn't even have time to floo home to change because it was either floo home or visit Matt, which I hadn't had time to do yet that morning. Matt was awake when I entered the ward and he looked slightly bored which I took to be a good sign. He looked over immediately when I entered. “Hey, how are you feeling?” I asked as I bent over to give him a hug. “Better than yesterday,” he replied. “Good, that means the wolfsbane is finally being flushed out,” I told him. “We'll know for sure when you're tested this afternoon.” Victoire was waiting for me in my study when I rushed in to strip off my lime green robes after visiting Matt. She wasn't impressed with what I was wearing underneath but she at least had some make-up on hand and straightened my hair with her wand before I promised her to tell her all about the lunch and rushed downstairs to meet the guy. I was five minutes late by the time I got there and he was standing amongst the distressed witches and wizards in the waiting room, looking sorely out of place. For one, he did not look distressed. Two, he kept glancing around like he was looking for someone. Three, he was dressed solely in Muggle attire, wearing jeans and a jacket over a button-up shirt. His eyes rested upon me and he smiled. I met him near the door but didn't say anything until we left the chaotic waiting room for the slightly less chaotic streets of Muggle London. “Sorry I'm late,” I said. “You're closer to being on time than any Healer I've ever met before,” he joked. “And you look great.” I raised my eyebrows and gestured to my Gryffindor jumper. “I look like I'm ready for a day of lounging around at Hogwarts.” “Well the jumper does kind of answer one of the questions I was going to ask you over lunch,” he confided. “I'm Dillan Blayney, by the way. I don't think I properly introduced myself yesterday.” He stuck out his hand. “No, you didn't,” I replied as I shook his hand. “I believe I did.” “You did. I thought we could go get pizza. I know a great little place around the corner.” “What if I hadn't worn Muggle clothing?” I asked. “I took a chance. I figured you weren't the sort of person to stroll around London in green Healer robes.” He was right about that. Of course I didn't know anyone who wore their Healer robes outside of St. Mungo's due to their hideous nature. He seemed to be quite the jokester and I did have to admit that he was attractive. Very attractive. As much as he'd reminded me of Al Potter the previous day, now he seemed older and better looking which was a good sign since I thought of Al as a little brother. We walked in silence until we reached a very tiny shop on the corner that I would have missed had I not been with Dillan. He held the door open for me and I walked into what was a very adorable little pizza shop. There was a large picture of some city in Rome along one of the walls and a picture of the Italian Football team from 2006, when they won the World Cup. On various ledges were bottles of oils filled with herbs and a variety of meats and salads chilled in a display near the counter. Dillan chose a small booth in the back and plucked two menus out from behind the napkin holder, handing one to me. “Get whatever you want, so long as it's pizza,” Dillan said. “I do insist that you choose pizza because this is the best pizza, outside of Italy.” “Obviously you've never been to Mama Rizzo's in Sydney,” I told him as I scanned the menu. “Sydney?” he asked. “As in Australia? No, I can't say I've ever traveled that far for pizza. What was a Londoner like yourself doing in Sydney?” “I grew up in Australia, just outside Brisbane. My grandparents used to live near Sydney,” I said, making sure to watch his face for the look of surprise that always showed up on people's faces when I tell them I used to live in Australia. However, Dillan didn't seem surprised at all. He looked like he would've if I said I grew up in Scotland. “Yet you're wearing a Gryffindor jumper. Here I thought you were a Hogwarts alumnus.” “You were right about that,” I said as the waitress set down two waters. Thank Merlin, I thought, perhaps the waitress would distract him from asking why I moved to England. “Ready to order?” she asked. Dillan gestured to me. “Um, I guess we'll take a small pizza with peppers, olives, and extra cheese.” “Coming right up,” she said. “So let me get this straight,” Dillan said as he stirred his water with his straw. “You grew up in Australia yet you went to Hogwarts. I think I'm missing something.” “I moved here when I was fourteen,” I explained, although that really wasn't much of an explanation. “Ah,” he replied, “and may I ask why?” “You can ask,” I said, “but you won't necessarily get an answer.” “Then I won't ask,” he replied. “Although I shall remain curious. I was born and raised in the same house as I am living in right now.” Oh, Merlin, I thought. I've attracted a thirty-year-old guy who lives with his mother. “Literally,” he continued. “I didn't wait until my mum got to St. Mungo's and I was actually born in the house. I love the place. So many great memories there that when my parents died I moved back instead of selling the place.” So glad I didn't mention the 'living with his mother' thing. That would have been even more awkward than thinking it. As much as I would like to know why his parents died so young, I felt like if I were to ask that I would have to tell him why I moved which certainly wasn't going to happen. “About yesterday...” I began. “I'm sorry,” he said as he looked down into his glass. “I'm sure I was overstepping my boundaries a bit with that bet, but I was having an awful day and I don't normally drink that much-” “It's ok,” I assured him. “I was actually just wondering what job you were sacked from. Must have been an amazing job if you were that upset about losing it.” I saw an ever so slight tinge of pink creep up on his cheeks as he averted his gaze once again. “The funny thing is, it was kind of an awful job to begin with and not one I really saw myself in for the rest of my life. So really, it was a blessing in disguise. Not really sure why it sent me on a drinking binge. Anyway, I was a counterfeit coin checker at Gringotts.” I looked at him for a few seconds before responding. “Seriously?” “Yep.” He laughed. “Not a job that appears in a pamphlet in the common rooms in fifth year.” “No, definitely not,” I agreed. “But it paid the bills up until yesterday,” he said. “Unfortunately goblins do not take suggestions to their standard procedures nicely. I made a few suggestions to improve efficiency and they showed me the door, threw a sackful of Galleons out after me as my last paycheck and that was that.” “Wow,” I replied. Even Farina took suggestions on how to improve efficiency. I guess I should be lucky I don't work for goblins. “I suppose I'm lucky they're letting me keep my account there,” Dillan pointed out. The pizza arrived a few minutes later, after we had thoroughly exhausted the topic of Dillan's job at Gringotts and right before I was going to ask what sort of job he wanted to get next. I didn't get to ask since Dillan seemed preoccupied with watching my reaction to the pizza. He served me a slice and then watched in anticipation as I took a bite. “This is amazing!” I said after I'd finished swallowing. “Better than Mama Rizzo's.” “And closer,” Dillan pointed out as he served himself a slice. “You'll save millions on airfare alone.” I laughed before taking my next bite. He was funny, very funny. I hadn't ever really gone out with a funny guy before, mostly because the only funny blokes I knew were Teddy, Landon, and Matt's friends, none of whom I could or would date. Merlin, was I thinking of dating him already? We'd just gone out for pizza and hadn't even known each other forty-eight hours. We didn't talk much while we were polishing off the pizza and by the time we'd finished I only had ten minutes to get back to St. Mungo's and up to the clinic. We practically ran up the sidewalk and were out of breath by the time we reached the hospital. “I had a lot of fun,” he said as he smiled at me. “Maybe we can do it again sometime.” “I had fun, too,” I said. “Maybe next time we can do dinner and I won't have to rush out at the end.” “That would be good,” he replied. “What are you doing Friday night?” “Working until seven, but I'm free after that.” “Want to have a late dinner at eight-thirty?” he asked. “Sure. I'd like that.” I smiled. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, scrawling my address on it. I handed it to him. “I'll see you then,” he said and then turned, disappearing into the crowd. I walked back into St. Mungo's and hurried up to my study to don my tacky green robes before getting to the clinic, all the while wondering what the hell I was getting myself into.
FawkesthePhoenix Joined: 31 December 2006 Posts: 3553 Location: No idea, all I know is that there are a LOT of felt-tipped pens...	Posted: Saturday 26 June 2010 03 42 32 pm    Post subject: Re: Some Secrets in topic:Some Secrets Chapter 2: Sometimes I feel like I'm moving at a different speed than the rest of the world, going slow-motion while everyone else speed-walks. Other days it's like I'm the one going faster, but that the ending I'm hurtling towards with so much more speed than anyone else is something terrible that I haven't had the good sense to avoid. Today is one of those days. I'm walking to Potions class, and I'm suffocating. The crowd of students is stifling my breath. Smothering me. I begin to breath faster, then force myself to slow down and inhale deeply. I'm having a panic attack, Madame Pomfrey would have said. She always tells me breathing deeply helps, and it does, a little. But not enough because that's the thing; I can't breathe. I try to make my way nonchalantly through the seemingly crowded hallway, but I don't need to worry. No one cares about my slight hyperventilation, or the panicked look in my eyes. I'm just the loner girl, good for nothing except teasing and exploitation. After a few minutes of plodding through the impossibly large throng of students, I see it-- a bathroom. It might be Moaning Myrtle's, but I don't care. Maybe we can have a good cry together. Either way, it's a place I can be alone, away from this mesh of cluttered activity. I renew my efforts to get through the hallway, and eventually push my way into the bathroom, ignoring the fifth-year walking past it, and not even stopping to mutter an apology as I step on his foot in my hurry. Once inside the cooler, emptier area of the bathroom, I start to calm down. That hallway really wasn't very crowded at all, I realize with chagrin. I was imagining the situation to be worse than it was. How stupid of me, I think to myself, and start gathering up the contents of my bag, which had spilled out over the floor in my frenzy. I'm going to be late for Potions. The classroom is quiet as I sneak in late, and, other than a reprimand from Professor Slughorn about my behavior and timing, the class goes without a hitch. I know that my fellow students will pounce upon my lateness as an excuse for berating me the moment they get the chance, but what else is new? I should be used to this by now. And yet, I still find anxiety creeping into my stomach as I enter the common room that night. Perhaps some things never change. Sitting by the fire with my homework splayed half-finished across my lap, I catch a fluttering by the window in my peripherals, the same as last night. I try to ignore it, mindful of the precarious position of all the various books and papers on my person. But I keep a close watch on it as I struggle through the rest of my assignments, getting up to go to bed only when it fades from sight. I walk into the Girl's Dormitory, only to stop up short when I see that Mia and some of her friends are still up. They scurry out of the way, with barely a glance in my direction as I walk towards my bed. Odd. I discover the cause of their actions as I open my four-poster bed a few moments later. Stenciled across my bedspread in red paint is the word, “loser” in elegant print. Very original. I bundle up the soiled cloth and leave it in a pile on the floor. The house elves will take care of it by morning, and if I'm lucky, maybe Mia will step in the wet paint on her way to the bathroom that night. Herbology the next day would've been a cause for extreme embarrassment, if I hadn't stopped caring about my life in general years ago. The boy who I had almost steamrolled over as I rushed to the bathroom in the midst of the previous day's panic attack, was not, I discovered, a fifth-year who I'd hopefully never encounter again, much less remember. Fate hates me too much for that. No, he's a new student in my year, and had been assigned as my partner. Not that I volunteered or anything. I, being the social pariah I was, had been left partnerless at the beginning of the year when everyone was told to pair up, and had been working either by myself or with the professor all year. It seemed all that was about to change. His name is Jarret, and with his dark hair and intense brown eyes, I might have been lusting after him along with all the other girls (Mia's mouth seemed to be watering). That is, if he had said a word to me the entire period. Or even made eye contact. Now, as I sit alone at the house table during lunch, I wonder if I ought to have made an attempt to make conversation. Or to be friendly at all. But, having been forbidden contact with other people my age after being bitten as a child, I never developed any terribly adept people skills. Besides, what was there to talk about? I don't eat much, and soon I'm sitting in Defense Against the Dark Arts, where I'm again sitting next to Jarret. He starts writing the moment the teacher begins lecturing, successfully guilting me into talking careful notes on the various types of jinxes throughout the duration of the class. I'm making my bravest attempt at listening to the teacher, but it's a struggle. I'm so used to looking through a fog that the writing on the board is a mystery. I'm copying the letters down, but I have no idea what the lesson is about. Just as my quill is about to snap from all the pressure I'm putting on it in my concentration, the class miraculously ends. “Remember, essay due next week!” the professor calls out as everyone begins to pack up their things. “Eight inches of parchment, and no writing in all capitals!” A couple boys in the back groan at this pronouncement. I roll my eyes discreetly. I always try to be the first one out of each class, so as to avoid too much interaction with my fellows, but today I drop my bag as I stand up, and so have to pick up the scrambled contents from the floor before I can leave. I try to get everything as quickly as possible, before anyone notices my clumsiness. I can feel my face turn a deep scarlet, and my embarrassment only thickens when Mia notices me scrambling on the floor. “Oh, dear!” she exclaims in mock pity, “Poor Lia has dropped her bag! I'll catch up with you later,” she says to her friends, who cover their smirks with nods of fake understanding. “I ought to help clean up this mess.” I cringe as she walks over. I hate her. I hate her wavy brown hair, so shiny compared to my stringy, mousy brown locks. I hate that her name sounds so much like mine. But most of all, I hate that her courtesy is such a thin pretense; everyone knows that helping me is the very last thing on her mind as she saunters over, but even the teacher doesn't lift a finger. After gathering up a few forgotten papers from one of the desks, the professor bustles out of the classroom, leaving Mia and I alone. Or so I think, until I notice third set of shoes out of the corner of my eye. Jarret was still here. Great. Really fantastic. The good news was that Mia wouldn't dare jinx me with a possible love interest standing nearby, fiddling absently with the shoulder strap on his bag. The bad news was that now I had one more witness to my teasing. “Here, Lia,” Mia offered, “Let me help you clean this up.” She sounded cheerful, but I could tell that she was clenching her teeth. She'd obviously hoped to hiss a few choice words at me and kick my bag so that its contents would be more messily strewn across the floor, but with Jarret present, she now had to feign manners and get creative. I could see her nose wrinkling as she knelt down next to me and slowly poked a bottle of ink back into my bag. She crumpled each paper as she picked it up and shoved it in my direction, all the while spouting an endless stream of sickly sweet chatter, about anything from homework to quidditch. I could see Jarret's ankles out of the corner of my eye, but I didn't dare look up at his face. Why hadn't he left yet? Did he take pleasure at my humiliation? I couldn't understand his motives. At last the floor was free of my clutter, and I scrambled to my feet before Mia could pretend to help me up. She got to her feet more gracefully than I, and was out the door before I had even taken a step. This confused me. She hadn't made a move to insult me. What was up? I take a few steps towards the door, reorganizing the contents of my bag. I come up short when I find an unfamiliar slip of paper. It's folded twice, and I recognize Mia's handwriting instantly as I open it up. [i]Freak,[/i] it reads as an introduction,[i] loser, loner, whatever you are.[/i] How very original. I'm about to throw it into the trash bin, when one of the later sentences catches my eye. [i]You're no better than an animal. My dog has more of a spine than you do. Do you always howl at the moon?[/i] My breath catches in my throat, and the note crinkles as I crumble it into my fist. Does she know? I hadn't said a word. [i]She can't know. [/i]She can't, she can't! [i]She knows.[/i] How can she possibly know?[i] How did she find out?[/i] Both the paper and my bag fall from my hands, and it's all I can do to contain my sobs as I tearfully flee the classroom.
GryffindorAnimagus Joined: 4 June 2010 Posts: 36 Location: New Jersey USA	Posted: Monday 7 June 2010 06 58 57 am    Post subject: Nocturnal Suprise in topic:Nocturnal Suprise This is a story that I wrote for my writing class. I hope you all enjoy it. She was sitting in the corner of the smallest room at number twelve Tolhurst Drive in Ascot. The room was tiny with no personal touches; it was painted a pale sickly green that clashed with the rest of the house. The room smelled like the woods that surrounded the house. There was a mattress on the floor with a beat up quilt lying across it and a wardrobe along the wall closest to the door. In the corner by the tiny window that had a wonderful view of the woods sat Leda, she was small for her age, with bright red hair down to her waist and piercing green eyes. Leda was living in this house because her parents were murdered when she was just two years old but she did not know how or why. Leda jumped up and ran toward the door; her Uncle Gordon just arrived home. Gordon was tall and thin, with black hair and he smelled of cigar smoke and alcohol no matter what time it was. He did not like Leda, so she went out the backdoor as he came in the front. This had become a ritual of sorts, Leda would leave the second Uncle Gordon arrived home and would stay gone, usually walking around the woods until dinner time. Leda could hear her father’s sister, her Aunt Larissa welcoming Gordon home and she moved quicker into the woods. No matter how long she was gone she was sure to hear the same thing when she got back for dinner. Uncle Gordon would ramble on about how she had ruined everything and that he was forced to take her on as a ward because nobody else wanted her after her parents died. Uncle Gordon and Aunt Larissa did not have children of their own. It was clear to Leda that her uncle hated children and that her aunt would do whatever she could to keep him happy. Tonight was no different than any other night except that tomorrow is Leda’s sixteenth birthday. This was a fact that she and her aunt had spoke about earlier that day but neither would dare bring it up in front of her uncle. Leda walked for a few hours around the woods and imagined how it would be to get away from the home that she hated so much. The only good thing that she liked about living with her Aunt and Uncle were the hours that her Uncle was at work. Those were the hours when her Aunt would loosen up a little bit, a very little bit. She would not yell at Leda during these hours and would allow Leda to ask a few questions about anything but Leda’s parents. When Leda got home it was just like every other night, Uncle Gordon was sitting at the table already starting to ramble about Leda and Aunt Larissa was sitting there looking at him with such devotion but not saying a word. Leda blocked them out and ate the meatloaf that was put on her plate. She snuck away to her room as soon as her Aunt got up to get the coffee. She laid in her bed staring out the little window in her room. She listened to the rambling of her uncle muffled through the floor and then her aunt saying that she was tired. Leda heard them go into their room and close the door. Leda woke at a quarter till midnight; she thought she heard something outside. She stood and stared out the window, she could not believe her eyes. Her Aunt was sneaking into the woods. Leda rushed to follow her and for some reason found it to be really easy. She could hear her aunt’s footsteps even though she was yards ahead of her, she could see like it was still daylight. Leda ran to catch up to her aunt and as she was running she felt exhilarated. A feeling of warmth swam down her spine and she felt like she could run forever. The warm feeling spread down her legs and into her toes, through her arms and hands and finally into her chest, Leda had no idea what was going on and she was a little scared but she also felt strong. When the warmth touched her chest she stopped running and examined herself slowly. She could see hair sprouting up her arms and down her legs; it was the same color as her hair, bright red. All of a sudden she sank to the floor with a shriek but it came out as a howl. She was twitching and anyone who would have seen this would say she was having a seizure. Leda arms were stretched out and she was watching terrified as her fingers became shorter and eventually turned into paws. Her legs and feet felt like they two were changing but she could not see them because she shut her eyes trying to force herself to wake up from this dream. Leda lay on the forest floor for a few minutes’ eyes shut tightly and breathing very heavily. Her breaths came in quick pants and she was able to smell everything around her. She could smell that she was close to the pond and she could smell the other animals around her. There were so many new sounds and smells that she could not identify right away but she promised herself that she would find out what all of them were. Leda went to stand but was very shaky. When she finally got to her feet she opened her eyes and was shocked to see that she was standing on four paws. She ran to the pond that was no far from the house but was well hidden in the forest. Leda looked down at her reflection and could see that she had become a large red wolf. She did not believe at first that this was her. Then she could see the piercing green eyes and knew that she was the wolf in the water. Leda stood staring at herself in the pond for what seemed like days, until out of nowhere she could hear the howling and the falls of paws somewhere nearby. Leda’s first reaction was to hide. She did not know what was going on or what would happen to her. Just as she turned to runaway three massive wolves walked toward her and she could sense that she should not run but follow. Leda stared at them for a few minutes before they turned and started to walk away. She walked with the others for a quarter of an hour until they came to a clearing. The others entered ahead of her and when she finally caught up she was surprised to find two wolves and a teenage boy. She noticed as she watched him that he was attractive. He had black hair, eyes of ocean blue, and stood very tall. He spoke as soon as she sauntered in. He bowed and said “I am Cain, this is Connor,” he pointed at the sandy colored wolf and then pointed at the brown one, “and that is Deimos. We were asked to find you and bring you back to the meeting. Leda we have been waiting for you, we have missed you very much. If you would like to change back and talk to us, all you have to do is focus your mind and you will transform.” Leda, still scared but determined to find out what the hell was going on, focused on a picture of her human self in her mind and she could feel the cold spread through her. She lay on the ground this time voluntarily because she did not want to fall again. Her legs spread out and started to shake with the cold of the night. When she looked up she could see that the others were turned away. “It’s really cold” she said. Cain passed her a robe without looking at her, “I am sorry. It is really scary the first time. If you will follow us we will take you to the next clearing where the others are waiting.” Leda walked to him and simply said, “Where too?” She was feeling braver now that Cain was standing next to her. She could not explain to herself why his presence made her feel more at home. “We have to go to the rest of the clan. There the elders will explain to you what has been going on for the last thirteen years, fill you in on everything that has happened since you were taken.” “What do you mean taken?” Leda asked but before she could finish the question they walked into a new clearing. There were at least ten people in the clearing sitting on logs and staring into the fire that was built right in the middle of the group. She leaned into Cain and asked, “All of these people are wolves?” He gave a short laugh and nodded his head before leading her to the part of the circle where four chairs were vacant. Seconds later her Aunt Larissa stood up, Leda’s jaw dropped and she quickly shut it before anyone could notice. Larissa started speaking to the group, “Leda is now of age. She has been brought back to take what is rightfully hers. She will be brought up on the conditions of the clan and then decide if she wants what her parents have left her.” Larissa turned and spoke directly to Leda, “Leda, I know that this is scary for you but you are a werewolf. I, as you know am your father, Evan’s sister. Although Gordon does acknowledge this he does not believe it is true. I will explain it to you shortly, I promise. Your mother was leader of this clan until she was murdered. Tonight you will find out why and how, if you wish. Do you wish me to continue or will you return to your home?” Leda was still in shock but she whispered, “I want to know what happened?” Her aunt continued, “Thirteen years ago on this night your parents were walking through these very woods with you. Miranda, your mother, wanted to run for a while and your father told her to go ahead, that he would watch you. She was changing when a human walked into the area. He started yelling at your parents. They grabbed you and ran back to the manor but they did not realize that they were being followed. The young man who walked in on your mother changing followed and once it was clear that everyone within the house was asleep he set the house on fire. Your mother and father could not get out and the door to your room was blocked. The man who set the house on fire could hear a baby crying and he sprinted into your room from the back way. He snatched you and ran from the house. I did all I could to keep up with him. Once he got back to his house I knocked on the door and explained that I was new to the area. I courted him but not out of interest,” She looked disgusted and then continued, “I just wanted to make sure you were safe. I knew that it would be too dangerous for you to return to the clan until you came of age, so I married the idiot and took care of you as best I could without raising too many concerns from him. If he thought I took too much interest in you I would never be allowed alone with you. He told me what had happened but he swore that they must have taken you from some family nearby because you were just a baby and he believed that werewolves could not have children. I told him that we had to claim that you were my niece and that we took you in because my brother had passed away. I explained to him that this would quiet any questions that the neighbors would raise.” Larissa came to Leda and sat down in the chair next to her and continued, “Your mother was the leader of this clan, you inherited her duties. You have the right to refuse but we,” she waved her arm around the circle, “we would like you to stay and become our queen. Personally I would be forever grateful because I would never have to go back to that fool Gordon again. Will you join us Leda, will you be our queen?” Leda still shocked felt a surge of love toward her aunt and stronger now that she knew what had happened. This was the life she was supposed to have. She was supposed to grow up in this clan with her mother and father in the lead. She would not have been worried during the change tonight she would have known and probably looked forward to the change occurring. She looked at the group before standing then she said, “Of course I will join you and help in whatever way I can. I know that I belong here!” Everyone in the group came up to her to kiss her cheeks, give her hugs and whisper words of welcome. Larissa introduced everyone but Leda focused more on the kids her own age. She had never had friends before. Her uncle would never allow her to talk to anyone. First, were the boys she already met but now two of them had girls on their arms. Deimos had a beautiful blonde with him, he introduced her as Luna. Luna had yellow eyes that matched her bright hair. She smelled of lilies and walked like she was on a runway. Her smile was amazingly sweet and she pulled the girl that was hugging Connor toward her. Luna said, “This is Carme. You probably don’t remember us but we use to be together all the time. My parents have pictures of the three of us running around when we were very little.” Leda laughed and was astonished because this felt familiar, like she was finally home. Carme was shorter than Leda and had short auburn hair that made her look more fairy like. When Carme hugged her, Leda was hit with the sweet smell of brown sugar. Next was Cain, he walked up to her and pulled her away from the group. “You are so beautiful. I have truly missed you! We were best friends when we were little. I have been keeping watch over you from the woods over the past year and I am so sorry I could not do anything to pull you away from that place.” Then he embraced her so tightly that she could not breath but the sensation of rightness came over her and when they walked back to the group she held tightly to his hand. It seemed like minutes but was probably hours later that Larissa suggested that they show Leda to the new manor. The adults lead the way and the teens fell back to talk and joke but still followed. Leda and Cain walked yards behind the others. They talked for the past few hours but still had a lot to talk about. Leda wanted to get him alone to tell him something that was strange yet felt amazing. This was her chance so she stopped and looked up at him, “Cain,” but before she could go any further he was kissing her. He kissed her so deeply that her head was spinning, this was right she could tell that they were destined to be together. The others had explained to her that werewolves are born with a match already picked, there companion was always built perfectly for them and that once the two meet they would be in love forever. Every wolf had one from the moment they were born. The others say that they usually meet their matches younger than their transformation age of sixteen and that Cain was the only one in the group who had not found his companion. They explained it as walking around as only half of yourself until you meet him or her. Then once you meet, you would finally be whole and can be truly happy. Cain pulled away and looked into Leda’s eyes, “I have been waiting all year to do that. Happy birthday and welcome home.” He turned her toward the huge house that was now in front of them. Leda was amazed at how wonderful the house was. It was big enough for the entire clan and looked to be very old but restored to like new conditions. She dashed toward the door with Cain holding her hand. The entrance opened and the entire clan was standing around an enormous birthday cake and singing happy birthday. Behind them was a banner that said “Welcome Home!” Leda walked through the doors and was finally were she was meant to be.
GryffindorAnimagus Joined: 4 June 2010 Posts: 36 Location: New Jersey USA	Posted: Sunday 6 June 2010 07 40 15 pm    Post subject: Deathly Hallows preview in topic:Deathly Hallows preview Just watch the preview on the MTV movie awards. What did everyone think? I think it looked great and was suprised at how much they put into it!
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2538 Location: Going through LeakyCon withdrawal	Posted: Wednesday 5 May 2010 10 04 55 am    Post subject: Re: Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden in topic:Albus potter and the Path Left Untrodden Sorry, again I forgot to update last week. But that just means two chapters this week! Chapter 33: In Dervish and Banges The atmosphere in the Great Hall the next morning was unlike anything Albus had seen before. The Hogwarts team was sitting together at the Ravenclaw table, surrounded by students from all four houses. Teddy and Tyler seemed to be in the thick of it and were loudly discussing tactics. The Australian team was sitting together at the Hufflepuff table, with a large distance between them and the Hufflepuffs. A small crowd of Australians had congregated around them. Albus decided not to join the rest of the Hogwarts team at the Ravenclaw table. Nobody was unable to play that day, so Albus's days on the team were pretty much over. To be honest, he was kind of relieved. There was just so much pressure. “I think this tournament has been good for Hogwarts,” Rose mused, “Look at everyone. Nobody seems to care who's in what house.” “It'll all go back to normal once the match is over,” Albus pointed out. “Maybe not,” Rose shrugged, “You never know.” “I don't know, Rose,” Matt said, “I don't think one year can change centuries of tradition.” “It's worth a try,” Rose said, “I think we should all try and get along.” “I don't think this has helped international magical cooperation,” John gestured to the Australian team. The Hufflepuffs sitting nearby were glaring at them. “Competition rarely does that,” Rose muttered. “Well, they'll all be going home soon,” Matt said cheerfully. Rose shot him a dirty look and then looked up at the staff table. Albus's gaze followed. The staff table was quite overcrowded that morning. There were scouts from Quidditch teams, Ministry officials including Albus's Uncle Percy, and a variety of people from Australia and New York. “Look at that witch,” John pointed to a very tall, beautiful witch with pale white skin and long dark hair. “She's Linda's mother,” Rose told them. “Is she-” John began. “Yes,” Rose whispered, “She's one, too.” “I thought so,” John said without taking his eyes off the witch. There was a loud cheer from the Ravenclaw table and the Hogwarts team began to leave the Hall. Their entourage followed until they reached the door and then they went to sit back down at various tables. The Australian team followed shortly. The excitement only seemed to increase now that the teams had gone down to the changing rooms. A few minutes later people began to leave for the pitch. The crowd at the staff table left first and the students followed. “Albus,” John said as they got up from the table, “I've got a few pairs of omnioculars in my trunk. I want to see it up close when Linda catches that Snitch.” “Let's go get them, then,” Albus replied. Rose rolled her eyes. “Meet us down at the pitch.” She and Amanda turned towards the door as the boys ran up the grand staircase. “Why didn't you just bring them to breakfast?” Matt asked. “Forgot,” John said. The castle was absolutely deserted as they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. Albus hadn't seen it that empty during the day. It was almost disconcerting. John had to empty out his entire trunk in order to find the omnioculars. He had four pairs and handed one to each of the boys. “Let's go,” Albus said, “We're going to miss the start of the match.” Albus completely ignored the no running in the corridors rule as he made his way through the castle. There wasn't anyone to scold him anyway. The footsteps behind him told him his friends weren't far behind. Albus turned a corner and ran smack into something. He fell down onto his back and looked up, only to see that it was someone. Not just anyone either. Albus had collided with Matt's boggart. Only, it couldn't be a boggart because if it had been a boggart, it would have manifested itself into what Albus was most afraid of. At that moment, it probably would have been Willinson. The man sneered down at Albus and then smiled creepily. Albus scrambled up and turned back to look at his friends. Matt had turned white and looked far more afraid than Albus had ever seen him before, including when he had faced the boggart and when Malfoy had found out about his lycanthropy. John was looking from Matt to the man, an obvious horror on his face. Kaden was looking extremely confused. Albus turned and grabbed all three of his friends, pulling them into the nearest classroom. He slammed the door and pulled out his wand, putting every locking charm he knew onto the knob. Matt collapsed onto the nearest chair and put his head in his hands. “Th-th-that's-” “We know,” Albus whispered. “What the hell is he doing here?” John ranted, “He's got no business here!” “Why's he in the castle anyway?” Albus began to pace around the room, “If he's here to watch the Quidditch match, then why isn't he down there?” “What if he's not here to watch the Quidditch?” John said darkly. “Who the bloody hell is he?” Kaden asked loudly. Albus glanced at Matt before looking at Kaden. Matt didn't seem to have heard Kaden's question. “His name's Lubar. He's the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures in Australia,” Albus explained, “He's the reason why Matt had to move here, amongst other things.” “He's a sick and twisted evil git,” John muttered, “What are we going to do?” Albus walked over to the door and peered out the small window at the top. Lubar was no longer in sight. “I've g-got to go to the Ministry,” Matt said, “I've got to t-tell my dad. L-Lubar, he can't be here.” Albus paced back and forth in front of the door. The Ministry. How would they get there? Brooms? No, that would take too long. They'd have to use the Floo Network, but none of the fireplaces at Hogwarts were hooked up, as far as Albus knew. “We're going to have to get to Hogsmeade,” Albus said, “You wait here. I'll get my Cloak and the map. Then we'll sneak into Hogsmeade and Floo to the Ministry.” Matt nodded. “You guys don't have to come. You can go to the match.” “Are you mental?” John exclaimed, “That bloke out there is probably worse than Willinson. We're not letting you do this alone.” Albus nodded in agreement before waving his wand and undoing the locking charms. He cautiously looked out into the corridor before leaving. It was empty. Much to Albus's relief, both the Cloak and the map were right where he'd left them. He shoved them into his robes and ran back to the classroom. Matt, John, and Kaden were all talking quietly. Matt didn't look any less scared, but at least he didn't seem to be in shock anymore. “We're not all going to fit underneath it,” Albus said as he unfolded the cloak. “You three get under it,” John said immediately, “I'm tallest so I'll take up the most room anyway. Plus, if we meet up with Lubar again, I'm the best liar.” Albus couldn't argue there. Both he and Matt were horrible liars and Kaden still hadn't gotten over his inability to keep secrets. “You take the map, then,” Albus handed the map to John, “We've got to get to the one-eyed witch statue on the third floor. Albus threw the Cloak over himself, Matt, and Kaden, and the three of them followed John out of the room. The corridor was still empty, much to Albus's relief. John set a very fast pace and he was soon quite a bit ahead of Albus and the others. Albus couldn't say anything, though, as it would give away his presence. Instead he tried to run as fast as he could while making the least amount of noise possible. The boys made it down the two flights of stairs necessary to get to the third floor and arrived at the statue without seeing anyone. Albus pulled the Cloak off of them and stuffed it into his pocket. With a quick tap of his wand, he statue's hump opened and the boys climbed inside. Albus lit his wand and took off down the small passageway. Matt, John, and Kaden followed suit. “Why did Kendrick let him in?” John asked as they ran, “Doesn't he know what he did?” “Yes,” Matt answered, “I don't think Kendrick knows he's here.” “What did he do?” Kaden asked. “You don't think he came here to see you?” Albus asked Matt, “I mean, remember when Killigan saw us that one time and he seemed so interested in finding you?” “Of course I do,” Matt muttered, “And it really wouldn't surprise me if that's why he's here. But I'm betting there's another reason.” “What did he do?” Kaden repeated, a bit louder. “Why else would he be here?” Albus asked, “The match?” “Maybe, but I'm betting it's got something to do with Linda,” Matt replied, “I don't know for sure, but it seems too coincidental for him to be here just to see me.” “What did he do?” Kaden shouted, “Why would he want to see you?” Matt stopped running and wheeled around to look at Kaden. “It's a long story. Lubar's got a grudge against my dad, one that he obviously still has even though we haven't lived in Australia for six years,” Matt paused, “He passed a bunch of laws against werewolves and I wound up having to transform with a bunch of other werewolves. It was bad.” Matt resumed walking and didn't elaborate on the subject. Kaden didn't ask him to. “What's your dad going to do about it?” Kaden asked. “I dunno,” Matt shrugged, “Maybe talk to Kendrick or something.” There was no doubt in Albus's mind that Matt's dad would be able to get Lubar to leave Hogwarts, possibly even leave the country. Albus had known little about Mr. Eckerton prior to this year, but now he knew that you did not want to be on his bad side. When it came down to it, Mr. Eckerton was the one who had Balladanis sacked. The passage finally began to rise until it came to an abrupt stop at a knotty wooden door. Albus pressed his ear to the door, but heard nothing. He carefully pushed it open, wincing as it creaked. Seeing nobody in the storage room beyond, Albus beckoned his friends forward. The room was dimly lit, enough for Albus to see a huge amount of boxes littering the floor. On the far wall he could see a fireplace. The boys climbed over the various boxes and stood in front of the fireplace. Albus located a small sack of Floo Powder and then lit a fire. He turned to his friends. “You can't Floo directly into someone's study at the Ministry. We're going to have to go to the Atrium,” Albus told them, “I'll go first, you follow.” Albus took a handful of powder and then handed the bag to Matt. He tossed the powder into the fire and stepped inside, shouting “The Ministry of Magic!” Albus stumbled out of a different fireplace seconds later. The Atrium was nearly deserted, save for a few wizards striding towards the lifts, clearly too busy to notice Albus. Matt landed rather ungracefully on the floor. He picked himself up, brushing stray ash off his robes. “Place is deserted,” Matt said as he looked around. “It's a Saturday,” Albus pointed out, “Does your dad work Saturdays?” “Yeah,” Matt nodded, “At least mornings.” John was next to step out of the fire, doing so more elegantly than Matt had. He stood in front of the fire, staring around at the Atrium. His eyes rested on the Fountain of Magical Brethren. “This is more fancy than I imagined,” John said. “Bloody hell!” Kaden shouted as he fell out of the fire, “This is the Ministry?” “Yes,” Matt said quickly, “But we haven't got time to explore. Let's go.” Albus followed Matt towards the desk in the front of the Atrium. There was an old wizard leafing through a copy of the Quibbler, oblivious to his surroundings. Albus almost thought they'd be able to sneak around him, but he looked up just as they were about to pass. “Where do you think you're going?” he asked and then his eyes rested on Albus, “Albus Severus Potter. Why aren't you in school?” “Er,” Albus began, a little unnerved that the man knew who he was. Matt stepped in front of Albus. “We need to go see my dad. He's the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. It's kind of an emergency.” “Very well,” the man looked at them oddly, “Put your wands up here.” Albus did as he was told and the others followed suit. They waited impatiently as the old wizard tested their wands and then handed them back. He waved them on towards the lifts. “What's the point of that?” Kaden asked as they waited for a lift. “So if you murder anyone, they can tell whose wand did it,” Albus said bluntly. “That's cheerful,” Kaden replied. Once the lift arrived, the boys piled in and Matt pushed the number four. Nobody said anything as the lift creaked its way to the fourth floor. Matt took off at a run down the corridor after they left the lift. Albus had never been to this particular floor. It looked rather similar to the Magical Law Enforcement's floor, with nondescript sets of double doors on one side. Matt skidded to a halt in front of the only door that was single and banged his hand loudly on it. When there was no answer after a few seconds, he banged again. “Hold your hippogriffs!” called a voice from the inside, “I'm coming, I'm-” Matt's dad said as he opened the door. Mr. Eckerton seemed to freeze at the sight of his son and the other three boys. He gaped at them for a second before shaking his head. “Matt?” he asked and rubbed his eyes, as if he thought he was seeing a hallucination, “But, why aren't you in school? How did you get here? Why are you here? Albus? What are you- and John, Kaden?” His eyes rested on Matt again. “Matt? What's wrong?” Mr. Eckerton stepped aside and let the boys into his study. He shut the door quietly behind them. The study reminded Albus of his dad's. There were large windows on the side opposite the door, although the scene outside was not real, nor was the gentle rain that was pattering onto it. There was a large leather covered chair behind the huge oak desk and a few smaller chairs in front of it. Along the other two walls were shelves with loads of books. Most of them were about various magical creatures. Albus, Matt, and John took the seats that were in front of the desk while Kaden wandered around the study looking at things. Mr. Eckerton leaned against the front of his desk and looked at his son. “What's happened?” he asked quietly. “L-Lubar,” Matt said in barely more than a whisper, “He-he's at Hogwarts.” “What?!” Mr. Eckerton exclaimed. “We were on our way to the Quidditch final,” Matt said, “A-and we saw him.” “Bloody hell!” Mr. Eckerton stood up and slammed his fist loudly against his desk, “Did Professor Kendrick allow this?” “I don't know,” Matt replied, “B-but everyone else was at the match and he was just lurking about the castle.” Mr. Eckerton's face hardened. He looked just like he had when he talked with Professor Balladanis earlier in the term. “Let's go, boys,” he said darkly, “I've got to have a word with Professor Kendrick.” Albus followed Mr. Eckerton out of his study and down towards the lifts. John's walking speed was nothing compared to Matt's dad's. The boys had to run to keep up. “Where did you Floo from?” Mr. Eckerton asked once they were in the lift. “Honeyduke's,” Albus answered. “We'll Floo there now,” Mr. Eckerton replied. The wizard at the welcome desk looked at them curiously as they rushed towards the fireplaces, but didn't say anything. Mr. Eckerton handed Albus a bit of Floo Powder and gestured for him to go first. Albus stepped into the fire and shouted, “Honeyduke's!” Albus began to spin faster and faster. He saw glimpses of people's houses, shops in Diagon Alley, and a variety of other places he did not recognize. Then, out of one of the fireplaces, came a hand. Everything seemed to slow down, but Albus wasn't sure if it actually did or not. The hand grabbed him. Albus fought against it, but it was too strong. All of a sudden he was laying on a dusty wooden floor, one that was not at all like the one in Honeyduke's. Albus coughed and stood up. His heart was beating fast. What had happened? Why wasn't he in Honeyduke's? Where was he? Whose hand was that? Albus grappled for his wand and shakily held it up. He lit it and looked around the room, seeing no one. “Nice to see you, Potter,” a cold voice said from behind him. Albus jumped and turned around. There, crouching next to the fireplace with his hand inside of it, was Lubar. He looked even more creepy in the dank room than he did in Hogwarts. The fireplace glowed green and Lubar yanked his arm out of it. John came tumbling out of the fire and scrambled too his feet, looking about. Lubar muttered something underneath his breath and stuck his hand in the fire again. “What the?” John whispered to Albus, “Where are we? Is that? Bloody Hell!” “Shut up!” Lubar shouted. Albus gazed around the room. It looked vaguely familiar, but Albus couldn't put his finger on it. The windows were boarded up, but it was definitely not the Shrieking Shack. Albus doubted that was connected to the Floo Network anyway. The fireplace glowed green yet again, this time sending Kaden onto the floor. This earned another shout from Lubar, who stuck his hand in the fire again. Kaden gaped and then got to his feet and stood next to Albus. He looked absolutely terrified, even before he laid eyes on Lubar. Albus wanted nothing more than to run from the room, but he did not know where the building was even located. Plus, Lubar would probably stun him or something. Green light filled the room as the fireplace glowed once more. Albus knew even before it happened that Matt would be the one to next fall out of the flames. Mere seconds later, that suspicion was confirmed. Matt coughed and scrambled to his feet. He gasped when he saw Lubar and ran over to Albus. Lubar, finally satisfied, doused the fire and lit his wand, which illuminated his sinister face. He began to pace slowly in front of them. “Well, well, you went crying to Daddy just as I expected,” Lubar grinned manically, “I do love when things work out the way I expect them to.” Albus could feel Matt shaking next to him. He gripped his wand hard, debating whether to try and disarm Lubar. “Any idea where you are?” Lubar asked, “Dervish and Banges. Lovely shop, pity about the owner. Yes, a real shame.” Lubar didn't seem at all upset about what happened to the shop owner. Albus looked around the shop again and now he recognized it. “Well, let's not waste our time here,” Lubar said, “There's a few people who've been dying to see you.” Lubar snapped his fingers three times and Albus heard footsteps on the stairs. Three wizards descended the stairs and strode into the room. They lit their wands at the same time and Albus gasped when the light showed their faces. Jarrett and Quinton Willinson, along with Washburn. Three people Albus hoped never to see again. Albus swallowed hard. He could see no way out of this. As good a dueler he was, he was up against four fully qualified wizards. Three of them did not possess the skills to duel, but Albus had no idea what Lubar was capable of. “Ah, yes,” Lubar smirked, “What a lovely reunion. Unfortunately we haven't got time to chat.” Before Albus knew it, Washburn had him in a headlock with his wand pointed at his neck. Quinton Willinson had Kaden and his father had John. Matt, seeing his friends restrained, made a run for the nearest window. “Not so fast, young werewolf,” Lubar caught him by the back of his robes and wrapped one of his arms around his middle. Lubar reached into his robes with his free hand and pulled out an old tea kettle. He held it out to the other three men and each one put a free hand on it. Albus knew what was going to happen right before it did. He shared a frightened glance with Matt before feeling a jerk behind his belly button.