Mist and Mirages on Transfiguration

A Memory

January 20, 2021 5:54 AM

Rumors and Accusations by A Memory

OOC: Can be set in any stretch of corridor, as suits whoever finds it BIC:

The lady who appeared in the corridor was neat and tidy. The desk she sat at was too. It was very much a desk with a place for everything, and everything in its place. Pinned to the front of the desk were the words ‘Class 4C Code of Conduct’ followed by a list of things like ‘I respect other people’s property’ and ‘I do not interrupt.’ She had her hair pinned back in a bun which, even at the end of a long and frazzling day, still had each hair firmly in place. ‘Firmly in place’ was a good description of how Marie Clarkwell operated not just her hair-do but her entire class.

The rumor on the playground was that Ms. Clarkwell’s class was the Bad Kids’ Class. That was what the playground said. The playground said that the staff had a sweepstake on which kid would land up in jail first, and all the best bets came from Ms. Clarkwell’s class. That was why they tracked your progress after you left school – to know which teacher won. Of course, the playground also said that you could catch cooties by sitting on the same chair that someone with cooties had used, and the Mr. Marlowe had once got so annoyed with a student twanging their ruler on the desk that he’d taken it and crunched it up and swallowed it. Those were all dead true certain facts. Someone had heard it from so-and-so’s brother whose friend had seen the board with the bets/had to go get a special lotion/been there and really seen it happen.

Amongst her colleagues, Ms. Clarkwell did have a reputation for being able to deal with tough cases, so maybe she got a few more of those than others, but not that every kid who landed in Ms. Clarkwell’s class was a bad kid. Sometimes kids just wound up there for other reasons. Like random selections, or gender ratios, or not being able to stay in the same class as someone else.

Sometimes, the playground didn’t say it was the bad kids’ class or the class where the sure-fire jail bets came from. Sometimes the playground just called her not nice names. Judging from the little bit of history that was about to repeat itself, the playground occasionally got a fact right.

"I've noticed since we split you up in class, your schoolwork isn't as good. Your homework still seems the same though. Can you explain why that is?"

Whatever the response, it caused Ms. Clarkwell’s mouth to fold itself up into a thin line.

"That's what I thought," she stated. "Your homework should be your own effort."

There was a pause in which she leant forward, eyes intently looking down at the person in front of her. It was an expression under which all but the surest and sturdiest of explanations would have begun to crumble.

“Based on what I’m seeing, he’s helping you a little too much,” she suggested.

She stopped speaking for a moment, but whatever reply this got was clearly cut off by her holding up a hand.

"I will believe you if you show me that you can do it. Produce the same quality of work in school and at home, and we won't have a problem."

She fizzled out sharply. As if a door on a thought was being firmly closed before it got to the worst part.

13 A Memory Rumors and Accusations 0 A Memory 1 5

Mab

January 30, 2021 1:05 PM

Mist and Mirages by Mab

Mab walked down the hall, heading in for Transfiguration office hours. Weirdly, the theory was easy enough for her, and her essays were getting her through with passing grades, but her wand work had never been great. Partly, she thought, it was because she'd been doing magic without a wand before she knew magic was a thing, and her magic just didn't like being channeled in this new way. Now three years in, she was getting better at it, but she was still below average for any practical class that did a lot of wand waving. Not so behind that it was notable, that Bel or Mom made mild suggestions that she could be doing better in school, or that she'd gotten a strongly worded suggestion that she ought to join the academic assistance group, but enough that she felt it was a good idea to come to office hours on a semi-regular basis so Professors Wright, Skies, and Brooding-Hawthorne of DADA knew she was making genuine effort and not just slacking off like some Pecaris were known to do.

Before she got there, though, she encountered a mist in the corridor that coalesced into the form of a woman she did not know but recognized in function. It was clearly the same sort of apparition that had manifested during Divinations the other day, the same sort that they'd been told about being an unsolved but seemingly not dangerous problem in the school. Mab took note of the time, and her precise location in the hallway.

Curiously, she watched the school counsellor discuss homework with somebody who wasn't there. It wasn't a problem she'd ever had, but she felt for the kid being talked to. She'd had other discussions with similar women about fighting in the halls. It was a problem that thankfully hadn't followed her to Sonora, in part because nobody here had the kind of aggressive belligerence that she couldn't back down from, and in part because her foster mom was a cop and Mab didn't want to get busted and have to do community service again, which Bel would absolutely enforce if the auror didn't get a very good explanation for why Mab was fighting, even if no formal charges were made.

As the woman fizzled out, Mab resumed her trek toward Professor Skies' office, a bit quicker than before.

She walked into the office hours with her notes and books, but what she said first was, "I just saw one of the apparition things, in the hallway just a minute ago, back towards Professor Wright's room. It was a lady talking about homework. She didn't seem dangerous. She's gone now, though. Did you want to see the spot?"

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