Little Malfoy, You Still Need Practice

Eliana's excitement lasted right into class.

Today's Charms lesson was on the Levitation Charm. Malfoy had mastered it already and smugly sent his feather drifting all over the classroom, as though it were still attached to a particularly proud goose. Crabbe and Goyle showered him with praise.

Their flattery went to his head. Feeling like the greatest wizard alive, he turned and saw Eliana blinking at nothing in particular. Well, well. Her feather hadn't risen at all.

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

As he taunted her, he deliberately bobbed his feather up and down in front of Eliana, showing off for all he was worth.

It took real control to do that. Malfoy had to work hard to keep his expression relaxed; sweat was already beading on his forehead.

It's fine. Ritchie must be impressed!

That was what Malfoy told himself.

Eliana came back to her senses and rolled her eyes at the noisy pest.

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

The long white feather shot up and swatted the white feather dancing in front of her.

Smack! Malfoy's feather flipped through the air and lodged squarely in his hair.

A faint breeze made it quiver. Paired with Malfoy's expression, it made him look like a stunned golden rooster that had sprouted a white plume.

Eliana burst out laughing.

"Ritchie, you rude, ill-mannered, violent woman!" Mindful of Professor Flitwick, Malfoy kept his furious voice low. "My hair!"

"Wow. How can you call me ill-mannered, Malfoy?" Eliana asked in disbelief. "That's a crow on a coal heap calling everything else black. Your family's so rich, couldn't they buy you a mirror?"

"You, you, you..." Malfoy was so angry he nearly squawked. He sputtered, desperate to prove something. "Ha! Of course my family's rich. Don't judge me by your pauper's standards. All eighteen of my rooms have mirrors!"

"Shut up!"

Eliana, the alleged pauper, couldn't stand hearing that. There are so many filthy rich people in the world. Why can't I be one of them?

She laid the sarcasm on thick. "All right, all right, my noble young master. I know you have no manners, but everyone around you treats you with such respect. Why, with your hair slicked down that shiny, even a fly landing on it would have to bow. I do apologize for offending you."

"But," she drawled with a wicked grin, "I'm terribly sorry I can't even manage a simple Levitation Charm. I accidentally knocked your feather away. If you had a little more control over it, that wouldn't have happened, would it? Honestly, Malfoy, you ought to reflect on that."

She sounded solemn and earnest, like an old windbag dispensing wisdom from on high.

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

Eliana looked surprised. "Why are you staring at me? Don't tell me the brilliant young Master Malfoy can't bring his feather back?"

"Ha! Who do you think you're looking down on?" Malfoy whipped his wand around in a fury. His feather wobbled back and struck Eliana's feather hard.

Eliana raised an eyebrow.

Her feather immediately answered with a spinning kick!

They fought with their feathers for the rest of the lesson. Luckily, the classroom was chaotic enough already: some students blew up their feathers, some hit other things while waving their wands, and others shouted arguments or offered their classmates unsolicited instruction. Professor Flitwick never got around to docking either of them points.

The feather war ended when Malfoy's feather snapped in two.

When the bell rang, Eliana slung her bag over her shoulder with a swagger and patted Malfoy's shoulder. "Little Malfoy, that won't do. You still need practice."

Off she went at a brisk trot.

Malfoy was beside himself with rage. He spun toward Goyle. "What's she so smug about? She only won because she happened to get a sturdier feather. What's so great about her?"

Goyle jumped, then answered blankly, "You mean Ritchie? Well, she's pretty good at Charms, and her Transfiguration's not bad either. I think her Potions—"

Malfoy's eyes blazed. "Did I ask you to list what she's good at? Go stuff your face, Goyle, you idiot with a brain full of bread!"

He stormed off.

Potter! Ritchie!

Damn Gryffindors!

Not a decent one among them!

Goyle, left behind, still hadn't caught up. He followed Malfoy, muttering in hurt confusion, "Weren't you the one who asked what she was good at?"

Eliana paid no attention to anyone else's commotion. After diligently finishing her classes for the day, she carried an armful of things to an empty bathroom. She was going to put together a Halloween look.

She didn't want anyone to see, so she kept searching out deserted places until she finally found an unoccupied bathroom.

Facing the mirror, she began arranging her hair. She divided her long hair in two and coiled it into cat-ear shapes on top of her head. That was right: today, she was going as a black cat.

It was tricky, and her arms grew sore from holding them up, but she managed it in the end.

Then she conjured two red pom-poms and tied them to the cat-ear buns. She deliberately left a length of string above each pom-pom. When she tossed her head, they bounced merrily around it.

Eliana looked at herself in the mirror and sighed with regret. If only her Transfiguration were better, she could give herself actual cat ears. How fun would that be?

Oh, she shouldn't even think about it. Now she wanted cat ears even more.

She aimed her wand at one of her hair buns, opened her mouth, then closed it again. She still didn't dare try.

She had only one head of hair. What would she do if she botched the spell and couldn't change it back?

Of course, she had given no such thought to Malfoy's head earlier.

Eliana's eyes darted about. She took a roll of parchment from her bag. She could try it on this first.

She was a genius!

Eliana proudly stroked the cat ears she had successfully transformed, so pleased with herself that she might as well have had a tail sticking straight up.

The little girl in the mirror had fair skin and rosy lips, with a faint blush on her cheeks. Her dainty chin was tilted high, and two furry cat ears stood upright on her head. She looked every inch a smug little villain of a witch.

"I'm amazing!" Eliana cackled at her reflection, lost in self-admiration. "Mirror, mirror, tell me: who's the cleverest, most brilliant little witch in the world?"

"Y-you've already studied this far ahead in Transfiguration?"

A voice still thick with sobs suddenly sounded in the quiet bathroom. Eliana, busy admiring herself, yelped and jumped. Her cat ears flattened against the back of her head.

"Who's there?"

She bristled as a head slowly emerged from a stall. The other girl had clearly been startled by her fierce reaction too; her bushy hair bounced like a spring.

Hermione stammered, "Your Transfiguration Spell is very good... I remember that's in the last few chapters of the textbook."

"Yes."

Eliana's reply came out stiff.

She praised herself all the time, but only when nobody else was around. And the things she'd just said... Having someone hear them was mortifying.

Eliana stared at Hermione, wondering whether knocking her unconscious would make her forget what she'd seen.

Perhaps her stare was too unsettling, because Hermione spoke again. "I wasn't eavesdropping on purpose. I was here first."

Eliana gave another stiff acknowledgment.

That sounded fair enough.

But she was still embarrassed. Could she find some way to bring up the subject naturally and get Hermione to promise not to tell anyone?

Eliana's mind raced, but her feet stayed rooted to the spot. She stood right by the only way out, so she could stop Hermione if she suddenly tried to leave. Before either of them went, they needed to discuss keeping this secret.

She just couldn't quite bring herself to say it.

Eliana watched Hermione in silence.

Fortunately, Hermione showed no sign of running. She said nothing either, merely biting her lip and staring at the floor.

Silence settled between them. The awkwardness seemed to thicken the very air.

Only then did Eliana notice Hermione's swollen eyes. She looked as though she'd been crying.

Eliana immediately thought of what she considered a brilliant way to start a conversation.

"What's wrong?" she asked in her gentlest voice.

To her horror, Hermione, her eyes swollen like peaches, suddenly burst into tears.

Eliana's cat ears flattened again. Her eyes went round. Wait, I haven't even threatened her yet!