Written for Hogwarts' Gardening Assignment: Task 9 - Orchid: Write femslash, the Garage Sale Competition: portrait, the Writing Club: Character Appreciation: 4. Trait: Motivational, Book Club: Moira: (sexuality) lesbian, (trait) independent, (colour) orange, Showtime 3: You and Me (But Mostly Me) - (trait) Selfish, Count Your Buttons: C1 Susan Bones, Lyric Alley 4:I've learned to be ashamed of all my scars, Sophie's Shelf - 13. Daphne/Susan, Em's Emporium: Ami (AlwaysPadfoot): (pairing) Daphne x Susan, Lo's Lowdown, C1: Aaron Hotchner: write about someone who does not show emotion often.
Word count: 1081
we get what we deserve
"Well, what do you think?"
Daphne hummed softly as she turned another glossed page. The portraits she was seeing were good, there was no doubt about that. The colors were masterfully blended, and the animation charmwork was flawless — as shown in the way the portraits moved seamlessly in the pictures — but still, she wasn't sure.
"Do I really need a portrait, though?"
Astoria, her sister, huffed. Daphne could tell that she was refraining from rolling her eyes, and she bit her cheeks to stop herself from laughing out loud. She couldn't quite stop the smile, though.
"Yes," Astoria bit back mulishly. "You need a portrait. You're turning twenty-four, and you should have gotten it done last year already. You know it's tradition."
Daphne sighed. "I know, I know. It's just…" She trailed off, and gestured at herself with a self-deprecating smile.
The war, after all, hadn't exactly been kind to her — especially at the end.
Astoria's voice turned soft, and she placed a hand on top of Daphne's, gentle and warm, but as unyielding as steel. "You know it doesn't matter. So you have some scars? And what? Most everyone does, these days."
Daphne had to smile at that, even if it was bitter.
"Fine," she said, relenting. "I'll do it."
Astoria grinned. "Really? Perfect, I'll set everything up, you'll just have to show up."
"Sit tight and look pretty, huh?" Daphne snorted.
Her sister laughed, no doubt remembering the same childhood lessons Daphne did. "Exactly," she said. "Sit tight and look pretty."
.
Daphne hadn't thought to ask her sister for the name of the artist she wanted to book. It had seemed irrelevant, at first, when Daphne had no plans on actually getting a portrait made, and after that, all she'd needed to know was that whoever it was was good at their job.
She should have known better, she thought ruefully as the door swung open to reveal Susan Bones.
Susan, who looked just as amazing as she had six years ago, when Daphne had seen her last. Her eyes were sharper, and a little colder. Selfishly, Daphne wondered how much of that was because of her.
She had left, after all. She had been the one hurt by that spell, maybe, but Susan had been the one to hold her as she bled. Susan had been the one to carry her to the Healing Wing, who had insisted an overworked Madam Pomfrey heal her — Susan had been the one to save her life.
It had been poor repayment on Daphne's part to shut her out like she had. She had known that even then, but she hadn't been able to stop herself.
It was, she reflected, just like Astoria to meddle now.
"Susan," she said, awkwardly standing in front of the door.
"Daphne," Susan replied. She stared for what seemed like forever — Daphne started to fidget, and she hated fidgeting — before sighing. "Come in."
With a grateful nod, Daphne did.
Inside was small, but cozy. It felt lived in, and Daphne was immediately put at ease. She smiled as Susan led her to her workshop, at the far end of the little house. It smelled like oils and paints, but also that weird sunshiny smell Daphne had always simply associated with Susan herself.
The workshop was a little cluttered, with drying portraits and unfinished paintings hanging on the walls, but it was clean.
Even if Daphne could spot some orange and yellow splatters of paint Susan had been either unable or unwilling to vanish.
Susan gestured her toward a stool, and Daphne sat down. Susan sat across from her, and with a wave of her wand, pulled toward her an easel and a blank canvas.
"You want a portrait, right?" Susan's voice came as short and clipped, and Daphne winced.
"I — Yes. A portrait."
Susan hummed a little. Her eyes flickered around Daphne's face, looking but never settling anywhere.
"You'll have to come here more than once," she finally said.
"I know," Daphne said. Catching Susan's gaze and holding it, she took a deep breath. "Susan, I'm sorry. I shouldn't — I shouldn't have —"
"Shouldn't have what? Been a coward?" Susan snorted. "Don't be. I should have known better — you warned me we were 'doomed' right from the start. I should have listened to you then."
Daphne bit her tongue until she tasted blood. She had said that, it was true, but…
But she had been sixteen then, and there had been a war going on. Of course theirs had seemed a hopeless romance. Of course.
Daphne had been a rather dramatic teenager.
"I'm glad you didn't," she retorted.
It seemed to take the wind right out of Susan's sails. It looked as though she collapsed in on herself; her eyes filled with tears. "Damn you," she whispered. "Damn you."
"I'm sorry," Daphne repeated. "I shouldn't have left you like that. It wasn't fair to you."
Susan sighed and shook her head. When she smiled, Daphne wisely didn't remark on how it still shook around the edges.
"I should have tried harder to stay," she said. "That wasn't fair to you either."
Daphne swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat. She blinked rapidly, trying to disperse the tears she could feel burning behind her eyes. "Well, then I guess we were both at fault."
"I guess," Susan echoed. She smiled, and when Daphne smiled back, it felt for an instant as though they were back at Hogwarts, sneaking around past curfew to steal a kiss.
It made her heart race in her chest and her cheeks flush.
"I missed you," Daphne heard herself confess.
Susan's eyes were soft as she replied, "I missed you too."
.
Astoria was waiting for her when she came home. Daphne could see her practically vibrating with nervous excitement, and for an instant, she considered letting her stew. It would serve her right for meddling.
But she had helped.
So, when Astoria asked how it had gone, Daphne just rolled her eyes at her and said, "We're going out for coffee next Tuesday."
Astoria cheered, and Daphne chuckled. She pulled her sister into a hug, and whispered against her blond hair, "Thank you."
Astoria's eyes were sparkling with tears when she pulled back. "You're welcome, Daphne. You deserve to be happy."
Daphne smiled back, but didn't answer.
She still didn't believe it, but today… Today, she felt like one day she might.