Chapter 4: Verbansus transformus
"Now," Professor Flitwick said, "We're going to-"
"Sorry I'm late," Ginny muttered as she slid through the door and into her seat.
"Are you quite alright, Miss Weasley?" Professor Flitwick looked somewhat shocked. Ginny realized what a sight she must be. Her hair hadn't been brushed, her robes were all wrinkled, and she probably had dark spots under her tear-stained eyes.
"Yes, I'm fine."
"Alright then. You may want to open your book to page 423. Now, as you can see, papers can be enchanted to fold on their own-"
Ginny let the words flow in one ear and out the other. She stared down at the book, and her stomach growled quietly. Not that I could eat anything right now, she thought.
But then something caught her eye on one of the pages. There was a moving illustration on the page, which showed a woman holding a piece of parchment in one hand, and her wand in the other. "Verbansus transformus!" a little speech bubble appeared for her, and she tapped the paper. The words "Words can" suddenly rearranged themselves and transformed into the word, "change".
"Now, are there any questions?"
"Professor Flitwick?" Ginny's hand shot up. Flitwick was surprised by her again, and nearly fell off his stool at the sudden reaction.
"Yes, Miss Weasley?"
"Can we learn this word changing charm? Verbansus transformus?"
"Oh no!" he said, pushing his hands out in front of him. "And please don't say those words. I'm afraid that is taught in 5th year, as the spell has rather - er - bad effects if you don't get it right. Now-"
"But we're old enough, right?" Ginny said, not letting go of this new hope. "We can handle this spell, it's only a simple charm..."
"Miss Weasley!" Flitwick looked down at her, a bit angry. "Charms can be just as complex as any other spell. Now, please, leave that one for next year."
He continued the lesson, somewhat grumpy at having his area of expertise being called "simple."
On her way to lunch, she crossed paths with Harry and his friends. They all kept silent near her, not sure of what to say. Ron kept looking at Harry though, as if to ask what he knew.
"Hermione," Ginny grabbed her sleeve as they were entering the Great Hall. "Can I ask you a favor?"
Hermione smiled, and walked with Ginny away from the line of students going to lunch. Ginny could see Neville look over at her, then quickly look straight ahead again.
"Can you teach me Verbansus Transfor-"
"Shush!" Hermione said, backing away from Ginny. "Don't say that?"
Ginny sighed angrily. "What's so bad about that spell anyway?"
"We just had that spell in Charms the other day." Hermione laughed a bit. "Poor Neville had those words stuck to his forehead until the end of the lesson." She chuckled. "Fortunately he got the hang of it in time to transform them into nothing."
Ginny was looking down at the floor, distressed.
"I'm sorry Ginny... does this have to do with what Draco has?" Hermione asked.
"Yes." Ginny said.
"Well..." Hermione winced. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I should teach it to you yet. You haven't worked with words period in charms, and it would take a long time for you to-"
"Never mind," Ginny sighed. "Thanks though."
Hermione hesitated, then headed off to the hall. Ginny finally got her feet in gear and started turning, but just then Malfoy and his gang came through the door. Ginny wanted to duck out of sight, but there was no where to hide.
"Oh!" Draco smiled upon seeing Ginny, then let out a great yawn. "Sorry, late night last night. I was up studying for potions." Crabbe and Goyle snickered.
"Malfoy, leave me alone," Ginny felt sick.
"Oh don't worry, I have your 'notes' right here." Draco pulled the parchment from his robes, and Ginny's heart leapt.
"Give that to me!" she yelled.
"Alright," he smiled, dropping it. But then he pulled out his wand and yelled, "Longarium Leviosar!"
The paper shot up from the ground on an invisible breeze, and Ginny's hand just missed it as it floated over her head.
"What's the matter?" Draco laughed coldly. "Can't reach? Well, I'm only giving others a fighting chance, you know."
Ginny wondered what he meant, but he pointed over her shoulder. She turned and could see Peeves advancing down the hall.
"No!" Ginny cried, and leapt for the story again. "Accio Parchment!" she tried, but Draco's spell was too strong.
"Ooooh, what's this?" Ginny heard a high, menacingly gleeful voice behind her. Peeves snatched the parchment out of the air, and began reading. His eyes widened in amazement, then narrowed in delight.
"This is beautiful prose," he giggled. "People simply MUST hear this. In fact it ought to be published.
"Put that down, Peeves."
Neville had emerged from the Great Hall, and was holding his wand out at the poltergeist.
Just then, the other students began to emerge as well. Seeing the situation, some stopped to see what was going on.
"I said put it down!" Neville yelled.
"Make me!" Peeves said, and blew a raspberry at him.
Neville did - or at least he tried. He held out his wand, made a motion with it, and muttered something under his breath. Peeves yelled in surprise as something blue came shooting out of Neville's wand at him. But it hit the parchment and dissolved immediately. Peeves opened his eyes again and saw he was unharmed.
Ginny could see Harry, Ron, and Hermione walk through the door and join the gathering crowd.
"What's the hold up?" Ron shouted.
"Peeves is just about to read us a story," Draco said, and the crowd grew quiet. Ginny could feel her heart crumble.
