April. Had it really been three months since she'd last spoken to him? It certainly felt like years had past. In truth, she always looked disheveled and older these past few months. She did not have the energy or time to put on the little makeup she always put on and make time to do her hair properly. No, she wore ponytails now, as a sign that she was busy and that time was not on her side. Which was more or less true. Aeriel had many things on her mind that she was confused over and she often took the time to think about it all during the night when she'd spend hours just staring at the ceiling, getting nowhere. It was like that everyday and she'd often only get about four hours of sleep. It was not like she took a long time finishing her homework, but she just wasted countless hours just staring into space.

She did, on occasion, think during those many hours at night, but that was not often. She'd often wonder why these things were happening to her in one blow. A year hadn't even passed yet and she'd lost her entire family and Derrick. She'd had him and now she was confused. It was all Maggie's fault, more or less. However, she was done with that. Even though she honestly felt like clawing the girl's face off, she decided that she was not going to do anything about the other Slytherin girl and let Derrick decide on a plan to get rid of her. That is, if he still loved Aeriel. However, she was certain he still cared for her, just like he had said in January, and that she shouldn't doubt him anymore. She learned from her mistakes. Most definitely.

Aeriel had not meant to hurt him. She had always seen Derrick as just a great person and had thought that everyone else could see it too and therefore take him away from her. She was just jealous and had acted on impulse. She hadn't thought things through, as usual. Nevertheless, it was torture knowing that he wanted distance from her. Of course, she respected his wishes and helped him by also avoiding him. She had not thought that it would last three months. She missed him terribly and would often just stare at him in the halls or in classes, always wanting to be next to him. Aeriel often drifted into her own thoughts when in her group of friends and did not listen to any of them anymore. She'd feel guilty later but it would not last long. Recently, she felt nothing really mattered.

The Hufflepuff had left her common room moments earlier and was now headed towards the Potions classroom. She had a few questions for the professor. In truth, she had not really listened in class and so she was not sure what to do with the homework that was assigned. She was wearing a plain yellow tank top and a knee-length blue skirt at the moment. As soon as it was spring, Aeriel always wore skirts or t-shirts. Anything to feel that wind on her skin. She had her paper in her hand, the same one that she was stuck on. She averted peoples' eyes and only nodded a greeting to friends who urged her to come over to them. She had started to drift away from her friends, as much as she did not want to. She just had too much on her mind these days and she did not think it was good for her to tell anyone her problems.

Aeriel turned her gaze back to the paper while still walking towards the Potions classroom. She hoped that maybe she'd be able to understand it if she read it over a third time. Since she was multi tasking - reading and walking at the same time - she was not aware of the people that had to swerve out of her way so they wouldn't crash into her. Her face held a soft frown as she read over the worksheet a fourth time. She still didn't get it exactly. Aeriel brought the paper closer to her face, as if that would help her understand the words that were written on the paper. Of course, this didn't help either. Just for luck, she lightly kissed the charm on her necklace - the one that had recently become her lucky charm and the one that a certain Slytherin boy had given her - then read the paper a fifth time and finally sighed. She'd only written her name and the date on the sheet. That was all that she was capable of doing on that worksheet. Thinking of her situation like this, she sounded pretty pathetic right then.

Just as she broke away her fierce gaze from the paper and straight ahead, she stopped abruptly as a figure stood in her way. She was a second away from crashing into the person. Her eyes had widened but she calmed herself very quickly. Aeriel staggered backwards one step and was about to walk away when the person spoke. She hadn't even looked up to see who had blocked her way but had just assumed that it had been her fault because she had been reading and walking at the same time. However, she had recognized his voice almost instantly and had been surprised at herself for feeling so relieved when he had spoken. She raised her gaze to meet his face, her expression revealing some surprise and a hint of relief. Derrick. It had felt like ages since she had even stood this close to him. It felt good, though.

She had wanted to talk to him for quite some time now. Finally, was really all that was going through her mind as her surprise slowly vanished to be replaced by a neutral expression. Well, as neutral as Aeriel could get. The Hufflepuff was not good at hiding her feelings so there was obviously a bit of relief and surprise still lingering in her gaze. She folded the worksheet in her hand and, thankful for wearing a skirt that actually had a pocket, stuffed it in her pocket, her gaze never leaving his. She nodded to acknowledge the fact that she would indeed talk to him. "I agree. Talk," she replied, urging him to start talking. He could start. She needed to think of how to say what she wanted to say. She looked around, remembering that they were in the middle of a hallway. Aeriel grabbed his arm lightly and pulled him to the side, away from the crowds of students. She nodded once more.

Aeriel simply wanted to know why it took him so long to finally speak to her. She did not know that he had forgiven her long ago. It was not like he had told her that she was forgiven. Therefore, she had made the assumption that he had not yet forgiven her and continued to avoid him over the last three months because he had said he wanted distance. She believed she was respecting his wishes by also avoiding him. She was just like that. Aeriel often did what others wanted because she wanted them to be happy. She had always been this way. She hated Maggie, yes, but she could tell that Derrick was also annoyed by her. Therefore, she had stopped thinking about ways to hurt the Slytherin girl and decided to put the burden of getting rid of her on Derrick's shoulders. After all, the Hufflepuff did not want to upset him or do something she'll regret later.

Aeriel listened to his words and stiffened after he finished. She barely heard the tone he used, she heard only the words. Suddenly, she began to understand everything as the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together and a look of realization crossed her face for a second. She felt slightly angry, figuring out that the last few months had been such a waste of time. Her guess - that he wanted distance from her these last few months - was so wrong. She was angry at herself. She should have confronted him. She should have spoken to him or done something. However, she hadn't. Her desire to make him happy had overpowered everything. He looked rather ticked off and angry but she shrugged it off. She understood why he was angry so there really was no reason she should have been sad or what not because he was angry at her.

She ran a hand through her hair, somehow forgetting that it was in a ponytail, and sighed before turning back to him. "I'm sorry but I thought you wanted distance these past three months," she started, a bit desperate. "You didn't give me any sort of indication that I was forgiven or that you wanted me to stop avoiding you so I just continued to avoid you out of respect for your wishes," she finished, wondering what his reaction would be. It was the truth. She resisted the urge to reach out to him and lightly touch his arm. She didn't feel like it was exactly appropriate when he was mad. It felt like this was her confession time and she wanted to add in there that she detested Maggie but she stopped herself. She had to remember that she had decided to let Derrick take care of that. Aeriel couldn't interfere as much as she wanted to.

Aeriel was rather surprised that Maggie hadn't arrived at Derrick's side yet. The girl seemed to be everywhere that Derrick was. Obviously, this annoyed the Hufflepuff immensely. She hated seeing her around him. In fact, she hated it so much she would always look away and walk a whole different direction to get to her destination. No matter if the new route was longer, she just wanted to get away from Maggie. She realized right then that maybe the reason she was avoiding him wasn't just fulfilling Derrick's wishes. Maybe she hadn't gotten Maggie out of her system yet. As Derrick began to speak, she realized something about herself. She couldn't stand seeing her man near another girl. How would she cope with this? Walk away and avoid the problem. Aeriel knew that this was not the right way to go.

Her expression was neutral and, as usual, she did not take Derrick's dry tone to heart. She knew him better than to get upset by his tones of voice. Yes, her time away from him had changed her slightly to her old self because she had thought of him more and more, and all the time they spent together. Aeriel listened as he continued speaking and blinked twice after he finished. Be herself? Hadn't she always been herself? Had she truly changed? She was confused but understood what he was saying. It was true that she went out of her way to please him. She would stop then. Aeriel had found it hard to please him anyway and it constantly put stress on herself. Nevertheless, she had tried her best all the time to make him happy. She was innocent; she only wanted him to be happy after learning of all the hardships he had gone through.

Aeriel nodded and took in a deep breath. "Be myself? I can do that," she replied. "And I'll stop trying to make you happy too. It was getting hard anyway," she added a little lightly and a tiny smile. She was only trying to make the mood around them a little nicer, lighter. The last part was intended to be a joke. Just a harmless joke that she only wished could make all their problems go away. She was silent for a few moments, her gaze on the ground and a tiny frown on her face. She was trying to control everything she had held back from him: her tears, worries and hatred of Maggie. Now that he had told her to be herself, all these things were threatening to spill out. He wanted her to be herself and the first thing she had to do was tell him everything. And cry. She had always tried not to cry in front of him, thinking that he might get angry at her tears. But no, he wanted her to be herself. Maybe it was okay to cry then.

That was when a single tear trickled down her cheek. With that tear, she couldn't hold anything back any longer. She didn't care if there were people around them, she would cry. And she did, but not heavily. She sniffled and angrily wiped at the stupid tears. After a while, she gave up and buried her face in her hands, her face turned slightly towards the wall so as not to let the people around them know that she was crying. Stupid tears. She hated crying in front of him but she couldn't stop it anymore. Again, she began to wipe the tears away with the back of her hands. She muttered, "Sorry, sorry..." over and over again until she had some control over her tears. She didn't want him to think that he was making her cry. It wasn't all him. She was merely angry at herself again. About all the wrong things she's done.

After a lot of sorries, she calmed herself a little and finally faced him. "I hate Maggie," she said simply and with a hint of venom in her voice, her face still wet. It was like she expected him to understand that it was Maggie that had caused her to avoid him. This was true but she wasn't sure he'd understand that.

Aeriel had a strong feeling that Derrick's initial reaction to her tears was that it was his fault. She had been much too caught up with apologizing to let him know that it really wasn't his fault. Crying in front of him was starting to get a bit annoying. These stupid tears were making him think wrong thoughts, naturally she'd be frustrated and annoyed about this. Nevertheless, Aeriel was very much a, to put it simply, cry baby. She never used to have control over them, until now, when she tried hard not to cry in front of Derrick. It was always like a natural Aeriel thing to do when she was sad or angry. Yes, she does sometimes cry when she is angry, though this usually happens when she is angry at herself. She had always thought of herself as an imperfect person while everyone else were rays of sunshine. Meeting Maggie has changed that philosophy very drastically.

She was relieved to know that he had been even slightly amused by the joke she had pulled. That joke had just popped out of her mouth and she hadn't even thought of it before she had said it. His words did make sense to her: it was true that before it had been easy to please him, when she wasn't trying. However, she couldn't really tell if he had been pleased by her anyway. His face was usually emotionless. So how could she have known that she pleased him by not trying to please him? She could just feel it. Aeriel had just known that he was happy. Lately, when she had actually been trying to make him happy, it had started to feel like a job. Like a course or something. She didn't want providing happiness to be a job. That was absurd anyway.

She was pleasantly surprised when she found herself in his arms and her crying had ceased very quickly after words. She had power to stop the tears again. She melted into his arms, immediately feeling better. This was the effect he had on her. She always felt safe near him, no matter what. Aeriel had also missed having him this close to her and feeling his touch. It felt like decades since she had last kissed him or even hugged him. Decades. Though it was really about three months. That was way too long too. Her fault, she remembered. Yes, it was her fault for not talking to him sooner, for not facing her problems properly instead of running away from them. Now that he was here, she practically longed for his touch. How had she survived without him for three months? She wasn't even sure. It had been a blur.

Aeriel's thoughts were broken when Derrick spoke again, creating a joke himself. She giggled quietly because of the insanity of it. She'd never feel any love for that girl. Never. The Hufflepuff was slightly disappointed as he crossed his arms against his chest and spoke again of Maggie, still wanting to stay put in his arms. However, it wasn't too important then. She listened intently, a concentrated look on her face, as Derrick explained how to get rid of the Slytherin girl. There was nothing more she wanted than to get rid of Maggie, so naturally she wanted to know how she could help. Derrick was doing his part, ignoring her. She'd probably have to do the same, right? Aeriel was not aware of his pact, though if she had been, it wouldn't change her opinion of him. The Hufflepuff already believed that he would never hurt a girl physically anyway.

Her gaze softened as she nodded when he finished. She understood his part. "What can I do? I think I've fueled her desire for you with my constant avoidance," she muttered a bit shamefully. Aeriel took a small step closer to him - there wasn't much distance between them anyway - and slowly wrapped her arms around him, letting her head rest on his chest. The action had been an instinct. She had missed him greatly and therefore wanted to be closer to him right then.

For once, she did not wonder if her action would upset him. She didn't wonder if he might get angry at her and how it would make her feel. She was suddenly sure that he had also missed her. She had just had a need to be close to him and had acted on that. Maybe this meant she was being selfish, but she did not think so right then. If being selfish meant that Aeriel wanted to be closer to Derrick out of love, then she was definitely being selfish. She couldn't help it. She had just suddenly felt all her loneliness crash down on her and had acted respectively. The Hufflepuff had busied herself so much these past few months, that the fact that she was lonely had been pushed to the back of her mind. Of course, that was until she got to bed and her thoughts came back to her.

She felt a light smile touch her lips as soon as her head had touched his chest. She was so much shorter than him, she remembered. She would have to get taller soon or else his back would break pretty quickly. Or she could try to use her Lore to lift herself, though she knew that it would take her very long to learn to do that. Her Lore was still only capable of lifting objects, not other people. Her smile widened at this thought. It was so much nicer to think of things like this. Things that did not trouble her at all. Things that did not cause her to cry or pain her. These small little things made her smile. She was glad that her mind could be slightly free of troubled thoughts now. Of course, she would still worry like before but it was nice to think about small, irrelevant things like her height sometimes.

Aeriel sighed happily as he also wrapped his arms around her, feeling a rush of pleasure surge through her. She had tuned out all the people in the corridors and was focused now only on Derrick. Even if there wasn't any people in the corridors right then, she wouldn't have been aware of it. She listened to his words and nodded awkwardly against his chest. She agreed. She knew that her actions had been wrong ones. At least now she knew what to do. It was kind of like they were fighting some beast, and in some way, Aeriel thought they were. She hated Maggie, of course she was a beast to the Hufflepuff. She should have figured out that she had to ignore the Slytherin girl in order to beat her. But Aeriel had not been thinking properly at all. She almost always needed some sort of guidance in her life and she also knew that she needed to learn to be self-sufficient.

"Okay. Got it," she muttered and sighed quietly. She would have closed her eyes and slept right there against his chest if she could. But she definitely could not do that right then. Aeriel felt herself completely relax and it was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "I've really missed you," she added quietly, like a little girl that had just found her mother after being lost in the supermarket for a long time. She had an urge to kiss him but she shrugged it off. It was nice to just lay in his arms and she wondered briefly that kissing him would ruin the moment. "You've got to remind me to introduce you to Derrick Jr.," she blurted out, suddenly remembering the tiny duckling she had named after him. Or no wait. He was a swan now.

As soon as she had uttered the last word, she knew that she shouldn't have. It was not like he could read her mind and figure out that she meant she had named a duck after him. Or rather, a swan. Still, it didn't matter if it was a duck, swan or a platypus. She knew he would definitely take it the wrong way. She knew without a doubt that he would have thought she meant a baby. How could he have not? It was the most obvious thing one could picture at a comment like that. Especially from one's girlfriend. She had just blurted it out, had not thought it through really. She was stupid, so damn stupid. Most people would not understand her love of ducks, or any kind of animal really. Or the fact that she named them all very random names. However, she had very much named five of them after her family and another after Derrick.

A baby. She blushed at this thought. She had not slept with Derrick or any other guy ever in her life. She had never been close to being pregnant ever in her life. She knew Derrick would probably have eventually realized this right then. He would probably realize that she was not someone that went around sleeping with guys unlike a certain Slytherin girl that she did not want to think about right then. She was not a slut at all. After all, even at the thought of being pregnant or sleeping with a boy made her blush bright red. Just like she was blushing right then. She was extremely embarrassed about this situation and wanted to fix it immediately. She did realize that Derrick had most likely been surprised or shocked at her comment. Aeriel was feeling more stupid than she had ever felt before.

The Hufflepuff only faintly realized the slow movement on her back. At the moment, she was much too embarrassed to think more on it. If she had not felt awkward and stupid right then and very eager to fix the situation, she would have definitely felt it more strongly. However, his hand on her shoulder did cause her to feel a ripple of pleasure. After all, she was wearing a tank top and could feel his hand on her skin. Nevertheless, she was still upset over the whole misunderstanding about Derrick Jr. She really should have thought her words out more carefully. Before, she could fix things, he spoke and she could definitely tell that his tone was not exactly what he was feeling right then. After all, he had paused for a while and hadn't said anything, surely he had been a bit shocked or surprised.

"No, no, no. I know what you're thinking. Let me tell you: its not what you think," she started, her blush still intact. "Hes not what you think. Oh wow," she paused, the image of a baby entering her mind for the first time. "Oh God. I didn't mean to shock you or anything. He is just a stupid swan, nothing more," she finished, then realized she had said something stupid. Eyes wide and panicking, she continued her blabbering. "Wait, that doesn't mean I think you're stupid. Its just a name. I don't mean you're stupid," she explained. "I was just saying that the swan is stupid and since I named him after you, I thought that you might think I am also calling you stupid. But I'm not," she finished finally with a deep sigh, completely flushed from talking so much so fast. She had been talking a bit too fast for her liking. Her gaze was a desperate one, she really didn't want to mess anything up.

One of the reasons she was babbling on like this, trying hard not to offend him or get him angry, was that she was very well aware that she had made a lot of mistakes in the past. Mistakes that pretty much made her incredibly miserable. With this thought clearly in her mind, she had quickly discovered ways that her words could be taken the wrong way and had fixed them accordingly. Well, she hoped she had fixed them. Only after she had spoken had she been aware that she had been chattering on and on pretty quickly in her desperate attempt to correct her words. This had not pleased her very much. She didn't want to worry about trying to get him to understand her now. She worried way too much about everything that she was surprised her hair hadn't fallen off her head over the past few months.

She only noticed the small grin on his face a few moments after she had cursed herself for talking fast, and slowly felt herself getting better. Then he laughed and it was like someone had poured water all over her but she didn't get wet. This imaginary water merely washed away all her worries and flustered thoughts. She simply loved seeing him his way. She enjoyed his happiness and it was even more wonderful to know that she had gotten a smile - even a laugh! - out of him without even trying to do it. She had been herself, trying hard not to offend, and he had smiled. She had been embarrassed and quite possibly made a fool of herself by stumbling over her words and correcting them all the time. And yet, he had smiled and that was enough for her to understand that she could truly please him by being herself.

However, even with the obvious humour in his voice as he spoke, she couldn't help thinking that even though she had tried not to offend him, she had slightly offended him anyway. She had tried desperately not to, but in the end she had done so anyway. How ironic. Still, a tiny smile appeared on her lips as he commented on her ability to quickly correct her words. She was a bit amused over the fact that he thought it was fun to watch her become flustered. She certainly hadn't thought it was amusing when she had spoken so quickly, trying to correct herself, but now, after she realized how funny she must have looked, she could laugh at herself.

Before she could get a word in, she was pulled in closer to him as he tightened his embrace on her and she immediately forgot what she was going to say. The kiss was sheer bliss; she hadn't kissed him in so long that she felt herself give into her desires almost immediately and return his kisses with great ardor. She too was breathless as he broke the kiss after an unknown amount of time: had it been an hour or merely a few minutes that had passed? She often completely lost track of time and usually felt nothing but Derrick's touch when she was this close to him. And she liked it too. Nevertheless, she hadn't wanted him to break off the kiss at all but she knew she would have most likely fainted with the lack of oxygen if he had continued. However, at that moment, she was feeling a bit stubborn.

Aeriel sighed with pleasure as he buried his face in her neck, relishing the feel of his skin on her own. She could feel his breath on her and trembled slightly as she closed her eyes, taking it all in. The Hufflepuff moved her arms from his middle to his neck, where she snaked her arms around his neck. He had stooped low to reach her level and so she placed a kiss in his hair. "You don't want to go somewhere private?" she whispered in his ear, suddenly breathless and her eyes open again. It was only then that she remembered they were only in the corridors and people were most likely staring at them. She was facing the wall so she could not see if they were however Derrick could if he wanted to. She could not recall any times that they had been intimate in front of many people and figured he might have forgotten that they were in a corridor. For some reason, she smiled at this thought. Maybe she wanted to go somewhere private, she wasn't even sure right then.