Head of House Speech on Aladren Commons

Professor Fawcett

November 04, 2011 10:43 PM

Head of House Speech by Professor Fawcett

Leading the first years through the halls, John pointed out landmarks here and there, reminding himself not to lapse into lectures on some, until they reached a wide set of doors. Then he turned to look at the new group of Aladrens, one hand resting on the handle of a door without yet opening it.

"This," he said, "is the entrance to the library." He expected at least a few looks of excitement, possibly something like greed, and smiled slightly for a moment before going on. "Acknowledged by all as one of the major centers of learning at this Academy, second only to my classroom." He did not know how many, if any, would recognize the attempt at humor and so moved on. "Beyond - or, in a way, behind - it is the Aladren common room. There are two ways of accessing it, but the one which does not require you to use my office is through here." He paused to give them a stern look. "You may rest assured that I am on quite good terms with the librarian, Miss Diaz, and will hear of it if any of you conduct yourselves poorly here. Since I'm confident we'll have none of that, though, we'll move on."

He led them through the entrance and into the vast array of shelves, covering every topic Sonora taught and quite a few it did not. The stacks were quiet, now; it was a scene he, personally, found soothing, provided there was enough light, but now wasn't the moment for that. He pointed out sections as they followed a twisting route through the library, not overly expecting anyone to remember it all tonight but giving them the chance anyway, until they reached the back wall, where he stopped, as much by reflex as design after seven years as an Aladren only augmented by still more years as its Head of House, by a worn book entitled Birds of Prey, placed to be easily reached by a range of heights; John had to reach down for it, but for many students, he gathered it was just about the right height, and wouldn't be too far up for even the smallest.

"Look closely at this book," he instructed them. "Carefully. In time, many of you might not need to look for it at all, but removing it from its place opens the entrance to the Aladren commons, like this." He pulled the book to demonstrate, and a section of shelving moved aside to reveal a wide, almost square entrance. "You are certainly welcomed and encouraged to befriend students in other Houses, but you must not reveal this location to any students not in Aladren, friends or family members. Come along."

Inside, there was a large room, nearly rectangular but for some slightly irregular corners holding tables and groups of chairs and low sofas for study groups. A large fireplace had additional seating arranged around it in a box centered on a large rug woven with the Aladren Hawk, and other seating and study areas were placed here and there in the space. There were also a number of bookshelves, between which, in addition to all the other odd things, such as magical swordmaking, which had caught the interest of Aladren prefects and Heads of House and been left to the House over the years, were scattered (his vanity not going quite deep enough for him to put them in a set himself) a number of sociology texts by a J. Fawcett, whose small, modest black-and-white author photographs bore some slight resemblance to a somewhat younger version of the Potions professor before the first years now. A large bulletin board, currently empty but for a note of welcome and notices of the end of the year fair and list of important dates for the first half of the year, was to the left of the main entrance.

"Your common room," he said after giving them a moment to look around, waving them to the seats before the fireplace while he stood in front of it. "Where you may study or socialize with your Housemates when you do not have other obligations, and to which you must return by curfew every night at ten. You may use the books here, so long as you return them to the shelves once you are done.

"The bulletin board - " he pointed it out - "is something you should check regularly, as many announcements and sign-up sheets go there. Our Quidditch captain, the seventh year prefect Mr. Edmond Carey, will post Quidfitch sign-ups there soon, and I'm sure he or his assistant, Mr. David Wilkes, would be pleased to answer any questions you have about our team. We've won the Championship for several years now." He intended to keep that and the House Cup in his office, too, despite Mr. Nash's departure. "Mr. Carey can also be of assistance to you more generally, as can his fellow prefects Miss Veronica Kerrigan and Miss Samantha Hamilton."

He now indicated a door on the wall adjacent to the bulletin board. "This door leads to my office, as does the one down the hall. If you wish to speak with me concerning...whatever concerns you, you are, of course, welcome to do so. My office hours are posted on both doors, but if there is a need at some other time, I am generally in my classroom, or can speak with you about arranging to meet at another time. Now. Your dormitories, which you no doubt wish to see, are behind you and up those stairs there." He pointed them out. "Boys to the left, girls to the right. You are not permitted to enter the corridor which is not yours, and spells are in place to prevent this."

He looked around at them all, wondering, as he did each year, how this group and its dynamics would play out over the next seven years. "I believe that's all I had to say. Does anyone have any questions about it?" Mr. Melcher had not been gone from Sonora nearly long enough for John to drop such precautions as specifying what his inquiry referred to.

OOC: You are now free to post elsewhere on the site, though your characters do not have access to the other common rooms. Have fun, but be sure to follow all the posting rules.

Subthreads:

I have questions! by Thaddeus Pierce II

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Thaddeus Pierce II

November 07, 2011 6:49 PM

I have questions! by Thaddeus Pierce II

Thad made an effort to remember each of the landmarks Professor Fawcett pointed out, and the related factoids associated with it, but he felt he had would not recall which way to go from it or which one to look for next. He would need to rely on Derry's recollections and Thad's attempt at map-building for navigation through the school.

Excitement filled him as he learned that the library would be part of tonight's tour, and even more so when he found out his Commons was right next to it. Derry hadn't told him that.

He took out a small notebook to write down 'Birds of Prey' because that was one thing from tonight he really had to remember or he wouldn't be able to get in tomorrow. Then he followed his new year and Housemates into the home he would live in for the next seven years.

It did remind him a tiny bit of his own house in New Hampshire. At least, it had a lot of books and chairs like home did. It was a lot more . . . blue, though. His parents decorated in black and green. Mother, a proud Terrigena alumnus from Salem, had been pleasantly amused when she found out Thad's new school robes were only a few shades different than her old House colors.

He listened to his new Head of House give them the important information they'd need right away. A few more phrases joined 'Birds of Prey' in his notebook including 'left staircase' and the names of the prefects (which he would not swear to the spelling, and so would ask verification of at some future point; it didn't seem a high enough priority to ask about now.) When he was allowed to ask questions, he raised his hand.

There were a few swirling around in his head, but the one he asked when he was called upon was, "Are we allowed to put personal messages on the bulletin board, or is that for official use only?"

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Professor Fawcett

November 10, 2011 1:25 AM

I have answers. by Professor Fawcett

To John's surprise, one of the students did have a question. If anyone would, it would be an Aladren, but it was rare enough even so. His expression, though, revealed nothing of surprise. "Yes?" he asked, gesturing for the young man in question to ask what he wanted to ask.

The first thought he had after hearing about personal messages on the bulletin board was of the one in his kitchen at home, where he and Allison were known to leave messages for each other. Most were mundane, concerning obligations or alterations to shopping lists, some were affectionate, particularly these days if he happened to find an hour to drop in while she wasn't there, and two that sometimes occured were in code. If Allison mentioned eloping with a mathematician to New Jersey, it meant 'Jack, your mother called,' and if he wrote that he'd gone to refill the liquor cabinet, he'd recently spoken to her father. Theirs was a very modern family, really, very equal opportunity in the realm of in-law disputes.

He doubted, though, that these children would need to communicate about those things for several years more. "Students have been known to post thongs on the board," he said. "Advertisements for student-led organizations or events - once, we had a debate between potential Head Students, as I recall, very good speeches some of them gave, that was all arranged by one of the students participating." All long ago now, at least by the terms of a school - the current seventh years had arrived as first years the September after that - but remarkable nevertheless. He realized he was going a bit away from what he'd been asked, though, and returned to the topic with a summing-up, "So I suppose you may, yes."

He looked around at the group, notu just the student asking the questions, a little sternly. "Though I do pay attention to what is there, and anything inappropriate will be removed immediately. Also take care not to clutter the board unnecessarily - as admirable as I'm sure your friends in this House will be, you may generally express your appreciation for them in person, and if you ask someone to meet you after supper on Thursday, there's no need to leave the message there all year. If you have an announcement - a club, or study group, or such - which you wish to see reach the other Houses, you may come speak to me about it." Heads of House, like other professors, could, contrary to legend, speak with each other, much as they ate and slept and had first names and, as he and Erika did and it was his understanding that Lilac soon would, had spouses who possibly even addressed them by those first names on occasion.

"Are there any other questions?"

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Thad Pierce

November 10, 2011 12:08 PM

I have more questions. by Thad Pierce

Thad nodded along as Professor Fawcett explained what the bulletin board had be used for in the past, and the warning about cluttering it, and the final say that, yes, they could personally post messages within reason. As it had only been a fact-finding question and he had no plans to make postings in the near future, he would have been equally pleased with the information that it was for official use only, but in the long term, he thought having the resource available to them would prove more helpful.

As Professor Fawcett concluded his remarks and asked if there were more questions, Thad allowed his yearmates a moment to ask anything they needed to ask, but his hand did rise again once it seemed nobody else was going to take their Head of House up on his generous offer.

"What is the best way," he asked when he was called upon again, "to contact one of the prefects? Is there a time and place when they are available, or do we just watch for them in the commonroom, the library, or the Cascade Hall and hope to spot them?"

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Professor Fawcett

November 20, 2011 5:41 PM

Still more answers by Professor Fawcett

John was a bit surprised to see the same student speaking up again, enough that he had a fleeting moment of wondering if his speeches were inadequate and most students simply didn’t wish to question a professor at this early stage of their acquaintance before he dismissed the idea as a silly insecurity, something he should, if he was ever going to be, have been above by this stage in his career. The boy was inquisitive; it was a good trait in an Aladren, and John would be keeping an eye on him as he progressed through Sonora.

Still, he might cover this in next year’s speech. It was a good thing to know.

“Each prefect’s availability varies according to his or her schedule,” he explained. “Once students enter third year, they may begin to take elective courses, and after taking CATS in fifth year, students generally set their own schedules.” It was a bit more complicated than that, involving what the student wanted to do with his or her life and what the requirements for different college programs were and, occasionally, an individual professor’s leniency about or interest in things other than CATS scores, but it was enough for first years, he thought. For now. After the mess he’d had with his graduate school applications due to a lack of information from on high, he might have included the information now anyway, but they would hear a great deal about all this in their third and fourth years anyway.

“Generally, prefects are expected to help watch for disturbances in the common room – “ not that Aladren often had problems of that nature, but one never knew – “in the evening, so you may approach them then if you wish.” He expected the prefects might not love him very well for that statement if they successfully traced it back to him, but it was what they were there for, along with helping to arrange school events and such. Students in general were often reluctant to ask for help, but they even more often needed it, and it was possible that some might just feel more comfortable talking to someone closer to being a peer than they would to, well, him, or even the young professors.

Now….”Anything else?” he asked, mainly to Mr. Pierce (or, as he was prepared to think of him, the potential heir of Mr. Melcher; John had been wondering what he’d do without regular interrogations, and decided to be pleased at the delay in eventually losing his edge) but with a quick look around the group, in case their classmate’s success had emboldened them. “Again, my office is open if any of you think of things after this meeting.” Since they might also just not be quite comfortable speaking in front of the group. He’d been in education, one way or another, on the teaching end for more than three, edging toward four decades now, enough to have an awareness of the variety seen in personalities and types.

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Alicia Bauer

November 21, 2011 4:28 PM

Jumping in. by Alicia Bauer

As the welcoming speech went on and on, introducing them to more and more useful features of the common room and what was associated with it, Alicia was finding it harder and harder to pay attention to the words as she thought about her plan of attack toward the person saying them. She wasn’t sure what the best approach for getting Professor Fawcett’s attention (in a good way, obviously) tonight was, but she knew, somehow, that she had to do it.

That was something she just knew, not even sure how she knew it and not completely sure whether or not to trust it despite having decided to anyway, but it became imperative after the question-and-answer session put a spotlight directly on Thaddeus. All their other professors could wait until her classes with them; she was fully confident of her ability to win over any tutor within a few weeks with a combination of smiling just so and doing very good work, and professors were just tutors with bigger groups to teach. This professor, though, was her Head of House, and her House was, fortunately in as many ways as it was unfortunately, Aladren, which was full of people who, even if they lacked social skills, could at least win respect by their academic accomplishments alone. If she didn’t get him now, then she might just blend into that crowd of bright, ambitious kids jockeying for…

Well, she didn’t really know. Prefectures, she guessed. Favor, always. That wasn’t the point. She couldn’t just be one of the many. She had to hook Fawcett and do that right now, before he started thinking of first year as “Thaddeus Pierce and the Other People.” That just sounded like a bad band name.

Thankfully, Thaddeus had more than one question, which gave her time to think and answers to be inspired by. When Professor Fawcett gave the answer about prefects, she locked in on something he’d mentioned in passing and raised her hand, already smiling. “Hi, Alicia Bauer,” she introduced herself by reflex. She wasn’t quite sure it was right, but went on, ignoring the little flutter of anxiety in the back of her mind. “Are there any opportunities for us to study past what we cover in class sooner than what you just mentioned about the older students? Independent work, or special projects, or anything like that?”

Her eyes flicked toward Thad for one second as she felt something like triumph at finding a way in, and asking something a little more adventurous, she thought, than what they could use the bulletin board. He wasn’t her rival, she couldn’t make an enemy out of a Pierce anyway, but he now didn’t get to be the only person the professor noticed their first night here, the only one who was curious enough about his environment and all it had to offer to say something. It felt good. Really, really, good. Her smile was a little warmer for it as her eyes returned to Fawcett.

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