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Post by Keith Evans on Sept 4, 2011 22:16:24 GMT -5
Keith had ignored the sudden intense urge to visit Rowan after coming back with Dare and Michael. It had been late and it certainly wouldn't have been appropriate. Still, after that night he had wanted to see Rowan. He wasn't sure what he would do when Rowan opened the door, what intelligent conversation could he make when images of Rowan wielding a small silver key kept flickering across his mind's eye? He knocked on the door, then slid his hands into his pockets, pushing his robes, which he was only wearing because of a meeting with a student, out of the way.
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Post by Rowan Trace on Sept 4, 2011 22:52:17 GMT -5
Rowan looked up from his place on the rug, his brows drawing together at the sound of the door. He'd been leaning back against the couch, pillows tucked behind the small of his back as he enjoyed the plush carpeting around his bare feet, but after a moment he moved to stand, saving his place in a new novel with one finger. He didn't want to answer at all, but since he was, it had damn well better be Keith, because he wasn't putting his professors' robes back on.
He pulled the door open only a crack at first, then, with the same grace he'd shown as a host the last time, opened it enough to admit Keith and waved him in, hopefully without attracting attention. He'd told his students quite firmly this year that he never answered his door outside office hours.
"Come in, do you want something to drink?" he managed this time. His usual bottle of water sat beside the rumpled spot he'd only just abandoned.
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Post by Keith Evans on Sept 4, 2011 23:14:10 GMT -5
"Yeah, sure, thanks," Keith said, coming in and taking his shoes off where he remembered Rowan telling him to last time. "How are you?" His shoulders felt somewhat tense now, unsure where this was going to go. But it was good to see Rowan, even if it hadn't been long since they had talked. Just the fact that this was happening was enough to make a small smile spread over his face.
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Post by Rowan Trace on Sept 4, 2011 23:22:32 GMT -5
Rowan closed the door, his gaze dropping long enough to see Keith already removing his shoes before returning to the pile of pillows and mussed carpet he'd left. "Well enough," he answered, moving quickly to clean up. He leaned to swoop up the pillows and tossed them into a practice stack on the couch, subtly erasing the print of his body as he moved. He caught his bottle by the cap and took it with him as he crossed toward the doorway to the kitchen. "Coffee, water, or tea?" He had a few other things as well, but it seemed juvenile to offer pumpkin juice and presumptuous to offer wine.
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Post by Keith Evans on Sept 4, 2011 23:28:58 GMT -5
Keith watched Rowan as he moved, thinking it a decent substitute for other things. "Water's fine," he said. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" It was early in the year still, but he knew that higher levels of students were already being given homework in many classes, and he doubted that Rowan was one to go easy during the first weeks. He hovered back, unwilling to take a seat before Rowan.
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Post by Rowan Trace on Sept 4, 2011 23:41:03 GMT -5
"Just reading," Rowan called back. He hadn't expected to see Keith before the weekend, and especially not at home, and he was thrown off-guard. He tried to gather himself together while he was in the kitchen, and though it only took a moment to grab two fresh bottles of water, adjusting took longer.
He had his book and two coasters under one arm when he returned, and both waters in the same hand. His book had a marker in it now, and he set that on the corner of the table nearest his preferred end of the couch. One coaster went directly to the right of it, the top of the wooden circle parallel to the top of the book, and a bottle centered on top. The other coaster he set down opposite, with another centered bottle. He didn't demand that Keith sit across from him rather than beside him, but it was an unconscious hint. All these adjustments were made without a single thought, as natural and logical as anything else he did.
"You're wearing your robes," he pointed out, sitting amongst his stack of throw pillows. Only then did he reach forward and pick up his new water, cracking the lid to take a drink.
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Post by Keith Evans on Sept 4, 2011 23:48:38 GMT -5
Keith looked down as he took the seat across from Rowan, "Yeah, I had to meet up with a student in my office and didn't want to go by my place." He would rather sit by Rowan, but he didn't want to deal with confrontation, or pushing too hard too soon, or...something. So he just accepted his hinted seating arrangement. "An N.E.W.T. student wanting to do some kind of seventh year project." He reached for his water.
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Post by Rowan Trace on Sept 5, 2011 1:07:24 GMT -5
"In addition to the usual coursework?" Rowan asked. He screwed the lid back on and replaced his bottle, turning it ever slightly so the front of the label faced him. "If so, I'd say the benefits would be worth the extra work to both of you. Oh, and my Cursebreaker got the job." He was quite proud of that. "He took an unpaid volunteer position during the summer and applied in mid-August. He'll be starting in a couple weeks."
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Post by Keith Evans on Sept 5, 2011 10:48:17 GMT -5
"Yeah? That's awesome," Keith said. "The best job one of my students has taken is healer at a school." Not that that wasn't a perfectly acceptable job, but it wasn't something that would go down in the history books or anything. "This student that I met with today, I'm giving him a...I guess you could call it an apprenticeship, he's going to help me out in the higher level greenhouses."
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Post by Rowan Trace on Sept 5, 2011 11:03:47 GMT -5
"Sounds promising," Rowan said. "As long as he's not after your job." It was a tease more than anything. Keith had too much passion for his work, however much of a pushover he could seem sometimes, to be unwillingly replaced. And to be honest with himself, despite the trouble that seemed to follow in Keith's wake, Rowan couldn't imagine him being replaced. "What does he want to do with all this? Become an Herbologist?" That would be interesting.
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Post by Keith Evans on Sept 5, 2011 11:15:49 GMT -5
Keith smiled at the tease, then nodded. "Yeah, he said something about traveling, and maybe settling down after a while to open a nursery." He had considered that for a while, during a brief moment in his school career that he somehow decided he never wanted to see another first year again, but he had just gone back to wanting to teach.
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Post by Rowan Trace on Sept 5, 2011 11:22:09 GMT -5
"You should keep in touch with him. You never know when it might come in handy." Of course, now that the revolving door of new professors seemed to be slowing, some of the students might actually have a professor worth remembering. He hoped to be one, though not for the mishaps which had happened so far.
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Post by Keith Evans on Sept 5, 2011 11:28:06 GMT -5
"Definitely, if he goes off and manages to get rare samples, have my own personal supplier," Keith said, nodding. It would be a serious advantage. "Do you have any other students with potential?" he asked. He was glad that so far it had been easy to talk, it boded well for them that he had yet to say the wrong thing or step on Rowan's toes.
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Post by Rowan Trace on Sept 5, 2011 11:37:06 GMT -5
"Always," Rowan said, "but none of them are especially ambitious this year. The Slytherins are more interested in the Dark Arts and there's a Ravenclaw with skill and no confidence. I'll do what I can with her, though." Thank everything that was sane in the world that he and Keith were finally able to have a real conversation again, one that wasn't about sex, relationships, and why he ought to tell his life story. Rowan was actually beginning to relax.
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Post by Keith Evans on Sept 5, 2011 11:41:19 GMT -5
"I heard the same Slytherins Veridian put in detention destroyed their dorms," Keith said. He had noticed a nice chunk of Slytherin house points gone while passing the gems in the Entrance Hall, and there had been a small group of Slytherins complaining about it. "The Slytherins need a hobby, I think." He set his water back down, though he didn't put it in just the right spot like Rowan had.
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