OK, this is the fourth chapter! sorry I didn't write sooner; I've been kinda busy, but I have three chapters ready today (yippy!)
Oh, and thanks for everyone who reviewed! I have a reason for Terry and Josh's magical abilities, but it's gonna be long till you find out about it. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy the next three chapters!
Chapter 4:
After crossing a big lake with the rest of the first year students and a giant man called Hagrid, Terry and Josh found themselves in a big room with professor Mcgonagal, a teacher who looked like she was stricter than Mrs. Cole, if that was possible; she was thin and pale and had very thin lips.
'Wait here.' She instructed the students, 'I will call you when you are ready to be sorted into your houses. The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily.' and walked out of the room.
As much as Terry wanted to go to Hogwarts, he knew that his stay at the school was going to be very boring. He was already much ahead of everyone since he had the advantage of being able to use a wand before arriving to school because of his grown up appearance (children under the age of 17 were not allowed to use magic outside the school). He even thought that his magical abilities exceeded that of most grown up wizards since he was able to perform all the spells he knew with and without a wand.
'What house do you want to go to?' Ron was standing near him and was looking quite nervous. Terry didn't know what he had to be so scared for. He looked around at the rest of the students. They all looked as scared as Ron did. Pathetic.
'I don't really know, but I wouldn't mind going to Gryffindor.' Terry replied, bored.
'All of my brothers went to Hogwarts and they've all been sorted to Gryffindor. Fred and George told me you get chosen into a house after you fight a troll.' Ron said, looking more scared than ever.
Josh, who has not been paying attention to their conversation till now, suddenly turned his head with interest. 'Fight a troll? That sounds great! I never got a chance of doing that before. Did your brothers tell you what it was like? How big was it?' He asked excitedly.
Someone in the large group of students sniggered. Terry and Josh both looked around to see a tall boy who was wearing expensive looking robes; he had very blond hair, almost white, which was combed back neatly with gel. There were two oversized kids standing either side of him who looked like they could have been his bodyguards. 'Fight a troll? Apparently, not everyone is sufficiently informed about the school they were going to. What makes you think you would be able to fight a troll anyway?' The last question was directed at Josh sneeringly.
'Believe me, I have had to fight things much worse than a troll.' Josh said carelessly, winking at Terry, who smiled back.
The boy laughed. 'You are not the first person I met with such illusions.' He told Josh, then turning to Terry, he said, 'you'd better watch who you make friends with. I'm Malfoy, by the way; Draco Malfoy.'
Something about the way he said it probably amused Ron because he let out a violent snort.
Malfoy turned around sharply, 'you think my name is funny, do you?' he asked Ron, looking him up and down. 'No need to ask yours. Red hair, and hanging down robes, you're probably a Weasley.' He said the last word as though it was filth. Then, let out a startled gasp as both Terry and Josh got out their wands. The crowd of first year students suddenly fell silent, watching the scene with interest.
'You better watch your mouth, Malfoy, or you're going to end up in a very sticky situation.' Terry said lightly. He liked Charlie, and hearing someone criticize his family could make his "harmless to dangerous" scale up to ten reach quite an alarming level.
Josh, apparently, felt the same way, 'I think you should listen to him.' He advised. 'Growing up with him, I have learnt that messing up with this guy should not be anyone's top priority, since their physical state is unlikely to stay the same, in small words. Of course, if you put me into the picture, it makes your situation waaay worse.' He added in a calm tone, inclining his head towards Terry. 'Don't you agree, brother?' He asked Terry.
'Definitely.' Terry replied casually, wondering how many times they could repeat the same game.
Malfoy looked positively alarmed at their reaction, but tried to look as calm as possible. He looked at their drawn wands warily and opened his mouth to say something when the door opened and professor Mcgonagal was back.
The teacher looked at the wands Terry and Josh were pointing at Malfoy. 'What is going on?' She asked dangerously.
'Nothing, professor, me and Terry were just showing Malfoy our new wands.' Josh said innocently, putting the wand back into his robes.
Mcgonagal, apparently not wanting to have to deal with problematic students before they were even sorted into their houses, just narrowed her eyes. 'We are ready for you now, you may enter the great hall.' She said, completely ignoring Josh's statement. Luckily. Josh definitely needed to learn how to do this thing properly.
All of the first year students crowded into the hall and, immediately, cries of surprise were uttered out of everyone. Terry couldn't blame them; the place was huge; it contained four large tables, each with different colors, which probably stood for their houses, and one smaller table, which was large nonetheless and stood taller in front of all the other tables. This table did not have a particular color. The people sitting at it looked older than everyone else and were obviously the teachers. At the middle of the table there was the largest chair in which sat an old wizard with a long beard and moon shaped glasses. Terry assumed he must be the headmaster, Dumbledore. There were hundreds of candles floating in the air, about ten feet above the ground.
Looking up at the candles, Terry suddenly noticed that there was no ceiling. After some time, he came to a conclusion that the place must be enchanted somehow because he could not feel the cold, a conclusion which was quickly confirmed by the annoying brown haired girl he met on the train;
'It's not real, the ceiling.' He heard her say to another girl. 'It's just bewitched to look like the sky. I read about it in "Hogwarts: A History".'
Mcgonagal made all the first year students stand in line. 'When you hear your name being called out, sit on that stool and put the hat on.' She instructed.
Terry looked around and saw a small stool sitting in front of the rest of the pupils, on which sat a hat.
'Burns Susan.' He heard Mcgonagal call.
The girl who was talking to the brown haired girl from the train earlier walked nervously towards the stool and put the hat on. She looked like she was going to faint any minute. After a few minutes, the hat shouted 'HUFFLEPUFF.' The girl pulled the hat off and ran towards the Hufflepuff table, the older students clapping loudly.
The rest of the students were sorted in alphabetical order. Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin. Terry decided that he did not want to be in that house. This was probably the house for the idiotic people. A small dark haired boy with a pointy nose was sorted into Ravenclaw; The brown haired girl from the train was called Hermione Granger and was sorted into Gryffindor; Ron was also sorted into Gryffindor. He was so relieved to be in the same house as his brothers that as soon as the hat shouted the house name he ran off with the hat towards the Gryffindor table. Mcgonagal had to run after him to get the hat and the rest of the people laughed loudly. Ron's ears turned red, but he recovered quickly and went to sit at the Gryffindor table.
Finally, it was Terry's turn. He walked confidently towards the stool. He wasn't like all these other idiots who were scared of… what was it they were scared of? He put the hat on and was immediately startled by a voice: 'Interesting, very interesting.' The hat apparently talked to everyone quietly and shouted the house names loudly. 'Plenty of courage, I see,' it went on, 'not a bad mind either, and a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you?'
'Gryffindor?' Terry thought.
'You want Gryffindor, huh? But Slytherin could also be right for you, yes, there's no doubt about that…' the hat could, apparently, read Terry's thoughts.
'Oh, shut up,' Terry said in his head once he figured that the hat could understand him, 'I told you already, I want Gryffindor.'
'Mmm, you could do well in Gryffindor… then again, there is still a part of you which is ambitious… you could do very well in Slytherin as well,' the hat said. Terry swore under his breath and promised himself that he was going to tear the hat to hundreds of small pieces if he was put in Slytherin. The hat probably picked the thought up, as it sounded panicked when it spoke again, 'Well, OK, OK, if you insist, it will be… GRYFFINDOR.' the hat shouted the house name out loud.
The Gryffindors applauded loudly as Terry walked towards their table and took a sit beside Ron, who was sitting next to two identical red headed boys who were probably his brothers.
'White, Joshua.' Mcgonagal called. Terry looked interestedly as Josh walked as confidently as Terry did towards the stool. It took the hat about ten minutes to decide, but it finally shouted 'GRYFFINDOR.'
Josh looked pleased with himself as he walked towards the Gryffindor table and sat next to Terry. 'It was OK.' He said. 'Too bad we didn't get to fight a troll, though.'
One of Ron's brothers looked up in surprise. 'Hey, did our rumor spread that fast?' He asked, looking surprised. 'I hope it reached the rest of the first years.' He added.
Josh looked at him. 'That's not very nice. You are giving people false hopes.' He said.
The boy, who looked at least fourteen years old and was much taller than Ron, looked at him in astonishment, then turned to his twin brother. 'Hey, George, I think I just found someone with a sense of humor weirder than ours.' He said. He really did sound puzzled.
George looked up from his conversation with Ron. 'I'm afraid that's impossible, my dear brother.' He said, looking at Terry and Josh with interest.
Ron blushed. 'Err, sorry guys, my brothers aren't that good at manners. This is Fred and that's George.' He said, indicating each identical twin in turn. Then he turned to Fred and George. 'These are Terry and Josh.' He told them, indicating each of them as well. 'They say they know Charlie.'
'Yes, I think Charlie mentioned them, once or twice in his letters.' Fred said.
Terry yawned. He didn't know how Charlie's family could be so different from him. They were all so boring. He couldn't wait to start eating.
'Let the feast begin.' He heard Dumbledore exclaim. Wow, it was exactly like magic. You just had to think something and it came true. Apparently, that sentence was the only part of the long speech Dumbledore has just made which Terry has heard, fortunately for Terry.
Suddenly, the tables were filled with huge amounts of food. Terry has never seen so much food on one table in his life. However, he did not waste any time looking around. He poured a little of everything into his golden plate and started eating in a way not very different from Mrs. Cole. He didn't realize how hungry he was till he saw the food.
He did not notice how the time passed, but eventually, Dumbledore told the prefects to show the first year students to their dormitories. The prefect for the Gryffindor house was, surprise, surprise, another Weasley. This one was called Percy. Terry got up from his chair heavily. He noticed that his trousers were a bit tighter than an hour ago. Damn, did I eat that much?
Percy led them to a portrait of a fat lady. 'Password?' The portrait demanded.
'Peanut butter.' Percy replied. The portrait swung aside and they all climbed inside to the common room. This room looked really cozy; there was a fireplace at the far end and overstuffed red sofas were placed everywhere.
'The boys' dormitories are to the right. Girls, to your left. You will find that all your belongings have been brought up for you.' Percy said.
Terry climbed blindly up the stairs to the boys' dormitories. He was so tired he would give anything for a bed. When he got to the room, barely aware that he was blocking the path of his four new roommates and Josh, who were standing behind him, his eyes scanned the six four poster beds until they settled on the one with his luggage underneath it. He climbed into it without changing into his pajamas and fell asleep instantly.
'Terry, Terry, wake up.'
'Huh? Whass', the matter?' Terry mumbled, as he felt a hand shaking him roughly. 'Stop it.'
'It's already seven o'clock, we don't have much time.' It was Josh's voice.
'So what? We have lots of time. Wake me up at nine thirty.' Terry answered sleepily.
In response, Josh's hand grasped one of Terry's ankles and yanked him off the bed.
'Ouch! I'm gonna kill you, Josh, you are dead in five minutes.' Terry said and, all tiredness forgotten, he jumped to his feet and hurled himself at the nearest figure, which he assumed to be Josh. The figure made no attempt to move out of the way. Weird. That's not like Josh. Why didn't he try to defend himself? Terry slammed into its stomach, head first. Hard.
'Oof!' Terry heard the air being knocked out of the figure. He looked down in surprise to see Neville Longbottom, one of his new roommates, on the floor below him, clutching his stomach painfully. Terry looked up again to see the three astonished faces of the rest of his roommates and the one amused face of Josh.
'Way to go, brother.' Josh cheered. 'I never seen you aim better than that in ages. Keep it up and we'll have this room completely to ourselves.'
Terry swore loudly. He completely forgot that he was at Hogwarts. He was sure that he was still at Powell Place, where he could wake up as late as he wanted, as long as it was before ten o'clock in the morning. He looked down at Neville. 'Sorry.' He said, not meaning it, 'I thought you were Josh.'
Still clutching his stomach, Neville got up to his feet with difficulty. 'Do you always greet each other like this in the morning?' He gasped, still short of breath.
'Nah, only sometimes, depending on our mood,' Josh said carelessly, 'anyway, we're supposed to be down at the great hall for our timetables,' he added as if nothing has happened, looking at Terry, but addressing everyone in the room.
When no one made a move, Josh said, exasperated, 'Don't worry about Terry, he does that all the time, you either have to get used to him or to avoid him for the rest of your lives. I'm just surprised I haven't sustained any serious injuries from him yet, after having to live with him ever since I was born.'
'Look who's talking.' Terry shot back.
Ron, who was standing near Dean and Seamus, shook his head. 'I've got to contact Charlie to find out what's wrong with you two. Who knows, maybe the orphanage you came from was one for the highly insane people.'
Josh looked at him with steady, brown eyes. 'Watch your tongue.' He said dangerously. 'If you weren't Charlie's brother you would have been dead back on the train.'
'Hey, I was only joking.' Ron said in his small voice.
'Was that supposed to be a threat?' Seamus asked Josh heatedly, at the same time as Ron spoke.
'It depends on the way you look at it.' Josh answered, ignoring Ron and answering the more challenging question. Terry could see from his face that he hoped this was going to lead to a fight. Of course, Terry was not against violence, but he did not want to start fighting with the people he was going to live with every day for the rest of the year.
'Cut it out, Vlady,' he said. He noticed that it was hard for him to stop calling Josh by that name now that he started to. Old habits die hard. 'Just ignore him.' Terry advised Seamus, 'you will find your life would be much easier that way.'
'Hey, what's that supposed to mean? It was me who was supposed to criticize you, not the other way round.' Josh almost wailed.
'Whatever.' Terry said, resisting the urge to shake his head. 'Anyway, I think we should go down to the great hall. You don't have to come with us if you don't want to.' He addressed Dean, Seamus, Ron and Neville.
Everyone looked around nervously, then, they all started shuffling towards the door. They arrived at the great hall as a large group of six people at seven twenty. They quickly seated themselves at the table and ate breakfast as quickly as they could.
At precisely seven thirty, Mcgonagal, who was the head of Gryffindor house, walked along the long table, giving everyone their timetables. Terry quickly scanned his one. All of the lessons were distributed according to the houses. The Gryffindor first years had potions with the Slytherins, defense against the dark arts with the Slytherins, divination with the Ravenclaws, History of magic with the Hufflepuffs, charms with Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, flying lessons with the Slytherins and transfiguration with the Slytherins and Ravenclaws.
Their first lesson was potions, with the Slytherins. Terry walked with Josh towards the dungeons, where the lesson was supposed to take place. The class was cold and dark and was already half full. Terry could not see any Gryffindors apart from himself, Josh, and Hermione Granger, who took a seat at the front of the class. The rest of the people were Slytherins. A quick glance at his watch told him that he was five minutes early. He walked with Josh to the back and sat down as comfortably as he could on the hard wooden chair.
Five minutes later, the class was full. The Gryffindor boys took their seats as far as possible from Terry and Josh, for which Terry was thankful, but to his dismay, the last people to arrive were the Gryffindor girls, who had no choice but to take the last unoccupied seats, which were the ones on the same table as Terry and Josh.
The door to the dungeons suddenly burst open and a man in billowing black robes came storming into the classroom. He had greasy black hair and a long nose, and he rather reminded Terry of an overgrown bat.
'I am professor Snape,' The man said quietly, 'and I'm here to teach you the delicate art of potions. Unlike what some of you might think, making potions is not just adding a few ingredients to a cauldron carelessly. You have to be… Mr. Longbottom, what do you think you are doing?'
Neville blushed. 'I… I was just copying down what you wrote on the board.' He stammered.
'Is that what I told you to do?' Snape asked icily. 'Five points from Gryffindor.'
Terry looked around. There were at least five more students, all of whom were Slytherins, and one of them included Malfoy, who were writing in their notebooks. Clearly, Snape, who was the head of Slytherin, was favoring his own house.
'If that's so,' Terry said, 'you have to take twenty five points from Slytherin.'
Snape's cold eyes slowly traveled across the room towards where Terry was sitting. His eyes narrowed as he took in Terry's appearance. 'I am very glad you can do your math,' he said coldly, 'but I will not tolerate students who push their noses into their teachers' decisions. What is your name?'
'Terrence Locke.'
'Terrence Locke, what?'
'It's just Terrence Locke.' Terry answered, putting on an innocent look, knowing exactly what Snape meant.
'Terrence Locke, sir.' Snape hissed dangerously.
'There's no need to call me sir, professor.' Terry answered lightly.
A few students sniggered. Some looked at him as though he has lost his mind (well, that was only Hermione) and Neville looked at him thankfully. Ron, Dean and Seamus all looked awed.
Snape stared at him with his cold, black eyes. Terry held his gaze. They stayed like that for a few minutes, none willing to give up until they heard Josh yawn loudly. 'Hey, cut it out, will you, professor, you are supposed to play a model for your class.' He said lazily, addressing Snape.
Snape's eyes snapped angrily towards Josh. 'And you would be?'
'Joshua White.'
'Joshua White, what?' Snape asked automatically.
'It's just Joshua White.' Josh answered carelessly.
Snape's nostrils flared angrily. 'I WILL NOT TOLERATE CHEECK IN MY CLASROOM. TWENTY FIVE POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR. EACH.' He added, addressing Terry as well as Josh.
'Gee, there's no need to shout, we're not deaf, right, Josh?' Terry said, not being able to control himself. He loved watching people get angry and he especially liked it when he was the one to cause it. For some reason, it seemed even more tempting for him with Snape.
'Of course, brother.' Josh replied, not taking his eyes off Snape. 'Some people are so unobservant.'
Snape looked carefully from one boy to the other. 'You think you're so clever, huh?' Snape snapped. 'Which of you could tell me what a bezoar is used for?'
Josh looked at Terry. 'Do you want me to answer, Terry? Or perhaps you would prefer to do it yourself?'
'No, no, the pleasure is all mine, Josh.' Terry, answered with an innocent look, then looking at Snape, he said, 'It is used as a choking remedy. How many points do I get for the right answer?'
Snape looked madder than ever. 'I do not have time for your stupid games. I have a class to teach.' Then his eyes widened as he looked at his watch.
Class dismissed, Terry thought happily.
'Detention! Both of you, tonight at ten o'clock, in my office.' Snape said, then addressing the whole class, 'class dismissed.'
Terry and Josh walked out of the classroom together. 'Hogwarts is so much more fun than I thought it would be.' Terry told Josh. 'I just hope the rest of the teachers are as nice as him.'
Josh nodded, opening his mouth to say something, when they heard Seamus's voice behind them. 'Hey, that was cool.' He told them. The rest of their roommates, Neville, Ron and Dean, were also with him.
'Yeah,' Ron agreed, 'and I'm glad you did that to him- Fred and George tell me he's evil.'
Their next class was transfiguration, with professor Mcgonagal. Terry hoped she was going to favor the Gryffindor students as much as Snape favored the Slytherins. However, as he entered the class with his five roommates, she let him down.
'You are late.' Mcgonagal said as she saw the group of Gryffindors. 'Five points will be taken from Gryffindor.'
'We got lost.' Ron said. Not that he was lying. The castle was huge and it was hard not to get lost.
'That's not a very good reason, Mr. Weasley. Maybe I should transform you into a pocket watch. That way maybe one of you might be on time.'
Terry and Josh walked with their new friends towards the one almost empty table, across from the Slytherin table. Unfortunately, one of the seats of that table was already occupied by Hermione Granger.
Reaching an unspoken agreement, the boys seated themselves, completely ignoring her presence.
The rest of the lesson was very boring. Mcgonagal taught them how to transform a needle into a glass. Terry and Josh, who have practiced that spell millions of times already, were one of the few who succeeded in their first attempt. The only other person was Hermione Granger.
After a few minutes of not having anything else to do, they transformed the needle wandlessly. When they grew bored of that, too, they had a much better time transforming the Slytherins' needles into some very creative things; Terry managed to turn Malfoy's needle into a tarantula, which lost Slytherin ten points. Josh turned another Slytherin girl's needle into a cockroach. The girl jumped out of her chair, screaming at the top of her lungs, until Mcgonagal transformed the cockroach into a needle again.
The Gryffindor table started laughing as Terry and Josh continued in their "artwork", unnoticed by anyone but the people sitting at their table, including Hermione, who looked on disapprovingly. Terry, however, thought he noticed something else in her eyes but could not quite place what it was.
'Hey, where did you learn doing that?' Dean asked incredulously, looking at his own needle, which stayed just as it was at the beginning of the lesson.
'It's just natural talent.' Terry said, winking at him.
'It's not a big deal.' Seamus said. 'Watch.' He said cleverly, pointing his wand at the needle and muttering something under his breath.
BOOM! There was suddenly a large explosion and Seamus's face was completely black from the sooth and his eyebrows and eyelashes were burnt. The rest of the Gryffindor boys started laughing hysterically. Seamus scowled.
'Five points from Gryffindor.' Mcgonagal said from the other part of the classroom.
'That's not fair, professor.' Josh said. 'You only remove points for bad work but you don't add points for good work.'
Mcgonagal looked at Josh's perfect glass, then smiled. 'I guess students have to say something logical, at some point in their lives.' She said. 'Five points for Gryffindor. Oh, and ten more. Five for Hermione and five for Terry. Good job.' She praised.
The rest of the lesson was spent by chatting merrily with the rest of the Gryffindors and losing the Slytherins some more points by turning their needles into other things, unnoticed.
'Hey, Seamus, can you try to blow up Malfoy's needle?' Terry suddenly asked. 'It's boring when it's only me and Josh who're doing all the work.'
'I don't know.' Seamus answered uncertainly. 'I didn't do it on purpose, I just tried to turn my needle into a glass.'
'Well, try it again.' Neville interjected.
Seamus looked uncertain, but pointed his wand at Malfoy's needle from under the table nonetheless.
BOOOM! It was fun watching Malfoy almost jump out of his skin at the sudden noise. Mcgonagal removed five more points from Slytherin.
'Wheepy!' Josh cheered quietly so that Mcgonagal could not hear. 'Great job.'
Seamus looked pleased with himself and everyone else at the table laughed, apart from Hermione, who looked at Terry and Josh with narrowed eyes. Josh, however, did not notice anything;
'I think we're having a bad influence on them.' Josh whispered to Terry.
Terry nodded. 'And we're not finished yet, are we?' He asked evilly.
'You bet.'
'WAAAAAAARRGGH.'
Terry has been sleeping peacefully until a scream shuttered the silence. He jumped up, pulling his wand out from under the pillow just in time to see Josh do the same. Neville rolled over and fell off his bed. Seamus and Dean were also quickly getting up, both rubbing their eyes sleepily and looking around confusedly.
A quick look around told Terry that the scream has come from Ron, as he was standing in the middle of the room, blushing slightly.
'Err, good morning, everyone.' He smiled sheepishly, looking warily at the drawn wands of Josh and Terry. 'This is an effective way of waking everyone up, don't you think?'
Josh let out a stream of some colorful curses. 'What time is it?' He asked, looking at his watch without waiting for an answer. 'Are you crazy? Waking us up at six o'clock in the morning?'
Ron looked as though he was already regretting his actions. 'I just thought you would be excited about the flying lesson.'
Seamus, Dean and Neville immediately lost their sleepy faces to be replaced by excited ones.
- 'Right, how could I forget about it?'
- 'I can't wait to get into the quiditch team next year.'
- 'Hey, what are we waiting for? Let's go downstairs!'
Terry and Josh looked at each other. 'Err, are you guys telling me you've never flown a broom before?' Terry asked them, and was rewarded by four blank faces staring at him.
Josh looked incredulous. 'You must be kidding me. I only found out I was a wizard three years ago and I flew a broom more times than I ever traveled by car.'
The four blank faces turned to stare from Terry to Josh.
Seamus was the first to recover. 'Yeah, right, like we're gonna believe you.'
Josh and Terry looked at each other incredulously. 'Fine, you don't have to believe us, you can see for yourself when we get to the lesson.' Josh said, yawning. 'But now, I'm going back to bed.'
'Great idea, brother.' Terry said, getting into his own bed. 'Good night.'
Their four roommates looked at them as if they have lost their minds.
'Fine,' Ron said.
'You can stay here,' Seamus said.
'Yeah, get the rest you need,' Dean added.
'But we're going downstairs right now,' Neville finished, although Terry detected a small quiver in his voice which meant that he was a bit scared of his first flying lesson.
Terry yawned loudly. 'Have fun.' He said, snuggling into his pillow.
'See you in two hours.' Josh added.
As soon as the four boys were out of the room, Terry and Josh jumped up from their beds. 'Lucky Ron woke us up, I don't think I could have done that by myself.' Josh said merrily. Yesterday, both boys decided that it would have been a good idea to start training themselves during their stay at Hogwarts, so that they would not get out of practice. It's not like they have ever been in a karate lesson before- they didn't have much opportunities to visit the muggle world during their stay at Powell Place, but they got into dozens of fights and have learned some basic moves out of instinct. They also invented some moves of their own moves and practiced them.
Terry shrugged. 'Let's just get it over with. Are you ready?'
'Sure. How should we begin?'
'Basics first.' Terry answered.
They started warm ups by exchanging relatively simple punches and blocking them. Then they went on another level and started with kicks. Soon they both got deep into it and started using flying kicks, ducking and rolling on the floor. They continued in this way for about thirty more minutes. Then they both stopped, taking a break.
Terry dried his sweating face with a fresh towel, took a sip from the bottle of water he has just conjured and turned towards Josh, 'time's up,' he said after less than five minutes of break, deciding to take charge, 'OK, lets start with the more complicated stuff: magic with no wands. Try being creative.'
'No problem, creativity is my greatest specialty.' Josh said. He made a pen soar from his trunk towards him and transformed it into a knife wandlessly, grinning menacingly at Terry and advancing towards him threateningly.
'I know,' Terry sighed, 'that's your problem, you are too creative. No knives.' He ordered, and the knife in Josh's hand instantly transformed itself back into a pen.
They continued training until seven o'clock and then Terry took it in turns with Josh to go into the shower. As Terry dried his hair with a towel, he got the first glimpse of himself in his smaller body in three years and was surprised at how much he changed; his green eyes stayed the same, but his hair was longer, which somehow seemed cooler. He also noticed that he had more muscles on his chest than he did before. He guessed it was because of the exercise he started doing since he left the orphanage. Of course, he was always playing basketball back in the orphanage, but that was nothing compared to the fights he got into and the heavy boxes he was lifting every day when he was at Stan's place.
By seven thirty, he was out of the shower and heading towards the great hall with Josh. Their lesson started at eight so they had half an hour to eat their breakfast. Their roommates were nowhere to be seen so they just seated themselves at the Gryffindor table. While eating breakfast and talking, they decided that they needed a better place for training and agreed that they would think about it later.
At eight o'clock, they both headed towards the large, grass covered grounds, where their flying lessons were taking place. Madame Hooch, their teacher, was about fifty years old, but looked very fit for her age. Even fitter than a younger person, if that was possible. She had deep, blue eyes and her short white hair was held up in spikes similar to Dean's. Terry tried not to chuckle as he thought about it.
Terry and Josh located their friends and went to stand next to them on the pitch. There were about twenty brooms lying neatly in two lines on the ground. Neville looked positively terrified.
'Right,' Madame Hooch said after everyone arrived, 'everyone, stand to the left of your brooms, put your right hand over the broom and say "up", like this.' She stood to the left of her broom and demonstrated. The broom soared gracefully into her hand.
A few minutes later, the air was full of voices of people shouting "up" to their brooms. Terry's broom was one of the few which flew to his hand. The only other people who managed to get the brooms to their hands were Josh and, surprisingly, Malfoy.
Bored, Terry looked around to see the progress of other people. Neville was positively screaming at his broom, which just stayed stubbornly on the ground. Hermione's broom just moved slightly on the ground. Ron's broom did not move at all, that is, until he concentrated so hard that the broom suddenly slammed into his face. Terry laughed.
''s not funny, Terry.' Ron mumbled, annoyed.
'OK.' Madame Hooch finally said. 'Now, I want you all to mount your brooms. On the count of three, kick off hard from the ground. One. Two. Three.'
Neville Longbottom was so nervous that he kicked off from the ground at the count of two. Terry watched as Neville started rising upwards slowly.
'Mr. Longbottom! Come down here this instant!' Madame Hooch shouted.
Neville looked absolutely terrified. He had obviously lost control of the broom. Terry groaned. Was everyone here at Hogwarts that stupid? He couldn't wait to get back to New York. As this thought crossed his head, he was suddenly surprised at himself. Where the hell had that come from? He wanted to go to Hogwarts really badly ever since he heard about it, so what went wrong?
Neville's broom started to go wild and he started to get further and further away from the rest of the class. There were shouts and shrieks from the girls and everyone started to run after Neville's broom, including Madame Hooch. The broom started to fly faster. It soared towards the top of one of the shorter towers of the castles which was, nonetheless, very tall.
Suddenly, Neville lost his grip and started falling, falling from a height of a hundred feet. There was no chance he was going to survive that fall. he shrieked all the way down when, suddenly, the shriek caught in his throat as his fall stopped abruptly, about ten feet above the ground. His robe has been caught on a flag which was sticking out of the wall of the castle.
The robe suddenly tore and the fall continued again, only to be stopped again a few feet above the ground by another flag. His robe tore again and he fell the rest of the way and slammed hard onto the ground.
Madame Hooch came running, pushing students roughly out of the way. She bent down next to the whimpering Neville and tsk tsked. 'Oh, poor dear, you broke your arm.' She said, helping him up to his feet.
'I'm taking Longbottom to the hospital wing.' She informed the class. 'I expect everyone's feet to stay firmly on the ground if they do not want to find themselves out of Hogwarts before they could say the word "quiditch".' She added, looking at them threateningly, then, taking off with Neville in the direction of the castle.
'Did you see his face?' Terry turned around to see Malfoy talking to a bunch of Slytherins. 'He looked so pathetic.' Malfoy's face suddenly broke into a grin as he stooped down to grab something from the ground. He held it up for his fellow students to see. 'Hey, it's Neville's remembrall .' He exclaimed, then chuckled, 'he definitely needed it.' The rest of the Slytherins started laughing.
'Such a weird sense of humor.' Josh told Terry loudly. 'I wonder how anyone could be possessed with such a strong ability to be un-funny.'
'Nobody asked your opinion, White,' Malfoy snapped.
'For one thing, Malfoy, I was not talking to you. It would lower my standards too much,' Josh said coldly, 'for another thing, I don't have to be given permission to be able to give my opinion.'
Crabbe and Goyle, the two boys who Terry thought looked like Malfoy's bodyguards, cracked their knuckles. 'Watch it, White, you should learn who you are talking to before you start making any senseless statements.' Malfoy said threateningly.
'Hey, look,' Terry interrupted calmly, 'I hate to have to cut into your conversation like that but could you please give me my friend's remembrall?'
'No.' Malfoy answered.
'Very well, you have chosen the hard way.' Josh remarked, although the answer was not directed to him, but Terry knew Josh too well to expect him to just leave such a wonderful chance for a fight. He ran full speed towards Malfoy, colliding with his stomach in exactly the same way Terry did to Neville, only with a lot more force. Malfoy gasped in pain and surprise and stumbled back, falling hard on his ass, the remembrall flying out of his hands.
Terry walked forwards and caught it easily in one hand. 'Thanks.'
'Good manners always count, Renaldo.' Josh said, walking towards him and ignoring the crowd's stares.
Malfoy got to his feet with difficulty, clutching his stomach painfully and gritting his teeth. 'Do something!' He told Crabbe and Goyle icily.
'Oh.' Crabbe said stupidly, looking at Goyle. Then both of them charged towards Terry and Josh.
Terry has waited for his chance to have a good fight ever since he arrived at Hogwarts. However, this could hardly be counted as a good fight. Terry almost felt bored;
Goyle was running towards him with his large body, using his full speed, which was, needless to say, not very fast. Terry planted his feet firmly on the ground, waited for Goyle to get close enough, and hurled him over his shoulder easily. It was quite a simple move, really. It used up your opponent's strength for your own advantage, which meant that the faster you ran, the more likely you were to sustain a permanent brain damage. Not that it mattered in Goyle's case. Terry would have been surprised if there was anything inside Goyle's head at all. Goyle landed straight on his head and did not get up again. Terry felt very disappointed. Unconscious so quickly? He was hoping for something better than that, even if it was something bad anyway.
He glanced back over his shoulder at Josh, who was apparently in the same situation as he was: An unconscious Crabbe at his feet and a highly disappointed look on his face. They caught each other's eye, then both glanced back at Malfoy.
Malfoy looked at them with astonishment and surprise, rubbing his ass unconsciously on the spot where he landed. He was probably going to have some trouble sitting on a chair for the rest of the semester.
The rest of the students looked at them with awe, including Ron, Seamus and Dean. 'Hey, stop looking at us in this way.' Josh said, addressing the students and walking towards his roommates with Terry following close behind.
Murmurs suddenly started up from the crowd, but no one actually looked towards their direction, obviously scared, deciding to listen to what Josh had just said.
All of their roommates started bombarding them with questions. Well, all except for Dean, who was looking at them with narrowed eyes. After a while of confusion from their roommates, the group of five (Neville was missing) started laughing loudly at Malfoy's situation and even made bets on how long he would not be able to sit on a chair.
I thought this would be a good place to finish the chapter. Sorry if I mixed some characters up; I didn't read the original book so carefully. I also can't remember everyone's appearances, so I made some up.
Please review!