Chapter Nine

It had only been two weeks since Arya joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team and Daenerys already hated it.

Before Arya was on the team, the two girls would be together twenty-four seven, especially after their classes got out. Now, Dany only seemed to be with Arya was in the morning for breakfast and in the very few classes that they had together. The Stark girl had practice almost every day after school, which meant that she was doing her homework before practice and sleeping after, instead of hanging out with her best friend. What made everything worse, was that when Arya did spend time with her, she always seemed tired and a little grouchy. She never raised her voice at the white-haired girl, but there were a couple of times that she got snippy with her. Then, just when Dany thought she couldn't get lonelier, Missandei started to hang out with her Gryffindor friend, Grey Worm, more leaving Daenerys all by herself most days. She still met up with Sansa and Margaery in the library most nights as they still hadn't found anything about dragon breeding or how dragon eggs hatch. However, since Arya had Quidditch practice during their designated meeting times, the smaller Stark girl was almost never there. Sansa and Margaery paid more attention to each other than they did to Daenerys, which made her constantly feel like a third wheel.

The only thing keeping Dany's head up was her three dragon eggs. Each night, she laid underneath her twin sized bed, cuddling with the hard oval-shaped eggs. Tonight was no exception. As Dany laid there, she had all three of the eggs in her arms. She hadn't changed out of her school uniform yet as she had little motivation to do so. Daenerys didn't seem to have the motivation to do a lot of things recently. She sniffled, quietly, pulling the green egg closer to her chest while a silent tear slipped out of her eye.

"I'll never leave you guys, I promise," Dany whispered, kissing each of the eggs. She didn't mean to, but she accidentally fell asleep underneath her bed that night, still in her school uniform.

A baring alarm was what woke Daenerys up the next morning. Startled, the girl sat up only to have her forehead meet the wooden plank that supported her mattress. She yelped in as a sharp pain spread across her face, eventually fading into a dull ache. "Daenerys? Was that you?" Missandei's concerned voice called out. Worried the taller girl would try to look under her bed and find the dragon eggs, Daenerys scrambled out from under her head. Missandei, and two other female Hufflepuff first years, Ygritte and Shireen, jumped in fright as the girl stumbled out from underneath her bed. They all were still in their pajamas, which meant that it was still fairly early in the morning. Daenerys could clearly see Missandei's concerned face flash to confusion as she took in Daenerys's odd attire, her expression quickly flashed back to concern when her eyes made their way up to Dany's forehead.

"You're bleeding!" Missandei exclaimed, rushing over to her friend. She grabbed Daenerys's face and carefully tilted it up so she could get a better look at the bleeding wound on Dany's forehead. The smaller girl winced and let out a hiss as the cut protested. "I'll be right back!" Missandei let go of her face, rushing over to her bunk, rustling around underneath it for a second before she pulled out a white box with a red cross on it. Slightly confused, Daenerys watched as the darker skinned girl pulled out some things from the box and walked back over to her. "This might sting a little," Missandei said, pressing a wet cloth to her forehead. Dany hissed in pain as a fire spread across the cut and her forehead. "Hold still, I'm almost done." The girl lifted up her wand, pressing it gently against the skin next to the gash. Missandei murmured, "Vulnera Sanentur," quietly and suddenly there no longer was a gash on Daenerys's forehead. The violet-eyed girl stared up at her friend in astonishment. The girl shrugged, "my mom's a healer."

Dany let Missandei go change into her school uniform, she sat on her bed, patiently, so they could walk down to the Great Hall together. She could feel Shireen and Ygritte's stares on her back. She could also hear them whispering to each other and even though she couldn't make out what they were saying, she knew they were talking about her. She started to pick at her black slacks, awkwardly, pressure starting to slowly build up in her chest.

"You ready to go?" Dany nodded, following her friend with her head bowed as they walked out of the room. Missandei made light conversation with Daenerys as they made their way to the Great Hall, but never asked why the girl about what happened that morning. Daenerys was grateful for that. When they arrived at the Great Hall, Arya was already at their regular spot at the Hufflepuff table. The Stark girl's eyes were drooping and her head was starting to slowly drop to the table when Missandei and Dany sat down and startled her awake.

"Hey, guys," Arya grumbled, taking a bite of cereal. "Hey!" Dany exclaimed in fake excitement. Missandei gave her a pointed look. Not much else was said during that breakfast and for once, Daenerys was thankful for that. The Hufflepuff's had Transfigurations that day, which meant Daenerys had to put up with Joffrey Baratheon for the next few hours, not something she was in the mood for. When Dany got to the Transfiguration classroom, she went over and sat in her normal seat at the front of the class. Like usual, Joffrey sat down next to her a few minutes after she took her seat. Unlike usual, the boy didn't say one word to her as he sat down. He sat, glowering at the desk in front of him. Unease spiked at the pit of Dany's stomach. Her hands started to unconsciously rub together as the pressure began to slowly build up in her chest again. Joffrey, suddenly, grabbed the wrist of her left hand and squeezed it as hard as possible. Dany squeaked out, too scared to scream, pain flooding down her arm after her wrist cracked loudly. His glowering glare turned from his desk to her. "You will meet me in the Slytherin boy's bathroom, today at four." The lack of emotion in his voice made Dany shiver in fear. He quickly yanked her forward so her ear was next to his mouth as he whispered, "Nod your head, yes."

Dany nodded her head, slightly, and he let go of her wrist, turning back around to face the front of the class. Knowing that her wrist would bruise, Dany tried to hide her left hand in her lap, away from her other classmates and Professor Varys. Lucky for Dany, it happened to be a lecture day which meant she wouldn't have to move her hand around much. After class, Joffrey marched out of class without giving Dany another glance. She shakily stood up and made her way out of the classroom, meeting Arya outside. Missandei was talking with Grey Worm. Arya gave Daenerys a tired smile which would usually make Dany feel much better after spending a class next to Joffrey. But today, the pounding in her chest continued. Arya gave her a concerned look.

"Hey, are you feeling alright? You look paler than usual," Arya frowned. "I'm good!" Daenerys gave Arya one of her best fake smiles. Arya looked skeptical but left the subject alone. Arya made sure to sit next to her during their shared History of Magic class, causing Dany to shove her already bruising wrist into her lap again, not wanting her friend to find out about how Joffrey treated her earlier that morning. "Hey," Arya whispered to her while Tyrion was in the middle of his boring lecture, "you wanna get dinner together tonight? I have the night off." Dany, who couldn't say no to the Stark girl, nodded. Arya smiled brightly at her friend, turning to face the front of the class again. The pressure against Dany's chest continued to build.

When the clock hit four o'clock, Dany was already standing outside the Boy's Slytherin bathroom. Her hands were shaking so bad she could barely open the bathroom door. Once inside, she could hear the distant footsteps of someone on the other side of the bathroom, obviously pacing. The footsteps stopped as soon as the door slammed shut.

"You're here." Joffrey's voice echoed across the bathroom walls. The boy suddenly popped out in front of her. His eyes were red like he had been rubbing them, his foot impatiently tapping against the floor. Daenerys careful nodded, standing her ground. The boy quickly rushed forward, grabbed her by her shirt and threw her to the ground. Dany's first instinct was to catch herself with her left hand, the one Joffrey had sprained earlier. Sure enough, a loud snap echoed across the bathroom walls, as did Daenerys's scream. Tears streamed down her face as she held her obviously broken wrist to her chest, writhing around on the floor. Joffrey's foot came in contact with her rib cage and the breath was knocked out of her.

"I found out something," Daenerys looked up at him, wide-eyed, gasping for breath. "Mudblood, FUCKING MUDBLOOD!" His foot connected with her rib cage again, Dany swore she felt something crack. "Fucking Mudblood. I can't believe you made me like you." Joffrey spat on Daenerys's face. Dany couldn't believe what she was hearing. How did he find out about the orphanage? Joffrey knelt down next to her, "Could you imagine what my mom would say if I brought home a filthy mudblood as my girlfriend," a crazed look in his eyes as he chuckled humorlessly. He stood up again and kicked her harder in the same spot. Dany knew she felt something crack, then. Pain spread throughout her entire body as every gasp of air caused her pain to become more severe. She felt another blob of his spit hit her in the face.

"Don't tell anyone about this, or I'll tell everyone about your little secret." Dany couldn't move to face the psychotic boy, but she could feel his presence next to her. She felt her head give him a slight nod. This, apparently, was enough for him, as she felt his presence leave her and could barely hear the door to the bathroom slam shut over the roaring in her ears. Dany could barely breathe, could barely move the pain was too bad. She stayed there for over an hour, waiting for the pain to subside, tears silently streaming down her face. Eventually, with her right hand, she was able to pull herself up to a sitting position. The pain was worse when she was sitting, but she was determined to stand. She needed to make her way to the Great Hall, she promised Arya she would eat dinner with her. Carefully, she stood to her feet, gripping the sink to steady herself. Once she felt she had her footing underneath herself, she started to slowly make her way toward the Great Hall. Each step sent a sharp pain through her body and she couldn't move her wrist at all, but she eventually made it to her usual spot at the Hufflepuff table. Arya looked up at her and beamed.

"Hey, Dany!" Daenerys carefully sat down, her back as straight as a board, "Hey Arya."

"You okay? You look even paler than usual," Arya reached out her right hand to tough Dany's left. In a moment of panic, Dany's right hand shot out and griped Arya's. She gave the other girl's hand a squeeze and a pained smile. "I'm fine, Arya. I appreciate your concern, though." Arya nodded and retracted her hand, starting to rant about Sansa's smartass comments that she made earlier that day.

Daenerys tried her best to focus on Arya's story, but it was hard when emotionless blue eyes were watching her every move from across the dining hall.