There's kind of spoilers in this chapter. So if you haven't read School's Out Forever or Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, don't be mad at me if I give anything away.
When a Winged Girl Meets Magic Boy
Chapter 7
Everyone else watched Cornelius Fudge leave us, but I watched Fang, waiting for his reaction.
Finally, Dumbledore said, "Well, it seems we have another guest here at Hogwarts."
Fang ground his teeth together. I looked at him, decided him incapable of speech and said, "I didn't exactly tell him what Hogwarts taught."
"Ah," Dumbledore said, "So I assume you've been confused this entire time?"
Fang sighed, and said in his most sarcastic tone, "No, I'm perfectly happy being oblivious. Don't mind me."
Dumbledore chuckled, "This is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Fang."
Fang's face became more confused, if possible. He didn't answer, so Dumbledore went on, "Allow me to demonstrate." He pointed his wand at a stone lying beside the lake and said, "Accio stone." The stone flew to him and he caught it in his hand.
Fang seemed to snap out of his daze. "So you teach magic tricks," he said.
"Not magic tricks," Ron snapped, "Magic."
"Magic?" Fang repeated. Everyone nodded. Fang looked skeptically around at everyone and finally said, "Very funny. Fine, I'll leave so you can get back to whatever you were doing." He began to walk away.
"Fang, no!" I cried. I ran to catch up with his quick pace and caught him just before he began to get a running start, "They're not lying."
"Max, you sound crazy!" Fang said in a calm but sharp tone.
I sighed and said, "Yes, because hearing a voice in my head doesn't make me crazy at all. Or having wings. Or being raised in a dog crate and having a gigantic scar on my arm where I tried to saw out a microchip using a shell! No, those things don't make me crazy, but believing in magic when it's what saved my freaking life is crazy! Oh, yeah, that makes perfect freaking sense!" I was yelling by the end of my rant.
Fang stared at me, both skeptically and angrily, for a second before he heaved a sigh and averted his eyes. I waited for him to say something, but when he finally did it wasn't what I expected. "We need to leave," he said, "Like, now."
I sighed too and answered, "But he said…"
"What about the…others?" Fang said. He eyed the wizards/witches before saying 'others' and then continued, "I left them with Iggy. You remember the last time we left them alone with Iggy, don't you?"
I cringed and said, "Yes. I remember." (A/N: Refer to STWAOES, chapter 15 if you don't know what 'the last time' means)
"What happened the last time?" Harry piped up.
I sort of ignored Harry, but tried to do it as politely as possible, "Do we get them?"
"You really think it's a good idea to stay here?" Fang asked.
"I'm not sure," I admitted, "But I really don't think it's going to be good to have Fudge coming after us if we go AWOL."
Fang nodded once and said, "So will you go get them or do you want me to?"
"You go ahead," I said as I watched relief flood over Fang in a way only I could decipher, "I think I've got some explaining to do here."
Fang snorted in response, turned, ran and flew off. I watched him for as long as I could then turned to everyone else.
"So." I said.
"You left some things out when you were talking about your life at dinner last night, Max," Hermione said.
"Yeah" was my reply.
They were quiet, so I said, "So…um…what do you want to know?"
"Just start at the beginning, Max," Dumbledore said, "Tell us how you got your wings."
"Well…" I said, "OK. I was born to a human mother…" And I began to tell Harry, Ron, Hermione and Dumbledore my life story…
Fang POV
It took only a few minutes to get back to the rest of the flock. I landed with a thud at the entrance and called, "Hey! You guys! Get over here!"
They all emerged, looking very bored and a little worried.
"Where's Max?" Angel asked.
"Max ran into a complication," I said. I was sure Angel was picking my mind now, to get the details, but I said it for everyone else's benefit, anyway, "I think she got into a fight with Erasers, but she's OK. She was in the hospital for a couple days, but she's out now. There are people at this…school…that say they can do magic. It's…weird…but I don't know. Max seems to believe them, but I'm not sure. Long story short, there's this weird guy who wants Max and me's memory erased or something and we're not allowed to leave."
"Why not?" Nudge asked.
"Because I guess we'll be hunted down or something like that," I said.
"And Max thinks it's a good idea to stay?" Iggy said skeptically.
"She trusts these people," I said, "She said she's not sure it is, but she doesn't think leaving is a better choice." I looked around at them all.
"So you just left her there?" Nudge asked.
"No," I said, "We're all going back now."
"Back to…where…exactly?" Iggy asked.
"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," I quoted in a booming voice, making Nudge, Angel and the Gasman laugh. I took a deep breath and said, "Come on. Let's go."
Max POV
"So you have a voice in your head?" Ron clarified, giving me a look like I was crazy.
"Yes," I said.
"And you were raised in a dog crate?" Harry said.
"Yeah."
"And just here a couple of months ago, you saved the world from some evil people at some company called Itex?" Hermione said.
"Uh-huh."
"I don't believe it," Dumbledore said.
Anger sparked up in me, "Well, I'm not lying!" I snapped.
"No, that's not what I mean," Dumbledore clarified, "I knew Dr. ter Borcht. I'm just…surprised that he accomplished his dream."
"So he knew about you, too?" I asked.
A smile slid across Dumbledore's face and he said, "No. He never knew. Not the brightest man when it comes to common sense."
It wasn't a question, but I still said, "No, he's not." I looked over Dumbledore and saw five little specks approaching very quickly. I tried not to let my eyes linger on it. I hadn't exactly mentioned the flock when I told them everything.
"Amazing," Dumbledore breathed.
"Max!" I heard, and saw Nudge and Angel sprinting toward me. Gazzy followed close behind, trying to be less conspicuous about his excitement at seeing me. Fang led Iggy a ways back, explaining the scenery.
Nudge and Angel tackled me with hugs and Gazzy joined in when he got there. It was loud – all of them were talking at once.
"Max! What happened? I mean, you left and Fang said you got in a fight with Erasers but you seem to be OK and he mentioned something about magic! Oh, my God can they do magic? Like Houdini? And Evel Kneivel? Wow, I love her hair! And the guys are so cute!" Nudge was babbling at top speed.
"Can those guys really do magic? Cool! I want to learn how! Can they teach me? Please ask them for me, Max! Please! Or do you have to be a certain age to do it. If you do, then I want to come back when I'm old enough! Wouldn't that be so awesome, Max? I mean, it'd really help in fights with Erasers! We'd be like, abracadabara! And they'd be like BANG!!!! And we'd be like 'Bye, bye, suckers!" the Gasman was saying.
"I missed you, Max. I wish you hadn't left. I mean, it's not the same when you're not here! I don't know what I'd do without you! I've been reading these people's minds and they all seem OK…" Angel was saying. I paid attention mostly to her. What she was saying seemed a tad more important than Evel Kneivel or blowing up Erasers (as fun as that thought was!).
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Ron cried, "Who are these people?"
Everyone shut up at once.
"You didn't say?" Fang said.
"I thought I'd tell them when everyone got here. Kind of give an introduction, you know," I said. In truth, I'd just wanted to put off saying that this was my mutant family.
"Max!" Angel said, tugging on my jacket.
"What, honey?" I asked, turning to her. Her voice sounded urgent.
She looked scared, and I wondered what she'd heard. Finally, she said, "Max…I can't…"
"You can't what, Ange?" I asked. She looked scared. And I was going to kill whoever made her face look like that, "Angel! Angel, baby, tell me! What can't you do? What's wrong?"
Angel turned to look at Dumbledore and, pointing at him, said, "Why can't I…I can't…I can't read his mind!!!"
MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! CLIFFIE!!!!! Well…Not really a cliffie, but still…………as long as you've ready Harry Potter 6, you should know why Angel can't read Dumbledore's mind. At least I think…oh, well, a few announcements before you press that lovely purple button like I know you will!
First: Someone reviewed anonymously with the name 'Winged Kunai' and asked if I could explain the American school system. Although I don't see how this is relevant because the story is set in Britain at Hogwarts, if you PM me or review this story, I'll try my best to answer your questions!
Second: My dad is cracking down on the whole school thing. I start on the 4th, so I have school from 8 to 3, and then cross country from 3 to 4:30 or 5. I'll have meets Thursdays and Saturdays, and I'm doing drama, so I'll have performances for that. Plus, I'm hoping to actually get asked out this year by people who aren't scary (hinthint) so maybe I'll actually get to go on a date. Long story short, my dad's made it clear that school and sports come first. Obviously he doesn't care about my dreams! –sob-
Well, my dears, now the time has come for you to press the glorious Go button! Review and I shall update!!!!!!!!!
-Peace!-
-Alyson May the Freshman-
