Part 20
Hermione sat in a chair away from the fireplace, book open and not reading a thing. Her mind kept wandering to the only Gryffindor not currently in the common room, Kyle Valenti. With his handsome features, broad shoulders and dark, wavy "devil may care" hairstyle he was hard to miss. And less than a minute away from detention for being out after curfew, she thought remembering how much she hated that part of being a prefect.
Her reflections were cut short by the commotion of the portrait opening to admit the object of her musings. "Cutting it a little close there weren't you, Kyle?" she asked as he came sliding into the common room.
Five seconds later the giant clock on the wall chimed the start of curfew, illustrating her point.
Kyle grinned sheepishly at her as he panted. He then shrugged and said, "I only just finished the potting those ferns for Professor Sprout. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could and here I am."
Hermione shook her head and muttered something about boys. Say something! she told herself panicking at the silence. She turned back to Kyle and said, "Don't forget to plan for Transfiguration practice Saturday morning at ten. You'll need to bring a coin with you." Brilliant Granger. Bloody brilliant, remind him exactly why he doesn't notice you behind all those books.
But are you sure you want him to? After all they are still hiding things, her inner voices argued.
"No problem. I plan on getting up at the regular time so I can get more done and play quidditch on Sunday without feeling guilty," he replied with a wink.
Hermione blushed furiously, but tried to hide it by burying her nose in the book, never realizing the book was upside down.
Friday evening, Staff room, Teacher's meeting
"I'm not saying they aren't learning. In fact they are picking things up very quickly, What I am saying is I don't want to see this time wasted because they lose it all by not using it for ten months. This summer schedule is somewhat like the last minute rush to study before exams, most of the information is lost after the tests are ended. To say the least it is an ineffective way to learn. Since we are giving up our summers for this I would rather not see our time wasted," Professor McGonagall said vehemently.
"So what do you suggest we do to correct it, Minerva?" Professor Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling in anticipation of her solution.
"Could we arrange private, after school classes in Roswell throughout the regular school year? Perhaps just one subject per day with the professor traveling by portkey to teach the class? Would the rest of you be willing to do that if for no other reason than to insure that our summer's efforts are not wasted," she asked.
There were several nods amongst the staff. As Minerva scanned the room, she stopped at the scowling visage of Severus Snape. "Severus?" she asked.
He cleared his throat before speaking. "I have several concerns about your plan. First of all, how late in our day would we have to travel in order to reach Roswell at the appropriate time? Second, where would we teach them? Third, what controls would we have over their practices and projects? Or over their access to dangerous materials that are inappropriate for students of their skill level? And finally would we be able to obtain ministry clearance for such activities? Without such clearance any efforts we put forth towards it will be wasted," he concluded.
The stunned silence in the room was almost deafening.
"Blimey, Severus! That was a whole paragraph. I'm pretty sure that it's been at least six years since that has happened in a staff meeting," Madam Hooch teased, breaking the silence.
Throughout the room other professors seemed to be choking in suspicious, giggle-like tones.
"Indeed," Severus said, glaring stonily at them all before the headmaster began to speak.
"Those are very real and reasonable concerns, Severus. Some of which I am able to address immediately. The rest I will need to research a bit before answering. As far as the portkey times go, generally around 10 pm will be the best time for that depending on the true dismissal time of their Muggle school. We could arrange for the instructor who taught the evening before to not have an early morning class on the following day. As far as the other questions go, I should be able to answer them at next week's staff meeting," he said.
"Also we should see if they would be able to accommodate such a schedule," suggested Professor Flitwick.
"I quite agree," said Professor Dumbledore. "And I must insist on parental permission for both of them which means no more hiding for Miss Parker."
He paused then continued, "Well, I guess this is a good time for a progress report. How are they doing in their classes?"
"Very well," Minerva piped up.
"They are… adequate," Snape murmured in a voice that suggested otherwise.
"The boy is a natural and she is holding her own," Madam Hooch stated.
"I agree with that. He's even been doing extra credit," Professor Sprout chirped.
"I have some concerns about Miss Parker's progress, but Mr. Valenti is doing well indeed," Professor Flitwick said.
"What are your concerns?" Dumbledore asked.
"To be honest, she has some difficulty with pronunciation due to a slight lisp and overbite. I think perhaps it is causing her lack of progress and her very visible frustration," the diminutive professor stated.
"You may well be right. Is there any way we can help her?" the headmaster asked looking most concerned.
"Only if she concentrates more on her pronunciation will she improve," he stated.
"Professor McGonagall, could you subtly suggest pronunciation practice to Miss Weasley?" Professor Dumbledore asked.
"Subtlety? From a Gryffindor?" Snape snorted.
The rest of the staff chuckled.
"On that note, shall we adjourn for the evening? I believe that Professor Sinistra has a class shortly," the headmaster suggested.
With that the staff dispersed.
Journal Entry
If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'd never have believed it. Kyle Valenti, Mr. Football, Basketball and 'late blooming' wizard is an absolute genius at Herbology. When he talks to the plants, they turn towards him. When he feeds them, they seem to thrive. It's like he's got Miracle Grow in his veins. I've never seen him happier than when he's in the greenhouses. Not the ecstatic "We've just won the state championships" type of happy, but the deep, truly satisfied type of happy.
I don't think I've heard him whine in about ten days. Wow! That might be a record. (Just kidding.)
Fred and George are still working on how to get him on the Quidditch team in someone named Alicia Spinnet's old position as Chaser. They are also still working on my CD player.
Of course I made a little bit of progress on my own in that realm this week. I tried Isabel's trick of playing the CD in my ear. I can spin the disc at almost the right speed but I'm still working on the bandwidth for the laser light that reads the disc. It's good practice for control.
Unfortunately, Hermione almost walked in on me a couple of days ago while I was practicing. I know she would probably understand, but I'm not ready to share that yet. Plus she doesn't exactly exude "confidant." (Strangely, George does.)
Oh and she and Kyle were FLIRTING last night. What is up with that?
I hope I hear from Maria tomorrow. I really need it.
Oh boy, time flies. Better hurry or I'll be later for Astronomy.
Liz