These Fifty Ficlets are dedicated to the Trio, who kept us going from Day One. The timespan will vary, and canon may not always apply. Some ficlets may be linked to each other, and some may be years apart... But isn't that what makes it more fun?

Oh, and if wanna pick a number it'll be dedicated to yous. So PM me and get a dedication thingymabob.

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1. Accio 2. Avada Kedavra 3. Braking Charm 4. Blasting Curse 5. Colloportus 6. Crucio 7. Confundus 8. Diffindo 9. Disapparate 10. Engorgio 11. Expecto Patronum 12. Furnunculus 13. Flagrate 14. Horn Tongue 15. Hurling Hex 16. Impedimenta 17. Imperio 18. Incarcerous 19. Jelly Legs 20. Knitting Charm 21. Langlock 22. Legilimens 23. Levicorpus 24. Lumos 25. Mobilicorpus 26. Morsmordre 27. Muffliato 28. Nox 29. Obliviate 30. Oppugno 31. Orchideous 32. Petrificus Totalus 33. Point Me 34. Protego 35. Quietus 36. Reducto 37. Relashio 38. Rictusempra 39. Sectumsempra 40. Sonorus 41. Scourgify 42. Silencio 43. SpeRevelio 44. Stupefy 45. Tarantallegra 46. Tergeo 47. Twitchy Ears Hex 48. Unbreakable Vow 49. Wingardium Leviosa 50. Waddiwasi



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Jelly Legs [19]
Ron was sprawled out on the common room floor, inches away from the blazing fire. The wind was howling loudly, rain splashing against the common room windows. Hermione and Harry were sat on the sofa nearby, flicking through their Defence Against the Dark Arts textbooks.

"I don't see why you don't just learn it all, Ron. We could be examined on any one of them," Hermione muttered, throwing her book of spells at him.

"Whoa, watch where that's going," he caught it before it landed in the fire, then flicked through the papers, barely reading anything. "Plus, seeing as it's a Defence Against the Dark Arts test, why the heck would we want to make our opponent have Jelly Legs? Surely there's better stuff to do."

"-Like stun," Harry was with Ron on this one. Jelly Legs? Ridiculous.

“Yeah, and… Well, there’s two hundred spells in here, and I know almost all of them. What are the chances of the one pointless spell being the one we get tested on?” Ron looked at Hermione, wanting to see how she’d react.

“It’s late. I’m going to bed. And fine. Don’t study. You’ll be the one complaining tomorrow.” She rushed off to the girls dormitories.

“Tomorrow?” Ron asked, cluelessly.

Scourgify [41]
Ron ran through the corridors, Harry beside him. They were fifteen minutes late for their Transfiguration lesson, all down to Professor Snape wanting them to clean up the potions lab. It hadn’t even been their fault this time. Some Slytherins had brewed a corrosive potion, and Ron Weasley got the blame.

“Running’s not allowed, Potty Weasel,” a gleeful voice belonging to a certain poltergeist echoed the corridor. Peeves twirled in the air, then lowered himself to Harry’s eye level. He stared for a moment, then blew a raspberry before shooting upwards to the ceiling.

Ron looked at Harry, not knowing what had just happened. However, Harry knew that the longer they spent here, the later they would be, and the more angry McGonagall would be..

“Potty Weasel are late? Naughty naughty!” Peeves chortled as he emptied a bucket of mud on Harry.

Ron looked bewildered, then raised his wand. “Scourgify.”

Unluckily for him, Professor McGonagall had opened the door to find out what the racket was, her eyes falling on a mud-covered Harry being cleaned by Ron.

“Potter! Weasley!” She shreiked, not noticing the Poltergeist drift away, rolling in the air and laughing.

Twitchy Ears Hex [47]
After a long and tiring day, the trio made their way back to the common room, having just had triple charms, in which Professor Flitwick tried to summarise the whole year’s material.

“It’s almost as stupid as the jelly hex!” Ron stated, referring to the Twitchy Ear Hex. “Why in the name of Merlin would you want to make someone’s ears twitch? I know it’s not Defence Against the Dark Arts, but c’mon, ears?”

“Well, Ron. Maybe if your opponent relied on it’s ears for something more than noise detection, having them twitch would cause interference.” She tried to sound as convincing as she could, but a grin broke out on her face.

Harry looked at Hermione, eyes wide open. “Hermione? Can you name one creature that relies on it’s ears for breathing?”

“Okay, it is quite pointless,” Hermione laughed. “But it’s on the course specification, we need to know about it. Yes, pointless.”

“Or not,” Ron chuckled, standing next to a portrait of Sir Cadogen. The Knight was sat on a barrel at the edge of the portrait, polishing his helmet.

“How dare you curse such a Brave Noble Knight!” Cadogen ran to get his sabre, his ears twitching alternately.

Wingardium Leviosa [49]
The sun was blanketed by a patch of cotton wool clouds, it’s rays sweeping across the grounds. It was Hogsmeade time.

The Gryffindor 5th year group were making their way down to Hogsmeade, wanting to stock up on supplies before going home. Some, like Harry, wanted sweets and things to keep them occupied. Similarly, Ron wanted to get some Fred and George worthy pranks.

However, a group not so cheerful were hanging around the main Hogwarts exit. Consisting of only Slytherins with leader Draco Malfoy, they were not so quietly talking about their fellow students.

“One day I’m going to get him!” Ron muttered as a Hufflepuff was pushed to the floor. Argus Filch didn’t even notice, he was just stood there watching Hagrid build something in the distance.

“One day….” Harry muttered, reaching into his pocket for his wand. He caught Hermione’s eye as he pulled the wand out and quickly looked away.

“Harry. What are you doing with that?” Hermione said sharply.

“He’s going to let Young Draco taste his own medicine. And I’m going to help him,” Ron mimicked Harry, pulling his wand out.

The Slytherins were stood near the grass path, a tree surrounded by bees was nearby. Harry and Ron knew what to do, and both said “Wingardium Leviosa.”

The swarm of bees moved as if being pulled in a net, and surrounded the flock of Slytherins, along with Argus Filch.

“Arrghhh!” Filch shouted, running into the sun and away from the bees.

Disc: In comparison to canon, this one's complete fiction.

Levicorpus [23]
The dust was bobbing up and down as the house elf wiped away, watching his masters practice their spell casting abilities.

Harry and Sirius were stood at opposite ends of the miniature library, Grimmauld Place. Ron and Hermione were sat nearby, along with Remus Lupin, watching the two men duel.

It had been decided that, if anything were to happen, it would be best that the teens would be prepared for a duel, much to Molly Weasley’s dismay. Sirius and Remus had volunteered to be the test dummies, but didn’t expect what they were getting.

“Aim lower, Harry,” Sirius said, addressing Ron and Hermione, also. “You don’t want to aim too high, the head’s a tricky shot. Body shots are always the best, and you can never be too low.” He looked over at Ron who had recently managed to burn a hole into the carpet he was standing on. Ron grinned and blushed.

“End of the tips, Padfoot. Round 4, go!” Remus said, addressing his co-host.

Harry stretched his wand arm and muttered an inaudible curse, sending a streak of light at Sirius. Three seconds later Sirius was hanging upside down, looking quite comfortable and reaching for a book.

“Levicorpus. Clever, Harry. Although you’d be restricted outdoors,” Remus pointed his wand at Sirius and let him down, with the counter-spell, Liberacorpus.

Nox [28]
“Hagrid… Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Hermione said, following the half-giant through the darkened forest.

“Yeah, Hagrid. This is…” Ron paused for a second, his eyes fearful. “Hagrid, we’re not going to go see Aragog’s buddies, are we?”

Hagrid chuckled, then kept walking. “’s all in the surprise… Speaking of which, turn yer wands off, we don’t wanna scare the little fella, he’s got a nasty temper.”

Hermione did what she was told, muttering “nox” under her breath, Ron did not.

“Hagrid, where are we going, and why are we going there? Couldn’t you have waited for Harry to get back from his trip with Dumbledore?” Ron was slightly scared; Harry had been gone since daybreak, and they were in the middle of the forbidden forest. It was dark.

“Here we are, told ye that we were close,” Hagrid ignored Ron’s last question. “Right, er… That wasn’t there yesterday.”

The half-giant’s eyes fell to the ground as he looked at a blue Wellington boot. Ron’s wand light flashed across the boot, making the illusion of the boot shining.

Hagrid reached down to pick it up, but Hermione beat him to it.

TBC…

SpeRevelio [43]
“SpeRevelio!” The witch enchanted, wand aimed at the boot. It began to glow, red hot, white hot, this was definitely cursed.

A few seconds after blinding the three the light went out and all that remained was a block of charcoal, shaped like a boot. It gave off a pungent smell, similar to Lord Borrbad eggs.

“What. Was. That?” Ron said, wiping his eyes and taking a step back, avoiding the smell.

Hagrid paused, his eyes wide and fearful, darting from side to side. “Er, Ron, Hermione, maybe it’d be better if ye were to go back to the grounds. Dunno why Dumbledore ha’n’t turned up yet.” Hagrid looked worried, his eyes now fixed on the remains of the boot.

“Hagrid!” A voice shouted from their left.

Ron and Hermione both raised their wands immediately, Ron shouting “lumos” and Hermione preparing to launch a hex. The wand light illuminated and elderly man, a young man beside him.

They both lowered their wands as Harry and Dumbledore ran towards them.

“Hagrid, to the castle now! That blaze can only be down to one person, and I know who!” Dumbledore fled away from them, not bothering to even look at them. Something was wrong.

TBC…

Orchideous [31]
Harry, Ron and Hermione were sat in the common room along with a few Gryffindors, watching the Weasley twins get up to their usual mischief and entertain. It was Christmas time, and most had gone home, leaving the castle quiet and deserted. Even the Hogwarts grounds were blanketed in untouched snow, no footprints present anywhere.

The Twins had been demonstrating their tricks of the trade but were now telling amusing stories - Fred was talking to them about a certain Ravenclaw he’d asked to the ball.

“And then she told me to go away! I had just made a bunch of flowers appear out of my wand and she tells me to get lost.” Fred rolled his eyes whilst the rest of the students laughed.

“Yeah, how harsh of her…” George muttered, before raising his wand and looking at his identical twin. “Fred… I was wondering…” A rainbow assortment of flowers appeared from the end of his wand as he muttered “Orchideous.”

Fred stared at his twin, trying to think of which spell would cause the most humiliation, until Harry spoke aloud.

“George… did you just eat one of the toffees?”

George wasn’t there, however. He had sped off to the bathroom.

Lumos [24]
The three students crept through the darkened corridors, knowing that they only had a minute before their fellow members of the DA would begin to follow them.

They were getting ready for the war, and understood that practice out in the open was a definite requirement. Without this valuable understanding they could be caught off guard by the Death Eaters; this would not be a good thing.

“Raise your wand, and light it, I don’t think that anyone will be in this corridor. Especially at this time,” Harry addressed Neville.

Neville did what he was told. “Lumos.”

Meanwhile, one floor above them, Ron and Hermione were accompanying Luna Lovegood, also making their way to the same staircase which their friends were targeting.

Something fell to the floor, emitting a large crashing noise. The object was behind Ron and Hermione, but the echo made it seem to be in front.

“Stick to the wall!” Hermione told Luna. The Gryffindor then pulled out a golden galleon, holding it tight in her hand. It began to get warm.

Downstairs, Harry had heard an echo, and now felt the warmth of the galleon. He nodded, then turned around. “Back to the Room of Requirement.”

Sectumsempra [39]
Draco sighed, kicking the pebbles at his feet. They had been cheated out of the Quidditch match, or more specifically, he had been cheated out by the brat that was Harry Potter.

He twirled his wand in his right hand, sending sparks and smoke at the nearby greenery. Something wriggled through the sparks, fearful; it was a small garden mouse.

“Sectumsempra!” He muttered, causing the mouse to become inanimate.

“OI! Malfoy!” Ron Weasley shouted. Ron, Hermione and Harry had been stood nearby and were watching Malfoy, expecting him to harm something, or someone.

“Shut up, Weasel.” Malfoy sneered coldly. “Or maybe I’ll…”

“Or maybe you’ll what, Malfoy?!” Harry loudly said. He didn’t like Malfoy, and the last hour had just pushed the dislike to the limit. Malfoy had attempted to ignite Harry’s broomstick.

“Shut up, Potter. You wouldn’t know the damage I could cause.” Draco’s voice trembled slightly, the Slytherin was realising that he was alone and outnumbered. He had never been in such a confrontation without Crabbe and Goyle.

“Oh, just leave him!” Hermione said, turned her shoulder and walking off towards the castle. The two Gryffindors followed, leaving the lone Slytherin alone and fearful.

Knitting Charm [20]
Hermione was sat beside the fire with a bunch of needles sat in her lap which began to jump about merrily, forming wondrous patterns. Ron looked in amazement at the bushy haired girl whilst Harry was busy flicking through a Quidditch magazine which Seamus had left.

Most students had returned home for Christmas, but as usual, the trio had stayed at Hogwarts. It would have been a good holiday, too, if Hermione hadn’t stumbled upon a house elf who had been crying.

“It’s terrible. She was just stood there, trembling, with tears flowing through her face. If you saw her your heart would break,” Hermione recalled the story for the seemingly thousandth time. “So get your wands out and help me. There are many house elves who need Christmas presents.”

“If you cared about it so much, surely you’d make the presents yourself instead of bewitching the needles to do the work themselves?” Ron questioned her, knowing instantaneously that he had landed himself into a pit. “What about the needle’s feelings?” He muttered, digging himself deeper into his hole.

Harry threw the Quidditch magazine down, his mouth shaped like an upright banana on it’s side. “It’s the holidays… and you two are bickering on about the feelings of needles?” He pulled a face at both Ron and Hermione, then spoke again. “Let’s go see Hagrid.”

Silencio [42]
The trio ran towards the castle, accompanied by Hagrid. The Hufflepuff quidditch team were walking alongside the paths, probably just having finished a training session. They stared at the four bodies running towards the castle, their chattering voices dying down until a pin drop could be heard.

Hermione tripped slightly, but, thanks to Hagrid, didn’t fall. However, as she turned to thank him she saw two hooded figures at the entrance to the forest.

“Harry! Look!” She pointed at the two, and they had become aware that their presence was detected.

The Hufflepuff quidditch team gasped as they saw Hermione point at the hooded cloaks. One dropped her broom, another went for their wand. Two began to shout and scream. Loudly.

“Silencio!” Hermione muttered, aiming her wand in the direction of the Quidditch team. She wasn’t usually one to enchant students, but their screaming could really get annoying.

Harry and Ron, on the other hand, were busy trying to fend off the two who appeared to have cloned. Four Death Eaters were present now, two at opposite ends and a pair in the centre.

Ron looked over to Harry, and then to Hermione. If this was going to break out into a duel, they’d better be ready. Harry nodded, almost reading Ronald’s mind, Hermione shrugged, then nodded also. It was time.

Morsmodre [26]
“Morsmodre!” One of them shouted, launching a green serpent out of his wand and into the night sky above the forest.

The Hufflepuffs jumped back, as did Ron and Hermione. Harry was prepared and shot a red stunner across the field, directed at the Death Eater.

In the background the old man was chuckling loudly, his voice so soft.

“Harry, you have proven yourself and your friends.” Dumbledore spoke aloud, moving his hands in a weird dance routine whilst looking at the Hufflepuffs. “I was unsure about your friends, but they have shown themselves to be able.” Dumbledore wiped his forehead then gestured for them to follow him. “If you will, I’m feeling slightly cold.”

They followed in silence, wondering what in the world was happening. Hagrid seemed to know what was going on, breaking the silence whilst humming and grinning to himself.

Dumbledore stood by his gargoyle statue, then finally broke the hum-filled silence. “That was all a test. Those Death Eaters, fake. And the result? successful.” He smiled, revealing a few teeth. “It’s time I let you two see what Harry already saw.” He said to Ron and Hermione, Hagrid in the background beaming with excitement.

Accio [1]
They were cleaning again… Did the house ever stay clean, or were there rodents planted with the sole intention of causing death by dirt?

As if degnoming the garden wasn't bad enough, the Weasley’s had also been notified of another magical creature nesting in their garden.

“A Leprechaun!?” Ron shouted as his mother told him. Hermione’s eyes widened, whilst Harry just laughed. “You’re not serious?”

“Yes. It seems the smapogians caused the leprechaun to move in and make itself a home.” Arthur Weasley tried to make himself sound serious… he didn’t do a very good job.

Two hours later, Ron, Hermione and Harry were busy in the garden setting out a form of trap that would lure the Leprechaun, but weren’t having the best of luck. The spray, a form of crushed smapogian, was meant to lure the leprechaun out of hiding. It would then be carted away by the Ministry.

“Harry, have you got the goo with you?” Hermione asked, knowing the answer already. “I told you to get it before we came out.”

Harry raised his wand and pointed it at the jar by the door. “Accio Smape Goo!” The jar flew towards the wizard, he caught it in his right hand. “Happy now?”

Waddiwasi [50]
Peeves was giggling in the air, his arms waving about madly. He was enjoying the situation, but the three teens below him were not.

“Peeves!” Harry shouted. “Stop throwing the dungbombs and shutup! You know that Umbridge will kill us if she finds it!”

The Poltergeist suddenly fell silent, his face clearly showing his expression. He beamed, his filthy teeth gleaming in the suns rays. “Oh Mr Potty, we don’t wants that!” His sarcastic tone was infuriating Hermione, so much that she had now pulled her wand out.

“Stop it, Peeves! It was funny, but now it’s not. So please stop and annoy someone else. We actually have O.W.Ls to study for!”

Peeves snickered, realising where exactly he was. The shot was tricky, but if he could manage it, oh the amusement.

He pulled a wad of gum from his mouth and threw it at the door of Argus Filch, the gum swiftly inserting itself into the keyhole.

“Bye Miss Potty Granger!” Peeves exclaimed as he drifted away, noticing that someone was approaching their position.

“Ohhhh! We must get rid of him!” Hermione said, pointing her wand at the gum. “Waddiwasi!”

The piece of gum shot out of the keyhole and took a left turn, speeding until it hit the right nostril of Mrs Norris.

“POTTER!” Argus Filch cried.

Blasting Curse [4]
The cursed beams of light darted past Harry, one almost clipping his left ear. Ron and Hermione were taking cover behind a large set of boxes, occasionally forming shield charm around themselves and Harry.

“Harry, get back!” Hermione cried, peeking around the box and sending a lilac beam of light at one of the masked men. “You need to get into cover, more of them are coming!”

Harry took a step back as a gust of wind blew, causing the rope bridge he was stood on to sway. His ankle twisted. He fell.

“Harry!” Ron shouted, jumping out from behind the boxes and diving to the floor. His reaction was almost instant as he launched himself forwards, aiming to pull Harry back and off the bridge. Boy, the Potter kid was heavy.

Grunting and panting, Ron managed to avoid the curses being launched at them and pull Harry back to the stack of boxes.

Hermione used the moment of safety and launched out, her whole body exposed and facing the Death Eaters.

“Confringo!” She shouted, sending a strong blasting curse at the bridge supports below the Death Eaters. The witch watched the wooden support beams as they crumbled to the ground.

Ron stared in awe.

Legilimens [22]
Harry’s legs ached as he stood outside the damp cold dungeon belonging to no other than Severus Snape, Potions Master and Legilimens extraordinaire.

“Enter,” ordered a cold voice.

Walking his slowest, Harry made his way in and took a seat by the Potions Master’s desk, not bothering to wait for Snape to offer him a seat; Snape looked busy as he stood by his jar of picked newts.

The force suddenly hit Harry before he had time to react, Snape’s wand raised from behind, his eyes all over Harry’s thoughts.

The troll took a swing at the toilet cubicles, his giant club destroying half the cubicle walls.

“Harryy!” Ron shouted, jumping at the troll, wand in his arm.

The troll didn’t feel the extra weight on his back but as the long wooden stick slid into his nostril he began to jerk, causing Ron and his bogey covered wand to hit the floor.

A small brown haired girl slipped out from one of the crushed cubicles, her hands tightly holding her books. The troll took another swing…


“NO!!”

Snape fell back, as Harry fought the Head of Slytherin, who glared. The pickled newt wriggled in it’s jar, disapprovingly.

Note: Whilst rereading Philosophers Stone I noticed that for
#22 it was Harry's wand that got snottified, not Ron's. Oops.

Diffindo [8]
The giant rolled his head and shook the lone tree, standing in the forest. The tree had not always been alone, but the little brother of the Keeper of the Keys had changed things.

“Hermione, come on!” Ron shouted, keeping his distance from the clearly infuriated Grawp. “The sun’s setting, we have to be in or-…”

“- and since when have you cared about the rules, Ronald?” Hermione burst out, standing closer to the giant yet not within arms length.

Harry looked into the sky, the sun had already disappeared from view; the fine rays diffracting off of the many Hogwarts towers. “Okay, we go in five, Hagrid’ll be happy enough if we tell him we were with Grawp the whole day, it’s not like that’s a lie.”

Hermione stared at Harry, contemplating the idea. After a moment of two she slowly nodded her head, then turned to face Grawp.

“We’re going to go now, Hagrid should be back soon. Is that okay?” She addressed the giant who stared at her, not understanding anything she had said.

“Hagger?!” He finally said.

“Yes, he’ll be back soon! Goodbye, Grawp.” Harry said, turning to find his foot tied up in the branches of a fallen tree.

“Diffindo,” he pointed his wand at the branches, slicing them apart.

Horn Tongue [14]
“Potter! Weasley!” Snarled a cold voice. “Clean away your cauldron, I’d hate to see the ancient dungeon floor fade away due to your incompetence at potions. Even Longbottom has managed to brew a decent Fanabaker potion.” Snape pointed at the silky green liquid in the cauldron at the far edge; it began to give off a putrid smell.

Ron turned to Harry, and then to Snape, wand raised. His face was almost as fiery as his hair, yet his eyes were ice white.

Snape merely laughed. “Oh, has heroic Potter been replaced by King Weasley? What are you going to do, horn my tongue?”

Taking a deep breath, he raised his wand and began to move his lips…

“Ron, c’mon. We’ll be late for potions!” Harry and Hermione were stood next to Ronald, not blaming him for falling asleep. Professor Binns must have invented the term boredom.

“What did you do that for?!” Ron grumbled, half amused and half asleep, and wholeheartedly serious. “I was about to horn Snape’s tongue!”

Hermione rolled her eyes, Harry snickered.

Petrificus Totalus [32]
“Just look at him!” Ron muttered, his eyes glaring at the silver-haired boy across the hall who was waving his arms pathetically in the air. “No one finds that funny except the low-lives in Slytherin.”

For Ron was referring to Malfoy's arm movements, a slight exaggeration of Ronald Weasley’s last quidditch match. In Ron’s defence, having two bludgers and a quaffle charging at you would be enough to make anyone do that.

“Just ignore it, Ron. It’ll pass over,” Harry said, helping himself to some toast. “It always does.” He tried to make his tone of voice be reassuring, but there was an edge of doubt to it.

“Like it matters. I’ll be off the team sooner or later. If it wasn’t for you catching the snitch…” He stopped talking, his mind drowning in thoughts of what would have happened.

Taking hold of his wand, Harry pointed it at the now flapping Draco Malfoy. With a little flick Harry muttered Petrificus Totalus. Malfoy froze in his flap, then fell face first onto the floor, his plate of beans sliding off the table and landing on him.

Ron laughed. Harry laughed. Hermione grumbled.

Note: This was going to be "breaking charm,"
until I realised that it wasn't "breaking", but
"braking" charm. So Malfoy's chair didn't
break.

...cause I'm so smart. I accidentally redid Petrificus Totalus due to not updating my list last time... soooo, here's the newer one, which (oddly enough!) involves Harry casting a spell on Malfoy! xD

Petrificus Totalus [32]
“Wands at the ready,” spoke a hoarse voice. “On my count, three. two, one…Mr. Malfoy, no!”

Draco Malfoy had raised his wand, aiming at Harry Potter’s head. Unluckily for him, Harry Potter had his eyes on Malfoy, and his fingers on his wand. As Malfoy opened his mouth, taking breath before cursing Potter, Harry shouted “Petrificus Totalus!”

The blond haired Slytherin looked petrified, caught between sending a curse and his normal stance. He slowly began to fall, and had Lupin not been there, would have hit the ground with a thud. Luckily, Remus Lupin had muttered an inaudible incantation which allowed the boy to fall with soft contact.

“He had that coming to him,” Ron muttered as they were leaving the class. Hermione, on the other hand, looked less pleased.

“Harry, you can’t just do that!”

“But he was going to hit me! Would you rather he do that?” He said angrily.

“No, but you can’t put Lupin in that position.” She was evidently frustrated, and rushed away.

“Don’t worry mate, Lupin enjoyed it as much as we did.” Ron smiled.

Tergeo [46]
Halloween at Hogwarts was always a spectacle, even when mountain trolls paid a visit. However, the scare of a loose Sirius Black meant that the usual decorations would not be in place. It was rumoured that Black was hiding in the castle grounds; Dumbledore would not risk endangering the lives of the students.

Consequently, the Gryffindor common room was filled with laughter, cheers and food. Several ghosts could be seen in a secluded section of the room, celebrating Nick’s Death Day with a rotting fish, expelling those with a sense of smell.

Harry and Hermione were sat by the fire, Ron sprawled out on the floor and the Weasley twins nearby, in their usual cheerful selves. This time they were juggling the cream cakes which had been too close to the Ghosts’ fish - so close that the cream was slowly turning green.

“Fred, George! If you drop those they will make a mess of the common room!” Percy shouted, marching at them.

“Not if they don’t land on the common room,” Fred snickered, then launched it at Percy. Percy ducked and it would have hit the floor... if Ron hadn’t been laying there.

“Tergeo!” Hermione flicked her wand at Ronald, cleaning him up. Everyone laughed, even Ron; most likely due to George chasing Percy with two cakes.

Disapparate [9]
“Dobby shall helps Harry Potter. Dobby oweses Harry Potter everything. If Harry Potter hadn’t freed me from the bad masters…” he paused, his eyes darted around the common room, locking onto the fire.

“Grab him!” Harry shouted, knowing Dobby too well.

Ron and George leapt at Dobby and caught him in midair - he had launched himself at the fire.

“Dobby! They’re not your masters anymore. You can say anything bad you want about them,” Hermione tried calming the enraged house elf down.

“Yeah, c’mon Dobby. We all know the Malfoy’s are horrid people… worst of the worst. Scum of the scum,” Fred could have carried on, but caught Harry’s eye and stopped. Harry was staring at the crowd of first years that had gathered around the fire - Dobby had attracted some attention.

“Everybody look!” George shouted, pointed to the far corner of the common room. “Oh my! There’s a dragon outside!!”

The crowd let out a unison “eeeee” and ran towards the far window.

Hermione, Ron and Harry each let out a snigger. George beamed, then followed the crowd, playing along with his story.

“Dobby! Go. We’ll meet you outside the come and go room. See if Winky can come,” Harry said, his voice low.

“Yes Sirs!” And with that the Elf disapparated.

Flagrate [13]
Greenhouse Six had always been one of the busier Greenhouses during lessons, yet there was always some form of space hidden behind the tall green venomous plants. However, this lesson even the plants were competing for their ground - most likely due to the presence of both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff house.

“You’ll need to grab the roots firmly,” Professor Sprout demonstrated, pulling out a misshaped blue potato with the most peculiar orange tentacular roots. “Once you have the roots fully out, you need to gently heat them.”

“I’ve got it!” Neville beamed, showing his slimy orange roots to Harry. He peeked over to look at Harry’s attempt, and then turned away.

“This. Is. The. Most. Ridiculous. Thing. Ever!” Ron was pulling on his blue potato, but with no luck. “Harry, is yours doing anything?”

“Ron, like this,” Hermione twisted her spud, and slowly but surely, with no needed brute force, it slipped out.

“Hermione, I think I…” what he thought was never said, however. The tentacles began to wrap themselves around his left wrist. “Aargghhh!”

“Heat it, Ron! Quick!” Hermione looked concerned, Harry was laughing wildly.

“Flagrate!” He pointed his wand at his left wrist. A burst of flames darted at the tentacles, causing them to shrivel and retreat into their blue shell. A cry from Ron soon followed.

“OW! My wrist!”

Tarantallegra [45]
“RUN!”

Harry, Ron and Neville were running from the forbidden forest, wands beaming and lighting the floor below them. It was a pitch black sky, and eerily silent, yet somewhere in the forest…

Hermione appeared from behind a great boulder, her wand raised and pointing behind the boys.

“What is it?!” She had been making sure that no one from the castle would stumble on their attempts at finding something in the forest.

“It’s there!” Harry shouted, slowing down to the point of rest, then leaning onto the boulder and catching his breath back.

“Well, no one from the castle’s made an attempt to come down, so Malfoy’s ‘Potter’s going to make a scene in the grounds at midnight’ didn’t work.” Hermione muttered, lowering her wand and turning to face the grand doors of the castle.

“Hermione, look!” Ron pointed towards a shadow approaching them, which soon appeared to be Hufflepuff, Zacharias Smith.”

‘Oh, him.” She let out a sigh of relief. “He’s no problem.”

“Tarantallegra!”

The Hufflepuff danced. The Gryffindors laughed. They hadn't quite forgiven him about the Quidditch commentary.

Point Me [34]
Snow flakes fell slowly, settling to blanket the castle grounds. Noise emerged from the castle, getting louder and louder until the doors blasted open and a dozen students ran out, setting their footprints in the snow.

“The first to find all twelve shall be awarded generously,” Dumbledore smiled, waving his hand in a motion of sweeping across the castle grounds. “You may work in groups,” his eyes hovered over a group of Gryffindors and a Ravenclaw, “though the prize shall remain the same. Good luck!”

The teachers had decided to lighten up the mood by hiding twelve enormously small trees around the grounds. They had been grown by Hagrid, then enchanted to be the size of matchboxes.

The Weasley’s had remained at Hogwarts… well, unless you counted Percy, who had gone to visit a fellow Prefect… But together, along with Luna and Neville, they set off into the grounds, searching for the trees.

“Point me!” Neville muttered, his wand lying freely on his palm. The wand spun for a moment then pointed, not to north, but to a snow pile.

“Neville! How did you do that?” Ron was astounded, Neville had configured a spell to do something else.

“Magic!”

As Neville pulled out the small tree, the Professors standing a few metres behind smiled, and Harry was sure that Dumbledore had winked.