Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl. Chapter 36: Halloween At Hogwarts
DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter is the creation of JK Rowling and is the property of JK Rowling, Wizarding World, and Warner Brothers. Daria is the creation of Glen Eichler and is the property of MTV Viacom. I own neither franchise. I neither desire or expect any sort of financial compensation for this work of fiction; I am writing for my own amusement.
Positive reviews are always nice. Negative reviews are tolerated if the reviewer knows what he or she is talking about.
This chapter is rated "T" for language. Laura Penrick does not suffer fools gladly.
Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl*Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl*Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl
Daria and Tabitha went through Potions class much as they would have if Professor Snape had been teaching it. Still, Daria couldn't help but note the change of atmosphere. She wondered why so many of the Purebloods in the class seemed so awed by Professor Flamel. Was Professor Flamel some sort of celebrity? Probably. She was all too aware of her ignorance of the Wizarding world in general and the British wizarding world in particular. Who was this guy, she wondered. She itched to go do some research.
In the meantime, she and Tabitha had to brew a potion. Whatever claim Professor Flamel had to fame and glory, Daria decided that that wouldn't stop her from doing the best she could. The Potion was still challenging, but the stress wasn't there. Professor Flamel's approach was considerably gentler than Professor Snape's had been: he'd walk around the classroom, watch how each pair was doing, sometimes speaking words of encouragement, sometimes gently critiquing the potion teams' techniques. Daria found his approach relaxing. He didn't say much to either Daria or Tabitha except to say "Good, good. Carry on," but both she and Tabitha grinned as he walked away. She hadn't really felt this way since she'd been in Mrs. Ocampo's Potions classes back in Highland. When it came time to bring their samples up front for grading, Daria was pleased to see that both she and Tabitha had gotten Es for "Exceeds Expectations."
So who was Nicolas Flamel? After the last class of the day, Daria resolved to go to the library and look up her Potions teacher. Unfortunately, she was not alone: a lot of other kids from all four Houses had had the same idea and Daria was unable to do any useful research. She did hear bits and pieces—that he was centuries old, that he was a noted alchemist, and that he'd worked with Professor Dumbledore on several projects. That still didn't constitute an adequate biography in her book. She went to dinner feeling grumpy. Her mood dissipated somewhat late that evening during astronomy class: there was something about looking at the distant stars and planets that made her feel that her problems and frustrations weren't really all that important.
Friday passed much like it usually did. After dinner, the girls in her dorm room were familiar enough with each other that they talked about their families and their friends and told stories. Daria was going to sleep in on Saturday morning, but something told her that if she didn't want to suffer from cabin fever all weekend, she needed to get dressed and get outside now. She hastily put on some clothes and went outdoors, foregoing breakfast. The day was cold and windy and overcast. She got as far as the path leading to the Forbidden Forest when she felt a couple of raindrops land on her hair, at which point she turned around and walked back to the Castle. By the time she reached the entrance it had turned into a rain-shower.
It continued to rain most of that weekend. Daria stayed in, using much of the time for studying, some of it for writing in her journal, writing letters, and reading a couple of the books she'd brought with her from Texas. She was relieved to learn that her fellow Ravenclaws weren't all-work-and-no-play; a couple of shelves in the commons room had an assortment of books students had bought for personal reading and had left behind. Daria decided to do the same with the books she'd brought from Highland and a couple of murder mysteries she'd picked up in London.
She did put the books aside for a late Saturday evening game of Exploding Snap. By the time the girls put the cards away, Daria had been forced to admit that she wasn't a very good player, but she did do better than her first game.
The week started with more rain, something Daria suspected that she was going to have to get used to. Her Monday classes went well enough, although Daria felt a faint trace of foreboding, like she was about to get some very unpleasant news.
Despite her concern that a shoe was going to drop (although she didn't know what sort of shoe would hit the floor), Daria was finally able to get to the school library and begin to research Professor Flamel. What she found surprised and awed her. Not only was Professor Flamel old but he was very old—at least six hundred years old, outlasting any of the other long-lived wizards and witches she'd ever heard about. Professor Flamel was a noted alchemist and a master potion-maker, allegedly having created something called the Elixir of Life. He was also reputed to have made something called the Philosopher's Stone, another instrument of immortality, and had worked with Professor Dumbledore on at least two projects.
It was a lot to take in. By the time she'd finished mentally organizing her notes, she realized that she'd taken a couple of potions classes from one of the greatest wizards of the Second Millennium. The closest equivalent she could think of in Muggle education would be if she'd been taught beginning chemistry by Marie Curie or beginning physics by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen. She spent the rest of that day walking around in a daze. She went to sleep that evening feeling as shaken as if she'd been in a car wreck.
The bad news came on Tuesday. She'd come into the Great Hall for lunch and to watch the owls deliver other people's mail. She was hoping for something from home but didn't anything. An owl flew the length of the Ravenclaw table, landed, then hopped over to where she was sitting. The owl looked at her expectantly. She took the envelope from its beak and saw that it was from her Mom. She paid the owl, then opened the letter after the owl took off and flew away.
She opened her letter, wondering what her mother had to say.
Hi, Sweetie!
I hope you're doing well and that you're enjoying your stay at school. I'm delighted to hear that you're making new friends and hope to meet some of them someday.
"We're all doing fine. The law office is keeping me busy. Your Dad is still at his job. He's still in counseling and is mellowing out.
"Your sisters are doing well. Quinn is making her mark in fourth grade; she'd popular with her teachers as well with her classmates. Ronnie is also popular with her fellow kindergartners and her teachers. I do worry about her adventurous streak; she hasn't gotten into trouble but I think she takes too many chances.
Her face fell as she read the next paragraph.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I saw Mrs. Dagworth at the United Grocery Store and she told me about what's going on with your friend Laura. I am sorry to say that the doctors weren't able to bring her cancer under control. They've moved her over to hospice care.
"I know that your friendship with Laura means a lot to you and I hate that I had to be the person to tell you what's up with your friend. Know that my thoughts and love are with you as Laura is fighting her own battle.
Love,
Your mother
Oh, Hell, thought Daria, tears forming in her eyes.
-(((O-O)))-
The second week after receiving the bad news from Texas was miserable. She did tell her room-mates and Tabitha about Laura: the girls were sympathetic, but they, like her, couldn't do anything. Daria spent much of it worrying about Laura and cursing herself about not being there or not being able to cure Laura's cancer. She thought of Laura lying in a hospital bed, either in pain or doped-up with pain-killers, trying to fight the illness that was killing her. Her grief showed in her work that week: her Transfiguration and Charms work was off, she spent her history of magic classes scowling at her desk top, and her mind kept drifting back to Highland and Laura during Herbology. She was able to hold it together enough for Potions; she was grateful that Professor Flamel was teaching that day instead of Professor Snape. She doubted that she would have gotten any sympathy from him.
Daria fell asleep in the Commons Room after her Monday afternoon classes. She dreamed of a circle of sorry and anxiety, then of a white light, of someone floating away from the pain and the confines of a weak and ailing body and moving on to something else. On some deep level she knew what it meant, even in her dream-state, but she didn't want to name it because that would mean that it was real and had actually happened.
Daria had learned that Hogwarts held an annual Halloween feast. Neither students nor staff dressed up in costumes, but there were carved pumpkins, spiders, and bats. She liked the bats in theory—there had been a large bat colony near Highland—but she didn't care to risk having them poop in her dinner.
She roused herself and looked around the Commons Room. It was already dark; that meant everyone else was probably in the Great Hall. She descended the stairs, put her books on her bed, then went off to dinner.
She was still in a state of gloom on Tuesday, so much so that both Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick noticed it. Professor McGonagall gave her some sympathy, then invited her to sit down and have some tea after class. She'd grown to know Daria well enough that she practically ordered her to follow her after class, sit down, and drink the tea. Afterwards, Daria grudgingly admitted to herself that the older woman's approach helped a lot.
The following day was the 31st. She tried to make herself enjoy the Halloween Feast, but with only limited success. It was the sort of party she probably would killed for to attend back in the first or second grade, and even now, she could see some of the delightful features that Professor Dumbledore and the staff had added: the giant Jack-O-Lanterns, the spider-web decorations, the green hag stirring the cauldron. Some joker knew his or her anatomy to add what looked like human legs to go on another hag's grill.
Unlike her, most of the other students, at least the younger ones were enjoying the festivities. Daria tried to think her way out of her gloom but only with partial success. It's not just for you, Daria, she told herself, it's for the other kids, too. Don't be a party-pooper, said some inner voice. She wanted to tell the voice to stuff it.
Still, it wasn't all gloom and doom for her. Dahlia, Majda, and Anahita tried to cheer her up. Majda reminded her that All Saints' Day followed Halloween, and that it was all right to remember the dead. That, and what Anahita had told her about Samhain, the time of year when the barriers between the lands of the living and the land of the dead lessen, lifted her out of her gloom for a while. Did the dead travel over to the lands of the living? She briefly tried to imagine how Mad Dog Morgendorffer would react if he could see the goings-on in the Great Hall. She tried to be congenial, but the most she was able to do was eat too much dessert. She retired early and went to sleep.
It was about 5:00AM Thursday morning. Daria felt a need to get up early. She roused herself awake, then fumbled for her eyeglasses. The foot of her bed felt chillier than usual. She put on her glasses, looked at the foot of her bed, and saw Laura Penrick sitting there and grinning at her.
"Laura?" said Daria.
Laura grinned at her astonished expression. "It's me alright," she said, her form shimmering white like the other ghosts she'd seen around Hogwarts and elsewhere.
"I am so sorry," said Daria.
"I know. I would have liked to have stuck around longer but it was my time to go," said Laura.
"Couple of days ago?" asked Daria.
"Yeah," said Laura. "I spent them saying goodbye to family and friends then found out just where you were in Scotland." She grinned again. "You've been keeping a lot of stuff under your hat, Morgendorffer. The Howard School my ass."
Daria blushed.
"OK, what's the REAL name of this outfit?" said Laura.
"The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," said Daria.
"And you're a," said Laura.
"Un-hunh," said Daria.
"Is everybody else on the grounds a witch?" asked Laura.
"Just the girls," said Daria. "The guys are called wizards."
"Nice grounds," said Laura. "Dunno about the castle. Keeping it up must be a pain in the butt. How many years do you have to put in before you graduate?"
"Seven," said Daria.
Someone knocked on one of Daria's bedposts and drew back one of the curtains.
"Daria, could you keep it down? We'd still like to put in a little more sleep," said Anahita, her eyes widening at the sight of Laura's ghostly form.
"And this is?" she added.
"Laura Penrick," said Daria. "Laura, this is Anahita Waring, one of my roommates."
"Hi!" said Laura. "I'm on my way out and I wanted to say goodbye to Daria before I move on."
Anahita, unlike Daria, had grown up in a magical family and knew what Laura was saying. "Oh, how do you do?" said Anahita. She'd grown accustomed to seeing lots of ghosts at Hogwarts ghosts but hadn't ever seen any from west Texas. She noted that Laura was older than her sister Violet and that her Texas accent was thicker than Daria's.
"If your roommates are still trying to sleep, maybe we ought to take this conversation outside," said Laura.
"Yeah," said Daria. She moved her bedcovers and opened the curtain. She hoped that the house elves had left her slippers where she'd left them when she turned in the night before. Sometimes they liked to move things around.
The house elves hadn't moved them. Daria put on her slippers and she and Laura slipped out into the hallway.
"So this is why you and Farrah fell out?" said Laura, gesturing with her hand at the walls and ceiling.
"Yeah," said Daria. "It's not that I wanted this so much that I already had it and needed to learn to get it under control."
"Such as?" said Laura.
"Like the time I turned my Mom's cell phone into a plastic frog and the Crazy Twins' hair electric blue," said Daria. Laura guffawed.
"So where was the phone's charger socket?" asked Laura.
"Where do you think?" said Daria.
Laura grinned.
"Seriously, that was picayune stuff," Daria continued. "Some people accidentally do other thing sand do real damage. This isn't as simple as putting the shotgun in the gun safe and locking the kitchen knives in the drawer at night. I don't want to become a danger to my family and friends."
"Could you do something like that?" said Laura.
"I already threw a guy against the wall," said Daria. "He'd broken into my house and was threatening me."
"Hmm," said Laura.
Daria decided to change the subject. "So what do you think of the teachers?"
"Interesting bunch, the ones I've seen," said Laura. "The old woman with the witch's hat sounds like someone you'd better not piss off. That guy with the shoulder-length hair has a lot of dark in him, and I don't think you should trust the guy who looks like a cross between Gandalf and Santa Claus."
"Oh-kay," said Daria.
"I did like the short guy, the one who looks like a garden gnome-turned-professor," said Laura. "What does he teach?"
"Charms," said Daria. "He's also my head of house. His name is Filius Flitwick. Also, he doesn't look it, but he can be a bad-ass. He used to be a professional duelist."
Laura gave her a look of disapproval.
"No, he wasn't a professional killer," said Daria. "Some magical duels can be fancier versions of sports like boxing matches or the WWE."
"Him?" Laura said incredulously.
"Size matters not," Daria replied.
Laura grinned.
"And he speaks proper, grammatical English, too," Daria added deadpan.
Daria and Laura were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice Simone Willoughby step up behind them.
"Morgendorffer, wrap it up with your Yankee friend," said Simone. "You're blocking the hallway. You can talk with your new friend later."
Laura turned to glare at Simone. "Honey, shut up," she said.
"Eh?" said Simone, temporarily non-plussed.
"I just died," said Laura. "I'm on the clock. I've only got a little window to talk to Daria before I have to move on and I don't want to waste it talking to a self-important prissy-assed pea-brained idiot who thinks she's next to God Almighty."
Simone's eyes bulged. Nobody had talked to her that way since her third year.
"Morgendorffer!" said Simone.
"Just ignore her, Daria," said Laura.
"Anyway, I really have to go in a little bit," said Laura, "and I wanted to say good-bye and good luck before I left."
"Ten points, Morgendorffer," said Simone.
"Someone twist your panties, sweetie?" Laura said snarkily.
"Fifteen points!" said Simone. "Detention!"
Daria was feeling nervous, despite her desire to stay cool. Simone's threat had rattled her.
"Daria, calm down, don't bolt," said Laura, turning her attention back to Daria.
"Before I go, I want to tell you that some things are more important than others and there are times that some people ought to be ignored," said Laura. Unfortunately for Simone, a couple of the other Ravenclaw Fledgling girls had stepped out into the hall and overheard her last comment.
"Anyhow, I wanted to tell you that I love you..." Laura began.
"You are not a…" Simone began.
"Stop interrupting, you dumb cow!" Laura replied testily.
"And I'm rooting for you," Laura said to Daria. "Live a good life and tell me about your adventures and tell me about your grandbabies." She faded from sight, leaving Daria alone with Simone as well as the Ravenclaw first-years who'd heard part of the conversation.
-(((O-O)))—
Simone was still seething after she dragged Daria to Professor Flitwick's office. Professor Flitwick was reading an article about charms and transfiguration when he looked up and saw the Ravenclaw prefect dragging a resentful Daria Morgendorffer into his office.
"Miss Willoughby!" he exclaimed. "What is this about?"
Simone was still seething. "This girl," she said angrily. "This insolent girl just went out of the way to insult me."
"I was out in the corridor talking to my friend Laura," said Daria. "She'd just died and we were saying our goodbyes when she barged into our conversation."
"That would be your west Texas rancher friend, wouldn't it?" said Professor Flitwick. "The one you said had been seriously ill."
"Yes, sir," said Daria, who shot a resentful look at Simone Willoughby.
"I'm sorry to hear about that," he said. "Do you know if she's going to be a permanent ghost or is she planning to go on?"
"I don't know, sir," Daria replied. "I think she's planning to move on. She told me that she was on the clock."
Professor Flitwick gave a brief chuckle. He'd heard that expression before, but never in this context.
Simone's ire had cooled just enough that she began to realize that there was more to what had just happened than just the Morgendorffer girl talking to some random ghost.
"I am told that the barriers between the worlds of the living and the dead weaken this time of year and that many spirits have to step lively if they don't care to remain behind," said Professor Flitwick. "If this is what happened, I hope she succeeds in her journey."
"But sir, this girl was insulting and disrespectful," said Simone.
"Did Miss Morgendorffer insult you herself?" asked Professor Flitwick.
Simone thought to say yes but thought better of it. She'd built a reputation of being honest with her head of house and wanted to keep it. Moreover, it was the other Texas girl, the one Morgendorffer had claimed had just died, that had been the one to insult her. "It was mostly that other girl," she grudgingly conceded.
"I would like to remind both of your that this Miss—what did you say her last name was, Miss Morgendorffer?" said Professor Flitwick.
"Penrick, sir," said Daria. "Laura Penrick."
"Miss Penrick is neither a Ravenclaw nor a student at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he finished.
"How many points did you take off Miss Morgendorffer, Miss Willoughby?"
"Fifteen," Simone replied. "And detention."
"I choose to reduce that to five points and detention with me early next week," replied Professor Flitwick. "If the Penrick girl remains on school grounds after Samhain has passed, we can discuss her status and any other penalties then." Both Simone and Daria wanted to say more. Daria thought that the Prefect was about to say something, but her expression changed and she said nothing. I hope she realizes what an idiot she made of herself, thought Daria, but I bet she doesn't.
There was a moment of silence.
"Well, that's it, then," said Professor Flitwick. "Miss Willoughby, thank you for coming by. Miss Morgendorffer, why don't you wash up and get dressed? You might want to have some breakfast before your first class."
-(((O-O)))—
Author's Notes: I know that many of my readers were hoping that Daria would return to Highland in time and perform a last-minute magical save on Laura and that both girls would go on with their lives. I apologize for disappointing you all.
Having apologized for Laura's death, I am not going to re-write thisI'vealso lost friends and family to cancer and their illnesses have occasionally moved quickly. Also, Daria Ravenclaw, like JK Rowling's Harry Potter, is a story about death and partings as well as about friendship and growth (Touching on death and mourning seems particularly appropriate right now). As Daria's time at Hogwarts continues, she's going to find out that she has less and less in common with the non-magical world and will grow that much more alienated from the non-magical part of Highland, Texas.