Cursed With Curious Minds | Hp Next Generation

12 - New Friends

Astrid and Delilah were sitting in their transfiguration lesson the next day, having now moved on from human transfiguration and onto conjuring spells.

"Conjuring spells are among the hardest spells you will learn as part of your NEWT course, and possibly across all your subjects. We will spend the next few weeks practicing animal conjuring spells, and today we will be learning to conjure birds. The incantation for this spell is avis, and the wand movement is like so:" Professor Munslow moved his wand as if to draw the silhouette of a bird in the air. "This spell, when cast correctly, will shoot out a flock of birds from the wand tip – accompanied by a loud bang. Like so: avis!" Professor Munslow waved his wand, and – just like he said – a flock of birds shot out the tip just at the same time as a

BANG!

The students who weren't paying attention certainly were now.

The birds flew a circle around the classroom, and promptly faded away as Munslow put his wand down.

"Do you want to give it a go?" He asked the class. "Now, the noise is very loud so if you could cast a muting charm in your pairs, that would be lovely so I don't have to hear tens of loud bangs every second. Thank you."

Professor Munslow left the class to it, and Astrid cast a muting charm over her and Delilah.

"Do you want to go first?" Astrid asked.

Delilah shook her head. "You tend to be better at transfiguration than me – you try first."

Astrid sat back, and held her wand out nervously. "Avis!" she said, feigning confidence. About two birds flew out and fell to the floor, accompanied by a small pop from the tip of Astrid's wand. "Well it wasn't not the spell...?"

"Alright, my turn." Delilah said. "Avis!"

Delilah's was a bit less powerful than Astrid's. She had one bird which fell immediately to the floor, accompanied by a small squeak from the tip of the wand.

They both laughed at their pathetic attempts of casting the spell. Astrid tried again – determined to get it.

"Avis!" she said, and this time a group of around seven birds flew up and dive-bombed to the floor and there was a significantly loud BANG which caused Delilah to cover her ears. It wasn't perfect, but it was almost there.

"God dammit!" she exclaimed. "How have you got the hang of almost every transfiguration spell before me?"

"I don't know, I just have a knack for it I guess – like you do for Defence Against the Dark Arts. You've gotten all them before me." Astrid was right. Delilah had been able to cast every defensive spell before she had, especially non-verbal spells. Last defence lesson, Delilah's non-verbal Expelliarmus ­­was so strong, it knocked Astrid's wand out of her hand and continued down the classroom all the way until Professor Potter's wand was expelled from his hand. Delilah was sure she would get in trouble for the offence, but Potter just smiled and congratulated her on a particularly strong Expelliarmus, claiming it was almost strong enough to rival his.

Delilah laughed, remembering the event. "I suppose you're right, I mean – do you remember Potter's face when his wand went flying!"

Astrid laughed for a moment also, and turned back to focus. "Ok, one more time – I've almost got this. Avis!"

This time there was a massive BANG! and a whole flock of birds shot out of Astrid's wand tip, flying a loop-de-loop around the classroom and coming to rest on the floor before disappearing.

"Very good, Astrid!" Munslow congratulated from the front of the room.

"Thanks, Professor," she said, before realising he couldn't hear her due to the muting charm, so she held an awkward thumbs up.