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Chapter 18: Taking the Job
On the shopping party's return to Grimmauld Place at midday there was a response from the Headmaster asking her to visit for afternoon tea to discuss her new role and complete some administration tasks. Hermione advised that she would be there at 2:30pm as requested with her escort in place.
Hermione took Remus with her as her escort to Hogwarts. Remus and Severus had come to a semi friendly relationship but it did not take much for the old wounds to open for Severus, as he was still able to drop into full snarky bastard mode.
"Headmaster thank you for inviting me to Hogwarts this afternoon," was Hermione's polite first greeting after flooing into Hogwarts main entrance hall. She had managed to get the hang of wheelchair flooing she was still working on apparation.
"Thank you for accepting the post. We have some administration matters to deal with first. Then we can do the tour of your new office and accommodation. We have a date with some of the other staff in the staff room for afternoon tea and there is a certain house elf that has been on tender hooks all day since she knew you were coming.
It did not take long for the administrative matters to be dealt with in the Headmasters office. The gargoyle gave Hermione a wink and opened up the doorway to the Headmasters office. The old stairs had been replaced by a landing that now had stairs and a chair lift so the office was now disabled friendly entrance wise for the student population. Also on inspection it appeared that further adaptions had been made to the castle and Hermione was quiet pleased on one hand and on the other she felt a little embarrassed. She signed her employment contract and completed the administration paper work.
Leaving by the Headmaster's side door Hermione was shown the new improvements that had been made to the corridors for the visually impaired and how the lifts were situated in each corner of the main castle building. The younger witch was led to the new library entrance and found that she had an office and linked teaching area next to Irma Price's central domain.
Hermione's office and teaching area was not the only one there as there was now a suite of 10 offices. Apparently the library was expanding to become a learning centre and there were going to be a number of Study Skills tutors. There had also been some reorganization of the book collections and rooms near by so the library now had an additional space and resources including a new Muggle book collection, seminar group rooms and a relaxed social zone.
It seemed now that subject tutorials would be held in set consultation times using the Study Skills offices so that students doing homework could consult a professor when they needed to and easily. The professors would still have their own private offices but for the open hours drop-in sessions they would be based in the library.
Hermione would liked to explored the new library layout but she found she was encouraged to come along on the tour of the new Hogwarts when she was ushered into the lift and taken to the fifth floor. Down the corridors were the new private staff offices so that they could easily lock and maintain security on their research and studies. The witch was escorted down to the next lift point apparently this was where all the staff accommodation apartments were now located in the south wing of the castle building.
Even the Head of Slytherin now had link to the dorms via a two-way buzzer communicator. With the direct stairs they could be down in the dungeon dorms fairly quickly but it meant no more isolation and bad plumbing. Just near the double doors that separated the area from the lift and the office corridor Hermione was shown to a staff apartment. Apparently listening to the Headmaster only those who where living in the staff accommodation were able to access the area without additional security clearance thanks to the new warding system. Any guests would have to be cleared by a member of staff each time they visited via the buzzer system that Hermione had observed on the wall near the double doors of the accommodation corridor. It was pointed out that there was the private entrance to the staff room across from her new front door. In the apartment she was met by a very familiar house elf it was Tinky.
"Do you like your rooms Miss Mia?" the house elf asked with large imploring eyes. "Isz a decorated it based on your place in London. See it looks the same and I have set it out where I can the same."
Hermione was very surprised to be getting such a large accommodation suite. She had her own private sitting room and then there was a master bedroom with a private ensuite. She even had a second guest room that had an ensuite of its own.
"In the new design we are trying to encourage the staff members to have a better work life balance so we have asked for the private studies to be in the public area and not to provide a study here in the suites. This is a normal single apartment or no children married quarters. Those with children have larger apartments. You can make modifications with the assistance of the house elves to suit your needs as you go," he explained.
"We won't be too far away Hermione," advised Remus. "Sorry but you will be inflicted to the dramas of Teddy when he is having a bad night as we are next door. Silencing charms can only do so much".
"Oh Professor Lupin, little Teddy wont be heard too much as all the walls have extra padding to make sure sound and warmth don't get lost" advised Tinky. "We put in extra on little Teddy's room".
"Come now Miss Mia we have tea and cake for you" demanded the elf as she grabbed the back of wheelchair and started to push her to the doorway so that they could cross the corridor into the staff common room.
There in the teaching staff members' common room Hermione was welcomed by familiar faces of the old Head of Houses and she was introduced to the new Slytherin Head of House Marcus Turner apparently he was a Transfiguration Master and would be teaching the younger years.
It was a pleasant afternoon tea and Hermione though the new Head of Slytherin was a nice man but there was something a little off about him. She just put it down to not knowing him and him being a Slytherin.