Chapter 17 - Flying
Ginny couldn't concentrate on her essay for Herbology. Neville's voice, which said something about Belladonna, faded away. She could feel as some invisible strings pulled her to the diary.
"Ginny?" asked Neville, pulling her arm.
It was like addiction.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat the question?"
"When Belladonna is ready to cut, how can we…"
She was thinking about Tom Riddle with increasing frequency.
"I think I had enough for today. Sorry Neville," she said, blushing. What would Tom say seeing her so distracted? He was a perfect student, good in every subject, so unlike her.
She almost forgot why she had thrown the diary away.
"I'll walk you back to the dormitory," offered Neville and Ginny just nodded. What it would be like if Tom had walked her back to Gryffindor Tower? She might have invited him, using Harry's Invisibility Cloak.
"You should go and get some sleep," suggested Neville when she almost tripped over the stairs.
Tom was such a good friend. He wouldn't mistake her distraction with tiredness, would he?
"Mhm, you're right. I'm tired."
They would sneak out of the castle and fly on a broom, or he would help her with her homework, making all the hard things simple.
"Thanks, Neville" she said, and went up to her bedroom. Sooner than later, she would need to have it back. To have Tom back, because it was so empty here without him. Neville wasn't even a quarter as smart as Tom was.
Marcus invited Ivanov for the next Quidditch practice. He wouldn't admit it, but her recent compliments had flattered him. She watched him all the time and seemed genuinely interested with his flying. It gave him an idea. He approached her when the practice was over and everyone were leaving the pitch.
"Would you like to fly with me?" he asked, measuring her looks for the first time. She looked older than her classmates. He never stared at her and it was a coincidence that she was always sitting next to him. It was only recently when he saw how tall she was. He was six-foot-three, so she must have been at least five-foot-six. She was quite wide in the shoulders and it suited her well somehow. It itched him to take that insufferable hair away and see how the rest of her face looked. Maybe she had protruding ears or some other facial disfigurement she tried to hide?
Ivanov smirked at him and cocked her head slightly. "Me and flying? Don't be ridiculous."
"I didn't mean for you to fly on your own. I can predict a failure here," he quoted her and smiled, seeing that it caused her to laugh. "I wanted you to fly with me; if you're not afraid of flying after last time."
She seemed surprised but nodded. "I think I might try."
"Sit on the front and grab the handle," he said, straddling the broom. She climbed and he placed his arms on the either side of her, curling his fingers around the polished wood just beside her hands. After a while they were up in the air.
"If you let me fall and die, I will be back, haunting the shit out of you for the rest of your life," she threatened him and he laughed.
Some time later Marcus got used to the strange position he was in and Ivanov must have been relaxed too, since she leaned against him.
He increased the height wondering when would she get nauseous. Trees got smaller and smaller.
"Flint, it's- it's exquisite!" she said, her voice expressing pure rapture.
"Are you afraid?" he asked, making a sharp turn.
"Noooo!" she squeaked. "Do something crazy!"
"Hold on," he said and seeing that she tightened her grip, flipped over. The girl shrieked and laughed.
"I wanted something crazy but that was beyond insane!" She turned her head to him "You really want to kill me, don't you? Admit that you're still crying because you lost the game with me!"
Marcus was almost sure that she was joking, but it fired up him anyways. He increased height and aimed at forbidden forest.
"You see the snitch, but the rival Seeker sees it as well," he said and dove down. He needed to tilt his head as Ivanov's hair fell into his eyes. "You need to be faster than he is." He increased speed. "Do not hesitate, you see other players in your way."
They barely missed the canopy of trees. He saw her holding the broomstick tight, but she was quiet.
"You pass them by," he continued, dodging trees, flying so close that he felt leaves tickling his face. "And the snitch is yours," he said, turning towards Quidditch pitch. He landed them gracefully.
Ivanov just slid off the broom and sat on the ground, holding grass. She was pale and was breathing fast. He stood casually, leaning on the broom and waited as her breathing went back to normal. He wondered if she would ever speak to him. He over did it with his little revenge, but hell, she earned that.
"Are you ok?" He asked. She rose up, her face was neutral. If her jaw wasn't clenched, he would never suspect that she was angry. Oh, he would be, being in her shoes.
"You fucking bastard!" she shouted and aimed to punch him, but he was ready and caught her. She struggled to hurt him and she was really strong for being a girl. He was holding her wrists, but she kicked him in the ankle and Marcus lost his balance. She fell also, landing on top of him. They battled on the grass for some time and she was winning. He raised his hands to protect face from her eventual blows, but none came.
"Just look at yourself," she said, her expression changed to mirthful. She started laughing and lay on her back, next to him.
Marcus looked at her. She was a complete mess with tangled hair and leaves sticking out of it. She was crazy. But it was his type of crazy, he could tell. He grinned.
"Myself? You could be working as a scarecrow."
"Never fail to compliment a lady, don't you Flint?"
Hermione talked Katia into reading books of their third year curriculum. She was glad that the Bulgarian girl was eager to learn. She had at least one person who understood importance of learning, though Katia admitted that Potions were most interesting for her. It was the only subject in which Katia was undoubtedly the best. It had meant that every other subject was less important for her.
They started "Ancient Runes Made Easy" that afternoon.
"It's easier for you," said Katia, tired with foreign English. "I would prefer it written in Russian."
"You're very good in English for a foreigner," complimented her Hermione. "Your accent is far more better than it was at the beginning of the year."
"I've learned English my whole life, but I only used it occasionally, quite the opposite to Russian and Bulgarian."
"Which one do you like the most?"
"I think that Russian. I speak Bulgarian with some of my family, who live in Bulgaria and when I'm in town. My father prefers Russian and I use it at home or when I visit the other part of family in Russia. I believe the worst is that every language has some beautiful phrases which sound gibberish when you try to translate them. Sometimes I would like to express my feelings and use a combination of those three, but no one would understand it."
"I've learned French, but I never had to use it like you use English. I can say that they have magnificent poetry, but it looses its beauty when translated."
Katia smiled. "I believe that my mind would have exploded if I tried to learn another language. I have enough of those three."
When Hermione went to take another book from the shelf, Katia slipped a little piece of parchment between pages of the Ancient Runes at the beginning of the next chapter. Hermione would be reading the book in her dormitory later, it was no doubt.
She couldn't sleep without him invading her dreams, possessing her thoughts while she was awake. It was like an irresistible urge and finally she just gave up. She had known that the boys' dormitory was nearly empty. She waited patiently until last of them left it and then sneaked in.
Where would they keep it? She rummaged through things, searching for the diary.
Urgency made her movements frantic as she randomly threw things out of Harry's trunk. It wouldn't do good is she got caught, so she needed to find the diary fast.
The Invisibility Cloak fell on the floor, soon to be followed by blanket from Harry's bed. There was no diary under the pillow, as well as under the mattress.
Finally she got it! At the bottom of the trunk. She took it with trembling hand and kissed the leather cover. Then she fled. It was pure luck that she wasn't spotted by Neville. He came through the portrait hole seconds after she left the boys' dormitory.
Ginny went to her bedroom and drawn the curtains around her bed. She opened the diary and written in it.
Dear Tom! You have no idea have much I missed you. Are you angry at me?
The response was immediate.
I missed you too. I thought that you didn't like me anymore.
Ginny sighed, relieved.
You are my best friend. Of course I like you. I'm sorry.
This time the words appeared slowly, as if Tom considered something.
I need you to do something…
Hermione was reading "Ancient Runes Made Easy", as Katia predicted. She reached the end of chapter and something flew from it and landed on the floor. She picked it up and looked at the small piece of parchment. 'What creature has a deadly stare?' was written in a messy hand.
She hadn't given much thought to the parchment until the next day when Harry said that he had heard the voice again. She needed to find more about the creature.
Katia was terrified by the news. She hadn't realized how much she liked the bushy-haired girl until she saw her frozen expression when she looked at Hermione's petrified form in the hospital wing.
It was quite a trip to hospital wing and back, while they were supposed to be escorted by teachers to every lesson. She would never have made it if not for Marcus Flint, who knew loads of shortcuts and some hidden passages.
The atmosphere in Slytherin House was suffocating. The common room was crowded as people had nowhere else to go after lessons.
"My father says now that Dumbledore had been removed, we can have a new Headmaster. Someone who would keep the Chamber of Secrets open," said Malfoy, smirking.
"My father says that more than half of us aches to feed you to Slytherin beast," drawled Katia, making face at him.
"Shut up Malfoy," demanded Montague. "I feel like if I open the wardrobe and there would be you and your father inside. Hell, I lift up the lavatory seat and you would be there as well!"
Draco pursed his lips and fell silent. It would be unusual for him if he had listened to his classmates, but older Slytherins were different case. Like some upper class, and Draco knew that Montague was able to beat him into a pulp if Draco angered him. He had enough self preservation to keep his mouth shut when needed.
Well, most of the times he did.
"I've heard Ernie McMillan, the filthy Hufflepuff, saying that we all should rot in Azkaban just in case," said Tracey Davis, outraged.
"And you really care about things that that Mudblood said?" asked Blaise, raising an eyebrow.
"Can we talk about something that isn't 'a Mudblood said'?" demanded Pansy. "It's getting old."
"She's right," said Katia, and elbowed Marcus who was sitting on her left. "What? I can admit if someone's right." She earned a raised eyebrow from the Quidditch captain.
"You deal," said Draco, putting cards in front of her.
"Ignoring the problem won't make it change its mind and go away," said Daphne.
"Talking about it twenty-four/seven neither," said Marcus with theatrically bored voice and spread the cards in front of him.
Katia looked at her cards and sighed.
"You have an awful hand for cards," Marcus voiced her thoughts. "I've had enough for today," he continued and put down the cards he was holding.
"There is nothing we can do. Do you have better idea?" she asked, slightly irritated. "We're grounded, we can't go and do what we want."
"And I think I've done my homework for the next semester," added Pansy.
"So what do we do?" asked Derrick.
"Let's play truth or dare," proposed Pansy with a playful smirk.
Katia rolled her eyes. "It's for kids," she said impatiently. There was no way she was going to say anything about herself. Knowing Slytherins, the dares were going to be humiliating or risky.
"Let's play," said Daphne. "We've got nothing better to do."
"Ok," said Bole. "Parkinson got the idea so she's first."
Pansy looked somewhat shyly at her knees and said "Draco Malfoy, truth or dare?"
"Truth," answered Malfoy.
"Tell me an honest compliment."
"You're a smart ass," he said smugly, waiting for the reaction.
Some Slytherins smiled, but Pansy furrowed her brows. "That was a compliment?"
"Kind of, you saved my butt during the last Potions lesson." He shrugged and looked at Katia. "Katia Ivanov, what do you pick?"
"Dare," she said.
"Kiss Vincent."
Katia snorted, but got up, approached Crabbe and gave him a quick kiss on cheek. "Not a big deal," she said, seeing Draco's surprised expression.
"Malfoy?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Dare," he said, looking somewhat frightened, seeing Katia's grin.
"Dance on the table. Seduce us with your hips."
"All right." Malfoy's face fell, but he needed to keep his end of the deal. "Ivanov, Zabini! Take your feet off table first," he spat.
Everyone laughed as he climbed on the table and started swaying hips. It lasted good five minutes, as girls whistled loudly. By the time he finished, Draco was as red as a tomato.
"Ivanov," he said and Katia knew that he planned something nasty to ask her or order to do.
"Dare," she said anyways, preferring to keep her privacy.
"Kiss Flint." She smiled and shrugged. "On the lips," he added slyly and whistles were audible again. Katia had never kissed a boy, but now she had no choice. She considered Marcus as a friend. For almost a month she went with him to Quidditch practice, they had flown together on his broom and laughed together. Not to mention playing wizard chess, or cards or sinking ships.
She felt awkward somehow. "What gotten in you with all this kissing, Malfoy?" she asked.
Draco just shrugged and smiled.
Katia frowned. "You're playing a matchmaker, Malfoy, or you think that I'm some kind of cuddly bear?"
It earned her another salve of laughter and Marcus was almost as red as Draco was while he was dancing on the table. She leaned to him and prayed that he wouldn't hate her for that. Taking his face in her hands, she tilted her head and gave him a peck on the lips.
"I've had enough," she stated after that and left to her room. She never thought how Marcus took her immediate departure.
Katia slumped on her bed. She groaned, feeling a hard cover of a book digging into her ribs. She kicked all things off her bed. The room looked like a tornado had passed right through it.
She had kissed the boy. So what? She kissed two of them, so why she was making such fuss over Flint? Was she attracted to him?
They had spent some time together lately. She needed to admit that she had had the fun of her life those few times he took her on a ride on his broom. She trusted that he wouldn't crash them as she had seen that he was a skilled flyer. She noticed that his grim expression was just part of him; he wasn't angry all the time. He just had a nasty temper and did nothing to hide it. Whatever Hermione may have said about his appearance, Marcus wasn't bad to look at. She didn't give a flying fuck what others thought about him.
She wondered what he thought now on the contrary. They were friends and she was surprised how fast she started thinking of him in these terms. Probably as fast as about Mr. Filch, and she wasn't going to drool over him. There was nothing there, she said to herself.
But the nervousness, the anticipation she felt in this short moment told otherwise. She groaned and put a pillow over her head. Everything she needed now, when her fate was sealed, was to be attracted to some Slytherin from a poor family. Everything she needed was to ruin the first true friendship with a boy who wasn't part of her family. Damn it to hell.
She felt so utterly embarrassed and hiding under a pillow didn't help at all.
No matter the appearances, almost everyone had enough of Malfoy and tales of his father. As a matter of fact, Weasley and Potter weren't the ones who wanted to murder the blonde. The Slytherins just hid it better.
"Sir," said Malfoy loudly. "Sir, why don't you apply for the headmaster's job?"
"Now, now, Malfoy," said Snape, though he couldn't suppress a thin lipped smile. "Professor Dumbledore has only been suspended by the governors. I daresay he'll be back with us soon enough."
"Yeah, right," said Malfoy, smirking. "I expect you'd have Father's vote, sir, if you wanted to apply for the job – I'll tell Father you're the best teacher here, sir –"
Katia and Daphne barely contained laugher seeing how Draco went all toady around Professor Snape. What Malfoy failed to notice was how Professor Snape mocked him. Katia turned to see her classmates faces. Most of these oafs failed to see the mockery along with Draco.
It's not like everyone liked Dumbledore. However, now, when he was gone, they felt like they were in a giant zoo, being held on a tight, short leash. Malfoy walked among them, proud like a peacock and tested everyone's patience while he was telling 'My father this, my father that'.
"He's such a kid," said Daphne, and Katia only nodded as she thought the same.
A/N: The dialogue between Snape and Malfoy is quoted from the original book. I don't claim any rights to it.
Anyone who recognized 'Sky Fighters' movie reference – point for you :D
Thanks for your reviews :D They made me writing like mad!
Thanks to Artemis J. Halk for correcting mistakes!