After Party

Well, I Never …

Natalie subtly moved closer to the shirtless wizard sharing the couch with her. “Well, I never attended boarding school,” she harrumphed. All of the others were forced to drink.

Alexei flashed Natalie a wicked grin. “Well, I never attended public school.”

Natalie raised her glass along with Remus, Tonks and Snape. She glanced at her European counterparts, astonished.

“Primary school,” Snape purred as he leaned past her to refill his glass, his arm brushing against hers as he moved.

Ana raised her glass, examining it closely before adding, “Well, I ‘ave never practiced voyeurism.” She narrowed her eyes at Natalie, daring her friend to either drink or lie. Natalie quickly tossed back yet another shot, casting a disbelieving sneer at the others in the room.

“I do not believe that you have all refrained from, ahhh, watching when the opportunity arose, but I believe Ana would like to know the full story of a strange scene I happened upon one evening early this term.”

She shivered slightly, wrapping her arms around herself. Snape draped his elegant arm over her, pulling her closer to him for the warmth while Remus stoked the fire. She smiled gratefully at the two men, then continued, “Well, I never have seen anything quite like this before …”

The others scooted closer, listening attentively to the tale about to unfold.

“I couldn’t sleep one night. I left the carriage to take a walk by the lake, when I spied Madame Maxime sneaking off into the woods.” Natalie paused at this point in the story to conjure herself a glass of water, and shifting to kick off her shoes, folding her legs underneath herself. The renewed flames from the hearth flickered warmly over the expanse of skin exposed in the staff lounge.

“I was sitting on that big boulder in the shadow of the forest when I caught sight of a second person sneaking into the woods that night.” Natalie deliberately left out the small detail of seeing a student with the second person that night, though she wasn’t sure why.

“Who?” Tonks shifted forward, one arm draped over Remus’ leg now.

“Hagrid.” Natalie smiled, nodding at the astonished faces of the others. “I was just going to walk a bit further along the shore line, when I heard a distinct roar, and shouting.” She sipped her water. “Then, I swear I saw flames. Of course, my curiosity got the better of me, and I went to investigate.”

“The dragons!” Alexei hissed. “You knew about the dragons before the first!”

“Get over it, Alexei. Karkaroff knew as well as Dumbledore," Natalie rebuked him, rolling her eyes.  

Snape’s eyebrow shot straight up. Remus straightened himself in the chair, pensive look crossing his features. Alexei sulked in his chair.

“They were breathtakingly beautiful in their dangerousness.” Natalie sipped again from her water. “We have nothing comparable in the States. I watched the handlers for a while, then, decided I had better get back to try to sleep some.”

“No …” A sudden awareness washed over Snape. “They didn’t!”

“I happened upon a small clearing on my way back through the woods. I thought I felt the earth quake beneath my feet. I was caught off guard, and dropped down to a more stable stance.”

Remus’ eyes lit up. “Oh!” He gasped. “OH!”

Natalie giggled. “Oh … yes.” She shook her head, still in disbelief. “Our esteemed Headmistress and the Keeper of Keys were horizontal.”

Snape groaned.

“Ugh.” Tonks choked on her water.

Ana gasped, appalled. “Natalie, the Madame would not …” But Natalie simply fixed her baleful glance on her friend and nodded. Alexei grimaced, shuddering slightly.

“Oh c’mon now, it wasn’t like that. Although, I have spent considerable time around horses, and shall I just say that ‘hung like a horse’ is woefully inadequate in this instance.” She motioned her hands to indicate width, the drawing them apart to illustrate length.

All of the men groaned. Ana’s eyes flickered with an odd light. Natalie laughed heartily. “Needless to say, I never did get any sleep at all that night.”

“Well, I never …” sputtered Tonks.