September 15th, 1888 — Somewhere on the grounds near the groundskeeper's hut/home

It had been a few weeks since school started and Ellie still felt a little odd being back at Hogwarts. After a day of class, she often found herself turning to go to the Hufflepuff den instead of towards the exits to go home to Beth and Zachariah. She'd catch herself before she got there, of course, and was always home by the time the nanny was cooking dinner at their modest home in North Bartonburg, but you'd think having been gone for several years and coming back she'd look at the place differently.

Ellie had inherited the earth magic classroom from a previous professor who had left his touch all over the place. It was clear to see that they had differing opinions about what earth magic was and how to celebrate and use it. She wanted to completely redecorate her classroom and adjoining office and since she had only the two classes today, she decided to take the afternoon and hunt down things to make her classroom feel more homey and conducive for learning about the topic she was so passionate about.

Now she was wandering the grounds, with a purpose but little direction about where to actually go, she'd never gone to the groundskeeper's home as a student, and now that she needed to find him, she wasn't exactly sure where to go and what he might be doing at that point in time. She had several free hours before she needed to be home so that wasn't an issue. The issue was finding where she needed to go!

Finally she found what appeared to be the groundskeeper's hut and strode up to it, smoothing a strand of rogue blonde hair out of her face. She looked down at her black dress and tugged it into place. One must be presentable when encountering someone you needed something from, right? Knocking on the door, Eleanor called out, "Mr. Wild? Are you home?"

  

It was one of those odd days in the early fall when the sun was still warm but a bit of a chill rode along the wind. Silas felt the need to both wipe his brow and pull his coat a bit tighter around him.

He’d been out back behind the cottage for the better part of the afternoon since lunch. He was fussing and fighting with a particularly ornery patch of pumpkins. He did not know what the last groundskeeper did to this plot, but these things were out of control. Half of them were the size of man and the other half were barely bigger than a man’s fist and none of them were the right size for the Hallowe’een Feast a little over a month away.

“eh, forget it,” He slapped one of the larger pumpkins with his wand in defeat; immediately the pumpkin split in half as if to mock him, but of course pumpkins cannot do that…can they?

Silas grumbled as he approached the back door only to hear someone calling his name from the one up front. The voice was not familiar and he had not been expecting company, so he took off his muddy gloves, straighten his jacket, and tried to appear less grouchy as he made his way around his small side herb garden to the front,

“Hello, Ma’am,” he called out as he rounded the corner.

He looked her over. She was pretty, but he still did not recognize her, not that it stood for anything, he hardly knew anyone well yet.

“I’m Mr. Wild,” Silas removed his hat, “how can I help you today?”

Eleanor Rigby

  

When the groundskeeper rounded the corner of the dwelling she was standing in front of, Ellie beamed. She liked to meet new people, especially when they were around her age-- she guessed. They had likely gone to school together, but judging by his appearance, he was likely not a Gryffindor as she was. She might have to ask him later, she reckoned. Once she'd asked what she needed to ask. She knew that as a lady of propriety she shouldn't offer her hand for him to shake, but she was not one for propriety now that Xander was gone. She had two children to raise, and she wanted to teach Zachariah the proper way to interact with people.

Stepping off the ledge to his front door, Eleanor approached the much taller man and stuck her hand out. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wild. I am Eleanor Rigby, the new earth magic professor. I'm looking to decorate my classroom in a more natural setting, but less plant based than the herbology greenhouse. I'm looking for beautiful quartz outcroppings, things that can be easily harvested and taken into my classroom. I was hoping you could help me locate a pine tree or two to put in the classroom on either side. It will soothe my students and give us the pine needles needed for things I wish to teach them."

Pausing to take a breath, blue eyes sparkled up at the groundskeeper. "And now that that's over, I really did want to come and introduce myself, I like to know all the ins and outs of the school and since things have changed since I graduated seven years ago, I thought if anyone knew the ground better than I did back then, it would be you now. Would you be able to help me, Mr. Wild? Please?"

  

When one is poor, one learns that rules tend to matter more from the bottom up. Therefore, if a middle-class woman offered her hand, you took it.

“Nice to meet you Miss Rigby,” he managed before she continued with her business.

She seemed kind. It was one of the things he missed about being at Hogwarts; things were a bit more egalitarian here than in the city.

Gray clouds began to make their way over the tree tops of the dark forest behind them and a sudden cold, not chilly, but cold gust of wind thrust between them ruffling the collar of Silas’ jacket and almost sending his cap flying.

“Of course, Miss Rigby. I’m happy to assist. I might wonder though if you would be interested in stepping inside as it looks like we might have a storm coming in with the evening.”

Silas turned away from her and surveyed the ground until he found a hearty enough rock, about the size of a small cat, and he hoisted it on his shoulder. From there he moved to the front door of his cottage and yanked open the heavy wooden door with his free hand. Then, dropping the stone, it served as a type of doorstop keeping the door from closing.

“For the sake of propriety,” he gave her a wink, “This should keep anyone from getting any ideas,” he paused, “also it is always nice to have the door open when it rains.”

Silas stepped aside and gestured for her to come in, “If you’d like I can put on some tea and show you a map or two of where I think we might be able to find some of the items you would like to see in your room.”

Silas smiled and waited for her to enter as the sky grew darker and the wind continued to pick up speed.

Eleanor Rigby

  

As the groundskeeper spoke, Ellie felt the wind kicking up and she tugged her ever present black cloak around her even more. At least if it rained later on, she could count on the black garb she wore hiding most of the wetness and if she avoided mud puddles, she wouldn't have to worry about it needed cleaning all that much. She didn't really care though, it wasn't that bad to wash it, so if she got dirty, she got dirty.

At his suggestion that they go inside, automatically Eleanor glanced about for those who might be watching. Then she let her guard down, the man had been hired by the Board, surely they trusted him. And she was a widowed woman so she knew what to look out for. And if he was willing to prop the door open, then she'd go in. At least so far as to get out of the rain that was surely coming.

"Sure, Mr. Wild," she said with a bright beam of a smile. Hiking up her skirts, she stepped into the small cottage he lived in. It was darker than outside which caused her to blink as her eyes adjusted to the shadows. Maybe she should suggest some extra lighting? But that would likely be overstepping her bounds and she didn't want to alienate him when she would need his assistance quite frequently. As soon as her eyes adjusted, she peered around, noting the male touches to the cottage and automatically cataloging what could use a feminine touch here and there. It was one thing Xander said he'd loved about her was how she could enter somewhere and automatically know what to fix to make it look more like a home and less like a place where people lived for convenience.

As soon as Silas walked in, Ellie looked at him and smiled again. "It's a lovely home you have here, Mr. Wild. Where would be a good place to sit? I'd like to go over those charts and maps, please." She left off her sentence that she wanted to look at them immediately because propriety wouldn't allow a woman to command a man to do something any sooner than he wanted to, especially if he wasn't her husband. Xander thought it was adorable when she told him what to do, but Mr. Wild? She doubted he'd find it so endearing.

  

Silas ducked through the doorway behind Ms. Rigby. After she asked where to sit he flicked his wand and pulled a small wooden table and two chairs towards the center of the room.

“There you are, ma’am. Please, make yourself comfortable.”

He went to the back corner of the room and hoisted a few logs into his arm which he brought back to the hearth and stacked gently upon the fire.

“I’m sorry. I was not expecting company and the weather seems to have taken a turn for the worse. This should help add some light."

Once again made a slight movement with his wand by flicking his wrist and the fireplace erupted into a bright, comforting glow that well illuminated the room.

Jack, Silas’ oversized, black and white cat (larger than a cat but smaller than a wolf) appeared from the shadows stretching and yawning. No doubt, his nap was disturbed by the entrance of the people. Rubbing against Eleanor’s leg, Jack made his way in front of the now roaring fire and curled up for another nap.

“Sorry about that, he’s a bit of a flirt, that one,” Silas referenced the cat while he swung a kettle of tea on a rod over the fire.

It was then, as the fire really began to crackle, that the first heavy drops of rain began to splash on the cottage's slate roof. The air changed immediately. The atmosphere was charged with refreshing ions. Silas took a deep breath while looking back at his visitor.

“Yes, then, while that heats up, let us take look at a few of the maps shall we?” he pulled the chair around so he was beside her rather than across the table from her, “I’m not sure if you know this but there is a section of the forest where crystals were once excavated for commercial sale. The governors long ended that, but it is a fertile area for precious stones.”


The rain fell even harder now and the kettle began to whistle,

“Go ahead and grab those maps in the basket by the cellar door and I’ll get our tea sorted.”

Silas went about his task finding himself somewhat excited to share a bit of the history he had learned recently about the place! 

Also, visitors! He had felt quite secluded since he arrived. What a nice diversion!

Eleanor Rigby

  

Eleanor was pleased when Silas pulled the table and chairs into the center of the room. It was the most well-lit part of the cottage and it was just far enough from the fire to get the benefit of the heat without being stiflingly hot. Sitting in the chair on the side by the door-- one never knows when you must escape quickly from something like a fire or a crazed murderer who may have lured her in there to kill her (never mind that she came to find him first, of course). A slight moment of paranoia and then Ellie relaxed as Silas's cat, a rather large one at that, came and rubbed against her leg. "Cats are an incredible judge of character. I had one as a child who only liked me. She particularly hated me da, but once I went off to school, she had to like him because she didna take to traveling well." Oh sheesh, her accent was showing.

Then Silas came and sat beside her. Her skin prickled at the sense of someone being so close. No one had sat that close to her since Xander was killed by the flying tigers last year. It wasn't an unwelcome sensation but it was unusual. The tea was soon ready though, and when he got up to get it, she breathed a silent sigh of relief. She had had a hard time focusing on what he was saying about the crystals. Something about a commercial sale excavation site.

"Oh my," she said absently as she got up to grab the maps he'd directed her to get, "Commerical? I'm so glad that the Board stopped them from continuing, Hogwarts is so magical, taking away from it to sell for money is just wrong."

Once she'd obtained the maps, she sat back down and unrolled one. She wasn't quite sure what she was looking at, but it detailed a part of the campus that she'd not covered. She was immediately fascinated and began to pore over it, leaning in close to take in the details.

  

He took the tea off of the heat and placed the kettle on the edge of the table before grabbing four small stones from a basket to the side of the hearth. He used the stones to hold down the edges of the unfurled map then made his way to a small pantry on the other side of the room making sure not to disturb Jack along the way.

“The sales were some shady dealings with a professor and some shop owner over in Knockturn, but you never know how true these rumors area. Either way, as soon as the headmaster got wind of what was going on he summoned the board of governors and they put a stop to it.”

Jack let out a loud purr-meow in is sleep while rolling over and pawing up some unseen prey he was no doubt chasing in his dream state.

Silas smiled back at Ms. Rigby while he took down a set of saucers and cups from the panty and placed them on the table. Carefully, he poured the tea into each vessel and nodded to the sugar, lemon, and honey which just seemed to appear on the table while no one was looking.

Silas took his seat beside Ellie once again and felt his leg brush against the fabric of her skirt. Instinctually he moved his chair a bit further away while trying not to draw attention to himself. The last thing he would want to do is make Ms. Rigby feel uncomfortable. Relaxing, he spoke,

“So what we are looking at here is actually a map of the cave system that extends from the headmaster’s barrier underneath the centaur herd,” he flicked a piece of dried plant off the parchment, “we can find plenty of crystals there and,” he reached into the basket for another map which he unfurled, “in this area not far from the lake there are some great young trees.”

A deafening crack of lightning was followed by the bass roll of thunder which cut him off. 
A sudden gust of wind caused the door to slam shut. 
The rain intensified. 
Silas jumped to his feet and pressed the door back open rolling the ston to a more secure position to keep it in place.

“Sorry about that ma’am,” Silas stood in the doorway and looked out over the ground through the now pouring rain, “It’s been an odd start to fall. Some of the animals are acting strange and this weather…”

He turned back to his guest and remembered they had only met. He was being far too familiar and in no way did he want to frighten the lady.

“I am sorry,” he said with a smile, “It seems like this weather has no intention of letting up. I do not think we will have much luck searching today.”

An anxiety was building inside his stomach that matched the storm raging outside. Something was telling him that Ms. Rigby needed to go, that she needed to be back in the safety of the castle. Something was not right.

“Ms. Rigby,” Silas turned back from the door abruptly. He thought only of her safety, “I am afraid I am going to have to ask you to go back t the castle, we can continue this meeting later,” he grimaced at how poorly his delivery was, then “I’m happy to cast the impervius charm to ensure your dry return to the castle.”

He knew he was coming across as rude but something in his gut told him it was safer if she left, and that she needed to leave now!

Eleanor Rigby