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Author Topic:  [Day School]It's Not That Easy Being Green - Or Chocolate[Inigo, Ceinwen]  (Read 5134 times)

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Charity Siofra O'Seanan [ Inactive Character ]
1 Posts
Charity traveled to London every morning for day-school - usually by floo powder. This morning, she was running a little late because one of the chickens had gotten out and Charity had tried to help catch it. One of the hands had cornered it and it had been successfully collected, but Charity didn't have time to eat breakfast; the supervisor handed her a baggie of dry cereal with a sigh as he proferred the floo powder. He had eyed her outfit questioningly, but there was nothing they could do now but hand her the bookbag and send her on her way.

So that was how Charity came about appearing that morning, while their teacher was trying to calm the other underage witches and wizards, out of the fireplace in the teacher's workroom holding a bag of cereal and wearing white mary-janes, purple-and-red striped socks (they had been pulled up as far as they would go, but were slouching some now), khaki shorts of the sort that one would imagine a jungle-explorer wearing, a large white frilly Victorian-style shirt that hung to her knees (although she left it unbuttoned from her waist), and some rich blue robes that looked like the sort of thing a ring-bearer might have worn in a wedding in the 1960s. Her hair was pulled into two pig-tails and she wore a green plaid golfer hat.

She hurried along to her desk next to her age-mate, Inigo Thrussell, who had for the past couple of years sat next to her. They were both very smart and, since they were the same age, it simplified matters considerably; they were unlikely to cheat off of one another and pairing them together was a no-brainer. Charity liked Inigo, even though he was a boy and obsessed with Batman. He never said anything about how she looked like some of the other kids did - especially the girls. And he was smart - and easy to talk to. Most of the time.

Charity had missed pretty much all of what the teacher had been explaining to the class. She pulled the same supplies out that Inigo had and squinted to see what it was the teacher was setting on everyone's desk. It couldn't be - but it was! An unopened chocolate frog! First thing in the morning and the teacher was giving them chocolate?! There had to be a catch. Charity leaned towards Inigo, whispering, "What are we doing? Do you know?"
« Last Edit: September 26, 2015, 12:34:58 AM by Harmony Aniani Blue »


Inigo Thrussell [ Inactive Character ]
1 Posts
Re: [Day School]It's Not That Easy Being Green - Or Chocolate[Inigo]
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2015, 10:55:51 PM »
Inigo lived in London, which meant he had a much shorter commute to get to school, only a few blocks' walk down the London sidewalks to get to the school. He'd managed to sneak out of the house this morning in an outfit he'd picked out, due in large part to the fact that his foster mother was dealing with a bit of chaos caused by one of the other kids she and her husband were caring for at the moment. He wore a black t-shirt with a yellow Batman logo on it, green corduroy pants with white vertical stripes that were each as thick as Inigo's thumb, and a slightly tatty old robe that looked like they used to be quite fancy, the type one might wear to a formal party, which had what Inigo considered to be an interesting construction and lots of good needlework. He'd made a boutonniere out of construction paper to spice it up a bit, and give the faded old thing some color, but it was certainly something that looked like it had been pulled out of the thrift store bin. This was admittedly true, mind you, but it was also true for most of his wardrobe these days, as he'd finally outgrown the last of what his parents had bought him.

When Charity staggered in late, Inigo chuckled and replied quietly, "What, did one of your animals escape again? That seems to keep happening, for some reason. Anyway, it turns out that these frogs have a price: we have to open them up and then write a small report on the wizard inside. Then we get to keep the card, which is okay I guess, but I hope I get one of the ones that I need. It'll be boring if I have to research a wizard I already have, since I've probably already learned most of what I need to know about the ones I have in my collection."


Charity Siofra O'Seanan [ Inactive Character ]
1 Posts
Re: [Day School]It's Not That Easy Being Green - Or Chocolate[Inigo]
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2015, 01:21:22 AM »
Charity nodded her thanks as the magical confectionery was set on the table in front of her, responding automatically, "Thank you!" Then she turned back to Inigo. "Ah, a penmanship thing, probably." she observed, "Well, animals are always more clever than anyone gives them credit for, aren't they? It was one of the Derbyshire Redcaps, the one the hands call Lady McBawk. She'd hid under the coop and when they came in to get the eggs, whoops out she went! Usually they're more careful, though. Most of the time, it's Dwayne that escapes. He's the plow horse pretty much figured out the latch on his stall. Don't know why everyone gets so worked up - he's just going to come and stand by the kitchen door staring in the window. He does it every time he gets out."

She arranged her quill, ink, parchment, and breakfast precisely, then took a look at the set-up before carefully placing her as-yet-unwrapped assignment in the center of the parchment. She smiled and helped herself to a handful of dried cereal then carefully opened the early morning candy. She didn't usually eat that much candy, but the various adults in Charity's life hadn't noticed this so she had more experience with chocolate frogs than she really considered necessary. The young girl cupped her hand quickly over the top of the frog to prevent it from escaping. It squirmed in her grip rather pathetically - the frogs weren't actually intended to escape, after all - and then gave in. Good. Two escaped animals in one morning was a bit much, even if one was made out of chocolate.

Soon, Charity was picking up the Chocolate Frog Card with exaggerated caution. She was pretty sure that she didn't have any chocolate on her hands, but there was always a chance. She grinned and rolled the card around, looking at the silly-looking red-headed witch pictured on it. Every once in a while, she'd dart out of the frame and a small, blue thing dodged through. After a few seconds, the shifty looking redhead in the green velvet robes returned, her eyes darting about nervously.

"Dymphna Furmage (1612—1698)" Charity read aloud, but quietly. After all, some of the other grade-schoolers were already writing and the teacher had never minded Inigo and Charity chatting provided they got their work done and didn't bother anyone else, "Famously abducted by pixies while on holiday on Cornwall and lived in mortal dread of them thereafter. Failed to persuade the Ministry of Magic to have all pixies humanely destroyed. Huh, how about that. I wouldn't have thought any type of pixie would be capable of kidnapping someone except for really little kids. I wonder if there's a card for which pixie pulled that off. Famous or no, I don't know if that's going to show up in the teacher's encyclopedia. I can probably stretch it a bit if I put in some paragraphs on Cornish Pixies, especially if I can find anything about pixie kidnapping techniques or other legal issues."

Charity ate a few more bites of cereal, considering the assignment, "Who'd you get, then? If it's someone you know, you ought to be able to roll out your paper in no time - and I'll bet if any of the others got one you don't have, they'd be willing to trade at break-time."


Inigo Thrussell [ Inactive Character ]
1 Posts
Re: [Day School]It's Not That Easy Being Green - Or Chocolate[Inigo]
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2015, 06:13:28 AM »
Inigo looked somewhat confused, "Wait, what? How did she... how do you get famous for being kidnapped? That's like someone naming a comic book series around the "designated damsel in distress-slash-love interest", like The Adventures of Lois Lane or something. Granted, she's one of the worse examples of that recently, as modern Lois has become something of a strong, independent young woman, but Old-School Lois was a total Designated Damsel. Anyway, let's see who I got."

With that, Inigo carefully started to open his chocolate frog, though to his surprise the package had been opened, and the frog was already subdued, a little scorch mark on its forehead indicating it'd been hit by a blast of magic. Probably not something actually harmful, especially not to a human, but chocolate WAS awfully sensitive after all. Inigo looked un-amused as he pulled out the card, his appetite for frog lost with the fun of actually having to catch it, but he wasn't about to miss another chance to add to his knowledge base, as well as his collection of Chocolate Frog Cards. When he'd pulled the card free of the packaging, he was even less amused than he had been, his brow furrowing further as he saw who he'd gotten.

"I don't like this one..." he grumbled, "He's a dark wizard. It doesn't say it on the card, but he'd jinx people up one wall and down the other for no reason other than he'd thought he'd heard them say something nasty about him. And at his advanced age, well... a lot of things could turn into insults. They ended up locking him away in prison 'till he rotted. Good on 'em, says I. That sort doesn't need to be walking about free."


Charity Siofra O'Seanan [ Inactive Character ]
1 Posts
Re: [Day School]It's Not That Easy Being Green - Or Chocolate[Inigo]
« Reply #4 on: September 12, 2015, 03:00:37 AM »
Charity glanced over at Inigo's card curiously. She frowned as he read it, then stated pointedly, "You don't have to be a dark wizard to know jinxes, do you? And he could just have had dementia or something. You can't just assume someone is a dark wizard because they do bad things. Sometimes, people who aren't dark wizards do bad things. I wonder what the encyclopedia will say about him, though, and what he did before he went crazy and started jinxing people."

Charity hopped out of her seat and returned with several encyclopedias, plopping them on the table. When she climbed back into her seat, she was rubbing her arms. Those were big, heavy books! "I got the 'D.' Maybe your guy is in there." She advised. Charity checked the most obvious alternative first - the encyclopedia her witch's name was under. Sure enough, there was a short article there, "Look at this, she was a teenager when it happened. That makes a little more sense, I guess. Better than a full grown adult."

Soon, Charity had several encyclopedias opened in front of her and was scribbling with her quill. "I think you should still eat your chocolate frog." She warned Inigo, "It'll come to soon and then you'll lose your opportunity."
« Last Edit: September 13, 2015, 06:52:41 PM by Harmony Aniani Blue »


Inigo Thrussell [ Inactive Character ]
1 Posts
Re: [Day School]It's Not That Easy Being Green - Or Chocolate[Inigo]
« Reply #5 on: September 12, 2015, 10:06:32 AM »
Inigo sighed and said, "It's not what spells you know that makes you a Dark Wizard, it's how you use them. I'd say someone should have taken away his wand if he was getting like that, but if the picture is right, he didn't need it."

The picture was of a crotchety-looking old man, bald on top with silvery hair growing around the sides of his head, almost like a naturally occurring tonsure. Occasionally, the old man would stop shouting and waving his hands angrily, and start firing bursts of magic "off-camera", but the painting really conveyed the basics of the wizard on the card. Inigo followed Charity to the bookshelf and grabbed the 'E' volumes, bringing them to the table and quickly checking the indexes for his assignmed wizard's name, 'Ethelred the Ever-Ready' before flipping to the appropriate page. After jotting down a few quick notes for himself, just in case someone else needed the books, Inigo said, "So, she got kidnapped as a teenager, then? Yeah, that does make more sense. So did she rescue herself, or did someone else have to? And if they did, do they have a Chocolate Frog Card, do you think?"


Charity Siofra O'Seanan [ Inactive Character ]
1 Posts
Re: [Day School]It's Not That Easy Being Green - Or Chocolate[Inigo]
« Reply #6 on: September 12, 2015, 01:03:00 PM »
Charity shrugged. "I shouldn't think it'd be a big thing to rescue someone from Cornish Pixies. They're annoying, pesky little creatures, but they aren't particularly difficult to take down. Hit them with almost any spell. In fact, they'd have had to have taken this witch's wand first, I bet, before kidnapping her. And I don't see why she couldn't just wade out again unless they put her somewhere high up." she mused, "Of course, I haven't been to Cornwall and we don't tend to get big pixie infestations here, so I don't have much personal experience."

Charity felt that, as small as she was and as wandless as she was, she'd likely have been kidnapped by Cornish Pixies who felt so inclined as well. She didn't think she'd lobby for their eradication afterwards, though. After all, garden gnomes were pesky little monsters, too, but she wouldn't wish death on all of them. And they had a dragon come through once, burning crops and such. The hands protected the farm and scared it off - the supervisor had called it an amazing example of teamwork and determination and one of the younger hands had added something about being terrified out of his wits. They were very big, fire-breathing pests and nobody had ever thought about eradicating all of them - in fact Charity was pretty sure that most were a protected species.

Reading on Charity finally responded, "It doesn't say how she escaped only that she escaped, so I guess she did just wade out of it by herself, pixies dive-bombing her the whole time. Anyhow, I think your guy was just paranoid and old, not necessarily dark. They don't usually take your wand away when you're still out and about - they can lock them up if your being housed in a prison or a hospital, though. He probably needed to have gone somewhere, to be watched after, but they didn't have that sort of thing. When was he again?"
« Last Edit: September 13, 2015, 06:52:28 PM by Harmony Aniani Blue »


Inigo Thrussell [ Inactive Character ]
1 Posts
Re: [Day School]It's Not That Easy Being Green - Or Chocolate[Inigo]
« Reply #7 on: September 13, 2015, 03:40:53 PM »
Inigo looked at his frog again, the chocolaty amphibian starting to stir as it recovered from whatever spell the teacher had cast upon it, and grabbed it and bit its head off with a sigh. He chewed thoughtfully as he considered Charity's words, considering what it must have been like for that woman, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel that the card was kind of an insult. Not only to the witch herself, for having been kidnapped by pixies of all things, but to the rest of the witches and wizards on the Chocolate Frog cards for having to share their 'hall of fame' with someone like her. After all, some of the more recent entries were reported to take great pride in their addition to the roster of Chocolate Frog Cards, namely Ron Weasley and Albus Dumbledore.

"Yeah, true enough. He was back in the olden times, before the Ministry or Parliament, so I guess since they just had a council of powerful wizards meeting up every once in a while to make rules and not, you know, The Ministry, it took them a while to catch him, much less prevent what happened. It doesn't even say if he died in wizard jail, so for all I know some Muggle lord just chained him up in a dungeon where he rotted," said Inigo, writing his report quickly from an article he'd found in one of the books Charity had brought to their table. She was helpful like that, and while sometimes Inigo felt bad about letting her get the big, heavy books, she never seemed to mind.

He then looked at his card again and said, "Ya know, this card already has bent edges, and the pack was open. You don't think the teacher switched out the card, do you? i know that the anniversary of... well, you know. It's coming up. I wonder if any of the other kids had open packs?"


Charity Siofra O'Seanan [ Inactive Character ]
1 Posts
Re: [Day School]It's Not That Easy Being Green - Or Chocolate[Inigo]
« Reply #8 on: September 13, 2015, 04:45:18 PM »
Charity scanned the room to see if any other kids showed signs of having gotten already opened packs. Nobody was protesting too much, but honestly not all that many of the kids were as sensitive to this sort of thing as Inigo. She looked back at the encyclopedia, her finger moving back to a line about Pixies and their typical behaviors, particularly when swarming. Apparently, single pixies could deliver a painful sting (not through biological means, of course), but they were particularly potent when swarming. "I don't know. Probably. I mean, you're not the only one they worry about. Everybody here has... history, as it were, and with the day being what it is... they probably didn't want anyone who'd react badly to get a Merwyn the Malicous card and have to look up that article - or probably even the Harry Potter card. His name is on it, isn't it? Don't know why you rated one - probably because they know you collect and wanted to make sure you wouldn't get excited by getting a rare or something like that."

Plus, Charity tended to be afraid of things, but not angry about things. So unless she pulled, say, a spider out of the bag there wasn't likely to be a disturbance. The only way a chocolate frog cared would have caused Charity to make a disturbance would be if her uncle were on a chocolate frog card, and then she'd just simply avoid all the cards and she'd have requested an old card. Luckily, the company didn't put malicious fratricidal maniacs on the cards, at least not until several centuries after their respective malicious fratricides.

"Look at this, it says here that swarms of pixies have been known to fly off with smaller children and babies. That would have to have been a pretty impressive swarm to have wandered off with a teenager, but I guess that it's not that unusual to be kidnapped by pixies." Charity continued reading, then added, "And left on the roof of a castle or up a tree or something. Maybe that's what they did with Dymphna. Some of her lobbying has to have worked, though, because we don't have giant swarms wandering off with larger people anymore. I'm not finding an article, but I'll bet there some poor bloke at the ministry whose job it is to go into Cornwall and break up hives that are threatening to get too big."
« Last Edit: September 13, 2015, 06:52:16 PM by Harmony Aniani Blue »


Inigo Thrussell [ Inactive Character ]
1 Posts
Re: [Day School]It's Not That Easy Being Green - Or Chocolate[Inigo]
« Reply #9 on: September 13, 2015, 06:13:38 PM »
Inigo looked at Charity like she'd just grown another head, replying, "Charity, if it was that, they just wouldn't give them to us. At least half of us collect. I know, I've traded cards with them! But just about as many of us are here because of Voldemort and his cronies. So maybe they wanted to make sure we didn't get anyone famous who fought him. I don't really know, I can't read the teachers' minds."

'Yet.' he thought to himself as he continued to write his report, halfway entertaining thoughts of what it would be like to be able to peek into the minds of others.


Charity Siofra O'Seanan [ Inactive Character ]
1 Posts
Re: [Day School]It's Not That Easy Being Green - Or Chocolate[Inigo]
« Reply #10 on: September 13, 2015, 06:50:31 PM »
"And you think the teachers aren't observant enough to know which ones of us collect cards? You don't know how many people got open packs and nor do I." Charity challenged stubbornly, "It may be as you say, but they obviously didn't do everyone that way, so they must have only done it for the people they thought would get excited. Besides, she has our files, she knows what does and doesn't set us off, she probably has reasons. You should ask. She's always been willing to tell me things when I ask her, or at least tell me when it's something she can't answer."

Charity returned to scribbling on her parchment diligently, referencing some laws that were passed that involved pixies and her feelings about the witch in question and her actions. She didn't really like the idea that someone would try to get a species exterminated just because she was afraid of them. Charity was afraid of an awful lot of things, but she didn't want any of them to leave the world forever. Even bugs - she hated bugs and freaked out when they were anywhere near her. The adults in her life cast repellent charms to keep them away and that didn't always work, but she'd never even considered trying to push legislation to have all bugs killed. They had... reasons, right? Bees were important to flowering plants. Beetles did... stuff to dirt. Spiders helped with population control, creepy little monsters though they were. Certainly, pixies wouldn't exist if there wasn't a niche for them in the ecosystem of Cornwall.

Charity pushed the encyclopedias aside and looked over the parchment critically, spell and grammar checking as well as making sure that nothing was illegible. She had well-measured hand-writing anyway - a careful hand, the teacher always said - so she was fairly confident that the teacher would be pleased with her penmanship.

"Is today math day, do you know? I'm so tired of doing those same old problems; I want to move on to the next unit. Maybe it'll be more exciting." she probed, glancing over to see how far Inigo was on his paper.


Inigo Thrussell [ Inactive Character ]
1 Posts
Re: [Day School]It's Not That Easy Being Green - Or Chocolate[Inigo]
« Reply #11 on: September 14, 2015, 12:17:10 AM »
"Ugh, tell me about it," agreed Inigo as he finished double-checking his own work. "You'd think they'd let us read ahead a bit, considering, but I guess not. Ah, well, we can always hope! Maybe the rest of the class will have caught up enough that we can move forward. Or maybe it won't be math day. Either way would suit me just fine, really."

Math wasn't exactly his favorite subject, but it was fairly self-explanatory, and he didn't really have any difficulty doing the problems. Which, ironically, WAS the problem. He wanted a challenge, and thus far the day school's mathematics lessons had failed to provide one. He couldn't wait for summer, and the subsequent fall. He'd gotten his acceptance letter from Hogwarts, as had Charity, and he was eager to go and start learning magic. The day school had been teaching them the basics; reading, writing, arithmetic, and a smattering of history. Enough so that they'd have a good foundation for the more in-depth courses that Hogwarts offered, but not enough to truly challenge Inigo's inquisitive young mind.


Charity Siofra O'Seanan [ Inactive Character ]
1 Posts
Re: [Day School]It's Not That Easy Being Green - Or Chocolate[Inigo]
« Reply #12 on: September 21, 2015, 02:24:38 PM »
Having finished her assignment, Charity climbed down to turn it in and return the encyclopedias. She returned with her daily work folder and skimmed the work. Elementary school was relatively simple compared to the things that some of the workers taught her at home and it looked like yet another day of less-than-challenging assignments. Inigo would likely be less-than-thrilled as well, so maybe they could run through their work and take the rest of the day to do something interesting. The teacher always gave them something more... kinesthetic when they finished early.

Charity started at the beginning and flew through the day's busywork quickly, placing it back into the 'done' folder. Grammar and spelling practice was easy, math was some basic algebra and geometry that really wasn't particularly problematic (Had they not learned it a few years ago using blanks instead of letters? Why hadn't they just introduced the letters then?), and history could have been interesting except that it was a worksheet on technological innovations of the Industrial Era, which was a shaky subject for the best of Wizarding kind. Charity knew that the Wright Brothers had made the first plane over in the U.S. because the teachers had the standard curriculum books for reference, but she was not sure that the teacher knew that. They never really talked about it - the teacher always had her reference the history book when she had a question.

She knew certain muggle technologies because, well, some of her family was muggle. A whole branch, actually, and they were also part-owners of the company. They knew some of what went on, some of them, but not much. And they used telephones to keep in touch with the rest of the family. There was even a computer at her house due to the new push to keep data digitally on staff performance and production, but nobody had figured out how to make it turn on. Even though the assistance on the technological aspects of muggle curriculum was a little bit shaky at best ("Um... does it say in that textbook? Go check that textbook.") the school tried its best to do proper curriculum according to the and Inigo was very helpful. The computer that someone had set up in the corner was quite popular, mostly as a novelty.

One quick check later and Charity was done with the day's work. She put her independent work folder in the "finished" box, looked sheepishly at the teacher (who was working with a group of kindergarten to 2nd graders), and headed back to her desk to see how Inigo was progressing. The technology worksheet ought to have been really easy for him - he'd even done okay at the electricity unit they'd tried in science earlier that year. The teacher had tried, she really had, but the end result was that she used her key and Charity and Inigo poured through the Level 6 science book until they'd figured things out. The only thing they had left was their final history project and Charity had actually finished that weeks before. She'd chosen to do an in-depth study on Ancient Greece (each of the older kids had picked an early civilization to research) and the presentation wasn't due until next week.

"How are you doing?" Charity whispered to Inigo. She looked apologetically at the teacher. The woman knew what to expect - she'd been working with the pair of them for years now and knew that they were fast, efficient workers who picked up new subjects easily - but Charity still felt sorry when everything that had been set aside for them to do during the day didn't quite get them through the morning. Of course, they always over-estimated time necessary for any technological unit. After all, Inigo was familiar with muggle technology because of his family and Charity was technologically advanced for a wizarding family - they had a rotary phone and she knew how to use it!


Inigo Thrussell [ Inactive Character ]
1 Posts
Re: [Day School]It's Not That Easy Being Green - Or Chocolate[Inigo]
« Reply #13 on: September 21, 2015, 11:05:09 PM »
"I'm done," replied Inigo as Charity asked how he was on his busywork. Which, really, busywork was the term for it. Inigo already knew everything that the unit required, as did Charity. Admittedly, they were the two 'bright' students, and Inigo had once overheard the teachers setting up an informal office pool for just how far down their heads the Sorting Hat was going to get before it put them into Ravenclaw. Apparently, their teacher had put twenty Sickles on it sorting Charity before it actually touched her, though she'd given Inigo about a minute or so, considering his sly nature made her wonder sometimes if he WAS going to Ravenclaw.

He put his folder in the 'done' box with Charity, though he didn't give the teacher the least bit of consideration. She'd had a few years to acquaint herself with the pair, and it wasn't *his* fault that they tended to speed through the work she usually left them. Besides, when they got finished early was generally when they got to do the things that were actually fun, things that weren't just the same rote academia they'd already been taught, but at a slightly higher level. Inigo could hardly wait for Hogwarts, as learning magic would be a brand new challenge with all new basics to learn, and that excited him more than anything else about the place.

The Muggle technology bits were one of the few things Inigo actually still enjoyed learning about, as limited as the information on such matters were in a Wizarding primary school, but the technology was fascinating to the young wizard. Not only did the computers have massive amounts of potential as useful tools, but they were awfully exciting machines. For Inigo, it was due at least in part to the fact that the Bat-Computer was one of Batman's greatest tools in his detective work, and Inigo wanted to be sure he learned all he could about them for when he was older.

"So what do you think she's going to give us?" he asked Charity quietly as they waited for the teacher to get a good stopping point in her lesson to the younger kids. The teacher could always find more for them to do, though thankfully she usually reserved tedious chores for those that misbehaved. Which, to be fair, was often Inigo, but he hadn't done anything bad... yet. But the day was still young, and the inquisitive young superhero wannabe was bound to find some way to justify getting into trouble as an adventure.


Charity Siofra O'Seanan [ Inactive Character ]
1 Posts
Re: [Day School]It's Not That Easy Being Green - Or Chocolate[Inigo]
« Reply #14 on: September 22, 2015, 03:41:25 PM »
"More work." Charity responded promptly and logically, "I hope it's work on the computer. That little box is so funny. I like that it sings when it's thinking about hard problems." The computer work had been fairly limited mostly, Charity suspected, because nobody was really sure what the thing could do. Charity was proud of herself for owning a computer and, in the broom closet where it was stored, she had actually set it up similarly to the set-up the man had put in school. She had tried pushing the buttons the way Inigo did when he wanted it to turn on, but it still sat there coldly. There was some part of this 'turn the computer on' trick that she was missing, but she didn't know what it was. Still, the idea that she could proudly tell her friends that she had a computer at home was somewhat... exciting.

Charity's musings were interrupted by the teacher who had stopped by the desk with a shallow box. She set it between them and explained their task - sounding a little bit uncertain. She occasionally checked the book that had the word 'STANDARDS' on the front. Charity had asked once, and these were the things that muggle schools expected elementary school children to know, and because they were not a homeschool they had to attempt exposure. Most of it was English, Math, and History, which was stuff Wizarding kids were taught anyway. There were occasionally some odd focuses and today was looking like an odd focusing day. The teacher explained that they were to make a map, using the tools that the standard book recommended, of the neighborhood. It could be just the school-yard if they wanted, but they had to be careful of keeping scale and she requested, eyeing their outfits, that they not go any further than three blocks away - or do anything else that wasn't strictly necessary in the completion of the task (She'd eyed Inigo exclusively here.) and advised them to be back around lunch time if they wanted to be fed.

Charity peeked into the box, curious about the tools that the muggle standards book suggested they use to make a map. There was the white and blue lined graph paper that they were familiar with from math lessons, two tape measures (one clothing, one construction) which both wiggled a bit in the box, and two compasses. One was a geometric compass from their graphing assignments. The other was an ornate round thing that looked like a pocket watch, but when you opened it had several differently colored needles that pointed all over the place. The drawings in the muggle geography textbook (which they used to complement the wizarding geography texts) of compasses looked similar to this, only they only had one red needle that always pointed north. This one had a red needle that didn't move no matter how Charity turned it and the other needles stayed roughly stable, too, although a pink one was moving dramatically around as she watched it.

Charity caught the clues. This meant that the extra assignment had been one from the muggle standards notebook almost completely and the teacher wasn't certain what tools to give them for completion of the project. So she'd gotten together with someone - probably her husband - and puzzled over what the muggles could possibly have meant by these words, then collected the necessary tools from around her house. The wiggling cloth measure looked like the sort that had magically measured Charity when a cousin, less than pleased by her "rag-bag wardrobe" had taken her to a store to "make her presentable" and gotten her a bunch of frilly dresses. She'd seen the construction measures before, especially well-loved ones like this one. It had to have been dropped thousands of times by wayward do-it-yourselfers and several of the guys who worked in the prep room carried a magical measuring tape in their pocket and measured impressively sized vegetables or amused Charity by letting her play with it in the corner. The first compass appeared to be one from the geometry box, complete with the label that stated that it belonged in the classroom. The second compass... Charity had to assume that it was something from the teacher's home. She'd never seen anything like it before and she was curious what all the needles were pointing to.

Well, that could be fun anyhow. Charity hadn't really seen much of the neighborhood. They had recess, but she floo-powdered in every day, didn't she? She could see the parts of the neighborhood you could see from the playset outside. She'd been in London plenty of times, but it was different from place to place. Diagon Alley looked like a completely different place than, say, the ministry building entrances. (They'd ask her to come so that they could "have a look at her" while deciding her Hogwarts paperwork. Apparently, an hour or so sitting in a waiting room was enough of a look and they'd sent her home without actually talking to anyone.) And from what she could see from the playground, this neighborhood was different from both of those other places.

Charity was sure that she wasn't going to have to wait long, but she waited for Inigo's response to the tools they'd been given so that she could follow him outside. She was always more comfortable following Inigo when they were "sent on adventures." He was so much bigger than her, even though he wasn't much older. If she lead the way, it'd feel odd. As an afterthought, she closed the baggie with what was left of her dry cereal breakfast in it and added it to the toolbox.
« Last Edit: September 22, 2015, 03:45:42 PM by Harmony Aniani Blue »


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