Chapter 20 – Snape is NOT One of my Suitors
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Terry, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I were sitting at the very back of the Charms class with a table to ourselves. We were supposed to be practising the opposite of the Summoning Charm today - the Banishing Charm. Owing to the potential for nasty accidents when objects kept flying across the room (a very real threat with our class, not gonna lie), Professor Flitwick had given each student a stack of cushions on which to practice, the theory being that these wouldn't hurt anyone if they went off target. It was a good theory, but it wasn't working very well. Neville's aim was so poor that he kept accidentally sending much heavier things flying across the room - Professor Flitwick, for instance. Terry and I also sent our fellow students flying across the room occasionally, mostly Seamus and Dean. 

"They said that Floppy was a DEMON." I hissed, as Professor Flitwick went whizzing resignedly past us, landing on top of a large cabinet. "I tend to trust them - they are angels, after all." 

This class was ideal cover for a private conversation, as everyone was having far too much fun to eavesdrop. I was telling the group what Gabriel and Castiel had told me last night, after informing Fred and George the moment they woke up, that is. 

"Floppy does seem evil - like, more than your average Slytherin git." Ron whispered, his eyes alight with interest as he Banished a cushion with a sweep of his wand (it soared into the air and knocked Parvati's hat off). "Even more so than your average Malfoy." 

"Yeah. The things he's done to me..." I said, waving my wand without paying much attention, so that my cushion did an odd sort of belly flop off the desk. "And Jerk did say that the people at Malfoy Manor when I was kidnapped were saying that Floppy wasn't human." 

"So if Floppy's a demon..." Terry said, his eyes widening, his cushion spinning high into the air, ricocheting off the chandelier and dropping heavily onto Flitwick's desk. "Then he's worse than a normal Dark wizard, right? Like, he's pure evil, from the depths of Hell kind of evil -" 

"Demons are evil and from Hell, yes." Hermione Banished a cushion and it flew across the room and landed in the box we were all supposed to be aiming at. "But are you sure your brothers aren't pulling your leg, Daisy?" 

"I trust them. They wouldn't lie about something like this." I said, sending a cushion soaring into the window. 

"Which means that Softpaw's in proper danger." Terry said, sending his cushion zooming neatly into the box. 

"I guess we know now why he's trying so hard to get my powers." I said grimly, and my cushion, to my very great surprise, flew straight across the room, and landed neatly on top of Terry's. 

~~~ 

The weeks rolled in, and Harry and I turned our attentions in earnest to the other most urgent problem currently facing us: how to survive underwater for an hour on the twenty-fourth of February. 

"Of course, the ideal solution would be to Transfigure yourself into a submarine." Fred told me. 

"But that can go badly wrong if you don't know what you're doing." George added hastily. 

"Yeah, I don't fancy walking around with a periscope sticking out of my head." I said. 

"Why not? Be wild entertaining, it would." George said. 

I spluttered. "I'm the hottest girl in the school, and I'd like to remain that way, however amusing a periscope would be on my forehead - I could look like a wacky unicorn, I guess." 

"You'd be the hottest girl in the school no matter what you have on your forehead." Fred muttered. My heart fluttered, and George smirked at us both. 

"I s'pose I could always attack someone in front of Mad-Eye, he might do it for me..." I said to divert George from his twin's words, referring to the Transfiguration. 

"Floppy, PLEASE -"

The Insurgents, Harry, Ron, and Hermione made our way to the library to research, although Fred and George took the jobs of keeping everyone's spirits up with wisecracks and stupid little charms, as they were obviously not up to the task of studying anything for any length of time. Terry dived eagerly into the thick, dusty volumes with Hermione, his Ravenclaw brain taking charge - which didn't happen often, but when it did, it was extraordinary. 

"I don't reckon it can be done." Ron's voice said flatly from the other side of the table several hours later. "There's nothing. NOTHING." 

"Closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the lake." Terry said. 

"Ohh - I could use my powers to -" 

"No." Hermione cut me off, furrowing her eyebrows at me. "You know what Dumbledore told you. You can't expose your powers to the public, they'll crucify you. No one else can know you're an angel, or they'll all want a piece of you - or they won't understand, and try to kill you." 

"Also, Harry needs a way." Terry said. "You can't rely on you always being there - what if something goes wrong and you's are separated?" 

"There must be something." Hermione muttered, moving a candle closer to her. Her eyes were so tired she was pouring over the tiny print of 'Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes' with her nose about an inch from the page. "They'd never have set a task that was undoable." 

"They have." Terry said. "Softpaw, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, mate." 

"I know what I should have done." Harry said, resting, face down, on 'Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts.' "I should've learnt to be an Animagus like Daisy." 

"Yeah, you could've turned into a goldfish any time you wanted!" Ron said. 

"Or a frog." Harry yawned. 

"What Daisy, Terry, Fred and George did was very illegal, so Daisy can't turn in front of the crowd anyway, and there's no guarantee that you'd turn into something that can breathe underwater. Daisy didn't choose -" 

"Hermione, I was joking." Harry said wearily. "I know I haven't got a chance of turning into a frog by tomorrow morning..." 

"Oh, this is no use." Hermione said, snapping 'Weird Wizarding Dilemmas' shut. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?" 

"I wouldn't mind." Fred said. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?" 

Lee emerged from behind some bookshelves. 

"Lee, my man! What're you doing here?" I asked. 

"Looking for someone." Lee grinned. "McGonagall wants you, Fred. And you, Ron and Hermione." 

"Why?" Hermione said, looking surprised. 

"Why just me and not Bushy?" Fred asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Dunno... she was looking a bit grim, though." Lee said. "I'm supposed to take you three down to her office." 

Looking confused, Fred, Ron, and Hermione rose out of their chairs. 

"Good luck, Softpaw." Fred quirked an eyebrow at me. "You'll definitely need it." 

"Thanks, bro." I said glumly. 

The four left the room after Hermione's intense lecturing of me and Harry to keep researching until no book in the library was left unread. Harry and I turned to each other as Terry and George scooted their chairs closer together, snorting at something on Terry's phone. 

My twin brother and I spent another hour searching through textbooks to no avail. Harry slammed another thick volume closed, a thin layer of dust rising from the pages. 

"What the fuck are we gonna do?" Harry asked. 

I shrugged, groaning. "Die, I guess. We can't do the shitty task." 

"Woah." Harry said, his eyes widening, pointing behind me. I turned. 

"Daisy and Harry Potter WILL do the task!" Dobby squeaked from the edge of the table. "Dobby knew Daisy and Harry had not found the right book, so Dobby did it for them!" 

My heart lifted. I didn't even question him on where the hell he had come from, the sneaky elf, I was that glad to hear what had just come out of his mouth. 

"What?" Harry said. "But YOU don't know what the second task is -" 

"Dobby knows, sir! Daisy and Harry Potter have to go into the lake and find their Wheezies -" 

"Find our what?" 

"- and take their Wheezies back from the merpeople!" 

"What's a Wheezy?" 

"Your Wheezies, miss, your Wheezies - Wheezy who are friends with the Potters and that I saw one kissing Daisy Potter once -" 

"WHAT?" I gasped. "They've got... they've got FRED?" 

"Hold on - KISSING Daisy -" 

"Third year to make Terry jealous, remember?" I said quickly, and Harry nodded, a hint of suspicion still on his face. 

"So they've got Fred and Ron?" Harry said, turning back to Dobby. 

"The things Daisy and Harry Potter will miss most, sir!" Dobby squeaked. "And past an hour -" 

"- The prospect's black." I recited, staring, horror-struck, at the elf. "Too late, it's gone, it won't come back... Dobby - what've we got to do?" 

"You both has to eat this, miss!" The elf squeaked, and he put his hand in to the pocket of his shorts and drew out a ball of what looked like slimy, greyish green rat tails. "Right before you go into the lake, miss - Gillyweed! Dobby heard Professor McGonagall and Professor Moody in the staff room, talking about the next task... Dobby cannot let Daisy and Harry Potter lose their Wheezies!" 

"Oh Godric," I said, taking the Gillyweed, "I can't let myself lose my Wheezy, too." 

"Good luck, Daisy and Harry Potter, miss, sir, good luck!" 

~~~

Terry said goodbye to us outside the library, grinning, and heading in the direction of Ravenclaw Tower. George accompanied me and Harry up to Gryffindor Tower, where Harry split off to hang out with Seamus and Dean, and George and I sat beside the fireplace. Crookshanks crawled into my lap and curled up, purring deeply. The common room emptied slowly around us. People kept wishing me luck for the next morning in cheery, confident voices, all of them convinced I was about to pull off another stunning performance like the one we had managed in the first task. 

If only I could have used my powers. They would truly see something spectacular then. 

"You make my brother happy, Softpaw." George said genuinely after a long chat about what Hagrid's chickens would do if we hexed them to turn into rubber chickens and back every full moon. 

I blushed. "Really?" 

George nodded, a small grin lifting up the corners of his mouth. "Really. He won't stop telling me how great it was to spend Valentine's Day with you, regardless that you guys weren't on a date and were just pranking McGonagall." 

My heart fluttered. What's going on with me recently? It's not like I'm in love with Fred or anything. He's just my friend. With benefits. That's all. 

"And he really, REALLY, hated that Kylie Ford sent you that dazzling display of romance on Valentine's Day, too." George added, smirking. 

I buried my face in my arms, slumping onto the table in front of my sofa as George laughed, his arm slipping off me. 

George and I passed out in the common room together, and we woke late, panicking and hurrying into the showers. We sprinted down the stairs, Harry joining us from the Great Hall, pushing a slice of toast into my hands. The Entrance Hall contained a few last-minute stragglers, all leaving the Great Hall after breakfast and heading through the double-oak doors to watch the second task. They whooped as we flashed past, sending Colin and Dennis flying as we leapt down the stone steps and out into the bright, chilly grounds. 

As we pounded down the lawn I saw that the seats that had encircled the dragons' enclosure in November were now arranged along the opposite bank, rising in stands that were packed to bursting point and reflected in the lake below; the excited babble of the crowd echoed strangely across the water as we ran, flat out, around the other side of the lake towards the judges, who were sitting at another gold-draped table at the water's edge. George split off to run for the stands, high-fiving me one last time. Cedric, Fleur, and Krum were beside the judges' table, watching Harry and I sprint towards them. 

"We're... here..." I panted, skidding to a halt in the mud and accidentally splattering Fleur's robes. 

"Where have you two been?" A bossy, disapproving voice said. "The task's about to start!" 

Harry and I looked around. Percy was sitting at the judges' table - Crouch had failed to turn up. 

"Now, now, Percy!" Ludo Bagman said, who was avoiding my eye. "Let them catch their breaths!" 

We were all arranged along the bank, and the cannon went off. The other three dived into the water, and Harry and I munched the Gillyweed, waiting in the freezing water. Laughter came from the crowd, and I raised my hand, waving at them, grinning. 

Finally, I felt the changes. I tugged Harry into the water with me. 

We could breathe. The water didn't feel icy any more... on the contrary, I felt pleasantly cool, and very light... I struck out, marvelling at how far and fast my flipper-like feet propelled me through the water, and noticing how clearly I could see, and how I no longer needed to blink. We had soon swum so far into the lake that I could no longer see the bottom. We flipped over, and dived into its depths. 

Soon, we had found the centre of the lake. After Harry had to use "Relashio!" on some Grindlylows that tried to attack us, we were swimming past merpeople and their little houses carved into the rocks. 

A whole crowd of merpeople were floating in front of the houses that lined what looked like a mer-version of a village square. A choir of merpeople were singing in the middle, calling the champions towards them, and behind them rose a crude sort of statue; a gigantic merperson hewn from a boulder. Five people were bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson. 

Fred was tied between Ron and Hermione, who was next to Cho Chang. There was also a girl who looked no older than eight, whose clouds of silvery hair made me feel sure that she was Fleur's sister. All five of them appeared to be in a very deep sleep. Their heads were lolling onto their shoulders, and fine streams of bubbles kept issuing from their mouths. 

Harry and I sped towards the hostages, and I half expected the merpeople to lower their spears and charge at us, but they did nothing. The ropes of weed tying the hostages to the statue were thick, slimy, and very strong. 

I raised my hand, glancing around me furtively, and focused. Fred's ropes melted off him, then Ron's. They were freed. Harry caught both of them by their robes. 

I looked around. There was no sign of any of the other champions. What were they playing at? Why didn't they hurry up? I turned back to Hermione, raising my hand - 

At once, several pairs of strong, grey hands seized me. Half-a-dozen mermen were pulling me away from Hermione, shaking their green-haired heads and laughing. 

"You take your own hostage." One of them said to me. "Leave the others..." 

"No way!" I said furiously - but only two large bubbles came out. 

"Your task is to retrieve your own friend... leave the others..." 

"SHE'S my friend, too!" I yelled, gesturing towards Hermione, an enormous silver bubble  emerging soundlessly from my lips. "And I don't want THEM to die, either!" 

Cho's head was on Hermione's shoulder; the small silver-haired girl was ghostly green and pale. 

'Harry - you wait here with them and make sure the other champions get them. I'll go and tell Dumbledore that you're down here, and win this for both of us - we're both registered as a team so we're technically the same champion anyway.' I sent to my twin. 'And if you're not up by the timer, I'm coming back down to get you.' Harry hesitated, then nodded. 

But then the merpeople around me started pointing excitedly over my head. I looked up and saw Cedric swimming towards us. There was an enormous bubble around his head, which made his features look oddly wide and stretched. 

"Got lost!" He mouthed at me, looking panic-stricken. "Fleur and Krum're coming now!" 

Feeling enormously relieved, I swam upwards with Fred's arm in my grasp as Cedric pulled a knife out of his pocket, and cut Cho free. I nodded at Harry, who sent me a thumbs-up, and swam harder as Cedric pulled Cho upwards. 

"Oh no you don't!" Cedric mouthed at me, grinning. "Come back here, you little shit!" 

My Hufflepuff friend and I raced each other to the surface; I could somehow swim faster than him, and I broke the surface of the water mere seconds before he did. The crowd in the stands was making a great deal of noise; shouting and screaming, everybody seemed to be on their feet. 

Fred merely expelled a great spout of water, blinked in the bright light, turned to me, and said, "Wet, this, isn't it?" 

Cedric fist-bumped me. "Super clutch victory, Daze. Good game." 

I swam over to the stands, the others following, and was hoisted out of the water by Minnie. 

"Perfect, Miss Potter... are you quite alright? Yes, yes... now, where is Mr Potter?" 

I explained to Minnie and Dumbledore where he was, and they in turn informed me that the sleeping hostages were in no danger, the one-hour time limit the eggs had given us was to simply make sure that we made it back within the time frame allowed for the task. Shit. My brother's still down there waiting for the other champions. Oh well. He'll figure it out soon enough. And if he doesn't, then -

Harry finally surfaced with Ron and Fleur's sister. The crowd was going wild, and Fleur thanked both of us profusely, kissing us both on the cheeks, and Harry and I both flushed bright pink. She had been attacked in the water, and was prevented from participating in the rest of the task. 

Harry and I were given forty-seven points, putting us both in first place overall. We high-fived as the other champions and their hostages chatted around us, and Fred came up behind me, wrapping his arms around me. I blushed harder, throwing my arms up into the air, and the crowd cheered louder than ever. 

"Huh? Why're they -" Fred said, confused, before turning and seeing. "Oh." 

Kylie, in all her emo glory, was walking towards me, grinning. Her closely cropped, two-inches-long hair was messed up, her hands in her pockets of her ripped skinny jeans, her band tank top hanging loosely, giving me a view of her sports bra underneath, her flawless face drawing me in. Her jawline was just as sharp as I'd remembered it, and her lips just as luscious, her teeth just as straight and perfect, her smile blindingly charming and charismatic. 

Oh Godric. This girl is perfect. 

"Hey, Daisy Potter." Kylie said smoothly, stopping in front of me. Fred's arms withdrew from around me, and I no longer felt his presence behind me. 

I grinned at her. "Hey, Kylie Ford." 

"Nice job. I said you'd win, and I was right." Kylie smirked slowly, reaching a hand out. She brushed a water beetle from my arm gently, her touch leaving tingles across my skin. 

"You were." I admitted. 

"I don't have much time left, Daisy Potter. My ride is leaving in a minute. I only had an hour and a half to squeeze into my schedule to watch your Tournament - I'm a busy woman." Kylie's smirk grew larger. "I'm very much in demand, as I'm sure you know, my sweet flower." 

I giggled, the butterflies in my stomach making me feel quite ridiculous. "Of course you are, looking like that." I said, the words just coming out of my mouth without my consent. 

Kylie's eyes gleamed mischievously. She leaned in, her arms reaching around me and pulling me in close, and kissed me full on the mouth. I relaxed into the kiss, enjoying myself thoroughly as Kylie Ford's pierced lips moved with mine, and the crowd in the stands was beside itself. 

We separated, Kylie pulling her lip ring into her mouth by her teeth as she regarded me. She gave me one last small smirk as she turned, raising her hand into the air to a group of wizards in black robes standing outside the stands. 

"I'll see you sometime, Daisy Potter." Kylie said courteously, and stepped off the platform. I watched her stride off the castle grounds with her security team, my mouth hanging open. 

Woah. 

~~~

One of the best things about the aftermath of the second task was that everybody was very keen to hear details of what had happened down in the lake. Everyone also asked me for details about my kiss with Kylie Ford. I noticed that Fred's version of events changed subtly with every retelling. At first, he gave what seemed to be the truth; it rallied with Ron and Hermione's story, anyway - Dumbledore had put all the hostages into a bewitched sleep in Minnie's office, first assuring them that they would be quite safe, and would awake when they were back above the water. One week later, however, Fred was telling a thrilling tale of kidnap in which he struggled single-handedly against fifty heavily armed merpeople who had to beat him into submission before tying him up. 

"But I had my wand hidden up my sleeve." Fred assured Kurt. "I could've taken those mer-idiots any time I wanted." 

"What were you going to do, snore at them?" I said waspishly. People had been teasing me so much about Fred being the thing that I would most miss, and asking me about too many details of mine and Kylie's kiss, that I was in a rather tetchy mood. 

"I was." Fred confessed to Kurt. "Snoring is my most trustworthy superpower. It's helped me more than once, actually -" 

As we entered March the weather became drier, but cruel winds skinned our hands and faces every time we went out into the grounds. 

Outside Potions, I saw that Terry and Draco were giggling over a magazine - 'Witch Weekly.' My face was on the cover, smiling charismatically at the camera, and I smirked as I recognised it from one of the photo shoots I did with Rita Skeeter a few months ago. 

"Here, take it." Terry thrust the magazine at me and scampered off to Transfiguration, giggling loudly. 

At that moment, the dungeon door opened, and Snape beckoned us all inside. We headed for a table at the back of the dungeon as usual. Once Snape had turned his back on us to write up the ingredients of today's potion on the blackboard, I hastily riffled through the magazine under the desk. At last, in the centre pages, I found what I was looking for. 

"Aw, NICE!" I high-fived Seamus and Dean as everyone leaned over to read the article with me. 

Draco had clearly already read the article, and he smirked at me as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Seamus, Dean, and I read the article. A large photo of Kylie and I kissing in the stands headed the article. 

"I'll kill her." Harry said. 

"Harry, no! Honestly, she's right. I do like dating around, IG -" I sniggered. 

"Fascinating though your social life undoubtedly is, Miss Potter," said an icy voice right behind us, "I must ask you not to discuss it in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor." 

Snape had glided over to our desk while we had been talking. The whole class was now looking around at us; Pansy took the opportunity to flash her 'POTTERS RULE' badge across the dungeon at me from underneath her cloak, smiling. The badges had been circulating around the school, courtesy of the Weasley twins, in support of me and Harry as Triwizard champions. I smiled back. 

"Ah... reading magazines under the table as well?" Snape added, snatching up the copy of 'Witch Weekly.' "A further ten points from Gryffindor... oh, but of course..." Snape's black eyes glittered as they fell on Rita Skeeter's article. "Miss Potter has to keep up with her press cuttings..." 

"Of course, Professor." I tossed my hair over my shoulder, and the dungeon rang with the Gryffindors and Draco's laughter. Snape's eyes glinted. He began to read the article aloud. 

"'Daisy Potter the Heartbreaker Finally Finds Love...' dear, dear, Miss Potter, who's become your suitor now? 'A girl like no other, perhaps...'" 

I rolled my eyes. Snape, basically calling me a slut AND being heteronormative? Just another day in double Potions. Why does he have to assume that my new 'love' is a 'suitor,' a dude? 

"'... Terry Boot, her first boyfriend, was a womaniser at school, breaking every heart there, but our beautiful Daisy Potter broke his before he could hers... Draco Malfoy broke Daisy's heart by cheating on her with Boot -'" 

Draco flexed across the classroom, and the class roared with laughter. 

"'- but it appears that naughty Daisy had slept with a certain drummer from the nation's favourite band, the Weird Sisters - Kylie Ford, the wizarding world's most famous lesbian icon - that very same night... Daisy has reportedly broken many hearts over the years at Hogwarts, including Felix Malfoy's -'" 

The class snickered as Floppy glared around at us. 

"'- Fred AND George Weasley's, Cedric Diggory's, Blaise Zabini's, Pansy Parkinson's -'" 

Snape paused as the class sniggered at Blaise and Pansy, the former who was rolling his eyes, and the latter who was burying her face in her arms on her desk. 

"'- Hermione Granger's -" 

"What rubbish." Hermione scoffed, her face pinkening. 

"'- and Ron Weasley's...'" 

Ron went bright red. 

"'Daisy Potter and Kylie Ford have been spotted in intimate relations all over the castle and in numerous romantic dating spots all over the country, which are frequented by the rich and famous...'" 

I snorted. Damn. I wish. 

"'... Daisy Potter's well-wishers must hope that this nation's favourite drummer is a worthier candidate for her heart than her previous flings.' How very touching." Snape sneered, rolling up the magazine. 

"Nah, actually, I want that back." I snatched it out of his grip, grinning. 

Snape glared at me. "I think I had better separate the lot of you, so you can keep your minds on your potions rather than your tangled love lives. Malfoy, Weasley, you stay here. Finnigan, over there, beside Miss Parkinson. Thomas, beside Zabini. Potter, beside Crabbe. Miss Potter - that table in front of my desk. Move. Now." 

We all sniggered, moving. I dumped my stuff on my new desk for the rest of the period, smirking. 

"All this press attention seems to have inflated your already overlarge head, Miss Potter." Snape said quietly, once the rest of the class had settled down again. 

"My head seems to be in proportion, though, sir - wait, maybe I should 'engorgio' it a bit more -" 

"You might be labouring under the delusion that the entire wizarding world is impressed with you," Snape went on ("They are, actually, sir. Why else would a short little article on my love life be so popular in the papers?"), "but I don't care how many times your picture appears in the papers. To me, Miss Potter, you are nothing but a nasty little girl who considers rules to be beneath her." 

"Rules ARE beneath me, Professor." I said cheerily. "You got that right, at least." 

"So I give you fair warning, Miss Potter." Snape continued, ignoring me, in a softer and more dangerous voice. "Pint-sized celebrity or not - if I catch you breaking into my office for my ingredients one more time -" 

"Oh, fuck off, and stop accusing me of shit I didn't do, SIR." I rolled my eyes. The class froze. "Don't take your anger at not being in my article out on me." 

"Detention, Miss Potter." 

"Snape is jealous he's not one of my suitors CONFIRMED!"

Who do you ship with Daisy more?
  • Fred Votes: 1 11.1%
  • Kylie Votes: 6 66.7%
  • Draco Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Terry (pls DON’T, you’ll see soon why!) Votes: 0 0.0%
  • George (oop) Votes: 1 11.1%
  • Pansy Votes: 6 66.7%
  • Ron (why) Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Fleur Votes: 1 11.1%
  • Tom Riddle (lmao) Votes: 2 22.2%
  • Cedric (why not) Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Hermione (;)) Votes: 7 77.8%
Total voters: 9
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