24 October 1895 - Great Hall

It was so close to Halloween so the students were probably planning some kind of mischief amongst themselves, which honestly wasn’t all that shocking to Gus. Where there was a will, there was a way; plus he’d been a student at Hogwarts once upon a time, and well, it wasn’t like he’d been perfect while here. He’d gotten into trouble when he had a brilliant idea that didn’t quite align with school rules, although the detentions that he'd gotten had always been worth it. As long as whatever they were planning didn’t harm anyone, Gus was willing to turn a blind eye to some things.

Of course that was difficult when a student approached the Head Table at the tail end of lunch, saying that a few students were planning on entering the forbidden third-floor corridor just to see why it was off-limits. Gus knew there wasn't anything super exciting down the cooridor, at least nothing he'd found, so they weren't in any imminent danger. Thanking the student for their honesty (and well, bravery too for being willing to rat out their fellow peers), Gus stood from his seat and tucked his wand into his sleeve. The forbidden third-floor corridor wasn’t far, and he knew the quickest way to intercept the students without causing a scene.

His gaze flicked a few seats down to Aleksandra, who, unfortunately for her, was the only other staff member still lingering at the table. Gus flashed her a smile. “Want to come along?” He asked, although there was no pressure in his tone; a second pair of eyes might be useful, plus he wouldn’t mind the company.

---

Aleksandra Belskaya

---

  

---

Learn how to earn HP as a DADA Student and/or Hufflepuff

One thing about Aleksandra is that she could not care less about what the Hogwarts students did or did not do outside of her class—though, of course, she tried to act like she did just enough for her to keep her job. If they ended up in trouble then, well, she truly felt like it had nothing to do with her.

If the student had decided to denounce his colleagues to her instead of to Gus, she would've just thanked them and pretend she'd do something about it, when in reality she would completely ignore the case. If there was any real danger involved then she'd intervene, even if her goal was more so to protect herself from negative repercussion than protecting the students if something did happen, but in this particular case she knew that there was nothing harmful awaiting in the third floor.

In general, Aleksandra just found the whole situation mildly amusing; while she had also been a very correct child during her Koldovstoretz days, now she found it almost laughable seeing a kid delating their peers for nothing.

Now, while the woman wouldn't engage in going after the group of disobedient students if she was making a decision on it by herself, when Lissington invited to join her on this task, she shrugged and tilted her head slightly while getting up from her seat. "Sure, I have some free time." She replied casually, supposing she could use the chance to stretch her legs a bit before going back to her never-ending pile of work. "Are you thinking of giving them detention or just letting the little rascals off the hook with a warning?" She added as she stepped closer to him, even though both outcomes would be the same for her.

---

  

---

Gus huffed softly, the corner of his mouth quirking. “Well, I personally hate being in charge of detention.” Coming up with punishments could be difficult, and depending on the student, they really didn’t learn much from it, anyway, as half the time the punishment really didn’t fit the crime. How did one punish a student who wanted to be somewhere they weren’t supposed to be was beyond him, – Gus never learned his lesson when he was at Hogwarts. If he had, it might have quelled his desire to become a curse breaker.

With a quick glance over his shoulder, he gestured toward the exit, then started moving, careful to thread between the clusters of other students without drawing attention. At least it was the tail end of the meal so there weren’t as many as there could have been. His steps were quick, as if he hoped that they could cut off the student before they reached the third-floor corridor.

“If we’re lucky, they’ve gotten themselves stuck somewhere inconvenient.” Gus wasn’t entirely sure what was in the corridor and why it was forbidden, but he’d love to have to rescue a student from their own cleverness. Near the far end of the hallway next to the staircase, Gus caught a shadow of someone running up them.

---

  

---

Learn how to earn HP as a DADA Student and/or Hufflepuff