Beneath Her Skin

Chapter Seventeen

Alastriona took a bite out of her sandwich and danced around a little in her seat at the Hufflepuff table on Monday afternoon, she'd had an all right Herbology class, nothing had tried to attack her so she considered it a positive.

Darcy chuckled at her friend and went back to her own sandwich. Alastriona had been floating on air ever since her date with Draco and there was no upsetting her.

"Alastriona," Alastriona turned at her name being called and swallowed her mouthful before smiling at Hermione Granger, "I was wondering... do you know the summoning charm?"

There was a snort from across the table, both girls turned to Darcy, "She knows it so well that we banned her from using it in the Common Room, too many accidents with ink bottles."

Alastriona scoffed and looked back at Hermione, "They really should've put the caps on."

Hermione smiled half-heartedly, she appeared frazzled. "Would you be able to come with me, please?" She asked hopefully, Harry was stubborn and if this plan was to work they needed all the help they could get.

Alastriona shrugged and got up, she waved goodbye to Darcy and walked side by side with Hermione through the corridors. "What's this about, Hermione?" Alastriona was curious as Hermione guided her to a classroom that was hardly ever used.

"Harry needs help." She said and opened the door.

Alastriona walked in and saw Harry sitting on the floor with his head in his hands, there were books, quills and chairs strewn about the room. Harry stood up as she came in and Hermione shut the door behind them.

"Alastriona," Harry began, "what're you doing here?"

Alastriona shrugged and took her wand out of her hair in preparation, "I have no idea."

Hermione stood in front of her, "The first task is dragons," Alastriona's mouth dropped at this, "and Harry needs to learn the Summoning Spell by tomorrow otherwise he'll be toast."

"Thanks, 'Mione." Harry grumbled under his breath. He stood next to Hermione and saw Alastriona's concerned gaze, "Don't worry, I've already let Cedric know."

She breathed out a sigh of relief, "Thank you." She took a deep breath in and nodded, "All right, let's see what you've got, Harry."

Harry's Summoning Spell was not going well. He could get the object to rise but they always stopped halfway to him. He was becoming increasingly frustrated and was feeling incredibly self conscious with both Alastriona and Hermione watching him, especially as both witches were fully capable of performing the charm.

"You aren't trying hard enough, Harry." Alastriona said simply, he was about to protest and interrupt but she just held her hand up, "When someone's passing me the quaffle and it doesn't look like it's going to make the distance do you think I just hang around and say 'Oh, well it won't make it anyway' and give up? No! I fly as hard as I can to the quaffle to make sure I get my hands on it! Do you ever see the snitch and think 'Well it's within arms reach, that's good enough'?" Alastriona threw her hands up in the air, "No! Of course you don't! You push each time to get to it! You need the same attitude here, you've got to get that bloody book to you, Harry!" Harry was still doubting himself, "If you don't get that bloody book to you then I'm going to do something drastic."

He tried again. It flopped to the ground half way to him.
His green eyes followed Alastriona as she left the room.

Alastriona went into the hall and faced one of the armoured knights, "Excuse me, Sir Knight, may I borrow your shield?"

The Knight looked down at her, didn't say anything but held out his shining silver shield to her, "Thank you." She grabbed the heavy shield and went back into the classroom.