A Bit of Extra Research (Dim&Bianca)

[lyra]

It was nearing the end of another long and eventful day, and Melisande still wasn't quite convinced she'd accomplished anything particularly important. Funny how physically and emotionally drained she felt despite the minimal progress she'd made over the span of the last few hours.

How exactly did the rest of the staff manage?

Of course it wasn't a matter of being unaccustomed to hard work, but rather, it'd been such a long time since the young woman had been handed papers and a deadline that it was as though she had to retrain herself to manage her time wisely. That in and of itself could prove to be a bit of a daunting task, especially considering her schedule here was twice as complex as what she'd juggled in the past.

Thankful to have a few quiet moments to herself, the blonde slipped discreetly into the staff room and headed directly for one of the far corners. Tucked underneath her arm rested a bundle of parchment paper tied up with string, as well as two heavy textbooks and a long, elegant quill. She dumped them unceremoniously across the surface of the table, splaying them out in some impressive kind of organized chaos before depositing herself onto the plush chair that awaited her.

Deft fingers picked at a paper here and a paper there, scanning the scrawled notes quickly before moving on to the next set. She had a finite amount of time to study the layout of the castle, as well as the outline for the Care of Magical Creatures course for that year, so she'd ultimately decided that making them priority was the first step to getting herself situated. Honestly it was a bit embarrassing. She'd been there for several weeks now so one might assume this was already taken care of. Not to mention she'd always been something of a perfectionist, and allowing herself to fall behind was enough to put her in a very foul disposition.

And what she discovered among her things moments later only served to irritate her further, eyes having locked on to an unfamiliar pink envelope.

Lifting it from the messy pile she'd created, Melisande was instantly greeted with glittery red hearts, a pair of silver cupids and golden arrows .. between which had been emblazoned her name in gold ink. A valentine. Already? She hadn't even introduced herself to the whole of the student body yet and already someone had developed a bit of a schoolboy crush. Unless it was a joke. And in that case, she could simply throw it away.

So tossing it aside, she returned to her studies with a newfound determination.

[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

Dimitri was not overly fond of Valentine's Day. Sure, he had agreed to go to the dance-sort-of-thing with Devin (or, rather, had agreed to meet her there), but he didn't usually join in with the festivities. Actually, he was pretty sure that this year was the first time in his life that he would actually be participating, rather than wait for it to be over passively. It was a bit of a strange, if interesting, turn of events - maybe a turn for the best? He didn't know. He'd see what happened.
Either way, Valentine's Day was not his priority right now. Essays were - essays that needed grading, to be more specific. He could, of course, sit in his own office, which was quiet - too quiet. It was one of the reasons why Dimitri didn't like libraries - they were so void of sound that it got on his nerves. Now, of course the Hogwarts library was never quite silent, which was good, but he could hardly sit and grade his students' essays on Parasitic Creatures in the library now, could he? The staff room would have to do. Another good thing about the staff room was that there was coffee and tea aplenty - he could do with a good cup of brown joy. Tea, that is.

When he walked in with his arms full of parchment, he didn't spot Melisande at first (that's what you get with a pile of dried animal hides obscuring your view), but he did once he'd sat down on the other end of the table, laying out his piles to grade by year and subject.
He faintly smiled at the new COMC assistant, though she looked busy and he didn't say anything because he didn't want to disturb her. He didn't know her that well yet, but that would come with time, Dimitri thought. Or not, he supposed, you couldn't be friends with everyone, but he saw no reason not to like her, really.

Getting up to get himself a cup of tea, he turned to Melisande and briefly hesitated. She looked busy. And a little tired, maybe. Still, it would be just bad form not to ask her and pretend she wasn't there. "I'm getting tea, can I get you a cup? Or coffee?" he asked, half walking backwards to the table with the cups and kettles on it.

[lyra]

<sup>She shouldn't have been so surprised at the arrival of Dimitri. After all, this was where the staff all congregated when they felt they deserved a temporary reprieve from the student's antics. That didn't mean she was obligated to speak with anyone however, and so Melisande simply proceeded to leaf through her papers, acknowledging the other Professor with only a meager nod and smile as he set his things down across from her. Part of her felt badly for virtually ignoring the man, but at the same time she was desperate to cover everything she needed to before the end of the night, and so making nice would have to come later.

Unfortunately pretending he wasn't there seemed to require more energy than she had at that moment. It was unnerving to have him sitting opposite her, where he could analyze her every move. Not that she supposed that, that was his intention. It just felt as though he were there to supervise her. And he must have been aware that she was the new addition. All of this made her look terribly lazy! What if it so happened that he was a judgmental gossip? She'd be made a fool only a few weeks in.

And without realizing it, the young woman had managed to, in that time, blot ink all over one of the papers.

Still, she managed to show some semblance of restraint and calmly incanted the Scourgify spell so as to remove whatever she'd spilled on the surface of the table, quickly tucking the abused parchment under the rest of the pile so as to avoid her fellow Professor's potential scrutiny. Then, before she could help it, she found herself jumping at the unexpected sound of his voice from somewhere just behind her, asking - quite politely - whether she'd like a warm beverage. Now, it was her first instinct to decline but she found that it wouldn't make things any easier for her afterwards. She might as well make an effort.

"Oh, tea would be lovely thank you. Earl grey if they have it. T-that's very kind."
Silence filled the room again, and she sunk deeper into her chair. How humiliating.

And then she spotted the array of essays sitting innocently where he'd dumped them, her curiosity immediately piqued. "It seems like we both have a lot of work ahead of us," she began hesitantly and then offered a good-humored chuckle. "Coffee would likely be a more practical choice at this point, but I've never enjoyed its bitter flavour."</sup>

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[Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich]

Dimtri certainly didn't expect her to talk to him. She looked busy and besides, he also had things to do. Some pleasant small talk, maybe, but after that he needed to go back to business, not in the least because he was a little behind grading essays. Melisande needn't feel foolish - Dimitri had started this schoolyear without a single lesson plan finished. That's what tended to happen when you spent your entire summer chasing Death Eaters for the Order.
Anyways, he didn't at all feel offended that she didn't pay him much attention. He didn't think she did it because she disliked him - and if she did, well.. Still, he didn't expect she did, she wasn't exactly glaring at him either. Little did he know that Melisande would disagree with him on some of his teaching methods, and he didn't expect her to be a bit of a radical feminist, either. Then again.. these were the seventies.

It didn't escape him that she seemed a little nervous or stressed and he just hoped it wasn't because of him having just come in. He didn't mean to make her feel stressed or rushed. Dimitri decided to just behave as naturally as he could - hence the polite question whether she wanted coffee or tea.
They sure had Earl Grey, although it wasn't one of Dim's favourites (he preferred Lady Grey if it was available). "Earl Grey, coming up." He smiled faintly. "Milk or sugar?" he asked, glancing at her briefly over his shoulder. He still couldn't fathom why these silly British people would want to muck up their tea with dairy, but it seemed sensible to ask Melisande what she preferred, as she was British.

"It seems like we both have a lot of work ahead of us." Dim chuckled softly as she said that coffee would perhaps be a better alternative. "To be honest, yes, I'm a little behind - but that is not enough to make me drink coffee." He shuddered a little. He didn't like coffee at all. He'd had Irish coffee once, or at least coffee with whiskey cream instead of milk and sugar, and that had been sort of okay - but the alcohol wouldn't help him grading essays, he was sure!
Handing her her preferred cup of tea, he sat back down opposite her. "So - are you settling in okay?" He didn't want to keep her from her work, honestly, he didn't, but it seemed polite to ask. He remembered when he'd first arrived at Hogwarts he had been completely overwhelmed. He hadn't attended this school as a teenager, so the castle had been a maze, and the English spells quite a bit of a challenge.