Meet the Big Five

The Earth Elemental

(Elsa)

Everyone stared back as Professor Flitwick watched the class, smiling. He was a short, round man, bald, but with a surprisingly long white beard. A pile of books stood under his feet, as a cure for his height impairement.

An enchanted chalk was scribbling away at the board. Now, the class is usually hyper and noisy during Charms, but today everyone was quiet for some reason. Me, I was sitting with Rapunzel somewhere in the middle. On our first class, we had a long discussion (re: argument) over where we should sit. I wanted to sit in the front so that we could pay attention, and she wanted to sit at the back, so that we could be with Jack. (She is big on the lets-all-be-friends-yay-hugs movement.) Finally we compromised and sat here.

"The Softening Charm," squeaked Professor Flitwick. "A very useful spell if you know what you're doing. It can be used almost anywhere: like the ground, for example, when you're in the mood for trampolining, or playing a particularly dangerous game of Quidditch."

He turned to the board. "Now, observe as I demonstrate the wand movement for this Charm." He waved his hands in a snake-like movement. "Did you all see that?"

We nodded dutifully. Jack, who was sitting behind me, leaned forward to whisper in my ear. His breath was icy wind flowing over my cheek, and my face tingled. "Such a boring class, right?"

I pretended not to hear him. Not just because he was breaking my concentration and he shouldn't be talking in class anyway, but because I genuinely enjoyed Charms. Professor Flitwick was excellent, funny and gentle. I hadn't actually managed to get any of the spells right in the classes so far. (Rapunzel had produced a dim, flickering light in the previous class, when we were learning wand lighting spells. Jack didn't seem to want to get any spells right.)

"Do you wanna have some fun?" he whispered again. I gritted my teeth and tried to act like his breath, or just the very fact that he was leaning towards me, wasn't affecting me. Rapunzel was looking at us both curiously.

"The incantation for this charm is, Spongify!" said Professor Flitwick. I blinked in surprise, remembering I was still in his class. "Now repeat after me: Spongify!"

"Spongify!" we all chorused. Except Jack, of course, who continued to breathe heavily against my shoulder.

"Again!" sang Professor Flitwick, who apparently couldn't see Jack whispering (alleged) sweet nothings into my ear. "Spongify!"

"Spongify!" we repeated. Jack yawned, and I could smell the morning's coffee on his breath.

"Once more!" said Professor Flitwick, waving his arms enthusiastically, like he was conducting a choir. This probably wasn't a coincidence, because there was a notice on the board in the Common Room stating that Professor Flitwick was looking for students to join the Frog Choir. "Spongify!"

"Boo," Jack said in my ear. This was too much. I turned around and shot back, "Stop that!"

He smiled. "Well at least I got you to look at me."

At that moment I seriously felt like nailing icicles through his heart. Jack Frost was cute, but damn was he annoying.

"I noticed that you could do with a bit of lightening up," he continued. "For some reason you seem very moody and uptight and FML-ish, so I thought, who better to help you smile than the Guardian of. . ." he pointed to himself, as though he was expecting me to finish his sentence.

I rolled my eyes and turned back in front, determined not to look at him for the rest of the class. Professor Flitwick had finished with his Spongify sing-along, and now had everyone practising the wand movement.