Blessings Be Upon You

[Wren Louise]

There were hundreds of owls, all neatly groomed and looking proud with thick red ribbons tied around their ankles. Each bird carried a parchment letter with a wax seal on it denoting the castle of origin- Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, New Zealand branch. Usually the letters were spirited away with no more fanfare than the greeting they were received with, but the upper year's Divination Professor, Wren Louise, had the owls on his mind this year.

Wren had come to cherish his students and care deeply about the wellbeing of all the young men and women under his tutelage. He had yet to properly interact with the younger ones since he taught the fifteen-year-olds and over, but that didn't mean they weren't in his thoughts. Today the Frenchman was seeing off every letter with his blessing, amulet of Thor in hand as he touched the crest of each owl one by one. It was going to take him some time to whisper each prayer, but he refused to leave any student without protection.

"Odin, far-wanderer, grant them wisdom, courage, and victory.
Friend Thor, grant them your strength.
And both be with them."

An owl cooed at him as he stroked its beak. Wren smiled and moved on to the next bird.​

 

[Jon Phillips]

Jon never relied on owls for communication as he was the muggle studies professor and therefore preferred muggle communication despite it not working in Hogwarts. In fact, he had only been to the Owlrey twice before during his career thus far. The first visit had been a simple visit to scope the place out and the second had been to help a confused muggle born Hufflepuff student who approached him, asking for wifi. Funnily enough, to this day she still thought he was lying about the wifi (or lack thereof) in the castle as she had told him on numerous occasions. He always laughed it off but it was quite concerning because there really was no wifi, and the hope that there would ever be was pointless. At least in his opinion though he was too polite to tell her so.

But, of course, she would have to make do with owls just like he was currently having to do. Sending an owl to Bonnie was as much out of his comfort zone as was talking to professors he did not know and had not been introduced to yet, which seemed weird as he had been at the school for at least two years but it was evidently the fault of his sub par social skills. Unfortunately he needed to both send Bonnie an Owl and speak to a professor that day. After entering the owlrey he paused, cocking his head to the side and watching the scene unfolding in front of him which made no sense. Professor Louise seemed to be enchanting the owls and it was unlike anything Jon had seen before. So he could only continue to stare curiously before he could gather his courage and let his curiosity win when he finally approached the man to ask, "What are you doing?" Jon genuinely could not figure it out.
​

 

[Wren Louise]

Wren did not turn around at the approach of a fellow Professor, so intent he was in his task, but he noted Jonathon's arrival and continued his quiet blessings until he was addressed.
"I am giving them the blessings of the old Gods so that they might be well protected and swift on their journeys," he explained as he petted another owl gently. It took a moment for the Frenchman to realise he was being rude, and he turned to smile at Jonathan welcomingly.

It failed to occur to Wren (just like many things did) that he didn't look a thing like a Professor. His usual battered leather jacket still carried the residual smell of tobacco, though he smoked a great deal less since he became employed at the castle. His jeans were dirty, his sandals scuffed, and his hair looked as though it could have nested some of the owlets quite comfortably. All this was completely irrelevant to him as he addressed his coworker with his amulet still in hand.
"You are well, Professeur? The children will be arriving in only a few weeks. May I give you blessings, too, for the coming semester?"​

 

[Jon Phillips]

Jon looked curiously between Wren and the owls as the unique man explained his actions. Even with such an explanation it made no sense to him. Jon would probably never understand the point of blessing things as he did believe in things more solidly proven like science and even luck in comparison to gods, however he could definitely appreciate that the man's intentions were good. That he meant well, and wanted the owls and the letters they were carrying to be safe on their journeys so he smiled and said "That's nice of you." before asking, "Do you bless them every year?" as Jon never ventured to the Owlery enough to know if this was annual or a spur of the moment decision on Wren's part.

As Jon continued to watch Wren, he began to notice the man's appearance. It was as unique as his personality seemed to be and it widened the smile on Jon's features ever so slightly. He knew nothing of Wren besides his name and the subject he taught but this interaction almost urged him to get to know the man better. He was definitely quirky in an interesting way and Jon of course admired it. Wren's questions suddenly broke Jon's thought pattern and his gaze averted to the ground and back to the other professor before he answered. "I am good, yeah. Are you good?" The idea of being blessed was scary to say the least considering Jon did not understand the concept of 'blessings' but he was never one to deny learning about something he was yet to understand so he squared his shoulders slightly as he said "You can bless me if you think it will help", and chuckled quietly while absent mindedly squeezing the letter to Bonnie that was in his hands.​

 

[Wren Louise]

Wren's dark brown eyes took in everything, from Jonathan's stance to his reticent gesture in response to his offer. His smile was gentle as the approached his fellow Professor.
"It will not hurt," he consoled the Professor, mirroring his chuckle in a deeper voice. Wren demonstrated by taking his amulet in his left hand and thumbing Jonathan's forehead with his right.
"May Odin give you knowledge on your path, may Thor grant you strength and courage on your way, and may Loki give you laughter as you go," said the Frenchman. "There. Painless. Perhaps it will help you, but it makes me feel better already. The other Professeurs don't tell me how the previous years have gone, but the last one was ... tumultuous. I have not blessed the owls every year, but I'm thinking of doing so from now on."

From there Wren stepped back and gave his coworker his space again, returning to the owls to mark their feathered foreheads with invisible dedications.
"I am well," he said eventually. "I think it will take me a very long time to stop feeling out of my depth, though." Wren's sudden honesty was typical of the Divination Professor, but it often startled people he hadn't spoken to before.​