Making hiring decisions and managing household staff was new to Ophelia. In her natal home there hadn't been much staff to speak of: one live-in housekeeper who prepared meals and did some light cleaning, and a nanny before they'd started Hogwarts. After their fourth year at Hogwarts put an end to her formal education, there had been a tutor who visited for lessons, but Ophelia hadn't been at all involved in their procurement or management. In Armando's house there had been a much larger staff — so large that it seemed rather ridiculous to her at first, particularly for one old man living all alone. Armando's proclivity to treat her as a petulant child and not a young woman who would soon be managing a household of her own, however, meant that she had little to do with them, either. The only real decision she'd had to make when she moved in to Mr. Devine's home, which was already furnished and staffed, was who to appoint as her lady's maid — and she had brought Perenia along from Armando's home more out of sentiment and a sense of loyalty to the girl who had helped her get away with so much under his roof, not necessarily because it was a prudent choice.

She should have been shopping around for a wetnurse by now, but alas.

One of the maids that had been with the household before she'd married into it had been slowly but steadily saving up money for her own marriage. She and her beau had enough to rent a modest house in Irvingly, and the date had been set, so Ophelia was out to find her replacement. Not that she knew at all what sort of qualities one looked for in a maid. Having been pulled out of Hogwarts before even her OWL exams, however, Ophelia was not inclined to be overly impressed by grades.

"Mm," she murmured politely. "And what exactly is included under the umbrella of household charms? Folding laundry, sweeping floors? Or more detailed things, like scouring and polishing?" Not that Ophelia would have had the faintest idea how to scour a pot or polish a balustrade, if anyone had asked her.