The first of September saw a weary man with minimal luggage and a dog (who, after a lot of advanced transfiguration and charming, was now a sweet little tricoloured papillon dog named Mischief, so as to not scare Pettigrew) apparate to platform nine and three quarters. The area was empty at the early hour, allowing him to walk up to the last carriage of the train and sit himself and his dog comfortably in the corner.
Mischief sat on the seat opposite him and stood on his short hind legs watching as the first few students and their families trickled in through the barrier, his fore paws on the windowsill for support. His master, er, friend Remus preferred to doze, a perfect ruse to keep the children from interacting with him.
Mischief snorted everytime a student opened the compartment door and cooed over him. And everytime, Remus would snore aloud and they'd scamper off. The spoilsport.
The watch on Remus's hand showed Mischief that it was nearly eleven and that was when the compartment door opened and a very pretty red-haired green-eyed girl entered, followed immediately by two boys, one brunette and the other blonde.
"Looks like we've got a new DADA teacher." the blonde boy, Mischief could only assume to be Draco Malfoy, said. The boy, Draco, sat on the same seat as Remus.
"How did you know?" the round-faced boy, Neville Longbottom said, sitting next to him as Daisy Potter sat opposite them, on the same seat as Mischief, much to his delight.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Draco said. "Dumbledore wouldn't just allow anybody to travel on this train, now, would he?"
Mischief tuned out their conversation to look at Daisy. She looked a little short and thin for his doggy eyes, but she looked healthy. Mischief was able to see that streak of determination, resolve and stubbornness that probably kept her going on all these years. That was the attitude he appreciated and that was exactly the attitude his goddaughter possessed.
He could also sense a little uncertainty in her...That would pass with time, unfortunately. It wasn't very often that people lost their voices. And it was the very moment that she chose to turn and take a better look at him.
'Let's see if she gives in to puppy charms.' he thought and let his tongue roll out as he settled down on his seat, still looking up at her with reverence.
The effect was immediate... Her face broke into a dazzling smile that almost made Mischief forget that he was supposed to be a dog.
She moved to touch him, but... "What do you think you're doing?" Neville said sharply.
She raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him and pulled out a notebook and quill from her coat pocket and the quill began to write on a page she opened.
"What if it bites?" Neville said.
'It? It!' Mischief snorted indignantly.
"Dumbledore wouldn't allow anything vicious in his school." Draco said sideways at Neville.
Both Daisy and Neville turned to look at him and Neville said, "Did you forget about the Forbidden forest?"
Draco rolled his eyes and said, "Fine. Daisy, you heard Neville, don't touch it."
She stuck her tongue out at him and then the quill wrote something on the diary, now hovering in the air, like some large insect.
"R. J. Lupin." Draco said immediatly and Mischief's sharp ears heard Remus's quiet gasp. "It's on the suitcase." he continued before they could ask him anything more.
Wanting their attention back on himself, Mischief gave a short yap and jumped off his seat and started chasing his tail much to the amusement and delight of his silent goddaughter. At that moment, he'd do anything to be at the receiving end of that beautiful smile! Then, having been overcome by a wave of dizziness, he dropped himself on the floor and used his hind paw to scratch his ear, barely hearing Draco mutter, "Let's hope he doesn't carry fleas."
Mischief, shot up with a start and a growl and attempted to snap at Draco's ankles only to be grabbed and held in place by Neville.
'Traitor.' he growled at him. 'Didn't you hear him accuse me if having fleas? I'm one of the cleanest dogs there are! And the most intelligent at that!..."
"What do I do with it?" Neville asked the others, ignoring his indignant growling.
The quill wrote hastily.
"If it doesn't calm down," Mischief read as Daisy tilted the book for the boys to read, "We could just put him out of the compartment."
Mischief nearly yelped at his goddaughter's insensitivity. And he'd tried so hard to get her to smile! But Draco seemed to have a heart, for he said, "But what about Lupin?"
Daisy wrote, "He should have tied the mutt up if he wanted to take a nap."
"We shouldn't have entered here in the first place." Neville said.
"There weren't any other empty compartments. You know that! And I'm sure we won't reach Hogwarts undisturbed." Draco countered. "See what I mean?" he muttered as just then a three blurry heads appeared outside their compartment door.
Mischief used this distraction to slip away from Neville's grip and sit quietly at Remus's feet. So much for trying to be a distraction.
The door slid open and a brown bushy-haired girl, a red-haired girl and red-haired boy, who looked almost similar to that boy in the picture of that newspaper clipping entered. And almost immediately, there was a change in the Mischief's young companions' demeanor. The boys took on a defensive stance, while Daisy looked oddly vulnerable. She probably realised it and turned to look out of the window.
"Hello." the bushy-haired girl said stiffly as soon as her eyes fell on Draco and Neville. No one moved and she got no response. She didn't seem perturbed in the least, but cleared her throat delicately, as though about to make an important announcement and continued, "We've just come to tell you that you are in danger. We've finished warning the rest of the school, the two of you are the only one's left."
Neville and Draco scowled at her.
The red-haired girl intervened, "Honestly, if you care about your family, stay away from her." she jerked her thumb at Daisy who was still peering out of the window. "She's dangerous."
"Is that your way of saying, 'Thanks for saving my life,' Weasley?" Draco said in a raised voice.
"She's a Parselmouth, if you aren't aware, Malfoy." the boy, Ronald Weasley finally spoke.
"Lucky for us, her vile plan backfired on her or poor Ginny would have been dumb or dead!" The bushy-haired girl spoke again, "It benefits us all, actually."
"She saved Ginny's life, you fool!" Neville half-yelled as both boys jumped to their feet, Daisy still pretending to find the trees flying by very interesting, and Remus gave a soft grunt.
Mischief just hoped he'd decide to 'wake up' before anything got worse.
"Were you down there, in the chamber with the girls, Weasley?" Draco taunted, "Or were you crying in your mother's arms in McGonagall's office? It was lucky we knew where they were!"
Weasley yelled, "She's dark, and she's probably worshiping You-Know-Who, just like you! You're as evil as her! And a bloody coward too! And those traits will seep into pathetic little Neville before long. You have absolutely no backbone, you know, Nev!"
Daisy turned around, her face contorted with rage. She leapt of her seat as the boy ranted on, "Listen to us, not to Malfoy and especially not to her! She can't tell you anything though, can she? That's a good thing. I wonder how disappointed her parents are at the mo-"
Twack!
Daisy pulled her hand back, her eyes blazing. Ron Weasley held on to his nose gingerly, shock and hatred making his eyes look terrible. The quill wrote two words in bold.
GET OUT
The compartment was silent for a moment and no one moved, Daisy trembling where she stood. Mischief never wanted to do anything as much as he wanted to comfort her at that moment. He let out a quiet whine.
Whether the whine had something to do with it, Mischief would never know, but Neville was the first to get to his senses. He pulled Daisy back into the corner of the compartment, opposite Remus, and sat her down.
"You got the message, Weasley?" Neville whispered coldly. "Get out!"
But no one moved.
"You hit him!" Hermione hissed at her, finally recovering from her shock.
"Shut up, Granger!" Draco warned, his eyes flashing.
She ignored him, "Who do you even think you are! Ron was kind enough to let you live with him the summer before last! You haven't even got a proper family to begin with and you choose to attack?"
Remus chose the moment to grunt again and let out a loud snore as he moved to a more comfortable position. What was he playing at? Couldn't he sense the distress that child, his godchild, was in? Was it so difficult to step in and assign those three brats detention for the rest of the year?
But apparently, Remus knew what he was doing, for the six children were startled into silence. All eyes on Remus.
"W-Who's that?" whispered Ginny Weasley.
"Our new Professor." Draco said quietly and Mischief growled viciously to add a more effect. Draco smirked. "And his dog."
"Then, wake him up!" Hermione Granger all but demanded. "Tell him what sort of an animal she is, smacking poor Ron like that! She ought to be expelled! First, she speaks to a snake in front of the whole school as though she expects us to fall at her feet. Now, she thinks she can resort to violence and get away with it?"
Mischief had enough. If Remus wasn't going to take any action, as Professor's companion, he would...in his own doggy way. He leapt out from where he sat at Remus's feet and bared his teeth at the three troublemakers. He must have looked intimidating, for, as one, they took a step back.
Mischief pounced at their feet and they rushed out of the compartment, leaving Draco to slam the door behind them, shaking with rage.
Daisy wished she could disappear from the train. Oh why did those three have to come into their compartment? What had she ever done to them? How she yearned to curl up in her comfortable bed at Spinner's End.
Why was everyone so cruel.
"-sy! Daisy! Daisy!" someone was calling her.
She looked up and saw both Neville and Draco looking down at her in concern.
"What?" she signalled, having no energy to form that connection with her quill.
"Are you alright?" Neville said.
Daisy scowled at their looks of concern. She was grateful and very touched that they were still her friends, but showing weakness of any sort was something she despised.
She wanted to scream, but instead contented herself by pulled herself together and grabbing on to that tiny link in her head, not unlike a puppeteer picking up the strings of a puppet, and got the quill to write, "I'm fine."
Neville moved to protest, but thankfully, Draco pulled him back to his seat. Feeling utterly miserable and not knowing what to actually convey to them, she sent them both a doleful look and turned to stare unseeingly out of the window.
Why did it always have to be her? Why was she an orphan? Why did she have that stupid scar? Why did she have to share that connection with Voldemort? Why was Voldemort after her? Why was she robbed off her voice?...What had she done to deserve it all?
These were the questions she'd written on that special parchment, her Dad had given her before he took her in. He in turn had put down some questions of his own.
Why did she want to be a regular kid? Why was she so upset, when even fate found her strong and capable enough to continue her journey without her parents? Why did all kids wish for that stupid scar? What was wrong in being able to communicate with a snake?
Why was she upset if Voldemort was jealous of her power? Why did she believe that it was only her voice that could spread her personality around?...Why couldn't she make the best use of her special abilities to show the world exactly how wonderful she was?
'Stand tall.' he'd written to her in the end. 'Believe in what you want to believe and not what you are supposed to believe. Like what you like and not what you are supposed to like. Allow your true friends to help you, Daisy...You are far better than you think.'
Daisy could never understand what he meant. It never made sense? If she followed his advice, she would end up having no friends at all!
'But,' said a voice in her head, 'why do you want friends who would turn their backs to you at the first opportunity they got? Weren't Neville and Draco enough? Hadn't they stuck to you inspite of knowing that being a parselmouth was a dark trait?'
She was startled out of her musings when the Professor's little Papillon jumped onto her lap and settled there as though it was the most comfortable spot in the world. She let out a small huff and smiled a bit.
She turned to look at her two friends who were still staring at her in concern and she gave them a real smile. Who needed more friends when she had these two? She would never forget how they got her into a conversation that day at Madam Malkin's. How they helped her choose clothes and how they planned their roles over the remainder of the summer, through owl post, for the sake of Draco's safety.
She willed her quill to write, "I'm sorry, Neville, Draco. I just got caught up in a bout of self-pity. I can be really selfish, eh?"
"Not at all, Day." Draco said generously. "Anyway, what do you think your room will look like?"
Daisy shrugged. It wasn't as though she had anything in mind. The fact that she would be close to her father was more than anything she could ask for. The room could be the size of that cupboard under the stairs at Privet Drive and she wouldn't have cared.
She then realised belatedly that Draco was trying to make conversation. She hastily willed her quill to write, "Will you be okay in the Slytherin dorms? What about you Neville? With Ron and the others you won't get a moment of peace!"
"There's nothing they can do, Day." Draco said, soothingly. "You see, both, Professors Snape and McGonagall have put protections around our beds. Our possessions will be well guarded too and so will the two of us. Nev's Gran saw to it that Professor McGonagall agreed."
Daisy raised her eyebrows in question.
"Oh yes." Neville chuckled. "I've never seen Gran so insistent in my life! She's formidable, no doubt, but she almost threw a tantrum in our living room when she realized that McGonagall was unconvinced."
"Living room?" Daisy got her quill to scratch on the parchment.
"She invited McGonagall for tea, Daisy." Neville chuckled then continued on a sadder note, "They're good friends you know. Can you imagine my plight?"
Daisy's shoulders shook in silent laughter at the image of Neville sitting between two bickering, formidable old ladies, a polite, but bored expression on his face. She laughed harder at Neville's affronted look.
Draco joined in, adding a little sound to the humour and then Neville and finally, their doggy companion began to howl. This reminded them that they had a slumbering companion amongst them and waking up a sleeping Professor with their laughter probably wasn't very wise.
That wasn't Daisy's problem though. But sometimes, how she wished... No, she shouldn't dwell on things that couldn't be changed and...had she not gone after Ginny, she would have felt guilty for the rest of her life, had Ginny died...She didn't regret it. No matter how terribly mean an attitude that girl had when it came to Daisy after the entire school officially decided that being a Parcelmouth defined the entire identity of a person... That was because she alone knew the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was until Draco solved the case and dragged Neville to the Bathroom.
How exactly Draco got hold of Neville, Daisy didn't know at that time. However, once they met her in the hospital wing a few days later, Draco gave her a wristwatch, whose bands would spell out the name of a location where any one of them wished to meet the others - by simply tapping their wand on the watch, with the desired location firmly thought of in their mind - only in case of an emergency. He had already given the device to Neville but hadn't had the chance of meeting her.
That wasn't all the protection she had on her. Her Dad had given her a necklace with a perfect white sphere for a pendant and he made her swear to keep that white sphere in contact with her skin at all times.
"Will you be going to Hogsmead?" the Neville whispered to the others.
Draco nodded and Daisy got her quill to write, "I can go only if Dad is accompanying me. It's something to do with Sirius Black being after me. It's weird isn't it? Why escape prison after all these years just to come after me?"
The little dog whined quietly, but she ignored it. The two boys remained silent. Daisy huffed and turned to gaze out of the window.
At one o'clock, the plump witch arrived with her little food cart, but the three of them wryly opened up the lunch her Dad and Neville's Gran got for them, but not before the little girl bought a few chocolate frogs for Draco and Neville, her way of saying thank you being such great friends. They deserved much more, of course, for putting themselves at stake for her sake, but at the moment, chocolate frogs would have to do.
The rest of the day passed with with idle talk and a few games of chess. And it was just about twenty minutes before they could reach the station that the train began slowing down and finally stopped.
Then everything became dark and Daisy felt a mix of anxiety and frustration for no one would be able to 'see' any of her communications. Added to that was everyone's silence.
"What's happening?" Neville said and Daisy heard some scrambling and then someone was sitting on her side of the compartment. She heard a squeak as someone wiped the window in the darkness, and Draco sounded from her side, "There're someone getting on the train."
There came some shuffling and Neville was at her other side.
"What do you reckon is happening?"
"I don't know." said Draco.
Daisy jumped when the papillon let out a fierce growl. She wasn't the only one, judging by the shifting of weights on either side.
"Are you alright, Daisy?" Neville said.
Daisy began nodding her head and then realised that they couldn't see. So she grabbed Neville's hand and traced a Y-E-S on his palm.
"Right." said Neville, but Daisy didn't let go of his hand and he didn't say anything more. They waited in silence and were finally startled again by a ball of light that appeared in the hands of...their professor, who had finally awakened. The effect the light had on his tired face made Daisy shiver. It was on instinct that she reached out with her free hand and grabbed Draco's.
"Don't move." the Professor rasped out and started towards the door of the compartment. But before he reached, the door was slid open by some sort of a decaying hand and Daisy only gripped her friends hands harder.
The door opened wider and some hooded creature came into view. That very moment, Daisy felt a strange coldness creep up inside her. It was as though she was drowning in cold water. She felt her heart pound against her ribs at a panicked pace, as suddenly, terrified screams made it's way to her ears... followed by words.
"Not Daisy! Not Daisy! Please not Daisy!"
"Stand aside now! Move Girl!"
"Please! I'll do anything! Kill me instead, but not Daisy!"
"Stand aside Girl!"
Then the voices became screams again and then there was nothing.
Someone was shaking her gently, a familiar voice was calling out to her, but Daisy was too scared to respond, to afraid to open her eyes and find herself by her mother's dead body. Did that creature have the power to send you into the past? Tears that she'd held back for years, began pouring out through her shut eyelids.
Was that how her mother died? She was given a chance to live and she preferred to die... To keep her, Daisy, alive! Why? Was her father, James, already dead by then? Oh, why did these things always happen to her? What would she see if she opened her eyes... Her mother? Her father, James? Or Voldemort?
Sturdy arms helped her into a sitting position and she was pulled into a firm hug. It was comforting and very familiar. Someone was comforting her, someone was being kind to her...Voldemort wouldn't be kind, her parents wouldn't be in any position to comfort her, maybe she wasn't in the past... It was all the encouragement she needed. And with a lot of hesitation, she opened her eyes a tiny bit, only to see black again, but the wall of black gave off a very familiar feeling. She'd been there before! In her Dad Severus's arms.
Daisy wrapped her arms around him and cried harder.
"Draco!" her father said quietly. "Please go that cooler and bring a bar of chocolate."
Cooler? Chocolate? On the train? What was her Dad even doing on the train? Was she making a fool of herself in front of that new Professor?
Daisy forced herself to come together and then she moved away from him just a little to get a good look at his face. His face was drawn with worry and his long hair looked terrible.
Daisy sat trembling in his arms for a few seconds and then she moved closer to him. Strong arms readily wrapped themselves around her again and over his shoulder, Daisy realized that she was in his quarters. The light brown walls and the mahogany furniture was just as she'd seen it for the first time, only a couple of weeks ago, when Professor Dumbledore had asked her Dad to meet him immediately.
She assumed Dad wasn't very happy after that meeting, because he flounced back into his quarters, to floo them both back to Spinner's End, grumbling about how he was turned into a teacher-cum-healer without a raise in pay.
Back in the present time, from where she and her Dad sat on the carpeted floor, Daisy saw Neville sitting on the couch. Draco had probably moved to get the chocolate. But how exactly did she reach here.
Her Dad answered her before she could ask, "It was your necklace. I got it to turn into a portkey everytime you were in danger. A portkey, Daisy, is something that can transport you to places as long as you keep it in touch with your skin and this portkey, Darling, would bring you straight to my quarters and I would be notified immediately. You held on to Draco and Neville, thus bringing them along."
What sort of danger was she in, Daisy wanted to ask, but then she remembered that creature on the train.
Again, her Dad understood her.
"That was a dementor, the foulest creature that walks this earth. They are the guards of Azkaban... A dementor, Daisy, sucks in every one of your happy memories, leaving you with your most terrible ones... An effective way of keeping the prisoners in Azkaban trapped in their own minds, remembering their horrors on a daily basis. It's terrible..." his voice softened, "What you recollected, must have been terrible, Daisy...and you have been through a lot in those thirteen years of yours...Would you like tell me about it?"
Daisy shook her head.
Her Dad didn't press. Instead he reached out and took the chocolate from Draco and broke off a large piece and handed it to Daisy.
"There you go. Eat every bit of it. Would you boys like some more?" they shook their heads, nevertheless, he broke off two big pieces and handed one to each of them.
Daisy took a bite of her chocolate and the effects were immediate. Gone was that cold clammy feeling that she hadn't realized she still had until it disappeared, only to be replaced by fuzzy warmth. She sighed and leaned against her Dad's chest.
He banished the rest of the chocolate back into the cooler in his kitchen and wrapped his arms around his little girl.
He whispered into her ear, "Whenever you wish to get it off your chest, I will always be there to listen. Just don't keep it in for too long."
Then he announced aloud.
"Before the Christmas vacation, I am going to teach all of you how to chase away the dementors." Neville made to protest, but her Dad motioned him to remain silent. "It's a difficult charm, no doubt, but you will learn... It will be beneficial to us all... I will notify you once we're ready to have those classes together, but my goal is to see you defending yourselves against those monsters should you come across them again... Are any of you interested in attending the feast at the Great Hall?"
Daisy, Neville and Draco shook their heads.
Her Dad hummed and said, "Me neither."
"Dobby!" he called out loud and to Daisy's surprise, the Malfoy's house-elf appeared before them! However, instead of that old pillowcase, Dobby was wearing a shirt and trousers and socks and shoes!
"What can Dobby do for Master Snape, sir?"
"Bring us some dinner. Place it on our kitchen table."
Dobby bowed and disappeared with a loud pop.
Daisy turned to look at the others in surprise, wishing she had her book and quill with her.
Draco said smugly, "I summoned him last year, just after Parkinson caught us talking and gave him clothes. I've never seen him so happy in my life! He's working at Hogwarts now and if you're about to signal to me and ask how I know what's going on in your mind, then don't."
Daisy glared at him, still sitting on her father's lap on the floor.
"I just know you so well."
Daisy huffed in annoyance and took a larger bite of her chocolate.
Dobby reappeared with a variety of victuals a few minutes later and the four were soon sitting at the kitchen table, happily tucking in their mini feast, Daisy's book and quill (safely returned to her by Neville) keeping the others busy in conversation as they ate.
"You smacked Weasley!" her Dad said in surprise when Neville accidentally let it slip.
He looked at her steadily and the children stiffened, Neville grimaced at both, Draco and Daisy apologetically.
Then her Dad said sternly, "As your teacher, I cannot condone such a behaviour. But then, since you are no longer a part of Gryffindor, it wouldn't be of any use if I took points off."
Then he looked about the room and said sneakily, "As your Dad... well done."
The boys burst out laughing.
Daisy went to bed that night feeling considerably better.
But her mind wandered off to her journey on the train.
"You haven't even got a proper family." the words hadn't affected her in anyway. She hadn't paid much attention to them before, having been too angry about Ron's slight at Draco and Neville. He really deserved that punch.
Hermione was wrong, though. The fact that the statement hadn't bothered her from the first was the biggest indication of the fact.
Daisy did indeed have a proper family. And she was loved.
And unbeknownst to her, a few floors above, the papillon dog had just sworn to finally put things right and do his duty as godfather. His first priority, would, from now on be to protect her with everything he had, even at the cost of his life.
For the rest of this year, she had nothing to worry about. Nothing at all...
I really don't know where I'm getting to with this fanfic. Maybe I'll just put up some snippets of their life at Hogwarts. Anyway, when I come up with more, I'll post it as soon as I've written it. until then...
Take care!
