Summer time is finally here! ((Catalina))

[rosewood]

Julie Rosewood sat down in the lobby of the LEGEND hotel in Beirut, Lebanon, awaiting the arrival of her fellow sixth year-to-be and Ravenclaw, Catalina Cavales. Cat, as everyone called her, was also Julie's friend and they planned on spending a lot of their summer vacation together. Julie had asked Cat over for a week in Lebanon, her "other home" as Julie called it, and would be visiting Cat in Ireland to spend a week with her too. Julie's late mother had been Lebanese, and Julie made it a point to visit Lebanon for at least a fortnight every summer accompanied by her father - and this summer her friend, Cat. Julie's father had been rather reluctant to leave his daughter on her own with only a friend away from him. Julie was his only child and her father was a bit protective of her because it had always been just he and Julie and her maternal grandmother, and Julie understood this but reasoned with him that she was almost 16, and that she knew Lebanon just as well as she knew Britain. Julie had asked her grandmother to join them if she liked, but she had refused. Julie's grandmother, a witch with a deep knowledge of Herbology had opened her own magical plant shop in Britain after the death of her daughter, and that was where Julie had lived a lot of the first eleven years of her life.

Tossing back her long chestnut brown hair Julie took another look at the itinerary listing the places she planned to go with Cat. She knew Cat wasn't the outdoors type, but Julie could be persuasive when she wanted to. She also made sure to include a lot of restaurants on the list - the way to Cat's heart was her stomach. Julie smiled as she thought of her friend fondly and knew she would love the Lebanese food. The Lebanese were known for many different kinds of food- their appetizers which they called "mazzat", their grilled food, and their dessert which included Arab pastries called "baklava" and a special kind of ice-cream known as "booza". Julie knew there was a fireplace near by connected to the Floo network and that was how Cat was coming. They had to be careful as this was a Muggle hotel, but many people were coming and going so Julie wasn't really worried.

[Head Girl Andi]

Catalina looked at her suitcase in slight confusion. It was packed, she closed the lid but when it came time to secure it shut she found no latch. What appeared to be a latch turned out to be some sort of removable thing that one could maybe put coins in? Not quite sure she scratched her head while staring at the suitcase. "Amber!" She yelled to her sister in the next room. "W'ats wrong wit te suitcase?" Catalina asked when Amber entered her bedroom. Amber keenly looked at the suitcase for a moment before she too gave up. "Maybe magic will close it" she said as she pointed her wand at the luggage. "No! Ye can't do t'at! dad said muggles use tis, it will blend in. Muggles dun use te magic!" Amber putting her wand away shrugged, "oh well, I'm late for Quidditch anyway I'll see you when you get back." Then with a loud POP she apparated away.

This still left Catalina with the trouble of locking her stuff away. "MAM!!" She called out. "Catalina why are you yelling!?" Her mother said as she peered into the room. "Mam, how do ye close ti's?" Walking over to it she looked at it. "I don't know dear, your father should have showed how to use this. I swear he brings home muggle things but doesn't explain them. He did say something about a zitter though, or something like that." Taking out her wand Lynn Cavales sent all of Catalina's items flying over to her school trunk which then snapped shut. "Ah mam! Ta'ts goin' ter be too heavy! Put a feather charm on it please?" She asked while giving her mom her puppy eyes. "Catalina stop, you know that doesn't work on me like your father." She then cast a charm on the trunk. "Now hurry up, you don't want to make your friend wait.

Catalina quickly grabbed her trunk which was now light as a feather and pulled it out of her room and into the family room. Setting her trunk in the fireplace she took a handful of Floo powder. "Catalina mind yourself now. Lebanon is full of chancers and sleevens." Stepping into the fireplace Catalina looked back at her mom, "Aye, mam ye say t'at 'bout everywhere I go! Ye said it 'bout Salem, ye said it 'bout Beauxbatons, ye said it 'bout Durmstrang, ye say it when I go to Amber's Quidditch games too!" Dropping the Floo powder into the fireplace, Catalina distinctly heard her mother say "that may be, but you watch yourself. Don't talk to strangers either, and make sure you...."

Catalina could no longer hear her mother as she began to spin round and round in the Floo network. Watching as one pub after another came into view then spun out of view, Catalina soon became slightly dizzy. Closing her eyes she clutched her trunk tightly as she continued to spin. Going halfway across the world would naturally mean a long time in the network, but she didn't realize she'd get so dizzy. Not quite sure exactly how long she was spinning, she eventually felt the spinning sensation slow down then stop all together. Opening her eyes she found herself in what looked like one of those muggle hotels she always saw in the DE-VE-BEEs her father let her watch.

Taking a step out of the fireplace she was still quite disoriented and staggered a bit to her left before finding the wall to lean up against. "Aye... gobdaw..." Catalina groggily said as she slid her trunk closer then slumped down on top of it. Resting her head on her hands she tried to shake off the dizziness. Slowly the weird sensation passed, but still she was feeling odd but she could clearly hear someone calling her name.

[rosewood]

"CAT! Oh my… CATALINA!" said Julie shaking her friend. It was that stupid Floo network. Catalina had just appeared a few minutes ago, looked at Julie dazedly, leaned against a nearby wall, and then slumped over and tripped over her trunk. Julie called a porter over and together they half-carried and half-pulled Catalina on to a nearby couch. "Quick! Get us a glass of water and some lemonade!" said Julie. Julie was not sure the porter understood her as he was looking rather taken aback but she had to send him get something, partly so he wouldn't start asking awkward questions about how Cat had suddenly arrived and partly because Cat was sure to want a drink once she recovered.

Julie looked at Cat and was relieved to see she was slowly coming round. Julie gave her a little smile then offered her the glass of water a waiter had just brought over. The porter had taken in the instructions Julie had given him. Cat and Julie were getting some surprised glances from the other lodgers at the hotel but it didn't seem as though too many people had noticed what had happened. "Drink this water. It'll make you feel better," she said encouragingly. The Floo Network really was a tiring way to travel but Julie and Cat were still too young to learn how to apparate and Julie had no idea if they could have used a Portkey. "Poor Cat," she thought to herself. "She's travelled halfway round the world using the Floo network, no wonder she doesn't look too good."

[Head Girl Andi]

Catalina felt someone grab her by the arm and guide her to a soft chair. Slowly the dizziness passed and she opened her eyes to see a bunch of people staring at her. Taking the glass of water she took a sip and looked around curiously as people slowly started to go back to whatever it was they had been doing prior to her arrival. "Where are we?" Catalina asked as she set the glass down and got to her feet. "Is t'is a muggle hotel?" Walking over to her trunk she grabbed the handle and dragged it back over to Julie. "How do we get out of here? I don't want ter go in any Eel-a-vaders, I don't like t'em, I got stuck in one before." Rather than actually being stuck in the elevator, Catalina simple didn't realize that one had to press buttons to make them work.

Setting her trunk down she looked around the nice lobby area of the hotel with it's many fancy decorations. "T'is is nice, do ye live here?" She asked noting that many people kept walking past them.

[rosewood]

Julie laughed more out of relief than anything and answered Catalina's question. "No I don't live here but I sure wish I did. You should see the things these Muggles have invented for their own comfort - I'll show you some of them when we go up to our room. I got some weird looks from the cleaners when I asked too many questions." Julie had actually exclaimed in surprise at half the things in her room; no wonder the hotel workers had been surprised at her behaviour.

"You got stuck in an elevator! I didn't know you could get stuck in those things. Oh well you're lucky we're in the second floor, this hotel is like 25 floors or something. We can use the stairs. So drink your lemonade and we can go upstairs and I'll tell you our plans for the week. I have them right here. Dad's gone already, work as usual but he'll be here before I come with you to Ireland. I wish we were old enough to apparate. How's your sister and family?" she asked. Julie and Cat hadn't been sending each other too many messages that summer that year as they knew they were going to spend two weeks with each other anyway.

Catalina was soon done with her lemonade and the two teenage witches made their way up to their rooms. Julie handed Catalina the key to their room. "Listen Cat I got a key made for you. Here it is. Our room number is 267," said Julie, unlocking the door. Julie showed Catalina into the room. The room was spacious and painted in blue and grey. There were two single beds with a chest of drawers between them. In another corner was a mirror and a large wardrobe divided into two. Julie opened the wardrobe and showed it to Cat. "There's a thing called a safe here," she said, pointing at the bottom of the cupboard at a safe. "I think you put valuable stuff in it to stop it getting stolen, but I can't figure out how to open it. Anyway I don’t have anything that valuable with me. Ok now sit down," she said, pointing at the two comfy chairs which were placed in front of a TV and some other electrical appliances which Julie had no idea how to use or what to use for. "Let me tell you about the places we're going to. First of all there's the beach. It's great over here, not too crowded and the weather's divine. Then I'll take you for a walk in Beirut to show you the town, and we could do some shopping and have lunch later," she said. "It's still quite early, we could go for a quick swim," said Julie. Julie smiled suddenly at Cat. They were going to have a good time - Julie was going to see to that!

[Head Girl Andi]

Catalina poured the rest of her bland water into the potted plant next to her chair and gratefully accepted the lemonade in it’s place. Taking rather large gulps she listened to Julie explain the situation at hand. They were to stay here while Julie’s dad was away somewhere. Nodding in agreement with everything she heard up to this point, Catalina quickly finished her lemonade and set it down on the table in front of her, if this hotel was like the ones she saw in muggle movies; then someone would take that away for her. Getting up she grabbed her trunk and followed Jule over to the carpeted stairs that led them up to the second floor. “I got stuck in te ele-bator in Salem, te door closed and t’en it didn’t do anyt’ing! I tried to get it to go but it stayed! I said go up, go down, open te door, and it didn’t work! T’en Madeline opened te door fer me, she’s a Hufflepuff ye kno? Never goin’ in t’em t’ings again.”

Catalina followed Julie into the hotel room and smiled broadly at what she saw, it was just like so many of the movies she had seen! “Aye! T’ats te safe!” Catalina said as she set her trunk down the floor and nodded as Julie pointed at it. “Me dad works fer te Ministry Muggle Relations department, he brings us home some muggle stuff, we have a TeeBee and a DeeBeeDee and sometimes he gets mov-ees and we watch t’em! Well, mam doesn’t watch, she dun like te muggle TeeBee.” Bending down next to the safe Catalina tapped the dial with her finger. Getting down on her hands and knees she leaded her head against the safe and began to turn the dial around and around. After several turns she gave up. “T’ats hard, I saw tis muggle on TeeBee do t’at, his name was James Bond. He opened te safe by listening fer somet’ing, I dun kno what tho.” Shrugging her shoulders she walked over and sat on a bed, her eyes fixed on the two large soft comfortable chairs in front of the TeeBee! Smiling broadly Catalina had grand visions of sitting in that great chair and watching the muggles on TeeBee all day long. Sadly though, Julie had other ideas that didn’t involve sitting.

Catalina sat listening to Julie rattle off a list that was more than she’d done in the three weeks they’d been home from Hogwarts! First was the beach, Catalina mumbled and shrugged at the notion of going there. Looking out the window, the sun was up and it looked hot outside. “Te beach? Te sand will be too hot fer me feet, I dun like te hot sand…” she said while Julie then proceeded right to her next item on her agenda. Next was a walk around the town to various places, once again it wasn’t something Catalina fancied, she was more of the type to sit and look, rather than walk and look. Julie however then mentioned shopping, and even better, lunch! “Where do we shop here?” She asked as she rolled off the bed and opened her trunk, pulling out her coin purse that was bulging as she had made a recent trip to Gringotts. “I want ter get lots of souvenirs!” Now with her mind set she began to think about what she wanted to see, this place was old she thought and it should have some old places, shouldn’t it? “I want ter see old temples, ye kno? Or castles, like te ancient ones, ye kno’ the Pyramids in Egypt, are t’ere any cool places like t’at or palaces? I want ter see some of those places!” Opening her coin purse she pulled out her coins then crinkled her nose and looked over at Julie. “Ye got a bank here? I only have galleons and such, I need te muggle money.” Stuffing several galleons into her pocket, she put her coin purse back into her trunk. She then anxiously awaited Julie’s response.

[rosewood]

Julie listened Cat described several Muggle appliances she didn't know but had to admit sounded interesting. Muggles seemed to like finding abbreviations for electrical devices consisting of two or three letters. Julie watched Cat's facial expressions which varied from reluctance to excitement as Julie told her what she had planned for them. "I had no idea you were interested in agriculture," said Julie. "Oh wait I think I mean architecture - oh well Cat you know old history and buildings and stuff. Forget the beach. I've already spent a lot of time there with Dad. I didn't manage to get a tan though - my skin just became really red and then it started peeling - you don’t want to hear about that. I'm OK now though. We can go to some historical sites if you like but not today, I need to talk to the hotel workers so we can phone for a car to take," said Julie.

"Shopping is really easy here. The stuff isn't that expensive as long as the salespeople don’t realize you're a tourist. Souvenirs you can find anywhere; there are lots of traditional handicrafts. There's a sooq we can go to - that's the word they use for covered markets - and stuff isn't too expensive over there. Or we could take a look at the clothes and accessories, but I'm not too sure where we can find a magical clothing shop though," continued Julie. Julie went over to the drawer and pulled out a map. The map was a magical one and all the magical places in Beirut flashed red. "OK let me see - there it is," she said, pointing her index finger at the place where Balbacks Wizarding Bank was. "OK then let us make that our first stop. Then we'll see what to do next. There should be a Portkey a short distance from the hotel, oh there it is, that'll take us to the bank. Save us the time of using Muggle transportation. Let's go," said Julie energetically, taking a quick look in the mirror and pulling her pale pink top down.

The Portkey was a short walking distance from the hotel. The LEGEND hotel was on what had been a small mountain, though the only way you could tell was because the street was steep. Julie and Catalina carefully descended and made there way to an old antique shop. The windows of the shop looked dusty and in fact the whole shop looked like it had been deserted for years. The door creaked as Julie led the way in, coughing as she inhaled the dusty air. On the ground lay a torn old Arabian cushion which Julie looked at distastefully then said to Catalina, "No wonder Muggles don't come in here. On the count of three then."

[Head Girl Andi]

Catalina smiled as happily tucked her galleons into her purse and listened to Julie explain the situation now at hand. They were to ask the hotel workers for a taxi car to take them tomorrow. Why? It didn’t look that hard to get a taxi. In Salem she’d seen several muggles get those taxi cars simply by extending one finger into the air and shouting about the taxi person’s mother. Catalina wasn’t sure how that got their attention but in every instance the taxi person stopped their car and went to talk to the other person. “Ah, ok” Catalina nodded in agreement; perhaps muggle taxis were different here. Making a face she listened to Julie describe a Sooq or something, whatever it was it sounded like that farmer market she had in her town. They’d take a port key to the bank then go shopping! Catalina grinned as she rolled off the fluffy quilt on the bed and opened her trunk once more. Digging through it she pulled out a pulled out a purple cap and put it on. If it was sunny outside she’d need this to keep the sun out of her eyes. “OK!” She eagerly said as she got up, “I can wear t’is can’t I?” She asked not really knowing the customs of the land. She then looked down at herself, she had tried to pack all the muggle clothes she had that looked good. She currently sported a white T-Shirt that had a little yellow lion and the words “Chelsea FC” under it, she also had a a tan pair of shorts, the kind muggles have that had pockets all over. “Is t’is OK to wear here?” Catalina asked as she followed Julie out the door and outside the hotel, she didn’t want to offend the locals and surely she’d packed something that’d be better, perhaps one of those dresses.

Following Julie outside and down the steep street she looked around at all the strange people that all seemed to be looking at her. What is something she was doing? Looking at the people rather than the sidewalk she quickly stubbed her toe on a rock that had been carelessly left there. “Aye, Gobdaw!” Catalina said as she stopped and looked down at her toe, why’d she have to wear sandals today. Luckily Julie soon stopped and pushed open a door to an ancient building. Catalina quickly ran through the doorway before it closed, she had no desire to touch the door considering how thick the layers of dust were on it. Squinting hard she tried to look around the room but it was dark, dirty, and it had a musky smell to it that made Catalina feel the desire to sneeze. “On the count of three” Julie said, Catalina looked down at the floor at the old cushion that looked filthy. With great reservation, she reached out and touched the cushion with the tip of her pinky finger, “Aye, on t’ree” she said and waited for the portkey to take them wherever they were off to next. Hopefully it would be much cleaner, didn’t these wizards here bother to clean? Certainly a house elf would go crazy in this place.

[rosewood]

"Ooh, I like your clothes," said Julie, as Cat pulled out a purple cap and asked Julie if her shorts and T-shirt were OK. "'Course you can wear this," said Julie, wondering what Cat was worried about. Julie herself was wearing a pale pink sleeveless top and cut-off jeans. Catalina didn't look too pleased when she had to touch the filthy cushion but Julie couldn't blame her; the cushion was revoltingly dirty. Julie felt the familiar jolt as if she was being pulled from her mid-section and before she knew it they had reached the wizarding village Gamalina.

Julie had never been to the magical villages and towns in Lebanon since she was very young and looked around her curiously. Gamalina was bustling with life. People were selling and buying all sorts of things, robes, potions, things Julie had never even seen. Some of the sellers were shouting at the tops of their voices, some were selling old books they claimed to contain ancient charms. Julie looked over at some witches standing at a stall that sold clothes. Their robes were beautiful. They were trendy and fashionable and they all looked rather sophisticated.

"Come on Cat," said Julie. "We need to find the bank. It shouldn't be too far according to this map." Julie and Cat looked around them as they went over to Gamalina's wizarding bank. Julie asked a passerby about the bank and he pointed to a building left of where Julie and Cat were standing. The bank was a building built out of white marble. "Oh good, here we are," said Julie, "Let's see where the place you exchange money is. Oh they have goblins here too. I wonder if they're nicer than those at Gringotts." Julie and Cat walked over to a window with the word "Foreign Exchange" over it, written in Enlish, Arabic, and French. "Do you think this place is as safe as Gringotts supposedly is?" asked Julie, as Cat started oulling out her money. "SAFE?" yelled the goblin. "All wizard banks are safe! They have enchantments and charms on them NOBODY can get through," he said. Julie went red. She had no idea that the goblin had heard her, nor that he understood English.

[Head Girl Andi]

Catalina felt a quick tug and then she was standing outside once more. Looking around the place looked pretty crowded with people selling things all over, some of them were even yelling for some reason. Books merchants were selling very old books, Catalina was very interested in those and it sounded like they contained some interesting spells, some very old spells that might be interesting to learn! Another merchant had a table full of odd looking bottles that had different colored liquids inside, this was no interest to Catalina as she wasn’t to fond on potions, she was more the type to enjoy a good spell. Julie called for her to go with her towards the bank. “OK” she said as she followed Julie past several witches who were selling clothes and robes. Some of the robes were quite exotic and other simple. Walking towards a big white marble building, she past the last merchant selling robes when Catalina stopped and stared. There on the rack hung a beautiful light purple robe with silver lining. Purple was her absolute favorite color! Forgetting about Julie and the bank, Catalina walked over and felt the robe. It was made out of the softest material she’d ever felt before! Examining the sleeve she found the price tag and frowned, it was 15 galleons, simply too expensive for her. Saddened she turned away from the robe and started to run up the street after Julie. “Come buy it! I’ll give you a deal!” She heard the witch calling to her as she ran after Julie.

Into the white building she walked and found goblins all over. Following Julie over to the desk she didn’t say anything, while the goblin yelled. Goblins were very touchy creatures and one didn’t want to anger them or waste their time. Quickly Catalina went up to the desk and set down 20 galleons, “Can ye give me te muggle money please?” The goblin looked Catalina over carefully before taking the coins and carefully inspecting each and everyone to be sure it was not a counterfeit. The goblin then opened a drawer and handed Catalina some funny papers that had numbers on them. “Tis is te muggle money?” She asked Julie as she stepped away from the counter. “Where do ye want ter go now? What’s there to do in t’is village?”

[rosewood]

Julie looked at the money in Catalina’s hands, took one of the notes and turned it around looking at the figures and symbols on the paper as if it were some interesting find nobody had seen before. “Strange that Muggles use paper for their money, but it's kind of cool really,” she said, returning the crisp note to her friend. “OK, I’m not too sure what we can do here, it’s very different from Diagon Alley,” said Julie a thoughtful look on her face. But like most of the female race, Julie enjoyed shopping. What was more, shopping in a new place could be even more fun, you never knew where you could find something you’d like.

Julie took Cat by the hand and began to think where they should go first. She led Catalina to a group of large tents, and they walked in and she began to look around. The first shop that attracted her was one that sold robes and materials, and in one corner of the shop she could see other accessories. Julie nudged Cat quietly and pointed at the shop, and then they both made their way over there. Julie looked at the robes hanging in it but couldn’t see anything she really liked. She went over to another corner where the materials and fabrics were wrapped up and laid on top of each other, and there she found a periwinkle blue material that she liked very much. It felt very soft in her hands and Julie thought she might like to make it into a robe if trimmings of small white daisies were added on the cuffs and the hem, and maybe a belt of them around the waist. She called over one of the saleswomen to ask her the cost of the fabric. She was planning on taking it over to Madam Malkin and ask her if she might make a robe for her using the material. The saleswoman went over to check the price and Julie went over to Cat to see if she had found anything she liked.

((I know I haven’t posted here in forever, sorry about that, I had a bit of a mind block about this post.))

[Head Girl Andi]

Catalina folded up the paper money and stuffed it into her coin purse, then followed Julie over to the large tent and looked around. Much like her mother’s clothing shop there were racks and racks of clothes, however the clothing was much different here. The styles were vastly different. Walking around the shop she looked from one robe to another but never found anything that she particularly liked. In the back corner she came across a lavender robe, one that one would normally have her reaching for her coin purse. Picking up the robe it was made from a strange material that felt very hot to the touch. Poking her hand through the arm loop the inside of the robe was likewise very warm. Turning the robe over she looked at the tag and tried to read it but all the writing was symbols and she had no clue what they stood for. If it was a warming robe she’d surely like to get it for those cold winter nights at Hogwarts, however she wasn’t about to buy something when she didn’t know what it was. Setting the robe back on the rack she wandered about aimlessly in the store poking things and looking at the materials until Julie found her.

“Did ye find anyt’in ye like?” Catalina asked as she played with a ball of fabric on a table. “I can’t read w’at any of te’ robes say, can ye read it?” Catalina asked as she pointed at the tags on the robes nearby. With a sigh Catalina looked out of the tent, there really wasn’t too much for her to like in this tent, though perhaps she’d find better luck elsewhere. “Aye, what else ye got in t’is village ye kno?” She asked while absent mindedly picking up the ball of material and spinning it, thus drawing the ill look of a witch who was the proprietor of the store.


(( I've got a mind block too ))