There's no way I'm qualified for this

Her lip curled into a grin as she watched Keiran practically turn ill at the idea of retiring from teaching. She understood well enough the sensation of being certain one had stumbled onto their purpose, though she did have a secret hope within her that there was more than bussing tables and calling cabs. That while she believed her job was to minister to unmet needs and open tightened minds, that in the end she was just a barmaid and there was something more for her, which she knew because she had been allowed a rare glimpse into the future.

If she had to peer into Keiran's future, she couldn't imagine him giving up teaching without something much better to replace it.

"That's fair," she said, regarding promises. She found herself continually wanting to defend his merits as a father, despite the fact that she was yet to see his parenting properly in action. And even if she, she had very little basis for what proper parenting was. Her parents, in the short time they had been her parents, had not been designed for the task of raising children. And while Maggie was ten times the guardian anyone else could be, she wasn't exactly traditional either.

Kenna was once again too deep into a subject she had no expertise in.

Before she had to fill the silence, he continued on, commenting on the train mess. She felt another squirm of guilt that this was the reason she had interrupted him - as if he needed another reminder of that mess. He paused, looking as though he had tripped into waters much deeper than he felt comfortable in. She didn't move her eyes away, instead lifting her eyebrows to soften her face, and he continued on.

She frowned thoughtfully. "There must be someway to get community-wide help, though. I'm sure the school has sunk a lot of time and money into trying to prevent such a thing from ever happening again, which is the last thing we need really - a poorer school with exhausted staff. Doesn't the Ministry have any sort of... emergency fund? Or something?"

His posture felt wrong as he let his back curve to lean forward over the desk. He so rarely let those muscles relax into anything other than a casual lean against a seat back or a door frame. But Kenna had only ever seen him at his weakest, his angriest, his most uncertain. So what did it matter, now? She had no expectations or ideals, and so he had no form to mould himself into that might impress her. At that point, he was sure it was far too late for something like that, anyway.

"Well, now I'm not sure about that," Keiran replied, his tone contemplative. "My job, while there, was to act almost as a publicity sort of person. To make announcements and talk to the press and such. They needed someone to do that, though I found it didn't suit me. But I don't recall hearing about a fund like that."

He paused, glancing towards his empty glass. Keiran snapped his fingers and an instant later there was a crack of apparition. The little elf squeaked out a polite greeting, seemingly oblivious of Kenna since she landed on his side of the desk.

"'Ello, Trixie. Could you grab me some tea?"

"Headmaster does not like tea," she returned, almost like a question.

Keiran chuckled, but nodded. "You're right, as usual. But my friend might. I'd be happy for a coffee, though."

He looked towards Kenna, waiting to see if she would object. But once it was settled, the house elf left and returned within moments, having brought things up from the kitchen. "Merlin," he breathed, having been interrupted in his attempt to continue their conversation. "Speedy, you are. Thank you."

The elf bowed deeply but disappeared, giving them room again to talk.

"I was going to explain that the school has a fund for students. For their safety, for supplies for lectures - y'know," he took a drink of his unaltered coffee, "so professors don't have to pay out of pocket. But a great deal of it, unfortunately, is going to things like hiring those that might be skilled enough to prevent this happening again. The thing is, though.. that money also goes towards school robes, and books, and even wands for those students whose families need help. So we have to be careful about how we spend it. Otherwise the balance will be off and some part of the recipients will be, ... well," he grimaced slightly, "screwed."

He leaned forward and she found her own spine fold a little as well, elbows lifting to rest on the desk between them, mouth resting thoughtfully against the knuckles of her hand, eyes patient and demeanor calm. Just moments before, there had been an uncertainty as to whether or not she should leave, and the prospect had seemingly been forgotten. She was happy to live in that willing ignorance because as much as she should probably run off to turn in her information, she'd much rather talk with the tired, often accidentally-charming Headmaster.

"You've done a little bit of everything, haven't you," she mused with an amused expression as he considered over his time in the Ministry. She found herself straightening up in surprise at the sudden appearance of the elf, suddenly struck (once again) at the level of Keiran's responsibility. He had a castle full of staff at his command, a family, important friends and acquaintances - and here he was, ordering a tea for her.

Almost a bit bashful at this thought, she hurriedly nodded, a smile flickering to her lips to make up for the deer-in-the-headlights look she had been certain had taken over her face. The elf disappeared but returned before she could even think of something to fill the brief lapse in conversation. "Thank you, Trixie," Kenna posed, but the elf was gone before her sentence was over. She reached for her tea, eyes flicking back to Keiran as he spoke.

Kenna's eyebrows flitted together as she spoke, swirling a spoon in her cup to mix the sugar. "We can't have that," she said decisively, as though it were up to her. "Can't we do something like... a benefit or something? It doesn't seem right that poor kids who can hardly afford to go to school have to pay for its protection. There's gotta be some rich people that can be guilted into doing something nice for their alma mater."

It was possible that he wasn't meant to take her reaction as a compliment, but Keiran did so anyway. If only because she looked entertained, and he seriously doubted she was the type to say something like that out of malice.

After the tea was figured out, he half watched Kenna fix it the way she liked it, but was immediately distracted by her thought process. He blinked, stopping his coffee on its way back to the top of his desk. Considering her suggestion, he nodded and finally set the cup down.

"Well, even if they didn't go to school here, I suppose they might be convinced. I mean, it'd be for children. Surely that would be deemed worthy by most. Back when I was just a boy, I think my father took me to some sort of event, where people would perform or something to raise money. I can't remember exactly. But perhaps something similar could be done."

He turned into his thoughts for a moment, but then just stopped and looked at her. Kenna obviously had no idea what he'd done -- what they'd done -- for those kids that were banned from Hogwarts for a time. That endeavor had been the beginning of the end for his marriage, and yet he didn't really regret it. Millie had all but begged him to take the project on, and then punished him severely for it. But Kenna just seemed to want to be helpful.

Why did he always have to make everything a comparison between the new people in his life and the one that had chosen to leave? Keiran didn't actually want to, and yet it kept on happening. Somehow, he felt guiltiest about doing it to Kenna. Everything ended up positive on her end - or, well, everything he'd acknowledged or allowed himself to be distracted by - but it was still unfair.

That part of his life had ended, and as he thought about just what kind of person Kenna must be, he surprised himself with the desire to smile just because, and it turned into a nearly subdued laugh.

Through the laugh, he asked, "You said 'we,' before; did you mean that? Or am I going to have to plan all this out on my own?"

Kenna nodded along with him as he recounted a memory, building on the thought she had thrown out rather flippantly and was beginning to find herself invested in. “Sure – Merlin, you don’t even need a performance, really. People will show for champagne and meat trays, so if you can get anything else on top of that too… Not too mention if you add silent auctions, or regular auctions, or whatever it is rich people like to throw their money at,” she added, lips twisting into a grin.

He laughed and her eyes widened a bit, her first assumption being that she had said something foolish by accident. But there was something going on beneath the smooth veneer of his professional gaze, something warm and private and not at all born of any malice for her. So while her lips tilted into an amused grin, her eyes flickered with a mysterious curiosity. Keiran was quite the iceberg and every time he gave her a small glimpse of what lay beneath the surface, she couldn’t help but be left with impression that there was even more she had not seen.

She blinked at his question, immediately struck in that funny way that crept up on people that she had just learned something about herself. We was her default when she felt any sort of kinship to the person. Their struggles were her own, their solutions her duty, their hurt her mission to heal. It was certainly her biggest failing at times, a seed of the problems she had planted in her relationship with her brother, with Jamie.

But as she spoke, she found that she really truly wanted to help, caution be damned. Her smile stretched further. “Project Manager is my middle name.”

"Betting," Keiran supplied almost sarcastically. "They do enjoy their gambling. Perhaps we let them bet on some competition or other. Not my favorite pastime, but I can assure you it would turn heads."

He shrugged, figuring they had time to work it out before the end of summer when the money would be needed.

She looked surprised, which wasn't at all what he had intended, but Kenna was smiling so he continued to do so as well. "Well, then I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one with horrendous middle names," he teased as he took another drink of his coffee.

He set the cup back down, his gaze falling to where she'd put away the paperwork. "I imagine you're expected to drop those off. And going to dinner to work on this probably wouldn't look great since that hasn't happened yet." Keiran checked the time. "Leaky in an hour?"

Perhaps he should've checked with her schedule before making it seem like the whole thing was decided. Kenna probably would've appreciated that. Despite his internal fretting, the only outward sign was the way he ran his fingers across his stubble-rough jaw and then dropped them to the arm of his chair. Super casual. He was super not concerned about why he was so not feeling casual.

"I don't begrudge them their sins if it helps out some poor muggleborn," she said with a shrug. "Would be a right shit barkeep if I worried about the morality behind each sickle." She was an honest woman, and she could be a bit of an idealist. But she did live in the real world, and she knew which battles were important to pick. In another circumstance, it might bug her to see rich men throw their money around so flippantly. But if they were throwing it at her friend's school, she'd even do a little dance it kept their spirits up while they showered them in gold.

Her chin lifted at his suggestion. She had not expected... what? For him to remain pleasant even after her mission was made known? For their meeting to extent? To join on in a new project with him? No, their conversation had strayed far from what could reasonably be expected...

Not that she was complaining.

"Okay," she said, the 'oh' stretched a bit with hesitation.But her lips curled into a wide smile, nodding affirmatively as she scooped up the things in her box. "I'll see you then."