July 15th, 1895 - Hufflepuff Den

It had been a week since Dorothea had been officially hired by Hogwarts. It hadn't taken her long at all to find a new post after finishing her employment with the Valenduris family, the fact that the family had telegraphed their plans months in advance had given her chance to begin looking quite early, and now here she was. She looked around the Den, how long had it been? eleven years since she had called this place home. She still felt the warmth of the hufflepuff decor around her and she knew this was a safe space for her. Of course she was a different person to that seventeen year old girl studying hard for her NEWTS, but the hufflepuff inside her remained. She had enjoyed being a governess, she had done very well at the role, but taking charge of the emotional well being of a whole Hogwarts house was a challenge she was itching to sink her teeth into.

She heard footsteps coming in to the common room and she half turned to see Professor Lissington walking across the room. He was another memory from her time here, although she had run into him several times over recent years during the course of her role as Hyacinth's governess.

"Good afternoon, Professor. Lovely to see you. I Haven't had chance to head up an snoop around my old dorms. Its all quite exciting though isnt it." her excitement for their meeting bubbling through her otherwise well composed demeanor. This would be their first meeting to properly discuss how they together would shape the hufflepuffs of the future.

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Gus Lissington

  

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He paused outside of the Hufflepuff common room, his hand pressed against the cool wall as he steadied himself. Even though a few weeks had passed since Mason’s death, Gus still felt like he was underwater. The idea of walking into the room was daunting – Mason wasn’t going to be there, not now, not ever. Gus was without his friend and he wasn’t quite sure how he was going to lead their house without having the man to lean on for advice.

Gus exhaled sharply and ran a free hand through his hair before he tapped the barrels outside of the common room in the correct order to open the door. He ducked into the room, pausing midstep as he heard a familiar voice greet him. Gus turned toward Miss Potts, a woman he knew of but certainly didn’t know well, and offered her a slight smile.

“Afternoon,” he said, although his nose wrinkled for a moment. “But please, no more of that ‘Professor’ nonsense. Call me Gus.” Despite being in his post for a few years now, Gus still wasn’t fond of being called professor. He enjoyed being a professor much more than he did his first year, but it didn’t mean he didn’t miss being a curse breaker. Plus if they were going to be working together, they might as well be on a first name basis.

“Exciting, yes.” Terrifying, too. Gus wasn’t sure if he was up for the task of filling Mason’s shoes, but it was too late to back out now. He nodded toward the staircase behind her. “If you want to sneak up to your old dorms, I’ll pretend I didn’t see.” He laughed quietly, before adding. “that’s the first thing I did when I was hired. I went to see if my initials were still carved into my bed.”

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   Dorothea Potts

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Dorothea smiled "Gus it is then, and I suppose you can call me Thea." she said politely. It would take a little getting used to, the familiarity, but she supposed this working relationship was intended to be different to her governess role where she would never even think to utter her employer's first names.

She was glad that he had held her own sense of nostalgia when he had arrived, it made her feel more comfortable with the slightly giddy "I'm back" feeling that she had in her stomach, like she had swallowed butterflies that tickled her with their wings. "Its a special place isnt it? I think more so than the other dorms, so much heart in here. I would have loved to have met Helga Hufflepuff." she wondered if she should say anything about the reasons that she was looking at a different head of house than last year, but she was certain that Gus would have had talked it over, over and over with every person he encountered. He would bring it up if he wanted it, and she would bring it up if she thought he needed it.

"I suspect you have big plans to make this role your own. I would be lying if I said I hadnt thought about what I had in mind here too. Any students I need to watch out for?" she laughed. She doubted there were many trouble makers in here, they typically wore red or green in her experience.

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Gus Lissington

  

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“Thea is it.” He echoed her sentiment. If he could have everyone, students, staff, hell, anyone he met in life call him Gus instead of professor or Mr. Lissington, life would be a lot better. He hated the formalities that came with it, but he wasn’t going to knock anyone down for respecting it. Basil would probably keel over and die if students called him by his first name instead of something formal, although they’d always be polar opposites in that regard.

Gus nodded. “Did you know that the common is by the kitchen because Helga Hufflepuff had a knack for food related charms?” Or at least he assumed that was the reason their common room was where it was. She was also the reason why house elves worked for the school, as she wanted to give them somewhere safe to work, where they would not be mistreated or abused.

“Oh, I absolutely have big plans,” he confirmed. “I’m going to look at starting a mentoring program, and maybe trying a house-wide competition, although I’m not sure what that would look like. Low stakes though, and hopefully high morale.” He wanted camaraderie between the students under his care; he didn’t bring up last year when the Ravenclaws started the year by fighting. Gus wasn’t interested in that happening.

At her question about the students, he huffed a small laugh and scratched his jaw. “They’re a great group of kids and I wouldn’t say there are any to watch out for.” Yuri Podsnapper was a former stone child, but he meant well. Corrine Dursley was rough around the edges but she wasn't someone he'd label a problem or required extra attention. Draconia Yarwood liked to toe the line. But Gus was going to let Thea form her own opinions.

He tilted his head slightly toward her, more curious now. “What about you? Any schemes already brewing?”

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   Dorothea Potts

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