To Catch a Mistake PV Ana Beckett Finished

The stupid Gryffindor was no longer casting fire, but they had other problems now. The flaming cookie jar thing was flying at them. Donald tried to think of something. Trapping it sounded like a big task, and she had made it harder. Suddenly, she had an absolutely brilliant idea of using another spell. It didn't seem to work but the creature was at least just floating around now. "How is this helping?!" he snapped, irritated at the older girl.

"It's too high!" Donald said as he tried to jump up with the helmet extended above his head.

It wasn't that he was rude, but he simply didn't notice that she had maybe been hurt. Ana had been so strong and annoying that he didn't even consider it. Donnie's focus was entirely on the jar floating high up towards the ceiling. An adult might be able to get it, but these two kids were too short to try to basket it in the helmet. That's when an idea struck: he'd throw it.

"Take this!" He yelled triumphantly as he yeeted the empty helmet into the air with gusto.

There was only one opening and the not so graceful toss sent it tumbling upwards. A metallic clang echoed as the top of the helmet hit the flaming creature, bouncing back towards Donald who had not thought this through. It would be up to @Anastasia Beckett to save him or let it smack him in the head.

What on earth was this idiot doing? Why was he jumping around like a clown? Had he always been this stupid or had he been hit on the head? Anastasia didn't have time to consider the answers to these important questions because the stupid thing was going back up for another attack. It seemed to be ignoring the boy, which was helpful for him. Not helpful overall, seeing as he was a first-year who apparently was useless. 

When the moron demanded to know how this was helping, she rolled her eyes. "Shut up!" she snapped, getting ready to roll out of the way for when the creature dive-bombed her again. "I don't see you doing anything to help." That was apparently the wrong thing to say. The boy decided at that moment to throw a helmet at the thing. 

WHAT THE HELL. 

How on Earth did that seem like a good idea? She wasn't sure what he was hoping to accomplish, but all it did was turn the creature away from her and now it was dive-bombing the boy. Anastasia was honestly fine with that, but she knew she should try to extinguish the thing before it hit him, since she had already set him on fire once and didn't feel like having to put him out again. As the creature dove towards him, she shouted "Exting-" 

She didn't finish casting her spell because, the helmet, which she had forgotten about had just hit Donald and bounced off him and was now flying at her face. She ducked, but that meant that the creature was still on fire and had possibly hit Donald. She wasn't too bothered by that right now. 

@Donald Fish

Failure yet again. That hurt almost as much as the pain train coming his way. Donald's hands tried to block the incoming helmet but were too slow. Metal slide between his outstretched arms and directly impacted his tiny skull. The sound was a mix of metallic clang and the squish of flesh. It sounded as bad as it looked. Donnie received a knockout hit to the head and fell like a limp noodle to the cold stone floor.

~~~

Everything went fuzzy, the world around him faded away. Donald tried to open his eyes but it was so difficult. The only thing on his mind was Ana, the girl he was with while chasing... something. What was that again? It didn't matter anymore. It must have been over. He had been injured and now he felt warm, comfortable, and safe.

A new room faded into view and Donald was in a hospital bed. Next to him, Ana seemed to be waiting nervously. She waited for him and cared for him? That was surprising. Maybe she... liked him. Had he impressed her with some heroics? Probably. That made sense to Donald.

"You're so pretty... great thing to wake up to." He babbled at her as he tried to wake up.

It's about this moment he realized this wasn't the Hospital Wing.

~~~

Donald woke up for real as the fire on his robes was renewed by the creature. Pain riddled his body and his head was ringing. He was unsure if he had said that out loud and hoped to the high heavens that he had not. With his luck, she had heard him clearly and his life was now over.

"Um... where did it go?" Donnie asked her as he rubbed his head with one hand while patting down the small fire with the other.

@Anastasia Beckett

Anastasia cringed at the sound when Donald's head was impacted and he went down. The creature was right on top of his limp form and she wanted to smack the unconscious Hufflepuff. If he had used his brain or any basic knowledge of gravity, he would have not thrown the helmet straight up. Even Ana, who was certainly not a scientist, knew that what goes up must come down. As the cookie-griffin-thing realized that the boy was no longer a threat, it turned towards Anastasia. 

"Extinguo!" she shouted, moving out of the way at the last second like a Spanish bullfighter. That worked at least. Now it was no longer on fire, just flying and trying to murder them. That was an improvement. As the creature looked confused and irritated at no longer being on fire, Anastasia nudged the boy with her right foot, trying to see if he had died or just passed out. With no response, she noticed that he was breathing and kicked him harder in the side to try to get him to come to. As she tried to formulate a plan, she heard him mumbling something about how pretty she was. Lovely, he had eyes...

She gave him some serious side-eye as she jumped out of the way as the flying cookie jar attacked again. She realized then that he had been on fire again, but he was patting that out. "It's up there," Ana said when he asked where the thing had gone. She was pretty sure he had a concussion, but she wasn't worried about that right now. She had to untransfigure it. Transfiguration wasn't her best or favorite subject, although she was clearly far better at it than this boy was. She would have to use the boy as bait and then transform the thing back into a cookie jar as it flew down.

For the moment, Donald was not on fire. This was an improvement besides for the throbbing headache and woozy feeling. It took a few moments for him to spot the jar and he felt a bit lost overall. This had become much worse than the initial problem. Don wasn't the one casting spells either. Clearly someone was at fault for the original problem. That was Donald. Things getting worse could only be tied to Ana.

Together they were a true disaster upon Hogwarts. That much was fair enough to say. The Hufflepuff boy had no idea what to do next. A flying cookie monster was outside of his expertise. So far out of his expertise that it literally flew over his head. Only raw emotion was left after that hit to the head. Anger was the main guy up front right now. It had both hands on the controls as Donald peered up at the creature.

"Get down here you stupid jar!" Donnie shouted at it as his face became red with anger. "Stop flying around and face me like a man!"

It was a stupid comment at a thing that probably did not speak English or any other language. Ana would probably make fun of him. Donald didn't even actually know her name but the Gryffindor girl had established herself as sassy enough. Like most girls he had met.

@Anastasia Beckett

Annnnnd, the moron was now shouting at the flying thing. He was definitely concussed and probably going to get her killed. "Are you actually completely bloody brainless?" she demanded. First off, neither the jar nor the Hufflepuff was what anyone would call a man by any standards. Secondly, him trying to face it like a man was what had gotten them into this whole mess in the first place.

However, him goading the thing seemed to get the attention of the thing, or Donnie as she had named it. Having watched Donnie's flight pattern, she had mentally noted that it seemed to swoop done and then pop right back up towards the ceiling. That was starting to give her an idea of how to deal with it. Sure enough, the thing was provoked and made a beeline for the Hufflepuff's face. "Keep yelling at it!" she instructed. For her plan to work, the boy's face would likely be sacrificed, but Ana was fine with that. It wasn't much to begin with and anyway, better him than her. As the thing began to turn away, she crossed her fingers and hoped that the fourth time was the charm. "Incendio!" she said, pointing her wand just ahead of where the thing was going. She didn't care much whether the thing caught on fire again, or if the boy did for that matter, she just had to get it stopped long enough to fix things. With luck, it would turn around and the boy's face would stop it from going anywhere long enough for her to untransfigure it. 

@Donald Fish

Donald, by reflex, threw his hands in the air to protect his face from the thing dive bombing him. Seemed his yelling worked just fine despite the Grffindork's comments. Now she seemed to be on board for this strategy even. Timing was on his side for once as Donnie's hands slapped the flying creature towards the floor and into the flames even further. Now perhaps there would be a deep sear to stop the creature's attacks. Unfortunately, it worked well.

The screeching alone would send chills down a dementor's spine. It seemed this time around the fire had done more than just ignite the outer layers of the jar-creature. Donald realized it wasn't as fireproof as the first round made it seem. Each passing moment seemed to be a new peak of pain in the short life of the griffin-jar. Emotion that didn't seem possible in a transfigured creature cut through the air as painful cries turned to pathetic, fearful pleas for help. None would come from Donald as he sat dumbfounded at what was happening. He quietly was thankful the jar had been pushed closer to the girl and blocked the full brunt of the spell. Those pleas for help might be him otherwise.

Silence fell in the corridor. The sounds of combat had ended and students had seemed to clear out of the danger zone. Even the cries from the jar had come to an eerie stop. It seemed it was over and maybe Don could get the Jar back. If only it were so simple.

Normally when something died it went limp. That wasn't the case when said thing was levitating. The body just sort of shriveled up as it continued burning. Chunks of ceramic fell to the floor with a clatter piece by piece until the entire creature was but a wisp of smoke fading away. Nothing was left, not even a cookie jar.

"At least the evidence is gone..," Donald mutter quietly after the screeching stopped ringing in his ears.

There was apparently no need for Ana to untransfigure the thing as it turned to dust in agony right before them. She hadn't known that her FireMaking Spell could do that, but she couldn't help grinning a little out of pride. Glancing at the wisp of smoke that had just been terrorizing them, she arched an eyebrow. Chuckling, she said "Rest in peace, I suppose, ugly little Donnie." That had been loads of fun, but she had to get to class and was realizing that the halls were practically empty. Bloody hell, she was going to be late now if she didn't hurry.

Glancing at the flammable Hufflepuff, Anastasia arched an eyebrow at him. She hoped she didn't look half as he did. He looked rather like a zombie, covered in soot and that spot where he'd been hit with the helmet. She involuntarily cringed as she looked at him. "You're going to want to go to the hospital wing to get that looked at, also to get some eyebrows," Ana told him, looking unimpressed. She didn't know if he'd had eyebrows before all this, but they either had never existed or been burned off. Cringing again, she picked up her book bag and pulled out her mirror to erase all traces of this mess. There wasn't much and she straightened herself, shouldered her bag and was about to leave before turning to speak to the boy. "If you tell anyone about this, then I shall be forced to deal with you the way I delt with Donnie." Tossing her long dark hair over her shoulder, she pivoted and briskly began to walk to her next class. If she hurried, she was sure she could get there in time. 

Anastasia Beckett has left this thread.

@Donald Fish

At least he didn't have a class to go to right now. Donald was free to wander his way over to the hospital wing. They probably had some fancy magic cure for the burns, concussion, and sadness. This Gryffindor girl did not even give her name before skulking off from the scene of the crime. Not only did she cause so much damage, she even destroyed the prized cookie jar.

"Okay then..," he said to nobody as he stared at the empty hallway with scorch marks and armor all over.

In the end, Donald knew it was partly his fault as well. Doing the stupid spell he wasn't ready to practice in the hallway where it didn't belong. He was asking for trouble just by doing that dumb spell at all. His cookie jar paid the ultimate price. The cries of pain would echo in Don's heart for weeks to come. A tinge of shame would follow him every time he ate a cookie from now on.

Donnie smiled inside, but not outwardly, while thinking about the last comment the girl made before leaving. He was walking to the hospital wing as he replayed it in his head. A threat to do the same to him if he told anyone. Did that mean she wouldn't say anything either? Maybe that was their bond. A secret shame. That or they'd be enemies forever and Don would need to brush up on prank spells. Only time would tell.

Fin