The Game Played Right (Joram/open)

[Roderick Giovanni]

The night was cold, but the warmth in Roderick's chest from the sight of Hogwarts helped him to ignore the weather. This was his school, as it was so many others. It was late and classes were over, he had even missed dinner. He looked down at his silver pocket watch. He was on time, things at the ministry had kept him, not to mention traveling to Hogwarts took time in it's own. Sliding through the large double doors to the entry hall Rod set his bag down. It even smelled as he remembered. Over twenty years since he had been here, the place he loved. Sweat blood and tears were all shed within these walls, and his children had both attended, one of which still did. He wanted to see her, hold her again. The letters were nice but nothing compared to actually holding his baby girl in his arms. Glancing back down Roderick looked at the watch again. He was late, but that was to be expected. Waiting on a Mortelle was usual, and he should have expected it.

Joram knew Rod, only if a little, The son of his best friend. For once Rod was not burdened by time right now. He had lessons planned three weeks out and had nothing better to do tomorrow than get used to the castle again, that and see his daughter. It was quiet, no doubt the students were settling down to finish last minute homework and get a nights sleep. Rod stifled a yawn, tired from the road. Leaning on the cold stone Rod waited to hear footsteps. ”If he is still awake I think I will be lucky.” he thought to himself.

Looking around he noted the pictures, some of the wizards in the paintings looking at him, squinting and pointing. They remembered him no doubt. Rod grinned slightly, he used to be head of his class, but that was twenty years ago, if not more. None of the students here would remember him, but then again that was kind of the point. Roderick was here on ministry business. Voldemort was interested in Hogwarts, he always had been but now more than ever. It was Rod's job not only to teach, but to get an idea of what was going on. Dumbledor was on board for the plan, since Rod was more than qualified for the position of Ancient Runes teacher. Needless to say, Rod would be noticed, and he knew that. How he handled himself that would determine what happened. Glancing back down at the silver watch he sighed and picked some dust off his vest. He was dressed nice, like always. Nice dark gray slacks and a deep blue vest over a long sleeve shirt covered by deep blue robes. Footsteps echoed from the hall in front of him. Standing Rod straightened his robes and waited.

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[vicente joram mortelle]

When he received the owl from his father groaned, why the hell did it have to be him to greet the new professor? It was even worse that it was one of those fucking Giovanni, prim and proper people. Granted they were all related to him he could care even less that before. It was bad enough to walk the halls with the twins and that wasn't pleasant. Thankfully Oliver has left the country and made way toward America. He didn't know what the hell he was getting himself into, leaving his family to go study some sort of science that only muggles had a care about. He pulled on his jeans and forced himself out of the common room. Least to say he was not looking forward to this evening.

Knowing damn well that Roderick was an Auror he didn't want him dappling in his business, the question was why he was here. There had to of been a reason and if he could tip of Jamison and Lestrange that would be even better. Though thankful it was Friday night he didn't have to go to sleep for a few more hours, since there was a heated conversation between Jamison and Gates in the common room, he was somewhat okay with leaving. It was bad watching the two of them fight over his cousin. She was okay, he guessed, but there was no way he was going to side with Gates on this one, he was all for Jamison.

Grabbing his sweater he started to wander the halls not particularly sure as to what direction he was headed. He knew he was meeting Giovanni at the entrance hall, though he wasn't really sure why it had to be him. Taking his time Joram wound through the halls, the sun was slowly setting over the lake and he grumbled slightly. It wasn't the best of nights, not with all this bickering going on in the Common Room. Lestrange was pissed at Echoes, Jamison was pissed at Gates, he had to leave. Even though he sort of adored the way Jamison held himself, he couldn't take the fighting that was going on. They were all sort of supposed to be a team, and that wasn't really happening.

Finally decided to find a staircase that would take him where he needed to go and low and behold he saw a dark figure silhouette against the walls. He knew the height wasn't normal so he knew that it was his uncle. "Evenin'," Joram mumbled, he wasn't to pleased about the appearance of an Auror, but what could he do? It's not like he was going to get any information out of the Mortelle boy. "Why the hell are you here? Did my father send you to check on me?" It was a snide remark out of his lips, but he wasn't going to let Rod get the upper hand. "Why didn't you have that brat of a daughter come greet you, that would of been more logical, no? Come on, I don't have all night, I'm missing the Friday Night Fights of the Slytherin Common room."

{word count} 569
{comments} bwweeehehe
{tags} Colle you're more than welcome to join, also anyone else can show up. Tis an open thread!!! <3

[Colle Reid Jamison]

Some people just don’t listen!

Frustration and a sense of foreboding despair simply fuelled the one emotion that this Slytherin truly understood; anger. It was an emotion that he never really wished to toss in the face of a certain member of the Gates family and yet all the same he was stuck in an impossible situation. Every teenager has probably come across the same problem as Colle’s facing right now, but in this situation deeper, far more serious issues come into effect. Colle knows all too well the repercussions that Kaine’s choice of girlfriend would have upon his family, perhaps even upon their friendship, as he has absolutely no intentions of ever accepting Adeline into his life. In any way, shape or form. Well, her death would most likely make him far more fond of her.. perhaps not fond, but it’ll definitely make her more acceptable. Nobody can cause much trouble once they’re six feet under.

Colle had quickly exited the common room after the verbal fight between himself and Kaine grew to almost physical levels. On many an occasion him and Kaine had progressed into actually punching each other, they’ve beaten each other before, completely forgetting their close friendship until they’ve vented enough to calm down a little. They’ve never really used spells, curses or hexes against each other though, he wouldn’t even think about using anything too severe on the other Slytherin. It was nothing to do with the fact that Colle’s not entirely that adept at charms, he’s fine with curses, he just respects his friend far too much to do that. Tonight Colle wasn’t really in the mood for breaking Kaine’s nose, nor was he in the mood to take a trip to the hospital wing to get his own face fixed. So he’d left, walked out after warning his friend to not follow.

The quidditch pitch was the first place that he thought about going to, there was something about the sport that cleared his head more than simply sitting in solitude. He needed a cigarette and he wanted to just get away from the confines of the large castle. Being out of the common room after curfew wasn’t a problem for him, he doubted he’d come across anybody who would give a crap anyway. Which was true, the first person he spotted just so happened to be a fellow Slytherin, somebody who he was pretty sure wouldn’t mind being out after hours, as far as he knows not even the Slytherin prefects are one hundred per cent behind the curfew.

Colle got to the entrance hall just in time to hear Vicente, who Colle’s pretty sure prefers to be called Joram, complained about missing the Slytherin common room fights. Automatically a scowl pulled at his lips, a sense of annoyance jolting through his body, “we ain’t doing it for your entertainment, Mortelle..” He would have loved to have just snapped at him, as it is his tone of voice was nothing less than civil. Colle may have anger management issues but he sure as hell knows who to keep on his good side, Joram was one Slytherin he actually wanted to stay on pleasant enough terms with.

He hadn’t spotted Roderick to begin with, of course he knew that he was speaking to somebody but he never really thought that the other person would be a professor. The scowl on his lips lessened a little as he exited the dungeons, his tall, lithe figure faintly illuminated by a torch upon the wall, “Illicit meetings in the entrance hall..? It’s not very inconspicuous now, is it?”

[Roderick Giovanni]

Rod straightened as Joram walked in. He looked tired and not in a mind to accept Rod with open arms. "Evening Joram." Rod said, biting his tongue at the boy. He was disrespectful, and after a long trip and the hassle of the ministry it wore on Rod to have to keep his words calm. "Your father wanted to know if you were enjoying it here, and he wanted to give you this." Rod produced a letter from inside his robes and handed it to Joram. "And I do feel that something from your father is more important than the so called fights in your common room. He misses you and wishes you well in your studies, of which you have been poorly." Rod paused for a moment to catch his tongue. "Well, If you would help me to my room I would much appreciate it." Rod took a step forward as another student came from the bowels of the school. So many students out of bed with a world in the shape it is. Rod sighed to himself. "And out of bed after curfew isn't?" Rod said taking a step towards the boy. Starting his teaching career off on this foot would be sour indeed, so Rod decided to let it slide for now. "I could punish you, but I won't not tonight as it is my first night back after so many years. Good evening I'm Roderick Giovanni, pleasure to meet you Mr..." Rod kept a polite smile on his face despite how tired he was.

[vicente joram mortelle]

Joram crossed his arms and looked up at his uncle with a smug look, but his voice was directed toward Colle the instant he piped up. "I don't watch for entertainment Jamison, I just like to watch for personal reasons, more or less pleasure." That was close enough to the truth Joram was about to get at, hopefully Colle would get the hint and let it lay low for a bit, but there was no way he would say anything else about the subject, unless in private, oh the things he would say.

An off-white paper was presented to him and he rose an eyebrow. "My father could careless about how I'm doing, if it was so drastically important he would of owled it to me. As for you know, I'm doing fine, granted not by Giovanni standards, like you and your high and mighty children. The pride that rolls off of your skin is sickening," he knew that he wouldn't get far talking to Roderick this way, and he wasn't looking forward to the rest of the school year. "Besides, I've better things to do than show you around a school you already know."

Some sort of defense stood when he talked to Colle and it pulled at his heart strings. "He's with me, if you've an issue with it then you can find your own room, think of it as the buddy system, who knows what creeps in the night? That's why you're here though isn't it? To protect dear old Hogwarts from a creepy attack from things that go bump in the night." He leaned against the wall sort of blocking Colle from his uncle subconsciously. "Come on we've not all night to sit here and chit-chat, you've got lessons to plan and I've got other things that need my immediate attention." Slowly he pushed the note into his pocket and sighed. "Jamison are you going to tag along? I won't mind, though I don't know how you'll handle escorting Adeline's father through the castle, since you've a tiff with her. I'd like some company that throws a more comforting edge to my palate."

[Colle Reid Jamison]

Colle raised an eyebrow as he was spoken to, Rod's polite smile had absolutely no chance of being returned, especially after he'd introduced himself as a Giovanni. It was only the presence of Joram and his body making a clear block between the two of them that prevented Colle from making some kind of scathing remark or possibly even threatening harm. Not that he'd get particularly far to be honest, when it comes to spells Colle's limited to curses, particularly the unforgivable kind and performing one of those upon a professor wouldn't go down well. The fact that Roderick's also an Auror stands against him too, Colle despises anybody within that profession but he does know how well they can defend themselves.

"Jamison. And believe me, the pleasure's all yours, Sir." It wasn't the most polite he could be but at the same time it was pretty much all he could muster the will to say. The emphasis to the 'sir' made it sound a lot less respectful than he'd intended really, but sometimes deeply embedded personality traits outdoes willpower.

Needless to say, Colle was surprised when Joram stuck up for him, it wasn't something that he expected and truthfully he didn't know how to respond to it and so he remained uncharacteristically silent. Rod was here to solve the problems within the school? That intrigued Colle, he could think of a hundred different questions that he wanted to put past Joram right here, right now, but with the Professor's presence he really couldn't ask a single one of them. It was frustrating to hold himself back so very much. All he'd wanted to do was go for a wander without the hustle and bustle of the many mudbloods that usually storm the halls during day light hours. Just to have a little privacy in someplace he's supposed to call home shouldn't be that difficult, surely.

"Tag along?" Usually, in different circumstances he would have found that quite insulting. True, that'd be what he'd be doing, but wording it in that way almost made himself seem desperate for company. Was he really looking to help escort somebody to their room? It seemed like a little too much effort. But then he was given a little piece of information that made him falter in denying the invitation. This man was Adeline's father? There was a noticeable response in his body language more than anything else, fingers curled into loose fists, jaw tightening as he bit back a slur of insults about Adeline that he doubted Roderick would appreciate at all.

"Go for it.. It's not somewhere stupid though, is it? Fuck walking too far." Colle really doesn't like stairs. He also doesn't want Joram to know that he actually does want to follow, complaining a little would also be completely out of character for him. Plus, if it means he gets to discover out where Rod's rooms are then it would be worth the numerous flights of stairs, "though if i'm keeping you in some decent company you owe me, Mortelle." He was only half joking, Colle always wants something in return for the little things he does.