"No."
Harry blinked owlishly at Daphne instead of responding properly. Internally, he was growing fearful of the possible repercussions of his decision to invite her on a date and what that would mean for their friendship. While he didn't really expect her to accept his invitation, he also didn't expect such a cold and immediate response. So he just kept staring at Daphne without uttering a single word. One thing he found odd, however, was that despite Daphne looking at him dead in the eyes, her gaze seemed… Lost.
At one point, the silence got unbearable for him and he decided to speak up. Rather awkwardly.
"Good. Wait, I mean- Yes, I agree with you."
Nice going, Potter.
"Yes, good. I will meet you in one hour, then." Daphne responded without really looking at him.
"What?"
"What?"
Harry blinked. "What do you mean you'll meet me in one hour?" He asked, confusion evident in his voice as well as his expression.
"I mean that I will meet you in front of the carriages to go to Hogsmeade." Daphne responded without really looking at him. Harry thought that she wasn't really looking at anything.
"But, you said no."
"Yes."
"So you'll go to Hogsmeade with me?"
"No."
Harry blinked.
"… what?"
What is going on in her mind? Harry asked himself as he tried – and failed – to understand her.
A flicker of… something passed through Daphne's sapphire eyes and awareness seemed to return to her as she turned to look at him. "You asked me to go to Hogsmeade with you. As in, a date?"
"I think we already established that much," the boy deadpanned, although he couldn't really keep his amusement from showing. Especially when he noticed the slightly pink tinge on Daphne's pale cheeks.
The girl straightened her back despite her embarrassment and held his gaze.
"Well, yes. I'd love to go on a date with you."
"Tell me I didn't just witness that, Greengrass," a cold voice drawled from the corridor to their left. "I never expected you, of all people, to consort with Half-Bloods and blood traitors in such a manner. I mean, accepting Potter's invitation on a date?"
Daphne turned towards Draco Malfoy slowly, but Harry beat her to the punch.
"What exactly is your problem, Malfoy?" He asked in an uncharacteristically cold tone as Malfoy approached the pair, followed by Crabbe, Goyle, Nott and Parkinson.
"My problem is that you do not know your place, Potter," Malfoy responded with venom in his voice. "I mean, after the latest Wizengamot session one would expect that you'd act accordingly and stop approaching your betters."
"What exactly makes you think you are better than me, Draco?" The green-eyed boy responded and stepped closer to him.
"I would say that I am better than you since you lost your Nobility, but let's be honest." Draco smirked in a mocking manner before speaking again. "I was born better than you since your Mudblood mother decided to mingle where she didn't belong."
In the brief moments of silence, Daphne made up her mind. It was already too late to hide her relationship with the Boy-Who-Lived in front of her housemates – although she didn't really care about hiding it at that point – and she knew it, but as she tried to approach him to calm him down, she froze. She wasn't the only one who got afraid, however, as she noticed Parkinson step back and Nott flinching.
Harry was close to losing it. Dangerously so.
His eyes were glowing like burning emeralds and the air smelled of ozone; Daphne was brought back to one of the early lessons of the D.A. This time, however, she doubted she could calm him down, especially since she didn't know how she did it in the first place.
"What's wrong, Potter? Has it finally dawned on you that you will never amount to anything in this world? You already know what happened to your mother, don't you want to-"
Whatever he tried to say wasn't finished as he was violently shoved aside by Theodore Nott, causing Harry's Severing-Charm to hit Theo's shoulder instead of the blonde's mouth.
"Bombarda!"
Goyle's Blasting Hex was easily deflected by the furious Potter, causing every Slytherin to fall back and spread out while the spell destroyed a nearby statue, signalling the beginning of utter chaos. In the span of some seconds, random hexes, curses and spells were fired from each side without any real effect.
"Harry please don't-" Daphne tried but was cut off by Harry's weak Banishing-Charm before he continued defending against the five Slytherins in every way he could, either by shielding or dodging.
The offensive didn't last long enough.
"Protego Horribilis," Harry hissed and a dark red shield materialised from his wand, blocking the five different spells. The ones too weak to break the shield were reflected to their casters white the two spells strong enough to break parts of it caused the shards of the shield to fly against their respective casters, producing a cry of pain from Pansy while Draco rolled to dodge.
"Ossio Rupturis!" Nott's Bone-Breaker from the rear of his team went wide and impacted the wall behind Harry, causing debris to fall on him which he promptly banished towards the opposing group.
In the meantime, Daphne was trying to enter the fight alongside the Gryffindor but each of her spells was blocked. Blocked by the same Gryffindor that she was trying to help.
He didn't even spare a single glance at her that whole time. His green eyes were locked on his opponents, moving rapidly between the five wands and their spells and they were glowing with rage, purpose and determination. That made Daphne understand why he was stopping her. It was a statement; Harry Potter was determined to beat them on his own, despite the fact that he couldn't.
"Ventus Maxima!" Malfoy screamed between Nott and Goyle and a positively massive stream of wind was launched towards Harry, who hurriedly used a spell from the Potter Tome.
"Prohibere Ventus."
The wind cannon impacted the invisible shield in front of Harry and he smirked at him, completely unaffected; but the wind had no option but to rush to the sides. Realisation hit Harry as he took notice of the increasingly big crowd watching their fight.
The wind was a force of nature and as all elemental magic, it didn't simply disappear. So it adapted and moved wherever possible, knocking down spectators, debris, suits of armour and breaking every single window along the hallway while Harry was trying to spread his Wind-Stopping Charm to every student he could in order to protect them.
"Ossio Rupturis!" Nott's voice was heard once more, faint under the howling of the wind and this time his Bone-Breaker struck true.
A sickening crunch was heard from Harry's right arm and he stumbled backwards. With a broken concentration his charm was cancelled and he got buffeted by the residual wind. Not able to recover fast enough from the damage he sustained, a Cutting-Curse hit his thigh, causing him to kneel.
Draco yelled something that Harry didn't quite catch and multiple spells rushed towards his kneeling form and Daphne rushed forward to protect him, but one spell got through her hastily raised shield.
"Ossio Perdere!" The Bone-Crusher impacted Harry's already damaged arm, causing the broken bones to turn to dust, eliciting a scream out of him. With rapidly fading consciousness, he tried to aim with his off-hand towards the one who destroyed his right arm, but someone reacted faster.
Daphne had enough and something inside her broke as she aimed at the offender, who happened to be Vincent Crabbe.
Her hand started moving, tracing an intricate pattern with her wand; the wand itself looked as if it was swimming through the air. Crabbe's gaze was locked on the pitch black tip of the hawthorn stick, following the movement in a hypnotised fashion.
Daphne started an incantation, her voice barely above a whisper, yet heard to everyone in the vicinity.
"Aeternum Somnium Ex-"
"ENOUGH!"
Everyone froze and silence descended as Headmaster Dumbledore's amplified voice boomed across the hallway and Daphne's curse died on her lips.
Every student in Hogwarts, past and present, knows of Dumbledore's eccentricities. The odd fascination with vibrant, multicoloured and often hideous robes, the signature twinkle in the eyes, the odd and extremely cryptic tidbits of wisdom he shared with his students. With that impression, many people had a hard time connecting Headmaster Dumbledore with Albus Dumbledore, Vanquisher of the Dark Lord Grindelwald.
Calm footsteps approached the scene, yet no one moved. Daphne belatedly realised that no one froze out of fear. Fear didn't cause you to freeze mid-action, as was the case with many of the spectators.
The Headmaster immobilised the whole corridor.
The calm footsteps were heard closer, yet they were accompanied by a heavy, oppressive wave of magic. In nary a moment, five wands flew out of the hands of the five Slytherins that attacked them and landed in front of the now stationary form of the Headmaster. Turning her gaze to look at him, she saw nothing of the eccentric yet kind Headmaster they grew accustomed to.
Gone was the twinkle in the eyes as well as the eccentric attire; replaced by a faintly swirling vortex of sky blue and stone grey robes, respectively. Mouth set in a thin line, barely visible under the purely white beard.
"This has escalated beyond a mere schoolyard scuffle," the Headmaster announced in a painfully obvious recollection of the events.
Many students, including Daphne, almost stumbled and they realised that they were able to move once more.
"Everyone is to return to their dormitories immediately until the rides to Hogsmeade begin," Dumbledore said to the gathered audience and everyone hastily retreated from the scene.
It was at that moment that Daphne also took note of some sort of weight around her shoulders, almost as if…
Someone was hanging off of her, someone not able to stand by themselves.
Almost by instinct she put an arm around Harry as she gently lowered him to the ground.
"Please rest, don't worry. I'll take care of you, you'll be fine," she whispered in his ear as she aimed her wand to his side. His dull emerald eyes locked with hers for a moment before he faded into unconsciousness by Daphne's severely underpowered stunner.
"Miss Greengrass, please carry Mister Potter to the infirmary, post haste. I will deal with the rest," he announced in a tone that didn't leave room for objections.
Daphne carefully levitated the raven-haired teen and started running towards the infirmary, not sparing a glance towards her housemates.
'Never attempt to cast that particular family spell in this school again, Miss Greengrass. I will know if you do.'
Daphne almost fell the moment she heard the Headmaster's cold voice in her mind.
X
Silence and darkness reigned.
Silence and darkness, as far as the eye could see.
He didn't really know where he was, nor did he know how he ended up there.
The only thing he knew was that he belonged. Somewhere in there, was his place.
It wasn't the real, waking, living world; of that he was sure. Yet, it didn't feel like death either.
Was he supposed to know what death feels like?
He supposed not, yet he felt like he knew what it felt like to lose his soul.
Did he ever lose his soul?
But if it wasn't reality, nor life, nor the afterlife; was it a dream?
A nightmare, perhaps?
No… It felt like…
"… a mind."
Is a mind really that empty?
"Is it?"
x
"Miss Greengrass, you should really return to classes. You've been sitting by his bed since yesterday. He surely won't heal slower if you return to your schedule," Madam Pomfrey said with a slight amount of exasperation. Daphne did not give a response aside from a defeated sigh and she made no move to leave. The Hogwarts matron simply shook her head fondly as she levitated an assortment of potions towards the still unconscious teen. Her levitation charm almost slipped when the doors of the infirmary slammed open, allowing entry to a red head boy and a girl with bushy brown hair.
"Is he awake?" Hermione asked quietly.
"No. Not yet," Daphne responded with an equally quiet voice, her eyes focused on Harry the entire time. "Madame Pomfrey says he should be awake by tonight," she supplied as the matron administered potions to Harry.
Ron clicked his tongue as he looked at Daphne with barely concealed anger. "I still don't understand why you were allowed to stay here overnight."
The blonde didn't even bother to look at him as she responded. "I'm here with him because it is my fault he's here in the first place."
"Damn right it is. Of course you wouldn't defend him against your snake friends. I bet you also sent spells towards him too," Ron scoffed, ignoring the disapproving glare of Hermione next to him.
"I've already told you that he didn't let me help him. How many times do I have to repeat it until you get it through that thick skull of yours?" Daphne said through gritted teeth as she turned her cold gaze towards the youngest Weasley.
"I will not have you two arguing in here, much less next to an unconscious patient," Pomfrey announced with finality as she whirled around, cutting off Ron's retort. Ron tried to open his mouth, but Pomfrey cut him again. "Are you sure you want to ruin your friend's recovery? Because if you keep shouting, you will most certainly wake him up and disrupt the healing process. Do you want that on your conscience?"
That shut him up. Slowly turning red in the face, Ron simply turned around and marched out of the doors. The matron huffed before closing them with a wave of her wand and retreating to her office.
Daphne and Hermione stared at each other in silence for a few awkward moments, neither willing to say anything.
Daphne was the one to finally crack. "So you'll also pile the blame on me for what happened?"
Hermione flinched. "I-… No." The bushy haired girl sighed and pulled a chair next to her. "It's just that, we don't know what happened, at least not how or why it started. You've told us what happened in the fight and we heard from the others but… You refused to say how and why it started. Multiple times. You must know what that looks like."
Daphne remained silent for a few moments, her gaze back to Harry's peaceful face. She seemed to be thinking of something and Hermione let her think in peace.
Daphne seemed to reach a conclusion as she turned her gaze, filled with determination towards Hermione. "I refused to speak about it because it's a bit sensitive and the repercussions are greater than they seem. I am sure, however, that he will tell you when he wakes up anyway." Her gaze drifted towards the window. "Harry asked me out on a date."
Hermione wasn't the least bit surprised that he did ask her; she actually thought it was long overdue. Yet she didn't understand how that was relevant. She didn't have to ask however as Daphne kept speaking.
"I said yes. That is, after properly processing the actual words and rejecting him in a very confused manner." A soft giggle was heard from her before she turned sombre once more. "I said yes because I wanted to. I've wanted it for who knows how long."
A triumphant grin appeared on Hermione's face as her suspicions were confirmed.
"But it isn't just like that. You know, the Greengrasses put their family above all else. Always have, always will. It's what I've been taught my whole life. Follow the rules, make our House proud and always, always prioritise its well-being,"
Daphne raised her hand and pulled a beautiful silver necklace with a sapphire gem in the middle. It almost seemed to be glowing with an ethereal light.
"The Dark Lord is back. He is alive and active. Even without Harry saying it to everyone willing to hear, I would have known. I am a Slytherin and I hear what is being said in there. Apart from that, I am the creator and owner of the largest intelligence network in Hogwarts in this generation. Word gets out, rumours fly and they all gather on my lap."
Hermione tried to speak, yet a giggle from Daphne cut her off. "Yes, even what happens in Gryffindor. Lavender and Parvati aren't simple giggling, hair obsessed girls, you know."
Hermione pondered her words for a moment before reaching a conclusion. "That's how you knew of the DA."
"Guilty as charged." Daphne grinned, something Hermione had never seen before in her face and it vanished before she could register it. "So, with the Dark Lord back, being close to The-Boy-Who-Lived isn't the easiest task. Being the unwilling leader of the neutral faction of the government, my father is constantly pressured to join the Death Eaters. Their children being in Slytherin will also make my life harder than it needs to be. I will be a target. My sister will be a target." She took in a shuddering breath. "The Greengrasses and everyone close to us will be a target."
Her gaze snapped back to Harry's face. "All because I'm close to Harry Potter. It is the reason why I have been extremely secretive about my involvement with you. That was the reason why I didn't even consider being anything more than, dare I say it, friends with him. But then, he gave me this gift. For no fucking reason, other than to give me a Christmas gift. Hermione, it's a courtship gift."
The reflection of the sunlight on the sapphire gem around Daphne's neck drew Hermione's eyes. She needed not ask what the gift was.
"Of course, I didn't take it as such. You know, I've taught him almost as much as I could about Pureblood customs and the wizarding traditions but I've always skirted around the subject of courtship and betrothal. Purchasing this," she dangled her necklace for emphasis, "and sending it to me," her words were cut off by a soft laugh, "it was simply ignorant."
Her laughter died and when her gaze turned to Harry once again, Hermione could see a hint of adoration in her gaze. "And I adore it all the more for it. I adore him all the more for it. He never had anything he could call his own apart from a few things, that much I can understand. But the fact that he gifted me something like this… It speaks volumes." She let a long sigh escape for a moment before looking at Hermione again, piercing her with her sapphire eyes. "Then he asked me to Hogsmeade and everything got blown in the air. You know, I have no idea whether anything could work between us. I mean… The date may have resulted in nothing at all. Even if it did, we may not last more than three months. That is not a chance any Greengrass would ever take. The risk for the family is much too great for a minuscule chance at an unknown reward. And yet… I said yes. Because in the battle between logic and passion, passion won and I reached my decision. I may or may not regret it, but it's done and I wouldn't dare change it. Unfortunately, they saw it all. You know what happened after that."
'Follow your heart, sweet Daphne. A true Greengrass puts the happiness of their family above their well-being, despite what everyone knows.'
Daphne smiled as she recalled her grandmother's words. "Besides, I'm afraid that my father won't have a choice soon. Boy-Who-Lived or not, Harry won't change the fact that eventually, father will have to choose. And I doubt he will choose to put us under the Dark Lord's thumb. I certainly don't wish to be under his thumb. I'd rather become a snack for a Lethifold before I become a Pureblood trophy wife for their lot."
Hermione understood that Daphne had finished speaking and she was more than satisfied. Thus, she stood up. She did not say anything; she didn't feel the need to. Despite her overeager and talkative nature, she understood when she should simply stay silent. She patted Daphne's shoulder lightly and turned to leave the infirmary.
Pushing the main subject of Daphne's speech to the back of her mind, she pulled something to the front. Her brain worked in blinding speeds as she processed the fact that Daphne owned an intelligence network and connected it with random, cryptic words she heard from Lavender and Parvati in those past five years, all of them involving sharing gossip and news with others and mentions of a deadly plant she faced during the first year. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she connected dots only she could see and only she could understand.
Her nature got the better of her and she spoke just before she opened the doors. "Is your… network, called The Devil's Snare, by any chance?"
Daphne whirled around in mild shock before her passive mask returned, accompanied by a small smile.
"You are too observant for your own good Hermione," she said in a neutral tone as she stood up and turned to face her properly. Hermione unwillingly tensed and her posture stiffened, only for her to deflate awkwardly at her next words.
"We could use someone with your talent for observation," she continued with a small smile. "We are planning something, you know. I can't simply stand aside as my own housemates attempted to maim him," she continued with a gesture towards the still form of Harry. "Nor will Tracey, nor Blaise, nor your housemates. Of course, we can't do more than slander and humiliate them from the sidelines and under the cover of rumours. We may even try to ask the Weasley Demons, though I doubt they'd need persuasion on the matter. That said…"
Her smile widened considerably as she conjured a parchment filled with writing along with a quill and offered them to Hermione.
"Do you want to join The Devil's Snare?"
X
Like most elemental spells created by our forefathers, the Wind-Stopping Charm requires immense amounts of energy. Using it without perfecting the Magic-Gathering technique is heavily discouraged, as it drains your energy unlike any other spell you have probably used. I cannot stress this enough, young Potter. Learn how to harness the latent magic around you before you attempt to master this spell, much less actually utilise it in combat.
X
"Can you follow proper instructions-"
"-dearest Ronnikins?"
"Honestly-"
"-even little Tori-"
"-works better-"
"-than you-"
"-little bother."
"Will you two shut it already?" The youngest male Weasley whisper-yelled. "And you forgot a whole letter in the word 'brother'."
"No we didn't." The twins responded in sync, looking at Ron with identical smirks. The younger sibling promptly ignored them in favour of setting up the final piece of the overly convoluted prank the twins had created.
It had been two full days since the fight where Harry got injured and he was still in bed sleeping. According to Madam Pomfrey, Harry had a severe case of magical exhaustion. Daphne had refuted this diagnosis, since she knew first-hand that he hadn't used nearly enough magic to warrant even a minor case of magical exhaustion. To Ron's knowledge, Daphne was still in the infirmary, busying herself with either helping the Hogwarts matron or trying to figure out how the teen had nearly depleted his magical reserves. She only left for meals and had even had Tracey bring her a bag with clothes in it.
The second youngest Weasley really disliked the fact that she refused to leave his friend to rest. He didn't – couldn't – trust her. However, the word of the Matron was law.
Earlier that morning, during breakfast, Dumbledore announced that Vincent Crabbe had been suspended until next September – where he would repeat his Fifth Year – for his use of lethal force against a fellow student. As for the rest of the assailants, they lost a combined total of eight hundred House points and each earned a year's worth of weekly detentions with Minerva McGonagall. Daphne earned two hundred points for helping Harry actually survive the altercation.
Ron was not at all pleased with the pathetic punishment Dumbledore served to the snakes; nor were his siblings and many other Gryffindors, for that matter. That was how he ended up in the dungeons, skipping History of Magic in order to help the Weasley Demons set up a not-at-all harmless prank which would show results after dinner.
"Just make sure our resident Ice Queen doesn't get involved, nor her group," Fred commented from behind Ron's back as he activated the final runic array.
"It would be bad for business after all the tips her network gave us. I think it will be alright, Gred, I doubt the enchantments will start targeting random snakes. We only have specific people in our sights this time." George continued as he packed their portable workstation.
The runes flashed with a pale blue light before disappearing completely.
"I don't get it. Since when do you two work with snakes? You've been making their lives miserable for the last six years."
"First of all-"
"-dear brother."
"We do not make people miserable."
"We simply bring joy to the masses using questionable methods."
"As for the question itself,"
", we never had it against Slytherins specifically -"
"- unless Quidditch was involved."
"We have it out for everybody."
"The real question -"
"- is why you insist on acting -"
"- like all Slytherins are 'evil'."
"Because they are!" Ron exploded after the twins thoroughly depleted his already minimal reserves of patience. "No snake can be trusted, it's pretty much written in history at this point. A place where Death Eaters in the making are raised; students that grew up with actual Death Eaters!"
"Ah, you make an excellent point, Ronniekins!" Fred suddenly exclaimed.
"We'll remember it the next time we visit the grave of grandfather Septimus. Since he was the only Slytherin Weasley in the last three hundred years, he must have been an evil wizard!" George announced in a comically exaggerated enthusiastic tone, making Ron wince.
"That wasn't-"
"Yes it was," both twins said, cutting their brother off and pulling him towards the wall so they don't stand in the middle of the hallway. George cast a series of privacy charms as Fred started speaking.
"The only reason you have this stupid idea in your head is because our mother drilled it inside it while you were growing up. She tried with all of us. Bill was old enough to understand that no, mother is not right in her assessment of the House of Snakes. Charlie always listened to Bill above all else. Percy didn't listen to anyone, not really, despite his annoying penchant for following her rules; any rule, for that matter. We, that is me and George, always knew that, unfortunately, mother is rarely right. We love her, we will always be there for her no matter what but we are not blind." George, nodded in agreement, for once content in letting his brother speak for them both. "Ginny never cared enough about such things, but she has been swayed enough to not trust them. As for you, you always followed mum and took her lessons to heart, even if she was wrong. Hence why you never stand up for yourself or anyone else when she speaks. I don't say it like it's a bad thing, but you should honestly start forming your own opinions and act on your own accord. You haven't even given any of them the chance."
"So you just expect me to become best bloody friends with the snakes and give them everything I have?" Ron bit back angrily.
"Merlin, are you that dense?" George exasperated. "No one does that and it's not even something exclusively against Slytherins; you're not supposed to blindly trust anyone, full-stop. But you, Ron, you either don't trust someone based on what robe they wear or you trust them explicitly because their robe is the same as yours. Greengrass publicly fought against her own classmates – something which I think is some sort of faux pas amongst them – simply to help Harry and you still believe that she's going to poison him or some nonsense."
"You are such hypocrites, both of you. You gave a charmed, fake potion recipe to the younger Greengrass to spy on who she interacted with and now you act like you're such paragons of trust and virtue, purveyors of second chances?" Ron sneered.
George raised his eyebrow in an almost bored manner while Fred took his turn to speak. "Wrong. We charmed the scrapped project to know if we could trust her with actual projects. Did you know that Greengrass Junior is a prodigy in Potions?"
"On that note, she actually passed the test. The only people that touched the parchment were her sister and her two friends. So she will be joining some projects and I believe she will flourish in the subtle art of mischief."
"Too true, George," Fred grinned as he put his arm on his twin's shoulder before turning his gaze back to the youngest Weasley. "You see, Ron, that's the difference. We gave her the chance to prove herself, that she could be trusted and she earnt it. You wouldn't even consider the possibility of her being trustworthy. But hey, a snake is working with the Demons of Gryffindor now, who would have thought?"
"Who's next? Malfoy? Maybe Nott?" Ron bit back, trying – and failing – to maintain his temper. "Some loyalty right there. Maybe you have forgotten what they do every year against us, but I haven't and I won't. You will be backstabbed before long!" Ron's face somehow turned an even darker shade of red, bordering on purple the moment he heard both twins snort.
"Ron is right once more, Gred."
"Too true, Forge. We should definitely judge a whole body of students on the actions of a select few."
Both twins turned away from Ron and slowly walked the length of the hallway towards their classroom, letting him stew in his anger as they took down the privacy wards that they'd erected.
"But you know what's even funnier, George?"
"What's funnier, George?"
"I remember a story about a proud Gryffindor, a true lion amongst lions, with loyalty unwavering, always ready to give lectures about said loyalty to others. You follow me, Fred?"
"Yes Fred, I remember it too. Fine specimen, that man."
"Good. So you see, that same Lion, along with the majority of the school, turned his back towards his best and closest friend, a friend who was always there for the young lion. Still is, I think."
Ron, who had also started moving towards his next class – DADA specifically – felt his blood run cold.
He just knew they were going somewhere with their nonsensical discussion.
"Now here is the funny part. After proving that his loyalty is fickle at best, he still acts as if he is the same, proud Gryffindor. He even gives lectures on loyalty, still."
George – or Fred, Ron couldn't tell at that point – laughed mockingly. He didn't even care at that point. He remained frozen in the middle of the corridor, feeling the impact of their words sink in.
He'd never really discussed it with Harry. Hell, he'd never really discussed it with himself either. He'd just acted like he actually helped in the first task, gave a half-arsed apology and everything went back to the way it had always been.
Even that wasn't something he did. It was Harry's choice to go back to how things were before he'd abandoned him. Just because he missed his friend.
His first and closest friend.
"You know what Gred?"
"What is it, Forge?"
Ron knew, even back then, that Harry would never even consider joining the Triwizard Tournament. Yet he did the only thing he'd judged logical at the time.
"The boy abandoned by his peers, by his housemates even, but yet who still accepted the fickle lion. You know, the one from the tale I just said."
"Yeah, what about him?"
He had acted like a child. A jealous, entitled child.
"Even after all that, during the fiasco where he was an outcast, he accepted the fickle lion back into his life, as if nothing ever happened."
"I remember it. I don't know whether it's foolish or praiseworthy."
He might have been forgiven by Harry, but Ron never really forgave himself, not truly. He knew he wouldn't have forgiven himself if he was in Harry's shoes. Despite ignoring it for a whole year, it was still something that weighed heavily upon his conscience and wouldn't stop until he felt like he had deserved his forgiveness.
But at that moment, at that point in time, all that he could think of was that he couldn't even cope with one thing, that one, small thing that Harry had asked of him, all those months ago, way back in October.
'Just please, give them a chance. I'm not saying they are good or anything, I don't know them. But I'd like to see a couple Slytherins, just for once, turn out to be alright,' Harry's voice echoed in Ron's mind.
"In any case, if anyone is going to lecture us about loyalty, I want it to be him."
Ron reached a conclusion. He couldn't trust the Slytherins, he didn't have it in him. But he would give them the chance to earn his trust.
He couldn't trust, but the least he could do was to be neutral. His best friend asked that of him and trusted him to do that much. It was the least he could do.
It's the least I can do.
"Too true, brother."
x
"Prohibere Ventus."
The wind cannon impacted the invisible shield in front of Harry and he smirked at Draco, completely unaffected; but the wind had no option but to rush to the sides. Realisation hit Harry as he took notice of the increasingly big crowd watching their fight.
The wind was a force of nature and as all elemental magic, it didn't simply disappear. So it adapted and moved wherever possible, knocking down spectators, debris, suits of armour and breaking every single window along the hallway while Harry was trying to spread his Wind-Stopping Charm to every student he could in order to protect them.
'Why do you care about the ants, Harry?'
Harry's teeth clenched.
'They hold you back. It's not your fault they will get hurt. Let the shield go and give the fools what they deserve.'
The shield fell and his eyes flashed. He didn't want the shield to fall.
'They hold you back, all of them. Unleash your magic, ignore the ants around you.'
"Concatenatus Fulgur"
The Chained-Lightning Spell struck Goyle and spread across the corridor, causing every student to fall to the ground and writhe under the electric current coursing through their bodies. Not strong enough to cause actual damage, yet strong enough to mess with the nervous systems of the wizards and witches around him.
'You can do more, Harry. You know the spells. You can use them. Channel your hatred, make the poor fools feel it.'
Harry felt his eyes glazing over as he raised his wand and aimed it at Malfoy.
"Cruc-"
Yet his words failed as he saw the man standing behind the twitching visage of the Malfoy Heir.
Same height as his own, the same rugged looks, the unruly black hair, the wiry frame; a proper clone of James. A proper clone of him. Even the scar was there, yet it was deeper and red; it looked oddly fresh. The only thing that stood out and screamed that he wasn't James, Harry himself or even another of his assorted ancestors were the eyes.
The impressive, glowing red eyes seething with hatred.
The world suddenly faded into nothing and Harry found himself surrounded by darkness.
Oddly empty, yet he now knew it was oddly full, as well.
Not a dream.
Not a nightmare.
Not death.
He belonged, however.
Better yet, the darkness, this void.
It belonged to him.
So, in the end it's…
"Your mind. Part of it. But it's not yours. Not fully."
But is it really that empty?
"It isn't. Not while I'm still here."
x
Harry slowly opened his eyes. The ever familiar ceiling of the Hospital Wing greeting him as he did so.
He felt like he had been witness to an important dream before he woke up, yet for the first time in a long time, he couldn't remember what it was. He'd only remembered bits of the fight and some apparent nothing. Some void within himself.
What a surprise, he thought dryly when he stopped musing about his dream. The fact that it was very obviously late at night wasn't surprising, either. Nor the silence.
What was surprising, however, was the odd weight he was feeling on his left arm. He slowly turned his head and saw a very obviously feminine hand resting on his forearm, with a blonde-haired head next to it. The next thing he saw were the discarded outer robes of the girl – Slytherin robes specifically. He didn't even need to see them; he could easily recognize the blonde mass of hair belonging to Daphne Greengrass. A soft smile graced his features before confusion took over.
He already remembered how he ended up in the infirmary, but he couldn't understand the reason behind why Daphne was sleeping by him in what was probably the most awkward manner possible. His own back hurt just seeing her atrocious posture; something he was quite familiar with after spending years inside that god forsaken cupboard. Not to mention the times he couldn't even sleep on his back because it hurt too much after a session with Uncle Vernon and hisever so friendly belt.
Thus, not able to stomach watching her flirt with pain, he did the only sensible thing he could think of as a recently unconscious man inside a hospital.
He woke her up.
"Daphne?" he said, not really whispering as he gently nudged her shoulder. Predictably, Daphne got startled and jumped up from her chair, wincing as she felt the kinks in her back stretch and crack under the pressure of her spine straightening after hours of being hunched over.
"Harry!" she whisper-yelled as her brain slowly analysed the situation in which she woke up, making her forget all about the terrible sleep. She rushed to his side and started checking his right arm. "Do you feel any pain?"
Harry flexed the muscles of his right arm and attempted several basic motions with it before realising that it felt completely normal. "Not in the slightest."
"Oh good. Do you feel any kind of pain? Anywhere?" The blonde asked in a hopeful voice. Harry failed to notice the manic gleam in her eyes.
"Nope. I feel splendid, actually," he responded earnestly with a soft smile, which quickly died down when she saw her scowling.
That's when the first Stinging Hex hit him.
"You Merlin forsaken fool," the girl hissed as she continued raining mock-Hell upon him with a mixture of Stinging Hexes and Tickling Jinxes, designed to break even the best of wizards. "What made you think you could sideline me from that fight, Potter? Who gave you permission to keep me out of it?"
"Alright, alright! Ouch, fuck Daphne, I get it," Harry whimpered as he tried to block as many jinxes as he could with his hand which got dangerously swollen. He got promptly ignored.
"Do you have any idea how much I've ruined my spine sleeping in this exact spot waiting for you to wake up?"
"Daphne."
"You had the bright idea to somehow deplete your magic, just because you were too proud to let me help you."
"Daphne."
"Three nights, Potter. Three nights, just to-"
$Daphne,$ Harry hissed and his eyes widened just a fraction. Usually, when he spoke Parseltongue it didn't sound different than English in his ears, this time however he noticed the hiss underneath his word along with a stirring of his magic.
Daphne paused, shivering violently in the process as the infernal hissing sound reached her ears. To the common wizard, Parseltongue was more felt than heard. It was a language based on magic and functioned by way of magic. That specific brand of magic – that is to say, Parseltongue – felt like nails on a chalkboard. Yet, the power within the ungodly hissing felt dangerous, terrifying, exhilarating; it stroked and teased a wizard or witch's senses. Even more so when someone's name was called in Parseltongue. Words were powerful; names doubly so.
"Did you just speak in Parseltongue?" Daphne whispered as she shook her head and straightened her back. Harry thought he saw something undecipherable pass through her eyes.
"Yes," he replied quietly. "It happens unconsciously sometimes." As Daphne had no answer to that he simply shrugged and made a move to get out of bed, but Daphne was having none of that as he pushed him back in bed. He turned his gaze towards the window and huffed. "You said that I was out for three days?"
"We were entering the fourth day," Daphne nodded. "Severe magical exhaustion, which shouldn't have happened. I saw you basically destroy the Room ten times over and yet you still had plenty of energy but you barely used any spells in the fight. It makes no sense."
"It does," he replied in a monotone voice, his gaze still on the night sky out of the window. "The Wind-Stopping Charm requires absurd amounts of magic to maintain it, more so when you expand it in the same way I did."
"I have never seen a spell like it. It's one thing using elemental magic and a whole other thing to disturb the elements the way you did."
"It's a spell from the Potter Family Grimoire," he said with a slight smile, causing Daphne to smile as well. "Did you know that my family is full of Transfiguration Masters and Master Elementalists?" Daphne shook her head. "Me neither. I should thank you for that."
"What do you mean?" she asked in mild confusion as she took a seat on the edge of his bed.
Harry's eyes turned towards the blonde Slytherin. Her long hair freely falling behind her back, a couple of loose strands that had escaped their confinement falling to the sides and gently framing her face, providing sufficient evidence that she had just woken up. The moonlight from the window above his bed was bathing her in its silver light, making her pale skin glow marvellously, like a burnished lamp or candlestick. The crumpled plain white shirt she was wearing did the absolute minimum in showing her figure, yet Harry had no issue recognizing that she had a gorgeous one; the two open buttons of the shirt also probably helped. Most importantly, however, the moonlight made her eyes come alive. The two magnificent sapphires that most people found cold were burning with a frozen fire, a combination of the silver light of the moon and her natural colour. Harry idly noted that these beautiful eyes never turned cold, not towards him, not when he looked into them.
He had never felt the frozen gaze that so many other students over the years had spoken of.
Whether it was his imagination or a mere illusion, he wasn't sure at that point. The only thing that mattered was the beauty of her eyes, the defined features of her face, her full, rosy lips…
"Harry?" Daphne called as if from far away, pulling him back to reality from his reverie, her head tilting to the side in question. "Do I have something on my face?"
Harry chuckled and finally turned his gaze back towards the night sky, trying – and failing – to contain the blush that was threatening to spread above his neck. "I should thank you because I wouldn't have learnt about my family, at least not yet. I should continue explaining, however, that some spells require exponentially larger amounts of magic to function. There is also some research tha tone of my ancestors did, theorising that disturbing the core nature, the core magic of an element with a spell used to command it is exponentially more taxing than simply commanding the element to act as its nature wishes, or to say, transfigure it into something else."
"The elements have magic," Daphne surmised an already known fact from their fifth year Transfiguration classes, earning a nod from Harry.
"Exactly. They are magical and they have a core nature. Wind moves; always does, a never ending movement for all eternity. Even when stationary it moves within itself."
"I didn't peg you for such a studious man, Professor Potter," Daphne teased with a smirk. Harry's smile softened in response.
Her smirk is adorable.
"I was a huge fan of physics and chemistry in Muggle school," Harry commented. "The reason why I am discussing the nature of the wind is because the spell I used didn't redirect the wind." A humourless chuckle escaped his lips. "It stopped the wind. It is a barrier that stops the movement of wind, something that cannot normally happen unless you power the spell enough to overpower the very nature of the element. The moment Malfoy's spell collided with the barrier it froze on the spot. The rest of the wind simply couldn't get past the stationary wind and moved elsewhere."
"That…" Daphne started yet found that she couldn't articulate her thoughts properly. "It is incredible, to be honest. But is it actually worth using it if you end up in the infirmary with magical exhaustion?"
Was that a hint of bitterness? Harry thought.
"There is, but I haven't mastered the method yet," he said. Daphne had nothing else to say to that so she simply hummed and they just stayed in companionable silence.
"Thank you," Harry suddenly said, breaking the silence between them and causing Daphne's eyes to turn to him. "For standing up to them. And for staying here all those nights."
"You didn't actually give me a chance to stand up to them, you know," Daphne quipped with a mock glare.
"I didn't want you raising your wand against them. I can tell that Slytherin might not be the most friendly of places right now. Isn't that why you made it your goal to act like you had nothing to do with us?" Harry asked, yet there was no accusation in his tone.
"Yes, but you are already someone I consider close to me. I would fight without a second thought." she retorted easily, almost looking bored doing it. A mischievous glint decorated her pretty eyes. "Besides, should I not test my skills in an actual fight with my dear teacher watching over me? Especially since I am going on a date with him."
"We missed Hogsmeade, though."
"Does that mean you won't take me out when the next one comes around?" the blonde teased, putting on a pout as she rested her head in her palms. Before Harry could respond she continued. "Besides, simply because I accepted that date, I would be against them without fighting in the first place. There is nothing to be done about that."
"Will you be okay?" Harry asked with genuine concern, causing Daphne to smile softly and nod. Even for all of her teasing, and despite how he had fundamentally changed because of her intervention, his true nature still showed through in how he ignored everything to ask about her wellbeing. She found it endearing and it made her heart flutter happily.
Content with her reaction and knowing that Daphne was in fact quite strong enough to protect herself, not to mention her friends and sister, he laid his head back upon his pillow.
A random thought that should have come sooner came to the surface.
"Where is Madam Pomfrey? Usually the moment I open my eyes she is fussing all over me."
"She's in the dungeons. There was an… incident, and she is trying to revert a nasty prank," she commented nonchalantly. Harry felt her stand up from his bed and a pang of emptiness echoed inside him.
"The twins?"
"Oh yes, plus a few people willing to aid our endeavours."
"What did they do?"
"A nasty piece of human transfiguration utilising a runic matrix that targeted specific students. I never thought I would see the famous flying ferret in action. For that matter, I never knew that the Weasley Demons were that good. Their academic achievements leave a lot to be desired," she commented airily. "I don't know what happened to the rest, but I know that Goyle is a pig right now."
By the time she finished talking, Harry was doubling over in laughter imagining Malfoy and his wretched ilk running around in a host of animal forms. Eventually, he wiped his tears and took off his glasses before closing his eyes. "Let me guess. Too ashamed to come to the infirmary?"
"Precisely. Now, you should really sleep. It's also time for me to finally return to the dormitories," she said as she started walking towards the exit.
"Goodnight, Daphne," Harry said, a small smile on his lips. He could have been a lot worse, should have been even without Daphne's attempts to help and Dumbledore's timely intervention, but he couldn't bother himself with that fact, nor that he had once again ended up in the infirmary after another adventure. If he was honest with himself, Daphne had a lot to do with his improved mood. All he knew was that if he had the chance to change it and wake up alone, he wouldn't do it. An errant thought of waking up alongside Daphne made its way to the forefront, but Harry didn't expand on it as he quickly drifted back into sleep.
Daphne gave him one last glance and smiled before leaving the infirmary.
As the doors closed, someone exhaled a deep breath from a bed, hidden in the shadows. A lone, small pug with black fur was laying belly down on the bed. Its dark hazel eyes were staring aimlessly towards the night sky outside, a look of perpetual sadness in its gaze. It wasn't angry that it was a pug, nor that it would be treated last. It knew it deserved it, despite the fact that it wasn't willing to commit the acts that warranted this kind of punishment in the first place. It also knew that many more were to come.
Yet, it wasn't angry about that. It was angry with itself.
It was angry with its life.
I want that happiness, too. Whether it is fleeting, over as quickly as it began or not.
The pug exhaled a deep sigh. It somehow looked tired. It was tired of acting. Tired of trying to fix the decisions of its father.
Why did she have to deal with that? Why did she have to sideline the people she once considered closest to her, simply to help her father return to the good graces of Lucius Malfoy?
Why did she have to act as if the junior Malfoy was the hottest thing that walked the earth, as if he was Merlin reborn, simply to stroke an over-inflated ego?
A shudder went through the body of the pug. She dreaded imagining what she would have to do in order to remain in the good graces of the Malfoys. She was Draco's betrothed, after all. She didn't want him, didn't even like him; to be fair, she liked almost no one.
Her thoughts went back to the departed blonde, her former friend.
At least she looks happy.
X
Beware, young Potter, that harnessing the latent magic of the world is a technique that requires incredible focus and for one to have good attunement with their own magic. Being able to feel the magic swirling inside you and feeling the magic that swirls around us all is but the first step. You must establish a connection with the magic around you, then you can use your own body or your wand in order to become a conduit for that magic to flow through. That way, you can generate more power behind your spells and easily withstand even the most taxing of them. I suggest you become a capable Occlumens before you try to connect with the ambient magic of the world.