"He's here."

Whispers had been travelling through the Morgan le Fay halls all morning. Students craned their necks to get a good look at the visitor, then pretended to be studying when he glanced in their direction.

Willem hadn't spoken a single word all morning. His face was so deathly white he could almost have passed for a ghost.

Ella, on the other hand, wouldn't stop rambling. "Oh God," she kept saying. "Oh God, what if I mess up? What if I botch a spell and it costs all of Morgan le Fay our exams and our funding?"

Ezra did what he could to comfort her, but Ravenna avoided her as much as she could. She couldn't stand hearing the younger girl voice all of her own fears and anxieties. Even Dan couldn't hide his nerves. His stuttering had gotten so bad that eventually he'd just stopped talking altogether. It was simply too exhausting. They spent their lunchtime in the forest, just to get away from it all for a while. But even playing with the bowtruckles – cute little twig-creatures that lived inside the ash and English oak trees – did nothing to calm her.

"He hasn't been to our class yet," Ravenna said to her best friend as they sauntered back towards the school building.

Even from a distance she could see the terrible state it was in. One of the double entrance doors hung loose on its hinges. There were holes in some of the walls from where the bricks had come loose. The corner of the roof on the left side had collapsed. Ravenna had never realised before that the classroom located there went unused.

She'd known for years that the teachers cast daily spells on the building to keep it in decent shape. They'd probably lifted the charms on purpose, so that the Ministry official could see how much they needed the funding. But she'd never seen it this way. It was depressing.

Dan merely grunted in response.

"You don't think the inspector will come to our next class, do you?"

"He m-might."

She sighed. "Well, we can kiss the wizarding level exams goodbye, then."

Their first lesson after lunch was transfiguration, a class in which they learned to transform objects into something else. They'd already learned to change teacups into pocket watches, and a hedgehog into a pincushion. Ravenna's unruly magic tingled dangerously at the thought of it. She didn't transform objects, she destroyed them.

Dan did not respond. He held the door open and they entered the school. Most of the other students were already on their way to their respective classes. They'd barely turned the corner when they spotted him. The Ministry official, led through the halls by the school's headmistress, Professor Slughorn.

He was a tall man. Even more so because he kept his back straight and his head high, making himself as large as he possibly could. His grey moustache was long, curling up at the ends. He surveyed the students with barely concealed disdain.

He already hates us... How are we supposed to change his mind?

"This way, please," said Professor Slughorn. Her voice sounded higher than usual, tighter, as she led the inspector towards the transfiguration door.

"Merlin's beard," Ravenna whispered. "Keep walking. Don't stop here."

"Our transfiguration classroom is right in here, Mr Dankworth."

"Bloody hell!" Ravenna grabbed Dan's arm to stop him, so that they could wait in the corridor.

"Fantastic," said the Ministry official flatly. "This is where your O.W.L. class is being held?"

"Indeed, sir. Education Level Five is eligible for the exams." Headmistress Slughorn waved down a harried looking witch. "And this is Professor Snyde, our transfiguration teacher."

"What do we do?" Ravenna whispered, her eyes bulging as their teacher was introduced to the Ministry official. This was terrible. Disastrous. Of all the classes he could've observed, he chose transfiguration. "Maybe I should skip."

"No," said Dan. "It'll b-be even worse if the class isn't c-c-complete."

"Not as bad as me losing control of my magic in front of him!" She hid her face in her hands, letting out a shuddering breath. "It's gonna be my fault, isn't it? We're gonna lose our funding and our exams, and it's going to be my fault." The magic rumbled in ribbons of dark ink around her, only confirming her fears.

Dan put his hands on her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "It'll be fine, Ravenna. We'll g-get through it. Together."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcing the magic back down. It growled at her like an angry dog, and she wondered how long she could keep it under control.

"We don't have a choice," said Dan weakly.

The magic moaned, begging to be set free, but stayed back. For now. "Okay. Alright." She nodded in a pathetic attempt to reaffirm herself, and muttered once more, "Alright."

Side by side they walked into the classroom, under the criticising glare of the Ministry official. Professor Snyde greeted them warmly, but her smile was much tighter than it normally was. They sat down awkwardly, their eyes fixed on the table as they waited for their classmates to arrive.

It felt like half an hour later, though it was probably closer to a minute, when the other three finally entered the classroom.

"Good, we're complete" said Professor Snyde, as Ella, Ezra, and Willem sat down. She wrung her hands together. "As you can see, we will be having a guest for today's lesson. This is Mr Dankworth. Now, please don't worry, he is only here to observe."

The class was silent as she flicked her wand. A piece of chalk flew towards the blackboard and started writing of its own accord. "We will be starting on a new spell today," Professor Snyde explained. The word written out by the chalk became recognisable: Evanesco. "It is called the vanishing spell."

For one short moment, Ravenna struggled to keep her face straight. Evanesco, a new spell? They'd been working on it since the start of the school year. Snyde had repeated the proper pronunciation and wand technique so often Ravenna could dream it. In fact, each and every one of them had already been able to cast it.

But then, that was the point, wasn't it? Her eyes flicked towards Dankworth. If they learned a new spell and they'd be able to cast it during their very first lesson, that would show him Morgan le Fay's teaching methods worked. It was dishonest, but clever.

Professor Snyde burst into a lecture, starting at the very basis of the spell. She spent the next fifty minutes going through its history, inventor, common uses, and all the other things they'd already learned about six lessons ago. The class obediently took notes as the piece of chalk tirelessly continued writing on the board. Nobody made a sound.

Mr Dankworth had barely moved, except for letting his gaze glide across the room. He simply sat there, on the right side of the room where he could overlook both Professor Snyde and her students.

"Right, then," said Professor Snyde when she'd finally run out of theory. "We've got a few minutes left to give this spell a try. Let's get our wands out, shall we?"

Slowly, they rolled up their parchments and stoppered their inkwells. Ravenna exchanged a worried glance with Dan as they fished their wands out of their book bags.

"Alright!" said Professor Snyde with what seemed to be as much enthusiasm as she could muster. She handed out a broken quill to each of them and explained, "This is what you'll be practising the vanishing spell on. Now, remember, the pronunciation is e-vah-nes-ko. Everyone got that? Let's try it all together. Ready? E-vah-nes-ko. Good! Again. E-vah-nes-ko. Well done, everyone, well done. Alright then, go ahead and give it a try."

Softly muttered spell-casting sounded all across the room. Professor Snyde kneeled down by the front row and began helping out Willem.

"E-E-Evanesco," said Dan, aiming his wand at the broken quill. Nothing happened. He tried again, and again, his stutter only growing worse by the second. "C-come on, Ravenna, you need to t-try it as well."

"I can't!" she hissed at her best friend. "It's too dangerous."

"You have to. You can't be sitting here d-doing nothing when he looks this way."

She hesitated, staring down at the quill that was bent in the middle. Every possible worst case scenario shot through her head.

"You can do it. You've d-done it just last week, remember?"

Ravenna nodded, choosing not to point out that the same went for him, yet he seemed to be unable to cast the spell under the judging eye of the Ministry official as well. "Evanesco," she whispered almost inaudibly.

"A p...p... A real try, Ravenna," Dan smiled.

She shot him a glare. "Evanesco."

Nothing.

"Did I understand correctly that this school lets students redo the year?" she heard Mr Dankworth ask their teacher.

"That is correct," said Professor Snyde.

"Why do you do that? Isn't it easier to simply give them extra tutor lessons if they fall back in their learning, like Hogwarts?"

Of course he's a bloody Hogwarts graduate, Ravenna thought bitterly, feeling the magic assemble around her. Why am I even surprised? It's not as if they'd let a lowly Morgan le Fay graduate do an important job like this.

"We feel this works best for our students." The professor's voice had gone cold. "Rather than unnecessarily overstressing them with tutor lessons, we think it best to give our students the time to learn at their own pace."

Dankworth hummed, obviously disagreeing with the explanation. "And... How many of them are re-doing fifth year?"

Professor Snyde's eyes widened a fraction as she hesitated. "Three," she admitted eventually.

The inspector wrinkled his nose, looking around the classroom. The disgust on his face sent Ravenna's magic rumble in anger. She forced it back as it pushed against her, calling out the spell without directing the magic to her wand.

"Are you telling me three of these five students have already had this lesson? And they still can't perform the spell?"

"Just a few more minutes, everyone!" Professor Snyde called out, glaring at the man. "Come on, guys, I know you can do it."

"Evanesco!" said Ezra. His quill disintegrated in front of their eyes.

"Yes!" Professor Snyde laughed, applauding for him. "Well done, Mr Cobris. Take an example, everyone. You can all do this."

But they couldn't. Willem and Ella's wands both trembled in their hands. Dan could barely get the word out of his mouth. And despite Ezra's success, Mr Dankworth still leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and a sceptical frown on his face.

One success isn't enough, Ravenna realised. Not when he knows we've done this before. I have to do this. It might still not be enough, but it'll help.

She gripped her wand, sat up straight, and aimed at the quill on her desk. "Evanesco!" she called, the word repeated ahead of her.

"Did you say Cobris?" Dankworth asked Snyde. "I could swear I've heard that name somewhere before."

The magic crackled around her, yet the quill stubbornly stayed where it was.

"Evanesco!" she yelled again, louder this time.

It gathered closer around her, swirling like a mob of Cornish pixies. She took a moment to try and calm it, but there wasn't much time left. The lesson would be over any moment. So she gathered all her strength and exclaimed, "Evanesco!"

A sound like thunder shot through the classroom. The desk was hurled to the side, under the screeching sound of its metal legs scraping across the tiled floor.

Ella screamed. Professor Snyde, kneeling in front of her, whipped her wand out and jumped to her feet. Dan flinched beside her.

For a second, Ravenna couldn't move. Then she looked up. The desk had ended up with its edge sliced into the wall, exactly where Mr Dankworth's neck had been. He sat on the floor next to it, panting, having dived out of the way just in time.

Oh, no.

A scorch mark decorated the top of the desk. The quill had vanished, disintegrated by the sheer force of her spell. Ravenna lifted her widened eyes to look at her professor, who shot a concerned look at their guest.

What have I done?

"I'm sorry," she squeaked. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"It's quite alright, Miss Inkwood," said Professor Snyde. But even in her panicked state she didn't miss how hollow her teacher's voice sounded.

I've ruined it, she knew. I've ruined everything.

When she was sure her students were all okay, Professor Snyde turned to their guest. "Mr Dankworth, are you alright?"

The Ministry official scurried to his feet. "I'm fine," he spat through gritted teeth. "However, I think it's time I talked to the headteacher again."

Professor Snyde rushed to help him up, but he shrugged her off. "Sir, please reconsider. Surely one accident shouldn't shape your decision? Not on something as important as this?"

"I have been warned about this girl. I didn't believe it at first, but now I've seen it with my own eyes." The ends of his moustache trembled. "I can see now why your walls are crumbling. Why your roof is collapsing. You don't need funding, you just need to get your students in line!"

Ravenna's heart sank. Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes.

"She is trying her very best. She does not do these things on purpose. You must understand."

"Well, then perhaps she shouldn't be here at all!" he hissed.

Ravenna gasped for air. Dan grabbed her hand, but it did nothing against the words that stabbed like daggers in her heart. He's right. I shouldn't be here. I put everyone in danger. And now my lack of control will be the end of this school.

"Mr Dankworth!" Professor Snyde exclaimed in outrage. "That's one of our students you're talking about!"

"Exactly," said the official. "I will not send one of my colleagues back here for the exams; I'd be putting them in danger. Besides, your students obviously aren't ready for it."

The professor's mouth snapped shut. Willem let out a little whine. "You cannot be serious." Snyde's voice cracked.

"I most certainly am. I'll see what I can do about the funding, but don't expect anyone to come back here until you've sorted your students out. Now, take me to Slughorn!"