Fire and the Flood - Charlie Weasley

Chapter 10

⭑ ⭒ ⭑ ⭒ Failings ⭑ ⭒ ⭑ ⭒

"Thanks, Hedwig." Newt says giving the bird a few treats and sending her off again.

She puts the letter from Sirius into the draw and closes it up locking it, she yelps when someone clears their throat, "Blimey, Draco, you scared the living day light out of me."

"Oh, uh- Sorry, Professor," He mumbles, "Can I come in?"

She nods beckoning him over to her desk where he stands awkwardly in front of, "Is there something I can help you with?"

"You failed me."

"What?"

He holds up his parchment and pushes it towards her, "You failed me." He repeats.

She sighs and takes the parchment from him, "Draco, this isn't a fail-"

"You don't understand, Professor, I'm supposed to get at least an 'E' in every subject or-"

"Draco," She says cutting him off, "You got this grade because you just copied this work from a book."

He sighs looking down at his feet, "The homework was, 'In your own words describe what Magical Creature you relate to and why.' You chose a Dragon, you didn't explain to me why you thought you related to this Creature."

She sighs as Draco looks down at his feet, this is one of his favourite classes, and the Professor, although he wouldn't care to admit it, is his favourite teacher. And not just because she was a Slytherin in her school years.

"Look, Draco," She says getting up and standing in front of him, "You're smart, you're top of my class, and you work well, but when someone asks for your own opinion... poof, no work, nothing, nada. You have to start making your own choices, you have to think for yourself, you can't let your parents choose everything for you."

"Can I re-write it?" He asks hopefully.

Newt shakes her head and his hopeful smile vanishes, "No, but," She drawls out making his head snap upwards, "You can do better on your next task. If you do better it will show you're trying, it'll show you are working hard to improve your work."

"Okay, thank you, Professor."

~~~~~

Newt walks through the castle ground, book in her face as she mumbles out her research, Pickett, who was supposed to be going home with her grandfather over a month ago, sits on her shoulder holding onto a strand of her hair for support.

"Professor!" A voice calls after her.

She stops and turns to see Draco running towards her with his hand searching through his bag, "I know you said I couldn't get a new score, but I decided to take your advice and do something for myself."

He hands her the paper and she shoves her small notebook into her back pocket, "Can you just read it? Please?"

He looks down at his feet avoiding her eye and she smiles lightly as she quickly reads the first few paragraphs, "A peacock?"

He nods with a shrug, "I did some research, and found a few similarities between me and them, they're also on my family crest. Did you now that it's the male that are more colourful?"

He looks up finally meeting her eyes and she pats him on the shoulder, "I'll read it over," She promises, "But this still doesn't get you a new grade, not yet."

He nods his head quickly and mutters a quick 'thanks' to the professor before jogging away quickly.