Light Reading

[Vera Llewellyn]

Vera wasn't one to frequent bars on a weeknight, but tonight, she'd had cause to escape. Essays upon essays, and reading them by candlelight in her quarters had given her a massive headache. That and the fact that most of them were rubbish, in her opinion. Sixth years, NEWT students - they ought to be on their game at this point, but most of them couldn't structure an argument to save their lives. For Vera, arguing a point was practically therapeutic, and she couldn't help grinding her teeth at how flimsy some of these theses were.

She'd gathered them all up in frustration and fled to the Three Broomsticks. It was nice and quiet, and she snagged a small table near the fire, where the light was better and both that and the firewhiskey she was sipping kept her pleasantly warm. She was still getting used to the castle. It was incredibly different from Beauxbatons where, despite being high up in the French Pyrénées, everything had always felt warm and glowed with a soft light. Hogwarts still felt cold to her sometimes, a little harsh in its ancient architecture, hard to navigate and disconcerting at times. Fascinating, no doubt, with a history that intrigued her, but she hadn't had enough time yet to delve into it to feel truly at home there yet. Teaching kept her far busier than she had imagined it would, though she wasn't displeased at this - after years at the Ministry, she'd come to enjoy being busy, learned to thrive under stress, and she had feared being a teacher would be slow-paced and boring. Frustrating as it was to find herself in a career she had not necessarily wanted, she found the job more interesting than she was willing to admit.

Having had enough firewhiskey to bring her mood up considerably, she pulled out the essays again to have another try, hoping the change of scenery would somehow affect the quality. It did not. Halfway through the first one, she sighed, took another sip of her whiskey, and shoved the lot of them back in her bag. She pulled out instead the new book her father had sent her the day before in the post: La Cinquième République et le monde magique. Occupied and post-war France had always been one of the most interesting periods for her in terms of its effect on the magical community, and her father had apparently stumbled on the book in a market down in Nice, where he and her mother usually spent their winters. She smiled a bit as she skimmed over the letter tucked into the pages. They were having their usual fantastic time, meeting up with friends and soaking up the sun. It couldn't be more different from where Vera was, quite alone in the cold and somewhat harsh landscape of her native country. But she had never shied away from a challenge, and this was certainly one. The essays, however, were a challenge for tomorrow. She cracked open the book, leaned in towards the fire, picked up her drink, and began to read.


[Player/character is currently inactive, and this thread is archived until if/when the player returns - kim]