Timeless II: Minutes of Tranquility [ATEEZ Hogwarts AU]

Wednesday, January 4th

Book II: Minutes of Tranquility

Wednesday, January 4th. 02:08AM. Hogwarts, Headmistress' Office. Park Yoonjeong.

Headmistress Park heaved a sigh.

She set down her writing feather and granted her aching hand a brief moment of relaxation. The small wooden clock on her desk filled the air with its quiet ticking, as if it was a heartbeat at rest. It drowned between countless piles of letters and documents she still had to review, sort, and sign tonight. One glance at the ungodly hour it showed reminded her that she'd been working for too long once again.

Her son had offered to help her after dinner, but she'd sent him back to his dormitory dead on time for curfew, which had started over four hours ago. She hadn't stopped working since. Even just a short break seemed like too much leisure for her to afford. Working was the one thing that kept her mind busy enough to prevent her from losing it. The mere thought of attempting to fall asleep when she knew her mind was going to torture her until dawn kept her determined to stay awake and focused.

And yet, she allowed herself to take a moment of rest. Just a moment.

Kneading her hand, she leaned back into her thrown-like armchair and stretched out her legs underneath the ancient desk. Her office had been engulfed by darkness. Even the moon that usually filtered through the old window to leave patterns of silver light on the stone floor was covered by thick clouds tonight. Nothing but a set of floating candles served to light up her working space. Two of them had already burned out, leaving left a faint smell of dried candle wax and smoke to linger in the room. At this hour, the castle was dead silent. The only sounds left to be heard in the office were the whispers of the flames crackling inside the fireplace and the quiet snores stemming from the dusty portraits of past headmasters.

A few moments of tiredly rubbing her temples later, Headmistress Park took a sip of her cold coffee and decided to keep working. Going through a few more letters and documents and taking them to the archive before going to bed wasn't going to make a big difference now.

Just as she had finished pouring sealing wax next to her name written at the bottom of what felt like the twentieth ministry business-related letter she had written tonight, the flames in her fireplace suddenly turned emerald green and rose higher than before.

Headmistress Park startled and almost dropped her seal into the fresh wax when a man and a woman in black, hooded robes stepped out of the fire and into her office. They dusted off their robes and shoes before removing their hoods.

The hairs in the back of her neck stood as soon as she recognized them.

"Good to see you're still awake, Headmistress," the man she knew as Burton greeted her. He was a tall wizard with slicked back hair and a cunning grin on his lips. Something about his venom green eyes had always made Headmistress Park uncomfortable. "Working hard as always, I see."

She sighed and glared at the intruders. "Burton, Kowalski. What business could you possibly have here?"

"How rude." Burton tsked in fawned exasperation. "Show some kindness for your old classmates, will you?"

"What do you want?" the Headmistress bit out. The last thing she wanted to deal with in the middle of the night was that cooperation of lunatics.

"Fine, let's cut right to the chase then. We have a little task for you." This was Kowalski, the pale and slender woman with long blond hair next to him. She placed a rolled-up parchment on her desk. "Sign this."

Headmistress Park eyed the document skeptically. She didn't bother unrolling it, stubbornly crossing her arms. "What is this?"

"As you know, Professor Donovan hasn't been teaching here since early December – for obvious reasons. We hear you still haven't found a replacement," Burton elaborated.