Brian Rogers (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
subplotkudzu) wrote2008-04-27 06:15 am
subplotkudzu) wrote2008-04-27 06:15 am
Entry tags:
...and the Monster of Amristar viii
Chapter 8: Drama!
The first session of the Dramaturgy club showed it to be a chaotic mess, but the sort that always coalesces at the last minute, as is the nature of theater. Jasmyn and Castor both opted to attend, finding 30+ students of all ages, some already segregating into groups of front and back stagers. Professor Ogham & Madam Hooch are obviously still conflicted on the show: Hooch wants to do Dragons! & Ohgam wants to do the Tempest. Being unable to reconcile they have chose to let the students vote once they have had a chance to look at the scripts. They do leave the door open to a third option, should a particularly good idea arise.
They dedicated the rest of the night to soliloquies & scenes, trying out the first years and seeing how people have improved. Castor does well enough while Jasmyn produces a solid balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet with the aid of a recruited fourth year. The pair learned that the club doesn't get into the specifics of Dramaturgy - changing reality through theater – but the magic is real. Both options focus on transcendent changes in magical life: Prospero's tragic abandonment of magic & Grizzledbellow's ascension. Both might lay the ghost of Voldemort, to make You-Know-Who reflect on his life and actions, if he is even still alive.
Before the next Dramaturgy meeting Castor had a very strange day: trapped in a hallway melee as students from all rooms and all years try to get from point A to B he (Juliet and Daisy, who is once again listening to Regan carp about her sister) spotted Peaseblossom Parkerson trying a charm on Dr. Plain. Daisy’s keen mastery of Astronomy let her catch exactly how complicated the counter-hex that emanates from the supposedly Muggle doctor really is, and in her shock at how he might have managed that she nearly missed now the spell rebounded. Castor certainly missed it, but could not miss Peaseblossom coming over to help him through the mess and attentively get him to class. Peaseblossom shrugged off Daisy’s intercession, offered the first year any help she can give, and insisted that they meet in the greenhouses for herbology help.
Castor was suspicious of the attention; before he left for this appointment he tracked down Juliet. Juliet informed him that Reg must be Dr. Plain – how could a muggle have counter-hexed – discounting her earlier suspicion of Briar. He didn’t venture an opinion, instead handing her a note with instructions that she should read it only if he had not claimed it by dinner This planning accomplished, he went to the greenhouses after lunch. Peaseblossom was eagerly waiting for him.
Instead of the main greenhouse she led Castor into the hothouse: the walls were mirrors that amplified the November light. “What plants do they keep here?” he asked. “Those that like it hot. And close” was the reply from the girl who, now that she had Castor isolated, acted unsure how she’d gotten there. An hour passed with Castor receiving an attentive tutoring in desert plants (as opposed to the orchids on the other end, the humidity magically modifed) from Miss Peaseblossom.
Eventually Castor begged off to dinner. Pease-blossom followed, asking if he had anything else that he might need her help with. Inspiration struck again: Castor asked if, as a fifth year Peaseblossom, had expertise with breaking mental charms, such as those that might affect the emotions. The prefect was happy to help, showing him the Pacifica spell that calmed roiled feelings. Under the guise of practicing the hand flick he turned the charm on her and was relieved to see her dreamy expression fade. The confused fifth year quickly left, writing off her behavior of the last two hours as prefect diligence rather than spell backlash. Castor, happy that his gamble had paid off, ran back to find Juliet before dinner. No reason for her to know that he feared Reg might be hiding out as Miss. Peaseblossom. Sometimes inspiration is off the mark.
The next Dramaturgy meeting ended Castor’s fears about them doing the Tempest, as Ogham & Hooch had settled on a third play. Their ultimate choice, ratified by the club, was a muggle play selected to honor Dr. and Mrs. Plain: The Importance of Being Earnest. There are some minor changes to make the Dramaturgy more effective, but mostly staging changes. That’s where Jasmyn denied herself a leading role: her knowledge of Dramaturgy staging, combined with a modest audition, land her the job of assistant stage manager, maid #2 & understudy to Miss Prism. Castor’s flat audition for Algernon was deemed better for Lane, Algernon’s unflappable manservant (making him the token first year in a speaking role). Preparations began in earnest for a performance directly after Easter holiday.
With this eating into their time, the two thespians weren’t able to spend as much time in the library as Juliet & Pollux. That pair tore through the books on Grindelwald’s war between Pollux’s perusal of Binns’ recommended texts (and the texts they’re having an argument with; this argument eventually led to the development of Taxomancy, the classification of magic by observable principles) and Juliet’s broad ranging study of new spells. Eventually they located a picture of Olaf and a man named Reginald Slaughter. “With that name, it has to be a villain!” Juliet exults.
The books, while they have detail on Mr. Slaughter’s activities as one of Grindlewald’s inner circle during the war, are cagey about his history. There are many oblique references to the “shame of the Empire” but no specifics on the “things everyone knows”. It’s clear that Slaughter was once a hero to the wizarding British; the sort whom no one wants to discuss when they fall.
Once Juliet told her roommate this, Jasmyn pulled out the nigh-endless History of the Wizarding Raj, the book the Grey Lady shelved at the start of the year and which has been residing under Jasmyn’s textbooks ever since. Inside they find the Amristar Massacre: Reginald Slaughter was a British Wizard living in the Raj. He was an adventurer, managing to infiltrate native wizarding societies to learn the basics of their magics. In the years after the Great War, Slaughter grew disgusted by the "lesser" people clamoring for independence from British Wizards. At a Sikh magical ritual in 1919 he arranged for an assault and confunded British Indian Army troops into attacking. Hundreds of wizards and muggles alike were cornered and killed. While his spin on events had him praised by many British for averting a magical and political uprising, the Wizengamot's investigation brought the truth to light – he had knowingly precipitated a pointless massacre. Escaping the aurors Slaughter fled to the continent.
From there the students picked up the thread in the later texts: Slaughter avoided capture and ended up joining Grindelwald’s forces, extolling the supremacy of European magic & peoples and the necessity of wizard rule over muggle affairs. He escaped again, only to be found dead in a Newcastle flat in 1945.
Reading back in the books on Binns’ list Pollux found articles by Slaughter detailing research into the arts of the Sikh, Buddhist & Hindu peoples. Looking into newspaper accounts Jasmyn an article on Reg’s death, discussing how the body was found by Jadayl Kettleburn, Indian by birth and recent Hogwarts grad. Two years later, Kettleburn took a position at his alma mater. “It’s him,” Juliet shouts. “It has to be him.” “Did he switch bodies?” Castor whispered. “And what can we do about it?”
In the day before Christmas Holiday Professor Plain informed her class that she’ll be taking it easy or the rest of the year and likely taking next year off, as she and her husband are having a baby! The little bundle of joy’s due date coincides with the end of the school year.
The first session of the Dramaturgy club showed it to be a chaotic mess, but the sort that always coalesces at the last minute, as is the nature of theater. Jasmyn and Castor both opted to attend, finding 30+ students of all ages, some already segregating into groups of front and back stagers. Professor Ogham & Madam Hooch are obviously still conflicted on the show: Hooch wants to do Dragons! & Ohgam wants to do the Tempest. Being unable to reconcile they have chose to let the students vote once they have had a chance to look at the scripts. They do leave the door open to a third option, should a particularly good idea arise.
They dedicated the rest of the night to soliloquies & scenes, trying out the first years and seeing how people have improved. Castor does well enough while Jasmyn produces a solid balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet with the aid of a recruited fourth year. The pair learned that the club doesn't get into the specifics of Dramaturgy - changing reality through theater – but the magic is real. Both options focus on transcendent changes in magical life: Prospero's tragic abandonment of magic & Grizzledbellow's ascension. Both might lay the ghost of Voldemort, to make You-Know-Who reflect on his life and actions, if he is even still alive.
Before the next Dramaturgy meeting Castor had a very strange day: trapped in a hallway melee as students from all rooms and all years try to get from point A to B he (Juliet and Daisy, who is once again listening to Regan carp about her sister) spotted Peaseblossom Parkerson trying a charm on Dr. Plain. Daisy’s keen mastery of Astronomy let her catch exactly how complicated the counter-hex that emanates from the supposedly Muggle doctor really is, and in her shock at how he might have managed that she nearly missed now the spell rebounded. Castor certainly missed it, but could not miss Peaseblossom coming over to help him through the mess and attentively get him to class. Peaseblossom shrugged off Daisy’s intercession, offered the first year any help she can give, and insisted that they meet in the greenhouses for herbology help.
Castor was suspicious of the attention; before he left for this appointment he tracked down Juliet. Juliet informed him that Reg must be Dr. Plain – how could a muggle have counter-hexed – discounting her earlier suspicion of Briar. He didn’t venture an opinion, instead handing her a note with instructions that she should read it only if he had not claimed it by dinner This planning accomplished, he went to the greenhouses after lunch. Peaseblossom was eagerly waiting for him.
Instead of the main greenhouse she led Castor into the hothouse: the walls were mirrors that amplified the November light. “What plants do they keep here?” he asked. “Those that like it hot. And close” was the reply from the girl who, now that she had Castor isolated, acted unsure how she’d gotten there. An hour passed with Castor receiving an attentive tutoring in desert plants (as opposed to the orchids on the other end, the humidity magically modifed) from Miss Peaseblossom.
Eventually Castor begged off to dinner. Pease-blossom followed, asking if he had anything else that he might need her help with. Inspiration struck again: Castor asked if, as a fifth year Peaseblossom, had expertise with breaking mental charms, such as those that might affect the emotions. The prefect was happy to help, showing him the Pacifica spell that calmed roiled feelings. Under the guise of practicing the hand flick he turned the charm on her and was relieved to see her dreamy expression fade. The confused fifth year quickly left, writing off her behavior of the last two hours as prefect diligence rather than spell backlash. Castor, happy that his gamble had paid off, ran back to find Juliet before dinner. No reason for her to know that he feared Reg might be hiding out as Miss. Peaseblossom. Sometimes inspiration is off the mark.
The next Dramaturgy meeting ended Castor’s fears about them doing the Tempest, as Ogham & Hooch had settled on a third play. Their ultimate choice, ratified by the club, was a muggle play selected to honor Dr. and Mrs. Plain: The Importance of Being Earnest. There are some minor changes to make the Dramaturgy more effective, but mostly staging changes. That’s where Jasmyn denied herself a leading role: her knowledge of Dramaturgy staging, combined with a modest audition, land her the job of assistant stage manager, maid #2 & understudy to Miss Prism. Castor’s flat audition for Algernon was deemed better for Lane, Algernon’s unflappable manservant (making him the token first year in a speaking role). Preparations began in earnest for a performance directly after Easter holiday.
With this eating into their time, the two thespians weren’t able to spend as much time in the library as Juliet & Pollux. That pair tore through the books on Grindelwald’s war between Pollux’s perusal of Binns’ recommended texts (and the texts they’re having an argument with; this argument eventually led to the development of Taxomancy, the classification of magic by observable principles) and Juliet’s broad ranging study of new spells. Eventually they located a picture of Olaf and a man named Reginald Slaughter. “With that name, it has to be a villain!” Juliet exults.
The books, while they have detail on Mr. Slaughter’s activities as one of Grindlewald’s inner circle during the war, are cagey about his history. There are many oblique references to the “shame of the Empire” but no specifics on the “things everyone knows”. It’s clear that Slaughter was once a hero to the wizarding British; the sort whom no one wants to discuss when they fall.
Once Juliet told her roommate this, Jasmyn pulled out the nigh-endless History of the Wizarding Raj, the book the Grey Lady shelved at the start of the year and which has been residing under Jasmyn’s textbooks ever since. Inside they find the Amristar Massacre: Reginald Slaughter was a British Wizard living in the Raj. He was an adventurer, managing to infiltrate native wizarding societies to learn the basics of their magics. In the years after the Great War, Slaughter grew disgusted by the "lesser" people clamoring for independence from British Wizards. At a Sikh magical ritual in 1919 he arranged for an assault and confunded British Indian Army troops into attacking. Hundreds of wizards and muggles alike were cornered and killed. While his spin on events had him praised by many British for averting a magical and political uprising, the Wizengamot's investigation brought the truth to light – he had knowingly precipitated a pointless massacre. Escaping the aurors Slaughter fled to the continent.
From there the students picked up the thread in the later texts: Slaughter avoided capture and ended up joining Grindelwald’s forces, extolling the supremacy of European magic & peoples and the necessity of wizard rule over muggle affairs. He escaped again, only to be found dead in a Newcastle flat in 1945.
Reading back in the books on Binns’ list Pollux found articles by Slaughter detailing research into the arts of the Sikh, Buddhist & Hindu peoples. Looking into newspaper accounts Jasmyn an article on Reg’s death, discussing how the body was found by Jadayl Kettleburn, Indian by birth and recent Hogwarts grad. Two years later, Kettleburn took a position at his alma mater. “It’s him,” Juliet shouts. “It has to be him.” “Did he switch bodies?” Castor whispered. “And what can we do about it?”
In the day before Christmas Holiday Professor Plain informed her class that she’ll be taking it easy or the rest of the year and likely taking next year off, as she and her husband are having a baby! The little bundle of joy’s due date coincides with the end of the school year.