Closed Let Me Read You

[Alexis Kramer]

After depositing her things back at the dormitories, she made her way back out of the castle and headed to Prof. Castillo's office. They were tasked to do a reading for a professor and the Ravenclaw decided to choose Prof. Castillo. She hoped the man was not too busy and allowed her to read him using her runes. She peeked in the greenhouses and saw no one there. She then went to his office. "Professor?", she called out, knocking on his door three times.​

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@Professor Angel Castillo​

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel looked up from where he had sprawled at his desk, having the good sense to drop his feet down off his desk and look busy before swinging the door open with a flick of his wand. "Yesss? Oh, hey Alexis," He said, pleasantly surprised to her and not some poor panicked sixth year already worried about exams. While Alexis had surprisingly disappointed him with her behavior last year, Angel had to admit she and Joshua were some of his favorite students. He was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to pick favorites, but really what could it hurt. "Not that I'm complaining, but to what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked, motioning her inside. He didn't have Alexis this semester and wondered why she might be stopping by.

 

[Alexis Kramer]

Alexis smiled politely as she entered Prof. Castillo's office. She eyed some papers on his desk and wondered if the man was too busy for her to interrupt. "Hello,Professor. How are you?", she approached his desk, her rune bag behind her. "I am just wondering if you are not too busy and could give me some time to give you a reading." She held the bag up for him to see. "It's actually for Ancient Runes homework."​

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel made a point to assign as little written homework in classes as he could get away with, but still always felt like there was some piece of parchment that needed his attention in this job. Even coming into his third year teaching it was a struggle to keep things straight, he wasn't sure how the other teachers managed. But he was always grateful for a distraction, even if the last time he'd let a student do a rune reading for him it had ended rather uncomfortably. Still, nothing against Alexis, but maybe she wouldn't have as much of a knack for it as Kauri had. "I'm not busy, or well, not busy enough to help one of my favorite students," He said, sliding his chair away from his desk and giving Alexis a quick wink as he pushed a few papers out of sight. "It's for your education, after all, right, let's do it." No one could slight him for wanting his students to do well in all their classes.

 

[Alexis Kramer]

Alexis blushed at the compliment before she took a seat across the desk. She took out the runes from her bag and cleared her throat before spreading them. She wanted to impress the professor as a kind of making it up for the misdemeanor she showed him last year. She spread nine runes on the center of the table, studying them before looking back at him. "This is a Grid of Nine Spread. Each row starting from the bottom represents the past, present, and future.", she gave a small introduction. She chuckled nervously. ​

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Clearing her throat, she began pointing to each rune as she explained them. "This row represents your past. This", pointing to a rune, "refers to the family pressures on you. The one beside the first one could be your family's reputation. The third one of the bottom row represents your attitude toward those past events. It could be you were a tad relaxed until the pressure had been too much." She shrugged to show uncertainty. She began to feel embarrassed already. She did not want to put her professor in the spotlight.​

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She continued on to the second row. "The middle row represents the present." She somehow relaxed at this. She had known him for over a year, so she could already get a gist of how Prof. Castillo was as a professor. "The first one refers to the hidden influence that is operating at the time of this reading. This could refer to your growing confidence and interest in the subject that you're teaching. If I may have to guess, Professor, this was somehow connected to your family's business or reputation. It's just a guess, sir.", she quickly added. She did not know where those words came from but that was what she somehow saw. "The next one is the current state. It's obvious, professor, that you're enjoying your job. And I boldly say that this rubs on the students because I am enjoying your class.", she gave him a bright smile. "This is also connected to the third rune. The way you prepare your lessons and ensuring knowledge and fun means you enjoy your job and thus, a positive towards your present state.", she finished her second part of the reading on a bright note.​

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She paused, trying to gauge his reaction to this. She still had the future row to read for him, however, she wanted to make sure that the man was still good with all of this.​

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel tried to push away the trepidation about the reading. It was harmless fun and would help out Alexis. Last time with Kauri had likely been an uncomfortable fluke, Angel had never put much stock into any sort of divination magic, too open to interpretation, and Kauri had probably just struck a nerve on sheer luck. Still, as Alexis spread out the runes, Angel tried not to hold his breath, letting her run through the spread patiently.

He nodded politely, wondering if he should comment about Alexis' interpretation of his past. He didn't really talk about his family much over here, it was almost rather nice that their reputation was far less here than back home, though Angel missed the perks (or the money) sometimes. He made a show of thinking hard about the "hidden influence" that Alexis mentioned. He had some ideas, but it wasn't something he really wanted to discuss with a student, so he let her finish going through the row of runes. "Oh, why thank you," He said with a smile when Alexis mentioned that both him and his students seemed to be enjoying teaching. He had been rather surprised how well this whole endeavor was going, considering he'd ended up in this position somewhat on a desperate whim, but it was reassuring to hear. And it was true that he was feeling good about where he was right now. It was easy to forget about other issues pottering around in the greenhouse miles way from his old problems. "Well, so far so accurate, I think. Especially the part about everyone loving my classes," He said, giving Alexis a cheeky smile. He was feeling a bit more relaxed about the reading, but Alexis' interpretation of his future still loomed on the next row and he steeled himself to hear it.

 

[Alexis Kramer]

Alexis beamed at what Prof. Castillo said. If she were to pick favorite teachers, her Herbology teacher would come out as top along with Prof. Faye. However, she just enjoyed her classes so much that she loved all her professors, even her new Potions teacher, Prof. Warrick. She gazed down at the spread once more with the final row left to read. It held the future and just like most people, the future was the most important part of the reading. She glanced at the man, "Shall we, professor?", she gestured to the runes.​

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"The last row represented the future. If we are to consider the present and the past as well as your responses to them, the future will be bright. Since you enjoyed your profession here in the school, I believe you will continue teaching here in Hogwarts. Or it might be at a different school but a teaching career all the same.", she smiled playfully. "I will have to agree with this, Professor. You have made the lessons interesting and informative.", she admitted. "Possible obstacles are too common. Family pressure, work pile, and health. Who does not have them, right?", she shrugged. "What makes the result different is your response to all these. However, as I have mentioned many times, you have this bright positive outlook which exudes whenever you are in class, sir. This makes the obstacles not so overwhelming.", she concluded with a flourish. She would honestly believe that she had made a fairly accurate reading. The prefect just hoped it was up to his expectations.​

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

So far the reading had been pretty painless, especially compared to the last one Angel had had, so he happily gestured for Alexis to continue when she got to the final row. He nodded along polite as Alexis went through her predictions for his future. "Well, glad I'm getting through to some of you," He said with a laugh, shamelessly enjoying Alexis' little compliments along the way. There was probably some truth in them at least, no one had managed to get maimed yet or anything, barring that one shirt of his that the geraniums seemed to have a vendetta against. "Thank you, Alexis, it's nice to hear the future looking so bright. Last time I did this the student pulled a death rune and it was all very dramatic," He said, laughing again and pushing the uneasy memory of the reading with Kauri out of his head. Alexis' reading had been perfectly pleasant, and while it didn't have the gut clenching accuracy that Kauri seemed to have managed, it didn't mean Angel had to believe it any more or less. He didn't particularly feel like his family was or health was going to be causing him in trouble in the future, but maybe that was the 'bright' outlook Alexis was referring to.

"I appreciate you stopping by, I hope the practice was useful," He said, clapping his hands and hopping up and wandering over to the kettle. "You want any tea or coffee before you pack up?" Angel was surprised to find he was going to be a bit sad once Alexis graduated this year. He hadn't really gotten into this career expecting to be impacted by his students or anything like most teachers always seemed to wax on about, but there were a few he was a bit more fond of.