Botros chuckled and shook his head, a little apologetically at her. "Not that long. This would be my fifth year here." Not nearly as long as his grey hair might suggest to her, which was not offending or insulting to the professor at all. Not even that dinosaur's sign one student had stuck in his waiting area during his first term. It was pretty difficult to insult an old man after everything he'd seen and experienced during his loooong life. Heh.

What kind of tea? He beamed at her as the cups floated towards them, one for her and one for him. "Herbal tea. I hope you like it?" The sugar pot hovered in front of the girl in case she needed to add any. Did the professor look too happy with his new tea set? Good. He was pretty proud of it!

Oooh, she seemed to have quite an unfortunate teacher at Runes then. If the grand-daughter called her grandmother emotionless, then it must be pretty bad. And apparently her uncle was still learning the subject? That wasn't very promising. "I'm sorry to hear that." About her grandmother's teaching techniques. "We take an easy route here in Hogwarts when it comes to Ancient Runes. You should know, first and foremost, that no matter how hard you find the subject, your efforts will be rewarded fairly." So, basically, she didn't have to worry about the results as much as trying to do her best.

In Hogwarts' library? Uhh. This was a tough question. "I'm sure you'll find a wide range of what you need in certain sections. You'll need Mr. Kitridge's assitance with that, though." Botros scratched his bald scalp, next and looked sideways at the bookshelves lining the walls of his office. "I doubt that you'd find anything about the details of that field, though. You need a guide to recommend a book for you and then tell you where to get it. Most of my curse-breaking books are from the rare collection in WU in Cairo." He offered as a tip.

Aaah. That made sense. "Well, I think you'd be good at it." The old man offered the Prefect a kind, encouraging smile. "You are brilliant in my class, Mr. Barrington, I don't see why this wouldn't work for you." If he was really interested in Gringotts.

The boy didn't seem to lose any of his energy as he grew older. This was both lovely and noteworthy.

The boy's summer seemed to be much more interesting that Botros'. The fact that Tempus told him in details about his adventures was very heartwarming, and Ab smiled widely at that. If this didn't bring him memories with his grandkids, nothing else did. Sophie Brown? The old man needed a little more than just a moment to remember which kid this one was. "Oh! yes, sure, she came by my office to investigate about Runes once. She's a lovely kid." She always greeted Botros even though he wasn't technically her professor yet. Very polite, Ab approved of this friendship. Go ahead kids and play together in the playground with his blessings.

"That's such wonderful news, dear. Congratulations!" For the Quidditch news. But then they moved quickly to another summer story, Botros did his best to keep up with the names. He'd heard Sophie, but Forrest? Never heard of him. Ab still nodded like it was such great news. "Oh really? That's very interesting." He hadn't even known that Fuller and Thompson lived together... or had he? He should make those notes about his colleagues' personal lives, he kept mixing things up! Maybe Tempus would help him...??? Actually. He should assign it as an extra activity. Points motivated people, right? Right.

Anyway. His summer. "It was very good. Same old same old, as they say. Gathered with the family back in Egypt. Everyone's growing so fast, they're all so beautiful and motivated. Just like you kids over here." There were proud tears in his eyes.

Botros looked up from his parchment when he heard squeaking girls' voices. It must be one of the youngsters who were too excited about runes.

Oh. No. No, it wasn't. Ab swallowed his shock that their tiny blonde new colleague had such a girly tiny voice and smiled politely at her. "Good day, professors." He said, sounding too hoarse all of a sudden.

One blonde squeaky woman to his left, and the other brunette less-squeaky woman to his right.

OKay, okay, okay, what was going on? Botros swallowed, and looked from Professor Morgan to Glendower alternatively. They had soemthing to ask him? Was it runes-related? He'd be much less nervous if it was...

... no. They wanted him to be a significant figure in their Christmas party? He couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Whew, you scared me for a moment there." Hah hah hah hah. But wait, about the Santa Clause. Botros leaned back in his armchair and rubbed his chin. "That sounds..." Oooh, professor Glendower seemed to be looking for something. Okay, he'd wait for that!

Polite, shy little kids reminded him that this world was still a beautiful place. He was getting mushier the older he became. Merlin. And she thought five years were a very long time? Aww, Botros chuckled and... nodded at her. Merely to indulge her, not because he was agreeing with her necessarily. "Five years are long when you’re this young, yes.” They were nothing in his eighty plus years of age.

Never had herbal tea before? “Oh you must come visit more often, then!” He’d insist on it. Botros took a sip from his own and waited for her to take a sip as well, anticipating her reaction. It was always refreshing and sweet to watch first-timers try their tea, or their rune reading or rune evoking... etc. Oh she noticed the tea set! He beamed, a little too much, and nodded. "It's new. I got it from an old student of mine. I think I taught him thirty years ago or something like that, and now he occupies a significant position in the ministry and he sent me this tea set." It always made his heart swell with pride when old students of his recognized his efforts for them when they were young.

Her uncle was the same age as she was?? Oh that reminded him of the old Egyptian families and their tangled ties. He smiled and nodded, finally understanding some of her story. "So is he here with you in Hogwarts?" Same house probably? "All our professors are splendid with their teaching processes. Some might seem a bit... odd, but they were splendid nonetheless." Ab was proud of every young professor here in this school, and the young red hair leading them with a slightly more sass and pink than needed.

Oh Merlin, he definitely saw why Mrs. Truebridge hired those two. They seemed to be of the same woman-y nature, albeit a bit more squeaky and... bubbly. Their headmistress was not bubbly. Botros chuckled with the two, still nervous with all the happiness and rainbows and giggles. "Uhh, I didn't mean it in that-- actually, never mind. My bad."

The beautiful plume, though, that got his attention. The old man pushed his glasses up on his nose and took it from professor Glendower. "My my. This is a beautiful present, I thank you, professor." He spoke slowly, all attention on his early Christmas present.

Anyway, did they want him to be their 'Santa'? "I gather that you want me to impersonate the muggle's idea of Santa, then?" He was a pureblood wizard but having lived for over eighty years made that fact less important, he was now as familiar with muggles and their lives as he'd ever been with wizards. "I will see what I can do." He assured them with a smile. "The Christmas party sounds very heartwarming and lovely. I don't recall I've been to a staffer party that doesn't involve us asking for money." Botros chuckled nervously. "Here, let me write it down so I won't forget." He grabbed a quill (an old one) and a parchment and scribbled down some notes then set it to the side of his desk.

Oh she seemed pretty determined to get this age matter figured out. Botros nodded slowly, "Yes. It even matters less when the person is around eighty years old." He chuckled, pointing at himself. Wow, he didn't feel like he was eighty. Like, yes, his knees had been pretty troublesome in the past five years, and yeah he had a set of potions that he needed to take for health reasons, but other than that he felt right as rain.

Aw how sweet of her to ask whether or not he'd tried something. Botros nodded at her with a small smile. "Of course I did. I'm very fond of tea, I can go as far as saying that it is my favorite drink of all time." Coming from him, it did mean a lot. Heh. "And you're always welcome here, dear." As long as she was this polite and mannered, Botros didn't mind talking and hanging out with students.

"Aah, most of my daughters were sorted into Slytherin." He offered helpfully, his smile not faltering. Her question sounded a bit sudden, but the professor didn't mind giving it a thoughtful moment or two. He didn't want to give her an inaccurate answer, even though there was no such thing as accurate answer to that sort of assumption. "I'm not sure the subjects dictate that one should be this way or that way. Teaching something you find enjoying and deeply love is the secret to being an efficient and excellent professor." He nodded, pleased with his answer. "Why? Are you considering teaching as your career in the future?" His face beamed at her as he sipped from his tea.