Lesson for Living (David)

[David Pierce]

David listened intently, nodding here and there where he felt it was warranted. If there was one thing he could do, he was a great listener. Maybe the fact that he genuinely wanted to help played a part in that, he didn't know. He wondered what it was she gave up that was so great to come here, but he knew that she was missing whatever it was. "I don't think there's a problem with looking to the past and wondering what would have been different had we made different choices. Lamenting the loss of one great thing in exchange for something else is not a fault, Annemarie." he told her sincerely.

"It sounds like you simply have too much going on," he mused aloud after a moment. "When was the last time you took a break?"

[viola]

Annemarie disagreed. Looking at the past and reminiscing over the ‘what ifs’ and ‘second chances’ only made a person continued to live in the past. They’d never push forward in their lives, and Annemarie could just see that Alexander was one prime example of someone living in the past. Look at where it got him…trying to show her what? That he kept her hair and remembered her? Where was he remembering her years ago? Annemarie shrugged. She saw it as a huge fault for her to be crying over spilt potions…

“Heh,” Annemarie snorted as David asked her when it was she last took a break. “Summer was long enough as it was. I don’t need a break, I need to regain control of my life.” And yet, Annemarie knew that that would never be the case. She was God’s worker, even without the nun getup. He held the reigns to her existence.

“I’m just a willing puppet in the scheme of things David,” she said. “I work with what is handed to me, and hope that I don’t give up what my purpose is.”

[David Pierce]

David nodded, picking up his glass and taking another sip, anxious for something to do with his hands. He got the impression that she didn’t agree with his philosophy, but that didn’t phase him much. He was an eternal optimist, and simply because someone disagreed wouldn’t change that fact. “And what purpose is that?” he asked innocently. He wasn’t trying to pry, and the tone of his voice suggested that he really was just curious. “I mean, you don’t seem entirely happy here, so I was wondering what purpose you have that would override those feelings and cause you to stay even in the face of such opposition?” The woman was a mystery to him, and he couldn’t stop trying to solve it.

[viola]

Annemarie raised an eyebrow at the younger man. If she knew what purpose there was for her, then she wouldn’t have been so miserable, now would she? “I’m allowing God to guide me,” she said nonchalant like. “He lead me here from Ireland,” hadn’t He? Annemarie gave a concerned sort of glance at David and didn’t know really why she was there. “I’m looking for it…” she trailed off. “I thought I could actually make a difference…”

[David Pierce]

David was at a loss for what to say. She was searching for her purpose in.. what? Life? He had never been a very religious man, his family just pushed religion to the background. He believed in God, he knew that much, but he had never really felt 'guided' by Him. David had always just considered Him to be more a symbol of faith than anything else. He had never been to church and he certainly had never read the bible. "I envy you." he said quietly, setting his now empty glass back on the desk.

[viola]

Drinking down the last of her tea as well, Annemarie sat in silence as David looked to be thinking about what he could say. She felt awkward, for how many witches were nuns to be? Not to mention, looking for a purpose in life other than the one she seemed to have by just teaching. Did she have a purpose? Annemarie had thought that's why she was at Hogwarts to find, and something told her that she still was. If she wasn't, or God had thought it better of her to be elsewhere, this summer she would have found a calling to go somewhere else. However, she hadn't. And therefore she was back among the students who hated her, staff whom thought she was overly strict in her ways, and ....well, the new professors all were different characters for sure. And then Xander...what the heck was he? How did he fit into all of this?

"You what?" she asked, looking up at him. She didn't hear him correctly...she couldn't have. For what did Annemarie Viola van Aller have that anyone in the world would truly envy. She thought...nothing.

[David Pierce]

She was surprised by his admission, and David found that the way her eyebrows arched and her eyes widened was endearing in an inexplicable way. He shook his head slightly to clear those thoughts away, and then focused back on Annemarie. "I envy you," he repeated quietly, blue eyes betraying his respect for her. "You're close to God. You're able to feel guided by Him, to feel His presence around you." He paused, feeling sad. He cast his eyes downward, gazing at his hands in his lap. "I think I would give anything to feel that." he admitted quietly, more to himself than to her.

[viola]

Annemarie wasn't sure if she was truly the person to be giving a guided talk on one's feelings of closeness with the Almighty. If Sister Mary Ellen was there, she surely would have known what to the poor soul in want of finding God, but Annemarie faltered constantly with her faith, she left becoming the nun she was supposed to be for a calling that had yet to present itself, and above everything else, she had been thinking since she had began at Hogwarts that she had been listening all wrong to God and what He was trying to tell her...and yet, there she was, with a man before her wishing he too could feel the presence of God and the guidance from Him that Annemarie claimed to have. A small smile produced on Annemarie's face as she felt the person she was back at the girl's school reemerge.

"You can find Him if you truly believe in Him. I falter constantly in my faith," she admitted silently. "But as I do, I find another sign that He is with me. They're little, but they're there. Recently, they're few and far in between. But I suppose that's because I left my Sister-ship. "I read scriptures, I pray, and I listen. Listening is the key, David. It truly is. For when one opens themselves up to Him, He does enter and He leads." She felt as if she were preaching to a former student. Someone who was looking for something more, themselves, and because of her training with the nunnery, she could help them.

"Why are you here, David?" Annemarie asked of the Runes Professor. "Do you feel a strong pull or sensation? For, if that in and of itself is not divine...then how do you explain why we are all in this one particular place, at this exact time." She paused closing her eyes and slightly breathing. Without opening her eyes she smirked and began again. "I may be faltering, and not know exactly what my purpose is here at Hogwarts," she whispered. "But I do still feel the pull... And that tells me that He is here with me... guiding me..." Annemarie let a few minutes pass.

"...always."

[David Pierce]

David listened intently, eyes coming up from his lap to meet her own deep gaze. He'd never shared these feelings with anyone, and had done so with her on a whim without thinking. He was an optimistic person, so he told himself; he was the one to always look for the good things in life, for the proverbial silver lining to every cloud. It was just recently he had realized that he was thirty-one years old, soon to be thirty-two, and there was something missing. He didn't think he had anything to feel remiss about; he was healthy, he had friends and family who cared for him, he had a successful career doing something he loved to do... and yet he felt it, everyday, the feeling that something was off. The way she spoke about God and her relationship with Him made David wonder if maybe this was it. The thing he was searching for. Could it be faith that he needed? Or was it something else? He wasn't sure.

"Why are you here, David?"

Her question brought him out of his thoughts, brow furrowing slightly. Why was he here? Because he saw an ad in the paper - but he thought maybe she was looking for something a little deeper than that. "I.." he began, stopping because he couldn't think of an answer. "I'm not sure. I thought I could be a good teacher, I wanted to make a difference in... something." He smiled then, remembering that was what she had said earlier. "I guess we're more alike than we thought."

[viola]

Annemarie smiled genuinely at David and tilted her head to the side. It was weird to give someone a talk that had been given to her years before in college and she never thought that she'd ever be to the point where she was in fact giving the teachings. It felt... amazing and yet at the same time, a bit disconcerting. Was she really the one who should be helping the man find whatever he thought he was missing from his life, especially when she could hardly find her own path and way about things? She smiled as the Runes professor said they were alike, for she hadn't ever thought she'd be alike anyone...and yet, in her heart she knew she wasn't alike anyone. For if she was, how would she have survived everything she had gone through?

Again....memories of the train station....waiting....She shook her head and wiped away the memories from her mind. "You'll make a difference in something, and for someone if not many. I'm sure. I can tell by just looking at you David." Annemarie nodded and smiled genuinely at him. She had a way with seeing things from people and out of David she saw a hope she hadn't seen since she left Ireland. "I promise you that."

[David Pierce]

She sounded so confident, so sure that what she said was true, and David wondered how anyone in the world, much less this school, could not like the woman before him. If she only knew how much her words meant to him; David had never had a problem with self-confidence, but to know that someone else believed he could do something worthwhile...

"Thank you," he told Annemarie, his usual gently smile gracing his features once again. "You don't know what that means to me." He paused for a long moment, tilting his head at her as she had done to him just a few moments ago. "You said that you read scriptures.." he faltered, not sure how to go about asking this. He didn't like feeling so ignorant of something she cared so deeply for. "..What did you mean by that?"

[viola]

Annemarie watched as the man before her thought of what she had been saying. Hoping that she had made sense or done anything helpful at all, a smile began to grow slightly and he thanked her. You don't know what this means to me, he said to her and she probably would have agreed with him. She didn't know the impact her words made on him, but Annemarie was glad to see that he was smiling and genuinely interested.

You said that you read scriptures... he paused. ...what did you mean by that?

Annemarie wondered if she should take the Bible from her desk that she always had near her. She had three copies with her at Hogwarts in which she read a little bit of each night. Her version she preferred was the King James version, but she knew of many other different types of Bibles that one could read. Opening the bottom right hand drawer of her desk, she gently grasped the Bible in her hand and sighed nervously. "Scriptures...as in the Lord's Holy Word." She placed the Bible on her desk, blushing slightly as she did so. It wasn't as if she were embarrassed of who she was or God himself, it was just that she had rarely ever shared her faith with any one even half interested. To find someone who generally was...was well, fantastical.

"I'm Roman Catholic...before I came to Hogwarts, I was in training to become a nun, and worked at a Catholic boarding school for girl's. My mentor, Sister Mary Ellen was the woman who had helped me find my faith and my life. For as much pull as I had to join the sisters of St. Catherine's, I felt a much greater pull to come to Hogwarts. I have yet to know why, but it is here where I am needed. But..." she hesitated, her blush still on her cheeks. "That's just boring old Annemarie...." she shrugged and sighed. "Crazy old serpent nun." She laughed at herself half heartedly.

[David Pierce]

Oh, David thought, scriptures were from the bible. He felt utterly foolish, but tried to not let it show too much. He was far too interested to let his embarrassment get in the way. And she was blushing, he noticed, thinking that she was beautiful when she did so and then blushing himself at that thought. His eyes turned to the bible and he reached out a hand to touch the spine hesitantly. He wasn't completely naive, he knew what the bible was, but he had never seen a real one before. How was it possible that so many people based their entire lives on what was written in these pages? It was fascinating.

He looked back to her at her story, blue eyes widening in surprise. "You were going to be a nun?" He questioned, not in mockery but in a tone that suggested reverence. He couldn't imagine devoting his life in service to God, and he certainly couldn't imagine the sacrifices that needed to be made to do so. He shook his head at her last comment, some blond hair falling in his face. "No, not boring." he said seriously. "Amazing. I don't know anyone who has it in them to do something like that. It's admirable."

[viola]

Annemarie watched as the man reached out, gently stroking the spine of the Bible and Annemarie could feel goose bumps form all over her body. It was the feeling she had gotten when she had herself when Sister Mary Ellen had approached her, speaking to her about what the Lord and accepting Jesus as her Lord and Savior. It wasn’t until later she had considered taking it a step even further and joining him spiritually as one of his chaste spiritual wives, but then again, that never ended up being her path after all.

You were going to be a nun?

Again, Annemarie’s face became a bit redder and she shied herself away, turning her face and laughing. Her loosely curled brown locks covered her face slightly and she pushed it back, tucking it behind her ear while she sighed contently. She could tell he was curious and as bashful as it made her, she couldn’t help but feel excited about it too. Annemarie couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this content or happy, and it was a good feeling. Her cheeks actually hurt a bit from smiling and laughing, but she didn’t mind it. “Yes, I was just about to take my final vows before the opening at Hogwarts found me,” she said, looking back at David and meeting her blue eyes with her own dark orbs.

Amazing. I don't know anyone who has it in them to do something like that. It's admirable.

Annemarie shrugged, but still smiled. She was glad someone thought so, for even she at times thought she was wasting her life, or forgetting who she was truly. But after a while, she found that there was not better place for her. “Thank you,” she said genuinely, and embarrassed at all the same time. “Not many people see it that way. Especially, since I’m a witch.”

[David Pierce]

The woman was amazing. First she devoted herself to the convent, went through all the things she had to do to become a nun, and then came to Hogwarts before even finishing her final vows. One sacrifice after another; David didn't care what others said about her, she was selfless.

“Not many people see it that way. Especially, since I’m a witch.”

"Really?" David asked innocently. He had studied history and knew that the church had burned witches for heresy centuries ago, but he hadn't thought that there would be a problem in this day and age. He may have been a brilliant runes professor, but when it came to some things he was just clueless.