Familiarity and Knowledge

[Claude Laroche]

The old oak doors groaned as they were opened just enough to let the petite body of a 5th year through the crack. They groaned once more when they were closed and the girl couldn't help but look around the large room to see if anyone had heard the noise. Luckily there was no one sitting at the long wood tables or hiding away within the alleys that the enormous bookcases formed. Claude breathed a sigh of relief before hiking her messenger bag up further on her shoulder. She made her way through the stacks of old parchment, breathing in the musky smell of old glue and dust, before finally setting her things down in the one section that held true interest to her curious mind. With her bag on the floor beside her claimed chair, she glanced around the empty aisles once more before climbing up on the study table and reading the titles that surrounded her.

She supposed that she could have used magic to find books that would not only keep her interest but also would provide the knowledge that she sought, but she had learned from her mother that as simple as magic would be to use, it placed lasting damage on the precious artifacts. Claude could still remember the first time she had cleaned her family's home library with magic how her muggle mother had taken one of the books down from the shelves to show her daughter the damage and to remind her that if she were continue borrowing books, she would cease the unnecessary use of magic. Needless to say, from that day foreword, the french witch hadn't used magic when it pertained to books.

Having studied the titles around her, Claude finally found a few that looked promising. After she had taken them from their places, using magic for only a few that were too high for her to reach, she placed them in a pile on the table before climbing down and brushing her footprints off the wood.

Reaching down, she also produced a roll of parchment from her bag as well as a quill and ink bottle to write with. It may have been past curfew for Hogwarts, but to Claude Laroche, it was never too late to study the origins of magical charms. Without further adieu, the reddish brunette's head was bent, her unbound hair teasing the edges of the open book.

[Lucien Vilette de Séraphin]

The hour was rather late in the evening ... and thus Lucien was wide awake. Much to his relief, the lethargy that had persisted throughout the day (and throughout classes) was finally beginning to fade, and though he would have much preferred it went away sooner ... well, one could not be too picky when it came to living a diurnal lifestyle.

That particular evening found the vampire pacing restlessly about his quarters. Even when he was granted the reprieve of sleep (no matter the hour), it was flighty sleep at best, leaving Lucien half-rested, his mind alert but his senses stunted. He had never been fond of his quarters at the castle; while they were accommodating - perhaps even accommodating enough to match the vampire's discerning tastes - they were still not truly his own, and decades of paranoia had made him quite adverse to sleeping anywhere that was not his own place for more than a few days.

Thus by now he had long since given up on rest and had decided that tonight would have to be a productive one. The last few had been spent in idleness; he'd taken a stroll out at the Forbidden Forest one night, penned a mindless sonata the next, and for all those in between, he'd spent most of it playing with Félix, Charlotte's children (the ten or so he had brought; Acromantula clutches were by the hundreds!), or whatever random magical creatures he happened to have with him on that given night.

After scooping up the list of titles Valeri had sent to him via owl, Lucien departed from his quarters to navigate the halls of the castle to his destination for that night: the library. The walk was pleasant, admittedly; with the halls empty of students (for the most part), he had only the grinding of the staircases as they shifted and the clicking of the heels of his boots reverberating off of the marble walls to keep him company.

Winter was coming (though to the vampire, accustomed to the humid Paris and the Mediterranean Marseilles, any day of the year in Scotland felt like winter), and with it came the cold; Lucien pulled his frock coat tighter about him as he arrived at the doors of the library. He paused just outside, however, his pale gaze lingering upon the door handles; was that a hint of lingering warmth he detected? The heat disturbed the air currents in patterns familiar to the vampire, and he raised a brow to himself before shrugging and pushing the door open, lightly stepping inside.

The creak of the door and the clicking of his heels heralded his arrival, but he did not appear to be anxious about encountering another here; if there was indeed someone else present, it would simply be a fellow staff member or a student out after hours.

After shutting the door behind him, he swept the tail of his coat aside and briskly started down one aisle, pulling from his coat pocket that list scribbled on parchment. With a white-gloved hand he held the paper up; he required no light to read by, but the titles were unfamiliar to him. Valeri had only mentioned that they would probably be in the restricted section.

The scent of a human suddenly registered with his senses, and he paused mid-step at the entrance to the next aisle. Female. No older than seventeen. A student, no doubt. Little else could be discerned from that distance however, and with a curious tilt of his head, Lucien rounded the next corner, his pace having slowed to a meander.

"I must say that studying in the library at this hour is a rather unconventional practice, though perhaps only because the proclaimed 'curfew' detains most rule-followers from doing so," he stated calmly by way of greeting. His tone was neutral - neither accusatory nor amused though a hint of the latter might have been imagined - and his accent with the faintest of lilts, for the most part undeterminable.

His gaze swept over the student in appraisal, and after a moment he gestured consideringly towards her with the hand still holding the parchment. "Ah, oui, Mademoiselle Laroche." He recalled her from a past class or two.

[Claude Laroche]

Claude’s mind was so busy soaking up the new information that the heavy texts brought to her mind that she barely remembered to cast a lumos spell when the lighting from the window became too dark to read by. Her wand had been placed between the top book on her pile and the one underneath so that she didn’t have to hold it and could simply read and write important or interesting facts onto her parchment. As the late hour grew to full blown night, the petite girl remained at the desk slowly making her way through the originally thick pile. She was down to the last three books of the stack when a voice interrupted her quest.

“I must say that studying in the library at this hour is a rather unconventional practice, though perhaps only because the proclaimed ‘curfew’ detains most rule-followers from doing so.”

Her movements froze as the silky voice spoke, breaking into her private world she had been sucked into. Claude looked out the window to see the darkness of the sky, guessing the time to be far past midnight, before she slowly turned to the man who had found her out of bed at such an ungodly hour. His pale skin stood out in the dark, brightened only slightly by her wand light, making him appear to be one of the ghosts that haunted Hogwarts. But she knew he wasn’t a ghost.

“Ah, oui, Mademoiselle Laroche.”

The girl visibly shivered as the professor for the Care of Magical Creatures said her name like it was nothing to him. Professor Séraphin had always set her on edge, but now that he had found her in the library while he looked like a walking corpse, the edge was behind her. She now found herself within a warped emotional realm of panic and curiosity, flight or fight.

“P-professor Séraphin!” She squeaked out, fumbling for her wand that had been pressed between the books. “I am sorry but books are interesting.” She added in a calmer voice. Really, was studying in the library, after curfew, when no one else was around to disturb her, such a crime? The answer she knew, was yes.

[Lucien Vilette de Séraphin]

As far as Lucien was concerned, out of class context, Lucien and Claude were simply two other 'patrons' of the library. Oh, it was certainly his assigned 'duty' to berate her for being out late and he was probably equally obligated to send her back to her common room, but did he personally care to do anything of that nature? Admittedly ... no. From what he could see, the girl was simply studying, and perhaps his nocturnal habits sympathized with her odd choice of hour even though anyone else would have probably found it odd.

"Ah, fear not mademoiselle," he reassured her distractedly, briefly glancing back down to the paper he was still holding. "I find these hours to be the most productive myself." With a faint smile, he spared another look towards the stack of books and then found himself feigning a frown. "Though I do have to admit that I find myself a tad disappointed in the fact that there are no books relating to my subject there in your little collection." He gestured again before chuckling quietly and slowly meandering around to the next aisle which marked the start of the restricted section.

Beginning to sift through the books in search for anything on Valeri's list, Lucien sighed to himself, his expression dull. Aside from the monotony of his task, he was in a relatively good mood regardless of whether or not Claude was on edge; perhaps it was because of his amicable disposition that night that he had simply dismissed her violation of the rules.

"So tell me," he eventually inquired from around the corner, "Have you ever been through the restricted section? My ... friend has interest in a few titles and I do not frequent this particular library."

[Claude Laroche]

“Ah, fear not mademoiselle. I find these hours to be the most productive myself.”

The girl’s jaw dropped as her professor didn’t raise his voice, deduct house points, or send her back to her bed. Really, Professor Séraphin was an enigma to her. She closed her mouth as the man finally did scold her, not on her rule breaking, but because she wasn’t studying the subject he taught.

“Charms is first O.W.L. exam, Professor.” She explained using logic instead of the reason that she truly enjoyed the subject, hence her need to study it first before she moved onto subjects she had no care for at all, such as Divination. Truth be told, Claude probably wouldn’t bother studying for the useless class anyways. “I think to study in order of exams. That way, I can be ready.”

By the time she had finished speaking, the man was one bookcase over, within the beginning of the restricted section. She could hear the heavy covers sliding against each other as the books were slid on and off their shelves, presumably so that the blond could read them. Claude also couldn’t help but notice the lack of a faint light between the books that would have been a tell tale sign of lumos.

“Professor? Do your eyes hurt? You read in dark.” she asked to satisfy her curiosity. Maybe she might learn something about the enigma of a wizard. Just as she asked her question, the man poked his head out from the side of the bookcase separating them asking if she had ever been within the restricted section. She shook her head in the negative.

“Non, Professor. I have not the need to see them. I am curious though.” She admitted. So far her thirst for knowledge hadn’t lead her within the normally roped off section of the library, but she suspected that with her more difficult classes, such as Defense Against the Dark Arts, she would be searching the forbidden texts contents just so that she could be on par with the knowledge within her class. Hopefully Professor Snape wouldn’t catch onto her extra studying with his subject. Merlin only knew what that man was capable of.

[Lucien Vilette de Séraphin]

"Oh, oui, all of that academic nonsense," Lucien sighed; the statement was odd coming from a professor, but then the vampire had never really fit the standard mold of 'professor' in the first place. "Nonetheless, very good; it is the obligation of a student to study, after all." Even if said studying was taking place far past conventional hours. Still, the statement had been an afterthought; just a way to maybe reaffirm (more for himself than for Claude) that he was supposed to be encouraging responsible behavior ...

Oh whatever. Glancing back down to the parchment, he rolled his eyes and set it atop one of the shelves in plain view so that he could carry on rummaging through books but with both hands. He took a moment to remove his gloves, not wishing for them to collect dust, before he carried on with greater determination.

"The dark? Oh, why yes, I am reading in it. Does that pose a problem?" Lucien inquired absently from behind the shelf. He was forced to pause as the book he'd opened suddenly began to sing, and he blinked at it, staring curiously. His musically obsessed inclined mindset quickly analyzed the melodic stanza, but finding nothing of particular interest there, he shrugged and closed it again.

Returning his attention to the girl's former question, Lucien found himself laughing quietly in amusement. "Ah, but it is no secret, my nocturnal nature, is it?' he added almost chidingly, and indeed such was the case; unlike his son currently in attendance at the school, Lucien himself had never bothered to conceal his vampiric identity from staff and students alike.

"A pity, really, though if ever your quest for knowledge brings you here, I do suggest a pair of heavy work gloves and perhaps some ear plugs." The last part was barely heard as the next book he'd opened started screaming the moment he'd cracked the cover, and with a disdainful grumble he slammed it shut again. At this rate, someone else might end up finding them here with all the racket these books produced!

[Claude Laroche]

“Ah, but it is no secret, my nocturnal nature, is it?”

Claude blushed and dipped her head lower to her open text. She had heard rumours about the man a bookcase over, strange things such as his goblet at meals was filled with blood, he would avoid all contact with sunlight if it were possible, his eyes were just to oddly coloured, and his canines too long and sharp looking. She swallowed the slight fear and forcibly replaced it with her curiosity, which luckily she had much of.

“Non. I just think that it would hurt your eyes. Ah, damage your eyes.” She said softly, testing how his hearing was as well as explaining her words. “I hear strange things about you.” She admitted, her fingers holding her quill tightly. So tightly, in fact, that it chose that moment to snap in two. The broken piece was sharp as it scrapped across her finger leaving a thin scratch, yet on her finger, deep enough to draw a thinner line of blood to the surface of her fair skin. However the shock of having her only quill on her break, she yelped in her surprise before dropping the useless quill and glaring at it.

“Pourquoi t'es-tu cassé?” she asked the inanimate object before her. Just then an unearthly scream sounded before being silenced not a second or two after it had started. Claude forgot about her useless writing utensil and moved to the other side of the bookcase to see her professor practically daring a book on his own work table to take a wand and Ipera Ivanesca itself out of existence. The girl could only guess that the text had been the reason for the scream.

She couldn’t help but chuckle at the man’s expression, forgetting all about the school’s theories of Professor Séraphin being a vampire. “I see what you mean about ear plugs,” She said with amusement and a laugh. “One could go, ah, what is the word? Deaf!”

[Lucien Vilette de Séraphin]

(ooc: 'Pourquoi vous êtes-vous cassé?' or in familiar: 'Pourquoi t'es-tu cassé?' ;D)

The girl's attempt to speak softly did not go unnoticed, but of all five senses Lucien was probably most attuned to hearing; one could blame the combination of his vampiric physiology and his prodigious musical talent. Though it was subconscious, even whilst the girl spoke his hearing was constantly analyzing her pitch, tone, volume, and even tempo in the manner of an auditory fingerprint; the combination of data could be identified to her and her alone.

"Fear not for my health, my dear; quite the contrary, should it not be for your own sight that you show concern? The lumos spell is hardly accommodating; personally I never found the blue tint of its light to be too visually appealing myself ... " His tone was idle, conversational; he didn't really seem to expect a reply as he was really just rambling. "Strange things? If I may inquire, how strange?" Another question, almost rhetorical; the vampire found himself laughing one of his quietly amused laughs again from behind the bookcase.

The sharp scent of blood pierced the air, and Lucien raised a brow to himself but continued to rummage. He couldn't deny that his sense of smell had already honed in on the scent, evaluating it just as he had assessed Claude's voice before; there wasn't much more information to gather through scent though, or at least nothing he did not already know. Taste was necessary to acquire anything further.

"Voici," Lucien offered simply when Claude rounded the corner into the restricted section. From his coat pocket he produced a small bandage, enough to patch up the little scratch. "Be grateful that I do not have thirst tonight, mademoiselle." Another quiet chuckle followed the remark, and his pale gaze swept consideringly over the girl's hand before returning to the shelf.

"Alors, vous-êtes française, n'est-ce pas? D'où venez-vous, en France? Ou votre famille?" he inquired conversationally, distractedly, as he pulled down a book that seemed to interest him; it did not scream, for one, but the pages appeared to have musical manuscripts written all over them, and quickly the vampire began to read through them as if he were reading any book written in a 'normal' language.

"Moi, je suis né à Versailles, mais il y a trés longtemps." Another quiet chuckle, and he absently ran his fingertips over the open page. "Ça, c'est interessant ... "

[Claude Laroche]

(ooc: thanks! I changed it. And you may think this is weird, but I can read French without a translator and guess the basics of what’s going on. I just double checked just in case and I got most of it right! Hehe. I only used the translator this time for things I didn’t remember, please tell me if it’s alright)

Claude didn’t notice the thin line of blood on her finger until her professor pulled out a muggle bandage and held it out to her. She looked back and forth between the man and her hand before stepping forward once assured that he wasn’t thirsty. She took the offered item with her uninjured hand before taking a step back and ripping the sanitary packaging off of the bandage and covering her scrape.

“Merci beaucoup. Ainsi, les rumeurs sont varies? Vous êtes un vampire?” She questioned, still more curious than fearful though. “Et oui, je suis française. J'étais né dans Lyon. Professor, ne devriez-vous pas savoir que je suis un étudiant de transfert de Beauxbatons ? Mon pere est le ambassadeur pour le ministère de magie; par conséquent la raison du transfert.”

Happy that she could converse within her native language, Claude went back to her own table and gathered up her books before transferring the arm load of them to the vampire’s table. She allowed them to slide from the comfort of her arms to the hard surface of the wooden table with a thud. Her wand, still illuminating the soft blue light of lumos was on top of the pile and she took it into her hand to cancel the spell. Almost immediately the library was plunged back into darkness and Claude found herself to be blind if it weren’t for the minimal starlight that was let in through the large windows. There was no moon that night so the stars was all she had. After a minute, her eyes adjusted to the new lighting and she couldn't help but take in her professor’s in the silvered shadows. Somehow, it seemed natural, but then again, he was a vampire and as a rule they were creatures of the night. Yet she had seen him in sunlight with his chosen teaching subject, so it seemed that they didn't have to stay within the confines of night.

“Accio bougie!” she called out with a flick of her wand, summoning a fat white candle from somewhere within the castle. Hopefully Filch or his cat didn’t see the white wax stick flying around before it came to land in her hand. “Oui, le bleu est plus mauvais que jaune ou le blanc lumière. Est-ce que cela vous dérange si je l'allume?”

[Lucien Vilette de Séraphin]

(ooc: I understand; comprehension in foreign languages is usually easier than writing.

Also, may I suggest simply writing Claude's French dialogue in English, but maybe in italics or something to denote that she is speaking in French? It's ... kind of obvious that you're using a translator because I get what you're trying to say, literally, but the structure is so incorrect that it's obscuring your intended meaning more often than not. =/ And it also kind of comes off as sloppy and unauthentic. Writing in English and just mentioning the person is talking in another language is usually what I do when dealing with languages with which I am not familiar enough. =D)

Lucien smirked a thin smirk to himself at the rather blatantly stated question. He didn't mind, though; for one who favored fanciful and indirect speech, even he grew tired of 'beating around the bush' at times. "J'espère que ce soit évident," he murmured simply, still somewhat distractedly, his gaze still trained on the book; obviously he had become sidetracked from Valeri's little 'shopping list,' but then, music did have that effect on him. Nonetheless, the topic of his vampirism didn't seem to bother him in the least, though Claude's question about it hadn't really been personal anyhow.

"À Lyon? Interessant," Lucien added absently; he had somewhat expected it, though his interest was piqued at the mention of her father's work. At any rate, it would explain how Mademoiselle Laroche had been in attendance at Beauxbatons.

"Je vois, je vois," he went on, scooping up Valeri's list and pocketing it before scooping up the heavy book of music to bring back to the table. The vampire obviously found more interest in that than whatever it was he had been sent to the library for, and after carefully laying the book down atop the table as if it were a fragile object, about to break, he pulled out a chair and swept the tail of his coat out of the way before lowering himself into his seat, the simple action a surprising example of grace.

Despite his obvious fascination with the book, it wasn't any extra effort to pay attention to the student. He noted the change in lighting though his senses didn't really care; it was still dim enough in the room, spelling optimal conditions for the vampire. Too much light tended to make him sleepy, though.

"The candle is fine," he clarified in a distracted murmur as he pulled his journal out from his coat along with an inkpen. Propping the open journal up against the edge of the table, he deftly began to copy the lines of written music from the book he'd taken from the restricted section. Apparently there had to be something special about the book if it was even in the restricted section in the first place - otherwise, however, it simply looked like any other collection of etudes.

"Alors, votre père; est-il un ambassadeur avec le ministère français ou le ministère anglais? Si français, pourquoi est-ce necessaire que votre famille habite à l'Angleterre? Est-ce que le travail à long terme?" Lucien was naturally curious; he had had plenty of trouble over the recent years dealing with the ministries of whatever country in which he and his family happened to be operating at the time - namely in the States, in England, and in France - and on the side he was always looking for the opportunity to establish and widen connections.

Even whilst he questioned the girl, however, he continued to write, his air idle as if this meeting at this hour were entirely normal.

[Claude Laroche]

(ooc: yes, I was thinking of doing that while i was being bored.)

Claude nodded her thanks before pointing the tip of her wand to the candle’s wick and lighting it aflame. She set the wax pillar on top the table and sat herself in one of the chairs across from the vampire. While Professor Séraphin wrote what appeared to be notes in a journal of sorts, the French girl took the last charm book she had been reading and opened it on the table in front of her, determined to at least get a bit more work done before she called it a night.

“Father is the French ambassador within the English Ministry. He is new to the position though, and I can’t help but worry about how he’s holding up. It’s not like France was affected nearly as much as the United Kingdom during the previous or the brewing war. Sure, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had a few bases within France, but they were still along the border of the countries and therefore only involved a few provinces with the battles.”[/i] She giggled as she remembered how her father had revealed to his family his new position with both shock and awe. No one within the small household would have guessed that the French Minister had decided that a lawyer would have been suited for the position of ambassador, especially during the time of rising war.

Her giggles softened until they were no more and her eyes turned back to the candlelit pages of the text in front of her. “Father and Mother didn’t wish to be separated, and so we picked up and moved to where the Ministry placed us. The only one who chose to stay behind was my brother, Stephane; only because he refused to change his university or leave his girlfriend. Ah, love, it is the life, blood, and curse of the French people. Still, I am glad he found it.”[/i]

Realizing that she was ranting, Claude blushed and unrolled the parchment she had begun taking notes in. She reached for her quill before she remembered that she had foolishly only brought one with her and it was now laying on the table a bookcase over, utterly useless. “Professor? Do you happen to have an extra quill? I broke my only one and there is so much more for me to study.”[/i]