September 28th, 1894 - a lightly used corridor

It was dark, and it was getting cold as Benedict continued on his prefect patrols along one of the lesser used corridors of Hogwarts. He gave a little touch of his head as passed the painting Edith the Earless, one of the older matrons, and not much or a conversationalist for obvious reasons. He liked the peacefulness that came with prefect duty, but certain corridors gave him the willies and had him holding his wand ready despite there being no obvious threat. He coughed lightly at the dust from an old curtain around a glass window flapped in a previously unnoticed breeze.

Benedict went to investigate the window to uncover why it was open. It was quite obvious, the ancient door catch had rusted away and the wind had crept in and popped it open. A quick reach, slam and mending spell and everything was all back where it should be and Benedict would be ready on his way. The slam reverbarrated and seemed unnecessarily loud in the otherwise silent corridor, he hoped he hadn't startled anyone. But who was hear, a painting of a deaf woman and a few old statues.

"Keep it together Ben" he laughed at himself quietly as he began to walk further along the worn old carpet. He wondered if anyone ever came along here that wasn't on some kind patrol. He plotted his remaining route in his head and thought about the warm cocoa that he might find when he returned to his house.

He thought he heard more footsteps approaching, but he wasn't expecting to see anyone down here so he slowed his own pace to better hear the other person. The steps became louder and as he stuck his head round the next corner in order to investigate, he was pleasantly suprised to see his friend approaching. "Hi Millie!" he said excitedly, having not seen her nearly as much as last year due to him being a NEWT. He smiled broadly at the fifth year who didn't seem unhappy to see him either "I didn't expect to see you down here."

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Millie Potts

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   Millie Potts

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Staying up late wasn't the biggest change that Millie had to adjust to while serving her new evening duties. She would have rather been in her dorm room, or curled up in a common room chair, deep in the comfort of her latest novel. No, it was exposing herself to the chilling September air of the drafty castle, unhelped by the sun or the student body warming its way through the corridors, and the more chilling feeling of being out after curfew. It felt wrong, a wrong that left her torn between toeing the line and, with her gleaming prefect badge leading the way, gleefully stepping across to promised adventure.

Truth be told, there wasn't much adventure to be found in Hogwarts after dark.

It should have sobered the young witch to realize it, after a month of switching out with her fellow prefects to patrol the corridors she still hadn't caught a single student out after dark herself. Nor did they roam as far past the corridors near their house as she had hoped, leaving that mostly to professors and the castle's nightly wanderers —most of them ghosts. Tonight she found herself paired with another prefect girl of her house, wandering a step behind as the sixth year chattered on about something rather suggestive occurring between the Alchemy and Astronomy professors. Millie had to fight a yawn to stay interested, she really did want to know more about what happened behind the closed office doors in the towers. If only she hadn't pushed herself to finish that History essay tonight when it wasn't due until Monday.

Millie was glad when the suggestion was made to circle round both ways when the corridor split, offering an easy way to catch any would-be violator. She was able to hasten her pace, letting the air and purpose wake her more than her partner's evening gossip could. There was a turn on the right, and by now the young witch knew this part of the castle enough to make an easy detour without breaking stride. Just a simple right, then left, then right again, and she would find herself back in...somewhere unfamiliar.

Frowning to herself, she almost didn't realize her corridor had company until the cheery voice poked around the corner. Millie gasped, startled and now very awake, she was halfway through fumbling for her wand when the wayward curls of Mr. Hunter's head quickly followed the voice into view. Her hands moved to smooth the creases of her dress instead, glancing askance at the Gryffindor boy who was not at all a nightly visitor or a student out of bed. "I must have made a wrong turn somewhere," the young witch explained, finally offering him a wan smile. "We don't often cross paths like this."

It was better to meet a friend out here at night, at least Benedict might prove to be better company.

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   Benedict Hunter

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Benedict was very happy to see his friend, even if she looked like she might be better served with a really good night's sleep than wandering the corridors. It was always so quiet that Benedict wondered if it was even worth the trouble to have students stay up to patrol. He spoke in his usual manner though, hoping to cheer the girl. How are you enjoying your patrol? Tonight so far I've managed to bag myself two students out past curfew, chased a creature back into its cage and had a duel with a dark wizard, I must be on for a record." he laughed, he was talking nonsense. He'd seen not hide nor hair of anyone living since he started his patrol, just like so many nights before and his joke would be quite transparent to Millie by now.

”Did you take a wrong turn or something?” He asked as he walked a little closer to her and looked at the path behind her to see if anyone else was coming. The proximity, not so close as to be improper but close enough to see her face in the dim light and get the faint waft of her perfumes reminded her how much he had come to enjoy being around her. ”It's good to see you, I've missed you in classes, things aren't the same without you this year.” There was sincerity in his tone this time and he wondered if he saw a little blush cross the girl's cheeks. Of course they saw each other in the great hall still and around the castle but it was hard to find reason to have proper conversations and they hadn't yet had a chance to return to their regular library liaisons as they both settled into their new year. That would need to change, at least their co-presidency of the book club gave them a reason to discuss literature as much as they wished.

Benedict should probably just offer to walk her back to her allocated route before the other prefects wondered where she had gone, but he felt no rush to do so right away. ”So how is fifth year going? he asked politely. His own experience of it was suddenly a lot more reading and a very real countdown to the OWLs, he expected Millie would likely be putting quite a bit of pressure on herself, but she was smart, it was one of the things he liked about her, she was probably going to do much better than he did, and he had been quite satisfied with his grades in the end

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Millie Potts

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   Millie Potts

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The smile on her face crept toward her left side, sneaking across like Benedict's boasts might have. It didn't sound too likely of a thing to happen tonight, not with it being so quiet elsewise. Millie would certainly have been told, or that's what she would suppose, at least. Perhaps such details were kept from new prefects as not to alarm them, or those of the female persuasion. As she felt the annoyance rising on her neck, the young witch decided to dismiss Mr. Hunter's claims as mere sarcasm.

"Oh yes, I was just on my way to the library to investigate a," Millie thought for just a moment, she wasn't quite as creative on the spot as some of her peers. "disturbance there." Give her a quill and parchment, and she could write an elaborate fiction. For now, this version would have to suffice for a sarcastic retort enough in the waning hours of the evening.

She looked off to the side, as if something had drawn her eyes there. Something had, of course, but it was the hope of not meeting his. As it was, the chance of Benedict seeing much in her face was dim, like the lighting that their two wands afforded. "Classes aren't quite the same without you either." Millie glanced back toward him, interested in his reaction this time, "Do you have the new Ancient Studies professor? She's...well, I suppose you've seen her if you've continued to NEWTs."

That was the particular aspect of her education that the young witch hadn't thought too deeply about yet. There were classes that seemed interesting to take, and a few that she knew would unlock an ambitious career for her. Yet no matter how often her friends assisted, or her assignments came back with high marks, Millie still felt an unease about her future at Hogwarts beyond the OWLs. "It doesn't feel too different than any other year, and yet it does. There's planning for the Book Club, and naturally the prefect duties."

She inclined her hand to take account of the pair in the corridors, standing together where she wouldn't have dared a year ago. In the dark, after curfew, alone and unsupervised. Millie nearly called for her fellow Ravenclaw, but held back for now. "I hope I haven't taken on too much."

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   Benedict Hunter

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Benedict couldn't help but laugh with his friend. "A disturbance in the library you say? Perhaps we should make haste there before anyone damages our favourite books!" he raised his eyebrows in jest. Prefect duty was even less exciting that the professors had sold it, but at least it was easy and it was in fact fairly relaxing to take a walk at night in unusual places. He wondered why he might find Millie alone, but as the light from their wands danced on her face he avoid questioning lady fate just in case she had a change of heart and stole away this oppurtunity.

They began walking in time as they chatted, Benedict nodded to her question. "Yeah, I have her in classes. I haven't made my mind up on her yet. I suppose she seems quite capable, unusual though." he added. The woman did seem strange but in their world, what was normal, and it wasnt really his manner to be casting judgements on the peculiar visage of their professors. "I was surprised to see a goblin teaching though, I think he does arithmancy, not a class I'm in." he shrugged as they rounded the next corner on their patrol.

He was glad to hear that she missed him too, at least that was the assumption he made because that was exactly what he meant when he told her classes weren't the same. But he felt sad that she still doubted herself so much, didn't the fact that she picked as a prefect reinforce how the professors thought of her? "Maybe? But I dont think so. You need to give yourself more credit." as they walked along he found himself reaching down nearly involuntarily to put her hand into his and squeeze it in a reassuring gesture. "You are so smart and are a really great witch, the staff clearly agree too." he said warmly before going quiet. If she didn't pull her hand away as they continued, neither would he.

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Millie Potts

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   Millie Potts

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Millie found herself willing to relax a little around Mr. Hunter's easygoing warmth. He laughed at the right moments, and played along with her ruse in the library. She exchanged a small smile at that, knowing they were both well aware that the library was far and away from their patrol route. Wands out against the darkness, the young witch let herself fall into pace alongside the boy, her Ravenclaw counterpart still nowhere to be found.

"Anne has him, I don't think she quite knew what to make of a goblin as a professor." Millie didn't either, though the subject alone was enough to deter her from its professor in any case. She had enough of numbers in Ancient Runes by itself, and her arithmetic was kept fairly sharp in Potions. And the young witch was already worried about taking on more than she could handle. "Do you suppose he'll last the year? It always seems it's the ordinary ones who lea—"

Her words faltered when a presence took hold of her hand. In the darkness, the cold presence of a ghost or the clammy grip of Peeves was the last thing that the young witch wanted to feel against her skin. This wasn't either of those, however, this touch was warm and alive, blood pulsing through it just like the blood racing through Millie's heart. It rushed to her head, making her draw in a breath and stare down at Benedict's hand enclosed around her own. She nearly jumped out of her skin when he squeezed it, murmuring kind words that rustled past her ears.

Even though they were the only two in the corridor, it still felt like the entire world had stopped to turn its attention onto them. Millie could feel heat suddenly flushing to her cheeks, her brow fretting over whether this was right or not. She found herself happy with this friendship with Mr. Hunter, Benedict, there was enough shared between them now to be past all the expected formality. And in private company, Millie was all too willing to be casual and forward with her friends. She could just as easily lay her hand in Anne's or Greta's or Zin's, and think nothing of it at all.

There was only that little voice in her head, honed from etiquette lessons and sounding a bit too much like her mum, shrieking at the top of its lungs.

Millie froze, fearing that Benedict could hear it just as she did, but all she heard from him was a compliment. That only made her feel more grateful for the darkness that hid her cheeks. Laughing at her sarcasm she enjoyed, debating her book analysis she could abide, but compliments she found difficult to stomach. The young witch would just as soon sit in on Arithmancy, drowning in challenge she wouldn't wish upon herself in an ordinary day, than try to find the words appropriate for a compliment paid upon herself.

"I suppose so," she managed, trying to see things as Benedict might. Trying not to think about how warm her hand felt in his. Trying to speed up, just ever so slightly, so that their fellow prefects might not happen upon them conversing so amiably to one another. Yet try as she might, Millie couldn't quite stop her stomach from its acrobatics, performing more death-defying feats than those she and Benedict had witnessed at the circus this summer.

Perhaps she could have braved the high-wire after all.

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   Benedict Hunter

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She didn't resist, nor did she make an attempt to pull away, Benedict felt her soft skin in his hand and allowed his grip to remain. It felt totally alien but also strangely natural to share this connection. Of course, if anyone asked, he was just guiding the girl through the dark corridors in case she misstepped and took a fall.

"I mean it you know, you spend so much time thinking like someone who isn't good enough. You shouldn't." he reiterated his point, looking across at her. Maybe it was time to stop saying things like that; she didn't look entirely comfortable; he couldn't see for certain in the dim light, but he suspected she was hiding a blush. He needed to change the subject. "I've been talking to my dad more about the future, what I might do once I get my NEWTS. He never got his you know?" it was small talk, just idle chatter while he walked hand in hand with his friend. "I've been considering more and more a career in magizoology."

They came to a corner and Benedict could have sworn he saw one of the paintings muttering something about the pair of prefects going about their innocent business. "We'll be back on to the main corridor in a few minutes; where do you think your partner has gotten to by now? Maybe the library monster got her?"

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Millie Potts

  

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She couldn't help but giggle at Benedict's commitment to her earlier excuse, imagination starting to take on a life of its own. Millie pulled her hand away to cover her mouth, turning away as to not appear unseemly. It would save her face should her fellow prefect round the corner at that moment as well, covering the heat of her cheeks too clearly felt on her palm. Oh, he made her too confused to be worthy of her friendship.

Breathing in, the young witch tried to still her erratic thoughts. She was plagued, instead, by a wealth of odors left on her hand. The familiar smell of old books, mixed with the scent of animals very unlike her cat. Last was the smell of something damp and cloying, her own clammy scent, and Millie had to put her hand down in shock. She set it on the side of her absorbent dress, pressing it into the fabric to dry off both sweat and indignity.

"Perhaps she's already returned to the tower," Millie suggested, with a wish that it would be true. It might save them from some embarrassment at being found together, in defiance of all etiquette. A small part suggested it would also give her more time with a friend as well, a thought that pleased the young witch enough to smile. It was easy, after that, to tip it up toward her friend's face, looking at her brighter than the tip of their wands.

If this was what it meant to walk a tight-rope, balancing from high above, Millie thought she could see the appeal.

"That may be a wiser course than the circus," she intoned, not certain where the idea of Benedict as a ringmaster had entered her head. Then again, he had a depth of knowledge that would serve both careers rather well, Millie knew from experience. "Would you want to work at the zoo, perhaps? Some of the really good ones travel abroad, I suppose, some of the deeper forests of Hungary or the far north still have new discoveries being made."

Millie found herself surprisingly invested in someone else's career choice, thinking to herself of the possibilities. Nothing too close to dragons or underwater, not if Benedict wanted to keep reading books. She was too deep in thought to notice the dim spot of wandlight approaching them from the other end of the corridor, clearly in view now that they had turned the corner. When the older Ravenclaw drew near, it was too easy for Millie to forget herself and ask candidly, "Mr. Hunter was telling me about his ideas for a career in magizoology. He certainly strikes me as someone rather well-suited to animals, wouldn't you say?"

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   Benedict Hunter

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Millie removed her hand in a timely fashion as they walked, Benedict felt a little sting of disappointment which he might have teased himself for but it was for the best as they couldn't risk getting scene by the gossip like that, innocent as their friendship was.

He laughed "Not the circus then? No top hat and tails? Yeah, I think the zoo is probably the most realistic, but I do dream of discovering some far-flung creature that no one has seen before. I might travel a little after school if I can afford it." boys tended to have a window between graduation and social relevance that he was sure he could fill with something. Ultimately though he was quite a family-orientated person so might find it hard to be away from the rest of his family and friends for too long at a time.

The other Ravenclaw finally came into view and Benedict had to stifle another laugh as he nodded a greeting to the sixth year. Well suited to animals? Was she poking fun at him, he found the way she was relaxing more and more around him to be refreshing and only made him enjoy her company more. "Miss Potts is correct, if I get my creatures NEWT that is. All Hunters have animals in the blood, a bit like the Potts and their plants don't you think?" he grinned widely.

"I shall bid you girls goodnight and head on my patrol, I think I need to do a lap of the greenhouses before I head back to the tower." he felt a strange urge to share more affection with Millie before he excused himself, but this was not the time for that.

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Millie Potts

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   Millie Potts

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Perhaps it was only now that Millie realized the lengths to which they had roamed the halls together, now that she found herself face to face with the elder prefect of her house. The earlier feeling of fatigue was nowhere to be found, yet the waning hours of the night seemed keen to remind her that she should be. Her face still held a grin, and her damp hand felt as if it were still in Benedict's grasp. The young witch refused to let herself look, satisfied by fingers that took hold of the necklace at her throat instead.

"Mmm, yes, much like our plants," she intoned, somehow lucid again in the midst of a more proper conversation. Still, the young witch couldn't shake the smile from her face, no matter how much it might betray her. She only hid it as best she could, letting her gaze drift between the other two prefects. Millie's eyes caught his as Mr. Hunter bid them farewell, forcing herself to nod in what seemed to be a perfectly proper fashion to a fellow student. "Good night, Mr. Hunter. Let us hope the greenhouses are as uneventful."

The walk back proved itself to be a trial for Millie, her mind a storm of thoughts and all the while unable to think. Not with her fellow prefect so nearby, an unspoken question written on her face. Millie ignored it by not looking, filling the space between them with a nervous chatter that might have revealed a few too many details about the Slytherin and Gryffindor quidditch teams, all secondhand from Anne and Greta. That was easier to discuss, occupying enough time for them to arrive at the tower door again, which swung open .

"You're in a rather good mood tonight, Ms. Potts."

In truth, the statement took the young witch by surprise. She hadn't realized just how much she had been talking until her jaw, too, joined the list of sore body parts in need of rest. Millie gave her fellow prefect a half-earnest smile and dipped her head, fingers stuck to her necklace as they had the entire journey back. "I suppose an evening walk is good for the mood. I've never had the opportunity before this year, you see."

If her fellow Ravenclaw was unsatisfied with that answer, she didn't show it. Millie was glad enough to be rid of the company, returning to her own room with a tumble of worries and joys to mull over tonight. One thing she could decide on already, becoming prefect had certainly helped her friendship with Mr. Hunter grow.

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