Thanks MissUnderRated, sugobe, the crazy brit, Aslin's fire, & Italiana30 for favoriting or adding this to their story alerts. :)
Also, sorry for not getting this thrown up yesterday like I said I would. My internet crashed on me last night and so I couldn't put anything up. Thanks for the patience!
Disclaimer: I don't own what J.K. Rowling owns.
The next morning, Annabelle woke to an irritated red-head standing beside her, tapping her foot impatiently. "Get dressed. If we're late to Charms, Professor Flitwick will have my head!" Ginny paced toward her bed, roughly grabbing her satchel and throwing it over her shoulder. She then picked up Annabelle's and held it, waiting for her friend to finish getting ready. "We're stopping by the Great Hall to grab something quick to eat before we go to class. You didn't eat last night, and my stomach won't hold out from supper to lunch." She tossed the satchel to her friend and made her way down the spiral staircase, not even checking to see that Annabelle was following, which she was.
Annabelle had to practically run to keep up with Ginny's long, angry strides. Once they made it to the Great Hall, they found it was mostly empty. Ginny grabbed a couple pieces of toast and a glass and shoved them into Annabelle's hands before grabbing the same for herself.
They reached Professor Flitwick's classroom with less than a minute to spare. Annabelle mumbled an apology before slumping into one of two empty seats at the back of class. She sat between Astoria Greengrass and Colin Creevey. Ginny sat on Colin's other side and he kept glancing at the fuming red head nervously, thus scooting closer to Annabelle every few seconds. Eventually, Colin's chair hit Annabelle's causing hers to teeter dangerously, and he grabbed her arm to steady her, which only caused her to yank her arm back, and fall into Astoria's lap.
Being one of the kinder Slytherins, Astoria simply sat there as Annabelle pulled herself up. However, the Slytherin sitting next to her sniggered and whispered something about mudbloods which Annabelle couldn't really hear. All she could tell was that Astoria didn't seem real pleased by this, but she didn't say anything about it either.
Tuning in to the class again, Annabelle set about performing the spell given to them. They were meant to make a feather fly, well levitate really.
Professor Flitwick kept repeating the same phrase over and over, and it was really beginning to get on Annabelle's nerves. She mumbled, "Enough swish and flick. I got it."
Astoria giggled beside her and whispered, "Show him you can do it. Maybe he'll shut up."
Annabelle's eyes grew wide. She hadn't expected Astoria to speak with her after what happened at the beginning of class. Still, Annabelle straightened up in her seat and pointed her wand at the feather. She swished and flicked her wand and spoke, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The feather hovered for a moment, barely an inch off the desk before fluttering back to the ground. She tried it a few more times and on her fourth try, she spoke and the feather floated up an inch and Annabelle feared it would fall down again, but she gently lifted the tip of her wand and gasped as the feather began to float toward the ceiling. Every time she jerked her wand, it jerked upward.
Astoria was staring, wide eyed at the floating feather. Professor Flitwick had failed to notice the airborne feather so Astoria raised her hand. "Professor Flitwick!"
Professor Flitwick looked over to Astoria, but his gaze stopped short and held on to the hovering feather. Looking down, he saw Astoria's feather was still lying on her desk, while Miss Wyte's was nowhere to be seen. Again, he looked up and clapped his hands. "Very good, Miss Wyte. Well done!" Now, the whole class was staring at the airborne feather and Annabelle couldn't help but grin. She had certainly shut him up.
After a few minutes, the class went back to their own feathers and Annabelle was told to continue practicing. After a few more times, Annabelle was getting it every time and by the time class was over, she was confident that she'd mastered the spell.
She left class beaming, but as they began to walk towards Transfiguration, Annabelle sobered up, remembering everything that had occurred the previous night. She continued walking as her grin faded and curled into a wretched frown. She was in for it now, especially because Ginny still hadn't been to Madame Pomfrey.
They eventually reached the Transfiguration classroom, and Annabelle started to sit in the back when a sharp voice called her. "Annabelle, come up here, please. Drop your stuff off at your normal seat."
Annabelle's eyes widened and she picked her satchel back up and dropped it on the front, middle table. She noticed that Ginny had followed her to the table, but was now sitting down, silently urging her forward.
Annabelle grudgingly took the hint and turned around. Professor McGonagall looked as stern and cold as ever, and Annabelle slightly comforted that she didn't suddenly look larger or scarier. Deciding that McGonagall would talk to her either way, Annabelle slowly walked towards the professor, bowing her head slightly in submission before mumbling, "Yes, Professor?"
Minerva fought the urge to wrap the girl in a hug and fixed her gaze on the blonde hair. "I expect you heard about your detention for tonight?" Seeing the girl nod solemnly, a piece of Minerva's heart shattered. She hated hurting Annabelle. No. She hated hurting Miss Wyte. She shook her head, clearing her mind of any distraction before pushing on. "At the end of the feast, you will meet me at the entrance to the Great Hall and we will walk to my office. Is this clear?" Again, Annabelle only nodded, so Minerva directed her to her seat.
Minerva found it slightly awkward teaching a class when her favorite pupil wouldn't look up from her perfectly transfigured needle. Minerva was walking around the students now, critiquing their work as she passed them. Finally, Minerva stopped in front of Miss Wyte's desk and picked up the needle, turning it over in her hand and setting it back onto the wooden surface. "Turn it back."
The younger witch jerked her head up, afraid that she'd done it wrong. Still, she picked up her wand and whispered the incantation to turn the needle back into a match. Since Annabelle's eyes were still glued to the match, she missed the momentary smile that crossed her instructor's face. "Very well, Miss Wyte. You're free to go to lunch." Turning away from Annabelle, Minerva directed her next statement to the whole class. "You may leave when you can produce a needle and turn it back to its' original state. Bring the transfigured needle up to the front desk and perform the second spell in front of me."
By now, Annabelle had finished gathering her belongings and was walking to the door. However, she stopped short upon hearing her instructor's voice. "Miss Wyte, don't forget about your detention this evening." This caused the whole class to erupt in whispers as Annabelle fled the classroom.
When the end of the school day rolled around, many rumors were already flying around. The worst part about the rumors, was that the truth was, perhaps, even crazier than all the farfetched rumors. A hostile tree had made a secret cave for her after reacting to her wand and had then attempted to attack a teacher. That was crazy, even for wizarding standards.
Annabelle spent the rest of the afternoon studying and soon made her way to the Great Hall to have supper with all the other Gryffindors.
Ginny could tell Annabelle was nervous, so she simply chattered away, knowing that Annabelle would not remember a single thing that they discussed tonight. Eventually, the end of dinner came and Annabelle looked up and caught Professor McGonagall's eye.
At the teacher's silent command, Annabelle rose from her seat and began walking toward the exit, holding her breath as she waited for the professor to catch up with her.
Tonight is going to be hell.