Opening Feast 1976

A smirk slipped on Elija's normally blank face and he inclinded his head in agreement. "I guess we just have to impress on them the importance of paying attention. They do want to win the house cup after all and I don't think they would enjoy spending every evening in detention." he chuckled darkly. "I will make sure they know my rules right from the start."
Following her example, he started on his dinner as well, his eyes observing the students in front of him. "Teaching two classes will be quite taxing. I wish you all the strenght you can get." Elija told her, smiling slightly.

Zoya paused in her rather absorbing activity of stuffing her face, only to look at Eric in shock. "Her?! Oh we are doomed. We are sooooooooooooooo doomed!" She announced, going into her typical drama queen mode. "On the bright side though, the Slytherins are bound to not take her seriously and she could just take away a lot of their points." She added thoughtfully, studying their new teacher. She was young, by any standards and looked nervous but then, she was talking to Professor Lestrange so that was understandable.

"Yeah well, I am the new entrant." Alex answered, shrugging as she continued her scanning of the Hall. True, she was still nervous but Moody's motivation had been nice. The delicious smell of food was calming too and though Alex had always been a picky eater, she longed to start on the food. "Shall we?" She asked, nodding to the other Head of House and walking upto the Staff Table. She nodded to the other two occupants, smiling naturally as she greeted them." Hi...um, I mean, good evening."

She nodded her head towards him in thanks "Yes it will, and I am much obliged to any and all encouragement I assure you." She saw the two other professors approaching the table and studied the newest addition to the Hogwarts staff. She could tell from the woman's fast heart rate, her slightly dilated pupils that she was nervous, however even without even seeing her she could smell it rolling off of her. It was understandable of course.

"Good evening, I'm afraid we haven't been introduced quite yet." Her lips were slightly upturned to have a friendly look and her eyes shined. "I am Professor Hazelwood, and next to me here is Professor Prince." She motioned towards the man sitting next to her.

"Alex....again, I am sorry, you must excuse me. Apparently, I am now Professor Marwolathe." Alex answered, her cheerful demeanor returning at the welcome. 'I just haven't gotten used to saying it yet. Professor." She pronounced again with flourish, "I cannot believe I am one. My family cannot either actually. They correctly assume the school to be very desperate." She added in a mock-conspiratory tone, leaning forward as if disclosing a great secret. "Oh. I am the new Charms Professor by the way." She avoided adding the Head of House part, at least she was able to research more on said house. How embarrassing it would be when people asked her about her own house and she had no idea.

Turning his head to the newly arrived Professor, Elija couldn't help but smirk at her noticable nervousness. He inclined his head in greeting and said in a low voice "Good evening, Professor. Please take a seat." He pulled back a chair and beckoned for her to sit. "There really is no need to be nervous. I'm sure you will do a good job teaching." Although his face remained rather blank, his dark eyes observed her warmly.
The young woman continued talking at a rather fast pace, making Elija wince slightly. He hoped it was only her nervousness and she would calm down somewhat as the year went on. "Charms is a very good subject to teach. Most students enjoy it a lot and find it easy to study. I'm sure you won't have any problems with it."

"Thank you." Alex replied, smiling instantly in answer to the gesture. Sliding into the offered seat, she began to pick through the laden food. There were small moments in Alex's life, that made her realize that yes, she had qualified as an auror and the moment when she noticed the slight frown of the other Professor, the one about who's identity she had no idea. "I am sorry, I usually am much better company when I am bordering on drunk." She commented, only half joking. "I hope so, I think the only way I would be able to sustain through the classes is if I somehow make them fun. I am afraid the problem is that I am unsure how easily, or naturally, teaching shall come to me. But, thank you. Again."

Inclining his head slightly when the woman thanked him, Elija listened to her while turning back to his dinner. A snort escaped his lips and he chuckled deeply at the mental image of the young professor drunken in some dubious bar. Somehow it was hard to picture her in such an environment, as she seemed rather innocent, though he knew quite well that looks could deceive.
"Well..." he drawled "I don't think that it would hurt to make your class more fun. It wouldn't be my choice, but all teachers have their own methods." He relied more on having an organized class than have fun, but to each their own.

Alex shot a curious look towards the Ravenclaw Head of House at the sudden sound of his chuckle, which quickly dissolved into an easy, cheerful grin. "Don't be so quick to judge, I might still surprise you." She teased, continuing with her previous task of choosing through her food. The amount of time she spent in careful consideration before making a choice might lead to it seeming as if she was choosing between life and death and not ham or chicken.

"I will have to agree on that, mainly because I cannot imagine myself to be the kind of teacher who lays too much stress on disciplined and all. It might even stem from my own lack of said quality, but that's besides the point. On the other hand, I can totally, imagine you as being a stickler for order and discipline." She answered, following the example and focusing half of her attention on the food. "Maybe with the whole duster banging and screams and yells of 'Order, order!'"

Elija raised his brow slightly at his colleague and put on an ironic smirk. "Oh please, go ahead and surprise me." he said teasingly. "I'd love to see that." He chuckled again before taking a sip of his wine. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the woman next to him struggle to pick something to eat and shook his head. 'Like a child' he thought amused.
"I never scream, as I perceive raising once voice as a sign of incompetence. But you are quite correct in your assumption. I put a lot of importance on rules and respect." he said thoughtfully. "It seems that we are quite different from each other." And this will turn out interesting, he thought.

Suddenly, the door to the Great Hall opened and a woman stepped inside. Elija paused his conversation with Professor Marvolathe, to observe her cross over to the staff table. He noticed her cold expression and smirked slightly. Slytherin, probably, he thought. Inclining his head, he said "Good evening Professor. What happened to put you in such a good mood?" he asked sarcastically.

"Name the date and the place no wait...." Alex paused, struck suddenly by the contradiction, "......I guess I will just have to kidnap you one day." She finished, finally content with her choices of food and leaning back into her chair, she began to eat. "My apologies, I should have noticed your aversion to loud noises." She replied, the rare glimpse of insight juxtaposed with her usual carefree demeanor. "And of course I am correct, I made that assumption." Growing comfort in her new surroundings was marking the return of more Alex-trademark traits. Like the concept of being arrogant, yet having low self esteem. "You are quite right actually, we will all make an interesting set, wouldn't we?" She observed, willing her glass to be filled with some muggle aerated drink. Memories of her hangover from last night prevented even her entertaining any thoughts of consuming liquor today. Even mild ones.

The first thing that Alex noted about the lady was her overdressed, ostentatious self. The second was the vague nagging feeling that she had seen her before. Where though, escaped her slightly woozy and still recovering memory. The third noticeable reaction was the sudden urge to hide herself and as the clicking of the immaculate high heels neared the table, Alex realized where exactly she had seen this woman before. "Uh-oh." She muttered, cursing under her breath even as Professor Prince greeted her.

A snort and a muttered "Feel free to do so anytime" was the only reply Elija gave to his colleague's threat of kidnapping him. He wouldn't admit it, but the thought of her trying was actually entertaining. Not that she would succeed of course, but the thought counted.
"Quite sure of yourself are you?" he asked with a raised brow. "Well, we will see how well we will be able to work together as the term unfolds."
Elija did notice the weird reaction his colleague dispayed at the arrival of the other professor, but thought it wise to remain quiet for now and observe instead.

Sanguini was pushing her food around with her fork not interested in what was on her plate and listened to the other professors talking. She rolled her eyes a few times at some of the comments.
"I would be highly entertained to see you both go head to head any time Professors, it might lighten up the mood when we reach mid year and can't wait for summer." She smiled at them which she hoped was in a friendly manner, not many vampires received compliments on their smiles she thought to herself, friendly intended or not.

She saw the woman's reaction to the approaching professor in slight amusement

"Mid-term boredom? Is that like a mid life crsis appening every year?" Alex asked, partly amused and partly wary. She really should have done some more reseaech before joining. She noted the mutered reply of her coleague to her idea of kidnapping him, and resolved to try it once as she thoughtfully began on her food. "Head to head? Oh wait, are you also the Head of a house?" She questioned, a bit absently as something - or rather someone - semed to occupy her attention more. Alex could feel the instinct to either hide or run becomesrronger every passing second but she bravely sat through, trying and failing to compose he features. Its hardlylikely she will remember me, isn't it?

Elija chuckled amused by his colleagues clueless expression. "Well, can't you imagine how things will be here when we reach mid-term? When the first excitement of being at school has worn off and the students just want holidays? And we teachers still have to try and get some knowledge into their heads? It's most exhausting and I agree with Professor Hazelwood that a bit of change in routine would be appreciated." he told her.
The wine this evening was rather warm for his liking, so he pushed it away from him again and faced his colleague. "Oh yes, I'm head of Ravenclaw" Elija nodded. "What would be your house? Hufflepuff or Gryffindor?" he asked her, knowing that the Slytherin position was already taken .

"But its not like they would like to study immediately after the holidays too. Or for that matter, any time before the holidays either.........." It took a while for Alex to register the obvious and she would like to blame this gap on her medications not that anybody would- hopefully - ask. "Merlin's fluffy socks! They are students of course they don't want to study." She stated woth a groan, holding up her glass in a mock cheer, "Happy realization to me."

"Uh......the uh..." She trailed off trying to find to say the 'red one' without sounding too dumb. She had completely forgotten the house name. Ths realization prompted her to shoot a small glare towards the newest Professor, the ostenciously dressed lady, only because she was the only one at the moment, who she associated with her botched task and subsequent obliviation. Gryffindor? Hufflepuff? Gryffindor? Hufflepuff? Gryffindor? Hufflepuff? Gryffindor? Hufflepuff? "Uh... Gryffinpuff. What? Gryffindor. I meant Gryffindor, go Lions!" Thank god her memory prior to the 'incident' had been decent and she remembered in time. Well, almost.

His colleague's insight made Elija laugh softly and his dark eyes shone in amusement, making them seem a lighter blue than usual. "I congratulate you on this brilliant realization." he told her smirking.
Although, there were some students that enjoyed studying and doing homework, especially in his house, most of them actually just wanted to enjoy there time here with their friends, instead of working hard for good grades.

Elija noticed the other teacher's behaviour with surprise. The change in him was rather subtle as his interest in the woman before him changed from mere friendliness into the excitement of a new puzzle. He loved to figure out things, the more obscure the better and he had the feeling something was not quite right with the young woman in front of him. They way she tripped over her house's name... no proud Gryffindor would mess up his house's name, no member of any other house either. There were only two possible explanations. One was that she had never been to Hogwarts before and was taught at another school. The second option was far more interesting, though. Which would mean that she was not quite clear in the head. That would also explain her slightly off behaviour which he had accounted to her nervousness before.
"So..." he started casually "Gryffindor, I see. A good house. It must be quite weird to be back at Hogwarts after all this time, right? The place where you spent seven years of your childhood?" he asked her.

"Sanguini Hazelwood, Potions and History of Magic Professor, it's a pleasure to meet you" She nodded. "I would of loved to have been head of Ravenclaw, it was my house at Hogwarts, but Professor Prince beat me to it." She grinned at Professor Prince. " You do seem well fit for it though, so I think it's all for the best really. Not to mention it has been so very very long since I attended school"

At Professor Marwolathe's stumbling over her Houses name she tilted her head slightly to one side and studied her. She seemed rather odd, but she found her nervousness to be endearing in a strange way, which astonished her. Yes, she thought, I would rather like to be friends with this one, she would prove to be most interesting.

Elija chuckled darkly at the woman's sarcastic comment and inclined his head slightly in agreement. "You are quite right, Professor. It is always most pleasant to see so many smart and studious students on one place..." he drawled, equally sarcastic.
"My name is Elija Prince and I teach Transfiguration this term." Turning a bit he smirked at his colleague "Thank you Professor, though I'm sure you would have been fit for the task as well. It's good to see a fellow Ravenclaw here."