Wow… That's a lot of people interested in this… Damnit now I have a real commitment to this story. As one reviewer pointed out, I have a lot of works that I've kind of left unfinished for a while, but don't you fret dear reader, as writing has now become my full-time job! Which means that I don't have any excuses not to sit and write.

Same dude pointed out that Harry's "Nice bottom" comment might have been to OCC but cut me some slack here.

He IS a teenager

If I don't give Harry some immediate physical attraction there is no real reason for him to go out of his way to talk to her again at some point in the future without making up anything too convoluted. Besides I always thought of Harry as an ASS kind of man.

3- This story is somewhat inspired in my IRL relationship. Basically, I'm a bit of a perv and she wasn't. And it worked out!

I'm trying to build something sweet between this two without resorting to magic or marriage contracts and whatnot.

Chapter 2: Nobody can know that I love Dragons

Daphne re-read the letter she'd just received and sighed. She had already suspected the answer but to see it being put into writing was twice as dejecting.

With how upset her mother had sounded, she was surprised she hadn't received a howler from her part.

She sighed again and set down the letter. She gave her owl a treat and set about getting ready for the day. That day she didn't need to wear her uniform, as it was the day that first task of the tri-wizard tournament was taking place.

It wasn't that she particularly cared, but an excuse to get out of class was as good as anything. Besides, the tournament's history had a track record of bringing out some fascinating beasts. She was always keen to see those.

Once ready, she sat back on her bed and gave a final read to the letter. Not that she expected the answer to change, but well, she could hope. Sighing again, she folded back the letter onto the envelop and tossed it onto her bed. It was time to get going anyway, and she had promised Tracey that they would meet up in Slytherin's common room and head out to the first task together.

Standing in-front of her dorm's door, she breathed in deeply, made sure her hair was in order, put on her brave face and exited.

The hallway was already littered with her housemates, milling around and going about her business. Mostly to go visit their friends who had, like her, earnt the right to a private room for the year.

The private quarters were only awarded to the students that had academically excelled the previous year ; Tracey had also earnt the right to one, but she had declined since it was "such a chore" to walk the extra distance to the common room.

Said common room was already busy. It was obvious that some students were enjoying their free day, while others had formed study groups and decided to skip the tournament in other to catch up with their work. The usual lot were already occupying the center seats, near the fireplace.

Draco, his two bodyguards, Pansy, Blaze, Theodore and Tracy, to be more specific. It was their little group. They had hung out since the first year and had practically claimed those seats as theirs.

Wordlessly, she sat next to Tracey, who as always, was clinging to Theodore. They all acknowledged her presence with a nod and resumed their conversation, which consisted mostly on their predictions of the outcome of the first task. Tracey turned around and gave her a smile before turning back to listen to Draco, who was, as always rampaging against Potter.

He was particularly proud of the "Potter Stinks" pins he had come up with. At that point, everyone but Pansy had to roll their eyes. Sure, Potter had cheated and gotten himself into the tournament, but most could agree that Draco had a childish vendetta against Potter.

The conversation came to a halt when professor Snape strode into the common room and informed them that the first task was about to begin.

Ooo

One of the things she always loved about magic was how efficient it was. The stage for the first task had been set up in less than a day from what she'd heard. Sure, it wasn't like the stadium that was built for the quidditch world cup, but the arena served its purpose well enough.

Once all the students that were going to attend the event were seated, the empty seats just merged back into the wooden scaffolding, and she felt her own seat shift to accommodate the extra space provided once the other seats had disappeared.

Despite herself, she was excited. The arena was obviously meant to fight something rather than someone, and she couldn't help but wonder what mysterious creatures the officers of the ministry had dragged out from their habitats just for the sake of the tournament.

Of course, she kept her composure and made it seem as if she was staring blankly at the arena. Her friends didn't comment on it as they were used to her antics. The only one of their group that knew she was excited was Tracey who often gave her smirks when she was not busy with Theodore's lips.

Daphne sighed to herself. Tracy was her best friend, and one of the few that really understood her, but since she was dating Theodore, Tracy had less and less time to just hang around Daphne.

She suppressed the sad smile that threatened to break her stoic expression, although she wasn't quite sure if she had managed to suppress the sadness from showing in her eyes.

It didn't matter as long as she didn't look at anyone in the eye.

Finally, the announcers voice echoed through the arena, and all the conversation in the stands ceased. Once everyone had quieted down the announcer went on to explain some things about the event that they were about to be witness of.

But she paid it no mind however.

"It CAN'T be!" Daphne thought in ecstasy, almost jumping in her seat. She felt a hand grab her by the leg and turned around to see the puzzled face of Tracy.

She let out a smile once she was sure no one else was watching her, and just pointed at one of the entrances to the arena, where, behind bars, a menacing snout was taking whiffs of its environment.

Tracy looked back at Daphne with wide eyes and a smile of her own. Daphne shook her friends shoulder excitedly before settling back into her stoic demeanor.

There was a loud explosion, and her attention was drawn to the gate which held the dragon. It took all her composure not to squeal in joy when she saw a beautiful Swedish Short-Snout lumber onto the arena. The dragon was still bound by a chain which eased the nerves that threatened to climb up her spine.

The first event was swift. She didn't pay attention to Cedric Digory as he struggled to get the golden egg. Instead, her attention was fully on the Dragon before her. There was something about dragons that she really enjoyed. She found them primal. Her father used to say that dragons were the perfect embodiment of the aspects that they represented. She was never quite sure what that meant, but she understood that every species had their own quirks and ways about them.

Next came the Welsh Green. It wasn't her favorite, but she still enjoyed the show immensely. Even if the dragon couldn't use the environment to its advantage, as it would when in the wild, the match lasted longer, if only because that dragon seemed to be smarter than the last.

The Chinese Fireball was a sight to see, just as she remembered. Although it was a smaller specimen, it still proved to be a challenge, and a remarkable sight. Longer and slimmer than its European counterparts, it was a lot more agile than the previous ones, and as the name implied, its potent fire was one of its favorite tricks.

Then came the last match. There was a spike of nervousness in her being as she realized that was the reason that Potter had asked her about dragons, but she soon relaxed. That book had been written by her father. Even a first year could survive a dragon if they paid attention to the book.

But as the next beast lumbered into the arena, twitchy and eager to fight, Daphne had to will her body to stay put.

She loved dragons, just as her father did, but there was one species that always mad her uneasy, even from a distance. Hungarian-Horntails.

They were famous for being aggressive, and they were meant to fight, with their bodies covered in bony spikes. It wasn't majestic as the others. They were brutes, the berserkers of the dragon kind; and the only dragon that her father didn't survive.

Flashbacks of the horrible night surfaced in her mind, and she could swear that the long scar in her back tingled at the sight of the beast.

Her breathing quickened, and her fists tightened. She used to feel uneasy about Hungarian-Horntails when she was little, but after that night, she was terrified of them.

She felt Tracey lay her hand on her shoulder and then pull her into a one armed hug; Her breathing calmed down easily enough, and she was able to pull back her emotionless face; good thing too, as some of the other students nearby were beginning to look oddly at her. Now her worry shifted onto Potter, who had just entered the arena, cluelessly looking around.

Sure, there were plenty of ways he could have prepared himself for the challenge, but the dragon was already agitated, and the book she'd given him didn't cover that species, as her father never had a chance to write about them.

The Dragon noticed Potter almost immediately, but it didn't immediately lunge, instead it crouched and hid amongst the rocks, carefully stalking and closing the distance between it and the fourth champion.

Potter took some hesitant steps forward, heading towards the golden egg. The dragon then lunged and landed between the egg and Potter, letting out a mighty roar that made Potter stumble backwards. The dragon swiped furiously at Potter with one of its claws, but the boy managed to dodge and ran towards the rocks that littered the arena, hiding in the crevasses and trying to get as much distance away from the dragon.

Daphne noticed that, even if a good majority of the students attending were still wearing the "Potter Stinks" badges, most of them were cheering for him. For her part, she was sitting at the very edge of her seat, trying to act as composed as she could.

Hungarian Horntails famopusly were an aggressive species, quite a bit more than the previous dragons in fact. If it saw even the tiniest chance to roast Potter with fire, or just maul him to death, it took it.

Potter had tried many times to cast spells, but he was always forced to dodge an incoming attack before he was successful.

The more time that passed, the more furious the dragon became, but despite that, Potter managed to get away in time. There had been a few close calls in which the boy escaped with one or two burns on his clothes however.

Another firestorm roared across the arena, and the students held their breath until they saw that Potter was still intact. While most of them let out a relived breath, Daphne's heart was thundering in her chest.

She knew what he had done to get out of that one of course.

"If a dragon is breathing fire at you, don't dodge to the sides or the back, roll under the stream of fire and get out of there as fast as you can"

She remembered clearly the passage that her father had written in his book. That was advice that he used to live by.

She relaxed a little bit when Potter managed to gain some distance from the beast and cast a spell. She didn't hear what he said, but as soon as he was done, he continued running away from the beast.

A few seconds passed, and nothing happened, then, as if Potter was chasing something, he sprang out of the crevasses in the rocks and ran as fast as he could towards the egg. The crowd erupted with excitement, while some other students became horrified at the reckless move.

The dragon didn't waste any time and lunged at Potter with its claws. Potter managed to dodge to the side, although it seemed that the Dragon had managed to scratch him by the cheek. The boy didn't even seem to notice as he continued his mad dash.

The dragon let out another stream of fire towards Potter, and Daphne's eyes widened in horror as the flames seemed to engulf him whole.

But when the fire died down, and tears threatened to break free from Daphne's control over them, there was nothing. Not the charred corpse that everyone expected to see nor the agonizing screams of Potter dying.

Just the scorch left by the fire on the surrounding stone.

Her eyes looked around desperately, as did everyone else's. Someone exclaimed and pointed into the air above the arena. Daphne followed the direction that the student was pointing at and found Harry Potter smiling while floating on top of his broom.

She relaxed a fair bit when she spotted him. He was well away from the range of the dragon's fire, and the beast was still chained to the grou-

SNAP!

Her eyes widened in horror at the sound of metal breaking. The beast took flight after Potter before any of the handlers could do anything about it. Potter noticed it and immediately dashed away from his pursuer, who seemed ten times more dangerous while in the air.

After some midair maneuvering, they soon faded into the distance, and chatter exploded in the stands.

Malfoy and company were sniggering and mocking Potter's performance while some other student slowly regained colour in their faces.

Daphne felt a hand rest on her right shoulder and turned to see Tracey staring at her with an amused expression.

"You seem to be really invested in Potter eh?" She teased.

Daphne let slip a small smile. "It's not like that… it's just…"

Tracy Nodded knowingly "You haven't seen a Horntail since that day, haven't you?"

Daphne nodded silently "I was… worried…"

When Tracey's eyebrow shot into her hairline, Daphne added "I didn't tell you this but, he found me in the library, and he asked me about dragons" she confessed.

When Tracey didn't say anything, she continued "And I gave him the book my dad wrote…" she said, giving Tracey a meaningful look.

"So? Your dad was the best of his field, you probably handed him the key to winning here" Tracey laughed.

"Well, dad… didn't do too well against that dragon…" Daphne said sombrely at Tracey.

"I know, I know" Tracey reassured her "I was at the funeral, remember? So, you were thinking that if your dad didn't do too well against that thing, what chance did Potter have?"

Daphne just nodded while staring at the empty arena.

Tracey sighed and leaned into Daphne's ear. "Daph, you know that what happened to your father was different. If it had been any other day just handling dragons he would have been fine right?"

Daphne shrugged "I suppose" She said to Tracey and offered her a small smile.

The stadium soon started cheering and pointing at the sky. The girls turned to look at the sky and sure enough, something was coming.

It was flying awkwardly, and it was quite smaller than a dragon. Soon, everyone else managed to make out the silhouette of Potter flying towards them.

Daphne relaxed back into her seat when she saw him. "Well, at least I didn't get the boy who lived killed"

ooo

After that, Daphne didn't pay much attention. The end announcements came and went, and she found herself walking alongside the rest of the Slytherin's on the path towards their common room. Most of them were still discussing the performances of the champions.

Her mind however was dwelling in the opposition that the champions faced.

"Dragons…" she repeated to herself in her mind. She wanted to squeal like a little girl and jump up and down in excitement, in fact she probably would once no one was around her.

Her cheeks reddened when she thought about getting caught acting so out of character. There was no way she was showing that side of herself in front of Draco again… or anyone else that wasn't Tracey for that matter.

When she got to her private room, she sat on her bed; She then undid her ponytail, set aside her earrings and stared at the wall for a minute without doing anything. Sure, she was excited about the dragons she saw that day, and it had been years since she had been that close to one. But there was something nagging at her and occupying her mind.

Harry Potter, the so-called Gryffindor golden boy, the guy who cheated his way into the tournament and he who was an arrogant git as far as every Slytherin was concerned… Harry Potter survived a fight with a Hungarian Horntail, the dragon species that had killed her father.

Sighing, she went to her trunk and rummaged in it for a bit, then she procured her own, personal copy of "How to deal with dragons".

She had read and re-read that book a dozen times; In it, any piece of information, any tip and strategy that her father knew about fighting dragons. In essence, it was a resume of his entire career, without the details that were best left for any other bestiary or 'scholarly' tome.

She read the first few passages with a smile.

"So, you are facing a dragon… How did you even get into this mess? Well, that's not my business really; All I need to do is to increase your chances of making it out alive. The first thing you need to remember is that you are in TROUBLE. I know, obvious isn't it?

But in how much trouble are you really in?

Are you alone? Do you have a wand on you? How far away from the dragon are you? Does it fly? Is it a lumbering and sluggish beast? Or a cat sized pest?"

Daphne chuckled at the last bit as she always did. It was circled with ink and had a note under it, written in her father's handwriting.

It read: REMEMBER; you and your sister aren't allowed one of those until you get a license!

She smiled and set the book down on her bed.

Was there something else about Potter? Sure, there had been rumours the previous years and everything, but what she witnessed that day… The other champions were more experienced, the best in their generations as they said. Knew more spells and probably had prepared themselves months in advance before coming to Hogwarts. Even if Cedric had looked as frightened as Potter, but he still was one of the best students the school had to offer.

But Potter… Years younger, average at grades… Had somehow managed to tackle the most dangerous dragon of the event, and managed to do it better than some of the other champions.

She sighed again. She wished she could somehow ask Potter about it, but there was no point in even trying. She was embarrassed at the prospect of asking about a potentially private topic. And if he really was the git everybody thought he was, then she would rather avoid being ridiculed by the golden boy.

There was a knock on her door, before it opened. There were few people who the charms allowed in so easily, and one of those was her sister.

"Hey Tori!" Daphne greeted her sister with a smile.

"Hey!" Astoria replied her expression somewhat sullen

"Something happened?" Daphne asked, rising up from her bed and walking towards her sister.

"Had to slap John today, he was getting too frisky" Astoria said, earning a chuckle from Daphne

"How do you do it?" Astoria asked looking at her elder sister with a scrutinizing gaze.

"What?"

"Well, you know…" Astoria did some gestures in the air as if she was slapping someone in the face. "Slap those guys as if they were nothing and walk away with that blank face of yours"

Daphne let out a laugh while her cheeks reddened.

"Practice I suppose" She said, sheepishly "I've been doing it since first year"

"Hah!" Astoria grinned, remembering the few incidents that had earnt her sister her famous moto.

She then remained silent for a while when she spotted the book on top of Daphne's bed. Daphne looked towards where her sister was staring, and she too fell silent.

After a while, Astoria looked at her sister with something akin to sorrow in her eyes. "That was the same dragon that killed dad wasn't it?" she asked.

Daphne nodded sadly and turned to look at Astoria. "Yea… How are you doing?" she asked

Astoria shrugged "It was a long time ago… how about you?"

Daphne caressed the back of her neck a little, then grabbed a hand mirror she had lying about and positioned it just so she was able to see the very tip of the scar that poked out from her t-shirt's collar.

"It brought some memories" she answered. She then shrugged and let the mirror back where she found it.

Astoria nodded silently. "Oh!" she exclaimed, having remembered one of the reasons she had come to Daphne in the first place.

"Hey Daph, care to help me with my homework? I swear McGonagall has it in for me!"

Ooo

"Do you think she knew?" Hermione asked Harry.

It was the day after the first task and things where somewhat back to normal. Even Ron was hanging around them in the library.

"I don't think so" Harry replied while he caught up with an essay he had left for after the first task.

"Know what?" Ron asked while he too did some work, albeit begrudgingly.

"This!" Hermione said, pulling out the book that Daphne had handed Harry days before the task

"Harry stumbled upon Greengrass before the task, long story short, he asked her about dragons, and she gave him this" Hermione handed the book to Ron, who gave it a quick look over before handing it back to Hermione.

"So you are thinking she knew about the first task?" Ron asked

Hermione shrugged "I'm not sure, what I do know is that the book was written by someone in her family"

"Huh…" Ron said, and then turned towards Harry, who was almost done with his essay.

"So, mate, you actually talked with the ice queen and walked out unscathed? What gives?"

Harry grinned and shrugged "I have a way with beasts!" He said, mimicking how Hagrid had praised him after the first task.

Ron snorted while Hermione sighed.

"That's not very nice Harry" she reprimanded

"Well, she is scary!" Ron said "I heard that in second year she slapped Malfoy! She has also slapped Seamus, and that older bloke from Ravenclaw… Granted, he did try to look under her skirt"

Harry sniggered, and Hermione just huffed with annoyance.

"Well, she is pretty, I'm sure she gets a lot of unwanted attention" Harry said while cleaning his quill

Ron and Hermione shared a look when he said that, which went unnoticed by Harry

"Well, I Promised McGonagall id give her this as soon as I was done with it" Harry said while waving his recently finished scroll in the air.

"Catch you guys at dinner?" He asked while walking away.

"See ya there mate!" Ron said as Harry walked away.

When Harry was no longer in sight Ron turned towards Hermione

"Do you think he has a thing for her?" Ron asked

"They have barley spoken to each other Ronald" Hermione retorted

"She's the first girl I've ever heard him call 'pretty' though"

"I'm sure he thinks lots of girls are pretty Ronald, honestly, he IS a boy"

Ron shrugged and went back to reading

Ooo

Harry strode towards the transfiguration classroom while mentally making sure that he had covered everything that McGonagall had asked for in his essay. Most students had gotten an extended period to turn in their assignments since the first task of the tournament was taking place. While he didn't really have an obligation to turn in his, he still wanted to be in good graces with his head of house.

When he got to the classroom, a few students walked out, discussing their respective grades in their assignments. When he got in, the classroom was mostly empty, with only another student at McGonagall's desk.

When he approached, he noticed the tight, blond ponytail at the back of the student, and realize who it must be.

"MS. Greengrass while I applaud your dedication to see your sister succeed, doing yourself more than half her homework, again, is not a good way to help her improve in what is by far her worst subject."

McGonagall stared down at Daphne with a sever expression. While the usually stern professor wasn't being particularly hard on her chiding, she did seem somewhat exasperated at the Slytherin.

Harry noticed that while Daphne remained impassive while facing the professor, she was anxiously playing with her fingers behind her back, shifting her weight from foot to foot every once in a while.

"From now on I will be paying closer attention to your sister's assignments to make sure it was her who completed them. If you wish to keep aiding your sister, I expect that you try to explain and help practice the concepts to Astoria, and not help her finish her whole assignment yourself, are we clear?"

At Daphne's almost imperceptible nod, McGonagall finished.

"Very well, you are free to go MS Greengrass"

Daphne picked up her bag from the floor and turned around. Being unaware of Harry's presence behind her, she jumped a little bit when she spotted him.

Harry didn't say anything, but just smiled and raised his hand to say hello. Daphne did the same, albeit a little bit more hesitantly, and eying Harry with what he could only describe as mild curiosity.

"Thanks for the help the other day" he said once he had lowered his hand.

Daphne said nothing but gave a tiny nod of her own, her blue eyes staring impassively at Harry.

McGonagall cleared her throat "Mr. Potter? Can I help you with anything?"

"Oh yes!" Harry said, procuring his assignment from his own bag and handing it to the professor.

Daphne took that as her cue to leave, but before exiting the classroom, she took another look at the Boy Who lived over her shoulder, and then left.

I guess the real story begins after this chapter, I just needed to set up a few things and dump a little bit of exposition here and there.

While I hope you guys like it, do keep in mind that this is mostly un-edited, so if there are a few spelling and phrasing mistakes, bear with me a little bit while I find the time to properly go over this chapter. That will probably happen sooner rather than later, as I'm not too happy with how the last bit of the convo between Ron and Hermione turned out.

Anybody has any tips on how to write dialogue? PM me pls.