“You’re joking, kid. You have to be joking.”
Holland stared across her office at the Slytherin in a mix of frustration and shock. She had just come back from one of her cases at Kingsway-Oxford Medical, and she walked into the most bizarre situation she had seen in a long time. This kid had no idea what was going on, and it just struck her as odd. For someone who wanted to go into medicine, who wanted to prove his father wrong and to become a healer, Apollo clearly hadn’t studied up on all of the potions they kept on hand.
And yet, the boy had no idea what she was talking about, apparently, because he just blinked at her as he sat in one of the chairs at her long table. Although it was typically used for Diagnostic purposes, Apollo was there with his lunch, seemingly unaware of what he had done.
“Do you know what you gave Alisha Merchant for that cut? Because it wasn’t what you wrote down on the log,” She accused, crossing her arms over her chest.
Apollo sat up straighter, eyes widening in fear. “What do you mean? It was labeled right, and-“
“No, it wasn’t.” Holland snapped, “I heard you’re her friend. You like this girl and you can’t even get her medicine right?” Shaking her head, she sighed. “Just- … Okay, listen. What you’ve given her isn’t all that dreadful, so I’ll give you ten days to figure it out.”
“Excuse me?” Apollo stood, staring at her. “You expect her to stay however she is for ten days?”
“Yes,” she returned, “Because you’re not going to see her until either you get it right, or ten days has passed and you’re fired. At that point, you can do whatever you want. But this is ridiculous. To not even notice, I mean… Did you even talk to her after she took it? Did you even ask how she was?”
“I was going to after lunch!” Apollo explained, looking both chastised as well as afraid for his job and his friend.
Now, Holland was a girl who could appreciate a good puzzle. Essentially, that was her job most days: Figuring out what was wrong with people when nobody else could. But if he couldn’t figure this one out, there was absolutely no future for him in medicine. The fact that he was forbidden to speak with her just made it that much more interesting, even though his inability to do so wouldn’t really hinder his little investigation. Well, not if she gave him clues.
Picking up a piece of parchment off her desk, Holland wrote out the answer and sealed it, taking the folded piece to a bulletin board above her desk. “This,” she gestured to it once Apollo stopped staring at the floor in shock, “holds your fate, essentially. Each morning I will provide you with a clue, or a piece to the puzzle, if you will. So then you’ll have those ten days to figure it out and put them together – outside of your clinic hours, of course. Those must still be completed. If, by the end of ten days, you haven’t found the answer, then you will seriously need to consider a different field for your future. Got it?”
Apollo’s jaw clenched, but he nodded to show that he wasn’t going to give up. If he couldn’t prove Holland wrong, he definitely didn’t have a shot at proving his father wrong. So this had to be done. He had to get it right. Squaring his shoulders and looking at her with the most serious, determined expression he had in him, Apollo took a calming breath. Alisha wasn’t in any serious trouble, as Holland had said. So now he just had to solve her puzzle and pave the way to making something of himself.
“What’s the first clue, then?”
So! As I said, there is a hint up in that RP section, but you might want to just come back on the tenth day, because if you have the answer right, you’ll definitely catch the clue more easily. However, to be given the first real clue from Holland, you’ll need to do the following!
Step 1: Join an open thread that hasn’t been replied to, with any character of yours (if you have multiple). If you have a lot of trouble finding one you can reply to, you may start a new one provided the Age Group is ‘Any.’ Be sure to specify that when you add the link to the Open Threads List.The point of this Tournament is to help you get into the site plot and get your posting levels up. So be sure to take all of this as an opportunity to meet new writers and get some new character interactions going!
In order to receive the first step, you must PM the link to either your post or your new thread to Adrienne Poliakoff, and tomorrow morning starting at 9 a.m. you will get the clue as well as the next step. If something goes wrong, though, she’ll PM you right away to make sure you complete it.
For rules and information on when you will get the clues in the mornings, see this thread:
https://www.pottersarmy.net/t18987-pa-tournament-rules-information
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REMEMBER: You can still join in, even if you're a day late. Everyone is welcome to participate 
