The Park

Kiara smiled and nodded "And I yours, every much, you are the closest person to a mother I am ever going to get Eglantine I will be damned if I let you be miserable"

Eglantine smiled softly. "Language, Kiara." she muttered. "I am willing to accept after 9 years of self-loathing that I did not killed Richard. For your sake and Edwin's."

Kiara laughed "Good I am glad..."

Kiara wasn't sure if she should bring up the issue of Horatio now so soon after the talk and the real fate of Richard Delanquar.

Eglantine sighed. "How have you been?" she asked.

((This is after Daniel's attack))

Kiara averted her eyes "I am alright, the after effects are basically gone, so I am fine" Kiara said with a smile.

"only you haven't slept a wink.. in days" muttered the annoying little voice in the back of her mind. Which she pushed away.

Eglantine pinned Kiara neatly with a concerned look of disbelief. "You would say that even if the undead had attempted to drag you into hell..." she raised an eyebrow. "Which translated, means, this is Professor DeLanquar you are speaking to, not a student."

Kiara nearly laughed at the word undead in Eglantines sentence and how literally acturate it could be intrupated.

"Scarey, it is almost like she knows that is what I see very time I fall asleep" she thought.

Sighing she mumbled "Fine I have been better, but I am managing, don't worry"

"That is much better." Eglantine sighed, sniffing back the last of her tears. "I have been better myself. I suppose life must go one then though." As if she had just remembered she levitated the stupefied birds over to the bench. "Annoying creatures." she muttered, reviving them.

Kiara sighed "hmm yes it does, having to enter my own house through bllood wards was a high my day a few days ago "

"Why did you do that?" Eglantine asked, despite the fact that she had already figured Kiara had needed to clear it out. Another helpful tidbit her "spy" in the ministry had provided her with was that Kiara had given Lestrange Manor to the widow.

" I had to take all my stuff out, I have them here at Hogwarts"

"Books as well, my dear?" Eglantine asked, wondering if any of them might be helpful in her search to uncover more about Excessum.

Kiara merely nodded her head, but sent Eglantine a look that said "Not just any books"

"You may fine a few of them interesting"

Turning away she brought up the topic she had tried to at the start.

"What are you doing about the Yule Ball then?"

"You would allow me to look through them?" she asked, trying to not sound to interested.

"The Yule Ball...I do not know." Eglantine admitted. Once again those blasted birds were chirping happily.

"You may see them I have little use for them... "

Kiara smiled and waved her hand at at the birds before Eglantine turned in to a cat and ate one of them.

"You could give Horatio a chance Eglantine, he seems to have taken a liking to you, you might actually have fun"

"Ah, thank you." Eglantine stated, softly, a bit annoyed when Kiara waved away what could very well have become her lunch...

"Very well, I will go to the ball with him." she sighed. "Although my main purpose for going to be a chaperone not to "have fun"." Eglantine returned.

Kiara laughed "Well having fun will be a bonus then, don't worry so much about it. I won't be going with anyone so I can handle most of the chaperoning don't worry"

Eglantine cocked her head to the side, something she had been doing more often due to her animagus form. "Does that sadden you?" she asked gently.

Kiara sighed "One of the draw backs to being Headmistress is that it maybe considered inappropriate to ask your boss to the dance. I am not disappointed as I wasn't expecting to be asked in the first place. Although it would have been nice to go... but oh well"

A strange light came to Eglantine's green eyes. "Indeed." she muttered, levitating from the bench. "Thank you for speaking to me, Kiara. But you are so busy and I have papers to grade. Maybe we could speak again at supper though?" she suggested.

Kiara nodded "Very well I will see you later Eglantine, and do talk to Horatio he will be over joyed to now you are giving him a chance"

She nodded. "I will, I promise." and with an almost predatory glance at the birds chirping on the path, she morphed back into her animagus form and ran back toward the castle.

((she is now in her office))

Michael headed outdoors, guitar case in hand as was lately his custom. Today was turning out to be a very good day. He couldn't really put his finger on why, but he had a feeling that quite a large part of it had to do with his receiving news that the music club had gone through without a hitch.

Sitting on one of the benches within the Park, Michael opened up the guitar case and took out the instrument, beginning to tune it. He wasn't sure if he was really going to play anything, but at least it would be properly adjusted whenever he did decide to play.

"Michael!" Bella shouted, waving her arm to catch his attention. She ran over to where he was standing and smiled. "Are you going to play your guitar?" She asked, happy to have caught him outside without her friend, Raven, around to annoy her.

Ironically she had even been looking for him, when the desire to get away from her "whiny" Slytherin friends took her out into the gardens and eventually to the park. Up until then, her day had been fairly miserable.

Michael's head snapped up from contemplating the guitar strings at the voice, and smiled a greeting. "I was thinking about it, but hadn't really decided. Just tuning it right now. Why? Want me to play something?" he asked congenially, the good mood he was in allowing him to completely forget the Astronomy lesson. Besides, he'd pretty much shook off that comment as being part of class-wide tiredness. That didn't mean he wouldn't ask about it, though... the moment he thought it seemed right.

"Erm... how have you been?" he inquired, the music reference clearly delaying him from the most common of conversational niceties.