Rated T For Language PV | M. Kāne

Date: Late May 2025
Time: After classes
Location: Hogwarts Grounds

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Despite having the lung capacity of a serious athlete, Koko had to catch her breath after the onslaught of eagle attacks that she had failed to fend off. The professor's remarks had not gone unheard and had likely fuelled her small act of rebellion towards the end of her string of failures, and after seeing him glare right back at her, she decided that she would not untransfigure the stupid bird.

Her heart was still pounding in her throat, anyway. Despite the bird having swooped downwards multiple times, having missed her each time, the fact that it had gotten in her face was rather scarier than actually being hit by a bludger was. Her hair was now dishevelled from her attempts at dodging, and her shoes had dirt on them, further souring her mood.

She refused to break eye contact, still not quite glaring but definitely appearing somewhat bothered, when Professor Kāne suggested she take a break. She was minutely surprised to realise he seemed a bit annoyed, and indignation flared in her chest; she tapped her foot against the ground and held her tongue—why did he get to be angry?

Well, she supposed it was hypocritical of her to be so bothered. Slowly, as she breathed without the threat of an eagle hitting her, her irritation mellowed, and she sighed, finally looking away from Professor Kāne in favour of gazing dejectedly at her wand.

It wasn't a surprise that she was no good at transfiguration, and it wasn't a surprise that a lot of that did stem from too much stubbornness, too much rigidity. She tended to want to do things her way and no other way—and perhaps that had been the wrong approach, not that she'd admit it aloud. That she was the cause of her failures was something she could internalise just fine, but stating things aloud made them far more real, and either way, it was easier to blame things going wrong on her wand or even the distraction of the eagle's movement.

The professor's approach drew her out of her thoughts. She blinked up at him with what she hoped was a mostly-blank gaze that didn't portray any signs of weakness, and her gaze caught on the eagle before she met the professor's eyes. It was small now, cute, like it could be someone's pet if they tried hard enough to tame it. She listened to his words, but had to force herself not to chew the inside of her cheek. She was an athlete—for years, she'd honed her stamina, her strength; she'd learned how to outlast any threat and otherwise attack it with precision. Magic would be sure to aid her, yes, but she had moulded herself into the type of person who would fare well enough without it.

Think with our wands was, admittedly, a saying she had not really heard. Nonetheless, she nodded. For the purposes of this class, and for her NEWTs, that would have to be good enough. 'I see,' she said quietly as she gently took the bird. Her shoulders, previously tense, slowly began to relax as she familiarised herself with the creature in her hands.

She nodded when Professor Kāne inferred she played Quidditch, and she was about to open her mouth to launch into a memorised script of her accolades when he uttered a spell. Intrigued, she pressed her lips together and raised her eyebrows only to smile a fond little grin at the broom hovering between them. 'Oh, a Nimbus 1700!'

The broom was just as sleek as her own had been in her younger years, and she chuckled to herself, just barely refraining from reaching out to touch the neatly-varnished wood. It was a very well-maintained Nimbus 1700, a surprise considering that the broom was usually owned by reckless youths.

She did not ask how he had acquired it. She did not even question that it was hovering between them—brooms were like that, as she'd learned from teaching plenty of younger students the ins and outs of flying. But that didn't stop her eyes from lighting up with youthful wonder as she stared at the broom that had seemingly appeared out of thin air.

This time, it was only a single eyebrow that raised as she pondered what on earth he might have done to his wife's other brooms. 'Broke it in half!? Wow, that's...' She was biting back laughter and had to swallow before continuing. '...I don't know if it's impressive or concerning, to be honest.' She glanced at the broom and then back at Professor Kāne with renewed tranquility. 'Your wife, has she done racing? Nimbus 1700s are super popular with the racing crowd here...' And never mind that they were often a good starting broom for Quidditch players, including Koko herself.

She still wore a fond smile when she admitted, 'A lack of expensiveness doesn't mean it's not a decent broom.' The observation was likely not what one would expect from the rather materialistic seventh year, but she did have a soft spot for all sorts of brooms. 'I started with a Nimbus 1700. Sure, I'm partial to my Oakshaft now, but... I don't know, it's a nice broom.'

Something still hung over her mind, though. She glanced at the broom again, and then the professor, and then at the aspen wand next to the small eagle in her arms. 'Why?' Her gaze lifted to meet the professor's once again. 'I mean, why the broom? You don't strike me as the type to play broom sports, and I don't really see what a Nimbus 1700 has to do with transfiguration...'

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@Makaio Kāne

Makaio watched as she gushed over the old broom. She seemed quite taken with it despite the fact that he was sure she had better ones. For the moment it seemed both the task at hand and the bird were forgotten. She mentioned having an oakshaft. So she was into expensive older brooms.

He didn’t really pay that much attention to broom details though, mainly that was her wife’s job and his job was to nod along with whatever she was saying about them. He found that skill was particularly useful here as she went on a tangent about how the broom was her first and how it actually was a decent start to racing and quidditch. She seemed almost longing for days of yore as she spoke, which did draw an amused look from the professor that someone so young could have such nostalgia.

Truly he didn’t even have many memories of left of what it was like to be her age. He wondered if he was this fond of anything when he was a seventh year? Probably his wife. Most definitely his wife! Kids these days more interested in brooms than other people, he thought assuming Koko was single by reason of her mouth.

Finally she got around to the point of why Makaio had summoned a broom there at all. He wasn’t quite ready to tell her his plan, judging by the last time he threw her into something she, ironically for an athlete, wasn’t too great at thinking on her feet. Even though to the transfiguration professor, it was already quite evident what he had in mind. “How do you handle danger on a broom?” He asked, once again in his teaching voice. “When you are staring down a threat, do you just kind of run away and leave the pitch?” The answer maybe be obvious but how she deals with an expected danger might help clue him into how to get her to cast under duress.

@Koko Riddle

Date: Late May 2025
Time: After classes
Location: Hogwarts Grounds

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How do you... handle danger on a broom?

Koko glanced up at the professor and offered a small hum of thought, tapping her foot before she said, 'Well, you dodge.' Given, however, that he had not seemed to appreciate her attempts at evasion earlier, she paused and took the time to think a bit harder. 'Obviously, you don't leave the pitch.' She raised an eyebrow at Professor Kāne, hardly trying to keep her expression neutral anymore. 'Quidditch is a team sport. That's rude. But anyway. You can either dodge or take the hit. Either works for me.'

On the pitch, she was a force to be reckoned with—a supportive co-captain and seasoned backbone of the team for Slytherin, yes, but also a ruthless, aggressive Keeper with a recent penchant for cheating. She was hardly ever targeted with bludgers; those who used to target her had long learned their lesson since it took a lot to take her down, even if they should have managed to hit her. Her thoughts darted then to Oonagh—the stupid, snivelling, insidiously strong Beater who some idiot had trusted to be a prefect. Her teeth ground against each other, and she stared off into the distance, her blood beginning to boil in her veins as she recalled the sickening sensation of humiliation.

'But you have to be on guard constantly, of course. Can't have anyone see you falling.' The words were quieter, murmured methodically, as Koko still stared off in the distance. 'So it's important to take a step back, to assess the situation. You have to make sacrifices. Because for me, at least, I'm not usually the one in danger. It's my teammates. And, well, no offence to them, but some people are more important than others. Sorry, not sorry.' She chuckled and then returned her gaze to the professor. 'But what does that have to do with Transfiguration?'

She did then offer a sly smirk. 'I mean... I guess you could think of it as in... hit first so you don't get hit.' That was a mindset she'd had when she was younger and then had started to settle back into more recently. 'So... like what I do with the Quaffle, sometimes chasing so that they can't touch it in the first place. Or pre-emptive blatching. So you'd cast before the threat can reach you so that there's no need to dodge.' Her smile widened, becoming more genuine, but her eyes gleamed with the strategy exercise. 'Is that what the eagle was about?'

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@Makaio Kāne

Makaio waited, playing with one of the rings on his fingers. Koko’s first response was reasonable and it came quickly, however, it wasn’t the answer he was looking for. Of course you might dodge out of the way, she made that clear that that was her first instinct moments ago. That wasn’t really the point of this teachable moment. He opened his mouth several times to try to interject to get her thinking along the right lines, but quickly realized that Koko was going to work it outyerself, he just needed to be patient. He nodded along as her thought trailed from dodging to team roles where she threw an unhelpful and irrelevant amount of shade on her teammates, but after that detour arrived at the place he wanted. Facing the threat head on.

“Precisely!” Makaio exclaimed as she finally admitted that she didn’t need to dodge. “Precisely the point! You got it! If this were the classroom I’d happily give you house points!” Too bad. Her smirk that he found odd finally widened into an actual smile as finally the lightbulb clicked. Well done, Ms. Riddle, well done! “Why yes, Ms. Riddle. The whole point of this exercise is to learn to face challenges that come your way. Instead of dodging something that can’t be dodged. Make it something manageable. In this case, that eagle is just a rock. Use reparifarge to untransfigure it. You cannot dodge it, and taking the hit won’t solve your problem. If you can cast in these circumstances you will be able to do so elsewhere.”

He thought “Matteo little eagle” and snapped his fingers, and the eagle vanished from Koko’s palm and reappeared in his. “Now. Up you go,” he said with no other explanation and patting the air encouragingly in front of him.

@Koko Riddle

Date: Late May 2025
Time: After classes
Location: Hogwarts Grounds

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So the point, then, of all of this, was better problem solving skills.

Koko nodded slowly. No shit, the eagle was just a rock. But it was still a moving thing. Plenty of variables went into spell-casting, after all; she could get a perfect cast, maybe, if whatever deity ruled over spell-casting was kind to her. But if she were aiming at a moving target, without her hands...there was too much potential for interception. Was that not obvious?

But he had a point. Neutralise the problem. Taking the hit would only prolong the issue, so... She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. 'Fine, makes sense.'

Her eyebrows rose when the eagle disappeared. She glanced around, surprised, only to find it in Professor Kāne's hands. Of fucking course. Well, such a silent feat was certainly impressive, at the very least. His next words, though, caused her eyebrows to lower and draw closer together. 'Up? Are you going to make me do that in the air?'

Despite her protest, Koko would not actually refuse. She made to reach for the Nimbus 1700, keeping her gaze on the professor. 'I assume I'm meant to use this?'

Should he affirm that idea, she would take the broom and then take to the skies, holding her wand very tightly in her left hand, in a manner that was not too dissimilar from how she'd held a beater's bat during her first year, and she would be ready—hopefully—to reparifarge the damn eagle back into a rock.

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@Makaio Kāne