Well, this only took me 6 months to pull off! Actually, to be honest, it's
been sitting, handwritten, in a notebook since around Christmas. I've been
too lazy to type it, but now, with summer here, I succumbed to the boredom
and finally crumbled. Also, I think reading the 5th HP book rekindled my
imagination for this world!!! I'll go now and try to write another chapter;
let's just hope it's not as long in coming as this one was!!
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Potter!" Snape growled at Harry. "I will not tolerate whispering in my class! That will be another ten points from Gryffindor!"
Harry simply ground his potion ingredients more finely as Snape continued to dock points from Gryffindor. They had reached a grand total of 85 points lost. Harry, Ron, Dean, and Seamus had now each lost 10 points for talking, and Parvati and Lavender each lost 5 points for giggling. Snape took 10 points from Neville for using an incorrect formula and 10 from Hermione for telling Neville the correct formula. Daisy had lost the other 15 points by dumping her potion on Dirk's lap.
For some strange reason, Daisy had a very self-satisfied smirk on her face. Parvati asked her why, but Daisy, unwilling to lose more points, just grinned wider and shook her head, muttering "Later."
A few moments later, Dirk let out a huge gasp and screamed out, "What the hell?!" Daisy had to work hard to stifle her laugh.
"Mr. Sivonen! What is the cause of this outburst?" Snape was furious and glanced around the room, hoping to catch the irresponsible Gryffindor student who was unlucky enough to so much as look at him wrong.
Dirk stammered, "My.. I mean, something happened to.." He lowered his gaze to his lap. "Never mind, sir. It won't happen again." He glared at Daisy, even though he blushed bright red when he did so and immediately dropped his glance again.
"Five more points will be taken from Gryffindor, Keane, for your pitiful attempt to disguise your obvious amusement at Mr. Sivonen's.. predicament."
This wiped the grin from Daisy's face. Dean leapt up to yell at Snape as he turned his back, but - fortunately - Ron pulled him down and slapped a hand over his mouth before he could say anything.
Daisy glanced back at Dirk, who looked up from his lap with a pathetic look on his face. Daisy grabbed a piece of parchment, scrawled a quick note on it, folded the note, and tossed it to Dirk when Snape (and the rest of the Slytherins) resumed the lesson.
Dirk opened the note, visibly calming when he read Daisy's words:
Don't worry, it wears off after an hour or so. -DK
"What was that all about?" Seamus, obviously jealous, asked Daisy.
"Shh," she whispered back. "I'll tell you later."
The rest of the period, Dirk kept sneaking looks at Daisy, wondering how she had changed her potion, which was supposed to have a glowing effect on whoever or whatever came into contact with it. It had obviously had quite a different effect on Dirk.
After class, the Gryffindors escaped the dungeons quickly, having lost a final total of 103 points (Neville kept having problems with his potion; Daisy had also had a fit of giggles towards the end of class). As they walked into the common room, everyone turned to Daisy and began talking at once.
"I would've hit Snape for you, if Ron wouldn't have stopped me!" (Dean)
"Did you see the look on Dirk's face?" (Harry)
"What was in that potion?" (Parvati)
"What was in that note?" (Seamus)
"Hey, calm down," Daisy said in her mellow accent. "What I did was, when I could tell Dirk was getting ready to piss me off more, I added a little bit of this to my potion." She produced a small bottle from her pocket. The bottle was filled with something resembling finely chopped parsley.
Hermione gave the bottle's contents a curious look. "Monitor flakes?" Daisy nodded. "But if you added this to what we made today, you would get.." Hermione's eyes widened, then she burst into laughter.
"Well?" Lavender was upset at not getting the humor, in spite of the fact that almost no one else did, either.
Daisy grinned again and finished Hermione's sentence. "A shrinking potion."
Everyone laughed - well, everyone except Neville, who didn't get it. Dean whispered in his ear, explaining, and Neville joined the chorus of laughter, although a bit nervously at first.
Daisy looked pointedly at Seamus and said, "All the note said was, 'Don't worry, it wears off after an hour or so.'"
Seamus finally relaxed. "All right, then. Absolutely genius, Daisy."
"Bloody hell, that was pure dead brilliant!" Ron exclaimed.
~*~*~*~*~*~ A couple of weeks later, a Saturday, Daisy's birthday
~*~*~*~*~*~
Seamus and Daisy were sitting in the common room, whiling away the minutes before breakfast. Daisy was feeling a little down because Seamus hadn't said a word about it being her birthday. She wasn't asking for a present or anything; a simple "Happy Birthday" would have sufficed.
"Hey, come with me, Daisy. I want to show you something," Seamus said, standing.
Daisy's heart leapt. Could this be a present, perhaps? Did he actually remember, in spite of the fact that he's a male? Daisy smiled, in spite of herself.
They left the common room and walked down a long hall that Daisy felt sure she had never walked through before. Seamus slowed down towards the end of the corridor and turned towards a doorway, which was currently hiding a brown-haired boy that Seamus and Daisy recognized.
"Hey, Justin," Seamus said. (A/N: I just love Justin! He's one of my favorite non-Gryffindor characters; I had to fit him in somewhere!) "Got it set?" Seamus asked as he and Daisy stopped in front of the room Justin was, in a way, standing guard over.
Justin grinned. "Yep. All set for the Irishman and his lovely lass." He muttered the word "Bramada," then opened the door with a mock bow, pointing the way into the dark room. Daisy couldn't see where she was going, and Seamus put a reassuring arm around her shoulders.
"Okay, Justin," Seamus whispered. "Close the door."
Justin backed out of the room, but before leaving the room entirely, he whispered "Kova Bulgaria." He walked out into the hall, closing the door behind him.
Daisy looked around her and thought she was back in Bulgaria. She saw Seamus still standing next to her, but that was all that reminded her of Hogwarts. The Bulgarian landscape was surrounding her, including the silhouette of Durmstrang Castle in the distance.
She looked to her right at Seamus, who was glancing around him in wonder, then she looked down at the ground by her feet. She noticed a picture frame by her left foot and picked it up.
Her eyes looked in amazement at the picture. The two teenagers in the photo smiled and waved at her from their broomsticks high in the air.
She looked at the boy on the left. Viktor was (well, the way he's described in the fourth book; I'll try to let J.K. Rowling describe her own characters!). The boy on the right, Alexander, wasn't as tall as Viktor; he had an enormous smile on his face. His hair was dark brown, almost auburn, and he had brown eyes with little flecks of gold around the pupils.
Daisy tore her eyes away from the picture of her best friends to look at Seamus, who seemed mesmerized by the far-off castle. Seamus got a worried look when he saw tears falling from Daisy's eyes, but that idea soon vanished as Daisy eclipsed him into a hug.
"Seamus.. how did you do this?" she asked him in wonder. "It's so wonderful."
Seamus blushed. "Well, Justin actually did most of it. You would have noticed if I had been sneaking away to fix this! So, the charm only works if you, me, or Justin says it. But Justin's promised not to abuse the privilege." They both laughed.
"And the picture.. How did you get the picture of Viktor and Alexander?"
"They sent it to Hermione and told her to keep it until your birthday, and she gave it to me to put with my present, this room."
"Present..?" Daisy murmured weakly
"Yeah, happy birthday, Daisy. Now, hold on, there's more to this! You can change the location; look!" He pulled out his wand and said "Kova Lithuania."
Immediately, the room around them began to change and, in a flash of light, it settled to an area in Lithuania with cobbled stones and stores all around. One of the buildings was a café called Merhaba.
"Merhaba! I went there with Viktor and Alexander once a couple summers ago to show them where I had lived, then it became our favorite vacation spot from then on." She smiled at the memory. "Amazing, Seamus. Truly amazing. More brilliant than the shrinking potion I dumped on Dirk yesterday."
Seamus tensed visibly at the mention of Dirk's name. "Yeah, well, he deserved that, and more."
"I don't know," Daisy said without thinking. "He doesn't seem that bad at times, but then when I start thinking that, he goes and makes some comment or gesture, and I can't help but get mad, even though sometimes I think I shouldn't be."
Trying to change the subject, Seamus said, "But this room can do more! It can change to any place from your memory that you want it to be, whether you've actually been there or just seen a picture. That's how we did this, Hermione nicked some of your Muggle postcards so we could get the places right."
"Wow.. So then, all I have to do is say the charm, and wave my wand?"
Seamus nodded.
"Okay then," Daisy continued. "Kova Norway."
The room changed again, this time ending with Daisy's favorite spot in Norway: a view from the top of a cliff overlooking a glacier and a fishing town.
Daisy gasped at the view. "That's Norjafjord! Ooh and Smetana Glacier over there! This is insanely wonderful, Seamus!"
He grinned again. "This room is hidden by a charm, Bramada. That also only works for you, me, and Justin. So if you ever just want to come here in spare time or anything, you say Bramada to get in, then Kova and the place you want to visit. Of course, we aren't really these places; they're just images. There's still four walls nearby in here."
"So, we can go to Ireland, too?"
"Yep, and Germany."
"How about we skip Germany for now, and just go to Ireland?"
"Hmm.." Seamus pretended to ponder the situation. "Okay, but it'll be somewhere from my mind."
Daisy smiled and hugged Seamus tighter. "Sounds like a plan to me."
Seamus said "Kova Ireland," waved his wand, and the ice was all gone. Instead, they were standing on a hill, looking at a flock of sheep grazing next to a small house; over the house was a huge, beautiful rainbow. And, at their feet, was a huge meadow of-
"Daisies.." Daisy said, sitting down to get a better look at her namesake flower. "You've really been here? This specific place in Ireland?"
"Yep," replied Seamus, sitting next to her in the flowers. "I was born in that little house, there."
"It's perfect, and everything's so pretty here.. I wish I could remember Ireland."
Seamus, not wanting the conversation to turn sad, kissed Daisy quickly to distract her thinking.
It worked. "This is the best day since I left Durmstrang, by far!" she exclaimed, lying back in the meadow.
Seamus grinned again. "Happy birthday, Daisy."
~*~*~*~*~*~
Whew! I can only hope that you think it was worth the wait! Well, I'm off to attempt some more writing at one of the 7 or 8 stories I've started in the past year (yes, this being one of them!) so buh-bye!!!!!!!
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Potter!" Snape growled at Harry. "I will not tolerate whispering in my class! That will be another ten points from Gryffindor!"
Harry simply ground his potion ingredients more finely as Snape continued to dock points from Gryffindor. They had reached a grand total of 85 points lost. Harry, Ron, Dean, and Seamus had now each lost 10 points for talking, and Parvati and Lavender each lost 5 points for giggling. Snape took 10 points from Neville for using an incorrect formula and 10 from Hermione for telling Neville the correct formula. Daisy had lost the other 15 points by dumping her potion on Dirk's lap.
For some strange reason, Daisy had a very self-satisfied smirk on her face. Parvati asked her why, but Daisy, unwilling to lose more points, just grinned wider and shook her head, muttering "Later."
A few moments later, Dirk let out a huge gasp and screamed out, "What the hell?!" Daisy had to work hard to stifle her laugh.
"Mr. Sivonen! What is the cause of this outburst?" Snape was furious and glanced around the room, hoping to catch the irresponsible Gryffindor student who was unlucky enough to so much as look at him wrong.
Dirk stammered, "My.. I mean, something happened to.." He lowered his gaze to his lap. "Never mind, sir. It won't happen again." He glared at Daisy, even though he blushed bright red when he did so and immediately dropped his glance again.
"Five more points will be taken from Gryffindor, Keane, for your pitiful attempt to disguise your obvious amusement at Mr. Sivonen's.. predicament."
This wiped the grin from Daisy's face. Dean leapt up to yell at Snape as he turned his back, but - fortunately - Ron pulled him down and slapped a hand over his mouth before he could say anything.
Daisy glanced back at Dirk, who looked up from his lap with a pathetic look on his face. Daisy grabbed a piece of parchment, scrawled a quick note on it, folded the note, and tossed it to Dirk when Snape (and the rest of the Slytherins) resumed the lesson.
Dirk opened the note, visibly calming when he read Daisy's words:
Don't worry, it wears off after an hour or so. -DK
"What was that all about?" Seamus, obviously jealous, asked Daisy.
"Shh," she whispered back. "I'll tell you later."
The rest of the period, Dirk kept sneaking looks at Daisy, wondering how she had changed her potion, which was supposed to have a glowing effect on whoever or whatever came into contact with it. It had obviously had quite a different effect on Dirk.
After class, the Gryffindors escaped the dungeons quickly, having lost a final total of 103 points (Neville kept having problems with his potion; Daisy had also had a fit of giggles towards the end of class). As they walked into the common room, everyone turned to Daisy and began talking at once.
"I would've hit Snape for you, if Ron wouldn't have stopped me!" (Dean)
"Did you see the look on Dirk's face?" (Harry)
"What was in that potion?" (Parvati)
"What was in that note?" (Seamus)
"Hey, calm down," Daisy said in her mellow accent. "What I did was, when I could tell Dirk was getting ready to piss me off more, I added a little bit of this to my potion." She produced a small bottle from her pocket. The bottle was filled with something resembling finely chopped parsley.
Hermione gave the bottle's contents a curious look. "Monitor flakes?" Daisy nodded. "But if you added this to what we made today, you would get.." Hermione's eyes widened, then she burst into laughter.
"Well?" Lavender was upset at not getting the humor, in spite of the fact that almost no one else did, either.
Daisy grinned again and finished Hermione's sentence. "A shrinking potion."
Everyone laughed - well, everyone except Neville, who didn't get it. Dean whispered in his ear, explaining, and Neville joined the chorus of laughter, although a bit nervously at first.
Daisy looked pointedly at Seamus and said, "All the note said was, 'Don't worry, it wears off after an hour or so.'"
Seamus finally relaxed. "All right, then. Absolutely genius, Daisy."
"Bloody hell, that was pure dead brilliant!" Ron exclaimed.
~*~*~*~*~*~ A couple of weeks later, a Saturday, Daisy's birthday
~*~*~*~*~*~
Seamus and Daisy were sitting in the common room, whiling away the minutes before breakfast. Daisy was feeling a little down because Seamus hadn't said a word about it being her birthday. She wasn't asking for a present or anything; a simple "Happy Birthday" would have sufficed.
"Hey, come with me, Daisy. I want to show you something," Seamus said, standing.
Daisy's heart leapt. Could this be a present, perhaps? Did he actually remember, in spite of the fact that he's a male? Daisy smiled, in spite of herself.
They left the common room and walked down a long hall that Daisy felt sure she had never walked through before. Seamus slowed down towards the end of the corridor and turned towards a doorway, which was currently hiding a brown-haired boy that Seamus and Daisy recognized.
"Hey, Justin," Seamus said. (A/N: I just love Justin! He's one of my favorite non-Gryffindor characters; I had to fit him in somewhere!) "Got it set?" Seamus asked as he and Daisy stopped in front of the room Justin was, in a way, standing guard over.
Justin grinned. "Yep. All set for the Irishman and his lovely lass." He muttered the word "Bramada," then opened the door with a mock bow, pointing the way into the dark room. Daisy couldn't see where she was going, and Seamus put a reassuring arm around her shoulders.
"Okay, Justin," Seamus whispered. "Close the door."
Justin backed out of the room, but before leaving the room entirely, he whispered "Kova Bulgaria." He walked out into the hall, closing the door behind him.
Daisy looked around her and thought she was back in Bulgaria. She saw Seamus still standing next to her, but that was all that reminded her of Hogwarts. The Bulgarian landscape was surrounding her, including the silhouette of Durmstrang Castle in the distance.
She looked to her right at Seamus, who was glancing around him in wonder, then she looked down at the ground by her feet. She noticed a picture frame by her left foot and picked it up.
Her eyes looked in amazement at the picture. The two teenagers in the photo smiled and waved at her from their broomsticks high in the air.
She looked at the boy on the left. Viktor was (well, the way he's described in the fourth book; I'll try to let J.K. Rowling describe her own characters!). The boy on the right, Alexander, wasn't as tall as Viktor; he had an enormous smile on his face. His hair was dark brown, almost auburn, and he had brown eyes with little flecks of gold around the pupils.
Daisy tore her eyes away from the picture of her best friends to look at Seamus, who seemed mesmerized by the far-off castle. Seamus got a worried look when he saw tears falling from Daisy's eyes, but that idea soon vanished as Daisy eclipsed him into a hug.
"Seamus.. how did you do this?" she asked him in wonder. "It's so wonderful."
Seamus blushed. "Well, Justin actually did most of it. You would have noticed if I had been sneaking away to fix this! So, the charm only works if you, me, or Justin says it. But Justin's promised not to abuse the privilege." They both laughed.
"And the picture.. How did you get the picture of Viktor and Alexander?"
"They sent it to Hermione and told her to keep it until your birthday, and she gave it to me to put with my present, this room."
"Present..?" Daisy murmured weakly
"Yeah, happy birthday, Daisy. Now, hold on, there's more to this! You can change the location; look!" He pulled out his wand and said "Kova Lithuania."
Immediately, the room around them began to change and, in a flash of light, it settled to an area in Lithuania with cobbled stones and stores all around. One of the buildings was a café called Merhaba.
"Merhaba! I went there with Viktor and Alexander once a couple summers ago to show them where I had lived, then it became our favorite vacation spot from then on." She smiled at the memory. "Amazing, Seamus. Truly amazing. More brilliant than the shrinking potion I dumped on Dirk yesterday."
Seamus tensed visibly at the mention of Dirk's name. "Yeah, well, he deserved that, and more."
"I don't know," Daisy said without thinking. "He doesn't seem that bad at times, but then when I start thinking that, he goes and makes some comment or gesture, and I can't help but get mad, even though sometimes I think I shouldn't be."
Trying to change the subject, Seamus said, "But this room can do more! It can change to any place from your memory that you want it to be, whether you've actually been there or just seen a picture. That's how we did this, Hermione nicked some of your Muggle postcards so we could get the places right."
"Wow.. So then, all I have to do is say the charm, and wave my wand?"
Seamus nodded.
"Okay then," Daisy continued. "Kova Norway."
The room changed again, this time ending with Daisy's favorite spot in Norway: a view from the top of a cliff overlooking a glacier and a fishing town.
Daisy gasped at the view. "That's Norjafjord! Ooh and Smetana Glacier over there! This is insanely wonderful, Seamus!"
He grinned again. "This room is hidden by a charm, Bramada. That also only works for you, me, and Justin. So if you ever just want to come here in spare time or anything, you say Bramada to get in, then Kova and the place you want to visit. Of course, we aren't really these places; they're just images. There's still four walls nearby in here."
"So, we can go to Ireland, too?"
"Yep, and Germany."
"How about we skip Germany for now, and just go to Ireland?"
"Hmm.." Seamus pretended to ponder the situation. "Okay, but it'll be somewhere from my mind."
Daisy smiled and hugged Seamus tighter. "Sounds like a plan to me."
Seamus said "Kova Ireland," waved his wand, and the ice was all gone. Instead, they were standing on a hill, looking at a flock of sheep grazing next to a small house; over the house was a huge, beautiful rainbow. And, at their feet, was a huge meadow of-
"Daisies.." Daisy said, sitting down to get a better look at her namesake flower. "You've really been here? This specific place in Ireland?"
"Yep," replied Seamus, sitting next to her in the flowers. "I was born in that little house, there."
"It's perfect, and everything's so pretty here.. I wish I could remember Ireland."
Seamus, not wanting the conversation to turn sad, kissed Daisy quickly to distract her thinking.
It worked. "This is the best day since I left Durmstrang, by far!" she exclaimed, lying back in the meadow.
Seamus grinned again. "Happy birthday, Daisy."
~*~*~*~*~*~
Whew! I can only hope that you think it was worth the wait! Well, I'm off to attempt some more writing at one of the 7 or 8 stories I've started in the past year (yes, this being one of them!) so buh-bye!!!!!!!
