The stairs are too tiring, and I'm hungry, so lets just do this thing here

It was hard to phrase one of the thoughts on the subject as numerous of them passed through Mariana's mind in great speed. She wasn't sure whether to speak to Jess as his wife or as a staff member. Amelia did not adress her so at least she didn't have to worry about adressing a former student collegue who was now no less then the headmistress of Hogwarts.

"You are doing the best you can, we all are. But we need to find the right formula and Robert is the most expirienced in the area I am sure he will find one soon." she finally said being able to phrase at least one of her thoughts before she took a sip of her coffee. Bad idea, coffee was terrible for her cough problem. As soon as the coughing started she grabbed a cup of tea. It came as fast as it would dissappear and then came back only to be annoying and unpleasant.

When she was able to speak again. "Healer job does have its bad sides." she said more to herself then to anyone else.

James Manson looked at the staff member that were getting effected by the curse. James looked at the Headmistress and then to Jess Potter who was talking about his knowledge. "The weird thing is, I might be new here and such but I am still NOT YET effected by that curse that hits everyone."He said. "I don't know what it could be, but as I look to you all it doesn't show good stuff."He said. "Anyway do you really think this all can be fixed by the healer at St. Mungo."He said.

"I know Robert is good in Healing and such, but this curse appeared so quick like it was a virus brought by something evil, and first it starts slow but I see people who are getting worser everyday. I see it in the classes, at the Forbidden Forest, the corridors. Students getting dizzy and then hitting the ground. I am not a star in medics but this is not a normal curse."He said. "When I really look at you guys and at the students, could this be the end of the Magical World then?"He asked. "I hope it won't go as far as the most people who are now in St. Mungo and not that people really die from this Illness."he said. "But I will try my best to look over the Students as much as I can, Hogwarts is my home and I won't let down on it, until it is my last breath."James said as he sat down on his chair looking at the rest of the staff.

Amelia breathed significantly easier when Jess agreed with her about the decision not to quarantine. The problem with being a leader was that you couldn’t get the feedback you wanted on your ideas before you presented them to people that actually mattered. And Amelia’s internal system of analyzing her social interactions… left a lot to be desired.

But Jess wasn’t merely giving his feedback on Amelia’s suggestion. He was also… and Amelia wasn’t sure she wanted to admit this to herself, because it would mean dealing with it… breaking down in front of them. He was doing something that Amelia was completely unfamiliar with: showing his weakness in public. This made Amelia’s skin crawl, both because she wasn’t very good at the whole empathy for others thing, and also because what Jess was saying rang an uncomfortable harmony with her own repressed fears about the infection that was raging through a school that had just recently come under her control.

“No, we’re not helpless,” Amelia said stubbornly, gesturing to cross her hands in front of her body to show her unwillingness to accept defeat, “I know it’s tempting… and maybe event natural to feel that way, but we’re not. I’m not. We’ll figure something out.”

You’d better. You can’t keep this forced optimism up for long, Amelia’s subconscious reminded her, as if she needed reminding.

Marianna, thankfully, stepped in to support Amelia’s confidence – or false confidence, but at this point it didn’t really matter – that something would be figured out. It was good that Jess and Marianna were married; it seemed like Jess could use some support right now. Amelia didn’t really understand why anyone would want to be married at such a young age… or at all for that matter… but then again, she didn’t really understand or embrace feelings in general, so she didn’t spend too much time thinking about her own thoughts on Jess and Marianna’s relationship.

But apparently the entirety of the staff wasn’t going to allow Amelia to play the ‘don’t worry, it will get better’ card. James Manson, just as Jess was being comforted by Marianna, had to come in and play a series of doom and gloom cards that threw a serious wrench in Amelia’s attempts to calm everyone. She didn’t want to downplay the seriousness of the situation, because that wouldn’t be helpful, but James was really looking at the situation from what Amelia believed was a pessimistic point of view.

“When things go wrong, we look to those with the most experience and expertise to solve them, Mr. Manson,” Amelia said through tight lips, trying to maintain a level of professionalism, “I understand that Robert has been meeting some resistance from the virus, and I agree that it has taken an unusually fast course, but throughout human history, both the magical and non-magical communities have managed to treat and cure plagues much more damaging than this one has been. I will, as I have always done, put my faith in the pursuit of knowledge and the power of logic. I hope you will join me in doing so.”

“And perhaps, since you have not yet been affected by the virus, the healers could stand to learn something from you? Perhaps a sample of your blood might serve to reveal some piece of information about what provides immunity, which could shed light on what makes one susceptible to infection. Marianna may know more about that than I do, though,” Amelia said, inclining her head toward the other redhead in the group.

“As for what to do aside from classes, we might do well to run a few in-House courses on how to perform tasks without magic, as many of our students are unfamiliar with the muggle way of doing things. Heads of House could organize the courses, though it wouldn’t be mandatory that they be the teachers of those courses if they felt uncomfortable with the material. Any staff members who could use a lesson in these things would also, naturally, be welcome to attend,” Amelia said, hoping she wouldn’t meet a lot of resistance on this front.

Much of the magical world was very hesitant to learn anything designated as the ‘muggle’ way of doing things, but without magic or the knowledge of how to live without magic, her students and staff were going to have a lot of issues. Amelia’s father had taught her from a young age that all knowledge was worth pursing, because one never knew when it might become useful. If that meant teaching muggle practices to magical students and faculty, Amelia was willing to pursue it.

Jess opened his mouth to respond to James' doom and gloom talks, something about being overly melodramatic sitting on his tongue, when Amelia beat him too the punch, and gave a good suggestion while she was at it. "The Headmistress is right," Jess said, nodding as Amelia spoke. "James, I'm going write a letter to Robert tonight, I'm sure he'll be highly interested to know of this turn of events," he told him, his own mind racing as he considered the possibilities that James' apparent immunity could hold.

"What would you suggest we teach?" He then asked, turning back to Amelia, wondering exactly what he could hope to teach in Charms. How to use ropes and pulleys to levitate things? That stuff was the real magic, in his eyes.

“I would suggest we teach the basics, to start with,” Amelia began, speaking slowly so she could be sure to formulate her thoughts as she went, “Things like cleaning or modes of transportation. With the infected students’ magic on the fritz, I don’t want them trying to apparate. I am planning to use my potions lessons to teach traditional muggle healing methods until the magic of my students can be considered more reliable.”

“Care of Magical Creatures should remain unaffected, I should think. Perhaps Marcus would feel comfortable teaching some kind of self-defense course in lieu of more magical defenses? Transfiguration will be all but lost, so perhaps you could team up with Professor Wolfen,” Amelia said, turning her attention more fully on Jess, “The cleaning charms will need to be replaced with muggle knowledge, and perhaps some knowledge of practical skills such as fire starting and cooking. Don’t get too carried away with teaching them to start fires, though,” Amelia said, smirking slightly at the thought of her students going around with flint and steel setting tapestries on fire. But it was only funny in her head; if it happened, it would be a nightmare.

“If anyone else has other suggestions, I would be glad to entertain them as well,” the headmistress added, looking around to the rest of staff for their input.

"Anyone got any old cars lying about," Jess grunted, a grin striking his face for a moment before he started coughing.

"I' think that you're right though, headmistress," he told her, waving his wand and summoning a cup of orange juice to his hand, thanking whoever it was watching over him for allowing the magic to work, and drinking deep. "I'll be sure to incorporate your tips in my lessons," he added, smiling at Amelia. He then turned and looked out at the students.

"Thank you Amelia," he added, this time a little quieter, "I feel a lot better about all this now I have a bit of a plan in place, thanks," he told her, nodding to the other teachers and kissing Mari on the cheek before walking out of the Great Hall and up to his office

Amelia suppressed a smirk when Jess joked about the old cars, because certainly that wouldn’t be a common commodity among the teaching staff of Hogwarts. Amelia had only ever seen cars, and certainly had never driven one herself, so she was thankful that she would not be responsible for that particular area of muggle teachings.

“You’re welcome, Jess,” Amelia replied simply when Jess thanked her for her suggestions. It was a weight off her shoulders to know that she had at least done something right, even if it was just to have an idea. The execution would certainly take more work, but ideas were at least starting points.

Amelia felt herself shy away from the public display of affection as Jess kissed Mari on the cheek, not because she disliked the two of them as a couple, but because she would always be a bit shy about any kind of affection going on around her. Her parents had never been particularly affectionate in front of her, and she hadn’t shared many intimate moments at all, much less many in public, so she dropped her eyes as Jess dismissed himself, looking up only after she was certain he was a bit further away.

“I think that’s all we needed to cover for now,” the young headmistress said with slight hesitation, “Unless anyone has anything else? Otherwise, I think we could all use a little more rest in the hopes of recovering a bit from this illness.”