An Orange Sky
Chapter VI – The Library
After breakfast Estelle decided to visit the library. She had been looking forward to this for some time as she hadn't had a chance to properly visit her favourite room since she had left school, which had been well over twenty years ago. The library was huge. Taking up four floors, almost one hundred foot high, the centre of the room rose to the ceiling while the second and third floors ran around the main room on curved balconies. Odd passageways led off these balconies to even more rooms, filled with thousands of books. The roof was made of pink-hued glass so that light filtered down to create perfect reading conditions.
In the centre, rising up to almost touch the glass dome above, was a giant statue. It portrayed a dragon, teeth snarled, but instead of fire, water spouted from its snout. Its eyes were set with giant rubies, which glared fiercely at anyone who walked by. A favourite past time for older students was to pass on terrifying tales of the sculpture waking at night and eating pupils who didn't bring their books back on time to scared first years. It did indeed look very lifelike. The statues skin was exact, down to the very last scale, its talons curled around a huge marble rock. The stone it was made from had a red hue, specked with shards of precious stone and gems. It was one of Estelle's favourite pieces of art in the whole castle. Dumbledore had told her that Rowena Ravenclaw had supposedly frozen the huge beast herself when it had tried to attack her. She had been searching the world at the time for more spells to include in Hogwarts' library.
Surrounding the dragon's marble rock was a huge pool, the waters dark, golden fish flitting across the expanse. The Pool was perfectly circular, spanning the room to create a fantastic view. Estelle wasn't too sure how deep it was. Once, when the librarian had gone out for a few minutes, Sirius jumped in and tried to reach the bottom. He couldn't and Estelle never let him try again. Some of the pupils had said mermaids lived in the Pool and that in the murky depths of water a tunnel led to the Lake. Estelle had originally found that hard to believe but, when studying alone, the librarian bustling about in some room leading from the library, probably filled with books, sometimes she would hear the eerie slap of water against stone and twist around to see green flesh receding into the dark expanse, a wake of ripples the only evidence it had been there. She never let this put her off visiting the Pool. It was a perfect place to relax. Dark green velvet sofas circled the marbled edge of water, looking out at the gigantic Lilly pads, the size of dining tables, and their huge blooming flowers worthy of the more exotic of the Herbology greenhouses. The trickle of water hitting the surface as it spouted from the Dragons nose, sounded like soothing music.
Estelle slumped into her favourite chair, looking straight out at the dragons tail, the pointed barb almost dipping into the water. For once, Estelle didn't feel like reading. She was too busy thinking about last night, the kiss, what it meant. Having received a teenage body, she now realised she was beginning to think like one. She despised herself for so quickly allowing herself to be sucked into old feelings and memories, using those around her to relive her love. She groaned in disgust and dipped her fingers into the silky cool beneath her, watching in pleasure as silver and gold fish darted away from her hand. She took in a deep breath, savouring her favourite scent. The library smelt musty, like old wood, that booky smell, but it was mixed with the earthy tang of fresh water and plants. Estelle looked at the tall, wooden shelves surrounding her with interest, wondering if she should try and catch up on a few spells. But then she felt the rough skin of someone's hands cover her eyes.
"Boo!" The voice was cheerful and full of laughter.
Estelle spun round, in her seat, a grin across her face. She tried not to let the grin fade as she realised what time she was in and who she was facing. Echoes of old memories, smells, tastes, sounds drifted off along the shelves, forgotten. She let out a fake chuckle and hugged Sirius. Idiot, she silently yelled at herself. I thought you were going to let the past fade, let it go! And yet at every second old memories bombarded her brain, leaving her walking through a world made up of half fantasy and reminiscence and half cold reality.
"I knew I'd find you here!" Sirius chuckled. He looked out at the expanse of water, a playful expression darting across his face.
"Remember when I jumped in? I could try again; see if it really does have a bottom. After all, the librarian's not here to tell me off this time." He had begun to unbutton his shirt but an image of green, scaly flesh flashed into Estelle's mind and she quickly pulled him from the water's edge.
"No! Errr . . . What did you come to tell me, anyway?"
"Oh. I just came to check if you were alright. I noticed you fell asleep by the fire last night. Couldn't sleep? I could get Remus to knock up a sleeping draught."
Estelle gulped guiltily. Sirius was like a big brother to her, she knew she could tell him anything. But somehow she held back from divulging her night's events. Perhaps it was a fear of being teased, or the look of disappointment on his face, the shame, the notion he would think her a 'slut', or even the worry that he would become too over protective that kept her mouth shut. She had fallen asleep by the fire, Draco's arm around her, but had woken in the morning from one of her usual nightmares to find that he was gone and everyone was down in the Hall for breakfast. She hadn't known if Draco had slunk off because he was ashamed of being seen sleeping next to her or because he had become uncomfortable, leaning against the edge of the sofa and had decided to move without waking her. She hadn't been able to talk to him after breakfast as she was so desperate to visit the Library. That and a deep feeling of embarrassment.
"You're right, I couldn't sleep, but I should be fine tonight," she supplemented. It wasn't a lie, she convinced herself. It was true; she hadn't been able to sleep. She just hadn't added what happened next.
"You should come exploring with me some time, there's so many rooms that I haven't looked in yet. We probably didn't even do half the castle back in the good old days." Estelle looked up at Sirius as he talked. The transformation spell had really changed him; he seemed so carefree, boyish, like he had been at school. It made her smile. She couldn't be like that. She wasn't like Sirius, always the optimistic, she knew what was coming, the hardship of being an adult. The thought of it was dragging her down again.
"I'll find you this afternoon. Then we can look through that purple door behind the tapestry of dancing feet that you and James were always bugging me about," she offered with a smile.
"I'll take that as a promise." With that he bounded out in his dog form, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Estelle sighed and whipped out her wand, summoning a book from a nearby shelf. She knew where most of the books in the library were off by heart. Being stuck in the rainforest had certainly left her magic skills rusty and she thought a bit of light reading out of a basic spell book would help. The book was lying open in her lap and she was poring over an interesting page when a tearful Hermione burst in.
"Oh! I'm sorry. I'll go somewhere else," she stuttered but Estelle had already pulled her down to sit on the sofa.
"What's the matter?" Estelle asked while absentmindedly conjuring up a box of tissues. Hermione looked down and bit her lip.
"You'll just think I'm being silly or petty."
"No. Tell me. I'm good at this," Estelle said, the lie tugging at her lips. She was good at comforting men in the only way she knew how, but to listen to women spill their troubles always felt like a chore to her. However, she felt she owed Hermione enough to comfort the girl in a time of trouble at the least.
"It's Harry. He's not the same. He keeps over reacting about the slightest thing and then he comes over all passionate and loving. I've never seen him like this. It's scary. I've never found him intimidating before!" Estelle looked at her own lap in guilt as an awkward silence ensued, both thinking the same thought. Eventually Estelle spoke.
"It's my fault . . . for what I said about James." Among other things, Estelle thought to herself, cringing at the deceit.
"No! Not at all." But Estelle could tell from Hermione's expression that the same thought had already occurred to her.
"Hermione!" It was Harry. He ran in, his face dark with anger.
"I'll talk to him," Estelle said as the girl shied away from the force of Harry's voice.
"Are you sure?" But Estelle was guiding her away and she scurried off out of a side entrance.
"What do you think you're playing at?" Harry snarled as Estelle stood between him and Hermione's exit.
"Leave the poor girl alone, she has nothing to do with it and you know it. If you have a problem confront me, we both know this is my fault." Harry hit a shelf hard, causing the books to tumble onto the marble floor. The sound resonated through the large room.
"Have you any idea what you've done. I can't even look at her in the eye anymore. You've turned me into you, a cheating, lying, filthy little scumbag," he scowled at her. "You've fucked everything up. Before I met you I was happy with Hermione and I didn't think my dead Dad was a cheating bastard. I wish you'd just go away!" He shouted the last sentence, pushing Estelle so that she fell onto one of the many sofas. She had thought she could face Harry's anger but his violence had forced her into shaky silence. She cowered on the soft cushions. The boy lent in close, holding her by the collar of her shirt he held her above the Pool. Estelle's loose hair dipped into the water, causing the fish to once again scatter in all directions. She whimpered as his hot breath hit her cheek and he brought her body to his.
"What's the matter? You were up for it yesterday." His voice was cold, emotionless, his eyes piercing. She could do nothing but stare into the emerald pools of hate. Hate and lust. Her curse had unleashed the monster within the boy.
"Don't-" She whimpered. She hated herself right then, for sounding so pathetic, for being so weak, for starting all this in the first place.
"Don't what?" Harry asked, shaking her violently so that her hair fell further into the water. He was too close, Estelle felt suffocated so that she couldn't breathe. She began to struggle, pushing against his strong arms.
"Let go!" She shouted as a jet of blue light hit Harry between the shoulders. He slumped across her, making her slip into the murky depths beneath. She shrieked, spluttering and splashing, terrified of what lived below. The water stretched beneath her and ice cold fear hit her chest at what could be looking on as she struggled to stay above the surface.
A pair of strong arms lifted her from the water and laid her on the cold, marble floor. She gasped, gripping onto the arms as if letting go would mean falling back into the freezing water. She looked up to see Draco kneeling, worriedly beside her. Harry was beginning to get up from his position sprawled on the floor; he was rubbing the back of his neck. When the blond boy saw the movement he turned violently towards Harry, his steel eyes cutting into the other's gaze.
"Piss off, Potter, before I think of a worse curse," he hissed. He was clearly struggling to hold back his rage. Harry looked like he was going to argue, his fist clenched around his wand but instead he stormed out of the doorway Hermione had left by. Estelle hoped he wasn't going to give his girlfriend a hard time. Draco turned to look at her but she was already up from the floor and walking towards the doorway. He ran after her as she fled down the hallway.
The library was silent. A large puddle was seeping across the floor, coming from the water Estelle had dripped from her sodden body. The pages of her book, lying on the floor where it had been tossed in the fight, began to soak up the water. The Pool still rippled, the Lilly pads rising and falling on the miniature waves. After a couple of soundless minutes, a head rose out of the water. Its hair was silver-green, large orb like eyes blinked with double eyelids, its mouth smiling with sharp little teeth. It surveyed the scene with eagle like precision, before paddling with webbed, green skinned fingers towards the edge. Once there it seemed to screech or whistle, almost like a bird of prey. The book, ink beginning to run down the page immediately dried, the words becoming once again clear and unsmudged. It floated, ghost like, back to the bookcase Estelle had fetched it from earlier and neatly slotted itself into place. The floor suddenly absorbed the puddle so that it was once again dry. The creature hissed in satisfaction at a job well done, its pointed teeth showing as it nodded and grinned to itself. Looking one last time around the room to see that everything was in order, it dived back down underneath the surface of the Pool. A green scaly fin flicked into the murky depths. The room was once again silent except for the slosh as ripples hit the marble edge of the Pool.
"You are not leaving!" Draco slammed the lid of her trunk shut.
"I am! You can't stop me." Estelle's arms were filled with belongings and clothes. She made an effort to open her trunk but only succeeded in dropping half the items in her hands.
"You could help me, you know." She was still dripping wet, the water soaking her clutched belongings. Draco sighed and muttered a drying charm while Estelle began picking up the mess on her floor.
"Thank you," she said, flicking her chestnut hair over her shoulder. "I want to go. No one will miss me. Besides what help am I here anyway. Harry hates me, everybody else ignores me."
"That's stupid. No one is ignoring you. Anyway, I need you here. Everyone else is boring to be around." Estelle had stopped stowing things away but now she continued tossing things in angrily.
"Don't try and flatter me into staying," she said resolutely. "Even you don't want to be seen around me."
"What do you mean?"
"This morning you scuttled off before everyone got up. I know it was because you didn't want to be seen with me."
"No. I did it because I thought you wouldn't want to be seen with me. Plus, did either of us want to be bugged with questions from Sirius? He's very protective over you."
He pulled her to him in a tight embrace. Looking around the room, Draco noticed it was a mess. Clothes were strewn across the floor. Her drapes hung in two torn shreds from the bed, so that they fluttered forlornly. A bottle lay shattered on the floor, knocked off of the table in Estelle's fit of anger. Books had fallen from the bookcase and items littered most surfaces.
"From first impressions I thought you were a neat person." Estelle chuckled against his chest, laughing at how wrong he was. The soothing sound of his heart beat filled her senses. She felt so safe in his arms. No one could hurt her when she was with Draco, Harry couldn't get near her. It was funny how the son of the man who filled her life with fear and pain was the one who made her feel most safe. But then again she guessed he'd inherited most of his uncle's traits. She shied away from those thoughts, pushing them to the back of her mind like the rest of her life. She was living in the now and the now was in Draco's arms, completely safe. She leant up and pecked him swiftly on the lips.
The sound of thumping coming from her staircase caused the two to break apart guiltily. From the excited bound in the steps, Estelle knew it was Sirius. Remus had a slow, tired sort of step; he never ran. The twins were always dashing up the steps, taking two at a time, too excited with a story or bit of information to tell to bother to slow down. Hermione's steps were light and soft, always at a careful steady pace. Harry never came up her stair case and Draco had a heavy but soft pace, his expensive shoes clacking on the edge of each step. That left Sirius, his bounding, joyful steps always echoed through her room before he reached the door. He burst into the room.
"Stop her, Sirius! She says she's leaving. She won't listen to me," Draco blurted out quickly. Sirius' smiling face fell. He looked around at all the clutter scattered on the floor and gave a heavy sigh.
"What's brought this on?" He eventually asked.
"Nothing!" Estelle said, glaring at Draco to keep his mouth shut. "I think it would just be better for me if I went away. You know, memories and all that." But her voice was hesitant and Sirius picked up on that. Putting on a whiny, childlike voice he complained.
"But you said you would go looking round the castle with me." Estelle looked to Draco for help but he was standing, arms crossed, with a huge smirk across his face.
"Well I suppose just a couple more days-" She was interrupted by Sirius wrapping his arms around her in a crushing hug.
"Come on. Lunch is ready and afterwards we're looking through that door." He began tugging her and Estelle only had time to shrug at Draco before allowing herself to be dragged down the stairs. You're doing it again, a faint voice echoed inside her head as she was pulled down the stairs. You could have got out before it was too late. Estelle clutched Sirius' hand tighter and swallowed her fear.
Estelle buttered a roll and dipped it in her soup. She looked about. Remus sat to her left, quietly biting into a sandwich. He seemed distracted and a little ill. She wondered if it had anything to do with the phases of the moon. She felt the need to reach out and grasp his hand in comfort but refrained, instead shuffling a fraction of an inch closer so that her shoulder was resting against his. She felt that the small amount of contact would tell Remus that she was there for him. He momentarily looked up and a brief smile flitted across his lips before disappearing.
Estelle turned to look at Draco who was sitting on her right. He caught her eye and mouthed 'are you O.K?'. She nodded slowly. Opposite her Sirius grinned at the twins who were trying to juggles several items of food as well as some cutlery between them. Harry sat next to Hermione and the two seemed to have had a change of mood as they were talking pleasantly with each other. Harry's hand rested on Hermione's arm but as Estelle looked over his emerald eyes met hers in a heated gaze.
Draco nudged her elbow to get her attention.
"What was that about between you and Harry in the library," he whispered, leaning in close to her ear, his breath tickling the side of her face.
"He's just angry at me, that's all. I'm sure he'll get used to the idea that I slept with his dad sooner or later."
"He looked too close to you. Are you sure he won't hurt you?"
"He was just trying to scare me. Don't be angry with him. It's not his fault," Estelle said as she saw the glimmer of rage in Draco's eye. He looked away so she grabbed his hand until he met her eye.
"He doesn't deserve any mistreatment. Promise me," she begged, squeezing his hand.
"I promise." She smiled in satisfaction and released his slender fingers.