Wander || The Order of the Phoenix || DISCONTINUED

Chapter 25- Finite Incantartem

The sea was calm, swaying back and forth in time with the wind. It was a peaceful Sunday morning, no school, and no worries- or so it should have been.

Everything built up a wall of problems, stacking and stacking so that the only way to get at the main obstacle was to chip away each layer. There was one main problem; Voldemort, and in order to confront that problem Elizabeth had to tear away every other different sized problem, such as Cedric's death and her trust issues.

No matter how hard she tried, Elizabeth was always constantly reminded of every single problem and her brain was always trying to find the way to the top of the stack, to start pushing it to the ground.

Elizabeth sat at the edge of the lake thinking about this, dangling her bare feet above the water, so they just about skimmed the surface of the wet sheet. Her wand was held tightly in her hand as she listed the pros and cons of making herself remember what had happened the night before.

Firstly, it seemed too easy. If someone didn't want her to remember what happened, then why wouldn't they have realised that there was a simple undo spell to take away the memory charm. But what if she had just forgotten? That happened sometimes; when people went through something traumatic they could sometimes forget what happened subconsciously to help them deal with that. What if that was what had happened with Elizabeth?

Remembering could help her understand what happened, but maybe she didn't want to know. If she really did kill Parkinson, which was looked pretty convincing, did she really want to remember how it happened?

"Ah, screw it." Elizabeth sighed to herself. She needed to know what happened, and if that meant finding out that she killed Parkinson... then she would just have to deal with that when she found out. In a hazed rush, she lifted her wand up and moved it in the spell's formation, taking a deep breath and trying to relax her body. "Finite Incantartem."

"Wait!" Greengrass yelled, stopping Elizabeth from leaving. "I know how you can break up Pansy and Draco."

This got Elizabeth interested. If she was telling the truth, then maybe she could be of some use to her.

"I'm listening."

"I overheard Pansy talking to Graham earlier, they said they were going to meet here after practise. That's usually when everyone else's gone, so there's no one around to see them cheating. Just get Draco to see them leaving." She explained, a look of hope in her eyes.

She narrowed her eyes at Greengrass. "You don't have to tell me what to do. But, you just stay outta my way. I'll break them up, and then we'll meet up later. Got it?"

"You're not in charge of this teamwork." Greengrass demanded, but Elizabeth just laughed.

"Oh come on, I'm pretty sure you know that's not true. Now, you can run back to your room like a good little accomplice and I'll get back to you."

Elizabeth escorted Greengrass out of the shed and shut the door tightly, letting out a small huff as she did. She pushed her in the direction, and with one last glare Greengrass did as she was told.

Why was Greengrass so needy? It didn't completely bother Elizabeth, since they did want the same things, but still why couldn't people just do things themselves? That was the best way to go; only rely on yourself and you'll get things done. But maybe her plan could work.

"Hey, Liz!" A voice called out to her from afar, and it didn't take long for her to figure out the voice belonged to a certain blond haired boy.

"Hey." She replied, waiting for him to get to her before she spoke again. "You believe me about Parkinson yet? Or is she still playing you like a fool?"

"She's not playing me-"

"You're clueless." Elizabeth sniggered. How could he not have noticed that he was being used? It seemed so obvious, why couldn't he see? "Meet me up by that spot by the castle later, you know, the one facing the pitch. I'll tell you everything you really need to know."

She walked across the field and back towards the school. Draco had gone back with some of the other Quidditch players to play a second game of Quidditch and had said he would meet her by the castle later, but Elizabeth had promised herself that she would get Snape's homework done before he gave her another detention. She had to write an essay on the book: Magical Drafts and potions. It had to be about the advantages and disadvantages of using each potion in the book, and it was a lot of work.

Once she had her work she went up to the spot behind the castle and sat down, waiting for Draco to arrive. Despite her attempt at focusing, the game going on below her was much interesting, and she found herself watching it instead of doing work.

It only took half an hour for the Quidditch game to finish- Draco's team had won- and Elizabeth had only written the introduction to her essay. How was she going to get it done in time? She still had Sunday to do it, but she didn't really want to be stuck doing homework both days of the weekend.

"Hey." A voice interrupted her as she got to the middle of her second paragraph, compelling her to look up and see Draco standing tall only a few feet away.

"Nice to see you kept your word." Elizabeth told him, closing her book and patting the ground beside her. "Sit down."

He walked closer and dropped to the floor, leaning against the wall of the castle as a support. Draco turned to Elizabeth, saying nothing but looking at her, waiting for her to say anything.

"She's playing you, Draco. You just don't see it."

"Is that seriously all you have to say?" He snapped, shaking his head as he began to rise to his feet.

"I'm not done!" Elizabeth yelled, grabbing him by the shoulders and pushing him back down to the floor. There was no way he was going to get away without seeing his girlfriend cheating on him. He had to see it, it could have been the difference between bringing back Cedric.

"What, then?"

"There's no point in me telling you everything I know because you won't believe me, so instead I thought I'd show you. Your girlfriend is cheating on you, Draco. You just have to look out for the signs." She pointed down to the empty Quidditch pitch just in time to see Parkinson and Graham leaving the shed together, hand in hand.

For a moment the two stopped to look at each other, then crashed together, sneaking a kiss upon each other's lips.

"God damn." Draco spat, running a hand through his hair. "Why didn't I believe you? Uh, I'm such an idiot."

"You're not an idiot." Elizabeth told him, turning to look at the boy beside her. A sadness illuminated his puppy dog eyes, something she had never expected to see from a boy classed as such a horrible person. Sympathy crept into Elizabeth, even though she didn't want to admit it. He was only human. "It's her fault, not yours. You did nothing wrong, Draco. You're a great guy, she's the one missing out."

The boy locked eyes with Elizabeth, a sad but genuine smile flashed across his lips. "You really think that?"

"Yeah, I do." Elizabeth nodded, smiling back at the boy. She couldn't be harsh to him, no matter what they'd been though together. They had argued so much and their relationship had never been stable, but she knew that she liked him, despite the fighting.

Everything paused, seemingly in slow motion. She could see him leaning in closer to her, and Elizabeth was swept up in the heat of the moment. Without thinking, she began to do the same thing, her eyes darting between Draco's eyes and soft, silky lips.

Her eyes drooped shut, and she could feel the warmth of his breath just a few inches away from her, making her body tingle with a numbness. He hovered, but then slowly moved forward until their lips touched for the first time.