Chapter 3: The Night Before
The days were slowly creeping by and the Skywalker household was abuzz with excitement and noise the day before the twins were due to board the Hogwarts Express.
Anakin and Padme still had their disguises to work on and Anakin received some news about his 'new position' which left him thinking that this was starting to feel like a bad idea after all.
Anakin strolled quickly through the carpet hallways of their apartment, his heavy, black boots hardly leaving the floor: he needed to talk about this with Padme: how can he teach Defence against the Dark Arts?
He didn't even know where to start so maybe Padme could help him talk to the headmaster about swapping subjects.
Entering the bedroom, he found Padme adjusting different hairstyles, from long, blond, golden locks to a short, red haired do, but no matter the colour she still looked beautiful.
He gave a sharp, clear of his throat, she jumped, turning around, "Anakin, what's wrong?" she asked, seeing his sharp, serious expression on his face as he waved the parchment around in the air,
"I just received this message saying what my classes are and I have to say that this is ridiculous!" he exclaimed as she stared confusingly at him,
"I don't understand" she told him as he sighed,
"They have asked me to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts and the problem is, I have no idea what that is" he confessed as Padme softly laughed,
"Oh Ani" she giggled, moving over to him and wrapping her long, skinny arms around his strong waist, "You are so cute. I'm sure they know that but they will teach you" she assured him as he lifted her chin so he could look into her soft, brown eyes,
"I hope you're right" he told her as she smiled,
"I know I am. Now we should get ready, it's Luke and Leia's last night with us for a while and I promise them we would take them out for dinner" she informed him, moving over to change into a more formal outfit.
Once they were ready, they moved out into the living room, where the disturbance of a loud racket alerts them to trouble.
"I'm warning you Leia, the cat is after my owl!" Luke shouted back, he had been sitting out in the living room, waiting for his parents, playing with his owl when Leia joined him, with her, in her words, lovely cat,
"Oh Luke, come be reasonable. Why would she be after your stupid bird?" she asked, cuddling her soft, friendly cat in her arms,
"Did you see how she eyed him off when she entered?" he asked as Leia laughed,
"She has better things to chase after than your owl" she corrected him as another, sharp voice entered the room,
"Those pets should be in their cages not wandering about when we are about to leave" Anakin pointed out as Leia and Luke spun around,
"Sorry dad, we just wanted to play with them" Luke spoke up as Anakin raised his eyebrow suspiciously,
"Well, until tomorrow, keep them in their cages then you can let them wander your rooms at school" he assured them, before ordering them to return their animals to their respected cages then joining their parents in the speeder and heading off.
"Tomorrow, the students return to Hogwarts, my lord" the voice spoke into the darkness as he heard a soft laugh,
"Then our plans will unfold. Has our spy entered into his position at the school?" he asked,
"Yes, he has and is respectfully willing to keep an eye on all Skywalkers at the school" he assured him as the dark figure put his thin, bony fingers together, a low clicking could be heard echoing throughout the room,
"Excellent, a bonus. Soon Anakin Skywalker will be dead and his children will be mine, as they will be tempted to avenge their father's tragic death" he laughed as the smaller figure stared into the darkness, listening to the clicking of his fingers.
The bright, dazzling lights of Courscant filled the traffic lanes as Anakin piloted his speeder just outside Dexter's Diner and turning to escort out his beautiful, loving wife, dressed in an simple, elegant, long white sparkling dress with matching heels as Luke and Leia ran on ahead, they loved going to Dexter's for meals, always loving how he treated them like family.
"Anakin! Padme! Good to see you again" boomed Dexter's great friendly voice, "Another night out with the family?" he asked as Anakin smiled,
"The last one for a long time I think" he replied as Dexter laughed, "Well, then I suppose that calls for big specials off the menu" he announced as Luke and Leia piped up excitedly,
"Thanks, Dex!" they chimed,
"Anything for my personal customers" he laughed before moving back into the kitchen while his waitress escorted them over to a cushy booth, before beautiful, lovely, delicious meals were laid before them.
After another hour of filling, delicious foods, Luke and Leia were full, but that didn't stop them from talking about food,
"I wonder what foods we'll eat at Hogwarts?" Luke asked as Leia rubbed her stomach,
"I hope they're not too filling, like tonight's" she replied as Anakin laughed, "Only eat what you want, don't stuff your faces til you're sick" he warned them as they looked serious,
"Yes, dad" they promised as Padme laughed,
"He's telling the truth. You wouldn't want to be sick for your first class" she smirked over at Anakin, without him knowing she had helped planned the timetables and Luke and Leia's first class was Anakin's class which would be fun to watch, she thought, watching as Anakin manoeuvred the remaining bits of food around the air, which made Luke and Leia's eyes grow wider as more and more food was added to the circle,
"Can you teach us how to do that?" Luke asked as Anakin smiled,
"In time, and you might have tricks to teach me" he told them as they giggled, "I guess we could" they smirked together before Padme broke up the fun,
"I think we should get heading home, an early start tomorrow. For all of us" she told them, glaring over at Anakin, knowing he would be the one to disrupt the routine before Anakin stood up and escorted Padme, Luke and Leia out of the diner, with a friendly thankyou and goodbye to Dex and into the speeder.
An excited Luke and Leia, putting to rest any tiredness they had, in exchange for loud talkative conversations and games amongst each other, all the way back to their apartment,
Anakin wishing he could find a way to use his force mind tricks into putting his twins to sleep but Padme knew how to handle them,
"Let's go straight upstairs and ready ourselves for bed or you won't be seeing your new school tomorrow" she warned as Luke and Leia sped up the stairs, at force sped, they were eager to explore their new school so they took her warning seriously as Anakin smiled,
"That's the way to do it I guess" he commented, pulling his wife into his strong embrace, sharing a passionate kiss, making her blush,
"It's what I do. Now we need to sort out our disguises so we can quickly change right after they leave" she told him, pulling him towards their bedroom.
Luke and Leia remained in their rooms but could not sleep, too excited about tomorrow although Luke was still thinking about the conversation he had with the boy in the dressing room,
What did he mean? What prophecy? Why would he be against it? It all didn't make sense , and decided to ask Leia about his conversation, leaning slightly out of his bed, the ruffled sheets crinkled under his fingers, he whispered,
"Leia!, Leia! Are you up?" he asked as he heard a low moan,
"What? I'm asleep" came the low reply,
"One question: I had a conversation with a boy in Diagon alley yesterday about a prophecy talking about us" he informed her as she slowly rolled over,
"What are you talking about?' she asked, showing the tired, grumpiness in her voice,
"I don't know but it was about us, and remember that whole morning mum and dad spent downstairs with Uncle Obi Wan?" he reminded her as she groaned once more,
"It was probably some rumours, nothing to be worried about" she told him, "Now go to sleep" she barked, turning back over as Luke turned onto his back, staring up at his dark, low roof, wondering what tomorrow will bring.
"Padme, you can't be serious. No Jedi dresses like this" Anakin complained once more, after looking at his new outfit in the long, vertical mirror,
"Ani, you're not suppose to be a Jedi but a Professor, of magic" she reminded him,
"But still, they were this?" he asked, pulling another face of disgust, as she giggled,
"Yes, I'm afraid they do. My outfit is different from what I usually wear but I am dealing with it" she assured him as he spun around so she was in his grasp,
"Yes, but everyone will be distracted with your beauty than your outfit" he replied as she smiled, planting a sweet kiss on his adorable lips,
"I'm sure they will be looking at your handsomeness too" she giggled as he assured her,
"I'm already taken", returning the kiss, before watching her change into her outfit, a light, bluey yellow outfit complete with long, golden blond locks, spinning around, she asked,
"How do I look?" as he smiled,
"Perfect, they shouldn't recognise you" he answered her as she smiled once more, "I'm glad you like it so hopefully we shouldn't have a problem" she told him as he grabbed her by her slim waist,
"Alright, that's it" he told her, pulling her onto the bed, tickling her,
"Oh Ani, stop it stop it" she pleaded but he didn't until she was on her back, against the soft, satin pillows staring up into Anakin's soft baby blue eyes-how was she going to go without spending time with her husband was going to be tougher than she thought.