The washroom was silent except for the sound of running water and the slow breathing of the troll.
"Well, we better go to bed, it's getting late." Jessica said, heading towards the door.
"You will stay right there, Miss. McErlean." Snape hissed.
"It's alright Severus." Dumbledore replied. "Professor Quirrel you can take care of this troll and the four of you can report to Professor McGonagall's office."
"Yes Professor." they said, and so headed off in the direction of Professor McGonagall's office. Harry then remembered that he had forgotten his wand. He turned around to head back when he was met by Peeves.
"O, four wizzy wizards!" he chuckled.
"Hello Peeves." Emilia said.
"I've got something, and you can't get it!" he chimed, as he waved Harry's wand in front of their faces.
"Give that back!" Harry yelled. Peeves began to float down the hall shouting
"You can't make me." over and over again. Emilia drew her wand
"Petrifacus Totalis!" she shouted, as a stream of light shot from her wand and surrounded Peeves. He went rigid, and the wand clattered to the floor.
"Thanks." Harry said, as he picked up his wand.
"What about Peeves?" Jessica asked.
"It will ware off." Emilia told her. When they arrived at the door, Professor McGonagall was waiting for them, and she didn't look happy.
"All of you inside." she said, opening the door. They filed in and Professor McGonagall sat down at her desk.
"First of all, Dumbledore asked you simply to come to my office and you arrived late."
she said, staring at them.
"Peeves got in our way." Jessica explained.
"Fine." Professor McGonagall said, and so she dropped the topic.
"What were you boys doing in the girl's room?" she asked, looking at Harry and Ron who were now blushing.
"When we heard about the troll, we headed to the dormitories." Ron explained. From that, Harry, Hermione, Emilia, and Jessica explained what had happened. When they had finished, McGonagall sat looking at them.
"10 points from Gryffindor for you boys being disobedient, but I will award each of you 5 points for dumb luck, you may leave." With that said, the group of friends went back to the Common Room. As they headed down the hall, Snape walked in front of them and then turned a corner towards the dungeon.
"Did you notice something about Snape?" Emilia asked her friends when they reached the Common Room.
"Ya, he was limping." Ron said, agreeing with her.
"I'm tired, I'm going to bed." Jess yawned. With that, they all decided to go to bed.
Classes continued normally the next day, with only the girl's washroom "out of order." Rumors floated around about what happened, and the group of friends would laugh when they heard some of the rather far fetched ones. Mid-term exams came quicker then most students liked. Hermione was freaking out as usual and Ron was completely lost. Emilia and Jess became study buddies and felt rather confident with what they knew.
When morning of mid-terms came, Emilia was up bright and early to get some last minute studying in. Once everyone had woken up Emilia went down to breakfast and everyone ate more then their fill, because they were so nervous. When everyone was finished, they were ordered out into the foyer and then into groups by the house prefects. The foyer was filled with discussion about last year's exams, answers to questions and recitations of spells. The Great Hall doors swung open and the students filed in. Emilia found a seat in the first year section and took out her wand, quill, and scrolls. Then the teachers walked up and down the rows taping each person's items. Emilia didn't understand the reason of this till one of the teachers tapped a student's scroll and answers materialized on the page. The scroll was confiscated and the teachers continued on. Once every student had been checked, scrolls materialized in a nice pyramid at the top of each desk. Emilia grabbed the top one and opened it. At the top in bold writing was the word "Charms." Emilia smiled, her 2nd best subject was charms and so she read on. The scroll instructed her to walk to the front of the row and wait for a teacher to test her. As she walked to the front she saw Ron sweating over potions and Hermione frantically scribbling on a scroll labeled "History of Magic." Emilia stood and waited for a teacher to come to her and as she waited she observed the ceiling. It mirrored the beautiful, calm, sky outside, a perfect day.
"Follow me Miss. Potter." Snape told her. As she followed him to a side room she thought, "Why me!"
"Draw your wand, I will be testing you on both Charms and Transfiguration." he told her, as he shut the door. Emilia took her wand and held it in her hand. Snape took her through all the charms, which she executed perfectly. Then he instructed her through transfiguration, which she also executed perfectly. She waited for her final transfiguration spell, but Snape said nothing. She looked at him. Snape stood looking very puzzled at the scroll he was holding.
"Is there a problem Professor?" Emilia asked.
"No." Snape replied sharply, without looking up.
"Professor McGonagall wishes for you to transfigure yourself into a unicorn." he said, with a questioning voice.
"Yes, Professor." Emilia replied. Snape stood looking at her, waiting it seemed, for what he thought was impossible at her age. Emilia thought hard about all the pictures of unicorns she had seen. What a unicorn would feel, the heaviness of the horn, the feel of the wind while running. Emilia felt the characteristic breeze of air she had gotten use to. Emilia heard the sound of her hooves on the cobble stone. She looked at Snape, through her unicorn eyes. Snape had the expression of a three year old just meeting Santa on his face.
"You may return to your desk." Snape mumbled out, becoming speechless. Emilia returned to her normal self.
"Thank you Professor." she said, and so left the room. The remainder of exams was all rather easy for Emilia; all though she had a feeling that she hadn't gotten a few dates in History of Magic. It was a Friday, Emilia remembered as she left the Great Hall and headed towards the Common Room. As she crossed the foyer to the staircase, she heard someone behind her.
"Emilia!" the voice said.
"Ya." Emilia replied, as she turned around. She then saw that it was one of the girls in her Charms class that she sat next to.
"Hey Angel." she said.
"Hey." Angel said, as she caught up to Emilia.
"What is it?" Emilia asked.
"Well, I was wondering if you could help me with Charms." Angel asked. Emilia thought about it. Angel was one of her best friend even though she was in Slytherin, but that didn't really matter to her.
"Ok." Emilia said. Angel beamed,
"Thank you so much."
"We will meet outside on the hill by the Quidditch pitch tomorrow." Emilia told her. Before Angel could reply, Draco came walking in their direction.
"Angel what are you doing hanging out with scum?" he said.
"None of your business Draco." Angel said.
"Mr. Malfoy, come with me, we found something you might want." Professor McGonagall said, sticking her head out from behind the doors of the Great Hall. The look on Draco's face was one of shear annoyance. Emilia stuck out tongue at him and Angel laughed. Emilia continued up the stairs, and when she reached her bed, she collapsed on it and fell asleep.
When she woke up the next morning, Emilia looked to see who was up. Hermione's bed was empty, but Emilia guessed she had gone to extra help, for History of Magic. Emilia changed her robes and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. When she got to the table Jess joined her and the two of them talked about the exams. When they had finished Harry and Ron had still not arrived.
"Well I can't wait around, I have to go help Angel with Charms. We are by the Quidditch pitch." Emilia told Jess, and then she got up and left. Emilia walked slowly down the hill towards the Quidditch pitch. She let the sun beam down on her back. She passed Hagrid's hut and waved to him. As she continued towards the meeting place she ran into Angel and the two of them went to the practice hill. The practice hill was where Emilia went when she had nothing better to do. There was a supervising teacher, usually Professor McGonagall, who would sit and correct papers. Today the hill was rather empty for a weekend, but then she remembered that most students were at Hogsmead.
"Looks like we picked a good day." Emilia said, as she sat on the grass and opened her Charms book. As Angel opened her book, Emilia glanced around to see who the supervising teacher was. Professor Flitwick came trotting down the hill between students observing what they were doing. Along the way, he had to put a clump of grass out that had been set alight by one of her classmates, Neville. Emilia took her wand out of her pocket and then looked at Angel.
"So, what do you need help with?" she asked.
"I can't seem to get Lumos or Wingardium to work." Angel explained.
"Let's see then." Emilia said. Angel stood back and said
"Lumos." As she did a light flickered at the end of her wand and then went out again. "Try this." Emilia told Angel standing beside her. Emilia held her wand gently in her hand; she thought the word "Lumos" and her wand lit.
"How did you do that!" Angel exclaimed.
"You can't just say it, you must also think it." Emilia explained. Angel nodded and thought about the word "Lumos" slowly the tip of her wand began to glow.
"I'm doing it!" Angel shouted. They then went on to Wingardium Leviosa.
"Emilia!" A voice yelled from behind her. Emilia turned around and saw Jess coming towards her.
"What is it?" Emilia asked, a little worried.
"It's Harry." Jess panted, "He is in the hospital wing!"