Absit Omen RPG
Role-Play Boards => London => Muggle London => Topic started by: Knox Greyfriar on March 17, 2022, 03:32:30 PM
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24 July 2012
Tuesday at 8pm
Schäfer Residence (https://absitomen.com/index.php?topic=20284.msg188752#msg188752)
11 Vicarage Gate
Kensington, London
The sun was still up when two men seemed to appear out of nowhere near the west end of Hyde Park in London. They were dressed strangely and didn't know exactly where they were going. The first man was well over six feet tall and heavily set with dark and silver hair and beard. He wore a long coat despite the warm weather. He was accompanied by a younger man with white-blond hair and a nice suit. They were wizards and they were looking for a boy, now eleven years old, who lived at number eleven.
The larger man was called Knox Greyfriar and he was continuing and explanation to the younger man. "I've done dozens of these and they've all gone differently. It's remarkable how well most take it. I've only been chased off a handful of times. You try again in a few days, after they've cooled down, understand."
Knox was the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The other man, Draco Malfoy, was the Potions master there. Knox had insisted Professor Malfoy come along in this duty so, he explained, he'd have a better understanding of the muggleborn students.
"But you never know what you're walking into. All we get is the name and address. Oh look at that. An umlaut. German, do you think?"
The parchment in his hand, which he held well away from his nose, said Micha Schäfer.
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Buhr-ruf-ruf-ruf-ruf-ruf
Shirley was first to spot the pair of strangers standing by the side of the road a few doors down and had immediately irrupted into a flurry of high-pitched barking. Laverne had followed suit immediately, resulting in both long-haired dachshunds scrambling at the end of their leashes to voice their alarm at the strangers.
Amanda (https://absitomen.com/index.php?topic=20284.msg181479#msg181479), the middle child of the Schäfer household, made a valiant attempt to quiet both of the dogs - she even tried dangling a piece of chicken jerky in front of their noses. But there was no winning against the stubbornness of dachshunds. As the pups continued to yap and jump and clamor over each other, Amanda tried to coax them fruitlessly towards the front door.
"Sorry. So sorry," she called towards the strangers. "They're a bit dumb. Even for dogs." Though, admittedly, the two strangers did seem quite the mismatched odd-couple. Amanda couldn't quite put her finger on what it was (and she liked to think she wasn't one to pass judgement) but they looked peculiar and out of place enough that she couldn't completely blame the dogs for barking.
Except, they barked at everything.
With painfully slow progress, Amanda finally managed to wrangle the pups to the front steps and turned, fully expecting the strangers to continue on their way to whatever they had planned.
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At first, Draco was very reluctant to join the Headmaster in his visit to the prospective student. But as he was reminded that he was trying to change the way people looked at him, he decided to go along with it. However, he was so far out of his depth as the Headmaster took him to the edge of the property.
Draco stumbled when they landed but managed to catch himself before he fell, so as not to look like more of a fool than he felt. He heard the Headmaster speak and even though he had a reply for him, he couldn't bring himself to say it aloud. So there he was, standing next to the older man with a slightly befuddled expression on his face and that's when the dogs came out.
He had to stop himself from jumping back as they came towards him. "Ruddy beasts." he murmured to himself as he waited for the Greyfriar to make the first move.
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Knox did not balk at the dachshunds; he was generally unalarmed by animals and generally enjoyed their company. He related to them mostly by letting them alone until they approached him on their own terms. And what was the saying? A dachshund will dachshund. The old wizard, then, made the courtesy of politely waving away any apologies of the dogs' person, a blonde young woman who'd taken refuge on the stoop of number eleven.
"Don't think of it at all. I can relate."
Knox double-checked his parchment. "Ah, well, perhaps they are right to sound the alarm. This is the place. Mr. Malfoy?"
Draco was sulking although Knox guessed charitably that he was trying not to. It had been awhile since they'd had a professor at Hogwarts so ill-suited to interacting with children and who went to such lengths as to hide his efforts to improve this. Nevertheless. Greyfriar began climbing the stoop, unconcerned about the dogs who he guessed would quiet down as soon as they could sniff about the hem of his trousers.
"Do you live here?" Knox asked the young woman. "We're here to see Micha and his parents," - Knox consulted the paper again and read their names aloud. "We're from the school."
Then Knox smiled pleasantly. "Do you need a card?"
Muggles often appreciated a small bit of paper with a name on it.
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Anyone with even the briefest lesson in stranger-danger would have pegged these two individuals as 'suspicious.' Or, they were right from the script of some sitcom featuring the world's most mis-matched roommates. Paul Bunyan and the Emo.
She eyed the pair cautiously, her hand on the doorknob, as the pair approached. Shirley's frantic barking continued but Laverne had transitioned from barking to leaping straight up at the big burly man's feet, her hesitancy instantly replaced with a need for attention.
"Do you live here?"
Though she assumed the answer was obvious, Amanda hesitated until the man explained his reasons for being there. Understanding then surprise registered in quick succession across her features. "That school," she said, with a nod of understanding. "Oh yes - come in," she offered as she pushed the front door open and dragged the two Dachshunds over the threshold.
"Momma - papa. There are people here. From Micha's school," she called up the stairwell in German, stepping aside to let the two men step inside. "They want to talk to you and Micha. The dogs are being stupid - can you text Micha?"[/i]
A chorus of replies floated back down the stairs along with the soft shuffle of feet coming down the stairs. "People? From the school? "
Lorenz Schäfer reached the bottom of the stairs first and extended a hand in greeting to the strangers, followed a few moments later by Hanna.
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Shaking himself out of his semi-trance, Draco nodded and replied, "Looks like the place I guess." he mumbled, still not comfortable with being here. However he followed right behind the Headmaster up the stairs and tried to ignore the little dogs that were vying for attention.
As they were let into the house, Draco eyed the dogs with disgust, never having really liked the barking creatures at all. Draco decided to stay quiet so he wouldn't say anything that could be perceived as ill intent or rudeness. To be honest, he was starting to feel a little overwhelmed with all the people that were most likely going to be converging around him and the Headmaster soon.
He knew that this was going to be hard, but as it was his turn to go with Greyfriar, mostly because he hid in his office when it came time to go visiting the new students. After he divorced his wife, he preferred solitude and hadn't been around a lot of people in a very long time. He didn't count the classes of students.
Standing in front of the class, he could escape into his mind and go through the motions of teaching his favorite subject, after all it was all second nature to him at this point, he could probably teach all day and not even notice if the students were even in the classroom anymore.
Focusing back on the task at hand, Draco braced himself for the tedious task ahead.
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'That school,' the young woman said. The knowing utterance was a surprise for Knox who raised his thick eyebrows. It wasn't a good or bad omen. He'd just have to find out what it was they know about that school, or what they thought they knew.
Knox did not speak German, so he could only wait politely while the family ostensibly arranged themselves to receive the unannounced visitors. But! He did catch the name 'Micha' in the flow.
The dogs were getting over excited and Knox could not longer help but acknowledge them with a few soft words. "You're doing a very good job, fending off strange invaders."
He greeted the tall blonde man who appeared, returning the handshake and nodding to a younger woman with black hair and striking eyes.
"I am Professor Greyfriar," he said. "This is my associate Professor Malfoy."
Unusual names to muggle ears, he knew.
"Is there a place we can talk? Micha as well?"
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Draco nodded when Greyfriar introduced him. He didn't really know what he was going to be doing here. But he looked around the room and could see that the family that lived here was happy. The pictures everywhere were proof of that. Briefly he thought about what his son was doing right now. He hadn't seen him in a few months. Astoria and her sister had taken him to Paris with them on their shopping spree.
Sitting down on an armchair, Draco waited for the boy in question to show up. He wanted to get this over with and get back to his potions. They were consistent and only changed when he decided to change something. He relaxed into the chair and listened to the chatter so he would know when he needed to respond to a question.
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Her husband was busy greeting the two strangers with his usual jolly enthusiasm while the dachshunds danced around them, their excitement reaching levels that managed to rouse the curiosity of the third household canine. When Hanna heard the lazy clicking of the spaniel's toe nails against the hallway's hard floor, she recruited Amanda's help to shoo the three dogs into the living room and shut the door behind them.
"Oh yes, please, make yourselves at home. Lorenz and this is my wife Hanna. Seems you've already met our daughter, Amanda." Amanda glanced up from her phone and waved, with a grin, before turning back to the screen. 'We weren't expecting company but it's a beautiful evening, should we sit in the garden? Lorenz Schäfer was offering the guests. Hanna's husband made a gesture towards the back doors, leading out to the walled courtyard.
"I have a suspicion Professors Malfoy and -" Hanna interrupted, easily remember the last name she'd heard but faltering briefly on the first. "Grayfaire may prefer to talk somewhere a little more private." Hanna glanced at the younger, and thus far silent, professor before looking back towards the more senior of the pair for confirmation.
"I was also hoping that we might speak, first, before bringing Micha into the conversation. I think it would be best if-"
But, before she could finish the sentence, the youngest of the Schäfer family jumped down the last few steps and offered Amanda a high five before slipping in amongst the adults. Hanna sighed in defeat as Amanda slipped her phone back into her pocket.
"Ah. the best laid plans, no?" Lorenz offered. [/i]"This is Micha. Where would you prefer to sit?"[/i]
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The big house was full to the brim with life - not all big houses were! That was always the hope, that a student had a supportive family back home. Not everybody did. Whatever the Schäfers expected today, Knox was now more hopeful than not that things would go well.
"Greyfriar," he gently corrected as a matter of course. "Very good to meet you, I --."
Knox was cut short by the boisterous arrival of Micha. Knox smiled, genuinely pleased to see him, immediately able to picture him in the halls of Hogwarts. You could never tell by looking, but every professor seemed to think they could spot that magical potential before it was fully formed.
"Hello, Micha," Knox said and offered his hand. This was Micha's meeting and so due deference would be paid the boy.
"Where should we chat, just us and your parents, eh?" he asked. Then conspiratorially, "somewhere where we won't be spied on."