Finished Who needs this? PV Shelby & Olphie

Another wonderful lesson had concluded, and Olphie was satisfied with the fact that she had changed lives once more. Smiling, she gazed upon her students as they packed up and busied themselves with chatter that probably was about how fabulous she was. It made perfect sense, she was the star reserve beater turned Flying professor superstar. Any other topic's importance dwarfed in comparison to one about Olphie Bercegeay.

While she waited for the students to leave, dressed in her Quidditch robes unfortunately, a glimmer of unpleasantness caught her eye. A chestnut-haired boy just shoved a broom into the storage cabinet as if the broom did not have feelings! Olphie herself clutched Nombus tightly as a tremor went down her body at the horror. She'd probably have to repair it in her office after he boy handled it like that.

The boy started to walk past her, and Olphie wanted to say something, but her eye caught another, more pleasant image; this one was a girl, who was actively was fixing what the boy had done. Olphie had missed the girl ask the Gryffindor about her, but it was if the Hufflepuff just asking about Olphie had summoned her closer to this location. With a bright smile, she said, "Thank you dear, I daresay that without care our school brooms would be ruined! What's your name? I'll have to tell Caricature Brawn about how lovely you are."

With a sudden turn, Nombus flying so wildly that its brush could have whacked the girl, Olphie frowned at the miscreant boy. "As for you, dear," She declared sternly, I'm afraid I'll need your name as well. What in the world did you think you were doing, putting a broom away like that?"

Alan's face flushed lightly in embarrassment, when a girl put back her broom and had to place the broom he carelessly shoved into the storage, correctly. What was so important about brooms that they had to be placed correctly? They would not break instantly or anything, so Alan just gave a quiet huff and was about to ignore the girl, minding his own business. Even if he felt like apologizing, but at the same time he did not want to. It would seem as if he did something bad, but he did not. Brooms weren't sentient or anything, they were just some expensive piece of wood that has gone from cleaning utensil to murder thing.

Alan looked up at the professor, biting his lip nervously, before he shook his head. She was the professor, he could not simply ignore her, could he? She had ways to find out his name and give him detention. So he said ”Alan...” But the kept quiet for a while, brushing back strands of hair and tugging them behind his ear. ”I just don't want to-”, he made a motion around them, to the training pitch and storage ”-fly” he ended meekly. He has been doing this class for two years now and he was tired of always having to fight his inner demons.

The two introduced themselves, and Olphie could discern an obvious difference in their energies. The first child, also known as the broom-ruiner, meekly introduced himself as simply “Alien,” whereas the other, charming child stated that her name was Shellfish Clarkson. Olphie made a note to at the very least tell Caravan how lovely this child was. As a Slytherin herself, she had not had the chance to befriend many Hufflepuffs, but this girl seemed to be proving that Olphie should regret having not had the loyal students in her corner. Olphie did not regret this, though, as she remembered quite quickly that this was all what fans were for. She had plenty of those.

Miss Clerk did try to steal her limelight a bit, asking the boy a question, but though a flicker of annoyance flashed across her face, it disappeared instantaneously as she remembered the Hufflepuff was just a child. She nodded at the girl’s question, then looked at the boy expectantly, trying to read his worries despite not being skilled at legilimency. He seemed to be unreadable.

With a sigh, Olphie presumed she should not let a small child do the talking, even if she was doing a halfway decent job. ”Alphabet, I am wondering this as well. Flying is magical, everything to me. I cannot fathom why a small child of your stature wouldn’t want to feel tall for once in your life. When I was a young baby first year like yourself, I hadn’t hit a growth spurt yet. My first flying lesson, I got on that broom, and I immediately soared above my less competent classmates, of course, and you know what I felt? I felt tall. And powerful. I bet you can feel tall too, dear. You just need to believe you can.”

It was a classic Olphie Bercegeay Pump Up Speech™, one she was undoubtedly proud of as she puffed up her chest as though she had accomplished greatness through words. The specific details may have been exaggerated, but it was evident that flying evoked a sense of satisfaction in the Professor. As her eyes regained their focus on reality, she deflated ever so slightly and added one final statement as she looked from girl to boy, ”Now, dear, why don’t you explain to Miss Clarknephew and myself what the true issue is.”

Olphie stroked Nombus’s shaft lightly as she tapped her foot expectantly. So as to ease the boy’s obvious trepidation of speaking to the Quidditch legend Olphie Bercegeay, she let out a small smile.

Alan raised one eyebrow, or t least he tried. He always saw this in movies, even Yuya could do it- how unfair. But when he did it it just looked as if he ate something sout and had to scrunch up his face. Maybe someone had to be a Vernatis to be able to scrunch up their face... maybe he should ask Yuya how he did it; maybe there was a secret family trick? ”is there anything to like about flying? It his high in the air and dangerous... It is a broom, I could understand using a carpet, you cannot fall from that, but not a broom!”, he shook his head. Maybe he was exaggerating, but he was a Vanes, exaggerating was in his blood!

Also what did she mean, by calling him out for his stature. He was not that small, he was still growing! He was always eating his food like he was supposed to, even a bit of the greens! This professor did not seem very smart if she did not realize that he was still a growing man and soon would tower over each and everyone... well maybe not over Hugh or Scott but these tow must be giants! Like how could kids be so tall! Hugh was probably taller than Alan's parents by now. Alan would snicker, if his situation was any different, but now he was busy scowling at the professor and questioning her life choices. He knew that Hugh liked Flying and even Scott did not dislike it, which was unexplainable for the second year.

”I wouldn't feel powerful at all if I would faceplant from a broom that is flying fifty feet high. I am pretty sure I could not do anything after such an accident, so I cannot understand why I am forced to mount a broom each week...”, he crossed his arm, not only in defiance but also to distract from the fear that glimmered in his green eyes, black dots dancing within them, making it appear as if his pupil was slowly swallowing the green of his iris.

The boy did a funny little thing with his face that led him to look as though he ate a sour lemon. Olphie raised an eyebrow in confusion as she wondered if the boy was okay. That wasn't the face someone made when they were behaving normally; perhaps he was ill.

When he spoke his next statement, she knew he clearly was. Come to think of it, Olphie wasn't sure she was feeling well, herself. She held Nombus tighter as she tried to will the lightheadedness to pass.

Before she could help herself, Olphie sputtered loudly, "A-Anything to like? Are you sure you don't need to go to the Hospital Wing, dear? I'm sure the nurse could help you get over whatever ailment you're feeling..."

Olphie had heard a rumor, back when she was in school, of a peer who did not like flying, but once she had intervened, the former Hogwarts student had debated that student into their senses. It had been such an unusual debate, that one, that she had nearly forgotten about it...until now. Was she supposed to use the power of fact to convince the boy that Flying was the best? Surely he did not actually think that there was nothing to like about flying?

No, the more reasonable explanation was that the boy was ill, and his next statement convinced her that he was simply feeling faint, like she had felt when he knocked her over with that statement. A smile returned to Olphie's face as she resettled herself and declared firmly, "Now look here, dear, let me escort you to the Hospital Wing. I know that you can fly quite high on your broom, but if you didn't feel so faint you wouldn't be saying this ridiculous claims!"

She would attempt to grab the boy's wrist, gently, in order to guide him away from the pitch. Olphie was just grateful that she could intervene before his illness turned even more dire. He already was blurting such wild statements, who knows how bad this disease could be!

Alan made a face. What was up with that professor? He had no clue what she was talking about and maybe she was the one who needed to pay a visit to the school infirmary in the Hospital Wing. She was totally judging him and acting kind of weird. Alan just said that he did not like flying a lot and for her it probably was some kind of crime? Or sickness. If she went through with this, Alan wondered if she would name this illness after him.

”Miss, I am sure you are familiar with the term 'scared of heights' are you not?”, he asked nervously, regretting even bringing this up to her. Alan was not crazy or stupid and it made him feel weird to be treated like that by an adult. She was rude and Alan thought professors needed to be some kind of figure he could respect? Alan was scared of Professor Lear, sure, but he also respected him a lot! But this professor was literally insulting him over a small disagreement and it worried Alan.

Would she owl his parents just for that? Alan hoped not!

”Professor Be-”, he shook his head, what was her name? Why did all professors needed such complicated names?, ”Professor, I am not sick, some people just don't... like... flying...” The further he spoke that last sentence, the quieter his voice got. He was nervous and anxious, would she give him a bad grade? He just needed a word with her. ”Isn't there a way to not have flying on my curriculum?”

The noise that emerged from her mouth most closely resembled a donkey's bray. It was, to say quite frankly, unattractive, but she had been so taken aback by Alaric's comment that she did not have enough time to distort her normal laugh into the titter that she normally used. "Y-You... scared of heights? I would never... I have never...everyone who had told me of this, dear... I knew that they really meant they had some sort of psychological disorder. Are you trying to tell me that you need professional help? We really need to get you straight to the Hospital Wing. Or at least, I should write your parents so they can try to find you someone this summer to get your mind screwed on straight. Scared of heights..."

Her blue eyes tried to make contact with the boy's emerald ones as she attempted to penetrate into the boy's very soul with the power of her glance. He seemed... nervous. Well of course he was! It must have taken a great deal of courage for him to admit that he had psychological issues, and though she wasn't prepared to have such a close relationship with a student so quickly, she was honored that he had adopted her as his "school mum." It was thus even more vital that she get him the help he needed. 

Her eyes widened in astonishment as she realized that the boy was so delusional that he couldn't even remember her name, for crying out loud! No wonder the rest of his words were such nonsense! Had he fallen when she wasn't looking? The lesson hadn't involved too much flying, but maybe the small fall had been enough for him to be concussed. That was the only reasonable explanation for why Alien asked to not have Flying on his curriculum anymore. Poor boy... concussed and admitting to a psychological disorder all in the very same day! Would life just give him a break? 

There was only one way to test this hypothesis, though she knew it to be true. Already, Olphie was collecting in her mind the facts of this conversation so that she could write a proper, detailed owl to Mr. and Mrs. Alvin. If he could not answer this question, she would drag him to the Hospital Wing, whether he wanted to go or not. 

"Irwin, dear..." Olphie began slowly as her eyes focused on the boy's once more, "Now I need you to listen real carefully, dear, and try to answer as best you can: what is my name?"