The CBB :: View topic - CBB Advent Calendar: December 13th

#1: CBB Advent Calendar: December 13th Author: CBB Triumvirate,

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 8:38 am

It was the school’s special fruit drink that started it all. Everybody was agreed on that fact at least. The Sixth had been invited out by the Millies for the day, and had taken the train round the mountain to Grindelwald. They were to explore the town and its environs before walking back over the mountain to Wengen and catching the train again back to the Gornetz Platz. They were all responsible girls, many of them prefects, and since many of the Millies were Old Girls and known to the Head, no one was worried about anything the group may have done. Today was to prove Miss Annersley wrong, though to be fair the Sixth could not be blamed for what happened. The two groups met as planned at the little station that served the Platz, each group carrying their own lunches. Len Maynard, as Head Girl, had been entrusted with the first aid kit, which all school parties were required to carry before Matey would allow them to leave the school grounds. Experience had taught her that this was an essential piece of equipment, for more accidents had befallen girls on school trips from the Chalet School than any school should be expected to deal with. Rain storms, snow storms, avalanches, girls falling down holes in the ground, trying to fall off cliffs (none, it should be stated of Lesley’s making, this being the wrong story!), all had happened on Chalet School trips. The contingent from St Mildred’s, the school’s Finishing Branch, were also provided with the patent kit, this being carried by one June Marshall, a girl who had come from a prestigious school in England to work specifically on her languages. She had been inclined to feel a little superior when she had first arrived, for she came from a good family, and had prided herself on her background. Finding many of the girls who had attended the Chalet School to be from rather more ordinary backgrounds she had shown herself to be something of a snob until shown the error of her ways in no uncertain terms before the first term was over. Since then she had mellowed somewhat, though the old tendencies still reared their head at times.

When the little train arrived at the station the girls crowded on board. The weather was good for the end of May, with a bright blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds, and they looked forward to a good day out. The had to change trains before they could reach Grindelwald and the found themselves scattered amongst the carriages as they were rather full. When the train finally pulled into the station at their destination, they hurriedly piled off and gathered together at the exit from the platform.

By mutual consent they explored the town in small groups, mostly separating into School and Millies before meeting up at 12.30 and starting up the path leading around the mountain and back to Wengen. Shortly after 13.00 they stopped at a grassy clearing by the side of the path to have their lunch. Up to this point everything had been normal, and this was why they argued that the fruit drink was to blame. Len was the first to take a long drink from her flask as she was rather thirsty.
“I say,” she said when she put the flask down. “That didn’t taste quite the same as usual. What do you other think?”
Margot and Con both followed her example and took a long drink, as it must be said did most of the others. They all agreed that there was a funny taste, but not unpleasant, so they thought nothing of it and continued with their meal. The Millies, incidentally, had found nothing at all wrong with their own fruit drinks, though they had been prepared from the same recipe used for many years by the Chalet School. It was soon noticeable however, that the Sixth were getting a little noisier than was strictly necessary, and the Millies girls began to look at each other in concern.

It took a little longer for the Sixth form to realise what was happening. They didn’t feel any different to usual, but one by one they slowly began to raise their voices. It was almost unnoticeable at first, but then Len almost shrieked at Con when she asked for a refill of fruit drink, and when Con replied her voice was loud enough to drown out even Margot’s snoring. The other prefects looked on in amusement. It was not often the triplets let rip with their inter-Nicene feud, but when they did it usually provided great entertainment. Ted Grantley leaned backward to nudge Francie Wilford and alert her to the fun and was surprised to find herself shouting across the clearing “I say, Len and Con are going for it again.”

Ted sat up and clasped a hand over her mouth in horror. The Maynards looked at her in annoyance, banding together once more.
“Ted, how could you yell like that?” shouted Margot, roused from her nap.
“I didn’t shout, I whispered, it’s not my fault if you listen in when you shouldn’t.”
“You are still shouting,” bellowed Len.
“You are a fine one to talk, look how loud you are shouting yourself,” screeched Francie.
Margot was in a rage at this referral to her past sins however and in her fury she picked up the nearest objects and started lobbing them around at all and sundry. Since the nearest objects were daisies this struck most of the other sixth formers as funny in the extreme, and they began to laugh.

Unfortunately this was not good. The girls had not realised what had happened yet, although the Millies were beginning to wonder how they could get the girls home without attracting too much attention. As the sixth formers laughed, the noise level slowly increased. Each time one of them made a noise, she got just slightly louder, and LOUDER and even LOUDER. By now the birds had disappeared, so had the rabbits and hedgehogs (if they are native to Switzerland, and whatever is, if they are not!). No wildlife remained where they could hear that noise; they were fleeing towards the boarders. Soon the Millies were covering their ears as they tried to sign to the sixth form that they had to shut up.

“Am I shouting?” asked Betty Landon in all seriousness when Josette (who had won the argument about Australia in this version of events) told her to “Shut up!”
“Shouting, you are all being loud enough to get us arrested, so try being silent while we figure this out,” the former head Girl replied. It took a while, but eventually the Millies had the sixth form in silence, well almost. There was the occasional rustle, a whisper that could be heard in Interlaken, a cough that had Matey reaching for a dose on the Platz, and a sudden cry that had a mother in England look up in amazement. On the whole however the girls were silent.

Josette looked long and thoughtfully at her cousin Maeve before speaking.
“I think you had better take charge here, you are the one with the witchsmeller talents after all.”
Maeve took a deep breath and stood tall, looking Josette in the eye as she replied, “Yes, and I know just how you stopped Auntie Madge from taking you to Australia.”
“This needs dealing with first, it’s public, and nothing to do with me.”
“Yes, we can keep the other quiet, in the family at any rate, but this will be harder to deal with. I need to sniff around a little, get the aroma, can you cover whilst I have a wonder among the sixth form?”

Maeve began to wander around the group whilst the rest of the Millies looked on in bewilderment. They had no idea what was going on of course, for neither Maeve nor Josette had needed to reveal any hint of extraordinary talent before - or at least, not in school. Maeve could sense something unusual, some smell that wasn’t quite normal, and she had a sudden inspiration. Bending down she grabbed the nearest mug that still retained a drop of lemonade and sniffed.
“Got it!” she said. “It was the lemonade. One of Snape’s little tricks from his schooldays. He was gifted in potions from the first you know, even before …. everything happened.”
Josette nodded. Neither of them had had the talent to attend Hogwarts as fully fledged student witches, but they did possess sufficient talent to attend summer school - a series of classes aimed at what the wizarding world called hedge-witches. It was an odd position, floating somewhere between the wizards and the muggles, and they both felt it keenly. However, Maeve’s small talent was proving useful now, and Josette was starting to feel that they might actually manage to get the situation under some sort of control.
“Can we make the antidote up here Maeve?” she asked.
“Yes I think so. Those flowers that Margot was chucking around just now look like the right ones, and we have enough lemonade for the base.”
They were busy stirring and mixing when Josette became aware that her cousin Len was standing watching her with a baleful expression on her face.
“Think you’re so clever, don’t you?” she hissed. “You at least got to go to summer school. I got the Letter I’ll have you know, but Mamma wouldn’t hear of it. Wrote back and refused permission, and that was the end of it. Dumbledore came to visit her himself, but she wouldn’t budge, refused to even consider that there was anything to consider.”
Josette looked at her in compassion. “How did you discover Snape’s little recipe then?” she asked.
Len smirked in a very unbecoming way. “I discovered it myself,” she said. “I had no way of knowing I wasn’t the first, had I? Not having the experience you two did. Well I’ve waited long enough for my revenge. Being forced to attend a Muggle school just because Mamma was the first pupil was too much. Now I can have my revenge. You won’t know what’s hit the school.”
Maeve had been concentrating on her mixture, but now she looked up at her cousin sternly. Before she could speak however, a tall figure stepped out from behind one of the huge boulders that lay scattered about the glade.
“Perhaps I may be of some assistance,” he said. “You have done very well my dears, but now I can take this problem off your shoulders."
Both Josette and Maeve heaved a sigh of relief, for they were well aware that even an untrained witch was well above their abilities to deal with. Now that Professor Dumbledore was here everything was all right.
Len stared at at the strange figure in amazement. He had long white hair and an even longer white beard, and his clothes were frankly weird. He was wearing long flowing robes that came down to his ankles covered with a long cloak.
“Who on earth are you?” she demanded. “What makes you think you can walk in and take over everything.”
“I don’t think I can, I know I can,” replied the Professor. “I think it’s high time you came to me for some proper training, don’t you?” and before Len could utter another word, he had taken her arm and the pair had vanished.
The party made their way back to school in some sort of a daze, no one quite wanting to talk about what they had seen. Once the remaining Sixth had been returned to the School, and the Head told of the happening (she seemed to be already well informed on the matter), Maeve and Josette made their way back to St Mildred’s in silence. Once there, they mad a beeline for a secluded nook in the grounds and settled down with a sigh.
“Well after that little affair I think we need to clear the air between us. Open up about how you managed to come to Millies instead of going to Australia with Sybs, and things like that.”
Josette smiled at her cousin. “Yes,” she said happily. “Now we can stop being polite and talk.”

#2: Author: Sophoife, Location: down under Down Under

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 9:07 am

Professor Dumbledore
the lemonade
"Now we can stop being polite, and talk."

#3: Author: Helen P, Location: Cheshire

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 10:22 am

Maeve
Lemonade
“Think you’re so clever, don’t you?”

#4: Author: Dawn, Location: Leeds, West Yorks

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 10:43 am

Len Maynard
First aid kit
Now we can stop being polite and talk

#5: Author: Kate, Location: Ireland

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 12:01 pm

Josette Russell
first aid kit
“Now we can stop being polite and talk.”

#6: Author: Emily, Location: Land of White Coats and Stethoscopes.

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 12:31 pm

Len Maynard
special fruit drink
"Now we can stop being polite and talk."

Brilliant story! Laughing

#7: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 3:47 pm

Francie Wilford
fruit drink
“Now we can stop being polite and talk.”

Does this mean Len ends up a Slytherin? Shocked

#8: Author: Guest,

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 5:24 pm

Well, I'm sure the first guess is right, but I'll try

Ted Grantley

Muggles

“Now we can stop being polite and talk.”

Ellen (PS Another great story)

#9: Author: Ellie, Location: Lincolnshire

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 5:29 pm

Matey

Train

Now we can stop being polite and talk

#10: Author: Amanda M, Location: Wakefield

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 5:55 pm

Maeve
First aid kit
"Matey reaching for a dose "

Star Wars

#11: Author: Ann, Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 6:01 pm

Maeve Bettany

Special fruit drink

"Now we can stop being polite and talk"

#12: Author: Mihiri, Location: surrey england

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 6:28 pm

Maeve Bettany

hogwarts

now we can stop being polite and talk

Thanks Triumvirate

#13: Author: Ciorstaidh, Location: London

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 6:48 pm

Kathy_S wrote:

Does this mean Len ends up a Slytherin? Shocked

Don't know...sounds as though Len's Muggle-born (good grief, Muggle-borns in Slytherin? Lucius Malfoy would have a fit!!) My bet's on Ravenclaw.

I'm not even going to guess on this one, just say well done!!

#14: Author: nikkie,

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 7:05 pm

Francie Wilford
first aid kit
no uncertain terms

#15: Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle

Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 12:46 am

Another good story!

Len Maynard

the school's specia fruit drink

'now we can stop being polite and talk

#16: Author: CBB Triumvirate,

Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 8:31 am

Quite a few got this one, or got at least some of the bits, well done.

Ted Grantley
The school’s special fruit drink
‘Now we can stop being polite and talk’

#17: Author: Vikki, Location: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!!

Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 8:08 pm

LOL!!

Wonderful one today Triumvirate!

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