Harry Potter and the Dream of Fate

Chapter Fourteen

*High Expectations*

Harry couldn't believe it himself, when he figured out that next Thursday would be the first of Persephone's three competitions. She tried to show apathy towards them, but Harry could tell she was nervous. Especially when she had bitten her nails down to a little stubble. She had nothing to worry about, really, but in her state of mind, everyone was better than her. It didn't help that she had no idea who she would be competing with. But singing wasn't all she was worrying about. After telling her about her past, she had grown a bit more distant than usual. Harry thought it was because she had basically figured out who she really was, and knowing that you can blow up a person with a wish isn't really something you get used to overnight.

But figuring out about her past did her some good, too. Harry could see a brightness to her once she found out her father was Helios Blair, a renowned Sorcerer. She was also very proud of him, being noted for all his good works.

Hermione was also pressuring her about her study. Everyone knew that Persephone Blair didn't really obsess over her school work. After all, she could perform any magical task she wanted without knowing a real spell. But Hermione conveniently pointed out that once she grows older, her studies could come in handy, especially when looking for a job. So basically, you really didn't see Persephone Blair much, between classes, singing practice, flying lessons, and homework, there was pretty much no sign of her. Pretty much no sign, but of course, that couldn't last too long, now could it?

* * * * * * * * * *

"What do you mean, a ball?" Persephone exclaimed at Hermione. "I don't have time for a ball!"

"But you have to attend. It's mandatory for all contestants." Hermione pointed out.

"Ugh, this is so lame! Not only are they holding this thing on Thanksgiving, but now I have to play pretty girl too?" she said in an exasperated sort of voice.

"Hey, it'll be good for you, a break from everything," was all Hermione could say before Persephone had to get onto the grounds for her flying lessons with Malfoy.

This was one of the things Persephone dreaded about her Tuesday evenings. It wasn't the flying part. She loved flying. It's just that Draco had to be there. But she had to admit, he was a good teacher. She had pretty much mastered the flying part. It was just her landings and take-offs she was bad at. Even more so when she had to land. And Draco wasn't sympathetic about it, either. He would mock her over and over again, egging her on to get in a fight with him, and she was helpless. She would just swallow it all, get in the Common Room and destroy a nearby pillow. That was one of the strategies Harry had taught her about her anger. But just one day, one day, she would love to just 'accidentally' fly right into him, knocking that smug little smirk right off his face.

But today was different. Instead of teasing her right off, he was actually, I guess you could say, nice. He was also a bit dressed up. Instead of his usual Slytherin robes, he was wearing a gray turtleneck sweater, with soft black jeans. The sweater complimented his lighter gray eyes very well, Persephone thought before mentally slapping herself.

It was a bit more cooler than usual today, after all it was November, (going into December) and she absentmindedly started to shiver. Instead of hitting her with a smart remark, Draco acted like a perfect gentleman.

"You're cold," he said softly to her when she came onto the field.

"No," she said defensively, "I'm perfectly fine, let's get to flying." She boarded her broom, well, his broom, a Nimbus 2001, and kicked off. As usual, nothing happened. She just fell right back down. Usually he would say something along the lines of "Amazing how someone as powerful as you, could suck at something as easy as this," but today he said none of that. Instead, he took out his wand, gave her a push upward on the broom until she was levitating, boarded another broom and came up level to her. She was about to take off, but he held on to her broom. "You've heard of the ball, right?" he said to her in the same mellow tone.

"Yeah," she said, making sure not to let it slip that she was one of the candidates, "I've heard of it."

"So, you and I could go together," he said in a determined kind of fashion. If she hadn't known how proud of himself he was, she would have thought she saw him blush.

"Actually, I don't think we could go together.." she said, "I don't think it would work out.."

"And why not? Because you're a Gryffindor and I'm a Slytherin? Well, I thought that it was a problem, but after all, you are more Slytherin than some people in my house will ever be, you know that, right? And I don't mean it in a bad way, either. I think you're a challenge. You think I'm a challenge, and maybe not right away, but deep down you do. So, let's make a scene. Do what you do best, more controversy. Why not?"

"That's all real, great, but I really can't," she said simply, adverting her gaze to the ever darkening sky.

Draco was getting impatient. After all, he never got turned down; by anyone. "Why not!?" he said, his old tone returning.

"Because of that, right there!" she said pointing at him. "Because you don't have patience for me, and because I've already got a date."

"Oh, really? And who would that be? Potter, perhaps?"

"As a matter of fact, it is! And I believe our session here today is finished." she said trying to lower her broom. But it wouldn't budge. Until Draco released his grip from it and she and her broom went plummeting to the ground. She hit the ground on her knees, and groaned a bit, they were up a bit high, after all.

"Yes, I believe it is. Looks like you're never going to finish learning to fly, are you Blair?" he spat at her and took his broom off of the ground.

"You are such a jerk!" she said, temper rising.

"Uh, uh, uh," he said sarcastically, "watch the words, my dear. After all, you wouldn't want to land another detention, now would you?" he chuckled a bit and she had had enough. Screw all of Harry's damn anger stuff. She was definitely not going to be played for a fool. So she got up and thrust the broom right out of his hands.

"I said no, that's all I said! Why can't you accept that! Why can't you stop being so damn proud, and be normal! Not everyone loves you, as a matter of fact I know lots of people who HATE you, and you have to get used to it! So just stop being so... ugh, I don't know, horrible? Is horrible the word? What word do you English people use, huh? Tea-biscuit-y? Well, fine! I won't learn to fly, but at least I won't be YOU! A bastard! A freakin' bastard! Get the hell away from me!" she said and shoved him out of her way and plunged the broom into his chest before stalking off the grounds.

Draco Malfoy stood there, holding his broom, looking at her figure marching back to the castle, and he just couldn't help but smile.

* * * * * * * * * *

Persephone wasn't concentrating when she tried to finish her star charts that evening. For some reason, her encounter with Malfoy kept on replaying in her mind. Not to mention, her knees were killing her from that fall. But she pushed it all away when she saw Ron, Harry and Hermione walking towards her.

"Hey, enough homework," Ron said pushing her charts away, "time to think about your performance."

"Yeah," Hermione agreed, "we have to decide on a song, and what your going to where and everything."

"Do you have any ideas?" Harry asked her.

"I've got everything planned, you guys," she said matter-of-factly. "The song, the dress, everything. No worries!"

"And you didn't plan on telling us anything?" Ron asked.

"Nope, and I don't plan on it, either. I want it to be a surprise, for everyone."

"You sound pretty confident, that's good," Harry complimented.

"Well, there's no point in getting nervous over it, right? I mean, I can't back out, can I?"

"Nope!" Hermione smiled, "You have to go through with it."

"Hermione," Ron said, changing the subject. "I have something I want to ask you," his ears had gone crimson and Persephone's stomach flopped. She knew what he was going to ask her.

"What is it?"

"Before I ask anyone else, would you like to go to the ball with me?" he almost stuttered the last words before adding in, "Just as friends, of course,"

Hermione blushed a bit and said, "Sure." Ron let out a loud sigh of relief and faced Persephone.

"Have you figured out who you're going with?" he asked her, "After all, you are one of the candidates,"

"Yeah, pretty much," she shrugged.

"Did you ask them?" Hermione said kneeling over, Harry was listening intently.

"No, they asked me, but that's not who I'm going with," she said casually.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Well, today at flying practice Malfoy asked me to go with him..." she let the sentence trail off. Ron and Harry and Hermione were lost for words, finally a strangled, 'What?' was heard.

"And you said no, right?" Harry said strongly.

"Yeah, of course, but that wasn't good enough for him,"

"So what did you say?" Ron asked painfully.

"I said I was going with someone else,"

"That's good, brilliant; but who?" Hermione put in.

"Yeah, who?" Ron was intrigued.

Persephone swallowed and slyly smiled. "Harry," she said in a small voice.

"WHAT!" Harry bellowed, so that a few other people in the Common Room looked over at them.

"I'm sorry, but you were the only guy I could think of, and besides, I thought we could all go together, as friends, Ron and Hermione, you and me..."

"Did it occur to you that I may already have a date?"

"But you don't, do you? I mean, you really have to go with me, Harry. After all, you are my caretaker, and I may just get into a lot of trouble at this dance..."

"Correction, I was you caretaker. But you know the grounds now, and I don't have anything else to show you, and no I don't have a date yet, but I was going to ask someone,"

"Well, excuse me, I thought you were going to be flattered, after all, now you don't have to ask anyone, and you've got someone to go with; who would you ask anyway?" Harry just glared at her, "Oh, Harry, not Cecile... I mean, honestly, there's something wrong about her, really,"

"It's none of your business who I ask. Look, I'm sorry, but I don't think this is going to work out..."

"Right, right. Sorry. It was wrong, I thought it would work, but obviously I was wrong. You can ask whoever you want, Harry. I'm no obligation, I'll just find someone else. Ron, Hermione have fun, I'm gonna go study," she got up and grabbed her stuff and left the Common Room.

"That went not so well," Ron said softly.

"It's not my fault!" Harry said incredulously to Ron. Ron's expression stayed the same, "It's not!"

* * * * * * * * * *

Persephone slung her book bag over her shoulder and power walked through the halls. She stared straight ahead knowing what she must do. She hated the vengeance she felt. She hated it and wished she could make it disappear. But what could she do? It's not like she could control herself, God, she didn't even know who the heck she was anymore. All this talk about evil wizards and sorceresses and singing put her on a loop she couldn't get out of. Ugh, she wished she could have just ran away from Hagrid that night in New York, let her curiosity subside. Prison couldn't be too much worse than this, at least she would have known who she was. Even if it wasn't true, at least she had a handle on herself. Now she was all vulnerable; she hated that. And what she was about to do she knew she would regret some day, but she didn't care, she was a spiteful girl, and who was she to change that?

"Please be there, please be there.." she muttered under her breath as she entered the library. Lucky for her, he was, sitting at a table surrounded by all the other Slytherins. This wasn't going to be as easy as she thought, but she had to do what she had to do. So she approached him carefully, and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around brusquely and his expression was cold as he said "What do you want?"

"Can I talk to you for a second?" she asked him, feeling all the other eyes on her watching her condescendingly. "Privately..." She watched him, at first she thought he was going to turn back to his work, but he got up and motioned for a far corner of the library.

"You've got 1 minute," he said.

"Draco, I've got all the time in the world," she said with a smile, trying to be as friendly as possible. It was working, he kind of smiled.

"Fine, what is it?"

"About the dance, ball, whatever, I'm free after all. And if you still wanna go with me, then it's a date?"

"What about Potter, did he turn you down?" he said pathetically.

"Actually, I thought about what you said, and, I could go for a challenge..."

"Meet me outside the Slytherin Common Room, then..."

"Wait a second..." she said pointing her index finger to his chest, "you're the guy. You will wait for me outside the Gryffindor Common Room, because that's what gentlemen do," she said smartly.

"Me? Outside the Gryffindor common room? With my reputation..."

"You said you wanted a challenge, here it is. Be there at 8, or don't be there at all, ciao!" she said and turned on her heel and left, not looking back.

* * * * * * * * * * *

It was the Tuesday before the ball, and Persephone was friendly again with Harry, as long as you didn't bring up the matter of the dance. She was sitting in the Common Room, reading over her lyrics for her performance, every once and a while someone coming up to her and telling her good luck for the contest. Hermione was pouring over books, and Ron and Harry were playing a rousing game of Exploding Snap. Harry ended up winning and as Ron was collecting their mess, he decided to have a word with Persephone.

"Hey," he said and smiled.

"Hi," she responded, pushing her lyrics aside so he wouldn't see them.

"Two days, huh? Are you nervous?"

"Nah," she said reassuringly, "piece of cake."

"Cool. So about the dance tomorrow, did you end up getting a date?" he asked carefully. Her expression hardened just a little, but she kept the same friendly tone.

"Yeah, I did," she smiled, "and you? Did you score with Cecile?"

Harry blushed a bit, "Yeah, we're going to go together. And what about you? Who are you going with?"

Persephone tensed up a bit before responding, as casually as she could, "Draco Malfoy."

At that, Harry lost his laid back nature.

"Your going...with him...Draco Malfoy.." he choked out.

"Yes, after all, he asked me first," she said good natured.

"But Persephone, he's awful! He's evil and bad tempered and rude and..."

"Harry, I chose to respect your date, you choose to respect mine."

"But Persephone, where are you going to sit? With him? At the Slytherin table?"

"I'm sure we can find a seat where everyone will be happy..."

"I will never be happy within a 50 feet radius of him," Harry spat.

"Then I'll make sure to sit 50 feet away from you."

"That's not what I meant," he tried to explain. "I really don't think it's a good idea for you to go with him. He may be up to something, maybe you ought to go with someone a bit more, gentleman-like."

"Well, I wanted to go with you, but you flat out refused," she said hotly.

"Right," he said, "Persephone about that... I'm sorry if I came off the wrong way, I just don't want you to get mistreated or anything..."

"I am perfectly capable of defending myself, thank you. I'm a sorceress aren't I? No worries."

"Yeah. So anyway, about your flying, you've finished?"

"No, actually, you see when I rejected Malfoy the first time he kind of quit on me so, well, I can walk..."

"You're out of a teacher again?" he asked in pure bewilderment. "Even after you decided to go with him?"

"Yeah, well he wasn't going to be like 'Well, Madame Hooch, she's going on a date with me after all, so I'll just pick up where I left off," and it's no biggie, really. I can fly, I just can't do any tricks, or jump off, or land..." Harry's eyes widened as if he was getting a really good idea and Persephone picked up on it, "Harry are you okay?"

But he didn't answer, instead he jet up the stairs to his dormitory, threw open his trunk, grabbed his Firebolt, and ran back down again. Persephone was still sitting in the chair, completely thrown off and he grabbed her wrist and dragged her outside onto the Quidditch field. She was so confused she didn't even say anything, except for "Man, it's cold."

"Here," he said remembering that in his rush he had forgotten something for her, and handed her his robes.

"Oh, no way, you'll freeze..."

"I'll manage, go on..." he insisted and he took his robes and pulled them over her shoulders.

"Thanks," she mumbled as she secured them around her. There was still a bit hanging below her feet since Harry was taller than her.

'She's cute' Harry heard a voice in back of his head say.

"Now the first thing to flying is take-off. It's very simple, all you have to do is mount the broom and kick off. Watch me," he said as he mounted his broom and kicked off. He was hovering roughly a foot above the ground and about 1 minute later, he landed. "See; now you try it."

"Right," she said and mounted his broom. She kicked off hard but came back down just the same. She sighed, and handed his broom to him. "This is just a waste of time, I'm never going to get this,"

"You've flown before, right?"

"Yeah,"

"How?"

"Draco usually says a spell to get me in the air..."

"Now, that's all wrong. Come over here, we're not going back into that castle until you can fly."

"Why are you doing this?" she asked skeptically.

"Because I'm the only one who can," he replied. She nodded hastily and walked back to him. He held out the broom. "Mount it." She did and looked back at him. To her surprise, he got on the broom along with her. "Now when I say 'go' you kick off as hard as you can, ok?"

"Are you going to help me?" she called out behind her shoulder.

"Go."

*Author's Note*

Ooooh, looks like we've got the ball thing, doesn't it? And does Persephone ever learn to fly? What about this ball thing...and Draco Malfoy?

Quotes to remember: "No worries." By Persephone, "Because I'm the only one who can," by Harry and "Go," by Harry. They may or may not be very important for the future, but you should just store them somewhere so that you get the irony when they appear again. They flying scene is important so that's basically where the quotes come from, Harry's at least. So remember the flying scene!

Also a quick shout out to Sarah and Michelle--your special quotes are coming up next chapter! And for Hannah, too, a Hannah will show up sometime next chapter! Lol! So don't miss it! And that goes for all of you too, because next chapter we've got a really fun Ball, and a Competition and we'll see who's going on to compete with the big guys!! lots more---check ya later!