A request

C

Christopher Rogers

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Christopher flooed to the house in New Zealand which his parents owned so they could be closer to Patricia during the school term. Christopher always enjoyed coming here but today he was glad to be away from Northern Ireland. The school term was starting soon and Christopher had sent Isolde an owl to meet him. He hadn't talked to her since the wedding and he felt bad that he had to talk to her under these circumstances. Dusting himself off he made his way into the kitchen and prepared some food and coffee.

As he waited for Isolde to arrive he started to tidy up a bit, the house hadn't been in use much recently and was a bit messy. It was now winter now in New Zealand, a change from the summer he just in left in Northern Ireland. During every other visit Christopher had taken to New Zealand the weather had always been very pleasant but today there was a nip in the air so he had decided to entertain Isolde inside and he wanted the place to look nice.
 
Isolde knew that the new school year promised to be very, very interesting. Since the retirement of the great Professor Arithmos Manteia, the Arithmancy spot had been left free. And as Arithmancy and History of Magic were Isolde's two passions, she had stepped up to the role, leaving Professor Spenser to take all of History of Magic. She was sure he wouldn't mind. She suspected he wanted the whole History of Magic job anyway. And it felt more useful to the whole school, teaching years 3-7 instead of just 5-7. She'd get to know more of the students, which was always a good thing. Isolde really liked getting to know the students at the school.
Except there was one student she was worried about. And it was her older brother she was here to see.
Wearing a nice pair of jeans and a shirt, Isolde walked across the road with a smile on her face, glad to take the opportunity to break from lesson plans. Knocking on the door, Isolde stood back a little, kind of hoping she wouldn't run in to Patricia. She suspected the girl would be less than pleased to see one of her teachers pay a rather social visit to her older brother.
 
Christopher heard a knock on the door and, as he wasn't expecting anyone else, knew it was Isolde. Fixing the last cushion on the sofa he made his way over to the door. Opening it he saw Isolde standing in front of him, in quite a different attire from the last one he had seen her in, but she still loved very lovely, in no matter what he wore. "Isolde, thanks for coming." he said with a smile as he opened the door for her. "Please come in, make yourself comfy. Tea, coffee?" he asked as he extended his arm for her to take a seat where she pleased.
 
"No problem at all," Isolde replied, with a smile. She never minded seeing Chris. He was a very nice man - not to mention attractive - and always great company. "Tea would be wonderful, if it's not too much trouble," she added, politely, as she walked in to the room and took a seat on one of the chairs. "Oh, by the way, guess who's now teaching Arithmancy?" Isolde stated, beaming. Then, remembering that Chris was a muggle, she quickly clarified, "I'm Hogwarts New Zealand's new maths teacher," she grinned, eyes sparkling.
 
Chris shook his head, "No problem at all, the kettle's just bolied." he said making his way into the kitchen. In no time at all he had a tray with two cups, a pot of tea, milk, sugar and a few biscuits all laid out on it. Bringing it out to the living room again he made his way over to where Isolde was sitting and placed the tray on the table in front of her. "Help yourself." he said, pouring the tea into the two cups.

Chris sat down on the chair opposite Isolde and took a sip of his tea as she talked about her new teaching position. Arithmancy? the name sounded familiar, but he wasn't sure why. Listening to Isolde's explanation he nodded his head. "Oh yes, I think I remember Pat showing me some of that, it seems very interesting." he said with a smile. "So why the change?" he asked, sitting back on his chair, making himself comfortable.
 
Crossing her legs, Isolde looked around the well furnished, spacious room. Gratefully taking a cup of tea and a biscuit, she looked up at Chris with a smile. "It is very interesting," Isolde said, nodding. "Not nearly as complicated as regular mathematics, but I guess it's still pretty worthy," she grinned. "The old Arithmancy teacher, Manteia, decided to retire. I know the students loved him so I have a lot to live up to," she reasoned. "Arithmancy and History are my two pet subjects, and I guess I was just there, and my co-professor in History of Magic was able to take all the years, so here I am!" Isolde explained, with a shrug. "So, how's your brother going? And more importantly, how are you? What's up?" she asked, realising she was rambling...again.
 
Christopher listened to Isolde talk about her change in subject. He laughed as she rambled again, something she tended to do everyso often. "I'm sure the students will love you all the same." he said small wink. When she asked about himself and his family he shrugged his shoulders, "Joseph is doing fine, haven't seen much of him of late, but Nataliia is due in a few weeks so they are busy getting things ready." he said, shaking his head in disbelieve. He couldn't believe his younger brother was about to become a father.

"I've been fine, just trying to enjoy what's left of my holidays before school starts up again." he said, with little interest in his voice. What's up? He took a heavy sigh. He was sure Patricia would probably kill him for talking to Isolde about this but he and his parents had agreed on this. "Isolde I was wondering if you could do me a huge favour?" he asked, not sure how to explain the situation to her if she would do it for him.
 
Grinning, Isolde took a long sip of her tea as Christopher talked. So the newlyweds were soon to become new parents. Hopefully that would work out well for them - they had looked very much in love on the wedding day, and they deserved every happiness. Love was a beautiful thing, or so Isolde had heard. She wasn't exactly an expert in the field.

"School, that terrible thing," Isolde muttered, with a wink. Teaching could be emotionally draining, but it was a very rewarding career. Isolde loved teaching - except she didn't like staying up all night marking exams right before the holidays. That part she hated. That, and often she wanted to give students full marks for trying, though she knew she couldn't do that. "A favour? Anything for you," she said, before blushing in a mixture of embarassment and horror as she realised what she'd just said.
 
Christopher waited for Isolde's reply, he didn't think it was fair to put this extra responibility on her, but Christopher trusted Isolde, very much so and knew that Patricia liked her very much so hopefully it would work out for the best. When she replied that she would he let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you so much." he said with a grateful smile. He was too happy to notice the blush rise on her cheeks.

"Well I suppose I should let you know the little bit of news we learned not so long ago." Chris started off, he didn't know how his parents were able to tell Patricia this, he was finding the words hard enough to just tell Isolde. "Well, long story short, Kalif Styx, I believe you know him." he said, stopped so he could take a breath and say the final words. "Well, turns out he's Patricia father." he stopped. What he just said was pretty heavy and he knew that, after recieving the news himself he knew Isolde would need a moment to take it in.
 
Isolde couldn't help but gasp when she heard what Christopher had to say. "What?" she replied, stunned. "But that's...but...why...what...but she...what?" Isolde stammered. "He's her father?" she breathed. "That's...wow. That's not something you hear every day." Isolde shook her head, clearly shocked to hear something like that. She couldn't begin to imagine what the family must have gone through. "Um...how are you all holding up? Patricia knows, right? How did she take it?" Isolde asked, truly concerned for the girl. Finding out something like that would surely not go down well.
 
Christopher wasn't surprised by Isolde's reply, it was something along the same lines as his own reply, but he couldn't help but chuckle, you have to laugh or else you'll cry he thought. "Yes, it's true. I'm sorry I just dropped the bombshell on you like that but I thought it would be better than beating round the bush." he said apologetically. When she enquired about her family he just shrugged, "We are taking it each day at a time, some days are good some are bad, we're hoping it'll get better with time." he said with a heavy sigh.

"Tish, well she didn't take it well, at all, as you can imagine. But she's calmed down enough now so we can at least manage her, but she's not talking to mum if she can help it." he said with a shake of his head, he really hoped she would ease up on their mother soon, she was being particularly childish about the whole thing. "But back to why I wanted to see you today. I was wondering, mum and dad too, if you wouldn't mind keeping an extra eye on Patricia? Just so she doesn't act up or do anything silly." he said with a sideways smile.
 
Isolde shrugged, still a little taken aback. "Oh, no, that's perfectly alright," Isolde said, slowly and quietly. "I'm glad you're...managing. If you ever need anything, someone to talk to, anything at all, I'm here," Isolde added, kindly, gazing at Christopher with a concerned expression. She thought of how her aunt and uncle took it when they found out that Christobelle and Wallace were magical. Except they had merely cast the pair of them aside, in shock. She knew that Patricia's family loved her very much, and eventually they would be able to come to terms with something like this. Isolde was sure of it.

"Poor girl, this must be difficult for her." As Christopher asked for her help, Isolde smiled, and gave him a nod. "Of course. I'll be teaching her in Arithmancy, but that is not until second semester. But I will make an effort to watch out for her." Isolde took another sip of tea, before adding, "it's the least I could do."
 
Christopher smiled gratefully at Isolde, the fact she was so understanding about this was a great help to him and even though she might not think it now, it would be for Patricia's best interests. "I'll keep that in mind." he said with a gentel smile when she offered herself as someone to turn to if he needed it. He wouldn't mind keeping her up on that offer, sure he would need someone to talk to about with Patricia every once in a while, but he enjoyed spending time with Isolde and as of late had kept in quite good contact with her and he was glad it was going to remain like that.

When she agreed to keep an eye on Patricia, Christopher beamed at her, "Oh Isolde you will? Thank you so much." he said, fighting of the urge to give her a hug at that moment, not when she has a cup of hot tea in her hand he said to himself. "But I don't want you putting yourself out on her account, only when you can." he said to her. He knew teaching was a hard job and having to keep an eye on certain children at the request of the parents can be hard. "More tea?" offered as he sat forward to heat up his own.
 
Isolde merely shrugged. "It's nothing," she stated, shaking her head. "I like being able to help people. It's part of the reason I became a teacher," she added, giving Christopher a knowing look. Surely he would know all about that. "Don't worry, I won't be putting myself out, I'll be setting up my spy network to do that for me," she drawled, with mirth, before giggling girlishly. "Seriously, though, I'll do what I can to look out for her. You have my word." Draining the rest of her tea, Isolde nodded when Christopher offered her more. "That would be lovely," she smiled. It was so nice to get out of the apartment and see other people and not be working. Sure, Wallace and Christobelle were around - Christobelle more so, because while Wallace had a job, fragile and fearful Christobelle was still adjusting to New Zealand and working up the courage to one day go to the Ministry and apply for a job. Or something. Isolde merely confined herself to her bedroom and worked on lesson plans. The shift from History of Magic to Arithmancy was a big one, and although Professor Manteia had left her a well-written and well-structured curriculum for her to work from, adjusting took time. "So, um, aside from this...interesting news, and the wedding, what have you been up to lately?"
 
Christopher smiled gratefully at Isolde, she really had no idea how much of a relief this would be to he and his family. He just hoped that Patricia wouldn't really cause that much bother for anyone, she knew better than to let personal things effect her school work and her behaviour at school, but to be on the safe side it didn't hurt to have some extra help. Christopher laughed along with Isolde, although she was giggling more than anything; Chris found it rather cute. "Thank you." he said one last time, but he couldn't say it enough, Isolde was taking on a responsibility that he wouldn't want anyone to take up, but wouldn't trust anyone but Isolde to do it.

Filling up her cup again he listened to her, glad to be the topic of Patricia; he got enough of that at home he sat back and thought about anything that had happened since their previous meeting. "Well, I finally graduted and I'm now a fully qualifed teacher." he said with a bright smile. It had been a long wait but he was so glad he could now call himself a really teacher and not just a teaching assistant. He was also glad that his graduation was before the whole fiasco, he enjoyed having the spotlight for once and he knew the whole Paticia thing would have ruined that for him.
 
Isolde wondered if Patricia was going to dislike having her keep an eye on her. Probably would. Not only might she been seen as nosy, Isolde knew Patricia didn't like the fact that she knew Christopher. There wasn't anything going on there, they were just friends, that was all. Patricia didn't have anything to worry about - sadly enough for Isolde.

"Congratulations!" Isolde exclaimed, happily. "I am very proud of you," she said, earnestly. Isolde, of course, understood what a big deal that was. Being able to be a fully fledged teacher was quite an achievement, and something to be proud of. "How does it feel?" she asked, with a grin. "And I'm guessing you're teaching over in Ireland?" she asked.
 
Christopher continued to beam, after everything that had happened he hadn't thought about it as much as would have liked too, sure he had been working on lesson plans and whatnot but he hadn't been able to share his joy with anyone in quite sometime and who better to do it than a good friend, who just so happened to be a teacher as well. "Thank you!" He exclaimed.

Laughing slightly he shrugged, "It feels....strange. But in a good way." he said not sure how to explain his feelings. "Yes I'll be teaching at home. The school I was doing work placement with offered me a full time job." he said happily, he was glad they had offered to him first when the teacher he had been working with informed them of his retirement. Of course he was sad to see the old man go, but it had worked out quite well for Christopher. "To lesson plans." he said with a smirk as he raised his cup.
 
"To lesson plans," Isolde repeated, also raising her cup. "It feels weird changing from History to Maths," Isolde added, with a smirk. "Be glad you don't have do that," she added. "But it's a good change." Taking a sip, Isolde looked back at Christopher with a smile. "Obviously you were doing a good job," she said, with a smile. "I mean, they liked you enough to give you a full time job. You must be a really great teacher! As I suspected," Isolde winked, before taking a bite of her biscuit. Gosh, you're going to creep him out, girl she told herself, mildly horrified at herself but not letting that show.
 
Christopher laughed when Isolde copied him, he was glad they had the house to themselves or they would get a few strange looks. But Christopher didn't mind he loved that he was so relaxed around Isolde and she seemed to be relaxed enough too, at least he hoped so, he was a bit strange at times and a lot of people didn't find it appealing. Taking another sip he set his cup down again and listened to Isolde talk.

Nodding his head thoughtfully as she explained the difficult chane Christopher replied, "I'm sure you'll adjust with ease, you wouldn't have gotten the position if you werent capable enough." he said with a kind smile. Christopher nodded his head, "I suppose." he said with a tiny shrug, "Either that or they were too lazy to put up an advertisment." he said with a laugh. "But thank you, that means a lot coming from you." he said sincerely.

"So apart from, it involves numbers, tell me about Arithmancy. Patricia seemed rather interested in it but didn't have time to show me." he explained, hoping Isolde wouldn't mind staying a bit longer and giving him a crash course.
 
Placing her teacup down, Isolde cleared her throat. "Well, let's see," she said, smirking slightly. "Basically, it's numerology. The numbers that corrospond to the letters in your name all add together and reveal your innermost self. I guess you could call it fortune telling," she added, with a shrug. "It's a bit of a change considering I guess History's a bit more...academic, but I like it," Isolde said, with a smile. "Though I have big shoes to fill. I guess I'll just do my best to make Arithmancy my own." Isolde grinned. She was amazingly talkative, and she figured she was probably irritating Christopher, but she couldn't help herself. She felt so relaxed and as she felt so relaxed, she couldn't help but just ramble. Same as in the classroom, really. But she liked being here so much more, strangely enough.
 
As Christopher listened to Isolde talk about her new subject he grew more and more interested. "If only muggle maths was as interesting, so many children might not fall asleep during class." he said with a small laugh. He was glad he didn't take the maths route as his main choice, at least with science you got to blow things up. "You must do a reading for me sometime." Christopher suggested, "You know when you're not so busy and whatnot." he said with an awkward laugh.
 
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