What Light Waits at the End of the Corridor?

[Felicity Hjort]

Lovely. Absolutely lovely.

As if the day couldn't get any worse. First, she woke up late and ran into the middle of a class (yes, the middle of it), then she tripped going up the stairs, got stranded on moving stairs, had to find a whole new route to another class in which she was also late to by fifteen minutes, her ink bottle broke in her bag, she lost her homework for another class, spilled pumpkin juice all down the front of her at dinner, lost an article that was written for the paper, couldn't find Corey to ask him for some help on her History of Magic paper (only to find out the essay was due earlier that day, History of Magic being the first class she was late to), and was now being jipped out of sleeping time because she had to conduct an interview with Raynor of all people. Felicity was sure it couldn't get any worse.

Why hadn't the woman refused the interview? Felicity probably would've jumped for joy had that been the case. It wasn't like she was particularly good in Defense of Dark Arts, and she was bound and determine not to attend the class anymore as long as Drew was willing to help her with her spell work. And even if Drew decided to stop helping her, she would most likely begin resorting to books or maybe Celina, she was pretty good at the stuff, and she discovered Charlie seemed pretty worthy with it all, then again, she didn't think Charlie liked her very much either.

All Raynor would've had to do was send an owl back saying she respectfully declined the interview. Or she could've lost Felicity's owl, that would've worked to. Or what if the owl sent (either one) had been eaten? That would've been spectacular! No, not really. And now, thinking about it, she was sorry she ever though the idea to begin with. It really wasn't very nice of her to think that.

Tromping down the stairwell, the blonde Gryffindor made her way to the new Headmistress' office, where she was requested to meet with Raynor. Dressed appropriately in black dress slacks, a nice powder blue button-down shirt borrowed from Celina, along with Drew's silver lariat dangling down her neck and earrings that close to matched it, with her school uniform shoes as she didn't own any other dressy kinds of shoes and she hated girly shoes when she didn't have to wear them. Her hair was pulled back into a high bun, piled near to the top of the back of her head, her face fresh from the recent shower, and her light brown eyes dim at the prospects.

Ten minutes to ten o'clock, when she was supposed to enter her office. All she could think when she sulked down the hall was how Drew had better be there, and on time.

[Drew Thornton]

This was a new experience for Drew. Not being in Raynor's office of course, and not even going there voluntarially. What was new was not even going to the Headmistress, as he had been there a few times as well.

What was new was the interview part, facing Raynor and asking her the questions. He knew they weren't going to be as hard hitting as "What made you decide that scaling the North Tower was a good idea?" or "Who's responsible for the stinkbombing in the girls room?" but he thought he might be able to ask who this guy was that took her place as Head of House.

While still in his school uniform, his attire was less formal than Felicity's. His shirt was untucked, his sleeves rolled to the elbow and his tie hung loosely around his neck. The only thing that might have possibly counted as looking professional were the glasses he wore. Even the grin that crossed his face as he saw Felicity approach was a bit goofy looking.

He grooved a little right there in the hallway as the Gryffindor came closer. He waas anxious to get this puppy started.

[Felicity Hjort]

When her eyes caught sight of Drew, she sighed with relief, but only for that moment. For upon closer inspection, her mouth dropped. What was he trying to do, give the paper's staff a bad name? His clothing wasn't acceptable, he looked like the kind of boy that returned a girl home after a long night of partying and that got his bum kicked by the girl's dad.

The fact he was wearing his school uniform was nice enough, as it was respectable. But the way he was wearing it? What in the world was he thinking? Did he actually think she would allow him to conduct an interview with her looking like that? Absolutely not.

Just the fact Felicity couldn't stand Raynor meant everything had to be topnotch in her mind. To be top notch meant Drew had to be dressed far more expertly than he was. If he thought he could get away like he was, he had many more thoughts coming to him. She knew he got along with the new Headmistress well, and that he didn't know how Felicity felt about her, but this was business, not a casual stop and pop your head in calling.

"Drew, what are you wearing?" she asked him, dropping her notebook from her arms when she reached him. Immediately, she grabbed onto his arm and started rolling his sleeve down. "You are not going in there dressed like you are. Do you want her to think we're a joke?"

[Drew Thornton]

Her reaction startled him, especially when he usually got a giggle and a kiss from his random dancing.

"I didn't have time to change," he told her, noticing she had a librarian look about her. He actually though it looked kind of cute on her. That didn't explain why she was rolling down his sleeves though. He generally started the day buttoned down and windsor tied, but it was after classes. Having his sleeves down this late in the day was uncomfortable. Besides, he had leaned in an armadillo bile spill that morning in Potions and there was a sticky brown stain on his left cuff.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing? It's the school uniform, and while I admit, I wouldn't go clubbing in it, it's still okay for an interview, isn't it?" It was just Raynor. Headmistress or not, she was still the same person.

[Felicity Hjort]

He didn't have time to change? It was nearly ten o'clock at night and he didn't have time to change? Felicity cocked an eyebrow at him, wondering what he'd done that taken up enough time in his day that he didn't have time to change or at least fix up what he was wearing before meeting her for the interview. An interview! Not some random chitty-chatty time. This was a scheduled appointment, business, not a way to make her think about taking the paper away because they were too unprofessional.

Felicity hardly knew the Raynor, only from her classes and had learned how strict she was, as well as how she played favouritism in January. Strictness was enough for her to know they should be as professional as possible, the favouritism playing was why Drew was there.

"No, it's all right for an interview, but what's wrong with it is you look like you just got out of a fight," she told him in a hushed voice. "I can't believe you you showed up for this looking so unprofessional." It was an accusation of sorts, not because she was mad but because she wasn't very pleased with doing the interview as a whole anyway. Not when it involved Raynor.

Letting go of his arm, she pushed him lightly to turn around so she could unroll his left sleeve. This was horrible. Felicity was more than glad they had both shown up early, for what would Raynor think if Drew entered her office looking like he did when they were to do an interview? Something professional for the school paper. Something that was highly important to Felicity and Drew just showed up like he did.

When she finished off his sleeve, her hand slid across something that didn't feel like it belonged to his shirt sleeve. Flipping his arm around so she could look at it, she looked up at him exasperated. "Oh, Drew!"

[Drew Thornton]

Classes, library, dinner, more library... Okay, so he probably could have found the time to change his shirt or at very least go to the boys lavatory and wipe the gunk off, but rolling it up was so much easier and didn't take any time away from all of the stuff he had to do.

"Oh, yeah, I got that in Potions," he told her when she moaned at him. He would have wiped it on his pants, but he didn't think that would help matters any.

He let himself be pushed around, really not minding the fussing she was doing, but still not sure what the big deal was. "It's just Raynor," he told her, hoping it would reassure her and calm her down. She was obviously nervous about this and he started feeling bad that he hadn't gone back to his room to change, even if only for Felicity's sake.

[Felicity Hjort]

"Why didn't you clean it up?" she asked him. It would've been easy to duck over to the sink and rinse it off, it would've been dry soon too. And coming from Potions, it could've been anything. Anything at all. Why didn't he have the sense to realize how it important this was? At least, that's what she was thinking, and how she felt. Maybe he got along with Raynor just fine, but that didn't mean everyone did.

Dropping his arm from her grasp, she turned him to face her. If she dared, she would've started tucking in his shirt herself, but she didn't. Especially not when Raynor could open her door or appear around from a corner at any moment. And really, it wasn't her place to start tucking his shirt in anyway.

Flipping his collar up, she started to fix his tie while he spoke again.

"Drew, Raynor is the Headmistress. She runs the school, meaning she has full control over what happens with the paper," she answered. Not to mention, Felicity was sure she didn't like her as much as the blonde didn't like the woman. If she played favourites that meant she was likely not to like the Gryffindor. "If we appear unprofessional she might not take kindly to it."

Flipping his collar down, she began fussing with his hair. The brown-eyed girl doubted it would flatten, but she had to try at least. "Is there anything you can do about your sleeve?"

[Drew Thornton]

Drew took the cue and started tucking in his own shirt as Felicity worked on his tie. He'd be willing to give up a little comfort in order to make the Gryffindor feel better. This was, after all, her pet project and he didn't want to ruin it for her... or even appear like he wasn't trying to take it seriously.

As she moved to his hair, he redid the knot on his tie, finding it a little loose for his liking. If he was going to wear it done up, he might as well wear it right. "I have my sweater in my back pack," he told her, knowing it was wadded up in a ball and would probably be wrinkled, but at least it would cover the stain on his sleeve.

[Felicity Hjort]

No, nothing was going to be able to be done with his hair, but at least it didn't really look bad. Just in her long moment of frustration she took one look at his appearance and saw everything that could possibly be wrong with it. His pants were wrinkled, his shoes looked like they could use a shine, the stain was on his shirt, and was that ink on his jaw?

When he offered to put on his sweater, or rather told her he had it with him, she looked at him hopefully. Even if it wasn't pressed, as long as it didn't have anything on it, it had to be better, right? And it would look professional compared to a stain.

"Would you mind?" she asked, hating that she was dressing him in a way. She was his girlfriend, not his fashion attendee. But he really wasn't pulling off the look she was trying for. And if she found out he was conducting any interviews looking as haggard as he did, she would definitely have his head for it. If any of the staff was, she would.

While it was a school organization, it was still a business that was being ran. They produced papers for the entire school to read, if they were seen as being unprofessional and unpolished, well, she didn't want to think about the possible outcomes of that.

[Drew Thornton]

"I'm sorry," he told her with a small smile as he dropped his bag on the floor, pulled out his sweater and tugged it on. "I should have changed before coming." He probably should have showered as well, but he wasn't about to give her something else to worry over. He just hadn't thought that this was all that big of a deal and for that he was sorry too. If there was good news in all of this, it was he wouldn't be making that mistake again.

He nervously scratched at the back of his neck, knowing he was a bit on the wrinkled side, but still hoping he'd pass inspection. He really did want to present a good front for her.

[Felicity Hjort]

Smiling at him, she really did feel bad about requesting his appearance to change. She just wanted so badly to make at least a semi-good impression, that way nothing would happen to the paper. And really, it was business. Did he think he could just show up in the real world looking like that for something and everyone would be all right with it? Even if he was chummy with the Minister of Magic? It wasn't how her dad taught her. Every opportunity had to be treated with the upmost of respecatablility one could muster, and she was doing all she could to muster enough to go through the gargoyle at any moment.

"It's all right," she told him, straigtening his sweater a little here and there. "I'm sorry, I just don't want her to think badly about the paper. Or about the staff." Fixing his collar to pop through the neck of the sweater, and then deciding she didn't like how much his tie was showing, she lifted the sweater and pulled on the tie a little, but enough to pull him down so she could kiss him lightly on the lips before finishing with what she was doing.

"Thank you," she told him, liking how he looked so much better than he had only moments before. Grabbing his wrist, she checked the time. "Ready?"

[Drew Thornton]

"I know. I'm sorry," he told her again, understanding that while it was just Raynor to him it was the Headmistres to Felicity. He should have realized that and been ready.

It wasn't that he didn't respect Raynor. He respected the heck out of her. But Drew felt that she and he had come to some sort of understanding. He'd stomp into her office and slouch into a chair. She'd serve tea and tell him to sit up. It was just the way things went. Oh, he still called her by her formal address and if she told him to do something, he'd do it, but there was also a bit of freedom that he could be himself and she wasn't going to blow him off as some stupid kid.

But again, this was Felicity's deal and he'd play by Felciity's rules on this one. When it boiled down to it, she was right. He hadn't shown up like a slob when Raynor introduced him to that Auror Corrion. Drew had been insensitive to not treat this interview just as importantly as that one.

He smiled at her quick kiss, confident now that he was presentable. "Ready," he answered gathering up his backpack again, ready to follow his editor's lead on this one.

[Felicity Hjort]

Understanding or not, it was still a matter of business. And though Raynor and Drew got along just fine, he was also one of her Ravenclaws, one of her favourites, so while he might've been able to get away looking scruffy, Felicity wouldn't be able to. And even if she could, it was a matter of business and business meant conducting in ways that were proper and respectable on all levels. One level being that of dress code, and untucked shirts didn't cut it well.

Picking her notebook up from the where she'd dropped in order to fix Drew up, she gave him a final glance before looking to the gargoyle. It really was a rather hideous thing. Why in the world the office would be hidden behind it (as she assumed it was behind and not above) she didn't know, but wasn't going to ask questions of the matter either.

Clearing her throat, she gave the password Raynor had sent along with her acceptance of the interview. Felicity hoped it was the wrong word, that way she had a reason not to continue with the meeting, unfortunately it seemed she wasn't to get what she hoped for.

As the gargoyle moved, Felicity lightly bit her lip, took a deep breath, and started climbing.

[Drew Thornton]

She was nervous. Drew could tell that by how she was biting her lip, a nervous habit they both had. He slipped his hand into her free one and gave it a light squeeze, just to remind her that he was there, having every intention of dropping it when they reached the top of the stairs. Holding hands during an interview-- talk about unprofessional.

But he figured for the climb up, it would be okay. He wasn't really sure why Felicity was so on edge, but he figured it was just the fact that Raynor was Headmistress. That made a lot of people nervous.

[Tamis Raynor]

The distinct peppery aroma of cloves and other spices floated through the open door and down the revolving staircase as a rather large pot of Earl Grey tea brewed suspended above the great oak desk that had was older than all of castle's occupants combined... as much of the office was.

It had changed very little over the centuries. Books of various origins lined the walls, and artifacts of many ages past cluttered tables and shelves -- including the mysterious silver instruments from Dumbledore's time. The portraits of the previous Headmasters and Mistresses (Fiona Ticloon was notably missing among them) still pretended to slumber in their frames, eyes peeking open to sneak a glimpse at the newest addition to their number, sitting behind the desk near the simmer tea.

In complete contrast to the two students ascending the staircase, the Headmistress was dressed comfortably and quite informally. Loose discreet robes -- embellished only with a simple scroll pattern around the bell sleeves -- was her fashion of choice, the mop of long, freshly brushed hair dampening her shoulders was still wet from her fifteen-minute-ago shower, and, poking our beneath her attire were a pair of infamous pink bunny eared slippers, the button eyes of one gleaming as it caught the light with the tapping of her foot. The latter of her dress was, of course, hidden by the bulk of the desk. However, they would no doubt reveal themselves if she ever had the need to rise during this interview.

"I think they have arrived, Madam." One of the portraits said suddenly with a haughty sniff, looking at the open door from behind his bright red nose.

Raynor looked up from the paperwork she was filling, the foremost visible of them being a letter addressed to Gringotts, which a box checked that read "addition to payroll." One of the many stacks that she was filling out since her decision earlier that day to higher a new staff member. She could indeed hear the staircase turning and the muffled approach of feet.

"Thank you, Fortescue." She replied to the portrait, before shuffling the paper work together and sticking it inside of a desk.

In truth, Raynor was not sure why she had agreed to this. The last thing she needed was more Press, even if it was an internal one. No, that was exactly why she had agreed. She felt the students deserved answers, and perhaps it was out of hope that they would come up and she could answer them once in for all. And for that reason, she had made time for this "interview", diving into her precious personal time to make it possible.

Stealing one of the biscuits she had laid out on her desk, she waiting for the interviewer to arrive, not able to quell the uneasy feeling in her stomach. It was to be Felicity Hjort, if she recalled corrected. One of the students that walked away with the most scars for the Deva take over. Shaking her head, she banished the thoughts.

One could not change the past.