...And the Monster of Amristar
Mar. 25th, 2008 06:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
subplotkudzuBecause Commander Zoom was interested....
Chapter 1: Diagon Alley
Our story opens in Diagon Alley a week before class starts at Hogwarts. The Dee twins, Castor & Pollux, were brought there by their mother to finish shopping for school supplies and to buy each of the boys a pet as a present for their good behavior over the summer. When Castor pushed their mother was firm that the pet must be suitable for the school and not, for example, a pony. They started with the Eelyops Owlery, where, denied a pony, Castor settled on a barn owl, which he named Yorick. The rattling of the owl-stand’s wheels on the cobblestones slowed the trio until Mrs. Dee cast a levitation charm. Their next stop, the Magical Menagerie, also failed to produce any animals that catch Pollux’s fancy, so their mother ledds them into Knock-turn Alley and the third pet shop in the market.
Along the way Pollux noticed a man trying his best to be unobtrusive, but his wizarding clothes didn’t fit quite right and he was keeping the whole of the alley under observation, repeatedly making notes on a small pad. Juliet Moore also spotted this curious character, but was unable to articulate this to her father.
Juliet was shopping with her father, one of many outings since her mum’s death in a lethifold’s embrace earlier in the year. It was obvious that Mr. Moore was over-compensating for his wife’s absence by showering Juliet with gifts and smothering her with attention, and that Juliet was mildly freaked out by this. Her interest in music led them into Tenora’s Instruments, where she had her first meeting with Jasmyn Fontaine.
Jasmyn and her sister Daisy were just returned from Cairo, where they left their parents to their round-the-world performance tour. Daisy assured them that, as a prefect and a world traveler, she was quite capable of getting the two of them to Diagon Alley and Hogwarts by herself. She was inside Tenora’s looking for fresh violin strings, and her sister was meandering about, bored. Seeing a girl her age Jasmyn pounced, peppering Juliet with questions and observations, oblivious to the shy girl’s growing discomfort.
The customer ahead of them was a woman querying the shopkeeper about pipes that gave rhythm to anyone who heard them. "My father swore by them, said they were the only thing that saved his feet from mother's love for spike heels." Daisy finished her purchase and disentangled her sister from the now silent Juliet. Mr. Moore purchased his daughter a flute at her whimpered request and congratulated her on already making a friend for school. They then headed for the pet stores. There Juliet overplayed the guilt card, getting her father upset and getting her pulled into the line for Olivander’s.
In Knockturn Alley the Dee family entered Genus’ Exotic Beasts where, much to Castor’s disappointment, they had a corral of eohippi, so that he might have gotten a pony if he had waited. Pollux became charmed with a large grey tabby, 12 kilo of cat. The friendly beast was inside a cage marked with the outrageous price of 100 galleons, and when Mrs. Dee was told by the distracted clerk that there were no exceptions to the listed prices she sighed and prepared to disappoint her son. Before she could open her mouth an exotic bird in the shop’s bay window squawked loudly, proclaiming: "the kettle called the pot black, but the black’s blood is true, so the pot burned the kettle and shoved him up the flue!"
With this the shopkeeper looked up and proclaimed that the cat must have snuck into the wrong cage! He quickly completed the transaction and the cat leapt into the diminutive Dee boy’s arms. As the family left the door was opened from without by a tall Hindu man. His entry prompted another outburst from the bird – "Hello Professor Kettleburn, and a nice day to flue!" – and Kettleburn shot the proprietor a look. The Dee boys made out the start of an interesting argument and maneuvered to keep Pollux in the shop while Castor distracted Mom. (GM: “are you arranging to stay in and listen?” Tom and Jim:
Pollux heard Kettleburn accusing Genus Doddington of trafficking invasive, threatened or dangerous species: Ice Toads, Grymalkin, Tebo, etc. Doddington, all smiles, offered to let Kettleburn search the shop. “just got some eohippi from Foundation, and I have some great Knockers!”, but he’d never keep creatures that Kettleburn would take off to be destroyed! "Not being the animal lover I am!" Pollux slipped out before he was seen and the family headed off to Fortiscue’s.
Queued outside Olivander’s Juliet saw another girl her age exiting the shop; the girl is clearly blessed with an abundance of money but was not as lucky in the brains department as, despite her mother’s instruction, she was shooting sparks from her new wand as they walked. Juliet found Olivander’s a creepy place, and her father clearly shared her discomfort. Still, she managed to select a wand that produced the “static wand head” of a true wand/wizard match. The Moores headed to Fortiscue’s to conclude the outing with some ice cream.
The shop was busy in the August heat and the free seats were at the table claimed by Daisy and Jasmyn. The Dee Boys politely asked if they could join them. Mr. Moore gave his daughter a fatherly shove to go socialize with her friend from the music shop while the adults get ice cream. Juliet was better able to resist Jasmyn’s outgoing nature, being both better prepared and having the Dee boys also in the voluble girl’s line of fire. Daisy returned with ice cream for her sister that slowed her mouth and the quartet of soon-to-be first years and their prefect fell into companionable chatter.
This amiable scene was interrupted by the arrival of the girl from Olivander’s. She introduced herself as Paracelsus, or Peri, Undulata. Peri grabbed a chair and proceeded to prattle about the upcoming year and how she’s going to be sorted in Slytherin, how she figures that the Dee brothers would be sorted there as well, like their father the magistrate, or Ravenclaw like their mother, but wouldn’t it just be a shame to be sorted into Hufflepuff? “Why I would leave rather than that!”
Juliet’s icy response, “My mother was in Hufflepuff,” killed the conversation for a second before Peri tried to paper things over by asking blunt and tactless questions about Mrs. Moore’s death, forcing Jasmyn to step in to help the clearly furious Juliet. Meanwhile, Daisy was ever-so-slightly distracted by watching Mr. Moore, Mrs. Dee & Mrs. Undulata have a conversation while getting the ice cream – that talk obviously went equally well, as it ended with Mrs. Undulata throwing coffee over Mrs. Dee and storming off, stopping to drag her daughter away. Mr. Moore took charge (after stopping Mrs. Dee from hexing her attacker), suggesting that Daisy take the kids to Gambol & Japes while Mrs. Dee cleaned up.
No sooner said than done, and Daisy learned that her future as a prefect might be harder than she thought as the twins headed in one direction and the girls, now fast friends after that incident with Peri, in another. The boys were towards the back of the shop when Pollux’s cat, by now named Bess, leapt from Pollux arms and sprinted out the shop’s back door. The boys followed, and, being seen by Juliet, were followed in turn, Jasmyn innocently pocketed what she’d been looking at. The caboose of this train was Daisy, who was well used to chasing her sister. Outside the boys found Bess atop some boxes, observing a meeting of some unsavory characters. The twins ducked but did their best to listen.
They saw a tall, stooped man wearing a memorable purple, blue-runed cloak, his face deeply lined, features distinctly English and eyes cateraxed, talking to a large, broad shouldered man whose back was to them. The boys nearly screamed when the girls collided into them, but the quartet did an admirable job of keeping things quiet and not attracting attention as they eavesdropped.
The man in front of them was named Olaf, and he's on the run from the Aurors. He's looking for help from the older man facing them, Reg. Reg is also hiding, but everyone thinks he's dead. Olaf found him via divination. Olaf commented on how Reg looks exactly the same - how can he stay hidden? It became clear that Olaf is blackmailing Reg for help. He also marveled at how Reg managed to get somewhere that he'd both stay hidden and have access to the most well stocked magic labs this side of Durmstrang.
Olaf pressed, saying that with Reg's access they could perform spells such as a Tempust with a real effect. Reg squashed this idea. The two men had reversed positions in their warily circling and Olaf’s keener sight spotted the young quartet. Olaf let out a roar and a hex - Pedium Ocular - that hurled the kids back with painful, blinding blows to their eyes. Castor, Pollux & Juliet, all of a diminutive stature, are knocked cold and Juliet, who fled at the first sign of trouble, was hurled into Daisy just as the prefect entered the alley, throwing both back into a display of fireworks in Gambol & Japes. Jasmyn, blinded but still conscious, heard Olaf launch another hex that sent a gout of flame towards her and the twins.
The prefect’s reflexes proved the better, however, as Daisy, from inside the shop, erected a Protego spell over her sister. The fire splashed, lighting several fireworks, and Daisy was forced to grab Juliet and leap clear of the explosions. Jasmyn heard another voice challenging Olaf Woden followed by a quick battle of hexes. When Daisy got outside the woman she saw in Tenora’s was busy dispelling a boar before it could trample anyone, but both of the men in the alley had fled.
Their savior introduced herself as Chrysalis Briar, an Auror. Briar assisted the parents and Daisy in reviving the children and cleared away the bruised face and raccoon eyes common to victims of a Pedium Olular. After questioning the kids on the particulars of the event (and defending their action to their parents, who have since arrived) she began her pursuit of Woden, a wanted Death Eater. Mr. Moore & Mrs. Dee are scared & proud in equal measure - more the latter once Briar and possibly Daisy explained the full situation to them. Once things calmed down the children were bought back to Fortiscues' to have their interrupted ice cream, and Mr. Moore puts Daisy’s mind at ease about how he couldn’t have expected the prefect to have prevented what occurred, though it would have been nice....
Our story opens in Diagon Alley a week before class starts at Hogwarts. The Dee twins, Castor & Pollux, were brought there by their mother to finish shopping for school supplies and to buy each of the boys a pet as a present for their good behavior over the summer. When Castor pushed their mother was firm that the pet must be suitable for the school and not, for example, a pony. They started with the Eelyops Owlery, where, denied a pony, Castor settled on a barn owl, which he named Yorick. The rattling of the owl-stand’s wheels on the cobblestones slowed the trio until Mrs. Dee cast a levitation charm. Their next stop, the Magical Menagerie, also failed to produce any animals that catch Pollux’s fancy, so their mother ledds them into Knock-turn Alley and the third pet shop in the market.
Along the way Pollux noticed a man trying his best to be unobtrusive, but his wizarding clothes didn’t fit quite right and he was keeping the whole of the alley under observation, repeatedly making notes on a small pad. Juliet Moore also spotted this curious character, but was unable to articulate this to her father.
Juliet was shopping with her father, one of many outings since her mum’s death in a lethifold’s embrace earlier in the year. It was obvious that Mr. Moore was over-compensating for his wife’s absence by showering Juliet with gifts and smothering her with attention, and that Juliet was mildly freaked out by this. Her interest in music led them into Tenora’s Instruments, where she had her first meeting with Jasmyn Fontaine.
Jasmyn and her sister Daisy were just returned from Cairo, where they left their parents to their round-the-world performance tour. Daisy assured them that, as a prefect and a world traveler, she was quite capable of getting the two of them to Diagon Alley and Hogwarts by herself. She was inside Tenora’s looking for fresh violin strings, and her sister was meandering about, bored. Seeing a girl her age Jasmyn pounced, peppering Juliet with questions and observations, oblivious to the shy girl’s growing discomfort.
The customer ahead of them was a woman querying the shopkeeper about pipes that gave rhythm to anyone who heard them. "My father swore by them, said they were the only thing that saved his feet from mother's love for spike heels." Daisy finished her purchase and disentangled her sister from the now silent Juliet. Mr. Moore purchased his daughter a flute at her whimpered request and congratulated her on already making a friend for school. They then headed for the pet stores. There Juliet overplayed the guilt card, getting her father upset and getting her pulled into the line for Olivander’s.
In Knockturn Alley the Dee family entered Genus’ Exotic Beasts where, much to Castor’s disappointment, they had a corral of eohippi, so that he might have gotten a pony if he had waited. Pollux became charmed with a large grey tabby, 12 kilo of cat. The friendly beast was inside a cage marked with the outrageous price of 100 galleons, and when Mrs. Dee was told by the distracted clerk that there were no exceptions to the listed prices she sighed and prepared to disappoint her son. Before she could open her mouth an exotic bird in the shop’s bay window squawked loudly, proclaiming: "the kettle called the pot black, but the black’s blood is true, so the pot burned the kettle and shoved him up the flue!"
With this the shopkeeper looked up and proclaimed that the cat must have snuck into the wrong cage! He quickly completed the transaction and the cat leapt into the diminutive Dee boy’s arms. As the family left the door was opened from without by a tall Hindu man. His entry prompted another outburst from the bird – "Hello Professor Kettleburn, and a nice day to flue!" – and Kettleburn shot the proprietor a look. The Dee boys made out the start of an interesting argument and maneuvered to keep Pollux in the shop while Castor distracted Mom. (GM: “are you arranging to stay in and listen?” Tom and Jim:
Pollux heard Kettleburn accusing Genus Doddington of trafficking invasive, threatened or dangerous species: Ice Toads, Grymalkin, Tebo, etc. Doddington, all smiles, offered to let Kettleburn search the shop. “just got some eohippi from Foundation, and I have some great Knockers!”, but he’d never keep creatures that Kettleburn would take off to be destroyed! "Not being the animal lover I am!" Pollux slipped out before he was seen and the family headed off to Fortiscue’s.
Queued outside Olivander’s Juliet saw another girl her age exiting the shop; the girl is clearly blessed with an abundance of money but was not as lucky in the brains department as, despite her mother’s instruction, she was shooting sparks from her new wand as they walked. Juliet found Olivander’s a creepy place, and her father clearly shared her discomfort. Still, she managed to select a wand that produced the “static wand head” of a true wand/wizard match. The Moores headed to Fortiscue’s to conclude the outing with some ice cream.
The shop was busy in the August heat and the free seats were at the table claimed by Daisy and Jasmyn. The Dee Boys politely asked if they could join them. Mr. Moore gave his daughter a fatherly shove to go socialize with her friend from the music shop while the adults get ice cream. Juliet was better able to resist Jasmyn’s outgoing nature, being both better prepared and having the Dee boys also in the voluble girl’s line of fire. Daisy returned with ice cream for her sister that slowed her mouth and the quartet of soon-to-be first years and their prefect fell into companionable chatter.
This amiable scene was interrupted by the arrival of the girl from Olivander’s. She introduced herself as Paracelsus, or Peri, Undulata. Peri grabbed a chair and proceeded to prattle about the upcoming year and how she’s going to be sorted in Slytherin, how she figures that the Dee brothers would be sorted there as well, like their father the magistrate, or Ravenclaw like their mother, but wouldn’t it just be a shame to be sorted into Hufflepuff? “Why I would leave rather than that!”
Juliet’s icy response, “My mother was in Hufflepuff,” killed the conversation for a second before Peri tried to paper things over by asking blunt and tactless questions about Mrs. Moore’s death, forcing Jasmyn to step in to help the clearly furious Juliet. Meanwhile, Daisy was ever-so-slightly distracted by watching Mr. Moore, Mrs. Dee & Mrs. Undulata have a conversation while getting the ice cream – that talk obviously went equally well, as it ended with Mrs. Undulata throwing coffee over Mrs. Dee and storming off, stopping to drag her daughter away. Mr. Moore took charge (after stopping Mrs. Dee from hexing her attacker), suggesting that Daisy take the kids to Gambol & Japes while Mrs. Dee cleaned up.
No sooner said than done, and Daisy learned that her future as a prefect might be harder than she thought as the twins headed in one direction and the girls, now fast friends after that incident with Peri, in another. The boys were towards the back of the shop when Pollux’s cat, by now named Bess, leapt from Pollux arms and sprinted out the shop’s back door. The boys followed, and, being seen by Juliet, were followed in turn, Jasmyn innocently pocketed what she’d been looking at. The caboose of this train was Daisy, who was well used to chasing her sister. Outside the boys found Bess atop some boxes, observing a meeting of some unsavory characters. The twins ducked but did their best to listen.
They saw a tall, stooped man wearing a memorable purple, blue-runed cloak, his face deeply lined, features distinctly English and eyes cateraxed, talking to a large, broad shouldered man whose back was to them. The boys nearly screamed when the girls collided into them, but the quartet did an admirable job of keeping things quiet and not attracting attention as they eavesdropped.
The man in front of them was named Olaf, and he's on the run from the Aurors. He's looking for help from the older man facing them, Reg. Reg is also hiding, but everyone thinks he's dead. Olaf found him via divination. Olaf commented on how Reg looks exactly the same - how can he stay hidden? It became clear that Olaf is blackmailing Reg for help. He also marveled at how Reg managed to get somewhere that he'd both stay hidden and have access to the most well stocked magic labs this side of Durmstrang.
Olaf pressed, saying that with Reg's access they could perform spells such as a Tempust with a real effect. Reg squashed this idea. The two men had reversed positions in their warily circling and Olaf’s keener sight spotted the young quartet. Olaf let out a roar and a hex - Pedium Ocular - that hurled the kids back with painful, blinding blows to their eyes. Castor, Pollux & Juliet, all of a diminutive stature, are knocked cold and Juliet, who fled at the first sign of trouble, was hurled into Daisy just as the prefect entered the alley, throwing both back into a display of fireworks in Gambol & Japes. Jasmyn, blinded but still conscious, heard Olaf launch another hex that sent a gout of flame towards her and the twins.
The prefect’s reflexes proved the better, however, as Daisy, from inside the shop, erected a Protego spell over her sister. The fire splashed, lighting several fireworks, and Daisy was forced to grab Juliet and leap clear of the explosions. Jasmyn heard another voice challenging Olaf Woden followed by a quick battle of hexes. When Daisy got outside the woman she saw in Tenora’s was busy dispelling a boar before it could trample anyone, but both of the men in the alley had fled.
Their savior introduced herself as Chrysalis Briar, an Auror. Briar assisted the parents and Daisy in reviving the children and cleared away the bruised face and raccoon eyes common to victims of a Pedium Olular. After questioning the kids on the particulars of the event (and defending their action to their parents, who have since arrived) she began her pursuit of Woden, a wanted Death Eater. Mr. Moore & Mrs. Dee are scared & proud in equal measure - more the latter once Briar and possibly Daisy explained the full situation to them. Once things calmed down the children were bought back to Fortiscues' to have their interrupted ice cream, and Mr. Moore puts Daisy’s mind at ease about how he couldn’t have expected the prefect to have prevented what occurred, though it would have been nice....
