Meeting of two minds (Andrei)

Flicking his wand the large purple curtains opened allowing natural light to flood into the larger than average classroom.  It's layout perhaps different from most.  In the most left hand side a large teacher's desk sat.  You could assume it was a desk because of its size, it had drawers, it had a large chair tucked in, and it was covered in papers, folders, diagrams, and even a couple books.  However, if one just glanced they could have thought it to be nothing more than a pile of parchment.

The room was divided by a long maroon rug.  Along it was the different faces of the moon for decoration, and at the very ends were two lines for duelists to stand at.  On either side of the long stretch was a mess of chairs, meaning students sat generally facing one another with the dueling area separating them.  The rug was around 30 feet long, and 4 feet wide.  

Around the room were large plush pillows, dummies propped on sticks forming a sort of mannequin militia, and all sorts of other odd objects.  Even a pair of bludgers shackled to the ball that occasionally collodide.  It had taken the better part of two days to get the room set up the way he had wanted.  He had been aided y the absence of students or really any one to distract him, and handicapped by his own still healing....well handicap.

Having a seat in one of the chairs he quickly caught his breath admiring the effect of the room.  It would appear much like a professional duelist gym, with the addition of a messy desk and student chairs.  Yet, to a new student walking in, he hoped it would inspire some level of awe and catch their attention immediately.

Many of the books that he had laden in his desk was British duelist theory.  The Brits had a different way of dueling.  Some would say more refined, or even more finesse, Quinn thought it was a bit girly honestly.  He preferred the rough and tumble that was American dueling, yet best to understand how others went about it.

Standing up he'd press of with the cane.  Setting it on a chair he would hobble to one side of the duelist stage.  Waving his wand to cause one of the dummies to come alive, it would walk to stand at the other line.  They would bow, and then stand straight.  His own wand at his hip, ready to be drawn, it's in the magical mechanisms hand held with a fencing pose.

Summer had finally fallen on Hogwarts. The last of the students had gone home and the hallways were now only populated by the occasional ghost and the omnipresent paintings. Having never been in the castle during the summer, Andrei found it strange. Though, the more time he spent in this quiet atmosphere the more he came to think that it was a good type of strange.

Not one to wait until the last minute for anything, the older man had taken this time in the early summer to set up his classroom well in advance of the next term. He figured this would allow him a more flexible summer, which would be important as Marie wanted to visit Moscow in a few weeks to see her mother. Plus, Andrei felt that the artifacts he planned to have lining his classroom would look infinitely better with a fine layer of dust over them to add to the ambiance and, if nothing else, he could see if people were touching what they shouldn’t.

However, in putting the finishing touches on his room, he found himself drawn to the lower levels of the castle by the sharp crack and whip of bludger on bludger. The sound itself was hard to mistake for anything else and with the number of Quidditch games he’d seen he knew it like he knew his wife’s dulcet tones or his youngest son’s cries. Perhaps during the schoolyear he wouldn’t have bothered to investigate, but now, with a mostly empty castle, he felt the need to know more.

Sweeping into the room from which the noise could be heard, Andrei’s face contorted itself into an unconscious frown. The classroom, if one could call it that, looked as if a wizard had seen one too many Rocky films and felt the need to decorate his room as such. Despite his strong disdain for dueling, he instantly recognized the telltale signs all around the room; the mannequins, the bludgers, the random crippled kid.

Wait. The random crippled kid?

His gaze snapped back to the boy leaning against a cane. Andrei had not expected to see anyone and had, for a fraction of a second, mistaken the boy for another mannequin. Why was he still here anyhow? Well, there was one way to find out…

“You do know it is summer, right?” Andrei’s voice carried across the room with an air of authority he had been practicing for his lectures. “All the other students have gone home.”

He took special care to put emphasis on the word ‘other’. He then took a single step into the classroom and continued to survey the area with a gaze that seemed to say ‘people still partake in this blood sport?’. No, he did not much care for dueling in the slightest.

The voice of the professor was drowned out by his own focus. Normally he'd have easily heard it, but in his mind he was back in the heat of competition as he looked at the magical mannequin. His fingers seemed to flex as the much older wizard was finishing his first sentence. As he over emphasized the word other and stepped into the room the dummy, and by this I mean the mannequin, started its move.

It's wand seemed to illuminate on the tip, while the arm began to reach forward. Moving just under an inch total the last came. Quinn's own hand darted to his hip and drew, not unlike a gunslinger from the wild Wild West. His blasting curse exploded around 1 meter in front of his opponent. The blasting curse expanded outwards and upwards. Completely nullifying what the dummy had done but also obscuring vision, the deafening sound of an explosion shook the windows and a blast of hot air would cause the Runes Professor's robes to bellow.

The explosion hadn't died down before his next move was made. The explosion covering up the sound of his apparition, he found himself behind the dummy. His next spell almost completely hidden by the explosion, he found himself fall to his knees. Grabbing his injured side and breathing heavy, he felt a curse slide between his lips. As for the mannequin it seemed to be completely still.

Looking up he would finally notice the other individual in the room. Perhaps or perhaps not a little worse for the situation. "Can I help you?" He would say standing up, but leaning heavily on one of the student chairs off the side of the dueling row.

Flinching unconsciously at the loud bang and near imperceptible blur of motion. Yes, that was just another reason he hated dueling, the noise. A few pops and bangs were fine, but when it became a chorus of what sounded like fireworks a few feet from one's ear it became too much. Luckily, in this case, it was only one explosion followed by a rather pitiful failure on the part of what Andrei still assumed to be a student.

"I think I should be the one asking you that," he nodded curtly at the man's injury before continuing. "Perhaps I can help you to the station? You missed the express, but we should be able to get you on a something before tomorrow morning."

He paused and scratched his forehead absentmindedly as he tended to when annoyed with a situation, but too courteous to say anything about it.

"Of course, we'll have to send an owl to your parents...Shall we?"

Turning to go he paused in the doorway waiting for the boy. He half considered giving the boy his arm but thought better of it. Young men, as he well knew, liked to preserve their pride and Andrei would not be one to demean the young duelist.

Breathing heavily but smiling through he would listen to the older man. It took a minute to figure out what on earth he was talking about. At the mention of parents and owls though, the ball dropped. "That'd be tough, they are both highly muggle and are more like to shoot the bird than read a letter." He would say thinking back to his family. Actually, that's exactly what they'd probably do. That .22 varmint rifle by the door had been used more than once to shoo away unwanted critters, and he knew how they felt about magic...

"Standing he would flick his wand causing the cane to soar over to him. Leaning on it he would stand back all the way up and move the two steps towards the newcomer, "Professor King at your service sir. Professor of dueling, I suppose." He would say, turning slightly and waving his hand out to show the entire room. As he did the mannequin would fall over, as it hit the ground shattering into a thousand pieces as if it had been frozen solid.

"And you are sir?" He would say politely offering his hand or to be shaken. His smile would still be on, and he would take measure of the Man. He didn't seem to impressed, but perhaps he was just still in shock.

Oh.

Oh...

Awkward.

Pursing his lips, Andrei cursed inwardly. Thankfully he was not facing the young professor for he would have surely seen a hint of a blush appear on the older man's face. Of course, any trace of his fumble had disappeared from his face by the time he turned around to face Professor King. What was with kids these days? They all looked the same; they could be thirty, twenty, or even younger and he couldn’t tell the difference. Maybe he was getting old? No, never; not that. It had to be that times were changing, nothing more and nothing less. Yes, that was it.

“Ah, well, my mistake,” a brief smile tugged at his lips as he gave the boy a firm handshake. “I thought you were…errr…well never mind. My name is Andrei, Andrei Kessler. I’ll be teaching ancient runes next term.”

He gestured vaguely towards the ceiling indicating that his classroom lay far above this one.

“Are you settling in well?” He asked aimlessly, Andrei hated small talk with a burning passion. “It’s been ages since I’ve stepped foot in this school, but it feels like nothing’s changed. I only just got done setting up my classroom; you have quite the set up here.”

He hesitated to comment further as his knowledge of dueling was lacking to say the least. Certainly, he could hold his own when push came to shove, but dueling was different. From what he recalled there were rules to be followed and etiquette to be observed. It all seemed much more trouble than it was worth.

"Ahh well enough. You've gotten me beat at least. Only been in here a handful of times, counting this one. I'm as apt to get lost as find my way yet." He would say smiling and returning the handshake just as firm. "Thank you, it took me a bit to get the ambiance just right.......not easy ya know. Still not sure what the English prefer." His voice was up beat, though his breathing was still a little fast. He leaned heavily on his cane, and looked back over the class room.

Flicking his wand, the mannequin would repair itself and shuffle on back to its place on the wall. Another two flicks and the any damage that had been taken via the explosion would piece its self back together. "Ancient runes huh? Can't lie, I think I failed that course back in Ilvermony. Sounded fun on paper, but couldn't get the handle." He would turn back to Andrei as he spoke. "Would you like a seat? I think I'll have one."

With that he would move away heavily and plop down into a student desk. "Next term you said? Are you new as well? It'll be my first, glad to meet a fellow newbie."

Around them the halls would be eerily silent as only empty school halls can be. Hard to imagine soon the sounds of hundreds of voices would be bouncing of the solid rock. Lessons, homework, dates, and events dominating the lives of the ones who graced the halls, while the teacher's worked to keep order. He was one of them now, an interesting concept. "Something to drink?" He would ask conversationally, his wand clearly ready to summon.

Yes, it figured, an American. Andrei had nothing against Americans in general. He did, however, not necessarily like a few in particular. The archeologists he knew from America were focused on fame and fortune and always talked of ‘the big find’ that would one day make their career. Certainly, they were no less intelligent than anyone else, but, in Andrei’s well-guarded opinion, they had their priorities all mixed up. Archaeology wasn’t about ‘the big find’ rather it was about building the knowledge base through innumerable small discoveries and conclusions. All the same, he nodded along with the dueling professor as propriety dictated even going so far as to crack a wry smile at the man’s thoughts on ancient runes.

“Tonic water if you have it, flat if you don’t,” he squeezed behind the desk to King’s right with his knees, as they so often did, just barely fitting as they kissed the bottom side of the desk. “And yes, this’ll be my first term teaching here; I imagine it’ll be quite the experience if nothing else. I taught a few introductory classes as a graduate student back at Oxford, but this will be something new to me. ”

The more he thought about it though he did wonder if it would be that much different. Sure, his students would be younger and maybe less motivated, but, by that same token, he would be teaching a class he truly loved. It would all work out. Probably.

“As much as I hate to admit it I can’t spend all my life out in the field,” he continued with a hint of sadness in his voice. “So, I thought it best to try my hand at teaching while I still have options in my life. How about yourself, what brings you here?”

He left out the part about losing his old job due to Machiavellian budget cuts. Details such as that were personal and he hardly knew the person sitting next to him. Andrei’s life was divided up into numerous independent compartments and, for the moment, Professor King would remain firmly in the compartment labeled ‘work’.

Perhaps it was an European thing, but Quinn honestly didn't even know what tonic water was. Looking at the older man slightly puzzled he assumed it was carbonated water when his alternative was to ask for it flat. His face still looking a little quizzical, he flicked his wand and two items left the desk and sped over to them. A second wave caused them both to become the perfect chilled temperature.

To Andrea went a bottle of water, to Quinn a silver can of Diet Coke. He preferred muggle beverages to nearly any and all of the typical wizarding drinks sans maybe fire whiskey. To which he did have a bottle of, but they needed to be better friends before he used that golden elixir on the man.

"Well at least you've taught before, advantage over me. Closest I've done is some seminars and demonstrations." He would say to his colleagues mention of his teaching at oxford. Even in America Quinn had heard of that school, and couldn't lie he was impressed. He himself wasn't much in the way of academics, which was slightly ironic given the current position both professionally and geographically.

"Well still, probably good to get out there as often as possible." He would say cracking open the can. Taking he a drink before continuing, "Getting into the field sounds interesting. I wouldn't mind seeing something like that." He had little to no interest in the actual study, but travel and exploring seemed interesting enough.

"Well......I was dueling in America. Did pretty well.....". He would start to explain at Andreas query into what brought him here. He would point towards one of the trophies behind the desk. Specifically wand that seemed to be made of diamonds that symbolized him as the national champion. "From there thought I'd try a new challenge in a new place. Got hurt, needed a job while I get back to it, and.....". Waving at the room, "here we are."

At least he wasn't the only new teacher he thought to himself. It was all a little intimidating, even if he knew his subject very well.

“Here we are indeed,” Andrei quipped wryly taking a quick sip of his water before glancing over at his new colleague. “You know, if you truly are interested, I’ll be going to Finland in a few weeks to see a new burial site they’ve just uncovered. People of your…”

He paused and nodded to the trophy before with a slow deliberate pace as if he were turning each word over in his mind before he said it.

“...of your particular talents are always in short supply on such digs. Of course, I can’t promise anything overwhelmingly exciting. These things rarely lead to anything beyond a small footnote in some history book. At worst, you might learn something new.”

Truthfully, Andrei found even the small footnotes exciting. He doubted, however, that the young man next to him would think so and wanted to downplay the whole thing as much as possible especially seeing as he wasn’t too certain he actually wanted the duelist to tag along at all. He had offered because it felt like the right thing to do at the time, but many things seemed like good ideas only to become bad ones. Oh well, too late now, onwards and upwards.

“At best, you’ll get see something people have not laid eyes on for generations upon generations.”

Taking another swig of water, Andrei fell silent and concentrated his attention on anything but the man next to him. Better not to put him on the spot. In fact, with any luck, he’d decline, then they could go back to fairly innocuous conversations about the mundane trivialities of life.