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Post by viola on Nov 20, 2007 12:08:31 GMT -5
It had been another long and gruesome day for the Muggle Studies professor and with every new obstacle that presented itself, a lot more seemed to plague Annemarie’s mind. Why was it that she was brought to this place? What purpose had she with being there? Yes, it was true, Annemarie had met many brilliant students that showed great potential, but in return she was shown how much disrespect and tolerance they really had of one another. Maybe her path laid out to her by the Heavenly Father wasn’t to help or to show them respect, a role model of sorts, but if that wasn’t it, than what was?
Annemarie was lost in thought as she sat in her office, her door wide open for anyone to walk in and speak with her, not that she expected such a surprise visit, but still it was open. It was a rainy day outside, so she knew there would be many walking throughout the halls, and every time a student or a colleague passed by her door, she looked up expecting a visit that never came. Why though? What was she waiting for?
At St. Catherine’s she was always in the presence of another. Speaking with them and being shown the highest of admiration even though, at that time she was only in her temporary vows. Maybe she should never have left. Maybe this wasn’t really her calling that she thought it was at the time. But then why did she feel as if her calling was still there? Maybe if she could find Jules or Tapia she’d have a sit down and speak with them. It had been a week or so since she had had a nice chat with anyone with all of her work piling up…but as she went to stand, Annemarie just couldn’t bring herself to leave her office.
It was as if someone needed her to be there that day, and the feeling that Annemarie got just wouldn’t leave her. She would stay, and guide whatever soul floated her way. It was the way she was destined to take; nun or not.
(~Open~)
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Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
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Post by Drew Thornton on Nov 23, 2007 19:53:42 GMT -5
Maybe it wasn't a need so much as a pange of guilt. Drew had been walking back from Raynor's office and paused as he passed the Muggle Studies Professor's door. He didn't know the woman at all, didn't care for the way she had scolded them in the Great Hall the other day, but that didn't excuse his own rudeness in the situation.
He could have easily continued down the hall, knowing he would never have to deal with the woman in a class, and confident that he could avoid her in the future. Instead he knocked on the open door and poked his head in. "Professor?"
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Post by viola on Nov 23, 2007 20:07:12 GMT -5
Looking up from her desk and her work, whom she saw was not who she had expected to see at all. It was...was he in one of her classes? Annemarie didn’t recognize him, but at the same time she gave him a very warm smile and welcomed him in. “Yes, please do come in. May I help you Mr....” she trailed off embarrassed about not really knowing who the young man at the door was. Maybe he was in fact going to inquire about the class. That would be nice.
The former sister from St. Catherine’s stood formally to greet the boy as he entered, extending her hand as if it were their first meeting of a big job interview. Annemarie was sure she didn’t know him, so a greeting was in order. “My name is Professor Van Aller. And what may yours be?” she inquired, her smile never leaving her face and her dark aura that surrounded her disasperated with another’s presence.
The room he would enter would probably surprise the young boy just a bit, with a cross haning on the wall behind the desk and still pictures around the room of past students, the sisters from the church, one of Sister Mary Ellen and her, and a thing or two more here that resignated her past. There was even an album on the corner of her desk of her own days in Hogwarts that she and her friends had put together before they had all graduated and moved on. She had been looking at it earlier that day before settling down to her work. Such glorious past memories, her old Muggle Studies prof and role model, and her, before she ever thought of becoming a teacher. Yes, those were the days that Annemarie remembered fondly.
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Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
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Post by Drew Thornton on Nov 23, 2007 20:16:22 GMT -5
"Thornton. Andrew Thornton, Ravenclaw," he answered, taking her hand and shaking it properly. Most people knew him as a goof off and a sarcastic mouth, but he could comply with the niceties of society when he wanted to.
The decor of the room, while unusual for Hogwarts, wasn't much of surprise to him. The woman's office looked like a room in his Nana's house (except she'd never display something as Muggle as still pictures). The connection sent a slight shiver up his spine. He and Nana did not get along very well.
"I was one of the students in the Great Hall the other day at dinner," he explained, getting straight to the point. "I just wanted to apologize for making a mess. "
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Post by viola on Nov 23, 2007 20:24:50 GMT -5
And after the boy let go, and looked around, he told Annemarie exactly why he was there. Immediately her smiled turned into one of disappointment. What was he there to do? She had left that hall practically in tears because she was not understood and he was there to apologize for making the mess. Was that all that these children and even the staff saw it as? Yes, she was displeased. Very displeased, but that was only the half of why she had been so upset with them all.
She took her seat, and folded her hands on the desk. “Please, Mr. Thornton, sit.” Annemarie studied the boy for a moment and he looked to be an upstanding individual, however, Annemarie was more skilled with young ladies, not young men. They had always persuaded her. And to the day she died, she figured that they probably always would. That was one reason why she had first choosen to dedicat herself to One that could only be understood with faith. She saw no connection between Him and the men of that day.
“Mr. Thornton, do you know what compelled you to come into my office this day?” No, Annemarie was not about to give him the lecture of religion or faith, but one of knowing an underlying meaning. Annemarie wondered at all if this individual really did understand what she had been trying to get through to them, but then again, she didn’t think so. Silently she scolded herself for not thinking well of her student body, but after everything she had seen, she really did wonder if the student body knew.....anything about what she found was most important to living among other individuals.
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Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
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Post by Drew Thornton on Nov 23, 2007 20:39:55 GMT -5
Drew knew exactly what had prompted him to knock on the woman's door. It was guilt. Generations and generations of Mexican-Catholic guilt dumped on to his not so broad shoulders, passed down from his mother from Nana from Nana's mother. Guilt second only to Jewish-mother guilt, and still, it was a very close second. But he wasn't about to tell her that.
She offered him a seat and Drew's brain raced to come up with a legitimate, yet polite excuse not to take it. He had just come in to apologize for disrupting the meal and upsetting her. Sitting down most surely meant he would get a lecture. He got enough of those from Raynor.
"I just came to apologize for the poor behavior," he told her, feeling that answered her question and hopefully excused himself from not taking the seat. "I know it was in bad taste and I just wanted to let you know that's not usually how we behave."
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Post by viola on Nov 23, 2007 20:52:46 GMT -5
He hadn’t sat, and Annemarie didn’t force it anymore than she would have any other time. It was clear that he was antsy and ready to leave her, but there was no excuse that she would hear from him that would excuse him. Not just yet.
“Can you define for me the words, respect and tolerance, Mr. Thornton? Because that was what I was not seeing displayed. It’s the beginning of what crimes are made from, and even less, where hearts are lost. It’s easy to lose the respect or tolerance of a person, or from a person...especially based on their actions and reactions.” Annemarie knew that many had found her not one to be respected when she had scolded them, but foolish children were ones to judge base on diciplinary actions. Though, Annemarie had already said too much that may have made the boy up and leave sooner. Maybe though, he’d think about it as he did so.
“I don’t want to keep you any longer than you’d like to stay. Many more papers to grade and such...but I just want you to know that what happened in that hall, whether I made it my place to yell or not, was just an image of the world that I saw in an upheavel of intolerance of one another. Even if it was just in play...” For this she mostly spoke of her co worker, whom had shown her less respect than them all. The students were only being wasteful and ungrateful...but it was a respect issue that really had her heart tearing...and this boy was not one who would know any of it.
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Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
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Post by Drew Thornton on Nov 23, 2007 21:06:53 GMT -5
So it was to be a lecture anyway. Drew thought for a moment that he should have just gone ahead and taken the offered chair so at least he could be comfortable.
As she preached, he was all ready to answer with a simple "Yes Ma'am" which tended to be the best response in situations such as these. Preachy people really didn't want an actual response any more than they cared if they helped you in any way. They just wanted to hear themselves speak.
But something she said made him change his response. She seemed to have a very narrow-minded view of the world and it honestly made him feel sorry for her. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I beg to differ." Of course, now he had lost his chance of escape and would have to explain. "I don't think our actions that night are indicitive at all as to who we usually are. And I definitely don't think they're a reflection of the world as a whole."
"I'm sorry I took your time. I'll let you get back to work," he said as he moved closer to the door, thinking it was best he leave. So it had been a waste of time to try and apologize. She'd still see the students as nothing more than spoiled little ingrates.
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Post by viola on Nov 23, 2007 21:23:19 GMT -5
It was sad how this boy had no idea of what she meant, but maybe she hadn’t been clear. What was her purpose there if she couldn’t even be clear enough to instruct the students. She hadn’t meant that night, but all nights of deliquint behaviors.
“And maybe I am mistaken, in my ways of looking at one event and knowing that those will only lead to more. Yet, I have not said that I did judge all of you on that, rather I have developed a sense of loss as to what I am supposed to think. House elves made your food that you wasted that day, that others would have killed to have...but I do not judge....Have you seen the starving children from Africa? Nevermind...I’m sorry Mr. Thornton if you do not agree. It’s clear we have our own ideals on how respect should be shown to those that are supposed to be equal as all humans are supposed to be.”
Annemarie let the boy edge closer to the door as he pleased, and she said no more. How could she explain to some young man the ideals she herself couldn’t even explain to herself. She had lost so m uch of her way with taking this position that her faith was even being challenged. What was her purpose there? He only saw the surface of what she meant, but how was she supposed to explain anything deeper if he had not wanted to hear it to begin with?
Reaching for her photo albums she opened to a picture of Sister Mary Ellen and Charity Baubarge and quietly apologized to them, for she was lost on what path she had decided to take. She didn’t know how she could help the children, without asking for help herself first.
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Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
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Post by Drew Thornton on Nov 23, 2007 21:37:32 GMT -5
The poor starving children in Africa. Drew was certain that if those kids knew how cliched their plight had become, they would have told everyone to leave them out of it. And why did everyone only remember the African children? What about the American children and the European children who went without food daily? Did Asia have no starving children? Drew was certain they actually did.
"The food we wasted that night would hardly save all of the starving children in Africa. And even if it had, there would be no way to get it to them properly," he pointed out. "If you're trying to remind me to count my blessings, then be assured I do, as I know many of my fellow students do as well. And many of us work to contribute to charities on a regular basis. We wasted that food and I think most of us realize how wrong that was. While I agree that it was disrespectful to the hands that prepared it as well as the hands who clean that Hall thrice a day, forgive me, but the children in Africa were hardly part of the equation."
Perhaps if the woman was so concerned with the African children, she'd be better off working with them. Drew was tired of being thought of as a selfish society brat.
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Post by viola on Nov 24, 2007 15:16:14 GMT -5
“Weren’t you leaving, Mr. Thornton? Or have I annoyed you enough to sit and speak with me about what’s really on the both of our minds?” Was Annemarie teasing the boy right there as he stood, gracefully speaking to her about what was right and what was wrong and what could and could not be done? The smirk playing on the dark angels lips only told the story to be true. She was antagonizing him, and the former Slytherin knew it. She was becoming less formal, and more irritated that this boy couldn’t just walk out her door like he wanted to, and therefore she knew that two could play such a game. Annemarie didn’t wear the robes anymore of a catholic nun, and for her it was an unfortunate realization that she had to come to grasp with.
Maybe the children didn’t respect her because she had lost the snarky witch from the past to become a teacher of the future. An enlightener for those who needed one…why couldn’t she have both?
“Mr. Thornton, tell me? Do you know anything about the muggle world? Science rather? Or more specifically any of Newton’s laws?” she gestured for him to sit again as she took her wand out and made them both a couple of glasses of butterbeer. Fine, if he wanted to teach her, then she would listen. A great role model had once told her that every time a student speak a teacher learns; and that’s exactly what she planned to finally do.
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Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
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Post by Drew Thornton on Nov 24, 2007 22:36:59 GMT -5
"I thought I was leaving," Drew answered back at the second invitation to sit. He wasn't sure he was ready to go that far, but he was willing to take the bait and stick around a bit longer. It wasn't like he couldn't leave later.
"The Muggle world? What would a nice pure-blooded boy like me know about such things? I tried to take Muggle Studies once, but my parents found out and made me drop... said I didn't need it so why waste my time?" There was more to that story, but the woman didn't really need to know the details.
"My grandmother says Muggles invented science because they couldn't understand magic." Of course the grandmother in question was the evil Nana. Grandmother Thornton would have more class than to say such things. "But yes, I'm familiar with Newton. Most of his laws apply in the Magical world as well as the Muggle."
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Post by viola on Nov 24, 2007 23:11:17 GMT -5
“Well, that’s unfortunate. Now isn’t it?” Annemarie looked at the boy, her temper rising to a level she didn’t want it to get to so soon in her career at Hogwarts, but for the life of her she couldn’t tell if the boy was being overly sarcastic and rude, or really absolutely serious about his blooded nature.
“Do I look like I’m one to care about your blood, Mr. Thornton? Because I’ll be the first to tell you that I don’t give a damn. You are human, and in that sense, you are just like me…of course,” she paused choosing her next words carefully. “…just a bit younger, obviously.”
Annemarie wasn’t about to stand for this child’s behavior in her office: sarcasm or otherwise. In the end, he was just being rude by not leaving and continuing to stay and mock her, as if to say she had no idea about him. Truth was, she didn’t, and as much as she would have liked to know or cared to know, he really was starting to piss her off. She could feel a mood swing coming as fast as lightning hits the earth, as Newton’s Law of opposite reactions was about to take place right there in front of him.
And after all of this, he had apologized. Was it just to annoy her further and show her how untrustworthy this young man really was? Had he meant any of the words that had come out of his mouth? Or was he really just that tormented with the fact that she had left that day with potatoes in her hair, and less respect and dignity that she had had when she walked in?
“I think we’re done here, Mr. Thornton. But do think about something I’ve said here…” she paused wondering if it even mattered what next she said. “Maybe someday you will understand where I’m coming from, without in return showing disrespect.”
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Drew Thornton
Ministry of Magic
Auror-in-Training
I didn't do it and you can't prove otherwise...
Posts: 14,114
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Post by Drew Thornton on Nov 24, 2007 23:38:59 GMT -5
She had taken his bait quite nicely, he thought, feeling he got the rise out of her that he had expected. She was about as close-minded and prejudice as they came, and those kinds were always the first to jump to the wrong conclusions, just as she had... just as he had suspected she would.
And he knew he had gotten to her because her invitation to sit down was recinded as quickly as it had been given. She even had the nerve to suggest he had wanted to stick around for more than his appology. An apology which, he knew now, was a waste of time. She'd never see the students here as anything more than a bunch of spoiled ingrates. His apology had been nothing but genuine, but she had still felt the need to lecture him... was still lecturing him.
"Professor, I sincerely hope I never understand where you are coming from. Good day," he said, offering a small but genuine smile as he left. He really did feel sorry for the poor woman.
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Post by viola on Nov 24, 2007 23:45:40 GMT -5
As he walked out the door, his last statement stung as the boy could have never believed. Neither of the two of them knew where the other stood, and their thick skulls would prevent them from doing as such. Who baited a professor into a rage of fury? Annemarie would never know. Maybe it was just the male gender that did as such, but then again, maybe it was just this boy in particular.
Whatever it was, it wasn't worth Annemarie's time and as much as she hated to believe it, this was one child that was too far set in his ways to see anything more of a bigger picture. Moisture welled in her frustrated eyes, as she managed to get out before he left. "I'm sorry you think that way, but unfortunately, so will your house for your rudness this day. Ten points, Mr. Thornton....and I'm not giving them." She stood from her desk with the photo album that she had just looked at and turned her back to the door, placing the books upon the shelf.
Annemarie just wouldn't understand some things, and maybe, it was for the better.
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