Semi-Open RP: Astronomy Field Trip

[world-builder.livejournal.com]

((Open to everyone who signed up))

Last time Slartibartfast had done one of these, he'd carried everybody to Magrathea in an old converted van. This time, there were so many people going, he'd had his ship the Starship Bistromath delivered, and it now sat idling on the lawn. Irrational behavior wasn't going to get them to Magrathea in anything like enough time, however, so he'd refitted it with an Infinite Improbability Drive.

"All right, ah, everyone, I want you to, you know, to find your partners, and we'll get on the, the, you know, the ship. I do hope everyone dressed, uh, dressed sensibly."

Comments

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

"I apologize," she said with a small, slightly embarrassed laugh. "You said 'we'. And we do have so many couples here - it seems rather like an epidemic sometimes."

Her brother wouldn't approve? Interesting. "Is your brother here, then?"

Ah, the question. Luckily, Lily was prepared - when you asked something like that, it often got repeated back. Letting a little sorrow colour her expression, she bit her lip and looked down. Every inch the broken, distraught widow. "I...used to be," she admitted with a low, quiet laugh. Not because her words were amusing, but more of a helpless 'I promised myself I wouldn't cry' type noise. "He, er... He died. A little over a year ago." She shrugged, forcing a smile and looked out the window. "And I won't marry again."

A little bit of vulnerability sometimes worked - with men, because when the young, pretty thing cried they wanted to rush in and solve all her problems; and with women, because it let them fulfill the instinct to care for others. It did no harm - even if Camilla disdained a show of weakness, it was hard to begrudge a widow her moment of sorrow.

[c-macaulay.livejournal.com]

Camilla could be generous, yes; but instinct to care for others? That, she decidedly lacked. "I'm sorry for your loss." She politely looked away, allowing Lily the space to grieve with dignity intact.

After a minute or so had elapsed, and she heard no sniffling, she looked back to her field trip partner. "Yes, my brother's here, and a few of my friends. It was a pleasant surprise."

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

There was no such thing as 'no information'. Every reaction, every word, tone, flick of the eyes, each movement, was a piece of the puzzle. You just had to be alert enough to pick up on them.

Lily was making a mental list. And the word 'cold' had just been added. Camilla didn't strike her as cruel, no, but selfish in a way that made her dangerous. The second person that week who had reminded Lily in some way of Peter. There was a look Lily had become accustomed to, since coming back. When someone heard about James, no matter what their verbal reaction, if they truly connected, emphasized, even had a flash of pity, there was a certain look they gave her.

Camilla didn't have it.

"Really?" she smiled, eyes thanking Camilla for giving her a moment to gather her composure. "That must be nice. I mean, I can't imagine showing up in a place like this and having no one."

[c-macaulay.livejournal.com]

"Oh, but I did," Camilla corrected mildly. "I came here on my own. I'd never traveled so far before on my own, but it was lovely, really. Apart from the actual plane and the trains and such, I mean."

Slartibartfast's space ship and the factory conveyance were, Camilla had decided, magical, and therefore not likely to kill her.

"It's irrational, I know, but our parents died in an auto accident when we were very young. So we don't like vehicles as a general rule. When I learned to Apparate, you can't imagine how liberating it was, quite aside from the convenience."

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

"You intended to come here, then?" she asked, intrigued. "That's refreshing. In my day, the students, you know, wanted to be here. There was far less of the Sorting Room confusion."

Her eyes scanned Camilla's face, genuine sympathy showing through. And the 'we' was definitely put down as Charles. Very interesting. Rather close to her brother, this Camilla. That might be useful. Was inbreeding usual in Muggle families now? "I'm very sorry. But I'm glad you learned to Apparate - I'm afraid our classes are dreadfully lax nowadays." She shrugged a little. "I don't think it's irrational. My best mate is afraid of curtains."

[c-macaulay.livejournal.com]

Camilla had not in fact learned to Apparate at Hogwarts. The idea of studying under the Robot Devil ... just, no. Much of what she'd learned had been from private tutors off-campus, wizards and witches down on their luck and happy for a little extra income. It was easier that way; more discreet; and there were things she'd wanted to know that weren't in the Hogwarts curriculum. Nor had she limited her interest to wizarding proper. There were curanderas and houngans who might not know her by name but were well acquainted with the color of her money.

"The classes are what they are." She gave that one-shouldered shrug of hers, a mannerism she and her twin held in common. In truth she thought they were lax, but it didn't seem wise to voice that opinion to one of the professors. Anyhow this woman could never be a Julian Morrow; why reproach her for that which was always already out of her reach? "Strange as Hogwarts can be, I must admit I can't dream what might inspire a fear of curtains." A faint interrogative lift toward the end of the sentence, and a faint note of curiosity. To her, the notion seemed the sort of amusing thing one might trot out for cocktail-party conversation, which was in a sense what this conversation was, minus the cocktails and the party.

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

"They're rubbish," she smiled a little, almost apologetically. "I've taken to tutoring, as it's nearly impossible to gauge the level of the students in a class - I'm afraid I'll be vastly above most of their heads and boring the talented ones to death." As someone with an unquenchable thirst for learning, there was no greater embarrassment to Lily than the state of classes at Hogwarts. Even as she, herself, was a professor. "And, to be completely honest, I've very little patience with the dull." She shrugged slightly, looking a little ashamed. "At least with private lessons, I can choose my students."

Of course, Lily had no intention at all of telling Camilla any of Sirius' actual story. But there was no sign of any untruthfulness about her as she laughed, rolling her eyes slightly. "He was rather pissed and transfigured the curtains in his room into gigantic crickets. It was horrific. Oddly enough, he has no fear of crickets."

[c-macaulay.livejournal.com]

Very little patience with the dull -- it was a sentiment to which Camilla could relate, certainly, and one Julian would have devoutly seconded. He'd limited himself to six students out of an entire college. However, the idea that only smart people deserved to be taught self-defense against the Dark Arts -- well, Camilla thought it was very convenient for her purposes and Henry's if the DADA professor truly felt that way, but it did seem a bit irresponsible, didn't it? She graced Lily with another bland smile and a noncommittal "Hmm." Then a thought occurred to her. "You wouldn't happen to be tutoring any of my friends, would you?"

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

Of course, Lily didn't believe anything remotely like that. She would sit every student in the school down and teach them everything she knew if she could. But this wasn't actually about her making new friends. She was trying to gauge Camilla's reactions to things; an elitist view of education was an interesting thing to get a 'hmm' to. Also, perhaps if Camilla thought Lily was lax on teaching defense, she'd be more willing to ask about the Dark Arts. Not very likely, but one could hope.

Blinking, Lily looked at her and shrugged, a puzzled smile on her face. "I don't know. Who are your friends?" Rather a stupid question, really. If she hadn't given any indication that Camilla's name was familiar to her, why would the woman think she'd know her friends offhand?

Of course, she was and she did, but that was a different story.

[c-macaulay.livejournal.com]

To Camilla it wasn't an unreasonable assumption that Lily would know who her friends were. Everyone had always known. At Hampden they'd acquired a certain notoriety, despite -- or perhaps because of -- the fact they kept to themselves. There was something about them that either attracted or repelled people; Charles had aptly likened them to magnets (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1247072.html?thread=63772512#t63772512).

So she blinked, and then she laughed a little. "Of course. It's silly of me to think Hampden College means anything here. Goodness, it's hardly a well known college even in the States. But yes, there's a little group of us here who'd all gone to school together, a few years back. My brother, Bunny Corcoran, Richard Papen -- he's a professor here now, we're all quite proud of him. And Henry."

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

Americans were funny about the use of surnames. In a British school, one almost always got called by one's last name, except in a sign of familiarity. So the fact that Henry - who Dumbledore had confirmed was Camilla's paramour of some kind - was listed last and without a surname sent up a flag in Lily's mind. But because Camilla wasn't British, she wasn't sure if that was, indeed, a sign of intimacy or if Henry was brushed to the end as an afterthought. Either way, it meant something, and she made a mental note to bring it up with Dumbledore later.

"I believe I'd heard of Professor Papen's appointment, but I've not had the pleasure of meeting him," she smiled. "But none of the other names strike me as familiar. Have they been here long? I haven't been to many Sortings as of late, but I also work in the Hospital Wing and I attend all the classes I can. Between all that, I usually come across most students eventually."

[c-macaulay.livejournal.com]

"How very funny. You'd know them if you met them," Camilla said. "Bunny's rather loud, and my brother's very sweet. Henry isn't what one might call forgettable." The soul of innocence, the soul of courtesy, she added without so much as a hint of reproach: "Perhaps when you do hold a class we'll all be there."

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

"Oh," she smiled back, not at all offended. "Are you all interested in my subject? How very odd. Most students from a non-Wizarding background don't see the importance."

'Bitch' was totally getting added to the list.

"My first class should be held soon. The topic was one that required a bit of preparation. I had to find the creature we'll be studying, first, and then devise a method that would allow the class to do the lesson without any..." she paused, a grim smile thinning her lips. "Accidents."

[c-macaulay.livejournal.com]

"Accidents are to be avoided," Camilla agreed, and looked away. Her parents had died in one, after all, as she'd said earlier. "Does the school have any sort of liability insurance, I wonder?"

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

"Insurance? Not really. It's mainly just walking quickly to the Hospital Wing," Lily said. She knew when she was being shuffled off of a topic. First any sort of in depth talk about her friends, and then DADA. Interesting.

A slight smile edged across her lips. "I'm sorry, I must have missed it - did you say how long your friends had been here?" Even if she didn't get an answer, it would be interesting to see how Camilla would wriggle out of a direct question. Looking nothing but politely interested, she looked at the other woman expectantly.

[c-macaulay.livejournal.com]

Camilla didn't so much as bat an eye. "It's funny you should ask, because it's so hard to remember. We've all known one another for so long, the time tends to run together -- you know how it is, with very old friends, as though you'd never been apart. I suppose Bunny and Richard haven't been here very long at all. Charles is like a part of me, I'm sure I couldn't say when he arrived. And Henry goes where I go."

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

"So Henry arrived with you? Did he fly over as well?" She flashed a smile. "You'll have to excuse my curiosity - I was raised Muggle, but I've been immersed in the Wizarding world since I was eleven. The thought of taking a plane to a destination seems quite exotic." She paused, eyes scanning Camilla's face. "And Charles, did he brave the plane to join you?"

[c-macaulay.livejournal.com]

Camilla raised an eyebrow. So very, very nosy. She was used to people being nosy, but not so used to them being this blatant about it. Goodness, the woman was almost as bad as Richard. No, worse -- it was usually fairly easy to distract Richard. "Henry's traveled a fair bit, so it was nothing new for him," she said, smiling blandly. "Charles came all the way over from Texas. It can't have been easy for him, but of course he'd never say a word about it. Now, of course, we can Apparate," which was a lie with respect to Charles, who didn't even have a decent wand yet. "Ever so much nicer. It must have been lovely, growing up a witch, not having to mess about with driver's tests and things."

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

Lily couldn't care less what Camilla thought of her. There was information to be gathered and that was her complete focus. "For his job?" she asked, cocking her head to the side, referring to Henry. "Do you travel with him, then?"

Then, one eyebrow raising, she added, "Who did you learn Apparation from, again? As far as I know, the class hasn't been held in quite some time." Then she grinned. "Well, instead of driving, we have the Apparation tests and flying lessons. I've never splinched, but I can't count the number of times I fell off of my broom. Grass is always greener and all that."

[c-macaulay.livejournal.com]

Camilla let out a short quick breath, as overt a sign of exasperation as she'd give. Honestly, the nerve of this woman. It was really very much like being on a plane: the transatlantic flight, the godawful woman rattling on and on about her grandbabies, and did Camilla have any children or any pets, and what did her husband do for a living, and was she traveling for business or pleasure?

"He doesn't need a job," she said, evenly, letting that deliberate evenness be heard. "Cultural differences are so funny, aren't they? Where we're from, it's considered rather tasteless to inquire about other people's finances and affairs. It's ... " She made a show of hesitation. "... gauche, I suppose we would say." This in a lower voice, as though she were trying to be tactful, spare Lily embarrassment.

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

"I apologize," Lily said, looking appropriately ashamed of herself. Not even someone who knew her would probably notice the glimmer of tightness in her jaw that indicated Lily was struggling to control her temper. Funny that a murderer would sit and correct her manners. But all she did was offer an apologetic smile. "This part," she indicated the car traveling on rails quickly through the factory, "always makes me nervous. I tend to ask questions when I'm nervous - a bad habit, but I try to get my mind off of things. I didn't mean to offend."

Sitting back, Lily let her fingers knot with each other, looking every bit like someone trying very hard to not give into a fear, as if the quiet now let her focus on the fact they were apparently a great distance above planets being constructed. "I have a very silly fear of heights," she admitted with a self-deprecating chuckle. Not true, but a good excuse.

[c-macaulay.livejournal.com]

Camilla bowed her head, graciously accepting the apology she rather suspected Lily Evans did not sincerely mean. "Fear of heights isn't silly in the slightest," she said, voice smooth and reassuring.

Bunny can attest to that.

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

"It rather is when you're watching planets being built," she said. "It'd be like worrying about a broken nail when digging a grave. The brain's way of dealing with something too large to be comprehended by focusing on the mundane."

Maybe she hated the woman simply on principle. Or perhaps it was that she, too, had been betrayed to her death by a friend. But for whatever reason, Lily wanted to crack Camilla. Oh, she probably couldn't do it now. She didn't have the right information. But she wanted to rip the mask off, to watch as the woman realized her sins had found her out. And she would; whatever it took, Lily would find a way.

"I own a moon," she said, changing the subject. "Slarti - the bloke running the tour - gave it to me as a Sorting bribe. The whole thing, the building planets, absolutely gobsmacks me. Can't say as I ever gave much thought to how planets might have come about, but whatever impression I'd had previously, it wasn't of an odd gent in a fur coat in a factory."

[c-macaulay.livejournal.com]

Camilla had never dug a grave in her life. They'd left both the farmer's and Bunny's bodies in the open, to be found. The remark completely passed over her head, which was a good thing for Lily and for Dumbledore, actually -- had she caught Lily's drift, her first move on returning to Hogwarts would have been to tell Henry, and then the game would be up.

"You own a moon? How lovely," she said, genuinely interested. At least the woman had something going for her. "Has it got a name?"

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

Lily would have absolutely loved to drop all subtext and simply feed Camilla a truth potion or the like. But such a thing was frowned upon, generally. So she smiled, a little amused by the interest. "It's Proteus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteus_%28moon%29), actually. Off of Neptune. He tried to sell me the whole planet, but," she laughed, shrugging. "What would I do with a planet? I also have an island. You can get the most intriguing things if you are lucky enough to happen in on the right Sortings."