Title: shove
Word Count: 533
Rating: G
Pairings (if any): N/A
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): N/A
Summary: It's all fun and games until someone barely avoids becoming another ghostly resident of Hogwarts… Set in Megan's fifth year.
On their way to the Great Hall from the Dueling Club—it still amazed her that she had helped start it in first year—Megan shoved Locke. "You were only lucky this time, Stith," she teased as he stumbled, sticking her tongue out childishly. "You'd better keep studying, or I'll Transfigure you into a spider next round!"
"As if, Watson," he argued, grinning. "You move about as speedy as a tortoise. I could run laps around you!"
She turned to glare at him over her shoulder. "I focus on defense," she argued, lifting her chin. "You may be fast, but you don't plan much for if someone actually hits you."
"Then how about this: Next week, we team up and duel two-on-two. You'll be the defense, I'll play offense. Deal?"
Megan smiled and went to say it wasn't quite the same as playing Quidditch, but her joke was interrupted by a rough shove from behind. Who did— No one except Locke was near enough, but his eyes widened in shock before he tried to yank her backwards. Her robes slipped from his grasp, and she realized that she was tumbling down the stairs—right as it was moving.
Just before she could reach for the railings, she rolled over the edge and began to fall from the fourth floor.
Her scream was cut short by an abrupt wrenching sensation, and she sailed through the air into something firm and strong. Disoriented from adrenaline and vertigo, the brunette eventually realized that her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor—Professor Thanos—had saved her. As she babbled her thanks in post-near-death-experience fashion, he called out with an icy fury, "Mister Garrison."
Startled, Megan looked up towards where Locke was peering over the edge at them and noticed that, not far behind him, Elliot Garrison stood with his arms locked against his sides. The wand clenched in his fist was pretty damning evidence. The Ravenclaw claimed, "It was an accident, I swear! I was just having a little fun, I didn't mean—"
"Detention, Mister Garrison," interrupted the professor, unsympathetic to the student's explanations. Setting the Slytherin down, he ensured she was uninjured before turning a steely gaze back up. "Six o'clock. Don't be late."
After the eagle had stormed off and Professor Thanos went to inform his Head of House, Locke finally caught up to her, nearly beside himself with guilt. "I'm so sorry, Megan," he stammered, "I tried to catch you—and I didn't even think of using my wand, I'm an idjit—"
"It's okay," she stopped him, trying not to tremble as the shock began to wear off. "I—let's just go eat. I think my stomach managed to Banish itself someplace."
As they continued on to the Great Hall, Megan tried to figure out why Garrison kept trying these little stunts. And I'm not so sure this was entirely an accident, she admitted in her darker thoughts. Some of the things he'd said in the past—and the curses he'd used on her—suggested otherwise. With the way her luck added up, this event wasn't enough to expel him; she vowed to keep a better eye on him from now on.
-Dragon