DAR Owlyear Hogwarts Autumn

DISCLAIMER: Daria is the creation of Glen Eichler and is the property of MTV Viacom. Harry Potter is the creation of JK Rowling and is the property of JK Rowling, Wizarding World, and Warner Brothers. I own neither franchise and neither expect nor deserve any financial gain for this work of fiction. However, positive reviews and helpful comments would be appreciated.

Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl* Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl* Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl

Gradually, life at Hogwarts began to acquire a rhythm. Herbology on Monday followed by electives and study hall, Charms and Transfiguration on Tuesday, Defense Against the Dark Arts on Wednesday followed by flying lessons in the afternoon, and the dreaded Potions class on Thursdays. She relaxed a little with her dorm mates on the weekends, sometimes visiting the magical creature pens, sometimes not, but also used much of the rest of her time for study.

Daria's attitude towards magic was slowly changing. In the months before she entered Hogwarts, Daria saw magic as a dangerous, complicated part of herself that she desperately needed to learn to control so she could get on with the rest of her life. But as the days passed, her indifference was gradually replaced by curiosity. True, she still wanted to go to college, but she realized that as far as the academic world was concerned, she was a jumped-up seventh-grader and she had years to go before she had to worry about college entrance exams and she still had plenty of time to indulge her fascination.

She was having difficulty with transformation: her mind was too closely linked to the material world in the here-and-now. She enjoyed charms. You could do interesting things with magic that you couldn't do with electronics or power tools.

The magical creatures were fascinating, as were many of the plants, even if Daria doubted many of the latter could survive the typical aridity and brutal heat of a South Plains summer. Daria chalked it up to Britain's being an island-sized terrarium.

As the weeks passed Daria realized that she missed her family and her Highland friends. She missed her parents and her sisters, especially her Dad and the June Bug. She also missed her friends and regretted her break with Farrah. It wasn't worth snapping her wand and returning to Texas, but she missed her anyway.

She still kept in touch with her family, howbeit tenuously. Her parents, usually her Dad, wrote her at least twice a week. Mom was more erratic, and sometimes only wrote once a week. She wrote home with the same frequency. She usually tried to write long letters, but when she was pressed for time, her letters tended to be short post-card like messages.

She put down her latest letter from home: this one from her mother. Her Mom told her that several people had remarked on Daria's absence from Billy Sol Estes Middle School and wondered where she was and how she was doing. Her Mother said that she'd told them that she was attending the Howard School in Scotland and that she was working hard. It wasn't exactly true, but it was easier than saying that she was in Scotland learning magic and witchcraft.

Her Mom also told her that she'd run into Mrs. Aldrete at the United Grocery and that Mrs. Aldrete had told her that the Crazy Twins were enjoying their school down in Campeche. Daria smiled at the thought and wondered how the Crazy Twins would react to the Weasley brothers. The twins had asked their Mom to ask Daria to see if they could write each other. She hoped that they would and that they'd send pictures: it would be fun to see what their school looked like and it would be fund to see how Cuthbert would react if he saw their picture.

There were some other changes. Her flying was getting better. She told Majda that she wanted to get better and Majda asked her why. She told Majda the truth: aside from the fact that she'd already known that flying on brooms was something witches did, she wanted to get good enough to go on some of the Grand Canyon tours when she got older.

She was also gaining more confidence in her potion-making. In fact, she and Tabitha Rolle had acquired a nickname in class: the Colonials. So far the nickname was an in-house Ravenclaw thing, but Daria half-hoped that it would spread.

Attack of the Genealogists Part One

Late in September Daria was taking notes from a library book when she was interrupted by a female voice saying "Texas!". Daria looked up from her reading and saw one of the older Slytherin girls she'd made an acquaintance with in the aftermath of the Bloody Baron's rescuing her from Peeves. They'd seen each other around, but aside from Pichon, Daria hadn't learned the other girls' names.

"Yes?" said Daria.

"You're a Barksdale, aren't you?" she said.

"That I am," Daria replied, "unless you take the younger Barksdales' say-so."

The Slytherin girl laughed. "Little First-years don't necessarily know what's what," she replied. "But I'm not asking about them, I'm asking about you. I've got a genealogy-crazed aunt who's tracing our family tree and wanted to know if your grandfather named Ashworth Barksdale."

The question stunned Daria. Why would any hoity-toity pureblood be interested in her No-Maj grandfather? "As a matter of fact he was," she said.

"Ha!" the Slytherin girl replied.

"Why do you ask?" said Daria.

"One of my lateral ancestresses five generations back was a squib. She left the wizarding world, moved to America, and married a Muggle named Julian Barksdale. My aunt has been tracing Louisa Ashworth's descendants and was fascinated to learn that there was a certain Virginia Muggle named Ashworth Barksdale. She was equally fascinated to learn that there was Texas girl with a Barksdale mother who possesses magic."

"If it's my younger sister Quinn and you're asking about her magical skills, you're likely to be disappointed," said Daria.

"No, It concerns one Daria Lynn Morgendorffer, whom I believe is sitting next to me. She'd the only one of the lot currently attending Hogwarts."

"I don't think I've caught your name," said Daria.

"It's Lita," said the Slytherin girl. "Lita Ashworth."

"I'd like to keep your acquaintance," she said with a smile. "You're just full of surprises. I wonder how many more you'll spring on us."

The Slytherin girl—Lita—took off, leaving Daria to wonder about the Barksdale family tree and wonder if she had any more relatives here that she didn't know about.

-(((O-O)))-

A few days later Daria opened a letter from her mother. It was longer than usual: two pages. He mother told that she missed her, as did her Dad and her sisters. She also said that life was moving along and that she'd been getting more work from the Law Office. She also related a little bit about her other Barksdale relatives: Rita was dating a man who was into skydiving, Erin was a junior at a new boarding school, and Amy was working at Washington-area magazine.

She opened the second page of her letter, read several lines and said "Oh, shit."

Anahita's eyebrows went up. Daria had a salty vocabulary but seldom swore where a Professor or a Prefect could take off points. This must be very bad news.

"What is it, Daria?" said Anahita.

"Do you remember my telling you about my friend Laura Penrick back in Highland?" she said.

"The one with the Dagworth cousin?" said Anahita.

"Yes, her," said Daria. "Mom told me that Laura's cancer has come back and that she's in the hospital."

-(((O-O)))-