Reason 16: I can fly just as well as Harry
I really should have seen this coming. When Draco took Neville's Rememberall and Harry took off after it, some other power took control of my actions once again and I mounted my broom against my will. But as soon as I got up in the air I regained control of myself and that was when my instinct kicked in.
I flew.
I flew well.
It was probably the best experience of my life. It all came so naturally, and I can't seem to bring myself to care that I have the talent just because I'm a MS. I have fallen in love with flying. I suppose that, by falling in love with something, it then becomes my choice to do it, not the powers in control of my life. They can't decide what I like or dislike and they can't control my emotions, no matter how hard they may try to manipulate events. That's another reason why I let myself become friends with Harry, Hermione and Ron: it was my decision to like them.
McGonagall didn't place me on the team as she did Harry. She said that there was only one space on the team and I seemed to be more of a chaser anyway. But the proud glint in her eye when she called me to her office after the incident has made me feel warm ever since.
I can't wait to write to my parents about this. I'll do so after dinner. They will be so happy for me. Hannah will love to hear about how flying felt like. She's turning into quite the sportswoman apparently, getting onto the local football team for her age bracket. I'm so proud of her.
While I'm on the topic of my parents, I still need to ask them if we can get a dog.
Reason 17: Even Draco doesn't hate me
I suppose that I should be calling him Malfoy now, but I'm not sure I'll be able to until I stop seeing him as a character in a book. I'm close enough with all the others in Gryffindor that I can see them as their own people and not as characters, even after knowing them for only two months.
But for people like Draco, Cedric and Cho? I can't seem to see them as anything other than a character. It's almost like I'm dehumanising them in a way, not thinking of them as a person who can impact me. So I refer to them as I know them in the books, a habit that I'm sure I'll have to break soon so I don't seem weird.
But I digress, Malfoy doesn't seem to hate me for some reason. I had completely forgotten that he challenged Harry to a duel. Fred and George had just disappeared after complementing Harry and I for our flying skills (apparently the team knows about me as well, McGonagall caring just as much about my flying capabilities due to my MS powers) when he came over.
He challenged Harry to a duel, Ron accepted and Hermione told them off after Draco Malfoy went away. But, as he was turning away, he paused for a moment shouted over his shoulder for me not to turn up. It was almost like he was trying to stop me from getting in trouble or something. Not that I'm going to turn up anyway, if I can avoid major events then I can have less impact on the plot!
I still don't get why Malfoy wouldn't want me to get in trouble though. I'm friends with a blood traitor, a muggleborn and his fierce rival (although I don't get how eleven year olds can have a rivalry as bad as that between Harry and Malfoy). Surely, by association I am just as bad as them? It's not like I'm a powerful pureblood that his dad wants to keep happy or anything!
Reason 18: I'm a powerful pureblood that Malfoy's Dad wants to keep happy
Okay, so I forgot for a moment that I'm a rich heiress of a sacred 28 family. Lucius Malfoy probably told Draco not to get on my bad side or something. I wonder just how much power the Shafiqs have. The library should have some books on it. I'll check tomorrow.
Yay, new chapter!
I tried to show in this chapter how Em is impacted by this situation. She thinks that all of her talents are not her own and feels bad about thinking of others as characters, not as real people. I think that problem is barely addressed in any self-insert stories, even well written ones. They have known these people as characters and have already formed biased opinions of them before speaking to them. They know their futures and how they will act. They know them better than they should. In some cases (particularly Harry's as we follow him through the books) they know them better than they know themselves. How would that impact a SI's behaviour?
Wow, this is a fairly long AN. I really need to cut these down. Or do people like long ANs? I know that I quite like to read the author's opinion at the end of a chapter, but that might just be me being nosy.
Oh and thanks to M2R and Amygraceclare for answering my question in Chapter 3. I'll see what I can do *wink*.
