(1) The Other Potter (D. Malfoy)

Chapter Seventeen

Along the train carriages, Daisy finally finds the boy who was looking for his toad. He's sat on the floor of the train and crying into his knees. Daisy instantly feels bad for him. She knows how upset she would be if she lost Pickle and even Goldfish. She would feel terrible. So she can understand how he's feeling right now. Daisy takes a breath and steps closer to him.

"Hey" She greets and he jerks his head up. Everyone has been walking around him, ignoring him sitting here. Daisy is talking to him. He sniffles and rubs at his eyes. "I found this little guy" She offers and holds out the toad in her hand. "I thought you might..."

"Trevor!" The boy yells and lunges forward to take him off of Daisy. "Thank you!" He offers the young witch with a bright smile. "I looked everywhere for him" He sinks with his relief of having found the animal. "Neville" He offers. "Neville Longbottom"

"Daisy Gilbert" She introduces warmly. The way Neville clearly cares for his toad, Daisy likes that. She likes that he looks after his animal companion. Just as she would Goldfish and Pickle. "I'm glad you have him back..." She tells him warmly. She knows how much she would hate it if either of her animals were missing. She'd be worried sick. She knows how happy she would be to have them back and given that Neville has shown as much worry as she would show, she is happy that he has Trevor back.

"Do you....have?" He asks, holding out Trevor to mean to ask if she has any animals. She nods.

"Three" She admits. "Sort of" She adds and shrugs. "Goldfish is my cat, but we have a family snake and an owl as well" Neville nods softly and looks down at Trevor with a soft smile. "I like Trevor though" She offers warmly. "I've never thought of a toad as a pet, but he seems very affectionate"

"When he is not running away" Neville mumbles under his breath but Daisy catches it. She understands, she knows it would be annoying if Goldfish ran away, or pickle.

"Perhaps he simply has an adventurer's soul" She offers in defence. Neville looks at her and shrugs a little.

"Makes up for my lack of one, I suppose" He mumbles sadly and then scratches at the top of Trevor's head. He takes a deep breath and then gives Daisy a small smile. "Thank you....again" He holds up Trevor in a sort of wave and then walks away. Daisy tilts her head and then glances back towards the compartment that she left Harry and Ron in. She supposes she better go back before Harry starts to worry about her. She hums to herself as she heads that way, her eyes watching the passing landscape outside of the window. Whilst she does already miss Pickle, and her family, of course, she also is feeling very excited about this. The prospect of magic and lessons and new people to meet, new things to learn. An adventure.

......

When Daisy returns to Harry and Ron, she finds that they are not alone. A girl with curly brown hair sits next to Ron, staring at the wand held in his hand. Daisy raises an eyebrow at Harry as she sits at his side and he shrugs back at her. Not really understanding himself what happened. The girl smiles and looks at Daisy.

"He's going to do some magic" She tells Daisy who nods slowly and turns to look at Harry again, he smiles a little at the look on her face. She's just as lost as he is to this girl and her forcing her way into the dynamic in the way that she has. She is very comfortable with them already and they have just met. Ron clears his throat and holds out his wand towards the rat in his lap.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." Ron waves his wand, but nothing happens. Scabbers is exactly the same as he was before. He stretches a little and curls up to fall asleep on Ron's lap. Daisy and Harry both look slightly disappointed, but it's not a big deal to them. The girl though, she appears smug and disappointed.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" She asks. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard.... I've learnt all our set books off by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough....I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?'" She rambles out all of that within one breath, like it was nothing. Daisy thought that she was excited, but she is not that excited. Sure, she's read the books too, but not to the extent that she memorised them all. She just read them, like a normal person. But Daisy can't help but like this. She likes the excited, overachieving girl already. There is just something about her that is likeable, though Daisy feels as though that she is in the minority here.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron offers.

"Harry Potter," Harry adds next and turns to Daisy who waves with a smile.

"Daisy...." Hermione stares at Harry and Daisy, as if they have just dropped a thing in her lap, dropped some kind of knowledge.

"Are you really?" She asks them as she leans forward, eyes sparkling. "I know all about you two, of course" She adds. "I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century"

"Are we?" Harry asks, turning to Daisy who shrugs a little. It's not unreasonable that, given their history, they would be in actual history books. Daisy might not know the full story, but she knows enough to know that they are a pretty big deal. Obviously, for reasons, Magnolia is hesitant to talk about what happened, but Grayson filled Daisy in on what he knows and Daisy has read Modern Magical History and she has read The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century, same as Hermione. So she knows a fair bit. It is a little weird, a little unnerving, and a little daunting, in a way, but it is what it is.

"Goodness, didn't you know" Hermione comments. "I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," She adds and then takes a deep breath. "Do you know what house you'll be in?" She asks them. "I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best, I hear Dumbledore himself was one, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad ... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad"

"Oh" Daisy starts. "I already found him" She offers. "Reunited them" Hermione nods a little and then just seems to let it roll off of her.

"You had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon" She stands from the seat and then leaves. The compartment falls silent as Harry, Daisy, and Ron process Hermione. She definitely feels like a girl that requires processing after every conversation. Not a bad thing. She's just an intense person. Daisy likes that. It's better than her being someone as dull as a plank of wood.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," Ron comments. Daisy frowns and looks at her.

"What's wrong with her?" She asks. Ron and Harry both stare at her as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. "I like her" Daisy defends and folds her arms over her chest. Ron snorts and shakes his head before he throws his wand into his trunk.

"Stupid spell. George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud." Ron mumbles, completely skimming over Daisy's whole thing with Hermione. Daisy huffs and rolls her eyes as she turns to look out the window. Ignoring the conversation that is started behind her. She doesn't care about houses. She knows that Lily and James were in Gryffindor, but Magnolia was a Slytherin. For Daisy, it doesn't matter. Sure, Gryffindor would be nice because that's her heritage, but Magnolia has always told her how much she would like the Slytherin common room, likely because of all the snakes. Daisy loves snakes, obviously. Pickles is a huge part of her life, and she's always been drawn to the slithery boop noodles. From what Magnolia told her about Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, Daisy wouldn't hate either of them. All of them sound like houses she would be alright with. Smart. Loyal. Brave. Determined. She likes to think that she would fit each of those things. So she doesn't mind what she gets. As long as she gets one of them.