Waterglobes and Snowglobes

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DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2095 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Wednesday 24 September 2008 11 52 57 am    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind Thanks, Obladi! Just thought I'd mention that it was exactly a year ago that I posted the first chapter of [i]Albus Potter and the Secrets Within[/i]. Hard to believe that it's been a year already. Chapter 22: The Stag Albus, Rose, and Hermione went to the Leaky Cauldron the next day to meet Matt and Amanda, who was also being dropped off there. John had arrived earlier by Floo and went with them as well. When they got there, both Matt and Amanda were already there. "Hi!" Albus greeted them as he stepped out of the Floo. "Hi Albus," Matt grinned, "How was your Christmas?" "It was brilliant," Albus replied, "Wait till you see what I got." "What?" Amanda asked. "Can't show you here," Albus whispered. "I'll show you when we get back." "Let's go now," Matt said impatiently. "You kids go ahead," Hermione told them, "I've got a bit of shopping to do." Albus bade goodbye to his aunt and turned back to the Floo. Within seconds he was back in Rose's living room. A few minutes later all his friends were back as well. Matt and Amanda stared around the room. "Nice house," Amanda smiled. "Yeah," Matt agreed, "Kind of looks like mine." "Thanks," Rose replied. "So, Albus, what did you get for Christmas?" Matt asked. "This," Albus pulled the Invisibility Cloak out of his cloak pocket. He had been carrying it around with him ever since Christmas. Matt let out a gasp. "Whoa! You really got the Cloak? That's completely amazing!" "I love that cloak," Amanda grinned. "And to think we stole it just a few weeks ago," John snorted. "Shush!" Albus hissed, "Uncle Ron and Hugo are here." "Oh, sorry." "But this isn't all," Albus continued, "James got the Marauder's Map." "He didn't!" John shouted. "He did." "You two are so lucky," Matt replied. "But we'll have our own Map soon anyway," Amanda pointed out as she dug around in the bag she brought. She produced a crumpled piece of parchment with a paw print on it that was slightly smaller than the werewolf print. "You got it!" Albus took it from her. "We're halfway there now." "I hope it'll work. Newton wouldn't stay still and the parchment is kind of wrinkled." "I'm sure it will work," Albus said. "Good thing we didn't have the prints go directly on the map," Matt replied. "So today we get the stag print," Albus announced. "Right after lunch." Everyone agreed and headed into the kitchen to scrounge up some food. Ron had already created an enormous sandwich and was eating it when Albus and the others walked in. They all liked the idea of making giant sandwiches and were soon eating alongside Ron. Albus thought John's sandwich looked disgusting because it was piled high with turkey, pickles, and peanut butter. Rose shuddered as she saw him bite into it, but he thought it tasted delicious. "I can't believe you ate that entire thing," Rose screwed up her face in disgust after John ate the last bite of his lunch. "It was good," he shrugged. "Hey, Uncle Ron," Albus began, "We're going to go explore the forest." "All right. Have fun. But try and be back by three. Teddy's coming over and so are James and your dad. We're all going to play Quidditch." "Sure, we'll be back by then," Albus was excited about playing Quidditch. It was always better when Teddy was there. Once they were all done with lunch, Rose and Albus led the way outside and over to the forest. The forest was situated next to the large open field that was next to the house. Albus and Rose went exploring in it quite a bit and knew their way around it well. The group crunched across the snow laden field until they came to the forest's edge. Rose found the path they usually took and lead the group down it. "Keep your eyes pealed for a stag," she told everyone. "This reminds me of the forest near my old house in Australia," Matt commented after a few minutes of walking. "How was Australia this year?" Albus asked, remembering that his friend just returned to Britain the previous day. "It was all right. No different than usual. It was boring of course, and my grandmother kept telling us how we should visit more often." "You're not going to, are you?" John asked. "Don't think so. Mum and Dad don't really want to. Plus they want to go visit my Uncle Jack in New York this summer." "That would be fun," Amanda replied. "Yeah, I hope we get to go." The group continued walking into the forest until Rose announced that it would be better if they sat completely still and waited for a stag to walk by. She said their movement would scare the creatures away. Albus sat down in the snow behind a shrub with his friends and watched and listened for animals. After a half hour of waiting, Albus was bored. How long was it going to take for a stag to cross their path? He would much rather just walk around to find one. Rose seemed perfectly content to sit still, as did Matt. John had made a large pile of snow balls, along with a snow wizard. Amanda was busy creating a snow witch to go along with his wizard. "I'm bored," John sighed as he made yet another snow ball. "How long is this going to take?" "I don't know," Rose shrugged, "We don't see stags that often in here, so it might be a while." Albus glanced at his watch, "Well it's just after two, so if we don't find one soon, we'll have to go back." He stared into the forest and willed a stag to come. Albus was getting frustrated by this point. They needed that stag print for the map! There was no place else to find one. What if they couldn't find a stag before the end of the holiday? They would have to wait until the summer to search again. Albus couldn't wait that long. He needed the map now. "Wait," Matt stood up and turned around, "I think I hear something over there." He pointed to a cluster of bushes a couple meters away. "I don't hear it," John replied. "Shush!" Matt whispered, "You know I can hear things you can't." Matt started slowly making his way towards the cluster of bushes. Albus and the others followed behind, nobody saying a word. "Wands ready," Matt whispered. Albus pulled out his wand and pointed it towards the bushes, his mind racing with excitement as he went. This was it! They were going to get the stag print! Part of Albus's mind knew that this wasn't necessarily a stag, but he didn't pay attention to that. What else could it be? Most of the animals in the forest were too small to be rustling the bushes this much. As Albus got closer to it, he could distinctly hear the footprints of the animal, and they were much too loud to be a rabbit or a squirrel. There weren't many large animals in the forest, stags being some of the few. It could be a doe, but Albus hoped it wasn't. The group was now only a couple feet away from the bushes. Everyone had their wand pointed at them, waiting for the animal to make its appearance. The moment Albus saw the leaves part, he shouted, "Stupefy!" "Stupefy!" Rose, John, Matt, and Amanda all shouted at once. Whatever was in the bushes jumped to the side and missed all five stunning spells. "Whoa! What the bloody hell do you lot think you're doing!" It was Teddy. The noise Matt had heard in the bushes was Teddy. Albus lowered his wand and sighed. So much for finding a stag. Now that Teddy was with them, they would no longer be able to look. Albus turned to his friends and saw them all put their wands away. Teddy fully emerged from the bush and walked over to where Albus was with a bewildered look on his face. "Do I even want to know what you're up to?" "Er," Albus began, trying to think up an excuse fast. "We're just taking a walk in the forest and you scared us!" Rose announced, "Sneaking up on us like that, what did you think we'd do?" "Shriek, maybe?" Teddy gave them a lopsided grin, "But not attack me." "So you were trying to scare us?" Rose said exasperatingly "A bit, yeah," Teddy laughed. "Worked, didn't it?" "I'll say," Rose muttered. Albus listened to the two of them but didn't add anything. He was forever grateful that his cousin was a better liar than he was. "It's kind of cold to be going for a hike," Teddy commented, "But Ron said you were here, so I figured I'd see if I could find you." He eyed John's pile of snowballs and grinned, "Planning on having a snow ball fight?" Teddy didn't wait for an answer and picked up a few of John's snowballs. He threw one at Albus and the other at Rose. "Watch it!" Albus shouted as the snowball made contact with his face. He spat out the snow and bent down to make his own snow ball. He aimed it at Teddy but Teddy jumped out of the way and it hit Matt instead. "Hey!" Matt shouted as he picked up one of John's snowballs and threw it at Albus. It landed square on Albus's chest. A few moments later, a huge snowball fight broke out. It was every man for himself for a while and Albus was getting pummeled by Teddy's snowballs. He tried to get Teddy back, but Teddy was too quick for him. Instead, Albus decided to focus on Matt, who was trying to get Albus back for the snowball that had hit him instead of Teddy. Rose eventually joined Albus in his attempt to get Matt, while Amanda evened out the odds by joining Matt's side. John, who seemed to be the only one with enough skill to hit Teddy, was having a one-on-one fight with the blue haired boy and was actually doing well. The six of them were completely soaked by the time the fight ended. Matt and Amanda surrendered to Rose and Albus after the cousins decided to create about twenty snowballs and lob them constantly at their two friends. John surrendered to Teddy a few minutes later, once Teddy decided to charm a pile of snow to turn itself into snowballs, resulting in a never-ending supply of ammunition for Teddy. John didn't know that spell and was stuck hand making his snow balls while Teddy continuously sent snowballs at him. "Who's up for Quidditch?" Teddy asked as they were walking back through the forest to Rose's house. "M-maybe after I d-dry off," Albus shivered. The snow had completely penetrated his cloak and was now freezing it into an icicle. His friends nodded in agreement. "Sounds good," Teddy replied, "Harry and James should be at the house by now. A little while later, Albus found himself back at Rose's house, where everyone was waiting for the Quidditch match to start. Albus, along with his friends, ran upstairs to dry off and change quickly. "Ready?" Teddy jumped up from the chair he was sitting on once Albus and his friends descended the stairs. "Who hasn't got a broom with them?" "Me," Amanda said. She was the only one. John and Matt, who both had brooms, had brought them knowing they would play Quidditch. "We've got spares," Ron announced, holding a couple brooms in his hand. Once everyone had a broom to use, Teddy started to take charge of creating teams. "All right. Let's see, we've got Me, Harry, Ron, James, Albus, John, Matt, Amanda, Hugo, and Rose, are you playing?" "Sure, why not?" Rose shrugged. "Good, then we've got ten players. That's five per team. So each team will have a Seeker, a beater, a Keeper, and two chasers, that'll work. I'll be one of the Seekers," he turned to Harry and James, "Which one of you will be the other?" "You can, James," Harry offered, "I'll do whatever is needed." After a few minutes of organizing, the two teams were created. Albus's team consisted of Teddy as Seeker, Ron as Keeper, Hugo as the only Beater, and Matt and himself as the two Chasers. On the other team, James was Seeker, Amanda was Keeper, John was the Beater, and Rose and Harry as Chasers. The two teams trooped outside into the cold winter day. It was just starting to snow a little, but Albus didn't mind. He would keep warm while he was playing anyway. Harry and Ron conjured goal hoops and everyone flew into the air. Hermione released the balls (only one Bludger, since there were only two beaters) and threw the Quaffle into the air, then conjured herself a chair to watch. The match was nothing like the ones at Hogwarts. It was much more informal, and in a way, Albus enjoyed it more. There was only friendly competition between the two teams and no one got angry when someone dropped the Quaffle, which happened a lot. The two teams were pretty evenly matched in terms of Chasing skills. Albus, who was the only real Chaser on either team, was easily the best. Harry was a decent Chaser, but it was clear that Seeking was his real skill. Rose was absolutely dreadful and was the first to admit it. She wasn't a big fan of flying in the first place and didn't like to take her hands off her broom in order to catch and throw the Quaffle. Matt was better than Rose, but dropped the Quaffle numerous times. Albus and Matt scored more points than Harry and Rose did. Ron, of course, was a very good Keeper and Amanda was as well. Albus was kind of surprised at this, because she never really played Quidditch before. Maybe she could try out for the Gryffindor team once Georgia left. John was an amazing Beater and Albus already knew that he'd be trying out for the team after Bradley and Ryan left. Hugo was also a very good Beater and it was obvious he had received all the Quidditch genes in his family. Then, of course, there were the Seekers. Both Teddy and James were amazing Seekers and by far two of the best players on either team. After about an hour of playing, during which Albus was sure both Teddy and James had seen the Snitch but ignored it in order to drag the game on longer, both Seekers flew directly up into the air. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch. A few seconds later, they both came flying back down and James had the Snitch clutched in his hand. "I got it!" he shouted. "That puts your team ahead," Hermione announced, "You won 270 to 210." "Yes!" James exclaimed, landing on the ground. Albus and the rest of the players landed after him and congratulated him and his team for winning. "Ha! I beat you at Quidditch, Teddy!" James gloated. "Yeah, yeah, good job," Teddy sighed, "Knew I shouldn't have trained you that well." "You'll be saying otherwise when we win the Cup this year!" James grinned, "We already beat Slytherin." "I know, I was there," Teddy laughed, "Anyway, I'm just joking." Despite the fact that his team didn't win, Albus was happy. He loved playing Quidditch with his family, even more than playing on his House team. It was even better with his friends there, too. He walked back into the house with his friends and family, cold but very content. Hermione had made a plate of sandwiches for them, which everyone ate enthusiastically once they had dried off. After all the food had been eaten, John Flooed back to his house and Albus, Rose, and Hermione went with Matt and Amanda back to the Leaky Cauldron to meet their families. It had been a short visit, but a fun one nonetheless. Albus only wished that they had managed to get the stag print. He and Rose were planning on trying again the next day, and the next if it was necessary. They had three more days to do it and Albus was determined to succeed. ****** Albus and Rose spent as much time as they could in the forest looking for stags the next day. When they weren't in the forest, they spent their time in the library in Rose's house, looking for a charm to keep Kaden quiet. "There's books in here that aren't in the school library," Rose announced as they walked into the room after a particularly cold jaunt in the forest. "I'm still not sure we should take a break from looking for a stag," Albus replied. "It's too cold out there now. Plus there's a storm coming and it won't do us any good if we get lost out there." Rose went over to a book shelf and Albus followed. He had been in this room plenty of times before, just never to look for a specific charm. "How are we supposed to find one charm hidden in all these books?" Albus sighed, "We don't even know what it's called." "That's what this is for," Rose slammed a heavy book down on the table nearest to the shelf she pulled it off of. Albus looked at the book, "[i]An Encyclopedia of Charms[/i] by Filius Flitwick. That's who Mum and Dad had for Charms, isn't it?" "Yes," Rose confirmed as she opened the cover, "It's a rather ingenious idea, really. All I've got to do is take my wand, point it at the book, and say 'I need a charm to keep someone quiet' and it will flip to the right page." "That would certainly speed things along," Albus replied. "Try it." "All right," Rose pointed her wand at the book, "I need a charm to keep someone quiet." The book's pages immediately started turning until they stopped about a quarter of the way into the book. Rose peered at it and then shook her head. "Nope, that's not it. This one's just a silencing charm." "Maybe you've got to be more specific," Albus suggested. Rose nodded. "I need a charm to prevent someone from talking about something." The pages started turning again and stopped a few seconds later. Rose sighed after she read the description. "This one charms a person's mouth shut." Albus laughed, "Well that would definitely keep Kaden from talking about the map!" "People might notice, though," Rose smirked, "Although it does have it's advantages. I'll try something else." "I think you'd better tell the book exactly what we need the charm to do. Tell it that Kaden has to not talk about a specific thing." "Good idea," Rose poised her wand above the book, "I need to keep Kaden Durlsey from revealing secrets about Matt Eckerton. He must only be able to talk about these secrets with five other people and not mention them to anyone else. He should be able to converse normally about other topics." "That ought to be specific enough." Albus watched as the book hesitated for a few moments and then turn its pages to one of the last ones. Both Rose and Albus leaned over the book while Rose read aloud. "'[i]The Sileo Altus Charm is the most complex and intricate of the silencing charms. This charm has the ability to keep a person from revealing one specific piece of information to others, unlike other silencing charms which prevent a person from speaking at all. The charm also has the ability to involve others, which will result in the person the charm is cast on to be able to converse about the secret with those specific people. When done correctly, this charm will last forever or until the counter charm is performed. The Sileo Altus Charm keeps a person's secret safe much like the Fidelius Charm keeps a person's location secret and is said to be just as safe.'[/i] "Then there's a whole bunch of spells that are required," Rose scanned the remainder of the entry. "There's a spell that has to be performed on each person who is involved, one on Kaden, one on the secret-keeper-" "There's a secret keeper?" Albus asked. "Yeah, I guess so. Then there's the overall charm," Rose continued, "It sounds complicated. But I'm up for it. This doesn't really tell me how to do it, though. There's just a list of spells." Albus glanced at the entry, "Oh, it says there's more information in [i]Charms of Protection[/i] by Natalia Journo." "You're right, I hadn't noticed that," Rose leaned over the book again and read the title of the recommended book. "I think we might actually have that one." Rose jumped up from her seat and ran across the room. Albus sat back and watched her. He had no idea how she could possibly know if she had that book or not. The entire room was filled with shelves and shelves of books. Albus wouldn't even know where to look to find the book they needed. Rose returned a few minutes later with a book in her arms and a smile on her face. "We do have it! This was easier than I thought it would be." "I think doing the actual charm is going to off-set the ease of finding it," Albus pointed out. Rose shrugged, "I think I can figure it out within a few weeks." She sat back down and opened the book. Albus watched as his cousin flipped through the pages of the book until she found the charm they were looking for. He was very happy that Rose was so eager to learn new charms. It certainly helped that she was good at it, too. Albus had made a lot of progress in charms ever since Professor Cedonia arrived, but he was still average. Rose was easily the best in their class. That and her eagerness to learn would certainly help if she was going to master this charm. Rose read in silence for a few minutes and then turned to Albus. "All right. This explains it pretty well. First, of course, we've got to tell Kaden the secrets. Then we've got to pick the secret keeper. I'm thinking that I'll have to be the secret keeper since the secret keeper is the one to perform the charms." Albus nodded, "I'm fine with that. We've just got to make sure Matt is. What does the secret keeper do?" "Just perform the charms. And the secret keeper is the only one who can perform the counter charm on Kaden. Normally the secret keeper would be the only one the person could talk about the secret with as well. But we'll use another charm to ensure that Kaden can talk about the secrets with you, John, Matt, and Amanda as well." "That sounds good," Albus replied. "What else?" "Well, the secret keeper performs a charm on themselves, which turns them into the secret keeper. Then they perform a charm on Kaden. Then Kaden will recite the secrets in detail. After that, the secret keeper performs another charm on Kaden. Then charms are performed on the rest of the people involved. Then a final sealing charm on everyone, including Kaden and the secret keeper, and it's done." The idea of all those different spells made Albus's brain hurt. "Wow, that's a lot of charms. We've never done ones that are a combination of multiple charms." "The transference charm is one of those, but it only uses two. This one is five." "What's the counter charm involve?" Albus asked, thinking that maybe there would be a time when Kaden would mature and they wouldn't have to rely on magic to keep him from spilling secrets to Malfoy. "Erm, it seems pretty much like the actual charm," Rose looked back at the book, "You pretty much go backwards, using different charms." "Makes sense." "I'll start practicing as soon as we're back at school," Rose shut the book and got up. "I'll bring the book. Mum'll never know, she's got way too many to keep track of." "All right," Albus got up and followed her to the door, "Now we've just got to find that stag." "It's going to have to wait until tomorrow, Albus," Rose pointed to the window. It was white with swirling snow and the wind was howling. "Mum and Dad'll never let us out in that." ****** Albus was getting quite fed up with the stag search by the time late afternoon arrived the next day. He and Rose spent the entire morning in the forest, taking a break for lunch, and then returning in the afternoon. Albus looked at his watch and saw that they would have to be starting to return to the house soon. "We're never going to find a stag!" he groaned. Rose, who had brought the charm book they had found the previous day, looked up. "You've just got to be patient. I told you one won't come if we're noisy." "We've been quiet for the past two hours," Albus said flatly. "You're not being quiet now," Rose whispered and returned to her book. Albus sighed and stared out into the forest. So far Albus had seen no less than ten rabbits and four owls, but no stags. He was getting very cold sitting in the snow and his cloak had long since soaked through. Albus was determined, however, and refused to go back to Rose's house until they found a stag. It had seemed so simple at first, to stun a stag in the forest and get its footprint. This was not supposed to be the hardest print to get. Looking back, even the werewolf one seemed easier. Sure, they got locked out of Hogwarts, but they never got in trouble for it. The dog print had been the easiest, since Amanda had a dog. The rat would be easy, too, once John managed to catch one. Albus pulled out his wand and started to poke at the snow wizard he had constructed earlier. The wand melted holes into the snow wizard until it started to resemble a piece of snow swiss cheese. Albus was just beginning to do the same to the snow hippogriff that had been formed after the wizard when Rose poked him and hissed, "Albus, look!" Albus raised his head and looked in the direction Rose was pointing. Directly in front of them was a majestic looking doe, standing completely still and staring just to the left of where the two cousins were sitting. "It's just a doe," Albus whispered back, "It won't work." "I know, but there's usually a stag around when there's a doe." Albus sat completely still with his wand facing towards the doe. Rose did the same and the two of them didn't move for a good five minutes. The doe inched slowly ahead, walking to the left of Albus and Rose. Then Albus heard a rustling behind the doe and excitement washed over him as he saw a huge stag appear from behind a cluster of trees. "This is it," he whispered to Rose. She nodded but didn't say anything. The stag walked towards the doe, who had turned around to look at her mate. "On the count of three. One...two...three. Stupefy!" Albus shouted. "Stupefy!" Rose shouted at the same time. The doe shot off like a rocket as soon as the cousins shouted the spell. The stag started to follow but was hit by Albus's stunner. Rose's spell hit a nearby tree and burned a small hole into the bark. "Excellent shot, Albus!" Rose grinned at him as they ran towards the stag. "Thanks." "Let's hurry. We won't have much time before he wakes up," Rose reached into her robes and pulled out a piece of parchment, a bottle of ink, and a paint brush. The stag was even bigger up close. Its eyes darted around nervously as Rose painted the ink onto its front hoof. Albus quickly pressed the parchment onto the hoof and pulled it away. A perfect hoof print appeared on the parchment. "This one's good," Albus showed it to Rose. "Good," she put the stopper on her ink and stowed both it and the brush back in her cloak, "Now let's go. He won't be happy when he wakes up." Albus didn't need telling twice. He blew onto the parchment a few times to dry the ink and then put it in his cloak. The two cousins ran through the trees and back to the house. It only took them a few minutes as they weren't very far. Albus was thrilled that they had actually managed to get the print. The only print left was the rat one and then they would be able to try out the map.
Snow_Crystal Joined: 18 July 2005 Posts: 1180 Location: Flying around eagerly waiting for Midnight...	Posted: Monday 15 September 2008 06 34 49 am    Post subject: Re: dead in topic:dead Q, this is so hard! You poor thing. I think you're amazing for sharing all this with us here. It's good that you can get things off your chest. Some people bottle things up all inside and can never open up and then suddenly you find out that they've taken their own lives away because they couldn't cope. Keep sharing this stuff, we don't want anything bad to happen to you. By the way, you're so lucky that your teachers are so caring and that they actually noticed that something was wrong. At my old school, they would never have noticed anything like that. I know what you mean about friends disappearing off (in fact I might open another thread on this subject sometime when I have some more time write stuff down clearly) I've been in the same situation all my life where I feel like I don't have real friends who just get me and who are always there. Its taken me a lot of time to learn that sometimes, you just have to be frank and open about stuff even with friends you don't want to lose and even with friends you think you've already lost. It might be the case that actually they don't know what they can do to help. So tell them. When I was going through this, I really needed someone to do this this this but actually everyone did this, this this and then I felt like... Etc you get my drift. It might be a bit wierd at first but if you start the conversation with I need some help from you, will you help, I need to get something off my chest because it's bothering me. If you can muster up the courage to do this, you'll be amazed at how it makes you feel - like a load lighter. I don't know if this helps or not but just please look after yourself. Snow!
Snow_Crystal Joined: 18 July 2005 Posts: 1180 Location: Flying around eagerly waiting for Midnight...	Posted: Monday 15 September 2008 06 09 29 am    Post subject: Re: emma and daniel?? in topic:emma and daniel?? I met my husband when I was 16, we got together at 18 and married when we were 27, we had a baby girl last year and we'll have been together for 14 years next month. When we got together I think we knew after about a couple of months that it was love. Don't underestimate it's power, when it gets you for real, it gets you! Snow! PS If you're trying to work out how old we are now, the answer is 32!
Snow_Crystal Joined: 18 July 2005 Posts: 1180 Location: Flying around eagerly waiting for Midnight...	Posted: Monday 15 September 2008 06 03 51 am    Post subject: Re: Hermione says the F word!! in topic:Hermione says the F word!! Riley's right, it's probably not a good idea to say here as young posters may take offence and so might others anyway. It would probably be a good idea to discreetly ask someone what this means as as some point in your life it's going to come in handy to know... Perhaps a friend who you know who knows about sex education stuff. Don't ask your mum and dad if only because it might be a bit embarrassing for them and for you unless of course you are really close and don't get embarrassed about stuff. Best of luck! Snow
Distortia Joined: 13 January 2008 Posts: 527 Location: Over the sea	Posted: Wednesday 10 September 2008 07 47 27 pm    Post subject: Re: The Six Wizards in topic:The Six Wizards Excellent.. all sounds great! What are our plans to eventuate to these points? Here are some ideas... Inu and Neko go on a 'hunt' together - showing the true evil Inu is capable of, and the hunting stealthy spirit of Neko, then they return for the trip to Tokyo.... Buta and Damien go to McDonald's, reak a bit of havock there and then return for the trip to Tokyo with snacks for all.. lol And would someone please hassle Riley about his part??? I would love to see some neat water spells.... And as for Yuta, maybe she makes a call to the police and we could have a chase? Just ideas... xx Here I go, time for me to post!
DucksRMagical Joined: 28 December 2006 Posts: 2095 Location: Boycotting All Future Warner Brothers Films	Posted: Wednesday 10 September 2008 11 50 42 am    Post subject: Re: Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind in topic:Albus Potter and the Tracks They Left Behind It's almost Christmas time in this fic! I know Fawkes told me she was looking forward to the Christmas chapters. Well, the one after this begins the Christmas chapters! I have come up with a plot for the sequel to this and can't wait to get started. I'll be tying in elements and characters from [i]In Moonlight's Shadow[/i] as well, so if you haven't started reading that, I'd suggest it! Questions, comments, and general reviews are always welcome! Chapter 20: The Missing Map Saturday was soon upon them and with it came a howling snow storm. Albus was very happy that there was a dueling tournament and not a Quidditch match. He had played Quidditch in snow before, but never in conditions that prevented him from seeing his own hands in front of him. Today's storm was so bad that Kendrick forbade anyone from going outside, but he needn't have bothered since no one wanted to go outside in the first place. After lunch, half the school migrated into the dueling room and waited for the tournament to begin. Albus and Amanda said goodbye to their friends and sat down at the table they had been at the previous tournament. "Hi Albus, hi Amanda!" Kate greeted them energetically. "Hi Kate!" Albus grinned. He sat down at the only remaining seat, which happened to be next to Malfoy. Amanda had managed to snag a seat next to Kate. "Malfoy," Albus said politely. "Potter," Malfoy muttered. The tournament commenced much as it had the previous time, only this time everyone knew what they were doing and it went smoother. There was still a lot of sitting around time and Albus was very happy that Amanda was on his team so he had someone to talk to. So far, there were still tensions between the Slytherins and everybody else. Kendrick's plan to have everyone get along was not working. After about a half hour, it was finally Albus's turn to duel. Malfoy had just completed his first duel and beat his Ravenclaw opponent. Albus congratulated him as he went up to the dueling area. He was up against a Hufflepuff third year. Albus and the other boy bowed and the two of them started dueling. The Hufflepuff sent two jinxes at Albus, but Albus blocked them both. Albus hit the boy with a trip jinx and then disarmed him. The whole thing took about a minute. "Point to Potter!" Neville announced. "Good job, Albus!" Kate and Amanda said in unison once Albus returned to his seat. "Thanks." "Hardly counts," Malfoy commented, "You dueled a bloody Hufflepuff. A first year could've beat that one." "Shut up, Malfoy. You'll duel a Hufflepuff eventually and I doubt you'll say the same thing." "Your short friend is up," Malfoy pointed to the dueling area that Harry was presiding over. Albus looked up and saw that Matt was about to duel one of the other Hufflepuffs. "I'll bet that Hufflepuff beats him," Malfoy laughed, "He doesn't look that good." Albus personally thought Matt looked all right, considering he had just gotten out of the Hospital Wing the day before. "Where's he been anyway?" "He was sick." "Oh, right," Malfoy grinned, "With that disease he's got. The one your stupid cousin told me about. If there's anyone who should've been a Hufflepuff, it's that cousin of yours." "Don't call him stupid. And the Hat knows better than you do about where to put him," Albus snapped. He didn't tell Malfoy that he had thought Kaden would have been a Hufflepuff. "Whatever you say. I wonder if your cousin's got anymore information that I'd like to know." "Don't go near my cousin," Albus growled. "Cut it out, you two!" Kate interrupted. "In case you haven't realized by now, you're on the same team." Albus glared at Malfoy and then turned to watch the rest of Matt's duel. It took him a while, but Matt did eventually beat the Hufflepuff. He looked worn out, but happy. "Told you he could beat him," Albus muttered. "Lucky shot," Malfoy whispered back. Albus and Malfoy didn't talk to each other for the rest of the tournament. Both boys won their next duels, Malfoy against a Slytherin and Albus against a Ravenclaw. Amanda lost her first duel and won her second. John won his first and lost his second. Matt lost his second one and Rose managed to win both of hers. But despite their best efforts, none of their teams won the tournament. It didn't really matter though because the points were so close. The final tournament was still very up in the air and any of the teams had a chance of making it. ****** The remaining days until the end of term went by very fast for Albus. Albus was especially excited about the Christmas holiday this year because it meant that Albus and his friends would acquire two more of the paw prints needed for the map. Rose had just perfected the transference charm and had already started searching for the charm to keep Kaden quiet. After Christmas, the only thing left to do would be to get the rat print. Albus thought it was quite funny that the smallest and theoretically easiest print to get was taking the longest. John had yet to manage to catch a rat during potions class and was getting frustrated about it. "Every time I see a rat, one of the bloody Slytherins is looking!" John vented the evening before their last day of classes. The group of Gryffindors were in the Room of Requirement, enjoying some peace and quiet while Kaden was being tutored by one of the Ravenclaws. "Try luring one over to your desk with cheese or something," Amanda suggested, "Then just stun it below the desk." "Hadn't thought of that," John muttered, "I'd been trying to stun them across the room." "I wonder why anyone would notice that?" Rose said sarcastically. "Shut it, Rose." "Well, you've got plenty of time to get it," Albus reminded him, "We still haven't got the dog or the stag prints." "We'll get them soon," Rose replied, "Amanda will get the dog and we'll get the stag, Albus. You can come over to my house after we leave the Burrow." "Sounds good," Albus agreed, "I'm not staying at the Burrow the whole holiday anyway." "Oh, yeah," Rose smirked, "Gran and Granddad are going on holiday together, alone." "That's not something I really care to think about, Rose," Albus groaned. His grandparents had decided to go to Scotland together a few days after Christmas and spend new year's alone. "Moving on. What are you lot doing for the holiday?" "The usual," John said immediately, "All my cousins coming over at various times. Should be crazy as always." "I've really got to go to your house sometime," Albus grinned, "You always say your cousins are mad, but I really don't think your family is as insane as mine is." "I'm sure it is. My great-great grandpa is coming this year. He's hilarious, especially after he's had a couple firewhiskeys." "Your great-great grandpa drinks firewhiskey?" Matt laughed, "That's something I've got to see." "He sure does. Then he starts telling ridiculous stories about 'back in my day'." "Sounds like we should hook him up with Auntie Muriel, eh Rose?" Albus winked at his cousin. "That would be the funniest thing ever," Rose grinned. "Your great-great grandpa sounds like our Auntie Muriel. She's 127 and loves to gossip," Albus explained. "I wish I had mad relatives," Amanda commented, "My family sounds pretty normal compared to yours." "But you celebrate Hannukah, so that makes up for it," John replied, "I mean, who wouldn't like eight days of presents? I wish I celebrated both, that would be the best thing ever." "Amy has a Muggle friend who celebrates both. But she doesn't get presents on every night of Hannukah," Matt told them. "I get small presents each night and then one big one on the last night," Amanda explained. "That's still cool," John said, "So, Matt, do you have to go visit your grandparents this year?" "Ugh, don't remind me," Matt groaned, "Of course I do. But only for five days this year. We're leaving right before new year's. Amy has to be back at St. Mungo's a few days before term starts." "That's good," Albus smiled. "At least you don't have to be there as long." "It'll still be boring. The only thing to do down there is homework or read. It's not like I can play Quidditch or anything." "What day are you coming back? Maybe you can come over to Rose's house with me. Then we can play Quidditch," Albus offered. "The 28th. I'll ask my parents." "Great. You should come too, John and Amanda," Albus suggested. "I'll ask, I'm sure my parents will let me," John replied. "I can probably only stay a day or so," Amanda told them, "Hannukah is late this year and starts on Christmas, so it'll still be going on on the 28th. I'll have to be home by the evening." "That'll work. Maybe we can all get the stag print together," Albus said. "Good idea," John grinned and everyone else nodded. "I should probably tell you now, just in case I don't get to go to Rose's house," Matt began quietly, "I'm not coming back to Hogwarts on the train with everyone else." Albus stared at his friend, who was looking a little forlorn. "Why not? Everything ok?" "I guess. It's just that I'm starting that new potion I told you about at the beginning of the term. The full moon's on the 9th and someone has to observe me once I start taking it a few days before. Then I've got to go to St. Mungo's the morning after and stay a couple days." "Oh," Albus wasn't really sure what to say. He wished more than ever that someone would just discover a potion that would work for him. "Look on the bright side," John said, "At least you don't have to transform at your grandparents house again." "And if I have my way I'll never have to do that again," Matt shook his head, "But let's talk about something else. Did you see in the Prophet that the Cannons almost won that game against the Fitchburg Finches? You know, that American team they were playing for practice." "Didn't the Finches beat them by 50 points?" Albus asked. "Yeah, but that's close!" Matt grinned, "They're making a comeback, I just know it!" "Well, with a name like 'Finches', what do you expect? It wouldn't have surprised me if the Cannons beat them," John laughed, "Well, maybe a little. But seriously, who names a team the 'Finches'?" ****** The term ended the next day with a bang, literally. James and a few of his friends thought it would be funny to put a few Weasley fireworks into the suits of armor and charm them to go off at certain times during the day. After the tenth explosion the teachers gave up trying to teach anything and just let their students do what they wanted during class, within reason of course. Unfortunately for James and his friends, Professor Cedonia spotted them refilling the armor on the second floor corridor with fresh fireworks and gave them one of her rare detentions. For this one, they had to clean every single suit of armor on the second floor corridor that evening. James said it was worth it, though. "We really ought to come up with a few good pranks," John decided as they were traveling through the hills on the train. "That's what the Marauders did, was prank people, so we should, too." Albus shrugged. He really wasn't very good at coming up with pranks. That was James's area of expertise. Plus, if the result of such pranks was cleaning suits of armor, Albus really didn't want to pull a whole lot of pranks. "Maybe a few minor ones, that don't get us in huge trouble." "I'm sure we could do some of those. There's loads of stuff we could do to the Slytherins." "Yeah, like that one James did before the first dueling tournament," Matt laughed. The rest of the train ride went quickly and soon Albus and his friends found themselves at King's Cross. Albus climbed off the train and saw his parents standing with Rose's parents and Lily and Hugo. But before Albus could go over to see them, John grabbed his arm and steered him in another direction. "C'mon, you can meet my great-great grandpa!" Albus saw a very frail, completely bald, old man with a long white beard standing next to John's parents. John lead their group over to the three adults. "Johnny-Boy!" the old man shouted and gave John a tight hug, "How're things at that school? How is Professor Dippet?" "He died years ago, Grandpa, like I told you over the summer. Like I tell you every summer," John stifled a laugh. "Oh, right! Probably all new teachers, a bunch of young'ins I bet! Back in my day none of the teachers were under 50, and now some of em are 30! What has gotten into these new headmasters...." "Grandpa," John shook his head, "The teachers are fine. But I want you to meet my friends. This is Matt Eckerton, Albus Potter-" "Potter!?" John's great-great grandpa peered into Albus's eyes and grinned, "Albus Potter? Well I'll be. If it isn't Harry Potter's son! I remember back in the days of You-know-who and nobody thought he would ever be defeated, and then along comes little Harry Potter and poof! You-know-who's gone! Then he comes back and what should happen again? Harry Potter makes 'im disappear again and for good this time!" Albus, who was used to this kind of attention but not someone shouting it at the top of their lungs, blushed and tried to ignore the stares of everyone around him. "Er, nice to meet you." "You, too," the old man smiled, "And who are these girls? Have you got yourself two girlfriends, Johnny-Boy? I wouldn't recommend it. I did it once and wound up with no girlfriends after they found out!" "No, Grandpa," John laughed, "They're just friends. Amanda Tagger and Rose Weasley." "Are you sure? I could see you with the redhead. Just wait till you're older." "Just friends, Grandpa," John's cheeks turned red. "He's like the male version of Muriel," Albus whispered to Rose. "Muriel!?" John's grandpa shouted. Albus jumped. He hadn't expected that the elderly man would be able to hear him. "I used to know a Muriel! Went to school with her. Then she married some Weasley. I haven't seen her in decades!" Albus looked at Rose. What a coincidence. "Er, Albus and I have an Aunt Muriel Weasley," Rose giggled. "Well I'll be! I should owl her sometime." "I'm sure she'd love that," Rose smiled. "We're going to have to go now," John's mum announced. "See you later," John waved. "Bye," Albus grinned. "Tell your dad I said hi!" John's great-great grandpa shouted. ****** Albus spent the next few days hanging around Grimmauld Place with James and the rest of his family. Lily was thrilled to have both her brothers and her dad home and she had been demanding to know everything that had gone on the past term. "That way I'll know everything about Hogwarts before I'm even there!" she said excitedly at breakfast the day before Christmas Eve. "You still haven't told me how I'll get sorted." "We're not going to tell you, Lily," Ginny smiled as she handed Lily a glass of juice, "It's a surprise." "That's not fair," Lily whined. "Nobody told me or Al how we got sorted, so how is it not fair for you not to know?" James asked. "I'm the youngest. I should know everything about Hogwarts because you two have been there for a few years! And then all the Muggle-born kids will ask me questions and I'll be able to answer them." "You'll find out soon enough, Lily," Ginny assured her. "How much longer?" Lily asked excitedly. "There's still 9 months." "That's forever!" "She's going to be a nightmare this summer," James whispered to Albus. "Morning, everyone!" Harry descended the steps into the kitchen and pulled up a chair. "Hi, Dad," Albus greeted him. "Hey, Ginny?" Harry asked as he grabbed the Prophet, "Have you seen the Marauder's Map?" James choked on his juice and sprayed it across the table at Albus, as he turned bright red. "Ew, watch it!" Albus jumped back. "You ok, James?" Harry looked at him curiously. "Fine. The article on the front of the paper, it's, er, shocking," James blushed some more and pointed to the front of the Prophet, which was facing him. "Witch Tries to Decrease Size of Her Ears, Charms Them Off Instead?" Harry read. "Yes, very shocking. People ought to be more careful!" James sputtered. He gave Albus a look that Albus interpreted to mean 'meet me upstairs'. James excused himself and ran out of the room. "What's with him?" Harry asked. "No idea," Ginny shrugged. "Er, I've got to go change," Albus jumped up and followed James. Harry had noticed that the map was gone! Now he was going to have to give it back. Albus was going to miss it, but it would only be a matter of time before he had the other one working. "Albus!" James pulled him into the drawing room and shut the door. "He wants the map back!" "I kind of figured that," Albus smirked, "We're just going to have to sneak it back into his room. Let's do it now." "Wait, Albus!" James grabbed his arm, "The thing is, er, well, I..." He shuffled from foot to foot looking very nervous. "What?" "I, er, can't find it!" James whispered. "What am I going to do? I can't have lost it...." Albus started laughing. "It's not funny!" James insisted. "You didn't lose it!" Albus grinned, "I've got it. I took it from you months ago and didn't want to give it back." "You idiot!" James shouted, "Here I thought I'd lost it and you stole it from me!" "It doesn't matter now. We've got to give it back anyway." "You're giving it back. You're the one who stole it from me." "Well you stole it from Dad in the first place," Albus reminded him. "Only to get you out of trouble!" He had a point there. If Albus hadn't have been in Kendrick's office the previous year, James never would have taken the map in the first place. "All right. I'll just go sneak it into his room. Maybe he'll think he just forgot to bring it to Hogwarts." "Let's hope so. Go do it now." Albus nodded and ran up to his bedroom. He knew his dad would want the map back eventually, he just hadn't given it much thought. At least he hadn't noticed it was missing at school. Albus threw open his trunk and rifled through his school stuff. He still hadn't unpacked everything or packed a bag for his stay at the Burrow. The map was inside the photo album Albus found over the summer, along with the new map. Hopefully they wouldn't need the Marauder's Map to decipher the new map. Albus pulled out the map and ran into his parents' room. He shoved the map under a pile of defensive magic books and quickly left the room. "Done?" James asked anxiously when Albus ran back into the drawing room. "Yup. I put it under a stack of books, with one corner sticking out." "Perfect. You might want to go change your shirt now." "Oh, right," Albus looked down at his juice splattered t-shirt, "Thanks for that, by the way." "No problem," James laughed, "Come to me for all your juice spraying needs." "I'll do that," Albus rolled his eyes as he left the room to change his shirt.
choki Joined: 1 May 2003 Posts: 3150 Location: In the Land of chicken worshippers, trying to open a fried chicken fastfood chain	Posted: Thursday 4 September 2008 09 18 33 pm    Post subject: Re: The Next Generation 2 in topic:The Next Generation 2 *wink wink* fawkes, you know what will happen soon enough LOL A brief insight to the future~ in case anyone is pondering Nikolaus will discover that he can perform magic in the room but not outside on the mysterious corridor. Not that his wand was faulty but the corridor was magically protected from the various enchantments. No magic can penetrate through its walls, or performed if the person is within its confinement, This will render Damien's dark arts detection charm useless against this "safety haven", where Nikolaus will "tutor" Geneve secretly. It is like a water-filled moat (corridor) surrounding a castle (various rooms), preventing outsiders (magic) for invading the castle (room) but soldiers can still practice their skills within the castle (magic in room) The doors leading to the individual rooms are also magically enchanted, only allowing access to whoever the room wishes to. I have an interesting idea that this corridor will be the venue for "Flight of Nikolaus", where he was eventually discovered teaching dark arts to Geneve and a fight will ensue in the magic-restricted corridor (i.e. things are gonna get physical)
Comma Joined: 4 September 2008 Posts: 14	Posted: Thursday 4 September 2008 08 43 39 pm    Post subject: A Gaunt Tale in topic:A Gaunt Tale [i]I've been working at this fic for a while. I've got about seventeen chapers posted up on fanfiction.net on my account. It's Marauder era, but it contains spoilers regarding the horcruxes and the deathly hallows themselves, so I figured I'd do best to post it here. It's centered around an original character of the Gaunt family (yep, Voldy's family), the Marauders, Lily, Snape, Voldy himself, and a few of his Hogwarts-bound followers (Bellatrix and Narcissa Black included). [b]There [u]will[/u] be a few grammatical errors within the first chapters that I never got around to fixing.[/b] [b]Genres[/b]: Fantasy, Romance, somewhat Suspense (as far as people have told me...) [b]The summary:[/b] Katalina Gaunt entered Hogwarts in her first year, only to be withdrawn from the school by her father immediately after she is sorted into Gryffindor, for homeschooling that he feels is more appropriate to someone of a herritage as "noble" as hers. She runs away at the age of fifteen to make it into Hogwarts for her fifth year, where she meets one troublemaker she would like nothing more than to hex, one she starts to develop a rather perturbing love/hate relationship with, a few new friends, and a few mortal enemies. Personal relationships turn out to be the least of her worries when she realizes there is a murderer on the loose within the school grounds and nothing she can do to prevent it without anyone close to her becoming the next victims. I think I'll post up the first two chapters to start with.[/i] ------------------------- [b]Chapter 1 Dementor's Search[/b] Katalina Gaunt was to be starting her fifth year at Hogwarts. She knew it would be a hard year, having never actually been to Hogwarts before. She was a member of the Gaunt family, a strictly pureblood family, a family that had been sorted into the Slytherin house for years, who was in Gryffindor. She was most definitely afraid. Had she not been homeschooled her whole life, she would have been alright with entering her fifth year at Hogwarts. However, since her fifth year was the equivalent of her first, it was impossible for her to feel at all comfortable with it. True, Katalina had come to Hogwarts when she was eleven, just like most other eleven year old witches and wizards. Then, a week after being sorted into Gryffindor, her father pulled her out of the school to teach her his own courses. The History of Magic became The History of the Dark Arts. Defense against the Dark Arts was just the Dark Arts. Potions included how to make undetectable poisons, and how to detect them. She still had Transfiguration, but the course was twisted to her father's style. The standard Charms course was a course for learning curses and hexes. She also had to study her family history and learn the connection of the dark arts with her ancestors. It just went back and back and back, right on back to Salazar Slytherin himself and further back even than him. Katalina had come from a long line of dark witches and wizards, most certainly. She herself was a break in the chain, and her father was attempting to mold her back into the chain. Her brother was perfectly okay with the dark arts. He was in his seventh year at Hogwarts, a Slytherin prefect. He was always willing to help discipline his disobedient sibling at home. There was only one method of discipline, and that was the Cruciatus Curse, the Torture Curse, one of the three Unforgivable Curses. Summer was a time she dreaded, for her brother and her father to be in the same house as her both at once was a nightmare. She definitely wasn't going to miss that at all. Now, here she stood, at Platform Nine and Three Quarters, just looking at the steam engine train. It was a sight that represented both her freedom from her father and her fear of the unknown. It gave her a scared feeling of relief that she could have never explained if she had tried to with all her might. Seeing all the loving families bidding their children goodbye was the one thing that seemed to damage her the most. Where was her caring family? Why couldn't she, just a fifteen year old with a hard life to put behind her, have what everyone else had? Was she not worthy of a family? Maybe she wasn't worthy of even having friends. She was a Gaunt in Gryffindor, after all, the rival house of Slytherin at Hogwarts. That didn't say much for her. Her last name said she was an evil, dark witch, but her house said that she wasn't even good at that. Who could ever befriend someone like her? Her question was answered in little more than a few seconds later, when a girl about her age stopped in front of her. She was about the same height as Katalina, and had a medium auburn hair color, and bright green eyes. The boy that was with her looked somewhat unsociable. His eyes were dark, his black hair was shoulder length and greasy, and he had a rather large nose and pale complexion that made him appear rather sinister. "Hi. I'm Lily Evans; this is my friend Severus Snape." She offered her hand, and they shook hands. Severus nodded in acknowledgement, so Katalina did the same. "Katalina... Gaunt..." she said, a little reluctant to release her surname. "Have you been to Hogwarts before?" Lily asked curiously. "We didn't recognize you." "I --" Katalina started, a little panicked about the question. She didn't think anyone would have asked it. Nonetheless, she managed a simple reply. "My father wouldn't let me come to Hogwarts, I was homeschooled." "Really?" Lily said. "With Albus Dumbledore headmaster?" She seemed a bit intrigued, and Katalina found herself walking onto the train with them. "He's been the best thing to happen to Hogwarts since it was founded, according to most." "Some don't believe..." she said evasively. "My dad doesn't like him... I didn't know why... mind if I hold onto that?" she asked one of the prefects, what was putting her larger luggage into one of the side compartments of the train; she grabbed her guitar case from him and continued in with Lily and Severus. Lily seemed nice enough, definitely, but the boy with her seemed distant; she, however, couldn't say much more for herself. "What about your mum?" Lily asked as the three of them found a compartment to sit in; an empty one. They all seemed larger inside than they were outside, clearly enough for eight people to easily fit into, four people per bench. The three of them took one bench, as Katalina's kitten jumped into her lap and mewed. "She couldn't have very well said with her current state..." Katalina said. "Our old house burned when I was a baby, her body was never even found. We still don't know what caused the fire… or who, if that's the case." She evaded any more questions on the subject of her mother’s death by continuing onto a different subject matter. "I just ran away from my dad, stayed in the Leaky Cauldron all summer. I took the key to my mum's account at Gringott’s; she'd left it all to me anyway. Got tired of being cooped up all day." "What year're you in? We're both in fifth." "Me too... and Gryffindor," she added. "Drove me dad nuts, he wanted another Slytherin in the family, we had all been for ages." "I can't believe parents get broken up over things so silly..." she said. "Muggleborn?" Katalina asked. "Yes," she said. "I never had to worry about it. Sev did..." she added, looking over a little cautiously -- he could apparently be rather touchy on this subject. "Mum kept saying I was a filthy half-breed and didn't deserve to be put in Slytherin," he said. "So I wanted to just to prove I did deserve it, and I did. Put her in her place, but she still doesn't like me very much. Nor does my dad, but he didn't know he was marrying a witch at the time." "My family had apparently been a long line of pure blood Slytherins that claimed to be descended from Salazar Slytherin himself... so, naturally, me being the first to break this cycle, my dad wanted me dead... I wouldn't doubt we did descend from him..." she added. "Been rumors about different bits of the Gaunt family everywhere..." "Gaunt..." Lily said, remembering something. "Are you related to Alfred Gaunt?" "Yes..." she said, quite grudgingly. "My brother... different mum than me, according to my dad. I don't really... get along with him." She sounded as though she were trying to put their feelings towards each other lightly. "Me and Dad had a huge row before I left, he told me I was just like my great aunt, running off against her father's wishes." She laughed slightly. "I told him if her dad was anything like him, then I couldn't blame her." "Why don't you try to find her?" "Couldn't if I wanted to," she said. "She died an hour after having a baby, turns out she'd given the muggle she'd run off with a love potion, but eventually stopped, and he left her, but she was already pregnant. She had the baby in an orphanage, it's possible whoever the child is now doesn't even have a clue who their parents are, so I couldn't track them down very well, and wouldn't be mentioned in our family history, being a... what was it my dad said... a 'filthy tainted half blood with an ungrateful blood traitor of a mother'." She sighed. "He really is quite a wonderful person," she added with sarcastic admiration; Lily and Severus both laughed. "Have you heard your brother's theory on the child?" Lily asked. "I try to avoid him and my dad during summer, them together is a nightmare." "He took a different view on it than your father, apparently," Severus said. "He claims that the child grew up to be Voldemort." "Really?" Katalina said, a little stunned at this. "He's always taken sides with my dad at home. Probably just looking to impress his friends. But then..." "What?" Lily said, a little fearful -- Voldemort was the wizard slowly working his way towards being the most feared dark wizard of all time. Most people didn't even dare speak his name aloud. She thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. "No, he's just being an arsehead, my brother's always been known for coming up with stories that benefit his own status." She shrugged it off, and as Severus appeared to be about to speak again, they were interrupted with guffaws of laughter outside, probably a few feet from the door. "God, not already." Lily gave an exasperated sigh. She got up and looked out the window, as did Severus. "What?" Katalina asked. She did the same, and managed to get a decent look out the window at a growing crowd. "The local baboons have broken out of their cage." Lily was scowling towards the front of the crowd. "James Potter and Sirius Black. The short chunkier one is Peter Pettigrew, follows the other two around worshipping them like Gods. Don't know who the fourth is, he must be new." She saw someone who was clearly a Slytherin prefect dangling upside down from his ankle in midair, a boy with shoulder length black hair controlling this, three of his friends with him, and a crowd of people around them, laughing. Katalina recognized this prefect, clearly, as her brother. She followed the other two out the door. She nearly laughed a little herself, but kindly decided not to. Alfred was most likely older than the boy and his friends, and begging to be put down. It was, however, a bit cruel. Katalina, who'd mastered silent spells extremely early and extremely well, was deciding between spells to use to kindly help out her brother. She took her time deciding, and Lily pushed her way to the front of the crowd. Katalina heard her speaking from the back. "Can't you idiots at least save it until you get off the train?" she snapped at the four in front. "No," said the one using the spell. "Gaunt here was mouthing off at us for being outside our compartment while the train's moving." "Well, it's dangerous!" she said. "And prefects're supposed to," she added. "You're not supposed to be out here." "And you are?" asked another, the one with black messy hair and glasses. "Or did you come out here just to tell us off? Not wise, you see what happened to Al. You're lucky, I'm too polite to hex a girl, and Sirius is occupied at the moment." "I could do two at once," Sirius said. "Just let me use your wand, James." "Nah, then I'd practically be doing it." Lily was pulling out her own wand now. "Oh, look, she's nice enough to let me use her own wand!" Sirius said with sarcastic enthusiasm. She pointed it at him. "Like you'll do anything," Sirius scoffed at her. Suddenly, he was being hoisted up by his ankle, but Lily wasn't doing it. Katalina made it to the front of the crowd, as he dropped his own wand and her brother fell with a small thud! on the carpet. Katalina had her own wand pointed at Sirius. "She's too polite," Katalina said. The crowed Oooohed at the sudden intervention. "Let me down!" Sirius said, trying and failing to reach his wand. Alfred stood up and grabbed his own wand. He put Sirius down, and Katalina directed her focus to him. "Look at this," Alfred said. "Two of the people I dislike most getting detentions before school's even started. Report to Filch at eight o' clock on Monday night." He grinned maliciously, then, grin fading, turned focus to Katalina. "I don't need help from any filthy blood traitors." Rather than glower at him, as most would have done, she grabbed his collar and pushed him into the wall, wand pointed in between his eyes. "And I don't need lip from people who's arses I've just saved by choice," she snarled back. Then, with a grin, she added, "And it didn't seem like you were about to get out of it yourself, you know." She put on a high pitched, mocking voice. "'Please, please put me down! I won't give you detention, I won't take points away from your house, please, please, please, I'm sorry! I'll never bother you again, I promise!' Yeah," she said, over guffaws of laughter at her impersonation, even from the boy she'd just used his own spell on. "I'm sure you had the situation completely under your control." She lowered her wand, then, as she'd expected, had to dodge a jet of red light; it could have easily been mistaken as a stunning spell, but she knew otherwise. She glanced over her shoulder. "You'd have been getting a lot worse than detention if that had hit me, Al," she said coldly. Her and Lily made their ways to the back of the crowd, followed by quite a few Ooooooo's at her last statement, from those who'd taken it as a threat. She, Lily, and Severus made their way back into their compartment, as the crowd faded. However, the other four, lingered for a moment, even as everyone else filed back into their compartments. The four of them; Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, waited until the rest of them were gone, except themselves and Al Gaunt, and Sirius spoke. "She doesn't get two detentions for that, at least?" he asked, a little disappointed. "Shut up!" Al snapped at him, walking off. "Alright, then..." James said, a bit confused, as they watched him walk away to his own compartment, then slam the door after him. "That's a little odd..." ------------------------------------------------- Inside their compartment, Severus and Lily were both questioning her as to how she'd known that spell. "What's the big deal?" she asked. "It's pretty much the same as Wingardium Leviosa, only directed exactly at an ankle. And besides, I could've learned it out of one of my spell books, for all you know." "That wouldn't be possible," he assured her. "Why not?" "Because I made that spell," he said. "Levicorpus. It was designed as you said, Wingardium Leviosa directed at an ankle, but it's easier just to have one incantation without worrying about where to direct the spell, as long as it's directed at a person in general. It's Libertacorpus to let them down, and it's usually used as a silent spell, so no one ever knows when they're going to be hoisted up by their ankle in the middle of a corridor at school." "How come you didn't get another detention when you threatened your brother like that? And twice, for that matter," Lily asked. "Deep down inside that cold exterior, I think he's afraid of what I'll do to him when I'm not under the watch of his daddy," she said, grinning. "And the second time wasn't a threat..." she added, both coldly and a little nervously. "Anyone who's dumb enough to do that under such close watch is dangerous..." "But it was just a Stunning spell," Lily said, confused. "No," Katalina said. "I assure you it wasn't. Stunning spells don't feel hot when they pass the side of your neck." She lifted her hair and pointed to a red mark that would most likely turn into a burn blister within the next hour. "Also, the shape they're fired in is a spiral of red sparks, not a straight jet." "Then what was it?" she asked. "The Cruciatus Curse..." she said. Lily gasped and clasped her hands over her mouth. Severus looked surprised as well. "The Cruciatus Curse?" he repeated. "On the Hogwarts Express?" "Like I said," she sighed. "Anyone to do that is stupid and dangerous. I wasn't threatening him, I was stating the facts..." "He could easily get arrested for it," Lily agreed. "Could you both do me a favor and not mention to anyone I'm related to him yet?" she asked. "People'll figure it out eventually, but I'd like to delay people knowing my relation to him for as long as possible..." They both agreed. At that time, they heard voices close to their door, one of them quite angry, the others amused. They burst into the compartment, Sirius with his wand out. He stopped in front of Katalina and pointed it at her. "How the bloody hell did you get out of that?" he demanded, while the other three laughed. Lily looked ready to chop off Sirius's arm, and Severus glared in the opposite direction. "Out of what?" she said incredulously, standing up as well. She pulled out her own wand and pushed him down onto the other bench-like seat unexpectedly; he dropped his wand next to him, staring crosseyed at the one now pointed between his own eyes. "In case you didn't notice, I've got a detention as well, and I for one hope we've got them with different teachers, or I'll end up hexing you halfway through and getting another!" "I'm talking about from threatening a school prefect twice in under a minute!" he shot back, but recoiled when he remembered he wasn't in the best position to mouth off. "He figured on using his own methods of punishment rather than detention," she said. "I suppose you didn't notice that that wasn't a normal Stunning spell he fired?" "Wha...?" She sighed and lowered her wand. She sat back down, as the other three came in and did the same, on the bench seat Sirius was on rather than the other. "That was the Cruciatus Curse, idiot. A Stunning spell can't burn your skin, and I've got one hell of a nasty burn mark on my neck, I'm lucky I dodged it when I did. And a stunning spell is spiraled, the Cruciatus Curse is a straight jet of sparks." "Get real," James said. "With all the guard around here he wouldn't have dared use that on another student." "Look it up," she said. "You'll see I'm one hundred percent correct, whether you like it or not. He's apparently not the brightest person in the world." "Apparently..." James said. "There're teachers on the train, we've seen a few of them, its surprising none of them came out to see what was going on." Their attention turned as Sirius spotted Severus. "Snivellus!" he said, in a mock friendly voice. He didn't turn his head from the window out into the hallway. "Didn't see you in our crowd of fans and admirers." "He was too scared he'd be next," James said, laughing. He appeared to be trying to ignore James's and Sirius's taunts. "Cut it out," Lily said. "Make us," James said. She and Katalina both, at the same time, pulled out their wands and stood. Lily pointed her wand at James, and Katalina pointed hers at Sirius. "I'm perfectly willing to," Katalina shot at both of them. "You, Lily?" she asked. "Definitely," she said, jabbing it into James's forehead. He winced. "That hurt!" he said. "It'll hurt even worse if you keep on with this nonsense!" she said. "Now stop it!" "I wasn't thinking of hurting, really," Katalina said, looking over at Lily. "I was thinking a good strong Confundus charm. Make them think they're baboons. They must have gotten Confunded in the past, too, seeing as they're under the illusion that they're people at the moment." Sirius had taken the opportunity in which she'd looked away to grab his own wand; when she turned back, he was pointing his at her. She sat down, and the both continued pointing and glaring. Lily looked down at them, shook her head, and sat down herself, putting her own wand away. ----------------------------------------- "Would you two call a truce already or something?" she said to Sirius and Katalina after half an hour of them still silently pointing their wands at each other and glaring. "You know, before you become mortal enemies?" "She's a Slytherin, I'm guessing?" Sirius asked spitefully. "Funny, I thought you'd be one," Katalina said. "Dangling people from their ankle in the middle of the hall, honestly!" "She's a Gryffindor," Lily said. "Wish I had been a Slytherin," Katalina said, a little thoughtfully, a little grudgingly. "I'm glad I'm in Gryffindor, I didn't want to be in Slytherin at first.... My dad had doubts I would be, and he wanted me to be, so he decided to home school me for the first year, just to see. When I was sorted, they send the Sorting Hat with a Hogwarts employee to houses of children who may be in Hogwarts the next year, I was put in Gryffindor." "How'd you get out of being homeschooled if it pissed him off that bad?" James asked. "Ran away," she said happily. "And I'm never going back to that place again. I don't care if I have to stay at inns for all my summers. I'd rather be alone. I've got inheritance money from my mum, stole the key to her vault, she left it all to me anyway, so I don't need financial support and I can easily pay for costs of inns and hotels." "Inheritance?" Sirius said, lowering his wand without realizing he had. "She died in a fire when I was about six months old," she said. "No big deal. If my dad was married to her, God only knows how horrible she was... I know that's no way to talk about your dead parents that you've never met, but it's the truth. He'd've never married a blood traitor muggle lover. Curious, they never found her body in the fire, but with the amount of her blood they found, it's been figured out she wouldn't have lasted long even if she had gotten out." "If it was a fire..." James said slowly, "... then how was there blood?" "The hell if I know," she said with a shrug. "My dad never gave me the full set of details of everything that happened; he didn't like talking about it. Only thing that ever got to him." James had started to speak again, but was distracted by the luggage rack. "Is that a guitar?" he asked, pointing. "Go near it and you'll regret that you were ever born," she said. Everyone looked over at her, even Severus, who'd been so keen on looking out the window. "Sorry," she said. "It's just that it's the last thing I have to remind me of how much my dad despised me. He always hated it. The fact I used electricity in his house. I purposely didn't bewitch the amplifier to run by magic until I left. Annoyed the hell out of him, but I'd hex him if he ever set a foot near it," she said relishingly. "Good times." "There aren't even any electrical outlets in my house..." Sirius said. She laughed. "I put one in my room myself. Without magic. Bought the tools to do it at the local hardware store. Annoyed him even more that I did that when I could have just conjured everything out of the air." Slowly, as they continued talking, the train began to come to a halt. By the time they were all properly introduced, the train had stopped. They noticed this. "We can't be there yet..." Sirius said, looking out the window, his hands pressed against it. "No," he said. "Someone's getting on, it looks like," he told them. As though burned or shocked, he pulled his hands back. "What the..." The window started to freeze and crack. "Dementors?" "Dementors?" Katalina repeated, disbelieving, and looked out the window herself. "There's been a rumor going around that Voldemort --" there were shudders within the compartment, except from Katalina, who was used to the name in her household, Severus, and Sirius. "-- tried to get a teaching job at Hogwarts," Severus said. "I heard that," Katalina said. "Then again, maybe they're coming to take away that prefect," she added hopefully. There were a few nervous laughs around the compartment; dementors were nearly as feared as Voldemort himself. Dementors were creatures that guarded the wizard prison, Azkaban. They were tall, hooded, and faceless, except for a gaping hole that was their mouth. They didn't see people, they felt fear. They went towards the source of the fear and would feed off of all the happy thoughts within the mind of that person, until nothing was left but the bad memories. They had once been people themselves, some of them, but had since had their own souls sucked from their bodies. They couldn't kill, but their finishing move was the Dementor's Kiss, where they'd clamp their jaws down on their victem's jaws and proceed to suck out their soul, leaving them a shell with a beating heart, but no will to live, and, eventually, they'd either waste away or become dementors themselves. "Still, to search Hogwarts and the train..." James said. "There've been plenty cases of dementors going bad," Lily said. "Especially lately, You-Know-Who's been persuading them over to his side. It's awfully risky bussiness..." "I suppose they'll search... all the compartments?" Katalina asked nervously, her grip tightening on her wand. "Yeah..." Lily said. "Probably..." They all sat silently in wait, and then, the lights in their compartment went out, and they could see their breath in little puffs of fog. "They're getting closer..." she said quietly, more to herself than the others. She tried to muster up an overpoweringly happy memory. Nothing seemed to do; the dementors seemed to be leaking fear and sorrow into their compartment already. A scabbed, black, skeletal hand reached over the window of their compartment. She was ready; she was remembering the moment she stepped onto Diagon Alley; the feeling of being freed. It opened the door, and there were at least five there. And no teachers keeping an eye on them? That was risky. The door opened, and they started to swoop in. Katalina stood, pointed her wand, and said the incantation clearly: "Expecto Patronum." She thought of nothing but that thought, and maintained focus on it, even as a silver phoenix burst out of the end of her wand and darted at the dementors. They turned quickly and left, making odd screaching noises that had to be their form of a scream. She flicked her wand, and the phoenix vanished, then the compartment door closed. The lights flicked back on; she had apparently scared the dementors off the train altogether. Lily hit her. "You could have said you knew how to do that!" she said loudly, hitting her in the arm again with her own wand. The four on the other bench were laughing at her reaction. "I didn't know if I'd be able to or not -- careful with that thing, you're about to catch my bleedin' arm on fire!" Lily made a noise of frustration, glared at Katalina for a moment as she put her wand away, then decided to stare at the bottom of the luggage rack over her head. "At least they're gone..." Katalina said sheepishly with a shrug. They heard someone running down the hall of the train. An old, stern looking witch stopped at the door of their compartment and opened it. Her hair was black and drawn back in a tight bun. She looked completely astounded. "Which of you conjured it?" she demanded of them. Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter stopped laughing immediately. "Which of you conjured the Patronus?" "The Pa-what-us?" Sirius said blankly, voicing what the rest of them were definitely thinking, except Katalina. She looked a little scared. She sheepishly raised her hand, her eyes even wider than usual. This made them laugh again. "Come with me," she said. Katalina got up and walked out of the compartment slowly with whomever the witch was that was standing there in emerald green robes. ----------------------------------- [i]Side info: -I have teachers placed on the train due to the fact that this is around the time that Voldemort would be at a height of power, and I figured Hogwarts would want to have more than train workers and prefects there in case anyone on Voldemorts side has been stationed on the train. -Lupin is a "new student" for reasons involving future things in this story that I can't give away -- I know it's not how it happened in the books or anything, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.[/i] --------------------------------------------- [b]Chapter 2: Veritaserum[/b] "Please don't send me home..." Katalina begged the witch sheepishly. "That's not what we're concerned with right now," she said. She most certainly looked concerned about something. Katalina followed her down the hallway after she shut the door. They stopped at a teacher's compartment, and the woman opened the door, and indicated for Katalina to go in first. She did so, and the woman closed the door after her. Three other people who were apparently teachers sat in the room. This witch took a seat behind a desk. "Sit," she said, indicating the chair in front of her desk. Katalina did as told. "I'm assuming you're Katalina Gaunt?" She grimaced a little. "I prefer Smith..." she mumbled. The woman looked at her oddly. "... Katalina Smith?" she asked. "I don't like my family very much..." "I'll address you as Gaunt for the time being, it's your enrollment name. "Now, Katalina, I am Professor McGonagall, the head of Gryffindor House and Transfiguration teacher. This --" She indicated a wizard with ginger hair, balding and graying, and a little on the chubby side. "-- is our potions master and head of Slytherin House, Professor Slughorn. This is Professor Sprout, your Herbology teacher and head of Hufflepuff. This is Professor Flitwick, Charms teacher and head of Ravenclaw." She nodded in turn to each of them as she was introduced to them. "Now, Miss Gaunt here," McGonagall said, resulting in another slight grimace on Katalina's part, "has produced a Patronus Charm. She is in only her fifth year. A Patronus Charm is seventh year level magic, and most of them have trouble with it. The dementors detected a presence in her compartment that they recognized to be in relation to what they were searching for, whether in family ties or personality, they could not say." Katalina was horribly afraid. "Professor Slughorn, you have the Veritaserum, I believe?" Slughorn handed over a tiny bottle of a clear liquid. "Katalina," Professor McGonagall said. "You seem quite sincere, but, by Ministry orders, we must use Veritaserum to interrogate you." She nodded, gulping. "Wh... what does... V-veritaserum do...?" she asked. "It forces the drinker to tell the truth at all costs." She nodded. "It is tasteless, scentless, and clear, as you can see. It'll be like water to you, but you will tell the truth upon drinking it, as it will force you to without thinking about your answer first." She nodded, yet again, taking the bottle. She uncorked it, and drank it. It did, indeed, seem like water. She didn't feel any difference in herself. "State your true name," Professor McGonagall said. "Katalina Arianna Gaunt," she said. "Why are you here?" "To go to Hogwarts." "For what reasons?" "To learn." "Learn what?" "Whatever the classes I have chosen to take this year offer me as learning material." "Do you have any relation to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" "I do not know." "That's interesting..." Katalina heard Slughorn say. "Have you met him?" McGonagall continued. "No." "Do you have a family connection with him?" "Yes." "Very interesting, indeed," McGonagall said. "Who?" "My father is one of his most devoted and important followers, some have called him Voldemort's right-hand-man." "And how do you feel about you father's connection with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" "It sickens me to the very pit of my stomach." "That's good... "Did you produce the Patronus charm that scared off the Death Eaters?" "Yes." "What form was it in?" "A phoenix." Everyone in the room gasped, except McGonagall, though she did appear astounded. "Could... could you show us?" Katalina took her wand from her pocket. She stood, walked behind the chair, and pointed it at the chair seat. "Expecto Patronum," she said aloud. The phoenix burst from her wand again, and it perched on the edge of the chair. "How long can you hold it there?" Professor McGonagall asked. Katalina pocketed her wand, and the bird was still there. "Until I tell her to go." "How long have you been able to make a Patronus?" "A few weeks," she said. "How did you learn?" "From a seventh year course book that I bought at Flourish and Blotts’ in Diagon Alley for a bit of light reading." "How long did it take to learn?" "Around five minutes." McGonagall swallowed nervously, looking around at the rest of the teachers. "How long does it normally take to learn for most students?" she asked them. "Weeks," Flitwick piped; his voice was as high as he was low; he was only tall enough to come up just past Katalina's knee. "And most of them give up before producing a true Patronus." "Is it true you were homeschooled by your father?" McGonagall asked Katalina. "Sort of." "What did he teach you?" "Nothing in the course books," she said. "He taught me dark magic, against my will, and of the history of it, and of my own family history." "And he did not include the Dark Lord in this family history?" "He did not," she said. "Was there anyone in particular that stuck out?" "Yes... an unknown halfblood child, and I heard that my brother is suspicious about it." "Does he know about the child’s parents?" "Yes. Its mother is my great-great aunt, Merope Gaunt. Its father was a muggle she made like her by love potions." "Do you know anything about the child's mother?" “According to my father, she 'disgraced our family name' when she ran off with him. She became pregnant by him, and stopped giving him the potion, thinking he'd still love her. He didn't, he left to live with his parents. She was broken, scared, and distraught, and had the baby at a muggle orphanage, where she herself died an hour after its birth." "The father," McGonagall choked out. "Did you know his name?" "Tom Riddle." McGonagall and Slughorn seemed to be particularly worried by this. "Do you know the Dark Lord's real name?" "No." "Good," McGonagall said. "And you won't until the time is right..." She raised her wand and pointed it at Katalina. "Obliviate," she said quietly. A blue beam of light hit Katalina, and she stared blankly ahead. "You are to forget this conversation. You will remember being here, but the conversation will be a complete blank. You will figure out that I Confunded you while you still are here." Katalina, still looking blankly ahead, nodded. McGonagall flicked her wand at Katalina again, who snapped back. "Why am I here?" she asked. "What do you mean, Miss Gaunt?" "I mean, aren't you going to interrogate me?" she asked. She looked down. Her phoenix was still there. "How'd my Patronus get there?" she demanded. She looked up at McGonagall. "You've Confunded my memory of the interrogation," she said accusingly, pointing at her. "I have," McGonagall agreed. "It's the only way to keep you safe." "Did you use anything that might make me tell you anything I didn't want to...?" she asked, suddenly noticing the miniature flask in her hand. She set it on the table. "Yes, Veritaserum, only a small dosage. It makes the drinker tell the complete truth about everything." "I want to know what I said!" "I cannot tell you that until another time, Miss Gaunt." "But if I said something I didn't know I knew or that incriminates someone --" "You didn't." "But I don't know what I said, how can I believe that?!" "You'll have to believe it for now, Miss Gaunt. You did say you learned the Patronus in around five minutes." "I did," she said. "I know. It was weird; the book said it could take up to a year, sometimes more, to get your Patronus to have a true form. It was extremely difficult magic. But I didn't find it to be, really. I can teleport it, too." She looked at the Patronus, as though communicating with it silently, and it disappeared, reappearing in front of Professor McGonagall, atop her desk, gazing at her. "And..." she said, and, focusing quite hard on the Patronus, it spoke with her voice, "I can make it speak for me." Professor McGonagall was astounded, as were the rest of the teachers. She looked