Dream Girl

SEVEN - RANDOM ENCOUNTERS

Alora had this strange feeling that she was slowly losing him. He had trouble sleeping again. She knew that even when he didn't talk about it. She sometimes sat for a long time on the beach or on the sofa in their cottage, completely alone, waiting for him, fighting his demons. His nightmares were getting stronger. On one side it meant he still needed her and probably would need her for a long time. But on the other hand she never had to do this for so long. Everyone she helped in the past only needed her for a few weeks, but she was meeting with Draco for more then three months now.

He always looked a little bit better in his dreams but when she was watching him in reality, he looked exhausted. The stress took its toll on him and she began to worry that for the first time in her life her abilities would not be enough. Alora knew about his task, of course she knew. She even knew about the consequences. Those two things were his strongest nightmares after all. That's why they were getting stronger, because he was slowly but surely running out of time.

"So I was thinking I will transfigurate my hair red, or maybe green," Felix said with serious expression as they were walking towards the Great Hall.

Alora almost instantly snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him with wide eyes, trying to figure out if he was serious or not. "What?"

Felix's stone face cracked as he couldn't hold his laughter anymore. "You are a terrible friend. You weren't listening to me, AGAIN. Of course I was just kidding," he laughed even harder as she started to hit his chest with her small hands.

Alora started giggling loudly as she imagined him with red and green hair, his head looking like a watermelon. She put a hand over her mouth in a poor attempt to muffled her laughter.

At the same moment Draco was exiting the Great Hall. The lunch started only a few minutes ago but he wasn't hungry. So he decided to spend the rest of his day in the Room of Requirement working on the cabinet. He was walking with his head down but the sudden familiar sound attracted his attention. It was like the most pleasant carillon in the world. He knew this laugh very well. It was his favorite sound after all.

He swiftly straightened up, scanning the crowd of people slowly flowing towards the Great Hall, opposite of his direction, and then he saw her. She had her hair in a firm bun, not even a single curl out of place. No wonder he couldn't find her, she was hiding her distinguishing mark. She looked even smaller in real life but he could recognize her chocolate eyes even though she was several feet away. For a moment, just a second or so, their eyes locked. It was a second but for him it felt like eternity.

Alora smiled at first, it was a force of habit after all. She always smiled when she saw him but a wave of panic rushed through her soon after. She forced herself to look away and before he could react she turned around and disappeared in the crowd around her. The crowd thinned out as soon as she took the first turn and so she ran. She took another turn and started trying to open every door there was. First two were locked and even Alohomora didn't help. Luckily the third one was opened. It was only a small storage room but she didn't care. She needed to hide, she wasn't ready for this.

Alora slid down the wall and put both of her palms over her mouth, trying to silence the heavy breathing sounds that were trying to escape out of her chest.

"Alora!" Draco shouted at her, seeing her back disappear behind the wall. He immediately followed her but it was difficult to go against the current of people. When he finally got to the corner where she disappeared he found only an empty hall. So he started running in a poor attempt to find her again.

"Alora!"

She heard him calling her, his voice desperate and full of hope at the same time. But she didn't come out even though she wanted to. She wanted to so badly. His voice weekend as he was moving away from her little hiding spot. She stayed there for several long minutes, crouched down, hugging her knees. Only after she started hearing the soft mumble of people leaving the Great Hall did she gain enough courage to leave the tiny room. She blended in with the crowd and let the people push her to random directions.