HH_mirror

Octavian did not ordinarily go about clanking with money. Indeed, slaves handled most of the money for the house of the Julii. He'd brought a small supply with him on his expedition to Hibernia, or Britannia, or what have you (the old pontifex hadn't been too clear on that; Octavian now felt fairly certain this was the extreme north of Britannia), but it was nothing near what he needed to fulfill all the payments he had promised in exchange for votes in the Sorting Room. The little girl Rose Casson had almost cleaned him out.

Fortunately, he could command his journeyings between here and his Rome; while his mun was in Florida he made a short visit home, not to his mother's house (though he would have liked to see Octavia, the risk of running into Atia or, worse, Antony was not a prospect Octavian cared to entertain) but to the moneylenders with whom he'd arranged to borrow against Caesar's will initially. Assured that neither his mother nor Mark Antony had heard anything about this sizable loan, nor had means of learning thereof, he returned to Hogwarts as sanguine as he could ever be, amply supplied with denarii.

To the Sorting Hat he sent 500, as they had agreed, and to those who had given him votes and had not explicitly declined payment, he sent 50 each in accordance with his offer. These were the recipients:

Laura de Winter
Titus Pullo
Jaime Reyes
Laura Palmer
Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo
Wolfram von Bielefeld
Shibuya Yuuri


Each 50-denarii payment had been secured in a small leather purse, plain and unadorned, cinched with a knotted leather thong. To each of these a note had been tied as well, with the recipient's full name and the brief message In thanks for your vote, here is the promised gift. Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus.

Each, that was, except for Tenel Ka's payment. That one Octavian set aside until the others had been dispensed with, house elves clanking off to the Owlery with the neat little parcels.

He considered using her full name, to show respect (and, perhaps a little, to demonstrate retention of memory). In the end he simply sent the bag itself with no signature or seal, only the tersest of messages:

I am Sorted into Slytherin. Would a lake do in place of a fountain?

This one he sent with the tame owl he had bought for himself, a very nondescript and average specimen of owlness. He thought a lake might do for Tenel Ka's stated purpose, and if she asked him why, he would explain.

A young man appears in the Sorting Room, in the way people often appear here: without warning. He carries himself with what modern prose might style a patrician bearing. This is for good reason. He is a patrician, the genuine article.

While he does not seem entirely surprised to find himself here, neither does he seem entirely prepared. For one, he's not dressed for Hogwarts. He wears a tunic and a toga over that, both white with a border of murex red-purple, the true Tyrian purple. If asked, he will stress that he wears this because of status, not age: though this is what younger boys wear, also all pontifices are entitled to the toga praetexta. He put on the plain toga virilis a few years ago, years that seem to him quite long, and only put it away for this when his uncle named him pontiff: a surprising honor, for one so young, only seventeen; and Octavian may be a little touchy about his age, these days. Properly speaking he ought to be the head of his family.

Properly speaking, he is the head of his family. But there is not very much that is proper about Octavian's house, these days, it seems to him.

He is lettered, quite solidly so, more so perhaps than his mother would like. However, he has never seen a quill pen before, being accustomed to the use of a stylus, and it does not occur to him immediately that this feather upon the table is meant for writing. The Dictaquill does its work. Octavian watches it with a slight widening of his eyes that quickly regulates itself to his normal set expression.

This place is as strange as he had expected.


( I can take care of myself. )

By now, the quill has demonstrated its purpose quite adequately. In mid-stroke, its movement is interrupted by Octavian, who grasps it and writes his name, neatly, in a smooth and well-schooled hand:

Gaius Octavian.

He writes it by habit, then crosses it out. Lately he has been given a new name.

Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus.

There. Better.



((And the non-IC app disclaimer:
"I have read the [info]hogwarts_hocus faq, and understand it is a crazy, cracktastic sorting community and RPG. GJCO.
I have read the [info]hogwarts_hocus rules and agree to abide by each and every one of them. GJCO.
I agree to be a good sport and not get my knickers in a bunch. GJCO.
One day, marmalade will rule the world. GJCO." ))

( here there be OOC notes )