[X] Ask about what...causes and can be done for bad dreams
- - - Updated - - -
[X] Ask about what...causes and can be done for bad dreams
[X] Ask about what...causes and can be done for bad dreams
- - - Updated - - -
[X] Ask about what...causes and can be done for bad dreams
[X] Ask about what...causes and can be done for bad dreams
Chapter 26. Conversant Echoes
The sun set, and after another night at Exton Hall, Matou Shinji fell into the pattern of a dream.
In the dream, he was creeping stealthily through the darkened halls of a building that seemed somewhat familiar, his eyes narrowed as beings of shadows leapt at him - and were cleaved in twain by the shining rapier in one hand.
'Yes. Yes. You, -----, have no chance against me!' he thought, his lips curving into a cruel smile as he brought up his wand, a bolt of green light leaping from it to the chest of a man who was just coming down a set of stairs. 'You. All of you. You who stole everything from me. I'll kill you. I'LL KILL YOU!'
Seeing that insignificant man crumple lifelesly to the floor, the boy laughed and waved his wand, reducing the cretin to ashes.
'More...more...MORE!' the darkness in him demanded, as he made his way up the stairs towards the room the curses were coming from, letting his anger shroud him in its power. They dared - all of them dared - to laugh at him, to mock him. To cast him away.
No more.
He would cast down the false one, crush the usurper's hopes and dreams underfoot, steal everything from her, as she had stolen everything from him.
Claws and ribbons of shadow came forth, to bind him and tear him apart, but they were absorbed, for they were as nothing before the miasma pouring from his body. The foolish one who thought she could stop him merely used curses - he was a curse. He was destruction incarnate, as he gave himself over to his rage, his hatred, his desire to devour all in his path.
More and more spells came at him, yet they could do naught to him, whether gandrs or bursting gems or claws of imprisoning darkness.
The door before him disintegrated into splinters, with a young girl looking up at him, her expression consumed with terror.
"Nii...san"
"Hello, sister," he snarled, ramming the rapier through her chest, savouring the look of shock and betrayal on her features as the life faded from her eyes, and her heartbeat...ceased.
Yes. Yes. YES.
The one he hated most in the world was...was...
Huh...
Everything was...dissolving? The world around him, fading?
Wait...this wasn't...why was he?
"Kehehehe...." a sound rang out from behind him, no - from all around him. "My worthless grandson, did you really think you had a chance?"
The boy found himself driven to his knees by the killing intent of the monster - the monster hidden from his sight.
"I...I'll win. I stopped her, didn't I?"
"Did you, boy? Take a closer look."
Unable to disobey, the boy did, with his legs collapsing under him as he did.
No. No....
His rapier was run through someone, all right. But it wasn't Matou Sakura...
"Kuku...do you see what you did? With your own hands, the one you killed was..."
It...it couldn't be.
NO.
'It...it's not real.'
"Accept it, boy. This is what you are. A disappointment to all around you. Especially those foolish enough to trust a monster."
No.
This...it...why...
It was...
"SENPAI!!!!"
Matou Shinji awoke screaming as he fell out of his chair, knocking it over as he collapsed to his hands and knees. It...it had only been a dream, but it had felt so real. The feeling of a heart growing still, a body growing cold, of life - senpai's life - leaving her eyes, because of him.
A monster.
He sobbed, shaking uncontrollably at the thought that he...that he might...
'I...I...'
Such a being. Such a worthless being like him, who only hurt those around him. Who had grown arrogant in his strength. Such a Matou Shinji should...should...
"Matou..." a voice whispered from the open doorway, with the boy listlessly raising his head and looking at...
Warmth.
All of the sudden, he was surrounded by warmth as...
'I'm being hugged...?' he slowly realized, having never really experienced such a thing before.
"Why...?" he croaked out.
"Your expression just now. It was like you wanted to die..." Amber replied, her arms tightening around him.
"...better that someone like me...someone like me dies than...than..."
"...Lady Tsuji would be hurt if you died," the copper-haired girl said, with the boy stiffening. "And so would Nats. And me."
...how? How did she?
"...l-lady Tsuji...?" he repeated lifelessly, his body shaking uncontrollably as her words brought up the image of senpai impaled upon his sword, her eyes...her eyes not even looking at him with hatred, even when he killed her.
"You look at her a lot, you know," the girl commented, with something like a sad chuckle. "As if she was the sun, and you were the moon, only glowing in her light."
"..."
Shinji couldn't think of anything to say.
"I-it’s not as if..."
"Hey. It alright to look. I look at her too."
The boy's expression went slack.
"Huh?" he asked intelligently.
"...just...sometimes it’s worth looking around, seeing what else the world has to offer, you know?"
"...to...offer? What would the world offer to someone..." His voice hitched and he swallowed. "...someone like me?"
"Heh. Boys are so dense..." she chuckled. "Shall we go somewhere today? Away from all...this?"
"...okay."
As it happened, what Amber had in mind – after Shinji had calmed down, showered, and changed, was a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace – and final resting place – of William Shakespeare, thought to be Britain greatest playwright. It was her hope that a change in scenery would help shake poor Matou out of the funk he’d been in these last few days, as she was quite worried about him.
“…we’re riding one of these again?” Shinji commented on seeing the choice of transportation, a Rolls-Royce limousine.
“It will take about two hours to get there, so we might as well be comfortable,” the earl’s daughter remarked. “And…it will give us some time to talk.”
“To…talk, you say,” Shinji noted quietly, looking back and forth, and carefully not meeting Amber’s eyes. “About what, I wonder?”
“…whatever you want to share,” the copper-haired girl answered. “I’m not going to push. Not after seeing how troubled you are.”
The Japanese boy’s expression only grew more complicated when he heard her words.
“Sorry…for worrying you,” he whispered.
“Don’t apologize about something like that. We’re friends. Friends worry about each other, you know?” Amber said gently, resting her hand on the boy’s arm.
“Then, what about Phelan?” Shinji quipped. “Does he worry about anyone at all?”
The moment words left his mouth, he felt a hint of regret, as he remembered how much the other boy had worried about Granger and Weasley after seeing them injured on the train.
“That brother of mine is a bit dense, but he’s still well-meaning,” the earl’s daughter allowed, shaking her head. “He just has a funny way of showing he cares about people. Well, except if you’re a pretty girl, in which case he’ll act like a gallant knight for you.”
“Heh.”
“Well, except if you’re his sister, then he treats you like a nuisance,” Amber quipped.
“Heh. Well…sisters…sometimes are,” Shinji said after a few moments, thinking about the Tohsaka who had stolen—
“—tou. Matou!”
He came to with Amber shaking him, with his heart racing and feeling like it was hard to breathe.
“Are you ok?” the copper-haired girl asked with some concern. “You just looked like you were pretty far away just now. Or like you were about to collapse?”
“I’m…I’m fine,” the boy said, not wanting to worry her.
“Oh, honestly. Would it kill you not to try and carry everything by yourself one of these days?”
“Huh?” Shinji asked intelligently.
“…you and Lady Tsuji have a lot in common after all,” she muttered, almost too quietly for the boy to hear. “Come on. Get in.”
“Is…is Phelan not coming with us?” the boy hazarded. Would it…would it be just the two of them? Like a-a d-d-date?
“He’s probably at the memorial garden, so we’ll just pick him up from there.”
“Oh…”
The boy from the east wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed to hear that, but went ahead and got in the car, marveling at the luxury of it.
“Like it?” Amber asked, as she squeezed in next to him and took his hand, as if to reassure him that things would be ok.
“…yeah. I do,” he whispered, looking at their conjoined hands.
Just as Amber had thought, Phelan was indeed at the memorial garden, but he wasn’t alone. She found him in conversation with one Nymphadora Tonks, who was asking him about his time at Hogwarts, and what things were like with Quirrell as the Defense Professor.
“It’s just that I never thought that he would teach Defense,” Tonks was saying when Amber walked up to them. “He was always teaching Muggle Studies for a while, after all. I always thought he’d take over History from Binns. But Defense…?” The young woman shook her head. “He always seemed so gentle.”
“…gentle? Really?” the copper-haired girl interjected. “That’s not at all how Professor Quirrell seems now.”
“Well, they say people are full of surprises,” the Auror trainee allowed. “And I guess he’s trying to give his best, since he probably won’t be Defense Professor next year.”
“Huh. Why’s that?” Phelan asked, looking stricken. “Why would he—”
“The position’s cursed. Anyone who tries to last more than a year…” Tonks shook her head. “I’ll tell you wot, it was right tough getting qualified to become an Auror with a different teacher every year.”
“…that sounds pretty difficult,” Amber sympathized. “But if there’s a curse on the position, why not just make a new position that teaches the same thing? And leave the old post unfilled?”
“Because the curse isn’t that easy to fool. Dumbledore’s tried,” the Auror trainee noted. “And no one really wants to only have a job for a year. You need money to live, after all.”
“Funny. You’d think magic could let you just make everything you need out of thin air,” Phelan grumbled.
“Yeah, I thought that too, but magic doesn’t work like that. You can’t make things like food out of nothing, even if you can duplicate it,” Tonks noted, shrugging. “And even the things you can make, like living space, it’s not allowed.”
“…it’s not?” Amber echoed. “Really?”
“Yeah. Don’t look at me wot, I don’t make the laws,” the Hogwarts alumna mumbled.
“You just have to enforce them?”
“One day. When I become a full Auror,” Tonks sighed. “It isn’t easy, you know. Won’t be, even when training is done.”
“Is anything worth doing, ever really easy?” Amber questioned. “At least you’re following your dreams, right?”
“Heh. There’s that.”
There was a moment of silence, and then…
“Brother, I was going to ask if you wanted to come to Stratford-upon-Avon,” the copper-haired girl said, turning to the earl’s son. “Father left us the car for today, and I thought Matou could use a change of scenery.”
“Is his head buried in a book again?” the Gryffindor boy asked, somewhat exasperated. “I thought that today, we might finally look at the ruins. Or the mine!”
“Not today, brother,” Amber said, biting her lip. “Actually…he woke up screaming.” She shook her head. “I’m a little worried. I think he’s been having bad dreams for a while.”
“Bad dreams…huh?” Tonks echoed quietly.
“Yeah. Say, as an Auror, you know about things like nightmares and curses and stuff, right?”
“Wot about it?”
“…want to come along with us? I think Matou could use someone else to talk to. Someone who knows a bit more about this kind of thing.”
“Heh. I guess it’s my day off. And I always did want to see what it was like to ride in a car.”
Phelan blinked.
“You’ve…you’ve never ridden in—”
“Witch.”
“Oh. Then…”
“Yes. This will be my first time,” Tonks murmured huskily, glancing at Phelan with half-lidded eyes. “Please be gentle.”
To his credit, Phelan Noel did not pass out from embarrassment.
But only just.
Shinji was rather surprised when Tonks came to join them, but accepted it as just one of those things that happen sometimes, and well – he thought it was a good chance to ask the older Hufflepuff about how to deal with things like bad dreams.
"That’s a tough one. Many things can cause bad dreams. Sometimes it's a simple as eating something you don't agree with," Tonks explained, before her expression grew serious. "Other times, it can be something less...obvious." She tilted her head. "Did something troubling happen recently?"
"He ran into someone who...terrified him, a few days ago," Amber supplied, with Phelan looking puzzled by this.
"The person in the museum?" the boy asked, raising an eyebrow, failing to notice as Shinji tensed - though Amber certainly did, as she was holding his hand. "Really? I'd have thought you'd have...well, not bad dreams about—ow!"
Amber promptly smacked him, with Phelan shooting his sister a look.
"What was that for?" the earl's son asked, indignant at the rough conduct his sister of all people, was displaying.
"You know what."
"What's so bad about talking about someone like...like you-know-who?" he amended, flinching away from Amber's glare, and upraised hand.
Tonks, also in the car, had gone very-very still.
"...You-Know-Who?" Tonks repeated, her voice low and seemingly shaken, her posture quite stiff. "You saw...You-Know-Who?"
Shinji blinked.
"What?" he asked with some confusion. "Oh...you know...You-Know-Who?" He supposed that there might be some overlap, given they were both part of the magical world, but he didn't think magi - or Magicians - would bother with practitioners of witchcraft...
"...what are you saying? How can there be anyone who doesn't know about You-Know-Who?!" Tonks replied, her voice perhaps a bit higher than it should be.
The Japanese boy blinked again.
“Do you have any advice for dealing with…You-Know-Who? In case I run into—”
"Are you saying...you ran into him?” Tonks interrupted, her face a mask of horror. “That he's...alive?"
“Well, if I ran into…” Shinji trailed off, sharing a look with Amber as he realized that Tonks had said him, not her. "...actually I'm not sure we're talking about the same person," the Japanese boy said after a minute. "You...are talking about Miss Blue, yes?"
"Miss...Blue?" Tonks echoed, now utterly confused. "No. Who's Miss Blue?"
"Oh," Shinji said, feeling somewhat disappointed. "So…you don't know her. I thought..." He sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know what I thought."
"But who's this other You-Know-Who?" Amber asked of the Auror trainee. "Someone who is supposed to be dead?"
"...what are they teaching at Hogwarts these days?" Tonks muttered, shaking her head, still flustered. "The Dark Lord."
"The...Dark Lord?" Shinji echoed, looking at his first-year friends. "Uh...did Binns cover that in history, because...?"
Amber rubbed her eyes with her free hand.
"...he's covered a number of thing, but no one who was described as a Dark Lord," she supplied, recalling from Natsumi that Shinji always slept through that particular class. "Unless...do you mean that Voldemort fellow I read about in one of Phelan's books? The one who blew himself up with his own spell while trying to kill a baby?"
Tonks twitched at how casually they mentioned that name.
"...I suppose that's one way to describe what happened."
"Huh. Are people really that scared of someone long dead?" Phelan asked, because to an eleven-year-old, something that happened a decade ago was a very long time indeed.
"It's..." Tonks began, shaking her head. "It's a long story." She turned her attention back to Shinji. "I believe you were talking about dreams though?" she asked, clearly trying to change the topic. "Wotever the cause, I've always found a good snog helps me forget," Tonks teased, with Shinji looking...confused.
"A snog? What's that?" he asked, puzzled.
"Ah. You don't..." Tonks chuckled. "Once more, what are they teaching at Hogwarts these days? A good snog, wot? A kiss? A cuddle? A bit of necking, eh? Touching your lips to someone else's lips...or other parts. You know, doing what feels good." Tonks continued to give examples and synonyms, as Shinji grew redder and redder and redder, till his cheeks resembled a particularly ripe tomato.
"A-a-a-a, " Shinji stammered, his voice a shaky falsetto as all kinds of images raced through his mind. "I-I-I-I-"
"Wotcher sayin'? Surely you and this pretty girl have snogged at least once?" Tonks teased, with a delicate flush creeping over Amber's features, and Phelan just glaring. "Heh. Right. Firsties and all. Innocent as the virgin snow," she muttered. She shook her head, as if remembering that she wasn't talking to people her age. "You've tried Dreamless Sleep potions?"
Shinji nodded.
"Madam Pomfrey said I shouldn't take them too often though," the boy replied quietly. "That it wouldn't be good for me if I did."
"She's not wrong," Tonks agreed, shaking her head. "Well, a couple things then."
"Hm?"
"Sometimes, it helps to have someone to talk to about wots botherin' you," the Auror trainee noted. "Or at least to write it down so it isn't just bouncing in your head all day and night." She nodded slowly. "You could also try tensing and relaxing your muscles, or drinking warm milk."
"Nothing else, huh?" Shinji asked, though really, he hadn't expected much.
"...well, there's one other thing," Tonks said after a moment. "But it only works if you have someone good at coming up with stories."
"Oh, and what might that be?" Amber inquired.
"It's a group thing. Roleplaying, I think someone called it?" the Hogwarts alumna recalled. "When you walk through some of the events which bothered you, and reach a different conclusion."
"...I think I might have someone in mind to help with that," Amber noted, with a slight smile.
"Eh?" Shinji asked, blinking. "Who...?"
Amber only chuckled.
"All in due time, Mister Matou."
At Stratford-upon-Avon, how would Shinji like to go around?
[ ] With Amber
[ ] With Tonks
[ ] With Phelan[ ] With the group as a whole
What does Shinji ask about, during the ride over and while at Stratford? (choose one for each)
[ ] More information about this You-Know-Who
[ ] Family situations, and how they deal with...being unusual
[ ] Ask about general advice for Hogwarts
[ ] Ask about something else (write-in)
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[X] With Amber
[X] More information about this You-Know-Who during the ride
[X] Family situations, and how they deal with...being unusual while at Stratford
I know that people are more likely to want to pick walk around with the whole group, but at this point Amber has had to deal with so much of Shinji's moodiness and behavior that she needs Shinji to at least open up to her a bit. Them walking together here is not them falling madly in love together (come on they are 11yr) but more Shinji taking a moment in a new evironment and while he is somewhat distracted by all his more negitive thoughts to start maybe talking to her a bit more about why he is so....abnormal and concerning to her.
Shinji should not and really will not talk about family situation while Tonks and Phelen is around so if this wants to be done, it really needs to happen with Amber alone.
[ ] With the group as a whole
[ ] More information about this You-Know-Who
[ ] Ask about general advice for Hogwarts
[x] With the group as a whole
[x] Ask about general advice for Hogwarts
[x] Family situations, and how they deal with...being unusual
[x] With the group as a whole
[x] Ask about general advice for Hogwarts
[x] Family situations, and how they deal with...being unusual
I kind of agree that Shinji should have a serious talk with Amber soon. However, it can't really be helped that people would go with the group option since we initially picked that choice to spend time with both twins. And I think that kind of discussion deserves it's privacy, as it could make the mood awkward where it doesn't need to be.Originally Posted by Skull Leader
But yes, we need to address the matter before Amber eventually runs out of patience (or Phelan's head explodes), and we end up in a main route Hermione situation.
[x] With the group as a whole.
[x] More information about this You-Know-Who.
[x] Ask about Auror Training and what it entails.
Change my vote to:
[x] Ask about Auror Training and what it entails.
Walk around: [X] With the group as a whole
Car Ride: [x] More information about this You-Know-Who; [X] Ask about general advice for Hogwarts
Stratford: [x] Family situations, and how they deal with...being unusual
Things were silent for a while in the passenger compartment of the limousine, after having discussed such weighty topics. Shinji, at least, didn't have much to say, lost in his thoughts as he was. As for the rest...
"Miss Tonks, tell me more about this Dark Lord fellow," Phelan asked, his attention fixed on the Auror trainee who had just discovered the mini-fridge in the limousine and had proceeded to pour herself a drink. "Why do people call him You-Know-Who?"
"Mm, I'm curious too," Amber chimed in. "That seems like it could lead to some big misunderstandings."
Such as the one that had occurred only minutes ago, when the Hogwarts Alumna had panicked over a simple "You-Know-Who", thinking some fallen wizard had resurrected himself.
"...I thought everyone knew about him," Tonks replied, after emptying her glass in a single go. "It's not firewhiskey, but not bad." She frowned, seeing that Shinji was looking up at her, his face clouded and disapproving. "What?"
'...drinking all the time. Just like that man,' the Japanese boy thought with disgust, before he schooled his features back to some semblance of normalcy.
"It's nothing," the boy said, looking away, his body relaxing - but tensing in a different way - as Amber squeezed his hand. "Really."
Amber cast a worried look at Shinji, but Phelan's attention did not waver.
"About You-Know-Who then?"
"...right. I forget - you're all muggleborn," Tonks realized, shaking her head. "You and your sister, don't really act like it." The Hogwarts alumna paused, glancing around at the other first-years in the car with you. "You both seem...more confident than most muggleborn."
"It's probably because we're more gently born," Amber replied. "We're both of Noel family, one of Britain's noble houses."
"...that would do it," Tonks sighed.
"Are you of the nobility too?"
The Auror trainee made a face at this, as if she was very uncomfortable with such a question.
"I'm...part of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black," the metamorphmagus replied after a moment, with her hair growing turning blonde and her skin pale, such that she looked almost like Narcissa Malfoy, her aunt. "As much as there is one now."
"Ah, Minister Fudge mentioned that Lord Black left for America..."
"My...uncle didn't really feel like staying after the war ended," Tonks explained. "He...he was the one who found the corpse of You-Know-Who, as well those of his best friends, the Potters," Tonks said with a sad expression. "So he sold off the family house, and holdings, and left." She laughed, though it was something of a painful laugh. "Aunt Narcissa became the head of the family after that."
"Why your aunt?"
"Because Mum had been disowned, and my uncle forgot he could do something about that," Tonks noted, with Amber wincing sympathetically. "So as the only Black left in Britain, Aunt Narcissa became the family head, even if she's a Malfoy now. She let Mum back into the Black family after Dad died, even letting her act as the family head, even if being Lady Black is just a title these days, since the Malfoys own everything the Blacks used to."
"That sounds...complicated," Phelan grunted. It reminded him of some of those noble arrangements he didn't really care for.
"Does that mean you're the heiress of House Black?" Amber asked, with the Auror trainee's lips pressing together at the query.
"Who knows?" she replied, almost diffidently. "But don't be calling me Lady Black or some wot. The name's Tonks."
"As you wish, Miss Tonks," the Earl's son said gallantly, bowing slightly.
"Heh." The metamorphmagus shook her head. "You wanted to know about You-Know-Who, right? Anything in particular you wanted to know?"
Any questions? (choose two)
[ ] Why do people fear his name?
[ ] How powerful was he
[ ] Who was he?
[ ] What did he want?
[ ] (write-in)
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[ ] (write-in) Why he was so Powerfull?.
[ ] What did he want?
[X] Who was he?
[X] What did he want
The Babylon 5 questions never go out of style. Honestly I can not see them not asking the who is he question, calling this person You-Know-Who is cute but please tell us Ms Tonks.
[x] Why do people fear his name?
[x] How powerful was he
[X] Who was he?
[X] What did he want
[X] Who was he?
[X] What did he want?
[X] Who was he?
[X] What did he want
"Well, first, who was he?" Shinji asked, turning back to the conversation once he'd gotten some of this thoughts in order. "Who was this Dark Lord that people speak of only as You-Know-Who, over a decade after he died?"
Tonks grimaced, looking away.
"I don't know his real name, or who he was before he became a monster," she admitted after some time. "That was all before my time. Wot I do know is that he called himself Lord V-voldemort."
"That sounds almost french," Amber mused. "Flight of Death or something, maybe."
"Dunno. Didn't bother with foreign tongues or the like," the Auror trainee said, her face morphing into something like what Amber might look like in a few year's time. "He was powerful though. They say Dumbledore is the only one he ever feared."
"...Dumbledore?" Shinji echoed, looking rather confused. "But why would a Dark Lord fear a Headmaster?"
One didn't usually associate the head of a school with tremendous martial prowess - well, unless one was the Director of Atlas or something like that, but what were the odds of him running into such an individual.
"Y-you don't know?!" Tonks all but squawked. "How can you--"
"You'll have to excuse Matou," Amber interjected. "He doesn't find Binns' lectures particularly compelling."
"...I'm not one to judge, I s'ppose," the Auror trainee allowed. "Still, to think you don't know that Dumbledore ended the Global Wizarding War by defeating Grindelwald..."
"...how?" Shinji asked, unable to imagine the doddering old man he'd seen as anything but an administrator long past his prime. "Through a sternly worded letter?"
"A duel," Tonks corrected, perhaps a bit more peevishly than she meant to. "The longest and most brilliant duel in the history of the world some say. Though no one actually saw it except the two of them."
"...so what you're saying is, it really could have been anyone," Shinji mused aloud. "Perhaps some nameless hero brought him low and Dumbledore just took the credit?"
"W-why would you even think something like that?" the Auror trainee asked, looking at the Japanese boy as if he was some kind of...alien. Which in a legal sense, he was, but...it wasn't like he had two heads or something. Well...he supposed that maybe he did if one counted his berserk state as another entity, but...
"Because you shouldn't just trust what people tell you, especially if there are no witnesses and they're claiming to have done something incredible?" Shinji answered. Wasn't that just common sense? Any magus knew that much.
Tonks looked at him for a litlte while longer, before shrugging.
"Think what you will. It's of no concern to me, really," she said at last, though she seemed dissatisfied.
"So what did Voldemort want?" Phelan asked, trying to cut through the awkwardness.
"...what every dark wizard in history has ever wanted," the Auror trainee replied. "Power."
"If he was strong enough that the only one he feared was a hero who ended a world war, then wouldn't he have enough power?"
But Phelan flinched when Tonks turned her gaze on him.
"Dark wizards never have enough power. That's just how they are," she said flatly, words that greatly unnerved the earl's son. "Like dementors, they are always hungry. Never satisfied, no matter how much they gain, or how far they come." Then she smiled, an expression that was altogether false. "Now, onto something else, shall we?"
"W-well, how about your days at Hogwarts?" Amber inquired with a cheer that rang just as hollow. "Surely you must have adventures you could share? Or perhaps you were a prefect."
"Heh. I was never a prefect," Tonks corrected. "My Head of House said I lacked certain necessary qualities."
"Like what?" Phelan asked.
Tonks' lips curved up ever so slightly, though this time, it was genuine.
"Like the ability to behave myself."
What do you want to ask her about Hogwarts? (choose two)
[ ] What classes she recommends
[ ] Secrets passages and lore about the school
[ ] Which Professors are worth knowing
[ ] Her adventures as a student there
[ ] General tips
[ ] (write-in)
Last edited by alfheimwanderer; May 24th, 2018 at 02:58 AM.
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x] Secrets passages and lore about the school
[x] Which Professors are worth knowing
[X] Secrets passages and lore about the school
[X] Her adventures as a student there
[X] Secrets passages and lore about the school
[X] Her adventures as a student there
Or in other words, the Phelen Adventure! choices.
[x] Secrets passages and lore about the school
[x] Which Professors are worth knowing
"Anything interesting you discovered while you were a student, then?" Shinji inquired mildly. "Secret passages or things like that?"
"A few," Tonks admitted. "I might even tell you about them if you make it worth my while." She eyed the first years speculatively. "Not that knowing the ones inside the castle will do you much good if Filch finds you. He knows em all too, see?" Then she blinked, as if remembering something. "No, actually it might. Filch is dead, isn't he? Got an Order of Merlin for it to, wot?"
"Yes," Shinji answered, though he couldn't quite meet Tonks' eyes. "I...I couldn't save him," the boy said, his lips pressing together tightly. This was, strictly speaking, quite true.
"Who's the new caretaker?" the Auror trainee asked, her voice quite casual - too casual, by Shinji's estimation.
"...I don't know," the Japanese boy admitted. "I haven't been paying attention."
"I think that Hagrid fellow is filling in for now," Amber supplied helpfully. "The one who is supposed to start classes as a third year student next year." There had been something in the paper about how new evidence in the Chamber of Secrets had exonerated the half-giant from any involvement in the death of Myrtle Warren, meaning that he could continue his long-interrupted education at Hogwarts, starting as a 3rd year. Of course, the investigation had also implicated him in the trafficking of exotic animals such as Acromantulae, a finding which had disqualified him from receiving any reparations from the Ministry, or from receiving the usual financial aid offered to most students, so to cover the cost of his tuition, he would continue to be working for the school.
"Ah, Hagrid, huh?" Tonks echoed. "Good fellow, that. Or so I hear."
"How can someone who breaks the law be a good person?" Phelan asked, though he notably did not look at Tonks while he asked this.
"Sometimes, people have their reasons," the Auror trainee replied. "Not that I'll admit to saying that, mind. I'm an officer of the law, after all."
"I'd imagine not," Amber mused aloud. "But that's how it is with rules, isn't it? Some are well and good. Some are well-meaning and ineffectual. Some are just better off ignored."
"Sometimes people do the right thing for the wrong reasons. Sometimes, people do the wrong thing for the right reasons. In the end, its not just what you do, but the context in which you do it," Tonks noted. "It's like...people call Dumbledore a hero for killing Grindelwald, but if he'd killed the man before his rise to power, he'd have just been a murderer."
"So a crime is only a crime--"
"When people agree its a crime," the Auror trainee noted. "If enough people, especially those in power, agree something isn't a crime, then it isn't. That's how society works."
"And what if the people are wrong? What if say, the Dark Lord had won and taken over the Ministry, with the people's blessing?" Amber questioned. "Would this Voldemort then be in the right? Would it then be evil to keep opposing him?"
"...huh. I hadn't thought about that," Tonks admitted, shaking her head. "Binns never asked this sort of thing, you know."
"Class would be more interesting if he did," the copper-haired girl noted. "Instead he just drones on and on. Not a very good way to make us care about the past. As Matou here can attest."
"Huh? What was that about Binns?" Shinji asked, not quite following.
"You see my point?"
"...yes," the Auror trainee remarked with some amusement. "Unless Binns leaves or Dumbledore fires him though, that's how things will be. No one will apply to replace him if there's no opening. Even if we all wanted Binns binned."
Phelan made a face, while a sound suspiciously like "Ugh" escaping Shinji's lips.
'Maybe I should look into necromancy a bit more,' the Japanese boy thought to himself. 'It might be a good way to get rid of Binns.'
If he remembered correctly, there were rituals that would allow him to sacrifice human souls for power, and it wasn't as if he'd be hurting something that was actually alive. No, he'd be doing Binns - and everyone else - a favor, right?
"And what if he did disappear one day?" Shinji asked.
"Eh, that doesn't happen to ghosts," Tonks replied. "Once they choose to become ghosts, they're forever bound to this plane of existence."
"Huh. And there's no magic that can change that?"
"Not that I know of," the woman answered. "Spells to seal them into an item, if they're being a right nuisance, sure, but making them move on?" the Auror trainee shrugged. "Maybe the Unspeakables know. They do all sorts of strange things down in the Department of Mysteries."
"The Department of Mysteries?" Amber echoed, recalling something. "You didn't give us a tour of that place when we were at the Ministry."
"And I'm not going to talk about it. Like I said, I value my job."
"Heh."
'Mysteries, huh?' Shinji mused. 'Perhaps that's where the truly interesting bits of witchcraft are researched. Everything else so far is so...tame.'
Wave a wand, get some effect.
Nothing high level. Nothing dealing with concepts.
Of course, the fact that he was a first-year might have something to do with that, but what he had access to wasn't enough. He wanted more.
"Enough boring talk," Phelan interjected. "Tell us about your adventures."
"Well, there was the time someone laced the castle's pumpkin juice supply with love potions," the young woman said matter-of-factly. "Everyone did quite a bit of snogging that night. Filch just about went spare."
"Love potion?"
"Oh, not the stuff that makes people feel things for other people. Just the stuff which erases all their inhibitions." She smiled, ever so slightly. "Funny, how so many avowed enemies - especially Slytherins and Gryffindors - found their way into broom closets together, after a bit of dueling."
"What? Why?"
"Well, when you think about someone all the time, wondering where they are, what they're doing, sometimes the line between love and hate isn't quite so thick as people think," Tonks said with something much like a smirk. "They're not opposites, not really. If you didn't care about someone at all, you wouldn't hate them with all your heart, and dedicate every fibre of your being to proving yourself to them, or showing them up. You just wouldn't think of them at all."
For some reason, Shinji felt a chill go down his spine, but for the life of him, he couldn't quite think of why.
Any other questions about this...?
[ ] Tell me more about your time at Hogwarts
[ ] About those secret passages...
[ ] About ghosts...
[ ] Hypothetically, if Binns were to disappear...
[ ] No more questions about this
[ ] (write-in)
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
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