HP-Hogwarts Story So Far

Transcript Three

Breakfast - The Day After

 

Nimue woke the next morning feeling quite tired after all the excitement of the previous day and evening. So much to discuss. She hoped Morticia was OK, her father had appeared so cross with her and she so upset.

She often rose before anyone else preferring to take walks while the dew was still upon the grass and mist hung over the grounds.

As she slips down to the common room she overhears two older Gryffindors, themselves up early to complete some schoolwork, remarking on the rumour that a mixed group of Third Years had attempted to find out what was happening in Greenhouse 6.

"Well" remarked one somewhat superiority: "if their little jaunt comes to the attention of any of the teachers or prefects, at least no one house will lose points."

Noticing that Nimue was within hearing distance they exchanged looks indicating they considered Third Years nuisances and went back to their work. Of course, once she was through the portrait hole, their voices could be heard once again discussing what they obviously considered their own business.

The morning air was sharp and quite cold and Nimue was glad of the warm cloak she had brought with her. She also wondered what the reasons were they hadn't been able to use the Great Hall for supper and whether the arrangements from last night would still be in force at breakfast.

Marvo was already up and eating breakfast. The main dining room is still closed so all Third Years are eating together. Marvo is looking at a book he got from Hogsmeade, a Muggle fiction book. He sniggers to himself and whispers 'Ha! This Rincewind is a fool!' and continues to eat and read.

"Morning, Marvo" - Nimue entered the room looking a little windblown. She sits next to him and hears his remark about the fictional wizard. "Pot calling kettle, Marvo?" she murmurs and catches the sharp glance he gives her, but smiles letting him know she was just teasing.

"Oh is that by the writer that Kat likes so much? I got a couple that she recommended. They say that he knows quite a lot about the wizarding world though if so, of course he is careful to place it far away from anything 'real' so no muggles will catch on."

Marvo seems somewhat uncommunicative, which might be due to the large amount of bacon he is tucking into. Marvo looks up. 'Oh. Hi Liz... Nimue. Yes. This isn't bad at all. I've never read any Muggle fiction before. It's quite funny in places'

Encouragingly, she says to him: "Look I know you're probably a little upset that Morticia asked Egreen to the Yule Ball but there are plenty of girls here who like you and if you stopped playing the fool all the time and be more yourself then I'm sure one of them will ask you. "

She tucks happily into some breakfast while giving this sage (and unsolicited) advice.

He looks up again when Nimue mentions Morticia and Egreen. 'Upset? What gave you that idea? no. I was more upset by the way her father treated her, you of all people should understand that! And I don't 'play the fool'!..... Do I?

Anyway. who are you thinking of asking? your new 'friend' Marcus maybe? that will get all the other girls SO envious!' He smiles.

Egreen wanders in, looking very chirpy, and with a spring in his step "Oh reading Pratchett are we?" "Yes I know him. When mother used to work for the Ministry of Magic for muggle disinformation he use to come in rather a lot. I understand he was a squib from a wizard family or something .. all quite hush hush."

Egreen sits down next to Marvo and continues to chatter away in quite a friendly manner to anyone who will listen.

Marvo chokes on a bit of beacon as Egreen sits next to him! ' Oh.. Morning Egreen. Er, so he's a squib? ah. That makes a lot of sense'.

Achel comes in, but looks very different from the night before. He still looks tall bronzed, but he has done something with his hair, and he looks quite handsome for a Hufflepuff.

He sits down next to Egreen with a great deal more confidence than before.

"Hello 'cous" dya like the hair .. Morticia suggested this spell, and it worked great!

"you cast a spell that worked?" said Egreen "yep," continued "ever since I discovered my gift with plants .. oops I'm not supposed to talk about that!"

Morticia enters the dining room and throws an interested glance at Marvo. "Is that a real Muggle book?" she asks interested. "Can I borrow it when you're done?"

She sees Egreen sitting next to Marvo, beams at him and pulls out a chair to sit as near to Egreen as she can. (originally 3 folk wanted to sit by the popular chap - sorry as you were the last to arrive!)

Ceridwyn, taking longer than normal to get up this morning, strolls into the breakfast hall. She takes a seat across from Egreen and Marvo. "Hi Egreen, Marvo." She smiles politely at both of them. "So, feeling a bit better than usual are we Egreen?" Ceridwyn's smile grows quite large. "You know, one day that bacon's going to catch up with you Marvo. 'Course I haven't room to talk considering my addiction to chocolate frogs. Hey, has anyone seen Kat yet? I'd like to talk to her about yesterday at Hogsmeade." Her face looks solemn and regretful at saying this. "So Marvo, anticipating that Lizzy will ask you to the Ball?" She laughs and smiles, and her eyes get quite large.

Nimue sitting next to Egreen splutters into her bowl of porridge and quickly grasps a napkin, looking quite shocked and somewhat embarrassed at what Ceridwyn has said to Marvo.

Egreen laughs. Unfortunately he has a fresh mouth full of Iggs, most of which end up propelled across the table at Ceridwyn.

"Serves you right for stirring," smiles Achel, but not cruelly. "kapharos" says Achel, and Ceridwyn is cleaned up.

Egreen goes white. He looks at Achel. "Where did you learn that spell?" he says, he is grasping the table.

"Oh, I was given this book, it was a bit weird, Embracing the Light or something .. very old, I've got it in my trunk."

Marvo seeing the book looks extremely shocked! Egreen and Marvo look at each other.

Morticia who was just about to sit down on the chair she'd pulled startles and almost misses the chair when sitting down.

Nimue smiles at Achel, whom she thinks looks quite nice. She wishes now she had done something with her hair before coming into breakfast.

Andy comes into the breakfast hall, sits across from Marvo, and places a book on the table to read.

"Did anybody get any sleep last night?" asked Andy. "All I know is this, in Hogwarts word spreads rather quickly."

Andy yawns as he eats his eggs and toast. Andy looks at the book that's sitting next to him and opens it. The book is in medium size and is a deep purple colour.

After a few minutes Andy shuts the book and says, "Well I'm reading this fascinating book about a follower of You-know-Who and how he escaped from going to Azkaban when he decided to switch sides I guess. It's a good book. It's called Touched by Darkness."

Marvo quickly turns to Ceridwyn. 'So, er, well... who are you going to ask?'

He glances at Andy. his left eye seems to have a slightly red gleam to it... but that 'could' be just a trick of the light.

Andy, confused, puts the book away. "There's something to do with that book," he thought to himself. But he'd rather not say in case it wasn't supposed to be mentioned. He would ask Marvo about it later in the common room.

He looked at Marvo. Something was up...something was definitely up. Marvo just looks at Andy. Then returns to his bacon.

"Hmm, I don't know who I'll ask yet Marvo." Ceridwyn smiles precociously, just to mess with Marvo. "Nimue, I was just kidding about what I said, sorry if I offended you, I just wanted to see Marvo's reaction." Ceridwyn looks at Andy and goes slightly pink. "I don't know if I'm going to the ball, and if I do, maybe it'll just be by myself. Besides, who'd want to go with me, the way I've been acting lately." Ceridwyn looks down at her toast, grabs a piece and nibbles on it.

"That's Ok Ceridwyn, no offence taken. Anyway, it's not me that Marvo's interested in anyway. I suppose we could go by ourselves, I mean time enough for all this nonsense..."

Marvo, also slightly pink, looks as if he is about to say something, then munches down on a bit of toast.

"Who are you going to ask, Nimue?" asked Andy looking at her and glancing over at Marvo.

"I don't know yet." she replies but catches Andy's glance at Marvo: "Oh no, no. It would feel odd - we knew each other as children. I think of him like a brother, nothing else."

Marvo goes very red. remembering that as children Nimue and he were very like brother and sister. He lowers his head and concentrates on his bacon.

Andy smiles and half laughs at Nimue. "I didn't know that!" he said. He looked at Marvo then back at Nimue. "I'm just glad that it's the girls who have to ask the guys. I'd be way too embarrassed if I asked someone and they didn't want to go with me," he said even though everyone knew was very handsome.

Ceridwyn had seen Morticia half miss her chair, and can't help but laugh concernedly. "Are you ok Morticia? I'd be off-balance if I'd have gone through what you did last night." Ceridwyn whispers, so that she is overheard, but the rest don't catch every word. "So are you still going to the Ball with Egreen? I hope so, because I really want to go, but you've got to be there." She lowers her voice even more, so that she is now mouthing the words more than speaking them, "Remember what I bought in the bookstore? Well, I want to tell you about... later. When are you free?"

"Of COURSE I'm going to the Ball with Egreen!" Morticia says louder than she wanted, realises that almost everyone in the room has heard it and blushes.

She waits till the attention has faded and then says to Ceridwyn:

"Let's sneak out now, I really got to talk to you too! I had a very disturbing dream... about a forsaken room... but I don't remember! I never remember my dreams, that's so frustrating, but I know this one was really important!"

"Ok, ok, I just was wondering." Ceridwyn looks a little taken aback by Morticia's outburst. "Where do you want to meet me? I can't wait to hear about your dream."

"There's not much about the dream now I think of it. I don't remember it. Too bad. But then, it was creepy and scary, I remember that. So would it be okay for you just to talk outside? Or does it take long?"

Then in came Peesey looking very pale and ill. Peesey then sits down on the nearest chair very near Morticia and overhears what Cer says to her. He looks at them oddly. (Maybe due to he feels ill or that he's looking at them in a strange way.)

Nimue says: "Peesey you look awful, what's the matter?"

"Yeah, are you ok Peesey?" Ceridwyn looks at him with genuine concern.

Peesey responds to their concern: "I ate too many Berty Botts all flavoured beans in Hogsmead and I got a few awful surprises. I don't feel like any breakfast."

Cer asks: "Who do you want to ask you to the ball, or are you going? I just hope I can find someone who'll say yes!"

"I don't know, I haven't really thought about it, but if I feel like this then I don't think I'll go!"

"Not to worry" said Nimue "it's weeks away I mean it is a Yule Ball - probably be held just before we break up for the holidays. So you'll have plenty of time to recover!"

Peesey then jumped in with a: "I was thinking of asking you Cer. So would you??"

Nimue winked at Peesey: "You really were out of it last night weren't you? Prof. Dumbledore especially made a point that it was the girls who were to ask the boys! So you'll have to wait like all the others to see if you're chosen."

Ceridwyn added: "Well Peesey, actually, the girls ask the guys this year. So I'd have to ask you. And I'm not sure if I'm going or not because Morticia may not be. You missed the huge fight her and her father had, it was terrible!"

"Oh but Ceridwyn" piped up Nimue "She's already asked and been accepted by Egreen. 'Papa' may be angry but I'd bet on Morticia getting her own way in the end."

Morticia interjected: "Don't worry, I'll go. My father won't be here to guard me then! And I had a talk with him and Dumbledore this morning. I'll go! There's nothing in the world that could prevent me from going!" She looks at Egreen and blushes. "I mean," she adds, "it's my first-ever real ball!"

"Sorry," Peesey responded, " I fell asleep at that point- must of! Either that or I ran out to be sick"

Madison walked in, and for the first time, doesn't look tired. She looked quite happy as sat down at the table, hearing Morticia talking about the ball. "Oh, it's my first ball, too" she said, smiling. "I'm really nervous...she trailed off, her smile disappearing, "And to make it worse, I'm the one who has to ask the guy to with me...." She looked around the table nervously, then looked down at her plate, embarrassed.

"Oh, come on! Just ask somebody you don't feel embarrassed to be seen with!" Morticia jokes and grins. She seems to be very relieved, obviously the thing between her and her father is settled.

"Don't worry Madison, I think most of us are in the same situation, except Morticia...." Nimue was feeling quite awkward about this new tradition as well and envied the confidence Morticia had shown in her choice- "probably a French thing" she murmured as much to herself as to Madison.

Morticia overhears this and frowns angrily. "Bah, what does SHE know!" she growls and goes on eating.

Madison smiled at Nimue. "Well France IS a romance centre, isn't it?" She looked around at the guys at the table and lowered her voice. "Who are you going to ask, Nimue?"

"Yes, it is that.", Nimue smiles and also lowers her voice with respect to the question: "Madison, right now I just don't have a clue. How about you?"

Madison blushed. "I...really don't know. I don't really know the guys around here."

Nimue wasn't paying attention. The room was pretty small and Morticia's growly murmur was not lost on her. She said: "What is her problem? " without really caring whether Morticia heard or not.

Deciding that she wasn't about to waste any more of her time on 'Miss-thinks-she's-so-Grand' Nimue got up to leave in search of more civil company.

Ceridwyn and Morticia picked up their conversation about the Ball:

Ceridwyn looks at Morticia, and asks quietly, so that none of the other Slytherins can hear, "Who do you think I should ask? I mean, I don't think I'd do well getting turned down." Ceridwyn blushes slightly at this.

Morticia smiles. "Cer, do you think anyone would turn you down? I mean.. have you ever looked at yourself? And there's no need to hurry. You still got well over a month to make up your mind... but don't wait TOO long or you'll have to go with one of the jerks." She lowers her voice even more. "Are you sure you don't want to ask Marvo?"

Ceridwyn's face turns slightly pink at the compliments given her by Morticia. "Thanks", she says softly. "Hmm, good point about how long I have.. but you are right, I don't want the bottom of the pail." Ceridwyn smiles and giggles. "I don't know if I'll ask Marvo or not, I mean, I think he really wanted to go with you, and I don't want to be at a dance with somebody who wants to be with someone else, you know? I just don't know..." Ceridwyn looks away, somewhat forlorn.

Morticia gasps. "Marvo wanted to go with ME?" she whispers unbelievingly. "You've got to be kidding! We got a truce now, but he doesn't really like me!"

Ceridwyn wonders whether it is a good time for them to leave as they had intended to before Peesey's arrival:

"We can talk outside, that's fine. Everything ok, you're not mad at me are you?" Ceridwyn looks concerned as she asks Morticia this.

"NO!" Morticia gasps. "No, Cer, really! I'm sorry if you had that impression, I'm just very confused... the ball and all." She grins excitedly and looks at Egreen - and siiiighs.... "Let's go then."

Just then, Winifred rushes into the dining hall:

Out of breath, she attempted to talk. "Sprout...last night.. .knows...questions," Winifred said incoherently. Waiting a moment, she is able to talk normally. "Professor Sprout stopped me on my way to the dining room this morning. Apparently, she has heard rumours that some third years were hanging around greenhouse 6 last night. She pulled me aside to ask me some questions. I made up an alibi, but she didn't seem to buy it. She let me go, so I rushed down here. What if she saw us?"

Madison looked up at her, her eyes wide. "I don't think she saw us...but I can't be sure. What are we gonna do?"

Naturally, Winfred's outburst was not unnoticed by Nimue, who stopped and turned back, unwilling to let her pique at Morticia's behaviour compromise what might be a serious situation.

"Look you'll know soon enough and you could always say you'd gone out for some air due to the stuffy atmosphere or something and didn't know the grounds that well and turned back when you realised.

She might ask Professor Snape but would he admit that any students were out of his sight for so long last evening because he'd allowed himself to get so involved in arguing with Morticia's father not to have noticed?"

Madison stared at her, then smiled and turned back to Winifred and Andy. "Hey, you guys, that could work. Where's Joss? We need to get our stories straight..."

"That would definitely work out. We just went outside to get some fresh air, some people saw us and mistakenly thought we were going to Greenhouse 6. I think that's believable," said Andy as he stood up from the table. He smiled to Nimue and said slightly, "Thanks."

Madison gave a sigh of relief. "Good, it's settled then." She turned back to Nimue. "Thank you so much...you're a lifesaver."

Nimue says to them, "My pleasure. Hey, see you guys later. I have a falcon to get to know."

Madison looked confused. "Falcon? Well, okay....see you!"

"Oh, I forgot, I haven't had a chance to say anything with all the excitement yesterday except to Kat - he's a present from my father - that was what Marcus, you know the 'handsome one' was here to see me about. He's giving me some lessons on how to fly... the bird." Nimue was obviously still a little embarrassed about Marcus.

Andy had also been confused by her remark: "Right," said Andy. "Marcus. I remember him. Wait a second you got a falcon? How cool is that? You have to take me riding one day."

"Riding?" momentarily confused, "Oh, yes you mean to 'fly him'. I don't know are there any horses here? I was just thinking this when I was outside how wonderful it would be but I guess when you have broomsticks, horses come a poor second."