Aurora Sinistra (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alt_sinistra) wrote2012-09-01 11:33 am
alt_sinistra) wrote2012-09-01 11:33 am
Hogwarts again.
Such a joy to be settling in for the year. I just finished finding all of the charts and materials I need the first week of classes, I'm partway through some revisions for later in term in several years, and I'm about to tackle a few needed repairs, including one of the telescopes our fifth years will be using shortly.
And of course, I look forward to welcoming everyone back, and to the Sorting. Always so wonderful to see people find their homes for their time at Hogwarts. There’s the hope of some different and entertaining stories at the staff table, the crispness of Scotland’s air (already!) and all the wonders of the year.
I am even quite looking forward to Quidditch, this year (which fact I am sure has deeply amused most of my family) and I understand that the improvements to the pitch over the summer are quite something. (Very extensive, and more than a few to be much appreciated by the spectators as well as the players.)
Welcome back, students!
And of course, I look forward to welcoming everyone back, and to the Sorting. Always so wonderful to see people find their homes for their time at Hogwarts. There’s the hope of some different and entertaining stories at the staff table, the crispness of Scotland’s air (already!) and all the wonders of the year.
I am even quite looking forward to Quidditch, this year (which fact I am sure has deeply amused most of my family) and I understand that the improvements to the pitch over the summer are quite something. (Very extensive, and more than a few to be much appreciated by the spectators as well as the players.)
Welcome back, students!
Re: Private message to Antosha
On your requests: I should have both routes to your most likely places and the charm notes tonight at supper. You’ll want a dedicated quill for the charm, and an hour to set it to your preferences, but it’s otherwise quite simple. Septima’s tea, my notebook says, is any sheng pu’erh, but preferably 15-20 years old. (I had, prior to that conversation with her, no idea one could ferment and age tea leaves so long.) I’ll bring the name of an import shop that sometimes carries it, too.
As to your comments about not overburdening yourself - well, I do have eyes and ears. And more to the point, have been at close hand to observe Raz the past eighteen months, in both recovery and set-back. (That is, I should say here, something he and I almost never discuss directly, though if you need the chart of what happened, I’ll tell you in private sometime.)
As to overwork - well. As I glancingly referred to last night, I have been known to suffer from the problem. All the joy in the work in the world is one thing, but as Raz told me, in rather small and pointed words last spring, long-term damage to one’s ability to do that work is another. I am not trying to mother - truly, neither my style, nor my intent - just to underline that teaching the arriving hordes is quite different than one teacher, one student, and one log (the luxury!)
On the book, I am now most intrigued. I believe I’ve heard the title, but never read it (and you are quite right that admitting to reading Muggle authors is most impolitic these days. Of course, people do, quietly.) I will take you up on the loan and conversation after.
Finally, Fridays sound most promising. You are quite right that Raz and I never get enough time together, and do our best to keep Saturday and Sunday evenings for ourselves, and find a few other hours in private during the week. (For any number of things, mind you, besides the ones everyone seems to assume.) But for all that, we do not need to be joined at the hip, and it would give him time for conversations and projects of his own.
I’d love a good regular research wrangle on a regular basis (perhaps alternating with time with both of you on less academic topics?) And naturally, I deeply appreciate help with that text, if it’s truly no burden. After supper Fridays would be more relaxed, as I needn’t be up the tower until at least half-ten, but between four and supper would also do.
I am quite looking forward to watching your experience of a Sorting from the staff side of the table. (And I’ve a young cousin being sorted tonight, which adds to my personal interest.) Ah. Now I think I’ve come to a solution for rebracing that lens properly. Handy how that works, really, to do something else and trick the mind.
Yours in the amusements of the day,
A.
Re: Private message to Antosha
Goodness, a Sorting does look different from the other side of the tables. Suspect it shall take me quite some time to answer readily to "Professor Dolohov", as well! (Do they always look so young and unformed?)
The study cards for the staircases have already been a help; the second staircase on the first floor and I engaged in a brief bout of mutual apprehension (primed by your whimsy, I wonder if the castle is taking my measure?) and your notes aided me to an alternate route back to my quarters.
I have been issued a revised schedule -- we all managed to miss that we'd forgotten the third years' theoretical session (and now I am doubly in Septima's debt) -- and so my Friday afternoons are now more full; a standing arrangement for an end-of-day nightcap (or mid-day pause, for you, one supposes) after supper would be lovely. And no, you needn't fear imposing, re: the translation; if you had asked for Sanskrit or Hittite I would have to demur, as my capacities with those are at "fumbling through dictionaries" level, but my mother would rise from her grave and berate me unceasingly should I not be able to translate a few pages of her mother tongue on the fly, though I may need to demur on some of the specialised vocabulary.
If you still feel awkward at accepting assistance: do you know anything of the prevailing attitudes on astronomy in China several centuries ago? Dominic Selwyn dropped by for a visit earlier in the week and lent me a text I've found quite fascinating so far; there's a section touching upon astromantic calculation I'm only barely able to follow (your subject was never my strong suit, alas, and I'm at a double disadvantage as the Eastern practises remain shrouded in mystery) and I would appreciate the chance to consult with an expert.
As to Raz -- "recovery and set-back" sound rather ominous; I won't ask you to betray any confidences, but do tell me there's nothing to fear? A man does fret about his former chicks, even once they've fledged.
Most sorry to hear of your telescope's fate, by the by, and hope your solution proved to be an implementable one. I will confess I'd managed to block Peeves from my memory over the intervening years. I shall hope I manage to escape his notice, or am able to redirect it to a more worthy target.
Awaiting Friday with all anticipation,
A
Re: Private message to Antosha
Doesn’t it look different? And yes, the firsties do have that unformed look. I do actually adore working with them: they are so new and so nervous, and so full of possibilities. If one can get beyond their spelling and writing skills. (And I am glad my help with the stairs was of use.)
As to “Professor”, it took me more than a little time, though of course I was both quite young and most nervous about proving myself when I started, which did not help. (And while not in my classes, my youngest brother was still at school, along with all his friends and I was very much upon my rather stilted dignity for a while.) There are variants, from time to time - last year, a fair portion of the school went to calling me Professor Siz, at least ouside of class, and while I try not to admit it to them, it delights me entirely. (Raz is likewise often Professor Raz.)
Friday evenings will be lovely. I quite like my Friday evening classes - it’s my OWL class and then my 7th year NEWTs, so while it’s a long evening, they’re extremely willing to focus most of the time. And the latter, of course, adore the subect, or they’d not have come this far. A glass of wine over the course of a few hours would not be a problem, but I’ll demur in advance from anything more alcoholic than that: best practice is not to dull the senses when you are going to be on high towers with steep stairs in the dark of night.
As to the actual research, I suspect the language in the Arabic will not be so obscure as all that, fortunately. On the Chinese approach to astronomy, it’s certainly not an area I touch on all that often, but I do know the theory, and I’ve a few relevant reference books in my rooms. And the calculations are - well, not precisely the same method as we use, but numbers are more of a universal language than theories of the patterns in the sky. I’ll see if I can’t brush the cobwebs off this week, and if I can’t untangle it myself, I do know who to ask.
On Raz. Better kept for in person and in private. But briefly, it’s of a matter with Hannah Abbott’s death, and a situation last June. He does see his healers, and I leave it there because he so clearly does not wish to discuss it much with me.
As to the telescopes, I truly am philosophical about it. It helps that they were not my own (Raz, last Christmas, surprised me with the newest and most elaborate model - a hair wrong on that and my world falls to pieces.) Instead, Peeves played dominoes with my storage. Most of them are well enough, but one had a lens slipped entirely from its place, another had a bracket wrenched, both now mended. The last one, alas, the charms are noticeably weaker, and I shall have to beg for a replacement sooner than planned, but it should last the year.
Truth is, it’s been long enough since Peeves made trouble for me, I’d half expected it. He does take a turn for those newer, if he gets a chance, but we can hope he prefers Dolores over you as a target. Alas, there’s no particular trick to managing him beyond force of personality and a knack for distracting him into something that is less a bother. (If he’s truly a difficulty, you’ll likely remember from your school days that the Bloody Baron is a great ally.)
And now I've the prospect of a cheerful afternoon catching up with Pomona, and my final preparations for tomorrow. Do enjoy your last day without any looming marking for a while!
A.