Open Reverse surprise

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

It was Elvera's first day back at the school. Elvera wasn't sure how many first days of school she had had but there were a few that were more prominent than the others. the first had been the year she had walked down the centre of the great hall. and had the sorting hat placed on her head to sort her. The second was when she had walked down the centre of the great hall and accidentally sat at the Ravenclaw table when she was meant to be sitting with the professors. the third she wasn't at the school but last year. the first day of the year when her daughters had entered the great hall as students and were placed in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. This year she was back at the castle again teaching divination again. in some ways it felt weird. but in others, it was the most natural job for her to be doing. especially as she didn't have her own girls to teach at home. she had missed them last year. if you had asked her the first time she had entered the great hall what her mission in life was she would not have said a teacher. but now she knew that was what she belonged doing.
She didn't have any classes. and whilst she thought she should be at the shop she knew that Alana would be able to handle it. easily. it wasn't a busy shop. and she had given the girl permission to sit and read or do something else if they were quiet. today Elvera was getting reacquainted with the castle and the people in it. one of her stops was the library. she hoped that the head librarian would be around. after he had surprised her in the shop last year she was hoping to do the same here. she wasn't sure how quickly the news of new staff reached the other staff. there was usually notice on the professors' common room notice board. but the librarians had their own areas. she didn't know if Stefan knew that she was back or not. she wandered through the shelves looking at all the books she hadn't realised that she had missed. standing in the section on divination and just looking at the range of books before her.

 

[Stefan Archer]

Stefan had heard some rumours that an old friend of his was back at school, that someone who had been . and taught at the school was back again. Of course at his age, old friends being back at school tended to happen during graduation ceremonies and when they returned as professors. He knew this would be the latter if it was in fact true. He just didn’t want to really venture to other places in the school if he was not entirely certain of what he might find. There was nothing that would frustrate him more than getting his hopes up like that. But it seemed, as luck would have it, that she would end up in his little corner of the school first, whether intentional or not. He didn’t quite believe it as he’d been in the private library area when he’d seen her pass, she hadn’t noticed him and Stefan had certainly been too surprised to call out to her. The librarian put down what he was doing and headed out of the private section to find her. Knowing the first place to look for his old divination professor. ”Elvera!” he spoke with a pleased tone when he finally spotted her, ”I heard rumblings that you were back!” the librarian had a wide smile on his face. He was always happy when he saw her, and it would be nice to have her in and around the school again. Having her back at the school would mean he had someone to share the occasional tea or coffee with, he was very pleased to see her again, as was very evident in his wide smile.​

 

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

Elvera turned around when she heard her name. It was not really a surprise who it was standing on the aisle next to her. the person she had come into the library hoping to find. Even so, she couldn't help but smile when she saw who it was. "Stefan" she said. the tone of her voice inclination at how glad she was to see him. "yes, I was hoping to get to see you before the grapevine got here in order to surprise you, but it seems to still be running strong" she said. When they had last met in the inner eye he had indicated that he would have liked her to come back to the school. she had already been thinking about it but it was that that had given her the push to apply for the position. "I am so glad to be back. I really missed teaching" she said. She was glad that she still had some friends in the school. She still had to see Cyndi, and she really should introduce herself to the other divination professor too seeing as they would be teaching beside each other. but Stefan had been the most important person that she had wanted to see.

 

[Stefan Archer]

Stefan couldn’t help the smile on his face as he looked towards his friend. He was pleased to see her again, if only because she was a good dear friend whose company he greatly desired. The librarian shrugged a little, ”Oh you know how the grapevine is,” Stefan replied with a little smile, he hadn’t necessarily really believed it. The man had been more hopeful than anything that it was true, and boy was it nice to see her, ”I should thank you for that crystal ball, Branson adores it. He likes sitting someone down and pretending to read their fortune,” Stefan liked encouraging his son’s interests and the fortune telling was quite fun whenever he did it, he was sure his son wasn’t actually seeing anything just yet, he’d shown signs of magic, which had brought great joy to the Archer household, but there was very little way that he actually was seeing anything in the crystal ball. ”Hogwarts is definitely happy to have you back,” the man replied, ”All these sharp young minds will definitely be well shaped by your teaching,” Stefan smiled at her, ”Can I interest you in joining me for a cup of tea?”​

 

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

Elvera nodded at the comment on the grapevine, she remembered it well. "I hope it isn't as vicious as it used to be" she said thinking back to the gossip magazine that had spread rumours through the school many years ago. she could remember Stefan had been one of the people who it had picked on most.
as Stefan thanked her for the crystal ball. she smiled. "you are welcome. I am glad that Branson likes it. he is a smart young boy. I hope to see him in my class one day" she said. she then had a thought. "I will have to ask him to read my fortune next time I see him, it has been a long time since i have had that read" she said a light tone in her voice indicating that she too was pretty sure it was a boy playing pretend and not actually seeing anything. but it would still be interesting. and probably just as accurate as some of the third years would be next semester. Many years ago she wouldn't have wanted her fortune read as she had only seen gloom and sadness in her future. now things were a lot brighter and she was glad that she had made her way through those dark times. at Stefan's complement, she felt herself beaming. "I know divination isn't the most popular of classes..." she said. not quite sure where that sentence was going to end before she had begun it. "I have always tried to help any student not just those in my class." she thought but didn't verbalise it. Stefan already knew that he was the one person who knew how much she was willing to help students. but saying it out loud would make it sound weird. she was saved from having to add anything by his next question. "oh, you know I can never say no to a good cup of tea" she said glad for the topic change.

 

[Stefan Archer]

Stefan shrugged a little, he didn’t think it was nearly as vicious as it had once been, certainly in the time since he’d begun working there it had certainly died to a more moderate level. He tended not to think about how it had been, both he and kate had firmly put that chapter of their lives behind them. That gossip magazine had just targeted them over and over again, in what had always been, in his mind the cruellest of ways. ”I don’t think so, but the library doesn’t often get included. People have to be quiet in here,” The man smiled a little. He nodded along, ”I hope so too, he’ll be here soon enough which is a maddening thought, I swear yesterday he was a tiny little baby,” Stefan was of course saddened a little by how fast his son was growing up. The boy was so perfect, so quiet and kind, so good to his sisters. He wanted him, all of them to stay little forever, the world outside could be so cruel. But, of course he just more hoped that he’d was preparing them for it. Stefan shrugged, he didn’t know what was popular in school, but he knew that she cared a lot for students she interacted with. After all, she’d been instrumental in helping him. He just let himself smile, and nodded, ”Come on then,” he motioned for her to follow him back to the library’s counter where he was quickly able to get some tea and hold it out for her, ”How are kids taking to you being at school with them?” of course when Branson and the girls joined the school, Stefan would hopefully still be working there, and though it would be different, he wondered how it was for her kids to have a parents at school. It was something that happened but also something that was not common and he wasn’t particularly friendly with much of the rest of the staff to ask them.​

 

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

Elvera nodded as Stefan said that there was less gossip around the school than there used to be and that the library was out of the circle of any that there was. she smiled as Stefan said how weird it was that his son was almost old enough to go to the school. "I know that feeling. you don't realise how fast a year goes until you are watching a child grow up. It seems you only have to blink and they go from taking their first steps, to showing their first signs of magic to waving goodbye on the Hogwarts express" she said following Stefan to the library counter where he produced a cup of tea. she waved her wand and summoned some of the snacks she had set up in the classroom for her class in case Stefan wanted one. she took a sip of the tea as Stefan asked how the girls were going with their mum being at the school. "It is only my first day here. but when they found out Heliana made me promise to pretend I didn't know her and more than any other student. but Selene seemed happy at the prospect" she said. that has always been how the twins had been. Selene had been close to here. like a mini version, a better version of her. whereas heliana had always pushed away from her. trying to find her own way in life. thinking about it. it reminded her of stories of her mum and aunt Gwen. morgan had stayed at home and been homeschooled. whereas Gwen had been the rebel and gone to Hogwarts. even after school morgan had stayed at home then Gwen had run away to America. "I am sure he will be okay with it. at least you won't be teaching him." she said. she knew next year she would be teaching at least selene divination. As much as she loved the subject she wished her daughters didn't have the same aptitude or desire to learn about it. but she had noticed last year after the girls had left for school that some of her books had gone missing and she knew that Selene had taken them and she was as interested in the subject as she had been at that age, if not even more so.[/B]

 

[Stefan Archer]

Stefan gave a little smile and nodded lightly. He took his cup of tea and just shrugged a little, ”We’ve been in our own little bubble for so long, I think it’ll be weird for the family to be apart like they will when he comes here. When they all come here,” the man spoke fondly of his family, thinking about the little calm slice of life they’d built for themselves. How they’d worked hard as parents to provide their children with a balanced and good education. He liked that they’d always tried to make sure each of the individual bonds which they held were strong. Stefan had a individual bond with each of his children, spending time with them collectively and individually. It would be odd to break that up. He wasn’t sure how Kate would handle it, but he was sure it would be handled with grace, as she always did everything. He lightly sipped the tea and chuckled lightly as she said at least one of the children didn’t want anything to do with her, or wanted to pretend. He knew that was a possibility, knew it was something that his own children might want. But at least students didn’t tend to know who he was, so his children would have less reasons to hide the connection. ”Funny how twins end up with differing personalities,” the librarian said with a little laugh, ”Do you think either of them will do divination?” Stefan asked lightly sipping the tea, ”I think it’ll help a little, I trust that Branson would do well without me here, but I think it’ll be some nice extra support. He’s never spent more than two nights away from his family,” Stefan was more than confident about how his son would handle being away from from home, but he could provide that extra support to him if he needed it. That’s what fathers did after all, support their children.​