InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "HoNk!"

in_the_grass (in_the_grass) wrote in wished,
@ 2010-07-13 23:07:00

Entry tags:

!2003: 07, !incomplete, essery oakby, severus snape

Who: Severus & Esserby
What: New Head of Hufflepuff!
Where: Hogwarts, Headmaster's office
When: This afternoon
Warnings/Rating: TBA/Low

Severus remembered when the summer holidays - ages and ages ago, it seemed - had been holidays. It wasn't that he missed them; the extra work was more than worth being allowed to trade a classroom for an office. Still, it seemed that every time he sat to finish something, there was some other matter that had to be addressed immediately, some other end to tie up before the students came streaming back in. One day it was some inexplicable shortfall in the ink budget, the next a faculty spat over whether the curtains in the lounge ought to be kept drawn, and the next Hufflepuff needed a Head. Irritations all, and the thought of leaving a quarter of the student body sitting bewildered and alone in the Great Hall after the sorting was tempting, but ... it would likely have produced complaint letters, and he didn't need any more of those, either. The number of parents with time to submit trivial grievances was distressing.

Hufflepuff would be easy enough to fix, at least. Oakby would do decently, he thought, if she'd agree to it - well-liked, as far as he knew about that sort of thing, but not so besotted with her own students that she couldn't bear to hand out detention on occasion. He had summoned her to his office hoping that the free room and board and moderate hike in salary would be enough to take this particular issue off his plate. Hiring from the inside was so much less problematic, and would almost certainly leave his evening free. He shuffled through the last term's disciplinary records as he waited for his appointment to arrive - at least he could assure her that they weren't the worst of the lot.

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oakbye
2010-07-14 10:49 pm UTC (link)

Being called to The Headmaster's Office felt incredibly a lot like...well, being called to The Headmaster's Office as a student, really, save now Essery was supposed to be some sort of peer of the man. Truthfully, she hadn't ever really spoken much to Snape. He'd been one of her Professors, of course, but she'd stopped taking Potions the moment she could, and after that she hadn't really known much of him until she came back and he was suddenly her boss. She rather thought he needed to get out and have himself a bit of a life, but she wasn't silly enough to say that to his face.

She did have the good sense to arrive on time, as well, and cleared her throat when the stairwell rose to let her into the office. "Headmaster Snape? You wanted to see me?" She said it with an easy smile, hiding whatever nerves she felt.

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in_the_grass
2010-07-15 03:56 am UTC (link)

"Yes; sit down." Severus waved choppily at one of the chairs opposite his desk. He still wasn't certain how best to sell this sort of offer, seeing as no one in his or her right mind should want it. He himself had only ever accepted out of necessity: his work, his real work, had always kept him at Hogwarts.

The extra money never went amiss, at least. "Hufflepuff, as I'm sure you are aware, needs a new Head." There was no point in dancing around anything. "The position is attached to a moderate pay rise, to offset the admittedly regrettable residency requirement. I should like to assign it to someone already on-staff. If you'd like it, it's yours to take - and if you have any questions I am, alas, all too qualified to answer them." She seemed the sort, he thought - if there was one - who might actually enjoy the work. He would never understand, but he had slowly come to accept the fact that such a willingness was not, in fact, simply a mark of astounding stupidity.

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oakbye
2010-07-16 08:23 pm UTC (link)

Essery had just barely sat down when Snape started in, and her eyes went a little wide. She'd known Sprout was leaving, the two had talked about it - her old Head of House had become a good confidant to have on the faculty in the last few years, and she was going to miss her - but she'd never even thought that she'd be offered the position.

"You're... offering me the position of Head of Hufflepuff?" She knew it sounded dull to ask, since he'd just said it, but she wanted to be sure.

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in_the_grass
2010-07-16 09:18 pm UTC (link)

"That is the generally understood significance of 'it's yours,' is it not?" Why was it that everyone seemed so very taken aback when he offered them something? He was going to have to start warning them by owl in advance; it would save time. He had never had the impression, though, that Oakby was the sort for false modesty - that most loathsome of qualities - so he pressed on without belaboring the point. "If you would rather not accept - and believe me, I would have the utmost sympathy - I would like to know as soon as possible. It would look poorly to make a last-minute placement." And as little as he cared for such things, he could at least recognize that promoting the Muggle Studies professor would be a well-timed gesture.

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oakbye
2010-07-16 09:23 pm UTC (link)

Essery was not afflicted with false modesty, she knew she was a good professor and that her years here had been useful - moreso than the idiots who'd taught her subject previously and gotten everything wrong, at least - but the idea of being Head of House, her old House, made her feel old suddenly, and took a moment to settle in.

When it did, though, she took a breath and steeled herself for it, then smiled at the Headmaster. "I'll accept, of course. I'll have to make plans to sublet my flat, but I think that should be simple enough."

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in_the_grass
2010-07-16 10:15 pm UTC (link)

Severus nodded; one less task on his agenda at the end of the day. "Very well. You have time - you'll need to be settled in a few days before the start of term. I'll have your papers sent to you within the week. If you have any further questions, you can direct them to your peers, current and former." Which included him, of course, but he wasn't one for volunteering. "Neville Longbottom has accepted the Gryffindor position; any assistance you can give him in struggling through will no doubt be greatly appreciated. You're blessed with a rather less troublesome House." And then, old biases died hard, and as far as he could remember Longbottom had always needed all the help he could get.

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	oakbye 2010-07-16 10:19 pm UTC (link)
	"Longbottom? Sprout's assistant?" She'd assumed that he'd be taking over the place of Herbology, because that made a good deal of sense, but as Head of House right away? At least she wasn't the youngest of them... "What about Ravenclaw?" She assumed Slughorn would still be taking responsibility for Slytherin. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

*totally needs to ask who HoH for Ravenclaw is* >>

in_the_grass
2010-07-19 02:39 am UTC (link)

"The very same. He is ... enthusiastic." He didn't sound as though he meant it to be a compliment. The best intentions in the hands of someone over-eager could be disastrous, and most things Longbottom touched that weren't plants had always seemed to him to end up in very poor shape indeed. "Ravenclaw won't have such a new hand at the helm." Not everyone had been newly hired, thankfully, although sometimes it felt like it. Severus had never been one to sell himself short, but he knew it was impossible to hope to make up for the loss of the last two Headmasters' experience - not in the space of a few years. "I think you'll find it isn't so different, in any case, from what you've done before; only on a larger, more exasperating scale." The expulsion powers had always been rather gratifying.

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