Antidote

Chapter 6 - Passionate Notes

As it turned out, Professor Snape really meant NO exceptions. 

After several minutes of debate, and being late to her next lesson, Snape, more or less, told her to leave him alone and to not ask again. He had told her that as long as she kept up with her part in the project's weekly reports and, by the end of the year, created a sufficient antidote, her marks would not be affected—even if George did not put in the same efforts. 

Obviously, this had infuriated her and led to more of a heated discussion about, what she had put as Snape "sabotaging her final grade". 

He hadn't liked hearing that very much but, thankfully, did not give her detention. He instead promised to keep an eye on their weekly report, watching that George partook in a close amount of effort compared to hers, and sent her away. 

Still unsatisfied, but feeling defeated, Jolie had trudged up to her arithmancy lesson with her shoulders slumped and head hanging low.

The next day, a cold and dreary Tuesday morning, Jolie realised that Weasley really did mean he would come find her at breakfast. 

She watched as his tall figure, tailed by a tiny Lee Jordan, marched over from the Gryffindor table with goofy grins plastered across their faces. 

Before he could even make it over to where she sat, she stood and shooed him away from the Slytherin table, informing him that she, in fact, had not brought her timetable to go over with him. 

There was really no reason to work all the details out just yet. They only had one class together—Potions. And it was only for two hours on Mondays. 

She told him to leave her be and she would see him in their next lesson—they would go over their schedules in the last thirty minutes of class. 

Thankfully, he did seem to listen, leaving her alone for the remainder of the week.

While Jolie had acted indifferently (okay, maybe a bit displeased) about him being assigned her partner, he did not know she'd tried to get switched or work alone instead. 

In truth, she was feeling a bit overwhelmed about it—the boy never seemed to stop talking or trying to find time for their studies. He didn't seem to catch the fact that she really did not like him... Or maybe he did and just didn't care. 

She dreaded the idea of having to work with him for the rest of the year. 

The truth was: Jolie was somewhat of a control freak. 

When it came to working with others, she had never fared well. She was bossy, closed-minded, and had unswaying opinions on how things should be done. 

Then, the problem with this: no one seemed to be able to control the Weasley twins. 

Even in George's admittance of not being great at the subject, Jolie seriously doubted he would follow any directions from her. They would never be able to see eye to eye on this project. 

The mere thought terrified her. 

For this reason, she needed to take some time to accept the fact that George Weasley was definitely her potions partner now. She had to be careful with her approach in their studies. 

What she needed was a game plan. A strategy. 

So, by the following Monday, she was ready. Determined.

She waltzed toward the dungeon classroom Monday morning. The lesson would not begin for another ten minutes or so, giving her plenty of time.