Chapter Sixteen: A Breath of Air

Ever since the Gryffindors' first Auctorology lesson, they had been excited to return. As dictated, they only had their wands and rocks out.

Erin groaned as she entered when she saw Charlie sitting beside the group of Slytherins. Charlie turned around to give her a scowl, but didn't dare do anything more while in the presence of a teacher.

"So I imagine you've all used your time away to concoct your own ideas about the lesson I've prepared for you," Professor Ender said as the room quieted. "You've all brought you stones, yes? Excellent. Please place it on the center of your desk."

There was a rummaging noise as those who hadn't taken out their stones withdrew them from their bags. Erin hesitated. She hadn't shown hers to anyone yet. Carefully, she dropped her rock down before her. Nick sniggered beside her and she shot him a look.

Ender waved his wand and the calk scribbled, "Element One: Air" onto the board. "We reviewed the basics of air during our last lesson. Now its time we delve a little further. Air, as we said, is one of the fundamental basics to life. We need air to breath. We need it to survive.

"Wands raised!" he barked suddenly. Everybody fumbled for their wand. Ender grasped his own and made a spiral sort of movement. "Repeat that," he growled, and then patrolled the classroom to perfect each of their wand gestures. "Don't grip it so hard so, Mr. Wallman, you don't want to snap it…. It's not a circle, Ms. Nuse, watch me…. Very good, Mr. Malfoy, just like that…."

He went back to the front of the class. "The incantation is Anima pnuem. Say it with me now."

"Anima pnuem," the class chorused.

"This incantation was created by the great wizard Arnold Nicht, who thought he could use this to bring back his dead wife."

The class stirred at these words.

"He was wrong, of course," Ender said. "You can't bring someone back to life. This spell only imitates life, as Nicht found out to his despair. It gives a false breath of life to the desired object."

The se words didn't mitigate the class' excitement. Instead, they looked at their rocks with new wonder.

"Yes," Ender nodded, "as I'm sure you've figured out by now, we will be using this incantation to give your stones an imitation of life. It's a simple procedure, but for the spell to work, it takes a lot of strength and willpower. I want you all to feel the air; feel it as you breathe, in and out; taste it, smell it….

"Good. Now, on the count of three, you'll make the wand movement, say the incantation, and then," Ender fixed a beady eye on the class, "you'll breathe into the stone.

"On the count of three then!"

Erin turned to Nick. "Did he just say breathe into it?"

Ender, however, was already counting. "…Three!"

"Anima pnuem!"

Nothing extraordinary occurred. The rock remained as lifeless as ever. Glancing around to ascertain she wasn't going to make a fool of herself, Erin picked up the rock, pressed it against her lips, and blew out a gust of air.

For a moment she felt incredibly stupid. But then-

"Oh!" she cried, dropping the stone onto her desk. She thought she had felt a tremor.

Albus, who was closest to her, peered over at her stone after his attempt was deemed unsuccessful.

"Yeah, mine's not any different either," he said, gazing at her motionless stone sadly. And then suddenly, the rock rolled over.

It moved!" Albus hollered. "It definitely moved!"

Ender swept over to Erin's desk, followed by several other Gryffindor and Slytherin students alike.

Her stone twitched. The place where Erin's mouth had been moments ago now formed a small, hollow hole. With another shudder, the stone rolled over once more, but this time onto four stumpy legs.

"Ooh," the class gasped.

"It's so cute!" Scarlet squealed.

Ender gave Erin a distasteful look, and then swept off in the opposite direction when someone shouted, "Malfoy's done it as well!"

"How'd you do that?" Albus asked enviously as he watched Erin's stone lumber blindly around the desk (it didn't seem to have eyes).

"Look, I've done it too!" Nick said excitedly. And sure enough, his multi-colored stone was yawning and stretching its short legs.

"For those of you who were unsuccessful the first time, try again," Ender said. "Some people who don't have an affinity for air find this spell to be difficult. However, you may find the others more to your taste."

It took Albus three more tries to successfully give his stone life. By then, the Slytherins were making kissing faces in his direction each time he brought the stone to his lips. "Five points to everyone who has successfully completed the lesson," Ender said. "And that's cheating, Mr. Wallman," he growled as Evan tried passing his stone to Scarlet so she could do the incantation instead. "The lessons won't work unless its your air, your breath. Try it again for tonight- homework," he said, and Evan groaned.

Erin prodded the stone in its hole with her wand, and it tried chopping down on it. Scarlet was right. It was pretty cute. But she also wondered whether Arnold Nicht had been right as well, and the spell could bring someone back to life….

The girl trudged through the town, her eyes cast downward. All around her, passersby gave her curt nods of respect. They knew where she had gone, and where she had come from. She could hear their whispers.

But then the whispers changed.

"Iren… Iren Lyths, yes," a woman said in a hushed undertone to her neighbor. "It's all quite horrible."

"He just dropped dead? Just like that? The old man seemed to have so much more life left in him."

"They only just found him," the woman continued to whisper. "There are rumors that he didn't just die, but that he was murdered... But hush, the poor girl doesn't know yet that her grandfather has died."

Did they think she was deaf? That she did not understand?

She watched faces, mingled with respect and pity, swim before her. She ran.