Who: Susan Bones and Lisa Turpin
When: November 23, around noon
Where: Susan and Megan's apartment
What: French lessons!
Rating: PG
Status: Complete

Susan took another look around the apartment, nervously straightening the couch pillows yet another time before sitting down again. Although she had known Lisa for more than seven years now, she wasn't part of Susan's main social circle, and while Susan wasn't the shy girl she had once been, social interactions like these still made her anxious. Of course, she knew that when Lisa arrived she would be perfectly fine and everything would be great, but that didn't keep her from fidgeting in her seat and jumping up every two seconds to check whether she had remembered to put some drinks cold or if they had enough ink to write with.

Then there was the matter of actually learning a new language. It was something Susan had always wanted to do, interested as she was in other cultures. Her aunt Amelia, who had worked in the Department of International Magical Cooperation before she had transferred to Magical Law Enforcement and became a member of the Wizengamot, was fluent in as much as five languages besides English, and while she had tried to teach Susan a word or two before she died, they had never gotten very far.

Making an annoyed sound at herself as she involuntarily jumped up from her seat again, Susan went over to the kitchen counter and grabbed a magazine to busy herself with, before setting in to wait.

Lisa knew French, after all it was half of who she was, but she hadn't spoken it in forever. It didn't mean that she couldn't help Susan at all, but she definitely had to check with her mother about French words that pertained to being a Healer. Being a Healer wasn't a track that Lisa had wanted so those words were lost unto her and Lisa wanted to be sure that Susan was learning words that would help her in treating people.

She bought a couple of French booklets for beginners that taught the basics and a book for Healers that Lisa had found at her parents house while looking for French books. It seemed like a lot, but Lisa knew that it wasn't something that could only be taught in a day. She hoped to leave these with Susan so that she could practice on her own time. After making sure that she had everything she needed, Lisa headed for Susan's flat. When she arrived, she knocked on the door and waited for Susan to answer.

As soon as the knock sounded, Susan jumped up from her chair, her magazine falling to the floor. Quickly she picked it up and put it down somewhere on her way to the door. "Just a second," she said, her voice raised so she could be heard through the door. With a wave of her wand the wards were taken down, and then the door was opened.

"Hey, Lisa. How are you? Come on in." Smiling, Susan waved her arm in the direction of their living room. It occurred to her suddenly that she hadn't had anyone over ever since Megan had moved in with her. They never had gotten around to organising a house-warming party like Mandy and Lisa had. Well, at least that was about to change. Ernie was finally done making up excuses, so she had no doubt he would visit soon. "Can I offer you anything to drink?"

"Thanks, Susan." Lisa had seen pictures of the flat when Susan had first moved in, but it was nice to see it in person. "You have a lovely flat." Lisa certainly felt welcome in it. "Sure. What do you have to drink?"

"Thank you," said Susan with a smile, gesturing for Lisa to have a seat. "We still haven't fixed up the spare room, but I suppose there's no rush." Walking into the kitchen, she popped her head back around the corner. "Water, tea, pumpkin juice, some Muggle drinks. And I suppose I could make coffee if you'd rather have that?"

"You're welcome." Lisa shook her head as she took a seat. "I'm sure you've been busy." Actually, Susan had something about being busy. She knew that it wasn't easy being a Healer, just from her mother. "Water would be just fine." While she waited for Susan to return, she put all but one of the books down, keeping the one she thought would be the easiest to start with. "How is work?"

Rummaging around in the kitchen cabinets for some clean glasses, Susan let out a laugh. "Busy as always. If someone had told me last year becoming a Healer was going to be this much work I would have told them they were insane. But I like it, and that's the most important thing." Walking back into the living room, she put the glasses down on the table and took a seat herself. "Those charms still keeping you busy?" She glanced briefly towards Lisa's hair before looking away again, not wanting to embarrass her.

Lisa agreed. "Liking it is the most important thing. I really like my job despite the random hair colour changes. I'm close to getting this fixed." Her hair wasn't bothering her as much as it first did, though it was frustrating that it seemed to be taking so long to get the problem corrected. "By the way thanks for the cap. It works splendidly. I'm slowly starting to keep myself from wearing it because there are worse problems than a silly mix up like this. I could have ears sprouting all over my body. If you're ever in the Spell Damage ward, you'll get to know some of the committee members rather quickly. A bunch of them wind up at St. Mungo's at least once a week. They're a friendly lot. How is it working with your co-workers?"

"The hair changes might even be kind of fun," Susan said with a quirk of her lips. "I've wanted to try a different hair colour for ages, but I've always been too scared to try it." She had no doubt if she told Hannah and Megan they would be able to talk her into it, but Susan preferred playing things safe for now. "You're welcome. I'm glad it helped!" She frowned at the mention of the Spell Damage wards. "We've been helping out on all the departments, but Spell Damage has to be one of my least favourites. The things people manage to do to themselves or others." She shook her head. It was almost time for her to decide in what direction she would go with her training, but since the war was now over she no longer felt obligated to help out in that particular department. Reversing spells had never been her strength. "My co-workers are nice though. We don't have much time to stand there and chat, but I feel like I'm slowly getting to know them a bit better. Might even get some new friends out of it."

"I'm sure if you go with a natural colour, it would look brilliantly on you." Lisa said. "If you ever pluck up the courage, be sure you get the words and the wand work right, although taking it from a book is the best way to go about it." Lisa listened. "They probably want all of you to get a broad education. Can't have everyone flocking to the same ward, nor have everyone leaving because they thought they would like it and don't. Which one is your favourite? Making new friends is always great."

"You think?" said Susan, fiddling with a lock of her hair and eyeing it critically. She wondered what her father would say if she were to try it. "Maybe I'll pop by the library this week. I still need to get some other books in any case." She nodded along as Lisa spoke. "Yes, that was pretty much the idea. It does make choosing rather difficult, though. Right now I'm hesitating between Potion and Plant Poisoning and Magical Bugs and Diseases."

"I really think so." Lisa told her with a sincere smile. "Those both sound exciting. What sort of things do you see on Magical Bugs? I'd ask about the poisoning ward, but those both seem to make sense already."

Susan shrugged. "Dragon pox, wizarding flu, that kind of thing. There's a new committee that's trying to figure out the ties between our diseases and Muggle ones, which is mostly what I'm interested in. There's so much we don't know or understand about Muggle medicine, and while some of it is pretty ghastly I think there are a lot of fields in which they would be able to help us." She took a sip from her drink. "But we should probably get to work."

"Sounds exciting. Even tying in the muggle ones." Lisa commented. She took another drink from her water. She had to agree because that was the purpose for why she was here. There would be plenty to chat and socialize about these things another time. "Yes, of course." Lisa held out the book she had kept separate. "I think this is the one we should start with first. It has a lot of the more basic things."

"All right." Taking the book from Lisa's hand, Susan eyed it with interest and briefly leafed through it. The illustrations on some of the pages indicated the book was probably meant for younger children, but Susan liked the way some of the words were matched up with images explaining their meaning. She had always been more of a visual learner. "So, how do we start?" It was odd to think she had never learned a new language before, not counting English. It had never occurred to her education at Hogwarts was limited in that way.

Lisa thought for a moment. Where should she start? "I think maybe teaching you how to say the alphabet might be the way to start. It will also help you when you're speaking, so that the words are getting the correct pronunciation. The alphabet is much like our own, except some of the pronunciations of letters is a little different. One thing that you have to remember is that the g and the j are opposite in their pronunciation, taking on the others pronunciation in the French. I'll go slowly, so repeat after me...." Lisa started with the letter a and used the French accent to say it. Once Susan repeated her, and she was satisfied with how Susan was saying it, Lisa would move on to the next letter.

"Oh, that's a good idea!" Listening carefully as Lisa started with the first letter, Susan tried to repeat her, feeling slightly silly at the unfamiliar sounds coming from her throat as they moved down the alphabet. "The b is almost like 'bay'," she commented, before repeating it another time.

"Yes, it is. Some of the letters do actually sound like words some of the time." Lisa agreed. "Makes it a little easier." Teaching Susan brought back memories of when her mum was teaching her and her siblings. She had excelled, and that could very well have been an indication of her future in Ravenclaw. At first, Lisa didn't know how she would do with teaching Susan, but she was finding it to be easier than she thought. Maybe if she got tired of the Charms thing, which she doubted, Lisa figured she could always be a French tutor or something which was something she had wanted to do when she was really little.

"It does," said Susan. "Although I suppose there are slight differences so you have to be careful with the comparing." She had felt a bit nervous before, but Lisa was a patient teacher and Susan had to admit she was quite enjoying herself. "Maybe we can move on to some words now?" she asked when they had finished the alphabet and Susan was somewhat satisfied with her performance.

Lisa clapped when Susan finished the alphabet. "That was very good, Susan. So yes, we can learn a few other words too. I've got some flashcards tucked into one of these books." Lisa shuffled through the books until she found the one with the flashcards. "These will come in handy after I leave. See, they are even written out the way you should say it. Look them over and then we'll start."