Chapter Eighteen

Ran's Christmas Gift

Drew was sitting calmly on a bench outside, watching some of the students roughhousing in the snow. Some of the other professors didn't want so many children outside, but Drew had offered to keep an eye on them so they could enjoy themselves—it was the first time in several weeks that he'd seen his students acting so carefree. They'd been going around the school with expressions almost as dark as their professors. There were a few others stationed around the grounds, anyway, it wasn't like the children were unprotected.

Some of the kids had come up with the bright idea of a snowball fight on broomsticks. Kerry and Bear, who worked so well together on the Quidditch pitch, seemed to be determined to knock each other off their brooms, and Letty, that frail little girl whose attitude was so at odds with her body, was actually holding her own. Drew had become rather fond of Letty, truth be told. She had more determination than any other two students put together. Asthmatic and anaemic, she was a whirlwind of energy, with a surprisingly large repertoire of crude but funny jokes. Drew had lost count of the number of times she'd developed a nosebleed in the middle of class, but all she ever did was jam a piece of cotton under her nose and go back to work. Nothing held her back—except maybe Ferris Forsythe sneaking up behind her and catching her directly in the back of the head with a snowball, he saw with amusement. Of course, Ran Edwards and Simon Crupp kept Ferris from winning anything by circling the group of younger students and pelting them whenever they had an opening. When Aiken Acklerly dropped out of the sky in a sudden ambush, Drew laughed out loud. Aiken was the strangest boy, and he was constantly in detention, but when the boy came up with the idea of levitating a hundred snowballs and suddenly releasing them on everyone's heads, that had to count for something.

He realized the magnitude of what he was doing suddenly, and it made him sit up stiff as a board for a minute. He was in charge of protecting the children. They'd entrusted him with it, and they hadn't even deliberated over it. He'd proven himself. He was in. He was a trusted Hogwarts professor now. It amazed him, because he'd been on pins and needles nearly the entire term, thinking that by Christmas he would have quit or been locked up. But he was still here, and not just here, but doing well. Most of the children were receiving high marks in his classes, so he was obviously a more competent teacher than he'd expected he would be. None of them, as far as he knew, talked about him behind his back and made snide comments the way he remembered behaving as a student. They didn't seem to resent his presence on the bench. The Quidditch matches had all come and gone without incident, and no one seemed to be complaining about his judgements as referee. He was doing this right, by God. What an incredible thought.

He'd just come to terms with this realization when his breath caught in his throat for a second time. He would hate to compare Hogwarts to a prison, but he'd heard of similar reactions from just-released inmates. Dorcas Thumbley and Claudette Milles might be women, but thick ankles and crow's feet weren't really his thing. But this . . . this vision, coming toward him—he would definitely define her as "his thing." The sun sparkled off her sheet of honey-blond hair the way it did off the bright white snow. She moved in small, hurried steps, but they were graceful for all that. She was tall and slender and very, very feminine. She was simply lovely. He locked eyes with her and could feel a grin on his face that he was certainly going to regret when he regained control of his face. She looked uncertain and the smile she returned was very hesitant. Well, and why wouldn't it be? he asked himself in disgust. A man with an eye patch leering at you wasn't exactly what you would expect to find at a school.

He heard a panicked shout, and jumped to his feet, his wand already in his hand. He turned just in time to see Letty Burns fall limply from her broom and land in a snowbank with a muffled whumping noise.

"Professor Stevens!" Trevor Jordan shouted.

He hurried over, cursing as he dragged his bad leg through the snow. He'd left his cane sitting against the bench, but he didn't bother about it. He reached Letty as several of the other students were touching down around her, their faces shocked and frightened.

"I didn't do it," Aiken was saying with wide eyes. "She just fell of her broom, I swear."

"I know you didn't," Drew said brusquely. "Everybody move back, please."

His heart was in his throat as he regarded Letty. She lay limply in the snow with her eyes closed, her face so pale that it nearly blended in. Her nose was bleeding a bit. He looked around.

"Did anyone see what happened?"

Ran landed beside him. "I did. She just . . . her eyes rolled back and she just fell."

"Fainted, I guess," Kerry said, looking a bit less certain of himself than he usually did. "Is she all right, Professor?"

"I'm sure she's fine," he said, infusing his voice with as much confidence as he could muster at the sight of the little girl laying crumpled in the snow—which wasn't much. He tried to think through how he was going to get hold of her—with a knee that wouldn't bend . . . then he nearly smacked himself for his stupidity. What kind of wizard was he, honestly? He raised his wand and murmured a spell that caused the unconscious girl to rise slowly from the ground, her hair floating around her face.

Keeping close attention on his spell so he wouldn't accidentally drop her, he headed off toward the castle, then stopped to call out, "Students, inside please. You know you can't be out without supervision."

There was a chorus of groans, and he raised his free hand to quell them. "I know, I know. Look, I'll try to find Professor Kilburne and see if he'll come out. In the meantime, everybody on the ground and keep an eye on each other, would you?"

He headed for the castle again. Without his cane, his limp became exaggerated, and he grimaced, both at the strain of keeping both himself and Letty from falling, and as he remembered the woman. Was she seeing how awkwardly he moved, did she find it disgusting when she was so graceful?

"Professor!"

He turned and saw Ran loping toward him, carrying his cane. He stopped to let Ran catch up, and saw with surprise that the beautiful woman was hurrying along after them. He accepted his cane with dignity and continued on toward the hospital wing, most of his attention still fixed anxiously on his unconscious charge. Her nose wasn't bleeding anymore, but there was a dried streak of rusty red running across her cheek, and her skin was so pale it looked translucent.

"Thanks, Ran," he said when he realized he hadn't said it yet.

"Is the girl all right?" came a delightfully musical voice from behind his shoulder. He turned his head to see that the woman had caught up with them. Her face was concerned, and her eyes were on Letty.

"I don't know what happened," Drew replied. "I'm bringing her to our hospital wing."

"Mum, why don't you wait here," Ran said.

Drew stopped and turned around, dumbfounded. "Mum? Ran, this is your mother?"

Ran nodded, but his anxious eyes were on Letty. "Yes."

"Mrs. Edwards, I'm glad to meet you. I've heard so much about you," he said, trying to sound pleasant as he resumed his duty. Damn. The beautiful woman was the mother of one of his students. That had to be off-limits. And really, what had he been thinking, considering himself in her league, anyway? Someone like her could get someone much better than him.

"Mum, this is Professor Stevens," Ran said.

"Oh," she said, sounding pleased. "I've heard a great deal about you as well, Professor. But please, call me Vianne."

He nearly stumbled on the stairs. Ran had never told him his mother's name. He bit his tongue to keep himself from remarking on the beauty of her name compared to the beauty of the rest of her. That was the kind of flirting better kept to his life in New York. He was not going to make a pass at an older woman right in front of her son. Because she had to be older than him, by several years. She must be in her thirties. He racked his brains. Ran had told him when his mother's birthday was, because he'd been sad about missing it. Thirty-two. She'd turned thirty-two several weeks ago.

He finally came to the hospital wing, and explained to Madam Pomfrey as best he could what had happened outside. Madam Pomfrey was quite used to seeing Letty, and she murmured a spell to wake the child up.

"Letty?" she called softly.

The girl opened her eyes, which looked huge and dark in her pale face. "Madam Pomfrey," she said weakly. Her eyes flicked around. "Did I faint?"

"Did you eat breakfast this morning?" the mediwitch countered, her eyes snapping.

"No," Letty said, and closed her eyes with a moan.

"I didn't think so," the stern-faced, silver-haired witch said snippily. She turned to Drew. "She'll be fine, Professor," she sighed. "She just needs to eat something. Really, Letty, you know better," she said, turning to the wan girl to scold. "I thought your friends were going to keep an eye on you for me, anyway."

Vianne Edwards looked upset, her lovely lips pressed together in a frown. Drew forced his eyes away from her lips, and gallantly came to Letty's rescue like the great fool he was. He laid a hand gently on Madam Pomfrey's elbow.

"Maybe she needs to rest," he suggested. He remembered Madam Pomfrey's style well enough, and he knew that she would take care of Letty with no trouble, all the while scolding like the good-hearted matron she was. But with Vianne in the room, he couldn't help it. Merlin, he was such an idiot.

Madam Pomfrey turned to him with a frown and another sharp reply on her lips, but her eyes lit on Ran's mother and she didn't say anything. Instead, she looked at Drew meaningfully, a sparkle of amusement in her eyes, and turned back to Letty to croon something comforting that Drew didn't really hear past the buzzing in his ears. He wasn't that obvious, was he?

He herded the small Edwards family out of the ward, and asked pleasantly, "What brings you to Hogwarts, Mrs. Edwards?"

"Really, it's Vianne," she assured him. "I came to get Ran, of course. I . . . with things the way they are, I didn't want him travelling alone."

Drew nodded. "That's perfectly understandable," he said. And wonderful. Whatever brings you here, it's wonderful.

"I've been so worried about him," she said in a fretful tone, and Drew didn't miss the way Ran rolled his eyes. "But I suppose I shouldn't. I mean, if he has people like you to watch over him."

Drew tried very hard not to let his chest puff up with pride. He did, however, stand up straighter, no matter the pressure it put on his leg. Still, he wasn't about to damage his status with Ran. Because Vianne was off-limits. "Well, I wouldn't worry too much about Ran, anyway. He's pretty good at looking after himself."

"Ran wrote to me to say you've been giving him some extra help with his defensive work," she said. "I wanted to thank you for that."

"It's no trouble," he said, hoping he didn't sound as pompous as Smith would, saying something like that. "I don't want the students to be in any danger that they can avoid with a little bit of extra work."

"You're very dedicated," she said, sounding impressed.

Ran rolled his eyes again and muttered something under his breath. Drew reined himself in, for all their sakes.

"I suppose you two will be eager to get going," he addressed Ran more than his mother.

"Oh. Yes," Vianne answered, sounding a little surprised. "Will you be going home for Christmas yourself, Professor Stevens?"

"Drew," he said, unable to help himself. "But no, I'll be here."

"Oh, I'd forgotten. It would be a long way for you to travel to go home, wouldn't it?"

Drew shrugged, and felt colour creeping into his face. "I'm afraid there isn't really anyplace for me to travel to. I don't have any family, you see." This was very nearly true, but enough of a lie that it made the blush he'd been trying to hold back flame up. "I'll be here, keeping an eye on the students who will be staying over the holidays."

"Oh, I didn't realize . . ." she trailed off, her face turning a bit pink, as well.

Ah, those social faux-pas. How he loved to dig himself out of them.

"Professor?" Ran spoke up, looking a bit strange. "Would you . . . would you like to come to our New Year's party?"

Drew faced Ran, surprised.

"My grandparents always have a good New Year's party," he went on. "I just thought, maybe you'd like to come this year."

Drew opened his mouth, knowing he ought to decline. He was a teacher, he should not be going to parties at his student's homes.

"Oh, that would be wonderful," Vianne said enthusiastically. "I do hope you can join us . . . Drew."

Dammit.

"I'd love to," he said, feeling another goofy grin coming on. "Count me in."

Ran's eyes gleamed with amusement and pleasure and Drew escorted them back to the front to see them off. Why, that sneaky little pup! He hadn't planned this?

Outside, Ran waved enthusiastically at Matt Potter, who waved back briefly before returning to some kind of shoving match with his Uncle Charlie, who'd apparently come to pick him up. Matt looked really happy, Drew thought, and was glad. Matt rarely looked truly happy. Then Ran caught Drew's eye and grinned. That little shit, he had planned this.