𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓃𝑔. - golden trio era au

₀₉ ♙ 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧

♙

𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧

♙

Dawn's life at Hogwarts had settled into a routine over the two months she had been there. The days seemed to pass quickly, filled with classes, magical discoveries, and spending time with her new friends. She had become a regular at Quidditch practice, watching Harry fly high above on his broomstick and cheering him on whenever he scored. She had forced Ron to teach her how to play wizard's chess. While she wasn't able to beat him without him going easy on her, it was something to keep her mind busy while she wasn't doing homework or reading books - she would have to stock up on new ones soon.

Her parents' lack of response to her letters continued to weigh on her mind, but she chose to believe that they were simply unsure of how to communicate in the wizarding world. They hadn't even wrote back when she informed them she had a one-on-one breakfast with the Headmaster. A personal relationship with someone of such power would be something her father would be proud of. But then again he had also called him a crackpot old fool. 

Their classes had also grown more interesting as time went on now that they had learned the basic of the basics. And Dawn's skill in them was undeniable - even to Snape! While she was not always be the quickest to perform spells, as Hermione practised into the late hours of the night, she excelled in achieving high-quality results. Even in potions, she was talented and Snape had taken to ignoring her completely in order to avoid giving the praise she deserved.

She'd also done as she promised to herself and researched Occlumency. But every book she came across was incredibly vague and only spoke of how to achieve Occlumency, not tone it down. Dumbledore really wasn't lying when he said it was an obscure branch of magic.

On Halloween morning, Professor Flitwick announced that they were finally ready to perform the levitation charm - something they had all been looking forwards to. He set them off into partners; Harry with Seamus, Dawn with Neville (Harry gave her a pitying glance but Neville only looked relieved), and Ron with Hermione. She hadn't spoken to any of them since the day Harry's Nimbus Two-Thousand arrived in the morning post. Even as Ron moved to sit next to her, she refused to even look at him.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practising!" squeaked Professor Flitwick from his stack of books. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too - never forget the Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself with a buffalo on his chest!"

For a good chunk of the lesson, no one managed to cast the spell. Dawn hadn't managed to even try it, she had been too busy trying to help Neville ("No, you're too stiff, you need to loosen up a little, go on - try it . . . Well, that's an improvement"). Harry and Seamus' feather had been somehow lit on fire so they had to get a replacement and Hermione was bossing Ron around.

"You're saying it wrong," she snapped after another failed attempt of Ron waving his arms around like those inflatable men found at gas stations in movies. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

"You do it, then, if you're  so clever," said Ron snarkily. Hermione rolled up her sleeves and, to Ron's misery, performed the spell without a hitch. It rose to about four feet above their heads, where everyone could see.

"Oh, well done!" said Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone, see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

"It moved!" Neville suddenly said. "Did you see that, Dawn, it moved!" But Dawn, who had been watching Hermione, did not see.