24 March 2010
8:30pm
Donovan's Fifth Floor Office

The new professor replacing the legendary Rubeus Hagrid had been announced at dinner that night and Branwen Strangely was desperately keen to get her situated as soon as possible.  Branwen herself had only arrived earlier that month and knew first hand how daunting it could be to find one's bearings in the giant castle halfway through the year.

The portly old Herbologist didn't bother to knock at Professor Donovan's door, instead nudging it open with her shoulder.  Her arms were full!

"Donovan? It is I, your colleague!" she announced with a bright, loud voice.  "Are you in, madam?  I hope you haven't gone to bed already.  With the students put away the staff tends to play at these hours.  I grant that you're unpacking, but soon as you're finished I hope you'll join in the camaraderie.  All the better for you!"

It wasn't clear yet what items she'd burdened herself with, but it was plain that more than one of them was a plant!

It had been a long day, when Shona finally pulled herself into the office to finish unpacking her things. She hadn’t had that many classes that day and teaching them hadn’t tired her out in the least, but– nerves. She hadn’t accounted for the tiring effect they had with excitement, and in the end the enthusiasm she had put into it (genuine stuff, always) had made it that much more draining. And between classes? It wasn’t as though she had spent her free time idle, or anything; there had been a ton of stuff she had to see to, such as scoping out the forest and the lake and the relations between them and the castle, which was definitely as much work as it sounded, if not more.

As a new teacher her only duties were to the students, really, but… Shona liked doing these things for herself. It always seemed a foolish to her, leaving these kinds of things to other people– strangers– and while she was perfectly ready to accept the reliability of the current groundskeeper, the sticking point of that thought was that it finished in ‘whoever that was’ and ‘wherever he/she was was’. A name had been given to her, she was pretty sure, but…

Oh well. She had stuff to put away, and they weren’t going to place themselves—not without breaking, anyway–

She had nearly dropped a delicate armillary sphere when the door swung open, and stared at her unexpected guest with wide eyes and arms full of brass.

And then she grinned, just like that, wiping a strand of hair from her mouth as soon as she set the thing down somewhere safe. Surprise couldn’t last long in the face of this kind of joviality– though, she was, still, to see a big pile of things instead of her new colleague’s face, wow. “Oh Merlin, let me help you with that–”

She hurried ‘round to the other side of the desk, meeting the old Herbology professor before she tripped herself—and paused, hands open and empty, as she scanned the pile with growing amusement; for someone who preferred leaving the care of flora to nature, for the sake of all past wilted things, there were a lot of plants in there. “What is all this?” she asked, taking a surreptitious whiff.

Branwen was so pleased to have her enthusiasm returned - it was a good sign of things to come.  Thank Merlin, the new professor wasn't dull!  She couldn't stand dull people.  It was one of Branwen's many feelings, a callous apathy towards anyone who couldn't or wouldn't stimulate her.  Anyway, as it was, in their very brief meeting so far, Shona Donovan seemed promising.

"Nonsense! Nonsense!"  Branwen said, but allowed Shona to take a few things from her arms as she let them settle on an empty bit of desk.  There were bottles, plants and fungi in pots, a couple of books, and coffers that contained tea and coffee. 

"Oh it's nothing," she said, wiping her hands together.  "Just a bit of house-warming, dear.  It's bloody cold out there and I'm sure the children ran you ragged.  Or soon will - I don't know if you taught today, but then how am I expected to know anyone's schedule? The mandrakes keep me busy enough.  Going to be a fine litter this year.  Oh! Forgive us, we do tend to ramble."

She opened her arms wide and moved in for a big hug.  "Welcome, dear!"

Watching– listening to the woman ramble, Shona hadn’t realized how tightly strung she’d been about moving into an entirely new territory place until the words washed over her, unstoppable but soothing. Branwen herself wasn’t familiar, but the chatter was, and there was something about her that made the werewolf think of molasses—sweet and comforting.

Of course, how she smelled was a different story. There was a very definite layer of peat and topsoil, as soon as Shona barrelled into her, eyes lit up with surprised delight, and the verdant layer of green, growing things, and perhaps even an undertone of spices. They were easy enough to pick up, as she happily tucked her chin into Branwen’s shoulder, and together made a nice, earthy, homey note that made her all too pleased to inhale—which was happily disguised as a sigh, of course.

Shona was a tactile person, but usually around those she liked– and disliked. Indifference was the best deterrent, when it came to Shona. Because no one picked up books that didn’t catch their eye, right?

She could make an exception for Branwen, though.

“Consider me welcomed,” Shona beamed, pulling away just enough to flash those pearly whites. It preceded a slow, drawing away– as all good things did, coming to an end –but she stayed close, choosing to lean against the desk instead of moving farther away. “I’ll get the hang of things soon enough, I think.”

Her classes had gone just fine, for the most part, which was the best a new teacher could hope for– and an out-and-about werewolf, at that. She’d known, already, that there were going to be reservations about her (if not outright hostility) that she hadn’t even thought to assume otherwise. But there had been some, who showed promise, and while her hopes for her first year didn’t depend on making friends with her students, she certainly wouldn’t be averse to being friendly with them. “The kids seem okay—bright stuff, all of them. They’ll keep me on my toes.” It was something to look forward to. “Will it always be this busy, usually?”

Idly she twitched her nose; one of the stronger-smelling plants teased at it, a faint but sharp note amidst a mix of less noticeable ones.

Shona returned Branwen's embrace and Branwen was old enough to know such an open response was something not found everyday, and she found Shona all the more personable for it.  Good for her! So many she'd met had been wound tight.  All the better for the new professor to be able to relax even in this fray.

"They all were keen to inform me that the first year is the most difficult," she said, "that there'll be no such thing as a day off and you'll consider yourself lucky if you find yourself a spare five minutes to lay your head on your desk.  Not that any of that would bother a rugged creature like you."

Branwen, of course, used the word 'creature' having no knowledge her new colleague was a werewolf.  She saw in Shona a kindred, outdoorsy sort.  If Professor Donovan had experience with wild Hippogryffs than wrangling eleven-year-olds would be surmountable.

"So where do you come from, Donovan?" Branwen asked, moving about the office as if it was her own.  She looked into boxes, she read the spines of books.  "Far afield, much?"