Al Gumboil is a bad big brother. (countervail) wrote in an_ill_wind, @ 2009-07-31 18:40:00 |
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Al sat back in his chair, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands and then moving his fingers to habitually muss his hair. He slouched down, staring at the case in front of him. No leads. Not half a fucking clue, actually. He was getting nowhere, and after Greyback's post yesterday, he wasn't sure that he wasn't already too late. Not that Al had any particular issue with werewolves. Not as a rule anyway. He had one for a best friend, after all. Would the family care? He didn't know the Weasley's very well. Nor was it his job to, really. It was his job to bring the kid back. Which he hadn't done either, despite weeks of working around the clock. He was exhausted when he got home, head bloody well spinning with the details of the case. He was running into a brick wall, and he didn't fucking like it. The only bright spot in his life lately had been Rita and yesterday, the birth of his godson. So finally, Al closed the file and glanced at his watch. He'd been working almost non-stop since this morning after his training session with Tilly. Who... speaking of... was not in the direct vicinity. Al frowned and glanced over the desks and then pushed himself up. There were only so many places she could be. She wouldn't have left without letting him know, anyway. At least, he was reasonably sure. After a few moments of searching, he made his way to the break room. And found an obviously upset trainee. He paused for a moment before dropping into a chair beside her, reaching for a chocolate biscuit on the table and then wordlessly nudging the plate toward her. A great day turned bad. Exactly how Matilda was feeling at the moment. After her horrible training session, she left without a word to anyone else and sat alone in the break room. A few workers came in and tried to make small talk but they got the idea quickly that Matilda wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. Leaning back against her chair, she took a small part of a blank parchment and ripped it into smaller peices. Setting them on the table, one by one she flicked them across the room. It wasn't very amusing and she'd have a mess to pick up afterwards but that didn't matter to her. Matilda had been in the training program for a while now. No one had said anything to her about it just yet, but she felt as if she'd be finished soon. Just a feeling that she was getting which started to make her a little more anxious. Still, that was no reason for her to have been distracted like that! Sure distractions can occur in a serious situation and Matilda knows that she can do better than she performed today but it didn't help the fact that she made such a careless mistake. A heavy sigh escaped her and she laid her head back on the table right when someone had walked into the break room. Without moving her head, she raised her eyes to see Al. She half smiled but didn't say anything. When he moved a plat with chocolate biscuits towards her, she sighed again as she picked one up. "Thanks." She mummbled. Al didn't say anything at first, taking the time to get about half-way through his biscuit and (again) slouch down comfortably in his chair. Apparently, his mum didn't yell at him enough about his posture. It didn't matter. He was short as hell anyway. He glanced at her after a mouthful though and absently brushed some crumbs off his shirt. "So d'you want to talk about it, or are you just going to moap for a bit?" he asked offhandedly. He certainly didn't sound terribly concerned one way or the other, but there was a right answer. He knew how hard training could be. They'd all done it and dealt with the sore muscles and the headaches and constant instruction. It turned you into a good hitwizard though, if you did it right. And if your senior officer didn't screw up too much. Al hoped he was doing a half-way decent job. Mary had turned out all right, anyway. Matilda groaned at Al's question. Her eyes did narrow but she didn't say anything just yet. No use taking her anger out on him. He wasn't the one that messed up. Deep down she knew she was probably over reacting a little bit but she could be handling it a lot worse and Matilda knew that. "Give me a moment." She said with a small sigh. Taking a small bite of her biscuit, she sat in silence. At least he was nice enough to come find her. Usually when she got like this she took her anger out on him. Nice to know she hadn't annoyed him yet. He wasn't a bad teacher at all. In fact from the stories she's heard, she was really lucky to have him as a teacher. It helped that she felt comfortable enough with him that she wasn't afraid of acting like herself. It made moaping a lot easier. "Alright fine." Matilda finally said. "Instruct me oh great one. Tell me that your disappointed and that you know I can do better." Not that she was purposely trying to act like a child. She was just really tired and yes, she did have a headache. It wasn't enough to know that Matilda knew that she could do better, she needed to hear it from someone else. It's one thing to be disappointed in herself, it's another to have someone she looked up to to be disappointed. She'd use it for motivation to work harder. Al examined his biscuit for a moment, letting a silence settle between them. It would have been easier if he was actually angry. But he really wasn't. Making mistakes was part of the package. "You can do better," he said finally, still looking immensely interested in his biscuit. "But I'm not disappointed in you." Another slight pause while he chewed on the rest of the delicious baked good (who'd brought these in today? He was going to have to pay them a compliment). Carefully, he dusted his fingers off and then turned his head to look at her, quite serious. "How are you ever going to learn if you don't make mistakes? Don't be afraid of them. Make them now, when you're not going to get hurt because of them. Know where your weaknesses are and we'll work on it, so that when you're fighting some bastard like Greyback you'll have a clue as to what to do. Because people like that are going to capitalise on your mistakes out there, and they're not going to quit at the end of an hour." It was a bit of a speech for Al, and a surprisingly coherent one, without much fumbling or stuttering over words. It either meant he was very tired or that he'd given it a few dozen times over the course of his time here. He was banking on both, really. Matilda couldn't help but smile. That did make her feel better. After finishing her biscuit, she lifted herself back up. "I know, and I know it's stupid for me to be acting like this. I just..it just seems like that I made a mistake as if I just started. I don't like making rookie mistakes." Even though she was probably still considered a rookie but she likes the fact that she's good at what she does and mistakes never went well with her. "Anyway, thanks. It's easier to hear it from someone else," she replied with another small smile. Looking at the time, she couldn't help but wish it was almost time for her to go home. A nice bath and a good meal would make her evening so much better. "So, how are you doing?" Knowing full well that the actual HitWizards had a lot of work to do. Even though she was worried about getting through her own training, doesn't mean she hasn't noticed everything else that was going on. Everyone seemed to be on edge lately and with good reason. "Well... you are a rookie," Al teased with a small smile. He stretched and then leaned forward to rest his head against the table. "Mm, 'm'all right," he responded. "Running blindfolded into a brick wall with the Greyback case. You know. Usual." He smirked and let his eyes close for a moment. Honestly. Only Al could ever be comfortable on a table. "My godson was born yesterday though. Cute little thing. Alice's boy, from the auror office." Al gestured vaguely in the direction of the auror cubicles. Like that might clue her in further. Matilda nodded, while she did listen to him, she also gained some perspective. Here she was getting all worked up over a common mistake. Knowing what she did wrong and known she wouldn't be making it again and Al and the rest of the HitWizards had a real problem of their own. Real danger. Not that she was thinking she wasn't ready for it, Matilda had 100% confident that she would make an excellent HitWizard, but perhaps she was still learning after all. Even when she wasn't planning on being taught a lesson. When he mentioned that his godson was born yesterday, she put her thoughts aside. Plenty of time for that later on. "Oh really? Congratulations!" Matilda said happily. She didn't know Alice very well but she had seen her around and she knew that she was an excellent Auror. "How cute, what's his name?" "Mm, Neville Something," Al said with a small smirk. "I was going to yell at Frank for not naming him after me, but I figured I'd wait for a bit. Kid's fucking adorable." He yawned widely and flicked his wand at the tea-pot. Obediently, it poured a cup of itself, and the cup itself levitated toward Al, passing dangerously close to Tilly's head. "Sorry," he mumbled when it sat itself down in front of him. Al sat up and took a sip of his tea, sighing deeply. Caffeine was an essential ingredient in a hitwizard's life. "Anyway. I've got to get back to work," Al yawned again and stretched in his seat. "And so do you." Matilda nodded and rolled her eyes some. "You're a godfather aren't you? You get to teach him things his parents can't. Like what the best way is to get what he wants. Not that I would want the little one to grow up spoiled but he'd either learn it on his own time or from you. It also means he'd look up to you, can't ask for anything better than that in my opinion," she said with a small shrug. Her head ducked quickly to avoid getting tea dumped on her head. "'tis fine." Matilda yawned herself and nodded once again at the mention of going back to work. Ugh. Well now that she felt like she got the worse of today already out of the way, hopefully nothing else will go wrong. Though, with this profession it's more likely to happen. At least this time she'd be ready for it. "Right, well thanks for the talk." The girl added after a moment of silence. "Try not to fall asleep, bad things can happen when you fall asleep on the job." Matilda said smirking. Not that she would ever do anything to him. Oh no. That would wrong. Al pushed himself up from his chair and took a sip of his tea. "I haven't fallen asleep at my desk since I was a trainee," he teased. A little ominously. "You're right. Bad things happen." Al was more smirking to himself though, and he made his way back to his desk. Right. Werewolf cunt. Now where had he been... |