CHAPTER 11: The Encounter
The next morning Aislinn barged into the boys' dormitories and pulled the curtains around Draco's four-poster, to reveal an annoyed teenage boy, his hair all over the place on his head.
Draco shielded his eyes from the light, "Aislinn, you're not s'pposed to be in here!" said Draco, groggily.
"Fine then, I'll leave." Said Aislinn with a bit of disappointment in her voice.
"No, I want to know why you ran off to the library last night." Said Draco, getting out of bed.
He had a white shirt and boxers on, while Aislinn was wearing a red shirt with a picture of a ghoul on it and blue and black plaid pants.
"Err.." Said Draco, feeling his face blush.
Aislinn just shrugged it off, "I don't mind. I want you to read this." She shoved a paper under his nose, which looked like it was torn out form a book, "I found it in Interesting Spirits of the Wizarding World."
"'A Banshee, or sometimes credited as The Lost Lover. Is a spirit that is very secretive. It doesn't make many friends, maybe one of two at the most. It cannot go through walls like ghosts and poltergeists can. It's hair usually sways in a tangled heap around it's face, like it's caught in a massive wind. It glows silver whenever it is angered and is often mistaken for a bodiless spirit, which does not float, but walk around like a normal human being, it is see through like ghosts and poltergeists are, however.
"' It wails whenever it is angered of upset at some thing or some one. It usually haunts the one who murdered it. It seldom looks like the person who died. A Banshee is usually in a woman's form and disapears whenever it senses danger or a human, unless the human is of course, the one it is longing for. It is called The Lost Lover because a person usually becomes a Banshee when they are torn apart from their soul mate through death.'" Read Draco.
"So, what do you think?" said Aislinn.
"I'm her soul mate?" said Draco.
"I guess so." said Aislinn, smiling.
She sat on the bed next to him.
"By the way, I just love your hair." said Aislinn sarcastically.
Draco blushed and tried to smooth out the mess on his head.
"Hey.can you wait for me in the Great Hall, I have to get dressed." said Draco.
Aislinn nodded and rushed out of the dormitory.
As soon as Draco had put on a clean shirt and some pants, he got his wand and walked out to the Great Hall. Aislinn was sitting at the Slytherin table, picking at her food. Draco put some food on a plate for himself and sat down across from her.
"So are we going to practice today, for Quidditch I mean?" said Draco, biting into his toast.
Aislinn nodded. Just then, the three people Draco hated most stood up from the Gryffindor table and walked over to them.
"So Malfoy, heard you've got a new Beater. Who is it?" Said Potter.
Aislinn turned around to look at them.
"It's Aislinn Njass. Why do you care Potter?" Draco retorted.
"I have a right to know, I'm playing against you in three weeks. By the way, who's Aislinn Njass?" said Potter.
"She is." Said Draco, nodding in Aislinn's direction.
Potter laughed, and so did his two friends, "She'll be no match against our Beaters."
"Well, we'll just have to see about that, won't we Potter?" said Draco, feeling a bit disturbed by the subject, "Come on Aislinn, we have to practice."
With that they both left the table and went out onto the Quidditch field. Draco went to get the brooms, sack of sand they used for practicing, and the bat.
"Okay, first I'm going to have to teach you how to fly a broom. Didn't you have flying lessons at your old school?" said Draco.
"No, Madame Maxime only wanted people who wanted to be on the teams to have lessons. I didn't want to be on the team because I was afraid something would happen to me." Replied Aislinn.
"All right let's see. What did Hooch teach us the first year?" said Draco quietly to himself, trying to recall what they did on their first flying lesson, "Oh, okay, put the broom on the ground and say up."
Aislinn put the Nimbus on the ground gently and said what she was told. The broom flew up in her hands and she caught it.
"All right, now mount it. Be careful though, it might fly for no apparent reason." Said Draco, getting the bat and sack then mounting his Firebolt.
They flew up into the air. Draco let Aislinn get the hang of flying first, then handed her the leather-covered bat.
"This is so fun!" Aislinn laughed.
"Okay, now listen up. When I thrown you the sack from different angles, you have to hit it with that. It's the same size, color and weight as a real Bludger, so be careful. Are you ready?" said Draco.
"Err.. Yeah." Said Aislinn, waiving her bat in the air.
Draco flew up a few feet and pitched the heavy sack towards Aislinn. She stared at it as it fell down closer to her then smacked it with her bat. It flew a long ways, then landed in the far distance.
"That was good. Hold on I'll go get." Said Draco.
When he got back, they practiced with the sack a few more times, then Draco suggested if she'd want to try it with real thing. "I guess. Am I going to die?" said Aislinn jokingly.
Draco chuckled, "No you're not going to die."
When they finished practice, they flew back down on the ground. Draco put all of the supplies away and went back up to meet Aislinn, who was waiting for him in the field. "I'm pretty surprised though. You got the hang of it really fast." Said Draco.
"Is that good?" Aislinn asked.
"Really." Replied Draco.
They walked into the castle and came across Potter, Weasley and Granger.
"Back so soon Malfoy?" said Granger.
"Yeah, as a matter of fact I am. What do you want Granger?" said Draco.
"Nothing, nothing at all. I just never thought you would be hanging out with such a.freak." Said Granger, looking in Aislinn's direction.
"Shut your trap.Mudblood." Said Draco.
"I'll get you this year Malfoy, you just watch! Nobody insults my girlfriend!" yelled Weasley after Draco and Aislinn, who were all ready walking away from the spot.
* * *
That evening, Draco was roaming the halls because he had nothing else to do. He was still busy thinking about Piper and how much Aislinn looked like her, even though the details weren't exact. Piper had olive shaped green eyes and Aislinn had large dark blue eyes. All this thinking and processing he was doing in his mind had made him lose his touch on snide remarks towards Potter, Weasley, and Granger. He turned a corner and couldn't believe what he saw. It was what looked like a ghost, but not one that he'd ever seen before. This one was see through, but it wasn't hovering above the ground, it was in fact.walking.
Draco remembered something and ran in front of it. It's hair was immediately rising and the spirit emitted a loud wail and floated away. Draco ran after it; down the stairs and into the dungeons. When it finally stopped about midway to the Slytherin common room, it turned around, cocked it's head to one side and looked at him in a wide-eyed expression.
"P - Piper?" said Draco, trying to make conversation with the glowing spirit.
To his surprise, it smiled, "Do you know who murdered me?"
All he could do was shake his head.
"That's too bad.. Do you remember when you asked me if me and Rachel and I had something going on between us? Well, here's your answer.. SHE BLOODY KILLED ME!" Piper screamed.
Draco closed his ears, trying desperately to block out the sound, but it did no good. Her scream was even louder than a Mandrake's. Piper stopped wailing and screaming and looked down on him, lying on the floor, his arms over his head. She calmed down, her hair loosened to reveal shiny, dark, silky hair; no more tangled and bunched up. Her dress that looked like something worn in a hospital had became her school robes. She was turned back into a ghost instead of a banshee. She also looked more like the Piper Draco knew before.
"W - what happened to me?" Piper said, looking at her clothes and touching her hair.
Draco got up and looked at her, "Piper, I - it's you!"
"Oh, Draco I'm so sorry. When I saw you crying over my body I didn't know what to think. I went crazy just thinking and longing to be with you again that I, that I.I turned into a banshee and started to haunt Rachel. Driving her crazy." Said Piper.
"Rachel killed you? My cousin Rachel Malfoy?" said Draco. He couldn't believe it.. It couldn't be.. No..
"Sadly, yes. I didn't know she could be so low. After all, she was Pandora's friend at Durmstrang.." Said Piper.
"Wait, who's Pandora? And how could Rachel have killed you, she was at home, she told me she was going back to her parent's house for the holidays?" said Draco.
"Pandora is one of the girl's who got me expelled last year from Durmstrang.that's why I had to come to Hogwarts. Rachel wasn't at home like she told you. Have you noticed that every time you saw Pansy Parkinson, she was hanging out with Graham Pritchard, a second year from our house? Now why would you think she would befriend a second year student? Don't you think that is just a little too friendly for her?" said Piper.
"I don't get it. Why would she be friends with Pritchard?" said Draco, not understanding a word Piper was saying.
"Because Rachel was little Pritchard. She went into the Restricted Section of the library at night one time and stole a book called Moste Potente Potions. ("I had to but that for my mother in Diagon Alley!") She read through the book and found a one called The Polyjuice Potion. She's been making that potion ever since the winter holidays started, then stopped after she completed her scheme." continued Piper.
"I've never seen Pritchard around, was he hiding?" said Draco, trying to get all the facts together.
"Yes he was. He was hiding in the second year boys' dormitories. Pansy bribed all of the second years not to mention anything to anyone, especially you or else she'd do something horrible to them." Said Piper.
"That sure sounds like her. How did she change into him, I mean didn't she need to get something of his in order to be look like him?" said Draco.
"Yes. She was using his hair for a bit, then his nails." Said Piper, looking very disgusted at the thought.
"And how exactly did you come across all this information?" said Draco.
"I followed them all to prove what they did. I also listened closely to their conversations. They were extremely disappointing. Then of course there were some fun parts.the time when I screamed and wailed in both their ears at night when they were in the dungeons. They had to go stay at the hospital wing for a week until they recovered." Piper sighed.
"So are you going to leave me now?" said Draco, with disappointment in his voice.
"I will always be in you heart Draco. I loved you before, and I still love you.but you have to move on.." Said Piper. Draco looked away, trying to hide his tears that were now creeping down his cheeks.
"Oh, Draco.. You'll still be able to see me." Said Piper.
"I know, it's just I love you, you know? I - I don't know how to live my life without you. These past two months I've been trying to find you and figure out who murdered you. And now that I've found you, I want you even more." Said Draco, looking at her caring face.
"Draco I do know. But you know what? Unless you want to live the rest of your life longing for me to come back and turn back into a human, you're wasting your time. As much as I want you back into my arms, kissing me and holding me.I can't have you. Trust me on this, I want the best for you, and that's for you to move on.." Piper trailed off; she had silvery tears coming out of her eyes.
Draco nodded his head. He knew Piper was right, it was just too complicated, he loved her so much. Piper turned and flew away, but before she did, she kissed Draco on the lips, sending chills all over his body, and whispered, "I love you."
Draco just stood there, watching her in the distance, until she went through the wall and he was no longer able to see her again. He walked into the Slytherin common room and saw no sign of Aislinn so he went up to the boys' dormitory and fell asleep, dreaming about Piper.
The next morning Aislinn barged into the boys' dormitories and pulled the curtains around Draco's four-poster, to reveal an annoyed teenage boy, his hair all over the place on his head.
Draco shielded his eyes from the light, "Aislinn, you're not s'pposed to be in here!" said Draco, groggily.
"Fine then, I'll leave." Said Aislinn with a bit of disappointment in her voice.
"No, I want to know why you ran off to the library last night." Said Draco, getting out of bed.
He had a white shirt and boxers on, while Aislinn was wearing a red shirt with a picture of a ghoul on it and blue and black plaid pants.
"Err.." Said Draco, feeling his face blush.
Aislinn just shrugged it off, "I don't mind. I want you to read this." She shoved a paper under his nose, which looked like it was torn out form a book, "I found it in Interesting Spirits of the Wizarding World."
"'A Banshee, or sometimes credited as The Lost Lover. Is a spirit that is very secretive. It doesn't make many friends, maybe one of two at the most. It cannot go through walls like ghosts and poltergeists can. It's hair usually sways in a tangled heap around it's face, like it's caught in a massive wind. It glows silver whenever it is angered and is often mistaken for a bodiless spirit, which does not float, but walk around like a normal human being, it is see through like ghosts and poltergeists are, however.
"' It wails whenever it is angered of upset at some thing or some one. It usually haunts the one who murdered it. It seldom looks like the person who died. A Banshee is usually in a woman's form and disapears whenever it senses danger or a human, unless the human is of course, the one it is longing for. It is called The Lost Lover because a person usually becomes a Banshee when they are torn apart from their soul mate through death.'" Read Draco.
"So, what do you think?" said Aislinn.
"I'm her soul mate?" said Draco.
"I guess so." said Aislinn, smiling.
She sat on the bed next to him.
"By the way, I just love your hair." said Aislinn sarcastically.
Draco blushed and tried to smooth out the mess on his head.
"Hey.can you wait for me in the Great Hall, I have to get dressed." said Draco.
Aislinn nodded and rushed out of the dormitory.
As soon as Draco had put on a clean shirt and some pants, he got his wand and walked out to the Great Hall. Aislinn was sitting at the Slytherin table, picking at her food. Draco put some food on a plate for himself and sat down across from her.
"So are we going to practice today, for Quidditch I mean?" said Draco, biting into his toast.
Aislinn nodded. Just then, the three people Draco hated most stood up from the Gryffindor table and walked over to them.
"So Malfoy, heard you've got a new Beater. Who is it?" Said Potter.
Aislinn turned around to look at them.
"It's Aislinn Njass. Why do you care Potter?" Draco retorted.
"I have a right to know, I'm playing against you in three weeks. By the way, who's Aislinn Njass?" said Potter.
"She is." Said Draco, nodding in Aislinn's direction.
Potter laughed, and so did his two friends, "She'll be no match against our Beaters."
"Well, we'll just have to see about that, won't we Potter?" said Draco, feeling a bit disturbed by the subject, "Come on Aislinn, we have to practice."
With that they both left the table and went out onto the Quidditch field. Draco went to get the brooms, sack of sand they used for practicing, and the bat.
"Okay, first I'm going to have to teach you how to fly a broom. Didn't you have flying lessons at your old school?" said Draco.
"No, Madame Maxime only wanted people who wanted to be on the teams to have lessons. I didn't want to be on the team because I was afraid something would happen to me." Replied Aislinn.
"All right let's see. What did Hooch teach us the first year?" said Draco quietly to himself, trying to recall what they did on their first flying lesson, "Oh, okay, put the broom on the ground and say up."
Aislinn put the Nimbus on the ground gently and said what she was told. The broom flew up in her hands and she caught it.
"All right, now mount it. Be careful though, it might fly for no apparent reason." Said Draco, getting the bat and sack then mounting his Firebolt.
They flew up into the air. Draco let Aislinn get the hang of flying first, then handed her the leather-covered bat.
"This is so fun!" Aislinn laughed.
"Okay, now listen up. When I thrown you the sack from different angles, you have to hit it with that. It's the same size, color and weight as a real Bludger, so be careful. Are you ready?" said Draco.
"Err.. Yeah." Said Aislinn, waiving her bat in the air.
Draco flew up a few feet and pitched the heavy sack towards Aislinn. She stared at it as it fell down closer to her then smacked it with her bat. It flew a long ways, then landed in the far distance.
"That was good. Hold on I'll go get." Said Draco.
When he got back, they practiced with the sack a few more times, then Draco suggested if she'd want to try it with real thing. "I guess. Am I going to die?" said Aislinn jokingly.
Draco chuckled, "No you're not going to die."
When they finished practice, they flew back down on the ground. Draco put all of the supplies away and went back up to meet Aislinn, who was waiting for him in the field. "I'm pretty surprised though. You got the hang of it really fast." Said Draco.
"Is that good?" Aislinn asked.
"Really." Replied Draco.
They walked into the castle and came across Potter, Weasley and Granger.
"Back so soon Malfoy?" said Granger.
"Yeah, as a matter of fact I am. What do you want Granger?" said Draco.
"Nothing, nothing at all. I just never thought you would be hanging out with such a.freak." Said Granger, looking in Aislinn's direction.
"Shut your trap.Mudblood." Said Draco.
"I'll get you this year Malfoy, you just watch! Nobody insults my girlfriend!" yelled Weasley after Draco and Aislinn, who were all ready walking away from the spot.
* * *
That evening, Draco was roaming the halls because he had nothing else to do. He was still busy thinking about Piper and how much Aislinn looked like her, even though the details weren't exact. Piper had olive shaped green eyes and Aislinn had large dark blue eyes. All this thinking and processing he was doing in his mind had made him lose his touch on snide remarks towards Potter, Weasley, and Granger. He turned a corner and couldn't believe what he saw. It was what looked like a ghost, but not one that he'd ever seen before. This one was see through, but it wasn't hovering above the ground, it was in fact.walking.
Draco remembered something and ran in front of it. It's hair was immediately rising and the spirit emitted a loud wail and floated away. Draco ran after it; down the stairs and into the dungeons. When it finally stopped about midway to the Slytherin common room, it turned around, cocked it's head to one side and looked at him in a wide-eyed expression.
"P - Piper?" said Draco, trying to make conversation with the glowing spirit.
To his surprise, it smiled, "Do you know who murdered me?"
All he could do was shake his head.
"That's too bad.. Do you remember when you asked me if me and Rachel and I had something going on between us? Well, here's your answer.. SHE BLOODY KILLED ME!" Piper screamed.
Draco closed his ears, trying desperately to block out the sound, but it did no good. Her scream was even louder than a Mandrake's. Piper stopped wailing and screaming and looked down on him, lying on the floor, his arms over his head. She calmed down, her hair loosened to reveal shiny, dark, silky hair; no more tangled and bunched up. Her dress that looked like something worn in a hospital had became her school robes. She was turned back into a ghost instead of a banshee. She also looked more like the Piper Draco knew before.
"W - what happened to me?" Piper said, looking at her clothes and touching her hair.
Draco got up and looked at her, "Piper, I - it's you!"
"Oh, Draco I'm so sorry. When I saw you crying over my body I didn't know what to think. I went crazy just thinking and longing to be with you again that I, that I.I turned into a banshee and started to haunt Rachel. Driving her crazy." Said Piper.
"Rachel killed you? My cousin Rachel Malfoy?" said Draco. He couldn't believe it.. It couldn't be.. No..
"Sadly, yes. I didn't know she could be so low. After all, she was Pandora's friend at Durmstrang.." Said Piper.
"Wait, who's Pandora? And how could Rachel have killed you, she was at home, she told me she was going back to her parent's house for the holidays?" said Draco.
"Pandora is one of the girl's who got me expelled last year from Durmstrang.that's why I had to come to Hogwarts. Rachel wasn't at home like she told you. Have you noticed that every time you saw Pansy Parkinson, she was hanging out with Graham Pritchard, a second year from our house? Now why would you think she would befriend a second year student? Don't you think that is just a little too friendly for her?" said Piper.
"I don't get it. Why would she be friends with Pritchard?" said Draco, not understanding a word Piper was saying.
"Because Rachel was little Pritchard. She went into the Restricted Section of the library at night one time and stole a book called Moste Potente Potions. ("I had to but that for my mother in Diagon Alley!") She read through the book and found a one called The Polyjuice Potion. She's been making that potion ever since the winter holidays started, then stopped after she completed her scheme." continued Piper.
"I've never seen Pritchard around, was he hiding?" said Draco, trying to get all the facts together.
"Yes he was. He was hiding in the second year boys' dormitories. Pansy bribed all of the second years not to mention anything to anyone, especially you or else she'd do something horrible to them." Said Piper.
"That sure sounds like her. How did she change into him, I mean didn't she need to get something of his in order to be look like him?" said Draco.
"Yes. She was using his hair for a bit, then his nails." Said Piper, looking very disgusted at the thought.
"And how exactly did you come across all this information?" said Draco.
"I followed them all to prove what they did. I also listened closely to their conversations. They were extremely disappointing. Then of course there were some fun parts.the time when I screamed and wailed in both their ears at night when they were in the dungeons. They had to go stay at the hospital wing for a week until they recovered." Piper sighed.
"So are you going to leave me now?" said Draco, with disappointment in his voice.
"I will always be in you heart Draco. I loved you before, and I still love you.but you have to move on.." Said Piper. Draco looked away, trying to hide his tears that were now creeping down his cheeks.
"Oh, Draco.. You'll still be able to see me." Said Piper.
"I know, it's just I love you, you know? I - I don't know how to live my life without you. These past two months I've been trying to find you and figure out who murdered you. And now that I've found you, I want you even more." Said Draco, looking at her caring face.
"Draco I do know. But you know what? Unless you want to live the rest of your life longing for me to come back and turn back into a human, you're wasting your time. As much as I want you back into my arms, kissing me and holding me.I can't have you. Trust me on this, I want the best for you, and that's for you to move on.." Piper trailed off; she had silvery tears coming out of her eyes.
Draco nodded his head. He knew Piper was right, it was just too complicated, he loved her so much. Piper turned and flew away, but before she did, she kissed Draco on the lips, sending chills all over his body, and whispered, "I love you."
Draco just stood there, watching her in the distance, until she went through the wall and he was no longer able to see her again. He walked into the Slytherin common room and saw no sign of Aislinn so he went up to the boys' dormitory and fell asleep, dreaming about Piper.