Ch. 9: Magic, Magic

Author's Note: Hey You All, So Here Is A Disclaimer Before You Read The Chapter- There Will Be A Lot Of Foul Language In This Chapter (In Fact There Will Be Bad Language Throughout The Whole Book Because That Is Just Elle's Personality) And If You Don't Like It-I'm Sorry But I Won't Change It! xoxo-Jess

:) Okay, Continue On:

The whole chaotic world around me spun uncontrollably, paired with a weird, strong pull at my navel that caused me to feel a queasy. Wind whipped at my hair and it flew around my face, tangling up in front of my vision.

I strained my eyes through the rough wind to watch the others around me. Mr. Weasley nodded at us and smiled, catching my gaze as he addressed all of us. "Let go now kids."

Is he insane?! I'm not letting go.

Frightened at his words, I threw an alarmed look at Hermione and she threw the look back to Mr. Weasley. "What?!"She blurted, as confused as myself.

"I said: Let GO!" He chuckled and I watched in horror as Hermione, Harry, and Ron all let go of the boot and hurtled down to the grassy ground below us. George chuckled and released the boot a few seconds later and pulled Ginny down with him, but I refused to pull my finger away from it, watching as Ginny cheered and hollard in delight.

"Elle, you're going to need to release it sometime or else you could break a bone," Mr. Weasley yelled over the screeching wind to me as Mr. Diggory nodded in agreement. Cedric slowly pulled his own hand away from the boot and started to gracefully float down to the ground, but it did not ease my churning stomach.

"I-I'm sorry Mr. Weasley, you can't have known this because we've just met, but I'm --" My voice was cut off by a scream as I felt myself being pulled away from the boot by someone's arm. In the blink of an eye, I was screaming on my way down towards my death, tightly grabbing onto my murderer's body, if I was going to die they were going to die with me.

In terror, I watched as the ground quickly came up to meet us and I could do nothing to stop it from happening. The wind continued to whip at my face, but I clamped my eyes shut in agonizing suspense, not wanting to watch my impending doom as I flailed and elbowed the person pulling me down. The brunt of my elbow hit the person and I could feel something snap at the impact.

Suddenly the sickening sound of flesh hitting the grassy ground thudded into my ears before the pain hit and the air was knocked out of my lungs. My body crashed into something soft and slightly hard, however, my head suffered most of the impact.

Laying on the ground for a few minutes, I tried to regain my oxygen and make sure that I had not broken any bones or fractured my skull. I felt like I was going to be sick, and I couldn't believe I had actually made it out alive. Slowly, my breath returned to me and I opened my eyes to glare at the bastard who had tried to kill me.

Fred was laying under me with a look of extreme pain and whiplash, but I didn't pity him. I glared down at him, rubbing my sore head as he let out a few low groans and I pulled my dead body off of him. "Ouch." He muttered and rubbed his torso which had taken most of the impact of my fall. "Gez, could you be any heavier?"

Pissed, I reached out a hand and shoved him back down onto the ground after he had started to get up, pleased when he toppled back down onto the grassy slope. I was so angry I wanted to punch him, but that would be too far.

"What the bloody hell was that for?!" He hissed and grabbed his bleeding nose. I guess that was the crunching sound that I'd heard on the way down.

Angrily, I clambered to my feet. "What the fuck were you trying to do by pulling me off of the boot! You could have killed me!" I yelled at him, face flushed and anger boiling away into nothing at the pathetic state of his broken face.

Hermione turned her head towards me in shock as she heard the profanity leak out of my mouth.

"Bloody hell, Hermione..." I heard Ron mutter somewhere to my right, but I ignored him. Hermione muttered something to Ron and he responded with an: 'I know it's not you but, she looks just like you.'

Fred held up two hands in a sort of apology and grinned, even though a steady flow of blood was making its way down his chin. "Sorry mate, didn't know you had a problem with heights."

George walked over to the two of us and started laughing. "Woah Fred, your nose is pretty bent now."

Fred stood up and brushed himself off with a smirk. "I've been wanting to get a nose job for a while, and I guess I got a free one."

"Nothing better to clear your sinuses, aye?" An amused chuckle rang out above us. Cedric was smiling at our pain as he, Mr. Diggory, and Arthur were carefully making their way down from the sky, walking as if they were on a staircase while the rest of us had crash landed.

Once the trio stepped onto the ground, Mr. Weasley noticed Fred's broken nose. "Good Scott Fred, what happened?"

I opened my mouth to say something when Ginny piped up with a round of giggles. "When they fell from the sky, Fred just landed on his face and broke his nose." I turned to her in surprise and mild awe; she was pretty cool to lie for me. We both knew I had broken his nose.

Fred quickly nodded and coughed. "Yeah, I'm fine though."

"Yeah, totally, even though your face is mashed up to hell." Ron laughed and Hermione gave him a side smile.

Mr. Weasley just shook his head and adjusted his cap, turning to find his way while seeming unworried by his son's broken bone. "All right, we'll get that fixed once we hit camp; let's be on our way." He walked to the front of our large group and started east.

Fred wiped at the blood on his chin and began to crack more jokes with George.

      After my intense fear for my life settled from anger to calm calamity, I actually did feel pretty bad for pushing Fred -- and accidentally breaking his nose on our decent. I had to admit that it was a little uncalled for, I mean...kind of. Well, I believe that it was called for, but I guess he was trying to save me from breaking something. Irony much?

Sighing, I bent over and slid out my wand from my hiking boot, walking towards Fred and George with a tight frown on my face. "Look, I guess that was a little uncalled for, and I'm sorry I accidentally broke your nose, so I'll fix it for you; it will only take a second."

Hermione walked up behind me, with Ginny alongside her, and Harry and Ron followed as well. Frowning I pointed my wand at Fred's tweaked nose and flicked it. "Episky." With a crunch and a hiss Fred's nose molded back into its proper shape. It was pretty nasty to watch, quite like molding putty being reformed.

Glaring at Fred, I pointed my wand into his temple. "But if you ever push me off of any kind of height-I will kill you."

"Alright, Alright, calm down." Fred waved off my wand with a half-smile and nodded to George as he rubbed at the, most likely still sore, second nose job I'd given him. "Let's get away from this one; she may look like Hermione, but she scarier." They both laughed and made their way to the front of the group with Harry and Ron.

Hermione linked her arm through mine and Ginny grabbed my sister's other arm as we walked together, arm in arm. "You know I have ben thinking about that a lot, Elle," Hermione said after we had been walking in a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"What?"

Hermione stopped us and pointed to my wand. "Well, the fact that you can use so much magic without getting in trouble with the Ministry; we are not allowed to perform magic outside of school unless we are protecting ourselves, technically."

I squinted at her, but only in a teasing manner as I thought over her words, and thought over how she'd practically shoved me down a flight of stairs. "Didn't you use a spell on me?"

Hermione blushed and bowed her head, apologising once more for the incident. "I honestly don't know. Maybe what Ron said was right, about the fact that it happened in a family of wizards' house that it couldn't be traced to me. I'm sorry, Elle. I really am."

"Nice one, 'Mione." Ginny chuckled. "I didn't know you did that, but I doubt Ron is right about anything." Ginny nodded towards her older brother Ron as he pat Harry Potter on the shoulder and eagerly pointed to something in the trees, talking with big gestures and probably making up some story.

Ginny frowned, thinking about what Hermione had said. "Yeah, it is pretty weird that you haven't received any kind of Howler or letter from the Ministry yet, Elle. Why is that?"

"Ministry?" I noticed that we had strayed pretty far from the group and motioned for us all to continue walking. I stuck my thumbs under the straps of my pack and watched my feet as I talked. "I've never heard of that. What is it?"

Ginny and Hermione both gave each other looks of astonishment and Hermione began to explain. "Er, the Ministry of Magic, of course! You can't have never heard of it," Ginny mused, but stopped when she noticed that I was still slightly confused.

Hermione picked up where Ginny had left off, backtracking to give me a more, well-rounded view. "They regulate the way witches and wizards use magic; they are basically our form of the law. You really have never heard of them before?"

I shook my head. "No, I have heard of the Republic of Magic, however; they are almost the same as your Ministry, I guess," I explained, picking at some dirt under my nails as I thought about all the history lessons I'd slept through, "but they're more lenient with the rules than here, apparently. I come from America. Maybe that's why I've never heard of the Ministry. In the Republic of Magic, we are allowed to use as much simple magic as we want; nothing too advanced however until we are 17 -- as long as we don't do it in a way that would expose magic to the Muggles, for couse."

"Seriously?!" Ginny balked with an arched brow. "I wish the Ministry would do that; it seems so much easier than all of their regulations."

"Yes, but soon you're going to be an English citizen, Elle." Hermione pointed at me strictly, though it was a meaningful strictness it was still a tad bossy. "And then you will have to follow all of the Ministry's rules. You could get in serious trouble if you did something illegal; they could take away your wand!"

Sighing, I rolled my eyes and continued to walk, letting our conversation drift back into silence. I knew she was right, but I wouldn't admit that to her. This Ministry of Magic sounded like a huge bummer. I made a mental note to add that in my letter to Lana and Jenna back home.

I wondered what the two of them were up to, whether they were hanging out together without me. Probably, those bitches.

The walk to the campgrounds was very short and we reached them in under ten minutes.

     The whole time, I was stewing over that embarrassing moment with the shoe... boot, whatever. I hadn't apologized, and that was silently eating away at me. I glanced towards Fred and George noticing that they were chatting animatedly, as if nothing had happened.

     "Give me a second, 'Mione," I told her, branching off from Ginny and my sister. I stalked up to the pair, nervously watching my hiking boots.

     "Oh, hello Letter," Fred said. "Come to give me a black eye?"

    "Ha Ha," I replied flippantly, chewing my bottom lip. "Look, I want to say... sorry, about the nose and... I may have over reacted."

     "What?" Fred asked, cupping a hand over his ear, as if to hear me better. "Blimey, I think I've got a bit of fluff in my ear. Can you repeat that?"

     "Okay, you know," I sighed, "never mind."

Fred called out to me, touching my hand. "Oi, I'm only jokin'." I turned to look at him with a small smile. "Look, it was an accident. It's fine."

"Elle! You've got to see this!" Hermione called me. I spared the twins a small nod and raced back to my sister to see what she was pointing out.

The camp spread on for miles and small, warped tents were lined in rows throughout it, most of which were decorated in either emerald greens or blood reds and yellows to symbolize which team its occupants were rooting for. In the distance, I could see a fairly large dome that seemed to spread on for at least a mile, if not more.

Hermione leaned close to Ginny and I and whispered, pointing to the huge dome. "It's enchanted with a special charm, so if a Muggle gets close enough, they will not be able to see it and forget why they were heading in this direction in the first place, causing them to turn around and go back."

"Woah!" Ginny grinned and looked around us in awe, enjoying the sight of the celebration happening everywhere. It was like a giant party.

"Alright Weasley's and company! Follow me!" Mr. Weasley waved us all over the hill and down to a small shack that appeared to be renting out the tents.

The man in charge of the tent rental had sandy blond hair and a sort of confused and dazed look to him, making me think that he probably had no idea of what was even going on around him currently. "Welcome, would you like to rent-a-tent today, sir?" His voice sounded thick and sleepy, confirming my beliefs that he was an enchanted Muggle.

Mr. Weasley grinned and handed him a few Galleons. "Indeed! We will need one, good sir."

The man stupidly stared at the eight of us, not including the Diggorys who had already started their way to their own private tent, and tried to do the math of us all fitting into a tiny tent that could barely be cozy enough for one person. Hazily, he smiled at us and nodded "Alright, follow me. I'll show you to your tent."