Sunscreen [Astrid]

[Deleted]

Astrid mused over Juniper's observation. "Yes, I would agree with you. In my family, our magic is music. We all play beautifully but..." Astrid trailed off, frowning. Why had she brought up something that made her feel ill? "I am the only witch," she finished, though she'd already pointed out that fact before. "I wonder if it is to do with the chemical nature of a familiar bond - or through nurturing?" It was more a question to herself than anything, but an interesting thought at that. Was Juniper's patronus a cat because she was raised by people who's souls manifested into cats? Or was it something deeper?

Frowning slightly, Astrid did not completely understand Juniper's reasoning. "You did it... because they said you could not?" she echoed for clarity. It was not unlike her own experiences with magic, though on a more fundamental level. Durmstrang was not a very friendly place for muggleborn witches.

Smirking, Astrid glanced at Juniper. "I wonder if children's ability to read has declined over the years. They can just search everything on the WWWW and have answers at their fingertips. Or watch it on television." She shrugged. "I may be old fashioned, but I do like having a physical book in hand. Though I'll admit, syllabi never have been very interesting literature," she added with a chuckle. But Astrid sobered at Juniper's next observation. "The fire," she prompted. She did not know very much about it, except that the Order had been tipped off by Ivy Burke, who had been a Purifier. Astrid was still confused how that had all come about, but she was glad that it had meant the end of the Purifiers. For the most part, at least. "Yes, they have seen more death than they should have at this age," Astrid agreed sombrely. "But we hope that they will leave this world a better place than they inherited."

juniper minerva mcgonagall

[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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Strangely, Juniper had never thought about non-magical skills until now. Muggles were certainly talented in their own right in a number of different fields, many of which she lacked. Her own focus on Transfiguration over the years did border on obsession at times, which was probably comparable to Astrid’s example of her own family. ”Probably nurturing to a degree. In regard to magic though, I don’t know. Obviously you either have it or you don’t, just like any other skill, but not everyone can become an animagi or even cast a full-bodied Patronus. Not to mention that magic is much, much older than most muggle skills…” She honestly didn’t know, but it was a great exercise on her brain. This was going to randomly keep her up at night now. ”I imagine there are witches and wizards much more intelligent than us that are also stumped…maybe we’ll never know.”

Juniper shook her head side to side to deny that it was because of any specific person that she decided to become an animagus (though it was mainly due to wanting to do something for herself in the middle of her failing relationship). ”No, it wasn’t because anyone said I couldn’t, but more that it felt like the natural progression in my interests. I…had the highest marks in my graduating class and school was never really much of a challenge for me, so becoming an animagus was next in line to sort of overcome in my work.” She knew she shouldn’t be ashamed about how well she’d done whilst at Hogwarts, but nowadays it felt a little silly to say something like that. It was almost a decade ago now.

”I think it has more to do with them understanding that there’s more to life than school. Losing years of their childhood and friends can’t exactly be easy on them.” Despite her own personal loss of a friend, Juniper had still been in her twenties and felt like she managed it horribly then. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would be like if she was still in her teens and trying to navigate it. Or how school was even important after that. Wouldn’t it just become a daily reminder of those that were gone? ”I do hope we’re trending in a more positive direction now. I would prefer it if my new job wasn’t interrupted…” Teaching wasn’t supposed to be dangerous, but as of late seemed to be like it absolutely was.

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