[G.Hall] Welcome To The Jungle

[Professor William Vaid]

What an insignificant day. Many were studying for finals and the tension in the school was at an all time high. Many changes had happened recently, what with Will’s best mate now being the headmaster at the school, and exams not to mention all the social drama from the kids that Will had be there to whine to. Sometimes he wished he wasn’t so nice and he just wanted to go out and have a chat in the great hall with the other staff and have a nice cup of tea and a read of the daily newspaper, heck, even the Quibbler would look good right about now. Although marking papers and the extreme concentration skill required to teach Occlumency was great and Will was often extremely exhausted.

But today was a day where he could relax and do all he wanted. Dan had been Headmaster a mere few days, and already the heavy air surrounding the castle had lifted into a much more uplifting atmosphere and certainly less stressful. Sitting with his feet propped up on his desk, Will sat and twiddled his thumbs, watching as he spun them together backwards and forwards. Giving a big breath in and sighing it out, he began to hum a tune he had heard Girty whistling the other day. He was unsure what it was, which just made him feel his age. The big 2-7. Swinging his feet off the desk, he spun his chair around and stood up observing the mirror behind him. Looking deep into it, he pulled at his eyelids and his skin, checking for wrinkles. So far, he was lucky, although he knew it wouldn’t be long, and he would have to settle down soon if he wanted a family. Although he was missing a big ingredient; A woman.

Giving another hefty sigh, he turned back and walked out of the occlumency classroom deciding to make his way to the great hall. It was pretty boring sat in your classroom all alone, and he figured, or at least hoped there would be some soul down there old enough and willing to talk to him about adult things and not what happened to Barbara last week in the toilet, as he overheard Sandra say as he walked past her little group of friends. Giving a small polite smile as he passed them, they began giggling again, and as he passed he had a quick second before entering the great hall to roll his eyes.

Walking down the hall, seemed like the walk of shame sometimes it was so long and everyone’s eyes were always on you, he finally got to the staff table and sat at his chair, to the left of the headmasters. Giving another sigh, he looked over to the slytherin table and saw a group of lads gathered around a newspaper. Summoning it, much to the dismay of the slytherins, he gave them a cheeky grin before unfolding it and beginning to read.

[daphne]

Daphne had been up all night writing a paper on how the different Luna cycles of the moon affected the growth of certain plants that would be found inside many common British forests. It was a very interesting topic and the Ravenclaw had spent many an hour talking to Offley Marsh seeing as this was an area she was very knowledgeable about. She was actually very pleased with what she had come up with, she believed it covered everything and could not wait to see it handed back with full marks. For this very same reason that Daphne dreamed about getting full marks was why she was sitting all by herself at the Ravenclaw table.

Her work was more important then any social interaction and they came to Hogwarts to learn not to sit around eating sweets and getting into trouble, that would not be beneficial for future life as no interviewer would ask you to see how many caldron cakes you could fit in your mouth. Neither would staring at handsome professors get you anywhere but this was something that Daphne allowed herself to indulge in as she, like many others, watched Professor Vaid walk up between the tables and as a smile filled his face she joined in with the ranks of girls swooning over him.

Daphne however was one of the first of the students in the room to regain her composure and focus back on the plate of food she had sitting in front of her. But as she slowly cut up her roast potatoes she could not help but think in the back of her mind that this was not the first man she had looked at fondly over the weeks. There had been another but he was taken and he would never even think about her in that way, and anyway she had no time for boys, she had her studying to focus on.

[christianmartinez]

The stress of exams was getting to him, but he felt nothing but the book in front of him was pointless. On one page it totally contradicted itself and said that a certain thing happened when it didn’t, then it happened again. The entire history book on the co-founder of Hogwarts, Rowena Ravenclaw was a puzzle in itself. Chuckling to himself as he walked down the corridor holding the thick book, he somehow managed not to bump into anyone or anything and it was good for a change. He knew Daphne would appreciate the novelty of this books fine words, and it would give him an excuse to pester her again. It had been weeks since they had caused mischief in the library, and Cris would like to of thought he brought out the fun side in Daphne.

It seemed pretty much everyone was in the great hall, and unknowingly, Cristian had been lead there by his own feet. They must of had a radar on Daphne because sure enough she was sat in the great hall for a change.
Looking up, he smiled seeing her, and immediately walked over and sat opposite her, clambering over the bench with his long awkward legs.

“Daph, read this. It’s hilarious” he said pointing to the page and twisting the book round so she could read it. He knew she would find the fault automatically, and hopefully that awesome, cheeky laugh would come out of her mouth. Cris waited for her to finish reading, grinning like a Cheshire cat as he looked around and saw Professor Vaid taking a paper from the slytherins behind him. He couldn’t help but laugh, and caught the eye of Professor Vaid in which he was greeted with a cheeky wink from the professor before Cris gave him a thumbs up and a cheeky grin in return.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash entered the great hall, stomack rumbling. He hadn't eaten dinner the night before and he was starving! Making his way over to the Ravenclaw table, he smiled as he spotted Cris. Walking over he sat down next to him. "Hey you." he said, greeting the other boy with a hug. He noticed the girl and smiled, "Hi."

[daphne]

Daphne was thoughtfully chewing on a potato when she noticed a Ravenclaw walk into the Great Hall, and it just happened to be the very person she had been thinking about. The old muggle saying of ‘Talk of the Devil and the Devil will appear’ seemed to fit perfectly at this moment, although Daphne would not really think of Cris as a devil, well not in the evil way anyway. Her mother would condemn him as being a ‘bad’ person if she ever knew what he had persuaded her to do in the library, when in reality he was a life saver.

Cris walked directly over to him, a textbook under his arm and a smile on his face, that same cheeky smile that made Daphne feel a little lightheaded, although that may have had something to do with the fact she had not drunk anything to day…that had to be it. Reaching forward Daphne took up her goblet and sipped on the pumpkin juice as the male Ravenclaw sat opposite her. In a typical geeky Ravenclaw fashion however the book was placed in front of her and a page pointed out. With a quizzical smile Daphne glanced from the sexy Ravenclaw to the book and quickly scanned the pages before a small laugh escaped.

“Who wrote this book?” She questioned flipping it open to the cover to read the authors name. “They are complete nitwits, I mean a Slytherin would know the Ravenclaw history better then this; I mean that bit is a total contradiction and this…” She pointed to a paragraph and gave a small snort. “That never even happened.”

With a wide grin she looked up at Cris as he gave Professor Vaid a small thumbs up, Daphne would never have the guts to even interact with the Professor and she was about to comment on how cool Cris was when someone else showed up. It was Ashton Laurent, Cris boyfriend and at his greeting Daphne gave him a small smile and a wave. “Hey.” So there they sat a seventh, sixth and fifth year and that awkward silence falling over them all. Taking another sip of her drink Daphne gave Cris another quick glance before standing up and stepping over the bench getting ready to leave.

“I think I best leave, see you soon Cris.” She offered him a small smile “ Bye Ashton.”

[christianmartinez]

Looking back to the book before looking up to Daphne, he grinned knowingly as she spotted exactly what he was on about. A laugh escaped him as she turned the book to the front cover.
“I reckon the author must of been on some sort of medicinal herb from a mysterious garden in the middle of Kettering” he smirked, knowing his belief was as farfetched as it sounded, and Daphne knew he was joking.
Leaning forward and over the book, he skipped a couple of chapters previously and pointed at the opposite page near the bottom.
“Can you honestly tell me that she ever beheaded a slytherin once with a piece of parchment? I mean really. I reckon whoever wrote this must be related to Rita Skeeter, the imbecile!” he chuckled, before sitting back down in his seat. As he did, Ashton appeared from nowhere and Cris gave a small sigh. Being greeted with a hug he half hugged him back, with one arm, before putting his attention back to Daphne and the book.
As he gave a quick glance over to Daphne, her mood changed instantly, and Cris couldn’t help but feel awkward. Rubbing the back of his neck, he looked down at the book in silence before Daphne was about to get up and go. Jumping back up, he put his hand on her arm.
“Don’t go Daph, besides, nobody gets me like you do” he whispered.

[daphne]

The Ravenclaw had expected a reaction from Cris, maybe something like a small plea for her to stay or maybe just a glance at Ashton but not what he actually did. Daphne did not even have a chance to start to walk away before she felt his hand on her arm. Her heart gave a small flutter and she just stared at his hand as it clung onto her arm, his words originally were lsot on her as she was trying to stop herself from acting too much like one of the clones that stalk the popular Gryffindors around.

“Oh.” That was all she could mange as her throat turned dry. With wide eyes she looked at Cris and blinked furiously almost as if it would help her say something, jump start her brain to say something logical. But all she could think about was how he had asked, begged her to stay. There was a look in his eye that made her just want to say yes but as her gaze passed to the other boy sitting at the table, his boyfriend Daphne seemed to lose the ability to say anything.

It was hard not to hear the stories passing around the school about how these two were involved in a love square and that now Ashton and Cristian were engaged to be married and here she was getting fanatical about Cris holding her arm. With a small sigh and the sheer want to spend more time with him Daphne lowered herself back onto the bench and shot him a look of ’You owe me big time’ but little would he know that what he had said had been the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her.

Trying to cut through the tension Daphne tied to think of something to start up a conversation, but she was not a terrible social person and had no clue where to begin. She half felt like she should introduce herself to Ashton properly but then she did not fancy talking to him much; he had a look about him that made the Ravenclaw feel slightly threatened so instead she turned her attention back to Cris and offered him a small smile.

“So…why where you reading this terrible book then Cristian?”

[christianmartinez]

Cristian’s eyes saddened as Daphne got up to walk away. He loved spending time with her, but he could feel the tension around her being around Ashton, but why? Sighing, he pleased silently with her, mouthing the words ‘please’ to her. Soon enough she sat back down, and a grin spread across Cristian’s face. Things with Cristian and Ashton had pretty much gone downhill since he proposed. For ages afterwards the pair were hardly seen together as Cristian was buried in studying, and when he wanted a bit of space, Ashton always turned up. He never got much peace.

Sighing as he sat down once again, he smiled back at her as she spoke.
“Why did I read it? Because you know what I’m like with History, and I’ve not read it yet, but I’m starting to wish I didn’t. What a waste of my time, and a waste of paper” he huffed, utterly disappointed at the ‘facts’ in the book about Rowena Ravenclaw.

“Honestly, I’ve never read such a load of codswallop. I think mandrake’s could write a better history book on her than this, ‘Arthur Wangleshaft’” she said, closing the book at pushing it away in disgust. Looking back over to the Teacher table, it was the only place in the great hall that looked pretty vacant, except Professor Vaid of course.

“So what were you doing?”

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

It had been yet another early start for the new Headmaster. He had already been to London to have Breakfast with a potential benefactor of the school. It had surprised Dan that one of the jobs as the headmaster was to go begging for money from rich ex-students and try to get some lose change in the school bank account. After all there were the wages of all the Staff Members, the food in the kitchens did not just appear like they did on the house tables and not to mention all the textbooks, quills and rolls of parchment that was needed. Today luckily had been a very good day and Dan had managed to win over the wallet (and heart) of an ex student who now had their own chain of mail order love potion service. Dia had given him a very long talk before he left about making sure that Ms Molloy did not add anything to his drink or food. Dan loved it when she worried about him; she got this cute little line on her forehead which as a result meant he could never take her seriously.

Walking into the Great Hall already for yet another session of stuffing his face, he actually had the afternoon off and he was going to make the most of it and as his gaze passed over onto the Staff Table he saw the very man he wanted to spend the afternoon with. Strutting his way up between the tables Dan greeted the odd people and shot the cheesy grins over at the groups of girls who were staring at him. Slytherin’s suddenly start to stare at him, they overlooked that fact he was a Hufflepuff simply due to his status in the wizarding world now, a man with power was something they all liked.

There seemed to be a goings on at the Ravenclaw table but Dan chose to overlook this for the moment and only step in when they start to slap and hex each other. So instead Dan made his way over to his new chair in the middle of the staff table and sat down in it before looking to his left and giving Will the widest grin in the world. It may have been Breakfast he had but this was a multi millionaire he was eating with, alcohol was included and it was good strong stuff too!

“Good afternoon William!” Dan shouted loudly almost in a sing song way. “How are you this fine day?”

Dan soon noticed the food on the table in front of him and began to help himself to a little bit of everything not wanting anything to go to waste.

[Prof. Hannah Edgecombe]

The woman had so much on her mind that she hadn't eaten in days. To her this was nothing it wasn't the first time she went without eating but others began to show concern. The rumor was she was anorexic and she seemed to look emaciated. One night after she heard some others gossiping about her she went to her room and checked for herself. Disappointment showed on her face when she realized they were all right. She looked horrible her face had this sunken in look, her curves seemed to have gotten away from her and her hair hung limp around her face. This Hannah made her sick to look at.

She spent that night in her room crying tears staining her pillows as she remembered what had caused all of this. She was carrying around this huge secret that could potentially destroy her family. Her father had asked her to do it for him and out of her love for him she had but it was beginning to effect her every day life especially since the secret was walking the halls of the school daily.

Today was to be another day of her not eating, she had tried that morning but found it nearly impossible she went about her day as normally as possible until she fainted in the staff room. All she could remember was finding herself on the floor when she knew that she had been standing moments earlier. This left her no choice she had to eat. Admitting one had a problem was often the first step in curing it.

Of course the Great Hall probably was a bit too exposed people were already talking about her she probably should have gone to her room to eat but something in her nature wouldn't allow it. If she was going to put a stop to this she would have to act normally as possible. Things were going well she managed to enter the room on shaky legs no less, but she was still standing so that was a good sign. She started to walk to the staff table and that's when she saw him. It was Will, Hannah's face blanched. She hadn't seen him in a while nor had he really sought her out so this made her feel awkward.

Taking a place at the table Hannah didn't really look up or at anyone her eyes were taking on the food trying to decide what she would eat and if she would even be able to hold it down.

[Professor William Vaid]

Completely enthralled with the paper that he had stolen from the slytherins, he still chuckled at their unbelieving faces when he summoned it to the staff table in a cheeky manner and not even bothering to go and collect it himself. As he flicked through the pages one by one, reading each headline and story of the day, On the front page was some sort of magical creature that had been found somewhere in Peru. The thing was only as big as the palm of a child’s hand, but it was one of those cute sort of creatures that girls would want to keep as pets, or even worse, in a handbag. Although the whereabouts and origins of the creature were unknown as of yet, scientists expected it to be a genetic mutation of an existing creature. Smiling as he flicked his eyes over to the picture of the thing, he couldn’t help but have his arm filled with warmth at the sheer cuteness of the thing, of course that was before he read it bit off one of the scientists fingers.

Flicking the next page, he saw a picture of Dan sitting in his newly appointed headmasters chair all smug and good looking, with Dia at one side and Girty at the other. Of course the picture was ruined by Will’s fingers popping out from the side in a peace sign. The title read, ‘It’s a family affair’. Come to think of it, the Hubbles’ were slowly taking over the school, just as long as Warren wasn’t the next new teacher teaching some random subject, then Will would be relaxed and safe.

Hearing his name, he looked up to see the man himself.
“Well, bloody well, Here’s the man of the hour!” he grinned. Pointing at the paper, he gave a small laugh.
“Who do you think you are aye, you smug git! Mind, I had to get my little claim to fame, Warren would be proud I ruined a good moment” he laughed heartily.

“Who’d of thought Daniel Hubbles would be a teacher, let alone a headmaster! And all the times you told me you’d never have a profession, now look at you, you suit!” he mocked. Of course, being best mates with Dan helped with mockery, and it seemed where the two were best friends, brought them back together as best mates once again. Looking back at the picture, he saw Girty giving a proud face at her brother before looking back at the camera as her new role of charms professor. Will couldn’t help but this Girty became more beautiful every day. And then there was Dia, a childhood friend, sitting by Dan’s other side. Typical Dan, always surrounded by beautiful women. He was the epitome of a lucky git, that’s for sure.

“And this” he tapped the page.
“Girty can keep her grubby mitts off my chair!” he laughed.
“Dan, I’m feeling old. I think I actually see wrinkles! I’m Twenty eight for merlin’s sake, I can’t be a granddad already!” he moaned. Seeing Hannah for the first time for weeks, he gave her a smile, but she looked seriously worn out. He made a mental note he would speak to her soon.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Dan ginned happily at his best mate when he mentioned about being the man of the hour, he thought it was just Will’s strange way of congratulating him as that is all everyone seemed to do recently. However Dan was quite surprised to see that it was a newspaper that Will was pointing at, rather interested Dan snapped the paper up and read the article, although he found it hard to stop himself from looking up at the picture and laughing at how un fun like they looked, just sitting there, backs straight and controlled smiles. The article its self was just as amusing and as Will wittered away in the background Dan scanned over the lines of babble and incorrect facts that would make his Grandma turn in her grave.

“Since when have I been the perfect role model for up and coming wizards and witches in this school?” He questioned as he continued to read more. “Oh come on…I am so not sadistic, manwhore, who the hell said that?” As he saw the name of the person who said the quote Dan threw the paper down furiously grumbling to himself, he should have been able to guess but the name Loren Hayes said it all.

The chances where Dan would have continued to have his little mood if it had not been for the comments that Will was throwing at him and he was true though, the whole thought of Dan having a profession was very odd. He always said he would travel the world, not settle down and be free from all responsibility…funny how things can do a complete 180 degree turn. With a small sigh Dan was about to admit that Will was right when he noticed who he was looking at in the picture, leaning forwards in his seat Dan looked at his best mate and following his gaze back to the picture.

“Oi, you stop looking at Girty like that, otherwise you will have my fist in your face!” He gave a small chuckle. “However if you are looking at Dia then it is my duty as Alfa male to protect my female so I would have to kill you.” Dan gave a small shrug and tried to act as if he felt a bit of sympathy for what he had said, in a jungle and a really fight between leading males there would be no sympathy.

As Dan thought about that small analogy the school really was a jungle and it had a habit of picking off the weak and as soon as he thought that and looked down the rows of house tables he saw a Professor enter that he had not seen in a while and she did look weak. With a slight frown he blocked out what Will was saying about feeling old, has Headmaster it was his job to make sure that all of his staff where alright, even if that meant telling Will he was not a Granddad.

“Mate if you are Granddad then so am I.” He said with a small chuckle. “And I do not like that thought at all so…” He shot his best mate a smile, a mischievous glint in his eye much like in the old days. “…why not have a bit of fun. I am head after all we can get away with anything.”

Allowing his friend to stew on this thought for a while and come up with something rather spectacular he gave him an encouraging pat on the back before turning his attention to the other Staff Member present. Hannah was sat in her normal spot near the end of the table and he did not want anyone to be left out.

“Good Afternoon Hannah.” He shot her a small smile in hope she would look up at him calling his name. “Why don’t you come and sit up here…I will even let you sit in Dia’s chair.”

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Noticing that something was wrong, Ash looked from Daphne to Cris. "I think I better go." he said quietly, standing up to leave. He looked down at Cris, "Meet me in the common room later?" he asked, voice clearly indicating that it was Cris' choice. He turned back to Daphne and gave her a small smile. "It was nice meeting you." he said as he turned and walked off.

He walked out of the great hall and started down some corridor. Something was going on, that was for sure. But what? He'd noticed how Cris' greeting was nowhere near enthusiastic as his, how he had even seemed annoyed. Then, there was Daphne, she'd obviously felt uncomfortable, Ash hadn't meant to make her feel that way. But the way she had reacted to Cris touching her arm... did she like him? It shouldn't have been a surprise...after all, Cris was very good looking, and smart, and sweet...and...bi. But he and Cris were engaged, they were supposed to be getting married. Right?

Ash's lip quivered and he bit down to keep the tears from falling as he came to the realization that things were starting to go downhill between him and Cris. They hadn't spent any time together lately, and when they did run into eachother, Cris seemed annoyed and couldn't wait to go do something else. Ash loved Cris with all his heart, but did Cris love him? He was almost too scared to find out, but knew he had to. If Cris did not love him, he would break off the engagement, even if it meant having his heart broken, again. After all, isn't that what you do if you love someone, you make sacrifices for them? But first, he had to find out for real, did Cris love him?

[Prof. Hannah Edgecombe]

So much movement, conversations all around, her head was spinning with all the buzzing. The food none of it appealed to her and she wanted to go back to her room Perhaps then she could have some peace of mind. Fat chance for that her mind reminded her, being alone in her room only made her think of things she didn't want to think of. At least being in the Great Hall she could focus on something, someone else.

She had tried not to look at him figured it would be better that way, too bad her heart didn't agree with her head and she did it seeing him smile at her. Giving him one back she turned away again. Licking her lips she started to think of him how she had been hoping to see him around, and how it did not happen. She had gotten her hopes up high and now they were oh so low.

Maybe if she did eat it would make her feel better so she grabbed a plate and piled it with salad and some grilled chicken. She took very little only because she had no idea if she would be able to hold it down it had been days since food touched her lips. The plate was small but it loomed ever larger as she prepared herself to take a bite. Fork held in her hand she dipped in.

Before she could take the salad into her mouth someone said her name so her fork was put down and she gave her attention to the new head master. Seems he wanted her to join them even offered her his wife's seat. This would put her closer to Will and she didn't know if he wanted her any closer, but how was she to say no to the man in charge. Plastering a smile on her face Hannah tried to act grateful.

"Thank you headmaster I'd love to join you all." The chair she had been sitting on creaked as she got up then it skidded across the floor as she moved it back to give herself room to get up. Grabbing her plate and fork she held it tightly in hands and moved to where Daniel had suggested. A short walk never seemed so long before as she stared at Will. Taking the seat she again thanked Daniel for including her.

[Prof. Victoria Potter]

Oh happy happy hangover. Walking down the hall her head fell as if someone were inside it stomping around just for fun. Remnants of the night before when she decided to drown her sorrows. After laying in bed all day she decided to get up which turned out to be a big mistake. There was nothing but noise everywhere she went, it just made the ache in her head worse. Walking down the hall two girls walked past her holding a rather large cauldron and of course they dropped it, the things made a horrible noise as it hit the floor and Vicky was forced to lean against a wall in order to stop her head from exploding. The girls looked rather scared fearing they were about to be yelled at by a professor, they picked up the cauldron and almost ran down the hall.

Pushing herself off the wall Vicky made a vow that she would never drink that much again. She had gotten so drunk she was still trying to figure out how she had gotten back to the school. Last thing she remembered was the cute guy who kept buying her drinks. In all her intoxication she forgot to get his number.

Her stomach growled again for the fiftieth time. That and only that brought her out of her room in search of sustenance. Usually she avoided the Great Hall, not wanting to see a certain someone she normally ate out. Her face was a regular fixture at the Three Broomsticks and the new pub under the B&B. Today though she wasn't feeling that well and figured she should just keep herself confined to the school.

As usual it was packed students and teachers alike, all eating and having a good time. Vicky's head throbbed with every loud laugh, every utensil clanged on a plate, and every squeal of delight. Having been through this before Vicky needed a cold drink of water and a moment to rest her head. So she made it to the staff table. Of course he was there and Vicky smiled at him like she always did, then she moved to the other side of the table away from them all. Sitting down she grabbed a glass and poured in some water then a whole bunch of ice cubes. Gulping it down she got brain freeze which caused her to place both hands on either side of her temple. Soon it went away and the throbbing lessened. Vicky just put her head down for a minute, just so she could fully concentrate or just because it felt so good to be stationary for a time.