InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "VIVA LA VIE BOHEME."

in_the_grass (in_the_grass) wrote in wished,
@ 2010-08-19 20:07:00

Entry tags:

!2003: 08, !incomplete, essery oakby, severus snape

Who: Severus Snape & Essery Oakby
What: Ghost management
Where: Headmaster's office
When: This evening
Rating/Warnings: Low/TBA

As always, the first of September felt like nothing so much as the ground rushing up at him. It wasn't that the summers were particularly grand, but at least they were quiet - and even locked away in the best office in the castle, things were never quiet once the hordes descended on Hogwarts. Even now, he felt as though the chatter were steadily increasing. There were too many things to line up in too little time, and somehow everyone seemed to think he ought to give a damn.

The Friar's mood wasn't first among his concerns, or second, or even really on the list at all. But there were an awful lot of things that he hardly noticed that seemed to matter a great deal to other people, and he was slowly beginning to realize that keeping people from rioting - the faculty, anyway - was worth spending a little time on. So long as he kept the complaints below a certain critical mass, he could go about his business. It wasn't so bad. He could still needle that select few. Oakby was the first appointment he'd taken all day, in any case, and so his patience wasn't quite as thin as it might normally be as he waited, running over the Herbology supply register again. When had mandrake pots gone up to three galleons a pallet, anyway?

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oakbye
2010-08-20 12:42 am UTC (link)

Essery mumbled a quiet sort of 'convallaria majalis', mostly because she wasn't sure at all she was pronouncing it the right way, but when the staircase started to move she stepped on and relaxed. Either she'd gotten it right, or the staircase wasn't too picky in its old age.

Coming up into his office, she looked around as she walked in. "Convallaria majalis?" She asked, obviously a question and not a mere restatement of the password. She wasn't an idiot.

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in_the_grass
2010-08-20 12:52 am UTC (link)

Severus glanced up at her as he was pushing the notebook aside; he waved at the chair on the opposite side of his desk, a silent invitation to sit. "The essential ingredient in various memory aides and the occasional sedative - highly toxic, and available on the southern bank of the lake in some quantity, if you ever need it." And a symbol of happiness remembered or returned - he couldn't recall which - in some of the more foolish spiritual traditions. "Which I don't expect you shall, in your line of work, unless you want to make your class particularly drowsy." Not a bad idea. He paused. "You don't need my permission to settle with your own House ghost, you know."

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oakbye
2010-08-20 01:08 am UTC (link)

She moved to sit, "I think my students can get drowsy enough without my help, don't you?" Though, generally that didn't tend to happen in her classes. She had a fun subject, Muggle Studies, there was just so much you could do with it. She tried to keep things exciting as often as she could, and generally students stayed awake for that - even if sometimes it was out of fear of being caught on fire by something electrical.

She took her time looking around the office this time. She hadn't let herself the last time she'd been here. She half expected ... something else. A cauldron bubbling away, maybe, or a chessboard set up where he was playing himself. He seemed the type.

"Actually, not to disagree, Sir," She turned back to him with an easy grin, "For this, I thought I would."

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in_the_grass
2010-08-20 01:42 am UTC (link)

Severus had moved his collection of distasteful bottled creatures up form the dungeons, and filled the bookshelves, once taken up with Dumbledore's various knick-knacks, close to bursting with actual books - but hadn't otherwise modified the Headmaster's office very much. It was a good deal darker for the large swaths of black leather spines, somewhat less whimsical than had once been, and ultimately just rather spare. He'd long been in the habit of making sure not to leave personal things lying about. The newest addition was probably the walkman, which was tucked away on a shelf beside one of the windows, sitting on top of a few records - whatever they were called - that he'd seen his way to buying.

"They seem to manage without assistance, yes." Nothing a small explosion had never cured. He raised an eyebrow, trying not to look quite as wary as he felt. "Exactly how much of a disturbance are you expecting, then?"

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oakbye
2010-08-23 12:35 am UTC (link)

Essery, despite herself, smiled when she saw the walkman and the stack of CDs. She wanted to get up and see what he'd gotten himself, but she at least had enough good sense not to just start randomly going through the man's things.

The question brought her back to things, though, and she shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure. But I do know that there's one thing the Friar's wanted for years. Hell, since I was a student here, and he's never gotten. I'm sure it'll cheer him right up."

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in_the_grass
2010-08-23 12:45 am UTC (link)

"Enlighten me." Severus folded his hands on his desk, sitting back a bit. If they were only going to appease the ghost - if there wasn't going to be an awful lot of noise involved - he wasn't going to let it concern him very much at all. "I confess I've never been very interested in what the Friar wants." It couldn't be anything very objectionable. He was a ghost, and a Hufflepuff at that. There were very few of those he'd ever found he couldn't handle.

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	oakbye 2010-08-23 12:49 am UTC (link)
	"Peeves at the welcoming feast," Essery said it quickly, because perhaps it was less a sign of trouble if she rushed past it. "I'm told the Baron's always nixed the idea in the past. Of course, if you told him that he'd be allowed, just this once..." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

in_the_grass
2010-08-23 01:05 am UTC (link)

Peeves, at the opening feast. And she couldn't venture a guess as to how much of a disturbance might result? Severus gave her a dry, incredulous look, raising his eyebrow just slightly. "He has, yes. He's not the only one." He could just imagine, trying to stand up and give that loathsome - but expected - speech to the student body, and having to drown out Peeves to do it, having to keep a lookout every moment for the first flying dinner roll. "You don't think the inevitable chaos might do more to distress your incoming class than a moping ghost? All those new robes, hopelessly stained?" He wasn't saying no, not yet. But it sounded horrid.

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oakbye
2010-08-23 01:08 am UTC (link)

"Well, there are ways to get rid of Peeves if he starts anything too dire. I've already talked to Slughorn, and he said he'd be ready to banish him if need be." And Essery id realize he hadn't said no automatically, which gave her a little hope - even if it might be misguided. "Peeves wants this chance as well, I'm sure, to size up the new lower years. Maybe he'll be on better behavior than usual."

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in_the_grass
2010-08-23 01:16 am UTC (link)

"He will not be on 'better behavior.'" There was no reason to pretend that wasn't perfectly clear. "Nor will any of the first years who have their first introduction to Hogwarts from a poltergeist pulling faces at them. But -" He opened his hands. "Seeing as I no longer have to suffer their company in any case, I'm willing to consider it. If Horace has a plan that's not entirely half-witted, and if you draft the responses to the avalanche of parent complaints that will begin tumbling in the next morning." He really should have just said no outright. There was absolutely no reason to agree.

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oakbye
2010-08-23 01:19 am UTC (link)

Essery looked, understandably, surprised, and she smiled a wide, easy sort of smile and nodded. "Horace's plan is at least three-fourths witted, I can promise." Was she joking with Severus Snape?

"And while I'm thinking that this is really just an elaborate way to get me to be answering your mail, I suppose I could play secretary for a few days if it causes a problem...." Okay, she thought to herself, she was actually joking, maybe even teasing, Severus Snape. In person, rather than in the journals where it was safer and he couldn't hex her. That was an interesting turn of events....

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in_the_grass
2010-08-23 01:29 am UTC (link)

"It won't be half of all my mail, I assure you." That was probably the most tiresome part of the job, really. He wasn't good at sending cordial replies that put people at ease. His policy of telling people - somewhat more politely - to get stuffed probably resulted in more letters than he might otherwise have had to field. "Although - if you take on the lot of it for a week, I'll be happy to sign on with Horace's - three quarters of a brain, did you say? Generous though your estimate may be."

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oakbye
2010-08-23 01:31 am UTC (link)

Essery eyed him for a moment and then leaned in toward the desk with a grin that might have been wicked if she was capable of that. "How about I take it all on for a week, and you stand ready instead of Horace to banish him if he causes too much of a problem?" She knew how to bargain. Maybe not with a man like him, but with general average sort of people. "If it really is going to be that much mail, I'd need more an incentive to agree."

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in_the_grass
2010-08-23 01:41 am UTC (link)

Severus remained straight in his chair, hardly prepared to show that he was a little surprised that anyone, least of all the Head of Hufflepuff, felt free to attempt to negotiate with him. He was a little surprised that he found it refreshing. No doubt if it had been Longbottom, he would have felt rather differently. The sudden thought of Longbottom trying to corral his first-years under Peeves' disturbance almost, almost made him smile. The deal was as good as made.

"If I have to banish him, we had better hope your Friar isn't terribly attached to him. It will not be pleasant." But he himself would rather enjoy it, he thought. It wasn't as though he'd never thought of doing it before. "Agreed."

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	oakbye 2010-08-23 01:48 am UTC (link)
	Her smile stretched just a bit wider and she held out a hand to shake on the deal. Paperwork for a week she could do, as long as it meant she'd actually accomplished what she'd set out to do. This was her first real act as Head of House. She could get used to it. "Nothing permanent, and I'm sure he'll be fine." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

in_the_grass
2010-08-23 01:57 am UTC (link)

"I don't know that one can permanently damage a spirit." There was a trace of hope in his voice, beyond simple curiosity. It was never too late to try. "But I'll try to keep him in functioning condition, if necessary." Severus cast a slightly incredulous glance at her hand, looking about as impossibly stiff as usual - but he reached over to take it, briefly. He didn't mind, really, but neither was he accustomed to that sort of thing. Unironic invitations to parties and proffered hands were on about the same level as far as things he most certainly did not expect from people. "But I'm afraid I can't make any promises regarding the Baron's behavior after the feast. He does have a temper, you know."

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	oakbye 2010-08-23 01:58 am UTC (link)
	Essery shook his hand easily and let go when he did, shrugging after pretending to think about that for a moment. "After the feast, he's Horace's problem, isn't he?" And the Friar would be happy, and she could sort out any confused first years herself if Peeves got to them. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	in_the_grass 2010-08-23 02:05 am UTC (link)
	"That he is. I can't say I'm very sorry to be shot of that part of the job." Or most others, as almost everyone was sure to know. Students, ghosts, grading ... there was very, very little he missed. "As I think I must have said when I offered it to you, it really isn't worth the pay rise." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

oakbye
2010-08-23 02:08 am UTC (link)

"Or the feeling that you're suddenly an eighty year old school marm," Essery had said it before she realized the words were coming out, and to her horror she felt herself blushing, and she looked down at his desk for a moment and cleared her throat. "Well, I've gotten used to the idea, anyway. I don't think Hufflepuff will be nearly as difficult as some other houses must be."

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in_the_grass
2010-08-23 02:23 am UTC (link)

The corner of his mouth quirked up into something like a smirk. If she thought she felt old now, she had only to wait a while. The seventeen years he'd been at it had felt like thirty, and he was pretty sure they hadn't done his health any favors, either. "Our faculty is about as young as it's ever been, I think, although I suppose there may have been some similar turnover during the Plague. We're rather short on school marms." He could think of one or two he'd like to have back. "I doubt they'll age you as quickly as the Gryffindors." Or the Slytherins, squabbling little pests. But they weren't half as bad.

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