He closed his eyes just in time. Crap. He grinned and wiped his face off on his sleeve. He towered a head above me and was too muscular for me to take down. Besides, I wouldn't attack someone in a whole Common Room full of his chums.
"I didn't expect you to come to my place." He smiled. "I guess you enjoyed that kiss more than you gave it credit for."
"You call that a kiss?" I raised my eyebrows. "I guess next to what a goat might do, it was something, but not by much." I turned away and started putting the books back in the shelf.
"Is that what you were taught on in slut school?" I heard Pansy screech. "Goats?"
"No, those were brought only when oafs like Montague were no longer available. But you should know that, Pansy, you were there with me." I heard her gasp indignantly and say something to her friends. I finished putting the books into the shelf and felt Montague putting his arms around me. I ducked under his embrace and moved on to the next shelf.
"Aw, Favian. It wouldn't take long, just a little kiss." Montague laughed.
I ignored him and dusted the shelf. I finished and realized that Pansy and her crew had gone off to their dorms. I was with all boys. I felt nauseated. At least with the girls there the guys might restrain themselves because they didn't want to offend their girlfriends. I wished that I had my wand but McGonagall had told me to leave it in my dorm because detentions never, or rarely, required a wand.
"Here, let's help her." I heard a boy say. He pointed his wand at the shelves that I was heading towards and made the books fly out and smack into me. I fell to the floor with the force and was covered. I dropped the rag and Lysol can in an attempt to cover my face. I brought myself up, blushing furiously. Montague and one of the boys who had pinioned my arms were holding my rag and bottle.
I said nothing, breathing heavily. I looked at an antique clock ticking on the fireplace. It had only been ten minutes. I groaned quietly.
"Give those back." I demanded.
"For a price."
"Then never mind, I'll dust with my socks." I walked away and to the bookshelf.
I bent over to unlace my shoe, but sat down instead. I pulled off my shoe and sock and began rubbing down the shelf. When I was finished, my sock was blackened with the dust. I shook it off and started replacing the books. As I reached to put one back in a higher spot, someone grabbed me around the waist and knocked me over, heavy books and all. One boy held my hands above my head and I let out an unearthly shriek. No way would they molest me or something. But one pointed their wand to my throat and my voice was lost. My eyes were wide. I was terrified.
I kicked violently at the boy at my feet. My hips left the floor as I struggled. I jerked all over the place when Malfoy came over. His pale face grinned as he stared down at me.
"Now, didn't I say that I'd make you regret what you'd said to me?"
"Asshole." I whispered, because that was all that I could do.
He only smiled. A boy grabbed my legs and together they lifted me. I swung back and forth and twisted my wrists to no avail. They plopped me on a table and tied my arms and legs to the table legs.
Oh my God, no! I struggled against my bonds. Terror consumed me and I again tried to scream. Nothing but air came out. Malfoy sat on top of me. The only upside to any of this was that I was completely dressed, and so was he. Maybe this wouldn't turn into some ugly rape.
"You're lucky that the Dark Lord's already said something about you." Malfoy whispered to me. I frowned, confused. "You probably wouldn't last very long if he hadn't."
"What?" I breathed.
"Guess he needs you or something stupid." Malfoy laughed. Then, to my utter horror and revulsion, he lowered his face to mine. I thought he was going to try and kiss me, but he licked my lips instead, laughing at my expression. "I like your lip gloss, Favian."
I closed my eyes and pretended that there wasn't an evil boy sitting on top of me, tasting my chapstick.
"How much longer is she here for?" Malfoy asked.
"Half an hour."
"Clean for her." Malfoy grinned. "And then you can all taste her lip gloss."
It was all I could do not to run screaming when Filch came to inspect my work. The Slytherins vouched for me, saying I hadn't once used magic, but they said I was kind of sloppy. Filch shrugged and took me from the room. My wrists and ankles were raw from the ropes and my face was still wet. When Filch wasn't looking at me, I wiped my face desperately on my robes.
"You're quiet." Filch noted. "I guess that work took your spunk away."
"Or maybe," I whispered, "I sang so much that I lost my voice."
"They didn't mention your singing."
"That's because I'm so good that they didn't want to complain." I continued without my voice. "They forced me to it. They're a rowdy bunch, those Slytherins. You and I should go and sing a duet for them sometime."
Filch considered this, I think. He sent me back to my own Common Room. Harry and I were both running when we collided. We both fell backwards.
"Fancy seeing you here." I whispered.
"What?" Harry asked.
"In the Common Room." I said. "Pixie Dust." I said to the Fat Lady. She swung open.
"Why are you whispering?" Harry asked quietly.
"The Slytherins took my voice away." I explained unhappily. "I need to get my wand."
"Use mine." He handed his own to me. I brought my voice back.
"Ugh!" I moaned loudly. "And I still want to scream!"
"What happened?"
I told him everything except for the licking part, because that was too revolting.
"They just tied you to the table and laughed? They… didn't do anything else, er, did they?"
"Nothing horrible. Just disgusting." I said shrugging. "And Malfoy said the weirdest thing… he said that Voldemort needs me or something weird, and that's why they wouldn't… well, you know. Do you have any idea what that's all about?"
Harry shook his head. I noticed his hand was bleeding.
"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" I grabbed his hand.
"I'm fine."
"That's just sick." I looked at the words "I must not tell lies." "She's awful." I muttered.
Harry agreed solemnly. "But so are the Slytherins."
"They're the ones that told her about my promiscuous behavior." I grimaced. "I need to shower. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah. I guess so." He moaned. "I wish tomorrow wouldn't come."
"That makes two of us."
But the next day did come. Surprisingly, I found myself laughing happily at breakfast as Montague and his two chaps brawled and were separated by McGonagall and Snape. Their noses started bleeding profusely and they fell into a faint.
"Churlish Chocolates, work every time." George grinned.
"Thanks George, I owe you."
"And what about me?" Fred asked.
"You too." And I hugged them both.
Transfiguration nearly brightened my mood as well when McGonagall snapped at Umbridge. Apparently Harry earned another night's detention in Care of Magical Creatures, which I had not gone to because of the Slytherins being there. Hermione, Ron and I went to the Common Room after supper to work on our homework. I was finished before either of them because I had spent an entire period in the library. I helped Ron on his Transfiguration essay, against Hermione's wishes, but I taught her some French after she was done, something I had failed to do the day that I had promised.
It was about ten fifty when I fell asleep, lying down on the couch staring at the fire.
"Tom! You've been here a lot more lately!" I said happily.
"I've had more time, Favian, and I know you need help."
"Ah, my dream psychologist."
Tom bowed. "That's what I'm here for."
"What are you so busy with lately?"
"Work." He said shortly.
"What do you do?"
"Hm, you could say I'm a bit of a spell-tweaker I suppose."
"I invented a spell." I grinned.
"Really? What is it?"
"A spell for self-flight."
"Interesting. How did you manage that?"
I explained about my wand. "Mr. Ollivander told me that my wand was odd."
"Yes. You are special, you know."
"Thanks, Tom."
"Not like that, I mean that you have special powers. They've been written about if you were interested in learning more."
"Well, how do I find these texts if I don't even know exactly what I am?"
"In the library you will find a book of predictions and in the aisle over a book about special characteristics. That one is Strange and Dangerous Phenomena by Orenda Merlin. The Book of Predictions is actually a collection of predictions by renowned seers."
"I will look for those. Tom?"
"Yes?"
"You are real, aren't you?"
"Yes." He smiled.
"How old are you for real?"
"I can be any age. For now I am seventeen, but I will begin to age with you once you hit seventeen."
"Truly?"
"Yes."
"Tom? Where can I find you?"
"I'll find you, Favian. Don't worry yourself."
I smiled. "When?"
"As soon as I can."
"I hope that's soon."
"Me too."
"Favian! Wake up!" Hermione, Ron and Harry were all looking at me.
"What?" I sat up groggily. Harry was soaking his hand in the murtlap essence that Hermione had procured.
"Who's Tom?" Ron asked, grinning.
"Oh," I blushed, "a wizard that I met in my dreams. I think he's real, too. I mean, he tells me things that I don't know. He went here too, even though he's only seventeen right now." I frowned. "But he'll age once I hit seventeen, but that doesn't make sense to me."
"He went here? What house was he in?"
"Slytherin. But he's not bad." I said quickly. "I mean, I can tell him anything. He's really nice. And attractive too, but that's beside the point." I blushed again. I changed the subject quickly. "How was your detention?"
"Eh. It could've been better." He smiled wryly.
"You know, I think we ought to do something about Umbridge." Hermione said.
"I suggested poison." Ron said.
"No, I mean about her as a teacher." Hermione said. "We need a proper teacher."
"If you're talking about Lupin…." Harry started.
"No, he's busy with the Order." Hermione shook her head.
"Who then?"
Hermione heaved a very deep sigh.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm talking about you, Harry."
"What about me?"
"You, our teacher." Ron said.
"But…."
"Harry, you're the best in the year at Defense Against the Dark Arts, and look what you've done!"
"How d'you mean?" Harry asked.
"You know what, I'm not sure I want someone this stupid teaching me." Ron said to Hermione, smirking slightly. "Let's think," he said, pulling a face like Goyle concentrating. "Uh… first year- you saved the Stone from You-Know-Who."
"But that was luck," Harry objected, "that wasn't skill-."
"Second year," Ron interrupted, "you killed the basilisk and destroyed Riddle."
I choked. "Tom Riddle?"
Ron stopped his rant and stared at me. Hermione and Harry both slowly turned to look at me.
"Sorry, but is that the Riddle you're talking about?"
"Yeah…?"
My eyes widened and I looked down. "Sorry. Never mind." I didn't want to know more. Tom Riddle could have been a common name in England, so I didn't want to ask. Besides, if Harry had defeated him then obviously he was no longer around. This had to be another Tom Riddle.
"No, Favian, no, no, we won't 'never mind.'" Hermione said. "What's up?"
"Nothing, I just thought I'd heard the name before, but I can't have." I changed the subject again. "I think Harry should teach. He's done a lot with the Dark Arts."
"Yeah." Ron said. "I was just getting to third year."
"Stop." Harry said. "I'll think about it, okay? I'm not promising anything."
"Thank you Harry." Hermione smiled. Harry and Ron headed up to their dorm and Hermione and I to ours. I lay awake in my bunk for a good deal of the night, afraid to fall asleep and ask Tom if he was the same Tom….
Two weeks later we sat in the library looking up potion ingredients for Snape. I had found what I needed but told them that I was getting another book out on potions. I hadn't yet found the books that Tom had recommended I find. I finally asked Madam Pince where they were.
"Strange and Dangerous Phenomena and The Book of Predictions." She handed to large tomes to me. "You can take them both as long as you return them before the end of next month."
"Thanks." I went and sat down with the three of them. They were discussing Harry's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"You were the only person last year who could throw off the Imperius Curse completely, you can produce a Patronus, you can do all sorts of stuff that full-grown wizards can, Viktor always said-."
Ron looked around at her so fast he appeared to crick his neck; rubbing it, he said, "Yeah? What did Vicky say?"
"Ho, ho." Said Hermione in a bored voice.
I flipped open Strange and Dangerous Phenomena to the table of contents. The first thing that caught my attention was "Wings." Tom had mentioned me being the wings of flight or something bizarre. But that wasn't it. I realized that I was just flipping without any real idea of what I was looking for, so I went to The Book of Predictions. The table of contents in that particular book was easier for me to find what I was looking for.
"Within the Twenty-First Century there shall be a girl from another land. Her wand shall be of three different beasts. She is the Aviata."
"The Aviata." I wondered aloud. I went to Strange and Dangerous Phenomena and found a page on the Aviata, or me. My heart raced and I bookmarked the page and returned The Book of Predictions.
"Why do we have to do it outside school?" Said Ron.
"Because," said Hermione, "I don't think Umbridge would be very happy if she found out what we were up to."
"Haha, more power to that." I said grinning.
(A/N: I want to note my reasons and something else. Yeah, it's a bummer for Favian, but look at the fifth book! The whole way through, bummer after bummer, and then it gets all happy to do. This will be the last chapter for now. I'm going to get another story because I think fifteen chapters is a helluva lot for one story. The second one will be called Wings of the Death Flight because I figure I can get fifteen more chapters out of this beast and then be done. Maybe. Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more Favian Fynn.)