The One with the Hesitation to Comply [ Joy + Xerena ]
@ravenrena
The news came in the form of a folded parchment that Professor Trelawney handed her during class, the older woman’s eyes hidden behind her thick eyeglasses a little pitying and moist. That expression Joy understood quite well because she usually looked at First Years that way, and well, she knows herself the best. However, it did not register at first why Trelawney was looking at her that way.
It only made sense when she pulled the flaps of the parchment open, and saw the red, glaring C printed on the upper right corner.
Indignant, as usual, and barely calm, Joy approached Professor Trelawney right after class. (She had another class right after this, but hey, an ‘F’ is an injustice! You all know how Joy works hard!) With an imperious air about her that was the characteristic of her being a pureblood Slytherin through and through, she handed the professor the paper. “Change it,” she said.
Trelawney looked at her with wide eyes – as if her eyeglasses has not widened them enough. “Pardon, Miss Ackermann?”
“Change the score. This is not an appropriate enough score for me. This essay is stellar, Professor Trelawney,” Joy said, calm voice edging on insistent. She had spent three hours last night crafting this essay, and that was on top of an exam she had for Arithmancy. Why must these electives be more demanding than actual major subjects? “It could very well be an A.”
Professor Trelawney just continued to stare at her. ”You wrote an essay about the practical uses of Divination, Miss Ackermann, and you expounded mainly on it not being a practical term of study. It is… quite disappointing, because it is a well-written essay, but there are two things wrong with it. Firstly, you wrote without citing proper sources, and second, you didn’t answer the question.“
And so, Joy found herself trudging to the Library where Professor Trelawney adviced her tutor would meet her. Tutor, she thought with disgust. She had never needed a tutor before, and she most certainly did not need a tutor now. She can handle Divination just fine. Maybe she has gotten a little distracted by the guide questions for their Potions homework which she has worked on alongside the Divination essay, but that did not mean she was a poor student. Only poor students needed tutors, after all, and Joy Ackermann was as brilliant as they come.
She wondered, though, how this Ravenclaw tutor Professor Trelawney suggested to her would help her. After all, Trelawney did say that her papers were brilliant and argumentative, but lacked enough credibility and were oftentimes too argumentative that it fails to prove a point. That was a detrimental aspect, and so she was, even though secretly, a little excited to start this tutorial sessions.
Just let it be that this person doesn’t completely get into Joy’s way of handling academics, then maybe she could deign the horror of being a tutee.