a/n: okie, no joke this a super long asf chapter. [3980 words!!!]
unedited. published 12/19/16
Gemma was waiting in the common room, dressed in a Christmas sweater and a thick coat. She saw the slumping body of Darcy come through the entrance of the Slytherin common room with a sack on her back.
"Hey there," Gemma said as she saw the sack, "Santa."
Darcy rolled her eyes, but there was a smile in her face. "I'll meet you down her in a few minutes -gotta change!"
. . .
The two girls sat around, snacking on the candies Lupin had given her and talked about everyone in the Slytherin house. It was packed in the common room, but it was also loud.
"So, Pansy and Malfoy?" asked Darcy, still tugging on a sweater and the same colorful windbreaker she wore at the World cup over her t-shirt.
Gemma scoffed. "I bet all the decent girls in this house were taken so he had to ask Parkinson," she said.
A little surprised that Gemma also had a disliking to Malfoy, Darcy regained herself and smiled.
"Well, I heard from Ron that Tracey's going with Theodore Nott," Darcy said, looking around and spotting Nott sit with Zambini. "Funny, really -I saw him last Christmas break, alone. Never really struck me as the type to be around a group like Malfoy's."
"Well, he isn't," said Gemma, her eyes darting to the same boy. "He's just -like you said, alone. His dad was a Death Eater in You-Know-Who's first terror. He just wants to be different."
Raising her eybrows, Darcy turned over to Gemma. "Shocking," she said dully, and stuffed another spicy wing in her mouth. "How do you know? That he isn't like the others? Have you stalked him?"
"We used to be friends," Gemma brushed off. "It's almost lunch -and no! I don't stalk him."
Darcy nodded, her eyes twinkling with knowing. "I'm kidding -by the way, just so you know, Nott doesn't really like Tracey. Only asked her to please his father - and that's as far as I'll look, Gemma."
And that was the deal. Darcy had admitted to taking after school classes with Snape -something that Gemma was smart enough to notice. So, in return for going to the Yule Ball with Ron, Gemma asked in return that Darcy would find out about Theodore's well-being.
It was something that Darcy was warned not to do -to look though a students mind. But, Darcy told herself that it wasn't breaking the law. Gemma just wanted to know how Theodore was doing.
"Oh," Gemma said, her voice small with hope. "Thank you, Darcy. He just isn't talking to me anymore...so I got a little worried."
Tightly, Darcy smiled.
. . .
After a quick lunch with Gemma, Darcy excused herself to go to the snow on the grounds.
Sitting on a bench under a snow-covered tree, Hermione was watching the boys throw snow balls. Darcy sat next to her, smiling.
"Not going to join?" said Darcy, her eyes following the Weasley's. Ginny and Fred had teamed against George, Harry and Ron.
Hermione shook her head. "No. My hair get's really bushy when I shower."
Waving a hand, Darcy collected a bunch of snowballs to her command and sat them on the ground beside her.
"You sure you don't want to through just one?"
"Just go on, Darce. I know you want to."
Darcy was already packing her snowballs in her hands and went to join Ginny and Fred.
"Saw you guys were taken short!" Darcy laughed, handing out the snowballs to the two red-heads.
The six threw snowballs, and after a while, Darcy was hit in the back by George. She cursed, and gave him a finger. Then, she went along to build a variation of snow-mans near Hermione.
Around five o'clock, Hermione said she was going back upstairs to get ready for the ball. Darcy agreed as well, excited to see the dress Ophelia -and Remus -got her.
"What, you need three hours?" said Ron, looking at her incredulously and paying for his lapse in concentration when a large snowball, thrown by George, hit him hard on the side of the head. "Who're you going with?" he yelled after Hermione, but she just waved and disappeared up the stone steps into the castle.
"He's still going on about that?" Darcy said.
Hermione nodded. "I just ignore it. He's such a child, honestly."
The two separated to their own ways. Darcy headed down to her dorm, and picked up the box that Ophelia handed her.
Inside was a lavender-colored dress. It's lightness was undeniably beautiful when folded, already revealing patterns of small delicate flowers. The dress was a v-neck -delicate and appropriate -that had a see-through mesh, darker material. The tiny flowers were delicately and precisely placed around the torso, and spread out on to the skirt of the dress.
Darcy was both relieved and amazed. She almost rejected the idea of Lupin choosing the dress. (But if Lupin did take a liking to Ophelia, then he must've chosen the dress because of the color).
"That's beautiful," said a voice behind her -Tracey, whom was accompanied by Gemma.
Darcy, midway into the french braid, paused and smiled at the two when they went to their beds.
Tracey laid out a elegant puffy pastel pink dress. She easily pulled on the dress, explaining that she was going to the next dorm.
Gemma was left behind, and she stared, lost, at the ground.
"I have no idea what to do," she said. "I haven't got the slightest of where to start."
Done with the one-side french braid, Darcy said, "Do your hair -and makeup if that's what you do."
"Makeup?" said Gemma, her cheeks flushed. "I have no idea how to do that!"
"Oh, well," said Darcy. She examined Gemma's face, which was completely flawless. "I don't think you need makeup. You're skin is really smooth...My mascara could work on you...maybe a little blush?"
"You'd help me?" Gemma excitedly said. "Oh that's so nice!"
Darcy did everything she could to please Gemma. She already had her tan neck-high dress on that made her look extremely tall, even though she was a few inches shorter than Darcy. When done, Gemma was hugging Darcy tightly.
"You're welcome," laughed Darcy, patting Gemma's back. "Now -I'm pretty sure my lungs are getting crushed."
"Wow! I'm just -" Gemma breathed out, " -it's great -you're great!"
Darcy shook her head and laughed. "Let's head down and show off you off. You look like a million bucks!"
"Oh, stop!" Gemma hushed, blushing.
. . .
The Slytheirn's had stared oddly at Darcy and Gemma. Most fourth to seventh years had paired themselves with only Slytherins, only a handful-including Darcy and Gemma-had dates outside of the house.
Though, a nagging boy's thoughts caught Darcy's attention as she walked out of the Slyhterin common room with Gemma. Nott was behind them, and his emotions were so strong that Darcy couldn't help but turn her head to see his face.
He was staring directly at her, and their eyes met. Quickly, Darcy held on tight to Gemma's arm. The massive group of Slytherins made their way past them.
"I don't know if I want to spend my time with Weasley," said Gemma, her face etched with worry. Her seemed to get frizzier by the moment...
In a hurry, Darcy patted down the remaining fly-away hairs. "I'll stick by you, Gemma. Right after that champions dance thing."
As if on cue, Harry had made his way over to the two girls. He fixed his hair and breathed out, "For a moment I thought you were..." he stared at Darcy for a while, "...late..."
Darcy stared worryingly at Harry's hair and Gemma's. "You both have the worst hair to deal with it!" cried Darcy, moving away a strand of Harry's hair and Gemma's away from their faces. "Oh, and, this is Gemma Fawley-and this is Harry Potter."
"I'm well-aware of who he is, Darcy," said Gemma, her voice nervous as she looked behind Harry to find and equally nervous Ron.
Harry nodded at Gemma. He turned his eyes to Darcy and smiled. "You look great, Darce-"
Professor McGonagall's voice interrupted, "Champions over here, please!"
Darcy pulled a face and waved good-bye to Gemma and Ron.
Professor McGonagall, who was wearing dress robes of red tartan and had arranged a rather ugly wreath of thistles around the brim of her hat, told them to wait on one side of the doors while everyone else went inside; they were to enter the Great Hall in procession when the rest of the students had sat down. Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies stationed themselves nearest the doors; Davies looked so stunned by his good fortune in having Fleur for a partner that he could hardly take his eyes off her. Cedric and Cho were close to Harry too; he looked away from them so he wouldn't have to talk to them. His eyes fell instead on the girl next to Krum. His jaw dropped.
"Hermione!" said Darcy excitedly, breaking away from Harry's side. Darcy made her way over to hug the girl. "You look fantastic!"
Dazzling smiling with a new pair of front teeth, Hermione said, "Hi, Harry-thank you, Darce!"
Once everyone else was settled in the Hall, Professor McGonagall told the champions and their partners to get in line in pairs and to follow her. They did so, and everyone in the Great Hall applauded as they entered and started walking up toward a large round table at the top of the Hall, where the judges were sitting.
The walls of the Hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The House tables had vanished; instead, there were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people.
Darcy knew Harry was incredibly nervous about tripping over his feet.
"It's okay, Harry," said Darcy as they began dancing-and then he tripped. Laughing, Darcy pulled him back up, and held tight to his back.
"So sorry," Harry gasped, his cheeks flushed. "I never took McGonagall's lessons seriously."
Darcy and he took the dancing slow, every now and then he would slip up, but Darcy would make so it seemed she stepped on his shoe to share the embarrassment.
When the first dance was done, Darcy would say she was a little glad that the attention was gone.
"Y'know," she said as they sat down next to Harry-who was next to Percy, "I'm really hoping that Davies over there doesn't start to drool on his food."
Though, her words seemed to be drowned by Percy's own boasting. Darcy went over to look around, noticing Jani Scamander was eating along next to George, Angelina and Fred. She had a fitting dress, and her eyes always seeming to gaze at the Champions table to where Cedric was.
Then, Darcy heard Viktor Krum talk to Hermione so enthusiastically about how Durmstrang looked like. It was Karkaroff that splintered that happy talk, and Dumbledore's questions that seemed to rear the talk of different schools.
"Well, Dumbledore," said Karkaroff, displaying his yellowing teeth to their fullest extent, "we are all protective of our private domains, are we not? Do we not jealously guard the halls of learning that have been entrusted to us? Are we not right to be proud that we alone know our school's secrets, and right to protect them?"
Darcy straightened her back, staring intently between Dumbeldore and Karkaroff.
"Oh I would never dream of assuming I know all Hogwarts' secrets, Igor," said Dumbledore amicably. "Only this morning, for instance, I took a wrong turning on the way to the bathroom and found myself in a beautifully proportioned room I have never seen before, containing a really rather magnificent collection of chamber pots. When I went back to investigate more closely, I discovered that the room had vanished. But I must keep an eye out for it. Possibly it is only accessible at five-thirty in the morning. Or it may only appear at the quarter moon - or when the seeker has an exceptionally full bladder."
Harry snorted into his plate of goulash. Percy frowned, but Darcy could've sworn that Dumbledore winked at she and Harry.
Meanwhile Fleur Delacour was criticizing the Hogwarts decorations to Roger Davies.
"Zis is nothing," she said dismissively, looking around at the sparkling walls of the Great Hall. "At ze Palace of Beauxbatons, we 'ave ice sculptures all around ze dining chamber at Chreestmas. Zey do not melt, of course . . . zey are like 'uge statues of diamond, glittering around ze place. And ze food is seemply superb. And we 'ave choirs of wood nymphs, 'oo serenade us as we eat. We 'ave none of zis ugly armor in ze 'alls, and eef a poltergeist ever entaired into Beauxbatons, 'e would be expelled like zat." She slapped her hand onto the table impatiently.
"It's interesting actually," said Darcy, her voice meant only for Harry, but it seemed that she attracted the entire table.
Dumbledore clapped. "Oh! You'll love this-Darcy, could you tell us about your old school?"
Darcy stared wide-eyed at Harry and then to the table. Clearing her throat, Darcy nodded meekly around the table.
"Oh, I was going to tell Harry how interesting-and great-it is to have foreign schools meet together," Darcy started off and glance over at Hermione, who gave her a motion to go on. "And, well, Ilvermorny's kind of like Hogwarts, actually. We've got a castle that is on top of a beautiful mountain. There's forests...that can go on for miles...Sometimes during Christmas time-uh, we would go out and pick a Christmas tree in the forests. It was a little house competition we did-the winning house would decorate it..."
Cedric took the opportunity to say, "What houses were they?"
Darcy blushed, and smiled meekly. "Oh, there's Pukwudgie, and they represented the heart; Thunderbird, the soul; Horned Serpent, the mind; and Wampus, the body..."
"And thees 'ouses are similar like 'ogwartz?" Fleur questioned.
"Oh, no-take Horned Serpent-they like the scholars, and that's what Ravenclaw is like, right? So the sort of creature that represent the houses don't correspond with the Hogwarts houses..."
Cho Change, adorned in a tan and golden dress stared keenly at Darcy.
"Were you in Horned Snake-oh sorry, Serpent?" she asked.
"No, no..." Darcy said, her eyes narrowing. "I was in Pukwudgie." She was slightly defensive of her Slytherin house now.
The table had preceded onto their conversations. Darcy turned over to Harry, and put a hand over her face.
"They really put me on the spot there, didn't they?" Darcy groaned, though she had a small smile on her face.
"You should've heard Hermione trying to teach Krum how to say her name!" Harry spluttered in quiet laughter.
Darcy smiled widely. "Oh I can't imagine with the accent!"
"Herm-own-ninny," Harry whispered, scooting closer to Darcy. "I think Hermione just gave up."
Just as the Weird Sisters-a group Darcy had never heard from in America-Darcy stood up, and looked around for Gemma and Ron. She spotted, them, deep in a rather heated conversation with passive and stone faces.
Tugging Harry's sleeve, Darcy whispered, "We should probably ask them to dance-oh god-Gem looks like she's going to pound the boy!"
Harry did see that Ron's cheeks were tinted in red and Gemma's face was set in stone.
"Right-jeez, he have to dance again?" Harry said, glancing around to see who was watching the two. So far, Harry was happy to see no one was.
Quicker than Harry imagined, he was already on the dance floor, with Darcy right in front of him.
"Where's they go?" Harry yelled, looking around as he took Darcy's hand in his. It was a bold move for him, and at the moment he didn't really mind.
"Oh, they went off before I could reach them..."said Darcy, looking over her shoulder.
Harry spotted his friend and Gemma dancing along with the rest of the students. Ginny was dancing with Neville and the young red-head would cringe whenever her feet were stepped on.
The sight in front of Harry was quite a delight. Darcy was smiling, talking to him and asking him how the tasks were doing. He appreciated the concern, and liked how Darcy wasn't pushing him.
Darcy wasn't a feign for dancing-as she didn't listen to this kind of music-but this was a tough year for Harry. So, she pulled through and went along with the beat. At one point, she even spotted Hermione and went along to dance with her, twirling her around.
Then it was George and Jani that were suddenly next to Darcy and she lost Harry in the crowd. She had a fun time, and her heart was racing from all the dancing.
"You look great, Jani," said Darcy loudly with a smile. The music was blazing loud and the students and teachers around were giving Darcy a headache.
Jani was pushing George away with a laugh, trying to answer to Darcy. "Thanks! You look great too!"
Darcy nodded on acknowledgement, weakly smiling and pushing through the crowd. Her eyes were flashing with images and memories that weren't hers. Sometimes there would be the sight of classrooms and and the grounds.
Spotting two of Harry's, Darcy plopped herself down next to him and groaned.
"I lost you," she said, her breath heavy and her eyes blinking rapidly.
"There was a lot of people," Harry lied, his eyes wandering over to her sweaty face and tousled short hair. She still looked great in his opinion. He just wasn't comfortable dancing, it wasn't his strongest suit.
"Definitely," Darcy deadpanned and waved a hand over her face. "I almost passed out in there."
He eyed her face, which was as pale as the snow outside. Standing up, Harry offered a napkin he nicked off the table and handed it to her.
"I'll go grab you something to drink," he said. "Punch or water?"
Darcy gave him a grateful look. "Water would be fine, thank you."
She watched him go through the crowds and disappear. Darcy sighed, scrunching her eyes, still seeing the flashes of images that don't belong to her.
Two bodies snapped Darcy out of her trance. Gemma and Ron were red-faced, though not angry.
"Next time don't challenge me to a dance-off," said Gemma her face proud as she sat next to Darcy.
Ron glowered. "Yeah, not like I was the one challenging you!"
"Then why did you lose?"
"Because Fred and George had pushed me in," Ron hissed. "I haven't got an ounce of knowing how to dance!"
Gemma smirked, grabbing her previous plate of food. Then, she looked st Darcy's sickly face.
"Whoa, Darcy," Gemma said, placing a hand over Darcy's forehead and pulling back when it was burning. Gemma said in a low voice, "What's the matter?"
Darcy waved them off, feeling as though if she spoke she would throw up. When Harry came back with the water, Darcy took a sip, feeling a little better by the minute.
"What happened?" Harry asked, making Ron move over to sit near Gemma and taking a seat. Harry placed a hand over Darcy's back and narrowed his eyes at the mildly hot temperature of her skin.
"Oh nothing," Darcy said. "It's just...a small...headache."
Okay, the memories she was seeing weren't painful, but they were increasingly annoying. And maybe her skin was undeniably high because she was sweaty from dancing and mildly embarrassed about the attention.
She downed the rest of the water, along with the ice chunks, and smiled at everyone around her. There were still the flashing whispers and visions of the students around her, but this wasn't going to prevent her from having a nice time.
Though, Hermione came over and sat down next to Harry. She was also a little pink from dancing.
"Hi there," Harry said. Ron didn't say a word, though.
"It's hot, isn't it?" said Hermione, fanning herself with her hand just as Darcy was. "Viktor's gone to get some drinks. Oh-Darcy, you okay?" (Darcy nodded and grabbed Harry's water to drink).
Gemma also handed her water over to Darcy.
"Viktor?" Ron said, a tone that made the two Slytherin girls snap their heads over to him. "Hasn't he asked you to call him Vicky yet?"
Darcy stared blankly at the boy, then over to a surprised Hermione.
"What's up with you?" Hermione said.
Darcy peaked a little further into Ron's emotions, feeling a deep angst that radiated off of him. She flinched, realizing the events that were leading up to his attitude.
Gemma had clung onto Darcy as Ron had repeatedly accused Hermione of "fraternizing with the enemy". Darcy thought she wanted to stay out of this, but Ron had taken a step far past simple jealousy.
"Ron, stop," said Darcy, sternly. "We were just having a good time a few moments ago-don't say anything you want to regret."
But, the situation was out of her hands. Hermione and Ron were arguing-Harry staring just as surprised through the entire ordeal. A few times, Darcy would catch his eyes, begging for him to calm Ron down, but Harry just simply said nothing.
(Darcy doesn't blame him, though couldn't help but feel a little annoyed -she could feel the rekindled aura from Harry.)
Gemma and Darcy both tried to bring down the outburst, but Hermione had already left them-too quick for Darcy to even chase after her.
"Well, you did it, didn't you, Weasley," muttered Gemma, her gaze just as stone as it was during the beginning of the dance. There seemed to be a meaning behind her words as she spoke to Ron.
"Really knew how to make a girl feel jealous, when really, it was you that was," snarled Gemma, letting go of Darcy's arm. "Look-Darcy, I'm heading back to the common rooms."
Darcy was left by herself with Harry and Ron, following Gemma's fleeting body go out the Great Hall.
Ron was starstruck, staring at Gemma as well. His mouth was wide, and he had a reluctant look on his face.
Darcy grimly stared at the two boys beside her when she sat down. "Well, that was a great night," she sighed, picking at the dress.
After Krum had asked where Hermione was, Darcy decided to go take a nice walk to try to find her friend. She bid her stiff farewell to Ron and a kiss on the cheek to Harry, pulling a warm coat over her shoulders and headed out.
The snow was no longer icy, but powdery. After her brisk and cold walk, Darcy had looked at the library and asked the Fat Lady about Hermione's whereabouts. The Fat Lady said Hermione was in there, but obviously Daarcy didn't know the password so she moved onto the Slytherin common rooms.
She was sure that the Great Hall was empting out. There were multiple sixth and seventh years that were getting kicked out by Professor Snape.
"Good evening, Professor," said Darcy as kindly as she could. Throughout the meetings, the two were more open-minded about each other. Thus, Darcy didn't dislike him for being a low-level jerk and Snape looked past her being Sirius's daughter and as a student.
Professor Snape nodded back in acknowledgement, though it seemed that he was accompanied by Karkaroff.
Darcy trenched her way over towards the entrance hall, where she saw Cedric Diggory and Cho there nearly making out. They're faces were close to Darcy rolled her eyes and pulled her shawl closer to her and pulled quickly past the two.
Oh god, it was awful-Darcy could hear their thoughts from as far as the Slytherin common rooms.
. . . .
THE DRESSES & HAIR
DARCY BLACK:
GEMMA FAWLEY:
JANI SCAMANDER:
HERMIONE GRANGER:
UPDATED CAST:
GEMMA FAWLEY ; AMANDLA STENBERG
JANI SCAMANDER ; LEIGH-ANNE PINNOCK
DARCY BLACK ; no actress