It's that time again. on Library

Elly Eriksson

June 16, 2007 1:45 PM

It's that time again. by Elly Eriksson

It was fast becoming a tradition for Elly to pull a prank at the end of every school term. This year, though, she had sensed that quite a large number of people weren’t especially keen on spending the summer months back home. Several of her friends had said explicitly that they would prefer not to go home, and Elly felt bad for them. Therefore, as her end-of-year prank, she was going to spread the love. It was less of a prank really, and more of a … well, she didn’t know what to call it really, but she’d had a good idea.

When Echo wanted to advertise the Fury, he had sent out leaflets that actually flew through the Cascade Hall. Plan formation part one. Also, at her last school, Elly had learned about how the Japanese sometimes make origami cranes as a symbol of peace. Plan formation part two.

All Elly had to do now was find a spell or two that could help her put the two parts of the plan together. She was sure that somehow she could figure out how to make flying origami cranes (or perhaps something simpler) with messages inside. She’s send them out on the last evening before everyone went home for the summer – she’d let them loose in the Cascade Hall and let them deliver messages to all her friends.

This explained why Elly was in the library for about the fourth time since she’d arrived at Sonora. She was, as usual, in the charms section, trying to locate the books that had helped her out in the past. After a couple of minutes searching, Elly had four books – two she had used before and two new ones, which looked promising. She took her small stack to a nearby table and placed them gently down. There was someone already seated, and so Elly felt it only polite to ask, “Mind if I sit here?”

0 Elly Eriksson It's that time again. 92 Elly Eriksson 1 5

Brett Hodges

June 25, 2007 11:33 PM

Lunchtime? by Brett Hodges

Brett had been spending time in the library. It was sort of embarrassing. Okay, no. It was really embarrassing. He was not a library sort of kid and it wasn't like going to the library was required for just squeaking by in his classes, and he never did more than just squeak by.

He had a really good excuse even his buddies back home would accept if they knew what it was: he had found the Quidditch section. Echo had made a mention of it and recommended a couple titles at the game and here he was. At a table with a whole pile of quidditch books in front of him. There were books about specific players, teams, moves, games, the history of the game... wizards were as serious about this stuff as Tyler was about baseball.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Brett looked up to see Echo's girl of the red curly, Madame l'Seeker. Weird place to see Elly. "Go ahead," he said sliding his pile a little more to his other side. He tilted his head so he could read some of her titles. "Charms? Man, you ask me what I thought you'd check out... that wouldn't be it. Tell me McKindy's not making us write some mad paper next year, you're just all in it for the kicks, right?" That would not be cool.

0 Brett Hodges Lunchtime? 0 Brett Hodges 0 5

Elly

June 28, 2007 1:06 PM

Lunch? No, far more exciting than that. by Elly

Elly grinned at Brett as he slid his books over to make room for her. She hadn’t really expected him to say no she couldn’t sit there, but then she hadn’t expected to see Brett in the library, either. He was not, by any account, the bookish type. On the other hand, though, neither was she, yet here they both were.

“Charms? Man, you ask me what I thought you'd check out... that wouldn't be it. Tell me McKindy's not making us write some mad paper next year, you're just all in it for the kicks, right?”

Elly laughed loudly, then suddenly stopped, realising she was in a library, and giggled quietly instead. “Nah, McKindy's easy. It’s my own project,” she said, grinning like a fool. “I love these books – they’ve got great stuff in them for a little havoc-causing,” she added, winking at Brett.

She glanced over the titles in his assortment of texts. “Quidditch, huh? You becoming an enthusiast?” she questioned him. “Thinking about joining the team?” Elly knew that Brett liked sports – well, she knew he liked football, anyway. It was a shame in a way that each House was only allowed one Quidditch team – Elly was certain that by next term there would be enough hopefuls to fill two teams.

0 Elly Lunch? No, far more exciting than that. 0 Elly 0 5

Brett Hodges

June 29, 2007 7:49 AM

Ohh... you mean GAMETIME! by Brett Hodges

“Nah, McKindy's easy. It’s my own project,” Elly said, after laughing loudly. Brett smirked. This girl could get kicked out of here, easy. “I love these books – they’ve got great stuff in them for a little havoc-causing.”

Havoc-causing. Images of foul smelling colored smoke came to mind. "What, like that thing in Cascade Hall? That wasn't you was it, cause that was just not cool." People could have gotten seriously hurt in the stampede to get out, and being one of the last ones out was like lung bursting. You don't mess with the air, or shout fire in a crowd, that's all he was saying. Havoc bad.

“Quidditch, huh? You becoming an enthusiast?” “Thinking about joining the team?”

"Thinking about it," he said, noncommittally. It would be good for his crazy competitiveness, but it wouldn't be soccer, and he'd enjoyed himself in the stands. He turned a word-heavy page toward her, "I'm reading up on the rules."

0 Brett Hodges Ohh... you mean GAMETIME! 0 Brett Hodges 0 5

Elly

June 29, 2007 5:08 PM

Something along those lines... by Elly

“What, like that thing in Cascade Hall? That wasn't you was it, cause that was just not cool,” Brett said.

“Oh no,” Elly hastily assured him, shaking her head from side to side so her curls bounced around her shoulders. “No, I don’t know who that was, but it wasn’t me – my pranks are always harmless.” Elly hadn’t been around for the so-called prank in the Hall with the smells and stuff, but of course she’d heard about it. “My havoc is mild and fun – like the snow in the commons at Christmas,” she said, “and before that we stuck down everything in the common room with a temporary sticking charm.” Elly smiled fondly at the memories.

Brett said he was thinking about joining the Quidditch team, and that he was reading up on the rules. “Yeah, there are a lot of rules,” Elly told him, eyeing the heavily printed pages a little warily. “But the main ones are pretty self-explanatory – you know, get the ball through the hoops, catch the Snitch,” she said as if reciting a particularly dull sequence of events. She was grinning, though. “I want to be Quidditch Captain one day,” she told Brett, though most people would probably have guessed that about her already. “I’m going to double my practise hours next year,” (she wasn’t really sure this was possible, seeing as she spent so much time training already, but it sounded good at any rate) “and we are going to win that championship next year!”

Elly realised her voice had risen again and she quickly ducked her head. “Oops,” she whispered, trying not to laugh.

0 Elly Something along those lines... 0 Elly 0 5

Brett Hodges

June 30, 2007 10:04 AM

Thought it might be. by Brett Hodges

"Oh," Brett said after Elly explained her kind of havoc, "Well, I guess that's okay then." He almost asked her what she had planned, but thought better of it. First, she probably didn't know yet--hence the library. Second, the point of a prank was for bystanders to be surprised and he was definite bystander material. He changed it to "Lemme know if I can help" and added, "but I don't do spells."

There was so much group work involved at Sonora, Brett had managed to squeak by, only succeeding at a handful of spells all year. It wasn't so much that he was bad at it--or at least, he didn't know if he was--it was more than he didn't concentrate and never actually tried. He wasn't sure it was worth it. The family line was shoddy, his accidental magic experience was nonexistent, and even if he did try, his results may not have been much better. So who cared? He couldn't even get the stupid broom to come UP most of the time and that one he actually did sort of care about. Once he was on the broom, he was fine, but getting to that point? Oh, man... he hoped Coach Fox never noticed him skipping that part.

“I want to be Quidditch Captain one day. I’m going to double my practise hours next year and we are going to win that championship next year!” Elly promised, too loudly and laughed at her lack of volume control. Brett snickered quietly along with her.

"Heavy promises," Brett commented. Then he had an idea: "Hey, you should do some cross training--you know, work on another sport that will help you with Quidditch. Like for soccer, the best guys do cross country too, and even my little sis who's all like into ballet and stuff got mad skills now that she's doing gymnastics too." At least, his mom claimed she did. He didn't really ever see her dance--he didn't really ever see her, actually. Even before he went away all year, he was always off doing stuff with friends and when he wasn't she was off doing her dance team thing.

Back to Elly, though. "You probably need like crazy reflexes for the snitch catching, right? What about like some major ping pong? Or even just catch. Or handball--handball would be awesome. You name it, I can bring it next year."

0 Brett Hodges Thought it might be. 0 Brett Hodges 0 5

Elly

June 30, 2007 5:28 PM

Whatever gave you that impression? by Elly

Brett offered to help with Elly’s pranks, though he seemed reluctant to want to do any magic himself. Elly wondered whether that was because he didn’t want to get into any trouble or because he wasn’t that good at spells. Either way she understood, but didn’t think it mattered enough to ask. “Not this time, thanks,” Elly replied. “I’m all covered. But I’ll let you know if I need any help in the future.”

Then Brett suggested that Elly did what he referred to as cross-training - playing other sports to improve her Quidditch skills. He went on to explain what he meant, and Elly nodded thoughtfully. It did sound like it might work, and she was willing to try anything that might help Pecari to win that championship.

“Yeah, I love ping pong,” Elly said, enthusiastically but quietly – she was worried the librarian might come and throw her out of she kept being noisy. "That would be good for reflexes."

“You name it, I can bring it next year,” Brett offered.

“Really? Thanks!” Elly grinned at him. “Something like baseball might work,” she thought out-loud. “Batting would be good practise for Beaters and the fielding would help me with the Snitch catching.” Actually, that sounded like good fun. “I need to practise my flying too, though,” Elly admitted. “I still get wobbly if I go too fast.”

0 Elly Whatever gave you that impression? 0 Elly 0 5