(2) The Phoenix (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Seven

It's a room in the corner of the Ravenclaw Tower that has been set up for Daphne. Clearly, McGonagall is trying to make her comfortable being back here by housing her in her old house. Though it is a single room. Daphne knows that she can't exactly join the populace as a student again. One, she is too old and two, she is too dangerous right now. She has no idea what the phoenix would do to poor students if she were to come out in the middle of the night. Daphne hasn't even considered how hard it is going to be to actually sleep now. If she falls asleep then what is to stop her from taking over her body? What is to stop her from taking over when she is vulnerable? How is she supposed to sleep with that spinning in her head? Daphne sits on the edge of the four-poster double bed and looks around the room she's been given. It looks like the other dorm rooms, only it is smaller and only fitted for her. With the huge bed, the blue curtains adorned in silver stars. The wooden drawers, wardrobe and bookshelf. The fire in the middle of the room. It is just as she remembers it. And whilst that prospect is incredibly lonely, she has missed this place. She has loved being back home in Mystic Falls, but being back at Hogwarts, just reminds her how much she loved being here too. The door swings open suddenly causing Daphne to jump to her feet and in an instant Dandelion is hugging her tightly with a laugh. Daphne sends a confused look over at Lyra who follows her into the room. She has no idea what they are doing here. Dandelion pulls back and this lets Daphne notices her weekend bag in her hand.

"You're staying?" Daphne asks them, Dandelion sets her bag down at the end of the bed as Lyra walks closer to hug Daphne.

"Only for a few days" Lyra argues softly. "McGonagall thought it might help you readjust to being back here...." She pulls back and gives Daphne a warm smile.

"Have you got a class timetable yet?" Dandelion asks. "Or a schedule or something....how is this going to work?"

"I don't know" Daphne answers. "I only just arrived like an hour ago" She explains as she sits on the bed again. "I saw McGonagall and she brought me straight up here" She shrugs a little. She was hoping for a little more. Perhaps a plan for how this is going to work. Though considering this is all happening very fast, she shouldn't be all that surprised that she didn't get a proper layout of the future. Perhaps it will come in a few days. Perhaps that is why Lyra and Dandelion are here. To keep her busy while they come up with something. She assumed they would have plans in place. They have been talking about this for years. Lyra sits next to Daphne on the bed as Dandelion crosses the room to the huge stained-glass window.

"It actually feels weird being back here" Dandelion muses as she looks out the window to the grounds below. "Like we're trespassing"

"We used to sneak around all the time" Lyra reminds her.

"But that was different" Dandelion counters and shrugs knowing it makes no sense. Lyra chuckles a little and leans back on her hands.

"I like being back here" She admits softly. "I've missed you both" Daphne and Dandelion look at her.

"Dragons not all they are cracked up to be?" Daphne asks teasingly, Lyra sticks out her tongue at her and then nudges her with her shoulder as she leans up. They know she will never regret dragons. It has been different. They spent seven years together and then went their separate ways. Daphne supposes she was lucky that she didn't really have the time to dwell on the absence of her friends from her life. Things were so much easier when it was the three of them. When they were here. No Originals. No threat to her life. No Phoenix. Daphne lets out a worried breath, closing her eyes as it all just hits her. Sinking onto her shoulders.

"I'm scared" Daphne admits.

"We know" Dandelion assures her as she sits at Daphne's side. "But you're not alone" Lyra hums in agreement.

"Not just us either" Lyra adds, stroking her hand through Daphne's hair. "But everyone back home too....Your brother and sister...and Damon" Daphne hums in agreement. She knows. She knows that she is not alone. But being here, being locked away in Hogwarts, she knows she is going to feel it. Being isolated, even without her cell phone, she is going to feel so lonely. "All you have to do is..."

"Work out an amicable deal with the evil entity living inside of my body" Daphne finishes for her, turning to give Lyra a look.

"Well, when you put it like that" Lyra mumbles and sighs. She means well, and Daphne knows that, but it is still not enough to make her feel better about her situation. She doubts that anything will make her feel better about the Phoenix. This is something that people have warned her about for almost her entire life. Told her to be cautious and careful and to be scared of it. And it happened. The worst-case scenario happened and now she has to live with that. She has to find a way for this to work otherwise there is a chance she will end up locked away or worse, they will find a way to actually kill her. Neither of those options appeal to her. Obviously. She just wants to go back to how she was before. She wants to lock the Phoenix away forever so it can never hurt her or anyone else. But she is not going to get what she wants. She has to live with this. She has to find a way to live with this. If she wants to get back to Damon, to her family, to Mystic Falls, then she has to work her fingers to the bone to get this right. She will work hard to do this. Because she wants nothing more than to go home. To be with Damon. As stressful as that life is, she wants to live it.