After Hours (Henri)

[Danica Krizova]

Danica's mind was already far away from her homeland. When she grew up and she could understand such things, she would either embrace her Czech heritage or all but deny it. For now, it just was.

"I don't have brothers or sisters or an aunt or a dad," she announced, more of a leeway into asking about more important words. "How do you say princess?" Obviously, she needed to know how to say 'princess.' Maybe she'd go home and tell her mother the new words she was learning right now.

[Henri Gillet]

He gave a quite 'oh' sound as Danica pretty much told him that it was just her and her mother. It was probably a little hard on her mother, Henri assumed. However, he did admire someone who had the courage to go out on their own and not give up. By the looks of Danica, he could guess that her mother was one of the best.

Her question made Henri laugh. "Princesse," he answered. He wasn't expecting her to ask him how to say that, but he went with it anyway. "Give it a try."

[Danica Krizova]

That was another thing she would realize when she was older- her mother was quite a woman. Raising any child on your own was rough, but Danica was quite a handful. She was a good kid, but she was energetic and had a blatant disregard for rules that she thought were pointless.

"Princesse," She said, trying to match the exact way he said it. "It doesn't sound much different, really. I like the way you say it, though."

She finished her pumpkin juice, and her dishes as well as his plate magically disappeared.

"It still sounds like it's stormy outside."

[Henri Gillet]

"Very good," he said before taking a drink of his pumpkin juice to finish it off. "Well some french words do sound like English words, but thank you." Henri smiled at her, his light dimples showing through.

"It does still sound that way. I know that you will not stay in your room even if I walk you back up there while it's still storming, n'est-ce pas petite princesse?" Henri gave a small laugh. "So, we could stay in here for a little bit longer, just until the storm quiets down, hm?"

[Danica Krizova]

All she got out of his french was that he called her a princess, and she beamed. It didn't really matter what the rest of it meant. "You're a lot nicer than Filch and his kitten, you know?"

She really liked the way he talked and the way he treated her. Some of the other children... well, they could be mean. She would fight back most of the time, but it was tiring and she liked being treated nicely better. Honestly, who wouldn't? She was human, after all.

"Thank you," she said. "No one else gets it."

[Henri Gillet]

"I sure hope I am," he said with another laugh. Henri had met Filch and his kitten Mrs. Norris, a few times. None of those times made Henri really fond of the man. Even when he would pass Filch in the halls at night, he always gave Henri that feeling that he was even doing something wrong whenever he was actually doing his job.

"I understand. Whenever I was little, my soeur would come in and stay with me until the storm was over. Even if I was a little frightened, I would have to pretend I wasn't." He gave her a smile.

"Have you ever tried eclairs?"

[Danica Krizova]

Danica stared at him while he spoke, almost entranced with him. She loved the way he spoke and the easiness in his voice. She imagined he would be rather good at telling fairytales, but decided, against her better judgement, that she shouldn't ask this of him.

His question broke her out of this train of thought, and she nodded. "My mom works at Ambr... Am..." She frowned and took a deep breath. She always had trouble with that word. "Ambrosia. They make eclairs. Really good ones. Those are French, right?" She asked, looking up at him as though he had a connection with anything and all things French.

[Henri Gillet]

Hearing Danica stumble over a word, Henri gave her a look of encouragement as she tried. He thought that it was adorable how she tried. It gave somewhat of an innocence, just like her appearance. It was certainly good to see that. He had seen other students pushing each other and yelling. Henri didn't imagine that Danica was that kind of little girl.

"Yes, eclairs are French. They're my favorite dessert and they are something that I can actually make pretty well." He smiled then turned to one of those house elves, asking if they could have a couple. Crepes are also very good. Those are similarly made like, erm, pancakes. With crepes, you can stick whatever you want in them and roll them up and eat them."

[Danica Krizova]

"I haven't had crepes," the little girl said, wondering what those tasted like. As far as she knew, you didn't roll anything up inside pancakes, so she wondered what crepes would taste like, and just what you could roll up in them. The version in her head involved ice cream sprinkles and strawberries, but what did she know?

When the house elf returned with a small plate of eclairs, Danica looked at the plate, and then at Henri. "Yeah... I definitely like you," she announced unabashedly.

[Henri Gillet]

"They're really good for breakfast but of course you can have them any time. I usually eat mine with just powdered sugar but my mere always fills them up with anything and everything."

While he was at Hogwarts patrolling, never did he imagine that he would be sitting in the kitchen eating, let alone sitting in the kitchen with a student. However, it was alright because he was still doing his job.

Henri laughed. "Je vous aime princesse trop petite," he answered. He liked the idea that there was someone who didn't hold anything back. "That means, I like you too little princess," Henri translated when he picked up an eclair and took a bite.

[Danica Krizova]

"What does your mere put in them? Chocolates? Fruit? Both?" her eyes narrowed when she asked if they could put both in, as though she was considering making her own. She'd help her mom make pancakes next time she was home, and then throw whatever they wanted in it. And they'd have it for dinner.

Her lips moved as she silently repeated his french words in her head. She was trying to commit some of the words to memory. "I used to speak Czech," she said. "I forgot most of it, but my mom still speaks it. I just know words now. Like Mom... I told you that one already."

[Henri Gillet]

"She has put both in there before. Since the Crepes are thin, it's easy to wrap things in them. Anything you want to eat, you can just wrap in there, or eat it plain. Some mornings if I have a, what do you call it," Henri paused for a moment to think of the right words, "sweet tooth, I'll just put chocolate in."

"That's still good though, even if you just remember certain words. I bet if you asked your mere to teach you a little bit of Czech , she probably would."

[Danica Krizova]

"I like chocolate. It makes everything better," Danica told him, nodding to emphasize her point. "I'll see if I can get my mum to make crepes for us one day. I bet she's had them before."

She took a bite of an eclair, still listening to the storm outside. It was still raining, but it seemed as though the thunder and lightning was finished for the night. Danica did not point this out, however, as she wasn't eager to get back to the dorm room.

"I know she would. She still speaks it. I understand it, and I know all the words, but I just sort of forgot how to put all the words together. I never really need it anymore. I think my mum is the only one in all of London that knows it." She shrugged. "Maybe I'll learn French instead. Would you teach me?"

[Henri Gillet]

Usually, Henri would have probably said no to the idea of teaching someone French, but there was something about this girl that wouldn't let him say no. Besides, he had a feeling that he would probably be seeing a lot of Danica, if he planned it or not. He wasn't sure when he would teach her but some how they could probably work something out.

"I suppose I could teach you a little bit. I don't really think it would hurt anything." Henri smiled. "Plus, I'm guessing that you will be a pretty good student, n'est ce pas?" He gave her a teasing look before he took another bite of his eclair.

"We could have a mini lesson right now if you wanted." Even though he didn't hear the thundering anymore, he knew that Danica wasn't going to stay in her dorm room, for the moment at least. He could afford to entertain her a little longer. "What do you want to know? Anything specific?"

[Danica Krizova]

(FYI, 'Cool Beans' originated in the '60's... so shush)

Danica grinned and bounced a little in her seat. "Cool beans!" She clapped once, the eclairs forgotten. Henri was nicer to her than most of the other adults, who always seemed to busy to deal with the students. There were a couple of teachers that she liked, though. But Henri didn't seem like he was just humoring her.

"I'll need to know all the important words, like please and thank you, and how do you say 'I love you?" She would have to compile a list of words and phrases that she wanted to know, but until he got sick of her tonight, she would just keep thinking of words off the top of her head.

[Henri Gillet]

Never had Henri heard the expression 'cool beans'. The way Danica said it and her action made him laugh. He finished off his eclair and wiped his hand on a napkin that the house elves included with the plate.

Whatever words Danica would throw at him, Henri would answer. He knew that they could get wrapped up in learning different words, so he would have to make sure to keep an eye on time so that she would have plenty of sleep for the next day.

"It depends on who you are saying please to. I usually use s'il vous plaît, but you can also use s'il te plaît if you are talking with someone you always talk to, like a classmate or someone like that. S'il vous plaît is more formal and you use that if you are talking to an adult or someone new." Henri gave her a smile. "Thank you is simple merci, and I love you is Je t'aime."

He rubbed his hands together and looked at her. "Now you try to say those."

[Danica Krizova]

Danica sat facing him in her seat, being very attentive. If he was going to teach her, she was going to listen as best as she could. She repeated Merci and Je t'aime easily, though she struggled a bit with s'il vous plait. When she'd correctly said all of them, she repeated "Je t'aime."

"It sounds so pretty," she told him. "Like a song, almost. It's so much harsher in Czech. I love you is miluji tě." Like she said, phrases she could do, but speaking Czech was a different story. "What are other good words to know?"

[Henri Gillet]

"Très bien," he said with a smile on his face. "Very good." Danica was a fast learner. "French is a smooth language. A lot of words are connected together, which makes the language seem to flow."

Henri listened and repeated what he heard. It wasn't like he was going to start speaking Czech, but if Danica was going to tell him a few words, he would listen. The language did seem a little hard, and Henri did have a little trouble saying it, but he let his eyes fall back to Danica.

"Other good words? Hm. There's always quelle heure est-il, which means what time is it. Bonjour is a way of saying hello. Au revoir means good bye, a demain is see you tomorrow."

[Danica Krizova]

"Wait," Danica told him. "You're going too fast. Say the first one again?" Dani asked.

This went on for a while, and she picked up as many words and phrases as she could. Granted, by morning, she would likely forget a few of them, but for now, she was beyond thrilled.

It was just a little while later when she yawned, and she shot Henri a look, almost hoping he hadn't noticed.

[Henri Gillet]

For a little while, Henri taught her a few words and phrases that were simple and easy to remember. They were phrases she would use often. He found that he was enjoying himself while teaching her.

Henri couldn't remember just sitting down with someone and teaching them French. He couldn't even remember someone that was as excited about learning a new language like Danica was. Later on, he caught her yawn and he looked teasingly at her as she gave him a look.

"I saw that," he said with a smile. Henri pulled out a pocket watch that he received a long time ago. He couldn't remember where he had gotten the pocket watch but he did know that he had it for awhile. Looking at the time, he looked back to Danica.

"You know, I hate to do this to you, but it's late." He gave her a look. "I'll even give you a piggy back ride all the way up."