"Septima! In charge of this year's betting pool, I see?"
Professor Kettleburn entered the staffroom before clunking noisily over to where Professor Vector stood. The Arithmancy teacher was setting up a rather complicated looking chart on the wall above a small sideboard table.
"Ah, Professor Kettleburn. The man of the hour," Vector hummed monotonously, as she finished affixing the chart to its place on the wall with a final sweep of her wand. She then went about conjuring up a quill and inkwell to set on the table.
Kettleburn's jovial smile slowly slid off of his face, replaced instead with curious trepidation. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked cautiously as Vector strode past him, picking up a small wooden box from the long staff table. The box had a narrow slot in its lid, it sounded as though there were already several heavy coins rattling around inside of it.
"See for yourself," Vector suggested coolly, placing the box under the chart. "However, I wish to assure you that I did not pick the… subject of this years lottery, myself."
Side stepping the witch as she began weaving several locking and anti-tampering spells onto the box, Kettleburn gazed up at the rows and columns that made up the betting table. The left column was numbers, one through ten, indicating the number of galleons the better wished to wager, though there was a limit of ten galleons per professor. That part was to be expected. But as Kettleburn tilted his head to get a look at the labels along the top row…
It was a list of body parts. Kettleburn's own remaining body parts. And apparently, the staff was all betting on what he was going to lose next.
"Wha-! What is the meaning of-!" Kettleburn stammered as he noticed there were already initials in some of the boxes. MM indicated that Minerva McGonagall had placed a modest two galleons on him losing two or more teeth. PS suggested that Pomona Sprout had a less chipper Hufflepuff outlook than she let on, as she bet five galleons that he would be losing his remaining hand, while her other 5 were bet against his foot. And SS had placed all of his allotted galleons on…
Kettleburn's entire face went red as he sputtered on the verge of apoplexy, "Did Severus really put ten galleons on me losing my…! MY…!"
"He must have heard the rumor that you were bringing in Tatzelwurms," Vector mentioned conversationally. Her spells complete, she withdrew a small purse from her plum colored robes and started fishing for a galleon. "They are conveniently waist height." She dropped one galleon into the box, before taking up the quill and dipping it into the ink. She bent over the table to write SV several spaces above SS. "And you do wear a kilt after all."