Aymee Parker B2 - The Cursed Mark

Chapter 42 : Ricochets

Tensions between the houses did not really ease for the rest of June. Aymee even noticed that the different houses all seemed to have made up their minds to grab as many points as possible before the end of the House Cup. Aymee found this competition quite useless. She couldn't see how the different houses could fill the gap of a good hundred points the Slytherins had made. However, Penelope was determined to restore Ravenclaw's image and pushed them all to study until they couldn't sleep.

They were supposed to be revising for the next day's exam, but Aymee was having a hard time getting really involved. The worst part was that she wasn't the only one. To her right, Megan was dyeing the ends of Astou's braids some kind of hyper-neon whitish purple. The musician had finally agreed to try a shade, only for a few days. Aymee glanced at Astou. She didn't look very enthusiastic about her new hair color. Aymee suspected her of having accepted only to try and alleviate Megan's mind and make her smile again. The rebel still hadn't digested what Beatrice had told her during potions.

"What did you answer to question eight?" Émilie suddenly asked.

"The one about Hogwarts motto?" Penelope checked.

"Oh, I skipped it," confessed Rosalie.

They were the only ones who managed to study. Aymee almost envied them. Having only end-of-year exams as a source of stress... The dream.

"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus," replied Penelope, throwing a disapproving look at Rosalie. "You should know that, though. It's written on the school's coat of arms and it's everywhere."

It was not an exaggeration. Aymee had wondered numerous times if the teachers were afraid the students would forget which school they were in.

"I wonder what that means," said Rosalie.

"Never tickle a sleeping dragon."

The girls looked at Aymee, and the latter blinked when she realized she had automatically translated the motto.

"What?"

"A dragon?" exclaimed Rosalie with a big smile.

"You speak Latin???" exclaimed Penelope and Émilie almost in unison.

"She might simply remember," Astou suggested.

Penelope shot her a look that clearly said, 'Really? Aymee? Remembering something?' Aymee didn't take it the wrong way. She completely agreed that she tended to get scattered and forget things easily. Aymee turned the pages of her history book curiously to try and change the subject.

"I wonder how they came up with this motto."

Megan snickered as she continued to dye Astou's hair.

"It was probably Gryffindor and Slytherin who gave each other a stupid challenge and Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had to go save their asses. Like, how they met and became friends. Their Origin Story."

"Ooooooooh," wondered Rosalie and Aymee with stars in their eyes.

Unfortunately for them, Penelope was not of this opinion.

"It's ridiculous! They were the four greatest wizards of their time! They—"

Penelope monologued them for most of the rest of the evening, telling them at length how the school had been founded away from the persecuting muggles and for all the wizarding children of the world. Aymee listened as best she could, knowing that this was exactly the revision she needed for the final history exam the next day. Alas, the half-blood got lost in thought several times, so once faced with the exam the next morning, it was a black hole. Aymee emerged from the room with even less energy than when she had entered it. The girls tried hard to reassure her, but their efforts were in vain. They all knew Aymee would never make it to top students.