Youth Can Be So Cruel

Meegan watched Lyall open her mouth, about to say something. She looked absolutely terrified by the entire matter, which was a good sign. If she wasn't, then Meegan was not doing her job properly, and if she wasn't doing her job properly, then she had wasted many years of her life trying. She was handling this situation only slightly different than what was normal.

However, the victim's words were cut off by the warning bell, and she disappeared in the crowd. Meegan cursed quietly to herself--this would be a definite harm to her plan, because it gave Lyall time to think over things, to get some bravery and some anger worked up. She stood a chance at rebelling, now. This could be extremely detrimental. The good news was, Meegan still had blackmail material.

Lyall had never been so glad for classes to be in session. She walked through the crowds of people in the school, heading off to Herbology. While the class gave the students a fair chance to interact Lyall had the idea in mind that Meegan would not bother her in a room full of other people, lest she risk being overheard or exposed.

She walked outside, where it was just beginning to drizzle rain, heading to the greenhouse. She shivered slightly, half from the cold water hitting her face and half from the encounter she had just escaped.

Lyall walked through the clear door of the greenhouse, behind a group of people who were talking away about some unimportant, trivial matter. They were obviously blind to the major issues in the word, as Lyall caught the words 'boyfriend' and 'break-up'. Stupid, typical teenage problems.

Lyall walked over to where she usually sat when in this class, and removed her bag from her shoulder, laying it on the ground beside her. The heaviness of her books had made her shoulder sore.

Her head turned as she heard the door open and saw Meegan walk in the greenhouse, going to the side opposite of Lyall, which served to strengthen her hope that Meegan would leave her alone for the duration of the class.

Lyall tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear, and looked at the teacher as she started up the lesson. "Everyone get out your gloves. Today we will be learning about and dealing with a poisonous plant. This plant has three names: acconite, monkshood, and wolfsbane."

This made Lyall frown. Oh, the irony of the situation.

Meegan walked to the greenhouse at her own pace. The teachers all loved her, and she could easily get away with walking into class late. Thus, she enjoyed her time in the drizzling, gloomy weather, seemingly oblivious to the feelings it should instill in her. She was feeling pretty good about herself, although she was a bit angry with the bell's terrible timing. It was hardly her fault that Lyall got away, she told herself. There was absolutely nothing she could do about it. She still managed to corner Lyall, and worm a validation out of her. That in itself was a start. Now that she had a verification of her thoughts, she could easily use that in the future, and pinning her against the wall again shouldn't take much effort. She could see in Lyall's eyes that she was terrified. It was the shining fear in her eyes which made Meegan's life worthwhile.

Meegan walked into Herbology, strolling in and deliberately sitting on the opposite side of the room to Lyall. Lyall wouldn't expect anything in class, because there were so many people around. However, Meegan knew that there were always chances for private chatting in Herbology, when they started with the actual practical application of what they were learning. Nevertheless, allowing Lyall to put her guard down was perfect, as it made Meegan's life much easier. If she expected nothing, when the unexpected happened, it would be that much harder to deal with.

The lesson began, and Meegan laughed to herself at the irony, while keeping her face passive and bored (unless Professor Sprout looked over, in which case she sent a bright, beaming smile her way). They were studying wolfsbane, a plant she was sure that Lyall was quite familiar with. It was perfect the way that Snape and Sprout planned the lessons--they overlapped, creating the potential to make Lyall even more uncomfortable. This would be perfect.

Lyall sighed quietly to herself as the teacher told everyone to get out their books and turn to the page with the plant on it. She did so herself, wondering if maybe the world was just out to get her or something unpleasant like that.

Professor Sprout covered the information about the plant and then set the class to studying a sample of the plant individually. They had to label certain parts of it in a diagram and then write down any observations they made about it.

The class had to label a diagram and write down observations for the wolfsbane plant. Meegs finished her work quickly, and then went to seek out Lyall. Meegs was in the mood to taunt someone--not that she ever really needed to be in a specific mood to do that, anyway. She was glad that the topics coincided in potions and herbology--it gave her that much more chance to prolong the horrors she was going to put Lyall through. After all, they wouldn't be done with the material until the end of the year, when finals were done. It gave her that much more chance to make her blackmail material more evident, and basically shove it in Lyall's face.

She walked up to Lyall. "Interesting class, wouldn't you say?"

Lyall worked on the assignment slowly, not really having much drive to do it. She could easily have finished it quickly, but then she would just be sitting there for the rest of the lesson. Pacing herself kept her hands and her mind occupied. At least, until Meegan made her way over.

Ly looked up from her work as the girl asked her a question. "I suppose," she answered, staying cool and calm. "Could be better."

"I suppose. Could be better."

She kept her tone even, but Meegs knew that she had the upper hand in this situation. She had all the cards, and although Lyall kept up the pretense of being calm and composed, Meegan knew that Lyall knew that she had already lost. In their conversation before class, Lyall had pretty much signed over her fate to Meegan, and Meegan drove a very hard bargain. With her, contracts were very loosely made--the other person had to keep their end, but she did not have to keep hers. Such was the wonder of being in control.

"Oh?" Meegan said, amusement in her voice. "I've been having a rather good day, I would actually say. Isn't wolfsbane just fascinating? I do rather like plants with such interesting magical properties. I mean, they tend to be so useful in potions and such. It's amazing that wolfsbane studies lined up so well in potions and herbology, wouldn't you say?"

Lyall simply shrugged. "Maybe the teachers talk when they set up lessons, so we're not learning things all over the place," she suggested, going back to working on her assignment slowly. "It only makes sense after all. Keep the students from blowing up from overload of random knowledge."

She was surprised at how cool she was acting, but it was paying off. No one was paying them any mind.

Lyall kept up the act much better than many would have, Meegan gave her credit for that. It was much better that way, because they drew so much less attention. Meegan was in control of the situation as long as no one else got involved. The good thing was, it was very unlikely that Lyall would want to get anyone else involved, because the more people that knew about the situation, the more people knew that Lyall was a werewolf. The more people that people knew that Lyall was a werewolf, the higher the chances that word would get out to the general public. This meant humiliation and torture for Lyall, who much preferred to be on her own, and likely couldn't stand the constant heckling. No, Lyall would stay quiet, at least for the time being.

Meegan chuckled, "I doubt anyone could really prevent that. Students were born to have their brains explode, whether the teachers coordinate lesson plans or not. However, you're probably right. It would be rather coincidental, otherwise, and the Hogwarts teachers are not big on random coincidences. It is probably planned."

Lyall shrugged lightly. "Was there anything specific you wanted? Because I have work that I need to finish," she said, frowning at Meegan. "And you are distracting me."

She looked down at her barely finished labeling and her short list of observations. Really, she'd rather just not deal with them, but apparently she was going to have to for a grade.

"Was there anything specific you wanted? Because I have work that I need to finish, and you are distracting me."

Meegs raised an eyebrow. "I know just as well as you do that you know that plant very well. I think that really, you could zip through that worksheet in about ten minutes, and we have thirty minutes left in class. You'll be perfectly fine. Besides, you never talk to anyone," Meegs said, not unkindly, for her at least. "I thought I could give you a bit of company, and I figured that if you didn't like it, you would get over it." That was not said kindly.

It was true, though. There was absolutely no reason that Lyall had NOT to talk to Meegan, besides personal dislike. Well, Meegs supposed, that could be a major reason, and it actually made a lot of sense. However, Meegs never let personal feelings get in the way of a job. It was unprofessional in an actual career, and it was unprofessional in her job of making people suffer. There was no way that it made logical sense to get attached to your victim, and to let them off easy. It was a waste of all the energy it took to get them in a compromising position.