Aymee Parker B2 - The Cursed Mark

Chapter 4 : Professor McMahon

It was Megan who woke up Aymee the next morning. She had to shake her like crazy to pull her from Morpheus' arms.

"Come on! Are you in a coma or something?"

"Huh? What?" Aymee stammered.

"Finally!" exclaimed Megan. "I must have been trying to wake you up for five minutes!"

Aymee blinked while her brain was processing information and slowly waking up. She looked around, surprised not to hear Penelope reprimanding her, but apart from Megan, there was no one.

"Where are the others?"

"Already gone for breakfast. It looks like they decided to continue ignoring us. Did you go to see them on the train? After we saw each other, I mean."

Aymee got out of bed. She hurried to get dressed and brush her hair to remove the knots.

"No, I was too busy staying awake."

"Oh yeah!" Megan hit her forehead. "You were half dead last night! We had to levitate you with the guys to carry you!"

Aymee winced. She had no memories from the previous evening. If it were true, she hoped only as few people as possible had seen her.

"Ah! Really!? Sorry!"

"Bah," said Megan, chasing her apologies with the back of her hand. "No big deal. It was funny." She jumped on the spot, clapping her hands. "Now hurry up! I'm hungry and we still have to get our schedules!"

"Ah yes!"

The two Ravenclaws rushed to the Great Hall. They quickly found their group of friends, who were already finishing eating.

"Hey!" Megan greeted them while sitting down. "So, what does the schedule look like?"

Grant gave them their schedule. Aymee glanced at the girls. Astou and Rosalie hardly held back to greet them, they even shot her shy and worried looks. It wasn't the case of Penelope and Émilie, who were obstinately oriented in the other direction. Aymee sighed. Se wasn't sure how to approach them. She decided to turn to Rosalie, who was sitting next to her.

"Rosalie? I—"

Penelope suddenly got up from the bench, her nose in the air.

"You're done? Let's go, we shouldn't be late."

The girls followed her, but Aymee noticed once again Astou and Rosalie waver. Maybe she should find an opportunity to speak to them when Penelope wasn't around.

"What's their problem?" asked James, watching them leave the Great Hall.

"They're just stuck in their pureblood pride," Megan summed up.

"What?" asked the boys, not understanding.

"Basically," sighed Aymee, "we couldn't write to them this summer and they're holding it against us..."

"Ah yes!" said Grant with a fork gesture. "Rosalie told me about it! She was so sad not to hear from you guys. What happened?"

"My mother freaks out at the mere idea of having a bird in the house and Aymee was in the US," explained Megan with a shrug. "It's not like we ignored them voluntarily."

"It's stupid," Kenji commented before diving back into his book.

"You don't say!" said Megan before an eyebrow shrug. "It's just Penelope who's too proud and who's leading the others. She'll eventually calm down. I'm tired of talking about her! How's the schedule?"

"Not bad." Duncan gestured the schedule with his toast. "We're starting in Defense Against the Dark Arts this year."

"Oh! With the new super burly teacher?"