A/N: AARON POV
*
Winter faded into spring, and nothing much happened. Copper went back to being friends with Ben, and although Aaron was somewhat suspicious, he did not question their friendship.
A few cauldrons went kaput in potions, and one day in charms another Slytherin, Tarquin Mack, accidentally turned Anne-Marie Dibraska's (his friend) hair black. But apart from that, spring passed with incidence.
And then summer washed over them all, bringing cloudy blue skies and boiling hot days. Lessons inside turned into outdoor classes, and even if you were made to write, at least you could sit by the lake and do it. But there was one bad thing about summer: it brought exams.
Neither Aaron, Faith nor Winter had heard anything further from Professor Dumbledore about the stair matter, so they had all assumed that he had decided it was just students playing around. Aaron was glad – he didn't want to get in trouble again.
Potions, however, was still the same as it always had been. Snape was relatively kind to Aaron, but he could see why the Gryffindors objected to his attitude. Aaron didn't think it was his imagination that Snape treated Slytherins better…
But Aaron didn't make a fuss. The dungeons were always cool, and he didn't really take to any of the Gryffindors really. None of them except Jenny. He cared about what she thought, but not what her friends did.
The quidditch season had gone averagely. First Slytherin had beaten Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor had beaten Ravenclaw. But then Gryffindor had suffered a huge defeat from Slytherin, and Ravenclaw had an amazing win over Hufflepuff, so it had been Slytherin and Ravenclaw in the final. Ravenclaw won by ten points, for even though Slytherin scored amazingly and Ravenclaw didn't get one goal, the Ravenclaw seeker caught the snitch just before Sameej could catch it for Slytherin. 'We'll get it next year,' Angus had vowed.
Letters had passed between Elsie and Aaron all year, with her becoming his regular pen pal. He had asked her why she had written "[I]his time will come[/I]" on the back of her first letter to him, but she passed it off as something to do with an anagram game she had been playing, and she was sorry if it confused him.
The three students sat by the lake, dipping their toes into the water and watching the creatures below swimming by.
'Aquabas!' Winter tried again, aiming her wand at the lake. This time a small dribble fell out of the end,
'No, no, no…' Aaron said, and took her wand. 'You do it [I]this[/I] way!' he took his wand in his left hand and held it so it faced down toward the water. 'Aquabas!' he said, as tried to keep it completely still. The amount of water that fell out of the end of his wand could have filled a champagne bottle – well over the amount Professor Clearwater was expecting.
Winter sighed. 'How do you [I]do[/I] that? I can't do this stupid water spell, it's way too hard!'
'That's why she's testing us on it,' said Faith, as she lazily pulled out her wand. Faith was lying on the bank, with her eyes shut. She reminded Aaron distinctly of a cat, with her lazy attitude in the sun, and her sleek black hair. 'Aquabas,' she said, and although some water came out, it was not as much as she could usually produce.
'Your being lazy,' Aaron jibed.
'The effect of sun…' she said, as she rolled over to face him.
They heard footsteps approaching them. Aaron turned around to see who it was, and smiled when he saw it was Jenny.
'Hi!'
'Hi, can I sit with you?'
Faith sighed and rolled over again.
'Ignore her, she's a dead set Slytherin,' Aaron said, grinning slightly. 'Of course you can sit with us, right?' he gave Winter and Faith a pleading look.
'Sure.'
'If she likes.' This reply was from Faith.
'I can go if you want…' Jenny stepped backwards.
'No, no!' Aaron said, moving a little so there was a space next to him, and at the same time wishing that his friends weren't such believers in Slytherin pride. 'They're under the influence of sun, come and sit with us.'
'I just can't get the hang of this spell!' Winter said, frustrated. She shook her wand and put each hand on either end as if threatening to break it. 'Do you understand?' she shouted to it.
'Er, you're talking to a piece of wood…' Faith said, her speech becoming evermore sleepy.
'Shut up,' Winter said, and then laughed. She then readdressed the wand. 'Right, let's make a deal.'
'You're talking to a piece of wood!' Faith repeated.
Winter made no sign she had heard, and continued to speak to the wand. 'If you work for me in this exam, then I'll… I'll… I promise to stop banging you on the desk when you don't work! Or… or… I promise to stop poking Smokey in the back with you whenever he bugs me! Or…'
'That's you?'
'What?'
'The one who pokes him in the back … he's really bugged at that. I won't tell him,' she said quickly, looking at them. 'It's kind of funny, actually,' she grinned.
'Look,' Faith said, suddenly seeming to spring to life again. She sat up and stretched, looking more like a leisurely cat by the minute. 'I'll go indoors and work on that charm with you, as long as you help me a bit with history of magic. You're good with the writing stuff.'
Winter nodded, and they two girls got up and headed towards the main castle. Aaron picked up a pebble and tried to skim it across the lake surface, but all that happened was that it went "plop" and fell into the depths of the water.
'No,' Jenny said. 'You do it like [I]this[/I],' she took hold of Aaron's arm and put a stone in his palm. Then she pulled his arm back into his neck and pushed it forward. The pebble skimmed its way across the lakes, bouncing every so often in light arcs.
'Apello,' he said. 'There. Now the stone will keep moving.'
'Cheater,' she teased, and gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder.
'Do [I]you[/I] believe that Gryffindors and Slytherins shouldn't be friends?' she asked him. To his great surprise, he hesitated.
'No,' he said, after a while. 'But I do object to Gryffindors who treat us badly, who say we all think that we're above them. That's why I can't feel entirely sorry for Oregan. He's got to let go of the fact that whoever killed his parents is not in our year!'
'But their child might be,' she looked at him, her eyes more doe-like than ever. Her hair fell over her face, slightly covering it.
'But … children don't always take after their parents! I guess maybe the only reason some of us are horrible because you lot expect us to be horrible in the first place… that's why I don't like Gryffindors who judge us.'
'But you don't mind Slytherins doing the same thing?'
'No, I don't think it's fair.'
'Then why do you like Winter and Faith?'
Aaron was quiet for a moment. He supposed she had a point. 'I like them as people,' he said. 'They're good friends, and loyal, and fun, and I love 'em to death – but I suppose that is one aspect of them I'd change. But isn't there something you would change about all your friends?'
'Yes,' she said, quietly. Her hair fell ever further over her face. 'I'd put you in Gryffindor.'
'I know,' he said longingly. 'I wanted to be there. I [I]want[/I] to be there. You know I want to be there – but I guess there isn't anything I can do now. And I've made some friends where I am… and you've got Oregan…'
Perhaps it was the thought that Jenny already had Oregan, or that fact that when she looked up suddenly and all that hair fell out of her face her face was startling in the fading light, but something jolted inside Aaron. Something he couldn't quite place, and dismissed immediately.
She spoke softly as though she didn't want anyone to hear, or as though her voice had temporarily gone. 'Yes I suppose, I have got Oregan…' but Aaron could see something restless in her eyes.
*
'Now class!' Professor Clearwater said. She was in a particularly good mood, maybe because of the sunshine, or because the school year was almost over, or because she enjoyed bringing tests on them all. Anyhow, they were all glad for her good mood, because it gave them a little bit of leeway in the exams. 'You've all got your jugs in front of you, and as you all know, you're going to be tested on the water charm. I expect to see you all conjure at least five hundred millilitres, okay?'
There was a mumble as a reply. She nodded. 'Good, then you may begin any time you wish. But remember, you only get three chances, and don't try and cheat – the jugs know only to fill up three times. No more.' She flashed them all a huge smile and waved her arm to indicate them to start.
'Right.' Aaron turned to face his jug. He was standing next to Winter and Faith, on the bench in front of Godfrey and Ike, and behind Copper and Ben. He pulled out his wand, and with one slight flick, he held his hand rigid, pointing downwards. 'Aquabas!' water poured from the end of his wand, filling the jug up to six hundred millilitres.
'Aaron, you are just [I]too[/I] good!' he heard Faith exclaim from next to him.
'I'm just … lucky …' he said. He meant lucky as in a fluke, but obviously Faith took it as lucky meaning talented.
'Since when has "lucky" been a definition of "gifted"?' Winter heard what she said and laughed slightly, before cursing loudly.
'What's wrong?' asked Aaron.
'Look!' she said, pointing to the level at which the water she had conjured had gone too. 'Four hundred and fifty five! Just my luck… s'pose I'd better try again,' she smiled, as thought glad she now knew she could at least make the target.
'Professor Clearwater!' Aaron raised his hand. 'Please can you come and check mine before it evaporates?'
Professor Clearwater came round to see what he had done, and as she was checking his work, Aaron looked around to see what everyone else was doing. Godfrey and Ike were struggling, the looks of ultimate concentration on their faces gave that away. But Ben and Copper seemed to be doing something entirely different. Their jugs stood on the desk, with water in them, but the two boys seemed to have abandoned the exam. They were looking at something under the table, and when Aaron crouched down, he could see what it was. It was the notebook Copper claimed to have seen the writing in – the writing about Faith, and Aaron.
Aaron walked around the bench. 'What's that?'
Copper looked guiltily upwards at him, and immediately moved to hide the book.
'Nothing,' he said, quickly fumbling with the pages to shut them. Aaron noticed one page float slowly down to the floor. He left it there – for the moment. 'It's just Ben's diary. You know, just … people, and stuff …'
'Oh damn it!' Aaron accidentally made his wand slip from his hands and fall to the floor. ''Scuse me,' he said, and bent down to pick it up. While kneeling down, he quickly snatched up the piece of paper as well. 'Sorry,' he said, standing up. 'Didn't mean to intrude,' and made his way back over to Winter and Faith.
He pocketed the piece of paper deftly, making a mental note to read it later.
'Very well done Aaron,' she said. 'I don't think I need to ask, but is this your final entry for the test?' he nodded, and she moved on, not after scribbling something down on her paper.
The exam finished, and they began to walk to their next exam – defence against the dark arts.
*
Winter faded into spring, and nothing much happened. Copper went back to being friends with Ben, and although Aaron was somewhat suspicious, he did not question their friendship.
A few cauldrons went kaput in potions, and one day in charms another Slytherin, Tarquin Mack, accidentally turned Anne-Marie Dibraska's (his friend) hair black. But apart from that, spring passed with incidence.
And then summer washed over them all, bringing cloudy blue skies and boiling hot days. Lessons inside turned into outdoor classes, and even if you were made to write, at least you could sit by the lake and do it. But there was one bad thing about summer: it brought exams.
Neither Aaron, Faith nor Winter had heard anything further from Professor Dumbledore about the stair matter, so they had all assumed that he had decided it was just students playing around. Aaron was glad – he didn't want to get in trouble again.
Potions, however, was still the same as it always had been. Snape was relatively kind to Aaron, but he could see why the Gryffindors objected to his attitude. Aaron didn't think it was his imagination that Snape treated Slytherins better…
But Aaron didn't make a fuss. The dungeons were always cool, and he didn't really take to any of the Gryffindors really. None of them except Jenny. He cared about what she thought, but not what her friends did.
The quidditch season had gone averagely. First Slytherin had beaten Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor had beaten Ravenclaw. But then Gryffindor had suffered a huge defeat from Slytherin, and Ravenclaw had an amazing win over Hufflepuff, so it had been Slytherin and Ravenclaw in the final. Ravenclaw won by ten points, for even though Slytherin scored amazingly and Ravenclaw didn't get one goal, the Ravenclaw seeker caught the snitch just before Sameej could catch it for Slytherin. 'We'll get it next year,' Angus had vowed.
Letters had passed between Elsie and Aaron all year, with her becoming his regular pen pal. He had asked her why she had written "[I]his time will come[/I]" on the back of her first letter to him, but she passed it off as something to do with an anagram game she had been playing, and she was sorry if it confused him.
The three students sat by the lake, dipping their toes into the water and watching the creatures below swimming by.
'Aquabas!' Winter tried again, aiming her wand at the lake. This time a small dribble fell out of the end,
'No, no, no…' Aaron said, and took her wand. 'You do it [I]this[/I] way!' he took his wand in his left hand and held it so it faced down toward the water. 'Aquabas!' he said, as tried to keep it completely still. The amount of water that fell out of the end of his wand could have filled a champagne bottle – well over the amount Professor Clearwater was expecting.
Winter sighed. 'How do you [I]do[/I] that? I can't do this stupid water spell, it's way too hard!'
'That's why she's testing us on it,' said Faith, as she lazily pulled out her wand. Faith was lying on the bank, with her eyes shut. She reminded Aaron distinctly of a cat, with her lazy attitude in the sun, and her sleek black hair. 'Aquabas,' she said, and although some water came out, it was not as much as she could usually produce.
'Your being lazy,' Aaron jibed.
'The effect of sun…' she said, as she rolled over to face him.
They heard footsteps approaching them. Aaron turned around to see who it was, and smiled when he saw it was Jenny.
'Hi!'
'Hi, can I sit with you?'
Faith sighed and rolled over again.
'Ignore her, she's a dead set Slytherin,' Aaron said, grinning slightly. 'Of course you can sit with us, right?' he gave Winter and Faith a pleading look.
'Sure.'
'If she likes.' This reply was from Faith.
'I can go if you want…' Jenny stepped backwards.
'No, no!' Aaron said, moving a little so there was a space next to him, and at the same time wishing that his friends weren't such believers in Slytherin pride. 'They're under the influence of sun, come and sit with us.'
'I just can't get the hang of this spell!' Winter said, frustrated. She shook her wand and put each hand on either end as if threatening to break it. 'Do you understand?' she shouted to it.
'Er, you're talking to a piece of wood…' Faith said, her speech becoming evermore sleepy.
'Shut up,' Winter said, and then laughed. She then readdressed the wand. 'Right, let's make a deal.'
'You're talking to a piece of wood!' Faith repeated.
Winter made no sign she had heard, and continued to speak to the wand. 'If you work for me in this exam, then I'll… I'll… I promise to stop banging you on the desk when you don't work! Or… or… I promise to stop poking Smokey in the back with you whenever he bugs me! Or…'
'That's you?'
'What?'
'The one who pokes him in the back … he's really bugged at that. I won't tell him,' she said quickly, looking at them. 'It's kind of funny, actually,' she grinned.
'Look,' Faith said, suddenly seeming to spring to life again. She sat up and stretched, looking more like a leisurely cat by the minute. 'I'll go indoors and work on that charm with you, as long as you help me a bit with history of magic. You're good with the writing stuff.'
Winter nodded, and they two girls got up and headed towards the main castle. Aaron picked up a pebble and tried to skim it across the lake surface, but all that happened was that it went "plop" and fell into the depths of the water.
'No,' Jenny said. 'You do it like [I]this[/I],' she took hold of Aaron's arm and put a stone in his palm. Then she pulled his arm back into his neck and pushed it forward. The pebble skimmed its way across the lakes, bouncing every so often in light arcs.
'Apello,' he said. 'There. Now the stone will keep moving.'
'Cheater,' she teased, and gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder.
'Do [I]you[/I] believe that Gryffindors and Slytherins shouldn't be friends?' she asked him. To his great surprise, he hesitated.
'No,' he said, after a while. 'But I do object to Gryffindors who treat us badly, who say we all think that we're above them. That's why I can't feel entirely sorry for Oregan. He's got to let go of the fact that whoever killed his parents is not in our year!'
'But their child might be,' she looked at him, her eyes more doe-like than ever. Her hair fell over her face, slightly covering it.
'But … children don't always take after their parents! I guess maybe the only reason some of us are horrible because you lot expect us to be horrible in the first place… that's why I don't like Gryffindors who judge us.'
'But you don't mind Slytherins doing the same thing?'
'No, I don't think it's fair.'
'Then why do you like Winter and Faith?'
Aaron was quiet for a moment. He supposed she had a point. 'I like them as people,' he said. 'They're good friends, and loyal, and fun, and I love 'em to death – but I suppose that is one aspect of them I'd change. But isn't there something you would change about all your friends?'
'Yes,' she said, quietly. Her hair fell ever further over her face. 'I'd put you in Gryffindor.'
'I know,' he said longingly. 'I wanted to be there. I [I]want[/I] to be there. You know I want to be there – but I guess there isn't anything I can do now. And I've made some friends where I am… and you've got Oregan…'
Perhaps it was the thought that Jenny already had Oregan, or that fact that when she looked up suddenly and all that hair fell out of her face her face was startling in the fading light, but something jolted inside Aaron. Something he couldn't quite place, and dismissed immediately.
She spoke softly as though she didn't want anyone to hear, or as though her voice had temporarily gone. 'Yes I suppose, I have got Oregan…' but Aaron could see something restless in her eyes.
*
'Now class!' Professor Clearwater said. She was in a particularly good mood, maybe because of the sunshine, or because the school year was almost over, or because she enjoyed bringing tests on them all. Anyhow, they were all glad for her good mood, because it gave them a little bit of leeway in the exams. 'You've all got your jugs in front of you, and as you all know, you're going to be tested on the water charm. I expect to see you all conjure at least five hundred millilitres, okay?'
There was a mumble as a reply. She nodded. 'Good, then you may begin any time you wish. But remember, you only get three chances, and don't try and cheat – the jugs know only to fill up three times. No more.' She flashed them all a huge smile and waved her arm to indicate them to start.
'Right.' Aaron turned to face his jug. He was standing next to Winter and Faith, on the bench in front of Godfrey and Ike, and behind Copper and Ben. He pulled out his wand, and with one slight flick, he held his hand rigid, pointing downwards. 'Aquabas!' water poured from the end of his wand, filling the jug up to six hundred millilitres.
'Aaron, you are just [I]too[/I] good!' he heard Faith exclaim from next to him.
'I'm just … lucky …' he said. He meant lucky as in a fluke, but obviously Faith took it as lucky meaning talented.
'Since when has "lucky" been a definition of "gifted"?' Winter heard what she said and laughed slightly, before cursing loudly.
'What's wrong?' asked Aaron.
'Look!' she said, pointing to the level at which the water she had conjured had gone too. 'Four hundred and fifty five! Just my luck… s'pose I'd better try again,' she smiled, as thought glad she now knew she could at least make the target.
'Professor Clearwater!' Aaron raised his hand. 'Please can you come and check mine before it evaporates?'
Professor Clearwater came round to see what he had done, and as she was checking his work, Aaron looked around to see what everyone else was doing. Godfrey and Ike were struggling, the looks of ultimate concentration on their faces gave that away. But Ben and Copper seemed to be doing something entirely different. Their jugs stood on the desk, with water in them, but the two boys seemed to have abandoned the exam. They were looking at something under the table, and when Aaron crouched down, he could see what it was. It was the notebook Copper claimed to have seen the writing in – the writing about Faith, and Aaron.
Aaron walked around the bench. 'What's that?'
Copper looked guiltily upwards at him, and immediately moved to hide the book.
'Nothing,' he said, quickly fumbling with the pages to shut them. Aaron noticed one page float slowly down to the floor. He left it there – for the moment. 'It's just Ben's diary. You know, just … people, and stuff …'
'Oh damn it!' Aaron accidentally made his wand slip from his hands and fall to the floor. ''Scuse me,' he said, and bent down to pick it up. While kneeling down, he quickly snatched up the piece of paper as well. 'Sorry,' he said, standing up. 'Didn't mean to intrude,' and made his way back over to Winter and Faith.
He pocketed the piece of paper deftly, making a mental note to read it later.
'Very well done Aaron,' she said. 'I don't think I need to ask, but is this your final entry for the test?' he nodded, and she moved on, not after scribbling something down on her paper.
The exam finished, and they began to walk to their next exam – defence against the dark arts.