Cast yourself (you are the spell)

Chapter 5

In the corner of her eye, she sees Josette picking up a pair of dice.

Looking back at her brown rook, she waves her wand almost lazily, whispering the spell slightly disinterested. She wishes they could do something cool for once.

The chess piece turns into a cockroach immediately, running around the desk at a speed that has Hope disgusted.

Hope glances at Josette to see that she's transfigured the dice into two cute ladybugs that are oddly large.

Josette is smiling, admiring her ladybugs with a childlike enjoyment. Something light stirs in Hope's chest, which instantly deflates when she catches Josette's displeased face.

"A cockroach?" she says, a lone eyebrow raising up before looking Hope up and down. "That's surprisingly indicative of your character."

Trying to ignore the fact that Josette basically just called her a cockroach, she turns back to look at the bug in question. Her mouth goes slack immediately.

"Oh my god!" Josette whisper-yells, startling the students in their circumference and causing McGonagall to look up. "Your cockroach just ate my ladybugs!"

"Hmm, I would have thought it to have better taste than that," Hope mumbles sardonically, further aggravating Josette.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she gasps, crossing her arms quickly. Hope considers mocking her more, but she sees that McGonagall is fast approaching them.

"It appears that you two have already mastered this part of the assignment. You may move onto larger life forms," the Professor says shortly, before returning to her desk. When Hope looks around, she finds that her classmates are still having trouble transfiguring mere ants.

She takes out her wand once again, choosing to ignore Josette for a second time. She feels like she's slowly losing her mind, all too aware of how close the muggleborn is next to her, all too aware of how their knees could touch if Hope were to move her chair a little bit to the left.

She takes a large cup this time, setting it in front of her before saying the spell and envisioning another animal.

A rat appears in front of her, its tail almost longer than half the length of the table. When she looks over, she finds Josette petting a small hamster.

How is she doing this so quickly? She's...almost better than me.

"You're so cute," Josette murmurs, holding the hamster up and continuing to play with it. Hope's fingertips tingle with the want to reach out, but she keeps them shaking underneath the desk. She hates this feeling.

"That is the ugliest fucking animal I have ever seen," Hope comments, unable to resist.

"And what, your speciality is...pests and rodents?" Josette responds without even looking up, still playing with the hamster. Hope crosses her arms and huffs, glaring at the rat slivering across the desk.

They stay that way for what feels like minutes on end, and then it happens.

Josette yelps, immediately attracting the attention of the entire class. She runs her hands around her body, swiping at things Hope can't see, until she does.

The buttons of Josette's white long sleeve have been transfigured into crickets, and they're hopping all over her incessantly. Laughter and wolf whistles resound loudly throughout the classroom, and the loudest of it is coming from one Penelope Park.

Hope looks at the Slytherin for barely a second before she realizes this is all definitely Penelope's doing. She can tell by the wand poking underneath the desk, and the menacing smirk on her face. Hope turns her attention back to the frantic Josette who has just calmed down, except that her shirt is split down the middle, leaving her stomach and torso completely exposed. And of course, she doesn't have a robe to cover up with.