Harry Potter and the Charmed Ones
Chapter 6
-Chris-
I didn't get much sleep my first night at Hogwarts, even though I was really tired. It was just too hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that we were here, in an all magical school, with all these wizards that waved around sticks of wood. We actually were here, and it was so bizarre to me.
When I did manage to fall asleep, however, it felt like I was only sleeping for about two minutes before James was shaking me awake. "Come on, we gotta get to breakfast and get our schedules," he was saying. I rolled over, grumbling and forgetting where I was. It wasn't until James said, "Don't make me hex you," did I remember and I sat up, rubbing my eyes.
I put on my Hogwarts uniform and robes, still feeling weird about wearing them, and gathered my book bag. James and I, along with our dorm mates – Theo McLaggen, Arnold Coote, Barry Spector, and Nigel Johnson – trudged down the stairs to the common room. They were nice enough – they had spent much of the previous night discussing how cool it was that I could use the power that I could and how attractive Aunt Paige was, after all – and it became clear to me that James was a much more pleasant person to be around.
The breakfast in the great hall was just as delicious as the dinner the previous night had been. I wanted to take my time eating it, but Professor Longbottom, the Herbology teacher and head of Gryffindor House, passed around schedules during the meal and there was only so much time we had until we had to go to our first class.
"Potions is our first lesson," James said, glancing at his schedule. "Then after break we have your mum's Wiccan class!"
I glanced up at the High Table and saw my mom, Aunt Phoebe, and Aunt Paige eating their breakfast, all looking a little anxious. I knew they were nervous about teaching, and it almost made me laugh. My mom, after all the ass-kicking she has done in her life, is nervous about teaching to a bunch of teenagers. I excused myself from the Gryffindor table and jogged up to the High Table, approaching Mom's seat.
"Oh, Chris, honey," she said upon seeing me. "How was your first night?"
"Good," I said.
"And how's Melinda?" she asked.
"And Henry and the twins?" inquired Aunt Paige.
"They're not in the same house as you guys are," said Mom, "so I hope they're doing okay. I hope they're not too upset –"
"Mom, that's what happens when you go away to school, you meet new people," I said, rolling my eyes. "It's not like they're fending for themselves in that forest. Tamora and Kat are together and Melinda's good at making friends, so they'll be fine. But anyway, Mom, I'm in your second class!"
"Oh, good," Mom sighed. She looked down at the schedule she had in her hands. "We have Gryffindor and Slytherin seventh years first, so you and Wyatt are in our first two classes."
"Now I'm even more nervous!" complained Aunt Phoebe. "You guys better not heckle us!"
I smirked. "I can't make any promises."
"Well then, we'll just have to use you as an example of a half-breed," Mom simpered. "Half-witch, half-Whitelighter, on display!"
"You're funny," I said. "How was your first night in Hogs-thing?"
"Hogsmeade," supplied Aunt Phoebe. "It was nice! The houses are so cute. And we each have a house-elf. Ours is named Winky, and Piper's and Paige's is called Pokey."
"A house-elf?" I made a face. "You mean like that gross thing at James's house?"
"Yeah, except ours are more pleasant looking," giggled Aunt Paige. "I can't wait for the weekend, though – Hogsmeade is such a cute village and there are so many little stores that I want to check out!"
Aunt Phoebe checked her watch. "We should go. We've only been to our classroom once, and we got lost twice going there."
"Good luck!" I said as they got up to leave. I jogged back to the Gryffindor table and sat between James and Roxanne. I made eye-contact with Wyatt, who was sitting across from me, and rolled my eyes while grinning. "They're all nervous."
Wyatt shook his head and rolled his eyes to the ceiling as well. "They're so weird."
-Molly-
That morning, I arrived to the Great Hall with Sarita. We sat down at the Gryffindor table next to Wyatt and Fred, the latter of who passed us our schedules.
I was taking on a rather difficult N.E.W.T. course-study; I had received nine O.W.L.s, in all of my classes, and proceeded to take seven N.E.W.T. classes. In addition to the new Wiccan course, I was going to have a relatively full, and extremely busy, year. I work well under pressure, though. I got through my sixth year with little to no problems, so I didn't expect to have much of a problem this year.
Wyatt was taking all eight required courses, as well as three elective classes. They were all N.E.W.T.-level classes, since he was in seventh year, although he would not be expected to take the N.E.W.T. exams at the end of the year, since he was jumping in to the courses in his final year. He will, essentially, just be sitting in on the classes.
"You're in her first class," Chris was saying to Wyatt.
"Huh?" I said, jumping in mid-conversation.
Wyatt pointed to my schedule. "Our first class is Wicca. Apparently my mom is really nervous."
"Really?" I said skeptically. "She's a pro at this stuff – at least, judging by last night and The Daily Prophet article."
"She is a pro," he grinned. "That's why it's funny."
"I'm really excited for it," said Sarita. "Finally, we get to learn more about your guys' world!"
"I'm excited too," I said.
Wyatt shrugged. "I guess I am too. I know it all, though. And it'll be a class taught by my mom and aunts. It'll be weird."
A few moments later, I was done with breakfast and noticed that Wyatt was as well. "Shall we go?"
Wyatt nodded and grabbed his book bag. The two of us exited the hall and began to climb the marble staircase, heading toward the sixth floor Wiccan classroom – or rather, me leading Wyatt.
"Did you not want to wait for the others?" he asked, mightily perceptive.
As pathetic as it sounds, I'm really not that great of friends with the other Gryffindors in my year. Sarita and I get along alright, but Jessica and the others are just not compatible with me. Jessica likes to tease me because of my grades and the fact that I was a prefect and am now Head Girl. It's just light teasing, but I can tell that she doesn't really care for me, which is fine. Sarita is nice; we just don't have enough in common. I tend to hang out with them, though, because they're friends with Fred, and Fred is really my only friend in our year. I prefer to spend my time Louis and Roxanne, and Dominique – she, however, graduated last year.
I shrugged. "Well, they usually take a long time to eat, and I like to get to lessons early…" I side-glanced at him. "You don't have to come with me if you don't want to, you know. Not many people like going early."
"No, it's fine!" he said earnestly. "Really. I'd rather be with you than Gary and Jessica, anyway."
I blinked in shock. "Really?"
"Well, there's just something off about them to me," I said. "Maybe it's just because they're like everyone else in the sense that, when I met them, they just wanted to see my powers. I don't think they've talked to me about anything except my magic, actually. It's kind of annoying."
I smiled. "Yeah, I can see that."
My mood improved greatly after this conversation, and soon Wyatt and I reached the classroom. I was surprised to see how many people were already there; nearly half the room was already filled with Slytherins.
Wyatt and I sat down in a couple of desks near the front and watched as Professors Halliwell and Mitchell set up. They had with them the demon encyclopedia, some loose sheets of paper, and a closed chest that was apparently very heavy, as Professor (Piper) Halliwell had been unable to lift it and thus Professor Mitchell had to use her power to move it. I watched aptly as she held out her hand, said, "Chest!" and then gestured over to the desk in front of her; the chest disappeared in a swaddle of blue and white lights, just like the ones that materialized when Wyatt and Paige had orbed the night before, and reappeared on the table.
"Whoa," said Rachael Zabini on the other side of the room. She and Nicole Blusky clapped politely.
A few moments later, the rest of the class began filing in. Fred and Sarita sat down next to Wyatt and me, while Gary, Jessica, and the rest of the Gryffindors and Slytherins filled up the remaining seats.
Professor (Phoebe) Halliwell checked her watch and exclaimed "Oh! It's time to start!" She turned to us, her bright blue robes flowing as she went. Beaming around, she said, "Hello everyone. Welcome to Wicca. You guys are the very first students to ever attend this class, and thus the very first class we have ever taught, so please excuse us if we aren't good." A chuckle rang out. Wyatt turned to me, half-grinning, and rolled his eyes. "I'm Phoe – er, Professor Halliwell, that's also Professor Halliwell, and that's Professor Mitchell."
"This first class is probably going to be a little boring," Professor Mitchell took over. "And maybe the next one, too. All we're going to do at first is just give you the basics of the Wiccan magical community – tell you about the creatures, the history, all that fun stuff. It'll probably be a while until you start brewing potions, which is likely the only type of hands-on activity you will be able to do, since the powers that we use cannot be learned. However," she smiled, her eyes twinkling, "since this is a – what do you call it? Newt class? – we may bring in some of these creatures to show you first hand."
"First, we'll start with a rundown of all the creatures that exist in our world," continued Professor (Piper) Halliwell. "The first few you already know about. Witches," she gestured to herself, "and demons are the most prominent. Witches are not born good or evil; they can pick whichever side they want to be on, such as you guys can. Demons, however, are born evil. They are born in the Underworld and have evil intentions, which are generally to kill the innocent, kill witches, take complete power, yadda yadda yadda. There are many different types of demons, but we'll cover those later. The demons that you all saw yesterday are lower-level demons, probably the least threatening type of demons."
I winced; that was probably not the best thing to say. A girl got hit by a blast of energy – and that was one of the harmless demons?
"There are also creatures called Whitelighters," carried on Professor (Pheobe) Halliwell. "Whitelighters are essentially guardian angels. A Whitelighter is created after a person does extreme good in their lifetime; after they die, they are offered a chance to return to Earth as a Whitelighter. They guide new witches to help them get used to their powers and their newfound duties. They also watch over future Whitelighters, making sure that the good they're supposed to do in their lives is accomplished. Elders," she continued, "are basically Whitelighters that have been promoted. They oversee the magical community and direct the Whitelighters to their charges – as in, the people that Whitelighters guide. Now, Whitelighters live among people, but are not allowed to marry or have children, simply only existing to assist the greater good and watch over their charges. However, that rule has been broken a couple of times." She smirked. "Professor Mitchell over here is an example of the very first half-witch, half-Whitelighter to ever be born."
"Thank you, thank you." Professor Mitchell curtseyed.
"The second," said Professor (Piper) Halliwell, "is also sitting in this room."
Immediately, all heads turned to Wyatt. He grinned sheepishly.
"Wyatt is also half-witch, half-Whitelighter, as is his younger brother, Chris," Professor (Pheobe) Halliwell explained.
Professor Mitchell gestured to the chalkboard next to her, upon which she had written: witch, demon, Whitelighter, Elder. "Next?"
The next thirty minutes of the lesson were spent in this same routine; the three Professors would go back and forth in explaining all of the magical beings in their world. They would pause and ask for questions, but no one ever had any. When they had finished, there were nearly fifty different species of creatures written on the chalkboard. "There's so many," I muttered as I scribbled down "Cleaners."
Wyatt nodded. He had, however, decided not to write anything down. "It's not hard to remember, though," he said.
"Easy for you to say," I said. "You grew up knowing about them."
"Alright." Professor Phoebe glanced up from her notes and clapped her hands together. "Any questions?" A hand slowly rose into the air. "Yes?"
"Do all witches have the same powers, or are they all different?" Sarita Thomas asked.
"That is an excellent question," said Professor Phoebe, smiling at Sarita. "There are many different types of powers that a witch can have. Some witches can have the same power, but again, there are so many different ones that it's uncommon. Powers are also hereditary. For example, Piper has the power of molecular immobilization – or, freezing time – which is the same power our mother had."
"What powers do you guys have?" asked Jessica Johnson quickly.
"Can we see them?" Rachel Zabini begged.
The Professors all glanced at each other, communicating with their eyes. As much as I would chastise anyone for asking, I had to admit that I was very curious to see their powers as well.
"Well, alright," Professor Piper relented. "I guess the best way we can showcase a witch's power to you all is to use ourselves." She stepped forward. "One thing that must be noted first is that most witches are born with one power and one power only. My sisters' and my powers, however, have expanded over our years as witches, due to us being the Charmed Ones. I was born with the power of molecular immobilization, which is, like Phoebe said, basically the power to freeze."
She glanced around. Near the back of the room, Malcolm Bole was sitting with his head propped up by his arm resting on his desk. He was throwing a paper ball up in the air, his expression one of boredom. Professor Piper waved her hands, and suddenly the paper ball froze. Malcolm jumped so violently that he fell out of his chair, and the room burst into laughter. "What the hell!" he cried.
"That is an example of molecular immobilization," said Professor Piper above the laughs. "And this is an example of molecular combustion." She waved her hands again, and the paper ball blew up in a mess of flames.
"Whoa," breathed Sarita.
"That is my second power; basically, the ability to blow things up," she explained. "You guys all saw that last night when I blew up the demon."
Professor Phoebe then stood up. "I have to warn you all," she said, "Piper's powers are the best out of all of ours, so prepare to be underwhelmed after that little show. My main power is one that I cannot show you – it's the power of premonition. I can see past, present, or future events. I am also an empath, meaning I can channel people's emotions. And lastly, I can levitate." She jumped, although instead of coming back to the ground, she continued to rise until her head grazed the ceiling.
"That's wicked," commented Fred.
She slowly floated back down while Professor Mitchell stepped forward. "My powers are a little different than my sisters', because I'm half-Whitelighter. I'm technically telekinetic, but my telekinetic powers are slightly different than the usual telekinesis. Normally, a telekinetic witch would use her hands or eyes to simply move an object; however, mine are a little more exaggerated." She held up her hand and said, "Bracelet." I glanced behind me in time to see the golden bangle around Sarita's wrist disappear in a swaddle of blue and white lights, and then reappear in Paige's outstretched hand. Sarita gasped and wrapped her hand around her wrist, feeling where the bracelet used to be.
"I can also orb, which you all saw yesterday," she explained, walking over to Sarita and giving her back her bracelet. "It's my way of Apparating, I believe you guys call it. Also, since I'm half-Whitelighter, I have their powers. I can sense my charges and I can heal injuries."
"What kind of powers does Wyatt have?" asked Gary.
I side-glanced over at Wyatt, who scowled down at his desk. Professor Piper looked at her son and then over at Gary. "If Wyatt wants to tell you about his powers, he will."
The bell rang, signaling the end of the lesson. As we all stood up and gathered our things, Professor Phoebe called over the noise, "Thanks for being such a great first class! No homework!"
-Scorpius-
If there was one thing I greatly enjoyed doing, it was pushing Rose Weasley's buttons. Ever since the ride across the lake in our first year, when she, Albus Potter, Isabel Tripplehoker, and I shared a boat, did I realize that most of my Hogwarts educational career would be spent doing everything I could to annoy her.
I knew who she and Albus were before they introduced themselves to me. After all, their families and parents are famous. It isn't hard to suspect that most red-haired children are probably Weasleys, and, well, Albus is the spitting image of his famous father.
Contrary to what Rose had believed, I did not begin Hogwarts with an already biased opinion on her and her family. I had grown up listening to my father begrudgingly talk about how "Harry Potter, that annoying Weasley boy, and the Mudblood" had saved his life, and it always baffled me that he would speak it with such disgust – and it would also slightly annoy me that he used that foul word. Usually after mentioning something like this, my mother, when taking me to bed at night, would explain that my father had been raised in a not-so-healthy environment and that my grandparents had essentially poisoned his mind. Even though my father was grateful that his life had been saved, so many years of hatred that he could not let go of towards Harry Potter, so-called blood-traitors, and Muggle-borns made it hard to be completely appreciative.
So, I decided that, upon my entry into Hogwarts, I would do my best to single-handedly change the reputation of the Malfoy family. That is why, when I found myself in a boat with none other than Albus Potter and Rose Weasley, I held out my hand confidently and said, "Hello. I'm Scorpius Malfoy."
Albus returned the gesture, as did Rose after a moment's hesitation. "Are you all excited to be going to Hogwarts?" I asked politely.
Albus nodded, but Rose ignored me. I asked them what House they hoped to be sorted into; Albus said he didn't care – which surprised me – but Rose said nothing. After a few more questions went unanswered, I asked her with false courtesy, "Did I do something to offend you?"
Her head snapped in my direction and she narrowed her eyes. "No, but all the horrible things your father said about my parents is enough!"
"When did he say something horrible about them?" I asked in surprise.
"When they were in school!"
I blinked. "Wait. So you don't like me because of something my father said to your parents before I was even born?"
Rose flushed. "Well, the seedpods don't fly far from the puffapod, do they?"
It was then that I reached my decision to annoy Rose with everything I could. After all, who is she to judge me based on my father? I think I proved to her early on that she was wrong, and she knew it – but she was too stubborn to change her opinion of me so she continued to dislike me instead of admitting her mistake. And I was more than happy to keep tormenting her.
And that is why I am sitting outside during my morning break and observing Rose from across the courtyard with Albus and some of her fellow Gryffindor friends. I twirled my wand in my hand as I contemplated how annoyed Rose would be if her bookbag suddenly split. As I thought, I noticed out of the corner of my eye as Melinda approached Rose's group, smiling at them and then turning straight to me and waving. I froze, as this movement caused the Gryffindors to glance over at me. Rose scowled when she noticed the wand in my hand and glared at me.
I grumbled in annoyance and thrust my wand back in my pocket, my plan ruined. I grabbed my bookbag and swung it over my shoulder and began to walk my path back into the school.
I trekked toward my next lesson, which was Charms, figuring I could hang out in the hallway and get some reading done before the class started. While walking down the hallway, I heard some jogging footsteps behind me, and turned in time to see Rose hustling over to me.
"Can I help you?' I drawled.
She narrowed her eyes as she fell in step with me. "What were you doing back there?"
"What do you mean?" I asked innocently.
"With your wand," she said. "Were you going to hex me?"
I shrugged. "Just something small… you know, rip your bag open or something."
Rose glared at me. "Scorpius, this isn't funny anymore. You can make fun of me and bother me all you want, but you can't start cursing me."
I rolled my eyes. "Oh, come on, Rosie. I would never curse you."
She paused. "Well, good."
I side-glanced at her. "Did you think I was going to curse you to hurt you?"
Scowling at me, she said, "I wouldn't put it past you!"
Sighing, I said, "Give it a rest, Rosie. I know you want to hate me, but I haven't done anything to suggest that I would hurt you."
She gaped at me. "But – but I –"
I didn't respond; instead I increased my pace and walked ahead of her. I heard her footsteps behind me all the way to the Charms hallway. I sat down against the wall, took a book from my bag, and began to read. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her do the same.
After a few moments of silence, she said, "Why are you the way that you are?"
I slowly looked up from my book. "Come again?"
Rose fidgeted uncomfortably. "I mean… my dad has told me a lot of bad things about your dad. How are you so… nice?"
I didn't speak for a moment. "My father tells me that your father was a blundering idiot when it came to magic during school. And yet you are a genius. Why is that?"
Rose flushed. "My dad was not – and my mum is very bright –"
"Well, my mum doesn't have the same views as my father," I interrupted. "That's where I get it from."
She looked down. "Oh."
"Our parents do not define who we are," I continued. "For the last three years, you've judged me because of who my father is."
"I know," she said quietly. "But… I just find it difficult to socialize with a person whose father was just so, so awful to my parents. Especially my mother."
"Well, I don't really know what to say to that," I said, "except that I am not my father."
Rose nodded. "I know."
There was silence for a while, as we both pretended to read, even though we were really mulling over the conversation that had just taken place. I wondered if perhaps I had hit a breakthrough in my relationship with Rose. Would we be… friends now?
"You still annoy me, though," Rose said finally.
I glanced up, smirking, at her, to see her scowling at me. "Yeah, well, you still suck at Quidditch."
"I do not, Scorpius," she spat. "I just slipped off my broom that one time –"
"Yeah, okay," I scoffed. "That explains one shot you let through. What about the other ten?"
"Ten? Please, you flatter yourself—"
Footsteps echoed throughout the hallway, signaling the approach of the rest of our class. A group of students turned the corner, Albus in front of the pack. He stopped short at the sight of us. "Hey. What's going on?" he asked hesitantly.
"Scoripus is just being his usual intolerable self," Rose grumbled, standing up and brushing off her robes.
"It's not my fault you get defensive when talking about your Quidditch skills," I said airily.
-Melinda-
I was exhausted after my first day of classes. I only had four lessons – compared to my old school, which had eight periods a day, I thought this would be luxurious. However, the Hogwarts castle is absolutely humongous, so I would have one class in the dungeons, then have to go up six flights to my next lesson, back to the Great Hall for lunch, up eight flights for my next lesson, down five for another, and finally the Great Hall again for dinner. I had breaks in between these classes, but I still found myself exhausted by the time I trudged into the Great Hall for dinner.
There were four girls that I was sharing a room with in Ravenclaw – Abby Davies, Amy Entwhistle, Jessalyn Quirke, and Rachael Llew. They were all rather nice and had been very polite to us on our first night in Ravenclaw, but Rachael and Amy were best friends and apparently had been since their very first day at Hogwarts, so naturally we felt a little left out with the two of them. Abby was a bit standoffish and hung out mostly with the boys – I've already learned that she's Seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and is in love with Scorpius Malfoy. Jessalyn, though, is a sweetheart and immediately became my friend.
"So how was your first day?" Jessalyn asked as we strode into the Great Hall for dinner.
I adjusted my heavy book bag from my right to my left shoulder and sighed. "Long," I said breathlessly.
She smiled. "You'll get used to the layout of the castle, I promise. It won't take long."
"Will I ever get used to the endless stairs?" I asked.
"Eventually."
We sat down at the Ravenclaw table, a few seats away from Henry Jr. "How was your first day?" I asked.
He beamed. "It was so much fun! I got to watch everyone perform Charms with their wands and learn about cool plants and potions that I've never heard of before!"
"That's great!" I said as he turned to talk to his new friends. "Looks like he's adjusting well," I said to Jessalyn.
Scorpius and his fellow fourth-year friend Jamie Li, whom we met the night before, sat down across from us. "Hey Jessalyn," said Scoripus. "Melinda. How was your first day?"
"Long," I said again. "I can't believe it's only six. I just want to crawl into bed and go to sleep."
"Did you guys have the Wicca class yet?" Jessalyn asked.
Jamie shook his head. "No, we don't have it until Wednesday. Did you?"
"It's our first class tomorrow."
"My brothers had it today," I said. "Chris told me that our mom was nervous, but it went well."
"I can't wait for it," Jessalyn admitted. "Everyone's had so many questions about you guys ever since The Daily Prophet ran its article."
"What kind of questions?" I asked.
Jessalyn half-smiled. "Well, my mom said I shouldn't ask you because it would be rude."
"You can ask me anything!" I cried. "Seriously – I mean, I have so many questions about this place too, so I wouldn't be offended at all if you asked me any questions."
"Hey."
I turned around and saw Albus standing behind me. I grinned widely at him. "Hi!"
"How was day one?"
I smirked. "Long," I said for the third time.
"Well, do you have it in you to learn how to fly tonight, or would you rather save that for another day?"
Suddenly I swelled with energy that I didn't know I still had after such a tiring day. "Sure!" I grabbed a piece of buttered bread and jumped up. "Let's go! I'll see you guys later," I said to Jessalyn, Scorpius, and Jamie before following Albus out of the Great Hall.
"This is the perfect week for you to learn how to fly," Albus explained as we walked outside. "Quidditch tryouts are this weekend, so no teams are practicing yet. And once the pitch is booked, there really isn't anywhere else to practice."
I nodded. "Thank you so much for teaching me how to fly!"
"Of course," he said. He glanced at me from over his shoulder. "So how's Ravenclaw?"
"It's great," I said. "I get along really well with Jessalyn Quirke, one of the girls in my year. Scorpius has been really nice, too."
"That's good," Albus said. After a pause, he added, "I wish you were in Gryffindor, though. Then we could see more of each other."
I smiled at him. "Yeah, I know. But we still get to see each other!"
Albus and I went into the Quidditch supplies shed (the key to which he had, thanks to Fred) and got two brooms. As we walked onto the Quidditch pitch – not a field, Albus insisted – he explained, "James warned me that these brooms aren't really that good, but they'll be fine for you to learn on."
Forty minutes later and I had managed to get my broom about ten feet in the air and move a distance of fifteen feet. First off, it took me a good ten minutes to get over the whole stereotype of witches riding on broomsticks. Second, I never really thought that I was afraid of heights until I was in the air on a moving broomstick. Another twenty minutes saw me attempting to levitate on the broom, which didn't work out so well because as soon as my feet would leave the ground, I would gasp and slide off of it. My tailbone was surely to be bruised tomorrow. Finally, for the last ten minutes, I conquered my fear of being a few feet off the ground and was able to get the broom to go forward. It was still difficult, though – if I leaned forward too much, the broom jerked too fast, which would scare me and cause me to fall, again.
"You didn't do that bad," Albus said as we returned the brooms to the supply shed.
I pulled a few blades of grass from my hair and laughed. "Yeah, okay."
"No, really! A lot of people don't even get the broom to levitate on their first go."
"Really? Like what people?" I challenged.
Albus shrugged. "Well, normally Muggle-borns."
-Albus-
Melinda and I walked the stairs together until we reached the floor of the Gryffindor Tower. We said good-bye and made plans for me to help her fly again the next day at six-thirty. I began my trek to the Fat Lady while Melinda continued climbing.
I told the portrait the password ("Whitelighters" – in honor of the new brand of magic) and entered to find a very noisy common room. It's always rather social in the common room the first week or so of classes because most people don't have much studying to do.
I went and sat next to Rose, who, naturally, had her nose buried in a book. Roxy, Lucy, James, and Chris were sitting in a circle at her feet, playing a strange card game.
"I win again," Chris said cheekily, showing the others his cards. Roxanne and Lucy raised their eyebrows at each other while James scratched his chin.
"I don't get it," he said, watching Chris pull a pile of Sickles and Knuts towards himself.
"It's just the rules of Texas Hold 'Em," said Chris, stuffing the money in his pockets.
"Chris," Wyatt's voice floated over. "Are you playing poker?"
Chris froze. "No…" He stood up quickly, muttered, "Let's go," to James, and the two hurried up to their dormitory.
I saw Wyatt turn to Fred and shake his head. "He likes to trick people who don't know how to play into betting with real money…"
"So Al."
I glanced down to see Roxy and Lucy grinning up at me in that annoying girl way. I narrowed my eyes. "What?" I asked suspiciously.
"We saw you and Melinda leaving the Great Hall together in the middle of dinner." Roxy wiggled her eyebrows.
I rolled my eyes. "So?"
"What were you guys doing?" Roxy asked.
"I was teaching her how to fly," I replied. "Nothing wrong with that, right?"
"Why'd she ask you?" asked Roxy. "You don't play Quidditch."
Lucy glared at our cousin. "Roxy."
"What!"
"I don't know why she asked me," I said truthfully. "I told her that I wasn't the Quidditch one but she didn't care. She said she just wanted to learn how to fly, which I can do."
"How was she?" Roxy asked. "Any good?"
"Not really," I replied sheepishly. "But then again, she's never been on a broom before."
Roxy shrugged. "Oh well. Even if she was, it's not like there are any spots on the team anyway."
"There's no way she can play Quidditch," I laughed. "She was five feet in the air and kept getting scared and falling."
Wyatt looked up. "Melinda's terrified of heights," he supplied. "I'm surprised that she even tried. She probably didn't realize that flying entailed being high up."
"Well, you know what they say…" Fred sang teasingly. "First comes flying, then comes marriage…"
Giggles erupted throughout the common room and I blushed fiercely. "Whatever." I stood up and stomped up to my room, cursing them all to oblivion.
