A very much insomnia chapter that is actually a very important transition piece, I know it is short but I truly hope you all enjoy it.
The summer before third year passed by without much of note happening, it was time Dancia mostly spent studying with her family beside her friends, slacking off with Dora, and generally just enjoying being a young teen without a care in the world.
There was a downside to all this though, namely that she was now required to wear bras, which was weird, constraining, uncomfortable and upon every woman in her family's insistence, completely necessary.
This on top of her monthly visitor, massively fluctuating hormones, the unwanted leers she was starting to get from significantly older men that automatically made her want to stab them in the eyes, and well, Dany could only come to one conclusion to an age old question.
Why could women be such moody, fickle, and at times irrational creatures as if by the flick of a switch?
Simple, because they had every fucking right to be so.
"Dany are you ok?"
Blinking rapidly as she shook herself from the tangent her mind had taken her down she turned her head towards Harry who was looking at her with some mild concern. Glancing about their cabin aboard the Hogwarts Express Dany noticed that Luna had apparently fallen asleep and lay curled up like a cat, her head resting on Hermione's lap as said impromptu pillow was reading a trashy romance novel while absently running her free hand through the blonde's hair.
Apparently while she had been day dreaming Dany had missed Neville and Susan wandering off as well, huh, add suddenly becoming oblivious to ones surroundings to the joys of puberty.
"I'm fine Harry," she said with a placid smile while she patted the hand he had intertwined with her own, his thumb running gentle circles along her knuckles in the process. "Just a lot on my mind and hoping to Circe we have an actually decent DADA professor this year."
Harry grimaced at that releasing his hold on her hand which for some reason saddened her as he glanced out the window, "Yeah, the depressing part is the bar is set so low at this point that near anything is an improvement."
Dany nodded at that, "Too true, can't get much worse then a stuttering buffoon who gets himself killed by a creature he is supposed to be a specialized in handling, and a pedophile rapist fraud."
That was of course not strictly speaking entirely true, but the Carrows and Umbridge hardly counted since they were foisted on the school by the ministry and were as close to being teachers as a sleep deprived cabbage would be.
Eventually the train was nearing the Hogsmeade station and the overhead speakers announced their stop would be in ten minutes so she, Hermione, and Luna shooed Harry out of the cabin so they could change into their uniforms. It wasn't until she had stopped fussing with the pleats of her skirt that Dany frowned and glanced over to Luna and Hermione before she had to bite her tongue as a series of curses tried to spew forth.
Hermione, being her best female friend noticed this and brought it to attention, "Dany what's wrong? You look like you're about to blow a gasket."
Running a hand through her hair she let out a frustrated sigh as she pointed at Luna who looked mildly surprised as Dany seethed out, "Look how long her skirt is."
Hermione's brow furrowed as she examined their younger, and now self conscious friend, "Umm...it falls right below the knees?"
Dany nodded slowly in acknowledgement, "Now look at the length of our skirts."
Hermione stared down at said skirt, glanced at Dany, then back to Luna, and then blushed furiously, "Bloody HELL! these things practically require a hair net!"
Dancia ran pinched fingers down the bridge of her nose a few times before letting out an exasperated sigh, "Leggings?"
Hermione paused a moment, then nodded, "Leggings."
"Poo, I liked staring at your bare legs, they are ever so smooth," Luna stated while crossing her arms contritely.
The older witches exchanged glances before Hermione muttered, "Err...sorry Luna...propriety and all that..."
Thankfully the easily distracted blonde seemingly found a wibblewacker (the fuck?) in the pile of sweet wrappers beside her so no further interaction was needed on that subject at the very least.
When Harry reentered the cabin neither Dany or Mia brought up their conversation as he was thankfully distracted with his lamentations about the idiots sharing Neville's house.
Apparently one Ron Weasley had insulted Harry for being friends with a Malfoy and Harry had in turn tried to cave his head in with a history book for the trouble. The said now terrified ginger had been saved by his twin brothers who had simply picked Harry up mid swing and turned him around stating that Lady Chaos would not want him going to Azkaban for justified homicide.
Harry was miffed, Dany was touched, and Mia was humorously exasperated.
After arriving at the station the trio shared their carriage with Luna, while Dany did her best not to pay attention to the thestrals leading them up to the castle, though she clearly noted Harry and Hermione did the same. Apparently seeing that troll die while it was trying to kill her had counted as witnessing death and accepting it for what it was.
How had she not noticed that last year?
Fucking puberty, this was beginning to become an unwanted trend.
The sorting went off without a hitch thankfully, and it was quickly followed with the Welcoming Feast and a well deserved bed time. In the morning everyone followed their daily rituals and received their schedules, thankfully there was no issues involved with that. Dany was honestly half expecting Dumbledore to insist Harry take Divination, and his ongoing general lack of interference in her best friend's life was beginning to concern and confuse her.
Did he know that Harry was no longer with the Dursleys or was he completely unaware? Either way, Dany had no method of finding out other than directly asking the man and really...that was just an option that was not even on the table.
Deciding to just drop that line of thought for the time being Dany accepted a piece of buttered toast from Hermione and slid it through her runny eggs while distractedly glancing about the Great Hall. Sticking the egg soaked bread into her mouth she chewed on it in a half hearted manner when the far doors were slammed open and a slightly disheveled woman wandered into the room.
Wild black curls were pulled up into a messy bun, half moon spectacles resting on the tip of her nose, and distant lilac eyes focused on the papers in her hands while fine dark silk robes shifted about her, the woman then paused and glanced up as the Headmaster let out a delighted greeting.
"Ah! Our errant witch has returned! Tell me my dear did you find the texts you needed for your courses?"
The witch extended one delicate finger which she used to push her glasses up the bridge of her nose then nodded slightly before replying.
"Yes Headmaster, and my apologies for running late, but the board brought me in with so little warning that I rather panicked a bit I admit."
Dumbledore just let out a light laugh at that, "All is well my dear girl I fully understand." With that he cleared his throat and raised his voice to gain the entire halls attention, "Students may I introduce your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor! Miss Bellatrix Black!"
The gathered students clapped as Dany's fork fell from her now limp fingers, the only thing she could hear over the thundering rush of blood in her ears was Harry's muttered "Morgana save us all."
She could not agree more.