[Staff Room] Breathe In

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

It had been a very long week, the weather outside was perfect but yet Daniel Hubbles would only ever be found inside the school. The end of term was one of the busiest times for Dan having to sort everything out before the summer starts so that he and Dia could have a stress free time while they were in China. That was the only thing getting him threw the piles of paperwork, the prospect of four weeks away from work and being able to spend time with his wife.

Darning the last dreg of stone cold tea from his mug Dan looked down at the half written letter he had already started on before throwing his quill down in what one could only call a tantrum. The view out of his office window was beautiful; the summer sun was shinning down upon the distant mountains and the light breeze was causing the flags on the stands in the Quidditch stadium to dance around to their own silent tune. That is where Dan wanted to be…outside.

Determined Dan ran out of his office and down the long corridors of the castle, students would offer him a small smile, some would even dare to say hello to him. Dan actually made to the Entrance Hall; he was so close he could smell the freshly cut grass when a gaggle of girls appeared headed by a rather large Gryffindor Sandra. In vain hope that he had not been seen the Headmaster looked around in panic before seeing the door to the Staff Room slightly ajar. Running towards it Dan divided for cover, slamming the door shut behind him, his heart was pounding so fast it blocked out every other noise around him.

Taking a deep breath he looked up and saw that he was not the only one in the Staff Room and as he stood there, hand son hips trying desperately to slow down his heart rate Dan could only offer a small grin. Even as Headmaster he was still able to make himself feel like a complete muppet.

[Prof. Adam Williams]

Shuffling all of his papers up into a single bunch, Adam was certainly enjoying his first few weeks at Hogwarts as a Professor. Much better than living off of plants and berries for five years up in the mountains of Europe. Even with a few weeks under his belt, the Professor didn't yet fully know his way around the castle. With that on his mind, Adam became a bit more disorganized. Forget it. He simply grinned and tossed his papers back onto his desk before he walked out the door with a bounce in his step.

A slip of paper had been delivered to his office this morning, mentioning something about becoming the Head of the Gryffindor house. "Wicked excitin', yeh?!" He cheered to himself while meandering down the numerous corridors, that piece of paper clutched in his fingers tightly.

Seconds soon turned into minutes as Adam twisted and turned down numerous hallways, his smile fading into a small frown with every passing minute. Realizing he was lost, he figured he might as well just ask another Professor for some directions. Students never bothered to help him when he asked. Buggas.

Turning the knob of the Staff room door, Adam stepped into the comfortable enclosure. A small smile soon made it's way back onto his features, realizing that the windows in there offered a brilliant view to of the lake and the cliffs that watched over it. He soon had come to realize that he wasn't the only one in the room.

Feeling like a dolt, he walked over to the man. Outstretching his hand, the Ex-Gryffindor offered a wide smile and a nod of the head. "Afternoon, 'ubbles wos et?" He inquired, the smile never leaving his lips. "I'm Adem Williams, new Dragonology proff. Et's finally noice ta meet 'cha." The Professor continued, hoping that introductions would ease the awkwardness of the room.

[Professor Emilie Houle]

((Hope you don't mind me joining (: ))

A busy time of the year for the headmaster perhaps, but not so for Emilie. With the classes ending and students slowly starting to pack up, she didn’t have the nerve to assign an essay when they were so close to being released. So most days were spent debating, which probably was better than forcing the students to write essays. That, and the fact that debating was wicked fun.

Emilie tucked her book under her arm and walked quietly into the Staff Room. Good, no one else was in there. With a small grin, she nestled into one of the chairs and cracked open her book, already engrossed in the pages. It was nice to have a little peace and quiet after a very long lesson. All she needed was some hot chocolate to go with this, and she would be in absolute heaven.

But, as anyone could tell you, perfection didn’t last long. Soon after she finished another chapter, someone else burst into the room. Startled, Emilie dropped her book and jumped out of her seat, ready to race out of the room. But, it was only the Headmaster, panting like he had been running from a pack of wild children or something. Em blinked for a moment, then straightened her skirt and snatched her book from the ground. She grinned back at Hubbles, before sitting back down.

"He-"

As she was about to say something, someone else entered the room. The man walked straight over to Hubbles and stuck out his hand, clearly cutting off Emilie as she tried to say something. Her lips pressed tight together again and she settled back in her chair, letting the men have their little discussion. Hubbles should already know her, or at least remember her because he gave her the job, and the other fellow seemed too engrossed in re-introducing himself to the headmaster. She opened her book without another word and silently wished she had the nerve to talk back to the man. But, that would be totally out of her personality. So, she just sat quietly, continuing to read while only half paying attention to the conversation that continued only a few feet away.


((Same font, Ah!)

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[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

At his rash entrance the other Professor in the room had almost jumped to attention, Dan was not sure if this was out of respect or shock but he did not really have an opportunity to find out seeing as Professor Houle was cut short when the staff room door flew open once again. Stepping to one side Dan turned to see who the new arrival was only to be greeted with an outstretched hand in greeting. Automatically the Headmasters hand met the other mans hand and was pleasantly surprised to see this man introduce himself to him all over again. It took a lot for him to hold back a small laugh and with a nervous glance towards the other Professor present Dan re-introduced himself.

“Yeah, Dan Hubbles.” He said with a lopsided grin. “And although some would say my memory is bad I can ensure you it is not that bad Adam. But it is nice to see you again anyway.”

Letting go of the mans hand Dan gave him another smile before taking up one of the empty seats next to Professor Houle. She seemed much more interested in her books then the going on around her, but when she applied for the job Dan did get that impression of her, but then working at Hogwarts always seemed to change people slightly in one way or another. Dan always saw himself as one to be able to break the ice and fall easily into conversation with people but today for some reason he felt tense. Maybe it was because these were new staff members and he was now their employer instead of just another colleague.
Shuffling uncomfortably in his seat Dan gave a small cough as to clear his throat and looked over at the new Muggle Studies professor and offered her a small smile in the hope of getting her involved into the conversation.

“And hello to you too Emilie, I hope you are both settling in to the castle…I hated it at first.”

((eeep so sorry! I did not get on with this post at all...sorry for it being rather lame!))

[Prof. Adam Williams]

((I so had the font first. ))

Being quite startled at the woman who seemingly was there the whole time, Adam tilted his head. I swear she wasn't there when I entered. Maybe them females are good at hidin', jes like them dragons.. He thought to himself as he pulled a chair out from the oval meeting table and plopping it down infront of the two in a polite manner. He was guessing that the sneaky Professor wasn't to hot on him.

"Eh.. sorry 'bout tha entrance, sumtimes I git a bit excitable. And the castle? A bit confusin' but fun ta figure out none tha less, aye?" He asked, aiming the question to the both of them. Adam wasn't about to exclude the woman from their conversation and offered a smile to her.

The ex-gryffindor was hoping to relieve the bit of tension in the room by being relaxed and open to the other staff members, not wanting to create any friction or awkwardness. Crossing his arms over one another after resting them on the crest of the backwards chair he was sitting in, Adam rested his chin on his forearm.

A few moments of brief words were exchanged between Dan and Emilie, allowing Adam the privilege of watching the clouds pass over the perfect scenery of the Hogwarts lawn. "Beautiful day, ain't it?" He then said in a sort of 'dreamy' state before returning his attention back to the two.

[Professor Emilie Houle]

((Pfft lies. I have this font on all of my characters xD -points finger- so ha, I win))

A light laugh erupted from her lips at the exchange between the men. She flushed in response and covered her mouth with her hand, trying to suppress her giggles. Maybe this Adam fellow had short term memory loss. Or maybe he just had forgotten about the headmaster all together. Which, Emilie found, was rather ironic. Dan Hubbles wasn’t just someone you forgot, and anyone else would agree with her. She bit down on her lip and pretended to continue reading, though her mind was elsewhere.

The seat in front of her creaked as someone sat down, and she glanced up. Hubbles again, looking rather, well, awkward. It would be rude to read while he was talking. Not like she had been really reading before, considering the two men’s conversation had snatched her attention. She folded the page neatly and set the book aside, grinning at the Headmaster’s words. “It’s alright. Hasn’t changed since I’ve been here.” Emilie arched a delicate eyebrow at Dan’s next response.

Another laugh came from her, and a quick grin flashed across her pale face. “I find that ironic Hu-Headmaster. Considering I’ve had some students who said they’ve missed your lessons. How could you miss a school with kids who adore you?” Perhaps adore isn’t the right word. It was the first thing that came to mind though. She shrugged off her worry and slid her gaze over to Adam, who had taken a seat near them.

Emilie turned slightly to address him, finding it more polite to introduce herself rather than him hear her name second hand. “I’m Emilie Houle by the way, pleasure to meet you.” With a small upturn of her lips, she turned so she was facing forward again. Houle crossed her ankles and shifted so one arm was leaning on the armrest. She brushed some of her vibrant hair out of her eyes and waited for one of the two men to respond. Strange, Emilie stuck in a room with two men. Who would’ve thought?

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

It was interesting to hear what the others had said about getting used to things again, they seemed to be having very little trouble. Unlike Dan who found it rather disconcerting to be back in the castle, after all the years or travelling it was odd to be back in one place, somewhere he thought he never would be again. But then life had a habit of sending you off in ways that you never expect.

“Miss my lessons do they.” Dan said with a small grin as he stroked his stubble. You never gave Dan Hubbles a chance for his ego to be inflated and he would take it with both hands. He always joked with Girty that people would miss his lessons and that she had a lot to live up too, but to hear it from someone else made his swell with pride. He did miss doing them, thus why he muscled his way into a few other lessons but with such a busy schedule as his he really did not have the chance to do this as much as he wanted.

As his mind lingered on this thought for a while his mind wondered towards the start of the sentence when the Emilie had actually started to call him Hubbles before quickly changing it to Headmaster. This broke him out of his self absorbed day dream and back to reality and back to the staff room. With a small grin Dan knew he had to put an end to this silly Headmaster business, when they were talking like this he did not want to have any formalities about it.

“Please, call me Dan…I would say call me Hubbles but there is a lot of us now.” He gave a small laugh once again and thought about how confusing it must be when having conversations about teachers and their being three Professor Hubbles. It was only the Irish accent of Adam that brought Dan back into the room once more; his attention span really was poor today. He was commenting on the beautiful weather outside, and it was only then when Dan remembered that is where he was meant to be heading.

“Yeah it is a nice day.” He murmured. “I have going to head outside, but I had to take a small diversion and well…I am sitting down now, there is no way I am getting up again.”

It was becoming a running joke that Dan was old, he was almost 30 and Girty and even Dia on occasions would tease him about needing a Zimmer frame before long…and sometimes he had to agree with them, why did Hogwarts have to have so many stairs?

[Prof. Victoria Potter]

Her head was hurting her. After effects of the draught she had taken for her cold. It was a small price to pay for no more sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching and stuffy head. She didn't bother to take anything else she figured she'd just suffer through it. Headaches were apart of life she was quite used to them and well they meant that at least she was feeling something. Plus all the times she'd been drunk lately hangovers with headaches went hand in hand. Somehow she managed to stay sober for the night so that was how she could tell this wasn't a hangover headache.

It was a good thing because she had papers to grade, those reports she asked the students to write had been sitting on her desk unmarked. She grabbed them up and figured that she'd go to the staff room in order to grade them. At that time of day she was banking on the room being empty. Plus she needed a cup of coffee which she didn't have in her room.

Walking down the halls she ran into several students. Some stopped to talk to her, a few asked about their papers. She told them she had been feeling under the weather and unable to grade them. After the fifth or sixth disappointed look she simply nodded politely. Now getting to the staffroom was simply a means of escaping them all.

Her refuge suddenly came into view and she almost ran for it because she could see another one of her kids walking up to her. Maybe it wasn't nice of her to ditch her but she didn't feel like answering the same question for the umpteenth time. Pushing open the door she slipped in standing behind it eyes closed. After a few deep breaths she opened them once more to find that she surely wasn't alone.

Not that the room was packed, but there were certainly more people in there than she wanted. Letting out a sigh right then would have been rude so instead she threw out a great big smile. "Wow busy in here today" walking over to the coffee pot she placed her papers down on the counter, grabbed the mug she used often and filled it practically to the brim. Turning she opted for polite conversation since there were some professors in there she wasn't too familiar with. "Dan always a pleasure" she said trying to hide her...She didn't have a word to describe what she felt when it came to him. To the others she said "I'm Victoria Potter, Vicky to the adults around here. I teach History of Magic. How about you two?"