Disclaimer: See "Stories of the Hogwarts Sisterhood"
Disclaimer 2: Wellard and the Aurors come from "Hornblower"
Disclaimer 3: Some of lines come from "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, so you may find them familiar and I certainly don't own them.
To flamers: I don't take kindly to flames so get out of here, if you know what's good for you.
Note: This is a sequel to "Stories of the Hogwarts Sisterhood"; taken place several months later during Easter holidays, so read that first.
Thank you for the reviews!
Jestana: You will know everything in the next chapter
Rated PG-13 for content
Chapter 17: The confession and the scrapbook
"Terrence, I am sorry about my brother." said Athena apologetically at a park where she and Wellard were kite-flying.
"It's okay," said Wellard as he tugged at the kite string. "Look at it go!" he said cheerfully as the kite went higher.
Athena smiled. Wellard behaved like a kid sometimes, even though he was already 22 years old.
"Anyway, I don't mind that Mr McGonagall said that. He yells because he cares." said Wellard.
Athena couldn't help but rolled her eyes. "Yeah right. If he cares, he wouldn't have left his family years ago."
Wellard didn't say anything else until he sat down beside Athena, with the string still in his hand. "Athena?"
"Hm?"
"Thank you for speaking up for me." said Wellard sincerely.
Athena blushed. "That was nothing."
"But did you do that? You don't have to, you know." asked Wellard curiously.
Athena blushed deeper. "Because, hm, ah, err........"
Wellard tilted his head to one side as he still trying to get an answer.
"I.....err....." continued Athena.
Wellard smiled, his head continued to tilt.
"Hm......"
"It's all right, you can tell me when you are ready." said Wellard finally when he found that Athena couldn't say anything. He stopped tilting his head and stared at the empty space ahead of him.
"Hm, ok......." said Athena quietly. "Athena, you coward, why don't you tell him that you like him?" she thought angrily.
"Athena, can you help me on something?" asked Wellard suddenly.
"What?"
"I like a girl but I don't know how to confess to her." said Wellard nervously.
"Really?" asked Athena, her heart sinking fast.
"I can ask Mr Edrington but I am not very close to him. Mr McGonagall and Mr Bush don't even have girlfriends, Mr Kennedy changes his girlfriends as fast as he changes his robes everyday and I am sure that his method doesn't work with me, Mr Hornblower doesn't even have a chance to confess because he was forced to marry. So I decided to ask you, because you are, hm, most suitable person to talk to."
"What am I? A love adviser?" asked Athena in amusement. "Oh well, he is too old for me anyway......."
"Hm, sort of." said Wellard, his white cheeks went pink.
"What is she like?"
Wellard stared at Athena before he said, "Well, she is tall....."
"Uh huh."
"Has long auburn hair."
"Long auburn hair....."
"Blue eyes."
"Blue eyes," Athena noted. "Now that's sounds familiar......." she thought.
"And she is," Wellard took a deep breath. "Sitting right beside me."
"Sitting right........." Athena stopped and turned her head sharply to Wellard.
Wellard had a serious look on his face, looking as if he was waiting for a death sentence.
Wordlessly, Athena pointed at herself.
Wellard just nodded.
Athena's mouth dropped open.
***
"I can't imagine I will see this place again." said Achilles in disgust as he stared gloomily through his bedroom window to the swimming pool.
Memories of the Hogwarts Sisters and his family playing at the pool began to flood back to Achilles's mind...........
***
1975
Minerva and Poppy were found sitting at the two wooden collapsible chairs and drank pumpkin juice beside the pool. Then young Achilles and Mandy jumped into the pool without warning, drenching Minerva and Poppy wet. Dumbledore shook his head, grinning as he watched his wife screaming herself hoarse at Achilles and Mandy. Georgia, on the hand, was too busily examining the blue roses on the rose bushes near the pool to notice anything.
"Oh, Achilles, Mandy, I hate you two when you do that!" screeched Minerva, sounding like a 5 year-old girl.
"Jump in, Minerva, the water is great!" said Mandy.
"I would like to be dry, thanks." said Minerva, beginning to sound like herself again.
"Minerva is a scaredly cat~~~" sang Mandy.
"No I am not," said Minerva firmly. "I am just doing what I want, remain dry."
Dumbledore sneaked up behind Minerva and put his finger to his lips. Mandy and Achilles grinned and they swam back.
"Oh come on, Mommy, you will love it." said Achilles after he turned around.
"No."
"Oh yes." said Dumbledore beside Minerva's ear and pushed her from behind.
"AAHHH!!!"
SPLASH
Georgia finally turned around from the bushes and found Minerva in the water. "Minerva, I thought that you don't like swimming!"
Minerva ignored the Herbology professor.
"ALBUS DUMBLEDORE!!!!!!" She shrieked.
***
2004
A loud excited cry filled the air, snapping Achilles out of his thoughts. He turned around and immediately, someone hugged him around the waist.
"Young Master is back! Dilly is been waiting for you for a long time! When the Hogwarts Sisters told Dilly that Young Master is back, Dilly is not believe it!"
"Dilly?" asked Achilles in amazement.
"It is Dilly, Young Master," said the house-elf before she removed herself from Achilles. Her big eyes were filled with tears. "Dilly misses you very much, Young Master," she examined Achilles closely. "Young Master is changed a lot after 20 years."
"Yeah I know." said Achilles and grinned.
"You is beginning to look like Master himself!"
Achilles groaned. "Oh great, don't remind me. Maybe I should shave off my moustache........"
"No, Young Master, don't do that! Dilly is very sorry to say that! Dilly will bang her head on the wall as a punishment......" said Dilly quickly and marched straight to a solid wall.
"Dilly, no!" said Achilles frantically and reached out to grab Dilly's shoulders.
"Dilly is to, Young Master!" said Dilly seriously.
"No, I will, err, give you another punishment!" said Achilles, thinking that banging a head as a punishment was a little too much.
"Like what?"
"Hm, just pull your ears for an hour." said Achilles, as that was the simplest punishment he could think of.
"Yes, Young Master." said Dilly and pulled her ears immediately.
"By the way, how's Thunder?" asked Achilles curiously.
"Very well, Young Master, it is now in the stable." said Dilly.
"Good, I will go and visit him," said Achilles happily. "Stand there for an hour."
"Yes, Young Master."
***
Achilles went into the stable and he saw Thunder the unicorn standing there, chewing on something.
"Thunder?"
Thunder turned his head to Achilles. For a moment he didn't do anything. Then he turned around fully and walked slowly towards Achilles.
"It is me, Thunder, Achilles." said Achilles slowly.
The unicorn stared at him and he stared back, trying hard not to blink. It was like staring at a Hippogriff. Two seconds later, Thunder rubbed his long face against Achilles's as a sign of affection.
Achilles smiled and patted Thunder's neck. "Good boy."
***
Achilles came back into the house an hour later after a ride with Thunder and found Mandy and Georgia in kitchen, playing cards. Poppy was nowhere in sight.
"Where is Poppy?" asked Achilles.
"Gone home," said Georgia, without looking up. "Let's see, I need a Queen........"
"What?" exclaimed Achilles.
"HA! I win! Pay up." said Mandy, ignoring Achilles and holding out her palm at Georgia.
"Don't you two need to go home?" snapped Achilles.
Mandy and Georgia looked at each other before they said, "No."
Achilles rolled his eyes and looked around the place, trying to find something to do. He saw a big, red book on a small table and curiously, he walked to it.
The book had the golden words "Empress Singing Flower" on it. It looked thick and seems to have loads of things stuffed in it.
"What is this?" asked Achilles.
"Poppy's scrapbook," said Mandy, putting down her cards. "Each Hogwarts Sisters has a scrapbook and each of them is different."
"She lent it to us. There is something in there that might," Georgia paused. "Makes you feel different to what you feel about Mrs Minerva McGonagall Dumbledore." She said Dumbledore's name in a whisper.
"I don't care if she abducted by leprechauns, okay? I just want to get out of here!" said Achilles loudly.
Mandy frowned and said, "You want out? We will give you the ticket out of here once you have gone through it and listen to a story."
Without any more questions, Achilles opened it immediately and he saw a photo of Poppy in her teens. On the top were the handwritten pink words: "Empress Singing Flower" and the below were the words "Poppy Pomfrey (Potter)" The word "Potter" was written by someone else.
Achilles flipped the next page and saw a photo of the Hogwarts Sisters in their Hogwarts robes with the castle as their background. Below the unmoving photo were the words: "Me and my Hogwarts Sisters"
"Oh my God, look how young you all are." said Achilles in awe.
Mandy and Georgia came over and they went "aww" at the photo.
"We took that during our first year. Since then it was camera mania between the Hogwarts Sisters, some of the teachers were so annoying with us taking photos in class all the time. Dumbledore doesn't mind through."
The next page had photos of Poppy in school. There was one of Poppy on a broomstick, looking rather sick and the caption "I hate flying"
There was one with Poppy staring at a light blue potion in a bottle with the caption "Nice colour........"
There was one with Poppy with her wand out and a matchstick on the table with the caption "Come on, turn into a needle, will you?"
There was one with Poppy with her wand out, she had her hand over her mouth. Beside her, a book was burning and Minerva was slapping it with her hat frantically. The caption said: "Sorry, Minerva! I didn't mean to!"
There was a lot more, Achilles began to have interest in the scrapbook and started to scan every page before flipping it to the next page. He saw a lot of people that he didn't recognize until Mandy and Georgia told him. He saw photos of 25 year-old Dumbledore and young Minerva and realized that everyone was right; he did look like his father. And Athena was like an exact copy of their mother. Soon he arrived to a page that was labelled as "My Graduation Day at Hogwarts *sniffs*". A large photo of the Gryffindor 7th years students were standing in the Great Hall in their graduation robes was shown.
Achilles turned a page and saw a photo of the young Hogwarts Sisters in costumes, Minerva in a helmet and armour, with a spear and shield in her hands. Mandy dressed herself as a Red Indian; she was wearing a black wig and had a feather in her hair. She had blue, red and white stripes on her face and she was carrying a bow and arrow. Poppy was wearing a 17th century evening gown. Her dress was long and elegant. Her ash-blond hair was curly (Achilles thought that she had permed it) and was tied up. She had a white fluffy fan in her hand. Georgia dressed up as a Muggle nurse, with a white uniform, cap and shoes.
"What in hell?" asked Achilles, pointing at the photo.
"Oh, that was just a photo of us in a costume ball during Halloween." said Mandy.
"You are joking." Achilles muttered.
"No! Robert Lupin invited us!" said Georgia.
Achilles looked in amusement at a photo of Dumbledore and his male students. Dumbledore dressed up as a king. He had a crown, armour and a long sword. Jonathan Wood dressed up as another Red Indian, just that he had a lot more feathers in his hair than Mandy's. William Potter dressed as a 17 century Army officer; he looked wonderful in his hat, breeches, red uniform and high boots. He even had a gun in his belt and a Rapier beside him. Nicholas Longbottom dressed up as Muggle policeman. Joe Black dressed up as the Muggle detective Sherlock Holmes. He was looking at the ceiling with his eyes narrowed with suspicion as he sucked on his pipe. Robert Lupin dressed up as a Greek; he had white robes and simple sandals. Don Weasley dressed as a modern Navy officer.
Achilles flipped to the next page and found loads of photos of Poppy and William. In some of them, William had his arm around Poppy's shoulders. In one of them, William and Poppy were dancing and in another, Poppy was giggling as William kissed her neck.
Achilles went pink at that photo and quickly turned the page. He saw a big photo of William Potter in his official Auror robes. Back then, the robes were black and had a golden pin with the letter "A". William looked proud and handsome.
"Wow," Achilles whistled. "I didn't know that William Potter was an Auror."
"That is why you are here, Honey, to know what you didn't know," said Mandy softly. "Achilles, William is the part of reason why your mother doesn't want you to be an Auror."
"Huh? I don't get it," said Achilles. "What does William Potter get to do with the argument?"
Mandy and Georgia sighed sadly.
Wordlessly, Mandy reached out and flipped to the next page. Achilles saw a black card on it and had words in white:
Mr and Mrs Eric Potter have sadly invited you to the funeral of their beloved son, William Potter (1933-1953).
5th of July 1953
10am
Victoria Church
Please make an effort to come
Thank you
"That," said Mandy, pointing at the card. "Is the cause of everything."
Disclaimer 2: Wellard and the Aurors come from "Hornblower"
Disclaimer 3: Some of lines come from "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, so you may find them familiar and I certainly don't own them.
To flamers: I don't take kindly to flames so get out of here, if you know what's good for you.
Note: This is a sequel to "Stories of the Hogwarts Sisterhood"; taken place several months later during Easter holidays, so read that first.
Thank you for the reviews!
Jestana: You will know everything in the next chapter
Rated PG-13 for content
Chapter 17: The confession and the scrapbook
"Terrence, I am sorry about my brother." said Athena apologetically at a park where she and Wellard were kite-flying.
"It's okay," said Wellard as he tugged at the kite string. "Look at it go!" he said cheerfully as the kite went higher.
Athena smiled. Wellard behaved like a kid sometimes, even though he was already 22 years old.
"Anyway, I don't mind that Mr McGonagall said that. He yells because he cares." said Wellard.
Athena couldn't help but rolled her eyes. "Yeah right. If he cares, he wouldn't have left his family years ago."
Wellard didn't say anything else until he sat down beside Athena, with the string still in his hand. "Athena?"
"Hm?"
"Thank you for speaking up for me." said Wellard sincerely.
Athena blushed. "That was nothing."
"But did you do that? You don't have to, you know." asked Wellard curiously.
Athena blushed deeper. "Because, hm, ah, err........"
Wellard tilted his head to one side as he still trying to get an answer.
"I.....err....." continued Athena.
Wellard smiled, his head continued to tilt.
"Hm......"
"It's all right, you can tell me when you are ready." said Wellard finally when he found that Athena couldn't say anything. He stopped tilting his head and stared at the empty space ahead of him.
"Hm, ok......." said Athena quietly. "Athena, you coward, why don't you tell him that you like him?" she thought angrily.
"Athena, can you help me on something?" asked Wellard suddenly.
"What?"
"I like a girl but I don't know how to confess to her." said Wellard nervously.
"Really?" asked Athena, her heart sinking fast.
"I can ask Mr Edrington but I am not very close to him. Mr McGonagall and Mr Bush don't even have girlfriends, Mr Kennedy changes his girlfriends as fast as he changes his robes everyday and I am sure that his method doesn't work with me, Mr Hornblower doesn't even have a chance to confess because he was forced to marry. So I decided to ask you, because you are, hm, most suitable person to talk to."
"What am I? A love adviser?" asked Athena in amusement. "Oh well, he is too old for me anyway......."
"Hm, sort of." said Wellard, his white cheeks went pink.
"What is she like?"
Wellard stared at Athena before he said, "Well, she is tall....."
"Uh huh."
"Has long auburn hair."
"Long auburn hair....."
"Blue eyes."
"Blue eyes," Athena noted. "Now that's sounds familiar......." she thought.
"And she is," Wellard took a deep breath. "Sitting right beside me."
"Sitting right........." Athena stopped and turned her head sharply to Wellard.
Wellard had a serious look on his face, looking as if he was waiting for a death sentence.
Wordlessly, Athena pointed at herself.
Wellard just nodded.
Athena's mouth dropped open.
***
"I can't imagine I will see this place again." said Achilles in disgust as he stared gloomily through his bedroom window to the swimming pool.
Memories of the Hogwarts Sisters and his family playing at the pool began to flood back to Achilles's mind...........
***
1975
Minerva and Poppy were found sitting at the two wooden collapsible chairs and drank pumpkin juice beside the pool. Then young Achilles and Mandy jumped into the pool without warning, drenching Minerva and Poppy wet. Dumbledore shook his head, grinning as he watched his wife screaming herself hoarse at Achilles and Mandy. Georgia, on the hand, was too busily examining the blue roses on the rose bushes near the pool to notice anything.
"Oh, Achilles, Mandy, I hate you two when you do that!" screeched Minerva, sounding like a 5 year-old girl.
"Jump in, Minerva, the water is great!" said Mandy.
"I would like to be dry, thanks." said Minerva, beginning to sound like herself again.
"Minerva is a scaredly cat~~~" sang Mandy.
"No I am not," said Minerva firmly. "I am just doing what I want, remain dry."
Dumbledore sneaked up behind Minerva and put his finger to his lips. Mandy and Achilles grinned and they swam back.
"Oh come on, Mommy, you will love it." said Achilles after he turned around.
"No."
"Oh yes." said Dumbledore beside Minerva's ear and pushed her from behind.
"AAHHH!!!"
SPLASH
Georgia finally turned around from the bushes and found Minerva in the water. "Minerva, I thought that you don't like swimming!"
Minerva ignored the Herbology professor.
"ALBUS DUMBLEDORE!!!!!!" She shrieked.
***
2004
A loud excited cry filled the air, snapping Achilles out of his thoughts. He turned around and immediately, someone hugged him around the waist.
"Young Master is back! Dilly is been waiting for you for a long time! When the Hogwarts Sisters told Dilly that Young Master is back, Dilly is not believe it!"
"Dilly?" asked Achilles in amazement.
"It is Dilly, Young Master," said the house-elf before she removed herself from Achilles. Her big eyes were filled with tears. "Dilly misses you very much, Young Master," she examined Achilles closely. "Young Master is changed a lot after 20 years."
"Yeah I know." said Achilles and grinned.
"You is beginning to look like Master himself!"
Achilles groaned. "Oh great, don't remind me. Maybe I should shave off my moustache........"
"No, Young Master, don't do that! Dilly is very sorry to say that! Dilly will bang her head on the wall as a punishment......" said Dilly quickly and marched straight to a solid wall.
"Dilly, no!" said Achilles frantically and reached out to grab Dilly's shoulders.
"Dilly is to, Young Master!" said Dilly seriously.
"No, I will, err, give you another punishment!" said Achilles, thinking that banging a head as a punishment was a little too much.
"Like what?"
"Hm, just pull your ears for an hour." said Achilles, as that was the simplest punishment he could think of.
"Yes, Young Master." said Dilly and pulled her ears immediately.
"By the way, how's Thunder?" asked Achilles curiously.
"Very well, Young Master, it is now in the stable." said Dilly.
"Good, I will go and visit him," said Achilles happily. "Stand there for an hour."
"Yes, Young Master."
***
Achilles went into the stable and he saw Thunder the unicorn standing there, chewing on something.
"Thunder?"
Thunder turned his head to Achilles. For a moment he didn't do anything. Then he turned around fully and walked slowly towards Achilles.
"It is me, Thunder, Achilles." said Achilles slowly.
The unicorn stared at him and he stared back, trying hard not to blink. It was like staring at a Hippogriff. Two seconds later, Thunder rubbed his long face against Achilles's as a sign of affection.
Achilles smiled and patted Thunder's neck. "Good boy."
***
Achilles came back into the house an hour later after a ride with Thunder and found Mandy and Georgia in kitchen, playing cards. Poppy was nowhere in sight.
"Where is Poppy?" asked Achilles.
"Gone home," said Georgia, without looking up. "Let's see, I need a Queen........"
"What?" exclaimed Achilles.
"HA! I win! Pay up." said Mandy, ignoring Achilles and holding out her palm at Georgia.
"Don't you two need to go home?" snapped Achilles.
Mandy and Georgia looked at each other before they said, "No."
Achilles rolled his eyes and looked around the place, trying to find something to do. He saw a big, red book on a small table and curiously, he walked to it.
The book had the golden words "Empress Singing Flower" on it. It looked thick and seems to have loads of things stuffed in it.
"What is this?" asked Achilles.
"Poppy's scrapbook," said Mandy, putting down her cards. "Each Hogwarts Sisters has a scrapbook and each of them is different."
"She lent it to us. There is something in there that might," Georgia paused. "Makes you feel different to what you feel about Mrs Minerva McGonagall Dumbledore." She said Dumbledore's name in a whisper.
"I don't care if she abducted by leprechauns, okay? I just want to get out of here!" said Achilles loudly.
Mandy frowned and said, "You want out? We will give you the ticket out of here once you have gone through it and listen to a story."
Without any more questions, Achilles opened it immediately and he saw a photo of Poppy in her teens. On the top were the handwritten pink words: "Empress Singing Flower" and the below were the words "Poppy Pomfrey (Potter)" The word "Potter" was written by someone else.
Achilles flipped the next page and saw a photo of the Hogwarts Sisters in their Hogwarts robes with the castle as their background. Below the unmoving photo were the words: "Me and my Hogwarts Sisters"
"Oh my God, look how young you all are." said Achilles in awe.
Mandy and Georgia came over and they went "aww" at the photo.
"We took that during our first year. Since then it was camera mania between the Hogwarts Sisters, some of the teachers were so annoying with us taking photos in class all the time. Dumbledore doesn't mind through."
The next page had photos of Poppy in school. There was one of Poppy on a broomstick, looking rather sick and the caption "I hate flying"
There was one with Poppy staring at a light blue potion in a bottle with the caption "Nice colour........"
There was one with Poppy with her wand out and a matchstick on the table with the caption "Come on, turn into a needle, will you?"
There was one with Poppy with her wand out, she had her hand over her mouth. Beside her, a book was burning and Minerva was slapping it with her hat frantically. The caption said: "Sorry, Minerva! I didn't mean to!"
There was a lot more, Achilles began to have interest in the scrapbook and started to scan every page before flipping it to the next page. He saw a lot of people that he didn't recognize until Mandy and Georgia told him. He saw photos of 25 year-old Dumbledore and young Minerva and realized that everyone was right; he did look like his father. And Athena was like an exact copy of their mother. Soon he arrived to a page that was labelled as "My Graduation Day at Hogwarts *sniffs*". A large photo of the Gryffindor 7th years students were standing in the Great Hall in their graduation robes was shown.
Achilles turned a page and saw a photo of the young Hogwarts Sisters in costumes, Minerva in a helmet and armour, with a spear and shield in her hands. Mandy dressed herself as a Red Indian; she was wearing a black wig and had a feather in her hair. She had blue, red and white stripes on her face and she was carrying a bow and arrow. Poppy was wearing a 17th century evening gown. Her dress was long and elegant. Her ash-blond hair was curly (Achilles thought that she had permed it) and was tied up. She had a white fluffy fan in her hand. Georgia dressed up as a Muggle nurse, with a white uniform, cap and shoes.
"What in hell?" asked Achilles, pointing at the photo.
"Oh, that was just a photo of us in a costume ball during Halloween." said Mandy.
"You are joking." Achilles muttered.
"No! Robert Lupin invited us!" said Georgia.
Achilles looked in amusement at a photo of Dumbledore and his male students. Dumbledore dressed up as a king. He had a crown, armour and a long sword. Jonathan Wood dressed up as another Red Indian, just that he had a lot more feathers in his hair than Mandy's. William Potter dressed as a 17 century Army officer; he looked wonderful in his hat, breeches, red uniform and high boots. He even had a gun in his belt and a Rapier beside him. Nicholas Longbottom dressed up as Muggle policeman. Joe Black dressed up as the Muggle detective Sherlock Holmes. He was looking at the ceiling with his eyes narrowed with suspicion as he sucked on his pipe. Robert Lupin dressed up as a Greek; he had white robes and simple sandals. Don Weasley dressed as a modern Navy officer.
Achilles flipped to the next page and found loads of photos of Poppy and William. In some of them, William had his arm around Poppy's shoulders. In one of them, William and Poppy were dancing and in another, Poppy was giggling as William kissed her neck.
Achilles went pink at that photo and quickly turned the page. He saw a big photo of William Potter in his official Auror robes. Back then, the robes were black and had a golden pin with the letter "A". William looked proud and handsome.
"Wow," Achilles whistled. "I didn't know that William Potter was an Auror."
"That is why you are here, Honey, to know what you didn't know," said Mandy softly. "Achilles, William is the part of reason why your mother doesn't want you to be an Auror."
"Huh? I don't get it," said Achilles. "What does William Potter get to do with the argument?"
Mandy and Georgia sighed sadly.
Wordlessly, Mandy reached out and flipped to the next page. Achilles saw a black card on it and had words in white:
Mr and Mrs Eric Potter have sadly invited you to the funeral of their beloved son, William Potter (1933-1953).
5th of July 1953
10am
Victoria Church
Please make an effort to come
Thank you
"That," said Mandy, pointing at the card. "Is the cause of everything."
