Botros was snuggled up in his rocking chair with two blankets around his shoulders, a big book on his lap, and his reading glasses over his nose bridge. Feo was sleeping by the fireplace at Botros' feet, too. Icy hell it was cold in here!

As soon as the knock reached his ears, the old professor waved his wand at it to let the new visitor in. "Come in, it's open." Coughcoughcough.

Once again, Botros was tangled in his blankets on his rocking chair by the small fireplace. Feo, his crup, was sleeping at his feet by the fire, audibly snoring. The professor himself was about to nod off when there was a knock at his door. "I'm awake!" He blurted out, looking around him alerted.

... oh. "Come in, the door's open." He cleared his throat and fished his arm out from under the blankets to rub his eyes.

This is gonna be short. We promise! :3
 

The very low temperature, and being snowed in has obviously took its toll on Ethan. The cabin fever’s getting worse for the boy because he’s oh-so-bored. The Slytherin decided to hang out in the fifth floor, where Gregory the Smarmy was located, and decided to just…stare out of the window across it. The fair-haired snake was on the verge of doing anything just to get out and get some fresh air. Doing so, of course, will get him in trouble. So instead…he just sat there, staring into space until he fell asleep.

It was weird though, because now, he was back home…no. He was in his grandparents’ place! School’s over? Well, no time to question that now…what’s important is that he’s out of the cold castle! Ethan started to sleep-walk towards a door which lead him to Professor Botros’ office. In his dream though, he was standing in front of his grandparents’ bedroom door.

Knock, knock.

“I’m hooooome!” Really, his grandparents will be soooooo happy to see him. Or maybe…Botros will be surprised to see him there standing with his eyes closed. Heh.

Botros had fallen asleep that afternoon on his rocking chair in that pile of blankets with the fire dying down in the small fireplace at his feet. Feo was tucked in by his side, too, snoring and whimpering in his sleep. The two were lost to the world when someone shouted sang outside the door and knocked.

Ab startled and woke up flailing his arms and legs, his Crup jumping and hiding under his desk. He looked around, a little panicked, looking at the time and realizing he'd fallen asleep in his office again. But wait, who was that outside his door? He went over to the door and geeently cracked it open, expecting a pranking kid, but instead he was met with the blonde Mordaunt... with his eyes closed.

Okay. This was a situation he had never encountered in his entire LONG career.

Botros just stood there... staring at the boy... should... he do something? Was the boy playing hide and seek? Was he seeking or hiding at the moment?

Xd
 

“GRANDPA!!!” Ethan, with his eyes still closed, obviously still dreaming, wrapped his arms around Professor Botros. “It’s good to see you again!” Well, it was really unusual of Ethan to visit his grandparents because his late mother rarely brings him to them. The boy never understood though, why his mom wasn’t close…or affectionate to her own parents. The Slytherin never had a problem interacting with them. He loved hearing their stories and whatnot.

And ah yes. Hugs. It’s great isn’t it? Especially with this kind of weather? Ethan nuzzled his head on his grandfather’s (Botros’) belly as he muttered, “I’ve missed you guys.”. Now…where was his grandmother? Was she home? Or…did she went out for a walk?

0_0

Botros was a Hufflepuff, so in nature he was a hugger, a great hugger even but he'd never been hugged by a kid with his eyes closed... and called him grandpa. His memory might be wane but he knew very well who his grandchildren were and none of them were at Hogwarts.

Ab wrapped his arm around Ethan's small shoulders and patted his back. "Good to see you... too...I guess..." It was obvious the kid was either 1) playing a game (truth or dare? Dare to confuse the heck out of the old professor?) 2) hallucinating which was unlikely because why the closed eyes? 3) sleep-walking which was the most probably option. Yes, definitely sleep-walking. This was awkward, Botros never had a student who sleep-walked him before. "There there. Let's... Let's go inside..." Still in a hug position, the old man tried to drag the young boy into his office... maybe if he got him to sit in his rocking chair by the fire, he'd just... sleep it off? Oh boy, oh booyy.

Ethan was confused. Really confused…Rolf, his grandfather from his mother’s side, never doubted his affection. He…guessed? Eyes still closed, the boy took a step back and faced Botros. “You…guess? Didn’t you miss me? I missed you guys a lot and…” cue the wibbling. He was a spoiled grandchild seeing he’s the youngest amongst all of the grandchildren.

But then, he was being ushered inside their bedroom. Now…this is new. He was never allowed in their bedroom before. Well, this is new. “Where did grandma go? Is she out in the garden? I should go say hi.” He said as he kept hugging Botros, allowing him to drag him inside his office.

“Grandpa? Did you gain weight? What haaaave you been eating while I’m gone?” he asked as he gently pinched Botros’ side. Yep, definitely gained weight. Rolf’s a good fencer, and up until now, the old man still’s fit and all that. Did…he stop playing the sport?

You can post in the office now xD
 

How serious was it exactly to just WAKE someone up while they sleep-walked. Botros knew from somewhere that it was never a good thing to wake someone in his sleep, in that sudden way. What if something happend to the boy? Ab would never be able to live with himself again. So, yes, not going to wake him up or cause him to falter. He patted the boy's back, since they were still hugging, and spoke kindly. "No, no, no. I'm sure." Bad call on his part earlier.

Grandma. Right. Well, Ab's wife died years ago so there was that. The old man scratched his bald scalp as he closed the office's door behind them. It was MIGHTY chilly out there. "She's... feeding the hens." WHAT, it was the first thing that popped into his sleepy old head. Sigh.

... and then the boy was doing those weird things where he practically called Botros fat and pinched the two cardigans he wore. The professor chuckled lightly, directing the kid towards his rocking chair where Feo had sat up straight watching the charade curiously. "Perhaps I should cut down on the cupcakes. Here, let's get you settled down." On the rocking chair.

Botros was out visiting Mr. Kitridge. The sound of his shoes and cane on the stony, icy floor must've reached the ears before he came to view. It was so darn hard to walk on this slippery floor, he had to charm his feet and cane regularly to make sure he didn't fall and break a hip. Not to mention the cold weather and the icicles dangling from the walls here and there.

The old professor was wearing at least three layers, two scarves and a winter hat to protect his bald scalp. He reached his office and spotted a Gryffindor waiting for him there. "Ohhellothere" He said, his voice muffled by the scarf covering his mouth. "WhatcanIdoforyou?" Proceeding to open the door.

Zander had just picked up a comic book and opened it to the very first page when he heard footsteps approaching. He quietly put the comic book back on the table (for another time), figuring the footsteps belonged to the Professor he was here to see. It wasn't exactly that he could tell by the footsteps, it was the fact that there was another noise accompanying it, most likely the cane. Ah, Botros was so frail and old and needed a cane. Awh.

The Gryffindor smiled politely as the Professor made his way over. And man, it took some real patience because this guy was slow. But who could blame him, right? He was old. Anyways, right. It was a little difficult to understand him due to the scarf around his mouth, but Zander had managed to pick up most of the dialogue. "I saw your announcement on the noticeboard... And it took me a while, but I figured you could use it to help with next term too..." he suddenly looked down at his bag and rummaged through until he found a small notebook. "I really tried my best to get everyone down, Professor," he said as he hold the notebook out towards the wrinkly man.

oh myy! Impressive list :D
 

Botros stood still in front of the boy as he talked, his breaths coming through the scarf around his mouth in misty clouds. The thin skin on his cheeks was red and peeling a little. "Oh!Yesyes,showme." He waddled over to one of the couches and flopped on it with the notebook in his gloved hands. "OoohhAaaahhh" He kept saying as he opened it and skimmed over the brilliantly detailed list the Gryffindor boy took the time to make. "Thisisgreat--" Botros pulled down the scarf from his mouth. "This is great! Thank you for taking the time to do this. You do deserve a reward." He looked around him as if something would shout 'HEY I AM A REWARD' but there was nothing reward-ish around here in the waiting couches.

"Tell you what, you deserve ten points for helping out in the best way you could, just like a true Gryffindor." Ab beamed at the boy and looked down at the list again.

omg thanks eheh it took a long time xD
 

The Gryffindor watched nervously as Botros opened the notebook to it's first page. Why was he nervous? It wasn't like this was for an actual mark or anything. Just-just it was intimidating knowing that Botros was going to judge his work 'n all. Zander was hardly a Runic genius like Simon and Ethan were. So it was just nerve wracking was all. But still, the boy managed to keep his composure, and finally relaxed once he heard all the 'oooh'ing and 'aaahh'ing. That was a good sign right!?

What was that? The boy was almost about to ask about the scarf thing, but then it looked like Botros had realized that it was causing a sort of barrier, for the man pulled it down right away. Great? Awhh the Gryffindor couldn't help, but beam at his frail, wrinkly Professor. A reward!?! Zander's eyes lit up at the mention. This was probably the point where someone like Simon would insist that a reward wasn't necessary, but Zander was not going to turn it down. Not yet at least. ... POINTS!?! "Wow, really?!!" That was the best reward of all!! You know, for an old guy, Botros was pretty uptodate on how to please a fourteen year old. Especially one with raging house pride.

"Thanks so much Professor!" Then, as an afterthought he added, "And um, I- if there's anything else I can help you with while I'm here... Polish your cane..." Help you cross the street... "Anything, I'm more than happy to help." Because the man gave him POINTS and this was a pretty big deal to Zander. All on board for #TeamBotros now. Maybe the guy wasn't so bad after all? He gave Zander points. And the Gryffindor was very thankful. Yep.

You could tell the Crup was actually tired from his walk with the steady pace at which he followed them back to Botros' offices. Definitely not like when they'd first collected him and he was bouncing all over the place ready to see the rest of the castle. It might have been obvious they were all tired, Dima's short legs were probably aching by now...if not his stomach, kid had taken a dive. Either that or let the crup get away. That was taking one for the team.

Lex walked up to the door and gave a few quick knocks before turning the look at the two again. Man, she could use a nap and some cuddles from her kneazle while she was at it. Maybe later, she'd have some hot chocolate too.

Now that she'd helped walked Feo, her day had cleared dramatically. Funny how that worked.

Dima remembered he'd be letting her do the talking, yes?

He actually wasn't tired at ALL- Dima, not the crup, that was- mostly because he'd been getting dragged and not moving on his own. Feo was exhausted, though... and that was a good thing, right? They HAD exercised him and all. The little crup was happy if not energetic, he could tell.

But now they had to give him back, and THAT was sad.

"Do you think Professor Botros would mind if I kept him?"

It wasn't as cold as last month so Botros was only bundled in one blanket instead of his usual three. He had the fireplace lit as he sat in his rocking chair, reading from his book. Odin bless the kids taking his distracting overexcited pet out.

.. oh had it been THAT soon? "Come in, it's open!"