Professor Eamon Alderton

[Hiding in his office]

No, that’d be about it.

mxrlinxmrys-deactivated20150516

Stop pretending then. Why don't you let yourself cry or scream or hex something?

Do what you need to do to make yourself feel better. Merlin knows you're entitled to your emotions. Let yourself feel something.

#Jayden

This is a study hall, not a gossip parlour. Why are you not working?

Oh leave them alone, Gold. It's Friday after all.

#flynn #it begins

|| Blank Pages || Cora & Eamon ||

Comforting people had never been a strength of Cora’s, after all, she’d never really had people to comfort, other than the occasional student. She had always found a way of getting someone else to be there for whoever may need a hand to hold, simply because she had no idea what to do. Certainly, she felt sympathetic to those who needed help, but beyond that, she knew, her tongue was too harsh, her arms too rigid, no calming could come from her. And yet, she suddenly wished this were not so. She wanted to help, to be there for Eamon, and she was shocked at the sudden intense desire to do so.

But still, she sat. Her mind racing over what Katie would do in this situation, how she would help him either talk it out, or distract him from the line of thoughts, not that Cora even knew which of these were the right thing to do at the time. Absent-mindedly stroking his hand with her thumb as she tried desperately to come to a conclusion as to what to do, she watched as he spoke. Only when he squeezed her hand did she realise what her thumb had been doing and stopped suddenly, squeezing back gently in what she hoped was a reassuring manner.

"Eamon I…" she trailed off, her voice cracking surprisingly as she tried to decide upon the words she would use. "Are you sure you want to talk about this?" she questioned, worried about the impact the topic might be having on him.

Snapping out of his reverie, Eamon looked up at Cora. "I'm sorry." He felt that at this juncture in time he should probably let go of her hand, but he couldn't bring himself to. "I never really... I don't ever talk about this. Not even to Jayden much."

To his surprise, Cora seemed genuinely concerned for him. He chastised himself; he was probably scaring the poor woman. Eamon was aware that very few people saw this side of him, the side that didn't have a joke or a quip or a line ready all the time, the side that frequently did not know what to say at all.

"I'm sorry," He said again. "You're right. We'll talk about anything you like. How about this snow then?" He gestured out the window with a ghost of his usual grin. Even he saw how feeble his attempt at humour was. Merlin, he thought, He'd ruined it now.

#cora #para:cora

[Hiding in his office]

I’m just tired of, well, everything I suppose.

#jayden #yea hes sick of this too

Anything in particular? Or just the whole charade of pretending you're right as rain?

Oh dear, is she related in anyway to Romilda Vane? It’s documented that Romilda gave Ron Weasley a love potion. Perhaps you ought to keep an eye on her.

#annelia #eamon may have only just escaped romilda vane

A love potion? I wouldn't put it past this girl. I should warn Jayden not to accept anything she gives him...

I think she might be a neice. I never met her but I've heard the name.

[Hiding in his office]

You’re right, I probably can’t. But that doesn’t mean you need to hear me complaining about my life.

#jayden #remember how eamon has almost no relationship with his actual family

Come now you silly bastard.

You know you're like a brother to me. I want to hear you complain so I can help you.

[Hiding in his office]

That’s not what I- What I mean to say- I’m just tired, Eamon. Just very, very tired.

You can't keep on like this. It's hurting you, keeping everything inside. Please talk to me, I want to help you.

#jayden

|| Blank Pages || Cora & Eamon ||

It was amazing how information about the war was so much more interesting when coming from someone who had actually been there, and, for the first time, Cora would openly admit she wanted to learn more about it, or at least she would have, had Eamon’s demeanour not changed dramatically. She watched as his words trailed off, noticing, perhaps for the first time, the person behind the usual cheek. She was surprised by the frown that reached her face at the sudden change, but more so by the displeasure that came with it.

Suddenly wishing that he would return to his usual state, yet also knowing that going back to it may not be the best thing for him straight away, she didn’t push the matter. Instead of letting her curiosity get to her, she mentally took a step back. Cora had never been one to deal with others emotions; tough love was all she knew how to give and how to receive, and so, with no words of comfort or reassurement, she merely placed her hand on top of his, with a sympathetic smile.

#cora #para:cora #hope those dates are right #correct it/tell me if they arent #eamons 23rd bday would be about 2 weeks after boh

Without even thinking Eamon turned his hand to hold Cora's tightly. He was infinitely glad that she didn't fuss or coddle.

Haltingly, he continued. "I was living in Hogsmeade at the time. I was twenty-two. There were others of course who were much younger. Potter was only seventeen. Jayden was in his second year, for Merlin's sake! We were all so young..." He paused for a moment to arrange his thoughts. All this was very surreal. The Hog's Head on Valentine's day with a beautiful woman, and here he was rehashing the loss of his innocence some twenty-six years previous. And she was still holding his hand.

For reasons he himself did not fully understand, Eamon continued. It seemed the floodgates had been opened. "He... He called for an armistice and Potter's surrender. You know that part. We laid them out in the Great Hall. The dead, I mean. In rows. So many of them were but children."

Eamon squeezed Cora's hand. There was something about her that made him want to tell her everything about himself, to open up completely. The sudden unshakeable trust he had for her scared him a little.

[Hiding in his office]

No, no. Just felt like a change, really. It’s not that bad down here, anyway, nice change of view.

Do you think I don't know what you look like when you're upset then?

Look. If you want to be alone and sit on the floor that's your business, just don't lie to me.

#Jayden

That does sound rather tedious. Do they think there being mysterious about the ‘tall handsome man’? Or do they go onto mention Jayden by name.

Have you read these to Jayden?

That Clarissa Vane girl mentions him repeatedly by name. She's an enquiry waiting to happen that girl is.

Ohhh I really must...

#Annelia #ignore geoff

[Hiding in his office]

Hm? Oh, um, felt like a change from my desk?

#jayden #youre about to have some of eamon being an older bro

A change. From your desk.

Jayden do you think my head buttons up the back? What's the matter? I'll get down on that floor if I have to, now come on.

|| Blank Pages || Cora & Eamon ||

"True," she admitted with a grin, "you may need to talk more about history in order to get her to swoon, by which point I would have most likely passed out from boredom." History had never been Cora’s strength, despite her love of logical studies. Certainly, she had tried to give it her best as a student, but it was purely a matter of studying what needed to be learnt, there was no join gained from it, for her, it was merely tedious.

"But I don’t know about creepy uncle figure, the girl’s smart enough to know the difference between different sense of humour and ‘I’m going to murder you in my basement’," she laughed slightly, as the image of Eamon with a maniacal grin holding a knife came to her head. For some reason, the idea held no fear, merely amusement as she knew the man next to her would most likely do that very over dramatically to win a point.

Furrowing her brow and tilting her head in confusion, Cora leant in slightly, not wanting to miss what proved to be an interesting answer to her bland question. “Dumbledore had a brother?”

#cora #para:cora #i'm assuming that the whole history of the 1st and 2nd wars were taught in hom #like it would be even more fabled than before #eamon would have been in his early 20s

"Aye, he did." Eamon took a sip of his whisky. "There was a passageway through a portrait of their sister in the back room, leading back into the castle to the Room of Requirement. People could get in and out of Hogwarts without being noticed by the deatheaters for about two weeks before the Battle of Hogwarts."

Despite his enthusiastic start, Eamon's expression had turned dark, his brow heavy; his face appearing aged in the candlelight without it's usual cheery countenance. His gaze was fixed on the scarred table top. Never ever did he even come close to talking about the old days.

"You know the full story of course. Longbottom and his friends and their role in the Battle..." He trailed off and downed the last of his Blishen's with a grimace.

"So many years ago." He sighed and looked back up to meet Cora's eye, managing a wan smile.

[Hiding in his office]

#jayden #i just found this

[Enters without knocking]

Jayden, mate have you seen what happened to--

Are you alright? What are you doing down there on the floor?

What’s the most unbelievable dream you’ve read about in those journals?

Unfortunately no, I wish I had.

#annelia #ignore the horse

It's not the dreams that are unbelievable; it's the writing. Listen to this.

"Thursday: I'm walking in Hogsmeade with a tall handsome man. He gives me a red rose and an Alchemy text book."

They all go on like this! All the fourth year girls this year are fixated on Jayden. It was amusing the first few times, now it's just tedious.

|| Blank Pages || Cora & Eamon ||

She couldn’t help it as her lips drew into a smirk at his words, trying desperately, yet somewhat in vain, to hide her amusement. “Love or lust? That is the question” she replied glancing around her at the interesting, for lack of a better word, patrons.

Nodding silently, Cora made no reply. She had only been 7 when the war had ended, and beyond that, she had never been the best at comforting people, let alone for things she couldn’t possibly imagine going through herself. Smiling encouragingly, albeit somewhat sadly, as he attempted to change the tone back to it’s previous light heartedness she shook her head.

"No, I can’t say I do, although, I must say, the fact that you knew and brought up the Goblin rebellion… well done. Were I Annelia, you may well have made me swoon!" she joked, attempting to help lighten the mood.

#cora #para:cora #its a bit stilted

Eamon raised his eyebrows at her. "Annelia?" He exclaimed incredulously, "She'd never swoon over the likes of me! The girl must see me as a...a creepy uncle figure. I think I even taught her at some point!"

He gave a half-smile as he swallowed a mouthful of whisky. He was grateful she hadn't asked him about any participation he may have had in the Second Wizarding War. Those days of his youth seemed like another lifetime ago; one where he had been somebody else.

Eamon saw the empathy in her smile and found himself considering her earlier question. Love or lust? Was she suggesting something or was she just playing into his game? He inspected the grime on his glass thoughtfully, his right knee bouncing beneath the little table. No. He dismissed the thought. Cora couldn't be interested in him any more than Annelia could; she simply seemed more readily amused by his antics.

"The previous owner of this place was Aberforth Dumbledore," Eamon began, leaning forward. The bar was appropriately dramatic for such a story and he could feel himself adopting a theatrical tone. Without mentioning his own experiences, he outlined the significance the Hogs Head had played.

If I have to read another word on ‘the Battle of Little Whinging’ and how the use of polyjuice potion was ‘cool’, any time soon, I might cry.

I should let you read some of these dream journals. They're almost all totally fabricated, but some are a right laugh.

Any interesting plans now you're free?

#annelia

priors1x1s

I don’t know, it’s just the first place I could think of to come which would have nobody there. I guess the water calms me with the wind, its sort of relaxing, and I can just get away from my problems for a while when I’m there.