Plotting and Pondering

Sitting. Waiting. Waiting for what, Oliver did not know, but he was waiting nonetheless. He leaned back in his high-backed chair by the fireplace in the staffroom, currently unlit, since it was already positively sweltering in the heat of the summer day. He cracked the book he'd brought with him, Hogwarts: A History, and hoped that there would be some mention of the Chamber within its pages.

If the Chamber was real, finding it would be Oliver's only source of excitement at this boring post. He'd be stuck in England until his mother was better, so until then, he needed a way of keeping himself entertained, and the Chamber was it. If it was real, of course.

Erika had spent hours up in her office getting things ready for the new school year, and she was just plain exhausted. It got to the point where she couldn't even stand to be in that room any longer.

Taking a deep breath, she stood, then exited the room (locking the door behind her of course, and putting up wards to keep Peeves away), walked down the hall, and carefully began to descend the stairs. She went to the staff room with the intention of using the fireplace there to Floo back to the Cooper home, but she saw a familiar face sitting in a chair by where she needed to be. "Oliver?" she looked at him in disbelief. It was definitely him. "Oliver Hudson," she said, unable to pull any words other than his name.

Oliver's reading was interrupted by a feminine voice saying his name. He glanced over the edge of his book, trying to see who it was, but the sunlight pouring in through the window made it difficult to see. He quickly plotted the quickest escape route in case it was his sister or worse, an ex-girlfriend, coming to attack him. The voice spoke again and Oliver realized he'd been wrong on both accounts. It was not an ex-girlfriend and it certainly wasn't his sister.

"Why Miss Morgan, I do declare it's been far too long," he put on the affront of a Southern Belle before reverting back to his normal tone. "Or should I say Mrs Cooper? I believe congratulations are in order."

"And I do declare that you're an arse!" Erika smacked him on the arm.

It had been far too long since they'd seen each other. Oliver was like a brother to her, which was a little creepy for her since her sister, Tess, was positively infatuated with him. "Where were you? I invited you to the wedding. And what are you doing here now?" she smacked him again, then pulled him up off the chair and into a tight hug, a difficult task considering the generous size of her stomach. "You can't leave me like that for too long. I miss you too much."

Oliver rubbed the spot on his arm where the little blonde woman had hit him. For a pregnant woman, she still packed quite a bit of strength. "Geez, Eri, calm down. I'd've been there if I could've, but I was... incapacitated at the time."

Actually, he had been recovering from a rather nasty encounter with a Swedish Shortsnout. He'd made it out of the incident uninjured, if you didn't count two of the toes no longer being attached to his foot.

"I'm sorry," he said, hugging her back gently so he wouldn't hurt the babies, since he didn't think Tai and Erika would take kindly to their unborn children being killed. "The point is that I'm here now. I'm the new... Literature Technician."

Erika pulled back to look at her long-time friend. "So, you're the new librarian? Brilliant. I've been telling Madam Pince for ages that it was time for her to retire."

She wrapped her arms around him again, even tighter this time. She was almost frightened that if she didn't physically hold him in place, he'd disappear on her again.

A small spasm rippled through her abdomen, causing her to wince slightly. She was sick of these fake-out contractions and was just ready for the twins to be born so that they would stop. The pain passed as quickly as it had come and Erika took a spot in a vacant chair in the empty room. "Where have you been all this time? I need you to fill me in on your life, since you never write."

Oliver gave a heavy sigh. Would no one be fooled by his clever re-wording of his job description?

"Yes, I'm the librarian," he grumbled, no longer feeling quite so glad to see Erika. He was starting to remember why he hadn't written her in a while.

"I've been in Romania, training dragons, and studying them. I escaped with a few limbs still completely in tact," he grinned, then sobered up. "I came back because mum got sick. Kelsey insisted that I get a more normal job, as she calls it, for as long as I'm here."

The cup of cocoa that Erika had ordered from a house elf earlier arrived and was handed to her with care. House elves had the tendency to be particularly cautious around women who were with child. "Thank you," Erika said, taking the cup and sipping it as Oliver spoke.

She snorted into her cup as he filled her in on the basics of his life as of recent. "More like wrestling them... Go on, which body parts are missing?" she asked.

She was sad to hear that his mother was ill. Mrs. Hudson had always treated her like a daughter. "Good for Kelsey. I would have told you the same thing."

"Nothing vital," Oliver replied cheerfully.

Speaking of Kelsey... "I should probably get going. I need to check on Mum, and Kelsey is probably sick of waiting by the fireplace wondering when I'm going to show up."

He stood up and hugged Erika one last time, then went over to the fireplace and scooped up a handful of Floo Powder. "I promise not to leave you out of the loop anymore," he said to her with a final rugged smile as he tossed the powder into the flames and took the Floo to his parents' house.

Erika gave Oliver a knowing look; there was no way that he was telling her the whole truth, however he decided to leave so suddenly that she did not have time to interrogate him further.

She hugged him back and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before stepping back so he could get to the fireplace. "It was lovely to see you again," she said honestly, waving as he disappeared into the sparkling, crackling green flames.

She took her seat again to finish her hot chocolate before leaving the cup (a house elf would come collect it later) and going to find Tai in his office.