Finder's Keeper

[man_nav_naudas]

WHO:  The Francūzis un Zēns
WHEN: Friday evening, October 22
WHERE: The Dungeons, the Potions Classroom
WHAT:  The magpie perches on a precarious branch...
RATING: ???

Comments

[la_grand_vie]

The professor of potions had admittedly been looking forward to the time in with a certain small, stuttering garçon- After all, if you excluded Soren's mischievous obedience to him, Raivis was really the one student that was never too much of a fret.

The one time the pawn of an adolescent did cause a little trouble?

Well now, that only gave the professor a fine teaching prospect, didn't it? And very fine one at that. With the addition of the drugged food it seemed... to be almost delightfully ironic. Rather than have Raivis quaking with fear the entire time, Francis might in fact be able to become closer with the boy without triggering a panic attack.

When he saw the flowers however, he knew beyond doubt in his mind that the ‘might’ had turned to would.

“Mmm, mon enfant-“ the professor sat up slightly from reclining in his chair, smiling lazily over at the student and beaconing him over with a single digit. “Just in time. Come, come now. How are you doing this magnifique evening, hm?”

[man_nav_naudas]

For the first instant in Raivis's fairly short lived life, he found himself fervently wishing his knowledge of language and linguistics extended beyond the prerequisite English, his native Latvian and the begrudgingly forced-upon-him-at-childhood Cyrillic alphabet. No luck tonight and Raivis was left with a sense of bitter disappointment. Which was so very, very odd.

Normally, the emotion he would have ascribed to the oily grin and the prospect of a one on one lesson with the Professor was 'terror'. The kindly gesture and the lilting accent, however, only now made him want to succeed. He felt 'inspired' by the idea that his Potions Master would be so kind as to correct his erroneous ways and so smiled back accordingly, dipping into a polite half bow as he offered a small number of marigolds in a quivering fist. "Well, Sir. A-as... as I hope you are. I-it was a wonderful match today, w-wasn't it?"

[la_grand_vie]

"I rather enjoyed it myself, oui," Francis slid out of his chair, standing up to his full height and looking down at the small, adorable boy in front of him. He took the flowers with a gentle hand, brushing their hands together for only a small moment and noticing how warm Raivis seemed to feel. "These are for me~? How sweet of you Raivis..."

He headed over towards the back counter, filling up a flask with water and depositing the flowers into it, taking care to arrange them just so before looking back over his shoulder at his student. "You're really one of my favourite students~ were I to pick a favourite."

[man_nav_naudas]

Predictably bright red cheeks? Present. Face turned nervously toward feet to hide the blush and habitual gnawing at a bottom lip? Accounted for.

"Mer...Merci beaucoup," The youth offered in a shaky, barely passable pronunciation which though somewhat off the mark ('mare-sea', for the love of God, not 'mercy'), was so utterly sincere it didn't much matter. He stood by the edge of the desk, reflexively cradling the hand that had been so casually touched with an expression that clearly said, 'The Professor just complimented me'.

Not so long before, those eyes would have been teary and wide for a far darker reason.

"But I... I don't deserve that." Raivis's voice had descended to a whisper, "I was s-so out of line with that potion...I don't- I-I underestimated the potency of it even when diluted and... that was such an amateurish mistake..." Never mind he was still a fourth year.