Post by Trevor Williams on May 19, 2012 23:10:50 GMT -8
Bob = Robert Lawson, Jack Halden
AK = Rika Lefcourt, Annabelle Lefcourt
Joe = Lazarus Durnal
Me = Casey Winslow
Thursday, November 6, 2008
"Blimey Long Day.." Lawson mumbled to himself as he strolled along one of the many, seemingly endless Corridors of Hogwarts. It'd been a long day certainly, trying to pound the finer points of Transfiguration into the heads of the students, some who were interested while many didn't give a rip. It wasn't exactly where he wanted to be in life of course, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Oh yes... Hell even Potions class would be suitable, but some probably worried he'd flipout and use a killing curse on a disorderly student.. Ridicules! The only time he'd ever used that curse in a irresponsible manner was a long age ago when he shot Spiders off the wall, but he was a different man now. A lot had changed, and this was the first step to claiming the life he desired. There was still plenty of distrust to go around for former Death Eaters, but it was different for him. Maybe it wasn't so much the fact he'd been a Death Eater, but his vendetta against them. In all honesty he wasn't proud of how he conducted himself during those dark days, he'd done some horrific things during the years on the run. But he didn't regret the vendetta he'd carried out against them, they deserved it, all of them and he'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Truth was, Professor Lawson hardly looked the part of a Death Eater, Cleancut, he wore a brown suit with a blue and bronze tie in the color of the Ravenclaw house. He looked like a 50 year old Professor, not the maniac renegade Death Eater that some had accused him of. The only thing about him that reveled his true past was the scar on his left forearm, the Darkmark had faded into a scar since Voldemorts downfall but it still served as a constant reminder to the years behind him, his love love and the pain and suffering his bad decisions had brought upon him and others. Lawson sighed softly, shaking off the memories of the past as he pushed down the corridor, with no particular destination in mind.
It had been a long day. Indeed it had. Worse yet, she had spent a lot of it dealing with either her “dear” cousin Annabelle or Lex’s attempts of getting her attention on even the most trivial things. For her it was hard to decide what had been worse. The pitiful attempts of harassment coming from Annabelle and her friends -if Annabelle even had something like that, most of those following her seemed to be minions anyway- was one thing, Rika could deal with that, she had learned to do so a couple of years ago at Shirasagi. Dealing with Lex was a completely different thing. Not that the other girl was nosey, no, that was not it. But Lex seemed to be obsessed with the harmony inside Ravenclaw. That was the really annoying part.
With different circumstances Rika would have possibly agreed with Lex. But things were as they were, she couldn’t change it. She didn’t want to change it. What for? To become friendly with those who annoyed her? For what reason? Just to be betrayed again? No. She wouldn’t go that far. Never again. No matter what anyone would say, she just wouldn’t. Professor Winslow, Lex, or whoever else, she wouldn’t listen to them, wouldn’t obey, wouldn’t fall into conformity just to appease their oddball desires for harmony and “friendship”.
Now Lex was rambling about the space in the dormitory again, but Rika had already stopped listening to her. It was a pity that they had to share this room. She was picking up her yumi, the pack of arrows and the rest of the equipment and was already heading for the exit of the Ravenclaw common room.
“Hey!” Lex yelled after her. “I’m talking to you! You have chores to do!”
But within a few seconds Rika was already outside in the corridors. Why did Lex think that she even cared about chores or anything else connected to this place? Sure, the lessons were there, the subjects were interesting, at least some of them. But anything else, no. She just didn’t care.
Rika left the Ravenclaw area and took a dive into the corridors. Surely she attracted looks with the huge bow, the arrows and her untypical clothes -a white gi and purple hakama-, but Rika had come to one conclusion. She needed the archery, otherwise she’d sooner or later lose her focus and would start messing up in the subjects. It wasn’t about family honor, or what others would think. This one was just about herself. She simply refused to fall below her own expectations. And as it was, in order to achieve her normal academic performance she didn’t need any friends or outside harmony here at Hogwarts. What she needed was focus and concentration, and that could be achieved best with a bow and a few dozen arrows.
As she pushed down the corridor towards the exit she had to pass several other students who all seemed to head into the opposite direction. Rika had neither eyes nor ears for them. She completely ignored Annabelle and two of her friends on the side. Though, she didn’t really ignore them. She merely failed to realize their presence. And Annabelle was clever enough not to cast right there in the corridor in front of everyone. Slytherin didn’t have to lose any points for this one. She’d be able to deal with this in a far easier way. Rika seemed to be in a hurry and, again, she was carrying all this ridiculous stuff. So Annabelle decided to rush after her.
The three Slytherin girls closed in, a lot faster than Rika, who was also held up by the traffic. The next thing Rika realized was an uncomfortable bump against her body. To make it worse, all three of them were taller than her and had more momentum. The first one knocked her against the wall, the second made her drop and spill the arrows. And just when Rika was about to go down in order to pick them up, Annabelle bumped into her knocking her down on the floor.
“Oh, excuuuuuuuuuuse me!” Annabelle cheered before trying to make it for the next corner.
By that time, however, Rika was already on her knees. Though, she had to get there anyway, after all her arrows were spilled on the floor and there was a good chance that people would be stepping on them. So far Rika hadn’t found anyone in Diagon Alley who’d be capable of making such arrows, simply because there was no market for it in England. Kneeling there Rika began gathering the arrows. Some of them, though, were already rolling away and stepped upon. That was the moment when Rika muttered a curse under her breath.
It was then that Lawson heard a bit of a commotion behind him, quickly he turned on his heel to see what in blazes was going on. But by the time he turned to look, Rika was already on the ground. It was kind of fortunate that he'd missed the real event, "Oh dear, " he exclaimed, the girl seemed to be a bit of a klutz.. Then again with all the stuff she was carrying? It was no wonder she'd dropped atleast something. "Hold on there!" he called out, quickly crossing through the other students to her.
"Let me help you.." Lawson bent down on one knee, setting his own books beside him as he helped her pick up the arrows. "You shouldn't carry so much, You don't see arrows like this every day." He could tell by their apperance that they weren't some run of the mill arrow you could find in some archery shop. As soon as he collected the majority of the arrows he finally looked the student in her face. "uhm.. Becky is it?" So far he wasn't very familer with his students, but he'd seen her in his class.
At this rate she would, sooner or later, teach Annabelle a little lesson. Or, at least she would, if the situation was different. However it wasn’t, thus Rika had decided to simply ignore it. And now this. One of the teachers was about to help her gathering her arrows. How did the English call this? From the frying pan into the fire? It was certainly embarrassing. Why did people always interfere...
Rika bowed her head taking the arrows he had collected. But then he addressed her with Becky. That made her blink. Becky? Who was Becky? Staring at professor Lawson for a second she finally said. “Lefcourt. Rika Lefcourt, sir.”
"Oh.. I'm sorry, So sorry.." His cheeks turned a slight shade of red as he realized his mistake. "I'm still not familer with all of my students.. names, faces.. not to good with them you know?" He said as he picked his own books up and got up to his feet. It took a moment for it to click, but.. Lefcourt? Lawson fell silent for a few moments, as he gave her a quick once over. "Did you say your of the Leftcourt family?"
That was indeed surprising, if they were the same Lefcourts but that wasn't a common name so.. chances were she was of that family, though distantly related maybe? "Who are your parents?
Sorry. Yes, they always were sorry after doing something stupid or otherwise wrong. It was typical. Rika could feel his gaze on her. Oh how she hated that. But it was normal. People heard “Lefcourt” and the first thing that came into their minds was: “Oh, but she doesn’t look like one.” And then people usually started to wonder how this was possible.
So he asked her about her parents. What a surprise. No, not really. “Yes sir, the Lefcourt family, from Slytherin. My father is Geoffrey Lefcourt.” As for her mother... She didn’t want to mention her. If there was someone responsible for all of this mess, then it was her.
Lawson perked a brow at the name "Geoffrey" he knew that name all to well. "Geoffrey, Brother to Hector and Richard Lefcourt.." He said dryly, a slight edge of disapproval in his voice. Hector and Geoffrey had been the Slyth students that'd welcomed him and Marcus into their camp with open arms, though he knew the final decision laid with him, he still had a bad taste for those two. On the other hand, Richard knew Lawsons father a bit too well. "I knew your father and both your uncles when I was a student here." A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
"You're Ravenclaw.. That's good, very good.." And a bit surprising too he thought. "You're the student with a bit of a interest in archery?" He could recall seeing her practicing and was a little curious.
Stuffing the arrows back into the quiver -she had eventually decided to use a European model, the Japanese version had proven to be impractical for so many arrows- she raised a brow at the professor. So he knew her father and his family? Why didn’t it surprise her? And she was sure that the reputation of Hector and his two brothers wasn’t necessarily the best.
But it got better. Now it was good that she was a Ravenclaw? Why would anyone care about that? And an interest in archery? What the... Interest? She had learned and practiced it for several years at Shirasagi. Kyudo -even though it was more like kyujutsu anyway- was generally used at Shirasagi to teach self-control and concentration. “Sir, with all due respect, but I beg to differ. When I was at the Shirasagi Academy I learned and practiced it for several years.” Even more, she was part of the Takahagun, one of the two, more or less official, clubs that focused on only one thing: fighting against the dark arts.
Lawson shrugged at her. "Well technically that IS an interest, is it not? You're doing it, you wouldn't be doing it if you weren't interested no? I don't recall Hogwarts having a archery class.." The body language of the girl suggested she was a bit defensive, but given she was a Lefcourt she had reason to be. "But yes.. My father knew your uncle Richard quite well, A good man he was.. Crazy as my father was I promise you." he chuckled. "But yes, I'm curious about your bow and skill with it, Is that a problem?"
Rika blinked once. His logic was odd, to say the least, but she didn’t manage to find anything that would contradict his statement. “No sir,” Rika replied, “Hogwarts doesn’t have any such classes. I have found that the philosophy of this school is horribly defensive in general.”
Now those were the years of Shirasagi education talking. Shirasagi, the White Crane near Otaki village. The castle granted to the school by the second unifier Toyotomi Hideyoshi when Kyoto was abandoned due to security reasons. Shirasagi, the fortress of the old families, which also welcomed anyone with the right talent, no matter whether muggle born or half blood. Old families they were, yes. Hojo -they used to be the rulers of the country during the Kamakura shogunate and played an important role during the Age of the Warring States-, Fujiwara -rulers of old, even older than the Hojo, close to the imperial family for centuries-, Takeda -though, what was left of them had married into the Hojo family during the final years of the Edo period-, Tokugawa -at least those who were really human and not tanuki or tanuki half-breds ((note: tanuki are raccoons and badgers, they are said to be mischievous and have the ability to shift into a human being, they are a lot like gotoku neko or kitsune, highly intelligent and tend to cause troubles))-, Manabe -a family divided into two branches, one having magical abilities, the other branch once ruled Mikawa province for the Tokugawa-, Hattori -the old, mythical shinobi-, and Mori -another old family like the Manabe. Yes, those had been the important players at Shirasagi for many centuries. But there had always been other names, other families, who appeared. Watanabe, Minegishi, Kuriyama and many others. Names of families who had been nothing but peasants under the Tokugawa rule. And while the muggle world had been strictly dominated by the samurai for centuries, the White Crane stood out as a place where anyone could achieve anything. A peasant daughter could become a teacher and the son of an eta -an outcast- could become headmaster, if the talents and the iron will to train them were there. And, of course, since the school had been established in a world that was dominated by warriors and wars, there had never been a purely defensive doctrine like at Hogwarts. Defense Against the Dark Arts did not exist at Shirasagi. Instead the students learned wand kata and combat casting, which also included offensive spells. Even the Unforgivable Curses were told to students with the necessary skill level. Obviously Shirasagi and the Japanese Ministry of Magic never had a problem with someone being able to kill with his talents. In fact, during the feudal days being able to kill was a necessity. Wizards and witches learned the Killing Curse just like their muggle counterparts, the samurai and other fighters, learned how to use their weapons. The idea was, that someone with the proper training and skills was less dangerous with one of the Unforgivable Curses than someone who lacked said training, after all a well trained person knew how to use it properly, while anyone who lacked the proper knowledge was not only a danger to himself, but also to others. That was Shirasagi, the White Crane near Otaki village. And Hogwarts was so much different.
“Forgive me, sir, but Richard Lefcourt is someone the family does not speak about.” The family, not my family. With that she leaned the yumi against the wall and pulled on the string of the quiver to lengthen it a bit. Then she slung it over her shoulders and reached for the yumi again. The weapon certainly stood out, even among the large English longbows. Asymmetric and made of layered bamboo, wood and leather it was a weapon that could easily compete with the famed longbow that gave the French a scare more than once. Depending on the strength -normally archers would use bows requiring a force lower than twenty kilos- the range and penetration power was just as severe. A regular bow lower than twenty kilos was good for normal archery, at stationary targets and short to moderate ranges. The Takahagun at Shirasagi, however, practiced war archery and magic archery. The bows thus were special. Muggles in Japan referred to them as “hama-yumi”, sacred bows or “evil-destroying bows”, and even used them in rituals. Of course, the versions used by muggles were in no way comparable to what the Takahagun used. Those were handcrafted by the Imperial Bowyer and the Imperial Wandmaker in Kyoto. Rika’s own bow needed a force of more than thirty kilos to shoot. With that it had an effective range of more than sixty “ken” or 120 meters. But, of course, just like with the English longbow any shot over a distance of more than 75 meters required a small miracle to actually hit the target as intended. Though, with the help of magic some of the highest skilled archers and with strong forty -or more- kilo bows could hit accurately at 100, 120 meters. And mythology had it that some bows and their archers were capable of shooting and hitting accurately at distances above 200 meters. Yamanouchi Kazumi, one of the Eight Heroes of the Youkai Daisensou (the Great Spook War) and the inspiration for the Takahagun, was one of those archers.
His interest concerning her equipment and the bow surprised her. “This is a yumi, sir. In fact, it’s a daikyo, a long bow. There are many theories as to why it is asymmetric. As I said, sir, I’ve been practicing archery for several years. I’m aware that this is a weapon, sir,” somehow she was worried now, but there hadn’t been any word about bows and arrows in the Hogwarts rules, at least as far as she remembered, “but I know how to handle it and it is not a danger to the other students.”
"That is true I'm afraid." The Professor replied, realizing it was more of a slip of the tongue. The defensive nature of Hogwarts had been one of the reasons for him to investigate the Dark Arts. He still blamed the general crowd he'd ended up with for diverting him so far from the 'right' path, the knowledge itself? Hardly the Dark Side Temptation that make up that silly scifi movie from the seventies. The more knowledge one possessed, the more effective one could be, that was how he saw it. He'd learned the Dark Arts and turned them against Voldemorts Army time and again. Robert was all so tempted to agree, and say that Hogwarts needed to reconsider certain concepts, but voicing such an opinion to a student in public? A horrible no no.
Lawson snapped his head around, glaring at the young girl for a moment."Richard Lefcourt was a good man... Might that be why he's taboo? hmm? Hm??" Grumbling, he shook his head. His father thought highly enough of him, and thats all Robert needed to know if a man was of good standing. Robert cocked his brow at her again, was she putting words in his mouth? Surely not. "Miss Leftcourt, I don't recall accusing you of being a danger to other students, perhaps your other teachers have.. But that would be like someone accusing me of being a danger to the other students because I could Avra.. erm.. I mean.. I'm sure you're perfectly safe and skilled with the weapon."
Rika was taken aback by his glare. “I was told to not mention him when I asked my parents after hearing about my father’s twin. I think it’s connected to the fact that he was not a proper Lefcourt.” Whatever that meant. One thing was certain, Rika, too, wasn’t a proper Lefcourt. Ravenclaw, what a pity.
“No sir,” she replied to his statement about the bow, “I’m not trying to imply anything. It’s just that...” How was she supposed to put that. Even in Ravenclaw she had problems with the bow, mainly because her roommates figured that it was always in the way. “Not everyone seems to be happy about it, sir.”
As for the Avada... Rika knew about it, she also knew the Japanese wording and motion, but she had not practiced it. The reason for this was simple, she had been in her fifth year, but students would not learn about these curses before their sixth year.
"Proper?" What was that suppose to mean? A Proper Lefcourt. "You mean because he wasn't a Death Eater like his brothers?" If that indeed were the case, he could see how this young girl wasn't 'proper' either, Given the Lefcourts were traditionally Slytherin. Better judgement told him to apologize for that remark, to bury the past and let bygones by bygones but of course that wasn't his style. Instead he tried to shift the subject back to her bow.
"And who's complaining about it? Why in blazes would anyone complain? Are they afraid it's going to jump up and start shooting people??"
“I think so, sir. And because he decided not to follow the family tradition. My father said something about his brother going on a foolish expedition unworthy of a Lefcourt.” Just like herself. But Rika didn’t even manage to make Slytherin. What a failure.
His statement about bows, though, made her raise a brow. Bows jumping by themselves. There was a spell, though, that could possibly achieve that, but so far she had only seen it being used on swords, naginata and a piece of armor. It had been quite scary for Rika in her third year to see the old set of armor suddenly raising from its stand and drawing its weapons. “I would say it’s more that some of my... fellow students... are of the opinion that the bow and the rest of the equipment take up too much space in the dormitory.” Apart from that, they also questioned the usefulness.
"Foolish?? Lawson scoffed at her words, that was an insult to his father! Bloody Lefcourts, how dare they. "He shared the passion that my father did, the quest for knowledge, the quest for magical artifacts of legend.. How is that foolish? hmm?? hmm??" Though there were others who though the pursuit of such artifacts was foolish, old wive tales that wouldn't amount to anything they said, but what did they know?
"Does your fellow students have a say in the matter? I think not, I really hate to think that the House of Ravenclaw can be so narrow minded.. They should welcome a difference in culture, embrace it! That'll always be a refret of mind." He remarked thoughtfully. "I never got to travel the world as I wanted to when I was your age, to see the different aspects of the Wizarding world.. Have they given you any serious trouble about it?"
She took a step back. Why was he asking her about this? She didn’t know the answers to it, nor did she really care. “Sir, I wouldn’t know about that. You’d have to ask my father or his brother.”
But when he rambled about travels and embracing other cultures Rika raised a brow. So he was not as narrow minded as others. However, what did that change? Nothing. Had they given her serious trouble? What would he and his colleagues consider to be serious? The event that had lead to this conversation? The complaints from Lex and the rest of her roommates? Anything else that had happened so far? Rika made her decision. “No sir, they haven’t.”
"Does that skull of yours contain a brain?" It might seem like an insultive thing to ask, or even an odd question to ask. "If So, use it.. Don't rely solely on the opinions and beliefs of others.. That can lead you astray quicker then anything, Do you want to be a sheep? I would hope not.. Just because someone says something is so.. Such as your family saying your uncle was foolish, doesn't mean that it is so."
Lawson took a deep breath, exhausting himself from his own rambling. "If anyone gives you any gripes over it, or anything.. Let me know, I'll take care of it because we're Ravenclaw!" he said beaming. "Not abunch of bully Slytherins, I don't want anything like that in our house, Is that understood?"
“Yes sir,” Rika replied. But of course, she wouldn’t tell him. There was no reason to let this escalate any further. If anyone had a problem, then they had a problem. As it was, she was still counting the days until the final moments of her days at Hogwarts. It was only a matter of time. Not even two years.
Though, was he trying to piss her off? Why would she care about what someone who she had never met -and most likely would never meet- had done in the past and why he had disappeared? It wasn’t her business. Her father’s opinion was not hers, certainly not, but Rika saw absolutely no reason to waste even the smallest thought on the happenings and events inside the Lefcourt family. “Sir, with all due respect,” she eventually said, “but anything that happens inside the family, or has happened before I got here, is not my concern.”
Sometimes the students were a bit daft, apparently this among them. "With all due respect.." He threw her own words back at her. "They should be your concern, Those who choose to ignore history are bound to repeat it.. I won't have that here.. not again, nor will I have a good man such as your uncle Richard be seen in a negative light.. Good day Miss Lefcourt." He bowed slightly, before turning and marching off, before his temper got the better of him. Some of the things that went down with certain members of the Lefcourt family with him and others were still sensitive subjects.
It comforted him that she'd been put into Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin, perhaps there was some hope for her.. But even his place in Ravenclaw hadn't ensured his future. No, that came down to personal choices and with a family like Lefcourt? The opinion of a family could go a long way towards making those choices for you.
Rika snorted at his comment. Oh yes, she had to pay attention to people who meant nothing to her. Certainly she had to make sure that history wouldn’t be repeated. What history? Why would she care? Why did she have to care? It was the business of the Lefcourt family, not her own. The only relation they had was by blood. And blood, so history proved, didn’t mean anything anyway.
Her hand tightened around the grip of her yumi and she shot Lawson and angry glare. “Ahou!” she finally said, feeling secure to use a word in her native language -one of the many varieties that existed for "fool" or "idiot". Chances that people would understand it were extremely small.
Did Professor Lawson even turn to respond? Not turn, Respond? Yes. "Who's the more foolish? The fool or the fool who insults her Professor? Word of advice, don't insult the Professors" He remarked as he continued to walk off, he had a limited understanding of some languages from his studies and well his father.. he was well traveled and had even made him learn latin when he was younger, as well as teaching him other tiny bits.
Walking off he just shook his head, the kids never learned, never would understand, but then again? He hoped they'd never understand things as he did. "It's bad for grades! Trust me I know!
Now that was certainly a surprise! Lawson, out of all people, could understand exactly that word! Rika was staring after him completely taken aback. How was this possible? She didn’t know, yet, it also worried her. If Lawson could understand, who else could? Who would be capable of reading some of her notes and letters? Again it came down to one thing: no one could be trusted. Lawson had just confirmed it.
And now he had to ramble about grades. Grades! As if those meant anything to her anymore. Grades. Grades meant nothing, they were just there to appease parents and to make sure that the government and its bureaucracy could store everything in their files. And then they would keep those files secret, hidden from everyone. Though, this conversation wasn’t over just yet. Rika made a mental note to herself to finish it as soon as possible.
With his Quidditch equipment slung over his shoulder and his broom stick in hand, Jack was in a world of his own as he marched down the corridor. There were a few issues on the team, and he was worried about the next game, but in his heart he knew they'd sort it out in time. A bigger worry was the fact he'd scored a nice fat D on his Transfiguration essay, oh his father would have his arse for that! Because of this he wasn't even aware of Rika standing in the corridor, or his Professor and thats when it happened....
Crash!!!
Perfectly he collided with Rika, dropping his own broom and equipment and stumbling backwards from the collision. "Oh God! I'm so so sorry!!"
Just as she thought it couldn’t get any worse it actually got worse. Much worse. And it was to Annabelle’s delight, who had observed Rika’s conversation, that her “dear” cousin was having problems again.
Rika, however, was certainly not pleased. First Annabelle, then Lawson and now this. Again her arrows were on the ground, but it was worse than that. Her bow was now somehow entangled with a broom. As she got up on her feet she faced the culprit. Having know idea who he was she suddenly burst out, “Have you no eyes?!”
Jack was totally caught off guard by her outburst, he threw up his hands in reaction "I'm sorry sweet cheeks! I didn't see you!" And he didn't really, kinda.. He'd been so preoccupied he'd not been paying attention to where he was going. "I'll help you pick it all up, I'm really sorry!" and genuinely he was sorry for it. Despite what some people believed, he was a caring guy with some sense of morality. Plus he didn't really know who she was, other then the fact she was screaming in his face.
“That’s not...” She broke off. What had he just called her? Sweetcheeks? SWEETCHEEKS? Rika stared at him in disbelief. How could he dare calling her that? She was not some silly little girl who’d be swooning over a cheesy pickup line by some guy with a damn broom, most likely a Quidditch player.
Then, out of nowhere, her right hand shot up to slap him across the face. He would not get away with calling her... sweetcheeks.
There was a collective gasp in the wake of that slap, Jack himself stood in silent disbelief! He blinked a couple times at her, as he rubbed the sorespot on his cheek. "Gee, Usually a girl only slaps me at the end of a date.." he remarked half sarcastically, he took a step back, his eyes never leaving hers however. "I'm really.. really sorry about that.." He didn't even know her name of course. "Please? Seriously, Let me help you out and we can both be on our ways, good and happy. alright?" He asked her, cocking his head to oneside, with pleading eyes.
What Rika didn’t know was that she had just slapped one of the most popular guys at the school. Around them the traffic had stopped and in the background some of the girls were already whispering to each other, some of them glaring at Rika. That was certainly a story. “Gryffindor Quidditch captain slapped for trying to help!” It would start making rounds through Hogwarts within the next few minutes. From the point of view of the Hogwarts "society", Rika had just committed suicide.
Rika, however, had no idea about that, nor did she care right now. Ignoring his pitiful attempt of an apology she finally said “Why don’t you just stay out of my face.” With that she spun around and crouched to gather her items.
By this point his jaw had dropped from disbelief, what was her problem? he was trying to help! Good Lord! Regardless, his stuff was scattered all over the ground too, and a few girls were already trying to help.. That was annoying sometimes, but nevertheless he crouched down in front of Rikia as he tried to help her untangle her bow from his broom. "Careful there.. you're going to end up breaking them both.."
Still trying to be non-confrontational, no matter how rude or abusive she had already been.
Rude usually depended on the point of view. For centuries Japan had followed the idea of “an armed society is a polite society”. The British, obviously for her, hadn’t. The boys here would just call girls “sweet cheeks”. But even there it got worse. Rika had finally managed to get a good grip of his broom and pull it away from her bow when he did the unspeakable, the impossible. He stepped over the bow -already a very rude behavior- and, even worse, touched it.
He had touched her bow. It was rude, so extremely rude. Rika stared at him, with shock and disbelief clearly written on her face. No one at Shirasagi had dared to touch her bow without permission, or anybody else’s bow. Same applied for the swords used by the other unofficial group, the Yashagun, and the blades owned by some of the teachers and students. Touching a bow without permission, so Rika had learned it, was equal to touching someone else's spouse in a sexual manner. In this case, since Rika didn’t have a spouse, it was as if Jack had just groped her.
She was on her feet at once while still holding his broom. She didn’t even give him a warning when she tried to swing the broom for his head. He was a rude “nanbanjin”, one of those Southern barbarians, a term that had been used by the Japanese for the first Europeans that had set foot on the islands. They didn’t deserve any warning or honorable treatment.
"OW!!" Jack stumbled back as she bashed across the head with his own broom. "What the hell?! Stop freaking out!" he said yelling as he held his hands up to block any additional attacks. "That broom is expensive! put it down and chill out!" Already a few students were running for help, screaming for Professors to save the star hero from this 'crazy' girl that was beating the hell out of him.
He couldn't begin to understand what the hell was wrong with her, but this was getting out of hand! Either someone was going to have to restrain her soon, or he'd have to resort to other measures.
The barbarian seemed to be pleading now, but Rika had decided not to care right now. She tossed the broom to the side, not caring whether it would be damaged or not. It was just a broom, they were sometimes expensive, yes, but they were easy to make and easy to get. A broom could never be compared with a bow from the Imperial Bowyer. It just wasn’t the same. It was just a broom, just a tool, nothing else. A bow, on the other hand, was a weapon, it needed to be treated accordingly.
But as the broom was flying to the side, Rika’s hand shot towards the wand tucked into her obi -she was carrying the wand in the same fashion as samurai used to carry their swords. Quickly she had drawn the wand and aimed it at Jack. Wand kata included quick drawing as well, so for her -after several years of learning- it was really just a reflex to be fast. “You will never again touch my bow. Never. Do you understand?”
A lot of people would be commenting how this was it? This was all? But what did they know.
There was one thing for certain out of all of this... This girl was a fruitcake! And now she was starting to seriously piss Halden off, he'd been more then nice by this point and he didn't even have time to react to her tossing his broom, all he saw was her drawing her wand and he reacted in kind. A split seconds difference, and he had his own wand trained at her. "Look, I don't know what the hell your bloody problem is but KNOCK IT OFF!" He said finally snapping and raising his voice at hers, a spell on the tip of his tongue. "I didn't mean to do a damn thing to you, YOU tried to break MY broom on purpose! I tried to be nice! And all you've done is be a bitch to me! Now lower your wand, I'll lower mine and we'll go our own seperate ways before things really get out of hand.." Still, he was trying to be diplomatic as he was tempted to let her have it by now..
There were whisperings of a psycho chick in a nearby corridor beating up some guy for trying to help her pick up her stuff. Casey wanted to laugh at the stupidity of it or roll his eyes and move on as he might have done in his school days, but he was a professor here now, not to mention the deputy headmaster and head of Ravenclaw. He had triple duty to make sure that this wasn't escalating to something far worse than what was being described as he walked past students towards the center of where some were amassing. "Lefcourt! Halden! My office. Now," he demanded, his tone, facial expression, and stance showing that he meant business. There was no talking their way out of this.
Once he was certain that it remained calm enough between the two considering the circumstances, his eyes looked around for someone he recognized to have go fetch Poppy from the hospital ring. There she was. "Lefcourt," he said, this time pointing to avoid confusion, "get Poppy, please. Bring her back to my office with a first aid kit." Once the girl was off, seemingly pleased, he began to lead Rika and Jack towards his office from the place. He didn't bother speaking. It was pointless. He wanted privacy, but he couldn't have that with the student fan base that Jack had gained over his years at the school.
After a while, they were there, and he opened the door, walking in and leaving the door open for the other two, hoping whoever entered last had the courtesy to close it. He took his place in his desk chair and motioned towards the two chairs in front of it. "Weapons of any sort, please," he said, holding out his hands. There was no way he was going to have Rika pulling a Kate on
Jack didn't even offer any protest, he knew better. Given the fact he had his wand in her face, that was a little incriminating. "Yes Sir!" Without hesitation he lowered his wand, and returned it to his coat, the cooler he played this the more likely the Professoe would believe his story verses this fruitcake Rika. Quickly he collected his gear and made a quick, yet graceful exit on down towards the corridor towards Professor Winslows Office.
On the way he was a little worried as to what the Professor might think happened, but there were a LOT of eye witnesses, surely Rika wouldn't get away with this? But life was crazy, and you could never be sure. What he did know for sure was he'd have to suspend the jokes, and be damn serious if he wanted to get through this. Arriving first, he set his stuff beside the chair given it might come in as handy evidence, especially his broom which.. was a wee bit damaged. "Oh of course Professor." He didn't even try to pull a smile, he just laid his wand on the table and took his seat, and waited quietly..
Annabelle took off right away. She was running as fast as she could. Oh this was just perfect. Professor Winslow had given her the opportunity to start spreading a few rumors. As she was dashing past several students in the corridor she made sure that she bumped into one of them.
“Hey! Watch it!” They were three girls, Gryffindors, fourth year.
“Sorry!” She would have never apologized to a Gryffindor or anyone who was lower than her in years, but this time there were different circumstances. “I’m on my way to get Poppy for professor Winslow. The new Ravenclaw student attacked Jack Halden!” With that she took off again and eventually finished her run at the hospital. The new Ravenclaw, everyone knew who was meant with that. Annabelle then pushed the doors to the hospital open and stormed in. “Poppy! Quick! Professor Winslow needs you in his office! My cousin... she... she attacked Jack Halden! For no reason... it’s... it’s horrible!” And of course she made sure that anyone, who was close enough, would hear that.
Rika, meanwhile, lowered her wand. A short look to the side revealed to her that it was indeed professor Winslow. Shooting Jack a glare she ignored the whispering from the other students who had watched in horror and disgust. She could see their faces, could see the disdain on them. What are you fools looking at, Rika thought to herself as she put the wand back into her obi. Yes, she would obey professor Winslow.
And thus she followed him to his office. She didn’t bother to wait for Jack. He was summoned too, so he would, of course, come as well. Ironically, though, she entered the office after Jack and closed the door. Upon Winslow’s demand she hesitated, however after a few seconds she obeyed again and retrieved the wand with her left hand. She kept it there before handing it over the Winslow. As for her bow and the rest of the stuff, no, she refused to hand that over. No one was allowed to touch it. After surrendering her wand she took a seat in the free chair.
Casey frowned and cleared his throat as he noticed Rika hadn't surrendered all possible weapons as requested. He didn't care if she did so by handing it to him or setting it in the corner of the room; so long as she didn't have it in her possession, it didn't matter. "Rika, I believe your bow and your quiver of arrows qualify as weapons," he said as he picked up the wands and set them aside out of reach of both. He doubted they knew silent magic yet, except perhaps Jack. He hadn't got to it yet with his older students this year, and fifth year didn't get it anyway. So, he doubted he had to lock the wands up somewhere where it would be difficult for them to accio them from.
Once that was done, his blue eyes were on Rika, looking at her expectantly. He couldn't proceed until after this. It would be one thing if it were some sort of prank, but this was a physical fight, and the girl had attacked Jack from his understanding anyway. No one could have a weapon. He would not allow a fight to break out in his office. Oh how he hated the conflict mediation side of this job. It took so long sometimes, especially with people of opposing houses or who didn't particularly like each other for whatever reason, and Rika's withholding her bow and arrows didn't help matters. He had things to do, places to go, people to see. He didn't have all day for this.
Rika raised her gaze and looked at Winslow. Did he have the slightest idea what he was asking her to do? She couldn’t give him permission to touch it. She didn’t know what he’d do with it. Halden had already touched it with his dirty finger, he had already smeared his garbage on it. Another person touching it without permission, or doing whatever with it, was simply not acceptable. It was a matter of honor, too. A matter of family honor. This was not just any bow. It had been made especially for her. It bore the Hojo crest. With that it was part of the family’s heritage. No matter what the Hojo side of the family had done to her in the past almost two years, she could not turn against the heritage and the family in general. She just couldn’t. It was against everything she believed in.
“With all due respect, sir,” Rika began. “But I can not do this. He touched it without permission, that is bad enough. Not even 150 years ago I could have taken his head for this. But I can not hand it over to you. I don’t know what you’re going to do with my bow, thus I can not give you permission to touch it. The arrows are no problem, they’re just arrows. But the bow,” she firmly shook her head, “no. I can’t do that. I would rather destroy it.”
Without permission?? What the hell was she rambling on about, permission? She didn't have permission to pick his firebolt racing broom up and bash him over the head with it! It took everything he had to not unload on her that instant, instead he quite literally had to bite his tongue and hold it in, until Casey asked for his side of the story. All he could do was shake his head as he listened to the weird girl, he already had an idea how to get back at her for this, and in a way Noone would expect after what she'd done to him.. Moral high ground was a lovely thing.
Oh, come on already! Didn't know what he would do with it? More like she didn't want to hand it over. He wasn't nasty-minded like that, and he respected other's property. It took a bit of work to resist rolling his eyes or making his annoyance obvious, but he managed it. Calmly but in a no nonsense fashion as though to tell her it was the end of the discussion and she was to do what he said, he told her, "Set it in the corner over there." He pointed towards it. It was far enough away that no one would touch it, and the door opened towards it but there was a door stopper that would keep it from being damaged if someone were to come in.
Casey didn't give her time to protest as he turned his attention to Jack. The boy was being quieter than he had expected, but that was a good thing. The wife wouldn't be too happy if he took points from her house. It was a rare occasion that Ravenclaw held a higher risk than Gryffindor to lose them, but hey, it happened, not that he liked it. If Rika didn't listen, he would have to do something about it. A few points at a time or a few points and detentions. Whichever was more effective. Maybe he'd start with a detention. But anyway, where was he? Oh right. Jack. "Mr. Halden,—" he began, but the door burst open, and the elderly Pomfrey made her way over to the desk. Sitting back with a sigh, Casey indicated Jack.
"You poor dear," she said, glancing over her shoulder at Rika distastefully. "Hit over the head with a broom," she continued as she put her hand to his face and held his right eye open as she moved her lit wand back and forth and side to side before it to see how it was dilating. Once satisfied with that one, she held the left eye open and did the same.
As she continued her examination in silence, Casey decided to resume asking the question he wanted to ask. "Mr. Halden, what's your side of things?"
She was about to protest against the professor’s decision, but before she managed to say anything he had already focused his attention on Halden. Eyeing the corner skeptically Rika eventually got up and placed the bow and the arrows in it. Slowly she headed back to the chair and sat down. That was when Madame Pomfrey came in. Be happy it wasn’t a sword, she wanted to tell her, but Rika bit her tongue. So he was hit on the head with a broom. Big deal. He’d live, wouldn’t he? So what was the riot about?
But then again, what would happen now? Rika hadn’t thought about that part until now. Winslow would likely summon her parents and tell them whatever would sound reasonable or fitting. Great. So she would see her parents again. It would be interesting if they’d even pay attention to something like that. After all, Rika hadn’t been in contact with them ever since the day she was sorted into Ravenclaw.
And what would be her punishment? Transfiguration maybe? It wouldn’t have been the first time. Her right hand moved over her left arm when the memory of the Wild Cherry Tree Chase returned. Mochizuki and Rika had spent a while transfigured into cats. It had been... uncomfortable, not really because they had been cats, but because of the way they were treated during their punishment. And two most uncomfortable things had been the food and... using a toilet. But how would Hogwarts handle such an issue? It was a European school, so, would they lock her into a tower? Though, would that really be so bad? No, actually not. At least the annoying people would be gone then.
Annoying people, such as... Halden. Madame Pomfrey, her roommates, her cousin Annabelle, and maybe even the professors Winslow and Lawson. And everybody else at Hogwarts or in the Lefcourt family.
Rika placed her hands into her lap and picked a random spot at the wall to stare at. Whatever Halden would be saying, it didn’t matter for her. But one thing was certain already. Annabelle would have a field day.
Jack couldn't help but blush a little as Pomfrey examined him, and made her comments. Embarrassed? A little maybe, but more so a sucker for TLC like this then anything else. "I'm quite okay, really." he said with a curt smile, before shifting his attetion to Casey as he started asking him questions, he knew whatever he said would probably set Rika off, but did it matter? The truth was on his side afterall. Jack took a deep breath, as he straightened up. "Well Professor.." He started, keeping a calm level voice despite the distraction from Pomfrey. "I admit I was at fault for knocking over the first domino that brought us here ultimately. I was just walking down the corridor, I had a lot of things on my mind.. especially the bad grade Professor Lawson gave me in Transfiguration.." Jack wasn't sure if Casey had ever had a earful from his parents in the past when his grades were bad, but it was probably common knowledge in the grapevine.
"I was distracted, wasn't watching here I was going.. I didn't see her and I walked right into her." He said with a shrug, throwing his hands up lightly. "It was a stupid mistake on my part, but it happened and it caused me and her both to drop everything we had.. I apologized.. I offered to help pick it up.." He hesitated for a moment, debating whether or not mentioning that he'd called her 'sweet cheeks' but he knew she'd bring it up, and it might sound better coming from him. "You know me Professor, I didn't mean it really, It's habbit I called her sweet cheeks and then she slapped me! I know that might annoy some people, but did it really warrent a slap?" He asked while tilting his head to oneside, trying to show that yes he was the victim here.
"Again, I apologized.. and all she could do was be rude.. I knelt down to help her, because her bow and my broom got tangled up and she was going to end up damaging them both, That's when she hauled off and started beating me with MY broom.. I was only trying to help Professor, honestly.... And okay, my broom, my firebolt is expensive yes.. I didn't want to explain to my parents somebody took it from me and then beat me with it, damaging it.. and it is damaged.." Still he remained his calm, carefully going through what happened. "She ranted something about me touching her bow, I don't know why, I don't know what I did.. That's when she threw my broom aside, and drew her wand.. I drew mine too.. you saw that, But it was only in self defense.. I didn't know what she was going to do.. I admit I lost my cool a little, demanded she calm down and explain I was only trying to help.. Thats when you came.." Jack shrugged again. "That's the story Professor, there were a lot of people around and they can all verify it.. even the ones that don't like me." With that he fell silent, folding his hands together in his lap as he waited for the probably hostile response from Rika.
Casey, being former Ravenclaw captain and seeker as well as a former professional player, sympathized easily with Jack's likely feelings about his broom being damaged, but he had to be objective. He couldn't punish any student without knowing both sides of the story and certainly not simply for the maltreatment of a broom. Regardless, she had beat him with it, and that was enough for a week's detention right then and there. Oy. Wonderful. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. A whole week away from Lydia and Evie and they were, at this point, the only people keeping him sane. At least he hadn't been given much reason to give Jack detentions that he could see.
"Miss Lefcourt, what do you have to say to defend yourself?" he asked as he turned his chair towards Rika as he watched her, waiting for her explination for all of this. He didn't think anything would exactly make it ok for her to hit him with his broom. Certainly not calling her 'sweet cheeks' or touching her bow. Words were much more effective. If there was a reason she didn't want her bow touched, she could have taken the opportunity to explain why. Then, next time, if it were to happen again, she'd have had much more on her side towards punishment being less severe on her if she had decided to beat him with his broom because at least then he'd have been forewarned why not to. Now, as it was at this moment, she would be the one receiving all the punishment and not Jack.
She had listened to Halden’s rambling. Well, no, she hadn’t. At least not fully. In fact, Rika had only listened with half an ear. It was simply not interesting enough. Whatever Halden had to say mattered not. Though, maybe, just maybe she had overreacted a little. But then again, how could anyone be surprised? Maybe she was losing her self control, but then again, maybe these people had had it coming for a while?
Rika kept her hands where they were, in her lap. What was she supposed to reply to professor Winslow’s question? People were just... Her gaze focused on that random spot on the wall again. Would anyone of them even understand? Hardly. Then she had a short look at Halden. He could consider himself lucky. Her cousin would have decked him and he wouldn’t be sitting here now, would he have touched her sword without permission. Fujiwara would have done the same, anyone in Shiratasu or even Kiku would have done it. But Shirasagi students knew how to behave properly. And those who didn’t know it, would usually learn it quickly from their houses.
Slowly she opened the palm of her right hand and looked at it for a second or two. Maybe there was a simple misunderstanding and maybe... No. They were all just the same. It just didn’t matter a damn. Whatever Winslow would dish out, she could take it. Given the fact that she had been at Hogwarts for a few weeks by now and that most of the things she had seen so far had not been necessarily impressive -well, maybe impressive, but overall far too passive and defensive for her tastes- she wasn’t really afraid of what would happen to her.
“He touched my bow without permission,” Rika repeated and left it at that without any further explanation.
"And...I'm sure he was trying to help you pick it up...." Casey couldn't help but reply. It wasn't meant disrespectfully, just to show he didn't understand it and the trailing at the end left it open for her to explain if she so chose. He hoped she did because at the moment he had no choice but to both deduct points from Ravenclaw and issue her detentions. He didn't want to take the points because it was his own house and he didn't want to give the detentions because he liked having his free time to himself, but he had to do something or he'd be labeled biased, and he didn't want that.
He could always pass off the detentions to that janitor...Will, wasn't it? Yes, that was it. There was a plan forming, he could see. She would have to check in with him every evening at a certain time and then he'd walk her to William and she would help the squib with his duties. He'd be grateful, he was sure. Right now he didn't think about how insensitive it could seem to flaunt magic before him, but he so rarely had to think of it that it wasn't about to come to his attention anytime soon. If it did, it would be sheer chance, sheer fate, even if Casey didn't believe in either.
Jack nodded in agreement with the Professor. "That's right..." He said, then looking over to Rika with a frown. "I was only trying to help, I don't know what I did to upset you.. but I'm sorry for it." Of course he'd apologized before, but it couldn't hurt his cause to apologize again before the Professor.
Rika’s eyes hardened slightly. It was an explanation that could only come from barbarians. What did his intentions matter? Would they use a similar excuse if Halden would have actually groped her? Most likely. Why had she agreed with coming to this place. Though, actually she hadn’t. Rika hadn’t done anything. She had just complied with her parents’ request. What a pointless action that had been.
“His intentions don’t matter. He had no permission. He still touched it.” He could have, at least, asked. But he hadn’t even done that. He had just grabbed the bow with his dirty fingers, after calling her sweet cheeks, which was already bad enough. At least, he had admitted to that. Rika had a short glance at Jack. Nevertheless, it seemed that they were really all the same. None of them would understand it, so why bother explaining?
"Forgive me if I sound disrespectful, but here in Hogwarts it's only good manners to help someone pick their things up regardless of gender. If the situation had been reversed, he would not have been compelled to whack you with your broom. If there are cultural reasons, I understand, but at least explain it to the student next time. Jack didn't know you would find offense with his helping you, and if you had explained, I"m sure he wouldn't have helped you at all. As it is, Rika, you're going to have to do a week of detention in the evenings for a few hours without magic, as you seem so capable with your bare hands, helping the janitor. Mr. Travis, I'm sure, will be glad for the help. Maybe for once he can get to bed at a decent hour instead of cleaning well into the night because of your schoolmates' messes. In addition," he said, hesitating at this point (How he hated taking away house points from anyone, much less his own house.), "twenty points from Ravenclaw."
Quite honestly Jack was a bit surprised at the stiff nature of the punishment for Rika and Ravenclaw. He couldn't help but shake his head, detention was one thing but the points? That was a bit much, the whole house would come down on her for that. "Professor, if I may?" He finally spoke up. "If it was a misunderstanding then it was sorta bad on my bar, not intentionally.. and yes she could've explained that to me.." He remarked as he gave her a quick look. "Ravenclaw doesn't need to suffer for this little misunderstanding, and if you take those points away... The entire house will beat up on her, thats worse then detention.. I forgive her, even if my broom is messed up.. I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but this keeps getting blown out of proportion.. Can't you show mercy and forgiveness if I do Professor?" His tone of voice carried both respect and a certain sense of pleading, he just wanted this to be over with, nothing more.