Noah picked himself up off the floor and faced his partner; he was getting frustrated with himself because he couldn’t master the spell. He had been trying and trying, repeating the curse over and over again. His partner had accomplished it a while ago and held a rather smug smile across his face as he kept locking Noah’s legs together and knocking him to the floor.
Why the professor had paired him up with the stupid Slytherin he didn’t know, he would have much rather preferred to work with one of his friends from his own house. He gritted his teeth and glared at the boy opposite him, raising his wand he concentrated on the words he was about to speak and cleared his head of everything else.
“Locomotor Mortis,” the legs of the boy opposite him snapped together and Noah grinned and was about to smirk at the Slytherin but the boy just laughed and shook his legs.
“Ha, thought you had me didn’t you Grayson,” he laughed and smirked, “keep trying you may get it by the time you graduate.”
“Shut it,” but the other boy aimed his wand and locked Noah’s legs together.
Noah struggled to his feet and brushed himself down again, he was sure he was going to end up with bruises, he wished he could just keep his balance when it happened, but when his feet were locked together there was nothing he could do but topple to the floor.
He glanced back up to the front of the classroom, taking another look at the instructions written on the board. He tried to copy the student’s hand motion next to him and repeated the incantation.
“Locomotor Mortis, Locomotor Mortis, Locomotor Mortis,” with each repetition he grew more and more frustrated which didn’t help his problem at all, he needed to keep a clear head.
The Slytherin mocked him as he failed and failed and failed again. It was as if Noah’s spell had no effect what so ever, he would have been better dive tackling the boy and pinning his legs together by force.
Focus. Focus. Focus.
He took a deep breath and faced off against his opponent for what felt like the hundredth time, he had a pain in his elbow where he had fallen the last time but he tried to block it out. He practiced the wand motion and repeated the incantation in his head over and over.
“Locomotor Mortis,” he said and his eyes lit up as a look of shock appeared on the Slytherin boys face, and he laughed himself as the boy toppled to the floor. “That’ll do.”
Noah felt rather smug, yes it had taken him a while, but he knew that he wasn’t the best in the class, it just took time and patience. Although Noah did lack a lot of patience when it came to dealing with the stuck up Slytherins.
He kept practicing and although he didn’t get it every time, by the end of the lesson he was confident in knowing the spell well enough to use it.
