Chapter 6
The following Saturday, Rhaenyra was waiting for Malfoy at the library. This time Malfoy came to the library after changing out of his Quidditch clothes and washing up. They began exchanging notes on the project and sat quietly at the table reading each other's notes.
"I wouldn't be the least bit interested in Susan if the sixth year of Hufflepuff Catherine was free," Rhaenyra heard some of the boys talking between the shelves, but paid little attention to what they were saying. Malfoy, too, did not look up from his notes.
"Well, that's understandable. And what do you think of the Targaryen girls?" Now Rhaenyra’s and Malfoy's heads shot up in interest as they listened more closely to the boys.
"Helaena is weird as hell, but she's better looking of the sisters," one of the boys chuckled.
"Rhaenyra is prettier in my opinion."
"I don't know… she's not ugly per se, but she's not particularly pretty either and she always looks arrogant and sour, like she thinks she's better than everyone else."
"Yeah, Rhaenyra always looks so resentful, it's quite scary. That girl even makes Snape seem like a cheerful person." Both boys laughed mischievously and Rhaenyra heard Draco chuckle quietly as well.
"Now that she's hanging with Anna Bluend, who is much prettier and always so happy, Rhaenyra looks as pleasant as a basilisk next to her, even though she's filthy rich."
"Too bad Bluend is dumb as a house-elf otherwise she would be a perfect package, “ the boys continued chatting among themselves in a nasty way.
"Wish Bluend had Targaryen money, then she would be the perfect package."
Rhaenyran gritted her teeth and glanced at Malfoy, who looked at her with a smirk. Rhaenyra forced her gaze back to her notes and stared at them, seeing nothing. The words of the unknown boys hurt surprisingly much, but she didn't want to cause a scene. Thankfully, Malfoy didn't say anything either and the boys' voices receded.
"Why didn't you stand up for your friend or yourself this time?" Malfoy asked in a disdainful tone.
"I would have to be constantly defending myself if I intervened with every idiot who said something nasty about me. Everyone already thinks I'm a raving lunatic, and I don't want to give them any further confirmation of that," Rhaenyra scoffed. Malfoy raised an amused eyebrow, but said nothing more.
"You don't understand, so I don't even know why I'm justifying myself to you," Rhaenyra continued, feeling the need to explain herself to Malfoy, even if she didn't want to.
Malfoy laughed mirthlessly. "Yeah sure, like I don't know anything about people's blind hatred and criticism, even if they don't know me."
Malfoy's tone was sarcastic and it didn't go down well with Rhaenyra.
"Don't play the victim with me. You're one of the most popular boys in our entire age group. You're not a very popular person among the Gryffindors, I am sure, but I'll bet that has more to do with the way you behave than 'blind criticism'. I, on the other hand, am hated and feared, even though I have done absolutely nothing to anyone here and no one knows me at all except Helaena and Anna."
Malfoy looked at her with flashing eyes. "It's time for you to realize that your life in the perfect home school in Bulgaria where everyone worships you, has ended and you are now in a school where you are guaranteed to be judged by everyone whether you have done anything or not. Few here hold your background in any esteem."
Rhaenyra swallowed hard and knew Malfoy was right.
"No one would reject you in Slytherin if you weren't so contemptuous of your own house. Everyone here is possessive and biased towards their own houses, so you're practically considered a traitor to your own house. If you were to loosen your disgust a little, you would find that in Slytherin everyone loves pure blood, wealth, power and titles, which you have all." Malfoy added in a bored tone while watching a few girls walk by clearly finding their backsides more interesting than a conversation with Rhaenyra.
Rhaenyra snapped her fingers angrily at Malfoy and he slowly turned his gaze back to Rhaenyra. "Very subtle, Malfoy," Malfoy just grinned and didn't look embarrassed at all, "what you said isn't true, though. Everyone in Slytherin thinks I'm questionable just because Helaena is in Hufflepuff."
Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Maybe some, but everyone has some dirt in their family if you dig hard enough. Even most of the Slytherins. The Slytherins are ambitious after all, at least those without a strong lineage behind them, so getting someone like you as a friend would be an advantage for many."
"Helaena is not a dirt!"
Malfoy just shrugged. Rhaenyra glared at Malfoy, but felt that she wasn’t truly offended by his words, and after a moment, grinned herself too. "My mother was Gryffindor, you know."
Malfoy closed his eyes as if the words had caused him pain and Rhaenyra laughed at his expression.
"If I were you, maybe I wouldn't put it out there for everyone to hear. It's almost worse than my sister in the Hufflepuff," Malfoy laughed softly. They grinned at each other and Rhaenyra felt a strange swoop in her stomach.
"Hey honey, are you ready yet?" Pansy asked and both of them jumped at their seats. Had Pansy cast a charm to silence her shoes or how did she move so quietly?
"Yeah, I'm ready," Malfoy said as he gathered his things and left without saying anything more to Rhaenyra or even glancing in her direction.
Rhaenyra slowly gathered her things and also left the library, realizing that although she didn't like Malfoy, he was the only person she felt like herself with, apart from Anna, for the first time in months.
****
The next day was the long-awaited Quidditch match between Slytherins and Hufflepuffs. Rhaenyra dressed in the colors of the Slytherins, fearing the wrath of her entire house if she did not show her support for her house. Rhaenyra didn't really care who won, as she had never been particularly keen on Quidditch and was surprised how fanatical attitude was towards the sport at school. Anna was also enthusiastic about the game and at breakfast Rhaneyra had to stifle a laugh when she saw her dressed head to toe in yellow and her face painted in the colours of the Hufflepuff. Anna's excitement rubbed off on Rhaneyra and soon she too was excitedly waiting for the match to begin. They went into the crowd to sit side by side, even though they were cheering for the opposing sides.
"Oh Christ! How does everyone's sexiness go up a thousand percent when they play Quidditch?" Anna whispered to Rhaenyra while watching the players warm up in the air.
"Christ?" Rhaenyra asked in confusion, but Anna just sighed absently.
Rhaenyra watched the players with interest. She recognised only a few, including Malfoy. Malfoy had a concentrated look on his face and kept his distance from the other players. When the game started, Rhaenyra continued to follow Malfoy with her gaze.
Rhaenyra's father and younger brother had been big followers of Quidditch, so the game was inevitably familiar to Rhaenyra. The excitement of the crowd and the players' genuine passion for the sport was clear, so to her surprise, watching the game was more fun than she had expected. Rhaenyra found herself classing as Malfoy caught the snitch after fifty minutes. And again she felt a strange swoop in her stomach as she watched Malfoy's triumphant celebration. After that she made herself studiously not to look at Malfoy.
The Slytherins celebrated their victory long into the night. Rhaenyra went into the common room with the others to celebrate, a little nervous that someone would soon tell her she didn't belong there, but no one did. Rhaenyra decided to test Malfoy's theory about whether the other Slytherins hated her even if she tried to act as friendly as possible. To her surprise (or disappointment), the first girls she went to talk to were surprisingly receptive to her approach and didn't act hostile in any way. Rhaenyra sipped her butterbeer while chatting with two fourth year girls, who mostly wanted to discuss the game and how "lousy" the Hufflepuffs had been according to them. But that didn't bother her.
"Cedric Diggory was ridiculously good-looking and a skilful player from Hufflepuffs and I don’t think anyone will live up to that ever again from Hufflepuffs," one of the girls, Celia, said, looking meaningfully at her friends Stella and Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra had heard of Diggory, but couldn't comment on how he had played or what he had looked like.
"Yeah, but there's eye candy in Slytherin's team now, isn't there? Especially since Malfoy joined. He's only gotten better looking over the years," Anna sighed dreamily and looked in Malfoy's direction. Rhaenyra followed her gaze in the same direction and looked at Malfoy appraisingly. She hadn't really looked at Malfoy properly until now, or at least hadn't thought about his appearance. Malfoy was good looking, not nearly as handsome as Zabini, but much better looking than his idiot friends Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy's face was pale and thin, but it made his features almost refined. He had cold gray eyes and white-blond hair that always looked almost abnormally sleek. Malfoy's face had an unusually happy grin on it instead of his usual sneer and he chatted with Zabini gesturing with his hands at something.
Apparently the three girls' gazes were not that subtle, for as if on cue Malfoy turned to look at Rhaenyra and raised an eyebrow questioningly when he saw her staring at him with a frown. Rhaenyra blushed and turned her gaze away hurriedly. The girls continued to talk about Malfoy, but Rhaenyra didn't feel like pursuing the matter, so she went to bed earlier than others feeling a little embarrassed.
***
The following weekend was Hogsmead visiting day, so Rhaenyra set off with Anna in the morning towards Hogsmead. Helaena had declined to come along and had retired somewhere on her own. The November weather was chilly and the wind was strong, but luckily Rhaenyra had dressed warmly.
"Shall we go straight to the three broomsticks? It's freezing to the bone out here!" Anna shouted over the strong wind while the wind blew all her hair under her hat into her face.
"Yeah, let's go there!"
Rhaenyra wasn't actually cold, despite the wind, because she was wearing a hooded robe with the best thermal control spells known to man, which she had ordered from Italy specifically so that she could fly on a dragon without freezing to death. She had not yet tried the robe with dragons, as they were still too small for her to ride, but was pleased to find that it held the cold frost well. Aside from that, she had good quality leather boots and gloves, so she couldn't help but look pityingly at Anna, huddled in her cold muggle clothes.
They ordered butterbeers from the Three Broomsticks and sat down at a small table in the already packed tavern, where two other customers had just left.
"I thought Keira and Thomas had split up, but here they are kissing. It's a bit weird, because Thomas asked me out last week, but maybe I just misunderstood." Anna said, looking a little confused at the brown-haired boy snogging with passion with a blonde-haired girl a couple of tables away.
"Hmmp, maybe," Rhaenyra hummed, but had strong doubts about that.
"He almost got angry when I said I couldn't and I wondered if I should have said I had already made a date with Trina."
"You're not responsible for whether he gets upset or not. You don't have to give him a reason if you don't want to date him."
"I guess..." Anna chewed her lip hesitantly, but then her expression brightened as she saw the tall, heavingly panting girl who just had entered. "Ohh, Trina is here! I promised she could come say hi if we bumped into each other today, is that okay?"
"Yeah, of course. Do you want me to leave so you two can be alone? That's fine with me," Rhaenyra asked as they both watched Trina go to the line to get a drink for herself.
"No need, we've agreed to see each other tomorrow anyway and I don't want to spoil a good thing by rushing things," Anna grinned good-humouredly. Then she glanced mischievously from under her brows at Rhaenyra. "Do you know what Trina said to me, by the way?"
"No?"
"She said she would have asked me out earlier, but she thought the two of us were together," Anna smirked.
"What did you say to her?" Rhaenyra snorted.
"I told her we were just friends."
They giggled amongst themselves as Trina came to their table with an uncertain smile.
"Hi, can I join you?" Trina asked. Trina had long curly blonde hair and a freckled face. The girls nodded happily.
"I'm Trina," she introduced herself, but Rhaenyra noticed she was a little wary looking.
"Hey, I'm Rhaenyra."
"I was just telling Nyra about you and how you thought we were together," Anna grinned.
"Oh," Trina blushed, embarrassed.
"Trina is a year older than us, but also in Hufflepuff," Anna said to Rhaenyra.
"Ah, well then I guess you know my sister Helaena."
Trina nodded. "Yeah, but not much. She spends so much time on her own."
"Yeah, sounds just about right." Rhaenyra looked suspiciously at Trina, who was looking at her with a weighing look in her eyes.
Anna had begun to speak with a bubbling cheerfulness without noticing the suspicious looks between the girls. Rhaenyra felt very uncomfortable and couldn't tell whether the weird attitude was due to jealousy or the fact that she was a Slytherin.
"How's your brother?" Trina cutted in the middle of Anna's chatter. Anna and Rhaenyra looked at her looking very confused.
"You mean my brother Aegon?" Rhaenyra asked, puzzled.
"Yes, him. He's the one who just got a job at the ministry as a senior foreign correspondent. With no previous experience whatsoever, on top of everything else." Trina said, now sounding distinctly bitter. Rhaenyra blinked in confusion at the whole thing.
"Uh, I don't know," Rhaenyra said honestly. They were by no means in regular correspondence with Aegon and she had read about the whole ministry's job in the newspaper like everyone else. Rhaenyra suspected he'd taken the whole job just so the Daily Prophet would stop writing about him as a drunken slacker, especially after he'd spilled elf wine on Lady Simphony.
Trina pursed her lips in displeasure and seemed to think if she should say more. "My mother applied for that job too and was promised it, but then your privileged brother announced he wanted the job and got it. It was pretty outrageous, especially since my mother has ten years experience. But your brother had apparently waved his gold to the ministry and then got what he wanted. Pretty fair, right?"
Rhaenyra stirred in annoyance and glanced at Anna. Anna looked at Trina with her mouth open in astonishment. Rhaenyra didn't know what Trina expected of her. An apology? But she hadn't done anything. Did Trina think that Rhaenyra could do anything to put her brother in his place? She had no influence over Aegon's actions or decisions.
"What, you have nothing to say? I figured all you Slytherins were the same. You don't give a shit about the rest of us, you just go and trample the rest of us with your spoiled feet," Trina said venomously.
"Hey, that's not fair! I didn't even know my brother was going for a job at the ministry, so I don't know what you expect me to do," Rhaenyra said, annoyed.
"Well, of course! You privileged fools just don't take any responsibility even by mistake, do you?" Trina mocked.
Rhaenyra just opened her mouth not knowing what to answer and feeling really uncomfortable at the whole situation.
"Come on Anna, I don't want to be with any Targaryen or worse, Slytherin now," Trina stood up so suddenly that her butterbeer fell on the table loudly. Rhaenyra and Anna both looked at Trina, stunned.
"Uh, I'll stay with Nyra..." Anna muttered quietly.
Trina's face twisted in hurt and she said bitterly, "All right then." And she went off from the three broomsticks.
"Mmm, sorry to ruin the whole thing between you two, but..." Rhaenyra started hastily.
"Uh, never mind. I'm sure she'll come around later when she realizes you're not responsible for your brother. I should have guessed she had some grudge against you when she said yesterday that your family was a corrupting nest of vices, but I thought she was joking," Anna said stunned.
Rhaenyra grimaced and decided to write a letter to her brother. Not that her brother would even necessarily open letters from his sisters.
****
Malfoy and Rhaenyra continued the task in the same cold indifference as before, but only possibly with less and less talking to each other.
After four weeks they met as usual in the library and continued reading each other's parchments. "You could add to this the temperature of the growing conditions and a particular wine to get the best result," Malfoy muttered in thought, his eyes on the parchment.
"I didn't see anything like that in the books I read. They just mentioned that wine."
Malfoy looked at her, clearly annoyed that she was questioning what he had said, and started digging through his bag, lifting the books from it onto the table. "Here, read for yourself," he said, handing her a small book from the stack with a sour expression.
Rhaenyra read and muttered vaguely that it seemed that Malfoy's book did indeed contain information not found in other books. At the same time, her gaze fell on Malfoy's stack of books and particularly the book at the bottom of it.
"Are you trying to learn Occlumency from books?" Rhaenyra asked, laughing in disbelief.
Malfoy flushed slightly and hastily packed the stack of books back into his bag.
"You know, you can't learn it properly from books," she mocked.
"Like you know anything about it," Malfoy snapped, annoyed.
"Much more than you obviously, when I know the books are of no use. Ask your parents to get you a private tutor or ask Snape to help you." Rhaenyra still chuckled at the mere thought of trying to learn Occlumency from books.
Malfoy's eyes flashed and his expression turned suspicious. "I asked them to do that, but they think I'm too young for it. They think it takes too much of my energy and they want me to concentrate on my studies. Snape will not go against my parents' wishes."
Rhaenyra raised an eyebrow and smiled arrogantly. "One would think that learning that skill would be just as important as learning some magical herbs, considering that your family is a known supporter of one of the most famous Legimilies ever."
Malfoy glared at her and then narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "How do you know Snape knows those skills? I'm sure he hasn't told you."
Rhaenyra snorted. "It's so obvious. He obviously uses occlumency a lot. He's expressionless and emotionless most of the time and then occasionally when he loses his temper he practically explodes in rage. That is a known side effect of using occlumency too much all the time and ignoring your emotions, so that when the occlumency wears off, the emotions basically explode."
Malfoy looked at her, surprised and so interested that Rhaenyra began to regret bringing the whole thing up.
"How do you know so much about occlumency?" Malfoy asked. Rhaenyra almost cursed herself of her stupidity. It was not wise to tell him of her skills, for he might pass them on to his parents.
She looked at Malfoy appraisingly and lied. "I know practically nothing, I've only read books, so that’s why I know it's almost impossible to learn from books."
Malfoy narrowed his eyes again suspiciously, but let it go.
After a moment, they finished and Malfoy left the library. Rhaenyra looked after him, frowning, not really understanding Malfoy. In class and in his spare time, he saw how Malfoy treated almost everyone but Slytherins with contempt, strutting around Hogwarts as if he owned the place. She had expected Malfoy to treat her the same way. But their meetings were mostly cold indifference or occasional chatter. Rhaenyra was even more confused now that she knew Malfoy wanted to learn occlumency, for it told her that he wanted to hide something, perhaps even from Voldemort himself, if he felt the need to learn to protect his mind. Malfoy was surprisingly more complex than he first appeared. What secrets did Malfoy have, if he wanted to learn to protect his mind, despite his parents' objections?
****
When Christmas arrived, Anna asked if Rhaenyra and Helaena would like to come and spend the Christmas holidays with her family. Rhaenyra enthusiastically agreed to the idea of spending Christmas somewhere other than with Aegon at the London house. However, the idea took a lot of persuasion from Aegon, who did not feel it would be safe for Rhaenyra to go to the muggle world. Rhaenyra, however, did not give in and used all her powers of blame, manipulation and intimidation through letters (including the trouble Aegon had caused her at school with Trina, perhaps adding to the seriousness of the issue through letters than it actually was. Aegon, however, did not seem the least bit sorry about it and had only stated that it was none of her or the other students' business), but she eventually got his brother to agree, on the condition that in the muggle world she would be guarded around the clock near the home of the Anna’s muggle family. Helaena didn't want to come with them, so the end result was that Rhaenyra went to Anna's home for Christmas by herself.
Rhaenyra packed her things for the holiday with such glee that she paid no attention to what would be wise to take with her to the muggle world. She dressed on the morning of her departure and put on a dark red fur-lined travel robe with gold trimmings. Rhaenyra had her hair done in an intricate braided braid and wore gold ruby earrings on her ears. Rhaenyra felt pleased to see Pansy and the other girls watching the reluctant admiration and thus knew she looked good.
Rhaenyra left the room with a smile and in the common room saw Malfoy sitting with Nott on one of the sofas. Malfoy seemed to flinch slightly at the sight of Rhaenyra and visibly gulped. Rhaenyra couldn't help but grin knowingly in Malfoy's direction and it was worth it to see his expression getting sour as he realized the meaning of Rhaenyra's look.
However, Anna's reaction was not what Rhaenyra had expected. They met in the lobby, ready to leave for the train. Anna looked at Rhaenyra for a moment, stunned, before bursting out laughing. Rhaenyra glanced down at her clothes in confusion, not understanding what was wrong with her.
"What are you wearing?" Anna laughed, pointing to Rhaenyra's robe.
"What? This is one of my finest winter coats. Is something wrong with it?"
Anna's laughter numbed down slightly at the sight of Rhaenyra's hurt expression.
"Not really. I should have guessed this, but I didn't remember that you don't know much about the muggle world. Well that's okay, luckily I brought a change of clothes for the train so you can change into some of mine."
"Do I have to?" Rhaenyra asked reluctantly, not wanting to change her clothes. Wearing boring school uniforms all the time had begun to annoy her and she was excited whenever she got to wear her own clothes.
"Yes you do. No one dresses like a 16th century noble in a muggle world," Anna laughed, but continued when she saw the offended look on Rhaenyra's face," oh I didn't mean it as an insult, you look great, but in the muggle world it's better to blend in, especially when you shouldn’t attract attention."
Rhaenyra reluctantly nodded, annoyed that her looking gorgeous hadn't lasted very long.
On the train, Rhaenyra changed into the clothes handed to her by Anna. The clothes were strange. Blue trousers, which Anna said were jeans, a thick pink shirt with a hood and a peculiar silver decoration on the front that went all the way down the shirt and moved up and down when pulled, closing and opening strangely. On top of the clothes Anna did not have a robe to put on, but a short coat that was puffy and had a peculiar feel to it, and Rhaenyra did not put it on yet, as Anna instructed that Muggles did not usually wear coats indoors to avoid getting too hot, as their clothes had no heat regulating charms.
Rhaenyra had never felt so weird as when she was wearing muggle clothes on the train. The clothes were uncomfortable and didn't fit as well as her own, which were always perfectly tailored to fit. Rhaenyra opened her braid at Anna's request, which Anna said was not a normal hairstyle in the muggle world, and left her hair open for the first time in her life when she wasn't sleeping or washing and fluffed it nervously.
"Calm down, you look good and now my parents or anyone else in the muggle world won't think you're weird." Anna was dressed in muggle clothes herself too, but they suited her much better than they did Rhaenyra.
You should come to my home next summer and I'll make you wear my clothes and we'll see how uncomfortable you feel," Rhaenyra scowled acidly.
"Oh, that would be lovely. I'd feel like a princess, your clothes are so beautiful," Anna breathed, clearly excited by the idea and not hearing Rhaenyra’s tone. Rhaenyra laughed and rolled her eyes, nonetheless.
Their conversation was interrupted by a bang as the door opened. Malfoy and Nott stood in the doorway. If Malfoy's expression had been worth seeing in the morning, it was even more stunned now as he looked at Rhaenyra in muggle clothes. Nott and Malfoy stared at Rhaenyra, mouths agape.
Rhaenyra flushed, annoyed by the stare. "What are you staring at?"
Malfoy flinched and put on a mischievous expression.
"This is a new low again, Targayen. I knew the Targaryens were more or less blood traitors, but now that you're trying to be muggles," Malfoy sneered without taking his eyes off Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra glared at Malfoy and Anna blinked in confusion, clearly not understanding Malfoy's offensive words.
"I didn't ask your opinion, Malfoy."
Malfoy grinned and entered with Nott.
"What are you doing? This cabin is occupied and you're not welcome," Rhaenyra sternly glared at them as her friend was frozen with a tense expression on her face. Anna was always wary in the presence of other Slytherins, for they were usually cruel to the Hufflepuffs and especially to the muggleborns. Anna shifted in awkwardly as Malfoy sat next to her and Nott reluctantly next to Rhaenyra. Nott seemed as uncomfortable as Anna.
"Surely we can sit where there's free space? Zabini has taken over our cabin with some chick and it became unbearable to be around them," Malfoy said, sitting in a relaxed position, looking at Rhaenyra with a hard-to-read expression on his face. Rhaenyra didn't like the way Malfoy's gaze lingered on her loose silvery hair.
"This morning you were dressed like you were going to meet the Minister of Magic and now you look like a miserable muggle," Malfoy said with a laugh. Nott and Anna sat in silence, Nott avoiding everyone's gaze and Anna frozen.
"It turned out that in the muggle world you don't dress the way I did in the morning, so I had to change," Rhaenyra said through gritted teeth, not liking Malfoy's gloating at all, and then realized her mistake. Malfoy's and Nott's fathers were still Death Eaters and so the knowledge that Rhaenyra was in the muggle world on holiday might go to their parents and thus endanger Rhaenyra and even Anna and her family. Malfoy frowned slightly in confusion.
"Why are you going to the muggle world?"
Rhaenyra bit her lip and glanced anxiously at Anna, who seemed oblivious. Malfoy seemed to realize why Rhaenyra didn't reply and his expression darkened. Rhaenyra changed the subject in distress.
"Won't Pansy be angry if she finds out you're here with us?" Rhaenyra asked innocently. She knew Pansy didn't leave Hogwarts for Christmas vacation because her mother had come down with witch fever, which was ferociously contagious. She had heard Pansy talking about it to Milliecent Bullstrode a few days ago.
Malfoy scowled and then rolled his eyes. "I doubt she'd consider a mudblood and Targaryen dressed as a muggle to be much of a threat."
Rhaenyra raised her eyebrow in amusement and flashed a mischievous smile. They were all silent after that. The silence quickly became awkward and Malfoy continued to stare at Rhaenyra defiantly. At first Rhaenyra avoided Malfoy's gaze, but then decided to stare back in anger. Malfoy grinned in satisfaction at how annoyed Rhaenyra was, but as they stared at each other without blinking, the grin on Malfoy's face faded and his expression became closed. He was trying to use occlumency for some reason, Rhaenyra realized. Rhaneyra felt the urge to try to penetrate Malfoy's mind to see how much he knew of the occlumency, but she didn't know wordless Legimilia very well, so would probably be caught in the attempt.
As the stare continued, the same feeling began to settle in the Rhaenyra's stomach as when she had watched Malfoy catching the snitch or a couple of weeks ago in the library. Realizing this, Rhaenyra blushed and turned her gaze away from Malfoy with some difficulty. Rhaenyra could feel Malfoy continuing to look at her, but she stopped looking at him and stared out the window, her heart pounding.
Twenty minutes later, Rhaenyra saw Nott and Malfoy get up and leave without saying anything more. Anna and Rhaenyra both relaxed immediately after they left.
"Wow, that was..." Anna shocked her head in disbelief.
"Yep."
Anna looked at Rhaenyra searchingly and then grinned. "That was pretty intense to watch, Nyra."
Rhaenyra blushed, but didn't want to think about it any further.
"They'll probably guess that I'm coming to you in the muggle world," Rhaenyra said, chewing her lip thoughtfully.
"How would they have figured it out? Well, but even if they did, luckily you've got those guards coming to protect you."
"I don't want to put you or your family in unnecessary danger. I'm perfectly happy to go to Aegon in London for Christmas."
Anna whisked her hand impatiently. "My life is going to be dangerous in the future anyway, if you-know-who is really back, as Dumbledore and Potter claim, so this is just good practice."
****
It turned out that Anna's family was the most delightful family ever. Anna's parents had divorced which had left her mother to be a single parent before remarrying her current husband and having three more children. Divorce was not common in the wizarding world, so when Anna had first mentioned it, Rhaenyra had been skeptical. However, seeing the genuinely warm relationship between the family, she couldn't help but fall in love with them.
Rhaenyra was amazed almost the whole time, but tried to avoid asking out loud anything she didn't understand, as Anna had told her the muggles thought it was strange. When they were left alone, Rhaenyra was able to satisfy her curiosity and tried to remember to ask everything that interested her, which often amused Anna greatly.
"You know, you remind me a bit of me in my first year in Hogwarts, when the wizarding world was a completely new thing to me," Anna laughed.
At Christmas, the girls exchanged gifts. Rhaenyra received nightwear from Anna with a still picture of the Backstreet Boys printed on the front. Anna had introduced the band to Rhaenyra, telling her they were the "most dreamiest" band ever and they had spent most of the holiday listening to their music on the radio. Rhaenyra gave Anna earrings made of moonstones by goblins. Anna didn't seem to realize their value, having lost one of them before the Christmas holidays were over. Rhaenyra could not remember when she had had such a merry Christmas. The girls laughed their bellies off and spent their evenings drinking eggnog in secret from Anna's parents.
****
The girls returned from their holidays to Hogwarts this time with the cabin to themselves for the whole trip. Helaena waited excitedly for her sister and listened with a gentle smile about her sister's holiday.
"Blood is blood, beauty in the dark, dragon ties the knot," Helaena said absently.
Rhaenyra looked at her sister thoughtfully, but made no comment.
Umbridge seemed to be at war with the school's students and the school's rules were becoming increasingly strict and the atmosphere at Hogwarts was tense. Rhaenyra disliked Umbridge and avoided her as much as she could. Visiting the dragons was also difficult, as it became almost impossible to walk around Hogwarts without a good reason. Fortunately, the dragons were more accepting of Hagrid now that he knew a few words of Valyrian, so Rhaenyra was confident that even if she didn't get to visit them every day, they were well looked after.
One January evening, returning from the dragons, Rhaenyra moved quietly through the empty corridors, watching for anyone coming. Finding no one in sight, she headed for the stairs, first charming her steps into silence. She didn't hear anyone approaching until a hand gripped her tightly, and she slipped into the shadows in a recess in the corridor. One of the hands that had grabbed her went around her holding a wand on her neck and the other held onto her waist. Rhaenyra tried to struggle free of the attacker's grip, heart pounding, and with trembling hands tried to get the wand from her pocket.
"Shut up and don't move," a familiar voice breathed into her ear. Malfoy. Rhaenyra obeyed and stopped to listen, and after a moment she saw someone approaching them. Malfoy tightened his grip on Rhaenyra and pulled her more towards him, so that they were as invisible as possible. Malfoy's breathing made her hair float and tickle her face, but she remained motionless.
After a moment Umbridge walked past them, with Malfoy and Rhaenyra frozen in the recess. She didn’t notice them in the shadows. Malfoy released Rhaenyra after Umbridge disappeared around the corner. Malfoy's eyes gazed hungrily, but his face was expressionless as he watched Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra swallowed loudly and looked away from Malfoy.
"Ermm, thanks." Rhaenyra gringed to herself and turned to leave.
"You know what Targaryen, you're quite a mystery," Malfoy said in a bored tone and took a few steps towards her so that he was standing directly in front of her so that their chests were almost touching. Rhaenyra gasped in surprise and Malfoy's eyes widened slightly, but otherwise remained expressionless. Malfoy continued before Rhaenyra could reply, "you clearly visit the Forbidden Forest almost every other day. Tell me what you and your sister are hiding in the Forbidden Forest?"
Rhaenyra felt her heart pounding in her chest, but forced herself to remain calm. If Malfoy had wanted to expose her he would have already told Umbridge, who again would have forced her to reveal her secret by forcing the truth serum down her throat.
Rhaenyra raised her chin defiantly and smiled venomously. "Why don't you go out and see yourself what you can find."
Malfoy didn't care, but looked at her with a grin. "I have a suggestion. If you don't want me to blab to Umbridge about you and your sister in the Forbidden Forest, you'll start teaching me everything you know about Occlumency."
Rhaenyra stared at him in disbelief, but her heart was pounding with fear. Had Malfoy then guessed her skill and not believed her lies she had told before?
"Don't think that I just saved you from Umbridge out of the goodness of my heart. I want to learn occlumency and you clearly know more about it than you let on. If you deny it, I'll go straight to Umbridge."
Rhaenyra glared angrily at Malfoy and gritted her teeth. They stared at each other defiantly for a long moment before she sighed in frustration. "Very well. On three conditions, I agree. You do not tell Umbridge anything about the Forbidden Forest is the first condition. The second is that I teach you everything I know, but you must agree to make an unbreakable vow with me that you will not tell anyone that I know that skill or anything else you might find out about me. Assuming, of course, that you haven't already blabbed about it."
Malfoy interrupted. "No, I'm not."
Rhaneyra looked at him appraisingly. "Nor shall you use the skills or knowledge you learn from me to hurt me or my sister or anyone else in any way now or in the future."
Malfoy raised one eyebrow in surprise. "Strange condition."
Rhaenyra smiled mirthlessly. "Occlumency and legilimency are powerful magics that few people know, so they are an easy weapon if you know how to use them. I want you to swear everything under an unbreakable wow."
Malfoy thought about Rhaenyra's conditions for a moment, without taking his eyes off her.
"Okay. Then we need an oathbinder."
Rhaenyra tried to hide her surprise at how easily Malfoy agreed to the unbreakable wow. He must have been truly desperate.
"I'll ask Laena, I'm sure she'll agree and won't tell anyone."
Malfoy just nodded in agreement.
"We also need a place where we can practice in peace and quiet without disturbances."
Malfoy pursed his lips thoughtfully for a moment and then grinned. "The room for the Slytherin prefects. It's far enough away from the dungeons that no one from Slytherin prefects uses it at night, so we get to be there in peace and since I'm on Inquisitorial patrol I get to go about at night as I please."
"Well, I can't."
"No, but you can walk down dark corridors with a disillusionment charm and be practically invisible if you're careful." Malfoy smiled with infuriating arrogance and Rhaenyra rolled her eyes.
"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow after dinner at the door of the moonlit courtyard, and I'll bring Laena with me." Rhaenyra sighed in resignation. They started walking towards the dungeon of the Slytherins.
They walked side by side in hostile silence. Rhaenyra was upset that Malfoy had forced her to teach Occlumency and felt the need to vent her frustration.
"You seem to be enjoying snatching points from the Gryffindors," Rhaenyra pointed out.
Malfoy smirked. "I have to admit that for once this it seems to be Slytherin's turn to be unfairly favored, when in previous years Gryffindors have been favorites of Dumbledore's unreasonable preference for Potter and his idiot friends. It looks like we're going to win the house prize this year like we should."
"Mmm, and complete fairly might I add," Rhaenyra mumbled sarcastically.
"It's as if Gryffindor had won fair and square before. Dumbledore has absurdly given points to Potter when they should have been taken away. If it looked like Slytherin was going to win, Dumbledore would give Potter points at the last minute just for existing," Malfoy scoffed.
Rhaenyra rolled her eyes, but didn't argue, because from what she heard, Malfoy's words were true, even if Potter had done good by breaking the rules. "Hogwarts' stuff is quite silly sometimes. I don't understand the confrontation between Slytherins and Gryffindors, on every issue."
"Hogwarts has a long history of traditions and besides, the world is full of confrontations, but apparently they are new to you, who have been living a closed life in some castle in Bulgaria," Malfoy sneered, raising one eyebrow in a foreboding fashion.
"You know nothing about me, Malfoy," Rhaenyra scowled irritably in his direction, who smirked broadly back. "It seems to me that traditions and hate between the houses and so on, give people a good reason to settle into the stereotypes given to them without having to question them at all. If people at a higher level were really interested in making the world a more open place, they wouldn't allow such old-fashioned divisions to happen in the wizarding world to children, which are then learned and carried out even as adults without learning anything new."
Malfoy pursed his lips thoughtfully. "It's ironic that you, a member of a great pureblood wizarding family, should speak against traditions. Especially considering the history of your family and how much they have benefitted from those. Wasn't it your brother's namesake in the 16th century who slaughtered 200 muggles in his rage and was still selected as a leader of the wizarding community in Britain?"
Rhaenyra felt her face twist in anger. "I am not responsible for what one of my ancestors did hundreds of years ago. I am responsible for my own actions and I am for equality for everyone."
"It shows how out of touch you are with the real world. Nobody, not even those mudbloods you love so much are in favor of equality, not really, they just want the best for themselves. Once they have achieved that, they don't care about the rights of others, like purebloods. They hunger for their own slice of power and wealth and how they will get it? By taking from the purebloods and so. Mudbloods and their lovers systematically destroy all traditions built up over centuries, and they ban magic like dark magic, which they themselves don't even understand, on the grounds that it is a theoretical threat to the poor weak muggles they love. When those on the side of the mudbloods gain power, they will limit the rights of purebloods. Of course, the same is the other way around. So no matter who is in power, there is always someone who is not satisfied."
"Come on, Malfoy. I know you're a big proponent of blood purification, but no one is forcing you to marry a muggle, even if they live among us. If we have equality with everyone that doesn’t necessarily mean they are coming for your wealth and so on. I think it is more about giving an opportunity. Hating muggles and muggleborns so much is just an excuse for ignorance and fear."
Malfoy gave Rhaenyra a serious look, but kept walking forward the whole time.
"You're quite naive," Malfoy muttered bitterly.
"And you seem to bully others to get some petty satisfaction for yourself."
Now Malfoy stopped and looked angry. Rhaenyra glowered angrily back with her heart pounding. For a moment the air between them changed to something Rhaenyra didn’t quite understand, but before she could make sense of it, Malfoy sneered mockingly and started walking again.
They said nothing more to each other once they reached the dungeons.