Phoenix Feather [Harry Potter]

n i n e [Cassidy Faye]

Next Tuesday

🔹⭐🔹

Light filters through the windows as I groan. I sit up, messing up my sheets and shifting my pillows.

I look over at Hermione, yawning. She is sleeping soundly, her chest rising up and down slowly. I grin, and tiptoe over to her quietly.

I yank her blankets off of her and yell, "Good morning, Hermione!"

Hermione groans and sits up, glaring at me. "Cassidy! I'm trying to sleep!"

"Well then you must also be trying to be late." I smirk, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Oh no." Hermione grabs her robes and runs into the bathroom.

"Hurry up!" I yell to her. "I have to change, too."

A couple minutes later, Hermione walks out, changed and ready to go. I quickly run into the bathroom and change. I quickly apply mascara to my eyelashes before running back into the dorm room and grabbing my bag.

Hermione gestures down the stairs, "C'mon. We need to meet Ron and Harry for breakfast."

I walk down the stairs to see Harry sitting on the couch, his hair all messy.

I can't help but think he looks cute.

"Hello, Harry." I smile at him. He looks up.

"Hey," he smiles goofily. I feel my face heat up slightly and I look down, my hair covering my face.

"S-so, where's Ron?" I ask, slightly flustered. I look up through my eyelashes at Harry, who's face is also red.

"Right here," Ron raises his hand, sitting on the armchair.

"Then let's go."

🔹⭐🔹

Professor Lupin was not there when I got to class. Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked in after me, looking puzzled.

Suddenly, the professor wallked in. "Good afternoon. Would you please put all you books back in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."

What is he going to do?

"Right then. If you'd follow me," the professor said. The class followed Lupin into the staffroom. "Now, then."

There was a wardrobe in the middle of the room, omitting banging noises.

"Nothing to worry about. There's a boggart in there," Professor Lupin stated. "Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces. Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, cupboards under sinks - I've even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock."

"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?" he questions. Hermione raises her hand.

"It's a shape-shifter. It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most." Hermione says with a matter-of- fact tone.

"Very good. The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing," Lupin says.

"The spell is riddikulus." the professor opens the door. Out walks Professor Snape.

Neville gasped and backed away, held up his wand shakily, and yelled, "R-riddikulus!"

Snape was wearing a vulture-topped hat, a green dress, and a red handbag.

The whole class laughed and the boggart moved on to Parvati.

A blood-stained mummy stood where Shape had before. Parvati squealed, "Riddikulus!"

It moved on to Seamus, Dean, and then me.

All of a sudden, the boggart changed into the class.

"What?" Hermione asked.

Then, the class laughed at her, pointing and ridiculing me.

"R-r-riddikulus!" I called out, but couldn't think of anything. The class kept laughing and pointing.

"R-riddikulus!" I yelled again, picturing them as skeletons. They tumbled to the floor, one of their heads rested at my feet.

Next was Ron. Then came Harry, but Lupin stopped him.

A white orb hung in front of him.

"Riddikulus," Lupin said boredly. "Finish him off, Neville!"

Snape was back again, but Neville instantly cried out, "Riddikulus!"

The boggart exploded into wisps of smoke.

"Excellent! Excellent, Neville. Well done, everyone. . . Let me see. . . five points to Gryffindor for every person to tackle the boggart - ten for Neville because he did it twice. . . and five each to Harry and Hermione."

The class left the room, many laughing and bragging.

"That was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson we've ever had, wasn't it?" Ron asked happily.

"He seems like a very good teacher." Hermione complimented. "But I wish I could have had a turn with the boggart-"

"What it have been for you?" Ronald teased. "A piece of homework that only got nine out of ten?"

🔹⭐🔹

Harry, Hermione, Ron and I ate dinner and walked to the common room.

We stepped in, and I sat down in front of the fire. Harry sat next to me, maybe a couple feet away. I blushed and looked at him, only to find him staring at me. He turned and I looked away.

"So, Hermione, what do you think your boggart was going to be?" I asked as she sat down. Ron sat on the floor.

Hermione taps her chin in thought and sighs, "I don't know. I think that it might have been the thought of failure, or maybe my friends failing."

"How ironic," Ron says sarcastically. Hermione huffs.

"I'm going to go change into my pajamas." I say, standing up. I notice Harry had scooted closer, I was just too clueless to notice.

I walk upstairs and put on a red tank top with the Gryffindor crest, a black park of shorts, and knee high Gryffindor socks. What? I love my house.

I walk back downstairs to see that Harry was talking to Hermione quietly.

I snuck up behind the couch and shouted, "Boo!"

"And she is- sh*t!" Harry got cut off. "Cassidy! You bloody scared me!"

"Cassidy!" Hermione shrieked, placing a hand on her chest. "We were just talking about you-"

"No, we weren't. We were talking about class earlier." Harry said, trying to cover up something.

"Oh, ok," I say, coming over to sit in the middle of them. Harry looks at Hermione and I.

"So," Harry trails off awkwardly.

"Well," Hermione said, standing up. "I don't know about you two, but I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

"'Night," I call after Hermione. Harry looks at me.

"Aren't you going to bed, too?" Harry inquires.

"I don't know," I shrug. "I think I'll sleep on the couch tonight. It's pretty fun to be away from the girls. Hermione can snore, and it's kind of annoying."

"Cool," Harry said, sitting in the armchair. "I'm going to work on homework."

"Okay. Goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight."

I lay down, my head resting on a plush pillow. I slowly close my eyes and drift to sleep to the sound of Harry's quill.