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Post by Jay Rastan on May 18, 2007 18:39:34 GMT 10
“Have you heard the lastest on the murder case?”
“No what did you heard?”
“Oh nothing major, just that Jay Rastan did it!”
”No way, why would he do it? His a pureblood and a quidditch captain”
“I’m just saying what I hear. I think it sounds right, its always the tall, dark, brooding ones”
“No way…”
“Way”[/b] --------------------
Jay Rastan was mad.
Seeing red.
Royally miffed off.
Not only had he been watched with wide eyes full of suspicious glances through the hallways for the last two days, and whispers behind muttered hands about him. At first Jay thought it had been just people talking about qudditch recognising him as the captain like the shiny badge on his chest displayed to all that noticed.
No, they thought he murdered some kid he barely new aside from having a class or three with him. It was really disconcerting, to say the least. Jay didn’t even know until on the third day one of the little Saphricorn first years came to him for some help because he was being bullied by some Ruberagon third years. So when he had walked up with the young saphricorn boy, the third years nearly wet themselves and muttered ‘murderer’. Being confused Jay scratched his head told the younger boy to come to him if they gave him more trouble. The preceptive kid must have realised that Jay was confused by the comment by the Ruberagon’s.
“They think you killed the Ameraid. There is this rumour. They think you did it Jay.”
In the space of those same two days he had crashed and burned with the whole ‘Mariana incident’ as he now mentally referred to it. Every time he saw her he went the opposite way, when he was with people and they were about to call her over, he made a hasty retreat citing lame but believable alibi’s of why he had somewhere else to be at that exact moment in time.
Between the murmurs of his guilt, the looks of fear (and disturbingly some of awe from the Ruberagons), and the pointing. On the bright side he could get through passages easy as nobody was sure when he was going to jump out an attack them, so he made it to his classes earlier than usual, sat up the back so nobody else would have to sit near a murderer.
Funny thing about it all was that it showed you who your real friends were. They were the ones telling people not to be stupid, that he obvious didn’t do it, telling people to be quiet and leave him alone. He had walked past many a young standing up against older students in his defence. It made him smile with pride; until he heard the mutters of that his smiling meant he was plotting another murder. Oddly, and hurtfully, Jay couldn’t help but notice that the people who should have known better seemed to ignore the obvious.
It just wasn’t in his nature.
Jay decided the best method was to just lay low for a while, that and he didn’t know how much bad mouthing he could take before he snapped and did something he would later regret. So he decided to skip his classes and spend most of his time flying around the pitch, running through the Saphricorn plains, or spending time with Boris and his Bandits. It was in this someone self imposed exile that Jay spent some time looking over his life, priorities, and past times at Koalingo. He hadn’t even felt this alone when he spent his first year answering the same questions, all year long. Was he really a Rastan? Why wasn’t he in Ruberagon? Was he evil like Ruberagons?
He almost wished for those days back, the naïve view of life as black, white and grey, not now with all its technicoloured ways. Jay used to think it was good verse bad, innocent verse guilty and all those idealistic views carried on from childhood. But now as he stood on the grounds, his cloak whipping around menacingly in the blistering cold wind that seemed to envelope the castle on the day, the man Jay Rastan was now was far from the naïve, hopeful and trusting boy he had been when he started at his learning at Koalingo.
Jay Rastan as like everyone else, magical and muggle, he was guilty of things but murdering a fellow student? Of that charge he was not guilty. Although nobody really believed him a hundred percent, not that he blamed them; he didn’t give everyone reasons to trust him. He didn’t loudly protest the rumours, only shrugged and went on with his life.
The night it had happened he had been at the duelling in Bloodlust, he had been drinking, but not to the point to total inebriation, he remembered the night, the lights and sounds and the action at the club to the sobering walk back to the school with his house founder to the cold scene and realisation that came with seeing the prone body of Finnias Mark. He had no idea the reaction of those whom had been at the fountain when he was there about this latest so called development.
Jay sighed and looked down at his hands, long fingers, average palm size, smooth skin with the very occasional callus from years of broom handling. No, his hands did not have the blood of Finnias Mark on them regardless of what the population of Koalingo did. His hands had blood of many things done in youthful indiscretion but not that of another human.
His hands could not be washed of blood that simply wasn’t there.
Looking up from his hands as his arms fell to his sides, his icy gaze took in the grounds of the school the trees on the border, the high stone fences, a pair of people huddled together off in the distance trying to stave off the cold, totally unaware of presence on the grounds. His black hair blowing about side to side, he welcomed the cold, it was feeling, and after the past few days, if it wasn’t hurt or betrayal then he was glad to feel it, to let it wash over is senses.
Deciding to wait until classes were well and truly in session before returning to the Saphricorn common as to avoid bumping into anyone eh couldn’t help but wonder one thing, when did everything in his life go from good to bad?
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Post by Headmaster Elwyn Emerindyl on May 19, 2007 12:45:01 GMT 10
“How long is a piece of string? Or for that matter why is it that long? Why do we measure length? Why does it have to be measured that way? Why does it even have to be measured? Would we even have length if the concept of measurement did not exist? Why does the concept exist?” the voice that was carried by the cool breeze was probably not the one Jay Rastan might have expected. But it had been some time since Headmaster Emerindyl had taken a stroll in the grounds and it was such pleasant weather.
Though that statement was debateable. Elwyn liked the cold.
“Questions with answers, but answers few of us have the time or energy to sift through and discover,” he said to the young man knowing it was a bit rich for him to be saying he didn’t have time for anything. Truthfully, Elwyn was a busy man, though he knew that if someone had nothing else, they would always have time, it just depended on how one spent said time. Life was an experience, nothing more.
“Actually, Mr Rastan, I ignorantly attempt subtlety and usually find that it insults the one it is directed at, and so I must inform you now that our meeting here today is not purely accidental,” he said with a small grimace and a twinkle in his eye that revealed a degree of cheek known only by him and from no other founder, save perhaps his wife. He moved that gaze out across the wind blown grounds and back to Jay Rastan where he decided perhaps they should continue their discussion somewhere more comfortable.
He tapped his staff against the ground twice and quite suddenly the two were no longer standing in the grounds. Elwyn’s staff was now leaning by a very large and comfy looking couch. One of a pair, and he was standing by a fireplace warming his pale hands by the heat of the firelight. The flames tickled the shaft of the chimney over the hearth and the room seemed a lot more filled with warmth then a newly winter stiffened body might realise.
“Take a seat,” Elwyn gestured to one of the couches. The room they were in had no doors, and was not a room any of the students would have seen before in the manor. Possibly this was due to the fact that the room had only just been conjured. Though it was a setting Elwyn used many times when his head needed simple thoughts of basic pleasures.
A bubbling sound broke through the cracks of the fire and soon a gurgling filled the air as Elwyn poured a caramel milky substance from a billy into two large clay mugs. He cupped one with his hands and the other floated towards the Saphricorn Seventh year. Elwyn’s robes ruffled slightly as he moved back from the fire and came to sit in his own armchair. He closed his eyes as he sat feeling the pain of the day creeping up his back.
“So,” he smiled when the pain subsided almost instantaneously and he was able to carry on with the discussion he had planned for this moment, “How about this weather, hmmm?”
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Post by Jay Rastan on May 19, 2007 14:07:57 GMT 10
Jay took in his new surroundings, the bitter coldness had suited him fine, his attitude was somewhat suiting. The warms fire, the comfortable couch he was sitting on, it was very much a leap and bound away from the soggy wet grass of the grounds. The sudden heat from the cold made him shudder before discarding its winter cloak and scarf.
One thing about the room did really stood out, the absence of a door.
Everything clicked in Jay’s head as he took in the important aspect which only raised more questions. Why would the headmaster search him out? He had already said it was not by chance their meeting. The lack of doors gave little chance of escape. The stone face of the tall walls was the same as those in the corridors of Koalingo castle implying that they had indeed not left the school grounds. The steaming cup in his hands made his mind wonder what the headmaster had slipped in it; perhaps a mild sleeping draught, some sort of sedative. Jay wouldn’t put it anyone as smart and wise as the Headmaster to put a few drops of Veritaserum in the drink.
Lifting the cup to his lips but not drinking, he took a small subtle sniff, detection none of the telltale aromas that were coupled with sleeping and sedative potions. Jay inwardly reminded himself to send his father a letter thanking him for blind folding him and making him identify potions by smell, it had come in handy once or twice. Jay took a small sip deciding that if he didn’t wake up or woke up somewhere different, at least it wouldn’t be to the terrified glances of his fellow students.
Jay being as observant as he was he noticed the grimace and flicker of something, perhaps pain come across the headmaster’s face as he sat and while if it had been anyone else he would have offered a hand or inquired more about it but he did not think the headmaster would appreciate the insinuation that someone as powerful as he was needing help with menial tasks like sitting down. So he waited patiently, thinking over his words.
“While the weather is enjoyable in its briskness change but with all due respect you did say this was not a meeting by chance.” Jay said, looking at the man with his face clear of any traces of emotion. “I take it to mean there is something you wish to discuss or inform me of?”
Jay perhaps wonderings in his mind that was scanning all possible reasons of why he would be searched for by the headmaster, his absence from classes was a matter for Lady Saphricorn as his house coordinator, if he was having his quidditch captaincy revoked that would also be a matter for Lady Saphricorn. So it was upon this that jay took a sip of his drink and figured whatever it was, it didn’t bode well, not for him anyway.
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Post by Headmaster Elwyn Emerindyl on May 19, 2007 23:33:55 GMT 10
“There are many kinds of weather, Jay, we don’t always mean the atmosphere surrounding our wonderful school,” he said hoping that his use of his students first name only would enforce upon him that he was not here to reprimand him or anything. Headmaster Emerindyl had been running the school for such a long time without the other house founders that he often forgot what they were and were not supposed to be taking a part in. Headmaster Emerindyl didn’t mind letting his students feel that he was sometimes omnipresent.
He watched as Jay not-so-subtly sniffed the drink in his hands and would have laughed had he not considered the possibility that Jay would be insulted. Likewise a lesser man then the Headmaster might be insulted that someone considered them capable of drugging them. All the same, in times such as these constant vigilance could only be rewarded. Not punished. Which was why Lord Emerindyl chose to say nothing. ‘Surely though,’ he pondered silently within his own mind, ‘He must realise that if I wanted him unconscious I would not need to use drugs or potions,’ this thought almost made him chuckle.
It didn’t though.
He watched the Saphricorn boy with interest; he had been meaning to have this discussion with Jay ever since the rumours had started flying. He had thought though that perhaps he would be able to understand that rumours such as these ones should only ever be taken lightly.
“Ah, to the point, one could never say you are not a man who speaks his mind, Jay, a quality Sylvia has always prized among her students,” he said with a smile, playing against a fear he could sense about Jay from the moment they had come in contact with one another out in the dismal weather.
“My staff have informed me that you have not been to class of late,” Headmaster Emerindyl spoke as he settled his gaze level with the young Saphricorn. He didn’t think for a moment that anyone would dare tell him it was none of his business simply because the boy was not in the Emerindyl House. Koalingo was his school, and Jay was a student of his school.
“I would ask you if there was a reason surrounding this choice, though I would not be fool enough to think there wasn’t,” he said as he looked at him with neither a harsh or commanding tone. His tone was somewhat level, almost curious, but by all meanings of the word courteous. He then sat back to hear what his seventh year had to say.
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Post by Jay Rastan on May 20, 2007 4:09:12 GMT 10
Jay was surprised his jaw didn’t touch the ground in surprise.
The headmaster only wanted to know of his absence from his classes over the last two days…
Wait…..did he say his staff told him?
Jay gave himself a mental shake, if a man as powerful as Lord Emerindyl said his staff told him of his skipping class then well, as insane as it sounded, Jay was not going to argue with him. But the look that the old man was giving him made Jay wonder if there was something deeper still at play. Maybe he was stalling for time while the Aurors stormed the castle on a path to this seemingly door less room. If there was a way to enter there was a way to exit it. Logic was a powerful tool in the right hands.
“I will not lie to you headmaster. If your staff tells you what classes I did attend you would have discovered I haven’t been to the last two and a half days worth.” Jay said, putting the now empty mug down beside his feet, lacing his fingers together, looking down at them like they were the most interesting thing he had ever seen. “I’m sure you have ears in the walls of this castle and have heard the rumours…”
The last word he spat out bitterly. He had held onto his emotions so tightly over the whole matter, first the death of the boy, the twitters of conspiracy and what not and then now the finger being pointed at him. But as that last word was spat out like rotten food, it was obvious his distain for the whole affair, especially the ridiculous notion of him having any part of it. If he was going to knock someone off the face of the planet he could think of many more worth applicants than some boy who was a name and a face to him.
“After making it though two classes I decided the uncomfortable looks people had when they saw me, and the mutters of my guilt I decided it was best for all if I just gave some space to everyone to cool down and get over this little saga” Jay said, looking up at the Headmaster, a look of complete confusion.
And he was confused, oh so confused. How could he go from being everyone’s friend, well mostly everyone, a member of the school’s sporting community into some sort of murdering psychopath? Jay didn’t under stand how everyone turned their backs on him so quickly for something he didn’t do. Anyone who thought about it would realise he hadn’t done it. The times didn’t match; his wand’s backlog of spells would show no unforgivable spells, and if he had been guilty why would he have stuck around knowing there would be Aurors crawling all over the castle hours later.
He was not stupid but he was angry, at everyone who believed him guilty, who spoke such horrible nonsense about him, those who didn’t think twice before spreading the heinous rumour. Why did the professors do nothing to squash it? Why did they refuse to look at him? Did they believe it as well.
“it was as much for myself as for them. I couldn’t stand it, and if I lost my temper, or yelled or even looked at someone sideways the whispers started even worse how would I strike out against another student. And your faculty did nothing. So I decided to remove myself from the equation, it made sense, and I’m still waiting for it to die down.” Jay remarked, unable to stay sitting down he got up and started pacing around the room, alternating between looking I at where he was going and glaring at the roof.
Letting out a frustrated sigh and clenching and unclenching his fists as he paced one thing the headmaster said sunk in, how lady Saphricorn prized her house members speaking their minds. Jay did that for sure, usually ended up back firing, but what he noticed was the way the man spoke about his wife, his tone oozed love and respect for a women and although it was off topic he found himself blurting out his thought.
“Lady Saphricorn is an extraordinary person. I hope I find a woman even half as wonderful as your wife to spend my life with one day”
jay blushed madly as soon as he said it.
“I mean no disrespect sir.”
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Post by Headmaster Elwyn Emerindyl on Jun 4, 2007 13:24:50 GMT 10
Elwyn raised his eyebrows as he watched the young man speak. In truth, he was not at all surprised that this was happening, and was not anymore surprised that Jay was a target. What did surprised him was the way the seventh year Saphricorn had reacted. How could he have thought for a moment that he was above the petty rumours of children? Elwyn would have chuckled if he didn’t have such a deeper understanding of the teenage psyche.
Elwyn moved in his seat, almost appearing uneasy though more so because he could not allow the knot in his back to continue paining him and so sought out a more comfortable position. He watched Jay with calculating eyes as he listened to the boy go on. The remark about his wife at the end seemed to have no real reason behind it and so Headmaster Emerindyl wondered if perhaps this was Jay’s attempt at taking the focus off of the topic at hand.
He took a deep breath before he began to speak. He knew exactly how he should approach the topic of rumours though he had wondered if years of the same approach would; in this new day and age; have the same result. “People talk Jay,” he decided this might be the perfect place to begin. He had considered nursing the subject as if Jay was incapable of accepting the full story, though he forced himself to remember that Jay was as old as Godric and that in time he would be out on his own and needed to see the world without a sugar coating.
“Things will get worse when you are no longer at school Mr. Rastan,” reverting to the use of his last name was entirely due to the reminder that Jay was in fact now a man, “In school people can be childish and prejudice without cause, thought I think what we need to understand here Jay is that adults are not so different,” he said looking at the young with his penetrating gaze. “And we also need to realise that running away from it doesn’t solve anything either,”
‘Neither do I wish for you to start telling people off, but do you not think that your disappearance from class has not sprouted new rumours and further indication to your guilt?” he said looking at him still wondering what his reaction might be. Elwyn did not mean to sound harsh in anyway, but he was after all a school headmaster and his task first and foremost was to teach, and students rarely liked a lesson in the state of mind Jay Rastan was currently in.
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Post by Jay Rastan on Jun 11, 2007 5:06:15 GMT 10
Jay almost pouted at the fact that his attempt at lighter topics pr an outright topic change had been seemingly declined. One thing the headmaster had said irked him beyond belief though.
“People talk Jay”
‘No duh Headmaster’ Jay thought to himself resisting the urge to roll his eyes as it would have seemed very rude and insulting as if he wasn’t interested in what the Headmaster was telling him, but really something that said so much also said so little.
Watching disinterestedly as the Headmaster moved about to get comfortable couldn’t stop the skeptical look that came over his handsome features, there was that nagging feeling in the back of his head that was telling him to be extremely cautious in everything he said and did around the Headmaster. Perhaps it was just his survival instincts or something deeper in his inner psyche he would probably never know.
“Yes people do more than talk outside in the real world as everyone calls it, sir. But out there people a liable for that they say. They say something against you and retribution is yours, but within these walls…” Jay waved his hand around in a bored manner “the person who seeks the retribution is the one in the wrong. It’s all regarded as childish behavior and lighthearted slander when it is not the case at all”
Jay paused in his angry pacing for a brief moment and looked at the Headmaster with nothing short of righteous indignation at the suggestion that he was ‘running away’, he couldn’t nor wouldn’t stop the scoff that was admitted at even the idea of that.
“Rastan’s do not run away” Jay said, his tone of voice had a frosted edge to it which he would usually not use to anyone in a position of authority but even the idea of a Rastan running away from anything was ridiculous, surely the Headmaster knew this and was just trying to bait him. Why? Jay didn’t know but it was all he could think of as a plausible reason.
“I used a diplomatic intellect of judgment on a situation where I viewed remaining in plain sight and therefore presenting myself as a target to be a very stupid thing to do. Why should I be subjected to taunts that are unrightfully due? Why should I stand around to be pointed at, glared at, segregated?” Jay said before exhaling deeply, his bones starting to feel weary from his pacing and the past few days so he dropped down into the seat he had vacated moments previous.
Jay didn’t think the Headmaster really understood how things were around the school for the students these days. While most students help their disparagement for those they didn’t like behind thinly veiled contempt, or ‘accidents’ with misfiring wands, not like in the olden days of formalities and traditions. No, today was all about watching your own back if you didn’t have some you trust to cover it for you. Perhaps the Headmaster was as in sync with Koalingo as Jay first thought.
“I’m sure I can get the notes of someone in my house if that’s all the concern on this matter is, me missing a few lousy classes.” Jay said, his tone almost purely back to its normal tone but still held a sharp edge to it, as he was not ready to let go of the idea that the Headmaster should have done something to point out the obvious about the whole situation.
That Jay Rastan was not the murderer.
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Post by Headmaster Elwyn Emerindyl on Jun 18, 2007 10:27:20 GMT 10
Lord Emerindyl was disappointed through the bulk of Jay Rastan’s rebuttal, he could not help but feel that it was a perfectly normal thing for one so young to be so childish, though he didn’t mind admitting to himself that Jay Rastan was being a little more childish then was due given his age and his upbringing. Though he thought about that as he listened; perhaps it was the upbringing that had caused ay to be like this. Elwyn certainly hoped that a life of luxuries would never have this affect on Godric. While he and Sylvia were careful about the affect their life had on his; he was almost certain Mr and Mrs Rastan did not do the same for their son.
A second level of the Headmaster’s consciousness was also listening to the thoughts flying around Jay’s head. Did he not understand that within the walls of the castle, no matter how talented you were; your mind was an open book to the school and its founders. Elwyn could hear every word that went through Jay’s head as if a second voice was spurting them into open publicity.
He didn’t want to start with ‘How ignorant you are to the world if you feel that people in it are liable for their words,’ though he knew it would most certainly get this message across to the young hot headed Saphricorn. Perhaps this was best dealt with by his head of house. Likewise Elwyn did not appreciate a lot of what the boy said and thought but was also of the knowledge that someone in this state of mind; while not entirely welcome to misbehave under the guise of not knowing what affects their attitude might have; could also not be held entirely responsible.
‘Rastan’s do not run away’ Elwyn thought he would let this very clearly blunt contradiction lie. It was very clear that Rastan’s do run away as that was exactly what Jay had done in regard to his classes, though Elwyn decided pointing this out to the seventh year might only drive him further into absurdity.
“Diplomatic intellect?” Elwyn said, happy with his supreme control over bursts of laughter so that this time it did not occur, “The mention of the word diplomatic would underlie the false truth that you are being unbias and smart about your decision,” he wondered if Jay would pick up on the fact that Elwyn was subtly calling him stupid, he thought he might, though all the same he didn’t feel Jay was welcome to such manners at this moment. Every motion and word that sprouted from him reeked with insult and Elwyn; while diplomatically secure in the way things should be handled; was not at all pleased with him.
“I am sure you can get the notes,” Elwyn said as he stood. He was no longer willing to baby Jay; he would not let him see how much the mention of ‘A few lousy classes’ had insulted him beyond meaning, he would now choose the correct approach, “Classes, regrettably for you, are mandatory, miss another one, and you shall be hearing from me again, and next time I will not be so obliging,” This was a formal warning. Elwyn rarely had to give them, though he had decided to take his wife’s opinion that sometimes he was a little soft, and that he needed to be forthright with some of the seriously lost-causes.
The walls vanished from around them and both men were now standing in the middle of the windswept grounds, “Is there anything else you wish to say to me before we part?”
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Post by Jay Rastan on Jun 19, 2007 1:48:44 GMT 10
Jay could think of many a think to say to the Headmaster, more than a few were snotty comments that would not be appreciated and would probably only increase in disappointment the Headmaster felt towards him. Jay was sure he saw the disappointment in the Headmasters gaze but he brushed the thought aside, he was quite anxious to flee his current company.
Knowing he would later look back on this encounter with a observant eye, Jay knew that the best plan of any attack is to watch your adversaries hand closely. Unsure of the status of the Headmaster as either ally or adversary, Jay just shook his head in the negative to the question posed to him by the older man. He didn’t really notice the sudden coolness permeate through his cloak and scarf that had some how returned to their respected positions on his being as soon as the walls, and the warmth of the fire had died away at the command of the other male.
His eyes danced over the familiar surroundings, and found himself in the exact same position he had been before he had been whisked away to the still unknown, to him, location. The wind still blustered about, his cloak and hair blew to and fro with the movement, Jay did nothing to stop it or even seemed to register the change in his environments from the warm isolated room to the cold expanse of the grounds.
The voice in the back of him reminded him of the Headmasters promise of retribution if he missed another class, but Jay wasn’t really fazed, nor did he think anything of it, but made a mental note to attend at least one class tomorrow not even going to bother with the two classes left of the day. Pushing aside the voice Jay set his shoulders straight, seemingly squaring himself against the world, to which in his mind he was, or at least the entire Koalingo population, faculty and student body alike.
One thing the headmaster did say to him which kept coming back to the front of his mind was the comment ‘false truth’. Jay realised what was being insinuated with that but chose to mull it over a bit instead of making a hot-headed remark that would surely get him a tongue lashing if not from just the Headmaster but also his wife, and Jay’s head of house, Lady Saphricorn, and after being under her watchful eye for over six years, Jay couldn’t help but imagine what sort of punishment she could come up with that would really displease him.
‘Perhaps stepping out of the fray was not the best idea….’ Jay thought to himself for a moment before tucking the thought away for a later analysis at a better time and place and a lack of company.
“I think I have monopolized enough of your important time, sir” Jay said, with a small bow of his head as a sign of respect. Rastan as a old noble line of purebloods had traditions and etiquette drilled into each family member from birth, Jay was no difference and was a creature of habit. Although he gave no respect to those who didn’t deserve it, he would be nobody’s puppet after all.
“I will attend class as of tomorrow. Good day to you”
And with that, one last incline of his head in respect, he turned on his heel and headed off towards the castle which was now spewing forth children on a break in between classes, the students on seeing his headed in their direction split to two sides to avoid being in his way and the mutters started all over again.
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Post by Headmaster Elwyn Emerindyl on Jun 19, 2007 14:12:24 GMT 10
:: Thread Complete ::
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