Post by Hikalyn Sarello on Dec 14, 2005 9:17:10 GMT
OOC: Yeah, I know it's crap. It was, quite seriously, all I could muster.
Aside from those not-so-rare times when Hikalyn simply chose to spend the night in London, rather than making the trek back to the school only to have to return again in the morning, the young woman's everyday journey into London and the Ministry had become something of a ritual between her and the pimple-faced conductor of the Knight Bus. It was always the same time, the same place, one day to the next, but Stan always asked her where she was headed anyway. He seemed to take it as a sort of running joke, after a while; at least, he always smiled when he said it.
This time, however, quite a few things were different. Such as the hour. It was earlier than she usually came out, much earlier. As the head of her department, she set her own hours, and came in fairly late in the morning, opting to stick around for the communal breakfast in the Great Hall. This morning, however, she had beat the sun out of bed. The sky hadn't even begun to lighten from its deep navy into grey predawn.
More significant was the burden that she was carting along. She usually didn't bring anything with her on these trips, other than a few Galleons shoved carelessly into pockets, but this time she was carrying a sizeable trunk in one hand, and a case that by its shape belonged to an acoustic guitar in the other. The simple wire cage that housed her barn owl Astrena floated along behind, apparently of its own accord.
The purple-clad conductor's eyebrows shot up when he took in those particular details. "Bit heavy loaded for a trip into London, aren'tchoo?" he inquired perfunctorily, but even as he did he was gesturing vigorously to the driver to load her luggage onto the bus. Ernie complied in his typical near-silence.
"I'm not going into London today," she replied quietly, meeting his eyes squarely.
The words obviously surprised him, causing him to stand a little straighter. They also surprised him into what was, for Stan, an unusual silence. "No?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously, as if he thought she had another surprise concealed up her sleeve, so to speak. Well, maybe she did. "Where then?"
The keen amethyst eyes became distant, their gaze straying from the conductor of the Knight Bus to something far away. "Rome."
His eyes nearly bugged out of his head at this calm pronouncement, and he practically choked on his words while trying to squeeze out the amount that the trip would cost her. Only halfway paying attention, Kalyn absently pulled some coins out of her pocket and shoved them into his fist. He glanced briefly at the coin spilling from his fingers, then shoved it all away without bothering to count.
Normally he managed to talk up a storm by the time she boarded the bus, the wild change in routine had apparently subdued him, for she was well-settled and the bus was just beginning to rev up when he spoke. Kalyn was paying him little attention, though, and it was only at his cleared throat that she came out of her reverie enough to address his delicate query. "No, it doesn't have anything to do with work."
She leaned back against the seat, eyes closed, although she was neither asleep nor even particularly relaxed. The position had the desired effect, though; the conductor subsided into silence, leaving her to the quiet of her own thoughts. Nothing to do with work, indeed. She supposed she could tell him that she no longer had a job, that she had resigned her position as the head of the Aurors, but she didn't really feel like pursuing the discussion to which such a declaration would inevitably lead.
Finally it was quiet. Even the insistent calls of duty, of guilt, she had managed to shut out, leaving her free to depart: Something she should have done a long time ago.
Aside from those not-so-rare times when Hikalyn simply chose to spend the night in London, rather than making the trek back to the school only to have to return again in the morning, the young woman's everyday journey into London and the Ministry had become something of a ritual between her and the pimple-faced conductor of the Knight Bus. It was always the same time, the same place, one day to the next, but Stan always asked her where she was headed anyway. He seemed to take it as a sort of running joke, after a while; at least, he always smiled when he said it.
This time, however, quite a few things were different. Such as the hour. It was earlier than she usually came out, much earlier. As the head of her department, she set her own hours, and came in fairly late in the morning, opting to stick around for the communal breakfast in the Great Hall. This morning, however, she had beat the sun out of bed. The sky hadn't even begun to lighten from its deep navy into grey predawn.
More significant was the burden that she was carting along. She usually didn't bring anything with her on these trips, other than a few Galleons shoved carelessly into pockets, but this time she was carrying a sizeable trunk in one hand, and a case that by its shape belonged to an acoustic guitar in the other. The simple wire cage that housed her barn owl Astrena floated along behind, apparently of its own accord.
The purple-clad conductor's eyebrows shot up when he took in those particular details. "Bit heavy loaded for a trip into London, aren'tchoo?" he inquired perfunctorily, but even as he did he was gesturing vigorously to the driver to load her luggage onto the bus. Ernie complied in his typical near-silence.
"I'm not going into London today," she replied quietly, meeting his eyes squarely.
The words obviously surprised him, causing him to stand a little straighter. They also surprised him into what was, for Stan, an unusual silence. "No?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously, as if he thought she had another surprise concealed up her sleeve, so to speak. Well, maybe she did. "Where then?"
The keen amethyst eyes became distant, their gaze straying from the conductor of the Knight Bus to something far away. "Rome."
His eyes nearly bugged out of his head at this calm pronouncement, and he practically choked on his words while trying to squeeze out the amount that the trip would cost her. Only halfway paying attention, Kalyn absently pulled some coins out of her pocket and shoved them into his fist. He glanced briefly at the coin spilling from his fingers, then shoved it all away without bothering to count.
Normally he managed to talk up a storm by the time she boarded the bus, the wild change in routine had apparently subdued him, for she was well-settled and the bus was just beginning to rev up when he spoke. Kalyn was paying him little attention, though, and it was only at his cleared throat that she came out of her reverie enough to address his delicate query. "No, it doesn't have anything to do with work."
She leaned back against the seat, eyes closed, although she was neither asleep nor even particularly relaxed. The position had the desired effect, though; the conductor subsided into silence, leaving her to the quiet of her own thoughts. Nothing to do with work, indeed. She supposed she could tell him that she no longer had a job, that she had resigned her position as the head of the Aurors, but she didn't really feel like pursuing the discussion to which such a declaration would inevitably lead.
Finally it was quiet. Even the insistent calls of duty, of guilt, she had managed to shut out, leaving her free to depart: Something she should have done a long time ago.
