Nikki Potter: A Heart's Choice

Chapter thirteen

Nikki stared down at the parchment, she had her quill in one hand and her other was nervously pulled at the sleeve of her robes. The room was remotely quiet, only the sound from quills scratching against the parchment and the soft tapping that came from the Professor.

There was an surprise quiz in History of Magic, a class that Nikki wasn't good at to begin with, so having this quiz was something she was not prepared for. When she looked at the questions, she felt like she should know them, but the answers didn't seem to come to her.

Nikki could only seem to think about what happened earlier in the day, she hasn't been able to think of anything else since then. And even now, it still terrified her, she didn't know what she do or what would happen if she bumped into Severus again today.

She had not even caught a glimpse since she confessed to Severus that she loved him, and when she asked if anyone else had seen him, no one did. Had he gone off somewhere to think? Or was he now avoiding her?

“Time is up” announced the Professor, making Nikki bite her lip. She had one unanswered question, and the rest she had no clue if they were correct or not, but she couldn't correct them or finish it now, she hated having an unfinished quiz.

Nikki watched as everyone's pieces of parchment floated into a neatly stacked pile on the Professor's desk, while everyone got up from their seats, Nikki sat there for a moment longer. She didn't want to run into Severus, but she also didn't want to go back to the common room to deal with James.

Just as she slowly got up from the chair, Nikki's eyes flickered to the front of the classroom “Miss Potter, may I have a word with you for a moment?” asked the Professor, making Nikki's stomach drop down to her feet.

Instead of saying a word, Nikki just nodded and walked up to the Professor's desk, ignoring the looks from the students that were still leaving the classroom “ Is everything alright, Professor?” asked Nikki, her voice had barely any emotion in it.

“You have seemed very distracted lately” stated the Professor, peering up at Nikki from the stack of papers “And your grade has been slipping, its worse than it was last year” added the Professor before asking “Is everything okay?”

With a bit of hesitation, Nikki forced a small smile and nodded “Yeah, everything is alright” Nikki lied, hoping that her Professor would buy it “Its just that I miss my parents” she said quickly, when the Professor gave her a questioning look, that wasn't entirely the reason why she was distracted, but it was one reason.

There was a long silence while the Professor studied Nikki's face, searching for any signs of a lie, after a few moments the professor sighed “ I think you need to find a tutor, this is an important year, its when you begin studying for the O.W.Ls and if you keep the work you have been in this class you will fail.” the Professor said

Those words made Nikki tense up, she never had to worry about failing before, she always had barely passing grades, but she never had failing grades before “Oh.” she managed to say, but she nodded “ I can see if one of James' friends can help, or maybe Lily Evans will help me.” added Nikki, she rather not James help her.

The Professor nodded “Just make sure you get your grade up, you may go” said the Professor, with a dismissive waved. Nikki said nothing and just turned and left the classroom, with what the Professor said echoing inside her mind.