AN: I'm updating! Yay for me! Sorry, updates will become less regular since school has been in session for the past four weeks. Enjoy the chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, but please be respectful of my characters and story

A Thunderous Silence

Chapter 13

Unwanted Surprises

I strolled through Hogsmead, in between Nick and Severus. It was hard to tell which man hated these weekend chaperoning trips more. Severus would have rather been holed up with one of his books or a difficult potion to brew. Though I knew I was replacing those leisurely activities. Nick would have rather been traveling; the itch to get moving was hitting him hard. Winter break could not come fast enough.

Samuel, thankfully, had not returned Hogwarts since his visit a couple of weeks ago. The Trio of Gryffindors had yet to approach me with questions about the Honorable House of Nobody. Neither Lucius Malfoy nor the You Know Who had attempted to use me as a contact to my family. Severus had yet to demand that I explain myself.

I had also not worn the ring since the night I first received it.

The students, thrilled to be out of the castle and away from responsibilities wandered the town almost aimlessly. Some, less so then others.

"Mr. Renolds, that's twenty points from Hufflepuff, and twenty from Ravenclaw as well Miss Phillips," Severus snapped as he stormed after two snogging sixth years.

Nick nudged me. "He's that teacher."

I could only smile and nodded. The man had become assertive over the years, and it became all the harder not to fall for him.

From down a beaten path, I heard the Weasley twin's laugher. I shook my head and followed the sound, to ensure the town would still be there for next weekend's trip.

The two red head young men were talking to twin brunette sisters. The four seemed to have been talking in some sort of secret code, as I could barely keep up with the conversation.

The sisters looked identical, from their fine bone structure to their petite frames. One sister wore her hair long and up in a ponytail while the other wore it short and curly around her face. Both had red robes on, though the sister with the ponytail had let her robes slide slightly off her shoulders, giving a small glimpse of the pale skin underneath. It seemed a little chilly for that trick though.

As I approached the small group, I couldn't help to feel like I had seen the sisters before. I knew that I knew them from somewhere.

And then it hit me. They were members of the Honorable House of Nobody.

I tapped the Weasley twins on the shoulders. They turned around to face me and both smiled. "Hello Professor Lexington."

"Hello," the brunette twins greeted me.

They looked into my eyes and I switched in between theirs. I was trying desperately to figure out where they drew their magic from. After mere seconds I saw recognition in their eyes, they had already concluded where my magic drew its power from.

I glared down at the Weasley twins and gestured towards the main town where they were supposed to stay.

"Sorry Professor," George said sheepishly, "we met them, and we were just sort of wandering."

Fred nodded. "Promise, we are not going to blow up the town."

I rolled my eyes and gestured towards Three Broomsticks. The twins nodded in understanding and gestured for the girls to follow.

"We'll be along in a minute," the girl with the shorter hair said.

Her sister nodded. "We just need to tell our cousin what is going on. Get us a table."

Fred and George left us, thankfully. I turned to the pair of twins that was still left. The looks in their eyes reminded me of the ones that James Potter and Sirius Black would have in their eyes, right before their prank exploded in the victim's face.

"Do you remember us?" the twin with the long hair asked.

I shook my head no, answering truthfully.

"I'm Elizabeth," the twin with the short hair replied. She then nodded towards her sister with the long pulled back hair. "That is Elise."

Elizabeth and Elise of the Honorable House of Nobody.

"We are here to spy on you and to bring you home with us…" Elise told me honestly.

Elizabeth bit her lip and turned to me. "However, we just met those boys, and we would like to get to know them…"

I stared at the two, a little shocked by what I saw. They couldn't be any older than my seventh years at Hogwarts, and all ready they were sent to spy on someone who was supposed to be in their family. They were two girls, who probably had never had the chance to think about boys…

And here they were, with their slight puppy dog eyes, asking me for permission to run off and be teenagers.

With a shake of my head, I gestured towards the Three Broomsticks. The twins smiled, and took off running. As they looked back at me, they gave me small smiles. I had a feeling they wouldn't cause too much trouble for me.

I walked back towards the central part of town, where Severus and Nick were talking. The two men turned to me as I approached them.

"So what were the Weasley Twins cooking up?" Nick asked me.

I smiled slyly, my eyes traveling to the Three Broomsticks.

"They have a date?" Nick laughed. "And you helped them secure it?"

"Who?" Severus asked.

I shrugged.

"Which house?" Nick pressured.

I shook my head and gestured to the town surrounding us.

"They're locals who don't go to Hogwarts?" Severus asked. "I didn't think that was possible. Let's investigate."

"Sev, if you want to be that Professor, go ahead, but leave me out of it," Nick responded.

The two went back to arguing, about whether being that professor or not was beneficial. I shook my head as I walked away from them. Deciding to see how the two sets of twins were doing, I wandered into Three Broomsticks.

I passed the Golden Trio along the way. They were quietly talking, but stopped as I passed. Hermione had a large book in her hand, while I couldn't read the title, I could see it was trimmed in decorative gold foil.

So they had begun to investigate the Honorable House of Nobody.

The Three Broomsticks was indeed busy, but I found a small table easily enough. I could see the two sets of twins.

Elizabeth was sitting next to George, they had leaned in close and were talking excitedly between themselves. No matter how close they got to one another, Elizabeth made sure that they didn't touch.

Elise was a different story. Fred had already wrapped an arm around the longhaired girl's shoulder. They sat casually, leaning on each other. They were also talking, though I know Elise was being a tease and trying to temp the Weasley boy into a kiss.

I stared at the two girls who were members of the Honorable House of Nobody. I tried desperately to find where they're magic came from.

A waitress broke my concentration by placing a drink in front of me, and asking what I would like to eat.

I placed my order and sat back to keep an eye on my students, like I was supposed to be doing. I stopped three fights from happening and broke up one between two Ravenclaws. I gave out two detentions and subtracted a handful of house points.

Severus and Nick joined me, having come to the agreement of some sort that I wasn't let in on. The waitress returned to take their orders as I went to go intervene between a third year from Slytherin and a fourth year from Gryffindor.

The fight had been over a boy from Huflepuff.

"Impressive," Severus said as I rejoined the men, "you did that all without talking."

"Lexie has skills, probably from working with Greg and his brain dead teammates all the time," Nick snickered.

My eyes narrowed, and I looked straight at Nick. He stopped laughing.

"Don't give me that look, Lexie," Nick grumbled.

Severus glanced at me and smiled. "And what is that look?"

"She doesn't like what I'm saying," Nick grumbled. "So I either need to shut up or she'll make me shut up."

"I take it the students have also received that look?" Severus asked.

I smiled and cocked my head to one side. My students knew that look all to well.

As the time in Hogsmead ended: Severus, Nick, and I went to go round up the students from the various shops and restaurants. Some were harder than others to coax back, mainly the Weasley twins who were not ready to leave Elizabeth and Elise. Some all but flew back to the castle, mainly the Golden Trio.

Nick noticed Potter and his friends' eagerness to return, and caught my arm. "You need to talk to them about the Honorable House of Nobody. They really shouldn't be investigating that secret, or it could cause some trouble.

I nodded in agreement. I would catch them after my class with them on Monday.

As we followed the last of the students into Hogwarts, the three of us slowly made our way to the teacher's lounge. Dumbledore held a weekly staff meeting there so that we were all on the same page, whatever page that was. For the most part the meetings didn't take long and if you missed one here or there, there was no consequence.

"And finally to wrap things up, as always everyone is required to attend the Ministry of Magic's annual Yule party," Dumbledore told my fellow teachers and myself.

One could almost feel the communal groan being silently suppressed.

Severus sighed heavily, as if he knew that this event was unavoidable. His hand came up and his eyes, almost in a tired fashion. "This again."

I gently nudged him and fluttered my eyelashes.

"Of course we can go together," was Severus' reply. I hoped we managed to have this conversation without attracting too much attention.

Nick raised his hand. "What if we don't want to go?"

"Most of us don't want to go, Nicholas" Professor Sprout muttered.

To his credit, Dumbledore seemed to notice the dislike among the teachers. He smiled and nodded in agreement. The man liked this less than we did. He nodded towards the group of teachers and left the room.

"Nicholas," McGonagall said with a smile. She ignored Severus and me. "I should introduce you to my niece. She is a very lovely young woman and you two would get along very well."

"We need a date?" Nick groaned.

"Of course," McGonagall replied.

Nick looked over at me and smiled. "I can get my own date, no worries."

He strode over to the fireplace and took a pinch of floo powder. Then he turned to me and nodded in apology. My eyes widen, trying to figure out whom he was going to invite. Belle from Paris? Crystal from L. A.? Mami from Tokyo?

"La Casa del Guerrero Enojado," Nick said clearly and without hesitation.

So he was asking Amada, the young Spanish woman who had written him recently.

"Hola!" a sweet voice said, rising from the fireplace.

Nick conversed with Amada for a short time in Spanish so that the rest of us gave up trying to listen in. They said their good-byes, and the floo fire died down.

"Thank you Professor McGonagall, but I seem to already have a date for the Ministry's Yule Ball."

Later that night, Severus and I were grading papers in his personal rooms. Every once in a while he would sneer at the scroll he was grading before angrily writing on it. It was slightly comical to watch.

I had the first years' scrolls in my hands. I was more or less looking over the papers to se what things needed to be reviewed before the end of term. My first years were doing quite well this year.

The entire night I waited for the knock on the door. I waited for Samuel to strode in and goad Severus into a fight. I waited for the twins Elise and Elizabeth to barge in, torn between telling me about their dates or to trail me like they were supposed to. I waited for Mona to walk in, talking about purity of magic. I waited for some other member of the Honorable House of Nobody to track me down. I waited for Nick to knock, looking for me out of sheer boredom.

Finally, Severus rose from his desk and walked over to me. He held out his hand, and I took it with a smile. The nights I stayed with Severus always made me smile.

Thank Merlin for small miracles that no one from my crazy families had tried to track me down.

Hao'sAnjul: I have a clear concept in my head of what their concept in magic is, the trick is explaining it to you. But I'm glad you are enjoying it.