My name is Harry Potter.
And my dryad training was not going well.
Not well at all.
"Look, Potter, just concentrate!" shrieked Hermione, "It can't be all that hard!"
"Then let's see you do it!" I shouted back.
"I'm not the dryad!"
I let lose an exasperated yell.
Hermione, at the moment, was prodding me into making a tree stump explode. Cassie had informed us that her father had wanted to get rid of it, so it would be okay if we blew it up.
Marco, Rachel, Cassie, Tobias, Ginny, and Ron sat and looked on as spectators. Ax was only-Godric-knows-where and Jake had to go out for his brother Tom's birthday.
"Oh, will you both just shut up?" yelled Rachel. "Get on with it!"
"I would if that—that—woman would just focus!"
Hermione let out an indignant screech at this just as Marco howled with laughter. Rachel promptly elbowed him in the stomach. Choking back his laughter, he dabbed his streaming eyes. I glared.
"You—you—ARGH! You pompous jerk! You're just like your jerk of a father!"
My insides froze and my eyes narrowed dangerously. Involuntarily, my hands curled into fists. Hot bile rose in my throat. Anger made a vein in my temple throb. "What did you just say?"
A nasty smile took hold of her features. "I said you were a jerk. JUST LIKE YOUR FATHER!"
My face was becoming a lovely shade of crimson. I took several deep breaths, trying futilely to calm myself down. I told myself that this was Voldemort's fault, but just the thought of Voldemort made me go over the top.
Just then, Cassie yet out a yelp. My anger quickly became surprise. I whirled around, only to be pelted by burning chunks of wood. My robes caught fire. I quickly beat it out.
I looked to see the stump. It wasn't there. Instead, I found a burnt crater.
"Oops."
"You could say that again," Marco said weakly.
I cautiously walked over to it. All the anger I had felt had disappeared. "Did I do that?"
"Yeah," Rachel said, eyes glinting, "And what an explosion! Suddenly, you were standing there with your face was turning puce and then boom! it exploded!"
Well, Tobias said, ruffling his feathers, Now we know what sets you off.
"That's what caused me to blow my aunt up," I said, my ears turning red.
Marco promptly burst into laughter.
Ron smiled. "You can't be at fault, Harry. Some subjects aren't meant to be mentioned."
I took several deep breaths. Breathe, Harry, breathe, I chanted.
"I've a question," Cassie said suddenly. "I read somewhere that dryads are earthen spirits. Why is Harry a dryad, then? Aren't I one?"
"They're called dryads because of their eyes," Hermione said loftily. "They're green. Like leaves."
"Oh."
Hermione turned back to me. I averted my eyes, unable to face the Hermione's suddenly cold ones.
"Again," she intoned.
I took a deep breath and looked about me. There wasn't anything else to blow up… or that could afford to be blown up, at least. Cassie would never forgive me if I set fire to the barn.
"On what?"
She narrowed her eyes. "Anything."
"Hey, hey, hey! Wait a minute!" Cassie interrupted. "What if he sets fire to the barn?"
See what I mean? She would never have forgiven me…
"Is there anything else Harry could practice on?" Ron suggested quietly.
Cassie looked thoughtful. "No," she said finally.
Hermione nodded and
consulted her book. "We could practice something else," she said, leafing
through the pages. "Hmmm… we could try fire-walking. Fire dryads should be able
to walk to do that."
"If I had known I could do
that, I would have had such an easier time with my life…" I muttered sourly,
thinking of both first and fourth year.
She ignored me and continued to read, her mouth forming the words. "All it says is that the fire won't burn you. If you believe, that is," she said, snapping it shut.
"Dad keeps firewood behind the barn," Cassie said helpfully.
"I'll get it," chorused Rachel and Marco. He grinned at Rachel, who scowled fiercely.
"You first, my dear," he said suavely, gesturing.
"I always thought the saying went 'ladies first'," she quipped, nevertheless getting to her feet and striding out of sight.
"She loves me," he said, winking at Ginny.
She rolled her eyes.
He got up and ran to help Rachel.
Hermione drew her wand as they came back, dragging the firewood. They dropped the wood in the crater, so as not to set the nearby woods on fire. Then, they scuttled back to their seats to watch.
"Harry, set it on fire," Hermione said commandingly.
"How?"
"The spell should work for you."
"Whatever you say," I muttered, turning to it. Taking a deep breath, I held my hands out before me. I knew the spell well enough, but I wasn't quite sure it would work.
I waved my arms about in a grand gesture. "Incendio!"
Nothing happened.
I raised a quizzical eyebrow at Hermione.
She heaved an exasperated sigh. "The whole power of a dryad reflects his belief in it, plus the influence of his emotions. You have to believe you can do this. It shouldn't be that hard. I mean, you've done it before."
"I have?"
"Yes. When you blew up your Aunt Marge. She inflated like a balloon, you said! That was dryad air magic!"
"I didn't believe then!"
"But you were angry! And that besides, you didn't know it would happen. Just believe in it, will you?"
Seething, I turned back to the firewood. Anger bubbled in my chest. I held out my hands to it, telling myself that I believed, that I had done it before. "Incendio!"
Saying that the firewood exploded would be an exaggeration; it only leapt into flame, shooting up about ten feet into the air.
"Whoa," said Rachel, Marco, Cassie, Ron, and Ginny in unison.
I blinked at it as it simmered down into a cackling bonfire. If the area around it had once been burned, it was more so now.
"That's good," Hermione said, nodding in reluctant praise. "Now go stand in it."
"Stand in it?"
"Or put you hands in it, at least," she said irritably.
I sighed and walked carefully down the blackened crater. Though the fire had reduced its size, it was still as tall as me. I eyed it uneasily. It looked ready enough to burn me.
"Would you do it already?" Hermione demanded.
I extended my hand toward the fire. Heat pressed against my skin. Yeah, so maybe I had set the firewood on fire. Any wizard could do that. But I had never seen a wizard touch fire and go unscathed.
"Believe in yourself, Harry," murmured a voice behind me.
I turned my head slightly to see who had spoken. Ginny's mouth formed the words again. She leaned forward anxiously, hands clasped in a silent prayer.
A shiver ran down my spine and I turned back to the fire. Though Ginny had… well, our last real conversation had been one to remember, she was still my friend, and if she told me to believe, then I should.
"I can do this," I murmured through clenched teeth, and thrust my hands into the fire.
My eyes widened slightly. I felt the flames, licking my skin and clothes. However, it felt comfortably warm rather than scalding hot.
An insuppressible grin fought its way to my lips. I took a deep breath and, glancing back at the astonished faces of Ginny and the Animorphs, took a step into the fire.
My senses suddenly went super aware of everything around me. The smell of smoke and burning wood filled my nostrils, though it didn't choke me. My eyes seemed to penetrate the flames, letting me view the world through clear red-orange sight.
The fire streamed down my throat and into my lungs. I flared my nostrils and exhaled. A torrent of flames licked my nose and mouth.
My hair and clothes flapped as if they were caught in a strong wind. I brought my hands before my face. They weren't burning, as they should have been.
"Wow," I breathed.
"Yeah, wow, amazing. This is getting dull. Would you get out of there?" Hermione said snippily.
I tore myself out of the flame and into the cool summer air. The last remnants of flame in my respiratory system left when I coughed, expelling fire through my mouth.
That was cool, said Tobias, attempting to sound nonchalant.
"Cool? That was beyond cool!" yelped Marco. "That was awesome!"
I turned back to the fire and grabbed two fistfuls of fire. Spreading my palms wide, I allowed the two fireballs over my hands. I did this for one reason, and one reason only: to impress.
"Stop showing off," snapped Hermione.
Looking only slightly hurt, I closed my hands around the fire. I felt them go out in my hands.
She opened the book again. "That's enough fire for one day. Let's try some air."
I accomplished a half-shrug. "Fine with me."
She put her finger to the page and traced a line. Her forehead wrinkled as she thought, her eyebrows contracting. A small smile touched my lips. Voldemort may have changed her, but nothing could take away her cleverness.
"This says air dryads can accomplish flight, strong winds, and cause weather change. They can even catch what is being said from up to a mile away by catching a sentence on a breeze and guiding that breeze down to their ears. Interesting."
"Flight?" I asked eagerly, my fingers itching for my Firebolt.
"Not on a broomstick," she said, as if she had read my mind.
I frowned slightly. Well… I could make due without Quidditch for just a few more days.
"How do I 'accomplish flight'?" I asked.
And wished I hadn't.
Because, two minutes later, I was standing on the roof of the barn.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," I muttered.
Believe it, said Tobias, eyeing me up with one beady yellow eye, You're doing it.
I laughed weakly.
"Okay, Harry," Hermione said, peering over the edge of the roof toward the ground. It rested some fifteen feet below us. "All you have to do is jump off."
"That's all?" I asked. "It sounds like you want to kill me."
"I'm not. Your fear should cause your dryad air magic to react and catch you."
"'Should'?" I repeated, looking up sharply.
She put a hand on my shoulder and raised her brow. "Feeling lucky?" she asked, giving me a shove.
"AAAAAARGH!"
I'll admit that this scared all irrational thought out of me. I yelped wildly as the first five feet flashed past. This was when I noticed that my descent began to slow.
I swallowed noisily when I came to a complete stop when I hovered some five feet above the ground. It felt odd to be hovering in midair without a broomstick.
Closing my eyes, I willed myself to be upright. A gasp wracked my body when I shifted in the air and my body straightened.
My feet touched something that felt like solid ground. Surprised, I tapped it with one of my feet. It didn't give way and realization dawned upon me.
"This isn't flight!" I crowed, "The air just solidified! I'm standing on solid air!"
Below me, I heard Marco say, "That's an oxymoron if I ever heard one."
I took several experimental steps. The air under my feet held firm. "Amazing!"
"Hey!" I called as I spotted a flash of blue in the woods ahead of me. "Here comes Ax!"
Indeed, Ax came skidding up to us only minutes later. He turned his main eyes to his friends and, when he saw them looking up, followed their gaze.
That is quite abnormal.
"That's it in a nutshell, Ax-man." Marco, of course.
I closed my eyes again and took another step. I nearly had a heart attack when my foot feel and sighed in relief when my foot thumped against the air a foot below the other.
I stepped back up and turned around to face Hermione. Her eyes were wide in surprise. I flashed her a grin and took a step up, simply willing and believing that my foot would hit solidified air.
I did this several more times, stopping when I stood in the air just in front of her. She stared into my eyes and what seemed to be a shade of her old self glinted in her own.
I took her hands in mine and drew her forward. She didn't object, only stared down at the ground through the solid air we stood on.
"Godric," she breathed.
I took a step down. She didn't expect this and fell forward, pitching herself into me. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held onto her.
Together, like participants in a three-legged race, we walked to the ground.
The instant our feet touched solid earth she shoved me off. I took a step back, wind milled my arms, and fell over, landing of course in a puddle of mud.
I groaned.
"Don't you touch me like that again," she snarled.
Ginny offered me a hand. I took it and she pulled me to my feet. Wiping my hands on my jeans (the ones Rachel had bought me), I said, "Thanks."
"No problem."
"Is there anything else I should do?" I asked Hermione.
She sniffed and rifled through her book once more. "You seem to be a natural at all of these," she admitted reluctantly. "We could work on calling up strong winds and weather change. Says here you could make it rain."
"Could you please not make it rain?" asked Ron, though not unkindly. "We have to sleep outside, if you remember."
"Oh, yeah. That wouldn't be good, now, would it?" Hermione said, casting Ron a loving look.
I sighed and looked anywhere but at them.
"What about my earth powers?" I asked, not looking up.
"Well…" she said, looking up into the sunset. "It's getting late. Cassie's dad will be home soon, and I was hoping to train the two of you at the same time. Let's do it tomorrow."
"Fine with me," I said, mind reeling. It was only a matter of time, now. How much longer could this go on? Days? Weeks?
I was soon to find out.
A/N: Bahahaha! It's ALIVE! Sorry, sorry, and sorry to you all! I'm just over my severe case of writer's block. This chapter was a trial for me. Hopefully, it won't take long for the next one.My number one excuse: I was finishing my original fiction which, I am proud to say, is 201 PAGES LONG! All I need to do is rewrite and send in to a publisher… bwahaha! (Don't crush my goals… a girl can dream!)
I must say that the only reason I finished this chapter is, really, because I'm incapacitated. I flipped off my bike a couple of days ago and landed, yes, on my head. (Thank Godric I had a helmet on!) I scraped up my elbow pretty bad, plus spraining it, and bruised my whole left side. Not to mention both legs are covered in scrapes and bruises. (Yes, pity me, that's what I'm looking for! ::wink wink::)
Now, on to the next important thing: THE HARRY/HERMIONE RELATIONSHIP. I've had a few people complain to me about that. I have to inform you all now: it was an accident. I didn't mean for Harry and Hermione to fall in love. It just sort of… happened. Really, I'm a Hermione/Ron shipper at heart. See, Ron was a Controller, which left Harry and Hermione by themselves and it just… happened. Besides, this gives me a chance for some Animorph/wizard relationships and/or crushes!
IMPORTANT NOTE: Whenever it seems like I have stopped the story and/or haven't updated for a long time, I HAVE NOT STOPPED THE STORY. It keeps on going. I do not forget you! It just means I have writer's block, a school project, or I'm just being lazy (though the first two are more likely).
Last, but not least, stay tuned for "Chapter 15: Captain Planet (Rachel)"!!!!!!!!!!