Chapter 20
Faith nudged Harry with her elbow. "Pick up a few people since last year?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I thought we were going to need a new classroom but the Room of Requirement changed to accommodate them all." He looked back at the class and whispered to us. "Wait here for a moment I'm going to introduce you."
He walked to the center of the room. "Um ... well, um, I guess some of you that live with muggles, like me, might recognize these two from the television."
A male voice called out from the far side. "What's a bellyvishon?"
Harry nodded to the left. "It's a muggle box that shows ... um, plays and stuff. Kind of like stories."
"What? They're muggles?" A young blonde girl said from the center.
Harry shook his head and was about to explain when Faith stepped up. "I'm not a muggle. I'm a Slayer."
"She's a Yank." "What's a Slayer"
Faith put her arm around me and pulled me up. "And Red here is a Witch."
One of the taller boys from the right side that was closest to us dropped his jaw. "Great Merlin, you're Faith!"
Her teeth sparkled when she was recognized. "We have ourselves a winner. Tell him what he's won, Red."
Harry tried to regain control. "That's enough." He raised his hands. "Faith said that she and Willow would give us a demonstration of their powers."
Some strange looks came from a lot of the students. So Harry tried to explain. "They are demon fighters. It's like being an Auror."
The explanation seemed to be enough.
"We're gonna need some vic ... volunteers." Faith laughed.
She closed in on the line that was against the wall, looking them up and down. I closed my eyed and concentrated. A little breeze picked up around me and I felt the my hair starting to lift. I knew I was too far from the body of the earth and I kicked off my shoes.
The feel of the stone beneath my bare feet connected me much better and I felt the breeze increase.
"Blimey! Her hair turned white!"
I opened my eyes and spotted the red-haired boy that was at the train yesterday, Ron, I think his name was.
My arms lifted, hand up, palms out. "Show me."
Aura's of red and blue surrounded all of the students, selectively. Ten students stood out as red and the remainder blue.
Faith's voice broke the silence. "Reds step forward to the middle of the room."
The reds looked at each other. Some of them moved forward with no reservation, while a couple tentatively inched ahead of the blues. I let the spell fall away and their auras dissipated.
"Harry, me and Willow are the bad guys. Any of your guys that hit the mat or lose their wand are out of the fight. You got one minute to plan your strategy before we attack."
The shy reds got real nervous the rest circled around Harry. He waved the rest over and they whispered between themselves for a moment. I kept my connection to he earth up and going. I wasn't going to hurt anyone. In fact it was kinda hard to hurt anyone considering the magic I use now, but I had a number of defensive spells that would keep them busy.
Before I knew it ...
"Time's up!"
Faith didn't waste a moment and charged the group. She waited to make her move until they all raised their wands and then she leaped into a spinning pike flip over the castings. Luckily I was ahead of the game.
"Thicken!"
A number of them yelled, "Expelliarmus!" While others shouted, "Impedimenta!" when they saw Faith leap.
The first of their spells impacted my shield spell and were readily absorbed. The latter of the spells bounced off of the ceiling missing Faith entirely. Harry ducked aside and rolled on the floor as far away as possible. The group effectively split in two where Faith landed. The students closest to her, an Asian girl about Harry's age and a younger red-haired girl were the first ones down when Faith scissor kicked their feet out from under them.
This was Faith's weakest point. She landed on her hands and spun around in place whipping her legs out to try for a sweep of two more students that were advancing. I watched as one of the reds, Hermione, swished her wand and flicked it at Faith. "Wingardiam Leviosa!"
Faith whooped as she flew into the air. I countered, "Aside."
I mentally pushed her to the right out of the attack, from a gangly sandy-haired student. ":Stupify!"
A husky dark-haired teen pointed his wand at me. I didn't think he knew that nothing was getting passed my shield so I ignored him ... that was my mistake.
"Accio dummy!"
I thought he was calling me a dummy until I remembered my Latin. Accio meant 'summon.' I ducked but it was a second too late. A stuffed practice dummy slammed into my back, knocking me forward making me lose my balance. This meant two things. I couldn't see Faith for a few seconds and I lost my concentration for the shield.
"Faith!"
I looked to the side and saw Faith kick off from the wall and back-flip over Hermione, knocking her wand out of her hand as she passed. That was three down.
I was embarrassed enough to be taken down by a teenager. Imagine how I felt to be wrapped up in tight cord from shoulder to feet.
"Slacken."
The single word was enough to expand the ropes and allow me to get my hands free.
"Thicken." This round I smartened up and made the shield encompass my entire body.
This gave me time to get the rest of the cord off. When I did I saw Faith had dealt with five more of the reds. That left three. Harry and the husky kid; the ones that had given me the most problems.
"Neville, side by side!" Harry yelled. The husky kid, Neville, didn't turn his back on us while he moved closer to Harry. Both of them had a steely resolution on their faces. Almost like they had been in a similar situation before.
I glanced to the side and saw Faith whipping her long hair out of her eyes. "Two on two. hardly seems fair."
I turned my eyes back to our opponents. "Don't sell them short, Faith. They're the toughest two."
That seemed to startle Neville. If I remember right, he was one of the reluctant ones from earlier. Looks like someone is lacking in self-confidence. Maybe he just needs the right kind of challenge.
