Professor's Office IC

The office was cozier than Brian had expected it to turn out. When he first had arrived, winded and cursing every single staircase he had descended in order to get here, he had seen the small room and thought little of it. Sure, the ceiling was high enough for it to not feel claustrophobic, but the walls were a dark petrol blue that looked rather gloomy in the dim lighting of the oil lamps and there were no windows to let in natural sunlight.

Not to mention the cobwebs, so large they may as well have been made by an acromantula.

Well...maybe not quite that large. Still, the office needed a good spring cleaning. Canceling the floating charm on his large suitcase, Brian set to work.

With the help of one Hogwarts’ house-elves, they disposed of the dust and grime that had accumulated over time. The house-elf was also very helpful in hanging up the multitude of picture frames, dried bunches of herbs, as well as the frames for his insect collection (mainly butterflies and rare beetles), securing them all with nothing more than a snap of two spidery fingers. Much more effective than Brian’s own charms work would have been, he was certain.

The rest, however, Brian managed on his own, the house-elf only returning once to place a few warming charms on the room so it wasn’t quite as freezing in here.

Out of the trunk, he floated a few shrunken pieces of furniture. His mother’s old mahogany office desk and armchair were placed in the corner farthest from the door so Brian would immediately be able to see when someone entered the room. Afterward, he piled the books he was currently reading, his collection of loose, chicken-scratch-notes, and bound herbaria onto it until there was barely space left.

He would tidy things up afterward.

Into two of the mostly empty bookshelves that already had been in the room, he placed his books, (mostly reference books concerning Potions and ingredients), as well as all those potted plants that needed little to no sunlight to survive. Into the other shelves, he placed his potion ingredients, neatly sorted and preserved in jars of varying size.
A few old Persian rugs quickly covered the cold stone floor, the mismatched reds and blues bringing at least a hint of life into the otherwise mostly dark ambiance.
A coatstand was placed by the door where he could put his cane (as to not constantly misplace it) and the now-empty trunk was turned into an impromptu table with a few old mugs, a jar of coffee beans, and a gooseneck kettle placed atop of it.

“Ever the fussy creatures,” Brian muttered to himself when he saw that the house-elves had also left a plate of biscuits, placed precariously atop of one of the stacks of books. He didn’t think too much of sweets, but maybe the students that would visit his office would appreciate them. He put the plate next to his coffee mugs.

Now, a few hours later, Brian had tidied all these things away, watered the plants, and sorted the mess on his desk into neater stacks. He looked at the battered old grandfather clock (inherited from his father’s side of the family). Still time until dinner.

Grimacing at the thought of walking up the stairs, he decided to give his knee a little more time to recover. He instead picked up one of the books on his desk and continued reading where he’d left off. Who knew, maybe there were students who already needed his help until it he had to head into the Great Hall for dinner...

A couple of sharp raps on the door signaled the a solicitation of a student for access into the office while a saccharine voice called from beyond.

"Excuse me? Professor...Barlow? Are you in?"

The girl had dark make-up accenting her bright but peculiar-colored eyes - probably contacts of some sort; likely the sclera variety - and a cheerful, bouncy disposition that didn't seem to quite suit her choice of aesthetics. Her long hair was loose and hung down to her mid back but for two small pigtails at the top of her head, an uneven fringe of bangs cut about to her eyebrows, and medium locks framing either side of her mischevious-looking face.

Across her chest hung a strap attached to an instant camera which she cradled at her side like a beloved pet. In her hand, however, was a small bouquet of freshly-picked daisies; likely plucked straight from the school grounds somewhere. After waiting a moment for the announcement of her presence to sink in, she tried again.

"Hello! You don't know me yet, but I wanted to introduce myself and say hello! I heard you're relatively new around here and I wondered if I might be able to get to learn more about you. I do so love to learn about other people, especially newcomers to Hogwarts. They bring such intriguing stories with them! Surely you're no exception?"

@Brian Barlow

Brian sighed in irritation. He couldn't focus today. Maybe it was because of his headache, maybe because Hekate - his cat - decided that today was an affection-day and would occasionally sit down on whatever essay he was currently in the progress of grading. Maybe, Brian thought irritably as he reread a sentence for the third time now, maybe it was the stars that were telling him 'not today'.
Well, joke was on them because this had to be done today if he didn't want to spend an entire Sunday grading the homework and essays of half the student body...
"You know that you're not helping, right?" Brian asked his cat that was swatting at the fountain pen (not a quill, never a quill. Brian wanted the kids to actually be able to read the notes he was putting in the margins of their homework) in his hand. The answer to his question was a slow blink from Hekate. He sighed again. Today was going to be a long day.

A knock on the door interrupted Brian from reading the same sentence (and really, did Kafka himself write that cursed sentence that took up nearly three inches of parchment?) for the fourth time now. Brian briefly considered ignoring it. But he was a teacher and it was his job to help out students if they needed it.
So, with a heavy heart, he lifted his cat from the parchments, gathered the essays up in a neat pile, and stored them in one of his desk's drawers.

"Excuse me? Professor...Barlow? Are you in?"

The student prattled on behind the door about liking to learn or something. Brian, unfortunately, wasn't able to hear it very well with the door between them. So he simply waited for the student to finish talking.

Reaching over for his cane (in case he needed to stand up during this conversation), Brian called the student inside.

When the girl heared herself invited in, she practically bounced with joy. Turning the handle, she entered the room with the same delight and reverence as a kid being allowed to tour Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. The sight of the cat on the desk and its owner behind it reflected in her bright (albeit still strange, too-many-colored) eyes as she opened her mouth to shriek with unbridled excitement.

"OH MY GOSH!! What a darling little angel!" she gushed, slapping her palms to her cheeks as if that was the only way to contain her enthusiasm enough to keep her from exploding with it. Flouncing over to the feline, it was clear her reaching fingers ached to touch it or pick it up. Instead, however, she seemed to remember herself just in time and the same fingers moved for the camera slung at her side instead. She lifted it to her face so she could check the focus and immediately began snapping pictures left and right - of the new professor, of his cat, of his entire office, and anything else she thought she could document to immortalize the momentous occasion.

"What's its name? Is it a he or a she? Can I pet it? Better yet, can I pick it up?" It was then, however, she realized something else. The bundle of daisies she had plucked had dropped to the floor the instant she had laid eyes on the occupants in the room because she had been too distracted to think to set them down properly or offer them over before putting her hands to her face. Now she allowed her camera to dangle at her side once more as she hurried to retrieve the daisies again, falling to her hands and knees to scoop them back up into her skirt so she could once more gather them into more or less of a bouquet.

"These are for you!" she cried once she was finished, proudly turning back around as she stood to present the gift of flowers to the new professor. "Do you like them? You wouldn't happen to have a vase of water I could put them in, would you?"

@Brian Barlow

Brian was at a loss for words for a moment. He had not expected such an abundance of excitement (and noise) when he had asked the person knocking on his door to step inside. He had met a fair share of students so far, yet most had seemed either too polite, too disinterested, or flat out too terrified to talk much around him.
The girl now standing before his desk seemed to nearly vibrate in excitement. He couldn't say that he'd seen her before. Then again, he didn't make his way up to the Great Hall too often.
In a way, he thought (once he had recovered from the shock), the excitement was rather refreshing. Headache-inducing, but refreshing.
Hekate seemed to pick up on her owner's weariness, eyes focused on the newcomer, and ears perked up in attention. Brian smiled at the genuine excitement the kid seemed to have at the sight of Hekate.
That smile quickly died, however, when the student began to snap pictures of pretty much everything and everyone in the room. He sighed in irritation. He would have been fine with the girl taking pictures had she asked him beforehand, yet to just take for granted that she could do as she pleased...grated on him.
When she finally stopped taking pictures, she then asked for permission to pet Hekate. To lift her up. Before Brian could answer, however, the girl then raced away, leaving him confused for a moment, before she returned with a bundle of daisies in her hands.

"Do you like them? You wouldn't happen to have a vase of water I could put them in, would you?"

Brian accepted the daisies. Reaching into one of the drawers of his desk, he took out a spool of simple yarn and started wrapping the stems of the daisies into a tight bundle.
"I'm afraid despite my short time here, I've already been a Potions Professor too long. I'd much rather hang them over the fireplace to dry than to look at them slowly wilt and rot in a vase. Thank you for collecting them. They will have their use in quite a few First Year Potions classes, I'm certain. Now, about Hekate, my cat. I would prefer it if you did not try and pick her up, yet if you hold out your hand for her to sniff, you can try and see if she maybe accepts you petting her."
Brian finished tying the plants into a bundle and placed it on his desk. Then he focused back on the girl in front of him.
"Now, while I am pleased that you wanted to welcome me at Hogwarts, I must tell you that, in the future, you really need to ask for people's permission before taking a photo of them. I won't hold it against you this time but should I hear about another incident like this, I will have to ask you to destroy pictures that you took of people without their permission."

When the girl raised her camera again to take a picture of Barlow's smile only to see that smile disappear, she stopped. His sigh caused her to lower her prized possesion yet again. What was the matter? Had she done something wrong?

As she watched and waited, she observed the Potions Professor take out yarn from a desk drawer in order to tightly tie the stems of her gifted daisy bouqet together. Before she could ask why he was doing such a thing, he explained that he preferred to dry the flowers rather than to watched them slowly die in a vase. The girls' eyes widened at that and sparkled at his thanks.

"That's a wonderful idea! I didn't know daisies could be used in potions. What do you mean that you've been a potions professor too long? Wanting to watch them dry instad of die sounds like a smart idea! It seems more to me like you've been a potions professor just the right amount of time."

She nodded eagerly when he began to refer to his cat. The girl was just marvelling about the cat's name - Hekate, named after a Greek Goddess like she herself was - when it sunk in that the man did not want his pet being picked up. He did, however, permit her to hold out her hand for Hekate to smell if she wanted to see if the cat would let the girl pet her.

"Hekate?! Like the Greek Goddess of the Night?!" she cried, her voice getting higher as her excitement rose again. "I was named after a Greek Goddess, too! My name is Eris! Eris Livius!"

Eris held out her hand for Hekate to sniff if she so chose. Her attention, however, went back to the professor as he continued speaking. This time it was about her photo-taking. The girl beamed bashfully at that, looking away and drawing a circle with the toe of her boot on the ground.

"Oh...didn't think about asking people's permission," she admitted with a sheepish smile. "Why, though? Isn't it flattering for someone to want a picture of someone else to cherish and admire forever?" She took one of the recently-developed polaroid pictures and regarded it sadly before offering it to the professor. "It's not as though I'm stealing pieces of their soul, right? And besides...what if I manage to capture a picture of a hag this way? If I asked a hag for permission, they'd definitely say no. How would we catch them then?"

@Brian Barlow