Daisy | The Marauders Era

Year One: Tickle The Pear

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The two of them had successfully escaped that snobbish dinner, and Daisy could finally breath again. The fresh- well not so fresh- dusty castle air was cleansing her lungs of dry aftershave.

    Dirk was now leading Daisy down the darkened cobblestone corridors that were dimly lit by the orange light of the sconce fire torches. It was rather eerie looking and creepy, Daisy had never explored the castle at night before and was only slightly regretting her decision to come seeing as her arms and legs were now covered in goosebumps from the cold.

'I should have just listened to Bao.' She cursed to herself, thinking of her warm jacket that was hanging in her dorm room.

The rain outside was pattering loudly against the rainbow stained glass windows of the corridors, the sound mixing with the high pitched howl of the wind that desperately tried to enter the castle to freeze the first years. The miserable outside made Daisy wish she was back in her common room in front of the fire with Heather and Bao, they'd make her feel better than how she felt now. Terrible, just like clouds above.

"Nearly there, it's down in the basement next tae the Hufflepuff's." Dirk reassured Daisy who was rubbing her hands up and down her arms in attempt to heat herself up. It felt like they had been walking for ages since they left Slughorn's party. Not only that, but the thought of getting caught out of bed haunted her mind, she'd hate to think of getting a detention and having Professor McGonagall find out.

And she didn't want to be eaten by Mrs Norris

Turning over her shoulder, Daisy anxiously asked Dirk, "what if the caretaker finds us? Won't we get into trouble?"

Dirk shrugged without a sign of bother. "Who cares, a li'le detention never hurt emb'dy. And besides, ye'v already came wae me, so might as well keep goin'." He smirked playfully at Daisy who sighed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Because being in the corridors with Dirk was much better than being back in Slughorn's room with Sev.

Daisy wrapped her arms tightly around her shivering body. Lucky Dirk had long sleeves and trousers on, while Daisy had stupidly chosen to leave in just her dress. But honestly, she'd rather freeze than spend another moment in Barty Crouch's presence, the cold was rather welcoming in comparison to him.

Dirk turned a corner and Daisy was now following him down a flight of spiral stairs, then found herself at the end of a homely corridor. It felt warm like her living room, the smell of fresh cookies hit her nose instantly reminding her of her mother's baking, and the walls looked much brighter down here instead of looking a cold grey that she was surrounded by upstairs.

Without stopping, Dirk began strolling down the corridor, while Daisy became distracted by the vast amount of plants decorating the hall, both high on the walls and low on the ground. "That's the Hufflepuff common room there." Dirk pointed to a door in a nook on the right-hand side. A large and dark wooden door towered over the small first years, reaching as high as the ceiling. What was strange however, was that Daisy didn't see a handle, nor a portrait to get in. Looking around all she saw was three barrels placed next to the door.

That's when Dirk began explaining at the right time. "And, did you know tha' the Hufflepuff's don' require a password? Instead they just huv tae beat a wee rhythm on tha' barrel there." This time he pointed towards the middle barrel of the three. This intrigued Daisy, making her wonder if every common room had different ways of entering. If so, the Gryffindors certainly had the most boring way of getting in, all they had to do was memorise a word.

"What's the beat?" Daisy asked staring at the middle barrel.

Dirk approached the barrel and said, "i' goes like this." He cleared his throat, cracking his knuckles and placed his hands over the lid. "Hel-Ga Hu-Ffle-Puff." And with each syllable, Dirk pat the barrel with his palms, creating the secret rhythm.