Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl Easter Holiday Shorts
DISCLAIMER: I am not the creator of Daria, nor do I own it or its characters. They belong to MTV Viacom. Nor am I the creator of Harry Potter. I don't own it either: they belong to JK Rowling, Wizarding World and Warner Brothers. The Fink-Nottle family is not meant to be any of the wonderful characters created by the late PG Wodehouse. Gussie Fink-Nottle and his spouse are long since deceased. And no, I don't own the Jeeves franchise either.
This story is written for my amusement and ego gratification. I do not deserve or respect any financial compensation for this work of fiction.
This chapter rated T for language. Inner thoughts are often rated R or X and can be rated as NSFW.
Reviews are nice. If you like what I write, please consider writing one. I am a native English speaker but can still puzzle out French and Spanish.
Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl* Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl* Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl
Cuthbert and Daria left the Adventure Park in a good mood. Cuthbert had hugely enjoyed both the arcade and the rides outside. He'd not only gotten to play some of the games he'd missed but got to try a couple of new ones. He was also happy to learn that Rodrick lived nearby: that was good because he didn't have that many school friends that lived close by. He also learned that Roger had the same attitude towards wizarding decorum that he did: both boys had gleefully cast aside the pressures they'd felt to become proper wizards, kicked back and had fun taking the rides. Piss on Pureblooded Berks and their sneering at Muggle amusement parks!
Daria had enjoyed herself, too. She usually wasn't one for video games, but this place had had ones she liked, which was a rarity. She'd also enjoyed most of the rides she'd tried, which was new for her. She remembered being afraid of some of them when she was younger: she thought that she might either be thrown out of her seat or that she might get sick while the ride was working. She'd since learned that she took bigger risks flying on a broom or simply making her way around Hogwarts Castle: by contrast, several of the rides she'd taken looked almost safe. The last one she'd tried, the Matterhorn, was the one ride that actually made her squeal. It had a long drop that felt like diving on a broom, the difference being that her seat had a safety bar and seat-belts. She suspected that Ronnie would have loved it. Perhaps when she was back home on vacation and Ronnie was tall enough for the ride, they could…
She sighed. That day was at least a few years away.
They returned home around mid-afternoon. Mrs. Fink-Nottle asked Daria if she would like to help her make dinner. Daria agreed: meal preparation was a bit like potion preparation and Mrs. Fink-Nottle was a good cook. She had a brief thought about her Dad's cooking back in Highland: her Dad had gotten better at making edible dinners, but experience had taught her that dinner could be either be hit or miss.
"Daria, we have to talk," said Mrs. Fink-Nottle.
"What about?" said Daria.
"Those people we met at the Adventure Park," said Mrs. Fink-Nottle. "How is it that you know each other?"
"I think it's because I'm a Seer," Daria replied with a sigh.
"Beg pardon?" said Mrs. Fink-Nottle.
"I've got the Sight," said Daria.
Camille had heard of the Sight but had long thought it was the stuff of myths and bad romance novels. "So you saw those people before?" she said.
"Yes, Ma'am," Daria said. "I saw them back in Highland several years ago."
"Were they actually in Highland?" asked Mrs. Fink-Nottle.
"No, Ma'am, I saw them from afar," said Daria. "I was in Highland. I think they live in a suburb of London but I'm not sure."
"Is there anything special about them?" said Mrs. Fink-Nottle.
"Not really," said Daria. "I think they have a kid named Harry living with them. I don't think they treat him very well. Otherwise I don't think they're that special."
"So why do you think your Sight targeted them?" asked Camille.
"I don't know," Daria said with a frown and a huff. "It goes where it goes. I really don't have any control over it."
"Who would you look in on if you had a choice?" asked Camille.
"My family," said Daria. "Or-." She started blushing.
Camille smiled. "Or who?" she asked gently.
"Princess Diana," Daria said, her face red with embarrassment. "She's pretty."
-(((O-O)))—
The following day, there was an owl with a letter in its mouth by the kitchen window.
"Somebody got mail," said Daria. "Is it OK to let it in?"
"Go ahead," said Mrs. Fink-Nottle.
Daria let the owl in, which then hopped on the table and dropped off a letter. The owl chirped twice. "I think it wants something to eat," she said. Mr. Fink-Nottle fed it some bacon while Daria scurried upstairs to find some wizarding coins to pay for the postage. Daria gave the owl a couple of knuts and it flew away.
"So who is it for?" asked Daria.
"It's for you," said Mr. Fink-Nottle, handing her the envelope.
Daria took the envelope and opened it with a knife. She noted that it was a paper envelope, not parchment. She opened it.
"So who is it from?" asked Cuthbert.
"It's from Julia Darling, a girl in my potions class," said Daria. "She says that her Mom is going to be working on a film and that they'll be shooting footage in Highland next summer. She's asking me for advice as to what to expect."
The Fink-Nottles looked at each other and started chuckling.
"Should I tell her to ask Cuthbert for a second opinion?" said Daria.
-(((O-O)))—
That evening, after Mr. and Mrs. Fink-Nottle had called it a night, Mrs. Fink-Nottle pursed her lips in thought, then turned to her husband.
"Edgar," she said, "I've been thinking about our houseguest."
"What about?" Mr. Fink-Nottle replied. "She's been polite, well-behaved and she's been good company, even if she is a girl."
Mrs. Fink-Nottle turned to her husband to glare, then looked thoughtful.
"You know how boys and girls are at that age," said Mr. Fink-Nottle. "They live in separate worlds and usually don't want to have much to do with each other until later on. I'm surprised Daria and Cuthbert get along that well: if they're not best friends, they still do things together."
Mrs. Fink-Nottle said nothing. So much of the time, Edgar could be so oblivious, but once in a while he had insights that she'd never thought of.
"That wasn't what I wanted to talk about," she said. "It's about Daria. After watching her this last week, I've had the strangest thought about her."
"What about her?" said Mr. Fink-Nottle.
"She's not like Jacob's and Helen's other two daughters," said Mrs. Fink-Nottle. "There's something strange and fey about her."
"Well, she is a witch," Mr. Fink-Nottle replies. "But in spite of that I see a lot of Helen in her."
"That she does," Mrs. Fink-Nottle conceded. "But I look for traces of Jacob in her and I don't see any."
"I know she loves and cares for him very much," said Mr. Fink-Nottle, "even if she doesn't put him on a pedestal."
"But she doesn't act that much like him," said Mrs. Fink-Nottle, "and she doesn't look like him as much as her sisters do."
Mr. Fink-Nottle looked thoughtful. That part was true. Both Quinn and Veronica had Jacob's cheeks and chin line and his brown eyes. Daria's hair was auburn while both of her sisters were more typical red-heads. And Daria had gray eyes, a trait none of the rest of the Morgendorffers had.
"I know this is mad, and I won't hold it against her," said Mrs. Fink-Nottle, "but I can't help but wonder if Daria's father was somebody else."
Preposterous, thought Mr. Fink-Nottle. But even supposing that was true…
"Even if that was the case, which I don't believe," said Mr. Fink-Nottle, "there's no doubt in my mind that Helen's oldest thinks of Jacob as her Da."
Mrs. Fink-Nottle looked up at the ceiling and thought about it. Edgar had a point. The girl did think of bumbling, excitable, insecure, mercurial Jacob Morgendorffer as her Da. Still, she couldn't help but wonder if there was someone else, someone magical, who'd had a hand in her conception.
-(((O-O)))—
The letter arrived on the Friday before school started, courtesy of the Royal Mail and the postal drop often used by non-magical families to write to their offspring and occasionally to the Hogwarts staff. It was sitting on the Headmaster's desk when Severus Snape came up to his office to confer with him as the head of the House of Slytherin.
The two of them talked about his students, about how well they got along with each other and with members of other houses and about Severus' charges' plans after graduation, then Professor Dumbledore chose to bring up the subject of the letter.
"Severus, my boy, we've again heard from one of your old acquaintances," said Professor Dumbledore, his blue eyes twinkling.
"If I may ask, who was it, Headmaster?" asked Professor Snape.
"Petunia Dursley," Professor Dumbledore replied.
"And what is Petunia whinging about this time?" asked Professor Snape.
"Here, read it for yourself," said Professor Dumbledore, levitating the letter over to the Professor.
Professor Snape read Tuney's indignant letter with a smirk which almost broached into a grin when he reached its end. Really, no less than three Hogwarts students besetting her son? He could imagine that happening under other circumstances, but Miss Morgendorffer and Mister Fink-Nottle as the instigators? Morgendorffer was less than five feet tall and as for young Fink-Nottle, the Dursley brat outsized and outweighed him. True, Morgendorffer was reputed to have a sharp tongue, but it was tempered by a first-year's prudence: she knew better than to start quarrels with larger children.
"I suppose I could look in on the two accused, Headmaster," he said, "but my time is at a premium and I don't think it's really necessary."
"What would you do instead, Severus?" asked Professor Dumbledore.
"I would inform Mrs. Dursley that I will ask Miss Morgendorffer and Mister Fink-Nottle for information about the incident, then I would inform her that we are not responsible for where our students ramble on holiday," said Professor Snape. "I can ask Mister Fink-Nottle and Miss Morgendorffer about their side of the incident when they return from holiday."
-(((O-O)))-
Author's Notes:
Some readers may wonder about my having this Daria idolize the late Princess Diana. I would tell them that Daria is still only an eleven-year-old girl here, and a lot of the unpleasant circumstances of the Princess' unhappy marriage to the Prince of Wales had yet to become public. So yes, there's still room for illusion and idealization.
DECREE: By dint of my being the author of this work of fiction, I hereby decree that the events of Chapter 76 of Daria Ravenclaw: The Highland Years did not happen. If Lorimar can pretend that an entire season of the TV soap opera Dallas never happened, I can claim that a chapter of one of my fanfictions didn't happen either. Daria did not make an astral vision visit to the UK at the time the events of Chapter 76 were occurring, she did not get Harry Potter's address, and poor Harry never got the story of the Chupacabra to use for his school assignment.