Hindsight is Twenty Twenty, Chapter 10

When the carriage finally stopped in front of the giant oak doors of Hogwarts, Scotland was just about ready to hurl himself off of a cliff. And seeing as Nations cannot die from such an activity, he was starting to think he would do it many more times if only to get away from Minty's constant chattering with the second year Ravenclaw.

Well, he might be over exaggerating on that front.

It takes a lot more than being the third wheel to a strange conversation about whether or not the Void prefers a muggle currency themed birthday cake or an artichoke themed cake. But this was really starting to get on his nerves.

So when the Thestral pulled carriage slowed to a halt, Scotland wasted no time jumping out of the enclosed space and immediately set out towards the front steps of Hogwarts along with the final groups of Students.

It took a moment before Minty herself glided out of the carriage and settled on Scotland's shoulder once more. The Bag-pipe loving nation didn't even bat an eye as he saw the girl, Luna, waltz on ahead, joining the thinning crowd of students as they poured into the Great Hall.

"What a sweet girl," Minty murmured into Scotland's ear. His nose twitched. "She's so curious about the world and very mature for her age! It was so nice talking with her."

Scotland didn't respond. He just kept walking forward and Minty took that as a cue to continue. "I think she's going to be my favorite student!"

"You haven't even held a single class yet and you've already found your favorite student?" Scotland scoffed.

"She's going to be one of my favorite students." Minty corrected herself, "You're right I can't discount the rest of my students before I've even met them."

"Uh huh…"

Minty shifted her weight around so that she was more comfortable on the Scotsman's shoulder, and perked her long bunny ears up.

"She's utterly fascinated with the Void. The way that she just thought up of such detailed and investigative questions on the spot was incredible. I have a feeling she's going to be a wonderful investigative journalist should she chose that career path."

"That's nice," Scotland said, not really paying any attention.

And that's when her eyes narrowed. "Scotland, were you even listening to a word we were saying in the Carriage."

"I listened to the first maybe five minutes of your conversation before I decided that I didn't need another trip to crazy town."

Minty stared at Scotland as if he had just said the stupidest thing she could ever think of.

"So you didn't hear us when we agreed on setting up a meeting between the Void and her?"

Scotland stopped dead in his tracks a few meters from the Great Hall. A million thoughts began running through his mind. Mainly those related to absolute outrage and the desire to decapitate the magical creature sitting on his shoulder right then and then. He shook himself out of his shock induced daze and kept walking forward.

"You what!?" He hissed under his breath. "Do you realize what you just did? The Void in it's physical form would annihilate the entire planet! Are you actually risking mass extinction just so that a twelve year old witch who isn't even old enough to drink yet can meet an omnipresent being of destruction?"

Minty giggled.

"How the fuck are you finding this funny?!" The Nation asked, absolutely scandalized.

"Oh I only with you can see the look on your face right now. No, I'm not setting up a meeting between Luna and the Void. I just wanted to see if you were telling the truth about whether or not you were listening to our conversation. It would serve you well to pay attention more often." The Flying Mint Bunny replied.

Scotland's eye twitched.

This was, perhaps the worst joke that Minty ever had the audacity to pull off. And this is including the time she had somehow spilt a punning potion that left every personification of the British Isle excluding Scotland to talk in puns for a full twenty four hours.

It was horrible for everyone involved.

Except for Minty. She was laughing her ass off the entire time while dodging flying tea cups thrown in her direction.

"You and I both know that a meeting wouldn't work out anyway, even if I was serious." Minty continued, pulling Scotland out of his thoughts. "The Void is very selective in who it associates with. I'm lucky the Void even gives me the time of day, much less permits me to store my things in one of it's pocket dimensions." Minty said, "but that didn't stop me from trying."

"I hate you." Scotland said.

"Love you too!" Minty sang.

Scotland rolled his eyes as he began weaving his way through the Great Hall and towards the Staff Table.

At least, that's what he assumed he was supposed to do, seeing as Minty and he were new staff members, therefore they should head to the Staff Table for the Feast. But despite that reasoning being logically sound, Scotland wasn't quite sure if that was actually where he needed to go.

He could see that Remus, the werewolf that Minty had adopted on the train had already taken his seat at the table and was now politely smiling and listening to the people sitting next to him. Scotland was just about 95% sure that he was just supposed to take a seat and wait for Sorting Ceremony to start.

However Scotland hadn't met a single member of the Hogwarts staff since he had dragged England off to the initial job interviews, way before Scotland realized that England had somehow managed to figure out the loophole that has now royally screwed up Scotland's year.

There are times where the laws of Magic absolutely suck, and that was one of them.

His eyes flickered from left to right, scanning the area around him before his eyes landed on Dumbledore himself.

The old coot. Sitting there like his favorite program had started playing on the TV.

Scotland decided that enough was enough, and he was just going to go over there, sit down and wait for the festivities to start. He started moving forward again, however before Scotland could get within a couple of meters of the table, he felt a tap on his unoccupied shoulder.

The Nation whirled around, a nasty insult just on the tip of his tongue ready to be spat out. It died before Scotland ever had a chance to utilize it.

Instead he tilted his head forward in greeting, "Good Evening, Madame."

A gray haired woman stood behind him, proper and prim. She smiled at him and said,

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Arthur Kirkland. I am Pomona Sprout and I will be helping you adjust to life as a member of the Hogwarts Staff for the time being."

Author's Note:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HOPE Y'ALL LIKED THAT CLIFFHANGER! Lol so many cliffhangers recently, but I'm not sorry.

Aaaaah, I almost wasn't sure if I'd be able to post this chapter today because I've just been super busy (more like sitting on my but watching Netflix. I finally got around to watching Rogue One and I cried my heart out) but I finally made some time to edit and post this.

So, the next update should be up on Friday July 28, 2017, again barring any monumental disasters and I am including loosing my IPad (I write everything on my IPad, which is probably why there are lots of spelling and grammar errors.) But I doubt that I will have to shift the schedule.

Question time! Are you a DC fan or a Marvel fan? Personally I started off as a Marvel Fangirl for years but then I watched Wonder Woman, and now I've been sucked into DC. I am a particular fan of the TV shows such as Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl. (The in-show cross overs are the BEST)

Anyway, thank you for reading and please please review if you have the time. It always makes me so happy to see feedback on my stories.

Until next time!

Snowy-Maplette