Open Getting Started

[Lena Williams]

Lena was surprised that she had been hired on full time at Hogwarts, especially because she was so young. However, it provided her the security that she and Henry needed now that they had Charlotte. Thankfully, they had had the winter to unpack the new house and get all the farm setup. Charlotte had her own list of farm chores, and even though they mostly included assisting Lena, she thought her daughter was the cutest assistance in existence.

However, today was a Hogwarts focused day. Lena wanted to get out her office, as it didn't feel quite like her own yet, and headed towards the Common Room, taking a seat and pulling out some of her lesson plans. This year, she'd had most of the same students but had to figure out how to teach them the advance content they'd need to have going into their OWL year. Arithmancy was a lot of math, and while she enjoyed it, Lena wanted to make it more fun! She jotted down a few ideas in her journal as she sipped her tea.

 

[Professor Yvonne Dubois]

Yvonne's first semester at Hogwarts had gone over quite well as far as she was concerned. But in some ways it felt like a trial run and now with a full year of teaching ahead of her whispers of doubt started to creep up again. She had considered going home to visit her family for the holiday but decided it might be best to stay put for a while. Her homesickness was finally fading and she figured a visit might undo the progress she had made. With out many friends in the country she ended up spending most of her time off prepping her lessons, so at the very least she was prepared. Yvonne usually kept a stash of coffee and tea in her office since the trip down from the towers was always longer then she expected it to be. But she had run out, and at least now she could use it as an excuse to socialize. She entered the professor's common room and spotted another one of the younger professors going over what looked like lesson plans. Yvonne fixed herself a cup of coffee and sat down across from the other professor. "Arithmancy." she said curiously as she looked more closely at the papers and recognized the subject. "Was never my best subject in school." she said with a grin as she leaned back in her chair with her coffee held securely in both hands. "I'm Yvonne. I don't think we've properly met yet." she added quickly.

 

[Lena Williams]

Lena wasn't planning on doing anything too different in terms of her lesson plans this year. She just wanted to make sure that she completely recalled the material they were supposed to learn so she could answer any questions for her students. As she started marking up the page, she was a little startled to see someone looking over her shoulder. "Oh, yeah. It's definitely challenging. I'm still getting back into the swing of it," she said with a smile. "Right, Yvonne. You teach Divination?" she asked, unsure if her memory was correct. There were so many professors at the school, very few of which were around when she was a student, and it was hard to keep track of everyone. "I'm Lena Williams."

 

[Professor Yvonne Dubois]

Yvonne took a sip of her coffee as she listened to the other woman as she spoke and raised her eyebrows when she knew her name. "Correct." she said said with a smile and was a little surprised. She felt a little guilty and figured she should pay more attention to her coworkers. Yvonne had a habit of getting lost in a world of her own, and being up in the towers didn't help much with that. "It's nice to meet you." she said genuinely. "So how long have you been here?" she wondered aloud. It felt like it was impossible to tell who had been here for years and who had just arrived. "I feel like it's impossible to keep track of everyone." she admitted with a small laugh.

 

[Lena Williams]

Lena was glad she hadn't misnamed the woman and nodded, making sure she kept track of one confirmed professor.. with a billion to go. "Oh, I only came on temporarily last semester, but, well, hre I am," she said, gesturing to her unorganized lesson plans. "How about you?" she asked, wondering how much more experience Yvonne would have under her belt. "I'm so glad I'm not the only one," she said, slumping on the table slightly. "It was so much easier when I went here and actually saw the professors often. Now, I'm stuck in my own classroom with very few students. It's so different." She glanced back up at Yvonne and took another sip of her tea. "You're not from around here, right?" Lena said, taking note of the woman's accent.

 

[Professor Yvonne Dubois]

Yvonne smiled as the Lena explained how she also started last semester but she found it interesting that she started as a temp. “Oh really, so is that a good or bad thing?” she asked curiously. She could see it being either or depending on circumstances. “I just started last semester as well.” she said simply. “You went here? I wonder what that was like?” Yvonne asked excitedly and felt like she had to stop the questions bubbling up inside not wanting to overwhelm the other woman. “No. I am in fact very far from home.” she answered with a bit of a laugh. “I’m from the states, The Big Easy to be exact.” she said whimsically, not knowing if Lena would even know that nickname for New Orleans.

 

[Lena Williams]

Lena took a sip of her tea and thought for a moment. In a way, it had been a good thing because it allowed her to be sure this was the right next step for the family. Thankfully, they had found a house with land near enough so Lena didn't have to travel by floo or portkey. She hated the feeling of both. "I think it's good. Now my daughter and husband live closer, which makes things more real." Lena nodded and looked around the common room. "Yeah, I graduated about 10 years ago." Lena raised her eyebrows at Yvonne's discussion of her home and felt a little confused. "Big Easy? I'm not sure I'm familiar with that. Is it a state or city? I spent some time in the US after school but of course didn't visit everywhere."

 

[Professor Yvonne Dubois]

“Well I think that’s a nice set up you have.” Yvonne said genuinely as Lena talked about her family. “How old is your daughter?” she asked curiously. The other woman didn't look to be any older that her and thought of having a child herself made her heart beat faster and not in a fun way. She did like kids but after the break up she had she was content to wait a while. “I don’t know if I want to count the years since I’ve graduated.” she said with a small laugh and her smile widened when Lena seemed confused by her reference. “New Orleans. Big Easy is just one of its many nicknames.” she explained simply and smiled to herself as she took another sip of her drink. “Well if you ever make your way to the south next time you're over there let me know. I’ve got some great recommendations.” she said brightly,

 

[Lena Williams]

Lena smiled when Yvonne asked about her daughter and felt like she could talk for ages. "She's 2, going on twenty," she joked, thinking about all the feisty quips Charlotte was slowly releasing on the daily. She wasn't surprised that she didn't know the nickname for New Orleans, having spent more of her time in more of the mountain ranges than in the south. "I've heard the food and music are awesome there. I'd love to go back once Charlotte is a little bit older so she could enjoy the experience, as well," Lena continued. "Can I ask what brought you all the way over here?"

 

[Professor Yvonne Dubois]

Yvonne laughed as Lena talked about her daughter. "Oh, you must have your handful with that." she said earnestly, but was sure it was equally adorable. Some of her friends back home had started to have kids and it was fascinating to watch them grow into tiny humans with some very big personalities. She took a sip of her coffee and sighed. "I do miss the food." she said longingly and wistfully looked off into the distance. "The food here is fine." Yvonne added quickly. "But it doesn't really compare." She wondered if she could fine enough ingredients out here to make some her favorites but that thought was derailed by Lena bringing up the sudden move. It was a perfectly normal question to ask but she froze for a moment anyways. "Of course you can ask." Yvonne teased, before sighing. "I had a particularly bad break up." she admitted bluntly, and hated how juvenile it sounded. "We had been together for eight years and we were just on very different pages." she said with a shrug. "And I apparently wanted a completely different book." she said with a laugh and gestured to the common room as if it explained it all.