Losing Any Sleep

[Eduardo Orbon]

Never much of a morning person, Eduardo regretted having his office hours so early in the morning - it was exactly when he wished to sleep. If there was a perk of being an Astronomy professor it really should have been sleeping during the day but with curfews being more strict in Hogwarts than at Castelobruxo there was very little room for wiggle within his schedule so despite having only one class this semester the man was quite busy throughout the nights even if the cold was biting. He'd spent the evening looking through his large sextant and making various notes and diagrams which he now carried in a sloppy pile under his arm so he could go through them in the common area whilst making himself coffee. Copious amounts of coffee, that is. He practically threw them onto a long wooden table where no one was currently sat, leaving the sheets to scatter before he searched for the largest mug he could find and commenced making coffee. As there was no one else currently in the common room, possibly even awake as the sun was just rising now making his personal work near impossible. The resources he was available to being a Professor allowed him to spend so much of his time documenting findings. Research was easily a favourite part of the man's life - it was the reason why he had continued to specialize and to become an educator but until his coffee was ready he did somehow doubt his own reasons for making his various choices.

As the water began to boil in the silver kettle, Ed smiled. Relief was coming soon and he swiftly poured the hot water into a french press and followed the necessary steps until he was able to pour the liquid into the cup. As he was generally a tea drinker he did add sugar and milk to his coffee until it was a lovely kobicha brown. Taking a seat by his mess, Eduardo practically sunk into it and sighed. He had still so many more hours left of his day and a lot of work to do yet the soft bed of the hotel he was sleeping in called to him. While he could never miss the woman who likely still slept in his bed, Eduardo did miss feeling as if he was home when he laid his head down to rest instead of wonder how many previous occupants there had been to the very same room or how house keeping was constantly moving his stuff around to places he would never think to look for them for the sake of order or cleanliness. The man preferred his mess as it meant he could find what he truly needed when he did need it. However he would still need to make sense of his own writing from the last few nights and today so he could find a correlation even if it seemed daunting at the moment.

 

[Jon Phillips]

There was plenty that could be said for coffee's use in the beginning of the semester where Jon was yet to fall back into a routine and couldn't function during his early morning office hours or on the late nights he spent marking weekly assignments without it. It often ruined his sleep schedule at first, though eventually everything became right and he was not left exhausted when he returned home after a hard day's work. Unfortunately that was yet to happen to the Professor, and on that particular morning after arriving to the castle with an empty takeaway coffee cup from his favourite cafe in the muggle part of Queenstown, he ventured to the professor's common room to make another cup of coffee to both warm his cold hands and hopefully further wake him up for the events of the day. His office hours usually weren't busy by any means, but he always made an effort to be early for them because he never knew what the day would hold. He could suddenly have a line of students outside his door asking for assistance for their OWLs or NEWTs, or he might even need to explain to a confused first year why the school did not have wifi again. Both were equally as unlikely to happen but there was no harm in being prepared for anything in a school that was so 'magical', both typically and in ways Jon couldn't explain which was why he taught Muggle studies and not a magical subject like Astronomy or Charms.

He threw his empty cardboard coffee cup into the nearest bin as he strolled into the professor's common room. It wasn't chilly though Jon habitually adjusted his thick scarf anyway as he stepped to the drinks table. There was a used french press sitting nearby with coffee still inside however Jon opted for instant coffee instead to not be rude to the other occupant of the room. If they were anything like Samuel they were leaving it for a second or even third serving and if that was the case Jon wouldn't dare to mess with it. He yawned and added some instant coffee to one of the clean mugs before adding hot water and an insanely generous serving of milk to make the coffee as white as possible. When the coffee was made he turned back to the room, sipping from the cup and sighing quietly. The other man in the room seemed to be busy with his own cup of coffee and the table in front of him that was covered in what looked to be diagrams. In a normal situation, Jon would avoid the man to not disturb him from something seemingly work related but this wasn't a normal situation. The man was one of the new professors and Jon was yet to introduce himself. Thinking that the time was as good as any, Jon walked up to the man's table and asked "You're one of the new Professors, right?" as he gently swirled the coffee cup in his hand. "My name's Jon. I teach Muggle Studies." He added.​

 

[Eduardo Orbon]

In an attempt to organize his work and perhaps even his mind so others would be able to read it, Professor Orbon wrote bold titles where he would write jotted notes that he would later put into more detail but the main part of this was just to organize things as they should be because so far anything he thought or observed on the subject ended up being on whatever spare parchment was near. In some things he knew he would need more resources for history and even to go through muggle channels to ensure what he saw had not already been noticed there. It was a lot of work and perhaps a little daunting to the tired man but at least he had coffee.

Eduardo looked up from his work only when he was spoken to and nodded his head before shuffling his papers away so he could be joined and politely gestured as an offer. “Nice to meet you. I’m Eduardo,” he introduced with a crooked smile. “Astronomy.” He had never taken muggle studies as a student because he hadn’t thought the class would ever be helpful to him and with his mother being a muggle it was hardly necessary anyway. He had a close enough grasp of the lifestyle to not find the class useful and honestly he had already worked his father to the bone with the home schooling and taking so many extra classes already. It would’ve felt strange to ask him to teach him yet another class. Especially on something he knew his father had a weak grasp of at best anyway so naturally he was somewhat intrigued by Jon and what had made him decide to teach the class. The man picked up his mug and took a long sip from it, cringing at the taste despite it being sweet and diluted enough for any person to drink. “How long have you taught here for?” Eduardo asked, hoping to become closer with his new colleagues as he had created quite the rapport with the other long term professors at Castelobruxo where he had been for seven years. It had been quite the experience seeing his first set of first years graduate from that school and while he did miss the warmth it was good for him to be far away from America. He knew if he had stayed at his previous position his ex-girlfriend would have found him. Especially because he hadn’t been much of a man about it but still it was easier than to deal with her jealousy and the stress that it had caused him over their long relationship if one could even call it that in the end.

 

[Jon Phillips]

Jon was usually never one to notice social queues. This case was no exception and he remained ignorant to the other man moving the papers on the desk to he could be joined in conversation. Instead of following along, Jon merely stood awkwardly as he continued to drink from the cup of coffee in his hand. It was warming him from the inside out, slowly but surely and though it was his second cup that day, it was the morning and his office hours were soon due to begin so he definitely needed the caffeine in his system. He was no Samuel but for Jon, coffee was synonymous with being social, friendly and seeming less like his awkward self in an environment where confidence reigned supreme as being anything less than confident showed weakness and many school aged children were cruel at best. He sipped from his coffee again as he pondered what he could say to Eduardo to keep the conversation going and spent a moment standing in silence before the most obvious subject occurred to him; the mess of papers scattered on the desk that the other professor was clearly immersed in.

"What are you working on?" Jonathon asked, stepping toward the table hesitantly so he could get a better look at the papers. They appeared to be diagrams of some kind though Jon was not awake nor smart enough on the subject of astronomy to know anything more about the papers without it being explained to him. Before he could ask more questions he was interrupted by Eduardo asking about how long Jon had taught in Hogwarts. He quickly looked from the diagrams and to the other man. "A few years now. Enough to know how everything works, but still not enough to handle everything. There's always something new that surprises me." Jon mused as he remembered the unexpected visit to his office from a first year who ventured around the castle for wifi. It still bothered Jon to that day how ill informed the girl was about the wizarding world and why she was not offered assistance by her head of house or any of the prefects. "How long have you been teaching for?" Jon asked in return, fully aware that Eduardo was a new professor but also aware that there were many other wizarding schools, and a person so involved in whatever diagrams were scribbled all over the mess of papers on the table in front of him hardly seemed a way in which an amateur professor would choose to spend their morning. At least that's what Jon believed because his early days as a professor were spent worrying over small things and planning lessons until his brain went fuzzy instead of focusing on studying into the subject of Muggle Studies himself.​