When a Winged Girl Meets a Magic Boy

Chapter Four

I woke up the next morning earlier than anyone else in the dorm. At first I was surprised; I'm not used to waking up in a bed. And if I did wake up in a bed, my flock was beside me. Then I heard something. It was a tapping at the window. At first I thought it would be Fang, but instead I saw an owl. Hermione woke up with the tapping of the owl, and opened the window to let it in. It dropped a letter on her lap and flew back out the window.

"Hey," Hermione said sleepily.

"Hey," I said back, "What was the owl here for?"

"To bring me a letter. They usually bring it during breakfast. I wonder why…" her voice trailed off as she read the letter. Her face twisted into anger and she jumped out of bed. "Get up!" she snapped.

"What?" I said, shocked.

"Get up!" she ordered, "We have to talk to Dumbledore!" She looked over to see that I wasn't out of bed yet and snapped, "UP!"

I got up as Hermione hurried to change into her robes. "If we're in such a hurry, why don't you just go out there in your pajamas?" I muttered so quietly that she couldn't hear me. Once she was dressed, she ran to the door and began to tear down the stairs. I followed her, totally lost.

We stopped in the hallway when we met an old lady in green robes.

"Professor McGonagall!" Hermione cried, "I have to talk to Dumbledore right away!"

"What's wrong, Miss Granger?" McGonagall asked.

"Have to talk to Dumbledore!" Hermione cried, out of breath.

"Can't it wait?" McGonagall asked. Hermione shook her head, "I'll take you to his office." She looked over and realized I was there, "And who's this?" We began to walk – ahem…run – to his office.

"Maximum Ride," I answered.

"What year are you in, Miss Ride?" McGonagall asked.

"Um…I don't go to this school," I told her.

"Hermione?" McGonagall said, "Did you authorize this with anyone?"

"Dumbledore knows," Hermione answered, "She…she's a Muggle."

McGonagall looked stunned and maybe even a little angry.

"Ninety-eight percent Muggle that is," I told her. If possible, she looked even more surprised and I explained, "See, I'm not like other humans. Some people at this lab did some things and long story short…I have wings…"

More astonishment from Professor McGonagall, but we began to go again. We kept going for the longest time, half running, half walking until finally we stopped before a statue and McGonagall said, "Tarantula toffee." A staircase appeared. Hermione began to run up the staircase (with me following) and then, I was in an office. We took seats at the desk. Dumbledore was obviously not here yet.

I was about to ask Hermione what this was about, but she was staring at a hat on his desk.

"It's the Hogwarts Sorting Hat," Hermione explained, "It sorts you into the Hogwarts Houses."

"Houses?" I asked.

"Yes. There's Gryffindor; that's the one Harry, Ron and I are in. Then there's Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Malfoy's in Slytherin," Hermione said.

"Well, if Malfoy's in Slytherin, they must be loads of fun," I said sarcastically, and Hermione smiled.

"Miss Granger!" the Hat said, "What brings you to Dumbledore's office?"

"Oh, nothing," Hermione lied. Then she seemed to brighten, "Why don't we put the Hat on you and see what House you should be in!"

"But I'm not a witch," I pointed out, "Does it even work on Muggles?" Hermione shrugged and placed the hat on my head.

"It's not going to work," I mumbled. Then I heard a tiny voice in my ear. It was the Hat talking.

"Courage, loyalty, love, and a willingness to work hard. You have many valuable traits, Maximum. And you have great magical capabilities I doubt you knew you had," the Sorting Hat said, "But, alas, you do not go to Hogwarts. If you did, I believe it would be GRYFFINDOR!" He shouted out the word 'Gryffindor' at the end.

"We'd be in the same House!" she smiled, removing the Hat from my head, "So what did it say?"

I didn't get a chance to answer her since Dumbledore walked in the door just then. I was kind of relieved since I wasn't sure about the Hat telling me I had 'magical capabilities I didn't know I had.'

Dumbledore sat at his desk and said, "What's bothering you, Miss Granger? Professor McGonagall tells me that you practically knocked her over while you searched for me." He chuckled a little.

"This," Hermione answered in a very determined voice, pulling out the letter, "Listen:

"Dear Hermione Granger,

We have been informed through a reliable source that you are concealing a Muggle inside Hogwarts. This violates the Muggle Protection Act set in place. The Muggle will need to appeal before a jury to determine whether she will need her memory erased. This is a serious matter which needs to be treated as such. A correspondent will be dispatched to Hogwarts at four o' clock this evening. Please have the Muggle prepared for departure at that time.

Cornelius Fudge"

Hermione finished and stared at Dumbledore. "Hm," he said, "That is quite the predicament you have."

"I'd say so," Hermione said.

"I'll talk to Fudge this evening when he comes and we'll sort this whole thing out," Dumbledore said, "Ah, it's nearing seven o' clock! You'll be late for your studies, Miss Granger."

"Classes don't start for an hour," Hermione said, confused.

"Yes, but you need to eat a proper breakfast," Dumbledore said. We both stood, but Dumbledore stopped me, "Miss Ride, would you mind staying for a moment?"

"No," I said. Hermione left.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" he asked.

I scratched my nose to avoid answering. How did he know? After a very long silence, I said, "Yeah. It's about the Hat."

"The Sorting Hat?" Dumbledore asked, but he didn't seem that confused.

I nodded, "Hermione thought it'd be fun to see where I'd be placed. I wasn't sure it would work, since I'm not a witch, but it did. It said I had many valuable traits and magical power that I didn't know I had. But that's not possible. I can't be a witch." I was about to add 'the people at the School would know' but I didn't think that was a great idea.

Dumbledore laughed and said, "Anything is possible, Miss Ride." And then, almost as if he read my mind, he said, "Hogwarts is a fine school. We would be glad to have you attend classes as soon as possible."

"But I'd be with the first years, and they're eleven. I'm fourteen," I pointed out. I didn't want to say that I had a family of winged freaks waiting for me. No one needed to know there were more of us, although I got a sense from Dumbledore that he already knew.

"We could give you extra classes to catch you up," Dumbledore told me, "You can be a witch, Max. You can be anything."

His voice reminded me so much of Jeb's that it was scary. My mind went into panic mode. My heart raced just as fast as my thoughts. I stood up from the chair. "I have to go," I mumbled so quietly it was a wonder he even heard. Then I raced out of his office and down the stairs.

I went sprinting through the hallway. Tears were streaming down my cheeks. Surprisingly, I found my way to the front door and didn't even stop to open it. I didn't stop until I saw a little hut beside the forest. Hagrid's house. Harry had mentioned where it was at dinner last night. Hermione had told me she had his class this morning. She was there now; I was sure of it. But it would be too hard to say goodbye. It always was.

I sprinted around the castle away from view of the hut. I began to take a running start and lifted off into the sky, but just like before, someone had hold of my foot and had pulled me back to the ground.

"You think you're smart, do you?" a familiar sneer said.

I was not in the mood. "Crawl in a hole and die, Malfoy. I'm busy," I snapped.

"Oo, good comeback," he said sarcastically, "We're not supposed to do magic outside of class, but this is a special case. The exterminators called. They want their freak taken care of." I stood up and prepared to take off again, but Malfoy had his wand pulled and was pointing it…right…at…my…chest…

Ah, jeez.

I'm in a pissy mood. I need to rant. First: yeah, OK, so there wasn't any Quidditch in Hogwarts Year 4, but I thought it would be interesting for Max to find someone else who can fly! So, I made a mistake! Get over it! And second: So what if Erasers are scientific? You people keep pestering me about how the wizards know about Erasers! Dumbledore is all-knowing! Why wouldn't he know?!?!?!?!?!?!

Sorry. That was just like three people who said that. And it's not like they said, "Why the BEEP would the people at Hogwarts knowing about the BLEEPING Erasers?" or "You BEEPING idiot! There wasn't any Quidditch in the fourth year at Hogwarts!" No. No one said it like that. I shouldn't take out my bad mood on the poor people on Fanfiction.

Someone also asked if I was going to make this Harry/Max. To tell you the truth, I don't know. I was thinking about making it Max/Ron, or possibly even being totally oldskool and going Faxxy. Well, tell me what you think. I love hearing people's opinions, even if what they say makes me angry or pissed. sigh Hell, it's not your fault that I happen to be in a bad mood the day I get a review telling me I - heaven forbid - messed up on something. Keep reviewing and I'll keep writing, for without you guys I would have given up on writing a long time ago! –Alyson May

By the way, sorry this author note is so long……………