From the Ashes

Who: Gerard and Haley
When: Wednesday, 4th Period, just after lunch (Nov 4th)
Where: Staff Lounge
What: Dammit, she's good.

Gerard was just burying his nose in one of the bags of coffee beans -- oh, this was totally a Bermeja Mountain blend day -- when he heard a rustle of cloth behind him. Someone else was in the staff lounge, and Gerard hadn't noticed. That was embarrassing. Maybe Schechter had a point about Gerard not dragging himself out of bed on full-moon days.

Still, once he had his coffee he'd be back in the game. He just needed to perform the spell to grind the beans to the right consistency, find the filters, assemble them and the coffee pot in some kind of configuration that would make the coffee come out, wait for the coffee to come out, and then drink the coffee. Then he could go back to lurking in the corridors and avoiding all human contact for the rest of his life.

But no one else should be in the staff lounge right now, Gerard had checked! Adam had a free period, sure, but  he'd definitely know better than to try sneaking up on Gerard the day after a full moon, especially before he'd had his coffee. And Gerard had just seen Brendon heading up to Hufflepuff Tower, so it couldn't be him. Gabe had a free period too, but he was off was doing something mysterious in the kitchens involving gelatin and a Muggle candy one of the students had brought in. Pop Pebbles or something like that. Any other day Gerard would have been intrigued, but his focus at the moment was more on remaining upright and capable of squashing evil if necessary.

Coffee was key. Gerard couldn't squash evil without coffee.

He left off trying to remember the grinding spell -- his last attempt had made the beans perform a weird salsa meringue number, but they were sadly still intact after they'd finished dancing around -- and turned to see who was foolish enough to try to interact with him.

"Oh no," he said reflexively, clutching the twitching coffee beans to his chest. Belatedly he remembered this was a bit impolitic, even for him. "I mean, uh. Healer Williams. Good morning. Afternoon. Er."

WHO: Adam and Bob... and Nate... and Hayley...
WHERE: Bob's House of Pain, aka the Infirmary, a corridor, and Hayley's Office of Doom.
WHAT: The few, the proud, the memory-having.
WHEN: Friday afternoon (11/13)

While Adam was not a fan of Bob, he had heard a rumor, and that rumor was something to the effect of the following: Bob Bryar, nurse extraordinaire, retained his memory in a way that - sweet Merlin - so many other teachers had not. And man, did Adam ever need some sympathy. And possibly someone to put him out of his misery.

That was why he aimed toward the infirmary, anyway. Bob would have fun spells and potions and unctions and whatever else and he would understand why it was so damn hard to be adult-but-trapped-in-a-teenaged body. Also, Bob was probably swimming in his robes just as badly as Adam was. Adam couldn't remember being this short. And now he was. And it was weird. Even thinking "At Least I'm Not Patrick Stumph" didn't make him feel any better.

He burst into the infirmary. "Bryar! I need help!" he said, hoping that, well, Bob was around to witness his dramatic entrance. Otherwise it was a waste.

Who Gabe and Hayley
When Early evening Tuesday (10/11)
Where A second-floor corridor
What Appeasing the clipboard

Hayley wasn't snooping, or at the very least, no one could prove that she was. For all intents and purposes, she was just a former student taking a stroll around the school. Or what was left of it. It was strange; she'd loved Hogwarts, in the vague, distracted sort of way you loved the places that served as the more important backdrops to your life at one point or another, never really so deeply she'd cried the last time she'd left her dormitory, or felt compelled to cut a piece of grass from the Quidditch pitch. Coming back, though, and seeing caved-in class rooms, corridors that ended in gaping chasms and ripped paintings deserted by their inhabitants felt sad, in a sharper and more profound way than she'd expected. The statue of Björn the Bonkers, of all things, blown half to smithereens in the middle of the hallway, had nearly reduced her to tears on her first pass. She hurried past it now with her eyes averted (silly) and rounded the corner, drawing up short in surprise when she suddenly found herself face to face (or face to chest) with Gabe.

Who: Hayley and William
When: Wednesday
Where: Hayley's office
What: The inevitable

It was ironic that after more than a week of avoiding Hayley and her clipboard, William was now seeking her out, but he had his reasons. His reasons, to date, included Spencer, Patrick, Mikey and Gerard, and he was worried that they would keep increasing.

There were staff members coming down with amnesia all over the castle, and no one so far had been able to find cause or cure. Then again, no one else knew that there was an Obliviation specialist present interviewing said staff members for mysterious reasons known presumably only to the Ministry, either. No one except for William.

Hayley's door was open. William closed it behind him and said, "We need to talk."

Who: Hayley and Spencer
When: Tuesday evening (backdated to after this)
Where: Hayley's office
What: Old schoolmates catching up and/or mild-mannered interrogation.

The thing was, Spencer liked Hayley. He had been on pretty friendly terms with her when they were in school, simply from spending so much time in the Ravenclaw Common Room, and he thought she was good fun, and generally a nice person. He didn't want to be an unfriendly bastard, and at the very least he wanted to be polite. Nevertheless, he felt that the potential of being a bit of a jerk was looming on the horizon, because Hayley Williams had ruined his evening, and Mikey didn't appreciate his pain. Mikey had gone so far as to laugh at Spencer's complaints, waving him away with an indecently red mouth and his eyes darker than usual, and now Spencer had to go and talk about zombies for a while and not think at all about that noise Mikey had made when Spencer bit just above his collarbone.

He was running late, too, hair rumpled and robes creased, and it probably didn't present the most professional image, especially considering that Hayley had already caught him once today in a cupboard being kissed. Stupid, stupid William, he thought, scowling, and then pulled up short at Hayley's door, running his hands through his hair one last time and sighing.

He knocked on the door, doing his best to appear friendly and ready for counselling or what-have-you, rather than horribly glum and slightly annoyed. To be completely honest to himself, Spencer didn't think he was having a terribly good success rate.

Who: Hayley and Travie
When: Mid-afternoon, Thursday 11/5
Where: Hayley's office thingy
What: Talkin' about some zombehs

After ducking out of and rescheduling two appointments, Travie figured he should cut the Ministry lady some slack. Well, she figured he should cut her some slack, and had cornered him and said as much that morning at breakfast. As a good Gryffindor, he just couldn't resist the slight damsel-in-distress overtone of her entreaty to please meet with her as she was just trying to do her job so she could get out of everyones' hair.

So he was keeping this appointment. It wasn't that he minded psychologists, he just didn't feel like rehashing all the zombie business again. Stay calm, carry on, have a cup of tea; it was practically written in his British, British genetics to resist long sobfests about the past. Okay, and maybe he minded psychologists a little.

Travis spent the walk to the guest quarters rehearsing and rearranging his explanation of the house elves so it would be as concise and quick as possible. Ms. Williams could get her job done and Travie could get back to his and they could carry the hell on. He knocked, shoved his hands in his pockets, and tried not to feel so very much like a kid waiting outside the headmaster's office for disciplining.

Who: William, Spencer, and Hayley
When: Mid-morning on Tuesday, break between classes.
Where: Fourth floor corridor
What: A dignified retreat

The day's teaching was off to an -- interesting start. Spencer had spent a fun forty-five minutes pulling Gryffindor and Slytherin firsties apart, wondering how on earth there could be this much vehemence between houses so early in the year. Had the Quidditch teams started training yet? Possibly there was a good explanation for it there, although not one satisfying enough to stop Spencer from issuing a dozen kids with detention for deciding that an appropriate measure to take in the argument involved throwing massive handfuls of mud at each other, much to the Dwittle Tree's dismay. He had NEWT kids next, at least, where early in the year meant that they were still frightened enough of the end of the year to be diligent in their studies. He was pretty sure he'd accidentally left a book in one of the empty classrooms up this way, though, in a tutoring session with a fifth year Ravenclaw, so he was giving up the normal cup of coffee at this hour to go looking for it.

The fourth floor corridor seemed a little more mysterious than usual, was the thing. Spencer wasn't sure if it was the unknown redheaded woman talking energetically to someone down at the other end, her back turned to him -- and she seemed really weirdly familiar -- or the broom cupboard that was making faint, rattling noises and apologetic huffs about a metre away from him.

Spencer squinted again down the corridor, wondering uneasily if everyone knew that the stranger was here and all was well and safe, or if maybe he should let Gerard or Schechter or someone know. Then she turned, slightly, and Spencer gaped -- was that Hayley Williams? Holy shit! he thought, wondering how many more of his old schoolfriends were going to turn up as potential colleagues or what-have-you. He was just about to go and make sure, mysterious rattling cupboard be damned, when the aforementioned cupboard started speaking.

Spencer supposed that kind of won out on the "which to investigate first" scale.