Chapter 6: The PTA meeting

Ms. Rose picked up the slides from the processor at seven that evening. They had all decided that they would go eat dinner together before going to the meeting. Selena did not like to go out to eat, but she had decided that it was a special occasion, a celebration even and that she could put up with all the people for one night.

At the restaurant Hermione acted like she was on cloud nine. Everything was going perfectly in her opinion. After tonight she would never have to go back to that horrible school. She would not have to put up with other students being mean to her for simply being more intelligent than they were. She would finally get to figure out where the extra money from the fundraiser went, but best of all, she would still get to keep Ms. Rose as her teacher.

Their salads came and they started eating and talking. Hermione only had to be called down once for talking with her mouth full, which she politely explained was because, "I have so much stuff in my head that if I don't say it when I think it, it will get pushed out of the way and I will forget it." Both Anne and Selena laughed at this. Finally they started discussing how Hermione's studies were going to be arranged. Selena said that since tomorrow would be Friday there was not any real use in starting work until Monday. Hermione was slightly upset at this. She liked the weekends, but only because it gave her more time to work on the extra work that Ms. Rose gave her. This weekend however, she would spend arranging the spare bedroom into her classroom.

Hermione went into a sort of daze dreaming of all the things that she would need to get in order to make her private classroom perfect. She was so glad that her mother had decided that Friday would be a perfect day to get some shopping done. Hermione had plenty of things that she needed, and her birthday was coming up so there was going to be no way that her mother wouldn't buy the things for her.

Hermione came out of her stupor when she realized that her dinner had been put in front of her. She didn't quite see how her mother and Ms. Rose could be eating when such a fantastic thing was about to begin. But as she began to watch Ms. Rose eating she realized that something funny was going on. She had somehow managed to get Italian dressing out of the ketchup bottle. Hermione asked for the ketchup and Ms. Rose passed it to her, but all Hermione could get out of it was in fact ketchup. She was about to ask how that had happened but her mother looked over and told her that she needed to eat if they were going to make it to the PTA meeting on time. Hermione continued to watch Ms. Rose in case she might do something else that was odd, but when nothing else happened she dismissed it as seeing something that hadn't really happened.

They finished eating and walked out to the street to catch a cab. It was only a five-minute ride to the school and Hermione was glad for this, she was excited about getting to find out where the money had gone. They were inside and seated when the vice principal began to speak. According to the mini program that listed the topics that would be discussed that night, the computers were in fact going to be discussed, that however was the last thing on the list. Hermione began to get fidgety as everything else was discussed. That was until Mr. Parks announced that he was going to be adding something into the program at the very end about a certain teacher that would no longer be working at the school. Hermione looked at her mom and Anne shook her head in a way that meant "just be quiet he is just trying to stir things up."

Hermione had to exercise a lot of self-control to make herself remain calm until Mr. Parks got to the computers. She had begun to count backwards and forwards to ten inside of her head. Finally Mr. Parks started:

i b "Now we come to an issue that is very important the students in particular. Last fall we started a fundraising campaign. This campaign was started to raise money to purchase some new computers. The students have done several fundraisers throughout all the seven grades on this school. They have done a very good job and I think they deserve a round of applause." /i /b

This was a very halfhearted applause, as everyone in the audience could tell that he was about to announce some very negative news.

i b "There has simply not been enough participation on the parents side. These children have been working extremely hard yet we are still just over eight thousand pounds short. /i /b

One woman stood up in the middle of the audience, i "Exactly how much money have we raised Mr. Parks?" /i

i b "Well, let's see now I have the totals broken down by each grade. Just give me one second to add them up and I will be able to give you a definitive answer." /i /b

He was obviously stumbling. Hermione couldn't believe that he hadn't expected this. Of course the parents would want to know how much money they had raised. For them to still need 8000 pounds after a year of fundraising was too much for most of them to swallow.

After two or three minutes of Mr. Parks shuffling papers and holding up fingers Anne nudged Hermione and nodded at the stage. Hermione got the idea as they had been rehearsing this all day. Hermione stood up and Selena and Anne went to the back of the room where they had stashed the slide projector.

At first people were muttering to themselves thinking who knows what, but then they noticed that there was someone else on the stage, a someone that had extremely bushy brown hair. And she was tugging on Mr. Parks' sleeve trying to get his attention. Obviously he was riled because he very harshly and almost directly into the microphone said, i b "What do you want? Oh it is you Miss Granger, now is not a good time. I am very busy at the moment. /i /b

But Hermione was insistent. She pulled on his sleeve once more and said in a very flat voice, i "I will take it from here, Mr. Parks." /i

He looked speechlessly at the slide that was being projected over his head onto the back of the wall.

b center u THE TRUE TRUTH ABOUT THE COMPUTER FUNDRAISING /b /u /center

There was a considerable amount of mumbling and quiet chattering, but as soon as Hermione Granger, a mere nine year old, began talking everyone started listening. Hermione explained that she had been keeping track of all the monies that were turned into the office for the computers. She had a slide for each of the seven grades and she had many more slides that showed, without the merest shadow of a doubt that they, if she had added correctly, (which got a pretty decent laugh from the crowd) were only seventeen hundred and thirty-four pounds short.

This was met with a great round of applause after which the same woman from before, who Hermione later found out was the head of the PTA, stood up to ask another question,

i "Mr. Parks," /i He now quickly came back to the stage, i "Mr. Parks, can you please explain to us how..." /i

b i "Of course I can miss Smithe, it is quite obvious that this, very precocious child has been influenced by the malignancy that is the teacher that I mentioned before. This teacher will no longer be working here and that is the end of this meeting." /b /i

He said all this very fast and when he had finished he walked off stage.

i "Mr. Parks," /i Very begrudgingly he shuffled back onto the stage to where Hermione still stood, i "Mr. Parks, now that you have got that out of your system perhaps you will let me properly ask my question. How is it that this little girl, Sweetie what grade are you in?" /i

i "P7, miss." /i Hermione said without the slightest of a hesitation.

i "That this very young, yet very bright," /i she added with the slightest of nods to Anne as she and Selena came back to the front of the room to join Hermione on the stage, i "P7 student can know all of these very well formatted facts, while you cannot even tell us how much money has been raised. And we will simply not be discussing the fact that there is a slight difference in the amounts that were announced by you and young Miss Granger. That is a topic for another day." /i

Mr. Parks sighed slightly, thinking that there would be time for him to come up with some other excuse for why the funds had suddenly turned up missing.

i "But I am sure that Miss Granger would be eager to be present to offer you details of anything else that you seemed to have misplaced." /i Finished Mrs. Smithe.

The room was abuzz with laughter and chatter as everyone began to leave the room. Hermione was very tired even though there had been a lot of excitement, she would be very eager to get home and get in bed.

Her mother and Ms. Rose spoke with Mrs. Smithe for a few more minutes before noticing that Hermione was beginning to doze off in her chair. They said their goodbyes and headed their own ways.