Thursday passed. Herbology took a long-ass time, especially with the aged and kindly Herbology Master 'helping' them label their plant sketches, and Potter trying to ask her about Riley every five minutes. Thankfully, she ran into him on the way to Defense in one of the corridors and asked when they could meet. He agreed on sometime during lunch, and then she ended up rambling too much and was late to class, so she lost two points and had to do the stand-at-your-desk-and-apologize thing Professor Smith made you do in front of everyone, which was humiliating.

Potter caught her at the bell and didn't seem too happy when she told him they'd be meeting there and then. He agreed, though, and waited in sullen silence with her in one of the alcoves outside the Great Hall. That was just fine by her - she didn't want to talk to him anyway and needed to focus on staying relaxed so she wasn't a stupid jittery mess when Riley showed up.

Fifteen minutes passed. Some Ravenclaws came through, one of whom was Cole, but her face was kept decidedly forward and - (hatred beating in her chest) - Ray did the same, looking past her. Another minute went by. Then, the crowds steadily thinning, Riley's shaggy-blond, unkempt figure appeared and she waved him over.

"Oh my god," he said, when he saw them. "You guys have got to learn how to sneak around."

Potter blew air.

"She's the one who wanted to do it here," he said.

"Well what else was I supposed to do?!" said Ray.

"Use writers," said Riley, as if it were obvious. "You should've had us all swap tabs and meet someplace out of the way - and during a time when nobody noticed you gone."

"Fat chance of that," Potter snorted. "Just has to be quiet for a minute before people start wondering where Zuwaldt is."

Riley gave a bark of laughter.

"You're one to talk, Potter," she said, glowering. "By my count you've had just as many professors have you clam up as I have. And besides, I don't even have a writer, so that wouldn't work."

"You don't have a writer?" Riley said.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Too expensive."

His blue eyes watched her. She looked away, wishing, for once, her family had some goddamn money.

"Fine. Fine. Okay," he said. "Let's get this over with. I'm starving. You're that Potter boy?"

"Yeah."

"And you're racing Saturday morning."

She and Potter shared a look - they hadn't decided on a time.

"Sure," she said, looking beyond Riley to check none of the passerby were listening.

"Fine by me," said Potter.

"Good," said Riley. "So we meet after dinner at the stadium, and you show me where your track is -"

"Hold on, Potter doesn't need to come," said Ray. "He's already seen it. And why not after class? That's too late, isn't it?"

"No. And I'm not going to do it on an empty stomach. Plus, you'll still have a whole hour until your curfew hits, and there's nowhere on the grounds that takes that long to get to and back from again. Your track is on the grounds, isn't it?"

"Er… mostly," she said.

Riley watched her again.

"Right," he said. "Right. You said it was in the developed parts of the forest. How long does it take?"

"To do a run?"

"Yeah."

She hadn't timed it, but from crude figuring, she could probably go from the intersection to the tree and back again about seven times in an hour…

"...No more than ten minutes," she said.

"Okay. And we can head out halfway through dinner, I suppose. That'd probably be best, I tend to leave around then anyway. Sound good?"

"Sure!"

"Anything else?"

Potter cleared his throat.

"You two don't, er, know each other, do you?" he said. "You're not friends?"

"Hardly," said Riley. "We've only talked three or four times. That's about right, isn't it?"

"Yeah," she said. "Yeah."

"That work?"

"Sure," said Potter.

"Good, then. See you later. I'm going to get food. And make sure you don't come in at the same time, unless you want everyone knowing you were meeting."

"Alright!" said Ray. "Thank you!"

He left. As soon as he went through the doors, Potter coughed.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said.

He ran his hands through his hair, not looking at her. Embarrassment rose, and anger bloomed.

"You okay with him, then?" she said.

"Yeah. He's fine," he sighed.

He started forward.

"Not like it'll matter much anyways," he went on.

"Why not?"

"Because it'll be obvious I've won," he said, not looking back.

She gaped at him - "In your dreams!"

Some students looked her way, and her face went hot. She turned in place, then after a second turned forward again and made for the Hall. She was steaming. Stupid fucking Potter.

Astronomy took ages. Eons. Millenia. She kept looking out the window, but there wasn't even a view of the grounds, just a massive, ancient Hogwarts wall with a statue of some greek-angel-woman who didn't move even once. What was the point of putting up a stone statue if you didn't make it move?

She lost eight points in Transfiguration when she accidentally set her knitting needle on fire (which she hadn't even realized could happen), and in History gave in her homework with a feeling of dread. She sat up straight in her desk, notes organized before her, and tried her best to listen to Professor Byron's lecture that period, but there were only so many times you could hear the names of ancient wizarding politicians before you lost interest, no matter how 'fundamental' their feats were.

She went down to the Hufflepuff common room and put some work in on the witchwater report before dinner. She didn't feel like she was much help, but Nate didn't seem to mind. He hardly seemed to mind anything, in fact, when his nose was in a book. After an hour of meager discussion and editing (Nate had this fancy quill that made all the words squeeze up and budge down the page if you needed to put some in, which was another cool thing she'd never afford), they both declared it "as good as it was going to get" and she finally broke for the stadium with the other Gryffindors. This included Trip and his friends, oddly enough, and even stranger, Kendra, who went with her through the tunnel.

"Why do you think Trip's coming?" Ray asked in a conspiratorial whisper.

"No idea," said Kendra.

"He's never come out before."

"Maybe he heard about you flying and came to watch."

She looked back at Trip, who was deep in conversation with his friends at the back of the group. That was right, they'd talked about it during the aptitude test...

"That's why everybody else is here," Kendra said, sour.

Ray's eyebrows furrowed in alarm.

"People are talking about me?"

"Of course," she said. "It's hard not to."

"What does that mean?" she said, voice rising above the foot scuffs.

Kendra gave her a look.

"Come on Ray. You're the loudest kid in class. It's only natural."

Her insides curled.

"But I wouldn't be worried about it," Kendra said. "Besides, why don't you ask him, if you're so concerned? He's your potions partner, after all."

"Yeah, I… just, nevermind," she said, staring at the tunnel opening.

Zach chose this moment to break away from his conversation with Abby.

"How's it going?"

"Fine," said Ray.

"Er… are you flying, Kendra?" he asked.

Kendra's nose wrinkled - "No way."

They left the tunnel and stepped into the grass.

"Ray," said Kendra, grabbing her arm, "come with me to the locker room."

"What for?"

"It'll only take a second."

She immediately suspected another carefully-constructed lecture about her rule breaking. Taking a deep breath through her nose, she filled her lungs, and didn't let it out until they got to the prep tunnel. This wasn't what she needed right now. They went through the doorway to the team room, when suddenly Kendra turned and stopped Zach from following.

"Sorry, no boys."

His eyebrows shot up.

"Oh!" he said. "Er, okay. I'll be out on the field, then?"

He left, Abby following, and Ray stared at Kendra in curiosity. Kendra took her by the sleeve and pulled her further in to the showers, where they were blocked from view of the doorway by the wall.

"What are you playing at?" she said.

"Wait," said Kendra, and began pulling robes out of her satchel. But they weren't ordinary robes - they were of a lighter fabric, and sewn to be close-fitting with noticeable sleeves and torso and trouser legs. Ray's eyes widened, heart beating. Flying robes.

"I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner," Kendra said, stuffing them into her arms.

"You're giving me your flying robes?" she said, fumbling them in bewilderment.

"Yes. You said you were sore the other day, and I realized I've had mine up in my trunk the whole time. So you might as well use them."

"Oh my - oh my goodness," she said, disbelief buzzing through her. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I don't use them. Try them on."

Excitement swelled in her chest. She changed into the robes, draping her uniform over one of the low dividing walls while Kendra waited The robes were tight around her waist, ribs, and neck, but no sooner had she realized it than the fabric relaxed, adjusting its proportions.

"It has a self-tailoring enchantment," Kendra explained. "That's what sold Mum on them. They said it was good for two years, so I figured it would make up for the difference in our sizes."

Ray looked down at herself. Flying robes. She was in flying robes, with the red Gryffindor stripe running up her legs and at the fringes of her sleeves and skirt. The saddle was very noticeable in her crotch, but she figured that was exactly how it was supposed to be. Gratefulness surged in her chest, swelling it nearly to bursting. Her eyes watered.

"Thank you so much," she said.

"Sure," said Kendra.

Ray laughed and grabbed her into a tight hug.

"Oh my god," she said, Kendra giving her a stiff pat on the back.

"I hope those help."

"Yeah," she sniffed, looking at herself again. "They will," she said. "They totally will."

Back out on the field, everyone crowded around her. Zach was just as excited as she was, as he'd known how rough things had gotten. Even Kev congratulated her when he showed up with Ashley and the team at one point.

"I'm just borrowing them," she said, cheeks rosy. "Just borrowing them!"

But Kendra hadn't said when she wanted them back. And Ray realized she had what she needed to qualify for the team now. They weren't the official colors, but that wasn't anything a night of Colovaria couldn't fix. And with how much Kendra hated flying, Ray had a feeling she'd be okay with her using them as she liked. She might get to use them for quite a while.

The stadium emptied with the dinner bell. Ray hung back in the closet, but there was no need to change, so she spent the time peeking down the tunnel and listening for the stadium to clear. Hunger tightened its grip in her stomach, but she ignored it. Kev and the others hung back for a while, and she started to worry they'd brought sandwiches again, but Daniel hadn't showed up and they left eventually. There was a group of Slytherins, too, who continued to practice dodging someone's stickered-up Bludger she'd seen them playing with, but eventually their voices grew and faded as they came and left through the tunnel.

It seemed like an entire hour passed before Riley came. She went out with an off-white broom called a Guillemot and spent the time rolling in the air and relishing the capabilities of her flying robes, which not only had the saddle, but also seemed to help her cut through the air much better than any other clothing did. When Riley came in the stadium, she had a momentary freak-out thinking he was someone else, but she flew toward him, excitement returning.

He was wearing navy blue flying robe bottoms (with a yellow trim), and something that looked like the wizarding-version of a grey hoody sweatshirt with lots of strings at the split in the collar. He'd brought a broom, too, which was in much better shape than any of the school ones, if a bit bunged up at the tail.

She landed clumsily.

"Hi!" she said.

"Hey," he said. "You weren't in the Hall."

"No, I've been out here! For practice."

"Alright. So where are we going? Do you have invisibility cloaks, or marauder masks or anything?"

Her heart weighed down. Right to business, then.

"Er… no, sorry! And it's out over the forest. Follow me!"

"Wait -" he said sharply. "Let's get this clear. It's only the developed areas, right?"

"Well -" she said. "Yeah. I mean, we've got to cross a small section to get there, but then yeah."

"There's no such thing as a small section of the Forbidden Forest."

His tone was flat. She felt her insides drying out.

"It's… well, it is small," she insisted. Was he second-thinking things? "It only takes a minute to fly over, I promise. It's a shortcut."

He didn't say anything.

"Did you want to go over the grounds?" she said, grasping at straws. "I've no idea how we wouldn't get spotted, but -"

"No, that's not a good idea."

"Well, okay then," she said. Weren't they out of options? "Then c'mon, I'll show you. It's quick. No big deal. I promise!"

She mounted her broom. The robes suddenly felt awkward on her. But then he mounted his broom too and gave a nod.

"Okay," he said.

She didn't wait for him to change his mind. She flew off, the Guillemot doing one of its odd swooping movements and skimming the grass before catching air, and she directed it straight for the abandoned tunnel. It was powerful once it got going. She knew Riley was tracking her, his eyes watching her, and she wondered about the things he hadn't said. What was he so concerned about? He hadn't seemed the type to be worried about rules.

She led him out of the stadium, across the small distance over the grounds, and up into the branches. He flew at a short distance behind her, not speaking.

"You ever fly out in the woods?" she called, trying to spur conversation.

No response. Her hair whipped around behind her ears.

"Like, when going camping?"

"Once or twice," he said.

She felt brittle. The eeriness of the forest began to grow. They flew further in, deeper and deeper, second after second passing. The area was a lot bigger than she'd remembered. It was like she was experiencing everything for the first time again, and she kept waiting for Riley to say it was too far, and that they should call it off.

His voice came.

"Nothing's ever come after you?" he asked.

"Never!" she said. She slowed, so they could fly side-by-side, sort of. "Maybe a group of pixies, once!" she said. "They were buzzing pretty loudly. I must have pissed 'em off!"

She forced laughter, but he kept silent.

"No big deal, though," she went on.

They got to the gouge.

"I've never figured out what this is," she said, slowing. "You know anything about it?"

"Upper-year Care of Magical Creatures comes out this way," he said.

"Aren't you upper-year?"

"Not yet. That's fourth-years and over. Is this the place?"

"Almost," she said. "It's a bit further ahead, along a jogging path!"

He nodded her on, and she led the way. Why wasn't he talking, she wondered? What was he thinking about? Did he not like the forest, or being out-of-bounds? Or was he just bothered about having to deal with her? His words came back from the other night: No, dude, you're pretty annoying. Her face felt like rubber.

They got to the intersection.

"And heeere we are!" she announced, putting on a hollow showman's voice. "That way goes back to the grounds, that way goes on to Professor Rubeus's cabins, and this way…" (she turned, and started along the path) "...goes to a big tree, which is where I've got the turn-around."

"Oh, I've been along here," said Riley.

His voice was lighter. Her heart rose. She looked back and caught him watching at the barkchips below... maybe she was overthinking things.

"There you go!" she said. "Not forbidden at all, then! I know it's not the most secret… once or twice people have come along and I've had to hide, but I've never been spotted!"

Her thoughts went to the old lady - but that was out of the ordinary.

"I'm not worried about it," said Riley. "There's almost a thousand kids here. The only thing that'd give us away is the red on your robes."

Her eyes went to her outfit, and she grimaced. There was always something that ruined things, wasn't there?

"But that's not too big of a deal either," Riley went on. "If anyone was out here, it'd be a Gryffindor."

"Ha, I guess that's true!" she said.

They did a run, and Riley said it was time to go back.

"Already?"

"Yeah."

"I was thinking about staying out a little longer."

"No, you shouldn't. It's dangerous being out by yourself, and it'll be dark soon."

Arguments rose, but she let them dissolve - Riley had been acting weirdly enough. She followed him back to the stadium.

Unfortunately, he didn't want to practice flying there, either, saying he had homework, which was also true in her case. She followed him up to the castle, unsure of herself. Gloomy clouds were settling in.

"Why not have your race in the stadium?" he said at one point, as they walked in what she was sure was the opposite direction of Gryffindor Tower.

"It's too simple," she said. "It's got to be somewhere he's unfamiliar with, or it's not even."

"I don't know," he said. "He hasn't been in the stadium that much, right? There's all kinds of air currents, and if you keep close to the walls you'd have to mind the curve."

"There's no way air currents can account for that much!" she said, before she could stop herself. "It'd be no better than the aptitude test, and he far outscored me on that," she went on. "It's got to be in the trees."

"You could make it work."

She didn't say anything, and he didn't either. They made their way around random upper-classmen and caretakers. She shot glances at him, but there was nothing she could read by his facial expression.

She wished they'd talk about something else. She knew there were thoughts on his mind, things he wasn't saying, and she wished he'd get it out. Or anything else, even. They could talk about Quidditch. Or about Potter. Or the classes she was taking, or what books he might be into, or what other wizarding sports there were. Bogie Ball. He could even call her names and tease her, if he wanted to. But he was silent, and the clouds of gloom grew stronger, and she wondered if he really wanted to be doing this, and if she really was just some annoying kid.