oo000ooo
September 2nd 07:31
Daphne Greengrass strode into the Great Hall, heading straight for her spot at the end of the Slytherin table, eyes scanning the room idly to see who'd already come down. There weren't many, maybe ten to fifteen students sat at the various tables. All of them were alone, like her.
She sat down swiftly and loaded a plate with some toast and scrambled eggs and poured herself a fresh cup of tea, with one sugar, and ate.
She inconspicuously watched some random Gryffindor student who was sitting alone as they ate; idly taking note of their habits. People were weird, and this person was no exception. They had a loaded plate, full of the worst choices Hogwarts had to offer at breakfast time, a large pile of bacon and sausages, and she assumed the goblet was full of pumpkin juice, by far the worst choice to start the day. They'd be feeling lethargic all day from the size of that meal.
Daphne refocused on her meal, taking her time as she methodically made her way through the meal. There was plenty of time before the first period, and it was likely that she had a free period in the morning, as the younger years typically took up the professor's time on the first period, and older years got to have a later start, though there were some electives that started earlier, the core subjects tended to be in the afternoon, so Daphne was sure that her mornings would be free.
It was a privilege, they'd been told. As they were older, they were given more freedom as they were becoming adults. Well, they were adults now, especially for those returning to Hogwarts to repeat, or actually attend their seventh year.
It had been frustrating, having to repeat the year. But, with the war and exams cancelled, Daphne had no choice but to return; wasting a whole extra year when she could rise through the ranks of the Ministry. Still, this had given her some extra time to perfect her grades, allowing her to likely move into a more significant position than she would've if she'd sat the exams the prior year.
There was invariably an upside to something bad, however meagre that may be. One just had to comb through the bad to find the good hiding beneath it all.
Forking the last of her eggs, Daphne peered up at the head table, looking for Slughorn. He was there, of course, idly chatting away to McGonagall. By his side sat seven stacks of parchment, no doubt timetables for the year. So, finishing the last gulp of her tea, Daphne stood and marched over to it.
As she approached the head table, Slughorn turned from McGonagall to address her with a tender smile. "Daphne, my dear! Here for your timetable, are we?" The man chuckled, not awaiting Daphne's response and sifting through one stack of parchment. He scanned her timetable, then briefly crossed-referenced it to the list of subjects against her name.
With a satisfactory nod, he handed her the timetable."Here you are, your timetable. I trust you've skimmed over the book we'll be using this year?" Slughorn asked.
Daphne nodded at him. "Thank you, Professor." She smiled politely at the man, spinning on her heel, she made for the door, resolving she'd shack up in the library for the morning as she had a clear morning and Charms after lunch. It'd be good to sort out a study plan around her lessons.
As she exited, eyes glued to her timetable as she went to memorise it, she was interrupted by someone walking into her.
"Sorry."
Daphne peered up at the black-haired boy, a frown on her face. It was Harry Potter, not that she cared. 'He has grown quite handsome, as of late, though. Not as scrawny as I remembered, and he's grown a fair deal taller... I wonder what else has grown...' She thought.
Shaking herself, she broke contact with his piercing eyes, feeling like he was staring into her very soul. Her eyes flickered down to his lips before darting away.
"My fault. I wasn't looking." He continued, oblivious to her inner turmoil. "Are you alright?"
Daphne nodded, waved off his apologies and hurriedly retreated, making it all of ten steps before peeking over her shoulder and watching his retreating form enter the hall with his two friends.
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08:45
Daphne held her newly made timetable scouring every last drop of ink to ensure it was perfect. This was something she'd consulting each day to be certain she'd fly through her NEWTs with immaculate grades.
Like last year, she had a fair deal of free time during the week, allowing plenty of time to study and work through homework, but also allowing for downtime during the week so she'll not be burnt out.
Tuesdays and Wednesdays were consistently the most productive day of the week, so there was a fair deal of time dedicated to her studies, whereas Thursdays were a slog in comparison, so she'll permit herself to have the free period to do whatever she liked; she'd probably spend some time reading, she'd acquired some new muggle novels that piqued her interest; it was something she'd allowed herself to indulge frequently in over the past few years, though she didn't dare bring them to Hogwarts last year.
However, this year she'd brought along some of her favourites, mainly Silence of the Lambs. Though she'd brought a couple of others with her, like Lord of the Flies and 1984.
She couldn't say why she'd gotten into muggle literature so much. It may have been a by-product of spending so much time in the muggle world since the war ended. But even then, that was a stretch. It could've been easily avoided if she wanted.
'I wish I could just fucking forget... You could always obliviate yourself, that'd do the trick.' She shook herself of the intrusive thoughts. She didn't have the time or energy to deal with it. There was too much to do this year anyway, and fretting over something in the past would do her no good.
She went back to ensuring her newly made timetable was spotless then pulled out her wand, Walnut and Phoenix Feather 10 3/4 inches, and put an unbreakable and impervious charm on the sheet, not wanting it to get damaged.
Content that was done, she put the sheet into her bag and pulled out their DADA book for the year, newly picked by the new teacher, and opened it to where she'd left off. Wanting to get an idea of what they would be learning this year.
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12:58
Daphne sat down for Charms, right at the back of the room at the end of the desk. She picked out her book, The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 7, placing it down in front of her.
She'd read the book cover to cover through the course of last year. Now, she had to do the same again. Frustrating, but it'd allow her to master the curriculum.
Her eyes trailed around the room with a disinterested gaze. She was the first here, of course. Who'd miss a minute of lunch to be in class early? 'Lazy bastards.' She thought.
Daphne took out her wand and fiddled with it as she waited for her classmates to pile in.
After a minute, several kids came in, more than last year. 'Oh, yeah, they had the younger years with them now, as well. This should be fun...' The classroom filled up quickly, and the last remaining spots were the ones next to her.
It was a given that she'd be left alone. She spent almost all her time alone. Still, as she continued to wait for the class to start, the chair next to her was pulled out and someone sat down.
"This seat isn't taken, is it?" The newcomer, Harry Potter, asked. He smiled politely at her, and Daphne shook her head, returning the smile with one of her own.
Their eyes remained locked with one another for longer than necessary before Harry turned away from her and continued with the conversation he was having with one of his friends, Neville Longbottom. Daphne idly noticed that Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were a couple of seats up, laughing about Merlin knows what. And Ginny Weasley was between the two pairs, joining in with the chat between Harry and Neville.
Daphne went back to her book, bored with waiting. Flitwick should be here by now.
'Speak of the devil...' Flitwick entered the classroom, waddling to the front of the class and taking the seat at the head of the class.
"Welcome everyone to your final year of Charms! You may have noticed that we have combined two years into one. This is due to the lack of staff available to cover eight years, so you'll have to make do. I understand it may be cramped in here. But we'll make do!" Flitwick turned toward the blackboard on his left side and the chalk came up and began writing. "Today's lesson will be a refresher. For some of you, it may be unneeded, but for others... Well, let's just say you might need to get back into the routine of classes again."
The blackboard listed out a few curses they'd have seen during their sixth year, there was the Bubble-Head Charm, the Cleaning Charm and turning Vinegar to Wine on the board and Daphne was thrilled to note she'd mastered all of them the prior year.
"Now, I will give each of you the first hour to go over each of these spells at your own leisure. Do not worry, I shall provide each of you with your own glass of vinegar and a sufficiently dirty rag for you to use. Just give me a moment as I make sure there is enough for the class! In the meantime, why don't you practice the Bubble-Head Charm?" Flitwick turned away from them and got off the chair, going over to one cupboard.
Daphne idly fiddled with her wand as the class broke out into their attempts at the Bubble-Head Charm. She watched as most of them failed their first attempts before she gave it a go.
Pointing her wand toward her face, she practised the wand movement twice before she spoke the incantation and felt her head be engulfed in an enormous bubble. Silently, she cheered, but outwardly remained calm.
She dispelled the charm, not wanting to draw too much attention to herself, but it was too late.
"Well done, Miss Greengrass, two points to Slytherin for an excellent showing of the charm!"
Smiling politely at Flitwick, she ducked her head. Not enjoying the way all eyes were on her. She noted that Hermione had also performed a perfect charm once she looked back up.
"I'm... er - I'm sorry... But what's the secret?" Harry asked from beside her. He was fiddling with his wand as he asked her.
"Pardon?" she asked, intrigued that he seemed nervous.
"To do the charm." He continued quickly. "What's the secret? I could never get it last time."
"Oh... er well..." She stumbled over her words before taking a breath and continuing, "It's more being certain that the wand movements are correct than anything else - thought you need to be sure of your intent behind the spell - In the summer it took me a while before I managed to perfect it." Daphne said, 'Why'd he not ask Hermione?' She thought absently. Eyes darting to the witch in question, who was helping Ron with the charm? Her eyes lingered on Ginny for a moment, and the witch had a sour look on her face.
"Will you tell me if I'm doing it right, please?" Harry asked, drawing her attention back to him.
Daphne nodded, and Harry pointed his wand toward his face and waved his wand. She observed with an indifferent gaze, but her mind was chanting, 'Don't fuck this up.' Harry had most of the movement down but didn't put enough of a flick at the beginning and end of it for the spell to work correctly. She'd made the same mistake when she initially was learning the spell.
He looked at her expectantly, and she smiled. "You've got most of it correct, but you need to put more of a flick at either end of the movement, like this." She held up her wand and did the correct motion, "You've been doing this instead." She then replicated what he'd been doing, and then showed him the correct movement again. "See?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I think I've got it." Harry then redid the movement, again looking at Daphne, and she smiled and nodded, answering his unasked question.
Once he'd done the movement a couple of times, he said the incantation and, low and behold, a large bubble formed around his head. He had a triumphant grin across his face, and Daphne couldn't help but reciprocate it.
He dispelled the charm with another wave of his wand, "Thank you, I really appreciate the help."
"No problem, I'm sure you would've done the same," Daphne said. And she meant it.
Their eyes remained connected, and Daphne got to admire the beautiful shade of green that was Harry's eyes. They were mesmerising, enrapturing her with their very own spell. Part of her felt that she was naked. That somehow, by just locking eyes with him, he saw all of her. Even the parts no one else had ever seen, locked away in the darkest depths of her mind. Never to see the light of day.
'How can he be so perfect?' she asked herself.
There was a pain behind the surface, though, a deep longing for something Daphne couldn't understand. As the connection continued, she felt like he was opening up more. She could see the tortured soul that he was. How he'd suffered. How he'd lost. There was no need to hear the countless retellings of his escapades in this castle and beyond its walls. For his eyes told more than words...
She broke the contact, forcing her eyes off of his. Harry did the same as if she'd had the same effect on him as he did her.
After a longer silence than Daphne would've liked, Flitwick came round with a glass and a filthy rag for each of them. He filled the glass until halfway with vinegar and then moved on to the others on the row.
"So... You want to critique my form on this as well?" Harry asked, smirking.
She giggled... 'What was that!? Giggling? What are you? Twelve?' she screamed at herself. Nonetheless, she nodded, not trusting her voice, and Harry pointed his wand at the glass. He didn't speak the spell this time, but a small light came out of his wand and the vinegar turned a deep crimson. His eyes scanned the room before grabbing the glass and taking a sip.
"Not too bad," Harry said with a grin. "Want some?" He held the glass out to her.
Daphne hesitated. 'Do it. Do it. Do it.' Her mind chanted.
"Come on, Flitwick isn't looking."
Daphne tentatively took the glass from him and sniffed it. There was a fruity tang to it, and she took that as a good sign. She tipped it back and had a modest sip. It wasn't bad, hell it was better than some wine she'd had. It wasn't acidic, as if he'd failed to turn all the vinegar. It was well balanced, nothing too overwhelming.
"It's good," Daphne said, the taste of the wine lingering on her tongue for a moment before subsiding. "I wouldn't have had you as a wine expert, but you've surprised me."
"What can I say? The summer gave me the opportunity to become a connoisseur on all things alcohol."
He held a smile. But Daphne suspected that he'd not meant he'd gone to France and spent a weekend on a wine tasting tour, but had drunk his sorrows away at home with some hard liquor. She didn't blame him. How could she after what he must've gone through?
She smiled politely at him, unsure of how to respond to the admission.
'You're really fucking bad at this, Daphne!' She hissed in her mind. 'Merlin, he's being so nice and you can't even speak!'
"Your turn."
Right. She turned to her glass and pointed her wand at it. Not wanting to be outdone, she didn't speak the incantation aloud but chanted it in her mind instead. She'd practised countless times at home over the summer, but never did it non-verbally. 'Stupid.'
Miraculously, it turned crimson. Maybe not as dark as Harry's, but it was still clearly wine.
Imitating Harry's earlier actions, her eyes quickly darted around the room, finding Flitwick talking to Ginny and Neville. She had a brief sniff of the wine; it was of a similar smell to Harry's and had a small sip.
Happily, she turned to Harry and offered some to him. He accepted with no hesitation. She watched with anticipation as he deftly sipped the wine.
He placed the glass down, still relatively full of wine. His face gave nothing away, and he looked at her with an odd expression that Daphne couldn't decipher.
After what felt like an eternity, he smiled. "It's good. Brilliant, even. I'd be right in assuming you've practised these spells a lot?"
"Maybe once or twice," she said sheepishly.
"It shows," Harry grinned.
"Hey, Harry? Can you show us vinegar to wine? Please." Neville asked from beside him.
Daphne wasn't sure, but she swore she saw Neville give Harry a look and a kick under the table.
Harry smiled apologetically at her, then turned toward Neville and Ginny, talking them through the spell.
She returned to her own work, deciding to continue down the list and clean the dirty rag. She went over the motions with her wand, comparing them to her open textbook, and then directed it toward the rag.
The rag shook, and the dirt vanished, leaving behind a clean rag.
Daphne smiled. She didn't care what was thrown at her. This year was going to be great.
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A/N: I'm trying out a new style of writing and trying to integrate the POV character's thoughts as dialogue more. I don't know if I've done it right, or if it's any good, so your thoughts would be appreciated.
I doubt I can do more than just Harry and Daphne's POVs without mucking things up, as it's easier to get into the mind of only two characters instead of five. So I'll only be doing their POVs for this fic.
I'll probably be doing weekly updates. So every Thursday or Friday there'll be a new chapter. If I'm busy that week it'll just go on to the next week.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.
-Salt.