The 'Master-Apprentice'-Type Relationship

[alt_moderator]

Alternity dealt with themes of education - formal, informal, and via one-to-one tutelage. Which makes terrific sense when you're writing a story that encompasses the span of schooling for its young protagonists. But in Alternity, the scholarship relationships outside of the classroom offered opportunities for characters to work side by side - and often, secretly at cross-purposes.

Through the magic of my phenomenal alt-moderator powers, I have the pleasure of being able to introduce to this thread some very special guests. These individuals forged deep, close connections with each other in either actual or virtual master-apprentice relationships.

We invite you to ask any questions you may have - about their training, about their relationship, about their suspicions, about how their training prepared them for the fights they eventually fought, or lessons they learned that they would pass on - whatever you want to know! Time and space are immaterial here; the individuals who are participating are free to answer in whatever way they see fit, depending on what's called for in your questions.

Please welcome:

Antonin Dolohov
Justin Finch-Fletchley (Noble Arts)

Severus Snape
Hermione Granger (Potions)
and
Draco Malfoy (Occlumency)

Aurora Sinistra
Evelyn Longbottom (Astronomy)

Barty Crouch, Jr.
Hydra Lestrange (Death Eaterdom)

Savitha Desai
Ron Weasley (Auror training)

Poppy Pomfrey
Sally-Anne Perks (Healing Arts)

Comments

[stormyhearted]

And on a related note- what was your proudest moment for you as a mentor, with each of your students? (Assuming you had one.)

[alt_antonin]

Oddly enough, the answer in all three cases is substantially similar. Leaving aside the question of whether or not I agree with their decisions, I have always been most proud of my students when they use their brains to reason through their beliefs and principles and arrive at a reasoned conclusion and a deliberate choice, whatever that conclusion and choice might be. Barty chose to follow me into the Unmaker's service, as I had chosen to follow my brother Kolya years before; though I know I came to regret it later, and while I cannot speak for Barty I believe he did as well, I know he made that as choice deliberately and as calculatedly as I did, out of belief and principle and vision. Regulus took the path of least resistance into that service, but by his end, wrestling with his demons, he chose what he felt was right. And Finch-Fletchley, though infuriating, likewise acted out of principle. I said to him after the Battle of Hogwarts that I was proud of him for having dedicated himself to his cause, for all that I disagreed with it, and despite how matters ended and despite that choice placing us firmly on opposite sides, that will never change. I have always respected conviction, even when it complicates my life immensely.

There are other moments I believe may be more in line with what you are asking -- the moment I stood in the presence of our family's honoured dead and claimed Barty as my son; the first time Barty cast the devilishly complicated spell I'd spent four months teaching him or the first time he served as my second in a particularly intense rite; the first time Finch-Fletchley beat me at practise or the time he logged the highest score on the course at the Ourobouros -- but any reasonably adept teacher will have a collection of moments such as those.