A/N: For day two of Teslen Week: "Autumn." This is set before Stargazing. Helen isn't Headmistress yet, and Nikola is still human. It's been years since I read/watched Harry Potter, so I apologize for any mistakes! Enjoy! 3
Nikola's voice was clearly audible as Helen walked down the castle's fourth-floor corridor, even through the thick oak door to his classroom. She paused for a moment outside, listening to the familiar tones through the door.
"...a moment of pure happiness," he was saying. "Which isn't as easy as it sounds, trust me… That Chocolate Frog has been croaking for the last fifteen minutes, so if whoever owns it would put us all out of our misery and just eat it, I would be supremely grateful. Thank you. Now, as I was saying, the end result of the Patronus Charm…"
Chuckling, Helen stepped through the door, and Nikola stopped speaking abruptly as he caught sight of her from the other side of the classroom. His face softened as they met each other's gaze, warmth filling his clear blue eyes; wordlessly, he waved his half-raised wand and a stream of white light burst out, forming into a silver pigeon that flapped around his head, cooing.
"Show off," Helen mouthed, and he grinned.
"Well, well, to what do we owe the pleasure, Professor Magnus?" he asked. The classroom's attention was diverted to her as she strode up the middle aisle, robes swishing.
"Forgive me for interrupting, Professor Tesla," she said, her lips twitching. "I wanted a word with you after class. I arrived a bit early and decided to watch your lecture."
"Ah yes, seeing a genius at work is always compelling." A few snickers here and there in the classroom. "I was just finishing up. Have a seat... Professor Magnus." There was a flirtatious twinkle in his eyes at the last words, and Helen turned her head away from the class to give him an impressive eye roll.
She sat behind his desk, watching him as he paced up and down in front of her, delving back into his lecture. Nikola's main subjects were Arithmancy and Ancient Runes (the latter of which he shared with Helen on occasion), but when James had asked him to substitute for his Defense Against the Dark Arts class for a few weeks, he'd thrown himself into it with his customary enthusiasm. As he'd phrased it to Helen, it gave him a chance to "be even cooler than usual."
He was good at it, too, even if telling him so would only stroke his massive ego. Helen relaxed back into his chair, enjoying the view. He always looked rather splendid when he had an audience, eyes snapping with energy, his slender hands gesturing even more extravagantly than usual.
It only took him a few more minutes to finish up the lecture, and the students began to stand up and exit, gathering up books and quills and heading to their next class.
"Next week: vampires!" Nikola called. "And, don't forget your homework or whatever."
Nikola turned to Helen as the last of the students left, shutting the door with a wave of his wand. "Well, what dastardly purpose did you have in mind for me this afternoon, Professor?"
Helen laughed. "This one." And she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.
Nikola's cheeks were flushed when she pulled away, the same light in his eyes that had been present when he'd conjured the Patronus just now. "And what was that for?" He brushed a finger over her cheek.
"Who said I needed a reason?" Helen smirked and kissed him again even though she hadn't been planning to, lingering this time, feeling the pull of his lips upward against hers as he smiled. He caught another tiny kiss from her before she let go of him, stepping back and smiling at him when he opened his eyes.
"Though I did have another reason to drop in, as well," she admitted.
"I knew it." Nikola didn't look offended, just kept looking at her with open affection.
Helen glanced around before edging closer and pulling out a folded piece of paper from her robes. "I checked the passage again today," she said quietly. "The floodwaters are down, and I believe we can get through it."
"Really?" Nikola peered down as she unfolded the map. There were so many people in the Slytherin common room right now that they almost blocked out the passage just outside, but it could clearly be seen leading off past the edge of the paper.
The Five had explored almost the entire school during their time there, and Helen, as the leader, still had the treasured map they had created. After returning to Hogwarts as teachers, she and Nikola had gotten extremely bored and a tiny bit drunk one night and decided to resume their former explorations. The school was always shifting, new passages opening up that they had never seen, and updating the map had seemed like an interesting pursuit for their spare time.
Besides, Helen would admit (to herself) that sneaking around like teenagers in the middle of the night with Nikola was some of the most fun she had ever had.
They had recently discovered a new one right outside the Slytherin common room, but it had been filled up with water after an exceptionally wet summer. They suspected that parts of it ran under or near the lake, but now the water had receded to a level which would allow them to properly check out the tunnels.
Nikola grinned. "I'm scandalized, Helen. And with you on track to be Headmistress in a few years, too."
"In that case, it's even more important that I know my way around the castle," Helen said, reasonably.
His grin widened. "Have I mentioned how much I love it when you're sneaky?"
"And why do you need in?" The raven painting outside the back entrance to Nikola's quarters looked down its beak at her.
"I've told you," Helen said, attempting to maintain patience. This painting had been a thorn in her side ever since they'd started using this passage in and out of Ravenclaw Tower years ago. "I want to see Nikola."
"Is it an emergency?"
"No."
"Then I shan't let you in." It preened.
Helen sighed. Thankfully, at that moment the wall swung outward, the raven squawked in protest, and Nikola stepped through.
"I see the daggers are out again," he remarked, glancing between her and the raven with amusement. "You look stunning in black, my dear." After this bit of flattery (Helen almost always wore black) he kissed her cheek.
"You're late."
"Fashionably. Have you the map?"
"Of course."
"Well then. Skulduggery, here we come."
A bit of prodding around the base of the serpent statue guarding the passage yielded them entrance, and Helen and Nikola slipped down the stone stairs after checking to make sure no one was passing by. The opening ground shut behind them, leaving them in total darkness.
"Lumos," Helen whispered. The tip of her wand glowed, casting Nikola's face and their surroundings in bright blue light.
A short section of the passage was carved and decorated, before it eventually shifted into little more than a rough tunnel through the stone. It was quite a walk to the area that had previously been flooded, but Helen marked their progress on the map as they went along until they reached it.
Just as Helen had seen this morning, the water was down to only knee-deep. It looked as if it didn't get any deeper the further on they went, though they were still careful to check the depth as they waded through.
At least, Helen was. Nikola let out a yelp when he stepped into a collapsed section and lost his balance, tipping over and landing face first in the water with a splash.
Helen hurried over, leaning over and hauling him up by the arm, spluttering.
"Thank you Helen," he coughed, shaking water out of his eyes. He looked down with a sigh and pointed his wand at himself. "Tergeo." The water siphoned off, leaving his waistcoat dry and spotless, before Nikola moved the wand up to his hair. A moment later, it had sprung back up to its usual fluffiness.
Helen watched this with an amused smile.
"What?" he asked, putting his wand down. "Nothing wrong with looking your best on an adventure. Particularly if it's with a brilliant, powerful witch."
Her smile widened. "An adventure, hmm?" She supposed it was, at that. She and Nikola always seemed to get up to such things. Maybe that was why she liked him so much.
"Every day with you is an adventure, my dear."
Helen rolled her eyes. "...Honestly, Nikola?"
"Right, ok." He had the courtesy to sound apologetic. "Onward?"
Helen took his arm. "Watch your step this time. If there are any larger depressions, you may have to worry about more than a ruined suit."
They avoided any further incident, and eventually the passage ascended to drier ground. It twisted and turned, and they had gone off the edges of the map about an hour ago, leaving them with little idea of where it was headed.
Helen voiced this after a while, her arm still linked with Nikola's.
"It is odd, isn't it?" he agreed, peering into the blackness of the tunnel opening up before them. There was no end in sight.
"We must be past the lake by now."
"Substantially, I would imagine."
"Could this be another passage to Hogsmeade?" They had used that many, many times in their youth. And recently – Nikola used it to go get her chocolate from Honeydukes, since it allowed him to "deal with fewer people."
"Possibly."
"Only one way to find out." She tugged him forward.
"I love the way you think, Helen."
"We're going in circles," Nikola said crossly, some time later.
"We're in a tunnel, Nikola."
"Well, then it's going in circles. Seriously, we've been walking for hours."
"Perhaps the passage needed to be a certain shape for some magical reason," Helen speculated.
"Or maybe the builders just liked messing with people," he muttered.
"Would you prefer to turn around?" She raised an eyebrow.
Nikola put a hand over his heart. "You wound me, Helen."
Helen's lips pressed together in amusement. Nikola complained as a matter of long habit, but there was no mistaking the excitement in his eyes.
"Wait," she said, coming to a halt as Nikola did the same next to her. "Can you feel that?"
"Feel what? Love? Desire? Strong desire?"
"A breeze, Nikola," she said.
"Oh." He paused for a moment. "Now that you mention it…"
Another tiny burst of warm air brushed past Helen's face. They took off together, running around a final curve before another set of stairs came into view. Nikola took Helen's hand as they climbed the steps, the stone that blocked the exit sliding open before them.
They emerged into darkness almost as complete as the tunnel, though the air was fresher. Shadowed tree trunks surrounded them, a dark canopy of leaves overhead blocking out the stars. A few night birds called here and there, along with the harsh buzzing of some insects that had survived the first frost. There was a strong wind blowing overhead, audible through the trees even if they were sheltered underneath them.
"The Forbidden Forest," Helen said quietly.
Nikola let go of her hand and stepped forward, looking around.
A faint noise from behind them made Helen whirl around, but it was only the rock sliding back into place over the entrance. She knelt down, attempting to open it again, but it didn't budge.
"Hmm, that's unfortunate," Nikola said, joining her.
Their combined efforts to move the rock, along with a variety of increasingly creative spells, did nothing.
"Unfortunate is an understatement," Helen said finally, lowering her wand.
"Oh come, Helen, we survived this place as kids, I think we can find our way through it now."
"True," she conceded. "But keep your eyes open."
A quick spell later and they were pointed in the direction of the castle. The passage had taken them, in its twisting and turning way, deep into the forest, and it would take some time to get back.
For a while they walked in silence, Nikola still holding Helen's hand. She had extinguished almost all of the light from her wand, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention from the forest's residents, and they navigated by the dim, barely noticeable glow she had allowed to remain.
"Well," Nikola whispered after a while. "I think we can safely rule this passage out of the 'remotely useful' category."
She chuckled. "I wonder what it was originally for. An escape route in the event of an attack, perhaps?"
"That's the only thing I can come up with." He glanced around the forest, a smile growing on his face. "This really brings back memories, doesn't it? All those detentions we did in here..."
"Perhaps you and Nigel did. I don't recall coming here more than a few times."
"Yeah, but what times they were. Remember when I was trying to collect some shed unicorn tail hair, and I fell into the river and nearly froze to death? I was sick for weeks, then when I got out of the hospital wing you were in detention for a month, because you'd yelled at the professor for sending us out in the middle of winter." Nikola sighed in happy reminiscence.
"Apparently I don't remember the occasion as fondly as you do," Helen said dryly.
"And in the Great Hall in front of everyone, too." Nikola beamed. "That was amazing. I wish I could've been there."
"I wouldn't describe it as amazing," Helen said, not quite truthfully. Nikola being so ill for so long had been difficult, to say the least, but it had felt rather marvelous to lambast their professor, even if she had paid for it with a month of trophy polishing. Only a few months before her O.W.L.s, too… Nikola had used to swing by her detentions and read her notes to her to help her study. She thought he had felt a little guilty for being the (indirect and, for once, blameless) cause of it all.
"You don't have to. Nigel told me all about it." Nikola gave her one of his incorrigible grins, barely visible in the dim light from her wand.
"Somewhat embellished, I imagine."
"Yeah, maybe."
Helen peered forward, narrowing her eyes. Up ahead of them was a distant silvery-blue glow, getting brighter and closer with every passing second.
"Nikola." She quickly put out her wand and grabbed his arm, drawing him over to hide behind a nearby tree.
Only a minute later, the source of the light became obvious.
"A unicorn," Nikola breathed in her ear, and they watched together in silence as the graceful creature passed them by. The light had completely faded before Helen felt it wise to reignite her wand and resume their course.
Thankfully, they didn't encounter any more denizens of the forest on their way out except for a fox that eyed them for a few minutes before trotting off. The foliage thinned as they neared the edge of the forest, displaying an increasingly light sky. Just as they reached the edge, the sun rose over the horizon, and they turned around to look back at the forest as the first rays of morning fell over it.
The dull grey tones of night melted away under the sun's light, trees bursting into a symphony of bright reds and oranges and yellows. A light morning fog hung over the forest, catching the beams and shading everything in brilliant gold.
"Oh, Nikola," Helen said softly. "It's beautiful."
Nikola's warm fingers encircled hers, and they stood together for a moment simply drinking in the view. Then, reluctantly, they turned away and headed back to the castle.
"Look on the bright side," Nikola said, yawning. "At least there's no class today."
"I suppose so. Still…" Helen found herself yawning too.
"We've been up for an entire day, Helen," he pointed out. "I think grading bowtruckle sketches can wait a while longer."
"You're a bad influence." She yawned again.
"Oh, you don't have to flatter me, Helen." He smirked at her as they reached Ravenclaw Tower.
"Alright, let me in," he said to the raven.
It poked its head out from under its wing. "I'm sleeping," it said testily.
"Not anymore."
"How do I know you're not an imposter?"
Nikola said something quite impolite in Ancient Vampiric. Helen's eyebrows went up. The raven's feathers ruffled indignantly before the wall swung outward.
"Thank you." Nikola turned to Helen. "I have a pot of tea keeping itself warm if you're interested."
She took his arm. "I'd love some."
A few minutes later, the untouched tea was still hanging over the merrily crackling fire in Nikola's office. Helen and Nikola were curled up together in an oversized armchair nearby, smiling in each other's arms and fast asleep.