A/N: Dear Guest, who felt comfortable enough to leave a nasty comment (which I've deleted) on the first chapter of this story: Nobody cares if you don't like Sidestories and OC's. Go read something else and quit trying to diminish me. I dare you to write something as effort-taking as this story. Go ahead, try. I dare you.
And by the way, Lily isn't even a self inserted character, she isn't me. She was born from my imagination, and naturally she shares some of my ideas, but she is herself, with her own struggles and values and character.
Everyone else: I hope you enjoy this chapter! Sorry for wasting your time with my answer to the Guest Reviewer.
Defence Against the Dark Arts
When Lily woke up, the first thought that crossed her mind was Ron. Had he and Harry been expelled? It was not like Dumbledore to do such a thing, but again their crime hadn't been a small one. According to the Daily Prophet, the car had been spotted by seven muggles, whose memories had to be erased.
The Great Hall was lit by the enchanted ceiling, which showed a dull, cloudy day. But Lily paid no attention to it. She barely even said good morning to Hector, although she would later apologise for that. The girl was too eager to learn what had happened to Harry and Ron, and her eyes didn't stop scanning the hall until she spotted her cousin's bright red head. Beside him, there was Harry, and then Hermione - who had her eyes locked on the pages of Voyages with Vampires and her head slightly turned to the opposite side of where her friends were sitting.
Lily decided to only confront them about what had happened after breakfast, however, and went to sit with Susan and Heidi Macavoy, a third year and one of the chasers in the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. Lily couldn't stop herself from noticing how pretty Heidi looked, and that she had even shinier hair than in the previous year.
All of a sudden, a rushing sound came over the hall, and a hundred or so owls came flying over the tables, circling around and dropping letters - some of which, unfortunately, fell over the porridge -. Lily cheerfully watched as some of her favourite bird species flew around her, and noticed as a grey one fell off the air and landed inside Hermione's jug, splashing a white liquid which Lily assumed was grey owl was, obviously, Errol. There was a commotion on the Gryffindor table, Lily and Heidi stretched their necks to see what was going on, and Lily spotted something red, but she couldn't quite understand what it was. The Hufflepuff chaser, who was taller than Lily, widened her eyes.
"What is it?"
"Ron Weasley received a Howler!" said Heidi.
"Oh, no!" Lily had gotten a Howler from her mother the previous year, as a result of a terrible event - she had duelled Hector in the middle of the Great Hall -. She hadn't really paid much attention to the yelling red letter. In fact, she would have ignored it, if Susan hadn't explained that the letter would explode if left unopened.
Susan had now stretched her neck too, her brown eyes eager to see what was going on on the Gryffindor table. Lily focused on her ears, but was incapable of hearing what was being spoken. All of a sudden, a voice well known to Lily rumbled on the Hall. It was Molly Weasley.
"STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE
The deafening voice made the plates and spoons rattle on the Gryffindor table, and echoed on the stone walls. As Lily stretched her neck further and further, she saw Ron sink lower and lower on his seat.
LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD HAVE BOTH DIED. I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED – YOU FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME.
Then a bit of smoke filled the hall, as the red envelope burst into flame. Lily didn't know what made Ron snap right afterwards, but she heard his voice:
"Don't tell me I deserved it!"
Lily felt sorry for her cousin, but she couldn't blame Molly either. After all, Harry and Ron had been very stupid. On the other hand, she couldn't exactly blame them for anything, not until she heard their side of the story. But there was no time for that, since the head teachers of each house had begun handing out the course schedules. The girl realized she would soon have plenty of time to talk to her cousin, since her first period was double Herbology with the Gryffindors. She also noted that once again the only period she would share with Hector would be double potions on Monday, and of course the midnight Astronomy class to which all houses would attend together.
Susan pulled a leather folder from her bag and casted a sticky charm on the schedule so it would attach to the front of the folder. Lily thought it was a very great idea to remain organized through the year. It would also be a good way to prevent her essay parchments from getting all wrinkled - something Snape despised.
After finishing their breakfast, Susan and Lily went outside and down the hill to the greenhouses, where the magical plants were kept. It was a great place to be, especially in winter, when the greenhouses were the only remaining warm room in the castle - except, of course, by Lily's own common room, which was beneath the earth and constantly warmed by the magic ongoing fireplace.
"Ron," Lily said, taping on Ron's shoulder when she met them in the middle of the path to the greenhouses, "what happened last night?"
"Well… we are still here," he said, pitifully "although I almost wish I weren't, at least I wouldn't get that Howler this morning".
"I'm sorry that happened. But why did you get that car?"
"The barrier shut, we couldn't cross," Harry whispered.
"Are you sure?"
"You think we would have risked our necks flying on a car if we weren't sure?" Ron said stiffly.
"I didn't mean that. Have you explained it to Dumbledore?"
"Not quite."
"Didn't you think of waiting for other wizard adults to come back through the barrier? Or sending a letter?"
Ron suddenly went red.
"No, we didn't," he said.
"Well, at least you weren't expelled," Lily concluded.
"Are you really not going to say how stupid we were? Hermione would," Harry whispered to Lily.
"If you don't know already how stupid you were, than me saying it won't be of much use."
It was right then that the group crossed with professor Sprout, whose arms were full of bandages - Lily wondered what was that for. As usual, the Herbology master had her robes covered in earth and she smelled of humus and wet soil, which Lily thought was very comforting.
Along with her came no one less than Gilderoy Lockhart, with a carefully chosen turquoise hat - to match his robes - over his shiny blond hair.
"Oh, hello there," he said when he spotted the students, "Just been showing professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow! But I don't want you running away with the idea that I am better at Herbology than she is! I just happen to have met several of these exotic plants on my travels…"
"Greenhouse three today, chaps!" said Professor Sprout, who didn't sound at all like her cheerful usual self. Lily decided that she wouldn't sound like herself if she had spent any length of time near Gilderoy Lockhart, and she didn't mean it in a good way.
As they followed down the path to greenhouse three, Lily felt interest grow into her. Until then, she had only worked on greenhouse one. Greenhouse three would keep more interesting plants - and more dangerous ones, too -. It was visible that Lily's curiosity didn't belong solely to her, as there was a general murmur of interest among the other students as they arrived at the door. Professor Sprout pulled a large key out of her pocket and opened it. Lily's nose caught a familiar smell in the air - the same that exhaled from her mother's small greenhouse, where she grew the trickiest herbs back at the Lakeside, but way stronger -. There was also the perfume from the umbrella-sized flowers that hung from the ceiling, which Lily only guessed she shouldn't get too close to. She was following Harry inside, but all of a sudden the boy was pulled back by Lockhart's grip.
"Harry! I've been wanting a word - you don't mind if he's a couple of minutes late, do you, professor Sprout?"
Lily looked at the Herbology master, expecting a loud "No!", and it also seemed to be what the professor wanted to say when she scowled, but Lockhart said "that's the ticket". and nearly shut the door on Susan, who was just behind Lily.
"That man could use some respect -"
"Oh, nevermind," said Susan, suddenly with dreamy eyes, "it didn't hurt me."
"Susan, please don't tell me you like him!"
"What? Don't you?"
"Of course not! He's a fraud. Just look at him… not a single word of what he says makes sense. Have you read those books? There isn't such a thing as a spell to cure lycanthropism, otherwise the ministry would be using it."
"But the ministry doesn't have enough powerful wizards like Lockhart."
"Oh, if he could cure lycanthropism, I guarantee he would be making werewolves lineup so he could cure them in public, where everyone could take a picture."
Susan had no time to answer, because Professor Sprout cleared her throat and stepped into the center of the greenhouse, behind a stretle bench on which were lying about twenty pairs of different-colored ear muffs. Lily had just seen Harry return from his conversation with Lockhart when Sprout started speaking.
"We'll be repotting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?"
Lily widened her eyes in worry, and was about to raise her hand, but was a second too late, because Hermione had already raised hers. Lily chortled, as she thought that it was only expected of Hermione to give the answer - it was her time to shine.
"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative," said Hermione, "it is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state."
"Excellent. Ten points to Gryffindor," said professor Sprout. "The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?"
Lily, for the first time in her life - and probably last - raised her hand before Hermione, although the Gryffindor had missed Harry's glasses by inches.
"Miss Boyd?" asked professor Sprout, surprised.
"The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it," Lily said.
"Precisely. Ten points to Hufflepuff."
Lily blushed as she felt proud of herself.
"Now, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young."
She pointed to a row of deep trays as she spoke, and everyone shuffled forward for a better look. A hundred or so tufty little plants, purplish green in color, were growing there. Lily knew what to expect, the plants were beautiful above the ground, but underneath… they were dirty, noisy little beasts. Violet had a couple of mandrakes growing in a muffled part of her own little greenhouse back at the Lakeside, and never let Lily go near them, even with all the spells.
"Everyone take a pair of earmuffs," said Professor Sprout.
In the middle of the scramble, Lily ended up with a pair of pink, fluffy earmuffs, which didn't go at all with her hair. But they seemed protective enough, so she didn't mind.
"When I tell you to put them on, make sure to have your ears completely covered. When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up. Right - earmuffs on."
Lily snapped the earmuffs over her ears. They shut out sound completely. She watched as professor Sprout put her own pink earmuffs, rolled up her sleeves and firmly pulled one of the mandrakes out of the earth. As the baby-looking greenish root left its earthy bed, it immediately opened its mouth and Lily could tell it was bawling to the top of its lungs, although she couldn't hear a thing.
Professor Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and plunged the Mandrake into it. Lily knew the Mandrake would stop crying as soon as it was safe under the earth, but she waited until Professor Sprout gave everyone the thumbs-up and removed her own pair of earmuffs.
"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet," she said calmly, as if the repotting hadn't been a big deal for her. "However, they will knock you out for several hours, and as I am sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up."
"Four to a tray - there is a large supply of pots here - compost in the sacks over there - and be careful of the Venomous Tentacula, it's teething"
She gave a sharp slap to the spiky, dark red plant which had been sneakily trying to reach her shoulder.
Lily followed Susan to a tray, where they were soon joined by Hannah and Megan. The group watched as Justin Finch-Flechley approached Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"Well, we tried to talk some sense into him. This is really disrespectful," said Lily.
"Oh, leave Justin alone, he is just trying to make friends. Besides, I think it's Hermione he fancies," said Hannah.
"If you say so…" said Lily.
"Anyway, did you read any of Lockhart's books? I loved Wanderings with Werewolves," said Hannah. Lily couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Lily hates him," Susan told the others, "I can't tell why. He is so brave."
"I'm one hundred percent on Lily's side," said Megan. "I mean, no one has ever testified his achievements."
"See? I'm not the only one who thinks so!" said Lily.
"But why would he write all those books, then?" said Susan.
"I don't know. Maybe he is very creative, and thought it would be better for marketing if he just said it was all real."
That ended the conversation. They had to put their earmuffs back on, and concentrate on the Mandrakes. Professor Sprout had made it look easy, but the seedling Mandrakes were really revolting creatures. They hated being pulled out of their pots, but also hated being put back under the earth. They kicked, squirmed, flailed their little sharp fists and tried to bite - which Lily was almost sure would result in a nasty infection if the Mandrakes succeeded.
When Professor Sprout finally threw red sparks from her wand to call the class' attention, they were all sweaty and covered in dirt. They previously reasonably tidy uniforms looked messy and wrinkled. They all traipsed back to the castle for a quick wash and the Hufflepuffs hurried off to charms.
Lily hadn't had trouble with charms before, although it wasn't her best subject, and she did fairly well on her first attempts at an engorgement charm on a needle - it had increased to the size of her wand!
She noticed that Susan and Megan were doing well too, but Wayne Hopkins seemed to have actually shrunk the needle, and Ernie Macmillan had simply melted his needle, somehow. But it turned out to be a great thing, because they all could witness as Professor Flitwick performed a reversing spell to put Ernie's needle back together.
The lunch bell rang, and the Hufflepuffs packed their stuff. Lily's stomach was roaring inside her, demanding food. She met Susan, Hannah and Megan by the desk the latter had used, where there was a needle engorged to the size of Lily's arm. She had no idea Megan was so amazing at charms.
"What is our next class?"
"Let me see… Defence Against the Dark Arts, with the Gryffindors," said Susan.
They went down for lunch and Lily looked for Hector, but his History of Magic class seemed to have been delayed. Professor Binns had probably lost track of time - which seemed to be an easy thing to do when you were dead.
As she ate with her roommates, Lily overheard Cedric Diggory talking to Heidi about next week trials for the Hufflepuff quidditch team, since Maxine O'Flaherty and Jeanne Kenyon had graduated, leaving the team with no seeker and one beater down. Lily had been trained for those trials throughout the previous year, but Cedric had said that a boy called Elliot Wheeler had shown interest in being the new beater. Cedric, however, as far as anyone knew, was the only option for the seeker.
"Hey, Cedric, do you think Wheeler has a chance?" Lily asked.
"Hm… it's hard to say. I never saw him fly."
"I don't think he caught my attention last year,"
"Well, then I don't think so, but don't let the thought get you lazy. You need to show the team your best. And don't forget you are their friend, so you have to show twice as much that you are not being chosen because of that."
Lily nodded. She remembered something Rachel had told her once. She had said that being a woman meant to be twice as good as any man and still be considered the second best. She would have to be very well prepared, and she was counting on Fred and George to help her.
By the time they finished lunch, Hector had already arrived at the great room and Lily went to sit by his side so he could eat. He was obviously annoyed by the delay.
"How was class?"
"Professor Binns made us lose half an hour of lunchtime so he could tell us about the Medieval Assembly of European Wizards, which, before you ask me, did not accept witches or muggleborns."
"Oh, great, we are studying sexist old wizards this year."
"I've asked today… did you know there have only been seven ministers who were muggleborns in the ministry of magic? And I mean in history."
"Really?"
"Yes. Seriously, this is ridiculous. I think I will start some kind of Muggleborn Assembly in Hogwarts."
"I think it is a great idea. You should talk about this to Hermione. It sounds like something she would love to do."
"I bet. Perhaps our prefect, Penelope Clearwater, would like to join too, she's very engaged in school activities. I will talk to Dumbledore later, and ask if he can help."
"Okay, let me know when you do it. We could go gather some books about it in the library."
When Lily and Hector finally went to the courtyard after lunch, still talking about the muggleborn club, the area was crowded by students gathering around some sort of fight. Their first reaction was to leave, but then Lily heard Harry Potter's voice.
"Shut up, Malfoy!"
She set off toward the source of the voice. A first year Gryffindor had just yelled that Malfoy was, in fact, jealous of Harry. Malfoy seemed really, really mad about it. Lily felt the hot steam of rage suddenly start running through her veins and involuntarily move towards the voices in the crowd.
"Lily, we don't need to get into this," said Hector.
"Of course we have to! Harry is our friend."
Hector looked into Lily's eyes, very seriously, and said something she didn't expect.
"You don't have a debt with Harry Potter because of something that your father, who you don't even know, might or might not have done."
"I know that," she said out of impulse.
"You don't. I know you. I know you feel excessively responsible for things, and I know that I need to tell you this is not your responsibility."
"Hector…"
"Let's go down to the lake before class starts."
"But, Hector, they might need help!"
"Lily, this is a fight between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, it happens all the time. It happened thousands of times last year, it will probably happen a lot of times this year too. It's not like Malfoy and his friends are attacking Neville Longbottom in the library. Hermione is there too, and it's in the middle of the courtyard at lunchtime."
Hector grabbed Lily's arm and gently pulled her away from the fight. She remained silent through their walk down the hill and only spoke again when they finally sat by the lake. Hector was obviously searching for the giant squid again, but it was nowhere to be seen.
"If it wasn't for me, my mom wouldn't have left him. He wouldn't have gone mad."
"For Merlin's sake, Lily, this is going way too far."
"I know it is stupid…"
"Well, at least you know that."
"But it's also the truth."
"Lily, you are aware that you didn't decide to be born, right? You still remember how biology works, right? From before Hogwarts and magic. It still applies to witches."
"I know, but…"
"There is no 'but', there is no way you are involved in it. You couldn't have chosen not to exist. And if you could, we don't know what the world would be like. Maybe your mom wouldn't leave. Maybe she would have died. Maybe her dying would make your father go insane and sell his friends or something. Or maybe they would have had a happy ending and gotten married and had other children, but none of them would be you. I wouldn't have my sister."
Lily closed her eyes, aware that everything going through her mind was absolutely stupid., but still unable to remove the thoughts.
"Lils, I know you still blame yourself because of what happened to your dad, and I understand it is a normal thing to go through. But now you want to blame yourself for whatever happened to Sirius Black, and to Harry, just because you are used to feeling guilty, and it worries me."
"You will make me cry before Lockhart's class," said Lily, trying to swallow back a lump in her throat.
She laid her head on Hector's shoulder as they both searched for the squid, but it didn't show its tentacles.
Then they went inside. Hector climbed the stairs to potions and Lily went to her D.A.D.A class with the Gryffindors. Soon she spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione and went to sit by Hermione's side to ask what had happened in the courtyard.
"Colin Creevey from first year asked Harry for a signed photo. Malfoy heard it and started picking on Harry. Then Lockhart came in and made Harry take a picture with him and promised to sign it for Colin. Can you believe it?" Ron said.
"I actually do believe it," said Lily.
Everyone was already in their seats when Lockhart arrived, went to the front of the class and cleared his throat loudly. Everyone went silent. He reached forward, picked up Neville Longbottom's copy of Travels with Trolls, and held it up to show his own, winking portrait on the front.
"Me," he said, pointing at it and winking as well. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award - but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"
He waited for them to laugh; a few people smiled weakly. Others just stared at the man with impatience, Lily among those.
"I see you all bought a complete set of my books -well done. I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about just to check how much you've read them, how much you've taken in -"
He started handing the test papers and returned to the front of the class when he was done. "You have thirty minutes - start - now!"
Lily looked down at her paper and couldn't believe in the questions.
What is Gilderoy Lockhart 's favorite color?
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?
On and on it went, over three sides of paper, right down to:
54. When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?
Lily rolled her eyes and started answering the questions. She had read the book, after all, and could at least answer all the questions - correctly or incorrectly.
Half an hour later, Lockhart collected the papers and rifled through them in front of the class.
"Tut, tut - hardly any of you remembered that my favorite color is lilac. I say so in Year with the Yeti. And a few of you need to read Wanderings with Werewolves more carefully - I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples - though I wouldn't say no to a large bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey!"
He gave them another roguish wink. Lily looked around trying to find someone else who seemed to despise Lockhart. She needed to make sure she wasn't the only one to think he was an idiot. Ron was staring at the professor in disbelief, and Megan looked impatient. Lily couldn't believe it, however, when she realized Hermione's eyes were filled with admiration - in fact, she almost fainted when Lockhart said her name.
"... but Miss Hermione Granger knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions - good girl! In fact" - he flipped her paper over - "full marks! Where is Miss hermione Granger?"
Hermione raised a trembling hand, and Lily looked at Megan, who seemed to be thinking exactly the same as Lily: why was Hermione, the smartest witch in their year, perhaps in Hogwarts, so interested in Lockhart?
"Excellent!" beamed Lockhart. "Quite excellent! Take ten points for Gryffindor! And so - to business."
He bent down behind his desk and lifted a large, covered cage onto it.
"Now - be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm."
Lily didn't know what to expect. Had he brought an actual beast into the room? What dangerous beast could fit into a cage? In fact, Lily wasn't even sure what she was scared of, anyway, because she had nearly been killed by Voldemort himself, and she had played catch with her werewolf godfather in that very summer. So, when Lockhart uncovered the cage to reveal freshly caught Cornish Pixies - something that Lily had dealt with before, for there had been an infestation of those pesky blue creatures near the cottage - she had to choke in a laugh, and so did Seamus Finnigan.
"Yes" Lockhart smiled at the Gryffindor.
"Well, they're not - they're not very - dangerous, are they?" Finnigan choked.
"Don't be so sure! said Lockhart, waggling a finger annoyingly at Finnigan. "Devilish tricy little blighters, they can be!"
The pixies were electric blue and about eight inches high, with pointed faces and voices so shrill it was like listening to a lot of budgies arguing. The moment the cover was removed, they had started jabbering and rocketing around, rattling the bars and making bizarre faces at people nearest to them.
For a moment, Lily could see what would come next, and on a smart move she shoved her books back into her bag and put it under her desk holding tight to the strap, prepared to leave the room at any minute. Megan did the same.
"He is going to release the Pixies on us, isn't he?" said Megan, almost at the same time as Lockhart said:
"Let's see what you make of them", and opened the cage.
It was pandemonium. The pixies shot in every direction like tiny blue rockets, and their goal seemed to be chaos. Two of them grabbed Neville Longbottom by the ears and lifted him into the air. Several shot straight through the window, showering the back row with broken glass. The rest proceeded to wreck the classroom more effectively than a rampaging rhino. The pixies grabbed ink bottles and sprayed the class with them, shredded books and papers, tore pictures from the walls, up-ended the waste basket, grabbed bags and books and threw them out of the smashed window; within minutes, half the class was sheltering under desks and Neville was swinging from the iron chandelier in the ceiling.
Lockhart kept telling them to round up the pixies, but no one seemed to comply, so he rolled up the sleeves, pointed his wand at the pixies and shouted "Peskipiksi Pesternomi!", and absolutely nothing happened. One of the pixies seized his wand and threw it out of the window, too. So Lockhart gulped and dove under his own desk.
The chandelier holding Neville Longbottom finally gave way, and the boy was dropped from the ceiling.
"Arresto Momentum!" Megan managed to shout from under her desk, and saved Neville from the impact.
The bell rang, and there was a mad rush toward the exit. When only Megan, Lily, Ron, Hermione and Harry were left in the room Lockhart calmly straightened up, caught sight of the five of them and said "Well, I'll ask you to just nip the rest of them back into their cage." He swept past them and shut the door quickly behind him.
"Can you believe him?" roared Ron as one of the remaining pixies bit him painfully on the ear.
"No, I can't." Megan angrily transfigured a chair into a badger, which proceeded to chase three pixies back into the cage.
Five of the electric blue beasts seized Lily's hair and were pulling it painfully, so she trapped them in non-bursting bubbles, similar to the ones professor Flitwick used to decorate Christmas Trees, and shoved them into the cage.
"He just wants to give us some hands-on experience," said Hermione, which led Megan and Lily to exchange an exasperated look.
"Hands on?" said Harry, who was trying to grab a pixie dancing out of reach with its tongue out. "Hermione, he didn't have a clue what he was doing-"
"Rubbish," said Hermione, immobilizing two pixies at once with a clever Freezing Charm and stuffing them back in the cage with the others. "You read his books - look at all the amazing things he's done -"
"Flippendo Trio", Lily shouted, getting more impatient with Hermione than with the actual pixies, and a tiny tornado came out of the tip of her wand, casting the remaining pixies back into their cage, which Megan locked with a spell.
They all grabbed their bags and left the room.
"You are really great with jinxes, Lily. This is, like, a fourth year spell."
"I think I just lose my temper sometimes," said Lily. "You were amazing there. You saved Neville! And I had never even heard of that spell."
"I have been reading a lot of charm books during the holidays. It's my favorite subject."
And so they went to the Hufflepuff common room to do their homework and relax until the end of the day.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! Please let me know what you think in the comments. Constructive criticism is always welcome! (my answer up there was for a Guest who thought it was valid to let me know how much he hates every fanfiction that doesn't follows JK Rowling's canon main characters.)