Chapter Four
I stared out the window as the rain slashed against it, frowning. I had really wanted to go visit Goldenwing. Eloise had promised me that we were going to fly today. However, beginners didn’t get to fly in the rain until they’d learned to fly. Lacey, apologizing to me, had gone to fly Noah, as had all the other Council members, but I was in the Library, staring out the window longingly, while trying not to think about the figure sitting behind me. Draco Malfoy had chosen to not fly his dragon in the rain. He had said something about not wanting to catch his death of pneumonia, and that he needed to work on his N.E.W.T Transfiguration work. I sighed audibly, as I had been doing for the last half hour.
“Will you stop that Weasley? It’s very distracting,” Draco snapped irritably. It wasn’t that I blamed him or anything, I was sure it was very annoying, but I felt the need to be grumpy.
“It’s a free country. I can do what I want, where I want, when I want,” I snapped back. He glared at me.
“Would you at least keep it down to a dull roar, then?” He spat. I rolled my eyes and ascended the stairs to the second floor. I thought briefly of Flooing Hermione, or one of my relatives, but pushed the thought aside. Not being with Goldenwing was making me irritable, and it was very likely that I would snap at anyone that I talked to, just like I had done with Draco. I browsed the bookshelf, not really reading the titles until a book caught my eye. The binding was faded, but it had once been the prettiest shade of royal blue that I had ever seen. I pulled the book out of the bookshelf and looked at the title. It was written in gold peeling letters, but it was still very legible. The Dragon Council: An Ancient and Most Noble History it read. My whole demeanor changed. I was suddenly full of curiosity and my mood was pleasant. I descended the stairs and plopped down on one of the chaise lounges. I felt Draco glaring at me, but I ignored him and opened the book to the first page.
In the year of our Lord 1037, Gregory the Great stumbled upon a field of dragons and, to his surprise, wasn’t attacked. He soon learned that he was able to communicate with all of them- a trait that hasn’t been found in witch or wizard since.
The book enthralled me. I barely noticed when Charlie came up and told Draco and me that dinner was ready, or when Lacey came up to try and persuade me to come down to dinner. I was only pulled away when a disdainful voice spoke.
“Who are you?” she asked, her voice laced with superiority. I looked up quickly and saw a tall, very pretty girl, with long straight auburn hair staring down at me. She had on dark blue robes that were obviously hand made especially for her and a white travelling cloak.
“Ginny Weasley. You’re Zandra, right?” I asked, closing my book for the first time in hours. My back ached from not being moved. I held out my hand for her to shake, but she just stared at it. I lowered it, my face flushing red.
“So you’re the newest? I hear you can talk to all dragons. No one has been able to do that since Gregory the Great,” she said, speaking as though she didn’t believe my talent. “Eloise asked me to tell you that there’s still some dinner if you wanted any.” Before waiting for an answer, she swept out of the room and I was alone. I stood up from the lounge and stretched. The door opened again and a tall boy with brown hair stepped in. He, unlike Zandra, was grinning.
“So, you’re the infamous Ginny Weasley, are you? I rather expected you to be taller,” he said, smirking to let me know that he was teasing.
“And you’re the infamous Tait Stuart, are you? I rather expected you to be shorter,” I replied mockingly. He grinned.
“Yep. You’re a keeper. You’ll turn out to be more like Lacey, not Zandra. Although,” he said, catching sight of my hair, “I suppose she’ll hate you because of your hair. It’s far prettier than hers. Anyway, it was wonderful meeting you and all, but I have a bed that’s calling my name. I’ll see you in the morning,” he said, and before I could reply, was gone.
I left the library and continued on my way to my room, still holding the book, and wondering what they did at Durmstrang to make their students so odd.
The next morning, I practically flew out of my bed. The sky was sunny, and the ground looked firm enough. It was good flying conditions. I threw on the first pair of dragonhide pants and tunic that I found and waved my wand at my hair, which automatically flew into the customary braids. I thundered down the stairs, stopping when I met Lacey coming out of her room.
“You sound like a herd of hippogriffs,” she laughed and we continued down the stairs. “So, did you meet Zandra and Tait last night?”
“I did. Tait seemed nice, but Zandra didn’t. She wouldn’t even shake my hand,” I said, thinking angrily of last night. Lacey shrugged.
“Don’t worry about it, she won’t shake anyone’s hands. She’s more paranoid than Made-Eye is, and that’s saying a lot!” I stopped where I was and looked at her.
“You know Mad-Eye?” I asked, curiously.
“Oh yes. He was a good friend of my Papa’s. He and Papa were partners before Papa died in a raid the year I was born. He took it upon himself to keep in touch with us and to kind of look after us. Of course, when he found out that I was going to Beauxbatons and not Hogwarts he was furious. He hasn’t spoken to us in years. Once in a while I’ll get a Christmas present- dark detectors, of course- but not a letter,” Lacey said, pulling on my arm to make me continue down the stairs.
“He’s a friend of my dad’s. I saw him quite a bit last summer,” I said.
“How is he doing?” she asked as we entered the entryway and continued towards the dining room.
“The usual. You know, very paranoid. I think he’s finally learned to trust Mum’s cooking, though,” I said, laughing as we entered the dining room. I quickly looked around to see who was in there and found Zandra and Draco sitting together at one end of the table; their heads were together and they seemed to be deep in discussion. Neither looked up as I looked their way, so I continued my scan of the table. Charlie was sitting next to a beautiful Hawaiian girl named Malia (who was a yellow, like Charlie) and they were laughing boisterously. Eloise was sitting at the head of the table, going over a map with Dorian Reagan, the dark haired second in command. Tait walked through the room just as Lacey and I sat down near Charlie and Malia.
“Good morning ladies. I see you’re eating this morning Ginny?” he asked as he spooned eggs onto his plate.
“Yeah. I’ve gotten used to Goldenwing eating,” I said and bit into a piece of toast.
“It takes a while to get used to, of course, but once you’ve seen it a few times you don’t think anything of it. Perfect flying conditions today, eh Lacey?” Tait said mischievously and Lacey grinned.
“We start at the Green field and end at the manor,” she laughed, and then, seeing my confused expression, continued. “We race all the time when we fly.”
“Ahh. I haven’t flown yet,” I said to Tait. “It’s been raining the past week, and I haven’t had the chance to learn yet.”
“Ginny,” Charlie called, tearing his attention away from Malia to face me; “I got a letter from Mum this morning. She said that Harry is coming tomorrow, and would you please consider coming home.” I rolled my eyes and he grinned.
“Does she not get that I don’t like him anymore? Anyway, I wouldn’t dream of leaving.”
“Good,” Charlie said simply before turning back to Malia. I felt a prickling sensation on the back of my neck and turned to the other end of the table and found that Draco was staring at me. His expression was oddly blank; there was no sneer or smirk at the mention of my former crush on Harry. We stared at each other for a moment before a hand on my shoulder successfully distracted me away from him. I looked up and found Eloise standing behind me. She smiled down at me.
“Are you ready to fly?” she asked. I couldn’t contain my grin, although I tried to not sound so eager.
“Yes!”
The air smelled like honeysuckle as we walked across the fields to the Green field where Goldenwing was. I thought vaguely of the Burrow where it always smelled like honeysuckle. My stomach lurched with homesickness, but I pushed it aside at the thought of flying.
“All we’re going to do today is fly in some circles. Tomorrow we’ll work on speed, and later this week we’ll start you on aiming the flame from the air. Lacey will be training with you to refresh herself. The other three were able to practice over the holidays when there weren’t many people at school,” Eloise said. I shifted the large saddle in my hands, going over in my mind the steps of saddling my dragon.
“Sounds good to me.” We arrived at the field and immediately I felt calmer just seeing my dragon.
Good morning, Goldenwing.
Good morning. Will we fly today? She sounded very restless. I grinned at her.
Yes. I threw the saddle over her back and buckled it on her underside. I slipped the reigns over her mouth and stepped back.
“Mount her,” Eloise said calmly. I climbed onto the saddle. Something wasn’t right, I knew it, but I was too eager to fly, so I ignored the nagging feeling. “Gently pull the reigns up and dig for feet just a little bit into her sides,” she instructed. I did as she told me, and soon we were flying upwards. We were about forty feet from the ground when I realized I should have listened to my nagging sensation. Something wasn’t attached properly and the saddle slid. I couldn’t think as I fell, and when I hit the ground, everything went black.
When I woke up later, I didn’t know where I was for a moment. I struggled to open my eyes and found a very familiar blonde headed boy sitting next to me.
“Draco?” I asked, my voicing sounding far away. He looked up from the book he had been reading. Even in my weariness I could see that the book was upside down. A torrent of emotions flooded his face and eyes before the cool, blank mask that I knew so well appeared.
“Weasley,” he returned, nodding to me.
“Where am I? What happened? Where is everyone?” I asked, struggling to sit up. Draco set his book down on my bedside table and pushed me back down.
“Leila instructed me to make you stay in bed. You’re in the hospital division, and the older Council members are in battle. Greens don’t go. You especially wouldn’t go, not even knowing how to properly fasten your saddle,” he said, his arrogant drawl returning. I glared at him, and my face flushed.
“Oh, like you did it right every time,” I muttered. His smirk only grew wider.
“As a matter of fact, I did. Eloise said I was the quickest to adapt to everything about being part of the Council,” he said, his words dripping with arrogance. I scowled.
“Where are Tait and Lacey?” I asked, trying to steer from the topic of my disastrous attempt at flying. Draco shrugged.
“I expect they’re in the kitchen, having dinner. I was given the task of watching you, and Zandra was given the task of making dinner. She’ll send up dinner and your medicine later,” he drawled, picking his book up once again. I giggled, and he glared. “What is it this time, Weasley?”
“Your book is upside down. I expect it’s rather hard to read it that was, is it?” I laughed. A slight pink tinge appeared in his cheeks.
“Malfoys do everything the hard way,” he sniffed, and didn’t move his book. Several minutes passed by with the only noise in the room being the sound of Draco flipping the pages of his book. I stared at the ceiling and made pictures out of the cracks. Just as I was almost a sleep, a tinkling of a bell rang out and Draco dropped his book, which he had still been reading upside down.
“What was that?” I asked, sitting up in bed.
“Dinner,” he said, pointing to a small wooden door on the far wall. He crossed the room in four long strides and opened the door revealing a small compartment that contained two plates with sandwiches, potatoes, and green beans on them, and two glasses of iced pumpkin juice. He carried the two plates over to the bed and handed one to me. It had a small glass filled with a pink substance on it. I picked it up and smelled it.
“Urgh,” I said, putting the cup back down on the plate. “What is that?” I asked, wrinkling my nose in disgust.
“It’s your medicine. That fall did cause damage, you know. Your leg is broken in about five different places. Two days on that medicine, and you’ll be able to walk again,” he said, taking a bite of his sandwich. I stared at my medicine and grimaced.
“But it smells like dung!” I complained. He rolled his eyes.
“Merlin, Weasley, don’t complain so much. It’s either take the medicine and be back on your feet in two days, or don’t take the medicine and be in bed and without your dragon for three weeks,” he said. I stared down at the cup. I didn’t want to take the medicine, but I didn’t want to be without Goldenwing for three weeks. Sighing, I picked up the small cup and drained it in one gulp. I squeezed my eyes shut and swallowed the potion, which burned all the way down my throat. My leg gave a horrible throb, but the pain subsided soon. When I opened my eyes again Draco was smirking at me.
“Shut up,” I said and scowled. He didn’t say anything and we ate our dinner in silence.
“When you’re back on your feet, we’re going to play a game of Quidditch. You should play; aren’t you on the Gryffindor team?” he asked casually.
“Yes, I’m going to play, and yes I’m on the team. I’m a Chaser,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Shouldn’t you, as Quidditch Captain, know that?” He glared at me.
“I was just trying to be polite,” he sniffed. I smiled faintly, but the door opened before I could say anything and we turned to look to see who was at the door. Lacey, Tait, and Zandra came into the room.
“Ginny! Malfoy didn’t tell us you were awake!” Lacey said, hurrying over to give me a hug. Draco sniffed again.
“Leila told me to stay here and not to leave. How was I supposed to tell you she was awake?” He drawled, the arrogance seeping into his voice once again. Lacey glared at him and turned back to me.
“How are you feeling? We got to the field just in time to see you fall,” she said, sitting on the edge of my bed. Tait came up behind her and sat on the bed behind her, while Zandra chose a seat near Draco.
“Yeah,” Tait said grinning, “It was a spectacular fall. Lacey’s fall wasn’t nearly as exciting as yours.” Lacey scowled.
“Her fall?” I asked, frowning. A sudden feeling of being left out washed over me.
“She fell from her dragon when she was learning to fly,” Zandra sniffed, her voice adopting the same arrogance that Draco’s held. I briefly wondered if rich Pureblood children were made to take lessons on smirking, sneering, and sounding superior.
“Just because you and Draco didn’t fall, doesn’t make the rest of us oh-so-terrible for falling,” Lacey snapped, an angry flush rising in her cheeks.
“Hey, calm down,” Tait said, putting a hand on Lacey’s arm. She huffed, but didn’t say anything. Zandra’s cool gaze was disdainful as she looked at Tait’s hand on Lacey’s arm. Lacey, seeing what Zandra was looking at, smirked. I looked between the two girls, confused. Draco rolled his eyes and turned to Zandra.
“Let’s go to the Library and leave them to themselves,” he said, standing up. She gave us one last glare before following him out of the room. Tait dropped his hand from Lacey’s arm.
“I hate when she does that,” Lacey said, nearly snarling.
“Does what?” Tait asked, moving to the chair that Draco had just vacated.
“Does that whole superior thing. The only difference between our families is that hers has money and mine doesn’t. And mine is good and hers isn’t, rather like the Malfoy’s. I bet they’ll get married someday. They deserve each other,” Lacey said harshly. My heart contracted once at the thought of Draco being off the market. When I had a developed a crush on him? I wondered to myself.
The Council members got home late that night. I had been sleeping, but I woke up when I heard the racket they made. After a few minutes of hearing voices getting closer and closer, the door opened and a large, cheery woman with gray hair walked in with Charlie. They both looked very tired and worn out, but smiled at me when they saw me awake.
“Did that Malfoy boy give you your medicine?” the woman, whom I assumed was Leila, asked. I nodded.
“He made sure that I took all of it,” I said as Charlie took the seat next to me. The woman nodded.
“Good, good. I always knew he was better than that good for nothing father of his. Goodnight, Ginny; good night, Charlie,” she said, waving at us, and leaving. Charlie slumped in his chair.
“How did the fighting go?” I asked, eagerly. In the two weeks since I had been at Hydes, there hadn’t been a battle until tonight.
“We won the battle. We didn’t lose anyone, but Malia and Boris will be confined to the bed for about a week. You look exhausted, Gin. Go to bed so you can get better. I hear there’s a Quidditch match being held when you get better,” he grinned. I smiled sleepily back at him.
“Goodnight Charlie,” I yawned. He smiled at me.
“Night, Gin,” he said and leaned over and kissed me on the forehead.
True to Draco’s word I was up and walking in two days. The first morning that I was able to walk down to breakfast, Tait and Lacey hurried over to sit by me.
“Oh good, this means we can play Quidditch this afternoon!” Lacey said excitedly.
“What position does she play again?” Tait asked Lacey.
“Chaser,” I answered, “but if need be, I filled in for our Seeker my fourth year.”
“We don’t need a Seeker. Malfoy and Charlie are our Seekers, but Chasers are something we do need. I’m a Beater. Payton and Lacey will be Keepers. Gloria, Anthony, and Thomas play the other beaters. We’ve talked to some people and Gwyn, Wyman, Geoffrey, Camilla, and Eloise have agreed to play Chasers. Eloise usually doesn’t play, but she’s agreed to. Now, I think we’re going to have all the Greens plus some players against everyone else. Malfoy will be our Seeker; Lacey will be our Keeper; Thomas and I will be our Beaters; Gwyn, Eloise, and you will be our Chasers. Everyone else will be on the other team. Does that sound good to you two?” Tait asked, speaking quickly and in one breath.
“Sounds good to me,” I smiled.
“Good. I’m going to go tell Malfoy the plan,” he said and hurried off.
Clutching my broom in my hand I walked with Lacey out onto the makeshift Quidditch pitch.
“I love Quidditch,” Lacey breathed, carrying her own broom. I grinned.
“Too bad you didn’t go to Hogwarts. We could have used you on our team,” I laughed. She smiled.
“I almost wish I had, but I love Beauxbatons. It’s just so…refined. I guess all the things French people do are, really,” she said, shrugging elegantly. Most of the team was on the Pitch already when we arrived, so we wandered over to where Draco and Tait were talking. They waved us over.
“So here’s the game plan,” Tait said, grinning, “There is no plan.” We laughed. Dorian blew a whistle.
“Into formations!” he called out and we took the customary Quidditch positions. Eloise and Gwyn, a short Yellow with honey colored hair, took spots on either side of me while Draco stood in front of me and across from Charlie. Tait and Thomas stood behind us Chasers, and Lacey took her spot in front of the goal posts.
“On my whistle!” Dorian called out. He blew his whistle and threw the Quaffle into the air while Valerie released the Bludgers and the Snitch. Eloise caught the Quaffle and threw it to me. I raced down the pitch, avoiding the Bludger that Gloria had hit in my direction. I threw the Quaffle to Gwyn and she finished the last leg of the journey to the goal posts and threw the red ball at the goal. The crowd of Council members that had gathered around our game cheered. Payton, whom I had noticed wasn’t the greatest Keeper, had missed the ball and it sailed effortlessly through the middle hoop.
Eloise, Gwyn, and I easily made four more scores before Camilla managed to steal the ball from us and she, along with Geoffrey and Wyman managed to make three scores. I noticed that Tait, who would execute stunts to amaze her, kept distracting Lacey. I caught Draco’s eye and we rolled our eyes. I grinned to myself at the fluttering in my stomach as Gwyn stole the Quaffle and threw it to me. I raced down the pitch, determined to show Draco how good of a player I was, and threw the Quaffle hard at the left post. Payton streaked towards it, but missed catching it by half an inch. The crowd cheered and I grinned.
Suddenly there was a loud Ohh-ing noise and we turned to see Charlie and Draco streaking towards a small golden glint just below me. We all stopped what we were doing to watch them.
It was the common opinion at Hogwarts that Draco had bought his way onto the team and that he possessed no real talent. Watching him streaking towards the snitch, I wondered how anyone could ever think that. He was neck and neck with my brother, who was years older than him and had therefore been playing Quidditch longer. They continued their steep dive, the ground coming closer and closer. Suddenly they were two feet away and both hands reached out. It looked like Charlie was going to get it, but Draco pushed my brother’s hand out of the way at the last minute and grabbed it.
His smile at winning the game seemed to be genuine; it was the first true one that I had ever seen on his face, and it seemed to soften it up. He seemed like a completely different person when he smiled. Our team flew feverishly towards him to congratulate him. When I reached the two Seekers, Draco’s hand was in my brother’s.
“I suppose I’ll have to settle for beating a Weasley instead of Potter,” he drawled, but his tone was somehow different. I realized what the difference was as Charlie threw his head back and laughed. Draco Malfoy, son of a Death Eater, was teasing a Weasley. I blinked at the ludicrousness of it, before the smile came back to my face and I celebrated with my team
I stared out the window as the rain slashed against it, frowning. I had really wanted to go visit Goldenwing. Eloise had promised me that we were going to fly today. However, beginners didn’t get to fly in the rain until they’d learned to fly. Lacey, apologizing to me, had gone to fly Noah, as had all the other Council members, but I was in the Library, staring out the window longingly, while trying not to think about the figure sitting behind me. Draco Malfoy had chosen to not fly his dragon in the rain. He had said something about not wanting to catch his death of pneumonia, and that he needed to work on his N.E.W.T Transfiguration work. I sighed audibly, as I had been doing for the last half hour.
“Will you stop that Weasley? It’s very distracting,” Draco snapped irritably. It wasn’t that I blamed him or anything, I was sure it was very annoying, but I felt the need to be grumpy.
“It’s a free country. I can do what I want, where I want, when I want,” I snapped back. He glared at me.
“Would you at least keep it down to a dull roar, then?” He spat. I rolled my eyes and ascended the stairs to the second floor. I thought briefly of Flooing Hermione, or one of my relatives, but pushed the thought aside. Not being with Goldenwing was making me irritable, and it was very likely that I would snap at anyone that I talked to, just like I had done with Draco. I browsed the bookshelf, not really reading the titles until a book caught my eye. The binding was faded, but it had once been the prettiest shade of royal blue that I had ever seen. I pulled the book out of the bookshelf and looked at the title. It was written in gold peeling letters, but it was still very legible. The Dragon Council: An Ancient and Most Noble History it read. My whole demeanor changed. I was suddenly full of curiosity and my mood was pleasant. I descended the stairs and plopped down on one of the chaise lounges. I felt Draco glaring at me, but I ignored him and opened the book to the first page.
In the year of our Lord 1037, Gregory the Great stumbled upon a field of dragons and, to his surprise, wasn’t attacked. He soon learned that he was able to communicate with all of them- a trait that hasn’t been found in witch or wizard since.
The book enthralled me. I barely noticed when Charlie came up and told Draco and me that dinner was ready, or when Lacey came up to try and persuade me to come down to dinner. I was only pulled away when a disdainful voice spoke.
“Who are you?” she asked, her voice laced with superiority. I looked up quickly and saw a tall, very pretty girl, with long straight auburn hair staring down at me. She had on dark blue robes that were obviously hand made especially for her and a white travelling cloak.
“Ginny Weasley. You’re Zandra, right?” I asked, closing my book for the first time in hours. My back ached from not being moved. I held out my hand for her to shake, but she just stared at it. I lowered it, my face flushing red.
“So you’re the newest? I hear you can talk to all dragons. No one has been able to do that since Gregory the Great,” she said, speaking as though she didn’t believe my talent. “Eloise asked me to tell you that there’s still some dinner if you wanted any.” Before waiting for an answer, she swept out of the room and I was alone. I stood up from the lounge and stretched. The door opened again and a tall boy with brown hair stepped in. He, unlike Zandra, was grinning.
“So, you’re the infamous Ginny Weasley, are you? I rather expected you to be taller,” he said, smirking to let me know that he was teasing.
“And you’re the infamous Tait Stuart, are you? I rather expected you to be shorter,” I replied mockingly. He grinned.
“Yep. You’re a keeper. You’ll turn out to be more like Lacey, not Zandra. Although,” he said, catching sight of my hair, “I suppose she’ll hate you because of your hair. It’s far prettier than hers. Anyway, it was wonderful meeting you and all, but I have a bed that’s calling my name. I’ll see you in the morning,” he said, and before I could reply, was gone.
I left the library and continued on my way to my room, still holding the book, and wondering what they did at Durmstrang to make their students so odd.
The next morning, I practically flew out of my bed. The sky was sunny, and the ground looked firm enough. It was good flying conditions. I threw on the first pair of dragonhide pants and tunic that I found and waved my wand at my hair, which automatically flew into the customary braids. I thundered down the stairs, stopping when I met Lacey coming out of her room.
“You sound like a herd of hippogriffs,” she laughed and we continued down the stairs. “So, did you meet Zandra and Tait last night?”
“I did. Tait seemed nice, but Zandra didn’t. She wouldn’t even shake my hand,” I said, thinking angrily of last night. Lacey shrugged.
“Don’t worry about it, she won’t shake anyone’s hands. She’s more paranoid than Made-Eye is, and that’s saying a lot!” I stopped where I was and looked at her.
“You know Mad-Eye?” I asked, curiously.
“Oh yes. He was a good friend of my Papa’s. He and Papa were partners before Papa died in a raid the year I was born. He took it upon himself to keep in touch with us and to kind of look after us. Of course, when he found out that I was going to Beauxbatons and not Hogwarts he was furious. He hasn’t spoken to us in years. Once in a while I’ll get a Christmas present- dark detectors, of course- but not a letter,” Lacey said, pulling on my arm to make me continue down the stairs.
“He’s a friend of my dad’s. I saw him quite a bit last summer,” I said.
“How is he doing?” she asked as we entered the entryway and continued towards the dining room.
“The usual. You know, very paranoid. I think he’s finally learned to trust Mum’s cooking, though,” I said, laughing as we entered the dining room. I quickly looked around to see who was in there and found Zandra and Draco sitting together at one end of the table; their heads were together and they seemed to be deep in discussion. Neither looked up as I looked their way, so I continued my scan of the table. Charlie was sitting next to a beautiful Hawaiian girl named Malia (who was a yellow, like Charlie) and they were laughing boisterously. Eloise was sitting at the head of the table, going over a map with Dorian Reagan, the dark haired second in command. Tait walked through the room just as Lacey and I sat down near Charlie and Malia.
“Good morning ladies. I see you’re eating this morning Ginny?” he asked as he spooned eggs onto his plate.
“Yeah. I’ve gotten used to Goldenwing eating,” I said and bit into a piece of toast.
“It takes a while to get used to, of course, but once you’ve seen it a few times you don’t think anything of it. Perfect flying conditions today, eh Lacey?” Tait said mischievously and Lacey grinned.
“We start at the Green field and end at the manor,” she laughed, and then, seeing my confused expression, continued. “We race all the time when we fly.”
“Ahh. I haven’t flown yet,” I said to Tait. “It’s been raining the past week, and I haven’t had the chance to learn yet.”
“Ginny,” Charlie called, tearing his attention away from Malia to face me; “I got a letter from Mum this morning. She said that Harry is coming tomorrow, and would you please consider coming home.” I rolled my eyes and he grinned.
“Does she not get that I don’t like him anymore? Anyway, I wouldn’t dream of leaving.”
“Good,” Charlie said simply before turning back to Malia. I felt a prickling sensation on the back of my neck and turned to the other end of the table and found that Draco was staring at me. His expression was oddly blank; there was no sneer or smirk at the mention of my former crush on Harry. We stared at each other for a moment before a hand on my shoulder successfully distracted me away from him. I looked up and found Eloise standing behind me. She smiled down at me.
“Are you ready to fly?” she asked. I couldn’t contain my grin, although I tried to not sound so eager.
“Yes!”
The air smelled like honeysuckle as we walked across the fields to the Green field where Goldenwing was. I thought vaguely of the Burrow where it always smelled like honeysuckle. My stomach lurched with homesickness, but I pushed it aside at the thought of flying.
“All we’re going to do today is fly in some circles. Tomorrow we’ll work on speed, and later this week we’ll start you on aiming the flame from the air. Lacey will be training with you to refresh herself. The other three were able to practice over the holidays when there weren’t many people at school,” Eloise said. I shifted the large saddle in my hands, going over in my mind the steps of saddling my dragon.
“Sounds good to me.” We arrived at the field and immediately I felt calmer just seeing my dragon.
Good morning, Goldenwing.
Good morning. Will we fly today? She sounded very restless. I grinned at her.
Yes. I threw the saddle over her back and buckled it on her underside. I slipped the reigns over her mouth and stepped back.
“Mount her,” Eloise said calmly. I climbed onto the saddle. Something wasn’t right, I knew it, but I was too eager to fly, so I ignored the nagging feeling. “Gently pull the reigns up and dig for feet just a little bit into her sides,” she instructed. I did as she told me, and soon we were flying upwards. We were about forty feet from the ground when I realized I should have listened to my nagging sensation. Something wasn’t attached properly and the saddle slid. I couldn’t think as I fell, and when I hit the ground, everything went black.
When I woke up later, I didn’t know where I was for a moment. I struggled to open my eyes and found a very familiar blonde headed boy sitting next to me.
“Draco?” I asked, my voicing sounding far away. He looked up from the book he had been reading. Even in my weariness I could see that the book was upside down. A torrent of emotions flooded his face and eyes before the cool, blank mask that I knew so well appeared.
“Weasley,” he returned, nodding to me.
“Where am I? What happened? Where is everyone?” I asked, struggling to sit up. Draco set his book down on my bedside table and pushed me back down.
“Leila instructed me to make you stay in bed. You’re in the hospital division, and the older Council members are in battle. Greens don’t go. You especially wouldn’t go, not even knowing how to properly fasten your saddle,” he said, his arrogant drawl returning. I glared at him, and my face flushed.
“Oh, like you did it right every time,” I muttered. His smirk only grew wider.
“As a matter of fact, I did. Eloise said I was the quickest to adapt to everything about being part of the Council,” he said, his words dripping with arrogance. I scowled.
“Where are Tait and Lacey?” I asked, trying to steer from the topic of my disastrous attempt at flying. Draco shrugged.
“I expect they’re in the kitchen, having dinner. I was given the task of watching you, and Zandra was given the task of making dinner. She’ll send up dinner and your medicine later,” he drawled, picking his book up once again. I giggled, and he glared. “What is it this time, Weasley?”
“Your book is upside down. I expect it’s rather hard to read it that was, is it?” I laughed. A slight pink tinge appeared in his cheeks.
“Malfoys do everything the hard way,” he sniffed, and didn’t move his book. Several minutes passed by with the only noise in the room being the sound of Draco flipping the pages of his book. I stared at the ceiling and made pictures out of the cracks. Just as I was almost a sleep, a tinkling of a bell rang out and Draco dropped his book, which he had still been reading upside down.
“What was that?” I asked, sitting up in bed.
“Dinner,” he said, pointing to a small wooden door on the far wall. He crossed the room in four long strides and opened the door revealing a small compartment that contained two plates with sandwiches, potatoes, and green beans on them, and two glasses of iced pumpkin juice. He carried the two plates over to the bed and handed one to me. It had a small glass filled with a pink substance on it. I picked it up and smelled it.
“Urgh,” I said, putting the cup back down on the plate. “What is that?” I asked, wrinkling my nose in disgust.
“It’s your medicine. That fall did cause damage, you know. Your leg is broken in about five different places. Two days on that medicine, and you’ll be able to walk again,” he said, taking a bite of his sandwich. I stared at my medicine and grimaced.
“But it smells like dung!” I complained. He rolled his eyes.
“Merlin, Weasley, don’t complain so much. It’s either take the medicine and be back on your feet in two days, or don’t take the medicine and be in bed and without your dragon for three weeks,” he said. I stared down at the cup. I didn’t want to take the medicine, but I didn’t want to be without Goldenwing for three weeks. Sighing, I picked up the small cup and drained it in one gulp. I squeezed my eyes shut and swallowed the potion, which burned all the way down my throat. My leg gave a horrible throb, but the pain subsided soon. When I opened my eyes again Draco was smirking at me.
“Shut up,” I said and scowled. He didn’t say anything and we ate our dinner in silence.
“When you’re back on your feet, we’re going to play a game of Quidditch. You should play; aren’t you on the Gryffindor team?” he asked casually.
“Yes, I’m going to play, and yes I’m on the team. I’m a Chaser,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Shouldn’t you, as Quidditch Captain, know that?” He glared at me.
“I was just trying to be polite,” he sniffed. I smiled faintly, but the door opened before I could say anything and we turned to look to see who was at the door. Lacey, Tait, and Zandra came into the room.
“Ginny! Malfoy didn’t tell us you were awake!” Lacey said, hurrying over to give me a hug. Draco sniffed again.
“Leila told me to stay here and not to leave. How was I supposed to tell you she was awake?” He drawled, the arrogance seeping into his voice once again. Lacey glared at him and turned back to me.
“How are you feeling? We got to the field just in time to see you fall,” she said, sitting on the edge of my bed. Tait came up behind her and sat on the bed behind her, while Zandra chose a seat near Draco.
“Yeah,” Tait said grinning, “It was a spectacular fall. Lacey’s fall wasn’t nearly as exciting as yours.” Lacey scowled.
“Her fall?” I asked, frowning. A sudden feeling of being left out washed over me.
“She fell from her dragon when she was learning to fly,” Zandra sniffed, her voice adopting the same arrogance that Draco’s held. I briefly wondered if rich Pureblood children were made to take lessons on smirking, sneering, and sounding superior.
“Just because you and Draco didn’t fall, doesn’t make the rest of us oh-so-terrible for falling,” Lacey snapped, an angry flush rising in her cheeks.
“Hey, calm down,” Tait said, putting a hand on Lacey’s arm. She huffed, but didn’t say anything. Zandra’s cool gaze was disdainful as she looked at Tait’s hand on Lacey’s arm. Lacey, seeing what Zandra was looking at, smirked. I looked between the two girls, confused. Draco rolled his eyes and turned to Zandra.
“Let’s go to the Library and leave them to themselves,” he said, standing up. She gave us one last glare before following him out of the room. Tait dropped his hand from Lacey’s arm.
“I hate when she does that,” Lacey said, nearly snarling.
“Does what?” Tait asked, moving to the chair that Draco had just vacated.
“Does that whole superior thing. The only difference between our families is that hers has money and mine doesn’t. And mine is good and hers isn’t, rather like the Malfoy’s. I bet they’ll get married someday. They deserve each other,” Lacey said harshly. My heart contracted once at the thought of Draco being off the market. When I had a developed a crush on him? I wondered to myself.
The Council members got home late that night. I had been sleeping, but I woke up when I heard the racket they made. After a few minutes of hearing voices getting closer and closer, the door opened and a large, cheery woman with gray hair walked in with Charlie. They both looked very tired and worn out, but smiled at me when they saw me awake.
“Did that Malfoy boy give you your medicine?” the woman, whom I assumed was Leila, asked. I nodded.
“He made sure that I took all of it,” I said as Charlie took the seat next to me. The woman nodded.
“Good, good. I always knew he was better than that good for nothing father of his. Goodnight, Ginny; good night, Charlie,” she said, waving at us, and leaving. Charlie slumped in his chair.
“How did the fighting go?” I asked, eagerly. In the two weeks since I had been at Hydes, there hadn’t been a battle until tonight.
“We won the battle. We didn’t lose anyone, but Malia and Boris will be confined to the bed for about a week. You look exhausted, Gin. Go to bed so you can get better. I hear there’s a Quidditch match being held when you get better,” he grinned. I smiled sleepily back at him.
“Goodnight Charlie,” I yawned. He smiled at me.
“Night, Gin,” he said and leaned over and kissed me on the forehead.
True to Draco’s word I was up and walking in two days. The first morning that I was able to walk down to breakfast, Tait and Lacey hurried over to sit by me.
“Oh good, this means we can play Quidditch this afternoon!” Lacey said excitedly.
“What position does she play again?” Tait asked Lacey.
“Chaser,” I answered, “but if need be, I filled in for our Seeker my fourth year.”
“We don’t need a Seeker. Malfoy and Charlie are our Seekers, but Chasers are something we do need. I’m a Beater. Payton and Lacey will be Keepers. Gloria, Anthony, and Thomas play the other beaters. We’ve talked to some people and Gwyn, Wyman, Geoffrey, Camilla, and Eloise have agreed to play Chasers. Eloise usually doesn’t play, but she’s agreed to. Now, I think we’re going to have all the Greens plus some players against everyone else. Malfoy will be our Seeker; Lacey will be our Keeper; Thomas and I will be our Beaters; Gwyn, Eloise, and you will be our Chasers. Everyone else will be on the other team. Does that sound good to you two?” Tait asked, speaking quickly and in one breath.
“Sounds good to me,” I smiled.
“Good. I’m going to go tell Malfoy the plan,” he said and hurried off.
Clutching my broom in my hand I walked with Lacey out onto the makeshift Quidditch pitch.
“I love Quidditch,” Lacey breathed, carrying her own broom. I grinned.
“Too bad you didn’t go to Hogwarts. We could have used you on our team,” I laughed. She smiled.
“I almost wish I had, but I love Beauxbatons. It’s just so…refined. I guess all the things French people do are, really,” she said, shrugging elegantly. Most of the team was on the Pitch already when we arrived, so we wandered over to where Draco and Tait were talking. They waved us over.
“So here’s the game plan,” Tait said, grinning, “There is no plan.” We laughed. Dorian blew a whistle.
“Into formations!” he called out and we took the customary Quidditch positions. Eloise and Gwyn, a short Yellow with honey colored hair, took spots on either side of me while Draco stood in front of me and across from Charlie. Tait and Thomas stood behind us Chasers, and Lacey took her spot in front of the goal posts.
“On my whistle!” Dorian called out. He blew his whistle and threw the Quaffle into the air while Valerie released the Bludgers and the Snitch. Eloise caught the Quaffle and threw it to me. I raced down the pitch, avoiding the Bludger that Gloria had hit in my direction. I threw the Quaffle to Gwyn and she finished the last leg of the journey to the goal posts and threw the red ball at the goal. The crowd of Council members that had gathered around our game cheered. Payton, whom I had noticed wasn’t the greatest Keeper, had missed the ball and it sailed effortlessly through the middle hoop.
Eloise, Gwyn, and I easily made four more scores before Camilla managed to steal the ball from us and she, along with Geoffrey and Wyman managed to make three scores. I noticed that Tait, who would execute stunts to amaze her, kept distracting Lacey. I caught Draco’s eye and we rolled our eyes. I grinned to myself at the fluttering in my stomach as Gwyn stole the Quaffle and threw it to me. I raced down the pitch, determined to show Draco how good of a player I was, and threw the Quaffle hard at the left post. Payton streaked towards it, but missed catching it by half an inch. The crowd cheered and I grinned.
Suddenly there was a loud Ohh-ing noise and we turned to see Charlie and Draco streaking towards a small golden glint just below me. We all stopped what we were doing to watch them.
It was the common opinion at Hogwarts that Draco had bought his way onto the team and that he possessed no real talent. Watching him streaking towards the snitch, I wondered how anyone could ever think that. He was neck and neck with my brother, who was years older than him and had therefore been playing Quidditch longer. They continued their steep dive, the ground coming closer and closer. Suddenly they were two feet away and both hands reached out. It looked like Charlie was going to get it, but Draco pushed my brother’s hand out of the way at the last minute and grabbed it.
His smile at winning the game seemed to be genuine; it was the first true one that I had ever seen on his face, and it seemed to soften it up. He seemed like a completely different person when he smiled. Our team flew feverishly towards him to congratulate him. When I reached the two Seekers, Draco’s hand was in my brother’s.
“I suppose I’ll have to settle for beating a Weasley instead of Potter,” he drawled, but his tone was somehow different. I realized what the difference was as Charlie threw his head back and laughed. Draco Malfoy, son of a Death Eater, was teasing a Weasley. I blinked at the ludicrousness of it, before the smile came back to my face and I celebrated with my team
Leave a Review