Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter or Maximum Ride.
For the last chapter or two, I've gotten a couple of notes, saying that they were hoping Max would fall off of her broomstick and reveal the secret. How long has it been since you last read the Goblet of Fire? Harry used a special charm to get the broom, it's high level. I doubt that she'll be able to get a broom. But, there is something that will involve some quick thinking and maybe a little bit of wing power... Just maybe... Or, I should say, birdkid power. Or not...
"You know, I don't get why we have to carry these wands around. We can beat people up and fly, but I feel so stupid carrying a stick." I said, holding it up. Me, Fang, Iggy, and Nudge were at Gazzy and Angel's cottage. We sat next to a tree right next to the lake, it was warm and nice for this time of year. It was a weekend, the day before the first task, and although I was nervous, I didn't want to think about it right now. I was going to have to fight a dragon for all I knew.
"Yeah, it's so weird." Iggy agreed. He was on his back, his feet in the lake. His unseeing eyes closed, and his arms behind his head. His wand was in a back pocket, and he seemed relaxed. Relaxed for a bird kid that is.
"I still can't get over the feeling that any day a flyboy or something is going to burst in through a window and I'm going to have to fight it. Or, somebody is going to get hurt. You know?" Nudge said. Her feet were in the lake too, her small brown shoes on the edge. Her arms were around her legs in a sitting postion. "These little fish are so cute. They come up and nibble at your toes."
"So that's what that is." Iggy said. "I thought it was floating moss or something."
"Nope, you got a swarm of toe eating fish at your feet." Angel giggled. She was sitting next to me in the shade of the tree. I was laying down, examining my wand. Hoping that it would break today, so that I wouldn't have to fight the dragons tomorrow.
"Oh dear." Iggy smiled.
"Well, if those stupid flyboys do return, we won't have to worry as much, we'll have the teachers around us, won't we?" I said.
"Yeah, but what about us?" Gazzy asked. "We don't have anybody to protect us."
"You're in the middle of a field. You'll be able to see for miles. If you see anyone, go to Hagrid's or into the castle. You'll tell somebody that you're in danger, and hopefully they'll help you. As long as they aren't a Slytherin." I scowled. That stupid article had come out, and everyone was talking about it. Saying how they hoped that I would be able to get enough attention.
"That Rita Skeeter is such a pest." Fang said finally. He was leaning against the tree. "Lying about you, Maxine."
"Shut up." I replied, and tore some grass out of the ground and threw it at Fang. He didn't move, he just had a smile on his face.
"Max, can I go swimming? Please?" Angel asked. "I promise I won't go to far underwater."
I sighed and smiled. "Alright. But if you aren't back in ten minutes, I'm swimming down there myself."
"Alright Max." she smiled, and threw off her shoes. One accidentally hitting a sleeping Total, and dived head first into the water.
"What was that?" Total screeched standing up.
"Angel hit you with a shoe." Nudge laughed.
"Not purposely though, right?" Total said.
"No, she just threw it behind her. She didn't know where it was going to go."
"Alright." Total said, and curled up. Everything was silent for a moment. Only the gentle waving of the grass, and the moving surface of the lake gave off any noise. Then Total started snoring. We laughed, and just sat there, enjoying what was happening. It was nice when we could just relax and have fun like this.
"Max!" a voice called to me, I looked over. Hermione was standing there. She looked at me nervously. I looked at her, and then to the rest of my flock. Fang shrugged, Iggy was looking around. Gazzy stared at her, and Nudge looked at me.
"Who is that?" Iggy asked.
"Some girl in our year." I told Iggy, and stood up. "Fang, get Angel if she doesn't come back in a few minutes and I'm still talking to the bushy-head." Fang nodded solemnly, and I walked toward Hermione. "Yeah?" I said.
"Uh, well... Harry told me something, and I wanted to... well... uh..." she looked at her feet uncomfortably.
"What?" I asked.
"Well, Harry told me to tell you that the first challenge was dragons. He had to go 'kill Ron' as he put it, and asked me to tell you if you didn't already know. He told me that he saw you, in a tree with Hagrid. And, well, he..." Hermione stopped.
"Well, tell him thanks, but to mind his own buisness. I would have like to find that out on my own. Are there really such things as dragons?" I asked. I couldn't act like I already knew, that would be dumb. It would only prove his theory. I knew that she was about to say that he saw me with wings. I had heard from Fang that he was the boy that Angel had heard.
"Well, yeah. Um, I'll see you later then." she said, and walked away quickly. I rolled my eyes.
I walked into the arena. People were staring at me coldly, I looked around. They booed at me. I was the only one in it. From a corner I could see a tunnel. Deafening roars howled from it. "Please! Let me out! I don't want to do this!" But all I got was cruel laughter. They started to chant something that scared me half to death.
"Kill the birdkid! Kill the birdkid!" I was shocked, and looked behind me. My ankle was chained to the ground, my wings spread out behind me. I couldn't do this. I just couldn't. I'd rather face Omega again, or go back and watch Ari's death a hundred times. Okay, taking back the second one, I would rather fight Omega again. Suddenly, somebody started to throw rocks at me. Then a bunch of other people were in the crowd to. People with lab coats. Then I saw Jeb.
"This is all part of the test Max!" he called to me. I wanted to fly up there and kill him, but I could barely walk a step, the chain was so hard.
Suddenly, the tunnel that was guarded by a gate opened up. A dragon flew out, it was fifty times bigger than me, and it looked at me hungrily. It was going to eat me. I knew it was. Then, on the back of the dragon, I saw Omega and Jeb. "Come on Max! It's only a little test!" Omega shouted at me. "You don't have anything to fear. Your little flock is already dead. Just look!" He pointed to a corner where I saw he was right.
Fang was bleeding gently from the mouth. Iggy's blind eyes were bulging. On top of Iggy was Nudge, who had her chest slashed opened. Gazzy lay on Fang and Nudge, his body eagle spread. And then Total was at Gazzy's hand, a look of pure terror on his face. Then on top of them all. Was my little Angel. Pure terror on her face. My baby. My baby. That's when I became aware that I was crying. I would kill him for this. I would kill him and Jeb, and all of the other scientists! Every stinking last one.
"I'll kill you!" I called, I felt anger wheal inside me. Suddenly, the dragon shot fire at me. I jumped to the side, it hit my chain. I was free. It had burned the chain so that I was safe. I flew up, the chain dangling at my bare feet. "I'll kill you!" I repeated. Then the dragon flew up, and met me in the eye. I glared angrily.
Suddenly, somebody called to me. "Max!" I looked down. There he was. Ari. Standing there in full wolf form, looking at me happily.
"Ari!" I called, and swooped down to him. The dragon took a second to register this, so I didn't have to worry to much. Just like Omega, it could see fast things.
I hugged my brother tightly. "Max, I missed-" but he never finished that sentence. As he spoke his head fell back and his body went limp again. He was dead, and I held him tight to me, tears now racing down my eyes. He died once again in my arms.
"Ari, no." I whispered into his dead ear. "Is this what you wanted Jeb! To see your son die again! To see my brother die again!"
"It's all a test!" he called to me, laughing maniacally. "And this test, you won't come out of alive." I chocked, and gently put him down. I looked to the dragon, to see it sprouting fire once again. There was no time to dodge, it hit me square in the chest. I began to scream at the top of my lungs.
"Max! Max!" Somebody was calling to me, from out of the deafening sound of fire whizzing by my body and my screams. "Max!"
Then I realized that it was Angel's voice. "Angel!" I yelled, tears again fell from my eyes even faster. She was coming for me. She was coming take me away.
"Max!" the voice called again. "Wake up!"
My eyes opened wide, I panted, and put my hand over my chest as I felt my heart beating madly. I looked around, my flock was around me, along with Professor McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey.
"Max." Angel's voice came again. She gently hugged me, and I hugged her back, hardly realizing that I was crying now. I smoothed out her hair, stroking it madly. "It's okay Max, it was only a dream. It was only a dream." she whispered.
"No Angel. It was one of the worst nightmare's ever." I whispered. Nudge was at my side now and hugged me. Even Gazzy and Iggy even joined in the hug. Total licked my cheek tenderly. Fang grabbed my shoulder softly.
"What happened?" Professor McGonagall asked softly.
"Not right now Minerva, you can ask her question's later. Right now she needs to relax. My, you're sweating like mad. Here's a rag." Madame Pomfrey said, tossing me a towel. That's when I was aware I was sweating as well. The flock moved so that I could wipe. I also thought they might not want to hug me because of the sweat. I moved the rag over my forehead and arms, and then put it next to me. Then I noticed I wasn't in the dormitory.
"I can answer some questions if you need me to." I whispered.
"Not yet." Madame Pomfrey scolded. She gave me some hot chocolate. "Drink this, it should help you recover from the shock." I grabbed it and drank half of it in one sip.
"What happened?" I asked.
"The girls in your dorm woke up because you were screaming so loud. They couldn't wake you up. You even hit one on accident." Gazzy said. I lowered my head. "Don't worry, you didn't show anything." His voice became so low that only we could hear it.
"One went for me, and when I came, you were screaming something about a test." McGonagalll whispered. "I couldn't wake you up. So, I told Ms. Granger to go and get Fang. But he had heard you, most of the Gryffindor's actually. They were downstairs, I brought you to the couch with help from Ms. Patil and Ms. Brown. Then with Mr. Fang's help we brought you here. By then you were yelling about somebody called Ari." My throat clenched, and I looked away from her. "You said he was dead to somebody named Jeb. Jeb is your father, correct?"
"No. Biologically yes, but no." I said. "He was, and never will be my father. I hate him, I wish I never learned that he was my father. I wish..." I stopped and looked toward the flock.
"Then, Ms. Angel said that she might be able to help, we had gotten her and Mr. Gazzy awake. I had already gotten Ms. Nudge and Mr. Iggy, and by then you had been screaming in pure terror. For almost an hour, maybe two. Then, after about half-an-hour of sitting here, you said Angel. And then you woke up." she finished.
"Wow, that sounds almost as bad as it was." I whispered softly.
"What happened in your dream though?" McGonagall asked.
"I don't want to talk about it right now." I said quickly. I wouldn't tell her, not here.
"Alright. Okay everyone, it's time to go to bed, you've been up long enough. Mr. Iggy, would you like me to help you to your dormitory?"
"Please." Iggy said, and McGonagall firmly grabbed his arm and they walked out, followed by Nudge. Fang walked only a few feet from Nudge. Gazzy waited by the entrance as Angel gave me one last hug, and then walked out. I was left alone.
I walked into the tent that the champions had to go through. Harry, Cedric, Fluer, and Krum were already there. A man walked into the tent, and smiled. "Well, here we are. Your task is to collect the golden egg." he smiled. Better than I had anticipated. I was sure that I had to fight the stupid beast. He opened up a violet silk bag that had rustling inside of it. I smiled, maybe this wasn't going to be to hard. He offered it to me and Fluer, saying, "Ladies first."
Fluer reached in shakily, and pulled out a green dragon with the number two around its neck. "Ah, a Welsh Green." the man said. I reached in, and picked out a brown looking dragon. It glared at me, I glared back, and it slunk into my palm. "A Norwegian Ridge-back, ooh." he smiled. He continued on with the boys, and I went to sit down on a bed. I looked at the little moving dragon that raced around my palm. It had the number five around its neck. So I'd be the last one to go. Now, to think of something to do...
What could have been hours passed. I had made a small plan earlier. I had been flipping through my text book, and found a spell that could help. Stupify. It stuns, this could help me. Then after it's stunned I'd do that Wingardium Leviosa, and I'd run in, grab the egg, then run out. Simple, but it might just work. Then, I heard my name called. "Now, our final contestant. Ms. Maximum Ride!" I heard some cheers go through the crowd, and I gulped. I walked to the entrance. The door opened, and I begged for this not to end up like my dream. I begged with all my heart.
I walked out, the sun glared down on me, I looked around, a large version of my dragon was there. Fifty times larger than me at least. 'Don't use your wings. Don't use your wings.'I begged my body to agree with me. The dragon roared, and opened its mouth, fire was shot right in front of me. I jumped behind a large boulder. I looked from behind the rock, the dragon was looking around. "Stupi-" I stopped dead in my tracks.
Behind the dragon's head I saw about a dozen shapes whizzing toward me. I looked closer and my heart must have stopped for a second. What I saw, was flyboys. The dragon burst flames out of its mouth again. "Not at me idiot! At them!" I pointed, begging for it to understand. I heard the announcer start to talk.
"She seems frozen ladies and gentlemen. She pointed to something. Sure enough, something is flying toward us. What is that ladies and gentlemen? They - they look like flying - flying werewolves!"
"Max!" I heard Angel scream. I looked up, she was there pointing at them, I nodded, I knew fear had to have shown on my face for half a second.
"Don't attack! Let's see if the dragon or a teacher does something!" I shouted. Angel nodded, and ran away.
"It looks like Ms. Ride is telling somebody in the crowd to do something. Does she know these flying werewolves." I looked behind, the flyboys were now about a hundred feet from the stadium.
"Come on dragon! Attack them!" I shouted, pointing. Somehow, the dragon understood, and looked. I smiled, good, it was distracted, and it might be able to help me. It shot fire out at the flyboys, hitting only one. One down, eleven to go.
"Come on Max, we're putting people in danger! We need to attack!" Fang called to me. I sighed, knowing that he was right.
"Just give the dragon a little longer!" I called. "Maybe it can help us!" Fang looked at me, and stood, watching the dragon.
Slowly, I inched my way out from behind the rock, and toward the dragon. It shot more fire at the flyboys, this time I was pretty sure it hit two. Quickly, I dived under the tail, and army crawled toward the golden egg. It didn't see me, it was still busy fighting the flyboys. I was never happier to see one of them before.
Swiftly I grabbed the egg, and ran back toward the exit, I looked from behind me, the dragon had shot the last of the flyboys, I dived for the exit, and got there right on time. Cheers roared, and I listened to the announcer. "It seems while the dragon was distracted, Ms. Ride went to get the egg! Smart move on her part! But what were those things? Could they have been a stroke of luck, or part of Max's plan. Hopefully we'll find out what that was from her."
I entered the dorm where everyone else was. Harry was looking at me, confused. "What were those things."
"Just another part of my life." I chuckled. "Remember, that life you were talking behind my back about that day people were placing their names in." Harry was silent. Madame Pomfrey walked over to me, and inspected.
"Seems you weren't hurt at all. Well, go out there and recieve your score then." she sighed, and I walked out. Where I was greeted by the flock.
"I can't believe the flyboys came here!" Nudge screamed, holding me tight. "I hope that they go away."
"Me too. I don't want to fight here." Angel said.
"Can me and Iggy make bombs, please Max? We need to be ready." Gazzy said.
"Yeah, really." Iggy said.
"Alright, only two bombs, and you can't skip classes Iggy. And no more midnight flights with Luna." I said gravely. He lowered his head down, but I knew that he didn't regret it.
Just then, my scores were shot into the air. I got a nine from the headmistress lady. Two sevens from the guy who gave us the tiny dragons and Dumbledore. An eight from the talkative guy, I think his name was Bagman or something. Finally, I got a two from the headmaster of Durmstrang. I smiled, not to bad honestly. I just hoped that the flyboys wouldn't return. I really hoped.
Okay, I couldn't decide between flyboys and Angel influencing it at first. In the end, flyboys won. Hoped you enjoyed this. I typed for two hours, went through a can of soda, and three bags of chips. I'm dedicated.
