ALICE ⟶ Percy Weasley

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Professor Flitwick had them repeat the incantation and the proper motions with him before they were given a feather to practice with. Alice had felt quite confident as she didn't have really any sort of problem with the pronunciation of the incantation, however, her hand movements were borderline atrocious. Several times, she would glance over in the direction of other students, including Lennon, to see that their movements were graceful and smooth.

"I can't understand what I'm doing wrong," she whispered to Mr Rabbit. He looked up to make sure that no one was watching and in a matter of seconds, he waved his white paw to gesture the proper wand movement. Alice watched him carefully and slowly while repeating the incantation aimed her wand at the feather. Finally, after what felt like forever, Alice's feather lifted off the table.

A burst of excitement raced through her as she was practically shaking Mr Rabbit with her free hand so that she made sure he was a witness to her accomplishment. "Look, Mr Rabbit, look!" she exclaimed. "It's floating, it's actually floating."

If he could have at the moment, Mr Rabbit would have expressed just how proud he was of her and inform her that Alice just needed to have more confidence in her abilities, rather than getting frustrated so easily. If she was already showing difficulties with the simplest spells she would learn during the course of her academic time, she was going to find herself facing even more troubles soon enough.

But for the time being, Mr Rabbit smiled with pride and watched as Professor Flitwick walked over and told job well done. In a relief to actually getting it right as the professor passed her table, Alice sighed as soon as he was gone and placed her wand down on the table. She remembered when she was younger, watching as her parents performed magic with such ease. At the time, Alice had assumed that there wasn't much to it, but she was finding out more than ever that it definitely wasn't as easy as it looked. 

When class was finished, instead of following Lennon out, Alice informed her that she would catch up with him in a couple of minutes as she lingered behind in the classroom. As the room cleared out, she approached Professor Flitwick's desk.

"Um, Professor," she began, " do you have a moment?"

"Oh, yes, Ms Liddell, what can I assist you with?" Professor Flitwick questioned, his eyes focusing on the rabbit in the girl's arms as she shifted back and forth on her feet nervously.

"Well, I know this is going to sound rather odd-"

"My dear," he interrupted her with a kind smile, " when you've been around as long as I've been, after a while nothing sounds odd anymore."

Sure, he said such a thing, but did he really mean it or was he just trying to be polite for her sake? Either way, he was giving Alice the floor to make her request and she figured it was a better time than ever to just blurt it out.

"You see, Sir, my friend Mr Rabbit here, he's not entirely comfortable in his new attire," she began, only to have him interrupt her once more.

" I should say so," Professor Flitwick chuckled, " I don't know too many animals that would be comfortable in clothing, to begin with."

"Well, that's where you would be wrong, Professor, " Alice continued quickly to reduce the chances of being interrupted again. "You see, Mr Rabbit is actually very fond of wearing clothing. He would feel terribly uncomfortable if he was left exposed, the problem lies with the fact that he is a bit more selective when it comes to his choices in fashion."

"I see, I think."

"He does not like the daisies on his shirt and while I was able to get the shirt small enough to fit him, I'm not sure what the charm is to remove the design-"