Today’s lesson with Tamis was proving to be… interesting. Now that she had the basics down, Auror Raynor had said she could start working creativity into her dueling, instead of using Protego constantly (a spell she had gotten good at). The point was to do the unexpected, to be able to stop someone in their tracks in a variety of ways. One of her problems was that she tended to get very comfortable with a few spells and relied on those rather than branching out. It wasn’t that she couldn’t think of anything else to do. Fauna just wanted to hold on to her success for as long as she could.

Tamis’ only rule for today was this: Defend yourself without resorting to Protego (or the variant she’d been practicing that had given Archer a bloody nose that one time). Fauna had given it a good shot, attempting to dodge (and failing miserably while Archer chuckled at her), trying the different Impedimenta spells that she and Lou had been practicing for the past few weeks, and even managing a Silencio charm, which hadn’t done much but cause Tamis to resort to nonverbal spells. She was running out of options, she thought, holding her wand in front of her and staring across the grounds at the Auror.

This might just be an off day, but she wasn’t willing to throw in the towel yet. Not Protego, Fauna repeated in her head, glancing around the hospital hut and the pasture for inspiration. A glint of metal caught her eye.

Before she could hem and haw over it, the Auror across from her raised her wand!

“Accio!” Fauna called out, aiming her wand to the side instead of at Tamis. Precious seconds passed. But then the bucket she’d summoned was flying at her, and Fauna reached out, making a grab for it. She fumbled. She nearly tripped.

Score!

Fauna caught the bucket and held it out in front of her like a shield, catching the spell in the nick of time. Instantly, her makeshift shield (which had Merlin knew what in it, sitting suspiciously by the pasture’s fence) turned a ghastly shade of green.

She frowned at it, thinking that the green was a little unnecessary and that she didn’t remember signing up to play the Wicked Witch of the West this afternoon. Fauna then lowered the bucket and peered over it at Tamis, shaking her head at the putrid color.

Her mouth twitched and she nearly giggled as she caught Tamis’ eye. So she hadn’t used Protego… but she’d resorted to something that essentially did the same thing. Plus, she’d used the ‘grab objects and/or nearest furniture’ tactic, which meant she was really desperate. But at least the bucket hadn’t held a pile of horse manure. There was that! Fauna had to look on the bright side.

It had been over three months ago since Tamis Raynor first appeared outside of the hospital hut, brooding on a tree stump over whether or not a seventeen year old girl was going to stand her up. That first, initial encounter had been tense and challenging for the both of them. The bright-eyed, animate young woman facing off to two senior and experienced Aurors was a far cry from the timid, self conscious youth Raynor had first been introduced to.

Looking back, the Head Auror almost wished she had staged the very real argument between her partner and her during his premier attendance at one of these lessons. It would have not been the first time they had pulled a “good cop, bad cop” routine and the results had been unforeseeably desirable. Ever since that rather impressive, innate defensive shield Fauna Blake had produced between the partners, her confidence had soared three-fold.

Now that she had it, Raynor wanted to throw her out of her comfort zone and test it. Not every lesson had to be a success as long as something was learnt from it. Overcoming the obstacle was not always the objective – as long as she fought against it. In fact, Tamis occasionally wanted the Hufflepuff to fail.  It prevented overconfidence and there were some experiences that only failure could teach.

They had been practicing for more than forty-five minutes now, nearly half of the once a week, two hour block. There was a gleam lurking in those vivid blue eyes and the way Fauna poised herself behind her wand suggested she was becoming desperate. The Aurors on the other hand were quite enjoying themselves. Their counters to Fauna’s attempts to hinder them had not been vicious but after enjoying the effects of one application of the tickling charm, they had both become rather fond retaliating with that one.

Now, in an interim, Tamis was giving the student a moment to mull over her thoughts, taking in her surroundings. When she finally lifted her arm, Fauna’s reaction was immediate. As the words ‘accio’ began to form on the Hufflepuff’s lips, the Auror prepared to counter it – but the wand was not pointed in her direction. In her peripheral vision, something zoomed toward the Hufflepuff.

Well, that certainly had ingenuity points, the Auror decided as the girl captured the spell in the bucket, giving the putrid color it created a critical, forlorn shake of her hair. Lowering her wand, the Auror rubbed her head with her right hand unsure whether to laugh or disapprove. She certainly was trying to keep the smile from her face. 

Maintaining control of her composure, “good use of your environment,” she allowed, “but…” she flicked her wand at a tree root near Fauna’s feet, which sprung to life and proceeded to tie to girl’s shoelaces together. “Remember to incapacitate your opponent or you will give him another opportunity to do the same to you.”

Fauna fought very hard to hold back a grin when she saw the look on Tamis' face - a look torn between amusement and disapproval. They both knew what she'd done right and what she'd done wrong, so Fauna was relieved to see they were on the same page. Slowly, she lowered the bucket to the grass, keeping her head up the whole time in case Tamis was going to fire another spell at her.

She should have been looking down.

Fauna listened to her advice, frantically glancing all around her when she noticed the Auror flick her wand. What had Raynor just done? Where'd the spell go? Shifting a bit, she felt something snake over her feet like Devil's Snare, and looked down just as the roots finished the last bow in the knot.

It must have been like watching a cartoon figure try to keep her balance, complete with flailing arms, a shocked expression, and little squiggly lines in the air. Down she went! When Fauna's bum hit the ground, she let out a loud "Oof!" and shot an annoyed glare in Raynor's direction. For good measure, she shot a glare at Archer too, who had just let out a bark of laughter.

Then Fauna started to giggle. She couldn't help it. They'd been practicing for forty-five minutes already, and she'd made her fair share of mistakes, but none this morning had been as hilarious as her last ungraceful fall. Tying her shoelaces? So juvenile! As she fixed her laces and suddenly wished for velcro sneakers, Fauna hoped this move meant that she wasn't the only one running out of ideas. Yeah, right...

Even in the midst of her giggle fit, she kept an eye on the game (or the wand, as it were). A few feet away from Tamis stood a tree, looming over her as most trees (and people) do.

Still sitting, she let out one last giggle and then aimed her wand at the tree, shouting a spell she'd learned in Herbology. Fauna had used it for pruning plants in class, and she wasn't sure it would work on such a large target.

The tree gave a reluctant shudder, but nothing else happened. Fauna quickly tried the spell one last time.

There! The tree shook itself like a dog, shedding the last of its leaves right onto Raynor.

Hoping that would be a decent distraction, Fauna shot up and pointed her wand at the Auror across from her.

"Locomotor Mortis!"

Two could play at this game.

The five-foot nothing woman’s lips compressed into a thin, tight line that looked rather painful. Otherwise, without moving, she watched the realization claim the Hufflepuff ’s face a moment too late. The girl gave a start when she saw her shoelaces intertwined and that start became her downfall. Quite literally. She lost her precarious balance and after a valiant display of flailing landed hard on her rump, shooting Raynor the glare of glares from across the clearing. While she might be keeping the amusement from her face, the Auror gave a shake -- so slight of a betrayal of her laughter that one would have had to have been standing very close or watching her very intuitively to have detected it.

The tomfoolery between the opponents was far from serious in nature. It was nothing more than little tricks disguised as dueling. Many of their lessons had been far more severe and skill oriented. Tying someone’s shoes together or casting a tickling spell on them was not a successful spell selection in a real duel. But the point here was to make Fauna think quick on her feet, possibly even have a little fun, and explore the techniques she had been learning. If they had been using more lethal magic, this encounter would have ended long ago.

A glint highlighted Fauna’s bright blue eyes again and Raynor prepared herself – and the tree above her rustled but that was. Wand half-raised, Tamis rose a questioning eyebrow back up at the seventh year, waiting expectantly. By the frown creasing her forehead that had not gone how the girl had planned. Raynor opened her mouth, about to remind her to guard her expressions while dueling, when Blake flicked her wand again.

Tamis was caught in a rain of multi-colored leaves still clinging helplessly to the concept of fall – and bringing a more literal meaning to the word. Not only was it a successful distraction, but it obscured her vision. Fauna would have completely had her if Raynor had not heard her exclamation. Bringing her wand up, she deflected most of the spell instinctively. But not all of it.

Instead of her legs becoming fully paralyzed, she wobbled much in the same way as Fauna had and the plopped unceremoniously to the ground with her own “oof” in a much less graceful manner than she otherwise would have managed. Falling on one’s rear was not nearly as preferable as one might imagine, while it absorbed most of the shock it also sent it straight to the teeth in a sharp, throbbing way. At least it was not as painful if she had taken the spell at full blast – or if she had been taller.

It was a good thing Tamis Raynor did not giggle. She might not have ever lived it down.

Now with both opponents on the ground, Tamis allowed a small chuckle to escape her and raised her hands in defeat. Trying to save face, she said, “we still need to work on your nonverbal spells.”

Archer was not the main focus in this meeting.  In fact, every Sunday, he was basically just the guy who stood around and played target if they needed a demonstration or something.  But, being part of the whole thing, he was forced to maintain his position as the obligatory look out guy and occasional target and comic relief.  He was the best way to break any of the serious tension between the two, which seemed to bubble up from time to time, especially with the difficult material, and there were moments where even Archer had to remind Ray that she wasn’t an auror trainee, she was just a school girl who got caught up in a few bad things.

She had terrible luck, really.  And he could see where Tamis’ concern came from.  He understood where her heart and mind were, though he couldn’t exactly tell her to her face that he thought some of her nerves about the whole thing were unfounded, it was a slightly different time than it had been back then, but she meant well, and the girl was clearly benefitting, Ray was too.  Both of them were doing something they needed, and it was really boosting Eyes’ confidence. 

Archer desperately hoped her application and scores would be submitted to the office so they could accept her into the program – underneath the incredibly awkward exterior, he saw some potential to be a really good auror, not that he would ever say so out loud at this point.  He didn’t want to get her too worked up; Ray did that enough for both of them.  Though, usually, it was in the way of making her so angry she exploded, but it was necessary to get that from her, she performed best when she was provoked.  But today, rather than freaking out and being completely anal about everything, she was having fun with it – they both were it seemed. 

So, sitting upon a tree stump that had been there since he had been in school, Archer sat comfortably, watching the exchange and looking around periodically to make sure there was no one else coming.  He had a hard time coming out of looking at them, though, laughing as one’s shoes were tied together and she fell an then the leaves tumbling down from the tree and Ray also falling on her arse. 

He could not help but laugh at the whole situation.  “Good one!” he called out to Fauna, clearly deciding that heckling would be the best decision he could make right now.  “Though, next time you might want to try something a little more shocking, she really doesn’t have that far to fall!” he grinned cheekily, shifting on the stump to grab his wand from his pocket.  While the two were distracted with one another, Archer felt the need to make life a little more interesting.

Being as discreet as possible, he cast a small charm – simple really, and a puff of fluff came out of the tip of his wand, forming something like a thick blanket and it floated through the air.  As it got further away, it looked more and more like a cloud, and it floated about the head of the dark haired, light eyed young woman.  It shook and shivered and then flakes started to fall – snowflakes just poured from this makeshift cloud, and he grinned to himself.  If Ray was going to experience an early fall, Eyes might as well get a taste of the winter to come.  Felt appropriate. 

However much Sasha loved the subject, muggle studies was one of the least popular electives in Hogwarts.  The one upside to its lack of popularity was the section of the library that housed the books for that class were the dustiest and least used.  Or, rather, they had been the dustiest before Sasha had become a regular at the last desk between shelf of catalogued appliance manuals and historic global maps.  It was questionable which piece of furniture Sasha had a closer relationship with: the chair at that desk or his bed in Ravenclaw tower.  But, after giving the shelves around the desk a thorough dusting (for the sake of the comfort of his sinuses), that desk had become his home away from home.  And, the young lad had been parked there, hunched over his usual carefully configured array of books since seven thirty that morning. 

After over five hours of tag-teaming arithmancy and precalculus, potions and chemistry, the time had come for a much needed break.  He pulled a handful of seldom-opened British Medical Journals (though, presumably, they'd prove invaluable for any student desiring to write a comparative essay on the eradication efforts of small pox versus dragon pox) from the book shelf and stacked his own books on the open space behind them before sliding the journals back.  Sasha had been stashing books there for years while he slipped away to lunch; he had yet to see anyone even look at the journals, let alone pull one from the shelf. 

The Great Hall was at the tail end of lunch but, as usually, not everything had been picked up, yet.  There was just enough lingering on the table to make a quick lettuce and tomato sandwich, stuff an apple in one pocket and a handful of carrot sticks in the other.  He made quick work of the sandwich as he slipped back out of the Great Hall and onto the grounds.

The Healer still intimidated the Ravenclaw as much as she always had but, over the last couple months, the draw of an equine creature had been too great to resist, even if the mare's pedigree wasn't that remarkable.  He'd initially started sneaking away to feed the mare and the orphaned unicorn hybrid foal in the paddock behind the hospital hut but, by late September, Sasha had offered to do the morning feed and chores so the older Healer could sleep in.  The Healer had invited Sasha to help with the eventual weaning and Sasha had been holding out high hopes that, once the mare had put on some weight, he could talk the Healer into letting him ride.  He'd even started the mare on some casual groundwork.  Given the mare's grade pedigree, there was probably a limit to how far her training could go but he was curious to see what she was capable of. 

The brisk November air hastened the young man's step as he followed the path towards the Hospital Hut.  He was a short distance from the cabin when, with a flurry of golden leaves, a tree shook the rest of its foliage loose.  Sasha froze staring at the now still, bald tree, blinking his eyes trying to determine if he'd really seen what he'd actually seen.  But, Sasha could see the brown pinto mare standing just around the corner of the cabin and her head was high, her ears pricked forward.  Something in the tree's direction had the mare's attention.  He squeezed between the fence rails when he reached the corner of the building.  The mare nickered and reached her neck out as Sasha approached, eagerly taking the carrot stick he habitually pulled from his pocket. 

Distractedly, Sasha reached up and pat the mare's neck, his gaze fixed on the cluster of people a short distance behind the building.  The woman lying on the ground, laughing, Sasha recognized readily though her identity did little to identify what she was doing here.  As Head of the Auror office, her picture had been in the Daily Prophet on more than a few occasions.  The man Sasha didn't recognize at all.  The third individual of the group, Sasha recognized right away. 

"What ... what's going on?" He asked as he approached the group, the mare following him like an overgrown puppy, her lips tugging at the carrots still remaining in his pocket.  "What are they here for?" He asked, the second question directed entirely at Fauna.  Clearly, she was behind this somehow. 

When Fauna saw Tamis topple over, she burst out laughing in that belly-aching, clutch-your-stomach kind of way that made her lose her balance and half-fall, half-sit again.

"I know, I know," she giggled at Tamis' comment about learning non-verbal spells, then looked over at Archer and shook her head, still laughing. His comment about Tamis' short stature was priceless!

Fauna managed to stand up, glancing over at the hut and then back at the Aurors again. She froze. Then did a double take. A familiar figure stood by the building. Familiar, but given the situation, unexpected and unwanted. Her giggles died down completely and she stared at Sasha, face torn between shock and dismay. At least it wasn't the Headmistress. But her stomach still sunk to the ground.

She felt a few drops hit her head and wiped absently at her hair, unaware of the cloud hanging over her. Sasha asked Fauna what the Aurors were doing here, and she glanced at Archer, then Tamis, her dark hair now coated in a thin layer of snowflakes.

"Um..." she looked at the mare next to Sasha and slowly realized he must have been out tending to the horses.

"Well... remember when I told you I was getting help?" She glanced guiltily at Tamis for a moment. "This is... kinda... it," Fauna finished lamely, swiping at her forehead when another snowflake stuck to her face. She glanced at the others and blinked. No one else was getting hit with snow! The grass and the roof of the hut were bare, too.

She looked up, frowned. A snowstorm cloud! Fauna waved irritably at it with her wand, muttered a counter-spell, and narrowed her eyes at Archer, who she'd assumed done it when she hadn't been paying attention.

Instead of disappearing, the cloud changed form. And rain started pouring down on her!

”Perhaps we should have her knock you down, since you have more at stake,” Tamis called back to Archer tartly. Though, the statement lacked any real heat.

Humility was not traditionally a forte of Tamis Raynor. In fact, she usually avoided it at all possible intervals. Very, very few individuals found themselves in a predicament where laughing at said woman was applicable. Fewer still managed to actually get away with it. It was very lucky for Fauna Blake that she had somehow managed to find her way into that sparse number.

Expression kept carefully neutral, the Head Auror idly watched as Archer’s cloud ambling overtop the young Hufflepuff’s head. It would have been a death wish if the man had tried such a stunt on her. The petite woman had absolutely no tolerance for the cold and there was enough chill in the air without having a premature forecast of snow. Yet, since it was someone else receiving, Tamis was hypocritical enough to be content.

Except, Fauna Blake did not notice. The young woman froze. Not once, but twice, staring back past beyond the Aurors. The change was so sudden and her expression contorted so entirely that it could only mean one thing. They had just been caught.

“Finite,” Tamis murmured eradicating the effects of the spell griping her. Then, she reclaimed her feet with a cool composure that belittled the emotions rampaging on below the surface. Brushing traces of leaves from her trousers she turned and silently evaluated the newcomer. A student. Male. Younger than Fauna but not by much.  Dressed… rather bizarrely. Tamis had never been well acquainted with the equine circuits.  She did not get on well with animals.

There was a pretentious air about the boy that Raynor had spent seven two years too long surrounded by. Ravenclaw, most certainly. And he addressed Fauna with a self-imposed Authority while lacking the presence that suggested he had never actually felt the pressures that real authority entailed. Prefect.

That meant he was going to be harder to bribe.

Yet, curiously enough, he seemed to know Blake. Letting the exchange occur between them, she tried to grasp the nature of their relation. The glance that Fauna hesitantly sent at her did not go unreturned but she did not outwardly express acceptance or displease at the revelation. It was irrelevant at the moment – unlike the rain cloud that was now showering the student. A quick, second nonverbal ‘finite’ eliminated the cloud, but it did nothing for the fact that the girl was now soaking wet.

“Since you seem to have some indication of who we are,” Raynor spoke up at last any chivalry depleted from her tone and instead replaced with a very similar one Fauna had faced herself at their first meeting. “Perhaps you would favor us with an introduction?”
 

There was no way to say that this lesson was not fun.  The flurries were dusting Fauna’s dark hair, and he glanced at Ray, who seemed happy enough that it was happening to someone else and not her, that she could actually give a small smirk which spoke volumes.  With so much seriousness in the recent weeks, and no new leads on his case, Archer was fairly sure this was therapeutic for most of them, even Fauna, who appeared to be having just as good of a time as the other two, though, that seemed exceptionally short-lived.

Rather than send something flying back at him, like he expected for his aiding of the enemy, so to speak, Fauna froze, and looked around like – well, the deer that she could appear to be at times, wide-eyed and Archer followed his gaze, freezing up as well – like that could stop another human being from being able to see you.  Joel had once told him that some breeds of dragon had exceptionally poor vision and could identify prey by quick movements.  They would have only been so lucky to come up against a dragon at this point. 

It could be the end of the whole thing and Archer had scolded Ray for putting her career on the line like this, then he had joined by necessity, he wasn’t allowed to leave her alone, it would be disobeying orders, but at the same time, he didn’t have to participate, and he had – it could, very well, spell the end for both of them.  Now, Archer was not as concerned about himself as he was for her.  But, it appeared the approaching figure was a young man, far less threatening than Archer had imagined from a distance, and the youth was nothing Archer would consider a real problem, except to maybe Fauna receiving some detention time, but that was necessary for every young person – detention did a kid some good, gave them character, he reasoned.

That would be small beans to whatever happened to them, but it didn’t appear that the boy was giving Fauna much respect, just accusing her or something.  Standing up from the tree stump, Archer put his hands behind his back, waiting for whatever might happen, though suspected it might not be much – students didn’t typically have much up their sleeves, especially the younger ones, and he might have been precocious and nosy (Ravenclaws…), but he didn’t look threatening.  Archer, however, clasped his hands behind his back and stood still, hoping to achieve the particular look of someone who was intimidating.

He did not speak, rather let Tamis do that, and only slanted his eyes toward her before looking back at Fauna, seeing that she finally noticed she was covered in snow, and glared at him. He smirked, trying not to outright smile, and looked at the boy in the funny pants (no one could really be afraid of him in that get-up), and he raised his eyebrows at him. 

Archer decided he would not be half so friendly (if one could call it that) to the blonde boy as Ray was, and just stood, poised and looking at him and Fauna.  What an uncomfortable situation. 

Sasha blinked at Fauna's explanation.  "You're getting help?  From ... the Head of the Auror office?"  Sasha looked between the two adults before turning his attention back to Fauna.  Slowly, he nodded, giving the rain cloud a pointed glance.  Yes.  He could see how that would help. 

Or, not really.

It was strange - when looking at the pictures in the Daily Prophet, Sasha had seen a formidable Auror and the Head of the Auror office.  Now, in person, all Sasha could see was how much shorter than him the woman was.  It was really rather peculiar.  And, it artificially heightened Sasha's confidence.  They were on Hogwarts grounds.  He was a prefect and he could really use some brownie points with Madame Snark. 

"Are they authorized to be here?" He asked, turning his attention back to Fauna.  If one were to go off of the fact that he'd run into Fauna practicing the material from these lessons at six o'clock in the morning, the initial assumption would be 'no.'  They were not authorized.  "But, I guess, what's another rule, right?  Everyone likes a little kicking and screaming."  At least, so far, no one seemed to have gotten hurt this time.  Wet, but not hurt.

He turned towards Raynor, unable to ignore, again, how much shorter she was.  "I - I'm Sasha Schlagenweit, ma'am.  Fifth year Ravenclaw and Prefect."  A pinch of color rose in his cheeks and his gaze dropped.  How he missed the security of anonymity he'd enjoyed a couple months ago before Skeeter had caught wind of him. 

The sudden onslaught of freezing rain on Fauna's head made her sputter in shock. She stared at her wand, mood darkening like the ominous cloud hanging over her, and then drew in a breath of relief when the rain stopped. Shivering, she shot a grateful glance at Tamis and then began casting a few drying spells on her clothing as Sasha spoke.

His use of the word 'authorized' made her stop what she was doing and frown at him. Unlike Tamis and Archer, she didn't see this as the end - just a minor setback. Sasha would posture and pose and then leave, she thought.

He went on to make a jab about breaking rules, and Fauna found herself wishing that she could wave the boy away like she'd tried to do to the snow cloud earlier. The fact that her attempts had only made the cloud more bothersome didn't occur to her.

Feeling embarrassed and annoyed, she ducked her head and finished casting the drying spells as introductions were made. There was such a difference between his behavior towards her and his behavior towards Auror Raynor. Of course, Raynor deserved respect, in her opinion, and if he'd acted cheeky towards the woman he would have received the Fauna death glare.

But the condescending attitude towards her, just her, got to her. The complete lack of respect, as if they weren't friends at all, and she was fooling herself to think they still were. Her bewildered expression turned sour at this realization.

"Tulo knows," Fauna told him defensively, hoping that mentioning her name would help pacify Sasha. "We're using her hut. So it's... authorized. Sorta like how your week long trip away from school was authorized, wasn't it?"

Sure. Just not by the Headmistress. As far as Fauna knew, his mini-vacation was one of the reasons Headmistress Snark had thrown him into detention every Sunday along with the other rabble-rousing rulebreakers he detested so much. Fauna knew it, and pressed the big red button anyway.

Tamis Raynor could practically hear Archer Radley chirping “I told you so.” The unspoken words hung in the air between them though she did not glance at him. Doing so would have show uncertainty. It was not a sentiment she was keen on exhibiting at the moment.

Her partner had confronted her the very night he discovered this little… arrangement… she had with Fauna Blake. All of his points had been valid. It was one hundred percent foolhardy to risk a fifteen year career over one single, vastly insignificant seventeen year old girl. There was a twinge of anxiety, but if this took her title with it, she did not feel regret.

In truth, Tamis Raynor had needed Fauna Blake more than Fauna Blake had needed Tamis Raynor. With so much negativity and corruption in the world, this one girl shone with pure innocence and considerable naivety. When one was in their line of work, it felt almost impossible that such a sentiment could still exist. She had her naivety stripped from. She had thought herself impervious from the darker dealings of the world, that if she did not partake in them they could not affect her; the world had proven her wrong. It was absolutely likely that Blake would never meet tragedy the way she had and Tamis hoped for that. But if she could give the girl the means to defend herself, even the mere awareness that such measures were necessary, without sacrificing her innocence – it was (or had) been worth it.

Why do the job if she could not protect even one girl?

It was Archer that caused her heart to sink. He had not volunteered for this and while Fauna had grown on him, he had been obligated into this. He could not leave her by the terms of his assignment. At least, that was what she was going to tell the Minister. Merlin, she will tell him that she had ordered him to stay if she had to.  She would protect him.

None of these thoughts crossed her carefully stoic expression as she stared up at the boy Very much Up. She had yet to meet a person she could look down at and the few she could see eye-to-eye with were only barely less sparse. But this boy could not be older than sixteen and he towered over her. At least by a full foot.  Ravenclaw. Prefect. She had pegged it but did not feel any satisfaction in the knowledge. He was that much more likely to run to the Headmistress. She had not talked to Analiza in some time. She doubted this would go over well with her.

Sasha Schla—something? She did her best to file the name away. Not a reader of the Prophet, and not a follower at all beyond trends and information crucial or related to Level Two, the name meant nothing to the Head Auror. The heat in his cheeks, however, was a good sign.

Her mouth opened to formulate her next carefully articulated statement when Fauna did it for her. Sidling a glance over at the girl, it was with immense amusement that she watched the Hufflepuff berate the Ravenclaw with a good deal of that backbone Raynor knew she had. She had to suppress a small smirk. The exchange was very enlightening on the two students relations – Tamis had never seen Fauna so easily or swiftly agitated.

Crossing her arms, she cast Archer a glance for the first time since this – Sasha – had arrived and despite their precarious situation, there was amusement there.  She was willing to see where the students took this confrontation. Fauna knew him and could probably persuade him much easier not to run to Snark than they could. And, Tamis really just wanted to see where that backbone took her.

There was a solidarity of silence amongst the adults standing behind Fauna.  Probably presented with the hopes of being intimidating.  Which, to a large extent they were being successful at.  Especially the fellow who had yet to say a word.  Compared to the Head of the Auror office and the glum-faced fellow behind her, Fauna was the easiest to focus his attention on. 

Besides, he reminded himself, he was in the right. 

Tulo?  Sasha looked curiously at the seventh year.  Fauna wasn't the only person Sasha had heard refer to the Healer in such a casual manner but it was certainly a convenient time to take note of the casual address.  He'd been hanging around the hospital facilities a fair bit to tend to the horses but he wasn't about to go calling her 'Tulo.'  Even if the woman was strange.

"The nurse?"  The tone in Sasha's voice made it clear he questioned the appropriateness of one of such a rank making that decision.  The Hospital Hut might have been the nurse's place, occupationally, but it was still school property.  "You've got authorization from the nurse.  I didn't realize she had that authority." 

He froze as she took a cheap shot at his trip to London.  A highly irrelevant argument.  This had nothing to do with that and was an entirely different situation.  "I had authorization from my Head of House and from the Department of International Magical Cooperation at the Ministry.  Though, I suppose, if I'd thought to ask the nurse, it'd be alright." 

Fauna's eyes narrowed. Her shoulders tensed. She visibly bristled at the phrase 'the nurse'. Fauna had thought Sasha had gotten along with Tulojow, since he'd been taking care of the horses in the morning and helping her out. Perhaps she was wrong, or perhaps he just wasn't thrilled about her mentioning his week-long trip away from school.

She resisted rolling her eyes when he explained exactly how he'd gotten authorization, as if she didn't already know. Though she supposed he wanted to make it clear to the Aurors as well.

"She's not just a nurse," Fauna said with a shake of her head. "She's... Tulo." It was the name that summed it all up, in her opinion, and the name she'd asked to be called. "She's a powerful Healer and she used to be an Auror and you should, I don't know, trust her decisions a little."

In Tulo's absence, Fauna couldn't help but feel defensive. The Healer had become one of her favorite people at Hogwarts, and with many of the professors leaving, one of the few that she trusted and respected completely.

"Anyway, we're just using her hut and the area around it, so I don't see a problem."

Fauna raised her eyebrows at him, not quite understanding what he was still doing here. She thought he'd just say 'oops, oh hi' and go on his merry way, but instead there was this tension in the air, thick as Merlin's woolen socks, and only gathering tighter around them.