The Untold Story of the Witches of Hogwarts

Portkey

"Seriously, Elphie?" Galinda tutted to herself. She had been taking a walk along the Hogwarts grounds only to catch sight of the familiar outline of Elphaba's trademark black hat during her walk. It was hanging from a tree and it looked as if its owner had set it there intentionally. No doubt, Elphaba had been studying outside and decided to use the tree as something of a hat rack for her hat only to then forget it once she finally decided to return to the castle. Galinda shook her head in fond amusement before heading over to the tree to fetch the hat. No sooner had she touched the brim of it, however, than did the world suddenly vanish from all around her.

"Merlin's beard!" she shrieked as the ground was suddenly ripped out from under her. She felt as if a hook had suddenly inserted itself just behind her navel and was now jerking her along, yanking her straight into the air at an alarming speed. She would've screamed again had she not been frozen in terror, gripping Elphaba's hat like a lifeline as she continued to fly along faster than she thought possible. But then only a second later, Galinda suddenly found herself back down on the ground, landing hard on her rear on the other side of the Hogwarts grounds.

"Merlin's beard!" she cried again, only this time, she could only gasp. Her pulse was rushing, her head was reeling, her face was flushing and her stomach was keeling. It was an unpleasant experience, to say the least. And it took at least a minute or so before she finally felt steady enough to get back on her feet. Elphaba's hat was still clenched tightly in her fist. She gave it a terrified look but, blessedly, it did not do anything else.

15 minutes later, Galinda was storming along the halls of Hogwarts. She knew Elphaba was in Charms at the moment, but the class was set to end in about three minutes. Waiting impatiently by the door, Galinda counted down the seconds until she caught sight of the green-skinned Gryffindor. Right on time, she emerged from the Charms classroom with a proud smile on her face. When she caught sight of Galinda though, scowling and waiting for her impatiently, some of her pride turned to amusement.

"Well! Doesn't someone look like a bubbly little ball of sunshine today?" she teased as she carefully made her way over to her Slytherin friend.

"Your hat nearly killed me!" Galinda snapped at once.

"What?" Elphaba's amused smile changed to confusion.

"Your hat!" Galinda repeated impatiently, holding up the object in question. "I don't know what crazy anti-theft spell you put on it, but it flung me halfway across the grounds like a rag doll!" she cried, then Elphaba's confusion changed both to amusement and embarrassment.

"Oh, no! Galinda!" she roared with laughter. "You weren't supposed to touch it!"

"No really?" Galinda scoffed. "I was just trying to be nice and bring it to you! You left it on one of the trees on the east side of the grounds!"

"No, Galinda!" Elphaba repeated still laughing. "That was intentional! I was testing a portkey spell on it and I was actually going to go try it out right now! But I guess you beat me to it..." she continued, her laughter finally quieting into stifled snickers.

"Wait, portkey?" Galinda's anger was forgotten in a moment of realization. Of course! That was what had happened! The only reason she had not realized it sooner was because the surprise had caught her so off guard. A portkey! Of course! But wait!

"How in Merlin's name did you manage that?" Galinda asked, some of her annoyance changing into awe. Elphaba's wit never did cease to amaze her. There were still many days when Galinda wondered how Elphaba had managed to land in Gryffindor rather than Ravenclaw.