Paul Pettigrew (epistle_of_paul) wrote in lightning_war, @ 2009-04-10 11:06:00 |
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Current mood: | guilty |
Thursday evening, 17 September 1942, in the Great Hall of the Royal Academy of Wizardry...
The Great Hall was crowded, a confusion of voices raised in fear and bewilderment. Paul Pettigrew had marshalled his first-years to their table, convincing them to settle down with only minimal threatening, but once supper was over, there was no keeping anyone still; everyone knew that even if they all survived this night, they might not see each other again for a good long while.
Paul’s brother Ryan had to stay put, and he was sitting with two other boys, his head bowed conspiratorially. Jack Oldman, Theo Abbott and Fiammetta Kyteler were also up to something, which was always cause for worry; the Dux Bellorum’s daughter was every bit as much a handful as Mathers had told him her father had been when he was in school.
Paul wanted to keep an extra eye on them all, but St Hilda’s College was drawing a lot of them in, singing and praying together. He took a deep breath and glanced over there, hoping to see the one special face he too was afraid he might not be seeing for a while.
As expected, Mary Walsh was with her first-year girls. She was singing determinedly for their sake, though she did not pray. Paul glanced back at the first-years. Ryan and his friends were still just talking and somehow Theo Abbott had got Jack Oldman and Fiammetta Kyteler working on something that looked…arithmantic. He got up and walked over toward Mary and her group of girls. Then he heard a voice. “Paul…”
Paul started still and looked around. He was not used to hearing his Christian name spoken in quite that tone by a student. The girl had been running, and collided with him; Paul whirled around and steadied her with his hands.
“Oh, Paul! Thank you!” Audrey Erskine’s eyes were shining; she looked up at him with a hopeful expression.
Paul swallowed, and nodded. “Do be careful, Miss Erskine. I would not want you to fall and hurt yourself.” Audrey seemed to be leaning on him, almost trying to work her way into his arms.
“Sorry, I tripped, I think…”
Paul glanced back at Mary, worried that she’d seen this. Her cold frown was like a splash of ice water, and his jaw dropped. Of course she had seen it and taken it the wrong way. At least as far as his intentions were concerned.
Mary saw him looking at her and turned away, smiling at her girls.
“Audrey,” Paul began, using her Christian name to ensure he had her attention. How could he excuse himself without being rude? He made sure she was stable, pushing her back onto her feet, and then let go. “Could you do me a favour?”
“Of course! Anything for you, Paul.” Audrey smiled at him broadly.
“Grand. Come over here and watch my boys for any signs of trouble. And Kyteler’s girl, she’s always with them. If they so much as twitch, come and get me—I will be right over there, speaking with one of St Hilda’s prefects.” He gestured at the crowd, trying to keep his gesture general and not to point rudely at Mary.
Audrey followed his gaze with a pout. “You mean you’re going to go talk to Mary? Right?”
“Miss Walsh. Yes, I have something of import to tell her,” said Paul, nodding slightly. He took Audrey’s arm and led her over toward the first-years, then pulled out her chair and seated her at the table. “This will help me immensely.”
Audrey sighed, loudly and with drama, then stage-whispered: “All right—but don’t be long. I want to talk to you about…last week.” She blushed a little.
Paul rolled his eyes and stifled a groan. He’d been dreading that conversation. There were numerous rumours to the effect that the girl who had visited his bed had been Audrey, glamoured as Mary, although Paul himself suspected that he had been sinfully used by a foul demoness. The thought made him shudder; he walked determinedly toward Mary.
Mary looked up at him disdainfully, but got up anyway. “Leaving Miss Erskine alone, Mr Pettigrew?” He wasn’t even sure he could have got as close to her as he was, but the singing was loud and it was hard to hear in the midst of it.
Paul coughed and held up his hand. “She nearly fell, Miss Walsh. I assure you, I was merely steadying her gait.”
“Hmmm.” Mary gave Paul an appraising look. “Why are you not with your boys? You know how badly the drills have been going.”
Paul sighed. “I will be back with them in a second, but first, I have something to tell you. I presume you have heard of my run-in with Miss Malaspina?” Paul knew only all too well that rumours flew fast at the Academy.
“Run-in? What do you mean, ‘run-in’?” Mary demanded, staring directly into his eyes.
Paul frowned. He wasn’t sure how Mary felt about Valeria, and she did have a bad reputation. Had it been a bad idea to bring it up pro-actively? He tried to smile at her. “If you have not heard about it yet, then it is probably unimportant. I only wish to ask you to remember, when and if you hear any rumours about it, that I did not mean to make trouble for Mr Forrester or Miss Malaspina…no matter what anyone says about me.”
“Trouble?” Mary frowned. “I know you don’t like her sister Isabella—they are sisters, aren’t they? Or is it cousins? And everyone’s heard about Tom Forrester and Valeria Malaspina. There are even bets on how long it will be before her sister finds out about it, since everyone knows that Isabella fancied Forrester before she fell for Jamie Macmillan. And Ximena Saenz liked him too, and people say that she’s another Malaspina too, otherwise she would have come back…” She crossed her arms. “So what happened?”
Paul winced. “I had a slight…discussion with Valeria on the commons earlier today.” He wished he had never mentioned it. “It seems I have been a bit of a wan—” Paul flushed, and hurriedly corrected his language: “um, a dunderhead. Concerning the way I was acting.”
Mary just scowled at him.
“You know. Spreading…rumours.” It was still hard for Paul to say that aloud, and his face reddened slightly.
“So someone called you out on it? I wondered when or if that would ever happen.” Mary sighed, and reached out to touch Paul on the cheek, but her touch didn’t linger. “We’ll talk later, when things have calmed down a bit.” With that, she turned and returned to her firsties.
Paul smiled and raised his hand to touch his cheek where Mary’s fingertips had rested. That had gone…better than he had supposed. At least Mary was still willing to talk to him. The noise and confusion seemed less confusing, but perhaps it was only the smile on his face that made them so.
Audrey was still waiting for him. She stood up as he approached, leaning against a nearby pillar. “Hello Paul,” she said as he drew near. “I waited for you, just like you asked me to.”
Paul blinked and sighed. The noise came crashing back into his ears. “Thank you, Miss Erskine, that will be all,” he said, and sat down between Ryan and one of his friends. “Very well then, what have you lot been up to?”
voci_umbrarum (Audrey Erskine, Mary Walsh) and epistle_of_paul