It was a lovely autumn day. The warm summer breeze had turned cool and the leaves were falling all around almost as thick as winter's snow. It was just after their morning run a breakfast that Foster decided to take his tea out to the courtyard and catch up on reading the Daily Prophet.

He sat on the bench that faced the sun, letting the rays warm his body, knowing full well that the cloudy winter days would be approaching with great speed. As he read the paper, he heard the sounds of crunching leaves under footsteps headed his way.

Those leaves crunching? Probably from Lucas not paying attention where he was going. He had a loose hoodie on, loose pants, and he was DONE with homework for right now. And he was dancing. HE COULD NOT AND WOULD NOT DISAPPOINT BAYLEN. He had to be the BEST dance crew leader EVER. He wished he could listen to some MUSIC right now, but nah. He would just hum along to the song he was choreographing currently. Counting the numbers aloud. All that stuff.

He didn't even notice the professor with his tea. And the Arithmancy one, too, a subject Lucas enjoyed (somewhat lol).

His forehead was starting to moisten up a little bit from his rigorous cardio work at the moment.

Callum was sitting on one of the stone benches as he read his astronomy book. It had always been his favorite subject to study and he often could be found with a book on the subject in his possession.

Lifting his eyes from the paper, he gave a slight smile to the young man dancing. "Mr. Choi, good day to you." He folded the paper and placed it on his lap. "I see you are out of uniform, but it appears you are exercising." While the casualness of the attire was frowned upon, it appeared it was necessary for the physical activity, so he was going to let it slide. "Are you practicing for anything special?" He took a sip of his tea and shifted on the bench to find a more comfortable position.

One of the few positive byproducts of the early morning runs was the students were getting in better shape and their other athletic endeavors were benefiting.

He froze a little bit because that was a professor's voice. And he wasn't sure if what he was doing would be looked down on...as some sort of...obscure rule breaking or whatnot. So he very slowly turned to see...it was Professor Arithmancy guy! Davis. "You too, sir," he said with a bow of his head in respect. "Is that not allowed?" he asked softly. "I didn't know it wasn't allowed--I can go change if it's against the r-rules--" he said nervously, suddenly wondering how'd he get any exercise done in his school robes if this were the case. He looked down at his sweatpants.

"No, not...really. Just practicing in general. I'm not the best, so I think practice is where I can make it up. Have you ever danced before, Professor Davis?" he asked earnestly. The redhaired boy glanced up at the sun for a second before looking back at Davis. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and wished he looked slightly less...a mess for this conversation. Sloppy, his parents would call it.

Foster shook his head. "No, no. You are exercising and I'll happily vouch for you if the Headmaster happens to see you and has issue with your attire." He knew that at the start of October, he wouldn't be able to do anything about taking away points for not being in uniform. The rule would be official by then. As it was, they still had a few more days until the official announcement was made.

He loved that the young man was practicing without having to. It showed just how mature and responsible he was. "I applaud your hard work, Mr. Choi. Keep up the practicing and you will accomplish whatever goals you have set." He thought for a moment. "You know, if you ever need a place to practice your dancing, you are welcome to use my Tea and Meditation room. There isn't a lot of extra space in there, but if you slide over some of the pillows, I think you could still get in a good workout."

WHEW!

That was a HUGE sigh of relief from the Slytherin. He smiled in gratitude. "Thank you, sir," he bowed deeply at the older man. "Do you exercise at all?" He supposed the question could be taken rudely, but it wasn't at all how Lucas had meant it.

Man, was he being complimentary and positive or what?! Lucas felt his cheeks burning, and he wondered if what the man said was true. Did hardwork always pay off? Surely sometimes it didn't...he had begun to think that lately at least. It was kind of pessimistic, more negative than Lucas typically was, but this term at Hogwarts, he realized, had been forcing him to think this way. It was easier to expect failure and bad things to happen than to hope for the opposite only for DREAMS TO BE CRUSHED. "I hope so. I'm a little nervous because - " But then the man OFFERED HIS ROOM? Lucas practically glowed at the offer. "Well, sir, that's a wonderful offer! I have a few people on my 'crew,' as I'd call it, and I wonder if we'd all fit in there. I don't think I've ever been in that room before...is it big? How big is it?" he had his hands behind his back, together, as he rocked back and forth from the balls of his feet to his heel. He had a habit of doing this while conversing with people. It was a nervous habit without the nervousness.

Foster grinned at the bow. "You're welcome. I do exercise, but I don't typically dance. I enjoy yoga." His heart warmed at the pleased look on the young man's face. "You keep practicing and working hard, and I guarantee good will come of it." Foster knew he couldn't ensure all his dreams would become reality, but he did know that working hard would give him a big boost in achieving those goals.

He thought about the room before replying. "There are a few sitting areas in the room that could easily be moved, to accommodate your crew. I would think there would be plenty of room for up to ten dancers, more depending on the style of dance. I simply request that you put the room back as you found it before leaving."

The cold winter night didn't affect the headmaster at all as he stepped out of the castle and onto the courtyard. He had dealt with worse climates and even worse situations in the past. Tonight, though, there was something warming him up inside. That something was in his robe pocket, something he was eager to hand over to the Astronomy professor.

Of course, he wasn't going to bombard the lesson and bring it to a sudden end. No, he had something else in mind. Either way, their would be witnesses. Order would be restored. He had O'Hara to back him up, and both Ashburry-Hawthorne and Cambridge were witnesses to the issue at hand regarding Kennedy and would be there to see the consequence be enacted.

So he just stood there, waiting for the man and the students who decided to not leave the man's lesson to make their way to the castle from the lake. There was total silence from him as puffs of air come out of his nostrils.

He was looking forward to seeing the look on Kennedy's face when he arrived and saw them waiting there.

Alice was smart enough to know that "You can come too" was much less an invitation from the headmaster and much more an order. He wanted her to be present for whatever was about to happen - which unfortunately for Professor Kennedy probably meant a firing was at hand.

Her expression was emotionless as she followed Julian out of the entrance hall and into the courtyard. The two prefects she allowed to walk in the middle, which meant the history of magic teacher was bringing up the rear. It was not that she thought they were going to run away. No, she just didn't like the sensation of people walking directly behind her, which was why she almost always brought up the rear whenever possible.

What were Ms. Cambridge and Mr. Ashburry-Hawthorne thinking of all this, she wondered as they all stood there waiting, watching them from the corners of her eyes. For that matter, what did she think of it? O'Hara was not sadistic and she did not like to see her colleagues punished, but simultaneously she could not sympathise or understand why any of them would challenge school rules after everything that had happened. Giving such a bad example to the students surely deserved some sort of punishment.

She stood with hands crossed behind her back and waited. Now was not the time to say anything. Now was the time to watch.

By the time they finally got to the courtyard, it was a miracle there wasn’t a hole toward the bottom of Jessa’s skirt with the way she kept wringing at it. If the 7th year thought she was anxious before, this was a whole other ball game. Suffice to say she was neither prepared to watch the Astronomy man show up, realise what was happening and give them whatever hurt—or disappointed—or you know what, he could be pretty angry too having said they could leave so they wouldn’t have to report just to find a report had been made anyway—look that might creep on his face.

She was equally, if not more so, anxious about her classmates that would be coming with him. They would SEE her standing here with the Headmaster and History of Magic Professor.

The rest was a natural assumption. The Head Girl and a Prefect walked out. Now they were standing here with the big man in charge and a Professor who gave them hot chocolate was being sent packing. With the way things were running now, one would think this is what was to be the man’s fate....and consequently, one could easily draw the conclusion she’d brought this one with Derf. DO YOU KNOW HOW YOU WOULD LOOK WHEN YOU GOT THE MAN WHO GAVE FRICKIN HOT CHOCOLATE FIRED? Not good, that’s how. She’d caught a few looks before leaving class for refusing to participate in the hot chocolate, and they’d read loud and clear, people wondering why she was making a big deal of it. Now, oh Merlin, this would be worse.

“I feel ill.” She tried quietly, hoping the man would allow her to head back to the castle before anyone started to arrive. It was a small hope, one even she didn’t fully believe in but it was worth a try.

Her stance on not reporting was being entirely blown out of the water. What had been an attempt at escape was now her being dragged along and what little reputation she imagined having would quickly be dragged too. How was this fair? Why did she have to watch? She didn’t want anything to do with this. A fact she’d been trying to make clear all night.

I feel ill.

Derf looked ill. Perhaps thankful on some level that he had skipped out somewhat on dinner - hence Maxton's hot chocolate being particularly potent in his nose - because if his stomach had been full, well, it would have likely been emptied by now. Or maybe that was all wishful thinking. Throwing up would have been a distraction from everything else he was thinking and feeling right now.

Which was why the sixth year was making no eye contact with anyone and was keeping them focused on his shoes. Looking up at the sky would only make things worse too, seeing the lunar eclipse would only cause his insides to knot more tightly and his palms to sweat. Though now that he was trying to do everything BUT think about the lunar eclipse...it was literally all he could think about now. The Hufflepuff knew very little about the science behind one, but he could recall a fair bit from his Divination textbook - that was always easier to maintain in the long run for some reason. Eclipses...harbingers of change...usher in evolution...culminations of emotional cycles that have run their course...a final purge of letting go of things and emotions that no longer serve us...

Yeah, this was not helping him at all and only making him feel all the more nauseous.

He said nothing in response to Jessa. Only silence. Willing this all to be over quickly and praying that he still had friends after the dust had settled.

Kalen was late coming back from class, after all the kids had left, he had cleaned up and then headed to a certain Care of Magical Creatures Professor’s hut to say goodnight. He didn’t linger though, because he knew the other man would be able to tell he was worried. So he said goodnight and hurried back to the castle, about fifteen minutes after he had let his class out.

Kalen flexed his fingers as he neared the courtyard, wondering what was waiting for him when he got to the castle. His booted foot had barely stepped into the courtyard when he saw the Headmaster waiting for him.

That was fast.

He thought to himself and wondered if the letter had been pre sent and was only been handed to him now, because the headmaster had an excuse. And a flimsy one at that.

All signs of fight in Kalen’s stance died though as he saw Jessa and Derf standing there next to the headmaster.

Of all the cruel and cowardly things to do.. they shouldn’t be here, they shouldn’t have to see this.

Kalen’s green eyes swung first to Jessa and then to Derf. He was unsure if they would look at him, but if they did, they would see sympathy in his green eyes. He was so sorry they had to be here for this.

And he would make it as quick and painless for them.

He took a breath, squared his shoulders and walked straight up to Scrimgeour with his hand out.

“I believe you have something for me?” His voice was clear and steady as he waited to be fired.

Did the headmaster care that Ashburry-Hawthorne and Cambridge didn't want to be there? No. Did he care that the Head Girl said she was ill and that the Hufflepuff Prefect looked ill? No. They, including O'Hara, were to be present for this. There was purpose in all of it, which was that they needed to see that he was not going to accept any form of rebellion. The school would fail to thrive with that poison being allowed to spread.

Student leaders, just as regular students, were responsible for reporting any rule-breaking. Even if it was a professor breaking them. Everyone was to be held accountable under his command.

Just like he didn't want any rebelling students under his watch, he didn't want unsupportive staff. It was clearly disrupting order and progress, and any disruption was to be stamped out before it spread like wildfire.

The sight of Kennedy, after his lesson had come to an end, prompted Scrimgeour to reach into his pocket and hold in his hand the item that the man was expecting to receive. Without saying a word, the man held out the sealed envelope for the man to take.

Say hello to Stewart, he thought, a hint of a smug look appearing on his face.

Text Cut: Letter

Dear Kalen Kennedy,

I, with support from the Hogwarts Board of Governors, request your dismissal from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. With your recent act of defiance against the school rules and therefore not leading by example, I feel that this is the best decision for the wellbeing of the school and its students. In order for structured learning to successfully take place at Hogwarts, it is expected of all professors to support and adhere to the school rules and provide students with a sound education. Your actions prompted students to either break the rules, which encouraged them that rule-breaking is acceptable under your watch, or leave class, which denied them of their education. These acts cannot and will not be tolerated at Hogwarts.

Upon your reading of this letter, I ask that a prompt and quiet departure is made so that a suitable replacement can take over the roles of Astronomy professor and Slytherin Head of House immediately.

Thank you for your services to the school.

Signed:


Julian Scrimgeour
Hogwarts Headmaster

It was as she suspected, the man wouldn’t care that she was entirely about to lose her dinner. Unlike Derf, she hadn’t skipped the meal and while she didn’t eat as much as most, she was sure it would be making an appearance before the night was over.

Mr. Kennedy’s approach brought the unease in her stomach to its highest level yet. Her gaze shot to the floor before the man could get close, the fidgeting growing so pronounced that now even she took notice of it. What would happen if she just ...walked away? Would the Headmaster try to stop her? Would he take points and warn her against a repeat in future?

Knowing him she’d spend the night running laps around the quidditch pitch and she was not for it. This was a case where there wasn’t any winning no matter what and the only salvation would be the floor swallowing her up.

Pity it didn’t happened.

Her heart did about a million flips when the Astro man spoke. It was like....the benediction. The confirmation that this really was happening despite her best efforts to just....UGH.

Without really knowing when it happened, Jessa reached for Derf’s hand with one of her own, squeezing tighter than there was any need for. It was a direct consequence of looking up and seeing the letter now in the man’s hand. A letter they had, in all likelihood, helped to seal. At this point, it was impossible to feel any more guilt than she currently di—wait a minute. Hand holding was banned. Forget that this was mostly for gaining some comfort and not like a lover’s hold, as quick as she’d taken his hand, she released it. There was no need to be in extra trouble. Could this be over now?

Kalen felt like he wanted to lose his tea all over the headmasters shoes at the moment, but the hand that took the letter was calm and steady. He wanted to make this as painless as possible, especially for the students that were standing close, perhaps they had sealed his fate, but if it hadn’t been them, it would have been someone else.

He knew his time at the school was limited, and as he opened and scanned the letter, he wanted to scoff. Nice to know the Board of Governors was awake at this hour, and worked so quickly! It had been.. what an hour since he had let the kids out of class.

He shook his head, what a joke. He knew this letter had been pre-meditated and that certain parts had been filled in recently.

He folded the letter and stuck it in his pocket and his green eyes met the headmasters..

“You know they say Eclipses are harbingers of change. ” He said conversationally as he glanced up at the moon which still had some shadow on it. “There’s another one in June, wonder what change that will bring. ” And with that he quirked an eyebrow and turned, his wand flashed and a butterfly patronus fluttered off into the night.

And with that, the Astronomy professor started to walk after it.

It seemed like an eternity that they had been standing there and one of the scenes playing heavily, vividly, in the over active imagination of the 16-year-old's mind were the eyes of his classmates when they came back from the grounds with the Slytherin Head of House upon the conclusion of the lesson. Of ALL of them seeing this, another example being made of the former faculty just like had been made of Headmistress Hawthorne at the start of term feast. By now, it wasn't about sending the students a message...it was about public humiliation as far as he was concerned.

He must had zoned out staring at his feet and missed his classmates coming back unaccompanied, small blessings at this point because the last spiral he needed was on more incriminating actions, but his blood (which already running cold) entirely froze when he heard the Slytherin Head of House speak.

No...nonononono...

His eyes shut tight, as if doing so would also make him deaf but it was as though the entire scene around him had had Sonorus cast upon it. His ears even seemed to pick up the subtle rustling of the passing of paper, the haughty breath of satisfaction of the Headmaster, the ..... giving a mighty jump when Jessa too his hand, jolted awake from his thoughts. He pulled his hand back sharply to his side, not wanting to be touched right now and shot her a look of complete dread. He wasn't even thinking about the rules against PDA right now, he couldn't.

This was all happening entirely to quickly. Entirely. Unnaturally so. But before he could spiral off into the comfort of conspiracy theories...the now really REALLY former Hogwarts libraian spoke again...

...and it was as though the man could read his thoughts, causing his lips to twitch a bit but dare not form any sort of smile. The man...had basically just threatened the Headmaster, hadn't he? In an attempt to numb his fears, he focused again on eclipses...wondering how often they occurred per year, how you were able to predict such things occurring from star charting or whatever, differences between solar and lunar, if they were always full shadows...things he may never learn now because he had absolutely every intention of dropping Astronomy now and had regrets in not doing so already.

Fingers now gripping, knotting, themselves into the fabric of his trousers to prevent his hands from noticeably trembling...Derf foolishly looked up just in time to see the man turn to walk away after his butterfly patronus. He, like Headmistress Hawthrone, had left with their dignity to some degree he reckoned. Not protesting nor really giving Headmaster Scrimgeour the satisfaction of seeing them upset...for the most part.

Derf just wanted to get back inside by this point. It was well after curfew and with supervision or not...he wanted to be anywhere but here. The darkness of his dorm after lights out felt a welcoming treat for once.

Alice betrayed no emotion as the entire thing went down. Way down deep inside she felt sorry for the idiot Astronomy professor. Obviously she could not show this. It was almost as if he wanted to be punished. That was absurd, right? Yet how else to interpret the man's actions - so close on the heels of the dismissal of the headmistress and Professor Stewart?

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Jessa briefly reaching to hold hands with Derfael. She ignored it because there were bigger things to focus on. Both prefects would probably be dismissed soon enough anyway now that the deed was done. Vaguely she wondered if they were going to get points from Julian for reporting the incident.

"What did he mean by that?" she asked out loud after the Astronomy professor walked away. "It sounded ridiculous." But she was never very good at Astronomy. Warily, she glanced up at the moon. Hmmm.

The look on Scrimgeour's face remained fixated on Kennedy and did not falter at the former Astronomy professor's words. If it was a threat, it was a poor one. The man did not feel threatened at all. He had the Board on his side, even the Minister if he needed to go that far.

That Patronus showed a lot about Kennedy too. No wonder why he was so weak.

"It sounded like a bunch of nonsense that a Centaur would give," he said in response to O'Hara. "I wouldn't dwell on it too much. The future most certainly isn't written in the stars. It all has to do with our choices, and clearly Kennedy made the wrong choice by thinking he was above the work we are doing here."

Scrimgeour then turned to both Prefects. "Thank you for bringing this incident to my attention. Should any others follow in Kennedy's footsteps, you, as are the others, are to report them immediately to me. You two are dismissed."

Derf stayed quiet with his eyes trained to the ground until Professor O'Hara spoke. Though even then his gaze did not exactly move and his only real sort of adjustments were the addition of tension to his shoulders. "Astrology, professor," he nodded, somewhat echoing the headmaster and his brow furrowing a bit at the dismissal of centaurs. It made him suddenly reflect upon the start of term and the appointment of Professor Fletcher....and who else MAY have been granted that post. Briefly, his eyes flickered back towards the path leading down to the lake..........and the Forbidden Forest.

Maybe...Thereos could help? Thereos and his herd? Derf was tempted, to say the least.

Though his thoughts hardly had time to linger on mum's former co-worker as the man was addressing him and Jessa once more. Oh...boy. He could almost feel the increase in fidgeting that the man's words may elicited from the Ravenclaw considering how she had done everything in her power to not be an active participant in this incident and how utterly shocked and horrified she had looked when he had revealed that he had been the one to report the Astronomy professor by writing in the journal. He felt terribly selfish feeling a small sense of relief in that they would share the burden together, however.


"......yes, sir," he subtly nodded, giving Jessa another brand of an apologetic look as he made a slow turn to head back inside. Insides numb blessedly numb and grateful that the Hufflepuff common room was so close.

Despite it being a cold snowy day that first Saturday in January back from break, Rylee found herself outside. Her cheeks were already flushed from the cold after only just being outside a few minutes but that didn't keep her from moving further out into the courtyard.

Rather than pick her feet up she shuffled them forward pushing the snow around her feet. There was no denying she was going to be freezing when she did choose to go back inside. That heating charm she had cast upon herself before coming out wasn't doing very well for her right now. That was likely due to her not casting it strongly enough, there was just so much on her mind lately that her focus wasn't always were it should be.

Pausing to crouch down a bit, Rylee scooped up a gloved hand full of fluffy snow only she let it fall back through her fingers.

It. Was. FREEZING!! Benji had been so ready to get away from his parents -- or more accurately, the emptiness of his house, occasionally interspersed with yelling from his mother and stern looks from his father -- that he had sort of just rushed back into Hogwarts without even thinking about heating charms or anything like that. He was bundled up pretty well, but still, his nose was starting to turn red (and kinda felt like it was going to fall off, honestly).

He was making his way back around from a loop across the grounds, kicking up snow as he went and thinking about how he wasn't sure whether he was glad to be back or not. Plus side? He wouldn't hear from his parents probably until it was time to go home for the summer. Down side? Scary headmaster, teachers getting sacked, billions of rules, blah blah blah.

While he was considering this, he was surprised to come up on a girl picking up snow and... Dropping it? "Don't people usually throw snow that they pick up?" he teased with a smile. He wasn't much of a snowball fight guy himself (and especially not with the new regime!), but that seemed like what most kids his age did with snow, anyway.

A voice pulled Rylee out of her own thoughts and into the here and now. Blue-gray eyes lifted upwards to see who was talking to her and she smiled lightly recognizing the boys from lessons.

"Normally, yes. However that would require there having been another person around," she replied laughing softly. "Unless.... you're offering?" There was a bit of a playful gleam in her eye as she scooped up another handful of snow this time rolling it into the form of a ball rather than just dropping the snow. It was clear she wasn't at all opposed to a snowball fight even if it were just the two of them if he was interested in one.

Could she be persuaded into some other activity? Of course she could. Making snow angels, snowmen, snow forts, were all things she enjoyed doing. Even if none of those appealed to his liking she could very easily be talked into doing something else active. Just so it kept her far away from the Headmaster and his men with all their rules that were crushing her happy go lucky spirit.

"Oh," Benji said with a slight laugh. "Not so much." He looked around, making sure no scary authority figures had heard the suggestion. He had a feeling that they wouldn't appreciate it.

Buuuuuuut... That didn't mean they couldn't do something fun, especially if they were the only ones wandering around out here. "We could... I dunno... Build a snowman or something, though?" He grinned. Being an only child meant he had missed out on a lot of these fun things as a kid. Better late than never, right?! "I'm Benji, by the way."