Yeah! I'm writing these faster and faster as I get along! Hope you like this Chapter, some foreshadowing, some playfulness, some weirdness....a little of everything, really. Let's get this going on!
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Chapter 9: Learning Trunks and Tom
Classes began with a slight bit of Charms first. We had placed our brooms upstairs and headed for our class with our books. My pack bounced lightly against my leg as we made our way to Professor Flitwick's class.
"So, what have you guys been learning in this class?" Trunks asked as we turned a corner, him and Tom keeping close to Harry and me, not wanting to get lost in the passageways.
"Professor Flitwick's been teaching us all about levitating objects," I told him, "We've been taking a lot of notes lately, but Flitwick will gladly explain everything you guys have missed." Tom nodded nervously as we came to the classroom. I knocked on the door and slowly we entered.
"Yes, yes, do come in," Professor Flitwick told us in his high, squeaky voice. "Sit down, right there, now." He pointed to four chairs he had reserved for us. I saw Jupiter, Ron, and Hermione sitting on the end of the eight-person table, and another Griffindor boy I didn't know. We slid into the seats subconsciously, as many of the kids were staring at us. Professor Flitwick continued his lesson, but most people just stared at the four of us.
"Lillian, tell me, what is the charm for levitating?" he asked a Hufflepuff girl. She went red in the cheeks and stuttered over her words.
All in all, the class was long and boring and intriguing all at the same time. Professor Flitwick told Trunks and Tom not to worry about their missed work and that they would catch on quite quickly at the rate the other students were learning it themselves.
We had Herbology with Professor Sprout next and she was delighted to find that Tom had a natural knack for caring for the herbs that she grew. Trunks, however, wasn't as lucky. You know what I mean. Come on, he's been training in the Martial Arts for the past 15 years and she expects him to be gentle? Not likely. Even I had a hard time caring for the tiny little plants that nipped at your fingers. I had forgotten what she'd called it long ago, I was just interested in keeping my fingers.
"We are replanting these, not obliterating them!" she scolded Ron as he accidentally knocked over the pot his were held in. He picked up the flesh-eating plant and placed it inside his pot, piling soil around it, completing his task.
I was having a bit more luck than that. I had finally gotten the roots and all into the bigger pot, but the trick was getting the soil in around them while keeping the plant upright. It probably would have been much easier if we were working in groups, but this was an individual project.
The last class of the day was Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws.
Professor McGonagall, despite the fact that Tom and Trunks were new, continued teaching the class as if there was no change. She said that the two new boys would catch up by looking in their Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration books and trying to do them. She told Ron, Harry, Hermione, Jupiter, and I to help them if they needed it.
Finally, dinner came and went and Harry and I headed for the Quidditch field for practice. I sighed as I stared at my broom. I'd never actually learned to fly it. I mounted the impeccably beautiful broom and flew up high, using what I had learned in the lesson with Madam Hooch.
"Hey, Harry!" I called down, "Get up here, it's fun!" I gave myself a swing around and decided that this was actually better than flying without support. I was able to go faster because of my shape in the air and if I added my own strengths to the flight, I was able to go even faster. I flew around and around, simply enjoying the feeling of the wind whipping my hair again.
"This is much better," I said as I did a few barrel rolls. "Now I don't have to hide."
"Hey, Potter! Galis! Come down!" I heard Wood shout and I plummeted to Earth, my ride being smooth and quick. I landed in front of the boy and he seemed about ready to burst with joy.
"The name's Angel, Wood," I told him. "Do you wish Oliver or Wood, because I hate Galis."
"Wood's fine with me, Angel," he told me with a shrug. "But I can see what you meant this morning. And I can see what Professor McGonagall said. You really are a natural for a Chaser. And Potter, boy I can't tell you how much this means to me!" I heard a squeak behind me and turned around faster than anyone could have reacted.
"Whoa, whoa!" Wood said behind me. "Calm down. Take a chill pill, girl."
"Hello," said the girl in front of me. I recognized her immediately.
"Hello, Angelina," I said to her, putting my hand into hers. She smiled at me.
"I heard your speech this morning," she said with a sad sigh. "And I am honored to have you taking my place on the Griffindor team."
"Thank you, Angelina," I said with a wry smile. "Are you still coming to school?"
"I just got back into school today, yes," she said. "And a good thing, too. I wanted to meet the famous first year that Wood's been going on about." She glanced at Wood, who blushed deeply.
"That's good," I said and winked at her.
"We really need to get this started or Potter and Angel won't be ready for the first match of the season," Wood said with a cleared throat.
"Of course," Angelina said with a smile. She wheeled away, her head held high despite everything. I looked after her for a moment.
"She's brave," I said as I turned back to Wood and Harry.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, knowing there was a deeper meaning behind my words.
"Courage, my friend, is not the girl with powers beyond your dreams fighting in the greatest tournament in the world," I told him. "It has a much deeper meaning, courage does. Courage is the ability to stand up even when you are confined and bound. The ability to keep your head up high even in the most dire of situations. And they are not the same thing, because a coward could just as easily stand with a weapon in his hand."
"Well said," said Wood. "Shall we continue?"
"Yes, of course," I said as I glanced at the box containing the four Quidditch balls. I saw a club in his hand and knew it was the Beaters'.
"Well, Quidditch is easy enough to understand, even if it's not so easy to play," he began, the same speech I had heard in the book. (Some peeps haven't read the book, but I don't want to get into this as I'm gonna give a very intricate description of the first game. If you don't know how to play Quidditch, but are reading this story, please send me an email and I'll give you what he says.)
Once he had explained exactly how to play Quidditch (To which I had aided in my rush to get back in the air) we mounted our brooms, preparing to launch into a wild set of practice with golf balls for Harry and a basketball for me. The one thing I didn't understand was how Wood had gotten his hands on a basketball if he didn't even know what it was. I was told Seamus had given it to him later on.
However, before we could kick off, a voice resounded behind us.
"WOOD!!!" came the joyful shout and I turned to see a boy with flaming red hair that looked impeccably a lot like Fred and George Weasley. I soon found out why.
"Charlie, how are ya, old buddy? Come out to help us teach the new Seeker?" Wood dismounted his broomstick and ran up to Charlie, giving him a huge bear hug of welcome.
"No, actually we came to talk to your new Chaser," he looked pointedly at me.
"We?" Wood inquired, but a little too late as another redhead, this one with long hair tied back with a bit of rope and wearing a tooth-shaped earring, came up to him. "Bill, how are you doing?"
"Well enough," he shrugged and I knew now exactly why Miss Rowling had said that the only word to describe him was cool. That was exactly as he was framed before me, even as he took my hand lightly in his own and bowed as though I were royalty. "Good evening, young angel. Fair thee well?" I giggled nervously as I took my hand back.
"I suppose," I told him. "But whatever does that mean to you?"
"To make your boyfriend jealous," the redhead said to me, chortling as he pointed back to where Ron, Fred, George, Trunks, and Professor McGonagall were walking toward us.
"Trunks!" I called, waving. "You come to watch a Quidditch training session?" I looked at Bill and Charlie, suspicious now.
"Wait a second here," I said to myself. "Why are the two of you here? Was there something I missed?"
"Not at all, sweet madam," Bill said, obviously still feigning being attracted to me. "We've come to protect you."
"Protect me?" I asked. "Me? Why me? I don't need protection, I can do things on my own. What is this all about, Trunks?" I turned to my love, confused.
"From what we heard about Tom, Angel," Trunks said, referring to himself, Pan, and Chee, "We wanted to make certain you were well-guarded. We don't want anything to happen in this world."
"W-What are you talking about?" I asked slowly. "Tom wouldn't hurt a fly, not while he's the way he is now."
"We think not," Professor McGonagall said, staring shrewdly at her former students. "The youngest Weasley got word to his mother about this, and it went haywire."
"Haywire?" I asked, my suspicions beginning to be confirmed. "You mean the paper got a hold of it?"
"Bluntly, yes," McGonagall sighed. "There's going to be a huge front storyline on the front page of the paper Sunday morning, speaking of our visitors. They promised not to mention the fact that Tom was once Voldemort, but that he was just one of your team."
"Still, it's going to be quite unnerving with the knowledge that the whole of the wizarding world knows that I am from another dimension," I said peevishly. "And what about this 'protection' I keep hearing about?"
"Well, only a choice few in the Ministry of Magic knows the full story, Angel," Bill said, completely serious now. "They suggested that we come and protect you from-"
"Protect me from what?" I seethed, the beginnings of a Saiyan rage within my blood. "From Tom? Tom won't hurt me, I helped him, I gave him a second chance! I won't take this from the likes of you people, I've been hurt enough to know that everyone deserves that second chance. I've been given three of them!" They all opened their mouths to protest, but my next words shut them quicker than a flash. "I don't need protection!" I then took off into the night sky, not knowing where I was going, but most certainly not caring.
"Great, that went...well, didn't it?" Trunks said harshly. "She knows that we were referring to Tom even before the words were out of our mouths!" He looked after Angel's bluish-white ki trail and sighed. "I'd better get after her. We don't want those non-wizarding people, whatever they're called, seeing her."
"Muggles," Harry told him. "Go on, she needs you." Trunks gave Harry a faint smile before lifting off after his Angel, turning Super Saiyan to catch up more quickly.
"How dare they!" I said to myself with my heart racing in my chest. "I don't need their pity, and neither does Tom. He's a good kid, he just had some bad friends." I smiled wryly as I remembered that I had originally been growing up on Vegeta and then on a completely separate Earth before a three-month visit to my old dimension, leading up to the rebirth in this dimension.
"Second chances are my middle name," I sighed. "Why can't they see the value of the Yin-Yang Theory? It's true, it is." I felt Trunks ki behind me and growled under my breath. I shot around in an about face and doubled back on him.
"Leave me alone!" I snarled angrily at him. His face contorted in surprise as I suddenly sobbed and sank to the ground below. I was too weak to know what I was doing, too weak from my own sorrow and anger. He swooped down and caught me in his arms and I struggled to leave them.
"Let me go, Trunks, just let me go!" I sobbed as I tried in vain to escape him. He held me tightly as I attempted to jerk myself away but I finally settled as I saw that fighting was useless. "Why did you doubt me?" I shouted in his face, tears streaming down my cheeks. "Why? There are worse things than an eleven-year-old Voldemort!"
"It wasn't just Tom Bill and Charlie were sent for, Angel," Trunks told me firmly. "They were sent to guard you from Dirken's power. We suspect that Dirken took one of the upper-classmen's minds over to keep an eye on things."
"Then why have two Hogwarts graduates there?" I asked him.
"They have all their spells and training and the teachers can't always look after you," Trunks told me.
"Why can't they just leave me alone, Trunks?!" I shrieked, "Why can't anyone just leave me alone, leave me be! I could curl up and write for hours on end in my own bedroom if I was still there! I could be all by myself with my computer to write on and my imagination to guide me!"
"But then you wouldn't have me or your friends, Angel," Trunks told me firmly. "Which would you rather have? Your dreams alone or your dreams answered with a few side-effects?" I looked at him incredulously.
"Trunks, you always know just the right thing to say to me, don't you?" I asked as I gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Only because I'm the only one who knows you," Trunks told me sternly, but I could hear the hint of mischief in his tone. "Ready to go back?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," I sighed. "Will you let me go now?" He blushed and let me levitate out of his arms again. We flew in absolute silence back to the others. I powered up to dry my face of the tears I had in them and Trunks smiled at the technique he had taught me so very long ago.
"You're right, Trunks," I said as we flew back to the others. "I've been stupid."
"No, you've just had a little bit of uncertainty," Trunks told me. "And you need all the help you can get. Maybe these two boys can be of some help when we have to fight Dirken." I sighed as I stared at the castle.
"You know, Trunks, I really have switched this dimension completely around," I told my boyfriend. "I don't know what's going to happen now that Dirken's pawn is good. I don't want to think about what happened in the fourth book, but I've got to. A lot of things happened to Harry in those books that I don't ever think an eleven-year old to fourteen-year old boy should ever go through."
"Yeah, but check out what's happening to us," Trunks retorted bitterly. I turned to look at him. His face was contorted in a simmering fury I'd never seen in him before. It wasn't the all-out rage I'd seen when he was trying to get me back from Dirken, but it wasn't his usual complacent and easy-going look. I grit my teeth observing this and swung around in front of him, causing him to collide with my in surprise.
"Angel, what are you doing?!" Trunks shouted in terror and shock as I glared at him with my hands around the front of his robes. I smirked at him as I'd seen Vegeta do several times.
"Don't speak like that, ever, Trunks Vegeta Briefs," I growled at him, my eyes flashing in the moonlight. "Dirken is not your fault, don't ever act guilty about it around me, ever!" I was barking loudly at him now.
"Okay, okay, point seen!" He said, frightened out of his wits. I was astonished at my own boldness as I released him smoothly and gave him a little shove toward the others. "Angel, that was the scariest thing I've ever seen."
He was clutching his heart as though it were about to explode out of his chest and I grimaced.
"I'm sorry, Trunks," I said, "I couldn't help it. I don't know what came over me." He glanced at me, shocked I had said such a thing.
"Did I miss something or did you say you didn't know what came over you?" He asked me, worried.
"That's exactly what I said," I retorted. "I just don't know. That happens every once in a while. I'll just lose myself for maybe a few seconds of time, but a few seconds is all that is needed for something to happen." He considered this for a few moments, then shrugged it off. Why would Angel be like that?
We reached the others a few moments later. However, they had unwanted company.
"Who are you?" I asked as I saw her. She looked familiar, but I hoped thoroughly that it wasn't her. However, my hopes were shattered upon her answer.
"Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet," she answered. (Sorry, guys, but I really wanted to get rid of this particular character...she's a very nosy, very fact-disoriented reporter for the Daily Prophet, the wizard newspaper. Anyone who's read the fourth book will know exactly why I want to just get rid of her...let's put it this way: She's worse than Argus Filch.)
"You!" I shouted in a mixture of anger and shock. "What are you doing here? This is a school, not a playground for truth-stretchers."
"Angel, what are you talking about?" Trunks asked as he landed beside me, looking at the obnoxious woman.
"This is the reporter that is supposed to tell a lot of things to the wizarding community, and I don't want her ruining this by putting it in the paper."
"Wha-What?" she sputtered.
"Look, I know you because of what I know," I said, wildly gesturing and pacing. "And we don't need a publicity to match Lord Voldemort's reign!" She gasped at the name and I growled under my breath.
"Uh...oh..." Harry said softly.
"A name is a name, nothing more," I told her angrily, barely containing my rage. "It is bad enough you're here in the first place!" Then it dawned on me just how hypocritical I was being. I straightened my back and took aim at the ground, releasing my anger in one sure breath.
"Angel, are you feeling all right?" Trunks asked me, a hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah, I am now," I smiled at him before turning back to Rita. "I'm sorry. You haven't done anything yet. It's just...knowing the future can be a very dangerous thing, Ms. Skeeter, especially when you know you have to change it at all costs."
Her face was scrunched into such a face of confusion that I chortled lightly at her.
"In due time, milady, in due time," I told her. "Professor McGonagall? May I speak with the headmaster tomorrow? I'd like things to settle down substantially before I talk to him again."
"O-Of course, Angel," she said. "Well, I'll take Ms. Skeeter to see him, the lot of you might want to get in a little practice. I expect Griffindor to beat Slytherin for sure this year." She walked away quickly, followed by Rita. I noticed that Ron had a broom he was holding in his hand.
"Well, how about a game of Quidditch?" I asked as I mounted my broom, which had been left on the ground where I'd left it. Fred and George saw their chance and got onto their own brooms, followed by Ron on the one he was holding (a school broom) and Tom had joined us and mounted his own broom (another school broom).
"A five-on-five?" Charlie asked with a furtive grin. "You guys are on!" He mounted the broom he had arrived on, followed swiftly by Bill on his own.
"I'm Keeper!" Bill called.
"I'm Keeper on this side, then," Wood said, obviously already having been explained the rules to Tom and the others.
The game ended up with two Chasers on each side (Ron and Tom on Wood's side and Trunks and me on Bill's), one Seeker (Harry on Bill's and Charlie on Wood's), and one Beater (Fred on Wood's and George on Bill's [Though how you could tell the difference between either of them was beyond me until Wood tied a small scarf around George's hand]).
I had a lot of fun dodging the Bludgers and pulling the Quaffle from the two very surprised-looking boys. Ron often just stood there, letting me take the Quaffle from him easily. We were only using one Bludger between us, but it was enough. And even though Harry had only just learned to play, he caught the Snitch before Charlie did in a feat of strength that had me prepared to dive and catch him before he crashed.
"Good one, Harry!" I shouted as I whooped in joy, doing a nice somersault in midair in my joy. Charlie was laughing on his broom and I soon saw that he was quite surprised that Harry had surpassed him. The catch had been genuine.
"Those were some good moves, Angel, Trunks," Bill said as he landed on the ground, dismounting his broom in one smooth movement. "You two make a good team."
"Guess it's a good thing that we're bonded, then," I told him. My broom carried me over to Trunks. "We're stuck for life, whether we change our minds or not." I leaned contently against Trunks' arm at this, tired from the Quidditch play even if it was hardly a match for what I had been doing before arrival at Hogwarts. We still sat on our broomsticks, but Trunks didn't mind as we descended slowly back to Earth, side by side.
"You're a lucky man, Trunks," Bill said with a glance at me. "A very lucky man."
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Tom is going to be a very important character later on, you just watch and see. I think Bill's got a point though...Trunks is a very lucky man. Heh heh, must go, see ya'll later.