Chapter 18: The one where we fly.

Disclaimer: I am just a mere visitor in the sublime world constructed by J.K Rowling. Anything that rings a bell is hers.

Chapter 17

Statues… stone…sculptures everywhere. Green below and dark grey above. Eyes blood red, contrasting with the bone white flesh of his face. Snake like nose and thin lips. He spoke but no sound came out….

I shot up in shock, sweat dripping and hair in disarray; I looked around, the settings calming my racing heart. The Burrow, that's where I am. I sighed and lay back down. I looked out the window; it looked like it was still night. I think…well serves me right for not owning a watch.

This is what you get for telling scary stories before bedtime. Mi's a great storyteller, and I have a way too active imagination. I tried to go back to sleep but every time I closed my eyes, I saw it. The scariest feature of the bastard who doesn't deserve a name. It wasn't his deathly pale skin or serpentine lips and nose; it was the eyes. And the problem wasn't the unusual scarlet…it was the fact that it had a lifelessness to it…emotionless…

I stood and looked at Mi, fast asleep. I grabbed my wand and closed the door quietly behind me.

I collapsed on the grass. I thought a little fresh air would do the trick, but no such luck. I walked and walked and still the scarlet glowed, I looked up at the night sky. Like most of the things I liked, the orchard was simple. I guess that's what led me here. It's funny how things looked alive when it was night, like magic…My thoughts were interrupted by a shadow that wrapped over my body like a blanket…

Harry's POV

I closed my eyes for what felt like the tenth time and begged my brain to let me sleep. I tossed the blanket and grabbed my broom. Psychotic as it sounds, I felt like fresh air would sedate me, and I wanted the kind thirty feet up.

I hit my palm to my scar, I had the same dream again but just like the last time the details had trickled away. Wish this annoying fucking pain would go away. I reached the orchard in record time, was I running? I was about to head up when I saw a figure lying in the centre of the clearing.

I hesitated but then walked forward recognising the bed of dark locks; only one mental girl would take a stroll in an orchard at one o clock in the morning. I reached her and looked down, scratch what I said earlier, the girl wasn't mental, she was a raving lunatic. She was wearing nothing but a tiny pair of shorts and a t shirt that was too small, and let's not forget she wasn't wearing any shoes.

I looked up at the sky; she was making this whole thing very difficult for me. I had come to the decision that this girl was what happened to me every year. She was new, she was mysterious, and she was trouble, and of course Harry Potter can't stay away from that trifecta. This year was going to be peaceful, normal, boring. No drama. The only thing I was going to worry about was homework and quidditch. Fine, maybe quidditch then homework.

Aside from being leagues out of my league, she was Dumbledore's granddaughter, and she was crazy. I mean dinner was awkward enough; I had to practically stare at the fifth brick to the right, fourth brick from the bottom of the Weasley's wall to ensure I didn't stare at her. And try to play it 'cool' because I turned into a mumbling fool in front of her.

And then she laughed, and I had to turn and look at her and then she started talking about dragons to Charlie and I was eavesdropping like some lovestruck girl, barely listening to what Ron and Hermione was saying about Sirius. She was bad news; she did strange things to me, and I had enough of both to last me a lifetime. So why the fuck am I lying down next to her?

"It's 1: 21"

"What?" I said. We had been lying there in silence for a few minutes.

"The time, am I right?"

"Nope, you're one minute off."

"Oh, Sneeze bits, close but no cigar."

"Sneeze bits?"

"Snot."

"Of course. Watch?"

"Don't believe in them."

"Of course. Why?"

"I'm not of the opinion that time should govern our lives."

"And keeping a watch projects that?"

"You wouldn't buy meat if you were a vegan."

"Shoes?"

"Too lazy to reach under the bed. Broomstick? "

"Needed to clear my head. Ride?"

"Teach me?"

"Sure."

"You're not getting up."

"I'm waiting for you to get up and pull me up."

"You're the boy."

"And you're a girl and that's a tree and this is…"

"Smart ass."

"Thanks. I knew sitting on books would pay off."

"Lame." She said and jumped to her feet and held her hand out to me, I grabbed it and let her pull me up. She held her hand out for my broom.

"That's not how this works. I'm going to show you how to ask the broom…."

"Motorbikes."

"Really? You don't want to learn the basics? Just hop on and ride with me? "

"There are things in life you can learn and things in life that you feel. I feel like this is a feel moment."

I sighed; she was right. I didn't really learn how to ride a broom; it was natural. It just felt right. So, I hopped on and without any sort of shyness or hesitation she climbed on behind me and placed her hands around my middle and leant forward.

The awareness of the fact that her tee was very thin hit me like a ton of bricks, but I tried to not let that weigh me down. She'd be shy about things if she was interested in me in that way, wouldn't she? Ginny had been like that when she had a crush on me a while back. So, she didn't like me? Oh well that just supported my whole 'stranger, danger, keep distance' motif I had going on. Somehow the thought didn't bring me joy. She leaned the side of her head onto my right shoulder blade, as she spoke, I could hear her voice vibrate through me.

"Minnie was wrong, she said you can fly better than that Magpie Man, but you can't even get off the ground."

I chuckled, I didn't even know what that was supposed to mean but this girl may reign supreme on the ground with her dark hair, pink lips, and girly bits, but the sky… That was my territory, the only skill I could actually boast about. Seems like it's time for some well-deserved payback for that whole knee in the nads thing.

"You might not want to look down. And feel free to scream at the scary parts…."

With that I took off. Seeing as it was her first time and I wasn't completely evil, I stayed a little lower, skimming just the tops of the trees. I accelerated a bit, waiting to hear a scream. Nothing. I increased my ascension, still no scream. I accelerated and ascended, still nothing.

The thought crossed my mind that maybe she fell off, so I whipped my head around and saw the most striking smile on her face. She was staring down at the trees we passed thoroughly enjoying herself. No fear whatsoever. Well, I'd change that. I spotted the marsh that was near the Weasleys' orchard and started an accelerated descent, the marsh getting closer and closer in seconds and then I heard it. Not a scream, not a shout, a tinkle of laughter and just as I skimmed the marsh water with my trainer, I heard another sound. Splash!

I turned around and my heart must have jumped into my throat because I couldn't breathe, she wasn't behind me. I landed my broom near the marsh and ran into it. I was waist deep, and I shouted her name, she didn't respond. I couldn't see her anywhere. She can't have drowned. I mean not in such shallow water…I was about to call out again but lost my voice as I was submerged into the water.

I sprung up and turned around and before I could say anything I was again hit with another splash of filthy water. That was it, this was war.

I splashed her back, again and again. We continued like that for a few minutes, I can't remember feeling that carefree…ever. We only stopped when she did; she looked at me for a second and then burst out laughing that manic tinkle of hers. She approached me quietly, so slowly the water barely rippled. I was paralyzed. I couldn't move. Fuck. I couldn't breathe. The water clung to her hair, and dropped slowly from it, as if not wanting to part. Her face was pale from the cold of the water, contrasting with its usual glow. I tried to be a gentleman, afraid to look down, aware that if the water so desperately clung to her hair, heaven knows what it was doing to her body. She reached me and I looked at her stormy grey eyes and noticed the manic glint of mischief. Suddenly her hands left her sides from the water, and she launched onto….

A frog. A frog that was on my head. She was clutching it in her hands and smiling up at me,

"Don't scowl like that, Emerald doesn't bite. Do you Emerald?"

I wasn't scowling at the frog; I was scowling at the Insanity holding the frog. I was scowling at myself for wanting Trouble to…I don't know. I just don't know. She plopped her hands into the water and released the frog, smiling that crazy smile as it swam away.

"Potter, if you don't get out of the water, you're going to catch a cold."

"You're one to talk. Who jumps into dirty marshes?"

"Oh, come on, don't act like you didn't want to. I follow my instincts."

"No. I didn't want to jump into cold, dirty water at two o clock in the morning; I don't think any sane person wants to do that."

We reached the bank, and she flopped down on the grass. I grabbed my broom and flopped down too. Next to her. Again.

"Sanity is overrated." She looked up at the sky and so did I. I was never any good at astronomy, stars were just stars to me. "Plus, glass houses Potter."

"I am perfectly sane."

She giggled, "Nope, no you're not. What colour do you think his eyes were before?"

I didn't have to ask who she was speaking about. Who else could it be.

I lay there, listening to Emerald croaking somewhere. "What difference would it make? Blue, black, green…doesn't change what he was."

"You're right. I guess I'm just trying to find the human in him. What would make someone go to such lengths to distance himself from his humanity?"

"No need to delve into his psyche, some people are just evil. They were grey, dark grey. Difference?"

"Were they still lifeless?"

"Yes."

"Which do you prefer?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

I stared up at the black sky, deep in thought. Hermione must have told her about him. I thought for a second. "Red."

"Reminds you that he's not human. You're insane."

"Pot calling the kettle black."

"It wasn't an insult. Sane men don't put their life on the line repetitively. Sane men don't hunt down giant snakes with swords. Sane men don't rescue little girls. Sane men don't live. They exist. They want to go on existing forever."

"So, he was sane and I'm insane."

"Yes and no. He was not sane either. You were right, no need to delve into his psyche. He wasn't human. Not anymore. Not after all he has done. He made sure of it. I'd take insane over inhuman." I heard scratching of grass, and the stars were blocked out, her face above mine. Her grey eyes looking down on me, lacking its usual mischievous glint.

"I don't think you're brave for defeating him when you were one. That wasn't any of your doing, it just happened, and you got lucky. But when you were eleven and you stood up to him, that was brave. And when you saved Ginny that was brave. You're not a genius wizard Harry, not like he was and not like my grandfather. But you're more powerful than both of them combined because your survival is not what impresses me, but the very fact that you went in there in the first place. And that makes you insane, that makes you human, that makes you brave and that makes you powerful." And just like that she flopped back down next to me. I lay there, letting what she said sink in.

"Potter?" I was back to Potter now was I.

"Thornton?"

"How many people are there on a quidditch team?"

I laughed out loud, and it echoed through the night. I could never guess her next move, could I? She acted and spoke without thinking. She was insane. And she was right, I'd take insane over inhuman any day. So, we lay there till the sun started to hint at its arrival, basking in insanity.

A/N: Anybody having fun? Hate it? Love it? Tolerate it? Let me know.

Kalina