Chapter 3. The God of spells

The next day, it was a long morning. We had a double-lesson in History of Magic, where we almost fell asleep because we stayed up way too long last night. Ally picked me on my arm every time she saw my eyes began to close, and watching me was her strategy for keeping awake. But at the time her pickings were losing its strength, professor Binns officially ended the lesson and we woke up at once and looked at each other.

"May I borrow your notes later?", I asked her and smiled.

"I was just about to ask you the same!", she answered and we laughed.

We walked to the third floor to have Charms the last hour before lunch. Professor Flitwick greeted us happily when we stepped into his classroom. Only a few other students had arrived before us. All the others dropped in after us, one by one. When everyone was there, professor Flitwick climbed onto his pile of books and gave us all a warming smile before he started talking.

"Today, students, we will be working with the Silencing Charm. It's a quite simple one, but you got to have a quick wrist so you can wave your wands correctly. I will show you all by using this spell on one of the most babbling students of this class. Please continue talk, Mr Potter, it will make it easier for your classmates to see the difference."

Everyone turned to look at James, who was looking a bit scared back at the small professor. Flitwick pulled out his wand from his small pocket and pointed it straight at James and made a sharp flip with it as he said "Silencio!". Everyone looked curiously at James who tried to say something, but his lips only formed soundless words. Next to him, Sirius burst out into a huge laugh which everyone else quickly fell into as well. I looked at professor Flitwick, who had a satisfied smile playing on his lips. He raised one arm and snapped with his fingers and James' voice was to be heard again.

"So, now it's your turn! And I will continue on professor McGonagall's idea and force you to work with someone you don't usually keep company with, but this time you're aloud to choose your partner by yourself. Go ahead!", the professor said and jumped down from his pile again. Everyone was starting to move around trying to find a partner to work with. I quickly leaned towards Ally and whispered into her ear.

"Go and get Sirius before anyone else does!" I pulled her up from her chair and pushed her forward to the back of the classroom were he sat. She looked at me nervously and I smiled encouraging back at her. She turned her head forward and I saw that she took a deep breath before she continued the last steps until she stood in front of his table. I could not hear what they said, I only saw Ally's lips moving and then Sirius' formed a single word as he nodded to her.

At the same time as he stood up, I made thumbs up to Ally and she giggled and held her hand before her mouth when she started to walk towards the table next to mine. But I was not quick enough hiding my victorious gesture. Sirius looked up on me and raised his eyebrows and the corners of his mouth twitched a bit when he followed Ally. I turned around, pretending like I had not seen him and planned to begin on looking for someone to be with myself, but I did not have to search for long, as for it already stood someone beside me.

"Whoa!", I said, a little bit shocked.

"Er, yeah, hi. Diane stole James' partner, so he stole mine, and then I was left over. And you're probably left over too, so, maybe we can work together?", Peter said, looking at me hopefully.

"Yeah, sure", I said and smiled. He sat down next to me and pulled out his wand from his robe. I did the same and turned myself to him.

"You first", I told him. I wanted to see one more time how to wave the wand, because I was still a bit unsure how to do it.

"Silencio!", he said, flipping his wand at me. I felt no difference from before he had said it.

"I... I don't think it worked. Try again."

"Silencio!", he said with a firm voice, and it felt like my vocal cords disappeared. I tried to say anything but my lips only formed silent words, just as I had seen James' do earlier. Peter lit up, probably happy to have succeeded at the second try and pointed his wand at me. My vocal cords returned and I could speak again.

"Nice job!", I said, smiling.

"Thanks! Now it's your turn", he said, and put his wand on the table. I picked up mine again and pointed it at him and took a deep breath, concentrating. When I was just about to utter the spell I heard someone else shout it out behind me, and Peter flinched a bit before me. I turned around and saw Sirius sitting opposite Ally with a big, satisfied grin over his handsome face.

"What was that good for? I hadn't even tried yet!", I said to him, a bit irritated. He smiled even wider than before.

"I just wanted to show you why you should have been with me instead of him", he answered and pointed at Peter. "I would've succeeded at my first try."

"Peter has done perfectly fine, so I don't see how being with you would have made this an easier task, honestly", I said, now even more irritated by his self-righteousness.

"Oooh! You've got a girlfriend, Pete?", Sirius asked and whistled. I decided to ignore him for the rest of the time and began to focus on the spell again. But when I looked up at Peter again, I realized the fact that he was still mute. I could not stop myself from laughing.

"Okay, release him now, you jerk. I have to practice", I said and heard Sirius snap with his fingers just as Professor Flitwick had done earlier and Peter was able to talk again.

"Well, I thought you were the queen of charms and didn't need to practice", he said and I rolled my eyes and turned back to him.

"No, not everyone has that high thought about oneself as you do."

"Ouch", he said and made a hurt face before he went back to be silenced by Ally. I was quite thankful to her for doing that, because then no one would interrupt me again. I concentrated once again and pointed my wand at Peter and closed my eyes.

"Silencio!", I said when I flipped my wand and opened my eyes cautiously. He just sat there with a very sheepish face, not uttering a single word. I clapped my hands happily and pointed my wand at him to break the spell.

"Wow. At first try!", he said, obviously impressed.

We continued training a few times more before professor Flitwick ended the lesson. I put down my wand into a pocket in my robe and took my bag and rose from the table to join Ally and walk out from the classroom. I noticed she was a bit silent, but I thought it was because she had a lot to sink in for the moment so i did not question it.

But her mood was not easing up during the lunch, and when we were among the few who still remained at the Gryffindor table I finally asked her.

"What's wrong, Ally?" She looked up at me for a second, and then she continued poking the food on her plate.

"It's nothing", she finally said after a while.

"Come on, you can't fool me", I said and then she dropped her fork and sighed.

"It's him."

"Who? Sirius?", I asked and she nodded. "What about him?"

She looked away, not sure how to begin. Then she took a deep breath and looked at me again.

"It's just... He was working with me, but he definitely paid you more attention than me, and I know-", she said with a more intense tone when I was about to interrupt her. "That I'm acting like a jealous kid again, but it's actually bothering me a bit."

"I'm sure that's not true. He has to focus too when he's going to cast a spell, and that means he had to focus mostly on you", I said but she gave me a look that said I was wrong.

"No. He doesn't even have to practice at all. He's a freaking god at it!", she said angrily and I did not know what to say next. A silent tension flew over us and I felt very awkward. Maybe Ally was right, but then, why did he do that?