A/N: …
Disclaimer: …
It was a crisp, clear day, and the sky was as blue as it had ever been. The giant squid undulated just below the surface of the water, causing the lily pads to bob up and down, up and down. Fingers raked their way down the length of Azera's hair. "Are you feeling better?" Harry asked from where he sat behind her. Azera shifted on the grass and leaned against his chest, which was surprisingly strong and muscled. She brushed a leaf off his pant leg.
"I'm okay," she repeated for about the tenth time that day. She had been unable to fall back to sleep after the dream, and Harry had stayed up with her through the night. They had talked, they had held each other, and she had told him things that she had never said aloud before, but now Azera needed to get away. She felt a little suffocated around Harry now, now that she had remembered that she would have to kill him sooner or later. She put on her seductive face and turned around, straddling his torso with her legs.
"Are you feeling better?" she asked, running her index finger down the imaginary line that made its way down Harry's breastbone to his belly button. She looked up at him from under her lashes as she placed her hands firmly on his shoulders and leaned forward.
"I'm fine," Harry said. "I just don't want you having to dream those horrible things." He leaned down to hug her, and their lips and cheeks brushed together.
It was really hard for Azera's emotions to detach them from Harry when he was doing this. It was supposed to be the other way around. She was supposed to seduce him, trap him on her bed, place a stiletto heel on his chest and slash a knife across his throat, done quickly and as dominatrix-style as possible. It'll look better this way, though, Azera thought. And why can't I allow someone else to do all the work once in a while? Harry nuzzled her neck. "I'm going to have to get to class soon," Harry said.
"Me too, silly, we're in almost all the same classes," Azera said. "It's pretty hard to forget that I'm in the same Potions class as you when I'm doing all your work for you." Harry laughed softly.
"Thanks," he whispered, drawing his hand down her jawbone and across her lips. She kissed his fingertips playfully.
"We gotta get going," she said, standing up abruptly. "Snape doesn't like it when we're late."
"Yeah," Harry said, gathering his books in the crook of his left arm and slipping his right around her waist and into the front pocket of her jeans that she wore under her robes. His thumb slipped through the belt loop, forcing her to come closer to him. I have to get him away from me before Draco sees, Azera thought frantically. Slowly she drew his hand out of her pocket and held it in hers, caressing his fingers as he had done to her so many times.
"Harry!" Thank you, sweet mercy! Hermione stood on the steps in front of the school, looking slightly bookish as usual. Her eyes passed suspiciously between Azera and Harry as they walked together up the steps. Azera imagined what kind of hysterical conniption the girl would have gone into if she had seen Harry's hand still in the pocket of her jeans. "Do you have any idea how late you are?" Hermione hissed.
"I dunno, how late?" Harry asked as they approached the Potions classroom.
"Late!" Hermione insisted as she went in the door. Azera inconspicuously drifted slightly behind so that she wouldn't enter right after Harry. She couldn't let it look like they had been together.
Ten seconds later Azera entered the Potions classroom, catching Draco's eye. She rolled her own and looked towards Harry meaningfully. Draco laughed silently and then said something to Crabbe as Azera took her place next to Seamus, who was trying his rather pathetic best to make a move on her. The potion Snape had assigned to them was rather more difficult than the usual mix, and Azera actually spent more than half the class on her mix, periodically pausing to help Harry without Draco noticing. Seamus kept touching her arm, which she found extremely annoying. She came very close to snapping at him the next time he invaded her happy space.
Harry left Potions class on time, saying that he had to get to the common room to talk to his Quidditch team to discuss strategy. Azera bid him goodbye and waited until he had left the room to saunter over to Draco. "Hey babe," she said, giving him a sensuous hello kiss once she had made sure that Snape wasn't looking. Pansy turned greener than usual at the sight of their overdone P.D.A. and Azera had a hard time not cracking up at the scandalized look on the girl's face. Azera bit Draco's lip at the end of the kiss, and it looked like Parkinson was going to spontaneously combust or something. Draco, exercising less self control than his kissing partner, allowed himself a laugh at Pansy, who was still glaring at Azera.
"You dog!" Pansy hissed. Draco's arm slackened around Azera's waist as he watched her face for reaction.
Azera raised an eyebrow at the girl. She had never expected that Pansy had that much gut in her. "What are you going to do about it?" she scoffed.
"Duel," she answered shortly.
"The girl has balls," Azera said airily, giving Draco a meaningful look and then turning back to the challenger. She spun her wand in her fingers. "Name the place and the time," she said.
"Midnight. Charm's room." Goyle stepped up behind Pansy and put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'll second," he grunted. Pansy nodded.
"Who's your second?" she barked.
"I don't need a second," Azera shot back. "You'll both be on the floor way before I'm done with you." Azera turned on her heel and marched out of the classroom, thankful that Snape hadn't heard a single word. That guy had to be deaf or something, because he was acting totally oblivious to the things that had been going on in his classroom since Azera arrived.
"I don't think you should do it."
"What are you, Harry, my mother?" Azera said, her temper still burning. "That girl thought I needed a second," she said indignantly.
"I still don't think you should duel her."
"What's it to you?" Harry looked wounded. Azera remembered that he was in love with her. "I'll be fine," she said. "You don't think I can beat that oaf and her troll of a second?"
"I know that you can beat them ten times over before they hit the floor, Azera," Harry said, touching her shoulder. Azera totally despised the melting feeling that she felt at his touch. Get off, get off! "It's just that I don't want you to do anything stupid."
"Like you wouldn't?"
"Just don't…" Harry sighed. "I just worry about you sometimes. You have this temper. I'm worried that you might let it get the best of you."
Azera was fighting a valiant battle against the hand on her shoulder, and it wasn't going too well. She turned around slowly to face Harry. He was looking into her eyes with this expression that said, 'just let me do it for you, I care for you too much or whatever'. Azera sighed and took his face in her hands.
"I won't do anything stupid," she reassured him, kissing him on the cheek. Then she turned, swung on her cloak, and disappeared out the portrait hole. It was time to rumble.
Pansy was white as Nearly Headless Nick and it was the funniest thing Azera had ever seen. She swung off her cloak and appeared suddenly right in front of her challenger. "Hello, Pansy," she said brightly, her wand out and twirling between her fingers. "Nice to see that you showed up. I didn't expect you to." Azera walked over and received a very nice, rather long kiss from Draco as she went to her end of the room.
"Okay," Draco said. "Wands at the ready? One, two…"
Azera put her wand down at her side, just to insult Pansy more.
"Three!"
"Expelliarmus!" Pansy shouted. Azera ducked the spell easily and pointed her wand at the girl.
"Petrificus Totalus!" She said, petrifying the girl. Azera smiled in a satisfied way and walked slowly over to Goyle, who looked like he was about to wet his pants. A grin to rival Draco's spread across her face. "And for you," she said, placing the tip of her wand on the Slytherin crest of Goyle's robes- "Tarantallegra." The troll was thrown into a hilarious clumsy tap dance that sent him spiraling out of control across the room. His arms spiraled out and almost hit several onlookers as he wheeled around the room. Draco smiled.
"Well done," he said, watching Goyle spin. She leaned up and their mouths met again, making Azera's body tingle. If Pansy could have shouted, she would have.
"I'm not going to push this to the death, as I usually would," Azera said, walking over to Pansy and freeing her from the bind. "Just don't cross my path again. Finite," she said softly. Goyle stopped dancing, to the onlookers' disappointment. "Bye, Draco," she said as she left the classroom. Letting Draco go without a kiss made her feel a bit liberated. Draco wasn't that much to her, he provided a good kiss and a hot smile, and he was indeed valuable to have around, but he was disposable. As disposable as any of the other men that Azera had dated. It was fun to tease him, too.
Harry had waited up for her. He was sitting in the same chair that he had been sleeping in the night before, his hair mussed and hanging over his glasses as usual. Azera walked over, her footsteps silent on the thick carpet of the common room. He didn't notice her as she sat down next to him. He had been sleeping.
Azera gently brushed his hair out of his eyes and examined the sleeping face. Harry looked young and vulnerable when he was asleep. As she bent down to kiss the sleeping figure, Harry stirred and woke up. "Hey, Azera," he said groggily. "How was the duel?"
"Easy, as I expected," she said, curling up on Harry's lap and resting her head on his shoulder. "A tap-dancing Goyle is the funniest thing you will ever see."
"You didn't injure anyone?" Harry asked in a bemused tone of voice as he wrapped his arms around Azera's shoulders and leaned his head on hers.
"Unfortunately, no," she answered, absentmindedly playing with the collar of the shirt that Harry was wearing beneath his robes as Harry slid her arms under her own robes in order to get a more secure grip on her waist. The hem of her shirt rode up slightly, and the skin of his palm touched the small of her back. Harry's hands were warmer than she had expected as they left little tingling sensations across the naked skin of her back. He pulled her close, closer than they had ever been before. She could smell his aftershave as she buried her face into his neck, giving in, a hopeless case of falling for your enemy.
How am I ever going to get this done? She thought as Harry removed a hand from her back and tilted her chin up so that he could kiss her. How am I ever going to do this? His tongue touched her bottom lip, and the Death Eater within screamed bloody murder. Silent tears slid down Azera's cheeks and onto her lips as they kissed, the tears tasting salty on her tongue. Harry reached up and wiped the tears away with his thumb, the tip of his finger trailing across the ends of her eyelashes. A sob welled in Azera's throat, and she tried her best to fight it down as Harry pulled away.
"Azera?" Harry said, holding her face in both hands.
"Harry," Azera choked out, grabbing his robes with her fists and crying into his shoulder, necking him like there was no tomorrow. Then she remembered about Cho.
I let this man see me cry.
Azera pulled away, glaring at Harry as she did, her eyes still teary and bloodshot. She angrily wiped the tears away as she let go of him, stumbling as she leaned away, realizing that she had been leaning on him the entire time. Harry gave her a puzzled look.
"Go back to your Cho," she said in a kind of quiet bitterness as she walked up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.
"Azera, wait," Harry said, scrambling up the steps. The steps immediately melted into a slid, which caused Azera to involuntarily slide back down the ramp and back into Harry's arms.
"Get away," she said, pushing herself away from him, but Harry grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"Azera, tell me what's wrong," he said as Azera angrily banged her wand on the slide, willing it to turn back into stairs.
"Everything," she said as she wrenched her arm from his grip and sprinted up the stairs to her room before he could chase her again. He didn't move from where he was standing, staring up at the door that she had slammed practically in his face.
That girl, he thought in a mixture of disgust, anger, pleasure, and pride. That girl.