PV On Foreign Soil Finished

The sound of her four inch high heels tapping against the floor echoed down the corridor as she walked. Hjørdis was precisely thirty seconds late. It would be fifty six seconds late by the time she actually arrived at the front door, at her current pace. It frustrated her, incredibly. However, unfortunately, she got caught up by students that she was very tempted to expel from the school right there on the spot. Honestly, it was getting ridiculous how stupid these children were behaving. There was a reason she always said she hated children: it was this. They did not listen to people, they did whatever they wanted, they made mistakes that sometimes were far too hard to forgive. It took every ounce of control that she had to not expel them on the spot. Instead, she made two cups of coffee.

She wanted tea to calm her anger down. But she could not recall the last time she had gotten a proper night's sleep. She was exhausted. Thank Merlin for make up. It hydrated her skin and made her look alive even when she was barely functioning. With perfectly applied makeup, her white hair pulled back into fishtail plait, a blue dress and a bit of gold jewellery, Hjørdis marched her way down to the small hall. She made her way in, holding a small tray with two travel cups - for ease as she intended to be walking - as well as cream and sugar, in case he required anything else. "Professor Ostrowski, I presume?" She asked as she approached a man that she did not recognise and seemed to be out of place. Of course it was him. Her question was rather rhetorical, "I apologise for being late. I'm Nora Jensen, the Head of Slytherin," She introduced herself, lifting her right hand for a polite handshake, if he wanted one. She would offer. It was less than a minute late but she would apologise nonetheless. Punctuality was one of the things she appreciated in life.

"Can I offer you a cup of coffee?" She placed the tray that she was carrying in her left hand down on the nearest table. Her silvery eyes looked him up and down. He looked about as tired as she felt. It might have been a long journey. She did not bother to ask. Small talk was so tedious. She could not quite describe it but there was something off about him. At least, a feeling that he gave her which she did not particularly enjoy. A feeling that she did not like, the feeling of a lack of ease. He was an attractive man, there was no doubt about that. Even with the visible scars on his face. He needed to scrub up a little but a professional look would have suited him a bit better - at least in her opinion. Her eyes found the the smallest briefcase besides him. He did not carry much, it would seem. Neither did she, to be fair.

But the feeling did not ease. She did not trust him. Not one bit. Elliot Price, his predecessor, left in such a mysterious way that no one knew what to think. The letter from the Ministry following his departure, the lack of a goodbye... Everything was strange. She was not particularly close to Price, nor did she expect a personal goodbye. But she knew people who were. It was odd. She knew him to be a kind man, he would have - at the very least - said something to someone.

There was little she knew about Aleksander Ostrowski. But he was here now. He was all they had. The new Potions Master of Hogwarts, a position that he was doing whether or not she trusted him. Hjørdis really hated all of the formalities. She had far more important things that showing the man around. However, she was perhaps best placed to do so given the proximity of her office to his.

Hairstyle of the day | Outfit of the day

Click-Clack, Click-Clack, Click-Clack... Aleks winced each time heels hit the stonework. The sound especially irritating to his sensitive hearing. He only hoped the person approaching was not his guide or that noise was going to put him in a foul mood. Click-Clack, Click-Clack, Click... Hmm, the clack had not come this time, perhaps they had stopped to reconsider how annoying their footsteps were. It was only then that he noticed the woman standing in front of them. It seemed perhaps the noise had stopped because the person making it had reached their intended destination.

He said nothing as she presumed his name and new occupation. It was a weird title for him to hear, that was certain. He didn't deem it worthy of a response, he was clearly a stranger to this place, telling her she was correct would simply be a waste of energy. However it told him that she was either incredibly intuitive or incredibly quick to draw conclusions, either was a potentially dangerous trait.

The click-clack woman then proceeded to introduce herself. A name that was easy enough to remember, and he supposed he probably should, to prevent complaint if nothing else. "Only fifty-six seconds, but who's counting?" He said with a small smirk, his first words within Hogwarts castle. He wasn't quite so strict about punctuality as some of his professors at Durmstrang had been, but he only mentioned it because he wanted to see how she would react to it being pointed out, would it irritate her? He could only wonder.

He looked towards the tray and back to her when she offered him a coffee. He hadn't expected catering with his tour, the bitter substance normally wasn't his first choice of drink, but he supposed he would need the energy to stay awake during this orientation. "Sure..." He replied, an affirmation, rather than gratitude. He could tell she was making more judgements about him, but that was fine, he'd rather that than her trying to make small talk, he was certain that's an experience neither of them would enjoy.

He walked towards the table with the tray, and as he approached his nose finally tingled with the scent of his fellow Professor. She smelt almost surgically clean, he gathered that hygiene was an obsession for her. He also caught traces of various potion ingredients along with a whiff of various baked goods, creating an odd but not unpleasant scent, dulled by the smell of soap. They were details that would go unnoticed normally, but his heightened sense of smell allowed him to learn much about her.

He couldn't dwell on her smell for long, she was looking at him expectantly. He approached one of the two travel mugs. He lifted the lid and added cream as well as seven teaspoons of sugar. He gave her a look that seemed to welcome more judgments if she cared to make them, as he took a gentle sip of the hot beverage.

He could sense her distrust, it was mutual. The pair of them were like two amateur detectives trying to get a good read of the suspect before an interrogation. They were similar, perhaps too similar. They only differed in one key aspect, she was at least attempting pleasantries. Dressing professionally, offering coffee. Whereas he was giving no such illusion.

It was alright though, it's not like they had to be friends. It wasn't as if this Professor in particular had a refined love of potions and would be often placing herself near his business and imposing herself near his workspace at random hours of the day...right?

In either case, when both of them had finished making their initial deductions about one another he gestured forwards. "I am certain we would both like to end this business as quickly as possible so we can go about our days. Just give me the briefest rundown possible as we go and I'll tell your peers you spared no detail in the rich history of every single mothball? Is this agreeable?" He asked her, taking another small sip of his sweet coffee.

Her left eyebrow quirked a little at his words. Precisely fifty six seconds, as she had calculated. Perhaps he was as meticulous as she was. "Indeed." She simply responding, returning her expression to the blank one she usually bore. Hjørdis made no further comments on the matter. She had apologised once, she would not bother with a second. There were far more important things for her to wonder about than whether or not he was offended by her tardiness. She might very well have been irritated by it. But if she was, she made no mention of it.

He accepted the offer of coffee, which surprised her a little. Mostly because she would not have if he had offered it. But then again, he was the suspicious one here. Hjørdis waited for him to select a mug, before taking the other. She mixed in quite a bit more cream than he had but about a third of the sugar. It was not sweet enough for her but with all of the baking she did and tea she consumed already, it was likely enough sugar in general. Hjørdis could feel his light eyes on her, but did not bother to make any further comments. Enough words had been spoken already. They were not here to be friends. They were here to work. She lifted the cup, pressing her lips together and softly blowing on it a little.

In the current situation, trust and comfort were not traits that she had. She was lacking in both right now - most people were. He particularly gave her a feeling of distrust and dis-ease, down to the very core of her being. Hjørdis knew that feeling would not pass. It may never pass. She was not the type to trust easily, nor even be friends with everyone easily. It was actually rather odd that in her tenure here, she seemed to have actually made a friend or two. Very few. But there were certain people that she found herself trusting. It bothered her immensely, to be quite honest. Trust was a weakness in her eyes. At least, it had been for many years. Recently, she was starting to see the value in it but a part of her was simply waiting for that trust to be broken.

Students broke any thread of trust that she gave them constantly. The accusations going around about fellow professors or colleagues, such as the school nurse, cast doubt on everyone. She could not help but smirk a little, as he claimed that he was certain about something, despite the fact that he did not know her. "Oh sweetie, you can tell them whatever you like," Hjørdis replied, unfazed by his offer as she replaced the lid of her own cup. It was not agreeable to her. She was not here for 'her peers' to think she was being helpful, nor did she care what they thought. For the most part, she did not care what they thought of her. She realised that when she looked around the room at the professor meeting not too long ago. At least half of them, their thoughts of her, their feelings were all insignificant to her.

Though, she did find it kind of amusing that her peers were more likely to think he was either attempting to suck up or blatantly lying if he told any of them those words. Anyone who knew her for more than five minutes would know that it was highly unlikely she did that. Could she tell him where every single mothball had been? Possibly. At least, she could in areas she spent a lot of time in - and mostly cleaning daily after the house elves did, just in case they missed a spot. But she had no intention of sharing those details. They were not important. She took a sip of the coffee, "Are you familiar with Hogwarts?" She asked hoping that she could skip that part at least. If she had to give him a tour of the whole school, they would be together for months. She was not going to do that. She figured it out eventually, he could do. But there were likely a few things she should show him - like where his office actually was.

Hairstyle of the day | Outfit of the day

She held the power and authority over this conversation, but that was fine with the new professor as he stood and sipped his overly sweet coffee, mulling over a few things. In her efforts to dominate the conversational balance of power she was inadvertently telling him a lot about herself. Chief amongst these facts were that she was seemingly unbothered by her reputation throughout the school particularly within her peers. This was likely because she had established her nature clearly enough during her tenure that the disavowing words of a new professor would be unlikely to do much to discredit her. Furthermore it was very obvious she didn't like him, before he'd even opened his mouth she probably didn't but he certainly hadn't improved the situation any by talking. He was still unsure whether she hated most people or if this was a special case.

In either case, he was learning a lot at this school, and as he pondered and finished his sip he looked her over as she asked about his knowledge of Hogwarts. "You know, that is a brilliant point. I know next to nothing about this grand castle. I think I would enjoy it greatly if you would give me the grand tour, please, spare no detail of the rich history." He said as genuinely as he could muster.

Such a long history tour would normally be hellish for him, but he knew it'd be all the worse for her. He had the liberty of being able to not listen. Sure, it was entirely possible and certainly likely that she would outright refuse to do so, which was fine and Aleks was prepared for that, in such an instance where she didn't wish to play ball he would merely ask to be shown to his office and be left alone.

However it was the simple joy of prying any sort of reaction out of his fellow Professor and learning more, that's where the intrigue was.

Hjørdis sipped her coffee. Quirking her eyebrow, she eyed him as he spoke. He appeared to have changed his mind. Or rather... he was intentionally doing it. She smirked. Spending time a fairly attractive man who was a skilled potioneer - pretty much her first love - was never bad. He was screwed to start with. She took a few steps, her heels clacking on the floor as she did, "Excellent. The History of Hogwarts is a rather intriguing one. I was intending to skip these rooms and take you straight to your floor since I thought you would prefer that after a long day of travel but, since we're here, let's start," She said wasting absolutely no time in making conversation and explaining her thoughts.

"So welcome to the small hall. Most people think it's rather boring and simply a passage into the Great Hall - which you can find through that door. I'll give you the full tour of that before we proceed, of course. However, this room is actually rather interesting. These portraits on the wall here are people who have made an impact in the school and within the world. You will find many very fascinating witches and wizards here. Of course, they are not limited to this area," She paused to point to a nearby portrait that was empty. The witch that normally was there had gone for a wander it seemed, "Everyone here is legendary and memorable in their own way. They are the heroes or headmasters of the past, known for something great," She continued as she continued to walk around. Her steps were slow but purposefully click-clack. Hjørdis did not stop walking, even though her steps were intentionally slow as she moved around the room pointing out various things such as the empty portrait or smirking at one with a particularly cute guy.

Looking around, she appreciated the fine golden frames of the portraits, "Aesthetically, this room is rather telling of Hogwarts architecture. The golden frames, the drastically large portraits in general. You will notice a fondness for fires around here, and rather decorative fireplaces," Hjørdis added. "The red bricks within the fireplace are fire resistant, of course, but that won't stop anyone from causing a fire here, don't worry about that. You'll never feel cold here with the students around," She paused for a moment to reflect on their obsessive need for the incendio spell, "You will notice that the floor here is similar to the majority of flooring in Hogwarts once we get through the grand tour. However, these ones are slightly more bronze in colour. The wall panels on the bottom half are made from oak, whilst those grey slabs on the top are from stone. This is done to help with the acoustics of the room. You may notice that as we're approaching the great hall, the room appears to get brighter." She continued, still taking purposeful steps towards the great hall that she had not been intending on showing him earlier. But since he wanted the full tour, it only seemed fair.

"In that corner over here," She turned and pointed to the far corner, "A first year student not too long ago vomited as they could not rush to the bathroom after eating food that did not sit very well with them. In that direction, a few started to duel on another day and a Gryffindor got hit by the slug-vomiting charm... Let's just say that the portraits were not pleased when the slime was running down the walls... That top corner is one that the house elves constantly kept missing and there were numerous webs. You'll see this has been rectified since," She continued, giving a bit more of a recent history as she pointed to the wall or the top corner that she was referencing.

As she moved her hands during the whole process of drastically waving around and intentionally motioning towards different areas, her bangles would slid down her wrist a little and hit together. He would be able to hear the clanking of the metal bangles going back and forth in her descriptions.

Motioning towards the magical pictures throughout the room, she glanced at him, "Would you like a history of each of these or should I save that for another day?" She asked, wondering just how much information he would like about this single room. Which, in all honesty, was one of the most boring rooms in the castle. But since he wanted the grand tour with no sparing of details, she would oblige. She had a beautiful voice - by her own definition - and there was no doubt in her mind that he wanted to just hear it constantly. She could not blame him. It was strange that, despite her love for hearing her own voice, she usually did not talk so much. It was a little odd to be rambling as much as she was doing now. However, if there was one thing she learned from her colleagues here - at least two that she enjoyed spending time with - it was about the History of Hogwarts and the ability to talk nonstop - or to just talk about utterly nonsensical things. The latter... They did not need to be factually correct or make sense. Most of the time, they were playful and teasing and intentionally said to annoy her.

A small smile tugged on her lips as she thought about it. It was strange to know that she would have found it irritating if someone spoke as much as she had just done this time last year. So much had happened, it had changed her in so many ways. The sound of his voice did not annoy her. He spoke a lot - nonstop in fact. As though every single thought that he had was to be surfaced. She should have hated it. She did not. It was part of his charm. Normally, she was the quiet one that internalised everything and he was the one who word vomited out everything. A warm sensation filled her chest a little, as she thought fondly on the memories that she had here. The walls, the portraits, the floors of Hogwarts had been a part of her life for over a year and a half now. They were changing her. The people that resided within the walls were changing her.

It helped that she did like the sound of her voice. And Hjørdis did also enjoy the sounds of her bangles hitting together and the noise her high heels made on the floor. She paused to take a sip of her coffee and allow him an opportunity to speak.

Hairstyle of the day | Outfit of the day

She actually took the bait it seemed. So eager she was to torment the new Professor that she was either overconfident or entirely unaware that she had just advanced his plans significantly. She had played her part, so he would play his as well. As she spoke about the various boring details of the various boring rooms in the various boring castle he would act enthused and intrigued, asking her to explain more and more, goading her on to play the part of a dedicated tour guide.

He was trying to lull her further into the act so that when an opportunity presented itself, when she was fully immersed in showing off every incredibly dull detail of a particular room the Polish Professor would slink away with all the grace and silence of a prowling wolf. Leaving her talking to herself in an empty space. Unless of course she had been expecting him to do such a thing, it would be unlikely she would hear him, though she would see him gone reasonably quickly.

He moved with some speed, trying to put some distance between him and the irritating woman with her irritating shoes. He took another satisfied sip of his coffee as he strode through the castle corridors, seeking to find his own way to his office space. He had time, he wasn't due to start today.

It was a good thing most of the students were still in class, otherwise their intense and pungent stenches might've muddled his tracking. However, he knew what he was smelling, common potion ingredients. Downstairs, a long way downstairs.

He slipped through a few different corridors until he wound up at the moving staircases, stuck to where he was for the time being until one of them decided to come his way. He stood there dumbfounded "Well this just seems like the pure purpose of it was to appear grand and magical with no thought for efficiency. It's like they want students to be late for classes." He mused out loud.

The thing about paying a lot of attention to others meant that you were always aware of those around you. She was watching him. The less she trusted someone, the more she would watch them. It was one of those very classic situations of keeping your friends close but your enemies closer. Of course, she preferred not to keep her enemies close but sometimes, it had to be done. Perhaps it was her sixth sense, perhaps it was her lack of trust but whatever it was, she noticed him dip away. The room, after all was a rectangle They were not really going anywhere. She had not really left it. It was a small hall, quite literally. Hjørdis continued to talk, looking into one of the portraits as though she was observing it.

After some moments of talking to herself, she smirked to herself and turned around. She sipped her coffee. Well, this ought to be fun... She could not help but smirk at the whole situation. It seemed he did not want the grand tour, after all - which was definitely better for her. Unfortunately for him, he was unaware that she was still going to have to walk him over the syllabus and explain the organisation of the potions storeroom. Besides... he would be seeing a lot of her. The next week or two, at the very least, she would be dropping by every evening or night to brew potions. Probably for the next month, they could never be overstocked on healing potions given the attacks over the months and the need for them.

Hjørdis sighed a breathe of relief when she was sure he left. Talking so much was tiring. How the hell did her colleague actually do it? She rocked her jaw a little side to side and rubbed it between her fingers. She laughed softly. That much and she was already tired... Yet he spoke nonstop on a daily basis. That was... It was certainly something. The professor sipped her coffee and then made her way back to the dungeons.

Poor Ostrowski had no idea what he was in for. It was rather amusing, to be honest. But he was woefully underprepared, for he did not even know that her office was painstakingly close to his. He would hear the sound of her heels clacking against the ground following him all the way down to the dungeons and past the potions classroom and office he was in search for, if he ever found them.

Hairstyle of the day | Outfit of the day

[THREAD FINISHED]