Dumbledore walked briskly through Hogwarts’ halls back towards his office. He was expecting a very special guest for tea today. After passing the guard Gargoyle, and a quick trip up the revolving stairs, he arrived at the still opened door to his office.

As he entered, he spotted a mess of curly reddish brown hair from behind one of the floral printed armchairs placed on the left side of the room. As expected, it was his great niece, twice removed, Hoppity Clementine Smirkett, who was to be the newest applicant to the newly opened position of Professor of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts’, though she didn't know it yet. He delighted in the happy meeting that was to come. It was a welcome change from how the rest of the day had been. He shut the door behind himself and approached with a fond grin.

Hoppity turned at the sound of the door closing, her bespeckled face lit up with a matching grin, a half-eaten scone was perched in one hand.

"Ah, my dear how wonderful it is to see you again!"

She joyfully stood up to embrace him, the scone still in one hand and Albus hoped that she would manage to hold on to it, and not leave it in his hair by accident.

When she let go and stepped back, he happily noted that the scone was still in her hand, and not floating around in his hair or beard. "Oh! Papa Albus! I was just waiting here for you, I didn't hear you come in. These scones are simply scrumptious, the best I've ever had!" The last statement was emphasized by an enthusiastic bite as she sat back down in the plushy chair.

He turned and sat down on a matching overstuffed chair next to her and poured the tea before plucking a scone for himself. "Yes, I must agree. I've told the same to people on many different occasions, but they never seem to agree..."

He watched as Hoppity took a sip of tea. How long had it been since he last saw her? Three years? Four? He took a moment to study her face and see how the years had been to her. She hadn't aged much. She still wore the same glasses- black, round rims in front of hazel eyes, which were now intently focused on another scone. She still had a lightly freckled nose, although they seemed to be lighter than the last time he saw her. Her fuzzy hair was piled up in an attempt at a bun, stray stands stuck out teasingly around her face. She wasn't very remarkable looking, except perhaps for the odd way certain curls of her hair liked to stick out.

She looked up and caught him looking. She smiled at him before nervously straightening her dark teal Wizard robes. "I'm rather fond of these old things, I've had them forever but if I get the job at the Ministry like I plan too, I'll have to wear the old stuffy kind." She reached out for a biscuit.

"Yes, quite. I do feel as if a little decoration on one's robes is ever so nice. If you ever tire of listening to an official you could just watch a star or moon float by." He sipped his tea. "I must apologize for not seeing after you as much as I should have these last few years. It seems I just get busier and busier as the years go by."

She just shrugged off his apology good naturedly, "I've been awfully busy myself."

"So have you finally decided what you wish to do now?"

Munching on the biscuit, she stifled a laugh, thankfully blocking crumbs from flying everywhere. "Oh yes, I think this is it. Of course I had thought the same about the geographical mapper, the witches' nanny, and the book editor jobs too..." she ticked off the jobs on her fingers, "And we can't forget about the Honeyduke's tester or the magical zoo keeper jobs either, but maybe I'll really like this one. Hopefully." She scrunched up her nose thoughtfully. "It was really too bad about the Honeyduke's tester job though. It seems that one can get sick on too much chocolate after all."

Dumbledore gifted her with a chuckle. "And just what is it that you have decided to do now, my dear?"

At his signs of interest, she sat up straighter, crossed her legs and started to motion animatedly. "I've decided that I want to work at the Ministry in Muggle Relations. Muggles are just fascinating people so I decided that it would be fun to work with them. And a job at the Ministry would be a nice stable one. Aunt Helga's been after me forever to find something stable."

Albus was surprised to say the least. Hoppity lived up to her name, always jumping from one thing to another, rarely interested in anything long, although he shouldn't be surprised at her choice to work with Muggles. She had always had a preoccupation with them and had gotten high marks in all her Muggle classes, even through all the various temporary obsessions.

"I've just completed a two year course in Muggle Studies at the School for Wizard's Higher Education in Cambridge."

"Really?" Well of course he had known that, but sometimes when he acted as if he was uninformed or senile people tended to supply him with more information.

"Yes. Well at first it was just the required basic introductory class that everyone has to take, but it fascinated me so much that I decided that I wanted to work with Muggles in some way. We even took a two-week long field trip into the Muggle world, and were forbidden to use magic! I passed with flying colors of course although my partner had a bit of trouble in her computer job and quit a week in." She sat up proudly. "I am now fully qualified to interact with the Muggle world."

"Ah, lovely, just lovely. I've often thought that Muggles were fascinating too. Quite brilliant some of the things they come up with. Have you come across those elektroc keyboards?" Hoppity shook her head. "No? Oh well they are quite fun, you need to try one sometime. I'm afraid I don't remember, did you say that you wished to work at the Ministry too?"

"Well there's not really many jobs around that interact with Muggles, except for Obliviator squads and I've never been particularly good with memory spells... a representative at the Ministry seems like the best alternative."

He really shouldn't, but he needed someone that he could trust. "Well my dear how old will you be this year? Was it thirty?"

"I'll be thirty-two in December."

"Ah, to be young again. I think you'll do nicely."

She picked up her teacup and took a sip, a puzzled frown on her face. "Sir?"

He gave her a kind smile. "I find myself at a bit of a problem. It seems that my current Professor of Muggle Studies has just quit to spend retirement time with his family, and I am in need of a new one. You are intelligent, old enough to be a professor and have passed all required examinations for the position and most importantly, I trust you."

Hoppity was clutching her teacup tightly, a flabbergasted expression on her face. He hoped that it was shocked happiness and not incredulous terror.

"Gah- gah-"

"Yes, well I don't need your answer now-"

"Yes!" Hoppity leaped up, her eyes opened as wide as they could while she gave Albus an admiring expression. She reached out and grasped his arm and excitedly shook it. "What do I need to do? Should I come back in through the door and have an interview? Oh, but I should have worn nicer robes-"

He smiled and gently extracted his arm from her fervent grasp and ushered her back to her seat. "No, no, my dear. None of that. But it wouldn't do to just hire you on the spot. I'm afraid too many people would think me of favouritism! Ah, but how about a little test first?"

She blinked. "A test? What kind of test?"

"Well, perhaps... yes, I would think that a foray into the Muggle world before the start of term would do nicely! I have two wizards who I need to hide in the Muggle world in that large United States country across the ocean, and it would be very convenient if you could look after them."

Her mouth dropped. "The Americas?" A blink of the eyes before she visibly straightened up and burst into a bigger smile. "Well that sounds easy! I'm positive that I will be able to pass this test with flying colors. You can count on me!"

Wonderful.

"I'll just let you use the floo to go home and pack then, my dear." He opened and studied his rune pocket watch. "I'll expect you back here at eight o'clock tonight."

"Alright Albus, you can count on me!" Hoppity practically bounced over to the sitting door next door.

All he needed now was a third party for this venture and then he would then start to call in those favours.