To a charming year

[Madeleine Backus]

The school was quiet, the exams were over for the day and most students were outside enjoying the sunshine before the bell rang for dinner. The inside of the school was cool and dark, a stark contrast to the bright summer sun outside, and the humidity that was still rising, despite being after 3pm. Maddie’s exam had been over at 12 noon, and she had gone immediately down to the kitchens to finish the fine macarons that she had been making as a thank you to Professor Mabbit. While not exactly the warmest of people, Maddie appreciated the fact that she had allowed her to run the charms club this year, and been a font of wisdom to Maddie’s endless questions and clarifications.

After adding a thin layer of swiss buttercream, in various flavours, to the macaron shells, before halving them and adding them to the box she had set aside for just this purpose. In reality the box was a drab plain brown paper creation, utilitarian in the extreme – her modest pocket money would not extend to something more lavish. However, Maddie had added a few charms to the container to brighten it up. It now glittered slightly, and surface rippeled with a silver veined design that ran over the surface like a drop of water over a pane of glass. A strand of self tying ribbon made a very pretty finish. The sweets themselves were flavour chocolate, pistachio, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry and treacle toffee respectively in a repeating pattern until the number in the box equalled 25. A last charm, a preserving spell, had been added to ensure freshness, should her professor not feel like eating them all in one sitting.

Maddie rapped on the door of the charms classroom, and when she was bidden to enter, pushed open the door. ’Good afternoon Professor Mabbit’ she greeted her Professor brightly, and with a pleasant smile. ’I eh…just came to drop these off, you, know…for the end of the year’


@'Maude Mabbit'

  

[Maude Mabbit]

Maude was tired. Far be it from her to admit as much to anyone, but she was tired. The year had taken more of a toll on her than she had anticipated, though it hadn't been so very long since she had been in the classroom at Vipond; one would think she would have remembered it, if she had felt this exhausted before. Perhaps she really was getting old -- though that would never deter her from continuing her work. If nothing else, she had to at least outlast Violet and Harriet before she threw in the towel!

The last of her personal odds and ends flitted through the air into the box she'd brought to the classroom with her; it was only a few more days until she'd have to return to London, and Maude was not one to leave anything to the last minute. Most of the students' charms exams were done with, so she was granted a rare moment of peace -- until a soft knock on the door shattered it.

"Come in," she called, a little begrudgingly. She half expected a tearful student come to beg for tutoring in their eleventh hour before the exam, but instead Miss Backus appeared, carrying a box. Privately, Maude was relieved -- Miss Backus seemed to have a good head on her shoulders and a talent for charms; exactly the sort of student that would go far, if she maintained her discipline. Mabbit was never the sort to show her partiality, though; she spared the Hufflepuff only a small glance as she guided her belongings into their temporary home.

"Oh? And what might this be, Miss Backus?"

@'Madeleine Backus' so sorry for the wait >.<

  

[Madeleine Backus]

Maddie smiled at the professor, she wasn’t nearly as forbidding in Maddie’s eyes as she was in many other students. Possibly because Maddie worked damn hard for her grades, and was genuinely interested. She thought that it must be very dis heartening for a teacher to work so hard on their students and trying to teach a subject they loved to those less interested. She would find it terrible hard to run the charms club if people were forced to attend and had really no interest in being there.

To the professors question she answered, ’Macarons professor, I thought I’d say thank you for your help this year’ while she hadn’t struggled with the work she had asked a lot of questions and the Professor had always obliged her with an answer or a place to find the answer for herself. She was still a little self conscious of the book the macarons came in, she didn’t doubt that the Charms professor would realise they there the result of charms work and that the box was neither expensive nor very fine. She hoped that the contents would more than make up for it.

’Do you have any plans for the summer Professor?’


@'Maude Mabbit'