From the Ashes

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: 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 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: 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: Victoria and Adam
What: Victoria needs to have a chat with the DADA professor about student conduct
When: Wednesday, January 13, evening
Where: Adam's office

Victoria Asher was quite the formidable sight when annoyed, and anyone looking at her as she strode down the halls of Hogwarts on Wednesday evening could hardly miss that she was annoyed. She was headed directly for the DADA office, practically dragging a fourth-year student who had better sense than to protest. Whatever she'd said to the lad, or more likely whatever she'd caught him at, before hauling him up to see Professor Lazzara had cowed him so much he wasn't issuing even a peep of protest.

As Victoria came to the door, she stopped short, so quickly that the poor boy almost tripped over her feet and his own. He regained his balance while Victoria rapped sharply on Adam's office door, her expression reflecting both clear impatience at having to wait on Adam to open it and the amount of trouble she expected her charge to be in immediately afterward: a lot.

Who: Victoria and OPEN (Mikey, Audrey)
What: Random interaction!
When: Monday, January 11, after dinner (so anyone can be present)
Where: Staff lounge

Victoria hadn't realised when she'd taken a teaching position exactly how exhausting dealing with large groups of adolescents for most of each day was going to be. Binns' schedule, the one she'd decided to keep to for the rest of this year, was apparently predicated on his lack of any need for sleep. She found herself envying the teachers who had assistants and wishing for one of her own to help her with the student parchments.

She was sitting with rolls of said parchments at her feet, slowly marking off errors in red ink on them, in the staff room. She might have done better at the work if she'd been in the library or in her own office, but if Victoria didn't have some adult conversation soon, she was certain she was going to throw something at someone. At least her colleagues weren't going to prattle about third-year dating drama, or so Victoria hoped.

Who: All staff and teaching assistants are invited
When: The night of Thursday the 24th, after the great caroling expedition
Where The ballroom
What: Staff Christmas Party

The swimming pool has been frozen for skating and other icy ventures. There is a small ski ramp that the headmaster had installed for the occasion after seeing a Muggle moving photograph depicting the joys of sliding down a mountain on enormous wooden shoes. He's dubious, but the Muggles seemed to be having a good time, and he thought it might lead to further bonding.

There is light, fluffy snow falling over the newly-made ice rink, and over the holiday tree from the Forbidden Forest also enjoying the party in one corner of the room. The decor is red-and-white striped peppermint, with Chilly Icicles and other delicious candy treats scattered throughout the ballroom. Among the refreshments provided are egg nog, hot cocoa, cookies baked with love and inexperience by the younger students, and enthusiastically flaming plum puddings. Beware the fruit cake; the trasgu cooks mixed up a few of the ingredients when collecting the necessary assortment of candied fruits.

There is a green shadow on the ceiling in the far corner that looks suspiciously like mistletoe. Schechter has given up on trying to control the stuff. It's a harmless tradition, after all, and everyone here is an adult.

Stockings are on the wall and the kids are in bed. Have an awesome time.

Who: William and Victoria
Where: The castle library
When: Afternoon of Tuesday, 22 December
What: Library inspection, er, orientation

It was Tuesday afternoon by the time that Victoria forced herself to visit the library. It wasn't that she was afraid of the library; there was no reason to be. It was more that she'd spent many (relatively) happy hours in the library as a student, especially in her final years at Hogwarts. Having heard about how things had gone at Hogwarts during the last war, and having seen the state of other parts of the school, Victoria was reluctant to see what the war had done to her old sanctuary.

Victoria made her way up to the fourth floor from the dungeons, slowly walking down the corridor and past the long landscape painting. In her hand was a list of tasks she had to complete: books she had to review and check out, journals to request, and a reminder to file her signature so her students could read books in the Restricted Section. She pushed the library door open with the other hand, and peered briefly inside before stepping all the way into the chamber.

Who: Greta and Victoria
Where: The front lawn of the castle
When: Afternoon of Saturday, December 19
What: Two new teachers arrive at the school

Victoria had chosen to floo up to Hogsmeade and walk up to the school from the train station, her bag of gear over her shoulder. She'd learnt to travel light in her years working as a cursebreaker; the vagabond lifestyle didn't lend itself to an excess of material possessions, even if she could shrink most of them down and stuff them in an enchanted bag designed to hold them all. Much of what was in the bag now was the books she'd been studying to prepare her lessons for the various classes according to the old Ministy curriculum. Victoria had heard the library was open, but without seeing it herself, she didn't have much confidence in the state of things.

Trudging around the lake, she caught sight of a lone figure on a broom headed towards the front of the castle. Assuming it was another professor coming back from a trip home, she raised her arm and offered a wide wave the way she would have to a Quidditcher on the pitch. The broom rider would certainly arrive before Victoria did. She picked up the pace. It was bloody well cold, even with a warmth-charmed cloak and gloves, and, for all that Victoria might not care to admit it, it would be nice to have company when she went in.

Who: Everyone is invited to attend
When: December 20th - December 21st
Where: The Great Hall, Entrance Hall, and Courtyard
What: Yule Vigil

On the longest night of the year, all lights in the castle will be doused with the exception of one main bonfire in the Great Hall, which will burn throughout the night. The vigil is a time for reflection on the past year, preparing to face the new year to come. Those who keep it will not sleep until after they watch the sunrise.

Since this is an all-night event, feel free to start multiple threads and jump around as you wish. It's a good time for telling stories, remembering lost friends, making amends, setting new goals, and resolving to change for the better. No one is required to attend or to stay for the entire night if they do not wish to do so.

The bonfire is in the Great Hall, but the doors are open to the Entrance Hall, which will spill enough light outside that people can mingle there. The Entrance Hall is an easier place to have more animated conversations without disturbing the solemnity of those gathered in the Great Hall to reflect in the firelight. The Courtyard is lit by the moon and stars, and is a good place to go for those who feel the desire to commune with nature, or who need a breath of fresh air.