I woke with a fright this morning as I heard a blood curdling scream from the other side of the room. I sat bolt upright and looked over at Melissa who was sitting in her bed clutching a handful of pink and blue slips of paper.

“Two Weeks worth of Detentions!” She cried, almost on the verge of tears, “Now I’ll never become a prefect!”

Dian sat up in her bed still half asleep with her hair strewn everywhere. She began laughing at Melissa and then saw her own pile of detentions and so rolled over and went straight back to sleep.

“Why do you have all those detentions?” I chuckled, staring at Melissa who looked beyond distraught.

“We played a prank on Professor Darkstorm last night” She said guiltily, “We put popcorn under his office door whilst he slept. We’d be using an Engorgement Elixir to make them slightly bigger so that it’d be funnier, but as we left, Marilyn accidentally kicked the whole vial under his door. We ran, but obviously not fast enough”

Suddenly the door burst open and Aranya Felicin came running in clutching a handful of detentions also. Together, she and Melissa started crying and so with a chuckle I leapt out of bed, grabbing my Ravenclaw robe and walked out of the dormitory. I walked casually down the stairs and  when I reached to the bottom, I glanced at the calendar and the clock to see it was 8:30am, Monday morning. I headed over towards the windows to see if it was snowing and then suddenly it hit me. My Transfiguration MidTerm was in exactly half an hour!

“Guys!” I screamed back up the stairs, “It’s 8:30! Transfiguration is in half an hour!”

Never had I seen all the girls so quickly and within 5 minutes we were all running along the corridors down to the first floor and out into the Transfiguration courtyard where Professor Darkstorm was just beginning to let students in. He handed us a pretty blue quill as we walked past and into his classroom. The animal cages around the outside of the classroom were empty and the miniature library on the mezzanine floor above the class was obscured by a royal blue velvet curtain. I was directed to my desk by an animated statue of the roman goddess Juno. In the seat in front of me sat Holly with her hair back in a messy ponytail. To her left sat a Ravenclaw boy Scott Altaer and behind him was Marilyn Huang. Everyone looked exhausted from late nights of study, but as Professor Darkstorm made his way to the front of the class, everyone sat upright and paid attention. With a flick of his wand, every bag in the room zipped shut and flew to the back against the wall. He then flicked his wand once more and all the exams appeared on our desks.

“You will have precisely two hours to complete the examination” He said as he walked down the classroom doing final checks on the students, “Students are expected to stay for the full time frame. After the theory examination, you must all remain in the courtyard for your practical examination, beginning with Miss Holly Higgins”

I heard Holly gasp in fear and tapped my wand to her back in a consoling manner. With our breath held we waited to begin the examination, and then final the clocktower struck 9:00.

“You may begin your examination!” Professor Darkstorm stated, “Good Luck!”

With my head full of study, I turned the first page in unison with the other students and smiled as I saw the first question;

“1) Gamp’s Law of Life is considered the most important, True or False?”

The two hours of the examination flew past and finally I found myself sitting next in line for the practical element of the examination. Holly had exited triumphantly, with a small dragon flying behind her, whilst Arno Vlas and Greg Dean had both emerged with singed eyebrows, but it was still anybody’s game. Just as I decided to use the bathroom, and got up to head that way, the great doors of the Transfiguration classroom opened and Melissa emerged with the tips of her hair sparkling blue and trying to fly away. She shot me a sympathetic smile before the Professor emerged.

“Miss Genevieve Greenburg” He said gently, “In here if you please?”

Disgruntled that I couldn’t use the bathroom, I followed him into the classroom and gasped slightly. All the desks had vanished and the room was lit in soft candle light. In the certain was a small podium containing 4 columns on which sat a book, an egg, a dragon statue and a little ferret in a magical sphere. The Professor moved around to the side of the podium and sat at his desk,

“Since the beginning of the year” He said as he wrote on a piece of parchment, “You have studied the four Class-A Transfigurative spells. Kindly perform them on the appropriate object presented to you.”

I walked forward and glanced at the objects. The first one was a book, and so I swiftly raised my wand up and confidently made three whiplash motions before flick my wand at the book.

“Snufflifors!” I cried, and a jet of pink light shot like a bullet from my wand, crashing into the book and turning it into a mouse. It had a distinctly leather looking coat, which I knew would cost me some points. The mouse attempted to leap off the podium but was caught up in mid air by some kind of vortex which stripped the magic and turned it back into a book. I then turned my attention to the egg.

“Avifors!” I said gently as I twirled and flicked my wand at the object, causing a blue mist to seep from my wand and encase the egg. With a rushing noise, the mist rushed through the shell and everything stopped. I stared in disbelief for a moment but could see that the egg was rocking slightly and thus on a whim, looped my wand and pulled it upwards and I watched as the shell cracked a bluebird flew upwards out of the egg. The magic still on it’s feathers caused it to glow like a million sapphires and it rose high into the air. Content with that, I turned my attention to the ferret. I walked forward and flicked my wand three times at the ferret,

“Fera Verto!” I said softly, observing as the silver fog rushed out of the wand and encased the ferret. The creature appeared to freeze as the magic swept around it and then suddenly it lay down flat and curled into a ball before it bonded with the magic and became a bowl. It rocked slightly as it absorbed the magic but finally settled in the shape and stopped moving. Now came the part I was dreading, as I turned and faced the dragon statue. Only two days ago, i’d failed to make the spell work as I attempted to help safe that Ravenclaw girl, yet I knew I had to try. I took a few steps back and turned on my side. I dropped my wand downwards and then hoisted it upwards from my knees.

“Draconifors!” I cried, and I flicked my wand as I felt the energy build up and watched as orange sparkling flames flew at the statue. I heard a cracking noise as the magic hit the statue and then all of a sudden it exploded. The flames billowed upwards at the ceiling and amazingly I heard a small dragon cry out. From the middle of the flames, a dragon broke through and began to fly circles around me. I smiled upwards at it, marvelling at what had occurred.

“Well done Miss Greenburg!” I heard the Professor say, “You may leave now!”

And with a simple flick of his wand, the flames disappeared and all the magic except the dragon was reverted. I curtseyed to him before turning on my heel and walking out into the cold. The small dragon flew and landed on my shoulder and I felt the others stare onwards as I walked out of the class, confident i’d just received an Outstanding.

Next will be Potions! But first I need some time with my dragon.

Until next time, exhausted and covered in magic,

Genevieve Greenburg.