Aymee Parker B2 - The Cursed Mark

Chapter 14 : First match

If the previous weeks had been the world of Care Bears, now it had become the time of the Plague. With the Kwon incident, the rumor that hugs transferred the Mark rather than chasing it away had spread like wildfire among the students. No one touched another and everyone kept a respectable distance from the others. Even the couples dared not touch each other too much, fearing to get the Loser Mark.

In the meantime, it had also been discovered that keeping the Marked Seven in the infirmary had served no purpose. Two of them had even pretented to still have it so they could skip class and thus relax quietly in bed for as long as possible. Finally, the director had decreed that the students, marked or not, should continue their studies and their daily routine as if nothing had happened.

Aymee took note of what Professor McGonagall had just explained. Behind her, Grant and Duncan kept muttering predictions for the Quidditch match that was to be played the next weekend. They were both especially eager to see if Gryffindor would defeat Slytherin and if Poole would live up to his early recruitment.

Aymee glanced at her rival. Contrary to usual, he didn't have his sleeves rolled up nor his nose buried in his notebook. He painfully took note of what McGonagall was saying, without enthusiasm. Aymee frowned at seeing him so dispirited. Was it because of the next game that he had his mind elsewhere? It was not good. He had to give his all in his studies if he wanted to stay in the competition.

Aymee tore off a small piece of parchment and quickly wrote on it before passing it to Florian Prince, her neighbour :

Whats wrong with Poole?

Aymee had to wave the piece of paper over his notes for him to finally notice. Florian looked up at Aymee, then at Poole. He just shrugged before adding a little apostrophe between the when and the a in Aymee's message, which made her blush. Florian focused on his notes again after giving her an indulgent look, as if to say there was no embarrassment to be had. Aymee ended up giving him a small nod of thanks, but she doubted he had seen it.

When class was over, Aymee went to knock on Poole's desk. He shot her an annoyed look.

"What?"

"How are you?" she asked.

Poole cringed. Aymee saw in his eyes that she had offended him, or at least annoyed him to the point that he was angry. Poole stood up abruptly and stuffed his things into his bag.

"Mind your own business," he grunted.

He left without waiting. Aymee watched him leave with a thoughtful pout. Admittedly, she knew that boys tended to take it badly when people worried about them, as if it questionned their worthiness, but there was more to it than that. Something was wrong. Aymee shrugged. Poole was right, it was, indeed, none of her business.

She went to join the Ravenclaw girls, who had already left so as not to be late for their next class.

***

On Sunday, Aymee found herself wandering the halls alone. Everyone had gone to see the game, even Hagrid. Aymee observed the various paintings as she walked along the corridors.

I've already finished my homework... Should I read the science textbook a bit more? Aymee grimaced. Yirk. No. I promised Kosta to be happy... What about hanging out with Gaëlle?

Aymee observed two old bearded wizards chatting in a painting. It had been a while since she had gone down to see Gaëlle. Aymee therefore set off for the bottom of the dungeons where the painting of the little girl was hidden. Little by little, as she approached, Aymee heard voices, which she recognized fairly quickly. Aymee remained hidden behind her corner of the wall to listen.