Disclaimer: I did not make up Harry Potter or the surrounding characters. There is no profit involved, just some fun.

Mixed Emotions

Chapter One: Appearances

Durmstrang was a fairly well known school around Europe. Leanne Beaumont, it's present headmaster, felt that she showed the school to its advantage – carefully pushing the students to strive and do their best on all occasions.

Professor Beaumont was almost as well known as the school. She was a member of the world Wizardgamot and attended every meeting, often having to find replacements to cover for her while she was in Britain. Being a well-respected woman among the wizarding figures, this was not usually a big task.

She prided herself on not showing any unwanted sides of herself, or the school, to the people who knew it. She was always stern and reliable, and even in situations where deadlines or there was high pressure, she was known to keep a clean head.

Today though, she was finding this hard. Bogged down in piles of paperwork for enrolments for the next school year, Ms Beaumont was clearly under stress and not holding herself together. So much so, that when the deputy knocked on her door, she snapped nastily.

"What do you all want now?" She said icily, burying her head in her hands and sighing dramatically.

"I give you my sincerest apologies, headmistress Beaumont, but an urgent letter has arrived for you, and it requests that you reply as soon as possible." Said the voice from the other side of the door.

"If it's from another parent wishing to enroll, it can wait till tomorrow," She said tiredly, rubbing her eyes.

"It's from the British Ministry of Magic, shall I just leave it at the door for you?" Came the polite reply.

"No, no, I'm coming." Beaumont said, pushing wisps of black hair behind her ear.

Dragging her chair away from the well-oiled priceless oak desk, she stood up and shuffled towards the door, sliding her expensive heeled shoes along the floorboards. Opening the door and revealing her disheveled self, she leaned heavily on the doorway, dark brown eyes looking dense, clouded and impatient.

Her deputy handed her an envelope with the British Ministry's seal on the back of it. Sliding her thumb underneath the seal, she thanked the man who was waiting a few feet away from where she was leaning, and he turned and walked away.

Straightening out the letter so it was easier to read, she closed the door and returned to her desk, plonking herself down and picking up her small pair of reading glasses.

Headmaster Beaumont

The headmaster's office

Dear Professor Beaumont,

The wizardgamot board requests your appearance at an impromptu meeting to be held tomorrow morning, at ten am, at the British Ministry of Magic. Please bring your wizardgamot pass. It is too risky to include the details of the meeting here, because as you know, mail is being intercepted in certain places, so they shall remain undisclosed. We hope to be seeing you soon, please send a reply to this letter to the address stated at the bottom of this page as soon as possible.

Thanking you;

Alastor Moody

British Minister of Magic

Taking a fresh piece of parchment from the pile that was threatening to collapse over the already cluttered desk, she wrote the return address legibly in the top right hand corner of the letter.

Ministry of Magic London

Dear Alastor and Theodore;

I will most certainly be at the meeting tomorrow, traveling by floo powder, as it seems most appropriate at the given time. Seeing you soon,

Leanne Beaumont

Headmistress of Durmstrang

Folding the letter into quarters she placed it in an envelope and rewrote the address. Thinking of Theodore, who was a former boyfriend when they both attended Durmstrang but now was the Deputy Minister of Magic, made her feel slightly happier and less stressed. Sealing the letter without anymore thought, she gave it to her tawny owl, which flew off through the open window and glided over the snow-covered fields of the school grounds. Leanne watched him till he was just a speck of a silhouette in the distance, flying over the mountains.

A/N: So what did everyone think? Looks out over the crowd worriedly also, does anyone know where to get a Beta Reader from? I think I need one, lol.