Written for The Houses Competition, Year 11, Round 5
House: Slytherin stand-in
Class: DADA
Category: Drabble
Prompt: [Dialogue] "You're not allowed to be here!"
Word Count: 835
TW: none
Thanks to Ash and Aya Diefair for the beta!
Her eyelashes fluttered in the weak morning light, and Gabrielle stretched towards the other side of the bed. The pleasant languor of sleep left her body when she only encountered cold sheets.
She frowned and patted around the mattress like her lover may have shrunk to the size of a thimble during the night, as that would be the only valid reason for leaving her to wake up cold and alone. Alas, no magical mishap had taken place.
Waking up alone after falling asleep with someone was giving her flashbacks to September, and that was enough to get her up and out of bed at whatever ungodly hour of the morning it was. She donned a lightweight robe before venturing out of her bedroom and tousled her short hair as she opened the door inscribed with noise-reducing runes. Then, she only had to follow her lover's voice.
"I see how this tripped you up, but it's easier than you think. In this line, uruz being written twice doesn't stand for twice the strength. It's just an orthographical indication that the vowel sound is long. So, if you strip the manufactured meaning and consider the pronunciation notes—"
Victoire's eyes moved frantically across the page.
"It's a chant, not a prayer!" her niece exclaimed giddily before deflating rapidly. "But how am I supposed to know if the doubling of a rune is semantic or phonetic?"
"Well," Gabrielle's lover started, looking ready to settle into a long explanation. "Some context clues—"
Gabrielle had to nip that in the bud. She walked towards the couch, where her niece had seemingly spread every Ancient Rune scroll she'd ever worked on, and laid delicate fingers on her lover's naked shoulder.
"Gabri!" Eleanor turned towards her instantly, delighted to see her—as she should be. "Good morning. There is tea in the kitchen and—"
Gabrielle bent down and kissed her, thoroughly derailing her little speech. She had just tugged Eleanor's brown hair from her messy ponytail when Victoire started whining.
"For the love of Morgana, let the poor woman breathe, Aunt Gabrielle! We'll still need a professor in September."
Gabrielle kissed Eleanor some more just to spite Victoire, backing off only once fully satisfied.
"Now it's a good morning," Gabrielle said, smirking a little when she noticed Eleanor's dark eyes following the movement of her lips.
"If you've finished distracting my professor—"
Gabrielle fixed her niece with a dark look.
"Excuse me if by greeting my lover I've disturbed… What is it you're doing? At the crack of dawn. In my house."
Eleanor tugged on her arm, and although Gabrielle let herself be directed to a seat next to her lover on the couch, she didn't stop frowning.
Victoire pouted.
"It's not the crack of dawn! I was just having some trouble with a translation, and Professor Branstone—"
"Absolutely not."
"What?"
"I lend her to you and all the other Hogwarts students from September to June. You cannot have her during the summer as well. I forbid it."
Victoire rolled her eyes, demonstrating how badly she'd misjudged Gabrielle's seriousness.
"That's ridiculous, Aunt Gabrielle. She doesn't stop being a Runes Mistress when school isn't in session."
"But she stops working for the summer, Vicky. She's supposed to be able to relax during the holidays."
"I don't mind helping out," Eleanor piped up, slowly caressing Gabrielle's arm as if to calm her.
Gabrielle glanced at her.
"That's because you're too nice, dear."
"The Hat put me in Hufflepuff for a reason," Eleanor reminded her, smiling sweetly and showing off the dimples that made Gabrielle want to eat her up. Focusing back on the matter at hand was a struggle, but her interloping niece speaking up did the trick.
"See? She doesn't mind, and it's my OLWs year—"
"More importantly," Gabrielle cut her off ruthlessly. "I cannot wake up without my lover because you need runes help in July, Victoire. It's bad for my disposition."
Victoire sighed dramatically, but when it looked like she'd protest further, Gabrielle put her foot down.
"No. New rule: we're not accepting guests before 10:30 am."
"But—"
"Oh, look! It's still 8!" She made a show of looking at the wall clock before turning back to Victoire with a frown. "You're not allowed to be here!"
Victoire whined and howled about it being unfair and having a legitimate reason to be there, but Gabrielle managed to throw her out of the house without resorting to magic.
She walked back to the living room as Eleanor finished tidying up the few reference texts she'd pulled out.
"There," Gabrielle said. "Let's hope she learnt that lesson."
Eleanor looked at her entreatingly, suggesting, "Maybe you were a little harsh."
Gabrielle raised an eyebrow.
"You are not allowed to be here either."
"Excuse me?"
"That's right," Gabrielle insisted. "I've woken up alone often enough since you started teaching at Hogwarts. No more. Before 10 am, your place is in my bed, preferably naked."
"Gabri!" Eleanor laughed all the way back to their bedroom.
PS Eleanor Branstone isn't an OC, though all we know of her is that she was sorted into Hufflepuff in 1994 (you can look her up on the wiki lol). For the purposes of this fic, she went on to become the Ancient Runes Professor at Hogwarts.