Later that week, Hieronymous told her via mirror that he had narrowed the list and that there were several possible houses they needed to look at, and asked if she could be at Iris early on the 29th so they could do so. This was accomplished by simply telling her parents that she had some 'homework' that she had to do before classes started up again, neglecting to mention that the 'work' was literally finding a 'home.' She had been chided a little for forgetting an assignment, but she arrived back at Iris in time to change into nice clothes and keep the appointment with the realtor.

What their realtor thought was that although Lord and Lady Grabiner had been content living in their apartment on Iris grounds, due to a family tragedy they found themselves fostering a young girl and needed someplace larger to stay. He did not appear to notice the age difference between herself and Hieronymous, so Alice guessed either that he had been warned that she was younger than her husband, or that the relator thought her older than she actually was. Sometimes, people simply saw what they expected to see.

The first house was an old Victorian manor in town. It needed a little work, but with magic, it would take a day at most. The house itself was nice enough, but she thought the yard a little small. For some reason she thought something was…off…in the upstairs.

"Did any of the former occupants think this house was haunted?" she asked the realtor.

"Yes, but a house of this age always makes strange noises," the relator tried to assure her. "It's part of the character of heirloom homes such as this."

Hieronymous wove a diagnostic spell, and then mentally told her, "There's something in the attic."

"Unless you got rid of it, Nancy would probably be bringing it down for tea," she told him.

Apparently, her husband had decided that the occupant of the attic was less than benign or simply a poor guest to have for over for tea, because they went to the next house directly after that exchange.

The following contender was of modern architecture in the 'wealthy' part of town. The back yard was enclosed by a privacy fence, and contained a swimming pool. The basement was unfinished, and it would need to be completed for rooms for the housekeeper, cook, and gardener as the governess would have the room next to Nancy's. Given the time that they had, it would not be an issue but the normal workers would have to be out of the way before the warding started.

The next house was in the countryside on the side of town closest to the school. It was a gothic revival style with a porch that wrapped around the front half of the house, a garage with maid's quarters above it, and two stories above ground with a finished basement. The master suite was on the ground floor with the kitchen, parlor, family room, and formal dining room. Above were additional bedrooms, with the laundry room, a living area, and more additional bedrooms downstairs.

Alice decided that it was certainly roomy enough. The fact that the previous owner had been something of a gardener and had planted flowers already sealed the deal as far as she was concerned. There was an apple orchard off one side of the property, and the other side was the well-kept lawn of what the realtor assured her was a quiet elderly couple.

They returned to the school, and discussed it over supper. "I like the last one the best," Alice said, cutting up her meat.

Hieronymous nodded. "It has the added benefit of being close enough that you could Teleport yourself to and from school without assistance given a little practice. With either of the other two, I might have to assist you so we would always have to come and go at the same times."

"And it seems a little more private than the other two," she mused. "And the grounds are actually large enough to warrant having a gardener."

"And nothing lurking in the attic…I checked to be sure," he said. "If you wish to contact your steward to tell him to begin the purchasing process, I also find the third house satisfactory."

Alice nodded. "I'll get on my mirror tonight. When will I have to worry about furniture?"

"Mr. Grey already has a decorator lined up for you," he assured her. "You will merely need to meet with her to go over plans, but she will do the actual work of procurement and arrangement of the items."

"Will you be wanting a private study, or will you just want to maintain the one you have here?" she asked, wondering what else they had to plan.

"The one I have here will suffice, though a formal library would be appreciated," he answered. "And you may maintain the room you share here. I suspect you will want somewhere to stay when you are studying with others, or simply to spend time with your current roommates."

"That would be nice," she admitted. Then she thought of something else, but as they were in the cafeteria…. "I know separate bedrooms for couples are traditional, but there's only one master suite…" she thought at her husband.

"Since you are furnishing the house, the master suite is rightfully yours. However, it is not that unusual for newlyweds to keep the same quarters, and I am not opposed to the idea," he answered her.

Not to mention that it would keep one of them from having to tiptoe past Nancy's door, possibly waking her. There were some conversations she did not intend to have with her sister for a very long time. She also had to make plans for their honeymoon. Hieronymous did not seem that particular about where they went, so long as the accommodations were nice and the food good. He probably would have been helping with the plans more had preparations for final exams not been keeping him busy.

Abruptly, she noticed that the chatter around them featured subjects like classes, amusements experienced during spring break, and the latest gossip about who was going out with whom. And here she was, making arrangements for her first house, thinking about raising her sister, and going over honeymoon plans. Many of these other students were chronologically older than her.

"Did I grow up too fast?" she asked quietly, not really expecting a reply.

"You did what you had to do," Hieronymous answered her, "and followed where your head and your heart led you. Your circumstances were and are extraordinary, but so are you. Your ability to cope well with situations that most your age do not experience is one of the things I admire about you."

Alice smiled at her husband. "You always say the sweetest, most eloquent things."

"It is simply speaking the truth using a passable vocabulary."

After supper, taking a page out of his book, she went to the greenhouse and found a coral rose that she Teleported to his desk to express her appreciation. She was no longer the frightened girl, being forced to marry a man she barely knew. She had grown since then, and he had turned out to be a more important part of her life than she had dared to hope at the time. Their lives were so intertwined now, that the mere thought of trying to untangle them seemed like madness.

...

"Ok Alice, what did you do to Grabby, or was this your idea?" Alice heard Virginia say as her roommate grabbed her as she walked out of White magic class just before lunch on the day of April first.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

Virginia sighed, took her outside so she stood beside the building, and pointed at the wall. Behind her, Virginia's shadow was performing a traditional Irish step dance, and Virginia herself was not. "This happened to everyone that was in his Blue class today," her roommate explained.

Alice could not help it, she started laughing. Donald came to stand beside his sister, and their shadows joined hands and started dancing in union. Virginia's shadow curls were jumping up and down like springs attached to her head. She laughed harder.

"I knew nothing about it," Alice finally got out between giggles.

Virginia sighed. "So, Grabiner develops a sense of humor just for April Fool's Day?"

"Oh, he's always had one," Alice said. "It's just dry…and he doesn't usually let the students notice it. He probably just decided that a little amusement wouldn't kill him." Or else he had decided to see if he could make her laugh and lift her mood a little, and thought that this day gave him the perfect opportunity. Things had been rather serious lately.

"If you say so," Virginia grumbled.

"I think it's great," Donald said. "Say, Urchin, let's get some more people from class and see how long of a dancing line we can make. We could see if they do anything different if one of us dances like the shadow."

Just then Donald turned around and started to dance with his shadow, and abruptly it returned to normal. He sighed as if heavily put upon.

Virginia immediately tried it, but it took her twice as long to dismiss her dancer.

"Maybe if you don't think of the idea yourself, it takes longer to dismiss," Alice mused.

"It does," Hieronymous said from behind her. "In fact every time you tell someone, it takes them twice as long as it did for the person that told them."

That kind of made sense, in a way. If Hieronymous was ever to play a prank on students, he would choose one that required them to use their brains to get out of, and gave them a penalty for not doing so.

"Thank you sir," Donald said with a grin before Hieronymous walked away, then he turned to his sister. "Tell exactly one person, and then tell them to tell exactly one person. Let's see how long the last person to know dances."

"You realize that he told you that, Donald, so he could get as much bang out of this as possible. He knew that this would be your reaction," Alice noted.

Donald just grinned at her. "I actually had something else planned, but this is better and I shouldn't get demerits for helping a professor with his own prank."

Alice grinned back at him. She strongly suspected that tomorrow, it would be back to business as usual.