Daisy's eyes opened at the sound of people talking. She groaned and yawned, sitting up sleepily. After rubbing her eyes for a bit, she walked to the barred door of her cell. Then holding on to the bars, she peeped down the aisle. The two voices were growing louder and louder. It was a man and a woman, arguing with each other. As the voices became loud enough, Daisy recognised them. It was Ron and Ginny.
In an hour, Daisy couldn't believe what was happening. She was free; totally free. She was wearing her own clothes and was walking without handcuffs. She wasn't in prison anymore. But then, all this brought a fear to her mind. Why were they freeing her like this? Obviously, this couldn't be good news. Someone had to be attacked. Only then it would have probably been proved that since Daisy was at Azkaban, she couldn't have attacked anyone.
Daisy had tried to ask Ginny about what was happening, but Ginny had just given her an awkward smile and told her that all the Aurors thought that Daisy was innocent.
The trio walked down the pier, to a boat. After a while, the boat was gliding through the water smoothly towards the shore. Daisy sat facing Ginny and Ron, a bit too confused to ask a question. Finally, she decided that she had to know. She looked directly at Ginny. “Ginny?”
“Yes?”
Daisy decided to get straight to the point. “Who's been attacked?”
Ginny grew visibly pale. “Attacked? What makes you think”?”
Ron cut across her. “Look Daisy, we... We have reason to believe that you're innocent. And... Well... You are going to go through another hearing with Walanger before we can decide if your life sentence at Azkaban can be withdrawn.”
“But what has happened?” asked Daisy. “Please... I have to know.”
Ron and Ginny looked at each other uncertainly. “Well...” said Ginny, “there's nothing to worry about, really. Both Rebecca and Chris are fine."
“WHAT?!” exclaimed Daisy. “What happened to them? I have to see””
Ginny placed a hand on Daisy's shoulder. “They're all right. Relax. Chris wasn't really attacked. He's ill. And Pari took Rebecca to St. Mungo's soon enough.”
“Chris is ill? And... How was Rebecca attacked?”
Ginny nodded. “Chris has been suffering with arrhythmia. And he's been seeing a Healer about this anyway, so I guess he should be cured soon. Rebecca got slashed on her arm, but the injury wasn't bad at all. She'll be out of hospital by evening today. So as I said, there's nothing to worry about.”
Daisy couldn't help but force herself to believe Ginny. The ride through the sea was painfully slow, irritating Daisy to a great extent. She felt like jumping off the boat and swimming to the shore. She knew that she'd at least reach faster that way. But finally, after a horrifyingly long time, they were ashore. Daisy then found herself sitting on the backseat of Ron's car. They drove to the Ministry, where Walanger was waiting for Daisy in his office.
The Hearing was quite short, as there was nothing to prove that Daisy hadn't been at Azkaban when Rebecca had been attacked. Her life term had quickly been withdrawn and before she knew it, she was in Ron's car again. He had just started to drive, when Daisy said, “Could you drop me off at Chris's place?”
Ginny looked behind, bewildered. “Don't you want to go back to your own place, first?”
Daisy shook her head. “I want to visit Chris."
“Okay.”
They were at Chris's place in some time, and Daisy waved goodbye to the Aurors. Ginny had told her that they had begun living in the guest house once again, and Daisy felt genuinely sorry for Harry, who would have to live with the nightmare of Parvati being murdered in the same house.
***
Harry pushed Naina's pram through the hallways of the guest house, hoping to wake up from the terrible dream at any moment. He could feel cold grief pressing itself upon his chest, and tried to drive it away. Just as he entered his and Parvati's old room, he could feel comfort enshroud him. Memories of the moments he had spent with Parvati rushed to his mind, overwhelming him and forcing him to leave the room to control his emotions. He took deep, calming breaths, angry at his own lack of composure. He really wasn't expecting it all to come back like this. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. It was Ginny. She pulled him into a hug.
They remained in the same position for a long time; him breathing into the sweet smell of her hair. Finally, when they broke apart, she spoke to him. “You are a strong person, Harry, you can take this. And even if you can't, you'll always find help from all of us.”
He smiled at her, nodding as he did so. Then he did something that he hadn't done in ages; he kissed her cheek.
***
Daisy was greeted politely by Earl, when she knocked at Chris's door. “Make yourself comfortable here, Miss Daisy. Master Chris will be delighted to see you here when he returns. He has gone for his classes, I'm afraid."
“Oh, that's okay,” said Daisy. “If he's not here, then I'll come back in the evening.”
“As you wish, Miss.”
Daisy returned home and engaged herself in cleaning out the dust that had collected in her absence. She was curious about what had happened during the last two months, but she decided that cleanliness came first. She'd clean the house before talking to Pari. She was almost done in another two hours. But just as she was about to Floo Pari, the doorbell of her house rang. Daisy opened the door to see Ginny standing outside. The other woman grinned. “I thought you'd be home.”
Daisy smiled back. “Come right in.”
Ginny entered the house and Daisy led her to the living room. They both sat on a sofa. “So... How have you been?” asked Daisy.
“All right,” replied Ginny. “I was on a new case all this while. It wasn't great. I had half my mind on this one.”
“You know, Ginny, I” I have to apologise to you for something... Er...” Daisy looked down; she usually didn't care to apologise for her mistakes. But then she had realised that this particular mistake was big. Ginny, on the other hand, looked confused.
“You don't have to apologise to me for anything!”
“I do,” replied Daisy. “I was unreasonably rude to you the day you chucked me into prison. I made a rude pass about you and Harry. Well... I'm sorry.”
“Oh,” said Ginny. “I didn't really mind it so much then, because I knew you were angry. Don't worry about it.”
Daisy smiled and nodded. “Thanks...” She paused to think. Then she said, “I was just arranging the books on my shelf. Wanna stay on for a while and help?”
“Sure,” shrugged Ginny. “Let's do it, then.”
Daisy led Ginny to her room upstairs and both of them began to stack up the books to put them on the shelves. Ten minutes into it, as Ginny arranged a few old Muggle magazines; her eyes fell on the cover of the one at the top. It was a copy of Biology Today. On the front cover was a picture of DNA strands. But listed amongst the other special contents was something that caught Ginny's eye: childbirth.
She looked at Daisy, bewildered. “You've read Muggle biology magazines about childbirth in the past?”
Daisy looked at her, confused. But when she saw the magazine, she blushed. “Oh... That... Just n”never mind...” But the memories that came rushing into her mind were inevitable.
It was a cosy evening in the Common Room, as all the Ravenclaws sat on the comfortable couches”most of them studying and a few chit-chatting or playing games. Daisy yawned and snuggled in with Chris, as he read a Muggle magazine called, “Biology Today”.
He chuckled, keeping aside the magazine and putting an arm around her. She looked up at him and smiled. “What were you reading in that magazine?”
“Childbirth,” he replied nonchalantly, running his hands through her hair.
She raised an eyebrow. “Eh? Why?”
He shrugged. “It's good to keep information about everything.”
“Okay,” she said, sitting up. “We all know about childbirth, don't we? It's just labour and parturition.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I just sorta wanted to read up about the hormonal control.”
“What does the book say about that?” asked Daisy, starting to get interested.
“Well,” said Chris, grinning at her interest. “When the foetus has been completely developed, complex neurohormonal signals are sent to the brain.”
“This stimulates the pituitary gland, which releases oxytocin. The oxytocin dilates the pubis and causes minor contractions which are often felt as dull back aches.”
Daisy grinned. “Wow, you do seem to know a lot.”
“Yeah,” said Chris, “I must know stuff to be a Healer. The entrance exam for Healer Training is difficult to pass without basic knowledge in Biology.”
“Oh,” said Daisy. “So... How exactly is labour regulated, then?”
“It's just basically the concentration of oxytocin,” Chris explained. “Labour is classified as a vicious cycle of the body. As more oxytocin is secreted, the contractions are more frequent.” He looked at Daisy, who nodded her consent to go on with a pained expression on her face. He grinned, patted her shoulder and continued.
“The contractions become more forceful as more oxytocin is secreted and in the end, there are really severe contractions which””
He couldn't go on, for he felt Daisy's hand holding his, her nails digging into his flesh. “Ouch!” she said, as though she herself was delivering a child.
It was a million dollar moment. Chris couldn't believe the expression on her face, as she held his hand and looked at him as though she were in physical pain. Unable to take it any longer, he burst into fits of laughter. Tears filled his eyes as he held his stomach and laughed, finally pulling Daisy into a big hug. When he released her, though, she still looked shocked and a little pale. He chuckled for a few seconds and touched her cheek. “What happened?”
She looked at him with a horrified expression on her face. “T”That sounded so painful!”
He shrugged. “Yeah, well, it is. I thought you knew.”
“I did know about it,” she said. “It was just that... I never thought it would be so terribly painful. I swear I’m never gonna have kids of my own!”
Chris snorted and hugged her again. “Hehe, you're cute.”
“And you're just not,” Daisy replied, hugging him back.
“Daisy, you're grinning.”
Daisy's mind snapped back to reality and she realised that she had started to grin halfway through arranging the books. Ginny, though had piled up everything else in the meantime. She looked at Daisy as she placed the remaining of the books on the shelf and sank onto her bed. Ginny sat next to her. “What happened?”
Daisy shook her head. “I just remembered a funny incident... I can't wait for Chris to come back.”
Ginny smiled kindly. “You've really missed him, haven't you?”
“Loads,” said Daisy. “I... I've just had the most horrible times of my life in these last few months. And without even Mum and Dad to support me through this, I was really craving for someone to come and hold my hand...”
Daisy got up from the bed and walked over to the window. She looked outside for a while, as the last few months' worth of memories danced before her eyes in a grotesque blur. She felt her eyes sting with tears. Ginny kept a hand on her shoulder. “Never consider yourself alone in this world, Daisy. Everyone has a guardian angel out here. Chris is yours. He was ready to support you from the start... It was just that you didn't want to accept his help then. Even today, if he knows that you've been released, I'm very sure that he will bunk his classes and come here just for you. You're lucky to have such a great guy to give all this love to you.”
Daisy took a deep breath as the tears began to roll down her cheeks. She couldn't help but agree with Ginny about Chris. He was her support. She loved him. And she was betraying him left, right and centre.
A sniffle escaped the teenager and Ginny gave a gasp before turning Daisy around. Then all Daisy could hear were calming words as Ginny hugged her tightly. She, however, pulled away and stood up. Ginny held her arm before she could leave. “You know what's happening, don't you? Who is doing all this, Daisy? I think it's high time the culprit is caught.”
Daisy did not reply directly. She freed herself from Ginny and sniffled, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “M”Meet me for dinner at Scoffers.”
Ginny sighed. “Daisy... Thanks. Thank you so much. We'll make sure that the real culprit is caught immediately.” She went forward and put an arm around the girl. “You don't need to be scared or upset about anything, okay? We'll make sure you're protected.”
Daisy ducked away from Ginny and swiped at her eyes again. “I'm not scared or upset! I just think I shouldn't cut so many onions the next time. My eyes sting a lot. Don't yours?”
Killer Instincts by Ginny Weasley Potter
Chapter Notes: Hey people!
Another update... :)
Well, I'm afraid it's gonna be like one update a month for a while, now because I have no net access in my hostel. Blame certain people who have joined as authorities for it. There's this really horrible guy who's started rules like *girls shouldn't talk to boys in the campus* and all, so life's not too easy out there.
I've not been able to respond to all your reviews due to time shortage, but I promise to do it when I get time!
In the meantime, please R/R. :D
For Khatmal. :p
Chapter Endnotes:
Ooh, just wait till you guys see what happens next. ;)
Yes, chapter 24 is almost done! There's not yet a title, though... I'm still looking for one. Excerpt? Sure!
“Who is it?” she asked, her voice sounding braver than she felt. Feeling a sudden surge of adrenalin, she walked to the particular pillar and cast a glance behind it.
There was no one.
Her heart beating dangerously fast; she turned around. What she saw almost made her pass out.
Standing before her was an alarming figure robed in black. The person had covered their face with a hood and she couldn't see the hands, but she knew that there was a knife clutched in one of them. She was going to be killed.
Well, I think the person I'm talking about is pretty obvious, isn't it? Well, stay put, I'll say. I'll try to complete the chapter ASAP. :)