It was a route sort of check-in, one that he technically didn’t need to make, strictly speaking. Asking after his daughter and sister’s performance in their courses was perfectly normal - but seeing as the two of them were doing pretty well in most courses (History of Magic aside, in Cyhirae’s case) it was typically a very short meeting.

He’d read the Daily Prophet and heard the whispers in the halls, though. Finnigan was a nice woman, but not one he knew well enough to simply walk in and ask how she was holding up with one of her good friends dead. It was rather a personal inquiry, and for Tapendra those were easier made after testing the waters some, especially when dealing with a murder.

He made his way through the halls at a somewhat meandering pace. It was an off-hour, and a slighty odd hour for him – 9am, an hour before her classes started, and many an hour before his did. He was usually dozing on a couch around now, after the late night classes and his early morning routine.

The Transfiguration classroom hadn’t changed overly much from when he’d been a student; one look at it, as he turned the corner into the doorway, was enough to bring back memories of Minerva’s sharp glares, of sting rays and screaming and red ink all over his papers.

Not his best subject, transfiguration. He was glad that issue wasn’t genetic.

“Good morning,” he said, when he turned his gaze off the desks long enough to spot Effie. Her stature made her difficult to spot for him sometimes – how often had he run into her at the staff table in the last few weeks?

“Is this a bad time? I can come back later, if that works better,” he added after a moment, still hovering in the doorway.

Grading papers, eating meals, writing letters to Cooper and Declan; they were all little things that kept Effie on track and in line. It would have been easy, after the attack on the Evans to completely collapse in on herself. She and Cooper had been friends since they were in Hogwarts, and she'd adored his wife from the very first moment they met. As family oriented as the Transfiguration professor was (and she did love her own family) there was something special about being a part of Cooper and Bella's home.

They grew into proper people together, shared a history that just couldn't be replicated with anyone else. She would never be twenty-five and drunk on very cheap wine in their living room, bemoaning the fact she was aging too rapidly ever again. She would ever be able to sit and let Bella brush her hair for hours on end as they discussed babies and houses and when they might actually start to feel like adults. It had been just a few weeks ago she'd sat in their living room laughing hysterically as Cooper tried to put together last minute Christmas gifts.

Now, on this particularly chilly February morning, Effie was simply trying to put one foot in front of the other. When she glanced up at Tappy her smile was genuine, if her eyes a little far away. "Oh no, now's a lovely time. I was just thinking about making a cuppa. I could make it a double," she pushed herself back from the desk and slowly stood, "I don't usually see you around this time of morning. If I had classes that went to all hours of the night I don't think anything short of a dragon attack could pry me from my bed," she busied herself with a pot and some glasses before glancing over her shoulder, 'to what do I owe this early morning honor to"?

She seemed cheerful enough, and so he let himself in, stepping into the classroom as his hands fell to his sides. She certainly wasn’t bouncing off the walls – but bouncing off the walls would have been more worrying than reassuring, given the circumstances.

“That’d be lovely. Could use the pick-me-up,” he said, stopping just short of the main teacher’s table and leaning on the first row of pew desks. He could certainly use the caffeine, though he rather liked getting his via super-sugared coffee rather than the more traditional tea.

“Don’t ask me about when I sleep, it’s one huge mess. If I stuck to a purely late-night schedule I’d get nothing done and never see anyone.” It made late nights at Signature easier, that was for sure. Unappreciated job benefit, that. “And I’d miss breakfast. Best meal of the day.”

He was a bit too old be telling the elves to bring him pancakes at 3pm. It didn’t stop him, of course. But it did stop him from admitting to it.

“I was hoping to check in and see how the girls are doing,” he said, simply. “Cyhirae especially. She’s getting to the age where she’s distracted by more…social considerations, I suppose.” He slumped, slightly. He was in no way over the fact his little princess had a boyfriend.

Effie gave a sort of bemused nod, "I suppose that's true. How terribly lonely that would be"! She had no reason to suspect he was checking up on her, why should she? Her time in the castle had been brief, almost too brief to have made any real sort of friendships. She and Henry got along well and she liked Storm quite a lot, she and Declan had gotten to know one another a wee bit too... but none of those relationships felt like something sturdy enough to talk about her most recent heartbreak. In some ways it was best to just not think about it, if she pushed it away then there was no danger of her falling apart.

It was in this vain hope she went about setting the water to boil, filling the two old fashioned tea steeper spoons and setting out the sugar lumps. If she focused on her movements and the conversation she could almost feel like she was in the moment. Glancing up as he asked after the girls, her look was knowing. She'd often felt the urge to do the same for Poppy, she was a bright enough student but she was also loud, full of herself, and more than a little obnoxious when she wanted to be. Effie loved her dearly but she was well aware of the trials befalling parents (or Aunts) of fourth years.

"I haven't noticed a big change in Cyhirae. She's clever as always, and she's no more distracted with boys than any other girl her age," her eyes were soft and affectionate, as though she had a particular affinity for the tiny Trishna, and by proxy her father. "It isn't really my place to say, but I do find them rather remarkably well adjusted. I don't know how you manage it. Ronan had no idea what to do with Poppy after the divorce. She was such an handful and there's only one of her, Thank Merlin," she looked mildly horrified at the thought of multiple Poppys.

"Gigi is a good enough student, of course her attitude could use a little work but she's sixteen. She isn't disrespectful of course, but you can see her rolling her eyes every so often - which, if that's the worst thing she ever does in my classroom I'll have gotten off easy. I get far more flack from the likes of Báthory honestly. Now there is a child to watch out for," handing off one of the cups she perched against her desk, crossing her ankles, "But all in all none of them are that bad really. I've had far worse to be sure".

“Not too terribly, just full of acquaintances who stay up too late as well. Not the best caliber of people, unfortunately.” It was a bit of an off topic subject, he supposed, and her answer to his question was certainly through enough to divert him off that.

He listened thoughtfully as she spoke, nodding – and then raising an eyebrow. Georgiana was not, in his experience, described as a “good enough student” often, if at all. He suspected such a label would have made the girl rather put out. Still, it was reassuring to hear she wasn’t being reckless in her classes – and that Cyhirae wasn’t too focused on her social life. He’d have to hope she remained that way.

“You forget that in this castle, the other girls her age include the lively Miss Oliver,” he jested, with a wry smile. Winifred was hardly a model student for any reason whatsoever – unless one wanted enthusiasm, he supposed. Or a short attention span…

The girl was a handful, but a good friend to his daughter. He just wished she would stop screaming the fact he had abs – it was terribly, terribly embarrassing.

“Thanks,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Gigi must like you, then – disrespectful is her general byword, you know,” he said, tilting his head. “But I’m glad she isn’t giving you trouble. None of the other students making you pull your hair out, I hope?”

Effie's smile was a little bemused when Trishna brought up Winifred Oliver, a slight shrug to her shoulder, "Yes, but if Winnie is the worst of it I ever see then Cy's still pretty safe at the end of the day. Winifred has a good heart under all that obsession with being mature and boys. She seems to have even settled down a little bit now that she and Trumble are a pair. Still boy crazy of course, but more crazy about one boy in particular". Of course that hadn't helped her wand work so much it seemed, but she was steadily getting better and more sure of herself which Effie liked to see.

Sipping from her cup she was thoughtful for a moment, "I don't know about Gigi liking me so much as I learned a long time ago you can't force a student to behave in a model way, and fighting with them about any perceived rudeness only makes them lash out more. I've given her just enough rope to hang herself if she's ever too outlandish or troublesome. I think she knows that so she doesn't push me," Effie paused for a moment before giving a rueful sort of laugh, "Alternately that's all bollocks and she just thinks I'd run and tattle on her to you. Either way, I haven't any complaints".

She considered his question carefully and shook her head, "Pull my hair out? Not so much. Remi Filder could be a problem. He mostly sits to the side and glares at me. I'm sure he thinks he's very clever but he's in for a bit of shock once we get to the next level of magic. Confidence is important, pomp and condensation is not". Effie refrained from calling him a little twit and washing her hands of him completely. Whatever was going on in his little head, every student had a reason for behaving the way they did, "I even managed to get a modicum of cooperation from ó Fearghail. Of course MacFusty finds it endlessly amusing that he's already bigger than me. I just don't have the heart to tell him he should aim higher".