Odessa left Hastings's room and went to bed. After an hour of tossing and turning she walked back to the men's common room to see if anyone was still there. Gabe had already gone to bed as well as Professors Vector and Greene. Odessa sat down before the fire and watched the flames lick the wood. She heard a door open and close. Sirius came through, holding a book. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Oh, hi," said Sirius. "Can't sleep. What about you?"

"Couldn't sleep either," said Odessa.

"How'd things go with Hastings?"

"I think she's getting sick of our interfering in her love life," said Hastings.

"Oh well. We almost wrecked our own—no need to try with her."

Odessa smiled, "Do you want to take a walk?"

"I'd like that," said Sirius. Holding hands, they headed to the Astronomy Tower.

"Remember," said Sirius, "When we were about sixteen, walking up here with my dad's old cloak over us?"

"Yeah," said Odessa. "Remember the time we were kissing under it and Professor O'Reilly's wand snagged it off us?"

Sirius laughed. "Oh, yeah. We sure had a lot to explain that night."

"Much good it did us, we both still ended up with detention."

"You know," Sirius said, "I think I spent half my time here in detention."

Odessa smirked, "Yeah, you always got caught."

"Like you didn't," Sirius said.

"Not nearly as much. Falcon always wanted to tell the truth though. I had to convince him to lie…" Odessa trailed off as she remembered what Hastings had told her about the letter.

"Yeah, he was always the honest one." Sirius agreed. "I had to convince him to lie a few times too. I think I silenced him once or twice when the teacher wasn't looking He promised to get me back one day, I'm still waiting."

"With his new job you probably won't see much of him," Odessa said.

"I never saw him much before," Sirius reminded her. "But he's an excellent correspondent."

"Of that I have no doubt," Odessa said with a wry smile. "You know, I wonder if we're as easy to fool as our professors were."

"I don't think they were fooled all that often," Sirius said. "They just knew when they didn't have the evidence to back up their accusations. At least that's been my experience."

"Yeah, I suppose so," Odessa said, rubbing her arms. "It's getting cold, let's go in."

"I could warm you up," Sirius said with a mischievous grin.

Odessa smiled in return and hooked her arm through is, "You do warm me up, Sirius. So very much."

Sirius bent over to kiss her head but Odessa jerked up and banged her head on his chin.

"Ouch!" Sirius said. "What'd you do that for."

"Shh," Odessa said, rubbing her own head. "Look." Odessa pointed towards the grounds. Peering down, Sirius could just make out O'Reilly and Professor Greene in a heated argument.

"What do you suppose that's all about?" Odessa asked. "I thought Professor Greene went to bed."

Probably nothing." Sirius said.

"It has to be something," Odessa insisted.

"No, it doesn't," Sirius said. "You just want it to be something."

"Couldn't you be supportive, just once?" Odessa asked angrily.

"Okay, it's probably something dark and horrible," Sirius said. "Unfortunately, unless you happen to have extendable ears on you, we'll never know."

Odessa giggled, "You're horrible. And no, I don't carry extendable ears with me." She glanced over the tower wall again, but both professors were gone. "Oh well, let's go in."

Sirius took her arm and escorted her back to the ladies common room. "Have a good night," he said softly.

"You too," Odessa gave him a quick kiss and went to her room.

"Class. Class! Everyone!" Odessa pointed her wand in the air and let out a loud bang. The students looked at her, trying to smother their laughter. "If you don't come up here and take the antidote the next potion I'm going to have you try is one for bad luck. I've had it before, trust me when I say that you don't. Now come on." The giggling fourth years made their way to Odessa's desk. She tried to keep a straight face as she administered the antidote to the giggling potion they had just taken.

"Thanks Professor," Rebecca Kingsley said as she dropped her books in a fit of giggles. "I haven't felt this good in awhile."

"You're welcome Miss Kingsley," Odessa said, helping her pick up her books before she gave her the antidote. "Okay – your homework is an essay on the properties of the antidote to the giggling potion and how else it can be used. I want at least two feet of parchment. Now go – get to lunch a little early." Her fourth years quickly packed up their books and left. Odessa hummed and started to ready her classroom for her NEWT class after lunch.

"Oh good, you're still here." Odessa looked up to see Professor McGonagall slowly walk in.

"Minerva! How are you feeling?"

"I'm still not feeling very well to be perfectly honest," Professor McGonagall said. "In all my years I cannot remember a time when I was this sick."

"Can I give you anything?"

"That's why I'm here. Gabe's going to escort me to St. Mungo's. I need you to whip me up something for motion sickness. We're going to take the carriages to Hogsmeade."

"Lucky for you, I have some in stock." Odessa perused her shelves. "Here you go. Take this about five minutes before you leave and you'll be fine."

"Thanks Odessa." Minerva put the potion in her robes. "While I'm gone Jade will be acting as headmistress. She'll announce it tonight at dinner. She'll also be visiting me every other day to keep me updated. Offered to do it through letters, but I prefer face-to-face visits. Isabella will be in charge when Jade is gone. But I doubt you'll notice much change in your day-to-day operations."

"It won't be the same without you here," Odessa said. "I hope you feel better soon. Oh, and let me know if you need anything to make those potions at St. Mungo's taste better, they usually don't worry about things like that."

Professor McGonagall smiled, "Thanks dear. I'll see you later."

"Take care Minerva."

"He went where?" asked Hastings, helping herself to another large portion of Shepherd's Pie.

"Take Minerva to St. Mungo's," said Odessa between bites. "You heard Jade's announcement, didn't you?"

"Yes," said Hastings, "I just… didn't know that Gabe had gone too. When's he coming back?"

"Tonight sometime," said Sirius, stabbing a piece of roast beef with his fork. "Worried about him, eh?"

"Not at all," said Hastings, her mouth full. "Just inquiring after a friend. There's nothing weird about that."

"Nothing weird, huh?" asked Odessa. "You're reaching for a third piece of pie, and I lost count of how many goblets of pumpkin juice you've had. You always overeat when you're nervous about something."

"Just concerned that he'll have the misfortune to run into that git, Puddingwaste."

"Why are you so against him these days?" asked Sirius. "What did you break up over, anyway?"

Hastings looked at Odessa a moment, then swallowed a large bite she'd had in her mouth. "Just that we don't agree on certain things. He believes he's God's gift to the universe, and I disagree."

"Whatever," said Sirius. "Oi. Mail's here. I think I preferred when they did it in the morning." A plethora of owls swooped in the window and alighted at various tables, many dropping parcels from home to the students. One in particular was headed toward Hastings.

"Look," she said, "One for me!" She caught the letter as the owl flew above her, and studied the return address. "Oh, bloody hell."

"What is it?" asked Sirius and Odessa at the same time.

"The Office of the Head Medi-Wizard, Intern Puddinghaste, St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies." Hastings opened it quickly, almost ripping the parchment inside. "What could he have to say to…" Her eyes moved back and forth over the note, taking in his message. Letting it fall from her fingers onto the remnants of her Shepherd's pie, she said, "Well, that's that, then." She stood up from the table and walked away, heading for the Hogwarts grounds, having lost her appetite.

Odessa watched her leave the great hall and then grabbed the parchment from the table to read it:

Miss Applespice,

I believe It is my duty to inform you that I will be at Hogwarts several times a month to help Dr. Lupin in the hospital wing. This has been arranged through Professor Greene. We are still not sure what is causing Minerva's illness. With cold season coming up, Jade wanted to make sure that there would be extra help available. I trust that we can behave as colleagues and that you would not be so indiscreet as to mention past disagreements. 'Til then,

Falcon Puddinghaste

"Why would Falcon be worried about Hastings mentioning past arguments?" Sirius asked, reading over her shoulder.

Odessa shrugged, "Probably his pride."

"Maybe," Sirius said. "I wouldn't think that this would upset Hastings so much though."

"Yeah, I'm a bit surprised too," Odessa said. "Shepherd's Pie is her favorite."

"Professor!" Sirius and Odessa looked up to see a young third year running towards them.

"Yes, Mr. Murphy?" Sirius asked.

"I…um, well you see, I was practicing that spell you taught us today in class…"

"Go on," Sirius encouraged.

"And…well…er…I think my shoe ate Lillian's kitten." He looked down, embarrassed.

Sirius refused to look at Odessa, knowing that he would laugh if he did.

"And why do you think it ate Lillian's kitten?" Sirius asked.

"Because I saw him do it. And I don't want Lillian to know. She'd be awful mad at me." He held up a bag that was wiggling and making odd noises. "I brought the shoe."

Sirius started coughing, trying to hide his laughter, "Right then, Patrick. "Let's go to my office where the shoe can't escape and see what we can do about rescuing that cat."

"Thank you so much Professor Potter," Patrick said gratefully.

"I do what I can," he said, placing his hand on Patrick's back and guiding him towards the door. Sirius glanced back at Odessa and mouthed, "later." Odessa nodded, waiting until he was out of the room before she burst into laughter.