Victoria finally stood still for more than a minute to catch her breath. She believed in old fashion elbow grease, so had spent the last few hours cleaning and decorating her new office. Yes, it was quite stylized, but she rather liked the old look. Besides the big fireplace, she loved the closed off bookcase and matching desk.

She closed the door to her small sleeping area. It was a small room with the needed things. She still wasn't sure how much time she was planning on spending at the school. Or if she would be visiting Tess often. Victoria had just gotten her best friend back into her life, and was reluctant to let her go.

The cool autumn air leaving the stone room even colder, she lit a fire and started writing a letter to an old friend.

While Parker hadn't been there at the opening ceremony in the beginning of the year, he had heard the news of a new school councilor. And since he had not been able to introduce himself then, he should meet her soon. After all, they might be working together often. Especially considering the rising tensions and few attacks that have happened. Healing of physical and mental kinds needed to work together, right?

With lessons starting, he had been busy, but he figured without that many students in the infirmary as of now, there wouldn't be any better of a time to come. He just hoped he had better luck getting along with this one.

Parker walked down from the hospital wing on the fifth floor to the third, sighing as he neared the door to the office. He felt a shill through the corridor, and crossed his arms, rubbing them to try to heat himself up. His office has been warm enough for a t-shirt and he'd forgotten he probably should have been wearing a coat otherwise. He stopped in front of the door, taking a breath. New year, new start. He needed to stop letting his past hinder his future. It was a chance to meet a potentially great co-worker,make a potential friend. He lifted his hand and knocked lightly on the door.

Victoria looked up from her desk. Her brow wrinkled at the thought that a student may need help so soon. She had no problem helping others, but was surprised that they would come to her on her first day. Especially since she hadn't been introduced to the general student body yet.

Putting away her letter, she crossed over to the door. She opened it, happy that the oil she'd applied got rid of the terrible screeching. Surprisingly, it was an adult. He didn't look too much older than her, though she'd always been a terrible judge of age. "Hi, come on in." He seemed to be feeling the cold weather just a little too much. Victoria gestured over to the chairs by the fire, and moved to take the far one.

She smiled at the man. "My names Victoria Rossmund. And who are you?" She wondered offhand if he was one of the friends that Tess had mentioned. She had rattled off so many it had been hard to remember. Turning back to the fire, she moved some of the wood around so it would heat the room better.

Parker sighed and lowered his head slightly as he waited, hearing a bit of movement from inside. He really hoped he wasn't bothering her, or hadn't caught her at a bad time. Oh, he probably had, she was probably still unpacking. And here he was, being a bother and wanting to chat....maybe he should just come back.

He looked up as the door swung open silently, remembering how last time he'd been down here, there'd been some terrible creaking, and he saw a woman, maybe around his age. "Ah, hello." he replied with a polite nod and smile as she invited him so graciously. The moment he stepped in it felt warmer, and when she motioned to a chair by the fire he smiled again, muttering a soft "Thank you," as he sat down.

He looked at the crackling fire and then drew his attention back to her after she introduced herself. "Ah, yeah, sorry if I'm intruding." He said, moving one hand to rub the back of his neck. "Uh, It's just- well, I'm Healer Parker Emery, the school healer. And I thought it would be a good thing if we got to know one another. For students sake in the future." he added, with a slightly unsure looking smile. She seemed nice enough, but after the last school councilor, he was a bit more careful with himself and new people.

Victoria was surprised at Parker's nervousness. She smiled brightly at him. "You're not intruding at all. Actually I've just finished settling in." Honestly, she was happy to have someone to talk to now. Back in Wales, there was always someone around the campfire to talk to. It was going to be hard getting to know everyone here.

"That's an excellent idea!" She really liked the thought of being able to help students together. Plus, it would be nice to have someone who probably knew most of them, that way she could maybe get useful information so she could be of more use.

"I think we actually know some of the same people. My best friend is Tess Black. And just the other day I met the History of Magic teacher, Albus. He mentioned you look after the young ones as well." Now seeing Parker, how shy he seemed, she was curious how that part of his job was going.

Parker returned a small smile to her bright one. "Oh, alright, good. Would hate to be a bother." he commented. "How've you been liking it back so far? I'm assuming you were a student. Like everyone else." He said, trying to be a bit more conversational, though it seemed slightly forced. He was never really good at small talk, but one couldn't really avoid it.

He smiled a bit more brightly when she was in total agreement. "Great, wonderful. It'll really benefit the students if we can put out heads together. Especially with some of the trouble that's been going on." He wanted to try to keep the topic light, just saying hello and getting on the same page. Not into the seriousness of their jobs at the moment. He cleared his throat, looking into the fire again, rubbing his arms as he continued to warm up.

When she mentioned Tess, his attention was back on her. He smiled a little bit. "Oh? Really? People talk about me?" he said with a smile, sounding a bit in disbelief. He never really though himself as interesting enough to be mentioned to others. He sighed and nodded about what Albus had apparently said. "Ah, yeah...lot of professors have had kids recently so... the position was given to me." he said, trying not to sound utterly dismayed by this fact.

Victoria laughed lightly at his question. "Well, I only just arrived today. I haven't even been around to see the Headmistress. Figured I'd go look for her after classes, before dinner, to get caught up on things. But I like the office." She tried to look on the bright side and take the new job as it came.

She nodded at Parker's comment, taking a mental note to ask about the trouble some other time. She figured once she talked to the Headmistress, maybe Parker wouldn't mind sitting down and filling her in on it all. It had been a few years since she had graduated, but Victoria remembered how stressful school could be. With the relationships between students, class work, and other life things, she imagined she would stay pretty busy.

Trying not to laugh at his reaction to being talked about, she bit her lip with a smile. "Just mentioning, really. Not enough for me to really know anything about you. Don't worry."

Now that she was sitting down, not constantly moving to clean, the chill was really creeping in. She stood and moved to a coat rack to grab a sweater and tugged it on, returning to her seat. "So is it completely unbearable, watching them? I've never really been around kids."

Parker gave a slightly embarrassed smile and nod. "Oh, yeah, of course. Well, at leas you like your office." he said with a shrug. "A lot of the other professors tend to complain about theirs. Yours if awfully nice though, lucky you." he added with a smile, knowing he was lucky with his own accommodations.

He chucked at himself as he noticed she was holding back a smile. He raised a hand, moving it to brush his hair off from his forehead. "Oh, no, it's nothing. Just never thought myself one to be brought in conversation it all." he said, slightly surprising himself with his straightforwardness.

Taking a glance between her and the fire again as she pulled on a coat, he really wished he had the mind to have grabbed his on the way out from his room. Though the fire was helping. He let out a sort of exhausted sigh just at the mention of the kids. "Well let's just say I have no clue how I landed that responsibility considering I'm not exactly a fan of young children. We'll see how it goes once the rest come in."

Parker shivered slightly, and rubbed one hand over his arm again as the other hand reached to his pocket, pulling out his wand. "Erm, you wouldn't mind if I did a warming charm, would you?" he offered. He nearly always had one up in his office and room, so he often forgot how cold it really go in the castle. In the past the chill might not have bothered him, considering he was in slytherin and the dungeons were the coldest place in the castle, but now having gotten used to a cozy warmth, he imagined it'd be hard to get used to again.

Victoria let out a small smile at Parker's comment on her office. She bit her lip, slightly embarrassed herself. "It helps to have an extension charm handy." Her camp life in Wales hadn't required a lot of furnishings, so she never fell victim to buying things just to fill a dwelling. It gave her the liberty to know what kind of decorations she liked, so she could just get what she wanted and hide it away for quieter days. Everything in this room were very thought out buys and she loved them.

She was surprised at how depreciating he seemed. Maybe it was something good for a healer, yet she never felt that way about Tess. She shrugged inwardly, figuring she was here to help the students, not the teachers. Though she wouldn't turn a deaf ear to them. She blinked, feeling stupid for not thinking of a warming charm before.

"Definitely! I'm not used to needing them, so kind of forgot about it." She smirked a little. "Kind of a muggleborn thing, I guess. I tend to forget the little things."

Tucking her legs in under her, happy to have someone to talk to, she smiled softly. "So what's your story? How'd you end up here?" She waved her hand, indicating the school.

"Yeah, looks like you really put in a lot for the room." Parker couldn't say the say for his own office or ever private quarters. He had whatever he could get his hands on for cheapest and he wasn't really the neatest person either. Not that he had much to make a mess with besides his work papers and potions anyway though.

He smiled when she said that he could, and pulled out his wand from his waistband and flicked it, a comfortable warmth settling in the room. "Ah, I know what that's like. Same here. Before last year I hardly used my wand at all. I've had to get back in the habit though." he said with a shrug as he pocketed it before. Not only had he had to get back in the habit for teaching purposes, but because he had started to feel so unsafe again. It was like he was back at school again. He had hardly used it outside of classes until he started to feel threatened.

Parker seemed to hesitate, thinking after she asked how he ended up working here. "Me? Well, I'm finishing the very last of my healer's training before I go off to work in my specialization. I've got the rest of this year and next year left to go. What about you?" he asked.

Victoria breathed a sigh of relief at the warmth filling her joints. She hadn't realized how tired she was feeling after the stress of coming back to the school and getting settled. As soon as she had stepped through the large double doors, a part of her had felt like she was home. But the hours spent alone after that made her realize how different it was going to be without Tess. Or Bronn...

Shaking out of her lull, she smiled at Parker. It was nice to finally know someone else who was muggleborn. It seemed like she had somehow surrounded herself with purebloods. Not that it was a problem, since they understood the muggle world surprisingly well, but it was different knowing about things and having grown up around them.

She laughed at his comment. "Yeah. I remember in school thinking, 'what don't they do with a wand!' It was one of my favorite parts about this world. All of the new, exciting things." She blushed. "I guess I still get carried away with it." Sometimes she wondered what her life would have been like if she hadn't gotten her letter. She loved her muggle sister, but hearing about her day to day life seemed so...boring, now.

She nodded at his talk of training. Victoria never pretended to know anything about Healer training, but from what she'd gathered through her talks with Tess, it took a long time, especially if you wanted to specialize. Being asked about her own past seemed like a safe enough question, so she tried not to show all the emotions that accompanied it. "Well, I was working in Wales for a few years training and working with the dragons there. Life just...decided i needed a change of scenery. So I came back to London and here I am!" She tried to end on a good note, even though it really wasn't as great as all that.