"He was there for me when I needed him -- my last few years of school were tough. It's so refreshing to finally have a headmaster who's willing to face reality and try to keep the Muggle-borns under control." She said this so matter-of-factly, with more exasperation than malice, that it took Erik a moment to fully realize what she'd said. He must have stiffened, because she looked up at him in surprise. "Did I shock you? Sebastian said you were trustworthy, that you were on our side..."
"Um. I didn't realize you... felt so strongly..."
"I didn't give it a great deal of thought, I guess, until those last couple years of school. My, um... my father's side of the family are Muggles -- he's a wizard, though, it's just them -- and there was some... unpleasantness. Got myself disowned for being a freak. I was pretty upset about it, but Professor Shaw was a lot of help. Showed me that I didn't belong with them anyway, and that there was nothing wrong with that. I understand now, you can't let those people get to you. Their opinions don't matter."
"Because we're better than them," Erik ventured.
"Exactly!" Angel beamed and squeezed his hands for a moment. "I knew you understood."
He did understand, of course he did. Angel was better than the Muggles who rejected her and ought never to forget it. Her other option was, what, to crawl belly-up to her Muggle relatives and beg their forgiveness for having magic? Never.
And yet, somehow the thought was… disturbing, the thought of Shaw filling a devastated teenage girl's moldable mind with the idea that she was better, stronger, more worthy, by virtue of a single genetic quirk... a devastated girl or a lonely German orphan... Shaw could have told them anything, that was the kicker, anything that made them feel less broken, and they would have swallowed it whole, true or not. Just because someone desperately wanted to believe something didn't make it true.
What would Charles have told him, he wondered suddenly. If it somehow been Professor Xavier, rather than Professor Shaw, who brought him to Hogwarts... Probably would have given him some claptrap about forgiving your enemies and loving yourself. And maybe it would have made a fool out of Erik, as Shaw believed, a soft stupid useless fool. But it might have made him into someone kind enough, good enough, for Charles to love. That might be worth being a fool.
"You didn't really notice me in school, did you?" Angel was saying wistfully, measuring his arms now. "Of course, I must have seemed like a baby to you, and you always had the most glamorous girls on your arm -- Raven Darkholme, Primrose Parkinson, Clara Clearwater... But I guess none of them worked out in the end? Goodness knows Raven doesn't seem in a hurry to pick you back up."
Erik snorted. "Only if she could then drop me off a roof."
Angel laughed. "Can't say I'm sorry for it, myself. Raven's all right – half-bloods can go either way, you know, and she spends so much time with Muggle-borns, it's surprising she turned out so well – but I do have to wonder about her taste in men. Trade you in for that beanpole Hank McCoy – he's cute, I guess, in a gawky kind of way, not my cup of tea at all. Turn a bit, like that, thanks…" She was measuring the circumference of his hips now, which was, he suspected – since the trousers fit fine in the waist – solely for her own amusement. "Not that he asked her to the ball, you understand, too shy for that, even though she'd have said yes in a heartbeat. No, he keeps mum and poor Raven's stuck going with her brother again. Which is sort of a laugh even if they weren't more-or-less related, because it's so screamingly obvious about Charles."
FILL: The Better Men (18d/30ish)
"He was there for me when I needed him -- my last few years of school were tough. It's so refreshing to finally have a headmaster who's willing to face reality and try to keep the Muggle-borns under control." She said this so matter-of-factly, with more exasperation than malice, that it took Erik a moment to fully realize what she'd said. He must have stiffened, because she looked up at him in surprise. "Did I shock you? Sebastian said you were trustworthy, that you were on our side..."
"Um. I didn't realize you... felt so strongly..."
"I didn't give it a great deal of thought, I guess, until those last couple years of school. My, um... my father's side of the family are Muggles -- he's a wizard, though, it's just them -- and there was some... unpleasantness. Got myself disowned for being a freak. I was pretty upset about it, but Professor Shaw was a lot of help. Showed me that I didn't belong with them anyway, and that there was nothing wrong with that. I understand now, you can't let those people get to you. Their opinions don't matter."
"Because we're better than them," Erik ventured.
"Exactly!" Angel beamed and squeezed his hands for a moment. "I knew you understood."
He did understand, of course he did. Angel was better than the Muggles who rejected her and ought never to forget it. Her other option was, what, to crawl belly-up to her Muggle relatives and beg their forgiveness for having magic? Never.
And yet, somehow the thought was… disturbing, the thought of Shaw filling a devastated teenage girl's moldable mind with the idea that she was better, stronger, more worthy, by virtue of a single genetic quirk... a devastated girl or a lonely German orphan... Shaw could have told them anything, that was the kicker, anything that made them feel less broken, and they would have swallowed it whole, true or not. Just because someone desperately wanted to believe something didn't make it true.
What would Charles have told him, he wondered suddenly. If it somehow been Professor Xavier, rather than Professor Shaw, who brought him to Hogwarts... Probably would have given him some claptrap about forgiving your enemies and loving yourself. And maybe it would have made a fool out of Erik, as Shaw believed, a soft stupid useless fool. But it might have made him into someone kind enough, good enough, for Charles to love. That might be worth being a fool.
"You didn't really notice me in school, did you?" Angel was saying wistfully, measuring his arms now. "Of course, I must have seemed like a baby to you, and you always had the most glamorous girls on your arm -- Raven Darkholme, Primrose Parkinson, Clara Clearwater... But I guess none of them worked out in the end? Goodness knows Raven doesn't seem in a hurry to pick you back up."
Erik snorted. "Only if she could then drop me off a roof."
Angel laughed. "Can't say I'm sorry for it, myself. Raven's all right – half-bloods can go either way, you know, and she spends so much time with Muggle-borns, it's surprising she turned out so well – but I do have to wonder about her taste in men. Trade you in for that beanpole Hank McCoy – he's cute, I guess, in a gawky kind of way, not my cup of tea at all. Turn a bit, like that, thanks…" She was measuring the circumference of his hips now, which was, he suspected – since the trousers fit fine in the waist – solely for her own amusement. "Not that he asked her to the ball, you understand, too shy for that, even though she'd have said yes in a heartbeat. No, he keeps mum and poor Raven's stuck going with her brother again. Which is sort of a laugh even if they weren't more-or-less related, because it's so screamingly obvious about Charles."
Erik felt his teeth clench. "What's obvious?"