Daisy Potter and the Fallen Angel (Book 7, Harry Potter ff)

Chapter 18 - Godric's Hollow

The next few days were spent in bed with a cool, wet cloth pressed to my forehead as I whined in pain with my eyes shut, sweating intensely and shaking. Fred and George sat on either side of me, George holding one of my hands as Fred kept the cloth on my forehead, Terry and Harry anxiously watching from the end of my bed.

The enchantment that Riddle had placed on me to keep my scar from aching had worn off, and so I was feeling every second of his wrath. So far, I'd been through his burning anger as he tortured Floppy, his wild triumph as he remembered that I would never be able to take off the wedding ring while he was still alive, the sudden swooping fear as he realised that I would die if I didn't love him every day, then the resulting smugness when he discovered that I was not yet dead. The dumbass genuinely believed that I was still, at least, a little bit in love with him.

And I wasn't. I wasn't, not at all, but the memories of our sunlit honeymoon kept floating back into my head, and I wondered if that was Riddle's doing...

But most of his emotions were centralised around rage; pure, unfiltered, terrifying rage that I was gone, had escaped from his grasp. It was what was confining me to the bed, making me writhe and twist in pain, whimpering and shivering and sweating and making me want to rip my scar from my skin.

"Daze, please, you have to learn how to shut him out!" Harry pleaded with me as I shuddered, panting. "If I can do it, so can you. He's not even affecting me right now!"

"Easy for you to say, Harry!" I shot back, my voice high and pained. "You've never been in love with him -"

Immediately, the twins and Harry stiffened. Terry glanced back and forth between us.

"What Softpaw means to say is - is that you and Riddle don't have the same - er - CONNECTION, Harry." Terry said hesitantly. "So it's harder for her to shut him out than for you."

George's hand tightened around mine as Fred pressed down harder on my forehead with the cloth. I looked up; the twins were exchanging a long, meaningful glance, and a moment later they both lowered their lips, pressing a kiss to either side of my face.

Entirely against my will, my cheeks flushed. It would be fine if it was just Fred, but I probably shouldn't be feeling like this about his brother, and -

Pain cleaved my head like a sword stroke.

I was standing in a dimly lit room, one that was painfully familiar, a semicircle of wizards facing me, and on the floor at my feet knelt a small, quaking figure in Slytherin robes.

"What did you say to me?" My voice was high and cold, but fury and fear burned inside me. The one thing that I had dreaded - but it could not be true, I could not see how... I had known that the cup was gone, that it had vanished from the quarters, but she could have taken it because it was a pretty object, not because she felt she needed it to destroy it... but nothing was confirmed until this useless little creature showed me exactly what he saw...

The student was trembling, unable to meet the red eyes high above his.

"Say it again!" I murmured. "Say it again!"

"M-my Lord," the student stammered, his blue eyes wide with terror, "m-my Lord... I s-saw them on that b-broom, reaching in a-a-and taking it, and f-flying off..."

I looked deep into the student's eyes, saw that what he was saying was true... Daisy Potter and Terry Boot on a broom, Potter reaching into the window, slicing open her arm to grab the small golden cup, yanking it out with a triumphant flourish, flying off towards Hogsmeade with it underneath her arm... clearly it meant a lot to her to make sure to take the cup with her...