CHAPTER 6
It was like all my senses were focused on the baby, and then suddenly the wider world returned. Screams, shouts, people running... The professors on either side of Professor Reynolds leapt to their feet and ran away from him.
The baby held my eyes for a moment and then scrunched up his face and started to cry.
“Oh, no no no, it’s okay,” I said, circling the end of the table to get closer to him.
I vaguely heard Aiden calling my name, but he’d find me soon enough.
I scooped up the baby, saw he was naked, and put him back in his robes.
“Umm...” I wrapped him in his clothing and picked him up again, hugging him and rubbing his back. “I know it’s really loud right now. But it’ll calm down soon, I promise.” I bounced a little, hoping that was something he’d like.
The professors were keeping their distance from the baby, and I glared at them. “How are you going to help Professor Reynolds from over there?” I said, but my words barely reached my own ears, let alone theirs, over the cacophony.
The baby’s cries got louder. I was getting frazzled myself, the combination of noise and his crying grating on my brain.
“Here, let me,” Aiden said. “You need to fix this, and you can’t do that if you’re trying to calm him down.”
My boyfriend, who had only recently told me that he knew nothing about babies, competently plucked the professor from me and cradled him in one big arm. With the other, he produced a toy manducare from thin air and gave it to the baby.
Professor Reynolds took it mid-cry, hiccupped, and promptly fell asleep.
Aiden looked up at me. “I put a sleep spell on it,” he admitted sheepishly.
I laughed. “Good thinking.”
Professor Akhtar pushed through the other teachers and joined us. “Sorry, I was at the opposite end. What happened?”
I explained, his face darkening like a thundercloud as I continued.
“Where is Emma now?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. We need to get all the students out of here and back to their rooms. Emma should be easier to find then.”
He nodded. “Something went very, very wrong with her spell.” He winced. “Understatement of the millennia.”
I glanced at the professor nestled in Aiden’s arm and clutching the stuffed manducare. “No kidding.”
Professor Akhtar nodded again, and went to organize the other teachers. Within fifteen minutes, the cafeteria had emptied of everyone except the head teachers, deans, and the headmistress.
I noticed that there was still a wide berth given to us.
Headmistress Blackthorn cleared her throat. “Unfortunately, the best person to dissect this spell was the professor himself. Until we can discover what, exactly, has been done to Professor Reynolds, someone will need to look after him. May I have a volunteer?”
The professors all grumbled to themselves, but nobody raised their hand.
“If you forgive me, Headmistress, but if you want us to find a cure, we can’t be bogged down with looking after a baby,” Professor Wainwright said.
I wanted to roll my eyes at the Charms and Potions professor.
Everyone else nodded their heads.
I sighed and exchanged glances with Aiden. He nodded slightly.
“If we get some help, and leniency, we can do it,” I said to the now silent teachers.
“We will give you all the assistance you require,” Headmistress Blackthorn said so quickly that I wondered if she had hoped for this solution.
“I don’t really know... Well, anything about babies,” I explained. “Is there a spell to, you know...” I mimed changing his diaper. “It feels so invasive.”
“There is,” the headmistress confirmed briskly. “I’ll make you up a list. You don’t have to worry too much about the rearing aspect. As far as we know, he’ll be back to normal by tomorrow. You’ll just have to watch over him tonight.”
Aiden frowned. “Neither of us have space in our rooms for an infant.”
Professor Dunlop, the Dean of Students for our year, stepped forward. “I believe we can arrange something for you three temporarily.” He winked at me subtly.
“Excellent.” Headmistress Blackthorn clapped her hands together. “It’s all settled then. In the couple’s wing?” she asked the dean.
He inclined his head. “We have several spare rooms. It won’t be more than a quick spell to connect two of them.”
I thought about the witch in the village I had met last year, who had to live in the village and travel to and from the school every day because she’d had a baby. I was glad things had changed since then.
“Thank you,” I said graciously.
“No hanky panky,” the headmistress said with a glare at us.
Aiden smiled innocently and patted the baby professor’s back. “I doubt we’ll have a chance.”
The dean snorted his opinion and inclined his head. “If you’ll follow me?”
“I’ll send up that list,” the headmistress called after us.
I felt more than a little overwhelmed by how fast everything had happened.
Was it really only half an hour since I had been sitting with my friends, excited about attempting to join the Magical Olympics?
“Will we still be able to participate?” I asked suddenly, pulling on Professor Dunlop’s sleeve.
“Participate in classes? I don’t see why not,” he replied.
“No, in the Olympics!”
He frowned. “I will personally look after Professor Reynolds if he is still an infant during the events. You shouldn’t be punished for another student’s mistakes. I would make her look after him, but based on the reason she did this, I’m reluctant to hand him over to her.”
I made a face. “Yeah, I see your point.”
“We will do our best to make sure this doesn’t interfere too much in your studies or social life. It’s your final year here. You have a lot of work and a lot of memories to make.”
“Sir, we appreciate that, but I have to admit that this is the exact sort of memory that will stay with me for decades,” Aiden put in.
The dean chuckled. “Yes, it would be, wouldn’t it? Still, whatever we can do to help, we will try to accommodate you.”
He led us to the room next to Bruce and Clarissa’s. It was similar to the ones we had with our roommates, but there was only one bed.
Professor Dunlop raised an eyebrow at us. “I trust you will see to your own sleeping arrangements?” He didn’t wait for an answer, but faced the wall on the opposite side of our friend’s room. “A little push,” he muttered under his breath.
An opening in the wall began to form, a sliver at first, stretching the full height of the wall. It grew, allowing us the view into the room beside ours. When it was the size of a standard doorway, the professor stopped the spell and walked through to the other room. He checked the exit to make sure it was locked, and then focused on the furniture. “A crib, chest of drawers, rocking chair,” he muttered. “Fridge for milk, hot plate... You know how to use one of those, I assume?”
I thought about heating up milk for Moonbeam, the manducare we’d looked after the year before. “Yes,” I replied.
“You’ll find a baby easier to look after in a lot of ways,” he said wryly. “For one, you don’t have to hide him from us. But he’ll be harder in other ways. It’s not a matter of cleaning a litter box and playing with him.”
“Isn’t it, though?” I asked, confused. “It doesn’t seem like it would be much different, especially since he’s already grown up once.”
Professor Dunlop chuckled. “Children are an entirely different kettle of fish.”
“Fish?” Aiden interjected. “I thought they were more like dogs.”
“Dragons, maybe,” I added with a chuckle.
“Both,” the professor added with a smile. He nodded at the toy with the sleep spell on it. “That’s a good idea. It only works on small infants, though. We don’t know the effects on his brain when he de-aged, so it might not work for long.”
“Good to know,” Aiden said.
“That’s why I gave you a rocking chair.”
“Thanks.” I peeked into the nursery. “I can’t think of anything else we might need at this point.”
“Your things. Get a few changes of clothing each and toiletries. When you come back, I’ll go get a supply of milk from the kitchens.” The professor took the infant from Aiden. “I’ll get him settled in his crib and analyze his brain. I’m not sure whether I want to hope that he’s still him or that he’s fully reverted to baby state.” He shook his head.
Aiden and I left the wing, and separated to go to our old rooms.
“I’m not sure whether I want this to take a long time, so I can spend more of it with Aiden, or a short time, so I don’t have to deal with a baby,” I muttered to myself as I walked along my hallway.
The instant I opened my door, my friends pounced on me.
“What happened?”
“What’s going on?”
I held up my hands with a chuckle and they quieted.
“I have no idea,” I said. “Strange, I know.” The girls laughed. “Aiden and I are looking after the baby until the professors can cure him. Hopefully, they found Emma and she can tell them what she did.”
“I can’t believe that girl!” Hazel exclaimed, crossing her arms. “Consent aside, this is a major abuse of her magic. She’s going to get herself expelled!”
“Professor Reynolds didn’t want her expelled, that’s why he didn’t come forward before. Hopefully, the others will abide by his wishes until he’s back to normal and can advocate for himself.” I started gathering my things. “I’ll see you girls at breakfast tomorrow. You’re more than welcome to visit our room, obviously.”
“Right, because you and Aiden aren’t going to fuck on every possible surface for the next twelve hours,” Lilia said with a chuckle.
“Of course not!” I said, pretending to be shocked. “There’s a baby next door, and who knows what memories he’ll retain when he returns to normal!”
Lilia waved a hand. “You know the tricks to hide. He won’t notice even if you’re naked on the floor beside his crib.”
I stuck my tongue out at her and held my arms out for hugs.
“See you tomorrow. Wish us luck with the baby.”
“Pshh, you’ll be fine.” Hazel patted my shoulder comfortingly.
I left the room and returned to my new one just in time to see Headmistress Blackthorn leaving.
“I left the list of baby maintenance spells with Mister Evans,” she said. “You’ll get along fine.” Without waiting for a reply, she swooshed past me, her robes billowing in her wake.
I shook my head and pushed open the door. Aiden was sitting at one of the desks, a sheet of paper in his hand.
“These all seem fairly simple,” he said, glancing up at me. “Hopefully, even a sleep-deprived new ‘parent’ can manage them.”
“We’ll find out soon enough,” I said. “Your things are put away already?”
“I just stuffed them in the closet. Ophelia followed me in.”
We sorted out our belongings in the closet, which was a nice addition. Then we checked out the bathroom, which contained a large shower as well as a toilet and sink, so we wouldn’t have to leave the room.
Aiden’s eyes twinkled. “I can think of so many uses for this.”
I scoffed, “Yeah, because you haven’t had me in a public shower before.”
“Siobhan, darling…” He leaned on the doorframe, blocking me in. “In case you’ve failed to notice, I always want you, even when we’re in private.”
I flushed. “Do you really mean that?”
“If, after two years, you still don’t believe me, I must not be doing my job right.” His free hand tipped my head up by my chin. “I love every inch of you.”
I flinched.
Aiden frowned. “What?”
“I had a bit of a hard time this summer,” I whispered. “I’m not immune to nasty teasing.”
“Who was it? What did they say?” His face looked like a thundercloud.
“Just some regular human girls at the golf course.” I tried to wave away his concern. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Obviously it was, since you’re still thinking about it. What did they say to you? ”
“They didn’t say anything to me,” I hedged.
“Siobhan.”
It was one word, my name, but it sent shivers down my spine.
“They used the phrase ‘thunder thighs’,” I whispered. “And ‘fat ass’.” I blinked tears out of my eyes.
“Anything else?”
I shook my head. “They’re just stupid words. They don’t mean anything.”
“Words have weight to them,” he said.
I huffed a tiny laugh at his pun, but he didn’t crack a smile.
“For the record, if you have thunder thighs, call me Thor, because I love making them shake around my head when my face is buried between them.”
I gasped, turned on within seconds.
He lowered his mouth to whisper in my ear, bending to slide one hand down my back. “And I honestly can’t think that they meant ‘fat’ as a negative, because your ass is the perfect amount of grabbable. It fits in my hands to perfection, whether I’m pulling you against my body to kiss you…” He demonstrated, our breaths mingling in the small space between us. “…or yanking you backward onto my cock as I fuck you into the mattress.”
I whimpered, and he claimed my lips, sucking my soul out of my body with his skill.
“Whenever you think about what they said to you, remember my words, and how much I love every single inch of you,” he said seriously once he’d pulled back. “Get it?”
I nodded and he pinched my ass.
“Words, Siobhan.” His lips quirked up in a semblance of a smile.
“Got it.”
“Good.” Aiden finally released me, but didn’t let me move far from him. “Now, about christening this room...”
“Where should we start?” I said with a chuckle.
“We start with you stripping and letting my eyes feast on your beautiful body. We’ll see where it goes from there.”
I had barely grabbed the hem of my shirt when we heard Professor Reynolds start to cry in the next room.
Aiden chuckled. “Would you believe I had forgotten about him?”
“Yes, because so had I! Well, at least we’ll get to test out some of those spells that Headmistress Blackthorn brought over.”