A little more than an hour passed and Esther’s portrait was finally finished. It was far from flawless but the two girls still deemed it perfect. Grateful, Cora repeatedly thanked Ashley and rushed off to the owlery. Ashley smiled to herself and began packing her things, waving her wand to get rid of the balls of parchment around her. Just as she stood to leave, a trio of her Slytherin friends came barreling towards her, all wide-eyed with barely concealed panic.