|
|
Post by Skylar Constantine on Jul 20, 2013 18:32:13 GMT -5
Attend private Muggle Studies lessons two evenings a week.
Skylar had consented, but nothing had ever happened and he'd put it out of his mind. Then he'd gotten a note asking him to meet the Muggle Studies professor.
He'd looked at the summons over a glass of whiskey, then lit a cigarette and set the note on fire with the same blaze of his wand. He'd go. Ember was safe here, and that was worth an hour of hell.
He hadn't worn professors' robes once and wasn't about to start now. He wore dark jeans and heavy boots, a leather vest, black sleeveless undershirt, and whatever jewelry he'd felt like. He figured it was fair warning to Connor. This wouldn't be easy for Skylar, and he wouldn't make it easy on anyone else, either. He gave a firm knock and looked at his watch. The fifteen-minute rule was in effect. In fact, he'd just make it five.
|
|
|
|
Post by Connor Holt on Jul 20, 2013 18:44:26 GMT -5
Connor didn't know exactly what to expect from this former Death Eater he was supposed to teach muggle compassion to. In fact, he wasn't exactly sure how he intended to do the teaching, anyway, should he bring in muggles and do exposure therapy? At the knock on his office door he only wasted a few moments before getting up and opening the door. He'd seen the man in the corridors a couple of times, so his appearance wasn't overly shocking, and Connor smiled pleasantly as he stepped back to let Skylar in.
"Come on in, there's a seat you can take," he said, gesturing to a chair in front of his desk. "Sorry I haven't gotten to you sooner, I needed to get some things in order." Like doing a bit of research into Death Eater/muggle relations. It wasn't exactly pretty. His own professor's robes were nowhere in sight.
|
|
|
|
Post by Skylar Constantine on Jul 20, 2013 19:13:30 GMT -5
Skylar walked in, but wouldn't sit until Connor did. "I haven't been in a hurry," he said. He wouldn't sneer outright at being here, but he did look around the office a bit to get the measure of the guy. He'd heard absolutely nothing about Connor, and that left him at a disadvantage. He was sure he'd been talked about more than a little.
|
|
|
|
Post by Connor Holt on Jul 20, 2013 19:21:13 GMT -5
Connor's office had an eclectic mix of muggle and magic paraphernalia. A number of sports posters were on the walls, both moving and static, along with some posters of bands with the same variety. He closed the door behind him and sat behind his desk, leaning back and propping his feet on his desk. "So I'm supposed to teach you, I think, not hate muggles, that right?" he asked.
|
|
|
|
Post by Skylar Constantine on Jul 20, 2013 19:33:30 GMT -5
Skylar let out a snort of laughter and turned away from his perusal of posters with a wry smile. "Guess so," he said. He looked back at the posters a moment, then went to take the chair he'd been offered. He slumped back into it, despite the fact that he was old enough to know better.
"Kane said I ought to give you some background, in my own words." Kane seemed big on making people say things that were already known, but the guy got paid to fix people so he went along with it. "I was raised to be a Death Eater. As far back as I can remember I knew it was what I wanted to do. It was what my parents did. I left a couple years ago. My parents uh, found out I'd married a halfblood. It wasn't pretty, I hadn't known, but she's dead now and all I've got is my daughter. Our daughter," he corrected himself. He was so used to thinking of Ember as his that it was what came out first. "So there you go," he finished.
|
|
|
|
Post by Connor Holt on Jul 20, 2013 19:46:06 GMT -5
"I'm halfblood," Connor said, figuring he should return a brief history. "I've been to a few different schools before settling here. I grew up magic but my mom's family are all muggles so I got a healthy dose of that, too." He eyed Skylar briefly as he thought, letting silence hang heavily in the air for a minute. "Why didn't you know she was a halfblood?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Skylar Constantine on Jul 20, 2013 19:52:45 GMT -5
"She was too perfect," Skylar said. "Most beautiful woman I've ever seen, and everything she said before we hooked up fit with the girls I knew. Sick of her parents' expectations, cultured, polite, but with a bite to her. I didn't believe it when I was told she was halfblood." He'd gone into the room expecting her to reassure him, and instead, she'd asked if it mattered. Skylar looked off into the room. "Mind if I smoke in here?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Connor Holt on Jul 20, 2013 20:05:27 GMT -5
"I'd rather you didn't," Connor said. "So you don't think muggles can be cultured or anything? What about, for instance, the Queen? Or the other royals." Were they not in the same league socially as pureblood members of Society? He would have thought that royalty was actually a step above whatever pureblood wealth there was, it wasn't like there were kings and queens in wizarding society in England.
|
|
|
|
Post by Skylar Constantine on Jul 20, 2013 20:12:11 GMT -5
"The Queen?" Skylar asked, confused for a moment. "Oh, that broad who leads the Muggles." He gave a low chuckle. "Haven't met her." You couldn't compare Muggles' ideas of culture to Society. That was like comparing apples to bananas or something. You could call them both fruit, but they were nothing alike.
|
|
|
|
Post by Connor Holt on Jul 20, 2013 20:23:28 GMT -5
"Do you know the history of muggles and wizards?" Connor asked then. He reached for a ball on his desk and tossed it in the air, catching it with a satisfying smack each time. Any other information was withheld as he waited to hear what Skylar knew or his version of events. It was an interesting history between the two groups, Connor thought.
|
|
|
|
Post by Skylar Constantine on Jul 20, 2013 20:29:56 GMT -5
Skylar's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly, and for a moment he didn't say a word. Then, "I'm going to need a cigarette and a drink if you keep that up." He gestured to the ball. Annoyance noises on top of the rest, and wondering if those prefects were taking good enough care of Ember, was too much.
|
|
|
|
Post by Connor Holt on Jul 20, 2013 20:39:16 GMT -5
Connor stopped the motion of the ball and began passing it between his hands, instead. "I can't really help you if you don't answer the question, you know," he said. "Personally, I think that the history of how Purism became such a huge thing is pretty interesting." He was surprised at how many students, and adults, actually, didn't know the history.
|
|
|
|
Post by Skylar Constantine on Jul 20, 2013 20:43:07 GMT -5
"I wasn't dodging the question," Skylar said. His annoyance was only deepening, and it was tempting to say f~ it and light up anyway. "If you're going to sit there and assume I'd waste my time like that, I ought to just leave." He pushed to his feet. He'd thought he'd last the full hour, but it turned out the f~ing halfblood Muggle Studies professor had issues of his own.
|
|
|
|
Post by Connor Holt on Jul 20, 2013 20:49:57 GMT -5
"You have to do this with me twice a week," Connor said, his expression turning serious as he dropped his feet from his desk. "My job is to make sure you understand the relationship between muggles and wizards and learn that muggles aren't the devil incarnate. If my teaching style doesn't match up with your learning style, we're just going to have to deal with that." They would have to learn to handle one another, whether one of them hated it or not.
|
|
|
|
Post by Skylar Constantine on Jul 20, 2013 20:55:06 GMT -5
"You haven't taught me a damn thing," Skylar said, "and you don't f~ing have a clue what I think of Muggles. I'll ask for a different damn professor." Devil incarnate. The guy had things blown way out of proportion, and Skylar wasn't dealing with it. He strode toward the door, intending to take this up with Chase himself.
|
|
