Dragged to Shore

Phoebe's day had not gone well. Her amazing, flawless and exciting idea to brew a potion with her best friend had gone completely wrong. And it had been all on her. If she hadn't dropped the porquipine quills in too early, Professor Pendleton would never have caught them. Though 'caught' might not be the right wording. If she was honest, it was more like 'rescued'.

The worst part of this all was Veronica. She was so upset, and Phoebe felt both a little annoyed with her and bad for her. The only thing she herself cared about right now was not getting suspended or expelled. Anything else she could deal with. Veronica seemed to think getting in trouble was horrible, and Phoebe wondered if she'd never been caught doing something she shouldn't have been. Still, she found it silly to be punished at all. After all, all she had tried to do was learn new things. She had been ahead of any others in her year. Well, she would have been if the potion hadn't failed horribly.

Professor Pendleton brought them to Professor Cliffeton's office after taking them to the hospital wing to be patched up, and they were waiting for their verdict. Phoebe gave Veronica a small, reassuring smile. "It's okay, I bet he'll be easy on us as he probably wants Ravenclaw to win." She said quietly, hoping it would reassure her.

Veronica tried very hard not to itch at the new patches of skin that had been quickly regrown on her arms in the hospital wing, but it was hard to do when she was desperately trying to distract herself from the punishment she and Phoebe were about to face from their Head of House. She'd never... she hadn't ever done anything in her life to warrant such serious disapproval of her actions and she didn't quite know what she should do about it. Say sorry, certainly, she thought, her fingers once again skimming over the gauze patches that provided a protective layer between her nails and the still slightly pink skin. The burning sensation had stopped a while ago, but she imagined that she could still feel it, stinging and prickling along her arm. She would deserve it, Veronica thought miserably.

Glancing at Phoebe through the curtain of her hair, she was also worried that she'd done something to upset her friend - beyond the obvious, of course. She'd known how much it had meant to Phoebe to brew the potion, and feeling like she'd failed her was for Veronica almost worse than the prospect of whatever trouble they were about to be in. Or maybe it was all the same horrible feeling, curling up inside her and keeping her in a perpetual state of unhappiness and worry. Perhaps Phoebe sensed something, because the other girl chose that moment to look over and try to give her some semblance of reassurance. Veronica felt her own smile was rather weak in return. "Maybe..." She wasn't as sure about it as Phoebe sounded, but at least this meant that her friend probably didn't hate her. Yet anyway, as they still had yet to find out exactly what their punishment would be.