A/N: I'll try to keep this short since the summary doesn't have enough characters to give a proper story set up. So, voldemort never happened, essentially making Harry a normal boy, though his parents were still murdered by a madman, leaving a young Harry Potter with his godfather who works in the Department of Mysteries. Some things still happen according to cannon, like Harry, Ron, and Hermione being friends, but others don't. Basically in this AU, Harry has more of a chance to be a normal teenager. Anyways, I believe I've covered the important things, so here it is, Teenagers & Cigarette Smoke.
"You know those are bad for you potter?" a slightly amused voice came from somewhere to his left, but he didn't quite care about what they thought at the moment, he didn't care about a lot of things at the moment.
"Whats it matter to you Greengrass? Not like I have much reason to care about my longevity right now," Harry said quite bitterly, letting out a large plume of the acrid smoke in Greengrass's direction.
"No need to get snippy there golden boy," Greengrass said, without much venom behind the jab. "Just thought I'd inform you of the health risk, or the bad publicity you might get being seen with those things," after she finished her piece, she promptly pulled out her own fag and searched her robes for a light, "Fuck, I forgot my light in my dorm, you got one?"
"Not one to practice what you preach I see," Harry said with a smirk, looking over at her from where he was leaning on the bridge while he dug his hand into his pocket for his american zippo and held it out to Greengrass, "Anyone ever say that you're cute when you swear Greengrass?"
"No, I think that's actually a first," Greengrass said with a slight chuckle as she brushed a stray lock of her brunette hair behind her ear and she took the light, "Guess that means I'm not going to hex you for flirting with me like that since you were original at least, and call me Daphne."
"Then you might as well call me Harry since we're getting on a first name basis," Harry said with a smirk that would make James Potter proud, "what's brought you down to this shady spot at this time of night anyway?"
"Whats it matter to you Harry?" Daphne replied smoothly, a smirk spreading across her light pink lips as she flicked the lid open and lit the fag then handed it back to harry, "You tell me and I tell you, fair's fair and all."
"Since when are we friends Daphne?" Harry asked flicking the ashes from his fag then glancing over at her, only to see she was looking right back at him and gave her a sly wink, "not that I'd particularly mind, being friends with Slytherin's 'Ice-Queen.'"
"Slow down Golden Boy, I was just saying that fair is fair, and now you go off and say such amusing things as this making us friends," Daphne quirked a single brunette eyebrow up in amusement.
"Ladies first, by all means," Harry replied cheekily, ashing his fag again.
"Well, if you must know, I couldn't sleep because of a letter I got from my parents a while ago and that's stressing me out, now your turn Harry," she said, her light pink lips dipping into a slight frown.
Harry sighed heavily, "I havent been sleeping well since I lost my godfather last month, there was an accident at the Department of Mysteries and he... He didnt make it out alive," Harry was visibly fighting back the tears now, "anyways, smoking's kind of a bad habit I picked up from him, and in a way, its the last thing I have left of him, well, the light too, but as bad as it is for me, smoking almost means more, if that makes any sense."
"Harry, I'm sorry, I had no idea," Daphne said, reaching over and placing her hand on his arm supportively, or as close to the gesture as she could manage, not being familiar with said gestures of support, "I'm probably not your first choice in this kind of thing, or really at all considering you have granger and weasley, but if you need to talk, Tracy says I'm a fair listener."
"Thanks for the offer Daphne, but I dont appreciate the gesture out of pity, I'd like to think I've had enough of it in my life," Harry frowned slightly at the gesture then flicked his fag out into the river far below.
"It's not out of pity Harry, I promise, you may find this hard to believe, but my parents arent the most caring people in the world, the only real affection I got from my family, was from my grandmother, not even my own sister seems to care," Daphne said softly, practically whispered, "You remember that letter I told you about earlier?"
"Yeah, the one from your parents," Harry said, sensing that maybe Daphne was the one who needed comforting tonight.
"Well, among other things, the letter said that my grandma passed away in her sleep," Daphne said, tears starting to form in her icy blue eyes as she gripped Harry's arm tighter
"I'm sorry Daphne, is there anything I can do to help?" Harry asked, turning to the side so his whole body faced the crying girl beside him, only to be surprised when she pushed foreward and wrapped her arms around his waist then buried her face into his chest as she started to cry.
"Just hold me for now harry, thats all I need," Daphne said between sobs as Harry slowly let his arms settle around her lithe frame.
Thats how the two stayed for the better part of an hour, just relishing the company of someone who understands the pain they feel, not talking, because what is there to say really?
Daphne eventually stopped crying and pulled back from Harry's chest slightly to look up at him with her slightly bloodshot, glacial blue eyes, "Thanks Harry, I needed that, its just," Daphne was cut off by Harry shushing her.
"Its alright Daphne, we both needed it," Harry said wiping away one of his own stray tears and smiling lightly.
"Still, I have to thank you, its only fair," Daphne let a genuine smile show on her face for the first time since term started, she then leaned up onto her tip toes and kissed his cheek lightly.
"Anyone ever tell you that you have a lovely smile Daphne?" Harry asked with a lopsided grin.
"Shut up you, now be the proper chivalrous gryff you are and escort a lady back to her common room?" Daphne asked as she took a step back, both her hands sliding down harry's arms to hold his hands.
"Might as well, dont want a pretty girl such as yourself wandering 'round the castle this late, or should I say early? Harry joked and started the trek back up to the castle entrance hall. The two managed to make it to the dungeons without being seen as luck would have it.
"So this is me," Daphne said, slowing to a stop at the corridor that served as the entrance to the slytherin dorms.
"yeah, guess it is," Harry said, not really wanting to leave just yet.
"I know I said it already, but thank you Harry, for tonight," Daphne said, looking up into Harry's emerald green eyes.
"I already said you don't have to thank me Daphne, it was a mutual thing. we both needed it," Harry said, looking back down into her glacial blue eyes. Both stared into the others eyes, getting lost in the moment, not really wanting to leave, but not knowing what else to say.
"So-" they both started at once.
"You first Daphne," Harry said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
"No you, I insist," Daphne replied, her otherwise pale cheeks tinting a faint pink.
"Right, well, you see, there's this Hogsmeade weekend coming up and I was wondering if you wanted to go, you know, together, unless you dont want to which is perfectly fine," Harry prattled on in his nervousness.
"Are you asking me out Harry?" Daphne asked with an amused smirk gracing her features.
"Yeah, I suppose I am Daphne, do you wanna go?" Harry asked, his hand running through his hair idly.
"You know, you're not the first guy to ask me out," Daphne said in an amused tone, she then grabbed his tie and yanked him down to meet her lips in a sudden kiss, after she pulled back to reveal a stunned harry, she said, "But you're the only one I've said yes to, see you this weekend Harry." Daphne winked playfully, then sauntered off to her dorm, leaving a stunned harry all alone in the corridor, the only thought running through his mind was the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend.