Warning: This FF contains heinous abuse of JKRowling's plot, a total destruction of the timeline according to the holy books, the obliteration of the character Snape (aka he doesn't exist), a guerrilla girl gang for Lily and worst crime of all I've set an OC up with the magnificent, lordly Sirius Black. Yeah seriously (teehee) I would send hate mail to me for a year, but this is my massively out of hand fantasy so I'm just going to go ahead and do what I want with it. I also added several hundred more students then the book suggests there are and obviously have ridiculously detailed the whole thing way too much but give it a chance you never know and I'd appreciate some reviews. Oh yeah and everything that I haven't tortured and destroyed beyond recognition is the Queen's (JKRowling).
Chapter 1: All in a Day's Work
"You're something beautiful
A contradiction
I wanna play the game
I want the friction," - Time is Running Out, Muse
Darci awoke with a feeling of nervous excitement. The early morning sunlight streamed through her fluttering curtains to lightly illuminate the books on Hogwarts strewn around her head. Darci rubbed her eyes and yawned, pushing her arms out and sending 'Hogwarts: A History' and 'A Comprehensive Guideto Hogwarts Grounds' tumbling to the floor as she stretched. Darci breathed in the morning air and- froze. She sniffed again and swore - Ian was cooking. Darci leapt up and scrambled with the door handle as she grabbed her wand. She ended up half falling into the hallway as she raced towards the smell of smoke and burnt food. She arrived just as their fire alarm started screeching at the top of its' lungs.
"HELP! HELP! I'M ON FIRE! SAVE YOURSELF!"
"Oh shut it, you old hag!" Darci muttered as she disabled it and turned the stove off. She was morosely poking at what she was sure was once a pan when her uncle burst into the room a moment later.
"What happened? I had just apparated when I heard Brenda screeching and-"
"Brenda? That's what we're calling her? Really? Was she looted from a muggle car? She's the most insane alarm I've ever come across."
Ian sniffed and set down a pile of groceries that Darci hadn't noticed he'd been carrying.
"I think she has character."
"You're right, she does have character. The character of an insane schizophrenic and I thought we agreed you wouldn't cook anymore."
"I know but it's your first day at Hogwarts and I've moved you around so much in the past few months I wanted you to at least have a nice homemade breakfast and as we haven't found a cook yet I thought I could manage it. I was going to make pancakes and waffles and a nice fruit salad, everything was going well until I realised we don't have any fruit, so I thought I'd quickly apparate to the shops and stock up but I must've forgotten to turn the stove off."
Her uncle looked so disappointed Darci gave him a reassuring pat on the arm. Darci had lived with Ian for going on eight years now. Her mother, Elizabeth, had accidentlydrowned when Darci was six, Darci had never known her father and Liza had left it in her will that Ian, her erratic twin brother, was to have custody of Darci. At the time Ian had worked as a freelance translator and negotiator and Darci had been dragged from country to country, luckily she loved to travel almost as much as her uncle did. When Darci had been about to start school Ian had taken a job with the French Ministry but last year he'd had a falling out with his boss and quit. They'd moved five times since then but Ian was hopeful about his new job with the British Ministry and Darci was looking forward to Hogwarts.
"What's the time?" She looked up at the grandfather clock, "it's only seven we still have plenty of time for a nice breakfast, why don't you see if you can spot Fin with the mail, he should be here soon and I'll get started on breakfast."
Darci discarded the melted pan.
"Here I'll clean up atleast," her uncle offered, "scourgify!"
She examined the contents of the shopping bags, her uncle had gotten quite a bit, far more then they needed. He was an impulsive grocery shopper. She decided on strawberry waffles and poffertjes with dipping sauces instead of pancakes. For the salad she made a large platter of berries with toffeed yoghurt and to finish made some vegetable fritters so they could atleast partially break up her and Ian's massive sweet tooth indulgence. For beverages she made a light melon and strawberry lassi. Twenty-five minutes later she was finishing the last of the frittas.
"Ian!" Ian poked his head out of his study, his paper clasped in one hand, his long auburn hair in disarray; it was back to mornings as usual.
"Everything's ready," she said as she turned everything off and wiped off her hand, "I need to go and get ready so you're in charge of setting the table out and you also need to fix the coffee."
Ian gave her a wide, dazzling grin, "where would I be without you?"
"Starving. Possibly on fire."
Darci stepped back into her spacious room, she loved this house; it reminded her of the best times of her childhood. Built right on a cliff of Ireland's eastern shoreline the view was breathtaking. Her room featured huge windows and a balcony that attached to their garden, which at the moment was stripped bare but Darci hoped to fix that in the holidays. In the centre of her room was her wrought-iron bed draped in white lace. All her walls were, ofcourse, coated in a thick covering of posters, pictures and random sketches she'd done, her new Hogwarts trunk lay at the foot – full but yet untouched but she figured she'd graffiti it while she was on the train. She went into her wardrobe and grabbed the remaining outfit. Once she'd dressed she went to check out the results in the full length mirror. Darci was tall and had a willowy frame. She had once had long black, curling hair but last year had cut most of it off and had let it grow back only a couple of inches since, she grabbed her numerous hair products and styled it into rough pixie spikes, renewed the blue colour spell, and gave herself pink tips. Her nose was pierced with a tiny stud and she had spikes in her snake bite piercings, she also had seven rings of varying size, shape and colour lining her right ear. She wore her patched skinny jeans and a 'Sally Nightmare' long sleeve shirt with a black waspie over the top. She shrugged into her favourite jacket, a formfitting fake leather piece that she'd covered in band badges; she clipped on a thorn-like collar along with some dog tags and an ornate cross. She fitted on all of her favourite rings including finger armour for her right pinkie and slipped on her massive Demonia platform boots. She gave herself a smile and slicked on some red lipstick and applied black eyeliner and shadow. Her eyes were a mostly blue with a ring of green around the pupil but the eyeliner and shadow made them appear darker, the colours harder to distinguish. Finished she grinned and grabbed her handbag and headed into the kitchen.
"Hey, everything ready?"
Her uncle looked up from their coffee machine.
"Almost, all the food's set out, do you want coffee?"
"Nah I'll make some just before we leave." She sat down and served herself out half a dozen poffertjes, three vegie fritters, some fruit salad and poured herself out some lassi, her uncle sat down with his coffee and scooped up the rest of the poffertjes, both of the waffles and some of the fruit salad and drizzled the lot with hot caramel syrup. Darci was used to her uncle eating like an eight year old with a credit card in a candy store.
"You look nice today," she smiled at her uncle, "but you know The Corpse Bride beats The Nightmare before Christmas by a mile."
She chuckled; this was why she loved her uncle. They spent the rest of the meal arguing over Tim Burton movies as they both read and then swapped the muggle newspaper and The Daily Prophet.
By nine thirty they had finished breakfast, wrestled her trunk into the car and managed to con, coerce and force her fat, black cat, King Sol, her Siamese kitten Miss Chief, her snowy owl Valiant and her red-tailed hawk Duke into cages.
"You'll have to remember to thank Dumbledore for allowing you to make an exception and rent out the space for the rest of your zoo." Her uncle huffed out as they finally pushed King Sol's cage into the car. The obese feline was making a low growling noise interspersed occasionally by spitting.
"He's a busy man I doubt I'll even see him. Alright I think we're all ready let's head out."
They arrived at the train station an hour later with just enough time to repack her irritated pets into an empty compartment towards the back of the train. She got back off the train and wrapped her uncle in a bear hug, he had a worried parent look on his face.
"Look if anything, anything at all, goes wrong don't be afraid to owl me, we can always find somewhere else."
She looked her uncle in the eyes, "I swear I won't let things get out of hand again. Besides I think I'm going to like Hogwarts."
Now her uncle smiled, "oh you will I loved our time there."
The whistle for the train blew and her uncle gave her one last fierce hug before she got on the train. When she got to her compartment she leant out the window as the train started up.
"See you in the holidays uncle Ian!"
"I miss you already Darci!"
She waved until the platform faded away and then settled back into her chair. A moment later the compartment door was opened by an attractive honey blonde with blue eyes, he gave her a charming grin.
"Are these seats taken?"
Darci shook her head.
"I'm Will by the way, what year are you in? I don't think I've seen you around the school."
She put her hand into his and he turned it over and kissed the back in a move that was clearly meant to give off an air of old world charm but came off a little bit cheesy.
"I'm Darci, I'm a fourth year but I just transferred."
"Interesting, where are you from?" He went to sit in the seat across from her and received a warning hiss from King Sol.
"Sorry he doesn't like strangers much."
The compartment door slid open again and what Darci assumed was an attractive female vampire stepped in.
"Will, you dick, you left me with three of your bags, next ti-"
She stopped short when she spotted Darci and gave her a long, leisurely look that stretched up and down, she finally met Darci's eyes and gave her a wide smile.
"Well hello gorgeous, I really don't believe we've met, I'm Zaresh but you can call me Zee, is my cousin pissing you off? Don't worry it's not personal, it's a character flaw, he pisses everyone off."
Will gave Zeea cold glare to which she gave a wide, somewhat creepy, grin.
"You know I wasn't really sure what to do with your bags but some nice Gryffindors took them off my hands, I think they took them back to their compartment." She said in a falsely sweet voice. Will swore violently and rushed out the door, Zee sat down in his vacated spot and was received with the same hiss as Will, Zee bared her teeth and hissed right back. Zee had one of the most surprising appearances that Darci had ever seen, she had dark chocolate brown skin, long pin straight black hair and startling ice blue eyes. She was dressed in a deep violet corset, a long silky black dress and high backed collar
"Now gorgeous, I do believe you were introducing yourself?"
"Are you a vampire?" Darci blurted out.
Zee chuckled, "nah, atleast not yet, I've just got screwed up genetics although I suppose you've just met the worst of my gene pool, Will's my cousin."
Darci could feel the surprise on her face, the two couldn't look less alike. She shook it off. "I'm Darci, I just transferred."
"Ahh, I see. I knew a hottie like you couldn't exist in Hogwarts without my knowledge, love the jacket by the way and I don't suppose you're into women by any chance?"
Darci shook her head, "uh, no sorry."
Zee sighed, "I just can't catch a break, have you been sorted yet?"
"No."
"Know what house you're going to get into?"
Darci shrugged, "I read about them but I really don't know, Ravenclaw maybe, my grades are pretty good."
"Well let's hope you end up in Slytherin then maybe we could actually break the legacy of turning out ass holes, ofcourse then you'd have to be in the same house as Pratt boy Will. Are all these pets yours?"
Darci chuckled awkwardly, "uh yeah I know they just seem to accumulate, I actually have more already at Hogwarts although they have to stay mostly with the groundskeeper."
"Really? Well these guys are adorable. I've always wanted pets but we rent so they're never allowed, I'm thinking of getting one anyway though and like maybe charming it so it'd stay invisible but what if it escaped?"
Darci shrugged, "tracking spell?"
"Ah well, for now I'll just live my need for fluffy cuteness through you." She opened King's cage and started dragging him onto her lap.
"Oh no! Don't do that! He bites strangers…" Darci trailed off as King Sol gave Zee a sulky look but settled down onto her lap without further complaint. Darci raised her eyebrows and gave Zee an approving glance.
"He hasn't reacted that well to someone since me and Ian."
Usually anyone brave or stupid enough to take liberties with King Sol's personage got anything from a swiped hand to half a dozen stitches and as odd as it was the cat's opinion meant a lot to Darci. She'd had King Solomon since she'd opened their door in Israel six years ago and he'd walked straight in as if he owned the place. An adorable scruffy, black fluffball, he'd loudly started purring and demanding food.
"I think your other fluffball wants out," Zee nodded towards Miss Chief's cage, Miss had crawled up the barred door of her cat cage and was hanging off, mewling pathetically.
"What's this one's name anyway?"
"That's King Sol, he usually doesn't like people so you should feel very flattered. Do you mind if I let Miss Chief out? She'll just keep on getting louder if I don't."
Zee chuckled, "love the name. Yeah sure, what're the birds' names?"
Darci dragged Miss Chief out of her cage and received a rough kiss on the cheek in greeting followed by Miss purring loudly as she draped her neck across Darci's ear, just to make sure Darci knew she was happy. Darci nodded towards her snowy owl. "Well that's Valiant, I found her almost dead in France after being hit by a car. Everyone said she wouldn't survive but she has a very strong will."
Darci remembered that cold winter they'd spent in Paris when they'd been searching for their new house just before Darci started at Beauxbatons. Darci had been miserable separated from the ocean and Ian had been working late. She'd taken a walk along an empty road when she'd found the magnificent animal. Valiant had lain on the black tarmac, her pure white feathers all dyed a dark crimson, her young body, still obviously juvenile, crushed by the brute power of muggle machinery. It was one of the most shocking images of Darci's childhood. When she'd arrived home with the nearly dead bird in her arms Ian had been home and almost insane with worry. He'd been furious with her for going out so late at night but had still called a vet and a healer for the snowy owl. The healer had had no experience with healing animals and could do nothing for her. There were no animal healers in the near vicinity. The vet had told her it was too late and there was too much damage, that the snowy owl would be dead within hours. He'd also told her it would be kinder to put her down but Ian had left the decision to Darci and Darci couldn't do it. So instead she'd cried herself to sleep with the beautiful animal in her arms. She'd woken in the morning to find the worst of Valiant's injuries healed, it had been the most magic she'd shown up to that point. The confused vet had still been convinced that she wouldn't survive but Valiant had struggled on and earned her name.
Valiant was currently asleep but Duke was making soft croaking noises.
"That's Duke, he was once the prize gem in the Dutch Royal Wizarding family's zoo but I did them a favour once and they gave me him in appreciation. You don't mind if I let him out as well?"
Zee nodded and Darci got up with Miss balancing one shoulder and nuzzling her ear and let Duke's cage open, he stepped onto her other hand and edged up her arm and onto her shoulder, careful the entire time not to dig his claws in. Duke was ever the gentleman.
Zee's eyes widened, "wow, does he have purple eyes?" Darci nodded. "Must've been some favour."
It had been. Darci had been on holidays from Beauxbatonsin her second year when Ian had been working for the Dutch royalty, she had spent the holidays exploring the palace grounds but had continually returned to the cage that housed a young hawk with sad, beautiful violet eyes, she'd been a little obsessed with him. One afternoon the youngest five year old prince had escaped from under his nanny's nose and whilst everyone had been searching had managed to wander down to the beach. Darci had been out swimming when she'd spotted something being dragged out by the surf. The family had been indebted to Darci when she'd arrived back at the palace with the cold and coughing but otherwise fine child and had been more then happy to give her Duke.
"He's very intelligent but he hates cages. He could probably just fly alongside the train, would you like that?"
She gave Duke an affectionate stroke along the head and he preened under the attention. She opened the window and he gave a whistle of happiness before launching himself out.
"As for King Sol, he just sort of decided I'd be his human and Miss Chief here was a gift from a Buddhist monastery for my last birthday. I maintain though that they were attempting to unload a biohazard." She gave Miss an affectionate scratch; the Tibetan monastery had been breeding cats for hundreds of years. Ian had worked for them a few years ago and hadn't heard from them in a while when they'd found the Siamese kitten in their fireplace on the morning of her fourteenth birthday with a note of congratulations. That morning they had left for all of twenty minutes to restock on cat food, when they'd returned Ian had found his study in shambles with several of his books destroyed beyond repair, pages torn and bitten out. Miss had been lying on top of Ian's desk looking a lot tubbier and innocently washing her paws. She had been given a stern reprimand but no one could ever really stay angry at Miss, she was far too cuddly.
Miss climbed down from her shoulder and proceeded to use Darci's trunk as a scratching post. Darci didn't really mind, it gave the trunk an arty look, in a sort of tattered way.
Just then an irritated looking red head poked her head in. She was a little shorter then Zee and Darci making her about average height. She had long, straight, auburn hair and wore jeans and a dark green turtle-neck that brought out her emerald eyes. She reminded Darci strongly of her early memories of her mother.
"Hey would it be alright if I came in here the marauders commandeered my compartment and I think I'd rather sit in the hall then in the same carriage as those big headed pratts."
Zee rolled her eyes, "anyone who thinks the marauders are pratts is fine with me." Lily gave her a surprised smile. "Darci?" Zee addressed her.
"Oh yeah that's fine."
Lily breathed a sigh of relief and dragged her trunk in, "thankyou, I love your hair by the way."
"Thanks," Darci drew her fingers through her multicoloured hair, "I like yours too."
Lily turned her gaze to Zeeas she settled into the chair on Darci's side and set a huge cage containing a magnificent eagle owl between them.
"I've seen you around, you're Zaresh right? I've always loved your outfits, they're so dramatic."
Zee grinned and gave Lily a second, considering look, "Just Zee, I've seen you around too but I don't suppose…"
"I'm sorry but I'm straight." Zee clucked her tongue and sighed.
"See Darci? There are no attractive lesbians at Hogwarts."
Lily chuckled.
"I'm Darci, I just transferred."
"Oh, nice to meet you I'm Lily Evans."
They shook hands and Darci nodded towards the cage, "I've just been explaining to Zee about my small zoo but I love your owl what's his name?"
"Francis, I got him for my birthday last year. I adore him."
Ten minutes later they had gotten into the pros and cons of various typical Disney movies; Zee's favourite was The Lion King, Lily loved Snow White and Darci's favourite was a tie between Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame; when the food trolley rolled by, Lily and Zeeboth bought a few snacks. Ian, being a slightly paranoid parent, had stuffed her pockets with galleons at the last moment so Darci treated them all and bought a bunch of lollipops, she loved them, chocolate frogs, a couple of liquorice wands and two large boxes of Bertie Bott's.
By the time they arrived several hours later Darci was already sure she had made friends for life. Zee was sarcastic, extroverted and witty but an absolutely horrendous singer and had sent Lily and Darci into peals of laughter when she'd attempted a truly awful rendition of Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer. Lily was a little shy to start off with but underneath passionate and surprisingly fairly wild, she also had an infectious laugh to the point where she'd given Darci hiccups.
They had changed into their robes twenty minutes ago and got off the train after a fair bit of fuss, the pets hadn't been happy to return to their cages, then Darci had to bid her new friends farewell as she was to take the boats across with the first years. Lily gave her a fierce hug and wished her luck getting sorted and Darci even got a hug from Zee as she was informed that such a thing was a rarity and she should feel very special. Zee then looked her in the eye and told her that if anyone was a bitch to her she need only say the word and they'd end up literally a bitch.
"Aww Zee is that your way of saying you love me? I'm touched." Darci said around a grin and her last strawberries and cream lollipop.
"Oh fuck off and get on your damn boat." Darci laughed and waved as Lily and Zee got into their thestral-pulled carriages, luckily Darci had seen them before so they didn't give her too much of a start.
Darci was still chuckling when she turned around and ran smack bang into someone, her head hit his chin and she went stumbling back, tripped over an uneven brick and ended up falling on her ass.
"Watch where your damn-"
The boy paused; he was darkly handsome, the awkward teenage years already starting to fade into devastating features. He was exactly the sort of guy that had made Darci's life hell through the last few years. A living epitome of the type of guys Darci tried to avoid now. His hair was a little too long and fell into his eyes, but they glared out from beneath, a deep piercing, stormy gray which examined her thoroughly for a long moment then met her eyes again with an incomprehensible look, it was quickly covered with arrogant superiority. Another boy came up behind him and frowned at him.
"Sirius you klutz, you can't just push women over. I'm Remus, here," Remus offered Darci his hand, which earned him a sharp glare from Sirius, he didn't notice.
"I haven't seen you around and I've heard there's a new fourth year, would that be you by any chance?"
"Uh yeah I'm Darci," she was still a little shaken from the Sirius guy, who was giving her that weird look again.
"A pleasure to meet you, we'd better get going but I hope to see you in Gryffindor."
"Yeah…bye." Sirius was still staring at her; she flushed feeling slightly irritated at being forced to be embarrassed. Remus rolled his eyes and started towing his friend onto a carriage.
Darci realised everyone was almost gone and started making her way towards the other end of the train when she was completely bowled over again, this time there was something huge lying on top of her. She opened her eyes to massive pink tongue scraping across her chin. She made a noise that was half disgust, half delight.
"Roch! Get off me you great mammoth!" But she wrapped the huge St Bernard in a fierce hug as she sat up. Roch was wagging his tail so hard most of his body was going with him.
"Sorry 'bout that, he got away from me." She heard a gruff voice say as Roch was pulled off her just enough for her to get up. She looked up to find a giant standing over and beaming out her from beneath a huge beard.
"Yer must be Darci, I been lookin' all over fer you."
She took his huge hand and was hauled up for the second time that day. Hagrid shook her hand whilst he still had it.
"Well it's nice to finally be meetin' you, I been lookin' after yer pets for the last few days. Mighty fine animals they are. I'm Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds here at Hogwarts."
"Oh it's a pleasure to meet you, thankyou for looking after my pets. Are they all doing alright?"
"Yeah, they're doin' fine, just missin' you I 'spect. I figured yeh might like to have this one meet yeh, c'mon let's get you onto a boat. Yeh can come on mine if yeh'd prefer."
"Yes please, and Roch can come?"
"Rock? Good name fer him. Sure."
She followed him back to a large group of nervous looking first years.
"Alright everyone? C'mon then follow me, watch yer step!"
Hagrid headed down a dark, steep path with Darci behind him, her hand on Roch's head and the first years following in a straggling line.
"Yer all about to get yer first sight of Hogwarts castle!"
Darci, like the rest of the first years, leaned up and peered around the bend, as they came around Darci gasped. She'd seen pictures ofcourse but nothing could compare to Hogwarts real life presence. It towered over them, spires poking out at random places in a wonderfully imposing yet chaotic impression, before it stretched a massive lake like a dark obsidian. It perfectly reflected the stars and crescent moon above it.
Darci's mind was already wondering to exploring the castle and maybe taking midnight dips in the lake although it was nothing compared to the call of the ocean. The sounds of the ebb and flow of the tide, faint to anyone else, were a sweet roar in her ears, she was glad it wasn't a full moon.
They clambered down to the lake's edge where a fleet of dark boats were moored, old fashioned lanterns hung in the air in front of them. Hagrid helped all of the first years into their boats and then got into the last, slightly larger one, Darci clambered in after him and Roch happily leapt in after, propping his head on her knee.
They arrived at an underground dock a few minutes later, Darci bid farewell to her dog and Hagrid before following a stern black-haired woman named Professor McGonagall across a beautiful hall and into a small empty chamber. As they walked McGonagall explained the sorting hat and the school houses, most of which Darci had already read about.
McGonagall then left them to get ready. She was getting a fair few stares from the first years, transfers weren't common, but they were all far too nervous to say anything. Darci was always surprised that after having changed schools several times, and countries countless time that she could still feel nervous about meeting new people. She liked Hogwarts instinctively but it was hard not to imagine that she somehow had 'SELKIE SPAWN' painted across her forehead. She rubbed her palms against her robes and ran her fingers through her hair. Suddenly she heard a couple of first years scream, turning Darci was confronted with a stream of ghosts, she quickly stepped out of the way as they floated through the door and into the hall, talking amongst themselves. A very aristocratic looking ghost stopped as he was about to pass through the door.
"Oh, what have we here? You're not a first year, what are you doing down here my fine girl?"
"Oh I just transferred." She had a feeling that sentence was going to be the theme of the day.
"Well it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington."
He then attempted a short bow which made his head wobble alarmingly.
"It's nearly headless Nick" She heard a first year whisper behind her.
"A pleasure to meet you sir, I'm Darci Roane."
"Nicholas, are you coming?" An attractive middle aged ghost floated back through the wall.
"Ofcourse Charlotte; goodbye Ms Roane and good luck. I hope to see you in Gryffindor!" He called as he floated back through the wall.
A moment later the door was opened by Professor Mcgonagall.
"First years in a straight line please!"
She turned to Darci. "You must be Ms Roane?"
Her gaze lingered disapprovingly on Darci's nose stud and multi-coloured hair but she said nothing besides, "if you'll just follow behind the first years you'll be sorted presently."
Darci swallowed as she joined the end of the line as it filed out of the room and across the large entrance hall. Feeling nervous she discreetly plugged one of her iPod earphones into her ear and sorted through her music, she put on her new favourite song, 'Savior' by Rise Against, as McGonagall opened the huge double doors to the great hall, a few the first years gasped. The great hall was magnificent. The four house tables were intricately carved from a dark wood and polished until they glistened in the candlelight. The white candles, a mix of tapers and pillars, hung suspended in the air casting the hall in brilliant but constantly flickering light. Darci favourite part of the hall by far was the ceiling, magically enchanted the walls just seemed to melt where they hit the ceiling which showed a beautiful night sky dotted by stars and stray clouds, the crescent moon lay half concealed by clouds.
"A ghostly galleon tossed upon stormy seas…" She murmured.
They gathered next to the head table as Tim McIlrath sang to her of forgetting a woman's face.
McGonagall put a stool infront of the line of first years and on top of it placed an ancient and very patched and frayed looking wizard's hat. This must be the sorting hat, Darci realised, although it was a lot more tattered then she'd imagined.
A couple of first years jumped when a rip in the sorting hat's brim opened up and the hat began to sing.
"Once in a strife-filled time,
Four wizards sought refuge from crime,
Lost in a dark place, their enemies soon to face,
Each sought to build a home,
A sanctum to call their own,
But when met with the downcast,
The young ghosts of their past,
They looked to each other and said,
"We'll build a place where all are fed!"
A house for each where we can teach,
Each young gem, a world of magic and mayhem.
Slytherin claimed a house of ambition and stealth,
Ravenclaw held knowledge be her houses' wealth,
Hufflepuff kept herself with the humble and kind,
And with the stout of heart and soul brave Gryffindor aligned,
So put me on and take this seat,
But remember those who built the floor beneath your feet!"
Darci applauded with the rest of the students as the sorting hat finished its' song, the sorting hat bowed to each of the tables and fell silent again. McGonagall stepped forward with a list and began calling out names. One by one the mass of first years was called forward to put on the hat and be sorted into a house. The sorting lasted long enough that Darci got through three more Rise Against songs, two Apocalyptica songs and had returned to her favourite band Muse, by the time Patrick Zane nervously sat the hat on her head. Darci pulled out her earphone and stuffed it in her robe pocket just in time to applaud Patrick on being sorted into Hufflepuff.
"We also have a fourth year transfer, Miss Darci Roane."
This was greeted with a couple of murmurs and a loud wolf whistle from the Slytherin table. Darci blushed; she was going to murder Zee.
She took up the hat placed it on her head, feeling awkward and naked sitting infrontof so many people, all of them staring at her.
"Hmm, well what have we here." Darci almost jumped out of her skin when she heard the hat's voice in her ear, "a nice mind, determined but private, good for Slytherin but certainly keen enough for Ravenclaw. That kind of spirit though will thrive best in GRYFFINDOR!"
Darci grinned and took off the hat as she was greeted with applause from the Gryffindor table.
She spotted Lily waving at her about halfway down the table and made her way to her.
"I saved you a spot hoping you'd end up here, this is so great! You're in Gryff with me."
Lily gave her a hug as Darci sat down.
"Hey we've got a new roommate? Introduce me!" An excitable, a little high pitched voice called from Lily's other side. Lily leaned back a little so Darci could see the petite girl on her other side.
"Darci this is my roommate Amibelle, Ami this is my new friend Darci we met on the train. We've got the only open dorm so you'll be in with us."
Ami was tiny really with perfect platinum blonde curls held in pigtails and huge baby blue eyes. She had an adorable sprinkling of freckles of across the bridge of her nose.
Ami gave her a full smile. "Yay! You're so cute too!" Darci chuckled, she hadn't been called cute since she was six, and to be called it by a real life anime chibi was more then amusing.
"I think you've got something in your hair, dyke."
Darci turned and flipped off the strawberry blonde fifth year who was giving her a look of violent disgust.
"Hey Jesse you homophobic fuckwit I think I saw your balls in the entrance hall."
Jesse turned a pale colour and stared hard at his plate, Darci turned to see Zee glaring at him.
"Zee! What're you doing over here?"
She took the empty seat on Darci's other side, "wasn't going to let the Gryffs have you all to themselves, congrats on getting into Gryffindor anyway and I can honestly say most of them aren't as big a dicks as Jesse Butler over there, except the marauders ofcourse." Zeenodded towards the spot across from Lily. Darci turned to see an attractive tall boy with glasses and messy black hair sitting directly across from her. Darci's eyebrows rose in surprise when she saw who he was talking to, it was Sirius the arrogant boy she'd ran into and on his other side was Remus talking to a short, chubby boy. Surely polite Remus wasn't a marauder, she didn't have time to ask though as Dumbledore in all his silver haired glory was stepping up to speak. The hall of students hushed to listen as Dumbledore waited patiently but Darci was distracted as he started to speak, Sirius had turned and caught her staring. She'd blushed and turned away but when she'd turned back he was still staring, giving her that weird look again.
She bit her bottom lip and tried to force herself to look away, caught momentarily. She was saved by the arrival of food, she looked around in delight at the platters of food. She was surprised and relieved to discover that all of the food in her near vicinity was vegetarian and marvelled at how they'd known.
Around her were piles of chips and mashed potatoes, jasmine rice, mock chicken and fish dishes, a salad, two soups and a huge dish of vegetable lasagne. She started helping herself to the food as Ami and Zee started to get to know each other, Zee seemed to object to being called 'vampy care bear' and before Darci had reached for her second dish Zee was swearing she was going to punk Ami out before the end of the year. Lily chatted to her about the different aspects of life at Hogwarts as they filled their glistening, gold plates. Darci piled hers with a large serving of lasagne, some mock chicken, some rice, a small pile of chips with some sweet and sour sauce she found in one of the little pots in the middle of the table and finally poured herself some tomato soup. Darci had a huge appetite, luckily teamed with an excellent metabolism, and she had only had a few sweets and chocolates for lunch.
The three other girls made for interesting dinner company as Darci worked her way through her huge meal. Ami was almost as extroverted as Zee and the two already argued like an old married couple whilst Darci and Lily hatched plans for the exploration of various parts of Hogwarts. Lily had a passion for exploring too and just hearing her explain the different parts of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade made Darci excited to survey the mystical area.
Darci and Lily were talking about different methods of finding unicorns in the forbidden forest when Ami interjected to tell them that she adored unicorns and demanded to come along.
"We'll all go," said Lily, chuckling at Ami's starry, unicorn-induced expression, "it'll be safer that way anyhow."
"You like unicorns? Then you might like my Granian Kara."
Zeeinterrupted Ami's barrage of hyper excited questions, "if you guys like exploring you should come check out the Slytherin Common Room and dormitories I bet you've never seen them and I've never seen the Gryffindor's."
"Oh that'd be great! We could all dress up sometime and pretend to be in Slytherin for a day and you could be in Gryffindor for a day."
"Sounds like a date."
Darci scraped up the last of her lasagne and leaned back contentedly, she couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this good. She gazed around as her friends talked about spelling their robes different colours, her own robes and cloak had come with a spell that allowed them to stay black and then choose the colour of the lining at a later time. An ingenious spell by Madam Malkin, Darci had thought, and one that was usually only needed by first years.
Her eyes wondered over to the Marauders again, the boy with glasses was staring wistfully at Lily whilst Remus and Sirius chatted and the tubby boy on Remus' other side gnawed on a chicken leg. He set it down a second later when all of the rest of the food disappeared and was replaced with delicious desserts.
"Dessert!" Darci was surprised she could even hear the high pitched squeal emitted by Ami but she could empathise with the sentiment. Dozens of plates piled high with all kinds of cakes, pies, and tarts, bowls overflowing with candy and filled with steaming hot chocolate, platters of warm cookies, brownies and fudge and a huge display of candy apples as a table centrepiece.
Whilst Ami tried to pile a piece of every kind of cake she could see onto her plate, Darci chose a slice of lemon cheesecake, a piece of chocolate fudge and a fruit tartlet. She finished them all off as Lily and Zee discussed spots they knew and had heard of in the forbidden forest and Ami ignored them all whilst she attempted, what Darci could only assume, was an endeavour to rid Hogwarts of desserts.
Darci poured herself a cup of mug of hot chocolate so thick it was barely legal and garnished it with a large dob of whipped cream and two cinnamon sticks.
She sipped on the warm beverage as she contemplated her future at Hogwarts.
"Aww look Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber have synchronised their hard-ons."
Zee's voice startled her out of her thoughts and she looked up to see Sirius staring at her, she quickly looked away in time to catch his messy-haired friend looking away from Lily.
"Maybe someone hasn't informed you yet," Sirius spoke to her without looking at Zee, "Gryffindors don't associate with Slytherin scum."
"Oh Black of name and soul you wound me." Sarcasm laced Zee's voice.
"Black? Sirius Black?"
"That's right I thought your name sounded familiar, your grandparents are the Roanes aren't they? I haven't seen you around their parties much."
"I don't attend much. So aren't Gryffindorsmeant to be loyal and fair? How did a Black manage to wrangle a way into that one? Spying on the enemy?"
His eyes darkened, his nostrils flared and his jaw locked. She'd hit a nerve. She hadn't meant to go that far but already felt protective of her new friends and her memories of the Blacks were less then pleasant. She opened her mouth, not to apologise but to atleast say something conciliatory but was interrupted.
"Oh like your one to speak. I hear all the Roanes are just as cold and cruel as their ancestors."
Darci felt the blood drain out of her face.
"What the fuck is that suppose to mean Black?" Zeesnapped at him. This was just what Darci had been afraid of, her ancestors story would spread like wild fire and soon the snide comments and superior looks would start again.
"You know what? I think I'm full. One of you want to show me where the common room is?"
"Sure, come on let's get away from these mean liars." Ami stood up leaving the rest of her pile of cakes.
"Yeah you can show me too," Zee said as she stood up with Lily who draped an arm around Darci's shoulders.
"You can't show a Slyth-"
"Go fuck yourself Potter." Darci was surprised to hear this from Lily. She followed them up a series of staircases and twists and turns that she tried to memorise.
"Don't worry about the Marauders their assholes to anyone who isn't blonde and throwing themselves at them." Zee told her as they walked with Ami leading the way.
"Hey! Don't stereotype blondes." Ami huffed.
"Personally I think Black is being particularly an asshole because he's developed a little crush on you, which, if he acts anything like the way Potter does, is really bad news."
"Potter's had a crush on Lily since first year, the entire school knows." Ami sang from in front.
"Oh gee, thanks guys." Lily muttered sarcastically.
They had reached a huge portrait in a gilt gold frame of a woman wearing a slightly-too small pink, silk dress.
"Password?" She enquired archly.
"Terra firma." Lily replied.
"Wicked," Zee muttered as they clambered through the portrait hole.
Darci loved the common room. It was large with a high ceiling but retained a cosy feel. The glossy, dark wood floor was covered in rugs of two kinds – the thick, cream-gold Aubusson-style rug she was currently on and smaller, even thicker red, plush rugs that were piled at random spots on top of the cream. Comfy red chairs of various size and shape floated around the room, gathered in circles, around the fire and pushed into corners. The fireplaces were magnificent; there was a central one that would no doubt come up to Darci's shoulders and two more at opposing corners. Huge windows on one side were still flung open and Darci could smell the fresh, salty sea air coming in. Several older students were lounging around, reading and chatting but they paid the group little heed.
"C'mon, you have to come and see our dorm room!" Ami exclaimed excitedly.
Zee and Darci followed them up a spiral staircase as Lily explained that they shared with three other Gryffindor girls but that they had a different bathroom.
"Yeah they're a bit stuck up," Ami explained.
"Marauder worshippers," Lily chipped in, rolling her eyes, "but we mostly just ignore each other."
"And vice versa," Lily continued, "although Marissa snores, you'll get used to it though."
They arrived at a solid wood door with a small gold plaque labelling it GG4 – 2, Ami latched onto the glass door knob and pulled it open. The large room was warmly lit; taking up most of the room was the six, huge four-poster beds, each of which had two bedside tables. At the opposite end of the round room was a fireplace with a cream sofa set around it and more of those plush red rugs. The room was otherwise empty except for the trunks; Darci noticed her own trunk at the foot of one of the beds and then gasped as she realised four very annoyed looking pets were staring at her from their cages, except duke who was still asleep. She let the others and left Duke's cage door open as Ami exclaimed over how adorable the cute kitties were. She was currently hugging a happy Miss Chief and had been allowed to tentatively pat a grumpy King Sol. Darci set out their food bowls in a corner of the room and filled them up, this earned her the forgiveness of King Sol who all but inhaled his food and then ate most of Miss's as well, Miss was a finicky eater. This done Darci went to investigate her bed. The huge bed was modeof solid oak and had carved posts, a throwback to an earlier era, and was set with thick velvet red curtains and a deliciously comfy looking bedding of red and gold, piled high with cushions and pillows just the way she liked it. Zee dove backwards onto the bed lying down with her hands behind her head.
"You gotta love Hogwarts."
Darci grinned and nodded, but it was the positioning of her bed that she liked the best; right next to it, between her's and the next bed which Lily said was hers, was a large window with a comfy velvet window seat and an unsurpassed view of the ocean.
On her bed's other side was a small wood door. She opened it and discovered a decently sized balcony.
"This is perfect," she said, leaning back inside, "I can grow potted plants out here."
"Yep and our bathroom is the one on the right over there." Ami said, gesturing to the two doors on the far side of the room.
Darci poked her head in to find a decent sized bathroom paved in white, it had a large mirror with a couple of red stools at one end, a claw-footed tub and a show stall at the other end, a wall separated the toilet from the rest of the bathroom.
"Alright guys I'm pooped and I've still got to walk all the way back to the Slytherin dorms so it's over and out for me."
"Alright Zee see you tomorrow."
"Sweet dreams Zee."
"Night night Zee Zee."
"Zee Zee?" Zee gave Ami one arched eyebrow.
"You know like sleeping? No? How 'bout Zigzag? Zapster?"
Zee gave her an unamused look, Ami pouted and flushed.
"Zee isn't a nickname it's a letter!"
Zee chuckled, "alright 'night all, Darci don't worry about a thing you're mine now and no one messes with me or mine. That goes for all of you actually."
Zee yawned and made her way out as the rest of them waved good nights.
A couple minutes later three girls came in chatting to each other; Lily and Darci were lounging on her bed whilst Ami sorted through her trunk. Darci had an incredibly heavy King stretched across her chest purring like a broken lawn mower and Lily was playing with Miss.
The three of them ignored the others, went over and started readying for bed.
Lily yawned, "alright well it's been a big day I think I'm off to bed you can pull that curtain across," Lily pointed to curtains against the wall that Darci hadn't noticed, she realised they ran along rails on the ceiling so that you could section the room off, "and keep your lights on after everyone else has gone to bed if you want."
"Nah I'm pretty knackered too."
Valiant landed on the windowsill and looked at Darci with wide yellow eyes.
Darci stroked her head before fetching her glow in the dark 'come to the dark side – we have cookies' singlet and pants PJs. She changed and slipped into her bed, Miss jumped up straight away and curled herself next to Darci's head whilst King jumped up and nudged himself just under her chin; the chorus of purring lulled her. She smiled a little when saw Valiant settle down on top of her cage next to Darci's bed. 'My fierce protector' was her last though as she drifted into sleep.
Darci shot out of bed, her heart pounding and feeling hot and cold all over. She tried to calm herself down but craving prickled in her skin like an itch she couldn't quite reach. She ground her teeth together as the tide beat in her ears, the sound so loud it sounded as if the waves were breaking on her skull. It was no use, she'd have to go. Grabbing a towel and one-piece from her trunk she paused, now that she had made the decision the tide of sound receded and her freakishly good hearing returned. Five sets of even breathing, everyone was asleep.
She snuck out the door and crept down the steps, trying to remember the turns she'd taken as she climbed out the portrait hole and prayed she didn't get lost.
She got lost twice before she found her way out of Hogwarts. She had snuck out a door after changing in an empty classroom and found herself directly across from the lake. She paused as she was about to turn and find her way down to the ocean. She had heard there were mermaids in the Hogwarts lake, ofcourse she'd assumed it was probably just a rumour but still…She turned back and headed to the lake's shore, she dipped a toe in the water and shivered in delight. Not quite as good as the ocean but still delicious, like the first coffee of the day for a caffeine addict. She dropped her clothes and towel and waded in up to her waist, taking a deep breath she dived beneath the surface
Darci needed to swim on full moons, preferably naked and in the ocean although she could manage clothed and in a natural water resource such as a lake or river. The single time she'd once been miles from the sea on a full moon Ian had found her delirious and only semi-conscious conscious wandering deep in the Black Forest.
When she swam on full moons she underwent small changes, her hair grew long, longer then she'd ever naturally managed to grow it and changed back to it's original black. Her eyes became black except for specks of their original colour, her skin turned even paler and became tinged with blue and her fingers and toes became webbed between the middle knuckles. Attractive right? She had no doubt that should her new friends see her then that, despite how kind they were, there would be a whole lot of screams of "kill it! Kill it now!" Ok maybe that was exaggerating a little but she had a whole lot more sympathy for bugs and spiders now.
It was only really necessary that she swim on full moons but the craving was always there, more apparent at night. She often had dreams and woke up with no memory of them but with a desperate need to swim, like tonight. She floated in the water slowly making her way to the centre of the lake and dipping under every few seconds. The lake water, fairly warm from the day's sun was an ideal medium to play in; she luxuriated in the feel of the slight pressure against her skin as she slipped in and out. The cloth irritated a little as it always did but there was so little of it on the backless, deep V-neck, black one-piece that it didn't bother her too much. Darci was usually a little shy, even after her great rebellion last year and usually stuck with quite modest swimsuits, she had intended to wear a shirt and shorts over this when she went swimming but it worked well when she was swimming on her own. She didn't swim nude except on full moons since the Durmstrang incident.
As she passed over the middle of the lake she looked down into its' murky depths and felt a familiar stir of curiosity, she cast one last look at Hogwarts dark silhouette before taking a deep breath and plunging beneath the surface.
She pushed deep into the darkness for a few minutes without seeing anything. As a child living by the ocean she'd experimented endlessly, seeing how long she could hold her breath for, both on a full moon and normally. She'd sit on coral reefs and at the bottom of large rock pools watching the fish until her head swum and her mother worried herself sick. She remembered when she was young she could hold her breath for a full hour on a full moon and almost half an hour on a normal day. It had been a long time since she'd timed herself and she was hoping she could hold her breath for a little longer now as it looked as if she might need it if she was really going to explore this mermaid rumour.
Lost in her thoughts Darci was struck by the sight of the expanse of thick green weeds growing densely over the lake floor and swaying gently like tall grass in a spring breeze. As she passed over it the weeds gave way to a sand bank where she could see something glimmering. Swimming closer she was amazed to see stones lay half buried in the sand looking like jewels imbedded in a dark metal, they shone even in the thick darkness seeming to almost radiate their own glow. Picking two up she clutched them in her fist and decided to travel just a little further before turning back, she was beginning to feel a dull pressure in her chest that suggested her oxygen supply was running low. She turned to look up and see if she could spot any sign of the surface, however unlikely this far down when a flurry of movement caught her eye. Darci managed to push herself fast enough to avoid the razor sharp fangs of the grindylow that snapped where her ankle had been a moment ago. Darci shot through the water as fast as she could her eyes glued to the small water demon still followed her, its' long fingers occasionally snapping out. She was still looking back when she bumped into something, her arms were suddenly seized. Darci bit down a yelp as she swung her head around to be confronted by the fierce face of what Darci had to assume was one of Hogwarts merpeople. Her long hair was wild and a dark green and she had yellow eyes that glared out of her greyish skin. Her eyes turned to the Grindylow that had caught up to her. "Shark! Home!"
Darci tried to speak as the merwoman (mermaid sounded a little too soft for this fierce creature) dragged her deeper into the water. Darci tried to talk but all that came out was a burst of bubbles and a gargle. The ache in her chest had turned to a fierce burn and she knew if she didn't get away soon there would be no time to reach the surface. Suddenly they were no longer alone, glancing past the merwoman's shoulder Darci spotted a larger rock painting of what looked like a group of merpeople carrying spears and chasing a giant squid, around them merpeople floated, distrustful looks on their faces. Turning back Darci was confronted with another of these people, he was speaking to the one who had grabbed her but now turned to her.
"What business do you have here?" Despite the musical tone of voice the large merman looked at her with yellow eyes filled with anger and jabbed a sharp trident beneath her jaw, not waiting for her to answer he continued. "Leave this place, do not ever return to our village or we will spill your blood seawitch." The last word was hissed and was followed by similar sounds from those around her. Darci nodded vigorously, desperately in need of air now, her head beginning to swim. The man swam towards her and violently pushed her away. Darci took the opportunity to kick of hard from the ground, shooting like an arrow upwards she swam harder then she ever had but even as the water seemed to lighten, her vision started to fade. Just as she felt unconsciousness tug her under like so many pulling hands she broached the surface, pulling the air she so needed into her lungs and forcing her brain back to wakefulness. She floated on the surface, dazed and gasping, her lungs still burning and her limbs like dead-weights. She gave an almost hysterical laugh of relief to be back on the surface and in one piece. Mentally checking herself over for anything besides aches from the exertion she realised her knuckles hurt, opening her fist she was amazed to see she had been clutching the stones she'd found. She stretched out her fingers and examined the stones, surprised she hadn't dropped them in her desperate plough for the surface. Holding them up to the moonlight she was amazed to see they were opals, not the thousand-hued colour of truly precious opals but attractive none the less. They were a milky light blue, both had strains of a deep vibrant blue and bright neon green but the smaller one also showed specks of a brilliant violet. She decided she liked that one better and thought she might give the other to one of her friends, Lily maybe, she seemed to like green.
As she slowly made her way back to the castle Darci mulled over her encounter with the merpeople of Hogwarts' Lake but her mind was too heavy and exhausted to make much sense of the whole event. Deciding to make sense of it in the morning, she eventually dragged herself out of the lake and dried off. Quickly changing back into her pyjamas her mind turned to the next day and she winced, morning couldn't be more then a couple of hours off.
Sirius sat in the common room and watched silently from the dark depths of his favourite armchair as the new girl clambered through the portrait hole, her short hair wet and clinging to her face, a damp towel clutched in her arms. Sirius glanced at the watch he'd brought down with him; it was nearing a quarter past three in the morning. He had come down to the common room after he had woken from nightmares and been unable to sleep, he'd decided a weighty tome recounting the history of goblin warfare in comparison to human warfare read in his favourite chair would be enough to send him back to sleep. He'd been getting drowsy when Darci had climbed through. He shook his head as she disappeared up the steps to the girls' dormitory, who on earth went swimming, by themselves, at three o'clock in the morning? He'd known there was something wrong with her from the moment he'd met her. She might have been pretty if it hadn't been for the piercings and her weird hair. Sirius struggled with himself for a moment before admitting defeat, she was still pretty despite all the weirdness, although hardly his type. She had a sort of eerie quality to her beauty with her too pale skin and large, oddly multi-coloured eyes. Sirius thought he might have had a go at her even with the goth look, freak friends and spiked piercings if it hadn't been for that comment in the great hall and he was sick of her friend Lily leading James along like a lost puppy. Ok well that might not quite be true but would it really do Lily any harm to give his best friend a chance? And as for the Slytherin chick, she madepsychosis an art form. There was something wrong with this new girl too, she had appeared fairly normal on the surface despite her appearance but Sirius' instincts had gotten him out of many bad situationsand now they told him that something was amiss here. He had a feeling this Darci was hiding more then her share of skeletons in her closet and he had every intention of unearthing them.
AN: Yeah I can't believe that was just one day either, it's almost seventeen A4 pages. Anywhoser if your interested I also obsessively collect pics of things I write about from characters to food to clothes and jewelry the link to where you can see them is on my profile soooo... REVIEW! I COMMAND YOU!...Please.