Never Too Much (Jozalea)

Subject: Never Too Much (Jozalea) Fri Apr 05, 2019 7:59 pm

Joshua Murray was not the type of man who usually gave way to social holidays such as Valentine's Day, or other cliche days of cultures, or expressions of feelings that were celebrated around the world. The idea of spending one day fawning over the person you loved, or felt strongly for, or whichever term an individual would like to use seemed like the most pointless of holidays.

His feelings for his Azalea were not heightened on one given day of the year, they had been constant, for six thousand, three hundred and sixty two days. He would admit with more time those feelings may have become heightened, and possibly in the last couple of years they had hit their highest levels, but no day shone out with larger acts of his devotion to the witch than any other.

Except, this year.

This year, it had been clear that the disappearance of his Azalea's colleague from the school had been troubling her. The reassurances from the male had done little to soothe the witch, even if she pretended not to be thinking about it, Josh could tell from the tension in her shoulders whenever he pressed light kisses upon the back of her neck, he could see it in the way her eyes drifted off absently from time to time when she was supposed to be working, and from the way his Azalea brought up the subject each week without fail when she returned to Wales for their weekends, Josh knew that this was not going away.

Without a word, though, Josh had pushed forth his resources once more in an effort to find the missing witch for his Azalea. It had been a couple of months in the workings, but it had not been as hard to find Miss Blackwood as it had been to find his Azalea. In fact, almost miraculously, it had been the morning of Valentine's Day that Miss Blackwood had been brought to the Murray Manor, fed, cleaned off from her obvious lack of self-hygiene routines during her time away from the world, and brought new clothes. For the rest of the day, Miss Blackwood had been holed up in the Manor, feeding hungrily from the potion tomes of the Murray's private library like a parasite and inspiring no sympathy from the blonde.

Whatever it was his Azalea saw in this woman, Josh could not place his finger upon it.

But it had never been his understanding that was the end goal.

It was his Azalea's happiness.

But this could not be rushed. He'd accepted that Azalea would not be home for Valentine's Day because of the Ball, and he had not insisted his presence upon the witch for the Ball because he knew she would be busy, he would only be a burden upon her time, and the blonde knew that if he were to attend he would want to have her attention solely to himself. He'd therefore gently declined the invitation for those reasons, instead noting how he would pick the witch up when she was ready to leave.

Of course, Josh had no such intentions, so after changing in to the black three piece suit, combined with a white shirt, and an emerald tie. The blonde had selected been given cufflinks to match, and then picked up the small box that contained Azalea's 'present'.

The car had been brought around the front at 11pm that evening, Miss Blackwood brought from the Manor to the car looking rather pleased with herself as she hugged a tome almost as big as her to herself as she climbed in to the car, letting out a low whistle as she looked around. Josh paid her no mind as he put the machine in to gear, exiting the estate and turning in to the portal that would take them up to Scotland in next to no time. From there, it was a half hour drive to Hogwarts, one that Josh spent in silence despite the jabbering of the witch beside him.

Apparently being stolen away from her hiding had not frightened Miss Blackwood in to silence.

The school loomed over them by twenty to midnight, and Josh had waited patiently for Miss Blackwood to exit the car, clearing his throat when she attempted to walk off to the castle, and motioning with only his eyes to the marquee by the lake. For a moment, the witch looked to disobey, but through some unspoken agreement, she turned and headed to the party. Josh kept pace, entering the marquee that had the straggling remains of what looked to have once been a full party from the mess left in it's wake. Older students still dancing with people they cared for, some already proceeding to much more uncouth antics. The youngsters were still trying to keep up with it all, but their bodies were tiredly conforming to minimal movements around the marquee.

It took Josh only a few short moments to locate his Azalea, and at the sight of the witch, his body physically relaxed, his features lightening ever so slightly and almost unseen to the untrained eye.

Moving swiftly across the marquee, knowing Miss Blackwood would follow, Josh moved silently through the crowds, circling around his Azalea until he stood behind her. Gently, and carefully, the blonde placed his hands over the witch's eyes, leaning in just behind her ear.

"Guess who, A-Azalea," he murmured, his breath tickling softly against her neck as he waited for her to do so, or to move. "I have a surprise for you." The man continued, allowing her to turn around, see him for a moment, and then move aside.

Revealing Miss Blackwood.

In the flesh. Unharmed. Alive.

And most importantly, back where she was supposed to be.

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Subject: Re: Never Too Much (Jozalea) Mon Apr 08, 2019 9:46 am

As the giant clock installed on one of the castle towers for the occasion ticked closer to midnight, Azalea began to move towards what she termed in her head as "clean up work". Of course, there was no actual clean up involved, the elves would take care of that. The teaches and chaperones were only going to tidy up to the extent where they made sure no student was left in a place he or she should not be. Already the witch had thwarted a gang of Gryffindor's attempts to sneak into the Forbidden Forest, found a panicked second year hiding in the stables with the reindeer and dissuaded a couple from staying up on the sleigh ride too long. All in all, the party was coming to a close and the witch was sure they had things mostly under control.

She couldn't wait to retreat to her rooms and take off her heels. The event had gone as smoothly as could be expected and she hadn't had to dance and embarrass herself as much as she thought she would. Just a perfunctory number with the Headmaster, Cieran's grateful, half drunken twirling for introducing him "to the best guy ever" and a father who sent three children to Hogwarts and so could not be denied.

But now, at the end of the day, only serious couples remained. And the witch fully appreciated the "seriousness" of a couple still in school. Inevitably, the drama tomorrow would be great but that was a thing to worry about after a night's sleep. Jake's children had already left, Mimosa had disappeared with Mercy somewhere, Dominique had already gone to bed with a few other Gryffindors, Nikolai Kessler was nowhere to be seen and Jacques Clement too had presumably left. In about ten minutes, she too could make her escape and maybe call Josh... She had not really texted him a Valentine's message, never having pegged him for that kind of guy especially after his polite refusal to attend the ball. But perhaps he expected a wish anyway?

Or maybe he just didn't want to be seen with you, a tiny voice at the back of her head suggested. Knowing what she now did about Josh, it made sense. The media would follow him everywhere, and probably find the unremarkable witch on his arm not quite satisfactory...

No, that was not true. She knew it wasn't. It was just a nasty thought that came to her when she was feeling lonely. Josh was honest to a fault and if he even remotely felt that way, he would tell her so. The witch didn't have time to convince herself much though, her thoughts interrupted by the cover of darkness that suddenly overtook her vision.

Her first reaction would have been to panic, had the move not been executed with extreme caution, not hurting her in the slightest. The whispered question in her ear brought a smile to her face even as the familiar shiver ran up and down her spine when he pronounced her name the only way he ever did. By the time he had turned Azalea towards him, she was already smiling brilliantly.

He had shown up after all.

Take that, tiny voice in her head!

"I have a surprise for you."

"You've already given me the best surp-" she began as he lifted his hands from her eyes, revealing the dapper image that she was slowly understanding she couldn't do without. The words died on her lips however when he moved aside to reveal a tiny, silver haired witch clutching a large tome to her torso. "Annika!"

The joy at seeing the missing Potions' Mistress threatened to overwhelm the witch where she stood, something inside her physically loosening up and making her feel unburdened for the first time since January. Annika was here, and she was safe.

Taking Josh's hand in hers, she moved towards the younger witch, greeting her with a hug that confounded the Head of Slytherin but Azalea didn't care. "Annika where have you been, we've all been worried sick. Why didn't you leave a note? Or answer you cell phone! You can't just disappear like that, you could have been hurt!"

Miss Blackwood took it all in, blinking in surprise at Azalea's worry, clearly confused by this level of concern from a colleague when her own family and girlfriend hadn't been all that bothered. "Oh, I never take my cell on research trips," she finally answered casually. 'Too distracting." The tiny witch shrugged as if this made the most sense in the world.

"Luckily he gave me a ride to the castle, or I'd have had to walk," she elaborated, nodding towards Josh with an air of not quite knowing who he was but not caring regardless. Her focus was clearly on the large book she hugged. "Well, bye," she finally spoke, awkwardly excusing herself from the conversation and heading off towards the castle, no doubt to finish the precious tome or to put it to good use.

Once Annika had left, leaving the two alone, Azalea turned to her attention to Josh once more. "You really are magic you know that?" she spoke, drawing closer to him, feeling happier than she had in a long time. The Valentine Affair was almost over and it had come to a perfect ending. Azalea hand't expected so many good things to happen in one evening which just went to show happiness came whether anticipated or not.

"May I have the final dance?" she asked curtsying politely as the clock struck five to midnight. The music list had long since run out of energetic songs to play for the kids and now, the first strings of Hey Jude lazily permeated the air, floating towards them almost as if exclusively played for their dance.

As the blonde pulled her closer, easily taking the lead and even making Azalea's less than adept steps look graceful, the brunette took the opportunity to whisper into his ear. "And by the way, you sir, are not going back home tonight."

To emphasize her point further, she touched her lips lightly to his.

To seal the deal.

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Subject: Re: Never Too Much (Jozalea) Tue Apr 09, 2019 7:27 am

Watching his Azalea eyes move from him to the small witch behind him made Josh hold his breath, waiting patiently for some visible signs of reactions he could try to read from his Azalea. It was still hard, even after all of these years with the witch by his side, but Josh was still making every effort to understand her.

From the way the witch hurriedly moved towards the other, though, Josh could tell he'd done the right thing in finding the potions mistress. His Azalea looked much happier than he'd seen her in months as she rushed forth to give the smaller witch a hug. Josh simply waited quietly beside the small scene, taking it in, and waiting for his Azalea's attention to return to him. For which he had no doubt would be given to him.

It was a brief wait -- but then everything was after all the time he'd waited for her to return to him before -- before his Azalea was back in his arms, denoting he was magic.

"I just didn't like seeing you unhappy, A-Azalea," Josh replied easily, not adding any explanation to how, where or when he'd found the other witch. That much wasn't important any more.

At the question of a dance, the man could not say no, easily taking the witch in to his arms and leading her through a simple dance to a terrible song. Not that is mattered, though, the song choice would never matter, only that his dance partner was the witch in his arms, and nobody else. His Azalea's comment of not allowing him to return to Wales that evening brought a light smirk to Josh's features as he gently raised an eyebrow in silent question to that. A question that was never spoken as his Azalea's lips covered his, sealing that deal in his mind as they continued to dance only through the terrible song they'd started on, before heading up to the castle together to fulfil his Azalea's words.

Everything else would be forgotten until the next morning.

Nothing else mattered until the next morning.

But Josh was careful to leave the earrings of the Murray house upon his Azalea's bedside the next morning. The small not inside as simple as Josh always denoted such things to his Azalea.

Happy Valentine's Day, my Azalea.

Josh
x

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Subject: Re: Never Too Much (Jozalea) Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:06 pm

The whole event had, in Jake's opinion, been a very big success if the children's faces had been anything to go by. And, not just his own children, everywhere he looked, students looked to be having a great time. Ice skating, dancing, watching the reindeer racing, going on sleigh rides, competing in a fashion show and sculpting snow, the list was large enough to make the eyes pop out, but they had pulled it off.

But, Jake's favourite part had been the photo booth.

It had been a last minute thought from the two professors, but they're finally settled on it being a good idea for friends, couples, and families to get photos done together on the night. The evidence of the good idea now sat in Jake's breast pocket of his suit jacket. There were a fair number of pictures in there of him with the children and Azalea, all of them capturing each of their personalities in short snippets of animated pictures you became used to in the wizarding world.

His favourite, though, was the one that Adrienne had called out 'biggest silly face' moments before. Adrienne had opted to pull her mouth apart and stick her tongue out at the camera in a cheeky, candid manner. Mimosa... Jake hadn't been quite sure how the smile come grimace was supposed to be silly, but his daughter had broken in to a laugh after the photo which he took to mean she found it funny in her own right. Ivan had opted to pull his features in to a lobsided grin and turned his head to the side for comedic effect, whilst Azalea had opted for the bunny rabbit ears. Jake had puffed up his own cheeks, and made glasses with his hands in response, and the five of them had been laughing quite hard by the time they'd collected their pictures.

From there, the five of them had split ways, Jake taking the children around the rest of the event whilst Mimosa went to see Mercy. Azalea had excused herself to go see her friends, and Jake had not intruded on her time any more than he needed to that evening.

For an hour and a half more Jake remained with his children, until -- very burn out from the excitement -- they were picked up by his mom and taken home to get ready for bed. Jake had been thankful for his mom's input that evening, and made a mental note to get her something for the trouble he'd caused, before turning back to the party and his role as a professor for the rest of the evening. Which, mostly, consisted of keeping people from trying to sneak in to the Forbidden Forest, or else sneaking off in pairs to do things children most certainly shouldn't be doing.

The evening went by in a blur, and as Jake combed the grounds and started to make his way back up to the castle, he couldn't help but feel that tonight had been better than he'd expected. For one, it hadn't been an unhappy day for the professor, he reflected, looking up towards the night sky as he continued to walk back towards the main marquee. He'd not forgotten Veronika, but he hadn't felt like he needed to mope around. The children were happy, and surely... that was something Veronika would be proud of him for achieving?

Jake paused for a moment, though, closing his eyes, and silently wishing his wife a happy Valentine's Day in his head, taking just a moment before midnight clapped in to being to remember their lives together, the happiness they'd shared, and all the amazing things they'd achieved together. There was a stillness then, and Jake let out a soft breath before opening his eyes, slightly stinging with unshed tears, but tears that were pushed back before he continued on his way.

A few errant students were still trying to stay out that evening, but Jake only had to raise an eyebrow in their direction before the students were hurrying back up towards the castle.

As Jake reached the marquee, though, the man stopped as his eyes fell upon one couple on the dance floor.

A couple he had not expected to see.

A frown touched his features in that moment, quite deeply set as he watched Azalea gently swaying in the arms of a blond Jake did not know. As the witch leaned up to place a kiss on the blond's lips, the frown only deepened because he had not known Azalea was with somebody, he'd never gotten that kind of vibe from the witch. But then... he'd never asked. Jake's eyes moved away from the couple swaying on the dance floor, instead returning to his duties as a professor and rounding up the last of the children and ensuring they all moved up to the castle.

What did it matter that Azalea had a boyfriend to him, anyway?

No, it didn't matter to him, she was her own person, she could be with whomever she wanted, Jake summarised for himself. But even as he finished sweeping the corridors and returned, Jake caught sight of the couple disappearing down in to the dungeons that evening, and he couldn't help but look back up to the sky through the window that evening, his heart longing desperately for the companionship he'd lost last summer.

Perhaps Valentine's Day was never supposed to get easier after all?

Not whilst Azalea Harrington was around, anyway.

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