Disclaimer: I don't own anything you'll recognize!
A/N: Thanks a lot to all who reviewed and to Anna for betaing it.
Naia
Chapter Ten.
Being a novice was quite different of being an apprentice. This was something Harry learned quickly with the help of Traias. Novices were trained to fight as well as to do community work. It wasn't just conjuring a fire or a bowl of water, it was huge tasks which had to be realised by teams of two, or three, even four Elementals, like moving a river, creating a small oasis, stopping a fire, a tempest.. As far as fight was concern, novices learned how to use their element in a fighting situation.
Life was easier for Harry now. He was more familiar with his elements and his training with his friends during his stay with Odyeus tribe had given him a head start on the others, as far as reflexes, agility, and speed were concerned. Sure, physical contacts between the opponents weren't allowed, but there was always some ways to go around a rule.
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"Go!" yelled Assim.
The students raised their hands and started to shot water at their opponents. Harry looked at them closely, studying their strategy, or more precisely, their lack of strategy.
Today, Assim had decided to organise a duelling tournament among his class.
Harry wasn't the best of this class, a few had a better control over the element than him but combat was his field. He had quickly defeated his first opponent and was now waiting for the second round.
Assim called him to the stage as well as a tall boy, called Geri.
As soon as Assim signalled for them to start, Harry shot a bolt of water in Geris face, his opponent ducked and shot back immediately. Harry ducked too. They continued like this for a few minutes. Harry could have keep this on until Geri tired himself out, but grew quickly bored. With a flick of his hand he shot water at the boys leg and freeze it once it touched him. This paralysed him and he fell on the floor.
"Harris is the winner." Announced Assim.
They bowed to each other before leaving the stage.
Harry finally found himself in the last match. To win he sometimes hadn't need to use his element or only to give the final blow. His opponents couldn't hit him. They were good, probably better than him when it comes to control, but using their skills while fighting, which means quick decisions and no planning, only pure reflexes, wasn't something they were used to do.
He quickly got in position waiting for Assim to start the fight. As soon as it started in jumped forwards, shot, ducked and got into his position. This one was good, he had to admit it, he realised after a few minutes. The two boys were evolving quickly on the stage, eying each other, trying to find a flaw in the others stance or tactics. Suddenly, Vorn, his opponent, lunged towards him, Harry stepped aside, sending water arrows his way, but missing him as the boy rolled on his side, striking back.
This continued for awhile. Finally Harry decided to put an end to this, well if he could. He saw arrows coming his way as well as little snakes coiling around his leg. He put his hands towards the ground and in a quick movement raised them, calling water powers to him. Them as if hitting the grounds, he put them down. There was a kind of explosion and suddenly a column of water erupted from the grounds, circling Harry, therefore protecting him from attacks. He called for his animal. In a few seconds, the Royal Cobra appeared.
"Attack" ordered Harry.
The snake bowed and lunged at Vorn who were starring openly at Harry, apparently stunned by this show of power. Big mistake, thought Harry, never let your opponents moves distract you.
The royal Cobra paralysed him, making him an easy target for Harry. He fell on the floor, thus ending the duel.
Harry waved his column away and dismissed his animal after thanking it. Then he helped Vorn to stand up.
The boy seemed to shocked to refuse his help. He was looking at Harry with a dazed look on his face.
"Very well, Harris." Said Assim shortly. "Now, we're going to correct the mistakes you did while fighting, the first one was.."
He started to recalled every flaws he noticed, explaining how to correct it.
Harry half-listened to it. He already knew that but kept listening as he knew Assim hated people who didn't care about their teachers just because they already know what they were saying. We all have something to learn. Even if we have heard the same lesson ten times we might still find something new to learn Assim often said.
Once the lesson was over, he gathered his things and went to his next classes.
The day passed uneventfully and he headed for the library once all his lessons were finished. Traias was already waiting for him.
"Hi Harris! How was your day?"
"Boring and your?"
"Well, you saw me in the Airs lesson and despite what you say I didn't find it boring, more likely exhausting."
"It was quite simple"
"For you maybe" replied Traias. "Could you help me with some of the moves?"
"No problem. Now?"
"Yes, if you don't mind."
"No, come on"
They went to the lake and there, Harry explained the moves Yana had showed them. They were basic moves which only required a bit of concentration and agility. After two hours of practicing, Traias got them right, thus ending the session. The older boy went back to the castle after Harry had told him he wanted to practice a bit more. Traias didn't seem to mind. Harry looked at him. Traias was a good friend, and his only one, sure they weren't as close as he had been with Thers, Veradis, Raia and Yrs, but they were quite close. But, despite their friendship, Harry preferred to keep him away from his training and more importantly away from his planning.
The raven-haired boy smiled devilishly. Since he had became a novice he had been preparing his revenge. They would be sorry to have messed up with a Marauders son. He trained for two hours and went back to the common room for dinner. He ate quickly, talking with Traias about the days events, the teachers, .. Then he stood up, bad good night to his friend and left towards his dorm. On his way, he walked slowly, apparently lost in his thoughts. Then he turned sharply on his right. Only an observant person would have notice that the wall was fake. He ended in a small room, his HQ. He took a look around, looking proudly at his creations. Books could be seen all around, parchments were sprawled on the tables, with drawings, graphs, He was ready.
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He woke up early, needing to prepare a few things. One hour later, everything was ready for his first attack. He went to breakfast, ready to see the effects of his first move.
He ate slowly and quietly, something quite odd for him. Suddenly there was a pop and all the air apprentices and a few air novices (those who were in Harry's group) stood up yelling. The room burst in laughing. Their hair had been transformed into small bushes of weeds: stinging nettles, thorns…. You named it. Some of them started to scratch their head furiously, only to have it cut. Slowly, little Scratching daisies sprouted of their ears, small Wartffodils appeared on their arms, causing little warts to appear on their skins.
The whole scene was hilarious for everyone beside them. Imir and Kenet quickly stood up and reversed the process. A few minutes later, the plants had disappeared and the students had been sent to the healer, who took care of their scratches, cuts, and warts.
Of course they blame it on the Earth students, something Harry had planned. The day was tensed and Harry was careful to start a few rumours which wouldn't improved the situation. The air students would send deadly glares at the Earths ones who would claim their innocence. The next morning, the Fire students had a quite peculiar awakening..
Harry was standing before the window looking smugly outside.
Ten nine.eight.seven.six.five.four.three..two ..
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
A bit early. I must work on the timing.
The yell attracted every ones attention on the scene outside. The fire students had woke up in their bed, the only difference being that their bed were at the top of the highest palm trees around the lake. The problem was that while waking up they had unbalanced their beds, making it fall straight in the lake.
"SPLASH!!"
Various words started to fill the air, and fortunately no children were there to heard them.
The masters, after composing themselves, went to help the unfortunate students. An hour later, things were back to normal, except the fact that the Fire students were throwing dirty looks at the Airs who were throwing deadly ones to the Earths
All in all the morning was spent in rather tensed atmosphere, worsened by the hints and rumours Harry was spreading.
The teachers, although they were quite amused by those happenings couldn't help but worry a bit.. They kept a close watch on the students trying to prevent things to grow to a full scale war. Things could have calmed down if it hadn't continued. The next morning, the Earths students found themselves spitting water as soon as they opened their mouth to say something. This led to quite funny scene, in particular when one of them tried to explained the problem to Kenet. The poor man was drenched from head to toes before the student was finished.
To prevent the school from being flooded, the Water Masters had to found a quick way to reverse it, something which took them an hour.
Harry was watching the whole thing quite pleased with himself.. He looked around him, careful to put an innocent face, he didn't want anyone to grow suspicious of him.
Kenet was in quite a foul mood all day long, acting quite out of character, snapping at everyone. Everybody was relieved to see the end of the day and went to bed quite early, dreading a bit the waking-up.
Before drifting to sleep, Harry smiled for himself, the next weeks would be quite interesting.
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The teachers were gathered in their room for a meeting: subject: the current situation.
For the past two weeks, people had played pranks on a big part of the students.
"It must stop, the situation is getting out of hand. I can't count the fights I had to stop today!" exclaimed Imir.
"Its getting out of hand.." sighed Kenet.
"Exact." Agreed Yana.
"These fights must stop. We can't have the different groups fighting each other. They wont be able to do common work if it continues like this and the pharaoh wont be pleased."
"You're right. The problem is that I cant find which students are playing those tricks. There must be a small group of each element." Replied Amber.
"Yes, the Airs were the first targeted, hit with Earths trick. I heard a rumour saying that it had been an Earth student that had performed the first prank after a Fire had asked him to do it. Therefore the Airs sought revenge and the next morning, the Fire woke up on top of the trees and took an early bath. Apparently the Airs realised their mistake and according to an other rumour enrolled a few Waters to avenge them. Something which led to the third day. The day after, Fire got revenge on the Air, by making the silverware and the plates on their table burning. It went on and on. The healers are going crazy. They had to heal burns, coloured skins, cuts, suppress various things which had sprouted on various parts of the body, like grass on the arms, icicles instead of teeth, .. I don't count the numbers of things we had to reverse." Summed up Kenet.
"You forgot the few that were done on us: the singing and dancing act,"
"Quite tricky this one. Whoever these pranksters are, they're skilled." Said Yana.
" Or the attack of the furniture."
"Good one, it was" said Theri.
"You weren't the one who was trapped in a cupboard for hours."
There were a few chuckles, quickly hid as Kenet glared at his colleagues.
"It's a vicious circle. They are the victims of a prank so they seek revenge It's obvious." Said Amber
"Too obvious." Said Assim, looking deeply in thought.
"What do you mean?" asked Imir.
"Doesn't it sound a bit strange, look some of the pranks seemed to be done out of the blue, on an impulse. These ones can be traced down nearly to their origins. Others are timed perfectly. They go smoothly and no clue can be found on its perpetuators. These ones happen generally once a day, each time on a different group."
"Not always" cut Kenet. "Remember, the day the Earth had everything they touched transformed in wood. Well the same day, they found themselves rooted on the ground at lunch."
"That's why I was saying: the first was prepared, its accomplishment implied quite a lot of work and skills. The second was not as planned. I know it was done by an Earth apprentice in Ural's group."
"All right, I see your point, but I don't see what it could mean." Interrupt Yana.
"Easy, this means there is a polyvalent group. There were the ones who started this whole mess. They must act together, plan their moves in advance Then there is the students who are tricked, these reacted and got revenge on the suppose perpetuators.."
"Its an interesting idea. But why? I don't see any reason to this behaviour!" said Amber
"That's the matter. All the victims of the "organised" group are new novices or apprentices, most of the time." Answered Theri.
"No common points?" asked Assim.
"No, unless you count the fact that they were in the same class before the last novices test."
Assim gave her a sharp look.
"What? Is there a problem Assim?"
He shook slowly his head.
"No, nothing."
His colleague dropped the matter.
"Well what could we do?" asked Theri.
"I don't.. But something must be done, or well have some problems with the pharaoh and his inspectors.."
"You're right It would be a disaster if they saw the atmosphere here now."
Assim seemed deep in thought as his colleagues started to suggest ways to resolve this problem.
Could it be….. No! It wasn't possible….. But….. , why not? The boy had proved himself quite resourceful and secret….. Well, he would have to see to it.
He snapped back to reality as Amber asked him a question.
"Assim? Assiiiiiiim?"
"Yes?!"
"What did I just said?"
"Well to be precise….. I…..."
"Didn't listened to one word of what you said." Finished the Fire Mistress.
"You could say it like that."
"Well, what could be more important than finding a way to prevent our school to fall apart?"
"Well, I was trying to guess who would be the next victim...." said Assim, hoping the young woman would believe him. Fortunately she did and didn't ask further more.
"Oh!…. alright.... So any idea?"
"Maybe, I'll have to see about it."
The others looked at him a bit puzzled, but dropped the matter, knowing that trying to press something out of the man was nearly impossible.
"Do as you want." Said Amber. "Well, keep your eyes open for any strange behaviour."
They all nodded and walked out of the room.
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The next days, Assim watched Harry closely, trying to find some hints of the boys implication in the pranks. But he was disappointed. Nothing pointed towards the boy. Quite the contrary. Everything seemed to pointed in other directions. This made Assim nearly sure it was Harry who was behind all these stunts, but he couldn't prove anything. Time passed but Harris seemed always, much to Assim's disappointment, innocent.
The atmosphere remained tensed. The students of an element who were targets of those pranks wouldn't speak with anyone beside the other students in their element.
In addition of this situation, the fear of the teachers concretize: the pharaoh sent on of his inspector to see where the students could be sent once they would finish their studies. The better the student was, the better place he could expect to get. So to the defiance already there, a huge rivalry between the youth settled in the school. To lessened this atmosphere in light of the inspectors arrival in one week, the Masters decided to teach the students how to travel through their element. It was normally something they learned later, but they thought it would be a good way to distract them.
They gathered all the novices in the common room and waited for the talking to die down.
Soon an heavy silence settled in the room.
"Well, as you all know, were going to teach you how to travel. First I must remind that this task required a perfect control of your element. A small mistake could make you end seriously injured by your element which would probably backfire at you. You have to be extremely vigilant and careful. There will be so messing around here." Said Amber sternly. "Those who don't feel up to it can leave now."
Nobody moved.
"Alright. Take a place in the room and concentrate on your element. You need to call on it and trace a circle around you. The more powerful the circle, the further you'll be able to go." Explained Imir.
"Once this is done, you have to picture the place you want to go in its every details. Then you must, melt in your element."
There a few gasps.
"It's the dangerous part of the process. An extreme precision and attention is needed. Instead of focusing your element in your mind, you have to spread its power in your whole body. All your parts, I've said all must be crossed by the power of your element." Continued Kenet.
"When this is done, you just have to picture your destination and concentrate on it, picturing yourself in it. The travel will be nearly instantaneous." Added finally Yana.
There was a silence.
"For now, you're just going to try to draw the circle. Those who'll succeed in this task flawlessly and with enough power would be allowed to try the melting."
The students nodded, determination printed on their faces, each wanting to be better than the others.
Circles of elements started to appear everywhere in the room, thin lines of water, fire, earth, wind, sometimes growing to walls reaching the waist of their casters. Harry looked around him and shrugged. He decided to summon Fire first as it was the one he was the most familiar with. He focused on his element and with a wave of is hand erected a wall of flames around him which blocked totally his vision as it was about two meters high. So, the fire is O.K., now, the air....
He dismissed the fire wall and summoned an other of air which he managed to erect in a few seconds. The air circle was as high as the fire one, only less thick. He then draw the water circle which reached his head and the earth one which went to his shoulders.
He was quite happy with himself. He could managed to build the four circles, even if the earth one wasn't very strong. Now, all he had to do was to try the melting.
No bothering to ask a master before trying, he conjured the fire circle once more and tried to spread the power of fire through his body.
It wasn't easy, the power took the usual way to his mind and started to focus here. Harry tried to change its path to no avail. Then he had an idea.
Instead of changing he path he directed the power concentrated in his mind through his whole body. He struggled for a few minutes against his mind wards, which he had set up to prevent the power to leak out during his usual manipulations.
Finally he started to feel some power leaving his mind. Slowly, the flow grew and his body was soon completely filled with power. He could nearly felt himself burning from the inside.
Unconsciously his mind wandered and the picture of Sheitan's paddock near the lake came to him. Before he could stop the process, he felt himself became fire and dissolve in the flames.
It was like surfing on gigantic waves. The fire power was pushing him forwards. Suddenly he materialised at the paddock.
"Crap!" exclaimed Harry, looking around him. "I'm in troubles with a capital T. Now how do I come back?."
He thought for a few seconds, pondering the different solutions offered to him. He could go back on foot, or try to come back through the same process..
"What to do?…. Well…… if I come back on foot, I'll be definitively noticed,….. but perhaps if I come back through the element nobody will have noticed my disappearance…... So solution two it is." Muttered Harry for himself. With a swift movement of his hand he conjured the Fire circle, and a minute later he was back in the common room. That was the good thing. The bad one was that every eyes were on him, starring openly on him. He shifted, feeling really uneasy under their stunned gazes.
Suddenly Amber clapped his hands.
"Well done everyone! The session is finished for today. Come tomorrow at the same hour."
The students snapped out of their dazed state and stated to leave the room chatting between them.
Harry saw Amber motioning for him to come to see her and winced.
As soon as he approached her, she exploded.
"What were you thinking! Did you want to kill yourself?!" she yelled.
The other masters seemed tore between astonishment and anger.
"Amber, calm down." Said softly Assim, putting an hand on the young woman's arm.
"CALM DOWN!! He nearly killed himself and you want me to CALM DOWN!!"
"Amber. He wasn't injured, he did it perfectly."
"That's not the point! We had given them instruction, they were forbidden to try to travel without our supervision!"
"AMBER!" yelled her colleagues.
"What!!"
"You're right, what he did was foolish, stupid, careless, but he managed it! He did it on his first try!!" exclaimed Theri.
All the masters turned towards Harry, who was currently looking at the floor.
"Harris?" asked Kenet. "Look at us."
Reluctantly, the raven-haired boy looked at them.
"What you did was quite stupid but astounding. Therefore you wont have to come to these lessons with the others. Just practice on your own to perfect your skills."
Harry sighed in relief.
"However, as you broke the rules we had made to ensure your safety, you must be punished." Added Assim.
Harry nodded.
"So, you'll join the supplies team in its next expedition….."
Harry didn't see that as a punishment but remained silent, only nodded in agreement. He knew that all the students hated joining this team: she was absent for about a week, which meant a week lost and a lot of work to catch up.
"The team will leave tomorrow, be ready."
Harry nodded again and left the room.
He headed for the Library where he knew he would find Traias. He would warned the young ma that he would be absent for the whole week.
Once there, he looked for him and after a few minutes, spotted him at a table at the bottom of the Library, talking with others novices. He approached silently and caught part of their talk.
"Perhaps, but I don't understand why you keep on hanging with this freak."
"Yeah, are you really friend with him? Do you know how he do all of this?"
"Well"
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Will I stop there..
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No
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"Well, you know that's prosperous. As if I could really be friend with a freak.. I just hang with because he has some power. He is useful, you know. Quite skilled in fighting, thanks to him I improved and I had better results during the last test. That's all, I'm only staying with him as long as I something to gain from it. When I won't need him anymore, I'll ditch him. If he is stupid enough to believe I care, it's his problem.."
"You reassured me" said a tall boy, sat next to Traias.
"Don't worry, the day I willingly associate with a freak hasn't come yet. No if you excused me, I have to meet him for a working session."
"See you later!" chorused the other youths as Traias stood up and turned to go at Harry and his usual seats.
But as he turned around, he came face to face with a ice-looking Harry.
"So I'm only a tool…"
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Well what did you think of it? Thanks a lot to all of you!
Naia
Arizosa : Thanks for the review.
Max : Thanks a lot. Glad you liked the story.
LittleEar BigEar's sis : Thanks a lot for reviewing. I hope you like this chapter too.
Harry Potter 101 : Thank you a lot.
? ? ? : Thank you.
Fin-Phoenix : Thank you. I try to keep this story original. Don't hesitate to tell me if I use clichés.
? ? ? : Thanks for reviewing. Well the school is divided into categories : the apprentices, then the novices, and finally the masters. Novice is an intermediary grade meaning that the people in here have some trained abilities but haven't mastered them yet. Moreover the training for a novice is slightly different from the training for an apprentice, more based on fighting, defense, bigger manipulation of the element(s) . I hope this answerd your question.
Hannah Abby : Thanks for the review. Hope you like this chapter.
? ? ? : Sigh Sorry for the grammar, I try to be careful but sometimes I don't notice that I'm making a mistake…. (I'm French) I have this story beta though…. Well anyway thanks for reviewing…
shdurrani :Thank you a lot….
Phoenix of Light : I hope you like this chapter. Thanks a lot for the review.
The Game : The paragraph thing is involuntary…. It happened when I posted the chapter. I fixed it after…. As for the grammar… Well I'll try to be more careful….
Usa Yui and Usa Kou: Thanks a lot. I had quite a hard time choosing his animals…. Anyway sorry for the wait, blame it on my teachers….. Thanks again.
Deity : Thanks a lot. Assim is a bit peculiar, but he's quite different from Snape, even if he shared some traits with him….
Korinna Myorin :Thanks a lot for the review.
logic Thank you. Hope you liked this chapter.
The Red Dragons Order : Thanks a lot!
??? : Thanks a lot. What is happening at Hogwarts would be explained in a few chapters.
della luna : Thanks. I'm a ancient cultures' maniac…. I love them…
~~~Aztec Leopard~~~ : Thanks a lot. I'm not saying a lot not to spoil the surprise. I hope you liked this chapter.
aniwda : Thank you…. Don't worry my story has an aim, you'll see. Glad you liked the story so far.
zaksgirllol : I'm writing I'm writing… :-) Thanks for the review.
unknown(even to me : Thanks a lot for the review.
zaksgirllol : Thank you. I had troubles choosing his elemental animals…. Hope you like d this chapter.
Nina : Sorry for the wait…. I hope you liked this chapter. Thanks a lot for reviewing.
wquad : Thank you a lot.
BloodRedSword : Thank you. Continue with your story, it's good.
Lisa : Thanks a lot….. I'll try to be more careful with grammar and spelling. I hope you enjoyed this chapter too.
The Plot Bunny Whisperer : You're courageous. There are some mistakes, but as you haven't learned French for a long time, it's really good. In this context, "review" would probably take the meaning "critiquer". Essayer isn't the right term here, "tester" would be better, but you would be understood using "essayer". "long" is an adjective, here you should use the adverb "longtemps", putting "depuis" before to mark the time spent learning. "quelques-uns méprennent" isn't correct. It must be "quelques erreurs" (a few mistakes). "grande" is the translation of long or big, depending of the context. Le "dans" isn't necessary. I don't think that you should use "parfaitement" I think you meant: "le fait qu'il les gagne au lieu que tout lui vienne naturellement comme quelques auteurs ont tendance à le faire est parfait." But perhaps you meant something else…. The adjective "beau" is irregular. The adverb isn't based on him. Here you should use "bien". "Par les regards d'il" isn't really correct, you should use, the adverb "Apparemment". "tout à fait" isn't necessary here. "(Qui est bon, les histoires aussi écrites sont bonnes, mais les histoires puits écrits longues sont grandes.)" I must admit I don't understand what you wanted to say here. "un morceau" isn't the right translation of "a bit" in this context, you must say "un peu". "a déçu" the "a" isn't grammatically correct here. (you put two auxillary: "étais" and "a". "I look forwards reading more" is a phrase which would be translated by "Je suis impatiente d'en lire davantage" or "J'attends avec impatience d'en lire plus"…. Anyway, congratulations for somebody who didn't learned French for a long time it was really good.
(That's the second time I've said it, but it's true….) Thanks a lot for the review.
jake : Thank you.
Blizzard: Well sorry i wasn't able to post this sooner. Happy birthday nonetheless. I turned 17 on July too… Thanks for reviewing.
TheUnknown : Thank you a lot.
saffron : Thank you!!!
tereszcz : Thank you. As for your remarks, I'll try to explain: First Harry isn't controlling the time travels. Second, he isn't in an other plan, so when he is training, time is passing normally. When he traveled to an other time, he gain back some time, but in the end, there'll still be a difference as he can'' have back all the time spent training. I hope you understand what I mean, I don't know if it's really clear….
Mad Ant : Thank you a lot. You live in a French speaking country? Where? (I'm curious…)
Nicole : Thanks a lot. I hope you liked this chapter.
Kelly : I hope you liked the pranks…. Anyway Thank you a lot for reviewing.
Jigglypuff : Thank you for the review.
mgd : Thanks a lot. Your French is quite good.
Kalih Thanks a lot for the review. Well you'll have to wait and see, as for your question, I answered it a few lines above. I hope I made myself clear enough…..
coconut-ice agent h/h: Thank you. Hope you liked this chapter.
Kylie : Not everything will come easily to Harry. He'll have to work to gain his skills…. Don't worry about that. And you're right "hate" is a strong word. The other students don't hate him, they disliked him and don't care about him at all… That's all…
Thanks a lot for your review.