by Sophia Stone
‘So what is it you wanted to say?’ I ask Harry.
He hesitates for a moment before answering.
‘I just wanted to apologise for earlier. I shouldn’t have… reacted like that. It wasn’t kind.’
‘It’s fine. Really, I’m sorry for-.’
‘Lizzie, you just hugged the guy. If he wants to be a baby about it, then leave him too it,’ Sebastian said.
‘You told them?’ Harry asked.
‘I didn’t say it was you,’ Matthew put his hand over his face to stop himself from laughing.
‘Have you been laughing at me behind my back?’
‘No! I said I was upset about a boy and they’ve put two and two together.’
‘She wasn’t laughing at you behind your back,’ James said.
‘She wasn’t. But we were,’ Zachary gestured at himself and Matthew before erupting into laughter.
‘I can’t believe you Lizzie,’ Harry said. ‘I’ve got to go.’
Without looking back, he storms out of the hall.
‘Harry. I’m sorry.’
I get up from my seat to go after him to see if he’s okay, but Sebastian stops me.
‘Leave him. Harry is playing games,’ he said.
‘He’s not. He thinks I’ve been laughing at him with you guys. He’s been nice to me.’
‘You hugged him, and he overreacted. We will laugh at him,’ Matthew said.
‘He is overreacting just a little, Lizzie,’ James said.
‘Anyway, boys like what they can’t have. You came in to strong,’ Zachary uses his wand to get an apple of which he takes a large bite from. With his mouth partially full, he continues. ‘Hanging out with us will make him make his real feelings plain.’
‘How so?’ I ask.
‘If he’s interested in you, seeing you hang around with four boys will drive him insane. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has feelings for you. You’re not bad looking,’ Zachary said.
‘Umm... thank you.’
‘You’ve got to learn how to play the field, Lizzie. Desperation isn’t attractive to anyone,’ Zachary said.
‘So, what should I do?’ I ask
‘Nothing,’ Zachary said.
‘Nothing?’
‘Yep. Carry on as if everything is normal. If he still wants to be your friend or even more, he’ll come to you. If he doesn’t, well he wasn’t a good friend, anyway. Think you can do that?’ Zachary said.
‘I’ll try,’ Zachary smiles at me and pulls his wand out.
‘Good. Now who wants desert?’
10
When I got back to my room after dinner, Elenore was sitting on her bed reading.
‘How was dinner?’ she asked without lifting her eyes from her book.
‘It went well, thanks. Have you been up to much?’ I wondered if she was annoyed at me for leaving her at lunch. I walked into the bathroom to change into my flannel pyjamas.
‘Not much. Just trying to get ahead for tomorrow’s lesson. It’s all merging into one long sentence now,’ She squints her eyes at the book to focus. ‘I think I’ll leave it for tonight.’
She closes the book and places it on the table beside her bed.
‘So, I saw you were sitting with the Knight boys. How was that?’
‘Well, Harry made an appearance, but I don’t think he will talk to me anytime soon after the way the boys behaved.’
I turned the light off in the bathroom and then got into bed.
‘Why? What happened?’
I told Elenore everything. How I had hugged Harry and his overreaction all the way to how the brothers had teased him at dinner. I omitted the part about feeling fire when I hugged Harry once again.
‘I don’t know why you bother with Harry. Sure, he’s not bad to look at but he seems a bit standoffish. Now the Knight brothers. They are gorgeous and, well, anyone could see how interested they are in you.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Sounds like they’ve taken to you,’ I rolled my eyes at her comment.
‘They’re second years. They aren’t interested in me, I promise you.’
‘I think you’re in denial.’
‘You weren’t there. They aren’t falling over themselves over me at all.’
‘If you say so,’ Elenore gives me a knowing smile.
‘Okay, how about you come to dinner with us all tomorrow? I’m sure the boys wouldn’t mind. You can see what I mean then.’
‘Really?’ Elenore leans over her bed towards me.
‘I’d love you to come.’
Elenore emits a high-pitched squeal before taking a deep breath and composing herself.
‘I am strictly coming see if you are telling the truth, you know.’
‘I know,’ I smile back trying to contain a giggle. ‘I am going to bed now. We’ve got a long day. Night.’
‘Night to you too.’ Elenore whispers back.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
‘What…,’ I rub my eyes. ‘What was that noise?’
‘Agghgh,’ Elenore mumbles.
‘Is that even English?’
‘No… sleep.’
THUD. THUD. THUD
‘Lizzie. It’s James. Are you up?’
James. Why is he knocking my door in the middle of the night? I look over to my clock and see that it isn’t the middle of the night but 8:05am. I jump out of bed and run to open the door.
‘Yes, we are up. Everything okay?’ I ask.
James looks at me quizzically.
‘Were you still sleeping?’ he asks.
‘No,’ I yawn. ‘We’ve been up ages. Haven’t we Elenore?’
‘Sleeeep,’ She groans.
‘See? We’re up,’ I smile.
‘Hmm. I just wanted to check that you knew where Wand Orientation is today. I forgot to ask you at dinner.’
‘I’m sure we’ll find it. What time is it again?’
‘Eight-thirty in the library.’
‘Right. Umm yes. We will be there. We’re nearly ready, anyway.’
James looks me up and down slowly. My hair probably looks like a bird's nest at this time of the morning and I am still in my pyjamas.
‘Sure,’ he said skeptically. ‘Would you like me to show the way? I’ve got a meeting in five minutes, but I don’t mind making a detour.’
I know Elenore and I will get lost but considering it will take us at least ten minutes to get washed and dressed, we’d only end up making him late.
‘No, it’s fine. We’ll find it,’ I try to fake a convincing smile.
‘Okay then. See you in your first invisibility class.’
I close the door once James leaves and I immediately wake Elenore up.
‘Elenore’. I shake her. ‘Elenore. You’ve got to get up. We’re late.’
‘No, we aren’t she groans. Class isn’t until eight thirty.’
‘It’s ten past eight now.’
‘Damn it.’
Elenore throws her covers back, leaps out of bed and into the bathroom. While she’s having a shower, I go through both of our draws and throw a new uniform each onto the bed. It consists of a skirt, blouse and black robe. I am slightly disappointed we didn’t get a stereotypical hat, but now was not the time to be thinking of such things.
‘Done,’ Elenore breezes out.
‘That was quick.’
‘I find the threat of detention a big motivator. Now hurry up.’
I grab my clothes and run into the bathroom. I shower, dry and dress in record time. When I check the clock, we still have ten minutes so just enough time to get to the library.
‘Do you know where we are going?’ I ask Elenore
‘Sort of,’ she looks at her map. ‘I thought the library was near the hall.’
We both study the map. The library appears to be directly behind the hall but from where we are standing, we are on the wrong side. This means a delay as we have to walk around the whole of the hall to get to the other side.
‘We will be so l
ate,’ I said.
A small crowd comes out of the hall and I see Sebastian’s tell tail mop of curly hair. I dread the lecture he’ll give about being late so keep my head down but it’s too late.
‘Aren’t you meant to be in Wand Orientation?’ he asks.
‘Yes, but we got lost,’ Elenore said.
‘Overslept?’ he asks.
He looks at me. Despite trying not to look guilty, I just have one of those faces. He huffs and then pulls his wand out.
I feel a jolt as we land outside of the library door.
‘Why did you do that?’
‘You shouldn’t be late for your Wand Orientation. It looks bad,’ he grumbles. ‘But next time, you’re on your own.’
Opening the door of the library, Sebastian ushers us in. The professor is sitting at her desk, which is overflowing with piles of boxes.
‘Thank you.’ I whisper.
‘I am very sorry Professor Spellwood. I found some strays who seemed to have gotten lost.’
‘Ahh Sebastian. Such a helpful student. Girls don’t forget to say thank you.’
‘Thank you,’ We both said before finding two seats.
Harry is sitting only a few seats away but won’t even look in my direction.
‘Next thing you know, the Knight brothers will be cutting her food up for her.’ Olivia whispers to Hannah loud enough so I can hear.
‘It’s so pathetic,’ Hannah said.
‘My mother always tells me that good witches are independent. Maybe that’s why I excel in class,’ Olivia replies.
Before I can snap and respond, Elenore jumps into the conversation.
‘Did your mother ever tell you that good witches know when to shut up?’
Olivia let out a squeak that catches the attention of Professor Spellwood.
‘Ladies. I will not tolerate such silliness in my library. If you continue to talk, I will be forced to use a silencing spell on all of you.’
‘We will be quiet Professor Spellwood.’ Olivia smiles sweetly.
‘Good. Now before I hand you your wands, there are some rules. Who is familiar with them?’
Several students raised their hands to answer.
‘We haven’t got time to discuss so I will just run through them. They are fairly simple rules to abide by and are not complicated. First rule: you will not use your wand outside of a classroom unless you have been given permission. Second rule: you will not break another student’s wand. Third rule: no lending of wands to friends. Each wand will become Intune to its user. Wands are simple beings and get confused easily so having two masters will not work. If you lose your wand, you will have to buy another one and pay a fine for carelessness. If you break one of these simple rules, there will be consequences.’
‘And what would those be professor?’ Peter Rue asks.
‘Never you mind. But should you be in any doubt to the consequences, all you need to know is this; of the small minority to flout these rules, very few remain at the school to finish their education.’
Professor Spellwood uses her wand to move the boxes one by one onto each table.
‘I am aware you haven’t had your first lesson yet, but it is important to configure your wands to make sure you get the best out of them. The best way is to conduct a few simple spells.’
The professor turns around and using her wand makes an old-fashioned blackboard appear. Using her wand, she writes the two spells we should practice.
‘“Retrival” will make objects come to you that are in your vision. “Appeara” is a to make objects you can’t see appear.’
Next to each spell the professor writes what she wants us to get. We must use Retrival to get the wand box to come to us. We use Appeara for getting a pencil.
‘Remember to say the item you want first, then the spell. If you want to make a pencil appear, you would say “Pencil Appeara”. Now have a few attempts.’
Elenore seems to make her spells work first time but I can get the wand box to lift but not come to me.
‘You need to be firm. You are telling the box to come to you, not asking it. Like this: Wand box Retrival.’
‘Wand box Retrival,’ I repeat.
‘No. it’s re-triv-i-al, not re-te-val. Try again.’
I clear my throat to be make sure my voice is clear and firm.
‘Wand box Retrival,’ I said firmly.
The wand box lifts and lands on my desk.
‘Well done! Now the Appeara spell. A-peer-ra.’
‘Pencil Appeara.’
A pencil appears on my desk.
‘Wow,’ I am shocked. 'I can’t believe I just did that.’
‘It is cool the first time you do it,’ Elenore responds.
‘I never thought you’d have to explain magic to a Castle. Maybe they aren’t as special as they think,’ Olivia said.
‘Leave it, Olivia,’ Elenore replies.
‘Maybe if the CastleS had just left it, Lizzie wouldn’t be here,’ said Hannah. Olivia and Natasha giggled.
‘What do you mean by that?’ I ask.
‘Nothing,’ Hannah said.
‘Ignore them. They are being childish, as normal.’
‘Once you’ve finished practicing, you may go to your next lesson,’ Professor Spellwood calls out.
‘Let’s go,’ I said to Elenore and we leave for our next lesson.
11
‘So where is the next lesson?’ I ask Elenore as we walk out of class.
‘Let me have a look,’ Elenore pulls out her student planner from her satchel and turns to our timetable. ‘Invisibility Class with Professor Le Faye in room five.’
‘I think that’s this side of the hall.’
‘Thank god. I don’t fancy trying to run around the hall to get to class. Although, I’m sure if we bumped into another Knight brother…’
‘You heard Sebastian; he won’t do it again.’
‘I bet he would if you asked him really nicely,’ Elenore batted her eyelashes.
‘They don’t fancy me. I told you that.’
‘If you say so, Lizzie.’
Most of the class is already outside when we arrive waiting to be called into class.
‘Lizzie,’ James calls out. I turn around to see him jogging towards me. ‘Sorry, I’m late. Official head boy business. How was your Wand Orientation?’
‘You aren’t late. Yeah, it went really well thanks. I did some magic.’
‘Not arriving five minutes early makes me feel late. I heard Sebastian helped you find your way to class.’
‘Yes, we got a little lost, but Sebastian made sure we weren’t super late. I don’t think he was happy about it though.’
‘He doesn’t mind. He acts moody and brooding, but he’s quite a decent guy deep down.’
As the last few students arrive, the class door unlocks and swings open.
‘Enter,’A voice calls out.
The class shuffle in and takes their seats. Elenore sits one side of me and James sits on the other, at the end of the table. Once everyone has sat down, a natural silence befalls the class as we wait for Professor Le Faye.
‘James seems pretty eager to be near you today, don’t you think?’ Elenore whispers.
‘Shh, class is starting soon,’ I whisper back.
‘Le Faye isn’t even here yet.’
I can see James smirk from the corner of my eye.
‘Miss Rush. Is there something you would like to discuss with the rest of the class?’ A voice said from behind us.
Elenore and I both turn around to see a woman standing behind us.
‘I. No..,’ Elenore stuttered.
‘I think the words you are looking for are “No Professor Le Faye”.’
The professor flicked her long black hair off from her shoulders on to her cape and smiled. Her hair was so dark it was hard to see where her hair ended, and the cape began. Her skin was vampish white in contrast to her hair and outfit. Her pointed teeth gave away her kind.
‘No, Profes
sor Le Faye,’ Elenore said.
‘Excellent. Before we begin today’s class, I have been asked by Professor Merlyn to remind you of the how this term shall be organised. For the next few weeks, you will have lessons in invisibility, the elements, teleporting and shapeshifting. These lessons will teach you the basics to help you pass your exams. If you should encounter problems about the learning materials, you may come and speak to or to your assigned head boy for the lesson. For invisibility classes, James Knight will be your contact. James, stand up so everyone can see who you are.’
James rose and gave an awkward wave.
‘You are lucky to have such a talented wizard at your disposal. Mr Knight came top of his class last year. I wish everyone took their studies as seriously. You may sit down now, James.’
Professor Le Faye walked to the front of her classroom and lifted herself up to sit on the edge of her desk.
‘The ability to become invisible was not invented by wizards. The vampires were the first race to master the power of invisibility. After the ungifted started to realise bats could be vampires, we had to change our modus operandi and through intermarriages between the races, witches and wizards were soon able to master the skill of becoming invisible. To use this skill effectively, requires years of training and a strong-belief in one’s self.’
Using her wand, the professor made a paperclip reveal itself on each pupil's desk. Along with the spell ‘Item name + Invisalabus’ written on the blackboard.
‘It is all in the mind. You must believe you can make something become invisible or this spell will not work. Using the Invisalabus curse can be mentally draining on those new to the class. Those for whom the power of invisibility is likely to be their specialism, may find this task easier. You will all find out your specialisms through trial and error so keep practicing.’
I look around the class to see if everyone else looks as nervous as I feel. Olivia and her group look overly confident compared to the rest of the class. Simone Avery looks close to tears. Harry’s is the only face I can’t read.
‘Close your eyes for a moment and imagine the paperclip has disappeared. You must believe you have the power to make this happen.’
I close my eyes and visualise that the paperclip has disappeared. When I open them, I am ready to make it invisible.