Chapter Five
Meetings
Jennifer woke up far too early even to go to breakfast, sighing at the clock before resignedly getting dressed. She grabbed her Chest Cloak and took the stairs down to get a bit of exercise, waiting until she got outside before opening her mirror to contact Severus. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, causing purple and orange bands across the cloudy sky. She switched the mirror to her left hand so that she could slide her key through the door lock, grateful that her classroom entrance was so close. It was on the outside wall of the Assembly Building, just across the main path connecting the dorms to the back of the doors leading inside, which was how most students got to the Commissary in the morning.
"Good morning, Severus," Jennifer said when he appeared in the mirror.
"I see you're awake already," Severus replied.
"Yes, I didn't take that time-lag potion you gave me last night because I fell asleep on my own," Jennifer explained, getting the door open and turning on the light, stepping inside. "But since I'm already awake, I thought it'd be a good time to get Radiance over here."
"Yes, alright. And if you want anything else bulky, let's do it now because I have a board meeting tonight," Severus replied. Jennifer noticed he was moving because of the change in background.
"I don't know what else I need, really. I'll have to think about it. I'll have to contact you again after I get Radiance settled and go through the stuff that my friend and I bought last night," Jennifer said.
"Your 'friend'?" Severus repeated questioningly.
"Yes, she asked me not to mention her name outside of my personal rooms, actually. Considering how well known she is over here and all, she doesn't want that to influence what we're trying to do by sending me to work here," she explained.
"That does make sense, although I wonder if having the Rogue in your classroom is a good idea. You may become too dependent on him," Severus said. Jennifer glanced up, and the painting signed 'old codger.'
"Now, don't be silly," Jennifer told Severus.
"Also, there is no point in you using your maiden name if he is in there constantly reminding everyone whose wife you are," Severus added for good measure. "Can't you keep him in your room?"
"That whole using my maiden name thing while I'm here was your idea, not mine. Besides, I really don't see why you think my having the Rogue here is disruptive, anyway. I'm sure it'll be fine," Jennifer said. "Do you suppose he can even change his locations here like he can at Hogwarts?" she wondered. Rogue thought about it a moment, and the frame disappeared. "Yes, it looks like he can," she informed Severus. "And while that's good to know her can move himself for security reasons, I am going to use him as a secretary to help keep me organized," Jennifer explained.
"Just the threat of attempting to keep you organized is probably enough of an incentive to make him want to stay upstairs," Severus said. Jennifer made a face at him. "Radiance's stand is in the Chest Cloak, Jennifer, let's attend to that. I am also going to send you a contact mirror that has a frame and its own stand to put on your classroom desk so that you can contact me and still have both hands free."
"All right, Severus," Jennifer said, then set her mirror down to get into her cloak, first taking out the mirror and setting it up, closing the other mirror so she could resume contact on the larger one. It was, in fact, nearly the size of the School Mirror with an elaborate silver frame. It was only a moment or two before Severus appeared in the new mirror. "That is much better, Severus, although it's a bit rough with you moving around so."
"Do you want your familiar or not?" Severus inquired. He was holding onto the top of the stand until she began to tug on it and it disappeared from view.
Jennifer pulled it out, having to stop and unbutton the sides of the pocket even more so that she could get the base out. After that, Severus wisely sent Radiance's treats and food next before finally sending the Huang, watching carefully as Jennifer slowly lifted the cage out. Radiance was quite excited, both from being pulled through a portal and being stuck in her cage in general.
"I'm sorry, Radiance, but they simply wouldn't let me take you through the Portkey pads and I really don't want you to have to fly that far," Jennifer explained, unlatching the bottom of the cage and pulling off the top of it. But Radiance was not interested at all in going to her stand, jumping on Jennifer's shoulder and refusing to move. "Oh well, I have a whole hour before breakfast. Maybe I can convince her to move before then, considering that familiars aren't allowed in the Commissary," Jennifer said.
"Anything else bulky you need at the moment, Jennifer?" Severus asked.
"Well, I would ask for Quintin, but I doubt I'd ever manage to get him back into the pocket after I was done with him," Jennifer joked. "Is he alright?"
"Yes, I'm sure he is. After all, it's only been a day and he's used to visiting relatives overnight. I'm quite sure that Rus is keeping him well entertained at Alex's house. I don't suppose you could fit me back in that pocket if I tried that route?" Severus inquired expressionlessly, and Jennifer chuckled.
"I miss you too, but I really ought to get back to setting up," Jennifer said.
"Very well. Look for a letter from me this evening," Severus told her.
"I will. Have a good meeting," Jennifer said mischievous, knowing how much he dreaded them.
"You as well," Severus replied, breaking off contact.
Jennifer paused to give Radiance some treats and gently petted her neck to comfort her.
"I know that probably wasn't fun, but if you're a good girl and go back to your stand, I promise I will take you for a walk in the most lovely garden you've ever seen. And there will be berries and flowers and other birds and lots of water, too. You are going to love it," Jennifer explained, Radiance listening with interest. "We are very far from home here, and I need you to be my classroom assistant. You can help keep an eye on the classroom and listen to me talk when nobody else is in the room... things like that. How does that sound?" Radiance warbled in agreement, deciding that sounded very much like Jennifer was asking to spend more time with her. "But to do that, I need for you to stay on your stand for now so I can get ready for classes, alright?" she explained, using some more dried fruit treats to coax Radiance onto the stand. "Thank you, Radiance! It is so good to have you here with me!" she assured her. Radiance cooed happily as Jennifer filled Radiance's water and food holders and finally returned to setting up her classroom.
She kept a very close eye on the clock, putting away a set of Never-dry Dry Erase Markers and dumping all of the supplies she bought in one of the desk drawers. After putting up a calendar and a few other touches, it was finally time to head to the Commissary for breakfast.
The two large doors of laminated wood had just been opened, and very few teachers were there that early. The doors themselves were on the left most wall, which was the north wall, and the part right next to her actually shared a wall with her classroom. Booths lined the left wall accompanied by tables and chairs that sat across from them, meeting up with the floor to ceiling windows on the east wall that looked out into the gardens. In that corner sat a wizard with light brown hair and glasses who was busy tapping on his Wizardnet computer. He flicked his eyes up at the new teacher thoughtfully as she stepped in, glancing at the food selection being offered on the long cafeteria counters to her right with a large hot plate selection and smaller cold section. Very few teachers were there that early, but Jennifer wasn't surprised in the slightest that one of them was Gretchen. She waved at Jennifer from where she stood by an espresso machine at the far south side of the room, right next to some regular coffee pots.
Jennifer walked over to greet her, smiling when she saw her table in the far corner was still free. She had always loved to sit there as a student because it had glass walls on both sides, overlooking the pond, which actually passed underneath it in places, since the Commissary dining area had been placed on wooden beams.
"Good morning," Jennifer said to Gretchen as she stepped over to the coffee counter.
"I had a feeling you'd be up early," Gretchen said with a grin.
"Yes, I think it's going to take me a bit to get used to the time change," Jennifer admitted, getting some coffee and then glancing at the nearest food counter skeptically. "Are any of the pastries edible?"
"Edible, yes, just don't look at the ingredients list," Gretchen advised, getting a couple of rolls and some jam.
"Yes, I sometimes work in a cafe in New York, so I already know about that part, actually," Jennifer admitted with a chuckle. "But I'm not in the mood for oatmeal this morning, so I think I'll try the croissants. I promised myself that I'd try something different every day just in case my taste buds have changed. You never know... something might surprise me," she decided.
She used the tongs to get one of the croissants and to it over to her favorite table, and Gretchen followed behind, sitting across from her curiously. As they sat down, Jennifer watched with interest when Gretchen pulled out some German salami and hirtenkase cheese out of her pocket.
"Do you have a Chest Cloak as well?" Jennifer asked.
"No, I brought it down from my room. I'm used to having it with my rolls in the morning. Chest Cloaks are kind of pricey," Gretchen admitted.
"They are, but they are well worth it, really. I've been using it to move. I was even able to use it to get my familiar safely here," Jennifer explained. Jennifer took a bite out of her croissant and grimaced at its chewy texture. "Is there any butter at all in this thing?"
"Oil more than likely. Butter is bad for you, don't you know?" Gretchen said, rolling her eyes with a grin.
"Well, we'll just see about that. You and your cheese just gave me a lovely idea on how we can survive this first morning," Jennifer said mischievously, opening up her mirror. "Get me Severus," she said, and Gretchen grinned. "Severus, there's something very important I forgot to ask you to send me this morning: breakfast," she explained. "Do you suppose you could send a plate of Francie's scones?" she asked. "Yes, of course it's important! You know what American food is like. No, of course I won't make a habit of it," Jennifer said, crossing her fingers with her other hand as she said it, keeping it well out of his view, but obvious to Gretchen, who laughed at it. "Oh, pish, it's your own fault for waiting until the last minute to prepare for that board meeting anyway. This will only take you a moment... oh, and real butter would be nice too, please! Alright, talk to you later," Jennifer said, folding up her mirror and putting it away. Then she pushed away her plate to make some space. "There, you see? Chest Cloaks are quite handy."
"I suppose, if you have a doting husband and an Elvish staff to go along with it," Gretchen noted.
"Fair enough," Jennifer said, sipping her coffee a moment before putting her hand in her cloak pocket and very carefully pulling out a plate of scones. "Care for one, Gretchen? It looks like there's plenty."
"I suppose I should eat with you more often," Gretchen decided with a chuckle.
"Well, unfortunately, by the time lunch rolls around, he'll have left the study, and once the Professors start arriving there next week and things really get busy at the school, I'm sure I'll be mostly on my own," Jennifer admitted, picking out a raisin scone.
"Not really, Jennifer, you're never truly on your own... especially here. You know the staff here is twice the size of Hogwarts. By next week you'll have made new friends, and besides, school will be starting and you'll be just as busy as he is," Gretchen assured her, looking around. "Hey, there's Lav," she pointed out, and Jennifer waved at Lavender Carmody, who smiled and brought her tray over.
"Back over in your corner again, I see," Lavender teased Jennifer, then saw the plate. "Where did you get those?"
"Her pocket," Gretchen explained. "Real British scones from Britain... and real butter," she added for good measure.
"Care to join us? I have plenty to share," Jennifer suggested.
"I'll have to sit with you more often," Lavender decided, grabbing a chair.
"Just what I said," Gretchen said.
"Actually, the main reason I came over here today was to let you know that you're getting a bit of unwanted attention from the usual suspects," Lavender said.
"What does that mean?" Jennifer asked curiously.
"Mr. Byrd and Professor Smith," Gretchen said, rolling her eyes. "They both have a thing for sizing up new witch teachers in this school."
"And by size she means bust, waist, and hips," Lavender warned.
"Yes, but I'm married," Jennifer pointed out.
"True, but if I were them, I'd be wondering why you're going by your maiden name. They might think the two of you are on the rocks," Lav said.
"On the rocks?" Jennifer repeated.
"Separated or something," Lavender explained.
"If we were, we wouldn't be eating these lovely scones right now," Jennifer said with a chuckle. "But don't worry. Now that I know about it, I'll be sure to keep an eye on them."
"Just be aware that they'll also be keeping an eye on you," Lavender replied. "Oh, they've never crossed the line. Dean Elk would have tossed them out ages ago if they had, but they do like to dance it."
"I know the type. In fact, my son was like that for a long time, but fortunately he grew out of it," Jennifer explained.
"If they haven't grown out of it now, they won't," Gretchen said. "They pestered me when I first got here too, until Lavender convinced them we were dating each other just to get them off my back."
"It worked, didn't it?" Lavender winked.
"True, but it does mean if I do want to date someone here, I'm going to have to convince him it was a mistake, and that could get tricky," Gretchen said.
"It ended up helping me get more offers," Lavender admitted with a grin. "Oh, here comes Wind Elk."
Jennifer looked up as Wind wandered over, smiling at the trio warmly.
"Welcome, Jennifer, and good morning! Why, what have you there? I don't think I saw those on the menu," he teased, looking at Jennifer knowingly.
"I cheated," Jennifer admitted with a grin. "Have one?"
"Thank you," Wind said, taking a plain one for himself. "Have you had your first staff meeting yet?"
"Our department meets today at noon," Lavender replied.
"Good! Feel free to drop by afterwards if you have any questions, Jennifer. I'll be available this afternoon," he offered, then went to fetch a tray and some coffee to have with his scone.
"That sounded like he expected me to want to see him afterwards, didn't it?" Jennifer noted.
"It's not that big of a deal, we just get together and talk about the upcoming school year, get our class schedules, discuss agendas, and all of that," Lavender said.
"So a typical staff meeting," Jennifer said. "Except by department, since there's such a large staff."
"Exactly," Lavender said with a nod.
"Should I bring something to take notes with?" Jennifer wondered.
"You can, I suppose, but the whole meeting will be up on the department website tomorrow, so I wouldn't bother," Lavender said. Jennifer scrunched her nose at that.
"This school seems pretty dependent on that silly Wiznet thing, doesn't it?" Jennifer asked.
"You say it like it's a bad thing. But trust me, it's a lot easier now that all of the standard tests are online, especially as often as they expect us to test these days," Lavender said. Jennifer glanced at Gretchen, who nodded in confirmation.
"Do you mean tests like midterms and finals? Or do you mean tests such as wizardry levels?" Jennifer asked.
"Both, really," Lavender said. "There are two quarters per semester and two semesters in the year, so there are four progress tests for every grade. Oh, and the initial they take so that they can see what their proficiency is at when they start the semester. Wizardry levels are tested in 8th grade, 10th grade and 12th grade, but they can also take them in 9th and 11th if they want to pay extra for them."
"It wasn't quite that bad when I was in school here," Jennifer admitted.
"It wasn't that bad at Durmstrang either," Gretchen agreed. "But you do get used to it, and they do give you some idea of what they're going to be tested on so that you know what to teach."
"You don't get to set your own teaching agendas?" Jennifer asked.
"Well, you can, but it will show up in their test scores," Lavender said. "And when that happens, the parents tend to get upset, and then the board tends to get upset, and then it all comes back down on the teachers at that point." Jennifer frowned at that. Maybe coming back wasn't such a good idea after all. "Just be lucky you're teaching Items, Jennifer. The tests for that aren't nearly as bad; it's often attached to the business and industry tests. It's harder on the major subjects, trust me," Lavender assured her, Gretchen nodded in agreement.
By the time Jennifer got to the meeting that day, she already very wary, especially after spending some time looking at the school's Wizardnet site and wondering how they managed to keep anything private. It also hadn't helped that several other sites with similar names existed, and she often found herself misdirected to business sites such as burger places and tourist attractions that urged one to book ahead. After she was done, she was very glad to set aside her net device for awhile. She closed it firmly and got up with a sigh, deciding to bring paper and a pencil so that she didn't have to rely on the thing any more than she had to.
It took some time to find the meeting room, which ended up being one of the unmarked doors behind the school Assembly Hall. Although she wasn't late, she was close enough that she was the last one in the room.
Most of others were too busy staring at their phone devices to notice; reminding Jennifer very much of how Alexandria behaved when she first got hers. But Lavender looked up with a smile, and Jennifer took a seat beside her, while Gretchen sat on the other side. Jennifer took off her glasses and put them away. On the other side of the table, a dark haired wizard leaned over and murmured to the blonde wizard in the lab coat next to him, both looking at Jennifer. Jennifer was too curious about what Brenda was doing at the front of the room to notice, but neither Lavender or Gretchen missed it.
At first, Jennifer watched with interest as Brenda got out her wand and tapped on a small box that turned out to be an image projector, but after a couple of warm and cheerful images of welcome, the images quickly turned to list the dates of first day, last day, holidays, and an insidious amount of testing in between each one, along with weekend schedules filled with Quidditch, Chaserball, and American Football. As Jennifer listened, she glanced over her class schedule which seemed basic enough; Introductory Item Detection and Uses, Items I, Items II, Item Design, and Advanced Design. They hadn't had advanced design when she was going to school, and she admitted to herself that it would be interesting to see what the students would come up with. But as she looked back up at the events calendar, she noticed something was squeezed in on the last weekend of February that wasn't a sport; it was an Items and Industry fair. Frowning at that and wondering if it was listed in her folder somewhere, Jennifer's eyes came back up again when Brenda got to the last slide, which said, "Welcome Ms. Jennifer Craw!" on it with a lot of floating balloons behind the name.
"And last but not least, I'd like to introduce you to Ms. Jennifer Craw, our guest professor from Hogwarts, who'll be teaching Items this year," Brenda said with a smile. "Although I am certain that most of you, especially in alchemy fields, have heard of the name in conjunction with the recent Lycanthropy research, I am told by Dean Elk she is also known in her country for her talents at detecting and disabling dangerous dark devices. Welcome."
"That's a lot of d's," Jennifer heard someone comment softly.
"Thanks for coming, everyone! Let me know if you have any problems. You know where my office is," Brenda finished with a smile.
"So how about lunch?" Lavender suggested to Jennifer.
"Hey! Not so fast! Don't drag her out of here before everyone gets to meet her, especially considering how closely we're going to be working together," the dark-haired wizard said. "I am Frank Byrd, the Wizardnet instructor here. My friend, Professor Asher Smith, teaches Wizard Pharmocology at the Healer's School, and also teaches an introductory Healing Potion class to the highschoolers," he explained. "And over here is Luke Miller of Magical Industry; you'll be working with him and myself on some of the students' design projects during the year."
"Nice to meet you," Jennifer said, putting her glasses back on. At least Luke seemed nice enough, and he seemed to be married to one of the other teachers at the school.
"And this is Elena Ortiz," Gretchen introduced, drawing Jennifer's attention to another woman who had been sitting on the opposite side of Gretchen. She also wore a white lab coat. "She teaches nutrition and the magical properties of basic foods."
"That sounds quite interesting, actually," Jennifer admitted, shaking her hand.
"Thanks, I think so, anyway. I teach one class in nutrition at secondary level as plus an elective on cultural foods and their magical properties," she said. "But I mostly teach at college level, about nutrition and its place in magical healing at the Healer's School."
"You'd like the cultural foods class. They get to eat chocolate," Gretchen informed Jennifer, who looked amused.
"To be fair, they end up eating crickets and scorpions too, but they still seem to have fun with the class," Elena chuckled.
"So, is everyone hungry? How about lunch at Quickbrooms?" Frank asked enthusiastically, but no one missed after a quick glance around the room his eyes had landed on Jennifer again.
"You all go on. I have an appointment with Wind," Jennifer replied.
"I'll show you the way," Lavender offered. "Go on across the street, guys, I'll catch up," she promised, taking Jennifer by the arm and dragging her out before anyone could comment.
"Lav," Jennifer chuckled at her behavior as Lavender pulled her down the hall. "I can take care of myself, honest. There's no reason for you to get all protective, and I do know where Wind's office is."
"I'm sorry, but I have a real soft spot for a damsel in distress and a real aversion to men like Frank Byrd," Lavender said.
"Never mind that. What can you tell me about that Items and Industry fair I saw in late February?" Jennifer asked.
"Oh, that. Well, supposedly, it's a chance for students to show their skill experimenting and creating innovative magic items to propel our society forward into the future," Lavender said dramatically. "But in reality, it's usually a contest of parents attempting to one-up each other's ability to pour a lot of money and work into their kid's project to try to impress the Masons and Powers on the board."
"Well, I know who the Masons are, they've been pushing their weight around Whitebridge even back when I was going to school," Jennifer admitted. "Who are the Powers?"
"They're sort of the offshoot of the Mason family after marrying into them. They also have money, influence, and forgive the pun, 'power' in the wizard society around here," Lav explained. "But it's the same kind of situation. They donate to have their name attached to everything and donate to every winning candidate until nobody in the area can do without them anymore. And unfortunately, right now the Masons and the Powers also sit in half the school board seats, too. That's been a bit rough on Wind, because sometimes they stand in the way if he wants to make any sort of proposals to change the budget or policies they have control over."
"I bet. I know how badly those fifty fifty splits in the board can be even at Hogwarts," Jennifer said in understanding. "But don't worry, Wind is an old campaigner when it comes to the Masons. He was going toe to toe with them back when I was going to school, after I nearly got thrown out."
"You mean like after you turned Steve Mason into a cactus?" Lavender grinned.
"Now, how did you hear about that?" Jennifer asked.
"My mother told me. She says she thinks about it every time he gets on her nerves at board meetings," Lavender explained.
"Rosemary is on the school board?" Jennifer asked brightly.
"Yes," Lavender said with a grin. "And so is he." Jennifer blinked and groaned loudly.
"I wonder how he managed to hire me without him knowing about it," Jennifer asked.
"That's easy. Dean Elk just called you Mrs. Jennifer Snape when he suggested it," Lavender grinned, and Jennifer groaned again. She was still shaking her head when they got to Wind's office and found the door open.
"Come on in, Jennifer," Wind said when he saw them. "Thank you, Lavender."
"Always happy to deliver," Lavender chuckled, then hurried to catch up with the others going to lunch.