Starry skies and Gardenias

Chapter 94

Horace Slughorn had never seen Isabella Jefferson panic before, but that was exactly what was happening at the moment. 

He had been the first one to recover from the shock, and try to minimize the damage as much as possible. 

Isabella didn't seem to be in a condition to work.

In his long teaching career, Professor Slughorn had come across many students who had a mental breakdown, stressed about various things, sometimes panicking about their O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s, or even a Quidditch match. 

But Isabella's hysteria was entirely on another level.

Isabella would say it was perfectly justified. 

She had always had her plans working for her. All her life she had made plans for the future and stuck to it. 

She didn't do all that whimsical nonsense, no happy-go-lucky crap, no wing-it bullshit.
It was always, carefully devised, well-thought-out, foolproof plans with the probability of success being no less than ninety-four per cent. 

And after she read the books, she had come up with a plan. She took her time, built it carefully, considered all the aspects, made sure she didn't overlook everything, analysed all different situations and came up with plausible outcomes and then charted out the best solution for all of it. 

She had built a glorious tower, an elaborate mechanism, where every little action she would make was planned and calculated, heading for the greater good. 

And at that moment, she could see it all crumbling and crashing to the floor right before her very eyes. 

Because Regulus Black was a fucking cat now!!!

"Miss Jefferson," Slughorn said worriedly. "Please, calm down, dear,"

He had taken the cat, which he supposed was Regulus, seeing as the cat was lying unconscious in the middle of the robes. 

The cat was lying on the table at the moment, still unconscious, but it was free of the disaster of a potion that had caused this mess in the first place.

Slughorn had made sure to clean the classroom, and was wondering what to do with the situation. He couldn't try to whip up a solution until Isabella calmed down, since she was the only person who knew the situation. 

He looked up from the cat at the girl who was pacing the classroom, yabbering rapidly to herself.

"No," Isabella whispered. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!"

"This can't be happening, this isn't happening. . .Yes, this is just a dream, one of those weird-ass dreams and when I wake it'll all be done,"

"Yes," she repeated and brought both her hands to her cheeks, before slapping them hard. 

She gave a squeak of pain, and clutched at her red cheeks. 

"Not a dream, not a dream," she said in a panicked whisper. "It's not a dream!! What do I do? . . Jump into the lake, yes, sounds about right, and drown Black with me while I'm at it. Not too different from how he's going to die anyway,"

"This can't be happening," she said shaking her head vigorously. "No. It just can't. There must be something. Spells reversals?"

She stopped pacing, raised her wand and pointed it at the cat. 

"Finite incantatem," she said. Nothing happened.

"Reparifarge!"

That didn't work at all.