It was getting colder and colder outside, and considering he'd forgotten where he'd put his teapot, William had stopped into the Staff Room to make himself a cup of tea. He was planning to take his tea back to his hut as soon as he made it but once the tea was in his hand, Will found himself in a cozy armchair, and then...

He was in a daze. Just sitting there, transfixed, staring at a blank spot on the wall, his teacup halfway to his mouth.

You know what he needed after a long class? Lots of things came to mind. Especially sending some students deep into the forbidden forrest, but instead Dash decided to stretch his legs, and strangely enough ended up in front of the staff room.

Might as well.

He pushed his way through, finding it oddly empty for once, except for on individual. Yes, because the room always had to have someone in it. He waited for Willy to say something, anything. But he didn't.

Rolling his eyes, Dash walked over to him, and waved his hand in front of Williams face.

Willy just.... sat there, for a little while longer. It was if he could SEE Dash, but he couldn't DO anything about it. If he could have moved his body, he would have. He would have straight up punched the other man in the face and then calmly sipped his delicious, sweet little cup of tea.

But as it was, he remained frozen, eyes transfixed on that little missing fleck of paint from the wall across the room from his chair.

His perfect cup of tea was getting cold.

People didn't normally stare at random spots on walls, completely still. No, not even wizards. Dash took a step closer waving his hand even faster. He expected something. Any reaction. At least for William to snap once he finally got annoyed about it.

When he didn't get one, Dash did the only plausible thing. He retracted his hand and gave William a soft smack across the head.

William came to with a start, promptly spilling his tea all over his khaki pants as he snapped out of the trance.

"SCABIOR!" he bellowed, leaping out of the chair and frantically batting at the hot wet spot right... well right where one would not want a wet spot. "Why did you have to do that for, Dash?! I had the PERFECT cup of tea and now...."

He stopped staring at the stain and instead glared at Dash, and at the broken teacup on the floor. "Thanks. Thanks a LOT." He gave the broken teacup one sulky kick and stomped over to the counter, where he grabbed a wad of napkins to dab at his stain some more.

"And now you have the perfect sized stain." Dash smirked. Why wouldn't? He hadn't hit William to cause a spill but what was done was done, and they just had to move on. "Hmm. Perfect cup of tea sounds lovely right now." He should go make one. Or better yet make William make one for him.

Instead Dash pulled his wand, cleaning up the broken teacup and split tea that William left in his haste. "Make me some of that perfect tea while you're up." Said said slumping down into the one that William had been sitting in.

"You're welcome." Was William being serious? "It's not like you lost any brain cells, you were already staring blankly at a all." His brain cells were already lost. Gone. Poof.

William could think of SO many things to say to Dash right now, none of which would be appropriate for anyone listening at the keyhole to the door. So to err on the side of caution, because he did like his job, he said none of them, and instead continued ignoring the other man and sulking in the corner.

"You can make your own stupid tea," he did answer, rather maturely, "since you're so good at HANDLING it." Jerk.

William gave up on dabbing at the stain and instead tried siphoning it out of his pants with his wand, which only ended up making the stain worse. He groaned and stomped over to a chair opposite Dash, who had taken HIS chair of course, and flopped down with a grunt.

"I was not staring at the wall. I was just sitting there, about to sip my tea, and then then you.....you...." Willy gestured with his wand, another blank expression growing on his face, and then shook his head. "How did you get here, anyway?"

One second, he'd been sipping his tea, and then the next... Dash was spilling it all over him. "I didn't even see you enter the room."

He would! Or maybe he wouldn't. Now that he was in the comfy armchair, Scabior didn't really feel like getting up.

To make tea, or not to make tea.

That was the question.

"I walked through the door." Dash answered dryly. Where was that perfect tea when he needed it? This back and forth would soon bring on a headache. He didn't see why Willy was so upset. They were not in a room, where a student would be able to catch a glimpse and probably erupt into a fit of giggles.

Why wasn't William a Gryffindor? He was slow enough. "Like I said-" Dash started slightly slower this time so that even Willy's small brain would understand. He would even do away with any big words. "-you-" Dash pointed at William then pointed at the wall that was now in front of him. "-were staaaaaring. At the waaaaaaalll." Was that good?

"It was the only reason I gave you that tap. You weren't responding with my hand in your face." Yes, because that was what it had been, a light tap. "If I really wanted to slap you, trust me, it would have been a lot harder."

Suuuure he had just walked in. Suuuuure. Scabior was definitely up to something, and Willy was on to him. "I'm pretty sure I would have noticed you walking through that door," Willy snorted. He wasn't a total idiot; Dash didn't have to talk THAT slow.

Not that he would admit it, but the slow talking/breaking down of it did help. A little.

Narrowing his eyes at the man across the room, William slumped down lower in his chair. "I know I wasn't staring. But trust me, if you touch me again, you'll find yourself without a hand." And that was a promise, not a threat. Just a friendly promise, coworker to coworker.

Now. Enough of that. Might as well bother the man while he had him here. "Did you enjoy my lesson?" he smirked. "Fruity Odessa over there sure seemed cozy with you...in the corner and all...." Smirk smirk smirk some more.

Oh? Would he have? Really? "Not if you were staring at the wall." The words were a bit forceful, but really they had to be. Maybe then William would be able to understand and it would leak through his thick skull. "How else do you expect I entered? Apparition perhaps?" Yes Williamson. Go ahead and answer that. It was literally impossible to enter the staff room without walking right through the only door.


Him? Without a hand? Dash chuckled. "You can just go ahead and try that when I do hit you again." It would happen eventually, but finding himself without a hand? Because of William?

Maybe he was a comedian?

"There isn't any way that you could touch me. Unless you train that dragon of yours to bite hands off."

His lesson? "Was there actual teaching involved? I must have missed it with all the showing off." Hmm, yeah, because having students pet the baby creature was such a benefit.

If William was sitting close the man would probably be victim to another hit. Be that he was a bit too far for Dash to care about taking out his wand he just stared. "Yes." He said dryly in agreement. "We were just discussing how terribly stupid and dangerous it was of you to bring a dragon onto Hogwarts grounds." Actually, he didn't even speak to the girl at all. Only after William had shamed her, but she seemed to be a talkative one, finding the need to comment on things.

Eying Dash, Willy scratched at his chin, his usual thinking pose. "Maybe you turned into a ghost. I've heard that tends to happen to History of Magic professors." Especially ones that were going to be murdered for being JERKS. "Or maybe," he sat up a little, struck by his idea, "MAYBE you've become an animagi and literally turned into a bug, crawled in while I was distracted," allegedly by staring at a wall, "and then you de-transfigured yourself and slapped me."

Now that was what Willy called a THEORY.

"I am an accomplished dragon trainer," he mused loudly whilst evil thoughts ran through his mind. "So perhaps Roro WILL develop a taste for the flesh of self-absorbed, snotty professors named Scabbers. Poor wittle guy will think he's eating a rat."

Hehehh. Hehhh. So Scabby over there was jealous of Willy's teaching? That sure was what it sounded like to him.

"For your information, nearly EVERY student in attendance thanked me for my lesson." He sat up even more proudly in his seat. "Stupid says you, a unique, one-in-a-lifetime educational opportunity says me." Sure beat sitting around and readin' history books.

Merlin would be turning over his grave if he was able to hear William's little theories. Dash just stared, looking the Creatures buff up and down as if he were trying to figure something out. "Excuse me for asking but....how in the hell did you manage to pass third year?" Honestly? "Do you even know the first basic rule about ghost? No. Well it's simple, you have to be dead." And as certain as he was that his hair was brown, the sky was blue, and William's brain was empty, he was not dead.

As for the animagi bit? Dash would not lie. He was no transfiguration expert, and becoming an Animagi took time. Time he wasn't willing to waste, and if he was, well..."Why would anyone want to become a bug?"

Oh? Dash chuckled before pushing off himself of the chair and making his way over to the tea pot. He needed some of that tea now. "Well accomplished dragon trainer William Williamson-" He poured himself a cup from the pot, it was still hot, before making his way back to his seat. "-let me just say this. Precious, little Roro won't have a chance to develop a taste for my flesh once I send word of his birth to Ministry Officials." He smiled mockingly, then took a small sip of the tea. Oh, yes, it was perfect. "Ooor I can keep my mouth shut for no price at all and Willy and Roro can live in harmony for the rest of their lives or at least until Roro gets mad and rips Willy's head off."

"For your information, I don't care." Really, he didn't. "A one-in-a-lifetime educational that will help none of them when it comes to tests, exams, OWLs and NEWTs." Not the written stuff at least.

Honestly? Willy had passed through a combination of cheating, studying, and having Cece do his homework. Dishonestly? "Yeah, I'm not entirely sure you AREN'T dead," he mumbled to himself, feeling just a bit stupid at Dash's response there. "You're about as attractive as a corpse, anyway." That was a compliment to him, really. You're welcome, Scabbers.

"Beats me," he shrugged to the man's second question. "You're the History of Magic expert, wouldn't you know why, say, Rita Skeeter," ONLY THE MOST FAMOUS BUG PERSON EVER, "would want to be a bug?"

Well, wouldn't he?? Willy had always found all the arms and legs and creepy eyes on bugs to be fascinating, but that was just him. The accomplished dragon trainer.

He just sat there and stared at Dash, his face slowwwly turning into one great big, deep frown. "Why would you do that?" Seriously, Scabbers? "Why would you REPORT my BABY?" WHY. WHO DID THAT. SERIOUSLY. "It's not like I STOLE him from the reserve; he was a GIFT. To be used for the education and betterment of students' lives."

That was a direct quote from the fancy little certificate the Head Romanian Dragon Keeper had given Willy, too... if only he could remember where he'd put said certificate....

"Whatever," William scoffed, settling back into his chair with his eyes closed. "It will give them an advantage over their peers who haven't seen a dragon. And the hatching will sure as hell help them complete their homework for MY class."

So there, jerkwad.

Of course, having no intelligent way to respond back, Willy relied on insults. "Oh lovely, hopefully that means I can party with Inferi tonight. They invited me but I wasn't completely sure. Now that I know I'm attractive as a corpse, I'm positive i'll to fit right in." Dash responded dryly. Thank you William, thank you so much.

"Rita Skeeter was an idiot." What need would have have to spy on people as a bug? He didn't want to, it was useless. Dash did not need to know more than what someone told him about themselves. He was going to leave it at that but he found himself explaining himself to someone who probably wouldn't even get it. "Yes, she was smart enough to collect her information secretive AND unethically because she was an animagus, but she never actually made good use of this information rather than for gossip articles and information that no one really believed because it was mostly deemed as slander, so it didn't even help her cause." He paused. "She was also caught by children." Idiot reporter. He did not mimic things that idiots did.

And her books were horrible.

Oh? Was wittle Willy getting upset about his BABY? Dash just smirked, completely satisfied with this chat. "Your baby huh?" He took another sip of his tea. "Well William, its because your baby isn't human and in a few months he'll be able to really cause some damage." And who in the right mind gave a Dragon as a gift to a man who had gambled his life savings away to Goblins?

Merlin, there were some stupid people in the world.

"But I won't report him. Not yet anyways." His smirk grew. "As long as you don't tick me off and remain a good little accomplished dragon trainer." He said it as if he were talking to a child, or better yet a baby, in such a way that it was almost expected for Dash to lean over and pinch William's cheek.

"Homework for your class? Wow, they are bound to get far." Seriously, so far in life. Completely homework giving by William accomplished dragon trainer Williamson? So far.

Ella approached the door of the staff room nervously, holding one of the posters she had made for the Hogsmeade protest. She was a bit scared to be so close to professor territory. Especially because one might happen to open up the door to the staff room while she was putting her poster up. Merlin's beard! That was a scary thought. What if she got yelled at or something? O__O That wouldn't be good. Then she'd have to go and do something embarrassing like cry. And no one wanted to see that. Taking a deep breath, Ella decided to work as quickly as she could so she could get out of there.

As soon as she arrived at the door, the second year stood up on her tippy-toes and held up the sign she had designed specifically for the professors. She eyed the dog drawing with a smile, particularly pleased with that piece of art. She hoped the professors would like it too. As quickly and quietly as she could, she secured the poster to the door and back off a little, looking around her sheepishly. So far so good. Phew. Now all she had to do was knock and make a run for it. Given that was a bit cowardly BUT it wasn't like she was a Gryffindor or something! With a nervous glance down at the door handle, Ella approached the door again, knocked, and turned away as fast as she could. Luckily she was quite good at making a quick exit!

All right, so Willy was NOT one who normally laughed at Dash's jokes, and he definitely DID doubt the man's ability to even TELL a joke, but when his sarcasm came ooooozing out of him like the poisonous trail of a giant Streeler... even William had to chuckle. So he did chuckle, nice and quietly, making a snickering sound similar to a mouse snacking on a cookie.

He hoped he could party with Inferi tonight. HEHEHEEE. Willy would be telling that one to Oliver all right, right after he told him about what a NERD the History professor was. Just look at him rambling on and on about the half-bug, half-human reporter. That's what animagi were, right? William had already forgotten why they were even ON this topic, and just as his gaze started to wander over to a bit of stuffing sticking out from the top of Dash's armchair, there was a sharp rapping sound at the door.

Happy to have a distraction, William stood and answered the door. He pulled it open and, after a quick, suspicious inspection of the empty corridor, closed it again and came back holding the attached sign.

"Homework for your class? Wow, looks like your students are getting so far, coming up with ways to avoid real schoolwork as they are." He mocked the man and dropped the poster in his lap on his way over to the beverage center. Know what, some tea sounded nice right now. He couldn't remember why he hadn't made a cup already.

"And by the way," Willy tapped the teapot with his wand to get it going. "Dragons take six months to start breathing fire, and a year to fly. So." You can just keep your mouth shut for that long at least, thanks.

Minerva went up to the door. She hadn't been nervous to put a sign up anywhere yet, but this was the staff door. She knew Scabiors said that no points would be taken if it was for the assignment, but it was still a little nerve racking. She wasn't going in, just to the door. Looking around she didn't see any staff members. She took a little breath of relief and pulled out her Flyer.

Minerva placed the flyer on the door and pulled her wand "Adhaero!" It stuck to the door. She stepped back and smiled. She really hoped that some professors would join them at the rally, butterflies jumped in her stomach thinking about leading a rally, wasn't that completely against everything she had ever done. She liked having fun, but breaking rules made her sick a bit, but at the same time it was exciting. She looked one more time to make sure no one was around and then turned and headed down the hall to place her next flyer up.

She hadn't really been to the staff room for a plethora of reasons the main being that she was older than most of the staff and didn't fancy babysitting them when she got out of a class with children anyways but curiosity lead her to the ground floor.

she paused at the door when she found another one of those confounded posters. The huffleboy boy who posted one at her office had to remove it and clean her mirror after. This was not home work. She pulled it from the wall and folded it, taking it with her as she entered the staff room. She definitely would be having a word with Scabior, maybe he should be the one cleaning her wall and mirror after his home work sent the students on a defacing rampage.

When she entered she was surprised to see two male professors there and one she was dying to have a little 'chat' with.

"You know Scabior, I've been meaning to have a word." No good day, no the man did not deserve it. She gave William a curt not though.

Oh? Was William Whateverwnamecamehere Williamson actually laughing or rather snickering at his sarcasm? Dash looked around the staff room, not finding what he had been looking for. It was a shame, if the room had indeed been blessed with windows then he would be able to catch a glimpse of flobberworms flying. Not because William was laughing at something he said no, that was unlikely but it happened. It was rather because the younger man actually had enough sense to catch his sarcastic comment.

And that was something no one probably thought possible.

Dash didn't know why he had decided to speak about something that required braincells and the ability to forum intelligent thoughts with William. He could almost see the stupidity oozing out of his brain as the Care of Magic Professor attempted to listen. Fortunately they were both saved.

He had no intention of getting up from his cosy seat, so he let William get up while he simply took a large gulp of his tea. As William returned, Dash blinked, slightly confused before picking up paper that was disposed off on his lap. A small smile tugged on his lips before he crumpled the paper up and stuck it in the side of the chair. "They are learning the importance of an effective rally and protest which can often be the change of many laws in Wizarding society, as shown by the Goblin Rebellions, and the No More Borr campaigns." Sorry, Williamson, you couldnt challenge him."Plus, its far more educational than anything Lainey even made us do." He loved her. He truly did, but the woman was slightly nuts.

He supposed being dead once did that to you.

So? Did Dash care? Not at all. He was feeling generous though, just slightly, as he sipped his almost perfect tea."So.... you have a year to do something about that thing. I won't bother you anymore." William didn't have his word on that though.

Dash wouldn't bother him about the Dragon anymore..today.

As the staff room door opened, his attention was drawn toward one of the newer staff members. "Oh, what a pleasure it is to see you too Bellaire!" He started off acidly. Really, did the woman not know how to say hello?

Leaning against the counter, Willy loosely folded his arms and waited for the teapot to start whistling. He wasn't going to forget about making it this time.

He nodded back to the other professor who'd come into the room, Professor... Thea's Replacement.... and rolled his eyes at Dash behind Dash's back. "When the last time you actually protested something? Did you ever stop to think that perhaps the other inhabitants of the castle and of Hogsmeade would not want a bunch of rallying students running amuck?"

No, of course he hadn't thought of that; he was Dash Scabior, and he ALWAYS put himself first.

Waiting to see what the Charms lady had to say to Dash, Willy just gave another light scoff and dropped the subject of the dragon. Something told him she wasn't the type to be into dragon discussions anyway.

Did she walk in on something? It was perhaps nothing important anyways. Besides she had a bone to pick with the History of Magic professor. His comment told her it was not going to be a pleasant one. She scowled noting his tone.

" Professor or Mrs.Bellaire to you and I can't say the feeling is mutual she shot back." She would roll her eyes if Sophia Bellaire did such things. Honestly he was younger than her this one wasn't brought up right at all.

She held up the notice that she just pulled from the wall. "I do not appreciate muddy or any finger prints on my mirror Scabior and I certainly do not approve of the defacing of my office door or the walls leading to it. Of course I would prefer if they did not deface the whole castle in general but as I am not the grounds keeper, it is not my call to make. My office is my call though." Really giving children permission to do this sort of thing was a bad idea in her book and chaos waiting to happen. Needless to say but she did not approve.

The last time he protested something, it didn't take more than a second for him to come up with an answer. "Last night. A silent protest." Otherwise known as complaining in your head. That was besides the point anyways, his point was that protests made huge changes in the wizarding world. William would have understood his had he been listening

"I did." Dash said with a nod to the other man in the room.. "Then I realized that I didn't care." Other inhabitants of the castle also didn't want students snogging around every corner or a Dragon on the grounds that could eat them all, but both still happened.

Professor? Mrs Bellaire? They were basically at the same position when it came to where they worked, in fact he had seniority, and yet for some reason the woman believed she deserved some sort of respect. "Last time I checked-" What was her name again? Oh yes- "Sophia you are not, nor have you ever been my Professor, despite the fact that you may be old enough to have been." Dash tilted his head a bit to the side taking another sip of tea. She did not look nearly old enough to really be that much older than him, however even if she was, the only person who really act the way she was acting was Vindictus, since the man actually did teach him at school. "Oh that's alright." He said a forced yawn. "I didn't really mean it anyways."

She was speaking, but he really could care less. It was rude to bug him when he was relaxing. It was rude to enter without saying hello. It was rude to put herself on a pedestal because she was probably five years older than him, if even that. Finally, it was rude to make him take attention away from his perfect tea which was growing cooler and colder because of the lack of attention.

"Well, Mrs.Bellaire I do not appreciate you speaking." His edge of his lips turned up, into a large mocking smile. "But sometimes, you have to deal with things you don't appreciate and this just happens to be one of those times." Everything clear then? Dash took a sip of his tea, still warm and perfectly tasting. Since she seemed to be one of this difficult people, Dash took a final sip for now as he looked at her and decided to be nice, and explain something very basic to the new Professor. "It is the house elves job to clean every corridor, every classroom, and every office. I spoke to them before giving out the assignment, and they assured me that they would help to make sure that once the assignment is over the castle will be restored to its natural beauty."

"A silent protest? What is that, like holding in a fart?" Willy snorted loudly to himself and finished making his tea, just now looking down and noticing the remnants of a large stain on his pants. Huhhhhh. How did that happen?

No matter, he had his warm cup of tea now and since Scabior was quickly engaging in what looked like a good ol' catfight with Bellaire, he was leaving. He had what he'd came here for and no one really wanted to talk to him anyways so....


"I'll leave you two buddy-buddyies here to finish your lovely little discussion, as fascinating as it sounds." Will smirked and brought his teacup up to his lips, taking a warm delicious little sip. Ah. Perfect. "Ta ta."

He made his way out of the room nice and slow, still feeling super puzzled about that stain.

Sophia scowled.Was this man serious? He was every bit as arrogant as he looked. This one was down in her books as one to dislike."Yes and the fact that I am old enough as you say to have been, you should extend a little respect, though judging by your attiude now I'd say you weren't taught better." Rude, just rude. She crushed the poster that she had removed from the staff room door and saw herself throwing it at his head but some how managed some self restraint.

She listened to him and found herself getting angrier by the second but she did not explode on him like he deserved."Well I'm really sorry you see it that way Scabior, because just know that because of this you'll have to deal with things you do not appreciate." She hoped he willing to eat what he dished out. Hmph.

Really? Everett Scabior was responsible for Sophia Bellaire's first eyeroll in years. Did he really think she needed to be informed of how the school was maintained? As far as she was concerned House-elves were cleaning Hogwarts for years. "I do not need telling of the runnings of Hogwarts thanks. Furthermore I'd appreciate if my office was left out of this protest business. I dont want dirty finger prints and crude posters on my mirror or my walls, now or later,house-elves or no house-elves or I'll rip them all down."

She gave the Care of Magical Creatures professor a little wave as he excused himself from the room. Oh right, she needed to have a word ith him too but of course on much different business but that could wait.