So you're the one

[Fallon Abernathy1]

@Godric Slughorn

London
June 15th, 1884


This was it. She was finished with school and she'd managed to find a flat in Hogsmeade with a schoolmate or two. Now it was time to pay her dues. She was supposed to go to the guild headquarters to meet with her assigned trainer. She was excited because this was the technical start of her adult life. She'd worn one of her everyday dresses; something practical and sturdy. A skirt and blouse and her hair up with a rather plain hat.

As the time ticked by, she began to pick at her nails. If this guy didn't show up soon she was going to start whistling. She couldn't hold a tune. It was a little ploy of hers; if she annoyed people enough they usually tried to get things done faster so she'd go away.

  

[Godric Slughorn]

He had been paired with an apprentice.

This was the first time this had happened. Godric supposed that usually they tried to pair the younger ones with people who didn't wander around with broadswords; but now he had an apprentice nonetheless. Her name was apparently Miss Fallon Abernathy - though Godric found the name Fallon to be slightly masculine and suspected that someone had written it down wrong - and he was late to their appointment.

The headquarters itself was an old brick houselike-building in London that had been magically altered to include several small offices and more filing cabinets than Godric considered strictly reasonable. The front door unlocked automatically if one knocked on it seven times and muttered the name of the guild, a pretentious entry system if there had ever been one, but Godric actually thought that it was pretty delightful. After apparating into a nearby alley he did just that and finally drifted into the main secretary's office only to find a redhead who was whistling terribly.

"Do they teach you that at Hogwarts now?" Godric asked, leaning in the doorway, "Miss - Abernathy?"

  

[Fallon Abernathy1]

She’d started to whistle not two minutes after she’d decided that she’d waited long enough. She wasn’t sure how long she was expected to wait. No doubt they would say something ambiguous such as “as long as you must”. She was patient but only when it came to the academic or to goals. When it came to mundane things like waiting for some man who was named after a founder with the rather unfortunate surname of Slughorn...well all bets were off. There was no immediate goal to keep her focus or task to garner her attention. No, all she had to do was sit. It was boring and it was awful and the secretary would just have to suffer along with her.

It had been another five minutes of her odious whistling and she could tell that the woman at the desk was about ready to explode when a man stepped through the door, looked around and his gaze settled on her. He didn’t seem overly impressed, or perhaps he hid it extremely well. When he spoke, leaning in the doorway, she finished her song on a wobbling flat note and her previously pursed lips settled into a smirk as she saw the woman at the desk twitch. Turning her full attention to the man in the doorway, Fallon rose and gave the man a good once over, though her eyes darted back to the sword at his side. A sword?! One ginger brow crept up her forehead as she looked back up at him.

He wasn’t too tall, maybe a couple inches taller than Kieran and Kieran was only a couple inches taller than she was. He seemed confident and self-assured. He dressed well enough and...she was curious about the sword. She wasn’t aware of that being standard gear for a cursebreaker. “Oh, no Sir. I was born with that glorious talent.” She heard the woman at the desk huff and could almost feel her rolling her eyes though Fallon paid her no mind. “And I assume that you’re my mama duck for the next two years?”

  

[Godric Slughorn]

Godric snorted. It appeared that they had given him an apprentice who possessed the gift of sarcasm; at least she was not likely to be dull? He would not have done very well with a dull one. He supposed that they had probably thought of this before assigning him.

"I suppose," Godric said, "Unless you - no, you're not allowed to quit, are you?"

They had paid for this one special. Godric supposed that they would likely not be thrilled if he managed to chase her off. Unless they were trying to get rid of her, and that was why they had given her to the one who ran around with a broadsword?

No; they would not want to lose an investment.

So they had actually and seriously given him an apprentice.

Huh.

  

[Fallon Abernathy1]

“Nope, my soul belongs to the guild for the next five years.” With the best of her cheeky grins, she rose up on her toes and bounced, not usually one to hold still for too long. He seemed to be contemplating her existence, or maybe what he would have for dinner. Whatever the case, he was contemplating and she took another moment to study him...well mostly his sword because it was a sword and therefore awesome.

“So you ever decapitate someone with that thing?” She finally asked, gesturing to the broadsword, a curious and impish glimmer in her eyes.

  

[Godric Slughorn]

Godric snorted, almost startled by the practicality of her sword-based question because usually the first thing out of people's mouths was 'why.'

"Some skeletons, an inferi once," he said, "It was on fire for the inferi, too."

Because yes, fighting with a sword and a wand did make for some of the most badass encounters.