Early the next morning -Slytherin House - Draco's room
Daphne took a deep breath and a sigh before knocking on Draco's door. She realized this was probably a mistake. Despite the fact that she had been friends with him from day one, she had never been to his room before. This could give him a very wrong idea. She thought about leaving, but it was too late. She already got his attention.
"Just a minute!" Draco quickly threw a robe on before answering the door. "Daphne! Please, just give me, ah, minute to straighten up." He closed the door and quickly tossed a few pictures he had of Daphne and a few other things he would not have wanted her to see in a desk drawer. Then he went back and finally let the lady in.
Daphne glanced around the room. The words of her Aunt echoed in her head. You can tell a lot about a person by going to their room. What did this room say about Draco? His room was way too neat and clean to belong to a teenager. All his spell books were neatly clasped between two rather fancy book ends looking like two ends of a castle with a dragon wrapped around it on both sides. No clutter of any kind, anywhere. Everything must have been hidden away in a closet or stuffed in a drawer somewhere. Even his bed was already made up. She knew the Malfoys were all about appearances and he certainly did keep up appearances.
"Did I come at a bad time?" Daphne asked.
"You are always welcome any time. Please sit down," Draco sat down on the bed and patted his hand down, inviting her to sit beside him. "Don't get the wrong idea and think I am not thrilled to see you, but why are you here?"
Daphne blushed with an awkward smile. "Don't ask me how I know, but it has come to my attention that the only reason you asked me out is because your father is pressuring you to go out with me," Daphne began.
Draco gave her a blank stare and his mouth gapped open, but no words came out for what felt like over a minute. "What?" Draco finally managed to ask, "Where did you hear that?" To him, this was a total lie. Yet even within a lie, there is always a thread of truth. His father definitely pressured him to peruse Daphne. Of course his father would want a very wealthy, pureblood witch for his son to marry. Daphne managed to catch his eye on day one. He had already been placed in Slytherin and he watched with a great deal of interest as Daphne had her turn with the sorting hat. Please put her in Slytherin, he pleaded silently to himself on that very first day.
"I can't help notice that you are not denying it," Daphne nodded.
"You are right that dad has been pressuring me to start a relationship with you, but that doesn't mean that I don't want you," Draco said. "It is not the ONLY reason, far from it!"
"You are just saying that to be nice," Daphne suggested.
"No, I never say anything just to be nice," Draco responded without really thinking.
"You are so funny," Daphne laughed. He had said so many nice things to her over the years, she thought that had to be a joke. She didn't realize just how true it actually was. Then she sat down on the bed beside him. She couldn't help but to notice how comfortable his bed was. Way more comfortable then the standard ones most students had. The blanket had a super soft feel to it that reminded her of cashmere. She gently ran her fingers along the blanket. "Turns out, we both have the same problem."
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Draco said.
"Sure you do. A domineering control freak of a dad who thinks he should dictate your love life." Daphne grabbed his hand and looked him in the eye. "My father is doing the exact same thing with me. When my father tries to boss me around and tell me what to do, something about that just makes me almost automatically want to do the exact opposite."
"Ah, then I will just have to convince your father to tell you not to go to bed with me," Draco said.
"Very funny!" Daphne incorrectly assumed that was just a joke and laughed. Then she took on a more serious tone. "We have been good friends for such a long time. I wouldn't want that changed for the world. If the only reason you are interested in dating me is because your father is making you, then I would rather not. I get it that you want to be the good boy in the eyes of your father who will just do what he is told. So I will tell you what. I will get all dressed up and pretend I am actually going to the ball. We will take pictures and make it look legit. But personally I think you should do yourself a favor and actually go to the ball with a girl you truly want to be with and not someone your dad picked for you."
"Are you kidding?" Draco asked. Many thoughts raced through his head, most of which focused on just how wrong she was. Daphne was the only one he wanted. He was going to say more, but then he realized he forgot to lock the door. Goyle and Crabbe walked in.
"Hopefully, we are interrupting something," Crabbe said.
"Don't you mean not interrupting," Goyle tried to correct him.
"Nope," Crabbe shook his head.
"Daphne, Snape is looking for you," Goyle told her.
"Oh, no," Daphne muttered under her breath. She feared what this could mean. Did he know about last night or the fact that she let someone from Gryffindor into Slytherin house?
"You better go. We will finish this chat later," Draco said. His tone seemed even and Daphne wasn't sure if he was hurt, pissed or relieved, but regardless she wasn't looking forward to the next chat.
Snape's office
As Daphne made her way toward Snape's office, she wanted to pretend she never got the message and simply avoid Professor Snape, but somehow she knew she couldn't get away with that for long. Every step weighted heavily with a sense of dread. She couldn't help but wonder how much trouble she was in and exactly what her punishment would be. As she approached, she heard Pansy and Astoria talking to him in the office. She couldn't quite make out the words. She lurked in the doorway. She doubted Astoria would rat her out, but as pissed as Pansy had been with her lately, she couldn't be so sure Pansy didn't.
"Doesn't anybody teach manners anymore? It is not polite to lurk in doorways. Come in," Snape beckoned to her.
"You wanted to see me?" Daphne asked nervously.
"Yes, please sit down," Snape gave a request that was more like an order .
"What is this about?" Daphne took a seat and decided to play dumb. Meanwhile, her heartbeat was elevated by her nervousness.
"Here in Slytherin, we need to project a united front around other students. You and Pansy had a little fight in front of another student, at the library," Snape said.
"Oh that, yeah, I totally forgot about that," Daphne gave a grin. She was overly thankful it wasn't about last night.
"Is there something else I should know about?" Snape asked.
"Ah, no, sir," She averted her eyes. She knew if she looked him in the eye, he would know immediately that she was hiding something. Probably too late for that, as he probably already figured that out.
"Daphne didn't do anything wrong. Pansy was the one who started it," Astoria said.
"She is your sister. Of course you would defend her. Both of them should be expelled." Pansy pointed to both Daphne and Astoria.
"I will be the judge of that. I don't know what the fight was about and I don't really care. Whatever it is, resolve it in house and don't discuss it outside of Slytherin again. Do I make myself clear?" Snape asked.
"Yes, very clear. We have been best friends forever. We will fix it," Daphne forced a smile.
"I don't want to have to discuss this with any of you again," Snape declared sternly. "If this happens again, there will be detentions, Hodgesmeade privileges revoked.." Snape said. Daphne gave a little bit of a snicker at the thought of revoking a privilege she didn't have anyway. "The difference, Miss Greengrass, this time you will be in trouble with me. You will be in detention. You won't be allowed to gallivant about the hallways and make out with your boyfriend."
"You knew about that?" Daphne asked nervously. She thought she and Robert did a pretty good job hiding it and yet Snape actually knew about it? She wondered how long he had known, but she didn't want to ask too many questions.
"I didn't care about that. Whatever the reason that your parents let your younger sister go, but not you is between you and them," Snape declared. "If I could, I would have some or all of you resorted into other houses."
"Don't even think I am getting kicked out of Slytherin because of them," Pansy sounded terrified as she pointed to Daphne and her sister.
"I don't want to be in a different house than my sister," Astoria declared. "This won't happen again. I will be more careful."
"Would you two relax? He said IF he could. He can't. That won't happen." Daphne couldn't help but to think about what would happen if she did get resorted. She already knew which house she would end up in. She knew she wasn't smart enough to get in Ravenclaw, nor brave enough for Gryffindor. She was certain they would put her in Hufflepuff. This thought really terrified her as she would find it personally embarrassing and she knew she would have almost no chance of actually being accepted by other students in the new house.
"You are right. I could not do that, but I could have some of you expelled from Hogwarts if there is sufficient cause," Snape warned.
"There won't be," Daphne gritted her teeth. She was so glad this didn't happen last year. With all the rules she broke then, she probably should have been expelled ten times over again.
Dumbledore's chambers
The four champions of the Triwizard tournament were gathered together in Dumbledore's chamber. "The first event of the Triwizard Tournament will be next weekend. Make sure all of you are ready and well rested. Each of you will be allowed one wand. Make it a powerful one. You are going to need it," Dumbledore informed them. "Oh and the four of you will also be expected to lead with the first dance at the Yule ball. So bring a date and show up on time," Dumbledore informed them.
"I already got my date," Viktor said.
"Just one?" Cedric joked. "The way the girls chase you, I thought…"
"Yeah, just one." Viktor nodded with a laugh.
"Who is the lucky girl?" Fleur asked. Viktor just smiled and didn't answer the question.
"I find this almost impossible that you don't have a date already, but…" Cedric asked Fleur.
"You are right, I already have a date," she answered quickly.
"Rats!" Cedric snapped his fingers. "I was going to ask you."
Harry closed his eyes and let out a sigh. He didn't have a date yet and despite what Daphne said, he wasn't overly confident he could easily get one. He knew he was a terrible dancer and he would have to lead. What an opportunity to humiliate himself in front of the whole school, something he simply wasn't looking forward to at all.
A/N
As always thanks for the reviews, favorites and follows. This is all greatly appreciated. I would like to thank CSGT for beta reading this.
