Chapter 9 : "Be Careful Lighting People On Fire, You Might Get Stuck With
Their Job"
Chloe replaced her quill in the inkpot and studied her letter with satisfaction. She giggled, added a few more X's and O's at the bottom and sealed it with a small smirk. This ought to get something done.
Dear Grandmummy,
Thank you so much for the sweets you sent Meghan, Finn, and I. They were wonderful. Especially since classes have been very, very hard. Especially Potions. Professor Granger never gives us a break.
I'm so upset, Grandmummy, I made my very first failing grade. My essay was really excellent and I spent four hours in the library on it. It even went over the requirements. But I don't think that's enough for Professor Granger. She failed me. I wanted to cry. I guess she's harder on me because I'm related to her.and she thinks I'm not behaving like a proper witch. I just know I could do well if she'd give me a chance.
Oh, do you know what else? She adores Aidan Malfoy. She gave him full marks for his essay and he was so snide about it to me. I just hope Hogwarts gets better than this.I thought I was much smarter than this. What if I get kicked out, Grandmummy? Daddy would never forgive me..
Well, I'm off to go study some more. I really can't take but five minutes to write this letter or I'll get behind on my Potions reading. I wish Meg and I could go outside.but we have too much work.
I miss you!
XOXOXOX
Your loving granddaughter,
Chloe Grace
~*~
Hermione sighed deeply and waited for Hagrid to fill her teacup. "Oh, Hagrid, I'll be so happy when this week is over. After this weekend I can finally have free time to spend with Laura and Ron."
"Firs' week of school is hard on everybody," Hagrid nodded. "Teachers an' students."
"I just never imagined anything could happen like this whole situation with Chloe. She's in some sort of a phase. That has to be it. I just don't understand it." Hermione rested her fingers above her eyebrow and looked warily at the gamekeeper.
"Harry an' Ginny's Chloe?" Hagrid's voice had such a sincere touch of surprise that Hermione almost groaned aloud. "She's been givin' trouble? Remus was praisin' her work jus' teh day before."
"Remus probably didn't tell you of the little incident involving Meghan's cat," Hermione replied defensively.
"'Course he did he did," Hagrid chuckled loudly. "Thought it was. ah well." He paused and seemed to assess the look on her face. "Well, I'm supposin' he'd tell you himself what he thought, but I didn't see much sassin' from Chloe n' Meghan in it."
Hermione set down her cup, ready to clear things up once and for all. "Hagrid, they weren't trying to sass me, but I thought they were trying their limits the first day of class! If I had realized that none of the other Gryffindors had put the connection with Harry to Chloe had worked out Chloe's relationship to Harry yet, I would have never mentioned it. Honestly, how could they have not made the connection? It's as if they don't read anything!"
Hagrid nodded. "Course yeh didn' mean teh embarrass her, but I've been hearin' things from tha other teachers an' it looks like tha' cat of Meg's likes teh go teh classes. Think it could've not been on purpose?"
"I know that now. I think this whole incident is over, finally. She turned in an essay, clearly trying to one-up me and I talked to her after class about it. She knows I mean business about my classes and I want her to do well. I think she understands why I graded her essay the way I did. She's a bright girl."
Hagrid's face went blank. "Wha' essay?"
Hermione shook her head, at him and rolled her eyes. "She turned in this.well, it was worse than one of Harry's old Divination papers. She didn't make it up, but she researched a Potion that was so far out of her grasp that she didn't even come close even covering the basic values of it! I simply couldn't grade it. I feel quite bad for failing her, but she understands why now."
Hagrid sat back in his chair quite suddenly and he gazed at her with disbelief. "Hermione! You didn'! Not to Chloe! She's a good girl!"
Hermione threw up her hands. "Hagrid! I'm not going to play favorites! Niece or not, it wasn't what I asked for!"
"But did ya have ter fail her?" Hagrid said sorrowfully. "She's prolly more upset abou' that than everything else than any of it. Couldn' you have talked it ov'r with her and made her fix it up a'bit?"
"I was proving a point!" Hermione protested loudly. "This is not cruel punishment! I am not sending my niece to the firing squad! If I wasn't confident that her grades would be fine the rest of the term, I would have chosen another course of action!"
"She's yer student," Hagrid said looking up at her gloomily. "I wouldn't ta done tha same, but as long as yer on good terms with each other now."
"Of course we're on good terms," Hermione said confidently. "I was hoping she and Meghan would come to my office for tea on Sunday and they could tell me about their first week. Catherine comes for tea quite a bit."
~*~
Remus liked Sunday morning breakfast. There was always a pleasant sleepy lull about things and no one was usually in a terrible hurry to get things accomplished. He drank his coffee contentedly and watched the students come into the hall in small clusters. Friendships were already solidifying at the end of the first week of school.
"Good morning, Remus," Hermione said cheerfully, taking a seat next to him. "What have you got planned today?"
Remus smiled at her. "A small bit of marking and a trip into Hogsmeade to pick up a few supplies."
"I think I'm going to surprise Ron and Laura and go spend the afternoon with them. They aren't expecting me until tomorrow night, but I miss them terribly. I'm ahead on my marking-"
"I heard," Remus said, looking away from her gaze at the word 'marking' and the corners of his mouth were threatening to twitch into a smile.
"And I had planned to invite Chloe and Meghan for tea," Hermione added, raising an eyebrow at him. "Something on your mind, Remus?"
Remus shook his head and accepted the butter dish from Professor Higginbotham. "No, Hermione, isn't it a beautiful morning? Thank you, Henrietta."
"Good morning, faculty," Snape said coolly, looking at each of them.
Whiz-bang, Professor Higginbotham's gray parrot, wolf-whistled cheerfully at the Headmaster when he took his seat on the other side of Hermione.
Snape narrowed his black eyes at the bird and Remus was positive Snape was contemplating how roasted parrot would taste for breakfast. Remus paid special attention to his fried egg so not to smile when he imagined Snape trying to tempt Whiz-bang-Polly want a sleeping draught?
Post owls began to fly lazily into the Great Hall and deliver their letters and parcels. Remus wondered if his restorative for the fruit bats the fifth years had tried to Transfigure into bowls of fruit would come in today. They had taken quite a magical beating. He would definitely move that spell farther down the syllabus next year and to let his students recover from the summer cobwebs.
Three owls were hauling an elephant of a parcel to one of the students. Remus squinted at it. It was hideous too. Brown paper with a garish bow in Gryffindor colors stuck on top.
And it landed directly in front of Chloe Potter.
For a moment, Remus entertained the idea that James had mailed himself to Chloe. That definitely hadn't been done yet and the box looked large enough.
"What is that?" Hermione said peering down at the Gryffindor table. "Harry would never send something like that."
"Just a care parcel," Remus said sipping his coffee again. "I'm sure it's Molly with baked goods for all of them."
"But-" Hermione didn't finish her statement because an owl swooped her direction and dropped a letter beside her plate.
The entire staff leaned forward to stare at Hermione, their mouths open.
"Oh dear," Professor Flitwick squeaked. "And during breakfast hours."
Professer Higginbotham clucked her tongue.
Hermione held the red envelope between her fingers, very perplexed. "But who would send me a Howler?"
"With all due respect," the Headmaster said with a very plain smirk. "There is a time and place for contemplation.."
Hermione pulled out her wand efficiently. "Nonsense. I read about the counter-curse. Detendracarta!"
The Howler was still for a moment and then began smoking and quivering.
Remus set down his coffee cup and gave Hermione a sympathetic look. "Perhaps they read about it too."
"That's impossible," Hermione replied quickly. "Detendracarta immediante!"
The Howler stopped smoking and Hermione smiled happily at it. Then the envelope began to hiss and whistle, like an impatient teapot.
"Professor Flitwick," Hermione said looking desperately at him. "You're the Charms Master.surely you've come across a spell."
Professor Flitwick flinched.
"But," Hermione said in a small voice most unlike her. "But.."
As one, the Hogwarts staff lifted their fingers to their ears.
"HERMIONE WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU CALL YOURSELF A PROPER PROFESSOR!!! HAVE YOU NO SENSE OF FAIRNESS AT ALL? RIPPING YOUR STUDENT'S CONFIDENCES TO PIECES! YOUR OWN NIECE!!"
Hermione screwed her eyes shut as it screamed at her for several minutes, blowing her curls away from her face, telling her about family loyalty, proper teaching methods and lasting psychological impacts..
When the Howler exploded into scraps of paper all over Hermione's plate, Remus pulled his fingers from his ears and picked up his coffee mug, feigning normalcy. Every last student was staring at the staff table with their mouths wide open. Especially Chloe and Meghan. Remus could see that it was rather a mixture between horror and delight.
Hermione's face matched the Gryffindor banner in color and she was gaping like a fish. Everyone else seemed too frightened to move or make a sound.
"Pie, Professor?" Snape said dryly.
"Pie?" Hermione asked in her stupor.
"Humble pie, Professor Granger," Snape replied with a smirk.
~*~
Ron scratched his side and yawned hugely. "Have you finished yet, Laura?" He turned the page of Quidditch Today and glanced at her morning project.
Laura handed her crayon drawing to Ron and pointed to the formation she had built out of her blocks. "Does it look like my drawing, Daddy?"
Ron looked at the drawing and sat up on the couch. The drawing was very good. It looked like some sort of bridge with arches and jutting things and Laura's block formation looked like a much larger-scale model of it. She had taken up almost all the living room again. Crookshanks was ambling around it, sniffing it suspiciously. "Yes, very nice, Laura. Very nice."
Laura took her crayon blueprint back. "It's an aqueduct."
Ron hadn't the slightest idea what an aqueduct was, so he merely nodded at her. "And.a very nice one," he told her enthusiastically as he could.
Laura smiled coyly from under her strawberry blonde curls. "Do you suppose we could play with my dolls?"
Ron grinned. Hermione really frowned on Laura playing with dolls. She said they were too gender-specific and Laura would be more well-rounded if she played with toys that stimulated her intellectually and challenged her imagination. So, Ron and Laura dragged out the box of dolls that the Grangers and others sent Laura on a regular basis and made long afternoons of it. Ron was pretty good at it in all honesty. He had been Ginny's favorite brother after all.
"Go on then," he told her. She ran off to go retrieve the box from under the bed in the guest bedroom.
Minutes later, Laura was pulling the lid off the box and sorting her dolls in piles.
"And what do we tell Mummy when she gets home, Laura?" Ron prompted her, while looking at the contents of the box.
"We did nothing to reinforce gender roles," Laura recited, happily putting a Quidditch cape on one of the dolls. Ron thought it looked suspiciously like Harry.
"The other saying, Laura. Not the one Mummy says to you."
"Oh. We did not play with dolls."
"Try that one again."
Laura didn't skip a beat. "We played with toys that allowed us to learn and expand our potential."
Ron closed his eyes briefly and sighed. "I wonder if Dad has that old Muggle television around."
"Daddy, what were you and Mummy like at school?" Laura asked suddenly. "Were you friends?"
Ron kept a straight face. That was a dangerous question. Of course, he was being asked it first.this was definitely to his advantage. "Well, yes. But sometimes it was a bit hard for Uncle Harry and me to be her friend."
Laura set her doll down and furrowed her brow. "Why, Daddy?"
Ron smiled happily to himself. "The truth is, Laura, your mummy was a really terrible girl."
Laura's jaw visibly dropped. "My mummy?"
"Your mummy. She really kept Uncle Harry and me on our toes," Ron confirmed.
Laura appeared to be in some form of shock, as she was quiet for a good five minutes, and played with her dolls. Obviously she was giving this new idea some serious contemplation. Finally, she looked up. "What did she do?"
Ron couldn't have been more prepared to answer her question than if he had he'd had a parchment with a nice long list. "She actually set a teacher she didn't like on fire."
Laura gasped. "Daddy! Why didn't you tell her it was wrong?"
"We would have, but we were a bit frightened to confront her, Laura. She actually hexed one of our classmates into a full body-bind."
Laura's jaw dropped. "Daddy, you're lying! Mummy wouldn't do that!"
Ron shook his head sadly, as if his wife was a lost cause. "She also hexed the same teacher she set on fire. That was our third year."
"I'm going to ask her," Laura said indignantly.
Ron was thrilled. "I hope you ask her. Be sure and make sure you tell her that you want the absolute truth."
"Did she do anything else?"
Ron began ticking items off on his fingers. "She brewed an illegal potion in the girl's loo our second year. Also, I can remember a few times that she stole supplies from the Potions master. And.oh yes, she had Uncle Harry's brand new broomstick confiscated."
He was just about to tell her the time when Hermione tricked Professor Lockhart into allowing her permission to the Restricted Section when an owl swooped in the window. He perched himself directly on top of Laura's aqueduct after dropping his parcel on the rug.
Ron recognized the owl as his parents. "Go get Cornelius an owl treat out of the kitchen," he told Laura.
Cornelius ruffled his feathers and walked his funny owl walk along the blocks. If Ron didn't know better, it would seem that the owl was inspecting the thing.
Ron shook his head at Cornelius and shrugged. "Heck if I know what it does. Ask my five-year old." He pulled the top off the parcel and was rewarded with the delicious scent of chocolate chip biscuits. Excellent! But.he hadn't done anything to deserve random baked goods. But of course they weren't for him, Ron discovered dejectedly finding a note in his mother's neat handwriting-
For Laura.
He was just about to carry the box with him into the kitchen, when he noticed the small puffs of smoke coming from the bottom corners of the box. The smoke wisps curled around his fingers and Ron dropped the box on the floor like a lead weight.
He pulled up the bag of biscuits and tossed them aside.
"What?!" Ron hissed.
Smoking steadily at the bottom of the box was a perfectly innocent looking red envelope with "For Ronald" written nicely on it.
Ron snatched up the Howler and made a mad, scrambling dash for the kitchen, nearly toppling over a glass vase filled with orange roses, Hermione's favorite. He fell over his own shoes instead, and slammed into the swinging kitchen door, landing half on the kitchen tile, half on the living room rug.
Laura, who had been standing delicately on her tiptoes to reach Cornelius' owl treat, turned and surveyed her father with a perfectly calm expression, not seeming to notice he was sprawled across the floor. "I don't need any help, Daddy," she informed him. "You didn't have to run. Mummy hates when we run in the house."
"Laura," Ron gasped, trying to regain the wind that had been knocked out of him. "Go. Go out of the kitchen this instant!"
Laura obeyed without question and politely stepped over him, even adding the necessary, "Excuse me."
Ron hoisted himself back up with a groan and tore around the kitchen, smoking letter in hand. His eyes lit upon the partially open window. He could throw it out the window! Wait. No. Bloody hell. The neighbors would not be thrilled with that. The Parkers were not speaking to them again. Fred and George had thrown magic beans in Ron's yard in retaliation of him telling Percy that their Magical Safety Commission permit was several years overdue. The result was a livid Percy slapping a fine on the shop and M.S.C. inspectors slapping a lot of "Cease and Disenchant" stickers on quite a bit of Wheezes merchandise. The magic beans resulted in several beanstalks erupting out of the ground and blowing the privacy fence to bits. Old Mr. Parker had not accepted Ron's explanation as a "slight weeding problem."
Ron was startled out of his thoughts when the letter began to quiver in his hand. Gritting his teeth, he threw open the pantry door, threw the Howler in and slammed it shut behind him, covering his ears. A few minutes later, he unclamped his hands from his ears, very confused.
Silence.
Ron cautiously opened one eye and peeped at the pantry door. There wasn't any smoke pouring from the cracks. Had he imagined the letter was a Howler? He opened the other eye and cocked his head. Nothing. He took a tentative step towards the pantry and then stepped back.
Oh, this was ridiculous. Ron lifted his eyes to the ceiling and reminded himself that he was thirty years old and far past being frightened by every little letter his mother sent to him. He must be losing it. Ron briefly thought of reasons why Hermione could have accelerated the loss of his sanity and decided to bring this up to her later. He grinned. What pleasant dinner conversation.
He cautiously pressed his ear against the pantry door and chuckled out loud to himself. He was turning paranoid and crazy. His mother had no reason to send a Howler.
Ron was about to turn the handle of the pantry door when he heard the sharp CRACK from inside it. It was a good thing he threw himself on the floor and covered his head with his arms.
It was the worst Howler he had ever received. The screams were so loud that they made his bones shudder. The screams were accompanied by deafening slams of metal on the kitchen floor, as the noise was shaking the pots off the pot rack. Ron was nearly ready to pull pulling out clumps of his hair when the Howler stopped and a low exploding sound rattled the pantry door violently.
Poor Ron could do nothing but lie panting on the kitchen floor, trying to wrap his brain around what he just partly heard. Something about his mother screaming about his wife who was screaming at his niece for some mark and then some more.well.screaming.
And wait just a darn minute.
He had been blamed!? He could certainly make enough trouble without getting into it with what Hermione did!
Laura entered the kitchen and glanced at the scene. As usual, it looked as though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth and she began collecting pots. "Daddy," she told him, and Ron could dimly hear her through the loud ringing in his ears. "Daddy, the pantry is smoking."
Ron sat up and looked over at the pantry. Black smoke was streaming out the cracks. Ron yelped and threw the pantry open. The Howler's explosion had caught something on fire. He dashed to the sink and began filling one of the pots on the ground. He threw the water on the fire and stomped on the flames with his boots and beat the flames on the higher shelves with his robe sleeves.
"Daddy," Laura spoke up. "Daddy, your hair is on fire now." She frowned at him and then promptly left the kitchen.
Ron doused his head in the sink and began to frantically fill up more pots. "Bloody hell!" he swore loudly. "Of course the bloody house would bloody burn to a crisp because of a bloody-Laura get out of the kitchen!"
Laura gave Ron a very dry offended look and lifted his wand toward him. "Daddy, are you a wizard or not?"
Ron's mouth dropped. "My wand." he said accepting it dumbly. "Thank you, Laura."
"Aqueous," Laura prompted him, apparently taking his thanks as an apology. "I remember that one."
"AQUEOUS!" Ron bellowed, pointing his wand at the fire.
Laura nodded her approval when the fire hissed and extinguished. "That was quite good, Daddy."
Ron tried to save face. "Uh, yes. It's just a matter of.er, flick and swish! Er, swish and flick, rather. Yes, always remember swish and flick, Laura."
Hermione chose that opportune moment to Apparate into the kitchen.
"Mummy!" Laura cried, running to her.
Hermione kissed the top of her daughter's head. "We'll visit in a bit, I have to discuss something with your father."
Laura sighed heavily and left the kitchen.
Hermione was breathing very heavily and her hair was mussed. "Your.your mother!" She pointed her finger at Ron's chest. "Do you know what she did!?"
Ron's jaw dropped and pointed right back at her. "MY mother?! No, Hermione.do you know what YOU did?"
"I WAS SENT A HOWLER IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE SCHOOL!" Hermione shouted. "BECAUSE YOUR MOTHER SAW IT FIT TO HUMILIATE ME! THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!"
"My MOTHER was giving you a taste of your own MEDICINE!" Ron shouted back. "And I was dragged into the bloody fight too, because I just got screamed at for something YOU did to Chloe!"
"So she expects me to change how I grade my students for CHLOE?!" Hermione shrieked. "This is outrageous! I have been teaching for over a DECADE!"
Ron held up his palms and backed away. "I didn't hear the story! I just got bits and pieces of it SCREAMED at me!"
Hermione's nostrils flared. "There's no reason for your mother to jump to conclusions!"
"Then you're saying that you don't think you did one thing wrong!"
"I didn't say that, Ron!" Hermione objected.
"You could have handled the situation differently!"
"She wrote to Molly on purpose!"
"You're the big person!" Ron said throwing his arms out for emphasis. "Admit you could have handled the situation better!"
"And I suppose you think that being a teacher is really that easy. Especially a teacher to your own relatives," Hermione snapped.
"I'm not saying that! And just wait a minute!" Ron crossed his arms. "I'm getting yelled at for something I didn't have any part in. Let's all just yell at RON!"
Hermione closed her eyes briefly and calmly reassured herself. "This is entirely out of hand. Chloe is not devious. She merely exaggerated to your mother and I'm going to have a long talk with her and mail a letter to Ginny."
"Finally," Ron huffed, "just do something."
~*~
Chloe's eyelids drooped heavily and she gazed sleepily between her four- poster curtains to the milky moonbeams illuminating the window facing the courtyard. Meghan was breathing steadily to her right and there wasn't any sound except for the soft night breeze, whistling against the windowpanes of Gryffindor Tower.
Chloe closed her eyes and swallowed hard. That noise reminded her of something. The sound of a place in her memory. It was cold and dark, and the draft felt like the breath of a monster there.. Why was she remembering this now?
"Get a bad grade?"
Chloe took a sharp breath and opened her eyes. Why was she worried about what Aidan Malfoy had said to her?
"Get a bad grade?"
There it was again. Chloe forced herself to breathe slowly. She was being stupid.
The moonbeams streaming into the window looked like long pale fingers. Pale fingers reaching out to snatch her. His voice.Aidan's voice. It wouldn't stay out.
"Get a bad grade?"
Chloe's teeth began to chatter and a vivid scene exploded in her memory.
"No, Aidan, I haven't decided when I'm going to kill her yet."
"I don't want a Mudblood in my house."
Chloe pulled her blankets over her tightly, reminding herself desperately that she was being silly. She was imagining things. Nothing could happen to her now. That was a long time ago.
"I don't want a Mudblood in my house."
Chloe felt a tear leak out the corner of her eye.
"I don't want a Mudblood in my house."
His house. Aidan's house. Gryffindor. Their house. Chloe clutched her blankets even more tightly.
"Not tonight, Mudblood. We have tomorrow, or maybe I'll just come in the middle of the night. Come, Aidan. You may help me decide what we shall do to her."
Chloe gave a short choking sob. Aidan Malfoy. He was only a staircase away. He wanted her dead. His voice. He looked just like his father. That man. That horrible man.she would have died.he was going to kill her.Aidan was going to help him decide. Aidan looked just like him. Aidan sounded like him. Aidan.Aidan.
"What is that thing? It looks dirty."
Chloe glanced over at the moonlight, and there, pale as death, stood Aidan Malfoy, staring at her stonily.
"What is that thing? It looks dirty."
Then he reached one of his pale hands towards her throat.
"I don't want a Mudblood in my house."
~*~
Meghan was shaking Chloe violently by the shoulders, sitting on her to avoid being kicked.
"Chloe!" Meghan shrieked. "Wake up! Wake up!"
The other girls were huddled together, watching the scene with obvious terror and confusion.
Chloe screamed and shook Meghan also, clutching the front of her pajamas. "Don't kill me! Don't kill me! I HATE YOU! I WON'T LET YOU KILL ME!"
"Would you get me some water?!" Meghan shouted angrily behind her.
Posy snatched the glass off of her bed table and handed it to Meghan, who splashed Chloe in the face and slapped her across the cheek.
"WAKE UP!" Meghan cried, shaking her cousin more. "PLEASE!"
Chloe's eyes opened and focused on Meghan. She slumped against Meghan, sobbing loudly. "Meghan! Meghan.he's going to kill me! I'm having the dreams again!" she cried hysterically. "Why?" Chloe wailed. "Meghan, I'm having the dreams again!"
Meghan hugged Chloe tightly, getting her pajamas soaked too.
"This doesn't ever leave this room," Meghan said harshly, in-between Chloe's sobs. "Ever."
The other Gryffindor girls nodded mutely. ~*~
Disclaimer: Chapter title is courtesy of one Miss Lone Astronomer/Kait/Empress of Angst and Charlie.
Any owls with any likeness to any people I know is strictly a coincidence. The name is a coincidence too. I have no idea what anyone is talking about.
Special thanks go to the following people:
Chloe's Bookshelf Moderators: I love you all. Dearly. I promise.
Queens Anne and Amy for betaing. You are the greatest.
Jilly: for going to go see CoS with me and listening to me lament about this chapter.
Michael: for delaying this chapter several times and reminding me whilst delaying it that I am a good writer. (Sic him, reviewers. I dare you.)
Reviewers: Thanks for your comments and speculations! They help push me to write more!
The Aidan and Draco quotes came from Lessons for Life-Chapter 12 and Letters from Home-Chapter 8. (Wow, that feels odd citing myself)
"Have you hugged your stuffed dragon today?" Join Chloe's Bookshelf
Chloe replaced her quill in the inkpot and studied her letter with satisfaction. She giggled, added a few more X's and O's at the bottom and sealed it with a small smirk. This ought to get something done.
Dear Grandmummy,
Thank you so much for the sweets you sent Meghan, Finn, and I. They were wonderful. Especially since classes have been very, very hard. Especially Potions. Professor Granger never gives us a break.
I'm so upset, Grandmummy, I made my very first failing grade. My essay was really excellent and I spent four hours in the library on it. It even went over the requirements. But I don't think that's enough for Professor Granger. She failed me. I wanted to cry. I guess she's harder on me because I'm related to her.and she thinks I'm not behaving like a proper witch. I just know I could do well if she'd give me a chance.
Oh, do you know what else? She adores Aidan Malfoy. She gave him full marks for his essay and he was so snide about it to me. I just hope Hogwarts gets better than this.I thought I was much smarter than this. What if I get kicked out, Grandmummy? Daddy would never forgive me..
Well, I'm off to go study some more. I really can't take but five minutes to write this letter or I'll get behind on my Potions reading. I wish Meg and I could go outside.but we have too much work.
I miss you!
XOXOXOX
Your loving granddaughter,
Chloe Grace
~*~
Hermione sighed deeply and waited for Hagrid to fill her teacup. "Oh, Hagrid, I'll be so happy when this week is over. After this weekend I can finally have free time to spend with Laura and Ron."
"Firs' week of school is hard on everybody," Hagrid nodded. "Teachers an' students."
"I just never imagined anything could happen like this whole situation with Chloe. She's in some sort of a phase. That has to be it. I just don't understand it." Hermione rested her fingers above her eyebrow and looked warily at the gamekeeper.
"Harry an' Ginny's Chloe?" Hagrid's voice had such a sincere touch of surprise that Hermione almost groaned aloud. "She's been givin' trouble? Remus was praisin' her work jus' teh day before."
"Remus probably didn't tell you of the little incident involving Meghan's cat," Hermione replied defensively.
"'Course he did he did," Hagrid chuckled loudly. "Thought it was. ah well." He paused and seemed to assess the look on her face. "Well, I'm supposin' he'd tell you himself what he thought, but I didn't see much sassin' from Chloe n' Meghan in it."
Hermione set down her cup, ready to clear things up once and for all. "Hagrid, they weren't trying to sass me, but I thought they were trying their limits the first day of class! If I had realized that none of the other Gryffindors had put the connection with Harry to Chloe had worked out Chloe's relationship to Harry yet, I would have never mentioned it. Honestly, how could they have not made the connection? It's as if they don't read anything!"
Hagrid nodded. "Course yeh didn' mean teh embarrass her, but I've been hearin' things from tha other teachers an' it looks like tha' cat of Meg's likes teh go teh classes. Think it could've not been on purpose?"
"I know that now. I think this whole incident is over, finally. She turned in an essay, clearly trying to one-up me and I talked to her after class about it. She knows I mean business about my classes and I want her to do well. I think she understands why I graded her essay the way I did. She's a bright girl."
Hagrid's face went blank. "Wha' essay?"
Hermione shook her head, at him and rolled her eyes. "She turned in this.well, it was worse than one of Harry's old Divination papers. She didn't make it up, but she researched a Potion that was so far out of her grasp that she didn't even come close even covering the basic values of it! I simply couldn't grade it. I feel quite bad for failing her, but she understands why now."
Hagrid sat back in his chair quite suddenly and he gazed at her with disbelief. "Hermione! You didn'! Not to Chloe! She's a good girl!"
Hermione threw up her hands. "Hagrid! I'm not going to play favorites! Niece or not, it wasn't what I asked for!"
"But did ya have ter fail her?" Hagrid said sorrowfully. "She's prolly more upset abou' that than everything else than any of it. Couldn' you have talked it ov'r with her and made her fix it up a'bit?"
"I was proving a point!" Hermione protested loudly. "This is not cruel punishment! I am not sending my niece to the firing squad! If I wasn't confident that her grades would be fine the rest of the term, I would have chosen another course of action!"
"She's yer student," Hagrid said looking up at her gloomily. "I wouldn't ta done tha same, but as long as yer on good terms with each other now."
"Of course we're on good terms," Hermione said confidently. "I was hoping she and Meghan would come to my office for tea on Sunday and they could tell me about their first week. Catherine comes for tea quite a bit."
~*~
Remus liked Sunday morning breakfast. There was always a pleasant sleepy lull about things and no one was usually in a terrible hurry to get things accomplished. He drank his coffee contentedly and watched the students come into the hall in small clusters. Friendships were already solidifying at the end of the first week of school.
"Good morning, Remus," Hermione said cheerfully, taking a seat next to him. "What have you got planned today?"
Remus smiled at her. "A small bit of marking and a trip into Hogsmeade to pick up a few supplies."
"I think I'm going to surprise Ron and Laura and go spend the afternoon with them. They aren't expecting me until tomorrow night, but I miss them terribly. I'm ahead on my marking-"
"I heard," Remus said, looking away from her gaze at the word 'marking' and the corners of his mouth were threatening to twitch into a smile.
"And I had planned to invite Chloe and Meghan for tea," Hermione added, raising an eyebrow at him. "Something on your mind, Remus?"
Remus shook his head and accepted the butter dish from Professor Higginbotham. "No, Hermione, isn't it a beautiful morning? Thank you, Henrietta."
"Good morning, faculty," Snape said coolly, looking at each of them.
Whiz-bang, Professor Higginbotham's gray parrot, wolf-whistled cheerfully at the Headmaster when he took his seat on the other side of Hermione.
Snape narrowed his black eyes at the bird and Remus was positive Snape was contemplating how roasted parrot would taste for breakfast. Remus paid special attention to his fried egg so not to smile when he imagined Snape trying to tempt Whiz-bang-Polly want a sleeping draught?
Post owls began to fly lazily into the Great Hall and deliver their letters and parcels. Remus wondered if his restorative for the fruit bats the fifth years had tried to Transfigure into bowls of fruit would come in today. They had taken quite a magical beating. He would definitely move that spell farther down the syllabus next year and to let his students recover from the summer cobwebs.
Three owls were hauling an elephant of a parcel to one of the students. Remus squinted at it. It was hideous too. Brown paper with a garish bow in Gryffindor colors stuck on top.
And it landed directly in front of Chloe Potter.
For a moment, Remus entertained the idea that James had mailed himself to Chloe. That definitely hadn't been done yet and the box looked large enough.
"What is that?" Hermione said peering down at the Gryffindor table. "Harry would never send something like that."
"Just a care parcel," Remus said sipping his coffee again. "I'm sure it's Molly with baked goods for all of them."
"But-" Hermione didn't finish her statement because an owl swooped her direction and dropped a letter beside her plate.
The entire staff leaned forward to stare at Hermione, their mouths open.
"Oh dear," Professor Flitwick squeaked. "And during breakfast hours."
Professer Higginbotham clucked her tongue.
Hermione held the red envelope between her fingers, very perplexed. "But who would send me a Howler?"
"With all due respect," the Headmaster said with a very plain smirk. "There is a time and place for contemplation.."
Hermione pulled out her wand efficiently. "Nonsense. I read about the counter-curse. Detendracarta!"
The Howler was still for a moment and then began smoking and quivering.
Remus set down his coffee cup and gave Hermione a sympathetic look. "Perhaps they read about it too."
"That's impossible," Hermione replied quickly. "Detendracarta immediante!"
The Howler stopped smoking and Hermione smiled happily at it. Then the envelope began to hiss and whistle, like an impatient teapot.
"Professor Flitwick," Hermione said looking desperately at him. "You're the Charms Master.surely you've come across a spell."
Professor Flitwick flinched.
"But," Hermione said in a small voice most unlike her. "But.."
As one, the Hogwarts staff lifted their fingers to their ears.
"HERMIONE WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU CALL YOURSELF A PROPER PROFESSOR!!! HAVE YOU NO SENSE OF FAIRNESS AT ALL? RIPPING YOUR STUDENT'S CONFIDENCES TO PIECES! YOUR OWN NIECE!!"
Hermione screwed her eyes shut as it screamed at her for several minutes, blowing her curls away from her face, telling her about family loyalty, proper teaching methods and lasting psychological impacts..
When the Howler exploded into scraps of paper all over Hermione's plate, Remus pulled his fingers from his ears and picked up his coffee mug, feigning normalcy. Every last student was staring at the staff table with their mouths wide open. Especially Chloe and Meghan. Remus could see that it was rather a mixture between horror and delight.
Hermione's face matched the Gryffindor banner in color and she was gaping like a fish. Everyone else seemed too frightened to move or make a sound.
"Pie, Professor?" Snape said dryly.
"Pie?" Hermione asked in her stupor.
"Humble pie, Professor Granger," Snape replied with a smirk.
~*~
Ron scratched his side and yawned hugely. "Have you finished yet, Laura?" He turned the page of Quidditch Today and glanced at her morning project.
Laura handed her crayon drawing to Ron and pointed to the formation she had built out of her blocks. "Does it look like my drawing, Daddy?"
Ron looked at the drawing and sat up on the couch. The drawing was very good. It looked like some sort of bridge with arches and jutting things and Laura's block formation looked like a much larger-scale model of it. She had taken up almost all the living room again. Crookshanks was ambling around it, sniffing it suspiciously. "Yes, very nice, Laura. Very nice."
Laura took her crayon blueprint back. "It's an aqueduct."
Ron hadn't the slightest idea what an aqueduct was, so he merely nodded at her. "And.a very nice one," he told her enthusiastically as he could.
Laura smiled coyly from under her strawberry blonde curls. "Do you suppose we could play with my dolls?"
Ron grinned. Hermione really frowned on Laura playing with dolls. She said they were too gender-specific and Laura would be more well-rounded if she played with toys that stimulated her intellectually and challenged her imagination. So, Ron and Laura dragged out the box of dolls that the Grangers and others sent Laura on a regular basis and made long afternoons of it. Ron was pretty good at it in all honesty. He had been Ginny's favorite brother after all.
"Go on then," he told her. She ran off to go retrieve the box from under the bed in the guest bedroom.
Minutes later, Laura was pulling the lid off the box and sorting her dolls in piles.
"And what do we tell Mummy when she gets home, Laura?" Ron prompted her, while looking at the contents of the box.
"We did nothing to reinforce gender roles," Laura recited, happily putting a Quidditch cape on one of the dolls. Ron thought it looked suspiciously like Harry.
"The other saying, Laura. Not the one Mummy says to you."
"Oh. We did not play with dolls."
"Try that one again."
Laura didn't skip a beat. "We played with toys that allowed us to learn and expand our potential."
Ron closed his eyes briefly and sighed. "I wonder if Dad has that old Muggle television around."
"Daddy, what were you and Mummy like at school?" Laura asked suddenly. "Were you friends?"
Ron kept a straight face. That was a dangerous question. Of course, he was being asked it first.this was definitely to his advantage. "Well, yes. But sometimes it was a bit hard for Uncle Harry and me to be her friend."
Laura set her doll down and furrowed her brow. "Why, Daddy?"
Ron smiled happily to himself. "The truth is, Laura, your mummy was a really terrible girl."
Laura's jaw visibly dropped. "My mummy?"
"Your mummy. She really kept Uncle Harry and me on our toes," Ron confirmed.
Laura appeared to be in some form of shock, as she was quiet for a good five minutes, and played with her dolls. Obviously she was giving this new idea some serious contemplation. Finally, she looked up. "What did she do?"
Ron couldn't have been more prepared to answer her question than if he had he'd had a parchment with a nice long list. "She actually set a teacher she didn't like on fire."
Laura gasped. "Daddy! Why didn't you tell her it was wrong?"
"We would have, but we were a bit frightened to confront her, Laura. She actually hexed one of our classmates into a full body-bind."
Laura's jaw dropped. "Daddy, you're lying! Mummy wouldn't do that!"
Ron shook his head sadly, as if his wife was a lost cause. "She also hexed the same teacher she set on fire. That was our third year."
"I'm going to ask her," Laura said indignantly.
Ron was thrilled. "I hope you ask her. Be sure and make sure you tell her that you want the absolute truth."
"Did she do anything else?"
Ron began ticking items off on his fingers. "She brewed an illegal potion in the girl's loo our second year. Also, I can remember a few times that she stole supplies from the Potions master. And.oh yes, she had Uncle Harry's brand new broomstick confiscated."
He was just about to tell her the time when Hermione tricked Professor Lockhart into allowing her permission to the Restricted Section when an owl swooped in the window. He perched himself directly on top of Laura's aqueduct after dropping his parcel on the rug.
Ron recognized the owl as his parents. "Go get Cornelius an owl treat out of the kitchen," he told Laura.
Cornelius ruffled his feathers and walked his funny owl walk along the blocks. If Ron didn't know better, it would seem that the owl was inspecting the thing.
Ron shook his head at Cornelius and shrugged. "Heck if I know what it does. Ask my five-year old." He pulled the top off the parcel and was rewarded with the delicious scent of chocolate chip biscuits. Excellent! But.he hadn't done anything to deserve random baked goods. But of course they weren't for him, Ron discovered dejectedly finding a note in his mother's neat handwriting-
For Laura.
He was just about to carry the box with him into the kitchen, when he noticed the small puffs of smoke coming from the bottom corners of the box. The smoke wisps curled around his fingers and Ron dropped the box on the floor like a lead weight.
He pulled up the bag of biscuits and tossed them aside.
"What?!" Ron hissed.
Smoking steadily at the bottom of the box was a perfectly innocent looking red envelope with "For Ronald" written nicely on it.
Ron snatched up the Howler and made a mad, scrambling dash for the kitchen, nearly toppling over a glass vase filled with orange roses, Hermione's favorite. He fell over his own shoes instead, and slammed into the swinging kitchen door, landing half on the kitchen tile, half on the living room rug.
Laura, who had been standing delicately on her tiptoes to reach Cornelius' owl treat, turned and surveyed her father with a perfectly calm expression, not seeming to notice he was sprawled across the floor. "I don't need any help, Daddy," she informed him. "You didn't have to run. Mummy hates when we run in the house."
"Laura," Ron gasped, trying to regain the wind that had been knocked out of him. "Go. Go out of the kitchen this instant!"
Laura obeyed without question and politely stepped over him, even adding the necessary, "Excuse me."
Ron hoisted himself back up with a groan and tore around the kitchen, smoking letter in hand. His eyes lit upon the partially open window. He could throw it out the window! Wait. No. Bloody hell. The neighbors would not be thrilled with that. The Parkers were not speaking to them again. Fred and George had thrown magic beans in Ron's yard in retaliation of him telling Percy that their Magical Safety Commission permit was several years overdue. The result was a livid Percy slapping a fine on the shop and M.S.C. inspectors slapping a lot of "Cease and Disenchant" stickers on quite a bit of Wheezes merchandise. The magic beans resulted in several beanstalks erupting out of the ground and blowing the privacy fence to bits. Old Mr. Parker had not accepted Ron's explanation as a "slight weeding problem."
Ron was startled out of his thoughts when the letter began to quiver in his hand. Gritting his teeth, he threw open the pantry door, threw the Howler in and slammed it shut behind him, covering his ears. A few minutes later, he unclamped his hands from his ears, very confused.
Silence.
Ron cautiously opened one eye and peeped at the pantry door. There wasn't any smoke pouring from the cracks. Had he imagined the letter was a Howler? He opened the other eye and cocked his head. Nothing. He took a tentative step towards the pantry and then stepped back.
Oh, this was ridiculous. Ron lifted his eyes to the ceiling and reminded himself that he was thirty years old and far past being frightened by every little letter his mother sent to him. He must be losing it. Ron briefly thought of reasons why Hermione could have accelerated the loss of his sanity and decided to bring this up to her later. He grinned. What pleasant dinner conversation.
He cautiously pressed his ear against the pantry door and chuckled out loud to himself. He was turning paranoid and crazy. His mother had no reason to send a Howler.
Ron was about to turn the handle of the pantry door when he heard the sharp CRACK from inside it. It was a good thing he threw himself on the floor and covered his head with his arms.
It was the worst Howler he had ever received. The screams were so loud that they made his bones shudder. The screams were accompanied by deafening slams of metal on the kitchen floor, as the noise was shaking the pots off the pot rack. Ron was nearly ready to pull pulling out clumps of his hair when the Howler stopped and a low exploding sound rattled the pantry door violently.
Poor Ron could do nothing but lie panting on the kitchen floor, trying to wrap his brain around what he just partly heard. Something about his mother screaming about his wife who was screaming at his niece for some mark and then some more.well.screaming.
And wait just a darn minute.
He had been blamed!? He could certainly make enough trouble without getting into it with what Hermione did!
Laura entered the kitchen and glanced at the scene. As usual, it looked as though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth and she began collecting pots. "Daddy," she told him, and Ron could dimly hear her through the loud ringing in his ears. "Daddy, the pantry is smoking."
Ron sat up and looked over at the pantry. Black smoke was streaming out the cracks. Ron yelped and threw the pantry open. The Howler's explosion had caught something on fire. He dashed to the sink and began filling one of the pots on the ground. He threw the water on the fire and stomped on the flames with his boots and beat the flames on the higher shelves with his robe sleeves.
"Daddy," Laura spoke up. "Daddy, your hair is on fire now." She frowned at him and then promptly left the kitchen.
Ron doused his head in the sink and began to frantically fill up more pots. "Bloody hell!" he swore loudly. "Of course the bloody house would bloody burn to a crisp because of a bloody-Laura get out of the kitchen!"
Laura gave Ron a very dry offended look and lifted his wand toward him. "Daddy, are you a wizard or not?"
Ron's mouth dropped. "My wand." he said accepting it dumbly. "Thank you, Laura."
"Aqueous," Laura prompted him, apparently taking his thanks as an apology. "I remember that one."
"AQUEOUS!" Ron bellowed, pointing his wand at the fire.
Laura nodded her approval when the fire hissed and extinguished. "That was quite good, Daddy."
Ron tried to save face. "Uh, yes. It's just a matter of.er, flick and swish! Er, swish and flick, rather. Yes, always remember swish and flick, Laura."
Hermione chose that opportune moment to Apparate into the kitchen.
"Mummy!" Laura cried, running to her.
Hermione kissed the top of her daughter's head. "We'll visit in a bit, I have to discuss something with your father."
Laura sighed heavily and left the kitchen.
Hermione was breathing very heavily and her hair was mussed. "Your.your mother!" She pointed her finger at Ron's chest. "Do you know what she did!?"
Ron's jaw dropped and pointed right back at her. "MY mother?! No, Hermione.do you know what YOU did?"
"I WAS SENT A HOWLER IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE SCHOOL!" Hermione shouted. "BECAUSE YOUR MOTHER SAW IT FIT TO HUMILIATE ME! THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!"
"My MOTHER was giving you a taste of your own MEDICINE!" Ron shouted back. "And I was dragged into the bloody fight too, because I just got screamed at for something YOU did to Chloe!"
"So she expects me to change how I grade my students for CHLOE?!" Hermione shrieked. "This is outrageous! I have been teaching for over a DECADE!"
Ron held up his palms and backed away. "I didn't hear the story! I just got bits and pieces of it SCREAMED at me!"
Hermione's nostrils flared. "There's no reason for your mother to jump to conclusions!"
"Then you're saying that you don't think you did one thing wrong!"
"I didn't say that, Ron!" Hermione objected.
"You could have handled the situation differently!"
"She wrote to Molly on purpose!"
"You're the big person!" Ron said throwing his arms out for emphasis. "Admit you could have handled the situation better!"
"And I suppose you think that being a teacher is really that easy. Especially a teacher to your own relatives," Hermione snapped.
"I'm not saying that! And just wait a minute!" Ron crossed his arms. "I'm getting yelled at for something I didn't have any part in. Let's all just yell at RON!"
Hermione closed her eyes briefly and calmly reassured herself. "This is entirely out of hand. Chloe is not devious. She merely exaggerated to your mother and I'm going to have a long talk with her and mail a letter to Ginny."
"Finally," Ron huffed, "just do something."
~*~
Chloe's eyelids drooped heavily and she gazed sleepily between her four- poster curtains to the milky moonbeams illuminating the window facing the courtyard. Meghan was breathing steadily to her right and there wasn't any sound except for the soft night breeze, whistling against the windowpanes of Gryffindor Tower.
Chloe closed her eyes and swallowed hard. That noise reminded her of something. The sound of a place in her memory. It was cold and dark, and the draft felt like the breath of a monster there.. Why was she remembering this now?
"Get a bad grade?"
Chloe took a sharp breath and opened her eyes. Why was she worried about what Aidan Malfoy had said to her?
"Get a bad grade?"
There it was again. Chloe forced herself to breathe slowly. She was being stupid.
The moonbeams streaming into the window looked like long pale fingers. Pale fingers reaching out to snatch her. His voice.Aidan's voice. It wouldn't stay out.
"Get a bad grade?"
Chloe's teeth began to chatter and a vivid scene exploded in her memory.
"No, Aidan, I haven't decided when I'm going to kill her yet."
"I don't want a Mudblood in my house."
Chloe pulled her blankets over her tightly, reminding herself desperately that she was being silly. She was imagining things. Nothing could happen to her now. That was a long time ago.
"I don't want a Mudblood in my house."
Chloe felt a tear leak out the corner of her eye.
"I don't want a Mudblood in my house."
His house. Aidan's house. Gryffindor. Their house. Chloe clutched her blankets even more tightly.
"Not tonight, Mudblood. We have tomorrow, or maybe I'll just come in the middle of the night. Come, Aidan. You may help me decide what we shall do to her."
Chloe gave a short choking sob. Aidan Malfoy. He was only a staircase away. He wanted her dead. His voice. He looked just like his father. That man. That horrible man.she would have died.he was going to kill her.Aidan was going to help him decide. Aidan looked just like him. Aidan sounded like him. Aidan.Aidan.
"What is that thing? It looks dirty."
Chloe glanced over at the moonlight, and there, pale as death, stood Aidan Malfoy, staring at her stonily.
"What is that thing? It looks dirty."
Then he reached one of his pale hands towards her throat.
"I don't want a Mudblood in my house."
~*~
Meghan was shaking Chloe violently by the shoulders, sitting on her to avoid being kicked.
"Chloe!" Meghan shrieked. "Wake up! Wake up!"
The other girls were huddled together, watching the scene with obvious terror and confusion.
Chloe screamed and shook Meghan also, clutching the front of her pajamas. "Don't kill me! Don't kill me! I HATE YOU! I WON'T LET YOU KILL ME!"
"Would you get me some water?!" Meghan shouted angrily behind her.
Posy snatched the glass off of her bed table and handed it to Meghan, who splashed Chloe in the face and slapped her across the cheek.
"WAKE UP!" Meghan cried, shaking her cousin more. "PLEASE!"
Chloe's eyes opened and focused on Meghan. She slumped against Meghan, sobbing loudly. "Meghan! Meghan.he's going to kill me! I'm having the dreams again!" she cried hysterically. "Why?" Chloe wailed. "Meghan, I'm having the dreams again!"
Meghan hugged Chloe tightly, getting her pajamas soaked too.
"This doesn't ever leave this room," Meghan said harshly, in-between Chloe's sobs. "Ever."
The other Gryffindor girls nodded mutely. ~*~
Disclaimer: Chapter title is courtesy of one Miss Lone Astronomer/Kait/Empress of Angst and Charlie.
Any owls with any likeness to any people I know is strictly a coincidence. The name is a coincidence too. I have no idea what anyone is talking about.
Special thanks go to the following people:
Chloe's Bookshelf Moderators: I love you all. Dearly. I promise.
Queens Anne and Amy for betaing. You are the greatest.
Jilly: for going to go see CoS with me and listening to me lament about this chapter.
Michael: for delaying this chapter several times and reminding me whilst delaying it that I am a good writer. (Sic him, reviewers. I dare you.)
Reviewers: Thanks for your comments and speculations! They help push me to write more!
The Aidan and Draco quotes came from Lessons for Life-Chapter 12 and Letters from Home-Chapter 8. (Wow, that feels odd citing myself)
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