The Professor (Book 2)

The Proof of Love (Bonus Scene)

Today was a big day. Monumental in my opinion, because I never once thought Harry would ever agree to this. Yet here we were.

Sighing, I shook my head as I pulled out another heavy math book from one of Harry's many bookshelves. After months of begging him to let me arrange them by subject, then alphabetically, he had finally surrendered and let me. He refused to see the practicality of re-arranging them, since, according to him, he knew exactly where every sporadic book was when he needed them; The chaotic mind of a genius.

But I was no genius, and I needed my systems. Every time I came to borrow a book from his study, I ended up sifting through tons of books about math, physics, geography and non-fictions about space and time continuums and the impact of long-lasting gravitational something-or-others. Not to mention the many books in both Latin and Italian, a few in Greek and even French. Publications from other mathematicians in works that had yet to be translated into English. And then, among them all, believe it or not, there were a few classical novels, a few works of fiction, some thrillers, some crime and even one or two romances from last century. These were the golden nuggets I had been searching for among all the other headache-inducing literature.

But it had taken me almost 45 minutes just to find a single copy of pride and prejudice that Harry claimed was, quote; 'somewhere on one of the shelves'. So much for remembering where all the books were.

So today, any normal Sunday after brunch, I had once again begged Harry to let me organize his bookshelves, and at last, he sighed and let me. With a victorious smile and an overbearing eye roll from Harry, he had then left me to it for about an hour and a half now. So far, I had dragged books off of two whole seven foot shelves and divided them into piles on the floor by category. I had just begun on the third shelf when I suddenly heard the door go.

Looking to my left, I saw Harry trudge in, followed by Giselle who was carrying a tray. Both of them smiled my way when they caught me yanking a heavy book down from his top shelf.

"Still not regretting your choice?" Harry commented with a small smile as he let his eyes glide over the many piles and stacks of books already on the floor, before looking to the 20-something other shelves still waiting to be sorted. "It's not too late to put them all back."

"You should know by now I don't quit on something big and hard," I shot his way with a wry smirk, before catching Giselle giggling behind him. She tried to hide it by scurrying up and placing the tray on his desk. A hot pot of tea and two cups gave an inviting view.

Harry chuckled quietly, shaking his head at my antics. Instead of replying, he took a seat behind his desk and gave a short nod to Giselle. "Thank you."

She grinned back before walking out, but not before sending me a little look I couldn't really decipher. It looked almost... anticipating?

Choosing to ignore it, I turned back to my quest of pulling books down. I looked at each title of the books as they joined the others in my arms, reading them quietly to myself. Fibonacci Sequence; How not to Fib the Sequence. What? Logarithm; To Raise or to Sum? That was probably a real exciting read. Topology; Advanced Study of Möbius Strips. I hardly understood most of these. How the heck was I going to divide them into subjects and genres?

"Would you like a cup?"

Harry's voice broke me from my concentration of trying to decipher titles and made me look up. He was pouring himself a cup of tea and had lifted the pot over the second cup.

"Sure, why not," I smiled, watching him pour a cup for me as well.

"Do you mind if I get some work done while you bury yourself in my books?" Harry then asked, stirring in a lump of sugar, before sipping his hot tea. He shot me a questioning brow.