The last bell had rang and we were free from classes for the day. It was already edging on five and most of the students were heading to the great hall for dinner. I wasn't really in the mood today. I thought I had been improving in my spell work, but I had embarrassed myself in class by messing up the spell. It had just been a problem of bad focus because the constant chatter of the kids.

So instead of dining on turkey, I sat in the Hufflepuff dorm room moping. There were no other members in the dorm right now and the lights were pretty dim. It was too quiet. I laid on the couch staring at the ceiling for what seemed like forever.

But my silence couldn't last forever. The door slid open and I could hear someone walking in.

"Oh, I finally found you Megan. Is everything okay?" I recognized the voice as my best friend David. 

I told him about how I had messed up the spell in front of the whole class. He just hugged me.

"We all mess up sometimes, but we just have to move on. Right?" He was right. I had to move on, but it was so difficult sometimes. I just wanted to fit in and being laughed at was like hell for me.

"Why don't you try the lighting spell? You can light the fire place so we can get a little bit more light in here."

I sat up slowly. My wand had rolled onto the floor, but David just handed it to me.

I gripped it firmly in my hand, letting the magic flow into it once more. This one was pretty easy. I breathed in and out to calm my heart. I was getting much better at controlling the flow of my energy when it came to this charm. I flicked my wand up and down in a fire motion as I said the magic word. Incendio. I focused my energy onto the wood in the fireplace. A little flame jumped onto the fire and it quickly grew. I had definitely improved from the time I could just make smoke appear with this charm.

David was smiling playfully. He knew I could do it and I did to.

"It was just because I've practiced this one so much. If it was the softening charm, it would have been much worse. That's the spell I messed up in class today. Everyone was talking and I couldn't focus. I was closing my eyes, just trying to block out the sound. So, the teacher singled me out and I failed under pressure. I couldn't just focus." 

He smiled at me still, gesturing with his hand for me to go ahead. He barely spoke but I could tell he wanted me to perform the spell for him.

I decided I would perform the spell on the apple on the table. I made sure to focus all my energy onto the apple and imagine the apple in my mind. It was hard with David watching me, but I couldn't let thoughts stray in. It was much easier to keep my mind focused with just one person in the room. Spongify. As I recited the word, I made sure to make the right motion with my wand. I made a small S-motion with my wand and ended it with a switch. When I had finished, I exhaled. David reached over and picked up the apple. I was unsure if it had worked, but he tossed into my hands. I could feel the rubbery texture. 

I smiled at David. "Thanks so much for helping me." I did a careful swish and flick with my wand. I focused on lighting my wand as I uttered the word under my breath. Lumos. I made the counter clockwise loop and my wand lit up. "You've really.....brightened.....up my day," I told him. We both laughed.