Ooooooo! That girl was giving him the 'evil eye'. His eyes playfully narrowed back in her direction for a second then turned his attention to his friend that excused himself from the table. Oh he couldn't? Oh he just did. SMACK! Caleum's head smacked against his forehead at Neo. Why was he always called a child when the overgrown man was using his childlike senses to lure the poor professor in to thinking a squirrel was loose at the opening feast.

"Oh Merlin's big left toe. What a feast," Caleum finally said, shaking his head in amusement.

Rey was just cracking up over the acorn nonsense and had to excuse himself as he turned to the side and tried to get control of himself. When he was finished, he coughed and took a sip of pumpkin juice.

"What-hey?!", The Divinations Professor flung his gaze toward Mr. Bontecou and away from his teacup.


"Are you feeling alright there, Sir?", he said as he noticed Bontecou turn away and cough. "That pumpkin juice is a bit more spicey this term from the last." That was probably it.

The light-haired man uttered sentiments with which Kapoor could not possible disagree. "To Merlins big left toe!". Kapoor raised his teacup to his lips and finally took a sip. A strange sort of twist of expression plastered itself onto his face momentarily as the pungent and bitter flavour of the acorn made itself apparent. "Ahhh! Excellent brew! I daresay these house elves are really outdoing themselves this term."

Caleum's eyes filtered down to the professor he didn't know very well, but at this point, he had to make himself more known. So far, with the toast he was giving to Merlin's left toe, he was proud indeed to lift his glass as well. "Merlin's toe," he chuckled then took a sip of his water, which almost snorted out of his nose at the next statement.

Guess the house elves did good in their brewing but so did Neo and his acorns of many colors. His head turned back to Constatine he seemed to still be away at the moment. "Seems as though the acorns are good," he smirked but was curious to find out just what Professor Kapoor was raving about. If it was good indeed, then Neo had something good going with the acorns. Forget feeding the squirrel, lets try it in the tea instead.

"Please keep the acorns out of my food. I'm quite certain they have not been leeched, and I do not need to be ingesting their bitter tannins," he said very simply, the moment the acorn-laden professer was in a good earshot.

Themea approached the staff table cautiously. He had rarely approached a professor outside of the classroom and never at the opening feast. He was interested though in this new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He had great respect for the only one he knew. She had been woman cut from the same cloth as him. A wizard made for battle. He looked around slowly for he never caught the same amount with one eye as he had with two. Spotting the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher he approached him with caution and a little loathing. "Hail," he said to the professor and bowed slightly. Themea rarely had use for salutations, but he knew not what to expect of this man.

Phewing lightly as Kapoor did not notice him stealing his acorn back, he turned on his heel to head back to his seat beside Caleum. He frowned lightly and paused at the Herbology teacher.

He sighed lightly as he replaced both hands to his pockets. "Look, I don't spend my days looking for the next poor, innocent soul's food or tea to hide acorns in. It's not my fault Professor Myers has such a hard head." And with that, he continued on his way back to his seat in between Rae and Caleum.

His eyes glanced to Caleum, wondering when the scolding or some sort of teasing/taunting would begin. "Shut up," he said simply before any of that began, or there would be more than one acorn going at the man's head.

He coughed again, still smiling broadly, and then answered, "Yes, quite alright, thank you. Merlin's big left toe," he raised his own glass, the contents of wish swilled and threatened to spill over the edge of the goblet aas it shook with his silent laughter.

Jezz walked up to the staff table in her normal bouncing manner to say hello to Mr. Masterson and Professor Vindictus. It was so nice to be back at Hogwarts. She kept little Ishni hadden underneath her robe, hoping nobody would notice him. It was her new pet, but as she was headingup to see Mr. Masterson, she felt it was best he stay out of eyesight. She petted him one last time before walking closer. "Hello Mr Masterson." She said beeming.

Then she whispered to her robe. "Stay there." She felt little Ishni getting restless. "I'll let you out in a little while."

She looked back up. "How was your summer?"

Cassandra brought her glass of water to her mouth to hide the chuckle. The assistant's own friend calling him a child! She would have laughed out loud, but the Headmistress already repremanded Caleum for not 'playing nice,' the last thing she wanted to do was get a talking to on her first day. Afterall... the headmistress said no poisoning staff and no fighting with students... that left a LOT of options still...

"I heared that cooked, say... baked? into something, they are quite good." She made an effort not to look at Masterson, "Some may fall head over heels... for them. Acorns... I mean." She said with an innocent smile, which was so unusual on her face it was scary.


Cassandra looked at the students to came up to talk to Myers and Masterson... What did they want from them?! She turned her nose to the air and looked away... One of them was that Higby girl...

"Manners, Cassandra," Drago wound up saying rather automatically as she encountered the students. Old habits were going to die very hard with this girl-- young lady. "Acorns, cooked, must still be leeched first. Animals who are less tolerant of the tannins will leave them in the ground and let the rain water leech them. It it common practice among humans, however, to crush them and use water to leech them by soaking them. Heat binds the tannins to the meat of the nut. Perhaps I'll have a lesson on them, as it is something I obviously missed in teaching while you were my pupil."

Alex giggled and shot an amused look at the 'Acorn man' and his friend. Over hearing the conversation between Cassandra and Drago she turned to Kapoor, "Have you ever had baked acorns Professor?" she asked with a slight grin.

Antonio looked up with a start at the mention of acorns. "Acorns? Are we keeping squirrels as pets?" He supposed his mind had been drifting for a few moments, it seemed that everyone was now speaking about the subject of acorns. That was, frankly, a subject he was not well versed about. "Can you actually eat acorns and, if so, how would one prepare them?"

Was he really repremanding her? Should she call him daddy now?! She was an adult! and employed! He may have been able to speak to her this way while she was a student... but now? Well... she would tell him!

...

...

"I... Uhmmm... I guess so..."

THERE!!! She told him! Sort of...

"Professor Pierce," She said turning around... there was no way she was going to back-talk Erikson... Caraccio... WHATEVER! "What are you planning on teaching this term?"

"Personally? No. I've merely studied them. Acorns, that is. Much the same as anything else." Who was this one again? Goodness... At one time he knew all of the staff. What happened to those days? He took a sip of his coffee before setting the cup down. "However, my parents never prepared them, and I had no reason to myself. When time is short, you stop experimenting with foods, as there is little time to do so."

He looked over to Dumont with a hint of a smirk... really, the last of his true smiles anymore. "It depends on the type of acorn, but most contain bitter tannins. However, this are easily removed and it can be turned to flour, or the acorns themselves can be baked. They actually have a high nutritional content and are a fairly oily nut."

"That's fascinating, I never knew," Antonio nodded to Erikson - or was it Carracio - in appreciation of the explanation. "Perhaps I shall check these out myself, I do enjoy a tasty nut now and then. They can be quite a healthy and delicious snack." He should have known that the Herbology professor would be familiar with this topic, and was grateful for his expertise.

Antonio glanced around, surprised that the beginning of term speech had not yet started. He knew the headmistress would be ready to address the group of students in just a short while, and then they would all get on with the business of teaching. He was content to just sit here for a tiny bit longer, it gave him more time to think about his plan of action regarding finding and gaining custody of Antonia.

Alex smiled at Cassandra, "Well... I was thinking about doing Transfiguration." she joked, "Honestly I was hoping to go into a little more detail on human transfigurations, Anamagi, hair transformations etc. However I dont think I'll go into transfiguring yourself into a boy this term." she laughed.

Cassandra smirked. "I figured Transfiguration... Anamagi... Are you one?" She asked simply... It was curiousity really... She remembered Pride was one... She missed Professor Pride...

"Yes I am, I was about 25 when I finally succeeded in transforming. I'm a red fox." Alex responded, "Are you interested in it?"

OOC: your making me miss Danni!

"A red fox, I approve." She smiled. "I wouldn't have guessed. Foxes are cunning... Slytherin quality." She said and sipped her water. "I would have though yourself something more... brave..."

ooc: Sowwy!

Alex shot Cassandra a exagerated shifty look, "Well the sorting hat actually debated quite awhile on where to put me. I supose I'm a combination of two oposites, it was considering putting me in Slytherin until the last moment, when it went with Gryffindor." She looked thoughtful for a moment, "It may have something to do with the fact that when I saw some people misbehaving during the sorting and thought to myself, 'They need to act they're age, not like a bunch of monkeys.'"

Kapoor, still quite oblivious to all this talk about acorns, continued to drink his tea. Apparently, though, to the current staff at Hogwarts were a big tadoo, and to the two gentlemen who first began mentioning the acorns, they were the biggest tadoo. Kapoor tried to recall all that he knew about acorns, but he kept arriving at the visual of the caps being turned into little helmets for the squirrels at Hogwarts. And, when the squirrels wearing said head accessories turned their little heads, the stems perched at the crowns on the little acorn helmets would undoubtedly utter the softest swooop! Oh, Fashion. What a double-sided coin you turned out to be!

Kapoor smiled at the friendly Transfigurations Professor from last term. "Not yet." He said, shaking his head and finishing off the last of his tea. "In fact, I daresay I've not ever even tasted the likes of an acorn. Have you, M'dear?"

"Great Merlin! That was you?!", Kapoor uttered quite impressed. He heard something about that last term. "What talented students we must have indeed at this school that the young ladies can do such advanced magic."

Alex turned back to Ang, "I'm sorry dear, I was a bit distracted by the flying acorns." she laughed. "Quidditch? Did you ever play in school? I enjoyed watching, but I never played, I was more the book worm type." she finished.
"Not I havent, though I would like to try it, sounds interesting." she said with a smile.

Alex laughed, "Yes that was me, I was very happy to see how well my students did." she said with a mischivous glimmer in her eyes.

Angela chuckled while shaking her head. "Not a problem. The acorns...are quite amusing." She remarked, glancing down the table towards the groundskeeper with a smile. "And yes, I did play, though I made time for my reading, of course." She remarked. "I really don't have any ideas as to what I'll do the next story on, but I'll definitely be brainstorming ideas later."

Glancing over at the man who sat near Alex, Angela shot him a smile of welcome. "Hello." She greeted

Fabian adjusted his tie and hand ironed his white-striped with purple shirt before entering the great hall, his hasty transport to the school determined not to be so hasty. Brushing a careless hand through his hair, he hurried down the hall and into the great hall, weaving his way straight to the staff table. Once and a while glancing towards the Gryffindor table waving and smiling at familiar students.

He took his usual seat at the Staff table, right by Max's empty seat and Macadrian's, also empty seat. He couldn't help the cold stare he shot towards Macadrian's seat. How come Max was not here yet? He scowled at the utensils, so perfectly laid infront of him. Didn't seem like Max, old habits died hard. Sure he didn't? He harrumphed and poured himself some juice before skimming down and up the table murmuring his hello's and greetings to fellow staff, then distracted himself with dinner. He really wanted the night to finish soon, he had business to tend to before the sun rose again.