Meant for No One but Each Other

The first week had passed along in a blur. Danica had written to her mother no less than 10 times before she had gotten her response in which she learned that Dumbledore could not and would not change one’s sorted House. As her mother had told her, Dumbledore had kindly told her that the Hat put the students in Houses based on more than lineage. Her mother had been appalled, and had not refrained from sharing her feelings with her daughter. She had also chastised her, as if the whole ordeal was somehow her fault.

On top of that, Danica had not spoken to Draco the entire week. Luckily, the only class first year Ravenclaws had with Slytherins was Defense Against the Dark Arts, ironically enough. As Draco had always told her, as if they needed protection from that which was powerful, that which was their destiny. It wasn’t that Draco had been ignoring her. On the contrary, Draco had been trying relentlessly to speak to her. It was Danica who rushed quickly out of class and would hide when she saw him anywhere else. She knew what he would say. She was disappointed enough in herself in being weak enough to have been sorted into Ravenclaw. She didn’t need Draco telling her the same.

She sighed as she poured over her essay for Snape. It was a bit of a joke really. Though she was not in his House, as was anticipated, Snape and her father had been close friends in the days of the Dark Lord, and he would not chastise her a few mistakes. The effects of moonstones were dry enough, but the library itself provided a more than dull atmosphere. Unfortunately, Danica despised sitting in the Ravenclaw Commonroom. No she much preferred the sanctity of the library.

“Hi Dani,” she heard someone say.

She looked up, grinning at the bearer of the voice, a voice she knew to well. “Hi Neville.”

“Are you working on the Potions essay?” he asked, flushing slightly. Danica nodded, and indicated to him that he sit down. It was common knowledge, even to those not in the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor adjoined Potions class that Snape hated Neville and like to point out how incapable he was. “Mind if I work on it with you?”

“I’m done actually,” she said, writing her last sentence. “But you can see it if you like.” She passed him her parchment to which he mumbled thanks and started looking over it, crossing whole paragraphs on his own’s. “So how’s your first week coming?” she asked him.

“Alright,” he said, his ears turning pink.

Danica laughed. “Nev, this is me, you know? You don’t have to lie to me.”

He tried to smile but didn’t say anything. “How are you?” he asked.

She cringed. “I’ve been better,” she admitted. “I still can’t believe that damned hat put me in Ravenclaw. It’s outrageous. It must be going senile.” She chuckled at the thought of a hat going mad.

Neville’s ears turned pinker.

Danica quickly reprimanded herself. Neville had been placed into Gryffindor, something he had been sure would never happen. Neville wasn’t exactly what they called brave. “Oh Nev, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant in my case,” she tried to correct herself.

He smiled slightly. “It’s okay,” he said. “It must be senile, putting me into Gryffindor. I don’t belong there. I’m a complete joke.”

“That’s not true,” she said firmly. “You just lack confidence Neville. You could be brave Nev, I know it. You’re just too frightened.”

He grimaced. “Isn’t being frightened the opposite of being brave?”

“Nah,” she waved it off, trying to cheer him up. “Being frightened is a part of being brave. It’s conquering your fear that makes you truly brave.”

He nodded, comforted by the thought slightly. He could conquer his fear, he knew it. He would try. He would prove he belonged in Gryffindor.

“Hi Neville,” a girl’s voice said. They both turned to see Hermione Granger walking towards them. “Do you mind awfully if I sit here? Everywhere else is full.”

Neville looked at Danica, who shrugged before answering. “Sure,” he said. “Hermione, this is my friend--.”

“Danica Shardae,” Hermione said, grinning. “You’re in Ravenclaw, right?”

Danica nodded, but didn’t say anything. She didn’t like how this Muggle born was talking to her, as if she was some charity case that needed to be treated nicely. She was after all, of the purest of bloods. “I’ve got to go Nev,” she said. “Loads more homework to do unfortunately.”

“Okay Danica,” he said, handing her back her piece of parchment. “I’ll see you later?”

She nodded and left, smiling once at Granger. “She seems nice,” she heard Hermione telling Neville as she left.

Danica sighed and walked through the bookshelves, not really knowing where to go. She couldn’t go back to the commonroom just yet, even if she had no choice but to accept her Ravenclaw sorting.

“Dani,” she heard another familiar voice say behind her. She turned to see Draco standing there, blocking her way past him. “We need to talk.”

This did not sound good.