Meeting of Minds (Charlotte)

Charlotte stood at one of the windows of her classroom, gazing out over the beautiful scenery below. She felt, as she always did, that she could stand and look at this view all day, but alas, the monster of paperwork dictated otherwise, and so she eventually managed to drag herself away from the glass and walk back to her desk, where she collected several vast piles of essays which she needed to mark at some point before tomorrow and bundled them all into a large cardboard box. Pushing the lid down, she gestured with her wand and caused the box to rise into the air. The blonde took her cloak from where it hung behind her desk and draped it over her shoulders- she didn't really need it, for the day was warm, but the morning had been cold, and that had been magnified by the cold stones of the castle so that inside was colder than the grounds on the other side of the stone walls.

With her box of parchment hovering just ahead of her and her sky blue cloak hanging behind her, Charlotte made her way out of her classroom and into the corridor outside, where she almost immediately had to step to one side in order to avoid being hit by a hurrying student. "No running in the corridors, Mr Lacey!" she called out, recognising a member of her own House. After this, her journey was fairly uneventful as she made her way through the many twisting and turning corridors that made up the majority of Hogwarts' architecture- those parts that weren't occupied by sweeping staircases and grand rooms with vaulted ceilings. It was no wonder that so many students got lost during their first year, she reflected, ducking under a low arch and then knocking a specific pattern on an imposing oak door, which obligingly swung open to allow her through, albeit to the background noise of a hideously squeaky hinge. Finally, however, she reached some of the wider main corridors, which meant that she could proceed with at least a reasonable chance of not being obstructed on her way. Unless, of course, she ran into Peeves, who seemed to have taken a particular dislike to her since she had returned as a professor.

Charlotte was lucky today; she managed to reach the main staircase without being impeded or delayed by any of the castle's numerous mischievous inhabitants- and in that category, she most definitely included the Weasleys, whose pranks could mean a terrible delay, especially since they always seemed to know when one was in a hurry. She brushed a speck of dust from the sleeve of her white blouse as she began to make her way down the grand staircase, the sound of her heels clicking on stone seeming abnormally loud in the unaccustomed silence. A day of teaching classes would leave one's head ringing, as likely as not, and was certainly not an opportunity for peace and quiet.

"Oh, good evening, Professor Dragon." Charlotte greeted her colleague politely as she met him halfway down a flight of stairs. "How are you?"

Charlotte gave her colleague a vague smile while she tried desperately to remember where she'd last seen him... oh yes; it had been on the suspension bridge, in the middle of that chaos with Fred and George Weasley. The blonde had decided that she rather liked the Weasleys; they were friendly and light hearted, and didn't take anything too seriously, and that was just what Hogwarts needed at the moment, she felt. So the red headed family were rather like a tonic to her, even when she was constantly having to fight to keep them even vaguely focused on the topic in hand. And she was, because the Weasley twins in particular were about as likely to stay on track as a major government initiative- in other words, they went off the rails at every available opportunity. Still, so far they hadn't tried any tricks in her class at least, which she was certainly thankful for because she wasn't at all sure that she'd be up to the task of spotting them before they got her.

"Quite well, thank you." the blonde responded with a smile. In truth, she had never felt so well in her life. The air up here seemed to agree with her, as did her new job of teaching. She loved it and had taken to it with a aplomb that had surprised even her. OK, so maybe she wasn't so hot on the paperwork and marking and so on, but the actual physical teaching, she felt, was extremely suited to her way of thinking. She loved it, and she never wanted to do anything else ever again. As long as she had an option, of course, and a certain pink-clad professor would love to take that away from her, she was sure. Not for any actual reason but merely to prove that she could, because Dolores Umbridge was power-mad, and once having achieved that power, she would abuse it until it was taken away from her.

"No, I wouldn't- it's always nice to have company." Charlotte told her colleague as they stepped off the stairs in the nick of time before they swung away again. "My classes have been great so far- how about yours?"

Charlotte merely smiled in response to her colleague's comment, not entirely sure as to how she should answer him. Other than 'thank you', of course, which would sound a little silly in the circumstances, would it not? The blonde flicked her wand to ensure that her box was keeping up with them; pushing it slightly ahead so that she could see where it was and ensure that she didn't hit anything with it... hopefully, at least, because steering- any kind of steering- had never been Charlotte's strong point. But she really didn't want it to collide with anything right now because, knowing her luck, it would break open and then she'd be left kneeling on the floor, grabbing handfuls of paper and having to carry them all right the way back up to her office, since she couldn't possibly wander around holding them that way for long- her arms would more than likely give way.

"Everyone's interested in different things." Charlotte agreed, knowing what the man meant. Some of her own students were not at all interested in her subject, and didn't even try to pretend to be. And she understood that- when she had been at school, she had utterly detested Potions, and had barely tried in the class at all since she was too busy complaining about it under her breath to the person next to her. She was gratified to note, though, that most of her students did seem to warm up to the subject after a few lessons. The thing about charms was that they were usually the kind of useful magic that could help to make your everyday life easier- or sometimes, they were just rather fun spells with amusing effects. Either way, Charms had always been Charlotte's own favourite subject when she was at Hogwarts.

"People shouldn't live in fear." the blonde murmured quietly, eyes on the corridor ahead, watching in case Umbridge appeared around the next corner with her sickly smile and her clipboard. "Not of You-Know-Who. And not of Dolores Umbridge."

Charlotte didn't see why Professor Umbridge had even been considered as eligible for the position which she now held. The woman had no qualifications whatsoever to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, and yet here she was in the country's only wizarding school being incompetent in front of hundreds of students. From what she had heard, the Woman In Pink was completely useless as a teacher, and her classes spent the entirety of their DADA lessons in sitting and reading from the textbook. How on earth the woman expected her students to pass a practical OWL paper without having ever even attempted the spells in question was beyond Charlotte's comprehension. She knew from her own classes that it often took five or six attempts for a student's work to have even a small effect, and often several lessons for the desired effect to be entirely achieved. Still, there was one consolation- if the past was any indication, the woman would be gone by the end of the year. It was not in Charlotte's nature to wish ill luck on any individual, but the pompous, power-hungry little woman in the pink outfits was seriously beginning to make her reconsider this. Some of the twins' merchandise could come in very handy one of these days...

The blonde chuckled and nodded in agreement with her colleague's comment. Right now, she had to admit, she would probably rather face You-Know-Who. The Dark Lord would at least be less irritating than her current colleague. The everyday small-minded comments and irritating bureaucracy of the woman was beyond belief. Charlotte had not so far had to suffer through having the woman in one of her lessons, but she was sure that that delight was yet to come. Oh, what joy... Not.

She considered the next question rather seriously. It was a good question. One which she wasn't entirely sure that she knew the answer to herself, if she was honest. So she went with "It's hard to say. I always liked Charms at school"- she'd got the top mark for it in her class- "so when I heard that the position was open, I just had to go for it. I just like that it's so... open. Room for interpretation. So, why did you choose Herbology?"

The sun shone in through every window, and as they passed, Charlotte closed her eyes briefly to enjoy the unaccustomed warmth. It seemed that spring was finally breaking through, and the long, cold, dark days of winter would soon be behind them, thank Merlin. She couldn't wait for the summer; that had always been her favourite time of year when she was a student. Long, hot days spent lounging on the lawns, sitting by the lake, occasionally risking a brief dip if the giant squid seemed to be distracted... Ah, those had been the days. Now, the blonde suspected, she would be spending much of her time sitting indoors marking books, while looking longingly out at the sun gleaming on the waters of the Black Lake, while students lay around on the verges, chattering and laughing. At that time of year, she imagined, she would be seriously envying the Care of Magical Creatures, Flying and Herbology professors. In the winter of course, she had the advantage, but that period was soon to be over. Which was a shame in some ways, but she was definitely glad to be moving forward into warmer days.

"That's a good reason." she agreed cheerily. "Learning new things is always exciting, and it makes every day different." That was part of the reason that she had agreed to take this position. It allowed her to spend a little of her time on her own research, such as it was. She was currently working on a paper which would focus on the many different uses of some of the more advanced seventh year charms, such as the Avis charm. Although that should technically fall under the Transfiguration curriculum, being a form of conjuration, it was still left to her to teach it. Technically it fell outside her area of expertise (although Charlotte's area of expertise was far wider than her position might suggest) and as such, she aimed to have it reclassified under Transfiguration.

Charlotte nodded abstractedly in response to her colleague's comment, her mind drifting far away, back to her home on the Welsh hills where every day seemed the same... It was probably because of the history of the place, she considered. It had seen so many people come and go, so many suns rise and fall, that each new one seemed the same as the last, and nothing seemed to be any different to how it had been the last time. She loved her home, of course; she had grown up there, and it was a comfortable- luxurious, even- place which held many happy memories for her. But that was the point; so many people had made their memories there that she felt that the place could never truly belong to her.

She came back to earth with a bump at Rigoletto's next remark, though, and she glanced over towards the window with sharp hazel eyes, as though she expected to find the troublemakers floating in mid air. At Hogwarts this wasn't as ridiculous as it sounded, though, and Charlotte had learned to expect the unexpected, though that saying always annoyed her since if one expected it then it couldn't be unexpected. With the Weasley twins both in the same building, anything could happen and very likely would before the year was over. This time, it proved to be innocent, however, and Charlotte smiled as she joined the dark haired man at the window. "It is good to see them having fun." she agreed. "Schooling should be about more than lessons, especially at Hogwarts." What with the multitude of secret passages and the many interesting doorways, moving staircases and talking portraits, this castle was an absolute joy to explore, and Charlotte had still not completed that task even now.

A soft smile played gently over Charlotte's lips as she looked down on the students having sun below. She had grown up in a castle in the remote reaches of the Welsh hillsides, and as a consequence of this isolation, had grown up as a relatively lonely child. The blonde had never really had friends in her early years, and so coming to Hogwarts had been something of a revelation for her. For the first time, she had really been able to associate with and get to know a large group of people who were her own age, and it had been a real chance to blossom. It had been the first point at which she had been able to realise that actually, she really was a people person. Fabulous.

"Oh, I completely agree." Charlotte murmured, not taking her eyes off the happy scene below. It did her good to see people were really having fun, even under the iron heel of a certain professor in pink. The madwoman from the Ministry could not strip all the enjoyment out of school life, even if she tried. In fact, the more she tried, the more the students would probably enjoy it. There was, after all, a certain enjoyment to be found in open defiance of a dictator, and while as a professor, Charlotte could never condone mischief and mayhem, but she could certainly look the other way and perhaps leave some textbooks open at useful pages. But things weren't that bad yet, and with any luck, they would never reach that point.

"Professor Dragon, I am on no side but my own. And my own side is very much that of fun." Charlotte didn't like to divide people unnecessarily, but these days there seemed to be no choice. So when Charlotte picked a side, she stuck to it, and anyone who was on the other side had better watch out. "But which side are you on?"