Here Comes the Rain Again

[Constance Sykes]

March, 1886
 
Hogsmeade trips, by and large, tended to be something of a chore. If she wasn’t herding youths through the gates and down the long drive she was constantly on the look-out for misbehaviour in her students. Slytherin were doing far too well in the House Cup for them to let themselves down and lose now and a gentle reminder of that usually did the trick with most of her charges – but one never knew if they were taking it in or if they would choose to conveniently forget it when the opportunity for mischief presented itself.
 
Today was proving to be rather quiet though, partly, Connie assumed, because the majority of fifth and seventh years had had the wind put up them by the reminder that they were soon to be examined, and as such they had remained at the castle. It also probably helped that it had been threatening to rain all morning and, inevitably, the skies chose to open just as Connie stepped through the doors of Honeydukes.
 
Dashing towards the plaza and sparing little glance for where she was going Connie felt water dropping from her forehead into her eyes just as she reached the relative shelter of Shanks Street where at least she could hover in a doorway. And apparently she wasn’t the only one who had thought such a thing as the moment she stopped dashing she spotted another figure under the stone canopies above.
 
Unfortunately as she was spotting the familiar young woman she was not observing her feet and the shock of suddenly stepping in a puddle that concealed uneven cobblestones sent her stumbling forward; throwing out a hang to brace herself against the door Connie found herself face to face, almost literally, with one of the few people in the world that had been this close before.
 
“Hello.” She croaked, suddenly very aware of how much rain she appeared to have absorbing into her clothes and sliding ice cold down her back.

@'Victoria Hatchitt'
@'Atalanta Pendergast'

  

[Victoria Hatchitt]

It was not the first time Vix had found herself in this very position and she fought off the rebellious blush that the thought of that day usually produced. She had done her best to forget about the incident—she was, after all, a serious working woman now—but the shock of Madam Sykes' sudden appearance was enough to undo all of her hard work and she took an stumbling step back from the woman.

It hadn't been the matron's fault of course; they had been forced into an impossible position by Peeves and there had been nothing else to do but her behavior had been so abominable Vix felt a flush of shame just thinking about it. She had practically treated the woman like a leper when it had been her own feelings that had been deplorable—that she had enjoyed it was positively unnatural!

And she had been fond of Madam Sykes before Peeves. She ought to make an effort. "Hello matron," she greeted, attempting a carefree smile. "I hope you're not too wet?"

Smooth, Vix.

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   Lenora Waffling

[Constance Sykes]

Immediately blushing – luckily in such a way that could be put down to the cold air and exertion – Connie straightened herself up and felt more droplets of water slowing trickling down her back. Shuddering at the sensation she moved to press her back against the wall where it was safer sort of and she was standing shoulder to shoulder with the younger woman and not looming over her like a lunatic for goodness sake Constance!

“I’m sure I’ve been wetter.”

As a portion of the ground didn’t immediately open to do the charitable thing and swallow her whole Connie instead closed her eyes in momentary despair at her own idiocy and lack of any kind of sense whenever she was around Miss Hatchitt. Why did this keep happening? She was perfectly normal around other people! Wasn’t it enough that she had lurched at this poor girl, was it entirely necessary for her stupid mouth to utter things of a questionable nature to somebody she had probably scarred forevermore already?

“I hope you haven’t been stuck here too long Miss Hatchitt? I’d hate to think of you catching a cold.”

That was sufficiently matronly was it not? Assuming she had finally managed to be partly appropriate at least she allowed herself to turn her gaze upon Miss Hatchitt. Who was still exceptionally pretty. And eighteen Sykes, stop it!

  

[Victoria Hatchitt]

"Oh no, I haven't been here for very long," Vix replied, her colour returning thankfully to normal -- or as close to normal as she expected her cheeks would get in Madam Sykes' presence. She didn't think she would ever be able to face her again without blushing and remembering... well, that. "And I was barely caught in the rain. I managed to duck underneath here before the worst of it hit. Are you here on a Hogsmeade visit?"

  

[Constance Sykes]

“Yes, I thought it might just about hold but no such luck apparently,” she said, reaching up to wipe water from her face and wishing she’d had the sense to bring an umbrella. Or wear a hat as in retrospect it really had been rather obvious that it was going to pour down, especially given her questionable history of luck, and today was no different although she wasn’t sure whether bumping into Miss Hatchitt – almost quite literally – counted as good or bad.

“At least there are fires at the castle,” she mused aloud, thinking of hot baths and hotter drinks. Smiling gently and carefully constructing her expression into as matronly a one as she could manage Connie turned to Miss Hatchitt, keeping herself pressed against the wall as best she could to avoid the spray. “Do you miss it? I know I did when I first left. Well,” her smile twitched with amusement. “I barely really left.”

Which was a vast undervaluation of her actual age but Connie wasn’t going to blab that to the world!

  

[Victoria Hatchitt]

"Sometimes," Vix replied, flush beginning to fade as she remembered all she had loved about Hogwarts. Of course, it was difficult to separate the matron from all that she had loved (though that word was one she refused to even think!) but she thought of her friends instead, of the laughter, the adventures, and she flashed a smile at Madam Sykes. "Very much so sometimes, but I love my job." Except the time a muggle had attempted to sever her arm, but Vix preferred to put that thought in the same category as the time the woman next to her had kissed her. The very back of her mind.

  

[Constance Sykes]

Keeping track of former students was far from an unusual pastime for the majority of staff – she knew several that had entered into correspondence with graduates that had blossomed into perfectly acceptable friendships – but Connie had rather made a point of not checking up on Miss Hatchitt. No one would think anything of it of course but Connie couldn’t shake the sense that it was somehow dangerous. As such she was quite ignorant, which served her purposes now.

“And where are you working these days? Something in the Ministry?” She could hardly be blind to the robes the young woman was wearing after all, it was quite a natural observation. The fact that Miss Hatchitt looked to be thriving and was terribly pretty in the rain was perhaps not quite as innocent.

@'Victoria Hatchitt'
@'Andromache Pettigrew'

  

[Victoria Hatchitt]

"The Muggle Liaison Office," Vix replied, a touch of pride colouring her voice. She was quite aware that not everybody considered her department to be particularly important - indeed there were others that would rather it not exist at all - but Miss Croft's lessons had opened her eyes to the importance of magic and muggle co-operation and her time in the department had served to confirm it. "I'll have been there a year in June, although sometimes I still feel like a child masquerading as an adult!"

A feeling Vix supposed would go away in time. Even Minister Urquart had had to start somewhere!

@'Constance Sykes'
@'Helena Macmillan'

  

[Constance Sykes]

Chuckling Connie recalled the feeling only too well, although it had helped her enormously that her charges had all being significantly smaller than her even at eighteen. It had also helped that she had almost immediately entered into an affair with her mistress that had been anything but childish!

Perhaps best not to share that thought.

“Oh I doubt anyone would mistake you for a child anymore Miss Hatchitt,” she said with a soft smile that soon turned rigid as she considered the possibility that this rain was somehow magical and making her say these things. It certainly made her feel better to believe it wasn’t simply her own stupid mouth.

“You look, erm, very professional.”

@'Andromache Pettigrew'