OPEN --* it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that...

[Headmistress Cerise Charmant]

as she sat back amongst the charming, tight quarters of the leaky cauldron and its crowded abode, cerise tapped her foot to the music playing. familiar with the song, "it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing," from her muggle studies class as a child, cerise knew the song composed by a wizard duke ellington whose music also became famous in the muggle world in the early 1900s.

something that always fascinated cerise growing up was how the muggle world seemed to always intertwine with their own. it was silly, really, reading the headlines about trying to keep those curiouser and curiouser muggles out of the wizarding business. but, some wizards and witches preferred the muggle world and the complex intricacies that life had to offer.

in her dark gray, velvety dress robe, cerise swayed her foot to and fro, back and forth. even at her age, she loved to move. if it weren't for her aching back, she would get up and jig. "hello," her mood changed from solemn to enthusiastic as she saw a familiar face from her school. although her attire was different from her usual wardrobe of colorful robes that allowed her to stand out, she had been at hogwarts long enough to receive regular recognition from those affiliated and non-affiliated with the school.

she picked up the daily prophet, ignoring the headlines about the believers - muggles who were slowly finding their way into the wizarding world. pish posh, she thought to herself. she didn't feel threatened by this at all, however she couldn't voice this as headmistress. maybe it would be best if she kept up with those news, but in due time she would.

[Winifred Gwyllt]

a slightly ruffled looking winifred entered the little bar, throwing a quick glare at somebody outside before letting the door slam behind her. is it that hard to find somewhere to hover besides the doorway of busy pub?! utter nitwits, she fumed to herself for a moment. she shifted her passel of shopping bags to one arm, poofing her hair with her free hand while searching the crowd for any familiar faces. it took a few look-overs before a certain face finally stuck out.

she couldn't restrain the slightly amused smile that found its way to her lips. the headmistress had chosen a practically demure gray dress robe for her public appearance that day. mind you it was still a dress robe, but it might just be the plainest thing in that witch's wardrobe. at hogwarts she normally resembled some type of butterfly that would float about the halls, attempting to bring order to what might as well have been a beehive.

with a giggle to herself, the plump little witch dove into the sea of people and made her way to the table cerise charmant was occupying. as she neared she caught site of the daily prophet cerise was examining. "is there anything new going on in the world or are we still just under attack by muggles?" she asked in a sarcastic tone, before placing her bags on the floor and taking a seat.

[Headmistress Cerise Charmant]

"...or are we still just under attack by muggles?"

having not heard her old friend and colleague make her way up to the table, cerise's body shook a little as her eyes darted towards the gentle woman. as she set her eyes on winifred, a warm smile made its way onto her face. "they're issuing citations for people travelling long distances by broom during the daytime," cerise recited the last line in the daily prophet she skimmed. "it's a shame i won't be able to break out mine..." cerise hadn't had the audacity to mount a broomstick in nearly five years.

though cerise wanted to remain attentive to her dear colleague, she took this time to call over a waiter. due to the music, she raised her voice as she began her order. "i'll have a butterbeer. and this dear will have...," she looked over to winifred to finish the sentence. as winifred did, cerise folded the daily prophet and placed it onto the table, again smiling dearly at the woman who now sat in front of her. as the waiter left their table, cerise began to ask, "picking up supplies before the year begins, winifred? what brings you to diagon alley?"

the aged witch patted down her robes, then sat up straight, looking over to winifred again.

[Winifred Gwyllt]

"it's a shame i won't be able to break out mine..."

"there's what we need. a couple old witches like ourselves falling off brooms into some poor muggle's garden," she chuckled as the waiter pushed their way through to them. "i'm sure the ministry would just love us for that." wini smiled warmly at the waiter and ordered a gillywater before turning her attention back to her friend.

"picking up supplies before the year begins, winifred? what brings you to diagon alley?"

"that's basically it. grabbed a few things in madam malkin's & of course had to spend some time browsing through flourish & blotts. have to stop by mrs.plunkett's for a few plants i need for my potions too. unfortunately, those flobberworms did a number on the school garden this summer and apparently favored just the plants i needed most this year," she went on as she pulled the copy of the daily prophet towards herself to get a better look at the headlines. "on the upside, it seems the mandrakes are all well so we won't have any pepperup potion shortages. if there is one thing i can't stand it's the common cold."

[Headmistress Cerise Charmant]

cerise couldn't help but break out in a short burst of laughter at the thought of her and winifred falling off their brooms into a muggle's pumpkin patch, in their robes and with their broomsticks nearby. oh, she could only imagine the face of the muggle who found them there. "i think they would only appreciate it if we were dressed for the occasion," she quipped. "the last thing we should do in that situation is forget our hats at home!"

as winifred ordered, the waiter at the table nodded, and without writing anything down, disappeared to the back of the house.

cerise winced at the mention of the flobberworm, suddenly realizing why she never excelled in herbology. "should we harvest the flobberworm before school starts?" she asked, keen to get rid of any excess critters. "perhaps i can coerce pablo into harvesting some and giving it to the house elves to make flobberworm fritters." cerise paused, knowing very well she did not intend to eat much of it. "perhaps not for the great feast, but another occasion. lunch, dinner, creature feed..."

she winked at winifred. "though, it's good to know those mandrake are healthy. do you need any help or support before the year begins?"

the waiter came back with two empty glasses on a tray. holding the tray on his shoulder, he placed the glasses onto the table. the waiter pulled out his wand, and tapped the rim of the glass placed in front of winifred. gillywater made its way into her glass. then, he tapped the rim of cerise's glass, and butterbeer also flowed into her's. the waiter tucked his wand into his pocket, stepped back, and did a small bow before once again disappearing into the back of the house.

[Winifred Gwyllt]

wini pursed her lips thoughtfully for a moment. "i bet you're right. if we were in what muggles consider typical witch attire they would just think it was some early halloween joke. perfect!"

it was hard to miss cerise's slight discomfort over the mention of flobberworms and she burst into laughter over the suggestion of using them for fritters. "that would be just the way to make the new first years love hogwarts. feed them flobberworm fritters," she shook her head. "no, it will be better to just keep collecting and using them for mucus. thickens potions well you know & it's always handy to have extra. oh, and our dear magical creatures professor actually had the students do that towards the end of this past term in the pumpkin patch. they collected those and horklumps but it seems the leftover worms migrated."

"i really can't think of anything dear...i appreciate you asking of course," she replied to her offer with a smile, before turning her attention back to the paper. "how do you think this will affect the school? i mean, we're so far out & there are protective charms over the grounds...i would hope we won't have any added restrictions."
she thanked the waiter once he had filled her glass and took a sip of the gillywater.
"you know, i don't believe i've even seen a muggle near there unless their child was a student. and that is rare itself considering most of them become absolutely terrified once they lay eyes on the staircases."

[Headmistress Cerise Charmant]

hmm, cerise nodded her head as she listened to winifred's subtle concern about muggles finding their way to hogwarts grounds. it was a valid thought, and cerise would be lying if she said the thoughts winifred voiced hadn't crossed her mind before. she maintained a calm face as winifred finished. once her fellow witch did, cerise chuckled at the memories of muggles laying their eyes on hogwarts for the first time, but didn't speak for some short moments.

cerise wanted to admit her concerns and fears that muggles would find their way onto hogwarts grounds. alas, she kept a professional face, even to her dear friend. "hopefully, hogwarts grounds will stay untouched," she finally spoke. "i don't want this nonsense to interfere with the students, their education, and their safety." she was firm on that belief. it was her responsibility (as well as the ministry's) to maintain that standard.

she took another sip of her drink as she conjured more thoughts together, carefully articulating each word she spoke. cerise unfortunately had to be careful of each word she spoke, and didn't want to be the source of exaggerated hearsay. "it would be the most unfortunate to have to place restrictions on students and student life. hopefully, we will be able to maintain a normality at hogwarts," with that sentence, her mood became more optimistic. "perhaps we can ensure the outside occurrences don't affect our student life and safety."

a smile once again made its way to her face as she took another sip of her drink, "and hopefully your office won't be too bothered by anything that may happen. i can't imagine why it would, but then again, we always get hit with surprises, don't we?"

[Winifred Gwyllt]

winifred listened with a poker face, her focus still on the front page of the paper. "well, i agree that the student's school lives need to remain as untouched as possible. the school has had enough incidents in the past that caused disruption in learning and i certainly wouldn't want to deal with any of those," she replied in a rather unworried tone. "as for any effects on my job, i will just have to 'roll with the punches' as they say, should there even be any. i am more worried about any outdoor activities being restricted. you know, like herbology, care of magical creatures...quidditch."

folding up the paper and tossing it aside, she fixed cerise with a raised eyebrow. "but most of that sounded like a carefully rehearsed answer dear. has the ministry even contacted you yet in regards to all of this?"

[Headmistress Cerise Charmant]

cerise nodded, "i just came back from a visit with the ministry," she offered her dear friend. "they say, for now things won't be affected, for now we won't have to worry about it." although cerise wanted to hold back her irritation after the meeting, her feelings of frustration may have briefly slipped. the old witch hated being told what to do, and in such a formal matter, it was quite ironic she had been so formal with her friend in the first place. it was never very exciting to visit the ministry with all their technicalities and rules. the "bureaucracy." a small giggle slipped because of her foolish thoughts.

"we'll see, my dear friend, we'll see. for now, we wait." cerise offered again, and took another sip of her drink. she was on somewhat of a vacation after all, at least that was how she deemed it. but cerise gave herself vacations quite often, so she shouldn't have tried pushing such a thing out of her mind anyway. unfortunately, her one weakness as headmistress was that she did not deal so well with stress. so oftentimes during the year, cerise would have to depart and get her mind off of stress. however, this year, maybe her presence would be more required...

[Winifred Gwyllt]

wini gave a little sigh, lips pursed for a moment in thought, "i know the ministry means well in these kind of things, at least these days, but my mind still can't help but go back to what has happened before when they did try to 'help out'. i may not have been at hogwarts at that time, but the stories got out just fine and dandy."

she sipped at her gillywater for a bit and watched the meandering crowds. none of the others seem very worried here. perhaps they had the right of it.

straightening up suddenly she gave cerise an inquiring look, "have you considered asking accleston what he thinks of all this? maybe he could set our minds at ease. he is an expert on muggles after all. i have some experience but it was rather limited to my grandparents you know."

[Headmistress Cerise Charmant]

the older witch nodded. "it's crossed my mind," she offered upon the mention of alazander accleston. "i've not seen him lately, though. it's been quite a busy summer -" cerise paused, and smiled, "i barely expected to see you here." she spoke with the utmost appreciation, a warm smile directed at winifred as she placed her palm on the table. "i've thought about bringing these issues up at the next staff meeting."

cerise paused, thinking about the words that just left her mouth. "not that these are entirely issues. ah, we'll see, winifred, we'll see."

hoping to change the subject, cerise placed her glass cup onto the table. "are you prepared for these students to come in? we may have a rowdy bunch," the older witch chuckled, thinking back to the sea of unfamiliar but eager young faces she saw around ollivander's earlier that day. personally, she couldn't wait to welcome them to her school. soon enough...

[Winifred Gwyllt]

"that is true," she replied, pausing to take a sip. "i'm surprised i had time to get down here even. on the meeting front, it might be good to make sure everybody understands things and hear any worries they might have at least. it certainly wouldn't hurt anything."

as cerise spoke, wini's eyes roamed to a pack of the rowdy type she spoke of. "i'm noticing that. but classes will wear them down a bit i'll bet," she winked. "it will be nice to be doing something again. i enjoy the break but well, you know how it is. not doing what you love wears on you after a while. though i admit, my job isn't exactly one where people want to be seeing a lot of me."

she zoned out on the rowdy pack for a moment, before giggling and turning her attention back to her friend, "i remember last year a girl came in, i believe she was actually a seventh year, with a hole burned right through her forearm from a potion. it was easy enough to mend but calming her down was another thing entirely. it took my house elves all their strength, and a bit of magic, to hold her down. even AFTER it was numbed. she thought i would mess up and heal it so that there would always be a giant hole there."

[Headmistress Cerise Charmant]

the white-haired witch nodded as her redheaded counterpart vocalized her suggestions. "of course, of course," cerise offered. "we'll make sure that everyone who has anything to say will be able to throw their words onto the table." although she did not mean it literally, cerise imagined helvetica concerns in all sorts of different colors bouncing onto the long, cherry staff conference table they had in their meeting lounge.

"summer is getting to be a little too long these days, isn't it?" cerise admitted. in her younger days it was fun to travel, but even during the summertime cerise found herself busy with hogwarts relations and miscellaneous chores she had to do for the school. she hated spending time at hogwarts school in the summertime, too. although the house elves were charming and she did at times have fruitful conversation with some of the portraits or ghosts, it just wasn't the same as having a plethora of physical human bodies occupying the nooks and crannies of the surfaces of hogwarts.

the white-haired witch shared chuckles and laughs with winifred. after years of working beside this woman it seemed easy enough for cerise to trust her, but she couldn't imagine going to a healer's office during moments of shock and high anxiety. "how did you counteract that potion?" winifred's large database of knowledge truly fascinated cerise, a woman who only mastered charms and didn't spend too much time dabbling in anything else.

[Winifred Gwyllt]

"it is," she agreed thoughtfully. "i think perhaps it's because when we were young, summer was a time to relax and take a break. no work or studying to be done. now though, our jobs don't end when summer begins. our tasks become more menial when there aren't students around. brewing potions, making sure every little corner is spotless, paperwork, restocking supplies, etcetera, etcetera. long story short, it's just not as much fun anymore."

she had to think about cerise's question concerning the potion and the girl for a moment. "honestly, i'm not sure i recall which potion that was, but i didn't have to counteract it. if i remember right, one of her classmates was quick thinking enough to do that when it started. they tend to keep a well stocked supply of quick antidotes and minor healing potions in the potions class these days," she leaned back in her chair, trying to remember what exactly happened. "ok, i think i'm remembering this correctly. i believe the girl had been making a cleaning potion with bundimun ooze in it and accidentally splashed some on her arm, and naturally, it burned right through. her classmate grabbed a bottle of wound-cleaning potion and quickly used that on it to stop the spread. it's lucky she did too...nasty stuff bundimun ooze."

[Headmistress Cerise Charmant]

restocking supplies! oh yes, that was certainly tedious, cerise agreed in her head, nodding as winifred spoke. not to mention paperwork. "when i was a student, all i wanted to do was grow up and teach charms. i was sick of many of my other classes and didn't understand it when my mentor told me to be patient, or enjoy childhood and the ease of life. i kept asking myself and others, what do you mean the ease of life? it's hard to be in school!" cerise laughed, fond of the memories of the naivety she never realized. "soon enough, i saw it." she missed her youthful days at hogwarts. even being the professor of charms wasn't so bad because the air of responsibility she had was not so great, on top of her waking up to do exactly what she loved every day.

happy to hear about classmates being resourceful, the witch again smiled. "fantastic! i'm happy to know these students seem to be well-trained in fending for themselves or their surroundings. good on zacharias." cerise absolutely did not miss potions at all, and was happy that at the very least that class position was filled. "we're lucky to have him. and you, of course," but that went without saying. she sighed, "i'm going to have to go out of my way to try pulling in professors this year. we desperately need to fill some positions." there had to be a reason they couldn't find any. "i still haven't found a transfiguration professor and it looks like i may have to step into the position of charms until we can find someone for that position, too..." as cerise's word's dragged off, her eyebrows perked. "you may not happen to know anyone, would you? i've tried talking with former students and they're vastly uninterested." she giggled, "that's what we get for training highly-skilled witches and wizards striving for high ranks."

[Winifred Gwyllt]

"i rather liked school myself. i enjoyed more than just one class though," she giggled. "at one point, i remember considering going into care of magical creatures rather than healing. i loved working with animals and it's not like i wouldn't have been using my healing skills in that field too. healing animals is of course more complicated but it's still highly rewarding. i don't regret my decision thankfully though. there's no denying i get to see a variety of cases that keep me busy."

wini nodded, listening to her staffing concerns. she had also noticed a shortage of professors the past few years. "i wish i could suggest somebody but i don't know of anyone dear. everybody is on one side of the fence or the other right now it seems. either they're past the age where they want to be stuck handling students, or they're at an age where they don't want to be trapped in the school again with such responsibilities. can you blame them though? it's not like teaching is an eight to five job like everyone wants." swirling her gillywater around she pulled the paper towards her and opened it to the wanted ads. "have you considered putting some advertisements in foreign papers? maybe some of the american wizarding papers could help us find somebody."

((I would have said 9 to 5, but I seriously do not know of a single job that is 9 to 5! I don't know anybody with a job like that. Do they even exist?))

[Headmistress Cerise Charmant]

ooc: i wondered what eight to five meant! haha yeah, i mean i think "nine to five" doesn't account for the hour most people need for lunch... or something... this post might be short. i'm typing instead of opting for siesta time.

cerise felt warmth for winifred and the passion the witch offered to the healing profession. she was so fortunate to have such a dedicated individual on her staff, and would have preferred no one else. there had been many times over the years the witch had served immediately and at the forefront of emergencies, and cerise was quite thankful to have such a god-send on her staff. merlin only knew that cerise would probably lose her composure along with the students if she didn't have a healer she could count on on her team.

alas, it was true. the profession of becoming a professor was simply not appealing these days, and cerise had many problems understanding why. before her graduation from hogwarts she knew she would want to pursue it, and she was only lucky that her mentor at hogwarts was soon to be retired by the time she was ready to shadow-teach, and soonafter run the classroom herself.

she nodded, pleased with winifred's idea. "i actually haven't turned to the foreign papers. do you know that hufflepuff lexi knight?" the question was half-rhetorical as cerise was sure winifred did. going into her fifth year at hogwarts and hufflepuff's seeker, it wouldn't have surprised cerise if lexi knight had made a visit to winifred's office on the second floor before. "she actually just took a visit to australia," she smiled, recalling the young girl's excitement from days before, "she seemed pleased at the vast difference of magic and magic theory across cultures. it wouldn't be too much of a bad idea to bring in a witch or wizard with a perspective slightly, even vastly, different than ours..."

[Winifred Gwyllt]

"yes, i believe she's wandered into my wing a time or two," she chuckled. "it certainly could be interesting. i never traveled the world much but i enjoyed my time in america, even if that was quite a bit ago now. and of course, i had quite the experience with american wizards in my dear christopher."

she became lost in fond memories for a moment upon remembering her late husband before snapping to, "ponikarovsky is an interesting chap if you take the time to get to know him. went to durmstrang you know, back when it had a, shall we say affinity for the dark side of things. he's not dark himself but he had more experience with it than he likes."

flipping through the various ads, she paused here and there to read one better. it seemed like every type of job was hiring currently so that wasn't exactly helping the hunt. it was hard to miss the ministry wanted ads for those who had experience with muggles. "there could be part of your problem with finding younger ones to teach. the ministry is recruiting those who have 'prior experience with muggles and are accustomed to their ways of life'. many of the younger generation are half-bloods who have been raised around entire sides of their family who are muggles."

[Headmistress Cerise Charmant]

"oh, you need a vacation, dear," cerise offered with a genuine interest before taking the very last sips of her butterbeer. not to her surprise, the glass refilled itself as she set it back onto the table. pleased, but not yet thirsty again, she brought her eyes from the glass on the table and back to the dear witch sitting in front of her. "have you traveled much of europe? whereabouts else have you gone?"

cerise nodded, listening as winifred shared some background story on "pablo" ponikarovsky. "ah, very interesting. in what contexts have you learned about him?" cerise was curious. maybe she would talk more with pablo one-on-one this year, alas if the busy witch even found the time. she barely found the time to talk to the respective head of households outside of their meetings.

as winifred flipped through the daily prophet, cerise watched the picture on the front page facing her as it moved slowly, but in real time. it was a picture of the minister of magic addressing the nation. from a glance, cerise guessed the article probably spoke about precautions the ministry wanted the wizarding world to take regarding muggles.

winifred made a valid point about the ministry's search for those bearing experience with muggles. "ah, you're right wini. we'll just have to keep searching... luckily, i was able to hire a retired auror for our transfiguration position. anthony warren, have you heard of him?" anthony warren was a retired auror who also served on the wizengamot for some years. he was publicly interested in becoming minister of magic for some years, but for some reason it seemed the daily prophet wouldn't allow it. he had a bad rep with them and therefore some of the wizarding community, but cerise was awfully fond of him and his past work.

[Winifred Gwyllt]

"vacation? what is this vacation you speak of?" wini joked with a giggle. "but no, you are right. my vacations lately have consisted of visiting family. my sister and I traveled to italy once for about two weeks. oh my merlin, cerise, the food there was to die for. i was tempted to move there but i knew i would end up looking like a small whale. we did speak of traveling somewhere next summer though. i was kind of thinking maybe somewhere in asia. have you been anywhere in the past few years?"

"mostly from himself or hagrid. you have to get him to warm up to you a bit to talk openly but he's rather nice. knows his fair share of healing spells too. which is quite handy for a care of magical creatures professor if i do say so myself," she responded as she folded the paper back up and set it aside.

sipping at her gillywater again, she tried to remember where she had heard the name anthony warren from. of course it was a rather common sounding name so the chances of her knowing half a dozen men with the same name were good. "the name certainly sounds familiar, but i've probably simply read about something he did in the paper if he is a former auror. or perhaps phoenix has mentioned something about him. either way, i can't put a face with the name but i'm glad you were able to find someone. that's one fewer professor to worry about at least."

reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a silver pocketwatch that had a variety of faces on it; one regular, one showing minutes, one showing seconds, and one that had nothing to do with time at all. "oh good heavens," she said with her eyes focused on the main hour face. "look at the time. it seems we've gabbed the day away. imagine that."