A Feast for the New Headmistress

If there was an adjective that carried more weight than terrified, Amelia Lyons wanted to know it. She needed something more dramatic to describe her current feelings, standing on a raised platform in the Great Hall, all alone. The room had always seemed big to Amelia, but she had never been alone in it before. It was almost ironic how alone Amelia felt right now, considering that she had made it her purpose to be alone most of her student career; she never would have guessed this is what it took to feel truly and utterly alone.

The decorations had been put up, the food prepared, the chairs and tables organized for the feast. All the students and faculty had been notified by special owl post, and last week’s prophet had run the story. Amelia Lyons Appointed Youngest Ever Head of Hogwarts: Is She Ready for the Task?. The text had screamed out at her in stark black on white, and Amelia had nearly felt sick as she watched her own photograph waving nervously from the front page beneath a thin-lipped smile. Even to her it had looked forced.

Less than a year ago, Amelia had been standing in a very similar position, though then, the event had been natural. It had been something she had been waiting for over the last seven years of her life. She had been graduating, and the most pressing issue on her mind was the fact that she had to give a speech. She had thought then that she was nervous. It paled in comparison to today.

If you had asked her then if she would have thought she would be headmistress in a year, she would have laughed maniacally. Actually, if you would have asked her if she would become headmistress ever in her lifetime, the response would likely have been the same. Amelia was not one to enjoy the spotlight, and having a position like this meant she was going to be getting plenty of it: from the students, from the other staff members, from the public, from the papers.

The Headmaster position came with enough limelight in and of itself, but the fact that she was so young only made it worse. People were probably out there already placing bets on how long it would be before she cracked under the pressure. She was only 19 years old, for Merlin’s sake.

But according to the Hogwarts Board of Directors, youth was precisely what they were looking for. They had called her in for a meeting without any indication as to what it would be about – Amelia had been panicky that they might be getting ready to fire her – and she was greeted by the faces of every single member of the Board of Directors. Most of them were twice her age, and probably much more qualified for the position, and yet, after asking her to take a seat, they had explained that she had been chosen to succeed Grindelwald as the new Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Someone young, they said. Someone who was well-known among the student population, someone from good background that wouldn’t raise any eyebrows. Someone very different than Grindelwald, who had caused them more trouble than they could ever have predicted. Someone practical.

Apparently, in their eyes, Amelia met all of these criteria. In her opinion, however, she was completely unqualified. And more than that, she was completely terrified.

And apparently, completely out of time, because as she reached back to steady herself against the main table on the staff platform, the doors to the Great Hall responded to their magically timed commands and opened to allow for the event to begin. The event that would announce that she, Amelia Lyons, was now Headmistress of Hogwarts.

If I get through this without fainting, I’ll consider it a victory, Amelia thought to herself without a hint of sarcasm.

It was important to show support for the new headmistress. She had a brilliant mind. Robert had no question about that. And she had a steadiness about her that the school had not had lately. He approved of the choice the board had made. And regardless of what the wizarding public felt, positively or negatively, about Robert, he believed it was important for the Ministry to show its support for the youngest headmistress in Hogwarts illustrious history. And the Ministry was giving her an appropriate gift. His new secretary had picked it up and had wrapped it with white paper with an opal sheen and topped it with a gold bow.

He chose a sharply tailored charcoal colored suit and made sure he was representing as best he could what he felt the Ministry should be. This was his first appearance at a public event since Grindelwald's ousting. He had asked Khaat to go with him today. He was pleased to see that she had chosen a slim pink cashmere sweaterdress with neutral colored heels. She was choosing spring colors with subtle classical tastes in order to keep the spotlight off herself and onto Headmistress Lyons. He approved.

They arrived at the school and found they were a bit early. He offered Khaat his arm and they walked into the great hall together. He saw the hall was beautifully decorated, and after all the darkness and tragedy at the school it was good to see them have a reason to celebrate again. They walked up to the front of the room where she seemed to be trying to take it all in.

"Headmistress," Robert smiled. "Congratulations. The Ministry supports you and wishes you a very long and successful tenure. Here--a small token of respect from the Ministry." He handed her the box that held the beautifully engraved brass nameplate and inkwell stand that read "Headmistress Ameilia Lyons" that was mounted on equally beautifully carved willow. The willow was symbollic of femininity, flexibility, love, healing, eloquence, inspiration, growth and skills. There were also two beautiful quills in filigreed holders, one on each end of the name plate.

"Its good to see you, Amelia," Khaat said. "The school is very fortunate to have you at the helm. Congratulations."

After much argueing with his mother, another fight with his step-dad, and a catastrophic time in the car with his hyperactive little brother and his delinquent sister, Jack finally made it to Hogwarts. And, of course, because of his mothers beautiful timing, they arrived earlier than expected. Jack cursed quietly to himself.

"[I told you not to say those things, Jack. It's not polite in this setting! "

"Mom! Do you realize who the Headmistress is?!"

"Is she your girlfriend? I knew you were acting that reluctant to go with me for a reason!"

"N-no Mom! You know what? I'm just going to go find a seat somewhere.."

After that, jack walked a little faster than his mom and siblings, his younger brother looking around in amazement at the moving paintings and ghosts and everything. Still not being admitted into Hogwarts, the 9 year old was amazed by everything that passed in the hallways. His other sister was a bit less intrigued. She was about as enthusiastic as anyone who had never met Amelia, but knew of her. She was curious, but not to much. She just walked silently by her mom, who was telling the two kids of some of her memories at the wonderful school.

Finally they had reached the Great Hall. Jack looked around, a bit frustrated that there was only a pair of old folks, and the new Headmistress herself. He sighed, turning and looking around, facing the food. It looked pretty amazing. He slowly made his way towards the food, looked at it for a bit, than he froze. The thought of Amelia being Headmistress finally hit him. Instead of just giving him detention or something of the likes, she could just straight out expel him.

Oh God....

He looked at Amelia, his eyebrows raised, than pulled his hand quickly back, stuffing it in his pocket, where his instant darkness powder was. He didn't have any purpose for it, he just wanted to keep it with him in case anything happened. He began walking away again, whistling quietly. He looked around, his ideas sprouting and disappearing like nothing. Than, he did the unthinkable; Jack walked to the podium, standing a few feet away, and mumbled something almost unnoticeable.

"Congratulations...."

Marcus had got the news by owl post.

Amelia was the new Headmistress.

Marcus was extremely happy for her. If it was anyone at all, she would be the one to deserve the job the most. She does a great job all of the time and Marcus couldn't see a better choice for the post. He walked in and saw that the Great Hall was lit up for the special occasion.

"Congratulations, Amelia. You definitely deserve it," he said to her. Marcus took his seat at the staff table and saw that students were starting to arrive. He took a sip from his goblet while a Ravenclaw boy congratulate her.

The first people to arrive, Amelia was both surprised and relieved to find, were two individuals completely unassociated with Hogwarts. She recognized their faces from the newspaper, and also because they occasionally had reason to be present at Hogwarts. Robert and Khaat Lupin, if she remembered correctly, and with a mind like a steel trap, she always did.

“Thank you, Mr. Lupin, Mrs. Lupin,” Amelia said demurely, giving a nod of respect in both of their directions and trying not to physically balk at her new title. She had just begun getting used to being called Professor Lyons. Now she was Headmistress Lyons, Head of Hogwarts School. She didn’t think any amount of passing time or words of support could possibly accustom her to that title.

When Robert extended the wrapped box toward her, Amelia took it from him, but she was quick to place it on the table behind her. She didn’t trust her shaking hands to hold on to anything too long, and the last thing she needed was a large object to draw attention to the fact that her hands wouldn’t sit still.

“That was very kind of you,” the new headmistress said, if a bit stiffly, in order to convey her gratitude and not have Robert think the wrong thing because she hadn’t held on to the gift, “Please extend my gratitude to your colleagues at the ministry as well.

“And your words are equally kind, Mrs. Lupin. Perhaps too kind, though,” Amelia said with a slight blush, turning her attention to the statuesque woman next to her who wore a shade of peach that certainly would have washed Amelia right out. But, objectively, Amelia noted that it looked lovely on her.

You’re thinking about the color of her dress? Amelia’s subconscious demanded, confused and overwhelmed by the amount of internal dialogue that would be neccessary just to keep Amelia looking halfway decent for the next five hours.

It’s easier to think about than other things at the moment, okay? Amelia defended herself mentally, though keeping her practiced smile on her lips for the older couple.

While she was distracted by the Lupins, the hall had slowly begun to fill, and there were a few people starting to find seats and gather a few appetizers before the meal. Amelia didn’t even want to think that far ahead, because with the meal would come her speech, and heaven knew she wasn’t ready for that. She wasn’t ready for any of this, but yet here she was, following orders once again.

She was pleasing so many people and fulfilling so many expectations by accepting this position, it was almost as if she didn’t have a choice at all. The Board of Directors had wanted it, her former professors had recommended her, and her mother had nearly gone through the roof with delight when she had been informed that her daughter had been promoted from lowly professor – a title more embarrassing than worthy of note, as far as Antoinette was concerned – to the lofty position of Headmistress of Hogwarts. She had so many new things to brag about, and so many new opportunities to force social graces upon Amelia and pick out clothes that would be appropriate for the many occasions Amelia would now have to be dressed up. In fact, it was Antoinette who had chosen the navy blue dress Amelia wore tonight – with the approval of the Board of Directors, of course – and although Amelia hated to admit it, her mother had probably gotten at least this part right. She could breathe in it, it was of a respectable length, and the color was befitting of her former Hogwarts House. In fact, if Amelia hadn’t been so terrified of the event for which she wore it, she might even have actually liked the dress.

Amelia was pulled from her internal reverie by a familiar voice, though the words did not fit at all with the voice. It was so offsetting, this lack of match, that Amelia had to look abruptly to make sure her ears had not deceived her. But no, the person who had just come to congratulate her was none other than Jack Kubin, the boy who had been terrorizing her in every position of authority from prefect to Head Girl to Professor. So why the change of tune?

“Thank… you…” Amelia said slowly, not sure if she was walking into a trap.

Don’t question it. Just be grateful, Amelia’s subconscious told her, reminding her to give a polite nod to accompany her thanks.

Because Amelia could not think of one other thing to say to Jack, it was fortunate that a moment later another guest ascended the podium and offered his words of congratulations. This time, it was a fellow professor, Marcus, whom Amelia had found rather intimidating from the moment she had met him. She chalked that intimidating up to a combination of his muscles and natural social skills, both of which she did not have in abundance, but he seemed to be on her side, so she thankfully remembered her mother’s social lessons and managed to formulate an answer that did not involve the phrase, ‘I can’t possibly deserve this. I am only 19.’

“Thank you, Marcus,” Amelia said, training herself to speak more slowly. Hell, she was still training herself to speak much at all in social situations.

This was going to be a long, long night.

Jack walked into the Great Hall, a smile playing onto her face. She tilted her head and inhaled, as though she were inhaling the first fragrant wind of spring, feeling the fresh rays of the first sunny day of the year. Her last trip to Hogwarts had not been too far off, but that had been business. She had not had a chance to visit the room where she had really been made apart of this school, where she had heard a loud "GRYFFINDOR" and a roar, and where she had begun her journey.

She had tried to somewhat presentably, for a number of reasons. She was now in the public eye, so everything she did had harsh judgement and potential criticism shrouding it. As Head of Department, as well, she wanted to prove her professionalism despite her age. And she wanted to support Amelia. However, she knew Amelia was going to feel out of her element as it was, so she thought that if maybe she brought something familiar to the table, Amelia would feel more at ease. And so, she looked as she usually did. Like herself.

She pulled at the strap that was rested on her shoulder, hoisting her trusty bag higher onto her hip. She had pinned her Quidditch captain pin onto the bag, just for her own sense of nostalgia. Inside of the bag, she had her usual things plus... more. In case that the celebrations seemed to be, shall we say, lacking in sparks and fireworks.

Which meant, yes, she had fireworks in her bag.

She was not sure where non-Hogwarts affiliated 'adults' were meant to sit, and there simply were not enough of that demographic to know what she was meant to do. She glanced around and spotted Amelia, briefly giving her a grin before she heard her name being called. And there was Cecily Armstrong, her old dormmate. Jack groaned, raised a hand, and hurried through a group of oncoming students.

Once she had shaken off her clingly, loud ex-dormmate, she headed to the front table, reaching Amelia in little to no time at all. She smiled and held out a hand to shake Amelia's hand. "Needed to say congratulations in person, of course." She glanced at those near and leaned in a bit. "Don't you just adore the oppressive attention of everyone?" She knew Amelia was going to be freaked out and Jack wanted her to feel more at ease.

It seemed the line of people who wanted to congratulate her was not going to be letting up any time soon, especially if the number of people in the Great Hall continued to grow. As each new person arrived, Amelia felt the knots in her stomach tighten, the growing crowd making enough background chatter to let her know they were there, even when she took a few seconds to close her eyes and try to pretend she was alone. Obviously, this plan wasn’t going to work.

She was meeting more people tonight than she had in her lifetime. Adults twice her age and older were shaking her hands with varying levels of enthusiasm. Some seemed to be going through the motions, some shook her hand so tightly and vivaciously that she thought her arm might spring out of its socket, and some seemed to just be watching to see how long it would take her to make a misstep. The new headmistress had an sinking feeling that the latter group was going to be the first to be satisfied.

When she had finished shaking the hand of a particularly giddy old man who had introduced himself as part of the Department of Muggle Relations from the Ministry, Amelia could not have adequately described her relief upon seeing a shock of red hair and a particularly obnoxious T-shirt; or rather, she was pleased to see the person who had dared to wear such an outfit to a formal event.

“Jack,” Amelia said, relief written apparently across her features. Finally, a face she both recognized and would have wanted to see here. The new headmistress couldn’t help but smile at the way Jack smiled so comfortably, as out of place as she was in her attire. Amelia wondered subconsciously who looked more out of place – Jack in her casual outfit, or Amelia standing in the headmistress’s place. The answer didn’t come easily, and the former Ravenclaw gratefully took Jack’s hand when she offered it, a lifeline in otherwise unfamiliar waters.

“And I’m so glad you did,” Amelia said, shaking Jack’s hand in a friendly manner she never could have managed even a few weeks ago. Although Jack and Amelia had gotten along well enough in a field of mutual respect while they were students, it was only a few weeks ago when Jack visited on Ministry business that she and Amelia really sat down and talked for the first time since they had initially met. It had been surprising to Amelia – and likely to both of them – that they had been able to converse so freely, and that they had so much in common.

It was almost as though Amelia Lyons had a… friend.

As they were shaking hands, Jack leaned in a bit closer and offered a comment, which initially made Amelia raise an eyebrow. No, of course she didn’t love this attention. The girl hated attention, in just about any form. She wanted to do well, be noticed privately for a job well done, and then continue the pattern. Why would she enjoy this?

Sarcasm, love, Amelia’s subconscious reminded her, And ease up a bit on the panic. It’s making you oblivious to the obvious.

Right.

“Of course. Being ogled like the prize creature in a zoo has always been on my bucket list,” Amelia replied with delicate laughter, not wanting to draw too much attention to the fact that she and Jack were sharing a personal joke. Were headmasters allowed to joke? Have secrets? Friends? There was just too much she didn’t know.

“But I would be happy to share the attention with you,” Amelia said, leaning back a bit and dropping Jack’s hand, observing social etiquette and not lingering too long on the handshake, “I know you’ve always had a knack for that sort of thing,” she added with a smirk.

Hogwarts seemed far more peaceful than it had been the last time Marcus had visited. He trudged through Hogsmeade, wrapped up in the thick winter coat he’d brought with the money he’d gotten when he left his post at Hogwarts. He had no desire to return to the castle but he had yet to find something a little different. What he was glad of was the changes within the castle and he was especially glad to hear that there was an exchange of power and in the place of Headmaster Doyle now stood Amelia Lyons, the girl he’d kissed on the dusty floor of the Quality Quidditch Supplies in Hogsmeade. He hadn’t forgotten. No, he refused to allow himself that. He could still feel her lips on his and though he had neglected to return to her company, he could not defend himself in any way other than the cliché: he was a werewolf - e.g. werewolf = danger and he couldn’t bear to hurt her.

The gates still recognised his magical signature and despite the fact that the castle had been opened for the night, they seemed to be much more agreeable with him than the others that passed through. Marcus allowed himself to listen into the conversations that were buzzing around him as witches and wizards of all ages made their way up the path in their best to catch a glimpse of the new Headmistress and enjoy the pomp and ceremony that came with such an announcement. He was pleased for Amelia that much was certain. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder what her reception of him would be - whether she would notice him or not. There were plenty of people that wanted her attention no doubt, ones that would do anything to keep it. Marcus didn’t know whether she’d remember him. He hoped as much and couldn’t think of a valid reason why she wouldn’t.

He’d tried, at least.

For a werewolf, he looked exceedingly smart. His suit fit snugly against his body that had been toned by the nights running around Britain during the winter. He seemed to move with a certain amount of discomfort, as if this much lavishness was not something he indulged in often. He, like the rest, seemed to relax once he had passed over the castle threshold. He peeled off his coat and handed it to one of the waiting house elves, grimacing slightly at the joy on the face of the elf that was trying in vain to remain upright under the weight of the clothes. He nibbled on his bottom lip and fixed his suit before stepping into the Great Hall.

Marcus’ eyes fell immediately to Amelia and he stood there, allowing people to bump by him, merely basking in the woman’s beauty, drinking her in greedily as if she were a sweet nectar he’d never have the pleasure of viewing, or even tasting, again.

It almost seemed like Amelia was happy to see Jack. She guessed that should not have come as too big a surprise, seeing as when they had last left each other's company they had almost seemed like friends. Jack was just so used to illusions and being misled or wrong about people. And besides, Amelia had never seemed to taken to her before. She had reasoned that it must have been some sort of crazy, harebrained fluke that they had managed to get along.

But no. Jack had been excited to see Amelia and it seemed that the feelings were reciporcated. Jack returned a smile to Amelia and responded to her, "I am too. Youngest headmaster in history. And obviously, there will be no pressure from the leeches." She gestured around, keeping on a cordial smile looking as though she were simply commenting on the affair. She knew people were watching and she did not want to make Amelia's job harder by being associated with someone who liked to stir up some trouble.

For a second, Amelia took Jack's joke a little seriously, looking as though Jack had to have been kidding her. Once she relaxed, she bantered off of the joke and Jack said, "Better a zoo than a freak show. That's how I'm regarded." She grinned, making it clear she was not in the least bit worried about what people were viewing her as. She had become quite used to the less than desirable attention.

They released hands and Jack smirked at Amelia's joke, the joke that really wwas not a joke, and they both knew it too. "Don't worry. I have your back. If the leeches start draining you too badly, I have a few mild distractions up my sleeve to give you a break. Don't worry-" she assured her. "Nothing dangerous or illegal. I have a reputation at stake, too." She grinned.

Coral sat down at the Ravenclaw table for students, not paying any mind to who she was sitting next to and waited patiently for the feast to begin. She sat with perfect posture, and she was very alert and attentive to her surroundings and the people around her, particularly within her nearest vicinity. After a moment, she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, feeling a tiny headache coming on. Snippets of conversations, faces, names, and details of various people talking (and some not talking, although, she wasn't able to glean names from them) were all directly implanted into her memory. It could be very distracting, but she was used to tuning it out.