just want it like before -- kayla

[freddie hill]

but when you walked out that door, a piece of me died
told you i wanted more, but that's not what you had in mind
just want it like before, you just need to remember

* * *

freddie was late. it was a usual occurrence. he just seemed to lose track of time so easily. at the moment he was running down an empty hall with a stack of books and pieces of parchment and scrolls in his arms. he could barely see over the massive stack and was bound to fall on his face at any moment. finally he reached the headmaster's office where he was dropping off all these materials. he was putting together a lesson plan on dragons, but was obviously being constantly rejected by the headmaster due the danger of the lesson. freddie had finally settled on the fact that he would not introduce his students to a real dragon whether it was just a baby or not. he thought for sure his lesson plan would get approved this time. here you are, sir, he told the headmaster, blundering into his office. "excellent, thank you professor hill, now, aren't you supposed to currently be on study hall monitoring in the great hall?" as we speak, sir! freddie exclaimed dropping everything in his hands on the headmaster's desk before turning instantly and dashing for the door. he could hear the professor give a small chuckle as he went tumbling out of it.

he dashed down the halls, his checkered blazer flailing in the wind behind him as he ran. he leaped down the entrance hall staircase two at a time and bolted towards the massive great hall double doors. he entered the great hall, once again in a blunder, to begin his duties of monitoring study hall with professor benson. as he stumbled in the room full of students silently studying he instantly became aware of how much noise he had made when all eyes shot towards him. he gave a small exasperated smile, heaving slightly as he was out of breath and tried to quietly close the door behind him. a couple students snickered quietly and then they all returned to their quiet studying. it was not a particularly busy study session today and there were only a few groups of students utilizing the space at the moment. freddie quickly patted his hair flat on the sides and straightened his bow tie as he caught his breath. he looked forward to any time he got to spend with kayla, even if they were on professorly duties. he gathered himself and began walking down the aisle between gryffindor and ravenclaw tables when he spotted her. he first noticed, of course, he flaming red hair which he could always spot from a mile away. a warmth spread through him. he was in love with her, and had been since the day he had met her while he was a student in these very walls. professor, he said beaming, greeting his colleague, and his best friend. he stood next to her with his hands folded behind his back. he was just waiting for her playful ridicule at his clumsiness. he spent his entire life making her laugh, and nothing brought him greater pleasure than to see her smile, especially after so much tragedy had befallen her young life.

[Kayla Alison Benson]

Kayla sometimes thought she couldn’t go on another day. Losing William was still fresh in her mind and heart and sometimes she felt like she didn’t want to get out of bed. Yes she still felt like that sometimes though she never dared to tell anyone. They might not think she was capable of teaching and she needed this job, she needed to keep herself distracted from constantly thinking about him. So that was what she did, with her children both second years at the school, she threw herself into her work. It was easy because this was her first year teaching and she wanted to do a good job.

She never thought she would be in the halls of Hogwarts again with Freddie Hill. They had been best friends in school as they were in the same year and house. They also had so much fun when they were together. It had always been that way even before she graduated and left the country. All of her friends kept in touch with her of course but soon she was so busy she hardly had time to reply to their owls anymore. She also didn’t want to scare William off with owls flying to and from her house when they were first dating. Of course after she finally told him and they grew closer she started owling some of her friends again.

It wasn’t her attention to ignore them she just didn’t want to scare off William. She was at a muggle college for four years and she didn’t want anything magical taking away in her experience there. She thought about her life before a lot while she was alone or watching over students as they silently worked on their assignments. Never in a million years would she have ever thought she would become a professor. She always thought that after school would play professional quidditch but after meeting William she decided to wait on that and then after he died she just didn’t have the heart anymore.

A small piece of her was glad she had decided to go down the road she did. She got her beautiful twins who happen to be in their second year of schooling at Hogwarts. She was married to the most wonderful man and even though she lost him she got to reconnect with a friend she missed dearly. Freddie Hill was there for her all the time after William died. She couldn’t ask for a better friend. He made her laugh when she was feeling lonely and sad. That was another reason she was glad for the road she went down because now she was teaching Muggle Studies at Hogwarts and he is right here with her making her smile constantly even when she doesn’t want to sometimes now still.

Like right now she was watching over students in study hall. Making sure they were doing their work and not talking too much. She had this duty along with Freddie. He was of course not here right now. She knew he would be there soon though because he had never let her down in the past. He was always there for her no matter what. Minutes passed as she watched over the students hoping to see him stroll through the doors soon. She helped some students with their homework while she waited for Freddie to come in. Some students, Slytherins, refused to have her help them with their homework. She was beneath them because she taught Muggle Studies

As she stood up after helping a hufflepuff student she saw him strolling through the doors. She smiled and turned around towards him raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms, though as she stood there like that a small smile crept onto her face. Freddie could always make her laugh and she was glad for that. She hadn’t been smiling enough since William died and she needed to do that more and to laugh. She needed to laugh more again. Like she use to when her and Freddie where in school here. Hello there Freddie

[/color]she said still smiling at him. What kept you[/color] she asked him. She wanted to know she was curious as to what he was doing before he got here but that was because she was always worried that he was doing something dangerous or that he was hurt. Before she even came to Hogwarts she had enough bad experiences that told her anything could happen to anyone anywhere.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[freddie hill]

but when you walked out that door, a piece of me died
told you i wanted more, but that's not what you had in mind
just want it like before, you just need to remember

* * *

freddie bent over placing his hands on his knees, panting to catch his breath. oh, you know... just being chased by some acromantula in the forbidden forest he grinned. no, not really, though... i'm trying to get dumbledore to let me introduce my students to... wait for it... a baby dragon! he whispered excitedly. he said the last part in a hushed voice as if he didn't want to spoil this exciting news in case one of the students in study hall had heard. he knew that most of the school thought that he was absolutely mad. he was always trying to push the boundaries of danger in his classroom. it wasn't that he didn't care for the safety of his students, because he did, but he was always looking for the next adventure, the next bit of excitement in his life that he could share with others. and in his opinion, dragons were the absolute epitome of just that.

freddie had always been fascinated with dragons, ever since he was a student at hogwarts himself. where other people saw a terrifying, fire breathing, dangerous creature, freddie saw a misunderstood, magnificent beast with unbelievable strength and agility. that was always his way. seeing things just a little differently. some people might mistake it with the characteristics of a thrill seeker or daredevil of some kind, but in actuality he was just a little bit mad. he had been trying to get his dragon lesson cleared with dumbledore for weeks, but was constantly getting rejected. dumbledore was compassionate enough though to keep letting freddie submit new ideas and innovative ways of teaching the lesson so that no one was in any real danger, but freddie refused to teach the lesson without a real dragon present, and that was always the reason for his failure.

despite how crazy most of the other professors thought he was, freddie knew that if he could trust anyone to get on board with his wild ideas, it was kayla. she understood his madness better than anyone... or at least, she accepted him for who he was. over the years of their friendship she had probably gotten so used to his crazy shenanigans that they barely seemed surprising anymore. sooo... what do you think benson? he anxiously awaited her response, eager for her approval and encouragement, regardless of how insane he sounded. in the back of his mind, though, he thought she might disprove of his lunacy. after all, her own children were at hogwarts now, and they were freddie's own students! although he would always keep them safe, now that kayla was a mother it was probably a little less easy to encourage him. he brushed a piece of hair out of his eyes nervously. ahem, he cleared his throat, the lesson would, of course, be for the older students, naturally, certainly not any second years or anything like that freddie added quickly before she could answer.