"You would think that Dumbledore would have more sense and put some windows in these things!" Tracey complained as the sleeve of her robes got wet from the pouring rain. The self-drawing carriage was teetering up the muddy hill, as usual, bringing Daphne and the others to their 4th year. They were at the halfway point of their studies, so everything felt like routine now.
"So, you didn't tell me why you changed your mind to not go to the Quidditch World Cup," Theodore asked across from Daphne, also leaning as far as he could away from the window.
"It wasn't my decision," Daphne pointed out glumly. "My darling sister snuck out to meet some friends and got caught about 2 days before. My father thought it was only necessary that he punish us both."
"What, were you supposed to stop her from sneaking out?" Tracey sniffed stiffly, looking out the window again.
"Pretty much. No, the exact words when I asked were 'you should be a better influence on her, and the only way to do that is to keep our family home,' or some nonsense. He probably just had to work that day." Daphne said, shaking her head in disbelief. "Ireland is my favourite team! I was so furious to miss my chance to see them play!"
"Yeah, well, you lucked out on missing a couple things from that night." Blaise chuckled "I mean, I personally didn't enjoy running away in the middle of the night to escape people like Malfoy and Nott's fathers-"
"My father wasn't there," Theodore said sternly, narrowing his eyes as he gave Blaise a sideways glance.
"Yeah yeah, sure thing," Blaise said disinterested "Point is, I had to run with my mother half way across a county in the middle of the night! With thousands of other people too!"
"It's a good thing you wear pajamas to bed then, isn't it?" Theodore pointed out quietly. Now Blaise narrowed his eyes at him.
"Well, I'm not exactly mourning the fact that I missed that part of the games... I also heard that someone set off the Dark Mark?" Daphne continued, trying to ignore the boys and their jibes at each other.
"Yeah, but they have no idea who," Tracey said, accepting that the conversation now only included themselves. "Freaky looking thing though... I mean, I always thought people were just terrified of what it was a symbol for. But now that I've seen it, it gives me the chills by just how creepy it is!"
"You're sure to make an excellent Death Eater," Daphne teased, taking her wand out and pointing it at her arm.
"Fat chance!" Tracey laughed with her, taking her arm and fighting it off her. They giggled as they playfully fought each other off.
"You shouldn't joke about those things," Theodore said in a low and serious voice. Both girls froze and looked at their two other passengers who were looking at them very sternly.
"Sensitive for Death Eaters, Theodore?" Tracey remarked, locking her eyes with his "A future career choice?"
"Never," He added fiercely, "You think I want to end up in the mess my father did?" He stopped and took a breath to calm himself down before he continued. "I'm just saying that other students in this school, like the idiot mudbloods who wouldn't know any better, may overhear and believe you. And I can only imagine the punishment you'd receive then..."
Tracey let out a low whistle and then looked at Daphne, who just raised her hands in defeat. "Subject change!" she said cheerfully "You still haven't told me about your visit to Draco," she said, that same knowing smirk watching her.
"Can we talk about it later?" she said quietly, her cheeks already turning slightly pink. The last thing she wanted was for Blaise and Theodore to hear this story.
"Oh, I get it! Too dirty to let them hear? Good for you Daphne!"
"No! It's not that!" she said frantically, looking at the guys now "Dirty in the actual physical dirt way, but I just don't think the boys would care to hear-"
"Actually, I'd love to hear what goes on at the Malfoy Manor," Blaise smirked.
"Well, we're almost at school, so-"
"We have at least 5 minutes, Daphne," Tracey remarked after she looked out the window. Daphne sighed and crossed her arms, staring out the window on her side that faced the lake.
"It's nothing interesting! He showed me around the house, we walked through the forest, I fell out of a tree and got all muddy, and then we flew around on brooms for the rest of the afternoon." She said, omitting the part about them wrestling on his back lawn.
"Hmm, you're right Daphne; that's not very interesting at all! I'm very disappointed now," Tracey sighed, crossing her arms.
"Told you..." Daphne mumbled, catching Theodore's glance at her. "Don't suppose any of you did anything interesting? Aside from running about at the Quidditch World Cup?"
"If you count my mother and Theodore's father almost getting together as something, then yeah!" Blaise laughed, moving instinctively away from Theodore's oncoming punch.
"Lucky for me, my father knows a village broomstick when he sees one," Theodore growled.
"Are you called my mother a whore?" Blaise asked indignantly.
"Technically, he called your mother a broomstick-" Tracey pointed out lightly, trying to stifle a laugh.
"Shut up Tracey!" He hissed, glaring at Theodore "It's not like my mother has a taste for murderer's anyways." He jabbed.
Now Theodore looked severely offended and crouched into a standing position, ready to attack Blaise, who was also now standing up as much as the carriage roof would allow. They exchanged some more choice words, and Blaise reached over and grabbed Theodore's collar before Daphne had had enough.
"Oh Merlin, we if you two are going to battle it out, I'd rather walk!" Daphne announced. She then opened the carriage door and stepped out of the slow-moving vehicle, landing straight in a puddle. It was still pouring rain, so she pulled her robe over her head to cover her hair, and ran in her soaking wet shoes up the last hill to the front entrance, where met Tracey just a few metres away. "Well, did they kill each other?"
"Almost. They exchanged a few punches, and then Theodore gave Blaise a black eye, which he responded with a kick to the shins-"
"I can see that," Daphne said absently as she saw Theodore hobbling up to join them, and Blaise drifting over to where Draco was standing. She felt her heart skip a beat when she saw Draco for the first time since her visit and then felt it sink when she saw Pansy hanging off his arm... and now he didn't look so unwilling.
"Wonder what the story behind that is..." Tracey smirked looking from Daphne to Draco "Should have taken your chance when you had it."
"What chance, Tracey? And please stop talking about it so obviously; Theodore will hear!"
"Hear what?" he asked, wincing a little when he put his weight on his right leg.
"Got you good, didn't he?" Tracey remarked casually, looking down at his leg. Theodore only shrugged stiffly.
"Hardly. I'll be fine in a few hours. Blaise will have a shiner on his face for a week at least! It will be a good thing too; bring his ego down a couple notches." Theodore grumbled, glaring off towards Blaise, who was now entering the school with the other Slytherins.
At that moment, Daphne happened to catch a wisp of blonde in green robes float past her, and she noticed that it was indeed her sister, walking between two boys who had to be at least 3rd years. She groaned and put her face in her hands.
"Astoria still at it?" Tracey chuckled, watching the younger of the Greengrass sisters saunter around with the two boys, different from any of the others they'd ever seen.
"At this rate, she'll have dated the entire school before she graduates!" Daphne sighed, fixing her wet red hair into a ponytail haughtily "I will keep some of my dignity for the sake of my family." She added under her breath.
"Because they care so much!" Tracey laughed. Daphne narrowed her eyes briefly at her best friend, and momentarily considered remarking on her mother's lack-of-decency, let alone her lack-of-validity, but let the thought pass without being verbalized.
"Can we get inside now? All the first years are coming up the hill, and I don't want any snot-nosed children sneezing all over me." Theodore said, taking their arms lightly and leading them towards the Great Hall.
At dinner that night, the opening speech was much more interesting than the past few years; Dumbledore announced that other schools would be joining them for the majority of the year. There were rapid whispers up and down the tables as the students shared their thoughts about their future guests."Drumstrang? I was supposed to go there." Daphne heard Malfoy announce loudly to his section of the table. She couldn't hear the rest of his tale because Tracey had her own opinion to insert.
"That means my cousin will be here from Russia!" she announced gleefully.
"And mine from France, Merlin help me..." Daphne sighed, glancing down the table at her sister. Astoria was much happier to hear that her cousins would be joining them because they were all alike.
I really am a Black Sheep in my family... she thought, leaning on her hand in annoyance.
"Once again, I am so happy I have no siblings, cousins, or relatives of any sort that will be joining me!" Theodore smirked, stirring his tea with his spoon.
"That's because you have no relatives of any sort!" Tracey teased.
"And when have I ever complained?" he smirked.
"It seems all you ever do is rub it in our faces..." Daphne mumbled, pouring herself a cup of tea to try and warm herself up. "Someday, I hope you marry someone with lots of brothers and sisters, so you'll have a giant family to pretend to care about." She added, smiling crookedly as she took the sugar bowl from in front of him. He only smiled a little and then looked down the table at Blaise, who was giving him a rude gesture. "And I hope that you and Blaise stop acting like children someday too! Honestly, can you imagine if they were brothers?" she said, looking at Tracey and nudging her chin at Theodore.
"I would hex him in an instant!" he growled in return.
"Glad to see we all get along so well..." Tracey mused lightly.
When Beauxbaton arrived a few weeks later, all the boys were in a frenzy, goggle-eyed at the prospect of new female to stare at.
"Even Theodore seems quite entrapped in the thought of a few new girls to stare at. Give you a rest, eh?" Tracey teased lightly.
"What are you talking about?" Daphne laughed, shaking her head and looking out the Courtyard window. "Oh Lord, here they come! In a giant horse carriage, if you please!" she sneered. Tracey giggled as she watched all the boys rush and push the girls out of the way of the window.
"You would think that there are no girls at this school the way they act..." Tracey grumbled as she crossed the courtyard with Daphne to escape from all the commotion. "Even Draco looks distracted from Pansy." She added, giving Daphne a little nudge in the ribs. The guys were whistling to themselves as they watched a crowd of girls, all dressed in pale blue uniforms, were walking gracefully up the hills towards them. "Look at the lot of them!" Tracey laughed "Like genetic copies of one another! Are they all related?!"
"Well, last I checked, my uncle Daedalus only had 2 daughters, not 200; so no, I would imagine that they're not all related..." Daphne mumbled, glancing over her shoulder to see some of the older boys who were confident enough to introduce themselves already chatting up some of the girls. A few of them turned up their noses, but some were trying to understand their English hosts. One of them was the distinctly dark-skinned Slytherin that had just fought with his best friend in the carriage no more than an hour before.
"There goes, Blaise! Trying to pick up that little blonde fairy!" Tracey snorted.
"Of course! Blaise's ego would only allow him to pick out a girl that could be considered part Veela!" Daphne giggled under her breath as one of the girls floated past them; she looked like she had a wand up her ass sideways she was so stuck up! "Now there's one for Blaise! A real challenge for him!"
"Daphne? Daphne, is that you?" she heard the chiming of a vaguely familiar and very French voice. Daphne sighed and then forced a happy smile on her face as she turned to face the source of the voice. Now standing only a few feet away were her twin cousins; Madeline and Marguerite Roux. They both had immaculate faces and bodies, with long strawberry-blonde hair that fell just below their shoulders, and eyes as bright as the blue sky. Tracey stood beside Daphne, completely stunned by their appearance, and Daphne cleared her throat awkwardly.
"Hello, Madeline and Marguerite. How are you doing?" she said, trying to be as polite as possible.
"Oh, we're fine! Freezing in dis 'orrible weat'er! Does it always rain like dis?" Madeline said in her thick French accent, drawing her coat tightly around her thin, model-like frame. Her identical sister did the same.
"I'm afraid so... England has that problem..." Daphne sighed, looking up at the light drizzle that was falling from the grey sky.
"Well, you are looking very, er, pretty, Daphne," Marguerite said, looking her cousin over and smiling more sympathetically then anything. Daphne felt a very forced smile slowly cross her lips, which were so tight together to try and stop hissing something vulgar at them.
"You look very much like your fat'er. Don't you think so, Marguerite?" Madeline smiled coyly at her sister, who returned the identical smile. Daphne gritted her teeth but fought the urge to push them into the mud.
"Thank you," She said through her teeth "And I'm very pleased that you're going to be here at Hogwarts this year," she added ceremonially.
"Yes yes! We don't like your weather, but I'm sure we could do with a few new faces." Madeline said, glancing Tracey over and narrowing her eyes a little in displeasure. "Where is Astoria? We 'ave been dying to see 'er!" she added enthusiastically. Daphne rolled her eyes and scanned the crowd.
"No idea. Off flirting with yet another boy?" she said, smirking a little.
"And are you flirting with any boys lately?" Marguerite smirked, already knowing the answer. Daphne was about to call her out on it, but they were interrupted by a crowd of Slytherins gathering around.
"Daphne, who are these lovely ladies?" Blaise said smoothly, looking at Madeline and Marguerite very suggestively. Daphne felt her eyes roll very dramatically but knew that she would have to introduce them or face constant badgering later.
"These are my cousins Madeline and Marguerite." She said, lazily waving her hands at the twin girls, who were examining the boy who had so boldly walked up to them. "These are my housemates, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, and Draco Malfoy." She said in a lower voice, not even bothering to introduce Crabbe or Goyle.
"Malfoy? As in 'ncle Lennox's boss?" Madeline mused in her French accent, which made all the boys jaws drop ever so slightly in awe.
"Yes, as in my father's boss... this is his son," Daphne grumbled, now feeling the cold rush through her.
"Pleased to meet you," Draco smiled charmingly, nodding his head graciously, but he did not reach out to shake their hands like Blaise did.
Zabini's so forward, he'll spoil any chance he has with every girl he meets!
"Your cousins are very lovely," Blaise said smoothly again. Theodore rolled his eyes and made a face behind him, which only Tracey and Daphne saw, and had to try to hold back their laughter. "May I escort you to the castle?" he asked. Both girls, who were 16 years, and therefore 2 years older than him, looked at each other as if they were trying to understand if it was a joke.
"Madeline! Marguerite!" called a very familiar voice as Astoria pushed through the crowd and ran straight into the arms of her cousins.
"Astoria! Oh, how is our favourite relative in the world?" they soothed and giggled as the three of them embraced. Daphne rolled her eyes and gave Tracey a sickening glance.
"I'm wonderful! Come with me, I must show you around the school! It's so old and big! You'll be sure to get lost if I don't show you the way!" she said, giving Daphne a dark glance.
"Yes because you have so much experience in this school..." she growled, narrowing her eyes at her little sister again. Astoria only smiled like an innocent child and tossed her blonde locks over her shoulder, then started towards the castle.
"It was very nice seeing you, Daphne. You are starting to look very pretty now, you know..." Marguerite smiled, lightly touching her cousin's face as she passed her, starting to follow Astoria.
"Yes, I'm sure you're going to be very beautiful someday," Madeline added, a little too reassuringly. Daphne felt her cheeks burning red with embarrassment and didn't even try to cover up the rage that was boiling over. The red-haired twins were led on either side of Astoria, who glanced back at Daphne and then said something to her cousins; they all then shared a laugh, most likely at her expense.
"I'm cold. I'm going inside." Daphne said through locked teeth, her fists clenched in rage as she was turning the idea of running after them and pummelling them to the ground in her mind.
"No! You can't!" Tracey said, gripping her arm tightly "You made me endure that; now you have to meet my cousin!" she announced, glancing back at the boys as she walked back across the courtyard again "You can too, if you behave yourselves."
"Why would we want to meet a bunch of guys?" Blaise sniffed. Tracey turned up her nose and continued to walk with Daphne.
"Don't worry; when you take one look at Aleksey, you'll forget all about Draco What's-His-Face!" she teased Daphne, tapping her arm gently.
"Hmm, well only because you seem to think that your own cousin is attractive," Daphne smirked.
"I never said I was attracted to him! I just said that if I were not related to him, I would think he was hot!" Tracey corrected. Daphne shook her head and then nudged her lightly in the ribs.
"Here comes Pansy..." she whispered, then turned to smile at her housemate.
"Aren't those Beauxbaton sluts awful?" Pansy laughed. "I've always thought the French were all stuck up whores, but those girls are just awful!"
"Pansy, I'm half French," Daphne remarked darkly. Tracey snorted a quiet laugh and whispered something to Millicent, who had now joined them. "And my cousin's go to Beauxbaton."
"Well, so do mine! But you must agree that they're all prissy, pretension little bitches?" she said, her gaze daring her to challenge her. Tracey gripped Daphne's arm a little tighter, her eyes alive with the thought of Daphne challenging her. Instead of calling her out like she wanted, Daphne instead forced a very sour smile and turned away from her, looking out the courtyard window towards the vast grounds ahead.
"You certainly showed her," Tracey said sarcastically.
"If you're so eager to fight her, why don't you say it for once instead of making me?" Daphne asked, raising her eyebrows questioningly.
"I can't! I'm a half-blood, remember? I have no claim to this world or this house, as far as she and people like Draco are concerned. I'm only here because they let me stay here." She said, looking past Daphne's shoulder at Pansy and Draco, who were no doubt flirting away again, as they had been for the last 3 weeks. "But you! You've got just as much, if not more, magical blood running through your veins as they do! They couldn't and wouldn't banish you because of what you said. If anything, they'd respect you more and agree with you."
"Tracey, sometimes the nonsense you babble about makes me wonder if you're really sane," Daphne said lightly as she continued to stare out into the school grounds, pretending like she had barely been listening. Despite what she wanted to tell Tracey, she knew that what her friend had said was very true. As well as the other fact; she could challenge Pansy, and no one would be able to say anything about it!
"Say what you like; you know it's true," Tracey remarked, before she joined her, leaning on the windows of the courtyard and staring out towards the grounds."Wonder how Drumstrang will arrive." She pondered aloud.
"No idea. Not something as flowery as Beauxbaton, I hope." Daphne said absently.
"Yes, bringing us back to that point; your cousins are horrid!" Tracey laughed quietly.
"I know they are; just like my sister!" She sniffed "Sometimes I wonder if I was found on the doorstep or something... I can't possibly be related to my family!"
"If you want to talk about not feeling related, look at my family! My mother's family were all rich and famous wizards, and then my mother had to fall in love with a muggle! They didn't outright disown us, but let's just say we aren't invited to many family birthday parties or weddings." She sighed a little and stared out towards the lake, which was moving very curiously. "Aleksey and his father are the only ones who talk to us ever. My uncle sympathized with his baby sister and was convinced that all muggles were evil from that point onward... Wonder what he would do if he knew the truth..."
"That all muggles are truly evil?" Daphne asked lightly.
"No, that my mother loves the muggle who supposedly violated her all those years ago," Tracey corrected. She squinted her eyes towards the strangely whirling waters of the Black Lake "Do you see that too?"
"Yeah, I wonder what the squid is up to," Daphne mumbled, squinting to see as well. Then, a mast of a gigantic tall ship emerged from the waters, and the entire crowd of hundreds of students gasped in amazement.
"Well, that's a neat trick!" Tracey beamed as she watched the ship tie up on the shore and the students were unloading, dressed in their blood red uniforms and fur coats.
"See your cousin yet?" Daphne nudged her in the ribs. Tracey was scanning the line that was now approaching the front entrance of the school where they all stood but didn't get a chance to answer. Pansy and Millicent had now shoved their ways in between Daphne and Tracey, staring goggle-eyed at the boys.
"Oh, they are pretty, aren't they?" Pansy squealed with delight. Millicent remarked on their fine uniforms looked, and Tracey cleared her throat, catching Daphne's eye and glaring at Pansy dramatically. Daphne caught the hint and took a deep breath, looked to Tracey once more for reassurance, and looked at Pansy briefly.
"I don't think Draco would be too thrilled at you chatting up a bunch of Drumstrang boys," She said in a deliberately patronizing voice. Pansy looked away from her distraction long enough to give Daphne a challenging glare.
"Draco got to flirt with a bunch of French hussies. Now it's my turn to talk to someone new!" she said in a low, powerful tone of voice. Despite Daphne's urge to back off, she continued.
"Yes, but unlike Draco, you're going to flirt with the entire school," Daphne said, a small content smile crossing her lips. Millicent looked at Daphne with shock and horror, like perhaps she had thought she had lost her mind. Pansy turned to face Daphne directly and stepped forward so she was only a few inches away from her.
"Just because I have the ability, not to mention looks, to get the attention of men doesn't mean you have to criticise me," she said in an uptight voice. Daphne felt her insides roll with anger, but her face managed to hold a look of determination. She merely narrowed her eyes into a dead-set glare and waited to see if she would say something else "Until Draco and I are official, not that it's any of your business, I will exercise my right to flirt with other men." She added in a very cocky voice.
"Just take care your flirty ways don't reach Draco's ears," Daphne warned, a smooth crooked smile sending a small chill through Pansy's solid appearance of composure.
"You wouldn't dare speak to him," Pansy hissed a warning, taking care to check over her shoulder first to be sure Draco wasn't nearby. "Don't forget, we all know what your sister's like; we wouldn't want anyone outside of the school learning about that little skank, now would we?"
"Pansy, my sister means nothing to me; ruin her if you want, I could care less." Daphne challenged "You could never find anything on me if you tired." She added, watching Pansy's expression change from cockiness to sour acceptance "But I never said I would tell him. I only mean take care that one of his friends doesn't let him know."
"Take care that it's not you who is that 'informant friend,'" Pansy warned again.
"There's Aleksey!" Tracey said loudly, calling Daphne and Pansy's attention away from sizing each other up. Up the hill, waving back at Tracey was a tall, well-defined boy that looked like how Daphne imagined Draco would look in 3 or 4 more years. His hair was a light blonde, and his skin very pale, but his body was that to rival a professional Quidditch Player. "Aleksey, come over here!"
"Now there's a boy that any girl would leave her boyfriend for!" Pansy said, making sure to shoot Daphne a smirk.
The tall boy who vaguely resembled Tracey in facial structure and expression walked over towards them (followed by the jealous gazes of flocks of girls) and gave Tracey a giant hug. "Tracey, how are you?" he asked, his accent very clear, but his English was flawless, unlike Madeline and Marguerite.
"Oh, I'm the same. Welcome to rainy England!" she laughed, holding her hands out towards the sky, which was still drizzling. "Although this must seem much more mild to you" she teased, tugging lightly at his fur coat.
"Like late spring!" he chuckled, now looking at Daphne, the closest girl to him "And this must be Daphne?" he asked, holding his hand out to take hers. Feeling her cheeks turn a light shade of pink, she held her hand out shyly. He took it and gave it a quick kiss, which made Daphne blush even harder.
"Aleksey, right? I'm very pleased to meet you. Tracey is my closest and dearest friend, so making your acquaintance almost mandatory." She smiled coyly, looking at Tracey briefly.
"Tracey has told me all about you when I visited her in the summer," he smiled, flashing his brilliantly white teeth in her direction. Tracey was right; Draco was as far away as he could be right now. "Are you really Medea's daughter?" he asked, glancing her over quickly. Daphne felt her brain falter a little at the thought of her mother.
"Oh, yes, I am. The eldest, that is." She replied lightly, now vaguely aware of Pansy, who was fidgeting behind her, trying to get Aleksey's attention.
"My Grandfather was very close to your Grandparents. That's how our parents met your mother." He said, nudging Tracey in the shoulder to show who he was talking about.
"Amazing! I never knew the wizarding world was so closely knit!" she said, flashing him a quick smile as well. She started to look at him more closely; there wasn't a single freckle on his skin, and he had to be about 15 or 16 based on his face.
Well, if Draco doesn't work out, I'll have to consider him! He's quite a catch for anyone!
"Shall we go up to the school? Don't want you to catch your death with a chill!" Tracey teased, taking her cousin's arm. He nodded his head and turned his head towards the other guys behind him and yelled something that sounded like Russian to them. They turned from their conversation and began to follow Aleksey as he was led towards the school by Tracey.
"Coming?" Aleksey offered his arm to Daphne. She felt her face flush pink again (much to her embarrassment), but she smiled and took his other arm graciously. As they started up the hill, Pansy made a very obvious cough to try and get Tracey's attention, to which Tracey glanced at Daphne. She caught the hint and turned her head towards Pansy as they passed.
"Pansy, that cough sounds awful! You should really go see Madame Pomfrey about that," Daphne said with a mockingly-sincerely tone. When Pansy gave her a blank expression, like she couldn't believe she was so stupid, Daphne smirked and then turned to continue up towards the castle with Aleksey and the rest of the boys.