Washing hands (open)

[Thomas Costello]

"Nice to meet you, Thomas Costello, Auror Studies." He replied holding his hand out to shake as a freindly gesture. Tom knew that she was the deputy headmistress but didn't know her name until now. "What subject do you teach?" he asked curiously.

[Professor Netta Barton]

"Charms," she told him, shaking his hand warmly. "Nice to properly meet you," she said smiling. This whole situation was a tad weird she thought. Big staff gathering, in the bathroom. Not where she would have thought she would talk properly for the first time with the new Auror Studies teacher. Ah well, one of life's many excitements.

"What are you teaching now George?" she asked, turning to the other professor. She really should be able to remember these things. Dates, spells and that sort of thing - fine. This kind of thing, not so good. It could be worse, she thought to herself. She could suffer from amnesia.

[Professor George Weasley]

George immediately pocketed the origami bird, flushing a bit. The Deputy Headmistress. Rumor had it that she was a pretty uptight lady. Much as George wanted to not believe it, he didn't want to take his chances.

"Ah, Professor Barton," George nodded. He was a bit nervous... most people on the staff knew of his penchant for troublemaking... surely the idea of George teaching would be scandalous, even suspicious, to them. "Well, I'm doing Broom Practice... really the only thing I'm qualified for, honestly..." George let out a feeble laugh before slouching a little. God, meeting the staff unnerved him. George was a bit afraid that all of them would turn out like Lucius - hateful and decieving. "And you're teaching Charms, then? Well, it was your best subject in... school..."

Now George remembered where he'd seen Professor Barton before! Netta Barton, the girl in the year above him who nearly killed him for putting a jinx on her wand!

...

Now George was even more afraid than before.

[Professor Netta Barton]

As George spoke Netta remembered the first real conversation she'd had with him. Oh. That would explain why he was being so polite. That had been the most reckless thing she'd done whilst she'd been at school. Netta laughed inwardly at the memory. For some reason George had thought he was going to die. Like she would do that. A murder charge really ruined your career prospects. She smiled slightly. Maybe next time a student attempted to prank her she'd tell them to go ask Professor Weasley about the wand incident.

Netta laughed out loud slightly. "Just Netta is fine," she told him, still smiling. "And I'm sure we'll get on fine," she said before adding in a voice which said far more than her words "that is as long as you don't put any spells on my wand."

[Thomas Costello]

"Nice to meet you to Netta." He said shaking her hand. Tom then watched George get nervous during his little conversation with Proffesor Barton. "Well I'm not relaxed but I am entertained." He chuckled to himself. "When are your next lessons?" Tom asked them both.

[Professor George Weasley]

He was glad Thomas was entertained by George's nerves; for some reason, Netta's words hadn't really calmed him down, just made him not as jumpy and more sick to his stomach.

But then Netta mentioned, jokingly, that George shouldn't put any more spells on her wand. He finally smiled in earnest - she wasn't harboring any ill will. Thank God. The Netta he knew in school would've Sectumsempra-ed him if he so much as wandered by the Ravenclaw table. Apparently everyone had grown a little.

"I can't teach Broom Practice at night, so I'm doing... paperwork," George realized with a groan. Ugh, how he hated it. "I bet you guys can teach night classes though... I get to do loads of administrative work. Fun." George made an annoyed face. Oh, how he HATED paperwork.

[Professor Netta Barton]

"Night classes?" said Netta in shock. "I think I might be on the end of some rather painful pranks if I suggested teaching Charms at night to some of them. They'd attempt to eat me alive." Not that they would succeed. It would be quite entertaining to see them try though, although rather unfair.

"There's always paperwork," stated Netta matter of factly. "Just wait until someone is injured in your class," she added, a slightly unnerving glint in her eye. "Then you'll find out about paperwork." She remembered the first time someone had been injured in her class. They'd gone too far with levitation spells, trying to levitate a large cabinet. It had ended up on their head. That had been a very stressful week.

[Professor George Weasley]

George gulped as Netta brought up injuries. Injuries, in Broom Practice? It was almost a guaranteed. His first year, Lee Jordan fell off a broom and got a concussion. Harry's year, Neville Longbottom broke his wrist. And then in his fourth year, there was Romilda Vane, who toppled off of a broom and impaled herself on her friend's still hovering one.

"Not looking forward to injuries," George admitted blankly. "Especially ones involving brooms. Must be nice teaching Auror Studies, then, eh, Thomas? No real chance of injury."

Then George got curious. "Levitating large cabinets? Seriously? Man, that sounds like... fun...?" George wasn't sure how to voice that he found the idea of third and fourth years moving large drawers absolutely hysterical. It was cruel, yes, but George couldn't help it.

[Thomas Costello]

"Night classes..." He said to himself and thought about the possibilities. "Cabinets..." He chuckled picturing it though he shouldn't laugh. "Well there are a few practicles in Auror Studies but not alot. Still, that doesn't mean there won't be completly no accidents...though I hope none happen." He said. "I feel abit hounered actually to teach here and be the first Auror Studies proffesor in hogwarts history." Thomas said proud of himself.

[Professor George Weasley]

"Yeah... guess the two of us are replacements," George realized, gesturing to himself and Netta. "I mean, me for Madam Hooch and you" (he pointed gently to Netta) "for Professor Flitwick." George blinked. "At least... those were the teachers when I was in school... I don't know if they've changed..."

George bit his lip. He really was quite out of touch. He'd have to go to the Library to figure out who else had left the school and who had stayed. He didn't want to say anything stupid in front of the ickle firsties.

Ickle firsties. George laughed at himself before turning to Thomas.

"First Auror Studies teacher ever, eh? That's... that's awesome! You set the precedent!" George marveled. "You're the standard, then... pretty neat..."

[Professor Netta Barton]

"I'm slightly less new than you two," she told the others. "I started a few years after Brendan became Headmaster." When she thought about it, she had been here quite a large part of her life. It was quite a scary thought really. Well, she enjoyed it so what did it matter?

"Yes, there are quite a few new classes this term," Netta told them. "Auror studies being one of them," she added, inclining her head to Thomas. "Apparently students want to have more choice." This was quite interesting really, it meant that some of the new classes had incredibly small numbers of students. Netta loved it when she had fewer students, it made it much nicer and easier to teach, as well as there being less chance of cabinet related accidents. "They do still have to do the main subjects though, quite a few were rather irritated by that."

[Thomas Costello]

"Thank you George." Tom said. Thomas then listned to Netta speak about the students getting more of a variety of classes. "Personally I think the students deserve more Variety." Tom said to Netta. "As you know Auror Studies was requested by the ministry due to it's lack of Aurors." Thomas said remembering the minister's announcment about it a month ago.

[Professor Netta Barton]

"I agree with the more variety, it's just difficult to timetable it properly," she told Thomas. She'd had quite a bit of stress over the Holidays trying to get all the different classes to fit together, she still wasn't sure if it would run smoothly. It should do though. There were bound to be a few flaws, it was all new but they would work it out in the end.

"There is definitely a shortage of aurors," agreed Netta. "Hopefully this class would encourage more of them to chose it as an occupation." Netta had a theory about the lack of aurors. Many people who would have previously chosen it as a career were just too scared. She didn't like it. Even after the death of You-know-Who the world was still living in fear.

[Professor George Weasley]

George couldn't imagine being an Auror. He'd flipped out during the Second War, and he was just a reinforcement, like Oliver Wood. Being an Auror would have been a verifiable nightmare. The lack of Aurors made perfect sense to him.

"Well... I guess there's an uneasy peace right now," George mused. "Maybe people think that the Aurors aren't really needed at the moment."

How wrong they are, George thought. Just because he didn't have the guts to do it didn't mean that everyone else should wuss out, too... there were plenty of brave, smart people who would make amazing Aurors. Like Hermione Granger - what was she doing in the Department of Misuse of Magic?

"I hope we do get more," George smirked. "For all of our sakes..."

He broke off there. Best not continue.

[Thomas Costello]

"I can imagine how difficult it must be." Tom said to Netta about the time table. "The lack of Aurors is actually abit scary." He said thinking about how a few aurors would match up against an army of death eaters. "This class is also a theory to encourage more people to consider about joining the Aurors." Tom said thinking about the theory. "If we don't get some new aurors in the next few months...We may be vulnreable..." He said sounding abit worried.