Daydreaming Again
THE DAY AFTER the three of them had been let out of the infirmary and Harry had gone off to see Hagrid and Will went to document the new things he'd learned about two-people traveling with the time-turner device, Freya found herself on yet another lonesome walk of troubles as she walked in an almost daze across the school grounds.
She walked far and blinked when she found the scenery around her familiar. She sped up slightly and looked ahead of her and stared for a moment before she turned to lean on the tree she'd come across, sliding down it heavily as she stared in the distance at Hogwarts.
They had won, hadn't they? They'd gotten Sirius out, yeah? They'd found out about a murderer in their midst, right? They'd even saved Buckbeak, didn't they and-
Freya blinked, tears that she hadn't known been forming falling down her cheeks fast, as she swallowed hard.
Because despite how much she tried to twist and turn the picture, she wasn't really part of the 'they.'
Everyone else, including Peter Pettigrew for God's sake, had won.
Harry and Will had gotten Sirius out and saved Buckbeak.
And Freya had slept.
Sirius, Lupin, and-bloody hell-Crookshanks the bloody cat had found the murderer. Freya had only made the act of actually capturing the murderer even more difficult. Freya had only cared for the bloody murderer who'd helped kill her best friend's parents.
The tears were coming faster now, and she had to bite her lip from screaming in frustration as she settled for muttering a thousand curses towards Peter Pettigrew and her own uselessness under her breath...
"You have the foulest mouth, you know that? It's the house full of male's fault, I'm guessing. Or maybe the poor need to speak poorly as well, hmm?"
Freya stopped her string of words abruptly and wiped her eyes quickly as she looked up from her seating position at Draco Malfoy from his perch on the tree branch as he raised his brows mockingly as he looked at her.
* * *
Now that he had let his presence known, Draco had expected her to get mad that he was seeing her in such a pitying state, but instead she did something that scared him.
She looked up with eyes still shining from tears and smiled slightly.
As if his sudden appearance had somehow made her feel better.
"It's my Aunt Muriel's fault actually. She's frankly annoying as hell but she, admirably, doesn't give a damn."
Draco blinked.
Then he blinked again.
And then he tilted his head, shocked.
"Did you perhaps leave the infirmary a week too early, Weasel-pup? Last time you saw me here you were barking up the tree."
"Hilarious, Malfoy." The reassuring amount of irritation in her eyes went away as she shrugged, looking at him with eyes that were annoyingly bright. "I actually came this way sorta hoping you were here."
Malfoy's brain momentarily short circuited. It did that a lot with this stupid Weasley. He considered just walking away in disgust but maybe he was stupider than he'd like to be because he stayed and instead, did something dangerously foolish.
He looked down at her.
And he asked her why.
In reply, she shrugged, her expression confused and tired but also, a bit happy as she said, "Because I was sad and the Malfoy I met in the woods last time...made me feel just a tad better? He at least confused me enough to be on my mind and I'd much rather be confused about your severe personality disorder then..."
Her voice trailed off and her brows furrowed - the light in her eyes clouding over with resentment again.
But for once the resentment was not directed at him as she had bowed her head to look at the ground, downcast.
"Merlin's Cursed spells I'm hopeless if I've come here and I'm with you," Freya sighed, running her hands through her hair as she gave a small huff of amusement. "But you know, I think I hoped I'd find you and you'd say something spiteful. I hoped you'd give me a reason to hate you more than...More then I hate me. Or maybe you'd say something kind, and I could hate you for messing with my head. I just..."
He'd never known her not to look steely, ready to fight.
But her expression was quite fragile now, as if she knew she was about to break and hoped to be broken by him.
So she could blame the damage on him instead of whatever the bloody hell it was going on in her.
Draco sighed as he made an impulsive choice, moving as the leaves rustled around him and he jumped, landing with a thump and suddenly he was before her.
She looked up at him, her expression somewhat blank even as she smirked at him. "Let me guess, you can't say anything spitting when I finally want you too, is that it? You've realized that the best way to irritate me is to leave me alone? You're preparing to go tell all of Hogwarts how I've finally gone mad or, even better, how I've finally gained sanity and realized you're better than Potter and Granger or something? Or-"
"Or maybe I've hopped down here to lower myself even further, because not only have I've deigned to listen to you this long, but..." Draco paused, hesitating, before he settled himself down next to her - leaning against the tree as well. "But now I think I've decided to sit next to you and converse."
Freya looked to him, stunned. "You could have talked to me from the tree though?"
"Yeah, well, I decided maybe just this once I wouldn't look down on you." Draco replied, leaning his head back as he looked up to avoid her eye. "I wouldn't want to be one upped by you is all as I think you seem to be putting yourself down better than I ever could."
"I don't know, Malfoy..." and her tone had taken a bitter edge to it as she looked up, matching his posture. "You do a pretty good job."
There was a moment of silence as they both processed this.
Processed how there was still the fact that they hated each other very much.
But maybe they were here, together, because they didn't want to be alone with the person they both hated the most.
Draco couldn't understand, however, what about herself Freya Weasley could despise so much, and why she wasn't settling these sour emotions in the company of her actual friends.
"What exactly has you so down that you've come all the way out here, cursing every blade of grass you lay eyes on?" asked Draco after a moment, frowning as he glanced her way.
"I don't really..." she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I don't really like complaining about this sort of thing so just know I've been having...a bad couple of days."
Draco watched her as she moved her hand to her hair, tugging at it in that way she tended too when she was irritated. He hadn't even realized he'd known that about her until now. "And what exactly am I supposed to do about that?"
"I don't know..." he startled as she turned to face him, her expression bland. "Nothing, I guess."
"Then I guess I'll just do nothing by your side."
She gave a short smile then; one so nice he couldn't believe it was directed at him. "Until we wake up?"
"The day when we both wake up and realize this nice thing we've been having was nothing," Draco had told her, clenching his fisting, "...nothing but a dream."
And he felt his lip upturn into a smile of his own, wary and amused.
"Yes, Weasel-Pup. Until we wake up."
* * *
"Why are you here?"
Draco blinked. They'd been doing nothing but sitting just a bit apart, staring silently up at the sky through the gaps between the leaves of the tree they'd somehow claimed as theirs. It had been so comfortable, just being with the stupid girl who not very long ago had slapped him across the face, that he'd almost fallen asleep for real.
He winced. No Draco, none of this fall asleep for real rubbish. You're already dreaming, remember? Because being here isn't something you can consider to possibly be tru-
"I asked you a question, Malfoy." Freya looked side-eyed at him; her brows raised slightly in bemusement. "Don't tell me you're taking the sitting by my side and doing nothing thing to heart."
He rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "No. I was here because I was also having a fairly unpleasant day. As you must know that hippogriff that my father had on trial escaped yesterday before it could be executed."
There was a pause before she turned to face him fully, her expression hard. "And why exactly does that make your day so fairly unpleasant?"
He looked her in the eyes and spoke.
"Because the fact I'm actually quite relieved about that outcome, after what I've done and said just proves to me what an idiotically powerless mess I actually am."
Something flashed through her eyes then and her expression relaxed into something kinder.
Almost like understanding.
"Believe it or not, though it would be kinder if you chose to not believe it, I've actually come to that realization about myself too." She let out a huff of laughter, "But I'm slightly different from you."
"How so?" Draco inquired.
Her eyes darkened and her shoulders slumped. "I've known how much of an idiotically powerless mess I actually am for far longer than you have."
He felt a twang in his chest. "Weasley-"
She didn't let him finish before she suddenly stood up, dusting herself off. "It's getting late. Will and Harry should be back in our common room by now and I have to feed the stupid ra-"
She stopped herself and Draco saw one of the tears she'd been trying to keep in fall quickly down, disappearing into the earth. Shaking her head she looked up at him, dry-eyed. "I'm guessing you're going to be an utter nightmare the next time I see you?"
Draco frowned, "I wouldn't put it exactly like that..."
That made her smile slightly as she tilted her head at him, "Face the reality of your horrible personality, Malfoy." She paused looking down at him and sighed. "I don't really get why I had to come to you to feel better or why you have the ability to make me feel better, but you've done it twice so far."
"Strike one and strike two." Draco mused aloud without thinking.
She huffed another laugh. "Does that mean I get one more strike before the option of your company is out?"
Draco's heart paused at the sudden question for a moment. When it started beating again, he stood up, calm as could be, and smiled the same smile that he used whenever he was trying to show his Slytherins who was in charge. "Maybe if you prove yourself better company next time."
She rolled her eyes, "Can't have a brilliant rainbow without a little bit of rain."
The hour bell chimed then, in the distance, and they both turned to look at the school. The sound was like an alarm at the moment as she turned back to him.
"See you when I see you, better version of Malfoy."
"Only if you're lucky, less annoying version of Weasley."
The dream ended with the sound of her slight laugh and the image of her blurring red hair as she ran back to the castle where the harsh reality of what really was waited for both their returns.