Before you met me, I was alright but things were kind of heavy, you brought me to life -- Fall 1991

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and let it out slowly, focusing only on the fact that I had been able to do this spell for the most part before, and that Lincoln thought I could do this. I had to, to prove myself wrong and Lincoln right. I opened my eyes and turned to him. "I'm ready."

I tried to give her a reassuring smile.  "Let's do this," I said to her.

I smiled back and nodded, watching as he put the hex on the poor bird. I took a deep breath, raised my wand, and hesitated for a moment. I was struck by how useful defensive spells would be at the Manor and instantly pictured the bird as Draco and Lincoln as Father. My eyes widened and I gasped, I would never let Father hurt Draco if I could help it. And I would prove him wrong. My eyebrows narrowed together in determination and I said the counter-hex, putting all my energy into stopping that spell. Suddenly, the bats stopped coming and the bird was free and flew away. I was panting as I turned back to Lincoln. I caught my breath and my smile widened as I realized what I had just done. "I did it." I said in disbelief as a small laugh escaped my lips. "I really did it." If only Father had seen.

I chuckled slightly at the way Juniper reacted to completing the spell correctly.  "That was great," I said to her honestly.  "Couldn't have done it better myself."

I was still so happy that I had actually done the spell correctly. I gave a small laugh and looked up at him. "I don't believe that for a second." I replied. "But thank you." I finished sincerely as I calmed down a bit and sighed, looking up at where the bird had flown away. "I can't believe I did it." The disbelief was still in my voice and I shook my head. The one time I wouldn't have minded Father watching me do a spell and he wasn't here to see it.

I smirked slightly.  She was right; I was a master at spells, but I did not need to rub that in her face.  "Ah, well, now that you did it once... you should have confidence to do it again," I said to her simply.  "It's just... the first try is always the hardest.  Once you get past that, it should be decently easy to accomplish again."