"Now, tell me," he began. "What do you know of recent wizarding history?"
"If you decide to remain with me it will not be a question of if fighting will be required again, but when. As such you deserve to know who you are fighting and why. I will not allow you to stumble forward blind like I have been forced to so many times. "
Daphne looked at him blankly now thoroughly confused.
"What does that have to do with our situation?" she asked.
He sighed. This was going to be more difficult than he had feared. For her to understand he would have to divulge large portions of his past that no one but him knew about. More than that, he was going to have to swing her away from common accepted belief in wizarding society. Although now that he thought about it, after last night, that may actually prove to be the easier of the two tasks.
"Hold on," he answered. "Let me try this again."
"How many sides are there in this war?" he queried.
"Two," she answered immediately and then just as fast chastised herself. He was attempting to show her something and obviously wouldn't be wasting her time with pointless questions. There was obviously more behind the question than what her first impression would dictate.
Her thoughts were confirmed when she saw him smile.
"Ah that would be the answer as the people of our world chose to see it. Regrettably it is incorrect."
Seeing that he had immediately engaged her attention he continued.
"General belief fostered by ignorance and propaganda tells us that this is a war of the light vs the dark or good vs evil. The image most people have is of a unified front of light magicians lead by the ministry and Dumbledore opposing and insane and tyrannical dark lord and his death eaters," he elaborated.
He could tell that her mind was working furiously behind her beautiful eyes. Still he could tell she was nowhere near the conclusion he was leading her towards so he once again picked up the thread of his lesson.
"This point of view is, of course, complete and utter bull shit. The fact of the matter is that the ministry and Dumbledore are on two separate sides that are at the moment loosely aligned, while the dark lord and his army of death eaters and dark," here he paused to roll his eyes at the word dark before continuing, "creatures oppose them. And then there is still yet one more side."
"Who else is left?" she asked truly curious.
"Me." Was his simple reply.
"Putting aside the fact that you are completely insane for thinking that you warrant your own side, I still don't quite understand your explanation," Daphne replied still obviously mulling over his words.
"I mean," she began, "What do you mean when you say Dumbledore and the ministry are aligned but not on the same side?"
"Well if you think about it logically you will realize that they work together out of mutual need, but their end goals will eventually make them enemies."
"Go on," she urged him.
"Well neither can oppose Voldemort on their own. His resources have simply grown too large. Right now the ministry is relying on Dumbledore to defeat Voldemort as he is the only one close to him in power. Dumbledore, on the other hand, believes he knows for certain that neither he nor anyone in the ministry can kill Voldemort. This means that he is preparing to fight a long drawn out war hoping to keep a stalemate until a solution can be found. For that he needs the resources the ministry can provide. Naturally he will never clue them into the fact that he can't do what they expect him to be capable of."
"Does that make sense so far?" he asked.
"Yes, there are just a few things that need a little more clarification," she replied. "I get your explanation for why the ministry needs the headmaster, but why is Dumbledore so certain that he is incapable of stopping Voldemort. The battle last night wasn't exactly one sided."
Harry had expected her to pick up on that and was secretly pleased. He knew she was intelligent and her analytical mind caught on faster than he had thought she would.
"Well to be blunt, there was a prophecy. Basically it states that only one person has the power to destroy Voldemort and vice versa. The dark lord and Dumbledore both believe it implicitly and Albus was not the one named."
"It was you," Daphne said almost immediately.
'Like I said extremely intelligent,' he thought to himself. 'That was fast.'
"It's the only thing that makes sense," she went on. "It explains why he attacked you as a child, why he attacked you at the tri-wizard tournament, and why he seemed more intent on you than Dumbledore yesterday."
He made no motion to correct her and none was needed her instinct told her she was correct. That, however; brought up several other questions.
Harry once again saw her pensive state and knew what was coming. She was connecting the dots at an incredible pace and soon her conclusions would lead her to more questions, the important questions, the right questions.
"But if that is true, then why would you have left? I understand the ministry is stagnant and corrupt, even if most of the world is ignorant of it, but wouldn't Dumbledore be the strongest ally? Wouldn't Hogwarts be the safest place to train and gain knowledge, especially given you apparent affinity with the castle?"
'And there they are.' He mentally sighed. Now the explanations would be personal and he would have to explain things he himself didn't like to consider. The question for him was now the best way to proceed with his narrative.
"I understand your train of thought, but once again you are at the disadvantage of working with limited information and under several false assumptions," Harry told her. "The answer to your questions however will help to fill in the gaps and correct the mistakes."
Here she smiled a bit. She almost felt like she was back in Hogwarts except this particular lesson was immensely interesting and she had a feeling it would be extremely beneficial to her in the near future. The fact that he told her just enough to gather the key facts and then allowed her a bit of time to put the picture together herself appealed greatly to her nature and she found herself enjoying the conversation more than she would have thought possible for such a grim topic.
Seeing her smiling demeanor he couldn't help but relax a little. The next part of the tale was more complicated but he thought he might have a way to simplify things. Earlier in the day he had stopped at the post and sent a message to Gringots Italy to transfer certain items to the local branch. They should have arrived by now and that would help him greatly.
"I think it would be beneficial at this point to take a break and let you absorb what we've talked about so far," he told her.
"Oh no you don't Potter," she said pointing a finger at him. "You aren't getting out of this that easily."
"Don't worry Greengrass I just think it would be easier to show you the next bit rather than trying to explain it," he explained. " I sent a missive to Gringotts to have my safety deposit box transferred here. It should be here by now and one of the items in it is a pensive. So if you can be patient for an hour or so I can pop down the street and pick it up." All of this was said with a smile as though he was talking to a little girl.
This didn't seem to bother her though as she was slightly mollified that she would actually be able to witness the history he spoke of instead of hearing it second hand.
Before she knew it he was standing up again. "While I'm gone you should rest. I know that cut has to be killing you. The paste will make it her like hell until the dark magic is sucked out. It would probably be best to take a nap if you could. I would like to get through the rest in one sitting," he told her. "Don't worry I'll bring back some food with me," he added with a smile when he heard her stomach murmuring.
"You'll bring back delicious food," she corrected him.
"Yes ma'am I will bring back delicious food," he agreed with a wink before turning and exiting the room.
When he was gone Daphne reflected on what she had been told so far. None of it had been earth shattering, though she had a feeling that it was merely setting the stage for a much more intricately woven series of event. She was anxious to learn more about what was going on. Being seemingly ignorant of the situation left her feeling uneasy.
With that though she resolved to do as Harry had suggested and after tucking her wand under her pillow she closed her eyes and waited for sleep to claim her.