Staff Party (Hogwarts Staff)

Andrei offered a friendly smile to the newcomer who went by Andrew, but didn't engage and allowed him and Jake to talk. Instead, the older man interested himself in the endless array of bottles on the wall. He didn't drink, but he could definitely appreciate the artistry that went into making a bottle of alcohol. Some bottles tapered up and down into weird shapes while others were made surprisingly elegant by the liquid they held. That said, he found himself a bit unsettled upon noticing that some had what looked like stuff living in them—who in their right mind puts a live snake in a bottle of alcohol?

The arrival of another person, a woman, did not deter Andrei's interest from his surroundings. Perhaps when he was younger he would have cared to compliment and coddle a woman other than Marie, but not anymore. He was quite content with his life and didn't much feel like putting what he had in jeopardy. That said, he did plan to add the detail about the woman in red in his recount to Marie later just to see her get flustered.

Some famous wizard had mentioned something about how they were never late but arrived exactly when they meant to and it seemed that headmistress adhered to such wisdom rather closely. Her sudden arrival, however, did not much shock Andrei as it did repulse him. He had a distinct distaste for business people of all shapes. They came off, in his opinion, as superficial caricatures of human beings rather than actual humans. And, moreover, all they cared about was money.

So, though he smiled kindly at the woman's generosity, he scowled inwardly. To keep himself from saying anything too uncouth he busied himself once more with his milk and left the talking up to those around him. Yes, it was going to be one of those parties.

When she had gotten the owl about the party, Bethany had thought more than once of not showing up. She was a single mother and desperately had wanted to use that as an excuse to not attend. That would have been rude however, neither would it do her any credit to appear as if she was snubbing the headmistress or her fellow staff. Thankfully she'd been able to get her regular babysitter to come over to watch Jackson. Naturally he'd had to give his input on what she should wear causing her equal parts amusement as well as frustration. She had attended parties before, just never with colleagues. That thought nearly had her decide to stay home no matter the consequences.

Here she was though and she had to admit that this place was just the same as when she'd first stepped through here when she was eleven years old. Well, more or less the same. Which was not saying a whole lot really. Looking around she was glad she had decided on the dress she had. It seemed just right for this sort of thing. Ordering a random drink, she held it without drinking from it and turned in interest to hear what the headmistress was going to say. Announcements at parties usually weren't good in her opinion. From what she'd gleaned in her life when an announcement was made at a party it was to 'dull' the effect or some such rubbish.

"Why, yes I did," the Headmistress answered Andrew smoothly before turning to the rest of her staff. Though Hogwarts had been her domain for the last few months, the witch bore no particular attachment to it, nor did she mind showing that. Any one of them who would have bothered to look up her resume would know she had never taught, she was simply a place holder for the board. And the board interested Adelaide far more than teaching ever would.

At the coaxing from the gathered party goers, the redhead finally replaced her drink on the bar, best to get it over with, she supposed. And then everyone could begin to drink themselves into oblivion and mingle. Everyone, the woman noted, except Andrei Kessler. unless getting intoxicated off of milk was the trend these days. Adelaide personally held her scotch far too close to her heart to try whatever the new fad was.

"As you all know," she began, her voice sweet yet professional, reassuring from the start. "I was never brought to Hogwarts to teach. i doubt I'd be able to do for an even an hour what you do every day - spend time with actual children. I could hardly spend time with my own until she turned nineteen." A pause and a laugh before she continued. "No, the board's main objective in placing me here was to figure out ways to... streamline the process of education. To see where funds should be channeled into, what training out staff needs to further their potential, what improvements could be made upon the curriculum - with input from the education sector of the Ministry of course."

In fact the board had been very clear, previous heads of schools were squandering money, the standards of Hogwarts were a record low and the marketing department was not taking full advantages of the notable personalities that were still attending Hogwarts for some reason. Her job had been to restore the school to the glory it used to possess, and find a way to take the financial burden off the investors and onto potential parents. Her Halloween Ball, her recent dealing with influential parents and even this little gathering, all worked to that end.

"And I'm delighted to announce that I have quite the list going," she tittered, once again, delivering the news as if it were a good one. "And on that list of course, is the matter of my replacement when i leave at the end of the academic year to rejoin my husband on the school board." Adelaide waited for the news to sink in, to ensure everyone understood what she had meant by her statement.

Ah, it just got better and better, didn't it?

For a businesswoman, the Headmistress was more than a bit dense. You don't just make a joke about not much liking kids in front a group of teachers many of whom are also parents themselves. No, it didn't make much sense to Andrei in the slightest and rubbed him the wrong way.

Talk about poorly reading a situation.

Then there were lists, oh god the lists. It seemed to the runes professor that these types of lists never amounted to much of anything in the long run. Sure, they went over great at the first meeting, but they quickly petered out as each idea was methodically shot down. So while the headmistresses' bubbly voice seemed to indicate that changes were coming Andrei would believe it when he saw it. Politics in academia never ended well for anyone involved.

In fact, he wasn't even that shocked by the woman's 'big reveal'. Anyone with an ounce of foresight could have seen the announcement coming from the beginning. After all, ironically enough, it was just good business; Hogwarts couldn't afford to have a businesswoman at the helm, it was an image problem. While no business whiz by any right even Andrei could see that from a mile away.

"Well," he broke the silence after the woman's announcement. "I suppose we should drink to Headmistress Goshawk then!"

He raised his half-full glass of milk in cheers and proceeded to down the rest of the drink. See, while Andrei rather disliked the headmistress he wasn't so childish to show it. That's the trick to being an adult, after all; smiling in the face of those you'd much rather smack.

Grayson had watched quietly as everyone filed in. As each of the teaching staff took a seat at the bar, he began to realize just how few of them he actually knew. While many of them had checked out books from the library, or passed him in the hall, he wasn't at all familiar with them enough to greet them with anything other than a general "hello." In fact, he wasn't entirely certain of all of their names. That was rather awkward...he'd been working with them for over a year now.

When the headmistress made her appearance, he turned his attention towards her. He knew very little about her except that she was a businesswoman, and had been assigned to temporarily fill in as headmistress until someone more passionate about the job came along. At the mention of an announcement, he said nothing, and just waited. He could tell she was attempting to build suspense, but, although he was curious about what she had to say, he knew she'd reveal it eventually whether she was prompted to or not--she wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise.

Sure enough, she began to speak again, prefacing her announcement with a little speech. Her joke felt a little...off, to Grayson. He wondered why she would have children in the first place if she didn't like them enough to spend time with them. She didn't strike him as the maternal sort. He found himself slightly concerned for her daughter.

Still, it wasn't his place to judge. He didn't have kids himself, and he knew very little about Adelaide and her own family. Instead, he focused on the rest of her speech, wondering how all this was relevant.

Her voice was chirpy, but that didn't mean much. Business people always acted friendly, that was how they sold things to people who didn't want or need them. He concentrated on her words, and his brow furrowed slightly at the mention of a list. A list of improvements to make? While he was all for improving things, the fact that she had a long list didn't strike him as a good thing, especially when she mentioned the Ministry. The government interfering with education almost never made real improvements. They tended not to understand what was actually needed, and instead made arbitrary changes that often made it harder for the staff to do their jobs. No, "delighted" was not the right reaction.

As she left the matter of her replacement hanging in the air, Grayson took it to imply that she'd be choosing one from among the staff gathered there tonight. He knew it wouldn't be him, he certainly didn't stand out enough to warrant a promotion, nor had he displayed any interest in or talent for the position. So he wondered vaguely who amongst his colleagues it might be, but decided it wouldn't affect him too much either way.

It did seem to be a rather odd way to go about it...surely she wouldn't spring the job on someone completely by surprise? It was a lot of responsibility, and, as brought up by the defense professor, not everyone would be clamoring for the position.

Bethany inwardly groaned at the woman's starting speech. While some people became heads of schools most of the time they fell into two categories. Those that liked children and wanted them to prosper while other hated children and wanted to make their lives miserable. And why in tarnation would anyone be callous and foolish enough to voice that they didn't like children in front of a lot of teachers? While they were all mostly young with a few exceptions, surely not all of them  had gotten burned out quite yet to where they were jaded?

Wait, streamline? Oh, gracious were they going to try and turn this into a business?! Yes, schooling was a business, but as in a business business turning into some kind of corporate nightmare? Her eyes narrowed as she listened to the headmistress basically say they were going to change how the school was run and spent its money. And it got worse. She was going to be on the board where the real power was. She felt and tried to hide her grimace.

Andrei Kessler wrote:

"Well, I suppose we should drink to Headmistress Goshawk then!"

Bethany looked over at him and gave a sick sort of smile and raised her glass when he had his but didn't drink from it. She really really should have stayed home and begged out of this. Looking around, Bethany wondered about how long was long enough before she could leave without being rude.