The Years of Blue [2]

Chapter 44: The First Task

*This is a long one. Fair Warning.*

"Ava, you're being dramatic, I would never impale you," Mila stated casually next to an armless manikin on a foot stool. It was late afternoon, on the day before the first task. Classes had ended and weren't coming back until Thursday, giving most students plenty of time to do school work, or not if you were normal.

My friends were not normal.

Mila, Ana, Marie, and Rosalie felt like now was the perfect opportunity to work on their mapping assignment for their fashion course. They were supposedly required to pin a pattern on a manikin using their new spells before taking the next step in pinning a human being. Mila on the other hand, figured she was better than this project and could prove it by mapping on me.

"Absolutely not."

"Oh come on. Don't you trust me?" She whined, giving me her rendition of puppy eyes. Thankfully, I had been smart enough to bring my writing paper to start my letter to my mother, so my gaze was downcast.

"With flying needles nearing my body? No, I definitely don't," I said back, as I finished addressing my letter. I glanced up to see Mila pouting in defeat, before turning back to her dull manikin in frustration.

"This is no fun," she continued in a pitiful voice. "I don't get how Madam Vee won't trust us. It's not like I want to harm people with this spell. And I'm great with spells!"

"You're good at defense spells, not basic charms. There's a difference Mila," Marie said from her manikin that she shared with Rosalie.

"Difference? There is no difference!" Mila said, affronted.

"Yeah, I don't know how you could look at a punching needle spell as not defensive," Jacqueline said slyly from the sidelines.

"Fair point," I said looking up to watch Jacqueline take a puff from her counterfeit cigarette.

"So will you do it then?" Mila asked me again in excitement. I quickly shook my head.

"It sounds like you have to be very careful to work on a human. Maybe working with a dummy is a necessary step," Gisele explained sweetly from her copy of the daily prophet she had propped on her knee. She was in the middle of working on the crossword puzzle with great care.

"I'm careful! Aren't I careful, Ana?" Mila questioned, twisting to her the friend whose white blonde hair shielded her face as she crouched down toward her manikin's waist. When she looked up, I saw pins sticking out of her mouth. She gave an unrecognizable hand gesture that only further infuriated Mila.

"And there's your answer," Jacqueline said comically, from the window. "Maybe if you show off your talent in needle work, you may inspire the likes of Miss grumpy pants over there to step on the stool."

"Yeah, Mila. Show me your talent and maybe I will reconsider," I said sarcastically, catching Jacqueline's eye. Mila brightened all the same and I watched as she turned and subsequently stabbed her manikin with her first spell, sending the entire room into a fit of laughter.

"That was a fluke! Wait, let me try again," She cried out as Rosalie leaned heavily on her manikin giggling while Ana spat out the needles in her mouth.

"I'll take that as my cue to go," I said after witnessing Mila repeat the impalement a second time. Grabbing my things, I left the room with Mila's pleading over fits of laughter following me out the door.

Since coming back to Hogwarts, my mother had begun to write more frequently, in part because I assume she missed me but also because I could tell her how Theo was doing. We all knew Theo did not write letters. It was just not his thing.