The Dare of Dawn (Helga)

"Most of our students have just gotten their first wands so that is not so unusual. Theory is a good starting place but that doesn't always mean one can perform the spell. I have no doubts about her abilities though. We have open enrollment for the first few weeks so we're doing very basic things - holding wands, lectures about responsibility of magic, etc. Any subjects covered before her arrival can be reviewed when she finally gets here. We know that transportation and other delays will happen so the teachers will, of course, make every effort to help catch up any student who is a little behind." Godric said, wanting Maximus to understand that his father's slight sense of stubbornness wouldn't affect his sister's education in the slightest. This was why the teachers were here - to help their students succeed. If that meant an hour or two of helping a student catching up on what they missed, then so be it.

Of course, it would depend on the student to make the first effort but he had no doubt that with the stories he'd heard in the past, Moira would be happy to make that first move. Anything to learn.

As they headed into the classroom, he could hear footsteps coming down the hall behind them. Likely only one person it would be at this time of day. Godric headed in, figuring she would meet them there, likely a little out of breath but ready to figure out which student had entered her classroom without permission - a safety feature he'd installed for her.

"The desks and chairs, yes." He agreed. "As I said some of the teachers add a little more decoration to their rooms but Professor Moore...Well, I suppose you can ask her yourself why it's a little bare." Sure enough, his sister entered the room before he could finish speaking. For once, she was mostly composed, except for the ink stained apron she wore over a plain dress and stained hands. She'd likely been working with her concoctions again.

"Godric, what are you doing? Gave me a downright fright, you did and me practically up to my elbows in dye! You could have warned me at least so I could clean things up a bit!" Gwen said, a little startled to see her brother in the classroom until she found another man in the room with him. She felt immediately ashamed that she'd led such a rant in front of someone she didn't know - though he did look rather familiar.

"Forgive me, good sir. I was unaware that we were having visitors. Please, let us start again." She blushed prettily, folding her hands nervously in front of her. "I am Lady Moore, teacher of reading and writing.

"By any chance...have we met before?" He looked quite familiar but she couldn't place the face. She'd met so many people over her years of trying to help the less fortunate, it was quite possible they had but had never been introduced.

"The bareness tis nay a problem. Fewer distractions," he stated to Godric before looking in surprise at the redheaded woman who entered and immediately chastised Godric. Did all teachers treat the Founder with such disrespect? That would be rather unfortunate in his opinion.

Maximus straightened and gave the lady a polite bow. "Nay, Lady Moore, I d'nay think so," he said before righting himself. "I be Sir Maximus Raine an' Sir Gryffindor was nice enough te give me a tour o' the campus. I be 'oping te convince me father te send me sister 'ere as a student. Sir Godric was telling me a wee bit 'bout ye class."

"I d'nay think me sister would be in this class fer long, but per'aps ye can tell me more 'bout 'ow ye test the students?" he asked as he crossed his arms over his chest to see what the lass had to offer. By now she would likely make the connection between him and Merrick. Their eyes were the same shape but Maximus's were blue where as Merrick's were green.

Godric shook his head. Leave it to his sister to berate him like a school child in front of a potential student's representative. At least it hadn't been Maximus's father who'd been here, listening to the girl. He would discount the school completely for the disrespect, knowing the stubborn man and that simply wouldn't do. Unfortunately, it wouldn't do to interrupt and explain that they were siblings. It was something Maximus would understand, having two younger siblings of his own. One simply could not control them, no matter how they tried.

Now that she was in the mix, Godric took a few steps away to let her take center stage now that Maximus had her attention. Best to let her explain her process with the students, since he wasn't quite certain either. He knew that she had discussed things with Rowena and the others had been briefed but that's all it had been - a brief summary.

"Oh? Oh! I see," Gwen smiled brightly. He must have been a relation of Merrick's. While they weren't perfect matches, there were certainly enough similarities for her to make the connection. Not that she'd been looking so closely at the younger Sir Raine! Just casual conversation and that was it and, of course, it would be rude not to look at a man when you were conversing with him!

"Of course, Sir Raine. My process for testing the students is really rather simple. To pass this class and move on to an advanced class, they must first be able to write with quill and ink. Then I will have them read aloud to me and ask them questions about what they just read to make sure that they comprehend and aren't just reciting. Finally, I will assign them a short essay to write up in a certain amount of time. If they can match the length I assign within the time limit with legible handwriting, then they will graduate from this class.

"By any chance, can you tell me what your sister writes with at home?" As she hadn't heard the discussion about the young lady just receiving her wand...well, some instructors taught students to write with their wands so it was hard to say.

"Actually, I can show ye," he said after she explained and then asked about how Moira wrote when practicing. One of the things she had insisted on was writing him letters in the field. He unclipped the top of his gipon and reached beneath the tunic to withdraw a few folded pieces of parchment tied with a string. There wasn't much in the way of personal information in the letters other than things she had been studying or reading about. But it was a fine example of careful penmanship with neat letters written in black ink on heavy parchment.

Holding out the small stack to the woman, he hoped perhaps he could shave off some of his sister's time. Anything to allow her to learn more, faster, was in everyone's interest. "She writes te me often te make sure I keep me 'ead up while I 'ave been away. A lot o' idle chatter mostly," he explained quietly.

"That's very sweet of her," Gwen said, taking the letters in hand to look them over. "I did much the same with Godric, actually. It is very good practice and much more beneficial than copying sentences out of books that mean little to nothing to the writer."

Spreading the pages out, she checked the letters carefully, looking for excessive blotting, bleed, and straightness. At the same time, she tried not to read the content as this was personal correspondence. It might have just been idle chatter to him but who knew if his younger sister felt much the same. Spelling and composition could be addressed in a later class that would come once the first level was completed.

"Very good. She should be rather proud. It might be neater than even mine is." She complimented. "I'll have to assess the rest of her skills, of course, but this is a promising sign.

"Have you any other questions for me?" Gwen asked.

Maximus was quite proud of Moira's penmanship as he had been the one to work with her the most on it outside of their mother who had taught them all the basics. He actually smiled a little wider at her praise though there was still an exhausted edge to it. Given the woman's words, he made the connection that she was a relation of Godric which would explain her entrance.

"At the moment, nay, Lady Moore," he said with a slight bow. "Thank ye fer yer time. I appreciate this insight into 'ow you plan te run yer class. It makes me 'appy te know she will be tested se thoroughly. She likes a good challenge. I 'ope she will thrive 'ere."

"As do I, Sir Raine." Gwen agreed. "And if our current courses do not do so, I'm certain the teachers will cook up a few challenges for her - myself included. There more to reading and writing than the just the basic skills, something she will learn in time.

"However, that's for her and I to discuss in time. As you have no further questions for me, I ask you to excuse me. I left ink dyes sitting and that's never good. Hate to have the wrong color for the Founders to be writing their correspondents with." She smiled at the older man. "I bid you good day, sir and a pleasant trip home." Then she scuttled from the room to get back to her concoctions still 'brewing.

Godric waited for the two to exchange the appropriate parting formalities before stepping back in to take back over the tour. "I am quite glad that she arrived. I much prefer the teachers to have their say about their classes, if possible. Unfortunately, while we keep up with the staff as much as possible, we cannot know everything about their process. Since all of our faculty has been vouched for by at least two individuals in the wizarding community about their intentions, intelligence, and upstanding position, we tend to give them a little freedom in how they teach.

"We have spoken to them in generality about our expectations, of course. However, some of the teachers are very intelligent and, thus, a little eccentric in their approaches to education. But rest assured, if there are complaints from students about anything untoward occurring during class that seem valid and not just student griping about work, we would investigate the allegations immediately.

"One of our founding values is the relatively safe and responsible education of young wizards and witches. And Lady Moore shares that goal quite strongly. She's spent much of her last five years of life trying to teach reading and writing to those in need of the skill, sometimes with ill reception by nobles who did not care for what they refer to as meddling where she didn't belong. But she persisted nevertheless. It's the passion, not our relation, that made us hire her on. We have stories like that about most of our teachers. All of them are people with the knowledge and drive to instruct - often to their own detriment yet they persist nevertheless."