Richard had many dreams that night, but his mind wandered to a place he had never seen before. A strange corridor that led to a wall that peeled away to reveal a door. The door then opened into blank, nothing, and darkness. Just the metal clanking of something moving around behind the darkness, but before anything could happen Richard was jolted awake and startled Riley from her sleeping spot.
The black cat had scurried towards the door and looked back at him before settling down her hackles, as she headed down towards the common room. The person who woke him? Nicolas, the young blonde boy had his school robes on, and as Madame Malcom had said they had changed to match the house colors that the both of them now belonged in. he seemed to be a little nervous about something, and it was then that Richard realized that the dormitory was empty.
"Come on, before we're late for class!" Josh spoke in a hurry as he took off down the same path as the cat; Richard shot up from bed in a hurry and scrambled to get his robes together. As the vest was pulled from over his head and tucking in his shirt he barely managed to get his tie in order before he was rushing down the stairs. Past the landing and down the spiral stairs down to the bottom floor, as his shoes creaked the floor slightly from the shift of weight.
As Richard reached the blonde boy he had finished fixing his hair, and the two pushed open the painting and into the grand staircase. It was with relative ease as they headed straight back down to the ground level and pushed through the doors and into the courtyard beyond as the light peered through the glass empty windows and into the hall inside. Richard and Josh continued at a brisk pace towards the classroom that opened up into a large space, one side of the classroom had stacks of books where one of the teachers from the table at the head of the great hall stood on a small pedestal.
Richard shoved Joshua up to the seats as he took a seat he could very much know that the finch girl was sitting behind him. Her green and gray robes were very neatly cleaned and organized and her golden brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her black eyes glimmered with humor as it didn't take long for Richard to realize that the both of them were late anyway.
"Well, how nice for the both of you to join us at last, seems that is everybody here." The professor spoke, Richard noticed from across the classroom the Ravenclaw girl was watching him. Her dark blue eyes glinting with humor before she turned back to her own studies, Richard shook the thought away as the teacher began the lesson. Richard sat up in his chair as the professor raised his wand.
"Now, with this spell you have to be extremely careful, do not at any cost point it at another student!" the short elderly teacher sternly put with a huff, "Instead you each have been given a candle, each of you must light just the tip. And for extra protection I will put up barriers so that no wayward spells go flying across my classroom." As if on cue, Richard was briefly cut from Joshua's side by a bright orange light, that soon faded but the spell left everything distorted on the other side somewhat.
"Now practice with me the wand movement, like so… up down and curve," with these words he mimicked said wand motions with his own, "Now everyone, follow what I have just shown you all." Richard pulled out his wand and made the triangle that didn't complete at the end. Doing so a couple more times to get it right before the teacher raised his wand and the class all turned back to him.
"Good, all of you are paying very well attention." He cheered with a sort of bubbly energy as some of the class laughed softly, "Now, set your wands down and repeat after me, ahem… In-Cen-Di-o" he punctuated each word perfectly and sharply to embalm it into the students' minds. His white mustache quivered as he looked around the room as the students all quickly quieted down.
Richard set his wand down as instructed. "In-cen-di-o." the whole class repeated, looking amongst each other as they looked among each other before repeating it one more time. Professor Flitwick perked his head up and listened very closely as he searched the room with his eyes. Pointing his finger at one of the students who wasn't repeating the words, they immediately sat up and said the word almost immediately.
"Good, now remember to punctuate otherwise you may find yourself getting frustrated over it being difficult." Flitwick said as he raised his wand and called a candle over to his hand, holding it up and making the wand motions. "Incendio!" he spoke loud and clearly as the tip of the candle burst into flames. Well contained and perfectly lit as he sent it back over to its brothers. "Focus on the candle, and you will not have your entire desk catch fire."
Richard took a deep breath as he waved his wand in the proper manner, repeating the spell with a clear voice… but the candle lay still. The brown haired boy frowned as he tried it again, making sharper movements with his wands and clearing his voice immediately before speaking… Josh's candle has already been lit and he was watching Richard. Richard puffed out his chest as he tried a third time, his temper raised slightly but he attempted to keep his cool.
A loud audible huff came from behind him. "Having trouble Rottweiler?" Michaela laughed from the back, her arms crossed as she watched him from above. Richard frowned as he turned back to the candle in front of him resting atop the desk. The brown haired boy cleared his voice one again before raising his wand and focusing his intent on the small pillar of wax on the wooden surface, holding his breath as he prepared to speak.
"Incendio!" Richard spoke clearly this time as he put a halfway point between sharp and gentle, making sure each gesture was clear and precise. His candle sparked slightly this time but quickly died out not too long ago, his hand trembling as he took a deep breath. "Incendio!" he repeated once more, sharp and clear… still only a tiny spark up at the top.
"Clearly the most brilliant student isn't we Rottweiler?" Michaela continued to taunt from behind him, her wand tapping her desk, "Come on, blow up your desk if you so wish, just do something entertaining." Finch sat back in her chair and put her feet up on the desk and leaned back in her seat, the lit candle on her desk nearly toppling over and falling onto her own desk.
Richard blew hot air out of his nose as he whipped back around to face the candle once more, but Finch's taunts went on… and on… and on; until finally Richard spun around and flicked his wand. "Incendio!" he shouted pointing the tip of his wand towards the student, it burst a large ball of flame that hit the barrier and startled Michaela as she fell back from her seat and to the floor from the boom that followed.
Professor Flitwick seemingly appeared before Richard as he snatched the piece of finely carved wood out of the brown haired boy's hand. "I said; do not fire at another student, for the health and safety of everyone in this classroom." The professor put sternly as he tapped the wand against the desk and turned back to the class who all held their heads low towards the ground.
Richard sighed as the professor handed him back his wand, but he was not allowed to practice any more for the rest of the day. As the professor stated, "You have demonstrated enough for today." Richard murmured this once as he looked away toward the end of the class. As the class funneled through the door Richard shoved Finch who retaliated rather quickly, Michaela broke off from them and she and Richard separated from the path.
Richard found himself storming down the halls and collapsing at the base of a pillar as he sunk to the ground, his hands tying together as he stared up at the ceiling of the hall. He noticed the caretaker up on a ladder undoing some curse on a statue up on the top. As he looked back down Josh was sitting across from him now, slowly letting himself sit down comfortably.
"Rowdy wasn't it?" Josh joked as he looked down the halls towards the rest of the students. "Honestly, I don't blame you for trying to burn her face off there. Maybe not so much on how long it took for you to break, honestly that part kind of scared me." He laughed with a swift movement of his hand to brush things off; Richard looked back down the hall towards the charms classroom.
"I… don't really know what came over me then, it's just like… I had enough all of the sudden." Richard tried to explain but even he himself couldn't really wrap his brain around it. He crossed his arms before looking back to his friend. The blonde boy who shrugged in response, as he stood up and held out his hand, which Richard took thankfully as he was helped up to his feet.
"Honestly don't sweat about it, honestly… everyone has a limit eventually." Josh answered as he patted Richard's back. His blue eyes shone as he tilted his chin towards the roof, Richard followed his gaze back up to the rumbling old man cleaning up the recent prank. Josh punched the brown haired boy's shoulder and Richard nudged his.