Exploring (Rowan/Shianni)

[Shianni Veridian Trace]

"You are a lucky one," Shianni said. "Dressed up and dragged to events in the hope some handsy man with a false smile takes a liking, although they seem to be better here. My mother does not exactly approve of my taking this position." Even with the catastrophe her first European ball experience had been, Eros had been kind and most of the people she had met were the same. "I believe it better to explore options."

[Rowan Trace]

"Yes," Rowan agreed. "You only get one life, and throwing it away on something that doesn't interest you is ridiculous. What is it that interests you, exactly? Is it the freedom to practice Astronomy, influencing the next generation, or just experiencing something different?" He would have assumed the first two, but for her mention of freedom. There had to be other learning junkies in the world.

[Shianni Veridian Trace]

"I have always loved Astronomy, we were so close to the stars there it seemed natural to want to study them. If I can show some of these children that there are things greater than them, these hanging pricks of all but unknowable light, make them look outside themselves, it would be wonderful," Shianni said, her eyes shining with small stars of their own. The sky was a wonder, a draw of unending possibilities.

[Rowan Trace]

"I wish you the best of luck in that," Rowan said. He'd been as interested in Astronomy as anyone else, but the class had meant being sleepy during the next morning's classes, and he'd never pursued it. He'd had an affinity for Charms from the beginning, and always loved it. Which reminded him of his first class. He glanced aside at Professor Veridian once more. "Be cautious," he advised her. "My first class, a 7th year older than me knocked herself unconscious summoning a metal box from her backpack. It turned out that she was pregnant and not supposed to be attending classes at all."

[Shianni Veridian Trace]

Shianni looked over at Rowan in disbelief before she realized he was being serious. "My goodness," was all she could think of to say. "That is...quite the first class." She hoped that not much more interesting than a tired student would happen in her first class, she would not be sure just how to handle something as strange as that happening.

[Rowan Trace]

"The Transfiguration professor got hell for a while when he asked his students to transfigure Muggle wallets into coin pouches," Rowan went on. He paused at the entrance to a staircase just wide enough for one, and gestured for her to precede him. "The student refused and either passed out or vomited at the thought of touching a Muggle item, I forget which, but either way, we all have some horror story or another.

"And here I am, likely scaring you off." Maybe she would leave and be replaced with someone less interesting, and less ambitious. He had just realized how long they'd been talking, and didn't like it at all. Keith had been interesting too, and had turned out to be a party boy instead of the intellectual he'd hoped. Rowan pulled back, and told himself to stop telling stories. Yes, they were related to work and education, but they were too personal.

[Shianni Veridian Trace]

"No, you are not, it makes me curious to see what will happen during my first class, assuming they are able to stay awake," Shianni said. She would be lying to say she did not remember sleepy students on the late nights of Astronomy lessons. How to keep the students alert was something she had yet to consider, but really, how hard could it be?

[Rowan Trace]

Rowan shook his head as he started up the narrow staircase, leaving a few steps' distance between himself and Professor Veridian. "That's a problem in many classes," he said. Assuming students actually showed up, he was combating late nights and hangovers, on top of the usual distractions. "The only class that's really awake is immediately after lunch."

[Shianni Veridian Trace]

"Well, I suppose I will not be able to know that for certain," Shianni said. One of the perks of being the Astronomy professor was having her days more or less free. Her classes would be in the evening and at night, with only the occasional daylight meeting for terms or written work. "Do you have an issue with student interest?"

[Rowan Trace]

Rowan was sileent a moment, weighing the question and its possible answers. He didn't want to admit that just getting students to class was a problem; that reflected more on his abilities than the students' behavior. When he spoke, it was carefully. "The students who come to class regularly are interested," he explained, "but truancy is an issue. I can expect at least one or two students per term to simply stop attending, and it's the same schoolwide."

[Shianni Veridian Trace]

"At home, there was simply nowhere else to go," Shianni said. It was hard to imagine a student refusing to continue. "This is a strange place." Perhaps with such a general lack of interest in the student body, however, it would mean that the ones that did come to her classes were genuinely interested, meaning neither her nor their time was wasted. It was an interesting way of looking at education.

[Rowan Trace]

"Are you familiar with the Knight Bus?" Rowan asked. "The students are, and it's common for them to take it to London for day trips and nights out. That's where a lot of them get into trouble, and since they're allowed to leave school grounds, our hands are tied." Rowan himself had come in as the gates opened in the morning on at least one occasion, but it seemed like the detention list would be ridiculously extensive if the gates were guarded.

[Shianni Veridian Trace]

Shianni shook her head, there had been nothing of the sort back home. "Could they not just ban students from this Knight Bus?" she asked. If it was truly such an issue for the school, surely there were steps that could be taken. But it seemed as though many of the professors here were just as apathetic as the ones back home when it came to the affairs of the students.

[Rowan Trace]

"The bus could ban students, but the school has no jurisdiction over that," Rowan said. "Students are required to have permission slips from their parents to leave Hogwarts grounds. It was originally intended for special weekend trips to Hogsmeade, but the system has been abused. We have students and professors who also run shops, but they're not the only ones staying out, if you can see the problem."

[Shianni Veridian Trace]

Shianni nodded thoughtfully. "I was not under the impression that the Headmaster had such little control over the school," she said. Of course, she had been thoroughly distracted when she was introduced to him, so she could easily have missed something. He had seemed like a relatively capable man, especially compared with the childish man that had introduced her, Mano.