That's what you get in winter

It was a lovely winter day that day...if you like a snow blizzard. Mary didn't like it, just to be clear. So that day, she spent most of it inside, looking out of the window with a cup of hot cocoa in her hands. Which was a shame, really, because she was planning on going to Hogwarts to take care of some of the animals in The Forrest. Then, the blizzard stopped and it was only snowing a little. But not enough to keep the with inside.

After she got everything she needed, she set out in the Forrest and found some of the magical creatures totally frightened. She took care of them with some basic procedures and then, when she made sure they were all allright, Mary had to go warm herself up.

On her way to the castle, she couldn't help but notice the beautiful impact snow had on nature and on the school itself. Some of the students were staying at Hogwarts for their holidays and already, they were outside , having a snowball fight. She sat down on a bench in the courtyard to take in the gorgeous view of everything covered in snow.

The snow was a beautiful sight to see as Sarith strolled along the grounds. It seemed not long ago that he had been a kid, enjoying the winter season with some of the students. He was bored at the moment and staying cooped in his office didn't help, hence the decision to wander outside for some fresh air. He could've just gone to the towers for that but honestly, it just didn't feel suitable to be stuck in one spot while looking at the great outdoors.

Walking along the grounds while avoiding some stray snowballs coming from a nearby snowball fight amongst a group of students, Sarith noticed a certain professor sitting at a bench.

"Hello!" Sarith greeted as he stopped walking at the moment he was near. "Are you enjoying the holidays?"

Mary was watching as the kids all ganged up on one and wanted to intervene, but she figured the kid'll deal with it on his own. And sure enough, soon it was all laugh and play again. Her mind went to one of those nostalgic places where she missed her childhood friends more then ever, but a voice woke her up from those thoughts, for which she was really grateful. She looked up and grinned at the man.

"Mr. Kendrick, hello! Yes, I am, thank you. And yourself?" she asked the Hufflepuff Head of House who approached her. She knew who he was, of course, but they haven't really spoken to eachother untill now and she had no idea why, he seemed really nice, to be honest.

"I'm enjoying the holidays too. It's peaceful and not as hectic as the academic term." Sarith answered cheerfully in response to Mary's question. "I have to say that the children that are staying here at the castle are a lively bunch, especially the ones that are energetic for mischief."

Indeed, Sarith hoped that the Spring would be a bit easier to handle than the Fall. Yet, it was just wishful thinking that only reigns on the realm of possibility. But the future was never set in stone.

"It certainly is, yes." Mary nodded, smiling. She loved her students, but she loved the peace and quiet that only happened at Hogwarts when most of the students were at home.
She chuckled at his words and glanced at the children. "Let's hope they'll get all the mischief out of their system now, so they'll be ok when the term starts again..." she commented.

"Any plans for the remaining days of the holidays?" the witch asked and scooched over on the bench so that he'd be able to sit down as well.
"D'you want to sit down?" she added to her question.

Seeing Mary scoot over and offer space on the bench, Sarith nodded before taking a seat. "Thank you."

Brushing some of the snow off the hem of his trench-coat, Sarith registered Mary's question from earlier before answering. "Well, I've been intending to either just slumber the rest of the days in the castle until term starts, visit some of my old friends from the ICW if they're not busy, or pay a visit to my parents and siblings if they have gotten back home from their respective vacations."

Since the question was pitched forth, Sarith decided to return the favor. "How about you, if you don't mind me asking?"

Mary nodded at his thank you and buried her hands deep in her pockets, it wasn't exactly warm outside. She listened to him and chuckled slightly at his words. He seemed to be honest enough, so she replied with a truthful answer.
"Sounds great! Er, sorry...what's ICW?" the witch asked, feeling quite stupid while doing so. But it doesn't hurt to ask.
"I'm going to stay here, taking care of the Forrest animals most of my days, but I'm going to go home to meet up with my family, too. I don't really have a plan, but I don't want to stay here all the time, alone." Mary told him, grinning.

"Well, you do what you can. Boredom and lack of purpose are just dull." Sarith answered before noting Mary's question and he began explaining. "The ICW is the International Confederation of Wizards. It's sort of like the magical counterpart to the United Nations in the Muggle world. It generally dealing with politics among the magical governments in the world. They do have a number of other departments that deal with other issues on a global scale such as demographics, economics, laws, and magical research."

Sarith smiled as he added. "A world hidden within a world yet both function in almost the exact same way."

Mary listened to him with interest, she was quite sure she's never heard of this ICW before, although she was keeping open the option that she has indeed heard of it but hasn't payed much attention to it.
"Sounds really intruiging, I must say. It's nice to know people are dealing with things like that, not just letting everything go loose." she added as an afterthought.

"What a deep thought. I agree with you. We're so much alike, really. I wonder sometimes how it's strange that Muggles somehow want to believe that magic exists, yet are practically refusing to see it all and have been fighting against our people in the past... Well, that's just my opinion." she said thoughtfully and smiled at the man.

"Law and order for the sake of stability even if it isn't perfect in the world. It's quite a shame, though, that the persecution of the past and the division had kept both sides so isolated." Sarith replied. "Still, perhaps much further into the future, there's a possible hope for reconciliation and the need to hide no longer exists."

Taking a deep breath, Sarith sighed before speaking again. "I must say that the state of magical Britannia is somewhat worse than it has been in the past, considering the kind of turmoil that's currently taking place."

Mary nodded in agreement. "Let's hope we'll some day live in harmony, if that's even possible... I don't think people are ready for that yet, even though it's a dream many have." she added. "Some Muggles are already accepting the fact that there are people who can do magic, close families of the Muggle-borns, for example. My Mum and Dad were quite thrilled when we found out I was a witch, actually." Mary smiled. She was lucky her parents were so understanding about that.

"What do you mean by that?" she raised her eyebrows in surprise. "In general or something specific?" the witch looked at her colleague with interest written all over her face. He really was a remarkably intelligent person and she found it interesting talking to him, he was quite an intellectual.

"Impossibility is the creation of those that have tried and were unsuccessful. Yet, we would not have attained the possible if we had not constantly reached out for the impossible." Sarith remarked. "An old friend of mine used to say that and it became a driving force for her in anything she set her mind into. So, yeah, it'll take time for that kind of harmony to be achieved even if it's one snail-paced step at a time."

Noting Mary's question, Sarith answered. "The terrorism that is taking place currently. I would've thought that the war over fifty years ago would've taught magical Britain something but I guess those that ignore history are condemned to repeat it, especially the pureblood bigots that call themselves Death Eaters these days."

Mary was rather impressed with the way he talked, the words he was using, but she was only half sure she understood him. But she listened to him anyway and after he was finished talking, she actually knew what he wanted to say.
"That's what I think. Eventually, maybe the two worlds will collide and everybody'll be happy and be living in harmony, but that'll happen when everybody is ready for that. Now is not the time. But, as you said, one step at the time." she smiled.

Mary nodded gloomily as he explained himself, she knew what he was talking about allright. "It's horrible, indeed. I was hoping things weren't as bad as I thought they were, but I'm afraid they're even worse..." she replied. "Oh, history never teaches anybody anything, it's so sad. So many wars could've been spared, so many lives could've been saved if the ones in charge looked back and thought 'hey, our ancestors tried to do that once and it didn't work out! What if maybe we don't do that again?'" Mary shook her head.

Sarith had to admit that Mary was correct. Yet, then again, humanity has a whole is a diverse maelstrom with differing individualism that stems desires and intents. Conflicts, be it minute or humongous, stemmed generally from collision of wishes.

"Indeed. Foresight is sure valued but I guess hindsight is taken for granted." Sarith remarked before looking at the students that were having a great time in the snow. Though he hoped that none of them would be caught in the crossfire, there was no doubt that terrorism and warfare touches all without discrimination.

She thought of his words for a minute, the sentence was simple, yet it's meaning was deep. Just like everything around Sarith seemed to be. Quite a peculiar man, Mary thought him to be and she was glad he was the one teaching the young ones about history. He didn't just look at the facts, he tried to understand them. And you don't get a lot of that in these days.

"I think that summed up pretty much all of the politics..." she replied and then followed his gaze. She thought about what they were talking about and the kids playing in the snow.
"It seems terrible, doesn't it? Children having to go through those horrors...it's bad enough for us, but they were supposed to be having the time of their lives, not fighting in a war." Mary said quietly, wishing there'd never be a war this time, but something told her it will be. She just didn't want to believe it.

Sarith was surprised on Mary voicing the current thoughts right out of his head. But he also noticed her concern for the children and that sounded like it came from the heart, which certainly gave him on the kind of person that his colleague is. Sarith definitely respected the compassionate tones that Mary had for the children here.

"I know." Sarith replied. "But even so, it's up to us to do whatever we can for them in these dark times."

Pity on how human nature is for both magical and Muggle since conflict is a part of the equation, most begrudgingly.

Mary nodded at his words and she realized that the safety of the students is actually upon her and the other Hogwarts staff. She never thought about it like that untill Sarith voiced it. It scared her a bit and the Slytherin in her advised her to hide and don't take the responsibility, but then the best part of her took over and she, of course, decided she'll look over the students the best she can, she wasn't a coward.

"Yeah. We're the adults here, it's our job. I really hope it won't go as far as war, but I'm concerned it will..." she said, accepting the future as it is.

Sarith didn't want to be a bit of a pessimist but Mary's statement spoke the truth. Still, hoping against fate isn't always a futile endeavour lest it be valid that the future is written in stone, which is certainly not true.

Sarith decided to switch gears a bit in the conversation. He figured that it might ease the atmospheric tension up a bit.

"Yeah." Sarith spoke before moving onto something. "Say, have you explored every corner of the Forbidden Forest?"

Mary was about to get really depressed about the future, worrying about the student's and her own fate, thinking about what will happen at Hogwarts and in the world, how many people will get hurt etc, so she was really glad when Sarith changed the topic. She smiled at first and then the smile grew into a grin and she looked at her colleague with a mischievous spark in her eyes.

"It certainly wasn't every corner of it, but I was around, yeah. When I was a student and now. But I gotta say, I sort of miss that feeling of going in there, knowing you weren't under any condition allowed in. Now it's a part of my job to be there. How bout you?" the witch replied.

Sarith noticed on how Mary reacted to his question and her answer made it looked like she took pride in having explored forbidden territory long ago.

"I haven't been able to explore every part of the Forbidden Forest." Sarith admitted sheepishly. "Back when I was a fifty-year student, I was either experimented with new spells or brewing potions in the forest when the interior of the castle became too claustrophobic."

"An experimenter, interesting." Mary grinned at Sarith's words. She has never experimented with potions, it just wasn't her thing. Spells, sometimes. But never potions. She was too afraid she'll blow up everything.
"That's funny, I always found the castle very intriguing, with it's many passageways and all that jazz...but I loved the outdoors too much to explore Hogwarts itself." she shrugged and smiled.

"Have you discovered any new powerfull potion? Or did you practise making them?" Mary asked, she found potion-making quite interesting, although she never fancied actually brewing them.

While Sarith could agree with Mary about the castle being an impressive structure with all of its special features, there were times that he felt the walls trying to confine him within small enclosures.

"It was mostly finding alternative methods and shortcuts in the given procedures. Back then, I sometimes feel a bit claustrophobic when working in the dungeons. There's also the reason that working outdoors with only nature and the peacefulness that it provides seems far better to me than being underground." Sarith answered before adding. "While I haven't any new potions, my failed attempts at least gave me more insight and information on the complexities. Maybe someday, I'll revive a few of my old projects."

Mary smiled at what Sarith was saying, most people didn't like dungeons, but she loved being there. She understood why they felt like that though, first month in her first year, she was afraid to be down there by her own, she found the place quite eerie. Then she got used to it and her love for it grew.
"That's funny, I always loved being down in the dungeons if I wasn't outside. I never liked being up in the towers for some reason...I guess that's a good thing, I was a Slytherin after all." she chuckled a bit.

"Sounds very interesting, congrats for trying alone!" Mary grinned. "Good luck, if you do."

Hearing Mary's response, Sarith couldn't imagine on how any person would enjoy the dungeons. But to his or her own preference as everyone has their favorite spot. The towers, on the other hand, was a spot he definitely enjoyed as the sight of being on high elevation gave a sense of freedom.

"Thanks!" Sarith answered, appreciative of the encouragement before asking. "Have you checked out the mountains here as well? Those valleys on the other side have quite the view."

Mary nodded at his thanks and wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck as a slight breeze brought cold air. She didn't mind the cold too much, but she hated the cool wind.

"No I haven't." she shook her head at his question. "Though I'd love to go for a walk up there some time. It's just I never seemed to find the time when I was a student and now I spent most of my free time in the Forrest, taking care of the animals. Not that I'm complaining, of course." she grinned.
"Have you been there many times?"