A Figgy Christmas

One of Aunt Celia's stories is up on her blog, Http://gryffinitter.blogspot.com, or, if you are lazy a bit, just click here.

Mrs. Figg and Mundungus spend Christmas together in this one, and I must Aunt Celia seems just pleased as punch with it.

I had words with Dad just before fall term started, in case anyone noticed - all Muggle priv's were cut off after our last big blowout. No one can see how I dare but his closest friends - Dad is the biggest mush for his kids there ever was, really, although I am sure you couldn't find an old Death Eater who'd believe it for a minute; he's worse with us than Hagrid is with those monsters... but I have put my foot in it time and time again this year and he let me have it but good.

So, anyway, here I admit it publicly. Yes, dad, doing nice little things for Muggles without them realizing it really IS fun. And how you get away with it on your scale I will never know...

SSShh...I don't do all my shopping at the Wizard shops..

I don't do all my shopping at the wizard shops for a number of reasons: price, availability, quality, and my mother not being great at math and sometimes crying when she has to convert galleons to pounds to American Dollars before she can figure out to her own satisfaction just exactly what something is costing her.

Today, for example, I went shopping at a number of shops, and none were in Misterius Alley. All of them yielded fun fiber stuff.

The first one is a little thrift shop in the dungeon of a Muggle Church. The ones we go to don't have these, generally, so this is a different kind of Muggle Church but the ladies are nice, and Mom figures in this day and age anyone whose trying to be anything like decent needs all the help they can get and we shouldn't be too picky who they are getting it from as long as it works, so we shop at all of them. Anyway, I got a bunch of stuff there, but two things were especially knittery and one crochetty. One is a salad spinner, which I can use when I wash fleece, or yarn, or knitted items, to get extra water out of the washee. I think this one is strong enough - the last one kept jumping the track and having little nervous breakdowns, but this looked, I don't know, sturdier somehow. Three American Dollars. I also got a BIG cotton sweater from that Muggle GAP shop - a dark green, with gold edging, and four really nice buttons, all in cotton - should be enough for something, don't you think? Probably something, and a market bag or two as well. Fifty American cents.

Fifty cents.

I can barely get over it.


I also got a dozen crochet hooks - the tiny ones in sizes like 12 and 14, which are hard to even find thread small enough for - sewing thread is too thick. Yes, I said, too thick. But anyway, a dozen of these little beauties, for four American Dollars. One just cannot complain...


And of course, there was a sale at Smiley's. I love Smiley's. It is...magical in its own way, and this was the best sale they have had in a while. All the bags of yarn were twelve dollars. The ones I got were A Nylon Ribbon from Nashua, 148 yards to the ball, ten balls, 4-4.5 stitches to the inch. Should be enough for something, eh? A nice cotton sportweight in scarlet (Well, I AM a Gryffindor...) A ribbon yarn from some fancy company in hot pink, a different ribbon yarn, again from fancy company, in turquoise, and a bag of fancy sock yarn - grey with black shiny stuff and silk - that goes with everyone's robes unless you go to Bauxbatons and then you have more trouble than your socks. I also picked up three balls of Bamboo in cream for a baby sweater and two sets of double points. Oh, and one ball of wool.

There was SO MUCH terrific stuff - I mean terrific - this hot pink Rowan wool, a fantastic periwinkle wool, two different fantastic colors of boucle, worsted weight wool for two dollars a one hundred gram ball...

AND I met a woman mom worked with in 1985. Lord, to think I wasn't even born... she hadn't even met DAD yet... yikes. Seriously, she is always saying that Smiley's is the place she has run into the most people she knows from other places of any in NYC, and that is saying something pretty wild...

So why do I feel like I'm late when I am not?

And why am I panicking when I probably really don't need to? Anticipation? Habit? Spring Fever? Guilt because I have to get together with a piece of duct tape before I can properly post the package my spoiler in the other swap sent????

ESPECIALLY since there is some hope of my having way too much knitting time next weekend, cause what if I get to go to MS&W??????

Today, they really lowered the boom.

So you all know I am in such deep hot water for saying bad things about Muggles that I may never get out. Today, they did a really weird thing. At least Dad did. He took me to a wool festival with the rest of the family (I expected to be not allowed to leave the house, even though they did let me go home since Dad asked...) and he gave me money and said to pick out a spindle.

Now I've been spinning forever. You are simply not one of Mom's kids and unable to spin. I think the youngest she's taught anyone is like 3. (although cousin Rosemary was playing with roving before that.) Anyway, we looked around and he got me one of these spindles (cherry Tsunami, 2 inch, .75 ounces. Scroll down to see it). And then he told me about the day he and mom got married. Not the most famous part, but the part Dung is always mumbling about that I never entirely get.

See, when they weighed the wands at my parent's wedding, my mom of course didn't have a wand. So she brought her drop spindle and put that on the scale.

Now no one expected this to move the scale at all, because the scale weighs the magic of the witch or wizard who owns the wand, not the object the magic is in, so everyone was waiting for Dad's wand to practically crash through the floor - which was exactly what it did - and for mom's spindle to just hang there, weightless. But that was NOT what happened. Her spindle balanced out his wand.

So now I am supposed to try to find a way to take this spindle, which is not magical to begin with, and, without using any magic (Don't even give me a suggestion - he's an AUROR - he KNOWS) I have to find some way to make the magic in it equal the my dad's magic.

And then I have to write an essay about what I learn from this.

Expect me to be off double not-so-secret probation sometime around the return of King Arthur...

Parvati Patil
George Weasley
Minerva McGonagall



1. This “Harry Potter” character’s first name comes from Roman mythology. The mythological character’s twin brother is named Romulus. What is the Harry Potter character last name?

b. Lupin


2. Which “Harry Potter” character’s first name is the Roman equivalent of the Greed Goddess Athena?

c. McGonagall


3. In ‘Harry Potter’ World, this wizard has created the Philosopher’s Stone (called the Sorcerer Stone in the US). The historical figure from the 14th and 15th centuries was a scribe and a manuscript-seller who became famous as an alchemist. Who is this individual?

Nicholas Flammel

4. What is the first name of a character whose last name is the name of a Bulgarian leader from early 9th century who doubled the country’s territory?

c. Viktor


5. Which character’s name is the name of goddess in Indian mythology?

b. Patil


6. “Where the Wild Things Are” tells the story of Max, a young boy sent to bed without his supper for his wild antics. Who created this winner of the Caldecott Medal?

a. Maurice Sendak


7. What was NOT one of the unexpected defense mechanisms that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Griphook encountered in their attempt to rob Gringotts?

c. Anti-summoning Enchantments

8. What was Snape aiming at when he cut off George’s ear?

c. Another Death Eater’s wand hand


9. How much older than James was Lily? (Referring to Harry’s parents, not children).

d. 2 months

10. Food is one of the five exceptions to what magical law?

b. Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration

Deep, philosophical thoughts about pattern naming...

All right, so I am sitting here, contemplating the names Muggles give to knitting stitch patterns and how they , excuse me, ladies, screw them up so royally all the time. Like how they call "Eye of the Phoenix" stitch "Eye of the Partridge" and how they can't seem to decide when a cable stops being an ear of wheat and becomes stag's horns, not even in the big three volume set I am having to use because Sadie Snidewhoppet's Slytherly Stitch Stash is out of the Library again. Which also reminds me that it is absolutely pathetic to be a grown woman writing books and referring back to your school house. I mean, really, has NOTHING happened to her since graduation?

My aunt and my mother are pathetic in this way and it always makes me cringe. What the heck is an SAT and why on earth do they think anyone cares what they got on theirs back before Voldemort disappeared the first time? I mean, gosh, I think my dad still had his NOSE. How much further back can you go before the Muggles were pressing their test results into clay tablets with little cuneiform sticks?

Anyway, I am fueled in all of this brilliant analysis by peeps, which are a delicious thing made out of marshmallow and finely granulated, dyed sugar, and produced, in this case, in the shape of little chicks. Well, sort of. I think you have to know they are chicks before they look like chicks. My Grandma sends them to me from the US cause we don't have them here. I have a mutilated one floating in my hot cocoa right now. I got the idea from a book I saw in a craft store about how to cook with peeps, and if it had been a reasonable price I would have gotten it, but I thought that almost thirteen dollars was a lot to pay for a book that showed you how to float peeps in hot cocoa...or espresso...and thought these were two different recipes...

I am not entirely forgiven, but they have thought up a way to punish me...

They are making me list every single trip I have ever been on, starting with "Home from St. Mungo's when you were born, Lassie!" and ending with "Hogwarts Express back to Hogwarts after Christmas Holiday."

Then, I have to figure out how much each one would have cost a Muggle, not today, no, but back in the day it happened.

And then, I have to figure out, using the cost of floo powder through the ages, how much each one of those must have cost my parents and so forth...

and THEN I have to come up with some dollar figure, adjusted for inflation, of how much more it would have cost a Muggle to do what I have done than it cost my family. Oh, and I can't even use a Muggle calculator, no, must all be done with a pencil on paper.

I am consoling myself with peeps my Grandma Mary sent me. I love you, Grandma!

Who knew Dad reads my posts....

>.<

Who knew Dad reads my posts?

I am now on a "no-allowance for the rest of your life, young lady, I am making you your mum's slave for the summer and grounding you so hard you are going to need your Uncle Harry and his best broom to resurrect your head far enough for a goblin to kick it in the gutter and if I come up with anything else before you come home on the Hogwart's Express you'll be dealing with that, too."

You try getting a howler from an angry Auror in the Great Hall, not at Breakfast when everyone's half asleep and half the people aren't there, but right smack in the middle of lunch, when it is just teeming with every person on earth you would rather not have hear it. And I suspect he availed himself of Uncle George, too, because it was not just a normal howler; it had little nasty smelling explosions going on and this foul smoke that kind of boiled out of it and come to think of it was pretty Slytherin-worthy, at that.

Mum is just, you know, my mum. I totally never think of her as a Muggle. But it is also a major mistake to make an offhand comment like that to a man who fought the Death Eaters. And about his wife yet. And about your own Mum, even if you never think of her that way.

I. am. so. dead.

I think it must be the Boomslang part...

So the other day, my Muggle friend tries to read my blog and types in "BelladonnaBoomslang.com" instead of the blogspotty thing part. And as usually happens when you go after a domain name that does not really exist, she got a list of other phrases she should try...

About three of which were fit for children our age to see. I forget what she said came right after "Slang."

Seriously, it is my NAME people. You would think the smutmasters of the computer world could get their heads out of the gutter, but NOOOO....

I swear. It is always like this when things are run by Muggles.

What a Whilde Wheek I had

I was over in NY this past week. Dad took us older kids by apparition - he has it down to a science just how far he can apparate with us, and points all picked out, so it only takes an hour or two, even with rest and bathroom breaks, to get over to NY. Of course we get glimpses of just about every island in the North Sea and a bunch of Greenland, Newfoundland, and every other land between here and there. I don't know how he manages it. Mom port-keys with the younger kids, and we always end up there first, even though she has that special port key.

It was a party with our uncle, who is her sortofbutnotexactlybutheywhomindssowhynot brother. We are actually pretty tight with his family. They figured out late, after Aunt Celia, that they were wizards, so they never went to proper wizarding school which means they are absolutely brilliant and even innovative in the areas of magic they chose to specialize in - at least Dad says so - but can still occasionally be gotten by a Hogwarts kid who keeps her eyes open and does something unexpected. They are either totally good sports about it, though, or else pretending to be thick and therefore being even better sports about it...anyway, this uncle likes turning people upside down so one time Freesia got him with Levicorpus, but he just laughed, and after she let him down insisted that she teach him how to do that, "in case my back ever goes out."

There was no springiness happening at all over there - we went to Niagara Falls and there was still a bunch of ice. Oh well, maybe on our next trip.


Now why am I having so much trouble with this project I am making for my spoilee in this interhouse unity thing? Am I not all for interhouse unity? Am I not actually living in a dungeon for the sake of interhouse unity? Then why, in the name of every graduate of Hogwarts who has ever passed the veil, did I have to frog the 3/4 done thing and pick it back up? Why can I not count to 120 without getting confused?

I am gonna go rip all my green hair out...

Red is for Gryffindor, and Green is for Slytherin...

(The only way poor Belladonna can keep herself straightened out this term with being in two places at once is to blog Gryffindor in Red and Slytherin in Green. Prefects, head girls and other powers that be, please look for your correct color...)

So, I have discovered that feet are something like eyes. that is, we can't do much more about them than Muggles can. I've got special padding for the inside of my shoes now, which means that most of my shoes don't fit even without socks. Dad says he'll charm them in the morning and I should be greatful I have feet at all. Which I really have to take, coming from him... But I am starting to fear that if I ever want to wear handknit socks again, I might have to wear WIZARD shoes...sob...

I am really starting to worry not only about Lavender Acherly, but about The entire school. Has NO ONE noticed the girl is gone? Doesn't ANYONE remember about Bertha Jawkins and what it meant when she went missing? One of dad's trainees got sent along with the usual law and order wizards because it wasn't clear to anyone just what Rufus was up to, but it seems like mostly what he was up to, so far as they could TELL, was running up gambling debts. I am sure that means we will see more of him in the papers in the future, because it always ends up these fools play more than they can pay, but he says he hasn't seen Lavender and my Dad believes him.

It turns out Dad has known since the beginning of term that she was missing - Uncle Neville told him.No flies on Uncle Neville. He's been sitting on his hands cause mom says she can already float around as well as she wants to, thank you very much, and says he knows what will happen if he tries to leave her undefended, whatever that means. She only says it when she is really worried that he will go off and start Auror-ing again, which is only about once a week. Every time she says it though, it quiets him right down. It never seems to lose its effect. And he'd be just as happy with us all home, under his roof, where he can see us, but as mom pointed out, not everyone at Hogwarts ends up locked in his or her own truck and that really happened in the garden, anyway. Which I think would get her nowhere except that he says she disappeared after term ended, not from the castle -well duh, I could have told him that.

Only, what if it wasn't her???

This has not been a good day

And so I will blog quickly, and to the point.

1. I am getting blogoschizosomethingo from trying to figure out how to blog myself as Gryffindor and Slytherin at the same time.

2. Ok, so my prank involved making a snow dragon attack Uncle Ron, and having him blame it on Uncle George. Freesia heard about it and was impressed enough to come find me.

"It wasn't me, so it had to be you. Good one!"

"He really blamed it on George?"

"Yes. For once he had no reason to blame it on Uncle Fred."

"Yeah, why does he ever blame anything on Uncle Fred? He died so long ago."

"Well, it is a long story."

And that was all I could get out of her, but she was quite chuffed.

Apparantly Uncle Ron never figured out that if you happen to go about halfway up the Astronomy tower, and lean out of just the right window, just the right way, you can sort of get a line of site to right in front of the shop down there in Hogsmeade. So I was able to do it from here, and of course he doesn't suspect me. What surprises is that Uncle George has not been up here asking how I did it. He seems to have spent more time up to shenanigans than anyone at Hogwarts, ever, except for Uncle Fred, so I am surprised he doesn't know about that window.

Then again, he may be planning some revenge...

House Quiz

These are short answer questions. Try to answer them completely - if three people do something, for example, give all three names. When you have done the quiz and posted on your blog, please come comment here so we can go check it. Thanks!



1. Harry discovers in Regulus' room that he and Regulus have something uncommon and unexpected in common. What is this, and how did he figure it out?

2.On three ocassions former professors can be presumed to have "visited" the trio while they are in "exhile" - which professors and which ocassions would these be?

3. How do Ron and Harry get into the Ministry?

4. Who is the blond-haired boy, and why is he important?

5. How is the exception that food cannot be conjured classified?

6. Where does the trio first run into Dean Thomas?

7. Bathilda Bagshot does not speak in front of Hermione and Ron because....

8. Who can Harry be said to have buried in Deathly Hallows?

9. Which Horcruxes has Harry actually seen in person before the book starts?

10. Who actually destroys each of the Horcruxes?

Extra credit:

Tom Riddle's grandfather inherited the stone of resurrection. Harry's father inherited the invisibility cloak. What does this imply about Tom Riddle and Harry Potter?

Hogsmeade

We got to go to Hogsmeade this weekend, and have to write about one of the places we went, its history, etc.

Well, whoopie twang, but can I ask you, WHY have so few wizards from wizarding families been to Hogsmeade before they come to school??

I mean, I understand that people who come from Muggle families wouldn't even know about it. Granted. And I understand that parents are busy and all that, but seriously, it is a nice place, why don't more people go there with their kids for daytrips?

Floo network, folks! Floo network! If you don't want to Apparate with the kids, fine, but Floo powder is not THAT expensive that you can't have a day trip every, I dunno, YEAR.

I mean, I have had the run of the place since I was a little kid, but mom has her shop there. She even brings the Vestucci Grandparents when they are over here - they are really much better at acting like a witch and a wizard than most magical people are at acting like Muggles. They know how to have fun. They put on anything Mom lays out for them, and as to amazing spells in front of them, well, as Grandma Marie puts it, "We'll just act like we're in Manhatten, honey. Nobody notices anything there either. We got lots of practice ignoring." But they DO notice everything and they talk about it at dinner, and they laugh a lot.

But back to the topic - my favorite place this weekend was Boswaithes Bags, Boxes and Bidets, Mokeskins to Mugglesacks since 1662.. As usual, the magical Bidet department was not exactly the happening place, except for a few Japanese wizards putting in orders for back home. Madame Boswaithe based them on the whole "flushing yourself into the ministry" thing they had going back before, you know, and I don't think too many people enjoyed that form of wizard transport, or want it in their home, but she maintains it is a very CLEAN way to travel and will eventually replace Floo, which can be so dusty. Which is why she is using bidets, instead of toilets. But anyway, there were three Japanese wizards in there, one with his wife, who was complaining loudly about something in Japanese the whole time, and I just nodded to Madame B and went back to the bag department to watch a few second years trying to buy pencil cases and backpacks and things like that.

I always love watching. This weekend it went something like this...

A second year muggleborn student approached the counter in the back of the store. Bugsy was sitting on a stool, leaning on it, looking asleep, but as soon as the student got within five feet of the counter, he perked all up and said, in this really rusty voice he has, "and what will Sire be wanting???'

Bugsy sounds almost like a house elf, and he does have rather large ears, but he is pretty tall to be an elf - about 4 foot six, I'd say, and he is Madame's Very Special Friend. He used to run Bugsy's Boxes, Boites and Bee Skeps but there was some incident with a bunch of Argentinian leather containers that I have never heard the whole story about and, having very little business sense, he came out on the dirty end of that stick and needed to find work, which Madame was perfectly happy to give him, so he sells burses, baglets and Mugglesacks in the back of the store.

"I'm not a boy!" The pretty little witch with gold curls and a pink cap was saying.

"Didn't say you was, Sire. Now, what is Sire wanting?"

"But I am not a SIRE, I can't be a SIRE, I am a Girl, a WITCH." she said, with a little emphasis, and the pink pom pom on her hat jiggled as she moved her chin.

"Of course you is a Witch, Sire. Now, what is you wanting? Burses? Purses? baglets?"

The young lady, who was by herself and wearing a little snake pin on her lapel, tried again. "I'm not a sire. I can't be a sire. A sire has to be a boy, and I am a GIRL. That is why I am a Witch, not a Wizard." She was being what she thought was very patient now. Anemone. That's her name - I've heard the other girls call her that in the common room. But Bugsy was not the least discomposed.

"Well, what is Sire wanting?"

She looked at him with her eyes bugging out, and then probably recalled that she was not supposed to stare. She cast a furtive glance around. "I need a Muggle pencil case." she said in a low, muffled voice.

"We isn't having any Muggle Pencil Cases, Sire! How's about a nice Mokeskin traveling satchel." He didn't lower his voice one iota to make her feel comfortable - if anything, he'd raised it.

"No Muggle Pencil Cases?" she asked, in a puzzled voice.

"No Cases whatsowhizit, Sire. Cases is Cassandra's Cases, Caskets and Crumb Trays, purveyors to Wizards since 1792, over on the next street but one."

She seemed to regroup. "Well, but I am here now, and I have to meet the other girls in a few minutes at the Leaky Cauldron, and,"

"Your Sureptitions, Sire, is not Bugsy's problem. We is not having Cases. We has Bags. We has Boxes. We has Mugglesacks. We is not having Cases."

"Well, then, a Muggle bag of some sort," she replied, fingering something in her pocket - probably her allowance. Pencil cases are one pricepoint, large sacks another, she might have been thinking, although it was clear she really had no idea of how a small bag with a special spell could cost much, much more than a large, unenchanted seabag. I thought I ought to take pity on her and finitee'd my disillusionment spell.

It always shocks people when I do that. I'm, really good at it. Dad has us practice every morning when we're home, and at random moments when we aren't. Constant Vigilance, you know. After she squeaked, and jumped a little, she looked flustered.

"Oh, B-B-Belladonna. Well, I just wanted a M-M-Muggle pencil case. For my little brother. Because he is just getting to be old enough for pencils...."

It was clear that this was a lie, carefully practiced for the event, and I could not imagine how she could get to even second year in the dungeons and still be such a bad liar.

"I see. Well, nothing wrong with buying a gift for a Muggle friend, either, if that was what you were doing."

I smiled at her. The whole house - the whole Wizarding World, probably, knows that my mother is a MuggleorSomething, evein if they are not sure what, exactly, that means. She could hardly contradict me.

"And there's no point in going over to Cassandra's, because it closed in 1874 when Cassandra's lover died of the Dragon Pox and she emigrated to Australia, where she took up Kangaroo charming. Never caught on like Snakes, you know, but she did give it a go. Anyway, what you've got to ask Bugsy for is a Boogie Bag, uncharmed."

She turned around and eyed Bugsy. Then she looked back at me, head tilted slightly to one side, and finally turned around and spoke to Bugsy in a very definate sort of voice.

"I should like one Boogie Bag, uncharmed, blue, if you have it. With a Zipper."

Bugsy threw me a disgusted look over her head. Then he reached under the counter and pulled out a little Muslin drawsting bag. He tapped it once, while mumbling, and it turned into a reasonable approximation of a pencil case. He muttered again, drawing his wand down the side of the case, and a zipper appeared in its wake. Finally, he screamed out "Azzuro!" in a shrill voice that brought the eye of everyone in the shop, and it turned a dark blue."

Poor Anemone was trembling. "But, sir..."

"That's two Knuts and a sickle" I said, having purchased a similar one the week before. "And don't worry - it's uncharmed. That was Transfiguration - you should know the difference from class. Even if it wasn't, you wouldn't be responsible - He would, and Madame, of course."

I eyed him, but he seemed perfectly comfortable.I patted her on the back, and sent her out the door to meet her friends before I turned back to Bugsy.

"Why did you give her such a hard time?" I asked, "when you are always so nice to me?"

"Geoffrey didn't like her," he said simply. Geoffrey is his invisible kneazle.

"Geoffrey my father's spinning eye, Bugsy," I said cheerfully. "And don't worry, I can check that thing out this evening back up at the dormitories. Dad's taught me a trick or two."

This seemed to offend him. "Geoffrey doesn't like her," he said, "but Bosthwaite's has an unblemished reputatoe for reliable receptacles."

I smiled. "That's right. Bosthwaite's, founded in 1662 by Bednigo Bosthwaite, seller of Boxes and Bedframes. Over the years, our wares have changed but little, and our standards not at all. All boxes and bags, for wizards and hags, from small to quite large, to encompass a barge, charms extra." I was reciting from their little snippet in the Hogsmeade tourist brochure.

He looked at me.

"Don't worry. I've no intention of telling her that Bosthwaite used a calender of his own invention and the store was really started in 1972, or that his drug habit made him a lousy businessman and he was running it into the ground until his sister took over." I smiled sweetly once again and went on my way.

Really, they ought to be warned about Hogsmeade...

Quidditch!

1. What momentous event was the reason that the members of the Order of the Phoenix felt it necessary to move Harry out of the Dursley’s house?

d. Harry’s upcoming birthday

Of course, Dumbledore had never made Harry spend the entire summer at the Dursley's since his first year, but they knew the protection would vanish when he turned 17. I understand they had to take him early, but why they felt they had to specifically end the protection early confuses me. They make a big point of it, but if they hadn't made a big point of it, wouldn't Harry have been more protected on his ride to safety?

2. Who revealed the actual date of Harry’s transfer to Voldemort, despite the misinformation the Order had been spreading around that the move would occur on the eve of his actual birthday?
b. Snape

Snape revealed it to Voldemort, because Dumbledore had planned it and it was Snape who actually planted the idea on Mundungus. This was done, among other reasons, to preserve Snape's cover, which was necessary to Harry's continued safety and possible success. Snape had things left to tell Harry, and the sword to get to him. This whole business was yet another of the moments in Snape's life no sane person would actually WANT to have to live through.

3. With the use of Polyjuice Potion (and to confuse any possible attack by Death Eaters), six member of the Order were disguised as Harry and escorted out of Privet Drive, along with the real Harry. Which member of the order did not survive that night?

a. Mad-Eye Moody

Tonks survived until the Battle of Hogwarts, Hagrid is still alive my unle George s as well, although on the night in question he lost an ear.

Now while the book reports that my father died, the book is in error, or, obviously, I would not be here. He did fall from the sky, as reported, and he was missing for the entire period of the book. However, he was alive, and my mother knew it, or I am not sure she would have gotten through what she once told me was the absolutely most difficult part of her life. Their story is being told - see link in my earlier blog post...

4. Who informed Harry, Ron and Hermione of the bequests left to them in Dumbledore’s will?

d. Rufus Scimgeour

He was very suspicious and at moments pretty hostile to the whole thing, but he did deliver the things they had been left - the "Put-outer,' for Ron, the copy of "Tales of Beadle the Bard" for Hermione and the snitch from his first Quidditch game for Harry. While Harry had been left the Sword of Gryffindor, Scrimgeour et al refused to give it to him - also part of Dumbledore's convoluted plan to keep the actual sword out of Voldemort's reach.

5. During the wedding celebration for Bill and Fleur, Kingley Shacklebolt sent a Patronus to tell the guests that the Ministry had fallen, Scrimgeour (the Minister) was dead and the wedding celebration was about to be attacked by Death Eaters. What form did the Patronus take?
a. A lynx

The otter is Hermione's patronus, the doe was Snape's and Lily's and the stag was Harry's. I can't quite recall if the stag was James' patronus as well, or just his animagus form.

6. Escaping from the wedding to London, our three friends found themselves confronted by a pair of Death Eaters, disguised as workmen. This close brush impressed on them the need to find someplace to hide. Where did they decide to go?

b. Sirius Black’s house

By using Voldemort's name they had enabled the Death Eaters to find them, and so had to go hide someplace. However, technically, none of these answers is totally correct. While 12 Grimmauld place had been the home of Sirius Black when he was alive, at the time of the book it was technically Harry's house. Although the Order had been quite concerned about Snape leading Voldemort there, and although Snape had gone through the house himself, as we discover much later in the book, they were unmolested while there.


7. Kreacher’s animosity towards Harry, Ron and especially Hermione (a Mudblood) was well documented in book five, “The Order of the Phoenix.” His initial interaction with them showed that his attitude had not changed. How did they win him over?

d. By giving him Regulus Black’s old locket

Kreachur had always been devoted to Regulus, and indeed Regulus saved Kreachur's life and lost his own, although perhaps not much more quickly or any more horrifyingly than he would have once Voldemort discovered his change of heart. Still, being grabbed by Inferi and dragged beneath the water...

At any rate, by giving him the locket that had been Regulus's, they won Kreachur over in a sense. He was never going to love Harry as he had loved Regulus, but he did treat him quite differently. During the Battle of Hogwarts, Kreachur calls on his fellow House Elves to fight in the name of Regulus, still wearing the locket, which I doubt he ever took off.

8. Who did they eventually find was in possession of the locket/Horcrux?

d. Dolores Umbridge

Dolores Umbridge had gotten it from Mundungus by Threat.

9. What did Harry find embedded in the door of Umbrdige’s office?

a. Moody’s magical eye

While many people believed that this was evidence that my father was dead, in fact, it was merely evidence that they had his eye. Details forthcoming...


10. After retrieving the Horcrux, they tried to return to their safe place but they were pursued (actually Yaxley tagged along when they disapparated). This meant that the Death Eaters knew their hiding place and they had to go somewhere else. Where did Hermione take them?

d. To the site of the Quidditch World Cup

It was not just a matter of the Death Eaters knowing where they were, however. Hermione felt that Yaxley had been with her when she landed on the top step - that she had taken him past the wards, and that he should possibly be able to enter at will, then. This may or may not have been true - we never find out in the book. She takes them to the site of the Quidditch World Cup - more accurately, the forest into which they had run while the Death Eaters were tormenting the Muggles, and where Barty Crouch Junior had conjured the first Dark Mark in over a decade. There is an irony in their finding safety in the same forest where they were accused of casting this mark themselves.


Picture Scavenger Hunt
The pictures must be posted on your blog or at least linked to from your blog. Make sure that the links work or you will not get credit.



Mad-Eye Moody
Nymphadora Tonks

A picture of the people playing my dad and his fellow auror, Nymphadora, in the movie. My dad is actually much older, much handsomer, and, well, my dad. I never met Tonks.



George Weasley

Mom says that Uncle George really used to look pretty much like this actor who played him in the movies. Of course, he's a bit older now, and she says he really hasn't totally gotten over Uncle Fred's death. He hung out at our house all the time till he got married - now we don't see him quite as often.





The Dursley's House

No one talks much about where Uncle Harry grew up. The only homes he really admits to is Hogwarts, and where he's living now with his family.



Kreacher

I've never met him, but I've heard stories...

Slytherin Quiz

1. Which housemate has an 11 ½ inch holly wand with a Dragon Heartstring core?

That would be Bathilda Boomslang.

2. Which housemate creates rockin’ sock patterns?

Emma Wigworthy, of course!

3. Which housemate has the hots for David Boreanez?

Which of us doesn't? But Cassandra Puddlemere is the champion DB fan...

4. Which housemate used to be the top badger who made a habit of eating snakes?

Quinn...but that was in a different lifetime...

5. Which housemate shows off her awards from HSKS6 on her blog?

The proud Ferula Finnegan

6. Which housemate makes kicka* * cookies IRL?

Oh, I had no need to go look this up, although I did read Esme's blog...it is Esmerelda Beanswallow...

7. Which housemate is a third year Slytherclaw, whatever the hell that means?

Callisto Verity


8. Which housemate wants Plymouth to make her feet happy?

Me. Although I must have a pretty lame blog if that's the most interesting thing there... (plans to do SERIOUS work on blog...)


9. Which housemate is a knitting addict? (Ok, all of us, but one in particular.)

Lily of Flitwick. She says so in her profile.


10. Which housemate loves to sing?

I think a bunch love to, but I saw Diana Lockhart actually say this on her blog, so I am going with her.

11. Which housemate has issues with muggle devices?

Ginny Crookshanks says she does.


12. Which housemate likes Darth HelloKitty?

Cecily Fortescue

13. Which housemate has a member of the family with his own fan club?

While the obvious answer is Diana Lockhart, I think the actual answer Queen Frisia, because I think it is Prince Corey's fan club we are discussing here. But of course, I could be wrong...

14. Which housemate has never-ending PMS?

My dear cousin, Olivia Moody Gaunt. If St. Mungo's doesn't do something for her, we are considering crashing a large Muggle Truck into the window with the Dummy...

15. Which housemate originally comes from South New Joisey?

Penelope Caerphilly

16. Which housemate “adores” European chocolates?

Clara Clovenhoof

17. Which housemate has a roommate who seriously put a crimp in her communication abilities?

Rowena Weasley's Roomate cancelled the "Comcast," whatever that is, and did not tell her or his wife. How his wife is taking this was not reported. Presumably she casts "Coms" the same way some people cast Runes or Dragon Knucklebones, and this may seriously affect her income, I suppose. . How this affects Rowena's ability to use the floo network is confusing to me, however...

18. Which housemate was fortunate enough to lose her HP husband?

Lavender Diggory-Dolohov

19. Which housemate likes some Nascar dude?

Andromeda Finch-Fletchley has confessed to this.


20. Which housemate needs a new time-turner?

Could it possibly be Ophelia Crookshanks? I could not see this on her blog, but I may have missed it elsewhere...

First Slytherin House Quiz


Posted Sunday, February 1, answers due on your blog by Thursday, February 5 at midnight EST.



What are your three most favorite colors?

Green, and Burgundy, and ... Lavender Blue



What are you three least favorite colors?

Salmon (especially in acrylic yarn - that is a bad mix and gives me flashbacks to eight grade...)

Kelly Green (This is bright green. St. Patrick's day Green. Absolutely no subtlety whatsoever green.)

Anything pastel. They make me look like the undertaker did a bad job.



Your favorite candy is Dark Chocolate. I have Dementor problems, and having dark chocolate around is very handy



Draco, Lucius, or Snape?

SNAPE. ABsolutely no contest whatsoever, even if I did like blond men, which I don't.



Do you knit, crochet, or both?

I do both.



What type of kit did you ask for?

I asked for a sock kit.



Acrylic—has its uses, should all be burned, best yarn to work with (choose one)?

Has its uses, especially for babies, friends and relatives who may be all too prone to throwing things in the washer, and anyone who lives with such a one, etc.



Who is the Slytherin Head Girl this term?

Quinn! (And every time I type that I have to physically stop myself from writing "The Mighty Quinn" so there, I have done it once, maybe it is now out of my system.)



Name four “extras” you would love to receive in your kit.

A Slytherin house crest or badge or patch (Whatever you call it)

Something with a snake on it

An old hardback copy of any book by Robert Louis Stevenson. (By this I mean the kind you can pick up at the library booksale for a dollar, or on Amazon as a used book for less than the postage, not something they keep in a locked case at Sotheby's or anything approaching that.)


A knitted pincushion that I can stick my double points in while I am knitting, because sometimes I use various sizes in one pair of socks, and they get lost. I use needles smaller than 2.50 mm for socks most of the time. I frequently use down to size 0000. Normal knitting guage is probably loose enough. Felted would probably be too tight.

I am very fond of things people make themselves. Things do not have to be "official" to be "real"


What are your three most favorite scents?

Lavender, lilac, and rose. However, I can honestly say that I have been so well spoiled in the bath and lotion department that I am sort of stocked up for now.



Do you prefer salty or sweet snacks?

Salty and Sweet, or sweet, rather than just salty, except for nuts. Nuts can just be salty.



Which Slytherin is the Keeper of the Crucio List?

Cassandra Puddlemere. Do NOT get yourself in her cross-hairs!



Do you really need more stitch markers?

Need, no, but I do like them, and if someone wanted to make me some because they enjoy making stitch markers and have green stuff in their stash, I certainly would not be unhappy to see them. However, we are trying to keep the expenditures in line this term, and there is no need whatsoever to spend money on ordering a set and having them shipped.



Dpns, circular, or straight?

Double Points, all the way.



What yarn makes you squee?

This is a really hard question, because the yarn that makes you squee to see it, or hold it, may not be the yarn that is going to work up into a project you love. I think I did actually squee on Sunday at a Superbowl sale at a skein of Misti Alpaca Sockweight in a handpainted colorway that looked like a forest not exactly in fall, but thinking about it - say early September. But I would use that for a lace scarf.

And really, I am very happy knitting with pretty basic yarns most of the time.



Favorite HP Movie? Not sure I have one, but I do have a favortie Dumbledore - Richard Harris. Terribly inconsiderate of him to die before the series was over, but ironically appropriate, inlight of the story arc...



Favorite HP character?

Mad Eye Moody. I do love Harry, though, and Snape, and HAGRID... I love Hagrid. but Book!Moody is Hawt!



Who was your first choice for DADA professor?

Blanking here. The one from Bones, Angel and Buffy...



What is the Slytherin Common Room called?

The Snake Pit



What makes you worthy of being in Slytherin House?

I am worthy of being in Slytherin house because I have successfully hidden my parentage for several years, and... I can learn the most from you all. *nods*

Now the truth must be told...

I got the message by owl last night that uncle is on my mom's case again, and I can't put this off any longer, so I am going to come clean. It's that or a trademark green howler, and that would be a HUGE mistake for anyone to make, so I have no choice, really, and here goes.

I am not exactly who you think I am. That is, I mean, I am, I am exactly like you think I am in that sense, it's just that I've been leaving off my last name, because my dad is really well known and you know, I just wanted people to judge me for myself. As Uncle Severus says...

Well, on second thought, I had better not repeat what he says about Gryffindors, even though he adores Rosemary and she is one, and so is Aunt Celia, so let's just say...that when you are busy doing things like winning Quidditch matches and trying to figure out a way to top Uncle Harry, or Uncles Fred and George, or Uncle Neville, that you probably aren't going to pay too much attention to the inconsistencies in your housemate's story, or probe too much into why she is always getting picked up at Platform Nine and Three Quarters by Freesia'a mom and dad, the Muggle and the Famous Auror, or anything like that, whereas if you happen to be the more ambitious type, then your curiosity might well take the form of figuring out just what is going on with that odd girl Belladonna who volunteered to be in your house for a term, and what use you might legitimately be able to make of that information.

Well, I am Belladonna Boomslang – Belladonna Boomslang Moody, that is. Not everyone knows about my mom being a Muggle, or how my father survived the fall from his broom, or why I have a gorgeous red-haired sister who is just the life of the party over in Gryffindor tower. Freesia does not feel the need to answer questions, and she could be, I don't know, the daughter of Dumbledore and Harry Potter and Bellatrix Lestrange and Tom Riddle and Dobby all at once and the force of her personality would override it, but between her, the boys, and Dad, I figured I would just be lost in the crowd, so I sort of reinvented myself when I turned eleven and started here. (And don't EVEN start with how the years don't add up because I have suspicions that may involve very restricted magical objects previously thought to be more or less extinct and let us just say we don't want to go there. Some things just have to be accepted for what they are.) Everyone thought it was a bad idea, although mom and dad are sympathetic, and decided to let me, and I do have to say I was getting a little sick of it by now although the thought of having to explain in the common room did not appeal, you know? But when Uncle Sev found out I was going to be a Slytherin this term he appeared in the living room that way he has, with that look he has, which if I did not know him as well as I do would scare the pee pee out of me, and started in on them.

It eventually involved my mom going into her little office with him, and the door being imperturbed and a silencing spell put on and you could still feel him sort of Stomping every now and then in total frustration, the vibration carries through the floor boards, and every time he did Dad chuckled a little and shook his head and when I threw him a look finally said, “It's good for him. It's always good for your uncle to have to deal with your mum – the immutable force meeting the immovable object. Keeps him in his place. Well, that and your aunt.” and then he chuckled again but managed to look totally solemn by the time the door opened and my famous Uncle came out.
'
“Idiocy! But she will have to tell them or she will be at their mercy, and Elizabeth has agreed with me.”

I doubt it took more than one sentence for mom to agree with him, because he really did have a point and she is no idiot, in fact, she may have been ready to make me tell the house anyway, and just let him go on and on because it amuses her when he gets like that. She winked at my dad from behind Snape's back and he asked, “Don't suppose she offered you any fire whiskey during the discussion?”

“Of course not, I don't have time for Fire whiskey, I”

“Well, I've got some in the kitchen. Leafey found it in the cellar, Merlin knows how long it's been down there – thought you'd take a look at it for me and let me know if it's safe to drink.”

This must be some standing joke between them because everyone but everyone knows my dad is tops at figuring out what is good for you and what isn't, but they go through it every time, and then they go in the kitchen and Snape mumbles about how women are impossible, and Gryffindors are impossible, and how my aunt is the most impossible of all and how he is certain Minerva Macgonagall was right and that my mom would have sorted Gryffindor if the hat had ever been willing to sort her at all, and he has usually found a reason to do something obscurely nice before he leaves.

So there you have it. I am a Moody. My Mother is a Muggle. I have a passle of brothers and sisters most of whom have been humoring me for years about this and are now going to be having a ball behind my back about it, but woe to any of you who give me a hard time – we are all the children of the best Auror the ministry ever had, as the Weasleys say, and you wouldn't want to take us all on.

(If you are interested in how my parents got together and how my dad survived and why my uncle isn't dead, that story is being told. You can read chapter one of here, and if you like it, or really hate it, you can either register at the site which will not get you any spam (Has never gotten me any in the past 3 or 4 years, anyway) or if you really don't want to do that, you can comment here after you've read it.)

I have slithered over to the ...Slithery side...

I can't say I slithered over to the dark side - the Slytherins I know now are nothing like the ones in the books, you know - Ambitious, perhaps, and a bit, er, intricate in their thinking, but certainly not evil. I do, however, wholeheartedly support the practice of swapping people from house to house from time to time. I feel it helps spread those qualities the candidate is most strong in,while giving them a chance to absorb other characteristics more common in a different house which they might have been lacking in. I have no idea if any of the Slytherins will be any braver at the end of the term, but hopefully I will be a little more...subtle...

I am also slithering in Reducio, and so I am spoiling a ...but I will not say. Because what if my spoilee should happen to look, and figure it out? That is not a huge swap, and we are really starting to know one another, those of us in it, so I will just say...I am thinking that knitted flowers might make very nice unicorn lures, and since not all of us have Hagrid's way with animals, and since the theme this swap is care of magical creatures...well, it is a thought. I invite responses. I can always crochet a flobberworm if this does not seem good -my spoiler last term made me one, and it has been quite useful...