Chapter 23: Like Seeing a Ghost
Bella found the dusty door to Professor Binns' office not too long after lunch, and she tapped on the door lightly.
"Professor Binns?" There was no answer. "Professor Binns, I'm coming in."
She creaked open the door of the office with great effort, and it seemed no one had set foot inside the place in months. She was about to turn around and leave when she spotted him floating near the open window.
"Cuthbert...Binns?" she called out.
"Mm...yes?" The shriveled ghost of a man floated down until he was eye level with Bella. "Have we met?" he squinted.
"No, I'm Bella Swan, your new assistant for the year."
"Very good, very good. Mm, you look ever familiar, Miss Swenson." He floated from side to side as he stroked his transparent chin.
"It's Miss Swan." She nearly rolled her eyes. "And we've never met."
"Hm, yes, perhaps," he mumbled. "Grab a quill, Miss Swain. There is much to write before the start of term."
It was a good two hours before she left his office with an achy hand covered in ink. Merlin, she needed to smuggle in a few ballpoint pens before school started.
The remainder of the afternoon Bella settled in to practice her magic. After her embarrassment at lunch and Snape's reprimand earlier that morning, she had no desire to be thought of as some charity case or mistake.
She reviewed everything she'd found about Legilimency, Occlumency, and Memory charms; then Bella went back to the normal spells, mustering the courage to try a few basic ones she'd failed in casting previously. She thought it best to start simple, using a feather she'd borrowed from Professor Flitwick.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
...nothing.
She'd done everything right according to the textbook, but it seemed that textbook methods had little effect. After a few more failed attempts she decided to think about all the times her magic had worked.
Neville had been there sometimes, though not always. But every time she did successfully cast a spell around him there was something...more she could feel in her veins. Maybe she just had to find that depth to learn all the spells.
She focused on the feather and let that feeling sink into her skin. Everything was the feather. Everything that had ever happened in her life was so that one lone feather could fly now. Lifting her wand, she tried again.
Wingardium Leviosa.
The feather rose a few inches and promptly exploded into flame. With a gasp Bella lowered her wand and disposed of all the evidence at once.
So that was a bad idea, she grimaced.
Flipping through her textbook she began practicing the Bedazzling Hex instead. Sure, it was technically more complex, but those rules hardly applied to Bella.
Pointing her wand at a chair, she said the incantation in her mind, and it became encased in a glittering, white haze. Hmm, that meant it had probably worked. In any case, it looked awesome – ethereal even – so Bella began to try it on every piece of furniture in the room.
Invisibilis Obscurus...Invisibilis Obscurus...Invisibilis Obscurus.
This was way cooler than getting a feather to float. Forget Snape! Maybe this particular hex was easier for her, since she'd already mastered another kind of invisibility. Either way, she was grateful to have another spell under her belt.
Bella relaxed on her bed for a few minutes when a knock on the door made her jump.
"Can I come in?"
It was Neville, and Bella felt her insides get fuzzy. "Yeah, door's open!
"—So now that you're staying for sure, you really ought to have a password on your...Merlin's Ghost, what happened to all of your furniture?"
"Oh yeah—" Bella scooped up her wand and cast the counter charm, which misted over the entire room. "Sorry, I got a little overenthusiastic with the Bedazzling Hex."
He shook his head in astonishment. "Great Godric, Bella. Is there anything you can't do?"
She thought of the exploding feather and bit her lip. "Still can't do a levitation charm," she shrugged. It was mostly the truth, but she wasn't ready to burden Neville with complicated exactitudes, especially when school was about to start.
"No one's going to notice the spells you can't cast if you keep pulling off magic of this caliber."
Bella blushed and met him at the door, smirking as she took in his appearance. "You look...cleaner than usual."
"Well," he ran a hand through his hair and turned to look at a wall. "I thought maybe you'd want to have a private dinner, away from everyone else tonight."
She snorted, "This private dining wouldn't have anything to do with a certain Potions Mistress, would it?"
He took one of Bella's hands and rubbed his thumb against the base of her palm. "If I thought you needed protecting from the likes of Hannah Abbott, I'd be the first one by your side. But, I have to confess that this invitation is considerably less...noble than that."
She noticed a hint of warmth creep up his cheeks, and her eyes widened.
"Neville Longbottom!" she feigned a gasp. "Are you trying to seduce me?"
"Is it working?" he grinned handsomely.
She'd planned on making some witty retort to keep up the banter, but Bella felt her heart thump unevenly as she gazed into his eyes.
"Maybe," she barely breathed, pulling him closer by the neck of his shirt. As their lips met in a heated kiss, Bella flicked her wand toward the door, locking it without a second's hesitation.