Alice watched with rising amazement as one by one, Julian's minions exited the hallway. So they WERE being fired! She listened as finally the old man Rafferty himself gave an angry speech, before leaving with his minions. "Bye, manbaby!" Alice called after Rafferty as he left, smirking triumphantly. He may have been rude to her up until the very end - but she got the last laugh, and the one who laughs last laughs the hardest.


"Welcome back, Headmistress Hawthorne," she greeted her old employer as she sat down in the seat which only moments before had been Julian's. The whole thing had a very climatic feel to it. This mirrored what had happened at the start of the term. Alice wondered with a slightly guilty conscience whether Regina would hold any grudges over the history of magic professor's failed attempts to ally herself with Julian. Hopefully she would understand that Alice was just trying to follow the rules and that she would be just as loyal (even more) to her in the next year. She would prove it!

The surprises of the night were not over just yet. "Kay!" she gawped in surprise as the original Muggle Studies professor took her seat where Rafferty had been sitting only moments before. "What a pleasant surprise," she said, returning her smile, and even standing a little to give her a small hug. "Welcome back to Hogwarts."