*A/N: As part of the Adoption Challenge by Lucy Kent, this is my inaugural entry into the Gemma Farley Chronicles as I will tentatively call them for now! A huge thanks to Lucy Kent for the awesome challenge and I look forward to many more stories with this character! Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!*
Gemma Farley felt she'd had a really good first three years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her exemplary marks had put her top of Slytherin house and had earned her a lot of respect throughout the school. Her housemates respected her mainly because of the many house points her intellect had won them, and even the witty Ravenclaws had a little room left for begrudging respect once jealousy was dealt with. The Gryffindors more or less just harrumphed and grumbled something about her being a good-for-nothing snake at the end of the day. The Hufflepuffs were neutral in their reception, but nonetheless gave her the berth she commanded. She even had the unique honour of eliciting the closest thing to a smile Hogwarts had ever seen from one Professor Snape.
Now entering her fourth year, Gemma was coaching herself into a one-minded focus in order to hammer home her candidacy for Slytherin prefect for her fifth year. She felt she had all the personality traits to tick the necessary boxes for ideal prefect candidates and just wanted to get the marks she needed to put it beyond any doubt who would get the badge next year.
She told herself that this year, there would be no distractions. This achievement meant everything to her, as having been a prefect during her time at Hogwarts was sure to give her the boost to her CV she needed once out of school and looking for a job. She didn't have the advantage many of her housemates had with the influence of a big pureblood name, many of them already having been groomed for many years to succeed as head of the family business as well as to take over the family seat in the Wizengamot in some cases. Any boost she could get was desperately needed and that's why she couldn't be distracted from her ultimate goal of prefecture and perhaps Head Girl.
What she hadn't counted on, was the intervention in her life and plans by a redheaded Gryffindor her age.
She had been in the library, working on an Arithmancy assignment (easily the subject she struggled with the most) when she was bumped into from behind, causing her arm to jolt the quill, making a giant diagonal line of ink right through the entirety of what she'd already written, the jostle also causing her elbow to knock over her ink well, the still-visible parts of her work no longer legible.
Gemma groaned in frustration and heard a few snickers and a call of "Watch it, Weasley!" from a voice that she recognized as Marcus Flint's.
"I am so sorry!" the frazzled Gryffindor exclaimed as he got to his feet, hands wringing as he saw the damage his collision had done.
"Ugh, I spent two hours on all that and I was nearly done, Weasley!" Gemma growled, leveling a venomous glare his way.
"I swear I didn't mean to! Flint knocked me into you and I couldn't stop myself!" he replied, his eyes wide in horror as he tried to defuse the situation forming between himself and the Slytherin golden girl.
Gemma sighed.
"Alright, calm down Weasley. I overreacted there a little. Flint's an arse. I'm just very frustrated, because that was my Arithmancy assignment, gone. That class is honestly Gobbledegook to me… I need to ace it if I want any hope of making prefect next year," she groaned, holding her face in her hands.
"I know what you mean; I'm going for prefect next year, myself. Defence Against the Dark Arts is the bane of my existence. I do happen to be very good in Arithmancy, however. I actually just finished the assignment a few minutes ago. Would you like to copy mine, as a sorry for destroying yours?" he asked.
Gemma's head shot up as she looked at the Gryffindor in a new light.
"Percy Weasley, right?" she queried, an eyebrow quirked.
The Gryffindor nodded.
"Well, you are top of the Arithmancy class…" she reasoned. "Alright, I'll let you help me out on this one."
Percy sat down in the empty seat beside her and pulled out the parchment roll he had used for his Arithmancy assignment.
Gemma reached into her bag and procured a roll of parchment, which she handed to Percy as he gave her his assignment.
"What's this?" Percy asked, frowning.
"The Defence Against the Dark Arts assignment for next week," she answered simply as she pulled out a new sheet of parchment and began copying Percy's assignment, making sure to translate his shorthands into her own, so as to avoid suspicion she had copied.
"Next week? But we haven't even gotten that yet-" Percy stated, before stopping and a comprehending look replacing his confusion, before he let out an "Oh."
"I don't blame you for my lost assignment, so I figure it's the only way I can repay you for bailing me out like this."
"Thank you…?" Percy said, waiting for a name.
"Gemma. Gemma Farley."