Title: Ink
School: Mahoutokoro
Main Prompt: [Character] Professor Sinistra
Additional Prompt: [Setting] Astronomy Tower
Theme: Orion
Year: Year Six — writes Year Seven
Wordcount: 1,510
A/N: Written for Tom who requested Professor Sinistra giving the cats and dogs a group project where they're forced to work in pairs.
...
1991
"Professor Sinistra?"
It was Granger, as anticipated, but then again the girl was as predictable as a honeybee in a hive. Always asking questions, always right, never wrong, it was as if she'd been fostered by a slew of centaurs emulating human emotions. And, sure, it was a tad bit cruel to think about her students as monsters, but that is what they are. Children saw the world through a rose-tinted lens. To them, the end of the world was a group project.
Sinistra would never admit that was why she liked to assign so many of them.
"Yes, Ms. Granger?"
Granger straightened her skirt with the palm of her hand, raising her chin as high as she could. Sinistra was surprised to see she didn't sprain her neck, well, not this time, at least. Last time the girl stretched her neck so far she resembled a dragon's tongue. "You mentioned we will be starting a group project the other day, is that correct?"
Sinistra smiled thinly. "It is, what about it?"
"Are we allowed to choose our partners?"
The other students weren't looking at Sinistra, but she knew they were listening in, already assuming the worst, ready to scrawl their eulogy across their temple and dive out of the tower's window at any moment's notice. And if made her want to throw her head back and cackle into the night sky, well, no one had to know. "Ms. Granger."
"Yes, mam?" Her voice was strong, but the tremors in her clasped fingers gave her away.
"When have I ever allowed you to choose your own partner?" It was a rhetorical question, but Sinistra knew the girl wouldn't be able to resist answering anyway.
"Well, never, but —"
Sinistra rolled her eyes. "But nothing. Let it be known you're going to have to work with people you don't like in the real world someday. You might as well get used to it now."
Malfoy sputtered, positively mortified. "Please, as if I'd never work next to the likes of Potter," he spat.
"And what is so wrong about Mr. Potter?"
"He's a Gryffindor," he said, smirking, as if that explained everything, which, to the boy, Sinistra supposed, actually did.
"Then I suppose you won't mind partnering up with him, would you?"
Potter had the nerve to look at least mildly upset. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me, boys," Sinistra said, hiding the mirth in her voice within her hair. "It's about time the cats and the dogs got along."
Malfoy scowled. "More like a cat and mouse, don't you think?"
At that, Potter seemed to smile almost sweetly. "You do know that lions are a type of cat, right?"
7:27 PM
She knew it was hopeless to think that the two boys would make amends and settle for a temporary agreement. Children weren't sensible; they'd probably eat chocolate till their teeth had rotten and still blame it on their toothbrush. It was sick, it was depressing, and it was absolutely hysterical. The project was so simple, it was like learning how to turn a match into a needle — it didn't require skill, but it did require patience. Something the two seem to lack.
Potter was glaring — actually, no, he wasn't glaring. He was squinting through the reflection in his spectacles, trying, but rather pathetically failing, to cow Malfoy into submission. It was a bittersweet performance, really. It reminded Sinistra of the runt in a pack of wolves, trying to foster the same front its siblings carried with them like a vulture is to a dead rat. Stubborn, quick, clunky but still polite.
Malfoy wasn't subtle in his hate. He was brash and warranted detention, but Sinistra was tired of the same old formula, so, she let it simmer on the backburner, gain a little bit more flavour, marble till only the fat was left. It was was already half-way through the year, anyway. She wasn't planning to witness the likes of a murder. She'd stop the fight before blood was shed.
Maybe.
The two didn't talk as they worked; no one did, actually. The tower was silent except for the movement of their quills, the students working diligently, everything calm and as placid as snowfall. Sinistra could think, hell, she could breathe. She didn't trust it one bit.
And, of course, she was right.
"Bloody Potter!" Malfoy screeched (no, he wasn't a banshee). "You got ink all over my new robes!"
"I said I was sorry!" Of course, Harry didn't look apologetic in the slightest, even with ink running down his cheek like a bundle of tears.
The Weasley boy was sniggering in the framework, Granger was reprimanding him for his juvenile behaviour, a few others were staring, but most weren't even acknowledging that there was a (rather pitiful) fight happening before their eyes. Sinistra reckoned it felt like the cosmos was staring at them.
"Gentlemen!" Sinistra said, barely managing to hold their notice before they went back to staring lovingly into each other's eyes. "What is it this time?"
Malfoy tilted his chin to look down at her through his lashes. "Potter was trying to sabotage me! This is all his fault!""
Sinistra blinked at him. "I'm sure," she said dryly. "Your side of the story, Mr. Potter?"
"I didn't do anything, Professor. He just threw ink at me! I swear!"
Granger nodded urgently, already glued to his side like an annoying mayfly. "I can testify for him, Professor! Malfoy was just being cruel again."
"Yes, okay, calm down," Sinistra said, shaking her head at their utter nonsense. She could already see Weasley preparing to say something, his big mouth already half-way open. "This isn't an execution, Ms. Granger. I was asking a simple question, and please, Mr. Weasley. Do try not to think to hard about keeping quiet."
"He's lying!" Malfoy suddenly said. Sinistra would bet her life that the boy didn't have more than ten vocabulary words stored in his head when it came to Potter.
Potter rolled his eyes. "Why would I sabotage you? That's my grade too, you know."
"Like you care about that, Potter. Don't even try and play the innocent card; we all know you have the muggle do your work for you."
Granger slammed her book down on her table. "Oh, be quiet, Malfoy! You don't know anything!"
"That's it!" Sinistra said, clasping her hands together loudly. "All three of you, please step outside."
Granger was the first to get up, followed only shortly by Potter and a reluctant Malfoy.
Sinistra sighed. "Excuse me, class. And for the love that is Merlin, continue working to the best of your ability; I will return shortly."
7:45 PM
Granger was sobbing when she stepped out into the stairwell, but she expected that from the girl. Her nose was running, and her eyes and cheeks were stained red by the tears, making her look almost poetically tragic if it weren't for the fact she didn't even need to be crying in the first place. It was ridiculous, and it was pitiful, but it was fine. She was just a child. She deserved to shed a few extra tears.
"Would you mind telling me why you acted that way in there, Ms. Granger? It was rather uncharacteristic of you."
Granger shook her head. "I'm sorry for my inappropriate behaviour; it was uncalled for, even for me."
Sinistra smiled at the girl. "Don't let it happen again, okay?"
"Yes, mam."
"Alright," Sinistra said, narrowing her eyes at the two boys. "Why don't you run back inside while I talk to the boys."
Granger scurried off back into the classroom faster than a rat after cheese, her mousy brown hair just barely managing to not get caught in the lock. Malfoy clicked his tongue as the door shut, running a hand through his slicked back hair. "Typical. The bookworm never gets in trouble, of course."
"She apologised in a respectable manner. I can't very well say the same for you, Mr. Malfoy."
Malfoy stammered. "I've apologised before!"
"Were they genuine?"
"Well," Malfoy said, faltering in his logic. "I guess not."
Potter shot up. "See! I'm more honest than he is."
"Actually, Mr. Potter," Sinistra said, cutting in before the boy could go off on a tangent. "You're just as bad of a liar as he is."
"No, I am —"
"Do you really want to go down that route?"
Potter huffed. "Okay, fine. So what? He still threw ink on me for no reason."
"The problem isn't the ink."
"Yeah?" Malfoy said, scowling. "Then what is?"
"The problem is that you both fail to see eye to eye; you lack trust."
Sinistra smiled widely. "That is why I've decided to partner you both up for the rest of the year. The other professors pretend to ignore your behaviour, but I sure won't. You are both to be respectable, reasonable adults, am I clear? Don't make me expect any less."
"What!"
Okay, so, sue her for forcing an impossible match to work together.
She always did like the troublemakers more, anyway.