Chapter 2: Flying High
The week passed quietly without further incidents between Daphne and Meissa. The young Black heir offered no words of apologies for her odd behavior that night and Daphne sought none.
Both of them seemingly content with the prospect of behaving like none of it had happened.
Aside from a few snide comments from Draco towards the Gryffindors, the deal between Meissa and the boys were still strong.
She might have enjoyed them being late to Transfiguration and Professor Snape's relentless questionings of Harry - she definitely enjoyed that though she almost wished that Snape gave Hermione a chance. She would've impressed him. That much she was confident of.
There were a few incidents with a Gryffindor with an Irish accent and his absurd tendency to cause things to explode. The moment with the water was probably the funniest moment yet.
"Does that even work?" she wonders out loud, leaning casually against a wall.
"What?"
Draco tilts his head at her and she blinks at him before cursing herself for forgetting her surroundings again.
"Was thinking about that Finnigan boy."
He looks at her strangely. "Do you fancy a Gryffindor?" The sheer disbelief coloring his words had Meissa glaring at him.
"Do you peg me as a moron, cousin?"
He laughs and shakes his head though she detected an edge in his movements. "So," he starts after a moment went by without them saying anything. "What about Finnigan?"
"He was attempting to turn water to rum the other day."
Draco snorts in remembrance of that.
Meissa laughed at the memory of the resulting explosion of his umpteenth attempt. "I was wondering if it's possible to turn water to rum."
Draco shrugs his shoulders. "We have magic, anything is possible."
She looks sharply at him. "Except raising the dead," she remarks before leaving him behind.
She didn't care enough to glance back. Had she done so she would've seen the grimace on his face at her cold dismissal.
But she didn't care. Her insides felt like ice and she couldn't find the fire to thaw herself out.
She crosses the grounds, her pace swift and her robes unintentionally billowing out behind her, caught in the rush of wind.
"Meissa!" she hears a familiar voice call out and she stops in her tracks, turning to find Daphne rushing but not rushing.
The strange contradictions in her head only serve to frustrate her even more and indecision wars at her.
Fortunately for the blonde she caught up with the raven-haired girl before she could make a decision and a hand to her forearm caught the girl's attention. "Thank you," she says, her words somehow warming the Black heiress.
"Did you finish the Potions homework?" Daphne asks, curious.
"Yes. Did you need help?"
"I'd like that."
Meissa gives her a crooked smile and locks her hands behind her back. "We got flying class in a bit. Think you're ready for it?"
Daphne seems to grimace, prompting a laugh out of Meissa.
"You don't like flying?"Daphne averts her gaze."Wait," the raven haired girl tilts her head as she looks at the blonde Slytherin, "Are you afraid of heights?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Daphne snaps.
Meissa, instead of getting irritated with her, just smiles at her. "Guess I'll just have to help you out with it," she remarks.
"Why? Why does it matter?"
Meissa shrugs her shoulders and turns her gaze away. "Flying can be a means of escape," she tells the blonde quietly before leaving her side.
Not caring if Daphne was following she reaches up to pull her thick curls back into a braid, tying it off and lets it settle onto her back. When most of the Gryffindors have arrived she turns and looks for Daphne, finding the blonde not too far away and seemingly watching her.
With class about to start she waves the blonde over and waited patiently for her. Tilting her head at the slow pace the blonde was taking, she waits for her to join her, taking her pace as a sign of nervousness. Instead of saying anything she offers Daphne a broom once she's within arm's reach. "Don't be so nervous," she offers as an advice.
"Promise you won't laugh?"Daphne whispers to her as Madame Hooch made her way to them.
"I swear," is her only response before Meissa looks across to the Gryffindors.
Hermione, Ron, and Harry were close together - though Hermione was standing apart from them as if she wasn't quite welcomed by them.
"This is going to be so embarrassing," Meissa hears Daphne mutter softly under her breath.
Drawn away from her attention to the trio across from her, she looks at the blonde. "Flying is like casting magic. Just stay concentrated and calm." She smiles reassuringly at her, "This is the first lesson so it won't be too bad."
"I'm helpless on a broom."
Meissa was going to say something but right at that moment Madam Hooch started the lesson.
"Good afternoon, class."
"Good afternoon, Madam Hooch."
Further down the line she greeted an Amanda before she turned around to address everyone. "Welcome to your first flying lesson." Meissa was standing in the middle of the Slytherin line and was tempted to peek around Draco to see. "Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone step up to the left side of their broomstick."
Meissa grimaces and instead of following that bit of instruction she steps up to the right side of broom, getting an odd look from Daphne while Draco just glances over.
"Come on now, hurry up. Now stick your right hand over the broom and say, Up!"
The raven haired Slytherin grimaced again and does as instructed but instead used her left hand. In union with the class she intones with as much command and force as possible, "Up!"
On the first try her broom flies into her hand, nearly knocking her off balance. Across from her the same thing happened to Harry, an awed smile appearing on his face.
Next to him Hermione stares at him as her own broom barely responds to her.
Besides her, Draco's second command has the broom flying into his hand and he smiled smugly before it slips slightly when he sees that she already had hers in hand. She smiles cheekily at him.
"Meissa!"
Startled to hear her name she turns her gaze over to Daphne who was trying to get the broom to cooperate with her.
"With feeling!" she tells her just seconds before the same words leave Madam Hooch's.
Hermione continued her attempts to summon her broom and it was getting borderline hilarious to watch. But Daphne, she could see that ultimately her fear was keeping her from being able to summon the broom up to her.
"Daphne, stop," Meissa grips her forearm. "Take a deep breath." Daphne shot her a look, a glare to be honest, but did as requested. "Feel better?"
"A bit. But I still need to -."
"Just relax, concentrate, and with feeling."
Daphne takes a deep breath and seemed like she was bracing herself before she intones with an authority she hadn't had before. "Up!"
The broom flies up and lands firmly in her palm, her shocked face causing Meissa to grin. "See? All you needed to was focus."
She sees the redhead scowl angrily at the broom and nudges the blondes in time to turn their attention over to him.
The three of them were watching when Ron snapped out a sharp 'Up!'. The school's broom flies up and whams him on the nose. "Ow!"
Meissa snickers, Draco laughed alongside with Harry - each for their own reasons - and Daphne was shaking her head.
"Now, once you've got hold of your broom I want you to mount it. And grip it tight, you don't want to be sliding off the end," Madam Hooch instructs as she walks up the path.
But she did stop in front of Meissa when she notes that she was holding the broom with her left hand. "Ms. Black, I believe I said to use your right hand."
"I am left handed, Madame Hooch," was the Black Heiress' only response to the woman's comment. The tone of her voice flat and clearly convoying her boredom with the conversation already.
The witch looks at her sternly, suspicion clearly written across her face but chose to move on when Meissa brushed her robes aside to reveal that her wand halter was strapped to her left thigh, within reach of her hand. The end of the handle of her wand resting against her hip, a reassuring pressure.
"Mount up!" the professor repeats.
Meissa rolls her eyes and straddles the broom as instructed, glancing over to Daphne to see how she's doing.
"When I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your broom steady, hover for a moment, and then lean forward slightly and touch back down."
"On my whistle… 3… 2…"
Meissa winces at the shrill blast of the woman's whistle and somewhere across from her she hears a boy's frightened whimpers.
Fighting through the headache now throbbing through her temples she forces herself to look through the pain and see that it was a Gryffindor. He was already higher than everyone else.
"Mr. Longbottom!" Meissa hears Madam Hooch calls.
Longbottom? From the pure-blood family Longbottom?
"Neville, what are you doing?!" a girl calls.
"Neville?" she repeats to herself, recalling vaguely something her godfather had told her. She knows that Augusta Longbottom, the matriarch of the family has only one heir after her son and his wife were killed in the Wizarding War.
As the boy rose higher Meissa shields her eyes to watch him, distantly hearing Madam Hooch stuttering his name.
"Well…" she drawls as the boy soars out of control. "Who's to blame for this one?" she questions as everyone else watched.
"Wasn't me," Draco remarks, though his voice indicated that he wished he had thought of it.
Meissa had no doubt that he was thinking of ways to inject himself into the situation and make it all about himself.
"Draco, whatever you're thinking of," Meissa warns when she sees him plotting.
"Meissa!" Daphne suddenly shouts, causing the two cousins to look away from each other in time to see that Longbottom had conked against a wall before zooming back towards them.
Alarmed Meissa pushes Daphne and Draco out of the way before dropping down flat. The rush of wind resulting from him flying past made her shudder. The second she felt him pass she was back up on her feet, following his process with her eyes.
Until his robes caught on a statue's spear tip, yanking him flat off the broom and hung precariously in place.
"He's going to fall!"Meissa shouts, tensing and just seconds from mounting the broom.
"Help!" he cries, his robes ripping.
She makes to mount the broom but before she could even swing her leg over the handle of the broom the robe rips and he falls.
His fall was broken by a torch but his luck just wasn't with him for he slipped out of his robes and fell the rest of the way to the ground before anyone could shout a spell.
"Everyone out of the way!" she hears Madame Hooch cries causing everyone to part before her. She barely even moved him before Longbottom was crying out in pain. "Oh, oh, oh, oh dear. It's a broken wrist. Tch, tch, tch. Good boy, come on now, up you get."
Out of the corner of her eye Meissa sees Draco reach down for something as Hooch was giving out instructions. "Everyone's to keep their feet firmly on the ground while I take Mr. Longbottom to the hospital wing. Understand? If I see a single broom in the air, the one riding it will find themselves expelled from Hogwarts before they can say Quidditch."
Meissa shakes her head before noting that her cousin was tossing a Remembrall, snickering mischievously. "Where did he get that?' she asks quietly, rubbing her temple in irritation.
No sooner the second Hooch and Neville were out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter.
"Did you see his face, the great lump?"
The other Slytherins joined in. Meissa, on the other hand, was fighting off a migraine and was circling the group to find a way to her cousin.
"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil, one of the Gryffindors.
"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl. "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."
"Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly. Everyone stopped talking to watch. Meissa groans softly and palms her face as Draco turns around. That was the worst thing Potter could say to him.
The second she saw him smile nastily she knew he was up to something.
"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find - how about - up a tree?"
"Give it here!" Harry yelled, but Malfoy had leapt onto his broomstick and taken off. Once he was high up he called, "Come and get it, Potter!"
"Draco!" the raven haired girl growls in irritation, gripping the handle of the broom tightly as she debated her choices.
But before she could do anything she heard Hermione's voice. "No! Madam Hooch told us not to move," she turns to see that the brunette was scolding Harry, "You'll get us all into trouble." Meissa opened her mouth to put in her opinion but before she could get a word off he was up in the air
"What an idiot," Hermione drawls while Meissa was shading her eyes to watch the pair.
"Bloody hell," she curses softly. "I'm going to strangle that bloody git's neck if it's the last thing I do," she swore to herself.
Holding her breath anxiously when Harry makes a dash for her cousin and caused the blonde to twirl in place. She couldn't see all too well but it looked like her cousin said something before he hurled something - the Remembrall probably - into the air.
"They're both idiots," Hermione mutters quietly, making Meissa smirk in agreement.
"That's Meissa's cousin you're talking about," she hears a Slytherin hiss at Hermione. "You take that back!"
Meissa's already dark mood instantly plummets even more when she hears someone use her name to demand respect. Irritated she turns towards the voice to find that it's her dorm mate - Pansy or something like that.
"You," she all but snarls as she approaches the brunette.
Before she could get anything out the group around them broke into a cheer and was suddenly rushing somewhere, nearly knocking Meissa off her feet.
Turning her head she sees Harry coming in for a landing, his hand holding a Remembrall in triumph.
"This isn't done," she growls at Pansy who pales at the threat, before walking away with Daphne by her right arm.
"Are you okay?" Daphne asks quietly.
Meissa glances at her from the corner of her eye, her posture tense with irritation. "Honestly?" she drawls. "I'm pissed that Parkinson would try to use my family's name as if it is her right."Her eyes darken with anger and pride, "She's not even in the Sacred Twenty-Eight."
"Actually, I think she is."
An even darker look came across her face as a result of Daphne's comment. "Not in my book," she all but growls and the blonde wisely let the issue drop.
They had just joined the group when Professor McGonagall calls for Harry in a sharp voice.
"Never - in all my time at Hogwarts -" Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, "-How dare you - might have broken your neck -"
"It wasn't his fault, Professor -"
"Be quiet, Miss Patil."
"But Malfoy -"
"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."
As Harry follows her Draco and his 'friends' laughed at his situation until Meissa stepped up to them.
The angry glower on her face quietly had Crabbe and Goyle backing away. Her cousin was quick to notice the absence of his friends/bodyguards and when he looked around he saw exactly what frightened them off.
"Meissa…" his pale face was quickly becoming even paler.
"Of all the harebrained things you could do," she swore in a low even voice. "You're lucky that we're surrounded because I would have your nose in the dirt!"
"Meissa, calm down-."
"Don't tell me what to do, little cousin. Or else I will do everything you think I will do," she threatens, her hand already reaching for her wand.
With the threat hanging between them Draco wisely backs down. Probably aware of how close she is to crossing the line.
"We can finish this later, right?"
She breathes long and slow through her nose before she feels someone's hand against the small of her back. The warmth of the hand somehow managing to calm her and against her better judgment she lets herself relax. But she did shoot her cousin one last look before walking away from him with Daphne.
"Better?"
"…Not yet. But I am getting there."
Meissa slows her pace the closer they got to the doors. Daphne kept walking for a moment longer before she turns to look at her. "Meissa?"
Meissa, staring at the woods, made a noise before she turned to Daphne. "Yes?"
"Do you consider me your friend?"
Meissa blinks. "What brought that on?"
Daphne shakes her head and waved her hand in a 'never mind' motion - unknowingly provoking Meissa's ire even more.
The dark haired girl grabs Daphne's arm and without another word she pulls her away, taking her to a secluded area off the beaten path.
Once they were out of immediate sight of anyone Meissa releases Daphne and starts pacing.
Daphne, unsure of how to handle volatile the Black Heiress, stands back quietly.
"Why would you ask if I consider you a friend?"
"I…" Daphne winces, something that didn't escape Meissa's attentive eyes. "Well, I… I thought that…"Meissa crosses her arms and cocks an eyebrow at the blonde - she was taking her sweet time in answering. If there's one thing she inherited from her mother it was her impatience. "I thought that we might be friends."
Meissa frowns thoughtfully at Daphne, could they be friends?
So far Daphne showed no interest in her surname or her familial ties. She's shown no interest in furthering her family's station in the social hierarchy through her. But is that enough to warrant Meissa's trust in her?
She wanted to say yes, they are friends but she's been burned so many times by people she thought were her friends that she feels reluctant to confirm this.
"Do you have any ulterior motives?" she asks bluntly, watching the blonde's expressions to see how she's going react.
"I do not, but I cannot promise that my family will not try to use me to get through to you."
A laugh broke through Meissa's stony silence, appreciating the blonde's blunt answer.
"Then, I suppose we can be friends," she answers honestly.
She makes to leave but pauses when something crosses her mind. "Just…" she turns to Daphne who stopped when Meissa started to say something. "Be careful about what you chose, Daphne. I'm not as forgiving about betrayals as I used to be."
Her one and only warning given she leaves, deciding to forgo lunch and headed straight for the Black Lake.
She might just skip the whole day right now…
~MJB~
"Meissa."
She blinks, snapped from her thoughts, and turns partially to see who had called for her.
A tall figure, clad in black robes, was approaching her rather quickly causing her to stand as she reached for her wand.
It actually took her another moment to realize that it was the Head of the Slytherin House – Professor Snape.
"Do you intend to use your wand?" he drawls once he was within range to be heard comfortably.
Confused she tilts her head at him before looking down at her hand, finding that she was clutching her 12 ½ inch Blackthorn wand.
"My apologies, professor," she returns the wand to its' holster and crosses her arms protectively over her belly.
"Why are you out here, by the lake?" he inquires, turning his gaze to the before mentioned lake just as a cold wind rushed by them, tugging on their robes.
Meissa stares at him for a moment before mimicking him, resuming her previous activity. "I… I didn't feel like socializing."
"Did something happen to trigger your mood?"
"Did something need to happen?"
"I know that for you to retreat into yourself something must have happened."
She doesn't say anything for a long moment, aware that Snape is watching her carefully.
"I…I was thinking about them."
She glances at the potion master and watched his face darken - he knew exactly what she meant.
"What brought up that memory?"
She slides her hands into her pockets, thinking.
Her mind was haunting her again, old memories playing in a constant loop. Sometimes she sees things out of the corner of her eyes, things that shouldn't be possible anymore. Sometimes she's hearing it instead of seeing it. Or smelling it. Some days are worse than others. Some days she doesn't experience anything.
But every day she wished she hadn't been so trusting.
Hadn't been such an idiot.
"Something," she finally answers. "Something and nothing."
He touches her shoulder and she turns her gaze to look at him. "You should have come to me about this."
"It was nothing new, Professor," she mutters.
He opens his mouth to say something but they heard the toll of the bell, alerting them to the fact that it was nearing time for supper.
"You should go," Snape tells her simply. "Do not skip this meal, Meissa."
"Yes sir," she whispers and he searched her eyes before nodding.
She watch him walk away, his robes flaring impressively as he stormed away.