Professor Flitwick has got to be the oldest and tiniest wizard in England, I thought to myself as he stood on a pile of books to take the roll call. Honestly, he looks as though a single puff of wind would blow him away! His squeaky voice doesn't help matters much either. Right now he was talking to us about what sort of things we would learn in charms, and why we would need it, yada yada yada. My note taking was on auto pilot and I had almost completely zoned out when Professor Flitwick said:
"Wands out please!"
I whipped out my wand with a flourish. It is 11 and ¾ inches, Willow, nice and springy with a core of a Phoenix feather. It had lovely designs on it too, swirling tendrils that cured down to the end of the wand. I couldn't wait to do some magic with it!
"Now the spell we are going to learn today is a very simple one, but requires a lot of concentration." Said Professor Flitwick, eyeing the ranks of eager students in front of him. "We are going to learn how to make objects fly."
Whispers of delight filled the classroom as everyone turned to their neighbours to discuss it. Making Objects fly? This was exactly the kind of thing they had hoped for in this class!
I nudged Lysander delightedly, and he mirrored my look of glee.
Professor Flitwick raised his wand for silence.
"Now listen carefully," He squeaked. "To get spell right, you must first master the incantation! Please repeat after me. Wingarduim Leviosa!"
"Wingarduim Leviosa!" Chorused the assembled students enthusiastically. I paid particular attention on how to pronounce it, for mum had told me that it was very important.
"Now, the wand motion looks like this," Said the professor, performing a graceful wrist motion. "Try it. Swish and flick!"
We all swished and flicked, to some with disastrous results.
"Ow!" I said, jerking my head away from Roxanne. "Watch what you're doing!" She hastily tried to untangle her wan from my wild red hair, where it had ended up after a rather enthusiastic flick.
I sighed, cleared my throat and stared at the large white feather in front of me.
"Wingardium," I started, swishing my wrist carefully, "Leviosa!" I flicked my wand towards the feather.
Which rose up into the air.
Childish laughter bubbled up as I elevated my feather higher into the air. I had done it! I focused intently on my feather. It was not going to drop, no way. Sub-consciously I heard Professor Flitwick exclaiming in delight.
"Oh, well done! 10 points to Gryffindor! And oh look, Miss Weasley's done it too!"
What?
My concentration broke as my head shot up and my feather floated down. Yes, there was another feather in the air! And who was holding his and aloft, a look of smug triumph on his pointed face? Yup, you guessed it.
"Nice try Weasley!" Malfoy sneered. "Better luck next time eh?"
That evening I spent my time practicing the spell in the Gryffindor common room. The fact that I kept sending miscellaneous objects flying around the room guaranteed that the other students gave me a wide berth, the only ones sitting nearby were Roxy and Lysander, who were rather low in their squashy armchairs.
"Rosie, do you think you can give it a rest?" Said Roxy, hastily ducking back into her chair as a coffee table flew past her head. "You're pretty good at it already! Just stop before you hurt someone!"
"I think it's a bit late for that," Muttered Lysander, nursing a small bump on his blonde head.
"You don't understand." I said crossly. "I need to work on my casting ability! I want to learn spells and be good at them!"
"Yes, but-"
"Do you know how many spell books I have in my trunk?" I shot at her. "I've taught myself all the incantations and wand movements for them, but at home I was never allowed to properly do them! There is that focus that I need to get right. Then I could do all of those spells!"
"And this is nothing to do with that Scorpius Malfoy beating you?" Asked Roxanne slyly. "I saw the look on your face."
"No, nope, nothing to do with it!" I said hurriedly. I started packing away my things. "I'm tired. Let's go to bed, big day tomorrow!"
I rushed up the staircase to the girls dormitories before either of them could say another word.
My dormitory was a welcome sight. A cosy room with large red and gold four posters lined the walls, an en suite bathroom was down the hall and a magnificent dresser dominated the room. On the side where my bed stood was a large, elegant window with a view of the Hogwarts grounds. Dusk was setting in, and I could just make out the large shape of Hagrid making his way back to his hut.
A small noise alerted me to the fact that I was not alone. I turned to see a small girl with strawberry blonde hair enter the room. She stopped when she saw me, and gave a shy, "Hi" in my direction.
"Hello," I said, smiling. "I don't think we have actually met! Last night was a bit too hectic for formal introductions."
"Yeah it was a bit," Smiled the girl. She held out her hand. I was surprised to see how small it was. "I'm Juliana Creevy."
"Rose Weasley," I said, shaking hands.
"Weasley? You mean as in-"
"Actually, I think we should all get introduced don't you think?" I said loudly. "We need to know our dorm mates after all!"
At that moment, Roxy walked in after bidding good night to her brother, who was busy redecorating the common room downstairs with James.
"Evening all," She said, stretching out her arms.
"I was just saying Roy, we should all get to know each other," I prompted.
"But we already know each other Rosie," She said, looking confused. I sighed.
"No, I mean as in our dorm mates."
"Oooh!" She said, light dawning. "Well one is coming up the staircase, and I think the other is in the bathroom...?"
"Right," I said, and crossed the room to the en suite. "Hello!" I called. "Is anyone in there? It's time for a dorm meeting!"
A girl walked out, a towel wrapped around her dark damp hair. When she saw me, her pleasant round face split into a wide grin.
"Hey Rose! I thought it sounded like you!"
"Alice!" I said, smiling at Neville Longbottom's daughter. We had met a few times, mostly at family gatherings, and had got along quite well. She and Albus had got on like a house on fire.
I did a head count, then the bed count. We were missing two people.
"Roxy, you said someone was coming up the stairs?" I asked, but the question was barely out of my mouth when our last roommate walked through the door.
A tall girl with incredibly dark, spiked hair walked through the door, her Gryffindor scarf thrown about her shoulders like she had just walked through a whirlwind. She didn't seem surprised that we were all sitting on the beds looking expectantly at the door; instead she threw down her bag on the nearest bed, and followed after it, slouching against the bedpost, feet on one end and back to the other. She drew her pale, slender hands under her chin and stared at us with a calculating gaze.
"So you are my new roommates?"
"Yup," I said. "We are just waiting on one more-"
As I spoke, the door burst open for the third time, and a girl, completely different from the last two stepped in.
Well, I say stepped. It was more like she danced in, she practically bounced on her feet as she walked, tossing her perfectly curled blonde hair and showing off her adjusted uniform. She stopped when she saw us assembled on the beds.
"Oh hi!" She said brightly, standing in the middle of the room. "Why are you guys all sitting around there for?" Even her voice was annoyingly perfect, sickly sweet and girlish.
"Isn't it obvious?" Sighed Spiky from her bunk. "Sit down. Let's get this over with."
She sat down, looking bemused.
I cleared my throat. "Now this is kind of awkward," I began, looking at Roxy for help, "I just suddenly realised that we're going to spend the rest of our 7 years here together, so we might want to get know each other. I'm Rose," I said, feeling a bit self-conscious.
"Hold on," Piped up Juliana. "You're not the girl who jumped out of the boat yesterday are you? And set it on fire?"
"That," I said, "was an accident. Blame the gingerphobic giant squid."
They all looked baffled. I cleared my throat again, willing Roxanne to help.
"Giant squid lives in here she said. Challenge accepted she said." Grinned Roxy. "And the next minute you know she's done it again."
"Yes, because I'm a totally reckless, senseless idiot." I said dryly. "And that is not how I'm introducing myself."
Alice laughed. "I'm Alice," She said. "I already know these two miscreants," She pointed at us, "But not you guys. It's nice to meet you! I will warn you, I sleepwalk sometimes. So if you hear a thump in the night, it's not Peeves, it's me."
"I play the violin when I'm thinking," piped up the spiky girl suddenly. "Would that bother you? Roommates should know the worst about each other." She flashed a piercing stare in our direction. "The names Benedicta, but I prefer to be called Benny." She said, before returning to her slouch position.
"My name is Esmeralda!" Giggled the blonde girl. "I'm sure we would become best of friends!"
I cringed inside. You could practically hear those extra exclamation marks; they tinkled into place with annoying brightness. I glanced around the room, noticing Roxy's strained smile. Benny was openly looking at Esmeralda with bored distaste.
"And I'm Roxy. I'll call you Al," she said, pointing at Alice, then frowned. "Actually, no. That's my cousin. You're Alice." Her pointing finger roved on towards sweet little Juliana. "I'll call you Ana, because Julie's boring. I'll stick with Benny because it suit you," Benny flashed an approving smile. "And Esmeralda's way too long so I'll call you Esme! And you'll always be Rosie," She said to me. "Sup homies! Let's get this party started!"
"Roxy,"
"Yeah?"
"Just- just don't."
"I was just trying to break the ice!"
A/N: For those of you who are wondering, yes, Benedicta is Sherlock Holmes. I gave her spiky hair because... Well, I don't really know. I have a headcanon and I can't back it up. I hope you guys don't mind...
-Stars
