Chapter 12 - The Newt In The Water Glass

As Harriet and Ms. Evans walked back to the classroom, they could hear Ms. Lestrange yelling at one of the children.

"Next time I tell you to empty your pockets, you'll do it FASTER, won't you now?!"

"Y-Yes, Ms. Lestrange!", whimpered the voice of Susan Bones.

Ms. Evans gave a quiet gasp as she and Harriet entered the room. It was revealed that Ms. Lestrange was holding the poor girl upside down by her ankle. When she saw the shocked teacher with Harriet, a small look of surprise flashed over her face. "Well, well, well! This could be the most interesting thing you've ever done, Ms. Evans!" She let go of Susan's ankle and glared down at her. "Get up and sit down, you little brain-rot!"

"Thank you, Ms. Lestrange." Susan whispered fearfully. Quickly scrambling to her feet, she headed back to her desk. Harriet did the same.

When Ms. Lestrange picked up the water pitcher, Neville waited in anticipation. But instead of pouring the water, she walked over to Hermione's desk.

"Get up!", she ordered curtly. Hermione obeyed. Tapping her riding crop in her hand, Ms. Lestrange stared intensely at her. Then she asked, "Can you spell?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, Ms. Lestrange. In fact, Ms. Evans taught us how to spell a long word a few days ago. Now we can all spell "Difficulty."

Ms. Lestrange scoffed. "Ha! You couldn't spell "difficulty" if your life depended on it!"

"But we really can, honest! She taught us to remember how by reciting a poem."

"A poem? How sweet!" Ms. Lestrange responded in a fake-happy voice. "And what poem would that be?"

Hermione motioned for everyone to recite with her. "Mrs. D, Mrs. I, Mrs. FFI. Mrs. C, Mrs. U, Mrs. LTY!"

WHAP! The sound of the riding crop slapping on her desk echoed, silencing the students.

"Why are all those women married?!", Ms. Lestrange yelled. "Mrs. D, Mrs. I, Mrs. Whatsherface, you're supposed to be teaching spelling, Ms. Evans, not poetry!"

Ms. Evans didn't know what to say to that (and it was probably best that she stayed silent).

Ms. Lestrange grumbled to herself as she finally picked up the water pitcher and her glass. "I cannot for the life of me understand why small children take so long to grow up. I think they do it deliberately just to annoy me." At that moment, as she poured the water, everyone saw the newt fall into the glass. Some kids tried to hide their smiles, while others were trying not to straight up laugh.

By now, Ms. Lestrange had noticed this disruption, though she hadn't noticed the newt yet. "What? What's funny?!", she snapped. At this point, Ms. Evans was unsuccessfully trying to quiet everyone down. The headmistress became more irritated. "Well? Spit it out! One of you, speak up! I like a joke as much as the next fat person!" Noticing the children looking toward her desk, she looked down at the glass and saw the squirming little newt floating in the water. Ms. Lestrange yelped in surprise. "Aaahh! It's a snake! A snake!"

As much as Harriet wanted to correct her, she thought it would be better to keep quiet.

Ms. Lestrange's face twisted into a dangerous scowl. "One of you tried to poison me! Who did this?!" Scanning the group of students, she immediately came to an (incorrect) conclusion. To her, it was so obvious. Dursley must've wanted revenge after the Chokey! she thought. The fact that Harriet couldn't have done this, since she was locked in the Chokey at the beginning of class left her mind completely.

"Dursley!", she snarled, pointing at her suspect. "I knew it!"

Harriet looked confused. "What do you mean? I didn't do this."

Ms. Lestrange was on a roll. "Stand up, you villainous little hornet! YOU did this."

Neville was conflicted. On the one hand, he hadn't meant to get anyone in trouble, especially not one of his best friends. On the other hand, he didn't feel brave enough to fess up.

"No, Ms. Lestrange, I didn't do it!" Harriet responded stubbornly.

But Ms. Lestrange was not one who could be reasoned with. "Thought you'd pay me back after your Chokey experience, did you?! Well, I'll pay YOU back, young lady!"

"For what, Ms. Lestrange? I told you -"

"For this NEWT, you ugly pissworm!"

Harriet was getting more frustrated by the minute. "But I'm telling you I didn't do it!"

"And I am telling you to sit. DOWN!", Ms. Lestrange yelled, once again slapping the riding crop on her desk. Then, she seemed to calm down for a minute, but she wasn't finished yet. "Even if you somehow ARE innocent, I'll punish you anyway because I'm big, and you're small, and I'm right and you're wrong! and ther's nothing you can do about it, either!" As Harriet was forced to listen to her insults, that strange feeling in her eyes came over her again from when the television exploded. The glass started to shake a little.

"You're a liar and a scoundrel.", the headmistress continued. "And your father's a liar and a cheat! Am I wrong? I am NEVER wrong! Remember this, all of you: In this classroom, in this school, I. Am. GOD!

At that very moment, the glass tipped over completely, spilling water and the newt on Ms. Lestrange's outfit. She shrieked and tried to shake it off, making a fool out of herself in the process, as the student howled with laughter. Finally, she threw the newt off her jacket, sending it flying smack into the light on the ceiling. A boy named Blaise Zabini, whose desk was directly under the light, held out his hands. One second later, he caught the newt and quickly placed his hands in his lap.

Ms. Lestrange was absolutely livid. Once again, she blamed Harriet for this. "YOU!", she growled.

Harriet's head whipped around to face her. "I - I didn't move!"

"Ms. Lestrange, please!", Ms. Evans spoke. "How could she possibly have done it when she was sitting way over here?"

Ms. Lestrange stopped, then composed herself. She left the classroom, but not before giving a warning to everyone. "I'll be watching you. Each and every one of you. When you go to your little cubbies to get your smelly little backpacks, and when you turn the corner to skip merrily to lunch, I'll be watching. So the next time any of you think of doing any sort of...funny business, remember that I shall be watching your EVERY move!" She glared fiercely at Harriet as she stormed out.

Once Ms. Lestrange was gone, Ms. Evans looked over everyone, especially Susan, to make sure they were alright. Thankfully, everything was fine for now.

Neville had confessed to Harriet about the newt. She reassured him that she had already kind of figured it out, since he was the one with the jar in his pocket before she ended up in the Chokey, but wasn't angry. Neville was relieved. "Thanks for not telling."

"Don't worry." Harriet said. "Best friends don't tell. Besides it was worth it to see her dancing around like that."

Neville laughed as Harriet imitated Ms. Lestrange's silly attempts to get the newt off her shirt. Then he joined the rest of the class who were going out for recess.

Ms. Evans stayed behind to clean up the spilled water. However, Harriet stayed behind as well. There was something she had to tell her.

"Harriet, is everything all right?", Ms. Evans asked.

"Ms. Evans...I did it." said Harriet.

Ms. Evans gave her a puzzled look. "You did what, dear?"

"I made the glass tip over."

"Oh, sweetheart. Don't let Ms. Lestrange make you feel that way.", Ms. Evans said kindly. "Nobody did it, it was an accident."

"But it really was me, Ms. Evans.", Harriet protested. "I think this has happened before at home. I moved it with my eyes." She took the glass and filled it halfway with water. "Watch, I'll show you."

"It's wonderful you feel so powerful." Ms. Evans said. "Many people don't feel powerful at all."

Harriet put the glass down on the desk, and stared forcefully at it. A minute passed. Then two minutes. Then three. But nothing happened.

"Come on, tip over, you glass.", Harriet whispered, trying with all her might to get it to move. "Come on, glass, tip over!"

Ms. Evans gave her a sad smile. "It's alright, Harriet."

Harriet stopped staring at the glass and sighed. "I really did do it, Ms. Evans. I know it."

"Well..." Ms. Evans wasn't sure how to respond, at first. Then she said, "Well, one of the odd things in life is that sometimes, you can do something until you want to show someone, and then suddenly you can't. Or, sometimes, when you think something's broken, and you take it to be fixed - "

"No, no, I don't think this is like that.", Harriet quietly interrupted. "I don't know...Maybe I just made myself tired."

"Oh."

Both teacher and student were silent for a little bit. Then Ms. Evans gently took Harriet's hand and gave her a warm smile. "Harriet, would you like to come over to my house after school for tea? I'd like to talk with you."

"That sounds lovely, Ms. Evans. Thank you"