A hot bath would have been truly relaxing but Annabeth figured time wise a shower was the best she could do given the circumstances. She might have had time for a bath but when she realized she needed to start getting ready Mitchell was already dipping his fingers into her again and she could only accept his touch and look into his dazzling eyes while she climaxed again shortly thereafter.

"You're beautiful when you cum" he whispered as they kissed at the door to her bed chamber, him running his hand through her hair and touching her face as he said it, and she thought that might be the nicest and sexiest thing anyone had said to her. Maybe it was magic, but it just made her feel beautiful. It washed away all the self-consciousness she had at being naked with a new and exciting guy. Her heart swooned and she wanted to be loved by her new man. She was already nude anyway, except for one of the kitten heels she had worn that day, and decided a shower was a necessity instead of the bath she craved.

She wrapped a bathrobe around her after she toweled off and stepped out of the steamy bathroom to quickly redo her make up and hair so she might not totally look freshly fucked at the staff meeting. That would be bad. Looking in the mirror she was almost shocked at what she saw. Her hair and make up were already done, and her hair looked amazing with a few undertones added to her summer blond.

'That guy gave me a make over while we were kissing. Or maybe while I was sucking his dick? I don't know… What a great boyfriend, and damn! I look great! I think I'll lay him after dinner. Yep, Mr. Laurens is going to explore my vag instead of an old castle, he just doesn't know it yet," she thought with a smile.

With that in mind Annabeth put on her "Just in case" lingerie she had brought from the states when she learned Percy was to be working with her, just in case it was needed, then a simple black dress that was a little low cut but still quite conservative, a couple of hoop earrings and she was ready to slip on her wizard robes as soon as she found that other shoe. It was then that the glow started in the corner of the room and Percy appeared in the mist.

"Hello Annabeth" he said without emotion. "You look nice."

"Oh, thank you Percy, you're quite handsome yourself," Annabeth replied, now with her stomach churning afresh with nervousness about the coming conversation and its ripple effect to the others about to gather in the grand hall. That her tummy was currently full of Mitchell's nut juice didn't help the situation at all.

"I won't beat around the bush, I don't want to talk to you really, nothing is forgiven, you're a horrible person; but I gave Estelle the options and she thinks it would be worth putting up with you for us to be together, so she's going to Hogwarts. She wants to talk to you. I never told her what you did and I can fake being civil with you for her sake. I ask you do the same."

"Of course, I agree. She shouldn't hurt because of our situation."

Percy sneered a bit at Annabeth's response as he stepped out of view and she heard him calling to his sister, and then his footsteps as he walked away. His words, and coldness they were delivered with, wounded her deeply. She gasped at their impact until the sweetest girl she had seen in years stepped into view.

"Oh my gosh Estelle! You're so grown up! Look how pretty you are!" Annabeth gushed.

"Annabeth!" the girl shouted, seemingly surprised to see her. "I miss you! Where have you been?"

"Oh gods Estelle, I've missed you so much, I think about you and pray about you every day! You're getting so big!"

"I'm going to your school, but you… you…" the girl gasped as tears came to her eyes, "you have to promise to be nice to Percy. Promise me! You can't be mean to him anymore!"

"I promise Estelle, I do, there is… well Percy has his view of stuff and I have mine, but you don't have to worry about that. I, we, won't let that affect you. I promise… Estelle if I could get down on my knees and beg forgiveness for whatever I may have done, just to get Percy to like me again, I would. I would, I love him and I always will, and I love you too, I hate this has hurt you, I hate I hurt you in any way, gods I love you so much," Annabeth cried and could stand up no more, so she fell to her knees as if to illustrate the point, putting her hands to her face as she gasped and cried.

"I think she means that Percy," Estelle said after a moment, speaking to him to the side, but she got no response as Percy had left the room and heard none of it. Estelle then turned back to face Annabeth as she cried and tears began to fill the little girl's eyes as well, "Can I see you when I get to Pigwarts?"

"As much as you want, as much as Percy wants. I am always here for you Estelle. I don't care what I'm doing, if I'm meeting with the Prime Minister and you want me to do your nails like I did when you were little, you come first. Always. Understand? Always," Annabeth choked out through her gasps and tears.

The Iris message broke up as Estelle tried to hug Annabeth and the mist and rainbow were destroyed. Annabeth was on her knees still weeping when the message alert came on her electronic wand.

"Eta tomorrow 12 GMT. –Estelle, Blackjack, Oleary, me"

"K Thx" she typed back, and then staggered to her feet, saw she was a mess and dried her tears. Once she thought she was reasonably presentable again, she saw she was already late, accioed her other heel, which was across the room somehow, grabbed an old pair of Nikes, shoved them in an over sized purse, and practically ran out the door to get to the dinner meeting.

"Oh, someone is in a hurry" she heard one of the portraits say, the glanced to see it was Dumbledore who was grinning at her while the others all looked scornful.

"Yeah, I have to let everyone know I just saved the school" she said as she forced a grin. Chase wasn't in the mood to be judged by dead people.

"Good for you, I knew you could do it" Dumbledore said with a wry grin, and then appeared to go back to sleep.

When she saw her Daedalus laptop already powered up where she had left it before, and as she was already late, she did take a moment to go to Urban Dictionary to find out what a 'taint' was.

'Yeah. Okay. Don't see the point, but I'm down.' She thought as she hurried out the door.

Annabeth arrived ten minutes late and everyone looked up to see her with anticipation.

"Sorry I'm late, a meeting ran long" she said as she sat beside McGonagall and her plate filled by itself.

"Meeting? Is that what they're calling it now?" Minvera mumbled with a wicked smile under her breath just loud enough for Annabeth to hear.

"Hush" she whispered with a grin, confirming every naughty thought Minerva had about Annabeth and Mitchell's afternoon.

"I do hope it was to clear Madame Greengrass's name and issue an apology for dragging her reputation through the mud. That would be important enough to make us wait I think," Flitwick said, clearly upset that his friend was arrested for theft and fraud and still of the opinion that Annabeth had no business running the school. He was really annoying her and Chase was about to respond but Hazel did for her.

"Probably not. I spent the afternoon reviewing the evidence; she's guilty as sin. The good news is we can probably get a lot of your investment returned Professor Flitwick."

Flitwick looked like he had been kicked in the nads.

"No, I was in a long distance meeting with Professor Jackson," Annabeth said, and all eyes turned to her.

After a long pause Professor Sprout asked, "Well, what did he say?"

"Oh, lets put that off, Professor Flitwick is right, I don't want to delay dinner anymore than I already have," Annabeth said with a smirk as she lifted a bite of the best mashed potatoes she could remember having.

"Mmmmm! So good!" she murmured.

As the staff looked at her with anticipation, then looked at each other in bafflement, all on the edge of their seats wondering how the headmistress's meeting went.

Minerva leaned over to Annabeth and whispered in her ear; "With respect Madam Headmistress, if you don't give us an answer I will take that fork from your hands and stab you in the heart with it."

"You know, you're really getting a mean streak," Chase grinned.

"I've been spending time around Americans, you know how surly that lot is," she whispered back with a slight grin.

"Very well," Annabeth said aloud," Professor McGonagall has made a convincing argument for ruining your meal now instead of later."

The room sighed in resignation as one.

"They said 'no' then." Madame Hooch sighed.

"What? Oh no, they said yes, and as a result I will need each of you to run to your offices after dinner and get your final budgets for your departments, then return to meet with Madame Levesque to hammer out the last details. Hazel, I hope that is okay, I'm trying to save you an extra trip to London and Gringotts. Minister, could you hang around to help approve the final budget with us tonight? It's going to be a late night folks. Sorry about that, but its Minerva's fault if that ruins dinner. It seems like I'm forgetting something…"

"You might want to introduce Mr. Laurens" Minerva said.

"Oh, you didn't do that already? Right, well the strange man two seats to my right is Mitchell Laurens, Minerva and myself have recruited him to be both Madame Pence's assistant and to coordinate a social calendar for the school. I know you will all make him feel welcome; he is readily qualified in library science and well versed in the ways to run campus wide celebrations. Trust me on this; we grew up on the same campus and the parties his house led were epic. Welcome Mr. Laurens." Annabeth smiled.

Everyone politely applauded, now with grins of pure happiness on their faces, none more than Annabeth. The staff on either side expressed their welcomes to Mitchell aloud and after dinner everyone else would as well.

While this was going on, Annabeth remembered what she had forgotten to mention.

"Madame Levesque, could I speak with you a moment after we finish dining?"

"Of course Annab… Headmistress."

"I think we've been friends long enough for you to call me Annabeth when its just faculty, if you like."

"You too." Hazel smiled.

"Thank you for that Hazel."

"There is one more thing," Annabeth announced. "It seems our newest student is of the thought that our school name is, or should be, 'Pigwarts,' so we may need to change the signs on the gate," Annabeth giggled. "You are all just going to love Estelle."

"Kids. You gotta love them," the Minister laughed.

The room was much noisier through supper that evening as everyone reassessed Annabeth and her abilities to lead the school, which made it easy for Minerva to whisper to her "You did it! You really did it! We will open on time!"

"Well Hazel did it. Remember we would still be broke if not for her, uh, abilities at fundraising. I feel good though. From what I understand we have made Hogwarts financially sound not just for now, but also for generations. Now all we have to do is keep it the best school ever. That's on you and me." Annabeth replied, and then suddenly remembered what she had forgotten and asked across the table, "Oh! Madame Sprout, could I bother you a moment?"

"Of course headmistress" she grinned.

"Oh please, when we are in staff only situations, please call me Annabeth. All this professor and madam and mister will get tiring. Unless someone objects and wishes more formality, I mean no disrespect, I just, well I want us all to be friends. If that is objectionable, I know you have all worked hard to attain your stations and are rightfully proud, so let me know if you prefer more formality. If you do, my title for my current positions would be 'Headmistress, Dr. Annabeth Chase, MA, PhD, MagD' and hearing that over and over would get old fast," Annabeth replied.

Everyone looked around and no one seemed to care. Most had no idea the level of education Annabeth had achieved and few knew until then that she had both a muggle doctorate and a magical one. She had only mentioned it to slap Flitwick around for his insinuations that she wasn't fit to lead the school and presuming she should apologize to his criminal friend.

"Anyway, our Defense instructor will be bringing a couple of friends, Blackjack and Mrs. O'Leary. So…"

"How would that affect me?" Sprout asked.

"Well, Blackjack likes alfalfa so I'm adding a doorway from his apartment and would like to put alfalfa outside of it there for him,"

"A man that eats alfalfa?" Sprout asked, clearly confused.

"Oh! No, Blackjack is his pegasus. Or, Professor Jackson is Blackjack's human. It gets confusing. We can supplement with sweet feed and oats, but he likes to graze wild when he can. It's a pegusus thing."

"Oh! I was as lost as last year's Easter eggs. Of course! I think I have the seeds and we can rapid grow it. Legume hays are easy." Sprout exclaimed. "I'm glad to help. Is Mrs. O'Leary a relative of his?"

"No, she's a hellhound."

"An actual hellhound?" someone asked after a pregnant pause.

"Yes, big dog, looks like cross between a Rottweiler and a Labrador, kind of like a huge Mastiff maybe."

"What? Won' it attack tha' students?" Hagrid asked.

"Mrs. O'Leary? Attack a child? No, Estelle will have the first years riding around on her back like a horse within a week. She's a total sweetheart."

"Well. Fang will be glad to have someone to play wid', that's my dog, Fang" Hagrid smiled. "He's too big to rough house very much though. Big as a couch."

"Mrs. O'Leary should be safe, she is roughly the size of an African elephant."

The staff ate quickly and hurried off to gather their budget proposals. Hazel warily approached Annabeth and asked with little emotion; "What's up?"

"Thanks, I need to get into Percy's apartment so I can make the door for Blackjack and Mrs. O'Leary. Could you let me in, I made sure the door wasn't keyed for me."

"What makes you think that I…"

"Hazel, we're both grown ass women here. Please. Don't make this more awkward than it already is. I want the door to be ready so Percy doesn't have anything else to bitch at me about." Annabeth said plainly.

"Oh. Okay."

Annabeth swapped shoes, and with Sprout in tow, they made their way to the apartment, where Hazel let them in. It took about 15 minutes for Annabeth to open the wall and create the doorway; a large glass paneled one that looked much like the door on an old firehouse. Annabeth asked Hazel to leave the lights on for a bit so they could find the door from the outside and then she keyed it to Hazel and to Hagrid as the Keeper of the Keys. She could not key it to Percy and Estelle until they arrived. After an hour of architectural magic, both Blackjack and Mrs. O'Leary had nice homes on a patio outside the apartment, with half a football field of alfalfa magically sown and growing. The final touches were two stone basins that looked like hot tubs for their water, each with a fountain, and slightly smaller basins for dog and pegasus food that was sheltered from the weather in Mrs. O'Leary's and Blackjack's houses.

Architectural magic is exhausting, especially when it involves moving stone and earth, and by the end of the project Annabeth was weak, and drained of her magical energies until she rested. Mitchell cared for her and tried to convince her to go to her chambers and rest until morning, but she demanded to go back to the grand hall to finish the budget. Mitchell's affectionate care, and Annabeth's acceptance of it, was not missed by Hazel, but by that point Annabeth didn't care what she thought or what Percy might think about her. What was he going to do? Call her a whore again? Whatever.

The budget meeting did not run long as Hazel already had most of the figures, and only needed to tweak a few, then add the library assistant salary. Percy had left with Hazel his requests for sparing equipment and it was added without discussion as neither Hazel nor Annabeth felt like explaining why the students would be sparing. An 'Orphan's Fund' that existed to assist children too poor to cover their expenses was the first thing the Carrows had drained and was fully funded again with the Headmistress being empowered to use and track it like she also did with the petty cash account. The only real debate was how much to dedicate to the social committee for its work, and in the end it was decided to start at the cost of about four of the balls thrown by Dumbledore with the option to add more if the program was successful. It was left to the next day to determine metrics for success, but an overall reduction in detention would be part of it. Once the staff had finished its budget meeting, Annabeth, Hazel and the Minister met and quickly ratified the budget.

By then it was midnight and Annabeth was finally and truly exhausted. Mitchell had left after the staff meeting but she found him waiting at the statues at the base of her stairs.

"Hey girl" he said softly as he rose to greet her.

"Not here, upstairs, you might need to help me get there," Annabeth said in response to his reach to embrace her.

The couple made it back to her office and passed quietly by the sleeping portraits. Finally in her chambers, Annabeth just fell back into Mitchell's loving arms.

"Geez what a day."

"Yeah, but it was great day. For me at least," Mitchell smiled.

"Me too," Annabeth replied as she grasped his arms that were wrapped around her. A turn aside to kiss his cheek and Annabeth was in her happy place. They kissed deeply and Annabeth was just drifting off in the erotic haze she had felt that afternoon, then remembered she had a surprise for Mitchell.

"So," she said as she broke off a kiss, then almost kissed again when she saw his eyes, "Come here and have a seat."

Mitchell, being a reasonably smart person, did as he was told and sat on a sofa near the bed.

Annabeth stood a few feet in front of him and reached behind herself with her wand and magically pulled down the zipper on her dress.

"Remember the promise I had you make this afternoon?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh, yes, of course. I remember, I understand its fast and…"

Annabeth pulled the dress from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor, revealing that she was wearing only a white lace corset about her waist, with suspenders going down to the stockings that came up her thighs, and a matching tiny white thong that barely covered anything.

"I release you from that promise and hold you to your duties as a boyfriend," she grinned.

Mitchell could only stare.

"So," Annabeth asked with a giggle as she turned to show off her tush to him, "taint licking, how does that work exactly? I'm confused on that."

A few hours later Annabeth awoke feeling aglow, and feeling as though her nether regions had been spackled shut by the copious discharge that had exited Mitchell so forcefully inside her she felt it splattering against her cervix as shot after shot was injected into her. Mitchell was deep asleep beside her so she snuck from bed and made it to the shower to cleanse herself. That took some time give the amount of cleansing she needed.

When she finally got back to bed Mitchell was awake and ready to go again.

And so was Annabeth.