Troublemakers • Weasley & Jordan

The Tear

"I know how much I lean on you, only you can see..." – Right Down the Line by Gerry Rafferty

┈ ✁✃✁✃✁✃✁✃✁ ┈

George twirled his wand between his fingers as he stared ahead at Professor Flitwick, leaning back in the chair behind his desk, which he was currently the only one occupying.

"Yes yes, today, we will revisit a spell from your past!" Flitwick was saying to the class with a clap of his hands. "Your more recent past... the Gouging Spell from your sixth year."

The class shared particularly sour glances as they, including George, reflected bitterly on how challenging that spell truly was.

"I know it's a difficult one to grasp," the Professor went on, "which is the exact reason why we practice. Furthermore, you will all be graduating in a matter of months. Before you go out into the world, I would like to spend this semester reviewing past charms and spells to strengthen your knowledge and abilities."

Towards the end of his announcement, Lee came sneaking into his seat beside George, looking a bit disheveled from an obvious rush to class as he plopped his bag down and sunk into his chair. George, smirking, eyed him.

"Late, are we?" He whispered.

Lee huffed as he leaned forward on the desk, muttering back: "Piss off, by six minutes."

"You'll have to plead your case to ol' Flitwick after class," George teased.

"I got caught by Alice and Freya in the corridor outside of Potions," his best friend whispered: "they asked me about some kind of swim trunk costuming for the show. Besides, Flitwick loves me."

George scoffed, shaking his head and turning forward again. One part lingered: swim trunks?

"Now, hup hup!" Flitwick said, lifting his hands. "Up from your seats! As you can see, I've set several stones around the classroom for dismantling, one for each of you. Please note that I've also spread them out, so all of you must spread from one another... I don't want to see any gouged eyes, please..."

The class got to work, rising from their seats and finding stones of their own. George and Lee went for the rocks nearby, a few paces from one another as they drew their wands and stared ahead at their targets.

Lee twirled his wand, turning to George across from him with a smirk.

"I apologize in advance for your having to watch me best you," he taunted. "Your funeral, standing so close."

"That's cute," George threw back, a crooked grin touching his lips.

Their gazes lingered for a moment, wands drawn and ears seeming to drown out the bustling class around them before a voice from that class interrupted their involuntary pause.

"Hi, George!" Clara said from his other side, a bright look in her eyes as she stared at the redhead from across her own stone. She was waving at him in the sense of pointing out that they had claimed stones right to each other. "Good luck!"

She giggled a little as he plastered on a small smile, nodding: "Yeah, uh– ditto."

He turned back to the rock that stood before him, taking a breath.

From that moment on, their Charms period was filled with the clashing sounds of incantations and frustrated groans, for no one was successfully gouging out their rocks. It seemed that the difficulty level for this spell was still particularly high, and even the top students in the class were struggling due to their lack of practice for over a year.