Click. Click. Click. The tapping of her heels on the stone floor of the corridor was the only sound in this part of the castle, the voices of children in the great hall distant and blurry as Teri paced outside the door to Dumbledore’s office. The headmaster had summoned her from London but wasn’t in, the door hadn’t responded to the password, and she was getting tired of waiting. She hadn’t changed from work, and the kitten heels weren’t the best footwear for the ancient blocks of granite, better suited to the hardwood floors of her shop and flat back in Diagon Alley.
Impatiently, she checked her enchanted watch, which was self-winding. The students’ dinner hour was nearly over; maybe Albus would be along after, though why he’d told her to come immediately if he wasn’t going to meet her confused and frustrated her. Who knew how the old man’s mind worked? She just hoped he had some news on that spell they were trying to break.
She heard footsteps approaching; they sounded too light to be, say, Severus. Merlin, she didn’t want to see him tonight. She was already in enough of a sour mood. Teri knew it would look odd to be here, since she wasn’t a student or a teacher, but really, when the head of the Wizengamot summoned you, one couldn’t exactly refuse, right? So she leaned against the wall, crossed her feet at the ankles, and waited to see who came her way.
@novum-legatum
Callisto hadn’t been particularly hungry that night, for whatever reason. But her friend Caspar had convinced her to go anyways and to at least eat just a bit. She’d reluctantly agreed and gotten a bowl of soup and some salad. Though once that was gone she was rather over the socializing for the night. She’d claimed that she needed to study to head out without her friends giving her too much trouble. In all honesty, she would study a bit. But then likely head to bed. She was rather tired. Callie let her mind wander as she headed back towards the dorm room. That is until she heard someone that had been seemingly pacing before stopping. As it often did, her curiosity got the best of her and she found herself making her way towards the sound. The youngest Malfoy wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it certainly hadn’t been her aunt. Soft gray eyes blinked in surprise before she called out “Aunt Teri? What in Merlin’s name are you doing here?” a bright grin crossed her features before turning to a slight frown, brows furrowed. “Is something wrong?” she questioned, not sure what reason her aunt would have to show up without letting her know.
She immediately relaxed at the sight of her niece. “Callie! No, darling, nothing’s wrong, to my knowledge.” Other than everything going on with Callie’s father and the return of the Dark Lord over the summer, that was. And the chaos that was Teri’s personal life. But she wasn’t going to burden the girl with that. “Your headmaster summoned me for some reason, that’s all. I’m waiting for him.”
She took a good look at her niece. She hadn’t seen the teenager in weeks, since the start of the school year. Was Callie taller now? Teri remembered when her niece had been born; it was still something of a surprise to realise Callisto was a young woman now.
“How are you? How are your classes going?”
