An active, character-driven Hogwarts experience set in the early 2000s. Unique items, plots, and features. Non-canon; this isn't Harry Potter's story, it's ours.
Post by Jaxen Ashworth on Sept 9, 2021 8:27:45 GMT 10
The screeching of the owls drew Jaxen's attention upwards and he watched the large flock of birds delivering letters and packages all around the hall. He doubted that he'd receive anything, after all his mother didn't often write to him, even in response to his own writings. It was due to this that he was rather surprised when an owl swooped down low and dropped a package into his lap, causing Jax to drop his forkful of scrambled eggs.
Jaxen barely had to glance at the letter to recognize his mother's handwriting scrawled on the envelope, his name easily legible. He almost didn't believe that she'd actually replied, only... The proof was right in front of him. Shaking his head, he first opened the letter and couldn't help but smile at the affectionate words that were written on the parchment.
The first part of the letter unsurprisingly asked that he and Reena both returned home for christmas, that was a no-brainer. Jaxen wouldn't dream of missing Christmas at home, because it was one of the few times in the year that he got to go home from Hogwarts and see his mother- not only that, but Christmas was a family occasion. He could spend time with his friends the rest of the year, besides... They would probably all be going home at Christmas to spend time with their own family's.
The main thing was that she'd granted permission for the pair of them to visit Hogsmeade, Reena would be delighted- he was sure of that much. Maybe now she could stop nagging him to write home for things, this would likely be the first and last letter they received from their mother the whole year anyway.
Reading through the rest of the letter he stopped when his mother mentioned the dress robes and his gaze shifted to the package that had been delivered alongside her letter. He'd been hopeful about Hogsmeade, but never in a million years did he think she'd agree and send them dress robes. He hadn't been able to attend the ball last year, but this year both he and Reena could attend together... That should be fun.
Setting the letter aside momentarily, he opened the package. His fingers grazed the green fabric in awe of how beautiful the robes were. They were certainly nicer than anything he'd ever worn before, he was not accustomed to receiving such extravagant gifts. Then it dawned on him that if he attended the ball, he might be expected to take a date- what he couldn't figure out was if it was more mortifying having to ask someone to the ball or showing up alone whilst all his friends danced with their dates...
Was it too late to skip the whole thing? Probably.
Returning to the letter, he made sure that the robes were away from any risk of spillages before reading the rest of the letter. He felt his brow crease in confusion when he found out that she would not be meeting them at the station, that they were to make their own way home... That was odd... And disappointing. Jaxen always enjoyed meeting his mother on the platform, especially when the majority of his classmates would be reuniting with their own parents there. It seemed so lonely, having to arrive to an empty platform and navigate their way to this 'knight bus' on their own.
Jaxen folded the letter and tucked it into his pocket- it was a rare keepsake that he would stow away in his trunk at the next opportunity. Then he also pocketed the envelope that held the bus tickets, sure that if he lost those, everyone would be upset with him, especially when his mother had trusted him with them, he was the oldest but Reena definitely the most sensible.
Post by Lindsey Bryce on Sept 9, 2021 12:30:45 GMT 10
Lindsey came up from the dungeons with a little bit of a perk in her step. It was a good day... A quidditch day, even if she was a little sad about the whole afternoon thing. Seeing the hall already mostly full, she walked over to Lucas and pulled out some Galleons.
"Good mornin', Lucas... 'Ere... I'll put a wee bet on the Hufflepuff team winnin'," she said as finished fishing out the galleons before handing them to Lucas. "Let put twenty galleons." Lindsey was happy with that bet and closed up her bag. Though she really wasn't sure if she wanted to go, but if she did, she would have a bet on the match. Hufflepuff seemed like a good team to be up against.
With that done, she went to her table and say down, grabbing some eggs, sausage, and toast to enjoy this morning. When the mail arrived, she smiled and grabbed at the letter that was dropped off by a familiar owl. It was clearly a letter from her mother and father, which made her realize she had not written the day before.
A Leannan, Your father and I did not receive a letter yesterday and were a little worried since the last one from your father had been in regards to your quidditch match. We hope you are okay and wanted to let you know that all is well here in Highfield. There will be a story in the daily prophet about some flooding... We will discuss it with you over the holidays, once I also know more details, if they are revealed.
Mòran Gaoil
Do Mhàthair
Lindsey looked at the letter for a moment in confusion and grabbed the nearest daily prophet, reading over it slowly and realizing how serious it was. She understood the workings of a reservoir and why muggles used them. Her father had told her about them once, but it was a long time ago. As she read it over, she felt her heart clench for those who had died and any who were injured.
Amelia came to breakfast, a yawn escaping her lips as she passed Mardling and continued to the Gryffindor table with little talk. Everyone was excited about the coming day and she sat down with a smile to a few others around her. She sat near Jacob and smiled at him for a moment.
"Did you bet for or against Hufflepuff?" Amelia asked him as she grabbed some cereal and put some milk in the bowl. It was too bad Lucky wasn't here so she could wish him luck... And getting to the locker rooms wasn't an option. If he won or lose, she would give him a hug no matter what. Sometimes, you needed it most after a bad match.
The appearance of the owls made her smile and she snatched letters and prophets from the air. The news of being able to go to Hogsmeade was a good one and then about the dress was just as good. As she looked at the box, she smiled and wondering if it would be wrong to maybe remove some of the laces? It would make it look better... Maybe she could find a spell to at least make it look newer. It didn't matter... It wasn't like she was going to really impress anyone, though a blush came to her face as she wondered if Lucky would attend.
Reading over the prophet, she was interested in the whole thing about her dad and would have to write him tonight after the match. Maybe she could write it during the match if it was boring... The thought caused her to smile in amusement, knowing that it would likely be very interesting. She looked up and saw Jade, giving her a smile.
Jamie walked down the stairs slowly and nervously looked up at Lucas before he headed towards the older student, putting out his hand with some Galleons.
"Ten Galleons on Ravenclaw winning," Jamie said in a quiet voice before rushing away towards the Ravenclaw table and sitting down, looking for any of his friends. He saw Ryan and went down to sit with him, hoping to maybe be around a familiar face. Toby, from the Gryffindor House, was also by them and he looked at the Gryffindor with a small smile while he listened to them talk. It seemed they were trying to figure out a few things for Joe, but Jamie didn't say much, just sat and listened.
“You’re killing me, man,” Samantha moaned, but her grin betrayed that she didn’t find the new rules for this match annoying at all. “What are Slytherins for if not playing both sides of the field?” she added and took some of the money back, giving him the appropriate amount for one outcome bet.
“Let’s go for Ravenclaw scores one,” Sammy said after some deliberation. “I’ll probably lose out on the money pretty quick with this, but hey, what’s life without some spice and risk,” she shrugged. It was almost certain that the outcome bet would be a guaranteed lost money, but Sammy often bet like this on purpose. Plus, she hoped Hufflepuff would pull through and win the match and thus, she would get more back to cover the loss of the outcome.
“Is that so?” a grin returned to Samantha’s face when Lucas told her about the next match betting. “I’ll take you for your word, Lucas, you better not disappoint a lady,” she snorted and finally gave him all of the money needed.
“Hey Amara,” Samantha greeted the Captain, giving her a respectful nod. Her stomach growled loudly, so she offered an apologetic smile to both and turned to Lucas. “Thank you for your business. See ya both later,” she smiled and took off for the Slytherin table.
She sat down and piled some food on her plate, not really caring what she was about to eat. After a few bites, the owls started arriving, dropping the Daily Prophet and a letter to her with her name and a stamp in the corner. Rolling her eyes, Sammy put the letter aside and opened the newspaper.
Samantha frowned at the main news, her heart always hurting a little when it was Muggles that were affected by magical accidents or deliberate attacks. She couldn’t help herself but think what would her reaction be if it was her own family that would be victims of such a thing. Sad and angry, most likely.
“Idiotic,” she murmured and rolled her eyes when the dessert debacle was mentioned at the bottom of the front page. It was such a non-story to her, Samantha wondered who was paid to write such drivel and what for.
Putting the newspaper down, Samantha took the letter and opened it. Predictably, it was from her father, despite it being unsigned.
Due to events over the summer, it would be best you don’t come home for Christmas. Your grandparents will be with us to celebrate before they leave on a cruise.
We converted and send you some money to get a dress for the winter prom.
“Dress robes,” Samantha murmured in correction (not to mention other mistakes in the letter) and stabbed a piece of toast a little too hard. She expected such a reply from her dad, but was still disappointed at it. Sammy kept staring at the paper in her hands, but not really seeing the words anymore as she automatically took bites of the toast.
Last Edit: Sept 9, 2021 17:43:11 GMT 10 by Deleted
Post by Lucas Mardling on Sept 9, 2021 20:02:44 GMT 10
Lucas accepted Galleons from Jade, who won big last match. He frowned when Thatcher came into view but gladly relived him off his money as well. He was surprised the idiot would even dare, which meant his betting scheme worked better than even he'd anticipated. Not a lot of outcome bets, but that was fine.
Hearing a familiar and welcome voice before seeing her, Lucas straightened his posture.
'Hey, yourself. It's going... not too bad,' he said, smiling at Amara. Lucas accepted her money, a little envious some could just offer up large sums like it was nothing, even though that's the life he's grown up around, and was amused by her vocal working it out. Valid points, as well.
He nodded, making note of the bets and counting money. He trusted Amara enough to give him the correct amount, but Lucas didn't make exceptions.
'Yeah. The match.' He hesitated, then acted on a burst of courage. 'Wait. Amara... I was wondering, could we walk to the pitch together? I wanted to ask you something. In private, if you don't mind?'
And of course he didn't have a moment to spare, grumbling as he turned to Lindsey for choosing that instance to interrupt. Could she not see he was having a big moment here? Money was good though, so he forced a civil look.
Lucas accepted her bet and took note, glancing nervously at Amara while awaiting her answer.
'Yeah, great, thanks,' he sped through accepting Jamie's bet. Yet still counted meticulously because of course he did.
He nodded in agreement as Sammy filled him in on her own decision. Actually, she was quite distracting. Lucas was first annoyed, but then cracked a smile. She was fun company, apparently. Though life without a little spice and risk? Sounded safe and not insane, he assumed, but kept that opinion to himself. Tempting as it was to return conversation, his focus was primarily on Amara.
Post by Elizabeth Doren on Sept 10, 2021 2:14:01 GMT 10
Another day of Quidditch. How boring. Elizabeth didn't care for the sport, and that was well known, but she also disliked the holidays. There was nothing to do, no intellectual challenge. She wished her parents might allow her to come home so she could do something with a tutor, perhaps some project now that she was getting older. Even her Astronomy textbooks, which she usually found fascinating, got boring after she had been staring at them for days.
Setting her own tasks just wasn't the same as having someone notice how clever she was, or even proving someone wrong. It was a shame that the professors were too busy to even offer her extra credit.
She sat at the table and glanced to where Mardling was already making bets about the stupid sport. How boring. Elizabeth wouldn't want to waste her Galleons on something like that. Besides, she barely paid any attention. Mardling could probably easily trick her into believing that Hufflepuff had won when it was actually Ravenclaw.
Elizabeth opened her letter expecting it to tell her the reasons why she was unable to go to Hogsmeade, and so, rather uncharacteristically, her mouth was wide open. She was allowed to go? Well, she didn't know what she would do there. Perhaps she would purchase some books. What was even at Hogsmeade? These thoughts were all almost completely interrupted. Her parents' important guests might be part of the reason she couldn't come home. Not even for extra tutoring, not that Elizabeth really needed it.
Distracted, she nearly crumbled her toast to shreds as she attempted to lightly spread butter on it. Well, this was certainly going to be an interesting day, despite the Quidditch game.
Another day at Hogwarts, except this would be another Quidditch day! Though he had nothing against Hufflepuff, he was secretly rooting for Ravenclaw (his mothers old House), but not so much that he would be placing any bets with Mardling. Still, it seemed as though once again many of the students were and the professors were pretending not to notice. Way to encourage gambling, but then it wasn't as if he was a stick in the mud or anything. If that was how they wanted to spend their galleons, good luck to them!
There was also the impending ball, and the fact that he had yet to ask anyone to accompany him. Though he had his eye on Jurni, there was no way she would agree to go with him. it wasn't like they really knew each other or anything. Best not to accidently get in the way of Lindsay and Tom again either. He supposed he could ask someone in his house if they fancied it. Maybe one of the others was stuck too?
The delivery of the Daily Prophet broke him from his thoughts, as he took a look at what was going on in the world this time. Yesterdays special edition was still firmly in his mind, but he hadn't been able to find much else on it. Odd, but he'd tried not to let it get to him. He had thought of writing home, but he supposed that if it had never been mentioned, then there was a reason. A reason he hoped wouldn't bite him in the backside.
Today's news was a little grim too, and he wondered what could have caused the flooding that had taken the lives of six muggles. Could it be that something had indeed gotten loose in the lake? Not really his problem, but he was curious about what kind of creature could cause that kind of incident.
Helping himself to some toast, he turned to some of his fellow Gryffindors, whom he had noticed placing bets.
"So, who'd you bet on?", he asked as he buttered a slice of toast that he had just slapped on to his plate.
Post by Grace Babineaux on Sept 10, 2021 4:05:45 GMT 10
Grace rushed into the Great Hall, convinced that she had overslept. And on her first Quidditch day as a spectator, too. What a nightmare! She was excited to see what a game of Quidditch looked like for the viewers. Probably exciting.
She sat down next to Saoirse and grabbed a copy of the Daily Prophet, curious to see if there was more written about the Sacred Four. Much to her disappointment, it was instead a slightly upsetting piece about flooding in Scotland. Grace didn't know any Muggles in Scotland, but it was still sad when bad things happened.
"Hey Saoirse. Are you excited for Quidditch?" Grace asked. Even though her team wasn't playing, she was still pretty excited to be watching the game. She'd seen Ryan and Toby talking when she entered the Great Hall, and assumed they were probably going to cheer for Ravenclaw to win.
She was still a bit curious about the Sacred Four, but Quidditch was her main focus. Plus, the holidays were coming up soon, which meant more time to pester teachers about her various curiosities and ideas. She was beginning to wonder about why no adult seemed to want to tell them anything.
A bang, which signalized someone sitting down next to her, brought Samantha out of her reverie. The set the fork down hard with a clatter, leaving her shredded toast on the platter. Her appetite completed left her, so Samantha took an apple and put it in her pocket for munching on during the match.
“This is such bull,” she growled and crushed the letter into a ball, throwing it down onto the table. It bounced against a jug of pumpkin juice and as if to jeer at her, landed back on her plate among some pieces of toast.
It wasn’t like Samantha particularly wanted to go home for the holidays, she planned on staying at the castle anyway. Not to mention all the fun times ahead and some of her friends would be at Hogwarts too. But to have it refused to her by her own parents in favor of some bigots? That hurt her.
Then, it made her angry. Sammy wanted to hurt something, and the paper ball was just there, mocking her. On pure instinct and a fit of pique, she took out her want and pointed it at the offending letter.
“Incendio!” Samantha almost yelled, the letter bursting up in flames. She barely reacted to it all, past the angry look and watched it turn into ash. Take that, Samantha thought, satisfied with the outcome, not even thinking about possible consequences of her actions.
Last Edit: Sept 10, 2021 18:00:35 GMT 10 by Deleted
Post by Tobias Twiggs on Sept 10, 2021 20:33:42 GMT 10
Toby was in the process of chewing a mouthful of toast when Ryan rushed up on him, clearly out of breath and looking rather wet... Like he'd just got out of the shower. Who had time to shower in the morning on a quiddy day?!
Chewing slowly as he listened to Ryan attempt to get the words out and nodded vigorously in agreement when he mentioned that they simply had to do something in order to show Joe how much they believed in him. That was exactly the reason he had run first to the Ravenclaw table that morning anyway.
"You're right! We're rubbish friends if we don't do anything for Joe!" he insisted, pushing aside his plate of toast- breakfast was the most important meal of the day and one that Tobias never usually skipped but there simply wasn't enough time to eat AND strategize. Not when the game was almost upon them.
With the arrival of the morning post, Toby almost tossed everything aside- he didn't see any mail from home (and therefore no sweet treats his parents might've sent) but then the prophet caught his eye. Staring at the front page, he saw his father's name and a barely audible gasp escaped him as he quickly skimmed the article.
Truth be told, he didn't pay much attention to his father's job, ministry jobs just seemed so boring but it was pretty cool to see his father's name on the front page of the paper as he did he job and helped people.
"Do you think we have time to make a poster? Or or or, maybe we can go in Ravenclaw colours or or or maybe we can paint our whole body's blue in solidarity?!" the ideas sounded better in his head... Much better.
With an increase of excited chatter, students and staff hurried from the hall to make their way onto the grounds towards the Quidditch pitch. Lucas Mardling has a moment to finish up some bets, but the match would be starting soon.
Professor McGonagall caught sight of fire at the Slytherin table and hurried over, fixing Samantha with a very stern look.
'Setting fires, Wilder? In the Great Hall, no less.' She shook her head. 'Five points from Slytherin.' McGonagall made a tsk tsk sound, then continued on her way out of the hall -- giving Lucas a disapproving look as well.
Post by Lindsey Bryce on Sept 10, 2021 21:14:38 GMT 10
Lindsey was still looking through the Daily Prophet, when she noticed the news of the Greenhouse Incident mentioned. Though it had been horrible, she had been there to help those people and smiled, tucking the prophet away for later. Well, she might as well take her time going to the game... She really wanted to go by the greenhouse and check her things before going to the game. It wasn't uncommon to go late and if she missed it, oh well.
As she was packing, the scent of smoke caught her nostrils and she turned quickly towards the scene down from her, watching as something burned on the table. When McGonagall appeared, she looked at the professor and than back at the table where the fire had been. What had been so horrible, she had to start a fire? Whatever it was, she could likely ask later. Grabbing her stuff, she left and headed for the Greenhouse.
Samantha shook herself from the fiery stupor when Professor McGonagall, of all people, came to the Slytherin table and scolded her. She supposed her stunt was a little dangerous, but it wasn’t as if Sammy didn’t know how to control the spell.
“It was needed,” she murmured under her breath when McGonagall moved away, rolling her eyes at the punishment. Samantha wondered if the word would get back to her Head of House and merit further punishment.
Ignoring the inquisitive looks of people that she knew, Samantha pushed herself to her feet and with a glare to the ashy plate, left the Great Hall towards the Quidditch Pitch.
Post by Jade Arwell on Sept 11, 2021 22:43:47 GMT 10
Jade pulled a face at Jacob's usual lack of table manners and a tendency to act as if he was starved. Thankful for the distraction, she glanced at Amy instead.
'Probably. I don't know yet.' She shrugged, unsure if she was going to the match. Nyx was playing but should she cheer her on? She did kind of want to see how things went. She assumed Amy, being a player herself, would be going so many it wouldn't be so bad with the company?
When breakfast ended, Jade didn't budge. Even if she planned to go, she hardly saw any reason to rush there like crazed fans. Quidditch was still just a sport, and she personally believed it was rather over-hyped. Sighing, she glanced around the Gryffindor table -- wondering what everyone else was going to do and if she should join them or not.
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