A Job For You (Char and Daddy)

Cobalt smiled a little more than his usual, thin, smile when she giggled. It was a pure sound, a sound he'd not heard her emit since she came to hogwarts and entered his class. He smirked,

"There is a rule about trying to snog your new 'father figure'." he teased, "Pretty sure it's rule one actually. Oh and I didn't push that hard so stop your pouting."

He raised an eyebrow at her,

"I am your teacher. I can put you in detention for questioning how great my personality is." he joked lightly before shrugging, "Fine. We start your lessons next week. You'll meet me at the edge of the Forbidden Forest at 6pm and we'll see about teaching you some tricks."

Charlotte gasped and looked sad, putting on her best sad eyes Charlotte even let them turn from their customary red to blue to make her look even sadder, then, she wondered if Cobalt knew about her ability or not, if not shed just made a big mistake.

"But, but, I've not heard of this rule...can I snog him when he's not my father figure?"

She asked hopefully but with a hint of teasing in there, she knew the answer was no of course.

"Oooooooh I'm so scared Big Bad Professor Smiths going to give me a detention. Awesome times then, oh oh! Can we learn that trick where you pull a coin out of Someones ear? I've always wanted to do that!!"

Charlotte joked a smirk on her face.

Cobalt laughed at her expressions changing, he'd been told of her ability just as every other professor had been. Apparently it was to help them keep track of her when she could be anyone. Deciding to mess with her he shrugged a little,

"Sure! Go for it." he glanced at her and deciding to tease her a little more, "Although I think he's seeing someone at the moment... or several someones. Guys a real manwhore."

He bared his teeth at her, lengthening them to fangs as he'd done for party tricks occasionally, with a grin,

"I am the big bad wolf... careful I don't eat you up little red." he teased before he put his hand behind Charlotte's ear, "I never learnt the coin trick... I did learn this one though..."

He began to make a pulling motion and began to pull his hand away, gripping the hilt of what appeared to be a sword,

"Wow... your ears are deep!" he joked as he finally pulled an entire scimitar from out behind Charlotte's ear. He threw it away carelessly, "Tends to freak people out more than pulling a coin out of course. Funny to watch them panic."

Charlotte looked at Cobalt and grinned happily, she clapped her hands and decided that she would give this a go, looking at Cobalt with big puppy dog eyes she put in her best sweet voice and asked:

"Do you know anyone who he's seeing at the moment?"

Still hopeful Charlotte watched at Cobalts teeth changed, shrugging her shoulders she let her teeth change into numerous razor sharp fangs that ripped her skin, like a horror movie monster. Then in a flash she was back to normal.

"I win old bean."

Charlotte gasped and looked at Cobalt in awe:

"Can you teach me how to do that?! That's so much better than a coin!! And cooler too!"

Cobalt laughed at her attempt at puppy dog eyes, being perhaps the only person in the world who was truly immune to their effects. He ruffled her hair lightly,

"No one you know kid." he winked, "Unless you've been looking at PlayWizard... told you, he's a manwhore."

He raised an eyebrow at her,

"That's cheating." he told her childishly, sticking his tongue out at her, "You were born with that ability. I had to learn it as a party trick. Because I was bored. And it's great for Big Bad Wolf puns and such."

Cobalt chuckled a little,

"I'm sure I can find time in my busy life for a cutie like you." he teased before shrugging, "Though you have to be carrying a scimitar around with you if you want the trick to work. Kinda a pain in the ass."

Charlotte grinned and balled a fist together hitting it on her open palm, grinning she made a resolution to herself to buy a copy of PlayWizard and make herself look like one of the witches in there so she could get a smooch or two.

"Oh really? Where can I get myself a copy of this PlayWizard?"

Smiling at Cobalt she tapped him on the nose and smirked.

"Hey you didnt say that I had to do it without my powers, actually, you never said anything so don't be complaining besides that isn't the scariest thing that I could turn into."

Charlotte half hoped that she would be given the opportunity to show him the scariest thing that she could turn into, to her, it was a chance to show off her gift like she hardly got to do...and...

"Well that's not a bother, besides, to start I could always do it with a dagger."

Cobalt laughed a little, imagining the look on Asric's face when he found a PlayWizard model coming onto him. Not to mention one that he'd almost certainly be able to figure out was actually one of his students,

"Maybe you should check in Mr Salvator's bag." he joked lightly, "But you do realise that as headmaster he is keyed into the wards right? And so knows, generally, where the students are. You show up as a model but registar as a student he's gunna have words with you."

He wiggled his nose a little,

"Well I didn't expect you to try and out-do me to be fair." he commented casually before smirking, "Besides... we both know I can turn into something scarier than you can."

Cobalt wagged his finger at her,

"Naught naught Charlotte." he chuckled, "No daggers for students. I'd be breaking rules if I let you have one."

Charlotte grinned and she noted how happy she made Cobalt that he actually laughed at her, he hadn't ever laughed in front of her before, maybe their apprenticeship wasn't going to be so awkward after all. More so very enjoyable.

"Ohhhhhhh you ruin my fun!! Maybe he won't care as long as I look like a model and to tell the truth what's the worst thing he's going to do about it?"

She folded her arms across her chest and pouted her lip out before letting her sad expression change to a smile and Charlotte wagged her finger at Cobalt.

"Never ever underestimate the power of a metamorph i can be whatever I want and influence you with my cuteness."

Charlotte smirked and shrugged her shoulders she didn't respond to the dig to Arsen but what she did do was reach down into her sock and take out the dagger that was clasped to her calf.

"Dont need you to give me one I already have one."

Noticing her grin, and deducing that his rare laugh was the cause, he smirked and ruffled her hair affectionately,

"Don't get used to the laughs kid. Dick's the only one who can make me laugh on a regular basis and he doesn't like being my test dummy for slapstick." he told her with a grin before pausing and thinking, "Well the worst thing he can do is expell you to be fair, snap your wand and leave you defenceless in a world about to go to war... so quite a bit really."

Cobalt raised an eyebrow,

"And I can show you what my face would look like if I wasn't so good at healing." he told her with a feral grin, "And you'll wish you'd never tried to challenge me little one."

He waved his hands in front of her eyes and by the time she opened her eyes the dagger that had once been in her hands had disappeared,

"No knives for students Charlotte." he told her with mock sterness before grinning and handing her a shruikan, "No rules against ninja throwing stars though! And they're awesome!"

Feeling his hand ruffling her hair Charlotte looked up at him from underneath his hand with an unhappy look on her face, sighing she moved from under his grasp before an expression of confusion swam over her features.

"Dick? Who's that? He's not a teacher is he?"

Charlotte could feel herself pouting more and more and eventually she sniffed and symbolised her heart breaking over her chest before gathering herself together again and shrugging her shoulders.

"Well I'll focus on boys my age then, happy?"

With a growl Charlotte searched all over her body for the knife that Arsen had given her once Cobalt had taken it, looking up at him with a mix of fury and upset in her eyes she held out her hand.

"May I have that back please it was a present from Arsen. I don't want your throwing stars just the knife, that means more to me than most things so I'd like it back."

Cobalt smirked at her annoyed expression when he ruffled her hair but was grinning from ear to ear when she asked him who Dick was,

"You don't know who Dick is?" he asked her with a chuckle, "He's only your Head of House!"

Smiling casually at her expression of heartbreak, Cobalt rolled his eyes when she questioned him about looking for boys her own age,

"If you insist." he told her with a rapidly growing frown, "But if you wish to have a serious relationship I advise not trying to go into my profession. Serious relationships are tricky when you have to leave at odd hours and you can't tell your partner where you're going."

Cobalt threw the throwing star away, letting it stick into the stone of the wall. Frowning deeply, he reached behind her ear before pulling the dagger out and presenting it to her,

"Take care with that boy Charlotte."

Charlotte looked at Cobalt and blinked a couple of times before she finally caught on to the double entendre and she snorted then exploded in laughter doubling up and slapping her hand on her knee as she continued to laugh.

"Oh-oh my god! My Head of House is Dick!!! Hahahhahahahahaha!!!"

Tilting her head to one side Charlotte looked a little bit confused at him, she didn't want to bs an assassin. She just wanted to learn the skills needed to protect herself well enough from any more attacks.

"Cobalt, I don't want to be an assassin. I just want to be able to protect myself like any girl should be able to do. If I can't do that with you without becoming am assassin then that's fine."

Charlotte took the knife back with a grateful smile and slid it back into her boot.

"Why? Arsens lovely and has been my friend for years..."

Cobalt chuckled at the way he'd made Charlotte burst out into completely uncontrollable laughter. It really was quite amusing to have such a prestigious Dick at Hogwarts. And now he was laughing too,

"Such a prestigious Dick as your head of house...!" he said between laughs, "You should be proud to have such a Dick!"

The tilted head made him remember that she didn't really want to join his profession, she just wanted to be able to defend herself. He frowned a little,

"Please don't call me an assassin..." he spat the word out as if it was an insult, "I'm not an assassin, I'm a wetboy. But I can understand your reasoning I suppose."

Cobalt rolled his eyes,

"I've been the most lovely man at many parties throughout the world, doesn't make me harmless." he commented lightly before shrugging, "I just think it pays to be more careful around one of them."

Charlotte was trying desperately to calm down and more importantly breathe, softly she began to subside into giggles, clutching her chest which by now was aching quite a bit but as soon as Cobalt started talking again she burst out into more laughter.

"Oh! No more...no...more. Can't breathe!"

Slowly she began to calm down properly and she frowned softly and wondered why Cobalt was being so bi-polar, first laughing now just being plain mean to her. It was beginning to upset her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think it meant that much to you, I'll be sure to call you a wetboy from now on okay?"

A large smile on her face Charlotte felt it slipping slowly off until she caught something that Cobalt had said:

"You were liked at a party? Must have been a bad party." sticking out her tongue Charlotte asked more seriously "One of what Cobalt?"

Cobalt laughed, this time at the effect the joke was having on Charlotte rather than the joke itself,

"You must know my most terrible skill..." he grinned, "Death by laughter."

Cobalt breathed in deeply, calming himself down,

"I'm sorry Charlotte but it's taken me years of work to become a wetboy and to be called an assassin after all that... after all the work... after all the sacrifices..." he shrugged lightly, "Well it's a kick in the teeth to say the least."

Cobalt chuckled a little,

"Well, I will admit that I was mostly the centre of female attention. I'd won a contest to get an invite to the party. It was a muggle duelling event." he replied casually before he became serious, "He hasn't told you? Or are you ignoring the problem? He's a demon Charlotte."

Charlotte wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes and straightened herself up to try and get the pain out of her chest which has now totally crumpled up into a tight spasm, biting her lip as she stood up she giggled:

"It's a killer alright!"

Sighing softly she looked at her shoes feeling somewhat shamed faced about her obvious mistake, in fact, when she thought about it she didn't even really know what the difference between an assassin and a wet boy was.

"I'm sorry Cobalt...I didn't mean to offend you, I really didn't."

Charlotte snorted and started to chuckle a bit pointing her finger at Cobalt as she doubled over again.

"You! Center! Of female...attention!!! Hahahaha!!"

Then. All of a sudden her laughter died on her lips and she looked into Cobalts eyes with a confused look, what? Was Arsen really a demon or was Cobalt just messing with her.

"What do you mean? He can't be...he would have told me..."

Cobalt rolled his eyes at her bad pun,

"That was just terrible." he told her, sticking his tongue out at her, "At least my joke was funny."

He sighed a little and waved it away as he turned to look out the window,

"You didn't mean anything by it, I know." he told her before scowling slightly, "No one ever does. But it still stings my pride."

Without smiling, Cobalt held his hand up in front of his face. When he moved his hand away again he was younger, around twenty, and ruggedly handsome in a more youthful way than before. Tilting his head to the side, he smirked boyishly,

"Would you like to see just how far this goes?" he asked her in a husky voice, his shirt coming open to reveal lightly tanned skin over rippling muscles, "It's quite a good representation of my younger self."

With a wave of his hand the illusion was gone, showing that Cobalt's face had aged the most radically, looking harder at the edges and more worn. His body didn't seem to have changed at all, his muscles were still just as defined as before. The only difference was the increase in the number of old wounds. The shirt closed itself back up as he approached the serious part of the conversation,

"All of the professors were told, on the first day he started school, that he was a demon." he told her without any sugar coating, "A fire demon if I'm not mistaken. Do you know who gets burnt most if a fire demon gets angry, even a little bit? Those closest. Watch out for that boy Charlotte."

Charlotte pulled her tongue out in return to Cobalt she wasnt about to let her jokes get insulted while she could do something about it.

"Hey that was comedy gold!"

Turning away for a moment to look out the window that Cobalt was looking at Charlotte wondered how he had come to be this way, and thought that killing, in some respects must do something to the soul of a person, make it broken and battered so that they were nothing but a shadow of their former self and that scared Charlotte into never wanting to become like that.

As she turned back Charlotte gulped softly and let her eyes rake up and down the 'new and improved' Cobalt, definately an improvement.

"Now now Professor stop exposing yourself to your students, it's nasty. Although I wouldn't mind practising my smooches on you if I ever need to."

Charlotte winked and in a flash she was a much older version of herself, about 19, with long legs and her hair hanging around her waist, needless to say she also ensured that her figure was also very well developed just to see if there would be any reaction, normally there was but this was Cobalt, he'd probably seen everything.

Her face frowned a little and she bit her lip looking down at her feet as she leant on a nearby desk, crossing her ankles.

"I see...well I wont dispute you until I have asked him myself, after all, thats not something you just go flinging about is it? Theres a good reason he might not have told me. Although I am perfectly sure that he wouldn't hurt me."

He rolled his eyes at her childish sticking out of her tongue at him before returning the gesture,

"Just remember that I that it's my joke." he teased her lightly, "So be sure to tell everyone where you got it from. I want to see Richard in my office by Monday demanding to know why I told the students jokes about him."

Cobalt stuck his tongue out at her,

"Party pooper. Can't a man just use some party tricks without being judged a pervert? And no, you can't practice your smooches on me. I'm damned irresistable in that form Charlotte, you'd not keep your hands to yourself." he joked before looking her up and down in her older form, "Well maybe the headmaster would prefer it if you went around like that. Might forget your age or something."

He sighed a little,

"There is probably a reason he hasn't told you. Fear of rejection perhaps?" he shrugged slightly, "He'd get that a lot if he told people what he was. But I warn you to always be cautious Charlotte. I like you, you're a fun little kid, but demons are tempermental. I'm sure he'll never want to hurt you. But what if he loses his temper and lashes out blindly? Will you still defend him after the first time you get burnt?"

Charlotte nodded and she was sure to go and tell Arsen and everyone else about what Cobalt had said about Richard, it was something that she couldn't help but chuckle softly at again after the mention of it.

"Okay okay I wont take credit for your joke I promise."

Placing her hand on her heart Charlotte smiled and pouted when Cobalt denied he the right to practice smooching on him, it was only then, that she realised exactly what she had said and her face turned a little pale and she felt like a prize idiot.

"Why on earth did I ask that? Why? I'm such a bim. Sorry about that that must have been really awkward for you."

Charlotte thought that would make sense, after all, Arsen had said on multiple occassions that she was the only real friend that he had and that may have been a signal that he didn't want to lose her by telling her his secret.

"Yes. Yes I will. It's not his fault it's probably mine if he gets angry. So I can't blame him for what he is, just like I can't blame you for being an ass."

Pulling her tongue out Charlotte grinned at him.

He smirked a little and tilted his head to the side,

"Good." he grinned, "Wouldn't want anyone trying to take my comedy act from me! After all, I've only just started."

Seeing her expressions changing was only the first layer to Cobalt's amusement. Because he'd learnt to read body language he could see how she would react before she did,

"Because I was damn sexy when I was younger?" he joked, sticking his tongue out at her before shrugging it off, "Don't worry about it, happens every time I take that form for some reason."

Cobalt frowned deeply. Admitting when you were in the wrong was one thing but saying you'd take a burn when for making someone angry when it was probably their fault? That was a little too much like domestic abuse to him,

"Well you can forgive him for burning you if it was your fault but don't pretend it's your fault all the time. Kid's got some issues on his own anyway." he told her firmly, before smiling slightly, "And I can't blame you for being a reverse pervert who wants to molest innocent professors."

Charlotte smiled happily, she didn't know that Cobalt was going to be this easy to relate to and she was pleased by it, it meant that she would enjoy the meetings that they had rather than being scared of them.

"I'll be sure to book a ticket when you get your first venue okay?"

Snorting lightly it was hard for Charlotte to come back with anything to use on him because it was true...he was damn sexy when he was younger.

"Yeah but not as sexy as me I'm afraid. So get stuffed sir." Pulling her tongue out as she said it Charlotte smiled again and winked at Cobalt "Maybe you should use that when you go to the staff Christmas parties hmmm?"

Unable to ignore the frown that Cobalt wore on her face Charlotte thought that it was just something that he was going to have to get used to about her, she was always like this, she always wanted to help other people, even if they hurt her for doing so.

"Well I know that, and I want to help him with them, and HEY! I am not a pervert!!"

Cobalt chuckled a little and ruffled her hair absently as he walked back over to his desk slowly. He paused before deciding to stand next to his window instead, looking out over the lake,

"Well I think I'll stick to tragedies." he told her with a small smile, "People pay me for tragedies after all."

He saw right through her snort and dismissive attitude and saw her agreement in her body's stance. Cobalt winked at her,

"You were quite sexy... but sexier than younger me? The drooling you did earlier says otherwise my dear." he teased her lightly before laughing a little, wiping a tear from her eye, "Oh it might indeed work on them. Funny thing is... I doubt they'd know it was me."

Seeing that she'd made up her mind on this issue, Cobalt sighed a little before returning to looking out of his window. He grinned however when she caught onto what he said. Changing back into his younger form, he moved close to her, a few inches away at most,

"Are you sure you're not?" he breathed lightly into her ear, finding this extremely amusing, "Are you sure you don't want to molest me... even a little bit?"

Charlotte smiled softly and she looked out of the window as Cobalt did, touching her hair gingerly after he had ruffled it, the small amount of affection making her smile even more, after all she hadn't been used to it.

"Maybe you could do a combination of them? After all sometimes tragedies are funny in a way."

As Cobalt brought up the fact that he was definately sexier than she was she hoped against all hopes that he wouldn't turn back into his other self, because then she wouldn't have any choice but to agree with him, so she just bit her lip, stared at her feet, and blushed horribly.

"I...I guess so, after all, you know how to be sexy where as I don't so...I guess you win."

For the first time in this interaction she went back to her normal meek self and she smiled shyly up at Cobalt and then her eyes went pink and so did her hair as he turned back into his younger self.

"I-I'm perfectly sure! I do not want to molest you."

Cobalt glanced over his shoulder at the girl, seeing her still smiling and her hair still looking ruffled,

"Well I suppose I could make some of the tragedies into comedy hybrids..." he chuckled lightly, "Might offend some people though. To see the hero die in one scene and then have jokes in the next."

He could see here nervousness appearing in her body language. Her flirty and quite flighty nature from before had been, as he'd suspected, a rather clever ruse. She was, if he was reading her body language right, a very shy and reserved person. Quite possibly with some form of problems as she carried herself with the air of someone wounded but not physically so,

"Well sometimes that's a bad thing." he told her with a small shrug, "Some level of sexual confidence is acceptable. Everyone needs to be confident in their own body in order to be happy with themselves. I'm just happier than most. You'll grow into your body Charlotte, never you fear, and you'll have to fend boys off with a hammer."

Now in his younger form, and feeling a little frisky for it (damn hormones!), he grinned and kissed her on the cheek lightly,

"Well that's alright." he said before wrapping his arms around her in a hug, "A nice hug is just as good... right?"