Work and family had brought her up to Hogsmeade on Saturday and a Sunday off had been motivation to stick around for the whole weekend.  The fourth and final Tetra-wizard tournament task had taken place the day before.  Not only had she been sent for work, she was family of a champion, even if that champion had done his maze crawling earlier in the year.  In more ways than one, her attendance had felt much more official and much less under the radar than when her brother had represented Hogwarts.  She'd been sure to take full advantage of that fact.

The festivities had ended with only minor incidents and Jacoba had spent the night in Hogsmeade.  After a quiet, leisurely breakfast, Jacoba had spent the morning strolling the dusty village streets and peering into shop windows.   

Zonko’s never failed to catch the attention of the magically-impaired witch and not just because it contained an array of fantastical magical items that even one as magically inept as her could use.  Who needed a wand when one could just entertain themselves with a bike riding duck or a perpetually-insulting yo yo?  Oh the things she could have gotten into as a teenager with some of these things!  It was also just fun.  One couldn't enter the shop without getting a grin plastered on your face. 

Except, perhaps, when you were a tired parent being dragged in by a hyper, excited child.

Jacoba had been wandering through the aisles, paying more attention to the myriad of colors and sounds than where she was going.  She didn’t notice the large fellow until she was on top of him.  Uncomfortably literally.   The man standing in front of her had a strange, familiar sense to him though, for the life of her, Jacoba couldn't place where she'd seen him in the wizarding world.  The wizarding world wasn't that large and she knew so little of it.  Yet, still, there was something about him that kept trying to tickle a memory.

"Incoming!" she offered in warning, trying to stop herself before, actually, She grinned good-naturedly to soften the accusatory finger she pointed at the fellow.  "I get the oddest feeling I recognize you from somewhere."  The German accent was prominent in the young woman's voice.  Jacoba took a step back, reaching a hand out to steady herself. 

“You don’t work at the Ministry, do you?"

Maiko had told Cal that Hogwarts was hosting something called a Tetra-Wizard Tournament, and against his better judgment, Cal forced himself to watch the final task, relieved that there were no casualties or claims of dark wizards returning from the grave at the end. Just some mopey teenagers, who Cal desperately attempted to feel sympathy towards, but it proved challenging. He was marginally disappointed that his alma mater didn't win this time, but after spending the night in Hogsmeade, the loss was all but forgotten.

It had been years since he'd last been in Hogsmeade, and he browsed through the shops, reminiscing about when he had been dragged to Puddifoot's with a terribly vapid Slytherin, or his first sip of butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks. But Zonko's had always been his favorite shop, so naturally he found himself perusing through their stock of prank items. As he was looking at a bar of frog-spawning soap that he was tempted to buy in hopes of tricking Kohaku with it, he heard someone shout, "Incoming!" and suddenly he was knocked down, and he looked up to see a young woman standing over him, smiling in a friendly manner and pointing at him questioningly.

When she mentioned that he looked familiar, Cal stood up and brushed off his backside before looking at the tall, dark-haired woman more closely. Something about her did seem to tug at his memory, but her presence in Hogsmeade seemed strange, like seeing a professor outside of school. And then it clicked. The muggle girl he met a few years back as he was backpacking through Germany and staying at hostels.

"Wait, you're a witch?" Cal asked. "Jacoba, right? I'm Cal - Callum. We met.. How many years ago was it? Three, four? In Germany. I thought you were just a muggle! How the heck have you been?"

Despite the warning and a hand extended to try and catch the man, the fellow with the familiar face still ended up on the floor.  "I'm so sorry!" Jacoba offered her hand, again, to help the man to his feet.  She smirked, sheepishly, as he dusted himself off. 

Chances were slim that Jacoba would have been the one to fit the man's appearance with a memory; the last few years here in wizarding Britain felt too much like a brand new life.  Her best friend, Erwin Koppel, was about the only remnant of those years that lingered.  But, trying to remember the man in front of her felt like trying to reach into the memories of a past life.  Luckily, he didn't require the assistance of a psychic or medium to remember her. 

As soon as he offered his name, the memory clicked.  "In Bacharach[1], right?  At Burg Stahleck?[2].  You were passing through.  On your way to Prague, I think?"  Jacoba's brow furrowed as she tried to dredge up the memory.  "Four years ago, I'm pretty sure.  I'd just turned eighteen - so would have been summer of 2008.  July or August." 

A broad grin spread across Jacoba's face and she laughed, lifting both hands in a who would have thought gesture.  "I thought I was a muggle then, too.  Well, not exactly.  I didn't know it was an option. This is all somewhat of a new discovery."  She glanced around the shop before turning back.  "Needless to say, it has been an interesting couple of years.  Though, I seem to have ended up where I need to be so I can't complain.  How about you?  What brings you to Hogsmeade.  Other than being a wizard?"  Or, she supposed, squib.  A subtlety that would have been lost on her until recently.

1.	Bacharach, Germany
2.	Bacharach Hostel at Castle Stahleck

In contrast to Jacoba, Cal was spectacular at placing names to faces, but utterly atrocious at remembering places where he'd met people. Especially people he met during those years, as he was truly wandering aimlessly, with no end goal in sight.

"Definitely the summer, as I taught in Prague that fall. Small world!" It never ceased to amaze Cal when he reunited with people he'd met before. But this was definitely the most mind-blowing reunion. He couldn't imagine discovering something so life-altering about yourself in your twenties, especially something he (and every other witch and wizard he knew) had realized before he was even a teenager.

"How did you end up finding out about magic? If you don't mind my asking," Cal inquired. "I am actually going to be teaching at Hogwarts this coming school year, and I haven't been in the area for over ten years, so I figured I'd see how much has changed. Surprisingly... Not too much." He laughed, and dimples formed in his cheeks.

"Not a bad place to teach," Jacoba admitted, with a broad grin.  "Might even be my second choice, if I could chose anywhere.  Especially in winter."  Small world, indeed.  From a castle in Germany to, well, a castle in Scotland. 

Jacoba chanced a quick, cautious glance around where they were standing.  Though the occasional comment or scornful look still lingered, it had been some time since Jacoba had dealt with any significant grief.  Zonko's hardly seemed the standard haunt for purists and uptight conservatives.  However, she still erred on the side of caution.  You never knew who might take offense. 

"I don't mind.  So long as your not a closet purist who has a fetish for tarrying at muggle hostels."  She grinned, just in case she needed further proof that hadn't been a serious concern.  "My brother - he's a sixth year up at Hogwarts.  He wrote me little over a year ago to tell me he was a wizard.  Was oblivious before then.  Somehow, after an ex-boyfriend or two, just got stuck in the wizarding world here.  Was a squatter for most of the time but, apparently, I'm an official card carrying member."

Jacoba glanced around the shop.  "No.  I imagine things change pretty slowly around here.  What will you be teaching at Hogwarts?"

"Second choice, huh? What would be your first? But yes, Hogwarts is definitely beautiful in winter," Callum responded, reminiscing on the snowball fights of his school days.

Jacoba seemed on edge for some reason, and Cal's brow furrowed slightly in concern. When she joked about him being a closet purist he roared in laughter, as few things could be further from the truth. His outburst drew the attention of several other customers and a few employees, though Cal hardly noticed as he was used to having his antics draw a crowd.

"No need to fret here. I would probably be labeled as an anti-purist, truth be told. Have you had any issues with those people?" Callum inquired, wondering if that was the cause for her apprehension. He couldn't understand how purists could be so horrible to other people.

"Wow, that's quite recent. How are you adjusting to the everything? But how did you not know until your brother was a sixth year?" He couldn't wrap his head around being able to keep that a secret for so long, especially since immediate family would be aware of the owls delivering mail and such. "I'm going to be teaching Muggle Studies. Make sure these kids are caught up in the Internet Age, what with everything being so global nowadays. I want these students to truly understand Muggle society, and hopefully view it as an equal."

Cal's passion for Muggles was almost palpable, and he loathed how even non-purists often thought of them as lesser beings. He hoped that with more education, that mindset might be mostly eradicated from the next generation.

What would be her first choice?  For as easy as it had been to decide which location was second choice, committing to a first choice was a little more thought provoking.  The younger woman pursed her lips before committing to a response: "I'm afraid it's a two way tie between Krakow and Amsterdam."  Krakow, like Prague, was one of those remarkable old cities.  Friendly faces always drew her back to Amsterdam.  "Love both of those cities.  But, I haven't had the chance to live in Krakow, yet."  One day.

"I didn't suspect you would be.  A purist would have had to swallow a lot of pride to engage in hostel chatter over beer."  And what would a purist have gained from such an activity?  "But, I've learned to be cautious.  I started out as a magic-less interloper and, really, I'm only slightly less of an interloper.  I've run into some dissenters in the past.  Things have settled down but it still doesn't hurt to be a bit cautious.  I have few defenses against magic beyond me impeccable charm."  Jacoba grinned broadly.

Oddly enough, Jacoba had had an much easier time adjusting to being a muggle in the wizarding world than she'd had adjusting to being a witch herself.  In retrospect, the initial plunge had been about as smooth as one could hope.  "There was a lot going on family-wise, at the time," Jacoba admitted.  "I'd left home when my brother was eight so I hadn't seen him in over seven years when he sent me an owl out of the blue.  Somehow he'd kept it a secret from our parents, though.  I found out where he actually went to school before they did.  It was all a bit messy - I didn't intend on staying in London.  But, I found myself living with an Auror and just assimilated the best I could.  All those hostel hopping skills were put to good use." 

"So, taking kids from the dark ages to the internet age," Jacoba summarized.  She glanced towards the door of the sleepy joke shop before shaking her head.  "That's quite an undertaking.  Any thoughts on how you'll do that without any of the necessary technology?  Puppet shows in cardboard boxes cut to look like televisions?"

"Amsterdam is always lovely," Cal responded with a smile, his words tinged with nostalgia towards his past experiences in Amsterdam. Not all of which would be able to be discussed in polite conversation. "But those do both sound like solid options."

"... A purist would have had to swallow a lot of pride to engage in hostel chatter over beer."

Cal nodded in agreement, and barely managed to duck as a flying toy ship passed over his head. "This place is clearly more dangerous than I remembered," he chuckled. "But I definitely couldn't see a purist roughing it in a hostel. Though I would possibly pay money to witness that."

He listened to her story about her family, and how she ended up in the Wizarding world in the first place. It was fascinating that her brother had been able to maintain a secret like that from the rest of his family. "It sounds like you've had quite the year. How's your brother doing lately?"

"Any thoughts on how you'll do that without any of the necessary technology?  Puppet shows in cardboard boxes cut to look like televisions?"

He had thought a lot about how to teach the students the wonders of Muggle technology, as he wouldn't have access to the technology in question. "I am actually adopting a page out of the Salem school's book, as they seem to be much more acclimated to Muggle society than magical folk on this side of the pond. I will assign textbooks that cover many important events from recent history, and I will also conjure images of videos to show some of the topics that can't be properly conveyed through text. Though your suggestion sounds like a great way to grab the students' attention. I will keep that in my back pocket, if I ever need it."