Chapter 16
The week went by fast, and before they knew it was already Wednesday. Daisy was making an art of teasing Harry about his hair. Hermoine was moping and nobody could figure out why, although Daisy suspected it had something to do with Ron asking Susan Bones to the dance. All things considered life was good.
Daisy did have a guilty conscience about being so cruel to her parents. She decided to write them a letter.
Dear Mom and Dad,
I'm sorry about the way I acted on Saturday. It was a strange day and I just couldn't deal with you two looking worried at me in the hospital, again. But now I'm worried about you two. You CAN'T go after Belle. It would just be really really bad. Please don't.
I love you both,
Daisy
"Herm, come with me to the owlery?" Daisy called across the Common Room.
"Why?" she asked looking up from her book.
"Because I asked," the other girl answered. "Come on."
Hermoine sighed, and follow her out. "You really need to get away from those books more. Over the past week I've almost forgotten what your face looks like."
"You should talk. At least I'm reading something constructive. How many of the cheep novels have you gone through in the past three days?" Hermoine asked.
Daisy smiled. "Just two. I've been sneaking off to play, less time to read. Herm, I know what's bugging me, and I assume you've made an educated guess. But what's up with you?" When Hermoine didn't answer Daisy pressed, "Is it Ron?"
"Daisy, I really don't want to talk about him, especially with you," she said.
"Why? I know I'm his ex-girlfriend. But I'm friends with both of you. You can talk to me."
Hermoine sighed. "Well, aside from the fact that you two both already have dates, and Harry could probably pick a girl out of the blue and she'd go with him and Ginny's going with Terry, I just feel so alone."
"Well, you're almost always surrounded by either Ron and Harry or me and Ginny, or have your nose in a book. It makes you unapproachable."
"You really think that's it?" Hermoine asked hopefully.
Daisy smile as she spotted someone up ahead. "I know it. You're one of the prettiest girls in school, not to mention the smartest."
Daisy could see Hermoine blushing. She didn't have a chance to answer before Daisy called out, "Hey Justin!"
Justin Flinch-Flechery was walking down the hall in the opposite direction. "Hi Daisy," he said, then he spotted Hermoine and Daisy watched him turn slight shades of pink. Then he stuttered through a greeting to her.
'Hmm, time to play social director,' Daisy though. She turned the Hermoine.
"Anyway, Herm, I'm sure someone will ask you before Saturday. And if not you could always ask someone. I'm off to the owlery," Daisy said with a way and left Hermoine standing in shock with Justin.
As she was rounding the corner she heard Justin stammer, "You mean no one has asked you?"
Daisy smiled to herself. One down, one to go!
********************************
Daisy took her glasses off and cleaned them as she walked smiling back to Gryffindor Tower. Her letter was off, and she had given Hermoine a giant shove in the direction of a date. Justin was a sweetie and really cute.
'Now to find someone to settle Harry,' she thought. 'Ginny might do nicely but as she spoken for at the moment she's not an option.'
Daisy was pulled out of her revelry by smacking sounds from somewhere up ahead.
'Someone's having a good snog,' she though smiling again, suspecting whom it might be.
"Oh Harry," a girls voice said.
Daisy nearly bust a lung trying not to laugh. 'Well, that answers that! But where are they?'
She followed the sounds to a tapestry hanging on the wall. It sounded about right. She pulled it a little and peeked in. There was enclave but no people.
"Harry, your robe clasp is stuck!" the girl said.
Daisy looked up. Sure enough about a foot above her head was a ledge.
"Hold on it sticks sometimes," Harry said.
Daisy smiled wickedly. She put a charm on the floor to soften it, then she reached up with her wand to the edge of the ledge and whispered 'dissendium.'
"What the-"
Harry was shocked to find himself and Blaise falling to the floor, even more so to find Daisy standing over them trying not to laugh.
"I am so going to kill you!" he said to her.
She smiled at him. "You may want to get yourself together first," she said. "Your really ought to find some place more secluded or be more quiet. What would you have done if I were a teacher? Snape would love to find the two of you like that!"
Harry took in the situation for a moment. He really hadn't meant to go sneaking off with Blaise Zabini. But she was just so pretty, and he did need a date for Saturday. And it was never good be found like that by anyone. Blaise had finished redoing her robes and was starting to rise.
Daisy smiled sweetly, and then tousled his hair. "Don't have too much fun!" she said as she started walking away. "And get a hair cut!"
He sighed as Blaise helped him up. "So was that a yes then?" he asked.
By way of response she kissed him.
He smiled and pulled away slightly. "So we'll meet in the Entrance Hall?"
"Or before then if I see you," she said coyly.
Blaise was defiantly interesting, even if she was a Slytherin.
"But she was right," Blaise smiled as she now began to walk away. "You do need a hair cut."
*******************************
Daisy was sitting in Common Room with Neville going over Potions notes, a half hour later, when Harry and Hermoine came over to her and simultaneously said, "I'm going to kill you."
She smiled and leaned back listen to the conversation she knew she wouldn't have to take part in.
"Why are you going to kill her?" Harry asked.
"First she says in front of Justin that I don't have a date for Saturday like I'm some big geek that can't get a date. Then she leaves me there! And after making me come with her in the first place. What did she do to you?"
Daisy leaned over to Neville and said, "and I'll bet she got a date out of it!"
Harry turned slightly pink but said, "I was with a girl she interrupted us. And just as I was asking her to the dance."
"I didn't hear any mention of a dance," Daisy said. "Trying to get robes off yes, but dances, no."
Harry was now bright pink and said, "You truly are an evil witch."
"Thank you. But I don't want to hear anymore form either of you. You got a date right?" she said pointing at Hermoine, who nodded an affirmative. "Which I knew you would. And you did too, I believe?" now pointing at Harry.
"No thanks to you!" he said.
She started to chuckle. "No you did that on your own, but it was just too funny to pass up. You should have seen your faces as you looked up at me!"
"Oh sod off! Blaise can be very temperamental, I'm just lucky she was amused by your hair cut comment," he said.
"Blaise Zabini?" Ron came over hearing the name of Harry's date. "Wow, Harry. You two are going to cause a riot, mate. Gryffindor and Slytherin." He shook his head.
Daisy smiled and laced her fingers through Neville's. 'But that was the point, wasn't it Harry?'
*******************************************************
Ron was right about Harry and Blaise. Daisy was very amused by it. Only having come to Hogwarts this year, she didn't have the same experience with the house rivalry.
It was Friday morning at breakfast and Harry and Blaise were sitting together at the end of the Gryffindor table. No one was near them and they didn't seem to care.
"What does he see in her?" Pavarti Patil said. She was sitting across from Daisy and Hermoine, both of whom looked down to see Harry laughing at something Blaise said.
Daisy smiled "Well let's see, beside the fact that she's blond, beautiful and apparently funny, I can't imagine."
"You forgot easy," Pavarti said mercilessly.
Daisy, remembering how she found out about Harry and Blaise, couldn't help but laugh. "Really though," she said turning to Hermoine, "what's the big deal? They like being together, and they're a cute couple."
"Are you sure you shouldn't be in Hufflepuff? Blind loyalty is a characteristic of that house," Lavender cut in, from next to Pavarti.
"The big deal," Hermoine said ignoring their dorm mates, "is that she's a Slytherin. Slytherins hate Gryffindors, Harry in particular."
"I've noticed that," Daisy said, narrowing her eyes in a pensive manner. She looked around and caught sight of the Slytherin table. "Do you know how much Blaise has had to put up with? I went out with Draco for two weeks and didn't have to deal with anything like it."
"Well, were not Slytherins, are we?" Lavender said.
"Besides, your different Daze," Hermoine said.
Daisy smiled. "You know, I am. Excuse me."
She picked up her things and went down to the end of the table. She put her stuff down without a word to the two lone occupants. She looked at them and smiled, then walked across the room, to the Slytherin table.
She began talking animatedly to Draco. He was answering with emphatic head shaking until she said something and began to walk away. Malfoy followed her, his things in hand.
"I can't believe I'm doing this!" Draco hissed in her ear.
"Well, I'm blackmailing you. Try to find that consoling," Daisy said.
"Look Daisy, can't you just sit with me at the Slytherin table? It would be the same," he pleaded.
"I will, at lunch. This whole House war is ridiculous! But Harry and Blaise will be with us. She is your friend too, right?"
"Yeah, yeah," he said. And then they reached the afore mentioned friends. "Hullo," he said tersely.
"Um, hi?" Blaise said a little confused.
"I have made it my new mission to end the House War," Daisy said. "You two are the first battle."
"You're going to lose this one, Dumbledore," Draco said. "You're trying to accomplish the impossible."
"Maybe it is impossible, but at least I'm trying," she said.
Harry started laughing hysterically. "You really are a wild flower, aren't you?" he said between breaths.
"Wild Flower. I like that," Draco said.
"Good, just what I need, another nickname," Daisy said and smiled at Blaise.
Blaise in turn looked at her for a moment and then said quietly, "Thank you."
Daisy took her hand in a friendly gesture, and then went back to arguing with boys by starting in on Harry's hair.
The four of them laughed as words like, "Haircut" and "need" and "insane crusade" floated around them.
*******************************************************
'20-20-24 hours ago I wannna be sedated...'
"She's singing again," Draco said.
"Yes, she does that often," Harry said.
'I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain...'
"Come on Wild Flower, into class," Draco said as herded her into Potions class answered by a loud, 'I wanna be sedated!'
"Keep it up and you might be," Ron said as he and Hermoine followed them in.
Harry stopped Blaise before she could enter the dungeon class room.
"So, what color did he turn when you told him we were going together?" Harry asked.
"Harry, what? Who?" she asked genuinely puzzled.
"Blaise, I'm not blind even if Malfoy is," he said.
She bristled. "Well, Daisy seems to have vision problems too."
"So we both admit it then?" he said. "We're just about having fun and annoying everybody else?"
She smiled. "Did anyone ever tell you that you should have been in Slytherin?" she asked putting her arm through his.
"Yes," he said seriously.
"He went slightly pink," she said in tone to match his. They looked at each other for a moment and Harry wonder if anything ever made sense.
Then he smiled. They made sense. And now, they new were they stood with each other. "Let's go in."
"Nothing to do no where to go"
"Stop that!" Neville whispered.
"Can't help it." Daisy said. "'Can't control my fingers I can't control my toes.' The song is stuck in my head."
"Snape'll take care of that right quick if he hears you singing in his class," Neville said back. They were half way through class working on their potions. Snape was in his office letting them work. At least he was until the door opened and he yelled.
"Dumbledore! My office. Now."
She meekly got and went into the office.
"Yes, uncle Sev?" she said.
"Oh, I'm sure you can guess," the Professor said sitting down behind his desk.
"Um, was I singing too loudly again?" she said.
"You should not be singing at all in Potions class. But no, that's not it." He gestured to the fireplace. "Your parents wanted to talk to you."
She turned to see two disembodied heads floating in the office fireplace. "Mom, Dad!" she cried.
"Daisy, love," her father said and smiled. He may never have been around, but he was her daddy and she was his little girl, even if he occasionally forgot in what country she was. (Okay that only happened twice, but still!)
"We came to say good-bye," her mother said.
"So you're still going then?" she asked them.
"How can we not? Your father has more field experience then any other member of the team. And I know gypsy spells better than anyone else. We have to go," Annabelle said.
"Love, your mum and I'll be fine. You'll see."
"But, but Daddy I did See. I See quite a bit. But I don't See you two anywhere. Not any further than next week. I don't See you at my wedding. I don't See you coming to Allen's first Qudditch match. I, I don't think you'll survive."
Daisy was shaking so hard by the time she finished this speech. Annabelle looked to her brother. Severus rose and went over to his niece. He put his hands on her shoulders and held her lightly until she stopped.
"Thanks," she whispered.
"Daisy," her father said gently, "we know the risks. We still have to go. We love you."
"Very much," her mother added. "I know we haven't always been there for you but,"
"No, you haven't!" she yelled. "But you're my parents, and I love you! I don't want you die just because you're too damned stubborn to see reason!" She began cursing very imaginatively in the Old Tongue, then she stormed out of the office.
"I didn't think you could do that with a buldger," Severus said thinking about his niece's comments.
"Sev!" Annabelle said sharply. But her scowl faded. "You know, I love you too, little brother."
"I know, An. Now, go save the world both of you. And try and come back, they need you," he said.
Alexander looked at his brother-in-law and nodded. "Take care of yourself, Severus. And those kids."
And with a tiny *pop* they were gone.
Severus Snape stood looking at the class working on their potions. Daisy's friends were torn between trying to comfort her and avoiding her wrath. She was fuming. He smiled watching her. She has the same scowl as her grandmother, and her mother for that matter. His too really, but the Snape women always wore it better.
He noticed that her friends now included two Slytherins. Both Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini were shooting worried looks in her direction. But it was Potter who finally approached her.
She glared at him. Snape almost laughed. He though the boy would melt. Potter didn't back down, though.
They talked in hushed voices. Not even Longbottom, hovering near Daisy again, would have been able to hear them. She was gesturing emphatically. He was nodding and being understanding.
Then she put her hand over her face and leaned on the desk. She looked exhausted. Snape wonder when was the last time she had slept properly. Potter put his hand on her upper arm. He didn't look particularly well rested either.
He leaned close and whispered something to her. Daisy nodded. She looked up into his eyes and smiled.
Snape saw it then. The way those to looked at each other was unmistakable. It scared him to think that two people so young could feel with such intensity. He said a silent prayer of thanks when she looked away. It was only a brief moment. None of the other students had seen it, but then they wouldn't know what to look for either.
'Thank God she's so stubborn!' he thought. 'She'll never admit to caring for him in that manner.' He knew this because he remembered what it was like to be fifteen, and to be in love.
************************************************************
Daisy had decided to skip lunch. She wasn't hungry. Of course she hadn't been tried all week either. She really wasn't taking good care of herself.
She had grabbed her guitar and snuck off to play for a bit. She had said it out loud. The thing that was keeping her from sleeping and eating and doing her homework properly.
'I'm afraid they're going to die,' she thought. Then she corrected herself. 'I know there going to die! And Draco, and...me.'
She wasn't singing now. Her fingers were just playing a slow sorrowful tune.
'They're going to die and I couldn't stop it! They are too damn stubborn!'
"Damn, damn, damn!" she said.
"Wow, and in English too," Harry said closing the door tightly as he came in. "Weren't you suppose to end the House war today? Ron, Hermoine, Ginny, and I just sat through lunch at the Slytherin table."
"And it didn't kill you?" she said dryly.
"No, but I'm not sure I'll be able to keep my lunch down. Malfoy agreed," he said.
"You and Draco agreed? And your head didn't explode!" she said with mock enthusiasm.
"Not yet, delayed reaction," he said pulling a chair to sit in front in of her. He sat on it backwards so he could lean on the back and look at her down cast eyes.
"Your cracking you know," Harry spoke gently but with a bit of humor, trying not to make things harder. "An emotional reaction in front of the Potions class? People are going to guess your not made of stone."
"I wish I was. I wish I didn't feel responsible for putting them in danger."
"I know," he said.
"Yeah, I know you do. Draco knows what it's like to feel hurt by someone, but not responsible for someone else's pain."
"Play something for me?" he asked.
"Like what?" she asked.
"Nothing happy. I couldn't take it," he said.
She nodded and began to play Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi.
'It's all the same, only the names will change
Everyday it seems we're wasting away
Another place where the faces are so cold
I'd drive all night
Just to get back home
I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride
I'm wanted dead or alive
Wanted dead or alive
Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it's not for days
And the people I meet always go their separate ways
Sometimes you tell the day
By the bottle that you drink
And times when you're alone and all you do is think
I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride
I'm wanted dead or alive
Wanted dead or alive
I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride
I'm wanted dead or alive
Wanted dead or alive
I walk these streets, a loaded six string on my back
I play for keeps, 'cause I might not make it back
I been everywhere, still I'm standing tall
I've seen a million faces
And I've rocked them all
I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride
I'm wanted dead or alive
I'm a cowboy, I got the night on my side
I'm wanted dead or alive
Wanted dead or alive'
*********************************
Friday night was very depressing in the Gryffindor Common Room. Daisy did not smile once. No one could get her to, not even Fred and George when they turned Colin Creevey into a bright pink flamingo.
She sat by the fire and just stared. Even when everyone went to bed, she sat and looked into the fire. When she was finally tired enough to sleep, she just curled up in the chair where she was, and difted into and uneasy sleep.
Harry found her like that at about two in the morning. He had gotten all the sleep he would for that night. A whole four hours before his dreams woke him up.
He came down to the Common Room so he wouldn't wake the others, as he had for the past week. When Harry saw Daisy in his favorite chair he was a little dismayed. But he sat on a near by chair and watched her sleep or watched the fire burn.
Before long though, Daisy began to talk in her sleep. "Bats! Get away from bats!" She began to turn before she was finally started panicking nearly screaming.
"Hey, hey, susssh. It's alright. The bats are gone. No more bats," Harry had gone over to her and kneeling in front of her holding her shoulders.
"Harry?" she said groggily. "No bats?"
"No bats," he confirmed.
She seemed to wake up now. "Ugh, that damn dream again."
"I take it there were bats?" he asked.
"I've had this dream for as long as I can remember. My grandmother said it was my first vision, but it never happened. And I hate bats!"
"Why what's the dream?"
"I'm about five. I ran away from home for some reason and my mom came and found me. But she wasn't really my mom. She was too young. I though it might have been Belle, but the girl had dark hair, and she felt like my mum. There was a man too. He was across the way though, just looking at us. I started crying and she picked me up. She was carrying me. I felt safe, but then the bats," she paused for a moment. "They were all around. In my hair, touching my skin. My mum held me tight. She was running backwards, trying to protect me. She didn't she the cliff behind her. She kept moving towards it. It tried to warn her but my voice didn't seem to work. She was screaming at the bats. We, we went over the edge." She sighed. "I always wake up screaming falling into space surrounded by bats." She shuttered.
They sat in silence for a while. Harry had sat on the floor, leaning on her chair. Looking forward as he was he had a good view of the fire and her feet resting on a footstool. Her toe nail polish her changing colors.
By the time he had gotten to the fourteenth color she asked, "So what about you? What haunts your dreams these days?"
He turned his head to look up at her. Her face was impassive again. She was sitting straight up in high backed but comfy chair. She looked like a queen surveying her kingdom, not a girl having nightmares.
"Tonight," he said, "it was Cedric. Not the whole 'I watched him die and it was all my fault theme.' It was of course, but this time the nightmare when along the lines of "'I'm dead so you think it's alright to date my girlfriend.'"
"She said yes to you didn't she?" Daisy asked.
"But she wasn't ready. I should have known."
"Hey, I'm physic, not you. You couldn't have known, Harry. It was alright to date her. She needed to move past his death as much as you," Daisy said calmly.
"I'm just masochistic," he said.
"I've noticed," she said.
"How so?" Harry didn't think he really was masochistic. He just ended up suffering because of the things he did. He was however ignoring the little voice that said that was part of it all.
"You, Potter, are a glutton for punishment. I know a lot of the things you've gone through are not your fault, but you always make it worse for yourself," she said.
"I do not."
"Oh really? Because it seems so much like you to song random girls all over school. What was with that Harry? No attachments. No comfort. No emotional support. I know I'm not the most mentally stable person out there, but I've had almost two years of therapy starting from the time I woke up in hospital to when I came to Hogwarts. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery."
"Are you going to go through the other eleven for me?" he asked. "And what about Blaise? Same girl for three days, and I don't think I'll be snogging anyone else any time soon."
"Because she'd kill you! But will admit, she's probably the healthiest relationship you've been in. All three days of it. It's a shame you're only doing it to piss off Draco."
"I hate when you do that!" Harry was a little annoyed she knew his mind so well. Did she know what he really though of her as well?
"That's what you get for having a Seer as you confidant," he could hear her smiling up there.
"But you're not my confidant. You just know everything. I swear sometimes you are omniscient."
"But I'm not omniscient, I just know everything." Daisy Dumbledore said with actual humor in her voice.
*********************************************
"Daisy! Thank goodness!" Hermoine's shrill worried voice cut across the Common Room like a knife jolting Daisy and at the same time Harry, who had been using her knee was a pillow. He had actually fallen asleep again. Of course Hermoine had fixed that but still, it was almost a full nights sleep.
"Damn it! Turn out the light!" Harry said. It was awfully bright.
"That would be the sun, Potter," Daisy, also not sounding happy about it. "Herm, what's the problem?"
Hermoine had vanished up the stairs and shouted something, then turned back to her newly woken friends. "Only that I woke up and you were gone. When you disappear you usually end up in the Hospital Wing."
"Can't fault the girl for caring," Harry said.
"If she ever wakes me up like that again I might," Daisy said.
"Ha-ha," Hermoine quipped. "So why are you two down here anyway? And why are you on the floor Harry?"
"Because it so comfortable," he said sarcastically.
"I never went up stairs. I fell asleep down here. I was having a nightmare. I woke up. Harry kept me company," Daisy said with a shrug.
"Why were you down here, Harry?" Hermoine asked.
"I already told you because it was so comfy," he said rising. "I'm going to shower and dress."
"And cut your hair?" Daisy asked.
"Shut up," he said testily.
"You know you love me!" she called after him laughing.
*********************************
The week went by fast, and before they knew it was already Wednesday. Daisy was making an art of teasing Harry about his hair. Hermoine was moping and nobody could figure out why, although Daisy suspected it had something to do with Ron asking Susan Bones to the dance. All things considered life was good.
Daisy did have a guilty conscience about being so cruel to her parents. She decided to write them a letter.
Dear Mom and Dad,
I'm sorry about the way I acted on Saturday. It was a strange day and I just couldn't deal with you two looking worried at me in the hospital, again. But now I'm worried about you two. You CAN'T go after Belle. It would just be really really bad. Please don't.
I love you both,
Daisy
"Herm, come with me to the owlery?" Daisy called across the Common Room.
"Why?" she asked looking up from her book.
"Because I asked," the other girl answered. "Come on."
Hermoine sighed, and follow her out. "You really need to get away from those books more. Over the past week I've almost forgotten what your face looks like."
"You should talk. At least I'm reading something constructive. How many of the cheep novels have you gone through in the past three days?" Hermoine asked.
Daisy smiled. "Just two. I've been sneaking off to play, less time to read. Herm, I know what's bugging me, and I assume you've made an educated guess. But what's up with you?" When Hermoine didn't answer Daisy pressed, "Is it Ron?"
"Daisy, I really don't want to talk about him, especially with you," she said.
"Why? I know I'm his ex-girlfriend. But I'm friends with both of you. You can talk to me."
Hermoine sighed. "Well, aside from the fact that you two both already have dates, and Harry could probably pick a girl out of the blue and she'd go with him and Ginny's going with Terry, I just feel so alone."
"Well, you're almost always surrounded by either Ron and Harry or me and Ginny, or have your nose in a book. It makes you unapproachable."
"You really think that's it?" Hermoine asked hopefully.
Daisy smile as she spotted someone up ahead. "I know it. You're one of the prettiest girls in school, not to mention the smartest."
Daisy could see Hermoine blushing. She didn't have a chance to answer before Daisy called out, "Hey Justin!"
Justin Flinch-Flechery was walking down the hall in the opposite direction. "Hi Daisy," he said, then he spotted Hermoine and Daisy watched him turn slight shades of pink. Then he stuttered through a greeting to her.
'Hmm, time to play social director,' Daisy though. She turned the Hermoine.
"Anyway, Herm, I'm sure someone will ask you before Saturday. And if not you could always ask someone. I'm off to the owlery," Daisy said with a way and left Hermoine standing in shock with Justin.
As she was rounding the corner she heard Justin stammer, "You mean no one has asked you?"
Daisy smiled to herself. One down, one to go!
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Daisy took her glasses off and cleaned them as she walked smiling back to Gryffindor Tower. Her letter was off, and she had given Hermoine a giant shove in the direction of a date. Justin was a sweetie and really cute.
'Now to find someone to settle Harry,' she thought. 'Ginny might do nicely but as she spoken for at the moment she's not an option.'
Daisy was pulled out of her revelry by smacking sounds from somewhere up ahead.
'Someone's having a good snog,' she though smiling again, suspecting whom it might be.
"Oh Harry," a girls voice said.
Daisy nearly bust a lung trying not to laugh. 'Well, that answers that! But where are they?'
She followed the sounds to a tapestry hanging on the wall. It sounded about right. She pulled it a little and peeked in. There was enclave but no people.
"Harry, your robe clasp is stuck!" the girl said.
Daisy looked up. Sure enough about a foot above her head was a ledge.
"Hold on it sticks sometimes," Harry said.
Daisy smiled wickedly. She put a charm on the floor to soften it, then she reached up with her wand to the edge of the ledge and whispered 'dissendium.'
"What the-"
Harry was shocked to find himself and Blaise falling to the floor, even more so to find Daisy standing over them trying not to laugh.
"I am so going to kill you!" he said to her.
She smiled at him. "You may want to get yourself together first," she said. "Your really ought to find some place more secluded or be more quiet. What would you have done if I were a teacher? Snape would love to find the two of you like that!"
Harry took in the situation for a moment. He really hadn't meant to go sneaking off with Blaise Zabini. But she was just so pretty, and he did need a date for Saturday. And it was never good be found like that by anyone. Blaise had finished redoing her robes and was starting to rise.
Daisy smiled sweetly, and then tousled his hair. "Don't have too much fun!" she said as she started walking away. "And get a hair cut!"
He sighed as Blaise helped him up. "So was that a yes then?" he asked.
By way of response she kissed him.
He smiled and pulled away slightly. "So we'll meet in the Entrance Hall?"
"Or before then if I see you," she said coyly.
Blaise was defiantly interesting, even if she was a Slytherin.
"But she was right," Blaise smiled as she now began to walk away. "You do need a hair cut."
*******************************
Daisy was sitting in Common Room with Neville going over Potions notes, a half hour later, when Harry and Hermoine came over to her and simultaneously said, "I'm going to kill you."
She smiled and leaned back listen to the conversation she knew she wouldn't have to take part in.
"Why are you going to kill her?" Harry asked.
"First she says in front of Justin that I don't have a date for Saturday like I'm some big geek that can't get a date. Then she leaves me there! And after making me come with her in the first place. What did she do to you?"
Daisy leaned over to Neville and said, "and I'll bet she got a date out of it!"
Harry turned slightly pink but said, "I was with a girl she interrupted us. And just as I was asking her to the dance."
"I didn't hear any mention of a dance," Daisy said. "Trying to get robes off yes, but dances, no."
Harry was now bright pink and said, "You truly are an evil witch."
"Thank you. But I don't want to hear anymore form either of you. You got a date right?" she said pointing at Hermoine, who nodded an affirmative. "Which I knew you would. And you did too, I believe?" now pointing at Harry.
"No thanks to you!" he said.
She started to chuckle. "No you did that on your own, but it was just too funny to pass up. You should have seen your faces as you looked up at me!"
"Oh sod off! Blaise can be very temperamental, I'm just lucky she was amused by your hair cut comment," he said.
"Blaise Zabini?" Ron came over hearing the name of Harry's date. "Wow, Harry. You two are going to cause a riot, mate. Gryffindor and Slytherin." He shook his head.
Daisy smiled and laced her fingers through Neville's. 'But that was the point, wasn't it Harry?'
*******************************************************
Ron was right about Harry and Blaise. Daisy was very amused by it. Only having come to Hogwarts this year, she didn't have the same experience with the house rivalry.
It was Friday morning at breakfast and Harry and Blaise were sitting together at the end of the Gryffindor table. No one was near them and they didn't seem to care.
"What does he see in her?" Pavarti Patil said. She was sitting across from Daisy and Hermoine, both of whom looked down to see Harry laughing at something Blaise said.
Daisy smiled "Well let's see, beside the fact that she's blond, beautiful and apparently funny, I can't imagine."
"You forgot easy," Pavarti said mercilessly.
Daisy, remembering how she found out about Harry and Blaise, couldn't help but laugh. "Really though," she said turning to Hermoine, "what's the big deal? They like being together, and they're a cute couple."
"Are you sure you shouldn't be in Hufflepuff? Blind loyalty is a characteristic of that house," Lavender cut in, from next to Pavarti.
"The big deal," Hermoine said ignoring their dorm mates, "is that she's a Slytherin. Slytherins hate Gryffindors, Harry in particular."
"I've noticed that," Daisy said, narrowing her eyes in a pensive manner. She looked around and caught sight of the Slytherin table. "Do you know how much Blaise has had to put up with? I went out with Draco for two weeks and didn't have to deal with anything like it."
"Well, were not Slytherins, are we?" Lavender said.
"Besides, your different Daze," Hermoine said.
Daisy smiled. "You know, I am. Excuse me."
She picked up her things and went down to the end of the table. She put her stuff down without a word to the two lone occupants. She looked at them and smiled, then walked across the room, to the Slytherin table.
She began talking animatedly to Draco. He was answering with emphatic head shaking until she said something and began to walk away. Malfoy followed her, his things in hand.
"I can't believe I'm doing this!" Draco hissed in her ear.
"Well, I'm blackmailing you. Try to find that consoling," Daisy said.
"Look Daisy, can't you just sit with me at the Slytherin table? It would be the same," he pleaded.
"I will, at lunch. This whole House war is ridiculous! But Harry and Blaise will be with us. She is your friend too, right?"
"Yeah, yeah," he said. And then they reached the afore mentioned friends. "Hullo," he said tersely.
"Um, hi?" Blaise said a little confused.
"I have made it my new mission to end the House War," Daisy said. "You two are the first battle."
"You're going to lose this one, Dumbledore," Draco said. "You're trying to accomplish the impossible."
"Maybe it is impossible, but at least I'm trying," she said.
Harry started laughing hysterically. "You really are a wild flower, aren't you?" he said between breaths.
"Wild Flower. I like that," Draco said.
"Good, just what I need, another nickname," Daisy said and smiled at Blaise.
Blaise in turn looked at her for a moment and then said quietly, "Thank you."
Daisy took her hand in a friendly gesture, and then went back to arguing with boys by starting in on Harry's hair.
The four of them laughed as words like, "Haircut" and "need" and "insane crusade" floated around them.
*******************************************************
'20-20-24 hours ago I wannna be sedated...'
"She's singing again," Draco said.
"Yes, she does that often," Harry said.
'I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain...'
"Come on Wild Flower, into class," Draco said as herded her into Potions class answered by a loud, 'I wanna be sedated!'
"Keep it up and you might be," Ron said as he and Hermoine followed them in.
Harry stopped Blaise before she could enter the dungeon class room.
"So, what color did he turn when you told him we were going together?" Harry asked.
"Harry, what? Who?" she asked genuinely puzzled.
"Blaise, I'm not blind even if Malfoy is," he said.
She bristled. "Well, Daisy seems to have vision problems too."
"So we both admit it then?" he said. "We're just about having fun and annoying everybody else?"
She smiled. "Did anyone ever tell you that you should have been in Slytherin?" she asked putting her arm through his.
"Yes," he said seriously.
"He went slightly pink," she said in tone to match his. They looked at each other for a moment and Harry wonder if anything ever made sense.
Then he smiled. They made sense. And now, they new were they stood with each other. "Let's go in."
"Nothing to do no where to go"
"Stop that!" Neville whispered.
"Can't help it." Daisy said. "'Can't control my fingers I can't control my toes.' The song is stuck in my head."
"Snape'll take care of that right quick if he hears you singing in his class," Neville said back. They were half way through class working on their potions. Snape was in his office letting them work. At least he was until the door opened and he yelled.
"Dumbledore! My office. Now."
She meekly got and went into the office.
"Yes, uncle Sev?" she said.
"Oh, I'm sure you can guess," the Professor said sitting down behind his desk.
"Um, was I singing too loudly again?" she said.
"You should not be singing at all in Potions class. But no, that's not it." He gestured to the fireplace. "Your parents wanted to talk to you."
She turned to see two disembodied heads floating in the office fireplace. "Mom, Dad!" she cried.
"Daisy, love," her father said and smiled. He may never have been around, but he was her daddy and she was his little girl, even if he occasionally forgot in what country she was. (Okay that only happened twice, but still!)
"We came to say good-bye," her mother said.
"So you're still going then?" she asked them.
"How can we not? Your father has more field experience then any other member of the team. And I know gypsy spells better than anyone else. We have to go," Annabelle said.
"Love, your mum and I'll be fine. You'll see."
"But, but Daddy I did See. I See quite a bit. But I don't See you two anywhere. Not any further than next week. I don't See you at my wedding. I don't See you coming to Allen's first Qudditch match. I, I don't think you'll survive."
Daisy was shaking so hard by the time she finished this speech. Annabelle looked to her brother. Severus rose and went over to his niece. He put his hands on her shoulders and held her lightly until she stopped.
"Thanks," she whispered.
"Daisy," her father said gently, "we know the risks. We still have to go. We love you."
"Very much," her mother added. "I know we haven't always been there for you but,"
"No, you haven't!" she yelled. "But you're my parents, and I love you! I don't want you die just because you're too damned stubborn to see reason!" She began cursing very imaginatively in the Old Tongue, then she stormed out of the office.
"I didn't think you could do that with a buldger," Severus said thinking about his niece's comments.
"Sev!" Annabelle said sharply. But her scowl faded. "You know, I love you too, little brother."
"I know, An. Now, go save the world both of you. And try and come back, they need you," he said.
Alexander looked at his brother-in-law and nodded. "Take care of yourself, Severus. And those kids."
And with a tiny *pop* they were gone.
Severus Snape stood looking at the class working on their potions. Daisy's friends were torn between trying to comfort her and avoiding her wrath. She was fuming. He smiled watching her. She has the same scowl as her grandmother, and her mother for that matter. His too really, but the Snape women always wore it better.
He noticed that her friends now included two Slytherins. Both Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini were shooting worried looks in her direction. But it was Potter who finally approached her.
She glared at him. Snape almost laughed. He though the boy would melt. Potter didn't back down, though.
They talked in hushed voices. Not even Longbottom, hovering near Daisy again, would have been able to hear them. She was gesturing emphatically. He was nodding and being understanding.
Then she put her hand over her face and leaned on the desk. She looked exhausted. Snape wonder when was the last time she had slept properly. Potter put his hand on her upper arm. He didn't look particularly well rested either.
He leaned close and whispered something to her. Daisy nodded. She looked up into his eyes and smiled.
Snape saw it then. The way those to looked at each other was unmistakable. It scared him to think that two people so young could feel with such intensity. He said a silent prayer of thanks when she looked away. It was only a brief moment. None of the other students had seen it, but then they wouldn't know what to look for either.
'Thank God she's so stubborn!' he thought. 'She'll never admit to caring for him in that manner.' He knew this because he remembered what it was like to be fifteen, and to be in love.
************************************************************
Daisy had decided to skip lunch. She wasn't hungry. Of course she hadn't been tried all week either. She really wasn't taking good care of herself.
She had grabbed her guitar and snuck off to play for a bit. She had said it out loud. The thing that was keeping her from sleeping and eating and doing her homework properly.
'I'm afraid they're going to die,' she thought. Then she corrected herself. 'I know there going to die! And Draco, and...me.'
She wasn't singing now. Her fingers were just playing a slow sorrowful tune.
'They're going to die and I couldn't stop it! They are too damn stubborn!'
"Damn, damn, damn!" she said.
"Wow, and in English too," Harry said closing the door tightly as he came in. "Weren't you suppose to end the House war today? Ron, Hermoine, Ginny, and I just sat through lunch at the Slytherin table."
"And it didn't kill you?" she said dryly.
"No, but I'm not sure I'll be able to keep my lunch down. Malfoy agreed," he said.
"You and Draco agreed? And your head didn't explode!" she said with mock enthusiasm.
"Not yet, delayed reaction," he said pulling a chair to sit in front in of her. He sat on it backwards so he could lean on the back and look at her down cast eyes.
"Your cracking you know," Harry spoke gently but with a bit of humor, trying not to make things harder. "An emotional reaction in front of the Potions class? People are going to guess your not made of stone."
"I wish I was. I wish I didn't feel responsible for putting them in danger."
"I know," he said.
"Yeah, I know you do. Draco knows what it's like to feel hurt by someone, but not responsible for someone else's pain."
"Play something for me?" he asked.
"Like what?" she asked.
"Nothing happy. I couldn't take it," he said.
She nodded and began to play Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi.
'It's all the same, only the names will change
Everyday it seems we're wasting away
Another place where the faces are so cold
I'd drive all night
Just to get back home
I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride
I'm wanted dead or alive
Wanted dead or alive
Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it's not for days
And the people I meet always go their separate ways
Sometimes you tell the day
By the bottle that you drink
And times when you're alone and all you do is think
I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride
I'm wanted dead or alive
Wanted dead or alive
I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride
I'm wanted dead or alive
Wanted dead or alive
I walk these streets, a loaded six string on my back
I play for keeps, 'cause I might not make it back
I been everywhere, still I'm standing tall
I've seen a million faces
And I've rocked them all
I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride
I'm wanted dead or alive
I'm a cowboy, I got the night on my side
I'm wanted dead or alive
Wanted dead or alive'
*********************************
Friday night was very depressing in the Gryffindor Common Room. Daisy did not smile once. No one could get her to, not even Fred and George when they turned Colin Creevey into a bright pink flamingo.
She sat by the fire and just stared. Even when everyone went to bed, she sat and looked into the fire. When she was finally tired enough to sleep, she just curled up in the chair where she was, and difted into and uneasy sleep.
Harry found her like that at about two in the morning. He had gotten all the sleep he would for that night. A whole four hours before his dreams woke him up.
He came down to the Common Room so he wouldn't wake the others, as he had for the past week. When Harry saw Daisy in his favorite chair he was a little dismayed. But he sat on a near by chair and watched her sleep or watched the fire burn.
Before long though, Daisy began to talk in her sleep. "Bats! Get away from bats!" She began to turn before she was finally started panicking nearly screaming.
"Hey, hey, susssh. It's alright. The bats are gone. No more bats," Harry had gone over to her and kneeling in front of her holding her shoulders.
"Harry?" she said groggily. "No bats?"
"No bats," he confirmed.
She seemed to wake up now. "Ugh, that damn dream again."
"I take it there were bats?" he asked.
"I've had this dream for as long as I can remember. My grandmother said it was my first vision, but it never happened. And I hate bats!"
"Why what's the dream?"
"I'm about five. I ran away from home for some reason and my mom came and found me. But she wasn't really my mom. She was too young. I though it might have been Belle, but the girl had dark hair, and she felt like my mum. There was a man too. He was across the way though, just looking at us. I started crying and she picked me up. She was carrying me. I felt safe, but then the bats," she paused for a moment. "They were all around. In my hair, touching my skin. My mum held me tight. She was running backwards, trying to protect me. She didn't she the cliff behind her. She kept moving towards it. It tried to warn her but my voice didn't seem to work. She was screaming at the bats. We, we went over the edge." She sighed. "I always wake up screaming falling into space surrounded by bats." She shuttered.
They sat in silence for a while. Harry had sat on the floor, leaning on her chair. Looking forward as he was he had a good view of the fire and her feet resting on a footstool. Her toe nail polish her changing colors.
By the time he had gotten to the fourteenth color she asked, "So what about you? What haunts your dreams these days?"
He turned his head to look up at her. Her face was impassive again. She was sitting straight up in high backed but comfy chair. She looked like a queen surveying her kingdom, not a girl having nightmares.
"Tonight," he said, "it was Cedric. Not the whole 'I watched him die and it was all my fault theme.' It was of course, but this time the nightmare when along the lines of "'I'm dead so you think it's alright to date my girlfriend.'"
"She said yes to you didn't she?" Daisy asked.
"But she wasn't ready. I should have known."
"Hey, I'm physic, not you. You couldn't have known, Harry. It was alright to date her. She needed to move past his death as much as you," Daisy said calmly.
"I'm just masochistic," he said.
"I've noticed," she said.
"How so?" Harry didn't think he really was masochistic. He just ended up suffering because of the things he did. He was however ignoring the little voice that said that was part of it all.
"You, Potter, are a glutton for punishment. I know a lot of the things you've gone through are not your fault, but you always make it worse for yourself," she said.
"I do not."
"Oh really? Because it seems so much like you to song random girls all over school. What was with that Harry? No attachments. No comfort. No emotional support. I know I'm not the most mentally stable person out there, but I've had almost two years of therapy starting from the time I woke up in hospital to when I came to Hogwarts. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery."
"Are you going to go through the other eleven for me?" he asked. "And what about Blaise? Same girl for three days, and I don't think I'll be snogging anyone else any time soon."
"Because she'd kill you! But will admit, she's probably the healthiest relationship you've been in. All three days of it. It's a shame you're only doing it to piss off Draco."
"I hate when you do that!" Harry was a little annoyed she knew his mind so well. Did she know what he really though of her as well?
"That's what you get for having a Seer as you confidant," he could hear her smiling up there.
"But you're not my confidant. You just know everything. I swear sometimes you are omniscient."
"But I'm not omniscient, I just know everything." Daisy Dumbledore said with actual humor in her voice.
*********************************************
"Daisy! Thank goodness!" Hermoine's shrill worried voice cut across the Common Room like a knife jolting Daisy and at the same time Harry, who had been using her knee was a pillow. He had actually fallen asleep again. Of course Hermoine had fixed that but still, it was almost a full nights sleep.
"Damn it! Turn out the light!" Harry said. It was awfully bright.
"That would be the sun, Potter," Daisy, also not sounding happy about it. "Herm, what's the problem?"
Hermoine had vanished up the stairs and shouted something, then turned back to her newly woken friends. "Only that I woke up and you were gone. When you disappear you usually end up in the Hospital Wing."
"Can't fault the girl for caring," Harry said.
"If she ever wakes me up like that again I might," Daisy said.
"Ha-ha," Hermoine quipped. "So why are you two down here anyway? And why are you on the floor Harry?"
"Because it so comfortable," he said sarcastically.
"I never went up stairs. I fell asleep down here. I was having a nightmare. I woke up. Harry kept me company," Daisy said with a shrug.
"Why were you down here, Harry?" Hermoine asked.
"I already told you because it was so comfy," he said rising. "I'm going to shower and dress."
"And cut your hair?" Daisy asked.
"Shut up," he said testily.
"You know you love me!" she called after him laughing.
*********************************