Chapter Forty-Eight

Net Wolves

Frank was glad when they got to the last period and he finally had time to slip into Jennifer's classroom with a pad of paper and a pencil, eagerly taking notes as he listened to Andrew's lecture on microtransfiguration. Jennifer smiled at him warmly. It was obvious to her that Frank was generally interested in the topic and eager to learn more, and just as clear from his expression that he wished he could make friends with Andrew somehow. In fact, with his personality, Jennifer was fairly sure they could be good friends... nearly as good as Andrew and Halbert, even. It was unfair of Andrew to judge him just based on the fact that Frank reminded him a little too much of himself. What would he think of Asher, she wondered. No, that wouldn't work at all, Jennifer mused. At least not until Asher grew up a little and Andrew was truly ready to face his own shortcomings. It would be like looking into a mirror, and not a very nice one. Jennifer heard clapping, bringing her out of her thoughts as Andrew finished his lecture and took a few questions, and Frank just as eager as her Design students to ask about some of the finer aspects of Andrew's work. Soon she let her class go, and Frank got up and went over to them.

"I don't suppose you'd be interested in going to dinner with me and some of the guys tomorrow night, Andrew? You'd be more than welcome, and I'd like to introduce you to my friends," Frank suggested.

"Sorry, I don't have time for that sort of thing now. I have something you guys don't. Namely, a steady girlfriend," Andrew said crisply.

"Oh, Andrew!" Jennifer scowled at him disapprovingly. But Frank shrugged it off.

"That doesn't matter. Ben Clemmons is going with us, and he's married. He just texted her real quick and checked to make sure it was okay with her. Can't you do the same?" Frank asked.

"My sister is one of the few people I know that even uses one of those phone contraptions due to her job and her Muggle husband. We have other means of communication... traditional means, such as Flames, Shells, and owls... real owls with real feathers and that you have to feed. Most of us don't even use the Wizardnet, so don't assume that we can," Andrew said critically. "Because of an ice storm last week, we have an incredibly busy weekend at the school, and since I'm helping with school security, I need to chaperone a school trip and help with a Quidditch game on Sunday. In other words, I have much better things to do than to participate in some sort of attempt to get on my good side."

"Well, at least that's a better excuse, but 'Sorry, I'm busy tomorrow' would have worked just as well," Frank pointed out.

"Oh, Andrew! I am so sorry, Frank, he's just so much like his father was at this age!" Jennifer exclaimed with exasperation. "Andrew, please be polite. Frank's invitation was quite sincere!"

"I didn't even know the word was in his dictionary," Andrew said curtly, making Jennifer cringe.

"It's okay, Jennifer, it's not your fault," Frank said, seeing her obvious embarrassment.

"Considering I raised him, I think that's up for debate," Jennifer admitted.

"Gotta go," Frank decided quickly, sensing the argument that was about to erupt. There could be no doubt that Andrew was in for an earful once Frank had exited the room.

Frank and Ben got in his car and drove a half hour out of the city, landing in a small town which, oddly enough, was called Houston. And just on the outskirts of that town, they pulled up to what looked like a dilapidated old building. But as Ben concentrated it and convinced himself that something else was there, a strange-looking large-windowed tavern appeared, with a concrete bull statue out front and a pair of bullhorns over the door. Just above them was a large neon sign that named it "Jilly's."

"See it?" Frank asked as he parked the car.

"Yeah, but exactly what is it am I'm seeing?" Ben asked. Frank grinned.

"Wizard country-western bar," Frank explained. "Biggest one in the whole region, and since it's Friday, it's going to be packed. But don't worry, we reserved a table on the net a week ago."

"Okay," Ben said, feeling a bit skeptical of the place when they entered. "Are you sure this place is sanitary?" he asked, reading the sign advertising a "bikini bull-riding contest" on Saturdays and "Mud-wrestling" on Mondays.

"Sure, look," Frank said, pointing at the large blue "A" taped on the wall behind the bar before talking to one of the waitresses with very short jean shorts and a very low gingham top that had been tied high enough to show off some of her waist. "Over there," Frank said, and nodded over to where Asher and Ray were already sitting, waving at them. Ben slid into the other side of the booth and Frank sat beside him.

"You're not going to order him a Bud, are you?" Ray squinted.

"What? He'd never accept another invitation if I did that," Frank said.

"Something darker than that, I hope," Ben said, pointing across the table at the other two wizards' beers, which were both very light gold in color.

"Stout, maybe?" Frank suggested.

"Sure," Ben agreed, so Frank was ready when the cowgirl came back over.

"Werehound Stout and a Sorcerer-Up for the designated," Frank said, pointing at himself.

"You got it, honey," the girl said with a fake southern accent, leaving some menus before walking away again.

"Got a dossier for her yet?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, they got her a long time ag- ow!" Ray got his side jabbed hard by Asher, but Ben's thin smile was pretty telling.

"It's no use, Goldenwiz69, I already know who you are on that date rating site," Ben told Asher, who grimaced. Ben thumbed over towards Frank. "JeansD3vil," then he pointed at Ray. "Ruff1nreddy."

"Shall we slip under the table now, or have a couple of beers to make it look more convincing?" Ray suggested with a pained expression on his face.

"You going to tell anyone?" Asher asked anxiously.

"You mean at the school? No, it's none of their business what you guys do in your free time," Ben said.

"What about your mother-in-law?" Frank asked in a low voice.

"Do you seriously believe she doesn't know already?" Ben asked with a laugh. "I bet she's already picked it up from one of you, glasses or not. She just doesn't care because you had enough sense to mark her entry as 'Off Limits'."

"Aren't you glad I had you add that now?" Ray said to Asher, who grimaced at him. They paused as the drinks arrived. Ben was more than happy to let them order for him, and they passed over their menus.

"Well," Frank began as the waitress walked away. "I'm a bit embarrassed if she did find out, but I'm glad she's not mad about it."

"As far as she's concerned, the three of you aren't anything but a bunch of kids playing with your toys," Ben said. Ray folded his arms and looked between the other two.

"You know what, I think she's got a point," Ray decided.

"Don't start that self-righteous Auror stuff again, Ray. You may not contribute to that sight, but you do your fair share of looking at it," Frank accused him.

"I don't go as far as either of you do," Ray said.

"Nobody goes as far as Asher does," Frank said with a snort.

"As bad as he is, I know someone who was even worse than Asher once," Ben admitted.

"Is that even possible?" Ray chuckled.

"A teacher at Hogwarts who had one or two dates lined up even on school nights, and three or four on weekends," Ben said.

"Wow, that's some serious mileage," Frank said. "What's his screen name?"

"Oh, he's never been online, he kept his dating records in journals," Ben explained. "But he's the reason that Jennifer doesn't think twice about what the three of you have been doing, because she's seen someone do it before. And you've met him." Frank squinted.

"Wait... you mean that blonde-haired long-nosed self-righteous son of hers that turned down an invite to sit with us tonight because he was too good to be seen with us?" Frank asked. Ben nodded at that. "Why, that hypocritical bastard!"

"Yeah, I think you reminded him too much of how he used to be, Frank," Ben admitted. "And he also happens to be very protective of his mother, which is why he's acting like that."

"I'd never bother Jennifer! None of us would!" Frank protested.

"Not even Asher is that stupid," Ray said, thumbing his finger at the man sitting next to him.

"No, we can only dream about it," Asher said wistfully.

"Even that doesn't sound safe anymore," Frank said dourly.

Asher pondered that for a moment, then glanced over at Ben.

"So what does your wife look like?" Asher asked with interest. The other three stared at him in open disbelief.

Lavender and Gretchen turned around as the four witches watched Ben Clemmons walk over and sit in the Wolf Den on Monday.

"Looks like he got voted in," Kay said.

"Are you okay with that?" Lav asked Jennifer seriously, but Jennifer was smiling enigmatically.

"I am. I think it'll be good for all of them, actually," Jennifer said reassuringly. "Ben hasn't had any real mates outside of the family sphere for years now, and those three will benefit from having someone more mature around that they can still relate to."

"Well, I guess you have a point, as long as you're sure they won't corrupt him," Lav said warily, turning back around.

"I sincerely doubt it," Jennifer chuckled, sipping her coffee.

Over in the Wolf Den corner, Ben took the offered seat by Frank, who was currently the one with the device open. He was pulling up social media sites on his Silverbook.

"Do you want to see the Twizzer stuff first or Mugscroll?" Frank asked.

"Mugscroll, it tends to be worse," Ben suggested.

"Show him the picture of her blasting Snape," Ray said, glancing up to make sure the girls were settled in and they were in no danger of being invaded.

"That should be easy. They've been turning it into a mage-meme all weekend," Frank said, then pulled up the image. It was the photo of Jennifer, standing in Hogsmeade and blasting Severus with a spell. "Recognize it?"

"No," Ben admitted, getting out his phone. "But my wife probably would. Give me a moment," he said, glancing at the address and finding it before sending it to her.

"Maybe it's edited," Asher suggested.

"Maybe, but it looks like an old newspaper photo that's been scanned in, that's why it's not moving much," Frank said.

"Well, I can tell you it's not recent. My father-in-law's hair is longer than that, his sister Anna hasn't worn her hair like that in over a decade, and two of the people in this photo aren't anywhere near Hogsmeade and haven't been for six months," Ben said, pointing at Sirius and Remus. Finally, his phone chimed and he read the text. "Alex says it's a polyformed Peter Pettigrew. Considering Jennifer killed him before she was even married, this photo is extremely old... taken before any of us were born, even."

"Did you say killed?" Ray said with a frown.

"Self defense, he's the werewolf she killed when she went with Harry to take on Voldemort," Ben explained. "She killed him with the Craw family dagger, as I understand it. They are digging deep for this smear campaign, aren't they? And other than this article, most of the articles they're putting up are from the Oracle, which is not known for telling a straight story even on a good day. It's a political rag, and it's run by Amadeus Longbottom."

"Longbottom... wait, Jennifer told us about him. Isn't he the guy who wiped her memories?" Ray said.

"Yep, same guy," Ben said, glancing at Frank's computer again. "It's a long story, but he only spent a couple of years in prison."

"She told us that part too," Frank admitted, then sighed. "You know, a lot of the reason this stuff works is because the two of them haven't aged all that much, especially Jennifer. They're actually using her young looks against her, because they can pull up thirty plus years of old material and spin it so that it looks like it's recent. A lot of Wizardnet users who don't know her personally are likely to buy into these stories."

"Should we talk to her about it?" Ray asked Ben.

"Who, Jennifer? No, she'd simply wave it off and wouldn't care," Ben admitted.

"Well, I know she doesn't spend anymore time on the Wizardnet than it takes for her to record grades, but surely she'd be worried about the damage this smear campaign might do if it starts to pick up speed. Once something like this really gets going on the Wizardnet, it's really hard to stop it," Frank said.

"She's had smear campaigns against her before, and her attitude has been the same regardless of what type of media it's in," Ben told them. "But we should probably warn Dean Elk. If there's any fallout from all of this, it'll probably end up in that office first."

"You're right. Let's finish breakfast and then go make an appointment," Frank agreed.

On the other side of the room, Jennifer had other goals in mind.

"So, the other day, a radio station had a popup booth and was giving away some tickets to the Kennywood Christmas Lights thing," Kay said, showing them four tickets in her hand. "You guys wanna go? I know we have a Coven Night next weekend and a school concert on Sunday, but maybe we can go on Wednesday, since we have a half day of classes before the break," Kay said.

"No, sorry, I promised Severus that I'd be straight home without fail that last day of school," Jennifer replied. "But I have a better idea, anyway. Why don't you ask Ray to go?"

"Are you kidding? Do you think he'd ever go out with me considering how badly his Dad is teasing him about me? He'd never agree to that," Kay said.

"I know how to get him to go," Jennifer said with a sly smile. "And it'd involve killing two birds with the same stone."

The four wizards had closed the computer and were trying to finish their breakfast when Gretchen drank her coffee down as if it were a shot of something stronger and strode over to the Wolf's Den.

"Frank, might I talk to you in private for a moment?" Gretchen asked with a smile. Quite surprised, Frank excused himself and got up, and the two of them stepped out into the hallway.

Five minutes later, Frank dove back in, dodging students on his way back to the corner.

"I need your help," Frank panted, the three of them looking up curiously. "Gretchen says she'll go out with me and has four tickets to Kennywood Christmas and wants to double date. She wants me to find a date for Kay Sinclair so we can go on the last day of school before the break."

"Sure, I don't mind trying her out once. She could be a diamond in the rou -" Asher was suddenly cut off when Ray put his donut in Asher's mouth.

"Oh, no you don't! I'm not going to have you trying to do something disrespectful with a fellow teacher!" Ray snapped at him. Asher took the donut out of his mouth.

"I'd make sure that she enjoyed it," Asher promised.

"Frank, don't listen to him. I'll take her myself," Ray said, glaring at Asher in annoyance.

"Right," Frank said, and went back out into the hallway to let Gretchen know.

Ben watched him thoughtfully, wondering about how that seemed rather orchestrated. He was still gazing at the door as the two of them came back in. Gretchen hurried over to Jennifer's table with a triumphant smile and Ben saw the witches huddle around Jennifer. It only took one look at Jennifer's expression for his suspicions to be confirmed and he chuckled softly to himself as they began to clean up.