Messy Students

[Stefan Archer]

The semester nearing it's end brought a clear business to the library which Stefan wasn't entirely thankful for, kids left books and food everywhere, the library was constantly needing to be cleaned up, and it wasn't really a bad thing, kids were allowed to be like that, he just wasn't happy about it . He knew when he'd been at school tidying up after himself in the library would've been the last thing on his mind, but really for him it had never been about looming exams, but the prospect of going home to his father which had caused him grief in the final days of school's semester, right up until his father had died. Stefan however had so much more on his mind of late, Kate being pregnant brought with it all the joy in the world, but it gave him so much to think about so much didn't yet know how to deal with, the house needed to be baby proofed whatever that meant, and as of late the thoughts of this coming child had brought memories back, he loved his unborn child, he loved it more than anything in the world, he loved it so easily and he couldn't ever imagine hurting it, he couldn't ever imagine being on the other side of what his own childhood had been like, he couldn't imagine raising a hand to it because he loved it, but why had it seemingly been so much easier for his father to do that to him.

Why had it been so simple for his father to call him horrible names, to punch him, to provide him with so little of everything that every day had just been a struggle, he couldn't help but wonder how his father could do that to a baby, a child much less his own son. Stefan hadn't been sleeping well, he felt so lost in all of it, he wanted to be strong for Kate, he needed to be there for her and the baby but he was also glad for the increase in hours, glad for the increase in work to distract while his mind slowly came to terms with it. He'd been seeing a therapist in the last year who really helped him come to terms with a lot of his past, but he wasn't yet ready to talk about this and was left to figure it out in his own head until he knew what he would say. Left to figure out what he needed to, before he could try finding the words to describe it. Stefan had books in his arms, and as he walked, careful of his step back to the main librarian's desk at the library he couldn't help but let his eyes flicker over the visible scars on his bare arms, markers of just a fraction of what he suffered, he placed them down on the counter and let himself breath lightly. He was tired and wanted to rest but there was still plenty to do, and the nightmares that plagued his dreams currently gave him little rest. The man grabbed a few of the books and wandered to where they were supposed to be, letting the magic of the library put them on the shelves once he got to the right area, there was no time for rest during his work day as the exams approached for the students.
​

 

[Monty Pendleton]

With exams quickly approaching, the Potions Professor had found himself with very little time left to indulge in reading. He'd marked so much homework that morning that he still had cramp in his hand, and he hadn't even started tackling his third years. It was all very wearing, and his recent trouble sleeping only exacerbated the struggle. He'd hoped the Halloween Feast had seen the end of his insomnia; but alas, where there was anxiety, there were nights of maddening restlessness, and since he did not think it right to potions to aid his sleep, there was little he could do but endure the fatigue and try to better manage the stresses of life that were keeping him awake in the first place.

The professors, Monty observed from the quietest corner of the library where he sat, were not the only members of staff suffering for the hectic time of year. Though he had been reading undisturbed for nearly an hour, it was only an incredible ability to disengage himself from his surroundings that had allowed him to do so. He'd hardly noticed the gradual elevation in chatter until the noise had simmered down again and made him wonder why it was so quiet. Then he'd looked up, and at the moment he did so the librarian had walked into his vision. For a little while Monty watched the young man work, catching brief glances of his face when it turned the right way and quickly looking back down at his book whenever there seemed a risk of him noticing he was being watched. The Professor wasn't trying to be rude; he was simply worrying whether or not the librarian was OK whilst simultaneously failing to pluck up the courage to approach him and ask. Perhaps it was the weariness in his pause, or the subtle nuance in his expression that Monty hadn't seen before, but eventually he lowered his book and returned it to its shelf before moving over to him.

"Can I lend a hand?" he asked with a willing smile, stacking up a few books before his offer had the chance to be declined. "Must be an awfully busy time of year," he added wryly, "what with those dashed awkward children leaving books everywhere. It's a wonder there are any left on the shelves, really, isn't it?"

 

[Stefan Archer]

There was a lot of work needing constantly done with this time of year, it was just inevitable with the students stressed with the end of the term, and moving between books, shelves and the neighbouring rooms to the library. Stefan always had more work to do at this time of the year and even more so at the very end of the year, with the fifth and seventh years some of whom seemed to live entirely in the library, Stefan didn't mind the work, he liked being a librarian, liked the calm, the quiet, the ability to give back in even such a minor form, but with so much on his mind it did nothing to help the tiredness he felt, or the conversation in his head about the stresses of life outside of the walls. The only thing that Stefan could be pleased about was that he no longer had that innate reflex to run whenever he got overwhelmed, he knew to work through it, and he couldn't do that to Kate or the coming baby, and Stefan knew that this was just the initial fears of becoming a father that were plaguing him, considering his own up bringing it was hardly surprising the thoughts which ran through his mind.

The librarian was startled when a voice spoke next to him, and was completely unable to stop the slight instinctual flinch away from the person, he then looked round and noticed that it was one of the slightly newer professors, and he was offering his help to him, and Stefan just nodded at his statement, "I'm always happy for the help," he replied with a small shake of his head, shaking away the earlier thoughts which plagued his mind and he just gave the older man a small smile, "I don't mind it, as long as the books eventually find their way back to the library," he replied as he placed the last of the books in his arms on to the shelves, noticing the scars on his arms as he did so, most of the time he could ignore but with all his current thoughts they seemed to stare back at him. Stefan really didn't mind the mess of the library, he wasn't a fan of it currently, since he was pretty tired, and so much was written on his face, with so much else on his mind, he just wanted to sit and work through it not be constantly tidying up after students.

Stefan gave a small motion to the pile of books on the library counter, "Those are the ones to put away," the librarian added as he walked over to the counter motioning for the professor to follow him as he did so, "This pile are the potions books, you know where that section is I imagine professor?" Stefan offered the man the books, if he was serious about helping out, clearing this pile of books would certainly help Stefan out and given that Stefan had spent so long in the school he grew to remember which professors taught what even if he didn't always remember the names.
​

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Perhaps owing to how little of it he'd received in his life, Monty was always happy to offer his help. He was tired, and could think of several dozen things he'd rather have been doing than helping to clean up the school library, but the poor librarian looked equally exhausted, and a task shared between two people would take half as long to complete. As the man spoke, Monty nodded, his eyes lingering for half a moment on the faded scars on his arms. Then he looked away and flushed embarrassedly, waiting for the warmth in his face to cool again before meeting the man's gaze with a smile. "Certainly," he said obligingly, following the librarian across to the counter where the potions books lay. As he gathered the pile into his arms and turned to walk away he added: "And please, call me Monty."

Grateful for the moment of privacy, the Professor extended his task several minutes past what it ought to have taken by reading the spine of each book before he replaced them on the shelves. He couldn't possibly guess what had happened to the man, and had neither the guts nor vicious insensitivity to ask, but the knowledge that he had been hurt by something or someone alone was enough to cause him great distress. When he realised he was almost out of books, he slowed down even further, managing to regain his composure only when the last one had been put away. Then he drew in a deep breath and returned to the librarian with a pleasant smile. As he closed and stacked up a few more books on the table in front of him, he looked at the man and said, "Goodness, you know, I see you here every week and still haven't the faintest idea of your name."

 

[Stefan Archer]

The librarian was always happy for the help, usually he would ask Lydia to help him out, but knew that his young cousin was studying for her upcoming exams and he was happier to just let her focus on that than anything else, like helping him out at the library. Though he never turned down help when it appeared and was always thankful for it, and just gave the professor, Monty, a small nod of acceptance at the insistence of the name before just watching as the older man wandered away from him to the potions section. Stefan took another pile of books that were sat on the counter and began to putting them away, he'd organised them into sections and this meant that he could more easily put them away in the respective shelves, there was less walking around, although his job kept him pretty active in that sense which was probably a good thing. Although the load was lighter this didn't stop the thoughts from plaguing his mind, it didn't stop his mind from moving at such a quick speed sifting through old memories he tried to push away. Stefan eventually finished with the pile he was holding, and as he glanced towards the counter the other man had not returned, so Stefan took the opportunity to wander into all the little corners of the section of the library he was in and gather all the left books, some of them were further than where they needed to be, and others that needed to be check for markings judging by the eraser shavings on the tables.

Stefan eventually wandered back to the counter with a small pile of books, and hunched over the counter to find one of the erasers to use to removed some of the markings from the top books, occasionally this was the more difficult task, and on this day he took one look at it and just sigh, placing both back down on the counter to be dealt with later, he wouldn't even look at the other books for any. Stefan just took a moment to rest his head in his hands, allowing the memories to wash over him for a brief second, before he shook them away, his father had just been a terrible person, that was the reason for why he'd been like how he'd been, why he'd shown Stefan nothing but hate and Stefan thought of himself as a good person, that was how they were different. He glanced back up and noticed the professor, Monty, wandering back over to him empty handed and after running a hand through his hair and generally composing himself he smiled in a polite and warm manner as Monty spoke. Stefan hadn't expected him to know his name, he hadn't been here when Stefan had been a student, and though the man spent a lot of time borrowing books from the library, they'd never really exchanged names, at the demand for his name, Stefan held out his hand to the man, completely oblivious to the scar on the palm of his right hand which was extended to this professor, "Stefan, Stefan Archer," he said to him with a small smile, "If you're up for it, these are more books that just need to be put away? I need to check some of the other sections of the library for more of them but this seems to be the last of them for now," Stefan offered him to take a pile of them if he wanted to continue helping him, though the books he was offering were not potions books.

The librarian was sure this man likely had things he'd rather be doing, but Stefan being currently the only one working, so he was exceedingly thankful for any help that this man was given, "I can thank you with tea after?" he offered as a way of thanking the man for all the help he was giving him, and though this man could probably get tea in his office, the offer stood as a way of Stefan thanking him for the help.
​

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Monty hesitated only for length of time it took him to blink before extending his hand to shake Stefan's. "Pleasure to put a name to the face at last," he said brightly, releasing his palm and giving a keen nod. He was happy to help for no reward other than the satisfaction he found in knowing he'd helped another share their burden, but when the librarian offered him his thanks in the form of tea, he found it incredibly difficult to refuse. Small talk was hardly his area of expertise, but he was sure their shared enthusiasm for books would relieve the stress of it somewhat. He had been meaning to acquaint himself with more of the staff anyway, and Stefan seemed like an excellent place to start. The Potions Professor gathered up another stack of books and smiled. "Of course," he said. "And tea would be wonderful."

Setting off for the back of the library where the first book needed to be taken, Monty hurried this time, taking only adequate care to see it slotted back into its rightful place. He wondered if Stefan had been a student at Hogwarts New Zealand before his employment there as the librarian, and it wouldn't have surprised him had it been the case. It was a truly splendid castle; though it was the people who inhabited it that made it such a magical place to be. The Potions Professor hadn't intended staying long - just until his house had been fixed and he'd saved enough galleons to move back in - but now that both criteria had been fulfilled, he suddenly found himself wanting to stay. At the castle he had Arvo, and Ava, and the continuous and unfaltering joy of teaching; and whilst it brought him great anxiety to stand up before entire classes of students, his fears alone were not enough to make quitting sound appealing. He did miss inventing, which, although he still invested time into, had rather taken a back seat that year, but he was sure he'd get around to making a serious effort at it again soon. After he'd blown up every single one of his inventions, some of which had taken decades of work to complete, he'd been a little reluctant to start all over again.

When he'd finished tidying away the books, Monty crossed the room and approached Stefan from the side. "That's it, I believe - unless you've found any more?" he suggested, implying that he was happy to continue helping should he be required.

 

[Stefan Archer]

Stefan gave the man a small smile as he took the pile of books and then walked away from him, the librarian took a moment to relax, to let himself breathe more for a moment before heading in all the other little areas of the library retrieving the books from where they were left and taking them to where they needed to be if they were close by, the task itself didn't take too much time, he'd been pretty on top of it, and with the extra help it was taking even less time. It would, Stefan knew, only take a little bit of time before it was once again a mess, but for now the library was a little bit tidier, the only things he couldn't currently spot were when students placed books back but in the wrong places, that was far more difficult to tell when it happened. The librarian eventually finished with the books he'd been holding in no time at all, he'd been working in the library so long he knew where the sections were by heart, and he was back at the library counter with only a few books that needed checked out before being placed back and the man walked around the counter and sat down in the chair in front of the books that needed to be looked at before being placed back, as well as the pile that had recently been returned by the students.

Noting the professor arriving back, the librarian got to his feet and flashed the man a grateful smile before nodding, "For now, yes," he told him the hint clear in his tone, the students were messy at this time of year and that much was never going to change, Stefan was not a particularly strict librarian, he wasn't stern and he didn't discipline students at all, he was sure if he took a firmer hand there would be less to do, but he couldn't bring himself to do that, so the library remained like this at this time of year, when he was the one around. Since there was nothing really left for him to do or for him to give as tasks to the professor, he decided to make good on his offer of tea, "So, tea, how do you take it?" he asked as he ventured into the little staff area for librarians, to be able to make it, listening carefully to how Monty took it before beginning to prepare it, not really saying much as he did so, reaching up to the cupboards to get the cups down, no idea why the elves always insisted on putting them so high, even when Stefan was not exactly short he still had to stretch to reach them, and he was always aware that at any point when he did this, his t-shirt would ride up and leave the absolute maze of old scars on his back to show to whomever was behind him, "So, you teach potions?" Stefan already knew this, but as he finished making the teas he figured that it would be polite to get to know the other man.

The librarian handed the other man the hot tea, "Usually I'd say we could drink it in here, but, I'm the only one working right now, so we have to sit at the desk, I hope you don't mind," Stefan shifted his weight between his feet as he spoke, although he'd been at the school so long as was now a grown adult male, he was always more nervous around them than any one else, and really Stefan was keen for the company at this time, someone to distract him from his thoughts and fears of this coming child paired with the memories and nightmares from his own childhood, the company would definitely be a welcomed thing. Stefan would be fine if this man decided to take the tea and go, since small talk wasn't always fun he wouldn't be surprised if this man did just walk away, the man never really lingered in the library.
​