((OOC 1: I hope you don't mind me surprising you this topic. If so I apologise and will remove it))
((OOC 2: Donald is still in his school uniform)) 

If people saw what Donald was doing, they might decide to call the 14-year-old a lot of things. Teacher’s pet. Swot. Brown noser. Bootlicker. Sycophant. Butt Kisser. Groveler. However, that was not very fair, not really. The young boy was trying to be kind to his head of house. He was not trying to score brownie points or get onto her good side or anything at all. Don felt that he would be in pretty good standing with his Head of House anyway, after all, he didn’t really get into any trouble or cause any misbehaviour. In some ways, some might call the youngster a bit boring over his aversion to doing anything mischievous.

The Welsh wizard had his mother make him some caramel apple cupcakes. In fairness to his mam, she did make him a fair good supply of him as he asked. He wanted to share these autumn goodies with his friends, and with Professor @melanie , the head of Ravenclaw house. He knew that a lot of the Professor had been feeling a bit under the weather with this illness that had been going around. The lad with the spiked up hair hoped that he might be able to cheer up with a few cupcakes. It seemed to be the nice thing to do.

Donnie had carefully packed a few cupcakes into a box and was bring them up to the Professor, making sure that he didn’t drop them. He had wanted his mother to make some pumpkin pasties as well, but she was unable to do so as she was not able to enchant them to be at just the right temperature to eat, not too hot but not too cold either. She had written an apology to the Ravenclaw seeker explaining that the pumpkin pasties would have been too cold by the time they arrived from Wales up to Scotland. He understood why and supposed that she was right.

This entire mysterious illness that was travelling around was very concerning to the Ravenclaw youngster. While it seemed to be only hitting adults and not teenagers, he was still worried about his parents and relatives. What if the older people never got better? What if the illness was something that lasted forever and no-one could do magic ever again? Then there was a concern how his mam and dad, and the other grown-ups would be able to cope without using magic? Wizards tended to have very little to no knowledge of the muggle way of doing things.

Perhaps these were concerns that Donald could raise with his head of house? It was something that had been worrying the pale-skinned lad; maybe the Professor could offer him some reassurance. Then again, would it be right to remind the teacher of the sickness? The whole point of him visiting her was to try and help cheer her up after all. He decided to keep his concerns to himself for now and offer the Ancient Runes Professor something to help cheer her up. Hopefully. The young boy balanced the box in one hand while knocking on the door of the office of Head of Ravenclaw House.  

teacher's pet

that's what you're trying to be

well now, let us see

She was going to have to figure out how being back in the castle was going to work. It was something that she was going to have to deal with on her own. Because Melanie knew that her life was not something that a lot of people were privy to. There weren’t a whole lot of people that were going to be able to understand what it was that she was seeing. She didn’t understand what she was seeing, but she had learned what colors surrounded most of the children, and her eagles, especially, she had a way of picking out who was whom. It wasn’t all that difficult when you considered everything that she did know about them. Melanie thought that it was important that they were going to know she cared, because she was here, almost as soon as she had gotten out of the hospital, she had come back to them.

They were hers, and she was devoted to them. Pieter probably would have had her come home, and rest, for a few days, but she thought that it was important to come here. She had her own office, and her own chambers, and she could get away from it all for a while if she needed to. But she had been away from the castle for too long. She had been away from her eagles for too long. And she knew that they had had a sub. She knew that her classes had been covered, but she was more than a professor. She had taken over as the Ravenclaw Head of House, and that was important to her.

Her own head of house, all of those years ago, had been important to all of them. She had watched Olivia move through the ranks as Prefect. She had heard that Aurora had been the one that had come back here as a professor, and then moved up to Headmistress. Ravenclaws were strong, and they were smart, and Melanie was proud of the group that she had now. She thought that they were all capable, and strong, and that they would do well in the world. One of the few Ravenclaw professors in the school, they were her responsibility, and she knew that. She knew that they were there for her to look after, and so she had come back for them.

She was sitting at her desk, conversing with Kirsey in rapid Dutch when she heard the knock on the door. “Kom binnen!” Her words came out in the language that was almost more natural to her than English after all of these years. Shaking her head a little bit, she made herself focus on the door, and try not to squint as she prepared herself for the onslaught of colors that were sure to follow whomever it was into the room. She knew that she needed to talk to some of the other professors, the ones that hadn’t gotten sick. The ones that hadn’t left. But she thought that she would deal with whomever was here first. Once she had actually spoken in English that was.

“Come in!” She corrected herself loud enough for whomever was on the other side of the door to hear. And she stood, slowly, behind her desk as she nodded for Kirsey to go and open the door. The elf was her own, personal, elf. The one that her mother had given her when she had moved to Amsterdam in the first place. She spoke just as competent Dutch as she did English, and she was, as of right now, Melanie’s truest confidant in this place.

@ mr westwood • 605 • melanie's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

((OOC: Donald's Outfit ))

Donald was getting more and more nervous while he was waiting for his head of house to let him in. He wondered if she would think of him being too much of a butt kisser and if that might be held against him or that the Professors might ridicule him behind his back for being such a teacher’s pet. Did teachers speak badly of their students to each other in the privacy of the staff room? He didn’t know, and the Welsh boy was troubled by the idea that they might start to think badly of him. That was the last thing that he wanted. Don was simply trying to be nice. That was all.

At least the youngster was slightly confused when unfamiliar words came from behind the door. The Ravenclaw seeker could not quite put his finger on what they were. They didn’t sound like English, although English was not exactly his first language so it might be possible some English words that he did not know. However, it didn’t sound like English and while not his first language his English was as good as it being his first. Maybe misspeaking was part of the illness that was going around, or perhaps it was another language that the Professor knew. The 14-year-old wondered if it should concern him.

When the Professor told him to come in he carefully opened the door ”Hello Professor” he said politely, before very carefully trying to close the door quietly behind him so it would not slam. It might have looked a bit silly ad he was doing a very interesting balancing act with his box of cupcakes and trying not to have them drop on the floor, while at the same time not wanting the same time not wanting the door to slam in case Professor Burke had a headache. The last thing that the Welsh wizard-in-training wanted to do was to exacerbate the situation.

”I am very sorry to disturb you, Professor…” for once the fourth year lad was not going to get into an apology fit. He didn’t think he was really doing wrong, nor that it would be entirely appropriate to start apologising a million times for simply entering the room. At least not any more, he started to feel that it was a bit silly to say sorry over and over again and it was a habit that he was hoping to start to grow out of.

”…I….” suddenly the Ravenclaw seeker was not exactly sure what to say to the teacher without sounding a bit odd or coming across as being a try-hard. Maybe it was a bit of a mistake to do this, but it was too late now, he was in the room, and Donnie now had to go through with this. ”..umm…” he added getting more and more embarrassed, his usually pale skin starting to red decidedly more redder.

”…I…err…was.wo..wondering if you um…was...uh….o...okay Miss?” he finally managed to get out sounding increasingly more awkward as he spoke. Donald started to feel more and more foolish in himself. He looked around the office for a moment before remembering that he was holding a box of cupcakes for his Head of House. ”umm…oh..my mam…I umm…I mean that I asked my..my mam…” slowly he was getting a bit more sure of himself ”…to…to umm….bake you some offff some some cupcakes.” he placed the box upon her desk ”…they are um…” suddenly the type of cupcakes that there were left his head. He felt that it was importing to tell her and the spiky-haired lad started to rack his brains to remember what they were.

He couldn’t really figure out why this was so difficult for him; it was not like he was in trouble or anything. And he knew his head of house quite well he thought. Maybe the young boy had managed to work himself up so much before entering the office that he managed to make this whole ordeal entirely more difficult for him than it needed to be.

Trying to push these silly ideas to the back of his head the young Ravenclaw boy tried to persevere with his endeavour. ”..um….oh….they are cameral apple cupcakes. I hope that um…that they are okay” he looked at the Professor nervously, still unsure if he had done the right thing.

teacher's pet

that's what you're trying to be

well now, let us see

When it came to coming back to the school Melanie hadn’t been entirely sure when she was going to feel up to it, but she had decided that staying in that place was worse. She didn’t want anything to do with it. Burke though she might have been, Melanie was not a Death Eater, and everything that had happened to the kids that had called that place home turned her stomach. They were just children, after all. And she knew that that was not the majority opinion, certainly not within her family or otherwise. But she knew that she didn’t like it. She knew that she would have preferred not to be there at all.

But she had been blind. There had been no avoiding it, no avoiding checking herself into the hospital when suddenly she couldn’t see anymore. And it was an impossible situation, because she wasn’t blind. She knew that she wasn’t, and yet, she might as well have been. Without her magic she had no control over anything that she was seeing. She had no control whatsoever and that was something that made her feel helpless. Since the day that her vision had faltered she had had a headache that felt like a thousand knives. Her eyes hurt in a manner that she couldn’t even describe.

It took her longer than it should have to place the boy that came in the door. But she had had to read his aura, and place his height and being with a voice. She was lucky that it wasn’t a first year with how much of the term she had missed being sick. Melanie smiled warmly as she made herself focus enough so that she could see through all of the colors swirling in her vision. “Hello, Mr. Westwood.” She extended her hand towards the seat in front of her desk, “Please, come in.” She knew that she should have apologized for the Dutch before, but she figured it was sooner forgotten if not mentioned at all.

As he stumbled over his words Mellie felt herself become instantly more maternal. For never actually bearing children she was ever the mothering sort. Her two grown children were a testament to that. They were hers regardless of blood, and she thought that, while they were here, all of the eagles were hers too. “I am slowly recovering, thank you.” She knew that he had been under no obligation to check up on her, and yet, here he was. The gesture was a sweet one.

Cupcakes were certainly unexpected, but they were not unwelcome. She rather liked cupcakes, and even if she didn’t think she could finish them all, she was sure that some of the others would like them as well. Amaryllis likely had people bringing her her own cupcakes, but she thought that she would still offer to share with her friend. Making friends had not been the point in coming to the school, but she was often glad for the other witch’s company.

“I’m sure they are lovely, thank your mother for me?” Melanie knew that the woman hadn’t had to do such a thing at all. They had a castle full of elves more than ready to cater to their every need, but this was sweet. “Was there something you needed, or did you just come to check on me?”

@ mr. westwood • 561 • melanie's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

Worrying was something that came naturally to Donald. The Ravenclaw seeker could and did literally worry about everything and anything. It was something that was a bit of a curse if he was honest, it meant that he could never feel totally relaxed and at ease with himself, and if something did go wrong then the 14-year-old might easily end up in a full-blown panic and be of no use at all. It was something that his parents tried to help him get out of, but it was a struggle. Don was resigned to the fact that he would worry about everything and that his own nervous energy was something that he had to live with.

That being said, his nerves were starting to fade a bit now, the better that this was going, the more relaxed the young lad started to feel. He wasn’t in trouble, and he was trying to do something nice for the Professor. He didn’t have anything for him to worry about. While he did have the worry in the back of his mind that the Professor still might take his action in the wrong way and mistake it for butt kissing or sycophancy, he was glad that she didn’t seem immediately annoyed that he was bothering her and being a pain. That was a good sign in his opinion.

He was not exactly sure how to react when the professor said that she was slowly recovering. While it was a good thing that she was recovering, it still meant that she was ill. Should he say that is good? Or would that sound a bit too lame, or maybe too familiar and disrespectful? But not reacting at all would also be just as bad though, right? Not being sure exactly how to respond appropriately, the fourth year opted to give her a small smile.

Donnie observed as the teacher took the cupcakes. He hoped that she would like that, come to think of it he had not checked to see if @melanie had any allergies or any other dietary requirements. This could very easily go wrong if she had any. He wondered if there would have been any way for him to find out without spoiling the surprise or raising any suspicion about what he wanted to do for her. The Welsh wizard supposed not.

From her reaction, it seemed that she had no objections to the cakes, and Donald looked suitably relieved that she liked them. ”I will Professor” he said politely and respectfully. The spiky-haired boy made a mental note to send his owl, Miles, to his mam after this meeting and tell her that the cupcakes were while received. He was sure that his mum would be delighted to hear that.

The pale-skinned lad shook his head. Then the Professor asked if there was something else that he needed ”No Ms I just wanted to see if you are okay…” he said. It was the truth, Don did not have any ulterior motive for the visit. Although, now that he came to think about it, his worry about this illness going around was still nagging him. It was his worrying nature showing its face again.

”…well…” the Ravenclaw boy said going to take a seat, before realising that he hadn’t been given permission to and standing up again giving the Professor a questioning look. ”…I I am worried about the flu that is going around…” he said apologetically ”…I am just worried the flu and how it is impacting everyone. My mam, my dad, my family, you, other professors, everyone. I mean, I hope you are coping okay without magic? And what if they cannot cure it?” he knew h was probably sounding too overly worried now, but it concerned the young lad, and he just hoped the Professor could give him more information or reassurance about it.

He supposed that it was only natural for youngsters to worry about their parents, carers, relatives and professors. After all, these were important people in their lives, and it was only natural for them to be concerned about them and what was happening to them. Donnie just hoped that the Professor would understand his concern.

TEACHER'S PET

THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO BE

WELL NOW, LET US SEE

Hogwarts was a reprieve for her as much as it was for some of the students, though it was also a headache. There wasn’t a moment that she was here that she didn’t have a very real headache. Melanie found that she was both blessed and cursed with the gifts that she had been born with. It was wonderful when she needed insights. It was a gift when she was around far less people. But she was a professor. She belonged here, where she could do some good, and yet, she thought that there was something about all of this that was a little more difficult.

Coming back had meant that she was going to have to try and get through seeing everyone without the help of her magic to block what she was seeing. It was sensory overload in a way, and she knew that being alone in her office helped. It wasn’t that she wasn’t going to have a headache in here, she was. It was just easier than being in the Great Hall. She hadn’t been prepared for that. She had tried to be. She had tried to brace herself, and yet, she thought that she was more overwhelmed than she had ever been.

Even when she was little, she had always had magic in her veins to help her see that things weren’t real. But now, without access to her magic, Melanie was having a hard time distinguishing thing out of all of the colors. And she thought that it would get easier. She thought that she could learn to look past it. But it wasn’t going to be easy. It was going to take time, and work, and she didn’t have the patience right now. Instead, she was going to just suffer with what she had and call it a day.

Melanie offered the boy a smile and she nodded. That was all that she could really do. If he would extend his mother, her appreciation would wait to be seen. But she figured that he would. There was no reason not to, after all. Posing her question, Melanie waited. If there was something on his mind, she thought that he would talk to her. She had found that they often did. If they found their way into her office here, she often found that they didn’t need a whole lot of prompting to tell her what was wrong.

“It is a scary thing, when we don’t know the answers…” Melanie’s head was starting to ache again, and there was a distinctly Dutch note to her words as she formed more than a short sentence. It had been her home tongue for longer than she had been here in England. And while she had been educated in England, it was the same as sending her children to Beauxbatons. They were still Dutch. And she knew that she was technically Scottish. But she had been raised more across the sea than she had in her seventeen years here.

“We will figure it out, and the healers are working endlessly. This is something that we will all get through, in time. We are human, and we have our many faults, but we will prepare for every sort of future.” She didn’t know exactly what he wanted to hear, but she could give reassurances. She could give them with the warmest of tones, and still not be entirely sure of what she was saying. But that would never show in her voice. Melanie focused on the boy in front of her, despite the protests of her eyes and head, and put her hands flat on her desk in front of her, open, approachable. “They will find a cure, and until they do, we will make the best of it.”

@ mr westwood • 631 • melanie's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

Donald hoped that the Professor wouldn’t take his further questioning the wrong way. It was a worry that crept into his mind ever since he asked it. That was not the reason for him coming to see the Professor, he was genuinely concerned about her and wanted to make her feel better. This was probably a silly worry by the young boy. It was not something that the teacher was likely to think. As usual, the Ravenclaw was letting is own worrying little nature get the better of him. He was asked by the teacher that there was anything else what he wanted to say, and it was something that he was somewhat concerned about.

The young wizard bit his lip with a bit of concern as his Head of House said that it was a scary when people didn’t know the answers. He would have to agree with her over that. It had occurred to him that the adults must be pretty scared by what was going on as well as the children. Donnie could not even begin to imagine how it must feel for the grown-ups in this situation. Having their magic taken away from them, not knowing what was going on, if they will ever get their magic ability back or even how to handle their life without magic. It was a bit troubling to hear this reflected by the Professor though.

Professor Burke started to talk about the healers being able to figure it out and work something about in the end. The 14-year-old boy nodded when she said that humans prepare for any sort of future. He supposed this was true, it was something that was admirable about humanity was their ability to adapt and change. To rise to ant challenge and evolve. It was reassuring, in a way, for the teacher to point this out to him ”Yes Professor” he said to her respectfully.

The Ravenclaw seeker didn’t really know what else the Professor was going to say to him if he was honest. The youngster was glad that she wasn’t exactly treating him like a child. He was a fourth year after all, he was 14 years old, not exactly a child, although he supposed he wasn’t quite an adult either, but he didn’t believe that he was far off either.

”I hope that they find a cure…” Don wasn’t totally sure that would be the case. It could just be his worrying nature again. He worried about things a lot, and it caused him a lot of anxiety over the years. Another worry suddenly struck the boy ”I didn’t mean to doubt you Professor” he looked a bit anxious at the Ancient Runes teachers, clearly worried that he had somehow stepped out of line. He did not mean about disrespect, and he wasn’t trying to be disrespectful.

Regaining his composure a bit the spiky-haired young boy smiled again at the professor ”Thanks miss. I am not sure if there is anything I can do to help you or the other Professors out, but if there is I will be more than happy to help” he informed the teacher. In all honesty, the pale-skinned Welsh lad was happy to try and help out the teachers in any way that he could do so. He wanted to be helpful, and he felt that it was essential to allow the academic functioning of the school to continue as well as it could do under the circumstances. Besides, being helpful was nice and a good thing to do in his opinion. In any case it felt like the right thing for him to say.  

TEACHER'S PET

THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO BE

WELL NOW, LET US SEE

Her head was killing her, but she knew that her own health was the least of her problems. She had been the first professor to leave the school, but she hadn’t had had a choice at the time. Now she was back, and she was prepared to face them all with a smile. With reassurances that they were all going to be fine. Did she have access to her magic? No. She did not. She was, in some ways, handicapped now. And in others that was a very fitting description. She was blind, if seeing too much was a form of blindness.

When she had said that she was coming back to the school, she had seen the protest in Pieter’s eyes, but he hadn’t voiced it. He hadn’t said either way what she should or should not have done, and she knew that he wouldn’t forbid her. There were people here that needed her. Her students needed her, Oralie needed her. She had to be here, for them. And she knew that she owed it to them to come back. She owed it to them to show that she was okay, that this was all going to be okay.

How, she didn’t know. Melanie didn’t have the answers for that. She had no idea how they were all going to be okay, but she knew that they would be. She had faith that they were going to be okay again, somehow, some day. They were going to work it out. And she didn’t know if there was an answer for that. She didn’t know where that optimism had come from, but she planned on hanging on to it. She didn’t want to lose that. Because it was the only thing that she had. It was all that was pushing her through at that point. Knowing that someday, it would all be okay again.

She didn’t have the answers that the boy was seeking. She didn’t know when things were going to get better. All that she could offer him was the openness and the honesty that she did have. She had hope that things were going to be alright. And that was just going to have to be enough. For now, that was all that any of them really had. They only had what they could give to themselves, and even then, she wasn’t sure that that was going to be enough, but they had to try.

Shaking her head softly, and stopping nearly as quickly as she had started, Melanie offered a small smile. “I know. That’s alright. I hope so too.” She didn’t think he was doubting her, so much as she thought that he was scared. They all were, and she didn’t know what to think about that. There was no way to truly make them feel better. They didn’t have any way to protect them if something changed, and it started to go after the children as well.

“I think offering is sweet. That’s all you can do. Ancient Runes I can get by, but if you want to check on some of the others, I’m sure there are some that could use help with the younger students.” He was only a fourth year, and she didn’t know that they were going to take on TAs that were that young, but if he was offering, he could always offer. All they could do was say no.

@ mr. westwood • 571 • melanie's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

The youngster smile a bit at the Professor. It was strange, he had come here to try and help the Professor and attempt to reassure her, but in the end, it was the teacher who was re-assuring that student. He guessed that was the normal order of things and the way that it should be. This entire illness was very concerning for everyone, the adults who were suffering from the disease and the children who were seeing the older people struggling to cope without their magic. It was even more troubling when the thoughts moved towards thoughts of home, about how their parents were surviving.

The 14-year-old blushed as the professor said that his offering was sweet. While it was true that he had not done it to get praise, it was still nice to be given a compliment like that. If that was a compliment rather than a comment? The Welsh boy decided that he would take it as the former. He thought about her point about him asking some of the other professors if they would be okay. It was an excellent point by the Ravenclaw Head of House. It was something that he should look into.

Helping out the Transfiguration professor was totally out of the question for the young wizard. He was still very hopeless at that subject. But Donnie could probably help out the flying professor if needed, and the charms professor certainly so. Dark Arts probably less so, that subject scare him a bit. Potions, again, he didn’t see how much help that teacher would need, same with Herbology and History of Magic.

”I am glad to know that you are fine, but I will see if the other Professors need help.” he said with a small nod. Donald wasn’t too sure how much help he could be with the younger students, but he was willing to help the Professors out in some small way if he could. He felt that at times like this everyone should pull together and help each other out. It was the only logical thing for them to do in his opinion. ”But if you do need me then I am happy to help…” he trailed off feeling awkward again. Was that the right thing for a pupil to be telling a Professor? Well, she was his Head of House, and the Houses that students got sorted into were meant to be like family right? So that meant that the Head of Houses were like family in some sort of way? He wasn’t too sure if he was honest. It was a bit late now for him to backtrack in any case.