Summary: His fears of the future are the tinder, the dragon is the spark. And together they ignite a flame inside Felix he forgot he had.
Felix has never missed a class in his life, and it would take a lot more than a night spent trekking to and from the Forbidden Forest to see a real live dragon for the very first time for him to start now. His eyes snap open and he bolts upright from his bed where he had lain only two hours before, and knows without consulting his watch that he's late. He throws on his spare robes, not having taken the time to mend his clothes from the night before, flattens his hair to his head hurriedly, and summons his bag and books by magic. He sprints down the stairs from his dormitory and across the Slytherin common room, earning disbelieving stares from the few people sitting in it.
Class has already been in session for fifteen minutes before Felix arrives. He's lucky it's Charms as Professor Flitwick is more actively sympathetic to the stress of the seventh years than certain other teachers, and only lightly chides Felix as he takes his seat. Several people across the aisle smirk at him, and a Gryffindor girl he knows by sight whispers behind her hand to her friend. Both girls snicker, and Felix feels his cheeks heat slightly. He makes a mental note to dock points from them both for something or other after class is over.
While not exactly refreshing, Felix's short rest has been enough to clear his head and restore his focus. He successfully keeps his mind on his studies throughout the day, discipline preventing his thoughts from accidentally wandering to his adventure of the previous night. It isn't until he sits down to dinner, his History of Magic textbook open in front of him as he eats that the memory is forced upon him by the arrival of Juniper Windsong at the Slytherin table.
Felix recognises her distinct pealing laughter over the chatter of the students around him. He looks up from his book to see Juniper throw herself onto the bench a few seats down, chatting animatedly all the while with her friends Rowan Khanna, Penny Haywood, and Ben Copper. Her night's escapades do not seem to have dulled her natural ebullience. Felix watches her as she piles her plate with potatoes, bright eyes fixed on Haywood who relates some meaningless gossip, and he attempts to reconcile this version of Windsong, over-loud laughs and awkward energy, with the patient, focused girl of the night before.
Felix continues to steal glances toward the group of third years as they eat. Juniper is across the table from him, and there aren't so many people between them that she can't see him, but she hasn't looked his way. He toys with the idea of making up some excuse to pull her away from her friends (maybe sending them back to their own house tables) so he can talk to her, but he doesn't yet know what to say. There had been no resolution to their shared adventure last night, no discussion of how they would proceed the next day. And while Felix may have decided on a plan of action before he slept this morning, he has now begun to reconsider. If he turns her in, he'll implicate himself, having not only failed to stop her breaking half a dozen school rules but actually breaking them with her. Felix very much doubts the noble, blame-taking streak she had shown last year in that incident with Snape would stretch to leaving him out of the story if he gave her up*.
And if he tells a professor, a voice in Felix's head reminds him, he won't ever get to see the dragon again. Which he's definitely not going to do anyway. Probably.
"Hey."
Felix's internal dialogue is interrupted by the very source of his consternation. Juniper's friends have left the Great Hall, but she has hung back, trotting down the table to where he's sitting and taking the seat across from him.
Felix looks up from the same page of A History of Magic that he's been staring at for the last ten minutes.
"Hey, yourself." He says with only a moderate amount of his usual affected disdain.
"So," begins Juniper slowly, not quite meeting his eye, "about last night..."
In the same instant that Felix considers this an unfortunate way to begin a conversation in the middle of a hall full of people, a fourth year Slytherin boy a few seats down chokes on his pumpkin juice and looks over at them with a knowing grin.
"Get out of it, Somerby, we're talking homework." Felix snaps at the boy. "Unless you want some mandatory extra transfiguration work."
That wipes the grin from the boy's face and he pushes himself up from the table muttering mutinously. Felix keeps his eyes on him until he's passed through the double doors and into the Entrance Hall beyond, then glances around to ensure there's no one else within easy eavesdropping distance.
"Do you always use the Great Hall to discuss your illicit activities?" He hisses.
Juniper shrugs unconcernedly. "It's the least suspicious place to be seen talking to people. And it's generally pretty loud, so it's hard to hear one private conversation."
Felix stares at her incredulously and lets out a short, mirthless laugh. "How have you not yet been expelled?"
Juniper ignores this entirely.
"Look, I just wanted to say thank you. For letting me go last night. I know you don't approve of that kind of rule-breaking and I put you in a difficult situation and I really," she pauses, searching for the right word, "appreciate your helping me out. I promise I'll hide it so much better from you in future. " Juniper finishes with a grin.
Felix has no idea what to say. He has a decision to make and he's more unsure of himself now than he has been in long time.
It's madness to even consider letting this continue, his father's voice berates him and he knows that's true. But there's another voice in his head now, that doesn't sound like anyone else. The secret self he keeps hidden, can't show anyone because it isn't Suitable, is awake at last and isn't going anywhere without a fight.
This is your last year of freedom, it reminds him, and you've never re ally appreciated it, not nearly enough. And Felix knows that's true as well. He's been completely focused on achieving perfection the last seven years, as if somehow, that would turn him into a person who could endure the fate laid out before him. But it hasn't, he still isn't ready, still dreads the thought of the future to come.
You'll never again have this chance. And the image of the dragon's eyes boring into his and the sound of its song burn inside him. Maybe, if he has just one adventure...one mad, irrational, incredible adventure, the memory of that will be enough. His fears of the future are the tinder, the dragon is the spark. And together they ignite a flame inside Felix he forgot he had.
Felix makes up his mind and focuses on his surroundings once more. He hasn't been paying attention to the way his mental battle has played out on his face, but the girl across from him now looks pale and slightly sick.
"Please, tell me you didn't tell a teacher." Juniper whispers.
Felix resets his expression to his normal, imperious mask. "I haven't told anyone."
She relaxes visibly.
"Yet."
Her eyes shoot back up to his in alarm.
Felix smirks. He has a strategy.
"Juniper," He begins in his best prefect voice, making sure to keep his volume low so they cannot be overhead, "what you're doing is extremely dangerous. Even for a grown, experienced wizard. A thousand times more so for a third year school student who has never even seen a dragon before. You've managed to survive thus far on nerve and luck, but it only takes one time. If you slip up once and it decides you're a threat... or even if it doesn't and you just aren't fast enough to dodge its tail or its claws or its flame, there are a myriad ways for you to be killed or maimed. Your odds of never sustaining a serious injury are practically nothing, and you're out in the heart of the forest all alone. When something happens to you, as it's bound to, you'll have no way of getting help. And if you do somehow manage to get yourself rescued, you're still sure to be expelled. It's just too risky and I can't in good conscience let you keep going out there-
"I-" Juniper tries to interject.
"-alone." Felix finishes over her.
Juniper stops speaking with her mouth still open. She snaps it shut and regards him shrewdly. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying," Felix intones, his voice low again, "that I will keep your secret as long as you allow me to go with you."
Juniper's face screws up in incredulity. "What, like every time?"
Felix raises an eyebrow and inclines his head slightly.
Juniper lets out an unbecoming chuffing noise, leans her body back away from him, and folds her arms across her chest.
"No offense, Rosier, but you weren't exactly a huge help last night. You're the one who almost copped it, I was doing fine."
Felix's face reddens in embarrassment in spite of himself and Juniper almost trips over her own tongue in an effort to undo the effect her words have had.
"I mean it's understandable!" Juniper leans forward again. "It was your first time. And it is pretty overwhelming. I just mean...well...it doesn't know you and that makes it more aggressive and untrusting. Which actually makes things more dangerous for me so...I think it's really better if I-"
"So, it just took to you right from the off, did it?" Felix sneers "You tamed it with your magic song and you've been best friends ever since?"
"No, not at all, it took time and-"
"Exactly." He interjects, forgetting to keep his voice down. "It took time, but you managed to build a rapport with it and now it trusts you, to a degree. There's no reason I can't do the same."
Juniper makes a strange face, possibly an attempt to raise an eyebrow? But all she accomplishes is to widen her eyes and crinkle her forehead into lines. "You have that kind of time? With prefect duties and NEWTS coming up?"
No, he absolutely does not have the time, Felix's rational self reminds him.
"I will make time." He says. "How often do you visit it?"
"A few nights a week." Juniper's tone suggests a challenge. "Apparently they don't have to eat every day, they have a-
"A slow digestive system." Felix finishes for her.
And in spite of the verbal duel they're currently engaged in, neither can keep from grinning at this. A genuine, good-natured smile is a little unfamiliar on Felix's face, but he enjoys the feeling.
"Right." Juniper concedes. "The thing is I don't really have a set schedule. It's just every two or three days whenever I can get away."
"Well, then make it nights when I don't have prefect duties and there shouldn't be a problem."
Juniper gazes at him for a moment, a soft expression he can't identify on her face.
"Felix," she says in a voice just above a whisper, and the way she says his name sends a pleasant shiver through him. Felix isn't used to hearing his given name intoned so kindly and carefully, without accusation or anger or disappointment. "Do you know how many school rules you'll be breaking by doing this? What's going to happen if you get caught? You work really hard and... I'd really hate to be the reason you're expelled."
Felix has been on the receiving end of her strange compassion before, and it's just as disarming now as it was then**. He tries to smile again, reassuringly, but he isn't sure something of his more customary smirk doesn't find its way onto his lips as well.
"Then don't get us caught." Felix quips, and succeeds in restoring Juniper's grin.
* A/N: For those who joined the game after Jam City made the horrible decision to remove many of the questlines from the first two years, this is in reference to a side quest in which Felix, Rowan, and MC jinx a Gryffindor student into the courtyard fountain. When later confronted by Snape, MC has the choice to blame Felix or take the blame herself. For the purposes of this story, MC chose to take the blame and save Felix from getting into trouble.
**A/N: This is in reference to yet another removed quest line where Felix teaches MC how to duel. Upon defeating him, MC has the choice to tell everyone in Slytherin or keep it a secret to save face for Felix. For the purposes of this story, MC chose to keep quiet about beating him (earning a very sweet screenshot of smiling Felix).