I came in like a wrecking ball (tag Dustin) on Cascade Hall

Headmaster Brockert

July 02, 2016 1:10 PM

Returning Feast by Headmaster Brockert

Midterm had passed much as all the others before it , filled with parties where he'd had to be polite and make small talk. Mortimer loathed small talk, it was all so pointless and uninteresting. If he was going to talk to others, he would prefer it to be worth his while, an intellectual discussion. His seven year old granddaughter Topaz was more capable of it than some society adults as far as he was concerned.

Now, however, it was time for school to resume and Mortimer couldn't have been happier about it, not that it showed. Of course, Sonora was full of people too, teenagers no less, but he didn't really have to interact with them too much one on one.

Besides, even if he did have to make a few remarks, there was much less to say at the Returning Feast than there was at the Opening Feast. Once the students were settled in, Mortimer cast a quick Sonorus charm on himself and stood. "Welcome back to Sonora. I hope you all had a nice break." He still didn't really care if they did or not, not anymore then he had last year or the year before or the year before that but he said it anyway. "Before we eat, I would like to introduce our new Astronomy professor, Professor Wolf-Starra." Presumably this new addition to staff was somehow connected to the Divinations teacher. "All intermediate students now will have the opportunity take Astronomy as an elective."

With that, Mortimer sat down and the meal began.

Subthreads:

A question (tag: Lena) by Clark with Lena

Returning and feasting by Andrew Carey with Arthur Leithan, Andrew

Taking the plunge (Tag Savannah) by Aiden O'Neil with Savannah Brockert

Back at Sonora! by Tess Whittaker with Killian Everett

Green is not my favourite colour. by Abigail De La Garza with Joseph Umland

Back to the daily grind (tag Joella). by Lionel Layne with Joella Curtis

I came in like a wrecking ball (tag Dustin) by Emilia-Louise Scott with Dustin Newell

11 Headmaster Brockert Returning Feast 6 Headmaster Brockert 1 5

Clark

July 03, 2016 9:25 PM

A question (tag: Lena) by Clark

Clark arrived back at Sonora ready to return to the second half of his sixth year. He was on top of all the midterm assignments he'd been given and had read ahead in most of his textbooks so he didn't think his first week back would be an easy transition from being home. Of course, with Dad being who he was, home life often included deep discussion of transfiguration theory and the science of charms now that Clark was advanced enough to engage in such discussions.

It was actually pretty neat, and he thought he might bring some of those topics up with Theodore or Leonidas the next time they ended up sitting next to each other at dinner. Social classes being what they were here, that didn't happen a lot, but it happened often enough that he looked forward to the opportunity to carry on analytical examinations of their academic subjects with the older seventh years. He honestly wasn't sure whether being Aladrens together was what made that possible, or being Aladrens together was what made less academic social interactions more unlikely.

For tonight though, he was hoping to find Lena. He was anticipating that the Headmaster might remind everyone about the ball again and he'd have an opening to broach the subject. There were not really very many girls he knew here - most of his friends and teammates were all guys - so he wasn't sure who else he might ask to do the Prefect dance with him.

Unfortunately, the subject did not come up during the Headmaster's brief remarks, but something else did. Astronomy was back on the elective list. Clark started grinning and didn't stop even when it was implied that there would be no advanced level classes in the subject. That didn't matter. There was a professor who knew Astronomy. Surely she'd let him pick her brain and maybe act as an adviser for his independent study. It was just good to know there was someone on the premises who was qualified to teach the subject nearest and dearest to Clark's heart. He made a note to introduce himself to her sometime this week and invite her to Friday's Telescope Night with the Science Club, if she was interested.

"Isn't that great?" he asked Lena after the food appeared. "We've finally got an astronomy professor again!" Of course, it did mean that his private refuge in the old Astronomy classroom would no longer be very private, but there was still the Muggle Studies classroom. He'd get by.

1 Clark A question (tag: Lena) 277 Clark 0 5

Andrew Carey

July 03, 2016 10:13 PM

Returning and feasting by Andrew Carey

The holidays had not been the worst ones Andrew had ever had, but he thought they had been pretty far from the best, too. His brother and stepmother had spent most of the time between parties hidden away together, whispering; eavesdropping on them, assuming that as long as he was still Mal’s heir he did have the right to know what was going on, he had not been able to get much, but he had put together that they…had some opinion about Arnold from South Carolina having a daughter back in October and that Stepmother wanted Mal to get married and had a list of ladies she was trying to get him to consider.

The first part of that made Andrew worry a little, but the second thing had definitely caught more of his interest. Andrew guessed that if his father had lived, he just would have been thought of as ‘the spare,’ but it hadn’t happened that way. Instead, for as long as he could remember, he’d been told that he had to work just as hard and be just as smart and brave and so forth as Mal did, because there was a good chance he would have to become head of the family in Mal’s place. He didn’t know when he’d first realized that what his mother had been saying was that was that she didn’t think his brother had a good chance of surviving adolescence, but he knew now, anyway, that that was what she had meant. She had been wrong, though; Mal had lived, and now, if he could ever stop whining, he might even get married, and if he got married, he might have sons. Andrew knew it was a nasty, selfish thing to think about, but he couldn’t help but think about it – if that happened, where did that leave Andrew?

Now that he was back at school, though, he hoped he could stop thinking about it. It wasn’t like there was anything he could do about it, after all. Here it was simple: do his work, keep up his reputation, and generally do what he could to represent his family well. That, at least, he thought he could do.

He looked up at the table full of teachers from his place at the Teppenpaw table with some interest when Headmaster Brockert said there was a new teacher and a new subject at school, even though he thought the second half of fourth year was a little late to pick up a new class. He silently wished the professor well and then wished the kitchen staff an even happier evening when the food appeared.

He smiled at someone who went for the mashed potatoes at the same time he did. “Go ahead,” he said generously. “Did you have a good midterm?”

0 Andrew Carey Returning and feasting 0 Andrew Carey 0 5

Aiden O'Neil

July 05, 2016 7:39 PM

Taking the plunge (Tag Savannah) by Aiden O'Neil

Aiden had not slept the night before. He felt exhausted and knew that he had needed the sleep because it was going to be a long wagon ride back to school and an even longer evening with friends and food. He couldn’t fall asleep though. He couldn’t stop thinking about all of the various scenarios that could happen during the feast if he got up the nerve to do what needed to be done. He knew it was silly to get this worked up about something, but the fear of rejection, even by a friend, was something that terrified him greatly. It had only been the last couple of months that he had even gained a small amount of confidence in himself and it could very easily fall away depending on how this evening went.

Dark circles painted the area beneath his eyes as he took a seat beside Savannah. Sitting with her was not new to anyone. He sometimes ate with her and her sister (if she happened to be there) or sometimes with his roommates, and even on occasion with Lena. He had a lot of friends and it was usually a cause for celebration, but his nervous energy and overtired mind kept him from being his usual upbeat self. He smiled and greeted her, hoping his usual cheerfulness came out despite how he currently felt, before settling into his seat to attempt to listen to the Headmaster start the feast.

There was exciting news to be had with this feast in the name of Astronomy! Aiden’s hobby was star gazing and learning all that he could about the stars. This would be his ultimate dream class! Excitement stirred through him and his mood lifted. His mind was jittery with all the possibilities that the class would bring even though his body moved rather sluggishly. He couldn’t wait to sign up for the class and start enjoying something besides animals (Care of Magical Creatures was his best class).

But the reality of the evening returned after Aiden took a few bites of his meal and turned to Savannah to discuss the new curriculum. Seeing her face reminded him of what he had intended to do since his failed attempt at sleep the evening before. After his discussion with his family during the holidays, Aiden knew that the earlier he asked the better his chances were. He had already lost half a year, so there was a chance that someone else had already asked her. That would actually be okay because that sort of rejection was more tolerable than her simply not being interested in spending her time at the ball with him.

He had momentarily thought about asking Joella to go with him since she was a Prefect who would also need a date for the dance, but he ultimately decided that Savannah was the best choice with this. He only hoped that she didn’t feel that he was only asking her because of the dance as that wasn’t his reasoning. He honestly felt that out of his friends, he would have the best time with her.

Aiden tried not to feel sick when he was working up the courage. He knew he shouldn’t feel so nervous with Savannah. She was far too nice to say anything remotely mean even if she was going to reject him. But he worried that he might say or do something that may impact their friendship and he definitely didn’t want that. He hoped she didn’t notice how nervous he was or question his sanity based on how he currently looked thanks to his lack of sleep. Deciding that now would be as good a time as any (he could always fun back to the dorm in shame if it didn’t work out in his favor), Aiden took a breath and cleared his throat. “So, ugh, Savannah…” he paused, trying to figure the best way to approach this. “I was wondering if you would like to accompany me to the ball?” He asked quietly, not quite looking her in the eye. “I completely understand if you don’t want to or have already made other plans.” He added because he was told it was always polite to let someone know they had a way out.

6 Aiden O'Neil Taking the plunge (Tag Savannah) 287 Aiden O'Neil 0 5

Tess Whittaker

July 09, 2016 10:18 AM

Back at Sonora! by Tess Whittaker

Back at Sonora! That was a cause for celebration if ever Tess heard of one, and all the wonderful food in front of her provided the perfect way to celebrate. It wasn’t that she didn’t like seeing her family – on the contrary, she loved spending time with them and finding out all that they’d been up to whilst she’d been away – but Tess was realising that there was less to do at home. Moving to America just before starting at boarding school had been a tactical mistake in terms of making friends, and as a result her holidays were a lot less interesting than they used to be, except for when they went back to Britain for a visit. Tess was a sociable kind of girl who loved spending time with others her age, and whilst she’d got to know the faces of quite a few people in the village outside of Boston where she lived, they all had their own friends and weren’t bothered about a girl who was hardly there.

However, Tess was now back at Sonora and already feeling more in her element. When she thought about it, it was strange that she felt more at home in the magical world than the muggle, but having been brought up in an odd mix of both she supposed it was hardly surprising that she’d taken to Sonora so quickly, seeing as there she didn’t have to hide any aspect of her heritage.

The Headmaster’s brief announcement contained nothing of real interest to her, although Astronomy could be fun. He didn’t mention the ball again, although Tess had bought a nice dress over the midterm break and was starting to think about who she’d like to go with (if anybody was interested in that – she’d be perfectly happy to go with a group of friends). She recognised that she was only in second year, and nobody really seemed to be thinking of relationships quite yet – not that she was. Still, she planned to sort something out so she wasn’t on her own and bored all evening.

Tucking in to all of the food around her, Tess was definitely happy. “Isn’t it good to be back at Sonora?” she asked her neighbour, expecting them to be as glad to be back as she was.

9 Tess Whittaker Back at Sonora! 338 Tess Whittaker 0 5

Arthur Leithan

July 10, 2016 12:59 AM

Doing the Same by Arthur Leithan

Arthur was excited to be back at Sonora. He had been preoccupied with issues from home most of last semester, and was happy that things had been resolved. Now he could spend more time getting to know his schoolmates better and improve his grades, which he had let slip into the mediocre range last semester. He was happier than he had been in months. He was also happy to hear there would be new course offerings in Astronomy. Arthur enjoyed learning new things, and more intellectual opportunities always excited him. Sonora had turned out to be very much as he had hoped it would be when he and Artemis were the first of their family to attend it last year. Artemis was also happy here, although she was somewhat less outgoing than Arthur. They had been able to successfully differentiate themselves at the school, possibly in part because they had been sorted into different houses. They were still each other's best friends, though, and intended to remain so, at least until they found out who they would be betrothed to when they were older.

Arthur loved the food at Sonora, but the food at the feasts was always special, and he was in a particularly good mood at the returning feast, even before the new courses in Astronomy were announced. He planned to get into the social whirl immediately. As he reached for one of his favorite comfort foods, the mashed potatoes, he noticed Andrew Carey reached for the as well. Andrew, displaying perfect pureblood manners, gave way for the younger boy and asked about his vacation.

Arthur responded, “They went pretty well, really.” He hoped the domestic disruption in his family was not well known, so he avoided any reference to it. “I'm very happy to be back, though. I had a little time to read ahead for this semester, so it should go better. I really do love Sonora. How was your break?”

0 Arthur Leithan Doing the Same 328 Arthur Leithan 0 5

Andrew

July 10, 2016 10:31 PM

Excellent! by Andrew

“I enjoyed it,” Andrew said when the younger Teppenpaw who was also interested in having mashed potatoes with his supper tonight asked about how Andrew’s time away from school had been. “It was good to see my brother and sister again, and my mother.”

The highlight of the holidays really had been seeing Lucille; his sister had had to marry, of course, and he was proud of her for marrying well, but he missed her presence in their house and wished sometimes that she didn’t have to live so far away from them now. Since he had never known Andrew Carey, Sr., who had died before the youngest of his four acknowledged children had been born, it didn’t occur to Andrew that it might sound strange to only say he’d been happy to see one of his parents. He had two adults besides his mother in his life, but even though Morgaine claimed to act as his father for social purposes, he didn’t really think of his fifth cousin or his stepmother – actually the wife his father had had before Andrew’s mother, but since Meredith was Mal’s mother, Andrew called her ‘stepmother’ – as parents of his. He looked for something else to add to his plate first instead of mashed potatoes and settled on the pork chops.

“It’s interesting, getting a new professor in January,” he said. “Do you think you’ll take any electives next year?” He was pretty sure that Arthur was one of the second years and so someone who was getting ready to make his class selections for next year. Andrew hadn’t added anything to his schedule as a third year, but he knew a lot of people did and that a lot of people would have spent a lot of the break talking about it with their families.

0 Andrew Excellent! 0 Andrew 0 5

Abigail De La Garza

July 11, 2016 9:10 AM

Green is not my favourite colour. by Abigail De La Garza

Abigail always enjoyed going home for the holidays and looked forward to the time she got to spend with her parents as well as the large family festivities. She did like being at Sonora too but she was quite often disappointed by her lack of solidified friendships. Abby was in third year now and she would have expected to be part of a particular friendship group at least. That wasn’t to say she didn’t feel she hadn’t made friends at all and there were many people she liked chatting with or working with in class but that wasn’t the same as having a select few students with whom she belonged.

Having such people in her school life would also make the midsummer ball a less daunting prospect. Of course, Abby wanted to be asked by one of the boys but she was confident that this would not happen so wasn’t going to worry about it. The only thing was, she didn’t want to be totally alone and therefore needed to find some fellow dateless classmates who would make the night fun. Abby had not been to a great deal of balls in her lifetime and to her this was easily the most significant of the few so she wanted to make sure it would be a happy memory.

Focusing on more current matters, Abby poked despondently at the greenery filling her plate with a fork. In all fairness it looked like a rather nice salad but after the delicious festive meals that Abuelita served up in the midterm break it really didn’t compare. The thirteen year old had always been aware of her size - young kids could be very cruel about that kind of thing - but now she was growing evermore conscious that the excess weight her mother had always assured her was just “puppy fat” was not disappearing as she grew older.

The third year understood that if she wanted to look at least half decent in her ball dress at the end of the year she was going to need to watch her diet carefully. Supposedly she had a fairly slow metabolism which meant that she didn’t burn off calories very quickly. Abby had inherited her father’s heavy frame rather than her mother’s small one which had always made it much harder for her to achieve the high level of gracefulness in her dancing that was expected of her.

“Hi,” she smiled at her neighbour, keen to find some enjoyment in the meal at least and distract herself from these negative thoughts. “Did you have a good midterm?” Abby thought most people enjoyed their breaks, or just said they had to be polite, but it was nice to see them brighten up when they spoke about it. The Teppenpaw doubted she was alone in missing her family whilst at school.

8 Abigail De La Garza Green is not my favourite colour. 315 Abigail De La Garza 0 5

Lionel Layne

July 11, 2016 3:00 PM

Back to the daily grind (tag Joella). by Lionel Layne

Midterm, for Lionel, hadn’t been half-bad. His granddad had not been best pleased with his grades for the first half of the year except in Charms, but he had not been too unhappy about it, excusing it as a product of the first weeks of adjusting to Advanced classes. Lionel still understood that he was expected to do better during the second half of the year, which did cast a bit of a pall over the Returning Feast. He had honestly thought he was doing the best he could in the first half of the year and didn’t know where he was going to get anything else to work with.

He had complained to his grandmother, but he hadn’t gotten much sympathy there. Grandmother accepted that the only way Lionel was going to make the history books was if he could secure an apprenticeship to a printer after school, but she said that doing extremely well in school was the only way to have a nice life, a normal life just like the one he’d always had - anything more than that took just the right combination of good looks, connections, and luck, and that was someone who had the skills to sail through school with ease and gain a reputation for magical power - the great equalizer, as he’d once overheard Uncle Jeremy call it. The rest of them just had to work hard, and of course she had suggested he give up drawing again so he’d have more time to study.

His mother, when she’d replied to his Christmas owl, had dodged his questions about exactly where she was and what she was doing, but she had congratulated him on improving his technique (which meant she’d noticed he had made the card himself) and had thought his grades sounded pretty okay. Intellectually he knew she was a mess, but it was hard, sometimes, these days, not to yell at Granddad when he spoke badly of her. Maybe, if she’d had a little more support, his mom could have not had a stroke of bad luck and a few youthful mistakes completely mess up her whole life. Maybe she would have screwed up anyway, but it was all maybe, as opposed to the results they knew they had gotten from other approaches….

Of course, he also knew that he’d had a lot more frustration toward her back before she had started approving of him, so he didn’t even know what his own motives were at this point. Just that he was kind of glad to be away from his family at the moment, even though it meant more hard work and…other complications.

His first thought about the Ball had involved Joella, but then she had come back to school all…noticeable-looking this year. Really noticeable-looking. It made it all…awkward, and between that and his workload, after he’d decided that just calling ”hey, want to go to the Ball with me?” during the meeting where they’d been told they had to have partners would be kind of inappropriate, it had just gotten easier to avoid the issue. Unfortunately, he was pretty sure his behavior was not that of someone who was going to be all that great at adulting, and since his birthday was before the Ball, he thought he might need to change it before June for all kinds of different reasons.

Accordingly, he looked for a seat near Joella at the Feast and said hello as he sat down. By this time she probably already had a date, but he could still work on not being an asocial jerk and see if he could get a pity first dance later. After the welcome back and the announcement of a new teacher – not an issue for him, as he was in Advanced now, and he doubted any of the fifth years would pick up a course for just one year, either. Never knew, though.

“You have to love school,” he said to Joella. “’Welcome back – want even more work’?” He helped himself to some pasta. “Did you have a good holiday?”

16 Lionel Layne Back to the daily grind (tag Joella). 283 Lionel Layne 0 5

Joseph Umland

July 11, 2016 5:04 PM

Which one is? by Joseph Umland

Joe didn’t normally have much of a problem with mornings, but on his last morning at home, it had taken his mother two tries to wake him up and he had been as silent and grouchy as John when he’d finally stumbled to the kitchen table. Two cups of the builder’s-style tea his brother favored, consumed in rapid succession, had done more to make him sick to his stomach than to wake him up, but they had at least taken the grouchiness away. He’d floated amicably from Point A to Point B as last trunk checks and the border crossing and saying goodbye to his mother in Montana and had dozed off a few times on the wagon – possibly more often than he’d thought, even, as Joe distinctly remembered John directing a long, earnest, rambling lecture about crows at him, but John seemed to think he’d only really looked up from the book he’d brought for the journey long enough to offer Joe some of the vanilla sugar cookies Julian had made for them and some points in the lecture really hadn’t seemed to make a lot of sense even at the time. Joe was not a would-be ornithologist, but he was pretty sure crows did not have a lot of sub-species which were customarily purple.

Once they’d returned to Sonora, he had, in the full awareness that it was not a smart thing to do, exchanged only a few now only fuzzily-remembered with other people before lying down to take a nap. After that and a little more caffeine, he felt something approaching human by the time he got to the Returning Feast, but he knew that if he wasn’t actually dying (which, weird as today had been, odds were that he wasn’t), he wasn’t going to sleep a wink tonight and was going to start the whole miserable cycle all over again tomorrow, only this time during classes. He really hoped the teachers didn’t dump any particularly complex new concepts into their laps during classes tomorrow….

He just wished he knew why he’d been so tired today. It wasn’t like him. Nothing to do about it now, though.

Brockert was brief and Joe felt sorry for the new professor – ‘Wolf-Starra’ had to be a difficult name to go through life with even if one didn’t work in a profession which involved regular study of the stars. Still, he guessed it was good the school was getting more subjects for those of them who didn’t have the discipline for independent studies, he guessed. The food didn’t look quite as appetizing as usual after his nap, but since he was hungry and thought it would taste better than it looked once he started eating it, he started serving himself from the trays without even really looking at what he was putting on his plate.

The girl beside him - Abigail, he thought he remembered from last year's classes - spoke to him and Joe smiled. “Pretty good,” he said. And it had been, though by Epiphany, he had been truly unable to understand how most people these days apparently listened to Christmas music for a solid month before Christmas itself. Listening to it for twelve days had sated his need to hear it for the next year just fine. “I’m starting to think I enjoyed it a little too much, actually,” he joked, noticing for the first time that there was food on his plate. At least he, to the mystification of half his siblings, kind of liked eggplant. “I’m not with it today. How was your break?”

16 Joseph Umland Which one is? 329 Joseph Umland 0 5

Emilia-Louise Scott

July 13, 2016 4:38 PM

I came in like a wrecking ball (tag Dustin) by Emilia-Louise Scott

Emmy-Lou was returning to Sonora after the midterm break with an abundance of plans, most of said plans being related to her marvellous Fashion Club which she thought was going very well. Not only had her time been taken up with organising things for the club, but also with more personal matters. Over the break she had spent a lot of time with the designers at Little Lady Couture to come up with a fitting design for her midsummer ball dress, something she had to admit she wasn’t quite able to make for herself yet.

This had got her thinking about the midsummer ball and who she’d go with. The answer to that question should have been simple really because she claimed to have a crush on a certain Mr Newell but since she’d hardly spoken to Dustin all that much so far this term that attraction was beginning to fade. Of course, he was still cute as a button and she definitely wouldn’t hesitate to admire him when she saw him but perhaps the awareness that she wasn’t his type had come to undermine her, what she liked to call, feelings.

Nonetheless, there weren’t too many other options and she knew she ought to hurry up or the other girls would beat her to it.

With these thoughts in mind, Emmy headed straight for where Dustin was sitting when she entered Cascade Hall for the Returning Feast. Casting aside more common methods of flicking one’s hair or letting a fresh spray of perfume do the trick, she chose to elbow the back of his head as she walked past and took a seat beside him.

“Oh I’m so sorry,” she muttered in a hushed whisper, not her best acting but it would have to do.

When the Headmaster finished speaking, which fortunately didn’t take very long, Emmy returned her attention to her housemate.”So, how was your midterm break?”

Before giving Dustin a chance to reply to her question, a courtesy that’s politeness was kind of overruled by the fact that she gave no time for an answer, Emmy plunged on into her own spiel about how wonderful her midterm was.

“My midterm was really good,” Emmy told him. “I mean, Christmas festivities and parties and all that were fun, and seeing my family as well, but it also gave me lots of chances to organise the Fashion Club I run-” (shameless plug) “-you’ve heard about it, I’m sure. I’ve collaborated a lot with the designers of Little Lady Couture so I was working on my midsummer ball dress…”

She paused briefly for effect because if he knew anything about her he might know what was coming next. “Talking of which, I don’t suppose you’d fancy being my date for the ball?” Emmy didn’t beat around the bush. It was very unlikely that Dustin would ask her but there was no harm in doing it the other way around.

8 Emilia-Louise Scott I came in like a wrecking ball (tag Dustin) 313 Emilia-Louise Scott 0 5

Dustin Newell

July 13, 2016 11:47 PM

Are you coming in like a wrecking ball, per chance? by Dustin Newell

Midterm had been… stressful, to say the least. Dustin couldn’t say he was surprised, since going home was always a bit of a nuisance, although this one had been a bit more offputting than usual. His siblings were annoying as always, but he had been shocked to find this time his major source of annoyance was Flo, the oldest of them. She would be coming to Sonora next year, and now that there was only one more semester until her turn, she was full of questions. Teamed up with Brett’s adventurousness and Ana’s neediness, it was a bit overwhelming.

And then there was Makenzie. He still couldn’t stop thinking about that conversation they’d had. How long had she been so calculating, so… smart? It felt weird to even use the word in association with the redhead. He’d always thought his cousin was rather dim-witted, certainly his inferior. But she’d been so different when they’d spoken at the party, and her words still rang through his head. She said that they were in this thing together, but Dustin couldn’t help but wonder how long she had been in it alone.

Even after the majority of midterm and the ride back to Sonora together, Dustin couldn’t help but stare at her, green eyes at the Aladren table piercing through the room over to Crotalus. His gaze was only interrupted when someone smacked into the back of his head. “Ow,” he sputtered involuntarily, turning around to see just who had assaulted him. Miss Emilia-Louise Scott, otherwise known as Emmy-Lou, seemed to be the culprit. He couldn’t imagine it was on purpose, even if her apology seemed a little weird, so he just said, “Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”

That, evidently, broke the damn, because as soon as the Headmaster finished speaking, Emmy-Lou was chattering. Dustin wasn’t a huge conversationalist, in particular with girls, although this one was in his House, so maybe she had some form of intellect. (He’d apparently been wrong about Makenzie, so what did he know, anyway?) She asked about his midterm, and before he had the breath to respond, she was already chatting merrily about her own. That was just as well, he supposed.

She mentioned something about a ball dress--he wasn’t listening terribly closely--as a lead in, it seemed, because the next thing he knew, she was asking him to Sonora’s midsummer ball. A girl was asking him. That wasn’t really the way it was supposed to go, so the inquiry took him off guard. “Oh,” he managed, trying to keep the utterance devoid of any tone.

He had to think about it; Dustin was planning on asking a girl, though he hadn’t yet decided which one. As far as he was concerned, most of them were pretty interchangeable, so asl ong as he took someone with a decent reputation, everything was fine. Emmy-Lou was society, sort of, so that was in her favor, although he thought he had heard that she was actually a Halfblood or something. Still, her family was somewhat favorable, as far as he knew, and maybe if they rose up here after, it would look extra good for the Newells. We are in this together, he thought in Makenzie’s direction.

“Sure,” he answered just a moment later. “That sounds like fun. What color is your dress? I’ll try to match.” Dustin didn’t know Emmy-Lou altogether that well, but she was friends with his roommate, so that was enough to give her a chance, right? Plus, now that a girl had asked him (so weird), he didn’t have to worry about asking someone else. It was a situation that solved himself, and he was pleased.

12 Dustin Newell Are you coming in like a wrecking ball, per chance? 312 Dustin Newell 0 5

Joella Curtis

July 15, 2016 11:29 AM

Why don't we just dance? by Joella Curtis

Joella hadn’t really wanted midterm to end. For the last part of it she had been staying in Québec which, needless to say, had been absolutely amazing. She’d had dress fittings for her midsummer ball dress and also her bridesmaids dress for Will and Rolene’s wedding which they'd announced over Christmas was set for the summer. The beautiful garments were courtesy of Valois and she was very excited to wear them both.

All the glitz and the glam was gone now that she was back at school (that being said, cascading waterfalls on the walls was pretty grand) but Joella wasn’t going to let that dampen her mood. She was excited to get back to regular Quidditch practice anyway and THE MATCH! Oh was she looking forward to Pecari’s first match of the year.

Since her conversation with Lani near the start of the midterm break, the fifth year had resolved that she would put on her brave face and ask Jax to the ball but now she was back her doubts had crept back in. For starters, he hated the spotlight so forcing him to the ball was cruel enough, let alone making him star in the prefects’ dance. At the same time, Lani’s voice would reappear in her mind telling her that she was just making excuses because she was scared of rejection.

Joella was pleased when Lionel took a seat near her at the Returning Feast and she greeted him briefly before turning her attention to the headmaster, not for any reason in particular other than that she liked chatting with him. But then her brain had to overthink and she tuned out what the headmaster was saying, her only thoughts on what she would do if Lionel did ask her to the ball before she mustered the guts to ask Jax… if she ever did. It didn’t take long for her to reach the conclusion that she’d probably give a positive answer because she needed a date and couldn’t hang about relying on the complete unknown which she believed was more than likely to fall through.

She laughed at Lionel’s comment when he spoke. “I have CATS this year,” she grimaced, knowing she really needed to start thinking about that more than a stupid school ball (which she clearly didn’t think was all that stupid considering how much thought she’d given it). “That’s more than enough work for me.”

Joella wasn’t the sort to look for extra subjects but Astronomy did sound vaguely interesting, not that she was going to pick it up halfway through her fifth year. “It’s a shame they didn’t offer Astronomy sooner,” she remarked, remembering how she and Lionel had discussed whether or not they would take Divination when it was first offered to them. “I’m willing to bet it’s a good deal more interesting than Divination.” She didn’t actually know what Lionel’s stance on the subject was but she hadn’t got on very well with it so had been quick to view it as pointless.

The fifth year was fairly sure that Clark had involved some Astronomy in his Science Club at some point before midterm but she hadn’t attended. She wasn’t keen on the idea of science, which seemed complex and intellectual and not like something one should do in their own time. Even so, she had turned up for that one session Clark did on broom dynamics but that was a one-off, she was sure.

“But yes,” Joella smiled, replying to his second question which unlike the other was clearly not meant to be rhetorical. “I had a wonderful holiday. I took Snorri to a hunt,” she paused, wondering if she was making a mistake assuming she had told Lionel previously who Snorri was and expecting him to remember it. “Snorri’s my horse, the one with wings,” she added with a grin. “And I spent Christmas at home in Tennessee with my family as usual and then we stayed with my grandparents in Texas. My grandfather takes me to a Sweetwater All-stars game - they’re my favourite team - every year and this time my cousin’s son Luke came with us which is awesome. He’s coming to Sonora next year so I think he’s been trying to get more familiar with Quidditch so he can join the team of whatever house he ends up in.”

Joella liked to ramble but Lionel was probably used to that by now. As a general rule of thumb, if one didn’t like chatty people they should not approach Joella Curtis and ask her questions, even if simply trying to be polite.

“What about your sister?” she asked, curious to know if Lionel’s sister would be coming up anytime soon. “How old is she now?” Joella selected some chicken from a nearby dish before remembering her manners. “Oh and you had a good break too, I hope?” she smiled. “Would you like some chicken?”

8 Joella Curtis Why don't we just dance? 295 Joella Curtis 0 5

Killian Everett

July 18, 2016 9:28 AM

Thank God! by Killian Everett

Not all the gifts, nor the drool-worthy feast his mother made for Christmas dinner could erase the new knowledge that burned in Killian’s mind. Like a captive bird who’d spent its life in a cage, only to be freed, Killian resented being returned to his gilded home after tasting the sweet freedom of Sonora. Now that he was back, he dreaded the thought of summer and the long months he’d be forced back home where his mom would watch his every move like a hawk, making sure he didn’t strain his delicate body.

Delicate, he wanted to snort at the thought. So he was a little small for his age, so what? Sonora taught him that he wouldn’t break just because he ran a few steps instead of walked. Ha! If his mom knew what he did during Quidditch practice, she’d lose her mind. That or pull him out of school so fast his head would still be spinning a month later. It’s why he was so very careful not to let her see the scrapes and bruises he’d gained during practice. Knowing his luck, she would’ve hauled him to the hospital for a full checkup if she saw the walloping big bruise across his ribs where a bludger tried to knock him out of a practice game.

All in all, it made the holidays a rather terrifying stretch of days where he kept expecting her to ferret out information he’d rather she never know. Somehow, he’d survived, and the familiar cascading waterfalls soothed his rattled nerves. That, and all the delicious food. With a grin, he speared a thick slice of honey ham, along with a cob of corn and some stuffing.

A voice caught his attention before he could dig in. “Yes! Christmas was great and all, but I’m happy to be back. How were your holidays?” he asked, wondering if she celebrated Christmas or something else. He’d learned in the first part of the year about purebloods, but he didn’t know much about them, or if the girl was one. Did they celebrate muggle holidays? Or something else?

0 Killian Everett Thank God! 354 Killian Everett 0 5

Lionel

July 18, 2016 11:32 AM

I'm sure there are worse things we could do. by Lionel

“Just wait until next year,” said Lionel when Joella cited CATS as why she didn’t need any more work. Lionel had almost begun to suspect that Clark Dill was either on performance-enhancing drugs, a lot of them, or was some kind of extremely advanced Muggle machine, because he found it hard to understand a natural way how someone could take all the Advanced classes, play Quidditch, run a club, and also be a pleasant guy who seemed to get along with everyone with ease. How, even accounting for academic work being significantly easier for Aladrens than it was for everyone else, did he find the hours in a day and energy to put into those hours?

He shrugged over the desirability of Astronomy compared to Divination. “I’m not sure,” he said. “I mean, in Divination, worst comes to worst you can make some stuff up. I think Astronomy has a lot of math in it. It was mandatory for a while when my uncle was a student here,” he added to explain how he knew that despite not knowing much more about the subject than that some potion ingredients, especially if they were being used in Advanced potions, were best gathered when the moon was in certain phases. Uncle Geoff wasn’t the type to dwell too much on the past, but sometimes, when he was working on a potion and had Lionel around to assist him, he’d start talking, generally only half to Lionel, about Sonora or his childhood or whatever, usually right up until he accidentally mentioned Aunt Helena and then promptly stopped talking altogether.

Joella’s holidays sounded like they had been busy and full of fun, at least if she liked hunting and her cousin well enough. He decided to assume that she did. He took the barrage of questions that came his way when she was finished describing her midterm in stride, just sorting through them quickly to figure out how to answer them coherently as he accepted some of the chicken.

“Yes, thank you,” he said, putting a piece on his plate. “My break was good, thanks again – less exciting than yours, though. We went to Aunt Emily’s for New Year’s, I got lectured about studying harder, the usual. Didn’t see Mom this year, but she sent a nice card. Meme’s thinking about schools – Sonora’s appeal is that we have balls pretty regularly, but you know, other places also have their advantages.” That took him closer to something else than he’d really meant to get just now, but since he was already here….”Speaking of the ball, while I’m thinking about it, I have a proposition for you,” he said, trying to keep it as casual as possible. “We both have to do the prefect’s dance, right? What do you say we help each other out with that one?”

16 Lionel I'm sure there are worse things we could do. 283 Lionel 0 5

Tess

July 18, 2016 6:07 PM

Settling in well, then? by Tess

Tess frowned as Killian mentioned Christmas. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the holiday – it was her favourite time of the year – but things had been a little different these since the Whittaker family had moved to America. For starters, Christmas without a great horde of extended family all engaged in cooking feasts, opening thousands of presents, and playing mad games was more relaxed but less fun, and also in America even little things like the church services just weren’t the same as Tess was used to.

“My holidays were ok,” replied Tess. “But we’ve only been in America for a year and a bit, and I’ve been at Sonora for most of that, so things are a little boring at home. Besides, the muggle world just isn’t as exciting anymore now that I live in the wizarding world for so much of the year.” She sighed, but then brightened a little, always preferring to look on the bright side of life. “But my mum and I spent a long weekend in New York, which was great, especially as I got to spend some time away from my annoying little brother.” Tess was half joking there. She did love her little brother Henry, but he could get very irritating at times. Currently he liked to go on about how she didn’t actually live at home anymore, and that she ought to start paying rent. This joke had dragged on for a little too long now, and didn’t help Tess feel like she belonged in their new house.

Anyway, that was during the holidays, and she was back at Sonora now. The distance between the two siblings had already made Tess think more fondly of Henry. He was actually due to start high school next year, but it seemed unlikely that he’d be coming to Sonora. He’d shown no magical ability, and with one parent a muggleborn witch and the other simply a muggle, the Whittakers weren’t expecting both of their children to be magical. Tess thought that Henry was actually quite pleased at the prospect of no longer following in his elder sister’s footsteps.

“You’re in first year, right?” Tess asked Killian. She was fairly sure he was – she'd seen him in class, and she knew he wasn’t in her year – but they’d never actually spoken before, and it didn’t hurt to check. “How's it going so far? I’m Tess, by the way.”

9 Tess Settling in well, then? 338 Tess 0 5

Lena

July 19, 2016 11:07 PM

An Answer by Lena

Christmas break had been a load off. Olivier and Lena were finally talking again, they had exchanged presents with happy hearts, and had even hugged upon opening them. They weren’t as close as they were, but were well on their way to repairing the situation and making up for lost time. Despite this, though, Lena’s newfound interests weren’t put on hold. She was still acting assistant club manager for the Archery Club, and an active, if fairly reserved, participant in Clark’s Science Club. She still read in the library, but was now wandering in the gardens again, a place she’d avoided while she couldn’t see Olivier without nearly bursting into tears.

Most importantly though she was breaking out of her shell. Every day she seemed to be more and more outgoing. She was never shy outright, she had always been fairly bold when she thought something needed doing, but rarely found that to be the case. Most had not understood her and had assumed she was either a quiet and reserved, proper pureblooded witch or that she was a strange, too quiet, doe-eyed wallflower. She was a wallflower, but not for the same reasons they supposed and until recently she didn’t mind their false assumptions or not making friends. Now it was important to her.

Clark was one of her earliest friends, and upon entering Cascade Hall found a seat next to him just seconds before Headmaster Brockert started his speech. At the end of it Clark turned to her, asking “Isn’t that great?” Lena knew immediately which announcement had Clark so excited. It even had her pretty excited so she told him so. “Yeah, that’s great,” she said smiling, “and fitting for our next science club meeting. I saw the flyers.” Lena looked down at the roll in her hand, and smiled. Being night blind, she couldn’t see the stars on her own. It took very high powered telescopes for her to be able to see them as it was fairly severe, but it was possible. She doubted anyone but the medic and Olivier knew, maybe a few of the more involved professors but doubted it if the lighting in the classrooms was any indication. She contemplated letting Clark know, but decided against it, not wanting to make him feel responsible in any way if that Friday’s equipment turned out to not be strong enough.

7 Lena An Answer 279 Lena 0 5

Clark Dill

July 20, 2016 9:54 AM

Excellent, but that wasn't the question I meant to ask by Clark Dill

Clark grinned more when Lena shared his enthusiasm for the new subject being offered this term. "Yeah, I'll see if she wants to come to meeting," he said, when she mentioned his fliers for telescope night on Friday. "Maybe she'll be willing to give a little lesson or something." Most people were happy with just spending the night stargazing and chatting, but a short, informal lesson by a real teacher about what they were looking at would surely be welcome information, he thought.

"Anyway," he continued, bringing himself back on point after that most excellent distraction, "I was wondering, would you be interested in being my date to the ball this year? Or just as friends, if you'd rather, or even just for the first prefect dance with me, if you've got other plans with a non-prefect?" Clark's voice rose on a hopeful note at the end, praying that at least one of those options would appeal to her.

If she didn't go for it, his back up plan was pretty poorly defined and might include Chaslyn (though she was related to Oliver somehow, he thought, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to avoid that kind of association like the plague or if it might be fun to see what colors Oliver's face turned if he saw his cousin-or-whatever dancing with a halfblood) and the only other female over the age of fourteen he'd had frequent contact with.

Clark really hoped his tendency to hang out with guys more was just that there were more of them in his normal circles than that he was accidentally sexist or something.

1 Clark Dill Excellent, but that wasn't the question I meant to ask 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Lena

July 20, 2016 6:12 PM

Then without further ado. . . by Lena

One of the greatest things about Clark was that he was very talkative. Lena, usually charmed by his exuberance, found herself smiling while waiting for him to finish. He gave her numerous options, but she’d have immediately agreed to the first if she had been able to reply right then. Laughing, she said “No, I don’t have any other plans. I’d love to go with you.” She didn’t clarify in what capacity they would go, but she didn’t feel the need to. They’d literally be friends going together no matter what but that and an actual date weren’t mutually exclusive. If he wanted to think of it like that he was more than welcome to.

Her heart was full with someone else, but she loved Clark as a friend and wouldn’t mind doing more date like activities with him. After all, holding hands and dancing weren’t things she could do with the person she loved. Clark wasn’t a stand in or replacement per se, she was honestly comfortable with the idea of doing those particular things on a less intimate level with him. But that was it, on a less intimate level. At some point she’d have to start actually dating and try to get over him but right now she could only afford baby steps. Right now, she felt the most comfortable taking those steps with Clark.

"I'm not sure how well I'll do during the Prefect Dance but I'll try to do you proud." Olivier was good at leading, something Lena didn't take for granted. She was a much more capable flier than dancer, to the chagrin of most Pure-blooded society. When their mother encouraged them to go to Sonora instead of staying in Europe, escaping PB stigma had been a leading factor. Since their departure six years ago they hadn't been to any proper PB balls. As an eleven year old she wasn't proficient but it was (mildly) excusable. Now it wasn't. She'd have to brush up.

7 Lena Then without further ado. . . 279 Lena 0 5