"Don't think I didn't hear that, young man." Professor Kazimeriz said in a smooth voice to the young, tanned professor seated at the desk. "And no thank you, dear, I'm quite capable of climbing a few steps." His face wrinkled even more -- a feat that seemed impossible! -- as he smiled at her, exposing a set of perfect white teeth set in liver-coloured gums. His eyes, however, did not smile, and with a great effort he lifted his other foot up onto the dias, and clong! shluff-shluffed his way to a seat next to Truebridge, sliding the heavy wooden chair back with some difficulty and gracefully seating himself, leaning like a vulture against his cane and surveying the room silently.

"OK, but who is the Hufflepuff head of house?... and who teaches charms, that's the class I'm most excited for!" Set said politley!

She grinned. "Merry will do just fine. I'm not technically a professor so Merry or Mere or Meredith or really any variation thereof will suffice." She took another sip of her water and looked at the flying instructor.

"Nice to meet you too Mr. Vindictus. I'm Meredith Brooks-Byron, healer." She pushed her hair back behind her ears and took his offered hand.

Ahh, Anna knew that voice from anywhere. Lyra Noir had decided to follow her up to the staff table and join in on any and all fun that was to come. "I didn't know you followed me up here," Anna said, not bothering to turn around just yet. Her eyes were focused on a professor who'd just darted underneath the table. She didn't quite blame him, either. At the sound of a terribly loud noise, Anna had turned to see what had to be someone's grandfather's great-grandfather slowly making their way through the Great Hall. Sheesh. Merlin only knew who that was. Maybe it was one of those men Anna had read about in all those wizarding History books...Arthur Weasley or somebody like that. She imagined this man to be about that age. Shrugging, Anna turned back to Lyra, who was now deep in conversation with Professor Vindictus.

"Oh, hey there," Anna greeted. She may as well chat with this guy while she waited for Professor Shackleton to finish her conversation. "It takes a while to learn everyone's name and what subject they teach, but trust me, you'll get used to it." Anna quickly pointed out the few professors she knew and told the boy which subjects they taught. "As for the others, they're new, so I'm not sure who they are yet," she said.

She stepped back from him to give him some room to move. She beamed when he called her dear. She was going to have this term in the bag if all her professors were male. "Ok sir. Well I am here for help if you ever need it." She smiled at him. She had to keep that smile however when he smiled at her. His gums were not the right color and it reminded her of that throw up in Diagon Alley. "Sir you should do toothpaste ads for the Prophet with a dazzling smile like that." She told him.

"Jealous? Of you? Er...rightttt," he nodded towards Max, but rolling his eyes as he looked to whom Max was pointing out. He snickered as the old man caught Max and his choice of words. "Yeah, Vindictus. Smoooooth."

Alex, whose eyes had briefly started to close, started a bit as Ang scooted over, "Ang dear! How are you?" she muttered in what could only be described as tired enthusiasm. "Oh, just a rough summer is all." she answered with a half smile. As she spoke, an owl flew through the window and dropped a envelope on her head. Without even glancing at the return address, Alex snatched the envelope, moving faster than a woman in her state should humanly be able to, crumpled it as small as she could and jammed it into her pocket violently.

"So, how was your summer?" she asked awkwardly, trying to bring some sense of normal, every day talk back into the conversation.

"OK, but who is my head of house, I'd really like to talk to her!" said Set. Set was actually shaking from excitment now!

He flinched at the reprimand. "Sorry, sir," Max replied like an obedient kid.

"Ah, Mer. Nice to meet you," he smiled and kissed her hand. "I'm sure we'll become better acquainted as the term goes on." At that moment, he caught a stern look coming from Macadrian. "I mean as working professionals. Students are always getting into mishaps that require the care of a medical expert."

"Thank you, my dear, and that'll be 5 points from Slytherin for sucking up both blatant and most unbecoming a Slytherin." He nodded once at her from his seat, smiling but looking at her the flat and unsmiling eyes of a gila monster. Oh, this term was going to be full of opportunities for instruction.

He nodded once curtly to Professor Vindictus, his nod saying see that it doesn't happen again. He was 102 years old and by Merlin, he WOULD have respect and order wherever he went.

Oops! That didn't come out the way she planned it. Lyra pressed her lips together and mumbled a "Yes sir" response to Vindictus. If there was anyone in this school who she kept her troublemaking under control it would be in front of this man, the one who could run and tell bad things to a certain someone who would scold her during the summer months.

But just as she was scolded by Vindictus, so was he by the old professor himself. Man he moved at the slow pace of a turtle. It would be the end of term feast by the time the man took his seat at the table. Was he a professor or what was he? The new Headmaster? Who was the new Head around Hogwarts anyway?


Lyra then turned her head towards the lady she met in the streets and smiled. "Actually I like the name Mere! It's unique and...cool," she said with playfully narrowed eyes. "So if you are not a professor, then what exactly do you do here at the school?" It seemed as though she was new due to the fact that Max didn't know her either. Hmmm...so many new faces!

"I told you I wanted to come up here with you, Banana" she snickered as she leaned into Anna for a whisper.

Madame Kohan pointed towards Professor Shackleton. "She would be your head of house. As for the charms professor, I'm not entirely certain as there are many new faces here, some of whom I haven't had the opportunity to meet yet."

Still very concerned over Alex's appearance and her tired, nearly resigned sounding tone, Angela slowly answered. "Quite well...excited to be back at Hogwarts, of course." As Alex mentioned a rough summer, Angela was on the verge of diving into the subject further, but was stopped when an owl flew past and dropped an envelope on Alex.

Clearing her throat slightly, Angela's eyes strayed towards Alex's robe pocket before she answered the question. "It went very well...or at least better than yours, I imagine, from the looks and sound of things..." Her voice trailed off into a concerned silence.

Well well, this one certainly was socially inept. Clearly, that had to be the reason they stuck him outside all the time. Either that or he wasn't intelligent enough to actually teach a subject....shame his brain didn't match his looks.

"No, no problem at all," yet, Anastasia replied, flashing her teeth at him in what one might consider a grin. "Mmmhm," she replied noncommittally, taking a sip of her ice water. He would be one to watch out for - not that she minded, of course, since he was very nice looking. Too bitter for her tastes though, just like that acorn he seemed to be attached to.

Deciding to ignore the odd groundskeeper, Anastasia turned her attention towards Truebridge instead. He was equally odd, this she already knew, but much more fascinating. So far.

"But of course. Would it bother you terribly if I called you Ethan.....er, Professor Truebridge?" She smirked as she watched him bite an apple. This was going to be an interesting dinner, she could just tell. And what's more, they were all seated up nice and high, away from the bratty little children and teenagers. Ugh. Teens were the worst.

"Guessing things about you?" Annie echoed, blinking for a moment. Now that was not what she had been expecting to hear. Of course, it implied that she had been thinking about this man since she had met him. And why in Merlin's beard would she do that? Men always chased Anastasia. Not the other way around.

She looked down at her plate and noticed, for the first time, a little bag. This had to be where the runes were coming from. Annie opened it and raised an eyebrow at the little note inside. Hmmph, how touching. She scoffed somewhat at the soft gesture and pushed the little bag off her plate, noticing Truebridge's sudden disappearance just then.

"I -- you --- what?" she muttered, blinking down at the floor. How did he get under the table? And more importantly, why?!

"Thank you," Annie said at last. She would take that compliment, naturally. "Authentic Prada - they do make such wonderful shoes." Duh. She would know.

An old man tottering up the stairs caught Anastasia's attention now. Merlin, he could have passed for her great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather's grandfather. Or something like that.

She smiled at the man as he took a seat on Truebridge's other side. "Hello," she said with a nod. That would do for now. But more important than the ancient bum was the UGGGGGGGGGH BRAT following him to the table.

Her. Annie's blue eyes narrowed upon sight of the child blubbering about Ethan's sunglasses. Please. As if the little vomiter even knew anything about fashion.

Anastasia sighed loudly but refrained from addressing the girl. Instead, she turned her head to the other side and watched the Hufflepuff table from afar. She could just eavesdrop on the brat this way.

Speaking of Hufflepuffs, here was one now. Straight out of her old House.

"Greetings," Anastasia stated with her usual smirk. "I am Professor Bunbury, your Herbology professor." Blah blah blah the kid said he was looking forward to Charms lessons, but hopefully he would make Hufflepuff proud in Herbology as well...

She nodded her head towards Max. "Of course, that I believe. Children tend to do that." Mere took her hand back "How long have you been the flying instructer Mr. Vindictus?"

Time for another school term. After the events over summer break, Forrester would have been surprised if Arianna would have sat near him, but he certainly didn't expect her to up and leave! He looked about frantically, but saw no sign of her....or Miss Trelawney. This was sure to be a different term for him. Not since he was a student had he not had a term at Hogwarts without Ariana. Why....she had been a staple in his life! With a dejected sigh, Forrester took his seat amongst quite a few new staff members. He heard a new voice, well, of course he heard a new voice, but this one was rather near him and seemed to be coming from a lady that well.......lady didn't seem to be a proper term for her. 'Woman' perhaps fit her best, as she didn't seem very lady-like.....in the normal fashion of such anyway. He couldn't help but glance at her, and glance away. She looked so familiar and yet....he couldn't place her at all. He just found himself hoping she wasn't a friend of Blaylock's. Oh, that would be positively horrid. But....no, her accent wasn't normal. It was more.....American? Hm, who on earth did he know from America? No one, he knew. It was probably an old acquaintance from school who had spent numerous years in America and had picked up the accent there. Yes. Of course.

He'd introduce himself later, to do so now would be impolite as she was already surrounded by people, and alone, he could .......think upon his new situation.

"Hi, you teach Herbolgy, right. I'm muggleborn and i do a lot of gardening. I don't know if that will help, but...well! I'm looking forward to your class! do you know where Professor Shakleton is?" Set asked.

Truebridge was somewhat... this girl was a Slytherin and she couldn't tell what danger she was in? Krazymeriz was right there.

He was about to introduce himself when quite suddenly, the old professor was right there. Darn it.

"Ahh.. Professor Truebridge- History of Magic and..." he cleared his throat, "I dropped my fork." he gripped the fork and nonchalantly climbed back into his chair.

Ethan knew that it would be like signing a death warrant not to politely address Kazimeriz...

Arrgh! Not like that... Ethan cleared his throat and frowned at the Greenwood girl. He turned and nodded politely at Krazymeriz.

Yep. He saw that coming a mile away. Ethan only hoped that the girl would spread the word fast and make sure every Slytherin knew not to get on the bad side of Krazymeriz. He would have offered her a comforting smile but he didn't like the idea of Kazimeriz thinking he was conspiring against him or something.

"Professor Kr- Kazimeriz, it's been a long time."

Ethan turned to Professor Bunbury with a crooked smile planted on his lips, "Yeah... Ethan." He brandished his fork and repeated, "I dropped my fork." he pointed it at the Slytherin girl, "You should... go... eat with your... friends?" he examined the little girl, wondering if she had friends. Or perhaps enemies for losing the first points of the term.

Turning back to Bunbury he spoke, "Prada... is your favourite?" Ethan didn't mind Prada obviously, but the only reason he knew any of the brands of his nice gear was because it was emblazoned on the item itself.

"Truebridge..." Professor Kazimeriz said casually, still surveying the students as though he were an Emperor before his subjects. "A professorship, very nice. I trust in your old age you've learned to control your temper and your wand, then, and we'll have no... unfortunate incidents... during your tenure?" He raised an eyebrow and gave him a creepy smirk. They both knew what he was talking about.

"This will be my eighth year teaching at Hogwarts," Max answered. "Before that, I played professionally for 20 years." He realized that Anna and Lyra were still standing in front of them. "Erm . . .stop staring at the new DADA professor. "

Lyra's head turned as she heard a key word from someone at the table, another staff member whom she did not know. But this woman had taste...style and...hmmm...was some what pretty for a redhead. She moved slightly towards the woman and smiled.

"Umm...excuse me but, did you say Prada? As in P-R-A-D-A? Muggle fashion?" Her green eyes were full of excitement as she waited to see just what the person had to say.

And then Lyra was scolded once more by Vindictus. Maybe she should rethink Max as being cool...nah! He was always cool. "I'm not staring at the old man, I'm staring at her shoes!" There was a difference between looking up and looking down.

Cautiously, while the attention was on Paris losing points, Cela crawled under the table- as far away from her own head of house as possible since she was trying to be a good Ravenclaw after all. She quietly crawled along, and carefully began tying staff shoelaces together- pausing upon reaching a pair of really pretty girly heeled shoes that had no laces. She reached into her pocket and pulled out some string, tying it around the back of the heels before looping them with the next staff member's shoes. She did the same for any shoes without laces, avoiding Vindictus and the older distinguished gentleman that took points from Paris, before scooting away.

She smiled brightly upon noticing that she hadn't been seen, and slid back to her table.

She giggled at his enthusiasm... "I'll be happy to give you a reading..." she said sweetly. She bit her lip and let it slip out of her grasp.

She watched him wink at her, and then at another... Hmmm Charming... and flirtatious...

"You're welcome," She said to her friend.

Was that... "Papa Valon?" She said looking at the old man. She hadn't spoken to him for four years... Would he remember her?

She turned to the man who had winked at her. He was married?? Ewwwww...

She blinked at him when he took away points. She had just offered to help him up the stairs and he took points away from her? What was going on around here. Well she would be skipping any class that man was teaching. That was so unfair. She took a deep breath to keep from getting upset and worse saying something back to man. She had only been trying to be nice. No good deed goes unpunished, made perfect sense to her right then.

She was aware of the crazy hexing lady staring at her, but she refused to look at her. That would only make her mad and she would say something and get into more trouble. This was starting off wrong and she wanted nothing more than to get back on the train and head back home to her real school.

She looked at the man. "Yeah whatever" She told him turning her back on the man. She didn't care about manners at this point.

"You sound just like Macadrian," Max chuckled. "It's always about shoes and fashion. Seriously."

Before Ian dove into his food, which he had already piled on his plate, he noticed a pleasant looking bag, hopefully filled with treats, and a note. He peaked inside the note first, and smiled at the sentiments. The bag was next. Now, in his time at Hogwarts, which was much too long ago for him to remember, he had not taken runes. And if it had not been for the strange little symbol dohickeythings, he would have bit into them. They sure looked like candy.

Ian absentmindedly licked his lips.....and tasted this afternoon's beef. Mmmmm. Beef.

Ian took a look around before returning to his food. He noticed a ladies man, who he had nicknamed Leon Phelps, a scruffy looking man-boy, and some other people, one of whom looked like a mummy risen from the grave.

But they were much less interesting than his food, and he had an entire year to get to know them. He only had a few hours to get to know his food. Food. Mmmmmm. He rubbed his belly and immediately went for the...er....pheasant? leg. Like a rabid dog, he tore into it, immune to the fact that the grease was getting all over his face. It was most certainly a disgusting sight.

Unfortunately, his old friend, David Kapoor caught him in the act. He whipped his head around with a deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. "Oh, hewwo," he mumbled through pheasant. Tender, juicy pheasant.

He finally swallowed his food and smirked at Kapoor. "Apparently not, seeing as you're still here, old man." He extended a hand for a hand shake. He was extremely excited to see his old friend, emphasis on old.

"Oh, and you might want to watch out. I've got a few new tricks up my sleeve." He shot Kapoor a sideways glance and returned to his food. Ooohhh, he was going to have SO much fun this term.

Ian was seriously getting fed up with all the interruptions. He wanted to eat! FOOOD!

However, he could not help but to acknowledge the young man. "Charms would be my department, young sir," Ian said. The young boy had mentioned he was most interested in charms. "I'm very glad you are excited for my class! I dare say I should expect some great things out of you now."

"Now then, I suggest you go meet all the other professors. And I suggest that I, on the other hand, continue with my delicious...er...what is this? Corn? Yes, corn."