Chapter Six: Swish Swish Stab and Broom and Letters
Next was the sword fighting class. It was conveniently scheduled in the middle of a study period, so it didn't encroach on classes, but you still had to choose to attend it.
The twins chose to attend and dragged Alex with them. Anthony and Tessa each begged off to do study.
Anthony had no idea why they kept bothering him. It was no secret that he found them irritating.
Tessa loved her friends, but they respected her enough to leave her alone when she wanted them to.
Not everyone can blow up a shop after all. Especially with their very first spell.
The twins made it to the class early and took in the sight, silently judging everything they saw.
No real swords yet, that makes sense. Nathaniel thought, plenty of room to fight too!
The room was huge with wooden swords of all shapes and sizes lining the walls. Simple.
He appreciated simple.
Michael looked around to see who they would be fighting. Other than Alex and the Hufflepuff boy Prefect, he didn't recognize any of them. It was a spattering of Slytherin, a group of Gryffindor, a hunch of Hufflepuff, and a single Ravenclaw.
The students excluding Michael and Nathaniel, waited patiently for the sword fighting teacher to show up. She was getting to be late.
Growing too impatient, the twins leaped for different swords and pulled them off the wall before circling each other slowly.
Michael pulled down a three-foot blade that curved slightly at the tip, a falchion.
Nathaniel grabbed a massive sword, easily five feet in length, simply too heavy for him to hold up for any extended period of time. The claymore was wide, and Nathaniel let the tip rest on the ground as he moved.
The Hufflepuff prefect tried to step in to stop them but had to quickly retreat when a wayward swing nearly smacked him in the face. Michael and Nathaniel were really going at it.
Cedric Diggory considered stunning them both but tossed the thought away, it would be too easy for one of them to get hurt if he did.
A few Gryffindors followed the example and grabbed their own weapons, Alex leading the charge.
It was chaos. Every man for himself. The twins ended up somehow fighting together, ducking under each other's swings and dodging to the side to allow the other to strike someone in that direction.
The door opened and a middle-aged, black woman with brown hair and a pointed face walked in.
"Cease this at once." She shouted, causing the students to freeze in place.
Michael tagged Nathaniel on the back just out of sight of Professor Figglestone. Nathaniel turned to attack him back, but the teacher drew her wand and disarmed all of the students, returning the swords to the wall hooks they previously hung upon.
Pinching the bridge of her nose she sighed loudly, counting to ten under her breath.
"Okay, let's get a head count, each head of house gave me a list of all of their students that would be attending, so when I call your name, say here." She rattled off a list of names that neither Henderson paid attention to except to say here.
She vanished the parchment and put away her wand.
"For the older students, I suggest a larger sword so you can overpower your opponents with your greater strength, and those of you third year and younger should grab a smaller weapon, probably something light and manageable for your size."
Nathaniel went right back to the claymore in the rush of students grabbing a weapon.
Michael looked for a sword with a very long handle that he could use in place of a glaive but couldn't find anything, so he decided on a katana. A large blade on the end of a shaft was preferable for its long reach, but since only swords and not glaives were available, the length and maneuverability of the katana would suffice for him.
Professor Figglestone frowned at Nathaniel, when the students finished picking out their weapons.
"I said you should use a weapon that's more your size." She told him.
Nathaniel looked at the sword then at himself, "But this is my size." He replied.
"Five points from Hufflepuff for cheek." She snarled.
Nathaniel shrugged, and carried the weight on his shoulder, ready to bring it down in an instant.
Professor Figglestone ordered the students to split into pairs and began explaining basic swordsmanship.
She flicked her wand and an image of a human appeared on the wall. She pointed out different areas of the body and highlighted which areas to aim for or protect.
"One is your or your opponent's upper left side, their shoulder and side of their chest. Two is the opposite. Three is going to be the middle left, or their stomach and hips. Four is the opposite. Five is the left leg, and six is the other side."
She punctuated each number with a jab of her wand at the area she was talking about and placed a number there.
"Seven is the head, and eight is center of the torso. I will tell you three numbers and you will tap your opponent in these places to start practice."
The students nodded, Michael would have preferred more action, but this was a fine place to start. He and Nathaniel were taught sword fighting by their dad, so they didn't actually need to be taught the basics again. Michael could be patient though. However, Nathaniel's patience was more limited.
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Nathaniel found himself growing annoyed. The sword he chose was not built for slow, methodic exercises. It was built for combat. He was getting more and more tired and his craving for battle grew the longer the arm movements went on.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Michael screwing off just out of sight of Professor Figglestone. He had somehow managed to get two large students in between himself and the teacher. Nathaniel looked back to his combat buddy, an older Gryffindor student.
"You wanna actually fight?" He asked.
"Sure!" He said, face shifting from boredom to excitement.
"BAM!" Nathaniel screamed as he swung his sword behind him and with the torque he generated, smashed it into the Gryffindor's side.
Oliver Wood had been growing bored of this constant and slow sword practice. He would understand if this was quidditch they were talking about, but this wasn't quidditch.
So, when the first year Hufflepuff asked if he wanted to begin an actual duel, he was rather glad to have been chosen as his partner.
Then the Hufflepuff attacked.
Ow.
With a ferocity that rivaled that of a bludger, the child slammed the large weapon into his side before he could react.
As Oliver recovered from the sudden not-as-painful-as-a-bludger attack, he watched the eleven-year-old muggleborn take a stance, both feet wide apart and knees slightly bent as he raised the sword vertical to his body.
Then all hell broke loose.
Michael laughed as he dodged a sword swing and it hit a fellow Slytherin who turned and attacked Michael's attacker in turn.
Katie Bell had been looking forward to taking this class and the sudden shout from a random student jerked her into action, she moved behind a first year and was going to gently jab him in the back, when he twisted around and smacked her arm painfully. And before she could respond he swept the sword around and hit her leg on the other side, so she swiped at him, but he dodged, and she smacked Cassius Warrington directly in the face.
Cassius Warrington never even wanted to take this class, but Flint had asked him to do he could smack the little muggleborn around a bit. As a welt formed on his cheek, he was starting to regret saying yes.
"Every man for himself!" Nathaniel screamed as he stepped over the fallen form of his opponent. Sweeping the leg was a very useful tactic. He jumped away before the Gryffindor could stand up and get him back.
Professor Figglestone to be honest, hadn't been paying attention since she started the exercise, she was busy reading through A Beginner's Guide to Teaching Sword fighting.
Now she was desperately attempting to call for order with no success.
Several downed students had already retreated to a corner of the room where they grouped together and held out their swords in a manner that suggested that they had no idea how to use them.
Once again, Michael and Nathaniel found themselves fighting side by side, deflecting and jabbing and swiping. Soon every student had a collection of welts and bruises. The twins were no exemption to this, though they were more often grazed instead directly injured.
"Stop this!" Professor Figglestone demanded.
"Yeah, STOP IT KATIE!" Michael shouted as he smacked her arm again.
Nathaniel was on his back foot; this older Gryffindor was growing rabid. Despite his many injuries, not a one came from Oliver Wood and the Quidditch fanatic was determined to fix that mistake.
"Class is over!" The teacher shouted, "GET OUT!"
Students exited quickly as she vanished sword after sword, starting with the ones in student's hands.
Oliver Wood grit his teeth as the sword vanished from his grip just as he was about to get a hit in on the little bugger.
As Nathaniel's sword joined his, he smiled and said, "Good fight, till next time!"
Then Nathaniel booked it out of the room.
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Sword fighting was great and all, but Michael was really looking forward to flying class. He could already imagine soaring through the sky at impressive speed. And despite his crippling fear of heights, he knew he was ready for it.
The walk to the grounds was a short one, the Gryffindor and Slytherin walked through the dew kissed grass, wetting the hems of their robes. A hawkishly haired woman with brilliant yellow eyes awaited them and motioned them forward when a few stepped back nervously.
The class was right next to the castle walls. Michael found this worrying, what if someone smacked into that face first? He wondered. He assumed the Gryffindors didn't fret about stuff like that.
Michael would have liked to think about all the possible mishaps that could occur to him, but he didn't have time to worry. Madam Hooch called everybody to choose a broom and stand next to it.
Michael found a moderately straight one with few cracks and bushy bristles and waited for the next order.
Once everyone had made a choice, she called out, "Now raise your hand over the broom and simply say UP."
Imagine the surprise when instead of a word, Michael started making guttural noises.
"Ackhkkkc." He snorted and grinned sheepishly, "Give me a second guys, I'm ticcing."
Not knowing what that meant, his fellow Slytherin and Gryffindor students tried ignoring him. Several of them got their brooms up instantly, but not everyone was so lucky.
"Don't forget, a broom is more likely to follow your command if you are not anxious or scared of flying." Madam Hooch said.
"Thanks for telling me that now." Michael muttered ruefully, as the broom eventually leapt up into his hand. He was disappointed that it took so many tries.
"Now mount your broomsticks." She began instructing.
Madam Hooch corrected the hand grips of a few students and kicked a bunny.
"Now when I blow my whistle, give a little hop and hover in the air." She held up a whistle to her lips.
"Hop, skip, and a jump. Hop, skip, and a jump." Michael muttered over and over again trying to motivate himself.
When the whistle blew, he jumped at the interruption to his self-affirmation, and hovered alongside the other students. A perfect line of brooms.
Madam Hooch shed a tear, never in all her days of teaching had she seen every single student in one class make such a perfect hop and hover in an exactly straight line.
"Twenty points to Gryffindor and Slytherin for that exquisite performance!" She proclaimed.
Then the line started breaking as some kids flew a little higher and lower or forward or back. Madam Hooch corrected a Slytherins grip.
"Only a complete IMBECILE would mess up a grip this simple THIS badly! You are a SHAME to Slytherin house! Thirty points from Slytherin!"
"She has a particular dislike for people who use the reverse twist Cambodian hand grip." Alex whispered to Michael, "I heard it from Charlie Weasley."
Michael nodded and looked at the grip in disgust. It was a regular grip but upside down. He shuddered. His OCD would never allow that. Huh, maybe she has OCD too, He thought to himself.
That bit of drama over, the teacher started having the students move around slowly in a horizontal circle, but that didn't go well as Michael couldn't move any faster than a snail. No matter how hard he struggled or tried to force it, his speed never got faster.
The unfortunate boy tried vertical circles but couldn't wrap his head around how to do it and ended up confused.
By the end of flying class, nearly everyone was giving him looks of incredible amusement or painful pity.
On the other hand, Alex was a natural. He took to the sky like a fish to water and put everyone else to shame.
Madam Hooch seemed quite proud of him, "Well done mister Sykes! At this rate you could very well make seeker next year!"
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Nathaniel passed Michael on his way to flying class. As they gave each other a high five, Michael gave him a grudging smile.
"I did trash." And left.
"Heh." Nathaniel chuckled.
As he walked to the area he was told to be, he noticed that his fellow Hufflepuffs gave him a large circle of room in which nobody walked near him, except for Tessa every now and then. He took this in a positive light, how very polite of them! He thought grinning, giving me room to tic without hurting someone!
One Hufflepuff felt a shiver go down his spine and when he turned to see what was going on, the most bone chilling smile shined back at him from the most feared student in first year. His upper lip was curled inwards baring his teeth. The Hufflepuff sprinted the rest of the way, nearly bowling over a Ravenclaw in the same year.
"Woah, he's excited to fly, isn't he?" Nathaniel said.
"Actually, he looks kind of sweaty." Tessa pointed out.
Nathaniel responded with a shrug, and they reached flying class finally, seeing the Ravenclaws already there waiting on them.
Madam Hooch wasted no time in getting them ready, ordering them to make the brooms go to their hands.
"Done." Nathaniel said, having picked up his broom before she finished talking.
Somehow, nobody noticed him pick it up bodily and assumed he had summoned it to his hand without so much as a word.
"What can't he do?" A Ravenclaw fearfully asked another.
One of the Hufflepuffs raised her hand, "Can I quit flying class?" She asked.
"Now children, don't be discouraged." Madam Hooch said, "Sometimes there are just some that are just born to this, and with a lot of hard work, someday you will be almost as good as them."
"Why am I the only one holding my broom? Come on guys!" Nathaniel scoffed, "Just get it up!"
As the other students started trying to summon their brooms, Nathaniel fell into a series of tics that distracted him completely.
Once every broom was in hand, Madam Hooch continued, "Now you straddle your broom and grip it firmly in a regular English grip."
"Uh, what does straddle mean?" Zachary Zackson, one of the Ravenclaws asked.
Madam Hooch stuttered for a moment before awkwardly explaining it.
That done, she blew her whistle and ordered everyone into the air.
BAM!
In that second, Nathaniel without so much as a twitch, flew into two Ravenclaws, including Cho Chang, knocking them clean off their brooms, and slamming face first into the castle wall nearby.
"Ohhhhh, that looks bad." Madam Hooch cringed as she approached, "At least you didn't fall off your broom like some novice."
Picking him up, she ordered the other students to wait the rest of the class time and if she didn't return, to move on to their next class. Then, she brought the two concussed Ravenclaws over with a wave of her wand and took the three into the castle, presumably to the Hospital Wing.
"I didn't even have time to blink." Zachary said, astonished at the raw speed Nathaniel had reached.
"It's a wonder he has a face left!" Tessa exclaimed, terrified for her friend.
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Nathaniel grumbled in annoyance as he stomped around the hall leading to the entrance to dinner. He already made sure that his target wasn't inside eating, but waiting for him to show up was boring. His trip to the hospital wing lasted only the few minutes that it took for Madam Pomfrey to marvel at the thickness of his skull and tend to his unconscious Ravenclaw classmates.
His minor injuries, some blood spill, and nose fractures were healed in a split second before he was sent back down. He missed the rest of flying class when he got lost trying to find his way back, Madam Hooch having walked too fast for him to keep up.
Kicking at the shin of a nearby suit of armor and missing, he heard footsteps coming from around the corner and he hid behind it.
Marcus Flint rounded the corner grumbling about quidditch, or was it spinach?
As he passed Nathaniel's hiding spot, the twin leapt out from behind the armor and latched onto Flint's back, biting and scratching viciously.
Flint started screaming and when he tried to pull Nathaniel off, the boy put the Slytherin into a full nelson.
He wasn't strong enough to hurt Flint this way, but it did allow him to bite the larger boy more.
Flint started trying to slam into walls but the first year used the leverage his mite weight granted him to swing and make Flint slam into the wall with his side.
Eventually Flint grew desperate, not knowing who his attacker was and pain shooting through his upper body. He flung himself onto his back and Nathaniel released him with a roar of pain.
Nathaniel got a good hit on Flint's face with his foot, blinding him momentarily.
Frantically, Flint grabbed Nathaniel by the elbow and flung him.
As Nathaniel soared through the air, he wondered, is this what flying is supposed to feel like? Did I do it wrong?
Then he landed behind the suit of armor. Dazed, he shakily got to his hands and knees.
"Where did you go!?" Marcus roared, having finally regained his sight.
"Who are you talking to?" Another Slytherin asked as he rounded the corner.
"I don't know!" Marcus yelled, "Something small just attacked me from behind! Bugger bit me up too!"
The Slytherin frowned in confusion, "Well unless it just vanished into nothing, it's not here, so let's go eat and take you to the Hospital wing after."
Marcus growled his agreement as he shook himself off.
Nathaniel waited until they went inside and after a minute, he too entered the Great Hall to enjoy dinner.
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After flying class, Michael found himself with a free period before dinner. He used this time to first collect a huge amount of sticks and twigs from the grounds. Then he sought out the bane of all here at Hogwarts. The red-headed pair of Weasley twins.
Finding them peeking around a corner talking excited whispers, he asked.
"What are you doing?" Very quietly.
"Planting a dungbomb in front of Filch's office." George whispered back.
"When he opens the door, it'll be set off." Fred said.
Neither twin had taken their eyes off of whatever was around the corner.
"Well, I just wanted to know what you're planning for tomorrow." Michael said, resisting the urge to also peer around the corner.
"Don't even worry about it." Fred told him, "We got it."
"I know that." Michael insisted, "I just wanted to know."
"We're not in the habit of letting anyone know what we plot." George said, shaking his head.
Neither twin had looked back at Michael during this entire exchange.
Then, he heard a loud BANG! And a rancid smell poured out from around the corner from, Michael presumed, Filch's office.
The twins took off down the corridor with Michael in tow as angry yelling erupted from the man.
"I thought you said you were planting it, not setting it off!" Michael shouted as they ran.
"Did I?" George asked, "Oops."
"You know, I don't recall telling him that myself." Fred said, laughing loudly.
"You guys are the best." Michael declared.
Dinner started out tame by comparison. The little friend group passed the time by chucking food at random students when nobody was looking.
Nathaniel still hadn't shown up halfway through dinner, and Michael was starting to get concerned. He knew if Nathaniel were lost, he would just demand information from the portraits.
After a second of looking at the entrance to the great hall, a cursing Marcus Flint entered the room.
Flint's face was scratched up and twisted in a furious expression. His buddy looked confused.
The Slytherin Quidditch captain looked around, clearly searching for someone. Settling his eyes on Michael he snorted angrily and shook his head to himself. He continued looking at everyone around him with suspicion.
A minute later, a dazed Nathaniel walked in, rubbing the back of his head.
Sitting down next to Michael he was immediately asked where he had been.
Shrugging he replied, "Lost."
Michael rolled his eyes, "Alright, whatever, I have some questions about the next dungeon we're supposed to be raiding."
"James and Howard have no way of knowing what is going to be inside, Michael." He said raising an eyebrow.
"Okay, but just tell me!" His twin demanded.
Rolling his eyes he relented, "Alright, alright, shoot."
"Is there going to be a lich? And what kind of guards should I expect?"
"Yes, the lich will be there." Nathaniel revealed, " And as for guards…"
At this moment a Slytherin that Marcus had pushed into spying on the muggleborn twins, got close enough to hear their conversation."
"Dragons come in all shapes and sizes." Nathaniel told his brother enunciating "All".
Michael cursed under his breath, "I knew you would pull something like this! Give me an earlier heads up next time!"
The Slytherin boy barely held back his gasp of terror as he stumbled back to his seat. When Flint asked him what he discovered, he shrunk in his seat, shaking his head vigorously, the image of swarms of tiny dragons filling up his mind.
Eventually, they managed to get a single word out of him before he bolted out of the hall entirely.
"What did he mean dragonlord?" A Slytherin girl asked her friend.
Back at the table the twins were eating, Tessa asked them what a lich was. She had heard of Dungeons and Dragons but she wasn't exactly an expert.
"An undead wizard of great power who clings to power-"
"And life." Nathaniel interrupted.
"By concealing his soul within an object." Michael continued, "A dark artifact called a Phylactery. It can be any object so I expect Nathaniel's lich to have some unexpected thing that we will never find."
Nathaniel smirked.
"Which totally isn't fair," Michael said, "He should just let me kill the lich. I don't want it coming back a dozen times!"
"If you somehow DO kill it," Nathaniel told him, "I can just make another one whenever I want."
A nearby Ravenclaw sitting only ten feet away from the boisterous boys pondered on how dark such magic would be and how much power one would need to be able to create one whenever they wanted. She did not like the resulting conclusion and scurried to her table, abandoning her Hufflepuff friends for the moment.
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Food eaten, and friends gone doing whatever, the twins rushed up the tower stairs to the owlery, where a prefect told them they could find their pet owl. They had Odin, who wasn't an owl, but they figured he would be there anyways.
Entering through the arch, they spotted more than a few students already there, attaching letters to their owl's legs. Michael searched the rafters with his eyes, for any sign of Odin.
Nathaniel just shouted, "ODIN!"
The crow flew down from where he had been perched just out of sight. Every nearby owl fluttered away in a panic. They had gotten familiar with the crow and his habit to stab with his tiny sword.
Nathaniel stroked the bird's back as Michael handed over two tightly wrapped pieces of parchment.
"Here you go Odin." Michael said as the crow clutched onto the package with a talon.
"Make haste, our dear friend!" Nathaniel spoke softly.
"Fly on swift wings, Odin." Michael told him bowing slightly.
At that point, watching the two, the other students in the room finally left. Their nerves were bad enough seeing a crow, an omen of doom, worse when they noticed how the other owls avoided it, and terrible when they saw how the twins treated it with such reverence.
"I can't wait to see what they respond with!" Nathaniel hopped with glee.
The twins lingered for a moment longer before they set out, back to their dorms, letters still on their minds.
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Dear, Mom, Dad, and others
I have had SO MUCH FUN!!!!! Michael and I got into different houses though. A house is one of four different places where we sleep. There's Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw. Apparently, depending on what your personality is, this magic talking hat sorts you into a house where you will be among others that understand you. I think that's a load of crap. Michael's house is full of jerks and people keep avoiding me.
Let me get back to what the houses are.
Hufflepuff is basically loyal and hardworking, Gryffindor is brave and bold, Ravenclaw and Slytherin are practically the same thing. Both are smart or clever or whatever, but Slytherin is also ambitious. Same difference, they're the same thing.
So we learned how to fly on broomsticks, though I slammed into a wall, potions, but only one that cures boils, yuck, Michael said he is still figuring out transfiguration, turning a match into a needle and got Lumos first. Lumos is a spell that's basically a flashlight. We also got to do sword fighting class! I got this older kid really good and Michael kept hitting me when my back was turned. Jerk.
Other than that, not much to report. Food is AWESOME!!! It magically appears on the tables at each meal. I love you guys, stay safe and healthy! Send me back anything cool or fun! I'll send you any souvenirs I can get my hands on!
Love, Nathaniel
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Dear Mom, dad and siblings!
I am doing really good so far, I was put into a group called Slytherin because I was sneaky, and Nathaniel was put into a group called Hufflepuff because he is loyal or something. There are two other groups also called houses. They are called Ravenclaw which is for smart people who are also sometimes jerks. The last one is Gryffindor, which seems alright but is also kinda loud.
We found another pair of twins, called the Weasleys. The have red hair and are big pranksters, better than you Forrest! We also made friends with a boy named Alex who is in Gryffindor and is really good at flying, and a girl named Tessa who can explode buildings. Mom knows what I'm talking about.
I am feeling a little nervous since so many students are acting all jittery around me and Nathaniel, but I think it's probably nothing.
Everything is super extra magic, and I plan to learn how to do everything! Watch out Forrest, Maria, and Grace!
Love you guys!
The great Michael
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That done, the twins raced back down the tower, falling only a little bit down the stairs, to their dormitories.
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Author Notes:
Here is chapter six, thank your for the review, that ABSOLUTELY made our day!
There was another really weird review by some racist guy that we did not understand but we can't see it anymore so we assume he's deleted it.
Enjoy guys! Had a lot of fun writing this!