Chapter 16
"This is my office."
There was a really loud sound in the corridors indicating that a door had just been harshly slammed, probably in someone's face. That someone was Flora and the ones doing the slamming were a very angry Tecna and Stella.
And who could blame them? One had been locked up in a closet all morning by a lethal plant and the other had lost most of her jewellery and clothes to a bunch of narcissistic flowers. Flora's determination on passing her simulation test by storing and working on her creations in the girls room hadn't sat well with the girls. And now she had been kicked out of the room until her exam time in two hours. Unfortunately she still had a lot of studying to do. But she didn't know where she would be doing it.
Carrying most of the pots in her arms and ordering the ones who could "walk" to follow her. They went through the corridors not knowing whether to try the library. The librarian wouldn't let her little green friends step one root in it. She wouldn't accept the risk of dirt landing on her carpet.
The courtyard wasn't an option: too much noise, too many people. Most of her plants needed peace and quiet to grow. Maybe she could set up in one of the classrooms but she would need the permission of one of the teachers.
At this rate she would never find a good place to study !
When Professor Darkell walked out of his classroom , he was met by quite a strange picture. An army of weird looking plants were moving down the hallway taking most of the space. Forcing the passing students to lean against the walls to avoid being crushed by one of the things. But most surprising was that they were being led by a worried looking Flora. She seemed to be lost in her thoughts not noticing the odd and angry stares her and her plants were getting. She just continued on walking.
"Flora. Flooraa!" he tried calling her but she didn't seem to hear him. He sped up trying to catch up with her. "Hey Flora!" She finally woke up from her day dreaming when placed his hand on her shoulder. She turned around, startled by her Professor's proximity.
" Oh professor, I'm sorry I didn't see you there. I was thinking." She apologized.
"Thinking? More like your mind was traveling to another dimension." His traditional smirk appeared when he saw the girl blushing in embarrassment. But then he noticed that her worried frown hadn't left her face.
"You seem kind of stressed." He said.
"Hum, yeah I have a big test in a few hours and I can't seem to find a good place to study."
He looked at the weird plants waiting behind her. The ones with faces and eyes looked at him with curiosity while the faceless ones just kept looking straight ahead.
"And you need all of those to study?" he looked in disbelief at her.
"Yeah kind of."
He sighed in defeat and told her to follow him. She hesitantly did, not knowing where they were going. A few minutes later they arrived in a corridor that she had never seen before. They approached a wooden door at the far end of the hall. Darkell took out some keys from his pocket and unlocked it. With a sign of his hand he invited her to go in first. She took a few minutes before moving. Evaluating the pros and the cons of following this mysterious mage in an unknown place without witnesses. And no one knew where she was. Should she trust him? She really wanted to. In the end, she chose to follow her guts, and walked in.
The inside of the room was quite spacious. The walls were covered by shelves filled with tons of books. The ceiling was so high you could think it didn't exist. In the middle of the room she spotted a huge wooden desk and two chairs. A small work bag filled to the brim with what it seemed to be worksheets, was laying on it.
"Is this where you correct your papers?" She was amazed by the number of books surrounding them.
"This is my office." He replied.
"Your Office?" She repeated his words, confused.
"Every Alfea teacher has one, and over there." He pointed to a door located at the back of the room that she hadn't noticed until now.
"Behind the door are my private quarters."
"I didn't know that teachers lived in the school." She was surprised.
"Well not all of them, just the ones whose home are too far away from here."
She looked at him when he wasn't looking her way. She wanted to ask him if that was his case. She reminded herself that wasn't a question you asked your history teacher. So she chose to change the subject.
"So Sir, why did you bring me here?"
"I thought you needed somewhere to prepare for your exam? " he raised an eyebrow at her question.
"So if I were you I would tell your plants to come in and set up, you don't have a lot of time left." At his words she finally noticed that her plants had stopped in front of the door looking nervous in this new environment.
A few minutes later , the plants had been placed a bit everywhere in the room resting for the test. Flora and Darkell sat at the desk both taking care of their workload. But Flora had trouble concentrating because something in the back of her mind was nagging her since she entered this room.
"Professor?" She finally gave up to the urge of asking.
"Yes?" He mumbled without taking his eyes off his copies but that didn't stop her from asking.
"Isn't a teacher inviting his student to his private apartments against the rules?" he rolled his eyes at her words. I forgot that fairies were all a bunch of goodie two shoes , especially this one.
"We won't have any problems as long no one finds out, especially Griselda she can be a serious pain in the …" but Flora didn't let him finish that sentence.
"Professor!" She cried in shock. He realized his words, the kind of words he only said in his mind. It seems he was getting a bit too comfortable with this girl's presence and letting his guard down. But all these thoughts completely went out the window at the sight of the girl's indignant scowl. He just started laughing , man this girl was easy to rile up. It only lasted a few seconds but it had been a long long time he hadn't done that.
Seeing him laugh like that made her scowl go away, it was nice seeing him let go like that. She had hoped to see him smile but this was even better even if he was laughing at her.
"Anyway do you need help with something for your exam?" She was a bit surprised by his question but still shyly accepted his help. She showed some things she didn't understand in a few books. He proceeded to explain those things to her the same way he did in class. He might have a strange opinion about the world and fairies, he was still a great teacher. But she noticed that even though he could explain everything he seemed much more comfortable with the dark magic the witches and dark makes used then the solutions the fairies used to counter it. She wasn't stupid she had already noticed his hate for most fairies and his talent in dark spell's like the ones he used against the Trix. This just confirmed it. When it was finally time for her to go she woke up all her waking plants and mumbled a "wish me good luck". She walked to the door but before she could completely leave Darkell called her name.
"Hey Flora, if one day you don't know where to study just tell me and I'll let you use this place."
"Thank you Professor." She waved goodbye and she and her plants headed to the exam site.
