To all those who have reviewed, added this story to favorites, or story alerts, thank you all so much! *hands out cyber thank you cards* Now, this chapter takes place in the beginning of second year, once again on the train ride to Hogwarts, though the setting of most of the chapters after this will take place when the girls are actually at Hogwarts.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the characters in the story, except for my OC Arla Paxton.
Chapter 2: Smuggling Sisters aboard the Hogwarts Express is Never Easy
Tracey Davis eagerly skipped down the halls of the Hogwarts Express until she found the compartment she was looking for and slid the door to it open; she knew this was the correct compartment being as Arla Paxton was seated inside.
"Why is it that you are always the first one on here?" Tracey asked as she stepped inside, wondering about her friend's punctual nature. Arla responded with a shrug. The girls had made it an unwritten rule amongst them that, due to Arla's habit of turning up early for things, whenever they were planning on meeting each other aboard the train and just in general for that matter, they would simply go to wherever Arla was.
Meanwhile Arla was faced with a familiar sense of déjà vu, recalling when Daphne had asked her a similar question once. "Doesn't anyone just say hello anymore?" She grumbled, but then stood up and gave Tracey a hug. Then a thought occurred to her.
"Say, I just realized something," Arla said once they had broken apart. "Tracey, no offense, but you're usually late for thins and are the last one to get here; why isn't Daphne here yet?"
"It's my new goal this year," Tracey explained excitedly. "My resolution for this school year is to be more punctual and less forgetful. As for Daphne, I don't know where she is; maybe she's just having trouble finding the right compartment?"
Arla nodded, finding this a very possible theory. Then a proud smile twitched her lips as she replied," This year, I resolve to beat Hermione Granger for being top of the class. I assure you Tracey, by the time this school year is out, I will have scored higher than Hermione Granger, or anyone else for that matter, on my final exams. Why, if I put my mind to it, I bet I can beat her in every subject!" Arla declared determinedly. Arla turned to Tracey beaming, waiting for her friend's response to that radical resolution.
"Your freckles make you look pretty when you smile, Arla." Tracey said randomly after a moment's pause. "Did you get any more of them over the summer?"
"Tracey, did you even listen to a word I just said?" Arla deadpanned.
"Of course I did," Tracey answered smartly. "You just said you were going to beat Hermione Granger in school this year. Good for you. Seriously though, did you get any more freckles over the summer, or was that just my imagination a moment ago?"
In reality, Tracey had blanked out after "This year, I resolve…" being as the late summer heat was making her dizzy coupled with the fact that she was distracted by Arla's freckles; Tracey couldn't help but notice the most random things at times and felt the need to share them out loud when she was with her friends.
"Well Tracey, while it's true that I typically have more freckles during the warmer months of the year, they usually fade away a bit as the weather becomes cooler, but they come back again in the spring and summer. In answer to your question: No, I have not, or rather if I did; I only got a couple more than usual." Arla finally finished.
Tracey nodded, having once again tuned out but had heard the last sentence.
"Arla, has anyone ever told you that when the sun hits your hair a certain way, you look like a Weas- I mean, um, a ginger?" Tracey corrected herself quickly. She had almost said " you look like a Weasley " but had stopped herself in the nick of time, instead saying ginger being as that was what she had initially meant when she almost said "Weasley." That might not have gone down very good, being as Ron Weasley was a friend of Hermione Granger's, and chances were she would not like to be told she resembled a friend of Hermione's.
Arla stared at her friend and sighed. "Tracey, my hair is auburn, meaning that it is a mixture of red with some brown. In the summer it just happens to look redder than it does in the winter. More importantly though, we saw each other over the summer, so this isn't your first time seeing my face and hair like this. Any more questions?"
Before Tracey could reply the train whistle blew, and right at that moment Daphne stepped in, carrying something heavy.
"Did somebody say Daphne Greengrass?" She announced.
"No," Said Arla.
"No," Said Tracey.
Daphne pouted and lugged her bags over to her seat, went back to shut the door, and sat down next to them. "Tracey, did you get your hair cut?"
" Yeah I did," Tracey informed them, rubbing her black hair slightly. "Do you like it?"
After the girls assured Tracey they did, Arla commented," What took you so long Daphne? Another minute and the train would have left without you."
"These," Daphne stated proudly as she opened her carryon bag that she had slung oiver her shoulder."Are what took me so long." Daphne pulled out a pair of heavy looking stiletto orange high heels from her bag she had brought with her and passed them around. "My aunt gave these to me as a late birthday present, but they're actually a lot heavier than they look and are far too big for me, and I don't want a repeat of the last time I wore high heels…" Silence fell as all three girls cringed at the memory. daphne placed the footwear back into her bag.
"Daphne, why did a sock just fall out of your bag?" Tracey queried.
"What-?" Arla stared at Tracey quizzically for a moment before noticing that a sock had fell out of Daphne's bag. Arla had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach at this. "Daphne, what else is in there-" Arla moved toward the bag, but Daphne snapped it shut in an instant.
"Well, I can't show you Arla," she huffed indignantly. "There are not only socks but underclothing in there! Sheesh!" She proclaimed, as if this should have been obvious.
"Why would those things be in there?" Tracey stared blankly.
Daphne grinned maniacally. "This," she she opened her rather large trunk as she spoke," is why."
A young girl fell out of Daphne's trunk. Tracey screamed while Arla actually fell out of her seat.
"I love her to death, but Lord is she heavy." Daphne was saying casually. "I'm not calling her fat or anything, but who knew how much strength I would have to muster just to smuggle my sister aboard the Hogwarts Express, am I right? There wasn't even enough room in here for all of our clothes, so I had to put some of our things in my carry on. By the way, my shoes are not heavy enough to interfere with carrying my luggage; I just brought them along to see if anyone would believe me when I said they slowed me down- what's wrong?"
"You- brought- your – sister- with- you?" Arla choked out between gasps while Tracey continued to scream.
Daphne nodded in response, pulled out a sheet of paper, some tape, and taped the paper to the window on the door so that no one could see inside. Then turning to Tracey, she added," Tracey if you don't shut up I will have no choice but to tape your mouth shut. I really don't want to do that, but I will if I have to. Everybody calm down."
"Calm down," Tracey shrieked shrilly, with a sort of hysterical sarcasm." Oh yes, of course I'll calm down, there is nothing at all unusual or wrong about sneaking your younger sister into Hogwarts!"
"I'm glad you understand," Daphne said in a tone of voice, though with a much calmer level of sarcasm. " Look, I will explain. First of all though Tracey, I have a question for you: Are you a Seer? How did you know I was planning on sneaking Astoria into Hogwarts?"
Tracey blinked in confusion. "Aren't you? I just assumed that's what you had in mind, so…" Maybe there actually is a safe reason Astoria is here with us. Tracey prayed silently.
"Oh, that's exactly what I had in mind!" Daphne assured her. Tracey almost fainted.
"Look, last year I had you two as friends, and I am grateful for that," Daphne said quietly, which was very rare indeed considering how loud Daphne normally was. "But I still missed Astoria terribly. I don't think I could stand another year without her; I always did say Hogwarts is a therapy inducing experience for some. Besides, Astoria really wanted to go last year and was sorry she still couldn't go this year, so I thought, 'why not take us both? It will save our parents money on the counseling we would need if we were separated for another year, at any rate.' And anyway, Astoria will be old enough to start next year; she might as well go now."
Silence fell at this, and in this time Arla and Tracey stared at Astoria on the floor. She appeared to be sleeping peacefully, a small smile gracing her lips. Unlike Daphne, Astoria had long jet black hair, whereas Daphne was a sun kissed blonde. Both Tracey and Arla had been curious about meeting the younger Greengrass sister for the first time; they had seen photographs Daphne had shown them, and she had talked about Astoria constantly. But words were not enough to really know Astoria, and the photographs they had seen of her were just that: Photographs. Nothing more and nothing less. Wizarding photographs were in black and white, so they had been able to gather that she had dark hair, white skin, and dimples in some of the photographs when her smile was particularly big, but that was it. Tracey wondered what color Astoria's eyes were.
Tracey was the first one of them brave enough to ask the question though. "Daphne… why is Astoria… sleeping?" Tracey sincerely hoped Astoria was sleeping and not unconscious because Daphne had knocked her out in order to sneak her aboard.
"Okay, so here's what happened," Daphne began, and Arla had a sinking feeling her stomach that this was going to be a long story. " You know how my father makes and sells potions in his spare time, right?"
The other girls nodded; it was common knowledge that Mr. Greengrass was a respected Potion Maker*, though this was not necessary; it was equally common knowledge that the Greengrass', like the Malfoys, were a family of wealthy purebloods whom were well off enough that it was unnecessary for them to have jobs. Still, Mr. Greengrass enjoyed brewing potions from time to time, and was quite good at it too.
Daphne went on," Well, I snuck into his Potions Cupboard, and stole a Dreamless Sleep Potion from there. My parents were in a hurry this morning, so I slipped all of the potion in the bottle into Astoria's grape juice. She fell fast asleep, but I expect she'll wake up in a couple of hours…
"Anyway, so then I packed Astoria's things along with my own, and I put Astoria in the trunk. My parents didn't notice she was gone, so I brought her in here, you guys freaked out, I explained all of this to you, and here we are now. I hope Astoria will be pleased when she wakes up, she told me last night she would do anything to go, and I said, 'We'll just see, Astoria' and left her with that."
"So, you pretty much snuck your sister a sleeping potion without telling her or anyone in your family for that matter, packed her in your trunk with you, and are now trying to smuggle her into Hogwarts." Arla summed up in disbelief. "So tell me, have you told the school about this?"
"No…" Daphne admitted sheepishly.
"What are you going to do with her when we get to Hogwarts?" Arla demanded.
"I was thinking of keeping her in our dormitory," Daphne defended. "I've asked the school several times to let her enroll early, but they keep saying she's too young. I was going to hide her in our dorm for a few days, bring her meals from the Great Hall, and teach her what I learned last year until I am able to convince the school board to let her stay there. I won't tell them she's already there though, of course." Daphne finished triumphantly.
Arla shook her head and stood up, making way for the door.
"Hey, where are you going?" Daphne questioned, surprised by this gesture.
"I'm sorry Daphne," Arla stated coolly. " But I am not going along with this crazy scheme of yours; it is only destined for trouble. I am not getting involved this time. I only hope that you have the sense to stop while you can; come on Tracey, let's go." Arla motioned to Tracey to follow. Tracey shifted uncomfortably as Daphne gave her puppy dog eyes.
"Please, Tracey," she pleaded.
Tracey ran to join Arla, unable to handle the pressure.
"Remember, we're only doing this because we care about you," Arla reminded Daphne as she opened the door. "It's for your own good. We aren't going to snitch, but I hope you learn a lesson from all of this. Good bye."
And with that being said Tracey and Arla left the compartment.
Daphne ran out after them, howling, "DON'T YOU TWO LOVE ME ANYMORE?" This created quite a few odd looks sent her way from some students walking down the corridor, who glanced at the deranged expression she was wearing, and ran off in the opposite direction.
A moment later the door to a nearby compartment opened and out stepped Blaise Zabini.
"Greengrass, what are you doing now?" Daphne Greengrass could have recognized the familiar disdainful tone of Blaise Zabini anywhere.
"Oh, hey Blaise how was your summer?" Daphne decided the best way was to act natural so he would not suspect anything.
Blaise ignored her. "Greengrass, I am trying to enjoy my train ride to Hogwarts in peace so if you would just- Greengrass, why is there a girl lying on the floor?" Daphne had left the compartment door ajar and low and behold Astoria lay sleeping on the ground. Daphne took one look from Blaise to Astoria, reached into her carryon bag she still had slung on her shoulder, and promptly whacked Blaise on the head with the backs of her high heels.
Blaise fell to the floor, unconscious. A moment later Theodore Nott stepped out of the compartment Blaise had come from, took in Daphne raising her stilettos in the air, Blaise lying on the floor, stepped back inside his compartment, and shut the door behind him.
Daphne dragged Blaise's unconscious body inside, and shut the door. Don't panic, don't panic, she told herself firmly. You just knocked out Blaise Zabini, no big deal…. MERLIN'S PANTS I KNOCKED OUT BLAISE ZABINI!
Daphne glanced down at Blaise and Astoria on the floor. Carefully, she lifted up Astoria gently and placed her back in the trunk, which she then shut. After that, she mulled over what to do to Blaise. Perhaps when he woke up he might not have remembered what he had seen, but she didn't want to take any chances on that. She did not know how to obliviate a person's memory yet, so that was out of the question. What to do, what to do….
Daphne dragged Blaise Zabini's unconscious body out into the hallway. Right at that moment Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle chose to walk down that corridor and stopped short upon noticing her carrying Zabini's body. Draco's grey eyes narrowed as he took in the scene before him.
"Greengrass, why are you moving Zabini's unconscious body around with you?"
Daphne did not know how to answer that question.
"Is he dead?" Goyle said dumbly.
"Goyle, of course he's not dead," Draco snapped, rolling his eyes, though soon after he did so he glanced at Zabini once more, as though questioning that conclusion.
But right now there was something more startling that Daphne had noticed.
"Goyle," she breathed. "You can talk?"
"Well, why couldn't he," Draco said in exasperation.
Daphne shrugged. "I don't know I just never heard him speak before… anyway, I'll see you all later! Bye!"
Daphne was about to turn to the other direction, when Draco called loudly," Greengrass, your trunk!"
Daphne faced Draco again, pretending to be confused. " What trunk?" Daphne tried to fix her eyes away from her trunk that lay inside the open compartment.
"The trunk inside your compartment Greengrass," Draco began when suddenly the trunk turned over. Daphne sweat dropped. Astoria had always had a habit of moving around in her sleep… why had she not thought if this sooner?
"Greengrass, did your trunk just move?" Draco walked over to investigate, but Daphne stepped in front of the doorway, blocking him.
"Jeez Malfoy," she feigned disgust." What is so fascinating about my trunk? Do not tell me you were going to look through it, were you? That is so rude!" Daphne slid the door shut behind her, ignoring Draco's protests. And with that being said, Daphne lulled Blaise into the compartment next door, which just happened to be the one Theodore Nott and Blaise had been in earlier.
Theodore looked up from the book he was reading as Daphne entered, and closed the door behind her. He raised an eyebrow as Daphne dragged Blaise in and waited expectantly.
"Hey Nott," Daphne greeted sheepishly, stretching her arms, which were slightly sore from moving Blaise. "So, um, here's the thing: when Blaise wakes up, he might say some strange things… I need you to convince him that he just hit his head in here or something, and that anything he might think have happened, are only his imagination. Please?"
Daphne gave him a -puppy dog pound- sort of look. Nothing happened. Sighing, Daphne reached into her pockets, and pulled out two heavy brown sacs that, when she opened them, contained Galleons, Sickles and Knuts. Daphne had a total amount of roughly about 20 Galleons on her at the moment, which would have been more than enough to buy food off the cart for both her, Astoria, and still have some money left over in case of an emergency.
"How much?" She stated dully.
Theodore held up ten fingers.
Daphne handed him ten Knuts.
Theodore gave her an -are you kidding me- sort of look.
"Fine," Daphne grumbled, and handed him ten Sickles as a joke.
This time Theodore shot her a -this is getting ridiculous- sort of look.
"Here," Daphne slapped down ten Galleons this time. "Happy? "
Theodore evidently was quite content, judging by his nod of agreement, and when Daphne mimed zipping her lips and tossing her hand back, Theodore did the same.
"Thanks, Theo," Daphne squealed as she gave him a hug.
"Don't touch me," Theodore responded curtly, and Daphne retreated at once. On her way out, she reflected that, although she had spent just more than half of the money she had with her at the moment, there was still another 40 galleons or so she had, though about thirty of them were in the other car on the train, where the rest of her luggage not containing Astoria was. She briefly considered trying to get it, but figured that just fewer than ten Galleons should be enough for the both of them. Speaking of which, shouldn't Astoria be waking up by now?
As it turned out, Astoria did not wake up when the train pulled into Hogwarts, so Daphne kept her in her trunk. Daphne saved her left overs for Astoria once she had woken up, though she was a bit concerned that that had not happened yet. Daphne received some strange looks in her direction; Blaise Zabini stared at her for a moment, and Draco Malfoy eyed the trunk, though neither boy commented for once: it was very likely they simply did not want to get involved.
Daphne sat next to Arla and Tracey in the Great Hall at her usual seat, though a somewhat awkward silence fell between them, and all three were very glad once The Sorting had started. After the Sorting, Arla whispered to Daphne out of the corner of her mouth, "How'd it go?"
Daphne smirked, though inside she was a bit nervous. "Fine," she replied "Better than fine, actually."
"Has she waken up yet?" Tracey added in an undertone, joining in on the conversation.
"Uh…" Daphne's eyes glazed over at the delicious food that lay before them. "Let's eat, shall we?"
Arla and Tracey exchanged knowing looks, but happily dug into their food. Astoria never woke up during dinner, much to Daphne's relief, being that although she had hoped for Astoria to have waken up on the train so she could inform her about what was going on, at least now maybe even though they were already at Hogwarts, she could find a way to tell Astoria about this in private, once she had hid her in the dorm.
Daphne made her way along with Tracey, Arla, Millicent Bulstrode, and Pansy Parkinson, down to the Slytherin Girls' Dormitories. Upon entering their dormitory, Daphne peeked into her trunk to find Astoria still sleeping, and closed it. Pansy, Daphne's -sometimes friend, other times just acquaintance-, was quick to catch this though.
"Say Daphne," questioned suspiciously ;after all, though the two girls did not bare any serious levels of hatred or maliciousness towards one another, Pansy still knew this was Daphne she was speaking to, of course, "What's in that trunk?"
"Um, nothing!" Daphne quipped, right at the moment that Millicent opened the trunk, and accidentally knocked it over in surprise. Astoria came falling out of the trunk, provoking Pansy to scream.
"Now Pansy," Daphne assured her," it's all right, just calm down-"
"Calm down?" Pansy shrieked. "A girl just fell out of your trunk and you want me to calm down!"
When Daphne's silence- which was probably wise in this situation- was her answer, Pansy went on," Who is she anyway?"
"This," Daphne stated proudly, pointing at Astoria's still sleeping figure," is my sister, Astoria."
"I don't care who she is, "Pansy exclaimed, despite she being the one to ask the question," What is she doing here?"
"I'm going to be hiding her here in our dormitory." Daphne mentioned casually.
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Pansy cried, as she marched out of the room. "No little girl, regardless of how pure her blood may be, is going to be sharing my dormitory when she's not even old enough to be going to Hogwarts!"
"Told you she'd take that well," Arla muttered to Tracey, who nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, Millicent stayed silent as usual.
"Hey Daphne," Tracey piped up "How long is Astoria going to stay asleep?" Daphne said nothing.
"How long as she been asleep?" Arla queried a sinking felling brewing inside her.
"Well, I snuck her the potion this morning, so that would have been around breakfast time, and she hasn't woken up since, so…" Daphne gulped." About ten or eleven hours by now, I guess."
"How much of the Dreamless Sleep Potion did you give her?" Arla asked tentatively.
"Well, I gave her most of the bottle," Daphne said skittishly. "Why?"
"How long did you intend for her to stay asleep?" Arla inquired, the sinking feeling growing stronger now.
"About 3-4 hours," Daphne replied, heart rate quickening. "She was supposed to have woken up when we were on the train!"
Arla groaned. "Daphne, you should have only given her a couple of table spoons at most! People aren't even supposed to take that kind of potion unless they have serious cases of insomnia or have just experienced a traumatic experience or an injury! If you gave her most of the bottle, she could be out for days, weeks, or even months!"Then Arla said in a quiet voice," Actually, if she doesn't see medical care soon, she might not even wake up at all."
Right at that moment Pansy came back into the room. "Professor Snape is waiting for you in the common room," she informed Daphne. "And he wants you to bring your sister with you," she added as Daphne slung Astoria over her shoulder, and ran out.
Oh Merlin, Daphne thought, leaving before Pansy could even finish speaking to her. What have I done? Have I endangered Astoria's… life? As soon as she saw professor Snape, she burst into tears before he even opened his mouth. "Sir," she sobbed. "We need to take Astoria to the Hospital Wing right away. I- I think I may have accidentally given her an overdose of a sl-sl- sleeping potion!"
Daphne didn't wait for Snape to say anything, and instantly ran out of the common room, with Snape following after her.
"How is she?" Daphne asked Madame Pomfrey, now sitting in the hospital wing by Astoria's bedside.
"She'll be fine," the matron replied in an assuring tone of voice as Daphne cried tears of relief. "She was never in any serious danger, actually. " The nurse went on, after some of Daphne's sobs had subsided. " She will wake up in merely a couple of days time. if you had given her multiple bottles of the Dreamless Sleep Potion, that may be another story, but since it was only one, she would have been asleep for no more than a few days."
Madame Pomfrey frowned slightly after she finished talking. "Though I must admit, that certainly was a rather foolish thing to do to your sister, Miss Greengrass, regardless of whatever your intentions may have been. Your parents have been notified, and will arrive at the school in the morning to retrieve your sister." She shook her head. "Though how they could not have noticed she was missing I cannot imagine, and as for why they do not simply come right now, even though it is the middle of the night…" but she stopped her train of thought. "Go now, Miss Greengrass. The Headmaster has instructed you to return to your dormitory until your parents arrive."
Daphne nodded, and returned to her dormitory, feeling slightly hollow. As soon as she entered the room, all of its residents ran to interrogate her.
"Is she going to be all right?"
"How much trouble are you in?"
One everyone finally quieted down, Daphne explained. "My parents are coming in the morning and Dumbledore's already spoken to me. He says he is going to decide what my punishment should be once my parents arrive. Astoria's going to go home then; I don't know if I will too."
A hushed silence fell. Tracey realized," Wait a minute. Why aren't your parents getting here now? Surely they've been worried out of their minds?"
"They didn't notice." Daphne's voice had become cold and clipped, and very unlike herself. "And they don't want to waste a minute of their precious beauty sleep, it seems."
"How could they have possibly not noticed?" Arla breathed in disbelief, after a speechless silence. "What kind of-"
"They just didn't, okay." Daphne snapped. The room was so quiet one could have heard a pin drop. Daphne decided to break the silence by changing the subject. "So, how about Harry Potter and that flying car?"
Astoria Greengrass was sent home the next morning with her parents. Daphne was given an irate scolding from each of her parents, and Snape assigned her weekly detentions for about a month, but that was that. Astoria Greengrass was put to bed, and when she woke up the following morning she had no recollection of the past two days before.
And that's chapter two! The main purpose of this chapter was to introduce more characters, and show their relationships with one another. Explanations for these reactions and relationships will be further explained and expanded on later on. Also, a couple of incidents were mentioned in this chapter that I have not wrote yet, but plan to include later on as well.
About Daphne's punishment, I know it might seem like she got off easy, but when you consider the stuff that Harry and his friends have done in the past and have gotten away with, and that Snape was the one giving out punishments and would not want to punish a student belonging to his house too severely, I think that at Hogwarts this would probably be the most likely result in this situation. Also, for those curious about Tracey's new haircut mentioned in this chapter, go to Google Images and type in Yuzuriha Nekoi: That's sort of the style I imagine that her hair is cut.
*As for Mr. Greengrass' profession, I do not know if this is the correct term for it, but I think it is: When I was researching this, I did not come across any other words for it.
Most importantly though: Please review!