Gillygate - 9. A Thwarted Attempt

Transfiguration was taught in a large and bright classroom by Professor Harcourt, he was the youngest teacher I'd seen at Hogwarts but exceptionally talented and intelligent. He was the least authoritarian and most popular among the students, notably the girls. His face was slightly unshaven but neat, he was of average height and stature but good to look at. Despite his easy-going nature he never let students off the hook when it came to homework and didn't tolerate noise above a certain level in his classes. Instead of robes he was rather taken by silver pinstripe suits.

Like Charms I shared this class with Quintin. I saw him standing outside the door with a Ravenclaw buddy beside him. He looked up at my approach with wide eyes. I scowled and faced forward, making my way into class while Kiena went awkward as she kept pace beside me. We took our seats. To the left Rod smiled when he saw me and looked away. He was sitting with a group of popular Gryffindor boys again, I wondered if they knew he was gay.

"Good afternoon boys and girls," Professor Harcourt started strolling between desks as everyone was settling in "I know it's the last class of the day and you must be eager to relax, play some Quidditch or get started on your mountain-stacks of homework… but we need those thinking caps on! I'll be collecting your three-scroll report on Human Transfiguration after marking the roll. But first," he stopped with hands in his pockets "everyone take a teacup from the store cupboard, we're going to be transfiguring them into gerbils. Focus, because I expect you to master this spell by the end of the lesson. Tomorrow we're moving on to turning a Puffskein into a paperweight."

Desk chairs squeaked as we all stood again, I waited for Quintin to go back to his seat before fetching a teacup.

At the end of class I almost didn't stop Rod because he was with his intimidatingly popular friends. After a deliberation I jogged down the hall and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and his friends stopped talking, looked at me weirdly.

"It's okay guys, I'll meet you down by the Quidditch pitch." Rod said to his buddies and they left.

"Hey… I was thinking of… reading Gillygate tonight, if you wanted to join me…"

He cracked a bemused smirk at my dumb code. Our classmates were walking by and I didn't want them to know Gillygate was a place we were leaving school grounds to go to.

"Not tonight, Philkin. Thanks to Quidditch practice I'm going to be up all night finishing my essay for Alchemy."

"Okay. I mean, I have homework too. I was just wondering if you wanted to go- read it with me." I corrected myself, keeping my voice low and failing in my attempt at not looking suspicious. Rod remained his confident and calm self.

"You can go without me," he leaned in to murmur back with a smile "Just don't tell many people. One or two should be fine, but only if you trust them completely. Cause otherwise we all risk expulsion. I told you and not any of my teammates cause it's a good place for us to- you know." He jerked his head. Smiled in farewell as he turned to leave.

I let out a breath and then made my way to the library. It was time to get started on homework.

Kiena had known where to find me. We sat in an alcove and shared an old copy between us of Potion Opuscule by Arsenius Jigger as we worked on our Potions report.

"We have to make sure our answers are worded differently or Professor Melisend will know we were helping each other." She stated. "You done with this page?"

"Almost… yes." I watched while she flicked back to the index and then forward to find the ingredients list we needed "I should've asked her to let me practice with the ingredients on the weekend. My skills are poor."

"It was a bad weekend for you," she stated while scribbling stuff down. "My potion-making skills are shoddy too. It's a shame that subject is a requirement for so many jobs."

"And that transfiguration spell was hard. My gerbil couldn't make any noise."

"Mine couldn't walk. Also the wine I made in Charms class tasted too acidic."

"Why does school have to be so hard…?" I moped while writing out my answers. "That reminds me, I have something I want to show you. Uh, later though."

There was too much risk of being overheard. Kiena gave me a look before returning her focus on our work. When dinnertime came around I ate a roast meal with vegetables and had cherry pie for desert. I tried to limit the cherry pie, as my only exercise was going for runs each day along the lakeside bank. There was time to go after dinner since it was early evening but I was deterred by thoughts of Gillygate. Something about that place was so very magical. More so than Hogwarts, which I was well used to.

It was private, secret, rustic. Isolated in those yellowed fields. Too far for the Ministry's trace to pick up on our magic, probably. A room to myself, an escape. Was it the aesthetic that made it so alluring to me? Probably the sense of freedom in that empty plot of land. I wanted to go back.

I started aimlessly walking the corridors at a casual pace, just waiting until nobody was in sight before I could attempt summoning the Room of Requirement. The Astronomy tower was around the bend when I slowed to a stop. Looked around and strained my ears to listen. The nearest footsteps and laughter were distant. I thought I might be safe, but then I was caught by the Bloody Baron.

A medieval ghost in chains and silver blood, fading out of the tower and eying me with a blank stare. I turned and left, made my way around the corner. Nobody was in sight here either. I was too hesitant, I deliberated too long. Then the Bloody Baron followed me around the corner.

"You look rather suspicious, young Hufflepuff!" He had a sharp voice, I jumped.

"Just heading back to my common-room."

"See that you do." He answered before roaring "About-face! Chop, chop!"

Abandoning the idea of visiting Gillygate I walked quickly away. All the while getting shooed by the Slytherin ghost. I considered trying to hex him but wasn't sure what spells would work on one so intangible, plus making him into an enemy didn't sound wise either.

That night I was with Kiena, the two of us sitting atop my bed with an assortment of Honeydukes lollies between us.

"So the story is a boy in Slytherin called Murdac Noyers- he's in our year." Kiena was explaining gossip while helping herself to Fudge Flies.

"Oh yeah, I know his face."

"Well he's dating Paumera Ross. She's a Ravenclaw we were sort of friendly with back in our third year, we did Care of Magical Creatures with her."

"Yeah, I remember her."

"They were having sex. He did an engorgement charm on his penis and passed out cause he lost blood flow to his head. He had to get it treated by Madam Merrypot in the infirmary."

"No way!" We tried to keep our snickering down and failed. The boy next-door stuck his head around my curtain.

"Girls aren't allowed in the boys dormitories."

"He's gay, you dingus. It's not like we're gonna do anything." Kiena spat back.

"Dingus?" he looked confused but left us anyway.

"Nobody understands our Muggle phrases." She shook her head.

I started opening up a Chocolate Frog "You know, Rod certainly doesn't need to use an engorgement charm…"

"Based on the rumours I've heard, no he doesn't."

"Goes by Rod for a reason then." At my statement Kiena had another bout of giggles. "He also does Alchemy, like Quintin does."

"Smart, talented and hot. He's the full package."

I remembered something "Oh yeah… I wanted to tell you" I lowered my voice even further "Rod took me to the Room of Requirement. It's not actually hard to use. In the room was this giant place full of stuff… and hidden inside is a working portkey that took us to an abandoned farm cabin in the middle of nowhere."

"You're kidding!" her mouth dropped. "You have to show me!"

"I will, we just have to make sure we're not seen or followed. I want something from you in exchange though."

"What?" she was confused.

"Teach me that tracking charm." I pleaded.

"Oh, alright. Give me a quill or something. I'll show you how it's done so you can practice on your own."

We faced my bed with our wands out. On the cover was a quill of mine and Kiena's keychain. She reminded me "The incantation is 'Avenseguim'."

She did the spell for me and the quill shot up before neatly sliding itself into my pocket.

"Avenseguim!" I tried and it did nothing.

"You need to flick your wand like this."

After that miniature lesson we said our goodbyes and went off to bed. I changed into my duck-pattern pyjamas. Got under the covers and after a minute of silence felt sad, there was another hit of loss as I huddled into my pillow in the dark. My eyes glistened into a tear or two as I thought of Quintin. Recalled all the memories he'd just thrown away. The nights at his parent's house over the holidays, the first time I'd been to a wizard's house and seen that instead of modern appliances everything just cleaned itself with magic. I remembered meeting his eccentric Uncle Chestimir and how Quintin's eyes would light up behind his glasses at the recount of his adventures. Us all sitting at a dinner table during the Christmas season. I did love Quintin- had loved Quintin. The wound was still fresh, and although I was going to be fine it kept reopening at times like these. My mind doing a playback on the times we were together.

o0O0o

spellman's syllabry

Engorgio - Engorgement Charm.

(omg just one spell this chapter and you call this a wizard fic!1!1!)