She knows the Heimlich she won't choke, not Daphne (farsick) wrote in caged, @ 2013-10-10 04:11:00
Who: Susan Bones & Daphne Greengrass. What: Very secret Charms club inquiry. Where: Random classroom where Chess club is held. When: Tuesday 8 October. Right after Chess club. (BACKDATED) Status: Complete.
Susan almost skipped Chess Club. Sneaking off to her bed, climbing under the covers, and taking a short nap before dinner seemed awfully tempting, but if there was one thing she could count on, it was that Sir Lancelot, Captain of the Chess Club could always make her smile, unintentionally or not. And, today, she wanted a reason to smile. Plus, she had that new chess board to train. She’d hate for anyone else to get their hands on it.
It was for that reason that she was sitting in a corner of the room attempting to teach the Queen (who, she assumed would then help teach the other pieces) the art of the Thriller dance. So, far it wasn’t a fruitful endeavor, though Susan was only half invested, her mind being elsewhere. On her mum. Ernie, Zacharias. Charms Club. Teaching the patronus to the Charms club members. At the moment, the latter was weighing most heavily on her mind. She’d practiced the patronus in her room earlier that day, and, well, her happy memory hadn’t come. That wasn’t really what was bothering her, though, she knew it was going to be a problem. It was what Professor Flitwick had said about it needing to be a secret and the fact that she’d left out some of the Charms club members. She hated not including everyone, even when “everyone” meant Pansy Parkinson and Opal Burke. And Daphne Greengrass. She glanced over at the Slytherin and fellow Chess club member and sighed. Something told Susan she could trust Daphne, maybe it was because she was related to Zacharias and it was Susan’s belief that relatives always had your back. Or your relatives friend’s back in her case.
By the end of the club meeting, the Queen wasn’t anywhere near close to learning the dance, though she did have a dance of her own and a knack for stabbing Susan’s fingers with her scepter anytime Susan looked away and over at Daphne. It was a wonder her hand wasn’t bleeding. It brought her some pleasure then to stuff the pieces in the box. “Next time,” she said, and she closed the lid.
“Hey Daphne,” she called out, chess set under her arm. “Do you have a minute?”
“Do I --” Daphne had been sorting her own chess pieces, placing them one by one into the little ivory box she kept them in. The sound of her name startled her a little, because she hadn’t been expecting it this late in the club session. Usually at this point everyone was finishing up games and, given that the atmosphere of meetings tended toward the quiet and thoughtful, she had her mind more on what she might want to read in the Common Room later than on who might be trying to catch her attention now.
So, rather than respond readily, she cut herself off in the middle of distractedly repeating Susan’s inquiry. The box snapped shut and she turned to look over at the other girl. They’d played against one another now and then, and partnered in Charms Club as well, but Daphne didn’t know what is was Susan might want from her now. They didn’t exactly run with the same crowds and aside from the mutual connection in Zacharias and similar taste in club selections, didn’t have much in common. At least as far as Daphne knew. She’d never given much thought to finding out.
Still, Susan didn’t sound cross or otherwise out of sorts, and she didn’t strike Daphne as the sort to go looking for a fight. Daphne smiled and shrugged her shoulders a tiny bit. She had no idea what this could be about, and it made her curious.
“I think I do, sure,” she said agreeably, hands dropping from her hips to hang at her sides. “What’s up?”
Now that Susan had Daphne's attention she found herself uncharacteristically at a loss for words. Once again, she'd opened her mouth without making a plan. "I, uh--" she ran her hands through her hair, a sheepish look crossing her face. What did she say? Sorry I didn't invite you to the secret charms club meeting. It's nothing personal. You're just too Slytherin ? "It's about Charms club." She looked the other girl in the eyes, wanting to read her expression as she spoke. "Someone approached me about teaching the patronus charm and I wondered what you thought about that."
Daphne felt her eyebrows twitch up a bit and wished she had a better pokerface. Alas, she’d exhausted her day’s supply during that last chess game. At least her mouth had the decency not to fall open. This was absolutely not where she expected Susan to take the conversation. Especially right out of the gate.
Her first thought was that Tracey had, for some unfathomable reason, mentioned the conversation they had had last night to Susan. But Tracey wasn’t in Charms Club, and had been hesitant to even bring the proposal to Flitwick and Slughorn. In the end she’d only communicated the idea to Daphne and Theodore – at least, Daphne assumed. The bottom line was, Tracey was far too canny to bring it up to anyone else, and certainly not to Susan Bones.
Which left Daphne with very little notion of why Susan would bring it up to her, now, even if she was a member of the Charms club. The timing was too convenient not to be suspicious.
Managing to wrangle her expression into something less obviously surprised, Daphne tilted her head as a small crease formed between her brows. It felt weird to be talking about this here.
“About…” She felt the urge to choose her words carefully, because it was clear Susan was doing the same. “Adding it to the official meeting plans? It would take up more than a few meetings, I should think.”
Susan nodded a little too enthusiastically. “Definitely, yeah. I mean, it’s a difficult charm. It would probably take all year and some of the members are really young, but…” She glanced around the room. Most of the other members were filing out of the room and she didn’t think anyone was listening, but she dropped her voice anyway. “It would be good to learn with the dementors, don’t you think?” She considered mentioning what Professor Flitwick had said, but then thought better of it. She didn’t even know if Daphne was interested in learning, let alone learning in secret, in direct contradiction to the school’s new policies. She shrugged and decided just to ask. “I mean, is it something you think you’d like to learn?”
Daphne watched a few students file out the door and ran a hand through her hair. It was still difficult for her to believe that this opportunity was falling into her lap twice as many days. On one hand, it felt a bit disingenuous to go behind Tracey’s back when they’d talked about this barely twenty-four hours ago. At the same time, Daphne didn’t know if Tracey had found her own avenue already. And regardless, this could prove useful to them both, in the end.
This was an opportunity for Daphne now, yes, but whatever she learned could easily be passed off to Tracey in future. There would be the sticky wicket of explaining how, exactly, Daphne had suddenly started to progress on her own, but she expected she would be able to figure that out before it became an issue. Tracey would unlikely find it difficult to believe that Daphne would just start pursuing it independently.
And Merlin, Charms club wasn’t for another week. She and Tracey might get started by then themselves. The risks of doubling her own chance of advancement in something this useful were far outweighed by the advantages. Tracey and Susan were both right. The Dementors were a problem. One needed to be prepared.
Daphne was overthinking this. She knew it. You didn’t turn down a chance to get ahead.
“Yes, it is,” she said simply, sounding neither too eager nor too cavalier. “And you’re right. About the Dementors. I don’t like knowing they’re about, especially after what happened last week.” Daphne was certain Susan knew what she was referring to. “We ought to know how to defend ourselves from them, because they clearly aren’t discriminating.”
A little absently, she reached back and drummed her fingers on the box of chess pieces. “I assume this is something that would need to be done at our discretion.”
Susan blinked. Moments before she’d been considering whether it’d be wise to invite Daphne to the secret patronus study sessions, but this, teaching Daphne on the side, made much more sense. She needn’t know about the other students. If anyone were to get into trouble, it’d be her, not Ernie or Hannah or Ginny or even Michael.
“Yeah,” she said after a moment’s hesitation. “I’ve been told Death Eaters wouldn’t look kindly on the spell being taught here, but if you’d like to learn--” She dropped her voice even lower. “--I learned fifth year how to cast one, and I wouldn’t mind showing you as long as you don’t tell. Not even Zacharias.” Although, honestly, Susan knew she’d probably tell Zacharias. “I don’t want to use the blood quill again if I can help it, and I’m sure you feel the same.”
The remark about Death Eaters niggled at Daphne, because it echoed of Quibbler and Phoenix Press presumption a bit too much to pass unnoticed. Still, there was nothing to be gained by henpecking over an issue like that. It was becoming the defining trait of this year and Daphne was already tired of the sniping. She and Susan were discussing Patronus charms. Not debating ideologies and tabloid assertions. It didn’t matter.
Pushing aside curiosity about how Susan had learned the charm at such an age (fifth year? That was rather remarkable), Daphne smirked and nodded.
“I won’t say anything to him,” she assured her, meaning it. She was aware that Susan and Zacharias were close, and that Susan likely had her own reasons for not wanting Daphne to mention it to him. Reasons that weren’t Daphne’s business. Besides, if she told Zacharias, he’d likely only needle her with questions and opinions. “And if I’d been at the end of one of those quills, I’d be eager to avoid it myself.” Daphne shrugged.
One thing did bother her a bit, and her head tilted. “You’re showing members individually?”
It seemed an odd shift, from the Charms club at large, which had been Daphne’s initial impression of what Susan was feeling her out for, and what she was suggesting now. And a time suck. If Daphne were in charge of a club and wanted to equip members with a new skill, it seemed most logical to gather them all and get it done in one swoop. She wasn’t trying to be difficult, but it puzzled her.
“Well, no.” Susan shifted the chess box under her arm, and she could hear the pieces muttering as they slid about the box. She felt awkward now and unsure of what to say. Telling Daphne that she’d chosen her to teach first seemed like a stretch, but she wasn’t sure what else to say. She really shouldn’t tell her about the others, not when it risked getting them into trouble, too. As mad as she was at Ernie, she wouldn’t do that to him and risk his badge.
“It’s more of an experiment. Professor Flitwick didn’t think it wise to teach in the club, but I thought I’d see if anyone wanted to learn. And, well, you’re one of the more talented members. I’m not as great of a teacher as--” She paused briefly. She didn’t particularly care if people knew Harry taught her the spell. She was proud of it actually, but it seemed like a detail she should keep to herself this one time. It was also true that she expected most people assumed she was a member of Dumbledore’s Army, but she didn’t want to give any more confirmations. She looked down as she spoke. “--as my late Aunt Amelia. I’ll do my best, though.”
For a few moments, Daphne lapsed into silence and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. This was all very odd, she thought. It was no secret that she was one of the better students in their year when it came to Charms, and that it often showed during club meetings. She just felt as if there were others who were clever in the subject, and friendlier with Susan besides…it was all strange. It was impossible not to wonder what Susan wasn’t saying, or if she was hiding anything.
But again, she reminded herself that it was idiotic to complain of the chance. Susan was taking a risk even having this conversation with Daphne. She had no real reason to think a Slytherin wouldn’t turn around and mention this to Pansy or Draco or someone worse. Admittedly, there was nothing to show for it, but the current regime would likely be glad to make a mountain of a molehill.
Like the secrecy from Zacharias, reasons for potential omissions were nothing Daphne cared to know right now.
“All right.” With a small sigh, in part of relief, she smiled again and gave a short laugh. “Let’s do it. Or try to, anyhow. I know it’s likely going to be a lot of work.” Which seemed to beg the next. “Thanks for this.” Whatever the reason was.
Susan returned her smile, relief washing over her. That had been relatively painless, and she'd managed to assuage her guilt over leaving Daphne out. "Would early Saturday morning work? I think most people would be in bed then and less likely to notice. Maybe outside? That way portraits can't talk about it."
Daphne thought quickly, running over her projected schedule for Saturday. It was rare that she had real weekend plans beyond the occasional Hogsmeade trip. This weekend was, as yet, no different.
“Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.” She could appreciate Susan’s attention to the details, and hoped Tracey had given thought to the wagging tongues of Hogwarts portraiture. “I think I know of a good spot out there. I’ll give it a look tomorrow and let you know, if that’s all right?”
The classroom was nearly empty by now, and the only two lingering students, a pair of fifth years, were giving Susan and Daphne long looks. It occurred to Daphne that they were likely waiting for the room to be properly abandoned so they could snog or something, and wished they'd go do it someplace else.
No matter. She and Susan were done. With some mildly friendly parting words, they went their separate ways in the corridor, by all accounts leaving behind a perfectly ordinary evening of chess.