A Curious Eagle Can Be Trouble Prodigal Solo

Miranda had been spending the whole of her morning in the library, reading. She did it all the time, of course, so there was nothing strange about the happening, but this time was a little different, though no one other than her would be able to tell. This time, she was determined to not just learn something, but to apply it as well. Which, knowing her, could possibly end up being disastrous, but it was worth a shot...hopefully.

That was why she found herself searching the school for a quiet place to practice during lunch, hoping to try out two new spells she'd encountered during her studying. Well, in truth she'd come upon several, but this one had intrigued her the most, especially with the Fall Dance coming up. After the disastrous results of last year's "secret" Blossom Ball (which she'd fortunately skipped), it felt better to have a few offensive spells in mind just in case. Not that summoning snakes sounded like the best to start with, but hopefully it would give her enough practice to work on the more complex spells she also had planned, like the full-body bind or the other hexes and curses she'd come upon.

The Ravenclaw quietly slipped into a room, glancing around to make sure no one else was there. Luck was with her - the place was empty. She eased the door closed behind her, then pulled out her wand and walked toward the center of the room, where a bare patch of floor was available for her to work. With a muffled thud, Miranda sat down heavily, almost collapsing from the sheer weight of book she'd stuck in her bag. Chances were that she wouldn't need over half of them, but it was better to be over-prepared than the opposite, at least in her opinion. She pulled out a fairly thick tome, the one where she'd first discovered details on the two snake-related spells she intended to learn. Creating and vanishing snakes - while perhaps not the best offensive spell, if something really happened, it might serve as a good distraction. After all, her knowledge of spells was pretty limited, so keeping up in a duel wasn't her forte.

Murmuring under her breath, Miranda raised her wand in the way the book said one was supposed to in order to create a snake, then slashed it sideways as if she were trying to make it disappear. Hopefully those were both adequate, because failing to vanish a snake after she made it sounded horrible, not to mention possibly dangerous. It would be much safer to simply fail both, although possibly embarrassing.

Letting out a deep breath, Miranda stood up, the book open at her feet and her bag laying on the ground as well with several books spilling out. She raised her wand, still peering down, and thought over the words in her head several times, too afraid to say them out loud until she was sure she was ready, since spells could be quite unpredictable - for all she knew, a mistake would do something like turn her into a snake. Not an ideal result in the least.

Mustering her courage, the Ravenclaw flicked her wand up, saying the incantation in a quavery and tense voice. "Ser-pen-SOR-she-uh!" she exclaimed, but no snake appeared. Instead, her wand let out an abrupt hissing sound before going quiet. "Well that didn't work," Miranda muttered, peering down at the stick of wood with concern. Fortunately, it seemed to not have endured any lasting damage, which increased her resolve to try again. What was it that muggle said? Practice makes perfect? Well, while Miranda wasn't so sure of that, it was still a nice, inspiring thing to say, so she took to repeating it in her head as she readied herself to try again.

"Ser-pen-SOR-she-uh!" Miranda repeated, her voice stronger this time. Something shot out of the end of her wand, but it quickly retracted before she could get a good look at it. Shame.

After a moment of reviewing the spell several more times, she once again repeated the incantation, flicking her wand up at the same time. This time, much to her surprise, a snake slid from the tip, landing on the floor with a muffle thump. It wasn't big, perhaps three or four feet long, but definitely real - and possibly poisonous, now that Miranda thought about it. She hurriedly backed up a few steps, eyeing the creature warily. it didn't seem to have noticed her yet, but that could possibly stem from its apparent confusion. The snake whipped its head back and forth, then turned around and saw her.

Its mouth opened, revealing a set of long silvery fangs and a forked tongue that slid out, tasting the air. Miranda raised her wand again, determined not to panic. It might not be venomous - but those fangs would still hurt if it tried to bite her. And because it had yet to try and hide, Miranda wasn't surprised when the snake slid a foot in her direction, prompting her to take a step back. Think, she ordered herself. Do not panic. Nothing is going to happen. You will make it disappear and everything will be fine.

"Vee-PARE-uh-eh-vuh-NES-kuh," Miranda said, her voice shaking as she jerked her wand to the side. So much for the mental pep talk she'd had earlier. However, instead of vanishing, the snake instead hissed angrily. Apparently her spell had done more to harm than help, because now the snake was moving toward her decidedly faster. Miranda stumbled a few steps backwards, trying a few more times to successfully cast the spell. All her attempts failed, to no surprise.

With nothing else to do, Miranda picked up a chair that was sitting nearby and raised it in front of her, her wand jammed awkwardly against the wood in her hand. The snake glared at her, then slipped forwards a few more inches, eyeing the chair warily. It seemed to understand the threat of a giant wooden bludgeon more than it did with her wand. But that only bought Miranda a few more seconds, at the very most.

"Vee-PARE-uh-eh-vuh-NES-kuh!" she shouted, forgetting her wand was pinned and of no use. To no one's surprise, nothing happened. This prompted her to rest the chair on the floor, holding it with only one hand as she fumbled to get her wand in the proper position. "Vee-PARE-uh-eh-vuh-NES-kuh!" Miranda exclaimed, sweeping her wand sideways.

At first, nothing happened. The snake advanced another foot. But then it suddenly started to turn black, as if it were being submerged in some oily substance.

Then it was gone.

Miranda stared at the spot where it had been for a long moment, hardly daring to believe it. She'd...done it? The realization took a moment to actually mean anything to her, but when it finally did, she set the chair down with a shocked expression. After a moment of silence, she pushed the chair back to where it had been and made her way back to the open book on the floor. Miranda still felt shocked, but that feeling was slowly being replaced by a budding excitement. She'd actually done it!

Although...it would be better to keep practicing...if there was a way to do that safely. Miranda flipped the book shut and slid it into her bag, before picking up the whole thing with no small amount of effort. Already, her mind was racing as she tried to think up a solution. But she knew one thing - it wouldn't take her long to do better at that spell, now that she'd started.