-My feet hurt.-
Stacey couldn`t help but notice that as she moved around the common room, picking up a book here or a scroll there. Classes would start in about three weeks, and she needed to perfect her class plans still. She would have substitute for a few months, but she planned on coming back. She loved her job. Well, secretly she knew that she wouldn`t be ready to take care of two children, and Aiden had always insisted on working even though her father had a huge bank account in their names. Her mom would be coming down and helping. She was still a bit upset with her father, so she hadn`t talked to him about it much.
Finally collapsing on the couch, she realized just how little it took for her to be tired any more. It made her angry, actually. She loved running around in the forest or suddenly deciding to go swimming in the lake. But those things required being quick. While she could hear and smell better currently-- side effects of all the hormones-- but still, she wasn`t fast enough for the creatures that inhabited those spots.
"Ugh!" she exclaimed loudly after a moment, letting her head fall onto the back of the couch. She was burning up in her maternal short-sleeved shirt and shorts. With a flick of her fingers the fire went down and heat left the room.
"Much better."
"Tired?"
Pheonix stepped into the common room, a tall man with neatly groomed brown hair, icy blue eyes, and glasses. He was skinny and had on a black polo with khaki pants and black dress shoes. He noticed the pregnant woman collapse onto the couch, and for a moment was worried, but then saw that she was alright. He had heard of her. He wasn't sure what class she was teaching, but her name was Stacey Gray. She looked to be about eighteen.
"How about I open some windows? It's stuffy up here." He didn't bother to wait for a reply. He already had walked over to the windows and opened two of them, letting in a nice breeze.
Stacey didn`t jump at the sudden appearance. In her mind, it wasn`t quite so sudden. She had felt his mental field around the school, the traces of his being lingering around. She hadn`t met him yet, but she had been a little busy lately.
"I could have gotten that, but thank you," she replied, watching him move to the windows. Yes, it was stuffy, but the warm air that blew in sure wasn`t helping. She was hot, but nothing could change that but birth at this point. She had almost twice the amount of blood running through her veins, that`s the real reason she was hot. Still, that wasn`t easily changed right now.
"I`m Stacey. I`ll be teaching DA again this year." Stacey instroduced herself, sitting up a little bit and leaning against the arm of the couch.
He smiled at Stacey and leaned against the wall by the windows.
"My name is Phoenix Stark.It's a pleasure to meet you. I'll be teaching Astronomy this year." He said, a hint of excitement in his tone. "I just thought I'd come check out the school. I was a Gryffindor back when I went here, so I never got to see the other common rooms. They don't look very different though." He looked at the fireplace and the sets of furniture. Everything was just a different color.
Stacey nodded, smiling. She had been in all of the common rooms constantly. There was hardly a time when she hadn`t known the trick to open all of the doors.
"I was a Gryffindor, too. We weren`t supposed to go in the other common rooms, you know, but that never stopped my lot. We were every where." She grinned, remembering the way she and her friends would sneak about. The way she could move about, so silently, she missed that. Now she was lucky to not stumble.
"Do you have everything planned out already? Your classes and everything, I mean." She looked Pheonix over. He was in his early twenties, fresh and know-it-all like, by the way things were looking. Just like most men.
"Um, I'm trying to work some out. I've got to clean and arrange the classroom before anything. But I have a few ideas up my sleeve." He put his hands in his pockets and turned to look out the window.
"What about you? Do you have your classes arranged and what not?" He was staring at the forest, and a smile came to his face when he saw a unicorn sprint from out of the heavy mass of trees and into the open. They were beautiful creatures, the way their mane flowed along their back, and how they trotted so gracefully. He followed the unicorn with his eyes and watched as it ran around and went back into the forest.
She couldn`t help but watch Pheonix, letting her mind reach out to his. He seemed nice enough, humbled maybe? She wasn`t the best at reading people until they got to talking, but for some reason he just didn`t seem very conceded.
"Yeah. I haven`t had much to do since last year ended. Not much I can do. My lessons are going to get pretty boring." She made a face as she spoke. Being pregnant was really cutting her activity back. For instance, right now she might have been running in the forest. God, how she missed running.
Phoenix chuckled.
"I remember one year, I think it was third year, our D.A teacher had to leave for a few weeks. So our substitute gave us text work. That was the worst. Those text books are complicated."
Stacey smiled brightly, glad that this guy at least wasn`t boring like the others.
"I try to make my lessons fun, put some action in there instead of just paperwork. I believe that actually doing something is always better than just reading about how to do it. Hands-on experience is always the best." Stacey nodded to herself as she spoke. Using her hands was something she could still do, so there was actually a lot of handy-work in her schedual this year.
"So how's it feel to be pregnant?" He asked with a crooked smile. "If you and your husband go to birthing classes, I'm going to feel really bad if he has to do that muggle thing and were the sympathy belly or whatever its called." He pretended to cringe at the thought.
Stacey hid her smile behind a wince. She wouldn`t give up being pregnant for anything, no matter how much she complained. Twins was exactly what she wanted. At least, before she felt like there was a weight attatched to her middle.
"It`s like having a watermelon straped to your stomach, except you can`t see your toes," she replied, grinning again. "And I have no problem making my husband wear a sympathy belly. It`ll make him help out more." Okay, she liked this guy. He said 'your husband' instead of 'your boyfriend'. A lot of people assumed she just got knocked up, especially Muggles. No, she was married. Young, but still married first. She was too resonsible for things to have worked differently.
"A watermelon? Look's like you've got two going on over there." He laughed and then grinned. "But I'm sure you're excited. Birthday parties, wands, sending them off to Hogwarts. You've got quite an adventure ahead of you."
Stacey folded her hands over the mound that was her stomach-- scarily enough.
"I`m sure it`ll be full of ups and downs, but I wouldn`t trade it for the world. One girl, one boy. Don`t know how that happened." She had always wanted twins. Growing up as an only child, she didn`t want that for any of her kids. Have a twin brother suddenly show up had been a blessing and a curse.
"Enough of how big I am for now. Is there anything you haven`t seen yet or want explained? I know this place inside out."
He shook his head and pushed himself off of the wall.
"No, that's alright. I'm actually pretty familiar with the place. It's only been five years." He gave her a smile. "Thank you though."
She couldn`t help but smile fully now, flashing her white teeth. Five years? That would make him, what, twenty two?
"Haha. Wow, I didn`t think you were that old," she teased, standing up slowly and moving towards the fire. With a simple curling motion of her her fingers the flames jumped up and moved into waves, rolling in on themselves before settling back into embers.
"Oh yeah. I can already feel the pain in my knees and back." Phoenix said with a wink.
((>_<))
Stacey laughed a little and turned so the fire was to her back. Really, she wasn`t supposed to be using fire, but who cared at this point?
"Oh, I can too, although I`m sure my reason is a but more legit." She raised an eyebrow and her eyes changed to a soft blue.
((^_^))
Phoenix noticed her eyes changed and smiled.
"You have pretty eyes." He said.
((That was totally amazing. XD ))
Stacey smiled at the compliment, used to a more... well, amazed reaction.
"Thank you. They change color based on my mood, and I usually don`t have any control over them," she replied, looking over the room as she spoke. The common room just seemed bare and unlived in, and she didn`t like it.
"Astronomy. You must spend a lot of time looking up. Usually people don`t bother doing so."
"Impressive." He replied to her eye comment. And then he nodded. "Yes, I do spend a lot of time looking up, usually through my telescope though." Phoenix grinned. "One of my most prized possessions."
"Telescopes can be very nice, especially if it`s magically enhanced," she added. "Astronomy was one of my favorite classes. Spending the nights up in a tower with the stars. Mm. Wish things were so simple now." She rubbed her hands over her stomach, feeling one of the twins move.
"Simple can be boring." He said. Phoenix looked at her stomach. "Er...may I...umm...." He was trying to ask if he could feel it. He had never felt a baby kick before or even touched a pregnant stomach.
Stacey saw the thoughts flash across his mind, even though she was trying to mind her own business.
"Oh, sure. Here, let me see your hand." She reached out a hand to take his then gently held it against her stomach, right over the spot where a baby was kicking. She was used to people touching her stomach now; what really bothered her was when random people congradulated her when she was out somewhere, without asking.
"Wow." He felt the baby kick and smiled, looking up at Stacey. He gently pulled his hand away and looked at it for a second.
"That...that was cool."
Stacey laughed loudly for the first time that day. Her eyes flashed brilliant blue for a moment, like sapphires.
"No problem. You get used to it by month four. Especially with twins." She motioned to her large stomach. Really, she was only five months along, but she looked like she was eight months with one baby.