The Foreigner {Fred Weasley x OC}

8.

 The next few days of school don't go as well as the first. In Transfiguration, while attempting a vanishing spell on a candle I nearly set the entire classroom on fire. Professor McGonagall had to give me the easier task of writing an essay about the potential uses of a vanishing spell to prevent any further damage.

In Charms, I accidentally removed Alicia Spinnet's tongue trying to perform a silencing spell and while trying to fix my mistake, I entirely removed her mouth. She had to be sent to the hospital wing to get it fixed. Fred and George wouldn't shut up about that one. The entire day they teased me and reenacted my panicked state when I removed her mouth.

As I walk into the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, I can't help but feel nervous that I'm going to make another big mistake. The room is filled with trinkets and creatures in jars. There is a large something that looks like a mix of an octopus and a small child sitting in a big tank at the front of the room. All of the desks have been moved to the sides of the class.

"Don't bother taking out your books." Lupin gestures for us to gather, "Today we will be practicing the skill of combination spell casting." He scans the faces in the room, "Don't worry. You won't be tested on this until your O.W.L.s at the end of the year, so you will have much time to perfect it."

"O.W.L.s?" I whisper to George next to me. He raises a brow quizically, "You don't have O.W.L.s at Ilvermony?"

I shake my head slowly, "Every fifth year has to take them." George explains, "They help establish what job you can have in the future as well as what classes you can take next year."

"So what you're saying is that these tests are extremely important."

"Yeah. Probably the most important after your NEWTs in seventh year."

"Great." I'm going to have to perform high-level tests that most students have probably been working years for and I'm at first-year levels of magic.

"Combination spellcasting is the use of two or more spells at once to greatly enhance the abilities of a single spell on its own." Lupin paces back and forth and he explains.

"I can't even cast one spell without blowing something up. How am I supposed to cast two at once?" I mutter under my breath and George chuckles quietly.

Lupin continues to explain the concept of using two spells consecutively and it just makes my head spin. I can't wrap my head around using one spell on its own. Every time I try, things go wrong and I can't figure out what it is that I'm doing incorrectly.

Professor Lupin splits us into pairs and I'm teamed up with Fred. His attempts at combination casting are much better than anything I could do.

"Fred."

"What?"

I gesture for him to come closer. I speak in a low voice, "I'm just going to pretend to be practicing, okay? And if Lupin suspects anything, just tell him that I'm trying my best."

"Um- okay?"

I wave my wand around carefully so as to not accidentally send a wordless spell out and blow everyone in the room up. I feel like an idiot not being able to do anything and even more so because I had to tell someone that I'm incapable of doing anything.

"Charlotte," Lupin calls my name and a chill runs down my spine. I turn to look at him and when I think that he'll have an angry expression, he doesn't. He calmly motions for me to join him at the other end of the room.

I leave Fred and slowly make my way across the room of sparks and spells, "Yes, Professor?" I try to act as though I have been doing nothing wrong.

"If you want it to seem like you're actually casting spells, you'll want to move your wand faster."