Chapter Five : Real MAgic
During the next morning, breakfast in the Great Hall was very tense, with the ominous prophecy staring down at everyone's plates. The letters were shimmering as brightly as ever and every student couldn't help but secretly glance over it, reading it just one more time.
That morning an unusually large number of owls flooded the room, as most of the students had written to their families, telling them what happened, and now they were all receiving their responses. Harry had of course written to Sirius, but he didn't expect an answer soon, as he was supposed to be in hiding. Another reason why he didn't pay attention to his table's mail was that he couldn't take his eyes off Eve and the Slytherin table. He felt Ron's bony elbow playfully nudge him.
" Quite taken with her, aren't ya, mate?" he chuckled, " can't take your eyes off her. I was right about her, huh?" Hermione watched him with narrowed eyes, and Harry answered to Ron, half to appease her and half to hide his embarrassment.
"Stop being a prat. I'm watching the Slytherins to see their reactions to this omen. Draco obviously knows something about all this."
Harry turned out to be on to something as he saw Malfoy's new eagle owl fly down, but not with a lavish package for him this time. It dropped a very plain, small letter near his plate. Draco nodded curtly to it as it flew off, and he was trying not to attract too much attention ( which was unusual as he always liked showing off his expensive presents). He didn't read the letter, but pocketed it in his robes. Harry was just about to point this out to Ron and Hermione, when something else caught his attention. A beautiful bird swooped into the Hall. It had long black and emerald feathers. Everyone watched as it flew to the Slytherins and landed right in front of Eve, who seemed totally astonished by it. It bowed its long neck majestically to her in a fashion not unlike a Hippogriff.
"What kind of bird is that?" Ron asked. But Harry had seen Fawkes fly too many times to not see the resemblance.
" It's a.a. phoenix," Harry said, almost in a whisper, not daring to let his eyes stray from the entrancing bird. Hermione started talking quickly, though in a low voice.
"But its black, and black phoenixes are extremely rare. You see one about every thousand years or so. They usually come in bright colors and you need a specific lineage in breeding to have one and they could cost-"
"Will you shut up? I wanna see what it's giving to her," Ron hissed.
"Well you don't have to be so mean," Hermione pouted, crossing her arms.
The bird slowly bent its elegant neck again and put a large letter with a black seal in front of her. Eve was watching the bird very intently. She seemed reluctant to touch the letter, and as she saw a small note attached to the bird's neck, she hesitatingly stretched her arm to take the letter. The bird obligingly came closer to her and she took the letter and read it. Goyle, who obviously hadn't been taught basic rules of etiquette and privacy, read over her shoulder and cried out, " Whoa, its yours, Evee!" Malfoy immediately shot him an angered scorn and apparently kicked him under the bench, as Goyle grunted in pain and disappeared under the table to rub his foot. Eve didn't seem upset. She merely rolled her eyes to the ceiling and looked back at the bird. She smiled at it this time, and trailed her fingers across its plumage. Harry was reminded of Hermione often scratching Crookshanks behind its ears as the bird had a similar look of contentment as the cat would have. Then, Eve bent over and surprisingly seemed to whisper something to the bird. It gave a squawk, bowed its head again, and flew off. Everyone continued with their breakfast, but Harry kept watching Eve. She took the letter, but she didn't open hers, either.
" Whoa, you guys, look at this," Hermione said as she gave that morning's Daily Prophet to Ron and Harry. On the front page in big letters was the headline: ANOTHER MINISTRY BLUNDER: AZBAKAN BROKEN INTO, NO PRISONERS ESCAPE.
Harry felt a small chill come over him, even though it was just a picture of the Azkaban guards he was seeing. They seemed as cold and frightening as ever. Harry tried to read the article, despite Ron fidgeting and nudging him to see it also. The article read:
Azbakan, the infamous and feared prison for evil dark wizards has reportedly been broken into, writes loyal reporter and investigator Rita Skeeter. Despite the Minister of Magic's frequent insisting that everything is all right and according to the Azkaban guards, no prisoners have escaped, exhaustive investigation without regards to the personal safety of yours truly has revealed that the fortress was broken into and several cells were attempted to be opened. Unfortunately, in another embarrassing Ministry blunder, whoever attempted the break-in was not apprehended. In fact, there aren't even any leads as to who it was, and the Ministry has been irritatingly silent as to what clues they have found. It seems that the Ministry is either shockingly underestimating the growing power of the Dark Side or is aware of it and does not want to admit it. Another example of the Ministry's weakening grasp of the order which was finally established after the fall of You-Know-Who sixteen years ago is the fact that Azkaban was broken into in the first place, as the dementors who are guarding it are more than likely to lean towards dark and evil forces if they are growing more powerful.
Breakfast finished and the three friends had been so absorbed by the bird and the article that Ron got up from the table, even though he had barely eaten anything.
"Harry, do you realize what this means?" Hermione asked, extremely worried.
"Yes. Apparently Voldemort (Ron still instinctively flinched every time he heard Harry say his name, even though he had stopped asking him to say You- Know-Who instead. It was no use anymore.) felt that he was powerful enough and had gained enough influence over the dementors to break into Azkaban. But it seems that even though he was able to get a word in with the dementors, they weren't so cooperative as to let him take away their prisoners, what they feed off of." Harry said this with an uncharacteristic tone of hatred. Hermione looked frightened, both at the news and at Harry's tone.
"First attacks on Muggles almost every week, and now Azkaban! Harry, what we've been fearing these past three years of You-Know-Who rising to his full power is coming true," she said.
" And if this prophecy on the wall has any substance, he's preparing to unleash something big. Very big." Ron said, turning slightly pale.
"An evil beyond your wildest fears," Hermione whispered, repeating the omen whose message had become permanently etched in their memories, "whatever it means, you're in more danger than ever before in your life, Harry."
"Yeah, he's getting bolder, more confident of his power. I wonder if he'll stop being so subtle, sending his followers undercover to do his work secretly," Harry said.
"Ah, stop worrying him so much, Hermione. He'll never dare to challenge Dumbledore. He's stronger than he'll ever be." Ron said, trying to be reassuring, as the three reached their Charms class. Tiny Professor Flitwick greeted Hermione with a smile, which she gave back with a wave and a hello.
As they took their seats, Hermione did try to be cheerful as she said, "Well, I've been getting more than a 100% on all my marks in Charms. There won't be any Slytherins raining on my parade at least in this class."
But she had spoken too soon. As soon as Professor Flitwick had gotten the class's attention, he said, " Well class, it is my pleasure to inform you that we have a new student joining us." There were sounds of commotion as the students moved around to whisper to one another or pay closer attention. Hermione raised her head from her book and furrowed her eyebrows. The professor walked out of the class for a moment and brought in none other than-
"Eve Riddle. As you may or may not have heard, Eve has come into our school under very unorthodox circumstances and has not have any formal magical education until now. Fortunately, she has already shown that she has more than enough ability in Potions and Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall was positively raving, my dear," Professor Flitwick said this lower in her ear and Eve smiled, not arrogantly, but with a hint of embarrassment. The professor continued, " Therefore, she shall be spending time in other classes of different years, until we find classes that are suited to her abilities, as Dumbledore has said that he wants her to graduate with the rest of you this year." He turned to Eve, "If you have trouble or any difficulties, my dear, I am assigning Hermione, my best student, to tutor you." He smiled and gestured at Hermione, who looked as if she would rather be trapped in a room full of Blast-Ended-Skrewts, but with much effort, she managed a smile towards Eve. Eve caught on to her feelings, because she raised her eyebrows and smirked back. Professor Flitwick apparently didn't see any of this. He said, " Now dear, this will be your first time purposely performing a charm, wouldn't it?"
Eve nodded and said, "Uh, yes sir. Before this I did make unexplicable things occur when I felt scared or angry or frustrated, but I never told anyone. The first time I ever mentioned it to my uh, mother, she became very, uh, upset." All the Gryffindors looked at one another. The professor clucked his tongue and shook his head disapprovingly.
"All right, the rest of the class, practice on your Disappearing charms. Hermione, if you please, come up to the front and help me with Eve."
As the rest of the class went to work, Hermione hesitated, as if looking for an excuse, and said, "But sir, right at this moment, I'm so extremely busy studying for my N.E.W.T.S. I have loads to review, I'm so very sorry," she looked up at him with pleading brown eyes. Ron rolled his eyes, but couldn't help smiling. He loved it when she was sneaky or dishonest with a teacher. Harry realized how Hermione loathed the idea of working with Eve that she was willing to disobey a teacher and pass up a chance to show off in front of the class against her. Harry, however, was interested.
"I'll do it, Professor. It's alright, let Hermione study." He smiled at her.
" Well, Hermione, we will be going back to what we learned before," he said, putting a feather on the table, "so it will be a good review of the basic techniques you will need on your exam. And all the other teachers, especially Professor Snape, head of her house, specifically recommended you. I'm sure you can skip an hour of studying. Harry, since you offered and since I want you to take the N.E.W.T.S also, you can come, too." To Hermione's dismay, they both sat up and walked toward Eve and the Professor, who said, "Now dear, please take out your wand and do the hand movements I am about to show you."
"Take out my what?" Hermione barely stifled a laugh as Eve said this.
" Your wand, dear. Surely you have one?"
Eve shifted her green eyes and said uneasily, " Well, sir, I tried to get one but-
"Its alright dear. You can use Harry's."
"But sir, you don't understand, I-"
"Eve, don't be absurd, every witch or wizard needs to work with a wand," Hermione said pleasantly, seeing that she was uncomfortable with using one. "Go on, Harry, give it to her." Eve consented, and Harry, looking at Hermione curiously, stretched out his wand to her. With much trepidation, the girl raised her trembling fingers and as soon as she touched Harry's wand, it exploded with a loud bang into a million infinitely tiny, glittering pieces. As the whole class stopped what they were doing and stared, a single feather with brilliant flaming red color floated and landed on the ground.
"What have you done? You ruined his wand on purpose, didn't you!" Hermione exclaimed.
"No, I didn't. This happened every time I touched a wand at Ollivander's. That's why I don't have one. I tried telling you, but you wouldn't let me," Eve answered, bowing her head apologetically.
Professor Flitwick, looking somewhat apprehensive, said, " It's alright. Back to work, all of you. Harry, I'll inform the rest of your teachers today and arrange for you to buy a new wand." Then Eve's voice made everyone's head turn.
"No, no, its okay. I can fix it."
"What are you talking about? All that's left is the feather," Hermione said.
But Eve wasn't paying attention to her. She was looking outside the classroom's window, at the Forbidden Forest. Then she bent over the ground where the wand's pieces had fallen and disappeared.
"Your wand was made of.holly, I presume?" she asked.
"Uh, ya," was all Harry could say in amazement. Unless she was a wood freak, how could she have known?
"Give me your right arm," she said, extending her hand. Harry obeyed, and stretched out his arm. She ran her fingers across it, sending shivers down Harry's back.
"Hmm.ten and three quarters." she muttered more to herself than to him.
"Eleven," Harry corrected her with a bit of a smile.
"Right," she said, as she looked out the window again, "Professor, the holly trees grow in the farther side of the forest, don't they?"
"Well, Professor Sprout can tell you for sure, but I believe you're right," he said.
"It'll make things a bit more difficult, but I can manage," she said, smiling even more broadly now. She waved her palms toward the forest.
Hermione rolled her eyes and whispered to Ron, "I wonder what she expects to do without a wand. She's probably seen something like this on TV," she said scornfully. But Eve had her eyes gently closed and was whispering fervently something unintelligible. The class watched her for some time, but nothing happened. As the minutes crept by, Parvati and Lavender started giggling under their breaths and Dean and Seamus were smirking.
Suddenly they felt the ground rumble and the walls were shaking as if something huge and thick was crawling against them. The class rushed to the window and saw a huge root sliding against the castle's tower like a big snake. The students parted and opened the window as the root made its way inside the class, knocking over a few desks and chairs. Eve opened her eyes and lowered her hand to the phoenix feather. Without touching it, she made the feather levitate with motions of her slender fingers. She turned her head and motioned to the root and began chanting again. Then the root planted itself in the ground, making a huge hole and a crashing noise as it broke the stone of the floor. Suddenly a tree sprouted as if its growth was being watched through fast forward. A single branch stretched to the feather, which was still in midair, and the wood amazingly started spinning itself around the feather, long and thin, until it completely enveloped it. With her hands, Eve guided the length of the wood and finally, blew a small breath into the open hole of the wand before the wood sealed itself and detached itself from the rest of the tree from the other end. With more motions of her hands and more mutterings, she fashioned a handle and as the root detached from the tree and slid back out the window, she presented the wand with a slight bow to Harry. He eyed it with complete astonishment as it floated in midair, waiting for him. Parvati and Lavender had their hands over their mouths, eyes widened. All the Gryffindors seemed to be holding their breath.
"Go on, its good as new, I hope," she urged.
Harry was hesitant. She was, after all, a Slytherin, and she had just made a wand which he was supposed to use in all of his charms and spells. She could have easily sabotaged or cursed it. Besides, what was her breath for? He looked at Ron, who looked utterly confused, and Hermione, who gave her a warning look. But his wand looked totally normal, and he was almost bursting with curiosity as to how it would work. He raised his fingers and grabbed the wand. Nothing happened and Harry swore he heard a few people exhaling with relief.
"What are you afraid of? Give it a flick," Eve said. Harry swished the wand up and down, and red and gold sparks emitted from it, even more brighter than he remembered when he was eleven. Harry chuckled sheepishly.
"Uh, thanks?" he said.
"No problem. I always wanted to see if I could make a wand, even though I uh, don't seem to need one," she said, smiling.
"Breathtaking! Amazing! I've never even seen anything like it. Never heard of such control over plants before, and without a wand!" Professor Flitwick said after shaking off a trance of amazement and staring intently at the holly tree.
But Eve humped indignantly and was raising her sleeves as she said, "Now let me show you some real magic."
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During the next morning, breakfast in the Great Hall was very tense, with the ominous prophecy staring down at everyone's plates. The letters were shimmering as brightly as ever and every student couldn't help but secretly glance over it, reading it just one more time.
That morning an unusually large number of owls flooded the room, as most of the students had written to their families, telling them what happened, and now they were all receiving their responses. Harry had of course written to Sirius, but he didn't expect an answer soon, as he was supposed to be in hiding. Another reason why he didn't pay attention to his table's mail was that he couldn't take his eyes off Eve and the Slytherin table. He felt Ron's bony elbow playfully nudge him.
" Quite taken with her, aren't ya, mate?" he chuckled, " can't take your eyes off her. I was right about her, huh?" Hermione watched him with narrowed eyes, and Harry answered to Ron, half to appease her and half to hide his embarrassment.
"Stop being a prat. I'm watching the Slytherins to see their reactions to this omen. Draco obviously knows something about all this."
Harry turned out to be on to something as he saw Malfoy's new eagle owl fly down, but not with a lavish package for him this time. It dropped a very plain, small letter near his plate. Draco nodded curtly to it as it flew off, and he was trying not to attract too much attention ( which was unusual as he always liked showing off his expensive presents). He didn't read the letter, but pocketed it in his robes. Harry was just about to point this out to Ron and Hermione, when something else caught his attention. A beautiful bird swooped into the Hall. It had long black and emerald feathers. Everyone watched as it flew to the Slytherins and landed right in front of Eve, who seemed totally astonished by it. It bowed its long neck majestically to her in a fashion not unlike a Hippogriff.
"What kind of bird is that?" Ron asked. But Harry had seen Fawkes fly too many times to not see the resemblance.
" It's a.a. phoenix," Harry said, almost in a whisper, not daring to let his eyes stray from the entrancing bird. Hermione started talking quickly, though in a low voice.
"But its black, and black phoenixes are extremely rare. You see one about every thousand years or so. They usually come in bright colors and you need a specific lineage in breeding to have one and they could cost-"
"Will you shut up? I wanna see what it's giving to her," Ron hissed.
"Well you don't have to be so mean," Hermione pouted, crossing her arms.
The bird slowly bent its elegant neck again and put a large letter with a black seal in front of her. Eve was watching the bird very intently. She seemed reluctant to touch the letter, and as she saw a small note attached to the bird's neck, she hesitatingly stretched her arm to take the letter. The bird obligingly came closer to her and she took the letter and read it. Goyle, who obviously hadn't been taught basic rules of etiquette and privacy, read over her shoulder and cried out, " Whoa, its yours, Evee!" Malfoy immediately shot him an angered scorn and apparently kicked him under the bench, as Goyle grunted in pain and disappeared under the table to rub his foot. Eve didn't seem upset. She merely rolled her eyes to the ceiling and looked back at the bird. She smiled at it this time, and trailed her fingers across its plumage. Harry was reminded of Hermione often scratching Crookshanks behind its ears as the bird had a similar look of contentment as the cat would have. Then, Eve bent over and surprisingly seemed to whisper something to the bird. It gave a squawk, bowed its head again, and flew off. Everyone continued with their breakfast, but Harry kept watching Eve. She took the letter, but she didn't open hers, either.
" Whoa, you guys, look at this," Hermione said as she gave that morning's Daily Prophet to Ron and Harry. On the front page in big letters was the headline: ANOTHER MINISTRY BLUNDER: AZBAKAN BROKEN INTO, NO PRISONERS ESCAPE.
Harry felt a small chill come over him, even though it was just a picture of the Azkaban guards he was seeing. They seemed as cold and frightening as ever. Harry tried to read the article, despite Ron fidgeting and nudging him to see it also. The article read:
Azbakan, the infamous and feared prison for evil dark wizards has reportedly been broken into, writes loyal reporter and investigator Rita Skeeter. Despite the Minister of Magic's frequent insisting that everything is all right and according to the Azkaban guards, no prisoners have escaped, exhaustive investigation without regards to the personal safety of yours truly has revealed that the fortress was broken into and several cells were attempted to be opened. Unfortunately, in another embarrassing Ministry blunder, whoever attempted the break-in was not apprehended. In fact, there aren't even any leads as to who it was, and the Ministry has been irritatingly silent as to what clues they have found. It seems that the Ministry is either shockingly underestimating the growing power of the Dark Side or is aware of it and does not want to admit it. Another example of the Ministry's weakening grasp of the order which was finally established after the fall of You-Know-Who sixteen years ago is the fact that Azkaban was broken into in the first place, as the dementors who are guarding it are more than likely to lean towards dark and evil forces if they are growing more powerful.
Breakfast finished and the three friends had been so absorbed by the bird and the article that Ron got up from the table, even though he had barely eaten anything.
"Harry, do you realize what this means?" Hermione asked, extremely worried.
"Yes. Apparently Voldemort (Ron still instinctively flinched every time he heard Harry say his name, even though he had stopped asking him to say You- Know-Who instead. It was no use anymore.) felt that he was powerful enough and had gained enough influence over the dementors to break into Azkaban. But it seems that even though he was able to get a word in with the dementors, they weren't so cooperative as to let him take away their prisoners, what they feed off of." Harry said this with an uncharacteristic tone of hatred. Hermione looked frightened, both at the news and at Harry's tone.
"First attacks on Muggles almost every week, and now Azkaban! Harry, what we've been fearing these past three years of You-Know-Who rising to his full power is coming true," she said.
" And if this prophecy on the wall has any substance, he's preparing to unleash something big. Very big." Ron said, turning slightly pale.
"An evil beyond your wildest fears," Hermione whispered, repeating the omen whose message had become permanently etched in their memories, "whatever it means, you're in more danger than ever before in your life, Harry."
"Yeah, he's getting bolder, more confident of his power. I wonder if he'll stop being so subtle, sending his followers undercover to do his work secretly," Harry said.
"Ah, stop worrying him so much, Hermione. He'll never dare to challenge Dumbledore. He's stronger than he'll ever be." Ron said, trying to be reassuring, as the three reached their Charms class. Tiny Professor Flitwick greeted Hermione with a smile, which she gave back with a wave and a hello.
As they took their seats, Hermione did try to be cheerful as she said, "Well, I've been getting more than a 100% on all my marks in Charms. There won't be any Slytherins raining on my parade at least in this class."
But she had spoken too soon. As soon as Professor Flitwick had gotten the class's attention, he said, " Well class, it is my pleasure to inform you that we have a new student joining us." There were sounds of commotion as the students moved around to whisper to one another or pay closer attention. Hermione raised her head from her book and furrowed her eyebrows. The professor walked out of the class for a moment and brought in none other than-
"Eve Riddle. As you may or may not have heard, Eve has come into our school under very unorthodox circumstances and has not have any formal magical education until now. Fortunately, she has already shown that she has more than enough ability in Potions and Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall was positively raving, my dear," Professor Flitwick said this lower in her ear and Eve smiled, not arrogantly, but with a hint of embarrassment. The professor continued, " Therefore, she shall be spending time in other classes of different years, until we find classes that are suited to her abilities, as Dumbledore has said that he wants her to graduate with the rest of you this year." He turned to Eve, "If you have trouble or any difficulties, my dear, I am assigning Hermione, my best student, to tutor you." He smiled and gestured at Hermione, who looked as if she would rather be trapped in a room full of Blast-Ended-Skrewts, but with much effort, she managed a smile towards Eve. Eve caught on to her feelings, because she raised her eyebrows and smirked back. Professor Flitwick apparently didn't see any of this. He said, " Now dear, this will be your first time purposely performing a charm, wouldn't it?"
Eve nodded and said, "Uh, yes sir. Before this I did make unexplicable things occur when I felt scared or angry or frustrated, but I never told anyone. The first time I ever mentioned it to my uh, mother, she became very, uh, upset." All the Gryffindors looked at one another. The professor clucked his tongue and shook his head disapprovingly.
"All right, the rest of the class, practice on your Disappearing charms. Hermione, if you please, come up to the front and help me with Eve."
As the rest of the class went to work, Hermione hesitated, as if looking for an excuse, and said, "But sir, right at this moment, I'm so extremely busy studying for my N.E.W.T.S. I have loads to review, I'm so very sorry," she looked up at him with pleading brown eyes. Ron rolled his eyes, but couldn't help smiling. He loved it when she was sneaky or dishonest with a teacher. Harry realized how Hermione loathed the idea of working with Eve that she was willing to disobey a teacher and pass up a chance to show off in front of the class against her. Harry, however, was interested.
"I'll do it, Professor. It's alright, let Hermione study." He smiled at her.
" Well, Hermione, we will be going back to what we learned before," he said, putting a feather on the table, "so it will be a good review of the basic techniques you will need on your exam. And all the other teachers, especially Professor Snape, head of her house, specifically recommended you. I'm sure you can skip an hour of studying. Harry, since you offered and since I want you to take the N.E.W.T.S also, you can come, too." To Hermione's dismay, they both sat up and walked toward Eve and the Professor, who said, "Now dear, please take out your wand and do the hand movements I am about to show you."
"Take out my what?" Hermione barely stifled a laugh as Eve said this.
" Your wand, dear. Surely you have one?"
Eve shifted her green eyes and said uneasily, " Well, sir, I tried to get one but-
"Its alright dear. You can use Harry's."
"But sir, you don't understand, I-"
"Eve, don't be absurd, every witch or wizard needs to work with a wand," Hermione said pleasantly, seeing that she was uncomfortable with using one. "Go on, Harry, give it to her." Eve consented, and Harry, looking at Hermione curiously, stretched out his wand to her. With much trepidation, the girl raised her trembling fingers and as soon as she touched Harry's wand, it exploded with a loud bang into a million infinitely tiny, glittering pieces. As the whole class stopped what they were doing and stared, a single feather with brilliant flaming red color floated and landed on the ground.
"What have you done? You ruined his wand on purpose, didn't you!" Hermione exclaimed.
"No, I didn't. This happened every time I touched a wand at Ollivander's. That's why I don't have one. I tried telling you, but you wouldn't let me," Eve answered, bowing her head apologetically.
Professor Flitwick, looking somewhat apprehensive, said, " It's alright. Back to work, all of you. Harry, I'll inform the rest of your teachers today and arrange for you to buy a new wand." Then Eve's voice made everyone's head turn.
"No, no, its okay. I can fix it."
"What are you talking about? All that's left is the feather," Hermione said.
But Eve wasn't paying attention to her. She was looking outside the classroom's window, at the Forbidden Forest. Then she bent over the ground where the wand's pieces had fallen and disappeared.
"Your wand was made of.holly, I presume?" she asked.
"Uh, ya," was all Harry could say in amazement. Unless she was a wood freak, how could she have known?
"Give me your right arm," she said, extending her hand. Harry obeyed, and stretched out his arm. She ran her fingers across it, sending shivers down Harry's back.
"Hmm.ten and three quarters." she muttered more to herself than to him.
"Eleven," Harry corrected her with a bit of a smile.
"Right," she said, as she looked out the window again, "Professor, the holly trees grow in the farther side of the forest, don't they?"
"Well, Professor Sprout can tell you for sure, but I believe you're right," he said.
"It'll make things a bit more difficult, but I can manage," she said, smiling even more broadly now. She waved her palms toward the forest.
Hermione rolled her eyes and whispered to Ron, "I wonder what she expects to do without a wand. She's probably seen something like this on TV," she said scornfully. But Eve had her eyes gently closed and was whispering fervently something unintelligible. The class watched her for some time, but nothing happened. As the minutes crept by, Parvati and Lavender started giggling under their breaths and Dean and Seamus were smirking.
Suddenly they felt the ground rumble and the walls were shaking as if something huge and thick was crawling against them. The class rushed to the window and saw a huge root sliding against the castle's tower like a big snake. The students parted and opened the window as the root made its way inside the class, knocking over a few desks and chairs. Eve opened her eyes and lowered her hand to the phoenix feather. Without touching it, she made the feather levitate with motions of her slender fingers. She turned her head and motioned to the root and began chanting again. Then the root planted itself in the ground, making a huge hole and a crashing noise as it broke the stone of the floor. Suddenly a tree sprouted as if its growth was being watched through fast forward. A single branch stretched to the feather, which was still in midair, and the wood amazingly started spinning itself around the feather, long and thin, until it completely enveloped it. With her hands, Eve guided the length of the wood and finally, blew a small breath into the open hole of the wand before the wood sealed itself and detached itself from the rest of the tree from the other end. With more motions of her hands and more mutterings, she fashioned a handle and as the root detached from the tree and slid back out the window, she presented the wand with a slight bow to Harry. He eyed it with complete astonishment as it floated in midair, waiting for him. Parvati and Lavender had their hands over their mouths, eyes widened. All the Gryffindors seemed to be holding their breath.
"Go on, its good as new, I hope," she urged.
Harry was hesitant. She was, after all, a Slytherin, and she had just made a wand which he was supposed to use in all of his charms and spells. She could have easily sabotaged or cursed it. Besides, what was her breath for? He looked at Ron, who looked utterly confused, and Hermione, who gave her a warning look. But his wand looked totally normal, and he was almost bursting with curiosity as to how it would work. He raised his fingers and grabbed the wand. Nothing happened and Harry swore he heard a few people exhaling with relief.
"What are you afraid of? Give it a flick," Eve said. Harry swished the wand up and down, and red and gold sparks emitted from it, even more brighter than he remembered when he was eleven. Harry chuckled sheepishly.
"Uh, thanks?" he said.
"No problem. I always wanted to see if I could make a wand, even though I uh, don't seem to need one," she said, smiling.
"Breathtaking! Amazing! I've never even seen anything like it. Never heard of such control over plants before, and without a wand!" Professor Flitwick said after shaking off a trance of amazement and staring intently at the holly tree.
But Eve humped indignantly and was raising her sleeves as she said, "Now let me show you some real magic."
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