The British Ministry of Magic claims that magical blood is dwindling in Pureblood families. This puts some students in awkward positions. Kris Averbach finds himself being dangled like a piece of meat in front of eligible Pureblood young ladies, but...
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Grady entered the Potions classroom with his usual feeling of dread. Professor Volkov stood at the front, his customary smirk in place, and that meant that his previous class had done as badly as he'd expected. Grady groaned inwardly and he and Took snagged one of the tables in the back. When the bell rang, they had their cauldrons, potion kits, and books set out neatly in front of them, as well as the essays that Volkov had demanded last time. The professor Summoned the essays to him with a flick of his wand and they soared neatly through the air and landed in the trash bin. Grady's jaw dropped.
"As I can only expect tripe from you, I have decided not to bother with reading your essays," Volkov began calmly. "Today, you will be—"
There was a buzzing noise in Grady's ears and he barely heard Volkov's directions. He had spent hours on that essay, he had lost sleep over it, and now there it was, in the trash. Looking around, he could see many of the other students scowling angrily in the professor's direction, but their anger only seemed to make him even more satisfied.
The sound of chairs scraping against stone broke Grady from his furious thoughts. He glanced quickly at the board to see that a few of the ingredients listed would have to come from the student cupboards. He and Took went up quickly together to collect them and sat back down again, turning to the desired page to begin their work. They worked in feverish silence for several long minutes before the sound of someone stepping softly came gradually nearer. Grady began to sweat. His hand shook as he added his ground beetles, spilling the tiniest bit before it could make it to the cauldron.
"Tsk, tsk." Volkov shook his head at Grady's potion. "Morgan, how many beetles were you supposed to grind up?" he asked softly.
Grady looked at the book. His heart sank. "Six," he said quietly.
"And how many did you actually grind up?"
"Nine," he said, more quietly still.
"Do you think the beetle powder you clumsily spilled just now will sufficiently make up the surplus?"
Grady shook his head, mute.
"No, I think not. Perhaps you suffer from a condition known as dyslexia, Morgan. Do you know what that means?" Volkov's smirk widened when Grady didn't respond. "It means that you do not even have the sense to be able to read properly." He pointed his wand at the contents of Grady's cauldron and Vanished the potion. "Start over."
He walked past Took's concoction with a sneer. Grady pressed his fists against his eyes. He thought he could safely say that he had never hated anyone before, but Professor Volkov made it awfully hard to say it with a straight face. He wiped his forehead, went back up to the cupboard, and began again.
"Winslow." Volkov's voice cracked through the air like a whip. "Can you please explain to me how you have managed to produce this monstrosity?" He picked up Gemma Winslow's cauldron and let it fall to the table with a clang. Evidently whatever she had brewed had dried like cement.
The dreamy-eyed girl looked up at him thoughtfully, entirely unperturbed. "Well, first, I left out the beetles, because it seemed cruel to grind them up. The beetles hadn't done anything to me."
"The beetles were already dead, Winslow," Volkov said through gritted teeth.
"I didn't want to add insult to injury," she said simply.
Someone snorted loudly. Volkov looked up, his gaze landing on one of the Gryffindors. He moved away from Gemma, who returned to what Grady could now see was an elaborate funeral for the beetles. Volkov stopped in front of the Gryffindor's cauldron.
"You find Miss Winslow's incompetency amusing, do you, Owens?" Volkov said coldly.
Aiden Owens grinned and shrugged. "I mean, kind of, though I wouldn't say she's incompetent."
Volkov's face became stonier still. "Please, enlighten me. What would you call a girl who fails to add integral ingredients to a complex potion that must be done exactly as the directions indicate?"
"Uhhh, creative?"
"Twenty points from Gryffindor, Owens, for your complete lack of sense," Volkov practically spat at him. Grady was in awe that Aiden didn't even flinch.
Both Aiden and Gemma's lack of fear seemed to put Volkov in an exceptionally foul mood. He continued to snap at other students until Abby Stewart burst into tears. Volkov's smirk was back as he started collecting samples from their cauldrons. He sneered at Grady when he collected his, though Grady had followed the directions perfectly this time and thought his potion looked rather good.
The bell rang, and the students all hurried to beat each other out of the room. Grady put an arm around Abby as she continued to sniffle and Took glowered ferociously at Volkov's back. Gemma floated out of the room, leaving her bag behind, which Ciara O'Doherty grabbed with a sigh and an eye roll.
In the hallway outside, Grady continued his state of complete disbelief when he heard Aiden Owens actually whistling, strolling along without a care in the world.
"You're either very brave, or very crazy," Took muttered to him as they passed.
"Probably both," Aiden said with a shrug.
"He's a male version of Gemma," Ciara said. Took snorted loudly and even Abby cracked a watery smile. But Grady looked back at the Gryffindor, wide-eyed. Aiden caught his eye and winked.
"I need to find out his secret," he muttered to himself.
They caught up with Gemma a little later, talking to one of the portraits. Ciara grabbed her arm. "Come on, Gemma," she said wearily. "History of Magic next." Gemma fluttered her fingers at the portrait and cheerfully let Ciara navigate her up the stairs.
Grady looked at Gemma over the top of Abby's head. He wondered what it would be like to live in Gemma's mind for a day.
And then: "Do you know you've got beetles in your hair?" she said, blinking her wide eyes at Grady. She reached out and plucked a dead beetle from Grady as he started to shake his head rapidly. She carried it solemnly in her palms, and Grady suspected that when they got into the History of Magic classroom, another funeral would commence.
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A/N: Volkov hate? Love?! Tell me how you feel.
Thoughts on Aiden? He'll be making more appearances.
Who is your favorite minor character, and why is it Gemma? lol
