Thanks as always to my marvelous beta, and for all of you people who even remotely sort of like Twilight, go check out 2cool4you's story, because she is an astounding author and will leave your mind baffled on how someone could write that well! -Cassia
Chapter 14: Apparation Lessons
CREEEEAAAAK! The door opened loudly and a gasp emitted from the doorway. Light flooded in as I pushed Draco back quickly, looking wide eyed at the intruder, my heart pounding furiously as it sank lower and lower into my stomach.
"Astoria!" Lucy gasps, shocked.
"What are you doing here?" I practically yell, equally, if not more, stunned. I wildly look sideways to Draco, who is standing stunned. I nudged him and the only animated motion he made was to stride out of the room past me and then past Lucy who still hasn't moved.
"You coward, Draco!" I yell after him. "Stay and help me explain!" he was already gone.
Boy, at times I really didn't like him.
"It-it didn't look like it back there!" Lucy spluttered.
"Oh-I said that out loud?" I laughed nervously.
"What-when-you...him...what?" The poor girl was stuttering. They all said how it wouldn't surprise them when Draco and I ended up together, blah blah blah...but now when the actual event happened, you'd think the sky had fallen and started to tap dance.
I lifted my head from my hands, smiling helplessly. What would this mean for Draco and I?
"What are you doing here?" I finally mustered up the courage to ask.
"Julie and I came looking for you after you never came back. Oh, she's going to love this! And so will the rest of the school! Hey Julie, guess-"
"No!" I lunged at her as if I had been shot out of a cannon, covering her mouth with my hand.
"Lucy, we have to talk," I whispered, closing the door and hoping that Julie hadn't heard the beginning of Lucy's cry.
Removing my hand I held my finger to my lips, silencing her and struggling not to laugh at her quizzical look.
"Lucy, what am I supposed to say? Someone poisoned your mushrooms and you're hallucinating? I can't exactly go for that especially since we didn't have mushrooms for dinner, but you absolutely can't tell anyone this!" I babbled on. "Please, Luce, we'll make this public someday but for now please just..now is not the right time, okay?" I pleaded with all of my might.
"Why?" she asked incredulously. "I will stay quiet-but-why would you want to?"
"We're not ready," I tell her simply, shrugging.
"Well, you two looked pretty serious back there. How long has this been going on?" I had to think about that.
"Several months?" I phrased it like a question. Her eyes bugged out.
"Several months? Holy freaking crap! We can tell Julie and Sarah, can't we?" she brightened at the prospect.
"No, Lucy, please, not yet!" I begged desperately. Why had Draco left me to do the damage control by myself? "Please, trust me," I whispered finally as I heard footsteps approaching the outside of the door.
"Lucy? Are you in-oh, you found her!" Julie grinned, striding in. "What took you so long?"
I looked to Lucy with pleading eyes, relieved beyond measures when she gave an almost imperceptible nod of the head.
Lucy, thankfully, held her silence (but still managed to find me alone and bombard me with questions) especially after Draco and I talked to her together, which, thankfully, went pretty smoothly, except for the obvious first shock. But I had to put that out of my mind and concentrate on more pressing matters-the upcoming apparation lessons.
Students arrived in the Great Hall Saturday morning in a large throng. The snow outside had melted and had been replaced with an abundance of heavy-clouded rain, which drove in sheets against the high windows of the Great Hall, the enchanted ceiling matching the swirling purple and grey thunderclouds outside. The tables had been removed to make room for the lesson.
Much jostling ensued as students elbowed and pushed their way to stand eagerly in front of the four heads of houses. Professors Sprout, Flitwick, Snape, and McGonagall. The fifth was a rather small wizard who must have been the instructor. I realized with a start that I had been pushed away from my friends and right next to Hermione and Harry. I wondered where the third member of their group was, but then on following Hermione's tight-lipped gaze I spotted him standing what looked to be as close as he possible could to Lavender Brown without them actually being conjoined...I smiled my hello to Harry as I craned my neck for my friends, and Draco, to get his bearings in the crowd. I always found myself doing that, looking for him in a room.
The heads of houses began the rather daunting task of quieting all of us at once when it seemed that everyone had arrived.
"Good morning," announced the wizard in such a shy, timid voice that I immediately felt sorry for him even though I had no reason to. "My name is Wilkie Twycross, and I shall be your ministry apparation instructor for the next 12 weeks. I hope to be able to prepare you for your apparation tests in this time-"
"Malfoy, be quiet and pay attention!" McGonagall barked harshly, glaring lividly at Snape for pointedly turning the other way to the misbehaving of his favorite student. There was a general turning of heads in Draco's direction to catch a glimpse-he was presently turning a slight shade of pink due to his reprimand. McGonagall seemed to have been interrupting a rather heated, whispered argument between him and Crabbe and Goyle, and I turned my head back around seconds after everyone else had stopped gawking at Malfoy.
I must have had a pretty funny look on my face because Harry had a rather funny look on his own as he glanced at me oddly.
"-by which time, many of you may be ready to take your tests," Wilkie started up again right where he had left off as though he had never been interrupted.
"As you may know, it is usually impossible to apparate or dissaperate within Hogwarts. The headmaster has lifted the enchantment,purely within the limits of the great hall, for one hour, so as to enable practice. May I emphasize that you will not be able to apparate outside of the walls of Hogwarts, and that you would be unwise to try. I would like each of you to place yourself now so that you have a clear five feet of space in front of you."
The Great Hall erupted in movement and talking surprisingly fast as well as arguments over whose space was whose. The teachers had to step in and reposition arguing students-
"Harry, where are you going?" Hermione's voice broke me out of my thoughts. Twisting my head to look I saw Harry already disappearing into the crowd. He was heading toward the back...in the direction of Draco. Huh. I'd never gotten the impression that Harry would actually willingly place himself beside Draco in any circumstance. Or, directly behind him, it seemed.
Draco's POV
"I don't know how much longer it will be, alright?" Draco snapped to Crabbe, not noticing Harry standing right behind him. "It's taking longer than I thought it would." But no one heard the thoughts that rolled in after that sentence- because I've been held up with becoming an unofficial member of the Order with Astoria.
Harry's POV
Harry watched Crabbe open his mouth but Malfoy cut across him before he could get a word out. "Look, it's non of your business what I'm doing, Crabbe, you and Goyle just do as you're told and keep a lookout!"
After he said this, Harry caught Malfoy's eyes flicker up toward the front of the room, around the general area of where he had been earlier.
"I tell my friends what I'm up to, if I want them to keep a lookout for me," Harry said, just loud enough for Malfoy to hear him.
Malfoy spun around on the spot, his hand flying to his wand, but at that moment all four heads of houses shouted, "Quiet!" at once and silence fell again. Malfoy slowly turned to re-face the front.
*****Back to Astoria's POV*****
"Thank you," said Wilkie. "Now then..." he waved his wand with an intricate swirling motion and wooden hoops appeared onto the floor in front of all of us.
"In a few months we'll be able to appear just like that," I grinned to Hermione in a somewhat feeble attempt to get her to look away from Lavender squealing at Ron.
"Hm?" Hermione muttered, her head twitching toward me but not tearing her eyes away from her best friend and his girlfriend. "Oh, yes," she finished, brain finally processing what I'd said.
"Hermione, look at me," I said gently.
"What?" I could see pain evident in here eyes as she turned to face me.
"It's just a fling."
"I-I know. I'm acting quite silly," she gave a short laugh. "Not that I have feelings for Ronald, of course," she quickly added. Sure, and I'm Voldemort.
"But if you did...this is purely hypothetical, of course," I added quickly after her eyes grew wide. "If you did, I think it would be best to tell him. I see the way he looks at you, Granger. He doesn't look at Lavender that way, believe me. You two have been building up for years, and it's bound to happen eventually."
Hermione flushed an even brighter pink, beaming but trying to hide it.
She didn't get the chance to answer because just then Wilkie's voice rang out again...
Honestly, I tried to pay attention. I did.
"-mind firmly on the desired-" I couldn't resist not glancing back to see what harry was possible doing next to Draco Malfoy.
"-this case, the interior of your hoop.-" My eyes flickered up to see Snape staring intently at Draco, but his face was the unemotional mask I had seen so many times on Draco himself.
I glared intently at the inside of my hoop, trying to remember what Wilkie had just said. I made sure I payed extra attention after that to make up for the missed first step. After the second step was excitedly explained and I swept my eyes over the room, I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. Several students were concentrating so intently that various shades of purple and pink were coloring their faces. One lesson later brought us into February, and by splinching herself Susan Bones had gotten further than any of us.
"Your turn, Tori," Sarah closed the door behind her.
"Crap," I sighed. Today was 6th year career talk day with Professor Flitwick, head of Ravenclaw house. I already knew what I wanted to be-why talk about it? As expected, I didn't gain anything, really, except encouragement after I stepped out of the tiny charms teacher's office. Neither did my friends, apparently- I fancying myself as a healer, Lucy a teacher here at Hogwarts of either Divination (Blegh) or Arithmancy. Julie also wanted to be a healer, like her mum was. The only one who seemed to get something from this day was Sarah. She wanted to be an Auror, but her grades weren't quite where they should be. So now she was considering with vigor to follow in her brother Donte's footsteps, becoming a curse breaker. Who, be the way, I had a major crush on in 3rd year. Well, my third year. His seventh. Pretty big age difference, but that didn't stop me from drooling over him embarrassingly. Ouch. I shuddered just thinking about it.
On my way back, the room of requirement began to pull at my attention. Almost without thinking about it, my feet led me to the now-familiar path to the mysterious room. I was becoming quite the regular. I suspected I could probably walk there in my sleep.
"Hey, Astoria!" Ginny Weasley smiled at me brightly, holding what looked to be a fuzzball of a pygmy puff.
"Hey, Gin," I smiled. "Nice puff."
"Thanks!" A group of 7th year students bustled in front of us, giggling, and Ginny and I parted. I walked the other way, seeing Draco lurking at the end of the hall, hands in his pockets.
"Greengrass," he stated with no emotion.
"There's no one around, Malfoy, let's get inside the room or requirement."
About five minutes later, I thought we had pulled off a rather surreptitious retreat into the curious room.
It looked the same as if had the first time I had seen the vanishing cabinet in it.
"What are we doing?" Draco sounded exhausted, like the effort of talking was grinding against his nerves.
"C'mon," I pulled his hand and stood with him to face the large black cabinet etched with curling black symbols from an ancient language.
"This is the bane of my existence," he groaned, rubbing his temples with his hands. "What are we doing here, anyway? I'm not getting the point."
"I want to help you," I said with deadly seriousness.
He only stared down at me with incredulity for a second before the short answer burst from his lips- "No."
"What? Why now?" my eyebrows furrowed-he'd caught me by surprise. Whatever I had been expecting, it hadn't been this.
"Why would you? No way!" he was almost laughing.
"I'm being serious!" I protested, folding my arms. I was a little hurt that I was being laughed at.
"You don't know what you're asking."
"I think I do, actually."
His eyes snapped to me.
"What? I trust Dumbledore. I trust that my helping you will not be helping you-know-who in any way, but only leading to his downfall faster."
"Why?" his eyes were intense.
"Gee, maybe because I care about you, and I can help," I sort of snapped at him, wincing as soon as the sharp words fell. "It's too much to face alone, I think," I softened my voice. "Think of all the classes you've missed."
"I don't care about classes! And, I don't want you involved in this!"
"You've got to be kidding me, right? Is this some kind of bloody joke? I'm just as involved as you are-you weren't the only one being x-rayed in Dumbledore's office," I hissed, sending out a glare that rivaled his own.
"No." he turned his back to me. My temper snapped. Scowling at his back, I went to open the door, wrapping my fingers around the cool handle and pulling it open slowly. Opening it wouldn't do anything, would it?
"No!" Growled Draco, tackling me out of the way. "What the bloody he-"
"Are you that possessive?" I groaned, rolling up. My neck was sore from snapping up at the sudden impact of landing on the floor. The cabinet's door was still opening eerily slowly, as though a slow wind was pushing at it. "What was that for?" I offered my hand to him but he glared at me like we were in one of our fifth year fights. The intensity caused me to step back, surprised.
"Just go," he hissed, clenching his jaw.
I took another step backward, as if his words were a knife that drove closer to me with every syllable.
It certainly felt like it. No witty comeback graced me as I snatched my hand back, taking a few more steps backward until I could no longer bear to look at him. I whirled around, walking as fast as I could without running. Were relationship supposed to be this painful, this conflict-filled?
He didn't call me back as I slipped out.
The next morning, Draco (of course) was absent, leaving me wondering if we were still...together. I hated how weak I was feeling so I resolved not to think about him anymore, tried to remember details from a long time ago to strain my mind and distract myself from his glare that was burned into the backs of my eyelids.
"So...how are you and Draco?" Lucy dropped her voice to a whisper.
"We're...well, to be honest, I don't know," I huffed out a breath, pulling my hair into a braid down my back. This was after a grueling Quidditch practice and before going to bed, Lucy and I were the only ones in our room.
"What do you mean?" she asked quietly, drawing her knees up to her chest and looking at me intently from her perch on the edge of her bed as I pulled pajamas out of my trunk.
"Well, we got in a fight. I think it was my fault...and, we just bicker so often, you know?" I sighed, pushing my back up against the wall and splaying my legs out, facing the four beds. I heard the trampling on the stairs behind the door to my right, indicating that either the seventh or sixth year girls were running down to the common room.
"Why don't you talk to him?" Came Lucy's logical conclusion.
"Well, he wasn't at lessons today...but you're right, maybe I should," I agreed thoughtfully. Because the truth was, I was already missing him like I hadn't seen him in weeks.
Draco's POV
Why didn't she understand that Draco didn't want to put her in any more danger? He kicked the vanishing cabinet in frustration, regretting it a second later, cursing as he dropped down to check for scratches. He ran his hand over the spot where his foot had connected, checking for damage. Draco already missed Astoria like he hadn't seen her in weeks, even though it had only been a day. Hm...he thought. Maybe this weird effect she had on him was because she was part veela. He vowed he'd ask her that someday.
But he just couldn't have her helping, dang it! He couldn't, no matter how much he wanted to. Even though she was infuriatingly frustrating, he still wanted to.
That was the night Draco first found his way into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
Astoria's POV
In ancient runes, Draco finally made his appearance. And under his pleading eyes were purple bags, signaling significant lack of sleep.
That hour Babbling graced us with allowing us to spend our time working on our huge translation due-the professor had just stepped into her office, and I had barely taken my books out to begin when a note found its way to my desk.
I tried to open it slowly, trying to make it look as though my fingers were not trembling...
A-
I'm really sorry-I was way out of line, snapping at you like that. I just don't want to put you in any more danger.
My heart practically melted at this-they were soon going to have to mop me off the floor if this sweetness continued.
It was my fault, and it's alright. I won't ask you again.
He rested his leg against mine, breaking down the unspoken barrier of no contact since our spat two nights ago. I felt happier that I had in days.
We lost the next Quidditch match to Slytherin, putting us in 3rd place overall beating out only the Hufflepuffs.
Myself and another 6th year Ravenclaw Quidditch player I was friends with, Lisa Turpin, were trying to boost each other's spirits by talking new strategy after our lost game.
Lisa was a pretty nice girl who was another keeper for our team, and I had known her for years but we'd never been that close. She had long black hair and dark brown eyes full of mischief that almost put her in Gryffindor, a good cohort to have when Parkinson was around. We were in the small population of girls who fought back against her.
So of course, what better time than loosing a game to Parkinson's very house could she come slinking down the corner toward us, ending our discussion about Wronski feints.
"Greengrass, Turpin," she said as sneers identical to her own plastered the faces of her friends that flanked her.
"Shove off, Parkinson," I hissed as Lisa gave her the finger. I bit down on my laugh as a look of outrage crossed her face. I couldn't count on all my fingers and toes the times Parkinson had deliberately made Lisa's life miserable in a cruel way, so she had the finger long coming.
"What was that, Turpin?" she screeched, whipping out her wand. "Let's see you try that again!"
"Okay," Lisa smirked, repeating the sign. I guess she really didn't think Parkinson would hex her, but an enraged shriek filled the hallway as Lisa actually went flying backwards, spinning and whipping through the air, robes snapping as she hit the ground with a dull thud. That was no mere 'I don't like you' hex, that was meant for harm. Growling, I pulled out my wand.
"You cow!" I practically shrieked. "Though I must admit, your wand skills have certainly improved since last- you actually managed not to stun yourself this time," I snickered as I heard what I hoped to be the sound of Lisa rolling to her feet behind me. Pansy shrieked a rather nasty hex as a dark red light shot out of her wand, looking much like a certain bug-charm we had learned ages ago.
"That the best you can do, Parkinson?" I taunted as I protego'd it and it absorbed itself.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Pansy screamed at her two friends. "Hex her!"
"Yeah, just let your friends fight your battles for you! Three against one, because that's the only way you have the slightest possibility of winning!" I snarled, looking into the cold eyes of the girl who had just icily, purposefully tried to seriously harm her fellow student.
"Three against two, actually," Lisa announced. Upon a quick inspection I noticed the side of her body she'd landed on, all that was uncovered by the robes, which was mainly her face-was turning an angry shade of mingling black and blue. By now her friends had managed to draw their wands, but they stood unmoving, waiting for Pansy's command. I wasn't about to stand there and watch them fire hexes at us so I hurled the first spell-the Bat Bogey Hex-that came to mind. Not waiting to see it's effects, I grabbed the arm Lisa hadn't landed on we started hastily toward the hospital wing.
"Whoa!" I gasped as I lost control of my legs-they began to flail about wildly, and no matter how much willpower I exerted over them-they wouldn't stop.
"Argh!" I yelled, but Lisa was quick to preform the counter-curse (luckily she hadn't landed on her wand). I whirled around to face Parkinson who must have managed, somehow, to block or get rid of the bat hex, and she was laughing meanly.
I pointed my wand...
"Professor Snape?" I gasped. He was striding briskly up behind the three girls and with a silent flick of his wand all five of our own flew into his outstretched hand. With menace in his black eyes he looked straight at me and Lisa, of course.
"I believe the bat-bogey hex is forbidden-"
"What?" I spluttered, interrupting him. The three Slytherin girls stood sneering at us with their head of house behind them. "But she attacked me from behind, and hurt Lisa!"
"I am aware of that. Let's see...twenty points from Ravenclaw..."
"What?" came Lisa's and my outraged cry.
"Each. And, Miss Greengrass, 1- points for interrupting, and also 10 for back talking. You three will not go unpunished, either." he looked pointedly at Pansy and her friends, turning and gliding away after beckoning us to follow. The smug smiles dropped off Pansy, Amanda, and Natalia's faces as they realized we weren't the only ones being punished.
We struggled to catch up to the professor, and finally Lisa and I got close to Snape.
"Sir!" I said loudly, so there was no way he could pretend not to hear me.
"Sir!" I repeated, panicking slightly as I heard Lisa's breath rattle in her chest. We turned into the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. He whirled around, stopping us in our tracks as Pansy's crew sauntered in behind us.
"You will stay here as I fetch the cleaning supplies, all of you," he said quietly.
"Sir! Lisa's hurt, she has to see Madam Pomfrey!"
"I think Miss Turpin will live. I realize it is your ambition to become a healer. I should imagine you capable to handle a situation as UN-precarious as this." with that maddening statement he left the room and slammed the door, leaving it rattling in it's frame.
"Lie down, please," I command Lisa, paying no attention to the other and not dwelling on the fact how completely unjust Snape was being and what clear favoritism he was showing his own house. I muttered a few healing spells, and tingle ran through my spine at how natural it felt. I had her pain to a minimum and her bruising reduced drastically by the time the door swung open, Snape waiting on the other side.
"Out. Now," he barked in a monotone voice. "You will be polishing this whole hallway until I am able to see my reflection," he told us coldly. Bloody hell! I groaned inwardly. That would take hours!
"In other words, you will be scrubbing until every ounce of desire to fight has disappeared. And you will not be using magic," he added a bit too happily for my liking.
On Valentine's day Draco and I both skipped dinner to meet for the second time in the Astronomy tower. We hadn't seen each other in a couple of days so I was practically at a run as I weaved the opposite direction of the crowd. None of my exuberance left as I made my way up the numerous flights of steps , but I became rather short of breath as the roar of talking from the crowd faded from my ears with distance.
I broke into a grin at the sight of Draco leaning up against the circular wall of the tower. He stepped forward to meet him and I surprised him by jumping into his arms and wrapping my legs around his torso with excitement.
"Miss me?" he grunted, laughing.
"Yes!" I chuckled into his ear as we spun.
"Happy Valentine's day, love," he smiled.
"And to you too," I grinned, kissing him as he pulled me closer with one arm and put his other hand around my neck under my unruly ponytail.
"Hey, now I don't have to bend down to kiss you," he grinned devilishly as we pulled apart after a few kisses.
"Now I don't have to crane my neck up," I crinkled my nose at him. I put my feet back on the ground and he pulled me into another kiss.
"I have my camera here, by the way," he told me as I rested my forehead on his.
"Okay," I tried to slow my rapid breathing. "Don't you think it's risky to take pictures of us together, though?"
"I just want one or two," he promised. Levitating it, he wrapped his arms around me as we faced the camera. At the last moment he buried his face into my neck, his hair tickling my skin-I threw my head back, laughing as the camera flashed. It developed right away, colors appearing and spreading out, still for a moment but than coming to life to produce the replication of the moment.
First it was myself grinning and Draco smiling devilishly down at my with his arms around my waist- he bent his head down to put it in the curve of my neck and I threw my head back, laughing. I then righted myself until my face was about an inch away from Draco's, both of us smiling like we were the only two people in the world. Then the picture ended, replaying. The torchlight in the background bathed us in a soft golden glow, reflecting off my curly hair and Draco's even lighter blonde. Draco was wearing the full Slytherin robes, and I was in full muggle attire.
"Lovely," Draco announced, sneaking in a swift kiss on my cheek. I duplicated the photo and each of us pocketed the happy memory.
February moved into March while the weather that kept curtains closed persisted. In fact, the weather was so bad that the Hogsmeade trip was cancelled. All three of our apparation lessons held no sign of us being anywhere near able to pass. Luckily, the deadline was so far away it was just a meaningless date on the calender for from now.
'Now' found Draco and I in Professor Dumbledore's office- sort of a "progress report" as he had called it.
"Ah, there come my two favorite unofficial members of the order!" Dumbledore said jovially.
"There's my favorite Hogwarts headmaster," I smiled back at him affectionately, taking a lemon drop at his offering. After several minutes of small talk or conversation veered toward a heavier subject-the vanishing cabinet and it's progress, which, according to Draco, was not developing as well as he would have liked. My eyes wandered along the walls as I walked slowly around the edge of the room, listening to the conversation.
"...remember what we discussed at our last meeting, how I told you there would come a time when you would have to stage an act? In which you disarm me, and then pretend to prepare to kill me?"
He nodded curtly, pale-faced, as I went to stand with the two men facing each other, crossing my arms.
"It is not time to tell you the full detail of the plan, no use to burden you with the task of remembering all the tedious detail when it is still some time away. But I do believe it is appropriate to enlighten you slightly more," he smiled. "I wish to wait until the last possible moment to tell you the whole thing as it is rather complex and would not to do have the workings of time diminish any detail. Because, my friends, any detail could be the one that brings our plan to ashes.
"Now, I will begin to tell you what is going to happen. There will come a time when I leave Hogwarts toward the end of this year. Just a personal trip, to visit a long-unseen friend. I will alert you when this date approaches, though not in person. Because my temporary absence is crucial to this plan. It is the starting point. You must constantly be on guard for the sign to prepare yourselves."
We both nodded, drinking in every detail.
"Now, when I return, from my...absence," he looked intently at the both of us, "Death Eaters will be in Hogwarts."
My heart almost stopped beating.
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