Harry Potter and the Ballroom Scandal

 My sister and I came up with some scenes  from Harry Potter, if the series had been written by other authors instead of by the incredible JK Rowling. Can you identify the author or genre? And - I'll bet you can do better than we did. Post your efforts in my comment section. Can't wait to read them!

Lord Voldemort stroked the silk of Hermione's gown.  "Such a young lady to attend a ball all alone," he breathed in her ear.

She drew back, incensed.  "Lord Valdemort! How dare you! " she said, twitching her gown from his grasp.

Some yards away, Sir Weasely put down his glass of firewhiskey.  Languidly crossing to where Lord Voldemort stood, he picked up his lorgnette and gave the bald duke a long stare through his glass.  Finally he allowed it to drop.  "Your servant,Voldy," he murmured.  "Can't say I like your waistcoat.  Ah, Miss Granger, I believe you promised me this dance?" 

Putting one arm around her waist, he swept her away onto the dance floor.

*****

Hermione was struggling to make her way out of Diagon Alley with her shopping. She had found the one gem of the season, the Bill Blass Hogwarts robe, made every year with simple but flattering lines. It had cost her a month's wages but it would be worth it to see Ron's face when he caught her wearing it!

As she stepped onto the busy London sidewalk a limousine pulled up and a familiar silhouette leaned out of the back window.

"Victor!" she cried in surprise and shock.

*****

 Ginny began exclaiming, "Hermione, your hair!  Who put a spell on it? McGonagall?  I must dash.  And your robes!  And your eyelashes!  Oh, it is unfair, you are so lucky to be you."

*****

Harry was walking to class when he heard Professor Trelawney call out behind him, "Oh, em, em, Mr., eh..."

Harry made his Caught By A Death Eater Cruciatus Curse face, curling over his stomach and popping out his eyeballs and tongue, before turning around to face her. "Good morning, professor," he said in way he hoped sounded pleasant.

*****

Hermione shouted and hit out at Ron as Scabbers crawled up her leg.  "You know I hate your beastly pets!" she yelled.

Meanwhile, Harry sat munching his Choco Frog, looking at Hogwarts in the distance.  "I always think food tastes so much nicer outdoors," he thought.

****

I leaned back, propped my feet up on my desk, and sighed. Last night at the Three Cauldrons had left me with an ache in my head and a stomach that churned like a grindylow in a muggle's washing machine.

That's when she walked in. Tall drink of water with blond hair and radishes for earrings. "Name's Lovegood. Word around town says you can help a dame in distress," she breathed.

"Word around town doesn't mean anything, dollface," I replied. "We are out of business."

She reached in her purse and pulled out an object I never thought to see again. A Timeturner.

I put my feet on the ground and reached for it. "Not so fast," she cooed. "Are you going to help me?"

"Name your potion," I said. "Snapes' Detective Agency just reopened."

Research - Medical History

I'm in the middle of doing research for a future installment of my Night Watchman series. I wanted two of my characters to become nurses in training for a local doctor, so I am reading about the history of medicine.

It's fascinating stuff. It seems that medicine in the Western world was stalled, with some exceptions, until after World War I. One mighty example was the debate over cleanliness. Joseph Lister, building on work of others like Pasteur, proposed a system by which doctors would wash their hands and instruments before seeing patients.

This was pooh-poohed by many others in the medical field, leading to a raging debate. Some insisted that washing hands was actually unsafe - doctors needed to build up a "good layer of blood and pus" in order to give the benefit of their hard work to their patients. (Yeah, I don't get that either.)

It was attitudes like these that certainly killed President Garfield. Hit by an assassin's bullet, he would have easily recovered if the many doctors attending him had washed their scalpels before they began prodding the wound. Once doctor, in fact, came straight from a farm where he had been attending as a veterinarian. You can just imagine what was all over his hands - manure, in fact, was supposed to beneficial as well. Lovely.

When Garfield died of a raging fever, not from the bullet, the subsequent autopsy showed pockets of infection all through his body. The doctors were puzzled, since a build up of pus was supposed to be a good thing.

This attitude persisted into the 1900's. Perhaps part of the problem was the thriving business of medical training - schools sprang up all across the United States to train doctors. The business of training accounted for at least one fifth of income in most cities. The schools, however, consisted of little or no actual education, offering certificates to those who could come up with the several hundred dollars and a black bag with buckles.

I just can't wait to use some of this stuff in my new book (as soon as I finish editing the one I just wrote, The Lamplighter's Special.) That's one of the joys of writing - getting to showcase some new knowledge, in the supporting structure of fiction.

Beverage Break

It's Friday. We're on vacation soon. I'm thinking about summer beverages, both leaded and unleaded:

Mojitos - I make mine with vodka instead of rum (seems smoother) as well as homemade simple syrup, fresh lime juice, and fresh mint. Splash in the club soda and serve over lots of ice.

2 parts vodka 1 part simple syrup 1 part lime juice, fill with club soda and add mint springs.

Sun Tea - This is a tough one - plop some good Irish tea bags in some filtered water in a glass container and leave in the sun for an hour or two. I like to put in some green tea bags with that mix as well. And I squirt in agave syrup as a sweetener, as well as fresh lemon or orange slices and more fresh mint.

6 black tea bags (I use Barry's Irish breakfast) and 2 - 3 green tea bags in 1 1/2 gallons filtered water

Serve those with some more fresh stuff - homemade magno salsa (cut up mango, cut up cucumber, lime juice, fresh cilantro, dash hot sauce, some fresh garlic and / or red onion) and flour tortillas, cut up and put under the broiler for a minute. You can squirt those with fresh lime, too.

Put on your comfiest muumuu and enjoy the fireworks.

PS - That sun tea's not bad with a shot of vodka. Just saying.