The Professor (Book 2)

7: Gentleman

In the next coming days, I didn't see much of Harry. We were both busy, me with my classes and him with teaching them. Even though I had minded professor Havers' interruption, he hadn't been wrong about his statement.

– The Devon scholarship did demand a certain amount of academic achievement, and if you didn't deliver, you stood to lose said scholarship.

And unfortunately, due to the recent disturbances in schedule and personal life, I had fallen quite a bit behind, leaving me with a workload big enough to bury me in a shallow grave. It was this very situation that kept me stuck in the library over the next following days, and probably what kept me out of Harry's reach.

But other than his missing appearance, there was another person I couldn't help but notice hadn't shown her face around me lately.

Catarina.

After our first and last conversation, I hadn't seen even as much as her shadow in my vicinity. I doubted it had much to do with our heart-to-heart, but rather more to do with the fact that Harry had probably gotten hold of her and warned her to stay away from me. This was only guesswork, though.

Nevertheless, I was happy about the solitude, whatever reason had caused it. Not seeing Harry or Catarina and burying myself in work had helped me clear my head a bit, my head that always seemed a bit too full lately. For once, I could actually focus on my work and catch up on my studies without concerning myself with schemes and manipulative people.

Even if the biggest mystery still remained unsolved. Why was Harry here?

I had put that on the shelf momentarily. At least for now, until I could get my grades back up and my attendance back to full. I knew at some point, I was going to try and ask him again, because I knew there was still something he was holding back. A part of the truth he hadn't admitted yet, and it was that bit that was driving me crazy.

But as it turned out, his brother wasn't the only one skilled at lying. Seemed I had been lied to twice over the course of the summer, and frankly, I didn't know how to feel about it. Like Harry had said, it hadn't really been any of my business, had it?

So why did I still somehow feel... cheated?

Sighing, I looked into my books and felt like my brain was about to explode. I had been in the library for four hours now, reading, writing and studying up on my latest assignments and classes. I was still a fair way from being caught up, but at least now I wasn't that far behind. Which was always something. But the second it seemed like I was getting closer, new reading material and assignments piled on top and it was back to square one.

– Whoever said college was a fun time clearly had been lying, too.

Packing up my books and papers, I trudged out of the library and began making my way back to my dorm. It was a cold evening, my breath turning white in the frosty air as I walked the pavements of campus. The walk from the library to the dorms took about 15 minutes, but I didn't mind it. It felt good stretching my legs after so many hours being bent over a table. I wondered if that was why Harry had installed an indoor pool in his house.

My phone suddenly buzzed in my pocket. I had put it on vibrate whilst in the library, but now that it buzzed in my pocket, I pulled it out and looked at the caller ID.

Oh.

Gulping down a small lump, I took a deep breath, but then pressed answer. "Hi, mom."

"Cassy, sweetheart! How are you, dear? It's been too long."

I breathed a sigh of relief the instant I heard her voice. Oh, thank God. She was on her meds and appeared to be in a good mood. You could always tell on her voice.