Dragonology 101

Chapter 2

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.