Ah, first student of the day. And she happened to be a quiet one. Braith simply gave her an acknowledging nod as he watched her take her seat, glad to see her following his instructions, then turned his eyes back to the door again when he saw another student arriving.

This student at least greeted him, though his welcoming smile turned slightly bemused at her words. “Good afternoon,” he gently corrected her with a still curious smile, returning her greeting. Was she yawning? The girl looked like she had pulled an all-nighter and was starting to crash. Not like he had class first thing in the morning.

McCormack had started to turn his eyes away as the apparently exhausted teenager sat down to glance at the doorway again when he heard a thud. His eyes snapped back over to the seated girl, lowering to the textbook on the floor. The one for his class. Not picking it up anytime soon..? He watched her carefully for another moment, wondering if a cup of coffee before class would have been beneficial to her, then gave her a disarming smile. ”I’d appreciate it if you’d pick that up. You’ll need it today.” Unless of course she already had an eidetic memory, though he still didn’t need classroom materials tossed about on the floor.

As more students began entering, Braith again turned his attention towards the door to greet those that came in. “Hello,” he smiled at the Slytherin girl as she acknowledged him first, though his smile soon faltered to a curious expression as he watched her drag herself to a seat. Another sleep-deprived student?

Braith watched the next student to come in rather curiously. Another one with a yawn, even before she heard his lecture. ”Good afternoon, dear,” he said, his smile not as bright as before as his mind wandered, but still welcoming nonetheless. She certainly was acting like it was late in the evening though, wasn’t she? What was with these kids? They were acting like they had just rolled out of bed or were having one of those late night Astronomy lessons. Hmm. Maybe they had one the night before and didn’t get enough sleep. He’d make a mental note to speak with Flamsteed after class about coordinating their schedules so students weren’t so tired in his class. History of Magic already had a bad rap as it was for being coma-inducing. He didn’t need to start off the term this way.

McCormack smiled a bit wider at the young Hufflepuff boy as he walked in. At least this kid wasn’t yawning already. ”Good afternoon,” he nodded at the boy, though he couldn’t help but to notice how slowly he was walking. Weren’t kids supposed to be full of energy?

Braith lifted his eyes again as another boy walked in, returning his quick smile. ”Hello,” he responded in kind, watching for a moment as he found a seat. No yawning or dragging himself to his seat, that was somewhat more encouraging.

Sigh. There was a reason that Braith typically taught at the University level instead of working with younger kids. And that was about to present itself. The faint smile the History of Magic professor wore when the young boy walked through the door soon faded into a smirk at the boy’s words. He shot the boy a very unimpressed look as he spoke. “Young man, if you wish to keep something not normally allowed in class then I suggest you ask permission, not tell me what you are or are not going to do.” Honestly, the boy wearing the cap in class actually wouldn’t have bothered him, but his tone certainly did. “That’s two points from Gryffindor for your disrespect.” Seriously, he was lucky it wasn’t more. Braith considered himself a fairly laid back guy, but one thing he did not tolerate was disrespect from children. “Now, unless you’d like your hat to have a permanent seat on my desk, then I suggest you come back up here and try that again.” And he’d better get it right this time.

Waiting for the boy to make the right choice, Braith turned to the next young boy to walk through the door. Mhm, he had just about the right amount of energy the man would expect to come from a kid his age. ”Sup dude,” he returned the greeting with a crooked grin of his own. He didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to where the boy went to sit, instead turning his eyes back to the doorway to view a few more students wandering in, until he heard a whole lot of shouting.

Of course it involved the rude boy and that flipping hat. He turned sharply towards the two boys, observing for only a moment before raising his hand in a nonverbal gesture to stop. “Alright, alright!”he began, his voice more elevated than usual. “That is enough. You, sit there. And you, sit there.” He pointed out a seat at the very front corner on one side of the room for Kevin and one at the very front corner on the other side of the room for the other boy who had yet to fill out his name tag (Bart). He did not need any behavioral issues in class today. Hopefully they would end now before more serious action needed to be taken. He hated having to be strict but he wasn’t having such a ruckus when he needed to teach. And Kevin had about 30 seconds to ask permission or the hat was gone.

Braith took to lightly rubbing his temples for a moment, turning his eyes back to the door. ”Good day, Miss Cambridge. Nice to see you again,” he greeted the Gryffindor prefect with a smile, which faltered slightly seeing how slowly she was dragging herself. Another sleep-deprived student or just not wanting to be here? He watched her curiously as she went to find a seat, then shook his head slightly. ”No, that’s fine,” he said in regards to her question. ”Not injured, I hope?” Did the girl play Quidditch? He had heard they were holding tryouts not long ago.

He gave the next boy to walk in a friendly smile as he approached. Oh, this was the Head Boy, was he not? [b}”Hello,”[/b} he returned the greeting in kind, mirroring the boy’s smile and nod before the Head Boy went to find his own seat.

And the Head Girl to walk in directly after. Braith gave her a welcoming smile as she greeted him. ”Hello,” he returned, glancing her way as she went to sit down. It really wasn’t all that encouraging that so many students seemed so glum. What had their previous lessons been like?


Braith eyed the boy carefully as he walked in returning his nod. It was alright as far as greetings went, he supposed, not that he was blatantly rude, but he was going to get as good as he gave. Good, following instructions was always appreciated and he nodded his approval to Ian as he filled out his name tag.

This one got something of a raised eyebrow. No greeting at all, hmm? He didn’t care all that much, though he did not the boy’s supposed enthusiasm as he came in. That was a good sign.

Braith looked up to see the Ravenclaw prefect. ”Hello,” he returned the greeting, giving the boy a welcoming smile and nod. He glanced over at the boy as he sat down, his eyes falling on the name tag at his desk. Starfish. Right. He did know that McCormack possessed a class roster and these name tags were simply to help match up names with faces? He knew for certain there was no “Starfish” on his roster but if he didn’t want credit for his work in this class because he couldn’t properly write his name down, that wasn’t Braith’s problem.

Nice to see such a good showing for his first class. He gave a smile to the next person to come in and greet him. [b]”Good afternoon,”[b] he smiled at the girl, then gave her a nod as she went to take a seat.

And another silent child. Braith watched the boy for a moment as he walked in and wordlessly got a seat. Alright. He wasn’t getting a greeting either, though the professor did note that the boy looked quite sullen. He’d say maybe he’d gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, but at this time of the day he should be over it by now. Nothing he was going to dwell on certainly.

Braith turned his focus on the polite young lady as she entered and greeted him. And he did the same, giving her a welcoming smile. ”Good afternoon.” He followed that with a nod as she turned to take her seat.

Braith turned his eyes towards the door again as another student walked in. An older Hufflepuff boy by the looks of it and he gave him a welcoming smile as he approached. ”Hello to you too.” He gave him a nod as he took his seat and followed the instructions.

He eyed the next girl to walk in as she yawned and took a seat. Too tired to remember her manners perhaps? At least she was following directions even if there was no customary greeting to preface it. Moving on…

Braith turned and gave the next girl to walk in a bright smile, noting her demeanor and good manners, though he did have to chuckle at her greeting. ”Good afternoon!” he returned the greeting just as enthusiastically, wondering if she perhaps slept in, throwing her internal clock off. But she seemed positive about class and that was what was important.

And another enthusiastic girl. Braith gave her his friendly crooked grin as came in and cheerily greeted him. ”And good afternoon to you as well,” he returned just as earnestly in return, noting that she took a seat next to Miss Cambridge and glanced at her tag as well. Miss Wisteria? That would do just fine as he had her first name on the roster anyway, though he did find it remotely amusing that she’d fill it out in that manner. And he typically addressed his students by their title and surname anyway.

No greeting from this one either, simply a look. Braith gave him an unimpressed look in return, not dwelling much on the lack of decorum. If the boy couldn’t be bothered, Braith wouldn’t be going out of his way to make him feel welcome either. As long as he pulled his weight in class, he didn’t give a second thought about it.

See, it wasn’t that hard to be polite. The Slytherin got a welcoming smile as she greeted McCormack. ”Good afternoon to you too,” he responded in return giving her a nod as she looked for a seat. She actually looked happy to be here which made his job slightly easier.


Briath glanced over at the young Ravenclaw as she entered as well, giving her a nod in return. Shy perhaps? Sometimes the youngest ones were. He watched her for a moment as she seemed to have trouble with the name tag, then gave her a nod and encouraging smile as she seemed to set things straight.

Another quiet student, though that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Braith returned the girl’s polite smile watching for a moment as she selected a seat, then he turned back to the doorway again.

And then followed yet another student who seemed to have left his manners out in the hallway. Braith glanced over at him sitting in his seat, pleased that he was following his instructions of course, though a simple hello or even a nod wouldn’t have killed him. That’s fine, no greeting in return is all, though maybe silence was better in this case. The boy looked like he was ready to bite someone’s head off.

Braith smiled at the young boy as he entered the classroom and greeted him. ”Good afternoon,” he returned with a nod, watching as he took a seat before watching for anyone else to come in. It was getting near that time to get started.

And another welcoming smile for such a pleasant greeting from this girl. ”Hello!” he returned matching her enthusiasm, giving her an approving nod as he watched her sit and scribble her name on the tag at her desk.

Braith gave the small girl a welcoming smile as she entered, though he could barely hear her words. Another shy girl possibly, but he appreciated the effort. ”Hello, dear,” he returned the greeting, watching for a moment as she sat down, then glanced at his watch before noticing a few more students start to trickle in.

Braith gave a crooked grin to the enthusiastic boy to come in next and a sort of finger-point/salute in response to his wave. ”Hey there, kiddo,” he replied in return, matching the boy’s eager tone, then gave him a nod as he took a seat.

Braith’s eyes followed this student as he walked in and wordlessly took a seat. Eh. He was getting kind of used to the lack of social convention from kids at this point. He was about to start class anyway so no time to bother with it anyway.

Braith gave the girl a warm, welcoming smile as she walked in, pleased to see such enthusiasm for class from a young girl. ”Hello, Miss Granger.,” he began with a nod. ”Thank you for the introduction, much appreciated.” Good manners often left an impression.

McCormack gave a nod to the young Slytherin girl as she came in next in addition to a welcoming smile as she greeted him. ”Hello,” he returned, following her with his eyes as she took a seat and sat quietly. ”Don’t forget to fill out your nametag, please,” he added with an encouraging nod.

Another silent one. Braith merely nodded in her direction as she sat down to fill out her nametag. A lack of greeting begets the same. Class performance could still remain to be seen however.

Braith had a smile in return for the young Ravenclaw girl as she walked in pleasantly enough. ”Good afternoon to you as well, he said in reply to her greeting, then watched her sit down before looking at his watch again. Yep, about time to start class.


Braith was just about to shut the door when another student slipped in just in time. He returned the boy's nod with one of his own, then turned his eyes to the door again.

"Good afternoon," Braith returned the greeting of the Hufflepuff girl with a smile as she walked in, just in time. Good, she was following instructions too and he gave her an approving nod.

Very last one, this boy just made it in the nick of time, but Braith still gave him a welcoming smile as he walked in and greeted him. "Hello," he nodded towards him as he went to take a seat.