Comparamagic Equations (Tag Trissy)

[Abraham Grey]

Another class had just finished and as usual Abe had run over by almost ten minutes before a rather disgruntled student pointed out that it was in fact dinner time. The comment had completely interrupted Abe’s rather enthusiastic speech about the subtle differences between two comparamagic equations and since he’d lost his train of thought he’d sheepishly dismissed the class and shouted after them down the corridor to read up on Pythagoras for the next class. It only took a couple of seconds to tidy up the classroom to his satisfaction, which basically involved collecting his books into a messy pile on his desk and slipping Pickle into his spacious robe pocket so that he didn’t forget the lethargic guinea pig.

Abraham gave one final glance around his classroom, picked up his stone cold cup of coffee and waved a wand absentmindedly to extinguish all the lit torches in the room. The initial start of year flurry of activity was starting to die down and he finally had time to do the task he’d been meaning to complete since he first arrived back at the school. Hogwarts had a new substitute teacher and Abe intended to take advantage of Tristram Blake’s new role before any of the other teachers could take up his time with other less important and less interesting subjects. He just hoped Tristram was good at Arithmancy, it would be nice to have a fresh mind to bounce theories off. At the very least he could unload some of his marking.

Muttering a spell under his breath Abe watched the steam rise from his coffee mug as he warmed the liquid once more then set off to find Tristram’s office. It wasn’t a difficult task, the small room just off the library was only a couple of minutes walk from his own classroom. Abe was fairly certain that the new teacher was in there, he hadn’t seen him anywhere else around the castle. Apart from at mealtimes and that one brief appearance in the staffroom that hadn’t been repeated since Rodney got his claws into the poor young man. Abe gave a small wry smile at the memory and rapped on the door to Tristram’s office. ”Mr. Blake, do you have time to have a word?”

[tristramblake]

Tristram sat in his office, doing his research. The room, which was small enough as it was, was now full of books that Triss had booked out from the library the first day he’d arrived. Everything was still perfectly orderly - anything that he used he put back exactly where it had been before - there was just less space for it to be orderly in. Tristram had a sneaking suspicion that the room has been some kind o storage cupboard before he’d arrived, but it didn’t matter too much - he’d scourgified it obsessively when he’d first arrived, so that took care of that side of things. And it was an office, a proper teachers office, more than he’d ever had before. It even had his name on the door.

But he still hadn’t actually taught any lessons yet, which was why he was still buried in his research. There was little else for him to do, and as much as he loved Ancient Runes, he wished he was up telling students about it than shut up in his ex-broom closet. Well, part of him did, at least. The rest of him was absolutely terrified. It was okay when he didn’t actually think about the reality of it, just the concept, but have to get up in front of a bunch of students - in front of anyone - was one of the most frightening things he could imagine having to do.

Right then, like so many times before, Tristram questioned his decision to become a teacher. Perhaps it hadn’t been the best move, but it had been right at the time, and he wanted it so badly now, even if it was going to be a trial. Perhaps it was what he needed, help him get over his problems, but that didn’t make it any easier.

Blinking, Triss realised that he’d read the same sentence five times, too busy thinking to actually concentrate. He took his glasses off with one had and ran his fingers across his brow, pressing down to try and relieve the pressure building there. Thinking about it wasn’t helping, what he needed to do was knuckle down with his research and worry about it when the time came. Or, rather, when the time came, try not to be as worried as he felt.

Unfortunately, knuckling down with research didn’t appear to be on the menu, as a moment later there was a knock at his door. Triss felt suddenly nervous. That hadn’t happened before. It couldn’t be a student, seeing as he didn’t know any yet, so it had to be a teacher. He wasn’t sure if that was a more or less frightening prospect. Well, he supposed, as long as it wasn’t Professor Smith, he was probably safe. “Entre” He said as calmly as he could, reflexively speaking in French before he realised what he’d said.

[Abraham Grey]

For a moment there was silence from behind the door and for a moment Abe wondered if he'd been wrong about Tristram always being holed away in his office. He was pretty sure he'd heard movement in there when he approached though, so maybe the man was just hiding. Abraham couldn't have that, he was a strong believer that the better a teacher knew their students the better they could teach, it was high time Mr. Blake got involved in teaching classes. Especially since Abe had set an essay for his third years and he really didn't want to mark a pile of essays which would undoubtedly just be copies of the textbook with slightly different wording, if he could rope Tristram in that would be one less hassle.

When Tristram did finally answer his reply was in French. Abe didn't claim to speak a word of the language, but even he wasn't oblivious enough about languages to be unaware that the other teacher had asked him to enter. The small office was perfectly tidy, a huge contrast to the filing system Abraham employed in his own office, which mainly consisted of crumpled piles of paper scattered around, some of the work even spilling onto the floor surrounding the desk. It made the Arithmancy teacher wonder if perhaps he could persuade Tristram to tidy his office as well as help out in his classes. He leant on hip comfortably against the edge of the desk, took a long drink of his coffee, then set the mug down on top of one of the many books that were piled up neatly on it's surface.

"So, Triss," Abe shot the man his trademark cheeky grin. "You don't mind if I call you Triss do you?" He asked, then continued before Tristram could answer, the nickname was set in stone now as far as he was concerned. "How are you settling in? Like the office space?" Abe was pretty sure they'd kept old brooms in here last year. Still it was better than Shepherd's office on the second floor, it got flooded every time Myrtle threw one of her tantrums. Plus it was near the libraray which was a definite point in it's favour, from the looks of it Tristram was almost as obsessive about research as Abe. ”Pretty nifty set up you got here.”

[tristramblake]

Tristram’s mouth dropped open slightly when the door swung inwards to revel none other than Professor Abraham Grey. Even though Ancient Runes was the main love of Triss’ life, couldn’t help but feel captivated by Arithmancy and had read most of Professor Grey’s research - He was rumoured to be the best in the business, and when Tristram had found out he was teaching at Hogwarts, he’d redoubled his efforts to get a job there.

Unfortunately, Professor Abraham Grey was not exactly what he’d imagined. The man had been pointed out to him on his first day, and he’d practically squeaked “That’s Professor Grey!?”. Professor Shepherd, who’d been the one doing the pointing out, had just laughed him and told him he’d get used to it. Somehow, Tristram didn’t think he would. Grey was loud, talkative and frightening, none of which were traits Triss found made a man especially approachable. All the fantasies he’d had about them discussing his research had crumbled to dust before his eyes, and he’d taken to giving the man a wide birth. Part of him had thought that maybe it was a joke that was being played on him, but no one played a joke for this long, surely?

And now he was in Tristram’s office, scary, overbearing smile and all. Before he could even say anything, the man was right up next to his desk, far too close for comfort and leanining on it. Tristram had to bite the inside of his cheek to force himself not to make the man move and clean his desk instantly. And then he put a mug he’d just been drinking from on one of the books, and that was too far. Almost without thinking, Tristram opened his draw and took out a sheet of parchment, folding it neatly into four. He lifted up the cup and cast a quick cleaning spell, before siding the folded parchment under and putting the mug back down, aligning it so the edges of the sheet were parallel to those of the book.

He was so caught up in the compulsion he was almost unaware that Abraham had started speaking “Er-” He made to reply to the unpleasant sounding nickname he’d just acquired, but was cut off before any actual words could leave his mouth. “Erm, it’s very good, thank you” He managed, once the Professor had finally finished speaking. Tristram wasn’t entirely sure how he was supposed to respond to that comment. Was it some kind to test to see if he was going to complain? And how was he supposed to respond? No, this defiantly wasn’t what he’d expected Professor Abraham Grey to be like.

[OOC - Oops, kinda turned Trissy into more of an Abe fanboi than I meant to XD]

[Abraham Grey]

Tristram didn't look all that pleased to see him and Abe hoped he hadn't arrived at a bad time, in fact the man had turned a rather interesting shade of pale green that made Abe think perhaps he should send Triss in the direction of the hospital wing. Maybe he just didn't like coffee, although Abe didn't quite understand how anybody could dislike the rich aroma that was wafting from his cup, but Tristram had fixed his eyes on the mug as soon as Abraham set it down. He watched with interest as the new professor set about making a temporary placemat for the drink and felt an odd surge of annoyance as Triss picked it up and set it back down on the exact centre of the parchment.

Abe was protective over his coffee. In fact one could almost say he was addicted to the caffeinated drink and anybody who threatened his supply, by say moving it so it was temporarily not in easy reach, did not gain his approval. The other staff had long ago learned that Abraham wasn't approachable until after he'd had his first mug in the morning and that he would happily challenge anybody to a duel, be they teacher or student, if they happened to get in his way. Still as soon as his cup was safely back on the stack of books he could relax and turn his attention back to Tristram and persuading him that assisting in Arithmancy classes was really the only way to go.

"Good!" Abe enthused at Tristram's rather nervous assurance that his office space was up to scratch. "Marvellous in fact." He grinned then pushed off the desk, the coffee in his mug sloshing against the sides at the disturbance, and let his eyes roam over the space once more. There were an awful lot of Ancient Runes texts set in neat stacks around the room and Abe couldn't help but launch into the age old argument he had with Tiffany, the Ancient Runes professor, on almost a weekly basis. "Ancient Runes is just an offshoot of Arithmancy you know." He said rather pompously, still maintaining that cheeky grin. Abe didn't exactly mean to insult a topic that was clearly one of Tristram's passions, he was just even more enthusiastic about Arithmancy.

"Without the numerical patterns found in many of the ancient spells the runes wouldn't hold nearly so much power. There's even an argument that the shape of each symbol has mathematical significance." Abe should know, he'd written the paper that suggested the theory in the first place. Of course the closed minded, stuffy old professors in the field of Ancient Runes had dismissed it as nonsense and his fellow researchers in the field of Arithmancy had hailed it as brilliant. He watched Triss closely to try and gage his reaction, Abe was forever trying to draw people into debate, he just hoped Tristram was interesting enough to keep up.

[tristramblake]

Tristram audibly gasped when Abe launched himself away from the desk, making the contents of the mug splash around, a few drops landing on the parchment Triss had put there only a moment ago. He had to resist the compulsion to check to make sure none of the coffee had seeped through to the book underneath, grasping the side of his chair with both hands to restrain himself, and turning his eyes to Professor Grey, who was talking again, as a distraction.

For once, Tristram knew exactly what was happening. He’d read the slightly controversial paper on the role of Arithmancy in the creation of Ancient Runes and Spellwork, several times, in fact, and was well aware who it’s author was. Had the three drops of spilt coffee been playing so heavily on his mind, he might have been able to be slightly more awe-inspired, an eminent professor talking to him about his theories - him of all people! But he could feel his hands twitching under the table, and it was talking all his concentration just to keep himself from sorting it out.

That was probably the reason he actually responded to what Abe was saying “Erm, don’t you think that’s, er, that’s undervaluing the significance of language in spell work?” He asked absently, his eyes flocking back to the cup even as he was talking. It wasn’t until a few seconds later than he’d actually realised what he’d done. He’d just contradicted Professor Abraham Grey.

Well, on the plus side, at least after that he had abject terror to take his mind off the coffee.

[OOC - Blech, sucky and short >.< Sorry]

[Abraham Grey]

When Abe heard Tristram gasp he spun on his heal, eyes going back to the desk and half expecting to see he'd upset the mug of coffee completely and sent the contents spilling across the desk. Instead he was faced with the cup still in exactly in the same spot as before, but Triss was still looking like he was about to start hyperventilating any second now. Abraham cocked his head to one side, expression slightly perplexed, and wandered back over to the desk to get a closer look. It took him several seconds of peering to notice that a couple of miniscule drops that had landed on the piece of folded parchment that was acting as a placemat.

"Terribly sorry old chap." He said, not sounding at all apologetic as he retrieved the mug from Tristram's desk and revealed the damp brown ring that had seeped into the parchment from coffee that must have sloshed over the side when he moved. "I'll clean that up." Abe gathered the sleeve of his robes up and used it to blot at the parchment then wiped his arm across his thigh so the coffee didn't soak through the fabric of his robes too much. He was completely distracted from the coffee by Tristram's response to his comment on Ancient Runes. Abe's face lit up with an almost shark-like grin.

"Oh, Tiffany will just love you!" He said gleefully, looking oddly pleased that Triss had just contradicted him. "Just watch out for her after she's been on the butterbeer. All hands." Abe made a rather lewd grabbing motion with one hand to demonstrate and winked at the other professor. He took another long sip from his cup, almost finishing off the drink, then switched track back to the subject of Arithmancy. "Not at all! Language holds some importance." He stressed as though he didn't really believe it. "But it's the shapes that form functioning spells. Why do you think some people can master wordless magic, the words are just an aid."

[tristramblake]

Tristram thought he might actually hyperventilate when Abe lifted up the mug to reveal a thick brown ring of dampness, some of the liquid still lying on the top of the parchment. That was a godsend, at least - it meant there was less of a chance of it all having seeped through to the book beneath. He was utterly horrified, however, when Abe leant over and used his sleeve to mop it up, and then wiped that on his trousers. He resisted the urge to scourgify the man right there and then. But at least the coffee was gone, and as soon as Abraham had stepped back, Triss whipped the parchment from the top of the book and dropped it deftly in the bin behind him. Almost protectively, he ran a hand over the cover of the book - thankfully, no harm had befallen it.

Had Tristram been the one drinking the coffee, he would have spat it out all over his desk at what Abe said next, especially coupled with that vulgar hand gesture. As it was, he just coughed violently, having to tap himself on the chest with a fist before he started chocking. Tiffany? He was fairly sure that was the name of the current Ancient Runes professor, but calling the other teachers by surname came reflexively to him, he hadn’t even though about first names. It was bad enough trying to remember all the faces.

Thankfully, Abe switched the subject back to something Triss was at least a little comfortable with, so he replied quickly, hoping that they might avoid any more gesticulation “Erm, well, even when you use wordless magic, you still have to say the word in your head. And spells don’t work if they’re not pronounced properly, which would imply that language is the element that enables a spell to actually work. Erm. Don’t you think?” It probably wasn’t best to phrase his response as a question, especially not to Abraham Grey, but Tristram couldn’t help it.