Genesis
I turned the brass handle slowly, the metal cool beneath my fingertips, and pushed the door open.
Inside, the Headmaster, a man perpetually encased in tweed, was seated behind his impossibly large mahogany desk, his hands clasped together on its gleaming surface. My eyes, ever drawn to the details, darted to the paintings and framed pictures that covered the wall behind him. They were mostly academic portraits of stern-looking figures, some with ancient-looking scrolls, others with what looked like complicated magical diagrams. It took me a full minute, my focus caught by a particularly grumpy-looking wizard, to realize there was someone else in the room.