Paperwork in the Garden (Lyn and George)

[Professor George Weasley]

George had had enough of the Staff Lounge. He'd spent nearly four hours in there already, doing mindless paperwork, and he still had piles of it to go. So he relocated his entire paper-chasing operation to one of the benches in the garden, where there was at least some sunshine and sweet fragrances to keep his mind somewhat at ease.

The fact that George STILL lacked a roster made him a bit irritated, but the bright blue sky was improving his mood greatly. He set some inventory listings on his trusty messenger bag and began to fill it out, smiling as a first year Ravenclaw fell into the lake while trying to catch a Muggle Frisbee. Shaking his head, George turned back to the paperwork, dipping his quill into some navy blue ink.

[Professor Lyn Collins]

Lyn was making her way through the garden to get some distraction from all the noises of the students in the castle. As she walked by she saw a first year Ravenclaw falling into the lake and a Muggle Frisbee landing next to it. She then heard someone laughing softly and looked at her left and she saw George Weasley. At first she didn't knew what to say, for she didn't know him very well yet. They first time they met was at the 3 Broomsticks.

She walked towards him and spoke calmly.

"These first years are always amusing, aren't they?"

[Professor George Weasley]

George immediately bit his tongue. A professor noticed his laughing... great, now he probably looked like a jerk. Exactly what he'd been afraid of. He looked upward and cringed. Professor Lyn Collins. The Dueling teacher. He barely knew her... she probably thought he was crazy.

George decided to wing it, since it hadn't failed him before. "Not amusing, necessarily... just really uncoordinated." George smiled, but his brain was exploding. He'd never get used to being a teacher, no matter how often the idea was shoved in his face. "I don't think we've ever really been properly introduced. George Weasley, Broom Practice, Quidditch Head, currently buried in paperwork."

George held up the stack of papers on his messenger bag, groaning. "Did you have this much stuff to fill out, too, Miss...?"

[Professor Lyn Collins]

Lyn listened to George Weasley's word and couldn't hid a smile when he said "buried in paperwork" but kept paying attention until he finished speaking.

"Lyn Collins. But you may call me Lyn. We're both teachers and as we work together I don't think we should be that formal. At least not when we're not surrounded by students. I'm one of the Dueling Magic teachers and just arrived here, and yes, I did also have to fill out that much stuff."

She approached him.

"May I sit down?"

[Professor George Weasley]

George was glad he wasn't the only professor buried in paperwork, but Lyn's suggestion that they not be so formal made George realize just how afraid he was of making himself look like a total idiot. He chuckled. "Oh, okay, not so formal... sorry... I'm just not really used to being a professor..."

When Lyn asked to sit down, George immediately scooted his filing-cabinet-in-a-bag over to make room for her. "Of course, go ahead... Lyn." George felt awkward, calling a teacher by her first name, but he was a teacher too. It must have been acceptable, otherwise Lyn wouldn't have told him to do so.

"So, Dueling Magic," George murmured. "You must be Lucius' partner. I'm so sorry for you." George tinged his words with a bit of ire, but his regular voice prevailed. "He's a bit of an... sorry, he just rubs me the wrong way." Well, it was the truth. "Nothing against you. Or the class. Wish we'd had a Dueling Magic when I was in school. I might have actually passed that class. The closest we got was Lockhart's Dueling Club." George blinked. "When did you go to school here? Because if I pranked you at school, I'm really sorry and please don't kill me for not remembering you."

[Professor Lyn Collins]

Lyn sat down next to George, noticing he felt a little awkward calling her by her first name. It was easy for Lyn to talk with people she barely knew.

"You'll get used to be a professor quickly, trust me."

She took a deep breathe.

"Yeah, I'm Lucius' partner and I already noticed he's not very... let's say, welcomed among the other teachers. But you said you pranked others? Funny, I did also use to do it. You can't remember me because we actually never met before. I didn't go to Hogwarts."

[Professor George Weasley]

George sighed. "Really? I'll get used to it, you think? God I hope so... otherwise I'm gonna be jumpy all year. Worse than Quirrell..." George snickered at the memory. Quirrell... what a horrible teacher he was... George looked down at the paper in his hand. It was a form detailing what medical needs he had. George sighed, this time bemusedly. Well, other than the missing ear...

But George's ears perked up when Lyn mentioned she didn't go to Hogwarts. "Really? You look American... did you go to an American wizarding school, then? Or did you go to Beauxbatons, or Durmstrang?" George was curious, now. A girl from abroad! Now THAT was far more interesting than paperwork! His childish side came out quickly.

[Professor Lyn Collins]

Quirrell... Lyn didn't know of a professor Quirrell. She hadn't seen his name on the Teacher's list nor did ever someone else mention him. She was surprised for George's interest in her not having been at Hogwarts.

"I don't know about a Professor Quirrell. Is he a teacher who left Hogwarts?"

She asked. Then added.

"Well actually, I didn't went to any wizarding school. I was taught by my grandfather most of the time before I left home. After that I learnt many things on my travels."

[Professor George Weasley]

"Yeah, Quirrel was the DADA teacher in my third year," George responded, not doubting that she wouldn't know him. Most people remembered Remus Lupin, and Severus Snape, but the other DADA teachers tended to fall to the wayside. "He wasn't a great teacher... and then they found out he was playing host to L - to You-Know-Who..." George winced. "Yeah, he doesn't really need to be remembered."

George was a bit disappointed, however, when he learned that Lyn was, for lack of a better word, homeschooled. But she mentioned traveling - she'd probably led a very exciting life. "Travels? Like... for what? Or with what, I guess I mean... Just to grow, or did someone send you?" George paused. "Sorry... I keep thinking of better ways to ask my question." He smirked.

[Professor Lyn Collins]

((lol, you're George, not Fred ))

Lyn thought George would say the forbidden name. The name everyone feared - Lord Voldemort. But she decided not to mention his fall. She had heard about that, but never really knew what had truly happened. She was also not affraid of hearing or saying the name. May be because she never met Lord Voldemort before, but she also thought that Hmans are only bad when you fear them. The most they fear you, the worse you become. She didn't really fear anyone, but instead of it respected everyone. She then begun to answer George's answers about her traveling. She smiled as he said "I keep thinking of better ways to ask my question". She thought there was no way to it and answered right away.

"Well, to improve my dueling skills. I have always been taught dueling and I came to love it. I spent two years traveling and learnt many things I could not dream I'd learn them. I was then accepted in my hometown's wizarding school with 20 as a Dueling Magic teacher. I was like you in the beginning, but I got used to it; that's why I told you you'll get used to it.

[Professor George Weasley]

((Thanks for pointing it out, Lyn... you have no idea how bad I am at keeping it straight...))

George thought Lyn seemed a bit fearless, and she didn't even bristle at the mention of You-Know-Who. It was almost as if she didn't really understand what he did. George didn't bring any of that up, of course. She explained why she thought that he'd get used to being a professor... and he smiled widely.

"So you really think I can make it?" George squealed with delight. Someone had faith in him? Blasphemy! "Wow... not many people have a ton of faith in me. That's... that's pretty cool..." George grinned. "That's cool. I'm totally glad... because I was a bit of a... oh hell, I was a really bad troublemaker in school. I was terrible."

[Professor Lyn Collins]

((You're welcome George))

Lyn was glad she could make George some hope that he wouldn't fail as a teacher.

"You need to be more confident in yourself Professor Weasley."

She looked over at the forbidden forest.

"We were all a little troublemakers, weren't we?"

She said smiling.

"What did you use to do?"

[Professor George Weasley]

George folded his hands on his messenger bag. "What did I do? What DIDN'T I do is more like it... there's a whole filing cabinet in Filch's office full of stuff Fred and I did." George felt the usual pang of sadness at remembering it, but he didn't let it show at all. His features didn't change at all. "And there's the patch of swamp by the Charms classroom... that was us, too, except the entire FLOOR was a swamp. We really hated Umbridge. Really hated her."

George sblack personed. "But she's in Azkaban now. Crimes against Muggle-borns. So I got the last laugh." George shrugged. "We... we really didn't do well in school. Actually, that's an understatement. We failed most everything miserably. 3 OWLs each... my mom was thrilled." George rolled his eyes. "Did they do OWLs for homeschooled wizards, too?"

[Professor Lyn Collins]

From what Lyn could tell Fred is George's brother. She also had a brother, an older one, who she hasn't seen since she begun her teaching career. Lyn couldn't believe it, 3 OWLs each? She didn't know what to say first but then found the right words.

"3 OWLs? Me and my brother weren't saints either, so I don't really know why I'm so wondered. But we didn't have OWLs, our grandfather made sure we were harshly punished. Like he used to say: magic is to be taken seriously and not to play with. Well, me and Gabriel, my elder brother, used to, let's say misuse magic and then we always ended up without our wands cleaning whatever our grandfather thought needed to be cleaned. But that actually wasn't the harsh part of the punishment because he kept attacking us and we had to escape his attacks and clean. But no matter how many times he punished us that way, we kept on misusing magic. We actually liked that, like our grandfather called it, extra training."

She didn't even mention what she and gabriel used to do with potions and the punishment they got for that. They were, literally, little devils.

[Professor George Weasley]

George smirked. "It's always worse when you're family's around. I liked to make my mum really mad, all the time. I think I pranked her more than anyone. Fred liked to prank Percy, and I went along with it, but Mum was the most fun... but then she'd throw boxes at me." George recoiled, as if he was avoiding one at that moment.

"Yep, three whole OWLs," George grinned. "DADA, Charms, and... and something else..." George couldn't remember taking half of his OWL exams anyway; remembering the ones he aced would have been an act of God. Quite a teacher he was. George shrugged.

"Well, Headmaster Daylor didn't think I needed a lot of them for teaching first years how to fly brooms... I mean, Oliver Wood's on Puddlemere United, and you know how many OWLs he got? Four. One more than me."