Megan Potter - A saga of the Heart - Book 1 - A Witch's Heart

Chapter 7 - Tug of war

Since the students weren't always there at the same time at breakfast, the post came in at lunchtime. Swoops of owls soared in silently.

"Whoa!" Megan gasped as she watched them fly to their owners. "Hello, Hedwig."

"This is how we get our post." Harry explained. "Beats opening a silly mailbox."

Megan smiled and stroked Hedwig's soft feathers and gave her a small piece of bacon. Hedwig let out an appreciative hoot, gave Megan a gentle nip on the finger and flew off with the other birds to the owlery.

"She's beautiful", Harry said as she soared off.

"Yes, isn't she? Hagrid got her for me."

"Wish I had an owl..." Ron groaned. "All I've got is Scabbers, and he's useless."

Scabbers was Ron's rat, and he was, indeed, fairly inactive. He was already a middle aged rat, having belonged to Percy, who was four years older than Ron.

"You know that you, Ginny, Fred and George are welcome to use her when you want to," Megan offered.

"Thanks..."

He didn't say it, but Megan knew he was thinking it just wasn't the same.

"Harry, you have an owl, don't you?"

"Yes, Halon. He's in the owlery too, I expect."

They finished their breakfast and went off. They had their first transfiguration class, and Megan's impression of McGonagall that she was not one to mess about with was proved true. She was strict, and clever, and one of the first things she told them in the class was:

"Transfiguration is a difficult, dangerous branch of magic, and requires commitment and concentration. So anyone messing around in my class will leave and not return."

And they had taken notes for nearly an hour before they were allowed to try turning a match into a needle. Hermione, of course, succeeded in her first try. Surprisingly, Megan was triumphant first time too. Harry was close enough to squeeze through after a few tries, but Ron took a little longer.

"I don't get it, why do spells work with some and not others?" he asked.

"That depends on the concentration you put into it. Here, try again, but really try."

With a flick of her wand, his needle returned to a match. He took a deep breath, and pronounced the spell. This time, his needle flashed silver and pointy.

"Very good, Weasley. See what one can do when they put their mind into it."

The class ended soon after that and they were all fascinated.

"I can't wait to try bigger spells!" Hermione was saying excitedly

"I'm more interested in Defence against the dark arts." Harry said.

Megan didn't have a preference, she wanted to learn as much as possible, and she and Hermione often discussed books. Ron called them know-it-alls, but Harry countered that they very well might need that knowledge someday. What Harry and Megan were looking forward to was flying. But their excitement was dampened slightly when they found out they would be learning with the Slytherins.

"Great... more reason for Malfoy to laugh at me..." Megan sighed.

"Cheer up, you'll still get to fly." Harry said, squeezing her shoulder.

She watched the owls float off, then looked at Hermione, who was reading the Daily Prophet, the wizard newspaper. She caught the front headline and her heart skipped a beat. She waited as patiently as she could for Hermione to put it down, because it was rude to take something someone else was reading, but luckily it was soon.