Crystal Clear

Chapter Seven

"Hello class. As you all know my name is Professor Snape but since there is a new student today in class I thought I would introduce myself." the professor said, throwing a pointed look at me. "This year I will be your Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." 

I heard some gasps and mutters from my classmates and took that as a bad sign.

This was the class I had been dreading the most. The one where I would have to use the most magic. More magic meant less control. And then someone always ended up getting hurt. 

"Hey, are you alright?" the girl beside me asked, elbowing me in the side. Her face was, surprisingly, full of concern. "You look really pale."

I looked down at her robes and saw that they belonged to a Slytherin, which didn't make any sense since this was a class full of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Plus me.

"Yea I know, I don't belong in this class. Believe it or not, my schedule got mixed up with my sister's. Both of our names start with M: Madison and Morticia. Guess whose name is whose."

"Your parents named you Morticia?" I asked quietly so as not to get in trouble. Which was actually a step up for me because I don't normally talk to people at all.

"My mom had this stupid fascination with the dead when she had me so she named me after a mortician. You know, because they take care of the dead. That kind of stuff really riled her up."

"What's a mortician?"

"Class pay attention!" Professor Snape snapped.

"Don't pay much attention to him he's just a greasy-haired creep who's wanted this job forever but Dumbledore's only just given it to him." said Morticia.

"Maybe there was a reason for that ..." I mumbled to myself.

"What'd you say?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing."

"You're kind of weird, you know?" I winced. "You're Clarissa right?"

"Yea ... that's me. The girl who couldn't be sorted."

Morticia looked at me with sympathy in her eyes and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"You know you can call me Nikki if you want. It's short for Nicole, my middle name. I don't really go by Morticia ... it kinda creeps people out."

"This year we will be learning non-verbal spells as well as how to defend against dementors and You-know-who." said Snape rather dramatically.

The room went dead silent and everyone who had been talking now either stared with wide eyes at Snape or diverted their attention to the floor. 

"Now to start off the year you will all be learning how to summon your own petronus." said Snape. 

I began to look around nervously as people began to disperse and spread throughout the room. For sixth years this was an optional class, only available to those who qualified (the only reason I was taking it was because I never had before), so it was rather small with only about twenty or so people. Still, I felt as if even that was too large a number.

Standing there, I felt awkward and out of place as people began to yell "Expecto Petronum" and little wisps of blue shot out of their wands, some forming animals.

"Are you stuck?" asked Nikki, scaring me from behind.

I simply nodded and she began speaking again, explaining the spell to me.

"You have to think of a really powerful memory; something really happy. Focus all of your power on that moment and cast the spell." she said, demonstrating. However, her's barely formed into a little blue jay before falling apart into blue smoke.

After she went back off to practice on her own again, I was forced to figure the spell out by myself. I knew I would be able to cast the spell; that's not the part I was worried about. I knew it would work, but not to what great extant. And if I would be able to control it.

I didn't have that many great memories. In fact, I hardly had any at all. But before My mother died, before I was put into the orphanage, me and my mom used to have so much fun together. I couldn't remember everything, but I remember that my mom used to take me to this one park all the time when I was younger and push me as high as I could go on the swings. This was after my dad had left us.

 So I did as Nikki instructed and tried to focus a little bit of my energy on that memory. Not all of it, just the little bit that I would actually be able to control. Gripping my wand, I looked around anxiously at all of the other students who were busy casting their patronus's and took a deep breath. My wand was getting slippery in my hand again and I cursed myself for being so nervous. This was it, I could do this.

As soon as the spell left my lips, a thick blue mist shot out of the tip of my wand and filled nearly the entire room. It was so much larger than anyone else's and people stopped to stare with wide eyes. I gasped as it took form and flew around the room, a menacing look in it's savage eyes. It flapped its jagged wings once more before bursting into blue flames and disappearing. It was a crow. 

"That was so cool!" Nikki exclaimed, looking at me with bright eyes. "Hey, you know what my mom told me when I was little? She told me that crows were the biggest symbol of death."

The biggest symbol of death. My patronus was the biggest animal symbol of death. How could I be stupid to hope that it would be otherwise? There was no way around it; I was dangerous.