Welcome to Hogwarts!
Sep. 1st, 2010 07:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alt_rabastanAnd I extend that welcome to myself as well as to all students, both new and returning.
I have already overheard a few students speaking about the incident on the train with the Dementors, and I can assure you that unpleasant as they may be, they are considered a necessity at this time. As you were told, it has been determined by the MLE that they are to be stationed near the location of Hogwarts, as their unique properties make them ideal for keeping the escapees from Azkaban at bay. In general, however, the Dementors are unable to distinguish between their targets and innocent bystanders, and as such you are advised to steer clear of them entirely. The MLE has stationed wranglers to keep them from approaching the castle and the village of Hogsmeade.
As Madam Pomfrey said in the opening remarks, chocolate is an ideal antidote for the side-effects that their presence may cause. Bear in mind this is one of the few times you will have adults encouraging you to eat as much chocolate as you can, so take advantage of it, though mind you don't make yourself sick. Most Professors will be carrying supplies of chocolate on them, should you need any.
As for what else occurred on the train, it is in fact true that I have a limp. It's a perfectly normal thing to make fun of and I would have been quite surprised had it not happened almost immediately upon my arrival. I assure you that my feelings are not hurt in the least and I think that the matter is harmless enough that it can be, for all concerned parties, safely dropped at this time.
It was a delight to see everyone at the feast, and I particularly enjoyed meeting my new colleagues. Some I have met before, but under quite different circumstances (right, Professor Slughorn?). But still, very good to be back.
I have already overheard a few students speaking about the incident on the train with the Dementors, and I can assure you that unpleasant as they may be, they are considered a necessity at this time. As you were told, it has been determined by the MLE that they are to be stationed near the location of Hogwarts, as their unique properties make them ideal for keeping the escapees from Azkaban at bay. In general, however, the Dementors are unable to distinguish between their targets and innocent bystanders, and as such you are advised to steer clear of them entirely. The MLE has stationed wranglers to keep them from approaching the castle and the village of Hogsmeade.
As Madam Pomfrey said in the opening remarks, chocolate is an ideal antidote for the side-effects that their presence may cause. Bear in mind this is one of the few times you will have adults encouraging you to eat as much chocolate as you can, so take advantage of it, though mind you don't make yourself sick. Most Professors will be carrying supplies of chocolate on them, should you need any.
As for what else occurred on the train, it is in fact true that I have a limp. It's a perfectly normal thing to make fun of and I would have been quite surprised had it not happened almost immediately upon my arrival. I assure you that my feelings are not hurt in the least and I think that the matter is harmless enough that it can be, for all concerned parties, safely dropped at this time.
It was a delight to see everyone at the feast, and I particularly enjoyed meeting my new colleagues. Some I have met before, but under quite different circumstances (right, Professor Slughorn?). But still, very good to be back.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 02:48 am (UTC)I don't give warnings lightly. But you're new here, so thought you might appreciate it.
Hoods would find him a tempting morsel, if they got up close. Blood-traitors are mighty tasty to Dementors, they say. Throw them an hors d'oeuvres and they'll prove to be right useful little friends.
Friends with bloody awful fashion sense, I'll admit. But you can't have everything.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 03:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 03:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 03:35 am (UTC)Private message to Raz
Date: 2010-09-02 02:54 am (UTC)So he'll be your student now, eh? Any temptation to enact a little justice?
Re: Private message to Raz
Date: 2010-09-02 02:58 am (UTC)Of course it's bloody well tempting, but I can't say I see the point in giving him a hard time. As much as Draco seems to think he was doing something sinister, the kid seems...pretty harmless.
I'm supposed to be the grownup here, so. That's what I'll be.
Re: Private message to Raz
Date: 2010-09-02 03:01 am (UTC)Re: Private message to Raz
Date: 2010-09-02 03:02 am (UTC)And now that you've mentioned whiskey, I feel my blinder coming back. Cheers for that, I think not!
no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 02:59 am (UTC)And I guess we'll drop it then. Only nobody ought to make fun of you.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 03:04 am (UTC)Private Message to Rabastan
Date: 2010-09-02 03:05 am (UTC)And the boy? What was the Dementors' justification - did you determine anything?
Re: Private Message to Rabastan
Date: 2010-09-02 03:33 am (UTC)Re: Private Message to Rabastan
Date: 2010-09-02 03:36 am (UTC)It's too much to hope Our Lord will not require report. Marx, you say?
Re: Private Message to Rabastan
Date: 2010-09-02 03:50 am (UTC)Marx, yes. First name Walter, I believe.
Private Messae to Professor Lestrange
Date: 2010-09-02 03:12 am (UTC)I really don't want you to think I would ever do what Draco Malfoy suggested I did. The thing is...I hope you don't mind me saying it sir, but I wanted to meet you and learn from you because--
Well, I heard you fought against that woman. I don't even want to say her name, because I think it's so unfair that she has the same name as me. That woman who abandoned me when I was just a little kid. I hate it when people call her my mum because what sort of mum is that? I just wanted you to know that I hate her and so I was excited to meet you because I heard you got some real good licks in on her when you fought her.
I hope you won't think it's wrong for me to say I'm only sorry you didn't get the chance to kill her. Then maybe me and my sister wouldn't be living under a cloud like this, and everyone could see we were really good citizens of the Protectorate. Like they talk about all the time in the YPL.
So you see, I wouldn't have tried to take the mickey out on you. Sir.
Anyway, that's it. That's what I wanted to tell you.
Re: Private Messae to Professor Lestrange
Date: 2010-09-02 04:03 am (UTC)I'm here to teach all of the students, Mr Longbottom, regardless of where or who they come from. So yes, you will learn. In fact, I hope that you will learn more than you had even counted on. You and your sister both.
Now, do pardon my bluntness here, but I really have nothing to say about your Mother to you, or about what I experienced during that particular stretch of history, when I wasn't very much older than yourself. And since I'm not Professor Lockhart, I won't be telling any tales about them in class, either.
There are many ways to be a good citizen that don't involve wishing for things that never can be, especially when one is young, and life and its many choices still lie before them.
Re: Private Messae to Professor Lestrange
Date: 2010-09-02 12:21 pm (UTC)Private Message to the Razzer
Date: 2010-09-02 03:22 am (UTC)As for Longbottom, were it me, I'm sure I'd be as tempted as you doubtless are to give him marks that match his taste level. But then it's just as likely that his act will gain you even more of the young ladies' sympathies and you shall find yourself with a hundred new admirers.
Re: Private Message to the Razzer
Date: 2010-09-02 03:52 am (UTC)I could always use another few hundred admirers, but it does tend to remind one that all the best are already taken!
Re: Private Message to the Razzer
Date: 2010-09-02 03:57 am (UTC)Unfortunately for you, you're far too approachable. And flattering. Taken, yes, and happily, too.
Re: Private Message to the Razzer
Date: 2010-09-02 04:08 am (UTC)The goods are entirely too under-ripe here, mind. Let that be noted before you go accusing me of anything untoward.
Re: Private Message to the Razzer
Date: 2010-09-02 04:22 am (UTC)Though there are some seventh-years who might cause you to regret your newfound propriety.
Re: Private Message to the Razzer
Date: 2010-09-02 04:28 am (UTC)A pox on them! I'll give them all "T"s for this.
Too bad the Sandoval girl is gone.
Re: Private Message to the Razzer
Date: 2010-09-02 04:41 am (UTC)Re: Private Message to the Razzer
Date: 2010-09-02 04:44 am (UTC)Yes, positively dreadful girl. Repulsive.
Except for. I completely agree with you, of course.Re: Private Message to the Razzer
Date: 2010-09-02 05:17 am (UTC)Rabastan Basil Lestrange, you are impossible.
Private message to Rabastan Lestrange
Date: 2010-09-02 04:08 am (UTC)I was glad to see you've got much the same view of the student fussing that I do: it's a stage they go through where everything is larger than life, and absolutely the center of the universe. Silly, really.
I will say that making fun of you - or of anyone other than perhaps his mates - seems most unlike Neville Longbottom. Not that they don't change, or do foolish things, but Neville's tended to hang back quietly rather than draw attention to himself. At YPL events, he's been thoughtful but clearly taking it all in, and aware of the difficulties of his family history. On the other hand, it's exactly those children who - through no fault of their own - come from challenged families who are at the core of the YPL's goals. If we can train them properly, surely the Protectorate will be better off.
At any rate, one more welcome, and do give a shout if there's anything else I can lend a hand with. You won't see me at breakfast much, as I'm up half the night with classes once things get going, but I'm usually around in the afternoon and early evening when not teaching.
-S
Re: Private message to Rabastan Lestrange
Date: 2010-09-02 04:20 am (UTC)I've found a few odds and ends up here, but nothing too alarming. I'm more perturbed at the thought of someone genuinely and earnestly purchasing a cloak pin with a built-in "cloak-billowing charm" than I am by the pin itself. And what sort of man has a curling iron?
I don't yet know him, but Mr Longbottom doesn't strike me as one who would go out of his way to make a spectacle of himself. Teenagers do occasionally do mindless things when they believe that no-one is watching, but that's to be expected. Like you, I am certain that with the right guidance, Mr Longbottom and others like him will find their rightful place in the Protectorate.
I'm a little envious of your schedule, I admit. Early mornings will take some getting used to.
Re: Private message to Rabastan Lestrange
Date: 2010-09-02 04:27 am (UTC)As to the schedule, I'd cheerfully trade early mornings for not having to stand on top of a tall tower in the middle of the night in February. It is rather a pity we couldn't just relocate Hogwarts to some slightly more temperate area of Britain now that privacy is no longer the concern it was in my day (and yours.)
Which reminds me I need to move the basic warming charms earlier in the first year curriculum, as otherwise we get nothing done for the fumbling with gloves and hats once we hit mid-October or so.
One of the benefits of being staff, by the way - if you let the house elves know that you appreciate a strong hot tea (or your other morning beverage of choice), and the time, they're quite prompt. A lifesaver, the mornings I do have to be up and about early for some reason.
At any rate, enjoy your first night back here: I'm off to ready one or two last things for tomorrow, and then see exactly how much they've all forgotten in the morning.
Re: Private message to Rabastan Lestrange
Date: 2010-09-02 04:35 am (UTC)Oh, will the elves bring me a pint first thing in the morning, then? Only of course I'm not serious. Certainly not. I'll only request a pint at night.
Cheers, I still have quite a bit of work to get through before I turn in, but I'm looking forward to it. Now, do be sure to have a brilliant first day back tomorrow.