Arctic Love

Chapter 14: Plan

We went into the grand hall and sat down. I had Draco on my right and Beth on my left.

Dumbledore surprisingly doesn't have anything to say yet again and the meal starts. I grab cereal and some fruit, and start to eat. I look over at Beth who hasn't even looked at the food. Instead she's liking down and clearly thinking about something.

"Hey, what's up?" I ask tapping her arm.

"I'll tell you later," she says looking up at Ben.

Why is she looking at Ben? What did he do? Now I really want to know. I know she'll tell me later but I don't want to wait.

I slowly nudge my fork off the table and Beth leans down to grab it. I lean down too and look at her. This was a strategy we had when we wanted to say something quickly and secretly.

"Ben asked me out" she whispered

I got flooded with emotions and got so excited I jumped up and hit my head on the table.

"Elena? Are you okay?" I hear.

I get out from under the table and look up to see Draco looking concerned but like he's going to laugh at me too.

"Ya," I say rubbing my head.

I look at Beth and she starts laughing at me. Draco tries not to but he laughs at me too and soon everyone at the table is laughing at me. I roll my eyes and Beth hugs me.

"It's okay, you can't always be perfect," she says letting me go.

The laughing stops and everyone returns to their conversations and I turn around to see Hermione, Ron, and Harry smiling at me. I guess I was pretty loud. Even Logan heard and he was walking over to me.

"Are you okay?" He says kissing my head.

"Yeah, it just kinda hurts," I say rubbing my head.

"You'll live," he says giving me a smile.

Logan looks over at Draco then back at me with a strange look.

"No," I say reading his mind.

He thinks because I'm sitting beside Draco that we're dating.

He smiles at me and starts to walk back to the Gryffindor table. Draco continued to talk to Alex and I looked at Beth and she smiled at me.

----------------------------------------------

I walk into my room and get ready to go flying. I look at my Nimbus 2001 that all of the Slytherin Quidditch team got last year and smile. I missed flying, it gave me a sense of freedom. I threw on a grey sweater and put on my brown tall boots. I put my hair up and put my wand in my boot. I put on some gloves and grab a broom.

I check my hair in the mirror again and there's a knock at my door. I open it to see Draco leaning in the doorway.

"Ready?" He asks standing up

"Ya," I say walking out of my room.

We walk down the corridor and nothing is said. We get to the common room to see Beth and Alex waiting for us. I know I was excited for Alex and Beth to spend time together but that was before I knew Ben liked her.

"Hey," Alex says nothing Draco and I.

"Hey," I say giving him a quick hug.

"Let's go," Alex says heading for the door.

We all walk out of the common room and start to go up the stairs. Draco and Alex walk together and I walk with Beth.

"I'm so loving these spares," Beth says

"Me too," I say "I really don't want to go to class this afternoon"

"Me either, but we have charms and Transfiguration, you're amazing at both of them," Beth says nudging my ribs.

I roll my eyes at her and we start to walk down the main corridor. We pass the grand hall and out to the courtyard. We all get on our brooms and start to hover.

It's a weird feeling, being on a broom again. It's like you have to trust it completely and trust yourself. It's another small part of the magic that makes me extremely happy to be a witch.

Alex and Draco take the lead and Beth and I follow them. We go straight towards the black lake and start to go across it. Draco dips his broom a little lower and puts his hand in the water. Beth looks and me and smiles and she moves side to side on her broom. I look down in the water and see my reflection.

The air is cold on my face and my hair is blowing in the wind. I look at Beth who's pulling up her scarf to cover her face.

Alex starts to turn to the right and head towards the dark forest. We all turn with him and then go higher in the air. Flying over the dark forest wasn't nearly as scary as flying through it. We fly high over the trees and Alex starts to tilt his broom down in a nose dive. Draco follows his shooting straight down and into the trees. I look at Beth, who looks terrified.

I start to dive and feel the adrenaline pumping. I see the ground getting closer and I pull up. It takes all my strength but I manage to make a graceful landing. Beth comes down beside me and pulls up at the last minute. She puts her feet down with a thud but manages to stop.

We all get off our brooms and we look around to affine where we are. It's dark but there are little bugs flying around that look like fireflies but they are different colors. There were blue, purple and green little lights flickering everywhere. It was beautiful.

"Let's go," Alex says looking at Beth.

She doesn't say anything but she walks beside him and Draco and I follow close behind.

"It's like our first night" Draco whispers looking at the flashing bugs.

I look up at him and force a smile. He reminds me of that first night when he opened up to me and told me about his father. I guess he just wanted to tell someone, I just happened to be there at the time.

We follow Alex and Beth who are laughing together as Alex tells bad jokes. We walk to a small pond and it's a very pretty blue. It's as if there's a light in the water because it looks like it's glowing. It's the only light in this part of the forest. The bugs have left us and the trees cover the sun.

I see Alex nervously look at Beth and smile at her. She smiles back and within an instant, he grabs her waist as kisses her. She is shocked for a moment but then falls into his kiss and closes her eyes.

Draco puts his arm around me and smiles at me. He had a look of happiness and success. It was a perfect, romantic moment. Their obvious plan had worked.