Xaden made it through his first week back at school. To say the homework was piled onto the fifth years would be a slight understatement. Okay, a major understatement. McGonagall gave them so much homework, he wasn't sure when he was going to have the time to practice Quidditch. He was on his house's team as chaser, playing alongside the prat, Malfoy. He had bought his way onto the team when he was in their second year. The year Xaden tried out and made the team on his own merit. It really wasn't fucking fair at times.
Then there was the issue with his dragon being a pet. It had been outlawed in the wizarding world for wizards to own dragons as pets and Barty Crouch – the man who had lived for upholding rules – had seen to it that that rule was held in place. But because Sgaeyl and Tairn were mated, thus mating Violet and Xaden, they got to bend the rules through some loophole in the law. He didn't understand the logistics of it but he didn't question it, either. It was honestly such a huge relief to him to be able to have his pet dragon.
I'm not a pet. Sgaeyl sounded irritated through their bond and he snickered, knowing the female dragon hated to be considered a household item. He amended his statement, sending an apology down their chain, and then he looked around the grounds. He was sitting on the edge of the Black Lake, doing homework, and keeping an eye on his mate.
Though, to be fair, she didn't acknowledge him as a mate. The audacity of it.
Violet was sitting with Rhiannon and Ridoc. Swayer was a ways away from them, talking to Ginny Weasley, and Xaden was watching on in apt fascination. Rhiannon was saying something to Violet, who was laughing as her silver-tipped braid rested over her shoulder. Merlin, she was beautiful.
Xaden attempted to breach her shields, knowing damn well it wouldn't work, and he wasn't surprised. Her eyes flashed as she looked up at him, glaring at him with mutiny. So, she knew whenever he tried to breach her thoughts. Interesting. Violet stood to her feet just then, walking towards him with all the anger of a witch that he was in love with. He rearranged his facial expression into one of polite bewilderment as she stopped in front of her. "Get out of my head, Riorson."
"I wouldn't have to breach your thoughts if you just let me in, Violence," Xaden replied quietly, heart twinging at the thought that she despised him so much, she didn't even want him to have a peek inside of her head. Their dragons were mated, thus mating them, and she ran from that thought like the plague. Which, really, was unfortunate for him because he had been in love with her since second year and had a crush on her since first. She sighed.
"Look, Riorson, it's not that I don't trust you, but my thoughts are the only thing I still have that are mine," she murmured. Xaden furrowed his brow, wondering what she meant by that statement, and then it dawned on him.
"Professor Sorrengail is making you apply to the Ministry after graduation," he murmured.
"She wants me to be an Auror." Violet's voice was despondent, and Xaden didn't blame her. For as long as he had known her, he had known the fact that Violet wanted to work at Flourish and Blotts after graduation, ultimately taking over the shop when the current owner died. He knew she loved nothing more than a good set of books with vast amounts of information woven into the pages. He softened his expression.
"I'm sorry," he said, tone compassionately. He didn't know what it was like to have parents that dictated your entire life – his were dead – but he could imagine it was hard.
She shrugged a shoulder, offering him as much of a crooked smile as she could. "It's fine. Being a bookshop owner is not what a Sorrengail should aspire to be."
"She was married to your father, wasn't she?" Xaden asked indignantly. Violet's father had been in love with books when he was alive. Xaden didn't know all the ins and outs of his murder, having not known the Death Eater that had done it, but he knew her father had been murdered by a Death Eater. She never talked about it and how he wished to know how she was coping with that tragedy.
"She was," Violet smiled slightly. "But he was killed for the knowledge he learned from the books. I don't think she wants me to follow his same path."
It was the first time she acknowledged that he was killed in front of Xaden and he held his breath, wondering if she was going to talk anymore about it. When she didn't offer up anymore information, he spoke tentatively. "You never speak about your father."
"And I'm not going to start now," she replied flatly, shutting down the topic. Denied once more. That's fine, Violence. You'll have to let me in sometime. She looked at him, almost as if she knew what he was thinking, and she was hiding a smile. Then she was speaking. "Tairn wants us to train together."
He kept his face relaxed. "Sgaeyl told me the same thing this morning."
"They seem to think it's time we start acting like we're bonded," Violet replied, tone clipped. He knew what it meant to her to say she was bonded to him; what it cost her. A Ravenclaw bonded to a Slytherin was no easy feat and add in the fact that their dragons were soulmates…it was a lot. He could afford to be sympathetic here.
"I won't tell anyone," he said quietly, heart wrenching at the fact that he couldn't shout it from the rooftop that he, Xaden Riorson, got to spend his free time with Violet Sorrengail.
She looked at him appraisingly, studying him, and then she smiled softly. "Quidditch Pitch, tonight. Eight o'clock. Don't be late."
Then she was walking away from him and he was left to smile after her retreating back. No way in hell would he be late. He'd make fucking sure of that.
