The following week, Avalon was having a good day. She had finally managed to perform the spell, Lumos, and although she had detention with Snape to look forward to that evening, Neville had been quizzing her on magical plants and herbs while they scrubbed the cauldrons, mopped the floors and reorganized the supplies in the storeroom—all without the help of magic. She had moved up to a 24% accuracy rate, which was a big improvement already.
Anyway, she had been having a fairly good day, until she happened to notice a piece of paper pinned up in the Common Room after dinner: Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday, and Slytherin and Gryffindor would be together.
Avalon hated flying more than anything else in the world. Lucy—who had played on the Gryffindor Quidditch team her fourth and fifth years—had often tried to take her up on a broom, but she was terrified of not having her feet on the ground. She loved watching people fly, however. She was a humongous Quidditch fan and would love to be able to play the game if she could manage to get over her fear. However, that was very unlikely. And in addition to flying, she had to do it with the Gryffindors, of all people. All her favorite people were in that class: Potter, Weasley, Finnigan. And of course, the people she disliked that weren't in Gryffindor, such as Pansy and Millicent, were in Slytherin, so they'd be there anyway.
Bloody fantastic.
The afternoon before flying lessons, Neville and Avalon sat in the library, poring over their Potions textbooks and writing an essay for Snape.
"Tell me about Eye of Newt," Avalon said.
"You know, I've never even been on a broomstick," Neville began, ignoring her prompt. "My gran's never even let me near one. My Uncle always tried to sneak me on behind her back, but Gran is sneakier."
"Eye of Newt?"
Neville flipped the pages of Magical Drafts and Potions absentmindedly, not even bothering to look at the words as he sped by them. "I mean, I suppose it makes sense. I've been called accident prone before." The understatement of the century, but Avalon simply nodded. "But now I have to learn to fly in front of everyone? And the Slytherins?"
Avalon sighed. "We're not all bad, you know."
"I could say the same thing about us."
"Eye of Newt?" Avalon repeated, more firmly this time. She waited.
"Oh, I know this one," said Neville. "It's a plant. Also called the daylily, it's the kind of plant that might bloom in the morning and then wither the following night. And lots of magical properties."
"Such as?"
Neville gave her a sheepish look and tried to cover the sound of him opening One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi in his lap to find the answer. "Maybe you should focus less on Flying and more on what's happening down here on the ground."
"At least you don't have to worry about being the worse flier there," Neville said in an accusing tone. "All the other kids have been talking about their adventures. Seamus spent years flying across the countryside and Ron nearly hit a muggle hanglider on a broom."
"What in Merlin's name is a 'hanglider?'" Avalon asked.
"I don't know!"
Avalon closed her Potions book, realizing that Neville was probably never going to focus completely on the assignment until the dreaded flying lesson was over. "I'm sure those stories aren't real. Besides, what about Granger? She's a muggleborn, and there might be others."
"Dean Thomas too," said Neville, speaking of a boy Avalon knew to be one of Finnigan's friends.
"Exactly! You won't be the worst probably."
Avalon specifically chose not to remind Neville of the fact that since he had never been on a broom either, he was probably equally as awful as his muggleborn companions. He seemed to feel slightly better after their conversation, and Avalon hoped he was better in the air than he was on the ground.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
"Can I ask you a question, Avalon?" Neville said after a moment. He twirled his quill awkwardly between his fingers. At her nod, he continued. "You told me why you don't get along with Seamus, but why do you hate Ron and Harry?"
She opened her mouth at first, but no sound came out. "I don't hate Potter. That would be Draco," she said with a chuckle. "But Ron… I don't know, every time I see him, he reminds me of his stupid brother."
"Which one? One of the twins?"
"Charlie," Avalon said. She stood up and grabbed her books. "I have to go."
"Avalon, wait! What did I say?" Neville called. He sat alone at the table for a moment, trying to figure out what made Avalon leave so quickly.
December 19th, 1987
Avalon Steele was extremely upset. She and her best friend Daphne Greengrass watched the people laughing and talking at the Ministry of Magic holiday party from their table. Daphne was telling a story about something or other, but Avalon couldn't bring herself to listen to the tale, which, like all of Daphne's stories, was becoming very long winded. Besides, she had a more important mission. Her eyes were glued to a couple across the dance floor, waltzing and laughing away.
"Theo claims that he won the race, but I didn't know how to tell him he lost. So, I beat him again."
"Uh huh."
"You're not listening," said Daphne. Her voice wasn't accusatory, just matter-of-fact.
Avalon folded her arms and pouted. "She told me she would dance with him for one song, and it's been three. Three! I hate him," she said.
"I know you do."
Just then, the girl in question appeared. A thirteen-year-old Lucy Steele walked over to them in her white blouse and teal sweater, a stocky redheaded boy following closely behind her with a grin that matched Lucy's.
"Hey Avalon. Hello Daphne," Lucy said.
Daphne greeted the girl with a smile and a wave hello, and she even acknowledged her companion, but Avalon only scowled in her older sister's direction. Even at age seven, Avalon's scowl was perfectly perfected.
"Do you two know Charlie Weasley? He's in the year above me at school. A Gryffindor. His father works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."
"Well, my father is on the Wizengamot," Avalon said.
"Charlie is also a Seeker on the House Quidditch Team," Lucy added. This last part was a bit rushed and blatantly nervous. She looked from her sister and her sister's friend to the boy she very obviously had a crush on, waiting for one of them to say something.
Avalon stood up. "I'm thirsty," she said, to everyone and no one. She stalked off to the refreshments table, not waiting to see the reactions to her departure.
Charlie didn't know how to respond, but he shyly took Lucy's hands in his own as he laughed. "Dance with me, Luce?"
"In a minute, Charlie. I should probably go see what's wrong with Avalon."
Charlie went to find some of his brothers and Lucy joined the younger girl, who had begun to drown her sorrows in a large mug of steaming apple cider. There were tears in her eyes and she swiped at them furiously, as if all her troubles were the result of the tears trying to fall.
Lucy ordered some hot chocolate. "Hey, what's going on?"
"You said you were going to dance with Charlie for one song. You said you'd be right back after he asked you."
"I'm sorry Avalon, but I really like him."
"Don't you really like me too?" Avalon asked. She looked up with Lucy with sad eyes.
Lucy sighed, and took a long sip of her hot chocolate. "I do, Avalon. You're my sister and I love you. You know that. Boys will come and go, but you're the most important person in my life. But… that doesn't mean I won't want to branch out sometimes and be with other people. Besides, you have Daphne here, and on Christmas Day it will just be you and me. How about this: in a few years, you'll be at Hogwarts, and I'll be there too. We'll both stay at the castle for a magical holiday break together. Deal?"
"Deal."
The older girl wrapped her sister into a hug. The fast-paced Weird Sisters song that had been playing for the past three and a half minutes began to slow down, Celestina Warbeck starting to sing a ballad.
Avalon looked up at Lucy, who kept glancing over at Charlie. He gave her a goofy grin before turning back to a slightly older looking lanky boy who seemed like he was related to Charlie. With a sigh, Avalon moved to make her way back to Daphne and the table.
"Just go," she said. "Have fun with Charlie."
"Thanks, Avalon!" Lucy gave her sister one last hug and rugged on the end of one of her dark ringlets. Avalon didn't have the heart to bring up how long it had taken their mother to do her hair before the party. With a huge smile, Avalon made her way across the ballroom and tapped Charlie on the shoulder. He gave her a quick hug before gently pulling her out onto the dance floor and into an embrace.
Daphne was munching on some cookies when Avalon returned, sitting with Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini.
"How'd it go with Lucy?" Theo asked, reaching across the table and stealing one of Daphne's cookies.
"She's dancing with Charlie." Avalon answered, as if that answered everything. She paused and looked at the boys. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
Blaise shrugged. "Stepdad number Three is an Auror. He invited me and mum here, mainly because he wants me to like him. I stopped getting attached to them about a marriage and a half ago, but he doesn't know that and he'll basically do whatever I ask to get on my good side."
"So, he invited me," said Theo, a mouth full of cookie.
"Daphne, are you Avalon's plus one?"
"Umm, my mother works in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, remember?"
Theo shook his head. "Not really."
Avalon was only vaguely listening to her friends. Her eyes were still on Lucy and Charlie, the former laughing at something he had said, a smile on her face as they danced. After a few moments, Lucy's words came back to her. Boys will come and go. It wouldn't be long before Lucy moved on from Charlie to another boy, maybe one who wouldn't monopolize all her time and steal her away from Avalon. Yes. She couldn't wait until Charlie was out of the picture.
September 11th, 1991.
The problem with younger Avalon's theory about Charlie Weasley, however, was that it had been nearly four years since the night he plucked up the courage to ask Lucy for a dance at the Ministry of Magic Holiday Party, and it didn't seem like he had any plans to leave. He wasn't even attending Hogwarts anymore and they were still together. Avalon felt like a whiny child for wishing for the end of their relationship, but it didn't seem to matter what she wanted anyway.
As far as the rest of the Weasley family, she wanted nothing to do with them. Maybe if Lucy saw that her boyfriend or his family and her family didn't get long, she would come to her senses and end it with him. It was worth a try, anyway.
Thursday afternoon rolled around, and Avalon found herself standing on the Quidditch pitch with the other Slytherin first years. Daphne, who loved playing Quidditch and all things flying, chatted eagerly with Draco Malfoy, who would spend hours telling you about his flying abilities if you let him.
There were twenty broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground.
"Do you think we'll learn the Wronski Feint?" Draco asked. "Whenever Blaise and I played Quidditch, he'd always fall for my perfectly Wronski Feint."
"Blaise?" Daphne and Theo said at once.
"Since when are you two friends?" Avalon asked. She dropped her voice to just above a whisper so only Blaise would hear her.
Blaise busied himself digging his shoe into the grass. "There have been a few times where I hung out with Malfoy. Not because I wanted to, but over the summer my stepfather was meeting with his father and Mr. Malfoy asked him to bring me along so he wouldn't have to be interrupted by the little bugger. Although he's not completely awful, I suppose."
Avalon snickered.
Pansy, meanwhile, was complaining about flying lessons.
"Why do we need to learn this? I mean, if I want to join the Quidditch team next year, great. But these lessons should be optional. I hate flying—the wind messes up my hair and I get all sweaty."
"You could use the exercise, Pansy," said Avalon, smiling sweetly in the other girl's direction.
"Shut up!"
Avalon laughed. "Wow. Brilliant retort. How long did it take you to come up with that one? Is that why you were tossing and turning so much last night? I know thinking can be hard, but you'll get better at it."
Pansy's next snarky remark was cut off by the arrival of the Gryffindors. Unlike the Slytherins, who had come in staggering, they reached the Pitch in a pack, each newcomer more worried than the last. Madam Hooch, a woman with hawk-like eyes and short, gray hair, blew her whistle loudly. "What are you all waiting for? Everyone find a broom and stand by it."
Avalon and the other first years all scampered off to a broom, most of them old with fraying twigs and splinters waiting to happen.
"Stick out your right hand over your broom and say, UP!"
"UP!" Came the responses.
Most people didn't accomplish this. Some brooms simply rolled over, a few jerked a little bit on the ground as if they were vibrating, and a good portion of them didn't move at all. There was one broom, however, that jumped into its user's hand at once, and that was Harry Potter's. It only made sense that the boy-who-lived-and-was-raised-by-muggles-his-entire-life-yet-somehow-doesn't-suck-at-something-related-to-magic would accomplish this. Of course.
Afterwards, Madam Hooch showed them basic flying techniques. First, she had them kick off from the ground, and told them to rise a few feet before leaning forward slightly to come straight back down to the ground.
Avalon, although shaking inside, was in the majority of the class that managed to successfully accomplish this task.
Poor Neville, however, didn't have the same luck. Instead of pushing off the ground firmly but gently, he had shot off into the air. Within seconds he was twenty feet above the ground, the nervous first years squinting up into the sun to see him. "Come back, boy!" Madam Hooch shouted. Neville seemed to take her words literally, because he leaned forward to look at the ground—pale with fear—and promptly slid off the broom and down to the ground.
As he began to moan, Avalon was reminded of the previous Friday's Potions class. She hadn't known Neville very long but he tended to end up injured a lot.
He was lying face down in the grass. The class's eyes were torn between watching Madam Hooch examine Neville and his injuries, and watching his broom float away like a child's balloon at a carnival.
"He's got a broken wrist," she was muttering. "Come along, boy, up you get. Now, listen to me. None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."
And just like that, they were gone.
Boy, when Neville said he was 'accident prone,' he wasn't kidding, Avalon thought to herself. It's only the second week of school and he's been to the Hospital Wing twice already. He should get his own special spot there. I hope he's okay.
Avalon was so wrapped up in her worry for the boy that she barely heard Draco and some of the other Slytherins beginning to laugh and joke about Neville's tumble. Barely.
"Did you see his face? The great lump?" said Draco. There was laughter.
A Gryffindor girl whom Avalon recognized to be called Parvati Patil snapped back at him, "Shut up, Malfoy."
"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom? I never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati." Pansy Parkinson joined in with a hardened sneer.
Avalon agreed with Parvati, except she wasn't as keen on using her words as the Gryffindor girl. She quickly whipped out her wand and pointed it between Draco and Pansy, silently telling them that she was prepared to hex them.
Pansy glared at Avalon and folded her arms with a smug expression on her face, all too eager to continue their almost-row from before the Flying lesson had started. "And you, Avalon? What would Daddy say if he knew you were hanging out with blood traitors?"
"You leave my father out of this, Pansy. This is between you and me."
"I don't play by your rules," Pansy responded. She pulled out her own wand and aimed it at Avalon as well.
Daphne stepped forward and placed a calming hand on Avalon's shoulder. Their fight was interrupted once more, this time by Draco spotting a little thing in the grass and snatching it up. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."
It was a round glass ball filled with smoke that Avalon recognized as a Remembrall, glittering in the sun as Draco showed it off for everyone to see.
"Give that here, Malfoy."
Everyone fell silent and turned to uncover the source of the voice. It was Harry Potter, fists clenched and eyes ablaze. Draco smiled in his direction and gave a wicked little laugh. "I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find—how about up a tree?"
The two boys took off, Draco pushing off the ground on a broom and Potter trying desperately to catch him before he became airborne, obviously remembering Madam Hooch's instructions. If he hadn't remembered, Hermione Granger, the know-it-all muggleborn Gryffindor, was very eager to remind him that he was going to get them all into trouble.
It didn't matter.
Harry Potter had shot off on a broom of his own after Draco. Soon, he and Draco were level in the sky, obviously talking. The students on the ground couldn't hear the exchange between the pair, much to their dismay, but they saw very clearly as Potter began to try and grab the Remembrall from Draco, expertly navigating on his broomstick. After a moment, the entire class watched with baited breath as Draco dropped the Remembrall. Without warning, Potter shot down and stretched out his hand. He miraculously caught it a foot before reaching the ground.
"Uh-oh," muttered Theo from his position next to Avalon. "Someone's in trouble."
"HARRY POTTER!" A loud, angry voice seemed to get louder and angrier the closer it got to the Quidditch pitch. The first years all averted their eyes and pretended they haven't been watching the exchange, afraid they'd be punished as well.
To their shock, however, it wasn't Madam Hooch. It was Professor McGonagall.
She yelled at him a bit before dragging him off in the direction of the castle.
"Uh-oh, someone's in bigger trouble," Theo corrected. He wasn't wrong. McGonagall was extremely strict, and she was Potter's Head of House. There was no way he wouldn't be expelled now.
However, no one was upset as Draco when he noticed Harry Potter sitting at breakfast the next morning, chatting amicably with Weasley, Finnigan and Neville. The latter seemed to still be very nauseous from the Skele-gro he had had to drink in the Hospital Wing, and he had thrown up twice the previous evening when Avalon was paying him a visit.
"That boy is receiving special treatment," Draco ranted. For once, Avalon agreed with him, although not to the same extent. "Why is he still here?"
"Maybe he's having a last meal at Hogwarts before they ship him off," Daphne said, stirring her porridge. She held out her hand to Theo and he passed her the cinnamon.
Draco lit up with the idea. "Brilliant! That must be it. Daphne that was a clever quip. I think I'm going to go over there and tell that to him. It'll be good for a laugh. Oi! Crabbe! Goyle! Come on, we're going." Neither boy moved, and they both continued to inhale their breakfasts. "You can eat when we get back. I have to tell Potter something."
"I tell, you, that boy's in love with Harry Potter," Blaise said as soon as Draco was out of earshot.
No one seemed to disagree.
"Come on Avalon," said Daphne. She stood up quickly and shoveled a few more bites of porridge into her mouth. "I want to finish my Astronomy homework before Potions today, and if we're still here when Draco gets back from his tea party with Potter, we'll never be able to leave."
"That's not a bad idea," said Theo, following suit.
Daphne was surprised. "Doing the Astronomy homework that's not due until Monday right now isn't a bad idea?"
Blaise stood up as well. "No, I think he means that not being here when Draco finishes over there is a good idea. This way, he'll have to gush about Potter to Crabbe and Goyle, or he'll write about it in his feelings journal. Either way, I won't have to hear about it. I hate 'Potter time with Malfoy.' Let's go."
Avalon laughed at her friends and followed them out of the Great Hall and in the direction of the library.
A/N: Hey guys, Cristy here! I'm sorry for the crazy updates: I've only been working on this story for four days and this is the fifth chapter I've posted. I promise I'll calm down eventually. Anyway, thank you to everyone who left a review or who favorited or followed. It means a lot to me.
