Silverwing26 flies through the common room with a banner of blue attached to the end of her broom.
"Meet me on the pitch!!!"
When you find your way down to the pitch, she is there in her Quidditch robes with banners flying and sparklers dancing in the air of their own power. (They look strikingly like Weasley Products...)
Claws, do you know what time it is!? It's time to highlight Qudditch projects again! We did very well in Challenge 2 and turned in 47 projects. (By my last count)
Here are some of the ones that caught my eye!!
Winterblizzard's Hedgehog!
Firewhiskeybom's Owls!
volka's Dreamcatchers!
Isisonearth's Labyrinth!
Ielith's Stars!
Hreow's Book Cover!
folk's Dish Cloth!
Stand by for our next Quidditch post where we're going to highlight some of the regular Quidditch projects!! Our claws have been busy busy busy. Have you submitted you're Quidditch project yet!?
Luna's note is a blue feather that, when you touch it, poufs into flame. A faint voice--Luna's--whispers, "Come to the edge of the forest at nightfall" as it disappears into the air.
Naturally, you come whenever Luna beckons. Thus far she has not steered you wrong, and often she shows you wonders you never would have imagined. She waits for you at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, holding another blue feather and looking placid as always.
"I have to pay a visit," she says. "Will you join me?" When you say yes, she holds out the feather and counts down from three, and your portkey is on its way before you can take a breath. It throws you out into a place that looks markedly similar to the one you just left--this could be the Forbidden Forest, except there is no Hogwarts behind you--only more woods.
"It's through here," Luna says, and you follow. She leads you through darkening woods, where sunlight barely penetrates. Then suddenly you emerge into a bright copse, and you hear...
It is phoenix song. It must be. Nothing else could be this beautiful.
Luna puts a finger to her lips, unnecessarily. You do not want to speak. You do not want to make any sound that would interrupt the phoenix's song. You simply want to listen to it forever. Gently she takes your hand in hers, because you might not move if she did not compel you, and leads you through the copse to the other side.
The phoenix song comes to an impossibly lovely end just as you enter the trees. Its spell broken, you are able to look around you a bit. You see moss-covered trees, many of them hollow, many with large nests of golden wheat and fragrant grasses. The little grove you are in is illuminated by a faint glow, as well as by the sunlight behind you, so that as you move among the trees, you are still able to see. Most of the nests are empty, but Luna heads toward the farthest hollow tree, and you see inside a deep blue-violet glow, and hear a soft, low sound that reminds you very much of the phoenix's song.
"When Professor Dumbledore died," Luna says softly, "his phoenix, Fawkes, sang a lament on the Hogwarts grounds. And then he flew away, and no-one at Hogwarts ever saw him again. It is very difficult to own a phoenix," she continued. They aren't easily tamed, and often, I believe, it helps if the person has a phoenix Patronus, as Dumbledore did."
Luna gestured around the copse. "Fawkes came here," she said, "when he left Hogwarts. This is a sort of... phoenix nesting ground. It's a safe-haven, magically protected. Rolf's grandfather, Newt Scamander, discovered it years ago and visits frequently. The phoenixes don't mind us coming, as long as we're gentle and respectful. Sometimes wild phoenixes come here on burning days to regenerate from their own ashes... and every once in a while..." she grows quiet a moment. "Every once in a while, a phoenix comes here to nest."
"Phoenixes are almost always male," Luna explains. "Male phoenixes are red, and when we see a phoenix in the outside world, it is always a male phoenix. In fact, when he wrote Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Papa Scamander believed that they were all male. It wasn't until many years later that he discovered a blue phoenix, and after weeks of observing, discovered that she had laid an egg. Eggs come about only once every fifty years or so, and this phoenix, who Rolf and I have called Fjäder--it's the Swedish word for feather--is only the second recorded female phoenix to lay an egg. We have reason to believe that the father of the baby is Fawkes."
You are astounded. You learned a little bit about phoenixes in Care of Magical Creatures, and indeed, no one had ever intimated that phoenixes could bear young, let alone that the famous Fawkes might have offspring on the way.
"But," says Luna, "something is not right here. This grove should be full of phoenixes, but only Fjäder is here, caring for her egg. We don't know where the others have gone. The father of this phoenix baby should be here to protect the mother and egg... and there should be more."
She turns to you, her eyes full of tears. You have never seen Luna look more distressed, and you reach out your hand to touch her arm in comfort.
"You can help," says Luna. "Help us find the phoenixes! Tell us all about the phoenix you find, and how you help him return home safely, and perhaps you can help us name the baby."
Ravenclaws, unite! Bring your Order of the Phoenix mission to completion--or even to 25%! Turn it in to your Mission Chief by March 24, and then send Soprano1 the story of how you helped a missing phoenix return to safety! A randomly selected winner from among those who save a phoenix will be allowed to choose the baby's name!
Dearest friends, today, oh, today! It is the only day of the calendar year that gives a command: March Fourth! Er... Forth!... whichever. :-D
And what better way to March Fourth for Luna than with a March of Socks--MINISOCKS!!!! Really, there is no better way! MinisMarchforLuna, minis of any kind... but MINISOCKS!!! we have a fondness for them here.
In preparation for this great event, we have been busy busy busy! GazeboGal thought that maybe not everybody would know how or why to make a minisock, and so she has prepared three fabulous tutorials for your perusal, straight from the Bathtub of Yarny Goodness, people! And in the middle, there are some gifts from me (Soprano1) and MariaCrafts as well!
Giant Minisock Tutorial A (Minisock Part 1)
The Top Ten Reasons to Make a Minisock (Minisock Part 2) (ooh, nice thumbnail, there, S1)
Giant Minisock Tutorial B (Minisock Part 3)
How to use your Minisocks for March Classes! (Minisock Part 4)
(click on this one to enlarge!)
Giant Minisock Tutorial C
Dear Claws, March Forth on March Fourth and make MINITHINGS!!!!
