chapter ten,
stevie the psychiatrist

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DAPHNE'S MORNING IS ONE OF HUNGOVER REGRET.

Every light offends her eyes and the overwhelming urge to be sick rugby tackles her with a vengeance. There's a bubbly feeling of dread pooling at the bottom of her gut that's beginning to drive her mental, a tremor in her hands as she peers down at the unfinished watercolour paintings strewn on her floorboards. ( Daphne has a habit of painting whenever she feels stressed. ) Her ears are ringing as well from the racket her roommates love to make every morning — not that she's at all bitter. In the end, she chokes down a paracetamol, has a cry, casts a charm to soothe her... everything, and calls it a day.

The walk upstairs nearly killed her. She tripped over every missing step and was left completely confused by the totally bipolar rotating staircases. Seriously, who's idea even was that? It's simply inconvenient for everyone! On top of all that misery, irritating children in the years below her were consistently getting under her feet and on her nerves, her temper bordering on explosive by the time she reaches the ground floor. When she finally steps into the Great Hall, she sits and picks at a bland piece of toast for a good ten minutes until her serenity is disrupted.

Her sister slides onto the bench before her — sunflower yellow drowning in a riptide of deep clover — snapping her fingers to get her attention.

"Ow," Daphne murmurs, blinking the dark spots out of her eyes.

"Where did you run off to last night, young lady?" Stevie prompts, narrowing her eyes.

"Nowhere interesting," she replies.

Her stare intensifies, accusatory and comically piercing. "Really? 'Cause, I could've sworn I saw you walking out after a certain somebody." The stern expression breaks and she smiles brightly, wiggling her eyebrows.

Daphne scoffs half-heartedly. "You can't talk, Steph! You and your little friend disappeared into the night before I even considered leaving."

She shifts in her chair. "In my defence, me and Sunny just went off for a bit because it was getting too crowded for her," Stevie answers. "But we came back after a bit. You completely disappeared."

  "Look, I don't want to talk about this here," Daphne admits, sliding her eyes back and forth around the table. "Can we go for a walk? We can always take Romeo down to the lake."

  She heaves a hearty sigh. "Go on, then."

They begin to hurry down the gap between their two tables, but even as they step beyond the double doors, Daphne can't help herself from stealing another glance at the Gryffindor girl on the other side of the hall.

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"TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG, TEMPÊTE."

Daphne chews on the inside of her cheek, stuffing her hands into the warmth of her pockets. There's a vague mist clinging to the rippling surface of the deep loch, little hidden creatures rustling about in the withering reeds. Dew glistens on the grass, clinging onto their muddy shoes as they saunter down a path that's been paved by all of the students overtime. She looks pensively at Romeo, who's scampering along by her feet and waggling his three tails eagerly. He's easily distracted by a swan and her cygnets as they glide across the obsidian water. It should be peaceful to her, yet it's only the opposite.

"I decided to go after Lily last night. After the thing with James. Were you there for that?"

Stevie nods so enthusiastically it looks as though her head's trying to run away from her neck. She begins to tug on her sister's sleeve. "And then?"

"And then nothing," Daphne mutters. "We talked for a bit and then she went to bed. I told you it wasn't interesting."

  "If it wasn't interesting, it wouldn't have you in such a huff," Stevie counters.

That strikes a chord in her. It reminds her too much of the things she'd told Lily the night before. Miserably, she starts to think that the depths of the Black Lake look especially inviting that morning.

  "I thought we were getting somewhere," Daphne goes on eventually. "That we could actually chance being nice to each other."

  Stevie burns holes into her side profile.

  "She told me to forget it even happened. Merlin, it's like we took one step forward and about ten steps back."

  She makes a sympathetic noise. "I bet she was just embarrassed about the whole thing. You've done nothing wrong—"

Romeo starts to bark, making Stevie stop short. They hear footsteps steadily gaining on them — Daphne's lips twist bitterly when she notices just who it is pursuing them.

  "Oi, Charpentier!"

  "Sorry," Daphne calls back. "I don't have any change."

  "Ha ha," James deadpans, glasses askew. "I need to talk to you."

  "Do you now?" she replies flippantly, scrutinising the empty spaces surrounding him. "Where's your entourage today, then?"

  "Never mind that. Look, I really do need your help. I can't exactly remember what I said that made Lily so upset with me the other night but I know that you can ask her to at least hear me out. She'll listen to you."

Daphne wants to scream. "Grow up, Potter. It's not my responsibility to be your bloody messenger."

"You don't understand," he says desperately. "She's completely avoiding me. I can't ask any of her other friends either because they're all just patching me. Please, Charpentier? I was drunk and saying all that rubbish was a big mistake."

Stevie scowls. "Drunk words are sober thoughts, mate. If you're trying to get a bird to fancy you back, you don't humiliate her in front of everyone."

"I know that! But what I don't know is how to make it up to her if she's just gonna keep dodging my attempts."

"Well done," Daphne snaps caustically. "Do I have to remind you that we're not friends, James? If you want to fix this whole mess, you'll have to get on with it by yourself because I can't help you." She hates the way her voice cracks at the last part, swallowed whole by her own emotional warfare.

And on that note, she turns on her heel and strides back up to the castle, sheer anger bubbling in the forefront of her mind.

author's note!

I HATE THIS CHAPTER SO MCUH but i dunno how i'd rewrite it so this is the best i can do xx

anyway i'm so excited for act 2 of this fic solely because of how much i love the playlist