The next day, while the fifth years were at lessons, Faith and Charlie walked awkwardly round the grounds- Faith was meant to be telling him the details of the demon situation.
"So how many Polgaras were there?" He asked. Faith shrugged,
"Lots. They just kept coming. Which is weird seeing as Polgaras aren't pack demons."
"Which is how we got to it being Voldemort sending them?"
"Yup."
"Can you show me where they were?" He asked. Faith raised her eyebrows,
"You got a sword on you? Cos that would be very useful if you intend to go into the forest."
"This is even better." Charlie said holding up his wand.
"Fine then." She conceded. So they entered the forest, and Faith showed him roughly where each attack had been. Charlie nodded knowingly, and Faith grinned- it was plain that he could make nothing more of this than they could. He looked over at her, and saw that she was on the verge of hysterics.
"What?" He asked.
"Nothing." She said defensively. Then she rolled her eyes, "look, this isn't helping any. If there ain't anything else you wanna see, then I'm gonna go train. Just hangin' around is pointless."
Charlie nodded.
"Sure. Where do you train?" He asked as they began walking back out of the forest.
"In this wicked cool room Dumbledore told me about- it's like, whatever you want it to be. You walk in, and wham- whatever you need."
He chuckled, loving how excitedly she spoke of something barely even unusual to a magic born person. "You wanna see?" Faith challenged, mistaking the chuckle for disbelief. Charlie looked sideways at her,
"Ok then." He agreed. And he knew it was agreeing to much more than just seeing the room.
Faith lead the way to the room of requirement, practically jumping for joy at the thought of testing this guy out. She didn't know why, but she needed to know what this guy could do- and it wasn't just that he was meant to be helping her. There was just something about him…
"This is it." She told him, opening the door.
"Damn!" Charlie gasped, seeing the large training room, complete with just about everything one could possibly need. He walked round with wide eyes, commenting on the practice weapons, and much of the training equipment. Faith watched carefully, noting how he seemed to really know what he was talking about. It helped to know that he really wasn't just a novice.
"So." Charlie said, turning to her.
"So." She repeated with a grin.
"We gonna spar then?"
"Sparring is for wusses." Faith scoffed.
"Ok then- first one to get the other to yield, no wand of course." He conceded. Faith smiled widely,
"Deal. But just to warn you- I don't give in easy."
"Well I don't give in full stop." Charlie said cockily. Faith snorted a laugh,
"We'll see." She pulled off her sweater, revealing a plain vest top. Charlie did the same, (except he was wearing a t-shirt) and it was only now that Faith realised he hadn't been wearing robes. She frowned, but didn't ask. Instead, she took off her heavy boots, figuring that smashing this guys face was probably not such a good idea. As a gentleman, he took off his shoes too. Faith grinned, unable to stop her mind considering whether he'd keep going... She shook her head- that was so not the right state of mind! She dropped into a fighting stance, and smiled at Charlie. "Ready?"
"As ever." He replied. He took a stance too, but nothing happened. Faith didn't move so much as a muscle. He swallowed, her pure control over every part of her body becoming scarily obvious. Faith raised an eyebrow. Charlie knew it was bait. He knew she was playing him- but he couldn't just stand there while she was looking at him like that. So he moved forwards, trying to get close enough to make a decent move. Faith still didn't move. Charlie swung a fist. He saw the flash of triumph in her eyes. In moments she was in movement, grabbing his thrusting arm, toppling him, while bringing up a knee into his chest, knocking him right back. When Charlie could control his movement again, he was on his back, on the floor. Faith was straddling his chest, kneeling on the ground on either side of him. She grinned down at him, also holding his hands down with her own.
"Yield?" She teased.
"No chance."
"Move then." She told him. Charlie smiled back, but inside he was regretting his reluctance to hit her. He knew all too well that if he'd been a bad guy, he would now be dead. That quickly. Faith rolled her eyes, "Ok, I'll make it easy." She released his arms, and Charlie immediately swung his legs up, pushing with his hands at the same time, flipping her off, and ending standing. Faith leapt up quickly, her eyes bright with anticipation of a good fight now Charlie had figured she wasn't just a little girl. This time there was no waiting. Fist flew within seconds. Each was now building up a profile of their opponent- strengths and weaknesses, speed, skill, style. Faith was impressed. Charlie was amazed. He'd heard of slayers, but in the wizarding world, they were largely myth. He'd met people who'd believed in them, but it was always presumed, even by those who thought of themselves as unprejudiced, that as slayers were from the muggle world, they could not possibly be more skilled in the area of mystic creatures than wizards and witches… He now knew that assumption was wrong. Charlie had never met a man that could beat him in a fight, but Faith was holding back, he could tell.
"Come on Charlie Brown!" She called to him, dancing around to dodge his various attempts to hit her.
Faith was enjoying the fight- granted she could take him down right now if she wanted to, but he was more of a challenge than Wesley. Faith spun to avoid a punch, and felt a jolt within her, a wrenching pain. In her momentary lapse of concentration, Charlie got a kick in. As the pain faded just as quick as it'd come, she cursed herself for letting her guard down, and went to stand up. Faith stumbled, and hit the ground hard.
"Oh come on!" Charlie taunted "I didn't hit you that hard!" Faith was curling up, trying to hold in the scream that wanted to break lose. "Faith?" She began shaking violently, and a cry was torn from her. "Faith!" Charlie gasped, falling to his knees at her side. He touched her arm, but she shrugged him off.
"Get off me!" She yelled, trying to stand again. Charlie could see how much pain she was in, and was terrified that he'd caused it.
"Faith, I'm sorry…"
She actually managed to laugh.
"This wasn't you, dumbass." She said. Faith screamed, and hit the floor hard. A cold voice sounded in her mind, 'You should have destroyed me when you had the chance, killer…'
"Get… Dumbledore!" Faith cried, finally realising this was beyond her to control. "NOW!" She screamed.
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Sorry, I know its short, but I had to! (cos I know how much you all love cliffhangers! ;) ) Now realising I may be killed on Monday by someone beginning with an 'R'… lol, ;) don't forget to review!! Lots of reviews will remind me to update…