Authors Note: I GOT THE FIFTH MAX BOOK!!!!!! I was sooooo excited when I saw it at the book store. It hadn't been there before, but now it is, so I was like 'YAY now I need to get it!' So I finished it in a couple hours. Let's see. I got it around three, three thirty and I finished it about roughly eight o' clock, so yeah. I finished it in about five hours, so yay me. I'm very happy now. So much happened in that book that I got excited about. That was definitely the best book, so feel free to PM me. I so need someone to discuss it with, since no one else I know has read the books. Anyways, you guys got fourteen reviews, so I'm going to go ahead and give the chapter to you since you were so close. It doesn't look like I'll be getting any more reviews for this chapter anyways, so here it is.
Dedication: Since I have no specific person this will be for everyone who reviewed the last chapter!
Chapter -:10:-
This is One of Those Kinds of Weird, Yet Fascinating Times, When All You Can do is Stare at Things in Shock and Wonder
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"Good morning class." Professor McGonagall greeted us all, once every one had taken a seat.
"Good morning, Professor McGonagall." We all answered back mechanically.
"This year, we'll start of with some basic transformations, so everybody grab your wands and turn the tea cup in front of you into a live, perfectly formed mouse." Professor McGonagall said briskly and excited and slightly agitated murmurs ran through the room.
"Get to work children! This is no longer Summer break. You're back at school now, so I suggest you all get busy working." Professor McGonagall snapped and the talking stopped abruptly.
"Watch this." Hermione murmured under her breath to Iggy and I.
"I can't watch anything." Iggy snapped at her and she looked up at him, hurt clearly visible in her eyes.
"I didn't mean-" She started.
"I don't care what you meant!" He cut her off and then turn away from her. His back facing us.
"Oh dear." She bit her lip and if I wasn't mistaken, tears welled up in her eyes.
"Don't worry about it Hermione," I assured he quietly and then said in a much louder voice, enough for Iggy to hear clearly. "He's just a drama queen. He's making a big deal out of nothing as usual."
Iggy stiffened a little and said, "Shut up, Max."
Hermione continued to stare at Iggy.
"So. . . aren't you going to turn that thing into a mouse or what?" I asked her, trying to get her mind off of Iggy.
For the second time that day I wondered what was up with him. He usually wasn't this sensitive about his disability, but for some reason he got really PO'd whenever Hermione said something that clearly offended him from the way he reacted every time. It just wasn't like him to take her remarks so personally. I knew that he knew she wasn't trying to hurt his feelings in any way, but he still blew up on her every time. I would have to have a nice chat with him sometime in the near future about his behavior, and I was betting it wouldn't be a pleasant one.
"Oh. . . right. Well just watch carefully." Hermione shook her head a little, like she had to clear it, then she turned back to face the tea cup.
She stared at the cup intently for a moment, like she was memorizing the light, whimsical design on the outer edge. Then suddenly she sat up straight and tall. With a flick of her wrist, and her wand pointed straight at the cup she muttered some words. With a flash and a bright crackle of light the cup began to morph and transform right before my eyes.
It sprouted legs and it started to turn a dull shade of gray. Then a tail grew from one end and a head peeked out on the other. I blinked once and then there was no trace of a cup left. All I could see was a tiny, cowering mouse in it's place. It took one look up at Hermione and I and scampered off down the table.
"No you don't!' Hermione said softly and picked the flailing mouse up carefully, before it could reach the end of the table. She held it in her hands and petted it softly.
"How did you do it already!?" Ron groaned when he saw Hermione holding the perfectly formed, as Professor McGonagall would put it, mouse.
"Oh please Ron. We've been doing something as simple as this for four years. How come you haven't got the hang of it yet? I mean look at that poor creature. What did you do wrong this time?" Hermione looked disdainfully, yet her glance was full of pity, at the little lumbering tea cup that had four legs growing out of the bottom, a tail, and a nose.
"How come I haven't got the hang of it yet? Maybe because I'm not a bloody genius, and I didn't do anything wrong. I said the spell perfectly. Everything should have turned out ok. . . but it didn't." He insisted.
"Well obviously." I snickered and he glared at me a little, but it didn't have the effect he had planned on, because at the same time he turned a bright shade of red that matched his hair exactly.
"Were you thinking about what the finished mouse would look like? Or were you imagining what it would look like as half and half?" Hermione interrupted our little staring contest, which I would have won anyways.
"How did you know what I was thinking of?" He asked in amazement.
"Oh, Ron. You have to picture what you want it to look like in your mind. Why can't you get that through your thick head?" Hermione laughed and Ron blushed again.
"Really Ron. This stuff isn't that hard. We did this kind of stuff in our first year. It's not any different now, then it was then. " Harry laughed right along with Hermione.
"Well I'd like to see you do it then mate. Might now be so full of yourself then, now would you?" Ron hurriedly tried to change the subject from his utter lack of magical skill.
"Well alright then, but if I turn this cup into a perfect mouse, you have to. . . . you have to eat twenty vomit flavored beans." Harry challenged him.
After he stated his bet Iggy and I were left wondering what in the name of all that is weird, even by mutant bird kid standards, was a vomit flavored bean? From the look of utter disgust on Ron and Hermione's faces, I was guessing it wasn't something very appetizing.
"Do you take the bet?" Harry eyed Ron and then continued to say, "Or are you to scared?"
"I'm not scared," Ron scoffed.
"Then do you take the bet?" Harry repeated.
"Of course I do," Ron replied rather pompously.
"Then prepare yourself to eat some Bertie Bott's every flavored beans. Vomit flavored that is." Harry stuck out his hand and Ron shook it.
"You sound a little confident. What makes you so sure you're going to win?" Ron inquired, but his eyes didn't hold much hope. Harry just shook his head and smiled wistfully. I smiled a little, too. Some how, I knew Harry was going to win. It was just this powerful feeling that rushed over me. It was like I knew exactly what was going to happen. I could see it all. It was like a vision almost.
Then he turned to the tea cup in front of him and with a flick of his wrist and the same words Hermione had said a perfect mouse appeard. It was the same as before. I blinked once and then it was there with a 'poof', just the same as any regular, normal, every day mouse right down from its cute little whiskers to its long, thin tail.
"Oh bloody hell." Ron swore and Harry smiled in triumph.
"Looks like you'll be having a date with twenty vomit flavored beans tonight. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time." Every one in our little group was laughing now.
"Wonderful job Mr. Potter. Excellent as always Ms. Granger. I cannot say the same for you, however, Mr. Weasley. Keep working on it." Professor McGonagall appeared out of no where.
Well no where wasn't actually the word. It was more like a cat had been stalking down the aisle way and then suddenly that said cat had magically turned into Professor McGonagall. Way cool in my opinion.
"And I would also like to formally greet some of the new students. As you know I am Professor McGonagall. I am also Gryffindor head of house, so if there is anything you need housing wise feel free to come to me for any questions, since I'm sure you must have many. I'd also like to be one of the first teachers here to welcome you to Hogwarts." She smiled good naturedly at Iggy and I, even though I knew she knew he wouldn't see it.
"Thank you." I replied and smiled back.
"Do you have any notions of when you will be receiving your wands and other school supplies?" She asked.
"Not at this moment, no." I answered.
"Well then I hope you get them soon. I won't lie, you have a whole lot of hard work to do. You'll have to catch up on four years worth of learning in only one." She made a tsk, tsk noise.
"Yeah, well, we learn fast. Isn't that right Ig?"
"You betcha." He smiled in the general direction Professor McGonagall was standing. Almost directly at her actually. Once again I was amazed at the boys accuracy. Who knew someone could be so good at being blind?
"Good, good." With one last smile Professor McGonagall moved on.
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I was pressed in a tight mass of moving bodies. All striving to get to the same location. Destination, dining hall. Mission, stop stomach's obsessive growling by suppressing my hunger and absolutely dowsing it with delicious food.
You think being so close to so many people would start to freak me out wouldn't you? But I wasn't, which surprised even myself. It was just so. . . so open and light here, even in the hallways. The ceiling was just so high and there was just so much room up there that you hardly noticed how packed it was on the ground. Besides I didn't belong on the floor like every one else. I belonged in the air, flying free as a bird. Note the striking similarity to my life. . . or the wings that were now aching to stretch out on my back.
"Fang!" I called out, as soon as I saw the familiar head bobbing a little higher then the rest of the crowd.
"Max." He said in acknowledgement.
"How was your first day?" I breathed a sigh when he came over to stand beside me.
"Good." He answered simply.
"Good? Is that all you can come up with?" I raised an eyebrow.
To my extreme frustration all he did was shrug.
"Come on Fang. Let's go and get a good seat." I peered over Fang's shoulder to see Malfoy scowling behind him. Why did he always have to butt in on our conversations only just after they started? It better not become a habit of his.
"Oh, ok. I'll see you around Max." He turned to follow the swiftly retreating Malfoy.
"Yeah, see you," I said softly and he turned back to look at me peculiarly. He looked me straight in the eyes for a minute and then turned to walk away again.
Suddenly I had the aching feeling inside that it wouldn't be the last time I saw him walking away from me, and I didn't like it. No I didn't like it one bit.
Authors Note: Yeah, yeah. I know it was kind of boring. It was mostly a filler. Nothing major happened in it. . . or did it? Mhmm, now would be the time to try out my new evil cackle, lol. FIFTEEN REVIEWS AGAIN! FIFTEEN! You know what to do now, so go on and do it. I'm not going to wait forever.