The Girl Who Lived
Chapter Nineteen:
Draco's Punishment
Friday, the day Harry and Daisy returned to Hogwarts, was crazy. Daisy had glanced at the headlines of the Daily Prophet before they left the Leaky Cauldron and she knew her peers wouldn't breeze by them. A story about Sirius being freed and Peter's trial ending topped the page, but the story beneath it was about Daisy: POTTER TWIN DISCOVERED, THE GIRL WHO LIVED. Beside the story was the not so flattering picture of a pallid faced Daisy taken during the trial.
As she walked through the door of the Great Hall for breakfast with Harry, heads turned towards them like fire. Ron and Hermione jumped from their seats to greet them.
"Is it true?" Hermione blurted out first thing. "And it's great to see you both," she said sheepishly.
"Yeah!" said Ron eagerly. "So, are you going to tell us what happened?"
"Yes," Daisy and Harry said in unison. They looked at each other, amused, and burst into laughter. Ron and Hermione smiled cheerfully.
"Come on, we'll tell you over waffles," Daisy said.
"Good, because I'm starving," said Harry heartily. They headed towards the Gryffindor table, students pointing and staring at them, when Daisy heard a voice behind her.
"You know, I've always liked twins."
Daisy spun around and saw who it was. It was Fred. He smiled warmly at her and Daisy remembered suddenly. The detention was in the Forbidden Forest and Fred and George had been there, too. She and Fred were partnered together to look for something and Fred told her what was really going on. It was in the forest that she had been bitten and it must have been Fred who...
"You saved my life!" Daisy breathed.
Fred squirmed and blushed a little. "I couldn't just leave you there," he said.
"Thank you, Fred Weasley," Daisy said genuinely, and kissed him on the cheek. She noticed as she pulled away that she barely had to stand on her toes to reach anymore. She had been growing.
Fred grinned jovially. "I missed you," he said. "So you're, er, fully recovered?" he asked awkwardly. Daisy knew what he meant.
"We're good," Daisy told him confidently and paused a moment. "Come on. I've got to tell you everything!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him back to Gryffindor table where her friends were waiting.
Most of Daisy's teachers were sympathetic about all the work Daisy had missed and were willing to let it go. But they couldn't change the fact that Daisy's fourth year exams were scheduled for next Monday. Snape however, refused to let Daisy pass until she made up every lost potion. This was possibly because he wanted Daisy to keep up in the class, possibly because he was sore that Daisy had been excused from her remaining detentions or possibly, and this was Daisy's opinion, just because he was foul and evil.
Her classmates were full of questions and praise. Colin Creevey, especially, was paying a lot more attention to her. Daisy didn't really want to talk about what had happened. She hardly knew most of the people who were asking and she really needed to study anyway. That was how she wound up studying in her dormitory through most of the weekend.
Half of what she was expected to know she hadn't even been in class for. Transfiguration was the transformation of a hedgehog into a pincushion, and Charms was the Summoning Charm, accio. Daisy thought that because she had no trouble with the people summoning charm, that this would be even easier, but she was wrong. The Summoning Charm was giving her a considerable amount of trouble.
Good thing Harry was an expert. He told her that he had problems with the Summoning Charm in his fourth year, too and worked on it with her for hours until she finally got the hang of it.
Monday came much too quickly. After her classes were over for the day, Daisy returned to each classroom and attempted her exams. Her hedgehog turned into an unattractive brownish pincushion, but as McGonagall said, "At least it doesn't squeal when you stick it with a pin." In Charms, the pillow Daisy was summoning came towards her, but it was with perhaps too much power, because it knocked her over. She hoped that not many points would be taken off her score. The rest of her exams had the same mood to them. She wouldn't do well, but she would pass, and that's all that mattered.
Daisy spent the next few days in the dungeon brewing potion after potion. There were fifteen in all and they each took up to an hour and a half. She hoped her cauldron wouldn't melt, as she had heard Neville Longbottom's had. Other lessons were going on of course, but she tried not to get distracted. After each potion was completed, Snape would sweep by impatiently and harshly judge her work.
The long days in the dungeons made Daisy stress out, but she wasn't the only one on edge. O.W.L.s for the fifth years were coming in less than a month. Daisy spent what little spare time she did have studying for those with her friends in the common room.
One particular night when Daisy was ploughing through a recommended book, Charms of the Nineteenth Century, and Hermione was memorizing The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 5) Daisy noticed that Harry had fallen asleep over Intermediate Transfiguration. She gazed at him for a while, noticing how sweet her brother looked asleep, when his face seized up in a cringe. Suddenly his eyes flew open and his hands went to his scar.
"Ahh," he groaned. He seemed to be in a great deal of pain.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Daisy asked loudly. But he didn't hear her. Hermione and Ron snapped to attention and looked at Harry.
"Harry!" Ron exclaimed trying to get his attention.
"Alana Malfoy," Harry gasped, "is dead." The room went deadly quiet.
Harry got up from his chair, one hand still on his scar. "I've got to see Dumbledore," he said. He hurried to the portrait hole, pushed it open, and was gone. The other students in the room broke out in conversations.
"What was that?" Daisy asked Ron and Hermione.
"This happened last year," Ron said. "In Divination. He fell asleep and had this weird dream and when he woke up his scar hurt."
"He told us last year," Hermione went on, "that his scar hurts when You-Know-Who is around or when he's murderous or something."
"Then," Daisy said nervously, "Alana really is dead?"
"The Malfoys didn't come back to Hogwarts with the second years, did they?" Ron asked.
"No," Hermione said. "I thought they got sent home like Lavender."
"They weren't with the others in London," Daisy said. "Do you think they just never found them?"
"I dunno," said Ron. "I dunno."
Daisy wondered about Harry all through that night and all through her potion making the next day. He wasn't at breakfast, but Daisy wasn't sure what she'd say if he were. She wanted to know what Harry had been dreaming about, but she didn't want him to feel bad.
The fifth year Gryffindors had Potions with the Slytherin that morning, but Snape made sure Daisy sat well away from her friends. Harry was there and looking a lot better than last night, but Hermione and Ron kept glancing at him hopefully. Daisy could tell they were in the dark as much as she was.
She did a sloppy job on her Aging Potion, watching her friends' lesson, but she hoped Snape wouldn't notice. He did seem a bit preoccupied.
Harry's lesson was soon over, but Daisy couldn't leave yet. She still had four potions to go. Finally, Snape let her go to lunch, but only after she completed her Acid Brew. Only three to go, she would be done before dinner when her exam results would come.
At lunch, Daisy, Harry, Ron, and Hermione ate their meals as fast as they could. They wanted to get to the library to study as usual. When they had all snarfed their sandwiches, they took off.
They got to their usual table in the library and started reading, but no one was really studying and they all knew it.
"Are you going to tell us what's going on?" Daisy asked after a few moments of uneasiness. Hermione and Ron gave her a look.
"Do you really want to know?" Harry asked, surprised.
"You don't have to tell us," Ron said.
"Not if you don't want to," said Hermione.
"I want to know," Daisy said. Ron and Hermione glared at her again.
Harry took a deep breath. "I don't know how much of this I'm supposed to be telling you, but... I was dreaming about Voldemort again, and he had Draco and Alana with him."
They nodded solemnly, but Ron flinched at the sound of Voldemort's name.
"Voldemort was really mad at Draco. He said something about betraying him or something," Harry continued.
"He also said that Draco had to pay for what he done and so did his family. He said that Draco would live with guilt for the rest of his life and that what he was about to do would keep Draco faithful." Harry paused.
"Then he killed Alana, right in front of him. And Draco," Harry paused again as if to search for words, "he broke. I didn't think he cared that much about anyone, but he did. He was crying, begging to bring her back. That's when I woke up. Dumbledore checked it out, and things are making sense. He thinks it really happened. I'm just not sure what this means for Draco."
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.
"Will he stay on our side because he hates Voldemort for what he did," Harry said.
"Or will he join him and beg for forgiveness?" Daisy finished off.
They sat in silence for a moment contemplating.
That thought stuck with Daisy through the rest of the day. She was glad she was making a Worriless Potion, because she got to test it out before leaving.
At dinner, her exam results came back and announced that she had indeed passed the fourth year with not-so-flying colors.
The next day was Daisy's first lesson, Defense Against the Dark Arts, with Hermione, Ron, and Harry as a fifth year. It was certainly interesting. Their moods had improved since the library yesterday. They had all agreed not to worry or talk about the Malfoys until they knew what had happened for sure. When that would be, they didn't know.
After the Dueling Tournament, the class had moved on to cursed objects. Professor McKinnon explained how to identify a cursed item of clothing and passed out random clothes, some that were cursed, others that weren't, to be studied for signs of a curse. But the whole time she was abnormally upbeat and smiley.
Daisy wondered about her professor's mood, but was soon distracted by Neville Longbottom who had tried on a cursed hat that was squeezing his brains out. Professor McKinnon rushed to help with the counter-curse, still smiling all the way.
Daisy looked at to glove on her desk warily and glanced at Hermione.
"Er, Hermione," she coughed. Hermione glanced at her, eyebrows raised. Daisy bobbed her head towards the glove. She needed a second opinion, or rather, a first opinion.
"What do you think?" Hermione said.
"Well," Daisy said. She really had no idea. "I'm almost sure it isn't, but will you just check?"
"You really should know how to do this yourself," Hermione said.
Daisy stuck out her bottom lip. "Please? I don't want to end up like Neville."
Hermione sighed, but checked to see that Professor McKinnon wasn't looking and picked up the glove. She looked it over and tapped it with her wand.
"It's fine," she said, handing it back.
"Are you sure?" Daisy asked.
"If course I'm sure," Hermione said briskly. "You could even try it on."
Daisy shrugged, slipped the glove onto her left hand, and instantly felt it start to burn. She knew that Hermione had tricked her.
"Ow!" she said in a low voice. She tried to pull off the glove, but it wouldn't move. "Get it off!"
Harry and Ron snickered from across the table. Daisy shot a fierce glance at them.
"You should know that I don't like to cheat," Hermione said, grinning.
"Oh Non-Rule breaker Prefect, you are right as always. Now get it off!" Daisy said desperately in the quietest tone she could manage. Her hand felt like it was going to burn off.
"Colfinus," Hermione said, pointing her wand at Daisy's glove. "Accio glove." The glove flew off Daisy's hand and Hermione caught it.
"Thank you," Daisy said, cradling her hand. It hurt a lot, but Daisy had learned a valuable lesson. Never trust Hermione when cheating. At least they hadn't lost any house points.
Friday, the day Harry and Daisy returned to Hogwarts, was crazy. Daisy had glanced at the headlines of the Daily Prophet before they left the Leaky Cauldron and she knew her peers wouldn't breeze by them. A story about Sirius being freed and Peter's trial ending topped the page, but the story beneath it was about Daisy: POTTER TWIN DISCOVERED, THE GIRL WHO LIVED. Beside the story was the not so flattering picture of a pallid faced Daisy taken during the trial.
As she walked through the door of the Great Hall for breakfast with Harry, heads turned towards them like fire. Ron and Hermione jumped from their seats to greet them.
"Is it true?" Hermione blurted out first thing. "And it's great to see you both," she said sheepishly.
"Yeah!" said Ron eagerly. "So, are you going to tell us what happened?"
"Yes," Daisy and Harry said in unison. They looked at each other, amused, and burst into laughter. Ron and Hermione smiled cheerfully.
"Come on, we'll tell you over waffles," Daisy said.
"Good, because I'm starving," said Harry heartily. They headed towards the Gryffindor table, students pointing and staring at them, when Daisy heard a voice behind her.
"You know, I've always liked twins."
Daisy spun around and saw who it was. It was Fred. He smiled warmly at her and Daisy remembered suddenly. The detention was in the Forbidden Forest and Fred and George had been there, too. She and Fred were partnered together to look for something and Fred told her what was really going on. It was in the forest that she had been bitten and it must have been Fred who...
"You saved my life!" Daisy breathed.
Fred squirmed and blushed a little. "I couldn't just leave you there," he said.
"Thank you, Fred Weasley," Daisy said genuinely, and kissed him on the cheek. She noticed as she pulled away that she barely had to stand on her toes to reach anymore. She had been growing.
Fred grinned jovially. "I missed you," he said. "So you're, er, fully recovered?" he asked awkwardly. Daisy knew what he meant.
"We're good," Daisy told him confidently and paused a moment. "Come on. I've got to tell you everything!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him back to Gryffindor table where her friends were waiting.
Most of Daisy's teachers were sympathetic about all the work Daisy had missed and were willing to let it go. But they couldn't change the fact that Daisy's fourth year exams were scheduled for next Monday. Snape however, refused to let Daisy pass until she made up every lost potion. This was possibly because he wanted Daisy to keep up in the class, possibly because he was sore that Daisy had been excused from her remaining detentions or possibly, and this was Daisy's opinion, just because he was foul and evil.
Her classmates were full of questions and praise. Colin Creevey, especially, was paying a lot more attention to her. Daisy didn't really want to talk about what had happened. She hardly knew most of the people who were asking and she really needed to study anyway. That was how she wound up studying in her dormitory through most of the weekend.
Half of what she was expected to know she hadn't even been in class for. Transfiguration was the transformation of a hedgehog into a pincushion, and Charms was the Summoning Charm, accio. Daisy thought that because she had no trouble with the people summoning charm, that this would be even easier, but she was wrong. The Summoning Charm was giving her a considerable amount of trouble.
Good thing Harry was an expert. He told her that he had problems with the Summoning Charm in his fourth year, too and worked on it with her for hours until she finally got the hang of it.
Monday came much too quickly. After her classes were over for the day, Daisy returned to each classroom and attempted her exams. Her hedgehog turned into an unattractive brownish pincushion, but as McGonagall said, "At least it doesn't squeal when you stick it with a pin." In Charms, the pillow Daisy was summoning came towards her, but it was with perhaps too much power, because it knocked her over. She hoped that not many points would be taken off her score. The rest of her exams had the same mood to them. She wouldn't do well, but she would pass, and that's all that mattered.
Daisy spent the next few days in the dungeon brewing potion after potion. There were fifteen in all and they each took up to an hour and a half. She hoped her cauldron wouldn't melt, as she had heard Neville Longbottom's had. Other lessons were going on of course, but she tried not to get distracted. After each potion was completed, Snape would sweep by impatiently and harshly judge her work.
The long days in the dungeons made Daisy stress out, but she wasn't the only one on edge. O.W.L.s for the fifth years were coming in less than a month. Daisy spent what little spare time she did have studying for those with her friends in the common room.
One particular night when Daisy was ploughing through a recommended book, Charms of the Nineteenth Century, and Hermione was memorizing The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 5) Daisy noticed that Harry had fallen asleep over Intermediate Transfiguration. She gazed at him for a while, noticing how sweet her brother looked asleep, when his face seized up in a cringe. Suddenly his eyes flew open and his hands went to his scar.
"Ahh," he groaned. He seemed to be in a great deal of pain.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Daisy asked loudly. But he didn't hear her. Hermione and Ron snapped to attention and looked at Harry.
"Harry!" Ron exclaimed trying to get his attention.
"Alana Malfoy," Harry gasped, "is dead." The room went deadly quiet.
Harry got up from his chair, one hand still on his scar. "I've got to see Dumbledore," he said. He hurried to the portrait hole, pushed it open, and was gone. The other students in the room broke out in conversations.
"What was that?" Daisy asked Ron and Hermione.
"This happened last year," Ron said. "In Divination. He fell asleep and had this weird dream and when he woke up his scar hurt."
"He told us last year," Hermione went on, "that his scar hurts when You-Know-Who is around or when he's murderous or something."
"Then," Daisy said nervously, "Alana really is dead?"
"The Malfoys didn't come back to Hogwarts with the second years, did they?" Ron asked.
"No," Hermione said. "I thought they got sent home like Lavender."
"They weren't with the others in London," Daisy said. "Do you think they just never found them?"
"I dunno," said Ron. "I dunno."
Daisy wondered about Harry all through that night and all through her potion making the next day. He wasn't at breakfast, but Daisy wasn't sure what she'd say if he were. She wanted to know what Harry had been dreaming about, but she didn't want him to feel bad.
The fifth year Gryffindors had Potions with the Slytherin that morning, but Snape made sure Daisy sat well away from her friends. Harry was there and looking a lot better than last night, but Hermione and Ron kept glancing at him hopefully. Daisy could tell they were in the dark as much as she was.
She did a sloppy job on her Aging Potion, watching her friends' lesson, but she hoped Snape wouldn't notice. He did seem a bit preoccupied.
Harry's lesson was soon over, but Daisy couldn't leave yet. She still had four potions to go. Finally, Snape let her go to lunch, but only after she completed her Acid Brew. Only three to go, she would be done before dinner when her exam results would come.
At lunch, Daisy, Harry, Ron, and Hermione ate their meals as fast as they could. They wanted to get to the library to study as usual. When they had all snarfed their sandwiches, they took off.
They got to their usual table in the library and started reading, but no one was really studying and they all knew it.
"Are you going to tell us what's going on?" Daisy asked after a few moments of uneasiness. Hermione and Ron gave her a look.
"Do you really want to know?" Harry asked, surprised.
"You don't have to tell us," Ron said.
"Not if you don't want to," said Hermione.
"I want to know," Daisy said. Ron and Hermione glared at her again.
Harry took a deep breath. "I don't know how much of this I'm supposed to be telling you, but... I was dreaming about Voldemort again, and he had Draco and Alana with him."
They nodded solemnly, but Ron flinched at the sound of Voldemort's name.
"Voldemort was really mad at Draco. He said something about betraying him or something," Harry continued.
"He also said that Draco had to pay for what he done and so did his family. He said that Draco would live with guilt for the rest of his life and that what he was about to do would keep Draco faithful." Harry paused.
"Then he killed Alana, right in front of him. And Draco," Harry paused again as if to search for words, "he broke. I didn't think he cared that much about anyone, but he did. He was crying, begging to bring her back. That's when I woke up. Dumbledore checked it out, and things are making sense. He thinks it really happened. I'm just not sure what this means for Draco."
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.
"Will he stay on our side because he hates Voldemort for what he did," Harry said.
"Or will he join him and beg for forgiveness?" Daisy finished off.
They sat in silence for a moment contemplating.
That thought stuck with Daisy through the rest of the day. She was glad she was making a Worriless Potion, because she got to test it out before leaving.
At dinner, her exam results came back and announced that she had indeed passed the fourth year with not-so-flying colors.
The next day was Daisy's first lesson, Defense Against the Dark Arts, with Hermione, Ron, and Harry as a fifth year. It was certainly interesting. Their moods had improved since the library yesterday. They had all agreed not to worry or talk about the Malfoys until they knew what had happened for sure. When that would be, they didn't know.
After the Dueling Tournament, the class had moved on to cursed objects. Professor McKinnon explained how to identify a cursed item of clothing and passed out random clothes, some that were cursed, others that weren't, to be studied for signs of a curse. But the whole time she was abnormally upbeat and smiley.
Daisy wondered about her professor's mood, but was soon distracted by Neville Longbottom who had tried on a cursed hat that was squeezing his brains out. Professor McKinnon rushed to help with the counter-curse, still smiling all the way.
Daisy looked at to glove on her desk warily and glanced at Hermione.
"Er, Hermione," she coughed. Hermione glanced at her, eyebrows raised. Daisy bobbed her head towards the glove. She needed a second opinion, or rather, a first opinion.
"What do you think?" Hermione said.
"Well," Daisy said. She really had no idea. "I'm almost sure it isn't, but will you just check?"
"You really should know how to do this yourself," Hermione said.
Daisy stuck out her bottom lip. "Please? I don't want to end up like Neville."
Hermione sighed, but checked to see that Professor McKinnon wasn't looking and picked up the glove. She looked it over and tapped it with her wand.
"It's fine," she said, handing it back.
"Are you sure?" Daisy asked.
"If course I'm sure," Hermione said briskly. "You could even try it on."
Daisy shrugged, slipped the glove onto her left hand, and instantly felt it start to burn. She knew that Hermione had tricked her.
"Ow!" she said in a low voice. She tried to pull off the glove, but it wouldn't move. "Get it off!"
Harry and Ron snickered from across the table. Daisy shot a fierce glance at them.
"You should know that I don't like to cheat," Hermione said, grinning.
"Oh Non-Rule breaker Prefect, you are right as always. Now get it off!" Daisy said desperately in the quietest tone she could manage. Her hand felt like it was going to burn off.
"Colfinus," Hermione said, pointing her wand at Daisy's glove. "Accio glove." The glove flew off Daisy's hand and Hermione caught it.
"Thank you," Daisy said, cradling her hand. It hurt a lot, but Daisy had learned a valuable lesson. Never trust Hermione when cheating. At least they hadn't lost any house points.
