A/N: I do not own the world or any of JKR's characters. However, the settings, plot and new faces are entirely mine
Chapter Four: A Bee Finesse
-Those two, - thought Jak, - Are going to wish they never started yelling. – Jak was annoyed. In his eleven years of life, Jak almost never got annoyed. Usually the look on his face was enough to scare anyone into stopping what he or she was doing. Annoying Jak once made people think twice before doing it again. The two in question, Cale and Motoko, were now sitting with they're backs to each other on opposite ends on the waiting area. They had made the mistake of continuing their fight, though not with each other. Jak had gotten an earful, and though he understood little of what was screamed at him, he wondered if they even knew the meaning of some of the words they used. In the end, he shut them up with the silencing charm he found, used a simple curse and moved them to their current positions. All in all, he was pleased with the result. It had given him half an hour of peace and quiet, and he used the time to read a book he had picked up at the mall.
He was thoroughly engrossed in his basic transfiguration book when he realized he felt really tired. – Maybe, - he thought, - holding the silence charm is draining me more than I realized. So it is a little advanced, but hey, it got the job done. – He kept thinking of the tiring effect of holding a spell too advanced for him for a few moments before realizing he was dozing in his seat. It was a comfortable feeling, and he wasn't about to stop it.
CRACKLucinda was being quiet. She was playing with one of Cale's cats with a toy mouse, and she was having a blast. The small black cat seemed to know what she was thinking, always one step ahead when she tossed the mouse in a random direction, catching it in his mouth, and with unerring accuracy, threw it back to her. After a good twenty minutes of playing, the cat got tired of throwing the mouse, picked it up, and settled into Lucinda's lap. It amazed her the trust the animal had given her, and was hit with the notion that it gave the same trust (if not more) to Cale. She couldn't think of anything the boy liked, he was rude, erratic and not all together nice. She began to wonder if he was like some of the guys in the movies she had seen. They always hated people except for a select few, to which they were unimaginably loyal.
She looked up at Cale and wondered if she was in the select few, and saw the strangest sight: Cale was holding his wand up over the bench.
A Bus to the Future Never Stops.
Cale thought about those words for a second before he realized they only had one chance to get on the bus, and if anyone missed it, there were going to be problems. He tried calling out to Jak and Lucinda, but found he still made no more noise than a soft breeze. He tried everything he could think of, pounding on the bench, waving, even throwing out rude hand gestures, nothing worked. Panicking a bit, he looked down and his watch. Two minutes left. – Desperate times, - he thought, and grabbed his wand. He realized he wouldn't be able to cast a spell, but that really didn't matter as he had yet to learn the counter for the charm, so he thought of another option.
His arm at shoulder level, he held the wand parallel to the bench, thinking if this didn't get their attention, nothing would. Mentally closing his eyes, he readied himself for the pain he knew was going to result from this, and dropped the wand.
There was a resounding crack as the wand slammed into the bench, folding it in on itself. The wood of the bench separated from the metal frame and Cale was thrown unceremoniously onto the ground. Getting up quickly, he realized the spells Jak had used on him had ended.
"The bus is coming, grab your stuff!" he said, frantically grabbing his bags.
"What are you…" began Motoko, also free of the spells.
"Don't argue, just do!" he yelled. Soon as the words came out of his mouth, he heard a horn unlike any car horn he had heard. It was more like a boat horn than anything, and for a second he wondered if the bus was actually a boat. Quickly glancing around, he didn't see a boat or a bus, but noticed his largest bag twenty feet away. Lugging the weight of his other bag, he made his way to it. When he finally reached it, the horn sounded again. Turning, he saw the front of a large yellow bus with black stripes coming out of the wall on the other side of the waiting area, heading straight for them. It wasn't stopping.
Closing his senses, he waited for the inevitable pain, but as soon as he did, he felt a small pull at his stomach, and a larger wrench as he was pulled off the ground and slammed onto a hard floor. Tentatively reaching out his senses, he found himself, along with Motoko, Jak, and Lucinda in a small room with eight chairs and long deep shelves above them.
"Welcome aboard the A.B.F.N.S." said a voice. Since no one else was in the room, Cale guess it was being transmitted from a hidden speaker. It stopped for a second, as though to make sure everyone was listening. "We, the teachers of Dracos Academy of Magic, welcome you to a new year of learning. The length of time to the school will be ten hours, thirty-seven minutes, and forty-seven seconds. Please note that there is no magic in the corridors while on A.B.F.N.S. and any wrongdoing will result in detention. Lunch will be served at eleven, and will be eaten in your designated cabin. You are free to explore the bus, but do not disturb the driver and pay listen to all class leader instructions. Have a pleasant trip."
"That was insane." Cale muttered. "Who ever thought up this idea should be drug out to the street and shot." That earned him a few nervous chuckles.
Getting up, he grabbed his bags and shoved them none to neatly on the shelf above the seats. Once this was done, he turned and sat in the chair, noticing at once a red oak wand pointed at him.
"Going to be civil?" asked Jak, holding his wand.
-Going to stop bossing me around? – he thought. Cale knew, after the 'punishment' while waiting on the bus, that Jak was serious. Not trusting himself to speak he nodded, and Jak promptly turned his wand onto Motoko.
"And you?" he asked her.
Motoko was picking herself up off floor, and, after a second, it registered that there was a wand pointed at her. Giving him a look that would have made a nuclear explosion jealous of its killing power, she nodded quickly and turned to put he stuff on the shelf.
It took everyone ten minutes to get situated, and afterwards, sat down and stared at each other in silence. Lucinda was the first to break the awkward moment.
"So," she said, "How long have you had your cats Cale?"
"As long as I can remember." He replied, looking at them. Ko had a magnificent shiny black coat, which he kept very clean. It was a little surprising to see him so close to Lucinda, as he and Talon usually went out of their way to avoid people. He did a quick, mental search and found Talon on Motoko's lap, staring into her eyes. Motoko was petting her and plainly noticed that she was not responding to the petting. Cale knew better however. Watching the white cat for a second, he noticed her small paws moving in and out, her black toes moving in a steady rhythm that could only mean restrained pleasure. He had the feeling Talon was sizing Motoko up, and was pleased by what she saw.
The silence broken, they began to discuss everything about everything. What the school was like, where they were sleeping and how many people went there. By the time lunch time came around, both Talon and Ko had returned to his side, eating out of a small dish he had brought with him, and each human in the room was hungry.
"Well, guess it's time to go get something to eat," said Jak, getting up.
"Yeah, I'm starving!" squeaked Lucinda, following him out the door.
After a minute, Cale looked up from his cats and noticed Motoko hadn't left with the others. "Well?" he asked.
"I'm not hungry." She replied, not even looking at him.
"Bull. You are and you know it."
She stared at him, thin lines of furry slowly coming across her face. "And how would you know? You, the arrogant little piece of crap! You only care about yourself, what you've been through, how your life is so god damn miserable that you have to play it off like everyone around you has done it to you personally! So how in the hell can you tell me that you know…"
"How do I know?" he interrupted. She had stood up and was slowly advancing on him, before she got half way, however, he too stood up. He knew this would go on until someone stopped it, and resolved himself to the worst. "It's easy. You can't lie"
"I can't lie? What sort of bull is that?"
"Oh I'm not saying the words coming out of your mouth can be untruthful, quite the opposite. You can't make a believable lie, with all your emotions resting on your shoulder." He was amazed at how calm he was. He wasn't even shouting and getting her to back down. He knew that he himself had had a rough life, what with no parents and no real friends. He knew what the world was, and had acted accordingly. Here was a spoiled little rich girl who thought that life was so grand, that there was nothing that couldn't be solved by a little manipulation and a lie or two. "So, now that…"
He was interrupted by a loud crash. Looking over, he saw the door had flown open, and standing there, like it was the most pleasant spot on the entire bus, were two slightly older kids he did not know.
Motoko was speechless. A second ago, she was yelling at the top of her lungs at the arrogance of this kid, and then, with a calmness born from who knew where, he had told her why her lies were so detectable. He was about to continue, when the door smashed open. –Great,- she thought. –Here comes Jak to shut us both up and put us in their place.- She turned, and saw two people that were not Jak and Lucinda, but a boy and a girl, both trying to hold back their laughter.
"Oh, don't stop on our account." Said the boy. He was slightly shorter than Cale, with dark brown, close-cropped hair spiked in all directions. "It's not everyday that we get to see an argument by a blind kid and an albino get into a fight."
Motoko quickly glanced at the Cale. He had his head slightly tilted to the side as if in confusion, as if the comment was didn't make sense to him. After a second, however, he lowered his head and spoke with a soft voice.
"I'm not blind."
"Then what are you doing wearing a rag over your eyes?" the girl asked, her voice grating on Motoko's ears. –Musical saws would sound better than her voice.- Motoko thought. -Probably would look better to, judging by how ugly she is.- She was dead-on on her assessment. Short brown hair covered a fat head that came with a fat body, with short, stubby arms and equally short legs. She looked like a badly made meat bun.
"None of your damn business." Said Cale, obviously letting them get to him. "Now, if you please, leave us before your idiocy becomes contagious."
-Oh great,- Motoko thought, -This is going to turn ugly fast.- Ever so slowly, she moved her hand to her wand handle located in a specially made pocket in her jeans. She had wondered where she was going to carry her wand around without it being too much of a problem, when she thought of some dress pant she had seen with pockets on the thigh. After that, all she needed to do was a little bit of sewing to her pants to make the pockets the right size, just in case she needed to grab it without anyone noticing.
And she was right. The boy grabbed his wand and pointed it at Cale's face, who, with a surprising burst of speed, stepped forward past the wand, reached up and put his right hand on the back of the boys neck, trapping the arm and the wand between Cale's shoulder and head. A grimace of pain shot across Cale's face as he turned on the spot, while forcibly lowering his arm, flipping the unsuspecting boy onto his back.
Watching all of this with amazement, Motoko almost forgot about the girl. Looking up, she saw her grab her wand and point it at Cale. With a quickness to match Cale's, Motoko pulled her wand, and screamed 'DEFENDO', causing the girl to be lifted off her feet and slammed into the corridor wall, where she lay, whimpering and clutching the back of her head.
"Nice," said Cale, before turning back to the boy and pointing his wand at the boys face. "Now, after all these years of dealing with stuck up bullies, I've learned a trick or two," He told the boy. "And as you can see, they're quite effective. Now, I take it you are going to get up, leave this cabin, right?"
The boy, thoroughly humiliated, could only nod.
"Good." Said Cale. He stood up and let the boy scramble through the door and down the hall, leaving the girl to whimper where she lay. Muttering something under his breath, he walked over and slammed the door.
Motoko stood and stared at Cale, who turned and faced her. "I'm sorry for what happened in the waiting area," he said after a moment.
Taken aback, Motoko could only nod and mumble her own apology. She realized that this is what he was going to say before they were so rudely interrupted. It made sense to her then, why he was calm when she was yelling at him, she just didn't want to see it. Her own trials in her life told her that this was someone who would not apologize, but he had surprised her. There was more to him behind that blind-fold than she gave him credit for, but something was nagging her.
"Well, now that the tension is about as thick as we can get it," he said. "How about you go get some…"
"You color blind aren't you?" the words streamed out of her mouth as the thought hit her. That was why he didn't treat her any different, he couldn't tell what she was.
"Mmmm… no" he replied. "Well, for the most part, no. I can see color though not skin color. Shouldn't make a difference what color your skin is anyway."
Motoko stared at him. She knew that he hated when people assumed that he was blind just because of the blind-fold, and yet, he didn't hold anything on people. It was like everyone started with a clean slate with him, and their actions and words determined whether or not he even spoke with them. For a moment, she envied him. To be so innocent, yet so mature was something anyone would give anything to become, and he did it naturally.
He was still talking to her, but she really didn't care at the moment. Reaching up towards her bag, she pulled out her journal, and began to write about the day as Cale lapsed into silence. After a few minutes, she heard the door open, and, looking up, she saw a harassed looking Jak enter the cabin followed by a happy Lucinda, each carrying two Styrofoam boxes. The smell coming from the boxes reminded her of the simple breakfast she had eaten that morning, and she wished that she had eaten more.
"Well, I mean, he was nice and all, but why did he give us that look?" Lucinda said. "Especially when we asked for two boxes each. I mean they're actually quite small, how can there be enough food in three let alone one to fill me up?" she continued with her questions and thoughts at her usual high rate of speed, and Motoko knew that her constant commentary was what was annoying Jak. Sighing to herself, she closed her journal, and was about to get up to go get some food when she was stopped by a loud bang.
"Now that was cool!" squeaked Lucinda, her voice filled with joy. Turning, Motoko saw that Jak was sitting on one of the chairs with a large tray on his lap filled with food. There were two sandwiches and a hamburger accompanying fries, chips and a small bowl of applesauce. It all looked delicious, freshly made and smelled wonderful.
"Now that was unexpected," said Jak.
"That was in two boxes?" asked Motoko, her eyes wide with wonder.
"One," replied Lucinda. "Now we know why that guy was staring at us!"
"How…" Motoko trailed off. She knew the answer before she asked. Magic. Even Cale was looking at Jak's food in wonderment, and little thought was to why, as few seconds later, they heard a loud rumble coming from the thin boy.
"Here you go, Cale." Jak said, passing him his other box.
Cale took the box and began examining it. It was, as Lucinda had said, quite small, only five inches long and three inches wide, and, as far as Motoko could see, had no lid or instructions printed on it.
"Just tap it with your wand," said Jak, swallowing a bite of his sandwich. Cale complied, and he instantly had a meal exactly like Jak's.
"This is amazing," said Cale.
"Hell yeah!" the others said, and after tapping their own boxes, (Lucinda had given her the extra one), they all ate the magical lunches, discussing between bites what they would learn at the new school.
After all the food was gone, Motoko waited for a lull in the conversation, and upon finding it, turned to Cale. "Will you show me that move you did to that boy?" She asked.
"That move?" he asked. He looked at her for a few seconds before comprehension dawned on his face. "Oh, THAT move!"
"What are you two talking about?" ask Jak.
Motoko looked at Cale for a moment before telling the others about the encounter with the pair. "And then he was on the ground, with Cale pointing his wand to his face. Which reminds me Cale, what were you going to do to him? I didn't think you knew any spells"
"It was a bluff," he said simply.
"It worked," Motoko said.
"Yeah, well…" he said, looking at the other two. "All right, I'll show you, but…"
"But what?"
"There's no one to demonstrate with."
"Are you on crack?" said Jak after the shock left him, "There's three other people in here, and, personally, I want to see this move up close and personal."
"It's different when the one you flipping is taller than you though, and I'll be damned if I'm going to hurt a girl." said Cale.
"I can take it," Motoko said quickly.
"As can I," piped Lucinda.
After looking at each on of them, Cale finally conceded the point. "Okay, I'll show you. However, I'm only going to show you once, so don't ask me later." After they all agreed, Cale asked Jak to stand and face him with his wand pointed at him. Before he began, he asked Jak one final time. "Are you sure?"
"Just do it," said Jak.
Before the last word had left Jak's lips, Cale was moving. Motoko had no distractions this time, and saw every move he made. Taking a step forward, Cale ducked under the wand and stood back up, placing his hand on the back of Jak's neck, trapping the entire arm between Cale's neck and shoulder. Twisting slightly, Cale brought up his knee and planted it solidly into Jak's stomach, driving the wind from the boy. Reversing the twist and bringing his right arm down, Cale had his opponent on the floor, and a surprised Jak was gaping at Cale in astonishment.
"One cheetah flip, made to order," smiled Cale.
"And now that we've seen such a marvelous display," said an unknown voice, and Motoko looked up and saw an adult, and she didn't look happy.