Flying Office Hours ((Open RP))

[dungbombsrule.livejournal.com]

Mister Weasley was holding his office hour, which were set at "Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from after lunch until mid-afternoonish". Ron would thus be in his office until the weather changed or until he was hungry again.

The room was filled with furniture that was not quite shabby, but definitely nothing Ron had ordered in. Still, there was a welcoming spirit to the young man's work-space. The texts he selected for his class held a prominent space on his shelf (he made sure to keep many copies in case they needed to be borrowed. He knew from personal experience how expensive books could be).

There were Muggle comics on the door (comics which Ron did not quite understand, but it displayed a flying witch, so he decided it counted) as well as a slip of paper which proudly proclaimed, "Quidditch: For Muggles Too!". Inside there were the kind of motivational posters one might find in a high school, including a poster which, Ron assumed, asserted the magical nature of bee flight. Furthermore, he had the posters of various Quidditch teams on his walls (though the Chudley Cannons' poster seemed to be a bit bigger than the rest).

Still, most of his displays were pedagogical in function. One display that Ron was particularly proud of had two pictures posted side-by-side. One showed a man being shot from a cannon, and had a large NO painted in front of it. It was charmed so that he was repeatedly shot out of sight, and would be an unhappy SPLAT noise whenever a new viewer caught sight of it. Beside it was a much happier picture of a young wizard happily flying off to the distance. Any resemblance the little boy had to a Weasley was strictly coincidental. As was probably guessed, the picture had a bold YES painted on the front.

And that is a brief description of Ron's office, where he was waiting for any students who might stop by, and one student in particular.

In all honestly, Ron did not actually care that much about the incident with the fondue. No one was hurt, when he was younger he got into far more trouble than that, and he was actually pretty impressed that a student had managed to make a polyjuice potion considering how few opportunities for magical training there were. But he felt like it was his duty as instructor and alumni to investigate the issue. Besides, he remembered Shibuya Yuuri as a nice enough lad, and thus no one he would feel intimidated by. He scratched his head. That blond girl was quite insistent that he call Yuuri by the nickname, 'Meow'. He wasn't quite ready to do THAT, but he thought he would work it into his owl somehow. The owl that Mister Weasley eventually did send was sharp and to the point:

Shibuya Yuuri,

I want you to meet me during my office hours as soon as you can.

Meow,

Mister Weasley

Comments

[whosneverbeen.livejournal.com]

"Why would anyone want to shoot themselves out of a canon?" Luna Lovegood inquired.

How long she had been standing in the doorway, admiring the artwork on Ron's walls was anyone's guess. But she was here now, wearing her Ravenclaw robes and sporting an old and no longer functional pin that had once mockingly sang "Weasley is Our King." It was anyone's guess where she'd found such an artifact, but she thought it was appropriate.

[dungbombsrule.livejournal.com]

"Luna!" Ron smiled at her a bit more brightly than he had before; it was always nice to see someone from the Hogwarts of yesteryear. Not that she probably thought there was much of a difference. "It's nice to see you again."

He stood up from the desk so that he could give the picture of the cannon a careful look. He then shrugged. "Because he doesn't know how to fly with a broomstick, I guess? He's something of a cautionary tale. Professors learn how to use those."

[whosneverbeen.livejournal.com]

"I should say so!" Luna agreed. "I certainly would much rather fly--or even ride a thestral--than get shot out of a canon." She grinned brightly. "I hope you don't mind that I stopped in," she continued. "I mean, I don't have any questions about Quidditch, but I was thinking it might be nice to have a cup of tea with you and... I don't know... catch up a bit?"

This was Luna, for once, genuinely being serious. Which was probably a novel experience for her.

[dungbombsrule.livejournal.com]

Ron blinked at the suggestion. "Oh." After the blank look of surprise, a smile crossed his features. "Well, sure!" He looked around the office. There was his desk, his shabby chair- Ron dragged it from its place by the desk so that it was across a worn couch. The redhead had obtained it in case students needed to rest after being air-sick.

He was saying as he did this, "I haven't talked to anyone except for my brothers for a while, from the old days. Harry's still here, but we don't-" Ron frowned but waved a hand nonchalantly. "I guess it hasn't been that hard on you though." He did not say that she probably fitted in better now compared to before, nor that she probably did not have such a hard time missing people since she had always been on her own so much. He was getting better.

He gestured for Luna to sit on the couch. "So... remember-" the time we fought off Death-Eaters and almost died? He did not finish the statement. "Do you still... wear... hats?"

[whosneverbeen.livejournal.com]

Luna was more perceptive than most people gave her credit for.

She sat down on the couch, still looking strangely serious. "You must miss Harry a lot," she said. "Hermione, too. I hear she's popcorn. That can't be easy, not having your best friends around."

It occurred to her, belatedly, that maybe Ron might not want to have that conversation. "I like hats," she said, a bit too brightly. "I hear there's a place in Hogsmeade that sells nice ones. I should go there sometime."

[daisy-inthesun.livejournal.com]

Daisy Buchanan wanders the halls, as usual, still at loss for the correct words to describe the inner workings of the castle. She couldn't bring herself to use the word 'magic', as her boyfriend had so often stressed.

An open door to her right prompted a quick peek inside, but upon seeing another face, warranted a further investigation of the place. Stepping inside, she immediately thought of a younger man's bedroom; the way the posters on the wall were drawn, the homey feel of it, and especially the red head behind the desk. Though he was older than a boy, he held a childish quality to him.

"Oh, hello. Am I intruding? I'm sorry, I'm just wandering the castle, trying to figure it all out." She blushes and walks to the desk, extending a hand. "But since I'm in here now, might as well introduce myself. I'm Ms. Daisy Buchanan of New York."

[dungbombsrule.livejournal.com]

He shook his head. "No, no, you're not intruding!" He stepped around his desk, eager to gain a new student. There was something about her air which made Ron question whether she'd be inclined to learn how to fly without some pressure, and since Ron didn't wish for some witch to suffer the inconvenience of such ignorance, he thought it was his duty to convince her to give it a shot.

Daisy wouldn't want to end up in a cannon, would she?

"I'm Mister Weasley of the Burrow," he said, giving her hand a firm shake.

[daisy-inthesun.livejournal.com]

Daisy smiles, hinted with a small laugh, "Mister Weasley, do you have a first name?"

There was something warming about this man, strong, but also comforting. She was immediately intrigued with him, maybe as one of her first friends she would make. It was a strange feeling to be so sure of something so soon, but after all this place was like magi-, no, not magic. Coincidence. Everything was seemingly magic, but more of a coincidence.

[dungbombsrule.livejournal.com]

"Uh, yes. I do." He gave her a crooked smile that was halfway-to-apology, but not quite there. "But not during office hours. I'm the flying instructor."

He moved to go by his bookshelf. "Have you ever flown a broomstick before?"

[bowchickamaou.livejournal.com]

... Meow? That was friendly, Yuuri hoped. Animal sounds were friendly and cute, right?

So, okay, he'd try not to worry about being summoned to the flying instructor's office. Maybe he just wanted to talk to Yuuri more about flying baseball (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1672862.html?thread=89507486#t89507486) (aka Quidditch)!

The Maou wore a Hogwarts uniform for the occasion. In his youth and innocence and good cheer, he might have been one of the few students at today's Hogwarts who looked like he actually belonged at traditional-Hogwarts.

"You wanted to see me, Mister Weasley?"

[dungbombsrule.livejournal.com]

Mister Weasley cleared his throat authoritatively as he clasped his hands on his desk. "Yes. Sit down, please, Shibuya. Or should I call you Yuuri?"

This was his way of getting past the issue that he actually did NOT know what his student's given name was.

[bowchickamaou.livejournal.com]

"You could call me either one. Americans would call me Yuuri and Japanese people would call me Shibuya, I think." Yuuri's answer was intended to be helpful but probably fell a bit short of the unseen mark.

Mister Weasley's authoritative pose made Yuuri a little anxious. He cast about for something to say that would be nice and nonproblematic. "That's a great poster," he enthused, pointing at the SPREAD YOUR WINGS bumblebee poster. "I really like that idea. It's like saying, 'never give up.'"

[dungbombsrule.livejournal.com]

Mister Weasley made an exasperated sound as he waved his hand in the air. Obviously he was neither American nor Japanese, so the boy was trying to get him to call him by his nickname. Fine, so be it. It wasn't like it was his dignity on the line.

"Fine then. Meow it is."

He followed Yuuri's gaze to the poster, and replied, "Thank you. I figured it would send the right message: if bees can use magic to fly, then so can you. That's probably why they're always chasing you when you're wearing your uniform. Magical rivalry."

But Yuuri wouldn't be able to flatter his way out of this one! Mister Weasley said in a deeper tone, "Meow. You probably know why I asked you to come here."

[big-broomstick.livejournal.com]

"We have got to sort out this problem."

Oliver Wood had barged into Ron's office, barely checking to see if Ron was actually in or not before he started talking. Oliver was also bouncing, more than just a bit. It was the kind of bounce that started at the toes and worked its way up, and the older Quidditch player seemed likely to explode from excess energy.

Oliver had drank his Red Bull (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1700771.html?thread=91194019#t91194019).

"We can't go on like this, Weasley."

[dungbombsrule.livejournal.com]

Ron stood straight up, clutching his desk as if he expected Wood to try and grab it away from him. "Look, it's my job, all right? I wrote in and asked for it, and they gave it to me fair and square. If you wanted it so badly you should have asked for it, since you've been back at Hogwarts for as long as I have, or longer!"

He swallowed, made nervous with the belief that Wood was actually a better Quidditch player than himself, Wood had more enthusiasm for flying sports than Ron (who liked them a lot but wasn't nutter about it) and, no matter how many posters Ron put up, Wood would probably have made a better flying instructor, too.

But Ron wouldn't give his job up without a fight! Not when he just starting to get used to being called 'Mister.' Had Wood escaped on a broomstick from time-traveling monks? With a walrus on the backseat!?

Mister Weasley would be real surprised if he had.

[big-broomstick.livejournal.com]

Oliver, actually, had no designs on Ron's job because the mun had a professor already. COMC, precious. He looked surprised. "Of course it's your job," he said. "Puddlemere United won't let me teach on the side."

That where he was for months on end. Playing Quidditch professionally. Really.

He'd been momentarily distracted from his bouncing but now he as back at it, pinging from poster to poster. "Do you know what we need? Cannons. Show those Slytherin bastards a thing or two." Oliver whirled around and faced Ron, suddenly intense.

"And when was the last time Slytherin had a Quidditch practice? That's what I want to know. Have they moved underground? Are they practicing on the sly?"

[dungbombsrule.livejournal.com]

"What!?" Ron blurted out. Any pride he felt at being named Hogwarts' flying instructor deflated immediately. "Not Puddlemere 'Beat back those Bludgers, boys, and chuck that Quaffle here' United?" No wonder Wood wasn't interested in his job.

"Hey, wait! No, don't touch that post-! Calm down, would y-! I just had that charm-! No one's going to shoot Slytherins with cannons, there hasn't been a House Cup for over two years!" Ron had been following the hyperactive Wood around his office, frightened that he would wreck it just when he got it fixed up the way he liked.

"Look, just because you like to fly doesn't mean you gotta try that with your feet. And there's only about four Slytherins who know HOW to play Quidditch and that's because it got all the Gryffindors!"

[omg-sunflora.livejournal.com]

Sunflora struggled a bit to read the to-her unfamiliar words, until a house elf kindly told her that it said that this was the office of Ron Weasley, Flying Professor.

She didn't take that well.

"EEK! HUMANS CAN FLY?"

[dungbombsrule.livejournal.com]

Jumpy from the scream, Mister Weasley was sharper than he might have been. But he never had much patience for magical creatures.

"Hey!" Ron snapped his fingers at Sunflora, and pointed out the door. "Yes we can. Now, back to Herbology with you. Or Charms, wherever you came from. I'm holding office hours."

[omg-sunflora.livejournal.com]

Sunflora was trying not to cower. "But...I'm not in Charms or Herbology. I was just exploring and meeting more humans."

[dungbombsrule.livejournal.com]

He rubbed his temples. Great, now some kid was missing his homework. "Well, who created you, then?"

[pippithepirate.livejournal.com]

Pippi wasn't bored, because she was the kind of person who didn't allow herself to be. So to amuse herself she was randomly poking her head into rooms she'd never been in before, just to see what would happen. Mister Nilsson was, as always, sitting on her shoulder. Since it was getting colder, he was not only wearing the knitted yellow jumper, but a little scarf, too. Pippi would not allow him to get a cold now! He was so fussy when sick.

She saw the cannon poster before anything else, and watched in for a while with her head slightly tilted and a grin growing on her face. Then she turned to Ron and said companionably, "I knew a man at a circus in Acapulco who could do that. He didn't make that noise when he landed, though."

[dungbombsrule.livejournal.com]

"Oh, people make all sorts of noises when their insides implode from impact," Ron mused as he wrote a lesson plan. He looked up and widened his eyes when he realized who he was speaking to.

"Sounds which we are never supposed to hear for real."

[pippithepirate.livejournal.com]

"Yep," said Pippi cheerfully. "He went THUD. And stirred up such a darn amount of dust that there was a sandstorm all the way to the Pyramids! It was a very big sandstorm." She made her way up to Ron's desk and looked at the lesson plan upside-down with a curious look on her face.

"I'm finding myself liking your hair," she announced apropos of nothing much, and tugged her own carrot-coloured plait. "A most fetching colour, I always thought."

[dungbombsrule.livejournal.com]

"Really," Ron said conspiratorially, "SPLASH is the best sound you can hope for." He turned the parchment around so that Pippie could see it more easily. At the moment the instructor was working on the written homework:

1) WHAT OTHER EXPERIENCES HAVE YOU HAD WITH FLYING?

2) HOW HIGH CAN YOU FLY WITHOUT STARTING TO CRY?

3) WHICH BROOMSTICK WOULD YOU BUY FOR YOURSELF IF YOU COULD? PLEASE CONSULT "WHICH BROOMSTICK?" IF NEEDED.

4) WHAT IS GRAVITY?

His face reddened into a blush at Pippi's compliment. "Thanks! It's pretty common where I come from, though. Don't know many people who can get their hair to do that, though," he said, indicating to her pigtails. He was trying to compliment her. He then added, "Have you ever flown before?"