Who: Victoria and Gabe When: Tuesday, January 26, evening Where: Restricted Section What: One Head of House job, two professors, lots of issues (and probably many witnesses).
Victoria had allotted Tuesday evening to her wards research. She had made her way to the library, past the librarian's desk, from which the librarian was fortunately absent at the moment of her arrival, and all the way back to the Restricted Section, where she was selecting an armfull of volumes for examination, probably in her office. The impulse to sneak by William was craven, and she knew it, but she still wasn't ready to discuss the Prophet's campaign and she expected the subject to come up. And it wasn't like she was a Gryffindor to have to care about denying her cowardly impulses. She'd had to deal with the curious stares of students of all four houses for the last two days. That was enough without having to analyse her own impulses on the matter, Ravenclaw-style.
Wards research was, in a welcome contrast, quite soothing. Find the book, read the relevant sections, take notes as needed for later cross-referencing. Lather, rinse, repeat. She'd been at it for perhaps a quarter-glass, ignoring the rest of the world, when she realised she was no longer alone in the Restricted Section. She didn't think it was William, but maybe if she ignored whoever it was, they would go away and leave her to her work.