This could work
The rest of the semester came and went, all we did was homework and study and sulk in our defeat. The boys had more adventures, James invited me a few times, but I didn’t want to partake in anything. I just wanted to mope like a failure.
It was two days before Christmas break that I was woken up by Marlene. It was the middle of the night and all I heard was someone flipping pages and sighing. I opened my eyes to see Marlene sitting up in her bed reading a book, I couldn’t exactly see what she was reading.
I sat up, grabbed my wand, and whispered “lumos”. Marlene looked up and put her finger to her lips telling me to be be quiet. She waved me over and I sat on her bed and we closed the curtains.
“Sonoro quiescis” I whispered the protection charm then looked at the book she was reading. “Protective charms?”
“I found this in the library, it’s all the different types of protective enchantments.”
I wanted to ask why she wanted the book and why she was reading it in the middle of the night in the dark. I would have to remember to compliment her eyesight later. She seemed to notice my confusion.
“I was thinking, the muggle repelling charm has to be turned off in the whole castle right? But what if there was a way around it.” Her eyes were bright with hope, it was good to see again. I thought about what she was proposing. A way around it with protection charms? I didn’t understand how.
“If Mary takes the radio home and puts a protective charm on it there, then the radio would be protected by the muggle repelling charm” I could tell Marlene had not gotten a lot of sleep, her life seemed dependent on this working.
“But wizards can’t use magic during breaks it’s illegal”
“Yes, but there is one place that’s in between home and Hogwarts where you can use magic.”
“The train”
“Exactly” she smiled and I did too, the idea was working again.
“So which charm?” I asked looking at her book. I had no idea there were so many.
“That’s what I’m unsure about.” She showed me all the pages of spells that could work and the ones she still hasn’t read yet. We spent until sunrise eliminating choices and even practicing a few of the spells.
Finally Lily and Mary woke up, they were still groggy but Marlene and I were too excited to wait.
“Lils get your wand!” I cheered then stood across from her. I muttered the two spells we chose “protego maxima, fianto duri” I waved my wand around me. I had practiced the spell with Marlene so hopefully it worked now.
“Ok Lily” Marlene started “hex hazel”
“What?” Lily and Mary both said.
“Just trust me, hex hazel” Marlene was giddy she was so excited. Lily looked from Marlene to me to Marlene back to me. She looked so unsure of everything going on. She held her wand in one hand and covered her eyes with her other. She pointed her wand at me.
“Locomotor wibbly” she said. Just as I hoped the hex flew at me then bounced off the the protection spell. Marlene was jumping up and down yelling “It worked! Holy charms we did it!” Mary looked at us in awe. Lily removed her hand from her eyes.
“You’re still standing!” Lily noticed, her jelly legs hex had failed.
“Yes!” I cheered then waved my wand again “finite incantatum”
I let Marlene explain the plan while we took turns or acting both hexes and protecting ourselves. She explained how the second Mary had gone to the platform, she would need to protect the radio.
“We’re not breaking the law right?” Mary asked while Marlene shot cursed at here.
“Of course not, think of it more as a loophole then actually breaking the law.” I said
“Besides I think the first time is just a warning anyways” Marlene shrugged, the tone of her voice made it sound like she knew from experience. None of us questioned it.
“I’ll make sure to pack extra tapes if it works!” Lily searching for harder hex’s in her books.
“If I go to jail for this-“ Mary started but I cut her off.
“They won’t send you to azkaban, if anything they’ll just expel you.” They all looked at me as if I said something funny. I realized azkaban wasn’t exactly commonly talked about.
“Azkaban?” Marlene asked. I was ready to answer until Lily beat me to it.
“It’s a horrible wizard prison guarded by dementors. They basically suck all the happiness out of you.” She looked down “sev told me all about it.”
It was in line for the creep to know so much about azkaban, I would’ve bet anything he’d be in there one day. I looked at my friends, they all looked scared.
“Azkaban is really only for dark wizards, not one’s just playing with spells. Even so, the Hogwarts express is neutral ground, we can use magic, I’ve seen loads of kids pull out their wands once they were on the platform” That seemed to make them feel better, like we had nothing to worry about. We went on practicing our protection charms and of course changing the subject to a more happier topic: Christmas.