| Details for After the Snow Battle |
| Summary: | Some of the stalwart warriors return from the epic snowball fight for some much needed warmth and refreshment. |
| Date: | 19 December, 1939 |
| Location: | Great Hall |
| Related: | DADA: Snowball Wars |
| Characters |
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Fri Dec 219, 1939
It is a fall night. The weather is freezing and overcast.
Great Hall - Ground Floor - Hogwarts Castle
Braziers that hang by chains from the beaks of griffin gargoyles that line the walls where they meet the high vaulted enchanted ceiling offer warm illuminating blazes. Four long tables are evenly spaced with the heads of the table at the north and south of the room. Each table has a cloth runner down the center and a plush rug underneath of the different House colors indicating to which house the table belongs.
The most westerly table is the Slytherin table. Beside them is the Ravenclaw table. The Gryffindor table is then between the Ravenclaw table to the west and the Hufflepuff table which is the most easterly table. One other table along the northern wall up on a dais for the Professors to sit at and look over all four of the other tables. Also on the dais is one lectern gilded in gold with an owl spreading it's wings at the top of the lectern. Candles line the tops of the owl's wings to illuminate anyone speaking at the lectern. A stool like protrusion comes out of the lectern as well as that's where the first years sit when they are sorted.
There are three sets of doors in the Great Hall. The main exit and entrance that leads to the Entry Hall is a large set of double wooden doors carved with vines and flanked by high stone pedestals each set with a small brazier above the stony 'H' carved in the pedestal. On the eastern wall is a much smaller door just next to the dais that's attached to the antechamber the first years come up from the lake through. Lastly one other door is set into the northwest corner behind the High Table.
As always high above within the obscured stone and wood cathedral like buttresses and crockets the outside weather is reflected in an illusion with all the sound and visuals of the weather, just without the actual effects of it.
"Biscuits!" Madeline says cheerfully as she bounces into the hall - still shedding clumps of snow. "And- is that jam? Yes!" The girl drops into a seat on one of the benches and happily starts serving herself - slathering a shortbread biscuit with jam and eating it before she even bothers with the tea.
Amyah's cheeks are still rosy red from the outdoor air. Her hat has been pulled off, her mittens, and scarf, tucked into a pocket as she merrily strides into the Great Hall. "I'm sure that I did terrible from a class standpoint, but that was excellent fun," says the girl happily. Her red hair falls freely, cascading around her freckled face. "Hey, Madeline, you've gotten really good at that smokescreen spell," Amyah compliments. "Brrrrr, I'm still cold!" she says, but giggles out as she reaches for the pot of tea and a cup.
Gareth is sitting at the Ravenclaw table, hunched over an essay he's been writing since dinner. But at the sound of people returning to the hall, all chilled and excited from the battle, he finishes scratching the last few words and looks up, blinking several times to clear his vision. "Who won?" he calls, stuffing the stopper into his ink bottle and closing a few books.
"It was great fun!" Madeline agrees. "And I'm pretty good at that one! I practiced it incase I'd need it for- you know. All that stuff that happened." She stirs some sugar into her tea while calling across to Gareth, in a triumphant crow. "I won! Even in death, I was victorious!" she says dramatically. "Though wounded by the sting of a thousand snowballs…!"
"I've have to get more practice," Amyah intones. She just finishes pouring cream, and spooning some sugar, into her tea when she lifts her head and looks over to Gareth. She offers the Ravenclaw a bright smile, but glances at Madeline as she lets out a laugh at the younger girl. "Yea, Madeline won. She was the most spirited." She gives a little grin, and raises a hand to beckon Gareth. "What are you working? Come on over for some company. There's biscuits!" she announces, and reaching out to pick one for herself and bite into it.
Gareth packs his things into his overstuffed schoolbag, then pushes himself to his feet. "Where's everyone else?" he asks, looking toward the doors, as he makes his way toward the yummy refreshments. "Or did you leave the others in a frozen grave out there?" He drops the bag onto the bench, then sits beside it and reaches for a cup of cocoa. "Just a Charms paper that's due Monday. It was actually due today, but I managed to get an extension. I wasn't very happy with a section I'd written, so…."
Madeline giggles. "Yup! We buried them all. There'll be a lot fewer students at the school come January!" she confirms, sipping her tea - and slathering more jam on a biscuit. "Gosh - you're going to do work over the break?"
"Be careful when you go outside next," Amyah pipes up after sipping from her tea. "They might have turned into scary ghost monsters at this time." At the 'scary ghost monster' part her voice drops into an 'ooooh' spooky manner. Then she grins, her green eyes twinkling as she shrugs her shoulders. Her eyes stare widely at Gareth. "Oh, you aren't going home for the holidays?"
Gareth tests his cocoa, then wrinkles his nose and reaches for his wand. "Oh, I'll be going home on Monday. Floo Network to London to see my Nanna, and then we'll both be taking the train to Brecon. And there are plenty of scary ghost monsters at home, so I'm not too worried." He taps his wand to the edge of his mug, and the contents bubble slightly, steam rising from the chocolately goodness. "You two aren't staying here over break, are you?"
Abraxas had to stay behind to help the Professor clean up after the snowball fight. So he's still snow-covered when he arrives back in the great hall, removing his hat and scarf and gloves and rubbing his hands together briskly to warm them up. He makes his way towards the fire, with the tea and bikkies to follow.
"Oh, gosh no. I'm going home. I have lots plans! Angus is coming over, and I'm gonna visit Elspeth - with my German brothers and sister - and I'm gonna see Rena in London and me and Penelope and her are gonna watch a new movie from America!" Madeline explains in an eager tone.
Amyah draws in a big breath over top of her mug, closing her eyes as she lets out a, "Mmmm." Her hands around her mug for warmth, she sips before she sets it down and picks her biscuit back up. She smiles as she shakes her head. "Me, too," she says, but then quickly continues, "er, I mean, not doing all that stuff, just, going home, I mean. I'm so excited to see my parents. Wow, Madeline," she says, giving the girl a look. "That's going to be a very busy holiday." When she looks towards the doors to see Abraxas, she smiles, and rises a little as she lifts a hand, waving him over. "You can come over here if you want, Malfoy," she offers, just being friendly.
Gareth wrinkles his nose in distaste. "You're going to allow yourself to be locked in a darkened auditorium with a group of Muggles, watching a moving picture about American boy-cows or ganglanders? That sounds more like something one would subject oneself to at Hallowe'en than Christmas." He tests his cocoa again, nodding in satisfaction this time. When Amyah draws attention to Abraxas, Gareth sits up a little straighter, his eyes brightening. "Yes, Malfoy, do join us. I've been hoping I'd run into you before break began."
Abraxas has finished putting his things off to dry, and then pours himself a mug of tea and takes a few biscuits and puts them on a plate. Then he heads over, getting as close to one of the enormous fireplaces as he can. It was cold outside, and now he's a bit damp on top of it. "Hello, Carrow. Welcome back. Have you been looking for me? I hadn't heard." He nods to the others, as well, politely.
"Oh, I love the cinema! So does Colton. It's a lot of fun! I saw this movie about a Mummy that came to life - it was sooooooo neat," Madeline says eagerly. As Abraxas comes nearer, the girl adds cheekily, "I think he wants you to help him with his insults. He's not very creative."
"I think it sounds really fun," comments Amyah. She gives Madeline a grin as she dips her biscuit in her tea, and then takes another bite. "What movie are you going to see?" she asks. She glances to Gareth and smiles to him. "Have you ever been to a cinema, Carrow?" she asks curiously, and carries on, "I bet you'd enjoy it. It'd be a new experience." She glances to Abraxas, and then between Gareth and Madeline as she bites her lower lip. After a moment, she pipes up, "No, no one wants to insult anyone, right? We're all having warm drinks and biscuits!" She beams.
"I'm not insulting anyone at the moment, no." Abraxas replies, with a little shrug, "I'm just trying to warm up." He rubs his hands against his arms, and then wraps them around the warm mug. Then he looks to Gareth as if waiting to here why he was sought.
Gareth glances sidewise at Madeline, sniffing indignantly. "My insults are just fine," he asserts, then glances to Amyah. "I spent Hallowe'en here, dancing with Ripley. So no, I've never experienced the horror of a Muggle movie picture. I've also never been in one of their horseless carriages, though I've dodged the riotous, stench-belching things in London. Thankfully, I've never seen such a thing in Brecon." With a smug little smile, he looks toward Abraxas at last. "I understand you belong to a certain club I'm rather interested in joining. I was initiated at Durmstrang, but…well, the commute is rather impossible, and besides, I think I can do a lot more good here." His left hand snakes beneath his necktie and into his shirt, pulling out a certain silver symbol for the young Malfoy to see, before hiding it once again.
"Not compared to Malfoy's they're not," Madeline answers blithely, before smiling towards Amyah. "Oh, we're going to see a film called 'The Wizard of Oz.' It's by an American Muggle, you see, but it's about a girl my age who gets sent to another world, somehow, above the rainbow with her dog and there's wizards and witches there and she has to find her way home. It has a really pretty song called 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow!' Rena taught it to me."
Abraxas can't help but roll his eyes slight at Madeline's mention of the famous - or infamous - Auror, but he keeps his mouth shut, perhaps because it hides chattering teeth. He nods to Gareth, and says, "Then if you joined at Durmstrang, I shouldn't see it as a problem. I understand, rumor has it, that you've been spending a lot of time around the Eibon boy, though. You should know that he was cast out."
Gareth straightens again, chin lifting. "I had heard that, yes. I think he should be let back in. In fact, I'm afraid I must insist upon it. I know he made a rather grave error in judgement, and I know he regrets how things turned out. He's one of us, and he needs to remain one of us. There are too few who think as we think at this school. We simply cannot afford to turn away anyone of the right lineage. Not when we're surrounded on all sides by those who have been woefully misinformed and desperately need our guidance." He glances quickly toward the two girls, then back to Abraxas. "The time will come when a stand must be taken. Do we really want to exclude someone who had the courage to stand up for his convictions, no matter how misguided? Or should we instead foster and nurture those convictions, so that next time, he makes the right choice?" He pauses for a moment. "I had more than a few moments of indecision when things became heated at Durmstrang. There were so many rumors, so much confusion. Leander Fox was dead, Ripley had vanished without even saying good-bye. Professor Dippet tried to speak with me, but I couldn't believe what he was saying. But then, after a week or so, I had a visitor." He looks up again with a small smile. "I won't say that it was Gellert Grindelwald, but…we spoke for some time, and he cleared things up for me. I understood that we all have our role to play in the coming conflict. Mine, he said, is to unite the true students of Hogwarts. To gather us all together to a common purpose, for the greater good. I only have a few months left at school, so I can't really afford to waste any time. It's simply too important that I succeed. That we succeed."
Amyah frowns down into her drink for a moment, finishing off her biscuit and taking another sip of tea. When she looks up again, she's smile kindly and her eyes twinkle. "They really aren't anything to be afraid of. Really," she insists. She glances to Madeline and lets out a squeak of excitement. "Oh, oh, oh! Really? You're going to go see the Wizard of Oz? Oh, that sounds like so much fun! My daddy and I used to read them together all the time, before bed. " Her green eyes dart to Abraxas and Gareth. "Hey, there's the private chambers just outside in the entry hall if you two want to discuss things between yourselves. It's not really private in the Great Hall, right?" She offers out a little smile.
Abraxas finishes his tea, then tosses the dregs into the fire and leaves the mug to be collected later. "I don't believe that you get to insist on anything, Carrow. A single mistake may have started it, but there have been a cascade of others since. As far as I'm concerned, he's not our kind of people, and most of the others agree with me. As for courage… that's laughable." Malfoy stands, and says, "We can speak later about the rest. But you will find, I think, that Hogwarts is a different place than Durmstrang, and that you arrived here just a bit too late to do the most good."
Madeline rolls her eyes at all the talk about the Magijugend - but ignores it, instead beaming at Amyah. "You've read it? Wow! Rena said she's gonna try to find me a copy, but she said it might be a little hard, on account it's an American book and all. But it sounds so good! Is it good?"
Gareth stands then, lifting his chin again to Abraxas. "Your father is a very powerful, very influential man, Malfoy. There's no denying it. But I think you'll find my family is just as old, maybe even older. There were Caeriws in Britain long before the Malfoys arrived with the Normans and Plantagenets. We have business contacts throughout Europe." He slips fingers under his shirt again, touching the medallion. "And after all, I was anointed by a rather important personage. I should think you'd want me as an ally, especially in such troubling times. Hogwarts is a very different place than Durmstrang, it's true. An undesirable element has had far too much influence for far too long. But I don't believe it's too late to do the most good, and deep down, I don't believe you do either. Our time is just beginning, Malfoy. It's the birth of a new era, an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity for our people. But no birth occurs without pain and bloodshed, and we must all be prepared do to our part in the coming conflict. And make no mistake, the opening skirmishes haven't happened yet. What occurred here at Hogwarts was merely a prelude to what's to come. Think about what I've said, talk it over with the others, and write to me over break when you've reached a decision. I'll be in London Monday, but Brecon until New Years. I'm sure your owl will find me." He gives a small, cocky grin then. "It's the only Norman-style keep in the Beacons, so it shouldn't have any trouble finding its way."
"Threats and ultimatums, especially ones that are veiled so thinly in commentary about relative family importance, are a funny way to make allies, Carrow." Abraxas stands and tugs his robes back into place. "Apparently Durmstrang doesn't teach much in the way of subtlety. Maybe that's why you and Eibon get along so well… He's about as subtle as a reductor curse in a sewing circle. All things will happen in their own good time. And when they do, I know which side I will be on." He picks up his things, and says, "Now, if you will excuse me." He nods his head once, and says, "Good evening."
"I love the books. I've read them so much." Amyah glances down sheepishly, cheeks glowing red. "They're kind of beat up," she admits. She lifts her cup to sip, glances towards Abraxas and Gareth again, and then towards Madeline as she offers out a smile. "You know," she starts, looking down for a second. "Well, they truly are well worn, but they're still together. If you want them, well, I'd be happy to share them with you."
"No threats, Malfoy," Gareth says, still smiling as he collects his schoolbag. "No ultimatums. Simply an offer: stand with us. Think about what I've said, and enjoy your break." He glances again to the girls, his smile faltering just a bit into a smirk. "Happy Christmas, ladies. Enjoy your breaks as well. There's no telling what you might find when you return to Hogwarts next year." He slings the bag onto one shoulder, takes one last sip of cocoa, then leaves the mug and begins making his way toward the doors, following in Abraxas's wake.
"See? Reductor curse in a sewing circle. Malfoy's got the good insults," Madeline comments helpfully, drinking some more tea. She puts on a merry smile - though she hates hearing them talk about a future for the Magijugend. Didn't she just get rid of that nonsense?
Her attention returns to Amyah as she adds, "Really? I'd love to read them! Do you have them here at school? Could I borrow them for the break? Would you mind horribly?"
"What? Reductor curse?" Amyah blinks, glancing from Madeline and up to the two boys, looking confused. Apparently she missed something, but she lifts a hand to wave to Abraxas when he heads out. "Bye!" she calls out. She closes her eyes as she smiles warmly. "Thank you, Carrow. You too, I hope you have a good holiday!" She's as friendly and genuine as ever. When she looks to Madeline again, Amyah bobs her head. "Sure you can. I'll give them to you tomorrow on the train ride, okay?"
"I'm not sure what it is," Madeline answers Amyah. "But it sure sounds like a great insult - don't it?" she asks. She smiles at the girl - though the smile fades away as the two Magijugend leave. "I can't believe they're still trying to change the school with their stupid club," she mutters under her breath. "Didn't they learn anything? Geeze." She lets out a heavy sigh. "Anyways. Yeah, I'll see y you on the train. I guess I should go up and finish packing, though."
Amyah manages a weak little smile, once again glancing after the two boys. With a shake of her head, she brings her gaze back to Madeline. "Well they can't, because look how many people will stand up to it." She offers out a little, reassuring smile, which fades with sadness. "All we can do is be friendly, though, right?" She drinks from her cup again and then reaches out to tap Madeline on the shoulder. "Yup, I'll see you on the train."
"Yeah, like so many stood up before," Madeline mumbles quietly. She still remembers how many would join her in the peaceful protests. It still bothers her. Wearing a rare frown, she makes her way from the great hall.