Page 4 of Spellbound and Gagged

She imagined him in his own garden, his strong hands gently pruning a defensive dandelion, his deep voice murmuring words of stern encouragement. The mental image was so vivid she almost dropped her basket of herbs.

"Get out of my head," she grumbled, gathering up sprigs of rosemary and thyme. It was going to be a long few weeks if she couldn't evict Thaddeus from her thoughts. Maybe she could brew a potion for that. "Essence of Ex-Be-Gone" had a nice ring to it. She could partner with Minerva on that one—the potions professor probably had a few exes she'd like to forget too.

As Juno made her way to her classroom, her steps faltered. There, striding down the hallway with his characteristic purposeful gait, was the man himself. For a moment, she considered diving behind a convenient concealing cactus. But no, she was a grown woman and a respected professor. She could handle a simple encounter in the hallway without embarrassing herself.

Probably.

"Good morning, Professor Shadowspire," she said, proud of how steady her voice sounded. Her heartbeat, on the other hand, was performing a drum solo worthy of a rhythmic radish.

Thaddeus paused, his dark eyes meeting hers with an intensity that made her knees go weak. Curse those eyes. And that jaw. And those shoulders that filled out his teaching robes in ways that should be illegal before noon.

"Professor Runeheart," he nodded. His deep voice made her toes curl inside her sensible boots. "I trust you've recovered from yesterday's incident?"

Juno forced herself to maintain eye contact. "Perfectly fine, thank you. Though I do hope you've learned to be more careful with your plants. We wouldn't want any more accidents, wouldwe?"Like accidentally falling into your arms, or accidentally kissing that infuriating smirk off your face.

A flicker of amusement passed over Thaddeus's face. "I assure you, my plants are under perfect control. Perhaps it's your overly nurturing methods that need some refinement."

And just like that, the spell was broken. The familiar fire of competition ignited in her chest, thankfully drowning out the other, more confusing feelings. "My methods have served me perfectly well, thank you very much. I look forward to demonstrating their superiority at Brewfest."

Thaddeus's eyebrow arched in that infuriatingly attractive way of his. How dare an eyebrow be attractive? It wasn't fair. "As do I. May the best herbologist win."

As he strode away, part of her was relieved that they could still interact on a professional level, trading barbs and challenges as they had for years. But another part, a part she tried desperately to ignore, mourned the loss of the connection they'd felt yesterday.

"Well, that went terribly," she muttered to herself. A tall sunflower nodded in agreement from a nearby planter. "Oh, be quiet. What do you know about love?" The sunflower ruffled its petals in affront, but Juno was beyond caring about the feelings of judgmental flora.

She continued on her way, only to pause when she caught snippets of conversation from a cluster of students huddled near an alcove. They fell silent as she approached, but not before she heard "Professor Shadowspire" and "turned down the Brazilian Institute" and something that sounded suspiciously like "came back for her."

Juno quickened her pace, pretending she hadn't heard. But her mind latched onto the gossip, tumbling it over like a particularly intriguing puzzle. The rumors had been circulating since Thaddeus's return. Some said he'd failed in his research inSouth America, forced to slink back to Grimm Mawr with his tail between his legs. Others whispered that he'd made some dark discovery, something that had shaken him so deeply he needed the comfort of familiar surroundings. And then there were the romantics, who insisted he'd come back for one thing only—or rather, one person.

Ridiculous, all of it. Especially that last one.

Shaking off these confusing thoughts, Juno squared her shoulders and continued to her classroom. She had young minds to mold and magical plants to nurture. She couldn't afford to let her personal feelings interfere with her duties. No matter how much those feelings made her want to bang her head against the nearest wall or hex a certain dark-haired professor with a bad case of musical hiccups.

As she entered the classroom, the buzz of excited student chatter filled the air. The room was alive with magical energy, plants of all varieties lining the walls and crowding the windowsills. Juno breathed deeply, letting the familiar scents and sounds wash over her. This was her element. Here, she wasn't Juno Runeheart, woman with complicated feelings for her rival. She was Professor Runeheart, expert in nurturing herbology and shaper of young magical minds.

"Good morning, class," she said, setting her basket of herbs on the front desk. "Today, we'll be exploring the subtle art of enhancing emotional properties in healing herbs. Can anyone tell me why this might be particularly useful?"

A hand shot up immediately. "Because emotions can affect the potency of healing spells?" ventured a bright-eyed young witch in the front row.

Juno beamed, momentarily forgetting her personal turmoil. "Excellent, Miss Thornberry! The emotional state of both the healer and the patient can significantly impact the effectiveness of magical remedies. By enhancing the emotional properties ofour herbs, we can create more robust and adaptable healing potions."

As she launched into her lecture, the last of her unease melted away. This was where she belonged, sharing her knowledge and passion with the next generation of magical herbologists. She moved among the students, guiding their hands as they carefully tended to delicate sprouts of echinacea and chamomile.

"Remember," she said, adjusting a young warlock's grip on his watering can, "these plants respond to your energy. Approach them with love and respect, and they'll reward you with potent magical properties."Unlike certain stubborn, attractive professors who shall remain nameless,she added silently.

What would Thaddeus think of this lesson? Would he scoff at the idea of plants responding to emotional energy? Or would he remember the experiments they used to conduct together, blending their contrasting approaches to create something new and exciting?

They had been so in sync then, their differences complementing rather than conflicting with each other. Thaddeus's structured approach had given form to Juno's more intuitive methods, while her emphasis on nurture had softened the edges of his defensive techniques. They had been unstoppable together, two halves of a whole.

For a moment, Juno allowed herself to imagine what it would be like to work with Thaddeus again. The potential was thrilling. They could revolutionize the field, push the boundaries of what was possible with magical plants. They could be great together, in more ways than one.

But then reality intruded like an overzealous strangling ivy. They weren't starry-eyed students anymore. They were rivals, competing for the same position. And there was still theunresolved hurt of their past—the words said in anger that had driven them apart. Words that still echoed in Juno's mind on her darkest days.

As the class came to an end and the students filed out, Juno began to clean up. She moved among the plants, whispering words of encouragement and thanks for their participation in the day's lesson.

"Well done, my lovelies," she praised a particularly vibrant patch of empathy echinacea. "You've outdone yourselves today. Unlike me, who can't seem to get through a single conversation with Thaddeus without turning into a bumbling idiot." A nearby shy violet wilted in sympathy.

"Talking to the plants again, Runeheart? And here I thought that was just a quirk of your student days."

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