Chapter Eight: Making the grade.
Dear Sissy,
Note: Chloe, James wanted to write you a letter and he insisted upon dictating it to me. I had to cross my heart and hope to die to put every word he said. Exactly. ~Mum
You'll never guess what we have in the house now. A Shoebox. That's the name of my new puppy. He is very good. Like me. Good enough to get extra ice cream even. Don't forget to put cherry ice cream, Mummy, or Chloe won't know.
Shoebox is long, like a wand. But he will get longer, because Mummy says he's only a baby. I can pick him up He's a dolphin dog, but Daddy says he's a scamp dog. What's the difference, Chloe?
Shoebox likes to eat up my broccoli and he is black, just like the licorice that makes you gag. But you wouldn't throw up if you saw him, Chloe, because he is a very good dolphin dog. Mummy, don't forget to add that I made sure Shoebox didn't puddle in her room, I don't think she'd like it if he did. Right?
I want to know if they have cherry ice cream at your school, Chloe. If they don't, I'm never coming. Tell Meghan that I want her to draw a picture of Shoebox when she gets home, so I can hang it up. Shoebox wants a picture of me, too. But he might chew it all up, like he tried to do with one of Daddy's spellbooks.
Send more Chocolate Frogs, really really soon, because I am good,
James.
No, Mummy, put James-y, like she calls me, or she won't know it's really me.
Jamesy.
Jamesy Potter. Your brother.
~*~
A few days had passed since Harry and Katie's phone conversation. He had reckoned that she was going to contact him, but he hadn't heard a word from her. Either she was really furious at him for blowing her cover, or she really had a problem with dealing with anything from the wizarding world. Since she hadn't contacted him, Harry decided to take matters into his own hands and do a bit of research.
Pauline MacGregor was head of the Library of Records and she was very particular in how her files were handled. Harry was very particular about how he handled Pauline. He clearly remembered having his hand slapped because he was "getting too grabby."
"Afternoon, Mr. Potter," Pauline said cheerfully. "How is your family?" She continued writing, not really paying attention to his answer. "Please fill out a form stating your business and I'm going to need some proper identification. "
Her rules were tiresome, but at least they were the same for every single person who wanted access to the records. He wasn't asked for ID much and she bloody knew it too. It probably amused her.
"Information on Katherine Bell," Pauline said, glancing at Harry's clipboard. "Didn't one of your Aurors come down here looking for that a few days ago?"
Harry nodded. "Small project of mine."
"Identification?"
Harry handed her his Auror ID. She studied it thoroughly.
"Six foot two?" she said handing it back to him with a wry smile. "Misprint?"
Harry colored. What had he ever done to her? "Five eleven, thank you."
"No problem," she replied, slapping a red button on her desk. "Go ahead."
The door marked "Confidential-Authorized Personnel Only" glowed gold and then slid open.
"I'm sure the urine tests will start next week," Harry muttered.
When Harry reached the doorway, he heard a sizzle, followed by a surge of pain running throughout his body. He yelled in surprise, and then blacked out.
"Oopsies!" Pauline sung when her face blurred into focus. "Wake up, Mr. Potter." She patted his cheek roughly, making small slapping noises. "Wake up!"
"What happened," Harry groaned, feeling quite.crispy. "Why am I on the floor?"
"Silly me, forgot to take down the other magical shield. It's invisible, you know. Why, just last week, one of the Minister's assistants came in, and wouldn't you know it, the same thing happened to him. Threw him clean across the room! Of course, you didn't go nearly as far, Mr. Potter.."
Harry closed his eyes and groaned again. "What are you going to do, mark my spot on the floor?"
"Now, Mr. Potter, that's just morbid. Up you go! That's it!"
Harry brushed off his robes and drug himself across the doorway, taking care not to put a hand on his aching lower back, as if he were an old man, until he was out of Pauline's sight. He made quick work of finding the Be- Bem file cabinet and heaved the enormous bottom drawer open.
"Bekker, Beklam, Bekmonger, Beknoll," Harry murmered, running his fingers over the names. "Bekomp, Bekoff, Bekrinn, Bekson.."
Harry frowned. Her file wasn't even here! How could she remove herself from the Library of Records? Every witch or wizard had to be listed-- it was done the moment they were born, and if they were Muggle born, a record was still made, simply without their knowledge.
Harry slapped his forehead, feeling extremely stupid. She had got married! What name did she answered the phone with? He pushed the cabinet shut and it clanged sharply and clicked, relocking itself.
Linter!
Harry hurried over to the Lin-Lo cabinet, eagerly grasped the handle and jerked it back.
Another sizzle, another sharp zap of pain, and this time a loud ringing in his ears when he came to.
"Why, Mr. Potter, I'm beginning to think you like being on the floor," Pauline was saying, sounding like she had been chatting with him even while he was unconscious. "You never said you wanted to look anything up but Bell and you know the security precautions I take with these files!"
"Oh yes, Pauline, I simply love being on the floor." Harry replied through clenched teeth. He was annoyed enough to pull rank on her. "You can't possibly think that the Head of the C.I.A. is likely to be a security risk!"
Pauline was unfazed. "Of course you are," she said succinctly.
Harry was determined to not let her hear the howl of frustration that was threatening to escape. "Can you kindly unlock the Lin-Lo cabinet?"
"Yes, just give me a minute to get back to my desk and unlock it from there," she smiled.
Harry didn't give her a minute. He gave her two full minutes before chancing a tentative swipe at the file cabinet.
"Linter! Ha, there you are Katie!" Harry said triumphantly pulling the folder. He glanced at the two other Linter folders. Linter Jack, and Linter-Bell, Finnigan. The Linter, Jack folder was bright blue, not green like all the rest of the folders. That immediately answered quite a few questions. Jack Linter was a Muggle, married to a witch.
Harry grabbed all three folders and shoved the file cabinet shut. A photograph fluttered to the floor from one of the folders and Harry picked it up and examined it. Jack Linter had had a solemn face, but he was definitely smiling with his gray eyes.
Harry pocketed the photo and readied himself to persuade Pauline to take a few of her files out on a loan. How had Jack Linter died?
~*~
"You're positive she'll stay in the dormitory?" Chloe asked for the fifth time. She was quite nervous about Monster making another appearance in Potions class. This class had to go absolutely perfectly, Professor Granger was still sore at them, even though the last class had gone perfectly fine. They were supposed to get their essays back today, Chloe had even stayed up late memorizing the assigned reading by the light of her bauble. It didn't seem fair that the class she most disliked, she had to pay the most attention to.
"Positive," Meghan reassured her. She frowned at her sketchbook and then turned it upside down and squinted. "Do you quite remember what that strawberry of Finn's looked like? I don't think I've got it right."
Finn had had a tragic encounter with their very first Transfiguration practical that morning. They had been each given a strawberry and instructed to change it into a thimble. Poor Finn had felt terrible about his practical and the end result had looked pretty grim until Meghan had seen it and proclaimed it nothing short of art.
"The leaves ended up on the pointy side," Chloe said. "You forgot to add those."
Meghan nodded and bent over her work again. "I think I have a title for it."
Chloe lifted her gaze. "What?"
"A Berry Tortured Strawberry."
"Meghan, that was a really awful pun," Chloe informed her, joining Meghan's giggles. "You better not tell Finn that. You'll hurt his feelings."
"He should be proud he's contributing to the art world," Meghan argued. "I think he'd like it."
"Where is he anyway?" Chloe wondered, looking at Finn's empty spot at their table. "He said he was going back to the dormitory to switch books and get his essay."
"Oh no," Meghan said frowing at the blackboard. "Desalinization Potion. Why does that sound really hard?"
"It's just taking the salt out of salt water. Agatha Cleary invented it."
"Am I supposed to know that?" Meghan asked suspiciously.
"I read ahead just a little bit," Chloe said apologetically.
"You must still be really mad at her," Meghan laughed. "You hate textbooks."
"I wonder why Agatha Cleary invented the potion. Maybe she and her husband and baby got marooned on a desert island and they couldn't find any water at all. Maybe she invented it to save her baby, who was dangerously dehydrated an-"
"Yeah." Meghan rolled her eyes. "Right she did, Chloe. I think you just wanted the textbook to say that."
"Well, it should," Chloe pouted. "I was about to scream with boredom."
"I think you should just quit being mad at her. Nearly everyone treats us just fine," Meghan concluded. "If you work this hard now, she'll just think you have to do it all the time. That'd be no fun."
"Herbology is so much more interesting than this class," Chloe sighed heavily. "Who wants to know a stupid potion for taking the salt out of water? Just take your wand out and do the spell, it's not any fuss at all."
Meghan shrugged and continued sketching. "You know, we haven't been to see Hagrid once, and we've been here nearly a week, we should go visit before we hurt his feelings. I bet he'd really like Finn."
Chloe and Meghan adored Hagrid. When he came to visit, something interesting always occurred. Especially when he brought animals for them to look at and play with. Chloe, Meghan, and Hagrid had been the only ones amused when a loose pack of Jarveys escaped in Meghan's house one holiday. It had taken most of the day to find all of them, (they were allowed to run about with nets, like explorers) and they finally found the last one hidden in a Christmas tree shrieking "Blockheads! Blockheads!" at the touring groups. Meghan had wickedly demanded that the Jarvey be required to write an essay about its misbehavior. Percy put Meghan in the corner and poor Hagrid got an earful about "Miscreant animals and their effects on susceptible young minds." Later, when Chloe and Meghan confessed they were still on the Jarveys' side for having a bit of fun, their friendship with Hagrid had been sealed.
Finn staggered into the room. "Hi," he breathed, relieved that Professor Granger wasn't in the room yet. "I saw Professor Flitwick in the corridor and he was offering me some tips to help get my magical concentration right. I hope it helps."
"'Course it will," Meghan remarked, turning the page in her sketchbook. She looked around keenly for something to else to draw. "Hold that cross face at your Potion book, would you, Chlo? It's really interesting."
Chloe stuck her tongue out at Meghan and grinned.
"Lumos!" Finn experimented. He was squeezing his eyes shut and concentrating very hard. The end of his wand flickered a bit with light and glowed very dimly, like a small bit of flame on a candlewick about to extinguish.
"That was better," Chloe said, trying to sound upbeat for Finn.
Finn opened his eyes and sighed at his wand, which went out immediately.
"It was better," Meghan added. "It's Friday.maybe you should just relax over the weekend and everything will come to you."
"Okay," Finn replied glumly.
~*~
Potions ended up being somewhat more bearable than Chloe thought it would be. She had managed to earn house points by knowing a few things about the Desalinization Potion and when they brewed it, her potion had been more or less adequate. Professor Granger was in good spirits too, for she informed them that she was letting them go a bit early, due to a splendid job done on their essays.
"Copy your weekend homework down, and I will discuss it after I distribute your essays."
Finn was lucky with a last name like Bell, he never had to wait long for anything. He came back to their table with a slightly lower than average mark and with his normally pale cheeks apple red.
"Really," he confided to Chloe and Meghan in a whisper while everyone else collected their essay, "I don't mind. I thought I did much worse, because I got really confused about the potion."
"Chloe Potter."
Chloe broke off her conversation with Finn and Meghan and hurried up to the desk, eyes shining. Professor Granger nodded at her and handed the scroll over. "Be more careful with your research next time, Chloe."
Well, Chloe thought with mild disdain. Not a word of praise for the extra work. No matter, she just wanted to prove to Professor Granger that she wasn't a lazy person and she wasn't stupid.
She unrolled her parchment scroll to look at her grade as she walked back to her seat. The glance brought her to a screeching halt almost causing Calixta to crash into the back of her.
A what?!
Another glance.
A failing mark!
Professor Granger had failed her essay! Chloe about faced and marched back to Professor Granger's desk, to demand an explanation. It was impossible! She had chosen an especially hard potion to research and exceeded the length requirements of the essay! She had checked and rechecked it.looked up words to make it sound nicer.and Professor Granger FAILED her?!?
"I will answer questions about essay grades after class is dismissed," Professor Granger said, just before Chloe got to her desk.
Chloe practically threw herself into her seat, not caring if she made a spectacle of herself or not. Meghan took one look at Chloe's grade and gave a gasp of horror, just like a best friend should.
"No way," Meghan breathed, blue-eyes wide.
Chloe remained silent, too shocked to do anything yet. Matters did not turn better when Meghan returned with an essay with a fairly decent mark. Meghan had spent half the amount of time on her essay.
"She's completely lost her mind," Meghan hissed to Chloe. "I saw Aidan Malfoy's essay. He had it out on the table, probably wanted to make sure I saw it. She gave that prat a perfect score!"
Finn bit his lower lip. "Chloe, try to stay calm. Maybe it was an accident."
Chloe nodded numbly. That very idea was the only thing keeping her from losing her cool.
After class, Chloe faced Professor Granger, appearing completely calm.
"Chloe, I was not very pleased with your essay," Professor Granger said putting a textbook on a shelf behind her.
Well, that much was obvious.
"You were working on research that was far out of your reaches. Your essay did not reflect in any way that you had a proper appreciation for the potion you selected." Professor Granger patted her shoulder. "Don't bite off more than you can chew, Chloe."
Chloe nodded, and bit her lower lip fiercely to keep from saying a word. She mustn't whine.. Professor Granger bid her a good weekend and left, Meghan and Finn were waiting for her in the hallway, while she cleaned up her supplies.
Chloe threw her ladle with all her might into the sink. It clattered so loudly that it hurt her ears, but it felt good to throw things around. It wasn't fair! The one class she simply had to do good in, and her own aunt had it in for her. She rammed her cauldron into its spot on the shelf. She had failed her! Chloe didn't fail things! She hadn't bit off more than she could chew!
"I hate Potions!" Chloe sneered at the gargoyle faucet, which of course, had a permanent sneer on its face too.
Chloe hadn't noticed Aidan Malfoy was still putting up his supplies also. She nearly jumped out of her skin when he spoke up.
"Get a bad grade?" He leaned against another sink, studying her.
It was the first time he had spoken to her since they were five-years old. The tone of his voice rendered her frozen, leaving no sound in the room except the running water from the gargoyle's mouth.
"Leave her alone!" Meghan shouted, running back to the room and to Chloe's side. She clutched Chloe's arm defensively. "Don't you dare talk to her!"
~*~
Author Note: Thanks to Jilly and Anne for betaing. Actually that should be Anne and Jilly because Jilly was the one who threw a fit to get her paws on this chapter. Jilly would like to add her discontent to the beta comment as she repeated over the phone to me: "I do not beta. I edit."
Also, since you all were upset with no letter at the beginning of last chapter, I decided to send James' letter. He means "dolphin dog" to mean "dachshund dog" and that's how I imagined a four year old would transpose such a thing.
Thanks to all my reviewers. You guys are great. I really enjoyed lots of the comments from last chapter and there were a lot of cool speculations from the readers on Chloe's Bookshelf! You're the best!
"Have you hugged you stuffed dragon today?" Join Chloe's Bookshelf!
Dear Sissy,
Note: Chloe, James wanted to write you a letter and he insisted upon dictating it to me. I had to cross my heart and hope to die to put every word he said. Exactly. ~Mum
You'll never guess what we have in the house now. A Shoebox. That's the name of my new puppy. He is very good. Like me. Good enough to get extra ice cream even. Don't forget to put cherry ice cream, Mummy, or Chloe won't know.
Shoebox is long, like a wand. But he will get longer, because Mummy says he's only a baby. I can pick him up He's a dolphin dog, but Daddy says he's a scamp dog. What's the difference, Chloe?
Shoebox likes to eat up my broccoli and he is black, just like the licorice that makes you gag. But you wouldn't throw up if you saw him, Chloe, because he is a very good dolphin dog. Mummy, don't forget to add that I made sure Shoebox didn't puddle in her room, I don't think she'd like it if he did. Right?
I want to know if they have cherry ice cream at your school, Chloe. If they don't, I'm never coming. Tell Meghan that I want her to draw a picture of Shoebox when she gets home, so I can hang it up. Shoebox wants a picture of me, too. But he might chew it all up, like he tried to do with one of Daddy's spellbooks.
Send more Chocolate Frogs, really really soon, because I am good,
James.
No, Mummy, put James-y, like she calls me, or she won't know it's really me.
Jamesy.
Jamesy Potter. Your brother.
~*~
A few days had passed since Harry and Katie's phone conversation. He had reckoned that she was going to contact him, but he hadn't heard a word from her. Either she was really furious at him for blowing her cover, or she really had a problem with dealing with anything from the wizarding world. Since she hadn't contacted him, Harry decided to take matters into his own hands and do a bit of research.
Pauline MacGregor was head of the Library of Records and she was very particular in how her files were handled. Harry was very particular about how he handled Pauline. He clearly remembered having his hand slapped because he was "getting too grabby."
"Afternoon, Mr. Potter," Pauline said cheerfully. "How is your family?" She continued writing, not really paying attention to his answer. "Please fill out a form stating your business and I'm going to need some proper identification. "
Her rules were tiresome, but at least they were the same for every single person who wanted access to the records. He wasn't asked for ID much and she bloody knew it too. It probably amused her.
"Information on Katherine Bell," Pauline said, glancing at Harry's clipboard. "Didn't one of your Aurors come down here looking for that a few days ago?"
Harry nodded. "Small project of mine."
"Identification?"
Harry handed her his Auror ID. She studied it thoroughly.
"Six foot two?" she said handing it back to him with a wry smile. "Misprint?"
Harry colored. What had he ever done to her? "Five eleven, thank you."
"No problem," she replied, slapping a red button on her desk. "Go ahead."
The door marked "Confidential-Authorized Personnel Only" glowed gold and then slid open.
"I'm sure the urine tests will start next week," Harry muttered.
When Harry reached the doorway, he heard a sizzle, followed by a surge of pain running throughout his body. He yelled in surprise, and then blacked out.
"Oopsies!" Pauline sung when her face blurred into focus. "Wake up, Mr. Potter." She patted his cheek roughly, making small slapping noises. "Wake up!"
"What happened," Harry groaned, feeling quite.crispy. "Why am I on the floor?"
"Silly me, forgot to take down the other magical shield. It's invisible, you know. Why, just last week, one of the Minister's assistants came in, and wouldn't you know it, the same thing happened to him. Threw him clean across the room! Of course, you didn't go nearly as far, Mr. Potter.."
Harry closed his eyes and groaned again. "What are you going to do, mark my spot on the floor?"
"Now, Mr. Potter, that's just morbid. Up you go! That's it!"
Harry brushed off his robes and drug himself across the doorway, taking care not to put a hand on his aching lower back, as if he were an old man, until he was out of Pauline's sight. He made quick work of finding the Be- Bem file cabinet and heaved the enormous bottom drawer open.
"Bekker, Beklam, Bekmonger, Beknoll," Harry murmered, running his fingers over the names. "Bekomp, Bekoff, Bekrinn, Bekson.."
Harry frowned. Her file wasn't even here! How could she remove herself from the Library of Records? Every witch or wizard had to be listed-- it was done the moment they were born, and if they were Muggle born, a record was still made, simply without their knowledge.
Harry slapped his forehead, feeling extremely stupid. She had got married! What name did she answered the phone with? He pushed the cabinet shut and it clanged sharply and clicked, relocking itself.
Linter!
Harry hurried over to the Lin-Lo cabinet, eagerly grasped the handle and jerked it back.
Another sizzle, another sharp zap of pain, and this time a loud ringing in his ears when he came to.
"Why, Mr. Potter, I'm beginning to think you like being on the floor," Pauline was saying, sounding like she had been chatting with him even while he was unconscious. "You never said you wanted to look anything up but Bell and you know the security precautions I take with these files!"
"Oh yes, Pauline, I simply love being on the floor." Harry replied through clenched teeth. He was annoyed enough to pull rank on her. "You can't possibly think that the Head of the C.I.A. is likely to be a security risk!"
Pauline was unfazed. "Of course you are," she said succinctly.
Harry was determined to not let her hear the howl of frustration that was threatening to escape. "Can you kindly unlock the Lin-Lo cabinet?"
"Yes, just give me a minute to get back to my desk and unlock it from there," she smiled.
Harry didn't give her a minute. He gave her two full minutes before chancing a tentative swipe at the file cabinet.
"Linter! Ha, there you are Katie!" Harry said triumphantly pulling the folder. He glanced at the two other Linter folders. Linter Jack, and Linter-Bell, Finnigan. The Linter, Jack folder was bright blue, not green like all the rest of the folders. That immediately answered quite a few questions. Jack Linter was a Muggle, married to a witch.
Harry grabbed all three folders and shoved the file cabinet shut. A photograph fluttered to the floor from one of the folders and Harry picked it up and examined it. Jack Linter had had a solemn face, but he was definitely smiling with his gray eyes.
Harry pocketed the photo and readied himself to persuade Pauline to take a few of her files out on a loan. How had Jack Linter died?
~*~
"You're positive she'll stay in the dormitory?" Chloe asked for the fifth time. She was quite nervous about Monster making another appearance in Potions class. This class had to go absolutely perfectly, Professor Granger was still sore at them, even though the last class had gone perfectly fine. They were supposed to get their essays back today, Chloe had even stayed up late memorizing the assigned reading by the light of her bauble. It didn't seem fair that the class she most disliked, she had to pay the most attention to.
"Positive," Meghan reassured her. She frowned at her sketchbook and then turned it upside down and squinted. "Do you quite remember what that strawberry of Finn's looked like? I don't think I've got it right."
Finn had had a tragic encounter with their very first Transfiguration practical that morning. They had been each given a strawberry and instructed to change it into a thimble. Poor Finn had felt terrible about his practical and the end result had looked pretty grim until Meghan had seen it and proclaimed it nothing short of art.
"The leaves ended up on the pointy side," Chloe said. "You forgot to add those."
Meghan nodded and bent over her work again. "I think I have a title for it."
Chloe lifted her gaze. "What?"
"A Berry Tortured Strawberry."
"Meghan, that was a really awful pun," Chloe informed her, joining Meghan's giggles. "You better not tell Finn that. You'll hurt his feelings."
"He should be proud he's contributing to the art world," Meghan argued. "I think he'd like it."
"Where is he anyway?" Chloe wondered, looking at Finn's empty spot at their table. "He said he was going back to the dormitory to switch books and get his essay."
"Oh no," Meghan said frowing at the blackboard. "Desalinization Potion. Why does that sound really hard?"
"It's just taking the salt out of salt water. Agatha Cleary invented it."
"Am I supposed to know that?" Meghan asked suspiciously.
"I read ahead just a little bit," Chloe said apologetically.
"You must still be really mad at her," Meghan laughed. "You hate textbooks."
"I wonder why Agatha Cleary invented the potion. Maybe she and her husband and baby got marooned on a desert island and they couldn't find any water at all. Maybe she invented it to save her baby, who was dangerously dehydrated an-"
"Yeah." Meghan rolled her eyes. "Right she did, Chloe. I think you just wanted the textbook to say that."
"Well, it should," Chloe pouted. "I was about to scream with boredom."
"I think you should just quit being mad at her. Nearly everyone treats us just fine," Meghan concluded. "If you work this hard now, she'll just think you have to do it all the time. That'd be no fun."
"Herbology is so much more interesting than this class," Chloe sighed heavily. "Who wants to know a stupid potion for taking the salt out of water? Just take your wand out and do the spell, it's not any fuss at all."
Meghan shrugged and continued sketching. "You know, we haven't been to see Hagrid once, and we've been here nearly a week, we should go visit before we hurt his feelings. I bet he'd really like Finn."
Chloe and Meghan adored Hagrid. When he came to visit, something interesting always occurred. Especially when he brought animals for them to look at and play with. Chloe, Meghan, and Hagrid had been the only ones amused when a loose pack of Jarveys escaped in Meghan's house one holiday. It had taken most of the day to find all of them, (they were allowed to run about with nets, like explorers) and they finally found the last one hidden in a Christmas tree shrieking "Blockheads! Blockheads!" at the touring groups. Meghan had wickedly demanded that the Jarvey be required to write an essay about its misbehavior. Percy put Meghan in the corner and poor Hagrid got an earful about "Miscreant animals and their effects on susceptible young minds." Later, when Chloe and Meghan confessed they were still on the Jarveys' side for having a bit of fun, their friendship with Hagrid had been sealed.
Finn staggered into the room. "Hi," he breathed, relieved that Professor Granger wasn't in the room yet. "I saw Professor Flitwick in the corridor and he was offering me some tips to help get my magical concentration right. I hope it helps."
"'Course it will," Meghan remarked, turning the page in her sketchbook. She looked around keenly for something to else to draw. "Hold that cross face at your Potion book, would you, Chlo? It's really interesting."
Chloe stuck her tongue out at Meghan and grinned.
"Lumos!" Finn experimented. He was squeezing his eyes shut and concentrating very hard. The end of his wand flickered a bit with light and glowed very dimly, like a small bit of flame on a candlewick about to extinguish.
"That was better," Chloe said, trying to sound upbeat for Finn.
Finn opened his eyes and sighed at his wand, which went out immediately.
"It was better," Meghan added. "It's Friday.maybe you should just relax over the weekend and everything will come to you."
"Okay," Finn replied glumly.
~*~
Potions ended up being somewhat more bearable than Chloe thought it would be. She had managed to earn house points by knowing a few things about the Desalinization Potion and when they brewed it, her potion had been more or less adequate. Professor Granger was in good spirits too, for she informed them that she was letting them go a bit early, due to a splendid job done on their essays.
"Copy your weekend homework down, and I will discuss it after I distribute your essays."
Finn was lucky with a last name like Bell, he never had to wait long for anything. He came back to their table with a slightly lower than average mark and with his normally pale cheeks apple red.
"Really," he confided to Chloe and Meghan in a whisper while everyone else collected their essay, "I don't mind. I thought I did much worse, because I got really confused about the potion."
"Chloe Potter."
Chloe broke off her conversation with Finn and Meghan and hurried up to the desk, eyes shining. Professor Granger nodded at her and handed the scroll over. "Be more careful with your research next time, Chloe."
Well, Chloe thought with mild disdain. Not a word of praise for the extra work. No matter, she just wanted to prove to Professor Granger that she wasn't a lazy person and she wasn't stupid.
She unrolled her parchment scroll to look at her grade as she walked back to her seat. The glance brought her to a screeching halt almost causing Calixta to crash into the back of her.
A what?!
Another glance.
A failing mark!
Professor Granger had failed her essay! Chloe about faced and marched back to Professor Granger's desk, to demand an explanation. It was impossible! She had chosen an especially hard potion to research and exceeded the length requirements of the essay! She had checked and rechecked it.looked up words to make it sound nicer.and Professor Granger FAILED her?!?
"I will answer questions about essay grades after class is dismissed," Professor Granger said, just before Chloe got to her desk.
Chloe practically threw herself into her seat, not caring if she made a spectacle of herself or not. Meghan took one look at Chloe's grade and gave a gasp of horror, just like a best friend should.
"No way," Meghan breathed, blue-eyes wide.
Chloe remained silent, too shocked to do anything yet. Matters did not turn better when Meghan returned with an essay with a fairly decent mark. Meghan had spent half the amount of time on her essay.
"She's completely lost her mind," Meghan hissed to Chloe. "I saw Aidan Malfoy's essay. He had it out on the table, probably wanted to make sure I saw it. She gave that prat a perfect score!"
Finn bit his lower lip. "Chloe, try to stay calm. Maybe it was an accident."
Chloe nodded numbly. That very idea was the only thing keeping her from losing her cool.
After class, Chloe faced Professor Granger, appearing completely calm.
"Chloe, I was not very pleased with your essay," Professor Granger said putting a textbook on a shelf behind her.
Well, that much was obvious.
"You were working on research that was far out of your reaches. Your essay did not reflect in any way that you had a proper appreciation for the potion you selected." Professor Granger patted her shoulder. "Don't bite off more than you can chew, Chloe."
Chloe nodded, and bit her lower lip fiercely to keep from saying a word. She mustn't whine.. Professor Granger bid her a good weekend and left, Meghan and Finn were waiting for her in the hallway, while she cleaned up her supplies.
Chloe threw her ladle with all her might into the sink. It clattered so loudly that it hurt her ears, but it felt good to throw things around. It wasn't fair! The one class she simply had to do good in, and her own aunt had it in for her. She rammed her cauldron into its spot on the shelf. She had failed her! Chloe didn't fail things! She hadn't bit off more than she could chew!
"I hate Potions!" Chloe sneered at the gargoyle faucet, which of course, had a permanent sneer on its face too.
Chloe hadn't noticed Aidan Malfoy was still putting up his supplies also. She nearly jumped out of her skin when he spoke up.
"Get a bad grade?" He leaned against another sink, studying her.
It was the first time he had spoken to her since they were five-years old. The tone of his voice rendered her frozen, leaving no sound in the room except the running water from the gargoyle's mouth.
"Leave her alone!" Meghan shouted, running back to the room and to Chloe's side. She clutched Chloe's arm defensively. "Don't you dare talk to her!"
~*~
Author Note: Thanks to Jilly and Anne for betaing. Actually that should be Anne and Jilly because Jilly was the one who threw a fit to get her paws on this chapter. Jilly would like to add her discontent to the beta comment as she repeated over the phone to me: "I do not beta. I edit."
Also, since you all were upset with no letter at the beginning of last chapter, I decided to send James' letter. He means "dolphin dog" to mean "dachshund dog" and that's how I imagined a four year old would transpose such a thing.
Thanks to all my reviewers. You guys are great. I really enjoyed lots of the comments from last chapter and there were a lot of cool speculations from the readers on Chloe's Bookshelf! You're the best!
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