First day in the office (open)

Walking into his office, Markuz couldn't suppress the sigh of content.
Looking around, he noticed he had a nice view of the grounds, and lots of natural light. He would have to decorate a little bit more though.

Considering that, Markuz summoned the two items that he would need the most. His Foe Glass, and Kaiser his dog basket.

Placing the Foe glass in the right corner facing his desk, Markuz placed the dog basket behind his desk and to the left.

When somebody entered, they would be able to see Kaiser and Markuz, but not the Foe Glass. That would be hidden by the door, which Markuz spelled to open only halfway.

Settling down, Markuz began planning his lessons.

Maybe one of the professors would come by to greet him? It would be nice to befriend some of his colleagues!

Willow was very nervous, she had no idea what this school was going to be like and especially what the Professors were going to be like! Biting her lip she walked down the corridors of the Durmstrang institute, wondering if she was heading in even the vaguely right direction.

She had been told that various new professors had also started at the school and she wanted to make sure that she had at least someone that she could talk to if she needed some help, after all being all alone in such a large and imposing castle was not going to be very fun.

Tilting her head she looked at the classroom she was outside, transfiguration? The Doctor had told her that this professor was new too, and she knocked on the office door before waiting patiently for it to be opened. She just hoped the the professor was inside.

Hearing somebody knock on the door, Markuz sat straighter.

Looking around his office once, to check if it was presentable, he vanished some dust from a shelf before speaking, "Come in."

Looking expectantly at the door, Markuz wondered who his visitor was.

Willow smiled when she heard the voice telling her to come in, placing her hand on the door knob she turned it and peeked her head in with a small smile on her lips, very glad to be meeting a fellow professor.

"Uhm, hi." she said with a nervous glance down to her feet, biting her lip as well.

Stepping fully into the room, Willow smiled even wider and came to stand in front of the other professors desk;

"My name is Willow Hartman, a new Substitute professor...I wondered if you wanted some company, being new too?"

As he saw the woman peek her head in, Markuz saw her bite her lip as she looked to the ground, immediately after meeting him. He found the gesture oddly cute.

Seeing the woman her nice smile, Markuz smiled back.

"Hello Willow, my name is Markuz Dobcek. Transfiguration Professor. I would love some company. Take a seat."

As Markuz mentioned a seat, he became aware he had no chairs for visitors. He would have to remedy that later.

For now, he conjured a nice, comfortable chair which matched his desk, somewhat classical looking, but definitely nice to sit in.

As he gestured to the chair, Markuz waited for Willow to speak.

Willow smiled happily and she walked quickly into the room, sitting down in the chair that Markuz conjured up for her to sit in, it was so nice of him to conjure him a seat. She didn't expect it, and she couldn't stop the happy smile appearing on her lips.

"It's so nice to meet you Markuz, I'm glad that I could make an acquaintence at work, I was worried that nobody would want to speak with me."

Sitting down she placed her hands on her lap and smiled happily once more, relieved that he had not been one of the scary professors that she had heard about.

"I had hoped that you wouldn't be one of the scary Professors...I've been told there's a few....what time did you start here?"

Watching Willow sit down, Markuz noticed her smiling happily again. She seems to be a rather cheerful person then...

When Willow mentioned making an acquaintance at work, Markuz simply said, "Likewise." Because that was true.

Hearing Willow mention the scary professors, Markuz was puzzled for a second.

"They might be somewhat weird or frightening, but surely you fear them not? They could hardly be allowed to do you harm? And rest assured, I am only frightening to my enemies."

Willow bit her lip and she tried not to speak badly of people in most occassions, because she didn't want to seem like she was being sneaky, however she couldn't deny that Raven Drake, from what she had heard wouldn't care if she was a fellow professor or not....

"I don't think that some of the Professors would really care about 'not allowed'." she said quietly "I don't like speaking badly of people but, from what I've heard of her, I'll try and stay away from Raven Drake."

When he said that he wasn't scary Willow smiled happily and nodded her head;

"I don't think that I could be scary if I tried so, you don't have to worry either. You excited to start classes?" she asked with a light smile on her face.

Markuz observed as Willow seemed to hesitate, before finally speaking of Raven Drake, and now Markuz could understand her slight fear.

"I believe the legendary Raven Drake has plenty of enemies, it seems unlikely to me that she will attack even more people, when she still has some unresolved issues with other people."

When Willow asked him if he was excited about starting classes, Markuz couldn't help a slight smile from appearing.

"Yes, I quite look forward to starting classes. It will be nice pass on my knowledge to the next generation. How about you, are there any specific classes you are the substitute for? Or can you take any of the classes if that professor can't?"

Willow smiled happily when the conversation switched to classes, she felt much more comfortable when it came to that topic, she didn't feel like Raven was going to jump out of the corner and shout at her for speaking about her to someone else.

"Oh I'm glad, its one of the things I like about teaching too, but, I would have been much better at the Councillor position I think, maybe sometime in the future." she smiled gently.

Biting her lip Willow thought about the list of classes she was supposed to be covering, including her favourite pastime, flying.

"I'm covering Flying and I think I might be covering Charms and Duelling as well, so I'm very busy, as well as making sure that the School Medic has another healer on hand if needs be."

Hearing the list of tasks Willow would be taking up, Markuz couldn't suppres an impressed whistle.

"I envy you not. That sounds like a load of work. Although I am not great at Charms, and I prefer standing firmly on the ground, if you ever need assistance with your Duelling class, feel free to ask. I am a decent duellist at the least."

Hearing Willow mention healing, he couldn't suppress the slight shiver that ran through him. If only there had been a talented healer during that blasted mission, he wouldn't have been injured for life.

Subtly placing his left hand on his knee, Markuz asked Willow the question that had sprung into his mind.

"If you are a healer, why not work at the hospital? I read they still have multiple openings!"

Willow smiled happily and she laughed quietly, she almost wished that there was another subsitute teacher at Durmstrang, after all it was hard to do all this work on her own and she had hoped the Doctor would at least cover one of these classes.

"Thank you very much!" Willow spoke enthusiastically "I think I'll take you up on that offer sooner rather than later, I think I'm a little bit crazy taking on so many classes, I hadn't thought they'd all need substitutes."

When he asked her why didn't she work at the hospital, Willow smiled gently and thought back to the job she had also accepted from St Mungo's.

"I do work at St. Mungo's as well as working here." she said happily, a large smile still on her face "I just couldn't pass up the oppertunity for both jobs, I get to help so many people by taking them on."

Smiling kindly when Willow seemed so happy at Markuz his offer, he simply nodded.

"My door will be open whenever you need help."

But then he heard Willow mentioning working at St. Mungo's. He couldn't supress a flash of anger at the mention of the British hospital.

The British were responsible for his wounded knee!

"St. Mungo's?" Markuz asked, unable to keep a bit of revulsion out of his voice, "Why not the Krankhieten Haus? I am sure that they too could use more Healers. Why heal Brits when you can heal Germans?"

Markuz stared into Willow's eyes, trying to see if she would tell him the truth about her motives in working for the British.

Willow blushed a little bit when it turned out that Markuz didn't really like the British, she did used to work for them, and she was looking for a job in the German Hospital now, she was just waiting to hear back from them, it was a bind apparating to Britain every day.

"I am looking to move to the german hospital, I applied for a job there and I'm just waiting to hear back from them, I used to live in London when I moved from France."

Biting her lip Willow almost looked ashamed of herself and she blinked swiftly, she didnt want to make an enemy at Durmstrang, and she had meant to say the German hospital in the first place, her old place of work had just slipped out.

"I don't really much look into violence and war, wounded people are wounded people, as a Russian who only just moved here, I'm trying to remain as neutral as I can." she said honestly "I'm sorry if that causes offense."

Taking a deep breath, trying to calm down, Markuz felt an explanation would be necessary. He was somewhat mollified by Willow her explanation.

"I am sorry if I scared you. I have unresolved business with the British. I used to serve in the army. One of theirs hit my knee with a Nightly Torture Spell. I was not able to counter it fully. My knee hurts every night because of those bastards. The battle didn't even take place officially. But I will suffer every night of my life because of them."

Sighing deeply, Markuz continued, "That is why I dislike the Brits. You healing them while I will never heal fully, that hit a nerve. I apologize."

Willow blinked and she felt suddenly very bad for Markuz, if only she had managed to help him when he was hurt, perhaps he wouldn't suffer so much now? Maybe she could still help him heal a little bit now? After all, surely it wasn't beyond repair.

"You didn't scare me." Willow said with a small smile on her lips, the only person who scared her was Gervais and the beatings that he gave her whenever she did something 'wrong' in his eyes.

Biting her lip Willow gestured to his knee under the desk and asked kindly;

"Do you want me to see if I can heal it up any better for you? I mean it's the least I can do after I upset you like that, I'm only sorry I wasn't here to help in the beginning." Willow smiled gently.

When Markuz heard that he hadn't scared Willow, he was relieved. He hadn't scared of his first friendly colleague. That was good.

"You can try, although I should warn you not to be dissappointed if you fail. I have seen the best healers Germany has to offer. I have gone to specialists and have browsed many a tome. There is only one counter to the Nightly Torture Spell, it has to be applied as soon as possible after getting hit. I applied it five seconds after I got hit. That is why the pain is only in my knee."

Looking into Willow's eyes, Markuz tried to convey the message that he wouldn't blame her if she failed to do anything. She seemed like the person who would blame herself if she didn't succeed in helping others.

"But, if that makes you feel better, feel free to try. Oh, and I am pleased that I did not scare you."

Willow smiled gently and she wondered if she would actually be able to make a difference, if it was truly that hard she was probably not going to be able to heal the injury any better than Markuz had done himself when it had first happened.

"Well, even if I fail it's the least I can do to try, maybe I can try and research into how to help the pain even a little bit, even though it sounds like I probably won't succeed."

Pouting a little bit, Willow got up from her seat and walked around the other side of the desk with a smile on her lips now, ready to try and give this a crack at healing the injury.

"I probably will be dissappointed with myself, you already know me so well and we only met today." Willow smiled warmly "Well you seem far to nice to be scary, to me anyway, bad news is I'll be harder to get rid of now." she joked.

Listening to Willow explain why she would try, Markuz noticed that she seemed to be preparing herself for any outcome. Just to avoid dissappointment probably.

When Willow stood next to him, Markuz looked up to her. When Willow made her joke, Markuz couldn't help but reply, "No, I don't think I'm going to get rid of you just yet. I think I'll keep you around for a while." Winking,
Markuz pulled his jeans up, so that his right knee was exposed.

Conjuring a side table to put his foot on, Markuz stretched his leg and put it on the table, so Willow would have space to work on his knee.

Sighing, Markuz said, "Well, give me your best shot!"

Willow blushed a little and smield when Markuz said that he wanted to keep her around for now, it was very nice to have a friend that she knew she could come to in the castle, and he actually wanted ot be her friend as well which made the whole process so much easier.

"Well thank you very much, it's very kind of you." she replied with a grin "I might just have to keep you around too."

When he had placed his knee on the little side table, Willow hummed and she closed her eyes, her healing magic manifested itself in the palms of her hands and she furrowed her brow in concentration.

"Now this might feel a little warm okay? Just tell me if it gets a little too hot for you." she smiled gently, in a hopefully reassuring manner.

Maybe the heat would loosen the pain in the muscle of the knee, if that in fact was the problem.

Giving Willow an affirmative nod when she informed him that he had to warn her if his knee got to hot, Markuz closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, he could feel a pleasant heat spreading through his knee.

Waiting for a few seconds, he didn't feel any miraculous changes in his knee, although the heat did grow slightly warmer as time passed.

Deciding to distract himself, Markuz looked for something to say.

"What are you trying to do exactly? With this heat I mean." Markuz softly asked Willow, as he didn't understand what heat had to do with his injury.

Willow frowned, she didn't sense that there was that much of a change in the pain that was in the knee and it would seem that the tactic that she was trying was not going to work very well. Pausing she continued still, deciding to ask;

"I guess it's not working yet?" she asked with a small, and quite cute frown on her face "Where there's pain, heat normally helps release the pain, if it concerns a muscle, but I guess that's not where the problem lies."

Running her hand through her hair, Willow poked Markuz's knee softly and sighed; "You troublesome thing will be the death of me I know it. What things have other healers tried so I don't repeat myself?"

Seeing Willow frown, Markuz had to suppress the adoring Aww, that tried to escape him. It was rather cute to see the young woman so frustrated. Even if it concerned his own health.

When Willow asked what the other healers had tried, Markuz let out another sigh. He seemed to be doing that a lot today.

"Well, the most painful was electric shock therapy. That didn't help a damn. One of them completely destroyed all of the nerves in my right leg. That worked, but when he regrew my nerves, the pain returned as well. We did found out that the pain was probably directly related to my nerves that way though.
Then there was this woman who used a nerve-dulling charm. That actually worked, the disadvantage being that I couldn't feel my leg any more. I could use it, but my coordination is a disaster when it is active. I use it at night, when I go to bed.
In the complete waste of money department we have massages, loads of classical healing spells, a purifying spell and a purging spell. That's all I think."

Finishing his lengthy monologue, Markuz couldn't help but explain himself, "I did say I went to the best Germany has to offer. Apparently, there are quite of few of them."

Willow blinked and she let her mouth drop open when Markuz told her that someone had tried electric shock therapy on him and she felt a little bit of anger spark up inside of her, that was a painful medieval method and she condemned it totally;

"Oh thats not good! They should not have tried that at all, it could have made things much worse! It could have killed you!" Willow huffed, crossing her arms about her chest.

When he said that they had tried everything that she had ever thought to try, Willow groaned a little and pouted, maybe she wasn't as good a healer as she thought she was.

"Well I have nothing." she said with a little bit of sadness in her voice "I'll try and do some research and you don't have to worry, you don't waste your money on me, I do things like this for free, so should all healers." she frowned again.

Markuz smiled when Willow got all worked up over the electric shock therapy. He rather liked the effect her crossed arms gave to her chest region though. Bad Markuz! Don't perv!

Refocusing, Markuz spoke reassuringly, "Don't worry, when that man finished, I transfigured his teeth into glass shards. He hadn't mastered silent casting yet, so when he tried to undo it, he accidentally pierced his own tongue!" Shaking his head at the fond memory, Markuz wiped away a tear of mirth. That bastard had had it coming.

Seeing Willow get down when she realised that she wouldn't be able to help him, Markuz felt the need to reassure her.

"Don't beat yourself up over it, you can't help it. It's as much that Brit his fault as it is my own. I simply should have paid more attention when I got the injury. Now I have a reminder of the lesson I learned. Don't overwork yourself on my behalf though! You are quite busy as is. Put the research on the backburner. At least until you get a little less work."