Open RP: Office Hours for Charms

[narcissa_always]

Having directed the following notice:

Office hours currently being held for Charms. All students (both current and new) are encouraged to meet with Professor Malfoy in her third floor office, next to the Charms classroom, during this time if they have anything they wish to discuss.be posted in the common rooms of every house, the Great Hall and

Comments

[narcissa_always]

Ah, so this was Stephen Maturin, the man Narcissa was nearly positive she had corresponded with on the last secrets board and then subsequently sent an anonymous thank you to for what aide he had been. Still a guess in part, of course, but she had watched the progression of the rest of the secrets board to be nearly certain he was one of them and also which he was. That he was clearly Muggleborn was not lost on her, but she was aware that he had filled Severus' former position quite well and it was something to grudgingly respect in addition to what occurred on the secrets board. So, while a year ago she might not have willingly taken the effort to speak to a Muggleborn, she did have a reason to do this. If she wished to continue at her job, which she found she did even more as time passed, it would require not only being polite, but finding aspects of her colleagues to respect in order to work with them when necessary.

"Quite a challenge," she said, lifting a small bell from the desk in front of her, "in more ways than one." She summoned the house elf then, the creature already bearing a tray with tea which was set on a small table next to the desk close to the chair Stephen occupied. She gestured to it with one slender hand in clear offer to take or leave as he desired before continuing, "though the challenge came more from discovering Hogwarts to be nothing like what I remembered than from the position itself." That, of course, covered most of it, from the class situation to the fact it was now full of people who could not even properly be termed Muggleborn in some cases. Old beliefs and biases no longer fit what all Hogwarts held now.

"Now what can I do for you, Dr Maturin?" she asked, laying aside the parchment in front of her to focus entirely on Stephen. While she was more than at ease with social niceties, she was far more interested in what precisely would have brought him to her office today, as she had yet to instruct any of the faculty in class or solo study.

[estebanmd]

Stephen cleared his throat. Explaining evil clowns to the cool, collected woman behind the desk suddenly seemed a less simple task than he had expected, not least of all because he suspected her not to be quite as collected as she might project. While Stephen might misread the likes of Homsar to satisfy his mun's weird Homsar fixation, he had a knack for reading human people, without which he would not have survived long as an intelligence agent (or collected much money at cards, either), and he did grasp that in dealing straightforwardly with him, Narcissa Malfoy was extending herself beyond the level of social interaction she found comfortable. He had faced down admirals, made the head of naval intelligence quail, but those were men, and could be dealt with summarily and curtly. The Charms professor would need careful handling. The fight against evil clowns was too vital to risk alienating a powerful potential ally.

"A research question has brought me outside my own area of expertise and into yours. Have you heard of the enchanted chocolates which have been circulating throughout the school?"

[estebanmd]

"There is a chocolate that can turn the one who consumes it into an evil clown." He watched Narcissa's face to gauge her reaction to the last two words. "It is not the chocolate itself that is the subject of my research, naturally, and I do not believe such chocolates are the source of evil clowns in general. What concerns me for the present is that I should like to duplicate this evil clown effect safely for experimental purposes, and have come into a supply of these chocolates. It has been suggested to me that the chocolates derive their effect not from their ingredients alone but from some sort of charm."

[narcissa_always]

"I have," Narcissa said, reaching for the teacup that had already been on her desk, though she did not drink from it just yet. While she had been unaware of anyone she knew being affected, such as Sirius willingly turning himself temporarily female, she had heard of some of the effects of the items. She normally took her meals in her rooms but it sometimes paid to visit the more populated areas of the school to stay informed and learn of anything that might be of use to her.

"I attributed it to Zonko's hijinx, or something quite like Zonko's. Items like that are no strange occurrence in Hogwarts, though I am surprised at the number of people so willing to eat food that is left out unprotected." She shook her head briefly that something children in the wizard world learned at an early age was lost on those in Hogwarts now, especially those who really should know better, and then sipped her tea, setting the cup down as she continued. "So, in what way can I help you with Charms in relation to the chocolates?"