.::AN::. Yeaaaaahhhh it has been a while since an update hasn't... All I can do is apologize and hope this sates some of you. I will say that I have written half of the next chapter already (which will be MUCH larger to what I have been posting) but I won't make any promises on when it'll come out. (Probably a long time) Any way enough of my griping and may a present to you the brief next installment of Unforeseen Consequences
Enjoy
~Rosario
The two Slytherins walked in silence as they made their way to a private location. They found a seemingly abandoned corridor on the third floor with a single locked door. A quick Alohamora later and they had a private room for some much needed explaining. Daphne drew her wand within a second and pointed it at Goyle, who simply looked at her in a disinterested manner. She felt she was woefully under prepared for this. She had no information on the Goyle family, and everything she had seen and learned of Gregory during their four years of school could almost definitely be discounted now. He was a wild card and, while not openly hostile, she had no idea what he would do when no potential witnesses were present. He continued to stand there staring blankly at her and waiting patiently for her to begin her interrogation.
She narrowed her eyes at him in an attempt to look intimidating "Alright Goyle. What the hell was that little fiasco in the hallway earlier?"
"Well Malfoy had his heart set on taking you to Hogsmeade tomorrow. He met you in the hallway to confirm the time and meeting..."
Daphne jabbed her wand into his chest and glared at him maliciously "That's not what I meant and you know it."
"Then I suggest you make your questions more specific in the future if you don't want people to dance around the answers." he shrugged before he started inspecting his hand where the ring had been. "Honestly I'm not entirely sure of the circumstances in how I came into possession of that ring. I remember it being a gift, but from whom and for what occasion I cannot recall. Perhaps a fail safe was put in place? In that case whomever it was, knew how to cover their tracks." He continued to stare at his finger "Or maybe my amnesia is a side effect of such prolonged exposure to that cursed ring." He let his hand drop to his side and looked Daphne in the eye "My point is, your guess is as good as mine."
Daphne glared at him. She liked to pride herself on her ability to quickly adapt and think on her feet but this was a bit much. Goyle, whom she had known for four years to be a drooling gorilla, was actually under the influence of a dark artifact and actually had a vocabulary consisting of more than grunts. How had she not noticed this before? Perhaps she should strive to be more perceptive, but for now she had a few more questions.
She lowered her wand but still held it firmly " Ok, ok I get it, but tell me how exactly the ring affected you from your perspective."
"Demanding information is not asking. Granted it may be direct and leave little room for skirting around but it lacks subtlety. You're not very good at this." he responded.
Daphne was getting irritated. She raised her wand again and growled at him dangerously "Just tell me before I hex you damn it! I have neither the time nor the patience for this right now!"
Goyle started walking around the room, inspecting the various items strewn about. "Threats, while effective, create a generally undesirable animosity between the one threatening and the threatened." He glance over his shoulder at the seething girl "You can do better than that Greengrass."
She was furious; absolutely and unequivocally furious, but he had a point. She wasn't getting the information she wanted and her anger was making her stupid.. Taking a couple calming breaths, she glared at Goyle "Point. Taken." He merely nodded at her with an expectant look on his face. She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a few more deep breaths before continuing. "During that little battle of wills, what was the dark presence?" Daphne though she saw him smirk, but it was so small and gone so quickly she figured she must have imagined it.
"Now that wasn't so difficult was it?" Goyle turned to inspect a harp sitting in the corner of the room. "That presence called itself Riddle. I believe the ring was originally intended as a crude form of immortality. He tried to replace my own thoughts and feelings with his personality. A few changes were successful such as my increased intelligence, a few mannerisms, and a few imprinted desires, but for some reason the process was... halted." He struck a not on the harp and listened to it resonate through the room. "My theory is that my personality and Riddle's personality coalesced into one entity after your intervention."
Daphne stared suspiciously at him "Ok so assuming your theory holds merit, why did it leave you a drooling zombie?"
Her classmate shrugged "Perhaps it was a function of the artifact to render me mindless and susceptible to commands while it imprinted Riddle's personality."
Daphne began pacing while thinking out loud "Possibly but how would it differentiate between whose commands to follow? You weren't exactly doing everything you were told."
The two Slytherins thought in silence for a while. Goyle's theory was shaky at best but it was the only explanation they had at the moment. Perhaps that ring had a brother of sorts in the possession of the one giving the commands? She had seen rings that could be used to send simple messages between the two so perhaps something similar was at work here. However that would mean whomever was controlling him had to consciously send commands to make Goyle go to classes, meals, perform basic functions, etc. There must be more at work here. Daphne rubbed her temples as she felt an oncoming headache. This was a secondary issue for now. Right now she needed to decide what she wanted to do with the little ferret. Granted he was an annoying, spoiled, and egotistical daddy's boy, but the Malfoy name commanded respect for a reason. They would be a very potent enemy considering their resources. Ideally she would much rather have the Malfoy scion as an ally or at the very least a neutral party. And If she were completely honest, Draco wasn't as useless as she's like to think. As much as Daphne hated to admit it, he was definitely magically powerful, he was intelligent even if he was slightly lacking in common sense, and he could be very manipulative if the situation called for it. And then there was Potter. If she was going to ever hold more sway over him, she needed to introduce a new perspective. She had no doubts that the old fossil of a headmaster was feeding Potter all that horseshit about every Slytherin goes dark or that all those mean purebloods despise the poor oppressed muggleborns. Potter needed to see the truth and what better way to introduce a new perceptive than a little chat with Mafloy.
-UC-
Daphne walked with Tracey to the Great Hall to meet their dates for the day's trip. She examined her friend as the walked and notice a small smile on her otherwise neutral face. She wore a simple pair of jeans and a dark green sweater. Overall she looked fairly underwhelming but that was her prerogative. Daphne figured she didn't really have to do much to impress Longbottom. Just the fact that a girl had shown an interest in him was probably enough for the boy.
She herself had put forth more effort into how she looked. She wanted Harry to notice her as a girl and not just a classmate or friend. So she had applied some light makeup, let her hair down, and wore a dark purple shirt to accentuate her violet eyes. Not too much but then again, she was only fourteen and didn't have much to work with though she doubted Harry would care either way. He was sweet like that. Over the years she had learned quite a few things from observing him or conversing with him in Potions. Although he was a little too quick to judge and make assumptions, he was humble enough to admit when he was wrong. He adapted to new situations at an incredible speed. Harry Potter was a survivor. How could he not be after everything he'd been through? She looked over to Tracey again to see her nervously biting her lip. Daphne stopped dead in her tracks and stared at her friend in disbelief.
Tracey stopped as well and gave her a confused look. "What's wrong?"
Daphne merely ignored her and looked around cautiously as if expecting disaster to strike any second. Tracey huffed in annoyance "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Daphne looked at her suspiciously "Who are you and what have you done with Tracey?"
Tracey narrowed her eyes at her "I am Tracey. Seriously, what's wrong with you? Did you slip and hit your head in the shower this morning?"
She took a step closer and pointed an accusing finger at her "You are nervous. Tracey Davis does not get nervous."
Tracey stared at her blankly before a deep blush crept up her face. They stood there silently for a moment before Daphne burst out laughing and Tracey playfully punched her in the arm.
Daphne brought her into a hug and spoke softly "Tracey, I should think that you have no reason to be nervous. I'm positive Longbottom will be more than happy to spend the day on a date with you."
Tracey gave her a genuine smile and chuckled "I'm not nervous about that. I know Neville is beyond excited"
Daphne held her at arm's length and arched an eyebrow at her "Neville? You two are on given name status already?"
Tracey rolled her eyes at her friend and started walking toward the Great Hall once more. "Well unlike you, I've been spending time with the object of my affection all week." She smiled fondly "Neville is so sweet and such a gentleman. I've seen more kindness and nobility from him in the past week than I have my whole life. He brings out my softer side."
Daphne looked at her incredulously "You have a soft side?"
Tracey slapped the back of her head for her insolence "Yes, believe it or not I am human and have more emotions than just sadistic glee and fury." Her smile faded to a small frown "Though it's new to me as well..." She bit her lip again and turned to her friend "That's why I'm nervous Daph. I didn't plan on actually caring for him... at least not this much." She laughed to herself "I wanted to break him but it seems he's breaking me instead..."
Daphne looked at Tracey with a small frown "All this after just one week?"
"It's the fact I care at all that scares me." She gave her a sad smile "I don't care about people Daph, you know that. Remember that fight we had when I realized I cared about you?"
Daphne stretched her jaw remembering the indecent "I remember having to eat through a straw for a good two weeks while I regrew a shattered jaw and broke three knuckles." She saw Tracey smile remembering the fight between them during the end of second year. Daphne had been one of the unlucky few who were petrified. She was looking at a curios trail of spiders crawling out of a window when she saw a pair of beautiful yellow eyes reflecting in said window. The next thing she knew, she was in the hospital wing with Tracey standing next to her. Her fiend had silent tears running down her cheeks and before she could react, Tracey punched her as hard as she could, knocking her out cold. She woke up again a day later with her jaw charmed shut. While incredibly irritated at her, she knew what that punch meant and grudgingly forgave her. Tracey came by a few hours later to apologize which naturally turned into a rather heated, if not amusing, argument involving emotive words and the furious scratching of a quill on parchment. Thankfully after the dust settled, they were closer and much better friends for it.
Daphne brought her thoughts to the present as they neared the Great Hall. She looked over at Tracey to see her nervousness gone and replaced with a confident and sly smile. Daphne hoped she figured out a better way to express her feelings for Longbottom's sake. She herself was slightly nervous but that was because she asked Goyle to meet her at the Three Broomsticks to help explain his situation to Potter. She wasn't sure how Harry would react. On one hand he never had any direct interaction with Goyle, but he likely associated him with Malfoy. She groaned inwardly as she thought about the little ferret. She had a plan for him and Potter but it relied way to much on luck and she didn't like that. Draco could either be a very valuable ally or a very painful thorn in her side. She needed to impress the importance of this on Potter before the confrontation. She sincerely hoped it was possible for Harry and Draco to get over their petty animosity and at least tolerate each other. If she managed to pull this off, then knocking Dumbledore off his pedestal will be a piece of cake.
The two girls entered the Great Hall and approached their two boys sitting at the Gryffindor table. Tracey strode confidently over to Longbottom and sat down rather close to him. She whispered something to him apparently loud enough for both the Gryffindors to hear. The poor bow instantly turned a deep shade of red and started mumbling something to her earning a predatory smile in return. Daphne merely shook her head in amusement before looking over to Potter who could barley contain his laughter. She took a seat next to him and playfully hit his arm. Potter managed to compose himself and managed a hello. After a few minutes of talking their made their way to the carriages that would take them down to Hogsmede.
"I swear I didn't think they'd be able to change your skin color back for at least a week!" Potter exclaimed as he Longbottom and Tracey were reveling in a rather amusing anecdote from a Potions assignment gone wrong from earlier this week.
"I'm glad you found it so funny! Snape looked like he wanted kill me!" Longbottom retorted though he was smiling as well.
Tracey decided to join in the mocking "He wouldn't dare harm my pet! Though can't even begin to imagine how you managed to turn yourself purple while brewing a simple pepper up potion."
Potter tried to stick up for his friend a bit "To his defense, Snape was glaring at his cauldron like he expected Dumbledore to pop out of it any second."
Daphne laughed along, content to listen. She leaned ever so slightly on Potter and rested her eyes. It was enough to be noticeable. She wanted Harry in a good mood and on his good side before the met up with Goyle. Depending how he handles this will determine when and how she tries to break him and Malfoy out of their childish rivalry.
The carriage came to a halt signaling their arrival and four teens stepped out.
