𝓤𝓷𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮 (HIATUS)

ℂ𝕙𝕡.𝟞 || ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕞 𝕋𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕓𝕝𝕖

Once their lesson ended, the third-years had free time before dinner, so they went outside whilst a few relaxed in their common room. Mia, of course, went to join Luke and James outside. They found a quiet spot by a large willow tree, and sat in its comforting shade, chatting between themselves... Until Dylan and his two friends began to throw insults at them.

"Hey, Gryffindork!" Dylan yelled, with a cruel smirk, staring directly at Luke. "I didn't know you were so bad at magic! Are you sure you aren't a useless squib like that old caretaker?" All the students who could hear his words paused, glancing over with interest as Luke scowled. "A squib, really? That's all you can think of as an insult, you slimy little snake," He replied, crossing his arms while Mia and James stood up defensively.

"Slimy snake?- What. How dare you!" Dylan screeched, storming over to the three, Jack and Josh following after. "What's wrong?" Luke asked with a mocking pout that only infuriated the Slytherin further. "You have no right to talk to me like that," He exclaimed furiously, taking out his wand. "At this point, I think it's fair for me to treat you like how you treat me. I'm not doing this, 'make fun of Luke and attempt, and fail in making him feel worthless,' thing again."

Dylan went red from intense fury, opening his mouth as he prepared himself in cursing Luke. Mia noticed what spell he was about to use (the bat-bogey hex), and grabbed Luke and James' hands, pulling them towards another tree further away, and leaving the Slytherins. As they reached the comfort of the secluded tree, Luke immediately began to shout his head off at her, ranting about how Dylan was 'such a slimy git.'

He continued for a while, James struggling to concentrate on the homework he had taken out until he was interrupted by Mia. "Oh, honestly, just make a truce with him. Atleast then, you won't have to deal with all of his crap!" She exclaimed, throwing out her hands. "I agree. No need to befriend him, he's still a jerk, but atleast stop the arguing," James murmured, nodding his head. Luke glared at his friends, shooting daggers as he replied, "What do you mean, 'make a truce with him'?..."

Seeing his obviously explosive mood, Mia and James decided to drop the subject and suggested going to see the quidditch training match (they had overheard some students talking about it on their way outside). This cheered Luke up immensely, as Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin seeker, and Harry Potter, the Gryffindor seeker, would be training with Madam Hooch who taught flying lessons.

When the three arrived at the quidditch pitch, they noticed Draco had dyed his fringe an emerald green whilst Harry had dyed his a deep scarlet. One thing they knew wouldn't be much to argue about, was who had more talent when it came to quidditch, as the two were equal They began with a warm-up race around the pitch, going at it thrice. The first time, Harry came in first, riskily alternating his movement at the curve while Draco slowed down to keep control.

The second time they raced, Draco won as he had moved at a stable speed until the very end where he used all the might he could muster. In their last warm-up, the two boys tied, and then they were ready to properly begin training. Madam Hooch then released the golden snitch, the few students watching the training observing intently. Harry and Draco tore after the zooming golden blur, weaving through the goal hoops, and cutting corners sharply as the snitch attempted to get them off its trail.

After a few minutes, they were neck-in-neck, a foot away from the ground. In the last few seconds, they both caught the snitch, their hands touching as they held on. But, as soon as Madam Hooch blew her whistle, signalling the end of the training, they let go, Harry's face matching his scarlet fringe, and Draco's pale cheeks now a rosy pink. The students who noticed their little reaction began to laugh and giggle, whispering between themselves. As the laughter drifted down towards Draco and Harry, they bolted, crossing paths with Mia and her friends as they left.

- - - - - - - - - -

The next day, after their extremely boring History of Magic lesson, the third-years headed to the charms classroom. Mia, Luke and James sat in the same seats as their last lesson, sitting together and far from Dylan's crew. Placed in front of every student, was a single, snow-white feather with silver tips - it was quite clearly, expensive. Their teacher, Professor Flitwick, stood up on a large pile of books as he addressed his class. "One of a wizard's most rudimentary skills is levitation, or, the ability to make objects fly. Now, do you all have your feathers?" He said, unable to see if the students sitting higher up had been previously given feathers, or not.

A few students waved their feathers in the air, while the others simply nodded, or answered with a "Yes." With a satisfied smile, the professor continued, "I am now going to show you the motions for this spell. As you should all know by now, knowing how to enunciate the spell isn't enough. I hope you are watching closely." Flitwick took out his own wand, making sure all the students were paying close attention before he swished his wand in a 'U' shape, then sharply flicked it downwards.

"Ok class, please attempt the wand movements until you are certain it is correct, I will show you the next step very soon," He informed the students who began to flick their wands around in jabbing motions. As instructed, the remaining students who had waited for their professor to finish speaking, began to swish, jab, and flick their wands around. Mia, confident after her last experience in spell practice, swished her wand in a 'U', and then twisted her wand over, almost like she was writing in cursive, and brought the wand down. It didn't look right.

"Mia, I don't think that's how you do it," Luke said, his eyes following the incorrect wand movement. "Yes I know, but I don't know what I'm doing wrong. It feels all wrong, but it's the same thing Flitwick did, isn't it?" "No, you are doing some odd twist, but we just flick." He swished his wand, then flicked it sharply just as his friends, and the professor did. With a shocked, yet pleased look, he smiled at James who told him it was perfect. James then attempted the same 'swish and flick' that he was doing, and with joy, ended with a very similar result.

Mia frowned at them, glad they had apparently done it correctly, but upset that she was messing it up for some unknown reason. That was when Professor Quirell cleared his through to catch the class' attention, "Now, you will be attempting the spell with your feather. You will need to pronounce it like so, Wing-guard-e-um Leh-vie-o-sahr. Don't forget the nice wrist movement you've been practising!" The students pulled up the sleeves of their robes so it would be easier to perform, and they started attempting the spell.

Mia, with a deep frown, recited the words to the spell, "Win-guard-e-um Leh-vie-o-sahr!" As silent as anything could be, her feather burst into a small fire on her desk, her smile vanishing in an instant. "Mia!" Luke and James cried, smacking the flame with their textbooks. "Are you alright?" They asked in concern as Mia frowned disappointedly. "I thought I got it right? I don't get it. I did so well with the other spell," She replied. "But, are you okay?" Luke asked again. "I'm fine," Mia said, turning to the professor. "Sir? May I please have another feather? MIne is currently blacked shiny specks on the desk," She asked. With a slight raise of his eyebrow, Professor Flitwick used the spell to give her a second wand. "Do be careful, miss Forde..." He said. With a tense smile, she nodded. She attempted the spell almost a dozen times over, the feather thankfully, not becoming incapable, the mispronounced spells causing burst of fizzing sparks.

"Miss Forde, you seem to be finding this spell difficult. I would like you to practice this spell on harder objects in your free time and show me just before our next lesson." On her last try, Mia finally did the spell correctly, and a few of the students who had been terrified of their hair catching alight because of her, and her friends congratulated her. Although this was a wonderful feeling, she was annoyed that she would need to complete extra charms work along with the likelihood of homework.

Dylan was slightly anxious to try as he had heard stories of students blowing up their feathers and having to be sent to Madam Pomfrey's. "Go on then, Dylan. You're great at spells, this should be easy for you!" Jack encouraged, Josh, nodding his head. "I know that already," Dylan snapped from the nervousness. He glanced over at the other side of the room where Luke had just performed the spell with perfect form and pronunciation. Well, if he can do it, so can I! He thought determinedly.

Raising his wand and executing the correct wand gestures, Dylan said, "Wingardium Leh-vie-ohh-sah!" With a loud BANG, the feather flew into the air and exploded into a pile of black dust all over the petrified Slytherin. He sat there, staring at the spot where the feather had been originally and didn't move while Flitwick called out, "Are you alright over there?" A lot of the other students began to laugh at the boy, and what humiliated him the most was that Luke was one of them.