A/N: I'm feeling a little bit abandoned even though I'm trying my best to stay on schedule, neglecting other projects in the process. Could y'all please just drop a review and let a girl know she's loved? Oh, and Marille? Hope this brings good memories.
Chapter five: Lessons in life, love and broomsticks
My mother always said I shouldn't judge people by others' standards. So I don't think she would've approved of my being prejudiced against Percy Weasley or overly excited to fly with Oliver Wood. But as it often happens my instincts were right, and the day of my first flying lesson further proved both of my initial assumptions.
Railane awoke to someone pounding on her door. Covering her ears with her pillow, she tried to get back to sleep, but the noise was relentless. She got out of bed to find the dormitory already deserted, and she opened the door, mumbling. Liana stood with breakfast in her hands, dressed in jeans and a bright orange shirt. "Morning, Lane," she greeted before walking in the room.
Railane was shocked into wakefulness. "Liana Richards awake on a Saturday before noon? Hell must've frozen over."
"Hermione woke me up so I'd have plenty of time to prepare for our lesson with Oliver and I got the password from Draco, who insisted we pick him up before heading to the Quidditch pitch."
Railane groaned loudly. "Damn it. I'm a total mess, I'm absolutely sleepy, we'll have a crowd watching and I can't miss the lesson."
"Sure you can," Liana replied, handing her a glass filled with grape juice. "I don't mind staying with him."
"I bet," Railane replied dryly before taking a sip. "I'm going to go shower. Be back in a few minutes."
Liana nodded. "I'm going to go and pick out your clothes."
Railane looked wary at this, but shrugged it off and headed for the shower. Emerging in a towel fifteen minutes later, she found Liana playing with a video game Hermione had enchanted so it would draw on the magic in the air instead of batteries, that way it would operate on Hogwarts grounds. Beside her lay jeans and a three-quarter sleeved red Levis top. Picking it up, Railane walked to the bathroom again and got dressed.
By the time she returned to the room Liana was gone, and Railane walked outside, looking for her. She found her in the corridor next to Blaise and two shiny brooms. Liana grinned. "Harry and Draco have lent us brooms in an attempt to keep us from sharing a broom with Oliver."
"Which we'll do anyway," Railane replied, grinning as well.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Blaise said, picking the two brooms up.
Railane giggled, taking his arm. "Aw, my boyfriend is such a gentleman."
"And he's gorgeous, too," Blaise added.
Liana shook her head, muttering. "Draco's definitely not going to like this."
By the time the trio had arrived at the pitch, Draco and Oliver were engaged in a staring duel. Oliver snapped out of it as soon as he saw Railane, greeting her and the others warmly, whilst Draco continued to glare and scowl. Oliver began with a few tips on broom safety before instructing the girls to place them flat on the ground.
Extending their arms towards the brooms, both Liana and Railane chanted "Up!" Both brooms flew into their hands immediately, and the two girls looked at each other nervously. Mounting the brooms, they took deep breaths. Oliver moved towards Liana first, moving her hands to correct her grip before asking her to slide a bit forward. "Perfect," he commented quietly. He then moved over to Railane. Her grip was perfect, but her posture was too tense. He placed a hand on her shoulder and asked her to relax a bit. Once she did, he smiled. "You read up on flying, eh?"
She grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I did. I just didn't want to look like a dork, you know?"
Oliver smiled. "You couldn't if you tried, trust me."
She looked down, blushing, and Blaise shot her a look, tilting his head lightly in Draco's direction. Railane shifted her gaze towards him and he looked up at the same time, and gentle brown eyes met steely gray. The coldness in his gaze stilled her, and she exhaled slowly, her eyes still on his, before turning back to Oliver, who was already watching over Liana's wobbly hover.
When she touched back down, he smiled softly. "You can't expect to be absolutely brilliant on the first try, Liana. That only happened with Harry."
"Well, a girl can dream," she replied with a giggle.
"Yes, she can," he told her, shaking his head. "Okay, Railane, your turn to hover." She gripped the broom tightly with a nervous look at Oliver before kicking off the ground gingerly. She hovered for a moment, her nervousness easing as she rose a bit higher, and at Oliver's signal she leaned forward to touch back down. Once she was back on land, Oliver clapped appreciatively. "Not bad for a first timer. You really did do your homework."
"I wanted to do my best today," Railane admitted quietly.
"You don't like heights yet you hovered pretty high up. I consider that doing your best," he replied in an equally quiet tone. She blushed harder this time, but kept her eyes on his. He smiled sweetly before returning to Liana. "Okay, Liana. Ready to do a lap around the pitch?"
"Definitely," she replied.
He shook his head. "I never thought I'd see someone so canty to go and do their first flying lap."
"Canty?" Liana asked in confusion.
"Cheerful," Railane supplied, and when Oliver turned to her in surprise she shrugged. "It's Scottish slang, mostly used in Glasgow," she stopped, smiling, "I read. A lot."
He smiled, impressed, and turned back to Liana, mounting his own broom. "All right, Liana, let's give this a try." They both kicked off in unison, and Liana rose quickly, Oliver trailing close behind. She hovered about twenty feet off the ground before zooming to the other side of the pitch, Oliver speeding after her. After a few loops, she zoomed towards the ground before leveling off and touching back down. Railane applauded, grinning, and Oliver touched down next to Liana with a sigh. "You almost gave me a heart attack, woman."
"Same thing Dad said when he taught me how to drive," she replied, laughing.
He turned to Railane. "Are you ready?"
"No?" she replied hopefully.
"Come on, Railane, I'll be right behind you."
She looked alarmed. "What if I lose control of the broom or something?"
"You won't." She looked thoroughly unconvinced and he walked over to her, broom in hand. "Would you feel better if I joined you on your broom for the first lap?"
"You wouldn't mind?"
"Not at all. But then you'll have to bring me down so I can get my broom and make sure you can fly on your own." She nodded and he handed his broom to Liana. Railane kicked off and leveled the broom for him to mount, sliding a bit forward so he'd have room. He accommodated himself behind her, placing a hand loosely on her waist. "All right, let's get some height." She rose a couple of feet nervously, and he smiled reassuringly. "You're doing fine. Just relax. I'm right here with you."
She smiled to herself before gaining more speed and height. Once she reached the height Liana had tried, she sped towards the goal posts on the other side of the field. She circled around them, and tried a loop a bit hesitantly. Oliver adjusted the broom a bit as they looped, but other than that she'd done great. As if reading his thoughts, she sped downward, hovering near Liana so Oliver could dismount and get his own broom. Liana gave her a thumbs-up before Oliver sped past Railane, stopping ten feet above them. "Think you can catch me up here?"
Unfair, Railane thought with a grin, he probably knows I can't resist a challenge. She zoomed after him, and it wasn't until she reached him and hovered next to him that she realized how high up they were. "That was mean," she told him playfully. "I'm only a beginner."
He smirked. "I wouldn't have asked you to fly after me if I didn't think you could make it."
"What if I had fallen?"
He shrugged. "I would've sped after you and caught you."
"Just like that, eh?" she replied with a smirk of her own, her heart warmed by his words.
He hung his head shyly for a minute before replying. "For you, just like that." Her face changed from a smirk to surprise, and he grinned devilishly. "Oh, come on. If I fell, wouldn't you catch me?"
She answered immediately. "Yes." He smirked smugly, like she had a minute ago, and she shook her head. "Think we should go down yet?"
"I daresay we should. I don't think Zabini is liking the idea of us being up here very much."
Railane scoffed. "Let him not like it. It's not like we're doing anything wrong up here. Not yet, anyway." Oliver was taken aback and she laughed. "I couldn't help myself. Let's go."
They zoomed downward in perfect alignment, touching down in unison. Liana clapped at the performance, and Blaise joined, winking at Railane. Draco clapped reluctantly, but when Railane caught his eye he gave her a wan smile before turning to the castle. Liana wanted to fly a bit more and Oliver insisted on keeping an eye on her just in case, and asked Railane to stay. She debated a few instants before shaking her head. "I've had enough flying for today. I'm going to go talk to Draco. Are you coming, Blaise?"
"Nah, that's alright. I'll stick around a bit more," he replied, knowing that she intended to go calm Draco. Railane nodded gratefully before turning around and running after him, broom in hand. She finally caught up with him almost at the castle entrance.
"Draco, wait." He turned to her slowly. "Think we could take a walk and talk?"
He was tempted to refuse, but nodded instead, falling into step next to her. "So, did you enjoy your lesson?"
"Yes," she answered honestly. "I had fun and managed to survive it, which is all I ever wanted. Thanks for loaning me your dear broom, it's a great one. Oliver was impressed."
"I bet he was," Draco muttered.
"So was I," she told him softly. "You didn't have to lend me your broom. I know that you adore your broom, and it means a lot that you lent it to me."
He shrugged, walking to the edge of the lake. "Anytime."
She stood next to him, hair flowing in the breeze as she looked at their reflections in the water. "This thing with Blaise is getting complicated."
"You're doing fine," he told her quietly. "It's very believable."
"A bit too much so?" she asked with a knowing smile.
"You read my mind," he replied. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he actually loves you."
She ran a hand through her hair. "He does. Just not like anything other than a close friend."
"You know what I meant."
"Yeah, I do. I just like annoying you," she told him with a smile, resting her head against his chest.
"I've noticed," he replied dryly, letting his right arm rest on her shoulders.
She smiled at the gesture. "This is cute, Dray."
He nodded with a frown. "Too cute. I'm startling even myself."
"I like you this way," she said softly. "When you're being yourself and not hiding behind the tough mask."
"I can't do that often," he admitted quietly, cursing himself mentally. Why was he telling her so much? He knew that trusting someone too much was dangerous, and even though Railane didn't seem to be the betraying type, one never knew.
Her next words brought him out of his thoughts and sent him straight into a guilt trip. "I know, and I'm glad that you trust me enough to truly show yourself."
"How touching," a voice intervened before Draco could speak and they turned, startled, to find themselves face-to-face with the infamous Percy Weasley.
Before Draco could reply with an insult, Railane spoke in a polite tone. "Mr. Weasley, may I ask why you have seen fit to intrude in our conversation?"
"Students aren't supposed to be out here all alone."
"Draco's with me so he's not alone, and I'm with him so I'm not alone."
Draco smirked with pride at her remark, and Percy gulped before speaking again. "I could deduct points from Slytherin for your attitude, Miss Lesperance."
"But you can't, Mr. Weasley, because she has been nothing but polite to you," Blaise interjected, pulling Railane towards himself. Liana and Oliver stood next to them.
"Is there a problem, Percy?" Oliver asked, his dark eyes fixed on him.
"It's nothing, Oliver. I'll just leave now."
As soon as he was out of earshot, Railane sighed in relief. "I can't believe him."
"He's a nasty piece of work these days," Oliver commented quietly. "He wasn't like this before."
"Shame we didn't know him before, then," Liana replied before shaking her head. "Come on, let's go inside. They'll be serving dinner any minute now."
Before Oliver could ask, Railane answered him. "She means supper. In America dinner is called lunch and supper is called dinner."
"I'm impressed again", he told her with his kind smile.
"We all are," Blaise replied, kissing her temple. "Come on, Lane, let's eat." Liana watched them walk hand in hand, laughing, and Draco simply walked behind them, Liana at his side. Oliver followed them quietly, pondering the events of the day.
A/N: Not much has happened here, but next chapter's about the visit to Hogsmeade, and we'll get some action at last. I have a few twists planned.