I do not own Harry Potter.
In a matter of moments, the class was filled with the winged fiends. Albus dived to the floor with Rose, avoiding the initial wave of Cornish Pixies that flew at them like beautiful bullets. The buzz of the wings weren't enough to drown out the screams of the students as they too jumped to the floor to avoid the havoc. Between the chair legs, Albus could see Madame Serpentina dart into her office, to watch the progress through an oval window. No one dared to defend themselves from the pixies, in case they'd fight back. The classroom was ruled by the blue creatures.
The Cornish Pixies were mad. They grabbed books off the shelves and threw them forcefully at the students. Voodoo dolls were frown about the room and poked with pins, globes were kicked through the air like footballs, tables were pushed over.
A mixture of amusement and panic filled Albus as he looked behind to see Arthur being dragged into the air by a hoard of pixies. They managed to hook him onto one of the ribs of the hanging snake skeletons, despite his screaming and kicking. "Let me down! I have rights!" He screamed.
"What do we do?!" Rose cried, dodging a copy of Magical Me.
"We have to do something, anything!" Albus screamed back.
"I have a plan," Barney said, over the vicious buzz of the pixie wings. "On my signal, stun the pixies, attack them, do anything!"
"What signal?" Rose asked.
"You won't miss it!" Barney replied.
Albus didn't want to have to follow Barney's instructions, but what choice did he have? Serpentina was obviously going to be keeping a closer eye on Albus than anyone else, and he didn't want to give her the satisfaction of making a fool of himself.
At last, Barney's signal came. Courageously, he stood and aimed his wand at a hanging snake skeleton. "Bombarda!" Bones were raining over the class as the snake skeleton shattered into pieces. Arthur let out a horrendous cry as he was dropped through the air. He landed perfectly in a chair, but rocked forward, colliding his nose with the table. The Cornish Pixies were utterly confused by the blast; many pixies had to dart through the room to avoid being hit by pieces of shattered skull, and the others were frozen with shock.
Albus and Rose were the first to fire spells at the pixies; others followed slowly after. Still frozen with shock, the pixies were easy enough to be hit by their incantations. It seemed almost too easy as one by one the pixies were stunned and dropped to the floor. Within fifteen minutes, the pixies were captured and locked back into their cage.
"Thanks for the help, mate!" Barney said, patting Albus on the back.
"It's alright. That was fun actually, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess," Barney smiled, locking the last pixie into the cage.
Albus was saved having to go through an uncomfortable conversation with Barney by a congratulatory applause from Madame Serpentina. "Well done, well done!" she said, descending the stairs from her office. "I must say, you are by far the best class I've had doing this activity. I'm quite surprised!"
"Well, there is only one other class," Arthur whispered. Albus couldn't resist laughing.
"Well done, especially, to Mister Barney White, for the use of the bombarda incantation. The way you, as a class, handled the pixies was outstandingly brave and talented. Apart from Mister Shaw, perhaps. What I want you to think about now is how you performed? What spells did you use, what tactics worked? Could you have made any improvements? For the next twenty minutes, I want you to evaluate your performance including all my pointers. Aim to write at least a side of parchment, and perhaps draw a picture to help explain your ideas. Off you go!" Serpentina instructed with a wide grin, as her floating chalk scribbled her words over the oval blackboard in large, loopy letters.
Albus flopped into his seat by Rose, taking a fountain pen out of his cloak pocket. "Urg . . . I hate written work, don't you?"
"How can you say that?" gasped Rose. "You can't pass your O. with just practice; theory is essential!"
"Tests aren't everything," argued Albus.
"I totally disagree! You can't hope to get a high end job like Minister of Magic or Headmaster of Hogwarts without any qualifications. At the most, you could be . . . I don't know! A broomstick."
Serpentina interrupted Albus with a sharp shush! It was probably for the best; his comeback was likely to be filled with profanities. Several pieces of paper floated into the centre of Albus' table as Albus began his evaluation.
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After a presentation about Cornish Pixies, from Madame Serpentina, the class was let out of the lesson. Albus felt terrible after his first lesson: his friends hadn't told him that Serpentina was their teacher, Albus was sat with Barney White, and it turned out that Serpentina might not be so bad after. Something about Serpentina not being so bad especially annoyed Albus; he'd always hoped she'd be ugly and evil, like a proper witch, so that everyone could share his hatred for her. That would make his situation a lot easier.
Esther, Poppy and Seb caught up Albus on the stairs leading up to the History of Magic. Instantly, Albus noticed the oddness of Seb's wheelchair: they were climbing up the stairs, quite literally. The wheels had formed hand like shapes with pushed the wheelchair up and along.
"They're sick, right?" Seb said, noticing Albus' attraction to his wheelchair.
"Oh, sorry for staring, and yes, they are pretty cool," Albus apologized, watching the hands push the wheelchair up the stairs. "I never knew anything like those existed."
"In our world, we have flying cars, buildings built with only wands and books with teeth. I doubt it was too hard to make a wheelchair that can climb up stairs!"
"He's fascinating isn't he!" Poppy gasped. "It's fascinating! The wheelchair, it's fascinating. Not Seb. He's not that fascinating. I meant the wheelchair; the wheelchair's fascinating!" She corrected in a fluster. Esther tried here best to refrain herself from erupting into an explosion of laughter.
"Why did you guys not tell me about Serpentina working here?" Albus asked.
"We thought it'd be for the best. We couldn't even be sure you'd remember her!" Esther responded
"You thought I'd be best for me? She ruined my life of course I'd remember her! And I know what's best for myself, thank you very much!"
"Al, we only meant to help you. If we explained what she did if you hadn't remembered her, then you'd automatically think of her as some sort of evil Satan worshiper that every should hate. Can you honestly say that she, in any way, seemed mean or untrustworthy or as vile as Petteptire?"
"Grew Petteptire was just an anagram of Peter Pettigrew!"
"Answer the question, Al!"
Poppy and Seb were watching the argument intensely, like they solely depended on it like some sort of miraculous juice. Albus swallowed his pride. "Fine then. Yes, she doesn't seem too bad, but that doesn't mean I like her! And as for being trustworthy . . . I think you know what I have to say."
"See what I mean; you already have such a solid image of her that you will refuse to think anything else of her!"
"Alright, maybe I am a bit stubborn! Just, please, get off my case." With that, Albus left Esther and the others and headed to their Transfiguration lesson, ignoring Esther's cries of apology.
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"If you shouted at her, why aren't you shouting at us?" Rose asked, swishing her wand and turning a chameleon into a camouflaging water goblet.
"Because she was all full of herself . . ." Albus replied.
" . . . Because she had a point," Rose corrected.
"What do you mean?"
"What she said was true."
"Don't start ganging up on me too!"
"I'm not ganging up against anyone. All I'm saying is that Esther was only trying to protect you, but she probably didn't explain herself best. Give her some slack and don't do anything over the top just because of one petty argument."
Albus gasped, not believing what she'd just said. He took her advice and decided not to over react to what she'd said. Swishing his wand, Albus attempting to turn a pug into a water goblet, ending in a bloody result. "Now look what you made me do to Audrey!"
"Why are you taking advice from girls?" Arthur said. "Follow my advice: tell Esther that she shouldn't have been so critical, make up with her, then break up with her for being mean to you in the first place."
"I'll only take your advice if you can turn that stick insect into a water goblet," Albus replied.
Arthur cleared his throat. He swished his wand and pointing it at the stick insect. Almost immediately, it exploded into a gooey puddle.
"Exactly!" Albus laughed.
"Hey, Al, I have some news for you." Rose said, pulling a blue, Ministry sealed envelope out of her pocket. "It's a letter from the Ministry that McGonagall got; I made a copy whilst she was helping Amelia with her water goblet. In short, the Ministry knows exactly how the dragon got there, but won't tell."
"So it was the Ministry's fault?" Albus asked.
"It doesn't say that exactly, but probably."
"Why can't the Ministry apologise and explain rather than keeping everything a secret?"
"Maybe they have to keep it a secret. Or they were doing something they shouldn't have been. I don't know . . ."
"I suppose. My parents must have been right though."
"Right about what?"
Albus gave Rose a tantalising smile, one full of drama and amusement. "Right about the invisibility cloak."
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Charms, History of Magic and Astronomy followed Transfiguration, which in turn was followed by dinner. Albus ate his chicken and mushroom pie with Arthur, avoiding any awkward situations with Esther, and Poppy had sneaked over to the Ravenclaw table to eat with Seb. The pie was followed by an elaborate platter of chocolate covered fruits and ice creams.
"I think I'll go to bed now; today's been a wash out," Albus decided taking his finally bite into a ball of pumpkin and lime sorbet.
"Fine, if you have to leave me with Amelia and Jacob. See you later," said Arthur.
Albus was halfway up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room before he was interrupted by Esther. She'd obviously followed Albus out the hall in a hurry and seemed a little out of breath. "I just wanted to say sorry, about earlier. I was trying to be smart, I didn't want to annoy or offend you."
"That's ok, I understand. You were right anyway, I shouldn't be so judgemental of Serpentina. I still don't like her though."
Esther shrugged were shoulders. "I guess I can't always have things my way."
"I'll see you tomorrow," Albus said, heading up the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Esther called.
"To bed. To the common room." Albus replied, stopping in his tracks.
"You can't go into the common room, not after the dragon. All the beds and belongings have been moved to a hall on the Astronomy Department," she expanded.
" . . . And that is where?" Albus asked with a subtle laugh.
Esther smiled and took Albus' hand. "Come on, I'll show you!"
Thank you for reading! Next chapter, I promise some partying and detective work. Plz place comments :-)