~Chapter Fifteen- Professor Balbossa Strikes Again~
A short four and a half hours later, the girls were woken by the sound of Kristin's perky voice trilling, "Come on sleepies! You've got to get up! It's not Saturday yet and breakfast is a-cooking!"
Lindsey pulled the covers over her head and Cari rolled over and groaned.
"Come on guys!" Pippy cried, jumping onto Cari's bed. "Astronomy too late for y'all?"
Cari had finally sat up and Lindsey peeked her eyes out of the covers to share a Look.
"Come on, I want some food! I'm not going to wait for you guys forever!" Lisa said, straightening her robes as she headed for the door.
"Alright, alright," Cari moaned getting out of bed and stretching. "Lindsey, let's go!" She threw a pillow at the tiny bit of her head that she could see. She heard her mutter what must've been some muffled obscenity, but got out of bed and sat blinking in the sunlight. The two girls groggily pulled on their robes and followed the rest down to the commonroom. Rupert was down there too.
"Morning, ladies!" he said in that captivating Irish accent of his, making a gesture as of tipping his hat.
"Morning Rupert!" was the resounding reply, Lindsey and Cari's slightly less enthusiastic. Then Rupert broke in to one of the biggest yawns they had seen.
Kristin giggled rather petulantly and said, "Late night last night, Rupert?" obviously trying to be flirtatious. It was too early in the morning for Lindsey to even roll her eyes, and Cari barely even noticed.
Rupert just smiled his enchanting smile and the girls walked together from the commonroom.
The five walked to the Hall as usual, Pippy, Kristin, and Lisa chattering, Cari and Lindsey trying to wake up. As they walked into the Hall, the overwhelming smell of bacon, eggs, and all sorts of other wonderful treats greeted their nostrils and woke them more than anything else would.
As they sat, consuming sustenance to their hearts content, Lindsey pulled out her Potions book.
"What's this? Lindsey reading a textbook of her own free will? I think I'm going to faint!" Cari cried, feigningly falling over onto Pippy.
"I'm just looking up healing potions," Lindsey muttered, a touch of what seemed to be color almost creeping into her wan, perpetually gloomy face. Several moments passed, after Lindsey seemed satisfied in her search for knowledge of healing potions, she slammed the book shut and started into her porridge.
"I don't know how you eat that stuff," Cari said, wrinkling her nose and putting salt on her eggs.
"Itsh bery good," Lindsey said with her mouth full.
"Hey, we have Defense Against the Dark Arts today!" Lisa cried cheerfully.
"Oh yay," Lindsey said sarcastically. Lisa didn't pick up on it.
Breakfast went on, Lindsey pointedly avoiding the staff table, and Cari never letting the conversation stop. Then it was off to DADA, Lisa giggling pathetically.
The class went about the same, all the witches giggling and volunteering for answers even though they had no idea what they were talking about, just to be flirtatious.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Lindsey said quietly out of the side of her mouth to Cari. Cari grinned and suppressed a laugh. She had to agree.
"What was that, Miss Wormtongue?" Professor Balbossa asked suddenly. Lindsey jumped.
"What?" she tried to play dumb and innocent.
"What you said just then," the Professor prodded, fixing her with the most unnerving stare. "What did you say?"
"I uh, I said…" Lindsey looked around nervously as all eyes turned in their seats to stare at her. "I said, 'I think the air is thick.' It's rather stuffy in here, you see." Lindsey emphasized by tugging at the neck of her robes.
Professor Balbossa raised a dubious eyebrow, his piercing blue eyes boring into hers. "Is it?"
Lindsey nodded vigorously but could not speak; Cari was trying desperately to contain her laughter.
"Do you agree, Miss Green?" he said, turning on her.
"Oh yes, sir," she said, barely suffusing a smile.
"Do you know how I possibly heard you all the way back there, Miss Wormtongue?" Professor Balbossa asked, turning back to her, that evil look still in his eye, as it always was when he chose to pick on her.
"Nope," she answered honestly.
"Well, perhaps you've heard of the Espynox Jinx? No? Well, it looks like someone has some studying to do," he said pointedly. Lindsey's cheeks colored ever so slightly.
"The Espynox Jinx," he continued, pacing around the room as he liked to, "is simply a jinx that can be put upon any inanimate object. Before class this morning I jinxed the very desk you are now seated in Miss Wormtongue," he said with cruel and triumphant amusement. Lindsey glared down at her desk, wondering why she had to have chosen that desk on this day.
"Any sound uttered within the proximity set by the one who laid the jinx upon it is projected quite clearly back to their own ear." Professor Balbossa put marked emphasis on "quite clearly" and pinned Lindsey in a pointed stare.
Finally he looked away and addressed the rest of the class, starting a lecture on Espynox jinxes. Lindsey sighed softly in relief, and turned to Cari. However she dared not say anything: whatever she said Professor Balbossa was sure to hear.
Finally class was over and Lindsey was following Cari and Lisa out, wishing to leave as fast as possible.
"Miss Wormtongue?" Professor Balbossa addressed her from his desk. She flinched, then turned to face him with the poignant, unreadable face she usually carried.
"See you on Wednesday," he said with an evil little smile and a glint in his eye she didn't much care for.
Lindsey turned swiftly and rushed out of the room. As soon as they were far enough away that Lindsey dared speak, she said flatly, "That man's an ass."
"Lindsey!" Cari gasped. "Gosh, that thick air must really be affecting your brain…"
"Sorry," Lindsey said, not really sorry. "But it's true."
Lisa didn't say anything for a moment.
"Yeah, what he did to you did really suck…" she admitted. "But he's still really hot!"
Lindsey groaned and stormed off ahead of them.
"Oh, way to go," Cari reprimanded her.
"What? What did I say?" Lisa asked in all innocence. Cari rolled her eyes then, but shook her head slightly when Pippy looked at her. They followed her lead and continued walking down the hall.
Lindsey said nothing all during that break, or when they made their way to Care of Magical Creatures.
Today they were learning about no ordinary animal (not that any magical creature is…) but thestrals. Hagrid took the group of fifth year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws into the forest, the group huddling together apprehensively.
"Now, I put some bait for 'em out 'ere before lunch, there should be some 'ere now…" Hagrid said, pushing his way through the brush to a small clearing. "Ah yes, 'ere they are!"
There was nothing there.
"Oh wow…" Lindsey murmured in awe, staring at the strange, skeletal, horse-like creatures with the great batwings. She thought them to be beautiful.
"There's nothing there! What are you looking at?" Cari asked, craning to see over the tall red-headed boy in front of her. "Excuse me," she tapped him on the shoulder. He was a Gryffindor. "Could you just… scooch over a bit? Thank you!" The red-headed boy moved over closer to his dark-haired friend. Cari could hear him mutter, "But Harry… there's nothing there!"
"Can you see them?" Lindsey asked the dark-haired boy. His hair was all mussy and she thought it rather cute.
He nodded his head. "Can you?"
Lindsey nodded as well. To their left, Cari and the red-head were having a similar conversation about not seeing the creatures.
Finally Hagrid said, "Oh, I'm sorry! I should've told ya. These creatures, thestrals, they're called, can't be seen by everyone. Just by those who've seen someone die," he finished rather ominously, with a quick glance at the dark-haired boy.
The class blinked, then looked at those who said they could see the creatures in rather a different light.
"Lindsey?" Cari started tentatively. But Lindsey ignored her. The creatures were not so beautiful to her anymore. She spoke not a word the rest of class, nor did the dark-haired boy that saw the thestrals too.
The five girls had lunch together then as usual, Lindsey just moving things around on her plate. She didn't eat a bit of food.
No one was saying anything so Cari, trying to lighten the mood, said brightly, "So, quidditch practice tonight?" hastily trying to draw the discussion from her dismal friend.
Rupert, who was sitting just to the other side of Kristin, heard this and said, "Sure there is! We've got a game on Saturday! Only against Hufflepuff, though."
Pippy laughed. True, the Hufflepuffs were not the most fearsome adversary, but Cari did not really think it necessary to laugh at them. However, Rupert quickly sobered and leaned in close.
"But I've got some rather bad news," he said. Pippy listened closely. "You know Paige? Our fourth year Beater? She's failing Transfiguration, Charms, and Herbology!" Pippy gasped.
"How do you fail Herbology?" Cari asked, rather arrogantly. Rupert ignored her and went on.
"If she doesn't improve she'll be off the team for the rest of the season for sure!" He leaned in even closer.
"And McGonagall," he gestured to the proud and stately witch at the staff table, "Will see that it's sooner rather than later, to be sure. She thinks that school is much more important, and to be failing three classes, well…" Rupert let his sentence hang portentously as he leaned back. The four girls looked around at each other.
"That's not good!" Pippy exclaimed.
"Why? It's just a sport," Cari said calmly. "The girl is failing Herbology. I think she could stand to have one less commitment."
"Cari, we need a Beater!" Pippy cried exasperatedly. Before the topic could be pondered or pursued any further, the bell rang for the end of lunch and the four picked up their things and headed to their last class before the weekend. Pippy and Kristin waved as they walked up the stairs to Charms and DADA, while Cari , Lindsey, and Lisa descended to the dungeons for Potions.
"I have to go to the bathroom," Lindsey said suddenly, and headed off in a totally different direction.
"Do you think she's okay?" Lisa whispered a few moments after she had left. "It seems like Professor Balbossa really got to her today." Since after the first lesson, Professor Balbossa had made it a point to call on Lindsey at the most inconvenient times, when he knew as well as she did that she did not know the answer or could not perform the spell, humiliating her at least once every class they had. However, up until now Lindsey hadn't seemed overly perturbed by it.
"Yeah, she'll be fine," Cari replied. She wasn't exactly sure about that, but she was sure Lindsey wanted to be left alone. And so the two girls walked into the class and took the seats that they usually took, Cari towards the back for Lindsey, and Lisa to their left.
They waited and watched, talking idly until the bell rang. Lindsey still wasn't there.