Chapter Text
Charlie was very good at school. She really was.
As the Princess of Hell, she was expected to do well in almost every subject. Infernal Management, Demonic History and Mythology, Psychic Seduction, Dark Magic and Sorcery, Philosophy of Hell - Why No One Cares About Your Morals, Dark Art of Disguise, Qualitative Torture Methods and Curse Languages - Charlie was top of the class in all of them. That's what she was expected to do and that's what she did.
There was only one teeny, tiny, weeny school subject where she fell lower than her father did when he was banished from heaven - no, stop! That was tasteless. Charlie rowed right back with her thoughts, disgusted with herself.
Infernal alchemy.
The subject that caused her A grades to drop rapidly and put her in a position she really didn't want to be in. Which made this test, which she was to perform in front of the class, even more important. She had volunteered, hoping her teacher Miss Phisto would give her a pity A.
Yes, Charlie was that desperate by now.
But knowing her luck, it wouldn't come to that.
While Ms. Phisto stared at her phone, completely absent from the demonstration Charlie was putting on, as the princess herself stared, overwhelmed, at the pile of vials in front of her. She was holding a flask in her hand and was supposed to add it to her previous potion, but Charlie couldn't remember whether she should add ten drops or twenty? How would she know if the potion was right? Would it change color?
Desperately, Charlie flipped through the textbook again, sweat forming on her forehead. The stares of her classmates were fixed on her and didn't really help to ease any tension. In fact, they had the exact opposite effect. Charlie had the feeling that she was making an absolute fool of herself. She doubted her classmates would laugh at her directly, they had too much respect for Charlie's parents - not Charlie, her parents - but the princess didn't want to challenge it either.
"Ms. Morningstar, if you keep dawdling, I'm sure we'll all see the day that hell will freeze itself over," Ms. Phisto yawned nasally without really looking up from her smartphone. "If you can please be done with it?"
Okay, it was now or never. Charlie definitely didn't want to give her teacher any more reasons to give her a bad grade. So here it goes!... Right now... Go ahead!
After a sharp catch of breath, Charlie puffed out her chest and poured the liquid into the potion before remembering in a panic that she should only add a few drops. Her red eyes darted over to her teacher, who hadn't noticed the mistake, and then back to the potion, which surprisingly hadn't gone off yet. Instead, it bubbled ominously and a small wisp of smoke rose from the neck of the flask. The smell of sulphur filled the classroom and Charlie knew she had done something wrong. This was supposed to be a love potion, not a... whatever that was!
"Um..." the princess hummed indecisively as she scratched her chin. "It's smoking.”
Ms. Phisto yawned idly: " It's not supposed to. It's just supposed to change the color." She still didn't lift her eyes from the small screen and Charlie wondered if the adult realized that the classroom was turning into a gas chamber. The bottle was bubbling dangerously by now, making the vessel tremble, which was not necessarily a good omen.
"Yes, it was. But it hasn't changed color. It's smoking," she finally repeated, catching the attention of the teacher, who only took a quick glance at the potion, opened her snake-like eyes wide and jumped up to save what could still be saved. It wasn't much, though, as only moments later a loud bang shook the room, leaving not much but a loud beeping in the ears of those present, a mess in the classroom and soot-stained faces.
Charlie slowly ducked her head as her teacher slowly fixed her with her gaze.
"I don't think I need to clarify the position you're in, Ms. Morningstar, right?" - "Maybe not a A, but maybe a C, eh?" Charlie tried a pathetic attempt at a joke to lighten the situation. Her wide grin was forced and didn't even begin to reflect the panic she was feeling on the inside.
"Class is over. Ms. Morningstar, I would like to speak with you alone," Ms. Phisto announced without lifting her eyes from Charlie, who wanted to sink into the ground. Unable to keep her eyes on her teacher, she looked over at Octavia. The daughter of Ars Goetia only gave Charlie a sympathetic look as she shouldered her school bag and disappeared from the classroom with the other students.
The sooted door, which squeaked and creaked suspiciously loudly after the explosion, slammed shut, leaving only Charlie, her teacher and Charlie's hopes and dreams that she would somehow pass this subject.
Ms. Phisto, in her grand, sooty splendor, placed the chair behind her teacher's desk and took a seat before instructing Charlie to take her place in front of the desk. The princess dressed in her lab coat reluctantly followed this instruction. She expected a lecture, she expected flames to erupt from her teacher, but surprisingly, Ms. Phisto remained calm and collected. The scrawny woman with the snake hairstyle that often reminded Charlie of Medusa adjusted the glasses on her nose and looked at Charlie.
"Your Highness, you and I both know that your grades in this subject are not good. We also both know that you are at risk of failing and that you don't have much time left to correct it. The last thing I want and need is for the Princess of Hell, the daughter of Lucifer and Lilith, to fail my class. I'm sure you can well imagine what kind of light that casts on me as a teacher, right?"
"Sort of. But if I make it clear to everyone that I'm the one to blame..." - "...then everyone will think I manipulated you or am unable to admit my mistakes. Ms. Morningstar, you can twist and turn all you want, you will be the last one to be held accountable for your mistakes. At least in this building," Ms. Phisto interrupted her calmly. "I'm being honest. I don't know what to do with you anymore. I've given you every possible chance to improve your grades and all I've gotten is a tinnitus that's been lingering in my ear canals since your third explosion. My snakes haven't been able to rest for weeks and believe me, it's not pleasant. So... I assume you've already spoken to your parents about this?"
"Pfft! Yes, of course." - That was a lie. A flat-out lie. Charlie hadn't told her parents that she was at risk of failing because she'd hoped, and until this morning had been confident, that she could get out of it with today's test. She was also embarrassed to admit to her parents that her grades were so bad. Even though Charlie doubted they would yell at her, she didn't want to add to their stress. They had enough to deal with trying to control hell. Besides, how much damage could a little white lie do?
"And what do your parents have to say?" Fuck.
"Well..." Charlie let her fingers dance around each other as she avoided her teacher's gaze and looked for any point in the room that would keep her from looking directly at the person in front of her. Oh, look at that. That corner up there is still clean. Wasn't it? What a nice corner.
"They weren't happy about it and got me a private tutor," the princess murmured. Why did she keep lying? That never ended well. Stop lying, Charlie!
"Really? Since when?"
Don't lie. Tell the truth.
"A month." - What did we just talk about?!
"But it's not a particularly good teacher. Your performance hasn't improved," Ms. Phisto stated thoughtfully. "If you'd like, can I speak to your parents and give my recommendations for a tutoring session during the summer break? I'm sure we could cash in a few favors at the end of the vacations that you could get one more test to improve your grades so you can jump right into the new school year?" - "Oh, that's not necessary. Because my parents have suggested that if this test here goes wrong, I might get a homework assignment? Over the weekend, you know? My tutor will be there and he can help me. So I could make a potion over the weekend, get it signed off by my tutor that I've done it all myself and then bring it in on Monday?"
Charlie really wished at that moment that she could put herself over her knee. How the hell was she going to get out of this mess? Now she couldn't tell the truth without her teacher letting her parents know, and if her parents found out that Charlie was at risk of transferring and had lied to her and her teacher, she was fucked. No matter how understanding and loving her parents were. Charlie was finished. They would make up a retroactive abortion because of her. Oh no. That couldn't happen! But luckily Charlie still had a little ace up her sleeve.
Ms. Phisto looked at Charlie thoughtfully, obviously toying with the idea. A slight hissing could be heard from the snake on her head, which always became active when Ms. Phisto was seriously thinking about something. You could always tell from Ms. Phisto's snakes what was going on inside her.
Finally, she folded her hands on the table and smoothed her facial expressions into a calm expression. "It's unorthodox and breaks some rules, but I think I can make an exception in your case. Bring me a working love potion on Monday and you'll pass this class."
Charlie, though disgusted with herself and her lying, jumped up and down with joy. It took her quite a bit of restraint not to hug her teacher as she squealed with delight. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! I won't let you down, I promise!" The princess was about to rush out the door when the throat clearing of Ms. Phisto stopped her. With a wink, her teacher pointed to Charlie's seat in the classroom, where her pencil case and school bag were still lying.
"Oh, right." Charlie smacked her forehead with a chuckle, gathered her things and then disappeared out of the door, slamming it behind her with vigor. However, the princess didn't notice that the slam was the final blow to the door, which came off its hinges with a crash.