The Midnight Watch

Charlie drifted off to sleep listening to Nadia's voice and awoke cursing his alarm. The shrill noise--never appreciated on the best of mornings--intensified the pounding in his head. He had a troll-sized hangover.

A muttered counter spell took care of the alarm. Charlie cracked open his eyes and flinched at the light streaming into the room. It was winter, for Merlin's sake. Why couldn't the day be overcast? He turned his head away from the uncovered window, toward the spot Nadia had rested. Two blue bottles and a note were propped against the pillow. He unfolded the parchment.

You had no Morning After potions in your cupboards, so I Apparated to Bucharest to obtain these for you and your friend. Forgive my prying, and remember to drink much water today.

N

Charlie pulled the stopper from the nearest bottle and chugged down the bitter tasting potion. Instantly, his headache eased, nausea was gone, and he no longer had to squint against the light. He sighed in relief. Forgive Nadia for prying--he'd kiss her! Not at that moment, though, even if it had been possible: the potion didn't alleviate the nasty taste in his mouth.

After he chewed brushing/flossing mints and took a shower, Charlie dressed and went to the kitchen to find Emil still hunched over the table. Charlie tapped him on the shoulder. "Drink this, mate."

Emil listlessly flailed an arm. "No more drinking. This I vow by--by--I forget." He clutched his head and groaned. "Hades, who cares, I'm dying, may as well drink." Emil drained the potion and sharply inhaled as it took effect "That was not brandy." He examined the bottle closely. "Where did you get this?"

"Bucharest."

"Which apothecary?"

None of his other friends would have asked. "I don't remember," Charlie said. "It's a Morning After potion. That's all that matters."

Emil's brows drew together. "There is no label. No expiration date. How did you know what you were buying? We could have drunk a contraceptive potion." His face lost all colour. "We could have drunk poison!"

"We didn't." Charlie poured and drank a glass of water and then handed one to his friend. "Here. Keep hydrated. I'm going to the dining hall."

Emil followed Charlie into the lounge. "Name the street, describe the shop. Something. Anything."

I should have dumped the stuff into a glass. Charlie grabbed his coat and patted the pockets to make sure his gloves had not fallen out."Okay. Since you're paranoid, I'll tell you. I didn't buy the potions. A friend did. I don't know where sh--my friend got them, but I know they're Morning After potions, not poison.

Emil's eyebrows climbed toward his hairline. "She?"

"Some men can be friends with women." Charlie tried to distract. "Where's my hat?"

"On the floor. Stop avoiding the question. Who is she, and how did she know you needed a Morning After potion?" Emil snapped his fingers. "Of course! You sneak her into your room. That is why you take so many showers!"

Charlie felt a flush crawl up his neck. He bent to pick up the hat in an effort to conceal it.

Emil was too observant. "Your face is red--is she married?"

"No."

"Then what do you have to hide from a friend?" Emil's tone rang with suspicion.

Dragon dung, the jealous bastard thinks I'm seeing Maia! "Her name is Nadia," Charlie said, "She's--Romanian--and we both prefer to keep our relationship private." He hoped that would satisfy Emil.

He should have known better.

"I want to meet her."

"I'll tell her--"

"Tonight."

If Charlie said no, Emil would use a Disillusionment Charm and risk frostbite to stake out his window. He was that stubborn. "Fine. When she visits, I'll bring her into the lounge to say hullo." Charlie jammed the hat onto his head and opened the door. "Goodbye."

"La revedere."

In the dining hall, Charlie saw Maia sitting by herself, looking glum. On any other day, he would have gone over and tried to cheer her up. That day, he headed straight for the food and then chose a table on the other side of the room. He didn't pay attention to the person sitting there until he had pulled out a chair. It was Vain Jane. Unable to move without being rude, he sat and said, "Good morning."

Jane sighed. "Isn't it? I took a walk." She patted her windblown hair. "There's a lovely breeze."

Charlie thought the gusts were icy, but if Jane considered having her lips frozen to her teeth "lovely", he wouldn't argue. He piled mortadella and provolone between slices of crusty white bread to make a sandwich. After several bites, he became aware that Jane gazed fixedly down at her teacup. Her vacant expression made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

As if Jane felt his stare, she turned her head. "Did you discover your destiny last night? I did. It was amazing."

Was she saying she and Etienne...? Charlie didn't believe it. No man in his right mind would prefer Jane to Aristita. She must have hooked her claws into someone else. "That's nice," he said, although he doubted Jane was listening. She was staring into her tea once more.

"I see a heart," she said dreamily. "Pleasures to come."

Vain Jane acting loony gave Charlie the creeps. It also killed his appetite. He muttered a farewell and left the table.

During the morning meeting he eyed his fellow keepers. None of them appeared doom-ridden or tormented by shame. Oliver and Kenneth narrowed their eyes against the sunlight and winced in pain each time Dimitrie's voice rose, but Charlie figured they were hung-over. Unless...

Could one of the two have been so rat-arsed he didn't remember becoming Jane's "destiny?" If so, Charlie hoped it was Kenneth instead of Oliver. Even though Emil called Oliver an idiot, Charlie thought he was a decent sort. Kenneth, on the other hand, quoted Shakespeare and parted his hair on the side because he'd been told it made him look like a young Gilderoy Lockhart.

Dimitrie rattled off the list of assignments. Charlie and Oliver were to assess the warming sand temperature in the Hungarian Horntail caves.

"I wanted to fly deep, shady gorges," Oliver said on the way to the broom shed. "Ever see a Muggle ice-pick? It feels like each ray of sunshine is driving one into my eyeballs."

"Vear sunglasses," Maia said. She conjured a pair.

Oliver smiled at her as he put them on. "You are my angel of mercy." He waggled his eyebrows. "However shall I thank you?"

"No gratitude is necessary. I vould do the same for anyone." Maia marched away.

"She's so disciplined," Oliver said. "I wonder if she spanks."

Charlie said, "I'd bet Maia would hex you if she heard you talk about her like that."

"She won't. I'm not stupid, but you're way too serious. I was only talking--"

"Through your arse."

Oliver laughed. "What can I say? I'm talented."

A memory flashed into Charlie's head of eight-year-old Fred and George mooning their elder brothers to show how they could talk through their arses. George had impersonated their mother while Fred mimicked Aunt Muriel. Charlie and Bill got tears in their eyes from laughing so hard. Across the corridor in his room, Percy had yelled, "What's so funny?"

"A smile? What? You've a sense of humour after all?" Oliver pretended shock.

Charlie said, "I'm laughing at the thought of how long it will take you to reach the caves on a Shooting Star." He Apparated.

It took Oliver fifteen minutes to catch up to him. Charlie had already used a Shrinking Spell on his broomstick and cast spells to muffle sound and neutralise scent. "You shouldn't try to force an old racing broom to go faster," he said. "Like other things, the Shooting Star responds better to gentle handling." He cast a Disillusionment Charm in time to deprive Oliver of a target for the piece of sandstone in his hand.

A few minutes later, they climbed the slope with only an occasional whisper or disturbance of pebbles to orient each other as to their position. When they reached the first cave, Charlie crawled forward. Oliver kept watch for returning dragons.

The Horntail egg remained securely nestled, but the volcanic sand had cooled since he'd checked it a few days ago. That was odd. Charlie cast a Heating Charm. In the back of her lair, the dragoness curled up, sleeping. It may have been a trick of the light, but her scales didn't seem to glitter as they usually did. He would note his observations in the log on his return to the centre. In the meantime, he had a patrol to finish.

Charlie backed out of the cave and gave the long, twittering call of the Alpine Swift--Oliver's cue to move on. While Charlie stood lookout at the second cave, he wondered how to tell Nadia that his housemate expected to meet her. Should he come straight out with the story or work his way around to it? If Bill were there to ask, smooth as he was with women, he'd surely advise his brother to chat first, get in a little snogging, and then confess what happened earlier. Charlie decided to make that his plan.

He restlessly waited for the sun to set and tried to think of things to chat about, and whether he should kiss Nadia before they talked about their day--in her case, night--or after. He was in such a state of anticipation; he threw his plan out the window the second a cat leapt into his room. "Emil wants to meet you."

Nadia transformed and stood looking at him. "You told him about me?"

"Not exactly." The whole story gushed out of his mouth like a miscast Aguamenti spell. Charlie couldn't help it. She'd sounded hurt, like he'd bragged about having a hot vampire girlfriend, which he hadn't, and wouldn't, because he wasn't an arsehole.

Nadia was smiling by the time he finished. "We will say we met in Bucharest?"

"That'll work," Charlie said. "A group of us went pub-crawling the weekend before my parents came to visit. Emil didn't go."

"Did you buy me a drink or did I make a move on you?"

"Emil would never believe I tried to get on with someone who looks like you," Charlie said. "You could say you liked my accent--"

"I like all of you." One moment, Nadia was metres away, the next she was kissing him, her fingers tangled in his hair to keep his mouth fused to hers until he was weak in the knees and gasping for air. "Pardon!" she cried. "I only wanted to show..."

"Don't worry, you showed me." He bent to kiss her softly.

Nadia melted against him and then pulled away. "My clothing," she said. "I need to remove."

Every muscle in his body tensed.

Nadia bit her lip. "I do not look like a girlfriend. I look like a thief, all in black."

"You mean change," Charlie said, finally comprehending. "Change clothes."

"Da." She touched the side seam of his jeans. "This material is suitable."

Charlie watched her trousers become blue denim. Nadia must have earned Outstandings in Transfiguration.

"My blouse has protective spells against stain and wear," she said. "It would be easier to tailor one of your shirts." She gestured to the wardrobe. "May I?"

"Sure."

She chose the Chudley Cannons T-shirt Ron sent for Christmas. "Orange and black like Halloween. It's very festive."

"It's yours."

"Mulţumesc mult!"

Charlie turned his back so she could switch shirts. "It's nothing. I'm not the Cannons fan my brother is. They haven't won a championship in a hundred years." The rustle of fabric was driving him crazy. It was too easy to imagine Nadia taking off her shirt--especially after seeing her in a low-cut dress. He said, "I wish I could give you something better."

"I am happy with my gift. Do you like the colour on me?"

He faced her and said, "It's beautiful."

"A shirt a girlfriend would wear?"

Charlie grinned. "Yeah."

In the corridor outside the lounge, Nadia slipped her hand into his.

"Partners hold hands," Charlie said. "Good thinking."

She whispered, "I am nervous, what if he does not approve?"

"Don't worry." Charlie led her into the room.

Emil was sitting in a chair, reading. He jumped to his feet. "Buna seara, I am Emil Morgenstern," he said to Nadia. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Nadia Tedescu," she said. "Buna. I am very pleased to meet you." She shook his hand.

"Your skin is cold," Emil said. "I will put another log on the fire."

"Te rog--please--do not go to the trouble," she said. "I will sit by Charlie on the sofa. He is very warm."

"It's the red hair," Charlie said. He squeezed Nadia's fingers lightly. Her answering squeeze almost made his eyes water, it was so strong. She really was nervous.

Once they all took a seat, Emil asked Nadia. "De undi esti?"

"Sunt din Bucuresti--I'm from Bucharest."

"You did not attend Durmstrang," Emil said. "Your face is unfamiliar. Did you study at home?"

"For many years. Costi is the best of teachers."

Emil leaned forward in his chair. "Costi sounds like a house-elf name," he said sharply.

"It is."

Charlie gave his friend a warning look. "Do you have something against house-elves?"

"I have something against pure-bloods who enslave them."

Nadia lifted her chin. "Costi is not a slave. He is my dearest friend."

"Of course he is dear to you--he obeys your every command," Emil shot back.

"Such ignorance and arrogance," Nadia said. "You know nothing to say such things."

Emil looked down his long nose at her. "I know you are strigoi."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A/N: Dun, dun, dun! To go Nightmare Before Christmas, I feel like my old cliffie self again and I just can't wait until next chapter 'cause I've got some new ideas that will really...you'll see. :D