act one: the girl in the bubble
chapter eleven

Lately, Daphne found herself being angry at herself. Angry that she flinched. Angry that she got nervous. It was driving her mad. She couldn't live like this, she couldn't live in fear as she had. That would one day be her downfall because what if she became like her parents? What if she became Trelawney? Hell, she'd rather be thrown in Azkaban and let a dementor have her.

Daphne found herself standing in the hallway outside the Great Hall. Her uniform was messily holding onto her body, her tie hanging loosely around her neck as a few buttons on her white shirt wear unbuttoned. She decided not to wear the sweater that was supposed to be over it.

Her hair was lazily tied back in a bun as a few pieces framed her face. Her skin was scarred from her own fingers. If she could do that while having one of those visions, what else could she do to herself or others? A frown tugged on her lips as she walked back and forth, ignoring a few looks she received from those entering and exiting the Great Hall.

The girl looked startled upon seeing her Uncle now standing before her, but then, he wasn't. Daphne closed her eyes as she tried to block everything out, ignoring the whispers that seemed to grow louder. It was almost as if she could hear people talking but when she opened her eyes, there was no one around her. She was standing alone by the staircases outside the oak doors.

The girl sighed before nearly jumping out of her skin, placing her hand over her heart when she noticed Atticus and Caius now standing with her. The two boys shared a look while Atticus sighed. Atticus' uniform was messed up, much like Daphne's, while Caius looked as pristine as ever. Not a single mishap in his uniform.

"What's going on with you?" Atticus questioned as he tilted his head at his sister, "Everyone's noticing it. Everyone knows that somethings happening - somethings changed."

"Nothings changed and nothing has happened," Daphne denied as she looked at her brother, "I don't see what all of the fuss is about."

"You think we don't know about the incident with Trelawney? Or what's been swirling in that head of yours?" Atticus was clearly getting aggravated at his sister's lack of care for the situation, "Not to mention the shift in your actions and your attitude."

"Don't lecture me on change, Atticus," Daphne looked at him with a pointed look, her nostrils flaring as she tried to remain calm.

"Daphne," Caius spoke, almost in a warning tone as he tilted his head down giving her a look.

Daphne's jaw tightened as she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest, "I don't have a clue about what you are talking about, Atticus," deny. deny. deny.

She noticed the way that Atticus' muscles strained, how his already sharp features became sharper as he looked away from her for a moment as he pinched the bridge in his nose before turning back to her, "We have a roll to play, Daphne. You forget who we are and who in this day we are related to that falls back on us."

"And I forgot where I seemed to care about being a chess piece anymore," Daphne was a load of fire right now and mixed with an argument? She was set to blow off.

Caius shook his head as he tried to pull Atticus back, "Look, Daphne, I know what we've talked about and I know how I act but that doesn't mean you need to change yourself."

Daphne scoffed as she looked at him, "Are you insinuating that I'm acting the way I am to be you? How conceited are you, Caius?"

"Daphne," Caius gave her a look as he shook his head, part of her breaking at her own words, "I know you. We both know that this is affecting you more than either of us."

The girl in question found herself simply rolling her eyes at their words. Trying not to let the rage consume her. That's what her mother would do. But rage and fire were two different things. But there was a fire within Daphne that had been put out for too long. Sooner or later, it would rage. A path that could lead to destruction or a new beginning.

"Is this about what's happening at home?" Atticus asked as he looked at the girl, "Don't bullshit me."

Daphne looked at her brother with a dead expression, "I'm tired of being the weak link. I refuse to be. I'm tired of letting every little thing affect me. I'm getting a better control of myself, being myself," Daphne pointed her finger between the two, "And I'm not letting anything change it."

"This is just some teenage outburst," Caius disagreed as he looked at the young girl, "You're letting it consume you. You're too young to understand what is happening with you and your body..."

"And you know?" Daphne couldn't help but laugh as she looked at the elder, "I wasn't aware a boy could know more about a girl's body than she did."

Caius seemed to lose his cool finally, now chest to chest with Daphne as he towered over her, "This isn't about what I know or what you know, Daphne. This is about you being so careless as to act out around everybody with your condition."

"Condition?" Daphne resisted the urge to flinch as she looked up at her cousin, practically breathing fire as her tone remained calm, "Enlighten me, Malfoy. On what makes me incapable of acting as I wish."

"I think we all know," Caius glared harshly at her while Atticus attempted to pull him back.

"Caius, back off of her," Atticus was late to pull him away as he jerked himself back and stood behind the younger, "Daphne, look I know what's happened in our lives is hard and it's a lot to process but this isn't the way to act. Questions are being raised and you're being compared to him."

Daphne sucked in a breath as she pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head before looking over at the doors of the Great Hall, "Let them compare me. As long as it isn't to our sorry excuse of a mother, I find myself at no means to care. This isn't about what has happened in our youth, Atticus. Believe what you two want but this conversation is over."

"That's not your call to make," Caius went to stop her from walking back into the hall.

Daphne raised an eyebrow, smirking through her rage as she shook her head, "Actually, it isn't your call to make. Have a good lesson, boys."

And with that she left the two standing at a loss for words in the corridor. She walked back through the gleaming oak doors of the Great Hall as her eyes immediately found her group of friends once more. What had originally started as a walk just to clear her head and not think of her fear, it became a fight and an argument over who she was.

"If being good at Divination means I have to pretend to see death omens in a lump of tea leaves, I'm not sure I'll be studying it much longer! That lesson was absolute rubbish compared with my Arithmancy class!"

And of course, Hermione Granger was still trying to prove her point to Ron Weasley about how bogus Divination was. Daphne knew better than to put her say in the matter as she took her seat once more and finished off her food before gulping down some more Pumpkin juice.

"Are you alright?" Harry's voice was quiet, almost inaudible to the girl's ears.

Daphne looked over at the boy as her expression softened, giving a soft nod as she hummed, "Never better."

It wasn't long before Caius stalked back into the Great Hall with Atticus at his side. Both seemed to be fuming, but Atticus could also be caught with a look of concern. After all, he was her big brother. Daphne understood his worry and why he was trying to talk to her but the last thing she needed was him approaching her and if he let slip to Caius about what had been happening... she wasn't going to be happy.

Harry looked uneasy as he looked at the girl once again, "Daphne, you know you can tell me things, right? We've been friends and I..." He seemed to trail off on his words.

Daphne took another sip of pumpkin juice as she raised an eyebrow, "I know. We both have discussed a lot that no one else knows. You're the person I go to."

Harry seemed slightly relieved by her words as his emerald eyes lit up slightly, "If anythings happening... just talk to me when you're ready."

Daphne smiled slightly as she nudged shoulders with the boy, "I will. You know how I am, I just take a bit of time and we both know how the world views me at the moment."

"Judging you off of someone who shares your last name," Harry tried to keep a smile as he spoke, but it faltered knowing how hard that it must be on her.

Daphne chewed on her inner lip before placing a hand on Harry's arm, "Can we talk about this later? I promise that we'll talk about it... I just don't want to do it right now."

Daphne knew that Harry truly cared for her. The two were best friends after all, always defending one another in situations that most would run from. But they couldn't. Daphne had to protect her friends, her family... and Harry refused to let anyone else get hurt and found himself playing the hero.

"We've got to get to Hagrid's soon, that'll be a bit of a walk and we best not be late to our new favorite class," Daphne's eyes lit up as she spoke, getting excited as she practically began to gleam.

Harry couldn't help but smile shyly as he watched her with something in his eyes that no one had seen before, "Yeah."

Daphne was ecstatic to get out of the castle after lunch, feeling as if the walls on the place had begun to cave in on her. The previous rain had cleared; the sky was a clear, pale gray which almost reminded her of home, and the grass was springy and damp underfoot as they set off for their first ever Care of Magical Creatures class.

Daphne's arm was laced with Harry's as they walked. It seemed that for the day that Harry was her arm buddy, making sure she didn't wander off after seeing something that peaked her attention. Recently, he seemed to have taken over the job. At least after the events of the prior years and how Ron seemed to lose her despite trying to keep a hold on her.

"What do you think Hagrid's going to teach us about?" Daphne found herself asking in a whisper as she looked at Harry, "Knowing him it could well be a plethora of things."

"With Hagrid? There's no way of telling," Harry muttered back to her as he looked at the two in front of them.

"You don't think this has anything to do with Sirius Black, do you?" Ron found himself asking again, trying to create another conversation with Hermione as they walked down the stairs to Hagrid's hut.

"Oh honestly Ron, if you ask me, Divination is a very wooly discipline. Now, Ancient Runes, that's a fascinating subject," Hermione couldn't help but snap as she fell behind the group now.

"Ancient Runes? Exactly how many classes are you taking this term?" Ron questioned as he nearly looked back before deciding to focus on where he stepped.

"A fair few," Hermione dismissed him.

"Hang on," Ron soon came to some sort of realization.

"And here we go," Daphne whispered to Harry as she nearly slipped before he managed to catch her and keep her going down steadily, "Thanks."

"Anytime," Harry muttered sheepishly before listening to the other friends.

"That's not possible," Ron stopped as he let Harry and Daphne go around him to stand by Hermione, "Ancient Runes is at the same time as Divination. You have to be in two classes at once."

"Don't be silly, Ronald. Anyone can't be in two classes at once. Broaden your minds!" Hermione laughed loudly as she spoke, "Use your inner eye to see the future!"

Daphne couldn't help but snicker at the entire conversation before everything went downhill. Literally and figuratively. The two continued to argue before it went into a very tense silence.

Ron and Hermione weren't speaking to each other. Harry and Daphne walked beside them having their own conversation as they went down the sloping lawns to Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was only when they spotted three only-too-familiar backs ahead of them that they realized they must be having these lessons with the Slytherins.

Malfoy was talking animatedly to Crabbe and Goyle, who were chortling. Daphne thought he was about to drop dead by how he laughed. And Daphne felt bad because Harry was quite sure he knew what they were talking about. Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut, a marvelous little place that was so home-like. He stood in his moleskin overcoat, with Fang the boarhound at his heels, looking impatient to start.

"C'mon, now, get a move on!" he called as the class approached, "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Less chattin'! Right, follow me!"

For one nasty moment, Daphne and Harry thought that Hagrid was going to lead them into the forest; the two had had enough unpleasant experiences in there to last him a lifetime. Remembering what happened to them the past two years in those woods. However, Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there.

"Everyone gather 'round the fence here! Less chattin' you lot!" he called. "That's it — make sure yeh can see — now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books — page fourty-nine!"

"How?" said the cold, drawling voice of Draco Malfoy, "Exactly how do we do that?" Malfoy had a horrible attitude behind his words.

"Eh?" said Hagrid.

"How do we open our books?" Malfoy repeated with anger lacing his tone.

He took out his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which he had bound shut with a length of rope. Other people took theirs out too; some, like Daphne and the others, had belted their book shut; others had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips.

"Hasn' — hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" said Hagrid, looking crestfallen.

The class all shook their heads. Daphne shrugged her shoulders before shaking her head which caused Hagrid to nod knowing that he had to help them understand this book.

"Yeh've got ter stroke 'em," said Hagrid, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world, "Look —" He took Hermione's copy and ripped off the Spellotape that bound it.

The book tried to bite, but Hagrid ran a giant forefinger down its spine, and the book shivered, and then fell open and lay quiet in his hand. Daphne nodded as she tried to recount his actions in her head for when she decided to open her own book.

"Does that turn on the book?" Daphne couldn't help but ask before her face went bright red causing Ron to bellow out in laughter at her words.

Harry couldn't help but grin as he tried not to laugh, Daphne gave him a mean look, "Sorry, Daph."

"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Malfoy sneered as he huffed out, "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess!"

"I — I thought they were funny," Hagrid said uncertainly to the three, a slight frown wrinkling his features.

"They are," Daphne smiled as she tried to reassure Hagrid, "I thought it was funny. Don't listen to him."

"Oh, tremendously funny!" Malfoy bellowed out before glaring at his cousin, "Really witty, giving us books that try to rip our hands off!"

"Shut up, Malfoy," couldn't help but snap quickly as he looked over at the slytherin.

"You don't deserve hands, I personally would laugh if it did so. It'd be at the cost of your own stupidity," Daphne hummed as she gave Draco a false smile before looking back at Hagrid, "We just needed a teacher to tell us and you did. You're doing great."

Hagrid was looking downcast and Harry and Daphne wanted Hagrid's first lesson to be a success. Though, when Hagrid heard Daphne his eyes partially lit up as he gave the girl a gleaming smile before he continued.

"Well, just stroke the spine, of course," Hagrid acted as if it was the most obvious thing ever while Daphne made a face, he tried to repeat his words for those who hadn't heard while acting as if he wasn't upset, "Goodness me."

Daphne looked over and watched as Draco slid his finger down the spine of the book which caused it to purr. She made a face knowing that if something purred by Draco Malfoy that it was definitely in need of some sort of therapy.

Though the girl looked startled as Neville let out a yell while the book began to chomp at him. The boy falling to the ground as the book continued to try and bite him. Daphne placed her book down and grabbed onto Harry as she watched this happen.

"I think they're funny," Hermione tried to make everything seem happy.

"Oh, yeah, terribly funny," Draco couldn't help but repeat as he looked at the group, "Really witty. God this place has gone to the dogs. Wait until my father hears that Dumbledore has this oaf teaching classes."

Harry started to walk over as his anger bubbled, a glare residing on his face, "Shut up, Malfoy," This time he made sure he was heard.

"OOooh!" Slytherins all laughed and shook their heads.