Chapter 11 – A Toast
It was funny how fast news traveled in Hogwarts. Even if it wasn't true to begin with. The ghosts of Hogwarts, continuing their existence to an infinite amount of time, were to blame. After all, they didn't have much else to do. Lurking around the castle, eavesdropping, and chatting with the students meant they could spread word on anything faster than Sluggie can lick his lips when consulted with crystallized pineapples.
I received hard glares from some and giggles from others. Moving past them to a table full of Slytherins, I clenched and unclenched my fists. Sam Williamson was sitting smack in the middle, and as he spotted me he leered.
"Emerson," He greeted warmly.
"Williamson," I returned coldly, "We need to talk."
"Then talk," he said. I ground my teeth, annoyed.
"Everyone seems to think we shagged on the night of the Halloween Dance," I said, waiting for the smile to go away and for him to become serious any second. "And I heard it was you who started this rumor."
He laughed, "What rumor? Relax, Ambrosia, it's nothing to get embarrassed about. If I recall, you didn't seem too embarrassed about it at the time."
"I don't recall ever shagging you or anyone else for that matter," I shot back angrily.
"Well I can refresh your memory if you want," he said suggestively as his fellow Slytherins snickered.
I drew closer to the table and smacked him hard on one ear.
"Fuckin-" he was cut off by some nearby Ravenclaws who shushed him before returning to their books or studying. Sam stood up and jabbed his wand threateningly at my neck.
"You deserved that, you disgusting little-" I snarled, but was cut off.
"What's all this racket!" Madame Pince sniffed, rounding a bookshelf, "Lower your voices or get out of my library!" Williamson stowed away his wand, but not without giving me a nasty look, and I left the library lucky to have gotten away without being jinxed or cursed and found Lily in our common room.
"Ughhh you will not believe how many people I've told off today for believing those stupid rumors. You should have heard the Hufflepuffs! I heard one girl say that your puking epidemic was morning sickness from Sirius Black's love child." I groaned loudly. "Hey, at least your fourth task got completed. I swear, even Slughorn seemed partial to the rumors." I chuckled, somehow finding the situation funny, and once I started I couldn't stop laughing. Lily was looking at me as if I were going crazy, and perhaps I was. After all, I had hit Sam: a vengeful, wand-yielding Slytherin who for all I know was plotting his revenge right now.
"Wow, you're tough stuff, Ambrosia," James grinned, stuffing his mouth with food.
"I remember when Professor Dumbledore introduced us, you wouldn't even look at me you were so withdrawn and cautious. Now you're going around slugging Slytherins," Lily said, playfully.
We went quiet as Sirius walked past us, avoiding our gaze. "Sirius is still really sorry, you know," James whispered after a while. I nodded, taking a few more bites of my food.
"Next we will try Flippendo," Flitwick squeaked. The class laughed and he waggled his little finger, "Now I know you think the spell is beneath the skill level of seventh year students. We covered a lot of basic spells in your first year here. We'll now be delving further into them. Oh yes, I know you all think this will be easy. Well think again. We learned how to Flippendo; to throw back our subjects, but now you learn control. How far will the subject go? Where will it end up? Precision, people!" There was a scuffling of seats as we got up and approached the beams we were supposed to be practicing on.
I got up to join them and Flitwick looked up in surprise. He had been one of the teachers that decided that they needed to grade me on something, so they would give me in class assignments and reading homework since I my in class practical was obviously a flop. Today I decided to try the Flippendo spell.
My stomach squeezed uncomfortably. I hated failing in front of the class, but I would give it my best. McGonagall's words still rang in my ears.
"Flippendo." Nothing. I raised my hand up again, pointing at the beam. "Flippendo." Had… had it twitched? I yelled the spell again, to see if it would do it again or if it was just me hallucinating or something and it moved. Lily gasped. I don't think anyone else really noticed, but I turned my eyes to Lily's and she looked just as shocked as I felt. The first thing I did when class was over was run to the owlery with a letter I had written to my parents. I didn't know how it happened; I mean, my parents had gone to experts of magical mishaps and they hadn't gotten anywhere.
I skived off of numerology and went with Lily to the room of requirement to practice with James. The much anticipated pleasure of more magic made my fingers twitch. I was able to perform magic, but even by the end of the hour, I was still miserably bad. All those hours of practicing form and pronunciation could never have prepared me for actually doing it.
"Don't worry," Lily says, "You start to master the spells once they become mere habit to cast. You just need practice. You're doing really good."
Afterwards, James snuck some butterbeers for us to celebrate with.
"To Ambrosia!" Lily cheered.
"To jinxing off Williamson's nancy-boy knickers!" James yelled, cheeks red with butterbeer.
"To magic," I said softly, a light, happy hum in my ears.
Yeah sorry for it being so short and for me taking so long I've been occupied with other writing. Things will be explained and hopefully become apparent in the next chapter.