Harry Potter One-Shots

Gertrude | McLaine

Contest #1: Gertrude McLaine 

1995

    Thrumming my fingers across the smooth desk surface, I glared across the long hall at Professor Flitwick. This was the irritating part, the waiting. He was forcing us to cram in every last bit of knowledge we possibly could before the O.W.L.S next week. Then, one last week after those, and I would be out into the Wizarding World.

    It was rather exciting. 

    "Now, the Aeneus charm is very tricky to complete, class," Flitwick droned on, earning a stifled yawn from me as I mimicked his moves stiffly, wishing to be any where and every where except for this dingy, stale classroom. "Be firm with your wand, Miss McLaine." Professor Flitwick instructed, sending me a small, yet determined, frown. 

    Raising my hand, I let out a sigh as he nodded towards me, permitting me to speak out loud. "Sorry, Professor, but why must we learn about making bronze for the O.W.L.S? What does it implicate towards our future?" I stressed the 'future' bit, tugging on some heart strings in the process.

    Behind me, a fellow student mocked me in a shrill, high pitched voice. Craning my head around, I took in their burgundy and mustard yellow robes. Grotesque Gryffindor. "Have you something to say on the matter, Spinnet?" I spat out, earning a stubborn shake of the head from the Gryffindor. 

    Smirking slightly, I straightened my robes and nodded pompously, grateful to have put him in his place. Turning back to Flitwick, I watched him ponder his response for a little while before giving into my whims. "Well," His hands fidgeted nervously. "You must understand, being a Slytherin," He motioned towards my pristine robes as I nodded with a small smile. "That being able to enchant objects into metals could be very cunning..." He trailed off, loosing his will to argue his point. His face slowly fell as his idea died from inside his mind. "Urh, free period then, class." 

    "Yes!" A couple Slytherins in front of me jested, turning around to high-five me and cheer me on for intimidating the poor man. It felt almost too easy to talk him out of the lesson, but it still felt good to be given things from Professors. Their defeat was my glory. Perhaps that sounds too cynical, but it was only the truth.

    However, we all secretly knew the reason why Professor Flitwick had backed down on the lesson so willingly. None of the teachers really had the nerve to keep teaching too strenuously, not after all the trauma that Hogwarts had been catapulted through recently. The Triwizard Tournament had been a terrible idea to begin with, but the death of the Hufflepuff had been the final straw for a lot of the staff.

    They'd even talked about closing the school early, but the Ministry felt that Hogwarts students needed to have a sense of 'normality'. Hence, school remained in motion as planned. Not that I'd minded. It gave me time to get closer to what I wanted to study when I left this school. As close as one curious girl could get.

    "How about you, De?" A sickly looking boy, around the age of sixteen, with Slytherin robes smiled at me, asking me a question I had not heard the half of. He watched the light of thought leave my eyes and backtracked, realizing that I had been in another place when he was talking.

    "When you leave." He stated, but I only stared blankly, causing a blush to spread on his face. "Hogwarts, I mean. What do you want to do?"

    A voice whispered from behind me in disgust, but slight love. "A Weasley." My heart sputtered in my chest as a marathon runner's would as I turned to give Belatha Gringe a smart glare, unable to avoid the crimson seeping up my neck.