Daisy's father, she knew, wouldn't even consider that she might tell someone else besides mother about her greatest secrets - because he would never have.
To confess worries, voice fears or doubts...take comfort in another...he would never. He could never.
Not like mother had, baring herself to Daisy more and more, actually having fun with her, growing closer to her, giving her the album...sharing in the amusement of her Christmas card...playing games with her, going on that shopping trip itself...protecting her in Aileen's castle, and encouraging her in her own way...
Telling her she cared. Telling her she did love her - again, in her way.
Even now, in late January, almost a whole month afterward...Daisy felt frustration, anger, and even sadness and longing. She had been so close, she had been making progress, she had had plans in store, she was going to fix it, she was going to make mother join the Order, make up with her sister again, she was going to have...she would have... It had been going so well! All of it! Daisy had been doing so well with her! And now it was all just gone. Done. Wiped away. Mother was dead, and with her, so was every inch that Daisy had ever forced that goddamn woman to give her in her life! Over these hellish damn near six years living under a roof with her! Every dream, every fantasy, every hope and tear she had ever shed for that woman-
And it all meant nothing now. As if it had never happened. As if Daisy had never done anything at all. As if every effort she had ever put forth...had never been made at all.
It was like, on one hand, Daisy knew full well what kind of a monster in her own right that her mother had been. She knew the people her mother had killed, whose parents she had taken from them. She knew her mother had even taken Sirius from daddy! She knew...all of that. And she, herself, should have just been glad that one of the worst Death Eaters was now dead and gone. Scratched off the list. Knocked off the board, and out of the game.
But the board game was the problem...
So was her new wand. A frustrating thing that was so different from the last. In ways she could never have explained to anyone. Not really. Her father had taken it from one of his followers and given it to Daisy to keep. But it wasn't the same; it was even sort of worse for her.
All these frustrations, worries and fears in her now...Daisy just had to confide in someone. Even if that someone was a someone that her father would torture her for if he ever found out she was still talking with her.
At least the Chamber of Secrets was good for its name, in this case; it had now become a place where Daisy and Rigel would sneak out at night to, to hang out together on a near daily basis.
"You know souls exist," Daisy said quietly. She couldn't keep the tremor out of her voice, as it amplified and echoed around the Chamber of Secrets. "Do you know what the soul really is? It's us: our memories, our personalities, our- consciousness. Us, sitting here, right now, thinking and feeling things and looking at the world around us - that's us. That's our soul. We are the soul. It's like...how muggles think about the brain. They only have it partly right. It's- there's another level to it, another- tier. Muggles think that...the brain is all we are, the brain is all of that. The conscious self, the thinking and feeling person controlling the body. But it's one more level deeper than that; anything seen or felt in the world around us is taken in by the body's nerves, eyes and ears and skin, and that gets sent to the brain to be translated - which gets sent on to the soul to be processed. The soul is the core, it's wired up to the brain, which is wired up to the body - like, the brain makes the soul compatible with the body, or something. That's why souls can exist outside of a body - because we are the soul, and we can feel and think even without a body or even a brain. Normally, a soul without a body goes on to the afterlife...to the next world, but..."
"But you can keep yourself - your soul - around if you hurt it, shatter it, and tear off a fragment and bind that fragment to something else," she went on. "To an object, or even to another body. That- object- or- other person- they carry it, and so as long as it's still in the world of the living...so is the rest of you. You you. It's like- an anchor on a boat. A tether. Or- a rope tying a balloon down, really. It keeps you from just floating away into the sky."
"And I'm meant to do that," Daisy said harshly. "I'm supposed to that! I have to reach in and tear a piece of my own soul off from the rest, and...and...imagine slicing your skull open, reaching in there, and ripping out a handful of brain matter! That's what I'm supposed to do to myself!"
Rigel regarded her with wide eyes of shock - and worry. Complete and total worry. "A-a-are y-you...will it c-cause p-problems after?"
"What?"
"Y-you said it's l-like- we t-think the b-brain is our t-thinking and f-feeling self...b-but it's the soul. The b-brain is just an- analogue- b-between the body and the s-soul. If you h-hurt your brain, you- y-you can have m-memory problems, or- or it g-gets hard to do m-math and r-read stuff..." Rigel trailed off, flushing. "A-are you g-going to have p-problems like t-that if you...?"
"Well, using my father as an example, you might notice I'll be paler than usual," Daisy said mechanically. "And my eyes...do you know the whole phrase about 'window to the soul?'"
Rigel nodded.
"That's true, I guess - our eyes can't lie. And mine...they'll show the truth to anyone who looks into them about what I'll do."
"W-well, right n-now, all I s-see is- m-my f-friend who's in a lot of p-pain, and n-needs h-help."
Daisy shook her head, closing her eyes tight. "No, you see how fucked up I am! You see it, don't lie to me! And after I do this, there's going to be red in there, just like my father! They'll be evil eyes, and I hate that, and I hate that I'll never be able to hide them- even now I just feel like I want to avoid anyone seeing them! I want to just tear them out, cut them to pieces, put my wand to my own face and blow them apart! So nobody will have to look at them and know what I did!"
"T-they're n-not going to be evil!" Rigel said fiercely, seizing her face, shocking her into opening her eyes again. Rigel was right there, so close - almost touching noses and breathing so... "A-and they're n-not right now. They're s-still as- b-beautiful as ever! They're g-good, and k-kind, like you've a-always b-been to me! A-and that w-won't c-change even a-after! Y-you're gonna be h-hurt, d-damaged a little - b-but it d-doesn't make you- evil! O-only wh-what you do makes you evil. And you've never d-done anything evil! A-and I don't think you w-would even a-after you-"
Daisy shoved Rigel away with a growl, balling up her fists and smacking herself in the head repeatedly, striking with all her strength! "Shut up, you don't know- I am too evil, I've done the most fucked up shit imaginable for any girl my age! I've seen- I've heard- I've done- I've murdered people, Rigel! And I'm going to do it again! Don't you sit there and lie to my face when I know what I've done! What I'll have to do!"
"W-we b-both know who your f-father is," Rigel said softly, her eyes blazing. "I-if you d-did ever...k-kill anybody...I k-know it w-wasn't because y-you- w-wanted to. It was b-because h-he f-forced you to."
"No! I could have said no, I could have run away, I could have just- I could have just...but I still did it!"
Rigel lowered her gaze, and she held out her arm, presenting her bare forearm. "I've d-done a lot of t-things I n-never wanted t-to, too. T-things p-people- f-forced me t-to do...I n-never h-had a c-choice either. I'm t-talking s-sick, awful t-things."
"But did you ever kill anyone?"
"Almost. O-Once."
"Bull-"
"W-when the Aurors s-showed up at my h-house, s-showing me m-magic was r-real and I h-had it," Rigel interrupted her, determined. "T-they didn't t-take us to the M-Ministry f-for a c-couple of h-hours. T-they d-didn't explain, they j-just...My p-parents...I was f-frozen and I w-watched and t-then they t-tried to make m-me...I d-did accidental m-magic and got f-free, and I s-stabbed a p-pen into h-her face. H-her eye. T-that's h-how I g-got..."
Rigel took in a rattling breath, then quickly reached down and yanked up her pajama top to neck height. There was not perfectly pale skin marred by freckles - it was just plain skin marred by-
Daisy looked, and then she had to look away. It was sickening, it was...
Rigel dropped her shirt, her whole body trembling. She turned her head, too, as if to rid her own self of the sight of her own body. "S-some n-nice p-people in the c-camps - a m-man who was r-really g-good with w-wandless m-magic - he t-tried to f-fix it for me, b-but...he c-couldn't do m-much. He s-said not even the b-best Healer w-with a w-wand could do m-much for me..."
"It was worse than this?" Daisy whispered.
Rigel nodded, crossing her arms over her body to hug herself. "It w-was- everywhere, all d-down the f-front. E-even around my r-ribs, a-and- w-well- I d-don't really want to t-take off my t-trousers for you t-too...b-but it's s-still all d-down there too. S-splashed all o-over my- l-legs and s-stuff..."
"Does it- hurt you?"
"N-not anymore," Rigel assured. "B-but...I c-can't r-really feel anything w-where it's- all y-yucky anymore. And s-some t-things w-won't even w-work r-right anymore. A H-healer told m-me...n-never m-mind," she finished quietly, her head dropping.
"I'm sorry."
"S-so- s-see? We're b-both really m-messed up, a-and w-we're g-going to be f-fine. C-cause it's not the d-damage our b-bodies t-take that m-matters - or our s-souls. It's w-who we are under- underneath it all. A-and even if we g-get m-more hurt, it s-still won't c-change a thing! W-we are w-who we are, n-no matter w-what anyone p-puts us t-through," Rigel finished in a whisper, closing her eyes.
Daisy still didn't agree. But she told herself that, to make Rigel feel better, she wouldn't argue the point any longer.
That was what a good person would do, wasn't it?
Daisy sat alone in the corner of the common room, at a table she had all to herself.
It was meant for four, but, well...no one actually wanted to sit with her. And she was fine with that - she didn't want anyone to sit with her, either.
She glanced up from her Charms essay as a great crackling noise filled the room.
A group of her housemates were huddling around another study table, where a Wizarding Wireless radio was set up.
The annoying static grew louder, and then snatches of voices, of music and lyrics - and then...
There was a great, shrill noise, and everything cut out.
Several voices audibly groaned or otherwise complained.
And then a voice rang out as the radio shuddered, and began to glow a deep scarlet.
"...To anyone tuning in right this moment - innocents and enemies alike - the message you're about to hear is the same, but the meaning you take from it will be very different, depending on what side of this war you're supporting."
A familiar voice.
Daisy went still in her seat, putting down her quill and placing her hands on the table.
"My name is Jennifer Coleman, and I'll be delivering this message personally to you all," the voice spoke on. "I doubt I have much time, so I'll get right to it. This past holiday, myself and a team of over a dozen friends and allies lured 'The Dark Lord' into an ambush, with the obvious intention of taking his life and freeing this country from his oppressive, sadistic rule. We didn't succeed in that - obviously - but I don't consider it to be as much of a failure as one might think. Because, even if we didn't manage to kill the man, we did still accomplish one other, major thing I was aiming for: we made him afraid, and we made him run. We killed the highly infamous Death Eater, Bellatrix Lestrange; I personally destroyed the highly recognized yew and phoenix wand that he wielded in the first war; and we all made him turn tail and run from us - with his tail between his legs."
"Because that's the thing, people: He's scared of us. He knows that all it will take one day is us banding together and taking him down. That's why he does his best to keep us down. To make us live in constant fear of him! He paints himself as some Dark Lord, some great monster, some unbeatable, invincible demon - but he's far from it. It's a façade, it's an illusion - the appearance of power and status to control those he would call weak. But he knows that's far from the truth: we're not weak, and he's terrified of us realizing that. He's terrified of any single one of us...seeing past the illusion, behind the mask, underneath his carefully crafted appearance that he presents to the world."
Jennifer paused, and then she chuckled. "Let me be the one to reveal the truth to you about the man who calls himself the Dark Lord - the man who calls himself Voldemort! He's not a monster, or a Dark Lord of evil incarnate, or a spawn of Hell itself. He's just a man, a man who can be killed like any other, and his true name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was born to a witch named Merope Gaunt, and a muggle named Tom Riddle - Senior - a resident of the muggle town of Little Hangleton. Riddle Jr. grew up in a muggle orphanage in London some decades ago, until he turned eleven, and started attending Hogwarts like the rest of us. It was there that he started taking steps to erase who he was before. Steps to become feared, strong - or, at least, to appear that way - because anything had to be better than the unbearable truth of his life: that he was a nothing, a weakling, and an abandoned piece of garbage of a human being. He couldn't own up to it, and to this day he still can't. Tom Riddle...is desperate, and terrified inside, and he does all he can to appear otherwise. To the world, to all of us, and to himself."
"But with this broadcast, I only hope I can empower more people than ever to realize the power they have in their own two hands - and that Tom Riddle has no power over us! That he only has as much as we let him have! And that he is nothing to be afraid of! Not the way he wants us to be. So I implore each and every one of you now: don't let him have this power over you for a second more! It's been over a decade of this war, and I say it's time we all came together to end it. To end him! Do exactly what he's so afraid of us doing - realizing he's just another arsehole, and doing his face in! Riddle's had more than enough time in the big chair, playing his little game of lord of the country. We've let him sit up there and pretend for too long now! So let's kick him out of his seat, blast his delusional head off, and take back our country. Let's put it right again, not just for us, or for our families, or for our friends, but for all our non-magical families and friends, and innocents out there who have had to suffer and lose worse than any of us...because they haven't the slightest clue why, or even how!"
"Let's give ourselves some closure, and some vengeance for all our lost loved ones - so we can all grieve, and heal, and move on together into a better world. A better chapter in our lives. Let's give this dark tale of Riddle's an ending - not the one he wants for it, but the one we're going to choose together!"
A loud boom rang out from the radio, along with loud cracks and yelling voices.
"Thanks for listening - I'll see you all when we're standing over Tom's body," Jennifer's voice came again, quick but still remarkably collected. A brief pause. "And to Tom himself, if you're listening: see you soon - keep being afraid, and let that keep you up at night!" And then it all went quiet.
The radio settled on the table, losing its glow as smoke wafted from it.
Daisy gazed at her housemates, watching them as they took glances at her. Not subtle ones at all.
Edith was among the crowd, sitting there with her eyes rapt to the radio still.
Daisy would have expected elation out of the girl, or a feverish kind of awe, considering how much the girl seemed to really worship her own mother's cause - but all Daisy saw on the girl's face was...was...longing. Pure, agonized longing.
Daisy stood, ignoring the flinching from her housemates, and she took her essay and materials up into the girls' dorm room alone.
She couldn't stand seeing that look on Edith's face even a second more.
Daisy had a voice she longed to hear again, too, even just one more time.
But, unlike Edith, it was a voice she was never going to miraculously hear over a radio one day.
"Rigel!"
The girl startled, as usual, whipping around to face her, clutching at her chest in the darkness.
"Sorry," Daisy said instantly, drawing closer. Every step on the stone bridge louder than she would have liked. "What are you doing all the way out here at night? Why did you tell me to meet you out here tonight like this?"
Across the past eight or so hours of the day, Daisy had wanted so badly to pry, to just ask and ask until Rigel gave in and told her what was going on - but she had decided against it, ultimately. Had told herself she'd get answers tonight, either way. And it probably wouldn't be smart to push Rigel, as timid and anxious as she always was.
Well, Daisy had waited, and now she was here. They were out here. Out on castle grounds at night, far past curfew. Every rule broken. Out on this stupid bridge in stupid pajamas!
In the cold, under light of a million stars.
Rigel made an incoherent noise, shaking her head. She leaned on the railing, leaning her head off the bridge. Staring down into the chasm below.
Daisy sidled up to her, and she put a hand on her back. "Just tell me what's going on, please. I'm your best friend."
"S-sorry...B-but I c-can't help- it." Rigel screwed up her eyes, grasping at the cold, stone handrail more firmly. "I j-just- c-can't do it anymore."
"Can't do what?" Daisy asked, patting and stroking at her back.
It was a long time before Rigel spoke again. When she did, it just came bursting out, loud and choked.
"M-my p-parents s-said to be on my b-best b-b-behavior and to j-just w-wait...b-but I c-can't! I've w-waited and b-been as g-good as I c-can, but I s-still j-just get...e-every night and d-day, it's a-all of t-them and I can't! I c-can't, I j-just want it to s-stop, I want it to all g-go away. I'm just t-too t-tired now, I'm s-sick of it. I c-can't take it anymore."
"What are you talking about?"
Rigel shook her head again. Then, she answered anyway. "T-the S-Slytherins...in m-my d-dorms..."
"What?! Rigel, why didn't you tell me you were still getting hurt by people?!" Daisy said, a panic gripping her heart. Panic turning to anger.
"I'm s-sorry I d-didn't s-say anything," Rigel said softly, not a hint of a flush to her cheeks. "A-after you g-got b-back from the h-holidays, I s-saw how you w-were and- and- y-you s-said your f-father t-told you not t-to t-talk to m-me anymore...and I d-didn't w-want to m-make you s-stick up for m-me and get t-tortured by y-your f-father a-again. Or w-worse. If w-word got b-back to h-him again-"
"I would have taken it!" Daisy burst out passionately. "It doesn't matter to me; you matter to me! I would've done anything for you - I can still do anything for you! I don't care - I'll move you into the Tower finally, I'll give you my bed, we can-"
Rigel shook her head. "It's t-too l-late for that..."
"No it's not! You're going to get out of here, you're going to get free! It's going to happen! Just a few more months and you'll be with your family, free and safe over in America! I know you can do it! I'll help you stick it out until then, I will, just let me- RIGEL!"
The girl grasped the railing, and suddenly threw tiny, lightweight self right over it.
Daisy lunged for her, grasping at her clothes, her arms, shoving her legs between the balusters to lock herself in. Lock them both in!
As Rigel hung there, she gazed up at Daisy in shock - and anger. The first real anger Daisy had ever seen on the girl's face since meeting her. "L-let g-go, let me g-go! I j-just want to g-go, I want to GO!"
"No! Stop- being- ridiculous!" Daisy growled, trying to heave the girl back up safely. But the second she started making some headway, Rigel's body suddenly went limp - and seemed to get a whole lot heavier! Daisy herself was pulled over the railing, her legs sliding up between the baluster columns. She heaved, straining, feeling herself being pulled still...
Daisy focused with all her might on a single incantation: Wingardium Leviosa!
Her hands flashed blue, and suddenly it was so much easier to hold Rigel up. Because Rigel wasn't just hanging there anymore; she was being supported by the spell. Rigel realized this, and began to outright thrash in the air, trying to shake Daisy loose, trying to kick herself off from the railing!
Daisy let only one hand free, plunging it into her pants for her new wand. She aimed it down at Rigel furiously. "Ascen-"
Rigel's flailing hand caught Daisy's wrist, and then she seized her new wand and tore it free of her grasp! Her arm fell with the wand, and released it.
Daisy watched her new wand plummet into darkness. She stared at Rigel in disbelief. In anger, sudden and burning. "After I pull your tiny ass up here, I'm going to beat it black and blue!" she shouted at the girl. "I just got that thing! Come on!"
Rigel just lowered her head, trying to free her single captive arm from Daisy's hold.
This situation held a minute...until Daisy's spell effect wore off.
Rigel jerked hard, all her weight coming back into play at once, and her arm slid out of Daisy's grasp.
Daisy threw her arms out, reaching for Rigel, screaming the incantation in her mind again: Wingardium Leviosa!
Rigel, now a good twenty feet below the bridge, slowed to a halt once more. She stared up at Daisy, and something changed about her expression. It wasn't that strange, sick relief - it was now fear and panic, as if she had only just now realized how fucking stupid and insane this all was. As if she had only just realized it wasn't what she wanted.
Daisy didn't hesitate in her next move: she pulled her legs free of the columns, and she hurled herself down after Rigel off the bridge. She soared down, black smoke billowing around her lower half, reaching out still for Rigel!
Rigel reached back for her, mouth working silently, her eyes wide. And then words emerged, riding on the wind. "I- I'm s-sorry!"
And then she began to fall again.
Daisy yelled out the incantation aloud this time. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Rigel's fall slowed to a halt, again, so much lower from the bridge now.
And Daisy flew after her still, pushing her speed, her body, closing the gap - she was Daisy, she was powerful, strong, she could reach her, she could save her, she would! She just had to reach her! She was not losing anybody else she gave a shit about in her life these days!
Daisy seized Rigel as she slammed into her bodily, wrapping her arms around her! Rigel's arms looped around her neck, clinging to her with a surprising strength.
"I've got you, it's okay now," Daisy told her, hugging her tight. "Just let me get us down and-"
A light flashed red in her peripheral, and suddenly a great burning sensation seared down her backside - from back of her neck down to her butt!
Daisy twisted in the air, crying out in pain as it flooded her whole back, her eyes screwing up- her arms wrapping tighter than ever around Rigel despite the agony, despite everything in her wanting to let go and just-
With her concentration lost when it came to flying, they flew down fast for the ground, and they hit it hard together.
The rocky impact did jar Rigel loose, and she went rolling away from Daisy.
Daisy gasped as she lay there, heaving as her back burned.
"R-Rigel...Rigel, where are you?!" she yelled out, feeling blindly. "Say something if you're okay, say- just...Rigel!"
She paused, listening - a sound! Something like a whimper.
Then Daisy remembered she was a witch, and she threw her hand out from herself, and a ball of light was cast off to curve into the sky and illuminate the area.
Daisy searched her immediate area, and quickly laid eyes on a sight that made her want to weep for joy.
Rigel was laying flat on her back, her arms and legs splayed - her hands and her arms burned...
The spell that had grazed Daisy's back - it had hurt Rigel too, made her let go, it had...
But she was alive.
Daisy searched for her wand, and once she had it, she tried every healing spell she knew on Rigel. Most of them worked!
"D-Daisy..." Rigel breathed, gazing up at her, her arms across her chest.
Daisy stopped her healing efforts, her concentration broke. "What?"
"I'm s-sorry...I s-shouldn't have d-done that t-to y-you...N-not a-after your m-mother..." Rigel blubbered out. "I j-just- it w-was all j-just- oh g-god, what was I even d-doing...?!"
"How could you?" Daisy said, her lips twisting. "How could you make me go through that again - but worse? With you?! Because of you!"
Rigel seemed to try to melt right into the ground, hoping she'd disappear. "I k-know, I d-don't- I d-don't k-know? I j-just...t-they never s-stopped - j-just c-changed it so t-that y-you c-couldn't v-visibly s-see it - and I j-just...I j-just w-wanted it to s-stop...I'm s-sorry, I'm s-sorry!"
"No, l-look, I'm sorry, okay?" Daisy said tightly, drawing a cold, quivering breath. She turned her head aside, hating herself for starting to cry. Real hard! She wiped at her face and tried to focus again on her task. She was doing it, she could see the burns fading away. She was making improvements! Big ones.
She didn't say a word more as she worked; she didn't want to risk it.
It wasn't fair to Rigel, was it?
This wasn't about Daisy - it was about Rigel.
There was only one, good, proper, right girl thing to say.
"I'll make it stop," Daisy promised strongly. "I'll make them all stop. Just - please - don't ever try anything like this again!"
Rigel nodded, tearful, and she finally sat up. She inspected her arms, the backs of her hands. She winced a little, at the motions. "Ow..."
"It's not perfect - I'm sorry," Daisy told her, feeling awful. "I can do better, though. More. Just- once we're in the Tower."
"Y-you're just g-going t-to...t-take me right t-there? R-really?" Rigel questioned. "B-but your f-father-"
"I don't care!" Daisy hissed. "I'll take anything he has to throw at me - for you. I. Don't. Care."
Rigel nodded, and then she threw herself forward and she hugged Daisy tight.
Daisy embraced her best friend. Over Rigel's shoulder, she looked up to the bridge far above. A black shape against the stars.
Her back burned as she clenched her fist. She reached her wand arm behind herself, casting spells to heal her own backside; they seemed to work well enough, for the pain did ease greatly. Daisy couldn't focus on that, though. Someone had been following them - following either Rigel or Daisy. Someone had been invisible. Someone...had cast that curse. Someone hadn't wanted Daisy to save Rigel from her self-inflicted fate. From her...her insane thought process that had resulted in her throwing herself off a fucking bridge. If Rigel hadn't come out here to do that, would the invisible stalker have killed her themselves? Or maybe even tried to kill Daisy?
Whoever their target was, it didn't even matter to Daisy. Someone was responsible for the attempt to make Rigel fall. To make Daisy let go! And that someone was going to pay for it once Daisy found them. They would cry, they would scream, they would beg and suffer and then...they would die. Die only when Daisy chose to kill them! To make things even for Rigel.
Daisy held Rigel more firmly, and whispered in her ear. "Are you ready to go? I'll fly us back up..."
"Y-yes..."
"Okay." Daisy gently flew the two of them back up the side of the chasm, and then she made a beeline for the castle entrance.
She was not giving whoever it was another go at it.
No one in the girl's dorm made any objections to Rigel's presence.
Not even Edith.
It was a smooth, good night for the pair of them. Daisy made sure of it.
And in the morning, Daisy left the dorms early, and she stalked into the Great Hall, striding right over to the Head Table. She went right to one of the Death Eater teachers, seizing the woman's arm and stabbing her finger into the mark.
"What are you doing?" the woman hissed, tearing her arm free. Her face was pale.
Daisy stared at her, numb and cold, and walked away.
She stood in the entrance hall, her back to the wall, her eyes on the front doors.
Waiting.
For many minutes on end, she waited like this.
Until the doors opened, and he came gliding in.
"I believe I told you not to summon me here again," he spoke immediately, spotting her. Disapproval on his face - irritation. "I presume you have good reason."
Daisy stood before her father, pushing off from the wall. "I'm ready to make it now," she said, emotionless.
He gazed at her intently. He did not need to ask what she meant. He smiled. "Well, then let us get on with it. Have you chosen your victim?"
"Yes," she stated flatly. And she gave him the name.
He gave an approving look. "Ah, taking revenge in the process. Excellent. My second one was done with similar motives in mind. At any rate, I'll allow it; the bumbling fool provides little use for me these days."
Daisy just nodded.
She followed her father out of the castle, past the gates. Where they Apparated away together.
They reappeared before a manor. Not Riddle, but Malfoy.
Daisy was led inside, and taken to a large and private library.
Voldemort told her to wait, and that he would call the man for her.
Daisy just nodded, again.
She felt nothing. Or, if she did feel anything, it was a sliver to be stamped down on.
Her whole world was gray and distant, her ears were muffled. Her own voice was like someone else's.
Her own...
She could understand how Rigel felt, couldn't she? She was just tired, and sick of everything, too. She had been for a while now - just like Rigel.
When her father returned, with robed Death Eater in tow...
Daisy sucked in a breath, and let it go.
And she stepped forward and raised her faulty wand without hesitation.
Daisy screamed like she had never thought possible. Her chest was bursting, her throat was bleeding, her eyes were shut so tight, her jaw clenched that her teeth would break any moment, desperate just to stop, just to stop it all!
She thrashed on the floor of the Malfoy library and pulled her legs in, wrapping her arms around them and squeezing with all her might, desperate to keep it in - to keep it from escaping her, to fill the void, to stop what had already left her from leaving her...
There was another voice in the room, her own voice, another scream, shrill and high and desperate, over and over again.
A hand on her arm, pulling her up...enveloping her and carrying her...
"NO, NO PLEASE DONT LEAVE ME HERE, DONT-"
"Quiet, it's over with - it's over and we are-"
"NO!" Daisy thrashed and clawed, throwing herself back toward what she felt drawing her, pulling on her insides, ripping her still like a magnet, with every last bit of desperate desire she had ever had! It was murder, it was killing her, she needed it, she needed her, she had to have her back, please- Her arm reached out, her face stretched tight, her eyes opened wide, tears falling.
Voldemort stopped, and turned back to look. At the squirming chain, at the rattling, burning emerald crystal necklace...that was screaming just as much as Daisy was. For a flicker of an instant, even his face looked outright disturbed. But then he flicked his wand, summoning the necklace over all the same.
Daisy snatched it right out of the air with heavily bandaged fingers, pressing it to her chest immediately, willing its burning exterior to just burn right through her sternum, and return to where it belonged! Please come back, please, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I couldn't have done that to you, I couldn't! Oh my god, fuck, what have I done?! I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry, please - please I'm sorry! It's okay now, it's okay, you can stop now, please be quiet, just shut up and be quiet! Fucking shut up, stop screaming stop it-!
Father carried her from the library, and Daisy's world faded to nothing.
Daisy woke, feeling a sense of absolute loss.
A numbness. An emptiness.
More than anything in her life.
More than losing mother.
More than even almost losing Rigel just...just last night.
She rolled out of the bed she had been placed into, hitting the floor and hardly feeling it.
The necklace swung down on its chain around her neck.
Father had put it on her at some point? Why would he...?
Daisy pushed herself to her feet, and walked out of the room. Down a small hallway, into a bathroom.
She shut the door, stumbling toward the sink.
The mirror.
She looked like herself.
She expected to look like her father - pale, scarlet eyes - but...she looked normal. Part of her was relieved. And another part of her was just disappointed. She thought she could have really pulled off the whole red eyes look if she ever...
Daisy sighed. She reached up to grasp the green crystal - and immediately started screaming.
She fell back, flailing and striking her head on the wall, as sights and sounds and smells all filled her head, as screaming filled her ears from another source, but the voice was instantly familiar- her palm was burning, her fingers were jerking and twitching around the crystal-
Let go, let go, let it go - let me go - NO! Come back, come back, please, PLEASE JUST HELP ME I CAN'T TAKE IT-
Daisy released the crystal, sliding down the wall, gasping and sweating. Retching. She pressed her hands over her face, sobbing to herself. As feeling suddenly came flooding back to her, overwhelming, disgusting and horrifying!
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I c-can't help you, I can't, I'm sorry!" Daisy cried to herself.
To herself...
A few hours past noon, father checked in on her, and he told her she could return to Hogwarts.
That she should.
So she would, of course.
Daisy didn't argue.
She didn't say a word.
She had spent most of her day enchanting the necklace - trying to put protections onto it. Unbreakable Charms, things like that. And she was exhausted after all that work.
She let him Apparate her back to the castle, and she was glad to leave him behind at the gates.
To walk back through the grounds, to reach the doors.
To slip back into this familiar place of past year so far.
The only thing that made her feel even a blip of happiness was the expectation of seeing Rigel again. Checking in on her. Like a good girl would. A good friend.
Daisy strode the halls, ascending to the Tower. She went to the girl's dorm room, and found Rigel right there still - in her bed, reading one of her textbooks left on the nightstand the night prior. Rigel was alone - but at least it was a safe kind of alone, here among the Gryffindors.
Rigel stared at her with wide eyes, dropping the book and jumping to her feet. "A-are y-you okay? Y-you l-look..."
Daisy carefully reached up, grasping the necklace by its chain, and she lifted it off her neck and dangled it out before her. "Here, take her. Keep her - and keep her safe for me."
"H-her...? W-what d-do you m-mean...?" Rigel stared at her intently. Then at the necklace. She gasped. "O-oh! D-did y-you- D-Daisy...my g-god, d-did you- t-today-?"
"Yes," Daisy said flatly. "I just wanted to get it over with. He was going to force me to anyway, at some point. You know that."
Rigel nodded, and she took the necklace carefully. She put it on with care, a tenderness, snuggling the emerald crystal right down front of her shirt. "I g-guess- n-now I can a-always h-have you c-close to m-me?" she said softly, with a smile.
Daisy nodded. She hadn't thought of it that way. The slightest of blushes came to her cheeks. "I enchanted it. It won't break for anything less than Fiendfyre."
Rigel clasped her palms to her chest, encasing the crystal protectively. "You'd- r-really- t-trust m-me to k-keep...your s-soul safe?" she said softly.
Daisy gazed at her, smiling. "Yes. So take good care of her. Don't tell anyone what she is, or why you have her. Just...keep her on you. Say it was a gift from me. That's the truth. You take her with you over to America, and you just...you keep her there with you. Way over there. Got it?"
"G-got it," Rigel said seriously.
The dorm room's door opened suddenly, and another familiar face entered the dorm.
Edith.
She froze instantly, gazing at the pair of them. Looking right at Daisy. Then she turned right around again, making to leave immediately.
"Hey!" Daisy called out. Sharper than she intended to. But at least it was something more than this numbness, this emptiness that was so much worse than she had ever imagined (had she thought that doing what she had today would make it better? Make it go away? If she had, she was dead wrong).
"If you want me to say sorry for anything my mum did - it's not going to happen," Edith retorted instantly. "You're the Dark Lord's daughter, it was obviously the best way to get at him, and I'm not going to cry over-"
"I don't need you to say sorry for her," Daisy said casually.
Edith turned to look, over her own shoulder. Surprise on her face. "You don't?"
"Nope! No hard feelings, Edith. I agree with her; it was smart, and she c-cleared another Death Eater off the board. One of the worst," Daisy said simply. "It was a good move. She accomplished something, at least. I'm actually a little...jealous of her for trying to pull off what she did that night. Inspired, even."
"What?" Edith said blankly. "You're- you- what? Even after my mum kidnapped you and tried to have you torn apart by inferi, you're saying she inspired you?"
"Yes," Daisy said, smiling. "Sure, she kidnapped me, she was scary, and she also lied to me about not letting me get hurt for her whole plan - the fucking cunt - but, you know what, I respect that! And you know what else? Your mum was fit, downright lush, and had some of the best tits I've ever-"
"Yeah, okay, gross - bye!" Edith gagged, spinning away and racing for the door. "Don't start lusting after my mum now! You psychotic bint!"
"I can't help it, she was just so amazing-!" Daisy called after her.
"My terms still stand; still ignoring one another!" Edith yelled back, slamming the door with all her might.
Daisy smiled still, warmth flooding her. And then she giggled.
Rigel laughed too, and soon it just...
It didn't stop.
Daisy wished it never would.
"Daisy...Daisy!" a familiar, long dead voice was calling out...
Daisy was in her daddy's arms, she was clinging to him, she didn't want him to go, she never wanted him to die, she-
On a rainy night in the middle of April, Daisy woke to...a not quite silence.
The constant pattering of rain on the windows.
The snoring of her dormmate, Jasmine.
Rigel's warm little body curled up right next to Daisy...
And-
"Daisy..."
Daisy sat up in bed in an instant, drawing her wand from her pillow and aiming it into the dark. "W-who's there...?" she quavered. It was impossible. It couldn't be-
"Daisy, it's me - it's daddy..." the familiar voice, not heard in years, came to her. Real, and true, and right there.
Daisy froze. Was this a trick? A test? Or... "D-Daddy...? You- came back as a ghost for me?"
"What? N-no, sweetie - Daisy..." The air rippled, and she saw him as the Invisibility Cloak was shed. He reached for her, grasping her hand. Warm, soft...familiar. Real. And looking exactly as she always remembered him - in memories and dreams. "I'm here, sweetie. I'm here to bring you home."
Daisy stared, her lips pressing tight. She shook her head, as if she could refute someone's death even though they stood right before her in flesh and blood. "You're dead. Fa- Tom said he killed you!"
Daddy, if it was him, if it really... He nodded. "It wouldn't be the first time he thought he had me dead to rights. He was wrong again. He failed again. The Killing Curse didn't work on me - though, it left me in a pretty terrible state for a long while," he added, a hand coming up to rub at his chest, almost subconscious.
Daisy sat rigid in her bed, still.
"Daisy, come on." He gave her hand a tug. And she resisted. "Daisy...?"
"He's going to kill everyone!" Daisy whispered, exposing at last the horrible truth of an iron ball attached to her ankle. "The Refuge, and in the whole Order. Their families. He said if I left...I'd be responsible for all of their deaths..."
"Daisy...Riddle- he tried to go after the Refuge years ago."
Daisy's chest went tight. Her body flooded with electricity. "W-what? N-no, I...he said...he always told me if I- I always told myself- I couldn't just...it would've been my fault, all my f-fault, and I couldn't do that to R-Ritchie, or Hazel, or Alina- I wasn't going to kill them all- I...I believed him!"
"Sweetie, I'm so sorry - but don't worry! Everybody's fine. They planned for it - Alina, she had a backup location that they moved everyone to. Nobody was there by the time Riddle showed up! It's okay, everyone's okay - and he won't ever find them. He can't hurt them."
"W-what about the Order?" Daisy breathed. "Their kids, their- they'll still all die if I go..."
Daddy gazed at her with...so much. He let go of her hand, and he took her face in both of his for the first time in so long. "No, no. Sweetie, listen to me: it wouldn't be your fault. It'd be his. Just his. It's not on you, it's not! And we'll tell them, alright? Right when we get back, we'll let everyone know to be on guard, or to move if they need to. But you've got to come home. You can come home now. It's okay..."
Daisy stopped. She looked around herself, over her dormmates. And she made her decision.
"Daisy, what're you doing?"
"I can't just leave them all; some of them are my friends, and the rest of them deserve to see their families again too."
"Daisy...we can't just have a- a whole dorm go missing-"
"Yes we can!" Daisy hissed. "You've always told me to do what's right, even if it's hard - so I'm doing this!" She gazed at him with sharp, furious eyes. "Either they all come with me, or I stay here with them!"
"Daisy-"
"NO!" Daisy shrieked, aiming her wand. "I've spent years being trapped with- with hearing and seeing so much bad shit- with being made to do bad things myself- and I've tried so hard this year to just be good again, the girl you fucking told to always be good! Because you died, you left me, mummy left me, the Order washed their hands of me and didn't even try- and so I've had to find new people to love and care about me - people I've grown to love and care about right back - so you...you don't get to just appear in the middle of the night and try to tell me to abandon them in the same fucking hell of a world I've been stuck in for years! Because of you!"
"Daisy, that w-wasn't what I meant, that wasn't what I-" Daddy sounded so- he looked so-
"Then stand there and shut the fuck up!" Daisy viciously waved her wand, and all the beds jumped from the frames a foot high.
"What the shite are you-" Edith started. She stared. "Harry...Potter?"
"What's going on?" asked Willa.
"Were you a spy all along?" Jasmine said quietly, gazing at Daisy with hope and wonder. "The Order is here to rescue us?"
Daisy stared back at her. She gazed at the others. She raised her chin and smiled wide. "Yes. That's right: I'm a spy. And now it's time for us all to get out of here. So come on."
"You seriously-" Edith started.
"Yes - told you so; I was telling the truth from the start - shut up and follow me," Daisy interjected. "If you want to see your mother again, I'll make that happen," she added kindly.
Edith, for once, said nothing more. Certainly nothing derogatory. She was looking at Daisy, in fact, as if she were seeing her for the first time - truly. And entirely anew.
About time, Daisy thought snippily - and so, so smugly.
"Erm- okay- look, everyone, if we're going to do this, we need to be fast, and quiet, and we need to stick together," Daddy said clearly. "But most of all, we need to be invisible. So- everyone join hands, or hang onto each other's clothes - so you don't lose each other - and I'm going to lead us all out of here. Alright?" He gazed at Daisy again, as if he couldn't get enough of her (she felt the same). "Why don't we have you and two others under my Cloak, okay, Daisy? Your group can be right behind me. The odd ones out, I'll do Disillusionment charms on, and they can hang onto the cloak. But be sure not to pull on it."
"Wait," Daisy said quickly. "We need our things!" She gestured to their trunks. To hers. Within which were so many important, special things she would not leave without!
Daddy nodded, and gave his wand a sweeping wave; all their trunks shuddered, rose up into the air, and then shrank down to the size of matchboxes. Then they flew right to their owners hands.
Daisy snatched hers out of the air and shoved it into her pants pocket, snug and safe.
Now they had to organize themselves.
Daisy chose Rigel and Willa to be under the Cloak with herself. Edith stepped up behind them to grasp the cloak's folds; Jasmine took Edith's free hand, huddling close. Daddy waved his wand, and Edith and Jasmine turned totally invisible. Not even a faint shimmer in the air.
"Alright, is everybody ready?" Daddy spoke.
After several affirmations, Daddy took out a very familiar, old piece of parchment to look at, and then he turned himself invisible too, and led them all off.
Out of the dorm, through the common room.
Out into the corridors of Hogwarts.
Daddy led them through like he knew the place by heart.
Every turn, every stop - a duck into an empty classroom, once or twice, to check the Marauders' Map again.
They moved so swiftly, so silently, encountering no one.
They eventually came a stop at a statue of a witch with a hump and one eye.
Daddy tapped it with his wand, and it opened up to reveal a secret passage. He had them all climb down into it, into a dark tunnel.
It was a long, narrow tunnel. One that seemed to honestly go on for ages.
But eventually, it did stop.
Daddy waved his wand, opening a dusty trapdoor overhead. He climbed out, and helped them all up too.
They were in a dusty, dark old storeroom, Daisy saw.
A shop?
Hogsmeade?
Daddy reached into his robes, pulling out a small, stuffed animal that Daisy recognized instantly.
It was one of hers.
"Everybody join hands, and I'm going to get us out of here with a Portkey," daddy told them quietly.
Once they all had done so, he tapped his wand to the toy, and the world spun like mad.
When it stopped, Daisy found herself in a whole new place.
A nice, cozy little bedroom. Daddy immediately gave a sigh of relief, waving his wand to make the girls visible again.
"Where are we?" Daisy asked, shedding the Cloak and handing it back to her daddy.
"An Order safehouse," Daddy replied quietly. He paused, looking round at the other girls. "You'll all be staying here for a while. It's a safe place; the Order will find your families for you if they can, over the next few days. Try to reunite you. Alright?"
Daisy's dormmates nodded, looking various parts relieved and excited.
"Start with my mum first," Edith spoke up, shrugging. "Jennifer Coleman - I know you people know how to reach her. So call her here."
Daddy looked at her, uncertain. He nodded. He smiled. "'Course. I'll have her here within the hour."
Edith nodded back. She strode over to the little bed and laid down on it, hands behind her head. "I'm holding you to that."
"We may not condone your methods," Kingsley's voice came from behind the door, muffled. "But the Order has always respected the trading of information, intelligence, and inventions between our two groups. This relationship has ultimately resulted in dozens of lives saved - mage and muggles alike - the ultimate goal we both share in common."
Edith turned to Daisy with a look of supreme smugness in the hallway.
Daisy glared, ignoring the fact that the girl happened to be right about this, continuing to listen through the door.
Jennifer's voice came again. "What is it you want to take or give this time?"
"Nothing. We've only brought you here in order to return you your daughter - Edith."
"What? You have her? Where is she - how long has she been-"
"Please, Ms. Coleman. To summarize - and to protect our operatives and methods - a small team of ours was able to work to infiltrate Hogwarts over the past several months, undoing the varied and powerful, dark enchantments shielding the castle grounds, and, late last night, they successfully breached it. We sent in one operative alone. They retrieved, among other children, your daughter, and brought them here."
"Where is she?" Jennifer repeated, in a near whisper.
Well, that was their cue.
Daisy threw open the door, striding in with her chin raised. Edith shoved past her with a scoff and a shake of her head.
"Hey, mum!" Edith announced, with a wide smile on her face. "Long time no see!"
Jennifer whirled, and her face transformed from cool neutrality to...just...just...
Well, if Daisy hadn't also just been reunited with her long-thought-dead daddy, herself, she would not have been able to be happy for Edith at all in that moment. But, seeing as she had been, she was able to be. So she allowed herself to smile at the sight of mother and daughter embracing.
Allowed herself to snort when Jennifer began to just kiss Edith all over, causing the girl to squirm and blush intensely in protest.
But Daisy heard the catch in Edith's voice, and she saw the tears in her eyes despite all word to the contrary.
Daisy felt something light and warm bump against her. She turned to see Rigel there, grasping for her hand. A thrill shot up Daisy's arm, and her smile grew as her cheeks grew...really hot. "Hey..."
"H-hi," Rigel breathed.
"The Order will help you sort this all out," Daisy told her suddenly. "You can still get to America. If your friend in MACUSA could just send your permits somewhere else - straight to the Order, maybe - and you and your parents could stay here in this safehouse for a while..."
Rigel nodded, smiling too. "I'm s-sure it'll all w-work out. M-mostly t-thanks to y-you, Daisy. If y-you h-hadn't b-been there f-for m-me all this t-time...r-recently, even, I...I w-wouldn't have m-made it half this f-far."
"Well, you're welcome," Daisy said, with no small amount of pride. "I was just trying to- be a good person for you. A good friend."
"I'd s-say you w-were. The b-best f-friend a girl could h-have."
Daisy nodded. "Do you think we could stay in touch somehow? There have to be dozens of ways we could do it by magic - and even muggle ways, if we want to avoid Ministry attention. I know you won't know where you're going to actually go until you're there, but after you are...could you find a way?"
"I'll h-have my p-parents t-talk to the Order- s-see wh-what we c-can- d-do," Rigel promised earnestly.
Daisy beamed. "Thanks." Then she broke from Rigel and stepped forward. "Jennifer - you know, I woke Edith up and convinced the Order to bring her with us. I could have left her there - especially after how you treated me last time we met - but I didn't."
Jennifer stared at Daisy, wordless. Then- "Thank you, sweetheart," she said softly. "But even that, I couldn't ever express just how...thank you. And...I am sorry for that business on the lake. Would it be any comfort to tell you I was never actually going to allow them to kill you? Just - hurt you, make it look good enough to cause your father to go into a panic?"
There was real guilt, real remorse on the woman's features, as far as Daisy could judge. Intense and genuine.
"You really just wanted him to panic? More psychological warfare?" Daisy said skeptically.
"That's right..." the woman breathed. "I'm- so sorry that I made you a part of that."
Daisy nodded. "That was smart, I guess, and I didn't get too seriously hurt - just a few scrapes and scratches - so...we can let bygones be bygones. As long as we don't see each other again," she finished, hard, glaring at the woman squarely.
Jennifer gave her an equally serious nod. "We won't," she promised.
"Well, let's start now." Daisy left the room with Rigel in tow, feeling pretty great about herself. A bit of a self esteem booster shot injected right into her veins.
Out in the hall, Daisy was joined by her daddy - he came right on out of the room after her, after a quick word with Kingsley.
Daddy gazed down at her, then he looked to Rigel. "Daisy," he began, delicate as could be. "Would you like to stick around a while longer, or...do you want to come home?"
Daisy glanced at Rigel, feeling...torn.
Rigel gave her a smile, a little shake of her head. She took a step back. "W-we've b-both been away f-from f-family for w-way too l-long. And it's l-like you s-said: t-this w-won't be the last t-time we s-see each other. It m-might be a w-while, b-but...we'll m-make it h-happen s-someday. S-sooner than l-later."
Daisy nodded, smiling too. Trying, for Rigel. She knew that was the truth, she knew it was, she knew they'd agreed, she knew...but even still...god, why did this feel like if she let Rigel out of her sight, she'd never see her again? After everything? Daisy threw herself at Rigel in a fierce hug, wrapping her up tight.
"See you soon," Daisy whispered firmly, beginning to cry.
Usually, she hated crying - but this time, she thought she could make an exception.
Daddy apparated with Daisy, moving far and away from the Order safehouse.
Somewhere very far away, and decidedly in the middle of nowhere.
As the world popped back into existence again around Daisy, she found herself gazing on a nice, immediately muggle-looking house in the countryside. Two stories, and fairly wide. It was lit up by glowing lamps of a dim blue. A cool color.
There were trees and a mountain to the right, across a wide river. Rolling hills in the other direction. Grass and more trees everywhere, spread out across the fields in front of and behind the house.
"This isn't home," Daisy said flatly.
"It isn't Grimmauld Place, no," Harry agreed. "We couldn't have stayed there, sweetie. But we did go back for what we could. All your things. We've had your room made up for years. Everything clean and neat. All your books, all your stuffed animals - your toys. You remember?"
Daisy just nodded. It made sense. She gazed around herself, her eyes narrowed. Examining it all - every inch - as they walked in the front door of this unfamiliar house.
"So where are we?" Daisy asked simply.
"A couple dozen miles east of Birmingham," daddy said, after a moments thought. "Do you remember when we used to visit-?"
"Yes."
"Okay."
He opened the door and stepped right into the living room. A nice one. Clean, comfortable cushion sofas, a nice little fireplace. Cream colored wall paint.
"It didn't look half this good when we first got it," daddy told her, quiet and simple - with a bit of a grin that Daisy couldn't help but smile at. "But magic really is amazing. Now it's just about good as new."
Daisy nodded silently. She let her daddy lead her over to sit on the sofa with him. She sank onto the cushions and took another look around. Her eyes passed over the windows, the nice blue curtains, the dimly lit hallway leading who knew where...and the entrance to what looked to be the kitchen. It was a small one, to her eyes - so much smaller than Grimmauld Place's had been.
Daisy saw something move in the dark of the hall, and she resisted every urge to pull her wand out and start firing Curses.
"Hey, honey. Welcome home..." came a new, other familiar voice not heard in years, as the shape took form in the light. A figure she knew, yet...still very different.
Daisy found herself staring. Shocked. "Mummy? What happened to you?"
Her mummy was in a hovering chair. She looked incredibly sickly, incredibly thin and even frail - words Daisy never would have applied to her before, even with her illness! The long, curly dark hair she had always had was only present on the right side of her head, done down a shoulder in a hair tie. The left side of her head was absent of hair at all - almost totally bald. There was a long, thick spread of scarring there.
"My curse kicked my arse." Mummy said it so casually. Then she opened her arms. "Want to come here and get a hug? Or no?"
Daisy stared at her still.
"Alright, that's perfectly fine. No hugs yet," mummy said, in a false cheery voice.
Daisy stood, slowly approaching her mummy. Then she awkwardly sort of leaned in and hugged her around the neck. Mummy hugged her back - and Daisy felt the way her arms trembled. The way her muscles seemed to be hardly applying any kind of pressure at all! It was, it was...
Daisy let her mummy go, straightening and wiping at her face. She refused to look at her, and strode past her into the kitchen. Her parents followed her - both of them. She tensed, resisting every urge to look back. She slid her hand into her pajama bottoms, and she drew her wand. She held it firm as she inspected the kitchen, every inch of it.
Nice cabinets, a little table with a few chairs about it, a spotless sink...
"Hey, honey - we want you to know, right off the bat, that anything that happened while you were away, anything you did...you never have to tell us a thing, alright? " Mummy said gently. "It doesn't matter to us. All that matters is that you're home now. But, if you ever do feel like you're wanting to talk about it - about anything at all on your mind-
"We want you to know that we'll never judge you for...for whatever you had to do to survive," Daddy spoke. "We'll just listen. To- to anything."
"Is that all that matters?" The words escaped Daisy, and she didn't know from where.
Her parents looked at her.
"All...what matters?" Mummy spoke.
"I must not have been really important to you - if you were just living it up in grassy fields while I was getting tortured, and- and-" Daisy choked on her words, fighting not to just let it all spill out. Not here, not on them! It wasn't- she couldn't- "For five- almost six years now, damnit! S-six years of...and you never once tried to find me? To get a message to me? To s-save me from any of it...? You let me t-think you were dead for six fucking years!" she was screaming at her daddy, whirling on him. Rage and a pain like she had never known was tearing her chest apart inside. Scorching her throat. "How fucking dare you do that to me- how could you do that to me?! After all those times you told me you l-loved me, how p-pretty and wonderful I was, how good I was...I w-was good, I tried so h-hard to be good again...f-for you! But you never gave a damn about me, not enough to even let me know you were alive!"
"Daisy, hon, why don't we lower the volume a bit and-" Mummy started.
"No! Fuck the volume, and fuck you too!" Daisy screamed. "You - you stupid- dumb fucking- cunt! You never loved me, you never even liked me - I always knew that from the start! You never did anything with me, you never read me stories or- or played games with me, or- it took until I was six years old for you to even start to try, and only then, probably because daddy forced you into it! How fucking easy was it for you to just throw up your hands and say you tried after I was kidnapped, and then go on with your life?! You. Never. Wanted me! Don't even try to act like you were so upset all these years I was trapped, t-tortured - you were fucking pleased about it cause you didn't have to deal with me anymore!"
"That's not true," mummy said fiercely, tears streaking down her face as she shook her head. "None of that's true! Not about me, not about your dad! And I get it - I get that you're just feeling so-"
"And don't pretend you know how I feel either! You've been playing happy family in this nice house in the country, while I've been stuck being cut, and burned, and bruised, and had my b-bones broken over and over again - where everyone hates me, wants nothing to do with me! Except the people I hated the most and wanted to fucking murder! And even they showed me more care and attention than you two assholes have over the past six years of my life - which is fucking zero!"
Daisy heard a noise from the ceiling. Footsteps? A door?
Her daddy and mummy had looks of fear and alarm on their faces now.
Daisy grasped her wand tightly, stepping backwards until she hit the counters. She took a shaking breath, screwing up her eyes. God, what was she doing? She had just gotten back, she had her parents back, and she was wasting time screaming all her angry, stupid feelings at them?! Just, right away? How ungrateful was she? How stupid?
Daddy gave mummy a swift, desperate look; she gave a nod and zoomed out of the kitchen. He turned to Daisy - walked right up to her and reached for her. To take her hand not holding the wand aimed at him. "Daisy, sweetie, whatever you feel or think is completely fine - it's valid, it's okay, and we can never make it up to you or apologize enough-"
"No!" Daisy cried, shaking her head. "No, I'm sorry, daddy, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm sorry-"
"No, we're sorry. And we're going to be sorry the rest of our lives. That we didn't-" Daddy looked like Daisy felt, in that moment. Then he stopped. He took a deep breath. "But there is something else we need to tell you. Something very important."
"What?" Daisy trembled, her mind still on the noises coming from upstairs. She thought she heard mummy's voice rise, once or twice, but it was incoherent. She thought she heard another...
"It happened months before we lost you, sweetie, okay? It was months before that. But we didn't find out until after you were stolen from us." Daddy's voice was high, and pleading now. Outright begging her.
"Just tell me, daddy!" Daisy snarled. Sparks flew from her wand - but her daddy didn't even flinch at it.
"Your mummy..." Daddy's grasp on her hand tightened. "She was pregnant. She got- pregnant, months before your sixth birthday. And, months after, she...she decided to have the baby. To keep it - her."
"Her?"
"Yes. Daisy, you- you have a little sister. She turned five last December - the 19th was the day of her birth. Her name is Leila. And- and just like us, she's been hoping all this time for us to find you again, to bring you home-"
"Do I have a room?" Daisy said, toneless. Absolute numbness and exhaustion flooding her being. Her wand arm fell to her side, her fingers so loose she almost dropped it.
Daddy nodded. "Of course you do."
"Take me to my room," Daisy said, in a flat, quiet voice. No emotion, no energy. Nothing. She had nothing anymore. She was nothing.
"Okay."
For the first time in six years, daddy picked her up in his arms, carrying her through the house. Into the living room, down the hall - to the narrow set of stairs leading up to the first floor. He carried her up them, almost totally silent. He stopped there, right near the top, gazing down the hallway on the second floor. Then he started forward again.
On past a first door on her right, and one on her left. Past a second door on the right, and on to a third.
He opened the third door, reaching in to flick on a lightswitch. Electricity. Muggle. Right...
Daisy let him carry her inside, right over to the bed. And then she let go, falling back onto it in a heap.
She didn't even have the energy to look around. To examine this room. Or even to take the shrunken trunk out of her pajama pocket that was pressing against her thigh.
She just fell back onto the bed, slid herself up a few inches till her head touched the pillows, rolled onto her side to bring her knees up there.
Her eyes closed.
Daddy lingered in the room a moment. Then she heard his footsteps retreating. Heard the light switch off - saw it behind her eyelids.
"Sweetie...I love you so much. We both do. And we're so, so happy to have you back home."
Daisy didn't respond.
And daddy, mercifully, left her alone.
Alone in a room, in a house, in a life she could not even recognize as being remotely similar to the one she had had before...
The one she had been longing for, for close to six years now.
Author's Note: And so the fabled chapter 10 arrives! Harry is back, and so is Daphne! Family reunion! Yay, happy endings! Except it's not going to be quite so happy, not all the time. Not immediately, even. Sadly. But certain people have got some shit to work through!
Also, yeah, funny thing about this chapter: I was originally toying with ending it right when Daisy woke up in the dorm and heard Harry's voice, and then I was going to segue my way into a flashback chapter to show Harry's life the past five years, buuuut I thought it would really put the reader right in the moment and headspace of Daisy to leave it as is. Just, bam, daddy's alive, bam, new house, bam, Daphne's illness sucks, bam, guess what you have a little sister now!
So the reader is just as shocked and confused and overwhelmed as Daisy by all the changes in life she never could have anticipated. You're as jarred and thrown off as her, thinking things are going to just go back to how they were before! But, you know, SIKE! Terrible, awful sike...
Life can't go back to how it was. Not exactly.
But it can get better again! And you can accept the new.
Daisy's gonna have to try to do that, going forward.
Hope she can. She'll need lots of support and a lot of therapy - literally. :(
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this one! Man I'm so happy to have finally reached this point in my plot outline! :D