Have you seen this man? PV Professors Finished

Sitting at his desk in his office, Zahid had for once not been busy with lesson preparations or grading unlike he was most times he was sitting there, no, he had been in the process of reading and answering correspondence from some of the people he had met on his travels.

Antonio and Constanza, his friends from Italy, for example, had inquired how the school had been treating him. He was unsure on what to write to them in return, as he did not wish to worry them with tales about what had happened in the forest – or worse, tell them about the Masquerade ball he had attended before hand. On the other hand, it felt disingenuous to simple give them a bland fine as an answer.

To tell the truth, he still was unsure about he felt teaching at the school. He had missed teaching, most definitely. But Hogwarts was so different to Garyounis. Not that he expected a school to be all that similar to a university, but the contrast still caught him by surprise occasionally. Not to mention that one had been a (mostly) Muggle institution and the other was purely magical.

Putting the letter aside for the moment, he grabbed another. He would answer them later after a bit more contemplation. The next letter he had no qualms answering quite blandly, however. He saw no point wasting time writing a long letter to someone who had only written him out of a sense of duty and – if their last correspondence was any indication – had no inclination of actually reading his letter.

Being done with that, Zahid grabbed the next letter only to start slightly in surprise as the penmanship did not seem particularly familiar to him. There was no address or return address on the letter, only an ominous We need to talk. Curious.

Looking at the letter, Zahid wondered why someone would send him such a letter – and who would have reason to. Shrugging to himself, he decided it would be easier to open the letter and find out rather than trying to puzzle it out.

Caradoc?

Well, he supposed both Caradoc and Professor Price had occasion to send such words, given the horrible incident of the hag in the night-time – but the letter was not about that, it seemed. (Or only in part.)

...after the students have gone to bed. Checking the time, Zahid realized that it probably already past the intended time – he had not expected to have an appointments to keep in the evening so he had not paid any attention to the time.

Still, he supposed being late might still be better than not showing up, so with a sigh he put his writing utensils aside, emptied his perpetual cup of tea and then made his way toward the Headmaster's office, grabbing his dark-blue cardigan off the two-seater in the corner. While his office had been cosy and warm, the corridors could be quite chilly in the evenings and the jeans and t-shirt he was wearing might be a little light.

“--y more will be arriving?”

Entering the Headmaster's Office, Zahid noted that it most likely was past the intended time as quite a few of his colleagues had already arrived. Giving the room a nod “Good evening Ladies and Gents. Apologies for the delay.” he stepped to the side to lean against the wall to wait for whatever meeting Caradoc called them here for to start. He glanced over his colleagues though he doubtlessly gave both Caradoc and Elliot a longer look, reflexively checking them over for injuries to see if they were alright. Logically he knew they would be by now, but that hag incident still sat like ice in his bones.

We need to talk.

Curled up with her knees piled on her chair, pressing a mug of molten chocolate to her lips, Cy smoothed the fingers of her other hand over the fresh parchment, given to her hours ago by Ceta, who had recited to her the words printed on the outside of the envelope before leaving her to open it. With another sip, she set the mug down with a soft clink against the wood of her table. She really needed to get herself some coasters before she damaged the table and Aoi somehow found out about it and sent her a howler.

Anyway, that was an ominous-sounding title, if anything. Obviously, nothing good would be in that letter, so she didn't expect good news. She could only hope that it wasn't terrible. Never one to wait, though, she slid her wand from her holster, sitting back to hold the paper out.

"Legere," she breathed over the letter, ghosting the tip of her wand over the parchment carefully from left to right. The familiar, sonorous voice read the contents aloud to her, a smooth contrast to her growing worry.

Come to think of it, she hadn't heard the Headmaster's voice in the halls for quite some time now, even if she rarely frequented the confusing corridors, and he hadn't been the most social of the staff, after all. She'd heard only rumors here and there about the attack - students' rumors were never to be trusted completely, and the spring season was always tough on workload - but the letter all but confirmed them. Details, though, could only be trusted from a good source, and that meant showing up at that meeting.

Running a hand over the bronze watchband on her wrist, she felt for an indication of the time, then - "Crap," she hissed aloud, releasing the letter to spring out of her seat. Curse her for not going through her papers more quickly. She grabbed a scarf from her desk, feeling around its surface before she got a good grip, tying it haphazardly at the back of her head - this one made of simple white silk with decorative beading on the edges. "Ceta? Ceta, are you there?"

"Here, Miss Cypresse," the House-Elf reported promptly. Her speech had always been somewhat more... distinguished than that of most House-Elves, for some reason unbeknownst to Cy herself.

"Jesus, I told you not to call me that. Anyway - can you get me to outside of the Headmaster's Office? I'm late and I've got neither the patience nor the time to get lost again, 'cause I'm late."

"Certainly, Miss Cypresse," Ceta responded, earning her an eye roll, barely disguised behind the gauzy fabric. Cy shrugged on her cropped leather jacket - it got chilly this time of night, especially with only a t-shirt on - untangled her skirt from the corner of the table, stuffed her wand into its holster, and took Ceta's hand in one hand and her cane with the other. They set off in this way, ensuring she wouldn't get lost.

The molten chocolate stayed forgotten on her desk.

"You'll want to go straight and then turn left for the door," the elf advised as they emerged from the top of the stairs. Another loud crack signaled Ceta's departure, and Cy placed a hand on the wall, low enough to avoid the sconces, to guide her. She could hear voices inside as she walked, unclear words intermingling with the sharper click of her ankle boots. They were loud enough to know where she was going, but either they were too muffled or she wasn't paying enough attention for her to decipher who they belonged to.

"Yo, sorry I'm... something minutes late," the young woman said as she entered. "Have I missed anything yet?" The atmosphere in the room felt quite different from the colder hallway outside - she couldn't feel the warmth of the fire, at least, which meant it wasn't lit, which was fine. Stone walls made pretty good insulation, after all.

From the sound of voices in the room, there were several people here already, although she didn't know which professors, exactly - probably most of them, since she was, you know, late. Just hopefully not last. "Cypresse Lian, Professor of Transfiguration, if there are any either new or forgetful faces, although I have no idea who I'm introducing myself to, if somebody doesn't mind... giving me a headcount or something of the sort...?"

It seemed that for every long paused moment, a professor would walk through the entrance doors. So far eight had entered the Headmaster's Office after her, each having their reasons of coming moments later. Maya stayed sitting on the steps that divided the office into a split level. She did not need a chair nor did she want to stand. She already knew that she would be making quite the rounds after this meeting to ensure that all students were safely in their beds.

Watching each person, she couldn't help but to notice Boniface MacTavish, the Herbology professor give her a respectful nod. She remembered meeting him the night of the Masquerade Ball and the uniqueness of his mask. Nodding back, she looked down and wondered if he had seen her accidentally wound a student or if he was busy with his own tasks helping the students in the ballroom. Shaking her head, Maya knew that her mind couldn't go back there. She was strong, not weak and needed to focus on whatever the matter at hand may be tonight.

The next interesting face that walked into the room was the Divination's professor. Maya had never met the woman before. She wondered if this woman would be a "character" like the others in the past. There was always some kind of stereotype that fell onto teachers who taught Divination. And lastly, the next woman who caught her eye was Professor Jenson, the Slytherin Head of House. They had gotten close the year prior but it slowly fell apart. Maya was not good at keeping the communication between the two ongoing, however, with all that's happened in Hogwarts thus far, it was difficult to make time.

Every professor who walked in had introduced themselves to one another. Maya, who walked in after Professor Griffith, felt the need not to do so, nor to do so at that moment. The muggle studies professor would rather stay a mystery to some.

Caradoc had finally begun the meeting. Maya, arms crossed and hunched forward, listened carefully to the Head of Hufflepuff's words.

"You all notice the missing portraits." ... "Solomon's desk is split clean in half."

As Caradoc was describing what was different about the room, Maya's eyes followed. She looked on the walls and the walls empty that once had portraits of past Headmasters. Seeing the darker squares and rectangles against the wall showed where the portraits were hung. And finally, she looked over to Lear's desk and saw that it was beautifully split in half. The work of someone incredibly strong..., she thought and her mind went back to the giants that attacked that night. But could it be?

Maya's heart dropped. It had been five months after the Masquerade Ball and she had not noticed that Lear was missing. Most commonly because she wanted to keep some distance from him after her terrible attempt of helping the children. It was embarrassing to her. But now she felt sick to her stomach that she never once thought about seeing if Lear was alright. And now, for five whole months, he had been missing from right under our noses.

Maya listened to Caradoc's horrific battle along with Professors Equinox and Price. She remembered Caradoc telling her about that night when she went for a drink at the Hog's Head and he ran into her, drinking as well. It was truly a surprise that they should have never gone through. No one should have that night.

"Alaric, old friend, if you would be so kind to show around your letter to the rest of us."

Maya's back straightened at the introduction that there would be a first "clue" as to what may have happened to Lear. We know that could be the hags that took over Hogwarts that night, but how could someone so strong be gone so quickly? Was it quickly or was this whole disappearance gradual? No one knew, unless someone came up with more information other than Professor Equinox and his letter.

Elaine did not like being late. It insinuated both a lack of manners as well as a lack of respect towards the people she was supposed to meet, beyond being a bad example to all the students she routinely told that she expected them to be on time for their classes and appointments.

She had gotten out of a late meeting with the Board of Governors a quarter of an hour ago, however.

They had noticed that something was amiss in Hogwarts castle. If Elaine had to pinpoint when the too strange, too coincidental incidents had started to take place, she would date it around the time of the Masquerade Ball in Honor of the Ilvermorny’s students’ arrival last year – which, curiously enough, was also when the Headmaster had suddenly disappeared from the school. It was as if he had traded places with Lazarus Plott, who was still stalking the walls of Hogwarts as if he didn’t have his own school to take care of on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

She wasn’t a suspicious witch by definition, having seen too many events happen that others would have declared unbelievable or straight up untrue, but there was no doubt in Elaine’s mind that the Ilvermorny Headmaster was at once somehow involved in the disappearance of their own Headmaster as well as in one way or another related to the attacks on Hogwarts – because that was what they were – that had taken place since that ill-fated ball.

The governors thankfully hadn’t connected the dots about the violent incidents and the presence of Lazarus Plott yet, but they had drawn the obvious line to a Headmaster that simply wasn’t there.

Hogwarts Headmasters were known to be eccentric, apparently it was almost a requirement of the position, but there was only so much the Board of Governors would tolerate before they decided to take action – they were toeing a fine line between what could still be explained away and what would lead to an outright investigation into the proceedings of Hogwarts’ inner workings.

Her presence had calmed the witches and wizards in the governing council down enough to not press matters immediately, but there was only a set amount of time to be gained by a show of competence and assurance of protocols followed – Elaine had told them in a measured, even tone, that all classes were held as scheduled and that neither the education nor the health of their children or grandchildren were in danger. That was mostly true so far, but the Gryffindor Head of House knew that should worst come to worst they would need outside interference to protect the students.

As for Solomon Lear… she’d informed the twelve Governos that “The Headmaster is merely temporarily unavailable due to pressing personal obligations” – which sounded a lot better than “He’s vanished and we have no bloody clue where he is”.

She entered the Headmaster’s Office just in time to hear who she assumed to be the new Divination Professor incredulously ask, "The masquerade ball in October?"

Well, it seemed her arrival wasn’t that ill-timed.

The room was crowded. All of the other Heads of House were in attendance, as was maybe half of the professors. Some of them looked distressed, her niece looked downright hostile, while others appeared unfazed by the destruction inside the office.

Elaine was not and would never be comfortable in the presence of so many in parts very powerful wizards and witches, and she felt the shadows under her dark red gown shift on her skin, ready to defend in case of attack, or maybe to strike first if she gave them the chance. They hadn’t been this agitated in her first years of teaching at Durmstrang, but maybe that was a misconception born of herself having been too nervous to notice back then.

“Good evening,” she greeted the room’s occupants quietly, standing off to the side while she continued to listen to the new Professor speak.

Hjørdis did not bother to respond to Caradoc. With the state of Hogwarts the way it was, she had little time for idle chitchat or politeness. They had to get to the bottom of what was happening and fast. Time was of the essence here. If this was not incredibly important for the safety of the children that resided within these walls, she would not be here. 

The meeting began with Caradoc explaining Lear's disappearance. Last sighted at Halloween. Hjørdis did not recall seeing him at the ball but her visit was fleeting, given it took less than fifteen minutes for an issue to arise.  But she did recall the Hufflepuff head of house informing her about a fight that he was going to sort out, whilst she went to deal with the student dhampir losing control. With every word he said, her heart sunk a little and dread filled it. A trap, a hag, a coven... 

Price continued, presenting letters from Lear. She blinked, staying in her spot to allow others to read it first. Her eyes narrowed a little as he continued to speak. 'She was murdered by Finley'? Finley...? It was the last one that surprised her the most. Lear wrote a letter to her? Her mind wracked over the words that Price spoke, quickly stepping forward to see the letters for herself. He wanted them taken to her...  Her heart started to pound in her chest. This whole thing seemed so surreal. It could not be happening... and yet, it was. Professors were attacked by hags on the same night as the students were attacked in the ball. The professors were intentionally dragged away for the purpose of hurting the children? At least, Caradoc was allured away.  On top of everything, Lear had written clues and letters to them. To her. 

She wanted to question this whole thing. But her mind was still trying to process all of the information that Price had said. He continued before she had a chance. How would Lear have known about the coven of hags and S.C.A.R's intention? If he knew, why didn't he close down the school...? What the hell was going on? Only Lear could answer the questions but he was not here. Why did he want her to receive them? Because of the potions...? No, he would have sent them to Price. Did she know a Dolores? 

Looking back at Price, she nodded and spoke up, "Slytherin was attacked, they are still recovering." She had already brought up the situation earlier but now seemed like the time to expand on what she knew, as little as that may be. It was still a very fresh incident, with students still healing their wounds. She had not even had the time to fix the broken common room. There were scorch marks and broken furniture everywhere. "Spiders. The students claimed they vanished when hit by lumos. But it left a lot of my students poisoned, severely injured or knocked unconscious." She paused before bringing up something that she found strange at the time but could not bring it up then, "A lot repeated the same things. Two students heard noises from their dorms, everyone followed to the common room and... it ended up like this. I was out patrolling the grounds that night, I saw nothing enter." 

Of course she could have missed it but... was a hoard of spiders that easy to miss? Perhaps Griffith had a bunch of secret spiders already within the castle walls, she did not know. She confirmed either way that she did not see the spiders, just in case anyone thought she was cruel enough to see an army of spiders and do nothing about it - which would not have surprised her in the least given how little most of them knew her. She was a private person by nature and only her closest would know anything about her. There was no doubt that she had far more enemies or just civil relationships here than friends. Hell, Griffith would probably be the first to suspect her of allowing that. "They had all disappeared by the time I arrived, as well." It could have been a coincidence. Of course it could have... But Hjørdis had a name in heart and thinking it over would just fill it with more dread that her suspicion was right. 

Her explanation of the events was brief. But she had little information to begin with. It seemed that the other professors had a lot more, with the information of hags being on the grounds. She was definitely miffed about the lack of information in this whole situation. 

Finley..., she thought to herself, her heart dreading to continue. Her eyes scanned the room, Vancleaf was not present. She turned to the Hufflepuff Head of House in a flash, "Were non-professor staff invited to this?" She asked him abruptly, wondering if Vancleaf had gotten the invite to be here or not. He was the only Finley that both Lear and herself actually knew. She hated to think he had anything to do with this - whatever this was. But she needed to find out. Who was 'she' who was murdered and was it him...?  Her eyes scanned the letters. Finley murdered this Dolores? Why could she not recall a Dolores?  Her eyes flickered up to the date Price mentioned. 4.4.24... The numbers did not ring any bells. But perhaps her judgement was clouded from the huge offload of information everyone was giving.

Vernatis said something that caught her attention, "You know which Dolores these are addressed to?" She asked him straight up as he mentioned a rumour mill. "And do we know any Finleys?" She asked the room, kind of hoping that others knew of another. She did not want to instantly put such a huge accusation onto someone without more proof.

The Charms Professor said another thing that confused her. He specifically mentioned Gryffindor students, twice. "Did something happen to the Gryffindors?" She added, looking between Vernatis and her aunt who headed up the house. If something had happened, Hjørdis was unaware of it and wanted more information on how the lions were related to this mystery. They could easily have been attacked the same time as Slytherin from the sounds of it.