Chapter 3 - Get off my back!

Katie yawned as she sat down at the Phoenix table. She was tired from prefect duty last night but was happy that it was a school day. Especially when Charms was her first class of the day. A good morning of Charms always woke Katie up. She softly nibbled on her toast as she thought about yesterday's happenings.

A shadow fell over her and a quick glance up told her it was Alan.

"Morning, Alan," mumbled Katie.

"Good morning, Katherine."

Katie whipped her head around so fast she got whiplash. From the very first day they had met, she had absolutely forbidden him to ever say her real name. After that, he had learned quite quickly not to call her that.

"Yes, I said your first name. I'm not going to take your orders anymore, Miss Connor," sneered Alan.

Not another one, cried Katie to herself.

But this time she wasn't going to sit by and let someone yell at her for no good reason.

"Well, get this straight, Alan Janard Bailey, I will not be yelled at for something I unconsciously did. If you wanted me to stop, why didn't you just bloody ask me? I would have gladly stopped talking to you, you loony, hyper active, sorry excuse for a wizard."

Katie snatched up her backpack and stormed out of the Great Hall. She traveled up the stairs towards the fourth floor and walked into the Charms classroom. The Charms professor was making a few adjustments to the classroom when Katie walked in.

"Good morning, Miss Connor. You're a bit early than usual," pointed out the professor.

"I know, Professor Cook. I didn't feel like talking to my friends this morning," explained Katie as she sat down in her seat.

"I know how that can get sometimes. Oh, I almost forgot. You'll be serving detention with me tonight at six," said Professor Cook.

"What about Zach? He got detention too," replied Katie.

"He did. But he has it with Professor Hanson."

Katie grimaced at the thought. A detention with the Care of Magical Creatures professor was never good. You never know what you would be doing in a detention for him. He could have you care for an animal for the next day's class or perhaps send you into the Haunted Forest to get a sample of something. However, as soon as Katie remembered why they had been fighting, she felt no sympathy towards the boy.

"Professor, did your friends ever turn on you?" questioned Katie.

"You mean, did they ever become my ex-friends? Actually, no. They were all quite nice and I was usually quiet anyway. Why do you ask?"

"I've had three friends yell at me, two yesterday and one today. Plus Malony kissed me."

"That doesn't sound like Mr. Malony at all. I'm sure it's just your imagination, Miss Connor. Get out your wand. We won't be writing down notes today."

The bell rang and soon the sixth year Phoenix's and Kneazle's entered the room. Sam sat down next to Katie but Diana and Alan sat as far away from her as they could. Sam was the only one that noticed this.

"What's up with them? They're giving you Satan's eye," whispered Sam.

"I don't know what's up with them. It's been like this since yesterday. Alan got added to

the group this morning," whispered back Katie.

"Yeah, I heard about that."

"Okay, class is now in session. Please turn your voices off so we can begin. Today we will be practicing glamourie charms. Through these special charms, you can completely change your appearance. Your hair, eyes, skin color, just about anything can be changed with glamourie. You can be so changed by this form of magic that no one would ever know it was you."

"More like concealment for Connor to hide her ugly face," whispered Alan.

Katie's former friends chuckled but not loud enough for the professor to hear them. However, Katie did hear them. Professor Cook got out her wand and gazed at Katie.

"Step up here, Miss Connor. I believe you will be able to help me with a demonstration," said Professor Cook.

"Of course, professor," replied Katie.

She grabbed her wand and stood in front of the class with Professor Cook. The professor nodded to her politely and then began speaking.

"Suppose I want to change Miss Connor's hair color from brown to a light fiery red. The glamourie incantation to change hair is Cabelo. You have to think of exactly what color and way you want the person's hair to look and then say the charm. Cabelo."

The brown disappeared and was replaced with short, curly light red hair. There was a mirror floating beside her so Katie could see the difference.

"Wow. That's really neat," gasped a student.

"Indeed it is, Miss Barber. For each glamourie charm you cast, you have to imagine it just the way you want to get the spell to work. Okay, to change the eye color you must say Olhos."

Professor Cook paused to let some of the students finishing writing down the notes before continuing.

"I think a nice pair of dark blue eyes will work nicely. Olhos."

Katie watched through the mirror as her eyes shifted colors before stopping on a dark shade of blue. Class continued on with the professor teaching them a few more glamourie charms and then allowing them to partner up to try it. Katie had fun changing Sam's hair from its usual color to a black with blue streaks and warping his eyes to an amber color.

"That is not funny, Katie. Change me back!" exclaimed Sam.

"Finite Incantatum."

Sam was relieved to see his normal self and then a smirk appeared on his face. Before Katie knew it, she had light blue hair and blazing red eyes.

"Samuel Lacourse Johnson!" yelled Katie.

The sixth year Phoenix's moved downstairs to the dungeons to the Potions classroom. The professor was already waiting for them when they and the sixth year Basilisks entered the room. Ethan Malony blew a kiss to Katie and she shot him an ugly look.

"What's up with Malony?" whispered Sam.

"I don't know but if he kisses me again he's going flying," whispered back Katie.

"Madame Forest has run low on pepper-up potions so we shall all be brewing just that

today. Those that make it correctly will have theirs sent to the infirmary while those that fail shall

be spending tomorrow night in detention with me," sneered the professor.

"I think Professor Harris has been reading that muggle novel series again," whispered Sam.

"What makes you think that?" muttered Katie.

"He didn't take 25 points off of Baker for coming in late," replied Sam.

"Get your supplies and start brewing. I will be watching you," warned Professor Harris.

The students grabbed their supplies quickly and returned to their seats. Katie ran thoughts through her head as she brewed her potion silently.

Let's put the facts together: Diana yelled at me for my top rank in grades, Malony kissed me for no Merlin at all reason, Zach insulted me because I'm a half-blood, and Alan is upset at me for ordering him around sometimes. Now what's the connection to all of them? There has to be a connection between them somewhere, thought Katie.

"Miss Connor, are you listening to me?" sneered Professor Harris.

Katie looked up startled. She hadn't even realized the professor had gotten up from his desk.

"Sorry, professor. What were you saying?" asked Katie.

"I was saying here is the potions that you asked for. Each vial is labeled," said Professor Harris as he handed her a small potions kit.

"Thanks, Professor Harris. This will help me out a lot with my research," replied Katie.

Professor Harris nodded his head before stepping away. Katie gently placed the potions kit beside her backpack and went back to her potion. Suddenly, a potion exploded on the other side of the room. Everyone looked up even though they knew who it was. Clumsy, butter-fingered, Basilisk student Nina Loller was always exploding her potion at least once a week.

As Professor Harris swooped down to Nina and started explaining what she did wrong, Katie stole a glance over at Malony. He was great in Potions, perhaps greater than her but she still held the top grade in the class. The Basilisk boy noticed her looking at him and winked. Katie turned around and gagged silently to herself.

Class slowly trudged on with students slowly finishing up their potions. Katie was the first one to finish and bottle her work before dumping it. As she waited for the dismissal bell to ring, she picked up the potions kit and opened it. Vials holding different colored potions filled the whole kit.

"Confusing concoction, Draught of the Living Dead, Draft of Peace, Memory potion, Polyjuice potion, Sleeping Draught, Veritaserum, and Wolfsbane potion," read off Katie.

"What are all those for?" murmured Sam.

"Experiment," stated Katie.

"Oh goodie. Another experiment for the great scientist," joked Sam.

"Sam, you of all people know that I love to do experiments. I was doing them even before being a scientist," said Katie.

"Sure. Still means another experiment. Just make sure you eat this time."

Whatever Katie had been about to say was muffled by the school bell ringing. Students grabbed their stuff, put their vials on the professor's desk and left the room. It was lunch hour but

Katie didn't feel like eating or getting yelled at by her so called friends so she decided to go to the stables.

The stables was a place where a few horses were kept, some being the professor's and others being the student's. The horses were shared by everyone. You only had to have permission to ride the three professor's horses or the horses wouldn't let you near them. Katie put her stuff in front of a stall and pulled her school robes off to reveal muggle clothing. Then she pulled a sugar cube out of her backpack from a package of them.

"Here, boy," softly called Katie.

A light red horse walked over to the stall door and stuck its head over the door. Katie held her hand out flat and the horse ate the sugar cube off her hand.

"How are you doing today, Oliver?" asked Katie.

Oliver belonged to a Kneazle student but she didn't ride her horse much so she allowed all of the students to ride him. The chestnut horse whinnied at her happily. Katie smiled.

"I thought so. Class isn't for another hour. Half hour for lunch, half hour for anything you want to do. I'm not feeling hungry so I felt like riding. Wanna go riding with me?" questioned Katie.

The horse bobbed its head up and down while whining.

"All right. Let me get your saddle and bridle on. Then we can get going."

After putting the riding equipment on Oliver, Katie climbed up into the saddle and grabbed the reins.

"Let's go along the path beside the lake today. Okay?"

Oliver nodded his head again. Katie lightly kicked him to get him going. They walked along on an old, run down dirt path that riders had rode on for years. A little bit down the road Oliver started trotting. They were walking beside the lake when another horse and rider appeared from another path.

The horse was a pure white color, the only white colored horse in the stable which meant the rider was riding Snowbell. The rider was a male student with wavy black hair and blazing blue eyes. He wore muggle clothing like her. The rider rode up beside Katie and Oliver in a walk.

"Greetings, Katie. How are we this fine fall August day?" inquired the boy.

"Could be better, Luke. Diana, Zach, and Alan are mad at me for some strange reason that I can't figure out. Plus Malony kissed me yesterday," explained Katie.

"My sympathies, Phoenix girl. Anyone that gets kissed by Malony is lucky to still be alive," stated Luke.

The statement caused both friends to laugh loudly.

"So how's the relationship with Mike going?" asked Katie.

"It's not going anywhere. I caught him kissing Skyler the other day," replied Luke.

"Sorry. To tell you the truth, I really didn't trust that Mike guy anyway. Have you thought about getting back together with Jake? He is nice and according to my reliable source he's never cheated on anyone," said Katie.

"Who is your reliable source? You never say their name," grumbled Luke.

"No can do, Kneazle boy. My sources are a well kept secret. I am sworn under secrecy from revealing who they are," reported Katie.

"No fair," whined Luke.

They talked and rode on until Luke saw the time on Katie's watch. They had twenty minutes until next class started and they still needed to put the horses away, wash 'em down, and rush to their classes.

"Follow me! I know the fastest way back," called Luke over his shoulder.

Both ran their horses back to the stables. They arrived five minutes later.

"I'll take the equipment off while you hose them," said Luke.

"Okay."

As soon as Luke removed Snowbell's saddle and bridle, Katie began hosing him off. When she was done, he walked into his stall and she moved onto Oliver. They both finished in record timing with the horses. Both students put their robes back on and scooped up their stuff. Katie and Luke ran out of the stables, intent on getting to class on time.

"I got Creatures now so I'll see you later!" yelled Luke as he ran off in another direction.

"No fair! I have Music on the sixth floor!" wailed Katie.

"Whoever said life was fair!" hollered back Luke.

Katie ran through the entrance hall and up the stairs. She slid to an abrupt stop on the sixth floor. Her instrument was still in the dorm on the next floor but she had five minutes to get into class. Then an idea came to her.

"Accio instrument."

A few seconds later, an instrument case came floating down to Katie and she grabbed it out of the air before racing to the Music classroom. She slid into the room just as the bell rang. The professor and class applauded her as she sat down in her chair.

"Congratulations, Miss Connor, for finally making it to Music on time. Take out your flute and start warming up. I still need to take the roll call," said the professor.

"Yes, Professor Williams," replied Katie.

She opened her case and took out her wizarding flute. A wizarding flute was different from a muggle flute. This particular flute looked more like a clarinet except for it had less keys, was smaller, and made sounds like a flute (its the same type of flute that Hagrid plays in the Sorcerer's Stone movie). Katie played a few notes and two or three scales before laying her flute down in her lap. When Professor Williams was done taking the roll, she told the class to play a few scales while she spoke to Katie.

"The All-County Band called earlier. They want you to consider auditioning this summer and I must admit that you are quite good enough to ace the auditions," encouraged Professor Williams.

"Thank you, professor. The next time you talk to them can you tell them that I will consider auditioning but that if they push too far I will not?"

"I will certainly tell them that."

Professor Williams took out her wand, using it as a baton, and began class. Katie stole a glance over her shoulder at Sam who played the muggle clarinet. The music class was a blend of magical and muggle instruments. They did a few warm-ups together and then the professor handed out a new piece of music.

"This song is called A Window to the Past. It features a soloist on the wizarding flute so the part must go to one of you," said Professor Williams to the two only girls that played the instrument.

Katie looked at her rival in music out of the corner of her eye. The girl's name was Kathy

O' Brian and she was a competitive person when it came to Music class. If Katie had something in

Music that she didn't have, Kathy would always do something about it. Katie, on the other hand, only played the flute because it was something she enjoyed doing.

"You can give the part to Kathy, professor. She could probably play it better," spoke up Katie.

"Yes," whispered Kathy with a look of triumph on her face.

Professor Williams smiled at Katie and then turned to face the class.

"Every musician makes a decision in their life whether it involves their career or a piece of music. Sometimes the choice is one they regret and then again some choices are good for them in the end. Miss Connor, I would like you to play the solo part."

Kathy looked appalled as Katie took the sheet of music from Professor Williams. Katie gazed over the paper, putting the sound of it in her head as she fingered the notes.

"Okay. Let's take it from the top. Ready, Miss Connor?"

Katie nodded. Professor Williams raised her wand and began counting time. Katie began to play, the music creating a picture for all of those in the room. The high notes sang through the room as Katie held her head high and played on. Soon the percussion and the muggle flutes took over, leaving Katie to relax. The violins joined in as their music reigned over the sheet, the trumpets soon joining them.

Then it was Katie with the harp being lightly played by the third year Basilisk. The whole time Kathy's face was burning with anger. She had wanted to play that part and it sounded so great too. Finally, the song was ended by Katie holding out her final note. Those that had not played loudly clapped along with the professor.

"That was wonderful. We'll be playing that song in our end of the year concert in May. Make sure to take the music with you and practice. Now let's move on to the Griffin's Waltz. I need to see if anyone has been practicing."

The class ended too soon for Katie. She packed away her instrument and slowly got to her feet. She scooped up her stuff and made for the door.

"Miss Connor, don't forget about the extra credit assignment!" Professor Williams called after her.

"I'm almost done with it! I'll bring it by tomorrow," came Katie's reply before she was out the door.

Katie sent her instrument back up to the dorms and hurried down the stairs. She slid into her seat in the back and sighed. History of Magic always bored her to no end but she always paid attention anyway. The professor was an elderly man who students knew was a vampire. This fact didn't bother any of them since Professor Norman drank not human blood but that of a cow. Some students found this disgusting however they preferred it over their own blood.

"Good afternoon, class. Today we will be talking about the Salem Witch trials. Can anyone tell me anything about what they were all about?" inquired Professor Norman.

Diana's hand shot up into the sky and waved it like crazy. The professor chuckled to himself before calling on her.

"The Salem Witch trials happened from June through September of 1962. Four of the nineteen men and woman that were carted to Gallows Hill for hanging were the founders of Salem Witch School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They were....." Diana went on for what seemed like hours.

Katie wrote down notes from what Diana said and everyone else that was called on to speak. Then they opened the discussion as to whether it was a good idea or not that the founders

should have gone into the muggle world to Massachusetts to search for muggle children with magical abilities.

"What do you think about this, Miss Connor?" questioned Professor Norman.

"Huh? Oh. I think that even though they were accused and hung for being what they truly were that it was a good idea to go searching for muggle children with magical abilities. I mean they did successfully find five kids whom they sent here to Salem Witch," said Katie.

"I don't think it was a good idea at all. They did a foolish thing by looking for magic in muggle children. The founders should have left the muggles alone and stayed here in the wizarding world. Had they done so they may have done many more extraordinary things unlike those rotten muggles," sneered Zach.

"Zach, how could you say that? You know my mom's done a lot of great things for children with epilepsy and that she's a muggle!" exclaimed Katie.

"Mr. Drew, I do believe that was uncalled for. 10 points from Kneazle," warned the History of Magic professor.

"Who cares about your bloody muggle mother? She's just a waste of space and your father's wasting his life away being married to her. As for your worthless brother, I hope he ends up a muggle scum too," snarled Alan.

"That's it!" shouted Katie as she whipped her wand out.

Professor Norman jumped up to prevent the two from dueling but he was too late. Both students were already standing, facing each other with their wands out.

"I'm going to make you eat your words," growled Katie.

"I'd like to see you try, half-breed," hissed Zach.

The students all scooted their chairs away from the two students as the professor stood there. He had decided that they should get their anger out now rather than later.

"Rictusempra!"

Katie jumped out of the way of the spell and aimed at Zach.

"Locomotor Mortis!"

The spell caught Zach right before he could move out of the way. He remained standing as he balanaced himself upright. Katie didn't have enough time to react to avoid missing the Jelly Legs Jinx sent towards her. Her legs started wobbling crazily. Katie and Zach used the Finite Incantatum, both regaining power over their legs.

The duel lasted longer than anyone would have suspected. Zach used the Blasting Curse to send Katie flying into the wall. However, before her back connected with the wall, she managed to get him with the Incendio spell. The end of his robes caught fire and Professor Norman stepped in, effectively putting the fire out. Sam helped Katie to her feet.

"I hope you have that out of your systems now."

Both students nodded even though they both knew it was far from over.

"Good. 25 points from each of you. Now sit down in your seats and we'll continue our talk on the Salem Witch trials."

Katie sat back down and put her hand up to her cheek. When she brought her hand back, fresh blood was spread out on her fingers. Apparently Zach had cut her cheek when he had cast the Diffindo spell against her.

It wouldn't be the first mark, thought Katie.

As the class discussion went on, the brown haired girl rubbed at her robed arm absentmindedly, remembering a particular memory from not too long ago.

End of Chapter 3