Mid-September

[alt_sinistra]

In New London for the afternoon, a combination of errands and catching up with two of my sisters. It is amazing how quickly things fall into place after just a week or two back at school, really - I’ve been working tidily through my list and plans, and it’s so satisfying to see things checked off.

The weather, alas, not so much - we’ve had some glorious stargazing weather the last week, but I’m afraid it’s the last gasps before the far more uncertain days of the fall and winter.

Temp - thanks again for rounding more of those up. And for the other set of used-book searching, too. Gilly - no worries that you had to cancel, I found other company, but next week? Could do lunch at one.

Comments

Private Message to Aurora Sinistra

[alt_antonin]

Happy birthday, my dear. I hope it is a pleasant one.

And yes, damn you, I'll take whichever of those infernal novels you've finished -- how DO they make them so compelling? Objectively speaking, they're awful, and yet I can't stop reading them -- and will look forward to hearing the trials and travails of wedding planning. At supper with Pomona last night, it became clear that I should be forcing myself to meals more regularly, at very least to keep the various Heads updated with what's happening in my classes, so I will be making more of an effort to achieve supper even if lunch is not likely; you can tell me then. (And of course there's the staff meeting tonight; I can teach you the game then, though perhaps after this week's setbacks I should make more of an effort to put my best foot forward and save the delinquency for later in the year. The superstitious fool in me is bracing himself for a third disaster, and hoping that by saying so I haven't just hexed myself; the students are doing that quite enough this week.)

At least my plans for most classes today involve nothing more dangerous than a lecture!

Wishing you blessed with many happy returns of the day,
T

Re: Private Message to Aurora Sinistra

[alt_sinistra]

Antosha -

Thank you. So far, it is lovely. (I will confess to you that I snuck down to Raz's rooms after teaching last night, which does tend to improve my morning remarkably. You will have gathered that mornings are not my strong suit, by now.)

I've five and six for you, and might finish seven by this evening: must see how my marking goes. And yes: they're utterly horrible, and entirely compelling, and I've no idea how. (A comparison of student behaviour there to student behaviour here might make for a fascinating thesis, mind you. There are ways they are so like our students, and yet ways the things are clearly written by people who barely remember their school days.)

As to the staff meeting: annoyingly timed, yes, but Pomona promises to help keep it short. Though I warn you, there'll be some conversation about your classes Monday, I suspect. (Also, I think, the return of the bullying, the implications of the upcoming Quidditch season, various odds and ends about patrol schedules, and so on.)

I am glad Dolores has not prevailed in her desire to attend, or we'd be subject to all sorts of "Just one teensy question" conversations and there for hours. (Speaking of, I am trying new approaches in Hufflepuff status games, which seem to be bearing some fruit, but Narcissa advised me strongly to fling myself on your diplomatic expertise. More topics for Friday.) What have you been telling her about me, anyway?

Right. Few things to set up in my classroom, and then I get to immerse myself comfortably in wrangling the fifth year Slytherins and Hufflepuffs.

(Is one supposed to get a new dose of wisdom on one's birthday? I must say I don't feel much wiser than yesterday.)
A.

Re: Private Message to Aurora Sinistra

[alt_antonin]

My dearest birthday girl,

As to what I've been telling Narcissa, why, only that I have found you most delightful thus far, and that having you and Razzer both in residence has made being tucked away in backwater Scotland much more tolerable than it otherwise could be. (Related: may need to cut next Friday with you and Raz somewhat short; I am expected at St M's bright and early Saturday morning for checkup and have promised the rest of the weekend to Barty for a good long wallow. This Friday is still good, however.)

I am expecting to be called on the carpet, yes, and am prepared with my best apologies. Am already preparing alterations to the exercise's introduction on Thursday to quiet some of the fears, and I see the cubs in another few hours for their single hour, at which point I will be most reassuring. And I've floated a few ideas with Pomona on ways to quiet some of the fears long-term, including possibly sacrificing some of my other lunches throughout the week to meet with the little darlings more informally. Though of course I'd hate to burden their schedules further than they're already being presumed upon. It's just one teensy suggestion...

Hem. Hem. (Sorry, sorry, getting it out of my system in private.)

I would be happy to consult on best ways to defang darling Dolores, though I've not quite got the sense of which tactics would bear most fruit with her yet and you've most likely a better idea, if you've been able to identify her approaches already -- I have thus far been pleading overwork and ill-health to avoid her as much as possible. My sense of her is that she's the type who won't rest until she's put her fingers in every pie around, so my advice would likely be to pick one thing she's stuffing her nose into and breathlessly flatter her into concentrating on that while quietly shuffling everything else out of her way or giving ground on the inconsequential things while standing firm on the rest, but I suspect her approach with you to be quite different from the ones she uses with me, as I am neither young, nor pretty, nor blonde. (Am I missing one of the self-descriptors you used? I refuse to allow the "not a brain in your head" to grace my quill, even in jest.)

(Mind you, it might also be entertaining to react to each of her sallies with a wide-eyed, innocent, "My, that's a wonderful idea! I'll go ask Raz", presuming your dignity could stand it and Raz were willing to play along.)

And yes -- written by people who barely remember their school days, and who have never seen America save on a map. They did at least get a few of the details of Old Salem correct, but goodness. (Come to think of it, if I look hard enough I might still have a copy of the travel guide to wizarding enclaves across America that the Department of Magical Affairs prints up, if you'd like to compare fiction with reality.) I did not spend much time with school-age children, but of course you do absorb some details when talking with the adults, and one suspects the author (authors) were aiming for 'mysteriously foreign' and merely hit 'mysteriously strange'. (And of course blood purity is hardly an issue there at all, not the way it is in the books, but when writing for a Protectorate audience, one must be careful to use Protectorate values, one supposes.)

Whups -- Ms Archer has just arrived for my open hours alight with an idea -- must dash.

Until later,
T

Re: Private Message to Aurora Sinistra

[alt_sinistra]

Antosha -

No worries on Friday next, I'm sure. For this one, the weather forecast looks miserable, which I hate, but does mean I likely needn't be up in my classroom until half-eleven or so. (Good thing, too, looking at my list of topics we should really discuss.)

The Hufflepuffs were somewhat reassured when I saw them just now, but please, do whatever you can there. And Pomona mentioned she found the conversation productive. As to the meeting - the fact you've already sorted things out with Pomona will go a long way, I suspect, and that you've plans for avoiding more of the same. (We staff are, on the whole, relatively tolerant of single incidents of stupidity that don't affect us much. It's the repetition that wears.)

As to Dolores, yes. I'll show you her actual notes from Sunday on Friday, but the problem there was her assuming she had a much better idea about the realities of astronomy practicals than she actually does. I think we've now dissuaded her (Poppy was magnificent last night, in journal comments), and I've offered the olive branch of some limited assistance with the YPL files.

And the problem with her is not so much quite the young, pretty, and blonde problem (that affects men more than women, I've found), but rather "Do let me be your big sister." Which, thank you, no. I've one of those already, and she's quite enough.

(I have not, I think, given you full score on my family. I do love them, but - well, Diane can be illustrated by the book she sent for my birthday, Unforgettable: The Best of Modern Wizarding Weddings. Name dropping and all about "the perfect small touches" and the proper social things. Diane's eldest is a second year, this year, so you'll not know her yet. My youngest sister, Tempest, is the one you have to blame for the American Witches series, and Sage is an editor for one of the publishers. Three brothers, too: Orion works at the Ministry, Storm is a woodworker - sent me the most lovely jewelry box today. Theo, well, we hope he'll figure himself out sometime very soon now, it's well past time.)

At any rate, if I can get Dolores to move into some other mode than attempted big sister, we will all be much happier. Because I am quite sure I cannot manage wide-eyed innocence with her repeatedly without losing my self-control and breaking into laughter. (Especially if either you or Raz are around. Wicked men you are.)

I would love the travel guide, if you've got it handy, but please don't put yourself out. And I'd wondered, about the blood purity, and assumed that was the case. (There's a bit about that Muggleborn Heather, in the fifth one - Up Til Dawn - that .. well, see when you read it. She is rather the butt of everyone's jokes, though.) And the various scruples from Wand's Might get entirely dropped - honestly, that was annoying, as I was wondering where Mercy was going with that.

At any rate, later, I'm sure.
A.