Keeping the Peace

[Martine Laurent]

After curfew, Martine made her merry way down to the lakefront - partially as patrol, and partially to enjoy the cool night air. She was a little apprehensive about the patrolling bit, because quite frankly, having seen what some of the students got up to in the library, she didn't want to know what went on after curfew. Nevertheless, she, as a member of staff, figured it was best to go down to the grounds and make sure everything was safe.
Her reasons were more selfish, anyway. She wasn't tired, she wanted the fresh air, and she had a feeling tonight Nicolas was meant to be on patrol. Any excuse to see him...
Running a hand through her short, wavy locks, Martine hummed very quietly to herself as she walked around by the lake, illuminated wand in hand - just in case.

 

[Nicolas King]

Nicolas hadn't seen Martine in a several days, and was hoping that he would be able to catch her on the grounds that evening as he locked his office door and slipped a cloak over his shoulders before making his way toward the main staricase of the castle. Over the preceding days Nicolas had made a point to busy himself with as much to do with the school as he could in order to ensure that Cecily has as little work to do as possible, and that he wouldn't be leaving her in a swamp when he asked her to take the leave he intended to request quite shortly.

Nicolas had been required to stay at the school over the summer break, for varied reasons but mostly to keep an eye on the students who also stayed there, which was understandable enough. This also meant, however, that he hadn't been able to use the gift Cecily had generously give him. In fact, the gift had slipped his mind entirely and he'd yet to mention it to Martine. It was with a smile on his face that Nicolas resolved to himself to tell Martine about his plans this evening.

Stepping out in to the cool night air around the castle, Nicolas inhaled deeply, enjoying the freedom of the outdoors, before exhaling and looking about him at the grounds. Fortunately, there seemed not to be any students around and he hoped it would stay that way throughout the evening. Looking across to the lake, Nicolas spotted Martine beginning to patrol the area and he smiled to himself, pleased that he'd be able to speak with her and tell her about his plans.

Nicolas ran leisurely toward Martine, coming up alongside her and wrapping an arm around her before kissing her cheek softly. "I'd hoped to see you out here."

 

[Martine Laurent]

Martine smiled to herself as the very man she had been thinking of appeared by her side. She knew he had a lot on his plate, what with being the headmaster of the school. Which wasn't to say the headmistress wasn't a capable woman - in fact, she was more than capable of managing the school, except she was recently married and obviously had other things on her mind. Which was perfectly understandable. Martine reasoned that if she was recently married, her work as an Auror might take a back seat. That, of course, wasn't something she'd care to say out loud, given that the Aurors had such an important job to do (or in her case, important paperwork to file) but in any case, it was the truth.

So naturally, Martine hadn't seen an awful lot of Nicolas lately. Still, the twenty-six year old threw herself in to her work - both as an Auror and as a librarian - and relished the opportunities she did have to spend time with the object of her affections.

"I am certainly glad I didn't get your hopes up, then," she replied, beaming. "I trust you're keeping well and not overworking yourself, oui?" she added, slight concern evident in her tone. Surely, he was fine, but she hadn't seen him in quite a few days, even if they were living in the same castle, and therefore she wanted to make sure.

((omg so lame I am sorry))

 

[Nicolas King]

Nicolas chuckled lightly, and mostly to himself, as Martine asked how he was. Her concern for him was obviously sincere, but it was also quite humorous to Nicolas that she should be concerned at all. He made his living as an Auror, he faced far more stressful and life threatening situations on nearly a daily basis outside of the school and now she was concerned he may be overworking himself... doing paperwork once more.

"Yes, I've been well enough." Nicolas assured Martine with a tone of reassurance in his voice. Martine didn't need to be worried about him when she had so much going on for herself. He hadn't meant to cause her any concern in his mild disappearing act over the past several days, but he'd trusted that she should understand (which, for the most part, she did seem to). "And you? Any more goings-on in the Library?" Nicolas teased jovially, knowing that Martine hadn't been very pleased with her last interesting encounter with students there.

Coming to a stop, Nicolas turned to face Martine, a smile on his face. "There was a reason I'd wanted to see you this evening. I mean, more than just for your company." He began, moving the arm that had just been around her to take her hand softly in his. "I figured that we could both use a break, so I've made arrangements for us to leave the castle in a week's time and go just about anywhere you'd like together." Nicolas explained, watching Martine's expressions as he spoke, "I trust this wasn't too presumptuous of me, but I have missed you terribly."

 

[Martine Laurent]

Martine flushed slightly at his reaction - sure, it had been a silly question to ask, but she liked the man, and was concerned for his wellbeing. Even if this job was quite far removed from typical Auror fieldwork. "The Library is as always. A place for some students to study and others to, well, let's just say I should impose a ban on couples studying together," Martine said, with a sly smirk. The one thing she'd picked up this year - students were ridiculously hormonal. She couldn't remember being like that at all, then again, she had attended Beauxbatons, so more than likely it had. Martine had just been too busy keeping up her studies to notice.

"Oh?" she replied, as Nicolas began to explain why, exactly, he'd wanted to see her. Aside from the obvious. And as he explained, Martine had the rather ungraceful reaction of her jaw dropping - and she stood there simply gaping at Nicolas, almost floored by what he had said. She hadn't expected that at all. "Uhh," she began, trying to compose herself once more. "Now, I wasn't expecting that," she explained, smirking playfully. "And no, it was not too presumptuous at all. I would be absolutely delighted for a break, especially with you." She beamed, almost shyly, at this, but she was now quite excited for what would come. A break away from Hogwarts with Nicolas...it almost sounded too perfect to be true.

 

[Nicolas King]

Nicolas hadn't quite expected such a dramatically visual expression from Martine when he told her his plans, and he smiled quite excitedly as she started to try to collect herself in order to reply. As Martine made out that she hadn't been expecting the break, Nicolas chuckled, leaned in, and gave her a soft kiss. "If you'd have expected it, it would have been quite a horrible surprise." He explained, beginning to walk once more with Martine's hand in his own, enjoying the evening already.

Nicolas was quite glad at Martine's reaction, he'd hoped she would react positively, but over his years had learned full well that women were more mysterious in their reactions to things than he 'oft gave them credit for. He was thankful, too, for Cecily's generous gift - though he wasn't sure he would mention Cecily to Martine. For some reason, he felt that mentioning it was his ex-girlfriend who gave him not only the idea but the tickets might set Martine off a bit. Nicolas now hoped, in a week's time, that he could make up for his absences from the woman whom he'd come to love over the past several months, and whom he had dragged along with him to Hogwarts. 'Surely she could be doing much more exciting things at the Ministry right now.' Nicolas often told himself, feeling guilty for bringing Martine along and leaving her to herself most of the time. Surely this could help make up for that, then come year's end she'd be free to leave the school - even if he had to stay for whatever reasons.

"Have you any ideas where you would like to go?" Nicolas enquired of Martine after a few moments of silence, figuring he would have to finalize some plans once she decided - he had no preference, so long as she was happy and he was with her.