A long overdue meeting

The lights of London twinkled below as Jess silently crossed the skies, flying from his house in Hogsmeade down to Mariana's London dwelling, an apartment if he remembered correctly, to have a quiet dinner out with her.

He was nervous, there was no denying it, for the butterflies he felt in his stomach had little to do with the tremendous distance between himself and the ground. It had been too long, in his own opinion, since he'd just relaxed and let himself enjoy himself, and being around Mari was sure to allow him to do so once more.

Spotting what he hoped was a nearby landmark, Jess began his descent (first taking care to make himself invisible, of course) and before he knew it, found himself on a London streetcorner, waiting for his dinner partner to join him, as he had done so many times before, many years ago.

It was fresh outside considering that Christmas was only few days away, it was Mari's favorite holiday. Enjoying a quite evening with Jess was becoming almost impossible for Mariana. She hardly spent time at her appartment anymore, she spent a lot of time at Hogwars and Hogsmeade and the hospital and in the Order headquaters so it were rare occasions.

She peeked through her window and at one moment there was nothing and already the next Jess stood there. Where he appeared from she did not know so she took her black coat and made a mental note to ask him if she remembered her own name by the time she had him face to face.

Two moments later she was walking towards the street corner where she saw her date, so to speak. Date was a light word for it. Her boots on high heels were clapping as she walkrd down the road and then she was there. Without thinking twice about it she threw herself streight into his arms, the rest of it seemed to go to myst...

Jess turned as he heard the constant beat of high heels clacking on the pavement, the noise growing as its source approached. He split a grin as he recognised the person the noise belonged to, and felt his arms open on their own accord as he was drawn into a neck-snapping embrace, sharing in it for a few seconds before giving a silghtly tighter squeeze and releasing Mariana, his right hand remaining around her waist.

"Hello m'dear," he said in a posh accent, his left hand mimicking the movement of taking a hat off his head and bowing for her. "It's lovely to see you," he added, his voice returning to normal with a small smile sitting on his face.

He glanced at her once more and a small sigh escaped his lips, before he spoke. "Shall we head on? I thought we could go to this nice Italian muggle restaurant I know of," he suggested, shrugging a little as he spoke.

"But I don't really mind what we do," he added, "i'm just happy to be here!"

Mariana sighed satisfed by the recievement though not entirely so she remembered to make up for it later, at least her mind did. Her arns stayed wrapped around his shoulder though not ready to let go.

Well at least he was as a jokster as ever, though his words did seem a little formal. Maybe she needed to remember that they were both adults now, but she chased away that very unpleasant thought and stayed as relaxed as ever. Only time when she actually looked serious was in the hospital while concetrating on not killing anyone. "Hello handsome you look as stunning as ever." she repled with the same grin Jess had on his face.

"I don't really mind where we go, i am not going to be thinking about food at all while i look at you, I'll be thinking i'll have you finally alone later." Mari replied looking satisfied by this last fact. "I'll have to kidnap you one of these days so no work or order can stop me." she added following the happy thought. It was hard to have anything but happy thoughts while squuezing him like this.

Jess chuckled and drew his hands through his hair, as Mariana spoke. "I know," he responded with an unbearable pretentiousness, "I always look this good, it's a gift," he added before his demeanor crumbled and he cracked up laughing, pulling Mariana tighter to him as he did so before resuming his original stance.

"I wont lie," he then added, "I will be thinking about the food quite a bit, I'm starving!" He exclaimed, his grin widening for a second before he shrugged and gave a small giggle. "Well, the sooner we head off... the sooner we get back," he suggested, winking at her before starting to walk along the street.

There was a sound that without a mistake was the sound of Mariana laughing through her fingers. That was it, all the seriousness was gone. "Ofcourse you do honey. You're my own personal gift." she replied when she managed not to laugh and planted a kiss on his cheek in the moment he squeezed her.

"I know you will. As in the matter of facts i can use you as a volonteer to try my new cookies when we get back." she replied not sounding surprised at all and then why would she be. Mari walked along his side a thought finally occuring to her. "When you mentioned this muggle italian resturant i hope you did not have in mind Italy did you?" she asked uncertain because it wouldn't surprise her if he thought about it.

Jess felt a roll of laughter escape him as Mari finished speaking, causing him to stop in his tracks for a moment. "No, not quite, though I wish I'd thought of that actually," he told her, continuing to chuckle just a little as he considered the idea of whisking the two of them away to italy for a few days. Alas, he would be in serious trouble if he even attempted to drop off the radar for long enough to head overseas.

"I do look forward to the cookies though, you know me, I can't say no," he told her, squeezing her once more before resuming his pace, heading down the street to their destination.

"But no, no Italy for tonight," he continued, "just a small restaurant which we're fairly close to," he added, shrugging as he walked. "Nothing that good, though I may try and get there next time," he told her with a chuckle.

Mariana was not surprised at his answer. Even though she didn't say it she felt relieved or partly relieved anyway. As much as she would like an intercontinental trip with Jess, middle of the night and without telling anyone seemed like a bad idea. Someone might think they got into trouble. "We can go on a trip anytime we want." she said adding can in her head. It would not sound like a cheerful conversation if she mentioned it.

"I know you do. That's why i chose tonight to try the new recipe." Mariana replied keeping pace with him though she did not feel like making distance between them.

She only followed him wondering where this resurant was. She roamed around this block for a while and never found a single resturant anywhere close. "You know i might see you more often from now on? Feels strange having a date with a professor." she commented all radiant at the thought.

Jess chuckled as he listened to Mari speak, before rubbing his stomach and smacking his lips. "Great, new recipe. I can't wait to get into them," he told her, turning to catch her eyes for a second before winking.

"It'd be interesting to go overseas again, if not a little impractical. You know how uptight the new administration is back at Hogwarts, huh," he told her with a grin. "It'll be great having you working back there again," he added, his voice thick with contentment.

"But if we're not careful rumours'll spread. Surely some of the students'll think that I got you the job because of our relationship," he added, "but then again, who cares what they think," he told her, leaning over and kissing her on the top of her head for a moment before looking back up.

"We're nearly there," he said, glancing up at the sky and shivering a little, "good thing too, it looks like a storm's about to come in," he told her, a concerned look quickly crossing his face.

[[Well techniclly she never worked at Hogwarts before when the new no student and professor at same time charries rule was proclaimed, but okay ]]

Mariana looked satisfied, after all Jess was always eager to test her cooking experiments and he never seemed to complain either. "I've made them just for you. Is there a meal i never tried to make that you would like? Family recipe or something." she asked eager to make something Jess did not eat in a long time.

"Well i was considering robbing you one of these weekends to go skiing in the mountains, but i guess Britain has those too." she commented really not being too surprised about the fact they needed to stay in the country.

His words did not surprise her, she felt the problem coming. "Don't worry about it in any case it is me who they will judge. I just needed a more peaceful job and nurse is not really a rather important position on Hogwarts. I need to get more involved with the order buisness it is what really matters and working double shifts three times a week did not seem to help. I am a member only by title i don't really do anything." she replied totally relaxed like she was giving him the weather news for tommorow.

Her attention turned back to what really was happening, the date. "There's nothing more romantic then you and me on the rain i have to admit." Mari said looking with amusment at Jess's concerned face. It was not the first time they had a date during the rainstorm.