"Finnigan! Sedgewick!"

Tapendra's voice echoed down the long hall of the Armor Gallery, and even though the tall professor was at the far end, the two young students made a run for it. Tapendra scowled darkly in their direction; as if they weren't already in trouble. You never ran when you were trying to avoid trouble. People who ran away from authority just confirmed their guilt.

He swept down the hall to were the boys had been. He'd been on his way back to the tower after a check up with Nadge, and despite the yelling he was actually in quite a good mood. He was, after all, human again - as of 9am that morning, when the curse had worn off with a rather spectacular display of popping joints and rapid size-changing. Thank Merlin it hadn't happened during a class! He'd had to sneak into his quarters wearing a curtain, and he was sure someone in the dirigible had seen him.

It was now mid-morning, and the sun shone through the windows far above. He was even dressed properly, as eager as he'd been to find a t-shirt. The last thing he needed was the Headmaster seeing him first as a horse and then in some shirt that proclaimed Isaac Newton was the Deadliest Son of a Bitch in Space.

Why had he brought that shirt to school, anyway?

Nevertheless, the expensive outfit - waistcoat, tie and all - was actually quite comfortable. Darian had actually done his job incredibly well - it fit perfectly, even if it was a tad tighter to his frame than he was used to. The fact it was black and blue had not entirely escaped him.

The boys had been busy hexing one of the Knights; Tapendra found, when he reached it, that their goal had been to make the Knight's ax fall on passersby and bounce harmlessly off their heads. He found this when he approached it and the ax fell, missing him and bouncing off the floor with an amusing "noing-oing-oing" sound.

"Kids," he muttered. He crouched down and pulled out his wand, and with a slight sigh went to work on the armor.

Aileen took her time walking to the Armor Gallery, prepared to scold, dock house points, and pretend to be concerned by the trouble that had been reported to her by one Ravenclaw second-year. An annoyed sigh was on her lips as she entered the gallery and saw not students, but a tall man grumbling in front of the rows of shining armor, brandishing a wand.

She stopped short, staring at the mop of reddish hair, and the appropriately black and blue waistcoat - strangely appropriate! He must have borrowed them from someone, Aileen thought in a detached manner. Perhaps even the librarian, if he'd had an extra set on hand once they'd dispelled the curse, though the clothes did fit well.

That shook her to her senses!

"Tapendra?" She said tentatively, as if he were going to sprout wings any second.

Aileen moved forward with slow steps, waiting until she saw him better. He still wore his glasses. There was no obnoxious vest, and his feet were actually covered, but she couldn't be certain, at this moment, whether she was glad of his change in wardrobe.

There was one thing she was glad about.

"You're back to normal, I see."

A smile flitted across her face, and she didn't even think to follow that statement with a snarky quip!

The enchantment on the armor was a mess, but it still took all of Tapendra's limited knowledge of spell removal to peel away at the layers of it. It was a surprisingly complex spell, as he was quickly discovering...

He was so busy with the spell that his soft whispering of magic covered up Aileen's approach. He stuck his head up to see who it was once he heard his name, his eyes finding her quite quickly. She was approaching, and so he nodded in greeting, smiling broadly.

"You're back to normal, I see."

His smile widened, matching hers in some respects. He tried not to let his surprise that she was smiling over this show, and instead he stood up, brushing off his waistcoat and spreading his arms out, as if to indicate he was all there. "It wore off this morning," he said, cheerfully. "Just talked to Nadge - hasn't had any lasting effects, though she said I might find salad more appealing than usual for a few days."

She tilted her head at his explanation. "Well, that's certainly fortunate."

He did look to be all in one piece, and if the transformation to human form was permanent, she wasn't going to question it. Aileen glanced at the armor he'd been casting at, and the thought of Tapendra returning to the castle and immediately fulfilling his professor duties made her want to laugh. He wasn't a Head of House for nothing.

"You took care of the troublemakers already, then?" Aileen glanced back at him, amusement in her eyes. "Did you threaten to flap your wings - oh, nevermind. You can't do that anymore, can you. Back to wand waving it is."

She shrugged one shoulder, and looked doubtfully at the armor, "If you still remember how to cast spells, of course."

Despite the teasing, Aileen flashed him another smile, finding his good mood contagious.

"They ran off. Joke's on them; they have Astronomy with me in..." He reached into a pocket and produced an ornate pocket watch. "Six hours. I'll let them sweat it out, and if they skip, they're in more trouble."

He clicked the pocket watch shut and smirked a little. "Honestly I might miss the wings a bit. Flying under my own power was kind of fun, if we're being honest. The rest of it, not so much." He wiggled his thumbs. "You don't realize what you've got 'til you lose it, or so they say..."

A glance at the armor and he was back on his knees, the end of his wand lighting up as he went back to extracting the spells. "Hmph. I don't need to be turned into a horse to have trouble with casting, Aileen." He snorted, but with a humorous air to it. "Remember Transfiguration with McGonagall? There was a reason no one sat next to me, after I missed those coats she gave us and turned..." he stopped, snapping his fingers. "I'm forgetting his name. Small - that reedy kid from Slytherin with the huge nose and the distressing boil. Stibbons! That was it. Turned his robe into a stingray."

He chuckled. "Can't believe I got an E out of McGonagall after that."

Aileen raised her eyebrows at Tapendra's amusing ramblings, remembering Transfiguration with McGonagall quite well. After that incident with Stibbons, she'd taken Tapendra's honest mistake and turned it into an opportunity to poke fun at the pimply Slytherin whenever she got the chance. She and her friends would wait in the corridors, hide their wands behind their backs, and zap anything Stibbons touched as he hurried past them. Then they'd shriek about sea creatures coming out of the lake and invading the school, until a professor (usually stern-faced McGonagall) appeared, sending them scattering.

Merlin, she'd been a terror. It must be some kind of karma to be back at Hogwarts as a professor, contending with troublemaking students of her own. Perhaps karma was the reason students seemed to like Tapendra so much, besides his cheerful attitude.

"No one wanted to sit by you in Herbology after fourth year either, Tapendra, when you poisoned your mandrake and the plants unfortunate enough to be nearby," Aileen teased, but bent next to the armor, drew her wand, and began helping him with the spell. She was one to talk, having nearly failed Herbology.

"Bombay was heartbroken, if you recall." Bombay hadn't even been in their year, and Aileen was just making stuff up now.

"You killed his only friend," she sighed, "so he had to resort to forming new and more disturbing alliances. To this day, I'm certain he used some pathetic form of parseltongue to send devil's snare twisting around students' ankles. It would certainly explain our troubles with the greenhouse."

Aileen glanced at him and smirked. "Your fault, clearly."

"Don't remind me," he said, with an over dramatic groan. "I'm convinced that little weed had something to do with my OWL." Which he'd failed, horribly. Spout had made him get up and stand in the corner and not touch anyone else's plants, just in case. To this day he wasn't sure what he'd done wrong; but all of his plants had died horribly. He still had nightmares over the black and withered stalks he'd walked in and found.

He laughed, however, smirking. "Nonsense. He had that Fanged Geranium that liked him, remember? He was the only one those damn things didn't try to bite the noses off of. Maybe they realized what it'd taste like."

Ah, making fun of Graham. It was like a competitive sport.

He smiled when she started helping. He wasn't very good at removing spells like these, and so assistance would make it go faster, he hoped. "Thank you," he said, and then promptly cleared his throat. Couldn't be too sappy, now could he?

"Speaking of...your gr-" He paused, trailed off, and then continued awkwardly, "Your relative, the Headmaster, wants to see me later today." He'd been trying not to sweat that one too much. "Do you - that is...is there anything I should be aware of with him? He's not like Snark, is he?"

Aileen let out a little laugh at the image of Bombay and the Fanged Geranium, nodded at Tapendra's thanks, and focused on the armor as she attempted to ignore that grin of his.

She looked up in surprise when he inquired about the Headmaster and asked her opinion. Headmaster Reid was likely summoning him to discuss the parents' complaints about his teaching material, as he'd mentioned to her during their meeting after the welcoming feast.

"My uncle?" She supplied the right word with an amused look. He was the older brother of her father, and her father was older than her mother, which explained the age gap in some ways, but Aileen understood the confusion.

"No," she answered, looking relieved. "To be honest, I've just now started to get to know him again myself," she didn't offer any further explanation, and glanced Tapendra over with an assessing eye.

"I won't pretend to know what prompted your change in attire, but it wouldn't hurt to wear that when you see him," she gestured at his outfit. "It looks," she hesitated for half a second. "Quite professional. He seems to appreciate a certain amount of decorum as well." Meaning that Tapendra shouldn't be too informal.

"I suspect his main concern, in asking to see you, is how the parents view what their children are learning," she said carefully, not wanting to admit they'd spoken of him briefly.

"If he asks, I would politely inform him that the children are still learning the magic side of Astronomy. They are simply reaching the same conclusions in a unique way, with a bit of extra theory to... broaden their minds," she widened her eyes and smirked.

"And it's in the spirit of the tournament, is it not?" Aileen continued, enjoying the mental exercise in justifying something as 'out there' as muggle theory to a traditional pureblood wizard. "We're welcoming a wide variety of professors and approaches. It only makes sense to extend the same open attitude to the Hogwarts professors already here."

Aileen looked at him and shrugged one shoulder, as if it didn't matter to her either way. She'd just prefer it if Tapendra didn't get sacked the same day he'd managed to become human again.

Her uncle. Tapendra hadn't quite expected that, honestly, but weird ages and age gaps in pureblood families were hardly unusual. Just look at his family - his mother had been 18 when she'd had him. Mind you, his father had been slightly younger...ugh. Best not to get on that train of thought.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that's why he wants to see me. That and the horse thing," he said, flicking his wand as he spoke; though he'd taken a long moment to flush slightly when she complimented his clothing. It wasn't something he was used to. He wasn't sure what to make of it, so he simply muttered a thanks.

"A lot of parents complain to the governors when I don't get intimidated or resign when they tell me I'm an idiot or a stinking mudblood what should burn to death," he said, with a kind of oddly dark humor. "And this year I'm getting Howlers in languages I don't even speak. I got one yesterday and couldn't open it - hooves - so it blew up. Lost a orrery to it." He paused as he glared at the statue. He'd been considering sending that parent the bill for destroyed school property.

He laughed at her assessment. "That's an...odd way to think of it, but I suppose it's true. At the same time, it depends on the approach. I doubt Woolfolk would have survived the change of Headmasters." Bombay might have, not that Tapendra wanted to contemplate that too much.

"There, I think that's-" he started to say, as one of the shoddy, messy enchantments dispelled. The knight's axe started to fall forward suddenly. Thankfully, Aileen and he were both against the wall, as the axe slammed into the floor bladefirst. Instead of bouncing harmlessly, the sharp blade smashed into the stone, leaving a deep groove in the stonework and chopping through the plush carpet.

Tapendra stared at the fallen axe and then laughed nervous. "Err. Wrong enchantment."

Aileen remained silent about the unpleasant owls he'd been receiving; she supposed she was lucky, since the parents did not seem to have any issue with her. It was students like Gabriella Dagon who questioned her and tested her patience!

"If you received any notes from Abby, I do apologize. She didn't hear about your... condition from me."

She smiled slightly at his comment about Woolfolk, then stepped back when the axe suddenly fell. Aileen gave him a startled look, sending him the silent message that if he'd chopped off one of her limbs, the Headmaster (and several others, she hoped) would not appreciate it.

Letting out a hefty sigh, she waved her wand at the axe. It didn't budge. Aileen frowned. There was no way to fix this that she didn't imagine would go horribly wrong, but she supposed they couldn't just leave it there for the children to trip over. Or worse. If it were up to her, she'd summon the caretaker or the house elves. Tapendra and his bothersome sense of responsibility!

"You pull on the handle," she ordered. "I'll cast the spell again." Aileen stepped off to the side. Just in case.

"Please try not to behead yourself in the process. This is a castle, not a tomb," she quipped. They'd had enough close calls in Egypt!

When he was ready, she waved her wand at the axe, trying to loosen it from the stone.

Blushing furiously, Tapendra did as she instructed, and it worked - after some grunting and tugging on his part and a quick spell on hers, the axe dislodged from the floor and floated back into place, firmly at the knight's side. He hit it with a Sticking Charm, just in case.

"I generally make not killing myself one of my priorities, Aileen," he reminded her matter-of-factly - though not angrily. He had to admit - in the privacy of his own head, anyway - that sometimes that goal was the only thing between him and quite a short life. This had been the only thing that had stopped him from experimenting too randomly when he'd gotten to the muggle world, for instance.

"Thank you," he said, when the axe was safely and securely in place.

He knelt again - this time, safely out of the range of any direction the axe could fall. "I have no doubt one of the students told her," he said, simply. "She was very...well, respectful about it, I suppose," he said, thinking of all the drawings and Get Well cards she'd sent him. He'd been unable to open them til this morning, and he needed to write her back.

"Speaking of Abby," he added, as the last of the second enchantment faded. "She - why don't you let her be in town for Hogsmeade weekends? I'm sure her friends would like the chance to see her, and it'd give her the chance to see them."

As they secured the axe into place by the suit of armor's side, Aileen didn't read much into the comment he made. Her only fleeting thought was that it was difficult enough to poke fun at him properly when he had wings and a tail; if he were a ghost, she'd have no fun at all.

When the conversation turned to Abby once more, Aileen raised her eyebrows at him, taking his phrasing a bit personally.

"Why would I do that?" she paused. "I only allow her out of her room to sweep the floors and mend my robes, after all," she finished dryly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at the ceiling.

"I'm sure she would like to see her friends, and a certain astronomy professor," Aileen agreed, slanting him a funny look. While she was glad that Tapendra seemed to welcome the owls, she didn't know how she felt about Abby getting so attached to him.

He had given her a sudden idea, however.

"When is the first Hogsmeade weekend? October?"

She hesitated, looking like she was approaching a large troll. "Her birthday is in October. She turns seventeen."

Aileen glanced at him with a woe-is-me expression. "Seventeen, Tapendra. Launch that axe my way, will you?"

Tapendra scowled at her. "I didn't mean it that way," he grumbled. "Sasha just said he missed her-" He cut himself off when he clued in on the fact that he didn't need to justify himself to Aileen. And she was yanking his chain. As usual!

"And get a chance to meet new ones," he reminded her, offhand. He was stepping away from the statue when she asked about the Hogsmeade weekend - and he'd been about to reply in affirmation when she started groaning.

Tapendra winced himself. 17 was when wizards came of age - when Abby was, in theory and as a homeschooled squib, able to step out and get a job and be an adult.

He looked at the axe. "Might be more merciful," he said, "Except your sister is quite tame as teenagers go, Aileen. I don't think she's going to be too bad." He ran a hand over is chin and beard. "Are you going to get her a pocketwatch, or something less traditional? And when is her birthday? If you have her come to Hogsmeade for it, we can get all of her friends there - I'm sure she'd love it."

He paused suddenly and flushed. "I mean you can," he said quickly.

Aileen looked at him in surprise, but recovered quickly and stepped through the doorway of the armor gallery, waiting for him to follow before responding.

"I was actually thinking the same thing, Tapendra." Which was eerie by itself, though his use of the royal 'we' had been absent from her thoughts.

All traces of snarkiness were gone from her voice now, and though she didn't smile, she seemed more at ease than she'd been a minute ago.

"I considered a pocket watch, but Abby isn't exactly the most traditional person, is she? Still, she might appreciate it. I'll have to owl my mother and see what her plans are as well. It's October 15th, so we have some time yet."

That was going to be fun. She decided not to tell him at that moment what turning seventeen meant in the Reid family.

He had a point, about Abby being tamer than most teenagers. She had good friends, good influences to keep her grounded, and Aileen hoped to keep it that way.

As she began heading for the stairs, she glanced at him.

"Do you suppose that Sasha might be willing to help plan it, from a student's perspective? He would do it anyway if I suggested it, but you know him better than I."

She paused, aware that the boy had a lot on his plate. "Would he genuinely want to?"

Tapendra said he'd missed Abby, and it was obvious to her that Abby missed Sasha too.

He smiled his usual warm smile at that - and was quite glad Aileen had had the same idea. Abby didn't seem the sort to have small, civilized birthdays anyway. No - when he pictured her parties, they had balloons, banners, confetti, loud music and a lot of unsupervised teenagers. And a lot of pink, for some reason. Maybe it was the bubbliness.

"You could get her a custom one," he suggested. "There are artisans that make watches that do other things than just keep time - maybe you can get her one that she'll find genuinely useful." He chuckled, softly, his laugh deep enough to be more of a warm sort of rumble. "Though as you're probably aware, teenagers just love getting practical gifts..."

He followed her towards the stairs without thinking about it. "I think he'd want to help, yes," he said, after a pause to consider it. "Though it might be best not to let him do too much of the planning. I'm not sure what sort of parties he likes, but he likely has different tastes than she does." Somehow he figured any party Sasha planned would feature horses. He wasn't entirely sure why.

"He'd certainly be helpful in rounding up her friends, though," he said. "They seem to all get on. Lucky, that."