Slytherin House
"I didn't know you had a boyfriend," Pansy said as she, Astoria and Daphne left Snape's office. Her hands clenched her wand and she was ready to use it. She suspected this boyfriend was Malfoy and that was totally unacceptable to her.
"Boyfriend is a bit of a stretch, it was more of a fling," Daphne lied. "Snape read too much into it, but I wasn't about to contradict him." Daphne hid her relationship with Robert all of last year from all of her friends, something she had no desire to explain to any of them now, but unfortunately Professor Snape let the cat out of the bag so to speak. She wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible.
"Right," Astoria nodded and did her best to maintain a straight face. She knew full well that was a lie. She knew Robert and Daphne were head over heels in love with each other and even discussed the possibility of a future marriage. She glanced over at Pansy and couldn't help but to notice how she clenched her wand. She had a bad feeling that Pansy was that loose cannon about ready to strike and there was little doubt Daphne would be her target. "Put the wand away," Astoria demanded. She held her own wand and pointed it in Pansy's direction. There was no way she was going to allow Pansy to hurt her sister.
"Just tell me this. Was it Draco Malfoy?" Pansy demanded to know.
"Nooo. On the contrary, I did tell Malfoy that I have no intention of going to the Yule Ball at all. I suggested he ask someone else. Who knows, with a bit of luck, he might ask you." Daphne forced a smile and really pushed for a much needed change in subject.
"Did he say that?" Pansy took the bait easily, just as Daphne hoped she would.
"Our chat was cut short thanks to Crabbe and Goyle," Daphne informed her. "How about you come back to my room and we can talk? The whole thing with Draco is a big misunderstanding and Snape is right. We should solve it before it ruins our friendship," Daphne suggested.
Back in Daphne's room, she explained the situation that their parents were the ones who wanted to merge the families together, which of course had much more to do with combining two family fortunes and maintaining a pureblood line than the existence of actual feelings beyond friendship between her and Draco. While she did that, Daphne did her own makeup and gave Pansy a makeover as well.
Where Daphne's mother was primarily focused on helping her daughter to attract a wealthy and powerful husband, Daphne was well versed in all the beauty secrets makeup had to offer. She made Pansy look like she had naturally rosy cheeks, beautifully glossy red lips and flawless skin. Pansy let her do her hair too. She used a special hair mousse that effectively removed the frizz and added shine, which made her hair look very healthy and beautiful. She even pulled her hair out of her face and held it back with a beautiful jeweled hair clip. By the time Daphne was done, Pansy looked ready to be put on a glamour magazine cover.
"Wow! I look…" Pansy found herself at a loss for words as she realized how stunning she looked right now.
"Beautiful," Daphne said.
"I hope Malfoy will like it!" Pansy said.
"At dinner tonight, charm the pants off him," Daphne suggested. "I don't mean literally."
"Literally, sounds good to me." Pansy smiled.
Great Halls – Dinner
Pansy walked with more confidence than usual and smiled brighter, which added to her appeal. Even the golden trio noticed as she walked by.
"Oh, my god, Pansy looks good!" Hermione's jaw gaped open. She was shocked at what a bit of makeup could do.
"Yeah right," Ron said. His initial tone was sarcastic, but the sarcasm seemed to die from his voice as Pansy caught his eye. "If I didn't know her, I would probably make the mistake of asking her out."
Harry laughed at Ron's comment. As he looked at Pansy, he agreed that was the best he ever saw her look, but she still didn't hold a candle to Daphne, but he decided to keep this thought to himself.
Of course Pansy didn't give any of them even the slightest bit of acknowledgement. She made her way over to the Slytherin table. Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle were already seated.
"Wow! Pansy, now you actually look like a gir… I mean, ah, you look good," Greggory said. "If your other plan doesn't pan out, would you go to the Yule Ball with me?"
"That is not fair. I asked her first," Vincent said.
Draco finally actually looked at Pansy. "You look nice today." Draco gave Pansy a meaningless compliment.
"So do you," Pansy said in a flirty tone. "But then you always do."
"Listen, there is something I wanted to ask you about," Draco said.
Pansy's eyes opened a bit wider and she smiled all full of hope that he would ask her out. "Yes?" she grinned.
"You are good friends with Daphne right?" Draco asked.
"Right," Pansy's smile became more of a frown. She gritted her teeth.
"She thinks the only reason I want to go out with her is because my father is making me. Nothing could be further from the truth. I wanted her way before my father even knew she existed. The only reason dad is pushing for me to go for her is because he knows it is what I want too. Any chance you can help me change her mind so she will actually be my girlfriend," Draco requested.
Pansy saw nothing but red. She got so angry, but she couldn't bring herself to be angry at him. She couldn't bring herself to even speak.
"Oh, here she comes. We will talk about this later," Draco said.
Pansy looked over near the entrance of the great hall and noticed Daphne walking in. "Of course, I will help you. I will go talk to her right now," Pansy ran toward Daphne. Harry noticed and he excused himself from the Gryffindor table and followed Pansy and Daphne.
Grand Stair Case
Pansy led Daphne back out to the grand stair case just outside the great halls. "Did he ask you out?" Daphne asked as they went down a few steps. Harry lingered at the top and listened.
"If you mean Crabbe and Goyle, yes, Malfoy, no. He still thinks he has a chance with you," Pansy informed her.
"Oh, I am sorry," Daphne slumped her shoulders down and looked at the steps below her.
"You should be. Look, you need to let him know he has no chance with you. Tell him you don't even like him, are disgusted by the thought of being with him, stuff like that," Pansy demanded.
"No way in bloody hell am I doing that," Daphne glared at her. "He is my friend and I really want to keep it that way. I don't want to hurt his feelings."
She raised her arm up over Daphne's back. She contemplated simply pushing her down the stairs. "Suit yourself. It is your funer…" Pansy took on a very hostile tone. Then she realized Harry was watching. She backed down because of what Professor Snape had said.
Harry realized what she was about to do. "What are you doing?" He took a few steps closer toward them and made his presence known to both of them.
Pansy's tone softened a great deal. "It is your choice." She finally said with a forced and fake smile and sweetness in her voice. "We will talk later." She smirked at Daphne, then gave Harry a dirty look as she walked past him and returned to take her seat in the great hall.
Daphne forced a smile and did her best to pretend everything was fine. She knew she and Pansy just broke Snape's rule again in having an argument in front of another student, Harry of all people. For all she knew her budding friendship with him was more wishful thinking than anything else. In hopes that Harry would forget about what he just witnessed, Daphne quickly talked about something else. "How did it go with Ron?"
"Great! We made up," Harry smiled. Daphne's smile became far less forced and faked.
"Do you have a date yet for the Yule Ball? Who is the lucky girl?" Daphne asked.
"Oh, the dance, don't remind me," Harry let out a sigh.
"Something wrong?" Daphne asked.
"Nothing for you to worry about. Just some personal issues," Harry said.
"If you want to talk about it, I am a pretty good listener. Who knows? I might even be able to help," Daphne smiled and gave him a gentle brush against his arm.
"Guess who has to lead the dance? The four champions and their dates. I don't dance. I don't have a date. If you could teach me how to dance and find me a date that would be extremely helpful." Harry thought to himself that he would actually prefer her to be his date. "Actually, I just appreciate you listening. I don't really expect you to do any of that."
"But I could if you would let me. I could teach you to dance and if you are willing to let me play matchmaker, I think I could find you a date. I already have someone in mind. She is a friend of mine," Daphne said.
Harry hoped that friend meant herself. "A friend of yours? Not Pansy," he said.
"Of course, not Pansy. I know you would never date any girl in Slytherin. The girl I have in mind is in Ravenclaw. Are you willing to meet her?" Daphne deliberately talked quickly. She didn't want to give Harry the chance to respond to the part about not dating any girl in Slytherin, particularly where that would exclude her.
"Of course, I would be willing to meet her." Harry did his best to hide his disappointment that she didn't mean herself. "Oh, and before I forget, I would ask how it went with Malfoy, but that is pretty obvious. I couldn't help overhearing…"
"Crap," Daphne muttered to herself in barely a whisper. Then the forced smile was back. "You don't have to pretend to care about him. I know you dislike him and given the way he treats you, I couldn't blame you. If he treated me like that I would hate him too. But he doesn't."
"I know it is important to you, so that is why I care," Harry assured her. "Besides, you probably dislike my friends too. Ron and Hermione."
"To tell the truth, I don't actually know either one of them well enough to even have an opinion," Daphne said sincerely.
"Wow!" Harry couldn't hide his shock considering that Ron and Hermione both had such strong negative opinions about her. He knew they both hated her. Now he was the one who wanted to change the subject. "Didn't go very well with Malfoy, did it?"
"No, didn't go so well. He is still not giving up." Daphne sat down on the stairs. "I don't know what I am going to do."
Harry seated himself on the stairs next to her. "It is all going to be ok." He put his arm around her as a comforting gesture.
That sounded so much like something Robert would say. Without thinking, she leaned her head gently against his chest. Harry welcomed this by pulling her in closer.
Hermione emerged out from the great halls to the top of the stair case. "So it is actually true," Hermione looked on horrified at what she saw. "You're dating HER."
"I thought you said she wasn't your girlfriend," Daphne backed away from Harry. She wasn't quite sure why, but she felt a bit of jealousy, and a bit dumb for believing Harry when he told her Hermione wasn't his girlfriend. She definitely had no desire to be the sleazy other woman.
"Harry is not my boyfriend, but he is my best friend," Hermione said.
"Exactly, Hermione is my best friend. Definitely not my girlfriend," Harry declared. Then he turned and looked up at Hermione. "Daphne isn't my girlfriend either. She actually offered to set me up on a date with another girl."
"Don't tell me you are going to let her…" Hermione began.
"I should at least meet the girl. Who knows?" Harry interrupted.
"Are you out of your mind? She shouldn't be trusted to take out the trash let alone pick a date for you," Hermione tried to talk some sense into him.
"What?" Daphne gave a look like she had just been slapped across the face. She actually held Hermione in high regard, despite what her friends had to say about her. She respected her intelligence and skill in the craft. Hermione's blatant rudeness blindsided her. She didn't understand where it was coming from. She wanted to be very careful in what she said because she did not want to risk her friendship with Harry. "With how wrong some of my friends were about you, Harry, I hoped they were just as wrong about Hermione. Unfortunately, now I can see they were totally right."
This was something Harry had not even considered before. He knew Hermione and Ron had plenty of negative things to say about Daphne, but he had not even considered what Draco and Pansy probably said about them. He imagined she probably got quite the earful. "I apologize for my friend's rudeness," Harry said.
"Thanks," Daphne smiled at Harry just a little bit seductively. "But it is not your fault."
"You might have Harry thinking with the wrong head for now, but sooner or later he will come around and see you for who you really are. I will see to that." Hermione threatened just before she returned to her seat at the Gryffindor table.
"I think I know what is going on here. She doesn't like me talking to you or trying to set you up with another girl. She obviously has a crush on you," Daphne said.
"No, I think you are off base on that one," Harry knew full well that Daphne was wrong. He knew Hermione had no romantic feelings for him. Her reaction was purely because Hermione truly hated her. Of course, he didn't want to tell Daphne that and hurt her feelings.
"You are just being modest. I have seen this before. I am having a similar problem with Pansy," Daphne said.
"Yeah, I noticed," Harry exclaimed.
Daphne slightly bit her lip as she realized she really needed to shut up about that. "I won't bore you with my problems. Anyway, the girl I have in mind for you will be meeting me at the library shortly after dinner tonight. If you want to meet her, please stop by. If you are not interested, I totally understand and will never bother you about it again. I hope to see you there."
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.
