𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧

chapter 6

talia let out a small shriek, not knowing who it was that grabbed her. when she turned around, she saw the one and only draco malfoy hunched over and laughing at her.

"you should have seen your face!" he luaghed, standing back up a little and still smiling. talia rolled her eyes and pressed down on her shirt, smoothing it back out as she let out little huffs.

"that wasn't funny, malfoy." she mumbled, hitting him in the elebow. even though she tried to hit him kind of hard, he didn't even flinch. instead, he just smirked down at her.

"it was pretty funny." draco said, holding his hands out to his sides.

talia rolled her eyes again and turned to look at the tower. she didn't get a good look earlier.

like the rest of the castle, she thought it was beautiful. in the center of the room, there were figures of all of the planets in the solar system. she especially liked the view of the tower. she walked over to the edge and looked at the view of the lake not far away. she also saw a field which looked like the quidditch field she had asked michael about earlier. it was a little hard to see since it was night time, but not impossible since the fireflies lit everything up.

"this is beautiful." she said, still looking around. draco had his hands in his pockets, watching her.

"the astronomy tower is separate from the rest of the castle. we're completely alone." he said. after talia took another moment of her gazing, she turned back to look at draco.

"what spell are you going to teach me first?" she asked, pulling her wand out of her pocket. draco drew his as well.

"colovaria." draco said. they were both standing on opposite ends of the tower, staring at each other between the planet figures.

"what?" talia asked.

"it's a charm that enables the wizard to change the color of any object or animal they choose." draco explained.

talia watched as he changed one of the planet figures from a gray to dark green and back to gray again. talia didn't look very impressed, which he didn't like. he loved to impress people, always feeling like he had something to prove.

"can't you teach me something more fun? like..how to curse someone or something." talia said. draco let out a small laugh.

"i thought you were more innocent than that. maybe the sorting hat didn't mess up after all." draco told her sarcastically. he knew the sorting hat never makes any mistakes.

"not to torture them. just in case i need to protect myself." tal said. draco shook his head as she slouched.

"we have to start off small. believe me, i have a feeling you can do incredible things. but if we jump right into it, it won't be good. we need to take it slow." he told her. she let out a groan.

"fine. how do i do it?" she asked. draco held up his wand to the ceramic planets.

"i just hold up my wand to the object and think about it and it works. since this is your first time performing the charm, i would hold your wand up to the planet and say colovaria out loud." draco said.

talia nodded and pointed her wand at one of the planets, getting into a fighting stance. draco held in a laugh.

"are you getting ready to ride a horse?" he teased. talia just squinted her eyes at him and went back to concentrating.

"colovaria." she said. nothing happened.

"try again." draco said, walking closer to her slowly and observing. talia let out a small cough, trying not to feel discouraged.

"colovaria." she said, still holding up her wand. again, nothing.

"try again." draco repeated. she shook her head, not removing her eyes from the planets.

"it's not working. why isn't it working?" she questioned, kind of talking to herself. by now, draco was standing behind her.

"close your eyes. i want you to really focus." he said, talking just above a whisper. he walked a little closer to her, trying his best to not distract her. talia did as he said and closed her eyes, focusing on changing the color of the planets.

draco knew this was unusual. usually, first years could do this in one shot. why couldn't she?

"colovaria." talia whispered.

when she opened her eyes, not only did one planet change, but all of them did. they were filled with colors instead of gray, all the way from the first one down to the last. they looked even more beautiful than before.

talia let out a breath, and draco didn't know what to think.

"that was very...impressive." draco said, observing the planets. tal shrugged, but then smirked to look at him over her shoulder.

"was that a compliment?" she asked. he scoffed.

"don't let it go to your head." he mentioned, only making her smirk turn into a smile.

just then, they saw a cat standing in the doorway of the tower, it's tail moving in slow motions. the cat had orange and dust colored fur with yellow and lamp like eyes. the only reason they caught notice of it was because it meowed, catching their attention.

talia smiled and was about to walk over to pet it, but draco put out his hand to stop her.

"don't. that's filch's cat, mrs. norris. he's nearby." draco said, turning the planets back to the way they were prior to talia's charm.

"who?" she asked. because draco was whispering and talking quickly, she started to get worried.

"argus filch. he stays up all hours of the night roaming the castle and trying to catch students breaking school rules. we have to go or he'll catch us." he informed, grabbing talia's wrist. she stopped him before he was able to pull her off.

"we're in here because professor snape ordered us too. we aren't doing anything wrong." talia pointed out. they both heard filch grunt as he got closer and closer. draco shook his head.

"filch will twist it so we get in trouble. let's go." he said.

he pulled her off to a bottom corridor of the tower where they could still look up and make sure they know when filch leaves. it was a very tight space, and they were both extremely close to each other. talia's cheeks got hot. she's never stood this close to a boy before.

"what do you see?" filch mumbled as he picked up mrs. norris, petting her back.

they watched as he looked around the tower, trying to find any suspicion of students. he walked around slowly, looking over the lake to see if he could find anything. when he walked away and out of the tower, talia let out a breath of anticipation.

draco helped her get out of the small corridor, both of them brushing off their clothes. he noticed her cheeks were red, but he didn't say anything.

"that was close." talia joked, breaking the silence.

"tal, i've never seen anyone do that on their first try. i think you're more powerful than you realize." draco said, looking back at the planets. talia shook her head.

"then why did it take me so long?" she asked, shoving her wand away. she figured that after almost getting caught, they were done for the night.

"because i don't think you know what you're truly capable of." he said, answering honestly. he stopped his strolling and looked at her, his hands placed comfortably back into his pockets. they stared at each other for a second, trying to read their expressions.

"it's getting late. i should start heading back to common room." talia said. draco nodded.

"we should walk back together. filch is probably still around here somewhere." he suggested. tal nodded as well. without saying anything, she walked out of the tower. draco followed closely behind her.

the two walked back to the common room in silence. the only word muttered the entire time was when draco whispered the password to get into the common room. even when they got in, they didn't say goodnight or goodbye. draco was going to before he left, but he opted out. they both just went their separate ways and headed off to bed.