Timeless II: Minutes of Tranquility [ATEEZ Hogwarts AU]

Thursday, January 5th

Thursday, January 5th. 11:17AM. Hogwarts, Headmistress' Office. Park Seonghwa.

Most people probably did not prefer to spend their mornings going through paperwork. Especially if it wasn't even their job and they could be doing something more entertaining instead. Seonghwa didn't mind. In fact, he even enjoyed it in a way. He liked the organizational nature of it. He'd always been the kind of person who liked to live a set schedule. Wake up, have breakfast, go to class. And if he didn't have class because of something beyond his control (like Christmas break for instance), he'd compensate for it with self-study. It was simply more efficient to get things done early. Work first, play later.

That's why he hadn't been too bothered about the note his mother had sent him this morning. He'd already finished his compulsory two hours of studying when it arrived in the common room. It wasn't like he'd had much else to do lately. Helping her with organize her paperwork had just become another point in Seonghwa's daily Christmas break schedule. One that he found himself looking forward to.

Upon entering her office, she'd greeted him with a fresh mug of steaming coffee as well as a tower of files and documents she asked him to sort. He'd wordlessly grabbed a chair, sat down at the desk across from her, and gotten started on his task. He soon fell into a comfortable rhythm of breaking down his pile of paperwork into three new piles: a 'send' pile, an 'important' pile, and an 'archive' pile.

The small wooden clock on the desk between them quietly ticked away as Seonghwa and his mother worked in silence. She disliked being interrupted, so Seonghwa knew better than to start a conversation. He wouldn't know what to say anyway; small talk wasn't exactly his specialty.

Unlike yesterday, the sky outside was gray with snow clouds, thick flakes silently flying past the windows. It didn't look like it was going to stop snowing anytime soon. Good thing Seonghwa wasn't planning on going outside today. This time of year, most parts of the castle were rather chilly, but luckily the fire in the Headmistress' office was alight and provided the room with a pleasant warmth.

The 'archive' pile quickly became the highest of the three piles Seonghwa had established. A majority of the documents consisted of records about updates in lesson structure, important schedules, and a couple of letters from the Ministry of Magic. Some of them even addressed the minister directly. The rest of the documents were folders that contained files about the staff at Hogwarts that needed to be updated every few months before they were put back to the archive.

Seonghwa faltered for a moment when one particular folder fell into his hands. Thick and wrapped in fancy blood-red leather, its cover read Professor David Donovan.

Seonghwa hesitated and stared. Did this folder perhaps hold Professor Donovan's old application form? His resignation letter? Maybe even records of his time as a Hogwarts student and other background information? His fingers itched with curiosity, but he knew that these files were highly confidential. Seonghwa didn't want to break the trust his mother bestowed on him by letting him handle them. Besides, it wasn't right to snoop around other people's business. He'd done that one too many times. He reluctantly put the folder on the 'archive' pile.

He snuck a glance at his mother to make sure she hadn't caught him faltering and took a sip of the coffee she'd made for him. Not too sweet, not too bitter; the smooth flavor was just right.

Seonghwa resumed his task. He found himself fall back into the automation of examining the documents and putting them on the correct file rather easily. His friends would probably deem this type of activity as empty or monotone, but Seonghwa viewed it as something he did well. The only reason his grades were excellent was the fact that he read many of books and diligently practiced magic every day. Not because he was particularly talented.