Now your life begins

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

Professor Kingsley really hoped that the other professors would arrive before the guest of honor did. It would be a shame if Professor Hensel arrived to an empty room bearing a sign that read “Good luck with your retirement!” The banner’s background flashed through different manner of vacation sites. Cyndi didn’t really know the professor’s hobbies or interests so she’d tried to cover everything from beaches to rock climbing to camping to gardening. One of those had to be of interest to the man, or so she assumed. She’d created the banner, but it was with the help of the house elves that she’d decorated the room. They’d really done a fantastic job, bringing the professors enough food and desserts to last through a week’s worth of retirement parties.

Opening the door, Professor Kingsley thanked the house elves as they headed back to the kitchens. She didn’t bother offering them a drink, figuring that it would offend their sensibilities to do so. With a smile on her face, the professor patted down her light blue robes and greeted the first of her colleagues. She hoped that the night would be fun for everyone. It was so rare that all of the professors gathered together.

 

[Professor Misha Haden]

Upon hearing that one of the other professors was retiring made Misha contemplate just a little about his own life in teaching. He'd done four years at this point, but wondered if he'd move jobs or just continue with this until he became the age to retire too. It wasn't like he knew really what he was doing. He just did it, because it seemed right. Hearing that one of the professor that he did not know well at all was leaving was a little bittersweet. Since he would not have the opportunity to ever meet him. It then begged the question about gift or no gift. Misha had always believed that it was protocol to buy a gift. So while he'd probably never said more than a few words to the man, he decided on an old bottle of Islay Whisky, from the late 1990s. Of course Misha had no idea if the man drank but it didn't really matter. He didn't know what else to get. This was impersonal and simple. With that, Misha made the effort and wore a suit a little better than the ones he generally wore in class. It wasn't overly formal, just not as casual.

With that, the young professor headed back through the corridors to the professor's common room, where the party was being held. He had the bottle in a box and wrapped, placed inside a gift that would then make it easier for him to carry. Misha opened the door and headed inside. Glancing around at the simple yet nice decorations that had been put up everywhere. He noticed that he was one of the first to arrive, though it was no matter. He was looking forward to having a little bit of fun. He held onto the gift and tried to figure out where he should put it, so that the professor leaving would know it was a gift for him. Eventually, Misha just opted to hold on to it, until he saw what others would do, with any of the gift which they brought. Now, it was just to wait for others to arrive so that the night could get started. On this, probably the only type of night where professor would gather.
​

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

If anyone was expected to retire, one might have thought it would have been Professor Styx or Professor Spenser, granted with how long both had been here. Professor Styx watched as several other professors graduated from his own classes, and come back to the school to teach. Professor Nicolas Hensel, soon to be simply Nicolas Hensel, was retiring, and that man was a few years older than Professor Styx. Yet, he was retiring, and the Slytherin Head of House didn't plan on retiring anytime soon. To make things a little more uncomfortable, Professor Styx was Professor Hensel's brother-in-law, and not one that got along well with due to the weird relations with his wife. Professor Styx walked into the common room of the professors before he simply nodded to the others. He was a silent man, who only spoke when needed, and when he was in an irritable mood, everything that came out was hurtful or sarcastic, sometimes both.

The Slytherin Head of House leaned against a wall, well out of the way. His arms folded over his chest, as he awaited for the colleague to graduate. Fortunately for those in this room currently, they did not have to put up with the former Gryffindor anymore. Professor Styx, on the other hand, did. Retirement or not, he still could not get away from those that could get on his last nerves.​

 

[Effie Kingston]

Effie was surprised when she heard that Professor Hensel decided to retire. He had been here for quite some time, but to Effie he seemed like the type of guy that would never get tired of teaching. Plus he had had started only a couple of years or so after she did, so it just didn't feel right to be saying goodbye to him so soon. But, if he felt like it was his time to leave the castle, then it was his time to leave the castle. The most Effie or anyone could do for him now was to send him off with warm thoughts. "I hope he has the chance to come and visit us again." The blonde thought to herself as she wrapped a dark yellow ribbon around the top of the basket she had sitting on her desk. Although Effie wasn't sure if gifts were required or not, she decided to buy Hensel a little something. It was was a gift basket full of retirement goodies. Like snacks, some books, etc. Effie hoped he liked it. Effie took one last glance at the clock sitting on the wall above her desk before she gathered up Hensel's retirement gift and headed off to the Professor's Common Room to join some of the festivities.

As soon as she entered the common room she smiled softly. "Hello everyone! I'm really glad I made it on time. It's a little awkward to show up late and not be there to surprise the guest of honor." The Hufflepuff Head of house went over and set her gift aside before she took in the decorations around the room. Who had set this up? Was it Professor Kingsley? If so, she definitely should receive a compliment or two on how nice the room looked! Surely Professor Hensel would love it. "Oh the decorations look so lovely!" Effie wanted to converse more with all of her co-workers, but aside from Professor Kingsley, she didn't know too much about the other two. Well, she knew about Kalif. However, he wasn't exactly the sort of person she wanted to spark a conversation up with. In fact, she was impressed that he had even decided to show to begin with. Perhaps somewhere deep down inside he did care about some of his co-workers. Hopefully her comment about the decorations would spark some type of a conversation between the Professor's in the room. Awkward silences were the worst.
​

 

[Abbigale Raven]

Abby looked over the last parts of the homework that she was marking and resolved to finish it later, because right now she had somewhere she had to be. Abby stood up from behind her desk, smoothed out her dress and then grabbed the chocolates from the side of her drawer. The professor had been rather surprised when she had heard about Professor Hensel's retirement. He had been here far longer then she had and she was coming up on about six years now, which was not all that long at all. Admittedly sometimes she felt like she had been here longer then that, but then there was other times when she felt like she had only just walked in the door minutes ago, twenty six years old and ready to start changing the lives of children everywhere. Her ideals had been slightly warped at that point, but she still remembered it all fondly. Abby really didn't feel quite right attending his retirement party as she had not had all that much interaction with him really. Outside of anything professional, Abby really only spoke to a couple of the others and knew even less quite personally. Of course she knew Speed the best, seeing as she was kind of his Aunt, but she considered Elvera, Cyndi and Ava to be good friends as well. Ciro on the other hand she did tend to try to avoid, but she was starting to warm up to him these days which she supposed was an achievement over the start of the school year where the mere sight of him sent her scurrying back to her office.

As Abby entered the room, she immediately smiled at the other professors and wondered where she could put her parting gift. She knew it was kind of a cop out, but Abby knew next to nothing about the man. If this were Speed or Cyndi she was confidant that she would be able to think of something a little more personal, despite being a notoriously bad gifter. As a child, Austiin was more the one to buy the gifts and Abby would just stick her name on them. Anthoney was quite good and Ally was always looking for something to take from one person as a gift to herself or to another. "Hi guys. I'm not late am I?" It appeared that Professor Hensel had not arrived yet and Abby breathed a sigh of relief though she was sure that she would have been late had she stayed at her desk any longer. Eventually deciding just to store her gift for now, Abby flicked her wrist and vanished the chocolates so that she would be able to conjure them again later. As much as she loved muggle studies, she had to admit that magic definitely had its uses. She supposed she was strange in her thoughts about all this. As a Pureblood from a rather long family line, Abby had been raised much the same as many other purebloods, though her parents were not quite as bad. They weren't pure of light either, far from it actually. She was so interested in muggles though and now here she was. It appeared she had arrived not long after Effie however, because she soon heard mention of the wonderful decorations and she nodded her head in agreement. "Yes I do agree, they are quite lovely. What sparked the inspiration Cyndi?" Of course Abby figured that the woman had help, but asking about house elves was silly, they didn't like being thanked or complimented anyway. "I especially love the flashing images, oh look, Egypt!"
​

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

As her colleagues began to arrive to the party, Cyndi smiled at each one in greeting. It wasn't until she realized that they all awkwardly glanced around, present in hand, that she realized she hadn't designated a present area. A chair stood off to the side, beside Professor Styx, and she pointed to it. Silly me! We need a place for gifts, right? You can put your gifts over there" she stated, reaching in her robe pocket for her own gift. It was a simple gift card for an overnight stay for him and a guest at a magical hotel. She enjoyed nights away from her own home, and hoped that Nicolas did as well. " Oh, thanks! I'd take all the credit, but the truth is that I only worked on the banner. I figured he might travel more now that he doesn't have to be here." With a shrug, she continued, "The house elves did everything else. I just supervised." The woman let out a chuckle as she finished.

Placing her gift on top of the growing pile, Cyndi stepped over to Kalif who was standing along the wall as if he would rather be anywhere else. He had shown up though and that definitely counted for something to the woman. "Kalif, a man is retiring, your house is winning the cup again" she stated with a playful sigh, before throwing in the one thing that he truly might care about "...and we are getting rid of some of our favorite students soon" she added, knowing that they shared some of those 'favorites.' " Enjoy it" she stated, a bright smile on her face as she attempted to kid with the man. He was usually a tough audience, so Cyndi held only the slightest hope that he'd crack a smile.

 

[Nicolas Hensel]

Nicolas wasn't quite sure why he had been informed that he was needed in the Professor's Common Room by one of the house elves. As far as he was concerned, he hadn't made any sort of mess this time. Nor did he forget to send in grades. Whatever the reason was, he had better not be in trouble this time, because he had done pretty good this month. He had only one student blow something up in his class and that was pretty good considering some of the students they let into this school. Hello-oh. A retirement party? Is this for me or did someone else decide to steal my thunder and retire at the same time?" Apparently it was for him. He didn't know that the word of him retiring had gone around so quickly. Yes he had mentioned it to the Headmistress and other Head's, but he didn't know that the others knew as well. Well it would seem as if the cat was out of the bag. Nicolas was old and he was getting tired. He needed a break and he wanted to spend more time with his family before he got too old and tired to do any of it. He had luckily saved up enough to do so.

"Well thank you all! Especially the little sneak who decided to throw this party. Whomever that may be....not going to mention any names though." He figured it might have been Cyndi, but it easily could have been anyone in the room. Minus Kalif. Despite them being brother's in law, they weren't all that close. "Well, let's pour some drinks! I've love to hear how everyone's lives are going and what you have planned once school is out!" Nicolas had been having the urge to have a nice long drink, might as well use the party as a means to getting that urge taken care of. Plus he'd love to see some of his co-workers wind down a little. Most of the time they all seemed so serious. "Especially my oh-so festive brother-in-law hiding in the corner over there." He was surprised that Kalif had come. Surprised yet happy. Maybe after all this time, Kalif had warmed up to him just slightly. It didn't have to be enough for him to be called a friend or a brother, but enough to where he didn't feel like Kalif wanted to chop his head off every time he entered the room. ​

 

[Ava King]

The headmistress of Hogwarts New Zealand had finally put the last piece of paperwork to rest. Ava breathed a sigh of relief for it to be finally done, though she was pretty sure there would be more for her to do in the morning. She rested her chin on her hand, and glanced at the clock ticking nearby. She was happily surprised that she had finished quite early, and still had a bit of the evening to go. Ava felt like there was something she was supposed to be doing, but couldn't put her finger on it. With all the things she had to do, Ava was surprised that she didn't have a planner. She stared at her desk as her mind finally ticked over. Nicolas is retiring. Cursing herself for being forgetful and foolish, Ava flung herself up and raced out of her office, grabbing a robe on the way.
Ava presumed it wouldn't be a good look to have the headmistress running down the corridors, so Ava walked swiftly and fast to the Common Room, hoping she didn't miss too much - if she was lucky, perhaps Nicolas hadn't arrived yet. It would be a shame if she missed the 'surprise' moment, especially for one of her staff members. However, as Ava tried to sneak into the room, she noticed that the guest of honour was already there. Tutting to herself, Ava made her way over to Nicolas, passing by Cyndi to offer her apologies for being late. Placing her hand on Nicolas' shoulder, Ava greeted the man. "Nicolas - I am sorry I am tardy. Shall I get you a drink as an apology?" She asked, smiling at the man.

 

[Nicolas Hensel]

Nicolas grinned when Ava wandered into the Common Room not long after he had begun conversing with his co-workers. He didn't know his boss on a personal level, but she seemed really sweet and always eager to have some fun. Plus he was just so happy that he was able to spend the night with his best friends. Well, the closest thing he had to best friends anyways. His life had been filled with a lot of bad memories, so until he came to teach here, he never really had the chance to be with people he could consider friends. Venita was sort of his friend too, and his wife. But it was different with this group of people. "If you'd like to, I'm not stopping you." He didn't want her to feel like she was obligated, but if she was willing, he definitely wasn't going to complain. Hopefully he wouldn't be the only one drinking tonight either, because he didn't want to get plastered and then have his co-workers do something like draw on his face or shave his hair off. Some of them didn't seem like the type to do such a thing, but people were surprising like that. So everyone had better get drunk, because then they would all be in the same boat. Too plastered to care.
​

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

As soon as Professor Snow, wait, Kingston walked in, it was as if someone shone a fully lit lumos right into Kalif's eyes. He almost covered them because of her bright, sunshine attitude. It was truly an awful thing to witness, especially when he was irritated enough. He knew that Professor Hensel's replacement would be worse. He had this sinking feeling it would be. To his utter bewilderment, Cyndu walked over toward him, and since he was toward the corner, there was no way to escape. Holding his cold, emotionless expression, he simply stared as she talked about how a man is retiring, his house is winning and some of their favorite students would be leaving. He uttered, sarcasm evident in his tone, "Someone's retiring? I never would have guessed." He paused for a moment, before shrugging, "House cups are simply empty cups, painted gold. They hardly hold worth to me. However, I was more relieved in the previous years when we were rid of a few choice students." It was no secret that Kalif didn't care for students, but some got on his nerves more than anything. Theodore was one of them, Myuna was another. Now, it was just Sergios and Isabella. Both of them kept crossing his path. He loathed it.

Kalif's attention drew away from Cyndi as Nicolas spoke about him, how he was festive. He knew that Nicolas was being sarcastic, but playful, but it caused him to narrow his eyes toward his brother-in-law. He shook his head and wondered if he should say something to the man. One of his sons were named after this man, and turned out, that Nicolas was sorted into Gryffindor too, much to his dismay. Kalif merely looked down and hoped that the man would just go traveling, and never come around again. It would definitely be no skin off of his back if he told his kids that their uncle Nicolas was eaten by a dragon or something. That wasn't Kalif's fantasy or anything, but at least he didn't plan on ending Nicolas' life anymore. No, he'd let nature take care of that mess, a long time from now.​

 

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

news traveled fast through the castle. Even people like Elvera who was spending most of her time in her tower as since may day she was feeling rather sick in her stomach. She had heard about professor Helsel leaving. it was funny. he had been her potions professor once. a good while ago. and now he was leaving the school, it would certainly be a loss for the school, although she didn't know him that well he was a good man. She had received a invite to a surprise party for him. She was planning on making an appearance, and she was just about to leave, when she felt a cramping pain in her stomach again and just about made it to the bathroom in time to start throwing up. Whatever it was that has affected her a few years ago was back. She kept meaning to make an appointment with the healers but hadn't had the energy to do so. and all her energy was now going on marking as she had had no time at the start of semester and it was all mounting up. once she was sure she had stopped she gave her mouth a rinse and her hands a good wash before picking up the gift and heading down now running late. She saw the professor making his own way to the party and hung back not wanting to spoil the surprise with him seeing her carrying the present.
Soon she made her way to the staff room and saw a lot of the other staff members there, it was surprising how many professors there were in the castle. she had seen a lot come and go, some staying just a semester, and some like professor hensel had been here for a lot longer and were almost part of the schools furniture. "Sorry i am a little late. but congratulations nicolas. we will miss you." she said putting her gift on the pile. She hadn't found a gift easy, but in the end she had gotten him a photo album for him to save his memories. with an inscription in the front cover. and a fancy border embossed on the front wrapped in simple paper.