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Post by Kiki on Oct 22, 2004 9:59:07 GMT
Kiki shook her head absently and was surveying the packages on how to best get them all into the room. She decided on Levitating them in and getting rid of the brown packaging later. She obviously had other things on her mind, however Kiki had picked up on the question she'd been asked.
Most of the parcels were quite huge, but there were a few smaller ones and those she put on her desk to open later. The bigger ones she Levitated into the gap between her chair and Hayzie's.
"Now, let's see," Her fingers wiggled excitedly as she pulled the nearest flattish rectangular package toward her. With a grin and wink to Hayzie, she ripped off the paper and revealed a painted portrait of Bob Rainbow. She laughed excitedly and Bob promptly awoke and smiled.
"Why, hello Kiki my dear," He said, peering up through the frame. "Why are you in my old office?" He asked, looking around confused.
"I'm Ministeress now, Bob," Kiki replied, unable to stop the grin on her face. "Welcome to life as a wall hanging." She laughed and looked over at Hayzie.
"I'd think that this is what most of these are. Although I'm not sure about those - " She pointed to the smaller, fatter and squarer packages on her desk.
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Post by Hayzie on Oct 22, 2004 10:06:52 GMT
“I thought the walls looked a little bare for your taste, Kiki,” Hayz giggled quietly as she watched her friend tear the paper off the picture and talk to the person inside. It was Bob Rainbow, the ex-Minister Kiki had been talking about before. The blonde’s gaze travelled down the pile. By the looks of things, the majority of them were portraits exactly the same shape as Bob’s picture, but different sizes. At least Ki wouldn’t be short of company or people… portraits of people to talk to.
As her friend commented on the smaller parcels which had been discarded on her desk, Hayzie’s eyes travelled towards them, suddenly interested. They looked like… books? Glancing around the room, the bookshelves were a little bare, maybe it was to fill them up.
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Post by Kiki on Oct 22, 2004 10:27:58 GMT
Kiki glanced up and saw Hayzie looking curiously at the packages.
"You are most welcome to open those," Kiki said, as she reached eagerly for the next closest parcel, resting Bob carefully against her chair and listened quite uninterested to his ramblings.
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Post by Hayzie on Oct 22, 2004 10:41:10 GMT
Hayzie nodded, her eyes starting to sparkle a little. "Okay!" she replied, moving to pick up the top parcel. As she unwrapped it, it was revealed that it was a book called: The Ministry of Magic: A History. Hayz looked briefly up at Kiki with a quick smile before placing it on the desk, the bottom layer of a pile which she was sure would grow.
Neatly removing each piece of brown paper from each package, more books followed. Ones on potions, muggle law enforcement, magical law enforcement, how to employ good employees, a box of chocolate buttons from Honeydukes, and one on magical health remedies. The final book looked familar... a little too familiar. Opening the first page nosily, the blonde girl spotted the exact same list Kasey had read out to her those many months ago, and the one that caught her eye the most were the two words: "Lycan cures..." Hayzie whispered under her breath, quickly flipping throught the pages to find page 472.
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Post by Kiki on Oct 22, 2004 10:54:54 GMT
Kiki had just unwrapped a parcel containing a rather old whispy gentleman who was looking her over with a disapproving eye.
"Letting women run for Minister! I thought I'd never see the day when -"
"Oh hush," Kiki told him, and the glasses fell off the previous Minister's nose in surprise.
"In my day women were seen and not heard!" He complained, and several other older gentlemen nodded through glasses, monocles and one was leaning rather heavily on a hearing device.
"Well, I'm sorry Mr," Kiki glanced at the brass plate that was embedded into the frame at the bottom. "Mr Mackleby, but it's past your golden era," She put him against the wall with some of the other portraits who didn't look favourably upon her, and they all immediately broke into a whispered conversation, the gentleman with the hearing pipe kept asking, in a rather old and hoarse voice for them to speak up and repeat themselves.
Kiki laughed and commented,
"Remind me to get painted in my prime Hayz," She glanced up and saw Hayzie pouring excitedly over a book.
"What have you found?" Kiki asked, brushing the brown paper off her lap and turning to Hayzie.
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Post by Hayzie on Oct 22, 2004 11:06:13 GMT
Hayzie had barely heard the gentleman in the picture Kiki had just opened as she ran her finger down the page trying to find the one Kasey had been talking about before. "Lycan cures, elven forest, centuar," she mumbled to herself.
She only just caught Kiki's question and waved her friend over, pointing to the exact one Kasey had picked out. "That's the one."
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Post by Kiki on Oct 22, 2004 11:15:34 GMT
"Which one?' Kiki asked as she walked over and then spotted the heading.
"That one," she said, suddenley interested and scanned over the pages, blinking in surprise at some of the ingredients.
"Wow," She murmured.
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Post by Hayzie on Oct 22, 2004 11:27:35 GMT
Hayzie scanned the list as well. This wasn't going to be easy, at all. Besides the two already mentioned, the potion wanted hair from a troll's ear, water from the cave of a merman, a hair from the head of the human form, a hair from the lycan form, and a droplet of blood from the lycan who turned you.
At the last two, Hayz's face dropped. "No, it can't be done," she whispered, hope slowly fading. She had always said she would never turn into her lycan form and despite many close calls, she had kept to that. And a droplet of Rikka's blood? She would kill Hayzie before that would happen.
Slumping back into her chair, a lost shine crept over her eyes again. It was a hopeless case.
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Post by Kiki on Oct 22, 2004 12:08:27 GMT
"Obviously it can," Kiki pointed out. "What's the use in making a potion if it doesn't work?" She wrapped a comforting arm around Hayzie's shoulder.
"Now it might look terribly difficult, but we can't lose hope. I can help you in getting some of this, and there's a room hidden out the back of the Ministry you can use to prepare the potion. I know some people at the school who would be more than willing to help you collect some of the ingredients."
She smiled kindly.
"Hayzie, if you want this to work, you've got to believe in it."
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Post by Hayzie on Oct 22, 2004 12:13:10 GMT
Hayzie shook her head. "You don't understand. I can't turn into my Lycan form... I just can't." The blonde's voice held tones of near despair now. Kiki would have known just how stubborn Hayz could be, and would bem when it came to something like this. If she turned into her Lycan form, she would have accepted what had happened, and she wasn't about to lose that easily.
Closing the book with a thud, Hayzie started out of the window.
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Post by Kiki on Oct 22, 2004 12:32:13 GMT
"You can't, or you won't?" Kiki asked, firm now. She could see that Hayzie hated her life at the moment, and was scared of something happening. She didn't bother to point out that in the Ministry is possibly the third safest place. After the MH castle and Gringotts of course.
"Hayzie, answer me this. Do you want your old life back?" She asked, and was suddenly reminded of her recent past.
"I do know what you are going through. Maybe not exactly the same circumstances, but similiar. Do you remember a few months ago, Ace and I were going out?" She didn't wait for confirmation from the girl. "Well, I was not quite myself. I don't know if you saw me at all, but I was certainly not myself. But I - the normal, hyperactive, Head Girl who talked to portraits to see what strange information she could glean - was still trapped inside. But Ace was the one who brought me to my senses. It might be harder for you, but you have to trust your instincts and what you are feeling. If you want to stop being labelled a Lycan, then you're going to have to change into one. It won't be for long, ten seconds maximum, just whilst someone gets the fur we need. A small sacrifice to make for the regular insanity we know and love, right?"
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Post by Hayzie on Oct 22, 2004 12:45:17 GMT
Hayzie took a deep shuddery breath. As much as she hated to admit it, Kiki was right. In comparison to staying as a Lycan for the rest of her life - which would probably be long lived if she carried on like this.
"I want to go back," Hayz confessed, curling up in the chair again and running her finger down the spine of the book. The only book that could give her hope at the moment. "You're right, it's a small sacrifice to make in the end."
Hayz did remember one encounter with Kiki not long after she had been turned in the Great Hall. She had definately not been herself then. Insulting, threatening... and she had almost figured out about Maria. But she had managed to come back from it, after death as well.
"You're right," the blonde repeated tiredly, rubbing her eyes a little. "But I was never insane."
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Post by Kiki on Oct 22, 2004 12:57:14 GMT
Kiki burst out with laughter at Hayzie last comment.
"All right then, whatever you classify yourself as then. Now, let's figure out these ingredients and where we might be able to get them."
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Post by Hayzie on Oct 22, 2004 13:11:15 GMT
Nodding once, Hayzie completely gave up on arguing, it wasn't getting her anywhere and she felt as defeated as she knew she was on the matter.
"Let's go," she whispered, opening the book again to start figuring.
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Post by Kiki on Oct 22, 2004 13:36:27 GMT
Kiki noticed the slump in her friends shoulders.
"Hey, I don't want to see that defeatist attitude. I want to see you upbeat. Happy. Because this is a complicated Potion, and I'm no Snape. Not that I'd want to be Snape...but I was never very good at Potion making." She looked at Hayzie who had begun reading over the potion again.
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