New friends, old places

After hearing the new changes to Hogwarts, Nick thought they were asinine. There was no point in giving second years dragons, and teaching Pureblood ways to the children. Trying to force Pureblood society on the younger generation was not the way that Hogwarts should be ran. What ever happened to the fun Hogwarts that Nick remembered? Now it just seemed like a Ministry controlled prison for children. "Forget about defense against the dark arts, I'm gonna teach defense against the dumb asses." Nick said jokingly as he watched Adrienne look at Transfiguration books. The Defense Against The Dark Arts books were probably further down. "I mean thats just stupid. Trying to teach kids how to be like Purebloods. It should be on parents to raise their children. Not the school" He said with an annoyed tone.

"So Mrs. Transfiguration Professor. Are you sure there isn't a spell to turn an Ancient Runes textbook into one that we actually need? Because I would love that." Nick joked. There were so many books, on so many subjects. But even though Adrienne found her NEWT Transfiguration books, Nick was unsure if he would ever find his.

A laugh broke free, surprising even Adrienne herself. She bit her lip immediately, feeling bad for being so loud in a book store. It felt almost like a library, where specific standards were expected of those inside the building. She smiled anyway, shaking her head at him in amusement. Once she collected herself she couldn't help but agree with him.

"You'd think, right? I mean, how many of the kids in fourth year can you actually see sitting in the Great Hall and eating with, say, the proper fork? They're fourteen! What do they care which fork is which? I think it's the dancing that might get them, though, really. Cooking won't be so bad," she shrugged, collecting the books she needed in her arms before turning to look at him. "But the dancing. No fourteen-year-old boy will ever want to dance. Merlin forbid they ask one of us to help them. Or both of us, for that matter, considering we're closer to their age. I would probably just run away."

She grinned, imagining the situation. In truth, she would say yes, if asked, if only to get on good terms with the new professors. But apparently the ones teaching those 'Pureblood' based classes were not full-time teachers. Even still, it would probably be a good idea to impress everyone she could.

"Don't I wish," Adrienne replied. She tilted her head, giving Nick a once-over before continuing. "I bet I could find yours before you do," she challenged, eyes lighting up in hopes that he would play along. She might be a professor come fall, but she was still only eighteen, and until she was under the gaze of the students, Adrienne was determined to have a good time.

Nick couldn't even imagine the fourth years using the proper fork, or the proper spoon. A fork is a fork, and a spoon is only a spoon. They don't have special benefits if you use a small spoon over a big spoon, and vice versa. "I would like to point out, I'm going to be nineteen next month. I still use my hands for most foods." He said with a soft laugh. Maybe they would try to have him take those classes along with the fourth years.

Nick's stomach turned upside down at the thought of dancing. He actually knew how to dance, so that wouldn't be a problem. But the thing that bothered him, was that he realized that the last time he had danced, was at his wedding. Nick hated when thoughts of her came back to mind. But he couldn't let Adrienne noticed his thinking about something like that. Putting back on a positive attitude, Nick said "If they make us teach them to dance, I call you as my partner" in a humorous tone of voice.

Looking around for books, Nick let out a small laugh. "You were a Ravenclaw. Of course you're going to find the books before me." Nick laughed a little bit more. He found it a little funnier after he had actually said it.

"You have an excuse, though!" Adrienne pointed out. "At least you've got Emma, so you can say you just want to eat like her," she teased. Adrienne wouldn't pretend she knew anything about how traditions and habits worked for Purebloods, but she was not really the type to be averse to learning about them, either. As a Ravenclaw she tended to soak up whatever knowledge she could find. She still didn't believe that most of the students would be interested, though. A few, of course, would be. But it would definitely depend on what sort of teachers these people were. Especially considering that they wouldn't be around full time. Bonding with the students would take them some work, admittedly, even for her and Nick when they were living in the castle with the kids.

Adrienne thought she felt a bit of tension in the air, but it passed so quickly she was sure she had imagined it. "I'll be honest, I haven't ever really danced. I could be awful and step all on your feet. You might not actually want me to partner you in the end, if we're asked."

"I'll always be a Ravenclaw," she vowed dramatically, smiling all the while. "But you know, they say that Hufflepuffs are actually really good at finding things. Maybe that's why we're taking a while - neither of us were in the right house.

"But seriously," she continued, "I'll bet you that I can find them first. We just have to choose the stakes."

It felt almost Slytherin even as she said it, but even with Kaiden she wasn't so willing to do something as... well, normal as making bets on pointless things like hunting for books. At least Nick didn't seem like the sort of person to judge her on the idea or think her ridiculous. She could really use a friend once the school year rolled around, that was for sure.

Hmm. A bet on something like a race to see who could find books first. That certainly brought Nick back a few years. When he was in Hogwarts, bets were placed on everything. Usually with putting up a rare chocolate frog card of someone prominent in the world. Giving some thought to it, nothing came to mind on what they could bet on. Really, he didn't know Adrienne well enough yet. They certainly weren't children that collected chocolate frog cards, actually Nick still has his, but that was besides the point. "Okay um I can't really think of anything we could bet on actually." He admitted. It was fun doing things like this. It really brought out who Nick was. It took him back to before he was with Sarah. Sure he had a child to be playful with, but it was nice having someone that he could bond with and be not serious around. Usually when he left the house he had to be serious and unplayful and not goofy. Usually just because it seemed like the only times he left the house was for serious affairs. But even though he had only known Adrienne for about an hour now, he liked being around her. He felt like he could be himself around her.

Adrienne let herself laugh again, but quietly this time, as Nick answered. Her cheeks lit up with a slight blush as she replied, "Honestly I don't know anything too brilliant. I was going to say whoever loses has to buy lunch if you're up for it." Shrugging, Adrienne assumed that Nick would understand the fact that it was meant as colleagues and friends. He knew about her husband, after all, so at least he wouldn't think her too forward.

Turning down a new aisle, she found books on Herbology, and paused to consider the order in which they had been discovering the location of books. "I think we're going backwards alphabetically," she pointed out, leaning around the book shelves to see how many more rows there were. "They're probably further down this way."

Taking off down the rows, she grinned over her shoulder, turning into the aisle that looked most likely suited to stock the books they were looking for. She went down to the far end of the shelf and started looking them over before realizing she didn't actually know the titles of the books Nick wanted. Deflating slightly, she turned to look at him, lifting her hands in a sort of question.

"I, um, don't know what you're looking for now that I think about it. So let's say I owe you lunch and you can find them. Clearly, I am not meant to be in Hufflepuff. Or Ravenclaw, actually, considering I didn't even think to ask about the books you wanted."

Nick could only help but to laugh when she took off down the asiles of books. She could go ahead and figure out where they were. Nick would just follow. Buying lunch was something simple so it wasn't a big deal if he lost. After he finally caught up to where she decided to stop, the Defense Against The Dark Arts section exactly, he pulled a list from his pocket. "Okay. I need books on Jinxes, Hexes, Curses, Dark Potions, and Dark Creatures." He explained. Nick planned on teaching first years and second years about Jinxes. He would teach them how they were, main ones, and counter jinxes. Hexes for third and fourth years. Dark Potions for fifth years. And combine his sixth and seventh years into one class for Curses and Dark Creatures. Using the Dark Arts was frowned upon, but Nick felt like teaching the older students how to use the Counter Jinxes for example, would protect them in a situation where they were up against a Dark Creature. "What do you plan on teaching?" Nick asked softly

Adrienne was slightly surprised when Nick didn't just go and find the books himself so he would have won their pretend bet, but at the same time was rather amused. She turned to look for the ones he mentioned, balancing her own in her arms.

"Well," she started, fingers running over the names of the books in front of her, tilting her head to the side so she could read them more easily. "I've got some ideas that my mentor of sorts approved. He seems to like them a lot. I'm hoping to do a lot of interactive things - experiments I guess you could call them?"

One of the books was located and she pulled it off the shelf, handing it to him with a smile. "Everything from Switching to Untransfiguration, really. I'm a little too excited. I know the last bit will be pretty difficult for the younger ones, but hopefully the NEWT students will find it interesting."

Leaning one shoulder against the book shelf, she faced Nick. "You don't seem nervous at all. I'm not really sure if I am or not. I guess so long as the students aren't too awful about the beginning of the year it will all go well. I just remember how crazy they were at the beginning and the end, and around the holiday," she explained, shaking her head. "I feel like I'll end up feeling bad for taking away points if I have to, but at the same time I'm not exactly against it or nervous about it, somehow. I've told myself I have to be that authority figure, you know? Even if I do get on with many of the kids I know from just graduating."

Nick gently took the book from Adrienne and looked at it. It was a book on Hexes. It would suit for what he was looking for. Looking around on the shelf, he spotted a book on Jinxes, and another one on Dark Potions. He grabbed them both and added them to his now three book stack.

"I'm actually really nervous. I've never really done anything like this before and on top of teaching, I'm also Head of House. I'm really nervous, just because I don't know what to expect really. House Points isn't really too big of a deal. I just look at it as a way to award the good students, and punish the bad ones." Nick explained. "And then theres the other staff. Its a good thing I have a friend among them." He continued with a soft laugh.

Looking around the shelves some more, for the other books he needed, he found one on Curses, but not one on Dark Creatures.

Adrienne smiled a bit at his honesty, not really used to people being so open about their fears even if she sometimes could be. She took it as a good sign, though, that they seemed to trust each other enough so far to give away little pieces like that. Sure, it wasn't much between two rookie teachers, but to her it meant a bit more than that. It meant that she could be looking at a friend to last her the year, if not beyond.

"True. I sort of hope I won't have to fill in for the Hufflepuff Head of House. But if I do, that's even more responsibility for me. And I'm not against responsibility per se, but it makes decisions more difficult I think." Looking at the books in his hands, she added up what he had told her earlier and realized one was still missing.

"Maybe that book is in the Care of Magical Creatures section," she offered, moving to walk up a couple more aisles in the right direction to head for those starting with C. "I've technically taught before this, but only filling in with some students, but that was outside of Hogwarts. And on a much smaller scale. So this will be very different, I think."