Matthews, now there was an intriguing first year. She'd been quite the sharp-eyed girl until her unfortunate disappearance. It had been good to have her back, but Professor Storm couldn't help but agree with the more sensitive and flamboyant amongst his colleagues that the whole incident had taken the wind out of Lucy's sails.

Naturally, he'd let the others fawn over her first in whatever way worked in their eyes. Pastries, chats with Maiko, smiles, positive greetings of how lovely it was to have her back had all undoubtedly been and gone.

So it was time to execute his own intervention, by issuing Matthews with a summons. No explanation, a summons. It arrived to her at dinner via a prefect, and now it was eight, she was attending his office.

Seated in the chair the other side of his desk, the Deputy Headmaster fixed the Gryffindor with his usual critical look, only when across a single desk, alone, it did anything but make the recipient feel comfortable. But Matthews was made of stern stuff.

"Since your return, I have been less than pleased with your work in Defence Against the Dark Arts," the Professor began, steepling his hands, elbows resting on the arms of his desk chair.

"Last term," he continued, "you showed promise, but lately," he lowered his chin and raised an eyebrow ever so slightly, "you have disappointed." 

He let the statement sink in.
"Your other Professors may have fussed over you, if you let them, but abduction or not, I still expect the best out of you. So how, Matthews, are we to rectify this? You are capable of much, and I will not let you rest on your laurels." He tapped two fingers to the edge of his desk as he spoke the emphasised words, and leaned forward expectantly.

Lucy didn't want to be summoned. She never wanted to be summoned. She wanted to float under the radar, and for that to be that. She wanted to skirt through the remainder of the year, get out of this school, and get home to her brother, his girlfriend, and whatever was new with him. It was the lone thoughts of Devlin that helped her get through class every day, ignore the infancy of her classmates, and even fall asleep at night. It was the idea that he was there. That he was waiting, and that for once in her life, someone missed her as much as she missed them.

So, being summoned meant that she was daydreaming a little too much, and was lost in her head a little too much as well. Well. Being summoned by Storm was even more problematic. That was how she knew she really screwed up. No note, no explanation. It was an order, thats all. To get her arse down to his office and keep quiet through her meeting.

God, she wanted to get out of here.

She sat there with a stone cold face as he told her how she was disappointing, not going to amount to anything, blah, blah, blah. She stopped paying attention mere seconds after stepping into the office. He kept talking about laurels or some stuff like that, she was really a poor listener, and she nodded. "No, sir. I agree. I got lazy and I haven't been putting in the effort. I'm sorry to disappoint, and I'll work extra hard in the coming months to make you proud,"

Lies.

If there was one thing Lucy was very good at, it was lying. Well, when she felt like putting in the effort, she could really pull the wool over your eyes. Right now? There was no effort. Storm would see through it anyway. "Can I go now?" She said. "Or do you want me to sign some contract with some blood saying i'll try harder. Sorry I got abducted and threw a wrench into your plans, Storm."

Matthews had a face like she'd taken a good mouthful of sour milk. Then again, he couldn't name many students who would enjoy being sat in that chair.

"No, sir. I agree. I got lazy and I haven't been putting in the effort. I'm sorry to disappoint, and I'll work extra hard in the coming months to make you proud."

The response sounded automatic as if it had been spewed out by one of the Ministry's spokespeople. Matthews was conducting herself in a most automatic manner, going through the necessary motions.

"Can I go now? Or do you want me to sign some contract with some blood saying I'll try harder. Sorry I got abducted and threw a wrench into your plans, Storm."

Ah, there it was.

He let the words sit for a second or two longer than he might normally.

"Professor, Matthews."

The corrective phrase was ironic in that he could call Lucy by her surname alone, yet she could not do the same to him. Small mercies.

"And some blood, well, I'd only accept your own if you were to sign a contract with me. Magically binding, you see." He sat back in his chair, content that Matthews was not impressed with his humouring.

"No, you cannot go. That was an awfully poor attempt to lie. There weren't even apologetic tears. Those are often at they very least, entertaining." He gave a little shrug, considering the number of times he'd reduced students to tears.

"Was being abducted a wrench in your plans, Matthews?"

Lucy sat bored as she was corrected. "My bad, Professor," she threw back, the title laced with attitude. She had an attitude problem. Anyone who met her knew it, and she loved it. It allowed her to have fun and scare people who weren't man enough to take it. Storm, of course, was a fine person to sass. She honestly liked storm. She thought it was fun to watch him scare everyone else. Once you got over the fact that the worst he could do was throw you in detention, he got a lot less scary.

She wasn't afraid of him at all, for Lucy had seen a lifetime of bad things in only eleven years. Not much scared her anymore after seeing her father drunk and angry, swinging his fists around. Nothing was scarier than being held against her will and having her life threatened on a daily basis. No, there wasn't much that scared the young Matthews.

She looked up to see that storm was finishing his lecture. God, she was happy she toned that one out. "Sorry sir, I'll try to fake cry for you next time. I've been told I'm a great sad actress. Great for getting pity," she said. And then she smiled a snarky smile.

"Yeah, you know, it kinda did. I was trying to warm up to this whole magic thing and then I get to see the worst that magic can lead to. You know, then I can't fit in, and on top of it all, this lead my brother into turning himself in, which meant he got locked up, which is awesome if you can't tell," her voice was laced with sarcasm. "On top of it all, there were rumors and gossip, and it was about me, oh, and then I'm not doing well in classes because I actually missed class, and couldn't get legible notes from anyone smart which meant that my grades suck, and all of that lead me here," she said. That was a mouthful.

"So, yeah, I'm going to go with it screwed me up a little. And you, Mr. Storm? How did it mess up your plans?" She was perfectly happy to play with storm. To pick. To prod. He was one of those teachers who was way too much fun to push all the way off the edge. And it made you smile when you succeeded.

Such spirit, it had to be admired, even if it felt rather misplaced against him. Matthews was of the belief that he couldn't hurt her, and to a point, she was correct. But even though the tales of him playing a game of poison with the seventh years, and near drowning Georgiana Trishna in the sink, people still believed he'd not overstepped any mark.

"On top of it all, there were rumours and gossip, and it was about me, oh, and then I'm not doing well in classes because I actually missed class…"

Despite her sarcastic front to the retelling of her recent weeks, it did rather sound like Matthews was confiding in why she was so very acidic of late, even more than she'd been before. It was little wonder, no plain sailing for her.

"… So yeah, I'm going to go with it screwed me up a little. And you, Mr. Storm? How did it mess up your plans?"

"Well," began the Professor, appearing to give it serious thought, "It did involve a rather inordinate amount of of paperwork for a start. Then there was the press to field, and the aurors who wanted to know how by Merlin we'd let you slip." He propped his elbow on the arm of his chair, and rested his chin in his hand, looking at Lucy eventually.

"Hardly any time to consider that you might have been in danger, or hurt. Truth be told, the paperwork for you turning up dead would have been about three pages shorter in total than what it was when you returned, still very much alive."

The corner of his mouth curled in a smirk and he blinked slowly.

"Are you feeling smothered with concern from the Professors? Has Kesali fed you baking, and Madam Biladeau-Yukawa offered a quiet ear in her office and tea?" He asked, "Dreadful. Well, it works for some."

He sat forward and his lips curled into a disconcerting smirk.

"Not my style."



End