YOUR UPDATE IS HEREEEEE!!! I'm so, so sorry if I made any of you wait, guys!
The beginning first few paragraphs of this chapter is a continuation of the last chapter, y'know, 'Lost in Hogwarts'? Yea, that one, 'cuz I realized how plain that chapter was, and just thought up some other events for all of them to go through...
Again, I'm very sorry for not updating sooner. I had a lot of stuff going on and I like to only update when I know the chapter is perfect, y'know? I still don't think this chapter is perfect, but I think it's good enough.
Now lets get on with the story!
(Remember there's a commentary below)
REMEMBER TO HAVE FUN READING!
They were beginning to lose hope, beginning to think that they were never going to make it out of the never-ending corridors. They eventually did, all of them mentally cheering with relief. The relief, however, was short-lived, as there were only more obstacles waiting for them to get through. They were soon cautiously climbing staircases with with occasional vanishing steps, finding hidden doors, breaking into rooms, and overcoming much, much more before finally finding their classroom.
They may have also stumbled upon a haunted bathroom, in which sobbing noises reverberated all over the walls. Fresh puddles of water flooded the stained tiled floors, and they heard the ominous dripping of tap water and flushing toilets as they warily entered. They weren't able to investigate further than that, however, because Naruto had bolted out of the place before they could even take another step forward, right after hurriedly shouting that he 'suddenly knew the way to class'.
He did not.
He sprinted through the many confusing corridors, determined to put as much distance from the creepy bathroom as possible. The others immediately followed after him, but he showed no sign of stopping, and they were finding it extremely difficult to catch up to him. Harry and Ron soon fell thoroughly behind Sasuke and Sakura.
"They're really- huffgh, hargh... fast..." Ron panted out to Harry. They were both sloppily jogging side-by-side, their sides hurting and their legs about to start cramping up.
"Huff, hurgh- They run weirdly too..." Harry pointed out, before speeding up, arching his back forward and throwing his arms behind him (Ron did the same).1 "Great- we're gonna lose them!"
"Pthugh- GUYS! WAIT UP!" Ron called out, but they hadn't seemed to have heard him.
Sasuke had almost caught up to Naruto, and was just about to jump ahead and reach out to grab him by his collar when his teammate suddenly stopped dead. As a result, he sent himself catapulting into him.
"Itte! (It's 'ittai' but I always hear him saying the word that way)"
"What was that about, dobe?" Sasuke said bitterly.
The Uchiha turned around and saw the Ravenclaw ghost- Bertha Anne Collins- standing right in front of him.
"Watch where your going, child." the ghost said to Naruto, pushing her round glasses back. "You could have knocked all the books out of my arms if I were still solid."
Naruto made no reply, only hugging his knees to his chest and shivering instead.
"We're so, so sorry," Sakura said, bowing her head and apologizing for the second time that day. "Miss- uhh..."
"Though my actual name is Bertha Anne Collar, everyone just calls me 'The Grey Lady', you guys probably should, too. Anyway- shouldn't you students be in class?"
"Well, how do you all expect us to be?" Ron huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "This bloody castle is so darn big!"
It took them more than half an hour to get to their first lesson. It turns out they had been walking in circles the whole time, and they didn't even notice. They would have taken much longer to do so, if Naruto hadn't bumped, or tumbled into The Grey Lady, who was kind enough to show them the way. All in all, their 'little' adventure had taken many twists and turns along the way.
They were to have their first lesson, Charms, together. Upon their arrival, they noticed that everyone around them looked a little battered and worn out, just like they were.
Their Charms teacher, Professor Filius Flitwick, an extremely tiny and cheerful wizard, was very understanding and lenient, hurrying them toward their seats without too much of a fuss. There, they waited a little longer for some of their other fellow students, who were still trying to find their separate ways out of the maze that was, namely Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
After all of the students arrived and settled in, Professor Flitwick climbed on top of a stack of books, all ready to start.
"Ahem." now everyone's attention was on him. "Welcome, students- to your very first Charms lesson! My name is Filius Flitwick, and I am going to be your Charms professor for- who knows how long? Most probably until all of you graduate from Hogwarts. So sit tight, you're probably going to be with me for quite a long while."
The little man pointed his wand to the ground, and more books appeared out of nowhere, stacking one on top of the other like Jenga blocks, giving him higher ground. Everyone gasped in awe. "Now, charms is always used in a Witch's and Wizard's daily life. You absolute wouldn't be able to survive without charms. Since all of you are beginners, you all going to start practising simple spells- before working your way up to the difficult one's" with another wave of his wand, feathers magically appeared on the desks in front of them. "Now we shall get started! Out with your wands, all of you! The first thing you are going to learn is the levitation spell- a spell that enables any given object to hover in the air without the physical support of any sort."
"Wangardiun Lahvosaaaaaa!" Ron bellowed, forcefully waving over the feather before hollering again. "WINGARDYAM LEVOVAAH- whoops, that wasn't it."
Professor Flitwick had given them an insightful briefing on how to perform levitation spell, instructing them to say the magic words, 'Wingardium Leviosa', nice and long, before grounding them on the wrist movement: swish and flick. He then demonstrated by casting the spell on Trevor, making the blue-coloured toad zoom around the room, then putting them all in pairs before allowing his students to set out and start casting the spell on their own- on the feathers.
Soon, multiple cries of, 'WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!' filled the room.
"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" Ron shouted for what seemed like the hundredth time. The spell was more difficult than he expected. No matter how carefully he pronounced the words, or how artfully he swished and flicked, the feather still remained unmoving, on the desk.He was getting very, very frustrated. "Wing-ar-di-um LEVIOSAH!"
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Sakura was not having any better luck. She had no problem executing the wrist movements- that came in natural to her, and she was absolutely sure that she was pronouncing the words right, but somehow the feather just would not lift into the air. Not even by a centimetre! She did not understand it. "Aw... come on! Wingardium Leviosa!"
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry was also having his own difficulties. He just couldn't get the hang of the wrist movements. He kept getting too excited; jabbing the wand onto the feather without swishing it first. And in times where he did swish, the spell still wouldn't work. But he was getting there. On the ninth try, he managed to get it to hover about three centimetres off the table, for about half a second. Then he lost control from the shock of being able to perform it; the feather loftily descending back to its original position.
Suprisingly, Naruto wasn't repeatedly shouting his head off and waving his wand like a lunatic. Instead, he was glaring at Sasuke with a furious expression on his face, his arms folded over his chest and his teeth clenched.
'Sasuke-teme's going to be the best at this without trying, so that he can get a lot of squealing fan-girls here, too. Hmph! He's just like that, that teme. Always a show-off!" he silently fumed.
He watched as his rival (he would've called him his friend, but for the time being he considered him a rival) lifted his wand.
"Veengardium Levieeosa!"
"Weengardim Leveisa!"
Two cries sounded from either side of Naruto. Seamus Finnigan, who was partnerred up with Hannah Abbott had coincidentally uttered the spell as Sasuke, and you won't believe what happened next.
Instead of of sending their feathers skywards, like they had intended to, Seamus and Sasuke's feathers caught on fire!
Seamus' was relatively small, and thankfully Hannah was quick enough to put it out with her hat.
However, Sasuke's fire was enormous. It literaly exploded before growing into a raging, cackling ball of heat, and it kept growing bigger and more fearsome.
(Quick author's note : I just thought of this, but maybe you could play the Naruto soundtrack, 'Bad Situation' while reading for a better, more magical experience? Just a little suggestion you should try!)
The atmostphere switched with a sudden jolt.
"Aaaghh!" Students were now begining to freak out, the light-hearted aall hurriedly scrambling for the door; poor Flitwick's stern squeeks of, "Don't panic! Everyone don't panic!" fell on deaf ears.
Naruto didn't know what to do. The fire was too big to be put out with a hat, but he couldn't just sit there whilst it grew and endangered everyone in the classroom. He had to do something. Anything. Without thinking, he raised his wand and did the little swishing and flicking movement.
"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" he hollered, jabbing his wand in the fire's direction.
Suddenly, the whole room got quieter, as if he had sudden gotten deaf. The frenzied screams and shouts now sounded distant and echoed, as if he was hearing them from somewhere in a dark, empty tunnel. Then he felt some kind of pull, as if invisible string were being fastened from the raging inferno of heat to his wand, the knots tightening at his wrist. He also felt as if the air around him was pressing against his body; forcefully compressing ribs and making it extremely difficult to draw breath. Was this because of the smoke?
What was going on? Had he done it? He had just successfully casted the spell on the flames. He had done it. He was doing it! He was, right?
All this confusion made him a little taken aback and stunned, but he immediately snapped out of his confusion when he remembered the task he was supposed to be doing: Being the super cool hero and saving his classmates from the danger caused by Sasuke-teme's foolish blunder.
It took him a lot of concentration, but he was eventually able to get the ball of heat up in the air. It took a little more effort to raise it higher, but he eventually got the hang of it. With his last resolve, he focused on depositing it out of the open window in front of him, paying no heed to the fact that his lungs were desperately in need of more oxygen.
The whole class had been staring in shock as their blonde-haired classmate single-handedly saved their lives, each and every one of them sporting different expressions.
Sasuke watched on with an unusual dumbfounded expression on his face, while Professor Flitwick wore a look of stunned amazement and surprise on his; Hermione had both her eyes and both wide open and Ron had dropped his wand and it fell to the floor with a clatter, rolling off to who knows where.
A number of girls had eyes filled with admiration, while half of the boys looked on with growing respect, the other half with envy.
They saw the boy falter a little, but he didn't stop pushing himself, until the fire was entirely out of the window.
Sakura wore a bewildered expression at first, but it slowly turned into a mixture of adoration and respect. Her mouth began cracking into a smile, the kind of smile a big sister makes when she's extremely proud of her little brother. Then she stomped her feet on the ground and pumped her fists in the air.
"YEEAAA! GOO NARUTOOOO!" she cheered, her eyes shinning. "GANBATTEEE!"
"Mhrph." he grunted, giving a last burst of energy as he pushed the flaming ball out of the window. Then the spell lifted, and gravity took hold of the fire once again, sending it plummeting into the bushes below.
(by the way, if you did put on the soundtrack it can stop now!)
Then he stood there, panting heavily as the tight, uncomfortable pressure left him, before turning to face his classmates (and teacher), flashing them a big, bright smile.
He did it! _
Just like Sasuke's fire had, the whole class exploded, into deafening cheers. All the boys were loudly whooping and yelling, but Ron was roaring the loudest, screaming his throat hoarse. Sakura continued her proud, big sister cheering, and girly squeals could be heard above all the noise.
The only one who wasn't cheering was the one who caused all the commotion in the first place. The said person was standing in the midst of the cheering crowed, with a sour look on his face and his arms crossed. No one cared enough to pay him any attention at the moment, though. All of it was fixed solely on his teammate, the one he had always smugly teased for being somewhat talentless. The one he called a 'dobe' was being cooler than him. He simply didn't know how to take it.
"How did you do that?" Professor Flitwick inquired. "I'd expect a first-year to be able to levitate feathers and solid objects as heavy as bricks, that's not at all surprising, but levitating a gaseous substance with a lot of space between the particles 2 in them, that takes a lot of mental peserverance! Even levitating liquids such as water is an advanced third-year skill! You're truly amazing! Unbelievable! Extraodinary!" he rambled on and on in amazement, barely aware of the way he was hopping around from one foot to the other and clapping like a child on Christmas morning.
The student he was praising lifted his head and gave a sheepish grin.
Naruto would have said more, would have gloated to Sasuke-teme about how awesome he was and how much of a fool he looked liked, would have told Professor Flitwick that the spell was as easy as pie to perform, and that he didn't even break a sweat. He would have done all of those things, if he wasn't still so... so tired and worn out. He still struggled to breathe. Every breath was still a chore, his chest unevenly shuddering in and out. His face was turning an unhealthy shade of pale, and, was it just him, or was his vision blurring?
For a moment, he just stood there. Then the room suddenly lurched and spun. His eyes glazed over and he swayed.
"Naruto!" The cheering abruptly stopped, and Sakura, Harry, Ron, and the people closest to the boy quickly ran towards him as he pitched forward, all of them hoping they'd be able to catch the boy before it was too late.
But Sasuke beat all of them to it, coming out of nowhere and scooping him up seconds before he hit the floor.
Sakura let out a strangled sigh of relief before rushing straight to Naruto's side, Harry and Ron immediately following suit.
They gazed down at his paler-than-usual face; Sasuke's eyebrows immediately knitting into a frown. Though the boy would never show, or admit it, he was worried. Extremely worried.
Everyone was silent for a moment or two, anxiously watching as Naruto's breathing slowly evened out. Then he winced and wearily cracked one eye open. The helpless expression quickly turned into a scowl the moment he realized that he was being carried by his rival, immediately fighting to get out of his hold.
"Teme! Put me down! I'm fine!"
"Quit struggling, dobe!" Sasuke ordered in an irritated tone, after getting tired of Naruto's futile attempts to get free.
"That's right, listen to Sasuke!" Sakura scolded with an exasperated sigh, her hands on her hips. "When will you ever know what's good for you?"
Naruto surprisingly listened to Sakura and stopped resisting, weakly placing his arm over his eyes and setting his mouth into a small pout instead.
A couple minutes of Sakura's continuous fussing led him into reluctantly revealing that his head hurt 'a little', and that he was feeling 'kind of' dizzy, not to mention exhausted. Professor Flitwick got a tiny bottle out from the pocket of his coat and squeezed a little drop onto his tongue, saying that it was completely normal for witches and wizards to experience a little bout of dizziness after performing the levitation spell on water, or in his case, flames, for the very first time.
"Can you walk?" Harry inquired, his voice full his concern.
"I dunno, the teme won't let me!" Naruto grumbled.
"Maybe you should put him down and see if he can stand for a moment, Sasuke."
"Hn" Sasuke grunted, gently letting the boy out of his arms, which still hovered near him, ready to catch him in case he collasped again.
He didn't, and though he was still a little wobbly on his feet, he was able to stand on his own two feet just fine, without any assistance.
Sakura still wasn't convinced. She was just about to ask Professor Flitwick if he could give him permission to go up to his dorm and rest for awhile when the bell rang, and before she could do anything drastic, she caught a glimpse of Naruto smiling reassuringly at her before grabbing Sasuke's arm and heading out of the door, then a motley crew of students conveniently covered them from view.
1: Can you imagine Harry and Ron 'Naruto running'?
2: Are you familiar with the 'Three States of Matter' and the 'Particle Theory'? If you're over the age of 12 you might have already learnt this in school!
The three states of matter are solid, liquid, and gas. All three have different characteristics. Scientists use the 'Particle Theory' to explain how they behave.
Put it like this, the many tiny particles in a solid are arranged together in a fixed pattern, and there is little to no space between them. That's why solid objects don't easily break apart. The particles in a liquid are arranged in an irregular pattern, but are still pretty close together. This explains why liquids don't have a particular shape, and can easily be poured into a container or jar of any shape. The particles in a gas, however, are very different from that of the solid and liquid, because they're spread out and not in any pattern whatsoever. This explains why water vapour is so light and... wafty?
I think this theory would affect the level of difficulty of the levitation spell. Since the particles in solid objects are more compact, it'll be easier to lift in the air than liquids and gases, 'cuz you need to put more effort into lifting all the particles in irregular patterns. I mean, can you imagine 'restless' water sloshing about? How hard d'you think lifting the whole entire shapeless thing'll be?
Boy, I feel like a scientist now...
It's only the first lesson and the first-year were already forced to face a life-or-death situation!
Anyway, that's it for now! What d'you think?