Cast yourself (you are the spell)

Chapter 16

"Can you please stay on your side?"

The girls had decided to split up the work pretty quickly to avoid bumping into each other. In fact, they had agreed that Hope would start on the right side and Josette on the left, but overtime the muggleborn had migrated to her side more and more. And Hope was beginning to feel it like a flame directly to her skin.

"Do you have to be so rude?" Josette asks, and Hope halts briefly as she begins to take the ingredients out of a jar. She can barely see what's right in front of her, the only light in the room coming from the door they had left slightly open.

"I said please."

She hears a deep, heavy sigh in response.

"You're not even doing anything correctly," Josette says, puffing out a breath. "You can't just wipe something once and call it clean."

Hope sets down the ingredients she had been counting.

"Merlin, stop talking," she grits out. "This is the fifth time I've lost count due to your incessant need to speak."

"Maybe I wouldn't have to speak at all if you could just do something right for once."

"You know what?" Hope turns around, prompting Josette to do so as well. The muggleborn puts her rag down on a shelf and crosses her arms. "None of this matters. We cleaned...hmm...maybe three cauldrons yesterday, and demented, old Slughorn didn't say a word-"

"Which was only because of that stupid prank!" Josette interjects. Hope's skin pricks with irritation at being interrupted. "We would have finished our detention at three in the morning if you had it your way."

"Oh, excuse me for not being a clean freak-"

"That's it!" Hope fights down the urge to lash out at the other girl for interrupting again. Why had she let the muggleborn consume her thoughts in the first place? She was obviously crazy. "You and everyone else have made my life hell, especially with the name-calling. I never asked for any of this."

"I think you did. I mean, pranking your fellow housemates? Yes, you're looking to fit right in!" Hope drawls sarcastically, only for the moment to suddenly grow serious.

"You and I both know I had nothing to do with that." It gives Hope pause just enough that she really looks at Josette-really, really looks at her.

The girl's hair is slightly frizzy from working in a confined space, some strands sticking to her head with a light sheen of sweat. Her cheeks are thoroughly pink from the effort she's put in, and her eyes are almost disappointed, sad even, but they hold a ferocity that scares Hope. The muggleborn even holds herself confidently despite the situation, and Hope thinks that she could easily find herself being smitten over the girl if not for her family.

"Be that as it may," Hope looks away, feeling oddly hot despite the fact that she had shrugged off her robe several minutes ago and had even rolled up her sleeves. "The rest of our house is convinced otherwise."

Josette doesn't reply, only rubbing furiously at a dirty spot on the shelf. Hope herself resumes counting, the only noises in the room the sound of their breathing and jars banging against shelves.

"What were you thinking?" Josette asks after almost twenty minutes. The sudden question surprises Hope, and she turns around to bump into the other girl. Josette was much closer than Hope had originally thought, something she hadn't been able to see in the darkness of the room.

The muggleborn steps away quickly, directly into the door and it closes fully shut. The left over light in the room diminishes, causing both their pupils to dilate. Hope gulps so loudly she's sure Slughorn can hear it in the other room.