Youngblood: Retrieval {Year 5, Book 3}

= Chapter 11 =

"Oh don't tell me..." Lillian facepalmed, sliding her face into her arms resting on the Great Hall table.

"But I didn't even say anything." Aspen responded, giving her friend a skeptical frown.

"Lillian's right; Malfoy is toxic, why would you get back together with him?" Vivid scoffed.

"I never said I was back together with him. We're just friends and even if we were together, the both of you should learn to not judge people for what they did in their past!" Aspen shouted, slamming her mug of butter beer on the table and attracting attention. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going down to Hagrid's."

She got up and left, storing the remainder of her chicken breakfast in her book bag. As soon as she reached the entrance to the path leading to Hagrid's hut, she slammed into someone, sending her sprawling in the opposite direction on the floor.

"Ugh, I'm so sorry." She frowned, rubbing her head and looking up at the stranger. "Draco?"

"Well good day to you too, Hale." He smirked. "Where are you off to on a lovely Saturday afternoon like this?"

"Hagrid's. I thought it was about time I should visit an old friend." She responded, smiling.

"That old hag? You and he are friends?" He asked, almost jealously.

"Well... yes, but he's not who I'm visiting. Want to come?"

"Only if you tell me who this friend of yours is."

"Wouldn't you like to know? Come on!" She dragged him by the arm down into the lush forest surrounding Hagrid's hut.

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"Harry, shouldn't you be planning what to teach the infamous 'Dumbedore's Army' on Monday?" Dove asked while Ron and Hermione nodded.

"I suppose; I'm not too worried about it though." He shrugged, gazing off into the everlastingly lite fire.

"You should, everyone's counting on you." Ron spoke.

"Thanks for adding to the pressure, Ron." Harry sighed, getting up and was about to leave.

"Harry, can I speak with you?" Hermione asked, dragging Harry by the arm into another room, but was still able to be heard by Dove, who was sitting the closest.

"When are you going to tell her?" Hermione whispered.

"Tell who what?" He responded.

"Tell Dove about your crush on Cho... remember?" She replied, sighing and probably rolling her eyes.

"I didn't really plan on it."

"Well you should tell her before she figures it out herself. Who knows what will happen then."

"Not now. I'll tell her later." Harry said a little too loudly, causing Ron to gulp, queuing that he'd heard the conversation.

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"I just can't stand her!" Pansy screamed, jumping up and down angrily.

"Aspen? Why not? She seems alright." Blaise shrugged. "She's sorta hot too."

"Don't even say another word, Blaise, or it will be your last." Ember threatened, glaring at him. "But Blaise also has a point, why do you hate Aspen?"

"Can't you see? She's the reason why Draco isn't with me! Everything was perfect when he disliked her, he spent more time with me and not her!"

"Jealous much?" Ember scoffed.

"You sound like a spoiled brat, Pansy, stop." Blaise commented, leaning back to rest on the couch.

"Doesn't anyone else share my thoughts on Aspen?" Pansy said loudly, eyes darting between Ember and Blaise.

"I don't necessarily agree with you whole 'oh, Draco, baby! I'm obsessed with you' thing, but we do share common view points on Miss Hale." Ember sneered, mocking Pansy as she gave her a spiteful glance.

"I don't want anything to do with your evil genius plan... I'm out." Blaise backed away, scared and ran to the boys dorms.

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"Keep up, Draco, we're almost there!" Aspen said gleefully, sliding down the muddy snow slope.

"Ugh! My boots! These were Gucci!" Draco complained, eyeing the literal speck of dust on his black ankle boots that stayed surprisingly clean on their expedition.

"And mine were Uggs, you'll survive." Aspen laughed, seeing that her leather boots were littered with mud.

She searched the woods surrounding her, looking down on the map that Hagrid had given her. The leafless trees towered over her and the snow crunched beneath her.

"Are you sure we're not lost? It's getting really cold." Draco complained, holding his arms together.

Suddenly, Aspen heard a squawking sound, followed by another. She smirked and marched towards the noise.

"We're here!" She said, dragging the complaining boy behind her as she entered a clearing in the woods. "Stormswift!"

A beautiful white hippogriff raced up, her lofty canter as majestic as the last time she was her. Draco stared in shock, frozen in place.

"You made friends with a hippogriff?" His teeth chattered together from the cold.

"Leave it to a blizzard to allow me to run off and make friends with the wildlife." She smiled, stroking the hippogriff's smooth beak. "Want to pet her?"

Draco back up a few steps as Stormswift looked at him in anticipation. He slowly nodded to Aspen, who smiled and went to stand beside him.

"Just give her a low bow... geez I sound like Hagrid." She giggled as Draco bent over into a surprisingly graceful bow.

Stormswift looked from Draco to Aspen, then back to Draco before squawking in a friendly demeanor and bowed, her beak barely grazing the snow-covered ground. Draco smiled and rose from his bow, as did Stormswift, and approached her.

"I think she'll let you pet her now." Aspen smiled, patting Stormswift on the shoulder as Draco looked at her, shocked.

"Uhm... are you sure?" He looked frightened, but Aspen nodded which comforted him a bit.

He stretched out his hand and stroked her feathered forehead, smiling as she leaned into his hand lovingly. Aspen smirked and grasped the hippogriff's shoulder and rump, vaulting onto her back.

"Want to go for a ride?" She asked, gripping a handful of feathers on one hand and offering Draco her other.

He frowned, rolling his eyes jokingly and took it, hopping on Stormswift's back surprisingly easily and wrapped his arms around her waist for something to hold on to. Aspen smirked again, clicking with her tongue as a cue for Stormswift to move onward. The hippogriff broke into a bumpy gallop, when spread her wings and lifted herself into the air.

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"Are you done yet?" Pansy groaned as Ember mixed the blood red potion in the stolen cauldron in front of her.

"If you wanted it to go faster, then you should've helped, but no, you 'didn't want to break a fingernail'." Ember sneered as she took a vial and dipped it into the potion. "But yes, it's done."

Ember handed the vial to Pansy, who ran off with it, racing all the way to the Great Hall. She froze upon hearing Draco and Aspen's incoming voices and poured the potion into his drink, then innocently sat down a few seats from his and waited.

Eventually, she watched him grab his cup and drink the pumpkin juice inside - along with the brewed potion.