Professors Meeting 2044

Katherine Alicastell

Former Headmistress
Messages
1,971
OOC First Name
Jesse
Blood Status
Mixed Blood
Relationship Status
Divorced
Sexual Orientation
Heterosexual
Wand
Straight 9 ½ Inch Rigid Chestnut Wand with Unicorn Tail Hair Core
Age
October 1988 (67)
Standing in the center of the professors common room, dressed in elaborate lavender robes adorned with silver studded runes, while her hair was held up in a tight bun, Katherine waited for the arrival of her staff members. There were a few topics she was looking to cover today, and at least one introduction, and she wanted to get through it as quickly as possible. There was a lot of work to do with the start of the first semester underway. Podrey, one of the house elves from the kitchen, had prepared a small meat and cheese platter for them all to have during the meeting, which he set down on a nearby bench. Nodding at the elf, the Headmistress cast her eyes quickly across the rest of the common room, ensuring that this year, there were no slumbering professors hanging around. She'd made her stance clear on what was appropriate when and where the previous year, and wasn't about to repeat herself again.
 
Meetings weren't always the worst thing that Kalif felt he had to deal with at the school, but they sure were not the best things either. After hearing about the annual meeting for the staff, the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor made his way through the doors, and found himself to be the first staff, besides the host, there. Kalif didn't really look at her, but mainly just held his cup of unsweetened tea to him, and sipped it while he stood in the corner. He wanted this meeting to be done and over with, so that he could host one for his own students.
 
With her new position, Kennedy felt it was imperative that she be on time to the meeting with the Headmistress and all the other professors. She walked into the room to find the Headmistress and Professor Styx there already and smiled politely at them, giving them a little nod in greeting. She looked around at the empty seats but decided to simply lean against a wall, feeling too awkward to sit since both the other people in the room were standing. In her experience these meetings didn't last too long that standing in heels wouldn't prove to be a painful regret, but she still took out her wand and waved it discreetly, the result of which couldn't be seen by anyone but she definitely felt the cushioned padding beneath her feet.
 
Professor Kingsley stepped into the professor's common room and took a look around, smiling at the two Heads of House that were already there. She didn't know Kennedy well, but she seemed very friendly. The woman gave only a small glance to the food before settling on just grabbing a drink, and noting that both professors as well as the Headmistress were standing, looked around at all the empty seats. A small wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows as she pondered this, but she shrugged it away, taking a seat. There was enough walking and traveling about the school. If the opportunity came to take a seat, Professor Kingsley was going to do just that.
 
Dymetris first week seems to be going decently well for him. He had his previous years at Hogwarts to thank for that. Except for where the professors met, he found everything right. Now though, now he was heading for this meeting and he didn't want to be late. It may be temporary that he was teaching here, still, like his healer position back at St. Mungos, he took any post seriously. He couldn't be late for this. Upon finding the room after going through a small passageway, he relaxed a lot more knowing he wasn't late or the last to arrive. Dymetris smiles over at Cyndi, he gave his former professor a little wave. Styx, he did good to ignore and greeted everyone else. "Morning. Wow, didn't think I find the place. It's really been so long."
 
Professor Misha Haden smiled to himself as he entered the professor's common room for another professor's meeting. He'd been having such a good time teaching in the last few years and he couldn't wait for this new term. The new first years he hoped would be calm, but he was just happy to be seeing another set of students through his class to teach them all they would want to know about charms. The man took some cheese and ate it as he glanced about the room. he smiled warmly at those already there, reserving a wider smile for the man whose daughter he really liked no matter how much it annoyed him. Eventually though, Misha just took a seat, saving a spot beside him for Jon. He'd missed his friend over the semester, it hadn't been lonely but he'd missed him. Misha didn't have many friends in the school and he was so happy to have him as one. He did also have the other Styx but his feelings for her were far more than just friendship. He was happy with where his life now was, in teaching, in being at this school, in whom he liked. Things were good, and he was eager to hear whatever words of wisdom the headmistress wanted to pass on.
 
Jon expected his semester off would have allowed him to rest and recuperate so he could return to school for another year excited to teach again. Though he was still excited to be back and ready to put more work in than ever, it was due to his need to get out of the house and put his heart into something instead of just simple excitement to teach. Either way he was happy to be back and intended to stay for good. He was unpacking in his office by the time the professor's meeting was due to begin and quickly paused his task to make his way down to the professor's common room. The last thing he wanted was to be late so early on in the year and he was pleased to notice upon arriving that he was on time and before many of the other professors. He smiled and waved to everyone in the room and noticed Eduardo and Maurice were yet to arrive. But Jon wasn't complaining as it meant he could sit with Misha and make small talk before the meeting began. The man had been the first friend he made out of all his other colleagues and admittedly as of late due to the stress in his personal life he had not had much a chance to speak to him. Jon was glad to change this and sat next to the charms professor with a smile on his face. "Hey, how's it?" He greeted, shifting slightly to get comfortable while waiting for the meeting to begin.
 
The start of a new school year was an exciting time, and Matt could hardly believe he was about to start his second year at Hogwarts. Hopefully he would no longer be the newest face in the professor's common room, and he hoped he could get to know some of his fellow professors a little bit better. When he entered the room there were already some teachers there, and he nodded at them. He grabbed a drink and took a seat next to Professor Kingsley, the Gryffindor head of house and Ancient Runes Professor. "Hey, did you have nice holidays?" He asked her, making small talk before the meeting started.
 
Another year at last. Kahurangi had noticed an uptick in students who really seemed to focus in her classes, and she was excited to see where they would go with the subject in future. It was a joy, to see people so full of promise develop and learn year after year. Cup of tea in hand, she made her way to the Professors Meeting excitedly, and quickly took a seat with her colleagues.
 
Wren had been thoroughly embarrassed by the headmistress' dressing down last year at the first Professor's meeting of the year, and he'd taken steps this time to ensure it wouldn't happen again. He was always full of caffeine, so that didn't help, but he'd gotten up early and taken a Pepper-Up fifteen minutes beforehand. He'd avoided having a cigarette because that usually relaxed him, and as a final failsafe, he'd trained Fifi, his Scottish Fold, to tap him smartly with her claws out whenever he fell asleep (which was inevitable). As a result, the queenly feline had pride of place on the tea stand next to his chair, and as soon as people began to arrive, she abandoned her post to beg pats from whomever ignored her and shun those who wanted a snuggle, as cats were wont to do. Every time Wren nodded off, she'd flounce past and nip his ankle, which wasn't the agreed upon method, but it got him up. Wren shot upright and gave her a miserable look every time.
 
Even though Maurice had enjoyed his time with Mei very much over the break, he couldn't help to be glad that he was back at Hogwarts to teach again. When he walked into the common room and looked around to see which Professors had arrived before him, he spotted two of his friends. He would've gone up to Jon and talked to him a bit before the meeting would start but he seemed to be in a conversation already, so instead made his way over to Kennedy. ''Hey!'' he said when he approached the Hufflepuff Head of House. ''How was your break?'' Maurice asked, leaning next to Kennedy against the wall.
 
Broom in hand fresh off the Pitch Kida entered the Professor's common room and placed her Broom in a safe place for the duration of the meeting. Kida looked for her Cousin Aeon but couldn't see him however her Aunt Katherine was ready to start the meeting, she smiled at her Aunt, she hadn't seen her much out side of school so it was good to see her around campus now.
Kida moved behind a seat with a spare next to for her cousin, as the Transfiguration Professors they worked closely together through out the school year, so she assumed they would work closely together as professors during this meeting.
Kida picked up a glass of water and waited for everything to commence.
 
Dannii quietly slipped into the meeting behind a few of her coworkers.
She would hate to be late to the meeting after missing most of last semester. Ember had been very sick, and Dannii needed the time off to care for the little girl. Thank-fully her bosses were understanding, both of them being parents themselves. She nodded to a few people before taking a comfy seat, and waiting for the headmistress to begin speaking.​
 
Justin had had a hell of a day back at the school after the break between semesters. With a sigh, he entered the Professors Common Room a little bit after he had been meant to arrive and took his place next to the Headmistress. He was used to these meetings by now but they were still certainly a pain in the ass, but at least since they had hired a new Headmistress he wasn't the one that had to run them as Katherine was a lot more proactive then Ava had been.
 
Professor Kingsley smiled as a professor settled in beside her. She knew his name, but she didn't think they'd ever spoken. "It was a bit busy, but yes quite pleasant. Ended up catching up with a lot of family" she said pleasantly. Trips to England and the United States had come and gone in a flash. "You?"
 
Slipping into the professors common room with barely time to spare, Aeon quietly shuffled behind the group gathered to find his seat next to Kidas, settling himself down beside her with a small sigh. He never had any input for these meetings, and they were almost a chore for him to attend year after year. Thankfully he wasn't the last to arrive, though even as he had come in, his mother looked as if she were just about to speak. "Five galleons they introduce three new professors this year." He whispered in to his cousins ear. It was almost traditional at Hogwarts to refresh the staff on a yearly basis, like a bizarre spring cleaning.
 
After everyone had settled into a seat - or chosen to stand, it didn't really matter - Katherine waved her wand towards the entrance and magically closed the door. She didn't have time to wait around all day for anyone straggling, if they were late, they would have to let themselves in. They all knew what time the meeting was, and they all had other work to get back to afterwards. "Thank you all for coming today. I'd like to start our meeting off by welcoming to the staff Dymetris Kozlov, who will be teaching potions in place of Sydney. It's a pleasure to have you with us." The woman informed them all, gesturing toward the latest addition to the group.

The Headmistress allowed a moment for people to say hello, and gave the man an opportunity to briefly introduce himself before moving on to other matters. "Firstly, I wanted to mention a few complaints I received last year by a handful of students, particularly the new sortees. Apparently there are some questions they were uncomfortable with and found to be invasive, such as asking about their blood statuses. I would appreciate it if an effort was made to refrain from asking these sorts of questions in future, either directly or through written classwork." The issue was understandable, given some of the persisting prejudices that even professors weren't above. Since a persons magical background shouldn't really matter to a professor, there was no need to ask about it. Each and every eleven year old was learning the same magic at the same time.

"I also wanted to remind everyone that your responsibilities as a professor do go beyond simply teaching a subject. We are all responsible for the students here, and their development into adulthood. Enforce the rules, make sure the guidelines are clear, and instructions are followed. While among the younger professors there may be a desire to be seen as the," She raised her fingers into air quotation marks. "Cool professors, but there is a difference between being a friend, and being a mentor. If rules are broken, no matter how minor, don't ignore it, and keep their heads of houses informed. The children here need to learn to respect their authority figures, and understand that their actions have consequences, or they're going to have quite the shock when they graduate and realise their employers aren't going to stand for their attitude. Behaviour such as trashing common rooms, defacing school property and attacking other students is not on, and I do not want to see it happening this year. Children are going to act up, there's no denying that, but there's typical mischief, and then there's criminal behaviour. The bottom line is, don't be lax. If they believe they can get away with acting up around you, then they will." The amount of misbehaviour at the school was above what Katherine considered normal, it was downright disgusting. Some of the blame could be placed on their parenting, or the lack thereof, but once they reached Hogwarts, it wasn't up to their parents to teach them anymore.

"Moving away from the topic of misbehaviour, I wanted to once again remind everyone that exemplary behaviour can be rewarded, too. There are plenty of students here who do follow the rules, and go above and beyond to do the right thing. Awarding points and praise to these students is incentive for both them and those around them to continue to do the right thing." It was something the woman wanted to see more of, and she herself was on the look out for students who proved to be good role models. It wasn't enough to focus solely on punishing poor behaviour, if there was no incentive to do good. "I believe that's all I had to bring up today. If anyone else has anything they wanted to say, or any questions they had, now is the time to bring them up."
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Matt knew Professor Kingsley had children at the school right now as well, and he thought she may be the only one aside from him. For some reason, that created a kinship between them in his mind. He smiled when she reacted pleasantly to his question and answered her. "That sounds like fun, I spent a lot of time with family as well." He said, counting his boyfriend and his daughter as well, even if he knew she wouldn't count him as family yet. It made him worried, but he hoped she just needed time.

Then they fell quiet as Professor Alicastell started to speak. He looked at her as he listened to her speech, nodding along as she explained that they shouldn't ask for student's blood status. It made sense to him, as it could be something private for a student, not to mention the idea that they could be bullied for it. But when she started to talk about punishment and being lax, he felt a little uncomfortable. He wasn't one of the younger professors, but he still felt like this applied to him a little. He could painfully recall the Gryffindors he had caught out of bed that had run off without stating their names, and he had let them because at least they were running back to their common room. He had still taken points after, but he thought Professor Alicastell wouldn't appreciate his judgement in that particular situation. He hadn't thought anyone had heard about it, but maybe the portraits gossiped. He vowed to be stricter when necessary, it was against his nature but the headmistress was right when she said children needed it. The idea that they should give more points for good behavior also appealed to him, and he knew he was going to keep an eye out from now on to make sure students got points for following the rules. He didn't have any questions or comments, so he waited quietly to see if anyone else did.
 
Eduardo walked in, staying in the back so as not to disturb those who had arrived early and stood by Jon and Kennedy. It was common knowledge that he and Jon were friends so he hoped this wouldn't be suspicious as he greeted them both with a smile - a special one just for the blonde before he waited for the meeting to begin. He suspected it would be much of the same but he didn't wish to be too presumptuous as he stood with his arms crossed over his chest, hopefully this meeting would be over quickly - he had much to do before classes began. After the Headmistress spoke he looked about to see if anyone had questions and when no one seemed to he said a quick goodbye and left.
 
Monty slipped into the professor's common room and took his place near the back as Katherine began her speech. He'd been busier than usual that morning, but was relieved not to have missed anything. He listened quietly in agreement with the Headmistress, feeling that little of what she was saying applied to him anyway, since he already adhered to all of these guidelines. Well, he didn't always punish students for minor rule-breaking, but he certainly didn't allow them to hurt one another, nor to put themselves in any danger. After the speech had concluded and all questions been answered, Monty nodded and saw himself out, feeling for the first time since his employment had begun as if he were an experienced professor.
 

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