Meeting the Dragon
Just go Away!
A/N: The quote at the beginning belongs to Self, The song within the chappie belongs to Brad Martin. I make no profit from their use.
Chapter 9 - Just Go Away!
“I wanna stay home today
don’t wanna go out
if anyone comes to play
gonna get thrown out
I wanna stay home today
don’t want no company
no way”
- Self
When the bell rang everyone hurried out, eager to make the most of their free hour before dinner. As I was gathering my things, Blaise reached out as if to clap my shoulder in a friendly manner. I brushed it off and swung my book bag to one shoulder, saying
“Don’t get too chummy until I tell you if I decide we’re friends or not.”
I shot him a warning glance before I turned and walked out the door, only to find myself pulled aside by Draco.
“That git friend of mine didn’t bother you too much did he?” by this time I was slightly irritated, and I brushed past as I said
“If he had bothered me much more he’d be in a lot of pain right now.”
On the way back to Hogwarts, I was joined by Harry and Seamus, who sensibly kept quiet. Skylar swooped down from nowhere to land on my shoulder, with a few feathers still ruffled from all the morning’s commotion.
When I finally reached the Gryffindor common room, I went to my dorm to get all my books and my skrewt, then came back down and sat at a table in the far corner. I made a big paper ball, and changed it to a fat mouse for Skylar. Ripping some parchment into little pieces, I put them in the jar from Hagrid and transfigured them into wingless fireflies.
Putting some on the table for the skrewt, I watched him eat, stroking his back absently.
I need a name for him... Blaze... ugh, to close to Blaise. Ember... sounds like a girl... Dragon... I like that.
“Shall I call you Dragon then?”
He looked up from his meal as if considering, then burped and ate the last firefly. I laughed, and he crawled up my arm to settle on my shoulders, curling his tail around my neck.
He lay there contentedly and dozed off as I began on my homework. Skylar finished his gruesome meal and dozed off as well, tucking his head under his wing. I started with my transfiguration first, as it was one of the easier subjects for me. It took me all of seven minutes, then I went on to do my potions, a three foot essay on invisibility potions. After that there was an equally long essay about the various healing herbs discussed in Herbology. After a quick time check, I realized I only had ten minutes of my free hour left. I ran my finished homework up to my dorm, dropping off the textbooks I didn’t need. Then I placed my Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook in my backpack, along with some parchment, ink, and a quill.
My ten minutes were up by the time I had all that done, so I settled Dragon on my shoulders and set off to dinner with Skylar flying behind me.
Nobody looked particularly happy to see me bring Dragon and Skylar to the table, but nobody bothered us either. Harry sat beside me cautiously, keeping one eye on Dragon, who was sound asleep, and the other on Skylar, who decided once again to perch on one of the high windowsills instead of his customary place on my shoulder.
“I see you’ve become pretty attached to that thing.”
“He’s not a thing, his name is Dragon.”
Harry gave me a look that clearly said, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me.’ I laughed and ignored him, trying to finish my dinner early so I could get to the library and get my homework over with.
I rushed to finish the last bit of potatoes, then got up and left for the library, once again leaving Skylar protesting, flying after me.
I had just convinced Madame Pince that, no, Skylar and Dragon would not harm any of her books or furniture, and that yes, if they did, I was prepared to fix the damage myself, and had finally started on my essay on Vampires, when someone sat down across from me. I glanced up to see Draco, and mumbled a greeting as I returned to my work. I was forced to look up again as he rested a hand on my arm.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Just asking. You’re acting weird.”
I grinned, and said
“Nah, I was just irritated because of Blaise earlier, and I’m just trying to get all my homework done before I have to go to Astronomy. I don’t want to be stuck with an essay when it’ll already be past midnight by the time I get to my dorm.”
“Good idea. Should I start on the one for COMC then?”
“yeah, might be a good idea.”
It only took me a few minutes to do my essay while helping Draco with ours. Finally, everything was finished, and we had half an hour to spare before dinner ended. He walked with me up to Gryffindor Tower and waited outside as I exchanged my DADA book for Astronomy. I grabbed my guitar and left Dragon curled up asleep on my pillow. This time Skylar opted to stay as well. I left the window open for him, apologized for today being so rough, and gave him a kiss on the beak.
Once I was back out with Draco, we headed to the balcony beside the Great Hall, where I had been earlier. He sat beside me on the bench as I took out my guitar.
“Are you gonna sing again?”
I shrugged.
“I might. I wanna talk right now tho.”
I strummed some random notes, and he watched, waiting.
“I heard you like to call certain people mudbloods.”
He sighed and got a bit of an edge to his voice.
“Once again, I am not the person I was before. And people are not going to give me the chance to prove it either, it seems.”
I looked at him and thought for a minute, then grinned and started playing a song.
“No one thought that I’d jump off that rocky ledge
so I did, and I broke my leg
and I let Jim Beam tell me I could take some guy
twice my size, but old Jim lied
I can’t pretend that I ain’t been my life’s own wrecking crew
and I’m surprised that I’ve survived all I put myself through
before I knew better
before I woke up
I did a whole lotta crazy foolish things I’m not proud of
it was just like me to risk it all
even when the pain outweighed the pleasure
before I knew better
you were the first to ever make me wanna change
my reckless ways, and I almost did
but somehow I lost track, and wound up giving in
to the late night life and the good time friends
you swore to me one day you’d leave and all I had to say
was there’s the door what you waitin for
and who needs you anyway
before I knew better
before I woke up
I did a whole lotta crazy foolish things I’m not proud of
it was just like me to risk it all
even when the pain outweighed the pleasure
before I knew better
boy I pray somehow, someway we can turn this thing around
I thought your love was something I could live without
before I knew
before I knew better
before I woke up
I did a whole lotta crazy foolish things I’m not proud of
it was just like me to risk it all
even when the pain outweighed the pleasure
before I knew better
before I knew better
before I knew better
before I knew better...”
(Before I Knew Better, By Brad Martin,)
He looked at me, stunned. I just grinned and said,
“They’ll give you a chance. I’ll make sure of it Drake.”
I got up and left the balcony, in search of someone else on their way to the Astronomy Tower.
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I watched her leave, and I swear my jaw just about hit the ground.
Why would she bother to give me a chance? Why would anybody?
I couldn’t begin to fathom all the mysteries behind this girl. There were just too many, all at once. Least of all could I understand why she would try to make sure I got a fair chance. Nobody had ever cared.
Well maybe she does...
I shook my head and got up, about to head for the Slytherin commons, as I had no further classes to attend. Then I remembered something.
Shit, Blaise has Astronomy too...