Accio Goblet!

Hello everyone! For those who haven't seen/have forgotten his special mention on the April plot post, tomorrow is Leon's big day. In case anyone wants their character to be a witness to this/react to it/react to what anyone has said, here is what happens:

* Leon will have been noticeably quieter than usual and rather fidgety all weekend. Ravenclaws especially will have seen him pacing everywhere in the tower/common room, and prefects may have noted that he has looked sterner than usual on patrols.

* Tomorrow / Monday morning at breakfast, he'll barely say a word to anyone who isn't aware of what he's thinking about - even Natasha and Luke will probably struggle to get more than the odd noise to signify the affirmative/negative.

* When the post comes, he'll jump back from the bench to look for a particular owl - sorry to anyone sitting near him whom he jolts in the process - and when one in particular lands on his shoulder, he's going to grab the letter so fast that the bird stays sitting on him, looking confused as to how that happened so fast.

* Holding the parchment so tight he nearly rips it in two, he'll find what he's looking for - confirmation that he has been accepted into WADA and will begin his training in September 1995 - and whoop so loudly that anyone coming in late from the Entrance Hall will probably still hear him. At this point, he's going to run FAST out of the Great Hall and go for a celebratory lap of the castle - anyone who sees him will see him running in Muppet fashion, flailing arms and legs and all.

* Anyone remaining in the Great Hall who has no clue what just happened may refer to his fellow Ravenclaws to see if they have any idea - but of course, it is up to them whether or not they disclose anything! Ravenclaws and Drama Club are most likely to remember WTF is up with this guy, especially if they were roped into watching him practice before auditions.

* 7th year Charms students will note that he arrives in class visibly late (class is first thing in the morning). It is up to them whether or not they inform Professor Flitwick of Leon's earlier displays of bizarre behaviour, or the causes behind it. Leon will enter approximately 10 minutes after the class starts, apologise meekly for his lateness and quietly tell Prof Flitwick why he didn't arrive on time. Professor Flitwick, as well as being Leon's choirmaster, was one of his reference writers as he is his head of house, so he will forgive him for his bizarre antics.

IC/OOC discussion/reactions below :)

Hi guys - this isn't a hiatus notice, more of a "I'm feeling like utter crap this week and don't have the energy to think out many well thought out replies" notice. This is the second time in three weeks that I've succumbed to various strains of a bug going around (the joys of working with small children!) and now my body's paying the price. Even sitting upright in the computer chair is kind of painful (thank you, pulled muscles) and I'm a bit zonked most of the time. It isn't pretty.

In essence, I'll be around but mostly reading the game and popping up every now and again when the mental fog clears. I'm hoping that I'll be able to have a fairly restful week as our schools finish for the Christmas holidays on Thursday, so after that I'll have more time to be around and actually do stuff.

Yours disgustingly,

Heather

(crossposted)

PS - Regarding the Yule Ball, there's only Anzelm and Vicky left of mine to officially pair up (or not, as I haven't decided yet) - Larissa's going with Hamish, Leon is going to ask Samantha at some point (or the other way around, Sarah and I haven't decided yet), and I'm pairing off Anais with one of the 7th Year Hufflepuff boys, so let me know if you're interested in any matchmaking :)

GOOD AFTERNOON, ACCIO GOBLET!

With Leon's post from earlier today (which should have gone up over the weekend, but I have had a number of actual idiots to deal with IRL), I thought it might be helpful to have a little timeline of what went down in The Great Egg Throwing Disaster Of 1994. That way, if your chars want to refer to it (perhaps they were witnesses or victims, in which case, comment away!), no-one is getting their wires crossed, people have specifics to refer to and everyone's happy. Hurrah!

SO...

- During the day time, a number of young Hufflepuff students were seen heading to the top of the Astronomy Tower (which, of course, they're not supposed to do unless they have a class).

- When the bell goes for break and some students are milling around outside in the general vicinity, said students start throwing eggs. Hard. Colin Creevey, being his useful self, manages to get some pictures with his camera of who got hit and the mess that was made on the ground. However, when he tries to take pictures of the egg-throwers, an egg hits the camera lens, causing slight damage to the camera.

- At this point, Leon (who had been present, though he only received an egg clipping the side of his arm) goes to check Creevey and other people who got hit are all right. He is visibly very annoyed, but can be heard telling Creevey that he won't dock points right away until he has got to the culprits to hear what they have to say for themselves.

- He then proceeds to the staff room to find Professor Sprout. He finds her, and they discuss the incident (Flitwick is also present). He tells her that he thinks he ought to take points, but because students from several houses were involved, some people got scrapes and Creevey's camera got damaged (not to mention the students being in an out of bounds area at the time), he wanted to make sure, for future reference (as this is the first point in his Head Boyship something large has happened), that any punishment was fair.

- He suggests five points per student, but after an irate Professor Sinistra has her say (and as the miscreants involved used the "it was just a joke!" defence), Professor Sprout (annoyed with students from her own house showing themselves up just before the foreign students get to Hogwarts) increases the punishment to five points per egg thrown in order to teach the students a lesson. She is also the person who issues the detentions.

All conversations were held in public places - either the corridors or grounds - so there are plenty of opportunities for your character to get involved (post-dated, naturally). Have at it!

Hello everyone. My name is Heather and I'm a character-concept addict... X-D !

This here is Anzelm Piotr Slawomierz Kowalczyk-Szczepanski, or to you lot, Anzelm Szczepanski (there's a story behind why he has a double barrelled surname and his siblings don't, in his bio). If you're currently looking at the lack of vowels and going "Bwuh?", he laughs at you. There were far, far more complicated choices about ;)

He's a 7th Year from Durmstrang, and a Polish pureblood who also happens to be good pals with a certain Bulgarian Seeker we all know... speaking of, Anzelm also plays Quidditch (Beater), but unlike some of his pals, has no desire to go pro. His role model is his dad, who is a barrister specialising in human rights law in Wizarding Eastern Europe. His focus is on bringing prosecution suits related to the supporters of Grindelwald and the atrocities committed in that era. What Anzelm has taken from this is a desire to become an Auror - thus he catches 'em, and his dad will get 'em locked up. The family are social activists and Anzelm has picked up on that, not really caring that the more hoity-toity families consider the good Szczepanski name soiled for their politics, and the small matter of Anzelm, the firstborn, being born out of wedlock. He couldn't give a crap about what they think about either matter.

He's a prefect at Durmstrang but is something of a thorn in the side of the Administration, as he criticises school policy (loudly) on a regular basis - particularly the rule that effectively (if not intentionally) bans Muggleborns. A gamble, yes, but that's what he's like - and he's playing off the fears of the school that if he lost his position, it would make the school look like they were returning to the blood purist politics of old. Needless to say, the loathing he has for Karkaroff is entirely mutual and the governors can't wait to get rid of him ;)

You won't need translation charms to talk to him - his dad's political savvy meant that as soon as his magic showed, he was tutored in English as well as Norwegian whilst preparing for school. It's a matter of pride that he doesn't use automatic quills or translation charms in either language. He's also working on his other languages at the moment, able to hold a reasonable conversation in some of Durmstrang's other common languages - Russian, Finnish, Bulgarian and German. He doesn't write them so well without magic, but he's working on that, he says. Can you tell he wants to go into politics after retiring from active duty as an Auror? Lol :)

He's actually not a scary political type and is pretty good to have around as a friend. He's the sort of person who will try and bring everyone into a conversation or activity, and makes a point of asking girls to dance at socials if they're by themselves, no matter who they are. His friendship policy is pretty inclusive and is looking to meet as many new people as possible whilst at Hogwarts. If he can piss off the purist types back home by taking a half-blood or muggleborn girl to the Yule Ball, even better!

This guy's completely new for me, so PLOT WITH ME! I'M EXCITED!

Hi all! Through the wonders of copy/paste and five minutes' tweaking (though colour coding the bio took WAY longer, urgh!), I bring to you our first foreigner (though naturally she won't be writing quite yet) - Anaïs Séverine Bolduc! No prizes for guessing which school she belongs to ;)

Having said that, she's not actually French. She was born in Canada to a Quebecois father and French mother, and spent the early years of her life there. Thus, when she speaks English, she sounds Canadian (and her English is excellent because of the practice she's had). When she speaks French, she sounds Quebecoise - and to a French ear, that sounds like someone from the Deep South would sound when they speak English. Just as a guideline!

These days, however, her family are based in Paris, as her father is a Canadian government attaché to the French Ministry of Magic. Her mother is a Squib who works a magic-free office job in the French Wizengamot, and her brother studies at l'Université de Montpellier, as he wants to go into Muggle Relations later on.

She's a Quidditch nut, Chasing and Captaining the Linottes side to victory in the school championship last year. She's totally going to be backseat captaining all the way from Scotland - pity the poor girl who has the job this year! She plans on going to tryouts this summer, either in France, Britain or Canada. She aims on playing pro and is going for the best offer she can get.

Even without the French uniform, she's noticeable. Standing nearly 6'0 in bare feet, she has Weasley-red hair and an innate sense of self confidence. She'd totally be a Gryffindor. She's taking Runes, Astronomy, Charms, Muggle Studies, Potions and Transfiguration. Her main interest is art related stuff, and she's bringing her art-textiles and knitting stuff with her to Hogwarts. She has no intention on hanging out in the Beauxbatons carriage all the time all year - you'll definitely see her chilling out in the library, more often than not.

Plenty of time to do so, so plot with me, people! Are you planning on picking up a BB kid and want to do backstory? Let me know. Friends past and new? Classmates? Potential Yule Ball date? Have at me!

Hi all! Me again (as I said to Patricia - I'm insane. More characters doesn't phase me at all). This guy is someone all of you will get to know eventually - Ravenclaw 7th year and soon to be Head Boy, Leon Beery.

The most important thing to know about him is that he was the least likely prefect choice EVER (yep, even less likely than a certain Mr Weasley), let alone an unlikely candidate for Head Boyship. Regarding the latter, when it's announced, people will think Flitwick and Dumbledore chose him basically to troll everybody. Leon kind of suspects this himself.

If you frequent Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment, you'll have encountered family members. His dad runs the Hogsmeade branch, and his grandfather the one in Diagon. Also in Diagon is Beery's, a Muggle themed café-bar managed by his older brother, Alexander. His great-great-grandfather is former Herbology Prof and Head of Slytherin Herbert Beery, he who directed the ill fated production of Fountain of Fair Fortune before buggering off to WADA. Incidentally, that's Leon's own ambition after leaving school. There's nothing else he wants to do - and rightly, because he's good. If you're in choir, you'll see him there.

He's taking Charms, DADA, Divination, Muggle Studies, Potions and Transfiguration. His optionals are his best subjects, but he carries himself well in Potions and Transfiguration, too. He's basically only taking DADA to make up numbers, and is open about that (he's not one of his house's geekier people. A lot of his smarts are to do with people skills).

Personality wise, he's very up front and straight talking - don't expect to manipulate him to get out of trouble - but he reserves his more acerbic comments for those people who are being utterly ridiculous or cruel. Don't expect to get out of trouble by going over his head to the Head Girl or other prefects, either, because he's rather savvy and will figure out what you're up to very fast. If there was a good cop/bad cop thing going on, I'll let you guess which he'd take ;)

Having said that, he isn't a bastard. He treats all four houses well, and is fair minded when it comes to prect/HB duties. You wouldn't get away with stuff just because you're a friend/a relative/ in his house, but he's not massively strict. For instance, if you do something against the rules and look really stupid as a result, he'll consider that punishment enough and leave you alone. He's no Percy Weasley and in general he's definitely one of the most laid-back prefects in recent history.

Plot with me! :)

Heather
<3

Hi all! I'm properly back from hiatus now, and considering the sorts of fun things my girls might get up to. In the meantime, I feel I should warn you that I'm still having some technical issues with AIM, meaning that sometimes either messages I send bounce right back at me, or people send me messages and I've no frigging idea about it. Please don't be offended if I don't reply - feel free to e-mail me or add me on MSN (same addy as my e-mail) if that suits, and in the meantime, I'm looking into changing the platform I use.

So excited to get right back into it, especially threading, as I haven't done that in a while!

(Oh, and interesting news re: The Great Iraqi Debacle 2011 for those in the know - on my last day staying with my friend - incidentally a year since we all arrived there - we found out that Bitchface!Boss got fired by the sponsors from the main campus, leaving her with the tiny school with less than 20 pupils, and forcing her to move locations. Couldn't happen to a nicer person, eh?)

- Heather (Vicky and Larissa)

xx

Hi guys!

Just letting you know that tomorrow I'm off to visit a friend of mine in Norfolk - I'm off tomorrow afternoon and back Sunday evening UK time. I'm taking my laptop with me for work purposes but I'm not sure if I'll have much time to tag, so figured a hiatus would be on the safe side. This is the first break I had since The Great Iraqi Debacle Of 2011 (yes, it deserves the caps) and we worked in adjacent classrooms there, so I'm very excited for the break :)

See you on Sunday (or perhaps in between),

Heather
(Vicky and Larissa)

Heather again with character #2, Ravenclaw 6th year Larissa Samuels!

Some of you will have encountered her before, either at Absolut, Feinted/Feigning or through her brother Jason's references to her at May 02. For those of you whose chars haven't met her before, she can be summed up thusly:

* One of four kids - pureblood English dad, half-blood South African mother. She got her dad's looks and mother's accent. Her father died in her second year, and ever since she's spent nearly all of the holidays at her maternal grandmother's estate outside Pretoria.

* English is only nominally her first language. She's equally fluent in Afrikaans (her mother's native tongue), which is what she speaks at home. She also speaks a couple of minor African languages - namely Xhosa and Zulu - and is aiming to learn more. Put a typical Ravenclaw in a country with 11 official languages and it's like putting a pig in mud.

* Her cat, Magnus, is a notoriously grumpy bugger and will barely let anyone in Ravenclaw go near him. Problematic, as he likes to sit on the common room rug in front of the fire.

* She's taking Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions and Transfiguration. She wants to become a Healer and eventually work in sports healing. She's also in the Charms and Chess clubs, and in her free time is obsessed with Muggle sports, particularly rugby. She's mad for the Springboks.

* Hamish Fraser is her best friend - she's the one who pointed out that he and Warrington looked like twins and was very smug to be proved right! She's never had issues telling them apart. Contrary to what some believe, they're not secretly a "thing", even if she is his biggest cheerleader when it comes to Quidditch.

Plot with me! :D

Hi all! I'm Heather, I'm certain I've played with at least three of you before, and I'm bringing Vicky Frobisher (yeah, I know, what a surprise!) to the game for my first.

To sum her up:

* Sixth year Gryffindor, November birthday (she'll be gutted she can't enter the tournament). President of the Charms Club, she's also in Choir and Book Club. She's also mad on Quidditch, and plays Keeper for a local amateur team in London when not at Hogwarts. Going to the World Cup? You'll see her there.

* Her family is ancient, but not pure. They've married muggles and muggleborns many times over the past millennium or so. They're also technically titled - her maternal grandfather is a Lord - but if you call Vicky 'The Right Honourable Victoria Anne Frobisher' (the honorific to which she's entitled), she'll wait till a teacher's not looking and hex you. Both her parents are descended from the upper classes and have former ladies-in-waiting to wives of Henry VIII in their ancestry.

* Speaking of parents, her father is a Ministry plant within the BBC, ensuring wizarding news doesn't sneak out amongst the Muggles. His cover is that he presents a highbrow politics programme called 'Westminster on Sunday'. Her mother is a society photographer (think along the lines of David Snowdon) who has clients in the Muggle and Magical world. Prices are high.

* She's taking Arithmancy, Charms, History of Magic, Muggle Studies, Potions and Transfiguration. Charms and Muggle Studies are her faves.

* She doesn't have a familiar but is thinking of getting one this summer.

* She's fairly laid back, but is very honest (and not as a euphemism for being a mean bitch, either) when approached. Doesn't usually poke her nose in unless her contribution might be listened to.

Looking forward to playing! :)