I do not own Harry Potter. All rights go to J. K. Rowling as well as Warner brothers (For the movie rights).
Daughter of Darkness
Chapter Twenty-Five
Izzy dodged left as a red stinging jinx shot past her face. The point of this part of the tryout was movement. Many witches and wizards, even trained duelists, did not move correctly. Which is to say, not at all. They relied on their shields and spell chaining (which was a concept that Flitwick said they wouldn't learn until later).
"Very good, Miss Verona," Flitwick said as the test came to an end. Thankfully it was the last one of tryouts, everyone was dead tired and getting grumpy, but Izzy felt confident she had a good shot at making the team. There were others who she felt were a shoe in for their age group, like Susan, a boy by the name of Zacharias Smith, and Daphne. For being third years, they were all competent in magic as well as possessed a natural modicum of dueling talent. Of course, no one was more pleased about this than Professor Flitwick, who excitedly declared that by the time he was done with them, they'd be champions in no time.
"Excellent, simply excellent job all of you!" Professor Flitwick said as he had them line up in the center of the stage. "Now, since you third years are the only ones that tried out for your age group, you automatically get in because four is the minimum number in junior teams tournaments."
All of the third years cheered until Flitwick cleared his throat.
"That is not to say that the four of you do not need work. You will be going up against children who, while the same ages as you, have been dueling in their respective clubs and circuits since they were younger. You will have to work harder to catch up to them," Flitwick said as he paced. The four third years all nodded seriously. Flitwick smiled before going down the line, cutting people from the tryouts and selecting the four best of the age groups that showed up. Of the age groups, only the third, fifth, and sixth years showed up, which unfortunately created a gap. While they wouldn't be competing until next year, during the holiday break, they would be practicing and meeting during the weekends between now and then. Even during the summer.
Flitwick made his cuts to the final roster, from thirty initial hopefuls all the way down to fifteen. While the third years would not be in the same dueling bracket as the fifth and sixth years since they hadn't even taken their OWLs yet, and thus, even in their fourth year (next year) would be placed in the juniors tournament. Which had team duel of two and four. What it meant unfortunately, was that if one of them got sick or hurt, they'd be disqualified.
So doing stupid stuff wasn't an option, and every single one of the four third years was made to understand that.
Then again 'Stupid stuff' was Izzy's middle name.
Actually, she didn't have a middle name since Maive forgot to write one on the certificate, so Izzy always made up one whenever it suited her.
Two weeks passed at a steady but awkward rate. Izzy was having a grand time with the dueling club. Zacharias had become something of a friendly rival in their mock tournaments. He was talented, and it was no surprise why when she found out he was a direct descendant of Helga Hufflepuff. He was practically raised to be an excellent duelist from birth, and he was easily the best, even better than some of the fifth years.
The awkward part came in that Ron and Harry were still awkwardly making small talk with Hermione who had buried her nose in her books once again in the face of Izzy's 'time to think.'
Hermione was worried she had screwed up the best thing that had happened in her fourteen years of life. She had always been the loner, preferring books to human interaction. When she got older, and became lonelier, she had a craving for a friend but didn't know how to make one. Then lo and behold, here came Izzy and all the fun that she brought with her. Izzy was always by her side, always defending her, even from herself and her late-night study sessions. Izzy was her best friend, and she'd hurt her all for some stupid books.
Another part of the awkwardness, and the tension, was that Crookshanks had a deep fixation on Scabbers, and it wasn't uncommon to see the cat chasing the rat around the common room while Izzy sat in front of the fire holding Umbra.
Izzy had of course noticed that Hermione was withdrawing again and couldn't help the guilt she felt that she was partially to blame. Ron being the other half in that he was always upset that Hermione seemed to blow off his concerns that Crookshanks had it out for Scabbers. Izzy couldn't blame him; she had noticed recently that Hermine let Crookshanks wander more frequently, sometimes even out of the castle itself. It was rather irresponsible of her.
It was after her dueling practice on Sunday night, near the end of February, that she made up her mind.
Izzy had walked all the way from the dueling room, with her note from Professor Flitwick excusing her late-night trip through the halls clutched in her hand, all the way to the Gryffindor tower. She entered and paused at what she was seeing.
Hermione was fast asleep on the couch with several books spread around her and a stack of papers, on top of which, was a paper addressed to her. She hadn't meant to peak at it, but it drew her attention anyway, and she read it.
It was an apology, a deep, heartfelt apology. Izzy looked down to see her best friend with her eyes open and looking directly at her as her eyes began to swim with tears.
"Come on…let's get you to bed," Izzy said quietly. Hermione shook her head harshly as words began to tumble from her mouth.
"I never m-meant to hurt you," she choked out. "I'm so sorry that I did. I-I-You were right! I was dealing with too much and I couldn't handle it, but I wanted to prove I could! Minerva trusted me, I assured her I could do it and I didn't want to let her down! I should've told her sooner, but I didn't, and the stress and frustration built up and I took it out on you and you didn't deserve that! I'm so sorry, Izzy! Please! Please, you're my best friend and it's killing me that I hurt you," Hermione wailed. She had paused to take a much-needed breath but Izzy hugging her put a halt to the continued rambling.
"I do forgive you, Hermione…I'm sorry I let you think I wasn't going to," Izzy whispered. Hermione burst out crying in relief as she hugged Izzy back.
And damn had she missed the hugs Izzy gave. Strong and reassuring, like the one's she had given to the little kids after a nightmare back in the orphanage.
"You need sleep, Hermione. Come on, you've been reading long enough," Izzy said.
"No…I have to study. There's a test tomorrow in Care. I have to study for it," Hermione said. Izzy sighed.
"Hermione," she said firmly, causing her bushy haired friend to look at her. "Education is important, but not at the cost of your health," she said.
Hermione reluctantly nodded and packed away all of her books under Izzy's watchful eye. The two made their way up the stairs and changed into their nightclothes before falling asleep.
February bled into March, and Izzy was convinced that this entire year had been cursed from the start. First with Sirius Black, then with Scabbers vs. Crookshanks, then dementor scares, then Ron vs. Hermione about their pets, and now, Scabbers vs. Crookshanks: the second round.
In Hermione's worn-down state, she hadn't been very attentive of Crookshanks. Sure she remembered to feed him, but that was about it. Izzy had seen Crookshanks all over the castle, even outside, though strangely the cold never seemed to bother the creature.
With this inattentiveness, mixed with Ron's hatred of the creature, it was bound to happen that everything would come to a head between them.
Crookshanks had killed Scabbers, and Izzy didn't know what to think based on the evidence. Blood on Ron's sheets, ginger cat hairs, and no Scabbers to be found.
Just like in January, their friendship seemed to implode, but Izzy had Hermione this time, comforting the girl as she blamed herself.
"Yeah, Hermione, you messed up. But I can hardly blame Crookshanks though. The cat was being a cat," Izzy said gently. Hermione shook her head. "But you need to keep a better eye on him. Ron told you that he was terrorizing poor Scabbers."
"I should've kept a better eye on him!" she wailed. "Now I've ruined yet another friendship!"
"Hermione, you didn't ruin anything. Ron'll come around eventually. I know it," she reassured. Hermione sniffled and nodded as the two headed down to the Quidditch pitch for the Gryffindor game against Ravenclaw.
The game ended with a Gryffindor victory and a celebration in the tower that lasted until Minerva came and told everyone they had to go to bed.
That night, like everyone, she was drawn by the commotion from the common room and came down to see everyone in a panic as it was discovered that Ron had nearly been attacked by Sirius Black. Izzy and Hermione had never been so scared for one of her friends in their lives that they slammed into his back as he was telling Minerva to check the painting, pulling him into a rib breaking hug.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Hermione cried as the common room emptied of scared children. "I don't know what I would've done if you'd died and we hadn't made up!"
Ron looked down at his hands guiltily as Hermione pulled out of the hug.
"I don't know either," he said as he looked up to the only other female friend he had. He held out a hand and Hermione took it gratefully before fully letting the red head go.
That night, the four friends talked; Hermione apologizing profusely for what had been done to Scabbers, even going so far as to admit that she was to blame, to which Ron replied that part of it was on him as well. He should've kept Scabbers more secure, knowing that Crookshanks wanted the rat for his dinner.
"We're a right mess of friends, aren't we?" Izzy snorted. Everyone else broke out in stifled laughs as they tried to keep quiet.
"Speaking of friends, been seeing you get chummy lately with Daphne Greengrass and Luna Lovegood," Ron said, looking directly at Izzy. She bit her lip and nodded.
"Yeah," she said. "Yeah. I've been talking with them. They're both funny, in their own way. Daphne's a bit dry in the humor department but Luna is-"
"Odd," Ron finished.
"Yeah. How do you know her though? You seem to just blank out whenever she and I are talking." Izzy asked.
"She's the closest neighbor we have at the burrow other than the Diggory's," Ron explained. Izzy nodded in understanding before talking about what she and Daphne were up to in the library and then transitioned into explaining Luna's odd manner of speaking. "I just tune her out whenever Ginny invites her home."
"I've never read about any of those creatures. I just can't buy into her theories," Hermione said skeptically. Izzy shrugged.
"I don't necessarily think they're real either, rather a way to cope with the world around her. She's told me how she felt after her mother died right in front of her. I think…I think her creatures are just ways to explain what she's feeling or interpreting from others," Izzy explained. Hermione nodded understandingly.
"I feel like it's been awhile since we've been all together," Harry said. Ron and Hermione nodded before looking to each other, then to Izzy.
"Why don't we all go to Hogsmeade next week? Tonks said she'd meet with me and I want you all to properly meet her, then we can go around the town and just have fun," Ron suggested.
"We shouldn't," Hermione said hesitantly.
"We won't get caught. Or, well, I won't if that's what you're worried about," Harry said as Hermione gave him a confused look. "Fred and George gave me the secret to their success in pranking. It's called the marauders map. It tells me where everyone is in the castle. I think that, plus my dads cloak, I can get just about anywhere unseen," he explained. Hermione, not one to intentionally break the rules, looked hesitant still. With expectant looks from everyone, she eventually gave in, however, and nodded. Her three best friends in all of Hogwarts smiled, and she gave one back.
That weekend, Harry snuck out of the castle with his cloak and met up with his friends.
It was one of the best trips to Hogsmeade he'd ever had. Tonks was hilarious and understanding even if she did keep an eye on him like a hawk, and he'd never seen his friends laugh so much at the antics the two metamorphs got up to. Izzy was getting better and better at her facial morphs and could hold a face for well over an hour at this point with no problems, so the two metamorphs went back and forth as different people, coming up with the most ridiculous conversations imaginable.
Izzy's dueling improved under the tutelage of Professor Flitwick. He was a dueling champion after all, and he pushed all of the club members to their max.
"Keep that foot back," Flitwick barked as Izzy flung a stinging jinx followed by a delayed jelly-legs jinx chained to another stinger. Izzy readjusted her position, putting her foot back and moving across the platform. Her wand shot up as she cast a Protego and then ducked under a sweeping knockback jinx. Daphne wasn't holding anything back tonight, it seemed. Which meant something was on her mind. The Greengrass Heiress often took time to bring her plan to bear, she never went all out from the get go.
Izzy retaliated by whipping her wand over her head and threw a string of stunners (she had secretly figured out how to cast a stunner despite Tonks' warning) followed by a tripping jinx. Daphne dodged all the stunners, but the tripping jinx slipped right under her feet and she tumbled to the stage. Rolling, she managed to get back to her feet, but Izzy was already pressing her advantage.
She had learned the hard way last week against Zacharias not to let any opening go unused. That was a fun lesson when he made her pay for not capitalizing on his stumble. Her butt was still bruised.
With speed she earned through a lot of practice, Izzy hit Daphne in the side with a langlock, affixing her tongue to the roof of her mouth, followed by a weak expelliarmus since she wasn't trying to knock Daphne off the stage. Flitwick called the mock duel and Izzy handed Daphne her wand back with a smile. Inwardly, she was concerned for Daphne. She wasn't at the top of her game. Daphne and Izzy were pretty evenly matched in terms of intuition and on the fly improvisation in their duels. Their duels would often last until one of them was just too tired to continue.
Izzy had barely even broken a sweat.
Daphne left the dueling room early that evening, and Izzy watched her go.
"So," Daphne said as she read through the page of her arithmancy book the next day. She flipped a page. "I hear you and the other three of the golden quartet have all made up," she said. Izzy absently nodded as she scribbled a runic scheme onto the paper in front of her.
"Yes. Turns out, one of us almost dying is an excellent motivator to not leave anything between any of us," Izzy explained. Daphne looked up at her now purple haired friend, not even questioning the change to purple from blue.
"I'm curious as to why you're here then," Daphne said. Izzy looked up and stared into the blonde's eyes.
"I'm here cause you're my friend, and I can have friends outside of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Harry has friends outside of us," she pointed out. Daphne nodded and uncharacteristically bit her lip nervously. Izzy looked at her in concern.
"Is something the matter?" she asked. Daphne sighed.
"I just…I've come to appreciate our friendship, but I guess-I guess I was afraid it would end when you all sorted yourselves out," she admitted in a rare bit of complete honesty for the Slytherin.
"Is this what was bothering you last night?" Izzy asked. At Daphne's hesitant nod, Izzy took Daphne's hand and gave it a squeeze. "I don't abandon my friends. And you and Luna have certainly become that. Speaking of which, she should've been here a half hour ago," she said as she scanned the library for her other blonde friend.
"It's not like her to be late. In fact, she's usually annoyingly on time even when it should be impossible," Daphne agreed.
"Let's go look for her, I guess," Izzy said. Daphne hesitated for the briefest second before she decided she liked being friends with the metamorph too much for her to care what her fellow Slytherins thought.
They found Luna trapped in a broom closet, her robes and shoes were missing as well as several books. Izzy's hair flashed a vibrant red at the sight in front of her.
"I'm gonna kill them!" she growled. Luna whimpered at the outburst, causing Izzy to sigh and attend to her friend, all thoughts of vengeance pushed aside for the moment.
"Sorry, Luna…I didn't mean to scare you," Izzy said as she pulled Luna out of the closet and handed her the hoodie she was wearing. The last one she had leant had gone missing as well as the shoes.
"It's alright…those nargles are getting tougher to deal with. Combine them with the wrackspurts and it's turning into a nightmare," she said. Daphne at this point knew not to question Luna's odd view of the world, though it was obvious to both of the girls that Luna was being bullied for said views.
"Well don't let those nargles get you down, Luna. We'll do our best to take care of them for you," Izzy said. Daphne nodded next to her and Izzy felt a thrill at the devious twinkle in her eyes.
They took Luna back to the library and helped her with her dark arts homework for the rest of the afternoon as they worked on their own homework as well.
The curse that seemed to have descended on this year came back with a vengeance, though this time in the form of schoolwork, Quidditch, and bad news.
As March became April and the snow was nearly all melted, many students were consumed with the amount of homework they had to do. It was all Izzy could do to keep up with it and prevent the stress from getting to Hermione who, despite not taking muggle studies and divination, was still working far too hard to be healthy. She looked a lot better than she had around Christmas, but it still worried Izzy to see her best friend looking so tired at all hours of the day.
Everyone was feeling the strain from all the homework, even Izzy who was normally able to cope with stress quite well. Between her classes, dueling every other day after dinner until just before curfew, and recently beginning to learn bone-morphing with Madame Pomfrey, Izzy was also feeling the stress.
The only one not stressing was Ron, as Harry was stressed due to his Patronus lessons, classes, his map being confiscated by Lupin the other day, and Quidditch (Oliver being at fault for the insane practice schedules).
The week just got worse when Hagrid sent a letter that was soaked with tears and barely legible that told them the fate of Buckbeak the Hippogriff.
"They're just…going to execute him," Izzy said.
"They can't just do that!" Ron shouted indignantly.
"They can't. There's still the appeal," Hermione said weakly.
"That's not going to matter if the committee's in Malfoy's pocket," Izzy grumbled as she glared at Draco from across the great hall. Pansy was hanging off his arm, simpering and batting her eyelashes at him. Izzy wanted to gag at the sight.
Eventually the Quidditch final came towards the end of May, and Izzy did as she always did; support Harry even if she didn't really care for Quidditch.
The Slytherin vs Hogwarts was the most cut throat game Izzy had seen since second year when Draco's father got the entire Slytherin team new brooms. Fouls all over the place, players knocking each other off their brooms, hitting bludgers at the keeper, running into each other non-stop.
If Izzy didn't know any better (but she did know better because she lived with Minerva during the summer and Minerva loved Quidditch) she'd say that Quidditch was no worse than any other sport. Except it was. Because no other sport allowed you to fly over a hundred miles an hour on a broom.
When they won, Izzy was as excited as everyone else, and was on her way back to the castle when she saw the black dog that had saved her sitting, hidden behind the Quidditch tower and watching her. She shifted her appearance and disappeared into the crowd, sneaking away. The poor thing looked so thin, and as she got closer, Izzy could see its ribs.
"You poor thing," Izzy whispered as she got close. The dog startled and looked at her, a frightened expression on its face. "No wait!" she said hastily. "I don't want to hurt you. I just want to help," she said gently. The dog seemed to relax before her very eyes as she shifted back into her normal form.
"Here, I have a bit of a sandwich I made before the game. You can have it," she said, setting the sandwich down on the ground. Izzy backed away slowly as the dog came up and quickly scarfed down the bits of sandwich, eating everything it could. Izzy slowly moved forward and put her hand on top of its head, scratching right behind the ears. She could tell the dog had been out in the wild for time. It had a few scratches here and there, and it smelled something awful, but it was so adorable with its big yellow eyes.
"Who do you belong to? Someone from Hogsmeade perhaps? Did they leave you in the forest?" she asked, even though she knew she wasn't going to get an answer. The dog moved its head and licked her palm. She giggled at the sensation of the rough tongue on her palm.
"I never got to thank you for saving my life. Madame Pomfrey didn't seem to believe me, but I knew it was you. I wonder how long you've been out here on your own?" she asked aloud. "I bet Hagrid could take care of you. Hey where are you going!" she shouted as the dog ran off. Izzy stared as it ran up the hill and disappeared into the forest.
She shrugged before taking off herself and joining the last of her school mates as they shuffled into the castle.
Finals were an absolute nightmare, and not just finals, but the studying leading up to finals. She was in and out of the library with Daphne (Hermione even joined on a few occasions) as they studied for their rune's exam. It was promising to be, by far, the most difficult after arithmancy.
Izzy had no time to do anything else, and the dueling club was on a break before their last official meeting of the school year since everyone was busy studying.
It was at this point Izzy seriously considered that she had been crazy to take these two classes what with how much studying she'd done. She'd later swear that she could see words imprinted on the backs of her eyelids.
When the exam day finally came, there was no time for rest. Students could be found sprinting down corridors to get to the next classroom, others could be seen sitting on the ground rocking back and forth, while others still also ran through the halls but somehow managed to read their notes while they did it.
The only concern Izzy had had going into Monday was her Arithmancy and Transfiguration exams, but Minerva had eventually told her that she'd talked to the headmaster and gotten permission to give her the exam before lunch instead of nine.
The best exam was Defense, in Izzy's opinion. Professor Lupin made it fun, exciting, with just the right amount of challenge to it. Well, for some, anyway. Ron managed to get lost in the obstacle course like exam, and Hermione finished it, but came out hyperventilating after she faced the boggart.
When it was Izzy's turn, she had gone through the course as fast as she could, and didn't even let the Boggart transform all the way. She was second behind Harry in terms of time.
"Thank Merlin that's over," Harry said as he flopped onto the common room couch.
They had finished the last of their exams and all four of them were dead tired. Except for Izzy.
"What's say we go visit Hagrid…see how he's doing?" she suggested. Her three friends nodded solemnly. They had all seen the executioner sharpening his blade as they walked back from the defense exam.
"I still can't believe they're just going to execute him," Hermione whispered. Izzy wasn't as surprised.
"I can. Malfoy threatened them…he's powerful, he could literally end their careers and have them expelled from our world," she whispered bitterly. "One day I hope someone sticks it to that bastard."
"Come on. Izzy's right, we should go down to see Hagrid…make sure he's not drinking too bad," Ron said.
With that, they all set off.
AN: Yeah, I know, this chapter's a bit jumpy, and it doesn't go into a whole lot of detail because I didn't need to. In the grand scheme of things, this chapter doesn't serve any real purpose than being 90% filler with a smidgen of important details. Anyways, this is where canon starts going off the rails…well…sort of. You'll see. Just trust me.