It's been a while since I've updated this, I know. However, expect weekly updates every Monday in July (Yell at me if I miss a day, this is part of my camp nano goal) and potentially August as well. Hopefully, if I get in a few double updates, this story will be completed before I go back to school at the end of August. Then I'll take a break to finish a few other stories I didn't update for months, and I'll be back to write one of the prequels or sequels. I haven't quite decided which direction I want to go in first (leave suggestions if you want).
Thanks to all of you that have left comments on both Petunias and Daisies recently, it really helped.
Before long, the quidditch season had arrived and Daisy went back to training. The previous keeper having graduated, Daisy scored the position as real keeper instead of just a backup. It was odd, but strangely comforting being the youngest person on the Hufflepuff team. On one hand, no matter how good she was, Daisy knew she would always have the least experience of the group. On the other hand, all of her teammates treated her like family, like a younger sibling they all had responsibility for.
No one else in Daisy's friend group had moved up to a position on their teams, so when it came time for the first match of the year, Gryffindor vs Slytherin, she didn't expect to see any younger students she knew out on the field. During breakfast the morning of the game, that all changed.
As usual, game day meant more people in the great hall, as well as people were seated at their house tables instead of wherever they wished. The chatter was especially loud, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students taking their bets on who would win and how.
"O'Neil got called off!" Sophia slid into the seat next to Daisy's, accepting the plate of food Daisy had saved for her. "Some family emergency, she might not be back for a while."
Daisy thought back to the previous year. She rarely paid too much attention to the other team's seekers, which was probably why it took her a moment to recognize the name. "Nimue O'Neil. That girl that beat Lily for reserve last year?"
Sophia nodded. "She's seeker this year, with Lily as reserve, which means Lily's playing as Gryffindor's seeker for the match!"
Daisy finally turned to look at the Gryffindor table. The members of their quidditch team were surrounded by people offering advice and insisting they eat more breakfast. Lily could barely be seen behind the huddle of Gryffindor's, but as Daisy watched, James pulled his sister through the mass of students and out of the hall altogether.
"She looked rather unlike herself, don't you think?" Regina said from the other side of the table. "Less confident, and a little green."
"She'll be fine," Daisy said. "She's trained hard, and the Gryffindor team has better players overall this year."
It was true. The slytherin team had a collection of younger players, mostly third and fourth years, while Gryffindor had a more even mix of older and younger students in their ranks. They had experience on their side, even with Lily as their seeker.
"We should go talk to her before the game starts anyway," Sophia said. "Y'know. Just to give our support."
The two carried their half-eaten bagels out of the hall in search of their friend. They found Lily a few corridors away. She stood in her Gryffindor robes nibbling at a piece of toast, barely taking in enough to be considered a bite.
"You'll do great, Lils," Daisy said. She stood to Lily's side while Sophia wrapped an arm around her shoulders from the other.
"If by great you mean she'll survive, I'm sure you're right." Bella Castle turned the corner behind them. For once, she didn't have her usual backup of Slytherin friends, but that didn't dissuade her from sneering in Lily's direction.
"I've seen you fly. You're nothing special. There's no way you'll get to the snitch first. Our seeker makes you look like a toddler on a toy broom."
Lily lurched out from Daisy and Sophia's protection and hurled the buttered toast at Bella's face. "You didn't even get on reserve this year!"
Bella wiped the butter from one cheek, only glancing at the fallen piece of bread, and laughed. "You think I care? I didn't even try out this year. My parents were never quidditch stars, I don't have them to live up to. Or, I should say try to live up to. Because there's no way you ever will at this rate. Not the hero that everyone thinks Dursley is, and not the famous star your parents were. Have fun losing, Potter."
Daisy took Lily's hand, preventing her from pursuing Bella down the hallway.
"I'll prove her wrong!" Lily insisted. "I will!"
"Of course you will." Daisy wasn't really paying attention to her cousin anymore. Why hadn't Bella tried out that year? She'd made the reserve chaser position in first year, and there had been an open spot this year. With all her confidence and bragging, it didn't make sense.
- DAISY -
An entire group of first year friends had begun to gather by the time Daisy and Sophia arrived in the stands. Gracie, sitting alone since Lily wasn't around, had saved them seats right in front of Jonathan and Sam.
"What rattled Lily before she got to the pitch?" Jonathan asked. "She looks like she'd rather smack someone than play seeker."
"Castle," Daisy said. Everyone turned to glare at the Slytherin side of the stands, but Bella wasn't there yet.
"There's something odd about her this year," Sophia said. "She used to be way more persistent."
Daisy agreed, making a mental note to poke around the mystery later.
The team captains met at the center of the field, shook hands, and the teams were up in the air. Slytherin's chaser caught the quaffle first, zooming towards the hoops without hesitation and the game was on. The Hufflepuff commentator, Bernard, narrated every action as it happened, and they all watched as no one managed to score any points for almost an hour.
"And, Potter has the quaffle again, fifth time he's gotten this close to the goal post I think. Will he make it this time? Slytherin beaters can't seem to get back control of the bludgers this time, aaand Gryfindor scores!"
Gryffindors around the stands erupted in cheers, many from other houses joining in, just glad some action had taken place. Up above, Lily circled the field with the Slytherin seeker, neither spotting any flecks of gold.
"There." Sam pointed, his hand going right past Daisy's head. "Next to Charleston's head. It's the snitch, isn't it?"
Daisy squinted. A gold fleck hovered next to the Slytherin captain's head for a moment then darted away and disappeared into the air. Neither seeker had spotted it. And then they both did. The two seekers dived from opposite sides of the quidditch field. The crowd gasped.
"And it looks like the seekers have finally seen a glimpse of something, though I can barely see what they're looking at," Bernard narrated. "It looks like Potter will reach the snitch first if no one intervenes, she started out closer. Charleston looks down right furious with his beaters at the moment, but no, one of them's caught up to a bludger, and OUCH, that looks like it hurt. Potter's been hit, and Slytherin takes the snitch, winning the game by 100 points! Better luck next time, Gryffindor!"
Some people cheered or made disappointed comments, but Daisy was already at the railing, peering over the edge to watch as Lily was floated onto a stretcher by a teacher and pushed towards the hospital wing. James and the rest of the Gryffindor quidditch team followed close behind.
"Bella's bound to be smug about this," Sophia said.
Daisy glanced back at the Slytherin side of the stands. Still no Bella. Where was she?
"Probably," she said anyway. "We should go check on Lily. She'll need friends at a time like this."
The two followed Gracie up to the hospital wing and waited for the members of the Gryffindor quidditch team (and Albus) to give their encouragement and leave. As soon as the others left, the three went in.
"You did great, Lily." Gracie took the spot closest to her friend, and took Lily's hand. "You almost got it."
"Almost," Lily repeated. "Almost is never enough." She pulled her hand away. "And now I have to stay the night here. Broken ribs."
"I hope you're not still thinking about Bella," Daisy said. She still was, and if Daisy still had Bella on her mind, it was doubtful that Lily didn't. "Bella's words don't mean a thing to any of us, and they shouldn't to you either."
"I know."
Daisy doubted Lily would let go of her feelings just because Daisy told her Bella didn't matter, but there wasn't anything else she knew she could do.
On their way back to the common room, Daisy spotted Jonathan and Sam sitting in an almost-empty hallway, talking in low voices to each other. She paused, almost heading in their direction.
"Wonder what gossip those two have that's too much of a secret to let us in on," Sophia said, following Daisy's eyes when she slowed down.
Sam looked up for a moment, unintentionally meeting Daisy's eyes. He jerked backwards in surprise, face turning the slightest tinge of pink as he glanced away again. Noticing Sam's behavior, Jonathan turned to look at the girls as well, waving and offering a friendly smile before turning back to Sam.
"Yeah. I wonder."
"It doesn't matter, Daisy. We have our own secrets."
Daisy repeated Sophia's words to Arianne later that night, when the two were alone in a corner of the common room. It was the first time they'd really spoken that entire year, and even though Arianne had been complicit in her sister's deeds the previous year, Daisy still found her presence comforting.
"The thing is, we don't. We don't have any secrets, not from our other friends. I don't see what there could be between Jonathan and Sam that needs to be kept from the rest of us."
"You mean, you don't have secrets with any of your muggle friends? Memories that you've never shared with anyone here?"
"That's different."
"How?"
Daisy grumbled a slew of half-finished phrases with no meaning and stopped. If Emma suddenly gained magical abilities and turned up at Hogwarts, would they have the sort of relationship Jonathan and Sam had?
She wrote everything out on paper, all her thoughts on the boys, about Lily, and Bella, and even about Sophia even though there was no trouble with their friendship.
So I was just wondering. What would it be like if you were here with me?
She sealed the letter in the envelope and, as if the owl could read her mind from across the castle, Connie turned up to retrieve it.
A few hours later, Daisy's stomach dropped when she realized she'd just sent an owl to a muggle who knew nothing about magic, or Hogwarts.