"It wasn't during the staff meeting. I was actually paying attention to what she was talking about. How would you know what I was doing unless you were the one paying attention to me and not to what was being said?" she said with a smirk. "It sounds like you had a good trip then." she said with a smile "Where in America did you go?" she asked him curiously. "Mine wasn't nearly as exciting but I did get to spend alot of time with my dad so that was fun." Her mind drifted to Geoffrey's letter..she shook her head and put the smile back on her face.

"It was hard not to notice you falling against the table," Warrick replied, raising an eyebrow. "Especially when you bumped my chair."

"Where in America? I suppose an easier question be Where didn't I go. I went all over, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, New York City, John Deere Commons, Lake Geneva. A little bit of everything." His eyes went distant, there was a girl he met while on his travels, he's still not sure where she was from, but they had traveld together for quite a while, before she left, with no explanation...........

Ana turned to look at Ivan to see if he was serious. He was. "Well... thank you," Ana was surprised by the praise and didn't know exactly how to handle it. Few men praised the way she looked or spent the time to woo her, but she and Ivan had always had something of a connection. She had a soft spot for him, letting him get a bit closer than she did for other men.

She felt that she'd been rude, but she just didn't feel up to talking about her summer again. She smiled at Bebe, leaning forward. 'Thanks,' she murmured. 'I don't think this was such a good idea after all. To come down here.' The waitress arrived and they ordered some lunch and a drink each. 'I'm sorry Bebe,' she said after a moments silence. 'I'm not the best company at the moment.'

Aria leaned in front of him and waved her hand in front of his face and even snapped to get his attention back. "Whoa you went off into lala land there for a little bit." she said as his attention returned. "I didn't mean to bump your chair, i tripped and ended up accidentally falling backwards." "I used to live in America," she told him "it's a fun place to be. Would probably still be there but....well, never mind about that." she said as she stopped. "Did you watch the sunrise over the Grand Canyon, cause I've heard thats it's gorgeous. I've just never had the opportunity to see it. But all that open land and being able to see the stars. Must've been awesome." she said as her eyes lit up as she mentioned stars. Astronomy had been her passion but she was grateful for the position of groundskeeper.

Mark didn't like it, he didn't like it one bit. Here he was trying to have a nice time with Aria, and the caretaker had to butt in. Were the two women at the other table not enough? This guy made even Mark look tame. He shook his head. He was being jealous He didn't get jealous.

Deciding against trying to analyse the feelings, he took his drink as the waitress brought it, downing it and ordering another. Ah that was better. Pesky thoughts retreating. He smiled, leaning back and surveying the room. 'If it's stars you're after,' he said, looking over at Wei. 'You should talk to Blynt.' He surveyed the woman. She looked tired. He tilted his head slightly. How long had it been now?

As his second drink arived, he took a sip, and moved his attention back to his companions. 'Sorry. I was miles away.' He smiled. 'So America you say,' he continued. He wasn't interested really, but one had to be polite.

Aria almost jumped at the sound of the voice beside her. She turned to Mark. "Next time you decide to go miles away, take me with you. I love to travel." she said patting his thigh and letting it rest there a few seconds before moving it back to the table to take a drink of her water. "Yeah, America." she said turning her attention back to Mark. Placeing her forehead on his shoulder she spoke. "I've got so much work to do on the grounds I might end up procrastinating that till another day. Remind me why we have those staff meetings again?" she asked him trying not to fall asleep.

They walked in silence the rest of the way to Hogsmeade, and when they arrived outside of the Three Broomsticks, Ivan held open the door for Ana, then followed her in. He chose a nice booth for them to sit at. "I'll go get drinks," He said, not really wanting to wait for a waitress, "What would you like?"

Halfway to Hogsmeade, Edie turned around and headed back to the castle. She knew she would go, have one drink by herself, and return anyway. Besides, she still had some things to set up in her office.

How could women get away with it? If he'd done that to her, he'd have been slapped. He grinned. Well, probably anyway. She was distracting. Utterly. He looked down as she rested her head on his shoulder, liking the feel of it there. He reached his hand up, brushing some hairs from her face. 'So that the headmistress can tell us all the exciting news,' he smirked. 'Besides, you still have time to get everything done. Tell you what.' He took her chin in his hand. 'I'll even help if you need it.' He smiled, nodding his head. How much of a help he'd be was another matter, but teh offer was genuine. He took another sip of his drink. 'Hey,' he said suddenly. 'You have to have more than water. It's the last chance for a while.' He waved his hand for the waitress.

Endora was just to the front door when the owl arrived. It landed right in front of her ruffling it's wings to slow her. "Are you looking for me?" she asked and watched as the little brown bird raised it's leg, showing the small note attached to it. The Headmistress took out the parchment and noticed that the bird didn't fly away immediately. She quickly glanced through the official looking letter and a frown formed on her face as she finished. "Oh, darn, and I was really looking forward to that drink." She pulled the drawstring to her bag and rummaged through it looking for a quill and some parchment. "What do I need all this stuff for anyways," she said curtly as she tried to push things to one side so she could look down into the bag. Finally after picking through hair brushes, make up, her notepad, some old keys, a box of lemon drops...no, make that two, she managed to find a small piece of unused parchment and something to write with. She scratched out a response, sealed it with her wand and tied it to the leg of the still waiting owl and sent it on it's way. Then she turned to head back up to her office since she wanted to send a letter to Nicky but she'd run out of parchment.

After writing a quick note explaining that she had been called to the Ministry for an important meeting and she would have to take a rain check on her offer, Endora called her owl over and instructed her to take the note to Hogsmeade, "You'll find Professor Karakaroff at The Three Broomsticks."
The owl nodded to say that she understood and was off.



ooc: sorry folks but I'm going on vacation for the next week so I needed to remove Endora until I get back. Feel free to move her if you need to......pup

Ana took her seat and smiled up at him, folding her hands carefully in front of her. "Butterbeer in a glass, please." She let him go to the counter to get their drinks as she glanced around the pub. There were several other professors scattered about, and she was mildly surprised to see Aria draped on Mark. The child.

Aria looked up at Mark as he lifted her chin. She smiled at him. It was true the work could wait till a little bit later. She remembered what happened the last time she got drunk..."I might just have a butterbeer but thats it. Nothing stronger for me please." she said smiling at him. Though Mark would be willing, Aria wasn't in the right place emotionally to make anymore drunk passes at people. Aria sat back up and took another sip of the water. It was cool and comforting and took her mind off the past.

He ordered another round of drinks, adding a butterbeer. Thinking, he added three of the lunch specials. After the waitress departed, he took another sip of his drink, leaning towards Aria slightly, so he could speak without being seen. 'I'll take care of you,' he whispered genuinely. 'Don't worry. Relax and enjoy yourself. I would never let anything happen to you.' He settled back, finishing his drink, giving a broad smile and looking about the pub once more.

Warrick wasn't sure why Aria had invited him over, but he could tell Mark was not happy about it. He could feel a glare coming from him, and could even hear it in his voice. It wasn't unusual, Warrick was even used to it by now. Guys got jealous, girls got weird, and he just coasted by, minding his own business.

Warrick nodded when Aria finished talking, he had never been much of a drinker. When the waitress came over he ordered two butterbeers then looked at Aria to see if she wanted anything else.

Aria smiled and gave Mark a quick kiss on the cheek. "I know you wouldn't let anything happen to me," she whispered back, "I just don't want to risk something else...." she stopped and took a drink of her water. She didn't want to go into details and tried to forget about it. She waited on the butterbeer. She looked at Warrick and smiled at him. They had never been close friends but he did give her a safe feeling.

Something about her tone, Mark couldn't place it. Besides he was thrown by the kiss on his cheek. He smiled, pushing the thoughts from his mind. There was always later for such things, and for now, he had Aria sitting closer than he'd ever managed before. Things were looking up. The waitress arrived with three plates of stew, and Mark tucked into his hungrily, ignoring his drink for the moment. 'So,' he managed after a few mouthfuls of the delicious food. 'What do we all make of this announcement. Ministry going to interfere you think?'

Aria smiled as the food arrived and she stared at Mark as he tore into his fast. Shaking her head and giving a chuckle she took a few sips of hers as well. Taking a sip of butterbeer she replied "I don't know what to think but if it's all true then I hope that the Ministry does get involved somehow. If a new dark lord is coming into power we'll need them. She took her napkin and wiped her lips and then took another drink of butterbeer.

'I dunno,' said Mark through mouthfuls. 'It's never been good when they intefere in Hogwart's.' Besides, he thought to himself, the ministry were not good in dealing with kids. He knew that from experience. They didn't seem to understand that kids will quite simply be kids, and that to a child, rules are meant to be bent and broken. It was part of the territory, something he knew well from teaching.

Aria nodded in agreement. "Yes. I'd rather them not get involved her at Hogwarts...I hope they will somehow though, not here perhaps but at least maybe this time acknowledge the possibility of a new uprising." She told him. It was scary to think that someone might ty to take over not just the wizarding world but the world in general. Muggles and all and then quite possibly kill all the muggles. She really didnt like that idea. She had become close friends with several muggles when she lived in America.

'I'm sure they will,' he nodded and ate some more stew. 'What choice do they have? I mean, they've clearly informed the headmistress about it. That's something.' He shrugged. Ministry politics bored him. 'All we have to do is keep the kids out of danger.' He dipped his fork again. 'How hard can it be?'

Aria shrugged "thats true" she said. She looked at him and laughed. "Do you realize that in almost every muggle movie whenever someone makes an assumption like that the whole 'how hard can it be', that it always ends up being hard?" she said with a smirk. "You could have just jinxed us." she said winking at him. "We have a great staff her so I don't think we'll have any problems either. We will have to be on our guard though."

Nikita walked around Hogsmeade for a while, until she saw her fellow staff at a pub. Deciding that she really needed to be more social, she walked inside. It seemed like most of the staff were present. Not really knowing if she should walk over, she gave them a small smile. However, not exactly sure she wanted to be in the same table as Wei, she walked over to the counter and ordered a drink.

Ivan ordered two butterbeers and two shotglasses of firewhiskey. He took them back to the table and gave a firewhiskey and a butterbeer to Ana and one of each to himself, also. "They were free," Ivan lied, seeing the look on Ana's face.

Ana narrowed her eyes at Ivan suspiciously. "Free? That was very generous of them." She waved to the bartender before pushing the shot across the table and picking up the butterbeer. "You can have mine. Enjoy it."

"If you insist," Ivan said, drinking down the shot she had passed over to him. "So... Professor Granger... what is new in your life?" He asked, attempting to start a good conversation.