A/N: Saw the Prisoner of Azkaban. Was amused that they misspelled "Moony." Anyway, on with the story! Read on!
Chapter 9—Mishaps in Charms
With Mel in the class, the "no more accidents" was nothing more than wishful thinking on Madam Hooch's part. The girl was just not meant to get off the ground, no matter what measures were taken. In the end, Madam Hooch conjured up a mattress to follow around under her, which helped eliminate serious injury. Somewhat. It seemed that Finn had a natural touch to flying, though Ryan didn't do too badly herself, either. But once Madam Hooch put them through their paces, she was ready for a well-deserved afternoon nap.
Fi agreed with her on that count, so they both trooped up to the dormitory. Ryan was exchanging her sweat-soaked and dirty clothes for something cleaner when Fi stopped her.
"Oh, Ryan, look at your side!" Startled, she looked down and saw that her entire left side was an impressive bruise where she had hit the ground. She had been too preoccupied to notice, but now that she had, she wondered how she possibly could of missed.
"Geez. Must've been from when Finn knocked me off my broom." To her surprise, Fi began to laugh.
"I—I'm sorry, but—but it was funny. I mean, you were flying around and, 'Look out!', it was classic!"
"Well, I'm glad someone thinks so," Ryan muttered, beginning to feel the twinges from her bruising. Taking care not to land on her injured side, she flopped on her bed and began to stroke Tabby absently, listening to Fi bustle around. Within minutes, she was out like a light.
She slowly began to adapt to this new and stranger mode of life: she began to learn her way around the castle, slowly became used to portrait subjects moving about, began to get the hang of her classes…with one shining exception. Potions!
Professor Snape didn't bully Ravenclaw like he did Hufflepuff, but that didn't mean he made it at all easy for them. She could apparently do nothing right in his eyes, though in her own, she thought that she was rather good at it. Her potion was the wrong shade of purple, it was too thin, it was too thick, she added the lizard tails too early. It didn't matter that, say, Elise's potion was bright green. No, Ryan Lapitske's purple potion for making flowers grow was too dark. She felt like throwing it in his face, to see if it was possible to make his nose grow any bigger, but her detention stood out vividly in her mind: pickling leeches, and taking freshly pickled ones out to dry. Until one of the third-years showed her something called a Scouring Charm, she still had bits of leech guts sticking to her nails and she smelled of brine. Against that, she could stand a dark potion or two.
The other thorn in her side was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Oh, Professor Lockhart was charming, funny, handsome and accomplished…but bright he certainly was not. She couldn't think of a single useful thing he had taught them. And the first time they had class, the room was a mess! It looked like a pack of rabid hyenas had been let loose! And then, when they were sitting down, a small blue something flew out and hit her right in the midriff with surprising force. Elise laughed, but it went after her next, causing her laughter to turn into a shriek. It went after Fi next, but she was ready. She picked up one of their many textbooks—Gadding With Ghouls—and swung with all her strength, hitting a square score. The little thing dropped to the floor.
"Pixie! That's a pixie!" said Ben excitedly. Ryan looked at it curiously. This was a pixie? It looked like a shrunken winged alien! Weren't pixies supposed to be pretty, and luminous and kind? She rubbed her sore midriff. Apparently not.
"A blue Cornish pixie, to be exact, students!" Gilderoy Lockhart himself strode in, simply dazzling in bright turquoise robes. "You can read all about my run-in with these little trouble-makers in Year With the Yeti! Now then, take your seats." They did so. Lockhart picked up the pixie and hurled it out the window with some vehemence. Then he stood at the front, holding up a smiling, winking picture of himself. "Me!" he proclaimed, as if they couldn't tell for themselves, "Gilderoy Lockhart, order of Merlin, 3rd class, Honorary Member of the Dark Arts Defense League, and winner of Witch Weekly's 'Most Charming Smile' award for five years running!" Ben nudged her and leaned over.
"Which one do you think he's the most proud of?"
Things were getting better, though—for the most part. Lockhart was Lockhart, Potions was Potions, and Fi and Ben were still snipping at each other. Ryan could not figure out why they continued to dislike each other, and they refused to explain themselves. But incidents with them were few and far between; Fi seemed perfectly content to stay with her own group of friends and let Ryan stay with Ben and Finn.
But one rare day when Fi actually accompanied Ryan, Ben and Finn to class, they were almost late and running down the halls. Ryan bumped into Colin, who was heading the opposite direction. Ran into was more accurate.
"Oh, sorry, Colin," she said, hurriedly gathering his books and shoving them at him. While he was assuring her that it was all right, a second-year leaned over and joined the effort. She looked up…and nearly dropped her books herself.
It was the boy who lived two streets down, the one old Mrs. Figg used to look after. She had never really seen him up close before, but she could still recognize him. He looked at her with bright green eyes, though his glasses were fixed, not held together with tape.
"You know Colin?" he asked, "You're not a Gryffindor, are you?" She shook her head numbly.
"No. Ravenclaw. I met Colin on the boat ride across the lake."
"Ah, you're his friend? That's good. I'll see you around, maybe." Then he walked off, with a tall red-headed boy and a girl with out-of-control brown hair. Colin followed them like a faithful puppy. Finn was nearly gibbering.
"Wow. Ryan, do you realize that was—"
"Harry Potter," chorused Ben and Fi. Fi glared at Ben for stealing her thunder, but Ben didn't even notice. "There, you've seen him. That's Harry Potter." She watched him go. That was the boy who defeated You-Know-Who, not once, but twice? He didn't look like he could defeat anyone, honestly, he was not much taller than Ryan herself, and sort of skinny…
"Ben, Finn, Fi, guess what? Potter lives two streets down from me, back home! I never knew that was him!" Finn was in little short of hero-worship of Harry, and the joy this news caused was something akin to the Germans after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
"What? You must be joking! That's amazing! Do you know him, then? Wow!" She elbowed him to keep him quiet, or he'd go on for days.
"No, I don't know him! My neighbor, Mrs. Figg, she used to look after him when his aunt and uncle were away. I've never spoken to him before in my life…I used to see him at school, though. He got into trouble a couple times, something about climbing school buildings—" This was brushed aside by Finn impatiently. Now he was in what could only be described as fits of joy.
"You actually went to school with him?!" Ben shoved Finn aside and placed himself in between, butting Fi out of the circle.
"Could we possibly get to Charms, please?"
Charms had gotten better since the disastrous poltergeist incident. She had only a minimal talent for Charms—Transfiguration was really more her subject—but she was improving. She had finally mastered the color-changing charm (the ornament now hung above her bed) and had only missed one homework assignment. Today, they were going to make things fly. She was eager to try this new skill, but worried about Ben; he was absolutely dismal, and had a penchant for trouble with this class. Who knew what might happen?
"Now, students!" squeaked Flitwick, "remember that nice wrist movement!"
"Swish and flick," they chorused, demonstrating. Ryan swished and flicked impatiently. She wanted Flitwick to stop talking so she could try.
"Enunciate clearly…pair up…go!" Ryan and Ben stared perplexed at the feather for a moment, then Ryan swished and flicked.
"Wingardium leviosa!" Absolutely nothing happened. While Ben took his turn, she looked around at her classmates. Finn was paired with Luna Lovegood, a girl Ryan was positive was half-mad. As it was, Luna was staring dreamily out the window while Finn was beating at the feather uselessly with his wand. Ryan was about to turn back around and take another turn with the spell when,
Splat! Something splattered against the back of her head. She whirled around, looking at all the students behind her.
A Slytherin girl, the same one whose ornament had been shattered after her triumph, was sitting behind her, both hands over her mouth, obviously horrified.
"Oh," she squeaked, "Oh, I'm so sorry! The spell…I missed…it hit my ink bottle…" Ryan felt her jaw drop.
"Ink?" she yelled in abject horror, "What color is it?"
"It…it changes colors…"the girl trailed off weakly. Fed up, Ryan threw the now-empty bottle back at the girl. She felt instantly sorry, and was glad that anger had misguided her aim. She felt even sorrier when Flitwick swooped down on her.
"Five points from Ravenclaw, Miss Laptiske!" Her mouth dropped open yet again, and she momentarily forgot her anger at the Slytherin girl.
"But…but Professor! My hair is changing colors!"
"That is no excuse for throwing things at your classmates." Whatever reply she might have made was cut off by Ben yanking her hair a little harder than strictly necessary.
"Wicked! Ryan, your hair must've been soaked! It's blue…and green…and red…" She regained possession of her hair and turned to the girl.
"I really am sorry," she said. To her surprise, she was sincere.
"I almost believe you are, Miss Laptiske. Now, shake hands with Miss O'Reilly."
"…and pink…and orange…" Ben was still fascinated by her hair. She shook hands.
"Excellent! A point to Ravenclaw. Everyone, back to work!"
"Green again…yellow…purple…" Ryan blocked out his voice, or tried to.
"Wingardium leviosa!" she yelled, and she wasn't alone. She and Finn both levitated their feathers. Giggling, she guided it over and tickled his nose. He swatted it away and returned the favor. Then she moved it over to Ben, in an effort to get him to shut up.
"…brown…and turquoise…and, achoo!" The sneeze broke the spell, and her feather drifted slowly down to the desk.
"Oh, well done, McKey!" exclaimed Flitwick, hurrying over after noticing Finn. Ryan scowled. That was a bit late on the Professor's part, in her opinion. Ben laughed as Finn, surprised, caused the feather to drop with a very un-feather-like thunk. Luna looked to her partner with big, slightly bulging, insane-looking grey eyes.
"Oh dear, that feather doesn't look very useable, does it?" As it was starting to melt, Finn couldn't deny the truth of that. Ben laughed even harder, until Flitwick turned to him.
"Let's see you perform it, Mister Coley." Ben swished, but forgot to flick. The feather quivered for a moment, then fell still. "Almost! Come now, once—" He never finished the word more, because a stray spell blasted into him, causing him to fly across the room. Ryan was impressed; she didn't think she was strong enough to lift even tiny Flitwick, never mind throw him across the room, even by accident. The break bell rang, and everyone rushed out before he recovered, lest they be accused of doing the deed. Ben, it seemed, had managed to escape extra homework. The Slytherin girl, O'Reilly, walked away before Ryan could talk to her; whether by accident or design, she wasn't sure. She really did want to talk to her, though.
"She's a Slytherin," said Ben, exasperated. "Just stay well away from her. Oh, your hair color is starting to speed up with it's color changes. How are you going to get that out, anyway?"
"Wash it, I suppose. It's just ink, right?" Her hair was garnering some attention in the halls, and not all of it was negative. Several girls demanded to know what spell she had used. When she had explained about the ink, some looked put out, but some actually looked thoughtful. They actually looked interested! Did they honestly think she had done this on purpose? Some people were inexplicably strange.
Colin nearly left his skin with excitement when he saw her hair, and, of course, took several pictures with his ever-present camera. She considered ripping the film out, but figured the attempt would be futile. She just wanted to get into a shower and scrub until every last speck of ink was gone.
But, like everything since coming to Hogwarts, it wouldn't be quite that easy. After several rinsings and applications of shampoo, the stickiness that denoted ink was gone…but the enchantment still lingered in her hair. Was this school ever going to catch her a break? Fi thought it was interesting, but that was Fi. She'd think sprouting wings on her face would be interesting. As it was, Ryan now had to walk around school with her color-shifting hair gathering attention at every turn. To make her feel better, Fi stole Elise's color-changing ink and soaked the ringlets surrounding her face, then the tips of the rest of her hair so it, too, flashed different colors. When Penelope caught sight of her little sister in the common room the next morning, she staged a shrieking fit for all to see.
"What on earth were you thinking?" she yelled, "When mum hears, she'll go ballistic—"
"Penny, I was just trying to make Ryan feel better, you see, because—"
"Then buy her a chocolate frog, or something, don't mutilate your appearance! Come here, I'm doing a Severing Charm right now!" Fi screamed and dodged away. "Fiona Clearwater, you get back here!" Ryan drew her wand (but what was she going to do, turn Penelope into a needle?) but Finn was the faster thinker.
"Wait! No, it's their Halloween costume!" Penny glared suspiciously at Finn, who hurriedly stepped on Ryan's toes. She tried to act like this was the plan the entire time.
"Wha? Ow…I mean, oh…yeah, well, we were just…you know…getting into the spirit of things? Yeah, we're…we're disco balls!" Several people snickered, and Penelope let go of Fi's hair reluctantly.
"Well…there's nothing in the rule books that says you can't…but as your sister, Fi, I—" But Fi had seized her opportunity to escape and had already left. Ryan followed quickly, lest she find herself bald because of Penelope's bad mood.