There were few joys in Zerod Grimp's life. While some felt he actually enjoyed scaring the students into doing their studies now and then, he simply felt that was part of the job. He did what he did to them in order to prepare them to defend themselves in the real world should they ever deal with a dark wizard or dark witch. No for Grimp, his short list of joys included riding his horse Icabod on Sunday afternoons, and smoking his pipe outside the castle once the students had all gone to bed.

Stepping out, Grimp pulled out his old pipe. Striking a match, he lit it and began puffing. While he did not smile, a look of pleasure could be seen in his eyes. The vice was particularly pleasant on cold nights. The smoke warmed him and the smell of the fresh pipe tobacco was welcomed after the scent of an old castle all day. Grimp seated himself on an outside bench and looked around the area. Even though things had been significantly peaceful at Hogwarts for years and years, he was still on his guard. As an Ex-Auror and a member of the Order of the Phoenix, he was always on alert, always ready for a showdown should the same type of monsters who had seemingly kidnapped Ollivander struck again. Even when relaxing with his pipe, his wand was at the ready.

So far, there was only quiet and calm, and despite his willingness to fight, Grimp was perfectly fine with not doing so. However, as he lost himself in thought over any number of things, he suddenly heard a sound. For all he knew, it could have been a small animal wondering about. But Grimp knew never to simply assume. Doing so could be very dangerous.

Olivia had been out hunting.

While maybe most would be surprised at her activity, she found it quite relaxing actually. Dressed in tight leather pants and a black top, she strode out of the forest with a great sword over her back shoulders with her arm over the hilt, the others sticking back over her shoulders on either side. It was really the only way to carry the huge thing out of it's sheath and it didn't get sheathed in the forest unless she had a circle going. Especially in the spiders end of the forest. Stopping within sight of the forest, she turned back to the forest and only then pulled out a cloth to wipe her forehead with. Judging nothing had followed her to the edge (she was right; certain creatures in the forest had learned to give her a wide berth for sure) she turned and began walking up to the castle with wide steps for her height.

Most of the male adults in the castle out sized her physically, but her confidence was larger then theirs so it evened out some. When she was a good twenty paces from the edge she sheathed the great sword with care, the cloth held against the blade as it slid into the long sheath at her waist. The cloth she then stuffed in a pocket of her shirt ruining the line of her top but not really concerned about it. She was still getting out of the hunter's mind set, being wary about those around and it wasn't till she got close to the castle itself that she started to take smaller steps and stop listening over her shoulder so carefully. Her head came up then, catching the scent of pipe on the air and a look across the castle showed the source. She altered her direction slightly to pass by and stopped out of puffs range as she spoke to her fellow professor.

"Greetings, Grimp, trying to wrap your mind around something?" She had always thought of smokers of pipes as thinkers, using smoke like the natives did still in many countries to give their head's focus, a touch of the spiritual world. Pulling the small notebook from her waist, she glanced over a few pages, checking her score. She wore no trophies, had no signs of the hunting the way most people thought of it. Her hunting was with her art, though the swords gave her the edge which caused most monsters except the maddened to give her a wide berth. She studied Grimp a second as he spoke, thinking about what little she did know of him. She had heard enough to know he had been involved as an auror while she was out of the country mostly during the war. That said enough about his competency for her; she had no wish to cross attitudes with the man.

With a flick of her head back at the forest she posted the question that had been bothering her for a good ninety minutes now. "Mind telling me what you know about the car in there? First time I've ever run across one of those roaming in a forest playing tag with a giant dog. They seemed friendly enough but I gave them a wide berth..." She wasn't going to mention the number of heads in case someone thought she'd been off smoking something much stronger. Her face said she hadn't felt threatened, but more curious about what an odd couple of creatures it had been to come across.

@grimp