You won’t learn this in a text book [Open]

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Diana, dropped in a fur lined cloak, sat inside the Three Broomsticks, a mug of Butterbeer in hand. The popular pub was quite crowded, with witches and wizards speaking many languages filling the tables and booths. The patrons next to Diana were guffawing loudly and yelling for a barmaid to bring another round in their thick Irish accents. On the other side of Diana wa a pair of student aged teenagers, cuddled up together and holding hands as they had their own, much quieter, discussion. Diana, seated alone, watched the crowd, periodically sitting from her mug.

A rumble shook the pub, the chatter of all the patrons quieting for only a moment, before picking back up. Another rumble, and then a loud roar from outside. Everyone quieted once again. This time everyone turned to the windows, including Diana, peering out the window by her table. The crowd out side was pointing to the skies, a panic setting in before they began to run in every direction. Several patrons stood up and moved to the door, leaving the Three Broomsticks. Once outside, and after looking up above, they joined the rest of the crowd, several returning to the pub and slamming the door shut. ”Dragons!” one of them yelled, his face white stricken. ”Dragons?” asked one of the barmaids, moving towards the door. ”Yes, bloody dragons! Blacks ones!”

Diana, seating at her table, lifted her mug for another sip, her gaze even as she scanned the slowly panicking bar.

@open (Join the fun nerds!)

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Clarence didn't spend much time in bars in America, considering that he didn't drink, but life in Britain seemed to revolve around pub culture. It was frustrating, but that was the way things were. He had stopped inside the Three Broomsticks to get out of the cold after looking around at some of the various things for sale at the market that had popped up in Hogsmeade, though the professor had no intention of staying for much longer than it would take him to finish his cup of coffee.

Some of the patrons were drunk already; it was plain to see that, so Clarence wouldn't have thought too much of the hollering about dragons—if he hadn't heard the rumbling and the still silence before everything descended into chaos.

Dragons. Black ones. And, sure enough, there they were beyond the pub's windows: rampaging, if there was a word for it. Clarence got as near to the windows as he dared to in the crowds to see what was happening but remained where he didn't think he would get trampled by his fellow patrons. The dragons looked riled up from something or other; he didn't need to push and shove or press his face into the glass to see that.

He saw that another patron, a younger woman, was watching the crowd from afar. "This doesn't happen often, does it?" he remarked with something of a dry laugh.

@diana

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An older gentleman was one of the few who dared approach the windows. A few other brave souls did the same, but the gentleman was the closest to Diana and he spoke to her. Diana, mid sip, glanced at the man, her mug still raised to her lips as she eyed him. Her expression was quite still, no emotions reading. THe man, meeting this didn’t happen often, had an American accent. Diana lowered the mug and set it down on the table. She took a moment to glance out the window.

”No, not usually.” She answered, watching as several Aurora’s Apparated across the way, wands drawn. ”But, to be fair we are right next to a forest filled with magical creatures and a dragon reserve a little farther north.” She added after a moment, still watching as the autos started to cast stunning spells at one of the dragons that had happened on the road. ”It looks like a Hebridian black to me.” Several of the patrons were still freaking out, and now crowded around the bar, demanding to use the fireplace to leave by floo powder. One of the barmaids, the same was as before, yelled out to the crowd, ”If you’ll all just calm down! We have plenty of charms on the building, and the owner is reinforcing them right now! The Aurora’s will get the dragons under control in no time!” Diana smirked just a little at the barmaid’s reassurances and looked back out the window.

”This doens’t happen often where you’re from, I imagine?” She said to the gentleman.

@clarence

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The young woman answered and confirmed that it was, indeed, an atypical occurrence—something not lost on Clarence by the reactions of just about everyone in the pub. He'd spent about fifty years teaching at Ilvermorny, and it had been a fair few decades since he had seen anything of comparable interest or horror, he wasn't sure which best fit the bill. Dragons, though, weren't exceedingly common. It was comparatively rare to encounter them in North America; MACUSA, especially, had its reasons for wanting to keep magical beasts far less obvious than, say, the ones descending from the sky.

There was a dragon reserve north of where they were, which explained where the dragons might have come from, the young woman told him. "It looks like a Hebridian Black to me."

"They're awfully dark," Clarence agreed. He didn't know his dragon breeds particularly well, but they didn't look quite large enough to be the Ukrainian ones—not to mention the geography.

It looked as though some Aurors had Apparated into the street to try to take control of the situation.

Meanwhile, one of the barmaids was busy trying to get the patrons back under control.

"This doesn't happen often where you're from, I imagine?" the young woman asked him.

Clarence shook his head at that. "No, no… I can't say it does," he answered, looking between the dragons outside and the crowds of people wondering what to do about them from inside the pub. They'd be lucky if it didn't turn into a brawl.

"Surely they can get some dragonologists in here?" he asked, watching as the Aurors tried to stun one of their targets in unison. "Beautiful creatures."

@diana

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The commotion in the pub was mixed. Some patrons were, for lack of a better word, 'freaking out'. Some were huddled back at their tables, eyeing the windows warily. And some were just flat out angry, yelling at the waitstaff about the events unfolding outdoors. But, despite their many protests the barmaids words soon proved very true as the tavern shoot, flames shooting past the windows... But not a scratch. "Looks like those spells are holding up." Diana whispered softly, "Probably safest just to bunker down and wait them out." She added, glancing to her new acquaintance.

"You must be far from home. American?" She asked and took a sip from her mug. "They'll probably come. Once they're called in."

@clarence

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It was probably better for them to remain inside, rather than foolishly stepping in the path of dragons. Normally, that must have sounded like some moral Clarence had gotten from a story told to him years before, but that was actually just what was happening outside. The young woman with whom he was speaking agreed and said that the spells looked like they were holding up against the dragons. She, too, agreed it was better to stay put, though sitting and drinking his coffee seemed a bit too strange for the circumstances. Too many people were trying to leave or argue with the pub's staff.

"You must be far from home. American?"

Clarence nodded. "Yes. Well, Cherokee," he told her. "I teach at Ilvermorny."

The same young woman said that the dragonologists would come when they were called, and he nodded again. Someone must have thought to do that, he hoped.

@diana

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"Why don't you join me? Since we might be here a while." Diana offered, motioning to the opposite seat at the table. Order was slowly restoring to the pub, but there was still a high level of restlessness and unease. The still unnamed gentleman confirmed Diana's original question, though clarified being Cherokee and then that he taught at Ilvermorny. Diana raised an eyebrow, a moment's confusion before it disappeared. "Ah, right. Ilvermorny's at Hogwarts this year. What do you teach?"

Diana took another sip of her mug, only for it to be empty. She waved down one of the barmaids, who had begun regular service once again. "Could I get a refill?" The barmaid nodded, and turned to the gentleman, "Can I get you anything?"

@clarence

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The young woman suggested that he join her, considering that they would probably be there for some time. That was looking more and more likely, and Clarence nodded. "Alright, thank you." He took the seat across from her, watching as people's panic settled into acceptance of the fact that they were stuck there if they had any intention of remaining in Hogsmeade for the day. Clarence knew that he couldn't exactly Apparate back to Hogwarts, either.

The young woman remembered that Ilvermorny and Hogwarts had had to combine temporarily, though she looked as though she couldn't have been more than a few years out of school, herself.

"What do you teach?"

"I teach Native American Magic," Clarence answered her, still occasionally glancing out the window at the situation. He looked back to the young woman and introduced himself. "I'm Clarence," he told her.

The young woman asked one of the passing barmaids if she could get a refill on her butterbeer. The barmaid looked to him and asked him if she could get him anything.

"Just a glass of water would be fine, thank you."

@diana

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Diana offered a smile as the gentleman accepted the offered seat. Upon closer examination the gentleman's age was more clear, older in years, but for Wizards that could be anything between fifty and a hundred and fifty. Another blast of fire shook the building, unsetting several patrons, but the Broomsticks remained intact.

As he answered her question, both Diana's eyebrows raised. "Really?" She asked, initially surprised. "That sounds interesting. I wish they'd offered it when I was still in school." she added, admitting her curiosity in the subject. At his introduction her surprised look relaxed. "Diana. It's nice to meet you."

The barmaid, now armed with both orders, smiled and nodded before hurrying off to fill the requests.

@clarence

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The young woman commented that his subject sounded interesting to her and that she wished that it had been taught when she was still in school. Her response to it hadn't been dissimilar from that of Ji-Yu Choi, one of his new colleagues at Hogwarts, Clarence noted. It was more common that people would call it "interesting" in the sense that they didn't know what to make of it, or, worse, "Oh. That's nice."

It was after he had introduced himself to her that the younger woman responded in turn. Her name was Diana, she said, and she added that it was nice to meet him.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Diana," Clarence nodded. Trying to make conversation that didn't involve how strange it was that there were dragons just feet from them, he asked, "Have you been enjoying the festival?"

@diana

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Diana smiled just a little at his question, if she was enjoying the festival. A quick glance out the window next to the table verified that. The dragons, still as dark and pissed as ever, were running a muck outside. Though it seemed the witches and wizards of Hogsmeade had composed their wits and many were working on resolving the situation. Among the crowd trying to stop the dragons were many Ministry officials, you could tell by their robes. The ministry officials were quickly gaining control of the situation. A few moments of staring out the window passed and a handful of wizards apparated into the fray, only they weren’t wearing traditional robes. Their clothes were made from dragon skin, and they were completely unphased by the destruction. No, these wizards had a calm and determined look to them, almost as if they’d done this a million times.

”I think some dragon keepers have finally arrived.” Diana noted casually, before looking back at Clarence. ”To answer your question though. I’m not much into festivals.”

@clarence

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As Clarence spoke with Diana, he noticed that more witches and wizards had come on the scene. They didn't appear as prim and proper as the Ministry officials who had been there for some time, though Clarence couldn't say that they looked particularly disheveled, either. The newcomers looked more suited to what was happening, wearing protective gear—probably dragonskin themselves, given its durability—rather than the certainly not flame-retardant Ministry types' robes.

Sure enough, Diana observed that the dragon keepers that they had been waiting on had arrived. Hopefully, that meant that the street would be cleared up again soon, though they still had to get the dragons out. Clarence didn't think that that would be too simple. They couldn't bait them, couldn't they? Maybe they could summon cages, but even that seemed like a challenge. In any case, at least professionals were there. They would figure out what to do.

Going back to his question, Diana told him that she wasn't "much into" festivals. He wasn't much of one for them, either, though that depended upon the reason for their being held. It was nice for the students and for people with children, he thought, and less for someone like him. Some of the handcrafted trinkets were nice, but he hadn't had any plans to go ice skating or anything like that—not at his age, anymore.

"I'm not really, either," he told her with a little shrug. "I appreciate it, you know, but I'd much rather sit here away from the crowds. Well, ordinarily, I suppose," he considered. The pub was pretty crowded for the time being.

@diana