The day Dumbledore died marked the moment Daphne passed the point of no return… or perhaps her fate had already been sealed that fateful night, when the Dark Lord whisked her from Malfoy Manor and moulded her into the unfeeling monstrosity she had become.
Sometimes, she cursed Dumbledore for ending his own life in what he must have seen as an act of mercy for Draco's and her soul, instead of trying harder to save them all… and other times she cursed Oleandra for dragging her along to save Harry from his own recklessness, which was how she had come to be in this predicament in the first place.
But on the day of Dumbledore's death, something peculiar had occurred; something that even Dumbledore could not have foreseen. The Aesir descended from their constellations, attempting to take possession of Oleandra's, Daphne's and Draco's bodies, but their plan went awry.
The fragment of the Dark Lord's soul lodged within Daphne thwarted the Aesir's claim over her, and for a fleeting instant, a window opened into her twin sister's soul as she struggled against the Aesir's leader— and in that moment, Daphne glimpsed Oleandra's deepest secret.
Her soul was not human.
Daphne could not help but agonise over what might have been, had she never discovered the truth. Perhaps it was the cold hardness in her eyes that night which had driven Dumbledore to end himself— a coldness that would never have manifested itself had she not believed herself betrayed by the person she had thought to be her sister for sixteen years…
But there was no point dwelling on what ifs.
Human or not, Oleandra was on her side, the Dark Lord's side… but the more Daphne thought about it, the stranger this all seemed. Above all, the Dark Lord yearned for longevity; immortality, invincibility, life eternal… but he was also a human supremacist, who considered all sentient species below even Muggles.
Would the Dark Lord really entrust a core part of himself to an alien being such as Oleandra?
Before Daphne became a Horcrux, the soul fragment that now lodged within her had dwelt within Nagini, who died in the extraction process when the Dark Lord mercilessly sacrificed her to better fulfil the terms of the Dark Lady prophecy. From what Daphne understood, the Dark Lord's pet snake Nagini had been a Maledictus, which meant she had once been human… and thus, not a lower life form.
Daphne was conflicted.
On one hand, Oleandra still looked and acted exactly as she always had; for all intents and purposes, she was still the beloved sister for whom Daphne had sacrificed her own soul… but on the other hand, Oleandra was a secretive, alien presence, directly responsible for her current torment… and perhaps, on a third hand, they were all in the same boat: Horcruxes whose only purpose was to allow the Dark Lord to live for ever through their suffering…
Was Oleandra on the side of the Greengrass family? The right side, the Dark Lord's side? Or had she never been on anyone else's side but her own, from the very beginning? Daphne was certain Oleandra was up to something again… but this time, she was determined to get to the bottom of it.
…
The bell of the Bell Tower tolled, its deep peal marking the end of first period.
"What do you think, Wyrm?" Daphne sighed as she walked out of the Charms classroom, tickling her pet snake's snout as it poked its little head out of her collar. "Do you think Oleandra can be trusted?"
Wyrm stared at her with its beady little eyes.
"Oleandra's gone," Daphne murmured, glancing left and right. "We've got a free period next… think you can sniff her out?"
Wyrm flicked its forked tongue cutely at the air.
Daphne paid no mind to the furtive, fearful glances her fellow students cast her way as she exchanged hisses with her pet snake. So what if speaking Parseltongue in public made them uneasy? They had every reason to be afraid of her; it had taken them enough failed ambushes to realise that she was invincible.
"This way," hissed Wyrm, jerking its diminutive head forwards.
The crowd of students hurrying to their next classes hastily parted as Daphne stepped forwards, giving her a wide berth for fear of incurring the Dark Lady's ire. She strode briskly through, following Wyrm's directions as it tasted the air for Oleandra's admittedly faint scent.
"Tall round room, open space," said Wyrm as Daphne stepped into the Grand Staircase Tower. "Many eyes. Scary."
Wyrm's head retreated into Daphne's clothes; as a harmless little baby grass snake, it did not like being watched, and the Grand Staircase was lined with portraits whose occupants, usually bored out of their minds, had nothing better to do than leer at passers-by.
"There are no birds here," Daphne insisted. "There's no reason to be scared…"
No matter how much she coaxed or cajoled it, Wyrm would not leave the safety of her clothes. The trail had gone cold.
"Maybe she went back to the common room," Daphne muttered, leaning against the railing and peering down into the yawning abyss below, where the dungeons lay. "I suppose we'll… eh?"
Two hands pressed hard against Daphne's back, and she lurched up and over the railing. Weightlessness rushed through her being as she fell, her eyes widening in disbelief at the familiar face staring back at her above in triumph.
"…Astoria?" Daphne murmured.
The magical moving stairs, which would normally have abandoned everything to swing and catch falling students, remained perfectly still as Daphne plummeted through the air.
"Heh…" Daphne laughed as ground rushed up towards her. "Even the castle's abandoned me…"
Daphne closed her eyes.
So much for help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.
…
A dull sound echoed through the Grand Staircase Tower.
"Mischief managed!"
Startled, Oleandra turned off the Marauder's Map and stuffed it down her pockets and glanced over her shoulder. She exhaled in relief; no one had seen her tampering with the moving stairs' more experimental settings. Still, if the bell was anything to go by, students would be along any minute, so she packed up her things and strolled away nonchalantly.
The plan to eliminate Loki was coming along rather nicely!