Chapter 21
On the first day of the second-term classes, Ayla woke up earlier than usual to make sure she could find all of her classes. She stepped into the common room with her schedule, and saw Al lounging on an armchair.
"Oh, hey, Al!" she exclaimed cheerily and he looked up and grinned.
"What are you doing up at…" he looked at his watch. "Four-thirty."
"I wanted to get a look at my classes before everyone else starts waking up. What about you?"
"Couldn't sleep," he said simply. "You want some company?"
"Sure!" Ayla replied brightly and Albus hopped up, following her out of the common room. "So, do you know where the greenhouses are?" Ayla asked as they descended the steps after getting yelled at by the Fat Lady.
"Yeah, they're around the back of the castle," Albus explained. "I'll show you."
They walked down several sets of steps and out the back door of the castle to the greenhouses and Albus jiggled the handle of the door, but it didn't budge.
"Oh, it's fine, we don't have to go in," Ayla assured the disappointed boy in front of her.
"Please, Torres, I know you know how to break in."
She laughed. "Yes, I'm sure I do, but it's a greenhouse; we don't need to break in. What exactly would we be breaking in to see?"
"I have a secret plant stash in there," he admitted.
"Why?" she demanded with a laugh.
"If I want to brew a potion, it limits the number of ingredients I have to steal from Slughorn," he explained simply and she laughed once.
"So rather than break the rules by stealing, you break the rules by stealing Professor Longtbottom's plants and stashing them away for yourself," she concluded and he shrugged.
"Eh, if Neville finds out, he might tell my Dad but he wouldn't report me."
Ayla laughed again. "And if he finds out we broke into the greenhouse?"
Albus cracked a grin. "So we are breaking in?"
She sighed in defeat and looked around before pulling a pin out of her hair. She pried the two sides apart with her front teeth and stuck it in the lock on the door, twisting it until the lock sprung open. She shot a smile at Albus and opened the door. Albus walked to the back of the room and crouched down to pull a long green tray off of a shelf. He removed the top of the tray to reveal a line of eight plants, looking proudly at them. Ayla laughed, stepping closer.
"So this one is aconite…"
"Actually, that's Wolfsbane," Albus corrected and Ayla raised her eyebrows. "Wow, I never thought the day would come when I would prove Ayla Torres wrong!"
Ayla stepped closer, looking at him, hiding a smile. "Aconite is Wolfsbane," she told him and he blushed slightly.
"Oh," he said dejectedly. He laughed. "Just when I thought I was becoming a genius!" he joked, grinning stupidly, earning a laugh from Ayla.
"Is this asphodel?" she asked, examining one of the plants and Albus nodded proudly. "Wow, you've got aconite, asphodel, dittany, fluxweed, hellebore, knotgrass, sopophorous beans, and gurdyroot. Wow, Albus, this is quite the garden you've got here."
Albus laughed loudly but Ayla quickly shushed him.
"What?" he asked urgently and she shushed him again, grabbing his arm and ushering him towards a door to a supply closet.
"Someone's coming," Ayla hissed, pulling him into the closet and pulling the door behind them so she could see out the thin crack that supplied the only light source to the closet. She watched as Professor Longbottom walked in, wearing pajamas and whistling, and picked up a tin of water, quickly spritzing each of the plants with it. He wiped his hands on a towel when he was finished and, to Ayla's horror, began walking toward the supply closet.
"Get down!" Ayla hissed, grabbing a dark blue tarp off the floor and diving to the ground. She and Albus crammed between the floor and the bottom of the lowest shelf, throwing the tarp over themselves. Neville continued to whistle as he grabbed something off the top shelf. Ayla laid uncomfortably over Albus, his hand resting on her back to keep her still. They held their breath until they heard the door swing shut behind Neville. Ayla breathed a sigh of relief, sliding off Albus and pushing the tarp back into the corner. She stuck her head out of the closet to make sure Neville had left before leaving with Albus, brushing the dirt off of her jeans.
"Well, that was fun," Albus commented, and Ayla glared at him. "I can't believe he didn't notice my plant tray," Albus noted as he placed it back in its hiding spot. Ayla nodded in agreement and reached for the door. She wiggled the handle but nothing happened. She smacked at the door with her palm, confused. Then it dawned on her and she dropped her hand from the door, leaning back against it, her face in a panicked expression.
"What's wrong?" Albus asked her, jiggling the handle.
"Neville locked it from the outside," she told him simply and he cursed loudly.
"What do we do now?" he demanded, wiggling the door handle with more force. She grabbed his wrist.
"That's not going to do anything," she told him and he sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning his back against the door.
"So I guess we're trapped, then."
Ayla laughed dismissively. "Do you know me at all?" she asked with a grin, stepping toward the window.
"The windows are locked in position," Albus explained. "They open them slightly so that the plants can get sunlight but they don't open any farther than that. So unless you want to explain to McGonagall why we broke a window…"
Ayla rammed her elbow into the window and stepped back as it shattered.
"What are you—" Albus hissed but Ayla wasn't listening. She climbed up onto the shelf and wiggled herself through the tiny window until she was on her feet outside. She poked her head back in to see Albus gaping at her. "I can't fit through there!" Albus protested.
"Okay, just hang tight," she assured him. "I'll pick the lock out here and let you out."
She disappeared around the side of the greenhouse, pulling another pin out of her hair. Albus heard the click of the lock and ran toward the door in relief.
"Now what are you going to do about the window?" he demanded.
"Easy," she said confidently, twirling her wand in her fingers. She walked back around the side of the greenhouse and pointed her wand at the broken window. "Reparo," she said calmly and the broken pieces molded together to form an undamaged window.
"Wow," Albus breathed. "Where did you learn that?"
"What, the spell, the lock-picking, or squeezing through the window?"
Albus laughed once. "All of it."
"Same place I learned everything else," she said simply.
"Sunnydale?" he asked and she nodded.
"I had a little tiny window by the ceiling of my cell. My bunkmates would boost me up there and I had to break the window, squeeze out, and then fix the window all the time."
"What did you do when you snuck out?" Albus asked as they walked back towards the castle.
Ayla shrugged. "Anything," she admitted. "Sometimes I would just go out and sit somewhere and just be away from that place."
"Wow," Albus said quietly.
"What?" Ayla asked uncomfortably.
"N-nothing, it's just…I have no interesting stories. You learned your spells from being locked up in a cell by your abusive father; I learned them reading a book."
Ayla shook her head, looking slightly stunned. "Having stories isn't always a good thing," she told him quietly.
"I didn't mean that it was," he assured her quickly. "I just meant…you never fail to amaze me, that's all."
She smiled shyly. "I'm surprised I don't scare you more than I surprise you," she admitted.
"I'd never be afraid of you," he promised her. "I know that you had no control over what happened to you; just because you came from a dangerous past doesn't mean that you're a dangerous person."
Her eyes filled with tears. "Thank you; I wish more people would realize that—"
"Maybe they would," Albus interrupted. "You haven't told anyone; maybe they'd surprise you."
She shook her head. "No, they wouldn't," she insisted. "People that are lucky enough to grow up safely just don't get it." Her eyes softened as she looked up at him. "Except you," she added. Then her face grew more serious. "Why do you get it so well?"
"I don't necessarily get it; I mean, I have no idea what that would be like, but…" he took a deep breath. "When it comes to you, it all seems to make sense."
Ayla blushed and looked down. "I, uh, I should…we should go see the other classrooms probably."
"I—okay," Albus said tiredly, following her back into the school.
They walked up to the astronomy tower, where Ayla sat on the half-wall surrounding the tower. Albus climbed up next to her, where the rising sun shone in their eyes.
"The sky looks so pretty from here," Ayla said quietly, gazing out at the orange sunset.
"I'm surprised," Albus said playfully. "I would have thought you were a sunset type of person."
"So many people love them, and I don't get that. The sunset is the sun going away; what's happy about that? No one appreciates the sunrise; which is like everything good coming into the day. The sunset is everything good going away for the night; I just don't get the appeal."
Albus stared at her in awe until Ayla laughed uncomfortably.
"What did I do now?" she asked.
"You just…amazed me again," he told her, gazing into her eyes. She held the eye contact for a few moments before blinking and looking away as she changed the subject.
"Look, you can see the Quidditch field from here," she said, pointing.
"You like heights, don't you?" Albus asked, looking at the way her eyes lit up.
"I do," she admitted. "It's like, you can see everyone but no one can see you up here. Don't you just feel…I don't know, invincible?"
He laughed once. "Yeah, I kind of do."
She pointed down to a large area of grass. "Is that where flying class takes place?"
"Yeah," Albus said, peering down at it. "Madam Hooch is bound to be pretty impressed when she sees your flying."
"Eh, she's seen better," Ayla said, nudging Al's arm with her shoulder.
"We have to play Quidditch again soon," he told her.
"I'm ready to kick your ass any day," she said playfully and he laughed, sliding off the ledge and onto the stone floor of the top of the tower. He held out his hand to help her down and they walked back into the castle. Once they had seen the History of Magic classroom, they walked back to the common room. It was about 6:15 by the time they entered the room again.
"Thank God!" came Liam's voice when they entered and Ayla jumped in surprise.
"Liam, I didn't see you!" Ayla exclaimed, but Liam cut her off by hugging her tightly.
"What the hell is the matter with you?" he hissed at Albus, who stepped back, hands up.
Ayla put her hand on Liam's chest to keep him away from Al. "Whoa, Liam, calm down!"
"I woke up and figured you might be awake so I knocked on your door and one of your roommates answered and said you weren't there, and I have been panicking for the past hour wondering where the hell you were!"
"Liam, I'm sorry, I was just—"
"Yeah, I can see," Liam interrupted bitterly, glaring at Albus.
"Man, we were just walking around," Albus assured him calmly.
"Right," Liam said sarcastically.
"Liam, don't you trust me?" Ayla demanded.
"Maybe I would if you ever told me a single thing about you like you do with Albus!" he cried, and Ayla looked shocked. "Yeah, that's right. I know that you've told him all the stuff that you haven't told me. You're not fooling me, you're not fooling him, and you're not fooling anyone. Everyone knows that you two are crazy for each other so just go with him if that's what you want."
Albus's heart leapt and he pulled his hands out of his pockets, ready to hug Ayla when she ran from Liam into his arms.
"No, Liam, that's not what I want!" Ayla exclaimed, looking up at him pleadingly.
Al's heart sank and he shoved his hands back into his pockets, walking into his dormitory completely unnoticed by Ayla and Liam.
"Liam, I don't want to be with Albus; I want to be with you!"
"Then why do you tell him everything and me nothing?"
"Because I just…" Ayla took a deep breath. "Because you don't want to know," she said quietly.
"Yeah, I sure as hell do want to know!" he bellowed and she took in a shaky breath to hide her tears.
"What do you want me to tell you?" she demanded, her voice breaking weakly.
"Start with how you know Natasha," he snapped.
"You don't want to know that," she said firmly.
"Fine. I'll give you a choice. Either you tell me what happened to you or we break up."
Ayla blinked away tears. "Liam, I—"
"Yeah, that's what I thought," he said, turning away and starting toward the door. Ayla caught his elbow.
"Wait," she begged. She drew in a long, trembling breath, her stomach churning sickeningly. "Liam, please, just try to understand. I want to tell you this stuff but I can't, I just—"
He shook his head. "You can if you want to," he said simply. "If you want to be with me."
"Liam, please, stop!" she begged, tears streaming down her face. "You're starting to scare me; you look like you're about to hit me or something if I don't—"
"What the hell would make you think I would hit you?" he roared furiously and her anger and fear took over her.
"Because I've been hit before!" she shrieked. "My abusive father used to hit me every single day when I was growing up until he was finally put in jail just months ago! He beat the crap out of me constantly, and then he threw me in a home to turn me into a muggle for a year and a half until he took me out when he found out I was doing wizardry!" Liam looked stunned but Ayla continued her yelling. "That's where I met Natasha; that's where I learned to play Quidditch, and that's what I've told Albus about, okay? That's my big secret; I had a deadbeat father who used to beat me up. I'm so sorry you were out of the loop here, Liam!" she bellowed sarcastically.
He reached for her comfortingly but she yanked her arm away. "Ayla, I'm sorry, I didn't know, I—"
"No," she interrupted. "You were right; we're over. Congratulations, you got your wish" she told him through her tears, brushing past him and walking straight to the place where Liam always feared she would go.
He held in his tears as he watched Ayla crying as she knocked on the door to Albus's dormitory.