au_hogwarts | (no subject)

It's late on a September school night - students should all be doing homework now, really. The Defence Against the Dark Arts professor certainly is. She's marking papers in her classroom, and occasionally batting away an errant pixie.

She's new to the school this year - this month - but she's been told that legend has it a batch of Cornish Pixies were released in this room around 1992 and nobody's ever managed to exterminate them properly. Legend has it, too, that they've evolved and become ever more intelligent, due to the high levels of magic in the air around Hogwarts.

Legend has an awful lot of things. Professor Brown is still making up her mind on whether or not any of them are real.

Teaching is kind of a new gig, and Hogwarts isn't very clear on what, exactly, the expectations for this Defence class are. So her first paper for the sixth-years is along the lines of: "This is what's attacking you. How do you defend? Give three options and three possible escape routes."

Her students' responses to that are -- apparently kind of entertaining, judging by the occasional hint of muffled laughter audible even from the corridor.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Jo can't help giggling herself this time, while dodging the pixie. Which? Doesn't sound evil in the slightest. Especially with her fingers pressed against her lips.

"You must be new." With a tip of her head, looping her hands half in a pair of jeans. Oh, yes. Jeans and tank-shirt. Not these namby-pamby british jumpers. Even if there is a cloak clasped at her throat. "I'm Jo."

"Steph," says that worthy, grinning and hopping lithely to her feet, her full robes not impeding her movement at all. A wand drops briefly to her hand, is flicked, and disappears again; the untidy stack of papers begins to sort itself by name, with an air of sheepishness. Steph offers that hand to Jo.

"I'm very new. But I think I like it here."

Jo totally makes a note of a few teachers to ask a whole lot more about the shiny new DA teacher. But she smiles, and shakes the woman's hand.

"Looks like your doing good so far. That the grading at least hasn't tried to kill you yet. But then I was never cut out for this whole thing," Jo waves a hand at the class room.

Acing tests, yes. Teaching others, not so much.

"I run the Three Broomsticks down in town."

"Oh," Steph says, and then "Oh! You're that Jo! I've been meaning to come down and introduce myself."

Jo is a Person of Interest to the Ministry.

Also, Steph seems to have invites to a private party of some nature.

Jo is totally a Person of Interest. And Mystery.
Especially to most of the Ministry. The Head Master. Her Friends.
And she gives out her invites so very sparingly to unknown people.
Which is lies. She trust the people she works with. They give them out.

Outside though, Jo grins wide. Pretending to tip a hat, and give a half bow. "You know when people say it that way, it's hard to believe the school ever forgets about you once you've grown up. I swear I never accidentally caused all the chairs to upend every single student that day in my fifth year."

"Oh, now wait." Steph leans back to perch on the edge of her desk, grinning. "You're also that Jo? Of legend and renown? With the casefile that took up a whole cabinet? I've heard those stories, too."

Jo extended her arms, and gave a bit of a fake curtsy with her cloak. "What can I say, they never did believe me when I explained it was all about needing to liven up the little country they'd dropped me in that was smaller than at least three of the states in mine."

Steph grins at her, warm. "I know exactly what you mean. I really do. When did you come over?"

She loves her new home, her life here. But she's still an American, too.

"I came back and forth all the time when I was little. My mom lived in America, but my dad worked here," Jo said, with a grin. Not quite into the nitty-gritty details yet. "But I'd more lived there, and considered this like the place I visited on weekends until I attended Hogwarts."

"You got to attend Hogwarts? I'm a Salem girl - not for lack of wishing, just lack of opportunity," Steph says, grinning.

Nitty-gritty can come later; broad strokes suit Steph just fine.

"Worked my backside off to get into the Auror program here, though. There's nothing in the US that compares. And I just never seem to have got around to leaving."

Why would she?