1995-11-09: Deus ex...Filius?

Participants:

Cianan_icon.gif Jack_icon.gif Siobhan_icon.gif

Scene Title Deus ex … Filius?
Synopsis Siobhan and Cianan run into each other by the lake. Some secrets are kept, others are discovered, still others are hinted at.
Location Hogwarts: Lakeshore and Professor Noble's Quarters
Date November 09, 1995
Watch For Family, unfairness, cranky and nosy portraits
Logger I am the Bad Wolf

Crunching along what passes for a shoreline near the Lake, Cianan can't possibly have been out of doors for too long. His lips aren't yet blue, and his hands don't look frostbitten at all. Which is, frankly, a bloody miracle considering he hasn't gloves or a scarf OR a hat. And he's just lucky that there's no snow yet or his lack of boots would be disturbing. The sweater he has on is in lieu of a jacket though, and he's strolling along as if it's a fine Spring day along the Loch. He must be enjoying the lack of white flakey cold stuff while the lack whereof lasts.

Siobhan is curled up on the ground, her back braced against the trunk of a tree. Dressed in denims, several layers beneath a jumper and a heavy wool peacoat, she seems comfortable enough. Even so, there is a sharp jump in temperature right around her lap - an oddness that might be explained by the large, white, winged snake napping there in the dying rays of winter's sparse afternoon sunlight. Fingers uncovered by gloves turn the page of her book - an old, much-read paperback that says something about 'Wonderland' - and Siobhan giggles softly to herself. "I'm afraid you've gone mad, Q," she recites in a mock-serious tone. The serpentine familiar in question lifts her head a little and blinks at Siobhan, who lowers her head as if conveying a confidence. "But I'll tell you a secret," she continues. And her grin turns just a touch wicked. "All the best people are." The snake looks completely unimpressed, though a series of purrling hisses seem to pull down a little of Sio's good humor. Without looking up, she addresses the boy about to walk past her little bubble of sanctuary. "Why aren't you dressed, Mister Tyler?"

That bubble of warmth is enough to draw Cianan ever closer to the other side of the tree, holding his hands out towards it as if expecting there's a little cozy fire on the other side he can warm up near. But, instead… it is a kittysnake in the lap of Professor Noble! And for a half second he stands there, head tilted a bit to watch the interplay between familiar and person. And also to see if he can read which book she's indulging in. "Alice in Wonderland. Don't you often feel as if we *are* Alice in Wonderland here?" Pause. "Well no, I guess you wouldn't. But I bet the other muggleborn's do. Is that why you're reading it?" he wonders, curiously, and obviously loathe to address her question. "I am dressed, Professor." he admits, plucking at his sweater.

Something about Siobhan's expression closes off at Cianan's line of questioning. "I know plenty about the Muggle world," she answers stiffly. "And if I didn't, this would hardly be the book to read." Tapping her wrist against her knee, she flicks her wand at his jumper, muttering a short string of Latin meant to transfigure the article into a heavy woolen coat like the one she's wearing now. "Imagine thinking that Muggles lived all the time with giant opium-addict caterpillars and played croquet with flamingos and hedgehogs. They'd be written off as heathens and put straight on an extermination agenda." Another flick sends a warming charm his way, meant to attach to the fabric. Sighing, she stows her wand again - no, she doesn't bother asking permission for using magic on him. "And I don't think that's very fair of you," she adds quietly, lifting her fingertips to stroke down the smooth lay of Q's skin. There are dark circles visible under her eyes as she squints against the cloudy brightness to look up at Cianan. "To assume that there's no wonder in this world for me just because I was born into it."

Cianan stuffs his hands into his pockets, unruffled by the immediate defensiveness Siobhan displays. "I'm sure you do. Except that you didn't live in it full-time for 11 years before being pulled in to all this." he points out, with a briefly pained expression for the way his sweater has suddenly become a jacket. "And while I've yet to see an opium addict caterpillar or croquet playing flamingoes, I've seen winged snakes, screaming plants, heard of winged horse-like creatures that only show up if you've watched and understood death, had visions, learned charms… surely you can see a few parallels in there." He's still frowning down at his now woolen jacket with a conflicted expression, only glancing up briefly to look at the book cover again. "I'm sure it does hold wonder for you. Imagine how the rest of us feel. I've never seen so much… opulence before. Even among the poorest wizards. I can't… I can't go home with this jacket, Siobhan. My parents will think I've been… I mean, they don't want me to be seen as a charity case. You'll have to change it back. Please."

Exhausted - lack of sleep does terrible, terrible things, especially when old fears are dragged up into nightmares - and still nursing some bitterness from the other night, Siobhan closes the book and scrunches her face into a glare. She will not cry. "Thestrals," she snaps, sounding strained. "They're called Thestrals." Q - perhaps sensing some of her mistress' distress - sets to purring, a steady vibration that doesn't seem to do much for Siobhan's mood either way. "It's not charity," an edge of shrillness creeps into her voice. "It's kindness. I didn't buy it, I did a complicated piece of magic you haven't learned yet." But she's had a rather harsh lesson in the recompense for good deeds, recently. "Part of my job description says I have to look after you lot," she adds, a stubborn set to her jaw. "And that means not letting you die of frostbite or get sick. Don't take it home if it bothers you, but at least have the sense to wear it outside while we're going through a Scottish winter."

It really doesn't take a Seer to notice that something more then Kee's simple questions and vaguely taunting answers is eating at the Professor. "Thestrals, right. I was describing them from a muggle's point of view." he clarifies, realizing only after he's said it that clarification is totally not going to help him here. "Why don't you tell me what happened to set you so on edge. You wouldn't normally take offense to a conversation like this I imagine. "Indeed. And at the rate I'm learning Transfiguration, I'll never be able to do it either. I think Professor McGonagall was ready to transfigure my head through the desk yesterday." Woe. "Charms, now those I can do. But this? Nope." He sighs, trying to work his way out of the tongue lashing that Siobhan is ready to dole out at a moment's notice today. "It isn't me I'm concerned about. It's my parents. But alright." he agrees, sounding a bit wary.

There's a moment of war in Siobhan's mind. The desire to confess, to get out in the open just how unfair she thinks things have been and just how angry and hurt that unfairness has left her - it's a strong one, but not strong enough to override the lives the fuel her need for secrecy. Letting out a heavy sigh, she turns away and mutters something that sounds suspiciously like 'Gryffindors'. Turning to eye him with a bit of suspicion, she raises one brow. "I thought you said your Da was a wizard. Surely he would understand the difference between charity and Transfiguration."

"But he doesn't use his magic." Cianan decides that invited or not, he's going to sit down beside Siobhan to have this conversation. So once he's settled against the tree with his knees pulled up to his chest, he explains further. "People would question it, if we suddenly -had- things. Good coats, gloves, boots. Enough food to eat. We live in a terrible area. And on top of that, it probably makes him feel…" Struggling for the right word, he fiddles with the cuff of his sleeve. "Inadequate. You know, that he can't use magic to help." He skips the idea of questioning her further about why she's in a defensive mood, but instead asks a completely off the wall and out of the blue question. "Who do I go to if I have a vision that seems as if it should be… looked into? Please don't tell me Professor Trelawney."

"That's absurd," Siobhan blurts out before she can think of more politic wording. "Move somewhere new where people don't know it would be wrong for that stuff to suddenly show up." She huffs. "Any job in the Ministry would pay better than Muggle work, too." Siobhan hates to see people suffering, especially when the solution to ending it seems so simple. "If he's a bookish sort of bloke, the Wizengamot cabinet always needs clarks," she continues, really warming to the idea. "Or if he's more hands on, my brother's always looking for help with his shop…" A little bit desperate, perhaps, to feel like the world hasn't gone topsy-turvey and that it's still okay to do good things without fear of reprisal, Siobhan turns her head to look at Cianan out of the corner of her eye. "I - " That question catches her off-guard. Her first instinct is severely tamped down on. This isn't one of her snakes, no matter how much he feels like family. "What kind of 'looked into'?" she ventures warily.

"Is it? After all this time, to come back to the wizarding world with his muggle wife? And I know he feel guilty about leaving his family. Pride gets in the way of so many things, doesn't it?" On some level, Cianan resents it all. Really he does. But to the outside world he just smiles a bit and shrugs. What's he going to do as a 15 year old kid? "Well I… I mean, I've had visions before about some of the bad things that happened here. Before they happened. And it seemed like nonsense at the time. But if, by telling someone, I can… you know, help. Somehow. It seems wrong not to. And I haven't yet figured out how to tell if I'm seeing the past or the future. So there's that."

Siobhan frowns. "Sometimes it does, yeah." And that brings up so many questions… Things she'd never felt needed questioning before. Things she was sure of before. "Kee…" she ventures, curiosity tinged with just that barest niggling sense that there's something she's missing. "What did you say your Da's name was?" If she doesn't know the family, chances are someone in her family does. Maybe if it's someone else what goes to find him, then it'd be alright and Kee and his whole family could have done with all this nonsense. Twisting her body to better look at him - careful not to upset Q in the process - Siobhan finds herself so, so tempted. It would be so easy to nudge him in one direction, give herself an edge - an advantage. "You have options, I suppose." But then it wouldn't be his choice. "Does your Head of House know about your abilities?" Slytherin-speak for 'does he believe you?'. "I doubt the Headmaster would object to being given such information, either." And though she tries her best to smother it, a bit of resentment leaks through her voice at mention of the headmaster. "If nothing else, I've got proof that you're not crazy, so you can go through me." She chews her lip. "Or if I'm not around, I can make sure Professor Snape knows enough to believe you."

"My Da's name? It's Conrad. And mum's name is Fiona." Cianan's never assumed anything strange about being asked his parents names, so he gives it up pretty easily, and without asking why she wants it. Of course, maybe unconsciously he wants his father to be found and smacked upside the head a little. Ahem. "Professor Flitwick? Oh sure, he knows. He's never said anything to me about it though, so I don't know if he believes me or not." And he looks -terrified- at the idea of bothering the Headmaster with what could wind up just nonsense from the past. Sio's resentment leaking through only solidifies his horror at the idea. "M-maybe that would be a good idea. You, or Professor Snape. He's scary enough that I'd not go to him unless it was something serious, that's for certain."

Siobhan feels guilty that Cianan so readily agrees to alert her, and it's that guilt that prompts her to add a qualifier. "I won't promise I'll always tell the Headmaster, Kee. I don't trust him - most Slytherins don't, you'll find - and if I can make sure this castle and her children are safe without his interference, he won't hear a damn thing from me." Ahem. Reining in her emotions - so close to the surface they are, today - she clears her throat and shrugs. "But if what I hear from you can prevent disaster, I'll do my level best to preve - did you say Conrad?" Whiplash, Siobhan can has it. "Conrad Tyler? From Eden, Ireland? Strawberry hair and blue eyes Conrad Tyler?"

"Why don't most Slytherin's trust him?" Cianan can't help but wonder, curiousity prompting the question. "What about the Deputy Headmistress?" One can understand why suddenly he would begin questioning the others in the chain of command, especially if they're in the same 'House'. "Look, it doesn't bother me any who you would tell, so long as something is done. if it has to be. I can't stand the thought of something else happening if I could have done something to stop it." The guilt alone from his last visions ensures he'll suck it up and tell whomever he has to, really. But then… "Uh, yeah. Conrad. Conred I hear his buddies call him when they stop by. Cause of the, you know, red hair yeah." he agrees, eyes narrowing now. "I… Eden. Right. Why? Did something happen? Did you hear something?"

"Minerva?" Siobhan seems genuinely shocked by that question. "I … " Another moment of inner turmoil. "I very much like Professor McGonagall. I think she genuinely has the best interests of her students at heart." So long as Dumbledore doesn't convince her that the Greater Good is more important in any particular instance, anyway. "As for Dumbledore? Do you really need to ask?" There's a dry twist to her voice at that, the young professor shifting her weight to get a bit more comfortable. "Years of allowing the blatant prejudice against our House? Years of ignoring the fact that a mean snake is often an abused child lashing out at the world they think is out to get them? Years of blatantly favoring the lions who make our lives a living hell?" She doesn't touch on his other sins - now is not the time. Instead, she allows herself to be distracted by a much more pleasant rabbit-hole. "He didn't … I mean, did he ever talk about his family much? Maybe mention his brothers and sister?"

"I see." All he knows of McG is that she's a hardass old bat that can't even seem to wring a proper transfiguration spell out of him without hours of torment. But, hey, if she's trustworthy, he'll believe it for now. "Oh, right. I've always just thought it was a different outlook on things that made both houses so antagonistic." he admits, perhaps a bit uncomfortable with the idea that either the snake or the lion is at fault here. "Oh sure, he talks about his family. He's mentioned names a time or two. But not often. Like, it's a painful reminder. His sister's name it was… it started with an E." And he seems proud to have remembered even that much.

Suddenly, several pieces click in Siobhan's head and with that steel-trap swiftness for which her mind is known, everything makes sense. Sagging back against the tree trunk, Sio feels a chuckle rising in her throat. It doesn't take long at all before it turns into a full laugh. Looking down at Q, she giggles a bit helplessly and adresses the Seraph. "Six impossible things before breakfast, Q love." Right, because that makes her sound so much less mental. In between bouts of laughter, Siobhan turns to Cianan, her mildly hysterical amusement at the irony and relief for her mum and her elation at solving a puzzle all rolling together in her voice as well as her giggles. "Did you know my Mum's name is Edana?" she asks with just a touch of smugness accenting the mirth. "And that she had four brothers? Jeremiah, William, Thorton and the one who died." Or at least they thought he did. "The one my mum still sets a place for every bleedin' Christmas. His name was Conrad Tyler."

"Ok, so it's a little naive of me to have thought that it was just the different world view, but I didn't think it was all that funny…" Cianan protests, when Sio starts laughing sort of like a loon. "Edana?" His brow furrows a bit, relaxing only slightly as vageuly familiar names are recited. All the way up until the end. "Are you saying you think my father is your… Uncle?" Is he startled, or panicked, or just plain confused? "Your mum still sets a place for him every year? Really? They wouldn't be all mad, knowing that he'd just left?"

"Mum might smack him for scaring her so bad," Siobhan is blunt, but about her mother nothing else will do. "But if he's anything as skinny as you, she'll be screaming for House Elves and feeding him before long." This strikes her as incrdibly funny - probably because it'd be someone who isn't her for a change. "Hmm, all my mum's family was in Gryffindor, back as long as I remember, anyway." For a moment, thoughtfulness replaces the sort of wild mirth. "Don't suppose your Da keeps a Floo, does he?"

"Can't say as I'd blame her much for that. Mum might help her with that, even." Kee admits, shrugging a little. "Oh, he's as skinny as I am alright. Mum tells me that's where I get it from." Though, they all know it's because they have a decided lack of nutritious food. "Dad /was/ surprised that I sorted into Ravenclaw. But then, he was also surprised when I started cryin' about visions as a baby too." So, it can all be taken with a grain of salt in his view. "A Floo? I… yeah, he does. But it's never been used. I think he had it as a last resort. Said we should have it just in case we were ever found by something' we didn't wanna be found by."

Lifting Q up with a gentleness that might be surprising from the young professor, Siobhan wraps her familiar around her neck and shoulders, marks her place in the book and reaches out to grab Cianan's wrist - presumably to haul him up to stand when she does. "Come on," she urges him, tugging him along by the wrist as she starts to head back up towards the castle. "We can use my Floo." One of the bonuses to being a Hogwarts professor. "What's the address?" Because even the magic of the Floo Network can't respond to a simple 'Cianan's House' unless that's what it's listed as.

"I have to ask… where did you get him from?" Because Cianan is fascinated. white winged serpent, hello! He's light enough to be easily hauled even against his will. But now he's too surprised to be for or against this. And may just be sputtering at the idea of popping in to his parents house with a Professor in tow. "B.. b…" His eyes are wide, as he blurts out the address in Kildare. "That really a good idea? I mean, uhm. I hope Mum doesn't pass out."

"Her," Siobhan answers automatically, pulling Cianan around the back through the meadow and the rear courtyard, going in the back way towards the Entrance Hall and the most public entrance to the dungeons. "Name's Q. Was a gift." A small pack of Hufflepuffs squeal and scatter as Siobhan drags Kee down the stairs to the dungeons. "A firecall's probably the safest thing, especially since I know Mum'll just Floo in, 'stead of calling first."

Cianan just waves at the squealers. Sure, look! The little Ravenclaw kid's in trouble! He's been dragged down into the dungeon never to be seen again! And Professor Noble looks waaaay too happy out it. Lalalalala! "Oh that wouldn't be good. Mum would definitely either pass out then, or try to beat your Mum with a broom for breaking in." Bad all around really. "So what are we doing. Asking for family names or something?"

Ducking down a corridor north of the Slytherin Common Room - not that Cianan is aware of that, hopefully - Siobhan stops in front of a painting where a languid black panther lounges on a low-slung tree branch, watching them with torpid arrogance. "Sanctuarium aethras," she tells it firmly, stepping back in time for it to swing open. And Cianan is subsequently snatched into Professor Noble's sitting room without any further ado. Said professor has released him - now that the painting has swung shut behind them - and is already making her way towards the fireplace.

Nope! Cianan is both clueless and confused. And it's probably a good thing that he's paying no attention to where they're going for that matter. "Nice digs." he comments, once he's been closed in to the snake's sanctuary. "Leather. Nice." The pictures of chaise lounges are squinted at, but he just sort of eyeballs them questioningly before looking at the fireplace.

And it certainly doesn't help that two of the portrait's sometimes occupants are storming in about the same time as Siobhan and Cianan. "Siobhan Rose, if I knew you were planning on taking that, that - a Gryffindor down into my home, I never would have - " The furious man with black hair, Roman features and piercing amber eyes has a hand clapped over his mouth. The owner of that hand steps around him, showing off similarly dark hair, pale skin and piercing - intelligent - eyes of a slightly more yellow gold. Siobhan, kneeling on the plush aqua carpet and dis-entangling Q from her shoulders, looks up at the two of them with a sharp glare. "I couldn't get in without him, 'Zar." The white winged snake is left to rest on the plus carpet - with Siobhan between her and Cianan. "And in future, I would recommend that you make sure I'm alone before you come barging in all high and mighty." She angles her head toward Cianan, grabs a handfull of Floo powder and flings it into the fireplace before calling out a firm "Torchwood Office!" into the fireplace and promptly sticking her head in.

"Hey, I'm a Ravenclaw! Not that there's anything wrong with being a Gryffindor… I think. But get it right at least!" Kee protests, kneeling on the plush carpet and poking at it with his fingers idly. Because, it's plush. He could probably sleep on the thing. In fact, he looks about ready to curl up happily on it when he notices that the pictures are glaring at him. "Hey, what's with the glaring!" Pause. "Torchwood? What's -Torchwood-. Who else are you calling?"

Jack's sitting at his desk, scribbling on something. It's more like notes than something formal, so when the Floo flares, he leans forward, snapping out a silly, "Torchwood Offices, you kill 'em, we grill 'em." It's a muggle thing he heard somewhere, but it amuses him. He doesn't even look to see who it is right away; the list of people who can Floo him directly isn't exactly huge. He finishes scribbling down his thought, and pokes his head up, peering over at the fire. "Rosie-Luv! Everything alright? You're okay?" Who can blame him? Little sister just got out of a really dangerous situation. He's a little protective.

"He does not mean you, little eaglet." The woman's voice is soft and almost sweet, touched with a refined Scottish brogue. She looks down at Cianan with a very Luna Lovegood sort of smile on her face - the dreamy kind that hides a sharp and wicked mind. Her features may be vaguely familiar to a Ravenclaw whose spent the last several years in a common room with her statue in it, but the painted likeness brings color to the palette and so who knows? "And you are right. Being of a Gryffindor mindset is not in and of itself a sin, but it is difficult to forgive old feuds." The man 'hmphs' and folds his arms over his chest, but says nothing else. He is content - for the moment - to simply glare holes in Cianan's face. Because of course, his not being able to vent his righteous anger is all his fault. Slytherins are not, after all, noted for their fair-mindedness.

Siobhan laughs at Jack's greeting, sticking her tongue out at him for both the joke and for the worry. "Fine, fine. No need to panic. It's just that you have the Blood book and I never got around to getting a copy spelled for me." Her gaze flicks back at something over her shoulder, but for now she seems content to ignore the bickering going on around her body. "Does yours have Mum's family in it, too?"

"I think so." Jack licks his thumb, paging through a set of parchments for a moment. He ignores her request for a few moments, just long enough to be annoying, then, "Oh! You wanted to see it!" Big brothers. Gotta love 'em. "Gimme a mo'. You just want it, or you want me too? Glad you're alright, Rosie." His expression is deadly serious for a moment, the remembered pain of those days flickering in his eyes like candles in a draughty room. "Oi! Who's arguing back there?" He can't make out the voices or the words, but he can surely hear the tone. "You got naughty students?" He leans forward, one hand deftly reaching for a drawer in his desk, pulling out his Book. "Mum's family. Mum's family." He grins widely. "Yup." The p pops a little. "Tylers. Whaddya need to know?" If a quick answer will do, he'll offer it.

"You're… are you Rowena Ravenclaw?" Cianan's voice comes out in a near squeak and he looks up with a strange sort of awe on his face, curious. "I was just saying… mindsets…" he agrees, maybe sounding a wee bit infatuated with the image of painting. To the man, Kee makes a face. Because he's still only fifteen years old and figures he can get away with it. Especially as Sio is currently occupied. "So it's the… Q is the Gryffindor?" he wonders, of a sudden, leaning back and trying to get a closer look at the familiar now.

The lady - elegant in her gown of deep blue - answers the question with a simple inclination of her head. She is amused by Cianan's leap of 'logic' and opens her mouth to encourage him to think it through a bit more when her companion snorts derisively. "Quetzalcoatl," he uses the creature's full name, as he always does. "Is female, therefore the pronoun of 'him' would be far beneath your professor's intellect to misuse." Merlin, does he have to sound so much like Snape pointing out a mistake in the way to make the errant student feel most like an idiot? A slight twitch of his mouth speaks of a dark amusement. "Intelligent as she is, no creature could hope to be Sorted into a House for study, young Ravenclaw." That twitch widens into a smug sort of smirk. "Although if anyone were to be the first to drop their standards so low, it would be Godric."

"Yes, I wanted to bloody well see it!" Brothers, Merlin. "One student and two nosey old portraits," she answers in a voice dry as desert sand. There is a male protest from the portrait above, but she ignores it. "Just a sec, Jack." Ducking back out, she pins Cianan with a look that says he's to answer her before he even thinks about stirring up the man in the painting. "What's your Da's birthday, Kee?"

"Wow." That's about all Cianan can manage at first, and then starts crawling around behind Sio. Much to his detriment, likely. He wants a real closer look at Q. And being the Ravenclaw that he is, he can't seem to help himself. "Then who is the Gryffindor in question?" He asks it, while holding out his hand towards Q -real- slow like. "You're making me glad I didn't have any siblings." he adds, for the Professor's benefit.

"A male Tyler born on October 31 …" Jack stands, book in hand, running his fingers down the lists. "Conrad? Mum's brother? But he's dead, or so Mum's always said. Who you got there? You said his dad?" He may not be a Snake, but Jack does have a few brain cells to rub together in the great expanse of his cranium. "If he's got a kid, he wasn't dead. Is he dead now?" He leans forward, squatting down at the fire, looking at his sister. "Damn, Rosie. Mum's gonna freak!"

"That is none of your business, child," the painting man snaps, turning to his companion and pointing one long finger down at Cianan. "Rowena, silence your whelp." Rowena merely laughs softly and puts her hand on her companion's arm, trying to guide him away from the painting before he can make any more of a scene.

Q, oblivious to the fact that she's been being discussed, is curled up quite happily on the plush rug. When Cianan gets close, however, and extends his hand, Siobhan reaches out quick as lightning to grab his wrist and prevent disaster. "Don't," she orders. "She's not friendly to most people." Being past her friendly baby stage and all. "I don't want to have to find out what her venom would do to you, alright?" Satisfied that he's not going to get himself bitten, Siobhan ducks her head back in to Jack's fireplace. "No, he's not dead. Fell in love with a Muggle and run off with her to keep her safe from Voldemort's last campaign." Without friendly consideration to hold her back, Siobhan has absolutely no trouble saying that name. "They're kid's one of my students, now. Fourth year 'Claw. He Sees, Jack." It's Siobhan's slightly circuitous way of agreeing with her sibling. Yes, Mum is going to flip her shit.

"Hey, you brought it up jackass." Cianan retorts, glaring up at the pointing man sullenly. But then he looks all apologetic because Rowena Ravenclaw. And then his fun is totally ruined, and he has to sigh. "Alright. But… alright." Mope. Hearing his parents story blurted out in the span of one sentence makes him squim a bit as he sits there. "Right now he Sees that he's going to be late for curfew, so he hopes that Professor Flitwick is going to be alright when you escort him back to the Tower and tell him why his young charge who likes to pass out an inopportune moments is late."

"Sounds a bit like a male version of you, Rosie-Luv. But if he's a 'Claw, we'll have to let Pete talk to him. Give him the lowdown." Jack grins. Family secrets 'n stuff. "Kind of like Uncle Icky did for you." Hey, kid, you've got an Uncle Icky somewhere. Jack looks down at his watch, then casts tempus to make sure it's set on GMT again, and grins. "Yeah, it is getting pretty late. You'd better get him off to bed." The fact that their cousin can See makes Jack stroke his chin thoughtfully. He has read enough and talked to enough old portraits to know that a lot of these 'gifts' are terrible burdens at times. "Just tell him you were finding new family, and he'll be okay," Jack advises the boy, whom he still cannot see. "He'll be a pushover, then." Cue wide grin.

"Icarus John Noble, don't you start teaching your oozy-charmy Gryffindor wiles to poor, innocent Ravenclaws! Not while I have to teach them." Then again, woe to the student who tries to pull some Jack Noble charm over on her. Hmph! "Jaaaaaaack," she whinges his name in exasperation. "His name is Ichabod. Uncle Icha, sure, but not Icky. That's just rude." And then she hears what Cianan just called the man in her portrait and, well, it's probably a good thing her head is stuck in a fire and can't be reached by her palm. "Nevermind, nevermind! No true Ravenclaw would be stupid enough to call Salazar Slytherin a jackass. Jack, if he survives long enough, he's all yours." More dry humor, there, right? Right? "I'll make sure he gets back in one piece. Don't tell Mum yet, yeah? I think we probably ought to talk to Uncle Conrad and his wife, first. Get all the angles before we rush headlong into Mum. Thanks for the help, though." And that's earnest gratitude, right there. "Owl me about that Quidditch game when you get the schedule or send Junior if there's trouble. I'll be around to steal your coffee soon. Night, Jack!"

"Icky?" Cianan looks, frankly, dubious. And Jack would be right on the money about See'ing being a burden. One that Kee emphatically does not want, but has anyway. "I wouldn't want to get anything from someone called Uncle Icky." he decides, using cheek as an obvious defense against a sudden onslaught of panic at having a shitload of family to deal with. And being a boy, and a young one at that, the -last- thing he wants to do is start getting all teary-eyed at the idea of actually /having/ family. Family that isn't dirt poor. And ones that know what to 'See' means, at that. And of course… all of that is totally easy to see on the lad's shell-shocked face. "P-pushover." Cue the literally hysterical laughter! Because Flitwick is short and Kee is obviously losing his shit, yo.

"Okay, Mini-Mum, Okay." Jack backs up. "Pullin' out the full name and everything. I ask you." He grins, and closes the book again. "Your show, Mo Cridhe." He grins brightly at his sister. "Sleep well, Rosie. Nice to meet you, Cuz." Sort of. What meeting there was. "G'wan. Off to bed." He makes a pushing gesture toward Cianan's voice. "He sounds a bit daft right now." Jack's a little on the edge himself. "Might go down and see old Aberforth. Or Roz." In other words, drink for a bit, but out in public to where if he gets a little shirty, they'll call him on it. "Uncle Ichabod was perfectly fine with my nickname for him." It was gracious of him, but hey. Jack thinks it's funny. "Night, Luvs." He moves to get his jacket, and head out the door, leaving the Professor and her student to carry on their business like good denizens of the castle.

Rolling her eyes, but blowing Jack a kiss anyway, Siobhan yanks herself back out of the fire and closes the connection. Cianan - what with his 'losing his shit' laughter - is eyed with the air of someone who can't quite decide whether to join in or drag him off to visit Mac in St. Mungo's. "Right then, you. Come on. I'll show you how a Slytherin deals with Heads of Houses." Because she'll be damned if she loses yet another family member to the wiles of the lions.

"Maybe I am a bit daft at that." Cianan decides, finally able to catch his breath and stop laughing. It gave him an excuse to let his eyes leak a little. "I look forward to it." he admits, because he's never seen Flitwick charmed by anybody. "Let's go. I … definitely need to sleep on all this."


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