Note: The characters I have used are from the books by J.K Rowling, the only characters that are of my creation are Taylor McKenzie and Danae Felise
Chapter 3: The Mystery Gift
The sun beamed in through the only window that the Slytherin common room had and lit up the usually dark and dreary room. Danae blinked as she opened her eyes to take in the sun, she stretched in the chair and glanced at the clock on the wall absent-mindedly. It was 7:16am and it was obvious to her that she must have fallen asleep in the chair and remained there throughout the night. The fire had completely died and all that was left was the ash of the wood and coal. Slowly she uncurled herself, stood up and headed down the steps to the girls dormitory. She pushed open the door roughly and awoke some of the girls accidentally, however she felt no guilt over it.
"For Merlin's sake Danae can't you be bloody quiet for once?"
A girl sneered as she turned over in her bed. Danae spun to face the origins of the voice and smiled as she saw whom it was. Slowly she walked to her and leant over her, whispering in her ear.
"Did I wake you up Princess?"
"Yes you bloody did!" The girl snapped. "Where were you all night this time? Greenhouses? Astronomy Tower? I think those are the only too places you haven't christened yet."
Danae looked down at the girl and simply smiled. She sat on the edge of the girl's bed and sighed shaking her head.
"Now that's where you're wrong Taylor. I find the Astronomy tower quite comfortable. Blaise agrees with me, why don't you ask him?"
Taylor looked up at Danae dumb founded as she stood up and walked away. Blaise was Taylor's boyfriend and she did not like the sound of what Danae must have meant. Taylor flung her quilt covers off of her and leapt at Danae pushing her to the ground. She grabbed Danae's hair and pulled it tightly and roughly.
"You lying bitch!" Taylor screamed as she woke the others. "He wouldn't look at you twice!"
Danae grabbed hold of Taylor's head sharply and managed to flip her over and relinquish her own hold. Climbing on top of her Danae applied a sharp and forceful punch to Taylor's face causing her lip to burst.
"Yes you are right in one aspect. It wasn't twice it was three times but I'm not sure he was looking at me. More like taking me."
Taylor screamed in fury and slapped Danae fiercely as she felt her lip bleed. Pansy Parkinson woke with a start and noticed the pair fighting in the middle of the floor; she did a double take before climbing out of bed and trying to pry the girls apart. She dragged Danae off of Taylor and pulled her out into the common room. The door swung shut loudly as Taylor screamed obscenities in Danae's direction. Pansy pushed Danae forcefully onto the sofa and stood in front of her with a glare shadowing her eyes.
"What the hell are you trying to do? Start the next in-house war? You should know better Danae!"
Danae sat there gritting her teeth and rubbing her cheek softly where she had been on the receiving end of Taylor's slap. She knew she shouldn't have provoked her but she was in a bad mood. Yesterday's events had tainted her behaviour and she was in no mood for anybodies mouth especially Taylor McKenzie's. Pansy stood there stone faced and shook her head tutting.
"I'm going to go get changed. I suggest you stay there and calm down before you think of another way to piss one of the other girls off."
She spun around and walked back to the dormitory, slamming the door behind her. Danae stayed where she was and glared at the empty seat in front of her. She muttered words under her breath and slash marks appeared on the chairs upholstery. Pansy returned about 15 minutes later with a pile of Danae's clothes in her arms, she thrust them at Danae and sighed.
"Congratulations Danae! You have achieved the title of Slytherin Slapper. They're in there laughing. Taylor seems to think she could take you on, as long as those three idiot girls she hangs around with are with her. Naturally. What the hell is wrong with you then?"
Danae grabbed her clothes and stood up quickly, she looked at Pansy and shrugged, her expression showing she could care less.
"She can say what she likes. Her type are all the same, mouth and nothing else to back it up. Let her think she can have her own way. I'm not in the mood for the likes of her. I'm going to go get dressed."
She headed to the portrait and pushed it open leaving Pansy stood alone in the centre of the room. Slowly she walked towards the girl's toilet clutching her clothes tightly to her chest. The toilets were deserted which she was thankful for as this meant she could wash and change in peace. She emerged from the bathroom feeling perkier; she was now wearing her black mini skirt and white halter neck top. She stretched and began her walk down the corridor towards the Great Hall, her stomach growling in indignation.
"Danae! Danae wait! Please wait!"
A voice was calling to her from behind and she pivoted around as she tied up her hair. Neville came panting towards her smiling broadly. He looked unusually smart for a Saturday morning, especially at breakfast time. He bent over huffing and trying to catch his breath; slowly he straightened up and offered her his arm.
"C-Can I walk you to breakfast?"
He asked timidly as he looked into her eyes. Danae peered at him through narrowed eyes and glanced down at his arm. She had hoped yesterday had been nothing but a nightmare, a mere dream. Unfortunately it was real, very real and Neville persisted by grabbing her hand and linking it through his arm.
"Alright..."
Danae said softly as they walked towards the Great Hall. Neville beamed as he walked down the corridor with her making doubly sure to watch where he was walking so as not to trip or trip her up. She sighed and kept her head down, avoiding the snickers of passing students. Ok this wasn't your smartest idea Danae. Neville felt content and happy, he truly believed that he could make a relationship come out of their friendship. All you have to do is be brave, sound clever and act tough. He said to himself over and over in his mind. Upon reaching the Great Hall Danae found herself not wanting to enter with him, she pulled on his arm and stopped him from walking.
"Neville I do-..."
Neville had raised a finger to her lips and touched it tenderly as he grinned boyishly.
"Come on or we'll be late for breakfast."
He said as he grabbed her hand and dragged her through the large oak doors. Danae was thankful that no one had really paid attention to the two of them as they entered. Breaking off from Neville, after some persuasion of him to let her hand go, she headed to the Slytherin table and sat down not far away from Draco Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. He glared at Neville as he sat down next to Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.
"You chose to spend all of yesterday with that pathetic loser Longbottom than with me? Are you deranged?"
Danae flicked her hair round as she turned to look at Draco. He, Crabbe and Goyle laughed at his little joke and smiled broadly at each other. She narrowed her eyes and sneered. One thing she despised was being laughed at, especially over something that wasn't true. She stood up and sat back down this time opposite Draco. She had slipped one foot out of her sandal and began rubbing the inside of Draco's leg. He raised his eyebrow in surprise and a smile spread across his face. Danae leaned forward on the table and smiled seductively she then moved her foot to his groin and pushed in hard. Draco let out a huge yell and doubled over in pain. She stood up and replaced her shoe on her foot; she looked down at him with a smile of satisfaction as his chin hit the table. She bent down to him and smiled.
"Keep your filthy comments to yourself Draco. The whole world doesn't want to know your jealous side."
She stood up straight and looked down at him with a twinkle in her eye. She winked and made her way towards the doors of the Great Hall. She turned round and looked up at the teachers table catching Remus' eye, she quickly spun back around and the Hall doors closed behind her. The entire Hall had now focused upon Draco and was enquiring amongst each other as to the reason why he yelped. Many murmured about Danae having found out that he was cheating on her; others said that he tried it on with her and she didn't want him anymore. Draco sneered and blushed slightly as he snapped at the many people around him. Remus was still looking at the spot on which Danae had stood mere moments ago, he sighed and stood up. He nodded at Flitwick and smiled as he dabbed his face with a cloth and then stepped down from the table.
"Excuse me a moment Filius I need to go and collect my lesson plans."
He nodded again and then began walking towards the doors, they opened for him and he stepped outside. They slowly closed behind him and he looked around for signs of Danae. He looked out of the window in front of him that showed the expanse of the gardens and saw a figure leant against the wall in the distance. Smiling he stepped out into the gardens and looked directly at the figure. He ran his hand through his hair, coughed and headed over to them. Danae had a flower in her hand and began picking the petals off of it. She sighed and looked up quickly as she saw a shadow on the floor and stepped back as she saw Remus. She felt anger at seeing him and still felt the embarrassment of the previous day.
"Can I help you Professor?"
She asked sharply focusing on the roses that lay in the bed next to her. Remus gulped slightly and lowered his head; he looked around him to check that nobody was around. Sighing he looked at her apologetically, he raised a hand to her chin and lifted her face to look at him.
"What is it going to take Miss Felise for you to even think of forgiveness?"
Danae looked up into his eyes and felt her heart melt into them, however this happened last time and now she needed to stand tall and make sure that she didn't make the same mistake twice. She stepped back and removed his hand from her chin, she smiled and looked around as she started walking between the flowers. She looked away from him as she spoke.
"Why must you ask for my forgiveness? There's nothing to forgive..."
She walked away and back into the Castle, the hallways were now full of students and she just wanted to be away from him so she walked into the large cues of people. Remus stood there and closed his eyes, he knew he had really messed up everything, all he wanted was a friendship with her but he knew he would never be able to have that now. He sighed and leant against the wall where she had been stood and could still smell her perfume. What is wrong with you Remus? Going goo-goo over a student? You've lost your head! He sniffed up once more but the smell had faded into nothing and the now over-whelming smell of flowers took its place. He sighed and headed back into the castle and started walking in the direction of his office.
Danae was around the corner from where Remus was stood and watched him walk off she sighed and shook her head. She had to talk to him, she couldn't leave it like that, and shaking her head at herself she went back round the corner to find Neville stood right there.
"Wha-...?
She looked at him and smiled weakly as she peered around him to see whether or not Remus was still there. Neville smiled and did a little happy jump as only Neville could get away with.
"Are you excited about tonight? I can't wait! How about I pick you up at 8pm? That way we have plenty of time to get ready right?"
He asked in a very happy and no longer nervous voice. His eyes were wide and he was acting like a schoolboy who had just got his dream come true. Danae looked at him weirdly, she hadn't the faintest idea of what he was on about.
"Pick me up for what?"
She asked not really paying attention to what was going on around her, her eyes just kept looking for Remus at every chance she had.
"The Summer Ball. You said you'd go with me."
He looked at her with a worried expression, he suddenly felt his nerves coming back and hoped he hadn't gotten it completely wrong. He sighed and dropped his head as he tried to think over their conversation. Danae suddenly snapped back into reality and looked at Neville quickly realising that she might have just offended him.
"Yes 8pm is fine..."
She suddenly panicked as she realised she had nothing to wear, she didn't realise the ball was so soon. She kissed Neville on the cheek softly and smiled.
"Neville I have to go. I forgot something and I have to go do it. 8pm is fine."
She smiled and ran off passed him and down towards the Slytherin common room. The morning's events hadn't left her in a great love for running into anybody right now, especially Taylor. She stood in front of the portrait of the old man and smiled sweetly.
"Lycan Dar!"
The portrait swung open and Danae ran inside feeling decidedly flustered. Where am I going to get a dress at such short notice? She slumped into an armchair as she tried to think of a solution to her problem. The clock on the breast wall said that it was 1:30pm, which would give her sometime to run into Hogsmeade to get a dress. I haven't picked up any money though! She snapped at herself. She slumped back in the chair as she heard someone else walk into the common room. She peered around the side of the chair and saw that it was only Pansy. She sighed and curled up in the chair as she wracked her brains for ideas.
"What are you doing Danae?"
Pansy asked as she saw Danae tapping her head softly as if hoping to push thoughts into her head. She sat down across from Danae and had a large smile across her face. Danae stopped tapping her head and looked up at Pansy and was about to tell her to leave when she noticed the happiness flowing from her. She raised an eyebrow and bit a lip thoughtfully before she spoke.
"Pansy why are you smirking like that? You look rather stupid."
She commented somewhat untactful. Pansy smiled and let out a laugh and stood up grabbing Danae's hand. She dragged Danae out of the chair and down the Dormitory steps.
"Someone seems to like you! They sent this."
Pansy commented as she pushed open the Dorm door and shoved Danae in. Danae looked at Pansy in confusion. Sent something? She couldn't think for the life of her what somebody would want to send her, or for a matter of fact who would send it. She was about to questions her as her eyes fell upon the most beautiful dress she had ever seen draped off the end of her bed. Her jaw dropped and she walked over to it slowly, running her hand along the material softly. A note was attached to the dress, she took it off and opened it. It had nothing more than three words written upon it with no signature or name.
'Enjoy your evening.'
She threw the note on the bed and stared up at the dress in awe. It was a beautiful and bright shade of red with a sleeveless bodice. The bodice was jagged along the breast and had diagonally placed strips of glitter. The skirt of the dress was made of many layers of red lace that was placed on top of a fairly thick silk underskirt. A pair of Red shoes lay at the base of the dress, they had a fairly small heal to them and were slightly pointed at the toe. She spun round to look at Pansy and smiled widely. Her problems for her attire that evening were solved but she was curious as to who sent it. Her mind went through a list of people, each seeming more ridiculous than the first.
"Pansy? Who put this in here?"
She asked feeling wary of putting it on in case it came from an untrustworthy cause. Pansy walked forward and looked up at the dress. She herself basked in its awe however she knew she was going to become exceedingly jealous.
"No idea. Taylor came in here apparently and tried to take it but the person who put it here had put a spell to stop anybody but the receiver from removing it."
Danae had to laugh at the thought of Taylor getting attacked by a dress, she walked forward and lifted the hanger down from her bed and smiled feeling thankful that the dress was in fact hers and it didn't attack her. She looked at Pansy who egged her on to try it on. With help Danae had managed to pull the dress on and do it up, it was her exact size and length. The time was now 2:07pm and she had only another 5 hours and 53 minutes left before the ball. She knew she would have to work hard to make herself look good. Pansy smiled at her and laughed as she pointed to hair.
"You're going to need some help with that."
The two started laughing and admiring Danae in her dress, never before had she had a gift so luxurious and glamorous. She had to find this person to thank them.