8 Chapter Seven: The Doorway

Namora sat in her seat as Charms class began. She kept daydreaming about what had happened at the Yule Ball. She liked that boy from Ilvermony. Percival. He was nice, she just wished that she had more than one class with him. Since he was only here for a brief time, like Queenie, he didn't attend classes, but they could if they wished too. Queenie and Namora already spent so much of their time together between classes that she didn't feel like Queenie needed to come to one of her classes, but Percival. She saw him only at lunch and sometimes in the library. He seemed to be busy helping Ilvermony's champion get ready for the tournament which was completely understandable, but she wished sometimes that he would come to one of them.

She sighed as she pulled her wand from her robe pocket and held it in her hand firmly as Professor Molsee showed them a new spell, Riddikulus. Namora listened intently as he said that each of them would have to face boggart in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. She became nervous, but figured everyone else was based on the faces, most of the students were. Fear, nervousness, embarrassment, humiliation. Namora glanced at Hemley, who was sitting next to her and squinted her eyes as she tried to read her mind. Nothing. Namora slouched a bit as the lecture dragged on. Finally Professor Gaundriel their wand out and with a swish and a flick, the spell sizzled through the air.

"Miss Namora Ren produced this spell last night if any of you were paying attention," Professor Molsee said as a ruler magically woke a sleeping student awake. The professor smiled graciously at Namora and she cracked a smile, blushed and slowly sank down into her seat as everyone dre there attention to her.

"Now students, it's your turn to try, remember proper wand movements and, just for today, you will be split up into partners. One at a time the stares of the class disappeared as they mingled about partners. Immediately the class erupted into small talks because partnerships rarely happened in Charms. A girl with a long nose and big eyebrows raised her hand. "May we choose our own partners?" Professor Molsee seemed to be contemplating the idea then... "No, not today," she said and a bunch of disappointing moans came from the students.

"Stop your moaning everyone or there will never be partners!" The class settled down eventually and Professor Molsee began to read off names from a list that magically levitated in the air. Jack and Britta, Jillian and Cohen, Namora and Hemley..." Namora and Hemley smiled at each other and clapped their hands together in victory. "...Sara and Demetry, Piper and Vanessa..." A small but loud cough interrupted her. It was Vanessa standing with her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised dramatically. "Here we go..." Namora whispered and Hemley slouched in her chair and mumbled something about Vanessa being too dramatic.

"Excuse me, professor...yeah, I don't want to be with her," Vanessa pointed at Piper. Piper stood up defensively, "Well sorry that you're too bratty to have me as a partner!" Namora heard Hemley sigh beside her as the two girls continued to argue along with the professor piping in about respect every few seconds. Finally a loud BANG sounded and the girls jumped, obviously startled. "Girls, you shall not behave this way in my class!" Piper looked down and Vanessa made an obviously fake cry as tears rolled down her face.

Professor Molsee took a moment to look around the classroom. "Would everyone like that? To pick their own partner?" some heads nodded and others just stared blankly at her, "Alright everyone. If you wish to have a partner, do so quickly ." Vanessa smiled brightly as she scanned over the students. Namora nudged Hemley, we're still partnering up right?" Hemley nodded, "yeah, I Don't want to get stuck with some weirdo." Vanessa's snake-like eyes landed on Namora and she smirked evilly. Namora's eyes darted to the sides, not wanting to look at her piercing eyes that stared daggers into her.

"Hemley," Vanessa simply said. Hemley immediately gawked and struggled to stand when Namora jumped up. "Hemley's my partner Professor!" she said more loudly than she would've liked to in a sudden outburst, she blushed red and sat down quickly as everyone stared at her. "Miss Ren, I will not tolerate that kind of behavior in here!" Namora opened her mouth to say something but she choked up and gulped. "She can be with Myra," Vanessa said teasingly. Who is that. Is she even in this class? Namora thought as she scanned over the students. There are the boys by the corner then Piper crossing her arms in the top row surrounded by a few girls and there's Jack and... "Hello," a small voice said. Namora jumped seeing a girl with brown hair and whole-moon glasses looking shyly at her. Namora nodded a hello and leaned over by Hemley. "Has she always been there?" " I..." Hemley started to speak when Vanessa tugged on her arm and pulled her away.

Great. Namora turned back to the girl. She was at least a foot shorter than Namora was and she looked very frail like a flower except a bland flower with glasses. She brought out what looked like a wand, but it could just be a very short stick. Namora drew her own wand out and the students began to practice the spell.

They would actually get to test out the spell later that year in Defense Against the Dark Arts which was taught by Namora's favorite professor at the school, Cyrus . He had graduated from Hogwarts twenty one years ago and had quite the reputation for the dark arts. He was previously a teacher at Beauxbatons, a wizarding school for witches in France. He came to Hogwarts their third year along with De Parte' who taught the students about magical creatures. Including De Parte' who was also previously a teacher at Beauxbatons. Namora's favorite creature was what was called a Thestral. From what she learned, they were some of the kindest creatures and only those who had seen death could see them.

Her first year at Hogwarts was spent in the library for she was very anxious to get a good grade. She had been sifting through books in the library when she found a book on fantastical creatures. She pulled it out and brought it over to a lounge chair where she sat to read it. That is where she saw a painted picture of a Thestral. They looked demonic almost, yet from the description in the text, they were kind creatures.

Namora had unfortunately missed out on seeing the Thestrals when De Parte' when he did bring one to class. She had caught some kind of sickness that made her skin blister. She had been walking with Elphias down one of the many corridors in Hogwarts, when she felt nauseous. Namora had ignored the feeling and thought that some sleep might help, but when she woke up in the morning, she had blisters all over her body. Jillian had actually taken her to the hospital wing that day. Maybe it was a good thing though that she did not get to go that day for she hadn't ever seen death. If she had been in class that day, she wouldn't have been able to see it. She kind of hoped for someone to just drop dead like Piper or Vanessa or Albus' new friend he was hanging around with, but it would never happened and Namora felt bad for wishing so.

Myra had her wand propped in her tiny hands and squeaked riddikulus. Something popped from out of her wand but it fizzled away. "Oh gobsmacks!" She said in a squeaky voice. Namora had to fake a cough in her scarf when she almost laughed at Myra's attempt. When Namora had collected herself enough, she said: "I think it's done like this." She swished her wand through the air yelling: "riddikulus!" A pop sounded followed by sparkles of silver and blue. "AW! Now that, my students, is what you should hear when you have done the spell right. Good job Miss Ren. Ten points to Ravenclaw!"

Vanessa stuck her tongue out in Namora's direction and Piper yelled something at Vanessa that made her scowl and the professor silenced the students and everyone went back to practicing. "You're that...th-that was...you're amazing..." Myra said to Namora and fluttered her eyes shyly. Namora didn't like Myra, but she did feel bad for her. She hadn't know that the girl had a stuttering problem. "Thank you," Namora replied back to her and then thought to herself. She could try to help her with the spell. She was her partner after all. Namora looked at her and the girl's thoughts drifted into her mind. "I can't do this. I can't do anything right. It's okay. I can get this spell...but I'm not smart like Namora. I don't know what to do." Namora was troubled by her thoughts and only snapped out of it when Myra asked: "Are you alright?" "Oh...Yes. I was just spacing out for a moment there," She said then sighed as she looked at Myra and then said: "Let's see what we can do about the spell." Myra got a small smile on her face and Namora held up her wand to show her. "Do it with me and you'll have it down quicker than you think." Myra eagerly held up her wand and pushed up her glasses. "I'm ready."

The rest of the hour went by fast as Sara successfully replicated the spell along with Jack and and another boy from Hufflepuff that had freckles and red hair. Myra came close to casting the spell, but wasn't quite there yet. Namora had reassured her on their way to potions that the next time they were in Charms class, she would surely get it and, after a long session of Potions, the students made their way to Care of Magical Creatures. The Ravenclaws shared this class with the Gryffindors. It was exciting since they would be working with Thestrals again, but awkward since Albus was also in that same class. She hated that they hadn't talked in a while and that Durmstrang boy was the cause of their faulting friendship.

Aeroden welcomed the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students in his outside classroom. It was still a wonder to most students. The classroom was in a large greenhouse which was similar to Herbology, except magical butterflies and insects of all shapes and colors buzzed around up top in the greenery that clung to the roof. Namora liked the smell (Caramel and flowers) but sometimes it was a little too strong and she had to breath in and out of her mouth very deeply to keep from getting sick.

Today, Professor De Parte' wore large leather gloves and goggles which excited some of the Gryffindor students seated next to her. Namora glanced at Albus, he was across the table from her and was looking to the side purposefully trying to avoid her eyes. Namora sighed and made her way to stand beside Elphias. She didn't talk to him much, but she knew that Elphias and Albus were very close friends. "What is wrong with him?" She whispered to Elphias. He rubbed his temples and shook his head at her. "It's not my place to say..." Namora gave him a blatant look, but knew that she wouldn't get anything more out of him. "Alright, students. Out we go!" The professor said and rushed the students out as they stretched on their own pair of gloves and goggles.

He led them to the edge of the Forbidden Forest where he slouched against an invisible thing which was probably a thestral since it got a gasp from at least half of the students. Namora, Albus, and the rest of the class were utterly confused or disappointed. Namora looked at Elphias, watching his reaction to the thing she could not see. He stared in wonder at it, but also in horror as if something was wrong.

As the few students who did "see" the thestral, Namora took this chance to try and get to Albus. She had thought about her approach so many times that she knew exactly what she was going to say and how she was going to act. She even pinpointed it down to how she would walk up to him.

Namora slouched slightly and looked up from the ground every few seconds, giving off the look that she was shy. When she came closer to Albus, she stared at him now with what she hoped was saddened eyes. When Namora finally reached him, she sighed: "I, I'm truly sorry... for what happened...in the Shrieking Shack..." Albus nodded, but looked as if he was spacing out. "Namora, you were my friend, my friend for years. I don't want to end that friendship... " Namora's heart sank at the word "were." "you were my friend," but it also sounded like there was hope. "... but I don't think that we need to spend all of our time together." Namora's face fell, "Ohhh". Albus, who was taller than her by more than an inch leaned down to where his eyes met hers. "Look, we can still hang out. Like we are in this class," he said as one of the students yelped as a glove was torn off his hand by the Thestral most likely.

Namora looked sideways, avoiding his gaze, "Yeah...". It made her upset because she didn't share a lot of classes with Albus this year. He kind of felt like a brother to her for the past three years. Namora nodded her head again. "I understand." Albus sighed and said: "Hey, why don't you and Queenie and maybe Piper too, have lunch with us.. I mean me, sometime...." Namora was surprised at the offer even though she had gone through this conversation more than a dozen times in her head. She looked at him and she began, without even realizing, reading his mind. "I wish there was another way," Namora furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?" she asked him. Albus tilted his head strangely at her. "I didn't say anything." Namora's eyes widened and she laughed nervously. "Oh." It felt wrong to read his mind. He was her friend. "Ahh!" A student yelled. "Woah," Albus said. "Get me down from here!" A Gryffindor screamed. As she and Albus walked over and joined a group of Ravenclaw students mixed with Gryffindor's gaping about a student hanging from a tree by his robes, she swore to herself that she would never do it again. She would never read his mind.

The students laughed as the boy struggled and De Parte' was oohing and cringing as the boy flailed his arms and legs and fell onto another branch where a loud screech was heard. "THE THESTRAL WON'T HURT YOU! JUST DON'T...STOP FLAILING MR. GALLOWAY!! The students laughed again at the situation and a frantic De Parte' who was trying to shout out instructions to the poor boy. Albus laughed beside her and nudged her with his elbow, "Classic Galloway," he said not looking at her, but smiling. Namora was happy. For that brief moment, it felt as if things between Albus and her had returned back to normal. It felt like they could both go on about their fourth year and be happy, but Namora wouldn't know how much she was wrong about that until it was too late.

~

Namora met up again with Queenie in the room of requirement that night. Namora started off with the drama in Care of Magical Creatures which made her snort and laugh as she told her about the boy flailing his arms about wildly. "Alright, alright.." she said as she tried to control her laughter. She wiped a joyful tear from her cheek and squeezed Namora's hands excitedly. "My sister's comin to Hogwarts!" "Oh really, Tina decided to come. Are you sure she wouldn't rather be studying," Namora said, thinking of the stories Queenie had told her about her sister. Queenie laughed, "Oh, she's comin all right. Just in time for the tournament too." "I can't believe it's this weekend," Namora said. "Piper's brother must be nervous." Queenie nodded, "I know that I would sure be nervous".

"Would you ever do the tournament if you got the chance too?" Queenie asked her. Namora opened her mouth to speak and then closed it, thinking of a good answer. "Well...yes." "Oh?" Queenie said, surprised. "I think that I could handle it. I've studied about it much." "They have books on the tournament?" "Yeah. In the library." "I don't think I would," Queenie said. "I don't wanna get my robes dirtied." Namora laughed. "Fair point."

"Do you know what time it is? "Namora asked her. Queenie shook her head. "Sorry, doll. I don't". "Maybe we should start heading...," Namora started to say when she heard footsteps by the door. Queenie and Namora looked panicickedly at each other. "We need to hide...Namora said as she and Queenie squeezed into a tall cabinet. Namora coughed. "My scarf, it's choking me..." Namora coughed again as she tried to get the thing off her neck. "What if I.." "Ack. No." "Let me just move this way.." Namora shook her head. "No. Not that way!" She whispered loudly. She and Queenie were squished together in the dark, but they could both hear the door open and the whisper of voices. "Shh!" Queenie said and Namora held her breath as best she could.

"What room is this?" a familiar voice said. Then the footsteps came over and they heard the door shut. "I wasn't sure we'd make it past the caretaker for a moment there," that same voice said. Namora could swear that she knew that voice, somewhere. "Should we open the cabinet?" Queenie said. Namora shrugged curiously then whispered back: " We'll see what happens," she said. At the same time, someone on the other side was just as curious as her. "What was that Albus?" A deeper voice said that sent shivers down Namora's spine. Namora searched in the dark for the handle. She needed to get out of the cabinet. She couldn't breathe with the scarf wrapped so tightly around her. Namora pushed against the wooden doors just as someone on the other side pulled the handle at the same time...