The Staff Room

"See you later, then, Bennett."

Callum snorted, flipping a page in his paper. "Whatever you please."

Alysia glanced up at the clock an hour later, having spent the majority of her free period marking homework for her third year class that afternoon, scrawling across the scrolls in red ink to correct any mistakes and to leave helpful comments in her neat, cursive script along the way. Despite being only third years, her youngest class showed great potential which left the professor with a sense of pride that had put her in a better mood than usual.

"So how are your O.W.L students holding up?" She asked idly as the Arithmancy professor entered the staff room, glancing up briefly from her mug of something steaming that was held tightly in her hands. "Are you putting their noses to the grindstone? The summer exams come a lot quicker than we'd like this side of Christmas."

"Oh?" She took a sip, pulling a face before setting her drink onto the coffee table that lay before her. "N.E.W.T standard subjects always expect a lot more from students than O.W.Ls do, it's a huge jump, even in Ancient Runes, but surely they're okay?"

"Well... How was your holiday? It hasn't been too long since we've gotten back into the usual school routine and the weather is still as horrendous as it ever was." She smiled lightly, tapping the recently marked papers with her wand. "It's no better down south, surprise surprise."

"I met up with some old classmates from school who're still invested in Ancient Runes." She smiled fondly at the memory whilst the papers lifted into the air and neatly tucked themselves into her bag. "We spent a week testing out magical circles. I know most wizards don't bother with them nowadays but they're frightfully powerful if you find the time to construct one with the right runic sequence. It was a literal blast."

"For the first week." She confirmed. "We did the whole gift exchange as usual and got somewhat drunk but er, not to the point of arguing on the front lawn to embarrass the rest of the family in front of the neighbours. It actually went rather smoothly if I do say so myself."

"And we're supposed to be the responsible adults of this community." She laughed lightly. "My brothers always got rather argumentative after having a drink or two but the last time it happened, my father was far too gone to stop them like he usually does."