It was lunch the next day before anyone had a chance to catch up with what was going on. Hastings was walking in from her class—which was much better behaved this morning, and nearly ran into Gabe, coming from the hospital wing. "Of all the stupidest, uncaring… Oh, hi, Haste," he said, kissing her cheek.

"What's wrong?" asked Hastings.

"Kids keep on coming in and messing with my supplies. They're wreaking havoc on the entire wing. I threatened to remove all their bones. That shut them up… temporarily. And that prat, Puddinghaste… I swear, I may just curse him one day.

"Lunch break, then?"

"Yes, Healer Puddinghaste is there. He's horrible, Hastings, he really is."

"I could have told you that, Gabe," said Hastings. "I dated him, remember?"

"Yeah, and I have no idea why. What a jerk." They sat at the head table, where Sirius was sitting.

"Hey, Sirius," said Hastings, "Have you seen Odessa?"

"Nah," said Sirius, his fork poking at his steak and kidney pie.

"Bad day, mate?" asked Gabe.

"Yes," said Sirius. "If they were difficult in your classes, they were absolute terrors in mine. They turned my wand into a bleeding teapot. I couldn't get them to change it back. They dropped it, and it shattered. Now I have to go to Diagon Alley to get a new one this weekend.

"Mine were better today," said Hastings. "But second hour is free, so I used the time to see professor Vector."

"Oh yeah?" asked Gabe. "And was she doing anything weird?"

"Just made me look through the telescope and diagram star charts for an hour. Boring, if you ask me. I asked her as casually as I could if she'd noticed anything strange about the students. She said nothing out of the ordinary."

""Well, Jade came in to get some pepper up," said Gabe. "She seemed concerned about something. I think she's begun to notice something going on. At least she'll probably do something about it."

"What about you, Sirius?" asked Hastings.

"No one is doing anything out of the usual—aside from the students."

"Hmm… wonder how Odessa's doing," said Hastings. "Where is that woman?"

Odessa was in her store room, cleaning the shelves and updating her list of potions. Some of them would have to be bought in London—Hogsmeade didn't carry everything. She decided she'd see if the others wanted to go over the weekend for a mini-break.

The door to the storeroom opened, admitting O'Reilly. "Hello," he said.

"Oh… hello," said Odessa. "Is there… something I can help you with?" In the close quarters of the storeroom, with him blocking the doorway, Odessa decided the best thing to do was be as polite as possible.

"Indeed," he said. "I know you don't trust me… but—I believe there is something strange going on here. I have heard several complaints about students acting up. I decided to make an inquiry."

Why, that dirty sneak, thought Odessa. He's trying to get on my good side. I'd better humor him. "Uh… strange?" she asked, innocently.

"Surely you've noticed… behavioral differences," said O'Reilly. "I wonder if you would join me in a cup of tea. I have some… information that might be of use to you."

"I'm not sure," said Odessa, stalling. "I have… so many potions to inventory. And then I need to meet the others…"

"It will only take a minute," said O'Reilly, actually smiling kindly. "It's about a matter we discussed earlier." He whispered, "Professor Greene, you know. I think she has an accomplice… and I think it's Mr. Puddinghaste."

Suddenly interested, and because she had a personal vendetta against Falcon, she said, "Very well, Professor O'Reilly, I'll go with you. Only for a moment, though."

They walked to Odessa's office, and she made a pot of tea. While she was getting things ready, O'Reilly remarked, "You certainly have exceeded my expectations this year, Odessa." She looked at him, expecting to see a sneer, but instead she saw genuine appreciation. "It would seem my start of term concern was misplaced."

Odessa nodded, unsure of what to say. She placed two cups on the desk, then turned back to the teapot, magically heating on a shelf. When she turned back, she saw O'Reilly close to her desk, playing with a cup.

"This is a lovely set," he said, placing the cup down and picking up the other one to exam. "Where did you get it?"

"It was my mother's," Odessa said, pouring his tea, then her own. She sat at her desk and said, "So, Professor, what is this about Falcon?"

"I do wish you would refer to me as an equal, Odessa," he said. His friendly manner infuriated her and she struggled to keep a smile on her face. "Feel free to call me Malcolm."

"Very well, Malcolm," said Odessa. "What do you have to say?"

"He was the attending healer for Professor McGonagall before he was asked to come back here," said O'Reilly. "I spent a lot of time there, before the holidays. Watching her after he left, she seemed to improve slightly. Then, professor Greene came for a visit—she brought her some flowers and chocolates. Minerva's health started to decline again."

"She shouldn't be eating anything without it being checked first, I suppose," said Odessa. "But, come on. Jade? She'd never…"

"I have been doing some research on her," said O'Reilly. "Do you know that she was raised in Tibet? Never even attended Hogwarts. Her mother, a single woman, was a known follower of Voldemort."

Odessa nearly spit out her tea. "I'm not going to ask how you know that, Malcolm," she said, "But even if it's true, Professor Greene couldn't be his follower. She was after his time. It's… it's… Goodness, it's warm in here… Malcolm. She smiled at him, realizing suddenly how good looking he was for an older man. Realizing what she was doing, she shook her head, as if to clear it. She took another sip of her tea.

"Oh, but it is true," said Malcolm, in a voice that made Odessa shiver. "Professor Greene's mother was, in fact, a consort of Lord Voldemort for a time. It is thought that Professor Greene is his heir. It is a little warm," he said. "You look very lovely today, if you don't mind my saying…"

"Why, Malcolm," said Odessa, "You shouldn't… I'm dating Sirius… that is… you are certainly capable of turning a girl's head, to be sure…"

"And the way your head turns is a beautiful thing…" said O'Reilly, standing up.

"Well, I for one want to talk to Odessa," said Hastings. "Let's go find her. It's not like her to work through lunch. Let's go to her office."

"Odessa?" Hastings knocked on Odessa's office door and peered in. Odessa was sitting at her desk peering dreamily into her teacup. "Are you okay?"

Odessa jumped at the interruption and smiled as Hastings, Sirius and Gabe walked in. "Oh, I'm fine. I just had the most interesting conversation with Malcolm," Odessa giggled. "He is a rather handsome man, isn't he? Anyway, he mentioned that Professor Greene is Voldemort's heir. He looked so…in charge and…strong. You know, I think we misjudged him." Odessa smiled and took a sip of her tea. "In fact, I'm thinking about inviting him to co-teach with me. What do you think? Do you think I'm too young for him?" She took another sip of her tea, completely oblivious to the looks the other three were giving her.

"Are you okay, Odessa?" Sirius asked.

"Just fine Sirius, thank you. Oh, and I hope you don't mind me going on and on about Malcolm, he's just so…so… wonderful. And he's a brilliant potions master. And his eyes," Odessa giggled again, "he has bedroom eyes, don't you think?"

"Um…Odessa, are you sure you're okay?" Hastings asked.

"Oh yes, I'm sure." Odessa said. "But if you all would be so kind as to excuse me, I need to go get ready for my next class. Malcolm might stop in and, well, I'm not really dressed appropriately." Odessa motioned towards her class robes and sailed out the door, still occasionally giggling to herself. Gabe reached over and picked up her cup of tea. He studied the color for a few minutes and then took a whiff. He paused for a moment and then smelled it again.

"That explains it," he said, putting the cup down.

"Is there a love potion in there?" Hastings asked. Sirius reached over and smelled the contents of the cup for himself.

"It doesn't smell like a love potion," he said.

"It's not a love potion, per se," Gabe said. "It's a subtlety potion mixed with a love potion. Can you smell the lavender? Basically it makes the person who drinks it totally enamored with whoever made the potion, but without the side effects of most love potions – mainly having the drinker following the other person around."

"So what you're saying is that it makes it look like Odessa fell in love with Mr. O'Reilly on her own?" Sirius asked. Gabe nodded.

"I'm going to kill that man!" Sirius hit Odessa's desk with his hand. "Do you know the antidote?"

"Um, no I don't. I know the antidote for the love potion alone, but it probably won't be effective since it's a combined potion."

"We could at least try," Hastings said. "Does she have anything already prepared?"

Gabe opened the cabinets and started rummaging around. "I don't see…oh wait, here's something." He emerged holding a small bottle with a dark, inky potion inside. "Give me a clean cup." Gabe poured some more tea into it and added the potion. It dissolved instantly.

"Do you think it'll work?" Hastings asked.

"I honestly don't know," Gabe said.

"Will it hurt her?" Sirius asked.

"No, that it won't. Thankfully it's harmless."

"Good." Sirius said, taking the cup. "I'll just have her take a drink of this-"

"Are you guys still here?" Odessa asked, walking back into the office.

"What are you wearing?" Sirius asked, trying not to gape.

"Do you like it? I think Malcolm will." Odessa twirled to show off her red robes with a slit up the side of her leg and a plunging neckline. She also had on spiked heels and had swept her hair up in an elegant roll. "It's an old gown, it took only a minute to modify it. Thank goodness my mom made me learn how to sew. Why are you all staring at me like that?"

"Um…" Hastings looked around the room and grabbed Odessa's black potion robes. "I think you should wear this over your…er…outfit. You don't want to accidentally spill anything on it."

"That's a great idea, thanks Hastings." Odessa put on the robes. "Now, just imagine how surprised Malcolm will be when I take these old things off after class. Are you okay Sirius?" Sirius' face had turned a bright shade of red and he was gripping the teacup in his hand so tightly it looked ready to shatter. Gabe quickly grabbed it from him.

"Here Odessa, I just warmed up your tea for you."

"Oh, thanks Gabe, but I'm not thirsty."

"Please try it," Hastings said, "I added a new flavor to it and I want to see if you can pick it out."
"Oh, all right," Odessa said. She took the cup from Gabe and sipped it. "Um…" she sipped it again. "I'm sorry Hastings, I don't taste anything."

"Try it again," Hastings urged. "Perhaps I didn't put enough in."

"Mmmm, nope, nothing." Odessa said. "What'd you put in there?"
"Um, it's a surprise. I'll have to work on it a bit longer and see if I can get it right."

"Let me know when you do." Odessa glanced at her watch. "Goodness, it's almost time for class to begin. You better get back to your classrooms."

"Oh, um yeah, right. Forgot about that," Hastings said, peering at Odessa. "Do you feel okay?"

"I feel fine, thank you." Odessa said. "Really, you should go."

"She's right," Sirius said, "we should probably get going. I'll see you at dinner." Sirius leaned in to give Odessa a kiss on the cheek but she quickly jumped back.
"I'm sorry Sirius," she apologized. "I just don't want Malcolm to think that there's anything between us, you understand don't you." She checked her watch again. "I do hope he comes to my class to observe. Hopefully he'll decide to stay late." Odessa smiled to herself and began putting the ingredients for her next class on the board. "I'll see you later," she added when she saw them still standing there.

"Oh, yes, of course, later." Hastings said. She grabbed Sirius' arm and dragged him out of the classroom. Gabe followed.

"I…I…" Sirius sputtered.

"You're not going to do anything," Hastings said. "This is just further proof that O'Reilly is behind everything. We need to focus on curing Odessa first, and then we'll worry about him."

"But-"

"No buts about it, Sirius. O'Reilly probably thinks that you're going to act like you did when you found that letter, and you probably should. Odessa won't care and we need to keep an eye on O'Reilly without him suspecting us, okay?"

"I don't know…" Sirius said.

"You can kill him after we have the evidence against him," Hastings said.

"Promise?"

"Yes, I promise. Now remember, we need to act like we don't suspect anything and that we're upset over you guys breaking up again."

"I bet he found out Odessa was trailing him," Sirius said suddenly. "We all know she's not exactly good at sneaking around. This is probably his way of keeping tabs on her."

"I bet you're right," Gabe said. "All the more reason for you not to do anything Sirius."

"All right already, I'm not going to do anything." Sirius said. "But you better find that antidote quickly. I'll look through my books as well, maybe there's something in there."

"Me too," Hastings piped up.

"Hey guys!" Odessa was walking quickly towards them, trying not to trip over her heels.

"Maybe it worked," Sirius whispered excitedly.

"I forgot that I was going to invite you to London this weekend, there's some potion supplies I'd like to get. Want to come?"

"That'd be great," Sirius said.

Odessa paused for a moment, "Sirius, you have to promise me that if you come that you won't get in the way of Malcolm and I. He's a little possessive of me." Hastings put her hand on Sirius' arm as he opened his mouth to respond.

"I promise," he muttered.

"Great. How about you two?" she asked Gabe and Hastings.

"We'd love to," Hastings said.

"Oh good. Do you think it's okay if I room with Malcolm? I could buy some new lingerie in London. What do you think?"

"I think that we should room together," Hastings said quickly while Gabe prevented Sirius from saying anything. "I really wanted a girl's night and this will be perfect. And then we can talk about Malcolm all that we want. What do you think? I'll even give you a make over."

"That could be fun," Odessa said. "Okay, we'll do it that way. I'll see you later," Odessa waved and walked back towards the dungeons.

"Forget killing him," Sirius said through gritted teeth. "Killing him would be nice. I'm going to torture him everyday for the rest of my life." Sirius marched off to his classroom.

"I'd hate to be one of his students this afternoon," Hastings said to Gabe.

Gabe chuckled, "No kidding. Look, I better get back to the hospital wing before Puddinghaste goes nuts because I took a long lunch."

"And I better get to my class, who knows what they've done by now."