Thanks for the comments Connie, and I'm glad you're enjoying it

The following day I woke up not wanting to move from my bed. The vision of the night before had been haunting my dreams, replaying over and over in my head like the devil had gotten control over the remote to my brain. Play, rewind. Play, rewind. Unfortunately for me our first class of the day with Defense Against the Dark Arts, and professor Snape was not the man to be sympathetic to things like these, so I rolled out of the bed, showered, and slipped into my robes.

Ron, Harry, and Hermione were all down in the common room, chatting with one another while Harry glanced over his new Potions book. At the rate he was going I felt like the book had become his girlfriend instead of me. He looked up at the sound of me feet, smiling slightly as he closed the book.

"I didn't think it could get any worse than having Potions with Snape, but clearly, I was wrong," Ron said in an annoyed voice, throwing his bag over his shoulder as we headed out the portrait.

"He is a very good teacher though," said Hermione with a slight frown. Given the amount of heckling that Hermione received from Snape on a pretty much consistent basis I was surprised to hear those words come out of her mouth. Clearly she was a better person than I was because I had no sympathy for the man.

However perhaps a part of that had more to do with just the surface of our relationship. Of course he was mean and enjoyed nothing more than trying to punish Harry and the rest of us, but for me the hatred went deeper. The man was determined to get a glance into my brain, and whenever I was in a close proximity to him, he went at it. It was like having a pesky fly flying around your head that you were not quite quick enough to catch. Perhaps it annoyed me that the man was so interested in my gift, but perhaps what annoyed me more was that the man looked at me as if I held the key to something. As if if he could get one look inside, he would finally see the answer that he had been searching for for all of his life. Even though I knew he would never succeed, it didn't stop me from feeling slightly uneasy about the man.

By the time we made it DADA most of the classroom was full. The four of us took a seat at the back of the room, figuring the farther away we were from him the better off we were at not receiving his snide comments. Everyone was mumbling to one another, including Ron, Hermione, and Harry, but honestly I was too tired to contribute to the conversation. Even when professor Snape slammed the door, his cloak brushing my arm as he walked by, I didn't even lift my head from my hand. This was going to be a very, very long day indeed.

"Get out your books and turn to chapter two," Snape said, flicking his wand so that the words would start to write on the board. "If you are in my class it is because you have received an Outstanding on your O.W.L.s in Defense Against the Dark Arts. If this is not the case then you can pack up your things and go."

The room was silent as everyone looked at Snape. He waited, making sure there weren't any people that needed to leave before he flipped open his own book.

"As you know it is important as a matter of self defense to learn not only useful spells that can protect you, but also different ways of casting them. One of these ways is nonverbally, which for obvious reasons is highly useful in a dueling situation."

Snape peered out at all of us, making sure that we were paying attention to his words. "Being able to cast nonverbally prevents your opponent from knowing what you are going to do, and automatically puts them into a level of surprise that can be incredibly advantageous. It gives you an element of stealth that all of you should want."

Snape was quiet for a moment, watching all of us as we scribbled notes onto our pieces of parchment. "Today we will be practicing nonverbal casting, and for a sample student I would like to use Abby Carson. Abby, would you join me at the front of the room."

I looked up, letting out a small sigh. Of course...pick the telepath. Pushing back my chair I headed to the front of the room my wand at my side. If I didn't hit him with a spell, I would be laughed at, but if I did I would get detention....

Yeah...today was going to be a long day.

"Now, I want you all to keep in mind that nonverbal spells are not something that is just magically going to happen because you have magic in you. It takes a lot of concentration and clear intent in order for this to happen successfully. Now...I am going to cast a nonverbal spell at Miss Carson...nothing too harmful...and Miss Carson will attempt to block it nonverbally."

I could sense that everyone in the classroom had straightened up, most of them not believing that Professor Snape was actually going to cast a spell against a student. Of course I knew that Snape was doing this because he was sure that I would be able to read what spell he was going to do, and that I could defend himself. But I had never tried nonverbal casting before, so really, the students and me had a right to be concerned. What if it didn't work? Would I have to dive?

Professor Snape turned and pointed his wand at me. "Three....two...one!"

I saw the word rectusempra go across Professor Snape's mind right before he finished the word one. With an instinctive reaction I lifted my wand up in defense, but what I had not been expecting to happen was that in my attempt to read the spell that Snape was going to cast, I had confused my wand into thinking that that was the spell that I wanted to cast.

Much to my horror red sparks similar to Professor Snape's ejected from my wand, collapsing into Snape's stream of his spell. Upon the forceful contact of the two spells colliding Professor Snape and I went spiraling backwards, me crashing into the desk that Draco Malfoy just so happened to be sitting on while Professor Snape went spiraling into a set of thankfully empty potions jars.

What had I just done?