FIC: Misunderstood
Title: Misunderstood
Author: roadkill2580
Rating: PG
Pairings: mild Harry Potter/Daphne Greengrass
Warnings: creepy crawlies
Summary: In which Daphne is rescued by none other than Harry Potter himself.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
A/N: I have NO idea where this came from.
Misunderstood
Summary: In which Daphne is rescued by none other than Harry Potter himself.
OooooO
There were dozens of them.
Squirming, slithering, sliding bodies, slim and slender and covered in scales. Her stomach churned. Fear paralyzed her and even if it hadn't she had no idea where she would go anyway. Everywhere she looked, the magical subspecies of the common European viper moved about. Some were even so close as to glide across her shoes. A shiver traveled down her spine. One bite wasn't fatal, maybe not even three or four, but surely, a bite from half a dozen or more would kill her? And all it took was one bite to temporarily disable her magic for a week.
As slow as she could, Daphne slipped her hand into her pocket, grasping for her wand. She wasn't too far into the Forbidden Forest; someone would surely see if she set off showers of red sparks. Still moving painfully slow, she pointed her wand straight into the air and fired off a series of sparks. The sound seemed to agitate the snakes at her feet. They moved faster and a faint hissing met her ears. Immediately she stopped with the sparks. Tears stung her eyes as she felt them coil about her ankles.
"Someone, please help me," she called as loudly as she dared. She didn't care if it was an aggressive centaur patrolling for wayward wizards, she wanted to be anywhere but here in this clearing full of snakes. But it appeared that no one had heard. Daphne was left to whimper and sniffle quietly to herself, her carefully applied makeup smearing across her face.
An eternity later, crashing in the woods raised her hopes. She lit her wand with a flick to help guide the person towards her. Her hopes were nearly dashed when she saw it was Harry Potter. Staunch Gryffindor and notorious for his dislike of Slytherins, Draco Malfoy in particular. On the other hand, he was supposed to be the Savior of the Wizarding World, and Professor Snape was always going on about how he loved his fame. Daphne privately disagreed, as Potter had always seemed rather quiet to her and simply ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time, but far be it for her to voice those opinions aloud.
"Potter. Don't come any closer, or you will be stuck in the middle of all these things as well," she warned quickly. He stopped and looked at the ground, then shrugged and continued moving closer, uncaring of the obvious risk. Stupid Gryffindor.
"I saw your sparks. What's wrong?" his voice was firm despite being quiet, steady and confident. Despite her fear, Daphne found herself mildly impressed. This was the voice of someone who was used to facing danger and coming out on the winning side.
"What do you mean, what's wrong? Are you blind? Can you not see all of these snakes? I need someone to help me get passed them, not stuck with me," She felt herself becoming hysterical and knew she sounded anything but the imperious Pureblood she wanted to sound like. Potter stopped in the clearing and for a moment there was silence. He tilted his head and looked down, staring intently at the snakes. When he next opened his mouth, hissing emerged.
All of the snakes seemed to stop and stare back at Potter. He hissed again, and then the faint hissing she heard earlier was back with a vengeance, loud and fast paced. With a start, Daphne realized she was witnessing a conversation. In Parseltongue. In fact, coming from Potter, the hissing was almost...sexy. The exchange continued with Daphne feeling more and more lost. Then, when she was about to demand that Potter translate for her, the snakes suddenly slithered away and a path opened up to Potter. As he held his hand out to her, she darted to his side. The snakes converged together again after she had passed and resumed their hissing. With herself firmly pressed against Potter's side, she could feel the strange rumble in his chest as he responded to them. Finally, he spoke English again.
"They weren't trying to hurt you. They've just woken up from hibernation. You were very warm. They would like to climb on us," Potter explained.
"What? Why would I ever let those disgusting things climb all over me?" She rubbed her arms, stomach churning again at the thought. Potter shrugged and said something to the ugly little things at her feet. She couldn't contain a screech as they started coiling up his legs. Daphne pulled away from him and stared in horror as he was slowly wrapped up to his shoulders in writhing snakes.
"Be careful you don't step on any. They will bite you if you do that," Potter cautioned.
"Y-you, you should be more worried about the snakes covering you!"
"Not really. These guys aren't aggressive at all. Just a little cold," he carefully shifted his arms and began to pet them, stroking his fingers along the backs of their heads. He continued, "It's okay, I promise. Just stand still." Daphne spluttered, but before she could speak again, she felt the snakes wind up her ankles.
"P-Potter, they're climbing up my robes," she whispered urgently. In moments, she was just as covered in snakes as the Boy Who Lived, and utterly terrified. Yet he remained at ease, speaking softly to the reptiles and petting them. Shutting her eyes tightly, she slowly reached out with a finger and touched one of the snakes coiled about her arm. When nothing happened, she opened her eyes. The snake in question was content with its position and merely sat there, uncaring of the contact with her finger. Carefully, she dragged her finger down its body, and still nothing happened. As Daphne became more confident, she petted the snake more, and began to handle others as well.
"I could teach you to say hello, if you'd like," Potter offered beside her. Daphne glanced at him.
"Why?"
"Well, snakes like to be spoken to. Hardly anyone does, and hardly anyone can understand them. They always mistake their intentions. It'd be a lot easier if more people understood them," Potter met her eyes. For a moment, she got the feeling he wasn't talking about just the snakes at their feet. She smiled tentatively and nodded.
A long while later, Potter finally shooed the snakes off of them and set about placing warming charms everywhere in the clearing. As he did so, he explained it would keep the snakes warm after they left and unlikely to cluster around another student like that again. Until next spring, he joked with a wry smile. She blushed. She blushed even brighter when he offered to walk back up to the castle with her.
The next spring saw Potter on the run from Death Eaters and far away from Hogwarts. That spring, she sat alone amongst the snakes and petted them, murmuring the only Parseltongue word she knew. And when she left, she made sure to place numerous warming charms.
Author: roadkill2580
Rating: PG
Pairings: mild Harry Potter/Daphne Greengrass
Warnings: creepy crawlies
Summary: In which Daphne is rescued by none other than Harry Potter himself.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
A/N: I have NO idea where this came from.
Misunderstood
Summary: In which Daphne is rescued by none other than Harry Potter himself.
OooooO
There were dozens of them.
Squirming, slithering, sliding bodies, slim and slender and covered in scales. Her stomach churned. Fear paralyzed her and even if it hadn't she had no idea where she would go anyway. Everywhere she looked, the magical subspecies of the common European viper moved about. Some were even so close as to glide across her shoes. A shiver traveled down her spine. One bite wasn't fatal, maybe not even three or four, but surely, a bite from half a dozen or more would kill her? And all it took was one bite to temporarily disable her magic for a week.
As slow as she could, Daphne slipped her hand into her pocket, grasping for her wand. She wasn't too far into the Forbidden Forest; someone would surely see if she set off showers of red sparks. Still moving painfully slow, she pointed her wand straight into the air and fired off a series of sparks. The sound seemed to agitate the snakes at her feet. They moved faster and a faint hissing met her ears. Immediately she stopped with the sparks. Tears stung her eyes as she felt them coil about her ankles.
"Someone, please help me," she called as loudly as she dared. She didn't care if it was an aggressive centaur patrolling for wayward wizards, she wanted to be anywhere but here in this clearing full of snakes. But it appeared that no one had heard. Daphne was left to whimper and sniffle quietly to herself, her carefully applied makeup smearing across her face.
An eternity later, crashing in the woods raised her hopes. She lit her wand with a flick to help guide the person towards her. Her hopes were nearly dashed when she saw it was Harry Potter. Staunch Gryffindor and notorious for his dislike of Slytherins, Draco Malfoy in particular. On the other hand, he was supposed to be the Savior of the Wizarding World, and Professor Snape was always going on about how he loved his fame. Daphne privately disagreed, as Potter had always seemed rather quiet to her and simply ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time, but far be it for her to voice those opinions aloud.
"Potter. Don't come any closer, or you will be stuck in the middle of all these things as well," she warned quickly. He stopped and looked at the ground, then shrugged and continued moving closer, uncaring of the obvious risk. Stupid Gryffindor.
"I saw your sparks. What's wrong?" his voice was firm despite being quiet, steady and confident. Despite her fear, Daphne found herself mildly impressed. This was the voice of someone who was used to facing danger and coming out on the winning side.
"What do you mean, what's wrong? Are you blind? Can you not see all of these snakes? I need someone to help me get passed them, not stuck with me," She felt herself becoming hysterical and knew she sounded anything but the imperious Pureblood she wanted to sound like. Potter stopped in the clearing and for a moment there was silence. He tilted his head and looked down, staring intently at the snakes. When he next opened his mouth, hissing emerged.
All of the snakes seemed to stop and stare back at Potter. He hissed again, and then the faint hissing she heard earlier was back with a vengeance, loud and fast paced. With a start, Daphne realized she was witnessing a conversation. In Parseltongue. In fact, coming from Potter, the hissing was almost...sexy. The exchange continued with Daphne feeling more and more lost. Then, when she was about to demand that Potter translate for her, the snakes suddenly slithered away and a path opened up to Potter. As he held his hand out to her, she darted to his side. The snakes converged together again after she had passed and resumed their hissing. With herself firmly pressed against Potter's side, she could feel the strange rumble in his chest as he responded to them. Finally, he spoke English again.
"They weren't trying to hurt you. They've just woken up from hibernation. You were very warm. They would like to climb on us," Potter explained.
"What? Why would I ever let those disgusting things climb all over me?" She rubbed her arms, stomach churning again at the thought. Potter shrugged and said something to the ugly little things at her feet. She couldn't contain a screech as they started coiling up his legs. Daphne pulled away from him and stared in horror as he was slowly wrapped up to his shoulders in writhing snakes.
"Be careful you don't step on any. They will bite you if you do that," Potter cautioned.
"Y-you, you should be more worried about the snakes covering you!"
"Not really. These guys aren't aggressive at all. Just a little cold," he carefully shifted his arms and began to pet them, stroking his fingers along the backs of their heads. He continued, "It's okay, I promise. Just stand still." Daphne spluttered, but before she could speak again, she felt the snakes wind up her ankles.
"P-Potter, they're climbing up my robes," she whispered urgently. In moments, she was just as covered in snakes as the Boy Who Lived, and utterly terrified. Yet he remained at ease, speaking softly to the reptiles and petting them. Shutting her eyes tightly, she slowly reached out with a finger and touched one of the snakes coiled about her arm. When nothing happened, she opened her eyes. The snake in question was content with its position and merely sat there, uncaring of the contact with her finger. Carefully, she dragged her finger down its body, and still nothing happened. As Daphne became more confident, she petted the snake more, and began to handle others as well.
"I could teach you to say hello, if you'd like," Potter offered beside her. Daphne glanced at him.
"Why?"
"Well, snakes like to be spoken to. Hardly anyone does, and hardly anyone can understand them. They always mistake their intentions. It'd be a lot easier if more people understood them," Potter met her eyes. For a moment, she got the feeling he wasn't talking about just the snakes at their feet. She smiled tentatively and nodded.
A long while later, Potter finally shooed the snakes off of them and set about placing warming charms everywhere in the clearing. As he did so, he explained it would keep the snakes warm after they left and unlikely to cluster around another student like that again. Until next spring, he joked with a wry smile. She blushed. She blushed even brighter when he offered to walk back up to the castle with her.
The next spring saw Potter on the run from Death Eaters and far away from Hogwarts. That spring, she sat alone amongst the snakes and petted them, murmuring the only Parseltongue word she knew. And when she left, she made sure to place numerous warming charms.