A/N Thanks for all the support... Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
The next few days passed relatively quickly for Harry. Besides having to listen to Ron and Hermione's bickering and the increased work load that seemed to come with every New Year of schooling, Harry was pleases with how the school year was going so far. Plus Malfoy had stayed away from him which always was a good.
He had found himself in the library with Hermione and while she studied house elf history he found himself reading and taking notes on various Defense against the Dark Arts Books such as, Dark Spells and Their Counter Curses, Shield Spells, and A Thousand ways to Defend Yourself. He supposed that when he was done with those he would try to find books about dueling and spell chaining, a subject that Professor Flitwick had briefly mentioned in class.
He had found himself trying to put more effort into his schoolwork and found it extremely satisfying when Professor McGonagall congratulated him and told him to keep up the good work when she handed back the first homework assignment. He knew that he would never be Hermione, but hoped to get good grades in all of his classes this term which meant trying. Of course that meant a more volatile Ron, but nothing was too much of a sacrifice for education especially if he had to face Voldemort in the future.
Now he sat next Neville Longbottom, Ron strangely wanted to save a seat for Hermione who wasn't there at the moment, waiting for Professor Moody to stroll in for the very first defense class of the term. He had heard good things about the class from the twins and Lee Jordan so he was quite excited for the class. Hermione practically ran in two seconds before Moody appeared and took her seat next to Ron. He assumed that she was in the library again but would have to ask her about it later.
When Moody did appear, he told them to put their books away which made Ron very happy. Harry found himself to be a little more excited as well, he always did well in practical portions of classes, and theory just wasn't his thing. He took attendance, magical eye shooting to each student quickly as they replied to their names.
Then he paused and quietly said "Neville Longbottom?"
Nervous as he was, Neville's face turned a shade red as he slowly raised his hand in the air and replied "here."
"Frank and Alice's boy?" Moody asked as he glared at Neville longingly, his lips twitching before forming a sadistic smile. Harry couldn't help but notice the color drain from Neville's face or the evil look that Moody seemed to be wearing with pride but before he knew it, the moment was over. Moody took a swig of whatever was in the flask that he carried around and rushed through the rest of the names on his list.
The rest of the class went terribly. Harry couldn't even describe how irritated he was at the man. The twins were right, his old age and experiences with Dark Wizards had made the man absolutely crazy and in Harry's opinion, unfit to teach children.
He started off the class with explaining some rubbish how the ministry didn't want them to see real dark curses but Dumbledore seemed to think that they could handle them. Harry tended to agree with him but didn't assume he would go for the jugular right from the jump. From reading about ahead about defense he knew that there were some nasty spells out there, such as variations of the cutting curse or a nasty one that would stop targets lungs from working if done properly. However Moody decided it was best to start with the absolute worst; the unforgivables.
He started off small with the Imperius curse which wasn't too bad in Harry's eyes. Moody was right, this one was the easiest to defend against if one knew how. It was almost impossible to use it against someone if they knew Occulmency, something that greatly interested Harry. He decided to put that at the head of his research list as he though the skill would be dead useful with the way moody described it. He was however a little deterred when Moody claimed that he hadn't even been fully able to master it.
The lesson didn't start to turn bad when Professor Moody demonstrated the Cruciatus Curse. He had never seen somebody go as pale as Neville had when he watched it being performed on the unlucky spider that had been enlarged so they could see the effects better. He was gripping the tables so hard that his knuckles were starting to turn white but that's not what disturbed Harry. What angered Harry was the pure excitement in Moody's eyes as he watched Neville struggle. Harry had no doubt that it would have went on longer if not for Hermione's yelling at the Professor to stop. This man was not normal.
Moody then took another swig from his flask and explained how there was no counter curse for the Cruciatus and that it was best to dodge it at all cost if anyone in the room had ever met somebody that was willing to use it. He explained that it could be anticipated if one knew Legilimency but Harry stopped paying attention, he knew what was coming next.
He sat up a little and drowned out the noise around him as he squirmed in his seat a little. He knew what was coming of course, it was the only logical in the progression of things, but that didn't mean he was prepared. He had never seen the spell up close before, well he supposed that he did but what's seeing something if you can barely remember?
Time seemed to slow as the green light erupted from Moody's wand and raced towards the spider who seemed to know his fate and tried to scurry away but you cannot run from death. Harry's mind shot him quick flashes of hidden memories that the Dementors had unlocked the year before, and he once again heard his father scream for his mother to take him and run. He saw the green flash and his mother crumple to the floor.
Hermione turned around to ask him if he was okay to which he simply nodded up and down but truthfully he didn't recover to the end of the class which caused him to miss the rest of Moody's notes. He would get them from Hermione later.
He scurried from class as quick as he could and took a few deep breaths. He waited on a nearby bench for his friends to come out but was losing patience quickly. He was even more annoyed when Daphne Greengrass came and sat down next to him.
She opened her mouth, looking as if she wanted to say something, before she closed it and folded her hands over her lap. She was in full ice queen character now, and anyone passing by would assume that she was highly irritated having to sit next to him. Harry still thought that she was gorgeous, even more so now that she wasn't drugged plus she smelled really nice. He wanted to say something but before he could, she dropped a note on his lap and walked away. Harry couldn't help but look; she did have a nice bum.
Hermione and Ron finally came out after what seemed like ages and she apologized profusely. Moody did ask them to stay after a moment so he could ask them to check on him, to make sure he was okay and explained how Moody chased after Neville too to make sure he was alright as well.
They went down to dinner and Harry watched as Hermione mercilessly scarf down her food so she could go to the library. He wasn't really hungry anymore so he followed and Ron surprisingly tagged along. He asked Neville to join them, he didn't want him to be alone but he had to admit that Neville was doing better due to some book that Moody gave him. Neville accepted and soon the four were off to the library.
He didn't find any books on Occulmency so he decided to get a jumpstart on his potions essay that was due the following Thursday and ask Hermione about where he could find books on the subject later. About an hour into their little study session he took a break so he could clear his mind and refocus on the task at hand. He had begun to get frustrated with the topic a while ago and knew that he would be able to finish the essay better if he got up and walked away from it for five minutes or so.
He excused himself to the bathroom and suddenly remembered the note that Daphne slipped him after Defense. He took it out, it read; meet at eight, empty third floor classroom. Harry sighed. He didn't really want to go but had to admit that something about the girl interested him, plus she wasn't too bad to look at.
He went back to the table and finished his essay. Like always, he had Hermione proof read it so she could check spelling and to see if the facts were right. He was quite pleased when she gave it back to him with instructions to fix minor spelling and grammar mistakes as opposed to Ron and poor Neville who's parchments looked like somebody had just painted all over them.
Harry took the extra time he had to begin reading a book on ways to make your magical core stronger. He figured that if he was going to fight Voldemort one day that he needed to be a lot stronger then he already was and should begin to exercise his magical core. One way of course was practice, you simply practiced spells and strategies until you become magically exhausted. He was surprised in how well this book went into a detailed regimen that he could follow and he quickly copied it down. He would just have to find a place to practice at.
Another way that was much more dangerous what was known as magical weight on a person's core. It worked kind of like muggle weights, it 'weighed' down the core making it harder to use and when you were used to the new weight, it added even more. It went on like that until the weight was magically taken off but it was dangerous to do because you must have a strong enough core in the first place or else the weights could destroy your core. Harry doubted his core was strong enough for it.
It was getting close to eight which meant that the library was going to close soon. He asked Madam Pince if he could borrow the book which usually wasn't a problem, he just had to ask. She simply nodded her head and told him to bring it back by the end of next week which was fine. It wasn't very big and as long as he was able to keep up on his homework he should be able to finish it by then.
He lied and told his friends that professor Dumbledore had wanted to see him about something important and waited patiently for them to disappear out of sight before he whipped out his map and said "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."
As good as she was to look at; Daphne seemed to forget about the small details of things as there were tons of empty classrooms on the third floor. Luckily he had his map so she wasn't that difficult to find. He looked at it for a moment and saw that his friends were climbing the stairs towards the fifth floor. He also saw that Moody was in his office with a man named Barty Crouch Jr. but Harry paid it no mind, it was probably just one of that crazy man's friends.
He walked into the empty classroom that she occupied and didn't flinch as she pointed her wand past him to put locking and privacy charms on the door. She was sitting on a table arms and legs crossed staring at him with a blank expression. Harry grinned.
"You look even better when you're not drunk" he said complementing her although if he had to pick one part of her that he really liked it would be her eyes.
"You like what you see Potter?" she replied and tried awkwardly to poke her chest out at him
"Voldemort's sent you to seduce me and that's the best you got?" Harry laughed ignoring the annoying jump that came with his name.
She frowned before carefully saying "I though you didn't believe me?"
"I don't. I don't know if you could tell but my days been really horrible so I came for the entertainment, you know something I could go back to my room and have a good laugh at" Harry replied coldly. Thinking about that defense class angered him a bit.
"Oh finally, the great King Potter has had a bad day. What did Weasley not wipe your ass good enough?" she replied icily obviously annoyed that he thought this was a joke. Harry once again smiled.
"He might have missed a spot or two" he replied sarcastically.
She scowled and said "Why did you come here if it's such a great waste of your time Potter?"
He shrugged before he replied "You're interesting."
She finally smiled and asked "How so?"
"I don't know you just are. It's probably just my hormones talking, you're not too bad to look at you know" he replied confidently. He had no clue where it was coming from but couldn't really complain either.
"Of course, just like every other idiot that roams this castle" she replied and turned her head toward the window. It was dark out and the sky had cleared up a lot considering the storm that they had just two days ago. It was silent for a few moments and he could hear the ticking of the clock on the wall and it annoyed him greatly so he spoke.
"Why am I here Daphne?" he asked and she turned back to him. She had a sad look upon her beautiful face and Harry felt a bit bad for her. She obviously was struggling with something.
"You don't believe me so why does it matter?" she said softly. Her locked eyes with her and frowned. Her sparkling eyes were begging to be believed. He still had his doubts but at this point he had already came, it couldn't kill him to listen.
He sighed heavily and said "Prove it."
Her eyes lit up and she seemed relieved. She slowly grabbed her left arm and pulled up the sleeve turning her arm ever so slightly. He groaned it was the Dark Mark. He looked up at her a met her eyes again. Tears were slowly racing down her face and he instantly felt terrible and stupid. He should have asked her that when she first told him on the train.
"My dad made me take it", she said quietly, "I didn't want it. I don't want to do this to you I'm not like them. I'm not some pure-blood bigot who thinks all muggles should die. They have guns, we have wands, were not so different."
"And if you refused?" Harry asked, thinking he already knew the answer but needing to hear it."
"My dad has his moments but most of the time he is an awful person. When we were little he tried to beat the pure blood elitism idea into me and my little sister's heads. Luckily we had our mom who isn't like him. She was forced to marry him through a marriage contract and produce two children. She taught us to put up the stupid mask we wear so we can hide what we believe from our father. I think he always knew what she was doing though, because he told me if I didn't do this he would kill her" she barely finished, the tears now flowing freely from her face.
Harry's heart broke. They weren't too different and Harry had known that had he been in her shoes he would have done the same thing. He wished he could help her but he didn't know how. So he did the only thing that he could think of. He removed his shirt.
"What are you doing?" she asked surprised that he was pulling off his shirts until he was done. She gasped.
"My uncle tried to beat the magic out of me. Even starved me half to death and locked me in a cupboard under the stairs for the first eleven years of my life. Thought that all wizards were freaks and didn't want me to get blown up like my parents did. We're not to different Daphne" he said as she idly traced a scar on his back. It was weird because he had never told anybody about this, he supposed if he did Sirius would be in jail again, but now it felt right.
He put his shirt back on and turned around. She was still crying but it had eased up a bit. He lifted her chin up, wiped her tears away and whispered "Stop crying, you're too pretty to cry and besides I'll help you."
Her eyes lit up a bit and he smiled. "You can't tell anyone" she said.
"I already assumed that" he replied softly.
"Then what will you do?" she asked, worry filling her voice.
"I'll fight him; I'll fight him like I always have and always will. I still owe him for my parents" Harry replied angrily. Hatred filling his heart for what Voldemort had taken from him.
"My mom always says that revenge isn't the answer" she replied softly.
"What other choice do I have?" he asked letting her chin drop and then turn toward the window throwing his arms up in the air dangerously.
"You don't even know me, you could just walk away" Daphne replied sadly
"And let you mom die? ", he asked turning to face her once again, "No. I refuse to let his reign of terror go unchecked anymore. I'll fight him."
"And if you don't win?" she asked.
"Then I'll die trying" he replied.
