Chapter 3 – The Done Deal
Alexandra followed her nose down the steep and crooked stairway of the Red Lion Inn, through the bar and into the dining area. The tempting smell of cooking bacon, toast and freshly brewed coffee made her mouth water and stomach gurgle. In her book there were few good points to visiting The Guild Headquarters at Avebury, but breakfast at the Red Lion was definitely one of them. A hearty 'Full English' and a promise to herself to miss lunch and go for a jog around the stones later she left the picturesque thatched inn for the short walk to The Manor. It was a beautiful summer morning and she felt almost at peace with the world as she walked through the manicured gardens of the historic manor house with its myriad of roses and honeysuckle providing a splash of cheery colour and warm inviting scents. Ignoring the museum closed signs she pushed gently on the iron latch of the main door and paused a moment to allow her eyes to adjust to the dim light of the entrance hall. An elderly lady was fussily arranging leaflets on the desk to the left of the entrance and she smiled in greeting.
"Morning Mrs Lewis, getting ready for another busy day?"
"Morning Dr Houghton" she replied. "I don't know why I bother really its all school trips today and it'll be a mess again in five minutes but you have to try."
Alexandra laughed and leaving the woman to her fussing walked over to a nondescript door almost hidden under the main staircase. Fishing a plastic card from her pocket she lifted the 'Staff Only' notice up and inserted the card into the slot hidden beneath. With a barely audible click the door swung open and she entered a small brightly lit room containing only a numeric pad and another small slot on the opposite wall. Inserting the card into the slot Alexandra punched in a six-figure number and waited for the stomach lurching feeling as the express lift whisked her 200 feet underground.
Guild Headquarters were bustling even at 8.00am on a Friday morning. After their break with the Ministry of Magic the Guild had diversified into many other activities including privately run prisons in America, Australia and the UK and operating a world wide courier and guard service for valuable and time-sensitive packages and documents. As Guild Master much of Alexandra's time was spent performing the duties of CEO to a medium sized international corporation. These duties were normally carried out at the plush City offices of 'Guild Enterprises' in London; visits to Avebury were confined to monthly Guild Council meetings or occasional special briefing sessions such as todays. Smiling at several familiar faces Alex made her way to her office pausing only to pour herself a black coffee from the pot steaming away in the waiting area outside. Flopping into her chair she drew the document folder sat on the desk towards her and commenced work.
Barely five minutes had passed before there was a knock at the door and the familiar face of Nikki Adams appeared.
"Morning Lexi. Have you had your coffee yet, is it safe to come in?"
"Yes Nikki, grab a seat. Your early though, the meetings not for another 10 minutes."
"I know. I'm here to give you a heads up about the briefing."
Lexi narrowed her eyes as she observed that Nikki was guiltily looking anywhere but directly at her. "Oh", was all she replied.
"Yes. The Council received a reply from Dumbledore last night regarding the Azkaban situation. He has agreed to all our stipulations."
"Good that should make the transition much easier", replied Alexandra warily.
"Yes, but there's just one small problem. Well actually two", mumbled Nikki still looking over Alexandra's left shoulder seemingly at the abstract painting on the wall behind her.
"Problems?"
"Yes, well opportunities really."
"Opportunities?"
"Yes."
"What sort of opportunities?"
"He's appointed the new governor and he has made one small request of his own", explained the increasingly uncomfortable Nikki.
"And these are opportunities because…", queried a thoroughly suspicious Guild Master.
"The Governor is Severus Snape."
Alexandra leant back in her chair sighing. "Well not exactly the most welcome choice but certainly not totally unexpected. I pity the poor sod that's going to have to deal with him on a daily basis though," she snorted.
"Yes well that's the second thing I was asked to warn you about", said Nikki her face glowing red with embarrassment. She really hated it when the Council asked her to break bad news to Lexi. Just because they were best friends did not make it any easier. "Dumbledore has requested that during the initial transition period he requires a Guild liaison at the highest levels and the Council has nominated you."
"Me… ME!" gasped an infuriated Lexi. "They want me to drop everything for a year to swan off to that god forsaken hole called Azkaban and deal with a bigoted chauvinist of a wizard and that grinning manipulator Dumbledore. Well they can forget it. No, No, No, No NO! I'm not doing it!"
"I'm really sorry Lexi, but the Council's decision was unanimous and final. Today's briefing is just to finalise arrangements for running Guild Enterprises and bring you up to speed on the current situation at Azkaban."
"But what about the Callanish duties. Did anyone point out to them that I am the only one currently qualified as 'Red Cord' what if the Ministry requests an executioner. It would put me in an untenable position, they must realise that."
"Lexi it was carefully explained to them but they felt that all things considered it was highly unlikely that there would be any executions required during your time as liaison and that if the situation arose it could be dealt with at the time."
"Great Nikki. They really are such ostriches sometimes, just stick your head in the sand and hope it doesn't happen. Cowards as well, why do you let them always use you to break the bad news? You should let them do their own dirty work in future you know", said an exasperated Alexandra. She glanced at the clock and started to gather the papers on her desk. "Look we're going to be late for the briefing. I'll have this out with the Council myself. If they think I'm just going to lay down over this one they are sadly mistaken!"
Papers in hand the Guild Master sailed out of her office ready to take on all comers and trailed by a sheepish looking Nikki.
