DISCLAIMERS: I'm not JK Rowling, the only thing I own is Lili and the plot. But could I borrow Harry? Just for a little while? Please? I'll bring him back...
CHAPTER FOUR: THE JOURNEY BEGINS
At five o'clock the next morning, Lili was woken up by Hermione shaking her. "Lili, get up, Lili, we have to go! Get up!"
"Just five more minutes, Mom..." Lili mumbled into her pillow.
"I'm not your bloody Mum, I'm Hermione, now get your butt out of bed!" Hermione dragged the covers back, and Lili groaned and tried to pull them back up.
"Go away, Hermione. Go find the lousy weapons yourself, let Voldemort take over the world, I don't care, just let me sleep!" She buried her face in her pillow and refused to move until Hermione threatened her with a Tickling Charm.
"Okay, okay, I'm up, no tickling! Jeez, how can you be so awake?" Lili yawned. She grabbed a towel and ran into the bathroom. Hermione shook her head and dragged two backpacks out from under her bed, taking care not to wake Parvati and Lavendar.
Forty-five minutes later, Hermione was dragging a complaining and still sopping Lili across the Quidditch pitch, along with three brooms and two backpacks. Lili was still struggling to brush her choppy hair. Harry, Ron, and Dumbledore were waiting for them, looking a little annoyed. "Sorry," Hermione said breathlessly, "Lili fell back asleep." There was very little talk, except for Lili's almost incessant moaning of the words "Starbucks" and "coffee."
Dumbledore handed Lili a small jar. Uncorking it, she gagged at the stench. "This is the potion? Please tell me it's not..." she trailed off, and, with a look at Dumbldore's face, groaned. She winced, set her face, and took a gulp of the potion. It took all of her self-control not to spit it back out over everything. "Well, that was nasty," she said cheerfully. "But I think it worked. So, are we going to go?" The others shrugged, and straddled their broomsticks. Ron frowned at his, it had twigs sticking out in all directions.
Harry looked back at Dumbledore; he had relied on the man for guidance and protection, he was almost afraid to leave. But he wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing. Squaring his shoulders, Harry nodded farewell at Dumbledore and rose into the sky. The others followed him.
Albus Dumbledore shaded his eyes from the rising sun, waving farewell to the four students as they disappeared against the brightening sky. "Goodbye, and may Lady Luck be with you," he murmured. "Good fortune to you, Warriors of the Light."
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They flew for hours, heading for where Harry assumed the Earth Temple was. Ron and Hermione flew ahead of Harry and Lili, who was doing her best to merely stay on the broom. Hermione had actually been a quick learner under Ron's tutelage, a fact that Harry did not miss, especially since she had been so bad at flying lessons in their first year.
Lili was much worse than Hermione, simply because of her horrible fear of heights, despite the potion. Lili kept her eyes fixed straight ahead, refusing to look to either side, or down. Her face was a stony mask, which Harry suspected covered terror. Knowing Lili for just a few months told him that she did not express emotion easily, and was a good actress. If she didn't want you to know something, you would have no idea. She was a very good actress.
"I prefer the term b.s. artist, thank you very much." She said, not looking at Harry, who jumped.
"What did you say?" He asked, confused. It was like she had been reading his mind.
"I said I prefer b.s artist over actress. What, didn't you say that I was a good actress?" Her eyes darted from straight in front of her to him, then back again, and her face turned a bit green.
"No, I was just thinking that, though."
She considered his words for a moment, then called up ahead. "Hey, Hermione! I want to see that book that Professor Dumbledore gave us, let's land!"
The other girl gave a quick nod, and both of them swooped towards the ground, Hermione a lot more gracefully than Lili, who wobbled into the turn and fell off her broom at a foot off the ground. The boys shrugged and followed them.
"Oof!" Lili got up and dusted herself off, a lot more comfortable now that she was on solid earth. "Okay Hermione, you have the book? I want to check out our powers; you know, see what we can do." Hermione pulled the book out of her bag, and the two girls pored over it for a few minutes. Ron picked up a rock and tossed it to Harry, and the two of them played a halfhearted game of catch, ending when Harry missed the rock and ended up with a bruised rib.
"Ohhh, I've found it!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly, and the others looked at her. "Here, our powers: supposedly we can change into our elements, summon our elements, and control our elements. Plus, we have heightened ability in the sort of thing that element controls, like its characteristics. Earth is healing, air is psychic abilities, water is divination" -Hermione frowned- "and fire is strength. Also, we have some sort of short-range telecommunication."
"I thought so!" Lili exclaimed triumphantly.
"Yes, but only twenty meters and under. And our element can't kill us. Harry, a fall can't kill you- so that's why you were okay when you fell back in third year!- I can't drown, Ron can't burn, Lili can't be crushed. Interesting."
"Yeah, you could say that," Ron said. "So does this mean that I can throw balls of flame at people?"
"Sure does," Lili replied, ignoring Hermione's cries to not encourage him.
"Awesome," Ron grinned. He held out his palm, and a dot of fire appeared there. It began to grow, and the glow illuminated Ron's face, although it was pale compared to his grin. "Look at this! Hey- wait a minute- it won't stop! It won't stop growing! Help!" The ball of flame was the size of a beach ball and still growing.
"Oh, honestly," Hermione tutted. She threw out a palm, and a wave of water enveloped Ron, washing over him and leaving him soaked and sputtering.
Harry put his head in his hands. "I think we need to work on this," he muttered.
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"Okay, Harry, it's your turn." Hermione, Ron, and Lili had finished their practice, and with help, each had mastered their powers. They had first helped Ron figure out how to stop the fireball growing when he wanted, then worked from there. Hermione had pulled everything off perfectly, witht the exception of controlling the water: she couldn't get a firm enough grip, and it refused to shape itself. Lili had gotten stuck when she tried to change into a form of the Earth: she had changed into a lily flower and had been unable to change back for fifteen minutes, although she had been delighted to find out that she could make things grow. Now it was Harry's turn.
"Okay, first of all, shape the air. Into a... a stool. Right at my feet." Hermione nodded encouragingly.
Taking a deep breath, Harry visualized the air as a stool, nice and solid, for Hermione to sit on... It wasn't working. "Come on Harry, you can do it," she said.
"I'm trying!" he snapped back at her. She sniffed, slightly offended.
"Do or do not, there is no try," Lili said, the perfect picture of serenity. Harry, having never seen a Star Wars movie, took these words at their full value. A second later, the air was solid as a rock. "Well done, Harry!" she said happily. "All right, now become the puff of air. Be one with the air." Harry rolled his eyes, but transformed, without a hitch, into the puff of air and back again. "You'd make a great spy with that trick, Harry," Lili told him. He shook his head.
"Nah, I couldn't keep my mouth shut," he told her, and focused on creating a small whirlwind. "But now that we've practised, and we're all good working with our powers... sort of... can we go?"
"Nope," Lili said breezily.
"No?"
"Nope," she replied, as if 'no' and 'nope' had two entirely different meanings. "It's getting dark, and I'm cold. Besides, I refuse to set foot anywhere near that infernal broom again tonight." Not waiting for an answer, she opened her back and began pulling out TV dinners (three courses, with chocolate cake for dessert).
"Hey, she's right." Hermione shrugged and began unpacking the tent. Ron called up a small bonfire, which hovered an inch off the ground, burning off nothing. Harry, left without a job, proceeded to tease Hermione until she hexed him. Ron, shaking his head, removed the hex.
The evening went peacefully enough after that. The dinners opened like popcorn, over the fire, and proved themselves to be excellent, although the turkey was a little dry. And there was some yelling over the tent; which was not magical, and very cramped with four people sharing it. But nevertheless, when all the cries of "let go of my pillow!" and "okay, Ron, move your elbow" and "OW! That was my foot, idiot!" were finished, the evening was peaceful enough.
It must have been somewhere around four o'clock in the morning when Harry was shaken awake. He jammed his glasses on his nose, and saw Lili's determined face hovering over his bed, her hair hanging in her eyes. Hermione, awake also, was shaking Ron.
"Get up," she said. "We're going to the temple."
(A/N) Yes yes yes, Cliffie, I know! Don't you all hate me? Now go review!
CHAPTER FOUR: THE JOURNEY BEGINS
At five o'clock the next morning, Lili was woken up by Hermione shaking her. "Lili, get up, Lili, we have to go! Get up!"
"Just five more minutes, Mom..." Lili mumbled into her pillow.
"I'm not your bloody Mum, I'm Hermione, now get your butt out of bed!" Hermione dragged the covers back, and Lili groaned and tried to pull them back up.
"Go away, Hermione. Go find the lousy weapons yourself, let Voldemort take over the world, I don't care, just let me sleep!" She buried her face in her pillow and refused to move until Hermione threatened her with a Tickling Charm.
"Okay, okay, I'm up, no tickling! Jeez, how can you be so awake?" Lili yawned. She grabbed a towel and ran into the bathroom. Hermione shook her head and dragged two backpacks out from under her bed, taking care not to wake Parvati and Lavendar.
Forty-five minutes later, Hermione was dragging a complaining and still sopping Lili across the Quidditch pitch, along with three brooms and two backpacks. Lili was still struggling to brush her choppy hair. Harry, Ron, and Dumbledore were waiting for them, looking a little annoyed. "Sorry," Hermione said breathlessly, "Lili fell back asleep." There was very little talk, except for Lili's almost incessant moaning of the words "Starbucks" and "coffee."
Dumbledore handed Lili a small jar. Uncorking it, she gagged at the stench. "This is the potion? Please tell me it's not..." she trailed off, and, with a look at Dumbldore's face, groaned. She winced, set her face, and took a gulp of the potion. It took all of her self-control not to spit it back out over everything. "Well, that was nasty," she said cheerfully. "But I think it worked. So, are we going to go?" The others shrugged, and straddled their broomsticks. Ron frowned at his, it had twigs sticking out in all directions.
Harry looked back at Dumbledore; he had relied on the man for guidance and protection, he was almost afraid to leave. But he wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing. Squaring his shoulders, Harry nodded farewell at Dumbledore and rose into the sky. The others followed him.
Albus Dumbledore shaded his eyes from the rising sun, waving farewell to the four students as they disappeared against the brightening sky. "Goodbye, and may Lady Luck be with you," he murmured. "Good fortune to you, Warriors of the Light."
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They flew for hours, heading for where Harry assumed the Earth Temple was. Ron and Hermione flew ahead of Harry and Lili, who was doing her best to merely stay on the broom. Hermione had actually been a quick learner under Ron's tutelage, a fact that Harry did not miss, especially since she had been so bad at flying lessons in their first year.
Lili was much worse than Hermione, simply because of her horrible fear of heights, despite the potion. Lili kept her eyes fixed straight ahead, refusing to look to either side, or down. Her face was a stony mask, which Harry suspected covered terror. Knowing Lili for just a few months told him that she did not express emotion easily, and was a good actress. If she didn't want you to know something, you would have no idea. She was a very good actress.
"I prefer the term b.s. artist, thank you very much." She said, not looking at Harry, who jumped.
"What did you say?" He asked, confused. It was like she had been reading his mind.
"I said I prefer b.s artist over actress. What, didn't you say that I was a good actress?" Her eyes darted from straight in front of her to him, then back again, and her face turned a bit green.
"No, I was just thinking that, though."
She considered his words for a moment, then called up ahead. "Hey, Hermione! I want to see that book that Professor Dumbledore gave us, let's land!"
The other girl gave a quick nod, and both of them swooped towards the ground, Hermione a lot more gracefully than Lili, who wobbled into the turn and fell off her broom at a foot off the ground. The boys shrugged and followed them.
"Oof!" Lili got up and dusted herself off, a lot more comfortable now that she was on solid earth. "Okay Hermione, you have the book? I want to check out our powers; you know, see what we can do." Hermione pulled the book out of her bag, and the two girls pored over it for a few minutes. Ron picked up a rock and tossed it to Harry, and the two of them played a halfhearted game of catch, ending when Harry missed the rock and ended up with a bruised rib.
"Ohhh, I've found it!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly, and the others looked at her. "Here, our powers: supposedly we can change into our elements, summon our elements, and control our elements. Plus, we have heightened ability in the sort of thing that element controls, like its characteristics. Earth is healing, air is psychic abilities, water is divination" -Hermione frowned- "and fire is strength. Also, we have some sort of short-range telecommunication."
"I thought so!" Lili exclaimed triumphantly.
"Yes, but only twenty meters and under. And our element can't kill us. Harry, a fall can't kill you- so that's why you were okay when you fell back in third year!- I can't drown, Ron can't burn, Lili can't be crushed. Interesting."
"Yeah, you could say that," Ron said. "So does this mean that I can throw balls of flame at people?"
"Sure does," Lili replied, ignoring Hermione's cries to not encourage him.
"Awesome," Ron grinned. He held out his palm, and a dot of fire appeared there. It began to grow, and the glow illuminated Ron's face, although it was pale compared to his grin. "Look at this! Hey- wait a minute- it won't stop! It won't stop growing! Help!" The ball of flame was the size of a beach ball and still growing.
"Oh, honestly," Hermione tutted. She threw out a palm, and a wave of water enveloped Ron, washing over him and leaving him soaked and sputtering.
Harry put his head in his hands. "I think we need to work on this," he muttered.
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"Okay, Harry, it's your turn." Hermione, Ron, and Lili had finished their practice, and with help, each had mastered their powers. They had first helped Ron figure out how to stop the fireball growing when he wanted, then worked from there. Hermione had pulled everything off perfectly, witht the exception of controlling the water: she couldn't get a firm enough grip, and it refused to shape itself. Lili had gotten stuck when she tried to change into a form of the Earth: she had changed into a lily flower and had been unable to change back for fifteen minutes, although she had been delighted to find out that she could make things grow. Now it was Harry's turn.
"Okay, first of all, shape the air. Into a... a stool. Right at my feet." Hermione nodded encouragingly.
Taking a deep breath, Harry visualized the air as a stool, nice and solid, for Hermione to sit on... It wasn't working. "Come on Harry, you can do it," she said.
"I'm trying!" he snapped back at her. She sniffed, slightly offended.
"Do or do not, there is no try," Lili said, the perfect picture of serenity. Harry, having never seen a Star Wars movie, took these words at their full value. A second later, the air was solid as a rock. "Well done, Harry!" she said happily. "All right, now become the puff of air. Be one with the air." Harry rolled his eyes, but transformed, without a hitch, into the puff of air and back again. "You'd make a great spy with that trick, Harry," Lili told him. He shook his head.
"Nah, I couldn't keep my mouth shut," he told her, and focused on creating a small whirlwind. "But now that we've practised, and we're all good working with our powers... sort of... can we go?"
"Nope," Lili said breezily.
"No?"
"Nope," she replied, as if 'no' and 'nope' had two entirely different meanings. "It's getting dark, and I'm cold. Besides, I refuse to set foot anywhere near that infernal broom again tonight." Not waiting for an answer, she opened her back and began pulling out TV dinners (three courses, with chocolate cake for dessert).
"Hey, she's right." Hermione shrugged and began unpacking the tent. Ron called up a small bonfire, which hovered an inch off the ground, burning off nothing. Harry, left without a job, proceeded to tease Hermione until she hexed him. Ron, shaking his head, removed the hex.
The evening went peacefully enough after that. The dinners opened like popcorn, over the fire, and proved themselves to be excellent, although the turkey was a little dry. And there was some yelling over the tent; which was not magical, and very cramped with four people sharing it. But nevertheless, when all the cries of "let go of my pillow!" and "okay, Ron, move your elbow" and "OW! That was my foot, idiot!" were finished, the evening was peaceful enough.
It must have been somewhere around four o'clock in the morning when Harry was shaken awake. He jammed his glasses on his nose, and saw Lili's determined face hovering over his bed, her hair hanging in her eyes. Hermione, awake also, was shaking Ron.
"Get up," she said. "We're going to the temple."
(A/N) Yes yes yes, Cliffie, I know! Don't you all hate me? Now go review!