Experience is the teacher of all things.
~Julius Caesar

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Gathering up the last of the papers from the morning classes that needed grading, Isaac headed down the hall.  Lunch in the Great Hall could seem a bit chaotic and he usually chose the quite of his office.  Usually it gave him a few minutes to re-group and it provided anyone needing assistance with an opportunity to find him before any afternoon work sessions.

Entering the office he set the papers down on the desk and settled in the chair.  Opening the letter that had also been waiting for him he decided to see what it was his publisher wanted now.  It had come that morning by owl, but he had chosen to ignore it.  Whatever it was, it could wait.  He had a due date for his final revision and it wasn't for another few weeks.

Skimming the letter it seemed to be nothing more then a request for an update and to see a few more pages.  At least it wasn't a demand to move up his due dates and he didn't need to venture into the publisher's office.  It was set aside quickly in favor of glancing over the essays he had just collected in class.

It wasn't long before a knock at the door drew his attention away from the essay and he called, "Come in."

As had become his usual lunch time pattern, Sasha had gone straight from the Charms classroom to the Great Hall and had filled up his tin backpacking mess kit with whatever vegetarian fare was being offered that day.  A pair of apples and a couple wheat rolls had been carefully placed in the front pocket of his bag and Sasha slipped back out of the Great Hall moments later.  Those rations would be sufficient for both lunch and dinner, eliminating the need to descend from the Astronomy tower for food after the hour seminar period just to climb back up to study during dinner and before Astronomy class.  It bought him an easy forty-five minutes of extra study time. 

But, rather than make the long climb up to the Astronomy tower, the Ravenclaw found himself in the first floor corridor, outside Professor Frasier's office.  He knocked twice on the office door and stepped inside when invited. 

"Sir?" Sasha offered, approaching the desk but taking care not too look too closely when he realized the pages were students' essays.  He wasn't sure in they were essays from his own class but he wasn't too worried; if he'd ever had any challenges in Muggle Studies it had been submitting essays that didn't surpass the upper length limit.  "I hope I'm not disturbing you during your lunch."  But, if the man was eating he was doing an excellent job at hiding his food. 

In the event Professor Frasier was mid-meal, Sasha could make his comments brief.  "I just wanted to ... I'm glad you chose to come back," Sasha offered, earnestly.  Muggle Studies was hardly the glamorous class at Hogwarts; it was more like the that kid sister the football star kept around because doing anything to her would look bad.  Certainly less glamorous than a Ministry appointment at a new Department.  It was, arguably, the least popular class but - as such - Sasha had always found those classes to be the tightest.  Most academically intimate.  Only those that really really wanted to take it were there. 

"I mean, if they couldn't find someone, for all we know they would have had one of the Durmstrang Professors covering it.  And, that would have been ... not fun."

Isaac was a little surprised to see Sasha enter his office.  They were a few weeks into the school year and it seemed the only visitors he had been getting were students were third years confused by the basics of Muggle life.  The beginning of the year often meant a fresh reminder of why he detested the topic of toasters.

"You're not disturbing me at all," he said, setting the essays aside and motioning to the chair on the other side of the desk if Sasha wanted to stay.  "I was previewing the fourth year essays before settling in."

"I mean, if they couldn't find someone, for all we know they would have had one of the Durmstrang Professors covering it.  And, that would have been ... not fun."

He offered the young man a smile.  The truth of the matter was that once he had tried to start a new career at the Ministry he had instantly found himself missing the school.  Hogwarts had been a major part of his life, and he had probably learned more about himself while teaching then he ever had running around a jungle.

"Thank you," he said.  "It didn't take much to convince me to come back.  I started teaching out of the necessity to actually be close to home...and I've come to realize that it's exactly what I need to be doing."

Opening a desk drawer and pulling out a lunch sack he added, "You're welcome to stay, if you'd like.  I haven't seen you around the Great Hall much for meals..."  The truth was he hadn't been able to really catch up with Sasha.  While as a teacher he wasn't really supposed to have favorites, he knew that the young man was on his list.

Sasha grinned slightly at the stack of papers and nodded.  "Fourth year," Sasha considered aloud.  Fourth year seemed like such a faded, distant memory.  More like a the murky coagulation of various images from a barely-remembered dream than an actual memory.  Fourth year, Professor Greyfriar had still been Headmaster and all of his secrets were still tucked safely inside their boxes.  Life hadn't been easy but it had been normal. 

While the Ravenclaw struggled to remember going through motions of the year, studying for O.W.Ls last spring had jogged his memory about class materials.  "First term, fourth year.  Muggle modes of transportation?  I remember a lengthy essay on the history of airplanes.  And, they're impact on social and cultural isolationism.  But, that might have been second term." 

Professor Frasier had noticed Sasha's scarcity at the Great Hall.  Sasha took a deep breath and sighed, nodding his head.  The last thing he needed was another lecture about his workload.  He had it coming from that new counselor.  And, his head of house.  Everyone had their own theories as to which classes he should drop.  Unfortunately, Muggle Studies seemed to be one recommendation that came up frequently.  A topic he should probably broach.  Sasha was still convinced he could find a way to make this class work in his favor.

"No.  I don't really have a lot of free time.  I still haven't figured out what, if any, classes I want to drop." Sasha confessed.  He fished in his bag and tugged out his backpacking tin.  "I tend to stop by and fill it at the start of lunch and then, you know, graze while I study during lunch and dinner.  It's too noisy in the Great Hall during meals and I know it's only a matter of time before someone spills their pumpkin juice on my essays.  And, ... I don't know.  School feels weird this year.  I'm not really comfortable being in the Great Hall.  It sometimes feels those SAWS kids have marked me as their villain.  And, I haven't even really done anything.  I kind of just stick to people I know."