A Question of Snaking Proportions

[Tamis Raynor]

Truth be told, Raynor did not want to be here. Though both her pride and her lack of humility would not allow her to admit it. For one, any decent human being would be asleep at this hour. She wanted nothing more but to curl back up in comfortable -- if now lonely -- bed. She would have come earlier but, if Juan was anything like she was just waking up, she did not want to deal with a grumpy, half-asleep vampire. That would result in two flaring tempers and either someone bitten or someone getting fired; perhaps both. Especially since Raynor already was half-asleep and grumpy. But better her than the one with fangs.

There was more to her reluctance than the obvious, though. Simply put, Raynor was a pureblood and while she had not been raised with the blood supremacy, she had with the Wizarding Race's dominance. For the first six years of her life, she had been brought up on the morals that while other magical beings were not lesser for being such, they were not wizards. They were different and could not be held in the same regard. If the Deputy had been ruled by those beliefs, she would have never hired a Vampire, you can be sure. But they still whispered tauntingly in the back of her mind; fighting to be recognized. There was no flicker of fear knowing she was about to knock on a vampire's door (she had dealt with a few during the Second War), but there was a certain ... reluctance ... to have to come face to face with one.

And here she was, about to further scorn the voices in the furthest corners in her mind with another proposition in mind for the Astronomy Professor.

Waving half-heartedly at a greeting from one of the portraits, Sir Thaddeus? Didn't matter, Raynor raised a fist and rapped thrice on the hardwood door before retracting her hand. In the minutes before it was acknowledged, she subconsciously smoothed out nonexistent wrinkles in her robes. They were among the best she owned. A rich emerald green with golden leaf work, complete with matching pointed hat. It was the perfect, and only, armor she needed for this meeting. She came as the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and nothing else. Fully decorated at one o'clock in the morning screamed that intention.

A deep breath, a correction in posture, and she was ready for anything; well aware that she might be writing her own execution warrant for this.

[Juan Marcos]

Marcos had just returned to his office and sat down in his padded chair. He had finally finished correcting all the quizzes and busywork from each of his classes and settled down to lose himself in a novel he’d picked up by chance at the library. Suddenly, he heard a knock at his door. Actually, it was not so much a knock as a hesitant tap. He had, of course, heard approaching footsteps, but assumed it was only a professor patrolling the halls or a student out of bed past curfew. It was rare that the Astronomy Professor ever received a visitor to his office and at this hour, it was practically unheard of. Marcos sat up straight, removing himself from his slouching position, and pondered the situation for a moment before gently placing his book on the desk and getting the door.

Juan opened the door slowly and blinked in surprise as he realized who it was. There was Deputy Headmistress Tamis Raynor, standing in his doorway. The vampire quickly went through a mental log and tried to think of what he could have done to get her undesired attention. The list was endless, despite his good intentions. Let’s see… There was: forcing the students to place their wands in a bin during his classes, very likely scaring students, nearly coming to blows with an auror, threatening an auror, giving out cruel and unusual detentions… All things that would surely anger a few people, but all rather necessary to earn respect from the arrogant Ministry and the unruly teenagers. Or maybe she had somehow heard about the incident with Shaw. That would take a good deal of explaining on his part. How on earth could he possible get her to see that he let Shaw go to avoid harm coming to the students? It seemed rather contradictory, but given the circumstances of the situation, it had been his only option.

Marcos was so busy trying to think of what he could have done that it was several moments before he even acknowledged her. When he finally snapped out of it, he realized how formally the Deputy was dressed and then regarded his own attire. It was not during the school day and he currently had no classes to attend to, so he had changed into more comfortable apparel. Currently, he was dressed in a loose white shirt and black pants. The outfit was a bit outdated, taking on an 1800’s look, but he couldn’t help it. The vampire liked vintage.

“Deputy Headmistress,” he managed to get out, annoyed that he’d let his vampiric façade to drop and reveal his surprise, “I was not expecting you. I apologize for my appearance and that of my office.”

The office was fine. A bit Spartan, but not at all messy; There was his chair, his desk, and another chair for guests to sit in. The only things present on the desk were a few stacks of papers, his lesson plan, a dim lamp, and his book. On the back wall was a bookcase partially filled with books and a small box of various items he had been planning to decorate the room a bit with. Unfortunately, several events had occurred that prevented him from giving the room the Spanish flare he had intended to give it. The two Slytherins’ prank had left his room a mess and his little scuffle with Thanatos had left a few things broken.

[Tamis Raynor]

The several minutes Juan consumed to gather his wits was rather uncomfortable for Tamis. No, it wasn't because she was being gawked at by a Vampire, that was actually comical. Rather, it was the fact that he stood before her in nothing more than a simple shirt and breeches. And the faint bloom in her cheeks had not been entirely from now feeling horribly overdressed. Married or not, Raynor was still a woman, and she grudgingly reminded herself that such was one of such a creature's tricks. But it was a good one. They both seemed to recover around the same moment, Marcos' voice intruding gratefully on the uncomfortable silence.

She had to give the man credit, though, in the moment before he regained control of his own mask, he appeared to be as unhappy for her to receive her as she was to be here. Though, perhaps for much different reasons. Raynor prided herself on her reputation among the students, if she heard their chatter well enough, she had ample competition standing before her. Though the Deputy had a much better idea than they did as to why he asked them to surrender their wands before a class. There had been a number of complaints from parents and the Ministry. Raynor had accidentally dropped them in the fireplace conveniently located behind her desk.

The annoyance in the Astronomy Professor's tone did not seem entirely directed at her, so the Deputy was not begrudged by it. She waved off the apology, however, "Tamis, if you will, Raynor if you wont. I've never been fond of addressing by titles. And no apology needed, it was an unannounced arrival."

What she could see of the office beyond the man was not much given their height contradictions. Just making five foot, it was a considerable difference. It was stylish and reminded Raynor briefly of a snapshot someone would find in a history book, except that she doubted any publisher would have allowed a room so marred to be showcased.

"I see our student population has given you a warm welcome," she stated with a touch of wry amusement, understanding the green covered items and misinterpreting the remnants of a broken piece of furniture she was just able to glimpse. "Mine had been a classroom full of frisky Cornish Pixies. I hope you claimed your revenge."

[Juan Marcos]

"But of course," the vampire gave a fanged smirk as he relaxed a bit, "A few hours of personal bonding time with me while they cleaned up the bulk of their mess saw to that. And the detention the next day did not hurt either."

At least she was making jokes. Jokes were good. If she was here to fire or suspend him, she would not have been trying to be funny nor would her humor have been directed at the student populace. Whatever reason the Deputy had for coming to see him, it couldn't be for anything too bad. The vampire had to give the woman some credit though, she had taken the initiative to come see him at his schedule. Marcos was sure the woman was tired and about ready for bed at this point. Maybe he could afford to let up on his ill-tempered attitude a bit... Just a bit though; he wasn't going to start being Mr. Nice. She hadn't scored that many brownie points, even if she was the Deputy Headmistress.

He waited a moment before standing aside to allow Raynor to enter, "Well then... Tamis. Whenever the Deputy herself pays anyone a visit, I understand that it is generally not for a conversation that should be held in the halls."

He walked further into his office and leaned against his with his arms folded, he motioned to the guest chair with one arm, "Feel free to take that chair or mine. Whichever you prefer. Though I must admit that mine is quite a bit more comfortable, considering that an auror broke my last spare chair and most of my guests are ill-behaved children anyway."

[Tamis Raynor]

When his shoulders slumped just a touch, Raynor allowed herself to release the breath she had not realized she had been holding. The unspoken irritation remained in the air, and the Deputy did her best to pretend she did not notice. Though the sharp, pointy teeth barred with that smirk didn't help matters any. Even if it had not meant to be intemidating... she hoped it had not, anyhow. However, she responded in kind, though hers was considerably lacking of fangs.

"No, its not," she agreed. But she had waited to be invited in, not only as a courtesy, but that was proper.

There was a nanosecond of hesitation before she crossed the threshold, so brief one would have had to be looking to spot it. But it was there. Again, that section of her brain was screaming warnings at her, giving her a nice little metaphorical migraine. It took a moment, but the Deputy squelched it. She cursed the foundations of her upbringing, knowing how sincerely ridiculous such thoughts were. But that didn't stop her from having them.

At the proposed offer, she mimicked his motion to the guest chair, a bit bruised that he would think she would waltz in and make herself at home in his office.

"I'll take this one, thank you. If yours is more comfortable, I think you will be needing it more than I will," she said as if she wasn't exactly sure about that.

She wasn't. What she had came here to discuss would have her neck sized for the noose before his, but she had the advantage of adjusting to her proposition before actually proposing it. Not that this meeting had not been inevitable. There was an unsettling rumor floating around the castle, and not one that concerned his disciplinary of teaching methods. That would need addressing too. In good time.

Raynor was just lowering herself into the chair, when something he said tickled her wrong. Then she shot back out of it, nearly knocking it over as she gave the furnishings another critical glance, all unease suddenly washed away in the anger that followed her understanding. The woman was all but glaring at it, as if expecting the inanimate objects to suddenly spring to life and start quivering. Coming from a woman who was shorter than some of the backs of those chairs, it was quite comical.

Though, as revealed, the annoyance was not directed at anyone or anything currently in the room. "An auror, in your office, destroyed your property?" She shook her head, her rather creative mind filling in many possibilities as to how that happened. None of them which she liked. A choice vocabulary was muttered under her breath as to what she thought about aurors invading the staff's privacy; none of it pleasant.