You Still Need More Practice, Little Pony

Eliana's excitement lasted all the way into class.

Today's Charms lesson was on the Levitation Charm. Malfoy had already mastered it, and he smugly directed his feather to drift wildly around the classroom, as if it were still growing on the back of some proud goose. Crabbe and Goyle immediately started fawning over him.

Their praise made him feel like he was the greatest in the world. Then he turned and saw Eliana blinking blankly, apparently lost in thought. Heh, her feather still wasn't floating.

Malfoy became even more pleased with himself. He lifted his chin proudly. "Well, well, if it isn't Gryffindor's little genius. What's wrong? Can't even cast a simple Levitation Charm?"

As he mocked her, he deliberately made his feather bob up and down in front of Eliana, showing off as blatantly as possible.

But this was a serious test of magical control. Malfoy worked hard to keep his expression composed, making himself look perfectly relaxed—though sweat had already started beading at his temples.

It was fine. Ritchie had definitely been impressed by him!

Malfoy encouraged himself like that.

Eliana snapped out of her thoughts and rolled her eyes at this noisy third wheel.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" She pointed at the feather on her desk.

The long white feather shot into the air and whipped at the white feather dancing in front of her.

Malfoy's feather was smacked into a huge midair flip before landing perfectly in his hair.

A small breeze blew through, making it tremble and sway. Combined with Malfoy's expression, he looked exactly like a stunned golden rooster that had sprouted a white feather.

Eliana burst out laughing.

"Ritchie, you rude, ill-mannered, violent woman!" Mindful of Professor Flitwick, Malfoy lowered his voice as he threw a small tantrum. "My hair!"

"Wow, how do you even have the nerve to call me ill-mannered, Malfoy?" Eliana asked in disbelief. "A crow standing on a pile of coal only sees how black everyone else is, not itself, huh? The Malfoy family is so rich—what, they couldn't buy you a mirror?"

"Y-you-you..." Malfoy was so furious he nearly started squawking. He stammered as he tried to prove something. "Ha! Of course my family is rich! Don't judge me by the way you poor people think! I have eighteen rooms, and every single one has a mirror!"

"Shut up!"

Poor Eliana could not stand hearing that—damn it, there were so many rich people in the world, so why couldn't she be one of them?

All at once, she slipped into full sarcastic mode. "All right, all right, noble young master. I know that even though you have no manners, everyone around you is very polite to you. With that slick, shiny hair of yours, even a fly would have to bow before landing on it. I was the one who offended you."

"But," she drawled nastily, "I'm so sorry. I can't even cast a simple Levitation Charm properly, so I accidentally knocked your feather away. But tell me, if your control over your feather had been just a little better, wouldn't I have been unable to knock it away? I'm just saying, you should reflect on yourself."

She spoke earnestly, every word dripping with the smug air of an old man lecturing everyone on life.

"Y-you—" Malfoy's pale face flushed red with anger as he glared at her with his gray-blue eyes.

Eliana asked in surprise, "Why are you staring at me? Don't tell me the great young Master Malfoy can't make his own feather float back?"

"Ha, who are you looking down on?!" Malfoy waved his wand in a rage. His feather wobbled back through the air, then viciously smacked Eliana's feather.

Eliana raised an eyebrow.

Her feather immediately delivered a spinning kick!

The two spent the entire lesson fighting with feathers. Fortunately, the class was chaotic enough—some people blew up their own feathers, some swung their wands and hit other things, and some were shouting as they argued or tried to instruct their classmates. Flitwick never got the chance to deduct points from either of them.

The feather war finally ended when Malfoy's feather snapped in half.

When the bell rang, Eliana arrogantly slung her bag over her shoulder and patted Malfoy on the shoulder. "Little Pony, this won't do. You still need more practice."

Then she stomped away.

Malfoy was so furious his nose nearly twisted crooked. He whirled around and glared at Goyle. "What's she so smug about?! She was only lucky enough to get a sturdier feather! What's so impressive about her?"

Goyle jumped in fright and answered blankly, "You mean Ritchie? Uh, her Charms are pretty good, and she's not bad at Transfiguration either. Her Potions seem..."

Malfoy's eyes blazed as he roared at his utterly tactless lackey, "Was I asking what she's good at?! Go eat your food, Goyle! You idiot whose brain is stuffed full of bread!"

He turned and stormed off.

Potter! Ritchie!

Damn Gryffindors!

Not a single one of them was any good!

Goyle, who had been left behind, still had not processed what had happened. Feeling wronged, he muttered as he hurried after him, "But didn't you ask me what she was good at?"

Eliana paid no attention to everyone else's quarrel. After seriously finishing the day's lessons, she carried a huge pile of things to an empty bathroom—she planned to make herself a Halloween costume.

But she did not want anyone to see her, so she kept searching for somewhere deserted until she finally found an empty bathroom.

Facing the mirror, she began working on her hair. She divided her long hair into two sections and twisted them into the shape of cat ears on top of her head—yes, she was going as a black cat today.

It was a little difficult, and her arms were starting to ache from holding them up, but she managed it in the end.

Then she conjured two red fluffy pom-poms and tied them onto the cat-ear buns. She deliberately left a length of string above each ball. When she shook her head, the two pom-poms bounced happily around her head.

Eliana looked at herself in the mirror and sighed regretfully. Her Transfiguration still was not good enough. Otherwise, how fun would it be if she could just transform real cat ears onto herself?

Ugh, she should not think about it. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted cat ears.

She pointed her wand at her hair buns, opening and closing her mouth without daring to act.

She only had this one head of hair. What if she transformed it wrong and could not change it back?

—At times like this, she completely forgot how she had not hesitated at all when messing with Malfoy's head.

Eliana's eyes shifted as she took out a roll of parchment from her bag. She would test it on this first.

She really was a genius!

Eliana smugly stroked her successfully transformed cat ears, practically ready to wag her tail into the sky.

The little girl in the mirror had fair skin and red lips, with a faint blush floating across her cheeks. Her delicate chin was held high, and two fluffy cat ears stood upright atop her head. With that proud look, she was the very picture of a smug little villainous witch.

"I'm amazing!" Eliana cackled at the mirror in self-admiration. "Mirror, mirror, tell me: who is the smartest and most amazing little witch in the world?"

"Y-your Transfiguration has already reached this point?"

A voice, still choked with sobs, suddenly sounded in the quiet bathroom. It startled Eliana, who had been admiring herself in the mirror, so badly that she yelped and jumped. Her cat ears flattened tightly against the back of her head.

"Who's there?!"

With her fur bristling, she stared at the head slowly peeking out from a stall. The other girl was clearly startled by Eliana's fierce reaction too, and her bushy hair bounced like springs.

Hermione stammered, "Your Transfiguration is really good... I remember this being from the last few chapters of the textbook."

"Yes."

Eliana answered stiffly.

She often praised herself, but only when nobody else was around. And those words she had used... it was really mortifying to have someone else hear them.

Eliana stared at Hermione, considering whether knocking her out might make her forget what she had just seen.

Perhaps because Eliana's gaze was too strange, Hermione could not take it anymore and continued, "I wasn't trying to eavesdrop. I was here first."

Eliana gave another stiff reply.

That did sound somewhat reasonable.

But she still felt embarrassed. Could she come up with a topic that would naturally and discreetly get Hermione to promise not to tell anyone about this?

Eliana's mind raced wildly, while her feet seemed rooted to the spot. She was standing in the only path to the exit, so if Hermione suddenly tried to run, she could stop her. Before Hermione left, Eliana had to discuss keeping this secret with her.

She was just a little too embarrassed to bring it up.

Eliana silently watched Hermione.

Fortunately, Hermione did not try to run. But she did not speak either, only biting her lip as she stared at the floor.

The two of them stood in silent stillness. The air itself seemed to freeze from the awkwardness.

Only then did Eliana notice that Hermione's eyes were swollen, as though she had been crying.

She immediately thought of what she considered an excellent way to start a conversation.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly, forcing gentleness into her voice.

Then, to her horror, Hermione, with her swollen peach-like eyes, suddenly burst into loud sobs.

Eliana's cat ears instantly flattened into airplane ears again, and her eyes went wide. Wait, she hadn't even started threatening her yet!