Making straight for my favourite squashy old armchair beside the now extinct fire, I settled myself down comfortably and unrolled my parchment while looking around the room. The detritus of crumpled-up bits of parchment, old Gobstones, empty ingredient jars, and sweet wrappers that usually covered the common room at the end of each day was gone.
This Saturday morning, I was the first one awake and down in the common room; ready to write to Sirius about what had happened. I uncorked my ink bottle, dipped my quill into it, then held it suspended an inch above the smooth yellowish surface of my parchment, thinking hard... but after a minute or so I found myself staring into the empty grate, at a complete loss for what to say.
I sat quite motionless for a while, gazing into the fireplace, then, finally coming to a decision, I dipped my quill into the ink bottle once more and set it resolutely on the parchment.
'Dear Snuffles,
Hope you're OK, the first week back here's been terrible, I'm really glad it's the weekend.
We've got a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Umbridge. She's nearly as nice as your mum. I'm writing because that thing I wrote to you about last summer happened again last night when I was doing a detention with Umbridge.
Also, my demons are troubling me again. It feels like they're messing with my body and not just my mind lately!
We're all missing our biggest friend, we hope he'll be back soon.
Please write back quickly.
Best,
Daisy'
I reread the letter several times, trying to see it from the point of view of an outsider. I can't see how they would know what I was talking about - or who I was talking to - just from reading this letter. I did hope Sirius would pick up the hint about Hagrid and tell me when he might be back, Harry had been obsessing a bit about him. I didn't want to ask directly in case it drew too much attention to what Hagrid might be up to while he was not at Hogwarts.
Considering it was a very short letter, it had taken a long time to write; sunlight had crept halfway across the room while I had been working on it and I could now hear distant sounds of movement from the dormitories above. Sealing the parchment carefully, I climbed through the portrait hole and headed off for the Owlery.
"I would not go that way if I were you." Nearly Headless Nick said, drifting disconcertingly through a wall just ahead of me as I walked down the passage. "Peeves is planning an amusing joke on the next person to pass the bust of Paracelsus halfway down the corridor."
"Nice. Does it involve Paracelsus falling on top of the person's head?" I asked.
"Funnily enough, it does." Nearly Headless Nick said in a bored voice. "Subtlety has never been Peeves's strong point. I'm off to try and find the Bloody Baron... he might be able to put a stop to it... see you, Daisy..."
"Aw. Okay." I pouted, then grinned. I walked past Peeves, who saluted me as I passed, not dropping the bust onto me. My spirits rose as I walked past window after window showing brilliantly blue sky; I had training later, I would be back on the Quidditch pitch at last.
Something brushed my ankles. I looked down and saw the caretaker's skeletal grey cat, Mrs Norris, slinking past me. She turned lamplike yellow eyes on me for a moment before disappearing behind a statue of Wilfred the Wistful.
"I'm not doing anything wrong, for once, dickhead." I called after her. She had the unmistakeable air of a cat that was off to report to her boss, yet I could not see why; I was perfectly entitled to walk up to the Owlery on a Saturday morning.
The sun was high in the sky now and when I entered the Owlery the glassless windows dazzled my eyes; thick silvery beams of sunlight crisscrossed the circular room in which hundreds of owls nestled on rafters, a little restless in the early-morning light, some clearly just returned from hunting. The straw-covered floor crunched a little as I stepped across tiny animal bones, craning my neck for a sight of Snidget.
"There you are." I said, spotting her somewhere near the very top of the vaulted ceiling beside Hedwig. "Come down here, my beautiful baby girl, I've got a letter for you."
With a low hoot she stretched her great black wings and soared down on to my shoulder.
"Hey, gorgeous! Right, I know this says Snuffles on the outside, sweetie," I told her, giving her the letter to clasp in her beak and, without knowing exactly why, whispering, "but it's for Sirius, OK?"
She blinked her amber eyes once and I took that to mean that she understood.
"Safe flight, then, baby." I said and I carried her to one of the windows; with a moment's pressure on my arm, Snidget took off into the blindingly bright sky. I watched her until she became a tiny black speck and vanished.
The treetops of the Forbidden Forest swayed in a light breeze. I watched them, savouring the fresh air on my face, thinking about Quidditch later... then I saw it. A great, reptilian winged horse, just like the ones pulling the Hogwarts carriages, with leathery black wings spread wide like a pterodactyl's, rose up out of the trees like a grotesque, giant bird. It soared in a great circle, then plunged back into the trees. The whole thing had happened so quickly, I could hardly believe what I had seen, except that my heart was hammering madly.
The Owlery door opened behind me. I leapt in shock and, turning quickly, saw Kylie Ford holding a letter in her hands. Her bodyguard positioned himself beside the door, then it swung shut, leaving the two of us alone inside.
"Daisy Potter." Kylie said smoothly, her eyes regarding me casually.
"Kylie Ford." I grinned.
"I didn't think anyone else would be here. My older sister has just proposed to her girlfriend, and she said yes. I'm sending my congratulations." Kylie waved the letter at me, moving her eyes to scan the rafters for her eagle owl.
"Oh, nice. From your band?"
"Yeah. I had to give her lots of advice during the summer, she was being a dumbass. Didn't know how to woo a lady. Clearly she listened to me and finally convinced that poor girl to marry her." Kylie grinned too, in a way that showed me that she didn't SERIOUSLY believe that her sister-in-law-to-be was unfortunate.
"Mhm. You clearly do know how to woo a girl." I murmured.
Kylie's eyes flashed in delicious amusement. Her grin faded to a smirk, and she stepped closer.
"I'm assuming I'll have a plus-one to the wedding. Would you do me the honour...?"
My eyes widened. "Uh - hell yeah! Is that even a question?"
"Good. I wouldn't have wanted to have to ask somebody else." Kylie stepped even closer. I leaned in, feeling her body so close to mine... that smirk was doing things to me, and her ice-blue eyes were piercing into my soul...
Next thing I knew, her lips were on mine, and we were stumbling back into the wall. Her warm lips moved with mine, and I melted into her hands as they dragged across my hips. Her tongue moved across my lips and dove into my mouth -
"Ms Ford, there is a man claiming to be the caretaker requesting access to the room."
I jumped. Kylie detached herself from me slowly, and turned. I looked around her to see her bodyguard poking his head into the room, the door open just enough for him to fit through.
Kylie pondered this for a moment. "Yeah, okay. Let him in."
The bodyguard bowed his head and stood back. I sniggered. Wow. Kylie has so much power in this place. That could come in handy for us Insurgents.
Filch came wheezing into the room. There were purple patches on his sunken, veined cheeks, his jowls were aquiver and his thin grey hair dishevelled; he had obviously run here. Mrs Norris came trotting at his heels, gazing up at the owls overhead and mewing hungrily. There was a restless shifting of wings from above and a large brown owl snapped his beak in a menacing fashion. Kylie's owl landed cautiously on her arm, and stuck out its leg for her to tie the letter onto. Kylie turned away from Filch, taking out a little bit of string from her pocket.
"Aha!" Filch said, taking a flat-footed step towards me, his pouchy cheeks trembling with anger. "I've had a tip-off that you are intending to place a massive order for Dungbombs!"
I folded my arms and stared at the caretaker.
"Who told you I was ordering Dungbombs?"
Kylie was looking from me to Filch, also frowning; the eagle owl on her arm, tired of standing on one leg, gave an admonitory hoot but she ignored it.
"I have my sources." Filch said in a self-satisfied hiss. "Now hand over whatever it is you're sending."
Feeling immensely thankful that I had not dawdled in posting off the letter, I said, "I can't, it's gone."
"Gone?" Filch said, his face contorting with rage.
"Gone." I smirked.
Filch opened his mouth furiously, mouthed for a few seconds, then raked my vest top and booty shorts with his eyes.
"How do I know you haven't got it in your pocket?"
"Because -"
"I saw her send it." Kylie said angrily.
Filch rounded on her.
"You saw her -?"
"That's right, I saw her." She said fiercely.
There was a moment's pause in which Filch glared at Kylie and Kylie glared right back, then the caretaker turned on his heel and shuffled back towards the door. He stopped with his hand on the handle and looked back at me.
"If I get so much as a whiff of a Dungbomb..."
I smirked. He stumped off down the stairs. Mrs Norris cast a last longing look at the owls and followed him.
Me and Kylie looked at each other.
"Thanks." I said.
"No problem." Kylie said, finally fixing the letter to her owl's leg. "You were totally ordering Dungbombs, weren't you?"
"Not this time, actually." I said.
"That's a first. I wonder why he thought you were, then?" She said as she carried the owl to the window.
I shrugged. Of course Filch had always had his suspicions about me, but he never accosted me in the Owlery. I was quite as mystified by that as she was, though oddly it was not bothering me very much at the moment.
We left the Owlery together. At the entrance of a corridor that led towards the west wing of the castle, Kylie said, "I'm going this way. Well, I'll see you around, Daisy Potter."
"Yeah, I'll see you!"
She smiled her blindingly stunning and charismatic smile at me and departed. I walked on, feeling quietly elated.
"Morning." I said brightly to Fred, George, Terry, and Draco as I joined them at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, the two latter ones looking around shiftily for anyone who would tell them to go back to their tables.
"What are you looking so pleased about?" Fred said suspiciously, eyeing me in surprise.
"Erm... Quidditch later." I said happily, pulling a large platter of bacon and eggs towards me. I wasn't about to tell him that I got invited to be Kylie Ford's date to a wedding. I didn't want to see the look on his face.
"It'll be great. Can't wait to get out on a broom again after that summer we just had." George commented, biting down on a piece of toast, making Terry yelp beside him as the crumbs went all over his designer skinny jeans.
Draco took a large swig of pumpkin juice before tugging Terry back around to him, planting his lips on the Ravenclaw's. Terry responded enthusiastically.
"Oh... yeah..." Ron said, getting up from his little clique and moving across to me, whispering into my ear. "Listen... you don't fancy going out a bit earlier with me and Harry, do you? Just to - er - give me some practice before training? So I can, you know, get my eye in a bit."
"Yeah, okay." I said.
"Thanks, Daze. Hermione's going on about homework again, but whatever." Ron grinned, clapping his hands together before skittering back to his seat beside Harry.
Fred opened his mouth, his eyes twinkling, no doubt to ask me what Ron had been whispering into my ear, but he was cut off by Terry's loud exclamation.
My brown-haired friend had halted making out with Draco for a split second, and in that second he had glimpsed the front page of Hermione's Daily Prophet.
"Anything interesting?" I said, grinning at Terry's overly dramatic reaction.
"No." Hermione sighed. "Just some guff about the bass player in the Weird Sisters getting married."
Hermione opened the paper and disappeared behind it.
Everyone else turned to stare at me.
"Has Kylie asked you to be her date?"
"I take it her plus-one is you?"
"Everyone knows what that means; taking your girlfriend to a wedding means you're practically pre-engaged!"
"Are you guys GIRLFRIENDS now?!"
"Oh my fucking Godric, you guys, calm down." I raised a hand, rolling my eyes. I guess I had to tell Fred now. I don't know how I expected to keep the news quiet in the first place. "Yeah, I guess Kylie asked me to the wedding with her. And no, we're not girlfriends, we're just casually dating. I mean, we haven't even gone on a proper date yet. We've just - uh - made out a lot and, um - er - fucked a few times..."
I stammered as I caught Fred's eye. He stared furiously at me.
"A few times." He said.
I nodded, swallowing nervously.
"Wait a moment." Hermione said suddenly. "Oh no... Sirius!"
"What's happened?" I said, turning immediately away from Fred, snatching at the paper so violently it ripped down the middle, with me and Hermione each holding one half.
"'The Ministry of Magic has received a tip-off from a reliable source that Sirius Black, notorious mass murderer... blah blah blah... is currently hiding in London!'" Hermione read from her half in an anguished whisper.
Harry and I exchanged a panicked glance.
"'...Ministry warns wizarding community that Black is very dangerous... killed thirteen people... broke out of Azkaban...' the usual rubbish." Hermione concluded, laying down her half of the paper and looking fearfully at me. For a second I was grateful that she was at least looking at me again, but then the reality of the situation brought me back. "Well, he just won't be able to leave the house again, that's all." She whispered. "Dumbledore did warn him not to."
I looked down glumly at the bit of the Prophet I had torn off. Most of the page was devoted to an advertisement for Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, which was apparently having a sale.
"Hey!" I said, flattening it down so everyone could see it. "Look at this!"
"I've got all the robes I want." Ron said. "Thanks, Fred and George."
The twins flipped him off.
"Nah." I said. "Look... this little piece here..."
Everyone bent closer to read it; the item was barely an inch long and placed right at the bottom of a column. It was headlined:
'TRESPASS AT MINISTRY
Sturgis Podmore, 38, of number two, Laburnum Gardens, Clapham, has appeared in front of the Wizengamot charged with trespass and attempted robbery at the Ministry of Magic on 31st August. Podmore was arrested by Ministry of Magic watchwizard Eric Munch, who found him attempting to force his way through a top-security door at one o'clock in the morning. Podmore, who refused to speak in his own defence, was convicted on both charges and sentenced to six months in Azkaban.'
"Sturgis Podmore?" George said slowly.
"He's that bloke who looks like his head's been thatched, isn't he?" Fred said.
"Yeah, he's one of the Ord-"
"Terry, shh!" Draco said, casting a terrified look around us.
"Six months in Azkaban!" Harry whispered, shocked.
"Just for trying to get through a door! What the fuck!" I said. "Wizarding law is wack."
"Don't be silly, it wasn't just for trying to get through a door. What on earth was he doing at the Ministry of Magic at one o'clock in the morning?" Hermione breathed.
"D'you reckon the weird little man was doing something for the Order?" Fred muttered.
"Wait a moment..." Harry said slowly. "Sturgis was supposed to come and see us off, remember?"
The others looked at him.
"Yeah, he was supposed to be part of our guard going to King's Cross, remember?" I said. "And Moody was all annoyed because he didn't turn up; so he couldn't have been on a job for them, could he?"
"Well, maybe they didn't expect him to get caught." Terry said.
"It could be a frame-up!" Ron exclaimed excitedly. "No - listen!" He went on, dropping his voice dramatically at the threatening look on Hermione's face. "The Ministry suspects he's one of Dumbledore's lot so - I dunno - they lured him to the Ministry, and he wasn't trying to get through a door at all! Maybe they've just made something up to get him!"
There was a pause while we all considered this. I thought it seemed far-fetched. Terry and Hermione, on the other hand, looked rather impressed.
"Do you know, I wouldn't be at all surprised if that were true." Terry leaned back, glancing at me and Draco in turn.
Hermione folded up her half of the newspaper thoughtfully. As I laid down my knife and fork, she seemed to come out of a reverie.
"Right, well, I think we should all tackle that essay for Sprout on self-fertilising shrubs first and if we're lucky we'll be able to start McGonagall's Inanimatus Conjurus Spell before lunch..."
~~~
"I mean, we can do it tonight." Ron said, as him, me, and Harry walked down the sloping lawns towards the Quidditch pitch, our broomsticks over our shoulders, and with Hermione's dire warnings that we would fail all our OWLs still ringing in our ears. Her, Kylie, Shannon, Suzanne, and Draco were the only ones doing homework in the library. "And we've got tomorrow. She gets too worked up about work, that's her trouble..." There was a pause and he added, in a slightly more anxious tone, "D'you think she meant it when she said we weren't copying from her?"
"Yeah, I do." Harry said.
"Still, this is important, too, we've got to practise if we want to stay on the Quidditch team..." I said.
"Yeah, that's right." Ron said, in a heartened tone. "And we've got plenty of time to do it all..."
We collected balls from the cupboard in the changing room and set to work, Ron guarding the three tall goalposts, Harry and I playing Chaser and trying to get the Quaffle past Ron. I thought Ron was pretty good; he blocked three-quarters of the goals I attempted to put past him and half the ones Harry attempted, and played better the longer we practised. After a couple of hours we returned to the castle for lunch - during which Hermione made it quite clear she thought we were irresponsible - then returned to the Quidditch pitch for the real training session. All our teammates but Angelina were already in the changing room when we entered.
"All right, Ron?" George said, winking at him.
"Yeah." Ron said, who had become quieter and quieter all the way down to the pitch.
"Ready to show us all up, Ickle Prefect?" Fred said, emerging tousle-haired from the neck of his Quidditch robes, a slightly malicious grin on his face.
I didn't even bother to try to hide my wandering eyes as I checked out my friend with benefits.
"Shut up." Ron said, stony-faced, pulling on his own team robes for the first time. They fitted him well considering they had been Oliver's, who was rather broader in the shoulder.
"OK, everyone." Angelina said, entering from the Captain's office, already changed. "Let's get to it; Katie and Fred, if you can just bring out the ball crate for us. Oh, and there are a couple of people out there watching but I want you to just ignore them, all right?"
Something in her would-be casual voice made me think I might know who the uninvited spectators were, and sure enough, when we left the changing room for the bright sunlight of the pitch it was to a storm of catcalls and jeers from the Slytherin Quidditch team and assorted hangers-on, who were grouped halfway up the empty stands and whose voices echoed loudly around the stadium. Another small group was near them, who aimed jeers at the Slytherin team.
"What's that Weasley's riding?" Floppy called in his sneering drawl. "Why would anyone put a flying charm on a mouldy old log like that?"
Ash, Spieler, Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle guffawed and shrieked with laughter. Ron mounted his broom and kicked off from the ground and I followed him, watching his ears turn red from behind.
"That's a good idea for a prank." I muttered to the twins. "Let's all charm mouldy old logs to fly, PLEASE."
The twins sniggered as I accelerated to catch up with Ron.
"Ignore them." I told him. "We'll see who's laughing after we play them..."
"Exactly the attitude I want, Daisy." Angelina said approvingly, soaring around us with the Quaffle under her arm and slowing to hover on the spot in front of her airborne team. "OK, everyone, we're going to start with some passes just to warm up, the whole team please -"
"You're fucking gorgeous, Daisy!"
"Harry is so sexy!"
"Go Gryffindors, whoo!"
I grinned as I saw the group that had formed near the Slytherins. Kylie, Draco, Terry, Shannon, Suzanne, Cedric, and surprisingly, Pansy, were catcalling from the stands.
I reversed away from the others to the far side of the pitch, sending a thumbs-up and a grin to the spectators. Ron fell back towards the opposite goal. Angelina raised the Quaffle with one hand and threw it hard to Fred, who passed to George, who passed to Harry, who passed to Ron, who dropped it.
The Slytherins, led by Floppy, roared and screamed with laughter. Ron, who had pelted towards the ground to catch the Quaffle before it landed, pulled out of the dive untidily, so that he slipped sideways on his broom, and returned to playing height, blushing. Fred, George, and I exchanged looks.
"Pass it on, Ron." Angelina called, as though nothing had happened.
Ron threw the Quaffle to Katie, who passed to me, who passed to George...
"Hey, Weakling, how's your scar feeling?" Floppy called. "Sure you don't need a lie down? It must be, what, a whole week since you were in the hospital wing, that's a record for you, isn't it?"
George passed to Angelina; she reverse-passed to me, who had not been expecting it, but caught it in the very tips of my fingers and passed it quickly to Ron, who lunged for it and missed by inches.
"Come on now, Ron." Angelina said crossly, as he dived for the ground again, chasing the Quaffle. "Pay attention."
It would have been hard to say whether Ron's face or the Quaffle was a deeper scarlet when he again returned to playing height. Floppy and the rest of the Slytherin team were howling with laughter.
"Hey, Weakling, do you remember the other night? It's interesting how you did what Weasley said so willingly, when he told you to swallow. Someday I'm gonna make you do the same for me -"
Fred and George growled; Harry whipped around violently. There was a commotion from the stands; Terry and Kylie had launched themselves towards Floppy, and Draco, Suzanne, and Shannon had their wands out, aiming jinxes towards him. Floppy was attempting to deflect them, as Cedric and Pansy tried to pull Terry and Kylie back, whilst yelling obscenities at Floppy. Fred, George, Harry, and Ron looked close to following in Terry and Kylie's footsteps, but Angelina blew her whistle fiercely.
"Fred! George! Harry! Ron! Back into your positions, now!"
Fred and Harry looked like they were going to completely ignore Angelina, but Madam Hooch stormed out of her office at that very moment, and the spectators separated reluctantly. The four boys returned to their positions in the circle, Fred and my brother looking as if steam might come out of their ears at any second.
On his third attempt, Ron caught the Quaffle; perhaps out of relief he passed it on so enthusiastically that it soared straight though my outstretched hands and hit me hard in the face.
"Sorry, Daze!" Ron groaned, zooming forwards to see whether he had done any damage.
"Get back in position, she's fine!" Angelina barked. "But as you're passing to a teammate, do try not to knock her off her broom, won't you? We've got Bludgers for that!"
My nose was bleeding and throbbing painfully. Down below, the Slytherins were stamping their feet and jeering. Fred and George converged on me.
"Here, take this." Fred told me, handing me something small and purple from out of his pocket. "It'll clear it up in no time."
"Hmm." I said. "Is it out of date? Colour's a bit off."
"All right." Angelina called, and the boys looked around. I shrugged, taking it quickly. "Fred, George, go and get your bats and a Bludger. Ron, get up to the goalposts. Daisy, release the Snitch when I say so. We're going to aim for Ron's goal, obviously."
I zoomed off after the twins to fetch the Snitch.
"Ron's making a right pig's ear of things, isn't he?" George muttered, as the three of us landed at the crate containing the balls and opened it to extract one of the Bludgers and the Snitch. He eyed my nose with concern. Fred was pale, and he took my hand, squeezing it.
The bleeding hadn't stopped.
"He's just nervous." I said thickly through the blood. "He was fine when I was practising with him this morning."
"Yeah, well, I hope he hasn't peaked too soon." Fred said gloomily.
We returned to the air. When Angelina blew her whistle, I released the Snitch and Fred and George let fly the Bludger. From that moment on, I was barely aware of what the others were doing. It was my job to recapture the tiny fluttering golden ball and doing so required enormous speed and skill. I accelerated, ignoring the blood streaming down my face, rolling and swerving in and out of the Chasers, the warm autumn air whipping my face, and the distant yells of the Slytherins so much meaningless roaring in my ears... but too soon, the whistle brought me to a halt again.
"Stop - stop - STOP!" Angelina screamed. "Ron - you're not covering your middle post!"
I looked round at Ron, who was hovering in front of the left-hand hoop, leaving the other two completely unprotected. I dug into my pockets for a tissue; my nose was throbbing even worse, and I felt a bit weak and faint. Maybe the cure part of the Nosebleed Nougat was just really out of date, and it would take a while to kick in. It WAS the cure bit of a Nosebleed Nougat, wasn't it?
"Oh... sorry..." Ron said vaguely.
"You keep shifting around while you're watching the Chasers!" Angelina said. "Either stay in centre position until you have to move to defend a hoop, or else circle the hoops, but don't drift vaguely off to one side, that's how you let in the last three goals!"
"Sorry..." Ron repeated, his red face shining like a beacon against the bright blue sky.
"And Daisy, can't you do something about that nosebleed?"
"It's just getting worse!" I said thickly, attempting to stem the flow with my sleeve.
I glanced round at Fred, who was looking anxious and checking his pockets. I saw Fred pull out something purple, examine it for a second and then look round at me, evidently horror-struck. I narrowed my eyes at him. What the fuck did that dumbass give me?
"Well, let's try again." Angelina said. She was ignoring the Slytherins, who had now set up a chant of "Gryffindor are losers, Gryffindor are losers," (to which the other group were chanting "Floppy's a loser, Floppy's a loser") but there was a certain rigidity about her seat on the broom nevertheless.
This time we had been flying for barely three minutes when I faltered, nearly slipping off my broom. Angelina's whistle sounded.
I looked up and saw Angelina, Fred, and George all flying as fast as they could towards me. Harry, Katie, and Ron sped towards me, too. It was plain that Angelina had stopped training just in time; I was now chalk white and covered in blood. I couldn't see properly; my vision had black spots and I was dizzy and shaking.
"She needs the hospital wing." Angelina said.
"We'll take her." Fred said. "She - er - might have swallowed a Blood Blisterpod by mistake -"
Harry watched anxiously as Fred and George zoomed off towards the castle supporting me between them. As soon as we landed, Fred scooped me up into his arms and the twins hurried towards the double doors.
"Godric, I'm so sorry, Daisy, I'm so fucking STUPID, I can't believe I -"
Floppy joined us, speed-walking to keep up with the boys. He was smirking his infuriatingly smug smirk.
"Those Skiving Snackboxes of yours could make for very handy torture kits." He said happily as he followed us. Fred's grip tightened on me as I saw George grit his teeth. "Just feed someone the dangerous half and refuse to feed them the cure half until you've gotten what you want out of them."
"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind for the next time I want to get revenge on you, Floppy." I said weakly.
"What do you want, anyway?" George rolled his eyes.
"Yeah; if you don't get out of here in the next five seconds I WILL curse you so bad that you won't be able to speak anything but gibberish for a week." Fred growled.
Floppy held up his hands, his smirk wider. "No need to attack, boys. I'm simply here to give a message to Potter. The Dark Lord says yes; he DOES have a different plan in mind, now. He just wanted you to know."
Then he dipped, heading back in the direction of the dungeons, as I blanched.
"What the fuck does that mean?" Fred looked down at me.
"I... I..." I whispered, feeling the energy drain from me. "I was wondering the other night why Floppy was trying to rape me instead of getting my Grace... like I didn't even say it out loud. How could he have known that...?"
Fred and George exchanged glances.
"Fuck... he can get into my mind, can't he?" I whispered. I couldn't even say which one I meant; Floppy or Riddle; all I knew was that the world was spinning around me again, and I passed out hard in Fred's arms just as we reached the hospital wing.
~~~
After Madam Pomfrey restored me to full blood levels, I was walked back to the common room by the twins, and I spent the day wrapped up in their blankets they'd brought down from the dorm, watching them with amusement as they tested out other Snackbox sweets on the first-years, taking full advantage of Hermione's presence in the library.
I snuggled up in their blankets, breathing in the scent of Fred and George. It was like a mixture of their experimental sweet concoctions and smoldering firecracker embers, with a hint of their individual body smells; not a bad smell, just their natural scent. The blankets smelled perfect, and I huddled up into them even more.
We had an early night for once, and Fred coaxed me into his bed to cuddle. He was still feeling incredibly apologetic and guilty because of the Blisterpod, the poor guy. I fell asleep in his arms as he spooned me, comforted by his strong arms wrapped around me...
"Daisy... Potter..."
I looked around. Fred's arms were no longer around me. In fact, he wasn't there at all. George and Lee weren't in their beds, either. I sat up, confused. The seventh year boys' dorm was empty and grey-toned, and the hangings from the four-poster beds were torn and dangling, rustling slightly in the howling wind coming through the smashed windows.
"What the fuck." I muttered to myself.
"Dear Daisy..."
I jumped, turning. Tom Riddle was suddenly right behind me, his sadistic smile on his face. I slid off Fred's bed, backing away.
"You can't run from me. You could try to open that door, but there'd be nothing but an empty void behind it." Riddle said casually.
"What do you want?" I said, trying to stop my voice trembling.
Riddle smirked. His eyes gleamed red. "You have a question for me. I came to answer it. Personally. Felix Malfoy didn't do a very good job of informing you, did he?"
I raised an eyebrow at him. The wind whipped around my ankles.
"I still very much so want your Grace, Daisy." Riddle informed me with a wicked tone in his voice. "But I must also have a backup plan. And children, raised in the right hands, can be corrupted."
I blinked at him. Huh?
But before I knew it, Riddle's gleaming, evil red eyes and malicious smirk faded from my vision, and I woke up.
I didn't mention this dream to anyone the next day, instead I carried about my life as normal. It burned at the back of my mind all day, wondering what the hell Riddle could have meant when he said that, and what relevance children had to anything. I wasn't even sure that that was really Riddle; it could have literally just been a nightmare for all I knew.
The day was drawing to a close after hours of hanging out with the Insurgents by the lake and messing around with the twins in the common room.
"Accio." I said, bored, pointing my wand at a group of fourth years. Louis's Fanged Frisbee flew out of his hands and into mine, and Louis flipped me off.
"Accio." Colin said in response, sending the Frisbee back towards him. He grinned at me, and I grinned back.
Fred and George were fighting over a packet of crisps, and I turned to them, sighing. I watched the playful fight, the two gingers tossing the packet to each other before diving on top of one another. The fight went on until it was just us and Harry's group left in the common room, and I snatched the packet off Fred as he extended his arm, cackling. I put the packet on the table in front of us and slammed my hand down on it, crushing all the crisps inside.
"Aw, come on, Softpaw!" The twins groaned.
I opened the packet and aimed my wand at it. "Repairo." I said, and sharps of crisp formed back into a full crisp. "Repairo." I said again, and another crisp repaired.
Fred and George took out their wands too and we all started chanting, "Repairo, Repairo, Repairo." Eventually, all the crisps were perfectly formed back into full crisps, and I took one of them, forcing the whole thing into my mouth, crunching on it as I stared into the fire.
I blinked. I had just seen something in the fire that could not have been there. It had flashed into sight and vanished immediately. No... it could not have been... I had imagined it...
I slid off my chair onto my knees and crouched on the singed and threadbare hearthrug, gazing into the flames.
"Er - Softpaw?" Fred said uncertainly. "Why are you down there?"
"Because I've just seen Sirius's head in the fucking fire." I said.
"Sirius's head?" Harry repeated, getting up.
Hermione gasped, gazing at the fire; Ron dropped his quill; the twins froze in their munching; Kylie simply raised an eyebrow. There in the middle of the dancing flames sat Sirius's head, long dark hair falling around his grinning face.
"I was starting to think you'd go to bed before everyone else had disappeared." He said. "I've been checking every hour."
"You've been popping into the fire every hour?" I said, laughing.
"Just for a few seconds to check if the coast was clear. Oh, my - it's the Ford girl. From the Weird Sisters!" Sirius exclaimed, his eyes on Kylie. Kylie lifted a hand in greeting. "You did mention that you knew her, Daisy."
George snorted. "'Knew.' Ha."
Fred and I shot a glare at him simultaneously, and George sat back, his hands in the air defensively.
"But what if you'd been seen?" Hermione said anxiously.
"Well, I think a girl - first-year, by the look of her - might've got a glimpse of me earlier, but don't worry." Sirius said hastily, as Hermione clapped a hand to her mouth. "I was gone the moment she looked back at me and I'll bet she just thought I was an oddly-shaped log or something."
"If she didn't, she'll have us to deal with." I said, indicating Fred and George. Sirius grinned at me.
"But, Sirius, this is taking an awful risk -" Hermione began.
"You sound like Molly." Sirius said. "This was the only way I could come up with of answering Daisy's letter without resorting to a code - and codes are breakable."
At the mention of my letter, Harry turned to stare at me.
"You didn't say you'd written to Sirius!" Harry said accusingly.
"I forgot." I said, which was perfectly true; my meeting with Kylie in the Owlery had driven everything before it out of my mind. "Don't look at me like that, Harry, there was no way anyone would have got secret information out of it, was there, Sirius?"
"No, it was very good." Sirius said, smiling. "Anyway, we'd better be quick, just in case we're disturbed - your scar."
"What about -?" Ron began, but Harry interrupted him.
"We'll tell you afterwards. Go on, Sirius."
"Well, I know it can't be fun when it hurts, but we don't think it's anything to really worry about. It kept aching all last year, didn't it?"
"Yeah, and Dumbledore said it happened whenever Voldemort was feeling a powerful emotion." I said, ignoring, as usual, Ron and Hermione's winces. "So maybe he was just, I dunno, really angry or happy or something the night I had that detention."
"Well, now he's back it's bound to hurt more often." Sirius said.
"So you don't think it had anything to do with Umbridge touching me when I was in detention with her?" I asked.
"I doubt it." Sirius said. "I know her by reputation and I'm sure she's no Death Eater -"
"She's foul enough to be one." Fred said darkly, and George and I nodded vigorously in agreement.
"Yes, but the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters." Sirius said with a wry smile. "I know she's a nasty piece of work, though - you should hear Remus talk about her."
"Does Remus know the bitch?" I asked quickly, remembering Umbridge's comments about dangerous half-breeds during her first lesson.
"No," Sirius said, "but she drafted a bit of anti-werewolf legislation two years ago that makes it almost impossible for him to get a job."
I remembered how much shabbier Remus looked these days and my dislike of Umbridge deepened even further.
"What's she got against werewolves?" Hermione said angrily.
"Scared of them, I expect." Sirius said, smiling at her indignation. "Apparently, she loathes part-humans; she campaigned to have merpeople rounded up and tagged last year, too."
"I'm a part-human." I muttered. "Does she want me rounded up and tagged?"
The twins threw their arms around my shoulders in solidarity; Harry looked at me sympathetically as Kylie looked at me inquisitively.
Sirius let out a bark-like laugh. "If she found out, probably. Imagine wasting your time and energy persecuting merpeople and Nephilium when there are little toerags like Kreacher on the loose."
Kylie's head tilted. Fred, George, Ron, and I laughed but Hermione looked upset.
"Sirius!" She said reproachfully. "Honestly, if you made a bit of an effort with Kreacher, I'm sure he'd respond. After all, you are the only member of his family he's got left, and Professor Dumbledore said -"
"So, what are Umbridge's lessons like?" Sirius interrupted. "Is she training you all to kill half-breeds?"
"No." Harry said, ignoring Hermione's affronted look at being cut off in her defence of Kreacher. "She's not letting us use magic at all!"
"All we do is read the stupid textbook." I said.
"Ah, well, that figures." Sirius said. "Our information from inside the Ministry is that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat."
"Trained in combat!" I repeated incredulously. "What does he think we're doing here, forming some sort of witch and wizard army?"
"That's exactly what he thinks you're doing," Sirius said, "or, rather, that's exactly what he's afraid Dumbledore's doing - forming his own private army, with which he will be able to take on the Ministry of Magic."
There was a pause at this, then Fred said, "That's the most fucked thing I've ever heard, including all the stuff that Loony Lovegood comes out with."
"So we're being prevented from learning Defence Against the Dark Arts because Fudge is scared we'll use spells against the Ministry?" Hermione said, looking furious.
"Yep." Sirius said. "Fudge thinks Dumbledore will stop at nothing to seize power. He's getting more paranoid about Dumbledore by the day. It's a matter of time before he has Dumbledore arrested on some trumped-up charge."
Sirius regarded me for a moment thoughtfully.
"And Daisy; about your 'demons.' You mean Felix Malfoy, right?"
I nodded, shifting slightly closer to the fire.
"I'll kill that little bastard." Sirius said grimly. "He better not lay another hand on my goddaughter, or he'll have hell to pay from me."
I beamed.
"So you haven't had any news about Hagrid, either?" Harry said.
"Ah... Listen, don't go asking too many questions about Hagrid." Sirius said hastily. "It'll just draw even more attention to the fact that he's not back and I know Dumbledore doesn't want that. Hagrid's tough, he'll be OK." And when we did not appear cheered by this, Sirius added, "When's your next Hogsmeade weekend, anyway? I was thinking, we got away with the dog disguise at the station, didn't we? I thought I could -"
"NO!" Harry and Hermione said together, very loudly. I jumped, leaning away from them.
"Sirius, didn't you see the Daily Prophet?" Hermione said anxiously.
"Oh, that." Sirius said, grinning. "They're always guessing where I am, they haven't really got a clue -"
"Yeah, but we think this time they have." Harry said. "So don't come up here, whatever you do. If someone recognises you again -"
"All right, all right, I've got the point." Sirius said. He looked most displeased. "Just an idea, thought you might like to get together."
"I definitely would!" I leaned forward into the fire excitedly. "I'd love to see you again, Pads! Please come."
"Daisy, no." Hermione scolded.
"I'd like to see him too, I just don't want him chucked back in Azkaban!" Harry said.
There was a pause in which Sirius looked out of the fire at Harry, a crease between his sunken eyes.
"You're less like your father than I thought." He said finally, a definite coolness in his voice. "The risk would've been what made it fun for James. It's what makes it fun for your sister, too. It seems only one of you is like him in any way."
"Look -"
"Well, I'd better get going, I can hear Kreacher coming down the stairs." Sirius said, but I was sure he was lying. "I'll write to tell you a time I can make it back into the fire, then, shall I? If you can stand to risk it? See you, Daisy, keep well, sweetheart."
There was a tiny pop, and the place where Sirius's head had been was flickering flame once more.
I shrugged, staggering up. I extended my arms to Fred, and he laughed, swooping me up into his arms again, and him, George, and I set off for the dorms.