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<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jun 20, 2008 at 10:44 AM, Patrick McCartney <<a href="mailto:hogsmeade@squaredbee.com">hogsmeade@squaredbee.com</a>> wrote:<br>
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<div class="Wj3C7c">><br>>While they were discussing money, there came a loud clattering noise<br>in the corridor outside. The door of their compartment slid open and a<br>plump, kindly-looking witch peeked in.<br>
><br>>"Anything off the trolley, ducks?" she asked the three children.<br>><br>>"uhm... can you give me costs for "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans",<br>and chocolate frogs?" Kadyn had a fairly large collection of Chocolate<br>
frog cards at home, but was still missing quite a few. He turned back<br>to Amber and Cyrus. "Do either of you need anything?"<br>><br>>"Yes." said Amber. She got up from her seat and looked at the trolley.<br>
Colorful wrappers overloaded the cart. Packages marked 'Cauldron Cakes'<br>and 'Peppermint Patties', 'Birdie Bots Every Flavoured Beans" and small<br>cases of 'Chocolate Frogs'. Amber ordered all mentioned, getting an<br>
extra frog for Kayden, a small payment for the lost tips.<br>><br>>"Anything for you, love?" the witch asked Cyrus.<br>><br>>"Um, sure," said Cyrus. He purchased several Cauldron Cakes and<br>
Chocolate frogs, and put down his book to eat.<br>><br>>The treats were priced so as not to break the budgets of<br>schoolchildren, so they didn't deplete the children's spending money<br>too alarmingly. Most of Kadyn's Chocolate Frog cards turned out to be<br>
ones he had already, as usual, but there were a couple of new ones. One<br>of these was a witch with a mane of black hair, wearing a blue velvet<br>gown that matched her eyes.<br>><br>>"Winifred of West-Mere-Land," the text read, "also called the Witch of<br>
the West-Mere-Land, was a well-known healer and Animagus of the 13th<br>Century. Her animal form was a black mare. The venerable wizarding<br>family of Windermere claims her as an ancestress."<br>><br>>"Blimey, I've never even heard of her before..." He turned the card<br>
over, seeing that the witch had disapeared. "I'll look her up in a<br>'History of Magic' book, see if it says anything more." He opened a box<br>of "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans" and dug in his bags for his<br>
"History of Magic" book, and then swallowed what he thought was a<br>cherry bean.<br>><br>>Amber looked at the card. Nothing. All there was was a dark black<br>background. "So, what's so special about this? It's just...blank."<br>
><br>>"Well of course its blank, you can't expect her to wait around all<br>day? she's got places to go, just like any portrait." Kadyn popped<br>another bean in his mouth, then spit it out. "ugh...jalapeno..."<br>
><br>>Her eyes widened. She grabbed her suitcase and rummaged through it,<br>scattering clothes and nick-nacks all around the compartment, until she<br>reached a glossy piece of paper. Amber stared at her young face and the<br>
faces of two adults. One had long red hair and green eyes, the other<br>blond hair and glasses. They were still. Amber sighed. She knew in the<br>back of her mind they wouldn't move, they're a muggle picture. She put<br>
them back and started to clean up her stuff.<br>><br>>Just then the witch on the card popped into view again, as if coming<br>to look out a window. She waved and smiled...but she didn't seem to be<br>looking at Amber or Kadyn. She seemed to be waving in Cyrus' direction.<br>
><br>>Cyrus happened to glance up at that moment. His face flushed scarlet<br>when he saw the Chocolate Frog card, and he reached for his book again.<br>><br>>"Do you know her, Cyrus? She certainly seems to know you..." Kadyn bit<br>
into another Berties Bott's Bean, and gagged.<br>><br>>"Umm... yeah. She's a distant ancestor of mine." said Cyrus.<br>><br></div></div>>"Ancestor?" Kadyn exclaimed. "Wow, all my family i Muggles." Kadyn<br>
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<div class="Wj3C7c">knew that this was only mostly true, but he thought it was close<br>enough.<br>><br>>"My family is Muggles also. Well, my grandparents are." said Amber.<br>><br>>"My mum's a muggle," said Cyrus. "All my dad's family are purebloods<br>
though. They were kind of angry with him for marrying a muggle." Kadyn<br>shook his head. "My parents are both wizards. They are just both muggle<br>born wizards."<br>><br>>"Purebloods are...?" asked Amber.<br>
><br>>"They're wizards with no muggle blood," Cyrus replied. "A lot of the<br>older wizarding families pride themselves on being pureblooded."<br>><br>>Kadyn nodded "Almost all purebloods are related though, due to their<br>
being fewer of them then their were years ago."<br>><br>><br>>The cabin door suddenly slid open with a slap and was replaced by a 14<br>year old girl. She was wearing her school robes and holding a blue<br>balloon by a string. The balloon kept floating in and out of the<br>
doorway.<br>><br>>"Oh, excuse me. I am looking for my friend Dagobert, have you seen<br>him?"<br>><br>>"No, I don't think anyones been in here, besides the trolley lady..."<br>Kadyn shook his head. "Sorry."<br>
><br>>"What's he look like?" asked Amber, "Maybe if he shows up we can tell<br>him your looking for him."<br>><br>>She looked up trying to envision him in her mind. One foot went up<br>
onto its toes.<br>><br>>"He has very dark straight hair, parted on the side. His eyes are a<br>deep brown, and he has the cutest little bump on his right ear." She<br>paused and then looked down at them. "Perhaps you have seen<br>
his younger brother, Childeric? He's about your age."<br>><br>>Amber thought. She could have sworn she had seen him before. He was<br>the boy she had fought with at the station. When she remembered her<br>face went bright scarlet, "No, I don't think I've seen him before."<br>
><br>>Kadyn thought too. "hmm..." He thought that was who Amber had been<br>fighting with, but he couldn't remember. He assumed Amber would have<br></div></div>remebere if so, so he said nothing.<br>
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<div class="Wj3C7c">><br>>"Thank you." She slid the door shut catching a part of the balloon,<br>making it look as if she had caught it on a nose. She slid the door<br>open and pulled the balloon free. As she re-closed the door<br>
they could hear out in the hallway, "Sorry about that."<br>><br>>Amber was so embarrassed that she had just met, what could have been,<br>the boy's girlfriend that she stole the book Cyrus had been reading and<br>
turned to a random page hiding her face behind it.<br>><br>>Cyrus noticed this, but chose not to comment. He had been silently<br>watching the interplay, eating his Cauldron Cakes. Having not seen<br>Amber at the station, he was unsure why she was suddenly so<br>
embarressed.<br>><br>>Kadyn saw Amber blush, and tried to figure out why. After a sudden<br>revelation, he exclaimed "I was right! The boy she was looking for was<br>that boy you were fighting with, back on the platform!" Kadyn smiled,<br>
then began to think of why she was blushing over this.<br>><br>>Amber shot Kadyn a dark glance then started to actually read the book<br>Cyrus had been reading both to distract her mind and also to lose some<br>redness of her face.<br>
><br>>"What?" Kadyn frowned. "What did I say?" Kadyn shook his head. "Girls"<br>he thought silently to himself. He looked at the book. " What are you<br>reading? "Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them". Where did you pick<br>
that up, Cyrus?"<br>><br>>[OOC: What's in the book?]<br>><br>> "Flourish and Blott's, in Diagon Alley." Cyrus replied.<br>><br>>"Oh, I didn't actually get my books there. I got mine back from a<br>
local shop back in Hogsmeade." Kadyn peeked over Amber's shoulder.<br>><br><br>>"This is brilliant!" said Amber "It's called a 'Thestral'. It says,<br>'you can only see them when you've looked into the face of death. From<br>
those who've see this strange but terrible beast have said that it<br>resembles a bony horse with black bat wings.' Also there's a rectangle<br>that looks like a picture should be there. Is this one of those strange<br>
pictures where they walk in?"<br>><br>>"No, you probably just can't see it because you haven't seen death."<br>Kadyn<br>shrugged and looked over where the thestral should have been.<br>><br>
>[OOC: It is there but Amber can't see it. She hasn't seen death.]<br>><br><br></div></div>[OOC: This train even happens in all the threads simultaneously. All<br>threads sync with this event.]<br><br>They felt a thump followed by a sharp jolt in the floor of the train.<br>
There was an unnatural silence – no train engine sounds were heard.<br><br>A crack sounded as the train came to a sudden and complete stop.<br>Luggage, books, personal items, and students filled the air. Those<br>students who did not fly out of their bench seats bounced off of the<br>
cushions behind them and landed on the floor.<br><br>Outside the windows the landscape was motionless.<br>
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<div>"Ow..." Kadyn rubbed the back of his head, where something had bumped into his head. "What's happened? I don't think we're there yet..." Kadyn peeked out the window, trying to see if they were anywhere near Hogsmeade station.<br>
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