Challenge #078: Muggle Object / Challenge #034: Correspondence / Challenge #102: Memory Charm
Title: The Education of Zacharias Smith (on Muggle Things)
Rating/Warnings: PG, Fluff
Characters/Pairing: Zacharias/Hannah
Summary: Zacharias discovers television.
Word Count: 1132
Author's Notes: Just fluff. :|
Registered purchases?: Both!
Zacharias looked dubious. "But how does it do that?" he asked.
Hannah giggled. Magic, she was tempted to say, but that was an answer that had little to do at all with the actual reason behind the way it functioned, now, did it? "Muggles have their own way of doing things," she explained. "This is why you should have taken Muggle Studies, you know."
"I don't need to do Muggle Studies," Zacharias muttered. "S'what you're there for, right? You can just explain it to me."
Hannah rolled her eyes. Being the one of only two Muggleborns in her year meant she (and Justin) had been considered the source for everything Muggle. Susan Bones and Ernie Macmillan took that to mean they could go to Hannah and Justin about their Muggle Studies homework (which she had no trouble helping them with until she found out, when the professor kept grading her incorrectly, that the professor barely knew her materials either). Zacharias Smith used the opportunity to tease her about all the Muggle misconceptions that pureblooded wizards had about them.
They were sitting in her living room, which was half-Muggle and half-magical, and Zacharias had spent the entire last half hour in a state of confusion and fascination, picking up random things and asking her what they were for, and why Muggles didn't just use the magical equivalent. She'd gotten so tired of explaining to him that Muggles didn't have access to the magical equivalent that eventually she just decided to make up her own explanations.
The Muggles didn't use the fireplace to travel because the Floo was reserved specifically for St. Nick only.
The Muggles used pens because there was would be a shortage of quills worldwide if they kept using them.
The Muggles bought potions instead of brewing them to get better because the Muggle ministry banned the use of cauldrons in Muggle homes when they found the lead in them caused Muggle sicknesses.
The television, however, had befuddled Zacharias completely. Hannah had turned it on-- she didn't even think, it had just been something she'd been so used to doing whenever she came back home from a shift at The Leaky-- and Zacharias had squeaked, running over, wand drawn.
"What dark magic is this?" he'd asked, then demanded Hannah release the poor Muggles that she'd trapped in her box to do her bidding.
"It's a television, Zacharias," she'd explained patiently, and it took a good ten minutes to assure Zacharias that the people in there weren't actually there, that the box was merely transmitting a signal sent from a faraway place, where the people actually were. (She decided not to get into the whole concept of taped shows-- one baby step at a time, she figured.)
Zacharias had seemed dubious, not of her explanation but of the notion that Muggles were clever enough to have figured all that out without magic to begin with. Hannah had half a mind to go into a lecture about electricity, but decided in the end that it really didn't matter. Most wizards still had extremely ignorant ideas about how Muggles fended for themselves, which she found alternately amusing and annoying.
"So," Zacharias said again. He'd sat down on her couch and had been watching the show-- some soap opera that Hannah wasn't really familiar with-- for a few minutes. "What's this for?"
"Entertainment, mostly," she said.
"But people are sneaking around on each other-- that's not very funny, is it? And don't they get caught in their lies?"
"It's not actually real, it's only a story," Hannah said.
"It's not real?"
"Yeah, they're just acting. Like a play."
Zacharias frowned. "So that man who died--"
"He isn't really dead, no."
"Oh, good, because I thought it was odd no one came to his aid right away."
"It's just a story, Zach." Hannah placed a bowl of chips in front of them and Summoned glasses of apple juice from her fridge.
"And Muggles just sit and watch this?"
"Yeah, that's what they do."
"What if they don't want to see that anymore?" he asked.
"Then you turn it off, or you change the channel so you're getting a different signal," Hannah explained. She took the remote and flipped the channel to show Zacharias. The telly flickered onto an ongoing rugby match, which caught Zacharias' attention.
"What's that?"
"Some game."
"They aren't in brooms though. Why aren't they flying?"
"Muggles don't fly, remember?"
"Right. So they're just running around carrying a ball? That's kind of boring."
"Not much different from you flying around carrying a ball, Zach," she teased.
Zacharias gasped, a little offended by her offensive words. "Hannah, wash your mouth!"
She giggled. "Anyway, I don't really get it all that much either, except my cousin pointed out they're really fit--"
"GOAL!" Zacharias hooted, jumping from his seat and pumping the air. "Did you see that? How he avoided the other men? That was pretty wicked, wasn't it?"
Hannah rolled her eyes. Zacharias was such a boy sometimes. "You can also watch movies on the telly," she said.
"Moo-vees? What are those?"
"They're longer stories," she explained, turning the channel away from the match ("Hey," Zacharias protested) and picking out her favorite movie from her collection. She popped that in.
"What's that?" Zacharias asked.
"My favorite movie," was her simple reply. She settled back in her seat-- Zacharias had picked up the bowl of chips and was digging in-- and watched.
"Is this a schmoopy story?" Zacharias asked, eyeing the empty DVD box suspiciously.
"Maybe."
"Are you tricking me into watching a schmoopy story?"
Hannah said nothing, only moving to lean against Zacharias, who placed his arm around her shoulder and drew her closer. "This is what Muggles who like to watch telly usually do," she told him.
"Yeah?" Zacharias looked at her with renewed interest. "What if they don't want to watch what's on?"
"They better; it's my favorite," Hannah murmured. She did, however, tip her chin up to press a kiss to Zacharias' lips.
"Could be mine too," Zacharias whispered, and Hannah giggled, swatting his hand away when it dared to wander.
"Manners, Zach!" she admonished him.
He pouted.
"If you watch this with me," she said. "I'll take you to an actual movie theater."
"What's that?"
"It's where Muggles watch most movies," she said, biting her lip to keep from smirking. "It's also really dark and they've got comfy seats and popcorn and candy."
"You had me at 'really dark'," Zacharias told her with a wicked grin. "Maybe Muggles got a couple of things right after all."
He kissed her again, and Hannah sighed happily. They definitely did, she thought to herself.
Word count points: 1132/30 = 38 pts
Bonus points: 10 pts
Title: Letters from Hannah
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Hannah Abbott
Summary: Hannah has a Muggle pen pal. Before she left for Hogwarts, she promised to write.
Word Count: 1594
Author's Notes: I don't know why I keep writing about Hufflepuffs lately.
Registered purchases?: Both!
Dear Hetty,
I received your letter today and I just wanted to say thank you so much for the sweets! Yes, I did settle in fine at the new school--I don't think it'd be something you would have heard of, but it's just a really amazing place so far! Kind of scary sometimes, but--
Well, okay, so the first thing they did was to sort us into our houses, right? I don't know how they do it, they really just draw it out of a hat, but it's also got something to do with the kind of personalities we have--there's a test at the beginning--and I got sorted into this nice yellow house and I have a really good head of house too! Our common room is probably the most comfortable thing ever, and yeah, I miss my mum and dad, but I don't think I'll be too homesick at all!
I've actually already made friends too. There was this girl, Susan, who sat with me on the train (we had to take one to get to the school) and she ended up in my house too! The other girl who sat with us, Mandy, ended up going to a different house but I have seen her at lunch and we have a few classes together so I'm sure that we'll still be good friends. I can't eat with her, though, for some reason they encourage students to eat with their houses.
They're really big on the houses you get sorted into here...
Anyway, I hope school's going well with you! What are your new teachers like? Who's your favorite? What do you think about your classes?
Love,
Hannah
*
Dear Hetty,
Your school sounds like so much fun! I don't think Ms. Timmins should be anything to be scared of--don't worry about her, and just do your best, and I'm sure she'll see that you're a good student. (You are! You're the smartest girl I've ever met, and I've met a lot of smart ones! One of the girls in my class, actually, she's always raising her hand to answer questions by the professors teachers, and honestly, it's a bit annoying. I think I prefer your kind of smartness better, since you don't want people to know you're smart. You just are! Does that make sense?
My profe teachers are all pretty okay. There are a couple of scary ones, a bit? I mean there's one who teaches pot science, and he's really tough on students. Ernie, that's one of my housemates, says it's because he's really a vamp sad person, but I don't know what to think about that! He expected us to know everything as soon as we sat down in class and I just think that's a little ridiculous! We're all new!
There's this other professor, who seems very strict and also intimidating, but I think she's actually pretty great. She just doesn't want people goofing off--she told Justin and Zach (both housemates--we take all classes with our housemates!) to stop horsing around in class.
Our own head of house teaches biology, and she's actually really nice and friendly! She's like an old mum. I like her very much and I'm glad she's head of our house.
You'll need to tell me more about what's going on back there! We don't have television here so I can't keep up with our programmes. Keep me updated, okay?
Til next time!
Love,
Hannah
*
Dear Hetty,
Thanks for the updates! I can't believe I'm missing all of those. I've asked mum to record them for me and she just asked me if I wanted to sit in front of the telly all summer. Well, obviously not! I'm going to be back talking to you too, aren't I?
Anyway, that reminds me! I'll be coming back for the winter holidays! I won't be back home very long, just two weeks, but we should definitely spend some time together! I know mum for sure loves having you around, so you should come by!
Okay, I know you asked, so the reason we have two sciences is because they really think you should know a lot about science in this school. The professor who does science is a general science type of professor, but I think he's going to start teaching chemistry later on, when we're older, and our biology professor is focused on, well, biology. Mostly plants and stuff.
I forgot to tell you about my housemates! So I don't want you to get confused, here's a short guide to them:
Susan is my best friend here (don't worry, you're my best friend everywhere) and she's really nice. She keeps her hair braided all the time and she's actually been really helpful in telling me everything about the school. Her family went here, you see, and so she knows about all the traditions and stuff.
Megan is my other best friend here. She's also in our house and she's really fun. She's a big fan of Quidd sports and she is really outgoing and pretty and funny.
Sally-Anne is another one of our housemates (we have four girls and five boys in our house, but I'm not close with all the boys. Or any of them really, but I talk with more of them--but I'm getting ahead of myself! I'll tell you more later) and she's really quiet and shy, like me. Except she keeps mostly to herself and I think I heard her crying once in her bed. I think she's homesick. We're thinking of getting her something to make her feel better.
Ernie is one of the boys in my year. He's okay, but I think he's a little obnoxious. He keeps telling us what we're doing wrong in classes, but sometimes he's wrong about them too! I think Susan likes him a little, though, but they've known each other since they were five too, so I have to be nice to him.
Justin is another boy in my year. He nearly went to Eton, he says, but he said he thought this school sounded more fun. He's pretty okay, I think.
Zacharias is the third boy I will tell you about in my house. There are two more (Wayne and Stephen, but I really don't know anything about them.) but I've really just spoken with Zach, Justin and Ernie most. Zach's a little bit of a prat, and he almost made Megan cry once when he made fun of her Qui team. But we got him good! Megan found a spider (harmless, don't worry!) and put it in his bed and he shrieked like a girl. I don't think he's going to be bothering Megan for a while!
Anyway, I gotta go run to my next class now. Talk to you soon!
Love,
Hannah
*
Dear Hetty,
You know if you could, I would love to get you here for the holidays. Halloween was only last week, but it was absolutely beautiful here. They had all sorts of lovely decorations up, and the food was amazing, and I'm still dreaming about it all!
I didn't go as anything for Halloween though. There's not a lot of places to go trick-or-treating here.
We call them professors because they're all really educated in their fields and it's just a sign of respect. I don't know, I mean, that's what they call them here? I don't think it's haughty at all! It's just. It's what they call them here.
Also, no, I don't like any of the boys here. Don't get started on that! You never hear me teasing you about Eric, now, do you?
There was actually a bit of a scare at Halloween, as much as it was fun. Some sort of wild animal broke into the castle school and we all had to be brought back to our common rooms by our heads of house or our prefects. Sally-Anne was very nervous, so Susan and I stuck by her the entire time. I think she's very... scared a lot? But last night I heard her crying for her mum in her sleep too, I think, so I think it's just really because she misses home.
I mean it's hard, yeah, but mum writes to me a lot and I know I'm going to see her very soon. She sends me a lot of stuff from home, and I think it's harder if I didn't make friends right away too. I'm having a lot of fun with Susan and Megan, and our classes are hard but I spend a lot of time with my friends before, during, and after, so it's kind of just something that means we become stronger friends later, right?
Speaking of-- yeah, I don't really talk to Mandy all that much anymore. We chat whenever we see each other, but we don't really have too many classes together, and she always sits with her housemates and Susan doesn't know her very well either. And I'm pretty sure I heard her housemates make fun of Sally-Anne one time in class and they just seem so snobby in general. Why would I want to keep hanging out with her if that's what they're like? So we really don't hang out together anymore, but that's okay, because Susan and Megan (and even Sally-Anne) are more than enough, I think.
I'm starting to see why they're so big on the house thing now...
Anyway, tell me more about your classes! How did that English project turn out? We're covering the same lessons too!
Love,
Hannah
Word count points: 1594/30 = 53 pts
Bonus points: 10 pts
Title: The Unspeakables Tour
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Terry Boot, Theodore Nott, OCs
Summary: The Department of Mysteries is open for tours.
Word Count: 1415
Author's Notes: I've always wondered what the Department of Mysteries did.
Registered purchases?: Both!
One day, over toast...
"Marge!" Dedalus Diggle called out, sipping a cup of tea as he read The Daily Prophet.
"Stop yelling, old man!" came the reply.
"Marge!"
"What is it?"
"Did you know the Department of Mysteries is offering tours to the public?"
"What?" Marge came over from the other side of the room. She limped--side effect of the hip replacement she had Charmed last month at St. Mungo's--and hobbled over to where Dedalus was enjoying his breakfast.
"Here, see?" Dedalus showed her the advertisement in the paper. "It's only five sickles a person."
"Five sickles a person? That's a load of crock!" Marge spat. "They'll have us form a line, nice and proper, and show us their lobby, and thank us for our time."
"This could be really fun, Marge."
"Oh, Dedalus, you always get taken in by these scams. The Department of Mysteries will never show us any of the really good stuff!"
"But Marge--"
"No."
"They've got Harry Potter signing autographs for the first ten registrations."
Welcome to the Department
"I'm glad you've all found your way here," Terry Boot said with a big smile. "Welcome to the Department of Mysteries. I'm Terry Boot, your guide, and this is Theodore Nott, who will be making sure we don't lose any of you today."
The crowd laughed, but from the way their nervous laughter echoed through the glass walls of the Department of Mysteries lobby, Terry wasn't sure whether or not they knew it was a joke.
Truth be told, he wasn't sure it was a joke either.
"Now, I'd like you all to keep in mind a few reminders," he went on. "Please do not stray away from the crowd--there are two of us, because I'll always be ahead and Theodore will always be behind, to make sure that you don't wander into the more dangerous parts of Mysteries. Please keep your hands close to your body at all times. If at any moment of the tour you find yourself with a need to leave, either for a bathroom break or anything else, please let us know and we'll have one of our Unspeakables escort you out. You will need to be accompanied by an Unspeakable at all times, is that clear?"
Everyone looked at each other in trepidation.
"Don't worry," he said, smiling. "This is going to be a fun tour!"
To your right, the Hall of Prophecies
"Please be careful, the aisles can be very narrow!" Terry said as he guided the group through the Hall of Prophecies. "This is what is known to the public as the Hall of Prophecies. Our Unspeakables track down all the prophecies ever uttered--and those are rare--and keep them in this room."
"What do you use it for?" somebody from the back asked.
"That's a very good question," Terry said. "We basically try to ensure that the prophecy is either fulfilled, or avoided."
"How do you decide?"
"We have a board of directors that makes these decisions," he explained.
"But is that right?"
Terry smiled again. "Again, the Unspeakables have been part of the Ministry of Magic for as long as it has been around. We are, of course, open to suggestions for how to do things, but for the most part, there's a reason for everything we do. Good reasons. We have only the public's well-being in mind, after all."
To your left, the Brain Room
"We've had a couple of new trainees call this the Brain Room," Terry explained as they moved through the hall. There were a few jelly-like things encased in glass displays, and behind a glassed wall, a few Unspeakables were deep in the process of performing experiments.
"What is it, really?" somebody asked him.
"Well," he said, pausing for the right level of dramatic effect. "To be honest, we're performing experiments on brains, but they're not quite brains."
"What are they, then?"
"See those creatures over there?" he asked, pointing to the far end of the room, where a bony corpse was shackled to a bed.
"Is that an Inferi?"
"Well done; somebody's brushed up on their dark creatures!"
"What are they there for?"
"Well, the Ministry is trying to figure out what makes these Inferi tick. We're doing a lot of testing to see how safe they are for the public, and if there's any way we can use them to help out, perhaps as labor or something similar."
"Like an army?"
Terry looked at the person who asked the question. "Of course not," he said quickly. "The Ministry will do no such thing."
Try to keep your talking to a minimum
"Isn't this exciting, Marge?" Dedalus whispered. "Ooh, they're really showing us everything!"
"Quiet, old man," Marge hushed. She was glaring at her Harry Potter autograph with dismay. "This is a print. It's not even legitimate. I'm going to complain as soon as we get out of this."
Why yes, that is Nessie
"Is that--"
"Whoa!"
Terry beamed. "Yes, folks, you would be correct. This is the Loch Ness monster behind this aquarium here."
"What are you doing with it?"
"Well, the Department of Mysteries is really responsible for a lot of different things. Often we get assigned cases and problems that fall just outside the jurisdiction of other departments. Normally, you would think that taking care of the Loch Ness Monster--she's a dragon, by the way, a Scottish Silver--would fall under Regulation of Magical Creatures, but there was a bit of a Muggle sighting involved in the lake where she was found, so Mysteries had to go in and make sure everything was in order."
"Did you clean up the mess, is that what you're saying?"
Terry laughed. "Exactly." He looked around the room. "Right now Mysteries is taking care of this Scottish Silver, but we're also making sure that Muggles are never aware of the existence of dragons. The rumor going around that this is some sort of monster, that was our department's work."
"Wow."
"Our time's almost up," Terry said. "Why don't we head over to the last leg of our tour?"
We hope you enjoyed the sights
"I hope you enjoyed what you saw, and I hope you learned a lot about what our department does," Terry said. "Unspeakables do a variety of things, most of which witches and wizards like you never really get to know about."
"It's because you're all secretive!" someone said, and the crowd burst into laughter.
"We do many things in secret because we really have to keep them that way, unfortunately," Terry said. "One of the first things we learn about as soon as we begin training for the Unspeakable position is how to cast memory charms. This room contains all the different times in Mysteries history that we've had to use memory charms to make sure our secrets remain safe."
The crowd went around to look at the pictures and explanations plastered all around the circular room.
"Is this--"
"Yep."
"And this--"
"Exactly."
"You memory-charmed a lot!"
"There are two kinds of memory charms that we use," Terry went on to explain. "The first is the simple erasing charm that wipes out the memory of a person. It's a great charm, easy enough to use, but to be honest that's only the first charm that we use. The second is trickier, but once mastered it can be very powerful indeed. Does anybody know what that charm is?"
"The one that replaces your memory?"
"Yes!" Terry said. "That's the second charm we perform. It's even better when the person whose memory you've just wiped has a different idea of what happened, don't you think?"
The crowd nodded, impressed, no doubt, by the way the Mysteries department ran their operations.
"Well folks, it's nearly time to go. I hope you enjoyed your visit and please do come again," he said. "Why don't we gather round for a group photo for a souvenir? Just over there, please--yes, thank you. Theodore, will you come over here and take the picture? Thanks."
The crowd gathered in front of Terry and Theodore.
"Smile!" Terry reminded them.
They did.
"And one, two, three-- Obliviate."
One afternoon, over tea...
"Marge!"
"What? I'm busy, old man."
"Come here, why don't you?"
"I'm busy."
"You're retired, you haven't got anything to be busy about!"
"What, then?" Marge huffed, coming over. She wiped her hands on her apron. "What do you want?"
"Did you know the Department of Mysteries is offering tours to the public?"
Word count points: 1415/30 = 47 pts
Bonus points: 10 pts
Total word count points: 38 + 53 + 47 = 138 125
Bonus points: 10 + 10 + 10 = 30
Total points: 155 pts for Ravenclaw!
Evy//Ravenclaw
Rating/Warnings: PG, Fluff
Characters/Pairing: Zacharias/Hannah
Summary: Zacharias discovers television.
Word Count: 1132
Author's Notes: Just fluff. :|
Registered purchases?: Both!
Zacharias looked dubious. "But how does it do that?" he asked.
Hannah giggled. Magic, she was tempted to say, but that was an answer that had little to do at all with the actual reason behind the way it functioned, now, did it? "Muggles have their own way of doing things," she explained. "This is why you should have taken Muggle Studies, you know."
"I don't need to do Muggle Studies," Zacharias muttered. "S'what you're there for, right? You can just explain it to me."
Hannah rolled her eyes. Being the one of only two Muggleborns in her year meant she (and Justin) had been considered the source for everything Muggle. Susan Bones and Ernie Macmillan took that to mean they could go to Hannah and Justin about their Muggle Studies homework (which she had no trouble helping them with until she found out, when the professor kept grading her incorrectly, that the professor barely knew her materials either). Zacharias Smith used the opportunity to tease her about all the Muggle misconceptions that pureblooded wizards had about them.
They were sitting in her living room, which was half-Muggle and half-magical, and Zacharias had spent the entire last half hour in a state of confusion and fascination, picking up random things and asking her what they were for, and why Muggles didn't just use the magical equivalent. She'd gotten so tired of explaining to him that Muggles didn't have access to the magical equivalent that eventually she just decided to make up her own explanations.
The Muggles didn't use the fireplace to travel because the Floo was reserved specifically for St. Nick only.
The Muggles used pens because there was would be a shortage of quills worldwide if they kept using them.
The Muggles bought potions instead of brewing them to get better because the Muggle ministry banned the use of cauldrons in Muggle homes when they found the lead in them caused Muggle sicknesses.
The television, however, had befuddled Zacharias completely. Hannah had turned it on-- she didn't even think, it had just been something she'd been so used to doing whenever she came back home from a shift at The Leaky-- and Zacharias had squeaked, running over, wand drawn.
"What dark magic is this?" he'd asked, then demanded Hannah release the poor Muggles that she'd trapped in her box to do her bidding.
"It's a television, Zacharias," she'd explained patiently, and it took a good ten minutes to assure Zacharias that the people in there weren't actually there, that the box was merely transmitting a signal sent from a faraway place, where the people actually were. (She decided not to get into the whole concept of taped shows-- one baby step at a time, she figured.)
Zacharias had seemed dubious, not of her explanation but of the notion that Muggles were clever enough to have figured all that out without magic to begin with. Hannah had half a mind to go into a lecture about electricity, but decided in the end that it really didn't matter. Most wizards still had extremely ignorant ideas about how Muggles fended for themselves, which she found alternately amusing and annoying.
"So," Zacharias said again. He'd sat down on her couch and had been watching the show-- some soap opera that Hannah wasn't really familiar with-- for a few minutes. "What's this for?"
"Entertainment, mostly," she said.
"But people are sneaking around on each other-- that's not very funny, is it? And don't they get caught in their lies?"
"It's not actually real, it's only a story," Hannah said.
"It's not real?"
"Yeah, they're just acting. Like a play."
Zacharias frowned. "So that man who died--"
"He isn't really dead, no."
"Oh, good, because I thought it was odd no one came to his aid right away."
"It's just a story, Zach." Hannah placed a bowl of chips in front of them and Summoned glasses of apple juice from her fridge.
"And Muggles just sit and watch this?"
"Yeah, that's what they do."
"What if they don't want to see that anymore?" he asked.
"Then you turn it off, or you change the channel so you're getting a different signal," Hannah explained. She took the remote and flipped the channel to show Zacharias. The telly flickered onto an ongoing rugby match, which caught Zacharias' attention.
"What's that?"
"Some game."
"They aren't in brooms though. Why aren't they flying?"
"Muggles don't fly, remember?"
"Right. So they're just running around carrying a ball? That's kind of boring."
"Not much different from you flying around carrying a ball, Zach," she teased.
Zacharias gasped, a little offended by her offensive words. "Hannah, wash your mouth!"
She giggled. "Anyway, I don't really get it all that much either, except my cousin pointed out they're really fit--"
"GOAL!" Zacharias hooted, jumping from his seat and pumping the air. "Did you see that? How he avoided the other men? That was pretty wicked, wasn't it?"
Hannah rolled her eyes. Zacharias was such a boy sometimes. "You can also watch movies on the telly," she said.
"Moo-vees? What are those?"
"They're longer stories," she explained, turning the channel away from the match ("Hey," Zacharias protested) and picking out her favorite movie from her collection. She popped that in.
"What's that?" Zacharias asked.
"My favorite movie," was her simple reply. She settled back in her seat-- Zacharias had picked up the bowl of chips and was digging in-- and watched.
"Is this a schmoopy story?" Zacharias asked, eyeing the empty DVD box suspiciously.
"Maybe."
"Are you tricking me into watching a schmoopy story?"
Hannah said nothing, only moving to lean against Zacharias, who placed his arm around her shoulder and drew her closer. "This is what Muggles who like to watch telly usually do," she told him.
"Yeah?" Zacharias looked at her with renewed interest. "What if they don't want to watch what's on?"
"They better; it's my favorite," Hannah murmured. She did, however, tip her chin up to press a kiss to Zacharias' lips.
"Could be mine too," Zacharias whispered, and Hannah giggled, swatting his hand away when it dared to wander.
"Manners, Zach!" she admonished him.
He pouted.
"If you watch this with me," she said. "I'll take you to an actual movie theater."
"What's that?"
"It's where Muggles watch most movies," she said, biting her lip to keep from smirking. "It's also really dark and they've got comfy seats and popcorn and candy."
"You had me at 'really dark'," Zacharias told her with a wicked grin. "Maybe Muggles got a couple of things right after all."
He kissed her again, and Hannah sighed happily. They definitely did, she thought to herself.
Word count points: 1132/30 = 38 pts
Bonus points: 10 pts
Title: Letters from Hannah
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Hannah Abbott
Summary: Hannah has a Muggle pen pal. Before she left for Hogwarts, she promised to write.
Word Count: 1594
Author's Notes: I don't know why I keep writing about Hufflepuffs lately.
Registered purchases?: Both!
Dear Hetty,
I received your letter today and I just wanted to say thank you so much for the sweets! Yes, I did settle in fine at the new school--I don't think it'd be something you would have heard of, but it's just a really amazing place so far! Kind of scary sometimes, but--
Well, okay, so the first thing they did was to sort us into our houses, right? I don't know how they do it, they really just draw it out of a hat, but it's also got something to do with the kind of personalities we have--there's a test at the beginning--and I got sorted into this nice yellow house and I have a really good head of house too! Our common room is probably the most comfortable thing ever, and yeah, I miss my mum and dad, but I don't think I'll be too homesick at all!
I've actually already made friends too. There was this girl, Susan, who sat with me on the train (we had to take one to get to the school) and she ended up in my house too! The other girl who sat with us, Mandy, ended up going to a different house but I have seen her at lunch and we have a few classes together so I'm sure that we'll still be good friends. I can't eat with her, though, for some reason they encourage students to eat with their houses.
They're really big on the houses you get sorted into here...
Anyway, I hope school's going well with you! What are your new teachers like? Who's your favorite? What do you think about your classes?
Love,
Hannah
*
Dear Hetty,
Your school sounds like so much fun! I don't think Ms. Timmins should be anything to be scared of--don't worry about her, and just do your best, and I'm sure she'll see that you're a good student. (You are! You're the smartest girl I've ever met, and I've met a lot of smart ones! One of the girls in my class, actually, she's always raising her hand to answer questions by the professors teachers, and honestly, it's a bit annoying. I think I prefer your kind of smartness better, since you don't want people to know you're smart. You just are! Does that make sense?
My profe teachers are all pretty okay. There are a couple of scary ones, a bit? I mean there's one who teaches pot science, and he's really tough on students. Ernie, that's one of my housemates, says it's because he's really a vamp sad person, but I don't know what to think about that! He expected us to know everything as soon as we sat down in class and I just think that's a little ridiculous! We're all new!
There's this other professor, who seems very strict and also intimidating, but I think she's actually pretty great. She just doesn't want people goofing off--she told Justin and Zach (both housemates--we take all classes with our housemates!) to stop horsing around in class.
Our own head of house teaches biology, and she's actually really nice and friendly! She's like an old mum. I like her very much and I'm glad she's head of our house.
You'll need to tell me more about what's going on back there! We don't have television here so I can't keep up with our programmes. Keep me updated, okay?
Til next time!
Love,
Hannah
*
Dear Hetty,
Thanks for the updates! I can't believe I'm missing all of those. I've asked mum to record them for me and she just asked me if I wanted to sit in front of the telly all summer. Well, obviously not! I'm going to be back talking to you too, aren't I?
Anyway, that reminds me! I'll be coming back for the winter holidays! I won't be back home very long, just two weeks, but we should definitely spend some time together! I know mum for sure loves having you around, so you should come by!
Okay, I know you asked, so the reason we have two sciences is because they really think you should know a lot about science in this school. The professor who does science is a general science type of professor, but I think he's going to start teaching chemistry later on, when we're older, and our biology professor is focused on, well, biology. Mostly plants and stuff.
I forgot to tell you about my housemates! So I don't want you to get confused, here's a short guide to them:
Susan is my best friend here (don't worry, you're my best friend everywhere) and she's really nice. She keeps her hair braided all the time and she's actually been really helpful in telling me everything about the school. Her family went here, you see, and so she knows about all the traditions and stuff.
Megan is my other best friend here. She's also in our house and she's really fun. She's a big fan of Quidd sports and she is really outgoing and pretty and funny.
Sally-Anne is another one of our housemates (we have four girls and five boys in our house, but I'm not close with all the boys. Or any of them really, but I talk with more of them--but I'm getting ahead of myself! I'll tell you more later) and she's really quiet and shy, like me. Except she keeps mostly to herself and I think I heard her crying once in her bed. I think she's homesick. We're thinking of getting her something to make her feel better.
Ernie is one of the boys in my year. He's okay, but I think he's a little obnoxious. He keeps telling us what we're doing wrong in classes, but sometimes he's wrong about them too! I think Susan likes him a little, though, but they've known each other since they were five too, so I have to be nice to him.
Justin is another boy in my year. He nearly went to Eton, he says, but he said he thought this school sounded more fun. He's pretty okay, I think.
Zacharias is the third boy I will tell you about in my house. There are two more (Wayne and Stephen, but I really don't know anything about them.) but I've really just spoken with Zach, Justin and Ernie most. Zach's a little bit of a prat, and he almost made Megan cry once when he made fun of her Qui team. But we got him good! Megan found a spider (harmless, don't worry!) and put it in his bed and he shrieked like a girl. I don't think he's going to be bothering Megan for a while!
Anyway, I gotta go run to my next class now. Talk to you soon!
Love,
Hannah
*
Dear Hetty,
You know if you could, I would love to get you here for the holidays. Halloween was only last week, but it was absolutely beautiful here. They had all sorts of lovely decorations up, and the food was amazing, and I'm still dreaming about it all!
I didn't go as anything for Halloween though. There's not a lot of places to go trick-or-treating here.
We call them professors because they're all really educated in their fields and it's just a sign of respect. I don't know, I mean, that's what they call them here? I don't think it's haughty at all! It's just. It's what they call them here.
Also, no, I don't like any of the boys here. Don't get started on that! You never hear me teasing you about Eric, now, do you?
There was actually a bit of a scare at Halloween, as much as it was fun. Some sort of wild animal broke into the castle school and we all had to be brought back to our common rooms by our heads of house or our prefects. Sally-Anne was very nervous, so Susan and I stuck by her the entire time. I think she's very... scared a lot? But last night I heard her crying for her mum in her sleep too, I think, so I think it's just really because she misses home.
I mean it's hard, yeah, but mum writes to me a lot and I know I'm going to see her very soon. She sends me a lot of stuff from home, and I think it's harder if I didn't make friends right away too. I'm having a lot of fun with Susan and Megan, and our classes are hard but I spend a lot of time with my friends before, during, and after, so it's kind of just something that means we become stronger friends later, right?
Speaking of-- yeah, I don't really talk to Mandy all that much anymore. We chat whenever we see each other, but we don't really have too many classes together, and she always sits with her housemates and Susan doesn't know her very well either. And I'm pretty sure I heard her housemates make fun of Sally-Anne one time in class and they just seem so snobby in general. Why would I want to keep hanging out with her if that's what they're like? So we really don't hang out together anymore, but that's okay, because Susan and Megan (and even Sally-Anne) are more than enough, I think.
I'm starting to see why they're so big on the house thing now...
Anyway, tell me more about your classes! How did that English project turn out? We're covering the same lessons too!
Love,
Hannah
Word count points: 1594/30 = 53 pts
Bonus points: 10 pts
Title: The Unspeakables Tour
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Terry Boot, Theodore Nott, OCs
Summary: The Department of Mysteries is open for tours.
Word Count: 1415
Author's Notes: I've always wondered what the Department of Mysteries did.
Registered purchases?: Both!
One day, over toast...
"Marge!" Dedalus Diggle called out, sipping a cup of tea as he read The Daily Prophet.
"Stop yelling, old man!" came the reply.
"Marge!"
"What is it?"
"Did you know the Department of Mysteries is offering tours to the public?"
"What?" Marge came over from the other side of the room. She limped--side effect of the hip replacement she had Charmed last month at St. Mungo's--and hobbled over to where Dedalus was enjoying his breakfast.
"Here, see?" Dedalus showed her the advertisement in the paper. "It's only five sickles a person."
"Five sickles a person? That's a load of crock!" Marge spat. "They'll have us form a line, nice and proper, and show us their lobby, and thank us for our time."
"This could be really fun, Marge."
"Oh, Dedalus, you always get taken in by these scams. The Department of Mysteries will never show us any of the really good stuff!"
"But Marge--"
"No."
"They've got Harry Potter signing autographs for the first ten registrations."
Welcome to the Department
"I'm glad you've all found your way here," Terry Boot said with a big smile. "Welcome to the Department of Mysteries. I'm Terry Boot, your guide, and this is Theodore Nott, who will be making sure we don't lose any of you today."
The crowd laughed, but from the way their nervous laughter echoed through the glass walls of the Department of Mysteries lobby, Terry wasn't sure whether or not they knew it was a joke.
Truth be told, he wasn't sure it was a joke either.
"Now, I'd like you all to keep in mind a few reminders," he went on. "Please do not stray away from the crowd--there are two of us, because I'll always be ahead and Theodore will always be behind, to make sure that you don't wander into the more dangerous parts of Mysteries. Please keep your hands close to your body at all times. If at any moment of the tour you find yourself with a need to leave, either for a bathroom break or anything else, please let us know and we'll have one of our Unspeakables escort you out. You will need to be accompanied by an Unspeakable at all times, is that clear?"
Everyone looked at each other in trepidation.
"Don't worry," he said, smiling. "This is going to be a fun tour!"
To your right, the Hall of Prophecies
"Please be careful, the aisles can be very narrow!" Terry said as he guided the group through the Hall of Prophecies. "This is what is known to the public as the Hall of Prophecies. Our Unspeakables track down all the prophecies ever uttered--and those are rare--and keep them in this room."
"What do you use it for?" somebody from the back asked.
"That's a very good question," Terry said. "We basically try to ensure that the prophecy is either fulfilled, or avoided."
"How do you decide?"
"We have a board of directors that makes these decisions," he explained.
"But is that right?"
Terry smiled again. "Again, the Unspeakables have been part of the Ministry of Magic for as long as it has been around. We are, of course, open to suggestions for how to do things, but for the most part, there's a reason for everything we do. Good reasons. We have only the public's well-being in mind, after all."
To your left, the Brain Room
"We've had a couple of new trainees call this the Brain Room," Terry explained as they moved through the hall. There were a few jelly-like things encased in glass displays, and behind a glassed wall, a few Unspeakables were deep in the process of performing experiments.
"What is it, really?" somebody asked him.
"Well," he said, pausing for the right level of dramatic effect. "To be honest, we're performing experiments on brains, but they're not quite brains."
"What are they, then?"
"See those creatures over there?" he asked, pointing to the far end of the room, where a bony corpse was shackled to a bed.
"Is that an Inferi?"
"Well done; somebody's brushed up on their dark creatures!"
"What are they there for?"
"Well, the Ministry is trying to figure out what makes these Inferi tick. We're doing a lot of testing to see how safe they are for the public, and if there's any way we can use them to help out, perhaps as labor or something similar."
"Like an army?"
Terry looked at the person who asked the question. "Of course not," he said quickly. "The Ministry will do no such thing."
Try to keep your talking to a minimum
"Isn't this exciting, Marge?" Dedalus whispered. "Ooh, they're really showing us everything!"
"Quiet, old man," Marge hushed. She was glaring at her Harry Potter autograph with dismay. "This is a print. It's not even legitimate. I'm going to complain as soon as we get out of this."
Why yes, that is Nessie
"Is that--"
"Whoa!"
Terry beamed. "Yes, folks, you would be correct. This is the Loch Ness monster behind this aquarium here."
"What are you doing with it?"
"Well, the Department of Mysteries is really responsible for a lot of different things. Often we get assigned cases and problems that fall just outside the jurisdiction of other departments. Normally, you would think that taking care of the Loch Ness Monster--she's a dragon, by the way, a Scottish Silver--would fall under Regulation of Magical Creatures, but there was a bit of a Muggle sighting involved in the lake where she was found, so Mysteries had to go in and make sure everything was in order."
"Did you clean up the mess, is that what you're saying?"
Terry laughed. "Exactly." He looked around the room. "Right now Mysteries is taking care of this Scottish Silver, but we're also making sure that Muggles are never aware of the existence of dragons. The rumor going around that this is some sort of monster, that was our department's work."
"Wow."
"Our time's almost up," Terry said. "Why don't we head over to the last leg of our tour?"
We hope you enjoyed the sights
"I hope you enjoyed what you saw, and I hope you learned a lot about what our department does," Terry said. "Unspeakables do a variety of things, most of which witches and wizards like you never really get to know about."
"It's because you're all secretive!" someone said, and the crowd burst into laughter.
"We do many things in secret because we really have to keep them that way, unfortunately," Terry said. "One of the first things we learn about as soon as we begin training for the Unspeakable position is how to cast memory charms. This room contains all the different times in Mysteries history that we've had to use memory charms to make sure our secrets remain safe."
The crowd went around to look at the pictures and explanations plastered all around the circular room.
"Is this--"
"Yep."
"And this--"
"Exactly."
"You memory-charmed a lot!"
"There are two kinds of memory charms that we use," Terry went on to explain. "The first is the simple erasing charm that wipes out the memory of a person. It's a great charm, easy enough to use, but to be honest that's only the first charm that we use. The second is trickier, but once mastered it can be very powerful indeed. Does anybody know what that charm is?"
"The one that replaces your memory?"
"Yes!" Terry said. "That's the second charm we perform. It's even better when the person whose memory you've just wiped has a different idea of what happened, don't you think?"
The crowd nodded, impressed, no doubt, by the way the Mysteries department ran their operations.
"Well folks, it's nearly time to go. I hope you enjoyed your visit and please do come again," he said. "Why don't we gather round for a group photo for a souvenir? Just over there, please--yes, thank you. Theodore, will you come over here and take the picture? Thanks."
The crowd gathered in front of Terry and Theodore.
"Smile!" Terry reminded them.
They did.
"And one, two, three-- Obliviate."
One afternoon, over tea...
"Marge!"
"What? I'm busy, old man."
"Come here, why don't you?"
"I'm busy."
"You're retired, you haven't got anything to be busy about!"
"What, then?" Marge huffed, coming over. She wiped her hands on her apron. "What do you want?"
"Did you know the Department of Mysteries is offering tours to the public?"
Word count points: 1415/30 = 47 pts
Bonus points: 10 pts
Total word count points: 38 + 53 + 47 = 138 125
Bonus points: 10 + 10 + 10 = 30
Total points: 155 pts for Ravenclaw!
Evy//Ravenclaw