The Great Hall

Eglantine nodded. "Of course." she muttered. "Just remember, Kiara, that Madame Lasharna is not a student. She easily helped kill a much stronger witch in her youth...and would doubtless be able to do it again." Without another word, she slid out into the hallway, headed for the entrance hall.

"I hope she is not suggestiong she would attempt to kill me.... And I am not a student anymore either.." she said as she turned back and face Kazimir.

"I think I will take my leave know, I should investigate what is going on at the whomping willow. You understand" She said.

"Of course," Kazimir replied a bit stiffly. "I should take my leave as vell. If Boris is indeed avay from the others, I should make sure they are not likevise getting into trouble." Without another word he strode back the way he came, heading outdoors and to the lake where his ship was anchored.

Horatio McKevin swept into the Great Hall, humming happily one of his favourite ditties, I'm a lonely little petunia in an onion patch. Seating himself at the Head Table he began to dig into the meal, filling his plate up with enough to keep at least three men well fed. Of course he had a high metabolism, so quantity was of little importance.

Sevastyan Kaminski strode into the Great Hall, rather lost in his thoughts. He had found some spare time to gather his thoughts and begin necessary preparations to start theorizing on how to destroy the wand incarnation of Excessum. He had hoped he wasn't too conspicuously late in his arrival...

It apparently didn't seem so, as the Head Table was only just starting to fill up. Sevastyan attempted to recognize each member of the staff by observing what they wore and the backs of their heads, but was caught off guard when he spotted an apparent newcomer seated at the table. Either that or Sevastyan was losing touch with his keen sense of observation, a notion he particularly did not favor.

Deciding here was as good a place to become acquainted as anywhere, Sevastyan noted that the professor (or at least he hoped the fellow was a professor) was an older gentleman of an indeterminable age. Assuming that the wizard wasn't waiting for anyone in particular, Sevastyan took a seat beside him. "Hello. You must be the new professor, yes?" he greeted the other gentleman politely, cramming his earlier thoughts into a metaphorical box at the back of his mind.

Horatio looked up to see a younger man seat himself at the table. Swallowing, he wiped his mouth with his napkin before replying.
"Greetings to you as well. Yes, I am the new History of Magic professor." he noted that the fellow professor appeared to be in his mid-thirties and spoke with a Russian accent. "Horatio McKevin. And whom do I have the pleasure of dining with?"

"A pleasure to meet you, Professor McKevin. I am Sevastyan Kaminski - Defense Against the Dark Arts professor," he replied congenially, then loaded up his plate a bit. "Have you been vorking here very long? I am still ... fairly new here, but have become acqvainted vith a few members of the staff," Sevastyan asked, having paused to deliberate what it was he would like to add to his plate.

Horatio took another bit of sausage, chewed and swallowed before responding. "No, I have not been here long. A few days." He chuckled. "I myself, am still getting to know the staff. So far, I have befriended Headmistress Kiara, amused Professor Viper and both upset and placated Professor DeLanquar. Do try the corn bread. It is especially good." he suggested.

Sevastyan decided to take the professor's advice and selected a couple slices of cornbread. "I too have become acqvainted vith all three of them," he said simply before taking a bite of the cornbread. A nod of thanks in Horatio's direction indicated that Sevastyan just added a new item to his favorite foods list.

Horatio chuckled. "I am glad you like the cornbread. As for the ladies, all of them are lovely, are they not? It is hard to imagine this school without them in it." he selected several strawberry tarts to add to his now empty plate.

Sevastyan smiled pleasantly as he chewed, lips tightly closed. "Indeed," he replied once he'd finished, nodding. "They each bring vith them to the school a unique charm... I cannot imagine vorking here vithout them, after having gotten to know a bit about them."

"Vhere are you from, Professor, if you don't mind my asking?" Sevastyan inquired politely, selecting a couple of Pirozhki - fried buns that could be filled with a variety of ingredients - for his own plate. Just for the sake of something different, Sevastyan also acquired a strawberry tart from the platter nearest him. He didn't want to appear to be a culinary coward, because that certainly wasn't the case.

Horatio drank some hot chocolate from his mug and burped politely behind a napkin.
"I was born and raised in Northern Scotland, so I'm a Scot through and through. However, fate saw fit to have me move a great deal in the past few years. I have lived in America, Canada, and other locations. How about yourself?" he chuckled as the man took a tart. "They are indeed wonderful, eh?"

Sevastyan had launched into the pirozhki while Horatio answered his question. 'Scotland... interesting,' he mused. So it really was a diverse staff, then: with Amaranth from England, Sevastyan himself from Russia, and Horatio from Scotland. He vaguely wondered whereabouts Kiara and Professor DeLanquar were from. DeLanquar mentioned that she worked at Beauxbatons with the current Headmistress in the staffroom. Did that mean she was from France? He would have to ask, next time they had a few spare moments.

"I have been to many places: France, Italy, Spain, and other places... but I vill alvays call Russia my home. I vos born and raised in the vizarding portion of Saratov, vich is in the southern portion of the country," Sevastyan offered willingly before taking a bite of the tart. This explained why the Russian nodded instead of verbally replying to Horatio's second question. He washed it down with a swig of the clear liquid from his goblet that looked deceptively like water.

"Ah, Russia is a country I visited, sadly on only one occasion. It is beautiful." He finished off his third tart and refilled his juice goblet with more pumpkin juice. He chuckled, "There are many places I have only been once or twice. Take France for example, I visited a friend of mine there a good 20...21 years ago and only stayed a week. They have lovely mild summers though. Perfect holiday weather. How have you found the weather here in Scotland?"

Sevastyan nodded in agreement: Russia was a beautiful country. In a way he missed being there, but on the other hand he would not have had the experiences he'd had thus far if he were. Fate worked in mysterious ways sometimes...

A wistful smile crossed the Russian's face at the mention of France. "I summered in France as vell. It is qvite nice there..." he commented, trying to block his ex-fiancee from his thoughts. It didn't work quite as well as he'd hoped, but at least the memories that would have elicited anger didn't crop up.

"The veather here is vonderfully comfortable," Sevastyan answered the question honestly. "I am happily avaiting vinter, though - I have a fondness for snow." he added with a laugh, just picturing the likely shock on the students' faces should he leap into their snowball fights and join the fun. Sevastyan decided he would have to do that, if he happened to notice anyone flinging snow. He took a slightly deeper drink from his goblet than the previous swig.

Horatio chuckled, leaning back in his chair. After having consumed more than he usually ate, he was full and content.

"Yes, I do look forward to the snow as well. Wonderful stuff, snow." he sighed. "My brothers and I used to build castles in the snow and fight each other in long snow fights. Those were happy days." he murmured, finishing off his juice and refilling the cup. "Do you have such memories?"

((Timeline..... after trial and right after Kiare returns from Lestrange manor))

Kara walked into the Great hall, she was whipped and as white as a ghost, and she was in a bit of a haze so she didn't notice anyone else in the hall.

"I hate blood wards...." she said faintly to herself as she all but collaped into her chair.

Unknowing if someone had heard or seen her.

Amy and Aiden walked in to the hall and sat at Slytherin table.

As usual Aiden head was in trasfigurations book and Amy's was in a charms book.

Eglantine was seated in her wheelchair at the Head table. Already she had glanced over in Professor McKevin's direction, three seats down, four times. He winked at her and she smiled softly in return.

Still her thoughts were mainly on whether or not Kiara was enjoying the company of Ciaron McConn.

Kiara (with Ciaran I assume)

Walked in to the great hall.

With a wave of her hand Kiara conjured a extra chair beside hers.

"Have anything you like Mr. McConn" she said.

"Thank you, Headmistress." Ciaran nodded, pulling Kiara's chair out for her and waiting until she was seated before slipping into his own chair.

Eglantine, became very interested in her sardines at that moment and Horatio began to guzzle down his large goblet of milk.

Kiara smiled "Please call me Kiara, Headmistress is for students and people who inssit on calling me it." she said as she sat down.

Kiara glance over at Eglantine and then at Horatio, "Are you two feeling better?" she asked even though she knew they both just wanted to set them up. She want to see how long it would take them to know they were on to them.

Ciaran nodded. "In that case, me friends call me Ran." he hinted, glancing down to catch his uncle's facial reaction.

Eglantine raised an eyebrow, turning to look at Kiara. "I am feeling better, thank you." she stated, clearly. She hoped Horatio would be as convincing and not ruin the entire plan.

Horatio nodded, seeming indifferent as he dug into his meal. "I beg your pardon, my dear. I don't believe I told you I was feeling badly, but Ran must have told you. I am sorry about abandoning you like that, lad."

Ciaran nodded, folding his arms.

Kiara laughed as she poured tea. "Very well I hope I can call you Ran, Yes?" she asked curiosly as he said firends, so that was assuming he wanted to be firends or already concidered a close firend.

"Umm Ran? how long are planing on saying?" Kiara asked out of curiosity.

Ran chuckled. "Yes, that would be lovely, lassie." he nodded, glancing at a plate of steaming whole fish. "Someone here likes their fish I see." he murmured gesturing toward the plump specimens along with several other fishy dishes. Apparently Eglantine had made known to the house elves that she enjoyed seafood, especially cooked and uncooked fish as both were now present at the table.
"Staying? Hmm...as long as you'll be having me." Ran stated, poking a fish that looked alive enough to leap back into a pond. "Me uncle actually said he was wanting me to help him with a class, but that was be you decision." He smiled broadly as he picked up the fish with a levitation charm and charmed it to dance around its plate.