We Move Lightly

[Rosaline Bennett]

How you broke a remembrall was beyond Rosaline. The thing was practically spitting magic whenever it was left alone for longer than a few minutes. A freezing charm had at least delayed the broken thing from lashing out too badly, and she had wrapped it up in a handkerchief just in case.

She had an abundance of experience with resounding failures as far as spell-making went, but broken magic was different from failed magic, and she had no desire to blow a hole in her office.

If anyone was likely to know what to do, Rose had supposed that it had to be Professor Sleptov, the forer auror - so she had headed to her classroom and rapped on the door with her free hand, a preemptive smile on her face.

  

[Nikolai Sleptov]

With each ‘D’ scrawled lazily at the top of a roll of parchment, Nik grew more and more disheartened. NEWTs were a few short months away, but it was evident by this assignment that his students were less than adequately prepared for one of the most important examinations their life would bring them. A knock at the door saw him hastily shove the papers aside, relieved for the respite but anxious that it would be one of said students, hoping for an early glimpse at their grade. The Russian had never been one to mince words, but he was also not keen on shattering young dreams.

“Come in!” he called from his seat.

  

[Rosaline Bennett]

Rosaline stepped into the room and pushed the door shut behind her. "Professor Sleptov," she said with a smile, "I hope that I'm not interrupting anything." Not that she had much of a choice - really, if they couldn't fix the thing, she would have to find a part of the grounds that could use a nice crater.

  

[Nikolai Sleptov]

“Nothing that I am loath to set aside,” the wizard replied dryly as he rose to his feet, gesturing to the chair across from his own in case Miss Bennett wished to sit.

The witch was a new addition to the school that year, and as she was directly responsible for his daughter’s well-being, Nikolai had taken a particular interest—whereas his interest in the other matrons had been friendly at most. She spoke, he had discovered, fluent Russian, though had had little opportunity to put that to the test. Instead, it had been placed on his mental “wishlist of things to do with co-workers”, which included a (vodka!) drink-off with Darrow and besting the Headmaster in a duel (Black had never cared for Nik’s pedigree).

“How might I be of assistance?” he asked.

  

[Rosaline Bennett]

Rose sat down in the seat across from the professor. "I find myself in need of your expertise," she said, very gently setting down her handkerchief-bound package on the desk.

"A student broke a remembrall," Rose elaborated, just barely resisting the instinct to roll her eyes, "I cast a - freezing charm on it to keep it from spitting magic all through my office, but that's not a permanent solution."

She had envisioned herself spending the evening with her copy of War and Peace and a cup of tea. Rose had anticipated that the students would come to her with situations, though their situations were usually relatively painless to sort through. This was, of course, much less convenient.

  

[Nikolai Sleptov]

Nik winced. It was not a desirable situation to be in—while a vanishing spell might have taken care of the physical damage, it could not erase the magical fragments left behind. Such fragments, in his experience, could do everything from drive those in proximity mad with the perpetual feeling that they had forgotten something to actually placing false memories in the heads of those nearby. Breaking a remembrall was a challenge, too—what sort of idiot had done it, he wondered?

“Are there any students still nearby, or have you contained it, more or less?” Nikolai asked.

  

[Rosaline Bennett]

Rose shook her head, once. "I managed to contain it - there's just this," she said. Very carefully, Rose placed the handkerchief-wrapped remembrall on top of Professor Sleptov's desk, as if it might explode on her at any moment. (This was, of course, an actual risk.)

She was glad that he seemed to understand the gravity of her dilemma - having considered him the best option before she had come here, it was a relief to know that she had been right.

  

[Nikolai Sleptov]

And she’d brought it here. Of course she had. Nikolai was too professional to flinch away from it—particularly in its stalled state—and he supposed it was probably best brought to him rather than left for some student to stumble upon, but he still thought himself reasonable in his aversion to broken magical objects in his office. Cautiously, the Russian drew his wand to tap lightly on the surface of the ball, which remained inert thanks to Mrs. Bennett’s efforts.

“I think that our best course of action,” the professor offered after pondering the matter for a moment, “would be to submerge it in a de-spelling solution. I regret that I don’t have any on hand, but I am sure Professor Prince stocks it in one of his storerooms. I would be happy to see the deed done if you have other matters to attend to?”

  

[Rosaline Bennett]

Rose smiled thinly. "You promise you don't mind?" she said, "There - well, there may or may not still be a panicking student outside my office." It was a busy night. As long as the child didn't break anything else, Rose didn't mind dealing with the panic in the slightest.

  

[Nikolai Sleptov]

“Not in the least,” Nik replied, his words accompanied by a bemused smile. He had seen his fair share of student panic before—particularly around exam season—and knew what disasters might unfold if it was left unattended. A wave of his wand conjured a basket; he was reluctant to handle the device on its own. “If you would?”

  

[Rosaline Bennett]

Rose very gently placed the wrapped-up remembrall in the conjured basket. "Thank you," she said, with a bright smile to the DADA professor. He'd manage to avert this crisis for her - which meant, of course, that she had the student one to deal with, a comparative ease.

  

[Nikolai Sleptov]

“I’d be a poor former auror,” he chuckled, “if I denied a damsel in distress.”

  

[Rosaline Bennett]

Rose grinned widely. "Regardless," she said, "Thank you for the favor."

With that, she set off from the professor's office, to return to console her student.

  

[Nikolai Sleptov]

“If you even think of blowing up on me,” he muttered in Russian to the damaged device, “I’ll make you rue the day you were created.” If anyone could ‘torture’ an inanimate object, Nik in a foul mood would be the man to try it. Deciding that this was not the best task to tarry with, the professor made his way to the dungeons.