"Thank you everyone for coming on such short notice." Minerva said the next morning in the teacher's lounge. "Before I start, are there any announcements?"
Odessa looked up, "Um, some of my potions, and potion ingredients have gone missing. First it was veritiserum, and now the ingredients for Gravatus have disappeared. If you notice any students becoming ill please let me know."
Minerva nodded, "Thank you for letting us know, Odessa. Have you put extra spells around your office?"
"Yes, I have. Anyone who has suddenly gone bald is suspect as well." The other teachers laughed at this.
"Well, if there's nothing else," Minerva glanced around the room, "then it's my pleasure to introduce our new medi-wizard. Falcon was given an extraordinary opportunity to be the head Medi-Wizard's intern and left immediately, with my blessing. Gabriel Lupin has agreed to take his place. Gabriel, please come in."
A man who was about 6 feet tall with broad shoulders and longish, wavy brown hair walked into the room. Odessa glanced at him and ribbed Hastings hard.
"Ouch," she whispered.
"He's a babe," Odessa whispered back.
"I can see that." Hastings said, looking him up and down. "But I thought you said you were going to stop matching me with people."
"I don't have any recollection of that conversation." Odessa said.
"Okay everyone," Minerva said, "That's all for now. We better get some breakfast before classes start.
Odessa stood and rushed over to Gabriel, "Hi Gabriel, I'm Odessa Grace, the potions teacher. I thought I should introduce myself because I'm sure we'll be working together a lot."
Gabriel smiled, showing a row of perfect teeth, "It's a pleasure. And I prefer Gabe, if you don't mind."
"And this is my friend, Hastings, the DADA teacher." Odessa said, grabbing Hastings arm and pulling her next to her.
"Lovely to meet you," Hastings sputtered out, glaring at Odessa.
"Oh, I left my lesson plan in my room. You two head to breakfast, I'll meet you there." With one last smile at Hastings, Odessa flew out of the room.
"So," said Gabe. "You teach Defense?"
"Um, yes," said Hastings, gathering her robe before her and folding her arms.
"That's pretty great," he said, "I wanted to be an Auror when I was younger."
"Really?" asked Hastings, only halfway interested. Spying Minerva, and looking for any excuse not to talk to Gabe, she called out, "Minerva!"
"Why, hello, Hastings," said McGonagall. "I see that you and Mr. Lupin are getting well acquainted. You know, he was on the Curse Reversal team at St. Mungo's. I'm sure you'll find you have much in common."
Gabe smiled, showing his perfect teeth again, and a rather stubborn dimple in his left cheek that Hastings decided was rather annoying.
"Both of his parents were in the Order of the Phoenix, and—"
"Wait a minute," said Hastings. "I know who you are. Your father taught here for a year, didn't he?"
"Yup," said Gabe, still flashing a smile that made him resemble Gilderoy Lockheart.
"Your mum was Nymphadora Tonks!" Hastings exclaimed, brightening. "I have every book she's written on defense and magical concealment! Wow!"
Gabe laughed at her excitement, "Glad you approve of my family." They walked down together, chatting about defensive magic and the many things Hastings had learned from reading his mother's books.
"Wait a minute," said Hastings. "Your mum's most recent book, 'So I Married a Werewolf,' that was an autobiography, wasn't it?"
Gabe nodded, still in a lighthearted mood.
Hastings sat at the teachers' table in her usual seat. "Not to pry… but what does that make you?"
Gabe plopped down next to her and said, "Half-wolf," and winked at her. In spite of herself, Hastings felt her heart thump as he beamed at her. She tried not to look at him as he piled his plate with an impossible amount of food. She tried her best not to take too much on her plate, attempting to eat like a lady, and not like a starved dog. But her appetite got the better of her as they chatted about this and that, and before she knew it, she'd had several helpings of eggs, bacon and biscuits. "You certainly have a healthy appetite," Gabe remarked, his own mouth full of sausage.
Hastings was mortified, and she set down her fork and knife, which were about to dive into some hash browns.
Gabe, who didn't seem to notice her embarrassment, said, "That's great. Girls never eat enough—always on these fad diets or only eating salad. It isn't healthy. You need a balanced meal, to… oh, that's the medical training getting away with me again…" He smiled sheepishly and took a large gulp of pumpkin juice.
Sipping from her own glass of Pumpkin Juice Hastings mentally placed her name with his last name and wondering what their children would look like. She was shaken from her reverie when Odessa plopped down next to her on the other side.
"What did I miss?"
"Oh," said Hastings, feeling completely stupid, "Nothing. What took you so long?"
"Oh," said Odessa, suddenly blushing and smiling uncontrollably. "I just… had a chat with Sir—one of the teachers… for a minute."
Hastings looked over to where Odessa was staring and saw Sirius across the hall, talking to a third year Ravenclaw about an assignment. He glanced over to the Odessa and winked, then returned his attention to the student.
"Sounds like a little more than talking," said Hastings, thinking that everything was right with the world.
"Just you never mind," said Odessa. "What's Gabe like?"
"He's… you know…" But Hastings couldn't help smiling.
"I'm not saying a word," said Odessa, "Not a single word… except that he seems to be a very good ma—"
"Shut up, Ode," Said Hastings, covering her friend's mouth. "You'll jinx me."
"Gabe rhymes with babe, you know…"
"Shut up, Ode!"
Smiling devilishly at her, Odessa leaned over, "So do you like the food here, Gabe?"
"It's great. Much better than hospital food."
"So why'd you choose to come here?" Odessa asked.
"I've always wanted to work here, are you kidding?" Gabriel said. "There's just never been an opening before. Is it bad that I'm hoping the nurse will decide not to come back?"
Odessa shrugged, "As long as you don't curse her to make sure she doesn't return, then no, it's not a bad thing."
Gabriel laughed, "I'll remember that next time I'm tempted to pull my wand out so that I can keep my job. Anyway, I better get to the hospital wing and familiarize myself with it. It was nice to meet you both."
"Nice to meet you too," Odessa said with a broad grin and a glance at Hastings.
"Yes, it was lovely," Hastings said, trying not to glare at Odessa.
"You know," Odessa said as Gabriel walked away, "he's not bad from behind either."
Hastings smiled, "One of the better behinds I've seen. So, what happened with Sirius?"
"It's nothing as exciting as you seem to think. We just ran into each other and it was so nice to be able to speak with him as a friend again. And…I'm going with him to Hogsmeade this weekend to buy some supplies."
"He asked you on a date?" Hastings squealed.
"Um, no. A date is dinner, or coffee or something like that. He asked to go supply shopping, that's much different. Especially since he told me to ask you to come as well."
"Well, I'm busy this weekend."
"Too bad," Odessa said. "Sirius is going to bring Gabriel along."
"Why?"
"Oh, come on, do you even have to ask? Remus Lupin is Gabriel's father. Harry Potter is Sirius' father. They've known each other for ages. They've never really hung out since Gabe's a few years older, but they know each other. And Sirius thought it'd be a nice gesture to ask him to come with us since we're the only other teachers here even close to his age. And…" Odessa took a deep breath, "ItoldSiriusyouthinkGabe'sababe."
"You did what?"
Odessa grinned, "I told Sirius that you think Gabe's a babe. Wow, you could turn that into a song."
"I'm going to kill you Odessa."
"You know you love me Hastings," Odessa chimed back. "Besides, you don't have time to kill me at the moment. It's time for class. See ya later."
Hastings nodded curtly but couldn't help grinning. She couldn't wait for Saturday.