How bloody stupid could he have been? Homework? What was wrong with him? He'd been beating himself up all night, and it was causing him to lose sleep. Lose sleep? Over a girl? What the hell had this come to? Finally he drifted off to sleep, but only to be awoken three hours later by Goyle who was grunting loudly in his sleep. Draco's watch read 8:00; Far too early to actually get out of bed. He stuffed his head under his pillow and drowned out the noise of Goyle's grunts, before finally falling back into a fragile sleep.
--
"Separating Potion. You will get your ingredients, they are listed on the board along with directions." Snape said nothing other than that before sitting down behind his gloomy desk, and perhaps playing with sock puppets named Sevvylulu and Lilykins. Hem hem.
This potion was coming to Draco naturally. His potion was the right color, texture, and the smoke was the right thickness. What a piece of Cauldron Cake.
Ten minutes later, Snape was up and about, walking amongst the students and giving out grades. He scowled and said nothing about Hermione Granger's perfect potion, and.. he did the same when he reached Abby's cauldron. Some kind of dislike of Snape stirred in the pit of Draco's stomach at that moment.
"Good work, Mr. Malfoy, as always," Snape said with a sneer.
Draco said nothing. He didn't even nod. He felt a pair of eyes on him, and when he turned, he saw Abby's green eyes staring at him from across the room. Her hair was up in a loose ponytail. Strands of hair had all fallen out and cradled her face. Draco pretended like it didn't faze him.
"Copy down the homework and you are dismissed," Snape said, waving a hand carelessly. No doubt he wanted to get back to his haunting thoughts of Lily in that short green dress back in 7th year…
"Draco."
He turned around immediately. He heard that voice and couldn't help himself.
"Hi," Abby said when he was facing her.
"Hello." His voice didn't sound like his own. It was caught somewhere in his chest and he kicked himself mentally for being such a bloke.
"Errm.. I'm not sure.. why I stopped you," she said, and a pretty smile crept onto her face.
Draco was getting mad at himself for wanting to smile back. You're an arse. Be an arse. "Oh."
The smile disappeared a little. "Do you mind holding these for a moment?" She held out two heavy looking books.
Surely she didn't think he'd actually carry her books for her, did she? She did. He took them.
"Erm.. so you're in Gryffindor." Small talk. What in bloody hell was wrong with him?
"Uhh.. yes. It's not too bad. I'm thinking about taking a stab at their Quidditch team." She was rummaging through her bag, and Draco realized he was holding her books for a reason. She wasn't just flirting like Pansy would. He kind of liked it.
Abby pulled out a little case and opened it. Inside was a pair of glasses that she pushed onto her face. She took her books from him immediately after she'd placed the glasses case back into her bag. "Thank you, Draco."
He loved hearing his voice when she spoke it. It sounded so different. Not that she was saying it in any particular way.. it just sounded sweeter. Better. He imagined what it would be like for her to purr his name into his ear.
His daydreaming didn't even allow him to realize that she'd walked away already. He blinked and turned around to go after her.
"Wait a second," he said, again in a voice much unlike his own.
Abby turned around and faced him, hugging her books innocently to her chest, her eyes searching his, and it felt so strange to him that he had to focus on something other than her. "Yes?"
"I ehm.. was just wondering whether you'd still like to have that fly. You know, after dinner maybe?" Kick. Kick. Kick. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.
"Ohh.. well, ehm. I really can't." Abby had turned him down?
"Oh. Right. Nevermind then." Draco was about to walk away.
"Before dinner maybe?"
Draco did a double take and stared at her. He couldn't help but grin. Dinner was in an hour. "All right, then. Meet you at the pitch in a few minutes?"
Abby nodded, and Draco turned around again to leave. The last class of the day had gone by slowly, but as he walked back to the Slytherin common room, he felt a considerably light feeling in his stomach. He muttered the words "Worthy Wizards" to a blank stone wall and gained entrance to the large furnished dungeon. He just had to get his broomstick and then he could leave.
The wind blew into Draco's face. Blasted weather was going to mess up his hair. …Not likely. That head could withstand a hurricane, six earthquakes, and a water spout without a single hair out of place. Thus the basis of it's appeal. To a Ken doll.
Abby was already there. She wasn't in her uniform as she had been earlier. Had he really expected her to fly in a skirt? …Okay, so maybe his hopes were a little high. But the attire now wasn't at all to be complained about. She wore a white shirt and what seemed to be men's swimming trunks. They were baggy on her, but her thin legs were just as desirable this way than any other.
Draco chuckled. "You're really not one to impress, are you?"
Abby smiled and began walking the rest of the way to the pitch. "I haven't anyone to impress. And honestly, why ruin my school clothes? I haven't any Quidditch robes… yet."
"Yet, eh? You seem pretty confident that you'll get on the team." Draco grinned, trying not to think that it was the Gryffindor team she'd be on rather than his own.
She sighed dreamily at her broomstick. Draco noticed it was a very old Comet model. "Just hopeful."
Draco mounted his broomstick in unison with Abby. "I'll race you to that goalpost over there," she said smiling, and he smirked.
"All right. Count of three? One.. two.."
"Three!"
They kicked off at the same time, each lying flat against their broomsticks. Draco concentrated. He isn't the type to let someone else win. Abby was concentrating just as hard, and was neck and neck with him, but her broomstick had just about reached its maximum speed, and she was practically lying flat on the handle. It was then that Draco remembered who her brother was. Aidan Lynch. Of course she was a good flyer. But.. wouldn't she be able to afford a better broomstick? But still.. he'd never seen someone on such an old Comet model do so well against a Nimbus 2001. He had to admit to himself that he was impressed. Finally he reached the goal post, and pulled his broomstick to a short halt. Abby got there only two seconds later.
"Not bad, Lynch," Draco said, and blinking at himself afterward. Not bad, Lynch?
Abby smiled and took her hands off the handle of her broomstick, lifting her upper body upright and tightening her ponytail. "Thanks. You handle yourself well on that Nimbus," she said nodding once at it.
Draco was fighting the impulse to agree with her. "What position do you like to play?"
Abby grinned. "Beater."
Draco raised both eyebrows. "Not what I'd expected."
Abby laughed. The sound was sweet. "That's what a lot of people say." She shrugged. "I guess it's the whole masculine 'I am male and I like to hit things with bats' stereotype. Girls can be just as fierce."
Draco had no objection to this statement. He was lost in wondering what other things Abby could do while being fierce.
"You look like a Seeker," she said when he was quiet.
"Why's that?" Draco asked, wondering how someone could give off the air of being a Seeker.
She flew closer to him, her hands resting above her knees rather than on her broomstick; steering, rather, with her body. This obviously brought more irrelevant thoughts to Draco's mind. "Well, two things. One is that you seem more like the type to sit around and watch until it's totally necessary for you to do your job."
"Hey, I resent that! The Seeker's job is very important!" Was she saying that to be a Seeker you didn't need talent?
"And second," she said, drowning him out, "Is the way you concentrate when you fly. You have something in front of you and you're determined to get to it without so much as a distraction. It's a good quality in Quidditch. In a lot of things actually."
Before Draco could say anything, her hands had gone back onto her broomstick and she dove to the ground, hoped onto the grass and opened the chest housing the three kinds of Quidditch balls. She let out the bludgers first, then the Snitch. Then she grabbed a bat, mounted her broom, and sped back towards him.
"Okay, you're choice. I can either keep the bludgers away from you. Or I can hit them towards you." Abby smiled sweetly at this and Draco chuckled.
"Well.. I'd rather you keep them away from me. I'll be hungry by the time dinner comes, and I'd rather not be in the hospital wing drinking potion instead of eating in the Great Hall.
Abby laughed softly. "All right." She sped off in the other direction, and hit a bludger that surely would have come close to Draco.
The Snitch wasn't too far off. Draco could see it glittering in the dying sunlight. He sped after it, and watched as it took flight in front of him, leading him through a bunch of swerves and loops. When his hand grasped it he grinned and slowed down. Then he threw it upward and let it have its head start. Draco could hear the whirring of a bludger, and quickly ducked so it missed his head, but it was now hurtling towards Abby who was getting ready to hit the other bludger. She didn't see the one come at her, and probably wouldn't know it was there until it hit her.
Draco sped up quickly, hoping that he'd be able to push her out of the way. Getting hit by bludgers was very painful, and he didn't think it right for her to break bones in her first week at Hogwarts. He was close to the ground and he reached Abby just in time, slamming into the side of her and barely missing the headlong bludger. But Draco's momentum carried him farther than he'd anticipated, and he flew off of his own broom, and over Abby. They both fell off of her broomstick and skidded onto the ground a good 10 feet. Draco was on top of Abby, and their faces were less than an inch apart.
Abby groaned. "You all right?"
"Fine," Draco said blankly. "You?"
"I'm good," she said, in almost a tone like Draco's.
They lied there for a moment. Draco was unmistakably smack dab right on top of her. To anyone from a short distance away, this would look rather strange.
"Could you.." Abby started.
"Yeah. Sorry." Draco got up and rubbed his wrist. He hadn't noticed right away, but it felt a bit sore.
Abby sat up and looked at Draco silently. "Thanks for that."
"For what? Oh.. well.. I might of done more damage than if I had done nothing about the bludger. You knew what you were doing."
She got up slowly and ignored the grass and dirt smeared all along her backside. "No. I'd have been in a hell of a lot more pain. I hadn't a clue that one was behind me."
Draco smiled a little. He wasn't good with stuff like this. He couldn't say 'you're welcome' without feeling like he didn't know what the meaning of the words were.
"We should probably go back though. I can't imagine going to dinner like this." She looked down at herself.
Draco grinned. "All right. Let me just find that Snitch and we can put it back."
Abby extended her hand and opened her fingers. The Snitch flapped its wings slowly in her outstretched palm.
"How did you—"
"It just flew into my hand when you hit me. Guess that being a Seeker isn't too terrible." Abby grinned.
Draco laughed. "Shut up, you. That was just luck. The Snitch likes you or something."
Abby grinned. "Either that or it doesn't like you."
They packed away the balls and made their way back to the castle. Abby was swinging her broomstick in her left hand.
"You know, I'm probably going to need to get myself a new broom. I've had this for ages. It's my first, actually. I just feel strange replacing it." She stared at it sadly.
"You ride it well," Draco said. And Abby's head snapped towards him and she laughed. "Didn't mean it in that sense.." he muttered.
So solves the mystery of the broom. Yet.. no clue how to solve the mystery that was Abigail Lynch.