Meeting the staff

Warren entered the empty staff room, called one of the school elves to get him a pot of strong coffee and sat in one of the chairs by the fire.

He thanked the elf when it popped back in, it placed the tray with a pot of coffee, milk, sugar, biscuits and about half a dozen mugs on the table then popped out.

He made the coffee the way he liked it then leaned back in the chair and thought about all that had happened to his family over the years, He was glad that there had been a teaching position opened at the school it meant that he would be there for his grand-daughers if they should need him.

He hoped that in time Bel would open up to him again, but at the moment it seemed that since he was the one who delivered the bad news to her, she was blaming him. Not that he blamed her, she probably had a vision or feeling about what had happened.

He was currently trying to figure out why the visions had started again, for awhile they had stopped and she only got feelings, but he had noticed that since Lauren was killed she was starting to look tired again. He decided to give it a few more weeks to see if she came to him, if not then he would mention it to the headmaster and see if he would get Arsen to find out how long she had been having visions in her dreams again.

For now he had to make sure that no one caught wind of Bel's gift, after all he didnt want the information falling into the wrong hands.

He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice anyone else entering the staff room, until he went to make his second mug of coffee, "Hello, Sorry i didn't see or hear you come in. I'm Warren Neels, the new Potions Professor," he said while offering his hand to the other person.

Richard smiled a little as he shook the man's hand,

"No worries, happens all the time." he smiled a little more, "Nice to meet you Warren. I'm Richard Romain, and I'm the transfiguration professor."

He chuckled a little and took a seat beside one of the mugs,

"I hope you don't mind but I was performing an experiment and I could smell this delightful smell from my office." he poured himself a strong cup of black coffee and deflated, an expression of relaxation, "Aaah... now that is a smell that I could never get tired of..."

Looking back up at Warren he smiled again,

"So how's Hogwarts' been treating you so far?"

"No i don't mind, it is good coffee," he replied.

He thought for a minute or two on how to anser the other question. "Not to bad i met with the headmaster as i had to deliver some bad news to my grand-daughters, he asked me if i was willing to take a position here so i could be closer to them. i agreed. I have my first lesson with the first years later today. I've never taught anyone at a school before only my daughters and grand-children and even then it was only the theroy side never the practical side. Any tips on how do deal with the terrors?"

Richard sipped at his coffee cautiously, aware that it was hot,

"Grand-daugthers?" he smirked a little, "Looks like I'm not the oldest teacher anymore... but seriously, who are your grand-daughters if I may ask? I might be able to give you a little progress report."

He smiled a little,

"Don't ask me mate, all I know is how to embaress them with glimpses of my love life through love bites and scarring the living daylights out of them." he paused to think, "Scarring works best so far. Dreading when they hit puberty though... might need to be evil all the time."

Warren chuckled at the response the other man gave, then responded in a sad tone, "Yes grand-daughters. i may not look it but im fifty-one years old, my late wife Grace and i had our twin daughters Sabina and Lauren when we were nineteen, we actually met here at Hogwarts and married shortly after graduation. Our girls got married shortly after their own graduation from hogwarts themselves. Sabina only had one child Belinda, she was actually pregnant when she was killed. Lauren had Evangeline a month after Belinda was born, she then had twins a couple of years later unfortuantly they were killed earlier this year."

They were silent for a few minutes before Warren spoke again, "I'm not sure if scaring them will work well in potions, it might lead to more explosions."

Richard's eyebrow rose,

"You do look young for your age. I'm guessing good eating and a good, natural, environment as you don't look like the kind who would simply try to decrease the signs of aging with potions. Even if you are a potions master." he chuckled a little, "Belinda and Eva eh? You might be interested to know that Eva is one of my star pupils. I've even made her my apprentice."

He frowned a little,

"Didn't stop that other guy..." he frowned a little more, "What was his name? Snipe? Sripe? Snape?"

"Eva an apprentice.. I hope she didn't approach you about that. I did warn her even though she hoped to become a Trasfiguration Mistress like her late mother and my late wife, she was not to approach anyone about it until she turned sixteen. Mind you the way she's been since she was about three i am not surprised she was constantly looking at toys and other items around the house and changing them into what she wanted them to be," he chuckled.

Contining in a serious tone he said, "Bel on the other hand has her own area of expertise other than that she is probablly above average on most of her classes. Bel's area is a guarded secret by the family so i will ask you not to look into it unless she willing gives you the information."

He thought about how to answer the last statement without giving away what he had known about Snape, "Well i guess we all have different methods. From what i remember of Snape i think he would have preferred to either sell potions from home or own his own business selling potions. How he ever conned into staying in a job he so obviouslly disliked i will never know."

Richard chuckled a little,

"No, I noticed her natural aptitude for the subject and asked her to be my apprentice. She just accepted." he held his hands up neutrally, "Don't worry about it man, I realise that families have secrets. I have more than a few of my own so I won't go prying."

He shrugged a little,

"But the man got results." he frowned a little, "Even if he did help Voldemort in the last year of his reign. I'm a heartless man but I would never allow people like the Carrows anywhere near a school, let alone what he allowed them to do."

Warren nodded in agreement to what Richard had said.

"If you don't mind me asking what are the other staff members like here? Anyone of the staff i need to be cafeful with? What about the students any trouble makers that i need to keep an eye on?" Warren asked.

Richard thought about it for a moment, taking a sip of his coffee as he did so,

"I've not really met a lot of the staff to be honest... I've been a little selective of my company. I know Professor Blake is a wonderful woman with a heart of gold and a passion for her subject. I know the headmaster... well we don't get along so I'll not give my opinion on the man so as to let you make your own mind up." he scratched his chin a little, "Blaire is quite fun to be around. But then there's Professor Smith... your new assistant professor. Cobalt... is a very difficult person. He's got very bad anger problems at times so try to stay on his good side."

He chuckled a little,

"Trouble makers? Let me see..." he thought about it for a few moments, "Miss Matimarcan seems to be trying to be as late as possible to all of her lessons but otherwise they're all quiet and well-behaved in class."

"Hmm.. Well thats good to know. At least i know who to keep an eye on," Warren replied.

"I am goint o tell you something, i am not telling you so you can make things easier on my girls but if they seem distracted or find it hard to concentrait then you will know the reason why. I came to the school to deliver some bad news the girls. Bel watched her mother die in front of her when she was five years old, Eva lost her parents and younger siblings about six months ago, but i just had to tell the gorls that Bel's father, step mother, two step brothers and a family friend she considered an uncle were killed in an accident. So our family have just been reduced to us three, Bel seems to be taking it fairly hard," he explained as calmly as possible, he did not want the girls to get special treatment but he hoped that if the staff knew what the girls were going though they could help him spot if there was any reason to worry about the state of their mental health.