Journey Through the Unknown
Chapter 5- Neal's Lesson in Flying
"That…that…that's a dragon." Stumbled Ron. Kit jumped from Numair's hold and walked slowly towards Hermione. On instinct, she did the only thing that would come to mind. She started stunning Kit.
"No, no, stop!" Kel lunged at Hermione and took her wand away from her. "What do you think your doing? Kit's harmless!"
"But she's a dragon. Do you know what dragons can do? You know what one did to me?" asked Ron.
Kel got off of Hermione and looked Ron in the eye. "Not all things are what it seems, Ron." He was taken aback at the fierce look in her eyes. But in an instant it was gone. She walked back to where Hermione lay on the ground and offered a hand to help her up.
Harry looked at Kit and couldn't help but notice that she acted like a baby. "She's just a baby." He said. "Will she hurt me if I touch her?"
"No, go ahead." Replied Numair. He handed his broom to Ron and walked cautiously to the baby dragon now standing by Numair's side. Kneeling down, he looked into Kit's eyes and slowly extended his hand. She slowly walked up to him. He was scared out of his wits but he stood his ground. When her wet muzzle touched his hand, he tensed, and then soon relaxed as she gave a sharp chirp.
"She likes you." Stated Numair. Harry smiled and went on petting her.
"Come on Harry!" whined Neal, a little impatient. "You can pet Kit any old time."
"OK." He stood up and walked back to Ron to get his broom. "Tell me when."
"NOW!" yelled Neal. With that he mounted and kicked off. He soared high in to the sky. As he went higher and higher, the people below got smaller and smaller. He looked around at the castle and the forest at the right. He was so high up that he couldn't hear anything of what the people below were saying.
"Wow!" exclaimed Neal. All the other tortallians had their mouth hanging open.
"That's amazing! I wonder if it's the broom that's enchanted or if it's the rider that has to have the power?" wondered Numair. "Hey Neal, when he comes down, would you give it a go on that thing?" All Neal could do was nod and watch in amazement as Harry started to do flips up in the air.
Harry was paying to much attention to his surroundings that he didn't see the people on the ground waving him down. Ron and the rest of them were yelling, waving their arms, and trying anything they could to try and get his attention. Harry finally noticed them when a black raven was flying strait towards him. Dodging the bird, he did a dive towards the ground. Pulling up right before he hit the ground, he hovered in front of his friends. "Hey Harry," approached Numair, "would it be alright if Neal tried to fly on that thing?"
"Yeah sure, I guess." He dismounted and handed the broom over to Neal.
"Do you think he will be able to ride it?" asked Ron.
"Well he'll be able to fly on it, but how well I'm not sure." Responded Hermione.
"Why's that?"
"Because Ron, it's the broom that is enchanted, the rider doesn't have to be."
"Oh, well I'm sorry."
Neal swung his leg over the broom and stood still for a few minutes with his feet still planted firmly on the ground. "Um, Harry, what am I suppose to do now?"
"Just kick off."
"OK, here goes nothing." He kicked off with all his might and shot straight into the air. Rising, rising, rising… "HELP I CAN'T STOP!!!!!" He rose higher and higher into the air.
"Oh no, he can't stop!!" Exclaimed Kel.
"Accio Broom!" yelled Hermione. The broom did a halting stop and did an almost vertical dive towards the ground like a speeding bullet.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" About a foot away from the ground, the broom pulled up and went straight to Hermione. It halted to a stop three inches in front of her. Everyone came in close and looked over Neal. He had paled dramatically and his hands were gripping the broom so tight that his knuckles were whiter then the rest of his paled hand. His eyes were wide with fright and his mouth was open in a silent scream. "Neal are you ok?" Whispered Kel. He said nothing and did nothing. Then, he relaxed his grip and fell onto the grass with a thump. "Neal you have to breathe." He looked up into her eyes and his whole body relaxed. Suddenly, Kel was pulled to the ground in a tight embrace.
"Oh Kel. Am I dead? Please say I'm not. I've got so much I still have to do!"
"Neal… you're… choking… me…"
"Oh I'm sorry. I guess I'm not died then!" He let go off Kel and got on his hands and knees and started to kiss the ground. "Land! Dear! Dear! Land! I'm never leaving you ever again!" he got up and shook Harry while saying "How in the world did you make that seem so easy? I tried all I could to turn it or do something and I just couldn't!"
"I think," said Hermione. "that since Harry has had that broom for so long that it sort of got use to him riding it. Yes I know that Ron and some of his family have ridden it too but Neal is just a whole different person completely. And you aren't use to flying so the broom didn't respond to you."
"Oh and where did you read that one Hermione?"
"I didn't read that anywhere Ron, it's common sense."
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After the days flying experiments, all of them were pretty tired out. Sir Myles thought that instead of eating supper in his study, it would suit the new comers if they ate in the mess hall. Since the pages were gone for the summer, the hall was pretty empty. The group walked in together very hungry. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked around the hall and saw only one table occupied. They went and sat across from Neal, Kel, and Cleon. Harry was so hungry, his stomach was growling like a bear. "When is the food appearing?"
"Appearing? The food just doesn't appear. You've got to go get it. Over there." Said Neal.
"Oh." He got up and the others followed.
"Isn't that weird." Commented Ron.
"It's just a different realm. They don't have house elves to work for them. They actually pay their help." Replied Hermione.
"I'm so hungry I could eat a thousand chocolate covered frogs. Let's just get our food and go back." Said Harry. Ron and Hermione mumbled their agreement and got in line behind him.
When they got back to the table, Sir Myles, Professor McGonagall, and Kalasin were there. Once Harry noticed Kalasin, his pulse started racing and his hands became clammy. The three joined the group and started to eat. Sir Myles cleared his throat to make an announcement. "Ahem. Tomorrow we will be leaving Corus traveling to Pirate's Swoop. There we will hopefully meet up with Alanna and have a conference with George. We'll discuss how our guests can help with the war."
"Sir Myles, may I please come with?" begged Kalasin.
"I don't see why not. As long as Jon and Thayet agree."
"I'll go ask them now." She excused herself and left running out of the hall. The others returned to their dinners and discussions.
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The next morning Hermione bust into the boys room. "Did you guys remember to bring extra clothes?" Still groggy from sleep, they slowly sat up on their beds and only gazed at her in confusion. "Did you guys remember to bring extra clothes?" She tried again.
"No…" came the drawn out reply from Ron who first realizes what was going on.
"Well now what are we going to do? We can't go to Pirate's Swoop with out clothes. And the ones we're wearing need a good washing. Plus I don't think they have washing machines either so it'll take awhile."
"We could just ask if they have any spare clothes they could lend us." Offered Harry.
"Good idea. I'll go ask Sir Myles now."
"That's Hermione for you, remembering the books but not the extra clothes." Said Ron before sinking back into his pillow to catch a few more Z's. Harry followed suit not far behind.
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A few moments later Hermione came back to the room with an arm full of breeches and shirts. Walking over, she dumped them at the foot of Ron's bed. She picked up her own and walked out of the room slamming the door for good measure so that it would wake the boys.
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A/N sorry this chapter took so long to get out. It's kinda bad cause I haven't been writing for awhile. I hope you guys like it and I will try really hard to get the next chapter out sooner. R/R I would like 5 reviews before I upload the next chapter. Happy New Year everyone!!! =)
Dec. 29, 2001
One more review to go! I might be able to get it out by friday!