Post by Nathalie Barber on Jan 2, 2013 12:00:40 GMT -8
nathalie jane barber.
TWENTY-SIX. WITCH. CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES PROFESSOR.
Alright, I suppose I'd better tell you about myself, yeah? I'm Nathalie Jane Barber, first off. I'm the oldest of seven, and it haunts me every day of my life.
I was born two years before the huge wizarding war started, just after my parents graduated Hogwarts, on September 23, (you do the math- they're very affectionate). For the first two years of my life, I was alone a good majority of the time, as my parents were both muggle-borns and thus had to make their own way in the world. Unlike purebloods, they needed to keep their jobs if they wanted to survive, and could not take long hours off simply to spend time with me- it was hard enough to get promoted with all of the blood purity propaganda running around. And once Voldemort took over, my parents had to flee, taking their one daughter with them to Tokyo. They stayed there for two years, as a precaution, and once they were sure that all was safe, they returned to England. By this time, I was four. Of course, the world was still suffering the effects of the war- I had no children to play with in my area for a long time- so we didn't properly settle in with a school for me and jobs for Ma and Papa for a year and a half.
Predictably, in celebration, my brother Daniel was born nine months later. I was extremely pleased at my brother's birth, if you can imagine, and my parents, noticing this, immediately taught me all the necessary things for taking care of a child. I grew to them very easily, and it wasn't long before Ma and Papa decided they could go back to work (they spent a longer time with Daniel than they had with me, possibly because their jobs were more secure, what with the recent deaths of various members of society) and leave me to care for him. Note that I was nearly seven at the time, and they trusted me with such a thing. My parents weren't the brightest at twenty-five, more evidence for why humans shouldn't go through puberty until at least thirty. I loved Daniel, though. He was only a baby at the time, of course, but he was able to make cooing noises and wiggle his toes, and it's very easy to fall in love with an infant. I wanted more siblings, though, for I had become very attached to the idea that I could be trusted with a small child's life. And my parents, who had about the same level of foresight as me, agreed that the world was safer now, and that who better to populate it than little children? Constantine Barber, my second little brother, was born a year and a half after Daniel. And then Kate. Then Terrence and Phoebe. And at last Dena. Each around two years apart from each other, by the time I was fourteen, I had six brothers and sisters. But that's skipping ahead, I guess. I tend to do that a lot, which is something I suppose would have been trained out of me if I'd gone to law school, but oh well.
I grew up much like this for my entire childhood- only really getting extended breaks with my parents while my mum was in her last stages of pregnancy. Those were the best times, which may have been another reason why I wanted more siblings. Of course, Daniel and Constantine got attention during her days off, but since they'd mostly grown up with me, I don't think they ever saw Ma and Papa as being proper parents. That probably sounds terrible of me, but were they honestly proper parents? They were good people, of course, staying at their jobs to provide, but I don't think that's all that's required in caring for someone- though I can hardly talk, seeing as my idea of care is sacrifice.
I was very worried when I went off to Hogwarts, to be honest. I was already eleven, so I'd had my letter for nearly a year- I was born after the cutoff date. One would think that because I'd had a longer time to prepare, I'd have been more comfortable with the thought of leaving my brothers and sisters behind, but it wasn't that easy. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more worried I got- I'd recently taken a bit of interest into law after watching a muggle movie called Twelve Angry Men (I quite like movies from the 1940s- I went through a stage in seventh year when I posed for pinup photos, and I still do it occasionally), and in a book I'd read, it had occurred to me that neglect laws sort of spoke ill of what I'd been doing for my whole life. I didn't really see it as a problem then, though, so it was mostly just disturbing that a book could have such a different perspective than mine. Anyway, my train ride was normal- I immediately met a few people around my age, and though we weren't particularly close, I made note of their problems and decided to look after (even if she didn't know it) the girl who claimed to have problems focusing in class. I was sorted into Gryffindor, because like I mentioned before, my idea of care is sacrifice, and apparently that's quite noble.
It was at Hogwarts that I realized how free life could be. When I ate breakfast, I didn't have to spend the whole time making sure that my brothers and sisters weren't choking or that they were eating enough, and I don't know, I suppose that after a while, that made me a bit resentful of my old life. Not for a while, though, because it was hard getting out of my set way (I still looked out for my fellow first years, especially those on the young end of eleven). I received daily letters from Ma and Papa on the state of things, but they didn't tell me the things that I supposed they didn't realize I wanted to know- how many bowls of cereal did Kate eat that day? Why hadn't Phoebe tied her shoes correctly? Those were the things I couldn't exactly ask for, but needed to know anyway, and they plagued my everyday life. Of course, I was still twelve, so I was easily distracted by friends and classes and homework.
By the time I got home that summer, I'd established myself as one of the few decent students at History of Magic, and I was beginning to blossom in Transfiguration- I had an attention to detail that came from watching over magical five year olds, I suppose. My summer was stressful compared to Hogwarts, and I think that's when the first seeds of resentment were born. I didn't act on them, though. I never have.
Second year went much the same as first, though perhaps with a bit more homework. At the end of the year, I was asked to choose which electives to take the next year, and I chose Care of Magical Creatures, mostly because Daniel was into his Krup phase at the time. Summer, again, proved to be stressful. I did learn a bit more about law and politics and current events, and I decided that when I grew up, I wanted to be a lawyer. I wanted to debate whether people should be in prison, and apply various laws to situations to make sure I got the desired result. My History of Magic certainly didn't help matters, with its emphasis on the importance of wizarding law. Ma and Papa didn't really notice this desire of mine much, though Papa did attempt to tell me that law school was expensive.
Third year, however, was when I began to really change. As one of the oldest girls in the year, I turned fourteen in November, and apparently fourteen is the age at which girls are deemed acceptable to date. I'd developed quite a bit by then, and I don't know, I guess I was quite pretty? I'm not entirely certain- I think I looked like a pig, though Jaime says differently. I had quite a bit of male interest, and even a bit of female interest, and I suppose I took advantage of that? Ma and Papa weren't around to see anything, and since my siblings were all significantly younger than me, I didn't have to worry about them being at Hogwarts and ratting me out. I wasn't a slut, really, but I did have quite a few boyfriends (I never quite had enough courage to ask out the few girls who'd showed interest). The one significant trend in all of my relationships, unfortunately, was the fact that the adjective one would use to describe my boyfriends was bad. (I suppose Jaime could be classified as this, as well, but for some reason we never dated.) The worst by far (He wasn't a bad person, really, but he wasn't good for me. I know that now.) was August Newman. I first was attracted to him because he seemed rather interested in Care of Magical Creatures, and that was always a plus to me. He also had this angry look in his eyes that, I don't know, made me want to save him, I suppose. He was a sixth year so him being attracted to me was quite amazing. Of course, it couldn't last long, and he cheated on me with some girl in the year above him- I never did find out her name- and when I told him that he had been unfaithful, we fought. The anger he showed me, well, I couldn't save him, let's put it that way.
After that, I sort of started withdrawing and focusing more on the classes I was good at. Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, and History of Magic. I did fairly well in the OWLs for those subjects- well enough that I could be accepted into the Wizarding Law program if I needed to. My brother finally came to Hogwarts, however, in sixth year, and that was when it all went downhill. I love my brother, I do, but suddenly, Hogwarts wasn't about me for me, it was about him. I started doing worse in classes, I started losing friends (Jaime was really the only one who stuck around, to be honest), and worst of all, I just, I couldn't stop it.
I graduated with four NEWTS- Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, and History of Magic- those classes that I was naturally good at. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for me to get into Wizarding Law. And you know what they say, those who can't do, teach. So I've been Professor of Care of Magical Creatures for the past four years- at Jaime's suggestion, once he got a job doing the same, but for Defense Against the Dark Arts. I get to look after my siblings, I get to stay at the place I always loved as a child- but now, it's no fun anymore.
I'm not this superwoman, I'm human, and I've started hating the burden that I've thrust upon myself..
I was born two years before the huge wizarding war started, just after my parents graduated Hogwarts, on September 23, (you do the math- they're very affectionate). For the first two years of my life, I was alone a good majority of the time, as my parents were both muggle-borns and thus had to make their own way in the world. Unlike purebloods, they needed to keep their jobs if they wanted to survive, and could not take long hours off simply to spend time with me- it was hard enough to get promoted with all of the blood purity propaganda running around. And once Voldemort took over, my parents had to flee, taking their one daughter with them to Tokyo. They stayed there for two years, as a precaution, and once they were sure that all was safe, they returned to England. By this time, I was four. Of course, the world was still suffering the effects of the war- I had no children to play with in my area for a long time- so we didn't properly settle in with a school for me and jobs for Ma and Papa for a year and a half.
Predictably, in celebration, my brother Daniel was born nine months later. I was extremely pleased at my brother's birth, if you can imagine, and my parents, noticing this, immediately taught me all the necessary things for taking care of a child. I grew to them very easily, and it wasn't long before Ma and Papa decided they could go back to work (they spent a longer time with Daniel than they had with me, possibly because their jobs were more secure, what with the recent deaths of various members of society) and leave me to care for him. Note that I was nearly seven at the time, and they trusted me with such a thing. My parents weren't the brightest at twenty-five, more evidence for why humans shouldn't go through puberty until at least thirty. I loved Daniel, though. He was only a baby at the time, of course, but he was able to make cooing noises and wiggle his toes, and it's very easy to fall in love with an infant. I wanted more siblings, though, for I had become very attached to the idea that I could be trusted with a small child's life. And my parents, who had about the same level of foresight as me, agreed that the world was safer now, and that who better to populate it than little children? Constantine Barber, my second little brother, was born a year and a half after Daniel. And then Kate. Then Terrence and Phoebe. And at last Dena. Each around two years apart from each other, by the time I was fourteen, I had six brothers and sisters. But that's skipping ahead, I guess. I tend to do that a lot, which is something I suppose would have been trained out of me if I'd gone to law school, but oh well.
I grew up much like this for my entire childhood- only really getting extended breaks with my parents while my mum was in her last stages of pregnancy. Those were the best times, which may have been another reason why I wanted more siblings. Of course, Daniel and Constantine got attention during her days off, but since they'd mostly grown up with me, I don't think they ever saw Ma and Papa as being proper parents. That probably sounds terrible of me, but were they honestly proper parents? They were good people, of course, staying at their jobs to provide, but I don't think that's all that's required in caring for someone- though I can hardly talk, seeing as my idea of care is sacrifice.
I was very worried when I went off to Hogwarts, to be honest. I was already eleven, so I'd had my letter for nearly a year- I was born after the cutoff date. One would think that because I'd had a longer time to prepare, I'd have been more comfortable with the thought of leaving my brothers and sisters behind, but it wasn't that easy. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more worried I got- I'd recently taken a bit of interest into law after watching a muggle movie called Twelve Angry Men (I quite like movies from the 1940s- I went through a stage in seventh year when I posed for pinup photos, and I still do it occasionally), and in a book I'd read, it had occurred to me that neglect laws sort of spoke ill of what I'd been doing for my whole life. I didn't really see it as a problem then, though, so it was mostly just disturbing that a book could have such a different perspective than mine. Anyway, my train ride was normal- I immediately met a few people around my age, and though we weren't particularly close, I made note of their problems and decided to look after (even if she didn't know it) the girl who claimed to have problems focusing in class. I was sorted into Gryffindor, because like I mentioned before, my idea of care is sacrifice, and apparently that's quite noble.
It was at Hogwarts that I realized how free life could be. When I ate breakfast, I didn't have to spend the whole time making sure that my brothers and sisters weren't choking or that they were eating enough, and I don't know, I suppose that after a while, that made me a bit resentful of my old life. Not for a while, though, because it was hard getting out of my set way (I still looked out for my fellow first years, especially those on the young end of eleven). I received daily letters from Ma and Papa on the state of things, but they didn't tell me the things that I supposed they didn't realize I wanted to know- how many bowls of cereal did Kate eat that day? Why hadn't Phoebe tied her shoes correctly? Those were the things I couldn't exactly ask for, but needed to know anyway, and they plagued my everyday life. Of course, I was still twelve, so I was easily distracted by friends and classes and homework.
By the time I got home that summer, I'd established myself as one of the few decent students at History of Magic, and I was beginning to blossom in Transfiguration- I had an attention to detail that came from watching over magical five year olds, I suppose. My summer was stressful compared to Hogwarts, and I think that's when the first seeds of resentment were born. I didn't act on them, though. I never have.
Second year went much the same as first, though perhaps with a bit more homework. At the end of the year, I was asked to choose which electives to take the next year, and I chose Care of Magical Creatures, mostly because Daniel was into his Krup phase at the time. Summer, again, proved to be stressful. I did learn a bit more about law and politics and current events, and I decided that when I grew up, I wanted to be a lawyer. I wanted to debate whether people should be in prison, and apply various laws to situations to make sure I got the desired result. My History of Magic certainly didn't help matters, with its emphasis on the importance of wizarding law. Ma and Papa didn't really notice this desire of mine much, though Papa did attempt to tell me that law school was expensive.
Third year, however, was when I began to really change. As one of the oldest girls in the year, I turned fourteen in November, and apparently fourteen is the age at which girls are deemed acceptable to date. I'd developed quite a bit by then, and I don't know, I guess I was quite pretty? I'm not entirely certain- I think I looked like a pig, though Jaime says differently. I had quite a bit of male interest, and even a bit of female interest, and I suppose I took advantage of that? Ma and Papa weren't around to see anything, and since my siblings were all significantly younger than me, I didn't have to worry about them being at Hogwarts and ratting me out. I wasn't a slut, really, but I did have quite a few boyfriends (I never quite had enough courage to ask out the few girls who'd showed interest). The one significant trend in all of my relationships, unfortunately, was the fact that the adjective one would use to describe my boyfriends was bad. (I suppose Jaime could be classified as this, as well, but for some reason we never dated.) The worst by far (He wasn't a bad person, really, but he wasn't good for me. I know that now.) was August Newman. I first was attracted to him because he seemed rather interested in Care of Magical Creatures, and that was always a plus to me. He also had this angry look in his eyes that, I don't know, made me want to save him, I suppose. He was a sixth year so him being attracted to me was quite amazing. Of course, it couldn't last long, and he cheated on me with some girl in the year above him- I never did find out her name- and when I told him that he had been unfaithful, we fought. The anger he showed me, well, I couldn't save him, let's put it that way.
After that, I sort of started withdrawing and focusing more on the classes I was good at. Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, and History of Magic. I did fairly well in the OWLs for those subjects- well enough that I could be accepted into the Wizarding Law program if I needed to. My brother finally came to Hogwarts, however, in sixth year, and that was when it all went downhill. I love my brother, I do, but suddenly, Hogwarts wasn't about me for me, it was about him. I started doing worse in classes, I started losing friends (Jaime was really the only one who stuck around, to be honest), and worst of all, I just, I couldn't stop it.
I graduated with four NEWTS- Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, and History of Magic- those classes that I was naturally good at. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for me to get into Wizarding Law. And you know what they say, those who can't do, teach. So I've been Professor of Care of Magical Creatures for the past four years- at Jaime's suggestion, once he got a job doing the same, but for Defense Against the Dark Arts. I get to look after my siblings, I get to stay at the place I always loved as a child- but now, it's no fun anymore.
I'm not this superwoman, I'm human, and I've started hating the burden that I've thrust upon myself..
