To Delia's surprise, the night after her behavioral hearing was quite uneventful.
A shocked James Donahue was amazed that Delia was able to get out of that courtroom unscathed. Evelyn, on the other hand, knew that Delia had the ability to make people see the truth of any story.
With the behavioral hearing behind her, Delia could focus her annoyance on an ever-growing issue. Her 5th year at Hogwarts.
Not saying she didn't like school, she actually loved it. There was so much untouched knowledge that she had yet to learn. As someone who was always writing, she enjoyed having the ability to learn more about the world around her.
Besides the stress of her O.W.L.S., she was somehow, shockingly, chosen to be a prefect for the Ravenclaw house.
"The world must be against me" she spoke to herself as she finished packing her trunk.
"I think it's quite the opposite," Evelyn announced as she found her way into Delia's bedroom.
"Prefects are practically perfect. This does not belong to me." Delia packed her Ravenclaw prefect badge into the bottom of her trunk.
"You know for a fact that they are not perfect. If they were, I wouldn't have gotten this either." Evelyn laid down a slightly antiquated Ravenclaw prefect badge
"Did you just completely forget to tell me you were a prefect too?" Delia said in a sarcastic tone as she held up the badge and looked towards Evelyn.
"I didn't want you to feel pressured into thinking you needed to become one." Evelyn offered a sympathetic look towards her daughter. "I know how your dad can be. With accomplishments and all that."
"Well, he must have done something right." Delia compared both prefect badges in her hands.
"Delia, I want you to know, whatever trouble you get into this year-" Evelyn motioned for her daughter to sit beside her
"I can't promise I won't because I'll never be able to hold that promise but I'll do my best not to end up back at the Ministry." Delia gave a warm smile.
"I just want you to know that I'm proud of you." Evelyn hugged Delia.
The hug caught Delia by surprise but she felt immense enjoyment in the fact that her mom felt that way.
If she made an impact on one person, imagine what else she could do.
∞ ϟ 9¾
The morning of September 1st was always the most chaotic of the year and it wasn't even 11 AM yet.
As the Donahues rushed through London's King Cross station, Delia relived all the moments she had found herself in this very station.
She remembered the anticipation she had as she jumped aboard the train during her first year.
Or how Greyson hugged her after their second year and she knew she had a friend for life. Even if that said friend was quite the idiot sometimes.
And the amount of arguments she got into on the train in her third and fourth years.
And here she was, about to enter the barrier for her fifth year, expecting the same for this next year.
"Excuse me! Coming through!" A redhead zipped past Delia and elbowed her in the process.
"My apologies! Gotta go!" She yelled back towards Delia as she kept on chasing what looked like her pet owl.
Delia peered past a few people to watch her disappear into the barrier.
She looked around towards the crowd of muggles who seemed to not even notice the strange girl running after an owl.
"Could've sworn I just saw some crazed girl running after an owl. Maybe I'm just seeing things." Delia's dad said as he and Evelyn caught up with Delia
She smiled to herself as they walked into the barrier of Platform 9 & 3/4.
Once in, she felt the warm buzz of Hogwarts hit her once again.
It felt very similar to King's Cross just with more witches and wizards.
Suddenly, she felt an exciting feel for the upcoming school year.
She wheeled her trunk and pet owl, Ollie closer to the train.
As the clock struck the five-minute warning she accepted hugs from both her mom and dad. She hated to say it, but she enjoyed the freedom of being away from them once in a while.
"Okay, just a few things before you go!" Delia's dad started off on a rant as soon as the hug was over.
"You're a prefect now. People are going to look up to you. No more landing yourself in detentions for arguing with Prendergast. Or any teachers of that sort."
"Dad." Delia watched the clock hit 10:56.
"Make sure you write back if you get in trouble. You had that bad habit last year of not telling us anything."
"Yep. Great."
"Please study for your O.W.L.S. because this year is imperative for you. I can't stress how much those matter."
"Alright."
"Don't do any-"
Delia let out a small laugh and James turned around to see Greyson standing behind him.
"Mr. Donahue I assure you your daughter would do no such thing of that sort. If anyone follows the rules, it's her!" Greyson looked down at James as he spoke.
"Greyson Willard! It's been too long!" Evelyn remarked as she gave a hug to Greyson.
In terms of "too long," it had only been a month since the Willards came over to share dinner with the Donahues.
"Greyson, you know better than to scare him like that." Delia looked towards Greyson.
"You're going to drive me to an early death Delia Donahue." James looked flatly at his daughter.
"She's going to drive us all to an early death." Greyson was still looking for James's approval.
"You get used to it after a while." A heavily accented voice spoke up from behind Delia.
Vivienne Bradford, one of Hogwarts' most opulent students, made her presence known aside from Delia.
Delia and Vivienne had been the closest of friends since an 11-year-old Delia somehow ended up in the same train carriage as Vivienne in their first year and the rest was history.
Delia admired Vivienne more than she would ever know. If anyone had an unbreakable bond, it was them two. You wouldn't find one without the other.
Her brown hair was perfectly tied back into a half-up and half-down and sealed with a black bow. She was a vision of affluence.
"How could I survive without you?" Delia hugged Vivienne the moment she realized her standing next to her.
"It would indeed be such a tragic life for you without me." Vivienne knew she and Delia would remain friends even if tragedy struck.
"It would be tragic if you kids missed the train." James motioned towards the clock which had now hit 10:58 and the kids needed to board.
"Bye, dad." Delia said in a droned-out tone and motioned for her friends to follow.
Greyson joined Delia and Vivienne's side as the trio walked towards the doors of the train.
"Bradford! Willard!" James called out to Delia's friends. "Keep her in check! For everyone's sake!"
"We'll do our best!" Greyson called back to him and Vivienne elbowed him to keep walking.
Delia kept her focus on navigating through the crowd.
∞ ϟ 9¾
"To put it plainly, you have become quite the eloquent genius! Greyson assist me here!" Vivienne was trailing on about the articles Delia had published from the past summer as they walked through the train.
"Delia already knows how much I love everything she does. She doesn't need to hear it twice." Greyson stated
"Everything she does?" Vivienne looked skeptically towards him.
"I mean her articles. Yes, those." Greyson caught himself.
"Vivienne. I appreciate your regards towards my articles. I truly do. But I don't just want people praising me without change. I need these articles to work out. Not for me but for the future." Delia insisted.
"And they will." Vivienne reasoned with Delia. "I mean, how could they not, you're honest and brilliant and-"
"Late."
Vivienne was cut off by a boy opening the door to the Prefect's compartment.
"I'm sorry. We must be in the wrong section. I didn't realize Dumbledore would make such a provoking person a prefect." Delia stated back to the boy who almost took her out by swinging the door open.
"Could I not say the same about you?" The boy already seemed annoyed about Delia's remark. "At least they picked one prefect who isn't fond of tardiness."
Delia already couldn't stand most blinkered people at Hogwarts but Charlie Stryker hit #1 on her list of "people to ignore." He was ignorant, self-centered, and so rude. He deserved the time of no one but by some miracle, people enjoyed his company.
"You know I have half a mind to go tell the Ravenclaw Head Boy that you're already ruining your reputation. Not that you have much left of it." Charlie kept testing his luck.
"Why would she waste her breath on someone of such shallow actions? You're nothing but objectionable talk." Greyson spoke up behind Delia.
"Donahue! Stryker! In here now!" A head boy poked his head out of the Prefect compartment and urged the two prefects to enter.
Charlie left the trio out in the hall still shocked but used to his usual behavior.
"There is something seriously wrong with him. I don't understand his need to fight us every single encounter we have with him." Greyson looked down at the girls.
"Greyson, let's leave Delia to fight her own battles." Vivienne started pushing Greyson towards another compartment. "There better not be bloodshed by the end of this trip."
Delia offered Vivienne a small smile and watched them walk away as she opened the Prefect compartment door.
"Delia Donahue. We need to talk." The head boy motioned for her to sit down next to Charlie.
She slowly sat down and once she touched her seat, she managed to scoot back over so she wouldn't have to feel Charlie's presence on the seat next to her.
It was already awful enough that she had to share the train ride with him.
"We need to talk about your articles." The head boy stated.
"It's not that we want to silence you. We just need to restrict what you write about and not spread gossip." The head girl spoke up.
"That's basically silencing me." Delia looked at both of them across from her.
"We know your past of indiscipline and we are politely asking you to continue it no more due to your prefect duties." The boy ignored her comment.
"To be completely honest, I don't know who even picked me to be a prefect. If you're so against my articles, why am I still here?" Delia caught the girl and boy off guard with that comment.
"Come to think of it, I'd like to know the answer to that as well." Charlie finally spoke up.
"Oh, really? I'd like to know the answer to-" Delia started up.
"Just keep the articles to a minimum." The head boy said painfully. "You can't continue your discipline record under our watch."
"Try your best. Please" The head girl offered some sympathy.
This was going to be a long train ride.
∞ ϟ 9¾
Exiting the train was like a breath of fresh air.
"Oh thank goodness you survived." Vivienne made her way over to Delia.
"You should see the other guy." Delia joked with her.
"You know for a fact that we were miserable without you." Greyson ruffled the top of Delia's head.
"It must've been tragic." Delia smoothed out her hair as Vivienne gave her a knowing smile.
Greyson kept his focus on Delia as Vivienne interrupted the silence.
"So... we should-"
"Go. Yes of course." Delia followed Vivienne towards the carriages to get to Hogwarts.
"Didn't they just speak to you about your prefect role?" Charlie's obnoxious voice spoke up behind the trio.
Delia realized that she actually had to complete her prefect duties now that she was one.
"I hate to say he's right but I forgot I have to help the first years make their way to the boats. I'll see you in there?" Delia let out a painful sigh and slowly walked away.
"Delia and Charlie? Never expected that." Greyson fidgeted anxiously.
"Am I sensing a tinge of jealously?" Vivienne looked skeptically at Greyson who was still watching Delia walk away. "Oh, come on. You know she'll get tired of him so quickly. I give it a week at most."
∞ ϟ 9¾
A/N: it's been a while, you don't have to remind me. however, I am looking forward to writing and posting more over the summer and I can't wait for you all to see what I have in store for Delia during her 5th year at Hogwarts! see u soon<3