Professor Blackwell stared coldly at her two house students as they waited silently for the verdict on their detention.
Minister Sundbee had informed her that the two had been cavorting in public but by the looks of things now they didn’t seem to be in any mood for such antics. She didn’t like it when Sundbee gave her students detention, they were hers and it should be she to decide their punishment.
However, on this occasion, she probably would have done the same thing. Even without the reason Sundbee gave of them being ‘previous offenders’.
“This way,” she barked at them. She strode purposefully down the corridor and turned a corner into a small room piled high with textbooks, quills, parchment, ink and other miscellaneous stationary. However in the middle of floor was a large pile of jumbled things, looking odd against the contrast of the neat and tidy shelves.
“You will stay here until this room has been put to rights,” she glared at them both, “I don’t want to hear a word out of either one of you until it has been done. Do I make myself clear?”
“Me?” she hissed back at him, “I wasn’t the one ‘manhandling’!” She glanced at the pile of assorted goods and groaned. “This is so your fault”
“You’re the one who was stealing my stuff.” he countered, rolling up his sleeves. ” Just so you go all girly looking at the pictures of pictures of Stephan Marcus and them.”
“I was not looking at Stephen Marcus!” she countered, beginning to put things back on their proper shelves, “I wanted to look at the broom you idiot!”
There was a momentary silence where she wanted to punch him.
“And just cos I’m a girl doesn’t mean I’m girly. I’m just as tough as you,” the anger swept her up, “just look at that practice session we had.”
Oops.
Bradley stopped. Turn a seething look her way. ” They were going easy on you. Cos You’re. A. Girl.” and because Ruby was watching as she always did with the first few practicses.
He went back to the task at hand but not for long. “And if they weren’t don’t mean anything. So you’re good at practise, hurray for you. What’s gonna count it when you’re out on the field and have all those hundreds of people wacthing you just waiting for you to screw up and lose the game for us so they can say how big a bunch of losers the Thestrals are. He leaned clsoe, almost towering over her. “My team ahs no room . for losers.”
“Nothing is ever good enough for you is it?” she glared at him. “You want me to try out, I try out, you want me to be good in practice, I’m good. I bet half the boys on that team didn’t have to go through all this to get a place, they got on purely because they are boys!”
She chucked a textbook at him, she was gunning for a fight.
“I was good enough for you when I was a boy!” she almost yelled at him.
“News flash chickpea, I didn’t want you to try out. You just got too much unicorn fluff between your ears to hear it. And you’re not that good. You’re barely passable. If it were for Fraser insisting on it you wouldn’t be let anywhere near my pitch. Even the Harpies wouldn’t wanna look at you twice.”
The second part of the comment he heard after a moment as he was busy ducking the text and hurling back a parchment scroll in response. It took two more for it to register.
” And you were never a boy chickpea. that much is obvious. Just being around them doesn’t make you one.”
They were hurling things at each other almost faster than they could pull them off the shelves.
“Shows how much you know!” she shot back at him. “I’ve got more chance of getting onto a team than you do. You’d be lucky if they let you in the stands in case you distracted the players with your ugly face,” she aimed an ink pot at his head and was disappointed when it smashed behind him, merely soaking his sleeve in ink.
“And just to prove your stupidity – I’m Twiggy. You spoon!”
“That’s obvious” he snapped back. ” You can’t even eat like a guy how are you going to pretend to be one, let alone compete with them?”
“Oh so now I don’t eat properly!” she held up her hands in the air as if admitting defeat. “You don’t have to be a boy to compete with them,” she warned him before flying across the room like a feral cat and landing a punch in the centre of his chest.
There was an oof sound as he punch landed, but it was quiet. “Not smart chickpea.” he said and shoved her back. “Not in less you want your butt sewn to the benches all season.”
“What’s wrong Brad?” she goaded him, “Scared to take on an ickle girl? Or are you just scared I’ll beat you?”
He’d heard the rumors about Blackwell. THat and the thought of losing his team were the only reasons he didn’t pummel her until she cried like the little girl she was. Instead he turned his back to her and began righting the new mess. Damned if he was gonna get in more trouble.
“Your lucky Smarty Hardy’s sister.” he growled at her.
“That’s right, run away like the scaredy cat you are, Bryant” she replied smugly, turning her back on him and beginning again on the now even larger pile of equipment to be sorted. “If any one’s the girl here it’s you”
” Guess that makes you not even fit for a girl’s team then don’t it?” he said.
Shoney, Ted and Sophie
The room was well lit, and tea had been set out when the two students finally knocked on his door. Professor Shoney beamed at the visitors as though the had come unexpectedly.
“Ah, Miss Coulten, Mister West come in. Do sit down.”
He waited for them to settle in with their seats and began.
“Now then. I have noticed a noticed a problem between the two of you of alte. Mister West, your grades of late appear to be slipping more than usual. When I suggested that extra tutoring may be needed Miss Coulten here refused most vehemently. Now upon observing your marks of last year, I can only assume that these changes in grades and temperment are due to my teaching ability becoming lax of late. Would either of you care to enlighten me as to what it is I have been doing wrong?”
He waited, hands folded as if he were the student.
The room was well lit, and tea had been set out when the two students finally knocked on his door. Professor Shoney beamed at the visitors as though the had come unexpectedly.
“Ah, Miss Coulten, Mister West come in. Do sit down.”
He waited for them to settle in with their seats and began.
“Now then. I have noticed a noticed a problem between the two of you of alte. Mister West, your grades of late appear to be slipping more than usual. When I suggested that extra tutoring may be needed Miss Coulten here refused most vehemently. Now upon observing your marks of last year, I can only assume that these changes in grades and temperment are due to my teaching ability becoming lax of late. Would either of you care to enlighten me as to what it is I have been doing wrong?”
He waited, hands folded as if he were the student.
“That’s not true” Ted coutnered. “Did you just him I got great marks on my OWLS so obviously something worked.
It’s just that, what with work and family and everything professor, I hadn’t much time over the summer to study. So..some things slipped. If anything I think I could use more tutoring, and since Soph here did such a good job, I was hoping she would again. But she said as she had no more need of my services and brushed me off. ”
“I’m sorry, Professor,” she held up a hand and turned into her chair to face Ted.
She’d forgotten how attractive he was.
“I offered you the chance to go over your essay, I was willing to give up my free time to do so” she pointed out, “I’m quite happy to tutor you as much as you need but you didn’t have the time.”
She turned back in her seat to face the Professor again.
“I cannot tutor him if he doesn’t want to be tutored, if he did I wouldn’t have a problem,” she finished off her sentence in a so-that’s-that manner. Because surely the Professor could see that Ted didn’t actually want to be tutored at all.
“I have the time now” Ted insisted “I have plenty of time now. Business is slowing down and like you were syaing, I certainly could use the help right?”
Shoney looked from one to the other, his face honest and trusting as ever. “Well” he said brightly “Then I don’t entirely see why there should be a problem. Miss Coulten you will take Mister West on, and Mister West you will attend every one of Miss Coulten’s session until such time as your grades improve.”
She opened and closed her mouth rather unattractively.
“Wait..” she began to say and then stopped. What was she doing?
She didn’t want to tutor Ted again. Did she?
“What ever you say Professor,” she agreed eventually. Glancing at Ted and back to the Professor.
Devin Valdene, Lib. Hadwin Attenoaks and BlackwellDevin Valdene entered the offices of Aelcrest Manor. He was in his late forties, his brown hair was starting to turn grey but it made him look distinguished at least according to his wife it was. Devin had been an Auror for most of his life and now he was back at Aelcrest Manor working as the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.
It was an odd feeling being back here but his wife had made him apply for the position so he didn’t annoy her anymore. Sure she loved the fact that he was safe and out of harms but having him at home doing nothing had annoyed her to no living end. So here he was about to become a teacher.
He smiled at the other people in the room. “Hello.” He said as he looked around. “I’m Devin Valdene, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.” He had never been the shy type and he tended to be very blunt, he hoped the other Professors weren’t going to be off put by it.
“Well hello there young fellow me lad. Just popped out for a wee minute did you. Excellent excellent. Just in time for tea and figgy biscuits. There’s custard ones too and some quite delicious jam sandwiches also,” Hadwin added, looking as if he had demolished one or two of these already by the state of his beard. “But,” he dropped his voice, “I would definitely recommend the figgy ones,” he touched his finger to the side of his nose and smiled conspiratorially.
Hadwin seemed completely oblivious to the fact that Devin was new or indeed that he had just introduced himself, treating him instead with affectionate familiarity.
Devin was taken back by the odd man and even more surprised at being called a young fellow. According to his wife he was an old man, of course she was ten years younger then him. “No thank you.” He said with a smile as he sat down. He was never one for tea time and biscuits during the day. He wanted to keep his figure trimmed and he knew that snacking in the middle of the day would make his belly round.
Devin smiled over at the man. “Sir, what’s your name?” He asked hoping the man wouldn’t go on another spiel about which biscuits he’d recommend.
“Oh ho ho everyone knows me, everyone round here just you ask ’em no problems there I say no problems there,” he picked up a very misshappen mug and sipped on his tea, furtively dunking a figgy biscuit into it which he had stored up his sleeve.
“So I have a question for you young fellow,” he swayed his head and the wolf head perched on top nodded as if in agreement.
“Do you believe the sightings of the Umgubular Slashkilter in the Higlands recently? Been thinking of taking a trip there myself. Taking a trip that’s the spirit. A pac and a mac and a hi diddely ho. Shall we off and go?” he asked beaming at Devin,
Devin couldn’t help but smile at the man he reminded Devin of his crazy Uncle Marco. The wolf on his head was kind of odd but who was Devin to judge. When the man started talking about Umgubular Slashkilter in the Higlands though that’s where he drew the line.
“The Umgubular Slashkilter?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. He didn’t want to encourage the old man but he also been taught to not be rude.
“Yes yes of course the Umgubular Slashkilter,” Hadwin nodded and extracted another figgy biscuit from his sleeve (clearly the reason why the plate had emptied so rapidly – Myrrh did not believe in self filling plates, thinking them both wasteful and calorifically challenging)
“It is young fellow me lad difficult to pin down the right conditions astronomically speaking, but rumour has it that the ascent of Pluto into the 3rd house and the 8th aspect have allowed a new breeding cycle to commence. I am so excited young man, so excited I could eat my hat!” Hadwin declared although looking at the wolf it appeared more than a mouthful for any man.
“Most Umgubular Slashkilters you see most of them live the majority of their lives in a single patch or field of turnips, providing essential nutrients and enriching the soil, oh yes the soil absolutely,” Hadwin nodded as if importing secrets of the highest value. “The Umgubular Slashkilter leaves its patch toward the end of its life to return to the field where it was born in order to conduct its highly secretive mating rituals. Once completed the female kills and eats her partner before laying her precious cargo of eggs. The female then also dies and its body protects the eggs by a repugnant odour, which keeps away predators. The female’s body also nourishes the young turnip plants.This cycle of mating only occurs when Pluto rises in the proper house and aspect. Which is now, do say let’s take a picnic at once, do say so young man,” Hadwin looked ready to leave immediately. “I’ll pack the biscuits shall I?” he asked hopefully.
“I think that is quite enough of your nonsense Hadwin,” came the stern voice of the Headmistress behind the two men. Myrrh had little to no tolerance of the Librarian or the biscuits he seemed so intent on filling the staff room with. Her cold, grey eyes glanced over the plates and was glad to see he had at least remembered her aversion to self filling plates.
Myrrh turned to the new Professor and shook his hand with a firm grip, giving him a curt smile. They had not met since Devin’s interview at the school a few months previously.
“I hope you are finding everything you need, Professor?”
Devin listened halfheartly to the old man’s speech and knew that he had got himself into this. He knew better then to ask people like him questions about what they were speaking about. His months of staying at home had made him soft. He was trying to find a way around going to find Umgubular Slashkilter.
He had almost jumped with joy when the stern voice of the Headmistress was heard. Of course if he had literally jumped for joy he feared he would be sacked with out even teaching his first class. He liked the Headmistress and her stern ways she reminded him of his days of Auror.
“I’m finding everything I need Headmistress thank you.” He said.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Myrrh replied, but the look on her face suggested she was anything but glad. The stern Headmistress gave the Librarian another cold look and found that Devin was still standing in front of her. She sighed inwardly, small talk was not at all her forte.
“Are you…enjoying yourself?” she asked in a monotone, blinking at him. Where were the Headmasters when you needed them? Drizzle would have had the new Professor in stitches with some no doubt hilarious story by now and Flidias would have carted him off to talk about Geraniums. As it was neither were here and she must face the challenges of social interaction alone.
Prof. Drizzle Shoney
Drizzle sat at his desk going over the plans to the bridge. All the alarms had gone off a while back, the party responsible only being rescued by Fliddy’s timely intervention. Now he needed to not only reset the precautions, but adjust them to weed out sleepwalkers. The kidnappings of the previous year had been enough excitement, he had no desire to explain to an anxious parent why their child was suffering from burns that would baffle muggle medics becuase of his sleepwalking problem.
Needless to say, he considered the knock on his door to be one of the best of distractions.
“Yes.” he called cheerily ” Who is it? Do come in, it’s unlocked.” he folded up the plans and replaced them with a shoddy looking muggle novel.
Ruby, Nathan Lowden, Ted, Leone, and Blackwell –Dark Items
The Trader’s Post, a small study room off of the classrooms floor normally had both its doors open when the Traders were in meetings. They didn’t have much secrets and it was part of the reason they were allowed to have Trading. at morning Ruby swept into the room in a near perfect imitation of Professor Blackwell, Leone Bates at her side for translation purposes. Ted was already there, having been making small talk with Nathan between classes. At the sight of Ruby, Nathan had gotten up to make his way out the other door.
Ruby waved her wand and both doors slammed shut.
“You.” she said, pointing her wand, her words sharp and burning in their clarity “are in so much trouble.”
Nathan had been avoiding coming to the Trading Post as much as possible of late. He knew it was only a matter of time before someone found out that the pendant had come from him. The whole school was talking about it after all. Today he had been too cocky and decided to whittle away dead hours between classes with Ted. He was good company after all.
“Trouble?” he grinned at her in the typical trader way. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, pumpkin” but still he eyed the exits in an attempt to formulate an escape plan. Should this turn nasty. Darn it he knew he had stayed too long.
He was not getting away that easily. Ruby was smallish and slight, but she radiated power, a thing that served her well on the field. And her nostrils flared as she looked at him.
” Are you trying to get us all expelled?!” She demanded.
Ted looked over. “What do you mean? What’re you talking about?”
She pointed at Nathan.
“Him! He is trying to disrupt our business. He–” she tried to explain the situation but her words quickly lost their clairty under her anger and she had to resort to her primary language, her hands sending the words forth like they were daggers or vicious spells.
Leone picked up where Ruby left off almost instantaneously as their intertwining communication skills were revealed. Not even someone with years of practice could have kept up with the pace that Ruby was cursing Nathan. It was a miracle Leone kept up.
Ted was looking at her desperately trying to understand as Leone almost mirrored the movements in quickness as she tried to clarify the situation.
“She says that this degenerate has been fencing…silver…sorry stolen…Dark goods to “children”…I guess that means the younger years…he’s going to ruin your…sharks?” she paused and made some quick movements, “…reputation as traders,” she looked cautiously at Nathan out of one eye as the truth became clearer and clearer. “and he could have you all out of a job as well as it being written on your records and…”
She stopped. “I didn’t understand that,” she had to admit to her friend, who signed something back quickly. She blushed. “Okay, I understood that, I’m just not going to tell you.”
Ted looked at Nathan then back at the girls. Ruby Frazer was not given to curse words. If anything she had a rule against it both in Trading and on the Fields. Ted had sold many a pack of Ice Mice and Pepper Imps and other assortments of Feel-Good candies to kids who’d gotten put on probation for swearing, thinking she couldn’t understand them. If she was that mad, then she had a reason.
He thought of the pendant, what he’d heard about cheating quills and other problems. The thought came to him: Sophie had also handeled that pendant. She had been lucky not to have been affected by it…if she had…
” You sold Dark items to kids?” he asked Nathan “What were you thinking. ” Ruby’s hands told her opinion of Nathan’s thinking skills. “We’re the hell did you get those?”
Nathan ground his teeth as he stood grounded to the floor. Ruby had clearly already decided he was guilty, Leone was giving him wary glances and Ted was almost having to hold himself back from taking a swing at him. He’d always known the day would come when he would be caught out and he had his exit strategy more than sorted but there had been a part of him that had wanted to get away with it.
“She can’t prove anything,” Nathan glared at Ruby, “And even if I had, so what? Supply and demand is the law of the trade.”
Ted couldn’t believe his ears. He had known Nathan dealt with the less savory sort of things, but this was a far cry from Ready Answer papers and the newest trend in Aelcrest contraband. He had never actually believed nathan capable of going this far to turn a profit.
” You can’t supply kids with Dark Arts things.” he insisited. Ruby was saying similar things though her langauge was far more colourful and less verbal.
” What if someone got sick? Or got killed? There’s no money in it then. and other people will get your job, people who can keep their hands off. You wanna lose business for being an idiot?”
“But the gains!” he leant on the table, his fist in the air triumphantly. “I made more from those items than I do in a month. You’re a family guy, Ted. You know what it’s like to need to earn the pay!”
Ruby’s hands flashed like mad and Leone blushed again.
“I’m not saying that,” she whispered to her friend, but turned to Nathan and asked the main question. “Ruby says these kids didn’t even know what they were buying and that you practically forced Bernadette into it. That’s not business, it’s hunting,” her eyes darkened.
“You have no idea of the opportunity you’re missing out on,” Nathan insisted.
” Missing out on getting expelled” Ruby was saying “Missing out on te chance to be arrested and sent to jail if not prison for this. Missing out on losing everything that we have worked for up to this point. How dare you, how
Just in case he didn’t get the message, she punched him in the shoulder. Hard.
“You’re only in trouble if you get caught,” he replied darkly, “and I haven’t been caught yet.” He rubbed his shoulder where she had hit him and let out a hollow laugh. “You think that’s going to stop me,” he reached for his wand. “You’re going to regret that,” he cast the spell with a flick of his wrist, sending Ruby flying backwards. “Anyone else have a concern?” he asked.
Ted already had his wand out and didn’t have to be asked twice. He fired off a spell, blasting Nathan with one of the few deuling spells he had learned during a Village trip. Even as he did he thought of how stupid the movement was. nathan was older and probably actually knew how to duel.
It was a rare occurrence that the Traders caused any trouble amongst the student body. Even rarer the occasion when the Headmistress felt the need to step in. They were a group that were over all fairly responsible and looked after themselves for the most part…however today things had gone too far.
News had reached her and she did not like the sound of it all and just when she had been about to confront those in Question she had been confronted with a closed door. A closed door was nothing to her of course but the mere fact that the door had been closed had angered her enough to call in the other Headmasters and together they made a storm of the Trading Post.
Entering to find the Head Boy, wand out, Miss Frazer on the floor with Miss Bates moving her hands furiously in front of her face and Mr West pointing his own wand at the smouldering jacket of Mr Lowden was enough to send Myrrh’s true fiery temper into a full blown fire storm.
“Mr Lowden!” she barked with a decidedly threatening undertone, causing him to lower his wand. “Hand it over!” she held out her hand for his wand which he gave to her almost without hesitation. “Miss Bates if you would be so kind as to escort Miss Frazer to the Nurse’s Office that would be most helpful. Mr West,” she turned to the other boy in the room with a cold fury in her eyes. Both students left in the room were from Reym House, her House and she would demand an explanation, “be so kind as to tell me what has just happened?”
Ted winced and ducked a little at the sound of his name, out of habit. Leone and Ruby got escorted out and then Blackwell turned his eyes on him.
” Ruby came to confront Nathan about something he was messing with. He attacked her.” he said, unsure how much Blackwell aready knew.
The school was a buzz with the news of Nathan Lowden’s expulsion for the next month. As could only have been expected. However what really happened was contorted through rumour until only those who were present truly knew what had happened.
The Heads and Nathan were locked in Blackwell’s office for a good part of the next day as they to piece together the events that had led up to the attack in the Trading Post. The students who had been affected gave their evidence in turn until the verdict was reached. Nathan had to be expelled from Aelcrest. The first student to have faced the punishment. It was a blow to the school’s reputation for their first Head Boy to be the first student to leave unwillingly.
Noah Hunt replaced Nathan Lowden as the Head Boy, a double blow to Blackwell. The first student to be expelled had been from her own House and now she had lost the Head Boy to a Weir, but there were no other alternatives. Slowly but surely business began to return to normal, but a closer eye had to be kept on the Traders.
She shoulda held up a sign. It woulda been easier.
He had a smartassed comeback all ready adn opened his mouth to give it. Only the Professor glared at him and he shut it and nodded instead. Talking back to Blackwell could get you fried or worse, kicked off the Quidditch team.
So he stuck with nodding and waiting until she had closed the door behind him.
“Now see what you did” he hissed. Which wasn’t talking if you wanted to get all technical.
atbecollections 