Secrets

Chapter 14 - Secrets Shared

The next morning, with an extra amount of prodding, Padma and Lisa managed to get Kyra out of bed and down to the Great Hall for breakfast. She seemed to be doing a little better, though she said very little whenever anyone tried to speak to her. Kyra chewed on her cinnamon roll mechanically, barely tasting the deliciously hot goodness.

The Ravenclaws headed to Professor Binns' History of Magic class, but Kyra didn't hear a word the ghost said. Her thoughts were on Justin, remembering the way he used to stroke her cheeks and brush loose strands of hair behind her ear while they were kissing. She thought of all the wonderful things he had taught her. But mostly, she thought about all the things she had wanted to do with him that she was never going to be able to do now that he was gone.

Lisa finally pulled her out of her reveling. Class had been dismissed, but Kyra hadn't budged.

"I'm sorry," she apologized to her friend in a sad voice.

Lisa smiled softly in response. "That's okay, Kyra. I understand. I miss him too," she replied.

Professor McGonagall intercepted the girls in the corridor as they exited the History of Magic classroom.

"Miss Bradley," she said, "would you come with me please?"

Kyra and Lisa exchanged looks. Professor McGonagall was most likely annoyed that Kyra had skipped her class yesterday.

Lisa tried to smile reassuringly at her friend, who turned and silently followed the Transfiguration teacher down the corridor. They came to a stop in a small rotunda.

"Saltwater taffy," said Professor McGonagall.

To Kyra's amazement, stairs began to rotate into view. Professor McGonagall led her up the stairs. Though she'd never been there before, Kyra knew that the stairs led to Professor Dumbledore's office. If she was being taken to the Headmaster, that could only mean that they had found out about her relationship with the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Kyra dragged herself up the stairs behind the Transfiguration professor. A couple of the portraits greeted her as she entered the Headmaster's office. He was seated behind his desk, sipping from a cup.

"Please accept my sincerest apologies," the Headmaster said to her. "With the recent events being what they are, I'm afraid I forgot to consider what your reaction would be to the news."

Kyra was confused. Why was the Headmaster apologizing to her? Even if he had known about their relationship, she still would have been just as upset no matter how anyone broke the news to her.

Professor McGonagall stepped to one side of the room, moving aside so Kyra could come further into the room. There was a young man seated in a chair on the other side of the office. When she caught sight of him, Kyra's heart skipped a beat. He saw her at the same time, and rose from his chair.

Not caring in the slightest that both Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall were in the room, Kyra dashed across the room and threw herself into his arms.

"Justin!" she cried happily, tears flowing down her face. She was so happy to see him she wouldn't have cared if the world were watching.

Justin Bale hugged her tightly and looked over her shoulder at the Headmaster. "You knew?" he asked, an amused tone in his voice. Professor McGonagall, he noted, had a rather shocked expression on her normally stern face.

"My dear boy," Dumbledore said over his tea, "you'll find there are few things that occur in this castle of which I am not aware." He smiled a very knowing smile. "I must say, however, that I am most impressed with the length of time that you have managed to keep your secret. As you know, those do not usually last very long in these halls."

"Headmaster," Justin said seriously, "you should know that the blame is entirely mine. Please don't punish Kyra. Had I taken her advice, nothing would have ever happened."

"Punish Miss Bradley?" the Headmaster looked at Justin curiously. "Why would I punish either of you?"

"We're not in trouble?" Kyra spoke up, eyeing Professor Dumbledore in surprise.

Professor Dumbledore shook his head and smiled. "There are no rules preventing teachers from romancing students."

"There aren't?" Professor McGonagall sounded surprised.

"No. As all of you should be aware, Professor Bale is the youngest teacher Hogwarts has ever employed. This has simply never happened before. And seeing as how they have set a good precedent," the Headmaster continued, "I see no reason to write one now."

"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore," Justin said sincerely, and planted a soft kiss on Kyra's forehead.

Kyra didn't know what to say or do. Her poor brain had been shocked so many times in the past couple of days that it was having trouble functioning properly. First she'd lost the love of her life, and now he was here, in her arms again. So that was one problem solved, she realized. Next she'd found out that Professor Dumbledore had known about their relationship the whole time, but that they weren't in trouble, or being told they had to stop seeing each other. That made two problems solved. But no one had told her why.

"I'm certainly not complaining," Kyra said slowly, "but I don't understand. What happened?" She turned to Professor McGonagall. "Why did you tell us he was..." even though it wasn't true, she found she was still unable to say the word dead.

Justin sat back down on the chair and pulled her onto his lap. "Professor Dumbledore has told me that the students already know most of the story, so can we assume you've heard it too?" he asked her gently.

She nodded, not taking her eyes off his face.

"So you know I was on an undercover assignment for... the Ministry," he said, casting a glance over her shoulder at the Headmaster. Kyra nodded. "Right," he continued. "I learned of a Death Eater plot to steal something, but they discovered me before I got away. Knowing who I was, they gave chase, and caught up with me. I'd managed to contact two of my co-workers before they caught me though, who showed up just before the Death Eaters managed to use a Killing Curse on me." She shuddered, and he hugged her reassuringly. "Without the Death Eater's knowledge, another Auror hit me from behind with a petrification curse. Luckily the Death Eaters fell for it, and were convinced that they'd killed me. They fled, and my friends took me to St. Mungo's.

"I was in pretty bad shape, but the healers worked wonders on me. Once I was revived, I reported what I'd learned, and who it was that had attacked me. We had to make the Death Eaters think I was dead though, so that they would believe their secret plan was safe and continue with it as scheduled.

"As far as the Professors here were aware, I was deceased. I really wanted to be able to contact you and let you know I was okay, but that would have required telling someone about us, and I was afraid of the consequences," he searched her face, silently asking for her forgiveness.

"I understand," she said softly.

He smiled at her. "Everything turned out well though. The Death Eaters went along with their plan, but we'd set up a trap for them. All six who attacked me have been sent to Azkaban. So this morning I came by Hogwarts to see Professor Dumbledore and ask for my job back."

Kyra was so happy she could have kissed him, so she did. It was a short kiss, but full of all of the emotions she'd been feeling for the past 24 hours.

"So is that it?" she asked when they parted. "Can everything go back to normal now?"

"I believe so," Professor Dumbledore replied. "Though the two of you no longer have to be quite so secretive if you don't wish to be," he added with a wink.

The Headmaster stood up. "Professor McGonagall," he turned to the Transfiguration teacher. "Would you please inform the students that Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons will resume after lunch?" he requested. "I'll see that the teachers are informed," he added, ushering her out of the office.

Kyra and Justin suddenly found themselves alone in Professor Dumbledore's office. Kyra looked at him, and wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry, or kiss him again to make sure he was really there. As a result, she ended up doing a little of each. He held her, and told her how sorry he was to have put her through all of that pain and suffering. He couldn't help being touched by how much she had missed him. No one had ever cared for him that much before, and it made him love her even more, if that were possible.

Once she was finally satisfied that he wasn't going to disappear if she let go of him, they descended the steps from the Headmaster's office. Justin had classes to see to, and Kyra went off in search of her friends. It was lunch time, so she expected she would find them in the Great Hall.

"Kyra!" Lisa exclaimed as she approached the Ravenclaw table. "Did you hear?" she asked excitedly.

Kyra nodded, the enormous smile on her face showing her friends that she was well aware of the news.

"Do you believe it?" Noel asked. "McGonagall and Dumbledore actually got false information. He was only seriously injured and left for dead. He showed up for work this morning and took the teachers completely by surprise!"

"I know, isn't it wonderful?" Kyra replied happily, ignoring the fact that Noel didn't have the facts completely straight. Professor Dumbledore may not have told the students the entire story, and if that was the case there was probably a reason for it.

Her appetite fully restored, Kyra joined her friends for a celebratory luncheon feast. They unfortunately didn't have Defense Against the Dark Arts class again until Thursday, which meant she wouldn't get a chance to see Justin again until the next day, but just knowing he was alive was more than enough to get her through the rest of her day.

They had Quidditch practice after dinner, and Kyra flew her heart out. Noel and Terry both noticed, and commented that it was good to have her back. After practice was over and the team returned to the common room, Kyra pulled Lisa aside.

"Lisa, I kind of have something I wanted to talk to you about," she said quietly so no one would overhear her.

Lisa looked at her friend curiously. "Sure, what's up?" she asked, setting down her Charms book.

Kyra looked around, debating. "Um... why don't we grab Terry and Noel - since I know you'll want to tell Terry anyway, and he'll want to tell Noel - and go up to their dorm?" she suggested.

"Sure," Lisa replied, and rounded up the boys.

The four of them headed up to the boys' dormitory and shut the door behind them. Lisa and Kyra sat on Terry's bed, while Noel and Terry plopped onto Noel's bed.

"What's up?" Terry asked, kicking off his sneakers.

"Um..." Kyra paused. Now that she had them up here, she wasn't sure if she should really tell them. But it had been her secret for long enough, and she was dying to have someone to talk to about things, and Justin had said he didn't mind if she wanted to tell her best friends.

She took a deep breath, and continued. "I thought I owed it to the three of you to tell you why Professor Bale's death bothered me so much."

Lisa smiled at her friend and patted her on the back soothingly. "Kyra, that's okay. We understand."

"No," Kyra replied, shaking her head. "I don't think you do."

"It's okay, Kyra," Terry told her. "We figured out that you had a crush on Professor Bale a few weeks ago."

Kyra looked at her friend in surprise. "You did?"

Lisa nodded. "I honestly wish I'd have been as clever as you were at making up excuses to spend more time with him," she said. "But then again, if I had, Terry might never have asked me out," she added, smiling at him.

"Don't worry, though," Noel assured her. "We won't tell anyone."

Kyra shook her head and smiled. "Thanks, guys, but that's not quite what I wanted to tell you."

"It's not?" Lisa asked.

Kyra shook her head again. "No. I don't have a crush on the professor," she told them. "I'm actually in love with the professor." She paused, and they looked at her like she'd lost her marbles. "And he's in love with me," she finished.

The other three students just stared at her in stunned silence. After a few moments, Terry finally closed his mouth and said, "You're joking, right?"

Again, Kyra shook her head. "We've been dating since the beginning of February."

Silence reigned in the room for several heartbeats. Lisa was openly gaping at her friend. Terry was trying to figure out if she was serious or seriously joking, and Noel didn't know what to think.

Lisa finally said what was on all of their minds. "Seriously?" she asked.

Kyra nodded.

"Damn, Kyra," Noel breathed. "That's wicked! You've been having an affair with the teacher for three months?"

"I can't believe you didn't tell me!" Lisa exclaimed, feeling slightly hurt.

"I was a little afraid you'd kick my ass," Kyra told her. "After all, you were the one with the crush on him."

Lisa looked at her curiously. "When did you hook up? Was it before or after Terry asked me to the dance?"

Kyra smiled. "That same night, actually."

"So who made the first move?" Terry wanted to know.

She grinned. "He did."

"Seriously?" Lisa exclaimed.

"Wow, Kyra, apparently we never truly appreciated you for the Siren you are!" Noel added, and Kyra blushed.

"Dang. Sorry Terry," Lisa apologized to her boyfriend, "but I'm jealous, Kyra."

Kyra laughed. "And you had to ask why I didn't tell you?"

"All right," Lisa replied, "you win. You seriously win." She grinned at her friend.

The four friends talked for a while longer, and Kyra made each of them promise not to breathe a word about her and Justin to anyone. They briefly gave her flack about calling him Justin, but then admitted that the whole thing was really awesome and that they were thrilled for the both of them.

That night was the first one all week that any of them got a good night's rest.

~*~