(The thread title is a modified quote from the original Karate Kid movie: 'Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything')


Fauna had a lot to be happy about. Midterms were over, and she was going home on the train this afternoon. She and Devlin were, dare she say it, officially dating! Not everyone seemed pleased about it, but mostly Fauna tried to ignore the naysayers. It was easy to bask in the newness of the relationship when Devlin was around to put his arm around her, hold her hand, or kiss her. Doubts rushed to the forefront of her mind when she caught Maeve or another Slytherin smirking at the couple, as if she were the lead ingénue of a play put on for their entertainment.

But SAWS had made significant strides, as well. With Astrid back in the lead and the group meeting regularly again, ideas had taken root and were coming to fruition. A reporter had published their side of the story in the paper a little more than a week ago, and on Friday, only five days away, SAWS would hold a mixer at the RCMC!

As she walked towards the hospital hut, boots leaving deep imprints in the snow, she imagined that she was walking on fluffy white clouds.  The wind stung her face,  but she kept her head up, unaware of the little smile playing around the edges of her mouth. Things were turning around. Everything hung on the edge, and though these few serene moments were only temporary, they felt like they could last forever. Fauna had nearly forgotten the warnings from the centaurs; she'd tucked them away in her mind, along with the news about Gibson and the catastrophe at the dance.

She swung open the door of the hospital hut, not even bothering to knock, which was a far cry from the time she'd visited Akiva at the beginning of the year when she'd crept up to the door so quietly Tulo hadn't even heard her arrive.

"Hi!" She called out cheerily, stamping her feet on the mat to shake off the snow, and shutting the door firmly behind her. Her cheeks were rosy, her eyes were bright, and her smile stretched wide.

Fauna slipped off her coat and walked further in, looking around. She wondered if she might have time to visit Tulo over break. Fauna and Akiva were planning on ambushing Raynor with a shopping trip, and she'd be seeing Greyfriar soon, so it seemed only natural to include Tulo on the list of people she'd pester.

"Winter festival starts tomorrow," she announced in a hushed, excited voice, then let out a little laugh, realizing that Tulo and Tamis probably didn't think the festival was all that exciting anymore. In fact, Fauna hadn't been this excited about it in years, but things were different now. She had a new boyfriend to spend the winter with, as cheesy as that sounded, and she looked forward to seeing Ollie and Darcy again too.

Arms crossed, Tamis Raynor stood just out of view from the window, watching snow idly drift from the sky, adding to the white sparkling blanket that had consumed Hogwarts Grounds. Silent and still, she could have made a statue envious as she drifted lost in thought. The esteemed wizarding institution had throughout history been caught in the conflicts of the world. It was logical. Hogwarts was the prime system of education for the United Kingdom’s wizarding youth, and how to best influence the next generation than to go directly to the source? It was why, she allowed, there was always a power struggle between Headmaster and the Ministry of Magic.

Traditionally, the Headmaster advocated the best interest of the students and the Ministry, well; it was after its own interests. Usually there was conflict, bickering, a power struggle, and a resolution that met somewhere halfway. It was perhaps the most controversial issue with the new Headmistress; no one knew where her interests laid and many worried there would not be an appropriate balance. Smirking to herself, the Auror knew the answer. Analiza Snark had neither the interest of the students nor the Ministry at heart; she had her own agenda. For better or worse.

Glancing away from the winter scenery from beyond the window of the small hospital hut, Tamis glanced back instinctively as Tulojow Nagde shifted, chinaware clinking, no doubt in preparation of Fauna Blake’s arrival. They had not spoken much since the Auror had arrived, not that the younger woman was much of a conversationalist.

There were other more current events weighing heavily on the Aurors’ mind about the school. Kyle Gibson in particular. The mysterious Jack Spade as a close second. She had not liked the information Pratt had revealed to her more than a week prior and she had a feeling the Wizarding World would like it less. And if their information was true, if Kingstreet had a school aged accomplice somewhere in the castle. Then, more disturbingly, it was possible Kyle Gibson had been –

-- The door of the Hopsital Hut suddenly burst open, bringing an abrupt end to Raynor’s broodfest.

Simultaneously, the Auror both instinctively reached for the wand holstered at her hip and cringed as the furry of Scotland winter wind assaulted the warmth inside the hut. It was one memory of Hogwarts Life that she did not lament being done with. The petite woman simply did not have the body mass to tolerate the colder season. To this day she was not sure how she survived it.

The reprimand about so boisterously coming through the door and scaring the daylights out of her Auror reflexes unaware and unconcerned that there could have been trouble on the other side of it, died on Raynor’s lips at the pink-tinged, wind-wiped grin spread enthusiastically across the teenager’s face.

“Constant Vigilance, Fauna,” Tamis reminded simply instead, slipping her wand back onto her hip.

The Hufflepuff seemed… even more cheerful than usual. Too cheerful. “Is this your first time attending a Winter Festival?” She asked bemused. A nice subtle interrogation.

"Sorry!" Fauna replied in an almost-whisper, as if she'd been talking too loudly in the library and Mr. Morgan had scolded her. She put her hand over her mouth to hide an amused grin at Raynor's 'Constant Vigilance' remark, as the woman tucked her wand away and seemed to compose herself.

"No," she shook her head and laughed again, resisting the urge to tack on 'silly' at the end of that sentence. One did not call Tamis Raynor silly, even in jest. It just seemed... wrong, somehow! But of course she'd been to the winter festival before; she'd simply never been so excited about it since the first time she'd gone.

Fauna sat down across from her and cupped her chin in her hands, foot jiggling underneath the table. A second later she heard sounds from the kitchen and turned around to wave cheerily at the Healer. "Hi, Tulo!"

"Anyway," Fauna looked back at Raynor and shrugged. "It's just... different this time, that's all. I'm really happy to get a break from school, for one. And the mixer is happening on Friday. And you know, I'll get to spend time with friends. Friends are good. Important," she nodded as she stated the obvious.

"You have plans, don't you?" she asked Raynor suddenly, eyebrows flying up. "Something fun."

Fauna paused. "I mean, for the winter holidays. Though the lesson today can be fun, right?" She glanced out the window at the snow and wondered if she'd be able to get away with starting a snowball fight. Unlikely, since Radley wasn't here to encourage shenanigans. Drat.

"Not that it normally isn't," she rambled on in an upbeat tone, grinning easily at her.

She was probably one of the few people she knew who could say she felt very comfortable around the Head Auror, whose title alone often inspired respect from others. However, she'd never acted quite so relaxed around her before, and there had always been a faint trace of shyness.  Today, that was gone, and though some of it could be attributed to how often they saw each other and Fauna's increasing confidence, her current mood was mostly caused by puppy love for Devlin Matthews.

Fauna hadn't yet told her new boyfriend what she was up to every Sunday. Telling too many people would be a bad idea, she reasoned, and she almost wanted Devlin to think she'd been changing all on her own. She'd improved so much since her first lesson at the hut in September, and she finally felt up to par with the rest of her peers in Defense. Fauna didn't dare admit that to Raynor or ask when this would be over. A part of her felt guilty for taking up her time, but she liked seeing her, she liked learning, and she didn't want it to end.

Someone had slipped the seventeen year old a strong dose of Felix Felicis. It was the only probable explanation.

Fauna Blake was overall a cheerful, optimistic individual, regrettably (or not so regrettably) more lacking in her naivety of late. At least in the respect that the world could be a big bad, scary place and learning how to survive in it was rather pertinent. However, the Auror was quite willing to promote the young lady’s innocent on… other topics. Despite Blake’s perpetual and rather contagious Hufflepuff charm, she usually maintained a level of reservation around Raynor that the petite woman had come to expect of most individuals. The seventh year was… positively ‘giddy’. 

Blinking several times up at Fauna, the Auror’s grays trailed downward as the young woman sat down, one hand still resting on her wand holster and an eyebrow perked to her hairline. The eyebrow inched a little higher as she was bombarded with questions. Compressing her lips Tamis shifted, not about to admit to her semi-student that she had never, in fact, attended a Winter Festival. The Hogwarts version of Tamis Raynor had always had a more… eventful… agenda for when everyone else was building snow men and singing carols with couples making mushy faces at each other all night.

She highly doubted Fauna Blake, after seven years of exposure, was excited about horseless carriage rides and Bertie Bott's flavored snow cones. ‘Friends’ are good, indeed.  “I am sure Auror Radley will be glad to know that you still consider our lessons entertaining even when he is not here,” Tamis smirked back. Not that she was ever telling him that. His ego was too easily encouraged as it was. She crossed her arms. “Though I hope you are also gaining something other than enjoyment from these meetings.” According to the snooping she had done in the Hufflepuff’s records in the last of the SAWS investigation files, she was making some progress at least.

Flush cheeks. Beaming, otherworldly personality. A sense of security and lack of appropriate attention to her surroundings. Winter festival day dreaming. Anticipating… friendly… company.

While an overdose of liquid luck was most probable it was not the only possible explanation.

Tweaking the seat back, Raynor sat across the table from Fauna, resting her elbows on the wooden surface and clasping her hands in front of her. Tilting her head to one side, she pulled her lips back into an agreeable enough smile that did not quite reach the knowing in her eyes. She stared at the teenager for a long moment this way, nodding her head to herself. Then, she leaned forward, pressing her elbows further into the table and asked, “Who is he?”

Oh, she got the eyebrow raise. And not just the mild eyebrow raise, but the spiked eyebrow raise. There was a difference! Add to that the pursed lips, and those were Fauna's first clues that Raynor considered her behavior to be a touch abnormal.

Fauna's smile dimmed slightly as she attempted to look more composed and serious. She nodded with enthusiasm when Raynor commented that she hoped Fauna got more out of their lessons than 'having fun'.

"Definitely!" Her eyebrows raised in an earnest expression. "No, really. It's just fun, too. Helpful and fun..." she trailed off as the Auror gave her a searching look. Through experience, Fauna knew better than to squirm or look nervous, because that would only make Raynor smirk more. So she stopped fidgeting, and put on her most innocent expression: widening her eyes, smiling a little, and tilting her chin up as if she had a halo to balance over her head. Fauna had used this tactic many times with her mother. And like her mother, Tamis didn't buy it.

“Who is he?”

"Who?" Fauna replied, affecting such a surprised expression that her eyes looked like they'd bug out of her head.

She quickly glanced back at the kitchen; Tulo was still busy. No help there. When Fauna looked back at Raynor, she let out a mischievous giggle, propped her chin in her hands, and leaned forward.

"Okay, okay! Just don't give me that 'look'!"

She shook her head, "I don't know how you could tell. It's not like I normally walk around all doom and gloom, right?" Truth be told, Tamis wasn't the only one who had noticed a rather cheerful change in Fauna. Her housemates, friends, and even peers had practically known she was dating Devlin before she'd even said it!

"Devlin Matthews," she finally told her in an excited whisper.

"Seventh-year Ravenclaw," she emphasized, hoping it would score her new boyfriend some brownie points. "He's... smart and cheeky and a bit of a prankster." More brownie points? "And sweet and funny and handsome." Of course.

"We've been flirting for, well, a while now, and we went to the Halloween dance together, but he just asked me out at the beginning of the week. And so now we're dating. I have a boyfriend," she continued, sounding amazed. "And I just... I can't wait for winter break so I can spend time with him," Fauna blushed, realizing how much she was babbling and just how much of a teenager she sounded like. But she was a teenager. Despite her attempts to act more like an adult around Raynor, mostly because she looked up to her and wanted to impress her, now was one of those times where she simply couldn't help but come across as a very naive, very infatuated 17 year-old.

“Who.” The Head Auror agreed. Since the seventeen year old had not contested the “he”, the Auror felt pretty confident about her assumption. There was not so much as a flicker of reaction on Raynor’s face as the girl’s bright sapphire eyes bulged or when she nervously perked her head up, looking for a savior. If Tulojow Nagde was listening to their conversation – and the Auror knew the woman was – she was wise enough not to interject. Or, like Tamis, was doing her best not to let her amusement show while Fauna Blake squirmed.

That giggle had been so adolescent in nature, Tamis almost warily leaned back from the table as Fauna leaned in, her eyes gleaming with the excitement of something secret and exciting in the world of a teenager. Determined not to lose the ruse, Raynor remained rooted and unyielding in her poise. It was like sitting two opposite mirror images. The Auror, dark haired and light eyed, expression set and leaning forward with cool expectancy. The student, dark haired and light eyed, expression wide and mischievously gleaming, leaning forward with vivid anticipation. Neither seemed willing to give up their ruse.

Look? Tamis Raynor did not have a look – she convinced herself as her already spiked eyebrow tweaked higher and she pursued her lips. Absolutely did not have a ‘look’’.

“ ‘Telling’ is my job, Blake,” she reminded the girl, though a remedial first year on flobberworm juice would have been able to “tell” the difference in Fauna Blake. It was almost as this was her first – it was.

She had a boyfriend, emphasis included. Or, in other words, she had her first boyfriend. The excitement and innocent flushed cheeks, the whimsical disbelief. This was not good at all. The explanation made it worse. Ravenclaw. Intelligent. Cheeky. Tendency to be mischievous. The Head Auror knew what those sorts of boys were like. She had been friends with those sorts of boys; flirted with those sorts of boys. She knew how their minds worked and what they tended to grow up to be – they were not traditionally the gentlemen of society. Silently, Raynor was wondering if that was Devlin Matthews with two “t”s, or one.

Finally leaning back, Tamis kept her hands extended out in front of her on the table, fingers laced and her thumbs rubbing against each other as she pinned the hufflepuff with that gray eyed gaze. Surely Fauna was old enough to have been… cautioned… about teenage boys? Merlin, boys in general, Raynor rectified after considering her own boyfriend. She had a mother. A mother who had… talked… to her about such things.

The Aurors expression became pained, caught apprehensively somewhere between wanting to ask, knowing better than to ask, and convincing herself out of asking. Maybe she should settle for subtly teaching Fauna a couple of useful spells should he try to… She cleared her throat, and her mind.

“It sounds like… you will have a very productive break,” she said diplomatically. Better not be too productive or Raynor and this Mr. Matthews were going to need to talk. … … Hesitance.  “Constant Vigilance, Fauna.” The Auror repeated, in much different context. 

Fauna knew better than to expect Raynor to giggle over her tea and grin at her indulgently. 'Telling' was Raynor's job; acting enthusiastic was Akiva's. Tulo's job? Well, she supplied the tea that made the world go 'round (and her words of wisdom were not to be missed, either).

Still, she studied the woman's expression carefully, hoping for a sign of approval. Raynor had stoicism down to an art form, but Fauna was becoming more and more adept at deciphering her facial expressions these past few months. They were extremely subtle and easy to miss if she wasn't looking carefully enough. Fauna was looking now, reading into every eyebrow raise and gesture. Raynor had leaned back and clasped her hands together, and Fauna glanced at her thumbs, then at her face.

Was that... apprehension? Ever a flicker of confusion? Fauna looked immediately worried as the Auror cleared her throat. What had she said? Had she not thrown in the proper amount of positive adjectives to describe her new boyfriend? Or had she gone overboard?

Her brow furrowed in confusion when Raynor mentioned a 'productive break'. That was an odd choice of words.

“Constant Vigilance, Fauna.”

Fauna blinked at her for a few seconds. Oh. Oh! She meant... uh oh.

What Raynor might lack in expressiveness, Fauna made up for in spades. Though she was getting slightly better at masking her emotions when she was dueling or practicing spells, and she was even getting better at reading people, she still exuded emotion in everyday conversation. Every feeling or thought swept across her face for the world to see, as if she were on stage and had to project to a distant audience. Up close, the effect was somewhat comical. Her face turned red, her eyes went wide, and her mouth opened in slight 'O'.

"I..." She finally spoke. "Don't worry. We're... I mean, we just started dating." Fauna was too embarrassed and startled to be offended by the assumption that she and Devlin were going to... you know. Fauna couldn't even talk about it without giggling.

"Anyway!" Fauna went on, taking a gulp of tea. "Um. So, what are we doing today?" She asked with a hint of desperation, wanting to move onto another subject.