RED - James Potter x OC

fourteen - a sphere of light

Atla took a deep breath before stepping forward towards the gargoyle. Its massive stone wings easily towering over the relatively short girl. The feathers curved around her, stationary until she muttered the phrase Dumbledore had mentioned in his letter.

'Liquorice allsorts.' she said, looking up expectantly at the gargoyle. Atla frowned slightly when it had been a couple seconds and nothing had happened, only to be thrown off balance when the platform gave a sudden lurch.

She had to restrain herself from swearing as she grabbed one of the wings to steady herself. As she regained her balance, Atla closed her eyes tightly. She wasn't a fan of moving platforms, she had hated lifts in the muggle world and this wasn't much better.

She finally opened her chestnut eyes when she felt the floor stop moving. She was at the end of a short corridor that lead to only one room; the Headmaster's office. Atla had been there only a handful of times, for her private lessons, mostly. Not that the sessions were doing much; she couldn't even summon the scarlet power anymore.

Atla lightly rapped on the grand oak door, waiting patiently to be answered. When a minute had passed and she hadn't been let in, the girl tentatively pushed open the door. As far as she could see, no one was inside the circular office.

Hesitating only for a second, Atla stepped inside. She closely inspected each and every magical artifact in the room, except for the old sorting hat. She would never admit it, but the thing creeped her out a bit. How did a simple article of clothing know what value you honored the most when majority of first-years don't even know themselves.

Like it could hear her thoughts, the hat suddenly sprung to life, straightening up and a pair of beady eyes appearing (that looked directly at Atla).

'Miss Harlow,' the hat said in its raspy old voice, 'what a pleasure.'

'Um... hi.' Atla said nervously. She had never spoken to the hat.

'I can see that you have some doubts. Many doubts.' the hat stated.

'About what?'

'Your power. Your school house. A certain boy on the quidditch team.' the hat explained with a knowing look that you would think would be impossible for a plain old hat to show. Atla's cheeks turned pink at the last one, embarrassed because if the hat knew he had kissed her, who else did?

Her thoughts were interrupted when Dumbledore strode into the office, deep purple robes billowing behind him.

'Miss Harlow, I apologise for my tardiness.' he announced, sitting down in his chair.

Atla took a seat opposite the man and replied, 'No worries, Professor.'

'We will begin where we left off last time.'

***

Atla was tired. It had been an hour and a half in the office, and she hadn't even conjured a red spark. Maybe that duel was just a fluke, maybe she wasn't a descendial as Dumbledore claimed. She was getting frustrated - all of her previous sessions had gone like this one. Not even a scarlet glow.

'Sir, this isn't working,' she complained, 'I can't do it.'

'You can do anything if you set your mind to it, Atla.' the old man replied. Atla had to hold herself back from rolling her eyes. It was a well-known fact that the professor enjoyed speaking in cheesy proverbs and riddles, instead of just plain old sentences.

Some found it charming.

Atla did not.

'I disagree, Professor,' Atla replied with a slight scowl, 'no matter how hard I try to get James Potter to leave me alone, he manages to bother me every day.'

'You must really mean it, Atla.'

'I do!'

'Are you sure?' Dumbledore asked slyly, with a knowing twinkle in his eye. A knowing twinkle that made Atla want to send a levicorpus his way.

'I am sure! I will never, ever find James Potter to be anything other than infuriating. That arrogant bastard is perhaps the worst person in the wizarding world!' Atla insisted angrily, scarlet flowing from the roots of her hair. She knew that crimson sparked in her closed eyes, and when she opened them, she couldn't help but smile at what she saw.

A small red sphere of light, no larger than a bludger, hovered a few inches above her still-outstretched hand. The light illuminated Dumbledore's face with a pink tint as he moved closer, eyes fixed upon the ball.

There's no other way to describe it than beautiful. It swirled and spun in the cool air, following Atla's hand when she moved it slightly. Atla just fixed her eyes upon the light, captivated by its glow.

'Well done, Atla!' Dumbledore exclaimed, further inspecting the ball of light, 'I believe we have done enough for tonight, so you may head back to your dorm. Goodnight.'

***

As Atla walked back to her dorm, she couldn't help but feel a sense of pride throughout her body. She had done it! She had proved that she could use these powers, control them, and it no longer felt like an embarassing accident that she had stumbled upon. Atla felt confident, talented...

Powerful.

Smiling, the girl pulled her hand out of her robe pockets and held it at hip height. Atla clicked her fingers, a small bead of scarlet light hovered at the tips of her cold fingers. She laughed a small chuckle, then put it back into a parchment-filled pocket.

It was a good, good night for Atla Harlow.

Until someone clamped a hand over her mouth and dragged her into a classroom.