gr8rockstarrox- You can't have a story about teenagers without some good old fashioned angst every now and then, right? And about the chapters, I realized that it probably is better to write them longer, because then there's actually time for the action to happen. And thanks! (also I think that a lot of Ravenclaws could be absent minded enough to just forget about their shoes)
Danni didn't care that she was missing dinner, and the 'super important' announcement about the first task. She just couldn't stand the thought of going to the Great Hall and having to face Harry. Who the hell did he think he was? She'd been right all along, all the way back at the beginning. From the day she'd first met him she hadn't liked a single thing about him.
She confessed her love for Merlin's sake, and then he just stood there and insulted her and yelled at her. It just wasn't right. Why had she thought that she loved him? She must've snapped and gone momentarily crazy. Of course, she still wouldn't want him to just be murdered, because that was something that no one deserved, but she certainly didn't want to hang around with him anymore. And if she didn't help him out with the tournament then he'd probably be able to lose just from his natural stupidity, so it would be a win-win.
Danni groaned, and punched her wall. She just growled at the pain in her hand. She wasn't used to punching thing, and it looked like her knuckles were already bruising just from that one hit. She muttered a simple healing spell, and while it healed her knuckles, it didn't help make her feel any better at all.
The Ravenclaw went into the common room to begin pacing back and forth. She had the entire space to herself, since everyone else was off at dinner. After a while, she tired herself out, and just plopped down on the couch that was right in front of the fireplace. She crossed her arms over her chest petulantly. She could afford to look a bit childish, since there wasn't anyone else around.
Then another thought occurred to Danni. Even if, by some Miracle, Harry didn't end up in a position where he was going to die thanks to the tournament, wouldn't the fact that only one of them could live still be in play? So his life would still be in danger (it was Harry bloody Potter, his life was always in danger). Which meant that now Danni had to think very carefully about whether she was going to help him survive. Because if she did, she'd be writing her own death certificate.
Would it still be worth it? Even though he was a major jerk and arsehole, would she still be willing to die for him? Danni groaned again. Why her? Why did she have to get saddled down with these life or death decisions? Why did she have to be born in an alternate universe? Or was it a parallel universe?
Not the point! The point was that it was all totally unfair. Harry thought that his own life was unfair, and while that was true, he wasn't the one who had to choose between their lives.
Danni sighed. She had friends, obviously, but they weren't really friends. Not in the way that Harry had Ron and Hermione and everyone else who adored him (despite his major jerkishness). And Harry was the one destined to take down Voldemort, which would mean the safety of thousands, maybe millions, of innocent lives.
Which meant that as much as Danni may personally hate Harry Potter, his death would cause more devastation. Of course, Danni knew that her parents (the ones who'd raised her) would be sad. And Jacob. He'd always proven to care about his little sister. And then there was Judy. Judy was just her aunt, and yet, in another life, Judy was her mother. And she even had the memories of that Judy. Of the one who'd given birth to Danni. How weird was that? Anyways, Judy would grieve as well.
But the few people who would be affected by Danni's death were nothing compared to the potentially millions that could be affected by Harry's death. It was horrible, but true. Harry's life was worth more at this point. Which meant that, yes, Danni was still going to die for him. What other choice did she have?
Danni wondered for a moment about the what ifs of it all. What if she'd never learned that one of them would have to die? Would she still die for him then? What if she hadn't told him that his death was planned out? Danni suddenly sat forward in her seat. What if she'd never met Harry Potter?
Judy had said that one of them dying was inevitable as they'd grown so much closer than before. So if Danni had just never met that arrogant prick, would they have both been safe from death? At least until a reasonable age, that is.
But there was no point in thinking about the what ifs. Thinking about what could have been wasn't going to change what had happened, and what was going to happen in the future.
Danni wanted to talk to Judy, but she wasn't sure there was any way she could talk to the woman after sneaking out of the death eater camp with Jacob. Maybe she could try to contact Jacob? He'd always given Danni the best advice when they were younger. There was no reason to believe that he wouldn't still be a mighty wise guy. Getting in touch with him could be a little tricky, though, since the last time she'd seen him, he'd been helping her defy the death eaters, and then come up with an ingenious plan to get her back into the school no problem.
It was times like these that Danni wished the wizarding world wasn't so offended by the thought of using muggle technology. A phone would be pretty handy right now, since Danni didn't have any address she could use to send something by owl. She didn't think that 'possibly in that death eater camp' would be descriptive enough. She wasn't sure if owls even understood what a death eater camp was. If they did, it would be a lot easier to defeat them all, because they could just have their owls go to 'deliver a letter', and follow the owl to the camp.
Well, that didn't help Danni right now. She wouldn't want anyone else to accidentally intercept that letter and know that Jacob had been the one to help her escape. Well, that was assuming that they didn't already know, and they hadn't punished him in some horribly gruesome way.
Danni shook her head to try and clear her mind of those kinds of thoughts. She didn't want to even consider for a moment that Jacob had been forced to suffer because he'd chosen to help her.
Thinking of Jacob made Danni think of that meeting they'd had in the owlery. He'd been intent on bringing her with him, until she'd said that she needed to stay behind for Harry's sake. He'd agreed to help her after that. They'd even swapped places! But why would he have changed his mind unless he'd seen how happy Harry made Danni? Didn't that mean she loved him?
"Nope!" Danni looked around in surprise when she realized that she'd just spoken aloud. What a pain. She could feel a mind coming closer. Danni didn't care to delve in just the little bit that would be required to figure out who was coming. She didn't care who was coming.
She knelt down in front of the fire place and pressed her hands against her face. The door to the common room swung open, and a seventh year named Allison walked in. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Danni. Apparently she hadn't been expecting anyone else to be there.
After a moment, Allison rolled her eyes. "Thought I'd skip out on them going on about how awesome and incredible those champions are." She scoffed. "Why wasn't I good enough to be the champion?" She looked at Danni closer. "You're not a muggle born, are you?"
It would be way too complicated to get into her entire history. She was a half blood, since her birth father had been a muggle and her birth mother had been a witch. But since she'd been brought to a parallel universe when she was a baby and- the point was that it was too complicated. So she simply shook her head. "No."
Allison grinned. "Then you've probably never had any of this before." She disappeared into the seventh year girls' dorm room, then came back a minute later, holding a fag in her hand. She held it up triumphantly. "This stuff is incredible."
Danni furrowed her eyebrows. "Why would I want to smoke? Doesn't that give you lung cancer, or something?"
The older girl's eyes lit up a little bit. "This isn't a fag. This is way better." She flicked her wand and the end started smoking. She took a long drag, then held it out towards Danni. "It's not bad for you." When Danni just stared at the foreign object, Allison shrugged, and took another drag.
Danni got up and went out into the hallway. She didn't particularly care much about the woes of someone who'd been passed over by the goblet. She didn't care much for anything that had to do with that bitchy cup. She glanced down at her hands, and shuddered, because for a moment, it almost felt like her hands were back to being in total agony.
Danni closed her eyes, and breathed in deeply. She wanted to find Crouch. Talking to him earlier had been useless because Harry, Hermione, and Ron had all been sitting around as witnesses, or as potential victims, so Danni had needed to navigate the conversation very carefully. Without them nearby, though, anything could be done or said, no problem.
As she walked past the Great Hall, she could hear all of the loud chatter coming from the other side of the large doors. So they hadn't gotten to the announcement portion of the meal yet. That was fine. Except for the fact that Crouch was in there, which meant that there was no way for Danni to get to him. If she tried to confront him in front of all those people, there's no way he'd say anything incriminating.
Danni shook her head and kept walking. A moment later, she shivered and realized that she'd walked right through a ghost. She was so used to always being able to feel when a person was nearby, but ghosts' minds were a lot fainter, so Danni had almost forgotten the ghosts were even a thing. She looked up apologetically. "I'm so sorry, Grey Lady."
The melancholy woman smiled gently. "It's quite alright, dear. I'm used to people running into me. It happens pretty often."
Danni nodded. "Oh. That's too bad." She peered up at the woman, who was hovering in place. She didn't seem intent on going anywhere anytime soon. Danni cleared her throat. "So how are you? I haven't seen you around very much lately."
The woman shrugged. "Life goes on. Or I suppose, in my case, death goes on." She looked at Danni. "It's not often I see a student who looks as sad as I. What sorrows are plaguing you?"
Danni sighed, and leaned up against the wall. "Does it sound totally pathetic if I say that I'm having boy problems?"
The Grey Lady shook her head, and mimed leaning up against the wall next to Danni. "I've had plenty of boy problems myself, as you well know." Back in her first year, when Danni was still getting used to the idea of being around so many people twenty-four seven, she didn't always have the best control. Which is how she'd ended up accidentally reading the Grey Lady's mind, and learning what sent the woman into the grave.
Danni frowned. "Yeah, in comparison to that, my problem is nothing." But the ghost didn't move, silently encouraging Danni to keep talking. "My problem is sort of the opposite of yours. You had a suitor who loved you, but you didn't love him back. I'm the one who loves someone that doesn't love me back. And when I made a confession of my feelings, he flipped out on me and acted like an even bigger toolbox than normal."
The Grey Lady clicked her tongue sympathetically. "He didn't believe you."
Danni looked at the ghost in surprise. "I'm sorry?"
She smiled again. "I've been around this school for a while, and I've seen many students with many problems. And I was once a young girl too. He's lashing out because he does not believe that your affections are real. He thinks it'll be easier to cut you away completely than pretend to accept your 'false' feelings. I'm not saying that it's logical. Most of the things that boys do are illogical. And if tries to hurt you in any way-"
Danni shook her head. "It's not like that." She peered at the woman curiously. "But why would he be angry?" She chuckled. "I mean, unless you're trying to say that lo-" Her eyes widened, and she took a step away from the wall. "Wait a second- are you trying to say that he loves me back?"
The ghost shrugged. "I can't say for sure, dear. I haven't seen him around you at any point. But that's my guess. I think that you should try telling him again before you decide that you'd be better off never having known him. And then, before you know it, something happens, and you never get the chance to tell him how you really feel."
Danni looked at the Grey Lady curiously. "Is that what happened to you? There was someone you wanted to confess your feelings for?"
The ghost sighed. "I did not live on my own after running away from my mother. I was a foolish girl who thought that she knew everything in the world that she needed to know. I was certainly proven wrong about that. The man who'd taken me in was very kind. And I eventually found that I loved him. It's why I could never return the Baron's feelings. Because I had feelings for another. I made plans to confess my feelings. I was going to make a romantic dinner and sing him a song of love, and then give him a little kiss. It was going to be perfect." She sighed. "That is the day that the Baron found me. I couldn't even pretend for a moment that I returned his feelings, because my heart and mind were full of thoughts of someone else. He killed me, and I never got the chance to tell Emerett that I loved him."
Danni couldn't help looking sad on the ghost's behalf. "That's horrible!" She gulped. "Why don't you talk to anyone from the other houses?"
She shrugged. "I would not speak to anybody, but I feel so guilty when I hear the name 'Ravenclaw', that I can't help but want to assist the students. I never did get to go see her mother. She was on her deathbed, and I had still refused to see her. That's something I'm going to have to live with forever. Well, die with forever, anyways. Don't let time pass you before you get the chance. There's never going to be a 'right time', so just go for it."
Danni nodded. "Alright. I'm not even entirely sure that I believe that he could ever think of me as anything other than someone to mess around with, but I'll go for it. What's the worst that could happen? If I say nothing, then we'll never even go back to being friends anyways. So this is probably the best that I can do."
The Grey Lady smiled, looking a bit brighter this time. "I wish you luck, little Ravenclaw. And I hope that things do work out. You're a good girl. You deserve to find your happiness," she paused for a moment. "Just be careful. He already has a death sentence on his head."
Danni's eyes widened. "How do you know? I never said who it is."
The Grey Lady looked amused by that. "People often ignore the ghost in the room. Or don't see them. I've seen and heard plenty that goes on around here." She looked at Danni piercingly. "Be careful for him, and be careful for yourself. I don't have many that I'd consider to be friends, so I wouldn't want to lose one of the few I've got."
Danni smiled awkwardly. "But we barely know each other."
The ghost shrugged. "That hardly matters to me. What's important is all of the good that I can see inside of you. I hope that you never chance, Daniella Cobb. You are a good person. Now go."
Danni laughed softly, and hurried off. She was going to find Harry, and make sure that if there had been some sort of miscommunication between them, it would be repaired. Because no matter what she told herself, and how often she scolded herself for it, she really had fallen in love with that hopeless prick.
