AN: If this chapter looks familiar, it's because I already posted it before as a separate story. I'm just moving it over to the Hogwarts anthology now because it makes more sense to have it here than floating out on its own.
"Ahben Wingardium Tahkay Leviosa," Glinda cried majestically, waving her wand in dramatic and sweeping motions over the picture that sat at her bedside. It was a picture of herself and her roommate, Elphaba Thropp. In that picture, Glinda was whispering something to Elphaba behind her hand, a secret that made Elphaba smirk in pride. Or at least, that was what Glinda always said. In truth, behind her hand, Glinda hadn't been speaking at all. Instead, she'd been kissing. That picture was really of Glinda sneaking a kiss to Elphaba under the guise of whispering a secret, though perhaps, in that light, Glinda really had been sharing a secret with the green girl after all, one that only they knew and was enough to make that green girl smile almost braggingly, since only she and Glinda knew the truth behind that particular secret.
At the moment, however, all of the secrets and suggestive bliss of that picture was totally lost upon Glinda. She was too busy trying, and failing, to get the stupid old thing to levitate even an inch off her nightstand to care what was actually in the frame at the moment.
"Ahben Wingardium Tahkay Leviosa!" Glinda repeated, waving her wand harder still. It was almost like she was brandishing a whip or a riding crop from how hard she was shaking it at the little picture. At last, then, she turned away from the picture and began to hit her bed. "Is this thing on?!" she muttered to herself angrily. Finally, then, her roommate, who had been in the room the whole time, spoke up.
"Do you want me to try?" the green girl asked, concerned for the wand and mildly irritated at her friend's dramatics. Glinda's bumbling ineptitude with a wand had been funny at first, and even endearing, but now it was getting old. The blond hadn't been able to cast even the simplest of spells without an insane amount of help and Elphaba was tired of watching the girl abuse her wand because of that reason.
"No, no I've got it, I've got it!" said Glinda, stubborn and flustered. Elphaba only sighed in annoyance and admiration at Glinda's determination. Despite Glinda's total lack of skill in all things magic, she never did give up. At least it had sort of paid off earlier, when she'd levitated Nessa's sandwich out of her lap and over to Elphaba. Sadly, though, Glinda had forgotten how to reverse the spell and ended up exploding it all over the poor green girl, sending everyone else in the vicinity into hysterics, even Nessa and Elphaba herself. It really hadn't been too bad but, in response to it, Glinda had since vowed to try harder at sorcery and now, she was making good on that vow.
Glinda, after a quick breather, began waving her wand again in earnest. She waved it harder and harder until Elphaba had to duck to avoid being hit by Glinda's madly flapping arms. She looked like a mad goose and Elphaba was certain her arms would fly off at this point.
"Ok! Stop! Stop! Stop! You're going to take somebody's eye out!" cried Elphaba, reaching blindly and catching Glinda's wild arms, trying to hold them down to keep them from doing any real harm. "Besides, you're saying it wrong. It's LeviOsa, not LeviosA," she added.
"You do it then, if you're so clever," huffed Glinda. Elphaba only rolled her eyes in reply. Hadn't she just offered to do that in the first place only for stubborn Ms. Glinda to insist that she had it?
But instead of making a snarky and sarcastic remark like normal, Elphaba took the high road and inhaled softly before taking the wand.
"Ahben Wingardium Tahkay Leviosa," she said, voice low with something powerful coming from her chest and the back of her throat as she aimed both wand and her own focus upon the little picture Glinda had been trying to levitate. Slowly but surely, then, that little picture floated right off the desk and while Glinda pouted, Elphaba only smirked a little before flicking the wand around the room, the picture flying to wherever Elphaba pointed the wand at. The two watched in silence for about a minute as Elphaba continued making the picture defy gravity before, at last, she finally returned the picture to its original place on Glinda's nightstand.
"Stupid lessons in levitation and language. I'll never get it all right!" Glinda grumbled as Elphaba returned her wand, still smirking.
"Here," offered Elphaba, in a kinder voice, forcing her smirk to turn into a smile of real compassion. "Let me give you some tips," and Glinda, though still wary about accepting help, conceded to let the green girl act as her tutor for those particular lessons in levitation and language.
The next day, while sitting on a bench and enjoying the sun, Elphaba and Glinda found themselves facing off against some of the meaner students of Shiz. They kept walking past the bench at which Elphaba and Glinda sat and, every time they went by, they made some kind of rude remark about her and her freaky, ugly green skin. Then, they even began to throw clumps of grass at her! But Elphaba was used to it and ignored every clump of plant and every nasty word thrown in her direction, not even acknowledging her attackers. Glinda, however, was not used to it at all and, with every pass of those bully students, she got angrier and angrier until at last...
"Ahben Wingardium Tahkay Leviosa," she whispered, pointing to the growing pile of grass covering Elphaba and the ground around her. The multiple clumps of grass all rose up and, at Glinda's bidding, conjoined into one large pile. The next time those students went by, they were buried in a huge pile of grass and leaves, the very same ones that they had hurled with insults at the green girl earlier. When they went to yell at her for doing this to them, Glinda finally interceded verbally.
"That wasn't her, it was me! And if you don't want me to levitate you into that river over there, I suggest you back off! You're ruining my view!" she snarled dangerously. That seemed to do the trick and the newly grass-stained students slunk away in dejection and fear as Glinda waved her wand threateningly. Elphaba, meanwhile, only smiled.
"Not bad," she told the blond. "Your lessons in language and levitation have paid off!"
"Told you I got it," Glinda replied with a smug little smirk, blowing off the tip of her wand before returning it to its sheath, hanging at her side.
ooo
Many years later, Lady Glinda watched her servant, Murth, call in the broom-girl, Rain, to climb up and grab something she couldn't.
"You could've used a spell," Glinda remarked mildly as Rain retrieved the object with ease, passing it down to the shorter, stubbier servant.
"Magic's forbidden, ma'am" Murth replied as Rain climbed back down to ground level. Glinda knew this, but shrugged regardless.
"Magic?" Rain echoed. Glinda, pleased by her interest, nodded.
"Ahben Wingardium Tahkay Leviosa," she whispered, pointing to that very same picture of her and Elphaba, though she had since painted over Elphaba's green skin to make it the same color as her own just for the sake of both of their safeties, though Glinda thought it looked quite ugly. The painting then proceeded to zoom around the room and Rain clapped in awe while even frightened little Murth looked impressed.
"No magic!" a voice boomed out suddenly. It was one of the overbearing soldiers that guarded them all the time, ruining their fun again. The trio sighed angrily before Glinda muttered again. "Ahben Wingardium Tahkay Leviosa!" and this was followed by a string of cuss words.
"Why, what ever is the matter?" she asked mockingly to the swearing soldier.
"Bloody light fell clean out of its socket and onto my head!" came an irritated reply. Rain and Murth both snickered at this while Glinda grinned.
"Told ya I got it," she whispered to the picture, and she almost thought she saw Elphaba's smile on it widen.
AN: Once again, this was not a new story, just a repost. And it is obviously referential of the Levitation scene in Sorcerer's Stone and the Ball Gown spell in Popular. (The bonus shout-out epilogue will only be understood by those who read the "Out of Oz" book).