Time passed rapidly for everyone, bringing them to the first levitation class in a mere blink. The selected boys were changing into long red and gold dress-like outfits while the girls changed into black and red ones. Hermione, Ginny, and Gemna had made them the day before with the help of a little Indegica. They all met in the common room and headed to the Room of Requirement. Harry summoned the door and everyone filed in.
There were a few noises of surprise at the sight of so many beds and mysterious objects, but Gemna quickly ushered everyone to some beanbag couches and chairs in a little nook she didn't recall being there upon her previous visit. "Quiet down everyone! People will start arriving in about half an hour and I need to give you your instructions. Now, this room is obviously split into two halves. The side with the blue beds is for the boys and the side with the red beds is for the girls. As the students come in tonight, you will find out their year, house, and, if you must ask, their gender," she giggled.
"Colin, Seamus and Nick, you will be working with the sixth year boys. Josh, John and Jared, you're with the fifth year boys. Shania, Courtney and Michelle will be with the sixth year girls. Last but not least, Ginny, Emilia and Maria will work with the fifth year girls. I don't really have a preference for who works with what house, so you will figure that out amongst yourselves. Oh, Ron, Hermione and Harry, the four of us are monitoring everything. You will still stick to the side of the room with the proper gender, though. Not that I don't trust you, but if I catch anybody looking up someone's gown, there will be hell to pay." Josh and John gave one of those fake angel looks as Gemna and the other girls glared at their opposites.
"Anyway, today we will be teaching simple meditation. Hermione and I have it planned out and will instruct everyone from that platform in the center of the room," she pointed. "Just follow our leads. You'll catch on fast." Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Okay, looks like the first people are early. You all know what to do." Everyone nodded and stood up, heading to the door in two neat lines. Gemna took a deep breath and opened the door.
It was Cho and her clique of five: Alanna, Andrea, Marisa, Evalyn, and Cynthia. The six students deposited a Sickle each in a velvet bag hanging on the wall by the door. Shania, Courtney and Michelle ushered them to the changing room and then to beds. The next students to arrive were Dean and Neville, who had already paid and been advised to come in long gown-like outfits. They walked with Colin, Seamus and Nick showed them to the blue beds before returning to their positions by the door. Next were Lavender, Parvati, Amy, and Kirsten.
By eight o'clock, there were about fifty students there of various houses (all but Slytherin). The fourteen assistants split into groups and Gemna and Hermione took the stage. "Welcome, everyone, to Levitation 101. Before you can learn to levitate, you must learn meditate," Gemna giggled. "So today's class will be on relaxing the mind. Everyone sit cross-legged on your bed and drape your arms over your knees." Hermione sat down on the floor and demonstrated. "Be sure to keep your spine as straight as you can. Now, take a slow, deep breath for about four counts. Assistants, please count off for your students." The helpers began to count out loud together. "Now out for four counts." They counted again and repeated this for about five minutes.
"Good, good. Now you must all learn to find your 'happy place.'" A few people laughed. "I'm serious. Mentally, you need to be in a place of comfort to levitate. Usually such things as fields of flowers or star-filled skies work for beginners. Think of a place that makes you happy. Now, assistants, look for a pink glow around girls and a yellow glow around boys. If their minds are truly at peace, you should be able to see it just fine." A flick of her wrist and the lights were out. Everyone could see Hermione's vibrant pink glow in the center of the room. They all began to visualize.
It took a lot longer than the breathing exercise, but by eight-thirty, there were twenty-five pink glows on one side of the room, and twenty-five yellow glows on the other. Gemna flicked her wrist again and the lights came back on, but dimly. "Now slowly raise your arms out to your sides. Yes, just like that. Open your eyes just a little bit and watch Hermione's movements."
They all followed the instructions like zombies. Hermione let her arms flow in and out of a cross. She then moved them up and down, like at clawing cat, but slower and more graceful. She repeated this over and over. "Everyone close your eyes again and do what you just saw. This exercise will help combine your aura with your whims, enabling better control upon levitation. This is the final step in tonight's lesson."
At about nine o'clock, everyone changed to their normal clothes and left, feeling very refreshed. Once they were all gone (with the exception of Dean and Neville) and the fifth year boys returned to their dorms, Ginny grabbed the coin bag and poured it out in the center of the stage where they all sat down to count it. "50 Sickles!" Ginny shouted.
"1450 Knuts!" yelled Dean. "We're going to have quite a time on that Hogsmead trip next month."
"I'll divide this up so we each can keep track of our own share," Gemna said. "We each get 111 Knuts. We'll have 7 left, and that will go back in the bag," She said as she did so. "Next time that will be split up with everything else. So, shall we go back to the dorms?" The couples all looked at each other, with the exception of Emilia, Shania and Michelle whose other halves weren't present.
"Um, I think I feel like going for a walk," Ginny said as her and Neville left the room.
"I could use some air, too," Dean said as he took Maria's hand and left.
"I'd like to go take a look at the stars……...for astronomy class," Hermione added as she pulled Ron towards the exit.
Seamus and Courtney took off shortly afterwards. Emilia, Shania, and Michelle split up just outside the door, obviously to find their boyfriends, leaving Harry and Gemna alone.
No sooner had the door slammed shut behind them, then Harry and Gemna locked lips. She'd nearly dived at him and was now hovering over his Quidditch-muscled body, savoring every inch of his mouth. They finally stopped to gaze into each other's eyes. Harry lifted a hand to stroke her silky, white cheek. "You're so beautiful," he whispered.
"You're not too bad yourself, love," Gemna said as she slid a hand under his robes and up and down his chest. "Something about tonight just seems too perfect, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, kind of odd, actually." He sat up on one hand, the other holding her body against his.
They kissed again, but not nearly as passionate. Harry could feel his heart start to race. Something was wrong. He could feel it, among other things. "Gemna, something isn't right. I just have this feeling like………"
"Something bad is going on and we got to do something?" she interrupted.
"Um, yeah," he agreed as Gemna stood up. He did so, as well. "You know I'd love to snog with you right now…..…."
"But we got to go figure out what's going on." They smiled at each other and took hands, heading towards the door. "Don't worry, Harry, I understand. I've been getting the same feeling since the breathing exercises. Do you have that map?"
Harry nodded and pulled the parchment out of his robes. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he said and put his wand away. The dots appeared and the two of them stopped to study it. Hermione and Ron's dots were practically combined outside by the Quidditch field. Emilia and Draco were out in a dark, rarely used hallway. Michelle and Colin were in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room, Courtney and Seamus were in a storage closet, Ginny and Neville were in the adjacent one, Shania and Erik were in the library, and Maria and Dean were also morphed into one dot in the boys' dorm. "It seems all of our friends are rather busy tonight," Harry chuckled.
Gemna laughed, too. "I don't see how that's a bad thing, at least for nine months." They both laughed again. "There must be something we're overlooking. Where's Professor Courtlynn?"
They looked all over the map. "There she is," Harry pointed. Professor Courtlynn's dot was in Dumbledore's office. But Dumbledore wasn't there. He was with Hagrid in his hut just outside the forest. "What's she doing there?" The dot was wandering around to various parts of the room. "Think we should go check on her or tell Dumbledore or something?"
"Let's go to his office. If we run into her, we'll say we came to see the Headmaster," Gemna said, rolling up the map.
"Good idea." The two of them started to walk towards the office. "Wait!" Harry grabbed his girlfriend's hand. "What is anyone going to say when they see us in………this?" He stepped back and spread his arms out.
"Good point. Akemshift!" Harry's outfit turned to normal Hogwarts robes. With another incantation, hers did as well. "They should stay like this for about two hours. I hope that's enough time." Off they went again.
By the time they reached the corridor perpendicular to the one that led to Dumbledore's office, Professor Courtlynn had returned to her classroom. "Damn, we missed her!" Gemna muttered. "At least Professor Dumbledore's not back yet. We can see if she left anything behind to help us."
"One problem," Harry said. "We don't know the password. That wall over there turns into a staircase leading to the office, but you need a password for it." They continued walking until they stood directly in front of where it should have been.
"Harry, do you think I'm dumb?" Gemna smirked.
"What? Of course not! I was just saying………" Harry tried to justify.
She giggled. "I know, I'm just teasing you. Anyway, I know he has a password. And I know the password."
"But how do you……..."
"I have my ways. Now, do we want to get in or not?"
Though he was a bit confused, Harry slowly nodded his head. "Yeah, we do. Go ahead, open the stairs."
Gemna smiled at him and turned toward the wall. "Gwefardeme."
The wall made a small rumbling noise and within a matter of seconds, they were walking up the stairs. "Gwefardeme?" Harry questioned as they walked through the doors.
"It means 'profit through play'. It's a scarcely known ancient Romanian phrase to mean that having fun can bring you many benefits. I suggested it to him the day before you all arrived." She and Harry split up to comb the room for clues.
"Cool. You're so wise, Gem. Hey, look at this." Harry picked up a scarlet book as Gemna walked over to him.
She took the book from his hands and flipped through the pages. "This looks just like the book in that picture. Except this one looks roughed up a bit. I'd say she was definitely doing something with it. Hey, this one has some more names in it."
He read silently over her shoulder. "You're right. Taylor Wolve, Danielle Rothman, Tiarra VanWayett, Mikayla Hiller, Jared Gradenn, Virginia Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Courtney Milley, Seamus Finnegan, and Emilia Mickelle. Gemna, these are all people we know. All of these people are in the levitation thing, with the exception of Malfoy. Do you think there's a connection?"
She shut the book and returned it to the chair it was on originally. "Probably not. I'm sure it's just a coincidence. Why don't you check the map and see where the Headmaster is? We don't want to get caught here."
Harry unrolled the map again. "It's okay, he's……...he's in Courtlynn's class? What's he doing there?"
"Let's not wait to find out. We should go back to our rooms. Look," she pointed on the map. "Everyone's in their dorms. We can expect quite an inquiry when we get there. Should we tell them?"
"We better not," he sighed. "They'll think we're jumping to conclusions." Gemna nodded in agreement.
They crept out of the office and back to Gryffindor, bidding each other goodnight with a ten-minute snog in front of the stairs. Of course, the guy's all shot him suspicious looks when Harry walked in. "Have fun?" Seamus said, who was leaning back in his bed, looking very pleased.
"Nothing happened. All we did was talk and maybe kiss for a bit. Enjoy the storage closet?" Harry shot back.
"Storage closet?" Ron and Dean laughed together.
"How'd you know?" Seamus asked, a bit concerned, but still very content.
Harry pulled the map out and stuck it under his mattress, very obviously. "Wonderful things this piece of parchment does," Harry chuckled. "Care to know where our other roommates were?"
Ron and Dean immediately stopped laughing and Neville buried his head deep within the pages of Magical Melodies: A Guide To Making Music By Magic. "Please, enlighten me," Seamus smiled.
"I'm surprised you didn't hear Neville and Ginny in the closet next to yours," he answered.
"What?" Ron shouted at Neville. "You son of a……..."
"Shut up, you prat. You and Hermione didn't even show up as separate dots on the Quidditch field. Don't start laughing, Dean. You and Maria seemed to be 'joined at the hip' as well." Though he was a bit surprised at how willingly he revealed all this information, Harry was very content with his knowledge of other peoples' business at the moment.
"So what? At least we got some!" Dean chuckled as he flopped down on his bed.
"I refuse to dignify that with a response." Harry put on his nightclothes and slipped into bed.
Ron sighed. "To tell the truth, we were just snogging. A bit of second base, too, but not that much."
"I have a confession, too," Dean admitted. "We didn't get much past that either."
They all turned to Neville who had his face deep in his book, trying the best he could to hide laughter. "Okay, Neville, out with it already," Harry nudged. "Ron, you better stay where you are. We don't need blood shed right now."
Neville dropped the book and burst into laughter. "You want to know what really happened, Ron?" Ron took a deep breath and nodded slowly. Neville got up and turned off the light. "Lumos!" Neville aimed the beam of light at the wall and held up his hand. "We made shadow puppets!" He turned the light back on and walked back over to his bed in hysterical laughter.
They all stared blankly at him. "Neville," Ron said on the verge of cracking up, "I think I would have preferred to hear that you went to third." Everyone was in fits of laughter.
"That is," Dean gasped between laughs, "probably the dumbest thing I have ever heard of, Neville."
"It was in a Muggle book I found on the sidewalk one day. These kids were bored so they shined a candle on the wall and held up their hands in different shapes to make different things. Ginny thought it was cool," Neville justified.
"As long as you keep her happy………and a virgin until she's married," Ron added.
"Of course, I'm not that dumb. Come on, guys. We have to get to bed. It's late." Everyone got into bed and fell asleep within minutes, all with very pleasant dreams.
As expected, Gemna was hounded with questions when she walked in the room. "What kept you out so long?" Emilia smirked.
"Please tell me you two didn't!" Courtney giggled nervously.
"I know you two at least snogged for a good hour!" Ginny barked.
Maria and Hermione were sitting 'innocently' on the floor in the back of the room, pretending not to notice anyone other than each other and their nails. Gemna shook her head. "We did kiss, but not for an hour, Ginny, just briefly. To tell the truth, we just talked about the levitation class for a while…and went for a walk...past a few select couples…." Gemna shot gotcha-looks at all of them, one by one.
All at once they cried, "It wasn't what you think!" After a quick moment of silence, every single one of the girls was rolling on the floor in laughter. "I'd just like to check something here for a moment, and hopefully it will prove everyone's innocence," Maria giggled. "Who here is still a virgin?" Maria, Hermione, Emilia, Courtney, Shania, Michelle, and Ginny all raised their hands. Gemna was still laid back against a wall, giggling.
Shania called to her, "Hey Gemna, raise your hand."
"I can't," she said seriously, shaking her head.
Michelle looked at her quizzically. "Why?"
"I'm not."