Chapter 6: Detention?

And so, there she stood, in front of the large door leading to the potions room.

Word from a few Slytherins - Ellie, Misty, and Dylan - was that Regina was in extra trouble because Ronnie had touched the ruined potion while she was in her class and was sent to the hospital wing. But they were all in different years than Ronnie, so they didn't know exactly what happened.

She pushed the door open, and it creaked. She looked up, and saw a warm smile on Professor O'Hanegan's face. That was not what Regina was expecting. The door slammed behind her.

He seemed to sense her confusion, and said, "Sit. I'll explain everything." He patted a chair next to his desk.

Regina was still shocked. She shakily walked up to the front of the classroom. She unsurely sat down next to him.

"I'm afraid I made a mistake this afternoon. Miss Potter, you see-" He began, when she heard a knock on the door. "Come in!" Professor O'Hanegan called to whoever was knocking.

It was Professor Patil, clutching Henri Malfoy by his robes. "Sorry for the interruption, Ardal," she said to the Potions Master. "I found this one sneaking into the Restricted Section of the Library. I heard you were doing a detention today…" She turned to Regina. "Miss Potter. I thought you had more sense." She said in disapproval. "... anyway, Ardal, I was hoping you could take Mr. Malfoy here and have him punished as well."

Without hesitation, Professor O'Hanegan said, "Malfoy, clean out that old cauldron." And pointed to Regina's mistake from the afternoon. "And whatever you do, do not let your bare skin touch the liquid. Wear gloves."

Professor Patil let go of Henri's robes and pushed him into the room, shutting the door as she left. Henri scowled and shuffled over to wash out the cauldron.

The Potions Master turned his attention back to Regina. "As I was saying, you seem to have more sense than I thought. Well, maybe not sense… but you have brains, that's for sure."

Inside, Regina was thinking, Just explain, please!

"You may have heard that your - is she your cousin? - Veronica Potter was sent to the hospital wing because she touched your potion, and I'm sure you're very concerned."

Well, not really.

"If you were allowed to visit her, you would see that she is puffed up like a balloon." Regina held in a snicker.

" … and… today in class, we were brewing swelling solution."

Regina realized what she had done. She had actually fixed the potion, with no training but watching and occasionally passing her father an ingredient. She jumped up and yelled at the top of her lungs, "YESSSSSSS! YOU HEAR THAT, DAD?" Professor O' Hanegan winced because of the volume, but smiled. Henri turned around from his task and gave her a judgemental look.

"The question is, Miss Potter, what drove you to do all that to the potion?"

"I saw Tutra adding a bezoar to the potion instead of a bat spleen. I didn't think you noticed. I spend a lot of time watching my father brew potions in his laboratory, and, I dunno? I just kind of let my instincts take over."

"Well, Miss Potter, you are a natural. I may consider letting you into my second year potion class."

"Really? Wasn't I just lucky?" Regina shrugged, trying to hide her excitement and pride.

"Well, when your father is an amazing potioneer like Albus Potter, I think you've got it in your blood. I'll talk to the Headmaster about getting you in that class." Regina blushed. "But, you still disrupted the class. So, I am sentencing you to polishing the awards. Malfoy! Come on!" Henri set the cauldron and walked gloomily towards Regina and the Professor, who were on their way to the Trophy Cases.

Regina was drawn to picking up the award given to her grandfather, Harry Potter - and Tutra's grandfather, Ron Weasley - for their special services to the school in their second year. She hoped that she could get an award during her time at Hogwarts. She rubbed their names over with the rag multiple times until

Henri finally said, "You've been polishing that one for the last ten minutes. Why don't you be productive, Potter, and clean a few more."

Regina scowled at him and picked up another award. She thought about Henri's remark for a while, and realized that he was mimicking his grandfather, Draco Malfoy when he said 'Potter' in that way. Whenever her grandad and Draco talked, that tone of voice still lingered. The thought made her laugh a bit as she continued her work. Henri glared at her some more. She ignored him.

With next trophy she picked up, Henri had grabbed it's other handle. She yanked it a bit harder, and for the next 30 seconds they were in a childish tug-of-war over the trophy. As this was happening, something was alarming to Regina. Something about Henri's eyes seemed to change, and not in the normal way one's eyes do when they are frustrated. The seemed darker, and somewhat evil. Regina weakened and Henri snatched up the award.

Regina walked down the hall to the next trophy case, still thinking about what had come over him. It genuinely terrified her. She always thought there was something off about him, but was he really evil? He really just seemed like a troubled kid, which made sense because his mother was dead, but was he going to do something with dark magic once they all got better at magic?

The thoughts left Regina's mind as Professor O'Hanegan rejoined them in the hall. He walked towards Regina and whispered, "Just talked things over with the Headmaster. You'll be joining the second year class next week."

Regina pumped her fist in the air, and went back to completing her punishment.

Regina and Henri went back to the Ravenclaw common room in silence. Tutra was waiting for Regina by the door and dragged her downstairs to the dormitories. "How did it go? How much trouble are you in? What did that boy do wrong? Tell me everything!" Tutra asked excitedly as she climbed up the ladder to her top bunk and got settled in.

"Shh!" Regina pointed to their roommates, Leola Benton and Andrea Rhodes, who were already asleep. "I'll tell you all about it in the morning! I'm tired, as well."

Yet she couldn't get to sleep. All of the lights were out, and she was very sleepy, but something was still nagging in the back of her mind. Henri. Regina was fairly good at reading people, and she felt like he was dangerous. Maybe it would be safer to get on his good side. She thought as she lay awake.

Because she couldn't sleep, she lit a candle on her bedside table and pulled out a quill and parchment. She had promised her American pen pal, Ming Jiang, that she would write soon after they both arrived at their magic schools.

She wrote the letter and sent it off with Tutra's owl, Dewey, to Ilvermorny school, all the way in America. She fell asleep with Pebbles, her cat, asleep on her lap.