Closed Slowly Getting There

[Genevieve Fuentes]

Most of Evie’s time had been taken up with animagus training, but she wasn’t complaining. It was changing the way she studied and improving her reading ability as well. She honestly didn’t think she could read this well. But rather than focusing on her readings lately, Evie had been trying to meditate. She wanted to find out what animal she would turn into. She wasn’t sure how soon it would be before she’d be able to find out, but she definitely wanted to find out as early as she could. She thought she was really close however, and after all of the meditating she was doing, her bursts of energy were becoming more outrageous. As soon as she had just finished a good meditating session, she couldn’t help but want to tell Professor Abberline all about it. The girl raced downstairs from her dormitory to head to the professor’s office. She almost stopped at the fifth floor where his old office was, but then kept going down to the first floor until she had eventually made it. She was out of breath, but began knocking frantically on the professor's door. "P...Professor!" she exclaimed, trying to get her breath back. She really hoped he was in there.

 

[Charles Abberline]

Glad to be back for another year, Charles was still in the process of unpacking his trunks even though he had returned to the school a week before the semester started. Not because he was procrastinating or thought that his clothing and personal belongings looked better inside his trunks, but because he was sure that a boggart had occupied one of his drawers whilst he had been away. This wouldn't have mattered much normally, he'd simply remove the boggart and relocate it to another dark spot somewhere it wouldn't be found by students, but he actually needed one again for class this year and so thought that it was better to let it remain in his office.

Charles was about to deal with the boggart and relocate it from the drawer to the large wardrobe when someone was knocking on his door quite frantically. With his sleeves rolled up and wand still pointing at the drawer, the Professor called out, ''You may enter,'' wondering who might need his attention this badly.

 

[Genevieve Fuentes]

As soon as Evie heard the professor's voice on the other side of the door, she quickly opened it to reveal him pointing his wand towards a drawer. "Hey, professor." she said, entering the room and closing the door behind her. "What are you doing?" What was inside the drawer? Was it dangerous? She wondered if perhaps she had come at the wrong time. "I can go if you'd like me to and come back later, but I just tried meditating and now I feel good! Like I feel like I have so much energy! Meditating is good, and I think I've been getting better at it." she exclaimed, wanting to tell him everything she experienced. "But, yeah, I can go if you're too busy right now."

 

[Charles Abberline]

Charles lowered his wand once Genevieve stepped into his office, somehow not surprised that it had been her knocking frantically on his door. ''Hello,'' he said brightly. ''I was about to move a boggart from the drawer to that wardrobe,'' the Professor said with a nod towards the large wooden wardrobe in the room. ''I suspect it snuck inside the drawer sometime during the break, but since I need one for my third-year class, I reckoned that it'd be smart to move it to the wardrobe instead.'' He stowed away his wand and smiled widely when Genevieve said that she had been getting better and better at meditating. While he had hoped that meditation would've lessened her bursts of energy, Charles continued to smile and gestured for the girl to have a seat at the table next to the hearth. ''Nonsense, I'll deal with that boggart later. Come, sit down, I can see that you are dying to tell me something.''

 

[Genevieve Fuentes]

Evie's eyes widened as the professor told her that there was a boggart in his drawer. "That's cool." she said, wondering how it managed to get there. She wanted to ask the question, but decided she would wait for another time. For now she had to show the professor how good she was. She headed over to the table where he gestured and sat down before taking a few deep breaths. It was going to take a bit of time as she had just run all of the way here, but as she was doing it, she thought aloud. "Now, the first thing I have to do is get comfortable." she said, leaning back in the chair. "And I just have to take a few deep breaths, like I'm trying to go to sleep." Evie breathed in and out, letting her chest move with her. She then closed her eyes, trying her best to slow down her breathing as she went. Although it was taking some time, she was eager just to show the professor how far she had come. "I just like to imagine myself floating on a cloud... or flying slowly on a broomstick... up high where no one can get me." She mused, keeping her eyes closed. She sank even further into the chair, before suddenly feeling a little embarrassed that she was doing this in front of the professor. She sat up straighter in her seat and opened her eyes. "Uhhh... Is that good?" she asked, seeking some reassurance. She was hoping it was at least a good start.

 

[Charles Abberline]

Amused that Genevieve found the boggart in the drawer 'cool', Charles nodded in agreement. Whilst he did not have any trouble dealing with boggarts, he knew that not many people would describe attempting to move a boggart as 'cool' given the nature of these spiritous apparitions. And with the girl being a Gryffindor, the fact that she thought as much hardly surprised him. One would have to be exceedingly brave to voluntarily face off against these creatures without shuddering in their presence. He crossed one leg over the other and watched Genevieve inquisitively as she began to take deep breaths in and out. Show, not tell. Well, that was fine with him, as long as she had made some process since they had last seen each other. He smiled at Genevieve when she opened her eyes again and nodded encouragingly. ''If imaging things like that work for you whilst trying to meditate, then you are doing a wonderful job,'' he answered. ''It is not about how fast you can get into the right mindset, what's more important is that you can get there in the first place.''