I don't own anything related to J.K.Rowling and the characters in her books.
If you haven't already read it, read 'Bunkbeds' by Dee and Essy (I think that's right...)
Walking down the long, low-slung corridor to the Slytherin Common Room, Daniel had to endure Draco's jabbering about his father and Malfoy Manor and how she absolutely must come and visit. He didn't seem to notice that she never spoke back to him, she only nodded. The Slytherin Prefect, a tall boy with short brown hair, stated the password, 'Boa Constrictor' and strode into the Common Room. The Slytherins lacked imagination, keep guessing things related with snakes and you're bound to get there sooner or later. The Common Room smelled vaguely of peppermint drops and the smell that comes with a natural fire in a room. The fireplace was not overly elaborate, grayish stone with little snakes entwined along the mantelpiece. Huge armchairs with green leather upholstery sat in a sort of semi-circle around the fire, while smaller desks were pushed up against walls, to allow for quiet study. Following the rest of girls up to their Dormitory, she was introduced (rather formally she thought) to a girl called Pansy Parkinson. There was a brief hand shake, followed by Pansy blabbering on about how much she loved Draco, and all her 'friends' nodded in synchrony and kept saying what a shame it was that Draco didn't go steady with her.
"He seems interested in you," she said, as though this were a crime, "but you don't like him a lot, do you?" she finished. Daniel stared at her. Did she expect an answer?
"No. No, not really." she replied before the silence got too prolonged. "He's a smarmy git." She added. Pansy's face fell.
"He's..he's a what!?" she screeched.
"He's. A. Smarmy. Git." she repeated, slower this time, in case Pansy hadn't heard her the first time.
"How dare you!" one of her friends hissed in a deadly whisper.
"I'm going to tell him you said that." she said triumphantly.
"Fine. It'll save me the trouble." Daniel said smiling, before getting into bed and pulling the green velvet drapes around her, obscuring Pansy's remarkably bovine features from view.
Four hours later, at 2o'clock in the morning, Daniel was fully dressed and was walking quietly through the long winding corridors of Hogwarts. She loved walking at night. This little excursion was merely to familiarize herself with the various trick doors and moving staircases. She wouldn't want to get lost. The moon shone through a stained glass window. A full moon. She wondered briefly where Remus Lupin was, and whether or not he was having fun. He probably wasn't. One of the many drawbacks of having a conscience.
The colors of the stained glass seemed oddly transparent, the moonlight watering down the vibrant tones of green, red, yellow and blue.
Wandering through more empty corridors, and peering into various classrooms, she glanced at her watch, whose luminous hands informed her, quite rudely, she thought, that it was half past four. Turning back reluctantly, she traced her way back to the Slytherin Common Room. On her way there, she passed a door she knew hadn't been there before. Opening it gently, she got a quick glance of room full of toilets before someone grabbed her shoulder and twisted her around roughly.
"What the Hell do you think you're doing?!" Severus hissed. "Wandering around at night! What's the matter with you?!" he looked slightly psychotic, he had a horrendous case of bed hair, and part of it stuck out at a right angle to his head. Ignoring this, she replied,
"What are you doing wandering around at night! What's the matter with you?!" imitating his voice perfectly, something she had quite a knack for. This only served to make him madder, and he led her back to the Common Room, while lecturing her on why it was alright for him to wander around, but why she was denied this privilege. She watched him go back to wherever he spent the night, before she stepped through the hole in wall and was greeted by a tousled looking Malfoy.
"Where were you?" he enquired sleepily. "I heard Snape ranting on about something outside the wall." he finished with a yawn, pointing towards the rapidly closing entrance.
"I went for a walk, and he acted as though I was trying to blow the place up." she said in a disgusted voice. "Apparently, as he's a 'Professor', he's allowed to do whatever he wants. Whereas I can't even stretch my legs without being scolded."
"Pansy told me what you said. She actually came into the boy's Dorm and told me in front of everyone that;
'The weird new girl thinks I'm a smarmy git'." he said, the remaining humiliation sounding clear in his voice.
"You have a hard life." she retorted sarcastically, beginning to walk back up to her Dorm. Draco stuck out a hand to stop her.
"Did you mean it?" he asked quietly, a pathetic puppy-dog expression washing over his face, as though it caused him great pain to think of the concept of someone disliking him.
"I did. But you'll have to prove to me that I've got the wrong impression." she said silkily, striding gracefully towards the stairs, leaving Draco standing in the middle of the Common Room, wearing a puzzled look and a pair of green pajamas with 'D.M' embroidered on the front pocket.
Next morning, Daniel sat in the Great Hall for at least an hour chatting to Dumbledore before the first few pupils came down to breakfast.
"I mean, the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang won't be arriving for a while yet, so I don't see why the teachers should start acting all nice." Daniel said, raising her voice slightly as Snape walked past. "Not that that bothers you."
"Severus, how nice to see you so early," said Dumbledore cheerily.
"sit down and have some toast."
Snape took the place next to Dumbledore and moodily took a piece toast from the plate in the centre of the table.
They sat in silence, until Dumbledore pointed at something scratched onto the surface of the table. "Did you write that, Severus?" he enquired lightly, motioning towards a small "Snape was here" inscribed into the dark wood. Before Snape could explain himself, the trio were joined by Draco Malfoy. Draco looked a bit shocked at seeing Dumbledore sitting at the Slytherin table, but comforted himself with a slice of toast.
"Morning." he said glumly, looking depressed.
"What's wrong with you?" Snape said accusingly, taking more toast.
"Nothing." he said dismissively, not wanting to be consoled at the breakfast table. Blaise Zabini, Crabbe and Goyle wandered over to the table as well, settling beside Draco.
"You look happy." said Blaise sarcastically. "Did Daniel keep you up all night?" Daniels head snapped around.
"What!?" Snape and Dumbledore said in unison, staring at Draco.
"I heard you two talking in the Common Room at about 5 O'clock in the morning." he continued, grinning at the expressions on Snape and Dumbledore's faces.
"Why were you up at five in the morning?" Daniel queried.
"Call of nature." Blaise said shortly, pouring himself some pumpkin juice.
"I see."
Daniel wandered down the grassy slope to Hagrid's cabin for Care of Magical Creatures class. Draco trotted up beside her.
"Why does Blaise feel it necessary to slander our names over the school?" she asked quietly. People had shouted obscenities about the supposed antics Draco and her had got up to in the corridors. People loved a scandal.
"What the hell are those?!" Draco was pointing towards a swarm of scorpion-like creatures milling around Hagrid's cabin.
"Blast-Ended Skrewts." she answered simply.
On arrival, they discovered they had to find out what the Skrewts ate. "Shouldn't be too hard." said Draco.
"Famous last words." Daniel quipped.
The Skrewts didn't seem too hungry, in fact, they ran around evading anything the pupils tried to feed them. Daniel watched them scuttling around, making little clicking noises as their exoskeleton rubbed together. "Hagrid? You do know Skrewts eat each other?" she asked carefully.
"Do they? Oh dear." he replied worriedly. A shriek erupted from behind them. Parvati Patil was clutching her hand, which was smoking slightly.
"It shot flame at me!" she howled, while Hagrid ran over. Daniel looked closer at one of the Skrewts.
"Which end's which?" said a voice from her shoulder. Draco crouched beside her. She picked the Skrewt up, and held it in the crook of her elbow. The Skrewt lay there, seemingly unperturbed, until Daniel began scratching its back. It shot out of her arms and crawled over to the rest of the Skrewts. "Didn't like that." Draco said, stating the obvious.
The bell rang up in the castle, and the pupils made their way up to lunch.
"What do we have next?" Pansy asked across the table. Pansy was still furious about Draco vying for Daniels attention even though she seemingly wasn't interested.
"Divination." Draco replied thickly, trying to make intelligent conversation with a mouthful of potatoes. Daniel wasn't eating anything. She had had some of her preferred food from the insulated container in her trunk, which was padlocked and had several charms on it to keep out intruders. Her thoughts were interrupted by the bell signaling the end of lunch. They followed the throng of Gryffindors up the spiraling staircase to the little silver ladder that led to Professor Trelawney's classroom. No-one moved. The smell of jasmine was wafting down from the tiny room above their heads.
"Someone go up the ladder." whined a voice in the crowd. Daniel gave a groan and clambered up the narrow rungs. Settling at a poufee, she was quickly joined by Draco and Blaise, while Pansy stared daggers at her from across the room. "Welcome my dears." said a misty voice from the corner. Trelawney was sitting in her winged armchair trying to look strange and mysterious. "My dears, it is time for us to consider the stars. The movements of the planets and the mysterious portents they reveal only to those who understand the steps of the celestial dance. Human destiny may be deciphered by the planetary rays, which intermingle..." Daniel glanced around the room. The only people who were listening were two Gryffindor girls. Harry was looking into thin air, his eyes slightly glazed over. Suddenly, Ron poked him in the ribs and Trelawney began jabbering about the position of Saturn. She deeply hated Trelawney. Anything that resembled a grasshopper should be exterminated. They were then given a circular chart and told to fill in the positions of the planets at the moment of their birth. The timetables of planetary positions only went back 20 years. How was she expected to do this? She was born well over 100 years ago. Maybe if she multiplied everything by 5... She glanced at Professor Trelawney, and was surprised to find that Trelawney was staring at her. The teacher grinned maliciously. She knew about Daniel's history. She knew that Daniel couldn't do the chart without giving away everything. A sudden surge of rage rose in her throat. Grabbing her bag, Daniel kicked open the trapdoor, and leapt through the hole without letting the ladder down. They heard her land lightly on the floor, and then her receding footsteps.
"Déjà vu." whispered Ron.
"Severus, what else could I do? It was a matter of principle."
"Really? I didn't know you had principles."
Daniel let out a noise of exasperation.
"You shouldn't have walked out on a teacher." he said, finishing the discussion. Daniel had went straight to him after she exited Trelawney's class. She didn't know why. Strange as it may seem, he was good person to have around sometimes.
They walked into the Entrance Hall, and found a huge phalanx listening to Draco read out an article in the Daily Prophet. When he had finished, he said something to Ron, who went puce with rage and had to be dragged away by Harry. Draco took this opportunity to try to curse them. A ball of light went shooting out of his wand and straight past Harry's face. A bang came from the staircase and Draco seemingly disappeared. A white ferret ran towards the dungeons, but Moody, who had emerged from the staircase, pointed his wand at it and sent it ricocheting around the corridor. Snape giggled. "Is that Malfoy?" he asked.
"Yeah." Daniel replied, trying hard not to laugh. Snape brought out his wand and walked forward. "Don't!" Daniel hissed, "Let Moody batter him a bit more." she said, giving in to hysteria. Nearly doubled up laughing, she didn't notice the ferret scurrying towards her. It ran up the inside of her trousers and out of her sleeve and on to her shoulder. "Hey! Get off!" she yelled, trying to stop the ferret from getting inside her clothes again. Severus and Moody were laughing so hard they were almost crying. She spun around, trying to fling the ferret off her. She felt little claws dig into her shoulder. Letting out a roar of pain, she grabbed the ferret's tail and tried to pull it off. The ferret squeaked loudly and bit her shoulder hard. It dived down her robes as Professor Mc Gonagall walked through the Entrance Hall door. She promptly dropped the books she was carrying. "What's going on?!" she shouted. Snape stopped laughing immediately. "It was him!" he cried, pointing at Moody.
"What are you doing!" she gasped.
"Teaching." Moody said simply.
"It that a student!" she shrieked, gesturing towards the ferret, which was now perched on Daniel's head.
"Yeah." he retorted, "The idiotic blond one."
She pointed her wand at the ferret, which was skittering across Daniel's shoulders, and it promptly transformed into a very rumpled Draco Malfoy. The sudden weight of an almost fully grown person on her shoulders brought both Daniel and Draco crashing to the floor.
Her patience shattered.
Daniel shoved Draco off her, sending him flying into the opposite wall. The noise of laughter stopped. She had thrown someone quite a bit heavier than her fifteen feet into a stone wall, and the force of impact cracked the ancient slabs. She looked furious. There were four small lines of blood on her neck where Ferret/Draco had scratched her in an effort to escape Moody. The shoulder of the shirt she wore under her robes was saturated with blood. She turned quickly on her heel and strode down the dungeon corridor. Draco was lying in a crumpled heap on the floor, badly winded from the collision with the wall. Blaise helped him stand up, and McGonagall sent them to Madam Pomfrey.
"Severus, what exactly went on here?" she asked Snape, while they were ushering the pupils into dinner.
"Potter was insulting Malfoy's family, Minerva. Draco then defended himself against a dangerous curse cast by Weasley, and Moody thought Draco was trying to curse Potter without good reason. " he said smoothly, shifting the blame.
"Right." said Professor Mc Gonagall, walking into the Great Hall.
"Are you sure you're alright?" said Blaise, ignoring Pansy, who was sobbing loudly in the corner.
"For the last time, yes." answered Draco, who was lying in one of the painfully white Hospital Beds. Madam Pomfrey had taken one look at his bruised ribs and ordered him to stay the night. "Where's Daniel at?" he asked Blaise quietly, not wanting to evoke Pansy's wrath.
"Up in the Girl's Dorms." he responded. "She was pretty pissed Draco." (A/N: not drunk pissed, very angry pissed)
"I realized." Draco replied bluntly. "I need to talk to her."
"Why?! She nearly killed you!"
"She didn't nearly kill me. She threw me into a wall."
"That doesn't say anything to you?" Blaise retorted.
"Just tell her I need to talk to her! That's all I'm asking! I would have done the same if I was strong enough." Draco stopped to think. "She's really strong."
"I realized." Blaise echoed. "I'll tell her, I can't promise she'll come and see you." he turned to walk out the door.
"Blaise! Get Pansy out of here!"
Blaise rolled his eyes and ushered Pansy out of the room.
"I am not going to Madam Pomfrey." she said flatly. "And you can't make me." The stabbing pains in her shoulder wouldn't make her reconsider.
"You're going, and that's that." he grabbed her bad shoulder and led her down the corridor. The pain eased off if she followed him voluntarily, something which she had no intention of doing. She whipped her shoulder away and the tight grasp he had ripped open the wound and almost immediately she felt her robes and shirt absorbing the blood.
She walked the rest of the way to the Hospital Wing without complaining. He pushed open the door and had a brief word with Madam Pomfrey. "Right." she said briskly. "Let's see it then." She examined the bite quickly, and from what Daniel could see of it, the points where teeth had broken the skin, were raised and were surrounded by an angry red area. While Madam Pomfrey got the stuff to dress the wound, she sat on the edge of a bed. The curtained bed in front of her swished open.
"Hello Draco." she said stiffly.
"What are you here for?" he asked, concerned. She showed him her shoulder. "Ouch." he said wincing.
"How're your ribs?" she said glancing at the bandaged area of his chest.
"Sore. I have to stay the night." he declared. Madam Pomfrey swept up the aisle accompanied by Severus, who was talking to her about the recent goings-on in the Ministry. He was carrying the stuff for her shoulder. Draco greeted him with a quiet, "Hello Professor." and he responded just as awkwardly.
After bandages had been wrapped carefully around her shoulder, Daniel had to drink this vile orange syrupy stuff that froze her throat.
"That'll make you drowsy." Snape said grinning.
"You made it?!" she shrieked as best she could with no feeling in her mouth whatsoever.
"Yes. And you have to stay the night." he said in the tones of someone issuing a death sentence. "Goodnight." he said to both of them, and walked out the door. Madam Pomfrey threw her a pair of pajamas.
"You're still going to class tomorrow, though. You'll both be better in the morning." she said, making it sound like a threat.
I know this is a lot longer than the previous chapters, but that's what you guys like, right?
As usual, anything that you don't like, flame me. Feel free. I don't care.
Anything you like, say so. Please review.
I suppose I should have mentioned this, but this contains serious spoilers for book Four. Which, of course, is © JKRowling (who is God)