Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. It all belongs to JK Rowling.
Word Count: 1335
Challenge: Are you Crazy Enough To Do It Challenge
Prompt: 402. (restriction) Golden Trio era WITHOUT one of the golden trio appearing
Challenge: One Character Only Challenge - Round Three
Prompt: For this round you all will take a look at the the list below — revealing your main prompt. Because of the specificity of this round you will select a pairing from your corresponding list. On top of this you only need to use two optional prompts from the usual list below.
Daphne/Justin - Daphne/Susan - Daphne/Peter - Daphne/MarleneOptional Prompts used:
1. (setting) Hogwarts
2. (AU!) Different House
"Greengrass, Daphne."
I walked up the stairs and sat down on the stool, allowing Professor McGonagall to place the sorting hat on my head.
The people in the Great Hall were still murmuring about the exceptionally long sorting of one Harry Potter. I just hope mine isn't quite as controversial and I just get sorted into Slytherin immediately like Draco Malfoy.
After all, I am a Greengrass.
With a confident smile on my face, I closed my eyes and awaited the irrefutable judgement.
I took a sharp turn into the playground, doing my best to hide beneath the cloak as I did. Mother would be horrified if she found out her little Daphne was out playing with the same people she called blood traitors, whatever that means. I never actually paid attention when she ranted on about that.
I liked my friends and I wanted to play with them. Mother didn't have to know about that.
"Hufflepuff!"
Loud gasps emanated from the Slytherin side of the hall. A Greengrass… in Hufflepuff? Appalling!
My future housemates however, were cheering for me like I was no different from that Bones girl who came up earlier. It wasn't much in the grand scheme of things, but for some reason my heart felt a little lighter.
Just a little.
Keeping a wary eye on the table of the green, I made my way to my table as the neckline of my robes turned yellow. I was welcomed in with an embrace from the Bones girl.
"Don't worry about them. You have us badgers to look out for you. Tell us if they try anything. Right everyone?" she said out to the crowd in yellow, who promptly erupted in cheers of approval.
At least I wouldn't face any trouble with my housemates.
I sat down at the floor of the owlery, awaiting the howler that I was going to get from parents. Was I going to get punished, disowned, or were they just going to kill me?
I did not want to think either of them was a possibility, but knowing them, all of the three were very much possible.
"Why the long face?" Justin walked in with a letter in his hand.
"I sent the letter of doom to my parents yesterday."
"Oh Merlin… Have you heard back from them?"
"No… I was just waiting for that. I wouldn't want to take the howler in the Great Hall. My sorting was enough of an embarrassment in front of the entire Hogwarts population."
"Right… I understand how you feel. My mother didn't even want me to come to Hogwarts."
"Huh?" I was perplexed. He was a mud-… muggle-born. Why would his parents have an issue with sending him to Hogwarts? Shouldn't they be proud at least one of them was magical?
He seemed to recognize the confusion on my face. "She wanted me to go to Eton - a prestigious muggle school, become an accountant and make lots of money. Didn't exactly go according to her plan."
"Oh…" I couldn't say much else because of the shock I was in.
"Yeah, we had a massive fight before I came here. Hopefully, she'd have changed her mind by the time I make it back for the vacations."
"Good luck."
"You too. Hopefully, they accept you."
"Yeah, that's not happening. I'm expecting to be disowned, at the very least. Hopefully, nothing more."
An hour later, I found I was right about getting disowned. Thankfully, my prayers were answered about the 'nothing more'.
"You traitorous bitch!" Crabbe screamed at me as he knocked me down to the floor with a flipindo. I never knew the idiot could actually cast a spell.
I tried to reach for my wand but a spell flew above my head, knocking him away before I could. The fat Slytherin turned tail and fled the scene before Susan could catch up to him.
"Daph, are you alright? Did he do something to you?"
"I'm fine Susie. Thanks."
"Anytime. Now come on, Leanne bought a new Pygmy Puff. Let's go check it out. Race you." She ran off towards the common room.
"Get back here." I chased after her.
I spent the summer hopping between the Hannah's place and Susan's. The two of them have been my best friends since I joined this house and I have so grateful to them for their constant support. They made me feel like it was okay to be in Hufflepuff.
It wasn't something I wanted to feel, but I enjoyed my stay with Susan much more than Hannah. But I shouldn't let either of them catch a wind of that. I didn't dislike Hannah by any means, but Susan was just… better. At least Susan didn't go overboard with the whole Gilderoy Lockhart thing.
"Hey Daphne." Justin called out to me from behind.
"Hey Justin. What's up?"
"I just wanted you to know, I managed to convince mum about the magical stuff."
"Oh… Congratulations." Was he showing off to me?
"Thanks. All it took was Gildero-"
"Not you too! Hannah had been fangirling over him all summer." I groaned.
"Sorry… I'm not a fangirl… or a fanboy. Though I think my mom is one… A fangirl, that is."
"Right. I must be going right now. I have Defence Against the Dark Arts right now." I turned around and made my way to class.
Justin had finally caught up to me after Herbology.
"Daphne, I'm sorry. I think I was a little insensitive last week when I…"
"Justin…"
"I spoke before I could process what I was saying. I'm sorry for that."
I stared at him for a moment, searching for any sign of ill-intent. "Okay… I forgive you."
"Thank you so much. I really didn't mean to do that to you. We were talking-"
"Can we just… forget about this?"
"Right, sorry. Yes we can."
"Okay."
I spent the entire summer after my second year with Susie. We grew very close that summer, becoming the best of friends.
I finally had someone I could trust again.
That was also the summer I started to realize there was something different about me.
Fourth year rolled around and by then I realized that my feelings for Susie were more than just that of a best friend.
Unfortunately she was in love with the Hogwarts cham-… ehem, the REAL Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory.
I was planning on skipping the Yule Ball altogether, because I didn't want to see her in someone else's arms. But she forced me to go to the Yule Ball with Justin when he asked me out. And I couldn't refuse her wishes.
I spent the night of the Yule Ball staring at her in a beautiful pink dress, one that I picked out for her. Pink was my favorite color and the fact that she wore it for me made it that much more special. By that point, I was looking for any sort of distraction so I wouldn't be caught creepily staring at Susie.
My distraction did come eventually, but not in the form that I wanted it to. After the Weird Sisters were done with one of their softer songs, Justin pulled me in closer to him. He leaned in and planted a light kiss on my lips, surprising me.
"What the…" I pushed him off, and slowly stumbled out of the room.
Ten minutes later, Susie found me on my bed.
"Daph…"
"Susie, I'm sorry. I don't like Justin. I cannot go out with him, because I like someone else."
"Who?" She took a step closer to me.
"What?"
"Who is it? Who do you like?"
"Susie… I…"
"Tell me." She asked firmly.
"… I like… you… I'm sorry bu-"
She suddenly pulled me closer to her, her lips meeting mine as I came closer. To say I was surprised would be an understatement.
After a moment of kissing, we finally pulled apart. "Good, I've managed to wipe away his kiss."
I was happy I was sorted into Hufflepuff.
To say this was bad would be a gross understatement. I had a good idea in my mind, but I didn't have enough time to put it down.
Perhaps someday, in the near future, I would be able to rewrite this and make it much better and longer than it currently is.