#and was still a little bitch about it years later and tried to take jaehaerys’ eye

[shazyloren]

The Room: Chapter 9 - Walking the Dungeons

Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12710496/chapters/29174694

------

Daenerys had endured a lot since arriving at Hogwarts and it was only eight in the evening on the first day. She'd confided in Headmaster Lannister over her abuse from her brother, she'd had words of hate and bile thrown at her, Jon had defended her which made her even more mad and now she was having to patrol with him. He was chewing drewball gum all the way around the dungeon, his mouth making an uncomfortable slapping and squishing noise as he did. It was adding to the agitation she felt inside her.

She was furious with him in reality.

How did he not see that it was not okay for him to defend her when he has called her worse things in the past? And furthermore since when had it ever been in his interest to defend her? Daenerys only assumed it was because he was head boy now and had to show some responsibility. Or maybe he had grown up over the summer? No that was not it, he wouldn't have called her a dragon in heat if he'd actually grown up.

The first time they'd ever had an argument he'd called her a shrivelled lacewing and not five minutes later Merlin's sagging left- she didn't like thinking about that. But it illustrated her point, how dare he even defend her from comments she can handle as head girl. She should've dished out those punishments, not him. Ever since that first argument they'd been on a warpath against each other and Daenerys was not about to forgive all that, even if she probably should.

And then he went and called her a Dragon on heat today, which was possibly the most insulting thing he could say to her in her current state of mind. The dragon was the sigil of her house, for centuries. He was covering more taint on her already shamed house. And saying she was on heat caused her stomach to flip, she didn't ask for this violation of her body, not that he knew what it meant. But she didn't want it. What could she have done other than hex him?

She shouldn't have done it, really. She should've just let it roll off of her and ignore them all. But her anger and frustration mixed with the hope she had been feeling inside from her conversation with the headmaster had led to this point. Just because something was going to be done about one part of her life doesn't mean anything else was going to be fixed. Even if the thing getting fixed is the main root of all her problems.

Once the arrest happened, whenever that would be, people would stop their hate and vile words. Not that it mattered to her, she knew she was a good person deep down. Everything had just been twisted and contorted inside her. She was a new person since third year, and they'd soon come to understand why. Or maybe they wouldn't care in the slightest, no one has bothered to ask her since third year how she feels.

"So are you gonna walk in silence with me all evening?" Jon asked as they finished checking the potions classroom. She felt her eyes roll to the back of her head. How dare he interrupt me mid-thought. Daenerys didn't even look at him, she couldn't, not after the display they'd already shown today.

"Yes" Daenerys answered truthfully, he was annoying her just by standing there, not accounting for the lip smacking. Although the lip-smacking was making her nerve fray with rage. She hated loud eaters. "Silence is better than having to listen to whatever comes out of your mouth"

"I'm not that bad" He said sounding offended. Good, Daenerys thought. She was so frustrated with him that she was happy she'd offended him. "Stop acting like I'm invisible"

"It's hard to pretend you're not here when you're smacking your lips together like a cow eating grass" She sighed, stalking a few steps in front of Jon, still not making eye contact with him. "And you're just as bad as the rest of them so ignoring you is the best option"

"Why?" He was clueless.

"Or I'll hex you, that's why" Daenerys' voice raised.

"No, I meant why am I a bad person?" Daenerys blinked at Jon's cluelessness, standing still in shock. She wasn't sure if he was being serious or not but when she turned around and saw him looking confused, she realised he was that stupid. Daenerys didn't know what came over her, but she just burst out laughing. A gut-busting laugh that echoed around the dungeons for minutes after.

"Seriously?" She cackled mid breath. "You have no idea why you're as bad as them?" She scoffed, her brows had risen and her pulse was quickening as she thought on the fury he was making her feel. But she still couldn't do anything but laugh. Jon had no clue, even though she'd been saying the same song and dance for three years now. "You've done nothing but shout at me, duel with me, say horrible things about my family and I, and yet you act like I'm the horrible bitch"

"That's because you can be a bitch on the odd occasion, Daenerys" Jon said as if it was a matter of fact. Daenerys stopped laughing, her expression being replace by a scowl. What happened to them both? Bright eyed-first years to this sour and bitter seventh years. She knew her trauma, what was his excuse for being an ass? "How does me defending everyone who you've hexed in the corridors make me as bad as them?"

"My family, for a thousand years have practiced incest"

Jon flinched at the word. Daenerys didn't, she wasn't a weak willed woman anymore. It was a part of her, she wouldn't be who she was without those years of history.

"It was said that even if they tried not to; they were somehow still attracted to their own brothers and sisters. My Great grandfather, Jaehaerys, he was forbidden to marry any of his sisters by his father, Aegon. But even this was not enough, he was in love with Shaera, his younger sister. They confronted Aegon about the Valyrian way and he conceded. They wed and fucked like rabbits. They were never mad, only madly in love. They kept the blood in their own kin not to keep it 'pure' as you would say, but to keep the magic within us strong. We used to be bond to Dragons, you know?"

"Aye, I heard" Jon gruffed. Daenerys could tell he looked uncomfortable.

"Some of the Lords of Valyria had up to five dragons each to do their bidding, to unleash their fury on those who would cross them. It was a tradition, it wasn't frowned upon"

"Daenerys I-" She wouldn't let him talk, she was too fired up. She needed him to feel the pain and misery she does from his actions.

"And you; and countless other in this school still have belittled me and degraded me for things out of my control. Do you think I want to be a child of incest? Do you think I want to be this angry at the world? Neither you or the world has ever given a shit about me and so I shouldn't ever give a shit about them. The gods are cruel, if there are any at all, but I know that there is going to come a day where I am not shackled by the hate and hurtful words everyone spills at me. I am a product of incest, this is who I am. But I'm not a monster"

"I-"

"A Dragon in heat, huh? I think you better chose your words carefully next time. I am a Dragon, Wolves are good food for the Dragons" Daenerys huffed. She wanted to get under his skin. It was working.

"Are you threatening me?" He asked incredulously.

"I'm reminding you. Call me a dragon in heat again and I'll show you what a Dragon is. Zaldrīzes buzdari iksos daor" She snarled.

"Zal-what?" Jon said almost scratching his head in confusion, impatient at the same time.

"Zaldrīzes buzdari iksos daor - A dragon is not a slave. And I am not here to be your hexing bag, Jon" She said before stalking off down the hall. He followed on her heels as she tried to lose him. Tears were threatening to spill but she would not let them. She did enough crying this morning, and Jon Snow wasn't worth her tears. But he didn't seem to get it.

"So you've been dealt a shitty hand in life - you're not the only one, I'm a well respected pure blood wizard's child with a muggle that wasn't his wife; you think I'm any better off?" Daenerys halted and turned to glare as meanly as she could. How could he even think the two things are the same?

"Boohoo, you grew up in a nice home yet people are mean to you because your father loved another woman besides his wife" Daenerys snorted, impatient with his attitude. She couldn't believe he was comparing the two. "They are not the same!"

"Why are they not the same?" Jon threw his hands in the air in exasperation. Daenerys wanted to strangle him.

"I don't EVER take the mickey out of you for that!" She thought that if a teacher didn't show up soon, she may very well hex him until there was nothing left of him. Yet she still did not cry, even if she could feel the watery tears threaten to spill over.

"And I've never made jokes about your ancestry!" He tried to return, but it wasn't true. Daenerys had heard them, she'd heard his hurtful words.

"Fourth year you laughed when Theon Greyjoy asked me if I had six toes on one foot" She started. "Fifth year you asked me if I felt the need to sleep with my brothers and Last year you agreed with your mate Gendry said that my eyes were a little close together" Daenerys felt her skin crawl as she relived these memories. "You are as bad as the rest of them and I don't care whether your mother was a muggle or not. I'd take that over this existence any day!"

"I-" He couldn't speak. He was shocked that she'd remembered all this; he'd quiet clearly forgotten it all. Daenerys knew it was like water off of a ducks back with him, he didn't really care about what he'd said. And she was going to tell him as much.

"What the matter? Realising how much of a douche you are?" Daenerys quipped as she turned to look him directly in the face. She was heartbroken really, she'd never wanted this, they'd got on in second year, even working on a few assignments together. But after she'd gone through a huge change in her life, he had turned against her rather than just ask what was wrong.

"I guess an apology is too far gone now" He looked down at his own hands. Daenerys saw shame on his face, it did not suit him. he was always so confident yet humble in every other aspect of his life. But this rage match between the two of them had gone on for too long. "But for what it's worth I am so sorry, I've been an ass to you"

"I don't want your apology, Jon. I want you to stop it; stop saying these things about me. I can't control who my parents are, what my blood is. It's part of who I am. And I'm perfectly normal, I'm not some weird one eyed witch who could combust any day because she's inbred" She felt the energy leave the hall, no one was around, their shouts had been the only thing filling the air.

"Why do you act the way you do?" Jon asked.

"Do what?" She snapped.

"That - get so angry at people" He looked scared almost, as if she was about to explode and he would cease to exist. "Not to me, but to people who haven't said anything about your family, to those who are just getting through school and are hexed or hurt by your anger"

"You wouldn't understand" She shrugged and turned away. Not wanting to look at him. The tears had spilled over. It was a few moments but she felt his hand on her shoulder. She flinched away from him straight off.

"Try me" He begs, his hand still hovering in the space she had been.

"You are very trying" She feels the will to live living her body. He was driving her up the wall. He didn't look away from her, he tried to hold her gaze. She saw something raw inside him, a thirst for knowledge, understanding. He wanted to understand her better. As if he was some phony wizard shrink.

"Please, I don't want to continue this fighting" He said in a quiet voice, his position only two feet from hers. She felt her pulse quicken as he was close to invading her personal space. Her alarm bells were ringing, and while she knew Jon was not someone who would hurt her in the ways Viserys has, she couldn't be too cautious.

"It's... strange" She explains. "Father told me that there was a saying, in which Valyrian families would use to describe the Targaryens. Everytime one was born the gods flipped a coin, heads they were fine, tails they were mad. It was the incest, well initially that was the reason. Targaryen's however, would be worse than the other families. They had some of their family members who were more mad than anything the Valyrian's had ever seen"

"So it's your blood, you've gone... mad?" He said looking even more scared. This actually made Daenerys snort.

"No, I'm sane. It's just... in the past two hundred years, when a Targaryen has gone mad, they've gone through a traumatic event. Some have only had anger issues, others have gone full crazy town and have had to have been 'put down' as father once said" She wasn't explaining well. "My brother Rhaegar, he's the sweetest person you will ever meet, kind, caring and nothing like our father. He has my mother's kindness. My other brother, Viserys... he has all my father's cruelness, he's a pompous twat. And I, I'm the one in the middle"

"So you're not full blown rabid dog but you have the potential?" He said furrowing his brows. "I'm going to be completely honest you're not explaining it very well"

"I went through something... horrifying, in third year. I still haven't fully processed it all, it's still happening to me. But it made me angry, so angry all the time. It's my blood that makes me such a way" She summed up and he nodded, sort of understanding.

"Okay, I think I got it" He wasn't convinced, she could see it. But she didn't care.

"Perhaps now you'll lay off of me?" Daenerys enquired.

"Daenerys, I was never laying on you" He snorted, thinking his joke was funny.

"Pathetic" Daenerys stalked off again. He followed her, apologising for it.

"Okay I'm sorry, look. We've both been stupid in the past. I shouldn't have made jokes about who you are. You're right, you can't help it. I know this more than you think, you can't help who your parents are" She gave him a dirty look. "But you need to be more tactile about this temper of yours, you've really upset people with it" He said as they entered the potions store cupboard to make sure no one was hiding in there. "But we are Head boy and girl now, and I know for a fact I just want to make it to the end of this year without us clashing"

"Never had a problem with it before so why now?"

"It's exhausting" He said as a matter-of-fact.

"True" Daenerys mused. She thought about it. He was right; she too wanted to get through this school year without any bumps as such. The triwizard tournament was one she could overcome, but it was silly to think that she could get through without a few glitches. Jon however, was offering a truce, a truce she would like to take. "Okay, fine. I will be civil towards you for the rest of the school year..."

"Cool-" He was stopped.

"If you never tell anyone we had this conversation and you keep your distance from me until we have to do Head boy and girl duties or if we get partnered in lessons. You know it's going to happen" She agreed with him. It was a day of firsts in her mind. It was also possibly the longest they'd actually spoke without hexing each other.

"I think I can manage that" He rolled his eyes, a small smile present. Daenerys found herself regretting this already, especially if he was going to enjoy their truce. "Okay so, we cool?"

"We cool" She nodded.

Their patrol finished a few moments later and Daenerys was left wondering if there was perhaps more to Jon than she initially knew. But at least he'd be off her case now; another one on the list dealt with.