If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
The only way to get from here to there twixt the ground and second stair.
Places of interest on your way: the Muggle Studies and History of Magic classrooms, a swamp in the middle of this corridor, and the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Traverse this dusty floor with care!
½ EagleBrain ♥ Creeperdoodle ♥ Raven Dor ♥ Berry ♥ ½ Team House Elf
The second he arrived outside his HoM classroom, he came to the realisation very quickly that today was the day that he was giving up on the subject in its entirety. He wasn't even going to entertain the idea of sitting at the back of the class doodling images on his parchment. No. The second he saw the costumes, he knew that this lesson would be as ridiculous as all the others have been, and he was not okay with that.
Remembering names, dates, places, events, and recognising the the heck they were signifiant was chore enough, add dramatics and he was lost to the world.
Head down, Zeke paused midway down the corridor. He had two options here. First, to hide out in the castle. He could go take a nap in the dorms, have a snack in the kitchens, even a corner in the library sounded appealing at the minute. OR, he could head outside. Sit by the lake and throw stones, wander around the greenhouses that weren't in use... the worldHogwarts was his oyster for the next hour.
astronomizzle ♧ gryffinDORK | & the rest is drag ♣ #badluckDerf
SPOILER!!: BUSTED! Because you told us to :3
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hera
The second he arrived outside his HoM classroom, he came to the realisation very quickly that today was the day that he was giving up on the subject in its entirety. He wasn't even going to entertain the idea of sitting at the back of the class doodling images on his parchment. No. The second he saw the costumes, he knew that this lesson would be as ridiculous as all the others have been, and he was not okay with that.
Remembering names, dates, places, events, and recognising the the heck they were signifiant was chore enough, add dramatics and he was lost to the world.
Head down, Zeke paused midway down the corridor. He had two options here. First, to hide out in the castle. He could go take a nap in the dorms, have a snack in the kitchens, even a corner in the library sounded appealing at the minute. OR, he could head outside. Sit by the lake and throw stones, wander around the greenhouses that weren't in use... the worldHogwarts was his oyster for the next hour.
CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK
The dull thud of stone upon stone was loud enough to announce the astronomer's approach from at least the next floor up as the man strolled casually through the corridors with his pet rock dragging behind him on its pink leash. It really was two fwoopers with one stone, combining his afternoon patrols with Pebbles' walk, and he could...
...
...
...
"Mr. Zeke?" he questioned, eyebrow raised and index finger pointing towards the young man in utter disbelief that the fourth year was adding this to his resume for the term. "If I am not mistaken..." And he wasn't, so don't even try. "...you do not have a free period right now."
__________________
When you’re stuck in a moment and your spark has been stolen .................................................. ........... this is our time to own it, so own it..................................... baby we were born withfire and gold in our eyes
½ EagleBrain ♥ Creeperdoodle ♥ Raven Dor ♥ Berry ♥ ½ Team House Elf
He was still trying to make up his mind when he heard the distinct sound of a rock being dragged on stone.
...
Sheesh, talk about timing.
Zeke remained where he was as the Professor came into sight, and wasn't surprised that he was being questioned about being out of class. Free period. THAT would have been his excuse, but the one person who would know better had to be the one to find him. "Professor Flamsteed," he greeted with a nod, though the words didn't stop there as he tried to weasel his way through some kind of plausible excuse for not being in class.
"We're working on a project for HoM, Professor," he started, "We need to pick a figure in a portrait and interview them about... history and stuff.... so, I was just on my way to see the Fat Lady..." was he buying it??? Zeke smiiled politely, mentally crossing his fingers.
astronomizzle ♧ gryffinDORK | & the rest is drag ♣ #badluckDerf
And....stuff...
The astronomer hated that word. But there were times that he also loved it. Well, no. Not loved. Tolerated. He tolerated the word right now because it was a key indicator that Mr. Zeke was flying by the seat of his trousers right now.
So maybe he would fly by his own trousers for a moment.
"Well, that sounds like a fascinating little project. Although I regret to inform you that she is not in her portrait at the moment," he replied with a grin that could pass for genuine. "Seeing as Gryffindors are all in class now, she has left for her afternoon tea with some of the other lady portraits somewhere else in the castle."
Plucking Pebbles from the ground, Airey cradled her in his arm and gave a nod down the corridor.
"You may have better luck in the portrait gallery," he winked. Which was surely where the majority of his classmates were. Ahem. "You're in luck. I happen to be heading that way."
AHEM.
__________________
When you’re stuck in a moment and your spark has been stolen .................................................. ........... this is our time to own it, so own it..................................... baby we were born withfire and gold in our eyes
½ EagleBrain ♥ Creeperdoodle ♥ Raven Dor ♥ Berry ♥ ½ Team House Elf
He bought it. FASCINATING PROJECT, that it was... only... there were flaws in his made-up plan. Why did this have to happen to him?! And NOW of all times? He could still go along with it though, becasue it wasn't the end of the world, and he could just CHANGE portraits too. Sir Cadogan probably had some neat stories for his pro--... wait, this was NOT a project.
Before he could even suggest the idea of using a different portrait it seemed Professor Flamsteed had other thoughts.
Portrait Gallery. No. He didn't want to go there. And he wouldn't need to, because even Flamsteed didn't know for sure where the Fat Lady was. "Everyone's going there, I want someone unique, y'know.. go out of my way. So if the Fat Lady is there, I'm sure others would pick her too." Mmhhmm. Yep. So many reasons why going there was a bad idea.
BUT... it got him thinking, being out of class wasn't necessarily against the rules, if one had a meeting with their Head of House. And what better time than the present? "Professor.. could I ask you for some advice?" he started, "about something else? It's... kind of urgent?"
Kind of urgent, so urgent in fact that he wasn't ready to move from this spot. He needed answers.
astronomizzle ♧ gryffinDORK | & the rest is drag ♣ #badluckDerf
Quick on his feet. An attribute that the professor admired and even encouraged, so it was hard to keep himself from smiling at the Gryffindor's words. Still not buying your story, Mr. Zeke, but you are doing a fine job of selling it regardless.
"I see," he mused, setting Pebbles back down on the ground to prepare for the rest of their walk. Or pretend to prepare because he had no intention of letting the young man think he had gotten away with a freebie. Even if the astronomer himself was unaware that that was precisely what was about to happen with the question being posed by the young man.
Sort of. He had something to ask as well.
"Certainly, Mr. Zeke," he nodded with a quick salute. "But only if I may ask you something in return."
__________________
When you’re stuck in a moment and your spark has been stolen .................................................. ........... this is our time to own it, so own it..................................... baby we were born withfire and gold in our eyes
½ EagleBrain ♥ Creeperdoodle ♥ Raven Dor ♥ Berry ♥ ½ Team House Elf
Seeing as Flamsteed had stopped questioning his whereabouts, Zeke was convinced this was a victory. He'd won. He was free. Seeing Flamsteed return his rock to the floor (this rock thing was still so weird), confirmed that his interrogation was over. It was done. But he still needed to... get away, but sat the same time he wanted to stall? Oh he was conflicted!
He DID have questions, a lot of them, he always did, so at the minute picking the ones which would buy him the most amount of time was his challenge. But, a question in return? "Sure..." it wasn't as if he could say no.
Sighing, shoving his hands into his pockets, Zeke looked down the corridor briefly before returning his gaze to his Head of House. Number one on his list of 'most pressing questions to ask' was an ironic one. He loved irony on most days, but he couldn't deny this was perhaps tooooooo ironic.
"I um... I broke a lot of peoples trust, recently, and I don't know how to make it better," he started, somewhat looking his Head of House in the eyes, but then also glancing at his own feet. His feet were interesting too. Had they grown recently? Looking back up, he continued. "I've been struggling? I dunno, but I want to make things right, but I don't know what to do or say to restore that trust." Did he see his dilemma?
He was content to just stop there, because that was a loaded question as it was, but for whatever reason, more words tumbled from his mouth.
"We're moving back to London, but I know it's not what mum wants. And I know it's my fault, but, I'm happy we're moving back?" ............
astronomizzle ♧ gryffinDORK | & the rest is drag ♣ #badluckDerf
Keeping his triumphant grin to the corners of his mind, the astronomer bowed his head in acceptance of their deal and made his way over towards a vacant stone windowsill and sat down. After plopping Pebbles down on his lap, he gestured towards the opposite end of the windowsill for Mr. Zeke to take a seat.
Oh.
It was THIS sort of conversation.
Swallowing hard, gravity suddenly seemed to have decided in this very instance to become a sentient entity and focus all of its attention on pushing down upon the Astronomy professor. Which may not be too terrible a thing. Being squashed into a pancake surely was an acceptable excuse to avoid angsty teenage conversation.
But alas. He was going to have to suit up, man up, and face this one head on. Good thing he already had one of those covered.
The suit.
"That is very noble of you, Mr. Zeke," Airey nodded with a fleeting glance out the window. "And a true display of character, if I do say so myself." He could only assume that the Gryffindor was referring to the little incident in the Observatory at the beginning of the term as one of these instances of trust breaking, but it was a very small dot on the cosmic timeline the fourth year had with the astronomer. Almost water under the bridge. Almost. "I would say you are already heading in the right direction." Especially if those self help books were worth their galleons. "In my experience, trust begins from within with significant inner work. You must first learn to trustworthy of yourself and your feelings. Be able to have a dialogue with that inner voice that tries to alert you when something feels misaligned with your needs."
He paused for a moment to allow his blue eyes to bore into the Gryffindor's, unsure whether or not to play this card now or wait a bit longer.
He opted for a little later.
"So let's start with this moving situation, if you don't mind" he said, leaning back against the frame of the window. "How is this move directly correlated to you? Why does it please you?"
Gravity had loosened up a little, but not too much. It was just easier reciting bits of his book from memory and applying some of its methodology to this particular situation.
And sweet solstice thank Merlin this conversation was NOT about romantic relationships. Still not equipped for that sort of thing.
__________________
When you’re stuck in a moment and your spark has been stolen .................................................. ........... this is our time to own it, so own it..................................... baby we were born withfire and gold in our eyes
½ EagleBrain ♥ Creeperdoodle ♥ Raven Dor ♥ Berry ♥ ½ Team House Elf
Zeke complied with stepping out of the middle of the corridor, taking a seat on the window sill beside his Head of House. This wasn't exactly how he wanted to spend his time, but it could have been worse, he could have been in HoM.
There was hope that he might actually get some useful advice out of this, so he was patient for Flamsteed to start, but perhaps his hopes had been too high.
...
Yes, he was noble, and YES it was a good display of his character or whatever... but the rest of what he said, went straight over his head.
Trust-worthy of yourself and your feelings?
Inner voice? What was this? Divination? Inner eyes and inner ears were not his thing.
And just what did he mean when he said when something feels misaligned with needs? Just... what?
It didn't answer his question.
Zeke blinked a few times, nodding slowly, very slowly, because he was trying to convince himself that he understood - but he didn't. "I trust myself," he said after a moment of contemplation, "but I don't see how that will help others to trust me." And THIS was his dilemma. "It's like... I need to prove myself, but I don't know how... you make a mistake once, and then have to prove that you'll never do it again and that you're not that type of person, but there's no 'proof' of that unless you just don't do it again for a LONG time." Yeah? Yeah? This was actually pretty heavy stuff, now that he thought about it. "... but I need that trust now."
This life was hard.
What made it harder though, was the fact that he was now entering a therapy session, or whatever, and he still wasn't quite sure about things.
And... correlated? He wasn't sure what Flamsteed meant by that, so he answered the second part of the question.
"I really like London," he shrugged, it was as simple as that. "It was easy to live there. I know the language, I have friends here, and ... it was my first real home." It did sadden him though, to know they weren't moving back to the loft. He only hoped the new place wasn't too different. Zeke swung his legs a little before averting his gaze to the floor in front of him.
astronomizzle ♧ gryffinDORK | & the rest is drag ♣ #badluckDerf
To say he was thankful for the Pebbles buffer was a bit of an understatement. Pity that she couldn't also handle this awkward conversation as well.
Alas.
Rubbing the back of his neck while listening to the Gryffindor's plight and looked at a random spec on the ground. So...Mr. Zeke had already moved past chapter one. Airey hadn't read much further than there, nothing more than the title of the following chapter really. So now he was flying blind and without anything resembling radar to get his bearings. Which now had him questioning other parts of his life.
Sweet solstice.
"You cannot force trust onto others anymore than you can tell the moon's gravitational pull not to influence the tides," he said slowly, attention still on the same random spec on the ground. "I know it goes without saying, being the bright young man with so much potential that you are, but just hear me out. Newton’s third law of motion tells us that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. When an object collides with a target, there is an equal force going into and away from the target at the same time. It is no different here. It's not simply a law meant for physics, but a law of cause and effect that informs us is that we are accountable for our actions and for our own circumstances. You are feeling those equal and opposite reactions now and it will take time. Keep at it, Mr. Zeke and be patient. You'll begin feeling the reactions to your efforts in due time."
All reactions. Including the consequences of getting caught skipping lessons.
That was...pretty good advice this time, right? Airey almost had a pleading cruppy look about his features as he sought for reinforcement.
First real home. Those words stuck out more than anything else shared by the Gryffindor thus far. A sense of belonging, perhaps?
"I see," he nodded.
Were he and Mr. Zeke both inspecting the same spec now? Fascinating.
__________________
When you’re stuck in a moment and your spark has been stolen .................................................. ........... this is our time to own it, so own it..................................... baby we were born withfire and gold in our eyes
½ EagleBrain ♥ Creeperdoodle ♥ Raven Dor ♥ Berry ♥ ½ Team House Elf
If he thought asking for clarification would help, he was grossly mistaken. Gravitational forces, tides, Newton again and just... all of it, went right over his head again. The only things that really stuck were:
1. He was bright and had potential?
2. He couldn't force trust.
3. Give it time?
... that was it.
In the end he found himself nodding. He guessed what it call came down to was doing right, and then right paying off. Like...karma? Cause and effect? Karma? He might have even felt bad about skipping class now... except that he didn't. No regrets. YOLO.
But the floor, that at least made sense. It was solid, and it was there. So unless this was all a dream or a really good daydream charm, the floor wouldn't be changing any time soon.
Flamsteed's response made him look up though. Cause, yeah. Zeke found himself shrugging. Shrugging because it felt comfortable to do so, and he didn't really know what to say... even if there were a million things racing through his mind right now.
astronomizzle ♧ gryffinDORK | & the rest is drag ♣ #badluckDerf
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hera
If he thought asking for clarification would help, he was grossly mistaken. Gravitational forces, tides, Newton again and just... all of it, went right over his head again. The only things that really stuck were:
1. He was bright and had potential?
2. He couldn't force trust.
3. Give it time?
... that was it.
In the end he found himself nodding. He guessed what it call came down to was doing right, and then right paying off. Like...karma? Cause and effect? Karma? He might have even felt bad about skipping class now... except that he didn't. No regrets. YOLO.
But the floor, that at least made sense. It was solid, and it was there. So unless this was all a dream or a really good daydream charm, the floor wouldn't be changing any time soon.
Flamsteed's response made him look up though. Cause, yeah. Zeke found himself shrugging. Shrugging because it felt comfortable to do so, and he didn't really know what to say... even if there were a million things racing through his mind right now.
"I... don't know what to do."
Airey couldn't help himself and puffed out his chest a little. He, the man, was doing a stellar job of getting through to Mr. Zeke. So kudos to the astronomer for gaining enough experience points to level up in that department. Maybe he could handle this in other aspects of his life after all?
But enough thinking about his personal affairs for now, there was a Gryffindor in distress and he was not about to let this progress get derailed by distraction.
"I've heard it all starts with small things. A few extra kind words here and there," he said while tapping his chin with his index finger. "But it really will depend case by case. Take Pebbles here for example. Talk about some broken trust issues! In my neglect last term, she was taken by acromantulas who attempted to eat her and then left her to die in a web, thus resulting in some serious abandonment issues." Issues that had made her unwilling to sleep in her own bed for the first month after her recovery, thus bed sharing had occurred. But she had graduated to her own pillow now.
But that was highly a suggestion to be given to the fourth year. Not after what the professor had witness in the observatory.
"Although...some will argue that it takes big gestures to get your foot in the door towards forgiveness," he mused, tapping a little more urgently now.
Human beings were an incredibly complicated species. Complicated, unpredictable, and highly illogical.
"So...what will it be? Big or small?"
Gestures, that is.
__________________
When you’re stuck in a moment and your spark has been stolen .................................................. ........... this is our time to own it, so own it..................................... baby we were born withfire and gold in our eyes
½ EagleBrain ♥ Creeperdoodle ♥ Raven Dor ♥ Berry ♥ ½ Team House Elf
For once, the Astronomer's advice was actually making some sense. It was reasonable. Small things, like kind words... he could do that, though he knew it wouldn't be enough. The only point at which he got a little lost was the whole Pebbles example. How was it possible that a grown man could keep an inanimate object as a pet... a pet that he thought had feelings. Rocks didn't have feelings, not unless they were those pogrebins things, whatever those even were, but they LOOKED like rocks, right?
"Mmmm....." he mused, appearing as though he was giving this some real consideration, which he was, but he wasn't at the same time.
His attention was piqued again with the mention of grand gestures. "What? Like... flowers?" He couldn't really think of much else, with the exception of screaming his apologies from the rooftop... or tabletop. Ahem.
...
And WHAT? He had to choose?
"Um..." uuhhhh... "didn't you say this was more of a case by case thing?" because he hadn't said WHOM he was apologising to, or what for. So...
Soph had lowered herself down onto the cold, hard seat of the nearest windowsill in the corridor outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, her brows furrowed in concern at the shakiness of her mum's voice and the broken expression on her mum's usually composed face in the two-way mirror.
And then came the harsh news, stealing her breath like the biting winter air had for many months before.
Her Hit Wizard father, killed on the job.
More explanation had come after that, but the words were lost to her as she stared, pale and frozen, at the wall across from her, the mirror face-up in her lap. There wasn't an ounce of emotion on her expression. Just emptiness. Reflection. Processing. Trying to wrap her head around it.
Her father, gone forever.
After what felt like minutes of feeling nothingness, her eyes darkened, and she only spoke up after her mum urgently called her name.
"I'm fine, Mum. I'll see you tonight."
She moved to end the call, but before she did so, she picked up the mirror to give her mum one last impassive look and added an oddly calm, "Love you."
Ending the call, Soph slid the mirror inside her bag, exchanged it for a chocolate frog, which she unwrapped and took a long minute to eat, savoring the texture and flavor, then vanished the wrapper, slid her bag back over her shoulder, and headed back to the classroom, her face still devoid of any trace of emotion or color.