An Interview with a...

[Felicity Hjort]

It was quarter to seven o'clock, the exact time she had told the Ravenclaw reporter to join her outside the Astronomy professor's office. Felicity had been pacing up and down the corridor since half-past six, nervous as anything. Now it wasn't because of the professor, no that didn't bother her, it was because it was the first interview she'd be conducting for the newspaper she'd gained permission to start at Hogwarts.

The time seemed to be ticking by very slowly, much more so than when she sat in the library working on essays. The blond decided to blame it on her nerves, though she didn't know if the scene before her was helping any. The sky had darkened quickly, rain clouds looked threateningly down upon the castle, and the wind could be heard ripping through every nook and cranny within the castle's hold. And on top of the weather, the girl's stomach would not be quiet; perhaps she shouldn't have missed dinner after all. The combination of her nerves and excitement had left her with no choice but to ignore the thought of food that flitted in and out of her mind all evening. There was much too much to do to prepare for the meeting.

First she had to double check to make sure she had a notebook to record the man's answers, she had to double check that she had enough ink and more than one quill that was well-prepared, she had to go over her list of questions, there was just so much involved in the process. And after she had made sure everything was in order, she remembered she had forgotten to relay the time to meet to the Ravenclaw. Yes, she had forgotten. At five after six, she had sent one of her fellow Gryffindor's tawny owls on a mission to find the dark-haired girl.

Felicity just prayed to Merlin the girl had received her note of apology in time.

((Closed Please, for a purpose))

[Celina Jedynak]

Celina was eating dinner when a tawny owl came from out of no where and almost took the poor girl's head off. Laughter came from around her, from who, Celina didn't care to notice. The poor thing looked exhausted and she wondered who at this time of night would be sending her a message so urgently.

When she removed the letter she noticed that it was none other than the Gryffindor who she'd only known to call as a friend for a short time now. Felicity Hjort. Not only were they now...somewhat friends, but Felicity was also the editor of the school newspaper that Celina joined. She was in charge of the Prophetic Prefect, which interviewed Prefects about their job and what not, and the Horoscope section. She was excited because this meant that not only would she be meeting new people, but she'd have excuses to ask them questions that she normally wouldn't ask of them. However, this was not a time to be thinking of her sections and by the time she was done reading the letter, Celina found herself running....yes, running, up the stairs to the sixth floor.

The letter had said that Felicity needed her at an interview with....Celina gulped and slowed her running pace. She stopped and reread the letter....You can't be serious! Celina yelled to herself in her head. The interview was with Juan Marcos....the astronomy professor. That made sense to her and all to interview him first for the professor interviews....since there was so much controversy around him being in that position. But....why? Celina had not made a very good impression in his first class....that was for sure.

She started to walk again. Everything would be fine and Celina had nothing to worry about. She tried to convince herself but unfortunately as she rounded the hall to meet Felicity her heart jumped, and she swore she wouldn't open her mouth this whole interview. "Felicity..." Celina said greeting the girl who was pacing back and forth in the hall infront of the professor's office. She must be nervous too, Celina thought to herself. She tried not to shake as she went up to the girl. "I just recieved your owl, and got up here as fast as I could."

[Felicity Hjort]

Turning on her heel at the voice that startled her from her thoughts, she sighed with a bit of relief; at least the owl had managed to get to the correct person. Smiling at the girl, and doing her best not show how nervous she was about the interview, she walked toward her. "Hello Celina," she began. "I'm really sorry I didn't get the owl to you well before now, it just slipped my mind that I'd planned on asking you to sit in on the interview with me."

And how it had managed to be pushed out of her mind, she wasn't sure, but it had happened. Opening her notebook, she pulled out a piece of paper with curly writing from her own hand. It was the list of questions she had prepared for the professor, of course it was merely a guideline to stay on topic with the man as she had a tendency to stray in conversation. Felicity handed the sheet of paper to Celina for her to glance over.

"Did you want to ask the questions?" she inquired not sure how the girl would feel. After all she kept saying extremely strange things and flipping out a little bit in their class. "Or did you want to record his answers down in the notebook?" Checking her wrist for the watch she had borrowed from one of the other Gryffindor's, she noticed it was ten to seven.

[Celina Jedynak]

Celina wasn't sure what to say. She was sure that by sitting there her hands would shake if she tried to write any of the answers to the questions down, but if she spoke her voice would quiver...not to mention something about class may come as a joke, and Celina would hardly be able to keep her cool then either. Trying to debate to herself on what she'd rather do when interviewing this professor, she watched as the Gryffindor looked at her watch. She swore she heard a foot tapping coming from somewhere...or maybe those were footsteps.

Starting to feel her heart in her throat, she realized that she probably wouldn't be able to interview Professor Marcos and look him in the eyes. His red eyes were probably the scariest part about him in Celina's opinion. Damn her parents for filling her mind with horrid stories...they had wanted her to feel this way, and now she did. "I'll...I'll...I''ll write," finally stammering out the answer to Felicity's question. The foot tapping got louder...and louder....and louder.

[Juan Marcos]

Juan trudged slowly down the hall to his office on the sixth floor. It was seven o’clock in the evening; in this professor’s opinion, far too early to be conducting an interview. But it simply could not be helped. The man was a vampire after all, and he had gotten used to the fact that his sleeping schedule did not exactly coincide with the functioning hours of the rest of the school’s and community’s populace. And so, just as he had with the Sorting Feast, the professor found himself awakening early, making himself presentable, and heading to the appointed location. Marcos groggily rubbed the last traces of sleep from his eyes and pulled himself together as he rounded the corner to his office. He couldn’t have himself looking disheveled on an interview; he had a broken enough reputation to deal with.

When he arrived, he found that the two students who were to be conducting the aforementioned interview were already waiting for him. He bit back a chuckle and settled for a grin, which as usual, revealed his fangs, when he noticed that one of them was the incredibly jumpy Ravenclaw from his class. Hopefully this time, at least, she would not be hiding under any desks.

He took a deep breath and let out a sigh, not that he needed to, but it was a habit he had when he was nervous.

“Let’s make this quick,” he thought.

The vampire had not fed yet, he had come directly here after awakening. As a result, he was feeling a bit ill and his skin was paler than normal. After feeding, he could usually pass off pale in a not unattractive way, but beforehand it gave a sickly look. After he dealt with this, it would be off to the Forbidden Forest for him or else it was going to be a long night.

[Felicity Hjort]

"All right then," she nodded at the girl and handed her notebook and quills over; she was afraid to hand the glass ink bottle to the girl, especially with how she was shaking. "You can record the answers and I'll talk." It probably would have been best to do so anyway, if the girl slipped up the professor might not have taken too kindly to it. Glancing over the list of questions, she blantantly ignored the footsteps. There was no reason to be frightened, she didn't even know who it was coming down the hall, at least not until she looked up.

Light brown eyes narrowed slightly, she wasn't sure if she liked the man or not, it was hard to tell as the class thread hadn't been completed yet, so her writer settled on Felicity being indifferent. Seeing his smile, her eyes were immediately drawn to his fangs. They were interesting, slightly frightening, but not as much as they could've been. He was a professor after all, there had to have been some sort of agreement on his part as well as the Headmistress' for him to be employed at Hogwarts.

Smiling brightly at the professor, as she wasn't about to let her hunger nor her nerves get the best of her, she decided it was time to greet as she didn't think Celina would be the first to do so. "Hello Professor," she started. "How are you this evening?"

[Celina Jedynak]

Celina turned around slowly to witness the Professor walk down the hall toward them. Turning back around quickly at Felicity, she took the quills and notebook. It seemed as if Felicity wanted to hang on to the ink bottle for a few more minutes, and Celina thought that was probably for the best. She couldn't control how much she was shaking at the moment. This man scared her still, and since the class thread was not yet finished, Celina's writer could give no other emotion but the one that she first had of the man, therfore she tried to control herself long enough to have the interview and then get out of his presence.

Celina turned back around as if not to be rude to ignore her elder. Celina then wondered how old the man actually was. Being a Vampire, and from what she had read, they were immortal....weren't they? So, that meant that even though he looked rather young, he was probably hundreds of years older than the two girls. Lost in her thoughts, Celina's shaking stopped only long enough for her to realize that Felicity was saying 'good evening'. Looking again at the man, his fangs showing in a dreadfully terrifying smile, Celina cowered and looked at the floor as she lightly said, "Evening, Professor."

[Juan Marcos]

The professor stifled a yawn, covering his mouth with one hand, his accent showing even through the yawn, "Morning... evening... whichever you prefer to you as well."

He could not afford to allow any lack of discipline in his classroom, but at the same time, he di not want to make these students any more uncomfortable than they already were. He supposed that he could be a bit more lax and friendly since they were outside the classroom setting and they had taken the time to come and conduct this interview.

"Not to mention gathering a bit of courage," he mentally noted as the ravenclaw appeared twitchy as ever.

He could, at the very least, be civil.

He opened the door to his office and motioned for them to enter, "After you ladies."

[Celina Jedynak]

Celina's eye's widened. They were now about to enter the man's office.

Alone...

two small girls...

compared to the taller, and more than likely, stronger man...no...vampire she reminded herself.

Celina didn't know what to think, so many different thoughts running through her head it made the world spin around her. So overwhelmed with different emotions, she didn't know if this newspaper had actually been the best of ideas. She slowly followed the man's hand into the room before Felicity. It's not that she was being brave or anything...she just rather have Felicity behind her than Professor Marcos. She couldn't help but still have the sense of her parents in her...stop judging! She told herself. As they entered the room, Celina saw that it was just about as lit as their astronomy classroom and it had just as many dark alcoves as the classroom did as well. She looked around cautiously as if something may be hiding in the dark...course then again, she reminded herself that the Professor was behind them, and this was not the first time they had met him.

Stopping a bit before the man's desk, she waited for Felicity to catch up with her. She could hardly see in the room, and she wondered how in the world she was going to be able to write down the answers to the questions he was asked by Felicity if she couldn't even see her notebook.

[Juan Marcos]

The vampire observed as the girl looked about, examining the room. Juan had to admit, his office was rather Spartan, devoid of the furnishings and niceties he was sure the other professors' offices sported, but to his credit, he had been busy taking care of the astronomy classroom. Secretly, he was rather looking forward to decorating his office with a Spanish flair, paying homage to his homeland, as it were. But for now he could only keep his stoic emotionless expression planted firmly on his face to hide his embarrassment.

He noticed the girl was looking nervously around, focusing in on the shadowed areas where the dim light did not penetrate. Hm... Perhaps the dramatic entrance of the first class had been a bit much? Marcos sighed as he turned the lamp up, flooding the room with light and revealing the bare and boring space it really was. He winced as the harsh light hit his sensitive pupils.

"I have a confession to make, off the record if you please," he commented, shielding his face from the light, "My classroom is not poorly lit to spook you chica. It is lit that way for my protection. My eyes are rather sensitive to bright light; but imagine the consequences should that particular bit of information get out.”

[Felicity Hjort]

Frowning slightly at Celina's avoidance of eye-contact, she decided to ignore it as it was a part of the girl. She was shaking, avoiding the man's eyes should have been expected. Felicity on the other hand had no qualms with looking directly at his face, she rather found him interesting. Watching the man's seemingly tired face, she wondered if she should have set the interview for a later time. But she was hardly able to stay awake in his class, it surely wouldn't have looked good for the paper if she'd dozed off in the middle of the sitting, or if she'd fallen asleep before the meeting and hadn't woken. No, seven o'clock was a good time, it wasn't early and it wasn't late.

After Celina, Felicity made her way into the man's rather plain room. She hadn't been in any of her other professor's offices, surprisingly, but she really had expected something more. Thanking her professor for holding the door, she followed the Ravenclaw and stopped just shortly after she did. It was a good thing she had brought her attention about, otherwise she would have walked right over the girl.

"Everything is off the record until you're ready," Felicity replied quickly turning to look at the man near the light. "Imagine the consequences," those words repeated in her mind over and over as she waited to be offered a seat. Normally she would have taken a seat without waiting to be offered, but this was a professional meeting, and so she had to try to maintain a professional aura.

At that moment she reminded herself to do a bit of research. When she had first heard Hogwarts had employed a vampire, she immediately plagued her mum with questions, in which she told her daughter not to make any judgments. Felicity had been told he was a man, just like any other, he shouldn't be prejudged because of what he was and Meadow Rose refused to buy her daughter anything that she could do more than a little bit of research from.

And so, she had stuck to her mum's wish. The blond had stayed away from the library, no matter the temptation for any such reason. But she figured it'd be all right after the interview. The professor would have a chance to make a good or bad impression outside of the classroom, and that way she wouldn't be prejudging because she'd already have decided.

Clearing her throat, she looked back up to the man's face with a small smile, hopefully Celina was prepared. "Whenever you're ready, sir."

[Juan Marcos]

The vampire nodded and made himself comfortable in his padded arm chair. He stretched his arms out and cracked his fingers and neck, letting out a contented sigh as he did so. He yawned a bit, the only indicator that he was tired and blinked when he realized the two students were staring at him.

He made a hand gesture telling them to proceed and said, "I apologize. Of course, I am ready whenever you are. Please feel free to ask your first question."

[Celina Jedynak]

Celina had by now already taken a seat, and didn't say anything. She couldn't. That was why she had the job of writing, it was safer.

It was only then, however, how shaky the quill was in her hand. There was no way of doing this easy, though she hesitated in reaching for her wand to make it so the quill wrote on its own. Beautiful, she said to herself, looking at Felicity, almost pleading with the girl to hurry so they could get out of there. Never again. She then looked around the room, meeting up with the eyes of the professor's. Celina was not having fun, and the only comfortable part of the experience was probably the chair she sat in. She let out a quivering sigh. Her eyes widened and they instantly went down to the paper she should have been writing on. "I'm ready," she managed to squeak out, even though she still had no ink to write with.