DURSLEY ― harry potter

‣︎︎ CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
HALLOWEEN

☍︎︎

STEAM POURED FROM DAISY'S EARS LIKE A FREIGHT TRAIN.

That stupid arrogant prick lied to her cousin and was going to get them in serious trouble. He'd promised Harry and Ron to a midnight duel -- which she'd learned about from Hermione Granger after she confronted Daisy in the library, saying she needed to get her cousin "under control" because he was too reckless with Gryffindor house points -- and then laughed in the Slytherin Common Room about how he set them up.

Just a few hours after Harry was nearly expelled for flying around the grounds to get the remembrall -- Blaise told her the ball could change color if you'd forgotten something -- but in fact, he'd been given a place on the quidditch team. Which, according to a jealous and bothered Draco Malfoy, was nearly unheard of and hadn't happened in nearly a century.

In a blatant attempt to prove himself more worthy than Harry, Draco challenged him to a Wizard's Duel, which would take place at midnight in the trophy room. After getting them to agree, Draco burst into the common room and bragged about how intelligent and humorous he was.

Daisy couldn't catch a break with the pompous boy. Since her blow-up on the field, he'd ignored her, not even so much as glancing at her in loathing like normal. She didn't care. She hoped he'd stay far away from her and her friends. Apparently, he couldn't stay away from her cousin.

Despite not caring for Gryffindor's house points -- she'd much prefer they lose them all so the older Slytherins could stop sending her looks whenever she walked through a room -- she didn't want Harry to get into more trouble. He tested his luck time and time again and she didn't want him to end up in a worse situation.

With a begrudging feeling of responsibility, Daisy found herself sneaking out of the dungeons ten minutes to midnight. With her pajama pants and loose-fitting t-shirt, she looked rather funny walking down the halls past curfew. She hoped the paintings wouldn't rat her out and that she wouldn't run into Peeves, the pesky prankster poltergeist that only feared the Bloody Baron. (The house ghost, she'd discovered, that sat next to Malfoy that first feast. He'd had a terrible duel and ended covered in blood that stained his clothes, even in the afterlife.)

She tripped over her shoelace, cursing quietly. Daisy bent down to re-tie her shoe, wishing Draco Malfoy the absolute worst luck for the next hundred years. She hoped he fell into a steaming bucket of venomous spiders and snakes, and that he burned every time his pale skin touched the sun.

The thought of his misery made her smile and she stood up again, gasping in fear as a quiet meow was heard.

Mrs. Norris -- Filch's cat.

She swiveled around with wide eyes, spotting the would-be-cute-but-is-atually-a-demon cat only a foot away. Without hesitation, Daisy spun back on her heels and raced down the hallway towards the trophy room, hoping to catch Harry and Ron before Mrs. Norris and Filch did.

She heard Filch shouting a ways behind her and saw a flicker of light against the wall. Finding the trophy room on the left, she opened and closed the door as quickly and quietly as she could.

"He's late, maybe he's chickened out."

Daisy leaned against the door, trying to catch her breath, cursing her asthma for making running so difficult. She looked to both sides before ducking out of sight and across the room to where an impatient Harry and Ron stood, both wrapped in bathrobes.

"You idiots," she seethed quietly, "Malfoy was pranking you. He's trying to show you that he's smarter -- and it clearly worked."

Just behind them stood Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom and for a moment, Daisy wondered how they'd both ended up in the predicament as well. Before anyone could get another word out, shuffling was heard in the room over.