I'm not a kitten... Okay, I'm Kitten

Chapter 26 - Pt.2

When Penny hissed quietly, he pulled back. She was still wearing a sling! "Are you okay?!"

Before she could say a word, Penny's mother spoke. "She will be fine, cutie," she said with a light smile. "Just a bit more healing, but nothing excessive. It looks like she will be joining you for your frequent trips to Madam Pomfrey this week."

"Oh, good!" Koty said happily. "That will give me something to do, instead of just reading. Madam Pomfrey chats when she can, but now that the weather is turning, lots of kids tend to come in with colds and the like."

"It is that time of year, dear," Mrs. Clearwater said, patting his cheek gently. "If you'll excuse us, we need to pop in for a visit with the Headmaster before we leave."

"And you three have class, I'm sure," an unfamiliar man said, chuckling warmly.

Olive groaned loudly. "We're going, old man, we're going!"

The man gave an obviously fake frown in her direction. "Don't make me take you over my knee, young lady."

"Oh, please," she joked. "You'd never catch me, you decrepit old man-crone."

The man pretended to swoon. "Imogen!" He cried dramatically, clutching his wife's arm. "Quickly! We must contact the Healers! My own daughter has cut me to the quick! I fear I have little time left for this world, my darling."

The woman, Imogen, snorted and pushed him away. "Oh, honestly. You two are terrible influences on each other."

As the newly reunited friend group laughed and said their goodbyes, the two couples went off in search of the Headmaster.

That afternoon, Koty was walking toward Herbology, joined by Draco and Amelia, who were heading to Potions and Transfiguration respectively.

Draco, who always seemed to clam up in front of the tall girl, was walking close to Koty's left, trying to get him to help with his Charms work. "But why won't the shrinking charm work when I've already cast the freezing charm?"

"Well, think about it, Draco," Koty said, immediately identifying the problem. "Water, or in this case ice, is tricky to change even with magic, yeah?"

"Yeah...?" Draco replied in confusion.

"To shrink ice," Koty continued calmly. "You can only compress it so far. It can't turn an iceberg into a block the size of a tea kettle, because it would basically explode under the pressure. That being said, there is a way around your problem..."

"Shrink first, then freeze!" Draco exclaimed, groaning. "I feel so stupid. It's so obvious!"

"You're not stupid, Draco," Amelia said with a light sigh. "It's a simple enough mistake that we've all made. I remember Professor Flitwick's lessons from my second year. Layering spells is tricky. It's usually a matter of trial and error, since some explanations don't actually-"

"DOWN!" Koty suddenly screamed, and barely registered half of the people in the corridor dropped to the floor at his shout. Wand forgotten, he threw his hands in the air to stop a massive piece of falling stone. His magic caught the overlarge, and somewhat terrifying gargoyle, maybe ten centimetres over Amelia's head. Muscles straining, he told her to move, and if he had yelled, it wasn't deliberate. He was about to drop the statue, but Amelia was too shocked to move.

Draco, having quickly regained his composure, pulled the girl's arm and her crouching form tipped to the side, rolling them both out of the way.

His brother's movements came none too quickly, as his magic strained to the snapping point and dropped the gargoyle half a second later. Bits of stone flew in all directions, bouncing off students and walls alike.