Fresh Eyes

[Jon Phillips]

Chaperoning the yule ball was usually pretty uneventful for Jon, and more awkward than anything as out of habit he spent the night on the sidelines rather than joining in on the yuletide festivities. The only difference that year to the years previous was Jon would be chaperoning with Maurice, one of his good friends. He always had fun with the other man whenever they hung out outside of class hours and he quite frankly expected to have fun on that night, even if they did nothing more than supervise the students like they were supposed to. Maurice could make fun out of nothing and that fact alone made the night seem worth it. Jon arrived to the ball in his usual formal attire, and immediately made his way towards the drinks table to help himself to a glass of punch before leaning against one of the pillars and waiting for his friend, turned colleague, to arrive.​

 

[Maurice Welch]

It had been some time ago that Maurice last attened something so formal as a ball, so hoped that the suit he was wearing would be good enough for an event such as this. Once the Herbology professor was done in his office he made his way to the Great Hall to chaperone the yule ball with his friend. He'd been looking forward to attending the ball with Jon even though their job was to supervise the students and make sure they were all behaving well that night, he reckoned that the two of them were going to have fun at some point during the night. Maurice walked into the beautifully decorated hall and smiled when seeing how much it had changed from how it looked regulary. ''Evening.'' the professor said when approaching his friend standing near the drinks table.

 

[Jon Phillips]

Jon was glad he only stood alone, feeling awkward for few minutes before Maurice greeted him. He looked up from his drink as his friend approached and gave the man a warm smile. The night was suddenly so much better now that he had company and he only expected it to get better. "Evening to you too." Jon said. "Good day?" He then asked before sipping from his drink, waiting for his friend to respond. There wasn't much else he could think of to ask Maurice that wasn't colleague appropriate small talk in that moment. At least not until Jon was further settled into the task of chaperoning and more comfortable being his 'normal' self. An occasion like the yule ball just seemed to formal for his and Maurice's usual banter.
​

 

[Maurice Welch]

Maurice poured himself some punch before answering his friend's question. ''The best.'' he said while turning around to face Jon. ''I managed to re-pot the Venomous Tentacula in the Dangerous Plants Greenhouse successfully. I hope that she'll stop breaking pots from now on, she's becoming quite expensive.'' Maurice added, fighting off the urge to tell his friend more about the whole re-potting process, because he wasn't sure if Jon would like to hear more about that. ''Enough about mine, how was yours?'' he asked, curious to hear if his friend's day was just as eventful as his was.

 

[Desislav Zhefarovich]

On his way to grab drinks for himself and Kayleigh, Desislav had spotted Professor Phillips and beelined to him. He'd heard a disturbing rumor, one that he was sure wasn't true. They'd even told him that the professor had mentioned it in class, but surely he would have heard that. Stopping right in front of both men, Desi stuffed his hands in his pockets, pretending to be casual. "You're not really leaving, right?" Desislav blurted out without so much as a greeting. So much for being casual. "Because you're the only professor with a sense of humor in this place. No offense, er professor" he said, finally acknowledging the other man.

 

[Jon Phillips]

Jon continued to smile, nodding while swirling the straw in his punch as he listened to Maurice talk about his day. He didn't know much about Venomous Tentacula plants, but could heathily assume that repotting something so subborn and dangerous sounding was a mission from start to finish. He really could admire that Maurice worked with magical plants, especially since he was a Muggle studies professor, and the worst thing he had to deal with in a day was a few students trying to sneak in more candy than they were allowed to after a field trip, or one student in particular that always wanted to shove pencils up their nose. Therefore Jon had nothing eventful in his day that could match Maurice's. He shook his head before giving an honest answer. "Mine was pretty boring, I literally just marked exams and made a list of everything I need to have sorted before I leave." It felt unusual to mention his temporary leave out loud but he shrugged it off in the moment.

Though Desislav soon approached him, mentioning the absence. It was ironic for someone to ask about the leave as soon as he mentioned it out loud, but he tried not to let it show as he smiled to the Gryffindor and nodded. "I am, yeah. But it's only until next year." He confirmed. It didn't occur to him that he would be missing Desislav's graduation, and the graduations of the rest of his seventh year classes until that moment. But he again tried not to let his remorse show as he laughed at the boy's comment that he was the only professor with a sense of humor in the school. Not sure of how to respond, he looked between Desislav and Maurice as he joked "I'm sure I'm not the only one. I know Maurice can be hilarious when he's drunk!" The inappropriateness of the conversation suddenly dawned on Jon, and he quickly added in a comment to retract it. "But uh, you should only drink responsibly, when you're old enough an in a safe environment." He cleared his throat, trying to play it off but also attempting to be serious as he didn't want to be seen as promoting drinking to students. It was typical of him to say something wrong and embarrass himself in the process of fixing it.​

 

[Maurice Welch]

To say that Maurice was unhappy about his friend leaving the school temporarily would be an understatement - it made him sick at heart to know that after everyone would come back to the school from the holidays, the Herbology professor wouldn't have his friend here to help him out with whatever problem he would be facing. Of course Maurice wouldn't be completely alone, his other friend, Eduardo wasn't going anywhere. And while he loved the idea of spending more time with the man after hours, he just knew that it wouldn't be the same as with Jon, with whom he connected really well the past few months.

Maurice shook his head, laughing as the boy said that Jon was the only professor around with sense of humor, and then nodded when his friend said that he could be hilarious under the influence of alcohol. He playfully nudged Jon with his elbow and said, ''Thanks for letting me know I'm not funny when I am sober.'' he winked and then turned to the student in front of them. ''Mister Zhefarovich, I would kindly advice you to listen to professor Phillips, as he is correct.'' he told him, proving that, without realising it, he indeed wasn't the funny type.

 

[Desislav Zhefarovich]

Desislav's frown deepened as the man confirmed his departure. The fact that he'd back next year was of no consolation to Desislav. He'd be gone by then! He heard the professor try to give him a mini lecture and waved his hand dismissing the comment. "I'm almost eighteen, sir" he added by way of his response. And he was Desi. Being responsible wasn't really his thing, though he didn't think drinking would be a huge problem for him. He'd tried fire whiskey once and thought he was going to die. No alcohol had passed his lips since then. As the other professor spoke, Desi looked to Professor Phillips, holding a hand out towards the other man, a look on his face to express that the man had just fully proved his point. A bunch of thoughts crossed his mind, but half of them would probably lose him house points and the other half sounded too sappy. Finally, he sighed and stuck out his hand to his favorite professor. "Good luck. I hope whatever you're doing is going to be fun because this stinks worse than dung bombs" he said in a glum voice.

 

[Jon Phillips]

Jon felt his face begin to flush with embarrassment as the stupidity of his words continued to dawn on him. He'd not only talked to a student about alcohol and somewhat, indirectly, promoted drinking, but he had also unintentionally insulted his friend. The realization of how awkward he was being continued to spin around in his mind, causing him to hold his hand to his face and wish he was anywhere else in that moment. It didn't even help that Desislav dismissed the comment or that Maurice joked about being boring while sober. But he again, tried not to show his embarrassment too obviously as he moved his hand away from his face and attempted to respond to Desislav. Desislav was a kid, that despite the pranking, seemed to have a kind heart. The addition of him in his seventh year class made teaching that semester all the more worthwhile for Jon. So when Desi held his hand out, Jon immediately moved his own hand to shake it and said "Good luck to you too. Graduation is scary as hell and I'm sorry I won't be here for it." Seeing any of the students in his seventh year class graduate was difficult and only became more so difficult with each passing year and Desislav's class wasn't an exception to this. Jon then looked to Maurice. "I'm always correct, um, Professor Welch" he said, thinking it was weird and too formal to refer to his friend by his title and surname, regardless of the fact they were standing in the middle of a ball and the level of professionalism they were expected to uphold.​

 

[Maurice Welch]

Maurice realised he had proven himself to be the boring one when he looked at the face Desislav was making whilst looking at the professor standing next to him. He'd never been, and the only reason he was funny whenever he was drunk, was because he would forget all about the rules. He listened in silence while the two of them talked to each other and took another sip from his drink. The professor chuckled at the seventh year's response because not having him around was going to stink more like dungbombs. It was nice to hear that Jon was sort of close with his students, and hoped that one day he would too. Maurice chuckled again when Jon said that he was always right, and patted his friend on the back. ''Sure you are.'' he said to his friend with a wink. He knew he was going to miss his buddy for sure, but was already looking forward for him to return to the castle.