Hello. How are we all? So my day off, and a new chapter to be posted.

Chapter 17

Christmas had come and past, and the New Year was fast approaching. Jenny had promised the children she would come back to the castle on the 1st of January, so she could spend the last day of the year with her family. Minerva had volunteered to go and collect Jenny from Cornwall and bring her back to the castle. Once the New Year's celebrations had finished, Minerva departed to collect their newest colleague, and she was descended upon by the children when she returned.

"Auntie Jenny!"
"Did Santa bring you any presents?"

"Did you miss us?"
"Are you staying for good now?" Came the chorusing of the children. Jenny simply smiled and knelt down to hug them all in a large and rather squashed group hug.
"Hello darlings, yes I had a lovely Christmas, and yes Santa did bring me some lovely presents but yours was the best present I received." She said with a smile. The children smiled and the hug continued.

Once the children arrived back at school, their lessons continued as normal, with the emphasis now being on the exams they would face before they left for the summer. Since Jenny was only teaching the third through to fifth years, she only had 2 classes which would be taking major exams that year. That didn't mean however she let the rest of her students slack off. One class in particular caught Jenny's attention. It was her third year Gryffindor and Slytherin combined class. The students in the lesson hadn't changed much over the holidays. They greeted her with smiles and 'how was your Christmas Miss?' To which Jenny answered truthfully. One of the students in the class however caught her eye.

For a few weeks Jenny paid close attention to this particular student, third year Gryffindor Chloe Harris. Jenny knew from word from other professors, along with what she had heard in lessons that Chloe was a muggleborn student, raised in Bristol. She had no brothers or sisters and lived with her mother who was a housewife, and her father who was builder for a big firm where they lived. Chloe wasn't the most talkative of her students, and her small built body meant she found it easy to melt into the crowds. To put it mildly, Chloe was shy. Jenny couldn't help but notice however, that Chloe's actions since Christmas, and just before now she thought about it, were out of character for the girl.

"Chloe?" Jenny called out at the end of one of her lessons. The girl raised her head to her teacher.

"Yes Miss?"

"Would you be able to stay behind for a few minutes, I just want to talk to you about your homework." The other students looked at Chloe, and Jenny was sure she heard a few of the Slytherin's sniggering and laughing.

"Yes Miss." Chloe mumbled. She returned to her seat as the other students piled out to their next lesson.

"You can relax Chloe, you're not in any trouble." Jenny tried to make the girl feel better. Chloe didn't answer. She stared at the desk.

"Chloe, ever since Christmas your homework and your classwork has declined a little. Is everything ok with you? You're not bullied or anything are you?" Chloe said nothing. Jenny perched on the desk by Chloe. She looked at the young brunette. Chloe made no movement to acknowledge Jenny's presence.
"Chloe, you can talk to me." Jenny placed a hand on the girls shoulder, and it was then she noticed the tears in Chloe's eyes.
"Oh sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"I miss them Miss." Chloe quietly stuttered.

"Oh darling." Jenny said, taking Chloe into her arms and letting the girl cry. Jenny had suddenly remembered something Minerva had mentioned the other week about a student who had lost her parents before Christmas. But since the conversation wasn't with Jenny, and since she had only heard it in passing, she hadn't paid too much attention.

For a while the two simply sat in the classroom, the younger student sobbing into her teachers shoulder. Jenny softly patted the girl on the back, and made soothing noises to try and calm her down.

"Come on now Chloe, we need to stop these tears." Chloe sniffed and slowly removed her head from Jenny.

"Sorry Miss." She mumbled.

"You have nothing to apologise for Chloe, nothing at all. Why didn't you say you having trouble? What happened over Christmas?"

"My mum's friend said I could stay with her, but it was weird. She had her family with her and I felt a third wheel."

"Oh honey. Why didn't you stay at the castle?"
"I wanted to go home." Jenny had a sudden thought.

"What's going to happen when you go home for the summer?" Chloe looked like she was going to cry again.
"I don't know. I could go back to my aunt's I suppose, but I don't know if that's what I want. If I don't I guess the only place I could go would be foster care."

Jenny couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Couldn't you stay here?" She asked.
"I don't know." Chloe simply stated, looking back at the desk. Jenny took the girl back into her arms.

"Hey, let me to talk to Dumbledore ok, see if I can come up with something. If in doubt maybe you could spend the summer with me?" Jenny smiled.

"Really?" Chloe said with surprise. "I could stay with you?" Chloe had liked her teacher from her first lesson with her, and to have her saying she could possibly stay with her, Chloe couldn't believe that anyone would do that for her.
"Yes. If you really don't want to go to your aunts, then it would be no trouble for you to stay with me." Chloe smiled through her tears and hugged her teacher again.
"Oh thank you Miss that would be amazing." Jenny smiled.

"You are more than welcome Chloe."

Ok so only a short chapter this time, just to introduce Chloe more than anything. She won't play a huge part in this story, but I do have plans for her for the final story in this trilogy. Hope you all are well, and I'll have another chapter up soon.

Happy reading, and your reviews are more than welcome :)

Beth xxx