Chapter Four

Head in the Clouds

Seven figures stood in a meadow a few yards off the main manor grounds. Summoning a couple of house elves yielded broomsticks and gloves, enough for each person on the field. Astoria and Pansy, though, elected to stay on the ground.

"What are you celebrating during Litha?" Draco heard Astoria say.

"Skill," Pansy said, "and the first day is always about speed."

Draco swung his leg over his Nimbus Two Thousand-and One and took a deep breath, smiling at the familiar scent of broom polish and dragon hide gloves. Blaise seemed unconcerned about the contest, though, which worried Draco. Did he have an ace up his sleeve? That seemed unconceivable, as Blaise wasn't a big fan of brooms and flying. He was staring absently into the distance, almost like he wished he was somewhere else. Before Draco could snap at him and ask him what his problem was, Pansy's wand erupted in a shower of green and silver stars, signaling the start of the race. The others kicked off, and Draco cursed, taking flight a few seconds after Theodore, Millicent and Daphne.

The wind whistling in his ears was familiar as his own breathing. He was flying before he knew how to walk straight; he would be first, no matter his current placing. Blaise has fallen so far behind; he was about the size of a raisin from where Draco was. Just for fun, he did a double-loop in the air, shouting as he made the second twist. He loved looking at the manor from this high—the black spires and the iron gates seemed like children's toys, the people and animals no more than dolls. He climbed higher, the wind turning frostier with every hundred yards. He imagined the air filling his chest with little icicles. Draco screeched to a halt—the manor was as big as a match box from this high. He turned, looking for the others, and found them near the halfway mark.

He saw Daphne snap a branch off the yew tree they use as a marker, and turn. After almost a minute, Millicent, and then Theodore, does the same. When he turned to get back, Draco pushed the broom forward to plunge. He had to squint to keep his eyes from drying, but he snapped a twig with ease, sailed past Millicent, then Daphne, and had time to slow down before landing in front of Astoria and Pansy.

"No surprise there," Theodore said, landing only seconds after him. He had a half-grin on his face. "King for today, Draco."

"Of course," Draco laughed, as Millicent and Daphne landed and clapped him on the back. Blaise landed a good couple minutes later than everyone else, and by that time, the racers and Theodore were well into a spirited discussion of how biased the first day is towards Draco.

"I still say we should have a new game for the first day, Draco always wins," Daphne said wryly.

"Hey, not my fault. Besides, you all were using the same broom as I," Draco replied. He looked around to see Blaise's reaction, but he had a dutiful smile on his face.

"Great flying, as usual," he said. Draco nodded, but he was very puzzled. Did Blaise just lose on purpose? What for?

"Draco, that was wonderful!" gushed Pansy, who tucked a wildflower into his robes as the group started to leave the meadow. He held her by the waist, which she loved, but he quickly disengaged himself when she tried to slip her hand into his. Draco hung back to wait for Astoria, who was busy fixing her hair into a more manageable ponytail. She had her back to him, and he was surprised at how small she actually was—Daphne almost came up to his forehead, but Astoria was shorter than him by a head. She turned, and gave a start when she realized he was still there. In the dim light of the moon, her sly features seemed smudged, softened even. She held his gaze for a few seconds, and he saw the uncertainty in them. She inclined her head, smiled politely, and started walking. He followed her.

"You never come with the Greengrass family to these hunts," Draco started. "I thought you might need to be with someone on the way back to the manor."

"That's very kind of you, although I'm sure I could've managed well enough by myself," she said. They headed back for the manor, Draco with his broom on one shoulder. Astoria seemed determined to stare straight ahead, at the larger, more riotous group, who were several paces in front of them.

"Why did you not come with your family in the past?"

"I find that manors full of Slytherins have neither respect nor sympathy for a Ravenclaw. Also, it's all dreadfully boring, don't you think? The males blast their Erumpents while the females sit around talking about different fabrics. It's positively medieval."

"It's not that bad. I mean, there's Litha."

"Yeah, which is a glorified peeing contest. No offense," she said, but Draco was already pink in the ears. Astoria's starting to sound less attractive by the minute.

"Well, if you stopped being so uptight, maybe you'd have more fun," he countered. She seemed taken aback by this, and he almost felt sorry, until she snorted.

"Unfortunately, you, my sister, and your friends have such a crude definition of 'fun' that I am unable to see what pleasure you derive from it," she said. "Some of you, at least."

He followed her gaze, and sniffed—she was looking at Blaise. So that's what he's after, Draco said to himself. The sneaky, worthless git. His brows furrowed, and his grip on the broomstick tightened. Astoria, who was looking at him, had an apologetic look on her face.

"Pardon me for being so forward," she said, which snapped Draco out of his reverie.

"What?" he said. "What are you talking about?"

"I thought I may have spoken out of line," she said. Draco did not know how to respond to that. He looked at her, and then at the others, who have just passed the iron gates of the manor. Suddenly, he stopped. Astoria did the same, although she seemed confused. A full minute passed with Draco standing in silence, and he felt her growing increasingly uncomfortable.

"Well, I'll be joining the others, now. Thank you for the walk back," Astoria said. She hurried to catch up with her sister and the others, who by now were likely to be at the front doors of the house. Draco looked at her retreating figure, a thoughtful smile on his face.

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