[CR.Staff] Sleepwalker

[Professor Leonard Ember]

Day two. The first class had gone satisfactorily, probably as much as it could of done. Leon was pleasantly surprised and from what he had witnessed from his first class, the students would be well on their way to getting honorable and respectable grades. Although, there were always those few exceptions...
It was lucky that it was Saturday, many of the students had disappeared to Hogsmeade for the day to stuff themselves silly with sweets and chocolate, buy new clothes, create mischief or even attempt to sneak into the Hogs Head. Leon was sure that there would at least be a handful of semi-intoxicated students come stumbling back into the castle and attempt to hide their drunkeness. He doubted any of those would be Ravenclaws.

Waking up, he lay on his back, staring up at the bewitched ceiling that was currently taking the form of a sea breeze sky, the clouds were light and fluffy and were floating innocently across the blinding blue shade of the sky. He narrowed his eyes, his arm covering them until they adjusted to the new spectrum of light which now invaded his sight. Laying silently for what seemed like an eternity, he listened to his minature grandfather clock ticking rhythmically in the corner for a long while, before sighing deeply and throwing back the royal blue and gold duvet and heaving himself from the bed.

He moved sleepily towards the sink and began to brush his teeth, constantly staring at himself in the mirror, examining every inch of his face. Noticing every line and blemish, he sighed inwardly and spat the toothpaste, rinsing his mouth with water.
"You're getting old, Leon" he said flatly before almost throwing his toothbrush into the holder and slumping towards his wardrobe.
Grabbing a casual shirt and dark smart jeans, he pulled them on clumsily before scrapping his hair back until it was slick.

Grabbing the newest release of Ancient Rune books from a new Archaeologist in the Magical World, he held his finger between the pages where he last finished reading, and picking up his wand off his desk, walked out towards the staff room.
Tea, Tea, Tea, Tea, Tea.
"Morning Miss Woods, not going to Hogsmeade today?" he asked with a smile as he passed her in the corridor.
"Maybe later, Sir." She replied as she continued to walk, blatantely not wanting to stop and make nice with him.
Leon just smiled and inwardly rolled his eyes as he continued towards the staff room.

"Ah." He said, stumbling into the room and instantly noticing another body already occupied within it. He looked at the woman and smiled before taking a huge tattered armchair that looked big enough to sit three people on. He began to open his book before looking back at the woman and realised she was a newbie too.
"Oh, you must be Miss Whiskeyjack..the new Herbology professor?"

[Prof. Jasmine Whiskeyjack]

At breakfast this morning she managed to hear the most delightful conversation between a professor and a student. The elder was discussing his scar when the fifth year had asked how he had received it. "Well it was during an explosion in a duel, but I tell people I was saving orphans from traffic." He rubbed his beard thoughtfully. "My friend on the other hand likes to tell people I was pushing orphans into traffic and one grabbed and pulled me infront of a truck." Poor Jasmine had to have herself excused before she burst out laughing and revealed herself as an eavesdropper. The conversation still had her smiling and chuckling on her way to the staff room.

Funny he should think that about the intoxicated kiddies, for a few inebriated students had nearly run Jasmine over on her way. The moment she turned the corner a pair of them were cackling drunkenly and catapulting themselves down the hall, and if she hadn't stepped back in time she'd have probably ended up in the mass of tangled limbs along with them. Having punished them accordingly and escorted them back to their common rooms (truthfully she had no idea what to do in this situation, perhaps new professors should receive some sort of guide book of the sort?) a somewhat startled but still collected Professor Whiskeyjack continued on her way to the staff room. Stepping inside she breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing her body into the nearest armchair and pulling out her favourite Italian novel.

Another entered the room and her attention diverted from the page--though as for names, Jasmine was lacking. He was new too, last name was Ember, she was aware of that much.. What was his first name? "Yes, I'm Jasmine." She smiled warmly, relieved at the kindness. Her arrival hadn't been well-received within the Slytherin faction, seems they didn't appreciate whenever a new staff member had originated in Hufflepuff. "Professor Ember, yes? Forgive me, but I dont know your first name." With genuine apology in her voice the new professor met his eyes in conversation before occasionally glancing back at her novel, dog-earing the page as if not to forget her place. "I feel almost out of place, I'm not sure how to be a professor. In my head they're all old and grizzled, and I'm sure I'm not that wrinkled.. Yet."

[Professor Leonard Ember]

He shifted in his seat and looked from over his book as he talked to her, smiling gently as she spoke and nodding in all the correct places.
His eyes shifted almost automatically towards the front cover of her book, his eyes studied the tatty edges and he saw how far she was in the book.
"Leonard, but please...call me Leon. Leonard is so....pensioner sounding" he grinned, his mind quickly remembering the haggered lines that had grown upon his face. Of course, he was being a little dramatic, he was only twenty seven.

"It's nice to meet you Jasmine, and yes...I feel slightly out of place too. It's nice to be back where I studied but...I dunno...I feel more out of place now than I did back when I was a teenager with acne and raging hormones." He replied, closing his book once more but his finger was kept between the pages, acting as a fleshy bookmark.

"I've been told that's an underground classic." he stated, nodding slightly towards what was laying within her hands.
"I've not read it myself, but i'm sure if you've almost worn out your copy, it can't be all that bad." His glance flicked back towards his book, and he showed Jasmine the cover.
"Mine, however. Brand new, boring, and rather Educational" he smirked as he leaned over and picked up a quill from the table to scribble notes in it. It was a saturday and he was deciphering a book apart so he could teach it in his class. How dull.
You could almost hear his cringing as he realised he was coming off as a rather stale character.

"So, Jasmine...." he continued, attempting to keep away from being boring. His mind did some quick thinking and he smiled at her, leaning forward as if something had peaked his interests.
"I think we should get out of here and do something less....senior."

[Prof. Jasmine Whiskeyjack]

However many creases he thought he had she wasn't sure to notice, unless there where luggage bags under his eyes so large he could take his own face on vacation. If that even made sense. Leo. She nodded with a smile, but it quickly grew into a grin at his comment and she gave the armchair a small smack in agreeance. "Exactly! At least when I was a little trickster I had enough fun that I could ignore the feeling." When she was young and mischevious--one says that lightly, for she is still rather mischevious--Jasmine didn't have to think about how odd she felt, she could focus her attentions on devious plans of hilarity.

At the notice of her novel Jasmine felt a quick bout of surprise, and she glanced down at it before back up at his face, eyebrow raised. "You can read Italian?" Sounding impressed. He must be somewhat knowledgable on it, if he were able to decipher the title. Unless he was simply trying to impress her and couldn't read a lick of the language, that was always a possibility. Biting back a grin but failing anyway she looked to the cover of his book, painfully educational his eyes seemed to say but she shook her head. "Oh dont look that way, its fascinating. Especially your latest lesson, about Hieroglyphics? I love Egypt." And she wasn't just saying it to make him feel better, she genuinely adored other cultures and loved learning about them. Especially languages, and Hieroglyphics were just another way of communicating with each other.

Something less senior? She appeared to get excited. "If you're talking bingo and prune juice, count me in. I need to get my denchers waxed, if we could handle that too." Barely able to keep a straight face Jasmine started laughing, shaking her head. "What did you have in mind?"

[Professor Leonard Ember]

Leon grinned back at her as she slapped the arm chair, his eyes widened at the impact of her hand contacting the matte material that seemed to of created a barrier and made her hand bounce back up. He watched her excitement and laughed at her affixed speech. He stopped laughing for a moment, a permanent smile already fixed upon his features before looking down and rubbing the back of his neck in a little awkwardness.

"Italian? Yes Ma'am, I can..." he replied, nodding slightly. He had spent a couple of years with a team of Wizarding Archaeologists exploring and researching in Rome and Brittany, occasionally findings leading them to other remote countries nearby.
"Beautiful language" he added..."But i'm not as fluent as I should be...I did sometimes make a couple of mistakes. I believe once I asked for a Thestral Dung Milkshake. I'm glad they corrected me...that would of tasted unpleasant" he giggled slightly, reliving the beautiful cafe they had visited on the outskirts of Rome.

He nodded as she asked if he had been teaching the students in his class about Hieroglyphics. He flicked back a few pages within his book and decided to lose the page, closing it and laying it on the nearest table. He turned his full attention to her now and leant forward.
"Fascinating isn't it, Ancient Egypt. I've only had the pleasure of staying there for a few weeks, certainly no time to do anything else but work. We did get quite a lot of information from that trip though. It was all rather exciting."

His smile grew as she mentioned prune juice and bingo and he stood up, laughing silently before running his fingers through his hair and heading towards the door, opening it and offering Jasmine to walk first.
"Well, I'm probably better off with Carrot Juice and a warm bath...Prune juice tends to give me the trots" he exclaimed.
"But if Prune juice and Bingo is what it takes to stop us being pensioners, then so be it" he smirked. He took a step forward before turning back to look at her with a grin.
"Don't forget your teeth"

[Prof. Jasmine Whiskeyjack]

Her smile grew: a thestral dung milkshake? The waiter must have been in hysterics by the time he went to get Leon's order, poor thing. "I lived most of my life in Venice actually, I'm quite fluent. Though the occasional linguistic mistake would have made my life a bit more interesting, I'm sure." She paused before laughing and sticking her tongue out. "And ma'am? I'm only twenty-eight, take that back." At the mention of him actually visting Egypt Jasmine visibly grew more excited. "You've been there? Oh, you're so lucky, I've always wanted to go. Did you study the burial tombs in the pyramids?" Afraid she had begun to ramble in her enthusiasm she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, smiling apologetically as if to silently say 'Terribly sorry, my excitement must be frightening you.' Truthfully she had always wanted to visit, perhaps the next school break..

As he gestured for her to go first Jasmine felt a twinge of appreciation at the chivalry, it always went a long way with her. Jasmine laughed, standing gracefully and smoothing her skirts before following him, bopping him gently in the arm at the teeth comment. "I'll try not to. Where are we going?" She wondered, curiousity piqued as she gave a small giggle. "I swear, if your idea of fun is telling the kids to get off our lawn, I'm going to have to change that." She didn't even own a lawn, let alone any notion that she should kick teenagers off it. When in modern times did hooligans even hang out on other peoples lawns, anyway? It didn't make sense.

[Professor Leonard Ember]

"Well lucky you, Italy is a rather magnificent place. I can imagine it was much grander back in the day though. Still...a lot of history there" he mumbled, more to himself than Jasmine. He snapped out of his wandering thoughts and gave a quick, almost apologetic smile before realising Jasmine was doing the exact same look. He laughed and shook his head before letting her through the door and walking beside her down the corridor.

"Well, it would probably be scarier for them if we did it the muggle way and sat on the porch in rocking chairs with a loaded shotgun pointed in their faces..." he stated.
"...but i'm totally against violence" he added as an afterthought, a cheeky grin playing among his features.
"Besides, my grass would be pristine. I wouldn't want blood and brain chunks littering up my scenery."

He shrugged when she asked where they were going, and continued walking.
"You know, I don't really have a clue. Maybe we could apparate to Egypt for a few hours. The people there really are clueless to magic beings. They still think if they see an oasis that is in their imagination. We'll have to go away from Hogwarts if we want to apparate though, you know the old rule..."

He never normally attempted to whisk people up, and usually he'd fail anyway. People usually found him rambling about different countries and deciphering old written languages and symbols all rather boring. Jasmine however was like a breath of fresh air and she seemed to thrive off travel and the such. The thought made Leon smile silently, and he glanced over at her face, studying her features for a moment before looking forward again, the currently immovable smile still firmly in place.

[Prof. Jasmine Whiskeyjack]

As vivid and gruesome a picture of scattered brain bits across lawns are he had her laughing again as they continued on their way. At his idea of apparating there Jasmine placed a hand on his arm, pausing in her excitement. "That would be lovely, oh my goodness could we?" Though she was sure she nearly tore his arm off with enthusiasm (her actual grip was incredibly light, for she was a fairly thin girl lacking of much muscle) Jasmine looked up at him, eyes bright. Why hadn't she thought of that before? She had thought herself intelligent, good gracious she should have done this years ago! Then again it gives me a chance to explore Egypt with a friend, and that would be much more enjoyable. She thought to herself, a small smile on her face.

They continued through the castle for a few more minutes before she glanced pointedly down at what they were wearing. "It will be rather hot in these clothes, dont you think? Perhaps we could get ourselves some Egyptian clothes, I reckon you would look rather handsome in a toga." There was a playfully teasing note to her voice before a serious look replaced it instantly after, "..But in all seriousness Ancient Egyptians only wore togas if they were granted Roman citizenship, which was incredibly rare and generally unheard of." Quite sure to give him conversational whiplash--who else would rattle off a random fact right after they tried their hand at playful flirting? Odd girl, indeed.

Leon mentioned they would have to get away from the castle grounds before apparating. Placing a gentle hand on his arm again to stop him, Jasmine planted her feet in front of an old portrait of a rather rotund Scotsman, gently nibbling her bottom lip in thought. Back when she was a mischevious Hufflepuff she frequented little passageways to get her around faster, as the majority of students did. "Now, if I can only remember.." Jasmine murmured, sliding her fingers along the top of the frame in an attempt to find the little switch hidden there. Tugging at it until she heard a soft click the professor stepped back as it swung outward, a loud scraping noise trailing in its wake. Memory served her well. "Here we go! In light of the prospect of adventure I figured why not relive our youth again? Being we're quite the elderly people ourselves." Smiling almost giddily as she remembered her childhood Jasmine stepped toward the passage way, noting it seemed much bigger when she was a kid but finding herself glad it wasn't too small that they couldn't fit.

[Professor Leonard Ember]

He couldn't help but giggle like a little school girl as she got over-excited, like a child going to a zoo, over the thought of them doing something rather grown-up and adult; going to Egypt on the spur of the moment. He brought his fist to his mouth and coughed slightly, easing the laughter that oozed up from his stomach and out from between his lips.
"Of course we can Jasmine, I see no reason why we shouldn't. After all, i've not had a holiday for a while, and I think a day in the sun would do us both some good. Especially away from these little monsters" he smirked, pointing at a couple of straggler kids, kicking around the castle.

"Just because we're old spinsters doesn't mean we can't have a little fun every now and again" he smiled. He was actually itching to go back to Egypt, he could almost feel the warmth penetrating his pores and turning his skin a golden brown. He always did tan well.
"We will have to stretch out the fun though, too much will make my hip pop out of place, and I don't think the Mediwizards at St.Mungo's want to see me back there for a long time"

It was strange, he felt totally at ease with Jasmine. Like they'd been friends for centuries. If he ever believed in past-lives, he would possibly be sure that she was in it. It was then that she mentioned something about Toga's which alerted Leon to stare at her blankly.
"Um, no. No, no no no no!" he said, a straight look on his face before he glanced over the soft features of Jasmine's face and cracked. He started to laugh.
"There is no way in Dumbledore's army that I am going to wear a toga..." he said in a manly tone.
"...I simply don't have the legs for it".

And with that she had brought them to a halt and was fiddling with a portrait of a rather rugged looking man wearing tartan. He simply nodded at her as she exclaimed reliving their youth.
"I was a good student. Why do you think I didn't know about secret passage ways behind portraits, missy!" he looked back at her.
"You know, you would of made a good Ravenclaw...if it wasn't for breaking and entering in confined and restricted areas". a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth before he looked inside the blackness of the tunnel. His mood went from uplifted to panic-stricken.

"Oh...erm... Jasmine..." he stuttered, taking a step back from the ever looming black hole that had been unveiled before them. He bit his lip and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
Great. Just perfect. As if he was going to tell her he was absolutely petrified of the dark.

[Prof. Jasmine Whiskeyjack]

The straggling students seemed to make a face as if they heard his little comment, and Jasmine turned to him with a mock-scolding look on her face. "Monsters? We were them once, and judging by how much you've been giggling we're not too far off." She grinned, and while they werent as old as Professor Hubbles they werent children anymore. Then again being with him made her break away from the wrinkled shell she had wrought for herself, and she felt so much lighter. The thought of feeling the sun kiss her skin was so pleasant, and while she was sure he'd catch a nice tan she knew if she stayed there for even a few days she would return to Hogwarts quite a lovely shade of brown. Well, a much darker brown than she was already.

The idea of him waddling around with his hip jutting out of place was comical. Jasmine doubted the nurses at St. Mungo's would mind, it wasn't as if they had an old geezer to attend to, quite the opposite. He seemed to freeze up at the idea of him in the ancient garb, and she grinned. "The legs for it? Goodness its not like you're wearing a toga mini-skirt." Whatever idea of toga he had, she definitely wasn't picturing it. The image in her mind was that of basically a white bedsheet wrapped around a couple of times, definitely not a fashion statement. Still, she couldn't help but enjoy herself around him, he felt like an--strange as it may sound--old blanket to her, comfortable and warm.

His accusation caused a tiny guilty yet smug grin to crawl across her face. "I got exceptionally good grades I'll have you know, I simply lacked the patience required to take the usual way to Hogsmeade." Jasmine protested, though the defense was light. He must have been a Ravenclaw himself as the remark sounded awfully like a compliment. "And hey, its not breaking and entering, it wouldn't be here if we couldn't use it." Surely they would have sealed it off or wouldn't have constructed it in the first place if it didn't serve some sort of purpose. Her eyes flicked back to him, expecting to recognize the same humor and happiness as she had grown accustomed to the past hour. Unfortunately there was fear, instead. "..Leon? Are you alright?" Her voice grew concerned, what was it that frightened him?

[Professor Leonard Ember]

The Dark.
It pretty much terrified him. You never knew what was lurking in it, and it makes you lose one of your five senses. Leon definately didn't like the thought of not being able to see if he was in danger or not.
Not.At.All.

So how was he going to get out of this one? He didn't want to lay out his biggest fear to Jasmine. Who knows who else was listening in and may use it against him? Paranoia might of been setting in, then again, this was Hogwarts. It wasn't impossible, nor unlikely.
He almost choked on the lump that had solidified and formed deep in his throat. He gulped it back, keeping it at bay, much unlike the darkness that seemed to creep slowly from the tunnel. He could feel himself getting hotter, feeling claustrophobic in his own skin. It suddenly felt like he was wearing a thick, heavy suit and it was slowly constricting his airway around his neck, making it harder and harder to breathe.

He looked back at Jasmine for a split second, not daring to take his eyes off the Dark block that was straight infront of them.
"Erm....Yes. I just remembered I need to go and get something from my room." He mumbled, sweat producing and arranging into miniscule droplets to form a humid film on the back of his exposed neck. He rubbed them away with his hand before taking a good few steps back and giving an apologetic smile to Jasmine.

"I'll meet you in Hogsmeade. I need to drop off this paperwork to Headmaster Hubbles...i'll catch up with you, promise" he continued, offering a contortion of a facial expression. A mixed sign of fear and reassurance. Whatever his features looked like during this phase, it wasn't pretty. He was sure she wasn't fooled by his half-hearted acting skills.
He walked backwards, his eyes fixated on the dark before he felt he was far enough away to look at Jasmine again. He looked at her blankly before turning around to walk normally, and he rounded the corner, out of sight.

Inside he was cursing himself, his dramatic hand gestures noticed by a student or two as he passed them in the corridors as he talked to himself. "Idiot" he muttered under his breath. He sighed and walked back to the staff room briskly, picking up his book and taking it to his room.
Throwing it on the bed, a little peeved at himself and his somewhat irrational fear, especially at Twenty Seven years of age, he watched the book bounce once before landing in it's spot. He sighed again and paced the room a few times before he caught sight of his broom, propped up in the corner.
A mischevious grin made it's way across his lips and he picked it up, pushing open the large windows before crawling onto the small window ledge, pushing himself off and hooking the broom between his legs...it dropped for a metre or two before waking up and zooming off with immense speed.

He laughed heartily, feeling like he had beaten the darkness and he sped off to catch up to Jasmine, who was probably at Hogsmeade by now...

[Prof. Jasmine Whiskeyjack]

His eyes bulged as they stared at the dark passage way as a trickle of sweat touched his brow and he shuffled the weight between both feet, clearly uncomfortable. For a moment his eyes glanced back to her before they rolled off towards that little corridor again, and she was beginning to think something awful had happened in it. Was someone murdered there or something? If it had been used to store dead bodies they didn't have to take it, really. He shouldn't be so worried, though then again she had no idea what he was worried about, so that wouldn't help much. After Leon mumbed something about getting something from his room then dropping paperwork off with Headmaster Hubbles--two completely different excuses, his lying skills werent up to par at all--he flashed her what he hoped appeared to be an apologetic smile, when in fact it looked like a deflated, sickly, whimpering expression. Jasmine half expected there to be some sort of monster behind her, unless she was the thing he was afraid of.

A permanent expression of terror plastered on his face he began to step back now, and she stretched a tiny wrist out as if to ask him to wait, "We dont have to take this way if you dont--" but he was already gone, leaving an empty chasm of billowing air in his wake. He couldn't even look at her, what had she done? It felt like her heart had sagged in her rigcage, and as confusion and disappointment draped themselves around her shoulders Jasmine felt an uncertainty creep up: was he lying about everything? Was he truly going to meet her in Hogsmeade or did he bail out because she had said something strange or done something he didn't believe in? She almost convinced herself not to go, truly convinced that he wouldn't be there when she arrived.

Sighing and staring unwittingly at the cause of all this the professor stepped inside, hunching a little to accomodate the height difference that had occurred since the last time she'd used it. Closing the portrait behind her and waiting for her eyes to get accustomed to the shadows she started forward. She might as well go have a drink to try and lighten her mood, perhaps a warm hot chocolate? Her entire journey throughout the passageway however was wrought with little seedlings of doubt blossoming all around her. You honestly think hes going to be there after this? After what you did to him? But I didn't do anything, I dont know what went wrong. He was fine before you came. Jasmine actually paused in her tracks, shaking her head as if to snap herself out of it. Would only make her depressed, and she had fought enough battles for one lifetime.

At the end of the tunnel now she popped open the familiar latch that brought her out within sight of a scraggly yet homey-feeling lamp post, the same one that was still there since childhood. Old guy was still standing after all these years. I'm a fool. With heavy eyes she turned to look down the row of shops, searching halfheartedly for a familiar face she doubted would be there.

[Professor Leonard Ember]

His mind was blank as he sped off full throttle towards Hogsmeade. He almost hit the Whomping Willow and managed to divebomb under one of it's thickest branches before it smushed him into the dirt below, and he looked back at it, blowing a raspberry rather childishly. He could of sworn that he saw it raise it's longest branch and raise it into the air like a fist as if it had been thwarded. That kind of scared him a little, his face dropped it's cheekiness and he looked forward again, urging his broom to go faster.

He could of taken this time to review his surroundings and relive the old days that he used to spend here, but now the only thought on his mind was making sure he got to Hogsmeade before Jasmine so she didn't think he'd abandoned her. He probably came off as a total weirdo before when all she had done was open up a secret passage way, but what she had done to him was open up his secret fear. Still, it wasn't on purpose, and she probably still had no clue why he had backed off so suddenly.
He wiped his brow of the cold sweat that had formed from just thinking about his irrational fear...

He saw the shrieking shack and sped over it's shingles, the wind from his broom making a couple of the broken pieces slide downwards and come crashing down into tiny pieces into the overgrown garden.
He sped down and stopped at the entrance of Hogsmeade, eyes frantically searching the sparce crowds to find Jasmine's face. No luck.

Relieving a big sigh, part relief, part exhaustion he smiled as he saw her browsing some shops nearby. He jogged up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder, still slightly out of breath.
"Whoo...there you are." he grinned at her, his big blue eyes held wide before he bent over, propping his hands on his knees to get some air back.
"I've not flown like that in years" he breathed heavily, looking back up at her now and gaining some composure.

[Prof. Jasmine Whiskeyjack]

She heard the sound of heavy yet labored footsteps behind her and turned to see him wheezing, heaving out breaths and saying something about flying. Unable to hide the raw shock on her face as she stared at him Jasmine didn't say anything for a moment, still wrestling with her own doubt that had told her he wasn't coming. Yet here he stood, and she was wrong. Why on earth did he fly here, and where on earth did he stash his broomstick? Assuming by his rattled appearance that the tree hadn't smashed it to pieces. "Ran into the whomping willow, did you?" She said quietly, smudging some dirt from his cheek with a hesitant, tentative smile--quite blatantly worried she might say something to make him leave again. With a hollow feeling in her throat Jasmine managed another smile, the emotion behind it frayed at best. You couldn't just up and abandon someone without an explanation, without making them feel horrible inside.

She was taking to heart what she shouldn't, though there was no way to know that without the courage he would need to tell her what was wrong. And he wouldn't, because fear is not that easily made public, Jasmine knew better than anyone. They would have their adventure, and she could return to her plants and bloom her worries away. Create beauty from paranoia and sadness.

The colour returned to her face again and she ignored the hint of sadness left, deciding then to clasp her hands together as a true grin met her lips. "So, shall we leave then?" Unless he'd rather spend some time shopping, though even if he protested--she doubted he would, of course, he seemed to love travelling as much as she did--she would drag him by the arse kicking and screaming over to Egypt. Her eyes fluttered, seeming to focus everywhere but him as the excitement at visiting their destination finally crept back into her heart.

[Professor Leonard Ember]

Leon smiled awkwardly as his breathing slowly returned to normal rhythm. He lifted his posture and shrugged slightly as she mentioned his obvious run-in with that darn tree of bloodlust, before surveying the surrounding area. He looked up to the sky and watched the grey dull clouds float by mindlessly.

"I'm surprised nobody's actually been mamed or killed by that thing yet. It's like an obstacle course for the unsuspecting" he said dryly. His gaze flickered over the random faces that passed by, recognising a couple of younger students who then greeting the teachers from exiting shops. He offered them a smile and a small shy wave.
"Right...what were we doing. Ah yes, Egypt" he murmured to himself trying to regain his composure. He turned back to Jasmine and held out a crooked arm and a grin.

"Ready?" he asked her, waiting for her to hook her arm into his, a twinkle showed in his eyes as he watched Jasmine becoming excited about their trip once more, her eyes were not so dull looking anymore and as he tried to push the darknened events that had just occured minutes before from his mind, he couldn't help but think she was perhaps dwelling on them.

He awaited the feel of her arm in his before apparating, the col air blowing around them as they disappeared from Hogsmeade and seconds later the temperature changed to a boiling heat in an instant.