Monday, Sept 4th 1995 7:03 a.m.

Harry woke up slowly, picking up his glasses from the bedside table. He searched his bedside drawer for where he left his watch after getting back to his room. He checked the time after finding it, I should probably go. Harry got up and dressed for classes, his white collared shirt partially tucked into his black slacks, and his robes with the Gryffindor insignia.

Harry made his way to the Great Hall, getting his breakfast, sitting with the Twins.

"Harry..." Fred started.

"We would like you to have the first set Extendable Ears free." George continued.

"Courtesy of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes." Fred pulled out two plastic ears attached by a spool of string.

"Thanks guys," Harry took a bite of his oatmeal, "How do they work?" Harry looked puzzled at the product.

"You hold one end up to your ear."

"And have the other end in an area where you want to listen."

"Or up against a wall, door or whatever it is blocking you from what you're looking for."

"Cool! I'll be sure to put this to good use." Harry placed them in his knapsack, underneath his books for his classes. Harry continued eating his oatmeal and toast. A few of his friends sat with him, mainly to talk about if he is trying out for seeker and finding out how his summer went. On this particular day, he wasn't waiting for Daphne in the Great Hall. He figured it'd be best to just give her some space after their fight yesterday.

||| Flashback |||

Harry exited the change room down by the Quidditch pitch, freshly showered from a long flying session with Blaise and Cedric. Cedric was the captain of the Hufflepuff team and wanted to get in some flying before tryouts started, Blaise was practicing for Chaser for the Slytherin team, and Harry just felt like flying. Harry raked his hand through his messy hair and started walking towards the school. 'It must be close to dinner time', he thought. He looked towards Hogwarts. He saw a girl standing there, waiting for someone. It was a fellow Gryffindor with strawberry-blonde hair, Lavender Brown.

"Hello, Harry." Lavender said as Harry approached her.

"Hello Lavender, what brings you out here today?" Harry said, Lavender turning to walk with Harry.

"I actually needed to talk to you about something. More someone."

"Is that so, who is it?" Harry asked, adjusting the strap from his knapsack to sit more comfortably on his shoulder.

"Ronald."

"What did he do now?"

"Oh nothing." She said quickly, then taking a breath, composing herself, "It's just. Do you know if he is interested in anyone?"

"No." Harry lied, though, it wasn't his fault, he didn't know he was lying, he just forgot that Ron told him who he liked.

"Oh, I see. Thank you Harry." Lavender said, looking a little sad.

"You like him don't you?" Harry asked, moving towards an archway in the courtyard, Lavender following, realizing that he was giving them some privacy.

"Yes. I do."

"Talk to him about it."

"What? Why would I do that?" Lavender blushed at the thought.

"Well, you'll never get an answer and you will be pining over him, for however long. Ron's not the brightest, it would take a long time for him to notice that someone likes him. It's best that you approach him first." Harry said, leaning against the archway.

"I guess I could." She knew he was right. Ron was... slow. "But what if he doesn't find me attractive?"

"Bollocks to that. One, it doesn't have to be looks that he falls for. You do have a great personality,Lavender. He'd like you. Trust me. And two," Harry didn't notice the figure lurking in the shadows within earshot. "By Merlin, you are attractive, you've caught the eyes of most guys in this school. Any guy would be lucky to date you."

"Even you?" Lavender joked, playfully poking Harry in the arm.

"Yes, even me." Harry laughed nervously. He meant it, but he wouldn't leave Daphne for Lavender. The cloaked figure moved further away, and made their way into the castle.

"Thank you Harry. I'll talk to him." Lavender hugged Harry, which caught him by surprise. He hugged back awkwardly.

"You're welcome. Make sure he knows you like him, and that you'd like to get to know him." Harry said, breaking the awkward hug. "Bye Lavender." He left her and started towards the Great Hall. He was getting hungry.

Harry walked into the Entrance Hall and saw Daphne talking to Tracey Davis, and she looked... upset. 'What happened now?' He walked over to them, Daphne had tears in her eyes. "Hey Daph." He went to kiss her, but only got a slap across the face. "Ow," Harry rubbed his face, "what was that for love?" Harry was calm, he didn't understand why she was upset.

"Why don't you go ask Lavender about it?" Daphne said bitterly.

"What? What are you talking about?" Harry questioned.

"Oh don't give me that bullshit. I saw you and her in the courtyard. You'd be lucky to date her Harry? Really?" Daphne was crying by this point, Tracey stood by her best friend's side.

"Daph, please you have to believe me. She wanted to talk about Ron. She needed reassurance. Yes she's attractive, but she's not you." Harry hoped that she would listen and understand where he was coming from.

"Oh, so you do find her attractive. Do you not want me anymore?" Daphne was practically shouting at this point. Harry was thankful Tracey put up a silencing charm, and a notice-me-not charm.

"Of course I want you Daph! I love you! Please. Please believe me." Harry shouted back.

"By the way you were talking to her out there, I don't know if I can." Daphne said, shaking her head at him.

"Please. I didn't mean anything by it." Harry was practically begging at this point.

"Don't speak to me for the rest of the night, Potter." Daphne said bitterly. She hadn't called him Potter in a bitterly way, like Malfoy has always done, since they had first met. It stung, his heart was aching, his world now spinning.

||| End Flashback |||

Harry ate his breakfast and started towards his first class of the day, History of Magic. He didn't like Professor Binn's teaching style, and his droning on, every lesson about the Goblin revolution or whatever it was. Harry managed to get good grades last year. He hoped to up his mark this year as it was O.W.L.s, he just hoped it was something more interesting Goblin Rebellions.

Harry got to class and sat beside Hermione. Ron was on the opposite side, gawking at Lavender from afar. 'Just go talk to her, you goof.' is what Harry wanted to tell him.

"Hey Hermione." Harry greeted, with lack of emotion.

"Hey Harry." She looked at him, "What's wrong?" She noticed he wasn't his normal, smiling, self.

"I'm not sure where me and Daphne are at. We had a fight yesterday, she didn't want to speak to me at all. I figured I should wait for her to talk to me. I don't want to push it and lose her." Harry said, getting his A History of Magic book out.

"Oh, Harry, I'm sorry. I agree you should wait. What happened?"

Harry leaned over and whispered, "I was talking to Lavender about dingus over there, and somehow she overheard our conversation." Harry sighed.

"We can talk about it later during prefect duties if you want to Harry." Hermione offered.

"That'd be great. Thank you Hermione." Class started once Binns began to drone on about Giant Wars. History of Magic felt like it was never going to end, but luckily for Harry it did. Potions class was next and Harry wasn't sure if the Gryffindors were with Slytherin in this potions class. If they were, he wanted to talk to Daphne beforehand to make sure everything was alright between them.

Harry made his way down to Slughorn's classroom in the dungeons. He spotted Daphne waiting outside the classroom, for him, as if it wasn't obvious what she wanted to talk about. "Hello Harry." She approached him.

"Hi Daph. Listen, about yesterday-" Harry started but Daphne stopped him.

"Wait, Harry, I was in the wrong. I only heard one part of the conversation. Lavender talked to me after she saw that you were looking down during supper." Daphne never liked it when she had to admit she was wrong. But this time was different. She felt like she needed to this time, otherwise it's all she would do later on in life.

"Please forgive me?" She asked, grabbing his hand, standing close to him.

How could I not forgive that face? He thought. "Of course Daph, I forgive you. I love you, I'd be stupid not to." Harry pulled her into a hug.

"You have potions with Slughorn next, right?" Daphne asked him, breaking the embrace.

"Yes, and I'm assuming since you're down here you have it next as well?" Harry put his arm around Daphne as she nodded. "Well, shall we?" Harry and Daphne went to class.

Professor Slughorn welcomed Harry back as he entered the classroom, as he was a member of the 'Slug-Club', hand-picked by Slughorn. It contained either, the smartest students, ones who had connections in the wizarding world, let it be family members or ministry positions, or just seemed ambitious type. He had four sets of students for the Slug-Club, one set for each of the later years. Harry's year had significantly less students than the upper years; there was Blaise, Cormac, Neville, The Carrow Twins, Melinda Bobbin, and Harry. Usually he doesn't invite many people in their fourth year, as he isn't able to see their full potential.

"Good to see you, Professor." Harry shook his hand, and sat down beside Blaise. Daphne preferred not to work with Harry in class, in case they disagreed on whatever the subject may be. Daphne sat down beside Tracey.

"Alright class, this year is O.W.L.s year so I expect to see you working hard. I hope to see many of you in my N.E.W.T. class next year. This year we will be covering a few potions, such as Draught of Peace, and Calming Draught." Slughorn started talking about what was going to happen this year, and reviewing what they had learned from last year.

Harry had really excelled in Potions after Dumbledore introduced separate teachers for it. Dumbledore considered the same for DADA, but he could not find enough competent teachers for the subject. Hermione was Harry's main competition in Potions, she was a genius after all, in fact, the top two out of three of the year had been himself and Hermione for the past 2 years.

Harry's second to last class of the day was Study of Ancient Runes, not his best subject. He struggled the first year, but he eventually got better with the help of Hermione.

His last class was double DADA with Professor Lupin. He already had him once in his third year. He was excited to learn from a proper teacher, and not one who's tried to kill him.

"Ah good afternoon, Harry." Professor Lupin greeted him.

"Good afternoon, Professor." Harry replied. Lupin pulled him to the side of the classroom.

"Have you gotten everything figured out?"

"Yes Professor, Hermione helped me, so I... I mean, we, Hermione and I are going to have them into a group and teach them that way. But we are figuring out where to have everyone meet."

"Brilliant Harry. You can be excused from today's class if you wish. Maybe search for a place to hold your meetings." Professor Lupin smiled at Harry.

"Thank you Professor, but I will stay this class. I don't want to fall behind." Harry smiled back at him, then took his seat.

Professor Lupin asked the class what the previous year's professor had taught them, and asked them to demonstrate what spells they know to see where they stand in the class. Harry was having so much fun helping Professor Lupin during class. Much to Harry's dismay, the class had ended quicker than expected.

Harry made his way to the Great Hall for dinner. He saw Daphne talking with a third year student from Slytherin. "Hey Daph." Harry slid his arm around Daphne's waist, "Who's this?"

"This is Alexandra." Daphne said. Harry offered his hand, and Alexandra shook it. She seemed a little shy.

"Hello. Can we finish talking later, Daphne?" Alexandra asked, blushing slightly.

"Of course Alex, I'll meet you in the common later." Daphne said, now turning to Harry. "Hey, sorry about that, she's having some guy problems and needed someone to talk to."

"That's alright. So I have prefect duty tonight so I won't be able to hang out, would you like to sit at the Gryffindor table with me?" Harry asked, smiling at Daphne.

"Of course, Harry," She placed a feather light kiss on his lips, and took his hand, "lead the way."

Harry and Daphne sat down across from Hermione and Ashley. Ron, a few seats down with Dean and Seamus, had spotted Daphne, and scowled towards the group. He never trusted anyone from Slytherin, aside from Harry who had visited the Burrow and seemed trustworthy. None of them saw his scowl, which was fortunate for him otherwise he would lose a friend, and Lavender likely wouldn't like him if he disliked people for being in a certain house. He would need to work on that.

The conversation between the four was light, talking about their professors, and other subjects. A gray owl entered the Great Hall, carrying a note. The owl dropped the note over the Gryffindor table and it landed gracefully next to Hermione's plate of food. Hermione wasn't expecting anyone from her family to write to her, it wasn't Krum, and her name was spelt elegantly. It must've been her mother.

Hermione opened the letter and she started reading, tears welling up in her eyes. "Hermione?" Harry asked gently. Hermione couldn't bear to look at anyone, she got up out of her seat and ran out of the Great Hall. "Hermione! Wait!" Harry called after her. He got up and ran after her, leaving Daphne and Ashley behind, they decided to go after them.

When Daphne got there, rage and angry built up in her body. "HARRY POTTER! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? OF ALL THE GIRLS IN THIS SCHOOL, YOU DECIDE TO CHEAT ON ME, WITH HER?!" She yelled. Hermione had kissed Harry, with tears still running down her cheeks. Out of nowhere she had kissed him after he caught up to her and asked her what had happened. It wasn't Harry's fault this happened, although Daphne didn't seem to think so. They had broken apart after Daphne and Ashley had got there. Harry turned and started toward Daphne.

"Please Daphne. Please, I swear I didn't mean to." But you would do it again for a kiss like that. A voice inside his head had said, Shut up. His mind replied, I'm dating Daphne not her. "Daphne." Harry was almost within arm's length of Daphne.

"No. This. This has gone too far. We're done." Daphne had said, tears now coming from her eyes. She stormed off.

"Daph. Please" Harry called after her. But it was useless. He should have known. It was never going to last. The voice was back, She's too... Slytherin for you. Harry shook his head. Tears beginning to come from his eyes. He walked over to Ash. "Please believe me. I didn't mean to. I just wanted to make sure she was all right. Neither of us meant to. I swear."

"Of course I believe you Harry. Now go make sure Hermione is alright. She's going to think she broke the two of you up." Ashley was looking him in the eye, she squeezed his hand. "Harry, don't feel bad about the break up. She cheated on you. I wanted to tell you when I found out, but you were always with her. It was during the Prefect's meeting on the train. I walked through the cabin you were in, and she was kissing another Slytherin." Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Thank you Ashley." Harry sniffed then gave her a hug before turning back to Hermione. "Hermione?" Hermione still upset about whatever it was in her letter, ran to Harry and nearly knocked him flat from hugging him. Harry held her, and ran his fingers through her hair. "Hermione do you want to talk about it?"

Hermione sniffed, "Maybe later." She tightened her grip around his neck.

"I can ask Cedric or McGonagall if you can have the night off. I can handle it by myself." Harry broke the embrace. "Also, please don't think you did anything to cause Daphne and me to break up. It sucks though. I'll just try and keep it together." Harry gave Hermione a watery smile.

Later that night, Harry went to the Astronomy Tower, and let out his anger and sadness. Daphne was many of his firsts. He truly loved her, but did she feel that way in return? She couldn't have if she cheated on him. This is going to be a long year. He thought. Harry made the decision to talk to both Lupin and Sirius about his break up, after try-outs. He never blamed Hermione for what happened, he didn't know what had caused her to do such an action. She will tell me when she is ready. He got into bed and fell asleep.

A/N: Alright. It has happened. Haphne has ended. I have a decision to make about the next chapter and I would like your input, a longer chapter containing two ideas I had in mind, but a slightly longer wait for it, or a split the two ideas into their own chapter and have two chapters, in two weeks? Please review!