From the Ashes

WHO: Adam and Z
WHERE: the grounds.
WHAT: Clumsiness. Snow.
WHEN: Early evening, Tuesday (2/2)

All Adam really wanted out of life was the chance to have a cigarette before tutoring with Z. However, he worked in a school, and schools tended to be crawling with students, on principle. Which meant that he had to sneak through corridors and doors and out onto the grounds and find somewhere secluded enough that he could suck down a cigarette (or two, if he was fast enough, and often was) in peace and quiet.

Whether it was by some magical force or by the clumsiness brought on by having to walk everywhere in snow boots, Adam ended up on his back in a snow drift. He was pretty sure that one leg was going the other direction than he was laying. A bit of wiggling reassured him that it wasn't broken, just twisted and burning with the fire of a thousand suns.

That was just. Fucking. Delightful.

Adam let out a long-suffering sigh and fumbled his wand out of his pocket, pulling his hood up behind his head and casting imperviate to keep the snow from seeping through any more than it already was. It even kind of worked on the cold, which was nice. He then found his pack of cigarettes, lit up, and blew smoke rings into the blue sky above him.

It was just that kind of day.

Who: Z and OPEN
When: Friday, January 29
Where:  The corridors and staircases leading towards the Arithmancy classroom
What: An attack of Z's usual clumsiness or something more sinister?

Fridays were generally Z's favorite weekday. She had the fewest classes, and even after filling in for more Ancient Runes classes, she still had several free blocks. She'd taken advantage of her free second period to take a nap which was an excellent decision at the time and in the long run. But right now? it was a terrible decision.

She overslept and was literally running late. And of course, the Arithmancy classroom was in the opposite direction most of the student body seemed to heading, so she was running into the treacherous sea of teenagers. Z didn't bother with apologies as she and her bookbag hit people. She was going to be so late and Nolan probably wouldn't be terribly pleased if she came in ten minutes late without a decent excuse. Z ducked between a pair of fourth years and finally made it to what she hoped would be the right staircase-it'd be her luck that today was one of the days the damn castles decided it needed a change and sent the left staircase that actually made it to the fifth floor somewhere else entirely. As the staircase moved, she forced herself to take the stairs as quickly as possible. It was a bit nauseating to seriously try and move up or down the staircases when they were moving, but it was necessary this time. Z refused to look down and was three-quarters of the way up the stairs (and gasping for breath-she was never going to smoke ever again. she was serious about it this time) when the staircase locked on the fifth floor.

"Oh thank god," she gasped as she ran up the next few steps. She was going to make it to class on time if she outright ran down the corridor. Focusing on breathing and gearing up for one last sprint, Z didn't realize her footing wasn't secure on the uneven stair (and was it more uneven and slanted than unusual?) and she fell backwards down most of the flight of stairs with a scream.

Who: Victoria and Gabe
When: Tuesday, January 26, evening
Where: Restricted Section
What: One Head of House job, two professors, lots of issues (and probably many witnesses).

Victoria had allotted Tuesday evening to her wards research. She had made her way to the library, past the librarian's desk, from which the librarian was fortunately absent at the moment of her arrival, and all the way back to the Restricted Section, where she was selecting an armfull of volumes for examination, probably in her office. The impulse to sneak by William was craven, and she knew it, but she still wasn't ready to discuss the Prophet's campaign and she expected the subject to come up. And it wasn't like she was a Gryffindor to have to care about denying her cowardly impulses. She'd had to deal with the curious stares of students of all four houses for the last two days. That was enough without having to analyse her own impulses on the matter, Ravenclaw-style.

Wards research was, in a welcome contrast, quite soothing. Find the book, read the relevant sections, take notes as needed for later cross-referencing. Lather, rinse, repeat. She'd been at it for perhaps a quarter-glass, ignoring the rest of the world, when she realised she was no longer alone in the Restricted Section. She didn't think it was William, but maybe if she ignored whoever it was, they would go away and leave her to her work.

Who: Adam and Z
When: Tuesday, January 26, last period
Where: Adam's office
What: Officially a DADA tutoring session. Really it's a chance for Z to deal with her emotions and get some perspective

Z knocked on Adam's office door twice to let him know she was there, then entered without permission. She took a seat in front of Adam's desk and probably looked exactly like the frazzled and stressed out twenty-one year old she usually hid behind smart remarks, short skirts and keeping her distance.

"How do you teach them? They're all horrible little monsters who don't do their work or care about the subject or respect me. God, I could just kill the 6th years-they're all right little smug bastards who think they know shit about Runes when really, most of them are somewhere between 4th and 5th year level because they haven't had proper classes until they got to Hogwarts."

Z paused for breath and settled into her chair a bit more comfortably.

"Hello Adam. Today I got to teach three Runes classes, including what was my own 7th year class right up through yesterday. I want to slap the headmaster for having Healer Bryar take over the class when he doesn't know the subject. I'd also like to eviscerate most of the Ancient Runes students. I would also like to garrote Beckett with his hair and I would give someone's heart to have the Concerned Wizards of Britain stop mucking about with my House. Also, you and I need to chat about wards and why Victoria Asher knows all about this project. I want her in on it, obviously. But I certainly did not expect to have a conversation with her about this last week."

Who: Bob and William
When: Tuesday, January 26th
Where: The Hospital Wing
What: Making amends. If possible.

Voluntarily walking into the Hospital Wing wasn't generally something William was prone to doing, but Bob did have a point in that they weren't certain yet of what effects the monitoring charm might produce. It couldn't hurt to have a Healer look at it, now that the Kneazle was out of the hat. Besides which, he did genuinely respect Bob's opinion, and going around him had put something of an edge on their interactions.

Bob didn't always take breakfast with the rest of the staff, and when he hadn't today, it had seemed as good an opportunity as any. William waited in the doorway to make sure that Bob wasn't busy with patients before walking in and taking a seat on one of the examination tables. "Good morning, Healer Bryar," he said quietly. "If you're free..." He slid the sleeve of his robe back, undid the button on his shirt sleeve and rolled the cuff to expose the dark gleam of fresh ink. "...I wondered if I might have a moment of your time for that discussion you requested yesterday."

Who: Bob, Z, and William.
When: Monday, January 25th, lunchtime
Where: Library
What: Bob is not a teacher. He knows nothing about Ancient Runes. Who thought this was a good idea again? (Also, William is a Christmas tree.)

It was really time to face the fact that students couldn't be expected to read from their textbooks for the entirety of the school year. If such practices were acceptable teaching methods, no one would bother with school and teachers and it would all just be book work. To that end, Bob had dragged himself into the library to learn a little about Ancient Runes and try to cobble together some sort of lesson plan. Hopefully Beckett wouldn't discover him and toss him out on his ass for eating among the books. Or if Bob was discovered, the librarian would be so offended by Bob's teaching methods that he might volunteer to create lesson plans for Bob? That was a really nice thought, but somehow Bob sincerely doubted it would play out that way.

Who: John and Mikey
When: Evening, Monday, January 25th
Where: Outside, the Quidditch Pitch
What: Catching up with an old acquaintance

Mikey slammed the lid shut on the Bludger case and then promptly sat on it. They were not having a repeat of the week before where they'd all been in but he'd hadn't flipped the locks down fast enough. No, this time he was handling it like a pro.

Riding out the bumps, he reached down, shoved the metal clasps to closed and finally relaxed. Gerard was giving the post-practice talk in the changing rooms, so all he had left to do was levitate the last of the kit to the broom-shed and lock up. Then he could go inside, get something warm to eat, and maybe do some nice marking.

Tucking a lurking Quaffle under his arm, he marched over to the waiting sack to put it away.

Who: Gabe and Z
When: Monday, January 25
Where: Gabe's classroom/office
What: Z wants to make sure Gabe's still up for helping her earn an "E" on her potions NEWT

After Z's last class of the day (Herbology and why had she thought taking that was such a great idea to begin with?) Z swung by Gabe's office, hoping to catch him. She knocked and without waiting for a response, she entered.

Gabe was doing something. Z cleared her throat, in case he hadn't noticed her presence already.

"In class you said we got to ask you three questions unrelated to Potions. I have three for you now. Do you know Matthew St. Johns and if you do, can you write me a letter of introduction? I think he has a book I rather desperately need. Second, does my essay really have to be fifteen inches? You know I can get to the point and make a good argument in less space and I have to do stuff to get ready for tomorrow's Sixth Year Runes class and some notes to go over on the wards project I'm working on. Finally-"

Here Z paused for a second, and then in a much less business-like tone (but not one too overly familiar) she asked "How are you doing with everything?"

Who: Staff and TAs
When: Monday morning, January 25
Where: The staff lounge
What: Staff meeting about upcoming bad press

Enough people were present for Brian to start the staff meeting.

“Right, so I know things have been a little hectic-” Brian ignored the snorts and someone’s laughter and continued. “Yes, I know, it’s been fucking insane. You all knew that by the end of your first week and didn’t resign then, so suck it up. Hazards of the job and all.”

He waved his wand and a proof copy of this morning’s Daily Prophet shot out. It zoomed around the room for a few seconds before docilely floating next to Brian. He ignored the paper and its antics.

“I imagine that most of you have been ignoring the letters to the editor and op-ed pieces in recent issues of the Prophet, since no one actually cares about typographical errors and mis-attributed photographs or what barmy wizards think about Ministry polices. Time to start paying attention now.

“Some disgruntled parents and Hogwarts alums have been writing in, mostly to bitch about what we’ve been doing with the school. I’ve got a stack of letters about that on my desk, I’m sure most of you have gotten a few since you started. Someone’s been organizing them in a group, Concerned Wizards of Britain. They’re starting to make more noise and get some attention. They petitioned to meet with me and the Board of Governors this weekend about some of the decisions I’ve made-staff I’ve hired. Obviously, I’m not just going to give in to their whims and Rita Skeeter’s protégé got wind of the story. It’s front page of this morning’s Daily Prophet.”

Brian duplicated his paper and sent the copies whizzing around, one for each person present. One of the headlines screamed

“DO WE TRUST OUR CHILDREN TO FOREIGN WIZARDS?”

Below that, other headlines read:

“Is "Change" a good thing? Does Hogwarts need a new perspective?”

“Must we reinvent our school?”

“Where are all the British professors?”

Brian let everyone take a moment or two to read the headlines and think about them.

“So, the school’s under attack in the paper. Mostly it’s focused around my decision to hire foreign-born staff and keep Professor Saporta as the Head of Slytherin in light of hiring Professor Asher. It’s bullshit, we’re figuring it’ll blow over soon, but I wanted to tell you all before copies start getting distributed in the Great Hall.”

Brian collected his copy of the paper and rearranged his robes slightly. “So, I’ll be in my office dealing with Howlers and letters if anyone needs me. Owl or fire-call me if something comes up you can’t handle.” With that, Brian left the staff lounge.

Who: John & Adam
When: Sunday morning
Where: the Bakery in Hogsmeade

John woke up sweaty, feeling like someone was looming over him, repeatedly casting the Cruciatus curse with wand pointed directly at his forehead.  The next target was his stomach, a gut-wrenching twist of his insides, and then the dry-heaving started.  'Oh, great,' he thought. 'Another hangover.'  Having been unable to secure the hangover potion from Bryar before leaving the castle, he knew he'd have to settle for another of nature's wonder cures...coffee.  He made his way to the bathroom and cleaned up as best he could, but even he could admit he was looking a little rough.  A huge, bear-like stretch later, and he was shrugging his pants back on and putting on a t-shirt, before bundling up under his pea coat and green scarf.

He made his way out of the Three Broomsticks, letting his nose lead the way to the best bakery in all of Hogsmeade.  The smell of pastries made his stomach simultaneously turn and feel incredibly empty, and as he wasn't sure which ending would be reality, he decided not to eat anything when he arrived outside the little shop.  Reaching for the door handle, he was surprised as the door flew open and he was knocked backwards by a tall, solid object, which he recognized seconds later to be the curvy backside of a man who'd been trying to push the door open with full hands.  "Merlin, watch where you're going!" he exclaimed in a huff, after regaining his balance.  His agitation rose as the man turned.

WHO: Adam & John
WHERE: Hogsmeade
WHAT: Celebratus Interruptus
WHEN: Saturday, January 23; Evening


The only real downside to having a teaching position at Hogwarts for Adam was that he was required to be at the school, teaching classes, five days out of the week. It was different from when he worked with the government and could move days around, or take days off whenever he felt like it. He couldn't just have someone stand in for him - he'd found that out the hard way back when his students didn't respect him, much less some substitute. But he was trading his liquid schedule for being in one place, trading being able to do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted for a home and a family.

It just meant shifting things around a little until it worked out. So if they were going to get a babysitter, and he was going to take his wife out for a little birthday celebration, then, well, they'd just have to do it on a weekend when he could get out of the castle, wouldn't they?

That was what led to Saturday night, post dinner, drinking at the Three Broomsticks with a group of friends, squished together in a booth with his arm around her. Early, but kind of perfect.

Who: Mikey and Z
What: An unexpected meeting
When: Evening, Thursday, January 21
Where: A mostly-forgotten study, various corridors

After speaking with Victoria, Z had grabbed a quick dinner and headed back to her Common Room. She needed to work through the conversation so she rather happily abandoned the Ancient Runes assignments she'd started marking hours ago in favor of other pastimes. Z grabbed her current sewing project (a pretty red dress with a fraying hem and half a dozen missing buttons) and her guitar case and headed towards the medium-sized study on the fourth floor she'd discovered her fourth year. It had several bookcases, a portrait of a misanthropic middle-aged woman, several sheet-covered pieces of furniture and, most importantly, not too much traffic.

Z occasionally liked to do homework at one of the tables in the room but much more frequently, she came to read for fun or work on a sewing project. Slytherin's common room was occasionally too crowded or loud for some of Z's hobbies.

She settled in on a couch and spent an hour or two fixing her dress. The third time her thread broke, Z took it as a message from a higher power that tonight simply was not the night she was supposed to finish this project. She stretched and decided that it was the perfect time to mess around with the songs she was trying to teach herself.

Who: John and Victoria
When: Friday after classes
Where: Outside of the History of Magic classroom

With the end of his first week as Professor coming to a close, John was practically skipping towards his rooms to gather his things for a weekend trip into Hogsmeade.  His plans were to meet up with his best friend, Jesse Lacey, for some celebration that included gallivanting about and consuming lots of fire whiskey.  It had been a while since he'd been feeling social, so the owl from Jesse alerting him that he was traveling in London was unexpected but much appreciated.

A quick trip into the hospital wing was really his last stop before taking off.  Knowing he had to be back Monday morning for the staff meeting as he'd missed this week's, he wanted to procure an anti-hangover potion.  He made his way down to the first floor and peeked into Bob Bryar's office, hoping he might catch him.  Unfortunately, he wasn't there, so John decided he would just have to limit his alcohol intake on Sunday.  Only slightly discouraged, he made his way back towards the stairs to go up and grab his things.

Merging with a herd of students who were just leaving a classroom, he overheard them talking about Defense Against the Dark Arts and realized that must be Adam's classroom.  He didn't exactly tip-toe past the door, but he didn't want to be noticed, either.  He ducked his head and stuck with the students, nearly running over a brunette who had just come out of the classroom nearest Adam's.

"Excuse me," he said, nodding at her.  He took a moment to give her a once-over and realized there was no way she was a student.  "I'm sorry for our near collision, I wasn't really looking where I was going."  He cast a glance back at Adam's doorway to make sure they didn't have an audience.  "I'm Professor Nolan," he said, smiling at her and extending his hand.

Who: Bob and whoever (open post!)
What: Bob hates Brian. And Ross. And runes in general.
Where: Staff lounge
When: Monday, January 18th, evening

One of these days Bob really needed to figure out why the hell he put up with Schechter as a friend. Here Bob had already agreed to pack up his life and move to the middle of nowhere (though, okay, he'd kind of been unemployed at the time, so it was a mutually beneficial arrangement, but still), but that still wasn't enough, no. Now Bob had to take time out of his busy day ("You hide out all day on the off-chance some kid has a skinned knee, Bob. It's not like you're doing anything important," Brian had insisted, because he was a jerk and possibly more evil than You-Know-Who) to babysit a bunch of kids just because Ross decided to run off on sabbatical.

It didn't make any sense. Bob knew absolutely zip about runes, ancient or otherwise, and yet here he was trying to correct a stack of tests that had been left behind. He was starting to really doubt that the copy of Ancient Runes for Dummies that Brian had given to him would be of any use here. Ugh.

Who: Victoria and Z
Where: Staff lounge
When: Thursday, January 21

Victoria had meant to speak with Z earlier in the week, but between Quidditch over the weekend and some Ministry-related paperwork on Monday, what little free time she had between teaching and prep work had been completely eaten up. After she'd finished with that, Victoria had realised she'd never got round to owling ahead. She hoped that Adam had taken care of that detail.

With her last lot of parchments graded, Victoria headed down to the staff lounge in the hopes of catching up with her colleagues, particularly those she meant to consult on the wards question. She pushed open the lounge door and came in, resisting the impulse to fold her elbows and rub her upper arms for warmth. She was never going to get used to the cold Scottish winters again, Warming Charms or no.

There was, in fact, one other person in the lounge. "Just the woman I wanted to see. Good evening, Miss Berg."

Who: John and Z
Where: Arithmancy Classroom
When: Wednesday, January 20

John, having awoken late and in a rush to prepare for his fifth year Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, had forgotten breakfast.  Teaching over the rumble of his stomach proved to be a difficult task, and he found himself agitated when one of the students asked him a question about something he knew he'd covered at least two times.  As soon as third period ended, he made a mad dash to the Great Hall to nip some food, but didn't stay amongst the students for fear of cursing each and every one of them.

He didn't really feel like hanging out in the staff lounge either, so he headed back to his classroom and sat at the desk, digging into his spaghetti enthusiastically and not even caring that the sauce was dripping into his beard as the slimy noodles smacked his chin.  He had plenty of time to prepare for his NEWT students.  Hearing a shuffle outside the classroom door, he realized he probably should have locked it if he'd wanted any sort of privacy.

Who: Mikey and Adam
What: Gossip
When: Monday, January 18th, late afternoon (after this)
Where: Staff Room

The teaching part of Monday done and dusted with, Mikey was set on relaxing in the staff room until dinner. If it so happened that there might be other people in there who could fill him in on the latest happenings, then that would merely be icing on the cake. His curiosity was only professional interest, after all. He knew John Nolan from the Ministry and if he really was the latest addition to the staff, as he'd heard, then Mikey ought to swing by and say hi sometime. See if he needed any help with anything and then speak the virtues of supporting Gryffindor at Quidditch matches.

He nudged open the door, smiling at the familiar face inside.

"Adam, hey," he said. Perfect. Just the person he could pump for details. "Word on the grapevine is we have a new teacher."

Who: Adam and Greta
What: Discussions about inappropriate conduct and the many uses of bludgers
When: Friday, January 15th (the day before the Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin Quidditch game)
Where: The DADA office

There were exactly 47 ways for a Quidditch player to get injured without actually falling off his or her broom. At least, that was the number Greta had come up with in the last half hour, although she couldn't remember if it included the number of individual finger bones that could get broken by a Bludger. All in all, she needed to do something other than obsess about the number of tragic accidents she might have to prevent on the Quidditch pitch tomorrow. It wouldn't be so bad if she were convinced that the players were taking the risks seriously, but when she had tried to talk to the teams about defensive flying during their last practices before the game, no one had even been paying attention. She'd even caught three of the Hufflepuffs going over their "teacher ratings" in the middle of practice - which turned out, much to Greta's embarrassment, to be detailed ratings of a the professors' relative "shaggability".

It might not have been so bad if Adam Lazzara hadn't been rated more highly on hair than Greta herself. It was insultingly inappropriate in all senses of the word.

Professor Lazzara was not in Greta's good books at the moment. Whatever Z might say about tutoring, she was spending far more time in private with him than any student should with a professor. And hadn't there been some rumour about Lazzara spending time in Hogsmeade with a blonde? It was all just a little too suspicious. Greta glanced at the clock. It was only just after five - Lazzara should be on his own - unless of course he had any after-hours tutoring sessions this evening.

Well, she couldn't do anything to stop the students from bashing each others' heads in tomorrow, but maybe she could have a quiet word with Lazzara about what happened to people who took advantage of her friends. She headed off for the DADA office before she could change her mind. Pounding on a door would do wonders for her stress, anyway.

Who: John & Adam
When: Thursday, January 21 during lunch
Where: Staff Lounge

The Gryffindor/Ravenclaw pairing of his Thursday mornings was somewhat exhausting, so instead of eating lunch in the Great Hall with the students, he found himself slumped in a chair in the staff lounge, sipping some tea and reading the Daily Prophet.  He was looking forward to the weekend, with plans to go to Hogsmeade and celebrate the end of his first week as Arithmancy Professor, but there was still a whole Friday to get through first.

His class schedule was a little bit random, but he'd found he had plenty of free time for marking the number charts he'd assigned, with time remaining to explore the castle.  He'd eventually found his rooms.  He wondered who might have occupied them before, as they were lushly furnished, but nondescript in the sense that there were no artifacts left by the room's previous occupant. 

They were only two floors away from his classroom, and consisted of four rooms: an office with ample space for all of his charts and posters with a second entrance into the sitting room of his chambers, located discretely in the back; a sitting room, decorated in Victorian-era flat paint with large wall hangings reflecting the Gothic style, with a large oak-framed couch in front of a stone fireplace; an extra-large bedroom with a massive four-poster bed up against the far wall and a lounge chair upholstered in fine Italian silk at its foot; and a private bath, complete with a large old-style tub that looked like it could seat at least three.  He wasn't used to living in such lush conditions, but found the room comforting and had been spending a lot of time in it.

Hoping to make contact with some of the other professors, he'd decided to stay in the staff lounge through lunch and the two periods following it, as he was scheduled free time.  He was just about to pull out some of the homework he'd collected the day before for grading when the door swung open.

WHO: Adam & Z
WHERE: Adam's classroom
WHAT: Tutoring sesh.
WHEN: Tuesday, January 19, 7th Period


Today, Adam's goal was to try and teach Z to make a patronus. After New Years, that had been something he'd been determined to do, and today was the day they got started on that. Might as well, since he was determined to hide out in his office as much as humanly possible since discovering that John Nolan was now also teaching at Hogwarts.

And despite what he'd told Z previously about Voodoo dolls being for total assholes, but he would have loved nothing better than to make one of John just then. But that was uncouth and he wouldn't do that. But first, tutoring. With Berg.