The Thestral (Draco Lucius Malfoy)

2

We stand in the middle of the courtyard; Susan Bones and I. Susan is another fellow Ravenclaw and one of my closer friends, being that we share most classes together.

We'd agreed, just the day after the second Quidditch match, that we would meet and practice some of the spells we had learned so far this year. Transfigurations and DADA proved to become more and more difficult over the last couple of weeks.

I point my wand at her, the maple wood feeling as if it could crack any second.

"Okay, let's start rather simple." I insist, my eyes focusing on her. A deep breath escapes my lips. "Herbifors."

With a quick upwards twitch of my wand, I watch as a sprout seemingly grows from the top of her head; the dark hair acting as a pot of soil. A rather beautiful assortment of tulips blossoms and I watch adamantly as she immediately becomes fairy-like.

She looks up and chuckles slightly.

"Simple enough, right?" She questions.

"Deffinetly," I respond, and swish my wand just once more causing the flowers to soon disappear.

Susan furrows her eyes at me, deciding which spell I will now fall victim too. After a quick moment, she points her wand to me.

"Multicorfus."

In an instant a spark of blue light comes darting towards me, but I feel nothing as it seemingly enters my body. I glance down to my feet, oblivious as to any change the spell has caused.

After a second of examination, I realize something; my once blue soaked uniform had turned yellow.

I scoff.

"That's your first one you want to practice?" I asked curiously. "Changing the color of my clothes?"

She shrugs and swigs her wand downwards, the Ravenclaw emblem appearing once again.

"It was the first one to come to mind." Susan defends.

I shake my head but immediately notice the few groups of students who now line the inside section of the courtyard and stare curiously to Susan and I. I assume they think we are fighting, but soon decide to give it no thought.

"Your turn?"

Swiftly my wand points to her again; a racking of my brain to conclude on a spell I felt the need to practice. Once my mind is made up, I clear my throat.

"Pullus!" I command, my wand moving just perfectly for the spell. Small sparks of light come from Susan as she seemingly shrinks; morphing into a small white goose.

A couple of students laugh as they observe.

I hear a quack from her now transformed self, and relish in the hilarity of it for just a brief moment. I then find myself questioning when I would ever need a spell such as this one.

My maple wood wand allows me to bring her back to full form; her face serious as she transforms to her real self.

"Good one." She mocks, "And right in front of the entire Slytherin house."

Her comment catches me off guard, and I whip my head around to find the crowd of students has grown immensely now. The corridors of the courtyard line with ties of green; a Slytherin free period was sure to be the cause of it.

The green-colored cloaks watch us in amusement, whispers and pointed fingers becoming more prominent as they watch us.

I shake off the now prodding anxiety that enters my mind as the pressure to impress grows rapidly. Dare we find ourselves messing up a spell and we may never hear the end of it.