Scotty is an Anglican Spaceman (funkwick) wrote in blurred_war, @ 2010-03-09 23:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! [03] march 1943, aoife kelly, ernest fenwick |
Who: Ernest Fenwick & Aoife Kelly
Where: Around Hogwarts.
When: 9 March 1943, during Divination class.
What: Generally being strange.
Professor Imago had released them twenty minutes ago to seek out auras around the school. But Scotty hadn't been able to see anything yet. Instead he sat half-hidden on the third floor near the Charms classroom staring intently a stone wall. His parchment roll lay forgotten next to him as he tried to discern the particular aura of this part of the castle. It hadn't occurred to him to try living objects. No, Scotty was still quite keen on the idea that all objects were elementals giving off signs of life energy. There were times Aoife wondered why she had signed up for divination. To be certain she frequently felt as if she could fudge homework in the class, but it also felt rather like a waste of time. Of course, this was no more so than many of the classes that she took, and so she had attempted to settle in and look for auras, but she kept finding herself distracted by people, or things throughout the castle. Finally she realised that she needed to find some place quiet and with very few people, so that hopefully she could stop being distracted by said people. She was beginning to think that perhaps the library would be a good option when she saw Scotty staring intently at the stone wall nearby where she was currently standing. For a moment she did not consider it, and then she blinked. He was staring at the stone wall, when they were supposed to be looking for auras, and he was in her class. "Scotty?" It took a moment for Scotty to realize someone was speaking to him. Startled by the presence of another person, he thought if might be Professor Imago and quickly picked up his parchment, ink, and quill as if to look busy. Unfortunately, the ink bottle still had a cork in it, his quill was being held upside down, and the parchment was most clearly blank (except for a few scribblings of potential space ship designs). When Scotty finally looked up at the intruder, he only half-realized how foolish he looked and how hopeless it would have been if it had been Professor Imago standing there. "Aoife?" He straightened his glasses with the hand holding the quill to make sure it was her, and not a professor in disguise. Then, satisfied with his deductions, he asked, "Do you think this wall has an aura?" He dropped his quill to pat the wall gently. "My Inner Eye appears to be clouded." Aoife was caught somewhere between a giggle and pure confusion. He looked so startled when she'd approached, and there was part of her that was wondering why she had approached because after her conversation with Agatha, she was now wondering whether or not Scotty might fancy her. She'd never been fancied by anyone before so the idea was a bit startling, if not entirely off-putting, and Scotty, although odd, was slightly endearing with that oddness. Then again, perhaps Agatha was wrong, or she was wrong, or she was right (?) because she had ever and completely no idea whether or not he fancied her. "I don't think that walls have Auras," she admitted, stepping up so that she was standing beside him, and she looked at the wall. "But then I could be wrong, my Inner Eye is often clouded, actually." Scotty glanced back at the wall, and adjusted his glasses again. "Ah, perhaps you're right about that." Scotty had not given much thought to Aoife since the Kissing Day events. Well, he had spoken to her a bit about machine men and body snatchers but those were hardly serious interactions. He had been much more focused on catching up to his studies, especially after the complete neglect prior to the Quidditch match, and trying to transfigure a door into an aeroplane. None of which had anything to do with girls, or kissing, or the broad complications of dating. Placing his quill, parchment, and ink back into his bag, Scotty stood up and then look at Aoife. "I always thought they might contain elements of living things. Walls, that is. But... perhaps I ought to look elsewhere? Have you any ideas? I thought I saw a rather blue aura around one of the suits of armor... Though perhaps that was the caretaker's new silver polish." He shrugged, lifting his bag onto his shoulder as he glanced around the hallway for hints of strange colour, which is what he supposed an aura looked like. Aoife blinked slightly and sort of broke into a smile. Whether or not he fancied her, she really couldn't entirely keep from smiling - or being horribly confused - with any conversation she had with him. It was always something a little bizarre, but it was cute bizarre and it made her grin so she couldn't mind it at all. She considered the wall rather thoughtfully. "I don't suppose that ghosts have auras?" She asked. "They aren't really living, but if there were one in the wall or the armor - well, it might actually show an aura, wouldn't you think?" And she stood there looking at him with a grin on her face. "But maybe we should wander back towards the Great Hall where there are real people and take a look? I'm dreadful at this," she added. And Merlin she felt as if she were just rambling on and on and making a bit of a fool of herself. "Ghosts?" Scotty seriously considered this for a few moments, eyes alive with that glint of serious thought. It struck him as amusing that they ought to pass their class time discussing auras and whether or not ghosts or walls or suits of armour had them. Although Scotty took Divination quite seriously, it was still all rather silly. Wasn't it? Scotty smiled, and then shook his head. "I don't doubt that ghosts have auras, if walls and suits of armour do. But real people would certainly be more conducive to our study...Shall we?" Scotty shifted his bag on his shoulder and then began to walk towards the stairs. He hadn't thought anything of Aoife's ramblings, in fact if he had thought anything he might have said he rather liked them. Perhaps that was his curious interest in her, or perhaps it was her ability to put up with his strange tangents into the clouds. "Really, in an experiment such as this, I never thought to consider real people, but then, they do have the best auras... I think..." He paused mid-step and looked at her. "Yes, yours seems to me a bit sea-green, maybe with a hint of solar orange... You'd go nicely with one of the volcano islands in the South Pacific, perhaps they are secret remnants from a hidden planet..." But then he hesitated, being suddenly conscious of how weird his tales to her were. "But, of course, a South Pacific island is just as exotic as a hidden planet. Isn't it?" He was considering her aura? She had followed him easily enough but now she ducked her head suddenly a bit shy, because as much as she'd spent the entire afternoon thinking about auras, she had never considered her own. And then his actual description was making her smile and almost giggle. she didn't want him to think her rude, but his statements were always so absurd, really, and yet, somehow she could see herself going nicely with a volcano island in the south Pacific. "Well, yes, I mean, a South Pacific island is quite exotic, but," and here she turned to regard him seriously as she followed him down the stairs. "A hidden planet seems rather more exotic and mysterious. Unless it were a hidden island in the south pacific - but why would either be hidden?" Scotty shrugged. "Does it matter? You'll be the first to discover them!" This was, of course, a very significant fact to Scotty who wanted to be the great space explorer, and he attempted to express this significance in his enthusiasm. "Though-" and he hesitated here quite a lengthy moment "I suppose you have a point. Perhaps they were hidden by the evil rulers of the main islands in order to hide their precious gems, or their beautiful women and you must liberate them in the name of Great Britannia!" Really, Scotty was far too enthusiastic about these sorts of things and needed to calm down. "I suppose that's not something that is necessary though," he said quite seriously. "You're perfect as you are, and I rather -" again a quite lengthy hesitation and bit of a nervous twitch in his hands "- like your aura." It might not have been a proclamation of love and Scotty certainly wouldn't have seen it as such. But it was certainly a step in the socially acceptable direction of whatever it was that they were not doing. Least not in Scotty's mind. Aoife couldn't help but giggle at that point. Being the first to discover something did sound amusing, at least, and gems sounded like a lovely idea. "I don't think that I usually would be someone that could go find beautiful women though," she said matter-of-factly. "I think that might be something you could do though. I mean, dashing heroes like in the books, you would definitely fit that role," Aoife said, and then she wondered if she'd said something too forward. It wasn't every day that she told someone they fit the 'dashing hero' role. But this was Scotty, and he liked her aura... That final proclamation finally sank in and Aoife gave him a sideways look as they turned towards the Great Hall. He liked her aura? What did that mean? She didn't know what it meant, exactly, but it seemed like the sort of thing that one said to friends at least. So, at the very least she and Scotty were friends, but were they something more? Or trying to be something more? It was all quite confusing she decided. "You could have a leather jacket and maybe fly an aeroplane." Scotty didn't know exactly what it meant to be a 'dashing hero,' although he'd heard Dedalus discuss such things on occasion and suspected it had something to do with being a Gryffindor. Still, it didn't quite matter as Aoife had mentioned his favourite subject -- aeroplanes -- and his mind immediately lost all interest in auras or divination class. "Do you think so?" His words came out in an excited rush. "I should like to fly an aeroplane. It might be harder than a broom, but that's part of the thrill -- isn't it?" Though, Scotty admitted inwardly, he didn't exactly want to face bombs or fighter pilots. Searching for hidden gems would certainly be enough adventure for him. "I've been attempting to transfigure a door into an aeroplane, but it's been rather difficult acquiring the supplies." Especially the door, he thought as he glanced at the doors around them. It would have been impossible to drag one off without anyone noticing. "I still don't understand how they get off the ground. They look like such heavy objects. Don't you think?" Aoife nodded because she had to admit that she had wondered the same thing herself and although her father had tried to explain it to her, she found herself still confused. If it were magic then, well, she wouldn't really understand it because she very nearly always got lost when magical theory was too strong, but she would at least know that she didn't need to understand it which was quite enough for her. But there was no 'magic' that kept aeroplanes up, leastwise none the Muggles were aware of. "It's much more complicated than brooms," she agreed with solidarity. "The Muggles don't even have magic, so I don't know how they make something fly like that. I bet you could do it though," she offered. "I mean, if someone taught you, and such." "Yeah," said Scotty, already imagining himself dressed in a leather jacket and flying above the battlefields. "It'd be terribly frightening if the Muggle magic failed. Not that it is magic, but their equivalent to magic... which I suppose could be a form of Muggle magic." Scotty shrugged. He had only managed to confuse himself in that rather more complicated than necessary statement. "Maybe I should ask Gwen." She had after all mentioned something about knowing what kept aeroplanes in the air. "Maybe I could take you for a flight after I've been properly trained?" It was perhaps unorthodox to offer to take girls in a potential fighter plane, especially one that could randomly fall out of the air at a moment's notice. But this discovery would be something worth sharing, and he didn't think Dedalus or his other mates would appreciate it as much as Aoife. Aoife smiled slightly feeling oddly flattered, while at the same time feeling more confused than ever. She hadn't initially thought of Scotty fancying her, but she couldn't help but wonder if he mightn't a little. Surely if you didn't fancy someone you wouldn't ask them to go for a flight with you? Although it was Scotty so really, who was to say for certain? "Hopefully the Muggle magic wouldn't fail. I mean, whatever it is that keeps it up -- it can't be magic can it? Since Muggles don't have magic, but there must be something very important that Magical people don't know about. Otherwise wouldn't we have our own sort of aeroplanes? Only with magic? Actually I think that seems quite lovely really. Brooms are ever so cold if one is very far up and Aeroplanes can be more enclosed at times. Although, not all of them," because really not every single aeroplane was enclosed. "But, if you learn I'd like very much to go up with you. Do you think you will? I mean, be properly trained?" Scotty felt an odd excitement at Aoife's agreement to go for a flight with him, and it strangely resolved him to learn how to fly even more -- though he couldn't tell why. "I don't know. To be trained, I'd have to erm --" He hesitated. Scotty knew that in order to be trained he'd probably have to join the military -- the Muggle military -- and that had always scared him, even if he couldn't admit it because Gryffindor were completely fearless. "-- enlist." This last word sounded terribly frightening to him, especially with the latest news from the front, but it wasn't correct to show fear (least in his opinion) in front of women. And so, he went on as if this didn't much matter to him. "Though, I suppose that's my duty, isn't it? To help the Muggles? My dad did it. And then I'll come back from the war a hero, and we'll have a nice time flying over the north and talking about that time we were in Hogwarts and dreaming of auras instead of bombs. That would be nice, wouldn't it?" Aoife didn't much like the idea of Scotty enlisting much more than she liked the idea of her brothers enlisting although she couldn't have said why this was so. She and Scotty were friends certainly, and that had to be it. But it was very brave of him to consider it -- whether it were for the Muggle military or the Wizarding one. "So everyone says," she chewed on her lower lip, trying not to show how much she disliked the idea of him joining up. "My brothers have, although not to fly aeroplanes, of course, but to fight Grindelwald. In some ways it would be easier to go than to stay at home and be forced to watch and wait and hope that nothing happens to the ones you cared about. If the war's already over though, I mean, before you enlist -- that would be all right wouldn't it? You could still learn to fly an aeroplane I bet and regardless I think I'll rather always remember dreaming of auras. They are such pretty colours," and her cheeks felt rather warm as she admitted that this conversation, however trivial it might be seemed to be rather enjoyable and she could easily believe herself remembering it in a year or two or ten. "It'd be nice if the war ended," Scotty agreed. "Not because I don't want to enlist, but for everyone else involved." Scotty wanted to offer some sort of comforting advice about how Aoife's brothers were certainly quite brave to have enlisted, but he didn't know how. He fidgeted with his hands uncomfortably as he considered the prospects of both enlisting and the future. "I think," he said finally, "I might like to learn about aeroplanes even without the war. Then we could see if the clouds have auras." He looked at Aoife to see if she might approve of this, not really sure what she meant by 'always remembering.' But they had arrived in the Entrance Hall by now, and Scotty knew that he couldn't really ask under the watchful gaze of Professor Imago. "And the stars," he added as he began again to look around again for other auras. "I bet the stars are as pretty as our auras." "Oh, definitely!" Aoife laughed as she reached for her parchment to get ready to go through the auras in the Great Hall. She smiled a little shyly as she added: "I think the stars could even be prettier than our auras actually." She glanced around the room looking for a possible place to look at auras and then looked back at Scotty. "Perhaps we should just find a place to sit over in the corner where we can see people and their auras easily enough?" Scotty nodded in agreement. From over in a corner, they could observe without being observed. "What do you think of that lot over there? I'd say they're leaning towards a pale yellow..." He pulled out his parchment and started to mark notes as he walked. "Though, maybe that's more of a yellow-green? What does that mean? Anxiety eating Martians?" He looked down at his parchment, mixing up the colours of the auras and their meanings. It was a rather useless endeavour overall and, deciding so, he leaned against the wall of the Great Hall in frustration. "This is a rather useless class sometimes. If only my Inner Eye weren't always clouded." Aoife actually giggled at the idea of anxiety eating martians, or really Martians that ate anything, and she sat down on a nearby bench and gave Scotty a shrug. "I think, I -- Well, the book says that they are creative. So. Creative Anxiety Eating Martians?" She put her finger in the book and leaned forward. "I don't really know why I took divination," she said conspiratorially. "I feel as if I am very nearly always just making something up because I have no Inner Eye. Or it's clouded. Or maybe it's blind.... really that's probably it. My inner Eye is blind. It's a shame yours is clouded, as I fear it leaves nothing good for our homework." "Creative anxiety eating Martians, that's it, definitely." Scotty joined her on the bench, nodding. "Mine is probably blinded, too... But..." Scotty thumbed through his textbook as he thought up the appropriate words. "It can be such a fascinating subject, or maybe that's just..." He smiled, feeling a bit silly. "That's just all of the strange things we're put up to such as finding auras and telling our dreams and looking for meaning in the clouds... I don't see how any of this, really, can tell me my future but it's fantastic to look at things so closely." Aoife shrugged with a smile. "Well at least if yours is blinded and mine is blinded than we are both in excellent company, although I suspect that working on this assignment together very much means that we are the blind leading the blind and all that. But who knows, perhaps we'll find out something fascinating about our future?" And she reached for her quill. "Do you suppose we'll get a T if we actually use the phrase 'creative anxiety eating Martians'?" |