Spending time together after dinner had been the plan since Ancient Runes earlier in the day.  They’d passed notes back and forth, noting that Jordyn’s schedule actually ended fairly early on Thursdays, so she had enough time to do her homework in between potions and dinner (school was always going to come first), and then they would be able to find somewhere to be. 

Jordyn thought because it was May and the weather was a little bit better, well, she had grown quite fond of wandering around outside.  So, she decided to lobby the idea to Jai and it seemed to go over well.  The gardens were lovely and even though they were officially boyfriend and girlfriend now, it wasn’t as though they were shouting it from the rooftops or anything, so holding hands while they walked and being able to kiss without hiding behind an oversized shrub was a perk of their outdoor excursion. 

There was also the part where Jai would tell her about the things he loved, and even if she could not care less about the stars or planets, Jai loved it and he was so enthusiastic.  She just grinned at him and leaned on his arm, listening and asking questions that popped in her mind.  It was a great way to spend the time. 

She almost forgot she had class in the morning – or that she was really at school.  It was easy to do when you were absorbed in another person. 

Of course, after that went on for a while, their ambling took them down through a path that was leading back toward the castle.  The spires of the towers rose up over them and Jordyn realized it must have still be a ten or fifteen minute walk back… “Jai,” she ran her hand over his arm, looking up at him, “Do you have the time?” 

Jai was in a haze of love, and now that he was approaching the end of his final year at Hogwarts, he was slacking off. Most of his homework got done, but only because Jordyn was such a good student that she still somehow maintained her priorities. He admired her dedication, but even while he was doing his homework separately from her doing hers, thoughts of Jordyn distracted him and of course when it was time to meet her he would drop everything and anything to be there.

He'd never been so attached to a person before... he felt like he could do anything while he was around her. Jai would do anything for her! When he was around Jordyn it was like he had blinders on. They never seemed to have enough time together.

Tonight they were outside, meaning they had a bit more freedom to be affectionate and to really talk. Jai loved these walks and talks, feeling extra-special whenever they talked about the night sky. Even at astronomy club, Jai wasn't able to talk this passionately about the stars. And she asked questions about it and seemed genuinely interested -- or at least not bored -- and that meant a lot.

"Jai... Do you have the time?"

Time? What was that again? His thoughts refocused to the present and he glanced at his watch. He didn't want to upset Jordyn, but he couldn't help it as his eyes widened. "Um," he began nervously, "It's midnight." Definitely past curfew. Jai wasn't normally the type to get into trouble, and he felt his pulse quicken (and not in the good way that happened whenever he caught a glimpse of Jordyn.

It felt like it was barely past ten o’clock at night.  She’d lost all sense of time apparently and Jai looked at his watch. 

As soon as she sensed something was wrong, her heart started to beat a little faster.  She could just tell by looking at him.  He didn’t answer right away.  His eyes got that big, nervous sort of way when something (bad) he didn’t expect happened.  “Jai…” she lowered her voice, stopping in the middle of the path, waiting for him to tell her what time it was. 

”It’s midnight.”

Jordyn felt her stomach jumping up in her chest, her heart jumping up to her throat.  “Midnight?” she squeaked, her voice taking on the unnaturally high tone of a first year boy if he wandered into the girl’s lavatory by accident.  “Jai!” she smacked his arm – though not to hurt him, just out of her own anxiety.  “Midnight?!” she said again.  “We have to go,” her eyes went wide, “we have class in the morning!”

As expected, Jordyn was not delighted by the fact that it was past curfew. Jai wasn't too pleased by the time, either, but that was mainly because he wanted to spend more time with Jordyn. Her dedication to school was admirable, but he wished there were more hours in the day that they could spend together without studying. With his final year at Hogwarts nearly over and a new girlfriend, Jai was having a lot of trouble caring about things like homework and curfews.

She was right, though. They had to get back. Unless.... They didn't. Jai knew that he would have trouble convincing Jordyn of this, but around Jordyn he felt invincible and didn't think that any trouble would come their way. He remained calm for Jordyn. "I'm sure we're fine," he said reluctantly. "But let's head back to the castle." He took Jordyn's hand and turned them around so that they were walking back towards the school.

Jordyn felt her stomach twisting. 

Jai was trying to say things would be alright and they would just head back to the castle.  Taking a deep breath, Jordyn took his hand and nodded.  “Let’s walk fast,” she suggested, pulling him along by his hand.  For a girl who had legs about half the length of her boyfriend, she was certainly making sure they were going way faster than he was.

She’d have thought he didn’t want to go!  That was ridiculous, she couldn’t imagine wanting to risk getting in more trouble.  She could already see it, getting to the castle and having the doors locked – or worse, manned by a professor.  It was weird; her heart was all the way up in her throat, which made her breathing a lot quicker. 

Her head was getting that light sort of feeling, like there was something floating around in it, bouncing off the inside of her skull.  Was that… excitement?  How did that happen?  Jordyn shook her head and pushed herself up the path, glancing back at Jai as there was an incredibly loud snap – one of them had stepped on something, “Shh!” she hissed, making sure to make her steps more careful as the castle got larger when they closed the distance. 

She could practically see the steps to the courtyard (if it wasn’t dark, she knew she would) and wow, her shoes (and her lungs) were not made for this kind of exertion.  “Not much further,” she panted.  She never thought she’d be so happy to see that old fountain. 

Before Jai had really accepted that they were really going to have to end their night, they were racing off in the direction of the school. The reality of the situation was only partially sinking in, and all Jai was thinking at this point was get back to the castle. He was being as quiet as possible and after a loud crack he nearly had a heart attack, barely noticing the shh! he'd received from Jordyn.

Never in a million years did he think that he'd be sneaking around late at night, past curfew, with his girlfriend. The girls Jai had previously dated weren't the type he'd get lost spending time with. They weren't really past-curfew kind of girls. Jordyn was a lost-in-time girl, which was evidenced by their current need to rush back.

They reached the fountain, finally, which meant that they were getting close to indoors. He snaked his way through the shadows, his thin frame really benefitting him here. He was well concealed and he didn't think that Jordyn would have much of a problem either. He reached out and grabbed her hand once they reached the doorway so they'd stay going in the same direction.

Breathing heavily, Jordyn was so glad that they passed the fountain and were in the entryway of the castle.  She was a little worried that they’d get caught as the door swung open, squeaking on its hinges.  She was fairly horrified, freezing in her spot for a moment before the silence settled again.  Letting out a deep breath, she felt her palms sweating, which was probably very evident to Jai as he grabbed her hand. 

Jordyn gulped and followed him down the hallway, afraid that every step was going to alert someone of their late night rendezvous – that hadn’t started as a that late of a night at all! 

Honestly, she didn’t know if anyone would believe her, but really it’d just been so nice to be walking and talking that time didn’t seem to matter.  It was funny, until there was some danger associated with it, time never seemed to matter that much.  Slowing down by the stairwell, Jordyn sighed, tugging him toward her.  She wanted to say something, but she also wanted to be as quiet as possible in doing it. 

Giving him a look, she pulled him in the direction of one of the alcoves where the practically ceiling high windows met the floor.   It would be suitable for a little bit of cover and she whispered, “Should we  say goodnight?” she asked, “I think we’ll be harder to catch if we split up…”

Jai had never gotten into any real trouble before in his school career. He wasn't really a rule-breaker, and he certainly had no reason to stay out past curfew. That is, until Jordyn came along. Now he was wondering how likely it was that in the vast castle, there would be a professor lurking about, ready to give some kids a detention. He thought about this as Jordyn asked whether they should split up.

"If we go down, we go down together," Jai said with a quick squeeze of her hand. "I'll walk you back to your dorm first, if you want," he added. Although he was feeling shockingly lax about the whole thing, he knew that Jordyn was probably freaking out. She had a reputation to uphold and that reputation didn't include getting into trouble. "Besides... how bad could it really be?" He gave her an encouraging smile, trying to make her feel better about the whole situation. It had been an accident, anyway.

That was a rather romantic, literary way to look at it – going down together.  Letting out a deep breath, Jordyn nodded.  He had a point.  He was probably right.  She repeated that to herself a couple of times.  It would be fine, he assured her and even squeezed her hand.  She frowned at his question about how bad it could be and Jordyn sighed.  “We could get detention for a month,” she informed him, though not as sharply as she would usually. 

Maybe it would be okay. 

She inhaled through her nose and nodded.  “We’re both in the basements,” she shrugged – it didn’t matter which dorm they made it too first, “but let’s go,” she poked her head out of the alcove, looking from side to side to make sure the coast was clear.  It was so dark it was hard to see if anyone was coming, but it seemed like there was no one there. 

“Come on,” she urged him forward and took softer steps toward the stairs, practically tiptoeing down the stairs.

The nightly headcount for the dormitories had been completed, and there were at least a few students missing. Several of them had been hauled out of dark corners and the library, where they had been studying into the late hours, and Landis Morgan was turfing them out, without humour. But now it was reaching midnight and they were two short from the sixth years.

Jordan and Jai, along with their pleasing alliteration of names, had not entirely escaped the attention of their professors during lessons. It had become apparent that the two were close of late. With a castle full of hormonal teenagers this was a remarkably normal occurrence and the various transient pairings were mostly mopped up into a teacher's subconscious from observation. It came in handy when work was submitted as near copies, or when fights broke out and in this case when students were missing.

With any luck, the two of them would return without needing to be chased in. He had better things to do than to chase students. Well, only when he wasn't in the mood to hunt.

With Hufflepuff and Slytherin in the dungeons, if they were to return soon, there were only a few routes. So as he heard feet lightly on the stone steps, he extinguished the lights from the torches along the corridor.

One of them would have to draw their wand to light the way, and he planned on being in the gloom on the edge of their wand light to greet them.

"Good evening," he greeted smoothly on his reveal, fixing them both with a less-than-impressed sneer. "Inability to tell the time, out of bed after curfew and, now - casting magic in the corridor?"

Jai was excellent at telling time -- he was getting pretty good at looking at the sky to figure out the time. When it came to dates, he was even better. He felt bad that he hadn't realized that they were out so late -- and that they were now going to get in trouble for it. When he heard Professor Storm's voice behind them, his blood froze in its veins. He felt terrible for getting Jordyn all worked up, then relaxed .... and now, probably, completely panicking once again.

He kept thinking about how he'd never been in trouble before. The concept kept repeating itself in Jai's head but the situation didn't seem to be getting better with the power of this thought. Gripping Jordyn's hand would have helped, but they'd let go as they started running down the stairs and now didn't seem to be the best time to reach for it. Instead he held his hands together behind his back and looked down.

"I'm sorry, Professor. We lost track of time," Jai said honestly, glancing up towards the professor's face with pleading eyes. He didn't care about his own record, but he knew that Jordyn had a clean one and he would hate to be the one to ruin it.

Once they hit the stairs, Jordyn was hopeful that they actually might get away with not getting caught.  She knew how patrols worked; she’d done them for two (or so) years – if they got downstairs they’d surely be able to escape it and then the next day, it’d be easy to say something came down to a miscount… at least Jordyn would pretend that’s what happened. 

Glancing back, she was about to whisper that they were almost there when the lights went out and she had to suppress the scream she wanted to let out.  Instead, she managed to only have a strangled sort of sound behind her closed lips and gripped her wand, lifting it to light the way.  Of course, first instincts proved wrong when she did audibly gasp while dropping her wand at Professor Storm’s appearance in the hallway. 

If Jordyn had a proclivity toward swearing she would have.  Instead, the normally confident Slytherin seemed to wither and her cheeks were a disturbingly bright red. Her mouth felt incredibly dry and Jordyn couldn’t even lift her eyes to look at Jai as he told the truth.  Though, she was almost sure it wouldn’t be good enough. 

“I’m so sorry, Professor,” Jordyn spoke quietly, still looking at the wand on the ground.  She wasn’t going to choose this moment to be challenging.  She had a clean record! She didn’t want anything unseemly following her.  She hadn’t gotten through almost six years of school without even a whisper close to a detention to get one now.  “We’re so sorry.  It won’t happen again.”

The Astronomy Club President stated cleanly. Yes, he had anticipated that these two might try and be reasonable and adult about this. On the one hand he appreciated their clear thinking, but on the other, it was damned good fun to send the ones that would spill out excuse after excuse to detention.

Dimbleby had dropped her wand in surprise at finding the Professor there, which ha made up a bit for the lack of ridiculous excuses.

"Correct, Dimbleby, it won't." He drew his own wand and the nearest torch lit itself.

"Where have you been?" He asked smoothly, closing the distance between them so he was infringing on their personal space, "and what have you been doing?"

If it was what he suspected, then they certainly wouldn't want to say it, but it was worth making them wriggle to really ensure they did't do it again, and if he had reason to suspect the two of them were lying and unrepentant, then he had plenty to keep them occupied and too tired to roam.

To say Jai was nervous was an understatement. He was now thankful that he wasn't holding Jordyn's hand, although it may have been helpful in letting him know whether she hated him or not. His hand was now coated in sweat and were shaking to the point of vibration.

"We were taking a walk, sir," Jai responded earnestly, trying his best not to jump back as the professor got closer. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to stand his ground or slink away, and somehow Jai felt like he needed to do both. Instead he just stood up straighter and tried his best to look proper.

Jordyn felt like all the color must have drained from her face.  Professor Storm was imposing, to say the least.  Some might go as far as to say downright terrifying.  The older they got, he did not become less horrifying and then he was practically standing on top of them. 

As opposed to her boyfriend, Jordyn lowered her eyes, completely mortified.  Of course it wasn’t going to happen again, she’d die before she let that happen.  Her reputation! 

She winced visibly when he asked where they’d been and what they had been doing, oh Jordyn could have absolutely died. He had to be doing it on purpose.  She glanced upward quickly, searching for a sign of amusement in the older man’s face… there was none to be found.  He was going to make them say. 

Jai gave a small part of the answer, delivered with confidence she wasn’t even sure he really had, but it wasn’t going to be enough for Storm.  She was in his class, she knew how he was.  Jordyn could feel sweat gathering at her hairline and she took a very deep, very labored breath. 

“We were,” she added, horrified that her voice seemed to crack at the most inopportune moment, “just around the garden after we finished our assignments.  Jai was telling me about astronomy and we were talking...” that was true, she had been quite insistent about it.  “But, like Jai said, we lost track of time and then we hurried back to the castle, we were going right back to the common rooms…” it was like she was speaking without breathing, “and then the lights went out – and then… well,” she looked up and paused, “you’re here.”