9. When Sparks Fly

A/N; Harry Potter's not mine!

"What?"

"I can't believe you have to work with that!"

"Can't you ask the professor for a change of partners?"

It was the next morning at breakfast and Lera had told them the bad news. As expected, a chorus of sympathetic and indignant voices had sounded. She stabbed savagely at a sausage.

"Well, it's not like anyone else would willingly take him off my hands, no one wants to work with that smug, think-he's-better-than-everyone-else, insufferable, evil, heartless idiot! All the Ravenclaws are paired up, so are the Hufflepuffs. It's just me and him that are left. It's not like I had a bloody choice!"

She wasn't exactly happy about the arrangement either. In fact, that was an understatement of the century. She was livid. She had been looking forward to taking the one course she was actually vastly interested in, and now it had to be ruined since she had to work with someone who was probably linked to her parents' deaths. She had gone to bed last night fuming, conveniently forgetting the fact that Malfoy had actually tried being nice to her. If she did not have more control over her emotions she would be throwing things all over the room.

The other three cast her pitying glances, helpless.

"Well, tell us if he gets too annoying, we'll help you teach him a lesson."

Ron cracked his knuckles threateningly. She gave him a grateful smile. There was no need for that, she could take care of him herself, but she still appreciated the offer.

The rest of the day passed without incident, with them catching up on their work and chatting, before Harry left for his special lessons with Dumbledore. They pounced on him as he came back, Lera more enthusiastically than anyone else, to ask him what Dumbledore had taught him. She was slightly disappointed that it did not have anything to do with forgotten spells and dueling techniques, but admitted that they were probably useful lessons, just maybe not so for her personally. She still listened on in interest as Harry recounted to them what he had seen in the pensieve.

Time passed quickly in a blur of lessons and study sessions and before long, it was Wednesday evening, which her and Malfoy's Astronomy slot was on. She was filled with a mix of emotions, a part of her could not wait to use the special telescope and work on the project, yet another part groaned that she had to see Malfoy. He had been quite quiet and unnoticeable for the past few days, uncharacteristic of him, according to the trio, who claimed that he usually went all out to make their lives miserable. Harry insisted that it was because Malfoy was up to something while Hermione cast doubtful glances at Harry as he made those accusations.

She did not have to bring anything with her as the parchment with the questions and incomplete charts were with Malfoy; Professor Sinistra had passed them to him on that day after she left.

She reached the top of the Astronomy Tower where the special telescope was now placed and saw that Malfoy was nowhere to be seen. She huffed impatiently. Apparently he had not deemed the session important enough to be on time for. A few more minutes had passed before he finally strolled in.

"Oh, so you finally decided to grace me with your presence! Some people actually have better ways to spend their time instead of waiting around for someone who doesn't even have the basic courtesy to turn up on time!" She immediately snapped at him.

She thought she saw a flicker of hurt in his eyes before it was quickly replaced by anger.

"And some unreasonable people turn up early and think that everyone else is late." He sneered at her.

Well, he may be right. But she didn't care, he was a prospective Death Eater, so it meant that he was always at fault.

"I'm not going to waste my breath and time arguing with you. Just take out the instructions."

At the same time that she noticed that he had come up with both hands empty, he said flippantly, "Oh dear, it seems like I left it in my room. Guess you'll have to waste a few more of your precious minutes while I go get it."

She clenched her fists and fought the rage that rose up in her. She didn't usually have violent tendencies, but something about him made her want to slap him. Hard.

She walked out to the ramparts to wait for his return. The cold breeze and sounds of the night calmed her, but Malfoy's return put her on edge again. She snatched the papers out of his hand as he smirked at her, as though gloating at the fact that he had taken his time fetching the papers. She decided to ignore him, which was rather difficult considering that there was one set of charts, one telescope, and they were supposed to complete it together. Instead of working together, it seemed as though they were competing to see who could infuriate the other more, with him pulling the eyepiece away from her when she was trying to identify a speck in the sky and her refusing to let him write anything down on the papers. Not surprisingly, their session concluded with barely any work done.

She was finally saved from Malfoy's company when another pair arrived for their turn at the telescope and she could leave. She stormed all the way to the common room and climbing through the portrait hole, saw the trio near the fireplace. She went to them and fell heavily into an armchair. They looked at her curiously, as if asking her how it went. She threw a hand over her eyes dramatically and groaned. She was definitely NOT looking forward to the next session.

She sat next to Malfoy again during the next Astronomy lesson and she made it a point to treat him as though he was invisible. It was unfortunate that their seats had been fixed after the first lesson. She would have to spend the rest of the course sitting next to him. She cursed herself for not turning up earlier on the first lesson. If she had, she could have found a seat next to a friendly Hufflepuff or smart Ravenclaw. Then someone else could be stuck with that brat.

Saturday morning dawned bright and early, and for once, most of the house was awake when 8am came along. It was the day of Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts and everyone was either participating or supporting their friends. Harry was the captain while Ron was trying out for the Keeper position. Lera and Hermione decided to watch from the stands.

Hermione buried herself in her book, uninterested in the trials until Ron was up, while Lera watched in envy as the Gryffindors swooped around in the air. She loved flying and would have tried out for the team if she did not already have a busy schedule and more important things to do. Things like avenging her parents. At this, she felt a twinge of guilt. There had been so much going on in school that she had not been doing much to learn and practice new spells. She made a decision to wake up an hour earlier each morning and go for a run around the great lake to keep herself fit. Fitness was incredibly important in a duel, especially one in which the duelers were equally matched in skill. The one who had more stamina would usually emerge victorious in the end.

The Keeper trials came last and by that time, the crowd had grown larger and more boisterous. Hermione had given up on concentrating on her book and was now watching someone called Cormac McLaggen go through the trials. Hermione had told her that he was an arrogant prick and Lera did not know him personally so she had no comment towards that, but she had to admit that he was a great flyer. He had blocked four difficult attempts with relative ease and was facing the last shot.

"Confundo."

It was a bare whisper coming from beside her, but she heard it clearly. McLaggen shooting off in the opposite direction when the Qauffle flew towards him confirmed that a Confundus charm had been cast on him. Surprisingly, by Hermione. She raised an eyebrow at Hermione, who promptly turned pink and pretended to be absorbed in her book again. Lera almost laughed—unless Hermione had mastered the art of reading upside down, she was definitely not reading the book.

The crowd laughed and booed as McLaggen returned to the ground looking very unhappy indeed. Ron was up next and he looked like he was about to pass out as he mounted his Cleansweep Eleven.

It was several nerve-wracking minutes that followed, but eventually Ron emerged proud elated, with the title of Gryffindor Keeper.