I Make My Own Fate

[Celia Vuong]

Celia had always thought that the curriculum at Hogwarts was too slowly paced. It was a system that made sense, she supposed, since the teachers had to cater to the lowest common denominator. But that didn't make sitting through lesson after lesson covering material she already knew any less frustrating. Celia tried to make up for the wasted time by self-studying spells whenever she had the chance, but that was proving more difficult than she'd expected.

It was a good thing that Professor Corrins had offered to give her extra lessons. Through the professor's help, Celia had been able to learn more advanced charms. In the past, she had never been one to enjoy extra schoolwork, but the chance to learn more spells made the extra lessons worth it. Celia had one of those lessons scheduled for today, and she arrived at the professor's office at the agreed upon time. "Hi Professor Corrins," she greeted with a polite smile. "What are we covering today?"

 

[Professor Mallory Grayveson]

Mallory was enjoying the new school year. She had found a gentle comfort in teaching, in the students familiar faces. She was even getting on well with a few of the other professors. Today, Mallory had even arranged for another one of the private lessons she offered. She was just reviewing the lesson plan for Celia when the young girl arrived. Mallory smiled, standing up. "Hello, Celia!" She greeted, moving around to stand with her. Instead of her usual robes, Mallory was wearing a pair of jeans, tan boots with fur around the top and two little pom poms hanging from the zippers, and a deep blue long sleeve shirt.

Mallory had locked the cats in her room, knowing having them here would prove chaotic. "I actually have a new spell for you today," Mallory began, trying her hair back. With a flick of her hand the office cleared a bit and provided them with more space to practice. She pulled her hair up into a high ponytail to get it out of her face. "You've been doing very well in your studies, I thought it might be time to begin learning a more advanced spell." She explained. "Before we continue, how do you feel about snakes?" Mallory asked.

 

[Celia Vuong]

It was a bit strange to see a professor dressed in muggle clothes, and not for the first time, Celia wondered why Hogwarts bothered with robes at all. They were so boring and a complete pain. Her expression sharpened with interest at the mention of a new spell, and she watched as Professor Corrins cleared a space for them to work. Hopefully that meant they'd be practicing something grand.

At the compliment, Celia smiled and straightened. "Thank you." She of course knew she was doing well in her studies, but it was always nice to hear her efforts acknowledged. The smile faded a bit at Professor Corrins's question. "Snakes?" she repeated. She'd never given the creatures a second thought until she'd been sorted into Slytherin. After that, she decided she disliked them purely because of their association with her house. But while Celia had never really hidden her disdain for Slytherin, she didn't think it wise to trash-talk it to a professor. "I don't really have strong feelings about them either way," she said though she was frowning slightly. "Why? Are we transfiguring them?" That was the only explanation she could think of.

 

[Professor Mallory Grayveson]

Mallory smiled at the girls answer, deciding perhaps it was better to show than to tell. "Serpensortia!" She flicked her wand, and a large snake shot out of her wand and landed across the room. It came back up, hissing. She dispelled it just as quickly, before turning to Celia. "The Snake Summons Spell was first created, sometime prior to 1987, in India, but was used worldwide, although usually in its homeland, by wizards known to Muggles as Snake Charmers," She told the young girl. Mallory moved to lean against her desk. "This is a conjuration spell. It can be useful in dueling."

 

[Celia Vuong]

Before Celia could finish processing the incantation Professor Corrins had just uttered, she found herself staring at a large snake. With a small yelp, she took a quick step back, her hand scrambling for her wand. The snake soon disappeared, and Celia felt foolish. What else had she expected? She composed herself and stared at the spot where the snake had been, unable to quite meet Professor Corrins' eye after that embarrassing outburst.

The background of the spell was quite interesting, but it was the last two facts that caught Celia's attention. Conjuring spells were quite difficult, and it pleased her that Professor Corrins thought her capable of tackling one. And then there was its use in dueling. "Was that snake dangerous?" she asked, finally turning to look at Professor Corrins. She hadn't gotten a good enough look to tell if it was venomous. "Can you choose what kind of snake appears?"

 

[Professor Mallory Grayveson]

Mallory pretended to take no notice of Celia's first reaction. Mallory nodded at her question instead. "Yes, it was," she said instead. "You have some control, once you master it enough, but it's a combination really of the power of your wand, your skill, your focus, a multitude of things," She told the girl. "You'll get better as you go."

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia was grateful that Professor Corrins didn't react to her outburst — or worse, suggest they stop. She felt a cold thrill as the professor confirmed that the snake had been dangerous. It would undoubtedly be a useful spell for the tournament, especially if any of her classmates had a snake phobia. At the very least, she figured that dropping a venomous snake on someone's head would make for a solid distraction.

She withdrew her wand and considered it. There was nothing she could do to make it more powerful, but the other factors she could control. Careful to keep her hand off the grip, Celia tried out the incantation. "Serpensortia, right? Did I say it correctly?" She paused, trying to remember what Professor Corrins had done before casting the spell. "Can you show me the wand movement again?"

 

[Professor Mallory Grayveson]

Mallory watched Celia, nodding at the girls pronunciation. "Correct. Now watch." She corrected her stance, moving her wand again. "The movement itself is very simple. One straight slash. Many people add a bit of flair to the spell, as both an intimidation tactic and a style choice." Mallory explained. "Once you've mastered the spell enough, you can try to device the best way to lead up to it, if you'd like," Mallory winked playfully.

 

[Celia Vuong]

One straight slash. That was certainly doable. Celia liked the idea of adding some flair to her spells and made a mental note to try that later with some easier charms. "Do people actually get intimidated by fancy wand movements?" she asked. Celia didn't think she personally would find that intimidating, but then again, she'd never been in an actual duel before. Maybe at the very least an extra flick of the wrist could trick her opponent into thinking she was going for one spell instead of another.

Celia figured it was about time to give the spell a try. She turned back to the clearing and moved her wand downward in a slow slash. "Serpensortia." Nothing happened, but that was to be expected. She just needed to get a feel for the spell. Celia raised her wand again and sliced it through the air. "Serpensortia!" A slender green snake, barely longer than her forearm, shot out and landed in the middle of the room. "It doesn't look dangerous," she said with a small frown. Celia wasn't very familiar with different snake species, but she was pretty sure this creature couldn't hurt anything bigger than an insect.

 

[Professor Mallory Grayveson]

Mallory shrugged at the question. "I suppose some do, if its done properly. It does help mask your spells, though," she commented, stepping back to give the girl room. She smiled as Celia summoned a common garden snack. With a flick of Mallory's hand it was dispelled again. "That snake was not. It was actually a little cute," Mallory mused. Should she get a snake? Nah, the cats wouldn't like that much. "Keep trying," she encouraged Celia.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia's frown deepened when Professor Corrins confirmed her suspicions about the snake. "Cute won't help me in a duel." The only way that snake would do anything useful is if one of her opponents had a severe phobia of them. But she had no way of finding out that kind of information about her classmates.

She raised her wand again and tried to visualize the kind of snake she wanted to summon. The problem was that while Celia could name a lot of different venomous snake species, she had no idea what they actually looked like. Clearly she needed to do some research before the tournament. "Serpensortia!" This time, the snake was a little larger and dull brown in color. "Is that one any better?"

 

[Professor Mallory Grayveson]

Mallory watched Celia's work, studying the snake a moment before dispelling it. "A little bit, but not much. Perhaps," Mallory looked to her bookshelf, pulling out one of her encyclopedias after a moment of searching. "For today, let's focus on trying to summon a cobra," She offered, finding the proper page and showing it to the young girl. "We can focus on intimidation today," She smiled warmly at Celia.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia gave a small sigh of disappointment when Professor Corrins vanished the snake. She knew she couldn't expect to master every spell immediately, but that didn't stop her from wishing she could. And getting upset with herself when it didn't work out.

Professor Corrins pulled out an encyclopedia, and Celia studied the page, feeling a little silly that she hadn't thought to visualize a cobra. They were probably one of the more distinctive snake species. She nodded at Professor Corrins' comment. Intimidation was always good. "Is this how you know so much about snakes?" she asked curiously, tapping the book.

Stepping back, Celia closed her eyes for a moment, trying to burn the image from the book into her memory. "Serpensortia!" Another dull brown snake shot out, and she stood on her tiptoes to get a better look. It wasn't very big, but the hood near its head was unmistakable. "It's a cobra!" she said, smiling for the first time since they'd started practicing.

 

[Professor Mallory Grayveson]

Mallory smiled, nodding at her question. "Yes. There is much knowledge you can find in the realm of books," she turned and replaced the book in her vast collection. She turned back, giving Celia some space to work and watching how she worked the spell. At this point, it was really all about practice. Mallory smiled at the girls improvement. "Very good," Mallory dispelled the snake. "Let's take a break for a little bit. Would you like to sit and have some tea?" She asked, moving to her tea set.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. It wasn't that she didn't believe Professor Corrins; it just sounded like something her first grade teacher would say. She idly wondered how wizards managed to find anything if they were forced to use such inefficient methods of research.

It wasn't until Professor Corrins suggested that they take a break that Celia realized how tired she was. Conjuring animals seemed to take more energy than most simple charms. Though she wanted to keep at it until she could conjure a giant cobra, she nodded and took a seat. "Yes, please." After some time in New Zealand, she'd finally acquired a taste for tea that didn't come with milk and tapioca pearls. "Are there any other spells that conjure animals?" she asked curiously. Conjuring spells was one branch of magic she hadn't really read much about, but today's lesson had piqued her curiosity.

 

[Professor Mallory Grayveson]

Mallory smiled, making the girl a cup before walking over to give it to her. "Oh, of course. But spells like this, are more like, summoning creatures rather than conjuring them." She tried to explain. "That's why it can be so hard to cast this spell." Mallory settled into her chair and sipped her own drink. "You're doing very well, though. I was sure you could handle this," She gave the girl a confident smile. "How are you feeling about your studies?" Mallory asked.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia accepted the cup with a polite thank you and considered this new information about conjuring spells. "So those snakes that we conjured... Does that mean we actually summoned them from somewhere else?" It was a bit less dramatic than her original assumption that she had essentially created the snake, but she supposed summoning a creature from hundreds of miles away was also pretty impressive.

She smiled at the compliment. "Thank you." At Professor Corrins' question, she hesitated, taking a sip of her tea. "It's been okay," she started, not wanting to sound too negative. "I only have three classes this semester, and a lot of the material we're covering is stuff I already know." Astronomy in particular had been a joke. Celia still couldn't quite believe they were spending an entire semester on the solar system. "It'd be nice if there were more opportunities to learn material beyond the official curriculum." Of course, she'd taken to doing some self-studying, but there were limits to how far she could go, especially with spellcasting. "Thanks for doing these tutoring sessions with me, by the way. I really appreciate it," she said, partially because she knew thanking Professor Corrins was the polite thing to do, but also because she genuinely meant it. Celia knew she wouldn't be progressing nearly as quickly if she had to try and teach herself these spells.

 

[Professor Mallory Grayveson]

Mallory smiled, sipping her tea and nodding at the girls question. "That would be the common belief, yes." She told her with an easy smile. She listened as Celia spoke, nodding. "You are a very bright child, I'm not surprised your classes aren't too challenging." Mallory ran her finger along the rim of her cup. "If you'd like, you're always free to study your other classes in my office as well, if we're both free," She offered. "Studying with supervision could be more useful."

She mused. She smiled as Celia thanked her. "Oh, sweetness, it's no trouble, truly. I tutored my elder brother while we grew up." She told Celia. "Our parents always had high standards. I had to help him to achieve their impossible expectations to a point that he wasn't punished." She sighed. It had always been tricky with Dimitri.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia took a sip of her tea, smiling into her cup as Professor Corrins offered to let her study in her office. "I'd like that, if it's not too much of a bother," she said politely. She knew better than to ask Professor Corrins outright to tutor her in other subjects. The professor was already giving up part of her free time to teach Celia advanced charms. But if she started studying in Professor Corrins' office, she figured she could ask a question every now and then and maybe coax Professor Corrins into helping her with other subjects.

She was surprised to hear Professor Corrins share such personal information. Sometimes it was hard to remember that her teachers had lives outside of class. Celia felt a brief, inexplicable stab of jealousy as she thought back to her parents who seemingly had no standards for her. Sure, they claimed to care about her education, but if they truly did, she wouldn't be at Hogwarts. "That sounds hard," she said, not really sure what to say to such a personal story. And then, because she couldn't resist her curiosity, "What does your brother do now? If you don't mind me asking."

 

[Professor Mallory Grayveson]

Mallory nodded, reaching over to open her planner and scribbling a note inside of it. She smiled gently as
Celia asked about her brother. "Oh, Dimitri is a musician. He works nights at the Owl shop in Obsidian and is happily dating a professional Quidditch player." She smiled warmly. "Both of my siblings and I have been disowned and cut off from the family fortune. But we've done alright. I may no longer be an Heiress but I am happier here. Dimitri is allowed to be himself. And little Annika is running a successful business as a wedding planner." Mallory smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear.

 

[Celia Vuong]

"Struggling musician who worked at a pet shop" did not exactly sound like the success story Professor Corrins was making it out to be, though Celia supposed that dating a professional Quidditch player was pretty good. Her eyes widened when Professor Corrins mentioned a fortune, but it was the word "heiress" that made Celia nearly choke on her tea. "You gave up a fortune to teach teenagers?" she blurted out. Then, remembering her manners, "Sorry, I just..." cannot understand why any sane person would do that "...was surprised. Anyway, you were an heiress?" She didn't recognize the last name Corrins, but then again, she was relatively new to the magical world. And judging by all the foreign words Professor Corrins liked using in class, the woman probably wasn't from around here either.

 

[Professor Mallory Grayveson]

Mallory chuckled slightly at Celia's response. She held out her hand. "Zdravstvuyte, sudarynya, ya starshaya dama Korrinova.*" Mallory greeted her in elegant Russian. "I was the middle child of Maxim Korrinov, a very rich, very powerful man in Russia." She explained, picking her tea back up. "I didn't go to any formal schools, I was kept home with a single private tutor." She continued. "My brother was originally the heir. But, when he refused to marry the woman our father chose, he was disowned and kicked out."

She sighed, sipping her tea. "I took his place then, as our father's heir. I tried, really, but father never saw us as his children. We were tools only, meant to be perfect and unfeeling. A gilded cage may be beautiful, but it is still a cage." She tried to explain, giving Celia a small smile.

*Hello, madam, I am the eldest lady Korrinova.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia was relieved that Professor Corrins didn't take offense to her outburst. She'd already pissed off more than her fair share of professors, and she needed some allies among the teaching staff. She listened quietly as Professor Corrins explained her family's background. It was impossible to keep the surprise off her face. As someone who had attended an expensive private school before Hogwarts, Celia was no stranger to wealthy families. But Professor Corrins' family was something else entirely. These people believed in arranged marriages.

Celia had always suspected there was a special reason Professor Corrins had been hired. After all, she was one of the youngest professors at the school. But she never would have guessed that her teacher was a disowned heiress. "Why were you and your sister disowned?" It was an intensely personal question, but this whole conversation had been intensely personal. "And why'd you decide to come here? To Hogwarts New Zealand?" That was the one thing Celia absolutely could not understand about the whole situation. She already thought it was insane to give up a fortune. But what was even more surprising was that when Professor Corrins had had the chance to start her life over, she'd chosen to head for a knock-off school on an island so inconsequential that it got left off some world maps.

 

[Professor Mallory Grayveson]

Mallory continued sipping on her tea, smiling softly at Celia's question. She knew she was sharing a lot, but Mallory didn't mind. If Celia wanted to know, Mallory was perfectly okay with answering her questions. "When my mother passed away, I found some old letters between her and a sister I didn't know she had. I took the letters and came to New Zealand, discovering I had a cousin that owns an Inn outside of Arrowtown. I decided I wanted to stay, and get to know my new family." She sipped her tea. "It was a nice change, so I decided to stay a little longer. Father didn't approve, so he sent Annika to bring me home."

Mallory set her tea down, smiling and folding her hands in front of her. "Annika liked the freedom being away from home, so she lived on daddy's credit card until he got frustrated and cut us both off for disobeying." She shook her head. "I felt more comfortable at the Inn than I did in Russia, so I stayed in an effort to find who I was. Eventually, my cousin talked me into applying as a teacher here. And I've been here ever since," She chuckled.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia had always enjoyed gossip. She liked the sense of power she got from collecting others' secrets. But for all her years of swapping stories, she'd never come across anything as juicy as this. She listened, a bit wide-eyed, as the story continued to pour from Professor Corrins. There were now secret letters and long-lost family members. It was all like a soap opera, and she had to wonder how many of her other classmates (or teachers, even) knew that Professor Corrins was a disowned heiress.

"Wow," she said once Professor Corrins had finished. Celia took a sip of tea, trying to digest the story. "I'm sorry about your mom." She was curious about the woman and what Professor Corrins' relationship with her had been like, but even Celia had enough tact not to pry that far. "Do you like teaching?" She couldn't quite tell if this job was just something to hold Professor Corrins over now that she was fortune-less or if this was something Professor Corrins had truly wanted.