Sometime in the evening


The staff meeting not two days ago had been embarrassing, and Maiko had felt as embarrassed as she could possibly get—and that was saying something, as she was not the sort to get embarrassed. Still, she hoped the staff members did not think that anything between her and Gale was anything other than platonic. Hopefully people would just assume that Gale was being his overdramatic self, and wouldn’t think much of it. She was getting used to having a brand new Headmaster, and she was sure that there would probably be a few more changes. Minerva McGonagall, Mai suspected, would run a much tighter ship than Herschel Reid.

Tonight, she wasn’t in the mood to eat dinner in the Great Hall. Despite the fact that house elves were wonderful cooks, there was something a bit more rewarding about cooking meals for yourself and for others. When she invited one of the Durmstrang professors to her office for a waffle dinner, she hadn’t expected him to say yes.  So for dinner, she and Atash Hendurabi were going to feast on waffles, tea, and waffle toppings. She had an assortment of fresh fruit, jams, and different kinds of syrup laid across a circular table in the corner of her office. Two of her squishy chairs were pulled up to the table, and there were the proper place settings. There was a pot of tea and a couple of owl-shaped teacups that occasionally made hooting noises by the teapot as well.

Her office was a bit neater than usual—instead of paperwork and books being a disorganized pile on her desk and on her shelves, they were neat piles with some semblance of organization.  When Atash arrived, her face lit up and she motioned for him to sit down.

“You ‘ave perfect timing! The food is ready!” Maiko exclaimed, motioning for him to sit at the table.

The Iranian mage gave her a faint smile as he entered her office.  He was dressed neatly in dark colored clothing, per usual, but there was a tired, pinched look to his face, a hint of shadows under his eyes.

There had been quite a few changes for the Hogwarts staff over the past few days.  Most of the visiting professors had given them a polite berth; it seemed the honorable tact to take during the transition from Headmaster to Headmistress.  Minerva McGonagall certainly had her own sterling reputation, one undiminished by her last stint at Hogwarts, but the departure of the former master of the school could still be seen as a slight.  With the Tetrawizard Tournament in full swing, all of the competing delegations wanted only to show their best united front to the others.  Having anything appear as less than the usual was embarrassing.

The past few days had not allowed very much free time to assess the new Hogwarts administration.  The first owl had come in during the very early hours on Sunday morning; since then, his attention had been forced elsewhere, though there was little that he could do with so many responsibilities here in Scotland.  That was why this evening had appealed to him, even beyond the opportunity to spend time with Counselor Biladeau-Yukawa, who was by far his favorite member of the Hogwarts staff.  It would give him a chance to get the counselor's opinion of the current state of things at the school, so that he did not seem so entirely unaware when Maras inevitably would want to meet and discuss any possible changes to Durmstrang's strategy.

"I will attribute that to the perfect timing of the chef," Atash replied smoothly, giving the witch a faint smile.  A quick glance around the office revealed that Maiko had spent some time organizing today.  Undoubtedly that was a reflection of the change in administration; the Hogwarts staff were likely doing their best to impress their new Headmistress. 

"Thank you again for having me," he added politely, raising his eyebrows at the insistent ushering.  Nonetheless, he allowed her to motion him to a chair, pulling it back as he gracefully sat.  "I appreciate both the invitation and you making the time to cook, Miss Biladeau-Yukawa.  I have no doubt that you must be busy, even on top of your usual duties."

She looked around, “I even cleaned up the office for the occasion!” Maiko said proudly. Now her office looked nice! It always looked nice, but vaguely reminiscent of a home library with bookshelves lining the walls, crammed with various psychology texts and journals, as well as a fair amount of wizarding texts. When she bought her new home, she was planning on keeping many of those books there; the office didn’t need this many, only the essentials. When the time came to sort through them, Maiko felt like it might take a long tiem for her to sort out what was really essential for her work, and what was just there for ‘fun’ reading.

“Aww thank you!” she exclaimed, accepting the complement. Hey, it tended to annoy people if you responded with a self-deprecating comment. It was best to accept complements when you could get them. Coming from Atash Hendurabi, it was probably well-deserved.  “Well, I am sure you were busy as well. And now, you must be prepared.” She said dramatically as she sat down at the table, “Be prepared for another bout of gastronomic ecstasy.”  She attempted to keep a straight, serious face, but it had broken by the time she said ‘gastronomic’, and her natural smile began peeking through.

She poured herself a cup of tea, and one of the owl cups started hooting jealously. “Would you like some tea?” She offered, raising her eyebrows questioningly. “Or water, or something else to drink?” It was only polite—and she had a habit of trying to get people to eat and drink  until their guts exploded.

"Tea, yes.  But only if it is no trouble for you to make it."  The professor gave her a polite smile.  "I would hate to trouble you any more than I already have."

For Counselor Biladeau-Yukawa, of course, it would be no trouble.  He half suspected that the young woman spent more time feeding the Hogwarts student body than she did consoling them on their troubles.  But that, of course, was part of her strategy.  Maiko Biladeau-Yukawa was all about building relationships with people, and little brought strangers together or built camaraderie more quickly and elegantly than good food. 

"Thank you again," he added, as the tea was poured.  He took the cup, lacing his fingers around it, pressing them to the warmth.  Having the opportunity to catch his breath was not something that he'd argue against; and now that he was here, there were plenty of other questions that could be investigated.

"I hear that your new Headmistress has been settling in comfortably."  He raised an eyebrow, his expression mild, as he raised the tea to sip.  "Did you know her from before?" he inquired politely.  "It was mentioned that this isn't her first time as the chair of Hogwarts."

“Psssh, you ‘aven’t troubled me at all!” She insisted. And he really hadn’t—it was in her nature to nurture, and she fed people every chance she got. Maiko took a sip of her own cup of tea and settled into a chair. She nodded her head in agreement—Minerva had been settling in quite well, and she took up the headmistress position effortlessly. Maiko was excited for all the changes that were bound to come to the school, and the rules that would be more strictly enforced under her watch.

“Minerva McGonagall was my transfiguration professor when I was a student. She was also the deputy headmistress until my fourth year.”  She replied, frowning slightly. Her fourth year had been difficult, being a ‘muggleborn’ while Snape had been Headmaster. Technically, Minerva had been the headmistress after Dumbledore died, but that didn’t last long. “In my fifth year on, she was the Headmistress. She was fantastic. I  didn’t excel in ‘er classes, but I wasn’t an awful student either. We were always friendly, and we occasionally wrote letters to each other after I graduated.” Maiko smiled, “So in short, yes—I knew Minerva from before.” Maiko leaned forward and whispered, as if telling a secret.

“She actually prefers to be on first name basis with the staff. Sometimes people still call her Professor, though.”

Atash smiled.  "A first name basis.  Imagine that," he said dryly.

Whether they called themselves mages or witches and wizards, the magical population of most countries seemed to be particularly interconnected.  It made coming from the outside both an advantage and a disadvantage -- one lacked the baseline knowledge and relationships that came from being a member of that community, but that also meant that others similarly lacked such baseline knowledge about you.  At the very least, he was grateful that the British community was far more open to sharing their impressions with outsiders than those at Durmstrang had been.  Atash had not particularly been looking forward to fighting through that wall a second time in two brief years.

"It must be...something of a relief, then, to have Professor McGonagall back again."  Atash examined his cup of tea, and then reached out to add more sugar.  "It seems as though Hogwarts has had more than its share of turmoil when it comes to leadership recently.  It must be comforting to have a steadying hand back at the helm," he added mildly, stirring the tea to mix the sugar in.  "Did you all have the opportunity to meet with her yet?  I have no doubt that the professors would strive for a strong first impression."

“I am glad to ‘ave Minerva back-- not that Monsieur Reid wasn’t a good Headmaster-- but I am much more familiar with ‘er than I was with ‘im.” She had only worked with Herschel since September, and hadn’t interacted with him very often. McGonnagal, on the other hand, was someone she had known for half of her lifetime. She had been a student under her. It was nice to see how she worked from both perspectives: As a student and as a staff member.

“I wouldn’t say it is a relief, but it is a comfort. I imagine that it is much easier for Minerva to settle into the role than it would be for someone who does not ‘ave the same experience that she does.” She swished her tea around in it’s cup and set it down on the table, helping herself to one of the waffles. “I am not sure if everyone ‘as met with ‘er yet-- but I am not very worried about ‘er impression of me.” Maiko shrugged. That
wasn’t the same for everyone-- there were probably a few staff members who had every reason to be worried about what the Headmistress thought of them.

“I do wonder though, if she is going to meet with the staff from the visiting schools.” She looked at Atash pointedly. Maiko knew that in Minerva's position, she would have made a point to include all staff, Hogwarts or not.-- especially since Salem, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons students all participated in Hogwarts classes. Getting a perspective from their staff may be beneficial, as any criticisms could open the door to positive change in the way the classes were run.