BoG Board Room

[Zoe]

"Hogwarts' School for Witchcraft and Wizardy's highest authority, the governing board consisting of 12 elected members of the community, will periodically and when necessary hold meetings and events in a provided room on the school premises."

-Hogwarts School Charter & Founding Documents

It just so happens that the room the BoG has been given used to be a dusty old classroom and practice room for student use. The dust is gone, the desks have been replaced by an elegant hardwood business table, and the governors all have comfortable leather executive chairs now. The long, green chalkboard on one side of the room is all that remains of the historic Classroom Eleven, as the rest of the walls now have classic wood panelling and handsome portraits on them.

OOC: Please don't RP in here unless you are a BoG member or have otherwise been given permission!

[TeafortheSoul]

Althea would miss serving on the Board. This term would be her last after having had been successful in the recent election. Though there was nothing specifically stopping her from remaining with the Board of Governors, she personally felt it to be a conflict of interest and would much prefer working with them and empowering them as the Minister than as a governor herself. Still, she was committed for this school year and not one to back out of a commitment, so here she was for a rather necessary meeting regarding the recent antics of certain Poltergeists.

Hopefully the meeting would be relatively short: she couldn't see any reason belaboring the point herself.

She took a seat and waited for the others to arrive.

[Steelsheen]

Having made his preliminary rounds of the school, and admittedly a bit of a nostalgia tour, Corin Vanderbilt let himself into the Governor's boardroom. And looks like Althea is already there, prompt as usual "Congratulations on your victory Minister" he greeted his long-time colleague with a congratulatory handshake and a genuine smile. "The MACUSA President and staff also wishes to extend their heartfelt greetings as well."

[LilFox06]

Carter Phillips entered the Board Room adjusting his tie. "Minister." he said greeting Althea with a nod. "Corin." he said nodding to the other occupant of the room.

"Interesting reason for a meeting, isn't it?" he said taking a seat. Here he'd thought he'd seen, or heard, it all. Hogwarts had quite the nasty way of proving that wrong though. At least this time there wasn't a time stealer or spider attack. Just... a potential... wedding...

[AlwaysSnapesGirl]

Atticus had never been a big fan of Peeves even when he was a student - mischief and pranks weren't things he enjoyed in general, thanks to his older brother - but he wouldn't have expected the poltergeist to take it this far. Merlin.

Entering the board room, it appeared there were a few of the others there already. "Good day, Minister. Corin. Carter." They each got a polite nod as he took a seat.

Interesting, yes, he supposed that was an adequate word for it. "Indeed. Unexpected too." Had any poltergeists ever had the desire to have a wedding before? He had never heard of such a thing until now.

But, in the grand scheme of things, that wasn't the biggest problem right now. It was the two poltergeists' sudden desire to harm students because of this wedding - or lack of wedding - that was the real issue at hand.

[Mohamed Sahnoun]

As he made his way down the flight of stairs, the African couldn't help but reflect on the reason why the Board was being summoned. While the issue had been present since the beginning of the term, he honestly did not expect it to escalate so quickly. But, now that student lives had truly been put at risk, this meeting was, in his opinion, much needed. What was originally a non-being matter was no more, and it was their duty to act in the best interests and safety of the student body.

Quietly entering the board room, Sahnoun found himself a seat, giving each member of the Board a smile. "Good day, everyone. Dank you all for coming." He had to admit, the purpose of them gathering together was a little odd. But, then again, this was Hogwarts. Stranger things, as the history of the school proved time and time again, had happened within these walls.

He placed his dark hands, folded, on the table and patiently waited to get down to business. What should their course of action be concerning the two poltergeists? Whatever was decided, it was essential that the lives of students not be put at such great risk again.

[TeafortheSoul]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steelsheen

Having made his preliminary rounds of the school, and admittedly a bit of a nostalgia tour, Corin Vanderbilt let himself into the Governor's boardroom. And looks like Althea is already there, prompt as usual "Congratulations on your victory Minister" he greeted his long-time colleague with a congratulatory handshake and a genuine smile. "The MACUSA President and staff also wishes to extend their heartfelt greetings as well."

"Thank you, Corin." She shook his hand back and smiled warmly. Not that she was here today in her new capacity... but the she supposed she'd have to get used to being in her new capacity almost everywhere she went. Hmm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilFox06

Carter Phillips entered the Board Room adjusting his tie. "Minister." he said greeting Althea with a nod. "Corin." he said nodding to the other occupant of the room.

"Interesting reason for a meeting, isn't it?" he said taking a seat. Here he'd thought he'd seen, or heard, it all. Hogwarts had quite the nasty way of proving that wrong though. At least this time there wasn't a time stealer or spider attack. Just... a potential... wedding...

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl

Atticus had never been a big fan of Peeves even when he was a student - mischief and pranks weren't things he enjoyed in general, thanks to his older brother - but he wouldn't have expected the poltergeist to take it this far. Merlin.

Entering the board room, it appeared there were a few of the others there already. "Good day, Minister. Corin. Carter." They each got a polite nod as he took a seat.

Interesting, yes, he supposed that was an adequate word for it. "Indeed. Unexpected too." Had any poltergeists ever had the desire to have a wedding before? He had never heard of such a thing until now.

But, in the grand scheme of things, that wasn't the biggest problem right now. It was the two poltergeists' sudden desire to harm students because of this wedding - or lack of wedding - that was the real issue at hand.

"Hello Carter. Atticus." Althea greeted the other arrivals. She didn't respond to Carter's comment but her expression did change slightly, brow quirking because she wasn't seeing a reason a meeting was necessary. Were people truly going to argue against the poltergeists doing this marriage thing? It didn't really effect anyone else after all, it was simply the trouble they were causing that was a problem. THAT was something that did need to be dealt with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mohamed Sahnoun

As he made his way down the flight of stairs, the African couldn't help but reflect on the reason why the Board was being summoned. While the issue had been present since the beginning of the term, he honestly did not expect it to escalate so quickly. But, now that student lives had truly been put at risk, this meeting was, in his opinion, much needed. What was originally a non-being matter was no more, and it was their duty to act in the best interests and safety of the student body.

Quietly entering the board room, Sahnoun found himself a seat, giving each member of the Board a smile. "Good day, everyone. Dank you all for coming." He had to admit, the purpose of them gathering together was a little odd. But, then again, this was Hogwarts. Stranger things, as the history of the school proved time and time again, had happened within these walls.

He placed his dark hands, folded, on the table and patiently waited to get down to business. What should their course of action be concerning the two poltergeists? Whatever was decided, it was essential that the lives of students not be put at such great risk again.

"Headmaster." Althea nodded a greeting. Only a few more of their number to arrive....

[Cassirin]

"I'm not late. I'm on presidential time," Cassandra Rae-Branxton burst through the door, doing that thing where she didn't exactly hurry but still managed to bristle with busy energy. It was hard to keep up on responsibilities when there were new babies to cuddle, but Cassandra was doing her best.

"Headmaster. Minister. Corin. Carter. Atticus. Hello." She took a seat before immediately rising to pour herself a cup of tea. How was one meant to attend a meeting without tea?

[Mohamed Sahnoun]

Mohamed politely nodded his head at the new Minister and flashed Board President Rae-Branxton a smile the moment she stepped into the room. There were a few more board members that needed to arrive, but, looking down at his watch, the man took note of the time. He, as was everyone else in the room, had other work to get to, so it was time to get this meeting officially started.

The man slowly rose from his seat and quietly coughed. Normally he wasn't one to start the meetings, but as he was the one to summon them here today it surely would be appropriate of him to do so now. "Once again, dank you all for coming here today. Now, as I mentioned to you all briefly by owl, there was ... an incident with da two poltergeists residing in da school right before da holiday began. Dey managed to turn da moving staircases into a slip 'n' slide, which put da lives of a number of students in great danger." Unintentionally, he paused for dramatic effect.

"Fortunately da injuries were fairly minor. Sore backsides, a little scratch here and dere, ... da worst happened to a Mister Jacen Reed, but our interim healer fixed him up in no time at all.

"Da reason for dis meeting is to get all of your opinions on how the school should handle Miffy and Peeves. Dis term dey have been acting out, ever since da Baron and other select ghosts refused deir desire of marriage, in and outside of classes, pulling prank after prank. Dey were fairly minor up until da occurrence with da stairs. Da staff and I felt it best dat we let da ghosts handle this situation as it is of deir realm, but it is now an entirely different matter since da lives of students were put in serious danger."

He paused, this time intentionally, for all of that information to sink in. He looked at each board member with those dark eyes of his and then, before sitting down, added, "With all that said, what do you all dink would be da best course of action?" The African had thought of a few options, but he was interested in what everyone present had to suggest and desired to come to a finalized decision with their support.

[AlwaysSnapesGirl]

Headmaster Sahnoun and Cassandra all received nods in greeting as well, and then it looked like the meeting was beginning. Not everyone had arrived, and it concerned him since they were usually on time for meetings, but perhaps other things had come up that prevented it for one reason or another. Who knew.

He listened intently to the Headmaster's explanation, frowning a little at the brief pause after mentioning students' lives had been put in danger. Was there something else after that they hadn't been informed about or... Oh, he was continuing. And it was good news that no one had been severely injured. Thank Merlin for that at least.

So now for the objective of the meeting: how to deal with these ridiculous, annoying poltergeists. "I suppose we could convince the ghosts to let them have their wedding, on the condition that Peeves and Miffy never pull stunts like this again and assuming we can be certain that we can hold them to that promise even after their marriage." There was no reason to trust two poltergeists' words and promises alone, so there would surely have to be some extra incentive or threat to make sure they continued to follow their agreement after they got what they wanted.

[TeafortheSoul]

"I'm not sure why exactly the poltergeists allowed for anyone to refuse them in the first instance, since it boils down to opinion only." Althea began. "If they really want to apply a human tradition to themselves, they simply could do so symbolically, though they won't have any legal rights in the sense the living do. It seems to me that this is more about wanting to cause a scene, and being the centre of attention than it is about truly wanting to be together, or else why let anyone else, spirit or being, dictate the terms on which they are united?" Nothing would have stopped her from getting married, so she thought it ridiculous, generally speaking. "There are no laws relating to poltergeists as far as marriage goes," And really, how does one create laws regarding chaos spirits that literally can't be stopped in any case? "And nothing that outright says they can't do as they please in that regard. So I say we allow it."

Though, the wedding part wasn't the most important part in her eyes, it was ensuring that the children were not put in danger from the poltergeists. And they COULD hold them to it, she nodded at Atticus and continued speaking, offering both a more simplistic solution and a more extreme (but undeniably effective) one.

"However, while we can't easily banish Peeves given his longevity here, there are ways we could see to Miffy being removed, or at least contained in ways that I am sure she would find unpleasant. If Peeves is truly...." It was a poltergeist, so again, she thought it ridiculous, "In love with Miffy, then that ought to be threat enough for the both of them. Not in regard to the marriage situation, but in general when it comes to putting the children in danger. Of course, as chaos spirits they feed off the emotions of adolescents and that is essentially why they are here-- at the extreme level, we could absolutely threaten that next term, Hogwarts will be temporarily closed, and the children all will move elsewhere for as long as it takes. A term or two would be enough for both of them to cease to exist completely, so they had better play ball."

[LilFox06]

Carter nodded slowly as his fellow boardmembers spoke. Personally he didn't see why this was a big deal. Sure, there was the whole philosophical concept on entities and what they felt... or didn't feel... or their motives, but other than that, who actually cared about this?

"Or we could just say that we agree with them and not make a big deal out of it." he suggested. He was concerned with the 'convincing' word. It was important that they didn't give the poltergeists a reason to think they could get more out of them.

Also the Minister's words seemed a little... harsh and intense too. Not necessary in his opinion.

"Why don't we just allow them to get married..." he started, pausing halfway through his thought, "... and then remind them after the fact about housing arrangements here at the school." If the spouses of faculty and staff weren't at the school, the spouse of the poltergeist certainly wouldn't be allowed to remain.

[Steelsheen]

Corin nodded his head in agreement with the rest of his fellow board members as they spoke their piece. "Listen, the union itself isnt really the problem, as far as I can see anyway. Peeves and Miffy are already together-- what do they want, a certificate? Well then scribble something on a parchment and call it official." Headmaster is more than qualified to make that happen "My concern is what happens after the union. Not only promising to be in their best behavior....." as far as best behavior can be achieved from a poltergeist. "....but more so, will the poltergeist population NOT increase?" he gave the people in the room concerned look "One resident poltergeist is quite thorny, two is--" he gestured. Recent events bear witness to that "--but more than two? Is there any assurance that the poltergeist population wouldn’t spike after this development? Not just mini-Peeves and Miffies running about..." although that is a very worrying thought. Poltergeists poppin out like kittens, oh boy. ".... but that this doesn’t turn into unwanted publicity to other poltergeists around the country that Hogwarts is a hotspot where they can get what they want if they make enough trouble for Wizards?"

[Mohamed Sahnoun]

The man listened to each board member with his fullest attention. His face remained expressionless, though his head did nod from time to time. Sahnoun agreed with them. Having a wedding wasn't a problem, but the poltergeists' behaviour continuing was. There were no laws preventing Peeves and Miffy from being bound together in holy matrimony; however, there were things that they could do to prevent the polter-chaos from escalating further. That was why they were all here today: to figure out what to do about those two. If a wedding was to be an incentive, then so be it.

"I myself am not sure of why da two want a wedding or why a handful of ghosts saying 'no' to dem was da factor dat prevented dem from doing so. Perhaps dey just want to be treated like everyone else? Dey already are da centre of attention, so I believe dat deir feelings for each other must be genuine. But I could be wrong. Poltergeists, at times, are so ... unpredictable." The headmaster thought, reflecting more to himself out loud than anything. "Nonetheless, it appears dat we all agree dat a marriage is not a preposterous idea. The two will have our blessing to be united as one.

"But it is da potential aftermath of permitting dis dat is, clearly, a concern for us all. We can tell da two poltergeists dat dey can have deir ceremony on da condition dat deir behaviour comes to an end. Da past has shown, from what I understand, dat the words of a poltergeist are to be taken with a grain of salt as dey are creatures of chaos," he stated, the latest comment directed more toward Atticus. "We must make our conditions very clear to dem: student lives are not to be put in danger by deir hand again and dere needs to be a better effort to control deir behaviour, otherwise dere will be consequences."

Brown eyes blinked as he looked at each of the members. Again, his head nodded. This all sounded more than fair to him. Althea's words did sound quite fair to him, though he could tell by Carter's look that he thought they were a little extreme. "It might be wise of us, should they not hold up their end of the bargain, to contain Miffy for a period of time. Dat should be a suitable consequence for da two, and it would be much simpler den having to move an entire student body elsewhere. Dough da latter could be used as a last resort." The man hoped it would never come to that. As troublesome as a pair of poltergeists could be, they were will a significant part of the school's history.

Corin's comment made Mohamed's eyebrow raise. Hogwarts as a hotspot for poltergeists to get whatever they want if they caused enough trouble? The old African folded his hands and rested his chin on them in deep thought. That was a valid question. "I have never heard of poltergeists being able to reproduce, as they are formed by chaos and feed on it. However, you do raise a good point about other poltergeists showing up and causing a riff. Perhaps we could have da same consequences should any appear: containment or, as a last resort, expell dem."

[AlwaysSnapesGirl]

It seemed they were all on the same page here with regard to the whole wedding idea and holding Peeves and Miffy accountable. The suggestions for solutions varied a bit, but Atticus thought they were all excellent, even the more extreme one Althea suggested. Containment and, if the poltergeists didn't learn from that, then expelling them sounded perfectly reasonable to him if it meant keeping them from trying to harm the students again. It worked for any new ones that might show up as well - though hopefully that would not happen.

So he nodded once Headmaster Sahnoun had finished. "That sounds like a reasonable plan to me."

[The Narrator]

If a student were to press their ear against the door, they might overhear the most recent development in the Board's conversation. A wedding is to be held at Hogwarts! Now that you've obtained this bit of knowledge, maybe you might want to be the first to tell one of the poltergeists this marvelous news...