Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series is the property of J.K. Rowling.
Chapter Eighteen: An Appalling Student
Two months passed and Professor McGonagall did not hear anything from Amelia Ryan. Eventually she had to break the bad news to Ellie.
"I'm sorry Miss Winterbourne," she told her.
Ellie felt bitterly disappointed. Yet again, she had been let down, just when she felt she was getting somewhere.
She was quiet for the next few days. Jamie tried to cheer her up but he didn't have much of an effect. He began to feel very worried about her. One day after Transfigurations, he hung back at the end so he could talk to Professor McGonagall.
"Isn't there someone else?" he asked desperately.
"She was a quiet girl," Professor McGonagall told him. "She was wrapped up with her studies mostly. She took her schoolwork very seriously. When she wasn't working she was usually with Amelia."
Something suddenly occurred to Professor McGonagall that she had completely forgotten about.
"Well of course there was Severus… Professor Snape that is. I believe he was helping her out with her Potions work. "
Jamie looked stunned.
"Wait, you're saying that Ellie's mum hung out with Professor Snape?"
"Well no, I wouldn't say that exactly. But I do recall seeing them together quite a lot now that I'm thinking about it, and Professor Slughorn, the former Potions Master, told me that Professor Snape was giving her help with Potions," Professor McGonagall explained.
"Okay, thanks Professor," he told her and hurried off to his next class.
This was definitely surprising news. Hadn't Snape told Ellie that he barely knew her mum? And now it turns out her was helping her out in Potions class. That means they must have spent some time together!
Jamie couldn't wait to give Ellie this new information. After their afternoon classes, before they went into dinner, Jamie pulled Ellie aside and told her.
Ellie stared opened mouthed when Jamie told her.
"Ellie, you alright?" Jamie asked finally.
"That lying little… he told me he didn't really know her!" said Ellie, fuming.
"So, are you gonna ask him about it?" Jamie asked.
"Yeah, I am. Straight after dinner," she told him, a determined look on her face.
Several times during dinner, Snape felt that someone was watching him. Each time he looked up, he saw the brat glaring at him. He glared coldly back. By the end of the meal, they had had quite a staring contest between them.
Ellie waited a while, giving Snape time to get to his office. Then, telling Jamie she would see him in the common room later, she took off towards the dungeons.
When she got to Snape's office, her heart faltered for a moment as she raised her hand to knock on the door.
"Suck it up El," she told herself, and rapped sharply on the door. There was silence for a moment and then a voice from within called out, "Enter,". Ellie took a deep breath and sauntered through the door and right up to Snape's desk.
Snape was genuinely surprised to see Ellie. He was expecting Roger Andrews, a fifth year Slytherin who, by his class records, was on course to fail most of his OWLs. Snape was going to give the boy a stern talking to, and so the sight of a very agitated looking Eleanora Winterbourne in front of him, her fists clenched by her sides, was very unexpected, although it could account for her staring at dinner.
"What do you want?" he snapped at her.
Her eyes were narrowed and she gave a cold, piercing look that, under different circumstances, Snape may perhaps have been proud of. Things being as they were however, he frowned at her.
"Well?" he bellowed. He wanted to get rid of the brat as soon as possible.
"You lied to me!" Ellie suddenly said in a quiet, shaky voice.
Snape rolled his eyes. Another whiny tantrum from the brat. How wonderful. She really was a father's dream.
"Did I?" he said in a bored voice. This fuelled Ellie's anger even more.
"Yes, you did!" she cried.
Snape merely looked at her and yawned.
"Well then, my apologies Miss Winterbourne. Now if you don't mind I…"
"Yes, I do mind, actually! You said you didn't really know my mum, but you were helping her in her Potions class! Why didn't you tell me that?" Ellie yelled.
Snape started, but hastily covered it up by glaring at Ellie.
"Oh that," he said, inwardly fuming that the brat had somehow found about it, and also panicking slightly at what else she may have heard.
"Yes that!" Ellie said.
Snape scoffed.
"If you must know Miss Winterbourne, and it seems you must, your mother was failing miserably at Potions and our Professor begged me to give her extra lessons so she wouldn't totally embarrass herself when it came time for her to take her NEWTs. Satisfied?" he sneered.
It had cost him a pang to speak with so scathingly of Claudia, but he let no trace of it show in his hard expression.
Ellie was taken aback by Snape's explanation. She felt deflated, and disappointed.
"Oh," was all she could say for a moment. Snape smirked at her, feeling she deserved this letdown.
"Why didn't you tell me that earlier?" Ellie asked.
"You seem to have a very high opinion of both yourself and your mother, judging by the way you throw your weight around, demanding left, right and centre that everyone who has ever passed your mother in the street relay all her deepest, darkest secrets to you," Snape said.
Ellie looked angrily at him, but a hint of embarrassment was noticeable too.
"I pitied you," Snape added in mocking tone. "I thought you might have felt ashamed to know that your mother was such an appallingly bad scholar that she needed my help."
Snape fixed his cold gaze against Ellie's fiery glare. Their eyes remained locked for some time, until Ellie had to concede defeat and look away. She felt as if she never wanted to look at Snape again.
"Now Miss Winterbourne, if you are quite finished, I am expecting a student. Shut the door after you," he said coolly, and began to peruse a roll of parchment.
Ellie turned away from Snape and walked out of his office, shutting the door softly. She would not give him the satisfaction of banging it. On the way out of the dungeons, an older Slytherin boy bumped into her, knocking her to the ground. The boy helped her up, apologising.
"Sorry, it's just I'm late to see Professor Snape!" he said, hurrying off.
Ellie trudged dejectedly up the stairs until she came to the Gryffindor tower. She mumbled the password to the Fat Lady and walked into the common room. Jamie was at her side immediately, giving her a searching look. She shook her head, letting him know that she hadn't discovered anything useful.
They sat down in their usual corner.
"Go on, what happened?" Jamie asked.
"Well, apparently my mum was really bad at Potions and Snape was only helping her because the Potions Professor told him to," she said.
"Oh," said Jamie, sharing Ellie's disappointment.
"I think I've finally hit a brick wall," Ellie admitted. "I don't think I'll ever find out who my father is. I mean, for all I know, it could be Filch."
Jamie snorted suddenly. Ellie, seeing the humour in what she had just said, began to laugh. They both collapsed against each other chuckling at the thought of Filch being her dad.
"Oh well Ellie, think about it. It could be worse. Imagine Snape turned out to be your dad," Jamie said, a wicked grin on his face. The duo collapsed against each other again, shaking with laughter. They continued to have fits of giggles that lasted until they eventually said goodnight to each other and headed up to their dormitories.
The rest of the school year seemed to fly by for Ellie. Before she knew it the end of term exams were over, and she was packing up her trunk to go home again.
She exchanged addresses with other Gryffindors, said farewell to the Gryffindor tower that had been her home for ten months and waved goodbye to the Professors that came to see the students off on the Hogwarts Express. As usual, Ellie sat with Jamie on the train journey to London, joined by some other Gryffindor first years.
When they got to London, Mrs. Manning was standing waiting for Ellie. Ellie was shocked by her appearance. She looked much older and frailer than she had at Christmas. Had she been ill? Ellie had written to Mrs. Manning during the term but Mrs. Manning had never mentioned anything.
"Well now, I hope you had a good year my dear," Mrs. Manning said, in a kinder voice than Ellie was used to.
"Yes, I did," Ellie told her.
Just then, someone tapped her on the back. She turned around and saw Jamie, with his parents standing in the background. While Jamie's parents and Mrs. Manning exchanged greetings, Jamie whispered to Ellie.
"Don't forget to write to me, okay?" he told her, giving her a warm smile.
"I won't," she whispered back.
Ellie felt a pang of sadness when she waved goodbye to Jamie. He had become her best friend at Hogwarts, and she would miss him terribly during the two months of summer holidays. She couldn't wait for the holiday to be over so she could go back to Hogwarts and be with Jamie again. Her first year had been eventful, and she had gotten into trouble here and there, but at Hogwarts, she finally felt like she belonged. Giving one last longing look at the entrance to platform nine and three-quarters, Ellie followed Mrs. Manning out of the train station, counting down the days already until she would be there again.