Long Nights. PV Closed

Her day had turned sour after her attempt at actually helping someone had been thrown back in her face. Hjørdis was definitely one to hold grudges and the man had warranted being blacklisted from future attempts of help, which were few and rare to come by as it was. A part of her was also a little bit worried about the phoenix that she had seen in his 'care' and she was still wondering what that whimpering sound was. Sadly, that was an answer she would likely never get as she chose to leave instead of find out.

Sighing, she locked away the paperwork and reports she had been working on. She had spent a little longer than usual working through them as her mind kept getting distracted. Hjørdis knew very well that she would not be able to sleep tonight if she did not do something to occupy her mind. She was easily frustrated, after all. It was not the man's rudeness or sad insults that bothered her. She did not care about that. It was the fact that she was worried about the creatures and there was very little she could do about that right now, without having to deal with the insufferable man once more.

Hjørdis lifted her fingers to the side of her head, gently massaging her temples as she leaned onto the desk for a moment. She pondered for a few brief moments but before suddenly getting up, grabbing a few things from her desk and exiting her office. Her end destination was not very far, to be quite honest. Her office had a door that exited right into the corridors of the basement floor. Within less than a couple of minutes, she would be at the door of the classroom that shared the same floor.

The corridors were quiet at this time of the night. The silence was one that she appreciated after so many days of listening to chattering children. She entered the potions classroom without knocking, simply because she did not realise anyone was actually inside. Abruptly pausing, Hjørdis quirked an eyebrow as her eyes fell onto the soft flames underneath a brewing cauldron. Students were unlikely to be brewing at this time of the night but there was obvious candidate was standing by the cauldron.

"Nagal," She replied with a nod, her expression returning to a blank one. Though, there were small hints of how tired she felt after being emotionally exhausted. People, it seemed, stressed her out more than she cared for. She observed the fellow Professor for a moment. It appeared as though he was still working and she had to silently question if the man actually slept. She was up because she could not sleep but he appeared to be choosing to stay up, "Mhm, mind if I join you? I'd like to borrow a book or two," She simply said in response to his question. In truth, Hjørdis had planned to borrow the books before she even knew he was here but since he was there, she ought to probably ask him. It was the polite thing to do, after all. The Slytherin paused for a second before continuing, "And possibly a handful of ingredients..." She trailed off in thought.

She waited at the foot of the door, observing his actions and wondering what he was in the middle of making. From the distance, she could not see into the cauldron. Hjørdis had managed to clean out the little bit of blood on the white dress that she wore after leaving Griffith's enclosure. Her appearance was something she took seriously enough to keep in pristine condition and blood was simply unsanitary. It also was enough to cause a panic as it just stood out against the crisp whiteness of her outfit so she had to clean it out before she ran into any students. She had a few bits and bobs tucked under her arms, as she came prepared to work for a while.

He flipped the page in his book, uninterested in the conversation. He caught the way she said his name, almost as if her tone gave everything away. Once again, his bright, blue eyes looked up from his book to study her. He could tell by the way she walked that she was tired. No, maybe it wasn’t even that - it was the way she was here. It was well past midnight, if he could remember correctly. Usually, most professors, most people, would be asleep. This time of night was too early for Anton to sleep. Alchemy boiled deep, and he had work. Work was never finished.

He hummed quietly as she pointed out she wanted to join his company, and his eyes glanced towards the shelving of books. Most of his personal collection were high above the grubby hands that students could reach to, but he wouldn’t mind if she borrowed them. Ancient texts of old alchemy studies in Chinese, with English translations written in the margins; new books with clear, untouched pages that were new studies; they all lined the shelves of his classroom. Most of his books were his own, and he was very strict about them not leaving his classroom, and it’d be no exception for the Head of House who stepped in with the curious knowledge to get them.

“I will not make an exception for you, Ms. Jensen; the children cannot take the books out of my own personal collection, and neither can you. You can, of course, read the books here and settle yourself. I’ll be here for several more hours before I retire to my office,” Anton added simply. Of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t take books out for her. That was something that was obviously clear in his words.

He waved her in regardless, his eyes turning back to his book. He wasn’t much of a conversationalist when he was focused in work, but he somehow knew she wouldn’t mind. “It’s been a while,” he said without missing a beat, especially once he heard the door shut behind her. In all honesty, it had only been a few days since the baking in the Oktoberfest. He couldn’t help but chuckle a little at his own little joke.

Of course, he somehow knew she’d catch onto it.

Hjørdis quirked her eyebrow a little as she heard his words. It was late. If she could sleep, she would definitely be in bed by now. The professor in front of her, however, did not plan to sleep for a few more hours it seemed. She nodded in response to his earlier words. She had been planning on staying in the classroom anyway, just in case she needed to brew something or came across something she wanted to test. Nonetheless, she thanked him.

Closing the door behind her, she heard his voice again. She could not help but smirk a little at his words, recalling the baking event not too long ago. Although it was only a few days ago, it was a little unusual to go that long without seeing someone you basically lived with. The pair of them probably spent the majority of their day - and night, it seemed - in the dungeons. A few days was certainly a while in that respect. But that was not why she smirked. Hjørdis mused slightly, remembering the last time they had met, "Mhm, it takes a while to eat so many cookies." The female replied, implying that she had eaten all of the cookies they had baked together that day, including his share of them.

Though that was, quite obviously, not the real reason. The truth was that Hjørdis had actually been familiarising herself with the castle layout more recently, trying to find secret passageways or the faster ways to places. It was a mix of exploring for herself and trying to map it out from a safety angle. As a professor, she needed to know the best routes to places and of secret passages that could be accessed from the outside. She was also patrolling more after the masked student incident had been revealed, worried a bit more about what was going on in this hell of a school.

"What are you working on?" She asked the man as she entered into the room, moving towards the book shelf that he had pointed out earlier with his glance. Hjørdis could not see into the cauldron when she asked the question but her query was specifically regarding the potion he was making. She was curious to see if he was working on one that would take several more hours or if he planned on doing more work after the potion was done.

Hjørdis placed the items she had carried in onto a desk not too far from the shelves. Turning to the shelf, she made way over before pausing to scan the bindings. She was a tall woman and the heels that she wore helped add enough for her to be able to reach the shelf without having to tiptoe. A frown appeared on her face as her eyes scanned the spines of the books intently. There were a number of very interesting reads on the shelf. Old texts that she was intrigued by. During her own studies, she had come across or read quite a few of them. However, the expansive knowledge of alchemy was always something she could continue to learn from. She noticed the amount of newer looking books that had been added too. Hjørdis walked slowly, her eyes carefully taking in each book. There were probably quite a number that she would need to research into but she would take the first one she found and start there. Without many leads, there was little to go off and she was pretty much starting from scratch or taking a stab in the dark here.

Without glancing away from the shelf, Hjørdis picked up on the earlier thought that she had, "How's your schedule looking for tomorrow?" She asked him, wondering if he had a full day of classes ahead of him or had enough gaps to sleep. If he did not plan on sleeping for a few more hours, was he even getting enough sleep to be able to stand around all day and teach? Oddly enough, he did not actually look tired. The lack of sleep - or rather his bad sleeping habits - did not sleep to reflect on his appearance. Her own lack of sleep was hard to spot but it was certainly something she saw when she looked in the mirror. The way her eyelids felt a little heavier, the slightly softer look in her blue eyes than usual, the fact that she frowned a little more easily and frequently than usual. She did not sleep a lot, even when she could. She was used to sleeping less than the average person did in general. However, she was pretty certain that this man slept even less than she did - and that was fairly worrying, especially if it affected his ability to do his job. Sleep was important. She realised its importance more, when she was experiencing a clear lack thereof.

The response from the other professor at his comment of their last meeting seemed to go unimpressed by the potion master. He simply allowed his broad shoulders to rise, and then subsequently fall, in a casual shrug. He honestly didn't expect her to be up and about at this time of night. Not many were. Even most of the prefects and head students were already tucked away in their beds, cozy for their night of slumber. He pondered why she wasn't there, too; from his very minimal conversations with her since their term together, she seemed like a type that needed a lot of sleep. Sleep was, of course, one of those things that made her tick.

Anton, on the other hand, definitely didn't care if he had a full twelve hours of sleep. The day was too short to really slumber. He had more important things to do. A day in the life of an alchemist was very, rarely, over.

He rose an eyebrow at her comment about the cookies, but made no response yet. Not yet. He'd observe as she settled into his classroom near the books. From his location, he observed many of the objects she brought in, but because of the distance, he couldn’t quite see what it was. He leaned back for a long moment and glanced at his cauldron, “Someone bought a set of unlimited beautification potions from me before I started here, so I figured I’d brew some more. Who requests for unlimited potions? What am I - a potion maker?” he knew she’d know exactly who requested it, and allowed a small smile to warm his face at the last part. Yes, he was an alchemist, a potion maker, and someone who was fine at his job. He put in too much effort to not be good at it.

The brew, as if knowing it was being spoken about, bubbled a little, dangerously close to the top. Anton waved his wand and a wooden lid soared from an unknown cabinet and settled on the top, securing the contents in. The fire, too, seemed to dull a little, a warm cackle that gave orangy-red light along the grey stones below. He turned his attention back towards her as she asked about tomorrow. She looked tired. Did she really want to engage in such trivial small talk? He pondered about it for a long moment before he finally decided to reply. There was no harm in it, anyways, right?

“I have several classes tomorrow, but none in the immediate morning after breakfast. Even if I did, I’d be fine for teaching regardless of how late I stay up,” he mused thoughtfully. He shut his book and placed it down on his desk. With another check towards his cauldron to check on it, he stepped towards Ms. Jensen and leaned against the desk she was at.

“I guess that is the end of my end of being questioned. Why are you awake at such a time, Ms. Jensen? What plagues your ability to sleep?” A part of him wanted to pull out the obvious sleeping potion he had tucked away, but that seemed like a crutch. Even he knew that it wouldn’t be good to rely on potions for slumber or to forget about bad things. Potions weren’t complete problem solvers.

Quirking her eyebrow at his words, a smirk crossed her face despite her best efforts as she glanced over her shoulder to look at him. She managed to suppress the laugh that wanted to follow, however. "Isn't that precisely what you are, Professor Nagal?" She retorted to the latter part of his words before smirking a bit more as a fond memory played in her mind, "Or perhaps you officially changed your role to nurse?" She teased, recalling the open door event that he had not too many weeks back. It was the day when so many students rushed in to ask him for medical advice or healing potions. There was no doubt that the whole situation frustrated him - she would have been the same. However, it was kind of amusing reflecting back on it, at least it was for her. "Nurse Nagal has quite a nice ring to it," She mused to herself.

Turning her attention back to the first part of his words, "As for the unlimited potions... Hmm... Perhaps... Someone who clearly has their priorities straight in life, trusts in your ability or simply wants to see your business thrive - or all of the above?" She offered, giving some suggested answers to his former question. It could be any number of things but Hjørdis saw no issue with any of them. It was a smart move, after all. Running out of a potion would when you needed it most was certainly a pain. Who had time to brew it in an emergency situation? Potions were not exactly something you could brew in a matter of seconds.

"Perhaps you should consider adding anti-ageing properties in there too. I'm sure that would be appreciated," She offered the suggestion. Anyone who cared about their appearance enough to have a healthy supply of beautification potions was someone who would care about ageing - and avoiding it at all costs. At least, they would not want to look older. Hjørdis understood that very well. There was a reason, after all, that she was often mistaken for someone much younger than she actually was. There were times when she looked no older than eighteen and she was perfectly happy with that. If she would go her whole life looking not a day over eighteen, she would have been very pleased with that. Sadly, she did not have any anti-ageing potions or potions for a youthful appearance but perhaps the potions professor could brew her some.

The sound of her heels tapping against the floor echoed in the relatively quiet room as she continued to take a few steps, walking down the shelves and examining each spine that sat on them. She spotted a book that might be of interest, reaching for it and sliding it off the shelf carefully before carrying it back to the desk. The Slytherin placed it onto the desk, opening it up and immediately started to scan the index in a matter of moments. She had no idea what she was looking for, to be honest. Something with animals, phoenix, healing, something that affected mentally or worked with PTSDs. She just needed to start somewhere and start researching it before it drove her mind crazy. Hjørdis silently scanned it, looking for keywords on where to begin. She mentally noted down some page numbers that may have been of interest before flicking it open to the first one.

Once she had her page open, she stood over it and started reading. It was obvious that she was focused by the fact that she did not even wait to sit down or settle in. She just started to read, leaning over the desk with an intense stare. The frown on her face had been removed but her breathing was slightly audible, a little stressed out by the worry and the frustration. If there was something she had learned from today, it was that she really really really disliked people. Life was far simpler when you were alone. It was lonely, yes but at least there was no one to annoy you or cause you pain. A lack of attachment to anyone would be a cold lonely world in the long run but it would be a good temporary fix, at the very least. Though, perhaps it was a fix that had now expired. Perhaps that was why she returned to the UK, taking on a relatively normal job in the first place.

Without glancing away from the page, she frowned a little as she heard about his schedule. If he had no classes in the early morning, he could sleep in and perhaps catch up on the required amount of sleep. However, his following words was an indication that he perhaps planned to wake up for breakfast, regardless. He was purposefully choosing to not get enough sleep and sooner or later, that would catch up to him. Everyone needed a decent amount of sleep and it worried her when someone was not able to get that. However, she made no comment on his sleeping habits. Not yet, anyway. Silently, she pondered the situation before flipping the page as her eyes continued to scan the text for anything that might help her.

Before she could bring up the concern about his lack of sleep, the man was leaning against the other side of the desk and had turned the tide of the interrogation onto her. She continued to stare down at the text in front of her for a moment, contemplating what to tell him. He did not need to know everything she thought about or the worries that brought her here. However, it was clear that something bothered her. She would not have walked into his classroom in the middle of the night to do research if everything was well. Glancing away from the textbook, she looked at him for a moment. She sighed irritably, looking back down at the textbook, "I'm allergic to some of the insufferable people that this school seems to house," She replied honestly, her tone of voice a little bitter as she ran her finger over some text. There was no point in hiding it, it would be noticeable in the next staff meeting when she point blank refused to even acknowledge that irritating care of magical creatures professor's presence - assuming he even showed up, which was probably already unlikely given how terrible he was at his job.

Should Anton look at the page she was reading, it featured a picture of a phoenix with some text about the healing properties of their tears and how it worked against deadly poisons, including the basilisk venom. There was not a lot of information on that particular page but it described the way they regenerated and were reborn from ashes too. Whilst there was little about potions, it outline some more information about the phoenix in particular. Hjørdis frowned a little as she continued to read. None of the information was anything she did not already know. She immediately started to flip to the next page number she noted down as these couple were not what she was looking for. It may, perhaps, be in mentioned in another chapter.

As the other professor, or should he technically call her the head of house spoke up about his job, the alchemist allowed his shoulders to relax and shrug slightly. Sure, if that’s what she wanted to think. At her comment about being the new nurse, Anton honestly couldn’t help but roll his eyes. There were plenty of ways he could reply to that, although most of the ways he was coming up seemed to be rather… annoyed and mean. He sighed deeply and then allowed himself to answer, “No, I did not change my title to school nurse. The children who came to me looking for cures for runny noses and bumps and scrapes are dense. It just shows the lack of knowledge that they’ve retained over their short lives,” Anton pointed out simply. He flipped through a book idly as she pointed out that ‘Nurse Nagal’ had a ring to it. “There’s only one person in the world who will ever be able to call me that,” he added in return.

Anton chuckled slightly at her point about the unlimited potions, although his eyes moved to study her. He wasn’t really annoyed, but wasn’t happy about it, either, “I think it’s all of the above. They’re a frequent buyer,” he added, not giving her much information besides that. He, did, work under a pretty strict confidentiality. His buyers weren’t open for discussion with everyone. He gave another moment before he spoke up again, “Unfortunately, no matter how many times I’ve told them, they still request an unlimited amount.It’s not like potion ingredients are unlimited. There’s only so much I can make at a time,” he shut the book he was flipping through. It was just something about pretty basic potions that he could brew in his sleep. It really wasn’t all that interesting.

“Suggestion noted, but not taken into consideration. One does not mix potions willy-nilly unless they are really that ready to see the dangerous outcomes,” he thoughtfully put. Of course, it was relatively easy for such a skilled alchemist, but he knew she could have figured that out already. He hummed quietly as she studied her book. He watched the way her hair danced over her skin, and the way her face twisted in focus. He didn’t make any comments, allowing her to focus for a longer moment. There was a time and place for things, he figured, and this was neither of them.

Anton shook his head and allowed his bright, baby-blue eyes towards the cauldron that bubbled behind him. He liked his job, but sometimes children were annoying. Then again, most of his customers at the apothecary were also annoying. They demanded things that he either couldn’t grow or couldn’t make easily. Didn’t really surprise him, now that he thought about it. It wasn’t like people weren’t selfish.

His attention danced back towards Ms. Jensen as she spoke about being allergic to some of the people in Hogwarts. For a moment, Anton pondered what that specifically meant, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure he wanted to dive into her personal life. Not here, at least; where most students could walk in at any moment, even if they were up at an ungodly hour. He hummed quietly towards himself before allowing a look towards her as if that’ll solve all the problems in the world, “Perhaps you should visit the nurse about that. I’m sure they could brew you up an Anti-Allergy potion,” he teased gently. But, if he was being serious, there was a hint towards his voice. “I think if there’s people you don’t enjoy, then don’t continue to give them time to be in your life. Hogwarts isn’t here for you to socialize - yeah, sure, making nice with your colleagues is one thing, but if they’re not showing you the same respect, don’t put out more effort than necessary,” Anton added thoughtfully.

Then again, Anton was personally there to teach, and he had minimal interactions with most of the other professors. Besides teaching, he was a busy man. He didn’t need to constantly associate with them unless they came into the potions classroom.

Hjørdis had to stifle her laughter as the Potions Professor seemed a bit irritated by the children that thought of him as their nurse. She could not help it. Anton would have made a good nurse, if he wanted to. Healers often used a combination of potions and spells to cure a variety of ailments. In many situations, potions and ointments were far better than spells too. At least, that was what Hjørdis believed, which was part of the reason why she became so interested in potions in the first place. Her eyes lit up a little as she heard him speak of only one person who would be able to call him that, "Oh?" She asked him innocently with a small smirk tugging on the ends of her lips, "And who's that?" The Head of House asked him casually.

The female's laughter managed to escape her as he continued. "I don't know... It sounds like they are very smart clients who like to be incredibly prepared for any situation..." Hjørdis replied as she thought about his comment on people requested unlimited amounts of any potion. Though, an unlimited amount of beautification potion certainly sounded like a joke request. She quirked her eyebrow as the man spoke about the dangers of mixing potions. There were a lot of dangers and of course, it was not something she would encourage a student to do - or rather anyone who was not skilled in it. However, after years of alchemy experience, creating new potions and mixing them was something she had full faith that Anton could do. "Oh, I'm sure you can manage it. Just think of how many new customers you would get. You'll increase your clientele base quite drastically."

Moving her finger gracefully across the page as she quickly scanned through the text to find anything of interest, Hjørdis continued to read. Her eyes perked up a little as they seemed to find something. She fell silent, as a blank look fell onto her face. Her eyebrows frowned a little as she focused intensely onto it. The Slytherin looked up again once she had finished reading the paragraph, allowing her eyes to fall onto the man that leaned against the other side of the desk once more. He was looking at her.

She knew that he was right. There was no point in her wasting time trying to be nice to that insufferable Care of Magical Creatures Professor. However, that was not what she was trying to do here. Instead, she wanted to focus her time and energy on helping the animals under his care, simply because she did not trust that he was capable of doing that part himself. Admittedly, Hjørdis was actually trying a lot harder to be nicer and get along with her colleagues. She would not stand in the same room for more than necessary, normally or even engage in idle chitchat with them before. But since starting Hogwarts, she was making an attempt at being nice. It was just being thrown back in her face - and that annoyed her further.

She sighed, trying to take Anton's advice on board. She did not need to waste her energy or ruin her mood trying to get along with irritating people. Hjørdis should not ruin her mood because someone else was stupid. She stayed silent for a few moments, calming herself down. She looked at Anton with a straight face, "Well... That's why I'm here. Isn't this where the nurse is?" She teased, referring to the earlier conversation of Nurse Nagal. Despite trying to keep a straight face, there was a slight tug at her lips.