16th November, 1977
Danny woke up quite early. She hadn't fallen asleep for hours, and had been checking the stuff she'd had in her bag from her time to make sure she hid anything dated after 1977. She'd silenced the curtained area around her bed and spent hours reading at wandlight until her eyes felt heavy and she decided to sleep. Still, she'd slept for a day and a half before, so she was up by half five, and decided to shower, get ready and go down to the common room to read her new textbooks until someone familiar came down for breakfast.
That someone turned out to be Remus, rubbing his sleepy face, a book in hand, apparently planning on reading for a bit before heading down too. His friends were nowhere to be seen.
"Morning." Danny greeted, making him stop at the base of the stairs and look around, surprised. He saw her on the couch, smiling and waving at him, and couldn't help the smile that took over his face.
He still couldn't fully believe she was there when he went to bed last night. She was really there, with them, in Hogwarts, and not ten-fifteen years or whatever into the future he'd thought he'd have to wait for to meet her. Danny was there, and she had saved chocolate cake for him.
He blushed as the thought came to him and approached her, eager to be close to her again. "Morning, Danny. Early bird?"
"Not particularly, but I was asleep for a day and half so…" She shrugged and turned in her seat to face him when he sat beside her. "Are you?"
"A bit. I like to read here until one of the boys comes down to go to breakfast, or Lily does. I don't get much quiet time the rest of the day." He realized how that might sound to her being there and hurried to add. "But I'd rather talk to you if you want to talk. The book can wait." He blushed when he thought over his words, but Danny only chuckled.
"It's alright, I was reading too." She lifted the book in her hands, a Herbology textbook that had been placed with her new belongings. "Reading with company is also nice."
He smiled at that and settled back to read, finding her presence comforting even in silence. At about quarter past seven they both gathered their stuff and made to walk down to the Great Hall. Breakfast would start soon, and Danny wanted to have time to prepare for her classes. If she got her timetable early, she'd have more time to organize herself.
She was already carrying the textbooks for the subjects the boys had mentioned the day before. Hopefully, there'd be no surprises, but she liked to have a planner to keep track of everything, and the first thing she needed to start that was her schedule for the week. Then she'd be able to start planning when to work on the Wolfsbane potion, when to get assistance from Sirius and James about becoming an animagus while Remus wasn't around, and when to work on her private lessons with Dumbledore. He might not help her, but she could train on her own, hone her skills and hopefully go back to her time better prepared than when she left.
"Ah, Miss Delacour, you're here early." McGonagall intercepted them just as they reached the end of the stairs going down to the entrance hall. "Morning, Mr. Lupin." She greeted her companion, watching them carefully for a moment before focusing on the new student. "I'm Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House and Transfigurations professor." She introduced herself, holding a wide piece of parchment in her hands. "I trust there were no problems during your first night as a student here?"
"None at all. The boys showed me around and Lily helped me get settled in the dorms. Everyone's been very nice so far." She smiled, though she was having a difficult time keeping it up. McGonagall didn't know her. Her own head of house for six years, who had been one of her favourite professors in her time. One of the most badass women she'd ever known. And Danny was a stranger to her.
"Excellent. If you have any problems, come see me, I'm in charge of all Gryffindor students." McGonagall gave her a tight-lipped smile and held out the parchment. "This is your schedule, based on the subjects you signed up for with Professor Dumbledore. I don't know about the curriculum in Beauxbatons, but NEWT level classes at Hogwarts are quite challenging. If you need assistance we can appoint another student to tutor you or have a few extra lessons privately with you until you catch up."
"Thank you, professor. I will make sure to inform you of any difficulties I find in the subjects." She nodded politely and with a nod back, McGonagall entered the Great Hall ahead of them. "That was so weird." She whispered lowly to Remus, leaning closer to him so no passers-by could hear her.
"What? Professor McGonagall?"
"She was my Head of House and professor for six years. I'm still not used to knowing others but not being recognized." She bit her lip and looked at the werewolf. "It'll just take some getting used to, I guess." She adjusted the strap of her bag and raised her chin, breathing in deeply. "Well, what can we do. Let's go get breakfast."
Remus watched her march ahead for a few seconds before he hurried to catch up. She seemed so composed most of the time that he forgot how she must be feeling, away from her family, her friends, her time. There were moments when she faltered like she had last night, when she'd gone pale, or at the Infirmary. But she was remarkably strong. He didn't know how he would be able to deal with losing everything and everyone and still go on.
Not everyone. She has us. We might not be as she remembers us, but we're still here with her. He decided to try to make her life there with them as good as possible through any means he could.
Almost as soon as they'd sat down and piled food on their plates, Danny took a thick planner out of her bag and proceeded to copy her schedule, colour code it and add extra notes to the spaces around it or empty slots. Remus tried to discreetly read them, but found out they were some kind of abbreviation and most likely a mix of languages. He wondered how much of what Danny had told them was true. Was her last name truly Delacour? Was she French? She'd attended Hogwarts in her time, though.
"Your week's looking packed." He commented, looking at the piece of parchment McGonagall had given her and she'd placed in the space between them so she could copy it into her planner. That way she wouldn't think he was reading over her shoulder.
"Yeah. But what can you do, it was the only way of keeping my options open. I'm still not sure what I want to do after graduating. I had a few options, depending on the… situation at the time." She couldn't really talk about the war going on at her time, and that it wasn't the same war going on at theirs. That would raise too many questions about Voldemort, leading to Harry and the death of the Potters. "I have many interests, so it's not easy to choose."
Remus' lips twitched, already knowing what she would have been in her time. But she didn't know that, and he couldn't tell her about her future without raising questions about other aspects of her life then. And he couldn't just spit out what Sirius and he had seen. That was… too much, especially when he'd only really known her for a day.
No, he couldn't tell her. He'd make a fool of himself, she wouldn't believe him, and he was already flustered enough just thinking about it. Good thing she was focused on her planner.
"Merlin, you're worse than Evans." Came Sirius' sleep-hoarse voice from behind them sometime later, making Remus jump.
How could he not have noticed? He usually knew when his friends were getting close, his nose attuned to their scents. Of course, he might have been trying to subtly smell the girl next to him, and trying to watch her without her noticing he was staring.
Merlin, he had it bad.
"Hey!" Came Lily's remark from where she was approaching the spot in front of Danny, James and Peter beside her.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Danny replied, not looking up from colouring the slots based on the subject, adding same-coloured markers to different sections of the planner. "Morning, everyone."
"Mind if I take a look at your schedule?" Lily asked, already reaching for the parchment McGonagall had given Danny earlier.
"Yeah, take a look, no worries." Danny waved her concerns away, still scribbling while taking occasional bites of her breakfast. That's why she needed time to prepare before classes. Good thing she had arrived early for breakfast.
"I have all the same classes!" Lily burst, excited, making Danny look up and smile. "I have Ancient Runes too, but I'll be in all of your subjects." She bit her lip, then looked at the new girl. "I don't know if professors will give you more time for the projects that we have coming up. Some of them we've been working on for over a month already. There's a group project in Arithmancy due before Christmas break. I know some people still haven't started or formed groups, but I already told Alice I'd work with her, and we have already finished the first half of our project." She looked apologetic at not being able to include Danny in that.
"I haven't started mine, and I don't have a partner yet." Remus piped up, glancing from Lily to Danny, looking hopeful. He had actually been gathering up his courage to ask Alicia Corner up until October, a Ravenclaw he'd had a crush on before finding the oracle, and after that thought about working on his project alone. He'd rather work with Danny.
"So you don't mind being my study buddy?" Danny smiled charmingly, like she'd done when he'd been her professor and trying to be adorable in detention.
"No, I'd like that." He smiled unconsciously, blushing a bit and making his friends snicker.
"Great." Danny looked back to her planner and flicked a few pages. "What's the due date?" She glanced toward Lily, who immediately reached into her bag and took out a planner of her own.
The boys, except for Remus, groaned when the girls started shooting dates back and forth, planning away their lives for the rest of the term. Lily seemed ecstatic at having another study enthusiast in the group, and James was just unable to cut into his love's idea of fun. Sirius exchanged a glance with Remus and then both looked away, but watched the girl sitting between them for most of breakfast.
"Hey, don't forget to save some time for Quidditch." James cut in when they were wrapping up the planning.
Lily frowned at him. "Quidditch?"
James nodded and grinned, then stood up and whistled to get the whole table's attention. Danny reached over the table and grabbed his sweater to push him down once more.
"Dumbledore said to wait until I got settled." She hissed at him, knowing everyone was looking their way.
"You just settled your whole life right here, kitten." Sirius tapped her planner, then nodded at his friend, who stood up again.
"Gryffindors, listen up! We'll be holding Quidditch tryouts again, since we didn't truly give every" He looked at Danny and grinned then. "Gryffindor who wanted to play a chance to try to get in the team!" He got quiet and looked at Sirius while the table exploded with whispers. "When do we do it?"
"Tomorrow evening?" Sirius suggested, to which his friend nodded.
"Tryouts will be tomorrow evening, usual practice time!" James finished announcing, then sat down, receiving a glare from Danny. "What? Don't you want to get into the team?"
"Don't you think it'll look like you're favoring me during tryouts? It hardly looks fair for those who made it in before."
"You'll just have to be obviously better than our current new chaser, don't worry." He waved her concerns away and finished his pumpkin juice.
"It won't be very difficult." Sirius smiled at her.
"That's a fat load of confidence you have in my abilities." Danny deadpanned, quirking an eyebrow at him.
"I'll be cheering for you, that should be enough of a boost to beat everyone else." He fluttered his eyelashes jokingly at her.
Danny snorted and shoved him away, shaking her head at his attitude. "Don't need your cheering, Padfoot." She reached for her goblet to drink the last bit of juice but paused when she noticed the silence that had fallen around their group.
Everybody was once more watching them, expectant about something, while slow smiles stretched across Sirius and James' faces.
"What?" Danny looked around, confused about what had happened.
A voice from the Ravenclaw table answered her question. "Did she just call him Padfoot?"
Danny looked toward Sirius, thrown off. "Is it that weird? It is your nickname."
James leant over the table, grinning still. "Only the Marauders use those nicknames. No one else is allowed to."
Sirius threw an arm over her shoulders, smirking charmingly. "But you'll be the exception, kitten. You can call me anything you'd like."
Danny snorted again and threw his arm off of her shoulders. "I'll stick to Padfoot or Pads, thank you very much." She grabbed her bag and stuffed her planner back into it. "Well, let's go, we'll be late for Herbology."
The group rose and followed her out, but she stopped when she noticed Remus leaving the group at the entrance hall.
"Oh, you don't have Herbology!" She frowned. "Pity." Her shoulders sagged, and Remus smiled at her, waving good naturedly.
"I'll see you all during break, I'll be at the library until then." He told them, and looked at Danny one last time before heading upstairs while Sirius grabbed her arm and pulled her with him outside the gate.
"Come on, you don't want to be late, kitten." Sirius told her, smiling lightly at her disappointment at parting from the werewolf.
Danny sighed and nodded, following after the other three. She took a look at the overcast sky, the Prophet that morning had announced the month was expected to be a rainy one. She slowed down and gave Sirius a meaningful look before looking behind them and around, making sure they were far enough from any other students, including Lily and Peter.
"Pads, I need Prongs and you to help me with something." She whispered to him, walking very close and making him lean down to listen to her.
He was curious, and perfectly content at the proximity, so he nodded. "What is it?"
"I'm going to become an animagus. I already started to research the process in my time. I will nick a mandrake leaf today from the Greenhouse, and start the month tomorrow, but I might need some help later on with the potion and the actual transformation. Will you help me? I don't want Moony to know until after." She rushed to explain, holding onto his arm, which was holding hers.
Sirius' eyes brightened and he nodded immediately. "Of course, kitten. I'll help you make the potion. You have to soak the mandrake leaf yourself, but I'll get the dew and chrysalis, I know where to find them."
Danny smiled at the easy acceptance from the young man. "Thank you, Pads."
Sirius paired up with her for Herbology class in Greenhouse three. He was apparently quite reluctant to be away from her. James just smiled and paired up with Peter, Lily joining Mary, another Gryffindor girl, while watching Sirius and Danny work together. She seemed to be wary of Sirius' quick interest in the new girl.
While fetching some Dragon Dung to fertilise fluxweed, Sirius nicked a couple mandrake leaves from nearby mandrakes and discreetly passed them to Danny under their worktable, who smiled gratefully. Lily and James both separately notice this interaction, but couldn't see anything other than the smile, leaving them to wonder what caused it.
On their way back to the castle Lily stuck close to Danny, Mary also with her, while the boys stayed behind them.
"Are you coming to the library? I usually join Remus for free period there." The redhead invited the new girl, who immediately nodded. "I'll copy my notes for you, so you can catch up faster on what we've been over so far."
"Thank you, Lily, that'd be great." She sighed in relief. Then she looked behind them toward the boys. "We're going to the library with Moony, are you coming?"
Peter grimaced. "We have a free period before Transfiguration, why would we go to the library?"
Lily rolled her eyes, apparently having expected that answer from them, but her eyes widened when Sirius nodded instead.
"Sure. Won't hurt us to study for a change." He sent a firm look toward Pettigrew, who seemed to hunch over, as if scolded.
Sirius didn't actually plan on studying, but on getting as many resources from the library as Danny would need. He realized that it would be hard for her to adjust to their time, but she'd been a sixth year in her time, she was jumping a whole year ahead to be with them in class, and he felt protective of her. She had no one but them. She was important to him in the future. He would help her as much as he could in the present.
Danny seemed eager to reach the library, even though she stopped herself from marching ahead of the group and let Lily play tour guide. It was her first day of classes, she couldn't very well run around the castle as if she'd been living there for six years. Even though she had.
They were reaching the third floor when the group around her tensed. Danny felt it before she realized why they had all fallen silent. She looked around discreetly and noticed a group walking in the opposite direction, about to come pretty close to them. She recognized her future potions professor in an instant. Still greasy haired and with his characteristic prominent hooked nose, she didn't need to think too hard to match him with the man he'd be in about twenty years. He had never looked healthy, apparently, not even in his youth. Her attention, though, was drawn by the people around Snape.
She drew a sharp breath, one that Sirius noticed, as he'd moved closer to stand on her right in the last couple seconds.
She recognized Mulciber, Avery and Travers. She'd fought them the night Sirius died, in the Department of Mysteries. She felt rage build in her chest, but clenched her jaw and looked away, not wanting to give them any hint that she knew who they were. She was tense, though, following their path beside her own group from the corner of her eye.
She looked behind her when they were far away to make sure the future (or maybe current) Death Eaters had disappeared around the corner, and her friends seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Keep an eye out for them." Sirius advised low near her ear, following her eyes. "They're bad news."
Danny nodded firmly, sharing a meaningful look with him. She already knew that.
They reached the library, where Mary said her goodbyes, and were guided by Lily to the spot she usually occupied with Remus. The werewolf seemed surprised at the unusually big study group.
Lily gave her her Transfiguration notes so she could prepare herself for their next class, and took Danny's books to mark what they had already seen in class. She copied her own notes and placed them inside Danny's textbooks, then made a summary of the material already covered. Danny and her looked it over for a while, the new girl checking those topics she was confident in, and circling those she needed to research more. Lily was quite surprised when most of the topics in DADA were checked.
"I like DADA." She shrugged as a form of explanation, her eyes flickering toward Remus for a moment and catching him looking.
"But… NEWT level Defence is pretty hard, Danny." Lily tried to explain as softly as possible, not wanting to offend the girl. "We just started to study the Patronus charm last month and everyone struggled. It's pretty difficult to hold, even in the most basic incorporeal form."
Danny's lips twitched and she had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing until she could speak in a level manner. "I've been able to cast a corporeal patronus since I was thirteen, Lily. DADA is a safe bet for me."
The redhead gasped, her eyes wide and mouth open at her statement. Even the boys around the table looked up in surprise, to which Danny waved her hand and continued looking over other subjects. "Herbology and Potions I like, but they're a bit more difficult for me. There are some things I can do with my eyes closed in Potions, but… it's not my forté. I might need your help in Arithmancy. Charms and Transfiguration I pick up pretty easily. And I find Ancient Studies fascinating, so I've read up quite a bit on it."
Sirius smirked from the other side of the table. "Watch out, Evans, she might take your spot as top student." He warned good-naturedly.
Danny rolled her eyes and kicked him under the table when Lily paled a bit. She was so like Hermione…
Remus stood from his seat, gathering his materials. "We should go, we'll be late for Transfigurations."
Though they seemed to have assigned seats already, Remus and Sirius pointed her toward the second row, where there were several empty spots, and when they sat flanking her as they had already gotten used to. James and Peter sat behind them, James shooting a confused look toward Sirius, while Lily and Alice, another girl in their dorm, sat in the front row. The Gryffindors took up the left side of the classroom, near the windows, while several Slytherins took the seats in the far right, a mix of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs between the rival houses.
McGonagall stopped when she came into the room and noticed the different sitting arrangements, but simply took a look at the people surrounding the new student and let them be. She started a lecture on conjuring spells, which Danny knew they'd been working on for a while from Lily's notes. Her hand barely paused during the whole class, since McGonagall was giving such a content heavy explanation, but she felt quite confident in her ability to put all they were being taught into practice.
Her hand was still cramping by the end of the class.
McGonagall approached her at the end of the class, just as they were picking up their stuff. She cast a thoughtful look to the boys flanking her as she had that morning, and stopped in front of Danny's desk.
"How are you adjusting to the new contents, Miss Delacour?"
"This class was pretty content heavy, but I think I'll be alright. Lily gave me her Transfiguration notes to copy so I can catch up on what's been taught so far, and they are very complete and easy to understand." She smiled over toward the redhead, who blushed prettily at the praise. "And they are all helping me get up to date on the materials. I'll be fine." She assured the professor, who looked around the proud looking group and seemed satisfied at what she saw.
"Good, I expect nothing less of members of my house." She commented, sounding almost threatening as she did so. Then she looked back at Danny and sighed. "But theory can only get you so far. How far have you gone in the practise of non-verbal conjuration spells?"
The girl looked around the room, almost empty by that point except for her group and Alice. "I think I'm pretty proficient at non-verbal magic, professor." Danny responded, trying not to sound cocky. "I've always been better with the practical side of magic than with the theoretical one."
"Could you conjure something non-verbally?" McGonagall asked, stepping back to watch her better.
Danny let her bag rest on top of her desk and took out her wand from the holster on her thigh, held it up and conjured a flock of birds to come out of it.
McGonagall watched her form and the birds with a clinical eye, then nodded. "Excellent. Five points to Gryffindor, Miss Delacour. That was perfectly executed. You seem to have practised a fair bit at Beauxbatons."
Danny smiled lightly. "Madame Maxime has high standards for her students."
The answer seemed to satisfy the professor, who said "So do I" and let them go soon after that. Lunch had already started.
"Brilliant Avis spell, Danny!" Lily cheered, walking hand in hand with James, a skip in her step.
"First day and you already scored five points with McGonagall." James nodded from beside his girlfriend. "She's tough. Not an easy feat."
"Minny impressed, never thought I'd see that." Sirius agreed, still close to Danny.
At the Great Hall, Lily and Alice separated from them to sit with the other girls, but Danny preferred staying with the boys, despite Lily's inviting gesture. She just didn't understand why they couldn't all sit closer together.
"Next is DADA, right?" Danny asked Remus as they sat down in their already usual configuration.
"Next is lunch, stop thinking about classes." Sirius elbowed her lightly.
Danny elbowed him back, raising her chin and narrowing her eyes at him. "I actually have a lot to catch up on, Padfoot. I'll be thinking about classes until I'm done getting up to date.
"And Quidditch." James added, pointing a finger at her. "You've got to think about Quidditch tomorrow. Tryouts in the evening, remember?"
She rolled her eyes. "How could I forget? The way you announced it this morning, I don't think anyone will."
"Good, don't want anyone to forget." He smiled boyishly and tucked into his food, making Danny smile. Just like Harry. Obsessed with Quidditch. Like father, like son.
Her smile vanished at that. Harry. She missed her brother.
A light push from her right brought her out of her thoughts. "Hey, none of that." Remus murmured, somehow noticing the change in her mood. "Think good thoughts. You're going someplace dark."
She smiled lightly at him, the knowledge that he cared for her cheering her up a bit.
"I just miss my family." She admitted in a whisper. "But thank you."
Someone grabbed her left hand and squeezed a bit. "While you're here, we'll be your family, so cheer up, kitten." He gave her an uncharacteristically warm look that made Danny's eyes brim.
She'd missed Sirius so much. She hadn't been particularly close with him one on one, but she'd had a soft spot for him after saving him from the Dementor's kiss and seeing the way he cared for Harry. He'd been easy to get along with, teasing and joking, and overall making the dark house feel much more welcoming during their stay.
She squeezed his hand back, smiling even though her eyes were wet, and rested her head on Remus' shoulder, surprising the werewolf. "Thank you, guys."
The DADA professor was nothing like Danny expected. She didn't know what she'd been expecting, given the variety of characters she'd met in her six years at Hogwarts, but the one before her was nothing like she'd come across before.
Professor Green was apparently a retired Auror, despite not being older than maybe forty years old. And she was bitter, that much was obvious. And a Ravenclaw in her school years, judging by the way she blatantly favoured those in that house.
She'd looked Danny up and down the moment she'd come into the classroom, sneered and turned away, leaving the girl flabbergasted. There were no desks or chairs in the room, aside from the teacher's, and Green immediately divided the class in two, sending Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs to one side, Ravenclaws and Slytherins to the other. Danny found herself facing Mulciber, who smirked at her, and she clasped her wand tight in her hand. She was praying for a duel, if only to give him a good beating.
"Danny, change with me." Sirius clasped her forearm, watching Mulciber from the corner of his eye.
If she did, Danny would be facing a mild looking Ravenclaw boy who kept casting fearful glances to the Slytherin beside him.
"No." She refused decidedly, glaring at Mulciber. She lowered her voice, making sure only Sirius could hear her. "I've got a bone to pick with this one."
"Don't be stupid, Danny." He pleaded, tugging at her arm.
"Sirius." She turned her head a bit to look him in the eye. "I've faced him before, at fifteen while he was certainly not a teenager, and still gave him something to remember me by. Don't worry." She gave him a firm look, and with one last nod, moved her arm away from his grasp.
Professor Green was just making her way down the aisle formed by the students, watching them all like a hawk. "We've seen how to cast potent shields and curses non-verbally so far. We've gone over several creatures and how to defend yourselves against them." She paused a couple steps away from Danny and turned her way, smirking. "The newbie, Miss Delacour, right?"
Danny quirked an eyebrow at 'newbie', but kept calm. "Yes, professor."
"A few questions to see if you are up to date on the subject." She looked gleeful, ready to either humiliate her with difficult questions or take points away for not being ready, despite knowing it was her first day. "How would you defend yourself against a basilisk?"
Danny almost snorted, but managed to keep a straight face. Lily, a few spots away, had gasped. "We've barely covered that!" She whispered to James, who was frowning at the professor.
"With a rooster." Danny spoke clearly, watching the professor's face fall before she replaced it with a neutral look. "Their call is mortal for a basilisk. And never look at one directly, or indirectly, in the eyes. A direct look would result in death, while an indirect one, through a reflection, a camera, or a ghost, would result in petrification. Better watch out for their shadow."
The professor pursed her lips, not giving any points for a correct answer, and instead shot another question. "What's a dragon's weakest part?"
"Their eyes. A conjunctivitis spell is one of the most effective to disable them alone. In reserves, though, keepers often stun them with several stunning spells at the same time." Danny could barely keep the smile from her face, knowing the professor was out to get her and just couldn't.
Green narrowed her eyes, took a look at the students around, noticing how cocky the boys beside the new girl looked, and lifted her chin. "We covered dementors and protective spells in October, I hope you are able to cast the defensive charm used against dementors?" Her lips were stretching in a smile of superiority, which soon vanished at Danny's nod.
"No one could cast a corporeal patronus, most of the class couldn't even keep up a non corporeal one!" A Hufflepuff down their line complained, getting a glare from the professor.
The newbie raised her wand and pointed it down the aisle of students, who held their breaths at what the professor had asked. "Expecto Patronum." She enunciated clearly and watched as a silvery mist emitted from her wand down to the floor, quickly taking shape and drawing gasps from those around her. A lioness stood in the middle of the aisle and ran up and down between the students, even circling the now angry looking professor.
"That's enough." Green stated and watched as the patronus vanished, Danny lowering her wand once more. "Everybody get ready to attack and defend against the student in front of you. I don't want to hear a word. Do it non-verbally or I'll be deducting points." She rushed to the front of the class, moving behind her desk to watch the pairs getting ready to spar.
Mulciber wasn't smirking anymore. He narrowed his eyes at Danny before raising his wand, and at Green's signal, shot a blasting curse her way, which Danny quickly raised a non-verbal shield against, throwing it back against Mulciber. He jumped aside, the rebounding curse almost hitting the Ravenclaw boy. Mulciber glared at her and threw another curse, something pretty simple if Danny was to judge by the colour. Mulciber didn't seem to be particularly good at non-verbal magic, so he was probably having a hard time coming up with attacks he could perform well while staying silent.
Danny once more shielded herself against the attack, and immediately cast another shield when a hex that'd been sent against Snape rebounded from his perfect shield and headed her way. The future potion's master narrowed his eyes at her, making Danny think that he'd been aiming for the rebound to hit her.
Seeing those beside Mulciber also taking note of Snape's technique, Danny shot a quick non-verbal expelliarmus at Mulciber, who barely managed to protect against it, followed by a succession of Stupefy and Petrificus Totalus. The fourth spell, another Expelliarmus, hit the target before he could build another barrier, and his wand flew across the space between them both while the blood-purist hit the wall behind him.
From the corner of her eye, Danny saw Avery aiming directly at her, but he was knocked out before he could fire her way, and she looked over to see who had done it. Remus was standing with his wand out and aimed directly at the spot where Avery had been standing, his jaw clenched tight, fury in his eyes.
Green sighed at the disarmed and stunned students and indicated for Remus and Danny to pair up, leaving Mulciber to reanimate his friend and duel with him instead. He could obviously not face Danny in a non-verbal match.
Danny moved to stand in Avery's spot, exchanging a daring look with Snape, her new neighbor, but then just turned toward Remus and smiled, much happier with him to practice with. They shot attacks and shields non-verbally for the rest of the lesson, and when Green let them go, Danny found herself immediately surrounded by her new friends, clapping her back and congratulating her on the brilliant comebacks at Green and humiliation of Mulciber.
The group divided soon after, Lily and Danny heading toward the sixth floor for their Ancient Studies class while the boys headed downstairs to go outside. Lily kept chattering on excitedly, telling her all about how they had barely covered basilisks, and no one had been able to cast a corporeal patronus before. She had been one of the best casters, and she was still struggling to keep her own non-corporeal patronus for more than a few seconds.
"Well, I think I've only managed to make Green hate me, to be honest." Danny commented when Lily stopped talking so she could breathe. "But I just can't stand bully professors. What's wrong with her?"
Lily pursed her lips and hummed in thought. "I think she was looking for a weak target. Being new, from another country and incorporating so late in the term, she might have thought you'd be easy to pick on. She's been hard on Peter until now, since he was the… less proficient student in the class. He's great with Transfiguration, and actually pretty good at Charms, but theory… isn't his forté, especially in Defence. He got a reprieve today, but she might go back to hammering him now that she knows she can't do it with you."
Danny rolled her eyes. Apparently they also had their own Professor Snape at the time. "I just don't get why these people become professors, honestly."
Lily nodded in agreement, and then proceeded to make an extremely abbreviated summary of the material they'd covered in Ancient Studies so far, before reaching the classroom.
Luckily, that lesson went much more smoothly, the professor making sure Danny was ready to take on the subject before starting and then telling Lily to please continue helping the new student until she was up to date. The class was made up of mostly Ravenclaws, four of them, two Slytherins, a Hufflepuff and Lily as the only Gryffindor before Danny's arrival. Under ten students.
At the end of the class, the boys were waiting for them in the corridor. James, Sirius and Peter were playing a game of Wizard Skittles, sitting on the stone floor, while Remus kept an eye on them and another on his book from where he was standing beside them.
James jumped up the moment he saw them come out of the classroom. "My Lily-flower!" He ran to embrace his girlfriend, making Danny chuckle and step away from them and toward Sirius and Remus.
Lily was half-heartedly scolding James for his display when Sirius moved over to the new girl. "Well, newbie, how was your first day?"
Danny smiled and shook her head at the word, but simply started walking toward the library, Remus immediately taking his spot on her other side. "So-so. Herbology was alright, McGonagall is awesome, Green hates me, and Ancient Studies was quite good. A bit of everything, I guess."
"We can go over the material for the classes you'll have tomorrow if you'd like." Remus offered. "We have double potions, charms and arithmancy tomorrow."
"Yes, that'd be great." She pursed her lips. "I'll probably stay in the library until dinner, then head back there. I have a lot of stuff to go over." She looked thoughtful and grabbed her planner from her bag, levitating an inkpot beside her so she could write with her quill. "I should have insisted on heading over to muggle London and getting normal pens, this is so annoying." She grumbled at the quill while she wrote down a few notes on the day's page. Still, she knew that it was her idea not to buy anything non-essential. She needed quills for exams, so having pens was technically a whim.
"All that time in the library?" Sirius groaned.
Danny quirked an eyebrow at him, halting her quill. "You don't have to stay, you know. I have a lot to do, but you can just go outside and do whatever you want. All of you, for that matter." She looked at Remus too. "You already spent three hours in there this morning."
Sirius shook his head just as Remus did too. "No, we'll stay with you. Gotta assist the new student and all that, aye?" Sirius smiled charmingly at her, making her shake her head again.
"I can move around on my own just fine, you know that." She lowered her voice, making sure Lily and Peter weren't very close. "I don't need babysitters."
"We're not babysitting you." Remus retorted immediately, frowning. "We just want to spend some time with you and help you. Especially since… well," He glanced behind them quickly. "the others don't know who you really are."
Danny felt herself sent back to summer and Christmas at Grimmauld place, with the men these boys would be watching over her brother and herself. She remembered how happy she had been when she saw professor Lupin there at her arrival, after not seeing him in over a year.
She linked each of her arms through one of theirs and pulled them closer to her. "Just so you know, you two are two of the best people I'll ever meet. And I am glad to be here with you, despite everything." She confessed, smiling to both of them. She knew that if she managed to return to her time, she'd never see Sirius again.
The bright smiles she received in return were worth a thousand moments of despair. She vowed to never forget how they looked right then.
The afternoon was spent working in the library until dinnertime, both Lily and Remus whispering the complexities of the material to Danny in turns, even Sirius and James piping up every now and then, especially when it came to transfiguration or charms, even potions. Peter stayed away from trying to explain the materials to the new girl, but he watched her for a long time, Sirius kicking his shin under the table and making him yelp when he'd been staring for a while.
Peter wondered how both Sirius and Remus had known her name the moment they'd found her.
Sirius and James left a bit before dinnertime to run to the dorms and get their Quidditch gear, since they had practice after dinner, and the rest went down to the Great Hall a bit later, Lily and Danny discussing the next topic they would be working on in Charms.
Danny had already started dinner when something was dropped to the space on her left, where Sirius usually sat. She looked over, finding a bundle of clothes and a broom propped up against the bench, Black written across the Gryffindor Quidditch jersey.
"I thought you were going to get changed before coming down to dinner?" She asked, turning more to look at Sirius behind her and frowning when she saw he was dressed.
"We did. That's for you, for now. I remembered I had some of my old gear around, and McGonagall let us borrow another broom. You can play with us today."
"I haven't gone through the tryouts yet." She frowned more, looking at James, who was sitting down beside Lily, also dressed for practice.
"You can just play today, just join the practice. You can't play an official match without going through tryouts, it doesn't mean you can't practice." The captain explained.
"I still have a lot to study. I'll be at tryouts tomorrow, can't you just let it be?" She whined. She didn't want the other team members to hate her.
"Don't you want to play?" James frowned, not understanding why she was so resistant.
"It's not that…"
"Danny," Lily intervened at last, leaning slightly over the table toward her. "You're not that far behind on the material. We can go over the Draught of the Living Death in the common room after practice. We'll go watch you play. Right, Remus, Pete?"
The werewolf nodded immediately, while Peter almost choked on his chicken at the sudden question.
"Yes, it'd be good to be outside for a while." Remus smiled down at her. "I want to see you play." He smirked then. "Hey, you might be even better than Prongs and I certainly want to see that."
James chucked a bread roll at the werewolf at that, Lily and Sirius laughing alongside Danny. She couldn't say no to that.
James and Sirius told a few of their teammates that they'd have a new player during practice that day, and to please don't ridicule themselves. It was thus that Danny found out that she was the only Gryffindor girl who played Quidditch, which appalled her. With so many brilliant female players in her time, and there wasn't a single girl playing in 1977? It was ridiculous!
The group walked down to the Quidditch pitch surrounded by raucous boys thumping each other and often staring at Danny and Lily. James kept a protective arm around his girlfriend while Sirius and Remus flanked Danny, who carried Sirius' old gear in her arms, Remus carrying the broomstick.
The team started doing a few laps around the pitch while Danny went into the changing rooms, exchanging her bag for the broomstick so Remus could keep it with him during practice.
When she came into the pitch, hair tightly braided, wearing Sirius' jersey, the animagus immediately caught sight of her and flew close.
"Gotta say, my name looks amazing on you." He winked at her, making Danny snort and shove him, almost dismounting him off his broom.
"I had half a mind to change it." She warned, smirking sideways at him while the other boys in the team shouted at her to mount and fly already. "But since you were so gracious as to lend it to me, I guessed it would be impolite to do so."
"Come on, Delacour!" James' shout finally spurred her on and she mounted swiftly, flying straight toward the Captain, Quaffle under his arm.
Despite being an old broom, it was easy to maneuver and made clean turns, and soon Danny was punching the Quaffle from under James' arm and taking it with her, bringing an 'Oi!' out of him and cheering from the stands.
"Lils! You're supposed to be cheering for me!" James complained, Danny smiling as she flew further up and up on the pitch, doing a few laps to get used to the broom under her.
"Not today! Today I'm cheering for Danny!" Came Lily's reply, and Danny flew a bit lower, coming closer to her friends on the stands.
"I might just steal your girlfriend, Potter! I've always liked redheads!" She teased, winking at Lily and making her laugh out loud.
James was sputtering, thrown off by the threat, while Sirius barked out one of his characteristic dog-like laughs. When he recovered, James shot after Danny, intent on stealing the Quaffle back from her, and barking out orders for the team to start their usual drills. This meant acquiring the Quaffle and trying out passes and scores for Chasers, while the Beaters tried to control the Bludgers, and the Seeker caught and released the snitch again and again.
Danny had fun. It wasn't like playing in her time. She had so loved playing with Ginny as her companion. They were in sync on the field, Katie or Dean couldn't compare to the way they played around each other, like they were born to be in the air together. She liked playing with her brother, of course, but he was a Seeker and went his own way. Ginny was her other half in the field.
James established two teams of Chasers, himself and Tucker Cleveley, the newest Chaser, against Danny and Matthew Barnes. That way they could almost simulate a real match.
While Matthew was a good player and it was easy to make and receive passes from him, Danny wished to be playing alongside James. He moved much more gracefully, and she found herself laughing as he took the Quaffle midpass and flew away with it, Danny soon stealing it back, going back and forth between them. Cleveley was dragging James' game down, but he was still having fun, and about half an hour into the game he called for a change in pairs, Tucker with Danny, and Matthew with him. Sirius and Quentin Johnson moved to throwing the bludgers their way, upping the intensity of the game, and the seeker, Yarrow, started practicing more risky catches, dives and faints.
Meanwhile, in the stands, Lily and Remus alternated between watching the game and getting ahead on their readings. When Peter fell asleep on the bench beside Remus, his robe tucked under his chin, Lily leant closer to her sandy haired friend.
"Remus?" She whispered low, keeping an eye on Peter to make sure he was asleep and couldn't hear them even if he woke.
"Hmm?" Remus answered, his eyes following Danny's shape across the sky.
"I haven't had a chance to talk to you alone since Danny arrived, the way you guys attach yourselves to her." She watched the player from the corner of her eye, and saw Remus blush at her words. "I like her, she's nice, but even I notice how strange it is for you lot to follow her around all day long. Sirius and you are always flanking her, and even James seems to encourage you. What's going on?"
Remus' eyes flickered from the pitch to his book to Lily, his mouth opening and closing as if he didn't know how to answer. Finally, he gulped and sighed, but didn't meet Lily's eye. "Remember I told you she had a bit of an accident during her arrival?" He waited for Lily to nod, noticing the movement from the corner of his eye. "Her portkey destination was skewed, and we literally found her falling down to the sixth floor from the stairs leading to the seventh floor. If we hadn't been there, she would have been seriously injured, if not…" He didn't finish the sentence, gulping once more, his eyes on the pitch. "Even then, she was unconscious, and stayed unconscious for the next day and a half. We were at the Infirmary when she woke, and… when Dumbledore came, he asked us to help her. You know…" He waved his hand vaguely. Lying to Lily felt awful. "Help her get settled, make her feel comfortable at Hogwarts…" He sighed and this time did look Lily in the eye. "She's lost everyone, Lily. She's alone. Dumbledore is her guardian right now. She has no other family here, no other friends."
The redhead's eyes watered at that. She hadn't thought the boys, especially Sirius, would be so moved by the girl's situation. She had been thinking that Sirius was aiming for a new conquest, after the unusually long period he'd been without playing his game of 'love'em and leave'em'. She'd noticed, as had every other girl at school. Usually there'd be more girls crying in the toilets and glaring daggers his way, or sighing wistfully and batting their eyelashes his way. Anyway, there would have been more emotional girls and gossip everywhere, and Lily hadn't heard a single thing for about a month by then. She didn't want this period of calm to end with her new friend getting her heart broken by the resident Casanova.
But maybe he was truly trying to care for Danny. Which somehow scared Lily even more. She couldn't imagine Sirius settling down with a steady girlfriend, and she couldn't imagine him not trying for more with Danny. It was obvious he liked her. What she wasn't so sure about was if he'd let the relationship stay platonic or not.
Especially since Remus seemed to like Danny too. She'd seen him blush way too often in the last day.
Lily blinked the tears away and cleared her throat, settling her book on her lap and holding it firmly. "So that's all? You're protective of her? Are you sure it's nothing else?" She glanced toward the only female player in the air, flying above Sirius, twisting and circling swiftly, James right beside her, trying to steal the Quaffle. She felt Remus tense beside her, and she knew there was more. "It's just… I don't want you and Sirius to fight because you both like her." She turned to look at the werewolf, who was refusing to meet her eye. "It's quite obvious, Remus. And I don't want you two getting hurt, or your… group splitting up. You four have been best friends from our first day here, for over six years now."
"That won't happen, Lily. Don't worry. I promise." Remus replied assuredly. His eyes moved from a laughing Sirius to Danny hanging upside down from her broom. "Sirius and I will be alright."
He didn't bother to deny he liked Danny, or that Sirius did. Like Lily said, it was quite obvious. Of course, what Lily didn't know was that Sirius and Remus already knew that they would both have to learn to be with Danny together. Somehow, they were ready to make that work. They knew they would be happy if they did -when they did.