The Slytherin Queen

The Curse

Exiting the shop, the first thing I noticed was the streets were deserted except for one man. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something in me was screaming to leave quickly. I glanced at the man; something was off about him. We needed to leave now.

"I can't wait to see the look on Dumbledore's face when he realizes he can't make us his pawns!" Selena said loudly. I stiffened seeing the man stalking toward us with his wand in hand.

"Selena, shut up," I hissed. Backing up as the man got closer. She looked at me, confused, only to see me staring at the man. Her eyes widened, seeing the sneer on the man's face and wand in hand.

"What are two pretty little ladies doing alone in Knockturn Alley?" The man asked, getting closer. I stumbled back, pulling Selena with me. The man was older, gray mixed into his black hair. He reeked of alcohol, something I was all too familiar with.

"None of your business, old man," She said. I stiffened, this man was already drunk and angry, and Selena was adding fuel to the fire. All it took was a simple spell, and we'd be dead. The old man didn't take too kindly to her words and raised his wand to fire a spell.

"Stupefy!" He shouted. I didn't know what that spell did but seeing as he was angry, I didn't think it meant anything good. The spell was headed straight for Selena, so without thinking, I tackled her to the ground. I hissed in pain; the dull ache in my chest was increasing. I wasn't sure how long I could go without telling Selena about my injuries.

We hid behind a large box in front of the wand shop. I peered through the window, hoping to spot Colin, but he was gone. It seemed we were on our own.

Seeing the man advance toward us, I quickly grabbed my books and searched for the one on curses and jinxes. I shoved the book in Selena's hand and told her to read me some harmful curses.

"Why do I need to do that?" She questioned.

"Because I'm about to do something incredibly stupid."

Not trying to calm my racing heart, I jumped out of our hiding spot toward the man and punched him in the face. The man was stunned momentarily as he held his jaw, but he soon recovered and fired spells at me that I dodged.

"Ophelia Gray Potter! What are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Selena shouted. I winced slightly, knowing if I survived this, I would be in a lot of trouble with my best friend.

"Well, the plan is to stay alive, so to answer your question, I have to go with no."

"Now is not the time to give me sarcasm!" She reprimand. There's always time for sarcasm, I thought to myself, but I didn't dare tell her that.

"Now, my dearest friend, would be a good time to read me some helpful spells," I said as another unknown spell whizzed past my head.

"You don't have a wand, though!" She protested.

"Selena, I don't have time for this. Spells, now!" I growled as a purple spell narrowly missed my head. I heard her flipping through the books before she shouted the name Flipendo.

I focused my magic, trying to picture what I hoped the spell would do, and shouted, "Flipendo!"

A blue light went hurtling toward my attacker, but at the last second, he shouted protego, making a shield appear in front of him, blocking my spell. I stored that spell in my memory, knowing it would be helpful in the future.

Selena continued telling me spells, Aguamenti, Avis, Confringo, but they were all useless whenever the man created a shield. Another issue was I didn't know what any of the spells were supposed to do, so there wasn't much power behind them.