Agony & Amor

Nettles couldn’t help but be amused by Cregan’s brazen flirting. For ten minutes in the courtyard, he refused to leave her side with his booming voice carrying his tedious jokes to everyone. Eventually the other Ravenclaw students got up and left, apologizing to Nettles but they couldn’t take it anymore. Finally laughing, she gave in to how ridiculous he was and agreed to go out with him.

Standing in the stone walkway, Rhaena looked at Jace to witness his reaction. Of course, he had been smiling and muttered a quick “yes.”

“At least you got what you wanted.” She gave Jace a sarcastic eyebrow raise, knowing he wouldn’t pick up on it. After Corwyn left class the day before, Rhaena had overheard Gerold Royce telling students he’d left school a week early for break to recover. Devastated, she felt horrible knowing she couldn’t tell him what happened. She knew she would probably sound insane trying to tell a confused Corwyn that Aemond of all people did that to him.

The more she thought about it, no one would believe her. Not that she was going to tell them anyway. How could she even prove what she knew to be true? She listened to Cregan continue his joking when her eyes drifted to Daeron. Tapping Jace on the shoulder, she pointed tothe gardens on the far end of the courtyard. Jace squinted to see Daeron talking to a girl wearing a Slytherin cloak. Unlike Daeron’s usually relaxed self, his eyes were wide, and cheeks rosy.

“Aw Daeron has a crush, I knew it.” Rhaena grinned, pointing out that her cousin was finally seen acting like a normal teenager.

“I doubt it, he doesn’t like those Slytherin girls. He said they remind him of that crazy Bellatrix. I heard she broke out of a prison.”

Rhaena just looked on smiling. It may have been the suspicious looking around that Daeron kept doing or the blush, but something was up. She wouldn’t push it but decided to keep a look out on Daeron and the brown-haired girl whose eyes he stared into. The bell rang out, indicating that their free time and Rhaena headed to class.

Professor Lannister looked more excited than normal. Most of his time teaching defense against the dark arts consisted of him giving reading assignments and sitting in his chair playing games. Today though, he stood up and grinned from ear to ear. Once the students got seated, he clasped his hands together and announced, “today I want to introduce our defensive Patronus Charm.”

Looking around confused, all his students thought he must have been joking. They were winding down already, only excited for the dance and going home for the holiday. Professor Lannister chuckled at the students’ faces.

“Don’t worry, it’s only an intro for today. Over the holidays if you like, you can practice and show me what you’ve got when we get back.” Out of all her classmates, Rhaena looked the most mortified. How could she be expected to enjoy any time back home with this in the back of her head? Everyone was lined up with directives after reading their text and she dreaded her turn.

Only half the students achieved at least a sliver of their Charm coming out of their wands, the others having nothing come out at all. It looked simple enough as saying the words, but Rhaena knew betterStanding to her side, the professor instructed “Expecto Patronum.”

“That’s it?” Sweat started forming on her brow and unease crept up. She thought back to Baela’s fierce lioness Patronus jumping around in the air. It was known as the most difficult spell to perform, and Rhaena wanted to surprise herself. One could only imagine perfecting a spell on their first try.

“Yep that’s it. Now, wand at the ready.” Professor Lannister moved further back, snacking and watching to see how she did.

Rhaena took a deep breath and closed her eyes before raising her wand.

“Expecto Patronum.” Her voice came out quiet, and a shiver slid through her when she imagined a giant glow spilling from the tip of her wand. She gripped the wand tighter, waiting for that feeling that came with doing magic until she felt it. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw the front of the classroom was still empty when the laughter behind her erupted.

A burst of pink glitter was still falling when Rhaena realized what happened. She’d preformed the wrong spell, and this was even worse than having nothing come out.

Shaking her head, she tried to quiet the laughing coming from behind her.

“I didn’t mean to do that.” The professor raised his hands, waving off her pleading.

“No worries Rhaena, that’s not the first time I’ve seen that happened.” He snickered while he failed to calm her, finding the glittery floor hilarious when a voice boomed over them.

An announcement for the students to meet in the grand hall had blessed Rhaena. They were finally announcing the Yule Ball to each student, a distraction as Rhaena quickly moved to grab her bag. She left the room quick, not wanting to answer any questions on how she could possibly do a spell so different than what she was attempting to do.

Frustrated, Rhaena didn’t want to attend anymore activities or classes for the day. She slowly sauntered behind the other students on their way to the empty hall for the official announcement. Gerold Royce always patrolled the Hufflepuff commons, so she couldn’t even run and hide in there for the rest of the day. Knowing she would have to spend extra time working on this spell, Rhaena felt slumped. She couldn’t even revel in showing off her grades knowing there’s yet another obstacle.

Feeling his dark cloud before he spoke, Aemond appeared walking beside her.

Of course, he was wearing that irritating smirk. She wanted to reach up and strangle him, but that would probably only serve to satisfy. Rhaena picked up her pace, making it clear to him that she wasn’t in the mood for whatever he had planned. His legs were so long, it took no extra energy to keep up with her and she heard an amused snigger coming from Aemond.

“Why are you walking so fast? I thought you were little miss boldness now.” Rolling her eyes so hard they almost fell out of her head, Rhaena responded.

“I’m not feeling up to dealing with your lovely personality Aemond. You need to apologize to Corwyn for what you did.” She glanced at him, waiting to see if he would confess to using magic in such a wrong way. He ignored the glare, knowing she was looking for any indication of guilt.

Instead of defending himself he smiled and taunted her, “I’m glad you think my personality is lovely.”

Rhaena ignored him and thought after everything he’s done, he’s a cheeky bastard to think they would ever have a normal conversation again. Not bothering to respond, she kept moving now trying to catch up with the rest of the students.

“What’s happened to you?” Curiosity dripped in his voice and his eyebrows were cocked. She had to release an exasperated sigh that Aemond of all people would ask her this. After all of the emotional turmoil he’s given her.

“Wouldn’t you like to know? It’s none of your business so go bother someone else.” Rhaena glared at him again before continuing. “I’m sure there’s more of our peers you can go harm.” This was a tactic of hers, hoping maybe he would slip and accidently confess some guilt.

He sneered at her when two of her classmates ran past them, coming out of Professor Lannister’s room. One of the boys turned to Rhaena and laughed before yelling back.

“Hey nice spell Hufflepuff!” The boys wearing Gryffindor cloaks cackled louder before running to catch up to the wave of students going down the hall.

Aemond looked confused, turning to see Rhaena’s embarrassed red cheeks before turning back to the running students. Even in her humiliation, she was relieved to see his annoying ever-present smirk leaving his face. His wand came out fast, and he spoke no words but only swishing the wand up. The first boy fell on his face, and he seemed to be the unlucky one as the next boy used him to break his fall.

Rhaena almost wheezed. She didn’t know if she should laugh at the hilarity of it or be shocked. No spell she’d ever done had been as simple as a flick of her wand. Both the boys groaned, getting up slowly and brushing themselves off before limping ahead.

Aemond was laughing, and she could have sworn he looked years younger when he smiled.

“You can’t use magic like that.” Looking around, Rhaena wanted to make sure no one witnessed what Aemond had done. The last thing she needed was to let him get her in trouble.

She didn’t miss him muttering and mocking her under his breath before he spoke up louder, “I can do what I please.” They walked more slowly now, and Rhaena didn’t want to look over at Aemond’s obvious staring at her.

“And what pleases you?” She knew he waited before responding, hoping that she would turn to look at him. It must be a divine lie really, that he would want to get back at some boys for offending her.

“Those kids were making fun of you.” He said it as if she didn’t already know. As if he had to inform her why she should be hurt.

“Well, they must have gotten it from you.” She didn’t need to look at him to see his obvious disgruntled head roll and she was sure his eye rolled with it.

“Well, maybe I’m a little overzealous sometimes.” Aemond shook his head as if he didn’t want to deal with the hassle of this conversation. She didn’t know why he had bothered coming to her in the first place. Any minute now, he can prove right and say something worst than those boys ever could.

Rhaena almost scoffed at him. “It that a....” She finally turned to look at him but to his surprise it was in disgust.

“You don’t even know how to half ass an apology.” He looked shocked as she raised her voice. “Overzealous is an interesting word to describe your behavior.” Looking down as she was speaking, he clearly didn’t know what to say to defend himself. The gentleness of Aemond’s expression that lasted but the last 3 minutes started to die away and Rhaena could see his mean-spiritedness that she’d grown used to creeping back up.

Aemond opened his mouth to speak, and she widened her eyes, finally turning and looking at him. Preparing herself already with a comeback, her brain circled different insults she could throw his way. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking, but he looked intently at her. Closing his mouth, Aemond said nothing, and they entered the hall.

The Hufflepuff students were sitting in front of them and looked to the other side of the room facing the Slytherin students.

Rhaena decided to speak up, picking up their conversation despite Aemond’s silence. “No need to be seated next to me, I'd hate to tarnish your reputation.”

She walked away, waving towards Baela sitting across the room before sitting next to the Hufflepuffs.

Professor Baratheon spent only 5 minutes announcing the ball but none of the students were listening. Half the student body had already found a date to the dance, and just awaited the big day. Laughter filled the hall when Cregan had been asked to dance with the professor and he’d done so with more enthusiasm than necessary.

“Alright, I know you're all excited. Go ahead and practice twirling away.” The Professor walked off, going to join the other faculty. One by one students bounced up and ran to find a dance partner. Rhaena stayed seated, watching as Nettles had joined Cregan. No surprise to Rhaena, the Slytherin girl she saw Daeron with earlier had been quietly dancing with him in a corner.

At this point, Daeron had to be in love and Rhaena was convinced. His eyes flickered and cheeks flushed as he and the girl silently whispered to each other and smiled. She couldn’t help but smile along with them, watching as Jace and Baela also peacocked and danced around.

Once Baela’s skirt flipped out of Rhaena’s sight, Aemond’s tall figure caught her eye. He approached her with his arm out, gesturing for her to take his hand and stand up. Only waiting for his joke, Rhaena looked around. She didn’t want to figure out what he was up to, and she didn’t want to be the butt of any prank he had planned. Instead of taking his hand, Rhaena clasped hers and looked away. She wanted to make sure he knew she wasn’t interested and there was no confusion about it.

As much as she loved to dance, it couldn’t be with him. If only Corwyn was still around, he would have practiced dancing with her and they could have had fun. Aemond stood there refusing to move, arm still out and the corner of his eyes crinkled. He was losing patience and she hoped he would hurry and leave. Instead, he took a deep breath and looked to the approaching Professor Baratheon.

“Oh lovely! I’m glad you’ve found a partner Aemond. At least for your last year with us, you must join us at the ball.” Aemond gave a lazy smile in retort, the Professor completely missing his lack of interest in the dance and smiled down at Rhaena.

Rhaena cursed in her head that the man and his horrible timing. Never has there been such a lack of understanding, but the man continued looking down and awaited her to stand. Her forehead puckered and moving slowly, Rhaena stood and accepted Aemond’s hand. Begrudgingly, she was guided to the open space, finally the last students to join the others. She couldn’t help but be vexed and huff at the sound of the Professor clasping his hands together in glee that all the students were participating.

Their height difference was something Rhaena rarely noticed, but now it was impossible to ignore. Not that she wanted to look into his eyes anyways, Rhaena kept her focus at Aemond’s collar. He was looking down at her, moving their hands into position and their feet started to move.

“I don’t want to dance with you. Are you wanting to publicly humiliate me now?” Making sure her voice was low and disinterested, she wanted him to know exactly how she felt about this.

Aemond only laughed softly, as if she was just being difficult and would quickly get over it. He moved his large hand down her back, foot almost landing onto hers.

“Sorry,” he muttered, looking down to make sure his foot placement was correct.

“I liked it better when you ignored me.” She refused to look up at him, instead turning her head to look at the dancing couples surrounding them.

“Did you tell anyone about my eye?” His stern voice was gentler than usual. It seemed like velvet in Rhaena's ears, and she wanted to cover her head to block him out.

“Why would you ask me that when you already know the answer?” Answering his question with a question, she knew it would frustrate him.

Finally turning her head up to look at Aemond, she saw the corners of his mouth turned up and his pupils flared. Rhaena nibbled on her bottom lip, curious why he would bring his eye up now.

“You have to focus on a good memory.” The muscles of his jaw clenched and Aemond broke their eye contact, tilting his head to look above hers. Rhaena was confused. He wanted to mess with her, aimlessly pulling their conversation in different directions. She was sure of it and now, she really had wished he would do her a favor and go back to never speaking to her.

“What are you talking about?” Her face contorted and she was counting down the minutes until they could be dismissed for the day. Aemond leaned in, nose close her forehead and he spoke clearly.

“The Patronus Charm.” He moved away, stepping back and lifting her arm to twirl her. Rhaena’s locs swung around and her dress lifted. She was quick to come back to him, grabbing his shoulder to steady her.

Aemond continued, “You have to stay focused and think of a happy memory. The Charm comes from early magic so you really have to concentrate.” He huffed, looking like he wanted to laugh. “I guess they don’t give good instruction to Hufflepuffs, since I've known that from my first year.” He looked around, noticing some of the students were starting to file out of the hall.

Her waist was grabbed tighter and Rhaena widened her eyes, ignoring his jab to her house. “Why are you telling me that?”

Aemond shrugged, looking impassive when Baela approached them out of breath. Her cheeks were scarlet and Rhaena knew her sister had been dancing endlessly. It wouldn’t be a surprise if her and Aemond had completelt missed a dacne off happening just feet away from them.

“Rhaena! I got an early Christmas gift!” Baela’s curls were bouncing with excitement and her uniformed shirt was fully unbuttoned, showing off her tank top. The girl never followed the rules.

Rhaena felt Aemond’s warm hands leaving her, dropping off as Baela slapped Aemond’s arm to greet him. She grabbed her sister’s arm pulling her to go see the gift she received. “I got the new Nimbus. This one is green and I’m using it this weekend.”

Rhaena smiled at Baela’s excitement, she got a new broom every year and each one was a huge upgrade. Students scattered all around them and she didn’t know if she welcomed the interruption. She blinked hard as she walked, feeling like she was pulling herself back in from an alternative universe.

As Rhaena was led out of the door, she looked back to see Aemond still standing in the same spot. It was impossivle to tell what he was thinking, he just stared at her walking away with gritted teeth but his eyes looked soft.

Forfeiting her understanding of today’s version of Aemond, Rhaena turned back and walked away. He was difficult. Perhaps he was changing his demeanor, or perhaps not. Fooling herself was not something she was known for, but Rhaena took note of his advice thinking it could be useful later. She didn’t want to believe his intentions were for the best of her, but she was convinced of one thing.

Deep inside her she knew there was one thing, this emotion she didn’t want to explore.