Kazimeriz was about to respond when the mutterer from earlier had the utter audacity to comment on his decision. "I thank you for your opinion on the matter, however, as I've been a professor since before your grandparents were in short pants I assure you I'm quite capable of assessing the situation myself." he spoke calmly, meeting her accusing eyes coolly, holding her gaze. "Or shall I make it 10 points for successfully bribing a professor?"

Chris watched as the the scolding professor started to talk bad to his favorite teachers Professor Pierce. "Im so sorry Professor Pierce i didnt mean to loose Gryffindor points. Professor Kazimeriz i didnt mean to start a conflict i was only trying to be nice." he looked between the the woman and the annoyed man.

While there was a bit of a lull in the conversation, Anastasia took the opportunity to fluff her hair, using her uber-shiny plate as a mirror. Perfect, blood red, nice and springy...she did take good care of herself.

The moment of self-admiration was interrupted, however, by yet another child. So much for a dinner above the brats, she thought, sighing as she tore her eyes away from her reflection and toward the girl standing there.

Girl - pfft no, this one was a troublemaking teenager. Yes indeed. "Oh," she said sharply, inhaling suddenly. At least this one had the outer appearance of manners. Hmmph.

"I'm fine now. Thank you for your concern," she said stiffly, glaring at the girl as she took a sip of her ice water. And that was that, as far as Bunbury was concerned.

The ice water was nice and refreshing as was the conversation about her favorite, most expensive things.

"Your profession, did you say?" Anastasia tilted her head slightly to the side, as if analyzing the girl. "What is your name, Miss....Fashionista? So that I may indeed watch the runways for it." She added the nickname in a kind way, of course. It was a compliment, actually, especially coming from Bunbury.

And then, the girl went and corrected Anastasia R. Bunbury. No one did that, not if he or she wished to see tomorrow. The herbologist's blue eyes narrowed for a moment as her neck went rigid, before the redhead decided that she would let this one slip. The girl didn't know who she was dealing with, after all.

"Alas, you might have a point there," she conceded. "But as you might have noticed, I'm impartial to Prada." Hmmph.

Perhaps a bit of food would take Annie's mind off the teenagers surrounding the table. She reached for her fork just then and noticed, to her surprise, Ethan's hand swapping it with his own.

"Now hold on just one minute," she said briskly, about to snatch it right out of his......mouth?!

Shocking. Never, ever would a man have dared do that in front of Bunbury. Not in a million years - well, with the exception of Robbie of course. But he was a brother.

"Hmmph!" she tutted, resisting the urge to giggle. "I like nice things too." She smirked and then quickly snatched the sunglasses from atop his head, placing them right on her face instead. Take that, Truebridge.

Anna took her chances and peeked around Trey's head. Well, that hadn't been one of her brightest ideas. Lovely. It just so happened that at the same time she'd decided to take her chances, Ethan Truebridge had decided to glance in Trey's direction. Anna's little decision to peek had, of course, put her right in Ethan's line of vision, as well. Her eyes widened, and she jerked her head back up. "Trey...he saw me!" Anna exclaimed. "What am I supposed to do now?!?"

"Don't say that," Anna warned. "You'll jinx the situation. I just have to relax, keep telling myself that Mr. Sunglasses-in-a-dark-indoor-castle is just a visitor, and stay away from him until he decides to leave again." There. That couldn't be too hard. In a few days, hopefully, Ethan Truebridge would be gone, and Anna wouldn't have to worry about getting caught in her little web of lies. When Trey waved to Truebridge in return, Anna gasped and tried to conceal herself even more. Thinking quickly, she grabbed Trey and turned him around to find Ethan. "Go talk to him, Trey!" she whispered. "He's going to notice me sooooon!"

Alex's blue eyes narrowed into an ice cold, piercing glare, she was repeating six words in her head over and over... 'You must not beat the elderly, you must not beat the elderly, you must not beat the elderly.' "Well pardon me Sir, but I didnt know having experiance gave you the excuse to mistreat students. While your experiance is just fine and dandy, I've dealt with these students the past four terms and very rarely have I had problems doing it my way. While I have no say in what you do to students from other houses, I will not see my house treated in this manor." she stopped to take a breath, seeing as she had spoken very quickly.

"If a professor was successfully 'bribed' it should be taken up with said professor or the headmaster, not the student. While you have authority over the students, you certainly do not with me. How dare you threaten a student simply to get back at someone who disagree's with you? And if you wish to take more points out of pettyness, go right ahead, my Gryffindors are hard working and I am positive we will make those points right back." Alex finished with a loatheful glare.

Alex's gaze softened as the boy spoke to her, "Dont worry dear, just work extra hard on homework to make it back." she said with a wink. "If you want, give those dragon toys here and I'll see that the proper people get them. She shot a look at the old man, "And I'll make sure to inspect them to make sure they aren't dangerous." she added, shooting the boy another wink.

Chris putt his head down as the two professors started to argue over what he had did. "Thanks Professor Peirce." he smiled to her.

Fashionista? Lyra loved that name, the coolest of all names. "Lyra Noir," she spoke with a hint of French accent and what she tired to show was an innocent smile, but it came off as more of a smirky grin. This lady was a hard one to figure out.

"If you don't mind, might I inquire about your name and what exactly brought you...here?"

Trey stared dead at Truebridge, as Anna turned him 180 degrees towards him. "What do I say to him?" He asked her still facing the opposite way, not losing eye contact with Truebridge. Just think of a way to find out his purpose here, made it's way through Trey's mind. Trey was beginning to feel rather anxious. All high level stress situations made him feel that way. "Ok, Anna, I'm going. I'm gonna wing it....," and with that statement he made his way towards Truebridge staying in between his eyeline and Anna as much as he could.

Trey finally was close enough to have a casual level conversation with Truebridge at the table. Trying to walk in someone's eyeline was a lot harder then it sounds. "Fance seeing you here Mr. Truebridge," he said to start the conversation off. Yeah good job Trey, that's a good starter. Keep it up. "When I said anywhere anytime for that drink, I didn't think you'd come to Hogwarts to claim it!" He said to him, with a grin parting his lips. OOO, good one you sly dog you. That's the way to do it.

Kazimeriz raised an eyebrow at the boy, even considered reinstating his points for polite behavior, when Professor Pierce decided to stick her nose deeper into the situation.

"Your head of house has expressed her wish that I take more points from her house. I believe that will be five points from you, for my sheer pettiness." Kazimeriz smiled at her. "Now, unless you wish to address a specific professor, I suggest you take your seat. This is not a social mixer."

Professor Kazimeriz smiled his Gila monster smile at professor Pierce, who had the audacity to question his authority. "Please join me for tea in my office at your earliest convenience, where we can discuss our philosophies in a more professional manner. Now is neither the time nor the place for such discussions." He turned from her, dismissing her entirely.

Ethan waved again, wondering if he'd get trapped in a never ending circle of waving.

Truebridge took a sip of his drink and averted his eyes from the brewing drama between Krazymeriz and the Professor that was apparently a Gryffindor.

Ethan paused mid-sip, his eyes raising to look as his glasses were lifted from his head. Quite calmly he put his glass down and made quite a show of reaching into his pocket and pulling out a case. He looked at Bunbury for a split second before opening the case and taking out another pair of designer shades, putting them on with one finger pressing them into place and finishing up by running his fingers through his hair.

Ethan swung his head around, acutely aware of being watched. This was certainly an interesting way to start a new job.

"It's Professor Truebridge actually." Ethan responded before turning his head to examine the boy. Slytherin. He turned to eye Anna. Gryffindor. Figures.

"You could get me a drink now, Trey." Ethan finished his glass and placed it down before turning to look over at Anna, "Or, Anna could." he raised his voice slightly, "How excellent that Hogwarts provides teaching assistants. And how nice of her to dress in student robes to make herself more approachable."

"Perhaps I will Sir, and you are correct, it is not social mixer, apparently it is an oppertunity for old men to treat students like trash." she responded as quickly as she could, finishing just before he turned away.

Alex looked about ready to spit fire as he took points from Anna, a prefect for Merlin's sake! Just when it looked like she may throw herself at Valon and strangle him, her face went abnormally calm, "Anna dear," she said addressing the prefect who had just lost points for no good reason, "Please point Chris here in the direction of the Gryffindor table, would you? 5 points will be awarded to you for your help." she said sweetly.

"Just go say hello or something," Anna suggested, still nudging Trey. "The two of you seemed to get along quite nicely at The Leaky Cauldron, after all." Anna watched as Trey headed off to greet Ethan Truebridge. Merlin only knew what he'd end up telling the man. As long as he didn't tell Ethan any of Anna's little secrets, he'd be a-okay. "Good luck," Anna whispered. "I'll just be, erm...over here or something." When Trey had stepped far enough away, Anna turned to where she was no longer facing Ethan Truebridge. Instead, she was facing that grandfather's great-grandfather man again. Lovely. Maybe Professor Shackleton would answer her question soon, and Anna could make her quick exit.

"I...erm, I...me, sir?" Anna asked, turning to make sure he'd even been addressing her and not some random student behind her. Seeing no one behind her, Anna turned around once again. This man was...scary. Hadn't he just docked ten points from both Slytherin and Gryffindor? Sheesh. "Oh, I apologize, sir. I'd actually just addressed, Professor Shackleton. I was waiting on her to reply before I left." Anna bit her bottom lip, not quite sure what else to say. Should she just turn and leave now, or would Professor Shackleton consider that rude? What to do, what to do? One thing was for sure. If Ethan Truebridge had heard, her little cover had been blown right out of the water. Twenty-five-year-old potion researchers didn't get house points docked from them while at Hogwarts.

Hearing her name and seeing this as an easy way to move herself away from this grandfather's great-grandfather man, Anna turned to look in Ethan Truebridge's direction. She smiled politely, her face in an expression of mock-surprise. She was trying to pretend she hadn't seen him at Hogwarts before now, and that she was pleasantly surprised, instead of purely petrified, to see him. "Ahhh, how lovely to see you here," she said. "What is it you were telling Trey I could possibly get for you?" she asked. She hoped Ethan would hurry. She want to chance losing another five points. Ugh. Cale was going to kill her.

Orrrrr maybe he wouldn't kill her. Whew. Saved by her new head of house! Anna smiled at Professor Pierce, silently thanking her for what she'd just done. Her professor looked like she was ready to strangle someone, though, so maybe Anna should grab Chris and make more than just a quick exit. "Oh, I'd love to head back to the house table with Chris! Thank you dearly, ma'am," Anna said. "Let's go, Chris." Anna turned to walk away, but before she left the table entirely, she turned around and gave Professor Pierce one more smile of thanks.

As the word 'professor' left Truebridge's lips, Trey felt his heart drop slightly. "Pr..pro...Professor Truebridge?" It wasn't a question he was supposed to say outloud, but it came out anyhow. "Umm, yeah of course, I'll get right on that drink." Then he said Anna could also get him the drink. "Ohh, you don't want her getting you a drink. I mean it is I who owes you one. I'll, umm, I'll be right back with it." It was at that time he heard what could possibly be Anna's lifesaver. Two little words, 'teaching assistant'.

Trey took the long way from Prof. Truebridge cutting through students and up and around the Slytherin Table before sneakily making his way back to Anna. His eyes were big with excitement. Or was it anxiousness? Who really knew anymore. "Well, I have good news and I have bad news," he said to her. "Which do you want to hear first?" Luckily quite a crowd had gathered and they were no longer in the direct eyeline of Professor Truebridge.

"Lyra," Annie repeated so that she would remember it. "What House are you in?" She wasn't sure, really, since the girl's speech had a bit of a French twist to it, after all. Perhaps she was new here?

"I'm your Herbology Professor, Professor Bunbury," she replied with an equal smirk. Too bad she'd almost slipped and introduced herself by first name. HA no! Lyra - no matter how sophisticated she might have seemed - was still a student. Huzzah, Annie had the power. For now.

Anastasia didn't even turn her head to wait for Ethan's reaction; no, she was enjoying these dark shades far too much. Admittedly, they were a bit large for her face, so she slyly reached her wand hand up, slipping the wand out of her cream-colored sleeve, and tapped the frame of her glasses with just the tip of her wand. There, much better now. And to think, now they had a tiny diamond pattern on the side. Custom-made-shades.

She smirked to herself and had another sip of water, casually happening to overhear her colleague attempting to deal with some students. Interesting, one seemed to be named Anna. That was just too similar to Anastasia....or...what was the name the ice-cream lady had warned her to watch out for? Asomething?

Annie couldn't ignore them just now. She tilted her head at the students, watching them through her shades, and then her sharp ears picked up on the phrase '25.' Hell no, that girl couldn't be 25! She would almost be as old as her own professor!

"Merlin," Annie muttered to herself. "Teenagers these days." She shook her red head to and fro and then picked up her fork, thinking she could charm it clean while Truebridge was occupied.

Ian perked up. We get teaching assistants? Oh, this made his day! He motioned over to the young woman in question, who certainly did not look to be twenty-five. "You there! Yes! Girl! You! I'll be needing you to grade all my papers for me while I partake in my daily food-coma nap. You might even need to take over for me in teaching."

Camira approached the staff table fully intending to apologize to Mr. Masterson for her behavior towards him last term. She, however, got distracted by the large amount of new faces she found there. It was like half of the professors had been replaced. It was a bit creepy, actually.

When she got there, she eyed them curiously for a moment, trying to catch a vibe. Apparently her magical vibe powers were not up to par. Ah well, she would find out sooner or later. Now was the time for introductions, not inner musings. "Hullo", she said amicably, addressing the new staff as a whole. "I'm Camira Yaxley. 5th year." There was really nothing else to say until they introduced themselves.

Lyra nodded her head in almost a curtsy when Professor Bunbury spoke her name. "Hufflepuff, Professor Bunbury," she repeated her name just for the mere fact of keeping the name fresh on her list and to announce that 'yes,she was listening.' She was not too keen on Herbology and wondered why the Professor would teach such a subject since she obviously did not get her hands nor her shoes dirty.

But before she could say another word, Anna excused herself from the table. That was her cue as well to leave. Greeting could take place in the offices of the Professors and not the staff table. It would soon be the announcement of a new school year with the new Head of Hogwarts. "It was nice meeting you, professor." She gave a slight bow of her head once more then followed behind Banana back to the Gryffindor table

Anna was nearly away from the staff table and well on her way back to the Gryffindor table, when she heard the sound of one the professors calling out to the students. Instinctively, Anna turned around to see what was going on. To her surprise, it appeared that the professor, one she didn't quite know yet, was calling out to her. Once again, Anna found herself turning to look behind her to make sure the professor wasn't addressing someone else instead. Nope. It was her. Anna eyed the man in disbelief. He wanted her to do what?!? "You...you want...me to grade all your papers and teach your class?" she asked. She was getting more and more confused as time went on. First, she'd lost points. Then, she'd gained points. Now, she was being asked to grade papers and teach a class. What in Merlin's name? Anna eyed Ethan Truebridge, almost sure he was behind this in some way.

Ian didn't understand the young woman's confusion. What was the difficult part? Had he misspoken?

"Well, yes, miss. I mean, that is your job, right? Am I mistaken in your job description?" He eyed his food. Why, oh why had he decided to talk to her now? He was itching to get back to eating the food he himself had brought...not to mention the feast food that would hopefully appear soon!

Anna swallowed nervously. She had no idea what this man was talking about, but supposedly she had some sort of job description now. What was it with everyone and jobs lately? First Cale, now this man. She didn't want a job! Not anytime soon at least. Maybe he was referring to her job description as a student. That had to be it. Anna felt sort of funny holding a conversation with this man while standing so far away from the staff table. No way was she going to head back up there and face that grandfather's great-grandfather again. He probably wouldn't dock anymore points. Instead, he just might hit her on the head with his blasted cane. Ugh.

"I, erm...I'm sorry, sir. I have to go. I promised Professor Pierce I'd escort this young man back to the Gryffindor table," she said, patting Chris on the back. "I'll, erm, see you around!" She turned to head off once again. "Welcome to Hogwarts!" she called out over her shoulder.

Truebridge began to rummage in the bag of runes again, looking up when he heard Anna address him. "Yes. Lovely. I'm sure." Ethan agreed amiably, "Oh a drink. He owes me a drink. But you know," Ethan examined the selection on the table, "There just doesn't seem to be anything... quite to my liking." He sighed mournfully and went back to rummaging in the bag of runes- finding it really hard to see them properly through his dark glasses.

"Yes... good... drink..." Ethan agreed absently. Hagalaz.... a situation out of your control. Oh no... Ethan was gonna prove those runes wrong.


"Nice shades." Ethan commented, looking up and forgetting they had been his to start with.

Ahhh excellent. Truebridge glanced around straight-faced and nodded politely to the man who unwittingly seemed to be helping Truebridge with schooling this girl, Anna.

Truebridge turned and nodded as one Camira Yaxley introduced herself. "Uhh... Professor Ethan Truebridge." He paused and waited to see if she actually wanted something or if she was going to try to bribe them all. Almost unwittingly, Ethan eyed Professor Kazimeriz, trying to communicate the danger of such endeavours. But then he was wearing dark glasses so it appeared that he was staring at the girl. Uncomfortably.

Turning to overhear Anna, Ethan noted, "Should be easy enough for a researcher, no?" He offered a crooked smile and noticed he had food on his plate. Huh. When had that appeared? No matter. Ethan got busy with his stolen fork and began to eat.

Had Anna not been such a polite person, she'd just ignore those talking to her and head back to the Gryffindor table where she was supposed to be. As only her luck would have it, though, she'd been raised to always address an adult when he or she addressed her. Anna sighed and turned around to face Professor Truebridge. There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that he was on to her little game now. She'd have to apologize and tell him the truth later on. Not now, though. Right now, Anna just glanced over in his direction, giving him a look of defeat. She didn't bother replying to his question about her being a researcher. It probably wasn't even worth the lie anyway. She just simply nodded, figuring that was a good enough reply for now. Hopefully he wouldn't hate her now.

"Oh, well, I suppose you'd better listen to orders. I would like to converse with you further about being a teaching assistant in my classroom. I could really use help from a young whipper snapper like you. I'm sure you can help me communicate with the students. I don't understand all of this new slang." Ian was completely puzzled, mumbling, and making a fool of himself. He obviously had no idea what was going on.

"Oh, thank you!" he called after her. What a nice young woman. He would certainly appreciate having her help. He sometimes had a hard time relating with the younger crowd.

But it was no matter. All he was interested in at this point was the food. However, he turned to his fellow professors and said, "My, my, what a pleasant young woman! Headmaster, you've outdone yourself in hiring such a wonderful teaching assistant!"

Okaaaaay, this new professor was a bit creepy. He was just staring at her. True, she was fabulous to look at, but still. It was unnerving. She game him a small smile and shifted uncomfortably. "Nice to meet you, Professor Truebridge. What do you teach?" It didn't matter, really. She was sure she'd be taking it, whatever it was. Unless it was Runes. Or Divination. Ugh. "I was just going to talk to Mr. Masterson, but I noticed all of the new professors here and thought I'd say hullo." She wasn't exactly sure why she felt the need to explain her reasoning to him...maybe it was that stare.

Truebridge looked up from his food, and pushed his shades up again. "History of Magic." Ethan responded. He nodded a few times during her explanation of why she was up here. "Slytherin I see." he added, noting her robes. "I hope you are planning earning points rather than losing them like your housemate." Zan observed with a crooked grin.