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 Amber Lloyd on Apr 20, 2023 16:24:16 GMT 10
Amber entered with a light step the Expansive Lawn, although occasionally looking back if Joshua and Kwame still followed her.
The huge fields of grass and the sunny, blue sky welcomed her and her eyes lit up. The Private Courtyard had been nice, but she was glad being out of an enclosed space.
"Juhu!" happily she shouted, made a little pirouette and then let herself fall in the grass. She streched her limbs as she was about to do an grass angel, but decided just to close her eyes and enjoyed the sun on her face for a moment.
Post by Joshua Twiggs on Apr 21, 2023 6:33:35 GMT 10
Hands in his pockets, Joshua was in no particular hurry to get on with the ingredient search. He was however very much content with the company, though he walked in silence.
He wondered if he should have offered to go with Caine into the snake king‘s lair, but he had offered earlier and his friend had denied.
So it had to all be good.
Then again, for a second Caine had looked like a beat puppy back there.
Any feelings of guilt were forgotten however, the moment Amber exclaimed in utter glee and let herself fall into the grass.
Laughing at her joy, he rolled forward and ended up lying head to head with her yet.
“Are you trying a new technique? Get down to the Fluxygrass level to find it?“
He blinked into the afternoon sun and sighed contently as his laughter ebbed down.
Joshua could picture Amber laying in the grass all summer, surrounded by an enormous flock of sheep. That was the dream, wasn’t it?
Yeah, Amber knew what’s up.
“Ah. I got something to show you,“ he propped onto his elbow and rummaged in his pockets.
“Here you go. I think it’s carnelian, found the pebble… somewhere.“
He opened his palm to show two small orange and white stud earrings.
“Could not find any amber, but this is sorta close in colour, I guess,“ he shrugged and offered for Amber to take them for further inspection.
“Think stuff like this would sell?“, he suddenly felt self-conscious as he looked at his company for reassurance.
Post by Amber Lloyd on Apr 21, 2023 17:40:49 GMT 10
Amber smiled as Joshua seemed to also have fun rolling in the grass.
"Maybe that's the plan! Catching it with my whole body!" she grinned.
That got her almost up and ready for the ingredient search, but motivation was low with the warm sun and someone beside her as lazy as herself.
Amber turned curious her head to Joshua as he was trying to find something. But then she got reminded that he wanted earlier to show her some earrings. And it seemed to be now.
Eagerly she sat up. It was always nice to see what Joshua had come up with!
She looked at the orange and white ear studs. The stones were glistening in the sun. "Carnelian?" she repeated. She didn't know that much about stones. But she liked the colour. "It really is close to Amber", she nodded approvingly. "And they are beautiful! Maybe I like that colour even more because it is more orangish and a little bit white. And they are neatly made, I can tell."
She hold them against the sun to watch the glistening a little bit more and smiled brightly.
By his next question she was a little bit confused which was only apparent by her fidgeting a little bit with her feet.
"Ehm, sure, why not?" she replied first unsure.
His statements seemed a little bit contradictory to her. Or at least she couldn't make a clear sense out of it.
One time it sounded a little bit like they would be for her because he mentioned he couldn't found Amber. And why would he mention it otherwise? But he didn't tell her exactly and now he asked about how it would sell? So it was more for that?
She did expect more being asked for something like that when he proposed earlier showing them to her and not a present. So, she went with that.
"Hm, maybe you could sell them with a little pamphlet about what the stones mean. I guess there are different meanings to them. I don't know much about that though, only Amber", she answered while still looking at the ear studs, feeling a little bit weird saying her name out loud.
"I would definitely buy them", she added with a smile and looked at Joshua. "Do you have a price already in mind if you sell them? And maybe ask others about their opinion, too? If I recall, Lindsey was interested. Or at least in your key chains. But perhaps in earrings, too?"
Kwame came with Amber and Joshua to the Expansive Lawn. He was ready to find an ingredient or two here. He pulled out his scroll from Professor Snape to review. It appeared they could find either fluxy grass or jippi seeds here, or maybe even both if they were lucky.
It was a lovely day outside and the blue sky was enough to boost Kwame's mood after the incident with the silkmoss. Kwame wondered why there wasn't a spell that would make it always be blue skies and never rain.
Amber and Joshua seemed to be enjoying it too as he observed them flop themselves onto the grass. Kwame wondered if they were close friends or possibly even in a romantic relationship. It was none of his business to ask but they did appear quite close.
Kwame decided to let the two of them share a special moment and he went to scan the field for any fluxy grass he could find.
Post by Caine Hawke on Apr 22, 2023 13:05:15 GMT 10
He ran. Faster than he'd ever run before in his life, thank you very much. Once he'd left the Professor's office with a new quest all his own he was more than happy to tell the others all about it! The book, five ingredients on his own. He could do that! Surely!
But he'd at least help them the rest of the day, right?
He bolted through the courtyards, dodging around some lingering first years, diving around a few other students (he really was considerate since he didn't run between them like a heathen) he searched. And searched.
And searched.
Finally spotting them ahead!
He skid to a stop, a pang of... something as he saw Joshua and Amber on the grass. What was that? He lifted his hand to his chest which hurt a little but figured it was from just running like a madman through the grounds. His side hurt, too. So it all made sense.
Tearing his eyes from his best friend and his other friend he saw Kwame - off to the side like a third wheel. Hand on his side and mostly breathless he waved the scroll in the air.
"I... didn't... get...eaten!" take that, fate. He half jogged up to the Ravenclaw boy, standing near him before doubling over and trying with all of his might to catch what little breath he could.
Post by Joshua Twiggs on Apr 22, 2023 18:39:37 GMT 10
"Hmm," Joshua flopped around to lay on his back again, smiling brightly from ear to ear when Amber said she liked them - even more than had they been actual amber.
He turned his head and stared at her with wide eyes when she gave him advice on how best to sell them.
Of course!
Leave the marketing to a Ravenclaw. It made perfect sense.
"That is a great idea! I'm sure there's books on stones and gems in the library."
He squinted against the sun to glance towards Kwame who did not seem to want to lay down with them, which was fine. The Ravenclaw boy served as a reminder of what they were actually supposed to do, which was work and not laze about.
"I'm not sure how much people would be willing to pay for them... So, yeah, I'll ask Bry- Lindsey when I get a chance."
Joshua nodded and closed his eyes for a second to enjoy the sun on his face for just a moment longer before he'd have to get up and get to work again. OWL year truly was the year to stop lazing about.
He opened his eyes and propped up onto his elbows when he heard the sound of rapid footsteps approaching. A grin spread on his face when he recognized Caine's voice - be it rather breathless.
"Great job, buddy!" Joshua turned around and jumped to his feet, offering a hand to help Amber get up as well.
He tried to close her fingers around the stud earrings in the process.
"Keep them. Spread the word. I'll work on a pamphlet."
His gaze lingered on her ears for a second before he jumped the few feet towards Kwame and Caine, wiping his hands on his trousers before wraping his arm around Caine's shoulders.
"You've mastered the first challenge of becoming a potions master, young student Hawke. How does it feel to face the snake king and return with your head still attached?"
Post by Amber Lloyd on Apr 22, 2023 23:58:22 GMT 10
Amber noticed that Kwame wasn’t going to join them in the grass. Perhaps he was not the type to do something like that? Or did he just want to get going with their task? Yeah, they should. But breaks were also important!
Amber smiled happily as Joshua liked her idea.
“We can look that up together, if you want!” she proposed in terms of more information about stones. More knowledge was always welcome for her. And if she could help Joshua with it even more.
“If you’re doing it right now mostly for fun, you could get just the money back you needed for the materials,” Amber suggested. He may had found the stone but surely not the studs?
She was about to give him the ear studs back as a wild Hufflepuff arrived. Before she could even proper react, Joshua was already on his feet. Amber was sure to not lose the ear studs and took Joshuas hand.
She blinked while looking at her hand in surprise as he closed her hand around the earrings and told her to keep them.
She could only utter a short “Thanks?” because in the next second Joshua was already with the other boys. She blinked again while watching him, being a little bit taken aback.
Amber opened her hand and looked at the glistening ear studs, trying to decipher what they meant. He did say to advertise them, but it also felt like a present.
The mention of the amber at the beginning still lingered in her mind. So she settled on the last one. A present with an advertising property! She grinned.
But receiving a present always meant for Amber to express proper thanks, which definitely hadn't happened earlier. She typically showed her appreciation with a hug, but only for close friends. However, now would be weird to do the hug or just saying thanks otherwise as it felt like disturbing the boys right now. She frowned. It seemed she needed to do it somehow later. Because of course that wasn’t going to be weird…
Amber looked at the ear studs again and smiled. They somehow made her feel warm. Or was it the sun?
As she liked trying them out and also didn’t want to lose them, she carefully put the ear studs in her ears. Then with a bright smile she hopped to the three boys.
Last Edit: Apr 22, 2023 23:59:04 GMT 10 by Amber Lloyd
Post by Caine Hawke on Apr 24, 2023 22:39:49 GMT 10
He was breathless. Oh man that run was not one he recommended to anyone. In fact, he would never run that expanse again!
Yes he would. He was lying to himself.
Of course his best friend was the first one to his feet - congratulating on a job well done. Because he'd survived! Doubling over, hands on his knees he held a finger up so he could breathe before answering the question.
"I did indeed survive the Snake King!" he finally answered once he'd caught enough breath to speak, BUT I have a whole new quest from said king!" Indeed, he did! He was kind of excited about it, too.
He glanced over at Amber again but continued, a smile creeping over his face as he waved his friends closer to him. He had secrets to tell, things to say!
When he felt like everyone was close enough he lowered his voice into an almost-whisper, making the plans, doing the things.
"He had a book in his office. One that was about old, forgotten curse breaking or something. I want to read it." But would he sneak into his office? Absolutely not. No, he felt like keeping his toes, actually. Who knew what teen toes could do in a potion? Not him and he didn't want to figure it out.
"He said if I bring him five ingredients, then he'll let me see it!" Well, to be fair, Professor Snape had said they'd see about it, but that was as good as a yes! And, if he did well in Potions and tried really hard, maybe he'd get to see it more and learn what was really inside of it!
It wasn't like the muggle world where they had copy machines, but maybe he could find a way to copy down some of the spells and have them in his arsenal. Oh, it was such a cool idea!
Caine Hawke Curse Breaking Quidditch Player Extraordinaire! It had a nice ring to it.
Post by Amber Lloyd on Apr 25, 2023 1:32:18 GMT 10
Curious about what Caine had to tell them, Amber closed in and stood next to Joshua, looking at Caine. His smile told her everything. He was up to something. What grand plan had he this time?
Amber listened attentively. She guessed ‘his office’ was meant as Snapes office as she missed the first part of their conversation but Caine had been there earlier.
But that last sentence… felt wrong and familiar at the same time. She raised an eyebrow and looked at Caine.
“Ehm, are you… are you sure about that?” she started carefully. Caine seemed so excited about that task – or rather about getting to read that book – that she actually didn’t want to tell him the truth, she thought about. But, oh well…
“I mean, I don’t want to be a killjoy buuut… You need to collect five ingredients for the potions kit, right? At least we have to do that. Perhaps he meant it for the kit? Or did you make kind of another deal with Snape?” she quickly added the last part.
Maybe she was wrong. Maybe they did have another deal? Although it would be weird. In her opinion, Snape wasn’t the type who would make such a deal. Especially not with a book that sounded so ominous.
However, knowing Caine, sometimes the weirdest stuff happened when he was around. So, who knew?
Post by Joshua Twiggs on Apr 25, 2023 5:09:54 GMT 10
Joshua watched Caine with slight amusement as he tried to catch his breath. His friend really had to go and break the record for fastest run to the Dungeons and back, hadn’t he?
A brilliant record to hold.
He leaned forward when Caine beckoned them closer, looking at his lips in anticipation of what he was about to tell them.
This ought to be good.
“Oh?“, he let out in surprise. “Do you want to be a Curse Breaker?“
That was the first he had heard of this. And from what he gathered Curse Breaker was a tough one to get into, requiring five NEWTS or something? Not that Caine didn’t have the brains to do it, Joshua knew he was clever. It was just not what he had expected to hear at all.
When Amber spoke up, he turned to look at her and furrowed his brows. Worrying his finger over his lip, he thought that she did make sense.
Caine having misunderstood Snape sounded more likely than the Snake King making any such promises to share his books.
However - “If anyone can get Snape to make a deal, it’s Caine.“
Joshua chuckled and shrugged.
He was briefly distracted by sunlight reflected off of Amber‘s new stud earrings. They looked great on her.
“So we better find some wickedly awesome ingredients to show the Snake King,“ he said turning back to reach out and ruffle Caine‘s hair with a grin.
“Not just boring ol‘ Fluxygrass but something that would impress Snape?“
He let go off Caine and scanned their surroundings. Down to the Forest Path probably had cooler ingredients. Like those enormous insects he had thrown sticks at this one time a few years ago?
They probably were useful for some weird recreational potion.
Consulting his scroll, he started looking for crows on the Expansive Lawn however. While they were here already, they could as well get some of those Jippi Seeds. They sounded a lot more interesting to get than Fluxygrass.
Unfortunately, their desire for social interaction and jumping from topic to topic did not make for a productive search, as it was far too distracting -- even for an ingredient as supposedly simple as Fluxygrass. They'd have to make a choice: give up on their task at hand, or knuckle down and focus if they wanted any chance of finding viable ingredients.
Wouldn't want to accidentally pick something far less friendly or forgiving...
Post by Amber Lloyd on Apr 28, 2023 5:38:25 GMT 10
Amber grinned as Joshua seemed to have exactly the same thought as her regarding Caine.
She looked thoughtful while playing with one of her ear studs as Joshua mentioned not wanting to look for Fluxygrass. Which other ingredient could they collect here? As she didn't like to go to another place right now when they didn't even got one ingredient from here, yet....
Amber looked over Joshuas shoulder and took a glance at his scroll. Brittlebush? Or Jippi Seeds?
Right now it seemed Jippi Seeds would maybe be easier to spot. They just needed to find some crows first.
"Jippi Seeds?" she proposed, not sure yet for which Joshua seemed to be looking for, although she had a feeling they could be it. She smiled. "Then let's start looking!"
Excited to get going after all, she slowly started walking down a path, keeping her eyes out for crows on trees nearby or at the lawn itself.
A murder of crows peck heavily at the ground; a tell-tale sign of spilled Jippi Seeds. There were quite a few of them, and they were determined to devour as many of the seeds as possible.
They were alert for any invader or competition, and would caw out warnings if disturbed. Retrieving the seeds would be a matter of enduring their barrage of pecks and indignation. Best be quick, before the seeds are all gone or other crows in the area hear the war-cries.
Post by Amber Lloyd on Apr 29, 2023 15:34:23 GMT 10
Amber spotted the crows nearby. And it seemed if she wanted to have some Jippi Seeds, she needed to act fast.
She slowly approached the crows, almost crouching, as to not alert the crows. Some crows started to eye her warily, as she was next to them, but didn’t do anything other than trying to pick as many seeds as possible.
Amber waited a short moment, looking at the heavy picking crows. That would be a lot of pecks… She then took a deep breath, braced herself and with a fast movement she reached in the middle of the crows and grabbed some of the seeds.
The crows pecked her hand, but mostly because she was in the way of their food. This felt like a lot of pinpricks, however Amber endured it and came out with a handful of seeds.
She slowly backed away because she thought that maybe the boys wanted to try next. And disturbing the crows might hinder this.
Although, the Ravenclaw girl would have liked to tell the crows, that they should share with other birds (like her for example).
Being a few feet away from the crows, Amber looked at her hand carefully. It seemed a little bruised, but not something she couldn't handle.
Last Edit: Apr 29, 2023 15:40:31 GMT 10 by Amber Lloyd
Unfortunately, time had run out to make further progress -- as the sun had dipped low to set behind the mountains, and the sky darkened. Stars became visible over, beautifully dotting the night sky as the moon shone bright.
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