Still Not My Forté

Erika mock-glared at Tai. "No maybe does not equal yes. Yes equals yes, but that's not what I said. I said maybe," she broke it down as if she were explaining it to a child, which in some ways she was.

She knew it wasn't much of a defense but she needed to at least attempt to put up some defenses, otherwise it wouldn't be interesting at all. Half of the fun was in the chase, after all.

(PS: You are a complete and total butthead. You really are. )

Tai chuckled again and lightly poked Erika in the side. "Remind me to repeat that exact answer, the next time you say, 'perhaps equals yes?'"

He looked down at the crossword that was still being slowly added to by Erika. Even though Tai had only got two answers out of the damned thing, he was feeling rather accomplished with himself.

"Have I told you how much I hate crosswords?" he asked.

Erika chose to ignore his first comment, mostly because she liked to get her way with those things and she didn't want him to have a stock answer for when she used that line on him, especially not one that she had coined. "Yes, you have, dear," she toyed with his hair affectionately. "So what do I get as a prize when I finish this crossword?" she asked.

Tai took the quill from her hand, and scratched his chin with it again, as one would when they're pondering upon a matter of great importance.

"Hmm... I would say that you could proudly state that you are far more intelligent than myself, but you already knew that you were, so that's not much of a prize," Tai remarked, pulling a face even though he had accepted many years ago that he was not the brains of the relationship.

"I'm sure I'll think of something suitable for you," Tai stated, relaxing as Erika continued to mess up his hair, not that it wasn't always in one form of messy or another.

"Oh really?" Erika continued to playfully mess with Tai's hair and push it into a style that she liked better than his normal one (if you could call getting out of bed and running his fingers through it once a "style"). "Like what?" She was once again glad for the empty staff room as she kissed Tai again.

Tai had the feeling that his hair would look like a pair of birds had fought over a chip on it, but he let Erika continue to play hairdresser; he really didn't mind.

Wrapping his arms tighter around her waist, Tai returned her kiss fervently. "Umm... " Tai mumbled between kisses, "Something?" Tai smiled. "I'll think of something; something's good."

Bridget, though she would have much preferred to be anywhere else in the world, had actually put a small amount of thought into how she was going to go about teaching Runes, the notes for which had temporarily vanished. She could somewhat remember having them in the staff room, so she went to go check, and when she got there, she was met with a nauseating sight. Erika, the Ravenclaw Head of House may as well have been straddling her husband, who was supposed to be the Headmaster, of all things.

Bridget supposed that he was quite good-looking but she wasn't going to get anywhere with him as long as he had his blonde baby-making machine draped all over him. She'd heard that they had nearly enough children for a Quidditch team already. Nothing sounded worse than actually having dribbling, drooling infants to care for. Perhaps she could persuade Tai of the same thing (but only for one night, of course. She wasn't about to start popping out kids for him.)

She cleared her throat loudly behind them. "I do apologize, I hope I'm not interrupting anything," she said with a slightly devilish smirk that clearly said she was not apologetic at all.

"I was just looking for the notes I'd prepared for my lesson, you haven't seen them by chance, have you?" she gave Tai a sultry wink from behind his wife's back while pretending to look for the lost notes.

Tai coughed and looked over at the woman standing behind him and Erika. He smiled nervously and shook his head. Tai would have found the situation far more amusing at it been someone he was more familiar with interrupting, but alas, the newest member of staff was not one such.

He tried to be as dignified as possible but with Erika still partially on his lap, that was difficult.

"Professor Bryant," Tai greeting the woman. "Can't say I have, sorry. Always in the last place you look though."

Erika stirred at the sound of someone clearing their throat behind her. She awkwardly shifted to see who it was, then, upon seeing that it was a dark haired woman that she didn't know, extracted herself from her husbands grasp. This had to be the new Runes professor, a thought that was confirmed by Tai calling her "Professor Bryant".

She got up and went over to her. "Hello, I'm Erika, it's nice to meet you," she said with a smile, holding her hand out for the woman to shake. She was curious to see what the new professor was like. "Are you enjoying the castle so far?" she asked politely.

"Charmed," Bridget said, looking down at the blonde woman's hand as if it were diseased. "Forgive me for not shaking. Can't be sure where your hands have been," she looked back at Tai as she delivered her last statement.

She turned her back on them and looked around for her notes, which were genuinely missing but were low on her list of priorities right now. She toyed with her necklace and slid back onto the table behind her. "The castle is the same as it was when I left," she replied.

She spotted some papers sitting on the table in front of the Headmaster. There was no way it was her notes, but it was worth a look, wasn't it? She hopped off the table and leaned over his shoulder to have a look. "Nope, not my notes," she said softly when she saw that it was in fact a crossword puzzle that she doubted he did, based on the handwriting. "But then, you already knew that, didn't you? You wouldn't hide my notes from me, would you?" she whispered in his ear.

Tai watched as Bridget sat on the table that he was sitting at. He turned to see Erika looking rather... pissed off and for good reason. Bridget was behaving quite a tad more forward than he would expect from one of his staff members; what with the winking and such. He wasn't sure how to handle the situation, to be frank.

As Bridget leaned over his shoulder and whispered, Tai blinked a couple of times, allowing his brain time to catch up with what was happening. He leaned forward in his chair and stood up, thankful that there was ample space between him and the table.

"I have no reason to hide your notes from you, Professor Bryant." Tai was feeling more than uncomfortable around the woman; a woman that seemed to have no considerations or boundaries.

Erika was silently fuming, though she was sure that steam would start coming out of her ears at any moment, like when someone took a Pepper-Up potion. She couldn't believe the nerve of this woman, who was barely a woman at all (only twenty-three and no kids, whereas Erika had four already). How dare she hit on her husband, and right in front of her no less?

She bristled with pride when Tai moved away from her. "I think it's pretty clear that your notes aren't here, Professor Bryant. Perhaps you should check your office or something," she said as politely as she possibly could, considering the circumstances (meaning that her teeth were clenched together and the only thing stopping her from hexing the woman right then and there was the fact that her husband was in the room and she didn't want him to see her that angry).

"Yes, I suppose you're right Professor Cooper," Bridget said with a fake smile at the blonde woman. "I've already looked there, but I suppose another look wouldn't hurt, and like Tai said, it will always be in the last place you look.

She took one final look at the papers sitting on the table. A crossword, how lovely. Their marriage was going so well that they had to resort to doing puzzles to fill their horribly empty lives. Maybe if he would just knock her up again, their lives wouldn't be quite as fail-tastic. "See you around Professor Cooper, Tai," she gave Tai one final wink and left the room.

Tai watched Bridget leave and sat back in the chair he was orginially sitting in. That was interesting, to say the least. He really didn't expect the woman to be so forward when he hired her, but now that he thought about it, he did remember her being rather brazen when he interviewed her. He just though she was being extra nice so that he'd give her the job, but Tai assumed that that was her personality 100% of the time.

Tai turned to Erika, who, by the looks of it, was still fuming. "So.. That was awkward."

Erika was appalled as she watched the exchange, then as the new professor left. She looked at Tai incredulously. "That? You hired that? There were other applicants and you hired that?" her volume rose with each question. "This is ridiculous, Tai. What am I going to do with you? That woman can't stay here. She's absolutely awful!"

Her mind was racing with so many thoughts that it was hard to get them all out in coherent sentences. "She's going to be around children, for Merlin's sake!"

Tai had a feeling she'd say something along these lines. "I know she didn't come across as the best candidate for the job, but she was the best out of a bad bunch. Hell, one of them didn't even know how to decipher the runes they were meant to be teaching. She's..." Tai didn't know how exactly to describe her. "I know she's unorthodox, but she's good at what she does."

Tai's face slightly flushed at how the last part of his sentence sounded. "Runes, she's good at Runes."

He could tell Erika wouldn't let this topic rest anytime soon, and he understood. If another man had openly flirted with Erika, his fist definitely would have met face; several times.

Erika was still absolutely fuming. She crossed her arms and looked sternly at Tai. "Good at what she does?" she repeated. He quickly corrected himself but she didn't drop her stance. "I don't care how good she is at Runes. There has to be someone who is at least of equal skill level if not a higher skill level who is perhaps less... flirtatious... who could take the job," it was Erika could do to stop herself from using a worse word than "flirtatious".

She was semi-proud of how her husband had handled himself but she was still furious that he had hired such a person in the first place. "Parents aren't going to want their children to be around that woman," she argued. "Not unless she's seeing the fathers privately, which I don't doubt at this point!"

Tai sighed. "You know as well as I do, how long we had that application for Runes open. It would be more of a nightmare trying to find a replacement for Bryant than to just let her stay."

Tai knew that Erika wouldn't be pleased with the answer, but he had to stick by his decision, even if it was risky. Bryant was an attractive woman, and he wouldn't be surprised if the more hormone ridden students were smitten by her. Tai just hoped that the woman would have some sense when it came to controlling the attention. Tai couldn't possibly let her stay if fraternising with students ever happened.

Tai looked at Erika and stood up, his arms open. "Come here," he said to her. "You know I'd never do anything to hurt you, don't you?"

Erika grumbled to herself at Tai's answer. There had to be something else they could do besides let that awful woman stay. "Can't you just keep searching and she can stay in the mean time?" she desperately hoped that if he agreed then someone else would show up, fast.

She was worried for the innocence of some of the older children, if they had any left. The new professor didn't seem like the sort of woman to be bothered with rules of the school or matters of morality and decency.

She softened slightly as she stepped into his arms. She was still very annoyed, but it was directed at Bridget, not at Tai. "Yes, I know. It's not you that I'm worried about, it's her," she spat out the last word with disgust.

Tai wrapped Erika in his arms as she stepped into them. "I suppose I can keep a look out for Runes teachers. I would have said I'd have a talk with her about her behaviour, but I would think that you wouldn't be pleased if I was alone with her. Merlin, I don't even want to be alone with her; she's far too unpredictable." Tai shuddered to think about what she would do if they were alone, especially after seeing what she did with his wife in the room.

Tai nodded and kissed Erika on the top of her head. "It'll be alright. I'll keep on eye on her."

"Yes, okay," Erika agreed, hugging him back. She was comforted by knowing that she didn't have anything to worry about on his front, but she felt a nagging suspicion that Bridget wasn't going to give up on her possible conquest so easily. "I would also prefer that you not be alone with her, and don't drink or eat anything that she gives you," she warned, hugging him tighter. She was glad to be rid of the witch, and hoped that she would be replaced soon.

Ursula froze in the doorway.
Were they-
Because from what Erika just said it sounded like they were mocking her. After all, Hamilton had been the one she had ran to with the Minister in tow, and Erika had been at the school longer than she had. They could've been close for all she knew, then again she wasn't sure Tai was that much of a doormat, however awful he was for offering moral support.

She wiped the hurt from her face and walked in, taking care to tread loudly in her shoes to the kitchenette area.
"Don't worry," she said simperingly, "I'm only making a coffee for myself. I'm not making one for your husband."

Erika was entirely perplexed by Ursula's statement. She brushed it off, telling herself that perhaps Ursula was caught up in her own thoughts and didn't realize she was speaking out loud. She broke out of Tai's arms and went over to get herself a coffee as well, since it sounded quite nice. Perhaps she could offer one to Professor Bryant and "accidentally" spill it on the woman's head. That would be very satisfying.

"Have you met the new Runes teacher yet?" she asked Ursula. "She's downright horrible. I'm not a fan of physical violence, but I'd like to give her a nice slap to wake her up out of whatever sick dream she's living."

Ursula clucks her tongue when Erika dismisses what she's said and continues onto a different subject. It's not her fault that she's getting haughty, and a lot more on edge. She could've walked past some silent students and think they were conspiring against her. Her time away at home seemed to be very awakening. A bad awakening.

"Downright horrible?" she said in a pinched voice. Ursula didn't have anything else to say, only merely heard the words echo in her head.

The Transfiguration professor looked at Erika. The kindly mother of four surely wouldn't say anything wrong to her- or her face at least- or that was what she hoped.
"I'll keep my eye out for her," she said, bowing her head, feeling meek now, hoping her optimistic outlook on Erika wasn't in vain.

She sat by her usual table by the window and pulled out her two month old Witches Weekly crossword that hadn't left her bag since, coffee in hand, smirking at the similar thing in front of Tai. She threw a sugar bag at his back.
"Oi," she said, "are you on the Witch Weekly crossword? Do you have eight across?"

She may have been a haughty bugger, but crosswords came first.

Tai shuddered at the thought of taking anything from the Runes Professor. He highly doubted she would go the the lengths of lacing anything with Amortentia, but you never knew. Tai surmised that Erika wouldn't be pleased if he started spurting his undying love for another woman. It probably wouldn't end well.

Tai turned to see the door open again, and half expected Bridget to be back, when he saw the Deputy Headmistress enter. Tai blinked at her words, entirely confused to what she was referring to. As Erika moved away to make coffee, Tai sat back at the table. pulling his crossword towards him. He looked down at Erika's answers compared to his. Tai sighed and then felt something hit him in the back.

He spun around and raised an eyebrow at the Transfiguration Professor. "Witch Weekly?" he smiled, almost at the point of full blown laughter. "No no. Daily Prophet. But trust me, even if we were doing the same crossword, I wouldn't know the answer; as you should well know."