History of Magic

Nathan Foster. History of Magic. Head of Ravenclaw.

[profnathanfoster]

New Year | Michael & Nathan

[michaelstarkey]

A new year, a new chance to start over, but Mikey doubted it would be that simple. The Ministry was involved, Sarah was stressed, Maeve was crazy, and parents were hysterical about the possibility of losing their children, which was understandable, but the dozens of letter he’d received had worn him out.

What was worse? They were right. Each panicked parent had a legitimate reason to be concerned. They hadn’t found the bad guy yet, and there was no guarantee another student wouldn’t die.

So Mikey needed allies. With Maeve skulking around, he knew he’d be in trouble if she started yelling loudly enough.

Addie was out—she was in her own world. And Bianca was useless as an ally. Mikey had never so much as spoken to Lachlan, and Augustina was…off doing whatever it was she did.

Nathan was his best bet. Even if he couldn’t call Nathan a friend, he was certainly one of the most approachable member of the faculty, even if he was a Ravenclaw and a history buff and, by default, a bit detached. But he was also a House Head, which gave him pull, and with as determined as that lit witch was, he needed as much as he could get.

At Nathan’s response, Mikey poked his head in and smiled. “Bad time?” he asked, definitely hoping it wasn’t. “I wanted to check in now that the year’s started. You know, after last year…”

[profnathanfoster]

Nathan gave his papers a short look. "No, it's fine, come in." It could work for at least another day, maybe two, if he worked through the night. And the events of last year and their effect on this one were actually more important.

"I'm sorry for just... disappearing last year", he said slowly while he put away his work. Today was not the day to let people know how far behind he actually was with his lesson plans. "I've been told what happened, but I wasn't there myself when the girl died... or during the aftermath of our little idea..."

He picked up one of his quills and started twisting it around while looking at Mikey and waiting for a reaction. "I just thought I'd have to say that first, because..." he stopped. "I just thought I's have to apologize first, it wasn't the best thing to do. We were both responsible, at least for our thing."

[profnathanfoster]

New Year | Open

After everything that had happened last year, coming back to Hogwarts seemed even more surreal than it did usually. He had spent most of his time answering letters by concerned and angry parents, most of them ready to enroll their children at another school.

It was a relief to see how many had still arrived and how unaffected their schedule seemed to be. Of course they had all been instructed to be more cautious and take care of the students, but since they had nothing but suspiscions about who could be responsible nothing else had been done.

He had only begun to sort his papers for the new year - which was unfortunate since the new year had already started - when a knock at the door of his office interrupted his work. Confused he looked up. "Please come in."

[profnathanfoster]

Already There || Nathan & Maeve

[maeve-delacroix]

Maeve took a deep breath, pursing her lips as she thought. “To influence others, yes, but that’s highly unethical and deeply frowned upon. As for your other question, the spell can be used multiple times, but no two imbuances are ever the same. Similar, maybe, but never identical.”

She looked at the outstretched paper, shaking her head in response. “It’s not an intrusion, though it may feel like one now. I only share what I’m comfortable with, and it’s far more impersonal than a pensive.” There were files she’d never disclose to anyone, ones kept locked and guarded like treasures in a vault. Secrets. Feelings she could not describe, ones that she herself was scared of. Like memories they plagued her, but she could not seem to get rid of them. Everyone had their own files somewhere, and she wondered what Nathan’s were. "Who are you?" She asked, the question more vague than she intended. "What makes you function, I mean?"

[profnathanfoster]

Nathan stared at her for a second. Where did that question even come from. "That could be a very personal question.", he told her with a small smile. "Also I'm not quite sure what you actually meant", he confessed immediately afterwards. "You know the important things about me already - I'm Nathan Foster, I teach History of Magic. Maybe that subject is also what makes me function. Or maybe my students."

Thinking about it actually made him realize that was not quite true. "maybe travelling does", he thought out loud. And then, because he couldn't monologue out loud without explaining anything, he added, "I usually spend my summer travelling the world and visiting historic landmarks. It's usually very fascinating."

Despite now desperately wanting to know what her answer to the same question would be, there was another question he wanted to ask even more.

"Why did you want to know?"

[yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-blog]

The Key to Cooperation // Lanthe, Caspian, Thomas

[thomas-prior]

Thomas simply laid there, staring blankly up at Caspian who was still playing baseball with hedgehogs. After hog after hog was hit and Thomas grew more and more hopeless the door of the small room smashed opened and Thomas heard the mature voice of a professor cast some sort of spell. Thomas moved his head around until the man was within the view and struggled to recognized him. Thomas internally cringed as Lanthe started to quickly, harshly say the things he was thinking the whole time. Thomas really had to hand it to both his teammates, while he wanted little to do with them at first, they had both proven themselves to be capable in their own way. Lanthe was clearly an ambitious girl with an excited mind and Caspian was one of  the most quick-witted and apparently brave kids Thomas had ever met.

The boy suddenly felt hands slowly lift him off the group and looked up to see that it wasn’t the professor who was carrying him, but Caspian. At this point, Thomas had lost a fair bit of blood and when the other boy spoke to him all he could muster was a nod.  

[profnathanfoster]

Nathan knew the girl - Lanthe? - was right, he had taken too long to check on them. "This was not supposed to get dangerous in any way", he tried to explain his actions. "I'm truly sorry for being late now that I see what happened... I'm sure there will be an explanation soon." Or at least that was what he hoped. A nice and clean explanation for what had happened.

"But first we have to get out here. I'm getting the three of you to the infirmary - no exceptions, you all have a shock." He gestured towards the door, shooting another look at the wolves that still stood where they had been, look as ready to attack as ever. "Another teacher will take care of this, I'll message someone as soon as we're away and locking the door so they don't get out."

It took him a second to realize what Caspian was doing and then the boys were already outside. "Wait!", he called after them. With a swish of his wand, a bandage appeared. "I'll take him, you can't possibly carry him all the way to the infirmary and we have to properly bandage his head so he won't lose more blood."

[profnathanfoster]

Already There || Nathan & Maeve

[maeve-delacroix]

"It’s a school based heavily on tradition. she agreed. "As are most Wizarding schools in the area. There’s an obvious correlation between school age and rate of modernization, but Hogwarts appears to be lagging in an disproportianate manner." She shook her head, thinking more deeply into the issue. "Still, convention has it’s benefits, I assume. Consistency, for instance. You can always expect the unexpected at Hogwarts," she joked, laughing a soft, velvety laugh. The sound was stark in comparison to her harsh appearance, and it seemed to fill her with a vitality that was rarely present in her lamented state.

To speak, to be heard. The gift of communication allowed people to transfer the weight of their minds unto others; to share the burdens of existence with their human counterparts. “Society wouldn’t function without it.”

With flickering eyes she watched for the man’s reaction, wondering how he’d respond to her emotions. He was certainly surprised but then again, she hadn’t warned him about the effects of the paper.

"A transferal," she explained. "Using a technique that is commonly known as ‘imbuing’. The caster finds their essence and releases it, spilling a permanent wave of emotions onto a page. The process helps writers recall feelings and emotions they’d have trouble remembering in other moments; anger, for example. If I was truly infuriated, I could imbue a paper with my current state. Then, if I happened to be writing an angry character, I could check back to the paper for inspiration. Writers have files upon files of these imbued artifacts, but it would be dangerous to visit all of them too quickly. The process is draining, and it also has the potential to severely damage one’s mental health. One could be driven to madness or even death, which is why many great but overly ambitious writers lose their minds in the end. Pity. Does that make sense?"

[profnathanfoster]

Nathan found himself laughing as well. "Yes, Hogwarts does have a reputation for that."

"It is... intriguing magic", he told her carefully, still looking at the paper in his hand with a guarded expression. He had not expected it to be quite as powerful. "And extremely useful as well. Describing emotions must be hard then... is it used for other things as well? And can it be used multiple times?"

Unsure if he should give it back to her - despite Maeve deliberately showing her emotions to him it still felt like an intruder in some way - he held it in the middle between them. "Is it exhausting to use the spell? Or are the effects only showing one at a time?"

The stream of questions going through Nathan's head wouldn't simply stop. It was a new spell, one he had never seen before and he was curious.

[yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-blog]

The Key to Cooperation // Lanthe, Caspian, Thomas

[thomas-prior]

As both Lanthe and Caspian rushed to Thomas’s aid, the Hufflepuff stared blankly across the room at the two large beasts. This couldn’t actually be happening, the professors couldn’t really want to kill them on their first day could they? Thomas had never heard of an incident like this happening at Hogwarts before, and he hoped that the way this was going was not an indication as to how his year would be. The boy still clutched his bleeding forehead as he watched the wolves grow closer and closer, if someone didn’t do something they would all be dead in a matter of minutes.

Thomas had never in his life felt more helpless, he was in an unfamiliar place, with unfamiliar people, propped up against a door bleeding from the forehead, and moments away from being eaten by wolves. Thomas watched helplessly as Caspian reached for the plank of wood, “Is he going to use it as a club?” Thomas thought. But not a second later the other boy reached down and picked up a hedgehog. Caspian threw it into the air and smashed it towards the wolf, and while Thomas understood this was a dire situation, he couldn’t help but cringe a little as the small animal was smashed with the wooden plank. Thomas continued to watch as the Ravenclaw smashed hog after hog into the wolves, Caspian did a decent job at preventing the wolves from advancing any farther, but sooner or later, he would grow tired and the trio would be devoured, not to mention the pressure Thomas was applying to his head wound was proving to be fairly ineffective. 

[profnathanfoster]

Nathan had been keeping watch on the students from outside the room they were trapped in, in case something happened and they needed a rescue. Despite the time-consuming path they seemed to have chosen and the few minor injuries, it had gone well.

Until now, apparently. Because there surely shouldn't be any wolves growling and loud shouting (that wasn't arguing) or any of the other things he could hear. But he couldn't think of anything that could possibly go as wrong as the noise indicated.

He ran into the room as fast as he could. What could Mikey have possibly done that was causing all this chaos.

First he gave the students a short check and immediately noticed the blood on the Hufflepuff boy. And then the other boy throwing hedgehogs at... wolves.

Not allowing himself to think about what this could mean, he pointed his wand at the wolves. "Stupefy!", he shouted. A blast of energy seemed to go right through them and they looked even angrier now. He needed to think and he needed to do it quickly

"Protego!" Casting a shield should have been his first idea, but the injured boy worried him the most. "Are you okay?", he asked as he turned to the three of them.

[profnathanfoster]

Already There || Nathan & Maeve

[maeve-delacroix]

"Well that we can agree on,” Maeve replied. She hadn’t really met the majority of her co-workers, but the ones she had met seemed completely and utterly different. It was sure to be an interesting year (as it always was at Hogwarts) but the diversity of personalities would make it even more so.

She took his hand, shaking with a half firm, half loose grip. “Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here.”

Her eyes widened at his comment, pleasantly surprised. “Oh?” Wiz-Lit was popular in America, overseas as well, but for some reason it was far less prevalent in the UK. Nathan’s comment amused her, as she too believed there was more to be taught than magic alone. “I agree,” she began, “and I think it’s essential to combine vital human skills with magic. Communication, for instance.”

She gently pulled her wand out of her sleeve, retrieving a piece of scrap paper from her pocket. “Ab imo pectore,” she whispered, closing her eyes. She let her essence pour out of herself, spilling every fiber of her being onto the paper. It was an extremely advanced skill, the spell, one that had taken her years to learn. It wasn’t nearly at the level she wanted it to be, but the spell would take tens of years to perfect.

"Here," she offered, placing the paper in his hands. It would allow him to feel the emotions she felt at the time she had cast the spell, a glimpse into her head, almost. It could be extremely disorienting, but when he finished, he would simply go back to normal.

[profnathanfoster]

Nathan nodded. "Hogwarts is very old-fashioned in that regard, sadly. A lot of curriculums haven't changed in years and new subjects rarely get accepted." Even his own subject, as unchanging as it may seem to most was in need of a modernization, in Nathan's opinion.

"Communication is probably one of the most important skills, in all kinds of situations."

With curiosity he watched Maeve perform the spell and the soft light slowly streaming into the paper. The spell didn't sound familiar and looked very obscure. What was she doing?

Carefully he took it after she had offered it to him and felt a sudden rush of emotions run through him. It was... overwhelming. A brief series of generally pleasant feelings streamed through him and took control of his own feelings for a moment. Unsure if the pleasant feelings were his own and what exactly Maeve had done, Nathan stared at the paper in astonishment.

The feelings had calmed down, it couldn't have lasted longer than a few seconds, and he took a deep breath. "That was... interesting." He decided to say. "I've never heard of a spell like this one before, how does it work?"

[profnathanfoster]

Already There || Nathan & Maeve

[maeve-delacroix]

"Then I guess we’re just two very different people," she murmured, blinking up at the man. He seemed warmer, somehow, like a clear sunny day. Contrariwise, Maeve, was an open winter window. Perhaps that was why she was drawn to empty spaces, because even the fullest of rooms became desolate in her presence.

Maeve’s ears perked up at the mentioning of secrets, of corridors and tricks. Like most Hogwarts alumns, she had accidentally discovered quite a few of own. As a professor at Mahoutokoro, however, she had purposely sought out to find them. It was something she missed about the Japanese school; having secret places she and only she knew about. They gave her a feeling of comfort, a secret sense of connection. In the present, however, she wondered if Nathan would be so generous as to let her in on a few of his own secret places. He’d been a professor for a fairly long time, so he had to know of secluded spots. She was about to ask him about it when he beat her to it.  ”I believe so,” she replied, nodding towards the professor. “And you are Nathan Foster, are you not?”

[profnathanfoster]

"It seems like we are, yes. And it's good that way, I don't want to imagine a world where everybody is the same." As long as she liked teaching and the students, there was no reason to dislike her and the cold demeanor she displayed irrelevant.

"Yes I'm Nathan Foster. It's a pleasure to have you at this school." He reached out to shake her hand, continuing to smile at her.

"I've been researching Wizarding Literature after I found out you were going to teach it actually - it seemed like an interesting subject and it is always good to see our students getting educated in more than just actual magic." He was telling the truth - after hearing about the new subject his first task had been to find as much information as he could. The idea had seemed fresh and new and a good distraction from his work for a while.

[profnathanfoster]

Already There || Nathan & Asha

[ashaswaminathan]

"The castle does seem a lot bigger without students in it. I’ve always thought that."

Everything was in order. The bedclothes were all washed and pressed, the sheets folded neatly against the mattresses, the pillows fluffed. Her office had fresh flowers in a vase—that she’d purchased for herself, of course. She’d sorted all of the elixirs and the potions and the remedies, the bandages and the splints, the rest of her menagerie of medical supplies. Everything was neat and organized, and there was still too much empty time before the children arrived.

Asha didn’t do well with empty time. Empty time meant that her mind could wander, that she could drag up old memories and lose herself in them, that she had too much time to remember where she’d come from. It was always bad, always sank her down into a depression, and she was determined for that not to happen.

And so, she wandered. Asha refamiliarized herself with her favorite paintings, the clicking from her high heels echoing around the stone corridors. She absolutely refused to wear the horrible outfit that Poppy Pomfrey had always insisted on—no, Asha wanted to be both presentable and relatable, so she often wore a slightly-less-than-modest dress beneath her open robes, the same kind as the professors wore. Most of the time she wore high heels, too—, she was still fairly young and wanted to flaunt what she had while she had it, but still wanted to be tasteful and modest enough. She worked in a school, after all.

She’d seen Nathan before she’d heard him, wandering the corridors as well. Absently, she thought about the fact that maybe he was running from his empty time, too, running from the demons in his head like she was—but she brushed the thought away and grinned at him before speaking. After she spoke, Asha approached cautiously. There was no reason to shout down the hallway at each other, and they still had time before the students arrived. Maybe he would help her fill her empty time.

[profnathanfoster]

"Maybe the castle is bigger without students in it.", Nathan suggested. It was of course a ridiculous idea, but magic made quite a few things possible. Maybe there was even a muggle explanation for it - Nathan felt like there was one - but he couldn't think of anything.

"It would be a defense mechanism - breaking in is made more difficult whenever the castle is empty because everything is much bigger and easier to get lost in. There are castles that work in a similar way...", before he could continue his monologue, Nathan focussed on Asha. He was used to drifting into a monologue mid-conversation and knew when to stop. "But I guess that's not the case with Hogwarts"

While talking he had walked towards her, closing the distance of the metres that had been between them. "And how long have you walked through the castle today?", he asked.

[profnathanfoster]

Already There || Nathan & Maeve

[maeve-delacroix]

Maeve took a deep breath, appraising herself in the bathroom mirror. She willed her hair to smooth itself, pulling it into a tight, black bun. Severe. That was the look she was going for. Each teacher played from their own set of angles, and Maeve’s were much sharper most.

"Hélas, Je me suis Transfiguré Les Pieds." It was the first piece of literature she’d assign. Dark, confusing, and chock-full of vocabulary, it was sure to discourage even the smartest of first-years. The few that stayed behind would be pushed to their limits; forced to read and write until both their hands and eyes grew sore. Only the worthiest of students, the ones who were truly dedicated to the writer’s craft would persevere. That’s what Maeve believed, at least. To her, it wasn’t about the grades, or their performance even; it was about dedication. If a student was completely enraptured by their craft, they’d find a way to make it work; regardless of the consequences. If a witch or wizard truly loved literature, they wouldn’t be able to live or breathe without it. They wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t drink or sleep, and the yearning would gnaw at their chest until they were driven to insanity. That’s what separated a good writer from a great one; hunger. Maeve took one last glance at herself, exiting with when she was sure she looked alright. Everyone would arrive, soon. A man’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts, and she looked up to see the current head of Ravenclaw house. “Is your own company really that insufferable?” She quipped, the ghost of a smirk playing at her lips.  “You’ll grow to miss it, the quiet I mean. The grass is always greener, I guess…”

[profnathanfoster]

Nathan looked at her for a moment. He had never seen her before, which probably meant he hadn't. At least not in Hogwarts, which meant she was new, which made her Maeve Delacroix, the only addition to the faculty as far as he could remember.

Giving her a small smile, he answered, "I've never liked the quiet that much to be honest. Hogwarts was not built to be quiet and without any children in it, it feels wrong to have it this silent." Of course it wasn't always loud in the corridors, even if they were filled with students, but the complete absence of both noise and students, that was the unusual thing.

"And if I miss the silence there are a few secret spots and tricks most people don't know about - I could hide there, if I wanted to." Most of them had been discovered during his time as a student, when he went to search the castle for its secrets and found quite a few of them, a few others were not as secret, but still rarely used by anyone.

"You are Maeve Delacroix, right?"

[profnathanfoster]

Already There - Nathan & Persephone

[persephonehurst-blog]

He was Blue. That is, through the view from the Stone Eye, he was blue. But so was everything around him. She tucked the Eye back into it’s little drawstring bag and strode up to him, smiling, a bounce in her step. She was home again, and her other family was returning. “Nathan. ” She shook her head ” Professor Foster.” she began again.Politely, she kissed both his cheeks by way of greeting ” I swear, I’ll never get used to that. Welcome back.”

"I know what you mean though. You can really feel haunted in this place by yourself. We are haunted, but the lonely sort of haunted. Let me guess, you’ve come for a pre-term Reading? Or some tea and chatter?" 

[profnathanfoster]

Nathan smiled at her. "It's good to see you again too. And please, you can call me Nathan, I'm not doing any professoring at the moment."

To her questions he shook his head. "I'm mostly just early, had to organize a small surprise for the first years and make sure everything will work out fine." He didn't want to mention that he was this early at school every year to organize his lessons. "But tea and chatter would be a nice idea now, before the masses arrive."

[profnathanfoster]

Already There - Open

Impatiently, Nathan paced through his office, waiting for the time to pass. There were only a few things professors could do on this day, but the Great Hall was already decorated, his lesson plans prepared and the surprise for the first years arranged. Now all he had to do was wait.

Nathan was not good at waiting. Unable to stay inside his office for much longer, he left and walked through the still-empty corridors, looking for somebody to talk to. Most teachers had already arrived, or would arrive in the next hours, but they were hard to find.

Wandering aimlessly through the castle still helped him clear his head, even if he could not find anybody. There was no reason for him to be as impatient as he was, but Nathan couldn't help it.

Lost in his thoughts he had not noticed the other person, further down the corridor. He smiled at them. "Finally I'm finding somebody, I thought I was all alone in this place."

[profnathanfoster]

[A message sent to Michael Starkey by owl]

"Mikey,

I've talked to Bianca. She won't let the whole thing end in chaos and might even participate. I am very sorry, but this means we can do most of the things we planned to do, I don't think she will interfere often. Or at all.

- Nathan"

[biancadibara]

Bratlings - Bianca/Nathan

[biancadibara]

Oh dear, he was losing control of himself already, and Bianca kept her face perfectly even as she observed.

Yes, poor Nathan was irritated, but it was nothing more than a bratty child whining because he hadn’t gotten his way.

How Dawson found these fools was beyond her, but they were her peers, and she would ensure they did not fail. After all, any negative reflections on the faculty reflected poorly on her as well.

"Children are the most capable of circumventing more sophisticated precautions. You have no children of your own?" Of course she knew the answer, but she wanted his reaction. It would amuse her.

Besides, he was a professor. He should be well familiar with children. He should know that even the best laid plans will often fail when children are involved. And magical children were the worst of all.

"I see no need for a supervisory spell, nor do I expect perfection out of you, Nathan." She smiled. "I trust this endeavor is in capable hands. But do let me know how I can assist?"

She nodded once to signify that the meeting was over, and she returned her attention to her book.

"Oh," she added without looking up, "and please do give my regards to Michael?"

[profnathanfoster]

Bianca's comment could be seen as the kind of backhanded insult she would use. And if he would consider it an insult it would have definitely worked. "I don't have any children", he told her. "But then most of us haven't."

He endured her other comments with a smile and a nod and then left her office, glad to leave her behind.

The next step was informing Mikey.

[biancadibara]

Bratlings - Bianca/Nathan

[biancadibara]

A single corner of Bianca’s mouth curled up. Nathan was proving himself no better than the hedgehog, and his failure was immensely entertaining.

He had no plan. No real plan. There was no structure, just a vague idea of what could be. Very like a history professor: such skill in the past that they lacked vision of the future.

If Nathan had no direction, what would save the hedgehog and his guardian from faltering? The two were foolish and childish, and despite their skills in their own areas, they too lacked the mental capacity to get things done. No wonder the pair of them were in Hufflepuff.

"This will require careful tuning, if we are to salvage the idea from ruin." She stepped lightly off her desk and moved to a bookshelf where she lazily began searching through books. "After all, we want to give our new students nothing but the best impression in their first days here."

Her finger stopped on a particularly dusty tome which she removed from the shelf carefully. She carried it to her desk and sat down to begin flipping through it, all the while ignoring Nathan.

"What I say…" she eventually began, "is that you need a much stronger plan, or this will turn into chaos." She looked up and met his eyes, all hint of a smile gone. "I will adjust my lesson plans accordingly, and I shall assist at your request, but I encourage you, Nathan, to present the Headmaster with greater detail than you gave me. Inter-House relations are important, and I do applaud your dreams of a better Hogwarts, but order is also important. And should control be lost…”

She trailed off. She would not lose control of anything, and she had no doubt Nathan knew this. Whether he could keep the others—and, indeed, himself in check—was another thing entirely.

[profnathanfoster]

Uncertain of what he was feeling, Nathan stared at Bianca blankly. It took a moment for him to stomach what she had just told him. There was no way she would agree as fast as she had, was there? Apparently there was. No matter what she told him, or thought for herself, this clearly counted as a win.

He just hoped the others would see it this way - her tone was still very condescending and he could only imagine how it would end if Bianca took control of everything and every thinkable scenario involved tears at some point.

"It's a rough draft, it can't be perfect from day one." The little voice in his head telling him that there had actually been more than one day to maybe plan was ignored. Nathan was getting annoyed with her attitude about it, acting superior and trying to make him feel small.

He stared at her, while she flipped through the pages, calming himself and welcoming the break in the conversation to clear his own head. He needed to be very careful about what he would say now.

"If you have any ideas of how to change-" he would not call it improving. "- our plans, please inform us as soon as possible. You might have noticed that our time until the start of the term is running out quickly, we can't waste any more time on semantics." He had postponed his lesson plans to a later date, but telling her would only fuel her belief in their incompetence.

"We will not. Lose. Control. We're professors, they're kids, the spells we will use are all going to be fool-proof. There is no way this could go wrong." Her inability to believe in anyone's but her own incompetence was infuriating, Nathan realized once again. There had been worse things in the school than a group of first years and a bunch of simple spells. "And if you don't believe it, we could try out a supervising spell that keeps tabs on them, or an alarm system."

Although it felt like the wrong thing to do, supporting her ideas would probably be the best way to go for now, if he wanted to avoid her boycotting the whole idea at least.

[biancadibara]

Bratlings - Bianca/Nathan

[biancadibara]

As Nathan talked, Bianca felt herself straighten up. This was certainly an intriguing idea, but more intriguing was the way he was attempting to sell the idea to her, as if he were scared of her. The very idea!

She was delightful.

"Muggle, you say?" she said, her already raised eyebrow arching higher. "Are we no longer a Wizarding school?" She met Nathan’s eyes for a moment before standing and walking around her desk. She brushed off a spot—though of course it had already been dusted earlier that day—and sat gently on the edge. "Of course," she continued with a vague sort of indifference to her voice, "I do suppose the Muggleborns would be at a disadvantage if we allowed the others to use the spells they already know. Still, I wonder if this is setting a bad precedent, displaying so early on our disdain for our own craft?"

In all fairness, the idea had the beginnings of a solid foundation, and anything to keep those new students from getting themselves completely lost was something Bianca could find herself supporting. But she couldn’t let Nathan go without knowing he fully supported his own plan. Nothing should ever be half-cocked, as the Muggles said, and if he wanted to debase magic so, he had better have excellent reasons for it.

"The hedgehog and his guard dog…" she mused to herself. Of course that boy had no spine of his own. Surely he could handle someone as foolish as Dawson by himself without his protector, but Bianca was hardly surprised he didn’t want to. He never went anywhere without Sarah, which was probably for the best. Bianca doubted he’d function well on his own.

She shook herself from her thoughts and lifted her head to face Nathan. “Tell me more about these Muggle tasks,” she said, tilting her head slightly to the side. “What exaclty do you propose our students will be doing. Without wands. At a school of magic?”

[profnathanfoster]

He was not sure if he liked the way Bianca's face seemed to light up, but Nathan decided it was a good sign. A plan as good at this one couldn't fail, he should have actually known from the start.

Nathan shook his head. "No, this isn't what it is about. We are a wizarding school, but a lot of subjects don't require actual wizardry. And of course magical components would be involved." He just wasn't quite sure which ones yet, but making things up along the way shouldn't be too hard. "We cold use simple illusions and one of the ideas was to seperate them by magic, maybe lock them inside a room, and only release them if they work together."

If this did not convince her, he wasn't sure what would. Muggle methods, yes, but still confrontation with spells and charms. Hopefully he wouldn't have to make up too much at the top of his head to convince her. He didn't want to promise her too much.

"It's a very simply idea, I've explained the basics already", he started and called the details back into his mind. "The students will be divided into groups, but those groups will be seperated at first, some of them locked in a room, the way of getting out would be to show that they are able to work as a team. The exact task isn't specified yet, but I'm sure there is something." He had already given this a bit thought, but not yet found anything. There were a lot of complex spells that needed multiple participants, but if there was a solution fit for a muggle-born first year, it could be done alone.

"Then they will have to solve other tasks around the castle, incorporating certain paintings, ghosts and parts of the castle. Each one of them should symbolize one of the house virtues - showing the students that each one of them is valuable, which is the goal of it in general, as I've already said."

He thought for a second. "I think we wanted to include both the dungeons and the towers and give them easy ways to navigate around, maybe even one or two of the secret passages, put that is more of a location-point. The other details will probably be discussed between the other Heads and there might be minor changes -" he actually hoped there wouldn't be much of those. "-but it's still under development, so that is to be expected."

He made a pause for effect and looked at her expectantly. "So, what do you say?"

[biancadibara]

Bratlings - Bianca/Nathan

[biancadibara]

Bianca raised a single eyebrow and folded her hands neatly on her desk. Ah, Mikey. Stupid, simple Mikey. If he had an idea, it would surely be amusing.

Still, perhaps with Nathan as the voice of reason, there would be some substance. Plus, from what Bianca had seen, if Nathan suggested something, Mikey would follow like a lovesick puppy dog.

"You feel the relationships are lacking in some way?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. "What, pray, is lacking, and how do you two gentlemen propose we fix it?"

It was no secret that Bianca took the staunchly traditional view of the House hierarchy: Slytherin was at the top, and Gryffindor, despite their obnoxious pride in their supposed chivalry, came next. Ravenclaw had its merits, Bianca knew, but they cared far too much about academics and far too little for the application of their knowledge. And then Hufflepuff, the reject pile, where silly children sang campfire songs and shared ghost stories into the night. They embodied frivolity at its finest, and Bianca was adamantly against frivolity in all forms.

She let a snide smile reach her lips. “This, I trust, has the backing of the Headmaster? I should hope it won’t interfere with the start of term lessons. Foundational knowledge, as you know, is of the utmost importance.”

[profnathanfoster]

Nathan couldn't help but suddenly feel very hopeless concerning his abilities to convince Bianca. It was an unusual feeling and he didn't like it.

"They are lacking... well not lacking anything directly", he tried to explain. "But there has been great amounts of bullying between the houses and students get hexed and miss classes while staying in the hospital wing." It did feel like the best way to just explain the situation.

"We thought we could change this by... well it would be similar to a muggle scavenger hunt - the students would be split into mixed teams that have to solve different tasks, tasks that symbolize the different house virtues."

He hoped she would like that point - it could be a way to show Slytherin's superiority after all.

"Mikey and Sarah will talk to the Headmaster." It wasn't ideal and partly a lie, Sarah had not agree to it yet after all, but he knew she wouldn't be hard to persuade.

He sighed. Bianca had of course found the one weak spot. "It will interfere with the first term lessons, I'm afraid. But it would be only the first day and since the students will have to spend a lot of time running around the school in little groups, their knowledge of the castle will improve, so we are hoping that less people will be late during the first months."

Late students were a problem for every teacher and he had a vague idea that they annoyed Bianca even more than most of his colleagues.