Paul was feeling the most refreshed after a summer of laziness and...well, vineyard shenanigans. And his MANY dogs. For the first term in many, he had come to Hogwarts dogless. No Zelda. She had enjoyed her summer so much at the estate that Paul didn't really want to bring her. And he felt he needed a quiet, relaxing term after the last one...one less responsibility would be nice. He had MANY IDEAS ABOUT WHICH PLAY HE WANTED TO PUT ON....it would be a MUSICAL. He was pumped about the, NEW BADGERS, and some interesting Herbology activities he had planned. Plus, some new faces on the staff? IT WOULD BE A BRILLIANT TERM!

Who all was here already...Kalen, Kaysha, Laurel, Harald....Hirsch, Regina of course, and Ignatius (a new guy), Gaston...which, his wife wasn't returning, and Paul hoped all was fairing well for them! And Charles, Tristan, Celestia...was anyone missing? Ah, Bethany was here too! He couldn't tell thus far...Merlin? But as he got near the front of the table he opened his arms wide, smiling broadly at everyone.

"HELLLO, colleagues! You all are looking smashing tonight! Welcome back, old friends AND new ones!" He took a deep bow and made his way to his seat in between Charles and Harald. "Good evening to you both," he said cheerfully.

Any new badgers? HE WOULD SOON SEE, WOULDN'T HE?

And....speaking of badgers, there was one incident happening at the table that he caught the TALE END of...and......he quickly whipped out a piece of paper from his pocket, scribbled a message on it, charmed it, and the paper, in the form of an elegant ballerina dancer, began to leap its way towards Derfael...