Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Chapter 6
Rowena admitted it, she'd put off meeting the new members of staff after that first, memorable encounter. Now she was stuck though, she'd finished her curriculum along with several others. She'd written letters to her father, her cousins and whoever else she could think of and sent them off. Her quarters were spotless and couldn't be arranged more efficiently than they were already. It was inevitable, she'd have to go out and risk meeting one of the newcomers.
It was silly, she finally decided, after trying and failing to work through another Ogham book that she'd managed to dig up from somewhere. She was going to be working with these people, she couldn't avoid them forever. She'd go see that dark-skinned woman, the one she'd seen talking to Salazar. She at least seemed normal, seemed being the operative word. She couldn't be that bad though, could she?
She wasn't. Or at least that was how it appeared at first glance. She'd finally tracked down the woman, Serafina, according to Godric, down in the dungeons. Why she was there, Rowena couldn't guess, the ground floor classrooms were far nicer, not to mention warmer. Then again, perhaps she liked the cold.
Or not. Rowena was more than a little surprised at having the door answered by a large bundle of material which spoke to her in fluent Arabic or a few moments before switching over to Latin nearly instantly.
"Do you speak Latin then? Ah yes, I see by your look that you do. Come in, come in." The clothes moved aside and Rowena wandered in mutely, still rather bemused by the sight. It wasn't until the bundle removed several scarves from around its top that she realised that underneath it all, lay the woman she'd been looking for. "Forgive my appearance, I am not used to such cold but unfortunately my creations need the stable temperature down here, so here I must remain. I am sure I will become used to it soon. If not, then I'm sure I will find warmer clothes."
Rowena simply nodded, if this was normal, what were the others going to be like?
"Oh but you must pardon my rudeness!" The woman suddenly exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air, "Sit, sit. Do you drink? My Salazar has this wonderful concoction from the East, tea. Have you tried it? Now, tell me, I have seen you before yes? Yes, from when I first arrived here. I did not catch your name though, you ran off too quickly although I cannot blame you, the noise that day was most painful on the ears."
Rowena sat for a second or two, mouth open at this sudden onslaught but recovered herself soon enough. "Oh, um yes I drink. I have had the pleasure of trying tea, Salazar gave me some when he first got it delivered. And you might have seen me, and my name is Rowena."
"Ah, the Ravenclaw! I have heard of you, my Salazar has chattered on about you so much since I have come. Nothing but good things, he says you are quite the intellectual, very good praise from a man such as him. Perhaps you may have heard something from him of me? He must have mentioned Serafina Talan in his words at least once."
"He has actually, nothing but good things." He'd mentioned her once, after having to deal with a particularly stubborn and obnoxious customer. She'd never thought to connect the Serafina who was 'most efficient with dealing with his type' with the Serafina that Godric had pointed out to her and who was now in the same room with her. She'd have to watch her tea closely.
"Of course. Do you take honey with your tea?"
"Yes please." Rowena did have a sweet tooth, she had to admit. And honey in tea was one of her favourite ways of indulging it, it still didn't stop her from peering at Serafina's hands as they moved quickly from pot to cup and back. The woman must have noticed her staring as she gave a small chuckle.
"Do not worry. You have not offended me and as yet I have not been paid to take care of you, I do not waste my talents and supplies without a reason. You are perfectly safe." Oddly, this did not reassure Rowena in the slightest.
"Thank you?"
This answer seemed to satisfy the dark-skinned woman, who sat down and passed a delicate cup full of tea to Rowena. "Now, Salazar tells me that you are the one in charge of deciding what should be taught. I am intrigued."
The change of topic clamed Rowena somewhat, and sipping her tea – which tasted perfectly normal – she started explaining her ideas for the Potions syllabus.
