alittlemirror | wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure

wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure

To say Jade is displeased would be an understatement. It's not that he cares about this detention tarnishing his record, no. He doesn't really care about his record. What he does care about is how it cuts into his studying time. He had just come across a particularly fascinating snippet on the nature of death and the soul...

(And besides, those Hufflepuffs had started it with their incessant chattering. They're like a less annoying version of Saphir, and nobody had ever really objected when he hexed Saphir. And it's not like he used a serious hex; he just sealed and removed their mouths. Easily reversible, if they knew what they were doing - and knew how to use nonverbal spells.

After all, what kind of first-year doesn't know how to use nonverbal spells?)

But someone had taken offense to his hex, and now he finds himself trudging to Professor Rammsteiner's office, growing increasingly irritated at the loss of his study time. From what he's heard of detentions, they usually entail doing useless, mundane tasks easily accomplished with a little creative wandwork. He's thought about ignoring Professor Rammsteiner's orders more than once, but he's also been told that it would just lead to more detentions and thus a bigger waste of time.

Oh well. He's here now. With one last irritated sigh, he raises his hand to the door and knocks.

"Professor Rammsteiner? This is Jade Curtiss."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It takes a bit of luck, a bit of ingenuity, and a lot of charmwork, but finally he discovers what the First Task is.

Fiendfyre. Jade knows how to Conjure it, and more importantly, how to control it - but only if he was the one that had Conjured the bewitched flames. If he's working with flames Conjured by someone else, he's less certain of the results.

Which is why he heads to Professor Rammsteiner's rooms again late one night, knocking on the door and waiting for him to respond. He doesn't bother announcing who he is; he figures he's the only one who would be visiting Professor Rammsteiner this late at night.

Heine is awake this time, somewhat uncharacteristically reading a book at his desk while he waits for exhaustion to overwhelm the feeling that he's going to have nightmares as soon as he falls asleep. At the knock on the door, he glances up before sighing and closing his book. He opens the door manually, letting Jade in.

"What is it now?"

"I've figured out what the First Task is," he says without preamble, and without bothering to say exactly how he figured it out. The rules say he isn't supposed to, of course, but only a fool would walk into a potentially fatal task unprepared. "Can you Conjure Fiendfyre?"

"Yeah." He's not surprised Jade already found out—or not unduly. Heine looks around his room. "You want to practice in here?"

It's true that there aren't many other private spaces, however; Heine's long since gone over his room for listening charms and anything of the like.

Good, Professor Rammsteiner is good for something.

"I don't know." He raises his shoulders slightly in a half-hearted shrug. He glances down the room, looking at all the furniture, at the book on Professor Rammsteiner's desk. "It could be destructive."

But at least it'll be warm. Durmstrang really is too cold.

That is rather the point of Fiendfyre, but Heine just shrugs. He starts moving furniture, levitating it a half-inch above the ground so that the noise isn't disruptive and moving the bed and desk to the wall where the dresser is. The rug he rolls up and leans up in a corner. Without all the furniture, the room is spacious enough to have at least a small demonstration.

"Did you bring any healing potions?"

You know, in case Heine seriously injures his own student.

"No." He's never gotten along with healing magic of any sort, healing potions included. It's his one area of weakness, and one he's given up on overcoming.

Which is strange, considering his headstrong personality, but there's a story there he doesn't intend to tell anyone.

"I'll be fine." He takes out his wand. No wandless magic for this; he can admit that he isn't strong enough. Yet. "Let's get started."

It's a little strange that Professor Rammsteiner is so willing to help him. To be honest, he's still surprised that Professor Rammsteiner had agreed to tutor him in wandless magic for all these years. He's always given off the impression that he doesn't really care about anything.

Well, shit. Heine can't help him with it either, but he can always call on the other professor who's chaperoning them, or run to the Infirmary and pick something up. Hopefully.

He motions Jade to stand slightly aside. Heine raises a hand once he's out of the way and casts Fiendfyre with a soft murmur of the incantation. Immediately, the enchanted flames appear on the ground in a neat circle, casting flickering light on the walls of the room.

"Guess you'll need a way to suppress it." Depending on the task, of course, but suppression is a good start.

For a moment, he simply watches the flames. A griffin spreads its fiery wings, a lion roars, but none of them try to attack him. Only the air burns, hot and dry against his skin.

"You have good control," he notes, raising his wand. He wonders if he'll have to fight Professor Rammsteiner for control over the Fiendfyre; that would add an additional layer of complexity to the task...

Heine grunts in acknowledgment. He's holding one hand out, palm down, watching the fire claw at the air, the heat rolling off it enough to make the air ripple.

It wasn't magic like this that he lost control of. In comparison, Fiendfyre is manageable.

When Jade raises his wand Heine lets his restrictions slip a little so that the fire begins to lick more hungrily at the ground, tendrils beginning to crawl towards him.

He points his wand down at the fire, arm straight, posture perfect. He starts with a simple Finite Incantatem, wand tracing through the air in precise strokes. He's never actually tried to dispel Fiendfyre cast by someone else before (it's not exactly a common spell), but he might as well start with the basics.

The fire swirls around the point that Jade's wand is directed at, dispelling briefly, but filling back in a moment later with a soft roar, sparks snapping up into the air.

Heine is only maintaining it, watching for any spikes but letting Jade try whatever he wants for now.

A stronger dispelling charm is needed, then. But that can't be the only answer. The organizers of the competition wouldn't expect the competitors to dispel a whole room of Fiendfyre - an ordinary student simply wouldn't have that sort of power.

He'll try something else.

This time, he holds his wand aloft. He doesn't say a word, but suddenly, a torrent of Fiendfyre pours out from the tip - fiery wings, a snapping beak. With a flick of his wand, the flames circle around the Fiendfyre Professor Rammsteiner had cast, twisting and writhing.

It's experimental, of course, but he's hoping that he can overwhelm Professor Rammsteiner's flames with his own, and thereby control them.

Heine has the Fiendfyre burning, but he hasn't let it burn independently until now. When Jade casts his own fire, he decides to let it go by itself. That's how it'll go in the task, he assumes.

His own Fiendfyre stays where it is for a moment. But the longer Jade's burns, the better it swallows up a roiling lion's mane and teeth and it's a phoenix sweeping around the circle's perimeter.

Heine raises his hand again and pulls. The Fiendfyre doesn't respond then.

It's working. Pleased, Jade gives a light, subtle flick of the tip of his wand, and the flames part to let him through to the center of the circle. He steps in with no hesitation, trusting his abilities.

A few tendrils of flame rear and hiss at Professor Rammsteiner, but Jade recalls them with a small gesture of his wand, bringing them back to heel.

"This should be enough for the task," he says, putting the flames out. Of course, there will be much more Fiendfyre in the task, but theoretically, he'd be able to apply the same principles to come out on top.

Heine checks to make sure that the flames haven't left massive scorch marks on the ground before asking, "What if you have to do other things? Magical beasts or some shit like that."

"I'm sure I won't have to." Unless they change the task without warning. "But if I have to fight, I can use Fiendfyre to my advantage."

His wand goes back to its usual place up his sleeve. That's the First Task solved, as far as he's concerned. Now, to get back to things that actually matter.

He steps closer to Professor Rammsteiner, an intent look in his eyes.

That's true. And if he can take over the existing Fiendfyre, he'd have an advantage in terms of power.

But Jade's approach takes his mind off of the task. Heine eyes him uncertainly, not yet backing away.

"What?"

He doesn't really want to talk about it. So he doesn't.

Closing the gap between them, he fists his hand into the front of Professor Rammsteiner's robes again, tugging insistently. He looks straight at him, entirely composed despite the situation.

Heine's gaze slides off of Jade's face, to a corner of the room.

"Really?" This again. Now that it's the second time, he's more certain that Jade does, actually, want it, but—it's still weird.

"What kind of question is that?" He asks flatly. The answer should be obvious. He wonders if Professor Rammsteiner is going to close himself off again; he hopes not. He'd rather not have to go through the same song and dance every time he wants something as simple as sex.

Firmly, he tugs at his teacher's robes again and then leans up, trying to kiss Professor Rammsteiner. That's one way to stop any more pointless questions from comiing. Theoretically.

It's obvious enough. Heine sighs and lets Jade open his robes. He shrugs it off and then tosses it back onto his bed. Underneath he's still wearing a loose button up and slacks.

For once, however, Heine responds properly. He leans down the last inch to kiss Jade back, careful at first and hands only hovering over Jade's shoulders. After a moment he slides his hands under Jade's robe, touching his hips and waist.

It quickly becomes obvious that Jade has no experience in kissing, just like he has no experience in anything that even vaguely resembles healthy, functioning human relationships. He's more forceful than he needs to be, his eyes and mouth firmly closed, a somewhat puzzled frown stealing over his face as he tries to figure out what's meant to be enjoyable about this.

When hands suddenly settle against his hips and waist, areas he had never allowed anyone to touch before now, he lets out a muffled gasp of surprise, fidgeting a little. Professor Rammsteiner is actually touching him? That's new.

New, and strangely thrilling. He shivers as Professor Rammsteiner keeps touching him. It's almost ticklish, sending lightning sparks of sensation through him, but not in a way that makes him want to pull away - if anything, he wants to gets closer.

His hands steal to the front of Professor Rammsteiner's shirt, already trying to undo the buttons there.

When Jade gasps Heine's hands freeze where they are, fingertips digging in slightly. It takes another motion from him for Heine to act as well, moving to lead the kiss.

He keeps one hand on Jade's waist, faintly aware of how thin it is. Heine brings his other up to the back of his head, fingers threading through his hair to find a grip. Finding one, he pulls none-too-gently, guiding his head to tilt back and pressing his thumb into his neck. Relax.

Heine allows Jade to open his shirt. The scars on his back are Unglamoured and all too visible and tangible, but in this moment Heine doesn't consider that.

He frowns briefly when his hair is pulled at, but doesn't fight it when Professor Rammsteiner tilts his head back. It's not that he has any great respect for Professor Rammsteiner, really. But he seems to know what he is doing, and Jade isn't stubborn enough to go his own way when there's someone more experienced to guide him. He focuses on kissing Professor Rammsteiner, slightly uneasy thanks to the thumb pressing against his neck.

His frown returns when the Professor Rammsteiner's shirt falls away, and he feels the rough ridge of scar tissue running down his back. Jade has his own scars, slender pale lines that trace over his arms and torso, but nothing as serious as this. Had Professor Rammsteiner been a duellist of some sort? But no, this doesn't feel like an injury that would come from a duel...

"Are you really a teacher?" He asks in a mutter, momentarily breaking away from the kiss.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject