Details for The Fawley Raising Bee |
Summary: | The Fawley Family rebuilds a barn; fun for the whole community! |
Date: | November 19, 1941 |
Location: | Fawley Family Farm, Hogsmeade |
Related: | — |
Characters |
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A barn raising, also historically called a raising bee or rearing in the U.K., is a collective action of a community, in which a barn for one of the members is built or rebuilt collectively by members of the community. A good portion of Hogsmeade and friends of the Fawley Family have turned out for the two day event on November 19th and 20th. With the benefit of being a magical community the toil and trouble of hauling the elements of barn building is reduced greatly. It is still a highly social event and comes with the same sort of social dos and don'ts as the muggle version. A 'raising bee' is more about community in Hogsmeade than it is about the barn.
All able-bodied members of the community are expected to attend. Failure to attend a barn raising without the best of reasons leads to censure within the community. While anyone under the age of 16 can't help out using magic, they have their own important jobs such as sanding, painting, keeping an eye on/playing with all of the animals that are homeless for the time being, making sure that the adults are well watered and fed. Plenty for everyone to do! It is a rather beautiful Autumn day, it is crisp without being cold, that heady scent of autumn is thick in the air. Only slightly overcast it is quite a picturesqe setting.
Being a part of the Hogsmeade weekend, Virgil is of course, out and about in town when he hears word and sees a great many of the locals in particular headed in the direction of the Fawley Farm. This was really unfortunate, as it meant that the shops would likely be closed, and attendance at the event was likely expected. He perks up a bit however, when he decides that this might let him witness some new spell work in action, and is quick to follow others out to the farm. He looks for the most adult looking person in charge and asks, "What can I do?" and looks around the area for something that a fourth year could be expected to do. His health might impose a few limitations, but he'd like to pitch in where he can.
Camilla has set up a spit pit in the gravel path that leads up to the Big House's 'drive way'. A nogtail is spitted and looks like it's already been roasting most of the day. The pig looking demon tastes like suckling pig with a natural spiciness to it. She's currently tending to it, moping some sort of sauce over it with one hand while the spit automatically spins. Even while basting she's still organizing. Pointing Josie towards one of the back pens to go keep the animals within quiet and calm. When Virgil approaches she gives him a dazzling white smile. "Hello there, thank you for coming." Her dark curls that are back in a ponytail bounce as she looks around. "There are some shingles stacked up over there. Think you could paint the underside with pitch ane lay them out to dry?" Effie is greeted similarly. "Welcome! Not late at all. Just getting started."
Morgana has been here all weekend helping with coordinating what needs to go where and when. The Unspeakable wearing a long inky black cloak and her long dark hair is loose over her shoulders. For the moment she's keeping an eye on the Hippogryff pen, tossing a few tasty treats their way to keep them satisfied. When the students start poring in she has a moment to realize just how young they all look and how old she feels. "Don't be shy, come on over." She says tossing the last animal over the fence and walking away from it. "The shingles are over here and the pitch is right next to it. Don't worry about getting diry we'll get you cleaned up before you head back up to the castle."
Phee wasn't really a member of Hogsmeade, no, she was just sort of… meandering through at the moment, in plainclothes and with a dour look on her face. She'd had a bad day at the Three Broomsticks and was in the mood to walk it off. Her pink dress and purse weren't really well-suited to this sort of thing… whatever sort of a thing it was. But it didn't stop her from poking her head in with curiosity and watching for a few minutes from a distance. Once she had the sense of what was going on, and once she'd seen Virgil go in, she follows with a sheepish smile on her face. Well, clothes were just clothes; they could always be mended and cleaned afterwards. "Ah, hullo. Suppose I can help a bit? Mayhap wi' the wee bairns, or the beasties, or per'aps you need a 'and cooking?"
"I can't do the uh, manual stuff, for very long, but I can try," Virgil tells Camilla honestly and then nods at Morgana as he picks up a brush and starts putting the pitch onto shingles as described. He is the sort of boy who is never timid, despite his health, or perhaps, because of it, and simply throws himself at the task without asking for a lot of directions. He assumes his knowledge is sufficient, and applies himself wholly. "Will there be any interesting magic to raise a barn? I've actually been puzzling over uses of packing and repair magics to assemble things, not necessarily barns, but objects of varying complexity; it has been my pet project recently," he tells anyone within earshot, since he can't be tell who is present enough to hear him.
"Once these are set out, what would you like me to do?" Effie tilts her head. "And I'm glad I'm not late. I'd meant to be here earlier, but I just felt more tired than expected." The auror chuckles softly. "Scones and shortbread, and a ginger cake. I hope you like them. And… where would they go?" She looks around her, then turns her gaze back to Camilla. "Lachlann had to go into the office."
Camilla has basted the nogtail so she leaves the mop in the basting bucket hanging on the side of the spit. Clapping her hands clean even though they are already clean she points out for Virgil, "If you get tired, you can keep an eye on the creatures. They are a bit on the jittery side. You like owls?" She gestures over her shoulder to the porch of the farm house, where it is lined and filled with perches, each one has an owl on it. Most of them are ancient owls, or owls with missing wings, legs and or are blind in some fashion. "Oh I know that so very well." She has after all spent many many years engaged to an Auror who's married to his job first. "Anywhere on the food tables would be fine. It looks delicious, thank you so much." She points to a few emply places on the couple of buffet tables laid out, not to far from the spit pit.
Well, that was as good as an answer; Phee liked owls and that was a start. "If ye dinnae mind," Phee spoke again, a little more loudly, "I -dae- like owls. Adorable wee wingers. Also vicious. But adorable."
"Oh, okay," Virgil says to Camilla when she directs him toward the owls. He nods toward the woman, but doesn't move from his station by the roofing, where he does a rather mediocre job, but a competent one. He continues to arrange things for another minute or two before he gets up from the workbench and walks over toward the owl cages. Stopping for a second at the table where Effie is putting things up, to help her get things out of the dog cart and on to the table. "Hello ma'am, nice seeing you again," he says to the woman.
"Oh there will be some magic, but it's best to get all of the parts put together first before we properly raise it." Morgana says to Virgil beore she walks over to Camilla and the spit to check on the food. Not that she's going to lend a hand with the cooking, since that would ruin the dish. "No one likes going to the office. Especially mine."
"Oh, okay," Virgil says to Camilla when she directs him toward the owls. He nods toward the woman, but doesn't move from his station by the roofing, where he does a rather mediocre job, but a competent one. He continues to arrange things for another minute or two before he gets up from the workbench and walks over toward the owl cages. Stopping for a second at the table where Effie is putting things up, to help her get things out of the dog cart and on to the table. "Hello ma'am, nice seeing you again," he says to the woman.
"Oh there will be some magic, but it's best to get all of the parts put together first before we properly raise it." Morgana says to Virgil beore she walks over to Camilla and the spit to check on the food. Not that she's going to lend a hand with the cooking, since that would ruin the dish. "No one likes going to the office. Especially mine."
Effie smiles slightly. "The dogs will just go ahead and kip a nap out of the way, then." She looks to Virgil and inclines her head. "Nice to see you again too. It's kind of you to come on your weekend…"
Phee heads over to the owls since Virgil was finishing up the roofing without a word to Effie; perhaps she does not recognize the witch after just one meeting or perhaps she is just so focused on having so many great big feathery babies that very little else existed in her world personally. "Merlin's beard, ye lot are a noisy bunch, aren't ye?" she cooed over at them; she was careful to give them their space though, rather than petting the strange owls. Not immediately. They had to get used to her. She gestured for the Ravenclaw to come near when he was ready for it.
"Oh yes of course," Virgil replies to Morgana, as that does seem a rather rudimentary note. "Everyone from in town is here anyway, so there's nothing to do in town. I was going to get some candy, too," Virgil replies to Effie, being honest, as he helps getting the last plate up onto the table. He turns then and goes over to join Phoenecia by the owls, which he immediately goes about finding worms or something to feed them, depending on their respective moods. Reaching through his fingers when he thinks he can get away with it, to pet their feathers. "Hey Phoenecia," he says to the older girl as he goes from owl to owl. Seeing Phee's outfit, he asks, "Why all the pink?"
Camilla smiles brightly to Phee and nods, "Mind Beelzebub though. Bright and cheery and beautiful put him in a real bad mood. Make sure you give him lots of space." The owl is easy enough to spot even with the most generic of gestures from Camilla. He is a massive great owl that has thick grey feathery eyebrows and some long matching grey feathers around his beak that make it look like some ancient wizards mustache. His beak is cracked and the cracks are black in the dark orange of the beak. His eyes are milky orange and his talons are much like his beak, decrepet but sharp none the less.
"It looks nice, I didn't mean anything by it," Virgil says, looking a bit like he put his foot in it, but he carries on all the same. He had expected it meant something more, like a club, but whether it factors into his Arithmantic projections of Quidditch players remains to be seen, as he doesn't pull out his numbers book and start making notes at least. As to the question of whether he can keep watch over the owls while Phee is off doing something, he nods at her, "Sure!" and goes over to look at Beelzebub. "So, are you just a misunderstood sort, or are you actually cranky?" he asks, looking at the bird for a l