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[Luka Chancery]

Luka had been ordered to report to the Headmaster's Office first thing after breakfast.
As though he could eat with such a thing on his mind.
He had not even bothered going to the Great Hall but stayed in his common roof, trying to coax his courage into life.
The worst part was that the Headmaster had not said what was going to happen. Luka had no idea. The only thing he knew was that it was bound to be terrible.
"I am not afraid," he murmured, trying to believe it. He hated how he was struggling to keep his cool.... he was used to being able to control his every emotion.

At last the time came. Luka made his way to the dreaded Office, not noticing that he walked slower the closer he got.
What's he going to do with me...?
Luka gently touched his wrists, or rather, the knives he had hidden up his sleeves. He wore five of these blades in various places and had done so every day since he was old enough not to stab himself. He had not seen why he should abandon them just because he was at Hogwarts. Besides, they gave him comfort.
Luka stopped walking.
Now he was here.
No avoiding his fate.
He took a deep breath and rapped on the door.
I am Not Afraid.

[Professor Llwellyn]

"Come in" said Rhodri briskly. He had not slept particularly well because he had been pondering what to say to Luka. He knew a bit about the boy's background and he could hardly expect him to change instantlt just because he wasn't in a place where he needed to steal to stay alive. On the other hand, Rhodri had no intention of allowing a thief to walk the halls of Hogwarts.

The boy looked rather scared, as well he might under the circumstances. Letting him stew over night had probably been a good plan, hopefully he would have realised how important staying at Hogwarts was to his future. Rhodri did not waste time on pleasentries or on telling the boy to sit down. Instead he towered over his pupil, making full advantage of his height and bulk. He doubted this boy would be cowed by his mere physical presence but it was still a useful tool.

"If you'd been taken before the magistrates for stealing a gold necklace you could have been hung. Or sent to Australia which would have been equally fatal but rather slower. Or sent to the fleet perhaps, with a good risk of dying of fever on some god-forsaken island." He paused to allow this to sink in. "If you'd been caught by magical law enforcement you could have been sent to prison, or they could have snapped your wand and sent you to back to live as a muggle. I could flog you within an inch of your life if I chose to, or I could expel you from this school."

He gazed into the boy's eyes "perhaps you could tell me why I shouldn't flog you, snap your wand, and throw you out onto the street?"

[Luka Chancery]

Luka opened the door barely wide enough to slide inside.
I am not afraid, I am not... as if by chanting it over and over he could make it true.

As the Headmaster towered over him, it struck Luka that he looked just like the wild bears that slaughtered dogs in the Bear Pits.
This was not a comforting idea.
The Professor wasted no time in pointing all the terrible things that could have happened to him; hanging, transportation to Australia....
As if I didn't know.

Luka made no attempt to speak when the flow of stormy words halted a moment. Instead he tried to meet the Headmaster's eyes and found it suprisingly difficult. Luka, who could out-stare a cat, dropped his gaze and stared at the floor.
The Professor continued, growing even more threatening.
Fear crawled like a spider up Luka's spine. He could well believe that the Professor could half kill him.
And as for that, he could do for me entirely. Easy as breathing....
When he mentioned Expelling him, Luka suddenly met his eyes. Go back to London, back to the Thief Lord.... back to Hero. If he wasn't already dead.

Trying to hold the Professor's stare and failing once again, Luka spoke to the floor.
"I..." he began, thoughts racing. What could he say? Was there anything that could save him from being flogged to death? Luka fanned through his memory at lightning-speed, forcing down panic. Could he... could he actually tell the truth? Could he tell about the Owls that the Thief Lord sent him? The ones saying 'what have you got me?' and 'staying in practice?' and 'remember what happened to Raven Blue?'
Could he actually admit that his very life belonged to the Thief Lord?
No. Impossible.
"I... I think I could make a good wizard, Sir..." Luka murmured at the floor. There was much to back that up; outstanding grades in all classes but Flying... would cleverness count for anything here? "But you don't understand. I have to steal. I can't live otherwise."
Which was true. If he went home empty-handed, the Thief Lord would kill him.
That was, if the Hogwarts Headmaster didn't get in first.

[Professor Llwellyn]

Rhodri raised one eyebrow "you could make a skilled wizard my boy, I don't doubt it. But a good wizard is something entirely different". Rhodri did not particularly care for brains nor good grades, he cared about character, about producing young witches and wizards who would do a bit of good in the world and leave it a better place then they found it. And a skilled wizard who was also a skilled thief did not seem the most promising prospect. Although they did say it took a thief to catch a thief, and if the boy was brave, and skilled and could be channelled to positive ends...

In truth he had no intention of expelling Luka, let alone flogging him half to death, but he was determined to get to the bottom of this problem - even if it took physical threats for him to do so. "Sit down" he said more gently, indicating the chair in front of his desk. He himself sat down, settling himself on the other side of the desk. "Now then, what do you mean by you have to steal? You are fed and clothed by this school, so you certainly don't need to steal to survive here. And there are far more worthwhile forms of entertainment"

He suspected the boy's need to steal was more complicated than either of the scenarios he had outlined, but it was worth making a full enquiry.

[Luka Chancery]

Of course when Luka had said a 'good' wizard, he had meant skilled; in his world, skill was the most important and being 'good' the way the Professor used the word got you killed.
So why did he feel so uncomfortable inside?
Of course I'm not good. I'm not supposed to be. I don't care...
And why did that feel like he was lying to himself?
Luka chewed on his lip, something he had not done since he was five years old.

When the Headmaster asked him to sit, Luka tore his gaze from the floor. He would rather be standing. Its easier to run or fight if you're standing. He did not dare disobay however, and so sort of slid sideways, perching on the edge of the chair the Professor had indicated. At least now there was a desk between them.
But this was another difficult question to answer. Luka could not just tell the truth, give away the whole story... He shivered. The Thief Lord would do worse than kill him if he gave the game away.
And you always bragged about being free! Your life belongs to the Thief Lord. What kind of freedom is that?
Luka took a sharp breath, disterbed by his own thoughts. It was the first time the idea of belonging to the Lord had come to him.
That's just the way things are. If I'm not his thief, what am I? Nothing.
But he had to say something...

After what seemed like hours, Luka spoke.
"I have to... I just have to because..." But he could not tell. "What would you do," Luka suddenly changed track, following the thread of an idea. "What would you do if you were in a strange place, and you were very young and very alone and could not even remember your own name, and out of the dark came a man who picked you up, carried you to a place that was warm and gave you food and a name and said you could stay forever? If he taught you to steal and wear knives so that none knew you had them, how to fight and cheat... And when you were a little older, told you that you could not leave him even if you wanted too... which was ok, because you knew you would never want too. And then if one day someone said 'don't listen to this man anymore', but you knew you still belonged to him... what would you do?" the words came tumbling out over eachother, so fast that Luka hardly knew what he was saying. When at last the flow stopped, he thought a moment and added, "Hypotheticly , Sir."

[Professor Llwellyn]

Rhodri sensed that the truth was very near but that it was costing the boy a great deal to say it. He waited patiently and was rewarded, if rewarded was the right word, with a most interesting story. Rhodri was a compassionate man and he now felt more inclined to embrace the boy than beat him to a bloody pulp. He certainly faced something of a dilemma, and Rhodri was struggling to see an obvious solution.

"Hypothetically it would put me in something of a dilemma" he said at last. "And I think it would rather depend on how the two sides balanced. Now when I was a boy I was in the Navy, and a wizard came and stole me out of my ship, and I was very afraid for I knew that if the Navy caught me and recognised me I would be flogged as a deserter. But I realised that if I stuck mostly to wizarding areas, and hid from the press gang when necessary, they could not take me. And that if they did the wizards would come back for me. So I devoted myself to Hogwarts and my magical education, and when I was seventeen I left the school and went back to the sea - my own master"

He paused and went on more briskly "now to apply these principles to your hypothetical situation, assuming I was choosing between Hogwarts and my previous muggle life. No muggle could touch me while I was at Hogwarts, where I could stay at christmas and easter, as well as during the school term. That would still leave the summer but perhaps if I explained my situation to a teacher they would find me somewhere else to stay. Once I left Hogwarts, with seven years of magical education and my own common sense, I would be a match for any muggle who cared to take me on. With the two worlds seperated it would be a case of deciding which I prefered. Unless of course there is some other factor you'd like to introduce"

[Luka Chancery]

Luka listened.
He would remember the Headmaster's every word even if he wanted to forget, because that was the kind of mind he had.
Listened, and was then silent for a very long time.
He had not thought that he might stay at Hogwart over holidays and then find somewhere else over summer. Even if no one would give him a home, he could ask to go to any city but London (for he knew he was clever enough to survive alone) and the Thief Lord would never find him. He had left, and the Professor was saying that he never had to go back.

But if I'm not thief.... who am I?
That thought again. If he was not a thief, could he be a wizard? Would it be enough? He could be skilled, even the Headmaster had said.... he could be as skilled a wizard as he was a thief. But....
"Unless of course there is some other factor you'd like to introduce..."
The Headmaster had said. Luka had left and might never go back, but what would happen to Hero? Little Hero who was his sister in all but blood... while she was still so young, she was safe because she was the Thief Lord's special pet. But what when she grew older...? There was always the chance that she might be a witch, but Luka knew it was a very small chance. Other than being insanely lucky in all that she did, he had never noticed her showing any magical talent. Not that he was an expert, but....
Could he really never see Hero again? Leave her to her fate? He would even have to stop sending her Owls because it was on the owl's return that the Thief Lord sent his notes.
NO! No no no no....

Luka's green eyes misted over. He opened his mouth to tell of Hero, and then bit his words back. It was a fool's thought, too compassionate to belong in the heart of a thief.
He would save Hero, but he would do it on his own. Luka had told everything he could bring himself to tell.
"No other factor, sir...." he murmured, so soft it could hardly be heard.


((Just a note: first I'm sorry I didn't reply for a couple of days but I was banned from the computer and the other is that you probably wont get anything else out of Luka in this interview, and the last one is perhaps you had better confiscate his knives.... but only if you want too. ))

[Professor Llwellyn]

((Nah, he's a trusting man, you can keep them for now. And no worries, I didn't get online myself yesterday))

Rhodri sat and watched the boy, trying to read his emotions but largely failing. He was too good at hiding them, and Rhodri had never been a great master of subtlety, neither the giving nor the receiving. All the same he suspected that there was something, or possibly someone, to tie the boy to his old life. And such ties were far more powerful than any lure of a career and home comforts. He did not interrupt the boys thoughts, because he did not know what to say, and because he thought that this was a decision which Luka had to make for himself.

"Are you sure?" he asked softly, the question hanging in the air between them.

He spoke more briskly now. "Well if you do want to stay here there will be have to be no more stealing. Other than sending food home, I'm not so callous a man as to let people starve when they don't have to.  And no other criminal behaviour, no bullying and no violence, there's no place for that in this school and that means there's no place for people like that. Not that I expect you to be perfect, you're a trainee wizard not a novice monk, but do make an effort to abide by the spirit of the rules if not always the letter."

He smiled at the boy "you'll find my door is almost always open."

[Luka Chancery]

((Ok! ))

When the Headmaster asked if he were sure, Luka said nothing, listening to the question hanging softly in the air.
Hero...
No. He would save her himself.
"Yes, sir," Luka answered, sure that the Professor would not spot his lie.

And with his answer the Headmaster became suddenly efficient, reminding Luka just what he was and was not allowed to do. When he mentioned stealing food Luka's ears grew pink. He had not thought the Professor knew about that.
No bullying, no violence.... fine, unless they deserve it. Like those Slytherin boys picking on Aisling Keane.
"I promise, sir..."   he murmured when the instructions were over.
And just how trust-worthy is a promise from a thief...?
Luka blinked, pushed away his own thought. Idiot. A thief was not meant to be trust-worthy. He was letting the Headmaster get inside his head.
And then the Headmaster smiled at him, actually smiled and sounded as though he were dismissing him.
Luka could hardly believe it. He had expected to be beaten at the very least, and now he was just letting him go...? All he had done was promise he would not steal again, a promise that he could break anytime he wanted so long as he was careful. And yet the Headmaster seemed to think the talk was over.
Did I miss something important...?
Luka hesitated, but only for a moment. He would not stay for the Headmaster to change his mind.
Luka slid out of his chair and from the room, quick as a pale shadow.

I did it. I'm still in the school and I didn't get beaten, I didn't tell on the Thief Lord and I didn't tell of Hero. I still have my knives and all the things I took for the Lord are still hidden safely away. Very clever work, Luka Chancery.
It was a triumphant thought, but if Luka believed it... why did he feel so sad?