****Chapter 7****

Selina was riding Morion. It was an early frosted morning, with dew still fresh underfoot. She could feel his powerful muscles rippling under her, as he cantered up a steep hill. Morion reached then top with ease, then galloped down the other side and onto the flat plane. "Come on, you can do better than that!" Selina laughed, as she urged him to go faster. He obliged with a snort, and increased his speed. Selina marveled at how light his footfalls were, especially at the pace they were going.

The wind rushed in her ears and the cold breeze was making her face numb and eyes stream, but she didn't care.

She was surprised as Morion gave a sudden jolt of speed, and quickly grabbed firmly onto his mane. Then he unfolded his wings. Selina's stomach gave a sudden clench of fear. "Oh no...no Morion, I don't think I'm ready for this yet..." but he slowly began to beat his wings.

"No Morion, please!" she yelled, but his wings began to beat fast and faster, and his footfalls became lighter and lighter.......they were barely touching the ground... Selina scrunched her eyes shut and buried her face in his mane. They stared to ascend upwards on a slope- Selina clenched her knees around Morion's wing joints, and held on for dear life.

Higher and higher they climbed, until suddenly Morion levelled out to horizontal, and the powerful beating of his wings slowed slightly.

Selina's fright began to slowly dissolve away, and she cautiously opened her eyes. They were soaring high above the hilly land, Selina could see the forest to her left, stretching out like a green sea.

Selina's spirits soared, she felt so exhilarated and carefree...how could she ever have been scared of flying?

Suddenly, Morion gave a grunt, as if to say he'd had enough of flying. They began to descend rapidly... Selina shut her eyes and gripped Morion's mane as they were about to land, when -

Selina awoke, in her bed, to find her hands clenching her bedcovers firmly. It had all been a dream.

***

Weeks passed and numerous, similar dreams invaded her sleep. But Selina wasn't complaining. She would actually look forward to the nights where she would vividly ride the great black steed in her hours of slumber.

She was in the process of recounting her previous nights adventure in her mind, while she and her parents sat at dinner one evening. Suddenly, out of the blue, Mrs Galladen spoke.

"How was dinner at the Malfoy's...dear?"

Selina looked up. Had she just heard right? Her mother hadn't once mentioned it before, even though it was over a week ago.

"Sorry?"

Mrs Galladen made an odd face -- as if restraining herself - while making a quiet choking noise, then spoke.

"The dinner, girl!" she said impatiently, " At the Malfoy's...oh honestly, it wasn't that long ago!"

"Oh, yes...um, well it was quite pleasant..."

Selina looked down at her plate, and realized she'd hardly touched her dinner. She began pushing vegetables onto her fork.

"And what about Draco? How are you two getting along?"

"Oh great, we get along fine," Selina said through a mouthful of beans.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Mrs Galladen, leaning back into her chair grinning haughtily, and looking quite satisfied.

"Yes.yes it is..." Selina said, smiling falsely, "But not in the way YOU think," Selina thought to herself as she sipped from her goblet, "You stupid old-

BOOM!

Selina spilt her drink in fright, as the loud boom echoed noisily from downstairs. It was followed by the faint squeals of many house elves. Mr Galladen jumped to his feet, wand drawn. With a small 'pop' that made them all jump, a small house elf, blackened with soot, appeared in the room.

"Oh Master! Mistress!," he choked while coughing and spluttering, "It happened s-so quickly!"

"What did? Who caused this catastrophe!!!" Mr Galladen demanded.

"She d-didn't mean to sir...it was an accident! Oh dear, oh dear...it was terrible! The whole kitchen is ruined..." the elf sobbed, blowing his nose loudly on his loincloth, which left a black smudge on his face.

"Listen to me elf! I demand you tell me who is responsible for this!!" Mr Galladen roared.

But as the sobbing elf went to speak, another ashen house elf came rushing in, tripping over its gangly legs and skidded to a holt in front of them. With a quivering lip and a shameful face, Milly's big sad eyes slowly looked up at them.

"YOU!" Mrs Galladen barked, pointing her wand threateningly at Milly, "Explain yourself!"

Milly went to speak, but suddenly started shrieking, then dropped to the floor and rolled. The back of her loincloth was on fire, and she was rolling frantically trying to put it out. She then stood shakily to her feet, and started to wail.

"Oh mistress, master! Milly is so terribly, terribly sorry! It was an accident...Milly didn't mean-

"That's enough!" cried Mrs Galladen. "I've had enough of you, you half- witted little creature! I've been looking for a reason to dismiss you for ages, and now its finally come..."

"NO!" Selina yelled jumping to her feet, "You can't! Milly has served us for years now, you can't just fire her like that!"

"Watch me," Mrs Galladen sneered. "Milly- or whatever your name is- you are, from this day onwards, dismissed from our entire estate. You are forever banished, and may never- under no circumstances- return. Is that completely clear?

Milly look up at Mrs Galladen, tears flowing down her face, then to Selina.

"Well?" Mrs Galladen said threateningly. Milly gave a small nod.

"Good, now OUT!"

************************************************************************

Poor Milly :( I was in a fairly vicious mood when I wrote this, and was originally going to kill off a character, but didn't have the heart to. So I 'got rid' of one instead.

Anywayz, sorry this has been so long coming, I've been so run off my feet lately! I've got the next two chapters practically finished, just a lil bit more editing to do and the like.

Gratitudes to:

Lemon- oh how sincere!

Serpena- thanx...I think. I never know if your reviews are positive or not...

Milady DeWinter- thankyou very much! Your story is also very good, I have to get around to reading the last few chapters.

Shadowdancer3- what a lovely review! Thankyou so much ^_^

wuntuffcooki- another nice review...thanx!

From now I think the action is picking up a fair bit, so look out for the next few chapters!!

~*Fernie*~

p.s. Did I trick you with that little dream sequence? Hehehehehe.^_^