The Real Chapter 8
Same disclaimer as always. I don't own the book or the TV show.
The sun was shinning warmly as Katara walked down the field to her next class of the day. Her first class had gone surprisingly well. She'd for the most part caught up with the rest of the class. And she didn't even shatter or break anything. In class she had found someone from Ravenclaw to talk to. Her name was Tonya. She was pretty nice. Of course most of the class Sokka wouldn't shut up and let her work. But over all it was a pretty good first class.
Now walking down to Care for Magical creatures, Katara felt more confident about this then she thought she could ever be. She was walking down there alone, due to the fact of Sokka's undersized bladder.
Walking down to the forest she saw Zuko storming up the meadow. Steam was starting to come from his ears. Katara had seen some pissed off firebenders before but Zuko was nearing the top of her list for the most amusing looking ones. Passing him Katara asked, "Hey, Zuko what are we doing?"
"Stuff it!" He yelled back at her. Katara was shocked. No one had ever talked to her like that. She found that she did not like it.
"What the heck is with you?" She retorted. Zuko whipped his angry head around and stared at her with fire bender eyes. They weren't screaming have a nice day.
"I just amazingly lived thru the worst hour of my life! My textbook bit me; I had some unknown slimy animal ooze down my leg, and Iwas chased by a six foot long fuzzy green…" He struggled for the correct words. "THING!" Zuko again started storming off toward the castle.
Katara stood there rather blankly. A very sick sinking feeling entered her stomach. If that was how it was for Zuko, him being pretty tough, she really didn't want to think about what was in store. That rush of confidence she had right after first hour a left with speeds that would dazzle professional Quidditch players. Now, a little down and unconfident Katara walked down to her next class.
The class really wasn't as bad as Katara thought it would be. It actually was sort of fun, except for the part where Sokka almost lost his head to a hippogriff.
She'd walked down and stood with the rest of the fourth years waiting for the teacher. She was also waiting for Sokka. Sokka got there before the teacher came out. He was out of breath and had a small burn mark on his neck.
"What happened?" Katara asked worried.
"Apparently" Sokka took a second to catch his breath. "Zuko was in a bad mood after his first class." It was one of those moments where Katara wanted to slap her forehead in frustration. What gave it away? The smoke coming out of his ears, or the pissed of scowl on his face?
"What did you do?" Katara asked partly afraid to know the answer. Due to Sokka's over dramatic entrance, they had a crowd around them. Katara still kept her water sling with her just in case, so she was bending some water over Sokka's wound while he was talking. This of course was awning the other students. It made Katara feel a little uncomfortable, was this that amazing?
"All I did was come out of the restroom, which here they are amazing Katara, they magically remove everything from the bowl. Then there's these magic water falls that you can turn on and off with out water bending. Maybe there is such thing as magic, but anyways, I came out from the restroom and on my way out to here I saw scar-face. He had smoke coming out of his ears Katara! SMOKE! So when I walked past him all I did was say:
'Wow you could smoke a full hog-monkey with the smoke coming out of your ears,'
Katara this time actually smacked her forehead.
"What in the world gave you that idea!" Sokka shrugged while still receiving first-aid.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time."
"What happened then?" she asked.
"Well he kind of turned around and glared at me evilly. Then I kind of said:
'Wow if looks could kill'
Then he lunged at me. He started trying to shoot fireballs, and I tried to use my boomerang only to remember that I had left it next to my bed. So we were kind on the ground trying to kill each other when the old woman, the one who said she was the head mistress, yelled some words and next thing we knew, we were in the air. The rest is rather boring, but the gist of it is me and Zuko have a detention with the Caretaker Friday night." A soft "ooo" was heard from the crowd of on looking kids.
"What?" Sokka asked. The tall boy with many freckles and bright flaming red hair stepped forward.
"Detention with Filch is like learning to fly on a broom, it will most likely be painful." Hearing this Sokka flopped on his back and moaned a long moan.
"Did someone get hit with a cow charm?" A thick voice asked. Everyone turned around to see their teacher for the hour. Katara almost gasped. This man was huge! At least 6 feet! The crowd parted as he walked through to where Katara was sitting healing her stupid older brother. He towered above them more than Appa it seemed. "Are ya a'right young'n?" He asked.
"N-N-No," Sokka stammered. "I'm fine."
"Well all right then! You two must be the new stud'nts. I'm the Care fer Magical creatures teacher Rubeus Hagrid. And you are?" Katara stood up shakily and faced the huge man.
"I'm Katara and this is my older brother Sokka," she told him. He stared down at them for a little bit longer.
"Okay then," He said happily walking to the front of the class. "Class please look over h're! Now the ministry won't let me teach third years about hippogriffs but, you're all fourth years, so I think things 'ill turn out better." There was an uneasy tension throughout the students.
"Now, this is Kirby," Hagrid announced pulling on a rein and out of the dense forest came out a huge bird like thing. Katara and Sokka gasped. The rest of the class just stared in awe. "This magnificent animal is called a hippogriff for those who don't know. These are very proud animals and can be right v'olent if they aren't treated right. Would anyone like to volunteer to try flying her?" The class was silent. Katara couldn't blame them. This thing looked like it would take your head off with out a second thought. Of course when they had first seen Appa they were a little reluctant. But Appa was big a fluffy. Kirby, as Hagrid had called it, look big and sharp.
"How about one of the new fell'rs? Katara?" She gulped as she walked up from the back. Everyone was giving her sad looks. Katara knew exactly what they were thinking. Poor girl. It's her first day too. Good thing they do laundry every day. When she reluctantly got to the front of the class Hagrid started telling her what to do.
"First thing ya got to do is bow before getting too close. This is 'ery important. If she doesn't think your bow was good enough, you're going to have a bit of a prob'em" Yeah this was making Katara feel better. Taking a deep breath Katara bowed her lowest most graceful bow. She hoped it would be enough because if it wasn't she was going to be just a hanging piece of flesh on that bird's talon.
She held the bow for about 15 seconds. The entire time she and the entire class were holding their breath. Finally Kirby returned her bow just as gracefully. Katara sighed in relief.
"Great job, now you can ride h'r."
"What?" Katara asked; hopping that she'd misunderstood.
"Climb up on her back and ride her." He answered. This did not seem like a good idea. She took a deep breath as she settled her hands on the beast's back and hoisted herself up. The animal squawked when Katara got her self on.
"AHH!" She screamed holding on for dear life as Kirby stood on her hind legs.
"Get on!" Hagrid yelled cheerily as her smacked Kirby on the behind to get her flying. Katara regretted him doing that. She took off. Katara had a death grip on Kirby's silk-like feathers. Katara took a moment to open her glued eyelids to see the huge lake zooming under them. It was amazing. Every color, every tree, every little sunray was reflecting onto the lake and making an amazing colleague of colors. Around the horizon, Katara saw a flock of birds, starting to fly south. Every one of them was a vibrant shade of purple or blue. Katara worked up the courage to release her death grip. It made the ride that much more amazing. They flew around for a few more minutes then headed back to the rest of the class.
Coming back, the rest of the class was cheering. Katara smiled as they landed. Getting off was a little harder then getting on. But she still managed. Once she was on the ground Sokka ran up to her.
"Katara, are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine. That was amazing."
"Amazing? Katara we're on How was Appa ¾ of the day. How was this any different?"
"I didn't have to smell your socks."
"HEY!" Katara giggled slightly. "Can I try?" he asked Hagrid.
"Well, if ya want." Hagrid seemed a little more reluctant about letting Sokka try. It was like he was physic.
Sokka walked confidently up to Kirby. Looking rather cocky he bowed, and it obviously wasn't very good. Within seconds of Sokka's pitiful excuse for a bow, Kirby got up on her hind legs and started squawking. Sokka for most part froze with fear. Despite Katara, Hagrid and the rest of the class screaming at him to move. Kirby was just about to land on Sokka, spewing his blood and guts all over the dirt when Katara used a weaker version of the water whip to divert Kirby's attention. It worked, while Kirby was turning around trying to find out what had hit her, Sokka got up and scrambled away. Hagrid then moved in quickly and calmed the hippogriff down. After she was calmed down Hagrid turned to the class.
"Well I think that's enough for one day."
A/N: YAY I finally updated! I'm ssssooooooo sorry for taking this long but I had a writing block. School's finally out! Woot woot! But summer reading is evil! Anyways, I probably wouldn't have gotten around to typing this if it wasn't for my brother almost killing me so I was stuck inside. So yeah. I'll try to get the next chapter out soon