The Third Orphan

Chapter 12

With a wave of her wand, Briella removed the wall she had created earlier, revealing the tearstained face of Emma who waited behind it. "I'm so sorry!" Briella exclaimed. "I completely lost track of time I don't know what I was thinking."

"I was so worried," said Emma. "You were up there so long and I was afraid something had happened to you but I couldn't get through your wall."

"I fell asleep," replied Briella, a wave of guilt washing through her with the lie. She hated lying to her new friend, but was reluctant to share about Lady Arabella. It felt nice to have a secret friend. Lady Arabella had made Briella feel fully understood for the first time since she had come to Hogwarts and Briella was afraid that speaking of Lady Arabella out loud would somehow diminish her effect.

"That's okay, but we've got to go," said Emma urgently. "Class starts in ten minutes and it's way on the other side of the castle!"

Breathing heavily, the girls arrived in transfiguration ten minutes late. The teacher, Professor Grimsley, glared at them sternly over the top of his thick glasses. "Late to the first class girls?" he asked rhetorically. "Not a good start to the school year."

Briella blushed a deep red. "I'm sorry sir," she said and heard Emma echo her words.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" asked Grimsley. "Take a seat. You've already disturbed the class enough for one day."

Feeling as if she would like nothing better than to vanish on the spot, Briella rushed to the first empty desk that she saw, with Emma close on her heels. She sat down silently fuming. It was only her second day at Hogwarts and the castle was huge. How was she supposed to know her way around already?

"Now, if there aren't any more interruptions," continued Professor Grimley, pausing to give Briella and Emma a pointed glare, "we will get on with class.

"Transfiguration is one of the trickiest subjects that you will learn here at Hogwarts and one of the most dangerous as well. We will be starting simple, but I doubt we will have progressed past turning turning matches into toothpicks by the end of the month. In fact, I will be impressed to see a single speck of metal among the whole lot of you." He glared at them, as if daring them to prove him wrong.

"Of course, we won't even get around to trying for at the very least two weeks. There are notes to take and motions to practice. Wizardry is much more than waving a wand and saying a few funny words, as you should all know by now. It is a fine art, the wand motion and the incantation weaving together the magic within you to produce a spark with a power that even the most educated among us do not fully understand.

"Most of you will never be the Picassos of magic. You will pass your OWLs and struggle through your NEWTs, never fully comprehending the artwork you replicate and never learning to weave new designs and create new spells. You will copy the spells you are told, but the true wizard is one who moves beyond the world of books and into the realm of creativity. We'll see if any of you lot are up to the task." He stared at them disdainfully, clearly not believing that a single one of them held potential.

Briella was angered by his superiority. He hadn't even given them the chance to learn and show him what they could do and yet he had already marked the entire class off as a lost cause. She wanted to argue with him. What shame was there in using the spells of others? Had they not been offered up to the wizarding world for its benefit? Surely one didn't have to be able to make up their own spells to be a true wizard.

Briella was so lost in her thoughts that she almost missed the beginning of the notes. Not wanting to give Professor Grimley another thing to criticize her about, she rushed to copy them down. As she did so a piece of paper landed in her lap. Glancing up she noticed for the first time she noticed Yuliana sitting in front of her, her dark, straight hair falling down her back and obscuring her chair. Yuliana made quick eye contact with Briella, glanced pointedly at the scrap of paper, and turned back to her notes.

Once she had caught up with what Professor Grimley's enchanted chalk had written on the board, Briella opened the note to reveal the words, 'I'm so sorry. Will you meet me in the dorm after our next class?'

Briella frowned. She had been hoping to find Alyssa after class. The more she thought about it though, she realized that perhaps it would be better to repair relations with Yuliana first, seeing as she would have to live with her for the next seven years. She could talk to Alyssa at dinner.

Dipping her quill into her ink, Briella scribbled, 'Alright,' onto the back of Yuliana's note and, when Professor Grimsley wasn't looking, passed it back to Yuliana. Yuliana read it and flashed Briella a quick smile before returning to taking notes. Briella allowed herself a moment of satisfaction. She was doing the right thing. Perhaps being in Ravenclaw wouldn't be so bad after all.

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I'm so sorry for not updating for so long guys. Last week I had a valid excuse, I didn't even have enough time to study for all my midterms, much less write, but I could have written this week. I know this is short, but I felt bad and wanted to get something up. I promise I'll update again much sooner this time.

I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. I don't think it's really my best writing, but I promise it's all going somewhere. I just don't know where yet. Thanks for your patience guys!