Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. J.K. Rowling does.
A couple of explanations: I know this story is starting out a bit slowly. There will be much more action of various kinds later but I really want to establish her character since she is so minor in the books. I also know that in canon Daphne is a pureblood, and that Snape is dead. However, I really wanted to write a story about a muggleborn in Slytherin. Snape is just way too cool to be dead. That said, on with the story….
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Daphne had just reached the statue leading into the Slytherin dungeons and was in the middle of giving it the password when voices came up behind her. "Well if it isn't the mudblood whore. Snape doesn't last very long, does he? I could recommend some potions if you want to keep the old bat going. I hear your grades could use the extra help."
It was Draco again and based on the guffawing goon voices she heard in response to his comment she guessed Vincent and Greg were with him. She sighed and carefully relaxed the muscles of her face bit by bit. It would not do to let Draco know that he had affected her in any way. It would merely give him an opening and that was something one never wanted to hand over to the sociopathic brat. She turned around carefully, making sure to neither spin to quickly or appear lethargic in her actions. She looked at his face briefly and noticed that despite his former scrawniness and pointed features he was shaping up to look as handsome as his father, though with the added softening of the Black features. Evil as they may be, the Malfoys definitely had the money to marry beauty and after so many generations of marrying for it, it had become rare to find an unattractive one. It was a bit disappointing really as it would have been funny for Draco to be one of the few. Still keeping her features schooled, she stated simply, "Malfoy." She was about to nod and leave but he cut straight through that desire.
"Verbose as ever Greengrass. Now if you will excuse me I have more interesting things to do than talk to you. Unless, of course, you would like to show me what you just showed Snape."
"No thanks, Snape has more than enough going on and I'm a bit sore. Maybe some time next week." Daphne quipped. She was tired and really didn't feel like talking to the likes of Draco sodding Malfoy. At the same time, he had the power to make her life hell so she figured letting him get a couple digs in was worth not standing up for herself. She walked around the three of them and started heading in the opposite direction of the bed she had meant to lay in. On warmer nights she often went out into the forbidden forest and she kept a tent for such occasions. The privacy was worth the danger and she knew that much of it could be avoided if she camped near the centaurs. They ignored her, but many of the creatures in the forest were afraid to mess with a herd of angry horse-men. She could usually tell where they were by searching for fresh hoof marks in the ground. It was a bit early in the season for camping but that's when warming charms got damn useful.
"Were you not about to enter the common room?" Draco asked suspiciously.
"I forgot, there's a Ravenclaw orgy tonight which I promised to attend. We are shooting up love potions and drinking enough firewhiskey to relax an angry herd of hippogryffs. I'd invite you but you kind of suck, so…bye" With that Daphne kept walking at a leisurely pace. She could hear Malfoy huffing indignantly but chose to ignore it. Maybe it wasn't worth saving her hide after all. It was too funny to rile him into the image of a spitting snake. Unlike many of the Slytherins, Draco had not learned to hide himself. He relied on wealth and brute force more than his cunning house mates simply because he never had to do anything else. He already had what every Slytherin yearns for, prestige and a powerful family. Likely he would learn to better hide himself when he left school. In order to continue the subtle power his family had wielded in politics for generations, he would need to develop the same sort of mask Lucius had and learn double speak as well. He was not actually stupid, just spoiled, so she figured it wouldn't be too much trouble for him.
She would like to jog down to the forest and get the camp building part of the night out of the way quickly, but it would not due to draw any more attention. She didn't mind the idea of getting in trouble, she was quite used to that, but she didn't think she could handle not having this outlet. She truly despised Draco and had paranoia that he would follow her. He was always interfering in other people's business. She only hoped that the Gryffindor trio kept him amused enough not to begin sticking his nose in hers. They would never know how grateful she was that Draco had an unhealthy obsession with them because the second he did manage to rip his eyes away from scarhead, weasel and their bucktoothed queen, he began digging around for information on people of his own house.
Putting aside thoughts about Draco, Daphne began ruminating on her meeting with Snape. She wasn't sure how she felt about that particular development. Annoyed mostly, but also sort of relieved that she might be able to learn to be around other people without growing sick every time they accidentally touched her. She was also nervous that Snape would be so actively taking strolls through her brain and the memories locked therein. She almost preferred the idea of finding some lonely cabin out in the woods somewhere where no one ever came a knocking on her door. Not that it was a plausible solution what with this new marriage law and all. She would probably have to bend quite a bit to whatever her future husband's lifestyle was. She desperately hoped he would be some quiet and studious Ravenclaw type who rarely left his library. That was wishful thinking, and she brushed the thought aside to deal with when the time came. There was no point thinking about something she could not change. She would deal with whatever came up and design her escapes based on real circumstance rather than potential circumstance. Merlin, what if she ended up with the snotty Malfoy heir? She shuddered and tried to completely eradicate that line of questioning. That was just a worst case scenario, although she did get the horrific feeling that… Well, never mind that now. Now she needed to concentrate.
She had managed to get through the castle neither noticing anyone or walking into walls as she often did when she fell into contemplation. It was a bad habit of hers to become so insulated that she literally did not see or hear anything until damage had been done. It was like a weird defense mechanism against the invading thoughts of others. It was embarrassing but better than the alternative which was walking around with bile in her mouth all of the time.
She had reached the edge of the forbidden forest and she aimed her attention at it. Keeping close to the edges she tried to spot centaur tracks through the haze of deepening night and the dense placement of the trees. She was not positive why but the centaurs often came out when students were not around. She suspected it might have something to do with the gamekeeper, Hagrid. He was the friend of many forest beasties and dwellers. Up ahead she thought she could glimpse something but she wasn't sure. Coming a bit closer to the indents, she leaned down and checked them out. They definitely looked like hooves but they were a little old and had been stepped over and partly covered. She wasn't sure if they were unicorn or centaur. Each made slightly different imprints but without freshness it was nearly impossible to tell. She leaned back up and decided to follow them anyway. If they did lead her to unicorns instead, it wouldn't matter too much. They wouldn't hurt her and likely would just nuzzle at her for pats. They did not provide the same protection as centaurs but they were pleasant to be around and it did help more than being completely alone. Most beings would not harm an innocent unicorn and held them in respect and awe, however, they were easy to capture and kill by anyone who had reached that level of depravity. Before the war, she would have doubted anyone would be so low, but now she knew better and would rather not take chances with them.
The air got chillier the further she walked into the woods. The damp cold was similar to that which dementers created in their wake but without the intense despair. Daphne shivered and cast a warming charm. The atmosphere was as creepy as ever and the tree branches seemed to be reaching out to snag her and every time a branch caught the sleeves of her bulky uniform she jumped a little. She hated this part. She was no Gryffindor and bravery was not her strong suit but this was still better than dealing with the idle chatter of Pansy and her girlfriends back at her dorm. It was all boys and hair and Draco Malfoy in the girl's dorms. She would deal with an army of dementers if it meant she didn't have to listen to the inanity.
The hoof marks she was following had left a convenient clearing for her to travel along, so she didn't have to worry too much about the branches but they still grabbed hold and left a few little scratches that she could feel the sting of. She would repair her robes tomorrow when she returned to the castle.
She stopped suddenly as she heard a pair of voices up ahead which sounded whispy as if they were being carried on the breeze and she couldn't quite make out what they were saying. She remained perfectly still and perked her ears up trying to decipher whether or not continuing would be safe. Anything besides centaurs using human language out here would likely be a bad thing to run into. She had once heard Potter and his mates chatting about some giant spiders that fed on human flesh. If it was human she would be in huge trouble and she didn't fancy running into anyone in the forest at night.
"It's got to be here somewhere, I know I packed it in the bag." Said a feminine voice which sounded as if it were getting closer.
"Hermione!" whined a male voice which could only belong to the voice of Ron Weasley.
"It's here. Just be patient for once. I have a lot of stuff in this bag. You know that!" came the response. Daphne visibly relaxed and the tightness in her muscles receded slightly. She wondered what those two were doing out here. It was an odd location for a romantic romp, but maybe they found kink in the danger. Some people were like that and it wouldn't surprise her coming from a couple of Gryffindors who lived for getting themselves in shit situations. They were close enough that if she tried to sneak away they would probably hear, plus she was afraid of losing the tracks. It was very dark and her sense of direction was not always reliable. She took a few steps forward.
"Who's there?" Came the paranoid voice of Weasley.
"No one you have to worry about. It's just Daphne. I'm alone." She said, trying to be loud enough that they could hear her but not loud enough to attract any attention from others.
Stepping into sight, Granger asked her suspiciously, "What are you doing out here?"
"That's none of your business. Your silence about seeing me buys mine about you."
At that, Weasley and Granger briefly glanced at one another and Weasley shrugged his shoulders. "Sure." he began, "Well, umm…see you I guess…" He managed to get out as Granger shoved him in the shoulder a bit.
The two began walking away, whispering frantically to one another. "We should have found out what she was doing out here, Ronald! What if she's part of the neo-deatheater movement!"
"I don't think so Hermione. I mean she's a muggleborn isn't she? It would be pretty stupid for her to want Voldemort back since he would just kill her anyway."
The last Daphne could make out of their conversation was Granger's huffy response, "Well, Voldemort is a half-blood! They aren't exactly consistent about these things and she is a Slytherin!"
Daphne smiled. The castle just wouldn't be the same without the Gryffindors sticking their noses into everything and coming to radical conclusions. She was glad they had during the war, otherwise she would probably be barbeque on the Malfoy's table right now. She continued on her trail and shortly found herself to be in a clearing. This must be where those two met. She glanced around and saw the remnants of a fire and some scattered flower petals lying around. In addition she could make out the scent of red wine mixed with blood. Interesting. That could mean one of two things. Granger and the Weasel were kinky drunks or they had just performed a marriage right. She was guessing the latter. It made sense for them to perform it privately given their fame. They would have been hounded by the press and everyone else otherwise. Granger would have wanted to avoid all that, though Weasley might have enjoyed the attention. They must be the first to go through with the marriage law. It was all rather unsurprising. They had been mooning over each other since school began.
There were also fresh centaur tracks around. That meant that this could work nicely for her camp. She pulled a box out of her pocket. It was wrapped up like a birthday present, complete with a card spelled to stick on top. It was addressed to her mother. She did not actually speak to her mother, nor would she send her a present that would end up unopened and trashed. She used this to hide all of her essentials, including the tent. Teachers wouldn't dream of confiscating a present to her mother and most students would not mess with it either if she got caught with it. It was particularly useful to hold the various regulated items she had up for sale. Most students did not know about her illicit activities. But there were a few who knew where to go if they needed particular potions and liquors. Daphne did most of her sales around exam time when she sold her altered pepper-up potion. It was basically the same as the wizarding potion only she laced it with muggle cocaine which she obtained during her summers and smuggled back into the castle. It was more potent than the magical version of uppers without being nearly as dangerous as straight coke. Put on a scale with one item on each end, her concoction would fall somewhere in the middle. She mostly avoided using them herself, but she had to pay for her books somehow and since she did not want Dumbledore's charity, she did this. She didn't make much more than she needed for replacing her goods and buying her school books. She was afraid that if she got too enterprising with it, that someone would turn her in and she'd be expelled. Dumbledore had paid for her first year when he discovered that she had shown up with none of the necessary supplies for school. She was grateful to him, and he had offered to do the same for the rest of her schooling but she did not like the idea of being a charity case. The summer after her first year, she had met some people who gave her the idea. She could not go back home so she had taken work as a delivery girl for them. The coppers never suspected the pretty little girl who skipped rope through the neighborhood. After that summer, she returned to school with enough money to pay Dumbledore back. She explained that her parents had learned to accept her witchiness and that they had taken her back in and would be paying for her schooling from then on.
Having unwrapped the present, she pulled out her tent and said a quick spell so that it would set itself up. While the tent wove itself together and placed its stakes in the ground, she respelled the wrappings together and placed the card back on top. Then she went in her tent and crawled into her ratty sleeping bag. It smelled a bit off after not being used during the winter but she just ignored it and stared at the ceiling of the tent, hoping that sleep would soon overcome her.
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R/R: I would really appreciate some feedback. Let me know if there are certain aspects of the story you would like me to elaborate on or if there are certain parts that bother you. Really, anything that the story brings to mind or makes you feel would be awesome to hear about.