Potty Game: Five Words (Vol. XVI)

   woman."

A faint blush rose                

Looking forward to your first five words, Verity. Maybe this story will be finished some time tomorrow, so I can post the finished story and stats on the 14th, exactly 2 months after it started.


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   raised her teacup in reply.                

A few more posts from Sluggy to finish the toast and the end, and a line of narrative to end the story? Or end on the toast itself, like we have done a few times before.

I had a busy Sunday, Verity. I expect it will just be the two of us finishing this story, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if the next post will be yours, on the morning of the 13th.

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Horace winked at her and

Well, I'm here, too!

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   the first prize for my                

Julia H. wrote:Well, I'm here, too!

Yes, I had wondered, since I saw a your post in the 'Change One Letter' thread yesterday, I thought for sure I would've seen one here as well.

I think my crystal ball is just fine.

EDIT: Hopefully this story will finish up tomorrow, exactly 2 months after it was started. If it does, I will post the story some time on Friday evening, EST. And then, we could start a new story on Saturday, March 17th, St Patrick's Day!

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must be my lucky charm

LOL, Verity, I like it! What a Slytherin, this man - he knows perfectly well that it's the Felix Felicis!

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   !"

Smiling, they clinked their teacups                

.

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Verity, that sounds like an ending to me! I don't think anything else needs to be said... it's left to the reader to decide what happened after the toast, for the rest of the day. But then, I would say that, as it fits the suggestion I wrote earlier: "A few more posts from Sluggy to finish the toast and the end, and a line of narrative to end the story?"

And while I usually wait a day to hear others' feedback, since there are so few of us playing Five Words these days, and posts are not posted as quickly as they once were, I'm inclined to skip the usual waiting period and just declare the story finished right now.

So, here it is: I declare this story, #144, officially F I N I S H E D ! The finished story and stats will be posted on Friday evening, March 16th, EST.

As is customary, this thread will be locked until the official story is posted to conserve posts to maximize this thread's capacity.

Stay tuned!

EDIT: I just realized something. We are on page 59 of the thread, and the 14th post. Which means, there is 1 post left on this page, which will be used for the official story, and then I will need to post the official stats and the 'post-story comments' post on page 60. Threads on forumotion are typically 67 pages long before the thread splits suddenly, and a new one started by forumotion. Sometimes, a thread can got page 68 or 69 before the split happens. Which means that there will be 118 posts remaining in this thread.

Calculations:

page 59, 15th post - Story #144, official story post
page 60, 1st post - Story #144, official stats post
page 60, 2nd post - Story #144, official 'post-story comments' post
page 60, 3rd thru 15th posts = 13 posts, Story #145
pages 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67 = 7 pages x 15 posts = 105 posts, Story #145

page 67, 1st thru 12th posts = last 12 posts, Story #145
page 67, 13th thru 15th posts = last 3 posts, Story #145 (official story, stats, post-story comments)

Which means, there will be 13 + 105 posts available to tell Story #145, for a grand total of 118 posts! But the last 3 would be needed for the official story, stats, and post-story comments. So instead of 1 - 50 post/250 words story, we can write 1 - 100 word/500 post story to end this volume of Five Words Stories, or write 2 - 50 post/250 words stories to end this volume.

I think it would be interesting to try one 50 post/250 words story, then try to write another one after that, having learned a few things from writing the first, and making some improvements in the second. What do others think?

We have a few posts extra in which to discuss this idea, and still have posts left for post-story comments after each story. (Of the remaining 18 posts, each story needs 3 posts each (6 posts) for the official story stuff, leaving 12 posts. Some of these posts could be used for post-story comments after Story #145. If there were to be a Story #146 in this thread, it's post-story comments could be posted in the new volume. Which leaves us some posts for our discussion. Let's use no more than 5 or 6, though (Julia, Mona and I can edit our posts to add things as we go along). I will unlock this thread in order for a discussion to occur about how to use up the remaining posts on this thread.

Sorry if this long post is confusing, but I tried to figure out how all the remaining posts would be used, and it took some words to do it.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Felix Felicis...

Horace Slughorn silently contemplated the small bottle in his hands. What better way to mark the occasion of a wizard's twenty-fourth birthday than to give himself a little bit of luck?

Lately, Horace had been feeling somewhat disheartened as his efforts to prove to Headmaster Dippet that he was the right person for the newly vacant position of Hogwarts Potions master had failed to have the desired effect. Dippet obviously liked him, but in his most recent owl, he had expressed doubts about Horace's ability to be objective with students from all Houses and he considered Horace altogether too young for such a responsible position.

Horace sighed and sat down to have breakfast of pineapple conserve spread thickly on slices of hot, buttered toast. He placed the bottle on the table and contemplated the golden liquid in it. Taking a deep breath, he took a generous swallow, and felt an exhilarating sense of confidence and a tremendous sense of opportunity wash over him. He knew exactly what he wanted to do next. Finishing his breakfast, he got ready to leave, grabbing his tweed jacket. He whistled a merry tune as he sprinkled a pinch of Floo powder into the fireplace. Then stepping into the brilliant green flames, he headed for the Three Broomsticks.

Arriving there moments later, he dusted himself off and strode into the bright cheery pub. He ordered a glass of pumpkin juice and looked around. The place was almost empty; only a strange, hooded figure sitting in a dark corner caused Horace an odd feeling of excitement. He approached the stranger confidently, for it seemed the appropriate thing to do.

“Hello,” he said breezily, extending his hand. "Horace Slughorn."

The stranger looked up. Sky-blue eyes met his. Horace was surprised to see that the mysterious figure was none other than the very lovely Belladonna Black, who had always been the prettiest girl in Slytherin, when Horace was at Hogwarts. However, as she was in the year above him, she never paid him any attention. Now, however, she lifted her hood and smiled brightly.

"Horace! What a surprise! Why don't you join me." She gestured to the empty seat beside her

"What a stroke of luck meeting you here like this," Belladonna exclaimed as Horace sat down. "I wonder if you could help me." She glanced surreptitiously around. "You know, I always admired your potion-making skills. If you were willing to help me..."

"Why all the cloak and dagger stuff, Donna?" Horace asked genially, leaning back comfortably in his chair. "We have no reason to skulk around so mysteriously, do we?"

Belladonna did not seem convinced, but she did lower her hood. Her curly blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders. Brushing it aside, she leaned closer to Horace.

"It's a rather delicate matter, Horace. One that must be treated with the greatest discretion." She paused. "I'm desperate. The only thing that can help is a... love potion!"

"What in Merlin's name could you possibly need a love potion for?" asked Horace. "You don't need magic to have men falling at your feet wherever you go."

"Not for me, silly," she giggled. "It's for my sister, Daphne! She's driving me crazy! She met a handsome young Healer, who is either incredibly shy or completely oblivious. Daphne's visited him several times since she recovered from the spattergroit."

Horace cleared his throat and said, "Well, Daphne never did have the same sort of... appreciation as you. It must be so comforting to her, having such a sympathetic sister."

Horace took a sip from his juice. He was torn between wanting to please Belladonna, but didn't approve of love potions. However, he thought to himself it seemed to be a request made with good intentions, and Felix was telling him it was time to throw caution to the wind and help a damsel in distress.

"I may have something that could help you and your sister," Horace said, taking Belladonna's hand and gazing admiringly into her dark blue eyes.

The girl beamed at him as Horace outlined his plan. "Instead of a love potion, I suggest a mild dose of Oblivius Specificus. When Daphne's reluctant suitor drinks it, he will forget ever meeting Daphne before. Any memories he has of her illness, for example, will vanish, and with spattergroit that's quite a blessing!"

Belladonna nodded happily.

"Then we'll have to introduce them again, so that they can get newly acquainted. I'm sure you can give her the benefit of your experience in matters of the heart."

"Why, Horace! What makes you think I have experience in that area? I've never given you any reason to think that, have I?" She paused, then asked, "Do you have any?" She smiled archly and Horace chuckled in reply, "Me? I've been too busy looking for a good job to worry about such things! In fact, that's the reason I'm here today - on my birthday - I'm planning to meet—"

A sudden noise from the entrance of the pub startled them both, and they looked up. Two people walked in, roaring with laughter. One of them was a Hogwarts professor while the other was a young woman who greatly resembled Belladonna.

"Daphne!" Belladonna called out cheerfully. "Horace and I were only just talking about you. Come and join us."

Daphne looked somewhat surprised, but she came over to them promptly and introduced her companion. "This is Professor Arnold Ashwinder, Potions Master of Hogwarts."

The professor was a good-looking young an with a curly moustache and a friendly smile. He pulled out a chair for Daphne, and took one himself.

Horace stuck out his hand jauntily. "I'm Horace Slughorn. Nice to meet you! And Daphne, what a fortunate coincidence! I was hoping to see you too - I just happened to-run into Donna this morning and I know just the thing for your ... difficulty."

Daphne flushed and gave a nervous giggle. "Oh, Donna worries too much. I couldn't have any problems now, not with Arnold by my side!"

"Oh ... that's lucky!" Horace remarked, as Daphne glanced fondly at Arnold, "I hear," he continued, addressing his comment to Arnold, "that you're leaving Hogwarts for greener pastures."

"That's right," Arnold replied. "I'm going to France to teach at Beauxbatons - they made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

"Best of luck to you!" Horace beamed, gazing around.

Daphne looked at Belladonna with a sheepish expression and shrugged. Belladonna raised her eyebrows, but didn't seem bothered in the least.

Horace felt relieved. He smiled at Belladonna and said, "We'll have to find something else to do together today after all. Perhaps you would like to accompany me to the Taunton Cheese Festival? I have an entry in their newest category, introduced just this year - cheese-based cosmetics!"

"That sounds really interesting," said Belladonna enthusiastically. "What sort of cosmetic is it?"

"Well," Horace replied with a wink, "let's just say, that while cheese is one of the ingredients, it's not the only one. My skin is sensitive to certain magical substances. My cream soothes it wonderfully."

"Professor Dippet would surely be interested in something like that," Arnold put in. "He's allergic to owl feathers, and he's currently looking for an effective treatment for his rash."

"I see," said Horace, stroking his moustache thoughtfully. Little Felix, my fine fortuitous friend, I know exactly what you want me to do.

"Daphne, you and Arnold are welcome to accompany us to the Cheese Festival," Belladonna said.

Her sister considered for a moment, then said, "we'd love to, wouldn't we, Arnold?"

Arnold nodded his assent. "I need to stay out of Professor Dippet's way for a while. He's not my biggest fan right now."

"Why not?" Slughorn asked with interest.

"Oh, wait, it's because you're leaving!"

"Well, it's more because I'm leaving soon, without proper notice," Arnold began, but he fell silent suddenly, as none other than Headmaster Dippet himself walked in.

Daphne and Arnold exchanged a meaningful glance and quickly left the table, slipping past the Headmaster, completely unnoticed. Horace, however, rose with alacrity and approached Professor Dippet, his hand outstretched.

"Headmaster Dippet! It's so fortuitous that we should meet like this!"

The Headmaster allowed himself to be steered towards the empty seat next to Horace and was soon listening to an eloquent discourse on the miraculous properties of his anti-allergy cheese cream, and his general potions prowess. Twenty minutes later, the bemused Headmaster found himself offering Horace the position of Potions Master at Hogwarts and he left the Three Broomsticks feeling rather pleased by his sudden good fortune.

Horace turned to Belladonna and winked. "Today's my lucky day isn't it? New job and meeting you here, by chance?"

"Lucky for me too," Belladonna replied. "I was feeling blue, and you cheered me up!"

She beamed at Horace, who felt giddy, but supremely confident at the same time. Shortly after the pair finished their drinks they Apparated to the cheese festival, where Horace's soothing cream won the first prize in its category. The prize of 500 Galleons was an unexpected windfall.

"We should celebrate this," Horace suggested enthusiastically. "We could go boating in Vivary Park! I haven't been there for ages!"

The pair strolled down Taunton's quiet country lanes hand in hand, admiring the verdant landscape. The lake shimmered into view, and very soon they were gliding across the placid water, Horace confidently at the helm, Belladonna casually trailing her hand through its surface.

"Horace, you're such an expert rower," Belladonna giggled, as the boat narrowly avoided colliding with a passing swan, which splashed them both as its wings unfurled angrily. Horace grinned apologetically and Belladonna began to hum a cheerful Celestina Warbeck tune. Horace joined in with the chorus.

"Heavens! I just remembered! It's your birthday, isn't it?"

"Donna, how sweet of you to remember! It is indeed my birthday today, and what a glorious day it's been!"

"Then you should have cake!" Belladonna suggested cheerfully. "There is a lovely cake shop near my house. Why don't we head over there and celebrate in style ... with a Magical Marzipan Mound!"

"Sounds delicious," Horace exclaimed.

After returning the boat, Belladonna took Horace's hand and minutes later, they were both strolling through the door of the cake shop.

"Look! There's one decorated with pineapple! I also remember how fond you were of crystallized pineapple," Belladonna began.

"I'm stunned!" Horace teased good-naturedly. "I thought you never noticed me when we were at Hogwarts."

"Don't be silly!" Belladonna retorted playfully. "I was bound to notice someone so annoyingly indifferent to me!"

Horace laughed. "Indifferent? Oh no, far from it! I was too intimidated, but your charms never escaped my notice."

They ordered two pieces of Marzipan Mound, and a slice of Pineapple Pavlova, then sat down at a cozy table in a quiet corner. When their tea was served, Horace cleared his throat and raised his teacup.

"A toast, to you Donna, for making my birthday a truly lucky one - two cakes and a lovely day in the company of a beautiful woman."

A faint blush rose on Belladonna's cheeks as she raised her teacup in reply.

Horace winked at her and continued. "A new job and the first prize for my cheese cream! I think you must be my lucky charm!"

Smiling, they clinked their teacups together and took a sip.

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Statistics for Story 144
ordered by first contribution to the story

User	# of     Submissions
Julia H.	82
Verity Weasley	129
Potteraholic	86
Mona	82

The user in red is the rightful starter of the next story. They are welcome to pass on the privilege to the user who posted the second most number of times.

Total Submissions: 379
Total Words: 1895
Last Submission Date:Mar 14, 2012 5:15 am (EST). (Verity Weasley)
Total Time to Create Story: 1 month, 28 days, 11 hours, 10 minutes

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Post-Story Comments for Story #144, Volume XVI,
Potty Five Words: "Horace’s Lucky Day"

This story was written from January 14, 2012 to March 14, 2012. Four writers contributed to the story, which is 1,895 words long. Four of the four writers posted feedback. All times listed are EST.

- Potteraholic, Mar 19, 2012 7:27 pm: Story #144 is up! I think the second part of the story - 'the date' - flows a bit smoother than the first half - when we tried to figure out how Sluggy was going to help Donna, who he just happened to meet in the Three Broomsticks. But once we got to the part of the story where it was just the two of them enjoying their 'date', the story just seemed to flow much easier. I know I found it much easier to participate in the second half of the story, than I did in the first half.

- Verity Weasley, Mar 19, 2012 7:42 pm: Thanks for posting the finished story, PAH. That was quite an epic! It's hard to keep the momentum when a story takes so long to write, but I agree that the second half of the story does seem to flow better. I think it was difficult to imagine Horace as a young man and how he might spend this 'lucky' day, so it took us a while to get into our stride and figure out a plan. Once we had some definite ideas about what might happen, the story seemed to pick up.

- Mona, Mar 23, 2012 1:15 am: Just read Horace's Lucky Day. Not among our best, I guess. Julia's initial idea was a good one, and I think we succeeded in that part of it at least. Horace certainly has a very nice time, even if the reader of the story doesn't.

- Julia H., Mar 23, 2012 11:34 am: OK, here is the fourth set of comments: I'm glad that Mona does not think that the idea was a bad one. I agree that the story could be more entertaining... When I suggested Horace and the Felix Felicis as the subject of the story, I was thinking of a sort of comedy, in which the character's comical potential could be exploited. But we may be a bit too serious people for that - we did not really let Horace defy the usual conventions or use his Slytherin cunning on his lucky day. Oh, well, I'd better leave plot suggestions to others I guess (which I normally do anyway). In any case, we bravely got to the end of the story, and Horace did have a good time...

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   .                

Story #144 is up! I think the second part of the story - 'the date' - flows a bit smoother than the first half - when we tried to figure out how Sluggy was going to help Donna, who he just happened to meet in the Three Broomsticks. But once we got to the part of the story where it was just the two of them enjoying their 'date', the story just seemed to flow much easier. I know I found it much easier to participate in the second half of the story, than I did in the first half.

Since we have only 8 more pages of 15 posts left in this thread, 120 posts altogether, we can only write a short story to close out the thread. Or 2 short stories. I first suggested the idea here inspired by some stories Verity mentioned here and posted here. So after a quick discussion which starts here, we have decided to write 2 short stories, exactly 50 posts and 250 words long. It will be quite a challenge, but a fun one, too!

In order to keep track of the posts, and not fall short, or go over, we will need to do a countdown from the start.

We eagerly await Verity's first 5 words of our first 50/250 story. Stay tuned!

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train, following closely the curly-haired

Glad to see the new story start! I'll read the old one later, since it's late night here.

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   twins in front of me.                

An anonymous Muggle-born first year... great! So I guess we don't need to spend valuable posts identifying this student. Or worry about his/her gender. Good idea, Verity!

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   platform and I couldn't see                

I forgot, what happens to the first year's trunks? Do they drag them off the train themselves, or are they magically collected by someone and transported to the castle? Don't have my books here to check.

Also, if we divide the story roughly into thirds for the beginning middle and end, we have about 16/17 posts for each third. So we should get to the middle of our story by post 16/17 at the latest, or at 34/33 posts left. Or a bit sooner.

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