Till Forever Falls Apart

One Last Hurrah

    "Alright then," she brushed away her disappointment. "You'll be there to watch though, right?"

    "Sure," he smiled, sending her off with a brief wave before returning to his tower to find Ron.

    It would have been nice for him to help, but Val wholeheartedly decided that she could manage on her own. And so, she spent the last few hours of that Friday afternoon reading The Practice of Advanced Charms, taking vigorous and thorough notes as she prepared her presentation for the class.

    June 21, 1993

    Val considered her presentation to be perfect at last. The spells had taken many hours out of her days to practice, but once they could be done with a bored flick of her wrist, she knew she was ready to share her creation with the class.

    "What have you decided to do?" Padma asked her and Anthony as they made their way up to the classroom. It was their final day of second year, and they had all risen in high spirits, feeling the scent of summer linger in the highlands surrounding them.

    Anthony, carrying several heavy panels of reflecting glass, puffed for breath as he ascended the flight of stairs. "Lumos Solem," he wheezed. "Light... and..." he stopped to catch his breath just outside the door. "Mind helping me?"

    "You could've asked twenty minutes ago," Val teased, taking half of the panels and helping him carry them into the classroom. "Couldn't you simply levitate them?"

    Anthony paused, staring hatefully at his reflection. "Sometimes I forget the most basic spells."

    "Alright, class!" Flitwick clapped his hands together. "Let's get right to it! We have much to do on our last day!" He eyed Anthony's long glass boards, his mustache twitching. "Mr. Goldstein? I would be delighted to see you go first."

    The boy's face drained of any color. "Surely there is someone else who would want to go-"

    "Nonsense! Now, come on! We don't have all day!"

    Anthony closed his eyes, saying a quick prayer before silently thanking Val and remembering he was fully capable of making objects float through the air.

    "Already off to a good start then, hm?" The professor said as he looked around the surface of his desk for a quill, swinging his legs at the edge of the table. "Whenever you're ready, Anthony."

    Anthony took a shallow breath, reciting the incantation. "Lumos Solem."

    The bright beam of light shot out from his wand. Smiling, Anthony controlled it by willpower, easing his worries. Having done so too quickly, the ray of light began to flicker as a light bulb did when in need of a replacement.

    Anthony tried again, clearing his throat. "Lumos Solem," he said more firmly.

    This time, the light was far too bright, bouncing off the glass panel in front of him, cascading into the group of students who threw their hands in front of their eyes, fearing they were blinded. He tugged his wand, steering the illuminating glow in the direction of the panel to his right. The stream of sunlight hit the glass, causing it to angle upward, then falling back down upon the panel to his left. In the short amount of time, he had fixed his errors, creating a hexagon of light, leaving the entire classroom radiated in the warm glow.

    "Rough start, but you carried through, Mr. Goldstein!" Professor Flitwick clapped, urging the rest to do the same. Val and Padma clapped furiously as Anthony sat down between them, burying his face in his robes.

    "That was a disaster."

    "You did well at the end," Val reassured the boy. "Look-Amara seemed to enjoy it."