"Alrighty, class, today we will be trying out the Hover Charm for real." The diminutive Professor Flitwick's words were met with approval from the class. Flitwick suggested that the class group together in pairs for the assignment, as there weren't enough feathers for the class to have one apiece. I wound up with Amber. Ron landed with Hermione.
I had horrible luck trying to get the feather to rise. Amber looked at me pityingly, before taking my hand.
"Swish, and flick," she said, delicately moving my hand in the correct movement. As I said the incantation, the feather began to hover. Amber smiled at me, which broke my concentration.
"Oops," she giggled. I shrugged. I turned to look at Ron. He was waving his wand in a very haphazardly fashion.
"Stop, Ron. You're going to take someone's eye out. Besides, you're pronouncing it wrong. It's Wingardium Leviosa, not Leviosa."
"You do it, if you're so clever." Hermione shook away her sleeves, and pointed her wand at the feather. Amber turned to look as well.
"Wingardium Leviosa." The feather slowly but surely rose of the desk.
"Well done, Miss Granger! You're performed the spell admirably!"
"It's Leviosa, not Leviosa. She's a nightmare, honestly!" Ron muttered to me out of the class.
"Ron, that may have not been the wisest policy, considering that she is standing right behind you!" I warned, as Hermione pushed past in a rush of tears.
"Now you've done it," I muttered. Amber pushed past as well, rushing to go comfort her sister. I chose not to hear the unusual clattering sound she left behind.
At least, until dinner that night.
"TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!" Professor Quirrell panicked. Everyone looked at him curiously.
"Thought you ought to know." He fell to the floor. Only then did the full impact of his words sink in. Everyone panicked.
"SILENCE!" Dumbledore could always be counted on. "Thank you. Prefects, lead your house to the dormitories. Teachers, follow me to the dungeons." Everyone began their movements.
As Gryffindor and Ravenclaw climbed the tower, I thought of something.
"Amber! And Hermione! They don't know!" I told Ron hurriedly.
"Amber's a genius. She could hold off that troll no problem."
"I wouldn't be so sure," said a first year Ravenclaw behind me. He held up a wand. It was Amber's. It took us an unnaturally long time for us to realise that we had to go save the Grangers. And we had to go now.
As it was, we were barely in time. The troll was advancing on the two girls, coming scarily close. Hermione was sunk against the wall, Amber braced in front of her. She cast spells at the troll, but they didn't seem to do much to it.
"OI! PEA-BRAIN!" Ron yelled, throwing a pipe at the troll. It turned to the shout, and began to head towards us. The Ravenclaw rushed under its legs, and threw Amber's wand at her. Amber was grinning far to giddily at the boy to resume casting. I risked it.
I leaped towards the troll, reaching his chest. Gripping tighter, I climbed to his shoulders, and hung there loosely. My own wand was jammed up his nose, causing considerable pain to the beast. It roared, and plucked me off his back.
"DO SOMETHING!" Amber cried.
"What?" Ron asked.
"Who?" The Ravenclaw asked.
"ANYONE! ANYTHING!" Amber elaborated. Ron pulled out his wand. Almost divinely, Hermione went into instruction mode.
"Swish and flick," she ordered.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron cried. The troll's club was snatched away from his hands. The troll resorted to a different weapon: me.
He swung at Hermione. She screamed, and hit the wall, falling down and taking no further interest in the proceedings. Ron roared, turning towards Hermione.
That's when his concentration broke.
The club fell from the sky and landed on the troll's head. He fell to the ground, knocked out.
Amber was the first to speak.
"Is it… going to get up anytime soon?" she asked, terrified.
"Nope. Ron did a good job on it," I responded, pulling free from the troll's grip. Or at least, trying to. Amber pulled me away, while the Ravenclaw pulled my wand out of the troll's nose and passed it to me.
"Thanks, mate."
"No problem." Before I could ask any more from the Ravenclaw, the sounds of many heavy footfalls echoed down the corridor. The teachers. They must have heard the racket. McGonagall was the first to enter the room.
"My goodness… what happened here?" I looked at Amber nervously. She seemed to have caught stage fright. I took her hand to comfort her, and she squeezed it far more tightly.
"OK, Darion, why don't you explain?" Professor Flitwick suggested.
"Well, you see, Professors, Hermione didn't attend the Halloween feast. From my understanding, Ron had caused her to lose her composure. Amber followed her."
"Yes, this is all very well, but what are you three doing here?"
"When Professor Quirrell told us the troll had arrived, we began to do as you ordered, but it struck Harry that Hermione and Amber didn't know about the troll, and we all rushed to alert them and get them to Gryffindor Tower. It… was sort of bad luck the troll was here too."
"Very well, Darion. You may take leave."
"Do you mind terribly if I wait with the others?"
"…OK. I suppose it's only right. But first, let Professor McGonagall distribute what is fair."
"Thank you, Filius. Now, Potter, Weasley, and yes, Okima, for your true display of loyalty when one is in danger, you may have twenty points apiece. Weasley, for your… whatever it was, I must insist on taking five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You four, you may go. Aurora, may I have some help getting Miss Granger to the hospital wing?"
We left, letting Hermione go to the hospital wing.
"Wow, that was lucky. In hindsight, I didn't think we'd get sixty points."
"Thirty-five, Ron. Five off you, and twenty went to Ravenclaw."
"Oh."
"Anyway, nice to meet you two. My name is Darion Okima."
"Ronald Weasley."
"Harry Potter."
"Amber Granger."
"Very nice sounding, Amber. Maybe we should meet again."
"Sure, why not? It'd be nice to have another friend. Especially one outside of Gryffindor."
I finished this story last night, actually. But what separates this late update from my others? The fact that, as soon as I saved my work, the computer crashed and it took immense effort just to get the machine shut down, let alone update something a thousand words in length.
Another fact: Darion was to have a much larger role in Mystic Amber. In mt earliest drafts, way before I learned I enjoyed writing, Darion's character was another member of Harry's group. I shot down that idea for the internet version, along with him being a Gryffindor. He's a Ravenclaw so I don't have to worry about adding another child to each dormitory.
And as for them being honest... let's face it, I can hardly think McGonagall of canon would have punished the three for the troll incident in the book. Everything Darion uses to justify the troll incident here is how the event played out. At least they got more points, hm?
Neither can live while the other survives.