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Joseph was sitting behind the staff table in the center, smiling as usual. In fact, Joseph himself was very surprised he could smile at this time. So much had happened over the last few months; he was surprised that anyone could smile.

First, Professor Meridian had turned up at the school with no memories of her life before she left. Though they were to remain friends, losing a valuable member of the staff, as well as a TOE warrior, was a serious blow to Joseph's confidence. Hogwarts had lost the day Flara told him she couldn't remain there.

It didn't improve his confidence much when he found the mysterious MSPA disk in Flara's robe pocket; the words 'Orientation 5 of 7' had been etched on his brain for a long time now. Now that Joseph had confirmed with reliable sources that the disk was, in fact, a Muggle recording device, he was making arrangements to see what details the object contained with Professor Fremen three days from now. And though he hadn't voiced this concern to anyone, Joseph was frightened at what he might see in seventy-two hours.

Having to deal with both of those facts, it came as no surprise to Joseph that he began to not sleep that well after reading in the Daily Prophet at the end of last term that there was a mass robbery from Gringotts. The wizarding bank had long been known as one of the safest locations in the world, and Joseph had never once questioned this argument. Now that Marsden had gone as far as to sneak past goblins and infiltrate many high-security vaults, Joseph felt like a cloud of impending doom was hovering over the wizarding population in Great Britain.

Yet he was smiling as he ate his way through the opening feast. In spite of everything wrong in the world; in spite of the terrible things that seemed as though were happening on a daily basis, Joseph was still able to find happiness at his old school. Whether it was the deliciously prepared meal for the feast, the cheerful students who were also smiling, after being reunited with their friends, or the possibility that the Hog's Head might feel a bit more sanitary under the care of Flara Meridian, Joseph did not know; all he knew was that he was smiling, and he was genuinely happy that it was September 1st.

"Rather dull, actually," replied Joseph. It was true; between the different news stories of Seven exploits, Joseph had found the months of July and August quite tedious. Serving as the school's headmaster was a very rewarding experience, but Joseph felt the position was much less enjoyable during the summer holiday. "I must say, I'm quite happy it's a new term. Once you've gotten Hogwarts in your system, it's difficult to live any differently.

"How was your summer, though, Shad? Any new, exciting memories?"

Joseph nodded his head, his expression getting slightly sadder. "I know what you mean," he sighed. The conversation had been directed toward the subject of Marsden's people, which was exactly where Joseph had wanted it to stay clear of. The happiness he had been feeling about the new term began to slowly drain out of him. "I must say, I was hoping that it would get better before now. But on a weekly basis, it always seems to steadily stay the same, or get worse."

What did you teach before you became headmaster?

At this, Joseph gave Professor Wolf a small smile. Hopefully the conversation would be turned into something a bit more cheerful than the Seven. "I was the charms instructor," he replied. "Charms was always my favorite subject, and surprisingly enough, I seemed to have a knack for it. So I decided to teach others about what I've learned."

Glad to see that they were distancing themselves from unpleasant subjects of interest, Joseph chuckled. "I know what you mean, Shad," he said. "There were plenty of kids who did things like that when I taught the subject. I had to repair some of the furniture once or twice. It's actually a bit amazing how students can produce strong magic while meaning to produce something completely different. But I suppose that's what you have to expect; after all, most of them are underage, and have never once used a wand. You need to be prepared for accidents."

Joseph sounded a great deal more enthusiastic than he did when Shad had brought up the Seven. His smile was back, and he was drinking his pumpkin juice more heavily. He knew that he shouldn't let stress overcome him, but it proved difficult to not let it do so when there was an enormous amount of stress covering the world.

Was charms your first choice?

"Always charms," replied Joseph. He took another sip of his drink. "Like I said, it was always my favorite subject. Plus, and forgive my lack of modesty, but I seemed to have a natural talent for it. I received an Outstanding on both my charms O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. I did well in school, but I don't hide the fact that there were a couple of subjects that I studied where I didn't do quite as well as I did in charms."

Joseph chuckled. "Everyone has their weak areas, Shad. I promise you, I am no exception to this rule.

"Before I got to N.E.W.T. level, I was taking Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, Astronomy, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, and Muggle Studies. I got my O.W.L. results back a few weeks after my fifth year. Thankfully, I received an O.W.L. in almost every subject. My two worst subjects were Divination and Astronomy; I only managed to achieve Poor in the examination. As far as my passing grades, the lowest I got was an Acceptable in Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology.

Joseph smiled fondly, thinking of all of his old memories. He found it quite enjoyable to reminisce, and realized that he didn't do it often enough. Joseph decided to make more attempts to revisit his memories if he ever got the chance (though that was proving difficult at the moment). He seemed to always be busy these days.

"What about you, Shad?" Joseph said. "You've had me giving you my autobiography all this time. Let's hear something about your history."