Chapter 26 Haggis and Hotcakes
The following Saturday, Corin was awoken at an ungodly hour by the feel of a rough tongue over his nose and eyelids. Giving a disgruntled groan, he felt around blindly until he found the furry and feathery intruder, chucked him off the bed, then rolled over and tried to get a bit more sleep. This had become a morning routine, one Corin wished he could break his knealin of. What possessed Artue to awake so early was beyond him, and he wished he could figure out the reason so it could burn and die. Just as he was about to drift off again, his sensitive ears caught the sound of little claws ripping at his blanket as the rascal climbed back onto the bed.
"Kela lle 'kshonna…" (Go away you evil creature…) Corin begged in a muffled voice, "amin anta kaim!" (I need to sleep!). He felt Artue climb onto his back as he lay on his stomach, his head buried face-first in his pillow. He felt the little paws walk to the base of his back, then turn around and start to shift back and forth…as if ready to pounce. Towards his head.
"Uuma lle verya…" (Don't you dare…) he began to say, right before his head was tackled by a ball of baby teeth and claws. "Aai!" He shot up in bed, sending Artue flying to land dazed at his feet. "Artue, tanya awra!" (Artue, that hurt!) He rubbed his sore head creating an even bigger mess of his hair, and grumbled in elvish about 'bloody annoying pests', and several imaginative ways he could punish said pest.
As he scooted to the edge of the bed to stand up, he turned to glare at Artue who was sitting in the tangled blankets licking one paw, as if nothing had just happened.
"Amin delotha lle." (I hate you.) A wide-eyed expression of innocence was his only response.
Rolling his eyes, he turned towards the door and froze as he saw Laurea there leaning casually against the doorframe with Calie in her arms, her lips twitching as she tried to hold in her laughter.
"Eina amrun haime, mela." (Amusing morning routine, love.) She said with a smirk. He stared blearily at her, then tried to scowl when her words finally registered.
"He doesn't seem to grasp the concept of sleeping in, and tries to find new and more torturous ways to wake me every morning." He grumbled, reverting to English. Standing up, he walked towards his closet, firmly ignoring the fact that he was dressed in nothing but his boxers. His cheeks colored slightly as he heard an admiring whistle from the doorway.
He turned back to her with a slight grin on his face. "Out you!" She pouted, but her eyes were twinkling as she turned away. "And take this mini-marauder with you!" He grabbed Artue and tossed him through the air, Artue squealing excitedly the whole way, and Laurea caught him with one hand as the other held her own knealin.
"Don't be too long, love."
He nodded and then made his way to the showers as she shut the door behind her. Turning on the spray, then undressing and putting his head under the water, he thought back on the previous week. He and Remus had been tiptoeing around each other, trying to keep up a professional relationship, yet trying to interact as little as possible. So far, no one had noticed the strained atmosphere besides Laurea and Oron, but he knew he would have to do something soon to ease the tension between them before people started getting suspicious.
Another thing he had done that week had been to send off a letter to Soron and the council about his emerging powers. Whatever had been happening to him recently was not normal. Elves don't just suddenly get up one morning with a fighting talent that normally takes centuries to perfect! Not to mention that episode on the train. He hadn't paid it much attention at the time, but the spell he'd used to sweep away the yellow mist had been well beyond his knowledge level of elvish magic. These two issues had been addressed and he'd asked them to look into the matter to see if perhaps somewhere in Kalayaana there was an answer.
After finishing washing up, he turned off the water and dried off. Peeking through the door to make sure his room was still empty, he entered and picked some clothes out for the day. As soon as he had finished getting dressed and had braided his hair back, he stepped out of the room and into the common room area.
Laurea was slouched in a chair watching as Artue and Calie took turns launching themselves from the back of the couch. Occasionally, when Calie landed Artue would tackle her and they would wrestle for a bit before going back to their 'flying practice'. He was dreading the time when their wings were strong enough to hold them aloft. Who knows what mischief they would get into then.
"Shall we go love?" He held out his hand to help her up. She took it with a smile, and they started walking towards the door, hands still clasped when Corin was almost tripped by Artue and Calie who were begging to come. After promising to buy them both some of the knealin's favorite sweets, Fizzing Whizbees (massive sherbet balls that make the eater levitate), they escaped out the portrait door.
"You're looking much more awake than when I saw you last." She said, her eyes twinkling.
He grumbled under his breath, but she could see him holding back laughter at the thought of his knealin's antics that morning. "That furball…" She giggled, then looked at him inquisitively when he turned to face her in the middle of the hall.
"Let's skip the great hall this morning and let me take you out to breakfast in Hogsmeade today. We haven't yet had an official date yet, let me take you out and spoil you this afternoon."
Laurea got a surprised look at this unexpected request, then gave him a happy smile. "That sounds fabulous Corin! And besides that, we'll have time to check out the town before the students get there later today."
"Well yeah, that too." He gave a grin as she practically skipped down the hall, dragging him with her.
After stopping off at the kitchen and asking the house elves to send up some food for Artue, Calie, Mirie, and Hedwig, they headed out the front doors of the castle. It was a quick run down the road to Hogsmeade with the two of them racing each other in their animagus forms (Harry as Stealth). Finally, on the edge of town they slowed and shifted back to their elven forms.
Laurea's eyes were shining and Corin grinned at her as he took her hand and began walking in the direction of a small restaurant that he knew served very good food called Helga's House of Hotcakes and Haggis. He'd been there once last year before he'd been taken. It was a very cozy place with a wide assortment of foods, as implied by the sign. From what he could tell, it was a family run business owned by a former Hufflepuff who came from a long line of Hufflepuffs. It was decorated in yellow and black of course, to go with Hufflepuff house colors, but not so much that the effect was garish.
Laurea looked around curiously as they entered, and Corin didn't blame her. The walls were filled with signed quidditch equipment, newspaper articles, and photographs of famous Hufflepuff alumni.
They were ushered to a table over by a window and given menus before the waitress left to get their drinks. Several patrons were eyeing them curiously as not many of the elves had ventured into Hogsmeade yet.
"So, how have you been, love? We haven't had the chance to talk privately for a while." Laurea asked in elvish, then paused before continuing. "You've had something on your mind for the past week, are you ready to talk about it yet?"
Corin stilled, as he hadn't been expecting this question. His thoughts raced, and he debated whether or not to tell her. Finally, he sighed and met her eyes. "Remus knows who I am."
She bit back a gasp. "How?" she asked faintly.
"Small clues piling up. He swore to say nothing. I don't think we'll have to worry about anyone else finding me out, at least for awhile. Hermione is smart enough to figure it out, but since I don't have her in any of my classes, I shouldn't have to worry about it."
Laurea took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Okay. Good." The waitress came back just then and they switched back to English so they could order their food. Laurea ordered a bowl of fruit and a couple of pastries, and Corin had pancakes and sausage. As Lucy, their server, left they continued their conversation.
"How are you feeling about your old friends?"
He gave a slight since, "Always have to ask the hard questions don't you?" He gave her a small smile to tell her it was okay, then continued. "It still hurts to look at them. Whenever I see them, I remember…" His voice broke off and he took a sip of tea while trying to get his thoughts back in order. "I know they're sorry for what they did and said. Remus was crying as I left after talking to him. But knowing they're sorry doesn't make it okay. Most of the time I still have to restrain myself from punching them in the nose whenever I see them."
"So do I." She said with a small grin. Just then, their food appeared from the kitchen. "Alright, enough serious topics. Lets eat and I'll tell you some stories to blackmail my brother with from when we were younger."
Corin laughed and agreed, so as they started eating she launched into a story about when Oron was first learning his animagus transformation. Her brother had been fourteen years old at the time, and had gotten about halfway through the change when he was interrupted. Ailin, who had been three at the time ran naked, wet, and screaming into the room. Their mother had followed moments later chasing after the elven toddler with a towel. All of this had happened with in a couple of seconds, but that had been enough to take his mind off of this transforming body. By the time he realized what had happened, he'd shrunk about two feet, had slate blue scales all over his body, two half grown wings on his back, silver ridges and claws on his spine and nails, and could breathe fire. All of this had of course happened the day his current crush, and Aranel's best friend had decided to come over to the house. He had been stuck like that for three days, and every time he had tried to talk, he'd set something on fire.
As Laurea finished the story, Corin was practically sobbing with laughter. They were also getting some pretty strange looks from the rest of the patrons, as the entire conversation had been in elvish. They continued talking, but every once in awhile, Corin would burst out laughing at the thought of Laurea's story about her brother came to mind.
They finally finished eating, and after paying their bill, left to roam the streets of Hogsmeade once more.
Wow. I apologise for how long it's been between updates. I can only claim writers block and a busy schedule. Yes, I know it's a bad excuse, but there you go. More fun with Artue this chapter, I love the little furball. The next chapter won't take nearly as long to update, I promise! Feel free to leave a review, I always read them. Just no flames please, but I welcome any suggestions you can give me on correcting spelling or grammar errors.
Arye
