My name is Rachel.
The full Animorph and Aniwizard teams, plus both Weasley children, were assembled at the barn again. This time, Jake and Ax joined us. Though Jake mentioned nothing of Tom's birthday party, the bags under his eyes seemed a little darker and his mouth was pulled into a thinner line.
I shuddered to think at what must have happened.
Today was one of those days that reminded you it was summer. The temperatures were soaring, settling in the upper nineties. The air was heavy with humidity, which made breathing a laborious task.
I leaned against the wall of the barn, in nothing but my morphing outfit, fanning myself with my hand. Marco had sprawled himself on a bale of hay the moment he arrived and hadn't moved since. Cassie, mindless of the heat, was distributing water to the animals. Jake paced, as he always did, though sweat dripped steadily down his face and his head hung. Tobias perched high in the rafters. Ax stood stoically in his normal form.
Across the room, Harry sat on the ground with his back against the refrigerator. He had stripped off his sweater and sat in the light T-shirt and shorts I had picked out for these temperatures, though it clung to his skin with sweat.
His eyes never left Hermione, who sat on a bale of hay near Marco, though he blinked often. She was wearing a tank top she had borrowed from me and shorts. Her head rested against Ron's wheelchair. Ron sat limply in his wheelchair, arms draped inertly over the armrests. Head tipped back, he stared at the ceiling.
Ginny, who stood directly across from Harry, had pinned her hair into a bun at the back of her head. A shining veneer of sweat covered her skin. Her pale cheeks were flushed.
"It shouldn't be allow to get this hot," moaned Marco finally.
Without moving, Ginny retorted, "At least you're used to it."
"I'm used to air conditioning," he said, stressing the word. "I don't come outside the four walls of my room if I can help it."
"No one could get used this," Hermione mumbled.
"It's oppressive," Cassie agreed, wiping perspiration from her forehead.
Ron, who continued to stare at the ceiling, muttered, "I wouldn't mind if it rained now."
The sun glared relentlessly down outside. I squinted out the barn door. A June bug hummed lazily.
Precipitation would, indeed, allow for cooler temperatures and arid air, Ax said helpfully.
Lethargically, Hermione turned to look at Harry. The rest of us followed suit.
A loud snore alerted us to the fact he wasn't listening.
"That helps," Marco cackled.
Jake, who was the closest to Harry, prodded him with his toe. Harry shot bolt upright, his electric green eyes wide and bloodshot.
"What? What's going on?" he demanded thickly.
"Do you think you could make with the magic and change the weather?" Marco asked, wiggling his fingers to further stress his point.
Glaring, I rasped, "Shut up, Marco."
He merely looked at me and said, "You know you're thinking it."
I glowered at him and said nothing, for what he said was true.
Harry struggled to his feet and rolled his head on his shoulders, causing the joints in his neck to crack loudly. He narrowed his eyes to protect his eyes from the glare of sun when he looked outside. Flexing his fingers, he said, "I could do that."
Hermione pulled her book on to her lap and flipped through the pages. She narrowed her eyes at the small print, saying, "Says we have to be outside to do it."
Which aroused groans from all the assembled.
Slowly, we all trooped outside. It seemed even hotter in the sun, if that was even possible. I edged into the meager shade and hunched my shoulders, scowling. As it was almost noon, there wasn't much.
"Okay," Hermione said, sweat standing out on her forehead. She placed the voluminous textbook on her hip. "Harry, close your eyes. Now, it says you have to… er… cast yourself on to the air and… erm… drag it back."
Harry, who had closed his eyes, opened one and peered at her. "What?"
"That's what it says," she snapped.
He shrugged. "Whatever you say," he mumbled, closing his eyes once more.
Everything fell silent but for the lone hum of a June bug. A light summer breeze stirred the air. Marco wrinkled his nose but smiled as it wafted Ginny's hair into his face.
Quite suddenly, Harry collapsed into a heap. There was no warning; one moment he was standing, the next he was on the ground.
"Harry!" Ginny gasped, starting forward.
Marco grabbed her by the arm and slowly shook his head, his eyes fixated on some point in the sky. "No," he whispered. "Look."
Irritated, she looked up. Her face paled behind her freckles, annoyance giving way to surprise.
I put a hand to my forehead to shade my eyes and looked skyward. My eyes went round in shock, though I was careful to keep my expression emotionless.
Clouds were swelling in the sky off to the north. Rain could be seen pouring steadily from them. They moved toward us with surprising speed.
Amazing, Ax said.
In a matter of moments, the rain clouds were upon us in a curtain of water. An involuntary gasp left my lips as cool relief from the heat slid over my body. I closed my eyes and flared my nostrils, deeply inhaling the scent of the rain.
I opened my eyes when Tobias shook his feathers and sought refuge in the barn. I hate rain, he mumbled. It gets in my feathers.
Harry stirred. He brought a hand to his face, feeling the water. His eyelids fluttered and opened.
"You did it, Harry!" Ginny exulted, beaming.
He sat up and rubbed his head. "I sure did. And gave myself one, monstrous headache."
In the few moments that passed, I had become completely soaked. My hair clung in clumps to my neck and face. It dripped in rivulets down my face.
Everything's wet, Tobias said sourly.
Harry eased himself to his feet. "Yeah. Sorry, Tobias."
It's fine, Tobias said, taken aback.
Pulling his glasses from his face, Harry tried futilely to dry them on his robes. His shoved them back on his nose when this didn't work and blinked at us.
"Oh, give it here," Hermione demanded, holding her hand out.
Harry meekly pulled his glasses off and put them in her outstretched hand.
She whipped her wand out and tapped the glasses. "Impervious."
To my surprise, all the water that had clung to the lenses slid off. She shoved them back at Harry, who put them back on with a grateful, "Thanks. I'd've done it myself—"
"You didn't even know the spell," Hermione said with a snort.
Harry fell into a stony silence.
"Could you do that to my clothes—or, even better, my whole body?" I asked hopefully.
Hermione looked thoughtful. "It's possible…" she said slowly.
"What's the worst that could happen?"
"Well… it could, instead, attract water and cause the all the water from miles around to cling to your body and drown you."
I blinked.
Once.
Twice.
"Oh." I said, disheartened. Then, "We could practice it on Marco."
"Anything so that my dearest Ginny will not get wet," Marco said sweetly, giving Ginny a flashy wink and sidling closer to her.
Ginny scowled heavily and turned her head, nose in the air.
"Oh," he hissed, wincing. "Unrequited love. It stings."
Hermione held her wand out level with Marco's chest and quirked an eyebrow. "Are you serious?"
He shrugged, appearing nonchalant. "You only live once!" he said, with fake bravado. He was obviously trying to impress Ginny.
It didn't seem to be working.
"Ready?" Hermione asked.
Marco closed his eyes and nodded, throwing his arms out wide. "Hit me!"
"Impervious!"
A blast of magic rippled through the rain and hit him in the chest. He took a step back when he felt it and, with his eyes remaining closed, asked, "Did I drown yet?"
"Nope, spandex boy," I said. "Maybe if you open your eyes you'd see."
He opened one of his eyes a hair and glanced down. A grin spread across his face when he realized that the rain was sliding off of him. "Cool!"
Hermione performed the spell on each of us in turn and, finally, pointed the wand at herself.
"That's better," Jake said once she finished. "Now let's get down to business. Hermione, tell us all you know about earth sprites and dryads."
"Well," she said, consulting her book, "It says here that they should have some kind of bond with animals. Obviously, Cassie already has. I don't know about Harry, though… I've seen him abuse Hedwig…"
"I do not," Harry said, irked.
"Er," Ginny interjected, "She has a point. When you've had a bad day or something, I've seen you take it out of Hedwig. I just haven't said anything about it."
He glared icy green daggers at her. Her lips pulled into a thin line and, thinking she somehow needed to justify this statement, said, "It's true."
"But," Cassie
interrupted, "It would explain about that lion at the Gardens."
"That's true," Jake said,
nodding appreciatively.
"It also says that they should be able to speed up the growth of plants and cause random bursts of vegetation," Hermione continued.
"Never done that," Harry said at the same time Cassie intoned, "I can't do that."
"Yes, you can," Hermione said in answer to Cassie's statement. "It's only a matter of believing and harnessing your emotions."
"Speed up plant growth, eh?" Harry asked, swinging his arms. "What do I have to do so I can do that?"
"Says here just by having a swell of emotion and concentrating it on that plant. It also says love is the best emotion to use to cause plant growth. Huh. Interesting."
"Okay. I can do that." Harry turned to a sapling tree and held his hands out in front of him. His brow furrowed as he thought. A sigh caused his chest to swell. His eyelids fluttered.
"I can do this, I can do this," I heard him muttering under his breath.
The sapling began to shake. Its leaves made a soft shushing sound as they rubbed against each other. I watched with amazement as it shot up a couple of feet and that added height flopped over.
Harry peered at it and frowned. Then, closing his eyes and biting down hard on his lip, he tried again.
The part that had flopped over began to fill out, as if it were an empty tube being filled. It rose slowly and grew another couple of inches. Small, green buds began popping into existence and unfurling, becoming full green leaves.
It was exactly like watching a movie of a flower's growth set in fast forward. I watched in wonderment. It was an amazing thing to behold.
At last, when it was about Harry's height, it stopped growing. Harry let his hands fall to his sides, gasping, and looked at it.
"Wow," he said, amazed with himself.
Cassie stared at the tree. "I could never do that," she whispered.
"Sure you could," Jake said reassuringly. "But it won't work if you don't believe in yourself. If it's worth anything, I believe in you."
Her eyes misted over for a moment. Then, taking a deep breath, she said, "Okay. I'll do it."
Marco shot me a significant look and raised his eyebrows. I scowled, slowly shaking my head. A grin spread across his face and he leaned against the barn wall, whistling and twiddling his thumbs.
Cassie turned to the sapling. Though it was taller than her, it hadn't fully matured. She held out her hands and closed her eyes. Her brow furrowed.
"Believe," Jake muttered tensely. I'm sure he didn't think anyone could hear him.
The crease of concentration on her forehead deepened. Her fingers trembled. I saw her jaw muscles stand out as she grit her teeth.
The sapling shivered and groaned, its leaves once again making a soft susurration. Suddenly, with a movement that made me gasp, the tree shot to its full height. Leaves exploded on branches that stabbed out into the air.
Cassie staggered back as she released the tree. Jake leapt forward and caught her. She gasped for breath, looking up to see what she had done.
My mouth gaped open.
"Wow," she breathed.
Hermione blinked at the tree in a stupor. She opened and closed her mouth soundlessly for a moment, then, regaining her voice, said, "Well. Er. I didn't know you were that powerful."
That is amazing, Ax said, his voice betraying his stoic expression.
"I didn't know I could do that," Cassie said quietly.
Hermione fumbled through her book. "Erm. According to this, Cassie, it seems… er… that you are… erm…. How do I put this? Um. You are as powerful as the second strongest sprite in the world."
"But—I can't—" Cassie spluttered.
"You can," Hermione
said firmly. "And you are."
"I wouldn't have been able to
do that if I had tried to," Harry murmured.
"Of course you wouldn't have," Hermione snapped. "Your power is spread out over three different elements. Hers is concentrated into one. That besides, it seems like she is more powerful. Few people are able to reach elemental power like that. And anyway, it looks like your prime element—that is, the element a dryad is most comfortable with—is fire."
"Ah," he said, pretending he understood.
She rifled through the pages again, chewing on her lip. "Okay, random bursts of vegetation. Let's see if you two can do that."
Harry shrugged and spread his legs apart at shoulder width. Holding his hands out before him, he furrowed his brow and began to concentrate. Cassie mimicked him.
The ground in front of Cassie rumbled. It swelled, as if something beneath it were trying to break through. I took a nervous step back into the barn.
Harry stopped in his concentration to watch. Tobias ruffled his feathers nervously.
Perspiration stood out on Cassie's forehead. Her fingers tightened as if holding something. Then, with a gasp, she fell back into Jake's arms again.
The ground exploded, sending clods of dirt flying everywhere. Harry dived out of the way and rolled. I ducked as a clod of dirt hurtled at my face. It smacked the wall behind me and slid down.
I looked back to see what happened. Thousands upon thousands of wild flowers stood in a patch before Cassie, who was untouched by the dirt. Their stems intertwined; their petals pushed at one another to get to the top. Rain pattered softly down on them.
Harry scrambled back to his feet. He stared at the patch of flowers.
"You know what this reminds me of?" I asked and, before anyone could reply, said, "Captain Planet. That really weird cartoon with these kids and they had rings that controlled the elements."
Nine pairs of eyes burrowed into mine.
Marco ogled openly, his mouth open in his incredulity. Then, after a moment, he burst into fits of hysterical laughter. "You watched that show?"
My face became an interesting shade of scarlet. "Jordan used to. I saw parts of it. I mean, I didn't go sit down and actually watch it…"
"I can't believe this!" he crowed. "Amazon warrior Rachel, our very own Xena, watched Captain Planet! I wouldn't even watch it! Heh. Wasn't there this loser kid whose element was love?"
"Yeah," I said heatedly, "And he looked like you."
Miffed, he retorted, "He did not!"
"I thought you didn't watch that show."
"I don't!"
"Then how do you know?"
"I—I—um—I—"
"Exactly."
"Who's Captain Planet?" asked Ron, nonplussed.
He's a cartoon character, Tobias explained. When Ron continued to look confused, he continued, A TV show. You know. Uh. The tellie? Television?
"Oh. That box muggles watch moving pictures in?"
Yes. The box muggles watch moving pictures in. A TV show is a story… make-believe. Pretend. Imaginary. Or, at least, a cartoon is. Captain Planet is just a character on a TV—um, tellie—show.
"Ah," Ron said, smiling and nodding like he understood.
Should we not continue with Harry's dryad lessons? asked Ax. His stalk eyes wandered, absently taking in the woods behind us. I see no point to this.
"Yes. Yes. We should," Jake said, rubbing his hands together. "Harry?"
"On it," Harry said. He closed his eyes and held his hands out again.
We all watched rather nervously as he concentrated. A frown pulled at his lips as he thought, and it shortly became a scowl. His fingers tensed and whitened.
The ground didn't swell as it had when Cassie was working her magic. Instead, sickeningly green shoots sprouted out of the ground, writhing like snakes. Dark colored flowers budded and burst into bloom.
"Someone's got some issues he needs to work out," Marco said.
Harry took a deep breath and opened his eyes. His eyebrows shot skyward when he saw his plants and he stared in incredulity.
Instinctively, I knew—as did the others—that these flowers were the embodiment of all of Harry's hate. Thousands of flowers in disgustingly dark colors filled the ground. I didn't know how a person could bottle that much hate inside himself. Not even I could.
I took a timid step nearer the patch of flowers and bent down. My eyes came to rest on the biggest flower of the bunch: a black rose.
The rose was taller than the other flowers. Its petals were flawlessly black. Wickedly sharp thorns protruded from the stem, which was a dark forest green.
Jake looked a little disturbed. He cleared his throat. "Um. I think we should call it quits for the day. Every seems like they need a rest."
Harry nodded and winced as Hermione snapped her book shut. Without another word, he walked towards the woods and disappeared in the torrential rain. Ginny shrugged at us and followed him.
"Sorry he's so rude," Hermione said, scowling off after him. "It's not his fault. He was just born that way."
Ron shot us an apologetic look. Hermione took the back of his wheelchair and went after the two.
No one said anything for a few moments.
Then, "We still have that spell on us. How will I take a shower?"
Marco, of course.
There
was a general murmur of similar comments. I couldn't take my eyes from the
darkly colored flowers. Finally, I tore my eyes away and said, "Someone should
go after Hermione and get her to take the spell off."
Everyone else murmured his or
her consent with the idea.
After a minute or two, Jake said, "Thanks for volunteering. And tell them to be at the barn tomorrow eleven."
I opened my mouth to argue and then closed it again, realizing that it would be futile. Sighing, I got to my feet and padded off after them.
I didn't have to go very far before I heard shouting.
"LEAVE
HIM ALONE!" Ginny's voice cut through the rain like a knife.
"BACK OFF, GINNY!" Hermione's
voice made my eardrums throb.
"WHY DON'T YOU!?"
I froze and turned my ear toward the shouting.
"Please, stop arguing, stop it, please…" Ron begged, moaning.
"WHY?" Hermione thundered.
"He's been through a lot," he replied quietly. "No one should have that much hate inside himself. He deserves to be pitied."
"I DON'T WANT TO BE PITIED!" Harry roared. "EVERYONE SHUT UP! IT'S LIKE I'M NOT EVEN HERE! HERMIONE, YOU HAVE NO REASON TO HATE ME! ALL I'VE EVER DONE IS LOVE YOU! YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD ALWAYS BE THERE FOR ME! YOU PROMISED I WOULD NEVER LOSE YOU!"
"Harry," Ginny said in a hushed voice. "Harry. She's not herself. She doesn't remember—"
"AND YOU! YOU—YOU USED ME! YOU MADE ME BREAK A PROMISE! THE GUILT FROM THAT HAS BEEN EATING ME ALIVE! I FEEL LIKE I BETRAYED HER! I KEEP TELLING MYSELF THAT IT WASN'T MY FAULT! AND IT WASN'T! IT WAS YOURS!"
I wondered for a moment who the "her" mentioned in this spiel was. Then I decided I knew who it was.
Then he rounded on Ron. "I DON'T WANT TO BE PITIED! ONCE, A LONG TIME AGO, YOU WERE MY FRIEND BECAUSE OF WHO I WAS! NOT BECAUSE I WAS FAMOUS! NOT BECAUSE I 'DESERVED TO BE PITIED'! BECAUSE I WAS ME!
"YOU—YOU TWO—RON, HERMIONE, YOU WERE ALWAYS THERE FOR ME! RON, YOU NEARLY DIED FOR ME! HERMIONE, YOU USED TO LOVE ME! I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"
I shifted. A twig snapped under my foot. The voices fell silent.
Then Ginny called in a tearful voice, "Who's there?"
"Uh," I said, sliding forward. "Me."
I could see them now. Ginny's face was white and she was trembling violently. Ron gripped the arms of his wheelchair tightly. Hermione's face was mauve with anger.
I gave Harry a sideways glance. His face was crimson. His chest rose and fell rapidly. Eyes glinting feverishly, hands balled into fists as his sides, he glared at me as if daring me to mention his argument.
"Er," I said, for lack of better word.
"What do you want?" Ron asked, though not unkindly.
"Uh. We—the Animorphs, that is—we still have that spell on us. Can you take it off?"
"It wears off," Hermione said through grit teeth.
I nodded and took a step back. Again, I glanced at Harry. Fire danced in his eyes. I wouldn't have been surprised if he was breathing it.
"And Jake says to be at the barn by eleven o'clock tomorrow."
They continued to stare at me. I nodded again and turned on heel, swiftly leaving the woods.
I mulled things through, turning them over and over in my mind. Harry was fast approaching his breaking point. One person could only stand so much.
And if he snapped…
Well, I didn't want to think about it.
The others weren't making it better. Hermione hated him with no reason he saw. Ron pitied him (which, I knew, was maddening). Ginny… I didn't know what Ginny had done, but he was certainly enraged at her as well.
He just had to hold on a little while longer, I told myself. We were going to get his magic and his friends' memories back soon. I could tell by the glint in Jake's eye. He was planning something.
But if we didn't make it in time…
Goodbye, freewill.
If Harry went to the Yeerks, our secret would be discovered. The revelation to the Yeerks that we had been prolonging since the beginning—our biggest secret, one of our weaknesses—would occur long before we expected it.
Discovery was inevitable, this was true, but it didn't have to be because of a betrayal.
But Harry wouldn't betray us. He couldn't. Not the Harry we knew…
Then again, I thought, this wasn't the Harry we knew. He had been changed. It was his fault, true. He hadn't changed voluntarily. But all the hate that surrounded him, all the animosity…
I shook my head, as if trying to dislodge the thoughts from my mind. Needless to say, it didn't work.
When I was sure no one would hear me, I bolted back to the barn.
A/N: Yay! I finished a chapter! Again, sorry it took so long. I've been lazy. But, then again, I've been volunteering somewhere for the last five days. ::yawn:: I'm tired!
Celestial Hikari, thanks for the advice! ::wink wink:: My story has, actually, 101, 964 words. And I'm rewriting, so there's bound to be more!
But anyway, I wish to make a point. Harry does abuse Hedwig sometimes. That's always irked me. He's mean to Hedwig when he's feeling stressed out. ::pout:: That's not fair to Hedwig!
And I'm going to be getting into some action in the next chapter. I haven't had much of that in the past eight chapters or so. Harry gets so show off some his dryad-ish powers. (By the way, I'm planning some really great elemental battle scenes between Harry and Voldemort for the last battle!) ::strokes chin::
Stay tuned for "Chapter 16: Mock Battle (Ron)"!!