Ch.4
Maybe the headmaster's tactics had finally got to her.
He had found the perfect person to keep her honest.
Cleo trailed down the hallway her head hanging to watch her steps. She was on her way to her first period.
It turns out that it's a lot harder to miss class in the wizarding world. Teachers could track you down with the dorm numbers and your schedule alone.
Really it was his offer to review her drafts that had done more than all the threats she'd received through her time here.
Now that Snape has become more... invested in her attendance it was virtually impossible to no longer go. It was one thing to try and avoid classes by going under the radar. It was another to try with Snape's intellectual and physical interference.
If he truly wanted her in class there wasn't a chance in the world she'd get away with missing it.
She trailed behind another boy in her classroom.
Professor Lupin stands behind his desk peering down at the back of a dark arts textbook. He looks up greeting each of the students subtly.
It took a few minutes, students chatting idly while waiting for the bell the ring.
"Quiet please" Lupin organizes a stack of parchment. "Today we will explore the elements of boggart defense." Cleo's eyes follow him as he circles around his desk.
"Each of you will have an opportunity to face a peculiar fear..." the professors eyes catch hers "...and to overcome it"
She hoped he would forget about the night they met in the room of requirement.
She looks down as the lecture begins.
It was obvious Lupin enjoyed teaching. Of course there were rough days, in which he thought he might not be giving each of the students the schooling experience they deserved. But even then he made sure he provided his class with the resources required to succeed.
Ace didn't like him much either.
She hated the thought of them getting along but often couldn't actually state why she disliked him in the first place.
Maybe it was the fact that she hadn't slept that well since the night he was there with her.
He continues on his preppy and well thought out lecture, still unable to keep her attention longer than two minutes.
She slouches, her head resting on her arm as she doodles along the margin of her notes.
Five hours to go.
She listened to his pacing and the sound of his voice as he moved across the classroom.
Then, the most peculiar thing happened.
She must have drifted off sometime between his rant on psychological manipulation and his discussion of boggart repellents. When she was awakened it was by Remus himself right before the class left for the dueling hall.
