Winter Winds

[Martha Denbright]

Unlike Christmas, New Year rarely saw the Denbrights swamped in work- most people (quite sensibly) avoided the shops after Christmas, no doubt after witnessing the clamour they had had to deal with in the days before. It had been so quiet, in fact, her Papa had seen to it that the shop was barred and locked up early, and they had all been given the day off so they might be rested enough for the festival. With both her parents in attendance, Martha had been relieved of her usual duties of babysitting, and had been free to enjoy the evening on her own.

There were only a few minutes left till the fireworks were due to start, so she had set about finding herself a good place to watch from. She didn’t want to get involved in the jostling of the crowd near the base of fireworks, and so had headed to a little rise in the road, where she could make out the sky over the tops of the crowd’s head, but it wasn’t quite so dense. A few bronze knuts got her a mug of hot chocolate, mainly to warm her hands through her gloves, before she began searching for a space to claim.

”Mr Skeeter!” She called, waving as she wriggled through the crowd to the wizard. ”How was your Christmas?”

@'Elsie Beauregard'
@'Mason Skeeter'

  

[Mason Skeeter]

Mason always felt a little awkward at gatherings like the New Year's Eve festivities. On one hand, he knew he was free to be enjoying himself free of chaperon duties and students, but that didn't stop him from seeing his students everywhere and keeping an eye on their activities. Perhaps it was just ingrained in his brain by this point. See youngsters, make sure they behave. He couldn't exactly reprimand anyone, but he could be super annoying at the start of term and make sure they knew they were seen.

In the throng of people he'd lost his mother somewhere, though he knew she was perfectly capable of handling herself, he wondered just where she'd gotten off to. They'd meet at home soon enough. Mason was not a night owl by any means, staying up for fireworks at midnight was not something he would choose to do on any other day of the year, but considering he was already here, he could wait a few moments. He had however, started back up toward home, thinking he could spend the night at his mother's rather than the school. Plus it was far less crowded up here and the view of the display couldn't be hampered that much.

He didn't have plans to stay for much longer until he heard his name called. The fact that he'd been called Mr. Skeeter and not professor meant it wasn't a student and soon he was pleasantly surprised to find Miss Denbright coming his way. "Miss Denbright, what a lovely surprise." Mason figured he could stay out a little while with such an improvement in company. "It was quiet, there weren't all that many students at the school this year. And yourself?" When was the last time he'd seen her? It wasn't easy to pinpoint, not when the end of the term had been so busy and he'd hardly had time to himself let alone finding time to spend with anyone who wasn't his cat.