Pushed To The Limit

@esthergarnet

Sometimes he hated Ares. Of all the people to employ, knowing the plan's in place and what Sebastian had to do, he had had to employ Raymond yet again in the Ministry. In itself it was a good thing. If only by itself. But sadly, as things were wont to do, the situation was a bit more involved. The Wizard's... excuse of a daughter... was employed at Hogwarts as one of his professor's and he couldn't even think about firing her unless he broached the subject with the older man first. And what a wonderful conversation that would be. 'Oh yeah, Kvothe, I have a problem with employing your daughter because she's only half human and my skin crawls to be around her. And I don't know if she is murderous like your other secret, Damion. Good talk.' It would make Lad's Night more tense than a basilisk's hide for one thing, ignoring the very real possibility that Raymond wouldn't take it very well. And it wasn't even like she was teaching a minor elective class either! No, no no no, she just had to be teaching a core subject that would affect many of the student body. And he'd have to eat at a table with her. She was half Veela for Salazar's sake!

Not to mention he had to have a conversation with her in the first place to introduce himself as her boss without making it overly obvious that he loathed her very existence in this world let alone in his castle. He'd forgone his cloak since his last chat with Lucian earlier and was regretting it now that he knew where he was headed next. Even in school he'd hated History of Magic even if he'd been good at retaining the information so the classroom itself was enough for him to want to drag his feet. But he couldn't. He was Sebastian Flint, pillar of the community, Headmaster of Hogwarts and far too attractive to even think about acting like his younger brother Marcus. The days of petulance were far behind him. And just because she was Raymond's... thing... child, whatever... didn't mean he had to like her. The door was open when he got to it but a cursory glance after popping his head around the edge told him no one was home. Flying Snitches, his staff were useless. Was no one ever in there place of work? Even if it was Saturday, surely not every single one of them had gone home. If they had he'd just have to schedule a meeting with them; Term Time was Term Time, so if they wanted to go home they could let him know first so he wasn't dropping in for a conversation when they were blissfully absent.

Not that Esther being missing was bothering him. It was actually relieving. Walking in, he meandered around the desks to the back of the class where he sat on one of the empty desks to wait. Leaning forward with his hands clasped between his knees, he concentrated till he faded into the background like an amazing disillusionment charm and settled in for a long wait. Sebastian steeled himself for her arrival, making himself know in every fibre of his being that just because she was Veela didn't mean she warranted attention. Certainly not his. He wasn't some fool who could be won over or even close to by something primal as animalistic attraction caused by the creature part of her blood. She wouldn't find him stumbling over his words. Just perhaps... quieter than usual.

The fact that Hogwarts was amidst a school term had absolutely no effect on Esther’s usual hours kept within the castle. Given the fact that she lived close by in Hogsmeade, the woman had opted to keep a kind of 9-5 schedule in order to separate her work hours with her recreational ones. A work/ life balance was incredibly important to this witch. On the weekends, she was never there, and instead spent her time either out with friends or in with Max, whether it was at her apartment or his. Today was no different, apart from the fact that she’d stupidly left her purse on her desk on Friday afternoon, and since she was meeting Rosie at the Three Broomsticks for drinks before a proposed big night out meant that she had to make the short trip in to retrieve it first.

She’d cursed herself for it - not because it was that much a pain in the ass to go into Hogwarts on her day off, and not because she was worried she might get roped into a supervision shift or anything like that, either. For the last couple of months, there had been some serious changes within these walls, and none of them pointed to a result that would end very well. The abolition of Defence Against the Dark arts in favour of just ‘Dark Arts’ was one. That didn’t quite sit well with Esther, as it didn’t with many of the members of Faculty. Not to mention the sacking of muggleborn Professors from the school. She for one found the whole thing rather concerning, and with all of these factors tied into the recent Ministry overthrow, the appointment of a new Headmaster to replace the late Aurora Wentzell had been unsurprising, but still worrying.

She hadn’t properly met her new boss, and she hoped to put it off as long as possible. Of course it was completely inevitable that at some point there would come a point in which she’d need to make herself known to the man, but it just wasn’t something she looked forward to. In fact it was quite on the contrary. It was only speculation, and Esther had no proof, but if things continued to go the way they seemed to be headed, she didn’t hold a whole lot of hope for the direction of the school and however this new Headmaster would want to steer it. If all of these rumours regarding blood lineage were true, she had to wonder about her own status and how she fit in. While the blonde didn’t have any muggle blood in her that she knew of, she was still part magical creature. She could still be considered dangerous to the purists for all she knew. She supposed she would just have to wait and see on that one. And just like everybody else, she would likely remain on edge until that time.

Rushing into her classroom, Esther went over to her desk and picked up her purse then stuffed it into her handbag. Already dressed to go out, she took a moment to adjust herself, looking down at her chest and… rearranging herself inside her dress for a moment. Just one last touch up and she could get out of here. She took her purse out again and retrieved the red lipstick from inside, as well as a pocket mirror that she kept on her at all times, then proceeded to apply it to her lips in what was a painstaking finishing touch to her overall look. Pressing her lips together, she watched her reflection so intently that it was no wonder she didn’t notice anybody else’s presence in her classroom, whether they had concealed themselves or not. Shoving her purse, lipstick and mirror back into her bag, she took both hands and raked them through her hair shaking her long tendrils loose before checking over herself briefly, whilst readying to set back out through the halls and back to Hogsmeade.

While Ares was being rather slow and teasing with his uprising he was glad he'd been chosen to hold the torch for Hogwarts. The new Headmaster of the school was a career he had once dreamed of in school for an entire week before he decided the Ministry was arguably a better position, so in the here and now he was more than comfortable in his newest position of power. His office and personal quarters were exactly how he wanted them and he already knew what he wanted in terms of pukling the school back to it's feet and dusting it off. Most of his plans wouldn't come into play until September rolled around again but that was fine. He would need that time for interviews and for finalising the details of his regime. And for weeding out the ones that just didn't work with his program.

The biggest issue he had were the muggleborns. And the few Werewolves dotted around inside his school. In his idea of a perfect school, they had no place. They made the place tainted, dangerous. If their parents had no place in society theb somwthing as trivial as age shouldn't have them marked any differently. Give them a different school where they couldn't mingle with the rest of the population, send them away from Hogwarts to a place where they knew what they were. Accidents were accidents, and these mutants were no less accepted as a broken plate. His task was finding out his staff's view on things to see if they could stay. A few chats with Ares, Carlisle and Rod would no doubt help iron out the rest of the problems. Davina was leaving but he'd expected as much; in fact he might even offer to help pack her bags so she was out of his school faster than she was currently going. He could handle the next few weeks just fine without her making the place look untidy, without another Deputy to take her place. Her replacement would be far better than she ever was. Far more adept in her job. Someone he could actually stand to have around without feeling the need to commission a portrait of her so he could send projectiles at her at all hours of the day and watch her scream in terror. She was about as useful as Peeves... Without the sense of humour. She had the personality of a brick.

When he had walked into the classroom that Afternoon he hadn't imagined he was signing himself up for a private show of Garnet's preparing for her evening plans. Certainly not the positioning of her... chest... in such a provocative way so they wore her dress better. In fact the longer he was exposed to it the dirtier he felt untill he wanted a shower. With lye. He pulled at his collar as he began to feel a little warm and grew increasingly irritated at her for being so obtuse. Damned Ares. Fucking Raymond for not keeping his johnson to himself. The lot of them had something to say. Including Lucian who had been quiet on the subject of this particular blonde now pouting in his general direction while she made bedroom eyes at herself in her compact mirror. And ravaging her hair. What was she trying to achieve, the "Oh I was in the middle of getting laid and realised I had other plans for the evening" look? It was nauseating. Just who did she think she was. Bearing it no longer, he cleared his throat pointedly and dug his nails into his palms to keep himself grounded. 'It's the Veela part of her, she is actually really ugly. Really ugly. Underneath it all. Somewhere.' He thought, raising his brows expectantly as he let himself be noticed one more. "As fun as being subjected to your preparations for your evening is, I could really do with less of the doe eyes and the pouting. Besides, you have lipstick on your teeth, Garnet." Sebastian finally called across the classroom, sliding off the desk then settling against it with his arms crossed. He hoped he had ruined her plans after she had nearly ruined his eyesight. "Because she is so repulsive. Merlin I hate Raymond."

The last thing that the woman expected was company. Obviously. So when the man at the back of her classroom cleared his throat it made Esther jump and clutch a hand to her chest as if her heart had just forgotten to beat for a moment. Staring towards the desk where the sound had come from mouth agape in shock, she watched as he slid off from the desk and made himself comfortable there. What the hell. After a few short seconds, the realisation set in and she recognised the new Headmaster. She hadn’t met him formally, but of course it would have to happen now. On a Saturday. Right before she was about to head out. Right when she’d been thinking to herself that it’s be a real drag to have to play nice with him every day once he’d settled in if he turned out to be the absolute asshole that she’d pictured in her imagination. Esther’s hand dropped to idly straighten out her dress and she remembered to breathe again. Was he spying on her? His sudden presence in classroom had proven rather… Creepy to say the least.

“Afternoon, Headmaster…” she uttered once a little more composed. She shuddered to think about him potentially watching her gussying up at her desk. It wasn’t the most professional look. But then again, it was Saturday… “We haven’t had the chance to meet, yet. I’m Esther Garnet. Professor of History of Magic.” She had stated the obvious in her introduction, given he already knew her name. That much was proven when he advised her of the fact that she had lipstick stuck on her teeth. Whether or not he was teasing, Esther had already run her tongue over her teeth inside her mouth, hoping that would suffice to fix whatever remnants of cosmetics were left there, if there even were.

Already she could sense his intentions to power play over her. The way he spoke reminding her of Raymond in that it was an act of establishing power, and degrading her to a person much inferor. It was definitely a pet hate of Esther’s. Especially given his comments all based on her appearance. As if she cared what he thought of what she looked like. When she was in the castle, she wanted to be judged on her merits. But it was bloody typical for these middle-aged, well to do male wizards to cut the chase and act all high and mighty. God, it infuriated her. But she didn’t show it, instead she adjusted her handbag over her shoulder and gave him a polite smile. “Can I assist you with something?” Esther arched both brows and pretended to be accommodating but she couldn’t shrug off the fact that he’d been in here while she was out, snooping around most probably. Well Esther didn’t have anything to hide. At least not here, at her workplace, so she wasn’t intimidated in the slightest and held her ground as she stood there awaiting an answer, or better yet, an explanation!

Sebastian wasn't as perturbed or loathing of halfbreeds as much as some of his cousins and friends, but he by no means was a fan of them. Werewolves had their uses sure... away from the rest of the Wizarding population. They were a danger and a threat to them all but they could be inherently useful. Veela? Not so much. Oh sure they were very... alluring. Beautiful. But they were dangerous in that too. They messed with a man's mind and wrung them out for larks. They could throw fireballs if they got angry. So why on Earth were they welcoming them as well as their humanised children into society? They had nothing to gain from it, only things to lose. Like their sanity. Hell, Sebastian would have taken a Vampire over having to have Garnet in his school under his employment for those very reasons. She would distract his staff. And what about his students?! Surely these were all very sensible reasons for Ares to get rid of them.

Merlin he felt totally uneasy. And uncomfortable. So maybe keeping himself hidden had been a bad idea as now he was too far away from the door and She was staring at him like he was some kind of leper. It wasn't like he was the one dressed up like... like a tart! Strutting around his school as if she owned it showing too much leg to be right when in the building of a thousand or so students! He nodded at her, keeping his face impassive while inside he fought the hardest battle he had ever had to within himself. He would not bend to her will. He would not. "Afternoon, Esther. Sorry to interrupt your evening preparations. Sebastian Flint, pleasure to meet you." He greeted her lightly, trying for a smile. Inwardly he momentarily paused his fight to chalk up a point on the board. He won the lipstick battle. Now if she'd only go and put her robes back on...

He had no intention of spending any more time here than he absolutely had to. Raymond could do what he liked with his daughter but other than a bare check up to make sure she wasn't abusing her 'charms' on his students or being completely insufferable he was now of the opinion that someone else could keep an eye on her. Perhaps Lucian. Or Carlisle. He cleared his throat and moved his gaze to a point beside her head subtly and let out a deep breath as he wrested his mind back into check. Bloody bint should have came with a warning sign. "Actually, yes you can. Think of this as a very informal interview- since my appointment in the school again it's been brought to my attention that somethings simply need to change." He replied after a moment. 'Very informal... you're on opposite sides of the room with no intention of going closer and you were just perched on one of the desks.' He held up his hands placatingly for a moment then dropped them into his lap with another bright smile. "So i'm taking time out throughout my day to try and get to know my staff and see whether you fit in here like a glove or perhaps would do better elsewhere."

Esther wasn’t blind. She could tell right away that the man was uncomfortable, and she knew as sure as she was her mother’s daughter exactly why. It didn’t take much these days for the woman to differentiate between the different types of reactions she had gotten from men throughout a long and laborious portion of her life. She wasn’t stupid either. Just because she was a pretty face with great legs and a nice pair of boobs didn’t make her some ditzy blonde, and that’s why she decided that on this particular occasion, she was going to put her god-given gift to good use, because frankly she was quite sick of the whole power play she’d been the brunt of lately. Esther wanted to reclaim her own power and nothing was going to delight her more right now than making Sebastian know what it felt like to have little to no control over a situation.

Smiling softly, she set her gaze right on his and let her eyes narrow in on him. She breathed in slowly and appeared relatively relaxed for a person who was actually incredibly irritated by the audacity displayed here. If he wanted a bloody meeting, he should schedule it with her just like anyone else, and why’d it have to be on a bloody Saturday? “Oh absolutely, sir. I’m quite open to change.” She told him simply, though in her mind, the kind of change she’d like to see was far from what he probably had in store for them she imagined. Rather than getting visibly annoyed, she swung her handbag from off her shoulder and rested it on the desk as though she were about to humour him with her time.

“I can assure you Headmaster, that I fit in very well here indeed.” Esther pushed a a soft tendril behind her ear and pressed her lips together pointedly, maintaining a rather serene air about her. “In fact, I think you’ll find that if you go over our last exam results for all years that our student’s grades are at a very impressive average across the board.” She took her wand and gave it a brief flick, thus conjuring a rather intimidating pile of parchment that floated gracefully and landed by his side on the desk. Now let’s see how much he loved to do work related tasks on a weekend night. She was pretty sure he wouldn’t get as much of a kick out of going through her students tests results as he seemed to do harassing any of his non Death Eater affiliating staff.

Unlike many of his friends- and family, colleagues included- Sebastian didn't in actual fact enjoy ordering women around or 'putting them in their place' so to speak for he found it rather put a dampener on things. Their sparks usually disappeared, they bowed their heads and he was left bored shitless and staring at a wall counting down the minutes until he could ditch them for more favourable company. Assertive women, or at least those that were fairly confident within themselves knowing where they were going and what they wanted from life... they were far more up his street and he was more inclined to listen to them properly when he had to engage in a conversation with them. In fact, scrap having to, he wanted to, and would often stick around in hopes of scoring some of their time to speak with them and get his name in the door.

The problem he was now faced with however was thus; Esther Garnet was a very self assured Witch who was clearly highly intelligent, but he had to make sure he stayed far away from her to the point of learning to despise her in case something went very horribly and drastically wrong. Which he would then blame on her. He had read somewhere Veela could put a lid on their charms so to speak- otherwise there would be far more cases going through the Wizengamot- yet she was employing the opposite of this tactic. In fact if he hadn't known better as she set down her handbag and made rather direct eye contact with him he'd have said she was intentionally screwing with him. It almost like experiencing tunnel vision when she fixed him in her sights and he was nearly screaming in frustration as he stayed exactly where he was and refused to give an inch. Well, save for running a finger along the inside of his collar. He would not break, he was made of stronger stuff than she was clearly used to. He would however be banning coloured lipstick from the staff when he got back to his office. She would just have to slap her war paint on when she left the castle from now on.

"Good, this should go very easily then! Change can do wonders to get things back to working order when they've nearly ground to a halt like I'm currently seeing." His voice was slightly strained and he turned his head away to cough pointedly into his hand, apologising quietly before turning back with a fixed smile. 'She is Raymond's daughter. Raymonds! You do not want to go anywhere near anything remotely Kvothe involved...' Watching as the parchment tower careened towards him, he shifted round to look at it as something niggled at him. She was being rather... overly helpful. While dressed up. He wanted to thwart her plans to save the eyes of his students... he had to take one for the team. He could have screamed.

Finally Sebastian nodded and slipped the first sheet of parchment off the top deftly, turning it around to scan it over. Paperwork was mundane, and looking at it meant he didn't have to look at Esther... so really she had just given him a way out.
Nodding to himself, he looked back up at her with a smile with his eyes slightly off base to the side of her head as he spoke again. "That sounds like a wonderful idea, Miss Garnet. If you'd be so kind as to get comfortable and look through these with me then I'm sure I'll understand them slightly better and perhaps learn more about the students we currently have in the school."

Esther was having a surprisingly good time screwing with the Headmaster. Usually it wasn’t a tactic she would employ - especially not in her workplace where she was considered as a professional, thus she acted like one. Especially not with someone who was supposed to be her boss now. She just supposed at times that letting things slide or letting them build up would call for a means of release. Now Sebastian Flint were in her firing line, for holding her up with unnecessary work related matters that could quite simply wait for her next shift. Here she was, dressed up as if she were about to hit the town, and he clearly noticed, yet he wasn’t budging as far as letting her go on her way. She didn’t think he were stupid, so perhaps he was just stubborn. Or maybe he got a kick out of bossing people around and being on a power trip, like all of the other Death Eater types she’d ever come across. It seemed to be a common trait amongst them really.

So the plan was kind of busted right from the get go. She expected him to fall over himself and get flustered to the point of really not being able to stop her. So that she could just saunter out of the classroom minding her own business as intended in the first place. Instead he was asking her to ‘get comfortable’ so that she could stay and go over the pile of test results with him. Was he joking? Was this real life? Esther narrowed her eyes at him just enough to show across her features that she disapproved. That she wasn’t happy about this little spontaneous drop in to her office on a Saturday evening. She crossed her arms in front of her and let her expression soften again and pressed her lips together into a thin smile.

Save for a little display of agitation, he wasn’t really showing too many obvious signs of being affected by her, but she had seen enough evidence that there was some. So maybe she just wasn’t trying hard enough. Nodding, she wandered over and perched herself next to him on the desk. She appeared to be cooperative, even though she was aching to get the hell out of there. She smiled at him again and blinked heavily as she allowed her gaze to travel from the pile of parchment up to lock her gaze on his. “Of course. I can spare ten or fifteen minutes,” Esther aimed to make it clear that she weren’t here to work, but she were being helpful at least.

She scooted over to sit right beside him, enough that her arm was practically grazing his. Then she leaned over him to take the first piece of paper from the top of the pile, in almost a slow motion. A strategy that purposefully placed her hair and skin within his general nostril range which hadn’t ever failed her before. Taking the parchment she held it with both hands in front of her and showed it in his direction. First she placed her manicured fingers at the top of the page and then skimmed over it pointing out the various fields. “Student’s name and house, over-all grade, notes and feedback beside each field. As you can see sir, it’s rather self-explanatory.” With that remark, she smiled again, thinking that surely he would pick up on what was underneath a fairly sarcastic comment questioning his intelligence should he really need her to spell it all out for him.

As she neared him again, coming to seat herself rather close to himself on the desk, a feeling like static electricity sparked up his side and he had to clench his jaw tightly to keep his demeanor composed. He refused to believe that there was any way in hell that she didn't know what she was playing at right now. Because she was playing with fire right now, and most unfortunately said fire couldn't burn her. It could only sit there like a tool in case her father or Ares reacted rather badly to his reacting to her. Esther Garnet was officially a walking disaster and this was on particular anomaly he wasn't interested in finding out more on. In fact, if the desk could just break on her side spontaneously so she was cast to the floor and whatever spell she was weaving was broken he would be most appreciative.

Clearing his throat, his brows rose as he kept his gaze steadily on the sheet of paper he held. "You know, Miss Garnet, when I said 'get comfortable' I wasn't imagining you would be practically sitting in my lap when you obliged." Sebastian mentioned off handedly, nonchalantly swiping up a new sheet of parchment to control the storm she was stirring in him. 'Think of the three M's, channel the three m's. she has nothing you want or need'. Thwarting her plans hadn't been in his plans originally, and he could have let her go, but as she had elected to enter into a game of cat and mouse he was no longer going to be so lenient. She could suffer and lose her night for trying to humiliate him. He was convinced that was what this was. She wasn't interested. Neither was he. But at the same time he wasn't entirely sure who was the cat in this particular instance.

"I can read, Garnet. What I meant was discuss with me how you taught this particular subject, and perhaps offer some trivia on the students in your class. Which might just take more than ten or fifteen minutes. You're not being all that cooperative so I believe we're looking more along the lines of an hour." He felt his resolve finally kicking in and he looked back up at her innocently, smiling back at her brightly even as he felt his stomach drop. She was too close. He didn't want to be in here for an hour with her. But he also didn't want to let her have fun with her night after screwing with him. Sebastian Flint took his mental state of mind very seriously and currently she was shooting it to shambles. All of this was her fault. Merlin she smelled deceptively nice when she should have reeked of deception and evil. Coughing pointedly, he refused to give up his position- he had been there first- and resorted to glaring at the side of her head.

"... Just so we're clear, I wasn't joking about that earlier comment of you nearly sitting in my lap. Your sense of personal space seems to be malfunctioning, and your dress is barely containing you so if you would be so kind as to not do that again..."

Esther was trying it on - that much was true. She didn’t expect Flint not to realise that, but she also knew he had no proof against her. What she was doing was pretty obvious, but she also hadn’t exactly done anything so extreme that she couldn’t deny it if he accused her. Shift the blame around onto him as if it weren’t her fault that their new Headmaster was a mess in her presence. After all, he was the one who’d started it by coming here in the first place at the most inconvenient time. She hadn’t gone to him and initiated some kind of game or plot against him using her charms, and she never would have dreamed of it otherwise. This was basically her way of lashing out against him because given everything that was going on at the moment, she was rather sick of being bossed around by entitled middle-aged men baring Dark Marks on their forearms.

She chose to ignore his first comment. If anything it gave her some affirmation that she was getting to him - that’s if the throat clearing and the jaw clenching wasn’t giveaway enough. Smirking lightly to herself, she pushed another thick tendril of hair behind her ear and looked up to him when he explained what he’d really meant when he’d asked her to explain - as if she didn’t know that and wasn’t just unable to hold back on that little slice of sarcasm. “Apologies sir, but had I known you fancied a meeting in advance, I could have better prepared myself,” she told him. Then flicking a little more hair over her shoulder she continued. “Unfortunately it’s my night off, and I have some prior arrangements. Perhaps we could schedule an appointment for early in the week?”

Esther flashed a charming smile, hopefully that would appease him. When he mentioned a second time that she was practically sitting on his knee she frowned a little, albeit playfully. She thought to herself; You wish, you slimy twat. But her expression remained rather innocent at that. “Sorry about that.” Sorry, not sorry more like. She pushed herself off from the desk and stood beside where he was still perched holding the stack of parchment in his hand. “Well, I’ll get out of your way, but feel free to prepare some questions for me for later.”