Friendly Reunion

This is for James Riddle and Lucy Malfoy

Lucy's blonde hair trailed behind her small frame as she walked into the Great Hall, ready for dinner. She'd been gone for a few days, but she was back and feeling renewed! Looking around, she saw some students were already leaving. She frowned as she saw most of the Slytherin table clear out, but either way decided to sit down and grab some food. As she was pouring milk on her glass, her eyes caught sight of James walking in. Smiling, she waved at him.
"James!" she exclaimed, happy to see him again.

James hastily made his way towards the Great Hall, afraid he would be late for dinner. He had lost track of time, absorbed in one of his books, until his stomach reminded him that he had forgotten to eat. Entering the large room, he noticed it was nearly deserted, with only a few students still enjoying the many delicious meals.

As he was heading to his usual seat, he noticed someone waving at him from the Slytherin table. "Lucy!" he exclaimed upon reaching her. "I haven't seen you in a while. What have you been?"

Smiling bright, Lucy moved to he could take a seat. "I don't know if we're allowed to sit in different House tables, but I guess it can't hurt."
"I've been fine. Phoenix had a little emergency so I had to go away for only a few days. He's alright though. Wade said everything had been alright, so I guess that's good." Placing bread on her plate and reaching for butter she asked, "How have you been?"

After a moment of doubt, James took a seat next to her. After all, most of the professors were already gone, so he guessed no one would mind. "I'm glad everything is all right. I've been fine too." he replied, contemplating the different dishes. Everything always looked so tempting, and he never knew what to choose. "You haven't missed anything important." he reassured her. "Just a few new spells we've learned, but I can show you later if you want."

"Well, I'm glad I didn't miss anything. And yeah, you can show me those spells." She smiled, but still kept her eyes on the butter. Glancing to James, she giggled slightly as she noticed his hesitation towards the food in front of him; like a little kid in a candy store.
"Everything is always so good isn't it?"

"It all looks so delicious." he confirmed with a smile, finally settling for a piece of pie he had never tried before. "I don't know how they manage to prepare so many of it every day. They must have an army of cooks hidden in the kitchens." he remarked, although he had never seen any of them. "And it's kind of amazing how it all appears from nowhere at the beginning of each meal." he added before realizing how silly he must sound.

"It's magic, James." She smiled at his comment, "I'm sure you could make pie appear out of nowhere if you wanted to." As soon as she said that, Jacques flew in from the window and landed right on the spot in front of her. His golden feathers glowing with the dim light in the Great Hall, and his golden eyes traveling everywhere before settling on Lucy. He swiftly undid the knot on the small package he was carrying and waited for Lucy to retrieve it. It was a small box with three bags of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, three Cauldron Cakes, four Chocolate Frogs and four Liquorice wands. The note attached had writing in green ink, and she recognized the lettering immediately.

Dearest Lucy,
Do not eat it all at once! And do not worry about Wade, I've sent one for him too.
I apologize for having taken you out of school for a few days, but I suspect the sweets will make you feel better.
With all of my love,
Phoenix.

Taking out the contents of her package, she looked at James. "Would you like some?" she offered, waiting for him to answer, then turned back to Jacques, who flew away as soon as Lucy spoke.
"He's a big fan of candy. My father." she admitted, thinking back at the days in which he used to buy as many as he could for her and Wade.

After a few minutes, she whispered to him, leaning closer to him as she didn't want other students to hear them as they could get in trouble.
"Have you spoken to Professor Umbranox about the Library?"

"Thanks" James said, taking a Cauldron Cake, and putting it near his plate for later. "I'm not going to take any of these though, I already got tricked once." he added with a smile, showing the box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. "Your father seems really nice, sending you all these sweets."

"Right, I forgot to tell you about that." he exclaimed, suddenly remembering his talk with the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in the Ravenclaw Common Room. Realizing he spoke too loud, he immediately lowered his voice. "Aurora and I asked Professor Umbranox to give us a permission to go to the Restricted Section, like you suggested last year. And he accepted." He took the note from his pocket, unfolded it and handed it to her. "We were just waiting for you. Now that you're back, we can finally go." he declared in an excited tone.

Lucy smiled as she saw James take a Cauldron Cake. "Well, he mostly feels bad for taking me out of school for a few days as he knows how much I like it here. Although, he does have a really bad temper." she admitted, thinking back at the times Wade and her used to get in trouble under Phoenix's care.

Worried that other students might have heard his first words, Lucy glanced over the note quickly and then placed it on the table, face down.
"It doesn't have out names though," she whispered back worriedly, "What if he doesn't agree to my tagging along? I mean, did you guys tell him I was going too?"
While waiting for James' answer, she said, "By the way, I've got something to tell you...."

"Well, we didn't really tell him..." James admitted, cursing himself interiorly for having forgotten that. "But I'm sure the librarian won't give us any trouble when she sees we have a note." he reassured her.

"I'm listening" he replied, wondering with a hint of apprehension what she wanted to tell him.

"Well, I hope he won't." Lucy admitted, still clearly worried. "Um. I hope you don't mind," She began, biting her bottom lip slightly as she worried about how James and Aurora would think about this. "But I told Wade."
Still fearful of his reaction, she defended her point, "I just can't leave him out of this, James. He's like a brother to me, and I'd feel better if he was with us in the Restricted Section."

"Oh" James sighed, relieved. "I don't mind. At all." he affirmed with a smile. "I'm even glad you told him." James had been spending some time with Wade lately, and had grown fond of the Slytherin. "So, what does he think about it? Will he join us in our search?"

Letting out a sigh of relief, Lucy glanced back at James. "He's okay with it. For the first few things I told him, he seemed pretty unsure about the whole idea, but something made him change his opinion." Taking a piece of the same pie James had taken earlier, she added, "Have you and Aurora made any more discoveries?"

"No, nothing. But I'm hoping the Restricted Section holds more information about the Library. If it doesn't, I don't think there's much more we can do." he admitted. Realizing he had forgotten to eat from the excitement of talking about their plans, he took a bite of the pie and then drank some pumpkin juice. "How about you? Did you family tell you anything more about the legend?"