My, my, two weeks. It's been awhile, hasn't it? So, while I'm thinking about it, I've one note for you all:
I edited the last chapter, please re-read it!
--Chapter 15-Romances and Soot--
"What do you mean we've got to plan the Farewell Ball?" Ricky demanded. We were at our first meeting with Harry and a few of the other teachers.
Harry grinned, "Tradition, Ricky. The Head Boy and Head Girl always plan the Farewell Ball. If you need help, the teachers and I are here to help, but we do expect you to do the better part of the planning."
"But we have N.E.W.T.s this year!"
Harry sighed, "I know that. Although I cannot excuse you from the N.E.W.T.s, I will gladly lighten your work load if you ever need it."
Ricky opened his mouth to argue, but I kicked his shin to silence him. He shot me a nasty look. "That sounds fine with me," I said with a smile.
"Meeting adjourned then. Enna, a word please?" I remained seated as all the teachers got up and left. Ricky said he'd wait outside for me.
"Am I in trouble?" I asked.
Harry smiled at me, "No, Enna." Harry handed me a detailed map of Hogwarts. I scanned it quickly. There were two little dots in the room where I was. One read "Harry Potter," the other "Selene Lupin." Just outside was was a dot labeled "Fredrick Weasley."
"Wow," I whispered. My dad's mentioned this map. He and his friends (including Harry's father) had made it when they had attended Hogwarts. I show the exact location of everyone in the castle, secret passages, etc.
"It's handy. Notice the two dots in the passage way just north of us." He pointed to the two dots "Cody Kamath" and "Madeleine Potter." "Would you mind reminding my dear daughter that the passage way she's currently in is the one I use to get back to my office."
I giggled, "Five minutes?"
"Five minutes."
"Sure thing, Harry." When I left the classroom, Ricky was leaning against the door frame muttering something about 'girly ribbons' and 'damn decorating.' I rolled my eyes, "Stop griping! You know you're going to pin most of the work on me anyway. Why are you so upset about it?" Ricky just continued to pout. "Fine," I said. "I've gotta go and see Maddie and Cody."
I walked off down the hall and turned down the passage way almost completely hidden by a suit of armor. I used the passageway to get to the library anyway, so it wasn't really out of my way. About half way down the way, I came to Maddie and Cody. They were, well, entwined.
I gave a small cough and Maddie broke away. "Enna!" she gasped.
I grinned slightly and held out a black and yellow tie to Cody, "Just a tip, don't snog in the passageways that the Headmaster uses."
"Dad's coming?" Maddie made a face. "I forgot he uses this one."
"And he has a map of the whole school that shows where each student is." I raised an eyebrow.
"Right." Apparently this wasn't news to her.
"Thanks," Cody muttered and took the tie from me.
"Off with you two!" I laughed.
Maddie and Cody dashed off. I waited a minute before heading to the library. William was sitting on one of the couches absorbed in a book. He smiled in greeting when I kissed his cheek before going back to his book. I sat down next to him and put my feet up on his lap.
"So, Harry set me to the task of warning Maddie and Cody he was about."
William grinned, and put his hand on one of my ankles, "Good of him to warn them."
"I think so. I don't know how my dad would take it if he walked in on me snogging," I giggled.
"Hmm?"
"Oh, stop reading for a moment. I said, 'I don't know how my dad would take it if he walked in on me snogging.'"
"Ah," William placed the book next to him on the couch.
"Yeah, well, dad seems a bit too good natured to hex or curse any of my boyfriends."
"Harry's not," William chuckled.
"But he's married to your aunt Ginny," I pointed out. "Which means that he'd be more worried about what Ginny would do." I yawned widely and snuggled down into the plush couch more.
"To Maddie or to Uncle Harry?" he grinned slightly and went back to reading his book.
So, that's basically how my first week or so back was. I attended meetings, listen to Ricky gripe about numerous things (only the love I felt for my dear friend kept me from shoving him out of a window), and made sure Harry didn't catch Maddie and Cody in the hallways between classes among other things.
From the first day back, I noticed a distinct air of happiness around Professor Byrd. It was not her usual cheery, birdy happiness either. More of a fulfilled sort of happiness. Then one day she casually explained to her N.E.W.T.s class that she and Professor Ackerman had been married over the summer. I grinned at the thought. They no longer needed to use mistletoe as an excuse to snog.
I stayed late one day after class to talk with her a bit.
"I had a few questions, Professor Byrd. It's still Byrd right?"
"At Hogwarts it is. Everywhere else I'm Mrs. Ackerman." she smiled at me.
"I was wondering whether or not you were the one making the Wolfsbane for the students."
"You mean your friend, Miss Rolfe?"
"Yes."
"I am. Any particular reason you're asking? You don't trust me?" she accused.
"Of course I do, Professor. But if you need any help with the Potion, I know it's involved, I was practically raised brewing the stuff, well, I can help. My father's a werewolf you see." I rambled slightly.
Byrd grinned slightly, "Explaining you silver allergy."
"And my eyes," I grinned back. Yet again, golden-yellow was taking over my irises.
"Lovely either way."
"So I've been told," I smirked.
"Thank you for the offer. If I ever need the help, I'll ask."
"So," I grinned wickedly, "When exactly did you and your husband get together?"
"Originally? Well, Calder and I've known each other since our Hogwarts days. Calder was a Gryffindor; I was a Ravenclaw. We were always at odds from our first meeting on the boats. He pushed me out of the boat! Now, he said I fell, but I know he pushed me out.
"Anyway, since we were in opposite houses, we figured we were suppose to be enemies. Merlin, he infuriated me! Calder was stuck up, cocky, and claimed to be smarter then me even though I was the Ravenclaw. We tried to out do each other in everything! I even took up Quidditch because he did.
"It wasn't until our sixth year anything happened. Some prankster put mistletoe up everywhere just like James and Sirius Weasley did last year. To our great misfortune, we got caught under it on our way to supper one night. I wasn't even going to kiss Calder, but he grabbed me and snogged me in front of all of my friends who knew I hated him. I slapped him after words and ran up to my dorm. I mean, what else was I suppose to do? I knew I hated Calder, but him kissing me. . .wow, it was--" About then her eyes grew wide," Maybe I shouldn't be telling you this."
"I've heard much worse, Ma'am. Believe me." I smiled. "Plus, my parents act like hormonal teens, so you've no chance in scarring me for life."
"Oh, well, then. . .Where was I? Oh, right, well, after I'd slapped him, Calder was markedly different. He didn't challenge me in anything, and kept his distance. At first I was glad he was doing so. . .but a few weeks later I started to miss him, even his tormenting. After a while, I stopped eating for the most part. My friends were worried and tried to get me to eat without prevaile. I lost a lot of weight, but it wasn't too noticeable under all my robes. None of the professors noticed thankfully.
"One day when I was sitting in the Owlery with my owl, Lotus (she was a snowy white), Calder walked in. He looked so handsome, cheeks pink from the cold, that I just sat there and stared, unsure of what to do. He walked over and sat down next to me. Lotus, not one to mingle with strangers, flew off to the rafters. 'Byrd,' he said to me, 'are you alright? You've lost weight.' 'Have I?' I said in return. He grinned slightly, 'You miss me, Adelaide.' 'What do you mean, Ackerman?' I spat. 'You've not been eating. You're pale, thin, and your grades are dropping. You miss me.' he explained slowly. 'I do not!' I protested without feeling. 'Of course you do,' he finished in a whisper.
"Before I knew what he was doing, he leaned in and kissed me. Thankfully, some second year walked in and gasped, or I'm not sure how far it would have gone. Anyway, we started dating after that. Sadly, we had to break up after we graduated because we were going to separate teaching schools.
"I only started teaching the same year you and your friends started at Hogwarts. I was shocked to find out Ackerman was teaching as well. We decided early on that we'd have a professional relationship only. Until last Christmas we've managed to do so. We were caught under the mistletoe again. In the same spot as well! It brought back all our old memories of our sixth and seventh year and we, well, we got engaged. We married late June at a small, private wedding."
I sighed wistfully, "That's so romantic!"
"It is, isn't it?" Byrd looked quite pleased.
"If you ever have children, I'm sure that your girls would love to hear the story. I use to beg my mum to tell me about her and dad's romance. Their's is more tormenting then actually romantic, but what else could it be? Falling in love during a war is never easy."
"I can't imagine it would be."
I bid Professor Byrd a farewell, and headed back to the library, hoping to find my boyfriend. William, Zarah had said, had gone up to his dorm to avoid his still-thriving fan club. I went to Gryffindor common room to visit Maddie, Veronica, and Missy. We sat in a corner together, playing Exploding Snap, discussing all sorts of stuff.
James and Sirius came over in the middle of what had become a rather girly conversation (toned down a bit for Missy's sake). To our displeasure they started to act like themselves.
"Oh, Jamie, I saw the cutest bloke today outside Charms," Sirius squealed in a mocking tone.
"You don't say, Siri!" James replied.
"Would you two go away?" Veronica gave James a shove.
"Why, Ronnie!" James said, looking hurt.
I sighed, "If I give you my set of cards, will you leave us alone for the rest of the night?"
They exchanged a glance and looked at the cards. "Deal!" They cried and grabbed the cards.
When they were gone, Maddie asked, "Was that the wisest idea?"
"What do you mean?" I raised an eyebrow.
A sudden bang out in the hallway made us jump. We all turned to look at the portrait hole. Ricky stumbled in, covered in soot, looking quite angry. James and Sirius could be heard laughing from out in the hall. I giggled. I couldn't help it, I swear! Ricky heard me, walked over to our table, and smeared some of the soot from his hands onto my face.
"Hey!" I gave him a shove. All I succeeded in doing was covering my own hands in soot. I groaned and tried to wipe it off on my robes.
"Serves you right," he said happily.
Alice came over, wrinkling her nose."You are going to wash your face, right?" she asked.
"No, Alice, I enjoy being covered in soot," Ricky said in a sarcastic tone.
"Aw, Ricky, be nice," I told him while laughing.
"Says the girl who gave James and Sirius exploding cards." Maddie drawled.
"I didn't know they'd do this!"
"Sure," Ricky said in the same sarcastic tone.
"Well, I didn't!"
w00t! Yay for random endings. -giggles- Anyway, I just felt like throwing in some more Byrd/Ackerman stuff. I really like the coupling. -is a total dork-
So, do I have anything else to say? Oh, right, I've been swamped with school work, so the time between chapters will be longer than I'd hoped. Also, I've got a few oneshot ideas that are in the back of my mind, and something else that I'm not going to be able to explain here. I probably will sometime in my forum. VISIT IT! I think that's all, but if I've forgotten something, I'll announce it:D
Merry Christmas all!
Anne