Private message to Aurora Sinistra

[alt_rabastan]

Rory -

Sorry to bother you so early, but I wanted to write before I got drawn into other activities and fully forgot. I wanted to ask you if my niece has been looking a little off to you lately?

We had tea on Sunday and aside from being slightly desperate to spend time with me, she appeared to be in good spirits. Something of a relief, since she's had that trouble with Carrow, you know. I did note that she didn't eat a single one of the biscuits I dished up, but didn't think much of it since I know she's just been to the Matron to have some of her teeth fixed.

Then, after the incident with Miss Frobisher yesterday, I happened to stroll by the Slytherin table at dinnertime and noticed that Hydra was barely eating at all. She also looked especially pale, but maybe it was just the lighting in the Great Hall? I can't tell if she's lost weight or not, since she's always looked like a breeze could carry her off, but it got me to wondering if she's trying to copy some of the older girls and their reducing regimens? But since the girl's had one of the biggest appetites for sweets since I can remember, this is just well bloody strange.

I wasn't here last year when all that business went down, but if something's wrong now, I won't let it go unnoticed again.

- Raz

Comments

[alt_sinistra]

Raz -

No worries about the time - the lovely thing about these journals is that I can read over my morning tea, and don't have to deal with an owl trying to find its way into my window at dawn.

About your niece ... as I've mentioned, she almost goes out of her way to avoid attracting attention in my class (though she's quite diligent about her homework, and knows the material when I've called on her, as I've told you before.) And of course, I'm rarely near the Slytherin table during meals.

But I did notice something a bit odd this week when her year were up for the evening observing - she was a bit more fumblefingered than usual when handling the instruments. Nothing that really indicated a problem, but not exactly normal for her - usually, she's a bit more deft. (Small fingers do make some of the mechanical adjustments easier.) I kept noticing her attention drifting a bit too, though at this point in the year, that's not unusual at all.

I'm sure your having a word with her - or maybe with Poppy, if you're worried? - would go a long way. Surely, it's much better to be sure it's nothing (or head something off early) rather than have more difficulty later.

I'd ask if you were up for a walk to Hogsmeade on an afternoon this weekend but I'm honestly not sure when I'll be able to get free, between the marking and the YPL details.

- Rory

[alt_rabastan]

Rory -

Cheers for your observations. Helpful, they are.

Doesn't seem right to have a word with the Matron before asking her about it herself. She'll probably pop along here one of these nights, anyway. I'd like to see how she looks at breakfast first, besides.

I've got a full weekend myself, but hey, if you want to have a drink in my office and mark together...might be fun? We can compare aloud our students most hilariously wrong answers! Mind, most the kids are a dead sight more clever than they were in my days, but still, some of the clunkers I get are worth writing down and remembering.

[alt_sinistra]

Raz -

Oh, I'd start with her, certainly. It's clear how much she looks up from you - a word might go a long way.

Ta for the offer, too, though I'm sure you'll win as far as hilarious answers: mine mostly run to extremely odd spellings, badly labelled maps, and ink blots obscuring confusion.

I'd promised my 6th years a review session just after dinner on Saturday, but perhaps around 8? Mum's sent an end of term package with some jam and biscuits (and a few bottles of interesting things, a couple of which might be to your taste) I'll bring along.

(She never quite got out of the habit of sending packages from when we were students, I think. Every year around this time, I get a massive package to sustain me through exams and marking. Fortunately, she started putting in alcohol when I started teaching.)

- R

[alt_rabastan]

Oh, oh, I already have a good one for you. So the Firsties had a question about "What is the best way to resist the killing curse known as Avada Kedavra?" Trick question, see? And a pretty simple one at that. But one of the cheeky buggers wrote down "Duck!" Another said "wash it off real good." Classic, yes?

Awww, so sweet of your Mum. Mine would just send me a big bag of galleons and tell me not to gamble it all away, for sweet Circe's sake. Which of course I NEVER did.

Around 8 sounds perfect. I'll find us some good paper marking music.

[alt_sinistra]

Oh, those are great. I just found an interesting one of someone who appears to think that an astrolabe is a Healer's tool used in diagnosing certain private parts. I'm not sure I want to try untangling that one. (And why on earth they thought I'd be asking about it on an astronomy exam, I've not the slightest idea.)

I do suppose that all those stories I heard of Slytherin gambling parties had to have something in them ... though knowing you, I'm quite sure you came out ahead more often than not.

Music would be lovely, and I look forward to whatever you pick. I am looking forward to some time in New London this summer to actually hear new things...

[alt_rabastan]

Bloody Erebus!

I've almost just spat tea out all over my book, thanks to you. Well, thanks to your tragically misinformed student, more like, but still. Was it a male student? Maybe he fancies you and has got his mind in the bog when he's sitting in your class.

I did alright, to be sure, but my mate Evan was the best. He could never lose.

Where do you live in the summer, anyway? They gave me some New London pile of rubble called Spencer House, but I've never even seen it. I'm usually at my brother's or at Buckingham, or off seeing my old quidditch mates, that sort of thing.

[alt_sinistra]

Glad to amuse, and yes, our creative student was male but I'd have thought him a tad young for that sort of thing - it was the second year's exam.

Summers, well. YPL trips, when those happen, of course, and that looks like it's going to be four weeks or so this summer, plus the planning time. (The ones we've already established, plus it sounds like they want me on site for the first week of the cadet training programme in case some detail goes wrong.)

Otherwise, I alternate between here and Mum and Dad's. Now the lot of us are out of the house, it's sort of nice to go back (Mum's cooking's really good, and she's got a thing about avoiding transfigured foods, so she keeps digging out traditional recipes, and some of them are really wiz.) But I usually only stay a day or two at a time, or my sister starts assuming I'll babysit.

Other than that, I'm usually up the tower here. Of course, there's other observatories, but our equipment here's much better than anything I could afford myself. I do visit folks sometimes - it's nice to chat with people whose eyes don't glaze over at the words "angle of declination". But people do get possessive about their space and such. And it's not like it used to be when muggle light interference was such a problem and you pretty much had to be in the middle of nowhere to see anything interesting, so everyone was desperate for any chance they could get.

I do like a few days in New London - rent a room, see a show, whatever the new things are, do some shopping, pick up whatever new texts and research bits are in. And of course, these days, the YPL planning takes a bit of time, so I'll be up several times this summer for that.

It must be nice to have a home base there, though - whether that's the pile they gave you or your brother's. Dad's got stories about apparating while drunk that scared me from ever trying if I'd had more than a glass or two.

[alt_rabastan]

I wouldn't be sure about that. I've been a twelve year old boy, remember? But it sounds like it wasn't meant to be intentionally lecherous.

Your Mum cooked, too? Brilliant! Mine grew up cooking a bit, but by the time she had kids she was your classic brittle society witch who ordered about the elves and sent back the soup a half a dozen times before it was just right. Her sisters still cooked, though, so I always looked forward to going over to my cousins', which wasn't all too often, but still...

Hey, why don't I let you use my rubble pile when you're in New London? I might not always be there, but even then you're welcome to it. It has a full staff, I'm told. And if I do happen to be there, then we'll have a great time of it, won't we? Seeing shows and whatnot.

[alt_sinistra]

The intentionally lecherous does look a little bit different, yes.

And Mum's a great cook. I might even talk her into sending a hamper, if it's not me she's spoiling, and no child of hers is a squib with reheating charms. Or you could come round sometime, if you can get free from your other duties: she's dead curious about you.

Thanks for the hospitality - lovely offer.

Only thing is - would gossip be a problem? Kids do talk, and some of their parents are just as bad, and the Ministry folks do keep going on about the YPL being a model organization in terms of behavior and so on. Even with staff around, people do come up with some of the nastiest explanations for things sometimes. (That said, the idea of company for some fun in New London's most tempting, and your company's always a pleasure.)

[alt_rabastan]

Your Mum's curious about me, is she? Brilliant. There's nothing I love more than to satisfy a woman's curiosity.

(Now is that what lecherous looks like? Heh.)

As for gossip, the staff is all elves, I believe, since I'm never there, so I don't think they would be a problem. I could arrange a portkey for you, or make a floo accessible only to you. That way, no one would have to see you come and go.

[alt_sinistra]

Very nice lechery, indeed. Well played.

Seriously, though - you do turn up in my owls home, and of course she's interested in meeting you. (And feeding you up, I'm sure. She has this idea that every unmarried man lives in misery and never eats well, elves or no elves.) But she and Dad have been blissfully married for ages, and she's a champion at deflating flirting from every friend my brothers brought home, and a fair half their dads.

On the gossip-prevention - that would do most nicely, and in that case, I'd be quite glad to take you up on the offer. Much better than a room over one of the pubs.

I'm guessing you're mostly going to be at Buckingham with Harry for the summer, barring the cadet programme, but if you do know of time off, I'll coordinate as much as I can.

[alt_rabastan]

I eat just fine, as you know, but I'd never turn down a Mum-cooked meal. I promise not to be lecherous, either. I clean up well, you'll see.

I wish I could tell you more about what my summer entails, but truthfully, I don't know. I expect that Harry will be at Buckingham, which at least puts me in the vicinity of New London. One of the Lord Protector's usual guards should be able fill in for me if I take a night or two off. I'll still be on call in case of emergency, of course, but hopefully it won't come to that.

[alt_sinistra]

I'm quite sure you clean up well. (And of course we don't need mothering - but I admit it's nice once in a while.)

Tell you what - we can compare calendars on Saturday and suggest a couple of possible dates to Mum once everyone's gone home for the summer. I'll let her know that something might come up, and you can floo over.

[alt_rabastan]

Sounds about aces, love. See you Saturday at around 8.

-Raz