| Details for Mules |
| Summary: | Shortly before nightly curfew, Hattie stops to talk to Terrance on the stairs. |
| Date: | September 18, 1939 |
| Location: | The Great Moving Staircase |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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The evening was getting late, and students were slowly drifting off for mischief or their proper dormitory. But Terrance was currently seated on the bottom stairs of the main stair well, a book open on his lap. He ran a finger along the text, and every so often would bring his finger back to re-read through a tricky incantation or movement.
"They say," says Hattie as she joins him, uninvited, on the step, "—that the last thing that you read is the thing that stays with you overnight. Assignment, or independent study?"
Leaving his finger at his spot, Terrance rose his head to glance over to Hattie. "A bit of both, I suppose." he said, with his finger paused in the Defense Against the Dark Arts text. "I find the class to be intriguing." he said with a slight smile. Then closing his book, finger holding the page, he asked "So what are you doing out still, Wilkins?"
Hattie answers, "Intrigue is a good word to associate with so many things around Hogwarts these days… Really, that particular class I am associating more with practicality. I was just coming back from some disappointing failure, actually. I got tired of hiding in our common room… and mischief ensued." She puts her arms across her knees, and rests her chin on her forearms. "I hate to end the day on a sour note. So here I am, stopping to talk to you."
She says, "No pressure."
Terrance gave a light smile as she said that she found DADA intriguing as well. But then as she said she was trying to hide within her own common room he gave a light frown. "Why would you be needing to hide in your own common room?" he asked, slowly sliding his finger from the book to show her proper attention.
Hattie leans slightly to peek at what his finger slides to reveal, and rubs her own fingers into the nape of her neck. "Have you ever lost your temper?" she asks, and it seems like a non-sequitur, until she explains: "I never have. Not… since coming to school. I am afraid of what will happen, if I should. Its a sad day when you realize that you work so hard to develop skills, but you don't really know the person in whose hands you are putting them."
Terrance offered a soft sigh and a nod. "Ahh that I have. I have lost my temper on more than one occasion," he said. Then raising his eyebrow for a bit he asked, "Is there a reason that you need to hold in your temper? I often find that letting my temper go once in a while is actually quite relaxing." As he said this final bit he tried to offer a comforting smile.
"I read that I'm a "mule" today," she says. "According a group of people who seem to think its preferable that people breed like prized fluffy lapdogs, for markings or temperment or advantage. That kind of anger, Green— I just don't know. I don't want to let them drive me into acting like what they claim that we are." Harriet asks him, "How do you exorcise the beast?"
Terrance frowned slightly as he heard the reason for her anger. Then he moved his hand and wrapped it lightly around her shoulder, in a comforting sort of way. "Well, Wilkins, that kind of temper I have not exercised. I just try to remember that those who say things should really be felt sorry for. After all, it is those that are taught such filth from birth," he said softly. "They are so blind to the world that the only thing they can see is what their parents have taught them," he said with a grin.
Hattie lays her head over the proffered arm, though it is only a momentary failing on her part. "Stupid gits," she says, and wipes the corners of her eyes on the heels of her hands, the tips of her fingers. "Thank you, Green. See? I knew I stopped here for a reason." She taps his book lightly with a finger, smiles a little, and tells him, "Good luck with this. I hope you never have to use any of it. Save us all, someone from times where we all might have to." She levers herself up off the staircase, and turns.
Terrance cannot help but smile a bit as he feels her tilt her head onto him. Then as she wishes him luck and moves off, most likely to her common rooms, he calls "Thank you, Wilkins. I hope so as well. And any time you need to talk, feel free to find me. I will always offer a shoulder to lean on and an open ear." he said before standing and moving off to his own common room.