I promised. I did. And I'm genuinely sorry about that.
Chapter 6: Charming
Ginny
She slid onto a vacant bench and pulled her bag close to her body, looking over the classroom. There was a row of windows set high in the stone walls; she could imagine that the placement was deliberate to force students' eyes to focus on the lesson, rather than the appetizing freedom outside.
Ginny looked over at the other side of the room, where Hufflepuff students sat. Some were already loosing their concentration, though most were making a valiant, if nervous, effort to make a good impression on the teacher, a short man named Flitwick. Across the aisle sat the first year Slytherins, a dozen or so eleven-year-olds who were more interested in showing their worth to each other than impressing the professor. Ginny sat in the second row back, the aisle on one side and an empty desk on the other. The Slytherins occasionally leered at her while the Hufflepuffs turned nervous, wary eyes towards her. Some of them seemed sympathetic and tried to smile at her, tried to befriend her with their eyes. She glared at them, preferring them looking at her like she was about to explode rather than with pity. Why did they all think she was weak?
When Flitwick instructed everyone to partner up and choose a feather, Ginny was not surprised, but a little disappointed, when none of the Slytherins approached her. She clutched her wand and glanced over at the Hufflepuffs. There was one extra, a girl with straight brown hair and boxy bangs. Ginny glared at the girl. She didn't understand why she was so pleased when the Hufflepuff looked fiercely back at her, but she was. She hadn't expected the girl to challenge her back. A quick smile flashed across her face as the Hufflepuff walked towards Ginny's desk. The Hufflepuff sat down in the chair next to Ginny and dumped her book bag on the floor, pulling out a wand and her book of charms.
The Hufflepuff didn't introduce herself, so Ginny only pushed the feather towards the girl in offering.
"Don't you want to go first?" the girl asked. Ginny shook her head.
"No, it's okay. You can try it first, Hufflepuff. I'm afraid of what's going to happen when I try." The Hufflepuff raised her eyebrows, confused and definitely intrigued, but she didn't ask Ginny to elaborate.
"Wingardium leviosa," the Hufflepuff pronounced clearly, staring at the feather in fascination as it wobbled around on the desk. "I said, wingardium leviosa, you mangy piece of—"
"Keep it clean, Miss Tomich," Flitwick murmured as he wandered by. The Hufflepuff looked up from the feather with such a chagrined look on her face that Ginny laughed. Tomich looked at her bemusedly, and Ginny stopped laughing quickly, realizing without looking that the two Slytherins behind her were bristling. When the thought that she would wasn't a very good Slytherin by their standards flashed through her mind, she laughed again.
"Can I try?" she asked. Tomich nodded, watching Ginny as she aligned her wand in preparation.
"Wingardium leviosa, buddy," she muttered, shoving her wand in small, concise movements. The feather shot upwards and froze at eyelevel. She glared at it as her partner gaped.
"You didn't even put any effort into that!" Tomich grumbled, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms. Flitwick applauded from somewhere to Ginny's left, and Ginny turned towards him, lowering her wand.
"Wonderful, Miss Weasley! And on your first try! Twenty points to Slytherin. Miss Weasley? Would you like to try the charm on a heavier object? It seems you might have a natural talent for charms!" Flitwick said loudly, pulling a small round gobstone out of his pocket and placing it on the table. "Can you lift this?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and jabbed her wand at the gobstone, grumbling the incantation under her breath. The gobstone flew up in straight line and hovered again at eyelevel.
"Why does it keep stopping?" an insolent voice asked at Ginny's side.
"Because, Hufflepuff, I tell it to." Ginny drawled sarcastically, watching the professor's face.
"How charming," Tomich shot back before a large smile overtook her face and she leaned forwards. "You must be ever so clever."
"Want me to show you how clever I am?" Ginny said, twisting in her seat to look at the girl next to her. Tomich hesitated.
"What's your game, Weasley?"
"Game?" Ginny scoffed. "I'll show you." She scooped the ball out of the air and threw it across the room, where it landed on Flitwick's desk. She raised her wand in front of her as if she was dueling.
"Accio gobstone!" she said clearly, stabbing her wand forward as she said the words. She held her breath and counted to three before she saw the gobstone quiver and lift up off of the desk, soaring towards her. She dropped her wand onto the desk and the gobstone fell; she reached up and caught it lightly.
The bell rang as Tomich turned to the professor, who was watching Ginny, and then looked at the other girl. "What'd you do? What spell was that?"
"Another five points to Slytherin for Miss Weasley's exceptional performance today. Class dismissed." Professor Flitwick finally said quietly, staring at Ginny as the Slytherin shrugged her shoulders and dropped the gobstone back onto her desk. She lifted her bag onto her shoulder, turned, and left the class without looking back.
Tomich's eyebrows drew together as she watched Ginny leave without speaking. Finally, the Hufflepuff picked up her own book bag and followed her classmates out of the room.