Idus Martiae Errand

@Gregor Aarden

House Colours: Ravenclaw

Piérre Marchonné was a native born and raised Italian; it had only been because he had shown the first inklings of magic at an early age that his family had gradually gravitated further and further north until they had set up residence in the London area. Had it not been because of those errant wanderings, the Italian would not have learned English at all, electing instead to remain local to his Motherland and perhaps having to have been invited by one of the schools native to the Mediterranean area as opposed to the Scottish one.

The kid had a habit of attending whatever little errands or bits and bobs show that was available to him. It was a little quirk of his, a little need to just... participate, perhaps. I mean, it wasn't like the things that they were doing wasn't fun. They were. And that was part of the reason that he wanted to participate. It was, first and foremost, fun.

Secondly, it kept the boy out of trouble... usually.

Well, there was a higher chance of there being adults in the vicinity if he stayed local to an errand that was being overseen by others. When there were adults around, nothing bad tended to happen. It was only when responsible figures had abandoned the children to their own devices that something evil truly happened. Piérre knew this firsthand on more than one occasion. Indeed, in this school currently there was still one person that he did not trust at all. His name was Polonius Frogge, the school nurse. There was a reason for that... a reason that the boy had crushed down deeply and had internalized greatly since his first year.

That reason was not important enough to share. Not here and not now, anyways.

Instead, Piérre focused on dissociating heavily as he obsessed over watching the way that the light bounced off of the scutum that Professor Aardvark held. The way that they glittered with gold and sparkled so brightly. If the boy had been a niffler the likes of the ones that had escaped at Faerietale Endings he would have leapt up from the desk he sat at that had the engraving of #13 carved into it. It was a remnant of Miss Lian's stay as the Transfiguration professor, though admittedly the carving itself had actually come from the Locksmith's Knife that Piérre carried with him now at all times. It was vandalism, yes, but it was meaningful vandalism that had an air of charm to it. Surely that accounted for something, right?

With his bellowing voice ringing in his piqued ears, Piérre's brain autocorrected the Professor's Latin into its descendant language of Italian and then found himself confused when the professor went back to speaking English. It was just enough to snap him out of his reverie and actually pay attention to the instructions that he was being given. Yet, it had not been enough to prevent him from replying in his own mother language--rather loudly as he almost expected the entire class to chime in with him-- "Buongiorno, professor Aardvark. Le Idi di marzo siano con voi! Good morning, Professor Aardvark. May the Ides of March be with you!"

Glancing around him quickly to check if anyone had caught his slipup, Piérre instead lolled his head on his elbows and stifled a yawn. Figaro, sitting on the desk in front of him, enjoyed the many pets that he got with the boy's other free hand. Through it all, the boy couldn't help but think about the fact that in this "Roman" getup, the Transfiguration professor looked more like Bacchus than a Roman senator. The Britalian narrowed his eyes as he knew quite well the mythos of his homeland. Bacchus was a wild guy... but to be honest, this person did nothing to compare to the actual Bacchus... naw, you would need a bit more insanity, debauchery, wine, seggs, and partying (did I mention insanity already?)

As professor Aardvark finished his instructions, Piérre closed his eyes lightly and then opened them again, blinking slowly as his sieve of a brain tried to filter out the most important tidbits of information before crashing with an error 404 and then hard rebooting. "Huh?" He said blankly, before rubbing his eyes and taking stock of all the materials that the kids could use to make their shields.

The boy shrugged. Yeah... sure, he guessed? "But shields are only effective if you have them in front; they don't do anything for your back if it's not sitting RIGHT there..." He mock-complained with a played up whine. This was followed up with a quick snort and then a snatching for a larger cardboard 'shield' and some of the foam that he would likely use for the purpose of creating the arm straps.

The process of making the shield itself was a bit short-lived. With the help of magic, it was made a good deal easier. Epoximise let him essentially "glue" the pieces together, and his swift hand permitted him to trace sort of childish markings across the cardboard... then again, it wasn't something that Multicolorfors couldn't help to color-correct. In the end, he did make a red base shield with geometric cream white eagle wings that reflected along the horizontal axis to form a grand total of four wings. In the center he had Epoximised a metal grey medallion that had a little nub pointing outwards; ideal for bashing and breaking bones. With a few more scribbles in geometric patterns, Piérre was relatively happy with his product, even if it did look like a child had made it.

To be fair, it had been made by a child. That didn't mean that the shield didn't work though.

It took a bit of encouraging from his wand to finally coax out the Duro spell, a transfiguration spell that would help to toughen up the cardboard and make it more like a shield than a flimsy object that could melt when exposed to rain. With the addition of the charm, Piérre was able to actually "shine" the scutum with a cleaning spell Scourgify, resulting in a fine sheen that made the shield actually look like it was made of something near marble, or at least some sort of finely-processed balsa wood. As the boy wiped the shield down with his sleeve, he revealed the way that the silvery letters of the shield read: "Si vis Amari Ama".

'If you wish to be loved, love.'

Piérre knew exactly who this bad boy was going to go to. He would have to make a delivery whenever it was that the foreign students decided to rear their heads around the vicinity of Hogwarts again.

With a grin as he finished his work, he tried his best to catch his professor's eye. A clever string of words were on his tongue, as he bore his shield and planted it down before him. "Il latino non morirà mai. Viva l'Impero Romano! Senatus Populusque Romanus! RAH! Latin will never die. Long live the Roman Empire! Roman Senate and People (SPQR)!" He banged his fist and wand against the scutum, beginning a rousing battle rattle from the Duro'd cardboard material. Ah yes, the boy was going to be very loud now. It would likely require him to be taken out of the room or magically silenced before he would quiet down at all.

1,241 words

Banner created by the wonderful sienna leinor

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It was a normal transfiguration class. I hadn’t really enjoyed the class much because the subject was very difficult for me. Especially since I was a Dhapmir. But, I never skipped it. Something inside of me just never wanted to. Which was weird. After most hard days I rewarded myself with a few chocolate frogs or a handful of Bernies Botts.

I plopped down in a seat, ready for another class of this. The professor walked in, wearing a funky shirt. With koi fish on it. Thats… intresting… I thought, not really knowing what to think of it. He also had a shield with more Latin phrases. Great. More inferring what things say. I thought. Normally, when the professor spoke Latin, I pretended like I knew what was going on, but I rarely did. Some Latin was easy to guess, like the words on his shield. The shield read: SCIENTIA, LABOR, LIBERTAS. The first word was science, a pretty easy guess. Next was labor and then the last one. Library or liberty. I went with liberty, because it made more sense.

The professor began talking in Latin. Great. Now I’m lost. Luckily, he stopped and started speaking English. He explained that we would be making our own Scutums, or shields, as I liked to think of them. We had to include one Latin quote, which he thankfully put a long list up on the board. He also had a cart of supplies ready for us to use. It was perfect. No magic. Just decorating.

Getting started, I picked out one of the cardboard scutums and grabbed some foam. I glued the foam to the cardboard, and did my best to carve the foam smooth but sturdy. I added a cardboard handle on the back, because, well what’s the point of having a shield if you cannot get a safe and good hold on it.

Next, I began painting it. I started with a very basic white layer, so any lighter colors I painted on would actually show up. Which was important, cause I was not about to waste a lot of time painting 70 million layers on some cardboard.

I wasn’t that big of a painter. I had finger painted as a kid, like literally an other normal-ish kid. I definitely was not an artist, but I was semi-experienced in painting. Not my expertise, but that did not mean I wasn’t going to try.

I found some puffy paint, that added volume and dimension to it. I ended up adding another coat of white, and letting it dry, which felt like it took forever. I took the puffy paint, and drew a square ish shape around the edge, perfecting it as I went. When I was done, I waited for the paint to dry, which took FOREVER. When it was finally dry, I found the royal blue color, and painted the whole shield royal blue.

I added the two phases using black paint, Semper fortis = Always Strong, Semper liber = Always free. I liked the theme of it. I painted the line of puffy paint black, to match the words. I stood back and smiled. It was good. But it needed something else.

I found some glittery puffy paint that was perfect. I slathered the paint on in some small stars, and dots making it shimmer and shine. It looked way better than before. I loved it. I found some gold glitter, and sprinkled it over the still wet glitter paint. Perfect. I was finally done with my shield, and it looked awesome. It would go on display as soon as I got back to my dorm.

So, in the middle of March...we all knew the story. Well, at least, I hope we do. Julius Caesar, who had become Rome's emperor, was steadily gaining power. Rome had overthrown its kings since they saw kings as taking too much power. So, they formed a republic. Julius Caesar was a master military general, taking up countless stretches of territory, and becoming the wealthiest man in Rome from all his military victories. Eventually, he became Rome's dictator(dik-TAH-tor)for life. His council, the Roman republic, eventually got worried because he was snatching up so much power, the very thing they had tried to prevent their previous leaders from doing.

So, how do they solve this mind-boggling problem? Exactly what they did last time! They planned to assassinate Julius Caesar and enlist the help of his best friend, Brutus. So, when Julius was off on a military trip, about 60 of his council surrounding him, revealed daggers from their togas, and started stabbing him. When Julius saw Brutus, he put his head in his hands and gave up fighting. After being stabbed 26 or so times, he died. The end. NOT.

Just because I'm a witch doesn't mean I don't give a lick about muggle history. I loved learning about ancient times(especially Rome), so of course I was doing this errand! Creating my own scutum sounded like so much fun! Coming to the transfiguration classroom, I saw 3 people there already. There was the Transfiguration teacher, Professor Aarden, a girl I recognized as Charlie but didn't really know, and a boy(probably a teenager)who I did not recognize at all. After investigating my surroundings, I got to work.

I got a cardboard scutum and got to work. I took a very large piece of paper and glued it to the cardboard scutum, then took some dark pink glitter glue. I loved glitter glue, especially when I was little. Using the glitter glue, I drew out the Latin words "VENI, VIDI, VICI!" with swirls and hearts and such. The phrase meant, "I came, I saw, I conquered. The phrase had really caught my eye because I think it kind of reflected how I wanted to turn out by the end of my first year.

It would be like, "I was always up to the challenge, and in a way, I never was, but I made it through!" And then follow that same cycle for the next 6 years. Sounded both hopeful and disheartening, huh? I decorated the scutum with red, green, and gold swirls in the corners using lots of paint and formed a border around the quote. Using foam and twine, I created the back of the scutum, that place that you loop your arm through. Now it was time for one more thing: animals.

I decided on a unicorn and a dragon as the animals I would put. I loved both animals, especially the unicorn, plus it was the mascot animal of Scotland. I also loved dragons(besides the fact that they were pretty much impossible to domesticate and tame), and it was interesting just how many species there were. And, it was the mascot animal of Wales. Being part Scottish and half Welsh, I thought it was very fitting.

Drawing both animals on the opposite sides of the Latin quote in loving detail, I took a step back to admire my handiwork, as well as add a couple more details. Not too shabby! I was an absolute mess, covered in paint, glue, and glitter, but to me, I thought that the scutum looked positively, and absolutely great. Sure, it probably wouldn't protect me from literally getting stabbed 26 or so times, but I hoped that never came to it since I liked it either way. Now, I just needed to go wash up,
I thought to myself, holding up a strand of gold glitter-splattered hair.

They/She

To Pax's embarrassment, it had been their brother who had taught them about history. And they had to admit, the Romans were one of their favourites. It was just a period of history that peaked their interest the most-plus their name (well, their chosen name at least) was from Latin origin, meaning peace. Pretty ironic, they knew.

Listening carefully to Professor Aarden's repetition of the story of Julius Caesar, Pax could only imagine his words in their younger brother's tone as he would repeat the story to them. But it was in times like this where they didn't mind as much, it allowed them to be able to zone out a little.

After the professor was done talking, Pax got up to collect supplies. They were torn, wanting to make 50 shields with the amount of ideas they had. Alas, they couldn't hog all the materials, so they'd have to choose only one to bring to life. Carefully, they selected the stuff they wanted before heading back over to a desk to begin.

Ultimately, they'd chosen three quotes (it had been too hard to decide between them, and they did have a way to incorporate them all in a way that they hoped would look somewhat coherent): 'Acta, non verba' Actions, not words, 'Nulla misericordia' No Mercy and 'Mars me adiuvat' Mars is Helping Me.

There was a reason that Pax had chosen these quotes in particular. The first, well, was because they believed it to be true. Someone could talk all they liked, they could say they were going to do something, but if they never did then their words were empty.

A potentially unpopular opinion, but Mars was Pax's favourite god. The idea of power and might and strength was something they admired, as well as the incredible battle strategies he could create. They wished they could do the same (for quidditch, not for a battle, obviously), so if Mars was really out there, they hoped this honouring of his name would help them in their strategizing for the future.

They had also grabbed some deep red paint to cover the surface of the cardboard scutum, doing so as they contemplated the possibility of an actual Roman god being out there.

Hey, Mars, if you're out there...please help me with strategy? It might as well be a war, I take quidditch pretty much as seriously. Please? I need to win a game this year, at least one.

Once the cardboard was painted, Pax went in with gold detailing. They carefully painted 'Acta, non verba' at the top, and then 'Nulla Misericoria!' on the bottom. After, they painted a thick line around for the border and attempted to create a twisted vine around it (only to middling success). And, for the finishing touch, they flipped over the scutum and painted a black rectangle on the top of the shield, similar to a name tag. In that shape, they carefully wrote 'Mars me adiuvat' to ensure Mars' blessing was on this shield. You know, in the instance they ever actually needed an ancient Roman shield to defend against enemies. Standard stuff.

They perched on the desk as they let the painted shield dry, swinging their legs as they watched the others making their shield. They considered rubbing the red paint from their hands, but decided to leave it for a little bit. The similarity to blood would work well for intimidating others with their shield. All they needed now was a sword to complete the look. Maybe they could snatch one from one of the suits of armour...

After the shield had dried, Pax tested it out, grinning as they imagined how tough they looked. "Thanks for running this, Professor. It was really fun."

Reducio

Word Count: 624

Mention: @Gregor Aarden

Date: March 15th 2023

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Credit: @Damion White

It was mid march. March 15th if you were being exact, but right now the days sort of blended together for bailey. It was the day that bailey had been looking forwards to recently, because of a particular errand that had spiked her interest. Bailey, if you did not know, was a bookworm, and a book lover. Though more extroverted (now) than most bookworms, she had been much more reclusive her first year and into her second year. It was not until the day she met taizu, kim and @Colin McCoire that she thought to come out of her shell.
Bailey, besides being a book lover, was also a huge history fan. she loved history, and it was one of the passions that connected her and her grandfather on her dad's side. Her father also loved history, and she could recall fond memories of her younger childhood, sitting on her father's lap reading a history book with him. Her mum would be baking something in the kitchen, or grading bailey's school work in the living room, and her brothers would be not - so - calmly playing together in the yard or in the house somewhere.
Because of her intense love of both books and history, bailey made her way giddily to the transfiguration classroom where this errand was taking place. Entering the classroom, bailey smiled seeing professor @Gregor Aarden dressed in a classic Greek toga. He, and his ever present goldfish, were at the front of the classroom. The professor said something, in what Bailey presumed was greek. It was close enough to the little Spanish and latin she knew, and simi simular to Polish that she was just working through deciphering what he had said when he switched to english.
Professor Aarden had a way for dramatics, and bailey was loving every second of whatever this errand was.
As the professor explained what they would be doing, bailey looked around the room. She saw her best friend, Kim, her dorm mate Charlie, a first year named aurora but more commonly known as 'ro', and lots of other people that bailey recognized barely or not at all.
Getting started on the errand, Bailey took one of the pieces of cardboard. She took some blue paint and some white paint, and started painting.
Bailey, being who she was, started by painting the cardbaord with a coat of white paint, as to give the blue paint she would apply later a base to lay on. While the white paint was drying, bailey found some silver glitter, and a small tub of black paint and a smaller paint brush.
Once her first layer of paint was dry, bailey added another layer, this time blue. While this layer dried, bailey looked up at the classroom's blackboard, and tried to decide on a quote. Bailey ended up deciding on a quote that she liked, and that she felt like fit her the best. It was Si vis amari ama which translated to If you want to be loved, love.
After her blue was dry, bailey splattered a little bit of white onto the blank blue canvas, giving it a bit of depth, and something for her to sprinkle the glitter onto. Once she was done splattering, she did just that, sprinkling on some glitter to splattered white paint.
As that was drying bailey carefully painted the words Si vis amari ama in her neat cursive onto her shield.
As everything dried, bailey absentminedly doodled some flowers on the back of her left hand, and a little around her wrist.
Bailey was smiling, as she listened to the sounds of the room. There were some louder noises as well as some quiter ones, but bailey found all of the soothing. Silence was nice sometimes, but bailey thrived in loud spaces, due to having spent her entire life in spaces with lots of people - family, friends, training partners, students, and even strangers.

Reducio

the doodles would end up looking like this, but MUCH smaller, covering just the back of her hand and a little around her wrist.

OPEN TO INTERACTIONS

Tag: @kim sato ♥ @Charlie Jacobsen ♥ @Aurora Griffith ♥ @Gregor Aarden
Words: 654/200
total word count: 654/600
Action: joining and painting her shield

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*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

Ruby found her attention drifting away as the professor introduced what they were doing. Who didn’t know the basics of what happened to Julius Caesar? While it did involve Muggles, it was still pretty elementary history, and it wasn’t like Ruby hadn’t learned about those topics between her childhood tutors and her own knowledge-seeking. More emphasis had been placed on magical studies and the history of the wizarding world, of course, but she thought it foolish to not also seek to understand the Muggle side of life. They were all inhabiting the same planet, after all, and both had rich histories, even if they were miles apart in ability and how they lived their lives. The secrets of magical folk would never be known by Muggles, but she had the opportunity to learn about both, so why not take it? It was foolish to not pursue knowledge when it was so readily available through books and other means.

She stared blankly at the professor. He was clearly trying to show off, but Ruby couldn’t bring herself to muster some enthusiasm at his dramatics, cynicism remaining in its place. She was not one of the eleven year olds to be easily impressed, she was barely over two years from graduation and had learned some of the things the professor was using. And was cardboard and foam really the best they could provide for crafting materials here? She had hosted an event back when she was a prefect in which students crafted ornaments, and she had been able to make plenty of materials available that were much better than just cardboard. Then again, maybe it was best the students of Hogwarts were not running around with shields made of materials any harder than that. Who knew what damage they could cause? Although, if someone was really trying to cause damage, the spells they learned in class were more than enough…

Besides, the activity was decent in its aim. Teach the participants a bit of Latin if they didn’t already know it, provide the opportunity for some crafting to distract from whatever stress they might have been facing in their lives. And she was still participating, after all, when there was always the option to just leave, so something was right. Maybe deep down she knew it was just some fun, really. She could draw alone, sure, but there was some appeal in furthering her house by earning rewards for it. Plus, as long as no one interacted with her or was particularly annoying, there was no harm that could be caused by participating. And she liked art. Still, she didn’t intend to spend too long here or focus on making the most brilliant shield with a grand design. Her perfectionism could be best utilized elsewhere.

In the end, her shield’s design involved several crows flapping around the edges, shadowy black wisps trailing behind them and intertwined with thorny, dark green vines to form a border and cross through the center of the dark purple shield. Written in bold letters was “Noli timere”, or in English, “Refuse to be afraid”. Fear gave people power over you, and that power was not something Ruby was willing to grant. She had been the one not in control for too long over the years, and she was determined to keep hold of and gain every inch of control that she could get now. Part of that meant she couldn’t let fear get to her, couldn’t let people have an impact on her. It wasn’t just the act of not being afraid, no, it was refusing to be afraid, no matter what challenges she faced. It was a good reminder of something she would have to continue to keep in mind moving forward. Noli timere.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

Alexander walked into the Transfiguration classroom with a sense of excitement. Today was a special event organised by one of his favourite professors, Gregor Aarden. It was the anniversary of Julius Caesar's death, and Professor Aarden had set up a commemorative event to honour those who had come before them. He was always fascinated by ancient history, a time when humans lived in a very different world than they did today. Despite being just eleven, Alex spent every free moment with his nose buried in a book, soaking up knowledge about the customs, culture, and politics of the ancient civilisations. He loved to imagine what life was like back then, how people dressed, what they ate, and how they interacted with each other. He knew that there was so much to learn from the past, and he wanted to be one of the few wizards who truly appreciated the importance of history. After all, it was through history that they could understand where they came from and where they were going, and for Alex, there was no greater thrill than that. Sometimes, Alex would close his eyes and transport himself back to the Roman era. He would picture himself walking along the streets of Rome, marvelling at the grand architecture and the bustling crowds. He could almost feel the warmth of the sun on his skin and the dusty earth under his feet.

The classroom was transformed into a mini art studio, with tables covered in all sorts of art and crafts material. Alexander's eyes scanned the room, trying to decide what he wanted to create. His eyes settled on a stack of rectangular cardboard pieces that looked like shields. Alexander made his way over to the table and picked up one of the cardboard pieces. He ran his fingers over the smooth surface, imagining the possibilities of what he could create. He knew that he wanted to honour his house, so he decided to use the colours yellow and black to design his shield.

He picked up a brush and began to paint a thick, bold line across the top of the shield. He then used a smaller brush to paint intricate details in the middle of the shield. As he painted, he began to think about the Latin proverbs that Professor Aarden had suggested them. Finally, "Protego Omnia," he whispered to himself. "I protect all." Alexander decided that this was the perfect proverb to put on his shield. It embodied the loyalty that Hufflepuffs were known for, and it was a reminder that they were protectors of their fellow students.

He carefully painted the words "Protego Omnia" in bold letters across the centre of the shield. As he painted, he felt a sense of pride in his house and in the work he was doing. He was creating something that would honour the past and inspire the future. After a few hours of painting, the event came to an end, and Alexander proudly held up his shield for all to see. The shields were lined up against the wall, forming a colourful mural of art and inspiration. Each one was unique, but they all shared a common thread: they honoured those who had come before them and inspired those who would come after. As Alexander looked at the shields, he felt a sense of connection to his fellow students. They had all come together to create something beautiful and meaningful. He knew that the shield he had created would always be a reminder of this special event and the bond he shared with his fellow Hufflepuffs.

As the students began to leave the classroom, Alexander lingered for a moment, taking in the scene before him. He felt a sense of gratitude for Professor Aarden, who had organised the event and given them all an opportunity to come together as a community. With a smile on his face, Alexander picked up his shield and made his way out of the classroom. He knew that he would always treasure the memory of this special event and the shield he had created. It was a reminder that they were all protectors of each other, and that together, they could create something truly remarkable.

703 words.