An Unexpected Ally

A Stack of Toast

"Then you'd better not stop now." Hermione tried her absolute best to control the tone of her voice.

"If you say so." Harry smirked.

"Ahem." Professor Flitwick cleared his throat lightly, taking his... well, he could not sit otherwise he would be just two feet from the ground, so instead he took a stand on a stack of books Hermione knew were applied with a permanent sticking charm to the floor. "As some of you may know, if you have elected to read ahead into this year's curriculum, to start the year off, we are going to be practicing the Banishing Charm."

Hermione was following along and nodding to the professor's words every once in a while. Harry kept accidentally distracting himself by glancing at her, but this was also how he spotted Ron imitating her behaviour to a quietly chuckling Seamus. He scowled and tried to focus on the lecture.

"The incantation is Depulso. Now that you are all fourth years, I trust that we will not need oral practice?" Professor Flitwick asked as the class nodded unanimously and vehemently, glad to see the back of repeating the incantation over and over. At least until they started actually trying to learn the spell.

Harry found himself actually enjoying his classes now that he was partnered with Hermione. He didn't know if it was her positive attitude towards learning or if Ron was a worse influence on him than he thought, but the young boy couldn't stop listening to the half-goblin teacher. When he wasn't looking at Hermione, of course.

"You have each been given a cushion. To avoid injury, we will be working on these for now." Professor Flitwick instructed. "Now, pair up and spread out." He waved his wand and the desks were deconstructed and moved to the sides of the classroom, leaving plenty of open space for spellwork.

Students typically worked with their desk-mates on projects such as these and so Harry and Hermione instantly gravitated towards one another, setting up their pillows and standing next to each other while more pairings were formed, such as Ron and Seamus as well as Neville and Dean.

Usually, Harry would be paired with Ron, but due to things currently being up in the air between them, this did not happen. Some students noticed this as well as the professor himself, though nobody commented.

"You may begin at your own leisure." Professor Flitwick squeaked.

Immediately, most students unsheathed their wands and began to attempt to cast the spell with very limited success. Most cushions did not move at all, though some were shifted sightly. Professor Flitwick watched on in mild interest, trying to ascertain each student's relative skill level with this spell and compare it with others. For example, while Seamus Finnegan excelled at producing bluebell flames and sparks from his wand, he was finding this task particularly difficult. Meanwhile, although Pansy Parkinson had managed to move the cushion a few centimetres, her proficiency in most other areas appeared to be lacking. The professor privately thought that if she spent less time fawning over the young Draco Malfoy that she would see more progress in her spellwork.

Speaking of Draco Malfoy, the boy had completely ignored Pansy as well as his pillow and had put all of his focus on mildly antagonising Harry Potter, as was his favourite pastime during his time at Hogwarts.

"I must say, Potter, I'm impressed that you had the guts to put your name in the Goblet. Then again, I suppose it fits in with the Gryffindor idea of being a complete moron." He snickered quietly, grinning maliciously at the previously bespectacled boy. Harry didn't say anything and just looked away from him, drawing his wand to begin the exercise. "What happened to your glasses, anyway? Did you lose them like you lost your parents?" Draco watched with a mild excitement as Harry looked sharply at him, expecting a vicious and emotional response that he could capitalise on.