Requiring a change of scenery on Aladren Commons

Jax Donovan and [Professor Tarte]

August 10, 2016 9:01 PM

Requiring a change of scenery by Jax Donovan and [Professor Tarte]

After his quick chat with Sammy in the gardens and discovering what it was that [Norman] was up to, Jax had had enough. He was tired of his roommate’s games. He was tired of having to walk on eggshells around him. He was tired of feeling like the other fourth year had some weight over him. He wasn’t going to allow himself, his sister, or his friends become anybody’s puppet, but especially to that of [Norman Tarte].

He got back to the dorm (grateful that the snivelling little Bastard was not in sight) and took a quick shower. Feeling that his anger was still at an all time high, he wasn’t sure if now was the best time to speak to Professor [Tarte], but it was either now or he physically assault his roommate the first moment he saw him. He was hesitant to go to [Tarte] since they were brothers, but Jax didn’t want to go over his head and offend him in any way. Still, Jax felt awkward as he knocked on the door to his Head of House’s office.

[Fred] had been enjoying a rather peaceful afternoon, he had evaded all his colleagues at lunch by claiming a particularly heavy workload, and brought a plate up to his office. He had been sorting through ill-gotten files for the past few weeks trying to put together a puzzle he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to solve. When the knock first came he had thought it would be Isis bringing him something to eat and he groaned quietly. Didn't that witch know when to leave well enough alone? "I already ate, Carter," he said tiredly, not bothering to get up or to open the door for his friend, hoping that the exasperated tone would suggest to the Potions professor and his once upon a time sex-buddy that he did not want company.

It was then that [Fred] realised the knock had come from the door that led to the Aladren common room which meant that one of his students needed him. Luckily he hadn't broken into the whiskey early, [Fred] thought to himself. He had certainly been thinking about it but had opted to wait until at least 5pm to start that part of his day. So he pushed aside the half-eaten sandwich that he had not touched in forty minutes and took a sip of the now cold cup of coffee, cursing his inability to remember to cast a heating charm on his mugs whenever he was in a mood like this.

"Sorry, I, er, thought you were someone else," he explained, rubbing his neck rather sheepishly as he opened the door for Jax Donovan. "Why don't you come in, take a seat. What can I, um, do for you?"

When he was given the okay to enter, Jax took a seat across from the Defense professor. “I would like to be removed from my current room and placed into a different dorm, please.” Jax said, getting to the point.

As a member of the staff, [Fred] was privy to the knowledge surrounding Jax's condition. As Jax's head of house and the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, [Fred] had rather been expecting a visit from the young werewolf a lot sooner. But Jax very quickly made clear from the start that this was not what he wanted to talk about that afternoon at all.

[Fred] blinked. "Any particular reason?" he asked slowly, not really wanting to get the details of a fourth year spat especially one involving a werewolf who, [Fred] knew from first hand experience (under the table he discreetly clutched a yet to fade scar), could get rather irritable rather quickly (it had to do with pent up aggression or something like that, he thought. [Fred] was of private opinion that all werewolves were like permanent teenagers with the hormones and tempers to go along with it) but feeling that, as the head of house (a position he hadn't wanted but had taken on after that ridiculous Diana Yu left the school) he was obliged to take care of or resolve any issues if there appeared to be though.

Jax stared at him for a long moment working it out in his head how he wanted to explain the situation without it sounding like he was whining or that he wanted in any way for Professor [Tarte] to get involved. “I was hesitant to bring this up to you since you are likely to have conflicting interest in the situation, however, I felt like it was best practice to come to you first before seeking assistance elsewhere.” Jax commented, feeling the need to be honest about that before continuing. “I can no longer live in the same dorm room as [Norman Tarte].” Jax stated firmly, his voice keeping its low rational tone that it always had. “I have recently been informed that he has been using my... infliction as a blackmail tool in order to procure a date to the ball with a good friend of mine.” Jax explained, his anger over the situation clearly visible in his tense body and scowl.

“I do not feel safe or comfortable sharing a room with him due to this and past discretions. For my own safety and his, I would like to change rooms. I do not care where I am placed, only that I am placed elsewhere.” Jax felt like he stated his case clearly and showed the hostile situation he was currently in with the Defense Professor’s younger brother.

[Fred] blinked again. “I’m sorry...” he said, the confusion clear on his face. “What?” [Fred] thought that [Norman] was probably one of the last people in the wizarding world who would ever even want a date. He knew his little brother well enough to know that [Norman] had never really been interested in emotional connections the same way [Fred] had been when he’d been younger and other than Nevaeh Reed, [Norman] really didn’t seem to connect well with the other students. Fred’d hoped that with the connection to Nevaeh, [Norman] was moving away from the sort of things a friendship with Tarquin Holt promised. And if Jax was to be believed, then [Norman] was headed down the Tarquin Holt path much faster than Fred had previously predicted.

“Past discretions?” Fred repeated, still trying to string a coherent thought together in his head. “This isn’t the first time you’ve had a serious altercation with [Norman]?” Fred had noticed a certain level of tension between the two boys before, it was evident that neither liked each other much, but since no one had come to him or any of the other professors with complaint he had assumed they simply steered clear of each other. “Of course I can accommodate, I mean...” Fred began to wrack his brains. “John Umland doesn’t have a roommate, I suppose I could move you up to room with him, but...it’s an unresolvable issue?” he asked, worried at how deep the rift went between his estranged brother and the boy sitting in front of him.

Stupid, stupid [Norman] for thinking he could blackmail a werewolf, never mind one who knew where he slept. Fred began to backtrack in his mind. Was this somehow his fault for leaving [Norman] locked up in that dreadful house with those dreadful people and not a sane one amongst them all?

It was obvious to Jax that he had surprised the professor with his explanation and his revelation that the professor’s younger brother was the culprit to his desire to leave the dormitory. Perhaps the [Tarte] brothers weren’t close or, more likely, [Norman] faked his personality at home to which the older [Tarte] fell victim too. Either way, it was clear that what Jax said was not what the Head of House expected. “[Norman] has known about my situation since sometime during the year of the Satori and he has made it well known to myself and to my sister that he holds that knowledge above our heads.” Jax explained. “My sister is more forgiving and therefore, more trusting of him, but I fear that he’ll simply use that to his advantage at a later time just as he used his knowledge of me to coerce my friend into being his date to the ball. I do not believe that this situation is resolvable nor do I care to try at this point and time.” He didn’t want to drag Sammy completely into this since she had been upfront to him about it, so he would do his best to keep her out.

“I appreciate your willingness to allow me to change rooms. Sharing with John Umland will be fine.” Jax feared that John might pick up on his monthly visits to the Hospital Wing as he was a smart guy, but he also seemed somewhat oblivious to things, so there was a chance he would not figure it out. He felt a little bad about leaving Jack to live alone with [Norman], but the other fourth year was not on [Norman]’s radar the way Jax was and so, he felt he would be safe for the time being.

“Right,” Fred said, the wrinkle in his forehead becoming more pronounced as Jax detailed the activities [Norman] had been up to as of late. “He’s known that long?” he asked now, surprised that [Norman] had not let in on anything to Fred himself. He supposed it made sense as the only time Fred even saw his brother was in the classroom or around the common room, having long ago chosen to not go home for the summer holidays or even for Christmas, stopping by twice a year to drop of a Christmas and birthday present for his brother, but [Norman] was the sort of kid who had always loved to one up Fred. ‘Father took me to this match today, Fred, when did you say your first match with him was?’ He suppressed feelings [Norman] brought up inside him and tried to focus on the matter at hand.

“I’ll authorize a switch,” Fred said slowly as he mulled things over. He would have to bring [Norman] into his office and have a serious talk with him but he worried since the last time they’d been alone, [Norman] had left the meeting claiming that Fred had pushed him into a filing cabinet. “But are you certain it was a date that [Norman] was after? It’s just that...[Norman] has never really entertained the idea of friends before much less anything of a romantic nature.” Thinking out loud, Fred didn’t realise that he was acknowledging the more sinister side of his brother, implying to the student in front of him that perhaps there was another motive involved. Jax Donovan was not part of the family and therefore, he should not have been privy to the information Fred was absent-mindedly disclosing. But then again he had really been caught off guard.

“I don’t know what ulterior motives he may have, if it is something other than romantic.” Other than making my life a living hell. Jax thought to himself. “But my friend specified that he stated that she would have to go to the ball with him in order to know my secret. My friend felt obligated to go in order to protect myself and Gia. For all she knew, if she denied him, he might have told everyone.” Technically, [Norman] did not state that he would, but with his twisted mind, Jax wouldn’t have put it past him.

[Fred] nodded slowly. “Right,” he said again. Had [Norman] finally decided that having human emotions was allowed? Was this his weird way of trying to catch up to the rest of those in his year who had been developing these emotions for the past fourteen to fifteen years of their life? “I’ll talk to him. In the meantime, maybe it’s not the best idea for your friend to continue to go with him. Unless she wants to, of course.” Was it possible that a girl was equally interested in [Norman] as he was in her? [Fred] didn’t think so. His younger brother was rather good looking--he was a [Tarte], so of course he’d have a pleasant face, but on the rather scrawny side and he wore those ridiculously round spectacles ([Fred] didn’t think he could do other glasses the injustice of calling them anything else other than what one might find perched on the end of a rather stern eighteenth century British nanny’s nose), but he was just so...weird.

Jax stood up to leave but gave the professor a shrug, “I can tell her, but I still feel that she will go just to be on the safe side.” Jax commented. “She is rather loyal to us as we are to her.” He walked to the door but paused before he left, “I appreciate you allowing me to switch rooms. It’ll be a nice change for everyone.”

OOC: Co-written by both authors

6 Jax Donovan and [Professor Tarte] Requiring a change of scenery 296 Jax Donovan and [Professor Tarte] 1 5

Professor and Barnaby Pye

August 10, 2016 9:25 PM

Two pies are not always better than one. by Professor and Barnaby Pye

Alfie rested his head in his hands and massaged his temples. What was supposed to be a quiet day of research had quickly turned into cleaning up after his ridiculously sloppy younger brother. Hadn’t Barnaby learned anything from their father? If you were going to blackmail someone, you had to do it properly. And you couldn’t blackmail just anyone. You had to pick your victim carefully.

He shook his head violently and stood to pour himself a glass of whiskey. He didn’t bother to put ice and drained the liquor quickly. This was why he had become an auror. To get away from that kind of thinking. He was a professor he should have been more concerned that his younger brother was blackmailing someone than that his younger brother was poorly blackmailing someone. Alfie wished that someone was around to slap him, maybe knock some sense into that ridiculous head of his.

A knock at his door had Alfie putting down the glass and retreating to his desk. Before he could open his mouth and ask the student to come in, Barnaby’s cranky head poked around the corner. “You wanted to see me?” he asked rather grumpily.

“Sit down,” Alfie said.

“You wanted to see me?” Barnaby asked again.

“Jax Donovan was in here earlier,” Alfie began carefully. Barnaby may have been younger than him but he was a heck of a lot smarter than Alfie had been at his age and he was a Pye to boot which meant that he had to be dealt with in a particular way. Alfie himself was still ashamed with how he had acted upon first joining the Auror company. As predicted, Barnaby jutted out a chin as if to challenge Alfie with a ‘so?’

“Barnaby, what is it that you know about Jax that has caused one of his friends to agree to go to the ball with you?”

Barnaby shrugged. “I don’t know, what is it that I know about Jax that caused one of his friends to agree to go to the ball with me? Could it be that maybe she just likes my company and not his?”

Alfie raised an eyebrow and Barnaby rolled his eyes.

“Look, I know we’re all just children in your eyes and the eyes of everyone else who works here, but the lot of you have to extremely idiotic if you think that you can put someone like Jax in a room with two other teenagers without any sort of suspicion being aroused. It doesn’t take a genius to pick up on a couple patterns, professor.”

Alfie bit his lip and tried to refrain from shouting. If only Barnaby could hear himself, Alfie thought. It had been a long time since he’d heard the voice of Alden Pye lecturing one of his intellectual inferiors before wiping the slate clean. “So you don’t deny it?” Alfie asked, concerned with the lack of remorse Barnaby was showing.

Barnaby shrugged in response. Alfie over-dramatised things sometimes, he thought. “It was funny,” he said instead of giving a straight answer.

“It was funny,” Alfie repeated, incredulously.

Barnaby shrugged again and Alfie decided he ought to try a different approach.

“And how were you planning on dealing with the fallout sure to arise from some poor girl discovering from you at a Ball that one of her best friends is a werewolf?”

Barnaby shrugged again. “I wouldn’t have actually said anything,” he said plainly and truthfully. “It’s the dumb bint’s fault for not having picked up on it sooner. I spelled it out for her and she still didn’t get it, so it’s kind of like the stupidity karma if she were to get eaten.”

Alfie could do nothing but stare. “Well, you’re not to go with her,” he countered. “I don’t care who she is or how much you like her, but damn-it, Barnaby, that’s not how you treat a witch!”

“So blackmail’s not okay but having sexual relations and then not calling is totally fine.”

“That’s not the point,” Alfie said, exasperation creeping into his voice.

“Then what is the point?”

“Just, tell her, whoever she is, something came up and you will no longer need her company at the ball. For Merlin’s sake, do not turn into Grandfather!”

Barnaby’s face went white as a sheet. “I am not and will never be Grandfather,” Barnaby said icily and stood to go.

Alfie stood and poured himself another whiskey. He heard the door to his office being opened and before he could help it, his wand was closing the door. Barnaby may have been more clever than Alfie had ever hoped to be at his age and he may have been a Pye but Alfie was a fully trained wizard and he’d been a Pye for longer than Barnaby had been alive. “Sit down,” Alfie said in a voice he hadn’t used in years.

Barnaby sat.

10 Professor and Barnaby Pye Two pies are not always better than one. 0 Professor and Barnaby Pye 0 5

Professor Pye

August 15, 2016 5:54 PM

Telling, not asking, sorry. [tag: John Umland] by Professor Pye

Alfie had a headache. Barnaby had caused him to slip into old ways too many times for comfort over the past few years of both being at the same school. He had known that his younger brother’s presence at the same school his father had arranged for him to teach at could not be for good reason only and the appearance of a Dempsey member a few years later only confirmed Alfie’s ever growing suspicions that something foul was afoot. But the last time… It could not be excused—neither Barnaby’s actions nor his for that matter. Years later, it was that moment that Alfie would pinpoint as being the catalyst for the weeks of paranoia and confession that would follow.

For now, though, he took a calming draught and straightened his desk area before John Umland could come in. There was no reason for the files he had been looking at to be out amongst the other things on his desk such as the various quizzes that had been turned in over the course of the week and which Alfie had to return to his students.

The owl which Alfie had sent to John simply gave him a time to arrive (9 p.m.) and the instruction to enter if the door was open. At 8:55 p.m. on the dot, Alfie wedged a small wooden stopper into the door-jamb so that his door was propped open only a couple of centimetres.

“Please close the door and take a seat,” Alfie said when John arrived, waiting until the fifth year had complied to begin. “I have a favour to ask of you,” he began, wanting to get straight to the point but unsure how to broach asking John to give up living alone for a student younger than himself and a werewolf to boot. Asking this of John also worried Alfie for another reason—John was a smart boy, he was maybe one of the cleverest students in his year. If Barnaby had figured it out, what was to say John wouldn’t?

“There have been some problems in the fourth year boys dorm. Irreconcilable differences between Barnaby Pye and Jax Donovan have been cited and Jax has asked to switch to another room. As Jax is closer in age to you than to either Dustin Newell or Louis Valois and as you don’t currently have a roommate, I suggested he room with you.

“Jax has agreed this would be suitable for him though I wanted to talk with you about it before a younger student appeared without ceremony in your room. There really isn’t a lot of choice for us here, I’m not going to insult your intelligence by asking you if it’s okay for Jax to move in when clearly he needs to change rooms.

“But if you had any thoughts on the matter?” Alfie trailed off, allowing the poor Aladren who had done nothing wrong to have a chance to speak for the first time since entering the office.

10 Professor Pye Telling, not asking, sorry. [tag: John Umland] 30 Professor Pye 0 5

John Umland

August 15, 2016 9:11 PM

Then why did you use the words 'ask' and 'favor'? by John Umland

When John had received Pye’s request for a meeting, he had known it was quite possible that it was nothing to worry about. He was a prefect, Pye was a Head of House. There were many reasons such people might speak to each other. Possibly Pye wanted him to keep an eye on some situation among the first years – he observed and even interacted with Arianna and Farrah both on a fairly regular basis, and if their roommate was homesick or something…well, John’s main selling point was that he was also an international student, his spoken French was limited to the bare necessities necessary to get around in Quebec if he ever went there on holiday and his reading had never moved far past the equivalent of that of a Francophone in grade two or three, but he might be able to understand her if she spoke slowly and without using any big words and could probably at least give her a good laugh through his butchering of a language which, though not his favorite, had never actually wronged him – or to cover someone else’s rounds next week, or any number of equally mundane things. There was nothing in the message itself to make John think that any organic matter had made contact with any rotational cooling devices.

He thought through all that calmly and rationally, but couldn't quite keep himself from looking up every now and then as the day went on, searching for matter flying through the air. He always, in the back of his head, was a little worried about being arrested or hearing that Welles, Wooster, and Lynch had somehow hurt Julian, and the abruptness of the professor's note had brought those worries much closer to the forefront of his mind. He was far more aware of his surroundings than usual as he presented himself at the professor’s office and, because his mother had taught him manners, tapped on the door before, deciding it was open enough to meet the note's requirements, pushing on it.

The miniscule degree of open-ness presented had made him slightly more nervous, but he entered the office without difficulty and an immediate glance-around revealed neither people with handcuffs nor people with any of the features he associated with lawyers or social workers, facts he took a little courage from. Pye’s second and third sentences were reassuring, too – a situation amongst the fourth year boys was something he could see the fifth year prefect being asked to investigate and something that, furthermore, had nothing to do with John personally; he wasn’t being asked because he was John, he was being asked because he was convenient. He was so busy being relieved that he didn’t have to go to prison, the mad house (a possibility if Pye had found out he’d been experimenting on garden gnomes but none of the context), or a funeral that it took him a moment to figure out the implications of the next sentence, implications he grasped a horrified second before Pye laid them out for him.

His first thought was that Pye’s statements were contradictory. If they had no choices in the matter, then Pye was not asking him for a favor, he was giving him an order, and any thoughts he had on the matter were irrelevant. His second was that he should probably not make a sarcastic remark to this effect. His third was that he should probably not make a sincere remark to this effect, either. His fourth was to suggest alternative arrangements, like letting Donovan go live with Ferguson and Clark come live with John, but even had the ’really isn’t a lot of choice for us here’ not precluded that, he was pretty sure it would be a sin to do so – it would be to look entirely to his own interests and those of his friend while wronging a third party, and The Rules said he had to be generous about these things and disadvantage and inconvenience himself instead. His fifth was that he had been sitting here, looking a bit to the right of Pye's head and clearly thinking something, for too long, so he had better say something.

“I appreciate – you not insulting me, anyway,” said John, going with the first thing he thought of and then wondering if that was going to be taken as a sarcastic remark. It was...getting close, but he did basically mean it.... “And the courtesy," he added quickly. "Really – I have – how long do I have?” He suspected he couldn’t hope for better than tomorrow from Pye’s tone, which meant he was going to pass a sleepless night rearranging, as he was sure the elves would make a mess of his charts and samples. He was going to lose the whole wall he kept his research on Sonora’s birds on, he thought glumly, and that corner where he made tea and had what he thought of as his lab space…. “I've been watching the birds here since I got here - " his speech abruptly became smoother and more confident as he decided that question needed context - "I'm trying to figure out if the artificial environment and - uh, Unplottability - of - here - affect migration patterns, and now I'm charting the efficacy of single-source potion ingredients, too, so if it's before I can get all my charts rearranged, can you ask him and the elves not to touch anything? Eh....” He started to add that he might have to sleep in the common room every now and then until he got used to having someone else in his space, but decided after half a syllable that he knew a corner where he could make a nest Pye was unlikely to notice if it came to that and decided to hope the professor took his syllable as him being Canadian rather than him cutting off a thought.

16 John Umland Then why did you use the words 'ask' and 'favor'? 285 John Umland 0 5