Hot & Bothered

Chapter 9
Shirts and Showers

"That's an interesting outfit choice Miss Farris"Dumbledore joked. The comment got him only a snarl and a death glare from me. As soon as our group had come around the corner and were greeted by the old man, he had not stopped smiling. Guess at whose expense that was?!

"How did things go children?"Dumbledore asked. Everybody seemed extremely happy. Things had gone well indeed. They had managed to snap at lot of pictures and almost identify every single on. "Severus"Snape in his turn nodded his head to the old wizard.

"The competition was uneventful Sir"he dully answered, then he glanced towards me. "Mostly"
I rolled my eyes. 'mostly' I mimicked while looking sour. Snape handed the photos to Dumbledore and took his leave. So did the rest of our group. I was about to skedaddle also when Dumbledore held me back.

"I wasn't aware that the route went anywhere near water, Miss Farres."
Sighing loudly, I closed my eyes, reliving for a moment the events that let up to the decision to get wet.

"What can I say. Things spiralled out of control about halfway through the competition."A laughing Dumbledore caught me of guard.
"It's not funny"I yelled while stomping with my foot. Dumbledore shot me a knowing look. "Ok, it was funny in some sort of disturbing point of view. I mean look at me"A smile broke through on my face. Together Dumbledore and I had fun for a moment.
Lets just say that everything below the waist was still socking wet. As I moved from one place to the next, I constantly left a trail of water behind me. My shoes and socks, instead of white had turned an ugly brown. The green scarf that was suppose to be around my neck, to show which group I was in, was currently tided around my head, to keep my hair from falling in my face. Speaking about hair, it was a complete and utter disaster. Just a few words to sum it up, flat, tangled, straw, hell there were green plants in it. My shirt, well that one was dry, but to be completely honest did not belong to me. It was donated to me, and was at least three sizes too big for me. All in all…. OI!

"I'm going to take a shower if you don't mind"I grumbled, desperate to get out of there. Dumbledore however thought it wasn't time for me to leave just yet. He prevented me from leaving by placing his hand on my shoulder. Behind me I heard the Yellow Team was starting to arrive. He was doing this on purpose, I knew he was.
"Remus my friend, how did you end up naked!" I felt my neck getting hot, as Dumbledore once again looked to me. What did he want, a confession from me. Like hell I would. I avoided his gaze the best I could and crossed my arms.
"Any gentleman would kindly help out a damsel in distress."Remus answered. "And when I noticed Miss Farris in need of assistance I came running."

"I love to heard that story someday."A quick wink from the old geezer, a slap on the back and I was set free. My ears red, my cheeks burning.
I needed that shower and fast!

The hot water felt like heaven on my skin, and the soap worked wonders for my hair and body. Slowly I was returning to the land of the living. Stupid Dumbledore, Stupid Snape, Stupid Lupin. Honestly whose idea was this crappy outing. Sign me off. Next time that old geezer gets a bright idea I'm staying behind. What a day indeed, although I must admit some parts were fun, and crazy. Disturbingly weird. Closing my eyes for a moment I leaned my head against the shower door. As the water cascaded from my body and into the drain, I pictured it taking with it all my worries and stress. It felt really good, just me and nothing else, just for a sort period of time.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
"Agggh"I groaned as something from the other side of the door collided with my head. I took a few steps back while rubbing my head.
"Are you serious, auw you idiot!"

"NO SILLY, it's ME!"Came a happy voice from the other side.

Sighing loudly I rolled my eyes "Kirsten what do you want."I asked.

"I've come to give you some dry clothing and a towel. Dumbledore told me that you might be in need of some." I realised something, of course I had forgotten my clothing. I had been desperate to take that shower I had forgotten everything. This realisation made me snort. At least the old Geezer had done something right. "Tell him thanks from me."I told Kirsten after a short while.

"Sure thing, I'll thank Professor Lupin for yeah"She answered.

Realisation hit me "LUPIN!"'What in the world'

"BYEEE!"

"KIRSTEN!"I screamed at the top of my longs, but she was gone already, or pretended not to hear me. In my anger I hit the door in front of me, only causing injury to myself. "Damn it"Perhaps I could have been more trusting in Lupin and Dumbledore, but there is a great difference between could and would. And I was just NOT willing.
'No I'm not going to let them ruin the nice shower I was having' I thought to myself. 'I'm just going to stand here, enjoy myself, warm up slightly, and afterwards I'll kill them with my bare hands!'

Snape had been right, something was off with Lupin. He was like some sort of new age Sherlock Holmes. It was almost eerie to see how easy it was for him to find me. Perhaps he did have the ability to smell me but I couldn't prove it.

Then there was the whole 'don't take this the wrong way Miss Farres but I can see through your shirt' situation. It was funny though how uneasy he looked, and how much effort he put in not looking. It was I on the other hand who forgot to look away when he started unbuttoning his shirt and used it to cover up my front.
"Miss Farres I believe you're catching flies"Lupin winked when he was sure no one was watching us. I realised a little late I had trouble tearing my eyes off of the naked flesh. He had an amazingly amount of scars, old ones, now ones, but that didn't matter much, they just surprised me. He was amazingly well toned, I must admit to that also. But the fact, that after everything we just had been thru, he still handed me the shirt of his back. It would have prevented him a lot of looks, questions and speculations later on.
A simple act of kindness from his part, that did not go unnoticed by me.

I remember I protested, but he wasn't having anything of it. "Keep it, I don't want you to catch a cold" The look he have me made it clear to me that he could not be reasoned with. The decision was made. Nodding my head ones, I let him know that I understood. "Good, oh and before you leave Rain, I'll keep you sabotaging our 'mission' a secret if you'll do something for me…"Damn it, I thought shocked. So the bastard had noticed. He must have seen the question lingering in the back of my eyes,

Just the smirk playing on his lips, did not bode me well.
"Don't worry', You'll find out soon enough."

Sighing I knew I didn't have any other options, so whatever this 'sadist' had in mind, I guess I just had to bare through it, for the sake of the Green Team.