He's Back

IX

Bring Back What I Forgot

Monday rolls around quickly, and getting out of bed feels like the hardest thing in the world.

"Come on," Matty whines. I'm still laying in bed and he started complaining about being hungry about fifteen minutes ago. "I'm hungry, get up."

"I'll meet you in charms, I don't feel like breakfast today."

"No. You're coming, let's go." Matty grabs my feet and pulls me from the bed.

"What the fuck!" I exclaim, getting up.

"Get dressed," he says. Being upright makes me feel more awake anyway, so I do as he says and make Caleb get up too.

"Hey," Lyndsey says as we get to the table.

I wave and sit down, loading my plate with bacon.

"The unicorn thing's in the Prophet today," Jack says as he sits down too, throwing the paper on the table. Just as he sits, a screech owl flies in, dropping a letter in front of me.

"What's that?" Lyndsey asks.

I open it up and scan the first few lines. "Just a reminder that I have detention."

They all look at me impressed, clapping their hands.

"When'd you get detention?" Matty asks. I glance over at Vic's usual spot, seeing him reading the same letter.

"Friday night, I went to the owlery and got caught on my way back," I lie.

"Damn. What'd you get?" Caleb asks.

"Trophy room," I reply.

"Shit, eh."

"Yeah." I sigh, thinking about that night and how much I learned about Vic.

"We should go to charms," Caleb says, breaking me from my daydream. I nod, and off we go.

"Everyone in pairs," Flitwick instructs. My eyes instantly shoot to Caleb's and he looks back, nodding. "Not so fast," Flitwick adds. "Pairs with the person ahead of you."

The desk ahead of me is empty and we sit in back row, no one behind me either. Now what the fuck do I do? As everyone pairs up, they move to the back of the room and I'm left standing there with only one other person, Vic. I walk over to him, feeling a bit awkward about the night before.

"Hey," I say quietly. He nods at me, not saying anything.

"Good," Flitwick says. "Now, today we're practicing our nonverbal magic. No stunning or binding spell use or you'll find yourself in detention. Let's stay safe." With that he lets everyone start.

I look at Vic, feeling nostalgic. "Last time we did this I won." After the words leave my mouth I can't help but smile, the awkwardness lifting ever so slightly.

"I could've beat you and you know it," he replies, a cocky edge to his voice. I try to hide my surprise, kind of expecting him to be cold toward me again.

"Oh, you think so?" I challenge. At first, it's a bit weird seeing Vic acting so normally.

"I know so," he replies confidently. And it's this comment that makes me realize how truly endearing his accent is. I've always had a soft spot for a good Irish accent.