You Expected Them to Behave?
Snape did speak with the Council members. The children weren't there for it. They didn't even know he'd left the infirmary until that night. The trio had followed Obi-Wan to the cafeteria were the Jedi currently in residence at the Temple, and the students still training there, took their meals. The faire available to them was different from what they were used to, but the children were nothing if not adventurous. The Padawan found himself deluged with questions ranging from what the names of certain dishes were to what type of things a student learned at the Jedi Temple.
"That light sword you use, does everyone here have them?" If the Jedi had known the children well enough, the fact that question came from Ron and not the ever knowledge thirsty Hermione would have surprised him. As it was, he was merely amused by their interests.
"No, only those with Jedi training carry them. Building one of your own is a test of your training."
"How do you build one?" That was Hermione. Their host smiled at her and she forgot to breathe for a second. And why shouldn't she forget to breathe? She was the perfect age to start thinking of romance and silliness. Of course, this was also Hermione Granger, which meant that curiosity won out over the lure of a handsome young man.
"I can't tell you that. It's a secret." His good looks and boyish charm were quickly forgotten in the wake of his denying her some knew bit of information. She narrowed her eyes in a fashion Ron and Harry knew all too well meant she was put out about one thing or another. The boys lowered their attention to the plates before them.
The Padawan was patient and attentive, almost as if enjoying the time he was spending with these newcomers. After the meal he took them on a tour of the Temple, but only in the areas he knew the Council would not disapprove of. Again he risked Hermione's wrath when he refused, out and out refused, to show them the archives.
"He's asking for it," Ron whispered to Harry as they tried not to laugh at their friend shooting daggers at Kenobi's back. So much for teenage crushes.
The trials of the day eventually caught up with the children as the adrenaline rush of recent events died out. Satisfied that they were at last weary enough to of little trouble, Obi-Wan guided them towards the rooms he and his master shared. To the left side of their home was another small suite of rooms where Harry and Ron were to stay, each boy with his own bedroom. On the right side, they were told, was a single bedroom chamber where Professor Snape was already residing, needing further rest after speaking with the council. Hermione would stay in the suite where Qui- Gon and Obi-Wan lived, the Master Jedi having already fashioned the comfortable sofa into a more than pleasant bed. Obi-Wan saw the boys tucked away in their beds, amazed at how they were asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows. Then he returned to the central quarters to find Hermione snuggling down in the thick blankets, wearing one of his older tunics. He looked at his Master in puzzlement.
'Mine were all too large for her, Young One. She's just a tiny little thing.' His eyes sparkled with humor as the girl pulled the covers over her head to block out the lights. Reaching out with the Force, he dimmed the room into darkness as Master and Padawan retreated to their own respective chambers for the evening.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Hermione had been willing to fall asleep quickly and deeply. She knew her friends too well to know that she'd be able to sleep for long. They granted her a good four hours, perhaps, before that all too familiar prickling sensation she had grown to love slithered across the nape of her neck. It was the sensation that alerted her to when a spell was being used. The door to Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's apartment slid open under the coaxing of a simple charm.
She sat up on the sofa and yawned sleepily as two dark shapes crept across the room towards her. "All right, Hermione?" Ron's voice whispered.
"All right, Ron." She reached over and grabbed her robe from the back of the chair where she had draped them. This would be quicker if she didn't take the time to sneak into the 'fresher and dress back into her school uniform. Instead, she tugged on her socks and shoes then covered the worn tunic with her robe. Besides, who was going to be around to see her?
The trio was silent as they left the apartment, wands in hand. Snape was apparently too bad off to be keeping his ear tuned for sounds of their mischief, even though he certainly knew better. The Jedi were all asleep, and any guards they encountered they were sure they could avoid. It would be easier if they had Harry's cloak, but they could make due with cleverness. The thought of discovering all the hidden places in this new and wondrous setting was too strong a lure for three children such as these.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
'Why are you still sleeping, Padawan?'
'I'm not, Master.'
'Then what are you doing?'
'Debating on whether or not I should get up.'
'Should I tell you to do so?'
Obi-Wan sighed and opened his eyes reluctantly. A small half smile played on his lips. 'No, Master. I'll go.'
It was times like this he longed for the Trials so that he could be a full Knight. Then he could have his own Padawan to send out after errant children. He slipped a tunic over his sleep pants and padded out of his bedchamber on bare feet. Three strange children, all strong with the Force, running around the Temple in the dead of night. Little good could come out of such a thing. It was fortunate he was a Jedi and not a Sith. Those three were like a beacon, calling out through the Force. 'We'd best keep them safely within the Temple walls if they are to remain safe. A Darksider would find them too tempting to pass up.'
A small point of light shone from far up the corridor, alerting him to their whereabouts. With a determined expression he followed. They were heading towards the archives, and he clearly remembered the longing expression on Hermione's face from earlier today.
'Perhaps I should have taken her there anyway. Someone that eager to learn shouldn't be denied the chance.'
The little light point he had been following suddenly extinguished. He stopped his pursuit and reached out through the Force. They had sensed him and were seeking to hide in darkness. 'That won't work my friends.' He shook his head, amused. If only they were a bit older, old enough for him to take outside the Temple walls and see the night life of Coruscant. It would certainly make for an interesting time.
They were just children, not even Padawans. Oh, he knew that they could be, and if they weren't so old the Council probably would have snatched them up for training before they had even had a chance to hit the floor from that fall. As it was, they were civilians and he was on his way to becoming a full Jedi Knight. Why should he be wary of three relatively untrained, Force sensitive children?
He rounded the corner, soundless on his bare feet. He could sense the three friends just up ahead. Taking a breath and schooling himself to adopt a stern tone of voice, he prepared to give them a gentle scolding for being up and about before he would shepherd them back to their beds. He was barely aware of a gentle build in the Force around him as his eyes sought out the silhouettes in the gloom.
"Petrificus Totalis!"
Imagine the shock and amazement running through a skilled Padawan's mind as he felt his body become stiff as the polished marbles of the hallway just before he fell backwards to land with an audible *thud*.
"Lumos!" The pin prick of light was back, shining from a short length of wood, much like that Professor Snape had been using. Through his haze of shock, Obi-Wan thought that they probably should have confiscated the children's weapons before putting them to bed. Harry's face peered down at him, green eyes wary. "It's Obi-Wan." He had the grace to sound ashamed.
"Oh no!" That was Hermione. Now that he was forced to be silent, he was able to remember that it had been her voice that had summoned the Force spell he was under now. Quite the precocious child, that one."
"Well, Hermione. I guess that means you shouldn't be expecting any flowers from him any time soon." Ron snickered at his own remark. Harry pointed his wand to Obi-Wan's chest and whispered the counter curse that broke the spell. The Padawan sat up, still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he had just been defeated by a fifteen-year-old girl.
"Wha..? Ron! What a perfectly ridiculous thing to say!"
"Oh really? So you weren't making puppy eyes at him all through lunch today?"
Hermione's eyes grew as round as saucers, her mouth open in indignant shock. Harry was still crouched by the Jedi's side. "Uh oh. Here we go again."
"I was *not* making puppy eyes!" She placed her hands on her hips, glaring at her friend. Obi-Wan saw that both children held a wand and frowned.
"How likely are they to use those on one another?"
"Oh, don't worry. One of these days they are going to realize that they're meant for each other. Of course, someone may have to beat that idea into the both of them, but it will happen." Harry was looking torn between amusement and discomfort as his best friends argued.
"I know you, Hermione. A pretty face and you go all girlish on us."
"I *am* a girl you idiot! Or are you too stupid to know the difference?"
"Who are you calling an idiot?"
"Well I'm pretty sure it wasn't Harry." She gathered herself up and lifted her tiny chin in the air. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to bed. I hardly know how I let the two of you drag me into doing this in the first place."
"Drag you into it? You weren't having any trouble getting up for this. We didn't even have to ask. I just wondered how you managed to keep yourself from asking Lover Boy over there to join in."
'Lover Boy?' Obi-Wan looked at Harry with the question clearly written on his face. Harry just rolled his eyes and shook his head as if to say that his dear friend Ron was being, as Hermione so eloquently put it, an idiot.
Of course, that last jab seemed to have rubbed Hermione a little sore. Her eyes narrowed to shoot daggers at Ron, just before she walked over to Harry and Obi-Wan with a determined gait. Before the Padawan could think to try and decipher her intent, she cupped his cheeks in her slender hands and pressed her lips firmly against his.
Everything went deathly quiet as the twenty-something Obi tried to quickly figure out the best way to break off the unsolicited kiss of a teenage girl without crushing her completely. Before he could determine the answer, however, she broke away from him, glared one last time at Ron, and then stalked off back down the corridors. Harry and Obi-Wan were left looking at a speechless Ron Weasley. He had gone deathly pale, as if his world had been snatched out from underneath him, disbelief etched on his face.
The young wizard and Padawan managed to keep themselves quiet for all of ten seconds before both erupted into laughter. Harry and Obi-Wan leaned against one another for support, neither able to stop long enough to try and console the clearly dismayed Ron.
Snape did speak with the Council members. The children weren't there for it. They didn't even know he'd left the infirmary until that night. The trio had followed Obi-Wan to the cafeteria were the Jedi currently in residence at the Temple, and the students still training there, took their meals. The faire available to them was different from what they were used to, but the children were nothing if not adventurous. The Padawan found himself deluged with questions ranging from what the names of certain dishes were to what type of things a student learned at the Jedi Temple.
"That light sword you use, does everyone here have them?" If the Jedi had known the children well enough, the fact that question came from Ron and not the ever knowledge thirsty Hermione would have surprised him. As it was, he was merely amused by their interests.
"No, only those with Jedi training carry them. Building one of your own is a test of your training."
"How do you build one?" That was Hermione. Their host smiled at her and she forgot to breathe for a second. And why shouldn't she forget to breathe? She was the perfect age to start thinking of romance and silliness. Of course, this was also Hermione Granger, which meant that curiosity won out over the lure of a handsome young man.
"I can't tell you that. It's a secret." His good looks and boyish charm were quickly forgotten in the wake of his denying her some knew bit of information. She narrowed her eyes in a fashion Ron and Harry knew all too well meant she was put out about one thing or another. The boys lowered their attention to the plates before them.
The Padawan was patient and attentive, almost as if enjoying the time he was spending with these newcomers. After the meal he took them on a tour of the Temple, but only in the areas he knew the Council would not disapprove of. Again he risked Hermione's wrath when he refused, out and out refused, to show them the archives.
"He's asking for it," Ron whispered to Harry as they tried not to laugh at their friend shooting daggers at Kenobi's back. So much for teenage crushes.
The trials of the day eventually caught up with the children as the adrenaline rush of recent events died out. Satisfied that they were at last weary enough to of little trouble, Obi-Wan guided them towards the rooms he and his master shared. To the left side of their home was another small suite of rooms where Harry and Ron were to stay, each boy with his own bedroom. On the right side, they were told, was a single bedroom chamber where Professor Snape was already residing, needing further rest after speaking with the council. Hermione would stay in the suite where Qui- Gon and Obi-Wan lived, the Master Jedi having already fashioned the comfortable sofa into a more than pleasant bed. Obi-Wan saw the boys tucked away in their beds, amazed at how they were asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows. Then he returned to the central quarters to find Hermione snuggling down in the thick blankets, wearing one of his older tunics. He looked at his Master in puzzlement.
'Mine were all too large for her, Young One. She's just a tiny little thing.' His eyes sparkled with humor as the girl pulled the covers over her head to block out the lights. Reaching out with the Force, he dimmed the room into darkness as Master and Padawan retreated to their own respective chambers for the evening.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Hermione had been willing to fall asleep quickly and deeply. She knew her friends too well to know that she'd be able to sleep for long. They granted her a good four hours, perhaps, before that all too familiar prickling sensation she had grown to love slithered across the nape of her neck. It was the sensation that alerted her to when a spell was being used. The door to Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's apartment slid open under the coaxing of a simple charm.
She sat up on the sofa and yawned sleepily as two dark shapes crept across the room towards her. "All right, Hermione?" Ron's voice whispered.
"All right, Ron." She reached over and grabbed her robe from the back of the chair where she had draped them. This would be quicker if she didn't take the time to sneak into the 'fresher and dress back into her school uniform. Instead, she tugged on her socks and shoes then covered the worn tunic with her robe. Besides, who was going to be around to see her?
The trio was silent as they left the apartment, wands in hand. Snape was apparently too bad off to be keeping his ear tuned for sounds of their mischief, even though he certainly knew better. The Jedi were all asleep, and any guards they encountered they were sure they could avoid. It would be easier if they had Harry's cloak, but they could make due with cleverness. The thought of discovering all the hidden places in this new and wondrous setting was too strong a lure for three children such as these.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
'Why are you still sleeping, Padawan?'
'I'm not, Master.'
'Then what are you doing?'
'Debating on whether or not I should get up.'
'Should I tell you to do so?'
Obi-Wan sighed and opened his eyes reluctantly. A small half smile played on his lips. 'No, Master. I'll go.'
It was times like this he longed for the Trials so that he could be a full Knight. Then he could have his own Padawan to send out after errant children. He slipped a tunic over his sleep pants and padded out of his bedchamber on bare feet. Three strange children, all strong with the Force, running around the Temple in the dead of night. Little good could come out of such a thing. It was fortunate he was a Jedi and not a Sith. Those three were like a beacon, calling out through the Force. 'We'd best keep them safely within the Temple walls if they are to remain safe. A Darksider would find them too tempting to pass up.'
A small point of light shone from far up the corridor, alerting him to their whereabouts. With a determined expression he followed. They were heading towards the archives, and he clearly remembered the longing expression on Hermione's face from earlier today.
'Perhaps I should have taken her there anyway. Someone that eager to learn shouldn't be denied the chance.'
The little light point he had been following suddenly extinguished. He stopped his pursuit and reached out through the Force. They had sensed him and were seeking to hide in darkness. 'That won't work my friends.' He shook his head, amused. If only they were a bit older, old enough for him to take outside the Temple walls and see the night life of Coruscant. It would certainly make for an interesting time.
They were just children, not even Padawans. Oh, he knew that they could be, and if they weren't so old the Council probably would have snatched them up for training before they had even had a chance to hit the floor from that fall. As it was, they were civilians and he was on his way to becoming a full Jedi Knight. Why should he be wary of three relatively untrained, Force sensitive children?
He rounded the corner, soundless on his bare feet. He could sense the three friends just up ahead. Taking a breath and schooling himself to adopt a stern tone of voice, he prepared to give them a gentle scolding for being up and about before he would shepherd them back to their beds. He was barely aware of a gentle build in the Force around him as his eyes sought out the silhouettes in the gloom.
"Petrificus Totalis!"
Imagine the shock and amazement running through a skilled Padawan's mind as he felt his body become stiff as the polished marbles of the hallway just before he fell backwards to land with an audible *thud*.
"Lumos!" The pin prick of light was back, shining from a short length of wood, much like that Professor Snape had been using. Through his haze of shock, Obi-Wan thought that they probably should have confiscated the children's weapons before putting them to bed. Harry's face peered down at him, green eyes wary. "It's Obi-Wan." He had the grace to sound ashamed.
"Oh no!" That was Hermione. Now that he was forced to be silent, he was able to remember that it had been her voice that had summoned the Force spell he was under now. Quite the precocious child, that one."
"Well, Hermione. I guess that means you shouldn't be expecting any flowers from him any time soon." Ron snickered at his own remark. Harry pointed his wand to Obi-Wan's chest and whispered the counter curse that broke the spell. The Padawan sat up, still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he had just been defeated by a fifteen-year-old girl.
"Wha..? Ron! What a perfectly ridiculous thing to say!"
"Oh really? So you weren't making puppy eyes at him all through lunch today?"
Hermione's eyes grew as round as saucers, her mouth open in indignant shock. Harry was still crouched by the Jedi's side. "Uh oh. Here we go again."
"I was *not* making puppy eyes!" She placed her hands on her hips, glaring at her friend. Obi-Wan saw that both children held a wand and frowned.
"How likely are they to use those on one another?"
"Oh, don't worry. One of these days they are going to realize that they're meant for each other. Of course, someone may have to beat that idea into the both of them, but it will happen." Harry was looking torn between amusement and discomfort as his best friends argued.
"I know you, Hermione. A pretty face and you go all girlish on us."
"I *am* a girl you idiot! Or are you too stupid to know the difference?"
"Who are you calling an idiot?"
"Well I'm pretty sure it wasn't Harry." She gathered herself up and lifted her tiny chin in the air. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to bed. I hardly know how I let the two of you drag me into doing this in the first place."
"Drag you into it? You weren't having any trouble getting up for this. We didn't even have to ask. I just wondered how you managed to keep yourself from asking Lover Boy over there to join in."
'Lover Boy?' Obi-Wan looked at Harry with the question clearly written on his face. Harry just rolled his eyes and shook his head as if to say that his dear friend Ron was being, as Hermione so eloquently put it, an idiot.
Of course, that last jab seemed to have rubbed Hermione a little sore. Her eyes narrowed to shoot daggers at Ron, just before she walked over to Harry and Obi-Wan with a determined gait. Before the Padawan could think to try and decipher her intent, she cupped his cheeks in her slender hands and pressed her lips firmly against his.
Everything went deathly quiet as the twenty-something Obi tried to quickly figure out the best way to break off the unsolicited kiss of a teenage girl without crushing her completely. Before he could determine the answer, however, she broke away from him, glared one last time at Ron, and then stalked off back down the corridors. Harry and Obi-Wan were left looking at a speechless Ron Weasley. He had gone deathly pale, as if his world had been snatched out from underneath him, disbelief etched on his face.
The young wizard and Padawan managed to keep themselves quiet for all of ten seconds before both erupted into laughter. Harry and Obi-Wan leaned against one another for support, neither able to stop long enough to try and console the clearly dismayed Ron.