After School Lessons | g.f.w.

Chapter 1

"Fred, would you for once stop eating the Nosebleed Nougats from your father's shop!" A voice erupts from the front of the classroom.

To be specific, it was Audrey Laurraine's, Fred's teacher in Defense Against the Dark Arts. She was a gorgeous woman with her coffee-brown waves, dark hazel eyes, and elegant style.

She wasn't a strict woman, and Fred was the only child to get on her nerves. As his nose starts to bleed and he wants to begin his famous sentence, "Can I go to the hospital wing?" she already fixed his nose with a simple swish of her wand.

"You will stay after class, Mr. Weasley."

Audrey usually doesn't name her students by their last names. She thought it created an unnecessary tense atmosphere and an uncomfortable relationship.

Today she dismissed the class a little earlier than normally. Fred walks to her table sheepishly, thinking of what to say.

"Fred, I know you'd be an excellent student if you'd stop skipping class and messing around." She begins calmly.

She knew why Fred craved attention from the people around him, she herself was just like him in her school years—well, not quite the same. She didn't express her craving in pranks or jokes. As far as Audrey knew, Fred only had his father, she didn't know where his mother was. She wouldn't ask about it either, it is not the business of a teacher, and also Fred seemed very sensitive on the topic.

"I'm sorry, Professor Laurraine," he whispers like always.

Fred was only in his second year, yet he caused a lot of trouble already. Audrey sent around ten letters to his father, updating him on his latest misbehavior. They never got answered.

"If I see one more of your mischief, I might have to talk to your father."

Fred's eyes widen at that. "But you wouldn't-"

"You leave me no other choice, I fear..." She could only sigh, not wanting to face a parent either. She was a new teacher, so she never did this before.

"And would you please stop making fun of Professor Flitwick's height or messing around in potions?" She narrows her eyes at him. Teachers at Hogwarts loved to talk about the students, Fred was a known name all around. The older colleagues complain that he is just like his father. Which only enhances the queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"But his height is funny!" He argues.

She sends him out, and he leaves, bickering about the teacher with goblin ancestry.

As the door shuts, she lets out a sigh, leaning back in her seat. Being a new and young professor without any experience was hard. Especially the younger students won't take her seriously. They won't listen and groan when she tells them to open the books or stop talking with their friends too loudly. Thinking back, she wonders how her teachers handled that, but they never had to. The students of Beauxbatons were pretentious and hollow, it was almost as if they didn't know the word "fun."

Tired of this shallow world, Audrey always skipped class. She, instead of attending, met up with strangers. Men. Way older than her.

She shakes off the thoughts of her past and looks back on her desk. There was a stack of parchment waiting to be graded. She brushed off the thought of them as well, not ready to give bad marks to her students.

She was a sweet soul, but her kindness was also her weakness. When the students just wouldn't quiet down, she'd tear up in frustration. When the other professors wouldn't listen to her because of her age, she grew angry, baling a fist under the desk.

Professor Laurraine wanted to bring out the best in every one of her students. She loved them all dearly. Which only made grading worse. She couldn't help but wonder how the bad grades came to life. Was it her way of teaching? Were the tests too hard? She was very surprised that no parent wrote a howler for her, insulting her to death.