Harry Potter and The Mirror's Gift

Chapter 16

The exams flew by faster than Harry expected. Before he knew it, it was the night before the last exam, which was Potions, to be held the following morning.

That night, most of the students were ready to unwind a bit. Only Neville was still sitting in a corner, anxiously trying to study. He was obviously afraid that the disaster that had occurred the previous year would repeat itself.

"You'll do fine, Neville," said Harry, trying to encourage him. "Last year you'd have done well, only Malfoy sabotaged you."

Neville still didn't look comforted.

"Something always happens," he said, his eyes still glued to his Potions textbook. "Jeanne and I worked on almost nothing but Potions this year. I don't want to let her down. This is the last chance I have to do well, for her."

"Last chance?" said Harry. "What do you mean?"

Neville looked up, surprised.

"Don't you know? Well, Professor Flynn probably won't be here next year – he'll have finished his research here. I guess if he leaves, Jeanne will probably follow him."

Something clicked in Harry's mind.

"So that's what she meant," he said to himself. "She said, 'Time is running out'; she was wondering whether to go after Flynn, and she knew only had a few months to do it, because he was going to leave."

Harry had his chance to be angry with Jeanne earlier than he expected. Around ten that evening, a tiny owl flew in through the common room window and over to Harry, depositing a letter in his lap.

Ron looked shocked.

"That's my owl!" he said.

Pigwidgeon hopped onto Ron's shoulder, and gave him a peck on the ear.

Harry opened the letter. He looked angry after reading it, and crumpled it up and tossed it aside.

"What is it, Harry?" asked Hermione, anxiously.

"Jeanne," said Harry shortly. "Says she wants to see me."

"Why is she using Pig?" asked Ron indignantly. "He's never around nowadays. I've hardly seen him during the last few months, since the Easter holidays."

Harry was still looking angry. Hermione, seeing this, asked timidly, "Aren't you going to see her?"

"No," said Harry shortly. He looked at Pigwidgeon, who was still nibbling Ron's ear.

"You can tell her, the answer is no," he said to the tiny owl. "Tell her I don't want to see her!"

Pigwidgeon cocked his head to one side, looking at Harry. Then, he fluttered out of the window in a blur of feathers.

Ten minutes later, there was another flutter of wings, and a scops owl flew in the window, landing in front of Harry. It blurred, and Jeanne was standing there. There was a sudden hush in the common room, as everyone turned to look at her.

"Harry, I need to talk to you," she said, looking directly at him. "Outside."

Harry felt the anger rising in him. Now was his chance to tell her off.

Once they were outside, she turned to face him. There was a flicker of anguish in her eyes when she saw how angry he looked, but her voice was steady when she spoke.