Disclaimer: I own nothing except my characters.
Forced Conversations During Class
The next day made the previous night seem like a dream. Divinations was first and Professor Trelawney acted like it was her first time seeing me, Ron and Harry the whole term. She was overjoyed Matt continued to take the class, though he sat all the way in the back, purposely waiting until I found a seat. The same thing happened in Transfiguration.
Defense Against the Dark Arts was nicer, since Matt wasn't in my class. Draco wasn't in a talking mood all during class though, the only time he spoke to me was to ask if I had read any part of the book he leant me. I told him I was planning on it, but hadn't gotten around to it. We talked about our schedules, he had Herbiology next—as did I—and then he was off to Potions and then Charms while I would be with Melinda and Matt for Care of Magical Creatures. It seemed like the stars had aligned in Melinda's favor and she truly wouldn't be seeing Draco all day. Even during lunch she quickly finished her food to go off and join a group a Ravenclaws to work on the assignments; she happen to leave as soon as Draco came in.
The following day was exactly the same; the only difference was Care of Magical Creatures. Neville was nearly being suffocated by a large wormlike arm that sprouted out of a small oval shaped pumpkin looking creature Hagrid had brought in. "This is why it's only for show and tell!" Hagrid said as he wrestled the arm away from a nearby girl's shoe but then it launched its arm back at Neville who had just started to recover. Matt, who had been standing quite a distance away moved forward to help. "No, no, Matt, you stay back there" Hagrid was telling him but he seemed to not hear him or just ignore him as he moved closer.
"Hey little guy," I heard Matt say. I peered around the student in front of me unable to believe that was Matt's voice; it was too sweet and sincere. I watched as he talked quietly to the creature, which slowly recoiled it's arm from around Neville's leg; Dean and Seamus helped Neville up and moved to the back. The arm slowly retracted into the body, it looked like it was patting Matt on the shoulder as Matt continued to talk to it. Finally, its arm was back inside its body, and upon closer inspection it looked to have fallen asleep. He pulled out his wand as he took the creature from Hagrid, placing it on the ground and waving his wand. The creature instantly woke up; it appeared angry, flinging several arms out of its body. My first instinct was to run, but the creature seemed unable to get its arms further than a foot in front of itself.
"Hagrid, you know those are dangerous and…an M.O.M above four, right?" Matt whispered. Only a few students were close enough to hear, but most of the ones in front were Hufflepuff so I doubted they had any idea what Matt was really talking about. Melinda however, knew and looked terrified hearing the news. I looked around for Hermione so I could make a sarcastic comment about Matt saving everyone, but she was in the far back, tending to Neville, Harry and Ron were closer to the pumpkin patch. I wondered if either of them remembered the last time we were here, or if Ron remembered his fear; but I only needed to look at his face to know he remembered.
"Oh, they don't mean no harm Matt; you really don't need to be keepin' them in there like that. Poor thin' just looks lonely" Hagrid said looking down at the creature which now had at least ten arms thrashing about. I wondered if Hagrid's vision had always been this distorted.
"It's fine, he's just angry, if you let him out he'll probably just strangle all of us, just wait until it's sleep and then roll him out into the Forbidden Forrest" Matt explained. Hagrid looked down at his little creature with great sadness. I rolled my eyes; maybe Matt should let it free; if it killed all of us at least he'd know Matt was right. "Eight o'clock should be a good time; but Hagrid, don't keep him, I mean it" Matt said, waving his wand again, this one silencing the banging nose the creature had been making. I looked at the small creature again, the invisible box he was in, the soundproof box. Burnner did that to us. Well, my friends; why would Matt do anything she did? How would he know how? Did he know before she did it? Did he know how to reverse it? I looked over at him as the questions continued in my mind, he was looking back at me but slowly looked away.
"I swear he's going to kill us one day" Ron exclaimed as we walked back in from class. Harry and I laughed but Hermione didn't seem to think we were being serious about Ron's comment.
"It's true, half the things he brings in are deadly or a M.O.M of four or higher!" she explained.
"Mom?" Ron asked with a smirk.
"Ministry of Magic; I heard Matt tell Hagrid the Ministry gave his 'friend' a rating of at least a class four; which means—"
"It's dangerous" Hermione finished. I nodded in agreement. Hagrid had to have known better, but more often than not he seemed to care too much about what he liked as opposed to other people's safety.
Before settling into our common rooms I checked the library but still no sign of the book. I saw Courtney as I was leaving but I didn't say anything to her, even as she waved as I left. Back in the common room I quietly talked to Harry and Ron in between working on homework and ignoring Hermione's warning looks.
Matt didn't talk to me until Friday during Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall had grouped us off in threes, Me, Melinda and Matt together. "What's that saying about three's a crowd?" I joked as Matt moved to the desk closer to us. He didn't respond, nor did Melinda, which I considered to be odd since she generally at least laughed.
"We should get started" Matt finally said pulling out a notebook and reading over his finished assignment from the class before which we were each assigned something we'd like to transfigure. Along with including what object we'd like to transfigure we had to include what we wanted to transfigure it into, why, would it be beneficial, if even possible. As a group we were to discuss the possibility, the core problems and explanations. Most of the objects I had picked at first were ones Melinda reminded me we already did fourth year.
I only tuned in when I realized Melinda was giving Matt a funny look. "What?" I asked looking at him. He stared at me for a moment, as if annoyed that I hadn't been listening but quickly looked back at his paper.
"I said, I would want to transfigure an empty shell, possibly one that's been used, degraded, or worn out into a flower bud; just before at it's peek of blooming" he explained looking up from his paper. I now knew why Melinda was looking at him weird. It certainly wasn't the first thing I would've guessed.
"Well, you'd certainly have to clean the shell out and stuff first" Melinda spoke up when the silence settled.
"No, I want it as is," Matt protested.
"But it seems too dead if you take it right after it's been emptied" I said.
"That's the point," he added. I looked at Melinda for some kind of understanding but she was still looking at Matt. "Emptiness to fullness, death to life, it's like the circle of life," he said when neither of us seemed to get it.
"Well then why not just pick something else? Why be in control of something that's already part of the circle of life?" I asked.
"It's not being in control of it happening, it's when it happens that I want to control. People should be able to pick when they want to transform—transfigure in this case—to the next stage and what that next stage should be" Matt said, speaking in a rushed tone, an excited tone. I looked at Melinda again but she seemed more impressed than surprised with Matt's comment.
"Alright, um," I started smoothing out my paper. "Besides, emptiness and fullness, what elements do you think are going to be the most difficult to transfer?" I asked, trying to get the topic back on track.
"The smell; death and decay verses purity and birth" he said simply, looking back at paper. "The color too, but I think that will be the only easy part, getting the darks to brighten" he paused, sensing our curiosity about what brought on his choice and then quickly started talking again. "What about you Tammie, what would you like to transfigure?" he asked, folding his paper up.
"Well, I had a whole of bunch of things, but they were all simple, so, after thinking about it, I think I'd want to transfigure something ordinary, like a seashell, or pinecone into a two-way mirror or a talking mouthpiece. Something minor, like, merging two things rather than changing it completely," I explained.
"Why?" Matt asked; his tone unusually casual. I shrugged and looked at Melinda, but she too looked curious as if she didn't already know my answer.
"I don't believe you should change something if you already like it, anything ordinary can be special ordinary or extra-ordinary if you add a bit to it" I started. "Think about it, two separate items or systems; wonderful alone, magnificent together." I could feel myself smiling as I said the last bit.
"Someone has been to the joke shop recently…" Melinda joked; suddenly catching on. I laughed and looked down in slight embarrassment.
"What would be the difficultness in half transfiguring something?" Matt asked, still speaking in his casual tone as if he hadn't heard Melinda.
"I have to remember to keep a balance of what I want to change and where I want those changes" I explained. "Okay, Melinda, you're turn" I said looking at her. She gave a small smile of thanks before opening up her paper.
"I'd want to transfigure a fantasy to a reality…" Melinda said. I looked at her but she shook her head. "I know that's not possible—"
"It's not impossible" Matt interrupted looking at her. "I mean, look what Burnner did last year." I didn't say anything, nor did Melinda; it was a topic we tried to avoid as often as possible, especially in large groups like classrooms. "I get it, it's a bad topic, but, Burnner was—is powerful. Melinda, I have no doubt you could be like that, only, use your talents for good. Seers aren't the only ones who can manipulate people's minds. I mean, look what you're doing to Draco—"
"That's because Draco's dumb" I added.
"Regardless, you did one simple thing to your hair and attitude and you're a completely different person. I have nothing but admiration for you, being able to go come back and pick up after last year, that's no easy feat" he explained. Melinda stared at Matt for a second longer than she would otherwise. I imagined it was because she had never heard anything, or expected, to hear anything like that coming from him.
"It's still not easy" she said quietly.
"What would you transfigure?" Matt asked; his voice sincere, full of interest.
"A heart into a book" she said.
"A person's heart or animal's?" Matt asked, not at all phased by Melinda's choice. She shrugged, not looking up from her paper.
"A person's I suppose…"
"That's, not what I expected to hear you say" I said trying my best not to wrinkle my nose. "I mean, I thought we just discussed the whole dead things not being transfigured into living things?" I reminded her.
"Well, technically a book is dead, it's made from trees…" Matt offered with a smile. I swatted his arm.
"Don't be a smartass" I hissed but felt a smirk in the corner of my mouth. "Anyway, why a heart?" I asked, though I could probably guess.
"If someone could read someone else's heart like a book they'd know the true secrets, the true feelings, they wouldn't have to ask, they'd just know…" she said still not looking up. I nodded in agreement; I did know exactly why she wanted to transfigure a heart.
"Would it work?" Matt asked; a question I didn't even consider.
"I don't know, I mean, I feel like it's more dark magic related than anything else and I don't want to get involved with dark magic," she explained.
"Well, putting yourself into a journal is more dark magic than transfiguring a heart into one. It doesn't require a mind" Matt told us.
"Yeah, just remember Boris Tate" I reminded them as they both nodded. "So because the heart you plan to transfigure will already be out of someone dead—and you won't have to kill them it's okay to use the heart?" I asked as Melinda nodded. "Okay, so, problems?"
"The book pouring out blood is what most concerns me" Melinda said with a laugh. I laughed too as did Matt who seemed to be looking at Melinda with a new kind of expression, not just admiration like before.
"Class! Attention class!" we turned to look at Professor McGonagall who had moved back to the front of the room. "I'll be collecting your papers at the end of class. It's time for break. When you return you'll get started on writing up how you'd go about transfiguring you desired objects. Make sure you include spells you will be using. I'll have the instructions for what I want on the board when you get back. Twenty minutes; go on, off with you" she said waving her hand at the door. I didn't' hesitate as I followed Melinda out, but just as we started to move toward the nearest bathroom Matt pulled me aside.