[Staff Room] Dorothy Comes Home

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

Afterquite an eventful holiday, Dia was almost releaved to be back to peace, order and stability. She had arrived late and missed the first few days of school, this she would not forgive herself for. But nevertheless she had arrived and, after only half an hour, unpacked and gone to the Staff Room.

She pushed the door open hesitantly, hoping not to disturb anyone there. Not many were there so she smiled sheepishly, quickly closing the door behind her. She locked eyes with everyone there, her ocean green eyes shining like stars. Blushing slightly, her cheeks burning the same red as her high-healed shiny red boots, she confidantly strolled to the middle of the room.

At this point her cheeks were on fire but she tried to ignore it and pulled out her wand. She swizzled it around as though stirring a pot and out of the tip swirrled two seats seperated by a small coffee table. They stopped swirrling and faced to windows. Gracfully, she gathered her flowing baby blue top and sat down. Then, very covincingly, Illy pulled a thin book out of nowhere and began to read.

[defladamouse]

Clarence came in through the door and in his haste nearly went headlong into Professor Owen's chair, so eager was he to greet her.

"Hello their your professorness" he said in a higher pitched voice than usual, "as you have clearly created a coffee table for yourself would you like some coffee to go upon it? or perhaps some cake? Biscuits? I've been told i make fabulous hot chocolate if that's more to your taste? Anything at all you just ask Clarence!"

[Mikkel Delling]

As it was his first year at Hogwarts, Mikkel still had a lot to grow accustomed to. The language was definitely one he had to grasp, but more importantly was the brand-new culture. Back in north continental Europe, things were done in a similar fashion from place to place. Due to its stance on freedom and fairly turbulent history, Britain was much like a squashed fruit cake. Items of all shapes and sizes, coming from vastly differing backgrounds mashed up together. Consequently, the beginning of Mikkel's life at Hogwarts was rather cheerless, despite the friendly welcome wagon, as the staff already seemed to have their own little groups. This is why excitement rose within the Scandinavian's heart when a new face entered the staff room.

Though he had always been "the tall one", Mikkel comes off as a rather quiet character because of his fragile frame. This is why bold actions alwas come as a surprise to even those who are fairly close to him. Leaving his battered desk that stood on uneven legs beside the generally vacant table of the transfiguration professor, Mikkel made his way towards the red-haired lady and her little coffee table.

However, the appearance of a house-elf and his familiarity with the woman halted Mikkel in his steps, so he ended up standing awkwardly a few paces from the friendly pair.

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

"Well, Clarence," Dia smiled, smiling. She closing her book slowly, keeingt a long, delicate finger in the book. "That does sound smashing but I'd prefer a cup of tea, if you don't mind." Dia smiled again at the little house elf, then movement caught her eye.

She turned her head slightly to see what had moved and saw that the what was in fact a who, and that who was a new face. "Yet another new teacher at Hogwarts," Dia thought, smiling as the new professor stood awkwardly in the middle of nowhere.

Then, turning back to the house elf and added, "and a slice of carrot cake would be wonderful too. And anything for you, Professor?" she asked, turning to the new face and smiling politely.

[Mikkel Delling]

Mikkel hastened to break out of his reverie as appearing anti-social was the last thing he wanted to be known for at Hogwarts, at the moment. Though he had been the first to enter the Great Hall at lunch, and the last to leave, Mikkel found his stomach grumbling at the thought of food, so considered the question carefully.

"Well ... I'd like a chocolate milk and krumkake, please." he added, smiling politely in return and shuffling over to the pleasant lady.

Here he was faced with a dilemma. The professor had included him in the conversation by asking him a question that was only directed at her to begin with. However, she did not exactly invite him to join her, so it would probably be rude of him to sit down at her table when she had not said so.

What if she's expecting someone else? There is only one other chair ...

Again, he would probably seem distant and possibly distasteful of her if he remained standing there like a dithering pumpkin, reluctant to seat himself.

"I might as well go the whole nine yards." He thought, and sat down on the second chair.

OoC: Mikkel's met Clarence in another thread, but I'll make it so that this is where Mikkel meets him first.

So much thinking in the space of a few seconds!

EDIT: My post was kind of messy, so i've refined it a little.

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

Dia smiled at the professor as he joined her. She was glad that he did, otherwise she might have had to have asked him to join her. As much as she wanted to read her book, after being home for about thirty five minutes she was craving some human interaction.

She looked at the page number of the page she was on, "a hundred and ninety four," she thought, and then closed it, placing it on the small table between them. She sighed and looked out of the window that they were facing, tucking her hands between her crossed legs. She began to tap her foot, her red boot shimmering in the sunlight.

After sitting in silence for a moment, she turned to the new professor, holding out her hand, and said, "I'm Dia Owen, Astronomy." She wondered if she had been a little too forward but she could not think of anything else to say under the circumstances.

[Mikkel Delling]

Most people gave a sign of acknowledgment when someone else joined them at the table or slid into the only empty seat next to them. Not this Hogwarts professor though, for she did not even seem to register him. In fact, she was probably ignoring him since the book in her hands was holding his attention.

“She doesn’t want me here.” He thought, but was relieved of further mental debate when she shut the tome and placed it on the little coffee table between them. Yet she remained silent, averting her gaze to the scenery outside and tapping her feet out of impatience?

I am such an idiot! She’s waiting for me to speak!

But before he could begin, the lady introduced herself as the astronomy professor, Dia Owen.

“Pleased to meet you, Dia,” he said, taking her hand and holding it up high to kiss it. “And I’m Mikkel Delling the Animagus Tutor.”

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Dan walked down the long corridor towards the staff room with a pile of books under his arm. He found that his office was to small to allow him to think and the Hufflepuff common room was far to noisy at this time of day but he knew that very few other teachers used the staff room as they preferred the secrecy of their own office. However Dan got a rather big surprise as he pushed open the door to see that there were in fact people in the room, although he had never been acquainted with any of them. They too seemed to have never met as he saw the male kissing the hand of the female teacher. With a cheeky grin Dan walked over to where they were sitting and placed his free hand on his hip.

“Can I join in as well?? I am Dan Hubbles. Pleased to met you both.”

Dan shout Dia a cheeky wink before walking over to the closed table dropping his books down onto it then with a wave of his hand the candles around him flickered alight and the dim light they produced was just enough to ease his reading.

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

Dia blushed as he took her hand and kissed it. With a shy giggle, she smiled and said, "well, Mikkel Delling the Animagus Tutor, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance too." She smiled at the new professor for a moment, still embarrassed that he had kissed her hand.

She quickly with drew her hand when a voice intruded on her quiet thoughts. She looked up and saw another teacher was standing over them. He introduced himself as Dan Hubbles and he made Dia jump and squeak a little when he dropped his books. "Sure," she said tentatively, still startled by his abrupt intrusion.

[Mikkel Delling]

Mikkel was happily oblivious to the rising colour in Dia¡¦s countenance, and the arrival of another professor did not agitate him as Dia¡¦s warm approach had calmed his formerly restless nerves. In fact, Mikkel was now feeling particularly loquacious, so brought out a choice of water or English tea with his wand and a chair for his latest acquaintance.

¡§Hello, pleased to meet you too, Dan. What do you teach?¡¨ he asked as he poured himself a glass of water. ¡§What would the two of you like to drink?¡¨

Hubbles ¡K why does that name sound so familiar?

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

The whole idea of concentrating on his work in the silence of the Staff Room seemed to have backfired as Dan could not help but glace up from the pages of his book to where the other two Professors were sitting. It was then he noticed that Professor Delling was actually talking to him so with a rather exaggerated look of shock Dan stood up and moved back to where the others where sitting giving a small bow to those present.

“I beg your pardon. I am Professor Daniel Hubbles. Head of Hufflepuff house and Professor of Charms.”

As he looked over at Professor Owen to give her another dashing smile it suddenly hit him how beautiful she was her fair skin, the blond hair and the piercing blue eyes. Finding a female teacher that did not keep to their office was very difficult at Hogwarts, the only other one he came across was Bree and she seemed a bit to found of the fire whiskey, which arguably was one of the only things the two of them had in common. Trying to wake himself from this slight distraction of beauty Dan tore his gaze away from Dia and looked back at Delling.

“Not meaning to sound rude, but you don’t seem to be from around these parts. May I ask where? I have travelled a bit you see and we may find something to have a conversation over. End this silly silence that has fallen over the room since I entered.”

[Mikkel Delling]

Taking another sip of his water, Mikkel laughed inwardly at the professor's theatrics, but kept a somewhat straight face. However, his true feelings were betrayed by a wry grin tat refused to disappear from his pale countenance.

"Charms? I was never good at the subject, and only managed an E for my OWLs and NEWTs due to hours upon hours of laborious study. I definitely do not miss those days." After draining the last of his water and refilling it to the brim, Mikkel continued.

"You've guessed right. I'm from the north. Stavanger, Norway to be exact. You?"

OoC: Now we can talk about our past, school and Europe to break this "silly silence". <--- Nice consonance.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Dan had found it rather amusing what Mikkle had said about Charms and found it hard not to laugh although he had raised a good point about his subject, you were either good at it or not, and unless you were naturally talented you would have to practise to stay at a good level. As a student Dan would have never of thought he would end up teaching the subject for a living, he saw himself more as a Care of Magical Creatures Professor then Charms but then life has many twists and turns that everyone had to face and for some reason he had ended up back at Hogwarts.

“My heritage is rather boring. My father was a wizard, my mother a muggle. I have only every lived in the same semidetached house in a small muggle town, I came to Hogwarts, then travelled the world looking at rare animals. I spent the longest in Brazil, I love that country.” Dan broke off for a moment as he recollected on the memories of the rainforest. “I went to Norway once, went looking for a snow wolf.”

He looked from one Professor to the other as he finished his story inviting one of them to tell them theirs. The thought of his travels always made him restless, the idea that he was stuck in the castle did annoy him, but there seemed to be more dangerous in Hogwarts then in the Amazon.

[Mikkel Delling]

"I don't think it's particularly exciting to have old-fashioned feuds or reconstituted families," he thought, keeping his own experiances and those of his friends in mind.

To Mikkel, Professor Hubbles sounded like a right adventurer, and could not imagine how he even managed to settle down. He knew there was trouble a-brewing beneath the surface of this historical school, That's probably why he's sticking around. He was happy o find that the Briton had an interest in wild animals, but stopped himself from launching a conversation that pivoted around the subject in case he alienated Dia.

"My story is pretty humble affair. My parents are both wizards, and they looked after the magical fisheries for the ministry. That's no high-paying position though, so they had to fish on the side to feed my sisters and I. We all attened the Scandinavian primary, and went to Durmstrang for secondary. I got into Deutsch on a scholarship and discovered the absolutely fascinating art of Animagi there.

My time there was ... pretty eventful, but I managed to finish my courses, Transfiguration and Animagi, in one piece. Came straight here after that 'cause I couldn't afford to travel."

Mikkel had tried to keep things brief, but found he had probably bored his companions half to death. Draining his second glass of water, Mikkel wandered whether he should apologize for his monologue or not.

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

Dia crossed her legs and, leaning on her arm, looked from the one to the other. She smiled, most intrigued by their conversation. It was interesting to hear where each came from. It told one lots about who they were.

Feeling obliged to also share, Dia suddenly sat up and, eyes sparkling, said wistfully, "I am muggle-born. Both my parents are lawyers. It was quite a shock to get my letter. I too attended this school and found I had an aptitude for Charms and Transfiguration though, through undeniable circumstances, I grew to love Astronomy.

"After school I travelled a bit as well, though I didn't get to far," Dia began to laugh at the memories, "I went to places like Spain and Italy and somehow I ended up in Egypt and," she sighed happily, " I fell in love. With the country," she added quickly. "Then fate once again brought me here." She smiled at the two men and then out the window, "this place holds an enchantment upon me that I cannot understand and would not break." She spoke with a dreamy air and smiled warmly at each of the men.