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.
Amelia smiled at Luckett when he turned her way and talked about the win he had gotten. She was proud of him, that much was clear and she grabbed a piece of toast, since she had basically already eaten. It wasn't like she needed more. It was obvious that he was a bit happy and she couldn't help but enjoy it.
"You did great! I had no doubt you would at least make it to the final round," she said in confidence as they sat there. She caught the view of the snow owls and turned in time to snatch a Daily Prophet from the air and sat down with Luckett so he could read it to. It sounded like her father had been busy and she swallowed as she read about the object that were found. She also took a look at the other stories. The werewolf story was interesting and then continued to the next one.
At his comment about it, she smiled and looked back at the paper.
"They don't know what they are missing," she said with a wink before she turned to listened to the professor give Luckett her praise. The professor was proud of Luckett and that made Amelia smile a little bigger. "I think the best praise of all comes from people you know, anyway... Who cares about the paper?" She said with a smile as she munch on the buttered toast.
Post by Ezra Ashworth on May 26, 2022 11:19:56 GMT 10
The posts arrival pulled Ezra from his thoughts about how they could cheer during Quidditch. He was curious about what the others had received and about to reach for a newspaper to amuse himself with in the meantime (he wondered if there was anything as interesting as the miracle potion mentioned again), when a snow-covered owl landed in front of him.
A package for him? That was weird. He should open it, right? That was what people did. He wondered what it was and who it was from. Oh! Maybe he had won a prize? Never mind that he had not entered any competitions, nor knew how.
He poked at the package as he thought, picking at a corner of the covering before he sprang into action and grabbed his letter first. He thought that would probably tell him who it was from and if he hesitated any longer, he would have ripped into the package without a clue on who had sent him something. Then what would he do if he lost the letter?
"Grandpa!" he said to himself, his eyes having flicked to who it was from straight away. The question of who had sent him something answered, Ezra glanced over at the package with even more interest. No! Letter first!
As he read through the letter he found himself nodding along to what was written. Grandpa was right, staying at the castle had been a bit scary! But fun too, especially the dinner. He would need to remember to reassure him that yes, he'd had fun there.
His eyes drifted back to the still wrapped package as he read further. Grandpa had sent him his dad's book, that was what was in the package? He felt the urge to unwrap the package to find out and see just what story had been his favourite. Was it one that Ezra would recognise? Would he like it too?
Ezra dragged his attention back to the letter instead, wanting to find out anything else that his Grandpa had to tell him.
He missed them too! He didn't like that he couldn't just have all his family in one place. Oh, he had to write home more? He could do that! He missed getting to tell his Auntie Mum all about his day anyway. Even if it was only through a door or now in writing, he always hoped that she liked to hear about his various adventures.
Once he had rushed through the rest of the letter, he was sure he would read it again later anyway, he finally turned his complete focus to the package and pulled off the wrapping.
There was the book that Grandpa had mentioned. Not even the tin of promised brownies was enough to drag his eyes away from it. Wilbur Wizard...
His attention lingered on the cover for a moment, taking in all that the image offered. He felt like he should know this, the picture rang a bell in his mind that he could not work out what for.
Eventually he felt the need to flip the book open to where he found childish writing that he could not help but trace a finger over. Conrad. His dad.
This was his book? One that he had read to Ezra himself?
Ezra frowned down at the book, finding himself frozen in place as he tried to wrap his mind around that. He'd once had a dad that read him stories? That liked to read maybe as much as he did? It didn't make sense to him and was making him feel things that he could not, or would not, fully identify. He didn't like it.
He decided that maybe it would be a good time to follow the job that his Grandpa had given him. Grandpa had decided that Jaxen and Reena needed a big hug, so who was Ezra to ignore that? He was sure that Grandpa would not mind if the hugs were a little bit from Ezra too.
With that determined he scrambled off his seat, the tin of brownies going into his school bag before he carefully placed the book, with the letter held within, in the bag too. "Sorry, gotta go, got a job, bye!" he rambled at his friends as he packed his bag. As soon as everything was in he tossed it over his shoulder and was off. Completely forgetting to fasten it closed in his rush.
He had family to find and hug.
Jax was the obvious first target. They shared a house table and he had actually seen him that morning. After that he could wonder about finding his oldest sister. And okay, yeah, he would try to find the other two if he could as well, to attack them with love too.
He quickly figured that he had been right about Jax being the easiest target. Something that he was very pleased for as he threw himself at the older boys back in an attempt to hug the life out of him.
Post by Arthur Hocking on May 26, 2022 12:42:13 GMT 10
"Are you kidding? Herbology is going to be awesome!" Arthur lit up. Since Lucky had won, Professor Sprout was probably going to be in a good mood and that mean that they could do something fun. Maybe they'd be harvesting their own dangerous plants as practice for OWLs next year. That sounded like one of the only practical tests Arthur would enjoy.
Speaking of Professor Sprout, Arthur watched with only a touch of jealousy as she congratulated Lucky on his win, something that was definitely deserved but he still wished that he could do something incredible like that.
He looked hesitantly over at the Daily Prophet, in case there was more news about Muggles being harmed. To his relief, it seemed like there wasn't. In fact, in this case, he thought it was good news. "It's good that they caught this Bartles guy before too much bad stuff happened." he said to Oscar. At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder why such objects were created in the first place.
Post by Grace Babineaux on May 26, 2022 12:49:06 GMT 10
Grace nodded in agreement about Alice's excitement about both classes. She thought both of the classes were pretty cool, after all. Maybe they would even get to learn a brand new charm in charms class. Grace hoped it was a useful one, like the water-making spell she had learned earlier in the year.
"Wow." Grace frowned at the Daily Prophet. "It sounds like a lot of dark stuff has been happening recently." She said, agreeing with Alice that the news of the cursed presents being sent to Muggles and this were similar. She continued reading the article, and was somewhat happy to see that the Ministry appeared to have contained things.
She couldn't imagine what it would be like if her Mum worked at the Ministry instead of as a Healer. Aurors seemed to deal with a lot of scary stuff, and even people who worked with Muggles could be in danger if something like the presents happened again.
Post by Reena Ashworth on May 26, 2022 16:42:16 GMT 10
Giving Vargas a nod in greeting, Reena busied herself with blowing on her peppermint tea. The older girl seemed to ignore her at first but she didn’t really mind.
She could not remember having talked to Vargas before, having heeded Jax’s warning about his Slytherin classmates for her first three years. But she had overheard her roommates complain about the girl having it out for fourth years for some reason.
When Vargas commented on Langford, Reena smiled into her cup before taking a sip. Who knew she had a sense of humor?
She had to admit she was surprised to be not only acknowledged by Victoria but also praised. Reena thought she could feel her face grow warmer at the comparison to Amara.
Reena was not quite sure that was accurate but she thanked her either way. She had wondered why Amara hadn’t entered but she didn’t pry. Perhaps she had had a bad day or perhaps she just preferred not to give people a show (as Langford had put it).
“How kind of you to say. I wish I could have caught one of yours.“ she said with an equally forced smile. She had caught on that Victoria wasn’t particularly thrilled to see her.
Looking at Tom when he asked about the winner she nodded with the softest snort. She didn’t know the Magazine he was referring to but figured it might be a popular one or one about celebrities.
No sooner had she finished her toast than the morning post arrived. A few droplets fell on her neck from a snow covered owl overhead and she cringed at the sudden cold.
Flicking through the pages of the Daily Prophet she remarked with a shrug: “No mention of the tournament.“
The article on the title page caught her interest, however, since she remembered reading about the break in a few months ago. It was probably good to recover such dangerous items, she recalled Jax flying after touching the cursed rune chest, but reading that it had been Anant Xcalyn‘s order somehow soured it.
If there really was a traitor in the ministry and her mum had reacted with such fury to Anjay and Jurni the other day, surely that was connected somehow? Should she question anything she learned about the Xcalyns now?
Post by Jaxen Ashworth on May 26, 2022 17:45:39 GMT 10
Jaxen nodded to Nyx, offering a small smile in response to her greeting. Mathias wasn't with her, which meant he was probably sleeping in. Jax hoped that he didn't miss breakfast, being hungry when you had to sit through class was one of the worst feelings. And they had to fit in some studying between everything else, Jax had become hyper aware of their approaching exams last night as he was drifting off to sleep.
What followed were hours of overwhelming dread and anxiety induced insomnia.
Shovelling more food into his mouth (though he tried to be polite about it), he startled at the first screech of an owl, indicating the morning post had arrived. His copy of the prophet landed beside him, almost toppling a glass of orange juice that he'd poured just moments before.
Jax stared at the headline and read the front page quickly, drinking in the new information. It was disturbing. What did one wizard intend to do with so many dangerous magical items? Nothing good, evidently. Starting on a slice of toast, he flicked through the paper, reading only the articles that interested him.
Nyx's voice caught his attention and he turned to listen. Jax couldn't say he agreed with her stance on werewolves, but quickly shovelled a spoonful of beans into his mouth so that he wouldn't be expected to give his own opinion. Something told him that there were no winning in an argument with Nyx, and she seemed to be in a good mood today, no need to fall out over differing political views.
Jax instead wished Nyx a good morning as she left the table and then reached towards the bowl of muffins that he'd previously overlooked, slipping two chocolate ones into his bag- he might need a snack later if he was to make a start on some of his revision.
Moments later he felt someone slam into his back and he let out a surprised gasp- almost choking on the food that had been in his mouth. For a few seconds he thought that someone was attacking him for daring to hog the muffins, but then it became clear that Ezra was the true culprit.
"Ezzie? What's that for?" he asked, reaching an arm behind him to awkwardly hug the younger boy- not having the correct position to hug him properly. It wasn't unusual for his youngest brother to offer random and unexpected displays of affection, but he'd seen him just a few minutes previously, in passing.
Last Edit: May 26, 2022 17:49:14 GMT 10 by Jaxen Ashworth
Post by Lucas Mardling on May 26, 2022 17:47:30 GMT 10
Having almost overslept, Lucas arrived to the chaos of swooping owls and hyper Hufflepuffs. He cast a glance at several NEWT students leaving the hall already, then yelped as he had to duck an owl headed for his hair. It crashed into a child, but that wasn't his problem.
'Morning, ladies,' Lucas said, offering Reena the same welcoming smile as he did Amara and Victoria. He knew Reena was on the list, but he rather enjoyed her company anyway so it was hardly an act to include her as if she was part of their group. He didn't even notice Tom nearby.
'Great job with that tosser Xcalyn,' he added to Reena while serving himself some pancakes with berries. 'Pity skill isn't all it takes in those duels. Obviously, if I lose in the first round yet somehow Langford wins it.' He rolled his eyes, refusing to let people forget he was robbed by a first year.
'Ah. Charms.' Lucas checked the schedule, shuddering at the thought of anyone taking COMC. It gave him a free morning though, and he wasn't sure how to spend it. Studying for his OWLs would be the smart thing. 'Any plans for today?' he asked Amara and Victoria.
Narrowly avoiding being smacked in the face by a Prophet, Lucas snatched it to read while he ate his breakfast. The stuff about the arrest and dark objects weren't as interesting to him. Sounded more like some Aurors needed to mind their own business. A life sentence though? He smirked at some of the details, suspecting things were not as they appeared.
He rolled his eyes at Fenwhistle, losing further faith in the Minister by the day. Werewolves were a scary thought, but it was in Ireland so they should be fine. Right? Nothing else grabbed his attention, so Lucas set it aside and finished eating.
'Given it any further thought, joining us?' he curiously asked Reena. 'I think it'd be great. And there's so much we could acomplish.' Lucas shrugged, then fussed with his schedule again.
He sighed, knowing he had to deal with classes again and trying to balance all his other activities with that. He may have to take a step back from some dealing to focus on his studies, which wasn't great for his profits but his education was so important. He may as well get a start on that though. So Lucas blew Amara a kiss, then bid farewell to the others. He got up from his seat and headed out of the hall.
Post by Sophia Rhynhart on May 26, 2022 17:53:39 GMT 10
There was some screeching by the door and it wasn't from an owl.
'Lucky.' Sophia rushed through the room, right over to the Hufflepuff table -- where she skid to a stop and blushed. 'Oh. Sorry, Professor. Didn't see you there.' She gave Sprout a sheepish look.
She rocked on her heels, waiting for them to talk. Bored, she grabbed some finger food, like muffins or sliced fruit, then dropped into the seat beside Lucky with the widest grin.
'I'm so proud of you.' Sophia leaned in to give him a squashing, excitable hug. 'You kicked so many arses out there, and you put on a great show. Totally knew you were gonna do well, but you won the thing, Luck. You bloody won.' She could hardly sit still.
Sophia could not care less for the news today, ignoring the Daily Prophet. She chatted nonstop with Lucky, all about the duel and how great he did and how next year she might enter so they could face off together. She did pause long enough to not starve, which gave her a chance to check their class schedule too. Ugh, schoolwork always ruining the fun.
Post by Tobias Twiggs on May 26, 2022 18:00:00 GMT 10
Toby's face lit up as Joe gave him another piece of bacon. Apparently this day was looking to be a good one, he reached across the table and stole a couple slices of toast, and a couple of sausages, which he then sandwiched between the bread and took a great bite out of.
He heard Joe making plans with some girl to fly together in class, which kind of hurt a little- did he not want to fly with him? And he knew how uncomfortable Ryan would be flying- especially around people who might make fun of him. It was important that they help him, not spend time talking to girls.
The post arriving gave him something to do- rather than jump down Joe's throat about his lack of loyalty. A package arrived for him, alongside a letter from home. He thought it odd, seeing as he'd only seen his parents the previous morning- but then again, being the youngest and their favourite, he couldn't blame them for missing him already.
Ripping open the package before first reading the letter, his cheeks immediately burned with embarrassment over what they'd sent him. He quickly stuffed the underwear into his pocket, hoping no one saw and then busied himself with reading first their letter- which he now felt like throwing into the fireplace, and then the daily prophet. The front page was interesting as usual, but did make him feel uneasy.
Maybe he should write to his dad and see if he was worried? Nah, dads were awesome like that- they weren't scared of anything.
Post by Amara Seabrook on May 26, 2022 18:13:17 GMT 10
Amara hid a grin at Reena's comment about Langford's ego, though nodded in agreement. Even the moon was putting it lightly. She was glad the 4th year had wisely decided to join them, even if it wasn't the most exciting event to entertain younger students. She glanced at Tom, giving him a brief greeting as well, and spotted Elizabeth too. And the Doren boy, who weirdly wasn't sitting with his sister for whatever reason.
Her focus back on Vicky and Reena, Amara finished her breakfast while they talked. It occurred to her that they'd skipped a step in this meeting though.
'I'm glad you decided to join us for breakfast,' Amara said to Reena, then glanced at Vicky. 'I invited Reena to join us this morning because I think she would benefit from company of a more mutual potential and skill. Someone who understands her.' She gave Vicky a pointed look, to emphasise this was a recruitment situation.
'Absolutely not,' Amara agreed, smirking at the mention of Quidditch. They faced Ravenclaw tomorrow, but Hufflepuff would get its turn soon enough. 'Their days of celebration are numbered.'
She narrowed her eyes at Vicky's assessment of Reena being comparable to her own skills in 4th year, though conceded it wasn't an inaccurate statement. She glanced at Reena, thinking it over for a moment, then nodded an affirmative.
'You did do really well. And used curses, which clearly no one else had the skill or guts to do,' she said, ignoring an urge to talk about Potions instead. 'Beating Xcalyn earned a lot of attention, with good reason, but we know you did that well all tournament. And little to do they realise, this is only the tip of what you're capable of. But we see it. We see you, Reena. Don't you think it's time they do too?'
Amara set aside conversation to focus on the Daily Planet, only looking up to smile warmly when Lucas joined them. She appreciated his recruitment assistance, listening intently for Reena's answer while she perused the Daily Prophet. It was a rather boring one today, apart from the Werewolf attack and Fenwhistle digging himself deeper after the last article. She wasn't familiar with Ned Bartles, so didn't bother investigating further.
'We didn't have a particularly need to enter the tournament this year,' Amara said, giving Victoria a glance to check that was a fair thing to say on her behalf. 'We were there to scope out potential, and get a read on everyone else. It was more of a showmanship event than the kind of duelling we prefer. As much as I'd have loved to be the one to hex that smirk off Langford's face.'
She was confident of who'd win, if she'd have entered.
'I'm not sure of my plans yet,' Amara answered, looking to Vicky again. 'How about you? We could go for a walk, seeking some ingredients while others are off dealing with Creatures class? I'm open for ideas.'
She rolled her eyes at her dork of a boyfriend blowing her a kiss, though waved as he headed off. Amara had hoped to spend time with him as well, but they'd hung out a lot last night and she did want to spend more time with Vicky. And Nyx, hopefully, though she was fairly sure Nyx would have class first.
She glanced at Reena. 'Do you have class this morning? We can stick around a moment longer, if you've nowhere urgent to be,' Amara said. 'I'd like to finish our conversation.'
Last Edit: May 26, 2022 18:13:46 GMT 10 by Amara Seabrook
Food disappeared from the tables, as a few owls lingered to finish their deliveries. Staff left the hall, followed by a rush of students headed off to classes. 4th years were the least frantic to go places, as they were the only group of students who had an entirely free morning to choose how they spent it -- of course, apart from the few 5th years that didn't take Care of Magical Creatures.
~ Breakfast Ended ~
Welcome back to school term! Class threads are now available. Remember that you must at least post your attendance there before you can also have free time. Given the winding down period of the school year, we strongly encourage members to focus on any quest or grades progress they need before exams are upon us.
Post by MJ Birdwhistle on May 26, 2022 18:54:31 GMT 10
"Time for class, come on we can walk together." MJ says to Misuk and Ezra as she stands. She quickly finishes off her glass of apple juice and grabs her school bag. It was a messenger style bag and she wore it cross body.
She waited a few moments for her friends before she would leave the Great Hall, heading off to Charms class. MJ also made sure to wave goodbye to Joe and Ryan since she figured they would walk together. Even if she saw them in class, MJ didn't think they would have much chance to interact.
Her excitement to see what Professor Rivera had in store for them made her forget all about the newspaper, the Gryffindor's horrid attitude and the parchment she had found the previous afternoon (but not for too long).
Post by Alice Jane on May 26, 2022 20:42:09 GMT 10
The breakfast was delicious, and Alice was full. She nodded to Grace on her comment about the dark stuff.
"I saw your dueling still yesterday. You are great at it. I would love to learn from you if we could plan it sometime." Alice told her and took the daily prophet.
"I think it is time for class. Let's go." She said and started walking outside, hoping that Grace would also join.
William was silently eating his breakfast when he heard the voices of owls. It was the first time he had looked away from his plate and noticed that more people were at his table, including his sister. Probably they must have come when he was busy eating.
When an owl dropped a copy of the daily prophet near him, he skinned the top page lightly without touching it. After he finished his breakfast, he grabbed an apple and some of the nuts from the tables. He took a tissue paper to clean his hands, grabbed the daily prophet to put it inside his bag, and walked away.
He didn't have any class right now but still had a lot of things to do. He couldn't waste even a single minute.
Post by Grace Babineaux on May 26, 2022 21:01:39 GMT 10
"Really?" Grace was happy that Alice complimented her duelling skills. "I don't know. You might want to learn from an older student. After all, they're the ones with all the practice!" She giggled a little.
"Oh, you're right." Grace got up and started walking out of the Great Hall as well, ready for the charms class. It was exciting to learn new things, and she hoped that it would be very interesting.
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