2nd December, 1889 — Professor Ruskin’s Office
Ellsworth Ruskin

The couple days of anticipation had just about killed him. He had a fairly good imagination, and so the crumb of a clue the Charms professor had left him in the request to meet with him had spiralled into much worse over the weekend, until it had gotten to the point Nelson had just refused to think about it point blank.

Until the last of Monday’s lessons drew to a close, and the sinkhole in the pit of his stomach gaped wide again. He wasn’t usually nervous about things, but he was sure his friends could feel it radiating from him now, as he gave a reluctant wave goodbye and began the trek up to Professor Ruskin’s office.

It felt almost like a walk to the gallows. (Not to be dramatic or anything.)

But what would his parents say if he got sent home from Hogwarts for failing half his subjects before he even got his OWLs? He was already trying as hard as he possibly could. And Charms was probably just the beginning.

Scrunching his face up to screw up some courage, Nelson knocked nervously on the door.

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A knock at the door at Ellsworth setting aside the grading he had been slogging through after courses and opening it to admit one of his students. “Ah, Mister Higgs. Excellent to see you. Come in, come in.” Ellsworth greeted the student as if he hadn’t summoned him to his office. Ellsworth ushered him inside and indicated a seat across from his desk before taking a seat himself. “Please do have a seat.”

If Ellsworth noticed the boy’s discomfort he did nothing to indicate it (and notice he did, after all he had been teaching teenagers for decades now). “I do hope my note did not worry you, but I had hoped to discuss your future with you.” Ellsworth slid a spare piece of parchment over to the boy and one of the quills that littered his desk, hoping this would help the mute to actually have a conversation with him. “Have you considered taking my NEWT charms course?” Ellsworth asked, steepling his hands under his chin and setting his focus solely on Mr. Higgs.

  

Helixa’s words sounded in his head as Professor Ruskin welcomed him in. He’s not an ogre. No, in looks and demeanour he better resembled a kindly grandfather. If only that was comforting to him now.

Nelson plastered a false smile on his face when Ruskin hoped the note hadn’t worried him, as if to convince him that of course it hadn’t! He’d obviously been looking forward to this all weekend! Just a nice little normal catch up over tea and biscuits! Not his future hanging in the balance.

He tried not to fall out of his chair, therefore, when the next sentence out of Professor Ruskin’s mouth was about NEWTs. He did start in disbelief, though, his eyes snapping up to meet the professor’s gaze. Was this some kind of joke?

Feeling a little unsettled - and under pressure - by the professor’s complete focus on him, Nelson picked up the quill and focused his attentions entirely on the parchment in front of him to try and dispel it, think straight about how to answer without offending the man.

I would definitely like to (he would have said sir here if it were aloud, but he always felt a little stupid punctuating his writing with such things) - but I’m not sure it’s one of my best classes. Professor Ruskin could be as nice as he liked, but surely he couldn’t argue that. Nelson was no star Charms pupil, however much effort he put in.

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Ellsworth nodded as he read the beginning of Higgs’ statement. Better to deal with someone at least interested then have to try and persuade them it was in their best interest. But his next statement was also true. “It is not.” Ellsworth agreed not unkindly, rather brushing it off as something not to be considered at the moment. “However, you have been, since your first day in my classroom, attempting N.E.W.T. level magic.” He explained, leaning back in his chair and fixing Higgs with a look. “Non-verbal magic is quite difficult and I suspect that your lack of … aptitude is rather less that then attempting magic above your level. Indeed, for your studies, I do think you are rather more successful then some of your peers at non verbal spells.” The boy for a fact could actually cast some here and there. “Which brings me to the reason I asked you here. I’d like to see you pursue N.E.W.T. level charms to continue working on this. I believe with the additional studies you may yet have some more successes then you have had so far in my class.”

  

Nelson tried not to gulp at the professor’s agreement that it was not one of his best classes. Nelson had said it himself, of course (‘said’, that was), but as reasonable a truth as it was, it certainly sounded twice as soul-crushing when it came from someone he looked up to.

But Professor Ruskin didn’t stop there... in fact, he had turned the whole situation on its head by virtue of a different perspective. Nelson leant back in his chair, a little blown away by anyone floating the prospect of him continuing. He hadn’t considered that in NEWT years, he might even be at an advantage.

He nodded slowly to express his (slightly awed) understanding of Ruskin’s argument, picking up the pen again with a nervous thrill in his fingers.

I wasn’t keen to have to give it up, Nelson scribbled sincerely. I would like to keep practising and to get better. But I don’t know that I’m good enough yet to pass the practical OWL this year, so... He trailed his sentence off with a shrug and pushed it over for the professor to examine. Surely - even in spite of what he could do - Nelson hadn’t caught up with enough of the syllabus to scrape a high enough grade in the OWL exams?

Would he let him continue anyway? Was there a way to alter qualifications, or the exam they set him? Nelson didn’t know if such things were possible, in special cases. (He rather wished he wasn’t a ‘special case’.)

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Ellsworth was gratified to see the look on the young man’s face. So often his students thought he would only deliver bad news, that it was a delight to see the result of the opposite. Ellsworth waited as Mr. Higgs collected himself and his thoughts and began to write again.

Ah yes, there was the matter of Mr. Higgs’s impending OWL exams. Nothing insurmountable however. “Ah. Well I do believe an exception can be made in this case, Mr. Higgs.” Ellsworth assured his student. “However, as I do wish to see you exell on the exams, I am happy to provide tutoring after your classes conclude for the day.” He wouldn’t want Mr. Higgs to simply slack off for the rest of the year with such an offer on the table.

  

Well, here was one practical subject he might pass after all! Nelson barely moved for a long moment or two as the words sank in. Professor Ellsworth would make an exception. It was like a Hogwarts-castle-sized weight had just been lifted from his shoulders; and it was hard to stop his face from spreading into an ear-splitting grin.

While his smile grew, Nelson did drift back earthwards to the reality that he’d also just offered extra tutoring. While that was completely fair - and kind of him - and Nelson did want to actually learn how to do enough magic to actually be a useful wizard in the rest of his life, he did also like to have some free time. For quidditch practices. Hanging out with his friends. And fun stuff.

THANK YOU SIR, Nelson wrote finally, in unusually large letters. He offered the professor a smile - a more careful one, close-mouthed but still entirely genuine - and added, I’d like that. This was dumb, it was really dumb that any meeting with a professor could make him feel like this, but Nelson half wanted to punch the air in triumph.

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The grin that spread over the boy's face was wide enough that Ellsworth knew his answer before he even put pen to paper, but he waited patiently to say anything further until Mr. Higgs' enthusiastic response was penned largely across the paper.

"Well then, Mr. Higgs, that settles it. I shall see you after classes tomorrow afternoon." Ellsworth nodded, his eyes twinkling feeling as if he had finally reached his student.

  

Nelson didn’t know what else he would have said if he could speak, but at this point he was brimming over with jubilance, and felt gratified that even Professor Ruskin looked a little pleased. He stood up, scraping his chair backwards with a horrendous noise, but couldn’t even wince at that - only nod at the next appointment. Merlin, he was going to have to try hard to look as though he was trying, and hopefully make some progress before exams at the end of the year, whether he was exempt from them or not!

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As the boy left Ellsworth felt rather proud of himself. He'd hoped in the past few years that Mr. Higgs would realize just how tough the magic he was attempting was and that it would help him, and he'd seen significant gains from the student, but not enough that he wouldn't be left behind by the similar neccessity of tests. There were days when Ellsworth hated the tests, so few students realized if they simply talked to him he would be able to help them. But today he finally felt he had reached his student and this left him self satisfied as he started to drink his tea and settle into grading.