Lunch time


Feliks and Nicola made their way down the slope towards Uncle Sylvain's hut, just as the rain began. It had been grey clouds and drizzle all day. Most of the other students were taking their lunch in the Great Hall but he had been asked by the older wizard to eat on the grounds today, which was sometimes their custom. Only this time Uncle Sylvain - chatting in French as they usually did - had asked him to bring Nicola.

"He makes honey cakes!" The boy wizard explained happily, unconcerned by the light rain dampening his wild curls. "And he has many many types of tea but he makes very good coffee if you like coffee," his nose wrinkled up in distaste. "I do not."

There was a friendly bark up ahead and Marcel, the Groundskeeper's merle Border Collie, was racing to greet them. A billow of grey smoke drifted from Sylvain's chimney: it carried homely scents of caramel and coffee, which warmed the more crisp notes of Highland air.

The Creatures professor suddenly appeared at the steps leading to his door, waving at them. He was in one of his wooly jumpers and muddied jeans.

           "Ca va?" he called out to them, chipper.
"Ca va!" Feliks called back, Marcel having reached them to be petted and adored.

Nicola had pulled her cloak tight against her as they traveled the grounds to Professor Onuris' Cabin. A fetching little Cloche hat protected her own close cropped locks from getting wet. She hadn't thought much about taking Lunch with the Professor. She had been spending plenty of time with Feliks lately and from what she understood the two were related, so a lunch date made sense.

She chatted happily with Feliks as they crossed the wet grass. She was looking forward to being dry as much as she was the food he'd been describing.

"ça va bien, Merci!" Cole added. Her own French as posh as her English accent. As a child traveling with her mother it was impressed upon her that being able to communicate in multiple languages was incredibly important. Though Cole was only able to say a few basic phrases in a splattering of languages compared to her mother, whom she believed had learned up to ten at least.

She relished the warmth of the cabin and removed her cloak and hat, "Thank you for inviting me for Lunch Professor." She gave him a polite smile, trying not to get dog hair all over her school robes.

When the students were young and not gawking at him in large groups, they were mostly pleasant.

Sylvain shut the door behind the pair and quickly crossed the room to attend to his stove. The hut they entered was the larger one of two, joined. His bedroom was in the smaller hut, separated by a red bead curtain. This here was his living area, kitchen and study. It was dominated by a cast iron stove and rough dining table on one side; across from it, where the floor was covered in worn fur rugs, an armchair and small desk and a low shelf of books.

            "Thank you for inviting me for Lunch Professor."

"It is no trouble," he replied as he took his coffee pot off the fire and set it down on the table, where their lunch was already set. "It is good weather for food and chat, non?" The rain fell heavier and steadier with every passing minute.

Feliks was unravelling his Slytherin scarf - an old battered one, his father's - and sitting down at the table. "Oui! How are you Uncle Sylvain?" he was already pouring tea for himself.

Lunch was a fresh salad of wild leaves and herbs from the Forbidden Forest,  accompanied by mustard base dressing and bruschetta. The heavy honey cakes were being kept toasty in the oven but their fragrance was strong and heady.

"Bien, I am not too bad." Sylvain shrugged, sitting down and gesturing at Nicola to see if she wanted coffee or tea. "Please, help yourselves. How are you two? It is close to December now. You must be excited for Christmas."

Cole seated herself at the table and proceeded to pour a cup of tea, adding only a small bit of sugar and a splash of milk. She revelled in the fact that here, at a more personal lunch, she was able to enjoy the hot drink as she pleased. She could hear her mother's voice adding scathingly, 'Ladies drink their tea Black, Nicola. Yet always drink what your offered as it is offered. Never complain.'

While her cousins were busy learning how to be proper pureblood Ladies of High Society, Cole was given lessons on how to be malleable, accomadating, the perfect guest to any host. As her mother would say, there was always someone watching and in a family like hers, she needed not to make any waves.

"Oh yes. I can't wait to spend some time back at home. It's been great here at Hogwarts but I rarely get to see my brothers. Other than Kyson." She added under her breath. Then a thoughtful expression crossed her face, "Though I suppose there won't be the grand Christmas Ball we usually had at my Grandfather's Manor. Unless of course Xavier decides to throw it this year." She wrinkled her nose a bit, showing just how likely she thought that was.

Feliks lifted his fork, prodding at the salad experimentally while they talked. He frowned at his bowl for a moment and looked up at Sylvain - they had already spoken about Christmas holidays and it seemed strange that the wizard would repeat a conversation held only yesterday.

"If you are not full of parties," Feliks added distractedly to Nicola, "you must come to Edinburgh. My papa says we celebrate all month! There will be many Spectres and we can go to the lake."

Christmas was celebrated in January, where he grew up, and often stringently. He was looking forward to everything papa and Johann had talked about: the feasting and dancing and music and games. Cousins and uncles and aunts, everyone doing their own thing in the manor.

            "Bien, a busy month for both of you," Sylvain remarked while he poured dressing over his food.

The professor glanced at Nicola, almost as an afterthought, and again Feliks got the feeling that there was a reason he didn't understand about his housemate being invited for lunch. "Your uncle Kurby, you spend holiday time with him also?" Mention of Nicola's uncle caused Feliks to sit up a little straighter.

            "I speak to your uncle sometimes," Sylvain continued lightly, "I used to work in his department. He has a difficult job."

Feliks glanced at his friend, unsure if she was also suspicious or if he was being paranoid over nothing.

Cole looked down into her lunch as she ate happily, once again presenting herself as the perfect guest. She didn't mind the salad even if it hadn't been something she would have grabbed on her own. With all the traveling she did growing up, she was used to trying new foods. In fact, she often enjoyed trying them out, just to know what they tasted like.

She gave a soft shrug, "Not so much. Uncle Kurby isn't exactly the - " She pursed her lips as she searched for a word, "social type."

"Besides he's usually really busy with work." She lifted her eyes momentarily, her posture and expression perfectly poised but she let a flicker cross her eyes as they connected with Feliks' to let him know that she was just as suspicious as he was. After all they had only recently heard from her Uncle Kurby. He had been worried that she would do something foolish. Was it possible he had reached out to a former colleague to keep an eye on her?

"What did you do for the Department Professor? Surely, you weren't part of the WCU."

Oui, he could completely understand her view that Kurby was not the social type. The wizard and society were like glue and oil. You could not get them to stick. Sylvain contemplated this as he speared various salad leaves, oblivious to glances exchanged between his young visitors.

He was trying to think of a way to bring up the rumour without alarming Nicola. As he'd returned to his hut last night, he knew that his actions were partly motivated by fear for her; he did genuinely worry about Greyfriar interviewing the child.

            "What did you do for the Department Professor? Surely, you weren't part of the WCU."

"Hm?" Sylvain swallowed his food, politely resurfacing from his thoughts. "Ah, I was a beast handler. Like Feliks' papa," he shot a smile at the young boy, who was rolling up his sleeves to avoid staining them on the dressing. Something silver glinted on his thin forearms, something he'd not seen before.

A silver knit bracelet worn alongside a watch. It seemed a strange accessory.

           "Papa says you are very good at handling Graphorns." Feliks stated happily, reaching for tea and clumsily letting his sleeves obscure the bracelet again.

"I am. It is a good skillset, to handle creatures." Sylvain murmured, distracted, and then decided that it had to be now - before the conversation strayed too far from his purpose. "Nicola," his gaze flicked from one first year to the other. "Your uncle. He tells me you were asked to write about werewolves? For Professor Greyfriar?"

Oh Crap!

This time Cole was unable to keep the alarm from her expression as she first looked from Feliks then to Sylvain. So her Uncle had asked him to look out for her after all. Honestly, what was his problem? She wasn't reckless or foolish! She wasn't about to use the information they had to suddenly go hunting for werewolves. That was his job.

She knew she should have kept a level head, thought back to everything her mother had taught her about diplomacy and conflict resolution but she was only Eleven. Hormones and emotions ran rampant through her and instead of keeping calm and collected she exploded into a flurry of words.

"Seriously?! Is that why you invited me to lunch? I already assured him I wasn't about to use the book and twine in some foolhardy attempt at playing the hero. Just because I got sorted into Slytherin over Ravenclaw doesn't mean I suddenly became an idiot!"

She looked to Feliks for back up, completely misreading the situation. Oblivious to the fact that Sylvain's questioning was about the Phantom Assignment and not because of a concern for the First Years well being.

Both Feliks and Sylvain, forks in hand, stared at Nicola for a second - initially more surprised by the rush of words than by what she was actually saying. Was she afraid her uncle was keeping an eye on her? What was so bad about that? He had Uncle Sylvain and Oma to keep an eye on him. And Professor Storm, if deadly glares counted.

"Um," Feliks hesitated nervously, and the older wizard looked between the two of them in confusion, as if he didn't understand why they were both on edge.

             "What book and twine?" he asked gently. "What is going on here? I only ask because there are rumours."

Rumours? That was another word for gossip and Feliks hated gossip. He hated being a part of rumours and he hated hearing them too. He looked up at Sylvain, leaning forward and almost knocking over his tea cup. "What rumours?" Feliks did not look at Nicola but he hoped there were not rumours about her.

What if she was in trouble because of him??

           Sylvain considered them thoughtfully, drinking his coffee. "Rumours in the Ministry. About your headmaster and his werewolf assignments. What do you two know about this?" he glanced at Nicola. "Nobody is in trouble, oui? But there is some confusion."

Nicola furrowed her brow as she surveyed the two wizards in front of her. She felt slightly embarrassed for exploding and she had the Crimson cheeks to show for it but her initial anger was giving way to confusion and it looked like she wasn't the only one.

"Rumors?" She echoed her classmate. What rumors? How could there possibly be rumors? The only people that knew about the package were them and Zeta but only Kurby knew about the Phantom Assignment. What the hell had her uncle been up to?! He wasn't exactly the type to go gossiping around the water cooler. Who else had he shown her letter to? She almost wished she had written to her mom. Sheridan likely wouldn't have known anything about the book and twine but at least she would have known better than to start up the Rumor Mill.

She looked to Feliks, trying to gauge if her friend was ready to come clean with his own uncle or if they should chance going ahead with continuing their charade.

Cole fixed her face and pushed down her emotions, "Rumors in the Ministry? I'm sorry Professor but I highly doubt that. My Uncle isn't the type of man to share private letters with the masses." She paused and looked directly at him, "though I suppose you've seen it then? Or he at least spoke about it to you? Why else would you be questioning me specifically about 'Ministry Rumors'?"

Sharing private letters? What letters? He looked at Nicola, mildly horrified by the mental image of Kurby Bagnold waving about his personal correspondence like a hawker in a marketplace. She seemed to know exactly what was the source of the confusion but the picture was incomplete.

"I ask only because he said you told him about this assignment, non?" Sylvain tilted his head to the side and put down his coffee mug, realising that whatever this was, it involved both the first years sitting at the lunch table. "It would be better, I think, if you are two honest with me."

Feliks suddenly pushed away his mug, ears red hot and the tips of his curls a strange shade of pink. "It is my fault, uncle Sylvain. Please don't blame Nicola," the young boy was clearly trying very hard to get a reign on his emotions, "I... I received a present and... and we didn't know who to ask because of Zeta so we wrote to Nicola's uncle but-- but we did not want to say it was a present and--"

He stopped talking, having run out of breath and nerve.

Sylvain blinked at this jumble of rushed words. A present? To Feliks? From whom? He looked at Nicola, who he hoped would lend some more clarity to the explanation. "Start at the beginning, s'il vous plaît. I do not understand."

Cole would have been completely content not to share anything as this little get together became more and more obviously a trap. She didn't like it. She also didn't like how confused she felt. She had been certain that the Professor had seen her letter to her Uncle. How would he have known all of this otherwise? Yet, he seemed as confused as she was.

All of a sudden Feliks exploded in a flurry of words and pink curls and Cole knew there was no going back now. This was no longer about protecting secrets, this was damage control.

She looked to the distraught state her friend appeared to be in and took a calming breath before turning all her attention to the Professor.

"Feliks received a present." A quick glance to Feliks to reassure him she wasn't going to go into too much detail about that part of it, "One of the older students thought that there was something wrong with the items inside. We weren't sure what to think and were seeking advice. Since my Uncle works for the WCU and the items seemed to pertain to werewolves I suggested he was the ideal person to ask about it."

She paused gauging whether or not it would be wise to continue. She didn't think they'd get into anymore trouble if she told the truth about the letter, "after Zeta's . . . reaction we felt that if we said we were asking for an assignment my uncle wouldn't be suspicious about it."

Was he going to be in trouble? Uncle Sylvain did not seem to understand anything that he said but Feliks hardly knew what words had left his mouth, worried as he was about this getting to papa and Johann. He did not want them to be angry at him. It was still his first term at Hogwarts! Not even Christmas yet! This was all his fault.

Even as these frantic thoughts ran circles in his head, Nicola began to explain the events leading up to today in her no-nonsense and logical voice. Feliks listened to her carefully: when she put it like that, their actions did not seem so bad.

            "Ah," Sylvain's eyebrows had lifted and his bulging eyes seemed even wider than usual, "I see. A misunderstanding..." he looked at the young wizard. "Who sent you this present, Feliks?"

"I don't know," Feliks answered in a clear voice, having calmed down and gotten ahold of himself. "There was a card with my name printed on it. And this," he lifted one hand from his mug of tea to reveal the silver bracelet he had knit using the Tenacious Twine. "There was also a book."

He hesitated, glancing at Nicola. Why hide it any longer? Uncle Sylvain did not look angry. He was actually beginning to look a little concerned but also relieved. "A book?" the professor glanced between them.

"Oui. It is called The Lycan. It is very thin--" he stopped short because their host was already nodding, like he knew what book this was and why things had turned out the way they did. Feliks swallowed, blushing. "I am sorry. I was scared because Zeta said they were bad things. I did not want to make anyone worried."

Sylvain sighed softly, looking down at their lunch table. "We will always worry, non? You are children," he gestured at the dishes and food. "Now you two do not worry. We eat, then maybe you will show me this book?"

Feliks nodded nervously, stomach lurching at the thought of giving the book away. He knew he was being stupid about it... the book felt like it belonged to him. But he had already read all of it and taken his own notes; maybe deep down inside he always knew he would have to give it back.

"Okay," he picked up his fork and looked at Nicola with a small smile. She had helped him again, so he was grateful.