wanderlust ☆ n.longbottom

.:03:.

It felt surreal, entering the Great Hall without Emmeline. Daisy and Neville took their seats at the Gryffindor table and Fred, George and Angelina sat close to them.
She didn't want to speak to them.
There was a gap in the air where Emmeline should have been.

Daisy fixated her gaze on the sorting ceremony; she did not want to have to engage in small talk with her dead sister's friends. Her mind had snapped to imagining Emmeline when Daisy first got sorted into Gryffindor. She was so proud her sister had joined her house. Daisy remembered feeling smoothered by Emmeline but now she realised she was only being protective and she needed that. She needed that now. She would give anything to have Emmeline lick a tissue and wipe away left over crumbs off her rosy cheeks from her very first Hogwarts meal. She wouldn't have squirmed away from Emmeline's benevolence if she was still here.

The pressure of tears had built up and caused a nasty, buzzing headache. She was out of breath from the sheer exhaustion of holding back her emotions. The walls began spinning and her legs were shaking.

"Are you alright, Daisy?" asked Neville softly. She could barely hear what he was saying over the ringing of her headache. He reached out a comforting hand, the bare skin on her leg was hot to the touch.

Daisy inhaled deeply and picked herself up off the bench. "I'm bored, I'm going to bed."

"You can't just get up and leave in the middle of the Sorting Ceremony, look they're about to announce the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"I don't care. Watch me."

Daisy felt hundreds of pairs of eyes following her as she trailed in between the tables towards the exit.

"And where are you going, missy?" enquired a new voice Daisy didn't recognise. Umbridge was the one who had spoken, and Daisy immediately hated her by her uptight outfit and how she held herself with the air of a superior.

"Up to bed, I'm a bit tired," Daisy replied, yawning. Her retort earned her a plethora of gasps and mumbles from her spectators.

"Sit down this instant!" shouted Umbridge. Her voice made Daisy shudder; her high pitched, shrill tone did not help her headache at all.

"Who are you exactly?" Daisy bellowed back.

"Professor Umbridge," she announced, as though her name held some kind of high status.

"Professor Umbitch, did you say?"

Umbridge looked as though she had ate something sour. "Never in my life have I heard such cheek!"

"Miss Walshaw, I'd like you to take a seat," asked Dumbledore calmly.

Sensing Daisy wasn't going to surrender and sit down, Neville got to his feet and attempted to diffuse the situation. "Sorry Professors, she's not very well, are you Daisy?" He suddenly felt the weight of all those eyes upon him.

"I feel fine," she said through gritted teeth. Why did he have to save her? She could handle this herself.

"No, she's not, I'll take her to the hospital wing. Sorry about this," Neville said firmly. He grabbed Daisy's shoulders and guided her out the of the hall.

"What are you doing?" she yelled at him once they were out.

"Saving you from probably being expelled!" he hissed back. She wasn't used to hearing him angry, the emotion sounded foreign in his voice as though he hated it being there too.

"And that would be my decision to make!" Daisy stepped closer to him. A funny feeling spiked her stomach when she saw the crease in his face deepen from the anger she was causing. She couldn't deal with disappointing the only person who cared for her. "Let's go swimming."

"What?"

"Swimming. Let's go."

The boy was confused to say the least. He had so much more he wanted to say to Daisy: how he was sick of her reckless behaviour that always seemed to land them both into trouble, how her bitter attitude sometimes upset people, how he would just take all of her shit because he was so desperately in love with her. He hated himself for it but he followed her.

Approximately ten minutes later, they were submerged into the dark depths of the lake. Their previous tension dissipated and they fell back into their usual playful dynamic. Neville's big hands created a tidal wave of water and it came crashing over Daisy. To his relief, she erupted with laughter. The smile looked good on her.

"You're going to regret that, Longbottom!"

Neville swam away but he wasn't quick enough, Daisy had clutched onto the collar of his sodden white shirt and was pushing him into the water. Giggling, she surrendered her grip and Neville returned to the surface, his hair a damp mop stuck to his face. They just looked at each other for a while, the water stilled around them. Neville's eyes met her hazel ones and he thought he would melt. She was beautiful, even though her eyeliner was dribbling down her face like some kind of warpaint. He wanted to freeze that moment and stay there forever.

"What are you staring at, Longbottom?" she asked. Her voice was soft; as though she knew exactly what he was thinking. He could do it. He could just tell her, right now, exactly how he felt. Everything could change in a matter of one statement: I love you.

"Don't bite your nails," was all he said.

"When are you going to stop telling me off?"

"When you start behaving."

"Never!"

He watched her swim away and climb out of the lake. She picked up her cloak that was pooled onto the grass and brandished her wand. She dried herself off with a simple charm. Then, using her wand once again, she lit a cigarette.

"Those will kill you off," Neville warned.

"Not quickly enough." She stalked away, leaving Neville by himself in the middle of the lake. As Daisy's only real friend, he always selfishly held himself as her protector. In that moment, as he struggled to imagine his life without her, he realised he wasn't her protector. She was his.