Good Person (OPEN)

[rose harriet granger-weasley]

February 14, 2028

Between setting up her conferences with the parents or guardians of her young pupils, Rose Granger-Weasley had been busy helping the students at all levels of their Hogwarts educations get the festival in Hogsmeade set up and ready to go. Most of it really wasn't too bad, since the LIFE students were pretty capable of handling themselves and overseeing the MYSTIC and MAGIC students without needing too much assistance. (Then again, thought Rose, she was the same age or even younger than some of the LIFE students herself, so that was fitting.) Still, she was helping out where she could.

"Oh, that looks lovely, Millie," Rose gushed, complimenting one of the MYSTIC students in Year 6 who had been working with some of the MAGIC students to set up a face-painting booth for the festival. The sign that she had put together to showcase the different designs available was genuinely impressive—even more so because she had done it without the use of magic. "Shall we put it up with a Sticking Charm?"

It took hardly any effort at all for Rose to assist in getting the sign in the right place, and then she moved along to see if any other students needed any help to finish up in time for the public to start arriving.

OOC: OPEN!

[finn kylie nottingham]

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Parent-teacher conferences were not required for LIFE students, and specifically not for hers due to their status as Auror trainees, which meant that Finn was required to do her normal job and patrol the festival going on in Hogsmeade. It was always like this. If she wasn't busy training the students, she was doing her 'patrols'. The Ministry didn't know what to do with her since there weren't any clear directions from MACUSA on her status. Was she still loaned? Was she simply an agent that operated via Ministry orders? Giving international assistance seemed like the least she could do, and that was the last directive that her superiors at MACUSA had given her. All the powers to be seemed to be fine with what she was doing, and Finn was honesty okay with it as long as she continued to receive pay for it. The second either government power started to get iffy about her, she was either switching to teaching full-time for LIFE, or going back to New York City. Or transferring to the international department. She wasn't too sure on that yet. But being a Ministry Auror wasn't happening. She disliked the way things were done by them and was content with the current working relationship she had with the department.

And yet here she was, patrolling on behalf of the Ministry. 'Assisting' was the actual order, and there were so many meanings to that word that she decided to just help out where she could with those setting their stalls up. Blending in was the best way to run security after all. Should anything happen, which she highly doubted based on gathered intel, there were dozens of Aurors and other interested parties at the ready to deal with it. They weren't messing around this time.

That led to Finn wandering down the street where the majority of the public stalls were being set up. Hogwarts was allowing students to do them as well, and she silently found it funny how many were trying to sell little knick-knacks that they'd made. Some were unbelievably creative...others not so much. "Morning," Finn said to a younger woman that had just finished helping one of the students with their stall. "These are coming along well." She looked vaguely familiar, to the point where Finn was positive that she was a professor of sorts. But what school was she in?

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[rose harriet granger-weasley]

February 14, 2028

A woman whom Rose recognized as being one of the part-time instructors at LIFE in Law Enforcement approached and mentioned how well she thought the set-up for the Valentine's Day event was going. The LIFE instructor was also an American, interestingly enough, which Rose wasn't sure that she had realized before she had been spoken to directly. Though seeing Americans around was more common than it had been years before, Rose couldn't say that she was familiar with all of the Americans that had made their way to Britain and Ireland.

From her perspective, Rose knew that the LIFE instructor was only making small talk, and she responded in kind. "Yeah," Rose agreed. "They've done a fantastic job."

Still, she had never thought that the students would do a poor job of setting up for the event and handling what they could on their own. It was nice, though, that nothing had gone wrong yet. Of course, having a stronger law enforcement presence in general was probably a deterrent for anyone who was looking to break the law, but there was plenty that could happen (theoretically speaking, because Rose was not about to jinx herself) by accident.

"Nottingham, isn't it?" she checked, hoping that she wasn't wrong about the woman's name. "Like the city?" That was the first thing that came to her mind, yet she didn't doubt that it had been a common question for the other Hogwarts instructor for however long she had been on that side of the pond.

finn kylie nottingham

[finn kylie nottingham]

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She had always been fascinated by what young witches and wizards created with their noticeable lack of magic. It always ended up looking similar to how she and her sister grew up? Obviously being no-maj born led to a more mundane childhood until suddenly it wasn't. But growing up around magic and not being allowed to use it (if they even could yet) proved that kids were kids at the end of the day. Did some have puffskeins for pets instead of hamsters? Absolutely. And did they know more about what potions they had to drink to cure a head cold? Yep. There was a definite natural advantage to those that grew up in this world, which she had lacked greatly until she started at Ilvermorny. Even then, it took several years until she felt like she had caught up. Transferring that knowledge to Ellie ahead of time had hopefully made her transition into it easier. Finn still found it funny how many of her classmates spoke of magic in the same manner that she did for Saturday morning cartoons. Most of them treated television like a magical box anyways...

"Thats what everyone says," Finn laughed. She had grown up with her no-maj friends associating her last name with the Sheriff of Nottingham from Robin Hood. Which now that she thought about it, meant he was most likely from the city. "I still haven't been there. Sort of caught up between work and teaching. You know how it goes..." Security, patrols, teaching new magical cops, more security, dealing with Slater's daily meltdown...the usual. Patrolling Hogsmeade was a cinch these days. There were enough aurors lurking about just in case that she felt fine stopping for a moment or two to chat with her fellow professor. Whose name she still didn't know. "I'm sorry...I know you're a professor, but I don't think I've ever actually caught your name." At least her honesty had never failed her.

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[rose harriet granger-weasley]

February 14, 2028

The woman named Nottingham laughed as she said that a lot of people associated her surname with the city of Nottingham. It was good to know that she wasn't the first one to bring that up, Rose thought, but she also wondered if she was tired of hearing it. People across the pond surely knew about Nottingham (at least that it existed), too. Probably, she guessed, she must have had an ancestor who had come from Nottingham at some point or another, and that was how she had gotten the name.

"I still haven't been there. Sort of caught up between work and teaching. You know how it goes…"

Rose was about to reply to that, but Nottingham apologized and asked her for her name. It was still sort of surprising for Rose to be asked her name after having grown up around so many people who knew her or knew who she was because of her family, but she didn't mind. It just proved that the magical world really was wider than the one in which she'd been raised. "Oh, I'm Rose Granger-Weasley," she told Nottingham with a small smile. "I teach Reception at MYSTIC."

Back on the subject of travel, Rose knew exactly what Nottingham meant. She only had her teaching work without having another job on the side, yet that was enough to keep her busy. She didn't have the time to go off on random holidays on the weekends, even though she could theoretically just Apparate or take a Portkey. It just wasn't feasible. "And I'm sure you could travel to Nottingham eventually. Maybe during the summer holidays?" Rose suggested hopefully. There probably wasn't a package holiday available just to go to Nottingham, but it wouldn't be that difficult to arrange for a Portkey. It wasn't that far away.

finn kylie nottingham

[finn kylie nottingham]

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Another Weasley! And by her last name, one of the children of the late Minister. Finn felt a pang of guilt, as it could only be described as that, because her department had failed in preventing anything that Minister Granger had put forth while in her position. Talk about an utter failure. That was half of the reason why she was still over here and not sent back to New York yet. Aside from the fact that they seemed to care very little for having her back stateside after her incident with the building a few years prior. Their lack of trust in her still stung. Somehow that didn’t matter when it came to teaching trainees and students though, so she was now having difficulty determining what it actually was that her superiors wanted. Leaving the auror robes behind again was starting to sound sort of nice. Everything she touched seemed to blow up anyways. Her career (twice), her relationships, Ouroboros…one thing after another. Teaching hadn’t yet though! And other professors seemed to know who she was and for a good reason, so that was nice at least.

“That must take a lot of concentration,” Finn said in response. “I saw one of the classes being led across campus last term, and was amazed at how many kids there are.” She felt like she could barely control her class, which was full of eighteen year olds and a handful of twenty-somethings. Her age probably had something to do with it, where she felt like being their friend instead of their instructor sort of got in the way of it all. A good portion of her students would be her colleagues one day after all, so it was sort of strange. Not to mention that some knew her sister.

“Possibly! I don’t really get much of a vacation these days. Training for the new aurors doesn’t really start and stop with the terms like the other programs do, plus I still have my normal work to get through.” Knowing her commanding officers though, they would probably shove her into teaching full-time if they got the chance. Remove the potential problem completely before she had a chance to blow something else up. Having more security at Hogwarts wasn’t a horrible idea either, so she could see that being a reason as well.

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[rose harriet granger-weasley]

February 14, 2028

Nottingham told her how she had been amazed by the number of children who were attending MYSTIC, and Rose laughed slightly. "It's… a change for everyone." She had gotten used to it, but she knew that keeping track of the youngest students on the Hogwarts campus wasn't always for the faint of heart.

They admitted children from wizarding families and would educate them through the rest of their schooling unless they turned out to have no magical abilities of their own, and they also admitted children from Muggle families who had shown their magical abilities so that they could be exposed to the magical world sooner. There were also the children with various part-wizard blood statuses and innate abilities—and all of them mixed together in an environment where they weren't even being taught magic at their age but the same basic skills that they would have been taught at any non-magical school.

When it came to visiting the city that shared her name, Nottingham expressed that she wasn't sure how much free time she would have, between teaching at LIFE and her work as an Auror herself. It was understandable though disappointing for her sake.

Unlike Nottingham, however, Rose would have the summer relatively free. Though she would have to plan for the next school year, she wouldn't have to teach. She probably would end up tutoring students for some extra money, but that was still different from having to go to work every day and teach her pupils multiple subjects.

Even though she didn't have a work schedule that was grueling in the same way, Rose could sympathize with how much Nottingham probably had to do. "Did you train new Aurors before LIFE opened?" Rose asked, wondering how Nottingham found it to teach there.

finn kylie nottingham

[finn kylie nottingham]

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How could Finn not laugh at the idea of her training the new recruits prior to this? It came out more as a chuckle, the obvious danger behind it that she used to carry along with her everywhere she went. The nice part of picking up her old job over here was that her reputation didn’t follow at first. At least, not until her little building incident. A one-woman wrecking crew – ambitious, of course, but totally uncontrollable. Which worked with some of the yahoos she got sent after in the US. None of that flew here in the UK though. Prim and proper, and more leniency on those that committed crime. She hated to see it. Unfortunately, it took many hard lessons on her part to fully embrace what it was like to be an Auror here, despite still being on loan by MACUSA. Only now did she really get it.

”No…no I don’t think that would have been a good idea,” she finally said as her laughs started to slow down. ”My superiors were of the mind that I needed to be watched a lot,” Finn explained, shrugging as she talked. ”But responsibility comes with age, and teaching the basics is easy enough. Someone high up liked my work and decided I would be good enough to teach. It’s all a lot calmer than New York ever was.” Or would be, for that matter. One day she would move back. Once she felt like her time here was done. Four years on and a lifetime of lifechanging events later, and it seemed to her that the excitement would never die. Some of her colleagues, namely Claire, would disagree with her on that. But their stuffiness was what led to all of this crime in the first place. There were very broken systems in place that allowed it all to happen. Thankfully it seemed like things were on the mend as of late now that Bianca was running it all. Finn wasn’t quite done with it all yet, though.

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[rose harriet granger-weasley]

February 14, 2028

Nottingham, no longer laughing as she had been, explained that, no, she hadn't been training Aurors before LIFE had come into existence. According to her, at least, it wouldn't have been a good idea, since her superiors had thought that she was the one who needed watching. Putting her in charge of trainees, then, was probably out of the question, though someone somewhere along the way must have had enough faith in her to entrust her with the role of teaching at Hogwarts. Rose liked to think that it wasn't such an easy job to get, but she also knew that that was more of a reflection of the present than the past. When her parents had been at Hogwarts, some of the staff members weren't exactly… screened as thoroughly as they should have been.

Taking a similar tone was Nottingham herself, who continued, "But responsibility comes with age, and teaching the basics is easy enough. Someone high up liked my work and decided I would be good enough to teach. It's all a lot calmer than New York ever was."

New York? That was interesting. Rose had assumed that Nottingham was an American, but there was a lot of one country besides one of its biggest cities… Or did she mean the state? Both of them had the same name. Not knowing which "New York" Nottingham meant, though, Rose guessed that it was probably the city. The Magical Congress of the United States of America, their equivalent of the British Ministry of Magic, was headquartered in New York City, and it made sense that a young Auror might have had to spend time there.

"I'm sure." Rose smiled. Hogwarts wasn't perfect, but it was a relatively calm place when it didn't have the Dark Arts looming over it. She didn't think that she needed to explain that part of it to an Auror who taught incoming Aurors, of all people, though. Taking a less dismal approach, Rose looked at Nottingham. "What brought you across the pond? Azkaban?" she asked, wondering if she had come as part of the MACUSA team to assist the Ministry in capturing escapees and rebuilding the prison.

finn kylie nottingham

[finn kylie nottingham]

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It was sort of funny. Finn hadn’t expected to run into a Weasley, despite the odds of that being relatively high, and the former Minister’s daughter at that. She almost felt obligated to tell Rose here about what her real reason for coming to the UK was. At this point in time, it barely mattered what had happened within the Order and everything that came after. The clusterfuck had solved itself, in a way. Finn had become disillusioned just as much as the next person during the splinter, and then ran off as it collapsed behind her. She wasn’t a leader, after all. Another thing she had learned with age.

”The kidnappings here, actually,” she began. No one had ever actually asked her that question before. ”I was upset with the way MACUSA wasn’t lending aid, so I quit the force and moved here without much of a plan. I worked…independently for a while, and then found my way towards others with likeminded opinions on how the Ministry wasn’t doing everything that they could, and helped out where I was needed. After Azkaban, when MACUSA finally sent aurors over, I rejoined and have stayed here since. Sort of like a liaison at this point, I guess.” She hoped her choice of words concerning the Order made sense to Rose, as she didn’t sense that the girl was a bad person. Anyone that wanted the betterment of magic-kind would have joined if they knew how. It only made sense at the time.

”Then obviously when the Ilvermorny students came, I sort of became guardian of my sister while she went here…too much has happened the last few years. But I’m glad I was able to be here when the castle burned. Being helpless back in the US would not have been good for me at all,” Finn laughed awkwardly. She probably would have blown up something out of anger. Even having been on the ground and helping with the evacuation of the school, there were points in time where she felt powerless. ”I guess I came over at the right time.”

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[rose harriet granger-weasley]

February 14, 2028

It had been the kidnappings at Hogwarts that had brought her from the United States, Nottingham replied. Rose remembered that time well, having been a Hogwarts student herself, not that she wanted to remember it. She didn't need more context from her colleague, though, and Nottingham explained that she had been dissatisfied with the Ministry and MACUSA at first, then she had chosen to work for MACUSA again once they sent Aurors to assist in recapturing the prisoners who had escaped from Azkaban when it fell. Rose followed along, though, and she was glad that Nottingham hadn't gotten into the politics too heavily. That would have been uncomfortable.

Nottingham continued, saying that she had become her sister's guardian while she had attended Hogwarts as an Ilvermorny transfer student. As she mentioned, it was good that she had been there, even though it hadn't been a good series of events itself.

"Yeah." Rose understood, and she understood the sense of responsibility Nottingham must have felt for her sister. Not to turn the conversation to something traumatic, Rose tried to keep the mood upbeat without forcing it. Unlike the kids she taught when she had to redirect them, Nottingham would be able to tell what she was doing. "Sometimes, things sort of happen for a reason, don't they? Do you like it over here, though?" If she didn't like it, then she probably would have gone back to the States.

finn kylie nottingham

[finn kylie nottingham]

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”Yeah, I guess they do happen for a reason.” There was really no telling how effective she had been throughout all of that though. The Azkaban breakout had led to her eventually suspension, and climbing back out of that had felt like it took forever. She readily admitted that was her fault but at the time didn’t think she had done anything too wrong. Building collapse aside, of course. When it came to Hogwarts burning, that felt like the redemption she had been waiting for. There was no way to work faster than she had been that night and the following weeks doing security and cleanup. To someone, she probably made a difference.

”I like the slower pace. I know how that sounds, but I was stationed in the head office in New York City, so everything feels slow in comparison,” she explained. ”But I also don’t know how much more is left for me here. There isn’t a need for MACUSA aurors anymore, and even though teaching is fun, I’m not sure how long Hogwarts will want to keep me around for.” Right now they were basically hiring anyone that had the ability to teach. Eventually, a well-respected retired law enforcement figurehead would want the position and she’d get the boot. While Finn didn’t like having a negative outlook on life like that, it was the inevitable. She was a nobody when it came down to it, and Hogwarts absolutely wanted the best for its professors. The only thing she was good at was eating pizza and blowing up stuff.

”But I like Diagon and Hogsmeade for sure. The feeling of old magic taps into something that we don’t really have back home.” If she got the boot from teaching and was asked to return to New York by her department head, then she was already contemplating the possibility of quitting again. From there, she wasn’t sure. Travel wasn’t too easy with her pets, and she didn’t want to drag her poor dog all the way back to her parents again. He was getting up there in years and it didn’t seem fair to her to do that. ”And Blishwick sort of understands pizza. That makes a world of difference for me,” Finn added with a laugh.

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[rose harriet granger-weasley]

February 14, 2028

The choice to describe the pace of life in Britain as slower was an interesting one, Rose thought. For a long time, it felt as though she had barely had the time to catch her breath. London, like New York City, was exceptionally busy even without the constant threat of the Dark Arts; Hogsmeade was a little less so. At the same time, Nottingham spoke of how she wasn't sure how much longer she would stay there, voicing the assumption that Hogwarts wouldn't want her teaching there forever. The job security seemed good enough to Rose, at least, but she imagined that she would feel the same way at the thought of teaching at Ilvermorny and spending the rest of her life there, for example.

Staying in the same job for one's entire life wasn't typical, anyway. Some people did, but Rose herself had changed career paths once already at her age, and she knew plenty of people around her same age who had had multiple jobs since leaving school and who couldn't really be said to be developing "careers" for themselves just yet.

"But I like Diagon and Hogsmeade for sure," Nottingham added. "The feeling of old magic taps into something that we don't really have back home." Rose nodded at Nottingham's point, just in time for her to continue. "And Blishwick sort of understands pizza. That makes a world of difference for me." Nottingham laughed then, clearly poking fun at herself.

That Jimbo Blishwick's pizza was passable to a former New Yorker was high praise, indeed, by anyone else's metrics. Pizza wasn't a traditional part of British cuisine, so it had taken people a little bit longer to come around to it—and even longer in the magical community. As far as the best pizza in general, the Americans and the Italians would have to figure out that argument between themselves, supposed Rose.

"It's good pizza. And he offers delivery," Rose laughed. The convenience of getting pizza from Blishwick's restaurant was nice, especially living in Hogsmeade. It was easier than going into Muggle London just for food that she couldn't get on the magical side of the city.

finn kylie nottingham

[finn kylie nottingham]

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The real trick in remaining in the UK was figuring out what to do with her time there. Eventually, there was going to be a point where her handlers at MACUSA would want her to return stateside. Finn wasn’t sure if she was ready for that yet. She had escaped her for a reason, and suddenly going back didn’t seem practical to her. The grind of New York was not what she wanted at the moment. There was no lack of urgency on her end either. Moving back had so many obstacles, like packing her belongings and pets back up, and then trying to restart again. Even finding a new apartment in the city was a hassle. She knew her parents would allow her to stay with them until she could find a place of her own, but then that restricted her own freedom. Everything about that sucked.

”I’ve done that a few times. Never would have guessed that they’d have people on brooms bringing it by,” Finn laughed. At first, it seemed impractical because of the flight time. The more she thought about it though, Finn realized that it made a lot of sense to do it that way. When she had picked it up on her own, there had been a few instances where apparating back home had caused the box to twist and flip, leaving half of the pizza looking more like a calzone and on both ends of the box. She didn’t care when she did it, obviously because it was of her own accord, but she definitely would be frustrated if a delivery flier brought it by looking like that. Blishwick really did think of everything.

”I’ve been here for a few years now, but I always feel like I’m finding new places to eat…are there any hidden gems you know of? Could be shops too. Gives me something to do on my days off.” Which were far more often than she would ever have if she was still in New York.

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[rose harriet granger-weasley]

February 14, 2028

"I've done that a few times," said Nottingham about Blishwick's pizza delivery service. "Never would have guessed that they'd have people on brooms bringing it by."

It was helpful, though Rose had to wonder if the delivery process was any different for areas where Muggles would potentially see someone out delivering pizza on a broomstick. In Hogsmeade, it wasn't a concern because it was fully magical, but delivery to some areas might have been better off coming with an Obliviator, too.

"I've been here for a few years now, but I always feel like I’m finding new places to eat…" Nottingham then mused. "Are there any hidden gems you know of? Could be shops too. Gives me something to do on my days off."

Hidden gems? Rose thought it over. Most of the places to eat were pretty established in the magical community, as were the shops, but it seemed that more and more businesses were always opening up. Horizont Alley had become particularly popular, probably because it was right next to Diagon Alley. That wasn't to say that there weren't options elsewhere, though, and London wasn't what anyone would call "hidden".

Although she was obviously biased, Rose had to put in a good word for her Uncle Harry. "My uncle owns the Hounds and Harriers pub in Godric's Hollow," she volunteered. Godric's Hollow was more of a residential area and wasn't fully magical, but there was a larger concentration of magical people in that small village than in many larger communities. "He also owns the Hounds Lounge in London, if you want more of a cocktail sort of thing," Rose added with a shrug. Though it wasn't really the vibe she sought out, other people were into it.

She paused for a moment while one of the MYSTIC students greeted her in passing and then returned to the subject of her conversation with Nottingham after the young pupil had left. "Other than that," Rose continued, "there's Honey's Cat Café in Horizont Alley. It's cozy, but maybe a bit time-consuming if you're just looking for a cup of tea…" Socializing with the cats wasn't a requirement, though, if Nottingham was against that. "Or the Pi Pâtisserie. They're in Horizont, too. They make… maybe the best pastries I've ever had?" That wasn't an exaggeration. Rose enjoyed baking in her free time, but nothing she had made had come close to tasting as good as what the Pi Pâtisserie churned out daily.

"And then I'd also suggest Forget-Me-Knot Florist over there if you need or want flowers for anything. The girl who owns it, Aurelia, was in my year at Hogwarts. Really brilliant Herbologist." Hopefully, Rose thought, she wasn't having to do as many arrangements for funerals anymore.

finn kylie nottingham