After the feast, Jenna and Wyatt followed their Housemates towards the Ravenclaw common room, whispering furiously between themselves.
"Admit it! You fancy her!" Wyatt hissed. "Just say it!"
"She's a professor!" Jenna rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile slightly at the thought of how Umbridge had smiled at her. "And she's old!"
"That's not what I asked." Wyatt dropped his arm casually around his sister. "Come on. Three little words."
"Fucking. Shut. Up." Jenna shrugged his arm away. Wyatt laughed.
"Wrong words!" he sang softly. "Come on, Jenna. Maybe you could have some sort of secret tryst! Jazz up your final year."
Jenna sighed.
"Wyatt."
Wyatt's eyes softened slightly.
"Come on. It's our last year. Try and shed just a little bit of that shell, eh?"
Jenna lowered her eyes.
"Fine." She muttered. "Yes."
"Yes… what?"
"Yes, I fancy her. A bit."
"A bit?"
"Quite a bit." Jenna rolled her eyes. "But I haven't even met her, technically. For all I know, she's some heinous bitch. And she's probably extremely heterosexual."
"How can you tell?"
"I just… get that feeling. And even if she wasn't… She seems like the type of person who doesn't break rules. She works for the fucking Ministry, for Circe's sake!" Jenna scowled at her brother. "Look, I am a seventeen year old, socially maladjusted student who has no idea how to function in the real world, and she is… she is entirely out of my league, so there's no point in even imagining anything. The bottom line is: nothing is going to happen. So… fucking drop it."
Wyatt sighed.
"Fine, fine. I'll drop it." He smirked. "So, I guess I shouldn't point out that she's just over there now."
Jenna looked where he had indicated and nearly jumped out of her skin. Indeed, there she was. Standing by the far wall and watching the students file by.
Wyatt paused.
"Hmm…"
Jenna went cold.
"Don't you dare." She warned him. He smiled.
"Now what ever could you mean, sister dear?" he asked innocently. They both froze in the corridor, trying to stare each other down.
"Do not." Jenna repeated, pointing at him.
"Now, Jenna, what could you possibly think I'm about to do?"
Wyatt looked back at Umbridge, who was now watching them. Jenna's eyes went wide. She took a step away from Wyatt.
"No." she whispered.
"Come on. Let's just say hi." Wyatt took her arm and gently pulled her towards Umbridge, Jenna pleading all the way in whispers.
"Please, Wyatt… Stop it… I just want to go to bed… Let me go… I can't do this…"
When they reached Umbridge, Wyatt gave her a friendly smile.
"Hello, Professor Umbridge!" he said genially. "I just wanted to say that I very much enjoyed your speech this evening."
Umbridge smiled sweetly.
"Why, thank you, Mr…"
"Harper, Professor. Wyatt Harper." He shook her hand. "And this is my sister Jenna."
Umbridge offered her hand to shake. Jenna took it timidly, praying that her hands weren't sweating, that her breath didn't smell…
She felt like such an oaf now that she was up close to this woman. Umbridge was… tiny, her head meeting right about at Jenna's shoulder.
She carefully took a step back so that she was standing behind Wyatt.
"Please excuse my sister, Professor." Wyatt chuckled good-naturedly. "She's a bit shy."
"Oh, that's perfectly alright, dear." Umbridge smiled at Jenna, her eyes lingering for a moment before turning to Wyatt.
"Well… we don't want to take up any more of your time, Professor." Wyatt smiled, sliding his arm around Jenna's shoulder and pulling her up next to him. "Just wanted to say hello."
"Ah, well… Hello, then!" Umbridge giggled. Jenna felt her knees threaten to melt. "I do hope I'll be seeing you in my class!"
"We wouldn't miss it for the world, would we, Jenna?" Wyatt squeezed his sister's shoulders. She shook her head, staring at the floor.
"No, Professor." She whispered, just barely audible.
Umbridge suddenly rested her tiny hand on Jenna's arm.
"I shall look forward to it, then." She said gently. Jenna's cheeks flushed. Umbridge gave them a nod, and Wyatt gently steered his sister back onto their path.
They walked in silence for a moment.
Jenna's mind was racing.
What had Professor Umbridge meant? Did she mean she'd look forward to seeing her? Or Wyatt? Maybe she'd meant the both of them. Or perhaps she hadn't meant anything! What if she'd just said that as a formality, and didn't actually care one way or another if she saw them or not?
But she'd touched her arm. Did that mean something? Or was that just something that Umbridge did? Maybe she was one of those people that just… touched.
"…and eventually I may even have enough bananas saved up to trade in for a goat, and then we can start making goat cheese. I hear the market's really spreading on goat products."
Jenna nodded vaguely, then frowned at Wyatt as they paused in front of the Ravenclaw door.
"Sorry?"
Wyatt laughed.
"Someone's in love!" he sang.
Jenna blushed, rolling her eyes. She turned to the knocker.
"Alright. Do your worst."