by Sophia Stone
‘Your turn,’ he said and raises his chin as if looking down on me.
I debate whether to tell him we should each go fully then swap but the idea of putting his smug ass on the floor is just too appealing.
‘Fine. Are you ready?’ I said.
‘Yep,’ he said confidently.
‘Infernious,’ two bolts of fire appear and approach Harry.
Circling him, his eyes widen and then narrow as he turns to look at me. With a flick of his wand, the fire retreats back to me.
‘If you are going to insult me with that attempt, then is no point in duelling,’ he chuckles.
He pulls his wand out and without warning shouts: ‘Teleporta.’
I raise my wand in front of me and nearly fall over with the force as his spell hits me. I can feel myself burn up and shake with rage. With all my force, I push the spell back in Harry’s direction. The spell hits him like a truck, but he still mange’s to hold it off before the spell disappears.
‘Now that’s more like it,’ he smirks.
I think of using the transformation spell.
Pig or worm?
Snake.
‘Transamus,’ I shout with no warning at him.
The spell grazes him, causing his gown to turn a green, scaly texture. For a moment, his pupils narrow and becomes slits but with a few rapid blinks, they are back to normal. He looks at his gown which slowly turns back to its normal colour and then he turns to me with a look of defiance on his face.
‘Invisalabous,’ he said as he aims his wand at me.
The fog once again appears in front of me. I shake as I try to control the spell and push it back. With a flick of my wrist, the spell disappears.
‘Harry. Stop,’ I said.
‘I am just. Getting. Started,’ he said, and a smile appears across his lips as he holds his wand in defence.
If that’s how he wants to be then maybe a cool down in the lake would do him wonders.
‘Teleporta,’ I shout at him.
He smiles at me as he defends the spell, barely breaking a sweat. Something then catches his eye and I see a momentary look of concern in his face. Looking to my left, I see Professor Merlyn studying Harry like a specimen in a zoo. Harry’s body stops tensing, and he lowers his wand slightly, almost enough to allow the spell to penetrate his defences and It’s as if he gives up. I feel a final surge of power course through me and before my eyes, Harry is gone.
I blink a few times, unsure if I have just witnessed him giving up on purpose. I turn to see if Professor Merlyn is still looking, but he is now watching Olivia and Ralph. When I turn back, Harry is in front of me, soaking wet.
‘You…’ he pauses. ‘Well done,’ he said and then storms off to his next opponent.
Before I can think over what has just happened, my next duel partner appears.
‘Ready?’
For the rest of the morning, I rotate partners, all eventually unable to withstand my spells. Some, after a few attempts, make no bones of pretending to defend themselves but simply give up. Others, try and fail to defend themselves and I, unintentionally, cause more harm than I wanted to.
‘Before we end the examination, can you please raise your hand if you have paired with all of your peers?’ a sea of hands raises in front of me in reply to Professor Merlyn’s question.
‘Hmm. Now if you haven’t challenged everyone, please raise your hands,’ he said.
I raise my hand and see Olivia raise hers too.
‘We have one final pairing, then the examination is over: Oliva and Lizzie could you please come here?’ Professor Merlyn said.
Once we approach, he wraps his arms around our shoulders to draw us closer.
‘Now, I want a fair duel. You are both capable witches and I expect you to be civil,’ he drops his arms from us. ‘Wands to the ready girls. Five paces then you can begin,’ Merlyn takes a few steps back to give us distance.
We both draw our wands to touch.
‘I’ve been waiting to put you in your place for weeks,’ Olivia smirks and then leans into whisper: ‘If it was up to me, you’d end up like your traitorous family.’
I felt my powers bubble inside of me. Sometimes, I hated how linked my emotions were to my powers but times like this made me glad. All the years of being bullied finally came to me.
‘When I am finished with you, you won’t be smirking, Olivia,’ I looked her in eye just long enough to see a flicker of fear across her face.
I turned and took the five paces required, then spun back around to face her. Olivia looked at me and then Professor Merlyn, who gestured her to turn around. With one final look at me, she did and hastily took her five paces before facing me once more.
I will have fun with this.
‘Tel-Teleporta,’ Olivia said.
A puff of smoke appeared from her wand. A lacklustre ball of smoke approached me at a snail’s pace. Enough time for me to place my wand in front me and wait for the spell to touch it which caused the ball of smoke to drop to the floor making me smirk.
‘Infernious,’ I shout.
A ball of fire hurtles towards Olivia and she sticks her wand out but is pushed back to the wall. The flames pin her to a wall beam and for a minute; I think she’ll give up.
‘I will not be beaten by an ungifted… raised... FREAK!’ she screams, pushing the ball of fire back at me.
I have just enough time to duck causing the fire to hit a table.
‘Now girls, remember-’ Professor Merlyn said.
‘Ungifted? I’ll show you ungifted. Airvus,’ a tornado shoots out from my wand and circles around Olivia. ‘Ertha.’ I command my wand. Brambles cascade out of the tornado and wrap themselves around her feet, making their way up to her torso. Just as they reach her arms, she finally uses her wand.
‘Infernious,’ the brambles wither into ash before her leaving the tornado still spinning. Pointing her wand at me, she smiles. ‘ Aquateaus.’
The tornado drops to the floor in a pool of water. Ripples appear on the surface and a watery hand emerges from it, then another. The two hands run towards me and as they reach me, jump into the air along with a blanket of water, covering me. I feel like I am drowning as the hands wrap themselves around my throat and the blanket covers my face. Seb appears in my line of vision and raises his wand, but Professor Merlyn stops him.
You have to save yourself.
I struggle to lift my hand up to raise my wand but know I only have one chance at this.
This better work.
‘Teleporta,’ I whisper as I use the last of my oxygen. In a flash of light, the water disappears. I gasp for air and hunch over trying to regain my composure.
‘Well that was easy,’ I hear Olivia said adding a false laugh.
Natasha and Hannah giggle. I pull myself up and look in their direction and my facial expression causes them to stop. I pant as I pool my last ounce of strength.
She’s going to regret that.
When Olivia sees me staring at her, she changes her expression.
‘My turn,’ I said.
Before I raise my wand, Olivia casts a spell.
‘Transamus,’ she screams and then ducks waiting for the retaliation.
When the spell touches my wand, I don’t bother to send the spell back to her.
I have a better idea.
‘Aquateaus,’ I said coolly.
Water pours out of my wand and turns to ice shards as it makes contact with the ground. Olivia attempts to run but my wand seems to take a mind of its own and it makes the shards race towards her. Wrapping themselves around her feet, the ice shards gather like a hill underneath her. As more ice appears, the hill gets taller, pushing Olivia up higher until she reaches the eves of the building.
‘Let me down. Let me go, you freak,’ Olivia begs.
‘Okay,’ with a flick of my wand the ice disappears from below her, causing her to hurtle to the ground.
Just before she hits, I use my final spell: ‘Transamus,’.
>
In midair, Olivia’s arms turn to paws and she lands with a bump but is preoccupied with her hands that she doesn’t even complain about the fall.
‘What. What have you…’ her legs grow and so do her arms into long hairy limbs. ‘What... I don’t...’ her head turns into a long snout and large brown ears protrude from her head.
She tries to talk, but a cackle is the only sound she can make. Once her final transformation had begun, I walk over to her and look down at the floor where she is sitting.
‘As you liked to giggle so much, I thought you’d be more at home as a hyena,’ Olivia tries to respond but only giggles come from her mouth.
As I walk towards Elenore, two nurses rush toward Olivia.
‘That. Was. Awesome,’ Elenore said.
‘It wasn’t too much was it?’
‘Too much? I didn’t even know you could use two powers at the same time. How did you do that?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know. It just kind of –’
‘Lizzie!’ Elenore shouts. I turn around to see Olivia charge towards me, teeth bared. I reach for my wand but James Intervenes causing Olivia to freeze mid jump.
Professor Merlyn steps towards her.
‘No one likes a sore loser, Miss Hawkes. Your conduct during this duel was also less than honourable. I think a meeting with your parents might be in order. Matthew?’
‘Yes, professor?’ Matt said.
‘Please escort Miss Hawkes to my office. I will be in momentarily.’
‘Come girl. Come on,’ Matt calls to Olivia who hesitates. ‘Should I get a lead or something?’ the indignity of a lead is enough to get Olivia to trot alongside Matt of her own accord.
‘Well done Miss Castle,’ Professor Merlyn gives me a simple nod. ‘Results will be posted on the common room door tomorrow afternoon. Enjoy your evening.’
20
All it takes is a long bath, a cup of tea and reading one of Elenore’s music magazines to relax after my exam.
No more exams for ages. Thank god!
I roll my shoulders and rub my neck. I feel stiff all over but some tension has been lifted. I chuck the magazine on the floor and raise myself out of the bath, trying not to get Elenore’s magazine soaked.
‘Are you going to be much longer?’ Elenore asked through the door.
‘No, why?’
‘I’m starving,’ she whines.
‘You and Matt are nearly as bad as each other. Give me five minutes.’
I towel dry myself off and then dress gingerly.
Who would have thought getting dressed required so much shoulder action?
A quick brush of my hair and I was ready.
‘I’m so glad you aren’t into using lots of make-up. I think I might starve if you spent an hour contouring,’ Elenore said.
‘You need to learn to snack,’ I said. ‘Did the boys say if they are joining us for dinner?’
‘Well, they didn’t say they weren’t so let’s just assume they are,’ we both grabbed our bags and started to walk to dinner.
‘I don’t know why anyone would become a head boy with the number of meetings that are required. You’d get nothing done,’ I said.
‘I don’t know. There are perks- you pretty much have free reign,’ Elenore said.
‘Yeah. I suppose. But dealing with us first years can’t be fun.’
As we approached the hall, the brothers were waiting outside the doors, talking among themselves.
‘Maybe they don’t mind dealing with some first years,’ Elenore gave me a wink.
‘You and your theories,’ I roll my eyes at her but she laughs.
‘Hey guys. Enjoy your afternoon?’ Elenore asks the brothers.
‘Wasn’t too bad. Just looking at everyone’s scores,’ Sebastian said.
‘Are we allowed to know?’ Elenore asks.
‘If I remember... you were-’ Matt said before James interrupts him.
‘You are aware that you’ll find out tomorrow, I assume,’ James said before giving Matt his usual side-eye look.
‘Worth a try. Let’s grab some food. I’m starving,’ Elenore said as she leads us in.
As we stand in the line collecting our food, Elenore babbles on to fill the silence that the rest of us have taken on.
‘Just think. No more exams. I can breathe again,’ she said as we sat down. ‘What’s up with everyone?’
‘It’s been a long day,’ I said. I am not that hungry but make the effort to cut up my food hoping it might tempt me.
‘If you guys won’t say it, I will. Lizzie, that was impressive,’ Matt said to me.
Seb and James look at each other before returning to their own plates. Zach just looks at me, waiting for my response.
‘Have I done something wrong?’ I ask.
James goes to open his mouth and then stops as if he is rethinking what he’ll say. He licks his lips.
‘It was impressive Lizzie. It just wasn’t expected,’ James said.
‘So, have I done something wrong?’ I ask again.
‘No. Not wrong, just different,’ Seb interjects.
‘I never asked for these powers, you know. I was normal until a few weeks ago.’
‘Ignore them. They are just pissed because it means it’s harder to choose your specialism,’ Matt said.
‘Maybe I don’t have one. Or maybe I have them all. Who knows?’ I said.
Seb dropped his knife on the floor causing me and Elenore to jump, knocking our own cutlery off our plates and on the table.
‘You scared the life out of me,’ Elenore said. ‘But that would be cool to have all the powers as your specialism.’
‘Or deadly,’ James mutters.
‘Even in the best hands, that much magic is dangerous,’ Zach said.
‘You know I was joking, right? I’ve probably got something boring like...,’ I turn to Elenore. ‘Water or something,’ she shoves me as I laugh.
‘Just because It’s a nice power doesn’t mean you can pick on it,’ she huffs.
‘I know. I’m joking.’
Zach gives an exaggerated yawn and extends his arms.
‘I think I will go to bed. Been a long day,’ he looks over to his brothers.
‘Yeah, I think I’ll go up,’ Seb said.
‘Good idea. See you tomorrow for the powers reveal. Matt?’ James said.
‘I think I’ll…,’ Zach motions with his head towards the door. ‘Head to bed. Night girls.’
Once the boys had left, Elenore couldn’t help but have the last word.
‘And they said girls are hard work,’ she sighs and gets on finishing her dinner.
As we had no exams and no one could concentrate on work while waiting for their specialism results, the school had allowed us to have an extra day off making it a three-day weekend. Obviously, me and Elenore spent this wisely; we had a lay in until ten. All we had to do today was return some library books.
After a leisurely breakfast, we decided on returning our books early, so we had the rest of the day to relax before our results were due out in the afternoon.
‘Does the library have any light reading stuff? I fancy having a book for the holidays,’ I ask Elenore.
‘They have a small novel section. It’s a bit of a mix though; some older stuff and some newer books. Follow me,’ she leads me to the back of the library.
I scan the spines, but nothing piques my interest.
‘Any recommendations?’ I ask Elenore.
‘The latest Mullins is out. About a doctor who goes on a murderous rampage. Not a bad read,’ she pulls the book out and I read the blurb.
‘I think I’ll come and have a look after the results. My head is all over the place.’
I place the book back on the shelf and dig into my bag to get the books I am to return, but they aren’t there.
‘I forgot my books,’ I huff.
‘Want me to come back up with you?’ Elenore asks.
‘No, it’s fine. I’ll only be five minutes. I�
�ll meet you back here.’
‘Okay. I’ll just be milling about,’ Elenore said.
She walks towards the reception desk and I make my way through the labyrinthine of bookshelves. After passing what feels like every single book in the library, I finally find the exit. As I reach into my bag to grab my wand, I bump into someone.
‘Oh. I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.’
I look up and see Olivia, Natasha and Hannah.
‘No, you really haven’t been,’ Natasha said.
Olivia pushes me into a bookshelf while Hannah and Natasha pin my arms to my side.
‘If you honestly thought you’d get away with your little stunt, then you are thicker than I thought,’ Olivia finished with a smirk. ‘Never mind, I’ve got ways of getting even,’ she grins as she grabs my throat.
‘I really wouldn’t Olivia,’ I spit. ‘Or would you like a repeat of last time?’
I feel myself burning up with rage.
‘Ouch,’ Olivia recoils her hand and a red mark is visible on it.
A burn.
Natasha and Hannah quickly let go of my arms and I plunge my hand into my bag to retrieve my wand. Pulling it out, I point it at Olivia.
‘You lost, fair and square. This ends today.’
I swallow the lump in my throat as Olivia leans in, but the sparks at the end of my wand stop her approaching any closer.
‘This isn’t over. You’ll see,’ she laughs and walks off with Natasha and Hannah following her.
I take a minute to calm down and steady myself on the bookshelf. After a few deep breaths I walk out of the library and make my way to my room. The hallway is unusually quiet, which means the boys must be sleeping or at a meeting.
As I approach my door, there is a brown box on the floor with green ribbon. I pick it up and turn the emerald green gift tag.
Lizzie Castle it reads in a spidery handwriting that I don’t recognise.
