𝖳𝖮𝖴𝖢𝖧 𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖲𝖳𝖠𝖱𝖲 | 𝖦𝖤𝖮𝖱𝖦𝖤 𝖶𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖫𝖤𝖸

33

GOOD LOYALTY

____________

Two days after our encounter at the library, George and I kept behaving in front of everyone as we always did, but every once in a while, the ginger boy would catch me by surprise while being alone and shamelessly flirt with me - not only always respecting our moments as just friends where we would sit at the Tower and just chat but also, making sure none of his compliments or games was perceived as weird or overwhelming.

I didn't quite understand why there was a need to keep it secret - not that I wanted to be shouting it to the world or the entire school finding out I was fucking my best friend, but since this was the first time that I was actually keeping a secret about myself and not others' secrets, I didn't know why I couldn't coquet with him in public. George hadn't said a word about it, he hadn't specified whether he wanted to keep whatever was happening between us as a secret or not, but I didn't want to cross the line nor his boundaries without making sure he was fine with it, so I didn't said a word to anyone other than Theo and Lena.

"Ms Áine," Professor Fluke called my attention, taking me out of my reverie when I was about to leave the classroom since the lesson had finished. "May I have a word with you?"

He was offering me a kind and wide smile which made the wrinkles around his yellow eyes - that were still incredibly familiar to me - be even more emphasised.

"Of course, Professor," I replied, approaching his desk and avoiding the students who were leaving the room, not without making brief eye contact with George and Theo and smiling at them.

"I just wanted to congratulate you for your essay, it's truly amazing," Professor Fluke smiled, with a kind tone, "It's definitely one of the best ones in the course."

I blinked, quite shocked. Moody didn't use to have this kind of nearness with us - in fact, he tried to avoid it as much as possible- so receiving this sort of positive feedback was a good surprise.

"Thank you so much."

He chuckled, "It's such an honour for me to be teaching Daelan Áine's daughter, if you ask me. I've been a huge fan of your father's work as a magizoologist for a while now and I find it truly inspiring and educating. His books and his studies are at the same level at Newt Scamander's ones - have you thought about following his path?"

"Well, actually, although I love Care of Magical Creatures, I want to follow my mother's path instead. I want to be an astronomer," I replied. If I had something clear about my future, it was that the stars and I were meant for each other and that they still held too many secrets ready for me to discover.

"Oh, that's great too! Heard a bit about her as well, such a good work she does," Fluke complimented, "Well, Ms Áine, just wanted to congratulate you about your composition and encourage you to keep this rhythm. I've read Professor Moody's and Professor Lupin's reports about you and they describe you as a keen student, hope you stay like that. Is Professor McGonagall helping you with the path you have to follow to achieve your goal?"

"Yes, as the Head of Gryffindor, during next year, she will be helping all of us with our future professions."

"Fantastic! I worked last year at Drumstrang and they didn't use to do that, so it's so good to hear they do it here," he stood up to accompany me out of the classroom, still with his charismatic and gentle smile. "Well, I'm sure Professor McGonagall will do a better job than me but if you ever need any kind of help with that, I'm here for every student who might need me."

"Thank you so much, Professor."

"A pleasure talking with you, Ms. Remember to read the pages about tomorrow's lesson and have prepared the essay about defensive spells during the XV century. If it's as good as the one about non-verbal magic, I'm sure you'll get an Outstanding in your NEWT next year."