Daisy reentered her chosen compartment - to the complete horror of its occupants.
She held up her hands to the three girls, trying to pull the most sincere, the most apologetic, the most disarming face imaginable. "It's okay - look, I-" She tried to get Edith's attention, but the girl was refusing to look anywhere near her (she had a textbook in her hands, her face buried in it). "I'm sorry I threatened you! It was wrong, and I'm sorry! Okay? I really am. I shouldn't have done that and I feel really awful about it and I just-"
Now the girl looked at Daisy - full on. "Oh, cute - you think you were threatening." Edith said, mocking - but Daisy saw it, the apprehension again, the real anxiety and the real dash of fear. And she knew the obvious; on the fight, flight, or freeze list of reactions to bad situations, this girl was a fighter. Confront it, spit at it, get in its face instead of running away or becoming a statue. She wasn't really trying to be a huge jerk to Daisy - well, okay, that remained to be seen, actually - but...that was besides the point!
The point was that Daisy knew what she was doing, and so Daisy was not going to retaliate in kind. She was going to be kind. She was.
"Whether I was or not doesn't really matter - I shouldn't have tried to be at all," Daisy said calmly, pitching her voice soft. "I'm sorry for that, okay?" She slowly moved to seat herself next to Rigel again. "I'm- I'm not going to hurt any of you, okay? I don't want to hurt people. I don't want to...I just want us all to be friends."
"Well I don't want to be your friend, so get that idea out of your head," Edith snapped instantly.
Daisy restrained a growl. She clenched her fists and set them in her lap. "I'm...sure...that you'll change your mind about that. I hope you do."
"Don't hold your breath, princess."
"Look-" Daisy started, irritation rising.
"You know they're going to make you get rid of all that the second you walk through the front doors," Mallory spoke up swiftly, her eyes rapt to Edith as she gestured at the girl's - everything. All of her. "There's no way they'll let you get away with being a muggle fashion explosion..."
Edith shrugged in response. "Like I care."
"You'll get a detention..." Mallory insisted, with fear flooding her voice. Concern.
Edith's expression flickered. She gripped her book tighter, shuffled her legs together. "I've been through worse than a detention. Boo hoo, it's so scary; I'll have to write lines, or sit a few hours in a classroom with some dumb teacher. Please."
"I don't think that detentions at Hogwarts are going to be as simple as that," Daisy stated. "Or as painless."
Edith looked doubtful, for a moment. Then she shook her head and laughed a fake, hard laugh. "No one asked for your opinion, Dark Princess."
Daisy glared, her hand twitching for her wand - but she took a big breath, refusing to draw it on this girl. After this morning, she had had her fill of doing such awful things! She was done, for...the rest of the year! Or- or the holidays, if her parents wanted her home then. At Hogwarts, she was determined to be Daisy again, not Delphini.
She was not a dark princess; she was just a girl who wanted to make some friends. And friends didn't torture friends - or potential friends, even. It was wrong, sick and evil. And Daisy felt sick of being sick. Sick of being evil. She never wanted to feel so terrible inside again - or...any time soon, at least. She never wanted to feel such hatred for herself, such remorse and such shame. She didn't want to hurt anyone again...or kill anyone (besides her parents, that was - and anyone else who deserved it, like all the rest of the Death Eaters and oppressive Ministry employees!).
She had promised herself. It was time to be herself again - the girl to make her daddy proud, the girl he would have wanted to see her be again, still, despite everything...even when it was so hard to remember...
"I'm just trying to help you," Daisy said quietly. "I don't want to see you get hurt."
"That ship sailed when I was born," Edith retorted. "No matter what I do or not, there's no avoiding pain - so I'm going to do what I want, and take it when it comes my way. There's nothing that anyone in the world can do to me that hasn't already been done since I was four..." she finished, in a low murmur. She shifted her legs again and let a quick breath go - pushed her hair from her eyes.
"Okay," Daisy said quietly. She had tried, she told herself. She had at least tried. She could feel proud of that, couldn't she? She had tried being nice, kind, helpful. She had tried doing the right, compassionate thing for this girl. This girl who wanted nothing to do with her, seemed to hate her right off the bat, just for being Voldemort's daughter. That was nothing new, anyway, so why should Daisy get so upset over it?
She wouldn't.
A kind, good, nice girl understood and empathized. Especially with people who probably had very good reasons for their feelings; who knew what kind of life this girl had had before? From the sounds of it, Daisy suspected it was not at all happy. Probably something a lot like her own...
She already knew that wasn't exactly an uncommon life story in this world - this world her parents had created. A terrible, awful world.
Even if it wasn't uncommon...it still deserved sensitivity and- consideration. That was it!
Daisy would be sensitive and considerate! And- and her daddy would be proud of her for it!
A tense silence filled the compartment.
Daisy wasn't going to let it stay that way. She turned to Rigel, giving her the lightest tap on the arm. "So, what House do you think you'll be in?"
"I- I d-don't know," the girl stuttered, avoiding Daisy's gaze with a shiver.
Silence again.
Well, Daisy knew how to work with the shy types! Her best friend and her cousin had been that way, and she had gotten them to open up to her in short order! She could do the same for this girl. For all of these girls. They were going to be friends!
"No matter where I'm placed, I won't mind," Daisy spoke again, smiling at the girl. "But...I'd like to go to Gryffindor," she admitted softly. She was Daisy, and Daisy dealt in truths, not lies. She was going to be herself again, damnit! Even if her parents were likely to come up to Hogwarts to literally strangle her for it if she did end up anywhere but Slytherin...
The girls looked at her like she was insane - or playing a prank. Or maybe just trying to trick them.
"Why on earth would you want to go there?" Edith asked.
"Because..." Daisy began, even quieter than before. "My family went there. Well, my daddy did - my mummy was a Slytherin..."
"Both of your parents were Slytherins," Edith said instantly. "Who are you even talking about?"
"I think she means Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass..." Mallory murmured, gazing on Daisy with new eyes. "They had her before- You-Know-Who and Lestrange..."
"That's right," Daisy said, feeling a great weight lift from her like never before. "They raised me since I was a baby, they're my family - they're my daddy and mummy - not...the Dark Lord and Bellatrix Lestrange. Those two- psychotic freaks- just gave birth to me. But that doesn't mean a damn thing! I don't love them, I never have, and I love daddy and mummy instead!"
"Daddy and mummy," Edith repeated. "Are you five?"
Daisy clenched her jaw to refrain from swearing at the girl. "I was six when the Dark Lord stole me from my real family. It was the night of my birthday. He- he k-killed a family friend, and then he tried to kill my best friend and my cousin, and he killed my daddy."
Edith let out something between a snort and a disgusted noise. "Do you want us to cry for you or something, princess? I can top all of that, easily. So can hundreds of other people across the country - all because of your parents."
"Biological parents," Daisy snarled, clenching her fists at her sides.
"Still parents," Edith countered.
"Parents I want nothing to do with!" Daisy said loudly. "Parents I didn't even know I had until my sixth birthday! Parents I hate, for everything they've done, parents I want nothing more than to just kill myself! To free and help people like you."
"Now you want gratitude? You haven't done anything - you're sitting here on this train with us, on that...skinny little arse of yours," Edith said hatefully.
"My arse is not skinny! It's fuller than yours! You're a twig, not me!" Daisy shouted, fury overtaking her.
Edith rolled her eyes at her and turned away deliberately. Snubbing her so purposefully.
It infuriated Daisy further.
She'd been trying so hard to be kind to this girl, to relate to her, even, and what was she getting for it?! Insults, ridicule - shaming of her body!
"Whatever you say, princess boney."
Daisy jumped up from her seat, stepped forward and pushed her face into Edith's. "You're the one who's boney!"
"Real original comeback." Edith threw a sideways look at her, blinking slowly. She raised a hand and waved Daisy off, as if dismissing her completely. "It's clear to see for anyone with eyes - deny it all you want."
Daisy straightened, and she slammed her shoe on the floor to stamp out the urge to just draw her damn wand - to make this girl scream and beg and apologize and just learn to keep her mouth shut! But she could not do that: she wouldn't! Well then, she needed a better idea to show this girl up, didn't she? Get back at her for all this shite. An idea came to her, in her scramble for inspiration (alternative). A nice, normal girl, innocent, harmless alternative. She promptly spun around and stuck her rear end in the girl's face.
"Hey - what the hell!" Edith said, dumbstruck. And extremely pissed off. She shoved out at Daisy, causing her to topple over onto the seat.
Daisy righted herself and twisted around. She fixed a big smirk on her face. "What do you think now, huh? Is it still easy to see?"
"Don't be a freak!" Edith snapped back, cringing and raising her book in front of her like a shield.
"Can we not have a fight, please...?" Mallory asked. "We could all end up with detentions before we're even there..."
"I'm not worried," Edith retorted, still holding her book in front of her face. "And, anyway, it's a little too late for that. The fight's over, and I won it."
Daisy wanted so badly to protest that declaration; Edith had not won! And she so badly wanted to just keep fighting - but Mallory was right. And Mallory and Rigel, at least, didn't deserve to get punished for anything that Edith did. Or...anything that...Daisy had done.
She slumped in her seat, sighing to herself.
Mummy would have full-on mooned her...
Well, Daisy thought brightly, she could keep that on the back burner. She might find an appropriate time to use it later.
Daisy disembarked from the train onto a dark platform in the village of Hogsmeade.
"Move!"
A hand shoved at her backside roughly.
Daisy turned to glare at Edith - but she refused to do anything more. "I'm not even in the way," she gritted. "You could have gone around me." She gestured to the wide open platform around them.
"You were in my way," Edith retorted.
Don't go for Crucio, don't go for Crucio, don't go for Crucio...
Daisy sucked in a long breath - and let it go. She forced a smile onto her face. "I didn't realize - I'm so sorry! Why don't you go now, then?"
Edith gave her a look like she thought she was an idiot, but said nothing more as she stalked past her into the crowd of students.
"Sorry about her: really," Mallory said, face filled with fear, before she bustled off to follow after Edith.
"I'm not going to hurt you!" Daisy called after her, frustrated - by that look, by all of them and their behaviors! She just wanted to be...ugh. She would break through it soon enough; she swore she would! She would have real, good friends again! And she would not hurt them! Not for stupid, small, petty shit!
She stopped as something grabbed the back of her robes, tugging on her. She twisted around, drawing her wand in an instant, heart pounding, head buzzing!
It was Rigel. Right there behind her. Really, really close. She looked terrified at the wand shoved in her face; she let Daisy go and stepped back quickly, hands rising to her chest.
"N-no, look, I'm sorry!" Daisy said hastily, shoving her wand back in her pocket. "That was just - reflexes, training! I- why were you- what's wrong?"
Rigel seemed to be bordering on open panic; wide eyes, shallow, fast breaths, shaking from head to toe!
"Please just tell me why you grabbed me."
Rigel shook her head, letting out a quavering breath of terror.
Daisy clenched her jaw tight, grinding her teeth. "Okay...well, now I get to grab you: come on, we have to catch up to the others." She seized the girl's hand and pulled her along the platform after the other first years.
Thankfully, the girl didn't resist.
As Daisy and Rigel made their way to the boats to cross the lake, she noticed the girl's head was on a swivel; every sound caused her to startle, every hint of motion caused her head to turn - and her grasp on Daisy's hand would get ever tighter.
"Are you okay?" Daisy asked as they settled into a boat together.
Rigel shook her head furiously and hugged herself. "I- I'm- f-f-fine..."
Daisy sighed, leaning back in her seat to gaze up at the night sky. All those twinkling stars - it was all so pretty...but not enough to distract her from her thoughts. She really hated that everyone saw her like this - like just as much of an evil boogeyman as her parents. Could she ever change that? If she couldn't change it for even three girls she hoped to befriend, how could she hope to change the view of the whole world?
All this fear and hate for her...
She didn't want it - she just wanted love again. She wanted peace, happiness, laughter and joy!
She wanted acceptance, and she wanted the truth.
She just wanted to be Daisy again...to be true to herself.
She wasn't like her parents, she wasn't! She never wanted to be!
She didn't want to rule the world, she just wanted to live in it!
She wanted all these looks, on all these faces around her...to change.
She wanted the way her daddy, and mummy, and everyone else from the Order used to look at her: like she was just a girl. A happy, loving, pretty girl that they loved! They could never have hated her, been afraid of her - daddy had told her that himself, once. And even if she still didn't understand it...she did still believe him. And she wanted that back! But could she even get it back now? They all knew, and they all...they all had to be just as afraid or angry with her now, knowing the truth. Even if she went back to them, would she just be heading to more of the same kind of treatment as she was getting now?
The thoughts wouldn't leave her head, no matter how much she tried to banish them.
She was glad for the boat to touch the other side of the lake - glad to come out of her own mind, and look up at the visage she would never forget: the brilliantly lit up castle of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Daisy jumped from the boat, compulsively brushing at her hair. She reached a hand out for Rigel, smiling. "Here - let me help." Rigel threw herself forward to take her hand - and she didn't let go after. Again. Daisy's smile grew more true; she didn't mind it at all. In fact, it was exactly what she wanted!
She led Rigel on, following the other students (who were, themselves, all following a tall witch with dark hair streaked with silver).
They followed the witch into the castle's entrance hall, before a pair of closed double doors.
The witch eyed them all with a sweeping, critical gaze. "Welcome to Hogwarts, first and foremost," she began, in a ringing, strong voice. "I am Professor McGonagall, and I will be your Transfigurations teacher during your time here - I am also the Head of the House of Gryffindor." She drew a breath - she paused. Her face changed, flickered with something. Her eyes glistened...and blinked, returning strong. "Secondly - and I cannot stress the importance of this enough - as Hogwarts is the most premiere school for magical education in this country, it is expected that each and every one of you will be on your best behavior. Any rule-breaking will result in the strictest of punishments - the swiftest of disciplines. Every student in this school will be given three fair warnings before punishments begin for any infractions, so be certain you know the rules - and can follow them to the letter - or the next seven years will be quite...trying for you."
McGonagall's eyes swept across them again - and landed on Edith. Her wand was drawn swiftly, and flicked in Edith's direction; all of Edith's makeup and accessories vanished from her person, and the purple streaks in her hair melted away like wet paint, leaving behind an all-black head of hair.
"Your first warning, Miss..." McGonagall spoke loudly, her lips trembling slightly. She looked to have paled a slight bit as well.
"Edith - Coleman."
"Miss Coleman...this would have been quite a terrible way to start the year off."
"I don't care. I know why I'm here, and I won't waste my time pretending I'm so grateful and happy to be invited!" Edith said, with an air of supreme indifference. "We all know Hogwarts is mandatory, and we all know I'm just here to be a hostage against my mum."
McGonagall strode forward, swift and silent. She sighed, and knelt down before Edith. She reached for the girl's shoulder, looking her in the eye. "And your mother is...?" she spoke quietly.
"Jennifer Coleman."
Whispers and mutterings spread through the students, starting with those nearest to Edith.
McGonagall's eyes widened a fraction - recognition. "I see." She straightened, her hand falling away from Edith. She stepped away, gazing down at the girl, uncertainty on her face. And a great deal of worry. "For your own sake, nonetheless, I would advise you to do your best to pretend - and behave, at very least."
"No. No, they wanted me here! So, well: here I am, and I won't make it fun for them," Edith asserted, with a nigh-maniacal laugh.
"Miss Coleman, believe me when I say you do not want to-" McGonagall began.
The double doors creaked open, and a familiar figure to Daisy came striding out.
"Are we starting off this year with difficulties?" came the low, silky tones of Severus Snape. He stood before them all with crossed arms. He gave them all a once-over, then met McGonagall's gaze squarely. "The first years were meant to be in the Great Hall several minutes ago."
McGonagall went rigid, and her eyes were sharp as she looked Snape in the face. "I tell you, I did not miss your presence in this castle, Headmaster," she said coldly. "It was a merciful five years without your overbearing stench permeating these walls - and all of our noses."
Snape was unblinking, emotionless. His upper lip twitched - was he going to curl it at her, or was he going to go for a condescending smile? "And I did not miss having to return to the unenviable position of having to manage your lot of aging malcontents. I do hope, for your own sakes, that you'll not attempt to undermine me nearly as often as you did before."
"As long as there is breath in my body I will undermine you, Severus. Quite gleefully, I might add."
A thin smile appeared on Snape's lips. "Then we are all in for a trying year, aren't we?"
"If you wish otherwise, you should fire us already," McGonagall sniffed.
"Believe me, I wish nothing more than to do so, and to wash my hands of you all - but the Dark Lord insists otherwise," Snape replied lazily. "He seems to believe your being the foremost experts and practitioners of your magical arts outweighs any issues that keeping you on staff brings - and that you are all too valuable to let loose into the world. To let you run off to rejoin the Order, no doubt," he concluded.
"As if the Dark Lord actually respects us," McGonagall scoffed. "I would wager his concerns are solely that last part, and nothing to do with education or prowess, acknowledged or not."
"He is not a fool, Minerva: he respects and recognizes knowledge and power in others where it exists," Snape responded. "He does not undervalue your experience."
"How comforting."
"It should be - it is the only thing keeping you free and living," Snape said softly. "Else he would doubtlessly have done away with you a decade ago."
Snape looked at the students once more, his eyes glistening like marbles. His gaze found Daisy, and lingered.
She flashed a smile and gave a wave. "Hey - Sevie."
Snape pressed his lips together. His eye twitched. "Welcome," he said, as if forcing himself to acknowledge her. He turned back to McGonagall (perhaps seeing her as the better option than to risk being drawn into conversation with Daisy). "So, then? Why have the students been delayed out here?"
"Was I not tasked with giving them the customary welcoming speech, as well as impressing upon them all the importance of behaving true to the...standards your Master expects of them?" McGonagall answered.
"Yes - but you were also told to do so in a succinct manner," Snape said slowly. "If you mean to make a big show of it-"
"I've yet to even explain the Houses - or the point system," McGonagall interrupted tartly. "But I assure you, I aim to be as succinct as possible."
"Do you? Perhaps you wished to delay so as to create time alone here with them," Snape ventured. "Time to pass along a message - or receive one?"
McGonagall let out a snort. "Please, Snape - I would hope you could give me a little more credit than that by now. Were I attempting to communicate with outside forces, I would do so in a way far more effective and secretive than utilizing child messengers. Not to mention, I, unlike you, am not so heartless as to use children in the name of war. Not even against my most hated enemies."
"So you say." Snape stepped forward, uncrossing his arms, ignoring McGonagall in favor of the first years. "You will enter the Great Hall, you will follow Professor McGonagall to the staff table, and you will be sorted into one of four Houses: Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Gryffindor. Rule-breaking will not only earn you punishments, but you will lose House points as well. Behave well and excel in classes - as well as make sure your fellow students are behaving - and you will gain points...and perhaps even special rewards and privileges. Now, come."
He whirled away, striding through the open doors into the Great Hall.
McGonagall beckoned the students, and followed after Snape.
Severus Snape was, as far as Death Eaters went, very strange, Daisy reflected as she strode up the Hall, between the tables full of older students.
Over the course of the past five years in which he had been tasked with sticking to Daisy like glue, she had done her best to just act like he didn't exist - unless she needed him for something (ordering him to Apparate her to places outside the manor, mainly), or when she just...wanted to torment him a little.
But no matter how much she had tormented him, the man had never once leered at her, never tried to touch her - for any reason - and had never once, deliberately, hurt her. In fact, he had often times been rather...helpful and cooperative.
Daisy might have put it down to her father's orders compelling the man to put his best foot forward when it came to attending to her, but...somehow she sensed that his attitude toward her came from another place else entirely. It was like he personally wanted to help her, in all those million little ways she would command him to.
Daisy could never say she liked the man - but he was at least someone she knew she could rely on not to hit or grope her, or anything else that would have been terrible for her personal wellbeing. He was consistent.
Had he been literally any other Death Eater, perhaps, Daisy would not have felt even the barest sliver of comfort at the idea of being alone in a room with him for private, one on one lessons that would leave her vulnerable in ways she could not imagine - but Severus Snape had never once taken advantage of her in similar or worse situations prior. In fact, he seemed to be repulsed by the thought himself: he had always been adamant about never entering the bathroom with her, or being around her when she was in any state of undress in general.
Severus Snape might have been a lot of things, as far as she had learned in the course of her time with him - a sarcastic, petty, sadistic arsehole who had bullied several generations of Potters; an extremely talented, intelligent, powerful mage; a double agent for her father for over a decade, fooling the entire Order and Dumbledore himself flawlessly; and her father's most valued, trusted servant - but one thing he was not...was a pervert.
And Daisy highly appreciated that about him. So, so highly.
He had been the one to blast Gregory Goyle off of her when she was nine (and to drag him away to be killed by her father for it). Most of the Death Eaters were like wolves circling sheep, waiting for the moment - for an opening to just pounce and tear into her - but not Snape. He had even apologized to her over it afterward: profusely! Sure, maybe he had just not wanted to get literally murdered by her father over his failure to protect her, but, again, Daisy had thought she saw...something real in his eyes that day. That was why she had spoken up in favor of letting him live, when her father had indeed been set on killing Snape for his negligence.
Maybe Snape, since then, had just been grateful to her for saving his life...her returning of the favor he'd done for her that day...but...
That would have just made them even.
No. Daisy knew it: there was something genuine about Snape. In that face she could never read, those dark eyes of his that were usually so cold and dead to the world...
It was all a mask, to conceal the truth of the man behind it all - underneath it all. She was certain of that much.
Snape was loyal, but not a fanatic - and he had...standards. Morals of his own, at least. And he cared about her, about protecting her, in a real sense. Not just duty to the cause, or fear of her father. But because of Daisy herself, and a desire to protect her for her. He was the only one that she...ever felt relaxed with. Not her father, who always exuded this aura of deadliness and danger that made her body scream; and not her mother, who was prone to berating her and manhandling her at the drop of a goddamn hat! Severus Snape had never given her any of those feelings inside.
He almost made her feel...
Safe.
Daisy was jarred from her thoughts as the line of students stopped at the head of the Hall.
There was a simple wooden stool, and an old hat upon it.
McGonagall explained that she would call their names off a list, and they would have the Sorting Hat placed on their head to sort them. She conjured a sheet of parchment, clearing her throat.
Snape interrupted her. "Ah, not quite yet, Minerva. The Dark Lord, of course, wishes his dearest Delphini to be first sorted."
McGonagall did not repress her sigh. "Of course he would. Very well, then."
Snape locked eyes with Daisy, indicating the Sorting Hat with a jerk of his chin. "Step forward, if you would, Delphini..."
Daisy suppressed her irritation at the name, and broke from the rest. She pulled out of Rigel's grasp, shouldered past those who were a bit too slow to move (though, most of them were all to eager to give her a wide berth). She stepped up to the stool, snatched the Hat up, and sat down and pulled it over her head. She was resigned to the fact that her hair was going to get ruined by this old stitched up accessory. Again.
The voice sounded in her ear, after a moment. Quiet, a whisper.
"Ah...so we begin with quite a difficult mind, don't we? The one I admit I was most eager to get a look at..." The Sorting Hat spoke.
"I'm glad I gave you something to look forward to," Daisy replied, uncaring if all the Hall heard her.
A little chuckle in her ear. "Yes, well...Now that I have you here, where shall I put you - Daisy?"
She kept her face as blank as possible, her posture unchanged. But inside her chest was a flutter of warmth. The Hat had acknowledged her? "You should already know where I want to go," she spoke clearly. Deliberately.
"Yes, and your reasoning for what you just said was, in itself, an endorsement of the House I'm inclined to put you in...how paradoxical. Cleverness to advocate for uncleverness."
"I wouldn't mind going to any House," Daisy said honestly. "But you know...where I really want to be."
"And yet, I think you've neglected to think the matter though. Tell me, Daisy, what do you think your next seven years here would be like as the daughter of Tom Riddle, in a House and a dorm room surrounded by those who have suffered and lost loved ones to him and his rule?"
"Probably not the greatest," Daisy murmured, past her shock at the Hat's casual dropping of her father's real name (it made sense, really; the Hat had sorted him a long time ago, too).
"It would be downright immoral of me, as a tool of the school meant not only to sort students, but to look out for their best interests - physical and mental wellbeing included - to place you in any House other than Slytherin."
"If you do put me there, do you think no one is going to try anything with me whenever I'm outside of my dormitory?" Daisy replied softly - trying to keep the bitterness out. "It won't change much as far as my safety goes."
"True - but it will at least be far better than the alternatives."
"I can't be me if I'm there," Daisy whispered. "Put me where I want to be. Health be damned! I'd rather get hurt and be true to myself than keep lying and getting an easy ride. I'm sick of living this way...I just c-can't...I can't keep doing it, please...not after this- after this morning..."
"Well...such a sentiment speaks of a true Gryffindor," the hat considered, sounding genuinely torn - and distressed. "I see it's not false in you - not at all. You've always had such a strong will, a courage about you...But I couldn't-"
"You will," Daisy said firmly. "Do it - or I'll turn you to dust," she added fiercely.
"I will," the Hat agreed. "But not because of any threats - regardless of the fact that you are actually capable of backing them up. Go to the House you wish for, then. And I will simply leave you with this: I wish you all the luck and good will in this world, during your time in...GRYFFINDOR!"
The Hat shouted the last word, proclaiming it to all.
There was a dead silence in the Great Hall.
Daisy hopped off the stool, dropped the Hat on the floor, and strode past the first years to the Gryffindor table. She seated herself, and placed her hands on the table, nice and neat.
And she refused to look at anyone else.
The silence lasted a long time before the next name was called.
"Coleman, Edith!" went to Gryffindor.
"Mcneil, Mallory!" was sent to Hufflepuff.
"Newton, Rigel!" was declared a Slytherin.
For lack of any better options, it seemed, Edith chose to sit down next to Daisy.
"You're a lunatic," were Edith's first words to Daisy, swift and abrasive as could be.
Daisy gave the girl her best smile and said, "Thank you! I know!"
"Stop that," Edith snapped. "You're a dark princess, not the princess of flowers-and-bubblegum-land."
"Maybe that's just what everybody thinks," Daisy whispered.
"No, no, you're just completely barmy." Edith paused. "And - oh god - I think I like it..."
Yes! "Then we can be two barmy peas in a- loony pod!"
"No. That's idiotic - and don't ever say it again."
Daisy giggled, for the first time in what felt like forever. Literal years.
Edith's eyes were bugging out at the sight.
And Daisy was loving it.
She would win Edith over - she would be victorious in the struggle of friendship!