An Unfortunate Meeting ((Winter))

[Marissa Brookfield]

Marissa pushed the doors open and walked into The Three Broomsticks. She had a rather stressing day after her lessons and she needed to take a break and relax -and nothing relaxed her more than a nice cup of butterbeer. She walked up to the counter and ordered herself a drink. After a while she took her drink and sat at a vacant table.

She held the cup with both hands, sipping it slowly to savor the taste. There was nothing that could spoil this, she thought happily to herself. Marissa placed the cup down to stretch her arms. She remembered that she had brought along a couple of assignments handed in from the students. Her shoulders slumped down. Why did she bring her work to her sanctuary? Sometimes, she really couldn't understand herself.

[boredom]

Winter went slowly into Hogsmeade. She was exhausted from the days work. First she had a meeting with the headmaster to discuss her coming to teach Divinations. This idea didn't excite her as much as it seemed to excite him. Winter wasn't fond of teenagers. Then, she had to go to the ministry to talk to the Department of Mysteries, and they made it practically impossible to get a word in edge wise.

Shaking her head Winter entered the Three Broomsticks. It wasn’t her favorite place to come. Very common in her opinion, but she didn’t have a lot of energy to use thinking about a different place to go.

She heard the little bell ring as Winter walked into the small building. Walking over to the counter she ordered herself a Butterbeer. She needed a bit of an energy boost today. Sighing she waited for her drink. Leaning against the counter Winter closed her eyes letting herself momentarily rest.

[Marissa Brookfield]

Marissa looked up from her papers and saw a familiar face. She could imagine what she looked like at the moment- Her mouth hanging open. Her mind started to yell, 'What the heck is she doing here?'. She quickly shook her head. Maybe it wasn't really her. After all, Marissa hadn't seen her for 3 years. Oh who did she kid? It was her- Winter.

She didn't want Winter to notice her. She tried to hide her face behind her parchment, but decided not to, for she looked like a fool. She didn't want to cause a disturbance. She remembered back when they were still students in Hogwarts. They were mortal enemies and rivals. She felt Winter was always the Slytherin who forced herself in Ravenclaw. Marissa shook her head, trying not to think mean thoughts. She wanted to believe that they had both matured, but she couldn't be sure.

[boredom]

Winter opened her eyes slowly wanting to savor the peace that she had found inside her own mind. She could always manage to escape the hectic life that she led by hiding inside her head for just a few moments. Pure peace.

Then reality comes crashing back down. As soon as Winters eyes were open she could see someone she hadn’t seen in 3 years. Marissa, her fellow former Ravenclaw and enemy, although Winter was a year older than her it seemed that Marissa always felt that she was better than her. She heard a rumor that stated that Marissa was now teaching Muggle Studies at Hogwarts. If that was true it would be so fitting for the girl that Winter knew back in school. Marissa always loved muggles. That was probably one of the main reasons that they didn’t get along. But, then again, people change. She did, a bit. Should I go and talk to her? Winter wondered. They were going to be working together shortly if nothing changed. Maybe they should try and bury the hatchet today?

[Marissa Brookfield]

Marissa sat in her seat. She held the now empty cup thinking whether she should go up and talk to her. Then she thought she remembered hearing some of the professors talking about a former Ravenclaw who was going to teach Divination. If Marissa could recall, Winter was the student who was interested in things like that. Could it possibly be? Well, there was only one way to confirm her 'suspicions'. She took a deep breath and gathered her courage.

She stood up from her seat, biting her bottom lip and walked over to Winter. "Winter Paradis. It's been 3 years since we last saw each other." She said, unable to tell if the tone of her voice was mean or not. Marissa rubbed her hands together, feeling her nerves kick in. "Anyway, I just wanted to know if you were the new Divination professor." She asked her, forcing herself to sound nice. "I mean, it would...fit you." Marissa told her, choosing her words carefully.

[boredom]

Winter was just about to go up to Marissa when Marissa beat her to the punch. Internally rolling her eyes, Winter eyed Marissa cautiously. She didn’t need this headache right now.

She forced back a smirk, Yes, it was probably told to all the teacher that she would be coming. The school’s last Divination teacher up and quit out of no where leaving the position open, hence her meeting with the Headmaster.

“What do you mean” Winter asked Marissa with a coy smile. “It would fit me?” She added giving her most innocent smile. She developed her natural seer ability a few years into school, of course people knew about it.

[Marissa Brookfield]

Marissa looked at Winter and crossed her arms when she saw her smile. She grew a little annoyed, wanting to just get a simple yes or no. She wanted to say, 'Why can't you just answer my question, instead of replying with another one?', but she managed to control herself.

Marissa pushed her wavy hair behind her ears and smiled slightly at what she had asked her. "I mean you were always the best in your Divination class. And I remembered hearing rumors about your 3 huge prophecies that really helped the ministry." She said, making the last point of her statement sound dramatic to the point of sarcasm.

"I guess if you were the new professor, we would be working side by side." Marissa continued as her arms dropped to her side. "Professor of Muggle Studies, if you haven't heard." She said and pointed to herself, giving Winter a small smile. "Won't THIS seem like old times? Marissa said almost laughing. And that was probably the most sincere and partially friendly thing she had said to Winter throughout their whole conversation.

[boredom]

Winter sensed the sarcasm in Marissa’s statement immediately. She almost laughed out loud. If only Marissa knew how important they would be in the very near future. She wouldn’t be joking about it then.

“Muggle studies?” Winter asked Marissa raising an eyebrow. “Is that still a class? I thought they got rid of that pointless class a long time ago.” That was a lie but it was fun to see how defensive Marissa would get when it came to her precious Muggles. Personally, Winter thought they were pretty pointless creations, but everyone seemed to have their own opinion on the matter.

“So I guess that means were going to be seeing a lot of each other again, Great…” Winter said matching Marissa’s sarcastic tone.

[Marissa Brookfield]

((OOC: LMAO. We are so mean to each other!! It makes me laugh xD))

Marissa almost dramatically gasped at the next thing Winter had to say. She wanted to say something snappy, but she knew she had to defend her subject first. She looked at her, and could tell Winter wanted to her to become protective of her favourite subject. And Marissa had to admit, she was about to.

"No, it's still around. You must be out of touch." She said smiling her fellow former Ravenclaw. Marissa clapped her hands together softly, as if she had made a new discovery. "Ah! Have you been staring at your palm again to not notice everything going on around you?" She said smiling. Marissa shook her head, as if to say 'Shame on you'. At this point, she had started to feel childish and less mature.

Well, so much for seeing if they both had changed. She could tell working around Winter would really seem like school all over again. But maybe someday it could change, she hoped. But right now, it didn't seem like it would any day soon.

[boredom]

((Its funny right? LOL))
Winter smiled at Marissa sarcastically. It seemed like she really didn’t like Marissa. At least that’s probably what it sounded like. But that wasn’t exactly true. I was nice for a change to have someone with the ability to match Winters sarcastic nature. That was probably why they clashed so much, their personalities were very similar.

She knew that she should probably try and defend her craft. But, she didn’t want to stoop down the Marissa’s level of maturity. So instead she just shrugged. “Maybe” She added incase Marissa wasn’t paying attention. Taking a drink of her butterbeer Winter looked at Marissa. Same girl she feuded with in school. They were both adults now and still they couldn’t get along. It was almost laughable.

“So whats new with you Marissa?” Winter asked trying to make conversation and be a bit civil. They were going to have to work together weren’t they? Maybe it was time they behaved around each other, at least in public. After all if made her look bad if she started a fight in a pub.

[Marissa Brookfield]

Marissa looked at Winter and felt slightly annoyed when Winter hadn't gotten protective over Divination. She looked as Winter drank her Butterbeer. She glanced back at her empty cup on her table. Marissa quickly turned back when she had been asked a question.

She didn't really understand why Winter was suddenly asking her a conversational question. Then she looked at their surroundings and understood her actions. "Nothing much. It does get a bit hard to teach the seventh years. After all, they are only 2 years younger than me. Some of them feel that they have the right to talk back. It's quite hard to earn some of their respect." Marissa said and shrugged. "How are you getting settled with your classes?" She asked, trying to be polite (to a point) as well. Marissa wondered if Winter had even began teaching yet. She, herself, only started teaching at Hogwarts a few days ago, so she didn't have much time to pay attention to what other professors were talking about. She was too busy trying to settle down and get her lesson plans ready.

[boredom]

Winter almost smiled again. Marissa obviously noticed that they were in public and was playing along with Winters ‘Play Nice In Public’ attitude. It was the smart thing to do, especially if one of the student’s parents happened to be around. It wouldn’t look good if the teachers couldn’t even get along.

“I haven’t even started to teach or plan yet” Winter said. “I was just requested by the headmaster to join the staff, Trust me it wasn’t my idea” She added as an after though. Personally, it seemed like a waste of her precious time to bother trying to teach students who had no potential.

Glancing over at Marissa’s table, Winter wondered why Marissa even came over here. Did she really hear that Winter was going to teach Divinations or was she just looking for a fight. It seemed unlikely that Marissa would waste both of their time on a petty fight, but it was possible.

[Marissa Brookfield]

Marissa found the next thing said very interesting. Actually, it made her rather envious. She didn't like how Winter had said the Headmaster requested her to join. Even though she disliked Winter, she had to admit Winter's divination skills were superior, possibly one of the best she's seen. But of course, Marissa would never admit to that.

She crossed her arms and saw that Winter had glanced over to the table she was at. Marissa had a feeling Winter was wondering why she even approached her. "Anyway, I didn't talk to you so I could hex you or anything." Marissa said, mumbling and looked away. "I was just curious to see if you were the Divinations Professor. And I guess I was right." She smiled. She was going to add 'As Usual' to the end of her statement, until she remembered- they were adults now and that they were in public.

[boredom]

“Didn’t you?” Winter asked slowly. She didn’t know what else to say to Marissa. It was odd how they managed to be somewhat civil to each other. Winter hadn’t expected that. Nor had she even expected to see Marissa here today. Sure she kind of knew that Marissa was teaching Muggle Studies. She was told that there was a new teacher and it just really fit that Marissa would be it.

“I suppose you were then” Winter said replying to Marissa’s comment. She knew that Marissa was holding back a sarcastic comment and it was interesting to see how they both realized that in public they would have to behave. No matter how painful it was.

“I guess we’ll see each other at school then?” Winter asked calmly.

[Marissa Brookfield]

((OOC: Sorry for the long wait. I had lots of things to do! Do you want to end this thread?))

Marissa glanced up, faking a smile for Winter's sarcastic comment. She sighed, pushing her bangs out of her eyes. She started to notice that most of the teachers she had seen, seemed to be quite young. If she had a 20 year old teacher back when she was a seventh year, she knew she probably wouldn't give them all the respect they deserved. Marissa remembered how Winter was only a year older than her. That would make her 21. She told herself, obviously.

Marissa snapped back into reality. "Right. I guess we will." She felt of of ditzy at the moment. Trying to come up with something to talk about with her old rival seemed as easy as trying to get a dog to talk without magic-- not that easy. She let of a small, 'hmph'. Maybe she should leave now. She really didn't know what to do at this point.