DISCLAIMER: I am not JK Rowling
"Can anyone tell me what the purpose of the usage of nonverbal spells?" Snape drawled, bordering on exasperation. While Hermione's hand shot into the air like like a Wild-Fire Whiz-Bang, Alli waited a moment before raising her hand. Several students had looked flummoxed since entering the classroom on the first day of that year; among them, the less harassed Slytherins, were serpents who wore cool looks of disinterest. "Anyone?" he sighed. "Miss Fontaine?"
"If your opponant can't hear your attack, they won't immediately see it coming and know how to block or reciprocate," she spouted, her voice a little higher than usual from nervousness.
"Indeed," he answered through tight lips, looking agitated. "If one uses a nonverbal curse, jinx, or charm on one's opponent, the opponent will not see the defense coming before it happens; they will have less of an opportunity to—put it away!" he hissed at Seamus Finnegan.
"Yes, sir," he muttered, pocketing a note that he'd been scribbling for Parvati.
"As I was saying," he enunciated. "The opponent will have less of an opportunity to block the spell, perform a counter-curse, or reciprocate in a more effective way. If one's opponent is a particularly skilled Legilimens, they will be able to access all of your memories of previous duels. This would allow for finding patterns, curses you use often," he stared down his nose at Harry Potter. "If you are practiced enough, there will hardly—I thought I said to put it away, Finnegan! Give it to me," he stretched a hand in front of Seamus, who was blushing furiously, visible despite the poor lighting.
Clutching the note in his fist, he tossed it onto his desk. "What I was attempting to say…" he trailed off, glaring. "There would hardly be a need to learn Occlumency for such instances. To be able to successfully cast a nonverbal spell, you must focus completely," he spat the last two words, and again, he looked at Harry with reproach. "If you are doing so properly, you need only think the spell and point your wand."
The entire class stared blankly.
"Well? Why aren't you practicing?" he growled, turning on his heel and disappearing into his office. A few people in the class stood awkwardly with bent legs and shifty expressions. The remainder of the sitting followed suit, people giving each other uncomfortable looks and pairing off.
"Hey, babycakes," Gianna addressed Alli with wild eyes and an intensely forced smiled.
"Hey," Alli was alert now that she wasn't being lulled by Snape's monotonous voice. "Let's work over here," she pointed to the single clear spot in front of Snape's desk. She stood prepared for Gianna's attempt at disarming. The pair stood so close to Blaise and Draco that with each movement of Allison's, her hood brushed against Draco's hood. "Hold on," she whispered, mouthing that Gianna should look as if she were concentrating. She stared up at the door to Snape's office, still closed, and glanced at his desk. "Accio note," she murmured. The crumpled parchment flew into her waiting hand, pushing it deep into the pocket of her robe. "Alright," she nodded.
Eyes half-lidded in concentration, Gianna waved her wand in Alli's direction.
Alli stared down at her wand; it made a soft movement in the direction of Snape's desk. Waving her wand more pronouncedly, Gianna tried again. Alli's eyes went wide with surprise at her wand; with an abrupt jerk, it fell to the floor. She let out a low hoot in approval, clapping quietly before making any movement to retrieve her wand. She turned and tried to spot it on the cool, stone floor.
"Yours?" inquired a cool voice, her gold-flecked wand in his left hand. Alli nodded.
"Thanks," she smiled meekly and accepted it before turning back to Gianna, simultaneous to Draco's movement to turn away.
"Your turn," Gianna sang.
Snape had appeared as suddenly as a ghost, gliding behind students. "Nonverbal, Weasley! That means you don't say it aloud," he snarled. "Five points from Gryffindor."
Nervously, Alli inhaled through her nose, focusing everything within her consciousness on disarming Gianna and pushing Snape's presence over her shoulder to the back of her mind. She held her left arm to point at Gianna's right and exhaled.
Expelliarmus… Expelliarmus… Expelliarmus.
The wand was pulled from Gianna's hand; it was yanked to the floor, landing with a clanking thud and rolling until it was up against one of the shelves lining the classroom walls. The shelf contained books with cracked dragonhyde binding and Latin words inscripted across the spines in running ink. Above it, jars that were coated in a thick layer of dust contained blankly staring eyes of various beasts and bits of limbs, floating in some sort of preservation solution.
As Gianna bent down to get it, Allison watched Cassidy disarm Hermione after a single moment of thought. Hermione's hands were empty with a swift motion. She looked taken aback, gasping. Hermione looked flustered and envious when she groped around under Snape's desk for her wand.
"—idditch practice," Harry said, barely concluding a thought to Ron.
"Potter, nonverbal generally indicates lack of need to talk; five points from your house," he hissed, moving to stand behind a Slytherin, the same that was first in line during Apparation lessons, who stood vigilantly succeeding at the task at hand, the wand falling away from Arewa repeatedly. "And five points to Slytherin," he smirked, moving along.
The bells began ringing after only another moment, releasing the students for the evening. "I want two feet of parchment on situations where nonverbal spells could come in handy," Snape called. "Due next lesson, no exceptions. Class dismissed," he tore up the stairs to his office, robes a-billow, and left the students to depart.
"Seamus," Alli called, creeping between the students blocking her way. "Seamus," she repeated and brandished the note before his eyes.
"Oh, thanks, mate," he answered, relieved.
"Not a problem; McGonagall took a very, erm, interesting note of mine once," she answered. "I can only imagine the uses Snape'd have for a note like that."
Seamus chuckled, turning back to Dean and following him in the direction of Gryffindor tower. Alli paused to wait for Gianna, noticing that she already left. Famished, Alli set off in the direction of Great Hall for dinner. It was a day where nothing could get between her and the spaghetti. "Happy birthday," said a voice from behind her, smiling Loony Lovegood. For a moment, Alli was dumbstruck. She had never spoken to Luna before; how could she know it was her birthday? Nonetheless, she smiled graciously and replied with gratitude.
"A free copy," she held a copy of a magazine with bolded rubbish words and flashing colors on the cover vaguely at a distance from Alli's hand. She accepted it, staring down at the title. The Quibbler. Interesting name for certain.
"Thanks," Alli nodded, smile still etched into her cheeks as she reached the wide doors to the Great Hall. As she passed the threshold, Gianna popped from behind the doors, placing a paper crown on her head, she and Cassidy burst into a chorus of "Happy Birthday" with Lauren, an enthusiastic Hufflepuff with an affinity to birthdays. In surprise, Alli's hands drifted to her purple crown, feeling the smooth surface of stickers under her fingertips and chunk of mistletoe fixed to the top as a joke. Behind them, there was a buildup of students, blocked by the chaos.
As their song concluded, Lauren was practically bouncing up and down and the few students who had already arrived for dinner clapped in unison with Dumbledore. The remainder of the students made their way toward their tables. Lauren gripped one of Alli's arms, pulling her too quickly in the direction of the table that was normally occupied by a majority of Hufflepuffs. Ron was sitting in one corner of the table, laughing at Alli's face, as bright a scarlet as her tie. She sat across from him at the plate set for her by Lauren.
"Graffiti spaghetti," Gianna announced with her hand gesturing at the saucy plate. "Eat it, sonny!" She pursed her lips in a comical way and sat down to the left of Cassidy. Lauren didn't seem to want to sit, eventually resigning to the fact that she was not going to be joined in singing anymore.
"So wha—" Cassidy began.
"Wait, wait," Alli interrupted her, standing up quickly enough that her crown nearly tipped off of her head. She flounced around the end of the table, vision partly obstructed by the way her hair was held in front of her eyes by the purple parchment. In her haste, she nearly collided with a small cluster of entering Slytherins.
"Whoa, okay, careful," said the girl from Apparation. "Seriously, I'm uncoordinated enough for anyone in this school. We don't want to swamp Madam Pomfrey."
Allison laughed a little, letting them move past her, followed by Draco Malfoy. He had lagged behind, letting his friends move to the table before he took another step. Raising an eyebrow, he gestured to let her pass. "Happy birthday," he said from behind her, moving toward his table. He must have observed the spectacle. Alli smiled, taking her final steps toward the Ravenclaw table with a slight skip.
"Luna?"
Luna looked up from her magazine, ignoring the food on the table in front of her. "Oh, hello, Allison," she smiled in a nearly vacuous way.
"Do you want to join us?" Alli inquired, feeling bad to see her alone.
"You're sure?" she stood and closed her magazine. Upon Alli's nod, she followed her to the table. "Mistletoe?" her eyebrows were knit at the crown. "You'll want to be careful with that," she warned. "It's often infested with nargles."
