An American at Hogwarts

A Better Day

My friends had already headed off to sleep when I got back, so I told Marie what happened in the morning. She was a bit cross with me at first, but I finally managed to convince her that it was for the best. I hadn't done any more than threaten him, after all, which I was fairly sure was tame enough considering what he had done to provoke it. I did make her promise not to tell any of the others about it, though. I didn't want to get an earful from Hermione about it, and I didn't quite trust Harry and Ron to not blab about it by mistake. I loved them, but they were rather prone to that sort of thing.

Transfiguration was very interesting that morning. We had been working on more complex spells lately, and Professor McGonagall told us that she thought we were ready for a more advanced exercise. She went around the classroom handing out small green rocks.

"Now, class. One of the most complex types of transfiguration you will learn this year is basic animation. We have talked about it a bit over the past two weeks, however I must once again tell you how serious a matter this is. Even moreso than is normal for my class. When you animate an inanimate object, you are, in a small, not entirely accurate sense, creating a form of life. A simple form of life that is not truly sapient, but life nonetheless. There are deep moral implications here. Depending on what you are doing specifically, you may well be creating something that can be considered a living being, and thus you must treat it with the proper respect and kindness. Today, I will have you turn these rocks into turtles."

She went on to explain the incantation we would use and the wand movement. I glanced over at Marie with a look of concern. This type of magic felt... different to anything I had tried before. More serious. McGonagall's speech about moral implications had really gotten through to me, I suppose.

"You'll be fine, Y/N. Trust me, you've probably done magic ten times as complicated as this."

"Yeah, but with that magic I was risking my own wellbeing. If I screw this up I could create a being who's entire life is nothing but pain because I somehow made it's lungs explosive or something."

Marie patted me on the shoulder. "Then just be careful. McGonagall wouldn't assign this if she didn't think we were ready. You'll be fine. I promise."

I took a deep breath and cleared my head. I pointed my wand at my rock and muttered the incantation carefully. The rock seemed to change a bit, but nothing all that dramatic. After twenty or so minutes of trying, nobody had been able to turn their rock into a turtle. Me and Hermione had probably gotten the furthest, her a bit further than me. Marie tapped me on the shoulder.

"Your wand hand is shaking Y/N."

I looked down. She was right.

"I'm just still a bit nervous. I think I'm focusing a bit too hard."

Marie nodded understandingly. "Just try and clear your mind Y/N. For me?"

I smiled slightly and nodded. "Alright. For you."

It seemed to get a bit better after that, but by the end of the class, Hermione was the only one who had actually accomplished the task, much to her delight. The rest of us got assigned one foot of parchment on animation as homework, sort of a punishment for not succeeding I suppose. Ron was a bit grumpy about that, but Hermione told him that she'd be writing it even though McGonagall had exempted her, which seemed to cheer him up.

We had potions that night, and Malfoy made a noticeable effort to avoid my gaze, which I was quite happy about. I'm not much of a fan of being intimidating or whatnot, but if there was one person I was ok with being afraid of me, it was him. So long as it kept him from doing anything too harmful to my friends, at least. After class, however, Snape asked me to stay behind. Marie and the others shot me a worried glance, but I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and told them to go ahead without me. Snape still somewhat liked me, as far as I could tell, so I wasn't all that worried.

"Mr. L/N."

"Yes Professor?" I said, giving him my best innocent look.

"I received a report from one of my students about an... incident last night."

I gulped. "I... I'm not entirely sure what you are talking about, sir."

He smirked slightly. That was odd. "I heard quite a different story. Something about a threat you made and breaking a mirror."

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I don't recall threatening anyone, at least not directly. Perhaps they misinterpreted what I said? I certainly don't intend on doing anything harmful without very good reason, which as far as I am concerned, I do not have at this moment."

I wasn't technically lying here. At least I think.

Snape sighed. "Very well. Off with you now. And don't let me catch you doing anything out of line. I have my eye on you young man."

I nodded and quickly exited, letting out a sigh of relief after I got out. Marie was the only one still waiting.

"What happened? Are you ok?"

I chuckled slightly. "Yeah, it seems like Malfoy told him about last night. Like I said though, I was very careful, he's got no evidence that anything happened. He smirked at me a bit too, I honestly think he might approve of what I did in a way. It was a bit of a Slytherin moment for me I suppose."

Marie sighed. "You'd better not have too many of those. I fell in love with the nice Y/N, and I want you to stay that way."

Her eyes went wide as she finished her sentence and she blushed profusely. "Did I just..."

I took a moment to collect myself and then pulled her into a deep kiss.

"I... I love you too Marie."

She was somehow blushing even more as she pulled away.

"Thank goodness! I was worried I blew it there for a second Y/N!"

I laughed, doubling over for a second out of sheer joy. "Blew it? You just made my whole month Marie! I've been trying to think of a way to say that for a couple days now!"

She pulled me close again. "Well you found it. Now it's my turn to say it properly."

She took a deep breath, a bright smile on her face.

"I love you, Y/N."