Chapter Text
He stood on the back patio looking out at the garden where she was stood with one of the peacocks. Her garden dress was as white as the feathers of the albino bird, falling in flowing layers to the green grass. Raven-colored locks were pulled back away from her face, held in place on the back of her head by a single long hair pin, loose waves falling from the bun.
Draco hated how pretty she was. He’d begun noticing the other boys in their year staring at her while she was reading. Even in her school uniform she would turn heads from teenagers whose hormones were beginning to rage, his included. Towards the end of the year, he’d seen other students flirting with her in Hogsmeade. Even Goyle had said something about her on the train ride back, making both him and Pansy glare. He knew Pansy was jealous of her, of the fact Aelia had the ability to spend so much time with him. He could tell the girls eyes lingered on him like many lingered on Aelia. The way his did now.
Watching, he saw her smile as the bird nudged its head against the hand she had bread in. He bounced down the steps and walked over to where they were as the peacock splayed out its tail feathers, something it only ever did for her. As he got closer Aelia spoke, “Careful not to approach him too quickly. You could almost lose your arm to a dangerous beast again.”
“Still stuck on that are you?” He asked.
Turning to look at him she nodded, “Yes, you got that creature sentenced to death all because you didn’t listen to instructions and wanted to show off.”
“I was trying to prove a point. Plus, it went missing before it could be killed. So, you’re mad at me for something that didn’t happen.”
“Just because the consequences were seemingly avoided doesn’t mean there weren’t consequences you should have to deal with.” She told him.
“Granger punched me.” He reminded her. “Broke my nose!”
“I’m well aware, I was there. I’m also aware you were acting like an arse. And out of everyone who deserves to hit you, she deserves the honor most.” She looked him in the eye, and he avoided her gaze by looking at the bird, her friendship with the other three was always a point of contention in their own friendship. After he’d called Hermione a mudblood in their second year Aelia refused to speak to him for months, much to his annoyance because not even Potter had ignored him like that, she’d pretended that he didn’t even exist. Once they had no choice but to interact during the summer however, they’d came to the agreement that when either of their groups of school friends were brought up and if it were to get ugly, they would change the subject.
“How do you get it to interact with you?” Draco asked her and she laughed, a noise Draco rarely heard from her during the summer. When they were home, she was always quiet and mild mannered to her uncle and his parents. He knew she hadn’t always been like that. When her father was alive her laugh could be heard all the way from her property. But when it was just the two of them, she was more herself and less of what their parents expected them to be.
“First step is to recognize him as a living thing. Stop saying ‘it’ and call him he. Or by his name.” She told him.
“It-He has a name?” He was slightly shocked, they’d always just referred to them as ‘the birds’.
She smiled again, “Of course. Everything needs a name. His is Albion.”
“Albion?” He checked and she nodded, “What kind of name is Albion.”
“It’s the ancient name for the isle of Great Briton.” She ran her thumb over the head of the bird. “Plus, he’s Albino.”
“How old were you when you picked that gem?” He asked with a smirk.
“Six.” She answered then held her hand out, “Give me your hand.”
“What?” He shifted slightly away from her.
“Just give it.” She laughed as she took his hand despite him not giving it to her. “Hold it out like this.” She laid his hand palm up in the palm of hers before dropping some breadcrumbs into it. Albion evaluated the situation and she told Draco, “The key is to be patient and gentle, two things I know you aren’t the best at.”
“You think your funny, do you?” He looked over at her, but there was no malice in his tone.
“I think I’m very funny.” She smirked back up at him and he scoffed rolling his eyes. His head turned back to the bird though as he started pecking the crumbs from his hand. She placed a hand on Draco’s back, “Steady now, let him eat them all. If he doesn’t back away, you can pet him. Or you could rush into the situation, and he’ll bite your hand.”
“Not going to let it go, are you?” He leaned back towards her.
“Not any time soon.” She told him with a teasing tone. Watching Draco as he watched the albino peacock eat from his hand and she felt his shoulders relax under her hand. She wished things could be like this all the time between them, but at school they swapped places. She was allowed to be more herself and he was forced to be who people thought he should be, what he was supposed to be. Aelia knew deep down that he wasn’t as bad of a person as he portrayed himself as, their summers together had shown her that, but things he did at school made it hard for her. That version of him wasn’t one she often wanted to be around, unlike this one. “You’re growing your hair out.”
“Yeah, I want to let it fill out some.” He looked back over his shoulder.
“It looks good.” She told him,
“Thanks.” He looked back at the bird, “He ate it all.”
She went back to looking at Albion and saw him looking at Dracos hand. Leaning her head against the side of his arm, something she had done for years, she held his hand steady. Draco slowly looked from her and the bird and back, waiting for something to happen. When Albion nudged his finger with its beak, Aelia smiled, “Now you can pet him, soft strokes on his head for now.”
Feeling Draco hesitate slightly she turned his hand over for him, using her thumb to guide his, following the same path hers had when he first walked over. He couldn’t stop the smile, “None of them have ever let us touch them before.”
“Yes, well, like most things you can’t rush into it and demand what you want.” She picked on him.
“Perhaps you can’t.” He looked down at her.
“Neither can you it seems.” She laughed softly. Reaching into her small bag she pulled out a cloth sack, “Here, I brought more breadcrumbs for you.”
He took the sack and looked at her confused, “How? I wasn’t even supposed to be home.”
“There was always a possibility.” She told him as she picked up the two books she had borrowed from his mother, “I should get going before it’s too dark.”
Draco looked at the sack and back to her as she moved across the lawn to the small gate on the back of his property that would take her to a path leading her down to her manor. He’d heard her uncle talk about the fact she had visions, he’d heard her friends and others at the school talk about it too, but he’d never believed it until the past year in Divination when Professor Trelawney had taken a special interest in her. He wasn’t even sure if he believed it even after that. She’d never talked about it with him, he’d also never asked, but if it were true, he couldn’t help but be insulted she never told him.
She sat with her uncle, the Malfoys, the Crabbes, and the Goyles at dinner. It was a common thing for her uncle and the Malfoys to get together, and every now and again the others would join so she was used to the talk happening at the table that she tended to ignore. She pushed the bulk of her food around the plate, already having eaten what all she planned to eat.
“Aelia, if you should want to accompany us to the Quidditch World cup I can arrange that for you.” Lucius spoke.
“Thank you. I appreciate your offer, however I’ve already accepted an invitation to go from another group.” She was always polite in front of the adults, part of the show she put on to make it easier to survive the summers. Despite this, she was still often looked down on due the common knowledge of her being in Gryffindor and friends with blood traitors and muggle borns.
“Very well.” She could tell in Draco’s fathers’ tone that he knew exactly who she was going with.
“You should be spending time with people of your own standing.” Her uncle told her.
“Yes sir.” She answered simply, then looked to Narcissa, the only one at the table who didn’t fake being kind to her other than Draco. “Mrs. Malfoy, may I go to your library?”
“Of course dear, but you barely touched your food.” The woman looked at her plate, slightly concerned.
“It appears I wasn’t that hungry.” She gave a polite smile before wiping her mouth and excusing herself from the table. She made her way to the other side of the manor, the Malfoys library was the same size as hers, but the books were vastly different. Her father had kept books on alchemy and other mysterious subjects, and while the Malfoys had some of those as well, they had books of fiction too. Books she could lose herself in to forget the situation she was in while she was away from Hogwarts.
She wandered through the shelves of books, looking for something to read now and borrow when the night was over, Narcissa always let her borrow whatever she wanted. After finding something she headed back to the couches in the center of the room, only to find Draco waiting for her. “I see you finished your meal early too.”
“Ate more than you did.” He answered before motioned to the side table where there was a plate of fruit along with a slice of cake. “Brought you this. You know you can get dizzy if you don’t eat.”
“Thank you.” She picked up a strawberry slice. Somedays how sweet he could be surprised her, she could tell though even now he was trying not to act like it with his hands in his pockets and looking off towards the door. “I thought best to stay away from the pie.”
“Why’s that?” He asked looking back at her.
“You’ve been dying to ask Draco, since Divination.” She sat down on the chaise, “So shall I save you the curiosity or should I just wait until you ask?”
“Don’t you already know the answer then?”
She chuckled, “No, that’s not how it works.”
“So, you do see things then?” He sat down on the other end of the seat.
“I have visions yes.” Aelia told him, she’d been trying to get more comfortable with the idea of more people knowing, and Draco could be one of the worst people to know during school, but he could also be one of the better.
“How do they work then? Give me proof.” He turned towards her.
Eating a grape, she covered her mouth as she explained, “Well, most of the times it’s flashes or fragments, sometimes a sentence or two.” She told him then sat more forward, “For example, if the pie was bad, the way I know was Crabbe and Goyle will be standing right there,” She pointed to a spot between the door and where they were sitting, “Crabbe will clutch his stomach and say he thinks the pie was bad before running off. Goyle will lurch then run behind him.”
“Thought you said it wasn’t that much detail.” He questioned.
“No, I said it’s not long. Because of that I try to remember every detail I can.” She smiled as she took a small bite of cake.
“And they always come true? So, you could tell me who wins the quidditch world cup?”
She sighed with a laugh, “I could, if I had a vision about it, and if that vision were the one that happens.”
“What do you mean?” He looked at her confused.
“The future isn’t certain.” She turned to be more towards him, “Plus I’m still developing my skills. Sometimes the visions happen but slightly different, sometimes I get more than one of the same situation, and that’s because there are thousands if not millions of out comes to one single situation.”
“So, Crabbe and Goyle might not come in and get sick?” He asked and she nodded, “Then how would I know your being honest?”
“That depends on if you trust me.” She stated simply, “Do you think I’m lying?”
He looked into her eyes, a deeper green than any emerald he’d ever seen and searched for any clue of deception and found none.
“We’ve been looking for you.” Goyle said as he and Crabbe came into the library.
“Yeah, didn’t think you’d be in here with her.” Crabbe motioned to Aelia.
Draco stood, “My mother asked me to bring her something.”
“Tell her I said thank you.” Aelia allowed his lie so he could save face in front of his friends. Reaching for one of her books she told him, “I’ll remain here until my uncle is ready to go.”
“All you ever do is read.” Crabbe rolled his eyes, “No wonder your friends with Granger.”
“At least I know how to read.” Aelia sighed.
“What’d you say?” The boy took a step forward.
“Ah, it appears you can’t hear either.” She looked up from the page, “Shall we check your sight next?”
Draco couldn’t help but be amused by her. Crabbe took another step but then stopped, catching Draco’s attention. His face contorted for a moment before he looked back to Goyle. Grimacing he clutched his stomach and spoke, “I don’t think that pie was good.”
Before Goyle could respond Crabbe was running out of the room. A moment later the second boy covered his mouth before he followed the first through the door. Aelia looked from where they just were back down to her book, having noticed the shocked look on Draco’s face. She didn’t look at him as she spoke, “You should leave now if you want them to believe your lie. If they come back and find you here still it won’t be as easy to fool them again.”
“We aren’t finished.” He was still slightly in shock from what happened. It was exactly as she described. He knew for sure now that Aelia could see the future, but he took her advice and left the room.