Got the Time Ticking in My Head
Author: Bellatrix Lestrange
Date: 07-28-04 18:56

Bellatrix took a deep breath and smiled at Rodolphus before disapparating. This was a dangerous game they were playing, her and Lucius. It had been a long time since she'd been 'outside' without a disguise, but she couldn't mask the feeling of intense pleasure the thought of it brought.

Suddenly she found herself in a dark alley. She strode purposefully to the corner until she was facing an old shop front with out of date clothing on dummies in the window. Her first response was to flit from shadow to shadow; trying not to be seen, but that would defeat the whole purpose of everything. For this reason she hadn't worn a cloak, rather just her usual black dress and the odd piece of silver jewelry.

She stepped up to the window and spoke to the dummy and then walked through the window into the reception area. Quickly she hurried through reception and up to the fourth floor, marked Spell Damage. By memory she located the Janus Thickey Ward and opened the door. As she walked the length of the ward she passed two nurses, neither of which really gave her a passing glance. She was tempted briefly to stop by the Longbottoms, but visiting Granger would be much more fun.

At the far end of the ward, Mr. Granger lay under a thin blanket and Bellatrix was pleased to see he was still comatose. She leaned over the bed, very close to him. She could feel his shallow breathing against her cheek and from a distance it appeared she was listening to the last confession of a sinner. She wondered briefly if she might pull it off - finish the man once and for all. They'd all notice that, the trusting idiots. A green blast of acrid air and it would be over. She giggled, but remembered that she and Lucius had other things to do.

Anyway, it couldn't hurt to see if she could get him to wake up. And it would give precious Hermione many nightmares thinking how close her father had come once again to getting himself killed.

"Granger?" she whispered in his ear. "Can you hear me? Is there any fight left in you? I know there is…you fought back once before, remember? Damn near came close to killing me…"

There was a small movement under Granger's eyelids, but she had no idea if this was normal for the potato lying on the bed or not. Potato or not she'd give him something to think about…

She stepped back and with a flourish produced her wand. Pointing it at the bed she cried, "Crucio!"

The two nurses spun around at the sudden noise in the usually quiet ward. One of them began flapping her arms around, while the other one ran for help. Bellatrix pointed her wand at the nurse, who was almost at the door. "Avada Kedavra!" There was a rushing sound and a flash of green light and the woman dropped to the floor. The other nurse began to scream loudly, which was almost drowned out by Bellatrix laughing. Now this was fun! Unfortunately, Granger didn't respond at all to the Crucio curse, which was disappointing.

Bellatrix decided it was time to make herself scarce, before something nasty happened. Running past the body of the nurse, she shoved open the door and ran into the nearest corridor, disapparating before she was seen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later, she met up with Lucius in their pre-arranged meeting place. This time she had used the polyjuice potion and appeared to be a tall woman with pale skin and long red hair. Lucius was used to her tricks however, and didn't appear startled. It was time to get started, and as Lucius placed the chain of the time turner around her neck, she laughed delightedly at the thought of what had gone before at St. Mungo's, and what was ahead.

And the Award Goes to...
Author: Drucilla Eternal
Date: 07-28-04 19:56

I watched Sirius carefully as he stirred his cup of tea. He was staring at the fireplace with an expression of deep thought. There was something on his mind, something that was bothering him, but for whatever reasons he chose to keep those thoughts to himself. Getting up from my chair I moved to join him on the couch. Sitting close to him, he automatically placed his arm around me and pulled me closer.

"Sirius," I kept my voice low, with the hint of a musical lilt. "Sirius, what's on your mind? You've been so quiet these past few days. Please tell me." I looked at him with what I hoped was a hurt and confused expression. God, if that didn't get him to confess what else would?

"Dru. There's something I need to tell you. It's just…" His voice trailed off, and with a jolt he got up from the couch and left me sitting there alone. I watched as he pushed a hand through his hair in frustration while pacing the floor. Keeping up my Oscar winning performance, I too leapt to my feet and stopped his pacing by grabbing his arm.

"Sirius, what is it? Why are you being so secretive with me? I thought we were getting closer, Sirius." Adding a wobble to my voice, combined with tears in my eyes, I gave the line that would hopefully help me get closer to all the information and secrets I was craving to hear. "I guess I was wrong. It was stupid of me to think that you were falling in love with me." Letting the waterworks flow now, I grabbed my robe and ran out the door. I could hear Sirius calling to me, asking me to come back inside, but I ignored him and continued around the corner.

Hiding in a dark corner, I stopped running and suppressed the urge to laugh. If this performance didn't leave my poor, love-sick Sirius even more wanting to tell me the truth, then I was losing my touch. My instincts though, told me that this had to work. Sirius would tell me the truth soon.

"My Dark Lord will be so proud of me," I whispered to the darkness.

Serious Thinking
Author: Harry Potter
Date: 07-28-04 21:19

Harry sidles up beside Bill, catching him unawares as the eldest of the Weasley siblings finishes a conversation with, of all people, Colin Creevy. Harry always figured Colin to go into journalism and photography as much as he likes taking pictures. Never would have pegged him as having an interest in banking or curse breaking.

Momentarily startled at realizing Harry's at his elbow, Bill makes a show of grabbing his heart before greeting his almost-like-a-brother friend. Bill's face shows pleasant surprise as Harry ask some in-depth, intelligent questions about curse breaking. Like everyone else, Bill was certain Harry only has plans for being an auror.

When Harry moves on to another booth, he's mind is in a whirl thinking about the information Bill's given him. Just as with what he's learned about spell research, Harry likes what he now knows about curse breaking and begins wondering if it would be possible to research a curse breaker for the unforgiveable curses, Avada Kedavra most particularly.

I Dream of Quidditch
Author: Isolde
Date: 07-28-04 21:47

Pyrrhus, with his arms laden with various free goodies, followed Isolde from booth to booth. She had no real desire to visit them all because she already knew in her heart what she would do with her future: Quidditch. It was all she thought of, when she wasn't thinking of her boyfriend and mischief-making. But the lure of freebies gave her enough motivation to at least show mild interest in each represented career.

When they'd made one quick circuit around the room, Isolde decided to focus her attention on two booths in particular: the Magical Games and Sports booth led by former Gryffinbore Australia Kingston, and the Quidditch booth. She went to Aussie's table first, intent on gathering as much information as she could on Quidditch recruitment without spending too much time in the company of the Gryffindork.

Aussie provided Isolde with a packet of statistics for the various Quidditch teams in the British league, information on try-out procedures and a calendar of upcoming trials for next year's season. Isolde added her name to an owl-list for future trial schedules, and then went on her way with Pyrrhus to the Quidditch table.

She recognized Bran Hatcher immediately as she approached the table. He was the sort all the girls fell for: tall, broad-shouldered, blond and blue-eyed. But Isolde didn't like him for his looks; she liked him for his skill on the broomstick.

"Hi, I'm Isolde Farnon. It's my dream to play professional Quidditch after I graduate from Hogwarts. I currently play chaser for my house, Slytherin."

"I hear Slytherin's having an excellent year," Bran exclaimed. He smiled a toothy grin that would have caused a number of girls to swoon, but not Isolde. She smiled back and launched into a conversation with the professional Quidditch player, determined to learn all she needed to know so that she could one day pursue her dream.

Mingling
Author: Draco Malfoy
Date: 07-29-04 08:00

With Santhea on his arm, Draco entered the Great Hall and stopped a few paces from the doorway to observe the activities of the career day from afar. "What interests you, Santhea?" he finally asked, after a few moments of silent observation.

"Oh, a little bit of everything I suppose. It certainly wouldn't hurt to check everything out."

"Certainly not, though I spy Weasleys of the employed kind present and I'd rather not mingle with them." He turned his nose up in disgust as his eyes moved from Arthur to Bill to Percy and finally, to Fred and George.

Santhea patted him on the arm and led him in the direction of the general employment booth for the Ministry of Magic, where they struck up a rather pleasant conversation with Dolores Umbridge, who had plenty of nice things to say about Draco's father. She handed them both a very thick informational booklet on the Ministry and its various departments and job opportunities and expressed her wish to see them both working there in the future.

Moving on, Draco led Santhea to the Quidditch booth, where Isolde paused her conversation with Bran Hatcher to allow Draco a few moments with the professional player. After that, he and Santhea went to the International Wizarding Communications booth, where they spoke with Melvin Bowles, the representative for the Ministry division. He explained that wizarding communications was a division of International Magical Cooperation, and that if Draco and Santhea wanted general information on the department, they should speak with Percy Weasley.

Draco did his best to hide the sneer that threatened to curl his lips and instead asked, "What kind of jobs are available in this division?"

"Ambassadors and assistants, the latter of which is an entry-level position. Our division works closely with the other divisions in the department, and even crosses over into other departments within the Ministry. If I may say so, it's a highly interesting field because it can be so diverse."

"It does sound promising," Draco admitted. He accepted a pamphlet and thumbed through it while Melvin spoke some more about international communications.

Career? Do I have one of those?
Author: Captain Electron
Date: 07-29-04 10:02

The Captain settled onto his chair behind a school-type desk. Back in Hogwarts again - he was becoming a regular visitor, he mused, before looking around at the other booths. He was feeling a little bit nervous. Usually when he met people it was to say hello, maybe sign an autograph or two, and move on by as quickly as possible - not sit there and actually TALK to people about his job.

His job, now that was a funny idea - if his mother could see him now! She'd maintained for the past few years that he didn't HAVE a job, and she never let up pestering him to GET one. Now here he was waiting for the students to come... except... what was he going to say? Everyone else in the hall seemed to have baskets of goodies, extensive notes, leaflets and booklets, piled up beside them on their desks. What did Electron have? A few cards with the addresses of music agents and recording studios he knew that he'd thought might be useful... and that was it. He supposed he could just wait and see what questions people had, if anyone actually did come over who was interested in being a musician, and just talk. At least he did know what he spent his time doing...

Oh gods above, he thought to himself, WHY did I say I'd do this?!

A Quiet Day in the Village
Author: Ellspeth
Date: 07-29-04 10:19

When Ellspeth had gotten up that morning, she realized it was probably going to be extremely quiet that day. Most all of the other shop owners had headed for the Career Day at Hogwarts...leaving the rest of the village closed for the day.

This would be a good day to get the new seedlings replanted in the greenhouse. She had several new varieties growing. Then there were also her standard varieties of herbs that were necessary for her teas, spices, and spells. There were several new ones that she had started for some of the area citizens.

A few of the students had been asking about Dream Pillows. Seems a few had been having a bit of trouble sleeping. She had promptly started several types of herbs growing...She had started several Anise plants since that will halt Nightmares. The seedlings were coming along wonderfully. They would be ready just in time for a great batch of pillows during the final weeks of testings.

She hummed as she transplanted the tiny seedlings into larger flats. Oh how she loved working with these tiny plants. She always sang as she worked. It seemed to make them grow faster and stronger.

After several hours of this pleasant work, she watered everything thoroughly and then headed back through the door of her cottage for lunch....

THE Famous Captain?
Author: Logan Hendrickson
Date: 07-29-04 14:29

Logan walked slowly into the crowded hall. Slowly looking around he noticed several tables he wanted to visit. Just about anyone you could think of was there. Logan had been looking forward to this day for quite sometime. He had never been able to decide on what sounded more interesting than the other. Of course, being only 11 gave you just a few years to decide.

As he wandered around for a bit, he noticed a rather large group of students standing around one desk. Curious as to what could be causing the crowd, he slowly made his way over and noticed that it was none other that the ONE AND ONLY ~~ CAPTIAN ELECTRON.

Wriggling his way closer, he could finally see THE famous CAPTAIN sitting uncomfortably in plain view of all the students. No one seemed to be saying a thing to him. Just whispering her and there.

Finally Logan got up enough courage and decided to ask a few question.

"Hi Captain Electron, What ever made you decide to become a Rock Star? Is it hard work? Did it take a long time? What do you like to do best? Singing or Traveling?"

The questions tumbled from Logan mouth quickly. And suddenly the crowd was quiet waiting to here what THE FAMOUS CAPTAIN had to say.....

Healing Table
Author: Tranquillina Aemilius
Date: 07-29-04 18:26

Patricia Aemilius had arrived earlier that morning, and had almost been spotted immediatly by her daughter, Tranquillina, who had come running over to greet her. Now, several hours later, another Gryffindor girl stood before her. She seemed to know Melinda Mumps, and turned to introduce herself.

"I'm Hermione Granger," she said, smiling. "Ms. Mumps tended to my father."

Pleasantries were exchanged, and Patricia smiled. "So, you're interested into going into a healing field?"

"Yes, Mrs. Aemilius. What area do you specialize in?"

"Creature-induced injuries," Patricia replied, handing Hermione a booklet. "It's fascinating work, really....Not always the prettiest thing to look at," she added with a knowing smile, "But fascinating and worthwhile."

Hermione asked one of her standard questions at the table, "Would you happen to have any internship or or entry-level positions offered for the summer or fall ----"

"Sure! Here.." Patricia rummaged through a pile of papers and found a little pamphlet, which she then handed to Hermione. "This has all sorts of information on it. You can owl any questions to us, too. I know I'd be happy to answer any questions."

Hermione thanked Patricia and the three ladies engaged in conversation for sometime.

Spotting Others
Author: Tranquillina Aemilius
Date: 07-29-04 18:34

Tranquillina had been table-hopping for a few hours. She was on her was to the Magical Law Enforcement table when she saw Logan at Captain Electron's table. Happily skipping in that direction, she found Logan asking questions at a mile-a-minute, and Roane just standing there doe-eyed. Eyeing the scene with great interest, she decided to hang around awhile, and waited with the others for the star's answers.

Mission Not So Impossible
Author: Lucius Malfoy
Date: 07-29-04 19:16

Lucius, who'd chosen not to go the polyjuice route to change his appearance, looks like a bald headed dumpling next to Bellatrix's red headed spaghetti noodle. Along with customized, padded clothing, Lucius used a combination of spells and charms to achieve the look of a sixty-ish, portly, buck-toothed man. The only hair, a sallow yellowish white, that appears to be growing on his head pokes out from round ears with oddly elongated lobes. His nose is long for the perfect circle of a face yet still manages to have a piggish appearance. The dull gray eyes are set so far apart anyone getting a look at Lucius would wonder how he sees straight.

Arms folded across his chest as he surveys the room, thinking again what an excellent choice this base of operation (or BOO as Bellatrix laughing refers to it) is, Lucius feels the rejuvenating potion kick in. Across the room, Bellatrix languidly stretches like a cat belying the fact that she's also taken such a potion. Both are supremely sanguine the mission will go perfectly but neither is displaying any overconfidence as they are all to aware that it is possible for a hitch to develop.

Lucius crosses to a table in the center of the room, inspecting a knapsack, checking again that the supplies are neatly packed inside. Draping it over one shoulder, he asks, "Ready?"

The usually luscious lips, now thin and ghostly pale, split into a wicked grin. "As if you have to ask!"

In one corner are two brooms identical to the ones they used to fly across the channel. They each grab one then walk down a short hallway and up a flight of stairs to an entryway. Stepping outside, Lucius breaths in a lungful of the crisp, morning air then mounts his broom. Bellatrix, who'd shot into the air as soon as she was out the door just ahead of Lucius, is already soaring at the cruising altitude they'd agreed upon. With a burst of speed, Lucius catches up and for the next half hour they fly side by side, neither feeling the need to try and speak over the wind whistling past their ears.

At the end of the half hour they touch down in a small, snow patched clearing with spring wild flowers peaking through here and there. From there it's a short walk to their destination. Their soon to be guest looks extremely startled at their approach. Lucius calls out in a surprisingly high pitched but very cultured and friendly voice.

"Hallo! Amelia Stewart and Vanderbilt Peabody here to observe but from the shock on your face I would wager you never got the memo. Blast that! Nothing like popping in when one is not expected, eh? We are writing a book and gained permission to spend a day or two with you."

Amelia, a look of concern marring her features touches Vanderbilt on the arm. "Vanderbilt, perhaps it would be best if we left and came another time when we are expected. Utterly ruins the publishing deadline we have to meet but cannot be helped." To the still startled but recovering person in front of them she adds, "Do you mind terribly if we have a drop of tea before we go. We shan't be long with it."

"Uh, no. Ms. Stewart, go right ahead and have your tea. You're correct, Mr. Peabody I never got any memo. There's no need for you to leave though and come back some other time. As long as you're already here you should stay and get the necessary research."

Vanderbilt moves forward to shake hands, "Vanderbilt if you please. No need to stand on formalities, eh, Amelia?"

"Quiet right, Vanderbilt!" She turns again to address the other person. "Call me Amelia and I shall call you by your first name. Have the upper hand on you there since I already know it."

Both Vanderbilt and Amelia chuckle at this then Amelia speaks again. "Now, dear, if you have some water I have a wonderful blend of tea I brought along. Even have proper cups to drink it. Cannot drink tea out of anything metal or paper you know. Even ceramic is not quite right. Porcelain or glass I always say."

She's pointed to the water and within minutes the tea is steeping. While they wait, the three talk, Amelia and Vanderbilt asking intelligent questions as befitting researchers. When the three sit down to drink their tea, Amelia hands out the cups. Both she and Vanderbilt take small sips as they peer over the rims of their cups to watch their soon to be guest blow on the tea then take a large gulp. Seconds later the now unconscious guest is wrapped in the invisibility cloak that had been in Vanderbilt's knapsack, the tea poured out and the cups once again packed into the knapsack, resting against a small vial of sleeping potion.

With Bellatrix's help, Lucius securely ties the corners of the cloak to his broom. Bellatrix casts a spell to lighten the load as Lucius slowly rises from the ground then she too takes to her broom. Another half hour later and they are back at the BOO.