LUNAR (A Harry Potter Universe Fanfiction)

Thirty Eight. The Mentorship.

Caiti hung back after potions on Thursday afternoon. "Do you have a minute?" she asked.

Professor Pym looked up from the vials she had just collected which she had been sorting in a container to grade. "Of course,"

"I wondered if you could help me think through some of the offers I've gotten from people who want to mentor me. I'm just— I'm feeling a little overwhelmed."

Professor Pym considered her, lifted up the box she had just arranged all the vials in, and said, "Yes. Come back to my office. We'll sit."

So Caiti followed her through the doorway to the small office she had spent so much time in this year.

She sat in her usual chair across the desk from Professor Pym and reached into her bag to pull out some of the letters she had been sorting through.

"I have probably fifteen people who wrote saying they wanted to work with me," Caiti said. "And they all have these great resumes and everything, but I just don't have a clue how I'm supposed to narrow it down and decide. And like... how do you go about telling the others you picked someone else? And what happens if I make a bad choice and it turns out not to be good."

"Well," said Professor Pym thoughtfully. "You do have time to decide. There's no deadline."

"I know, but it just feels like I can't keep them waiting. It's already been a few weeks and I haven't even replied back to anyone. I keep trying and then I stop before I write anything, because I'm afraid they'll think I'm committing to working with them and I can't do that, yet. I'm scared I'll make the wrong decision."

She looked down at the stack of letters she had put on the desk. They were all very worn. She had spent a lot of time pouring through them.

"I wish you could just be my mentor," she said.

Professor Pym folded her hands on the desk and leaned forward. "Caiti, you don't need anything official for that. You know I'm always here to support you, whether you're at Hogwarts or not. You're my student. You are always welcome to ask for advice or an opinion and I would be more than happy to meet with you any time you need to talk something through. This mentorship though... it's not just about having someone to bounce ideas off of. This is a chance for you to learn from someone. You've been learning from me for seven years and I will still always be a resource, but you have an opportunity to learn from someone else. Someone with a fresh perspective and different expertise. That's something you can't turn down for a more comfortable option. You need someone to stretch you and push you and make you think of things in a new way."

Caiti sat and thought about this.

"Do you know any of these people?" she asked finally.

Professor Pym pulled a few of the letters towards her and started glancing at the names. "I know of him," she said, putting one letter aside. "And I know Alora Serpen. And Elias Beaverdam." She sifted through the rest, making a small stack of the people she knew personally.

"Is there... do you think any of them would mesh well with me? The ones you know?"

"Hm," she said. "What are you hoping to get out of this?" Professor Pym asked instead of answering her question. "What are you hoping a mentor will be able to do to support you?"

Caiti had to think about them for a long time. It was a difficult question and she had done so much thinking about it, she felt like any words she might have been able to string into sentences a few days ago were now so muddled and over-thought they barely resembled coherent thoughts anymore. "I guess I just want someone who can help me when I feel stuck," she said, picking at her nails. "Or someone who can give me ideas of where to go next."