He kept his eyes closed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Seren, you do not address your professors in such a manner," Vindictus chided her and he heard another voice that he recognized.

Would the students EVER allow the staff some peace at the dinner table?

"Lachlan - perhaps you can escort Seren back to the Ravenclaw table before I start taking points before we even earn them?"

His eyes were still closed. Yes, I definitely need a TimeTurner.

Twitch.

"Tate - can you get things rolling before I do something stupid like start a food fight?"

I need to do something crazy and adventurous or else I'm going to scream!

Chad then watched with mild interest as he noticed Treyen got up and moved to the Ravenclaw table...and then sat with the girl! Oh, he would have to tease the poor boy later.

Right now. Bread rolls. Bring on the bread rolls!

She nodded in the nurse's direction, "Nurse Moretti," She said politely

Oh Merlin. There she was. At least she wasn't sitting near the charms professor...

Oh, right. The child. The reason she was here. To teach these young minds and to mold them into blah blah blah yackety yackety yack... "See that you do. Now get back to your table."

... so she got to use plants on them, but a little contained fire spell, and she was deemed the pyromaniac. She did enjoy fire. It was so pure...

Hecate watched the new arrival... there were two new female professors, and this one. For some reason, she knew this man was in the Care of Magical Creatures post. It was just that... well... he looked like a primate. She shrugged.

"If was. Immensely." She said and smiled just a little.

"Ok... now that's funny." Maybe the woman wasn't bad after all...

Seren felt suddenly very sympathetic of her former Professor... he didn't seem to be handling this aging thing very well. Perhaps some peppermint tea would help clear his thoughts.

She craned her neck out further, getting a look at one of the other professors he had addressed. Lachlan.... Lachlan... there was something vaguely familair about the man. She offered him a smile and shrugged her shoulders.
Turning back to Max she cleared her throat, "Oh Merlin!... Max I graduated years ago. Have you lost your marbles? perhaps a few too many bludgers to the head?"
She was seriously beginning to question his health and his sanity.

Feeling a pair of eyes on her back Seren turned to look down to the end of the table. Hecate Lafay... she gave her a respectful nod of the head, "Hecate".
Why was she starring? thought Seren. Just so long as she wasn't about to poison her tea Seren would try to get along with the woman.

First thing Renée had done upon getting to the castle, before the students had arrived, was go up to her tower and check on things. Things equaling Anastasia and Bowie, as she'd traveled with them a few days earlier to get them settled beforehand. Not to mention, heading up there had given her time to ponder about other things, and, since the cruppie had been occupied with a toy and the phoenix was calm as usual, she'd found herself looking out of the tower window at the ship in the lake. That was yet another thing she was curious about, but contemplation of what she knew or suspected about that was paused as she'd heard the unmistakable sound of arrivals.

Heading down, she found she still hadn't made it before the students. That didn't bother her, as at least she was no longer an entirely new professor, and as such she walked into the Great Hall like it wasn't a big deal. It really wasn't, as she figured almost nothing could get worse than what had happened last term between herself and some of the students. That had seemed to get situated, as much as it could have, so there was nothing to be nervous about.

Stepping up to the staff table, she walked toward her seat, but first sent a smile over at Fina as she passed the Arithmancy professor. "Hello Fina," she said to the woman, noting the man she was talking to. Hmmm, she thought, Must be one of the new ones. Sending him a smile, she continued walking, only to listen to Professor Vindictus (Max, she reminded herself) speaking as she approached. Of course her seat was right next to his. She wondered if he knew they were supposed to work together in some way, this term. Or if he remembered way back when she'd been a student. That, at least, didn't seem to be unlikely, as she heard his comment to the man who had been talking to Fina and turned to look at him again before glancing at the blonde who was on the other side of the deputy headmaster and Ravenclaw HoH. Lachlan, Seren . . . Something clicked, and a curious expression crossed her face as she finally took a seat, then glanced past Max again.

"Headmaster," she said to the man on the other side of Max, before her attention went back to the blonde who had been speaking, apparently to Hecate for the moment. "Seren, is it?," she asked politely, still smiling. Either this was deja vu or she suddenly was in some sort of alternate dimension. Working with half the people she remembered from when she was a student.

So many new faces......and so many old faces gone.

With a smile for the other professors already seated, he slowly went to 'his' end of the Staff Table to take a seat between Kimber and Hecate. "Good evening." He greeted them both with a small grin - they were all grown-ups after all, no need to make this awkward - while reaching for a glass of water. Noww....

Hazel eyes wandering down the staff table, Jeremy leaned forward in his seat slightly to be able to look at the new arrivals. The professor-new-arrivals. Seren - he flashed her a grin; a woman in the Herbology-professor seat and a man in Maya's seat.

That made it all the more obvious that it was NOT Maya sitting at the table with them. *sadface* He looked nice enough, though.

Since he did not feel like he needed an army of people freaking over and attacking him with lots of questions about that new scar on his face, Josh's feet automatically took him to the staff table before he could even visit his the table for the lions plus he had gifts for them anyway which were the flowers in his hands. There was no doubt that his friends were waiting for him to show his legendary and loud self there and those girls, no doubt, were looking for him. Well...they had to wait some more. Plus...girls were getting scarier and scarier as time passed so somebody was supposed to find a way to deal their hormones yet that person was definitely not Josh Carter. He had to hide from girls' sight!

Anyway...

Reaching to the staff table with a HUGE GRIN on his face, he stopped right before it, at a point where he could see everybody with ease. Hmmmmm...some people here he did not know...yet. And among them there were lovely ladies too but no one could replace Lafay. Mahahahahahaha and bahahahahahahahaha! *snort*

''HELLO MY LOVELY PROFESSORS!'' the seventeen year old lion boy exclaimed cheerfully, of course, with his usual overly-confident demeanor. ''I AM SURE YOU ALL HAVE MISSED ME SO MUCH OVER THE SUMMER SO I JUST WANT TO SAY HI AND GIVE THOSE!!'' Mmmhmmm.

Shaking the bucket of white flowers in his hand to show it to them, the Gryffindor then hurried and started to give one each. ONLY TO THE LADIES surely enough, he moved dropping a white flower in front of them as he passed by.

Once he was finished, only a single red rose remaining in his hand, Josh stopped right before Professor Lafay and grinned widely. ''And to the loveliest of my professors'' he uttered coolly and dropped the red rose to the plate in front of her.

Hehehehe. Yeah he knew he was probably going to hear something like 'Get lost, Carter!' yet it was always way better than 'Detention, Carter!'

Yeah, sure it was....

Seren was enjoying getting to know her colleagues, looking out at the sea of students with anticipation. A woman she hadn't met yet came and took her seat at the table on the opposite side of Tate. Again Seren sensed some sort of familiarity, but for the like of her she couldn't remember how.. or indeed why?

Smiling politely she answered, "Yes, Bentley, Seren Bentley... and you are?"

Turning, Seren spotted Jeremy make his was along the table to his seat. After taking a sip of her tea, she looked up in tme to see him flash her a smile. She returned the smile, bringing a hint of rosyness to her cheeks.

Oh and what was this? A delightful young lion handing out flowers? Oh Seren liked him already. She beamed at him as she placed a single white flower down in front of her. A budding herbologist perhaps?... oh she certainly hoped so.

"And what might your name be?" she asked the boy kindly, smiling down at him from the high table.

She couldn't help but notice that he gave Lafay a red rose... that was... nice. But Seren wondered what the motivation behind it was.

Kurumi tried to remove the frown from her face when she was reminded that a certain Care of Magical Creatures' professor would not be returning to Hogwarts this term. She really did owe Professor Saylen so much considering that the woman had fixed her relationship with Walnut - despite the cat thinking that he was now King of the Common Room once more.

Sighing a bit, Kurumi finally made her way to the table and made sure to greet with Headmaster Tate first. "Good evening," she said addressing anyone at the table that would listen and bowing deeply at the hips. "I am looking forward to my third term and all the opportunities and knowledge you may provide. Once again, please accept these cookies as a thank you for things to come."

Having completed her simple greeting, Kurumi then handed out a small white box to each professor that contained one house cookie eat - Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor.

She felt like she needed to apologize to Professor Vindictus as she handed him the cookies considering that she was total rubbish when it came to flying...and she bowed especially deeply before him...but found herself too flustered to get a proper word out. "I-I-I hope I can improve in your class this term, Professor Vindictus," she said shyly before scurrying to the side a bit and bowing once more to Headmaster Tate as she continued to move down the line until she was in front of her Head of House and Professor Zookara.

"I hope you had a lovely holiday," she chirped as she set the cookie boxes in front of the two. "Professor Zookara, thank you once again for all the conversations last term. Things got a bit better over the summer since my father is now working at the Daily Prophet. I got to spend some time away from all the negativity back home." She smiled and returned her hands to her robe's pockets. "Walnut missed you." Well, at least she was sure the cat would say such if he were around.

The black robes felt unusual after six months of Muggle attire. Reflecting how odd it was that he had got used to his Muggle clothes again so quickly - only to discard it once more now that he was back at Hogwarts - Risu sat down at his usual seat, all the way off to the side. Not that he minded much: The seats were given out alphabetically by subject, and he was not particularly given to a lot of the boisterous celebrating and discussing that seemed to be going on at other parts of the table where students walked up and down, chatting to their favourite teachers. Or throwing down the gauntlet to their least favourite ones, who knew.

There was this to say about Risu Antares: He looked a little different. Tired. Much closer, all vanity aside, to his age now. The grey in his hair had become more pronounced, and the tiny wrinkles around his eyes that used to only show up when he smiled seemed to making a more permanent appearance now. Apart from the headmaster and a few other people, no one really knew much about his sudden departure from Hogwarts the term before, but it had not been half a year of holidays in the sun, apparently.

Nevertheless, as he was sitting down, Risu smiled at the person to his right, the Arithmancy instructor Josephina Hadley. The person to his left was an unknown to him, but he mumbled a hello before leaning back in his seat and staring into the Great Hall where the students sat talking and laughing, seemingly lost in thought.

Cass made her way to the staff table with a small frown on her face. It was true, there were a lot of new professors this term. Three if she counted correctly, and three vacant seats.

She tried not to look at the newly occupied seats, especially the one that used to be Professor Welton's. It still sucked that her favorite professor wasn't coming back anymore...and she even had a nice basket of apples for everyone.

Speaking of the apples...

Cass looked down on the basket of apples that she had been holding to check that nothing had fallen off or was stolen then continued her way up towards the staff table. Normally, she wouldn't be the one who gave gifts to professors during the start of term feast, that would have been Kurumi's job, but with all the stressful events happening around Hogwarts, she thought that teachers could use a break. Or a delicious apple

Then she set the basket down on the table and smiled politely "Good Evening Professors. I'm looking forward to be attending your classes " Addressing all of them, but most specifically the new teachers...she was excited to know how different their teaching style is compared to their predecessors.

No reason to NOT look forward to the food; after all, Josephina supposed it was one of the perks to having accepted the position as Professor. "Surprises are always good." Yup. Unless they involved troll boogie flavored Bertie Botts or something.

Absently observing the interaction between Max and Seren, Josephina simply sat quietly. As it seemed her new acquaintance next to her had also decided to interact with his former professor.

Weird. Must Lachlan and Seren be insistent on calling Vindictus as Professor? Granted she might have thought of it her very first time seeing him as her colleague, but she was long over that now. They were colleagues and there was really little reason to use that terminology, unless of course students happened to be in the vicinity. But even then... Max was hardly inappropriate to be calling him that as his colleagues.

Turning back towards the man who originally claimed to be horrible at Arithmancy, Josephina wouldn't have been the least bit surprised. After all, he was a Magical Creatures Professor. "No offense taken," she commented lightly, offering him a quick smile. "Pleasure, yes, Lachlan." MacFusty, did he say? Why did that name sound SO familiar? If she had only paid attention more in History classes.... Or maybe she didn't even have to look that far?

Ugh. See! This was you didn't address a colleague as Professor, because it clearly addled with their brain and got them thinking you were a student. Especially one who had been teaching as long as Maximus Vindictus.

Perhaps she just needed to show Lachlan and Seren how it was done. "Good evening, Max," Josephina greeted politely, raising her eyebrow slightly as he mentioned something about a food fight. "I've got a better idea. Why don't, when the feast is over, we go explore that ship some more." Yup, good way to get some frustrations out; exploring unknown, but supposedly safe territory.

Oh and there was Renee! Good, the Divination Professor had decided to return! "Evening, Renee," she commented as the woman took her accustomed seat next to Max. "I trust you had an enjoyable summer?"

Shortly after Renee's entrance was another familiar face, as he took his own seat down at the other side of the table (with all the female staff members it seemed other than herself and Renee). Giving him a brief wave and grinning at him in familiarity for only a brief second before someone dropped a white flower on her place setting, which caused her to look up startled.

Oh figures it would be Josh Carter; Josephina picked up the flower and sniffed for a moment before setting it back down to contemplate the situation. Had Carter learned some mannerisms over the summer and was he trying to set off on the right foot this term .... or ... ?

Was there some other ulterior motive behind the Gryffindor boy's actions?

Either way, she would assume the first until proven otherwise, since she was a fan of the cliche, innocent until proven guilty. And for now, his actions simply seemed just. "Thank you, Mister Carter. What a lovely surprise. I trust you had an enjoyable summer?" Or perhaps the flower was his way of thanking the professors for not having to complete his OWLs last term. Yup, that actually seemed likely.

And here came the traditional house cookies it seemed from the ever sweet and endearing, Kurumi. "Thank you dear," she commented politely, but went on no further as it seemed she had interest in conversing with some of her other colleagues first. Namely Kimber and Jeremy.

While distracted with the gift bearings from the two Lions, Josephina barely noticed someone taking the seat between Lachlan and herself, at least not until she the gifts had temporarily paused and she took in the fact that the dishevel-haired Magical Creatures was no longer directly to her left, but was replaced it seemed by the graying Risu Antares, of whom had suddenly disappeared last term. No fear though, because he had returned and in seemingly good health as well.

"Welcome back, Risu," Fina said, with a soft smile. "Hopefully you won't disappear on us again." Because she wasn't sure she could wing another Astronomy Lesson again, if he did.

Just when she thought the gift bearings had stopped, Josephina turned to see a Slytherin girl bringing a basket of apples up to the table. How ... predictable, given they were all teachers and whatnot.

"Miss Prewett. Thank you," Josephina said politely, before smiling slightly mischievously. "I do hope though your intentions are not to keep the professor away though." Because you know, an apple a day, keeps the teacher away.

"Seren." She said in return.

"Good evening Jeremy," She said quietly.

Hecate summoned the Slytherin cookie and freeze dried it with a spell. "Miss Hollingberry, you've outdone yourself, I know you were a talented baker, but these are an artists work. I am going to keep mine, and not eat it." She said and the cookie disappeared. She'd sent it to her room.

Well, it was about time. "Nice of you to re-join our ranks Antares." She said with a smirk... he might not hear her, he was at the other end of a long table.

Apples... She summoned two. "If you do not mind, I'm working on a potion, that might benefit from some apple pulp."

She looked at the rose and held it in her hands, about to light it on fire in front of the boy, when... she looked at his face.

... She recognized a cursed wound when she saw one. "Who did you anger, Carter?" She simply asked. The kid was ok... that she could tell... he wouldn't be trying to give her roses if he wasn't... but someone had done that to her student. She did not like that at all.

It seemed as she passed the Arithmancy professor, Fina was oddly glad to see her. It made Renée wonder a bit, if her colleagues all knew what had gone on last term with some of the students and thought she'd not come back, or if maybe it was just because the other new professor last term had left, that there had been uncertainty. Either way, she wasn't one to quit without having a good reason, so she was back. She'd smiled again as Fina had asked the conversational question, though. "My summer was quite enjoyable," she replied, "Travel, and seeing friends and family always seem to make things enjoyable, don't you think?" Fina didn't need to know how confusing things had gotten near the end.

Back to the distraction that the new professors had made, along with the weirdness that was Max. Thinking students were invading the staff table and such, which definitely happened but rarely did any of the students refer to them as staff in familiar terms. Not to mention, Renée was fairly certain Seren and Lachlan were decidedly not students anymore. Young, yes, compared to Max (not herself, as she refused to acknowledge she was almost only a year away from being thirty.), but not students.

The polite smile she had gotten in response to her question made her feel a little bit embarrassed, if only because the reasoning wasn't obvious. She returned the smile, however. "Renée Bishop. I teach Divination," she answered, before adding, "You just seemed familiar somehow." Obviously, Max had thought so as well, as she couldn't truly believe the deputy headmaster was going senile. That was just impossible in her mind, and she imagined she'd be able to solve that mystery easily if she tried. She wasn't about to pull that on Seren, or Max, though. Respect was better right now.

And speaking of respect . . . Renée covered her grin for a moment as Mr. Carter made his appearance. Not exactly the way she'd've gone, if she'd still been a student, but then Josh had seemed a little, well, exuberant last term. And that wasn't really the most accurate adjective, but she was trying to give him benefit of the doubt. Especially as he was giving them all flowers. "Why thank you, Josh," she replied as he'd quickly reached herself during his trip down the table. The flaw of being one of two females on this end, alhough she didn't have much of a problem with that. Other than the fact she hadn't spoken to many of the other professors last term, and they wer all on the other side of the headmaster.

The response the Gryffindor was going to get from Hecate was going to be interesting, though. She wondered if it would surprise him, but then it seemed, more distractions were arriving.

"Good evening to you as well, Kurumi," Renée replied to the little Gryffindor with another smile. "And thank you for the cookies. I'm sure you'll do fine this term." She hoped the girl still understood she was available for anything, even though last term had started off oddly. She was there for the students, and not just when it came to Divination. And then Kurumi had moved along to address those at the other end of the table. Renée watched her a bit longer,listening to what she'd told Jeremy, but finally turned her attention to the students at the tables. And the box of cookies. She remembered Kurumi's cookies from last term, and the girl had a talent.

Deciding if she wanted to eat a cookie had to be abandoned as yet another student had decided to approach the staff table, and Renée smiled at the Slytherin. At this rate, we aren't going to starve, she thought wryly, but didn't verbalize the thought. Instead, "Good evening, Cass," she returned, as she accepted an apple and placed it on her plate carefully. Near the box of cookies. "I'm looking forward to seeing you in my classes," she returned, with another smile. "And thank you for the apple." It seemed new professors always got the students attention, which she didn't begrudge. They interested herself as well, but more so because she still had that nagging feeling she recognized them.

Jerked out of his aimless staring into the Great Hall - there might have been the traditional food fight going on again right now, he wouldn't have noticed - Risu blinked several times to return from whatever it was he had been thinking about. He smiled wanly at his colleague. "Thank you very much," he said, "I do hope there won't be any more... vanishing on my part, either."

There little conversation was interrupted by more students. Risu wasn't even sure he had ever seen any of them. Had he been gone for so long? Of course, there were a lot of other issues to think about, and Hogwarts and its students certainly hadn't been on his mind for quite a while.

He vaguely remembered something he had read in the official papers handed to him by the headmaster after he returned to Hogwarts a few days ago. "I, er, have heard that you were of some assistance after I'd been fo-... after I'd been gone," he said, inclining his head. "Taking care of my students- Thank you very much for that too."

Further down the table, Risu found himself caught in the penetrating gaze of the Potions mistress, Hecate. Not sure of what to do, he waved hesitantly. Possibly she wouldn't even see it over the mass of students now lining the staff table to deliver what looked like a ton of presents. Was this a new thing to do at Hogwarts?

Elle was nervous, of course, with this being her first night at Hogwarts. She had met a few people at the Gryffindor table, but decided she wanted to meet her soon-to-be professors. She walked straight forward, to the middle of the table, and stopped a few feet short of it. "Hello, my name is Elle Jackson. I'm in Gryffindor, and this is my first year. I just wanted to be polite, and introduce myself, and hopefully to meet a few of you..." she trailed off. She then curtsied, for some reason unbeknownst to her. Oh, well she thought. Maybe they'll find it charming...

Now THAT jolted him back to reality and the fact that there were NEW staff members sitting at the table. A sly grin appeared and Vindictus opened his eyes as he turned to Seren. "Forgive me but my mind was elsewhere, Seren," he apologized and propped himself up on one elbow. "You're teaching here now? It seems like yesterday that you graduated!"

Tate's letter detailing the new staff hires was still sealed and sitting on his desk. Perhaps he should open it and see what else the letter contained.

Vindictus was about to say something else when Josh made his presence known to the world.

"Flowers for the ladies, Carter? Perhaps you can use them to spruce up the dreary dungeons during Quidditch tryouts."

Hecate would like that one. Hehe.

Max nodded at Renée after she took her seat next to him.

"Thank you, Kurumi. I'm sure that your flying skills will improve this year and your family will be honored by your tenacity to master the subject when others would have simply given up."

She was a nice girl and a hard working one, too.

Vindictus stared at the apples and nodded his head in thanks. But his mind was momentarily stuck on the Muggle fairy tale of Snow White and he refrained from taking one. For now.

His blue eyes grew wide and a look of boyish delight washed over his face. "What ship? Please tell me, Fina!" Vindictus begged and he squirmed in his seat. Now this sounded exciting! "I was held captive in a massive sand dune this summer and didn't get a chance to read any newspapers. I must know what you're talking about!"

"I think feeding students to plants will tie with lighting them on fire. So... let's NOT." And really... why did he keep hiring murdering crazy peoples?

"Shame on you, Professor. How can I trust you to be fair and unbiased when you spout nonsense like that?" He frowned at her. Mean natured? She should know better than to generalize like that.

"Our snakes are driven and clever, but I certainly wouldn't say they're all mean." And Merlin help him if Lafay heard him defending her babies.

Eh... Tate raised an eyebrow at the always chipper librarian. "Well. No papercuts this year. I'm watching you."

And WHAT was Max on about? Had he gotten a bit of sun stroke this summer?

"Hey, old man... perk up. Should I come to the conclusion that you've been ignoring my owls all summer? I find you a special project, and you... don't even open my letters?" He laughed quietly at the eagerness with which Max was now hanging on to the words of those around him.

"Schooner. On the Black Lake."

Lexi was quite timid in approaching the staff table in search of Madame Donovan for some reason. Perhaps it was the state of her face at the moment... she knew her momma lion was going to be like o____O about it.

With Rufus on her shoulder and the little pink box in her hands she sidled up and came to a stop in front of the dais, in front of Kimber's seat. "Madame Donovan... I got something for you while I was in Greece... for good luck on a new term," she announced to the woman with a smile.

She really hoped that she would like the necklace and earrings.

"You should look in the mirror," Max joked back. "I haven't been ignoring your owls - between the sand, Quidditch, and the unexpected issue that unfolded these last few weeks, you're lucky that I'm even here."

It WAS true. And Tate knew it 'cause he was there.

"So a schooner appeared on the Black Lake. What do we know about it?"

Legend made his way over to the staff table, looking to see if all the returning staff who he WANTED back were actually here. Tate obviously. Professor V, duh. Professor Zoo, and Hadley. Check. Also Stryker who he just called New Groundskeeper even though he technically wasn't new anymore. Legend eyes made a quick search of the table and noticed that Professor Dude- Descoteaux was also there but in his own little world.

Grinning the seventh year took out his wand and gave it a small wave- levitating an old looking chair that had been off somewhere in the corner beside Professor Descoteaux, some new dude with funny hair, and closer to this plump looking guy. Without any hesitation he made his way over to behind the staff table and plopped down in the seat. He just wanted to be COMFORTABLE while he spoke to the professors. "Hello Professor Hadley!" Then as an after thought he added "Hello Professor..new guy." To the guy with funny hair. Just to be polite.

"That it's old," Tate offered, quite helpfully. He knew exactly what Max was referring to, and if he seemed well adjusted himself... well, that was just because he was trained in compartmentalizing. Old ITF trick.

"But the experts I brought in say that it's safe enough. You want first go at it?"

"Of course I do!" Vindictus exclaimed rather loudly and looked back and forth at the other staff members seated at the table. "So, who wants to come with me?"

Oh more students and more gifts!!! Seren could certainly get used to this. She perked up in her seat as the young Gryffindor placed a small white box in front of her.
"Thank you dear, I look forward to seeing you in my classes, and I hope you enjoy them", she gave the young girl a wink.

Seren peeked into the box, oohh lovely house cookies! She particularly admired the Ravenclaw one.

And the students kept coming... what on earth had Tate been on about? Eating new professors alive?! they seemed to be making her fat more like it. Still this girl had the right idea, apples... a healthy alternative. Though of course she would still appreciate the cookies... and the flower.
"Good evening", she greeted the young Slytherin. "I look forward to seeing you... what might your name be dear?" she asked. It would be nice to get to know a few of the students names before classes started.

[QUOTE=PhoenixRising;10312804]
[COLOR="#6960EC"]
Absently observing the interaction between Max and Seren, Josephina simply sat quietly. As it seemed her new acquaintance next to her had also decided to interact with his former professor.

Weird. Must Lachlan and Seren be insistent on calling Vindictus as Professor? Granted she might have thought of it her very first time seeing him as her colleague, but she was long over that now. They were colleagues and there was really little reason to use that terminology, unless of course students happened to be in the vicinity. But even then... Max was hardly inappropriate to be calling him that as his colleagues.




Oh that was nice, thought Seren as she received a greeting in return from Lafay. Granted it wasn't a particularly warm one... but she would work on that. Yes Seren was on a mission.. task: befriend Hecate Lafay...
Hhhmm she would need to have all her figers and toes crossed and perhaps some Felix Felicis. She smiled to herself as this thought occured to her.

"Lovely to meet you Renée" said Seren, she had always enjoyed Divination- even if it wasn't her strong suit. Familiar? Come to think of it half the staff table seemed to be familiar... and yes Renée was one of them.
"Perhaps we were students here at the same time?" she asked, "I had accidently mistaken Fina for her sister Alexandria", she added with a small laugh. Yes that was certainly an interesting meeting in Diagon Ally.


Ahh invading students- she was beggining to see what Max meant by it. Reflecting on her days as a student she probably gave the staff a head ache, not just at the start of term feast... but in general.

She smiled down at the girl. "Pleased to meet you Miss Jackson, I'm Professor Bentley and I'll be your Herbology teacher." Poor dear she seemed a little overwhelmed.
"I do hope you'll enjoy your time here at Hogwarts", she said sweetly.

Seren smiled- relieved Max's senses had finally found their way back to him.
"Yes, I'm the new Herbology professor", she said grinning broadly, three years ago she would never have thought that she would be teaching, and certainly not teaching at Hogwarts with Vindictus still on staff.
"Oh it's been a while Max, how long is it you've been teaching here now?" she asked curiously, "You must be some sort of vetran."
Oh yes, if she had any issues, questions or queries, she would certainly be running back to her old Head of House.

Seren's smile didn't fade, "Not even in self defence?"
She was joking of course, she would never dream of harming a child in any way shape or form. Not even the troubled ones.

Renée had been half listening to the conversations around her, and still contemplating eating one of Kurumi's cookies. Legend's little chair trick hadn't missed her either, but she chose to not mention anything as he hadn't addressed her. The ship talk was more interesting, anyhow, and brought her back to what she'd been doing up in the tower before heading down to the feast.

But as Max spoke again, quite obviously addressing the rest of them and not just the headmaster, she grinned. "You can count me in. I've been curious about the ship myself, and you never know what one might find there." yes, granted, there probably wouldn't be much Divination-wise to be found, but there was plenty more she was interested in than just her subject. Adventure the least of those, and she wanted to be there in case her other abilities might come in useful.

And as Seren had addressed her again, Renée turned her attention back to the blonde. Who she was fairly certain she'd heard was the new Herbology professor, and she smiled at her again. She might have to stop by the greenhouses at some point, as she hadn't made it last term. Things had been so strange then anyhow, with disappearing professors and all. "It's nice to meet you, as well," she replied, before laughing a little. "That's probably it. It seems a lot of us were students here."