Restoration

Chapter Three

***

-Before-

Hundreds of eyes peered at Elara as she walked through the darkness in the hallway. Her auburn curls swayed in the cold morning frost as she the snow crunched underneath her feet. She clung onto her books as tight as she could, having lost her schoolbag.

She was one of the first students to enter the Transfiguration class, and she sat next to a blonde-haired girl from Hufflepuff. Unlike some, she enjoyed sharing some of her classes with students from other classes. Whenever they got paired in groups, she was able to choose her partners, and she always chose the hardest working students who had high goals, like her.

"Good morning students," McGonagall greeted them, her eyes glued to a book.

She always started her lecture by repeating the safety procedures, which no one paid attention to. The majority of students dreamed of being able to turn into an animal, inspired by their professor, who crept around Hogwarts as a cat at times.

"Who would like to repeat the crucial steps?" She mumbled, already looking for a potential victim.

"Blaise Zabini?" She turned to a boy sat a few rows behind Elara. He shut his eyes, trying to conjure up a response, and when nothing he came up, he shook his head.

"That's one point taken away for Slytherin," she quickly scribbled into her notebook as Slytherins moaned, "Padma Patil, do you have an answer for me?"

Elara always worked with Padma in the Transfiguration class. An over-achiever like her, the girls shared similar goals and enjoyed putting in an effort. She was briefly acquainted with her twin sister Parvati, who was surprisingly sorted into a different house.

"Concentration and precise wand movements," Padma shoot out.

"Very good, do you remember the third one?" McGonagall applauded her.

Elara immediately thought of an answer, but as she wasn't too sure of herself, she answered quietly, "Proper pronunciation of an incantation," she mumbled.

McGonagall had still been writing down some notes, seemingly not hearing Elara's answer. A girl sat next to Elara, Susan Bones, nudged her elbow and urged her to repeat the answer. Elara shrugged, mouthing she is "not sure about the answer."

"Proper pronunciation of an incantation," Draco loudly repeated.

"Correct," McGonagall lifted her look from the notebook.

Elara's neck turned around fast enough to see Draco smirking, taking the credit to himself. Blaise covered his mouth with his hand, muffling his laughter.

"One point for Ravenclaw," McGonagall concluded as she was done with testing her students.

"But you said I was right," Draco complained from the back row, as he was backed up by some of his friends.

"Indeed, but would you still have known the answer had you not stolen from Elara?" She smiled at him as his cheeks flustered with red.

Susan giggled as Elara blushed, her lip curling into a tiny smile. The girls began practicing the hardening charm, which quite simply, turned objects into solid stone. A charm quite popular with the tricksters, most of them enjoyed practicing and excelled in it.

"That's such a silly charm," Pansy Parkinson growled as she failed to turn her book into stone.

"How would you know, you can't even do it?" Elara joked, unbothered by her cries. She and Susan had been turning multiple objects into stone back and forth without breaking a sweat. Pansy ignored her for a moment until she realized Blaise and Draco laughed at the dig.