(Please note there is a time lapse of about six weeks between last chapter and now.)
Gryffindors and Danger
~~~~~
I try to continue life as if there is nothing wrong. Dumbledore assures me I am safe here. Father cannot take me away.
So I read, I write, I study and I fly. I learn. Weeks pass. I get on with things, trying to forget the shadows that are hanging over my head. They're cold shadows, not like you.
~~~~~
Harry and I have a lot in common. He's told me about Lord Voldemort, and about what happened to his parents. He visits me often, sneaking out after curfew under his invisibility cloak. I've told him not to, but he just laughs and says that he needs to break rules, it's part of being a Gryffindor.
He should have been in Slytherin.
For what it's worth, I listen to him. He's explained the story of the Philosopher's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, his godfather Sirius Black, and what happened last year at the Triwizard Tournament.
Then again, his dangerously trusting nature is very much a Gryffindor trait.
"You're a fool you know, Harry," I tell him as he sits beside me with his head on my shoulder. "An utter fool. Worse than Draco."
"That's the first thing I've ever heard you say against him."
"Well it's true. He shows too much of what he is, it endangers him. Like it does you. Both of you show the world far too much."
"You don't show the world enough."
"I guard myself."
There is a pause. I realise that this is what people call a companionable silence. And I realise I'm comfortable with this boy, he gives freely and asks nothing but that I take.
"We're friends, right Leila?"
"Of course we're friends."
"Nothing more?"
"Nothing more."
"Good," he sounds relieved. I look down at him against me; his hair ruffled and glasses askew. I'm puzzled. Does he think that I might want more than this? I'm happy as I am.
"Harry?"
"Hmm?"
"Why don't you and Draco like each other?" Where did that question come from?
"He's a Slytherin, he's awful to my friends, he's been awful to me - "
"To a lesser degree all that applies to me as well. Yet look whose arms you're in."
"It's different. For four years all he's done is make my life hell. I don't know why. He offered to be my friend at first but I said no."
"Why?"
"He said that there were the right sort of wizards to be friends with, and the wrong sort. He said Ron was the wrong sort. And I basically told him to get lost."
"That sounds like something Father would say. Maybe some of his prejudice rubbed off on Draco."
Harry sits up, moving so he can face me. "What are you saying? That Draco's not the ferret he seems to be?"
"I don't know. I just don't understand how he could hate you so much. He doesn't see you the way I do. Sometimes I don't understand him, other times it's like we're one mind. Look, I'll talk to him."
"Why?"
"It saves me trouble. How do you think I feel when my twin and my best friend are sworn enemies? If you are at least allies, I'm the one who wins."
He gives me a wry look. "How very Slytherin of you."
"How very Gryffindor of you to notice."
His mouth splits in a grin. He looks like a little boy.
"Now go, it's Saturday tomorrow and you have training."
"Will you come?" he pulls an old sheet of parchment from his pocket.
"Maybe."
"I could teach you Quidditch."
"Uh, no. Not with an audience."
He shrugs and taps the paper with his wand, murmuring "I sincerely swear I am up to no good." Lines flood the paper and he squints to read it. "Good, Filch is in his office. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yes Harry. Goodnight."
As he swirls his cloak around him I hear him laugh softly. "Goodnight Leila." Then he is gone.
~~~~~
"Any word from Father?"
"No. That's why I'm worried." Draco toys with his eggs, mixing the golden yolk with the melted butter that has spilled from his toast.
"When was the last letter?"
"He hasn't owled since I made excuses for not writing about you," he speaks quietly, his head bowed.
"Have you written to him since then?" I sip my tea and try not to let my hands shake.
"No."
"Maybe you should."
"And say what? 'Hello Father, I've been consorting with her for about six weeks and I thought you might like to know. Sorry I haven't handed her over yet, I'm getting around to it'."
I look at my plate. I still don't understand why Father would want control over me. It doesn't make sense. I'm nothing.
~~~~~
The Gryffindor team is good. Fast, efficient, and skilled, the seven of them work together with a single purpose, a single mind.
Much better than the Slytherins.
I sit in the stands with a book in my lap and a pencil in my hand, drawing. The Weasely twins are playing with only one bludger, hitting it back and forth between them. The chasers toss the quaffle in a circle, first using one hand then using two. Harry and the keeper are discussing tactics, flying back and forth above the other players.
"Hi Leila."
Hermione sits down on the bench near me. I smile at her.
"What are you drawing?"
"Nothing."
"How did you go in that Potions test?" she changes the subject quickly. It's always a little awkward when I'm talking with her, but we hold an alliance of sorts. I suppose her place as the only girl in the Trio has been threatened.
"Alright. Snape marked me down for spelling errors but other than that it was fine. What about you?"
"Not bad. It reaches a point when he has to give marks based on the answers, not the student. He's not the nicest of teachers."
"Hermione Granger judging a teacher?"
"You'd be surprised Malfoy. If you can hang out with Dobby I can hate Snape."
I grin. "Deal."
She smiles and looks back up to Harry. "Show off."
I follow her gaze. Harry is trying to explain a move to Oliver Wood and is dangling from his broom by one hand and one leg. I have to laugh. He looks like an idiot.
"I heard that you fly too."
I glance back at Hermione, surprised. She just shrugs.
"It's a boarding school. Everyone knows everything eventually."
"I've been having lessons with Madam Hooch."
"Didn't you learn in Australia?"
I stop. I don't want to have to lie to her. But I don't know that I can trust her.
I shrug. She doesn't push the issue.
Which I can't help but find odd.
~~~~~