It was relatively late at night - before midnight, but just after curfew, ensuring that Landis had the staff room nearly to himself. Most of the professors seemed to retire when the students did, at least to their chambers if not to their beds, but Landis had always been a night owl. When he slept, he returned to his chambers, elegant and comfortless as they were. But otherwise he preferred the staff room, or the library with his office and the other back room for his potions. It was true that this habit of haunting areas with exits was a more recent addition to his behavior; while he remained as outwardly stoic as ever, his recent brush with Kronos had left him a little... unnerved. It was one thing to be perpetually paranoid, it was another thing to have his paranoia proved correct. Of course he did not neglect his duties, so the dungeons were occasionally stalked, but he paid equally careful attention to the corridor which contained both the potions classroom and Juliette's private workroom. She was not happy with him right now.
 
Now he sat on a couch near the window, one long leg laced over the other. On the small table next to him a quick quotes quill raced over a sheet of parchment as he spoke in low, measured tones; occasionally, Landis glanced over to make certain that its dictation was correct.
 
"Look into air-released preservation potions," he murmured. "And the supplies. Holly, perhaps - extract of sopohorous leaves - salt wood for the fire. Reset the charm on the Restricted section. Order new shelving - expand the far back wall. Review the staff additions. Encourage staff additions." He paused in thought. The quill hovered expectantly. "Make absolutely certain every last copy of Snog with the Squid has been completely removed." And on and on, in a voice carefully pitched not to carry. Not that the library spring cleaning list was really such a secret, but he didn't care to spoil the atmosphere for any others who chose to seek a measure of quiet in the staff room tonight.

The Spring Holidays needed to be longer, Tapendra thought. He still didn't feel like he'd had one, and it was already over. He trudged to the staff room, the soft padding of his bare feet barely a whisper on the flagstones but somehow loud with the halls this quiet. The snores of paintings filled the Grand Staircase, save for the few who stayed awake; with some of these, he exchanged a friendly nod. A soft whispering echoed from around the castle as distant paintings chattered, and the 3rd years returned to their dorms from their lesson with him.

His goal was the staff room, and its round the clock supply of coffee cakes and tasteless biscuits. He had work to do and needed the coffee they stored there, too. He was behind on his latest book, as his mail was reminding him. They needed the text to get the illustrations done, after all...

He opened the staff room door quietly, and paused, closing it behind him. Morgan sat, apparently asleep, and a gentle scratch scratch scratch filled the room over the blonde's gentle snores. Walking quietly, he found the trail of the source; in front of Landis sat a piece of parchment, covered in writing that tapered off into "...". The line of dots filled the parchment, went down the table, to the floor, over Landis's extended legs, and under the couch towards the wall.

Stepping around Landis, Tapendra found the writing-quill carefully making its way up the wall. He plucked it up by the tip if the feather, and then tapped Landis on the shoulder politely, holding the quill out to him.

"I see the Library's administration is as riveting as ever," he said, cheerfully.

Landis woke with a silent start, wide eyes alighting on the quill that Tappy held out. He took it slowly, his gaze flicking from that up to Tappy's face. Then he smiled, an absent expression, as if it'd taken him that long after waking to remember how to do it. "Quite."

He didn't remember falling asleep. How very embarrassing. He had been dreaming, though, some convoluted mess whose images were already fading - it was unusual for Landis to remember his dreams. He remembered the feeling, though, deep unease and something sharper, something like fear. It was good that Trishna had woken him, even if he should have never fallen asleep here in the first place. That was what avoiding his bedroom got him. Well, it could have been worse - it could have been Juliette, and given her attitude towards him at the moment he'd be lucky to wake in the same shape.

Landis frowned down at the quill in his hands, the expression on his face twisting into annoyance as he noticed the inky dots over the legs of his trousers, the wood of the table, and, behind him, part of the wall. "Scourgify," he muttered as he drew his wand, and the line vanished as he traced its path with his wandtip.

He nodded, businesslike, as Landis took the quill back. He couldn't keep his eyes from drifting to the paper, though, as he headed over to the small kitchenette to start making coffee. His lips curved into a slight smile. Some things never changed, did they?

Tapendra pulled the ground coffee tin from one of the shelves as Landis cleaned the ink mess up, a bit more comfortable with making noise now that the man was awake - and more comfortable saying something after the quick smile. "Did a student slip smut into the library again?" He asked, casually. "Snog with the Squid, is it - it was Vivacious Veelas in the late 80's." He still had a copy somewhere, stashed both for reminiscent reading and a good laugh. He'd found it tucked into an Astronomy textbook. Best book ever, for a growing boy. With a good imagination. (And in the case of Vivacious Veelas, good visual aides)

Snog with the Squid sounded much more... modern, though. Possibly written with the help of the internet. Not that that was always a good thing. He'd seen what the internet could cook up.

"Yes," Landis said dryly, now prowling around the other side of the chair to check for any sneaky drops of ink. On the table the quill twitched in non-sentient guilt, the inkwell now securely capped and off-limits. "I know the student who did it, too." Erin had already been punished for the act, mid-January when Landis had first caught him sneaking a copy back into a book in the Ancient Runes section. He didn't know whether Erin was the originator of the book or if he'd simply found it; Landis liked to assume the former, mostly because any excuse to do terrible things to Erin was a good one and probably deserved - also because if he thought more than two seconds about his brother procuring, owning, or looking at porn he put himself right off his dinner. He hadn't done a raid in a while, though, mostly because it was difficult to guess where - if anywhere - such books were hiding among thousands and thousands of others.

"Vivacious Veelas sounds more exciting. This one merely has some upsetting woodcuts."

He tried not to think too hard about the fact that he was making pleasant conversation with Tapendra Trishna. He hated the man's modern opinions, but Trishna had been brisk and professional enough during the Splinching incident to earn himself a little grudging respect. This was not the first time they had exchanged words outside of an emergency situation, but their conversations tended to be brief and stilted as they sought for topics on which they would not adamantly disagree. Landis should have supposed that porn would break the ice.

"I can imagine," he said, and wished he was joking. He'd grown up around that Squid. It was rather disappointing to think of it as the subject of...woodcuts. Especially upsetting ones.

"What did, or will, you do to him?" It had to be a boy, of course. A girl wouldn't have spread it through the library. If Georgiana and Judy were like most girls, she'd have thrown it out, or just kept it for herself. He smirked. "Taking points doesn't seem like..." He could have said enough, but that wasn't the case; make the punishment fit the crime, and all that. "Well." He shrugged. "Just seems a bit of an easy punishment. For such a transgression."

He could think of plenty of ways to discipline such a student. Making them read the book out loud to the 7th years, for example, or to their Head of House and..ohh, their parents. That'd show 'em.

Tapendra didn't seem to think much of the casual chat. In a way, that was the case all the time - but in the case of Landis, well, he knew of the man's views, and in some ways they didn't bother him. Provided Landis didn't force them on the children or actively on others, Tapendra could forget them - and be happily unaware of how hypocritical that made his own curriculum. And Ignan thought highly of Landis, too, which...helped. Maybe it shouldn't have, but it did.

"Taking points doesn't seem like...Well. Just seems a bit of an easy punishment. For such a transgression."

"Agreed." He didn't say, it was a Slytherin, although Trishna would have known immediately if he'd said it that he hadn't taken points. Favoritism was one thing, but there was no need to flaunt it. And, despite the fact that he certainly had punished Erin already: "No, I haven't done anything yet. I've been trying to think of something suitably creative." A pause, as he tucked his wand away and glanced over at Tappy. "Any suggestions?"

A professor would hardly approve of the curses he'd hit Erin with; neither brother ever told. Some things were family business alone. But Landis was interested in the sort of punishments Trishna could think up. The other man seemed much better at inventive yet entirely school-appropriate ideas, as indicated by his quick "Silencio!" when that first year brat had been screaming her head off after Ignan's splinching. It had honestly not occurred to Landis, at the time, that there was a spell less violent than taking her tongue off to make her shut up; Trishna's quick draw was surprisingly simple, yet it never would have been Landis' first or even second thought. That probably said a lot about him as a person. He tended to forget those simple, painless spells. He could pretend to be a librarian, oh, yes, he could blend in very well at that. But the children still made him lose his temper, and that was one aspect he'd never been able to tamp down to the level of mild-mannered Hogwarts staff. Therefore, he was fully prepared to be at least mildly impressed at Trishna's effective, parental-friendly ideas.

"Hm." He'd set the coffee grounds aside and was waiting for the kettle to boil, so he turned, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed over his stomach.

"It'd depend on the student, really," he said. "For a punishment for that sort of thing, well..." He tried to figure out how to put this. "Most students 5th and up likely wouldn't think of it as a big deal. 'But of harmless fun, Professor, why are you old people such buzzkills' and that sort of thing. So, really, for most ofthem, lecturing them about appropriate behavior only works on the sort of students who wouldn't do it in the first place - therefore, useless on that group. Same with the classic detention. They'd just sit there like this," And he did a very good imitation of the crossed arms, sullen glare and eyeroll of a student who oh my gawd, did not care.

Drumming his fingers on his elbow, he considered the options of student types. "For the vast majority, and some of the Gryffindors, physiological would be the best way to go. If you can't make them consider or understand why such a thing isn't appropriate, make them fear the punishment enough to not do it again. It's a good life lesson. Humiliation works well for that."

He found himself stroking his beard and stopped. "I'm sorry, I'm thinking out loud. Basically, I'd call their parents in and make the student read the book out loud to them." His smile was quick and slightly shark-like. "For a lot of students the mere threat of that is enough to make them freak out, especially the Hufflepuffs - most of them only rebel because their parents aren't watching. For the 10% that are firmly in the 'I don't care what my parents think! I do what I want!' camp, well, the chimneys always need cleaning." He didn't like being sassed. He'd had to dole that punishment out exactly once, though he didn't think word had gotten around.

Landis considered this. The thought of being anywhere present to his brother reading porn while his mother's face hovered in the flames was an extremely harrowing one. Landis didn't particularly care much for his mother, but he was very fond of his eardrums. He supposed it was a good thing that Juliette was angry with him; the mental image was not kind to his libido. Perhaps he could lock Erin in a room with the thing.... ? Ah, but then the boy would never read it.

"It would be a valid suggestion," he said slowly. "Were the student in question not a relative. I have little desire to bear the insuing psychological damage as well." The chimney idea would be a good one too, but Erin had not followed in his fastiduous brother's footsteps. The boy was no stranger to filth. He would probably enjoy the experience. "I am sure that for any other student it would be a very effective punishment."

"Hah, yes, relations certainly....sour that." Though in the case of his relations, he was the parent too, so that point was moot; but the girls knew he could make their lives living hell if they pushed him. "Chimney, then. Sort and unpleasant, and not something they want to repeat, in my experience."

The kettle started to gently stream; he held his hand over the vapor for a moment to check it. "There's also the odd student who'd enjoy horrifying their parents. Those are definitively chimney cases." He sighed.

"I hope my sister doesn't cause you too much trouble," he said, referring to Georgiana. "You've got an...interesting house as it is, with Knight and the rest..." Brain cells, tired from the night's coffee-fueled sermon, fired.

"Your relation put porn in the Library?" he asked out loud, snapping his jaw shut when he'd said it, his brow furrowing. A prank likely designed specifically to get at Landis, then. Oh dear. "Ah. What'd you do?"

"Gigi's a good girl," Landis said dismissively. "Mostly. If she's doing anything untoward, she's being sufficiently sneaky about it. No trouble so far." 'Sufficiently sneaky' and 'good' were the same thing in Landis' books. "And Knight hasn't been a problem for a while now. When the ringleaders quiet down, the rest do too."

It took Trishna a second, but he twigged. Landis, now ensconsed in his original seat, met Tappy's eyes. He raised his pale eyebrows at the other's surprise, and then gave a liquid shrug. Yes, his careless posture seemed to say. For exactly the reasons you'd think.

He'd only mentioned it because he knew Trishna had relatives here at the school at well, and would be familiar with the issue of how to fairly punish kin. Not that Landis was much interested in the "fair" part....

"Nothing, yet. As I said. I'm biding my time." Completely untrue, but he was storing all this away for later use. This was not the first time Erin had done something in - or to - the library to anger him. Landis was sure it would not be the last. Thank Merlin the twit didn't know about his London apartment. Not that Landis would have given him a key - he did not want his brother's filthy fingers all over his things, as if living with him for a decade hadn't been bad enough - but knowing Erin's delight in "revenge," he likely wouldn't have an apartment to come back to. Of course, should he ever try his hand at firestarting any of Landis' things again... Landis would simply have to kill him. "It's not like I don't know where he lives."

"She certainly suits Slytherin," he said, with a smile that had a bit of pride to it. "Though her ability to sneak is rather annoying, I admit, when she's doing it to me." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Half the staff is wondering just what you did to Knight, you know. He seems to have decided to live up to his name, if what I've heard is true. He's not just stopped causing trouble, he's apparently almost a new student." Not that he'd really know. Knight was sullen as ever in Astronomy, but he didn't cause trouble.

His smile got that shark like edge to it, for just a moment. "I've found family both easier and harder to control," he said. "They both expected I'd let them get away with more, when I first was hired on. It's rather the opposite." He shrugged, in a kind of all-encompassing way. "If you can't keep your own family's children under control, why should anyone trust you with other peoples'?"

He had the upper hand, as well; in the case of the girls, he controlled their home during the summer. The threat of a summer without television had worked with Georgiana until recently; now she'd try to make him miserable back. "I'm lucky, admittedly - in the case of my daughter, the Ravenclaws actually care about the House Cup, so taking points away makes her housemates angry at her. I don't envy Myrni; the Gryffindors likely high-five each other for sticking it to the man."

That said, he cocked his head. "I can't think of another Morgan. Different surname?"

Landis smiled a smile so demure a saint would have been jealous. A sinner would likewise have approved of the sly little edge. "I did nothing more than talk to him. The boy's improvement is his own, and for his own reasons." He had only needed to remind Knight of those reasons. Callum was honorable in that old pureblood way and took his own initiative towards correcting his behavior. Landis was not particularly snug about his own part in it - he knew that Knight had only needed the prompting which was, after all, simply his job to do. But the boy's rapid about-face, which puzzled students and staff alike, reflected very well on Slytherin. Landis was pleased and, someone brave enough might venture, possibly even proud.

Landis agreed entirely with Trishna's view on the proper control of family members. It was rather surprising. He had not expected to agree with the other man about much of anything.

The smile disappeared, replaced by his usual impassive expression and tainted ever-so-slightly with something more, something unreadable - perhaps irritation. "Harper. Erin." Landis had many relatives at the school - two female cousins, without the Morgan name, directly from his aunt, then the Inkwood boys, from his other aunt and his vampiric he-would-not-admit-it-uncle, and then a whole slew of more distant cousins as well as Hannah and Erin. Part of being a pureblood; he was related to half the population here at school.

He laughed. "In a way, I'm disappointed. We had a long list of ideas. Most of them fairly outlandish, admittedly." He smirked, remembering Georg's suggestion of Durmstrang-style torture. That seemed unlikely. Knight likely would have made a big deal about that, since at Hogwarts that wasn't appropriate or looked on fondly. "I forget what Ignan's guess was." Possibly hexing, given Ignan's own punishments.

The smile caused him to quirk an eyebrow, but Tapendra's naturally smiley nature meant he returned it without a second thought.

"Erin Harper? Ah, yes," he said, remembering the name mostly via other students. Harper was quiet in his class, for the most part, but most of the trouble makers were - they just slept through it, or assaulted him with their apathy.

"I don't envy you. He seems a bit of a handful," he said, his smile showing he meant that in jest. "Harper...related to Hannah Harper, then?"

"I assure you it required nothing so formiddable as the things Ignan had in mind," Landis said smoothly. "There may have been some pointed threats - " he laughed, to show that he was joking (he wasn't) - "But Knight's decision was, again, his own. He's done well, hasn't he? I no longer fear a relapse."

Casual, casual - the tension in Landis' shoulders eased at Trishna's cheerfully thoughtless evaluation.

"Quite," he said, and packed into that word all the exasperation and annoyance he imagined an ordinary older brother would feel. And: "Oh, yes. She's spoken to me of your class before."