Avia motioned to Arven Lewis. "What is your name, dear?" she asked her.
"Arven Lewis, Professor." Arven told her.
"Ahh, a lovely name. Arven, you can be our first try for the day, eh?" Avia snapped her fingers, and the mirror slid closer to the two. "Take your wand and point it into that mirror…"
Arven did as she was told. "Like this?"
"Exactly. Now, we are going to find out what your Netwhilst answers too. I need you to concentrate on one of your wildest dreams. Netwhilsts love dreams, hopes, and wishes."
As Arven concentrated, the students eagerly gazed at the mirror, hoping to catch a glimpse of a face. The mirror began to turn colours, first red, then purple, then blue. Then, as suddenly as they had come, the colours disappeared, and the reflection of Arven filled the glass again. Arvin looked disappointed.
"It's ok, this can be pretty tricky. Make sure your mind is completely clear when you concentrate. It can take awhile." Avia smiled.
Arven faced the mirror again. The colours came back, brighter than before. Two misshapen eyes began to appear, dim at first, but eventually becoming more and more clear. Arven's wand began to shake.
"Arven, stop, now! You've encountered one that isn't yours. It probably belongs to someone who has somewhat of the same dream as you." Avia grabbed Arven's wand to steady it. She turned to the class. "If you come in contact with a Netwhilst that isn't yours for too long, things can get pretty bad. They won't recognize you, and begin to try and harm you because they think you are trying to steal them. Believe me, the stealing of Netwhilsts has been going on for years. Only now have they begun to get smarter." She turned back to Arven. "Arven, do you want to try again? Only this time, pick a different dream."
Arven nodded. Pointing her wand at the mirror, she closed her eyes. Colours began to appear in the mirror once again, swirling around each other. Music began to fill the room. Katie recognized the music to "It's a Small World", and wondered what Arven was thinking about. Two eyes began to show. The class waited for Arven's wand to start shaking, but it didn't. The whole face began to come in to view.
"Good, Arven, good. Keep on concentrating, you've almost got it." Avia looked pleased. The face was becoming clearer and clearer. "Ok, now, Arven, slowly lower your wand. Good. See if it-"
Suddenly, a loud bang was heard, and the face was gone. Arven looked at the mirror with bewilderment, then at the professor. "What just happened?"
"Oh, well, the good news is, you found your Netwhilst. The bad news is, it's a very shy one. See," Avia turned to face the class once again, "Netwhilsts have personalities. Some of you who are lucky will summon a very trusting one. Arven here summoned a shy one. That's alright, it will just take longer to gain its trust and companionship. IWR isn't the easiest class, if that's what you all were thinking." Avia grinned. "Well, I think it's about time for you all to leave. On your way out," she pointed to Felvie, "be sure to pet Felvasosofel. If he doesn't get attention from everyone upon their leaving, he tends to claw up my robes."
As the students filed out, they wearily pat the cat on the back. Angelina wasn't much of a cat person, and Katie could hear her muttering under her breath. Reaching out, Angelina touched the cat lightly on its head. Felvie looked a bit mad. Katie grinned, then scratched the cat under the chin. When she walked out the door, she could still hear the cat purring.
In the hallway to go to her next class, Katie spotted Ana chatting with the Slytherin Seeker, Draco Malfoy. Katie smiled to herself when she saw Draco ever so slightly wrinkle his nose. "Well, I guess I won't see those two together anytime soon…" she mused to herself.
Ana turned away from Malfoy and began walking towards Katie. Not paying attention to where she was going, she almost ran into Katie, but Katie dodged her, just in time.
"Watch where you're going!" She almost yelled at Katie.
"Why don't you watch where you're going?" Katie thought and wanted to say, but then quickly realized how stupid that would sound. Instead, she smiled, and said,
"Oh, I'm deeply sorry. I don't want to harm you before the first match. When we win, I want to know that you were perfectly healthy, thus giving you no excuse for never stopping our throws!"
Ava snorted. "You wish. You just might want to be watching your back, Miss Bell, and tell your little "team" that they should be doing the same."
"Is that a threat?" Katie took one step toward Ava.
"Oh, no, it's not a threat, it's a promise." With that, Ava pushed past Katie. Katie looked after her for awhile, until Ava turned the corner, and Katie realized that she was late for Arithmancy. Muttering to herself, she ran to the classroom.
At lunch, Katie slid into her usual seat next to Alicia. As normal, the twins and Lee were already stuffing their faces. Alicia, as normal, was rolling her eyes at the sight, Angelina, as normal, was pondering over a map of the Quiddich field, scribbling marks, words, and arrows all over it, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione, as normal, were talking quietly amongst themselves. "So, Katie mused once more, everyone is pretty much normal today." So then Katie, as normal, cleared her throat to get everyone's attention.
"Hey guys, I had the most interesting conversation with a certain Keeper today..." Katie waited for everyone to look at her. Ron guessed who the 'certain Keeper' was.
"Was it the one from Ravenclaw? ?"
"No, this one was particularly nasty. Any more guesses?" Angelina wildly waved her outstretched hand. "Yes, my dear Angie?"
"I'm going to go ahead and guess Ava? The one with the hideous breath?" Katie nodded. "What did she want?" Angelina questioned.
"She just told me to watch my back, and to tell you all to watch your back. Then she just pushed past me. The nerve of her…" Katie trailed off.
Alicia looked serious. "You think she was serious?"
Katie looked at Alicia with bewilderment. "Alicia. Be serious. You can't believe that Ava could actually do something? I mean, she told us to 'watch our backs' yesterday, and she hasn't done anything yet. Do you honestly think she's serious?" Katie seriously asked.
Alicia still looked worried. "I don't know…"
"Alicia, darlin', you're much to serious about silly things like this." Angelina told her. "We'll be fine. Seriously." Angelina told her friend.
Fred joined in. "Five." The others turned to look at him.
"What?" they all said together.
"Oh, umm, nothing. Seriously. Six…." Fred returned to eating.
Katie stared at Fred. "What," she questioned herself. "the effing," She shook her head. "hell?"
"Oh," Katie twisted to look at Angelina. "Tonight, I got ourselves some practice time. Unfortunately, it's only for a little while, the Hufflepuffs need to practice tonight, as well." The captain finished.
George groaned. "Again? But, Angie, we already practiced today! I can prove it!" He lifted his right arm. A large purple bruise covered most of his forearm.
"How on Earth did you mange that?" asked Harry.
"Making sure a Bludger didn't hit you, Potter. Only, it seemed to miss my club." He laughed. "See the things I have to go through to make sure you don't get bloodied up? Well, too badly, anyway?"
Harry nodded. "Well, It's worth it, ay?"
"To you, maybe. To me…" George shook his head.
"George, you little crybaby, stop your blubbering. My gosh, you're acting like Ron when he-" Fred was cut off by a irritated Ron.
"Hey!" Ron kicked Fred underneath the table.
"Ouch! Hey, you little bugger, you messed with the wrong Weasly!" Fred flicked Ron on the forehead.
"Fred! Ron! Stop! You guys are acting like ickle first years! Grow up!" Katie glared at the two. "Good God, if those two don't get too bruised up on the field…"
Without eating more than a piece of bread with a bit of butter spread on top, Katie stood up from the table. Alicia and Angelina joined her. Just before they walked out of the hall and toward their next classes, Angelina reminded the boys.
"Don't forget. I expect you all there at seven-thirty SHARP!"
At seven-twenty-two, Katie opened her locker. She reached for her practice robes and pulled them on. Humming to herself, she fastened her pads on her wrists, hands, and elbows. Grabbing her broom, she noticed that it was in desperate need of a polishing. She made a mental note to ask Harry if she could borrow his broom servicing kit.
Alicia walked in, followed by Ron, George, and Fred. The boys trudged over to their lockers. Groaning, Alicia opened her locker. Slowly, she reached for her practice robes. Angelina briskly walked in.
"Hey guys! Ready to play?" Angelina was already in her practice robes. How, Katie didn't know. She probably came in earlier.
About ten minutes later, Harry rushed in. Angelina let him have it.
"Harry! You're two minutes late! We were waiting for you! Do you realize that we now have only twenty-eight minuets of practice left?"
"Umm….sure, Angelina. I…realize….that…" Harry looked at her oddly, then shrugged, and went over to his locker.
"Humph. I now know who doesn't care about this te-" Katie cut her off.
"Angie, it was two minutes! You can't think that Harry doesn't care! He was probably busy with something a little more important! We all know Harry, he's always looking like something is terribly wrong…" "Yea, because he's a little drama king…" Katie couldn't help herself thinking.
"Yes, but-" Angelina protested.
"Let's go then, shall we?" The last thing Katie wanted was for Angelina to be upset right before practice. "Is it just me, or is she starting to act more and more like Oliver every day? It's a psychotic over-working disease, I swear. I'm glad I'm not Captain."
Katie shuddered as she felt the wind blow straight into her face the minute she stepped on the field. She felt a drop on her cheek. Rain. "Great…just great."
Harry yelled something to Katie.
"What?" Katie yelled back.
"Nice weather!" He replied.
After the team was formed a circle around Angelina, the captain yelled out what they were doing. After she was finished, the beaters and the chasers rose. Angelina always had them go in groups like this, then, at the very end of practice, they would all play together. It worked a little better then Oliver's way, Katie considered. Katie, Angelina, and Alicia got into position. Fred and George flew to opposite ends of the field. Angelina whistled, and the Quaffle and the Bludgers were released. Instantly, a Bludger headed straight to Katie, and at the same time, so did the Quaffle. Quickly deciding that she favoured her arm more than the Quaffle, she dipped down just in the nick of time. Alicia whizzed past and scooped the ball into her elbow. "Good one, Alicia!" Katie grinned at Alicia. Alicia nodded back, then frowned.
"Katie! Heads...err…down!" she shouted.
Katie instantly dove away from her position. A club smacked the Bludger far away. Fred turned to face Katie. "You'd best be paying more attention, eh'?
Katie shook her head, then speed off to retrieve the Quaffle. A Bludger smacked it out of the way, then turned to face her. Katie gulped, the zipped up. The Bludger decided to go after Angelina for a change. "Weird…that's really strange….." Katie shrugged, then zoomed after the Quaffle once again. Grabbing it, she quickly turned and sped toward the goals. Rain spattered against her face, and the wind tossed her hair. Katie could barely see. She wished she could perform a charm to keep the rain off her face, but she needed to pay close attention to make sure another Bludger wouldn't decide to make Katie want to beat the living daylights our of whomever invented Bludgers.
Fred flew by. "Nasty buggers, hmm?" He winked at Katie.
"Yeah, real nasty. So nasty, I'm beginning to 'smell' something suspicious...like, how come they've barely gone after anyone else?"
Throwing the ball in with all her strength, Katie flew past the goal. Angelina went past, slapping palms with Katie. The game resumed for about ten more minutes, until Angelina blew her whistle again, and Katie sighed with relief. "No more Bludgers for awhi-"
Katie gasped, for a Bludger rammed into her back at that exact instant.
A/N- Hahaha, I am soo evil. To leave you on a cliffhanger, that is. I figured it was time for excitement. Mwaa. I rule. Oh, and I am going to be gone until August the 14th, so don't expect many updates. Grinz But don't worry, I am planning to write in my notebook while I am gone, so I will have plenty of new material when I return. Ciao, y'all. (Don't worry, I'll take care of Katie.)