One shot - The Forbidden Nickname

[author_by_night]

Title: The Forbidden Nickname

Rating: G

Summary: Sometimes, we don't choose friendship; friendship chooses us.

Characters: Daphne Greengrass, Eloise Midgen

Pairings: None; 100% genfic.

Words: 1,369 (counting the author's note)

 

 

Author’s note: This is a slight companion to Beneath the Surface, although I changed a few things to fit this one shot, which I wrote in honor of National Friendship Day (August 7^th), although it’ll probably be weeks later by the time this is posted. Still, I want to dedicate this fanfic to my own friends. J

 

 

When Daphne Greengrass met Eloise Midgen at the age of ten, she decided she hated her next door neighbor, the ugly, annoying kid who was so clingy.

But Mum and Dad liked Eloises’s parents, despite their very different personalities. So Daphne and her sister Persephone (Daphne’s parents had odd senses of humor) were forced to be friendly to Eloise.

Persephone, who was eight, didn’t mind; she liked how Eloise would do her hair, and how Eloise helped her make Christmas cookies one year. Eloise was like another big sister.

But Daphne couldn’t stand Eloise. Every time Eloise would call her by her forbidden nickname – “Daffy” - Daphne would feel her skin crawl. But because she did not want to anger her parents, she kept quiet.

Then, a year later, Hogwarts happened. Eloise was sorted into Hufflepuff, and Daphne was sorted into Slytherin. Daphne found refuge amongst her roommates, even if she didn’t always agree with how they thought about things. And Eloise… well, Daphne wasn’t sure what happened. She just sort of faded into the background, and Daphne only saw her during the holidays. By that time, her parents had decided she was too old to have friends be chosen for her, so Daphne got away with ignoring Eloise completely.

            A few years passed; Daphne began to drift from Pansy’s gang of Slytherins; they were too keen on following Pansy’s every footstep, and Draco Malfoy’s. Daphne couldn’t like Draco, not after the things she’d heard him say.

            Daphne had Persephone, and considered her a close friend, but Persephone and Daphne didn’t have anything in common other than being related. And as Persephone was younger, Daphne felt she ought to be listening to what Persephone needed to talk about, not the other way around.

            So Daphne became somewhat of a loner, occupying herself by studying for OWLS – even though she had over a year  - and reading and writing in her spare time.

            A few months later, a horrible event struck Hogwarts; Cedric Diggory was murdered due to circumstances nobody really understood.

            When Professor Sinistra announced it in the Common Room (Professor  Snape wasn’t there, for one reason or another), Daphne froze. She’d heard people screaming that Diggory was dead, but the announcement made it more real.

            Daphne had never known Diggory. But he was still a fellow student… one in Eloises’s House.

            Daphne had no idea why she suddenly thought of Eloise; nor did she care to ponder the matter. That wasn’t what was important.

            Daphne rushed over to Professor Sinistra, who was leaving, and begged for the location of the Common Room, and the password. She explained that she knew a Hufflepuff there.

            Professor Sinistra told her, and Daphne made for the Common Room.

            However, Daphne did not have to go far before she saw Eloise a few feet away, going into the girl’s room.

            Daphne followed quickly, calling Eloise.

            For a moment, the two girls stared at one another. Neither spoke.

            Then, out of nowhere, Eloise started to cry.

            Daphne stood, unsure of what to do. A mean part of her wanted to tell Eloise to stop blubbering, but another part of Daphne was telling her that Eloise was lonely as well. That could be the only reason she was alone tonight, instead of taking comfort in  - or helping comfort – a fellow Hufflepuff. And lonely people don’t need to be pushed down any more than they already are.

            So Daphne gave Eloise a hug, and let the girl cry on her shoulder. She listened as Eloise admitted that Cedric had been one of the few people that made Eloise feel as though she belonged, and started to feel tears falling out of her own eyes as Eloise voiced her horror that someone had  died as a result of what should have been a great event. And both girls agreed that nothing made sense anymore.

            After that, Daphne stopped avoiding Eloise. They shared a compartment with Persephone’s friends on the way back, and started talking about things.

            Daphne grew to know Eloise. She found out they had the same love of poetry, and that both of them had a secret fascination with muggle theater. (It was more of a secret for Daphne, seeing as she was in Slytherin). They also enjoyed Quidditch, but were hopeless at playing.

            Over the year, the two started bonding. They discussed everything from OWLS to You-Know-Who. When Daphne got frusturated that half her House seemed to be glad You-Know-Who was back, Eloise stayed up with her all night in the Owlry, listening to Daphne’s tears. And when Eloise found out nobody in her House bothered to tell her any more about the Defense Group she’d heard about from Hermione Granger (who had invited her), she’d stormed about just how “loyal” her Housemates were being. Daphne had a feeling it had something to do with her, but didn’t say it.

            The two girls didn’t just come together when they had to; they went to Hogsmeade together, and tried to teach one another Quidditch. And they both found out another desire they had – to work for the Department of Mysteries.

            Daphne began to realize that somehow, Eloise had found her way into her life. Eloise was no longer the irritating next door neighbor who Mum and Dad made her talk to, or the weird Hufflepuff everyone ignored, but a person. She did have an innocence  about her, but she also had depth.

            However, she only realized how much Eloise had meant to her when, the second day of their sixth year, Eloise pulled Daphne aside to say she was leaving.

            Daphne had done everything; she’d even followed Daphne and her father all the way to the gates, telling Mr. Midgen that she’d never let anything happen to Eloise. Mr. Mudgen  turned around, and told her that she hadn’t even spoken to Eloise for a good duration of their Hogwarts years in the first place, and then took Eloises’s arm and Disapparated.

            Everything seemed different without Eloise. There was no longer anyone to share her latest poetry with, nobody to joke to about Quidditch or silly classmates or the rumors that Madame Pince and Filch were in love. There was nobody to share her hope of working for the Deparment of Mysteries with, or to voice her fears to when things got bad.

            Once in a while, Daphne would find herself going to their meeting place – the library – and then realizing Eloise wasn’t there. And might not ever be there again.

            Daphne and Eloise wrote, of course; but their respective schoolwork (Eloise was at Beaucxbatons) kept them busy, and besides, it wasn’t quite the same. They didn’t see one another at Christmas, because Eloise wasn’t speaking to her family.

            Daphne came to a lot of conclusions over the course of the year. She found that she’d disliked Eloise for no real reason… and that Eloise had a good reason for disliking her. She wondered why Eloise had spoken to her so quickly, and when she asked Eloise in a letter, had been told “I needed someone, and although I was pretty hurt, I realized you hadn’t completely abandoned me.” The words had made Daphne go still for a good couple of minutes.

            When Dumbledore died, Daphne headed for the bathroom, hoping Eloise would show up, even though she knew it was implausible. Instead, Persephone did, and Daphne spent an hour telling her it would be okay… even though she wasn’t sure it would. She’d  never had

            At the day of the funeral, Daphne watched in numb silence as Dumbledore’s tomb was made. Persephone was being comforted by their mother.

            Suddenly, Daphne felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, and heard a whisper.

            “Daffy?”

            For once in her life, Daphne didn’t cringe at the nickname.

            It was actually rather lovely, when it came from someone you’d missed so much.

 

Comments

[jan-aq.livejournal.com]

Awwwww. :) I liked it. I actually have a Daphne Greengrass and an Eloise Midgeon in my Harry Potter Sims neighborhood. Maybe I'll make them friends.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Hehe, glad I'm not the only one who was intrigued by them!

[moonlinnet.livejournal.com]

Aww...that's so sweet! I loved how you kind of brought to life characters that we don't know anything about.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)

[linda-lupos.livejournal.com]

In fear of sounding unoriginal: awwww. Very interesting to see events from the POV's of people we barely hear about. And friendship really CAN overcome differences in houses!

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :) And "aww" is just fine.

[irised.livejournal.com]

I'm repeating what's already been said, but awww, that was really nice! And it's always a good change to hear from some of the other characters.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :) I like working with them.

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's great! You make it very believable that they could be friends.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Thanks... that's really good to hear.

[sprite6.livejournal.com]

This is very nice, Amy, especially because the pattern of their friendship happens to a lot of people. Everybody's been thrown together with people they might not care for, or separated from someone they do. I like it; it's sad, but the ending is sweet.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, you're right. Or, at least, the first impression will be off.

[ghostlygrove.livejournal.com]

You know, one would think that these kinds of fics would go all wrong because you have no starting point on the characters, but if you think about it, that's all the better. It's almost like creating an OC, so that whether the story is good or bad doesn't revolve around how accurate the characters are, just how well you write (there are some truly bizarre stories out there).

I was a bit confused at first, just because having to say "Persephone" in my head so many times kind of threw me off :P But this is sweet, for it's a tale of reunion and finding a friend in the unlikeliest of places and circumstances; like turning a corner and bumping into a giant biker guy who looks like he's gonna pound you out of sheer annoyance, but turns out to be the biggest softy in the world :)

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :) Yeah, it's odd, isn't it?

Aww!

[julibeth.livejournal.com]

Oh, so good! Thanks for posting it!