Taking Flight

I was so extremely lost, it was not even funny. I had followed James's directions, or so I had thought, and I swear I've gone in two complete circles around the castle and I've still not found the stupid Owlery. I cried out to the darkening sky with frustration and slumped against a tree, resting my head in my hands.

I was contemplating going back to the castle and grovel at James's feet when I heard James himself.

"So… got lost?" I looked up and saw him smirking at me, his hands deep in his pockets, and his blue eyes glinting with mirth.

"Shut up," I said, "how in the hell did you find me anyhow?"

"I… um…," he seemed to stumble a bit, "I figured you came here." I didn't believe him. He had probably been following me the whole time. But I said nothing and stood up, grateful for the guide in any case. "So, can I walk you?"

I rolled my eyes. "I guess so," I said, smiling slightly.

"That's more like it." He began to walk the way I had been walking for about an hour.

"So seriously, how did you find me? Were you like following me or something?"

"If you haven't noticed, I've laid off the following you around thing. Just… I have my ways," he said, rubbing the back of his head.

"So in other words, it's none of my business?" I asked.

"Basically," he said, with a grin.

He walked toward a giant door and shoved it open, revealing a spiraling staircase leading to an area open to the stars. It was getting really dark now, and I could see signs of stars as we climbed the stairs together up to the top. There were owls everywhere—hooting, flying, rustling, clicking their beaks—I couldn't help but watch for a moment, completely mesmerized, before James cleared his throat. He was smiling when I looked over at him. He gave a short whistle and I watched as a beautiful white owl flew down toward him and landed gracefully on his outstretched arm.

"Eve, meet Hedwig the second."

"She's named after the Hedwig who saved your dad during the battle at Privet Drive, right?" I asked, watching the beautiful owl nip James's ear affectionately. James glanced curiously my way. "We learned recent history in History of Magic in Salem before anything else. The teacher was a huge fan," I said, slightly embarrassed. He scoffed.

"No, I ought to be used to it by now. But it's weird, hearing stories about your own parents—everyone knowing your life story before you even know it," James said. "Well anyway, you can use Hedwig if you need something delivered."

Oh, I had forgotten. "Thanks," I mumbled, reaching over to tie the letter to Hedwig's leg.

"Your mom?" He asked.

"My business," I said a bit too harshly. "Sorry," I said immediately, recognizing the badly concealed look of hurt on his face, "it's just… yeah, it's my mom, but I don't want to get into it," I said, a bit more kindly.

"That's alright," he said, the familiar smile back on his face. He brought Hedwig to the owlery window, not that it needed one, and let her fly out of it. I watched as she soared farther into the sky and disappeared into the darkness.

Rose's POV

"Hello," Scorpius said, leaning against the wall in the corridor we were supposed to be doing rounds in.

"Hello," I responded, giving him a small smile. He frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You're a terrible liar, Weasel."

"You'll laugh at me," I whined.

"Probably," he conceded.

"I got an Acceptable on my potions paper today," I said, turning away from him.

He was silent. After a moment, he took my hand. I looked at him and his face was one of complete sincerity. "That's tough, Weasley, I'm sorry," he said, giving my hand a squeeze.

"Wow Scorp, I thought you would laugh at me, but you're being incredibly sweet," I began. And then I heard a weird hacking noise and turned to say Scorpius trying to hold in a laugh. "You're an ass, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy," I said angrily, stalking a few steps ahead of him.

"Rose, come on, I'm sorry! You're the smartest one at Hogwarts, you know that!" I kept walking. "I was just playing with you. Here let me change the subject—um, oh yeah, I slept with Patricia!" That made me stop and turn, completely disgusted. He caught up with me.

"Parkinson? She's such a pig!"

"With a nice ass."

"Oh, well I guess you're a pig too."

"Rose, I'm so tired of this."

"Of what?" I asked, surprised at his sudden change in tone.

"I don't know. I want something real," he said. I was about to respond to this un-Malfoy like statement when I saw a light coming from the broom closet up ahead. "Looks like we have a pair of lovers."

"Or Peeves," I muttered. We quietly walked toward the closet and I pulled out my wand and blasted the door off. My eyes widened. "Riley?" I whispered, watching the slumped, bloody, and thoroughly still boy in the broom closet. A scream of sorts caught in my throat and I stumbled backwards out of the closet and straight into Scorpius's arms.

"What happened?" He asked frantically. I shook my head and pointed inside, my mouth opening and closing like a grounded fish. He walked inside and I saw him assess the situation. He kneeled down next to Riley and placed two fingers against his throat. He let out a relieved sigh and stood, pulling out his wand.

"He's alive," Scorpius breathed. "You know him?" I nodded.

"He's James's and Fred's best friend," I responded, with a shaky voice.

"Okay, we need to get McGonagall. Can you look around and see if any of the portraits are awake?"

"They're all asleep."

"Fuck, I have no idea what to do."

"I do," I said, pulling out my wand. I screwed my eyes together and thought of getting straight O's on my O.W.L.s. "Expecto Patronum!" I watched my familiar robin burst out of my wand and flutter in the hall, casting a silvery glow around it. "Go tell Professor McGonagall that Riley's on the third floor in a broom closet and is in trouble. Urgent," I whispered to the robin. It fluttered in front of me for an instant before zooming away toward the Headmistress's quarters.

"That's N.E.W.T. level magic, Rose," Scorpius said, his eyes wide.

"I know, Uncle Harry made sure that we all knew how to do it before our third year," I said, grinning slightly.

I walked into the closet and looked down at Riley, reaching out my hand to brush aside his curls. They were matted with blood and I desperately wondered what had happened, who had hurt Riley. I squat down next to him and pointed my wand at his face.

"Rose, what are you doing?" Scorpius's voice came from somewhere behind me.

"Enervate," I mumbled. His eyes fluttered open and warm brown eyes found mine for a moment before he slipped back into an unconscious state.

"The pain must be too much for him to stay awake. Body's natural defense," Scorpius said from behind me. I nodded and slumped against the wall next to Riley. Only minutes passed before we heard the familiar sweeping of McGonagall's robes against the marble floor.

"Rose, Scorpius, what is going on?"

"Professor, look."

She looked inside where Scorpius pointed and her mouth fell slightly open. "Rose, what is the meaning of this?"

"We just saw some light coming from the broom closet and thought there were students up or Peeves, and when I checked it was Riley—" I choked, not being able to continue. I felt Scorpius's arm snake around my waist and saw McGonagall's fleeting look of surprise. But she made no comment and instead turned toward Riley and pulled out her wand. I saw her mumble something and Riley rose into the air and she walked out the door. He floated eerily behind her.

"Follow me," she ordered. Scorpius withdrew his arm and we followed her up to the hospital wing. "Poppy!"

Madam Pomfrey came outside, sleepy eyed, and gave a gasp of surprise. "What happened, Minerva?" she asked, taking her own wand and directing Riley to one of the beds. I slumped down into another cot while Scorpius told the story this time. Meanwhile, Madam Pomfrey stood over Riley and started whispering incantations as she waved her wand in circles, touching every part of his body. Nothing was physically happening while she was doing this, but after she pulled away, she gave a satisfactory harrumph.

"He'll be okay. Someone seems to have cast a number of defensive spells on him as well as hit him pretty badly. He looks worse than he is. I was going to send him to Mungo's, but this is something I'm sure I can handle on my own," she said, wiping her brow.

"Thank you Poppy, I'll come by periodically to check on him."

"Don't try and question him till he gets better. He'll be in a bit of pain, Minerva, until I figure out what defensive spells he was hit with," Madam Pomfrey said, walking over to the medical closet and pulling out a number of potions.

"Alright, then, send word when he's ready to tell me what happened. Rose, Scorpius, you both should probably get to your dormitories—the shift ended two hours ago."

"Can I stay, Professor?" I asked.

"No Rose. It's late. Go up and get some sleep and when you wake up you may visit Mr. White."

Scorpius moved toward me and outstretched his hand. I couldn't help but notice McGonagall staring. I ignored his hand and got up on my own, leading the way out of the hospital wing and toward the Gryffindor common room. "Goodnight Rose. I'm sure he'll be fine," I heard Scorpius say. I stopped and turned, giving him a fleeting nod before running up the tower for the night.

Eve's POV

I woke up to the sound of very loud, very angry yelling. I walked down to the common room to find Rose Weasley and James Potter standing a few feet apart, screaming at each other. Fred Weasley was standing next to James, but wasn't saying anything. He was pale, however, and looked sickly. I saw James's little brother leaning against the wall a few feet from me and walked over to him. I was rewarded with a very, very surprised look.

"—AND YOU ACTUALLY DIDN'T FEEL THE NEED TO WAKE ME UP?" James yelled angrily.

"What's going on?" I asked Al.

"I'M A PREFECT BUT YOU—" Rose yelled towards him.

"You're being sociable aren't you?"

"Shut up."

"YOU'RE SUCH AN IRRITATING GOODY TWO SHOES!" James screamed, his ears turning bright red.

"Well, Riley White, James and Fred's best friend was found by Rose during her rounds in a broom closet, all bloodied up. He's in the hospital wing now."

"HE'S OKAY! WHY DON'T YOU GO VISIT HIM AND STOP YELLING AT ME?"

"Oh, that's harsh."

"Mmm, but the more pressing question is: why are you being nice?"

"Because I'm not a totally heartless bitch."

Al looked uncomfortable as I said this. I took a moment to watch Rose and James continue to glare at each other.

"You're not a totally heartless bitch," Al said. "You just took me by surprise. And I thought if everyone kept saying it, it must be somewhat true."

"That makes me feel better," I responded, watching Fred step in between them.

"WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU?" They both fell silent. "James, will you come with me to the hospital wing and actually see Riley instead of yelling at Rose? If it weren't for her, he would still be in that fucking broom closet."

James was about to retaliate but instead nodded and they both went out of the common room, followed by Rose. Al looked over at me. "I'm going to go with them. Want to come?"

"Ah, I'm sure that's intrusive."

"Nah, we're not very private people—obviously."

"Um… okay," I responded, and followed him out the door. In my defense, I was bored and wanted to know what was going on. I probably should've just stayed in my room and not have gone down at all, but something in the talk with James had changed my opinion of the Weasleys slightly. Slightly being the operating word.

We walked up toward the hospital wing and saw Riley White in one of the beds in the far corner of the room. A woman who bore a striking similarity to Riley was standing over his bed, her face white with shock. She was obviously his mother. I went and stood next to James and saw that Riley was asleep and looked more or less okay; just a slight bit pale.

Madam Pomfrey came out of the hospital wing and took in all the people inside. "Someone will have to leave. There are too many visitors," she said promptly.

The woman sniffled. "I'll go. He's been sleeping the whole time I've been here anyhow. Is there a coffee lounge?"

"Of course, Mrs. White, follow me."

I watched as the woman walked out, slightly unbalanced on her very high heels. I looked back over at Riley, who had one eye open and was watching his mother as well. I poked James in the side. He started and looked at me in utter shock, apparently not realizing that I had come. I shook my head and pointed at Riley.

"Riles, dude! What the bloody hell?" James said loudly.

"Shut the fuck up man. My mother will think I'm awake."

"Why are you pretending?" Rose asked.

"None of your business Rose," James snapped.

"Because she's irritating when I get into trouble. Hovering and peckish," he told Rose. "Did you know Scorpius Malfoy stopped over?"

Everyone, except for me, turned to him in shock. "Did he do this to you?" James asked immediately, his face getting red.

"I'll fucking kill that death eater spawn!" Fred said, shaking his fist. That was a pretty harsh and serious accusation, but I wasn't about to point it out.

"He didn't do it to him!" Rose objected. Everyone stared at her. "Well he's a prefect, isn't he? I did rounds with him last night. We found Riley together."

"Yeah, I just pretended to go to sleep because it was pretty awkward. He kind of just stood around for a moment, asked Madam Pomfrey if I was okay, and then left," Riley said.

"What happened, Riley? Who did this to you?" Fred asked, sitting on the edge of his bed.

I watched his brown eyes quickly avert and he began to play with a string on his bedcovers. "It's really nothing. I deserved it, and end of story. I don't feel like talking about it."

"Rose, Al, and Eve—sorry Eve—can you guys leave so we can find out what happened?" James asked us with authority. I was just about to turn around when I heard Riley object.

"No, I don't want to talk about it. Actually, I'm sorry guys, but I'd truly rather be left alone," Riley said, looking around apologetically. Everyone stood up to leave then, James and Fred a bit hesitant, concern clear upon their faces. "Except Rose. Will you stay?"

The look of surprise on everyone's face was priceless; especially Rose's.

A/N: Before you all start throwing jinxes my way, I know I left you hanging. But, more coming soon! Love you all :) & love Christy the most!