Hogwarts Reconstruction: After a long day's work

After a tiring day working on repairing Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry you return to the small city of tents just outside the gates to relax before starting again tomorrow. The main tent glows brightly in the centre of the area, with a team of House Elves working to provide dinner for the workers. Chairs and tables have appeared for dinner, replacing the schematics and plans from earlier in the day. Already several workers are here, having their dinner.

In hindsight, James really couldn't understand why he'd chosen to get back in touch with true reporting, rather than sitting in his large, comfy office back at the Daily Prophet's headquarters. The conditions were rubbish, and the food was really rather awful. Sure, almost everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves, but James was not one to let his standards falls so far as to eat food cooked in front of him and say it was good.

Grumbling to himself about how annoying the elves high voices were James grabbed a seat to himself, nibbling on the corner of some herb bread while pulling out his own eagle feather quill and starting to write about the poor onsite conditions and lack of safety being exhibited while people repaired the castle.

And sure, he could have just walked back to his own tent, paid for by the company (After all, he pretty much was the company) and completely decked out with five star facilities...

But that would mean that the people surrounding him wouldn't hear his complaints about the conditions here, or even worse

He wouldn't be able to make any

It was tiring work, helping to organise the reconstruction of Hogwarts. There were lists to make, people to contact, resources to requisition, and then of course, there was the building to do.

It was all paying off though. Even just a few short days into the reconstruction you could already see the progress, 73 of the 142 staircases had been repaired to moving order, the towers... well, there were towers, and already you could cross the grounds without running the risk of falling into a pit of acromantula remains and mud.

But there was plenty more work to be done, unfortunately. Already the costs of repairing had breached the estimates, and there was plenty more to be done. Of course the Ministry had an endless pocket for this project, the school was far too important, both in terms of infrastructure and in terms of cultural significance, to be left in ruins. And even some of the volunteers were offering to pay for some things, everyone felt they owed it to the school, and most people were keen to leave their mark on it.

Walking back through the school's gates, Jess was pleased to see, or smell rather, that dinner was ready - the house elves had really outdone themselves once again, especially given their limited resources.

While the repairing itself was enjoyable (the sense of accomplishment was strong throughout the entire camp) the most fun part of the entire project was kicking back around a campfire in the main tent, sipping on the hearty stew made by the elves, and sharing stories with other people involved, often people who were perfectly unknown to you.

Taking a seat he looked up and spotted the ex-minister turned editor of the Daily Prophet, sitting alone (as usual), muttering darkly (as usual) and looking up, shooting angry looks at anyone who dared to... well, at anyone, really (as usual)

"James," Jess said, raising his bowl towards the man as he scowled darkly at the source of the noise. "What're you writing?" He inquired casually, blowing on his soup to cool it off a little.

Sam was sunburnt...

like, really, really sunburnt.

It was the downside to working on the highest point of the castle - there was no shade, and you were just that little bit closer to the sun, its rays burning almost anything they touched, in particular the end of Sam's nose, and the back of his neck.

"Ow," he said, walking into the main tent to seek out some medical attention. Last time he'd tried healing any part of his skin he'd ended up with a hole the size of a golf ball in his leg.

"Ow," he said again, repeating the word with every movement he made, he felt, and looked, like a lobster in a pot of boiling water.

"Can i have a bottle of water?" He asked the house elves, nodding graciously when they gave him one, then pouring its contents on his neck.

"Anyone here a healer?" He finally said, speaking to no one in particular but hoping to god that someone would be able to help him.

Matt was sitting silently in the tent with James, Jess, and Samuel. He was probably going unnoticed, he didn't mind. He was leaning back and staring at a candle that was lit on the table and twirling his wand in his fingers. He was just lost in his own world, not really paying attention to anyone right now. But when Samuel walked in and asked if anyone was a healer he looked at him. "I'm no healer, but I know a few spells and charms." he told him. "Sunburn?" he asked him noticing that he was quite red. "I can take care of that for you if you like." he told him.

He took a drink of his own water and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna blow you up or anything. At least I hope not." he said jokingly and grinning. "Only joking." he said quickly and stopped twirling his wand. It heated in his hand, she loved when he twirled her but now he was about to use her.

Sophia walked in after Sam did for she was helping him repair the towers herself and she was REALLY sunburnt and sore as well but she could heal herself. "Remind me the next time I help on the towers to put a spell on me that way I won't get burn."said Sophia softly as she took a seat beside Jess. "Hey Jess, how are you?"Sophia asked him softly. As Sam asked if anyone was a healer she nodded. "I'm a healer Sam, I can help you."said Sophia softly.

Sophia was tinking there was alot of people who probably needing healing today, that was one of the reasons why she was here other then helped rebulid Hogwarts. Khaat didn't tell her to go but she figured she might seeing how alot of people were going to be out in the sun and fixing the school. "Can I have a bottle of water as well?"Sophia asked a house elf nicely as the house elf gave her a bottle of water. "Does anyone else need heling? I'm here to help."said Sophia softly.

Amongst the complaints of those who'd piled into the main tent for dinner, there was no room for interesting conversation. All those who spoke had something to say of the aches and pains of the long day that had only just broken, and spoke of nothing else. Occasionally, one would greet another, but all the same, Paris found himself growing increasingly hungry for a few, more lighthearted words.

For the first time that evening, a male voice cracked a joke near by, and Paris laughed heartily in response. He was only momentarily relieved of his need for constant amusement, however.

As a result, he took it upon himself to start up said conversation. The advice "write what you want to read" could be translated to "speak what you want to hear", could it not? Paris found that it fit nicely, and that said words of wisdom would have gone to waste otherwise, as he had never been much of a pencil pusher. He lifted his chin from the palm that he'd previously rested it upon and reached for the nearest, unopened bottle of water.

They were going fast. He was lucky to get to one before they'd all been swallowed up by his dehydrated construction partners.

"A toast," Paris offered, having lifted the bottle high in the air, holding it proudly as though it were a glass of perfectly aged wine. "A toast to having gotten something done - and to not getting paid for it," he finished with a wide grin. He could already see the eyes of those around him rolling in the skulls that they belonged to - a common response to his antics.

It was a start.

Jess chuckled as Matt spoke and quickly shook his head, overly exaggerating the movement, his arms waving to match his head.

"Don't do it Sam, or else you wont have a neck to get burnt in the future," Jess said with a *****, chuckling off to himself as Soph sat down with him. "Hey there Soph, long time no see. How've you been?" He asked curiously, before nodding wisely as she offered her healing services to Sam. "There you go lad, much safer option I think, Soph is world class," he said, a presumptive tone thick in his voice.

Jess then turned and raised his bottle as well, nodding as one of the volunteers... Peter? Patrick? P something. Radborn, that was it, what a stupid name, in Jess' opinion.

"And to storing the profits into your Gringotts high security acc- oh... you guys don't do that?" He asked, smiling to let them all know he was only kidding.

Sam stood up, trembling a little as he walked to Matt, not failing to notice the overly done disuasions coming from Jess. "Are you sure you're not kidding," Sam said, trying desperately to keep the rising level of panic he was feeling out of his voice.

It was a massive relief, then, when Sophia walked in and offered to help him out. "Oh thank god," he said suddenly, backing as far away from Matt as fast as he could, trying to reach the safety of Sophia before he could find his skin shriveling, or his neck falling off, as Jess had aptly put it.

"Here here," he agreed, throwing his bottle in the air and spraying water all over some of the people who'd come to have their dinner, he really didn't care that much, as the older man had put it, they weren't being payed or anything.

"Help help help," he said turning his back to Soph, eager for her to help fix his back... he really hated being sunburnt.

Ambrossa walked back to the small place where all of the tents were. She was really tired of the whole work and couldn't wait to put something in her mouth. True, she missed lunch but she felt like she hadn't eaten in days. She walked over to the tent putting her wavy long hair into a ponytail and poured herself a glass of pumkin juice. Am was very tirtsy because as she got to work in the morning she hadn't stopped at all. Every muscle in her long lean legs was hurting and she stretched her back in hope to decrease the pain. Amb took a plate, put some pumkin pie into it and then made her waz to one of the tables.

To her surprise there were almost no people her age. The most of the people who volunteered were already graduates. Some of them she knew, some of them she had never seen. Ambrosa saw a guy, probably the only one who was still student as her, Samual Grigori. He was a fifth year gryffindor. He was normally nice so she walked up to the table where he and a couple of other people were sitting. Hey she said and sat down. Ambrosa, nice to meet you all... she said with a soft voice and smiled.