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Post by Ilsa Richmond on Oct 4, 2011 22:28:33 GMT -5
Ilsa sat outside Professor Dumbledore's office, having been told not to leave the little bench until her mother came to get her.
This was not how she wanted to spend her weekend. It was Friday afternoon, and all of her classes were finished. She knew, however, that the owl that was sent to her mother probably interrupted her 3 o'clock, and that she wasn't going to be thrilled to have to come get her daughter because she'd gotten in trouble. Again.
By her fifth year, they figured out detentions didn't do much good. So they had taken to calling her parents, and punishing her by not allowing her to attend Hogsmeade weekends. Which really annoyed her, in case anyone wanted to ask her opinion on the matter. She used those weekends to see her boyfriend, who had already graduated, and Merlin, she couldn't wait until she was also an alumni.
She would have to owl him later and let him know it wouldn't be happening this weekend.
When she heard footsteps, she looked up, catching sight of her mother, and she rolled her eyes, leaning her head back before letting out a rush of a sigh and grabbing her bag. Getting to her feet, she started walking towards her mother, meeting her in the middle of the hallway.
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Post by Dr. Nadine Richmond on Oct 4, 2011 22:47:16 GMT -5
Nadine was almost beginning to expect the owls by this time. Any time it happened to be the most inconvenient time possible, that was when the owls seemed to come in. It was like Ilsa somehow knew it was a bad time. She had been in the middle of a session with a particularly over-wrought patient when the owl came. Joseph was busy working, and Nadine had no choice but to go fetch her youngest daughter once again.
She walked the now-familiar hallway with a frustrated expression on her face. Merlin, she loved her daughter, but this was getting bloody ridiculous. She'd never had to once pick up Lorelei from school, never had a parent conference for her... She knew better than to wish her youngest daughter could be more like her eldest, but sometimes...
She saw Ilsa walking towards her, and a part of her wanted to run to the girl and pull her into her arms. She never had been good at being strict with her children. Lorelei had just been responsible and well-behaved on her own. But Ilsa had been difficult almost from the beginning, and it only seemed to be getting worse.
"What did you do this time?" she asked tiredly.
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Post by Ilsa Richmond on Oct 4, 2011 22:59:49 GMT -5
Ilsa sighed at the question and shrugged, already taking her robe off, revealing a Beatles t-shirt and ripped up muggle jeans, because Merlin knew she never wore the uniform under that robe. What was the point? Besides, she refused to let all individuality be taken away from her.
"I don't know. Not wearing the uniform, talking back, disrupting the lecture, not doing my homework.... choose your own adventure." Her answer was just as unenthused as the question had been, tired of having this conversation every time. She wasn't mad at her mother for it, but rather her teachers.
"Anyway, I tried to tell them you were working, but there was something about not trusting me to go home on my own. Whatever."
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Post by Dr. Nadine Richmond on Oct 4, 2011 23:12:48 GMT -5
Nadine wasn't entirely sure she trusted Ilsa to go home on her own, either. She didn't know about the boyfriend yet, but she knew that Ilsa never really did what she was supposed to do. She seemed to delight in worrying them.
"Ilsa..." she sighed. "Sweetie, this has to stop. What are you going to do when you get out of school? How are you going to get a good job when you can't behave responsibly? You can't talk back to your boss or refuse to do your work."
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Post by Ilsa Richmond on Oct 4, 2011 23:25:31 GMT -5
Ilsa just barely refrained from rolling her eyes again. She hated the 'after graduation' lecture. Usually it came from her father, though.
"Okay, for one thing, this wouldnt even happen if it was any other class except History of Magic on a Friday. He just has it out for me and has since third year." Coincidentally, her third year was when she'd been taken out of dancing, too.
"And who says I need a good job anyway? I'm not wasting my life away working for some git. Maybe I'll just be a professional groupie." That may have sounded like a more legitimate threat if anyone in her family knew about the boyfriend, but it still made her smile. "You need to loosen up. It'll work out."
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Post by Dr. Nadine Richmond on Oct 4, 2011 23:45:52 GMT -5
Nadine had to force herself not to sigh again. It seemed that Ilsa could make her sigh with frustration more than any of her patients. "But it's not just History of Magic, is it? You've had other problems with other teachers, and even your head of house has written to me about some... issues." Admittedly, most of them didn't insist she be sent home for the weekend, but her grades were certainly suffering.
But at the mention of being a "professional groupie," Nadine forgot all about the grades, and turned fully to face her daughter. "Don't even joke about that," she said. "Your father would have a fit if he heard that. Just think about what he lost and how hard he works to give you the best of everything. We want the best for you."
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Post by Ilsa Richmond on Oct 4, 2011 23:51:02 GMT -5
Ilsa had expected this reaction from her mother. It pissed part of her off, as she knew it would, and her argumentative side immediately came out. Everyone else was still in class, so she was not concerned about causing a scene or anything of the sort. Her mother had to know this by now.
"What if that is what's best for me? What if that's what I want? I could fall madly in love with some rockstar, and just want to be on his tour. An assistant or something. Or what if, Merlin forbid, I got back into dancing and wanted to join a company? Or just be a stay at home mother? I'm not smart enough to get a good job like you, Mum. Remember?"
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Post by Dr. Nadine Richmond on Oct 5, 2011 0:12:03 GMT -5
It was the last statement that caused Nadine to stop walking and put her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Ilsa," she said firmly. "Don't ever say that. You are very smart. I know you are, and you are capable of so many great things. You just don't try. I don't understand why you're giving up on yourself."
This time she did sigh, and she began to massage her temple to try and chase away the headache that was starting to form. She had nothing against the dancing, but she didn't want Ilsa abusing her body the way she once had. Working on a tour with a "rock star" sounded just as dangerous. "Sweetie, we want you to be happy, but we want you safe and healthy, too."
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Post by Ilsa Richmond on Oct 5, 2011 0:22:56 GMT -5
"No, Mum, I'm not. You and Dad and Lorelei are smart. I'm talented. I just got that one recessive gene and I like it. You just have to accept that I'm not going to be some Ministry official when I graduate."
Ilsa didn't think she was giving up on herself. She just didn't see the point in pushing so hard to be as good as Lorelei in a field she was never going to excel in. She did not want to be compared to her sister, or her parents, and she certainly didn't want to walk in their shadows, so she just took a completely separate path.
"Okay, Mum. I was like, thirteen. I really wish you'd let that go. And I am looking at.... artistic careers, just,.... so you know. And none of them care about grades. I promise." This conversation was getting too heavy for her tastes, so she gave her mother a wicked grin. "What if I fall in love with a rockstar, and I'm a back up dancer for his band?"
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Post by Dr. Nadine Richmond on Oct 5, 2011 20:29:00 GMT -5
Nadine started walking again, wishing she knew what to say to Ilsa. Of course there was nothing wrong with being creative and artistic, but she didn't want her to be self-destructive, either. And Ilsa seemed to be destroying all hopes of any other kind of career by tanking all of her classes. Professional groupie was not a viable career, and she hadn't danced since she was 13, so what if she wasn't good at it any more? Dancing required vigorous training and practice.
"I never said you had to work at the Ministry," Nadine said. "I just... I want you to keep your options open and explore as many possibilities as you can. Artistic jobs are fine, but you're pinning yourself into a corner by not concentrating on your school work."
There was something else that was bothering Nadine, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She felt like Ilsa was trying to tell her something. "You keep mentioning rock stars," she said. "You're not planning to become a rock musician, are you? You can't even play an instrument..."
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Post by Ilsa Richmond on Oct 5, 2011 21:35:21 GMT -5
Ilsa was barely paying attention at this point. Or, rather, it appeared as if she was barely paying attention. She was actually taking in every word her mother said, in case there was something she could latch onto and turn around on her poor mother.
"I don't know what other possibilities you want me looking into. I just want to do something fun. Maybe I'll be a travel writer. Or a barmaid. I bet Vati would love that one."
She realized, perhaps a bit too late, that she did keep mentioning rock stars. It wasn't her fault she had a particular musician on her mind- she was just told she wasn't going to be able to see him this weekend. "Now whose pinning me in a corner? Besides, neither can Yoko Ono and it didn't stop her."
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Post by Dr. Nadine Richmond on Oct 5, 2011 23:43:47 GMT -5
The Yoko Ono comment made Nadine chuckle in spite of herself. Sometimes it was so hard to stay angry at Ilsa, even if she was wild and out of control and full of attitude. But Nadine wasn't good at discipline, and she was so soft-spoken that it was almost impossible to raise her voice loud enough to actually yell at her. Joseph was a little tougher than she was, but even still, Ilsa usually got off easily for her behavior.
"Don't even joke about the barmaid idea," she said, shaking her head. "Your father wants better for you than that. I like the travel writing idea, though... Maybe think along those lines. Maybe you could get an internship at the Daily Prophet."
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Post by Ilsa Richmond on Oct 6, 2011 12:47:01 GMT -5
Ilsa sighed audibly. For a grand total of three seconds, she thought they had come to an agreement about her career, and then Nadine threw In that bit about the Daily Prophet. "I can't believe we're compromising my future here."
Nadine, and Joseph and even Lorelei, obviously wanted her to be respectable in whatever she did. And Ilsa had no intentions of being respectable. It just wasn't for her.
"Do you think I can go to Hogsmeade this weekend anyway? I mean, I didn't really do anything wrong."
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Post by Dr. Nadine Richmond on Oct 7, 2011 0:15:50 GMT -5
"It's not a compromise," Nadine said gently. "It's just a suggestion."
She pushed her hair back from her face in frustration. Why was it that Ilsa always seemed to twist her words into something that wasn't intended? She had only meant that maybe an internship at the newspaper would help teach her about the business, so she'd have a better idea how to get started on the right path.
"Honey, whatever you decide to do, I just want you to be the best you can be at it. You've got so much potential, and I just want to see you succeed. I believe in you, and I think you can do anything you set your mind to... I just want you to have the opportunities available to you, that's all."
She could tell, however, that most of what she was saying was going in one ear and out the other. It wasn't doing any good to keep pressing the point.
"You'll have to ask your father," she said, shaking her head. "We're not trying to punish you, but these trips back and forth to the school are starting to get out of control."
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Post by Ilsa Richmond on Oct 7, 2011 18:39:03 GMT -5
Potential. No, that was called gumption. Lorelei had potential, Ilsa had the sheer will to be nothing like her mother or sister.
"What about a traveling gypsy? Or sweater maker." Now she was Just throwing things out as random, trying not to smile as she thought of more and more absurd things.
"Well, I've got a month left, so you'll just have to pick me up a couple more times. And then I'll be out there living on my own. Oh, maybe I'll own an apothecary in a needy country and I'll donate all that potential to the needy."
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Post by Dr. Nadine Richmond on Oct 8, 2011 22:59:29 GMT -5
"You just like scaring me, don't you?" Nadine said, frowning deeply.
In no way was Ilsa ready to move out on her own. The fact that she would even joke about being a traveling gypsy or a professional groupie was proof of that. She wasn't going to be able to make it on her own without a steady job, and if she expected her parents to pay her rent and food bills, she was in for a harsh reality.
"If you plan on moving out, you'd better have a plan and at least some sort of steady income, because your father and I can't keep bailing you out of trouble."
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Post by Ilsa Richmond on Oct 9, 2011 1:29:23 GMT -5
Ilsa shrugged. "I'll figure it out." She had a plan. Maybe it wasn't a very solid one. Staying with an unemployed musician while he put together on album wasn't exactly safe planning. But she would be so much happier being a Muse of sorts and doing what she wanted than playing it safe. No one in her family was going to understand that this was okay.
"And Merlin, Mum. You're not bailing me out of anything, anyway. I mean, have I ever really done anything that bad?" The look Ilsa gave her mother was the very definition of innocence. "I have a plan. And I'll get out of your hair just as soon as I graduate."
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Post by Dr. Nadine Richmond on Oct 10, 2011 0:17:54 GMT -5
Nadine sighed. If she had her way, Ilsa would not be moving out at all. She was pretty sure Joseph would agree, although they hadn't discussed the matter yet. Apparently, it was about time for that conversation. It had been hard enough when Lorelei moved out, but at least she was more responsible and had a good job. Ilsa thought it was funny to joke about being a traveling gypsy. Next she'd be talking about joining the circus or something.
"Before you move out, we're going to need to know what your plan is and how you intend to get money," Nadine said. "We're going to have a talk after graduation."
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Post by Ilsa Richmond on Oct 10, 2011 16:32:01 GMT -5
The girl rolled her eyes. Why wasn't 'I'll figure it out' a viable plan? "Mum, relax. It'll work out."
Okay, so she was going to have to come up with a plan, at least something that her parents would buy, until she could just get out of the house. And then she would actually figure out.
"Okay, listen. What if I waitress while I figure out what I actually want to do? I'll be supporting myself, it won't be a barmaid job, and it'll give me time to figure things out. I'm telling you, I'm not going to have my career figured out in the next month. And I already have a little apartment I could live it. See? I'm responsible." Of course, the major details she left out of this story, like who else lived in that apartment, would prove that last statement wrong.
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Post by Dr. Nadine Richmond on Oct 11, 2011 21:16:25 GMT -5
Well, it wasn't ideal, but at least it was something. It was an acknowledgement that she couldn't simply live on her wits and charm. Maybe it was OK if she didn't know what she wanted to do with the rest of her life right away... Just as long as she didn't plan to make waitressing a career.
But there was, of course, one thing that bothered Nadine about this idea. What was this apartment that she could live in?
"That doesn't sound too bad," she said. "As long as you are also actively trying to figure out what else you want to do. I don't want you waiting tables forever... I think you're capable of so much more than that. But tell me more about this apartment."
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