I have an AN that I would like for ya'll to read! Other than that please enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 15: There's a Conspiracy, Man!
Meissa was quickly fed up with Daphne's distant behavior. Now that she had a firm grasp on her emotions - a good fight did seem to put her in a good sort of moods - she could see that something was bothering her friend.
But whenever she gets close enough to the blonde she could see that whatever was bothering her, it wasn't something external. Daphne was apparently struggling with something internally but for the life of her Meissa couldn't figure out what.
It was nearing a point where she wanted to corner the blonde in a room and force her to talk. She suspected that whatever happens it probably wouldn't end too well for both of them but had no other idea on how to deal with the problem.
Two days after the Quidditch match Meissa found Daphne just before supper and dragged her off to an empty classroom. Her dark eyes narrowed at the blonde when she tried to make an escape.
"Talk to me," Meissa bites out.
"Why?"
Meissa frowns at the aloof girl.
"Aren't we friends?"
"We are."
"Shouldn't you tell me what's bothering you then?"
They stare at each other for a long moment before Daphne sighs. "I'm hurt." Meissa frowns worriedly, her eyes searching over the blonde for any visible injury. "It's not a physical hurt."
"What happened?"
"…I…Do you remember that day… you got into a near fight with the Weasley boy?" Daphne asks quietly, getting a slow but hesitant nod from the other girl. "I… when I hugged you…" Meissa's eyes widened at this. "You rejected my touch totally."
Meissa grimaced at this - realizing that she had unintentionally hurt her friend with her dismissal.
"I'm sorry," she apologizes as sincerely as she could manage. "I… I've never liked being touched, even on the best of days," she mutters. "But… that day, I was already hugged once already and I just…" She struggles to find the words. "You touched me from behind and I - I just. I don't like the feel of being touched when I can't see the person."
Daphne's frown just grew larger with each word she uttered and Meissa ended up feeling like a bigger failure for not being able to convey her feelings.
"I'm sorry…"
"Oh Meissa, you don't have to apologize," Daphne whispers, opening her arms despite what Meissa just said.
Meissa was torn between running from the offered hug and accepting it because she could see that Daphne needed the hug more than she did. That just because herself hated being touch doesn't mean everyone else does.
After a long moment she wraps her arms around the blonde, her body tense but she stayed in the embrace for as long as two minutes before her tension got too bad for her to stay in the hug.
"Sorry…"
"No," Daphne shook her head and gives her a watery smile. "Don't be sorry." Daphne gives her a look. "It's my fault. I should've known that you weren't going to react well."
Meissa grimaces, "I guess it was obvious I didn't like being touched…"
"Just a bit."
Meissa rolls her eyes halfheartedly at the blonde. "Look… I'll make more an effort to work on my reaction."
"And I'll work on not getting so offended if you don't want to be touched."
They exchange tiny smiles before leaving the room with a lighter bounce to their step.
~MJB~
Meissa was quiet, her wand moving in tandem with Daphne, as they practiced casting spells. They had it in their minds that they should work on being in sync with each other. Meissa trusted a rare few people and she didn't see herself partnering up with Draco, Hermione she wouldn't mind partnering up with the Gryffindor if there was a need for it.
Draco is a bit uptight in her opinion and his spell work needed improvement. Improvement he wasn't likely to allow her to help with, far too stubborn to really take heed of her advice. He was often unwilling to bend - his personality meant that he wouldn't well suited to her style.
Hermione was a brilliant witch but Meissa had a feeling that Hermione would spend too much time thinking out the duel to be able to chain her spells. She suspected that given enough time Hermione will eventually stop over thinking but for the time being she wanted to let Hermione grow as a witch first.
Daphne on the other hand. She was malleable, flexible, and willing to learn. And with every lesson Meissa gave her she got better. Now, they were capable of recognizing signs of preparing for a specific spell or whatnot.
Meissa particularly enjoyed working with the blonde though she had a good sense to think that if they ever got mad at each other their familiarity with each other would prevent them from ever effectively using spells on each other. She couldn't tell if this was good news or bad news.
Whatever it meant she knew that from this point onwards the balance between them would be equal. Well, as equal as it possibly could be with Meissa being essentially more advanced in comparison to the other girl.
"Meissa?"
"Yeah?"
"What do you think is going to happen?"
"Regarding what?"
They exchange a look that told Meissa exactly what Daphne was asking about.
"… I think that whoever is after the stone won't stop until they get it," Meissa answers honestly.
"What do you suppose we do?"
"At the moment I don't really have an idea." Daphne gives her a disbelieving look. "Okay so maybe I do have a few ideas on what we should do." The blonde gives her a look that indicated she should share her ideas.
"Normally I would say we should keep out of the business of the school. But seeing that Headmaster had placed a powerful alchemist tool in our school and placed potentially dangerous line of defenses around it…" Meissa's dark eyes twinkles mischievously.
"Please don't tell me that we're going nose around." Daphne pleas after noticing the look on her face.
"Okay," Meissa drawls easily, "I won't tell you."
"Oh, I was afraid you were going to say that," the blonde groans as she palms her face.
"I rather be aware of what's happening around us," Meissa remarks.
"I know, I know. So what's first?"
"Well… we know that Fluffy is the first line of defense," Meissa comments.
"We know who else is involved too," Daphne adds in.
"We just don't know what they added."
"Except that it has something to do with their subject?"
"Yes… So for Professor Sprout - Herbology. Probably something that is normally taught in the First Year's lessons."
"Are you sure about that?"
Meissa shrugs her shoulders and glances around - she didn't want to have this conversation in the middle of Hogwarts.
"I have a suspicion about the Headmaster and his plans," she answers simply, thinking about the various things happening this year.
"What aren't you telling me?"
"You'll find out sooner or later, Daphne."
"You're being mean on purpose, aren't you?"
"Not really," Meissa answers carefully. "Honestly though, I don't think it would be a good idea to talk about it right now." The Black heiress eyes her friend and realizes that her words was being taken the wrong way. "It's not that I don't trust you," she hurries to correct, "It's just that it's a bit dangerous to be talking about something like this where we could be overheard."
Daphne's eyes widen suddenly as she caught on what her friend was trying to say. "Then where do you suggest we go?"
Meissa shrugs her shoulders - her paranoia about being overheard meant that she didn't want to have the conversation anywhere in Hogwarts. She had no doubt that the Headmaster probably have spells in place that would allow him to monitor conversations - the fact that there have been multiple conversations regarding the Philosopher's Stone held in classrooms or quiet corners concerns her. And she suspected that the Gryffindors often talked about the stone whenever they had a private moment - or whenever Hermione wasn't bugging the boys to do their homework.
In any case they were already in the training grounds, just past the area where they been having their flying lessons, away from the towers and the classrooms near the middle courtyard. If she was anyone else she would've said that they were safe here but Meissa would've preferred being near the Forbidden forest or the Black Lake.
To go to either place, however, meant that they would have to go clear across Hogwarts and past the clock tower.
"Do you really want to have this conversation now?" she asks Daphne.
"What better time than now?"
Meissa sighs before she slides her wand back into its' holster. "Alright then, let's go."
"What about the dummies?"
Meissa glances over at the target dummies, wincing when she realized that their practicing had meant that they were pretty well damaged at this point. She wasn't sure how many Reparo spells would be needed to fix them. "We probably should leave those to the professors. I don't think we can undo the damages ourselves."
Daphne arches an eyebrow at the raven-haired girl. It wasn't like her to forego a chance to practice any particular spell. As eager as she was to find out what was going through Meissa's mind she had to wonder if the other girl was hurting herself in the long run thinking about this.
Meissa, on the other hand, was completely unaware of what was going through Daphne's mind, Intent on stretching her limbs as far as she could, glad that the dull aches in her bones and muscles have faded away at this point. Although there was still a lingering stab of pain whenever the air turns heavy with the forecast of rain.
"C'mon, let's go," Meissa reaches back and tugs on the blonde's sleeve, ushering her along until she knew that the other girl was going to follow at her own violation.
~MJB~
Daphne runs up to the shore, breathing deeply as the breeze rushed in from off the surface. Her hair flying all over the place and forced her to push her loose strands away from her face. While Meissa was walking more sedately, her strides long yet casual.
"We should come here more often," Daphne turns around, gathering her hair into one of her hands to restrain it from getting in her face.
Meissa gives a half smile at the other girl - she wasn't quite sure how she feels about sharing her hideaway but she knew that it was likely going to be safe to talk there.
"So, about the Headmaster's plans," Daphne opens up as Meissa was making herself comfortable on the beach, collecting smooth flat pebbles about the size of her palm.
"Think about it," Meissa looks up to see that Daphne was still struggling with her hair, "Seven defenses, formed by seven wizards teaching here. Though I use teaching loosely with Hagrid involved."
"Hagrid aside I'm not seeing what you've clearly seen."
Meissa picks one of the pebbles up and gives it to Daphne. "Who do you think would be best for building defenses for an item that may attract dangerous wizards?"
"Aurors," Was Daphne's immediate answer.
"Yet who was chosen to create the first line of defense?"
"Hagrid."
Meissa skips a pebble, counting softly to herself before it sinks after the fifth skip.
"What do you know about him?"
"Um… not much. Although he seems to be…" Daphne trails off before she could say something that could offend.
"Be honest," Meissa tells her distantly, "I'm not going to get prissy if you say something wrong."
Daphne sighs as she twists her hair into a ponytail - completely eliminating the need for a tie. "Well, he seems to have a bit of a loose tongue." Meissa nods her head in agreement - not that the blonde saw this. "I mean, I don't really know him but he not only blurted out that he loan his pet Fluffy to the Headmaster he revealed information we shouldn't have known."
"Exactly." Meissa tilts her head to meet Daphne's. "Harry told me that the day he went to get his things for Hogwarts, Hagrid and him went to Gringotts." She sees the questioning look in her friend's eyes but made a motion that told her to be patient. "That day, Hagrid emptied vault 713."
"Wait, isn't that the same vault that was reportedly broken into but nothing was taken?"
Meissa arches an eyebrow at the blonde, curious as to how she made the connection so quickly - she couldn't remember if the newspapers had mentioned a vault number.
"Yes," she decides to answer instead of questioning her friend. In all likelihood, someone in her family had connections and they mentioned it in passing.
"So… that means that the person after the stone is a powerful Dark Wizard," Daphne breathes before she turns worriedly towards her friend. "Are you sure we should be nosing around? I mean, it's one thing to try and solve a puzzle and another thing to stop a Dark Wizard."
Meissa shrugs her shoulders - she honestly didn't know herself. She wanted to stay out of the matter herself but if her suspicions were right she couldn't not be involved.
Daphne saw the hard look in her friend's eyes and sighs to herself - it didn't take a genius to know that Meissa was going to see this mess through to the end. "Fine, so where were you going with this?"
"Right, so, if you were someone who values secrets and faced not one but two different wars in your lifetime would you trust someone with a loose tongue to not only pick up something from Gringotts but also contribute to the defenses of said item?"
"I… no, I wouldn't," Daphne frowns as she starts to realize what Meissa was implying. "So… You think that Professor Dumbledore deliberately chose Hagrid for his loose tongue?" Meissa nods her head, her eyes encouraging her to take it further. "Who does Hagrid spend his time with?"
"Aside from Fang? Our lovely Gryffindor friends."
Daphne accepts an offered pebble from Meissa, thinking. "Harry… is he doing this because of Harry?"
Meissa actually couldn't confirm or deny this bit. She hadn't even thought about why he was doing it. Trying to figure out the mystery surrounding Fluffy the Cerberus and further attempts to unravel what else would be guarding it had taken up most of her time. But now that she was, she could see Dumbledore setting up an elaborate scheme.
"If he is… then what is his motives. I mean, Harry is the Boy-Who-Lived. The only one who survived Vold-"
"Don't say his name!"
Meissa shoots the girl an unimpressed look. "I'm not saying that ridiculous phrase," she retorts with an eye roll.
"But-."
"No buts, Daphne. So you decide, Dark Lord or Voldemort?" She ignores the flinch and waits for Daphne to look at her. If anyone heard her they would think that she is an avid follower of his. Not that they weren't already thinking that the second they hear her surname.
Daphne groans as she finally sits down next to Meissa, burying her face in her hands in disbelief. "If you start referring to him as the Dark Lord then people are going to assume that you're going to aspire to be a Death Eater." The Black heiress nods once in agreement with Daphne's observation. "Fine," she mutters, "use his name. I'll… I'll try."
Meissa chuckles softly under her breath, amused by her friend's reaction though she did casually wrap an arm around the blonde's shoulders. Briefly squeezing her close before letting go.
"So, Voldemort - Harry is the only one to ever survive the Killing Curse. Do you think he died that night?"
"Harry or him?" Daphne catches the pointed look from her friend. "Right… um, I don't really know." The blonde turns the pebble round and round in her hand, thinking. "I know that my parents were really glad that he was gone."
Meissa rest her chin on her fist, staring distantly at the far horizon. "Mine… well, I know what everyone says about mother's last words before Azkaban."
Daphne frowns at her friend before she bumps shoulders with the raven-haired girl. "Do you think Professor Dumbledore believes he's still alive?"
"I don't know what he thinks - maybe he's a paranoid old coot with some grand design-" She trails off as something occurs to her. "He's a paranoid coot with a grand design," she breathes before she palms her face.
It takes Daphne a moment to realize what her friend was going on about. "You really think he would do something like that?"
"I have no doubt. If he's so paranoid - to the point that he would believe that Voldemort still lives, then he might believe that Harry would be the only one to stop him…" Meissa huffs as she leans back onto her hands. "Or he could be a glory seeking coot and wants another Order of Merlin for the defeat of a Dark Lord."
"Have anyone told you that you have very dark thoughts?"
"Thank you," Meissa smirks at the blonde, getting a fond eye-roll from the other girl.
"So… we're no closer to figuring out what Professor Dumbledore have planned, do we?"
"Well…" The Black heiress shrugs her shoulders, "I dare say we know better than to blindly accept whatever he says."
"Sometimes I wonder if you're the paranoid one."
"I'm likely am," she chuckles before she skips a pebble across the surface of the lake. "But someone has to think the worse… and I don't see anyone else stepping up to the plate."
"You don't have to do it alone…"
Meissa smiles warily at the other girl before she bumps shoulders with her. "As much as I appreciate that, there's no sense in both of us walking the darkness."
Daphne shakes her head before she leans her head against the other girl's shoulder. "Just… let me know when it gets too much?"
"Is that another promise you want?"
"I do ask for a lot, don't I?"
"It seems to be your way of showing you care." The girls smile at each other - a bright one on the blonde's face and a small hesitant one on the brunette's - before Meissa sifts her weight, dislodging Daphne from her shoulder. "I'll try," she mutters quietly before the other girl could complain.
Daphne pauses, searching her friend's face, before she nods once in acceptance. It was, in essence, the best she was going to get from the other girl. She takes the pebble in her hand and tries to skip it only for it to plunk right into the lake.
Meissa starts at the suddenness of the wet plop before her shoulders starts shaking. Worried that she had done something to her Daphne looks worriedly at her. Only to find that her shoulders were shaking out of laughter - the sound soft yet slowly growing until she was cackling mad with glee.
Daphne shakes her head, fighting the slight shiver from her friend's laughter. "How do you do it?"
"It takes a bit," she smirks at the blonde before she hands Daphne a new pebble. She then twist her hand, her wand sliding into her palm. "I find it easier to skip rocks using the levitation charm."
Daphne mock glares at the other girl, "Were you skipping the rocks with your magic?"
"I'm good," Meissa teases, "but not that good."
The blonde rolls her eyes at the other girl before she receives her own wand. The pair passing time skipping rocks with the help of the levitation charm.
~MJB~
Meissa was waiting for Hermione outside the library a few days after the conversation she had with Daphne. She knew that Hermione was researching what the professors might use in their formation of the stone's defenses - she has no doubt that she was studying for her exams too - but she needed to ask her something. That and she wanted to know if she was interested in a study partner who actually does their homework.
She isn't sure how much time passed but eventually Hermione did round the corner, pausing when she spots the raven-haired girl waiting by the doors. She didn't look like she was there for pleasure.
"Meissa?"
"Ello, 'Mione," the raven-haired girl greets. "Have you a moment to spare?"
Hermione props a hand on her hip. "Is it truly just a moment you want?"
She got a slight mischievous look from her friend and rolls her eyes at the other girl. "It may take more than just one moment but I will try not to take too much of your time."
Hermione shakes her head as she reaches for her friend, grabbing her hand and tugged her away from the library. "What is it you want to talk about?"
"Several things, to be honest," Meissa confesses as they take to roaming through the halls though she took the halls that would surely lead them to the quad and from there they could head to the relative privacy of the Black Lake. "Mostly I want to know if you and your friends have been taking precautions?"
"Well, we've been making sure that Fluffy is still around and I think the boys have been trying to encourage Professor Quirrell."
"Even with my suspicions?" Meissa asks incredulity before she seems to recollect herself, "Wait, you've been going to the third floor?" She leans in, pulling the girl closer, as she hisses, "Do you have any idea how dangerous that could've been? You could've been seen
"But we weren't," Hermione defends.
"Fine, fine," she mutters, dropping the issue. Perhaps sensing that Hermione wouldn't see the danger she saw and she had not the heart or desire to tell her. "In any case, I wasn't talking about checking on Fluffy or whatever else you been doing," she switch tactics, "You haven't been talking about it here, right?"
Hermione looks over to her friend, first amused and then puzzled by what she was trying to say before understanding sinks in. "I haven't," she confesses. "I'm not sure about Harry or Ron but I haven't spoken of it."
"Great… that means we could be in danger," Meissa groans quietly to herself, running her hand through her hair in frustration.
"Meissa?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it."
"Now you're not being fair," Hermione crosses her arms at the Slytherin. "Can't you trust me?"
"Mione, it's not a matter of not trusting you," Meissa wraps an arm around the Gryffindor's shoulders, releasing her quickly before they stepped into the quad.
As much as she hated contact she had to admit to herself that other people don't share her opinion. While Hogwarts was likely to be accustomed to the sight of them in each other's presence it wasn't used to them touching each other.
"I just… I'm a paranoid fool," Meissa smiles warily at the other girl. "I just think that we should be careful about when and where we talk about it."
"You're acting like you expect someone to have placed bugs around us."
"Bugs?"
"Uh, it's a Muggle term," Hermione tries to think of a way that would explain the concept. "You understand that we use electricity?"
Meissa shrugs halfheartedly, "I know of it but it doesn't make sense to me."
"I'll explain electricity to you later. Right now, bugs are what we call these little… devices that allows a person to eavesdrop on a conversation while not being present for it."
"Not present…?" Meissa repeats quietly, puzzled. "There are other ways to eavesdrop?"
"Not exactly," Hermione tries to clarify. "It's more like… recording the conversation to be played back again later."
"Oh! Like a Pensieve!" Hermione shoots her a puzzled look. "A person can temporarily or permanently store their memories in a Pensieve and just about anyone can view them while they are stored inside the basin."
"That would still require the person to be present for the conversation, right?" Hermione asks, prompting Meissa to pout as she realize that it was still a bit of a difference. With a low laugh Hermione nudges at her friend. "It's a good comparison though."
"Not good enough," the raven-haired girl grouses though she did flash a brief mischievous grin at the Gryffindor. Still, she refrained from mentioning the stone or why she was so paranoid until they were past the entrance hall and outside the general vicinity of the castle walls.
~MJB~
AN: Hi everyone, thanks for reading the story so far! It's been a pleasure writing this. However I've noticed that at this current pacing ya'll are pretty much almost caught up to me. And I've noticed that I'm so distracted with a lot of things that it's unlikely I'll be able to write much more. So the updates will be reduced to once a month instead of twice. And it'll be on the 2nd of every month. However, if I still have not written a new chapter by the end of next moth it's likely I'll put the story on hiatus until the end of my college semester.
Sorry everyone. But please, leave a review and let me know how you like the story so far. Ask questions if there's something you don't understand. PM if you feel like I'm taking too long :P