Smile Like You Mean It

Chapter 7 - A Dangerous Game To Play




Daylight began to peak through the heavy curtains, giving Aera a welcome excuse to rise. She threw on her uniform and made her way out of the dormitory, careful not to disturb the sleeping girls.

The common room deserted, it was clear that early risers were few in this school. Aera was grateful, her sleepless night had left her cranky and short-tempered. She left through the portrait, hoping she could go at least another hour without disturbance. Once in the hallway, Aera took her bearings. She decided against going and finding some isolated tower in which to lurk. The open grounds appeared much more welcoming, with its haze of pale sunlight touching the dewy grass.

Her way down to the Entrance Hall was quick and silent. She had a knack of being able to stay quiet while moving, something which had aided her hugely during her earlier school years. The doors to the grounds were wide open, and a gentle, but chilly breeze was wafting between them.

The early morning sun on her face made her breathe deeply, feeling refreshed. The lake spread out before her, sparkling and dark. She could see the formidable Forbidden Forest in the distance, with Hagrid's hut on its outskirts. But she didn't want company, and there was smoke billowing from the clay chimney. She headed in the opposite direction, her boots soon wet from brushing through the wet grass.

It was peaceful out under the sky, with no sounds but the distant calling of birds and her own movements through the grounds. She was approaching the Quidditch Pitch, with its goal-post swaying high above her. The emptiness called to her, promising solitude.

She found an old shed with a number of ratty-looking brooms leaning against the wall. Grabbing the one nearest the door she headed back to stand in the middle of the field. Closing her eyes she could sense the excitement and noise that so often filled this area, making the silence of that moment so much more intense.

"You fly, too, then?"

Aera's wand was in her hand and pointed at the intruder before the gasp of surprise had fully left her lips. She stared as Draco Malfoy smirked and held up his hands in mock surrender.

"Take it easy, Vale. If you want to duel, you're supposed to follow certain procedures."

"You!" Aera hissed, her voice shaking from the shock. "What the hell were you thinking sneaking up on me! I might have attacked you!"

Malfoy just smiled back, and for the first time, Aera noticed a broom in his hand. His grin widened as he saw her eyes flit down to it. "Came down here for a bit of practice. I take it you had the same idea?"

"Actaully no," she retorted, "I just wanted to enjoy a bit of solitude before anyone was up. This seemed as good a place as any."

"So not much of a flier then?"

"I fly fine!" Aera snapped without thinking.

Draco shifted his feet. "Well then, maybe you should show me, 'cause I don't believe you."

Aera hesitated. There was a glint to the boy's eye that made her wary, yet she had lain herself open to the trap. Backing down now definitely wasn't in her nature, but she felt nearly as ashamed rising to his bait.

"Fine, maybe you can pick up a few tricks." She immediately cursed her own bravado. Aera was an adequate flier, but nowhere near her brother's ability. She could score hoops well enough, and hit a bludger, but her main skill was finding the snitch, and even then could only be called moderate.

"Excellent," he replied, moving towards the side of the pitch where a small shed, looking quite battered, stood. "You'll have to use one of the school brooms though."

Aera shrugged. She really didn't give a fuck. Her temper was bubbling beneath the surface as it was. He might need the extra power of an expensive broom to escape her if she lost her hold on her irritation.

It wasn't that she was particularly angry at him. He was just the prime person to lash out at. She was furious that Dumbledore had managed to catch her in his twisting plans, angry that she wanted to betray her identity to Harry and his friends, though Merlin knew how much hassle that would cause. All in all, her mood was far from calm, now this platinum haired boy thought to manipulate her with his mocking.

"You're allowed in there?" she asked without judgement as he tapped the door to the shed with his wand and it swung open.

"I'm Quidditch Captain this year, so I have access to all the supplies. Here, take this one." He handed her a broom that had seen better days, though was by far the least abused in the shed. She felt a twinge of surprise at that. She's been ready to push past him to grab an adequate ride, thinking he would pass her out one of the chipped and twisted ones.

Aera took the proffered broom and turned back to the pitch. "So, how did you want to do this?" she asked.

A flicker of gold hovered before her face and she blinked in surprise as it darted off, up towards the bright blue sky, disappearing against the light.
"First to the snitch?"

"You're not allowed one of those, even if you are captain. I'm not stupid, Malfoy!" Aera snapped. "If a teacher comes down here while we're flying and spots it, we'll both be in serious shit! Call it back."

Malfoy grinned. "Can't. I disabled the return charm, our only option is to go fetch it." he gave an insolent shrug. "But maybe you should wait down here. I'll only be a moment."

Aera growled under her breath and swung her leg over the broom. With a savage kick she lifted from the ground, shooting forward. In moments the blonde boy was there beside her, their hair flying in the backdraft.

Aera twisted her broom away from him and darted towards the opposite end of the pitch. Now and then she would spot a flicker of gold against the blue, but never long enough to be able to track it. Malfoy was in a similar predicament. The sun had risen nearly a hand's width above the horizon by the time Aera glimpsed the snitch while it was close enough to follow. Unfortunately, Malfoy was only a few feet from her at that time.

Up until then, there had been silence between them, now Aera gave a grin and called out to him as they raced after the golden ball.

"I hear you're always losing to Gryffindor! Think today's the day to turn the tides?"

Though she had meant it in jest, a scowl suffused his handsome features and she suddenly realised how superior his broom was to hers as he put on an extra burst of speed that brought his fingers inches away from their goal. Aera raced after him, her face frozen in concentration. She drew level and reached her hand out to grasp the snitch, silently urging her broom to pull forward just a tiny bit.

Suddenly her broom gave a slight shudder and she felt the magic begin to fail. There was no hope of reaching the ground before it gave up completely and she felt a flicker of fear. These brooms were kept by the school for first years, not made to travel more than a few feet above the ground, where a fall would do little more than cause a couple of bruises. Even then, there were always teachers around to guide the brooms safely back down. Now, a hundred feet up, Aera was in trouble.

Malfoy had overtaken her after the first shudder, and was still fighting to grab the snitch, unaware of the plight Aera was in. She began to call out, but it was then that the magical broom decided it had had enough and stopped completely. Aera's heart rose to her throat as she dropped through the air. It was impossible to stop oneself in the air with magic, hence the reason wizards and witches couldn't fly. Her robes billowed up around her, allowing her to catch only glimpses of the ground rushing up to meet her. She squeezed her eyes shut, deciding it was a whole lot better when you couldn't see the future awaiting you.

A hand wrapped around her waist and she was swung violently to the side, halting her downward passage. The breath was shocked out of her as her eyes shot open to see the grass of the pitch only feet away. However, it was too late to prevent the inevitable and both she and her saviour struck the ground, catapulting over the grass. She felt her arm twist under her body but she knew how to fall. It would leave no lasting damage.

After her heart-beat slowed from a purr to a drum, she lifted her head, feeling a few blades of grass sticking to her cheek. She looked around and found Malfoy sitting a few feet away, his broom by his side. He was gripping his left ankle and his already pale face had gone white. He gave a her a look, as if warning her not to approach. She ignored it.

As she crouched down beside him, she looked at his ankle. The swelling was already noticeable. He shook his head as she reached down to place her fingers on it.

"Leave it, I'll take it up to the hospital wing." he muttered through gritted teeth. The pain must have been immense for him to show it. She had already surmised that he was not a man to admit to anything that could be seen as weakness.

Aera gave a small smile. "Don't be stupid. If you take it up there, the teachers will want to know what happened. I'd rather you didn't get us both in trouble. I can fix it for you."

Malfoy gave a harsh laugh. "With what? In case you hadn't noticed, that's your wand lying in two pieces over there."

Aera glanced towards where he had inclined his head. Indeed it was her wand, snapped in two by the impact and looking forlorn as it lay there. She pursed her lips, thinking. Coming to a decision, she turned back to the boy in front of her.

"Lie down." she ordered, moving his hands away from his ankle. It would be more effective like this anyway. A wand had a tendency to buffer the feelings that hand-on magic allowed. She would be able to return his ankle to its original state faster and more sufficiently like this. And she owed it to him. He had, after all, saved her from much worse injury.

She could feel his eyes on her as she laid gentle hands over the swelling. She felt his slight intake of breath, even though the pressure was minimal. Ignoring it, and her surroundings, she listened instead to the pain.

His ankle had obviously been the first to come into contact with the hard ground, the bang it had received had caused the bone to become bruised. But the main injury had been caused by the ankle twisting outwards, tearing a number of ligaments and severely over-stretching the muscles and tendons. She allowed herself to sense the fibres, feelings the ligaments knit together, surrounded by her magic. It soothed the muscles, leaving them healthy and stable once more. For a while she focused on the bone itself, hardest to heal. Blue light surrounded the injuries, calming them, returning them to normal.

Finally Aera sat back and turned to meet Malfoy's astonished gaze. He looked from her eyes to his ankle and back again, as if trying to determine whether or not what he had seen was real, though surely the lack of pain must have made it undeniable.

"You can do wandless magic." he breathed, stretching his leg out and rotating his ankle.

"Yes." Aera replied, moving to stand. "Please keep it to yourself. I owed you one." She found suddenly she didn't want to be around him any more.

"Wait." he called, halting her in the process of picking up the fragments of her wand. "Just hang on a second." He stood and walked over to her, testing his weight on his ankle. "I don't understand, why would you reveal something like that to me? You must know it's unusual enough to warrant attention. How do you know I won't tell anyone else? I how do you know I won't tell someone who would look to use it against you?"

For a moment Aera stood there. It was possible to imagine Malfoy taking this information back to his father, or even worse, back to Voldemort. Either of those two would be suddenly very interested in the young girl who had so unexpectedly turned up at Hogwarts. But she couldn't seem to picture Malfoy in that equation. Why not? He was, as her brother pointed out, a death eaters son. He was not exactly nice, as people went. But she still could see it. She felt able to trust him, though no one else appeared to share her thoughts.

"You could have let me fall. I would have been unconscious after and you could have made your way back to the castle unseen. Who would believe that you and I had partaken in a friendly chase of the snitch, even if I was in a state to tell that story? You didn't. You caught me, causing yourself harm." Aera looked up into his eyes. "You're not the person people think you are. Whether or not you tell anyone of my secret is up to you, but I don't think you will."

The sun was behind Malfoy now, so Aera couldn't see the look in his eyes, nor did she see the way his gaze flickered down to her lips and back. Instead all she heard was silence and she gave a nod of her head. She didn't need confirmation. She knew what she thought.

Aera moved past Malfoy and began her walk back to the castle. She was stopped by a hand on her wrist.

"I'm not confirming what you think of me. But you need to understand. I don't like Potter and his friends. I never will. Don't fool yourself into any delusions about that." The hand let go and Aera continued moving.

When she was nearly at the doors she looked back. Malfoy had gone, obviously taking another route back to the castle. "I'm a Potter too, Malfoy. How would you feel about that?" she whispered quietly. "You know only one of my secrets. But I think I'll find out yours. It could be very interesting to see what goes on behind those blue eyes."

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Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!! Chapter 8 is in process and will see the introduction of an old friend, one we all know and love! It will also reveal some interesting sides to people... The truth can really be quite surprising sometimes!!!

Until then, adieu!

Aera