Chapter Text
Nothing compared to the simple beauty of the Great Hall. Unaware if it was the ancient stone walls that towered over the witches and wizards that entered the premises - making them feel as small as ants in a world much larger than they can perceive - which made the Great Hall so grand; or maybe the enchanted ceiling that hung over their heads, displaying the sky beyond their confinements. Was it the hovering candles that wandered as they pleased? or maybe the everlastingly long tables that catered to every student's needs that defined the magnificence of the Great Hall?
Such mundane things - walls, ceilings, lights, tables - were all elevated to a quality beyond ordinary which wholly contributed to the Great Halls overall ethereal charm.
However, it was the atmosphere that made the Great Hall the most enchanting place to ever exist. The scent of magic was thick in the air, sending jolts of awe through the mass of students that wandered through those great arches each and every day - as though it was Christmas every time they entered. She assumed that was why there was never a lack of students there. It was so often crowded, no matter the time of day, that she wondered if it were ever truly empty; that's what made it so private. Everyone was so engraved in their own universe that a single student by themselves would simply be drowned out.
And that is exactly what happened each time Haidee Deirdre entered the Great Hall, and that was the way she preferred it.
Haidee, who had spent all of her Christmas' at Hogwarts has, however, had the privilege of seeing the Great Hall in a state of loneliness; but however empty, the solitude was never melancholy, simply serene - which was something of short supply at Hog-
"Take cover!"
The Great Hall erupted into chaos before those words had stopped echoing off the walls. Everyone took action. The older students used magic to protect themselves. Some laugh, others utterly horrified as they scramble for their wands in desperation, hoping they reacted in time to protect themselves from whatever oncoming doom was anticipated. A simple shielding spell would do the trick, as older students turned their wands to the sky to shelter themselves, the younger, less knowledgeable students scurried under the tables - some did not make it in time, leaving them unprotected to the soapy frogs that rained from the rafters of the Great Hall.
They rained from the ceiling, leaping at the students and teachers below who were simply trying to enjoy their dinner. Havoc devoured the room as students screamed in disgust. Frogs plonked onto the top of the shielding spells and rolled off the side, landing heavily in the mashed potatoes that were present. The sideway splash of mash was not something that the shielding spell could protect the user from, as it was directed at the top of their heads causing the older students to wipe the smug smirks off their faces as they cringed, now covered in splatters of hot mash.
Girls shrieked as they pulled slimy frogs from their hair. Others screamed and ran for the door in hopes of salvation, trampling others that were in the way. Almost every student had scurried from their seats, leaving their half-eaten dinners, sacrificing their almost completed homework to the plague of frogs that stormed the Great Hall.
Haidee, who was neither much of a runner nor someone who would abandon their homework, scurried to pack up the work she had been doing in the hall to protect it from slime and food residue before taking refuge under the table, clutching her work to her chest as if it were dear to her. It was her Advanced Potions homework which she had worked hard to complete to her satisfaction, so in a way, it was dear to her. She also knew that despite Professor Snape being in the Great Hall during the enormous disruption, he would not excuse it as a reason for late hand-in.
She was not alone under the far end of the Hufflepuff table, of which she had resided before the outburst of chaos. There were no other students - most of which had directed all their energy into fleeing the hall - but instead by a mass of frogs so thick it was hard to see the floor underneath.
In her refuge, it was hard to see or hear anything over the croaking of frogs, screams of children and stampede of feet, but the howling laughter from a set of mischief causing twins was a sounds so ravenous she could hear it as clear as day. It was even clearer when, in an instant, all the frogs had vanished and the croaking had stopped. Feeling as though her work would not be ruined by her return to her seat, Haidee peered out from under the Hufflepuff table to see Professor Dumbledore with a kind smile on his lips and his wand pointed outward. He looked up to where the frogs had fallen and the laughter had emitted to see two very specific red-haired boys peering over the edge, howling too much to even bother properly hiding.
"Thank you, Mr and Mr Weasley, for a wonderful demonstration of the after-effects of the Frog Spawn Soap," Dumbledore said without an ounce of annoyance. "Everyone! Please return to your seats! Pudding has just been served!"
With that, the contaminated food that was covered in frog slime was now replaced with large portions of amazing looking pudding. The smell of sweets filled the air and lured the students who were once hurrying out the door back inward. They returned hesitantly, searching the corners for hidden frogs before taking their seats. Haidee sat back in her seat on the far end of the Hufflepuff table, closest to the Great Hall entrance, where she always sat - alone and undisturbed as the students ignored her, consumed by their own world and once again, she was lost in the crowd. She never minded, being the coy and reserved third-year student that she was, she was always more of an observer than a participator. Watching from the sideline was a simple joy she could indulge in at the Great Hall just as she watched Fred and George Weasley wander down from the rafters to join their house at the Gryfindor tables.
Gryffindor seemed to hold a collection of people Haidee rather enjoyed, not that she had spoken to any of them in their time there. She enjoyed the Weasley family very much, the twins in particular. They were in her year level and she shared quite a few classes with them, yet she highly doubted they knew her name or even acknowledge they were in the same year let alone the same class. They were always so off in their own life, making charms and silly pranks that Haidee was rather fond of to realised she was even remotely associated with them.
Haidee found their love for trouble wholesome for they were much different from the other Weasleys she had met. Percy was rather fun to watch, how he acted above everyone and let his inflated ego only inflate more with the Prefect title, and Charlie was a greatly kind man, he had even greeted her once in the halls when they were both walking alone in her first year. Ron had only been at Hogwarts for half a year but he seemed rather amusing also, finding his own way into his certain types of trouble with Harry Potter.
Haidee reached for a slice of sponge cake to eat while she finished her Advanced Potions homework, watching as the Gryffindors congratulated the Weasley twins on their not-so-little prank. After her sweet and her homework was complete, she was free for the rest of the night which meant one of two things: studying in the library or cooking in the kitchen.
The ticklish pear secret passage to the kitchen had become as common to her as the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff to enter her common room and she had become rather great friends with the house-elves that worked in the kitchen. She would enter any time she pleased and they would watch her cook. They were always quite surprised when she offered them some of her sweets; sometimes she made too many to keep.
They knew not her first name, or last name for that matter for they didn't ask when she first arrived and as she came so often they felt silly to ask when they saw her so frequently. Haidee knew that they didn't know her name but she never offered it to them, she felt rude announcing it when she knew she would never know all the names of the house-elves that worked at Hogwarts, so they referred to her as 'The Lolly Lady' and she referred to them simply as 'house-elves'.
Haidee came so often to the kitchen that two nights had passed when she hadn't been because she was smothered with Advanced Potions homework and passed out on her pages of work that the house-elves sent a letter of concern to Dumbledore to ask of Lolly Lady's safety. Of course, he was rather amused by the letter. He was aware of Miss Deirdre constant departure to the kitchen whenever her time was free and saw no harm in it being done even when she would retreat from her room in the hours of the night and head there without anyone noticing. He had found that she would create some of the best-tasting treats he had ever had when she became inspired at three in the morning and the two of them had a mutual agreement through written letters back and forth that Dumbledore would allow her late-night wanders to the kitchen whenever she liked if she would send a few treats of whatever she was making to him by morning.
Dumbledore was rather pleased with his agreement with Miss Deirdre because he would often walk out of his office and find a little box of sweets with a ribbon holding the lid down on the floor outside his office. It happened so often that Professor McGonagall had started to notice, but whenever she asked Dumbledore why sweets were outside his office, he would only reply by offering her one, which she rather enjoyed. For two years Professor McGonagall would quietly await Dumbledore's offer each time sweets were at his doorstep and he knew that she hadn't had one lolly she hadn't liked, not that she would admit it, of course.
Dumbledore and the house-elves were the only ones who knew of her talent and although McGonagall asked, Dumbledore never answered. He was correct in assuming she liked that no one knew. It was something she did for herself and she loved how others got benefits from it.
Haidee was also a very good student. Never spoke out of place in class, always handed in her homework on time, completed all of her work to a phenomenal level and she presumed that was another reason Dumbledore let her roam to the kitchen at night, but it wasn't. It was purely for the sweets.
She was taking Advanced Potions in her third year, yet even though she was the youngest and still at the top of the class, Professor Snape took little to no interest in her. He was too busy probing other students that he disliked. Potions were her favourite out of all of her classes, although Herbology was a close second. She sometimes took small amounts of ingredients from Professor Sprout's gardens, with her permission, of course, to add to her lollies and treats.
She intended to be a Herbalist after she graduated, or maybe creating a small lolly shop in the muggle world with lollies that muggles couldn't explain and whenever they would ask how she made her wondrous lollies they could only get at her sweet shop, she would smile sweetly and reply, "Magic."