The Tale of the Black Knight: The Mark

The Crown's Door

It was only later that on, towards the cooler part of the day, when a familiar face was met with resentment when the girls turned a corner. The one Slytherin who was torn out of the school year, his first one to boot, came close to them almost shoving close shoulder to shoulder. It was no other than Draco Malfoy... Of course the two thought he was all about causing a scurry, since their last little meet up ended up as a fiasco that she would rather forget with a use of one memory charm. According to her Mark's current opinion, there was no threat here, and so Lyra remained unmoving as he approached.

Malfoy was so inclined to shoulder her in the arm as he passed them by, quite painfully so. However, to the ladies, it looked like he was walking with his tail between his legs, with hunched shoulders and a lowered head. It was quite the awkward affair during their walk towards Professor Flitwick's class. Often, Lyra's mind did not dwell much on trivials when there were true dangers around them as they walked onward. Today, at least, was somewhat exciting when Professor Flitwick was eager to see their skills being put further to the test.

The day shone through the mighty window of the classroom like gold which made it a mite simpler to read the incantations carved in the wood panelling around them. They reached their desks, side by side Ron and a Hufflepuff, both hinted on what this lesson would entail. Her classmates were giddy enough as charmed butterflies fluttered forth among more escaped chocolate frogs, entertaining them all until the Professor was in. It was a tender escape from reality~ Flitwick's contagious enjoyment on the subject often kept their attention spans quite sharp and his pride made him call upon students only two minutes into the lecture.

"What a wonderful morning this is, dear children~ How glad am I to see such bright faces! Do quiet yourselves, pay close attention as we come to learn a new charm! This one will be a key one in your O.W.L's , dare I say so."

'Probably not as key as InVeniam...' Lyra thought deeply to herself as she paid extra attention. She held this feeling in her heart that never left her since that evening in Dumbledore's office, that rivalled the warmth her ring had. It was not distracting in the slightest, however it kept reminding her.

"We have gone over Locking and Unlocking charms, Alohamora, and Colloportus," Professor Flitwick continued, spryly. "... charms that would prove to be fine escapes from questionable circumstances, yes?"

"Yes, Professor!" chorused his students, from all around.

"Quite so, quite so... now may I have two volunteers for this particular cabinet by the door here." Flitwick pointed out to this small broom closet nearside one of the arched windows which was all adorned with a variety of very confusing locks. None of which had any keyholes. "All that needs to be done is proper incantations and focus, and who successfully unlocks each with a single spell would earn what is hidden behind the cabinet~ as well as a credit. Now, who would be inclined to go first?"

In turn, in duos, the class did their part in trying to unlock those strange locks, all done either only a quarter of the way or none at all which was telling that the lot had not been in fair practice since Holiday. However, in Lyra's case, she had put both spells in at least some practice, before Prince's eyes of course. Despite all other stresses, the year was still going on... and gladly, it was nice to get her mind off those frights. The use of her wand was rare with the exceptions being in this class and in front of the teachers. This wand was something of a mystery to her still however, it held a certain beauty to it that reminded her of a lilac forest. The handle held this floral pattern that danced upward towards the center, as the rest was smoothed yet uneven. Prince's was sleek and as dark as night, as straight as a line, but his handle had this celtic carvings all around it. It was odd to think that her wand had the same core as the wand that was used to create her Mark.