Skating lesson

The time had barely reached five thirty when Ophelia was out of the Ravenclaw's towers, careful look in her eye and a board in her hand.
It was most likely that this thing was not known to the witches and wizards, they preferred other methods of transportation and though she liked the brooms and flying, the ground was her area of moving around and thus it would stay so.

It was amusing for her to pass the portraits which slept so quietly like real humans and never even blinked with an eye when she walked by, eyes curiously scanning the area. It was obvious by now that besides the houseelves who kept on cleaning or preparing the breakfast -- nobody was awake. And that's how she liked it.

Ophelia enjoyed early mornings the most. Nobody was around to toy with her or to say what was wrong or right. And, speaking of which, she heard or read nothing which would have denied skating in school. She knew that muggles didn't like it, but with a place that had moving stairs and monsters in the forests, this was probably one of the smallest things one could do to cause trouble. And, honestly, she didn't wish for the last one either. Ophelia simply had a desire to keep herself on the move and why not do it with something she loved?

Biting her lower lip, Ophelia climbed on the moving stairs and looked down. It appeared none of them "slept" even during the night which made things far more unique and interesting. Leaning forward on the board, she pushed in the speed before the board started sliding on the handrail.

In Selwyn's opinion, 5.30 was far too early to even think of being awake. Unfortunately, he had this awful job that included roaming the halls of Hogwarts, checking for misbehaving students.

At least if he did it during the week he was allowed to go home sleep in on weekends.

Few students were savvy enough to realise they could break curfew by getting up early and Selwyn rarely caught anyone when out on his morning walks. So the strangely familiar sound of spinning wheels echoing amongst the stairwells took him by surprise.

Selwyn looked up, trying to find the source of the noise, and then when he glimpsed the small figure still had to chart a course toward him (her? it?).

"Hey!" Selwyn winced at how the stairwells, empty of all but the two of them, made his voice sound so much louder.

"Get down off there!"

It felt great to be on the wheels again. And the speed with the wind that pushed her hair back and made her eyes narrow a bit were more than enough to make her feel awake and alive. A wide smile was adorning Ophelia's features, something that was both rare and odd: her braces glimmered in the bright light of goblets which were hanging from the walls.

Skating was now far more fun when the stairs kept moving so she had to react fast as to not ride against the wall or fall down.

That, however, almost would have happened when she heard a sudden loud voice which demanded her to get off of the stairs and stop skating. Ophelia gasped and jumped off just in time when the stairs changed their position once more. She fell against the wall and got up quickly and looked around.

Oh no... And here she had thought that there would be peace and silence in this early morning. Grimacing and rubbing her shoulder, she kicked the skateboard and grabbed the upper part of it. Hiding it behind her back, Ophelia looked at the professor with her cheeks flushing red. So now she was going to get into trouble, wasn't she?

Selwyn hurried up the stairs to where the child was attempting to hide a skateboard behind her back. Badly.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Okay, kid.  Name, house and year," he ordered.  "What possessed you to think skating on the staircases was a good idea?"

And why hadn't he thought of it when he was her age?

"You could have broken your neck."

Not that the healers couldn't fix that, but Selwyn wouldn't wish that on them with Dakota no doubt screaming up a storm in the Hospital Wing.

"Now, what's the deal?  Attention seeker? Rebel without a cause? Prankster? Pureblood princess wanting to piss off mummy and daddy, perhaps?" he asked.  "I did used to go to this school myself, you know.  I do know how this works."

Ophelia pouted her lips and looked away. Alright, now she was busted. What should she do now? Running was out of question, she was a slow one and besides -- what sort of an opinion would she leave of herself if she would not be able to defend her actions?

She looked up at him when he called her a "kid". Basically she did not mind when people did so; Ophelia really looked like a child despite her true age, so it did not bother her at all. "Ophelia Rosewille, Ravenclaw, Fifth year." She stood straight while responding, head tilted back so that she could see the professor's face.

Too bad.

Blushing, she looked away, at the stairs, and shrugged her shoulders. Her fun wasn't exactly suicidal, was it? She knew how to skate and balancing herself on the edges was not really hard for her. She felt at home most when she could just speed up on those four wheels and ride.

Again, at him mentioning that something could have happened to her, she shrugged. Honestly? No, she did not think she would have broken her neck. If she was truly good at anything, then it was really keeping herself from accidents. Or self inflicted harm. But it wasn't like that.

She stuttered now. She was none of the things he mentioned and Ophelia shook her head, still mute.

"Are you sure you're a fifth year?" Selwyn asked. "It's just that you don't look like a fifth year. Why are you trying to hide a skateboard behind your back if you're a fifth year? Are you really bad at shrinking charms or something? I should take house points for your lack of creativity, seeing as you come from Ravenclaw."

He smirked at her.

"So let me get this straight. Are you trying to tell me that this isn't some kind of stunt? You don't plan to harness that thing to broomsticks and invent some kind of new game? I would think that's the kind of thing Ravenclaws do in their spare time, not that I'd know. If it was a Slytherin on the other hand... Well, we'd just try to flog it to someone for all their pocket money."

Great. Now he was babbling and he still hadn't thought up a proper punishment for this girl. Although...

"I tell you what Miss I'm-A-Fifth-Year, how about you give me a good reason to not punish you and confiscate that thing? It may astonish you to know I know a lot of muggle kids who'd give their eye teeth for a board like that."

With a quick nod, Ophelia looked at her skateboard and sighed. He was right. But unfortunately she did not think of shrinking the board and fitting it into her pocket right when he had approached her. But whether or not she was bad at shrinking charms... No. But she felt like he did not need an actual reply on this one here.

Biting her lip, Ophelia shook her head. No, she did not wish to create a new game, skateboarding was already good enough, and neither was she planning on creating a new game of any sorts. Witches and wizards were already so fond of their brooms and her idea would just not be as popular. Easy as that.

Surprised, she stared at the professor. Oh, so now he was giving her an advice how to earn some more pocket money?

There was no punishment? No, not just yet. "I am a fifth year," she muttered under her breath, but as she saw there was no point in trying to convince the man to think otherwise, she simply gave up on this attempt and made no further comments. Now her mind was racing from one thing to another. She could write him a fourty page long essay about plants or human anatomy. "But it takes skill to know how to use this "thing"," exclaimed she in disbelief when he frightened her by confiscating her board.

"I don't know, I don't know... I can teach You how to skate? I don't know. I can write an essay? Stay after the lessons for a month or two?"

Selwyn laughed at that.


"Kid, both you and I know Magical Creatures is a dodgy subject.  I didn't even go to it when I was at school and they made me a professor, just because I'm part veela."


"So no, I don't want your essays, or for you to stay behind after class.  I would have to watch you if you did that."


"Skateboarding lessons, though..." he mused.  "That just might have feet.  Would you be teaching just me, or everyone?  I tell you, kid, this castle isn't what it used to be.  Too many snogging fourth years and not enough people trying to make a quick buck."


He sighed.


"God, I miss Ravenclaws with entrepreneurial skill."

Ophelia tilted her head and looked at the professor again. So this was the reason why she felt so odd while staring at him. It wasn't all about that "natural" beauty which he possessed, but also the magical aura that surrounded him. Now she felt foolish too.

Why he was confessing about his school years, she did not know, but neither did she say anything that would mirror her opinion on how odd it actually was for her.

She brightened up a bit when he took the skateboarding lessons in consideration and a small smile tingled in the corners of her lips. "Uh, just you, sir?" Ophelia did not wish to mess with other students. For as long as she did not interract with them much, that was alright. She had already encountered with those who saw her as a good victim to bully and that waas more than enough for the Ravenclaw.

"There are some still left, I suspect, but they just don't... walk around and announce their ideas." That was her guess, though.

This girl had clearly not been planning to scam anyone, Selwyn now realised.  She had no idea what she was getting into.

"Sure, just me," he agreed.  "Though I can't guarantee I'll be a fast learner.  I'm more used to brooms, you know."

In fact, he could guarantee the exact opposite.  Selwyn intended to make this as difficult as possible for the little tearaway.

"I'm looking forward to it already," he said.  "Don't forget to tell Professor Kubin you're serving detention with me in the afternoons."

He gave her his best angelic smile.