Chapter One- An Introduction.

((A/N: A dedication and throw back to the old SOCK story. May it forever rule as the best VH fic ever

Also, this chapter is pretty much just to introduce you to a large number of the teaching staff at Hogwarts. A lot has changed since Harry Potter's time.))

Disclaimer: All canon characters belong to JKRowling, all original characters belong to.. themselves and the crazy people who have created them.

Start of Term

Twas the night before start of term, and all through the castle, not a creature was stirring not even... a professor... After the sorting feast all of the ickles had been rushed off to bed. They would be attending their first day of classes the following morning and needed all their beauty rest.

The professors, however...

Somewhere in a back corridor of the castle...

An averaged sized male in perfectly pressed robes sauntered haughtily down the corridor in search of a specific candelabrum. Upon his successful location of the object he smirked at himself with pride. Lifting one of the candles he stood triumphantly back to await the sliding of a panel of the wall in front of him. Anytime he was privileged to something every other wizard wasn't, it gave him a sense of pride and importance. After all, someday he was going to be the Minister of Magic, and then he would have access to everything everywhere! Each new addition to his privileges was just one step closer, as far as he was concerned.

After a moment during which nothing happened, he resisted the urge to run a hand through his perfectly combed red hair and gritted his bright white teeth. He had gotten them whitened just before the sorting ceremony, as Professor Percy Weasley never looked worse for wear. Jamming the offending candle back into its place, he looked around shiftily. After seeing no one in the hall he turned back to the candle holder and started lifting every single candle until he found the right one.

Mentally making a note of the proper stick, as he would undoubtedly forget and pull the wrong one next time as well, he stepped back as a small door, that would be invisible if one were not looking for it, appeared. Pulling the door open he stepped inside and closed it behind him.

A rickety sign was hanging from only one of its two chains, valiantly hanging on. It read, "Teacher Rest Room." Brushing past this, Professor Weasley came into a small, cozy room warmed by a large fire in the corner. There were a couple of tables, a couple of chairs, and small table-turned-make-shift-bar in the room. The room usually smelt of cinnamon, however, there was a putrid burning smell in the room now.

"Good Merlin's Beard, Isabella! Give it up and send out for something if you're still hungry after such a feast!" Percy exclaimed towards the red-haired professor in front of the counter along the back wall. Professor Isabella Giordano promptly glared over her shoulder, "I was only trying to make a pot of tea," she grumbled. Isabella Giordano couldn't cook to save her life; it seemed even making a good pot of tea escaped her. This always confused others since she was so adept at the subject she taught, Potions. Percy lifted his wand and rolled his eyes. He cast the simple cooking spell required to make tea and pointed towards the battered looking teapot on the stove. In an instant the pot whistled its readiness to be poured and a very sour looking Giordano poured herself a cup without another word. The sound of a newspaper's page being turned was heard as across the room. Mr. Dervish, the History of Magic professor, tried to hide his small chuckle and hid behind his paper.

Along one wall, Professor Hawthorne, the astronomy expert, was pacing madly. She was trying to get up the courage to make the trip up to her tower. Though she loved the stars with what was close to obsession... she was also terribly afraid of heights and all the stairs it took to get to her beloved tower proved a daily trial for her. Professor Vector, the Arithmacy guru, followed the other professor's progress with her eyes until she became crossed eyed. Shaking her head, she went back to her book on the mathematical mysteries of the world.

Professor Trelawney was absent, but expectedly so. She almost never came down from her tower except to predict doom much to the displeasure of the entire staff, including her assistant, Professor Medina.

Medina could be currently found sitting in a corner flipping tarot cards over into an elaborate pattern across the entire floor surrounding her position. Samantha Prewett, one of the two runes experts, was trying to be nice to the newer professor who currently was pointing out something in one of the cards. However, Professor Prewett thought that divination was complete malarkey and caused a lot of bad publicity for her own subject. It wasn't hard to see the disapproving glances she gave to the set of cards. However, Professor Medina just kept explaining, oblivious to any disinterest her colleague may have had.

Professor Trimble, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, was no where to be found. But then, no one had seen Flora, the assistant mediwitch, since the sorting feast either. No one was surprised or worried.

Everyone was trying to enjoy one final night without the trials and tribulations that came with a castle full of children. Meanwhile, over in the student-known common room for teachers on the first floor, Professors Sprout and Longbottom could be found hunched over a strange small plant in between them on the table. One of its small tentacles had escaped its potting and was wrapping around Longbottom's arm, however, neither seemed to notice. A row of portraits could be seen looking around disinterestedly. Teachers of Hogwarts past looked out from their portraits and made faces at one another. A portrait of Professor Snape sneered at one across the room of Professor Moira, who in turn was making googly eyes at Hagrid, who couldn't seem to fit inside her portrait so he had to be content with winking from his own.

Just then a man in a wheelchair came into the room, Professor Toothill, a dueling officiator and Assistant Professor of DADA, he promptly snagged his chair on the side of the carpet rug that covered the floor and in a fit of panic, knocked himself and his chair over. A muffled "help?" could be heard from the carpet which now held him captive. The two Herbology professors were so wrapped up in their plant, they didn't notice. Professor Snape's portrait snickered.

Lucius Malfoy, still the school's governor, stepped regally into the room. Disregarding the contraption and the man on the floor, he stepped over them and looked around. He sneered as he obviously didn't find whomever he was searching for. Turning on his heel, he stepped back over the poor Professor Toothill without a glance, and after giving a nod to a portrait of the previous Astronomy professor, Fiona Sinistra, he sauntered out of the room mumbling about despicable professors and their unpredictable patterns. After tonight he would have to deal with both incompetent teachers, and insufferable students. Merlin help him.

As he went into the hall, he nearly knocked over Professor Avon, the assistant Astronomy professor. Lucius warned her to watch where she ambled, and Avon glared in return. Brushing past him, Avon made her way down the corridor, now grumpy after her encounter with Malfoy. Coming across a classroom which should be empty at this hour she stopped, hearing noises. She pushed open the door and peered cautiously inside. Within she found two other professors, Gwendolyn McAmis, Head of Ravenclaw and charms professor, and Oliver Wood, the flying instructor. They were alternately flying pillows across the room, making them do odd spins and flips in what appeared to be a miniature obstacle course. McAmis was trying to help Wood with preparations for his flying class that would be starting in the morning. However, to Avon it looked like crazy child's play. She quietly closed the door and left unnoticed.

After taking a staircase or two upwards, Avon nodded brightly at Professor Grubby-Plank, their resident substitute and all around helper. She was happily patrolling the corridors, looking for any excited first years that might not have gotten to sleep and decided to go exploring. It happened more than one would think it should. The Astronomy professor made her way to her own room for the night while Grubby-Plank pondered the start of another term as she turned down a different corridor.

The one thing every teacher would agree on was, i Tomorrow would be a long day, indeed. /i