And yet again, my idiocy decides to take over everything I do, including this story. Ah well, I'm trying.
My bank account consists of money that does not come from owning Harry Potter and/or Maximum Ride. I wish it did, though...
Chapter Four Or Five: Hazy Vision
'Hey, Max. Fang! Tomorrow we're going to that muggle camp thing! Aren't you excited?' James asked.
'Not really.' I replied. Fang shrugged. I rolled my eyes at his silence. It was so... so... Fang!
'BE EXCITED!' Sirius shouted, dancing. 'MY PARENTS ARE GOING TO BE SO MAD AT ME!'
As if to prove his words, the Black family owl landed on Sirius' head, pecked his nose, and flew away.
'Ow...' Sirius said, rubbing his nose. He picked up the envelope.
The red envelope.
The howler.
'SIRIUS ORION BLACK! HOW DARE YOU SULLY THE NAME OF BLACK! I AM ASHAMED TO CALL YOU MY SON! YOU, A BLACK, GO ON MUGGLE CAMP? RIDICULOUS! BEFORE YOU, THE IDEA WOULD HAVE BEEN LAUGHABLE! YOU WOULD DO WELL TO FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF REGULUS, YOUNG AS HE MAY BE!' The voice of who I assumed was Walburga Black spilled out of the howler. It raged for ages, taking about an hour to say 'I hate you' over and over in different ways.
After the howler had ripped itself to bits, Sirius grinned. 'See? I told you so!' he told us.
-o-o-o-o-
At dinner that night, I ate. Duh. But what else happened, you ask?
Nothing worth mentioning.
Except that James was so excited about muggle camp that he actually jumped onto the table and started singing really loudly except he couldn't sing at all but maybe that's just because he never tried but it did sound slightly better after Sirius joined in because Sirius is a better singer than James but then Peter tried to join in and everyone was horrified including the Marauders and Sirius pushed Peter over face first into the chocolate cake therefore losing Gryffindor five points.
So it was pretty uneventful, other than me having to catch my breath after that ridiculously long sentence.
And afterwards Lily slapped James and called him an arrogant prat after saying hello to me, Fang, Peter and Remus, because she didn't think we were arrogant prats.
Ah, it's so nice to be considered better than someone else.
But then again, she didn't know about our wings.
-o-o-o-o-
After dinner, we were in the Gryffindor common room. Sirius was pacing randomly around the room, Peter was sprawled out across the largest sofa, Fang was on an armchair, I was in his lap, just because there was no where else, and the floor wasn't safe from Sirius' pacing, Remus and Lily were sitting together, sharing some book, and James was sitting across from them, glaring.
'Sirius, are you done pacing yet?' Peter asked.
'No, I'm not, so shut up.'
I didn't even remember why he was pacing in the first place, and from the look on his face when I asked, he didn't either.
-o-o-o-o-
Hello, Max. No time, no see, huh? Well, not really, since I see you all the time.
Please shut up. And you're hurting my sanity. No one who's sane has a Voice inside their head.
Oh, you'd be surprised.
I believe there is a reason you're here? And not bugging some other poor soul?
Be careful, Max. Don't let your guard down.
Silence. How creepily annoying.
-o-o-o-o-
I reached my bed, and sat on it. I wasn't ready to sleep, not yet. I needed to get the nervousness out of my system first. It was weird, I know, I mean, me, Maximum Ride, nervous over what? A camp? No way, right? Well, I was. I got the strangest foreboding sense of danger. That still didn't explain the nervousness, I mean, it had been dangerous all the times we had been on the run, anywhere, really. So why now, you ask?
I didn't know. And it scared me.
'Hey, Max, what's up?' Lily asked, smiling. Another genuine-I'm-not-going-to-kill-you-no-sarcasm smile! Yay!
'Not much... just Potions homework... so yeah, I'm bored with nothing to do.' I replied.
'So why don't you do the Potions essay?'
'It's that boredom where you don't want to do anything.'
'Ah, I see. Well, the essay's not due for a couple of days, so you wanna get something to eat?'
'Sweet Merlin!' I exclaimed, faking shock. 'Is Lily Evans really suggesting that I leave my homework until later? Lily Evans? What is the world coming to?'
Lily glared. 'I skip my homework sometimes, thank you very much. And did you want to go, or not?'
'Yeah, but why are you raiding the kitchen?'
'I prefer giving business to the house elves. And I crave cinnamon.'
'That's... a little weird.' Like I could really talk. But whatever.
'Yeah, I know.'
'Let's go.'
-o-o-o-o-
We came back with cinnamon scones, and sandwiches. Cinnamon scones for Lily, sandwiches for me. What can I say? I may be a mutant, but I'm a hungry mutant.
-o-o-o-o-
After eating, me and Lily sat on our beds, and talked.
'So...' I began.
'So...' Lily repeated.
'What do you think of the Marauders?' I blurted.
'What do you think of the Marauders?' Lily asked at the same time.
'You first.' Lily said.
'Okay. Well, Sirius is kind of egotistical, but he's really nice, under all the arrogance and general douche-yness.'
'Douche-yness?' Lily asked. I shrugged, and continued.
'And James,' Lily winced, and I grinned. 'Well, he's a bit egotistical too...'
'A bit? Potter is so damn full of himself that his ego hits me when he walks into the Great Hall! It's that big!'
'As I was saying... James is a bit egotistical, yes, a bit, but he's really great, deep down inside, underneath all the pranks and stuff. Really.' I added when Lily snorted disbelievingly.
'Remus... he's pretty cool. We haven't talked that much, but he seems nice.'
'Yeah, he's quite sweet.' Lily smiled.
'And Peter has more depth than most people realise... It's kind of weird.'
'Yeah, he's a nice boy, but I think Potter and Black are bad influences on him.'
'Probably. Your turn.'
'Well, Potter's a dick, Black is annoying, I haven't talked to Peter much, and Remus is my friend. That's really all there is to it.'
-o-o-o-o-
I woke up feeling refreshed. I remembered that my dream had been about kangaroos (yeah, that was kind of weird), but that was all I could recall. Usually I didn't remember my dreams, unless they were 'Voice dreams', as Nudge had dubbed them.
But no matter, right? Today, we were going to be flying. You know, on a little airplane thingy, the little cramped ones that scared the holy hell out of me? Yeah, those ones.
-o-o-o-o-
Breakfast was nothing special, as usual. Me and Fang ate a lot, knowing that we would only be getting normal sized meals at this camp place. By now, everyone was used to us guzzling down food, so no one spared us a second glance. Chantez knew about our... conditions, so she would conjure some food for us, if worst came to worst, but she told us to just try and bear it for as long as we could.
So, basically, we were at her mercy.
Because a) we didn't have wands and couldn't do wandless magic, and b) she could do wandless magic.
Yeah. You know?
-o-o-o-o-
We had double divination with the Hufflepuffs, then after lunch we were leaving to go to the airport. Then board a tiny wobbling air-box. You know, an airplane...
Yep. I was going to freak.
-o-o-o-o-
Weirdly, Valdaen never showed up, so everyone just decided to chill, at which point James decided that now would be a good time to propose engagement to the absent Lily Evans, figuring that she couldn't say no if she wasn't there.
Everyone seemed kind of weirded out, except Fang. He was the same as always, just so damn Fang-ish.
You know... silent, unreadable, completely and utterly inscrutable, extremely sexy?
Wait... I did not just think that. I didn't.
Oh, to hell with this! Who cares anymore? We're together now, so I am allowed to declare that Fang is completely, totally, abnormally sexy.
I'll shout it to the world: FANG IS SEXY!
Did I just say that out loud? I better not have... why is everyone looking at me weird... please no...
'Max? Did you just...?' Lily asked, looking bemused.
'So, I'm sexy?' Fang smirked, while I blushed, mortified.
'Uh... well...'
'Max? Are you and Fang...?' Peter asked.
'Going out? Yes.'
'No... I mean...'
'Sharing a bed? No.'
'Well, that's still not what I meant...'
'Sharing your bed? No.'
'Oh... well, that's okay then.'