Chapter Twenty-Four
Volunteered
Jennifer, Kay, and Gretchen were at Jennifer's table in the Commissary for dinner when Kay suddenly grabbed Jennifer's arm.
"Oh no, that isn't good," Kay warned. "Look."
Jennifer glanced around curiously to see Brenda at the door with a clipboard in hand looking around.
"What's so bad about Brenda being here?" Jennifer asked, looking at them over her glasses.
"Brenda always goes home for dinner, she and her husband have a house nearby," Gretchen explained. "So if she's here, she's here to talk to someone."
"And considering what's coming up in a few weeks, there can be only one conclusion I can make," Kay darkly. "She's looking for chaperones for the Middle School and High School dances." Glancing at each other, they suddenly became very interested in their food. Jennifer pushed her glasses up and joined the others hiding behind their hands.
"Okay, you three, that's not going to work. If you wanted to avoid me, you should have gone to the garden and not sat at Jennifer's table," Brenda said knowingly.
"If we'd known you had already started looking, we would have," Kay said curtly.
"Exactly why I'm starting early this year," Brenda said with amusement. "So who's going?"
"I'll go if Lavender goes," Gretchen said.
"She already agreed to go as long as she could bring a date," Brenda said, pulling her Never-dry Pen out of the clipboard. "I'll add your name."
"What! But if she brings her girlfriend, everyone's going to figure out we're not dating. Frank might start pestering me again!" Gretchen protested.
"Don't worry, everyone in the school knows he's fixated on Jennifer at the moment," Brenda said, writing her name down.
"Surely not. He knows perfectly well that I'm married," Jennifer protested.
"Some men are attracted to women who are off limits, you know," Kay pointed out.
"Yes, but that's Asher Smith, not Frank, or I would still be getting pestered," Gretchen pointed out.
"Either way, being married doesn't change your physical appearance. Much," Brenda said, remembering she had put on ten pounds after she was married. Jennifer chuckled at the thought.
"Well, it's neither here nor there anyway," Jennifer replied. "I always despised dances when I was in school, and I have no intention of chaperoning. The only reason I'd go at all is if Truman managed to secure a date, because I promised I'd go to the Middle School dance to support him if he managed it. Otherwise, I have no intention of going to any sort of dance by myself."
"Well, since I'm stuck now, why don't you go with me so that I don't have to go alone?" Gretchen asked. "We could make it a girl's night of it, isn't that right, Kay?"
"Don't look at me, I'm not going to either one of them," Kay protested.
"If you go with us to chaperone the dance, Kay, we'll help chaperone your next trip to the Magical Creatures field trip," Gretchen suggested. Jennifer blinked.
"Deal," Kay decided.
"Alright, I got you three down for middle school, then," Brenda said. "Now all I need are some wizard chaperones for middle school and then I can concentrate on the high school dance."
"Just tell Frank and Asher that Jennifer is going. They'll go," Kay snorted.
"Good idea. Thanks, girls," Brenda said, walking away.
"Hey! I never said I was going at all," Jennifer protested, but Brenda pretended she hadn't heard.
"You have to now. If you don't go, I won't go," Kay informed her.
"And if you don't go, Frank and Asher probably won't go either. Or me. Then Brenda will probably tell you to find chaperones for that dance yourself, since you made everyone not want to go," Gretchen added for good measure. Jennifer grimaced, and then sighed with exasperation.
"Fine, I'll go. But I won't dance," Jennifer said firmly.
"Well, maybe you could just dance with us girls," Gretchen suggested.
"Won't that look silly," Jennifer said critically.
"No, not really, I see the students do it all the time," Gretchen assured her. Jennifer gazed at her dubiously, reluctantly getting out a small datebook she had bought to add it to her calendar.
"A costume?" Ashley inquired.
Severus had picked up Quintin after school the next day to find his altered uniforms and several new shirts waiting for him to pick up in the daycare room.
"Yes, for Halloween. Jennifer has arranged to take Quintin for the evening so we'll not have to worry about him at the wedding," Severus explained. "Apparently, one of the other teachers has some boys about his age, so they were invited to stay over and do some trick-or-treating."
"How exciting! And I've never done a full costume before. What sort of costume do you want, Quintin? What you like to pretend to be for Halloween?" Ashley asked. Quintin didn't have to think about it for too long.
"I want to be a basilisk!" Quintin said enthusiastically.
"Yes, well, I suppose we should have seen that coming," Severus said. Ashley chuckled. "And it'll need to be suitable even with non-magic children about."
"All, right, Severus! I'll see what I can do," Ashley said.
"Thank you, Ashley," Severus said, then swept out of the room. Ashley got Quintin a snack and found herself thinking of what the best fabrics would be to use. Then she decided to bring a camera tomorrow to take some pictures of Rasputin for good measure.
Severus then walked down to the classrooms and over to the Transfiguration Room. He glanced at his watch, waiting until his last class let out before going inside. Andrew was busy sorting the different stacks of homework that had been turned in that day and organizing them for later.
"Hello. How is Quintin doing?" Andrew asked.
"Fine, still no problems... or if there have been any, Francis hasn't mentioned them," Severus said, then shrugged slightly. "He seems happier."
"I'm sure that helps," Andrew agreed. "This isn't about the first Hogsmeade trip or anything, is it? Because I still have tennis."
"What makes you think I'm here to ask you to chaperone something?" Severus asked evenly.
"Am I being volunteered to babysit again this Sunday?" Andrew asked.
"No, barring any calamities, I'm taking Quintin for a family day," Severus said. "Actually, I'm thinking a bit ahead this time and have been working out plans for the wedding," he explained. "Quintin will be staying with your mother, and of course, Hermione and I must both go to the wedding, so I am inquiring among senior staff who is planning to go."
"I'm not senior staff, you demoted me," Andrew reminded him.
"Never mind that. Did you wish to attend the wedding, or would you prefer to stay and help arrange events for the students? Specifically Gryffindors, since Hermione has to go..."
"Father, I would love to have an excuse not to go to that wedding, and I happily agree to babysit the castle while you're gone," Andrew said with amusement. "To be honest, I was hoping you would ask in this case. There have been so many weddings lately that I am all 'weddinged out'."
"Yes, well, I don't blame you, but considering I am one of Jamie's godfathers, I certainly can't get out of it, especially since Jennifer can't go," Severus replied. "Thank you."
"Not a problem. Oh, and by the way... Leu came to me today and asked me if I'd be willing to help him train to be an Animagus," Andrew said, folding his arms. "He said he wanted to try and master a seabird of some type."
"That sounds like a very reasonable request to me. After all, he'll be working in the ocean most of his life; it would be beneficial for him to have some means of escape if he were stranded for some reason and needed a faster way to get to shore," Severus reasoned.
"Uh huh. He said it was an Owl goal, actually," Andrew chuckled. "That's a rather underhanded way of volunteering me for something, isn't it?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about. It isn't as if you're the only other Animagus at the school, isn't it?"
"Only the most likely choice," Andrew noted. "Just warn me before you volunteer me for anything else in advance, would you? I do have a girlfriend now, and it'd be nice to actually do something together that didn't involve therapy or school obligations more often."
"Come now, Andrew, you are the master scheduler, after all, or at least you used to be," Severus pointed out.
"Ouch, Dad!" Andrew protested. "You said yourself it wasn't the same thing!"
"No, but considering the only 'dating' that your mother and I did was security patrols, marking papers, and the occasional Hogsmeade trip or Quidditch game, you'll get very little sympathy from me," Severus said unconcernedly, stepping back out to find out who else he could 'volunteer' to stay.