A/N 1) –Thank you all for your continued support, and to say thanks to my Beta CaskettFan5, who is making me a better writer.
A/N 2) – To help with ease of reading thoughts are in 'Italics', I hope that this helps differentiate talking and thinking.
A/N 3) – Recommended Reading, it is a Haphne story one of the 1st that I ever read actually, I stumbled across it by accident and loved it, becoming hooked by the potential of Daphne. Do yourself a favour a have a read of The Grass is always Greener by kb0.
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns it all; I am just playing in her sandbox and just maybe I am getting better at it, tragically I don't own anything of it except maybe Daphne, but then she probably owns me.
Daphne's thoughts swirled around in her mind as she readied herself for bed; it seemed whatever had previously been exerting its control over her cognizance was loosening its grip due to the amount of physical contact that she was having with Harry. The grey fog now descended across her awareness with painstaking slowness, that even when they parted physically her moments of lucidity were extended. When she was alone she didn't notice any loss of cognitive function but she now theorised that was probably because she wasn't trying actively to interact with anyone. Whatever had been done to her was insidious and seemed to be aware of when she was in the company of others.
She looked at herself in the mirror over the basin, her eyes looked hollow still with heavy bags that seemed to accumulate through the day, her skin had still not regained its usual glow, her hair looked to have changed colour slightly and now looked a dank and dirty ash blonde without its usual lustre, she was not the beautiful girl that she was used to seeing stare back. Faint scratches still marred her left cheek; they would heal in time with the judicious use of Scarremol cream supplied by Poppy. She was proud of her looks, she realised that she and her sister had won the genetic lottery and that there was very little effort required to her being beautiful, but she had worked hard to maintain and improve the gifts that her parents had given her at birth.
She closed her eyes and tried to centre herself, her thoughts swiftly moved onto what had occurred over the last day with Harry. The meeting with her father that they had attended had more people than she thought would be there, even if it was just the addition of her mother and sister. He had supported her when she had been upset that morning after breakfast, she still couldn't believe that she had nuzzled his hand but he hadn't said a word to her about it, taking it in his stride. Her father and Neville had sold them both to each other, she recognised that Neville probably had very little to do with the actual terms of the agreement and that her father had most likely backed Neville into several corners during the negotiations, but it still hurt that her father would essentially sell her freedom to a stranger, even if he was incredibly nice.
When Harry had asked what she meant by being sold, 'Well look at the terms of the agreement, essentially we have been sold to each other,' she had told him slightly exasperated, 'You can't attend a party without me, or a wedding, dinner, funeral, any bloody thing really, they have hemmed us in so that we are to be each other's escorts to all things.' She hadn't been able to articulate to him what this would mean to them both; she could see that he didn't comprehend the full cost that this agreement would have on their personal lives.
'Don't you get it? We will be essentially each other's prison wardens wherever you go, or wherever you want to go you will have to take me, and it will be the same for me, we will have to agree on everything before we can go and do it, where we are going to live, what we are going to do for next year, are we going to get jobs or come back and study, if that is an option.'
'We cannot date anyone else Harry, whilst this agreement is in place we are tied to each other in virtually every way, hell I probably won't even be able to go out with Tracey for a night out on the town without your permission or potentially at all as that could be construed as a private function…' She knew that she had started to get slightly hysterical at the end, but Harry had just held her hand and lifted her chin with his other hand, he was tense, she could see it in the set of his shoulders and jaw, but he was doing a remarkable job of holding himself together… he was so unlike how she remembered him.
'We will sort it out, don't freak out and make it bigger than it has to be just yet, let's just stay calm until we can sort our way through it. I thought you had finished your education, and that I would be the one having to do my NEWT's with Ron and Hermione somehow?'
She had tensed when he said "freak," but she had somehow managed to maintain eye contact him, he had peered at her, eyes slightly narrowed as though he suspected that she had seen some of his secrets, and as he considered her so she had looked at him. Studying his face, the bags under his eyes which were still there although they had receded somewhat, his skin still had the slightly sallow look that she had seen on him when she first woke, although the unhealthy tinge seemed to have dissipated. She started and stopped a few times before answering him. 'Our education last year was abysmal Harry, and not worth calling an education. Torture, harassment and bigotry were all that we learnt. Few of us managed to escape it, some revelled in it….'
'Malfoy probably,' he had interrupted her chain of thought.
She had looked at him then, the rancour that usually laced his voice when speaking of the Malfoy heir was missing, turning away she had worried at a fingernail, 'You might not want to hear this Harry, but of all of us Draco was one who changed the most. Something must have happened to him during that summer of our sixth and seventh year, it seems only around you that he cannot control himself…' she chuckled slightly, 'I wonder if he has a crush on you, he certainly used to talk about you enough in our common room,' she laughed this time at his look of disgust that passed across his face.
'…That's a horrifying thought'
She laughed harder when he glared at her, she struggled to bring herself under control and she felt like she hadn't laughed like this for an age. Slowly she managed to even herself out, 'don't worry, Draco is into girls, but it was an amusing thought.'
'No… no, it wasn't' he mumbled back, 'it's terrifying… what did you mean he changed' he asked quizzically.
'He wasn't the snooty, pampered prick that he had been for ever… he was very quiet all year, haunted even, but he protected many of the younger years of all houses from the elder Carrow twins… he was tortured often in their place as he and his family had fallen so far from the graces of He Who Must Not Be Named, but he wouldn't report on anyone who disobeyed them, I know he got food and medical supplies to Longbottom a couple of times.'
'Please don't call him that,' Harry had sighed, 'He is gone and his made up name is just a name if you don't want to call him Voldemort,' she had flinched at the name, 'then call him Tom Riddle, fearing his name is… well wrong, it is after all just a name.'
She had swallowed and nodded, 'Okay, anyway he would take the place of the younger students, the amount of nerve damage he must have suffered through the year would be phenomenal, I know Madam Pomfrey, told him that he had to stop a couple of times, but he would just nod and wait for her to try and patch him up again.'
She could tell that Harry was struggling to fit this new information about Draco into the image that he held of him. 'I wondered why he lost his wand so easily in the Room of Requirement,' he mumbled, 'still doesn't make him a good guy Daphne.'
'No, you are right it doesn't, but it does mean that he isn't all bad either.'
'…No… no, I guess not, but I knew that already… he had the opportunity to give me up when we were captured and in his manor, but he didn't, I don't know why… but I guess I probably owe him my life for that… although given that I carried him out of the Room of Requirement from Fiendfyre, we are probably even.'
'Possibly, but it's something else we should look into,' She had had begun to think that she would have to start writing all the stuff down that he was telling her so that she could remember what they had to do, but she moved on with their conversation. With a pained expression she continued, 'Draco never really stood a chance… his father was an arrogant, egotistical arse… growing up with Lucius Malfoy as a role model would have tainted anyone. His mother mostly sheltered and protected him whilst we were young, but Lucius took a hand in his education from about the age of eight and it changed him… He was friends with my… we were friends when we were younger.'
Harry pulled a face, 'Okay enough about Draco,' Harry had interrupted her again; 'let's talk about us and how we will tackle this meeting later this morning.'
They had discussed the agreement for the next two hours before heading up to the meeting, frustrated that at no time during their meeting could they divine a method to circumvent any of the agreement apart from their original plan, her father had closed all the doors and it appeared all the windows as well. They had sat there during the formal reading of the agreement, neither said anything as though they were numb, her father had looked at her clearly troubled by the lack of reaction to what was going to be controlling their future.
Neville had looked pained throughout the whole ordeal, Tori had leant against him at times trying to lend him reassurance that he had done the right thing, he had tried to apologise to Harry, but Harry had just stopped him, saying that 'it was okay and that they understood that he was doing his best to help them.' It was the first time that Harry had formally acknowledged to anyone else that they were now a "them", a single tear had rolled out of her eye and down her face. Harry had reached out before she knew what was happening and had brushed it from her cheek, leading her to want to nuzzle his hand again.
Her father had smiled then towards both her and her mother, as though he felt vindicated that he was doing the right thing, and in some strange way she recognised that he was doing what a good Lord of the House would do, he was making decisions that where beneficial to both the Family as a whole and the individual. She had met his eyes then and given him a small nod that she had accepted her fate.
She had hissed and winced in pain as she signed her name to the document, her father had wanted her to sign indicating that she was a willing participant. Neville had grimaced his way through his signature but Harry had not even flinched when signing the covenant with the blood quill that her father had procured for the signing, his face had been set but just before he signed he had looked at her meeting her eyes the unasked question hung between them. She had closed her eyes and nodded and he had tied their near futures together.
There was a flash of pure white light once her father had finalised his signature for although neither Neville or Harry had taken their Lordships magic recognised their intent and found them worthy of their convictions and so the first document that the new but yet to be invested Lords of House Potter and Longbottom signed, locked their immediate futures together with that of House Greengrass. Daphne didn't know whether to laugh or cry, at any other time she would have applauded the Lord of a House that had managed to tie their House to two such currently influential Houses.
The rest of the day had revolved around her family and friends visiting her whilst Harry sat holding her hand; Harry had been the most distant she had seen him since she woke up; he hadn't exactly been engaged in most of the conversation that was buzzing around him. Some of Tori's friends had also dropped by to make sure that they were both okay and had stayed adding some levity to the afternoon. She had tried not to disturb his contemplation he was obviously trying to wrap his head around something, and after all his support during the day she hadn't wanted to add to his obvious burdens.
The only other thing of note or out of the ordinary was a request from Professor McGonagall for Harry to attend a meeting the next day in the Headmaster's office. Harry had asked her what the meeting was to discuss but she had only smiled enigmatically at him with a twinkle in her eyes saying that he would find out tomorrow. Harry had frowned at the twinkle which had reminded him of Professor Dumbledore but she again said nothing to him, instead she just squeezed his hand. He had watched Professor McGonagall with the frown still marring his handsome face before nodding and saying they would be there and returning Daphne's squeeze.
She looked into the mirror again taking into account the sleepwear that she wore, somehow it no longer felt cute or pretty… she felt slutty, dirty, disgusting, like a piece of her innocence had died once her mother had come out of the pensieve. In her heart of hearts and the dark reaches of her mind, she had known that something was wrong with her over the last few years but it wasn't until it had all come to a head that the full ramifications became obvious to her. Fresh tears welled in her eyes and ran down her cheeks; a heartbroken sob wracked her body, her vision swam, she fled to her bed and was still sobbing into her pillow when she drifted off to sleep.
- AFW -
Daphne blinked and groaned, how the hell had this happened, once more she stood in the halls of Hogwarts, Harry had obviously fallen asleep on her bed again, although when was a different question as he hadn't been there when she fell asleep. She sat down on the stairs of the central staircase with a frown, surely she wouldn't have to live through more of Harry's worst memories, she didn't think she had the strength for that. She couldn't believe the things that he had survived throughout his childhood and the fact that he was a decent and caring wizard amazed her and confused her at the same time.
She could feel the occasional tug on her magic, 'Harry…' she looked around, 'Harry… Circe be damned Potter get your skinny arse out here and get me out of this place.' She growled slightly when nothing happened, 'you're a becoming a pain in my arse Harry, why do you keep pulling me into here anyway?'
Getting up she took her bearings, she would obviously have to try and work her way out of here again. She glanced down towards the dungeons; she wasn't heading down there again so where to go, that was the question, what options would be safe, where could she go until she figured out how she had managed to remove herself from here last night.
With a final glance towards the dungeon she started up the stairs, the castle was quiet, and a feeling of peacefulness seemed to emanate from the walls putting her at ease. Deciding that she had climbed far enough she stepped off onto the third floor landing. She had walked in no particular direction and had not really been paying attention to where she was going. Deciding any door was as good as any she put her hand on the door handle and was sucked into the room.
A very young golden trio materialised in front of her, in the corner was a large Cerberus asleep on the floor with its paw covering a trap door on the floor. She watched as they jumped through the trapdoor the Cerberus snapping at the thin air just as Harry leapt into the black pit. The memory dragged her along and she observed, fascinated as they overcame all the obstacles in their path defeating the devils snare and Harry's flying to find and capture the flying key.
Weasley taking the hit and sacrificing himself so that Granger and Harry could move across the board actually impressed her slightly, not that she would ever inform the redhead of that. She watched as Granger figured out the logic puzzle so fast that she had not even had time to deduce which the nettle wines were before Granger had solved the puzzle and was now talking Harry through the solution. She listened intently as the two of them planned for Harry to go on and for Granger to head back and go and get help.
She was horrified as she saw Voldemort's wraith in the back of Quirrell's head, bile forced its way up the back of her throat. The battle between Harry and Quirrell was horrific, she was glad that the memory didn't come with smells. Harry's hands looked like they had been held in the flames of a fire for several minutes and she blanched as Voldemort's wraith seemed to attempt to enter Harry's body before passing directly through him causing him to collapse and pass out. As Harry slipped into unconsciousness, Daphne was ejected back into the Hallway.
She stumbled along, puzzled at what she had seen; obviously as Quirrell was involved it had to have been in first year. Her mind was jumbled with many thoughts racing through it, had Harry been battling Voldemort since he started at Hogwarts? How had he dealt with killing someone at such a young age? Had Dumbledore offered him any assistance to deal with what he had been forced to do?
She found her way back to the main staircase and stumbled down them, with every memory of Harry's she had seen her admiration of the man he had become rise. How had he overcome so many brutal moments within his life to still care so much that he would sacrifice his life for the greater part of the magical world? It made no sense to her had she gone through part of what he had suffered she would have shut down telling the world it could take a flying leap off a large cliff.
She nearly fell on the staircase, gathering her shaky legs under her, her stomach felt like it was pooling in the back of her throat, feeling like she would vomit soon she lurched toward the closest toilet. She forgot that the doors seemed to be linked to Harry's memories, and she was sucked through the opening. Taking several deep breaths before looking up she watched as Harry and Weasley entered with Professor Lockhart at wand point.
What followed left Daphne as a shivering wreck on the floor; 'it was a Basilisk, a bloody Basilisk that had been terrorising the school in their second year, how in the name of Circe's flat chest no one been killed she couldn't figure out, and it wasn't just a six to eight foot Basilisk… no this thing had to be at least sixty feet long. She stretched herself out on the floor, taking several more deep breaths, something she thought to herself that she had been doing a lot of since waking up to her current reality.
Closing her eyes she felt that insistent tug on her magic and then a large pulse of fury, she frowned, the tugging sensation was what she had felt the previous night, but she had no idea what had caused the sudden bout of anger. Was that Harry's magic searching for her? That couldn't be right… she was almost positive that Harry had again fallen asleep next to her, given that she seemed to be in his subconscious, so what was the tugging that she could feel?
She sighed, what did it matter, she was still stuck here, thinking about things that weren't helping her get out of here, wasn't a very productive use of her time. So what to do, what to do… maybe she could follow the pull on her magic, deciding that this was the best course of action she settled down against a wall and slipped into a mediative state and reached towards her magic. Touching that warmth of her magic allowed her to relax and she immersed herself in it, feeling the wonder that she always felt when touching her core. As she relaxed further she felt herself shift and she relaxed further into the warmth that she could sense around her.
– AFW –
Harry was confused, why was he back here, he flat out refused to invade Daphne's privacy any further, he was going to bide his time and wait. And so wait he did, settling down to try and work on his occulmency shields and dreamscape but nothing changed, and he could not will himself out of Daphne's memories. He had tried to follow the tether that connected his and Daphne's magic, but it was a dead end. He had no idea how long he had tried to find a passive way out but now he was getting frustrated.
Clenching his fists in frustration, he surged to his feet and then had no idea what to do, if he moved through the mansion he would inevitably invade Daphne's memories again something that he really didn't want to do. He couldn't stand it if someone did the same to him, there was so much that he didn't want anyone to see.
Picking a direction at random and he moved through the house trying not to touch anything. He had walked through a door way that lead to a small library or sitting room when his elbow had knocked a high table dislodging at least half a dozen picture frames from its surface, one which depicted three girls in front of the Hogwarts Express, his seeker reflexes kicked in and lunging he caught it inches from the ground and was instantly sucked into a memory.
Picking himself up, he discovered that he was on platform nine and three quarters as the scarlet train was preparing to pull away. He watched as Daphne, Tracey and Astoria boarded the train waving goodbye to two women, looking closer he could see that it was Cassandra along with a woman who he suspected was Mrs Davis. He followed them as they moved through the train looking for an empty carriage, once they found one they pushed their trunks into the overhead racks and then sat down to wait for the train to leave the station.
Harry tried his best not to listen to the conversation that had started after Astoria announced that she was going to look for the twins and had left the compartment, but the memory seemed hell bent on making him hear exactly what Daphne and Tracey were discussing and it was causing him no end of embarrassment, "BOYS". The litany of topics they discussed caused him to blush profusely, 'who was cute, who had kissable lips, who they thought was going to start dating who they wanted to kiss, date and maybe do a little more with.'
Much to his distress he found that Tracey hadn't just been teasing him and in fact his name was on several of their lists, Daphne's more than Tracey's not that it made it any better, yes it was flattering and a few times he had found himself beaming with pride at their comments, but most of them had left him red faced, 'was this how all girls talked when boys weren't around?' and 'how the hell was he going to look these girls in the face again without dying of embarrassment after he had heard them speaking graphically about different parts of his anatomy?'
He calculated he was forty five to fifty minutes into the most embarrassing conversation that he would ever had to hear, when Daphne informed Tracey that she need to visit the powder room. Tracey laughed made a ribald comment that flew over Harry's head but made Daphne blush as she walked out the door. What followed made Harry cringe at the start as Daphne was pulled into a cabin with some far older boys from Slytherin, one of which was passingly familiar. His anger peaked as suddenly as the memory lurched as he watched the slightly familiar boy pull Daphne onto his lap and then he couldn't watch anymore, he had no idea how long he had been stuck in the compartment, but Daphne now sat on the boys lap apparently horrified by what had happened. And then the boys started panicking as Tracey and Blaise came searching for her, they unceremoniously dumped her out of their compartment, but not before the blonde boy had inflicted some sort of magic on her.
Harry fell out of memory after memory that were obviously contained within the photographs he had dislodged, before finally dragging himself across the floor, he couldn't believe what Daphne had been put through. It took several minutes before he had even calmed down slightly he guessed that these were the memories that Cassandra was talking about being tampered with given the way that they had lurched, he hope that whatever had happened in that compartment and subsequent memories was nothing like what she remembered, but he suspected that it was more likely that it was far worse. He snarled to himself that blonde prick was a dead man walking; it took him several more minutes before he had calmed down enough that he remembered ruefully what Tracey had told him and Cassandra that he had already blown the perpetrator away during the battle of Hogwarts.
'I guess I already avenged her in some way,' he said quietly to himself, then he frowned as he wasn't sure where these feelings of protectiveness were coming from and it seemed very strange to him that he should be so protective of her given that they really only had a couple of days of true interaction. He had noticed himself ensuring that he took her emotional state into account during their interactions, wiping away her tears, cupping her cheek, and other subtle gestures that gave her comfort at different times throughout the last couple of days.
Puzzled, he kept his focus on their interactions, even when they were attacked he had instinctively protected her taking the hit to ensure that she wouldn't be hurt. He had also put her on the ground as gently as possible before reacting to their assailant. Speaking of their assailant he should probably report the attack to the Aurors, so that they could look into it when they had time, not that he expected an investigation soon, given that the Ministry was still trying to restructure itself and were chasing down the forty or so Death Eaters who had escaped after the battle had ended.
Deciding that he would not be moving round the manor any further in case he bumped into something else and got dragged into another memory, he settled back against the wall. His mind returned to the memories of Daphne's that he had just observed. He found it strange that she would keep such awful memories on display, unless they were memories that played differently for her? Hadn't Cassandra told them that Daphne believed the memories she had viewed were true or she had at least implied something like that? Shaking his head and trying to clear the lingering images from that last memory, he determined that he had nothing better to do so he might as well at least try to meditate again. This time the he found himself dropping into a mediative state quite quickly, he felt his magic suffuse his awareness with warmth and he embraced it.
- AFW -
Tracey pushed eagerly through the hospital ward doors with a softly giggling Astoria close on her heels; she hadn't been able to resist telling Tori about how she found Daph and Harry the previous morning. They had decided together that they would get there early again just to see if something else interesting happened and so it was here they found themselves at seven am. She had been so eager that she had woken up at five unable to sleep any longer. She loved her friend but Daphne had never been one to share her love of gossip and all things boys. She knew now why that was so, but she hoped she would lighten up now that Harry seemed to be breaking down her barriers and whatever damage had been inflicted on her by Calder Rowle.
Turning, she motioned to Tori for quiet as they approached the curtains to Daphne's room. She paused, took a deep breath and prayed to Circe for some blackmail worthy material that she could hold over Daphne for the times when she got a little too big for her robes. She parted the curtains and approached the foot of the bed, with Tori on her left side. Harry had once again had fallen asleep on Daphne's bed at some time through the night. It must have been when he came to renew the connection when it woke him up with its incessant tugging on his magic.
Daphne was again dressed in her same pyjamas and Harry appeared to have arrived in a t-shirt and a loose pair of shorts, the t-shirt however was in a ball on the ground and this time they weren't spooning. Harry lay on his back and Daphne was sprawled across his chest, with her head resting on the left side of his well-toned chest. The blankets had obviously been pushed down during the evening as they rested together and given that the temperature controls within the infirmary were working again it was unlikely that either would have woken up cold during the night.
What caught Tracey's eye was the positioning of their hands, this time Harry's left hand snaked its way into the backside of Daphne's shorts and it appeared that he had a large handful of her derriere. Astoria was gaping at the sight before her and Tracey could fully understand why, it wasn't so much about where Harry's hand was positioned but where Daphne's left disappeared to. From their position at the end of the bed it appeared that Daph's hand had found its way into the left leg of Harry's shorts and that she had a fist full of Harry's flesh wand.
Neither had even stirred when they had entered and now Tracey felt slightly uncomfortable, it had been very funny when it was Daphne holding Harry's hand in position on her breast, but now it felt like they were voyeurs looking for cheap thrills. Tracy was still contemplating this thought when a sudden flash lit up the room, Tori was smirking at her from behind a wizarding camera as Daphne and Harry stirred on the bed. Her focus shifted for a second as she watched the two of them wake, turning furiously towards where Astoria had been standing she was startled to find that she was all alone at the end of the bed. Tori had vanished leaving behind a stunned Tracey and the camera on the end of the bed. 'Awwwww shit, this was not going to be good.'
- AFW -
Harry slowly became aware of his surroundings; a flash of light had broken through the fog and woke him from a very restful slumber. His chest felt heavy, he blinked slowly trying to get his bearings, he could smell citrus and vanilla again but this time he recognised the scents as Daphne's shampoo, which meant that he had fallen asleep in her bed again at some point in the night. Groaning to himself he tried to take stock of his body when his thoughts froze, he could feel that his left hand had a decent grip of Daphne's naked behind, but that wasn't the only interesting sensation that he could feel.
Daphne's hand had a firm, yet not uncomfortable grip on his manhood; he could feel himself becoming aroused and was very aware that she was starting to move and wake up too. He tried to will himself not to get any harder, thinking about anything he could that didn't involve the beautiful girl beside him gripping his penis. But nothing helped at all, slowly with agonising sweet torture he fully inflated, he could tell exactly when she became aware of where her hand was as she stopped all movement and tensed somewhat causing him to hiss slightly as her grip tightened.
He held out his hand and summoned his glasses from the bedside table causing a gasp to emanate from the end of the bed. Harry's eyes snapped down seeing Tracey standing there a camera discarded on the end of the bed, Daphne's head shifted and she appeared to be looking through her hair towards Tracey as well.
'Trace, how could you?'
'But I, I, I… it wasn't… I didn't…' Tracey stumbled over her words like a fish out of water gasping for breath.
'Just leave,' Daphne's voice was full of anguish, 'we aren't here for your amusement you know.'
Tracey fled stammering out apology after apology.
Daphne turned her face towards him, 'I am sorry about that Harry, I don't know what's gotten into her, I never thought that she would betray my privacy like this twice.'
Harry licked his lips, trying to formulate some sort of sentence all the while painfully aware that his erect member was still being held by Daphne who had apparently temporarily forgotten where her hand was. 'Umm that's fine Daph, don't worry about it too much right now.'
Daphne gave him a queer look, before Harry's eyes flicked down towards his crotch. Daphne's face bloomed red, and she tried to extract her hand only to get it caught in his shorts pulling her off balance and succeeding in knocking into his boys with enough force to make Harry's lose his breath forcefully.
'I am so sorry, are you okay, did I hurt you, oh Circe I can't believe I did that… I am… I am… so sorry.'
Harry took pity on her, swallowing the sick feeling, 'it's okay Daphne, you didn't really hurt me, well not much anyway,' he pulled his hand gradually from beneath her pyjama bottoms, and deliberately reached across her and gently took her wrist. 'Here let me help you,' and ever so slowly and softly he gently he removed her hand from his shorts. Daphne froze not resisting but not helping Harry, her face blazing red, her eyes wide in mortification. She started to stammer another apology and tried pushing off him, Harry could see that if she got free of him she would flee and any progress that they had made would be ruined.
He wrapped his left hand around her waist halting her movement, and wrapped his right arm round her upper back, twisting further under her.
'Let me go, let me go, please you have to let me go,' she jerked her body trying to break his hold on her, but she couldn't get the leverage to do so.
'Daphne… Daphne stop, just stop and we will talk about it.'
'What's to talk about, I was groping you, I was holding…'
'Yeah you were, and what was I holding yesterday morning when we woke up?'
Daphne stopped trying to escape his arms, and lifted her head to look at him with slightly wild eyes, 'My… ummm left… breast,' she squeaked out.
'Exactly and what did you tell me when I started to say sorry to you for waking up holding one of your most intimate parts?' he asked in a soothing voice, his right hand stroking her back hoping to get her to relax.
She swallowed, and collapsed her head down onto his chest in defeat, 'I told you it wasn't your fault and that I was just as comfortable as you were,' she swallowed again and lifted her head to rest her jaw on his chest. 'But Harry, a boob is not the same as your…' she faded off.
'Why, why are my bits any more special than yours?'
'Well… because… it would be like you waking up with your hands down the front of my shorts, my boobs whilst yes they are intimate, it's not the same thing, besides I was holding your hand on my boob,' she huffed watching his eyes as she talked.
Harry had decided once he got her to calm down that he would downplay his awkwardness, she had seemed to do the same yesterday to try and make him feel comfortable, though he had felt through their bond how embarrassed she was. 'I get the argument that you are trying to make, but I don't agree… don't get funny about this but I could feel your arousal yesterday morning, just like you could feel mine this morning, and not just physically but through the bond, like you would have felt mine if you hadn't been preoccupied with losing your mind… there is no difference as far as I am concerned and there is no blame.'
He kept up the gentle stroking of her back, 'and we don't know what will happen tomorrow, we may very well wake up with my hand down the front of your shorts as you put it, because I sure as hell don't remember coming to your bed last night! In fact the last thing I remember was getting myself into my bed.' He paused momentarily looking at the ceiling before refocusing on her, 'and if that happens I will be just as mortified and apologetic as you were this morning, because whatever this is, it seems to be forcing intimacy on us, and I don't know about you but I am far more comfortable with that thought than I should be.'
Daphne studied his face intently trying to find some falseness in his statement, but seemed to concede defeat after about ten seconds. Sighing she lowered her head back to his chest, 'you can relax now Harry, so what do we do now?'
Harry gave a low chuckle, relaxing his arms but leaving the left one wrapped around her waist, drawing small circles on her skin, he was surprisingly and inexplicably comfortable in this position with her in his arms, 'well I don't know about you but I plan to get some more sleep.'
Daphne jerked her head up, 'seriously?'
'Yeah seriously, now lay back down and get comfortable,' his expression slightly more depressed.
Daphne huffed again and blew some of her hair out of her eyes, 'fine but if you are going to sleep here you might as well get under the blankets.'
Harry gave a small laugh not expecting that response, shifted her weight off him and wriggled his way under the blankets before lifting her bodily back into the same position that she had been in before they were rudely awoken, causing Daphne to squawk and huff at him. Softly wrapping his arm back around her waist, he smirked slightly, 'Daphne?'
'Yes Harry,'
'Thank you, for sharing your bed with me.'
'…You're welcome, I guess, now be quiet, you said something about getting some more sleep.'
'Yes dear.'
'Shut up and go to sleep moron.'
Harry chuckled, removed his glasses and wandlessly banished them back to the bedside table before closing his eyes.
- AFW -
It was approximately two hours later when Daphne was gently shaken awake by her mother, who was struggling to keep the grin off her face.
'You guys need to get up; the Mind Healer will be her in about an hour.'
Daphne grumbled, and slowly became alert, Harry's hand was once again dipped into her shorts holding her bum but thankfully her hands hadn't wandered, she didn't think she could deal with anymore mortification this morning. The blankets remained over both of them so her mother couldn't see anything more than the fact that she was cuddled into Harry's chest, but apparently that was enough for her to think that the sight was hilarious, she was thankful it was her mother and not her father who had awakened them.
Harry stirred beneath her as her mother exited the curtains, leaving them alone once more. Letting her head drop back to Harry's chest, she pondered what he had said earlier as she felt him slowly becoming more alert. Why did this not feel weird, here she was in bed with a boy she didn't really know and yet she felt more rested and more comfortable than she ever had in her life? It shouldn't be so and yet she could say without a shadow of a doubt that if she woke in his arms again tomorrow she wouldn't be disappointed or upset.
Figuring that she wouldn't find a suitable answer to why Harry made her feel so comfortable, she tried to consciously shift her thoughts to the mind healer, when another idea popped into her head, she knew that Poppy had been adding small quantities of calming draught to her potion regime to numb the effects of the memories that her mother had seen, maybe there was some sort of bleed effect in play making her more comfortable with the intimacy that she seemed to be developing with Harry.
She frowned; the issue with that thought process was, why Harry was also feeling the same way? She shook her head only to find Harry watching her, his large caring green eyes focussed on her face, and she found herself blushing under his gaze.
'Stop it.'
'Stop what,' he asked in a low baritone.
'Stop looking at me like I am fragile.'
'I just wanted to check that you were okay, and that you're …okay with what happened this morning?'
Her blush deepened, why did he have to bring that up as she was fine not thinking about that again, 'yes, yes, I'm fine.'
Harry was studying her face, and she tried her best not to finch under the penetrating green eyed stare, 'liar,' he chuckled.
'Fine be that way, I told you that I am fine but you don't believe me… not my problem, now if you have finished groping my derriere, we should probably get moving' she snarked back at him, losing the battle and blushing further, which only increased Harry's laughter. 'Potter if you don't get yourself under control I am going to hit you.'
Harry finally managed to bring his laughter under some semblance of control before giving her cheek a soft squeeze and saying between chuckles, 'you know that your answer would be significantly more believable if a) you weren't blushing and b) if I couldn't feel you through the bond that you're not okay, that in fact your still uncomfortable about having been holding my…'
'Finish that sentence or squeeze my arse again and we will see how cold that part of your anatomy can get before it shatters,' Daphne hissed.
Harry stiffened under her, and his hand left her bum like it had been scolded, slowly he removed his hand from her shorts, as he tried to determine how serious she was about him leaving this subject alone and how far she would go to stop this particular conversation. She had lost herself in her own thought and almost didn't hear his apology, 'I am sorry, I wasn't trying to make you uncomfortable, it just seemed like a better idea to joke about the hippogriff in the room than ignore it.'
'I just don't want to talk about it right now, whilst we are lying in bed partially dressed, but…' She took a deep breath, steeling herself, 'in short, yes I am uncomfortable that you know what I am feeling, and yes I am mortified that I was holding you like that and you're right I don't know why I am so comfortable with a situation that should be scaring me senseless but isn't.'
Harry was again watching her carefully.
'What?'
'I truly am sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I am not good at talking with girls about… well anything really…' he mumbled trailing off at the end.
Harry's voice was so subdued and quiet that Daphne wasn't exactly sure that she caught his entire statement, but she understood the intent, 'don't worry about it, it's fine… can we just not talk about it for the moment.' Deciding that it was past time that they were up, so she pushed off his chest dislodging the blankets, 'come on let's get going the mind healer will be here soon, can you arrange for some breakfast whilst you are getting ready?' she asked him before noticing that his attention was focused on something else.
'Harry… Harry… Harry hello can you hear me?' Daphne looked down at him before noticing that his eyes were glued on the camera at end of the bed.
'Did I miss something?' Harry asked still focusing on the camera.
'Tracey dropped it there don't worry about it we can deal with it later… so can you organise breakfast?'
Yeah sure, no worries I'll be back here in about fifteen minutes, is that enough time for you?'
'Fine, I will see you then, although ummm can you help me to the bath room first,' she blushed as she asked.
'No problems,' he gave her a crooked smile before climbing out of bed and gathering her in his arms.
'Really, you couldn't just help me walk there?' she groaned resting her head on his shoulder.
'Where would the fun be in that?'
- AFW -
Harry aided Daphne as they followed Madam Pomfrey to one of the consulting rooms, she had merely raised an eyebrow that Harry would be accompanying Daphne during her session and said nothing; he had been surprised when he had gone to pick Daphne up from the showers that she was wearing the tracksuit that he had transfigured previously. He tweaked an eyebrow when he saw her, gave another crooked half smile and ran his fingers through his hair which caused her to blush slightly.
Daphne had seemed bashful regarding what she wore but had explained that it was comfortable and easy to wear, and given the likely conversations that would be held today she wanted something that she could snuggle into. She had moved on quickly to tell him that she could feel that the veil that cloaked her mind had again been restricted and seemed to be moving slower than ever.
Cassandra had taken one look at Daphne's attire and quirked an eyebrow at Harry and shook her head, 'comfy honey?' she teased mildly.
'Very mother, why do you ask?' Daphne retorted drily.
'Oh it's just that you seem to be enjoying wearing the things that Harry transfigures for you, I don't think that since you have been up and about that there hasn't been at least one article of your outfit that he hasn't had a hand in, a mother just wonders about these things you know,' Cassandra's tone was light and playful and softened more by the small smile that played on her lips.
Daphne maturely stuck out her tongue at her mother and Harry snorted at the display and then froze as two sets of ice blue eyes turned as one to focus on him. He held his hands up in a placating gesture to both of them, apparently satisfied that he was suitably chastised they smirked at one another, "great, now they were both going to start ganging up on him."
Madam Pomfrey cleared her throat gently, 'right then Daphne,' she frowned slightly 'and Harry, this is Healer Slyvera Twycross one of the preeminent Mind Healers in the world, she will be conducting today's consultation so I will leave you in her capable hands,' She nodded to the petite woman and then left the room.
Slyvera Twycross nodded in Harry's direction before focusing her attention on Daphne. She had warm brown eyes and with a pleasant face, with pixie cut brown hair that was artfully ruffled, though what really caught Daphne's attention was her age, she was young maybe thirty certainly no more than thirty two or three.
'Hello Daphne, it's nice to meet you, please call me Slyvera.'
Her voice as with the rest of her was pleasant, with just the hint of a Scandinavian accent, Daphne found herself smiling at the woman for no real reason. 'I am as well as I can be I guess, given my mother suspicions as to what has occurred.'
'Yes well that is why we are here is it not?' Slyvera smiled, 'okay a couple of quick but simple question to start, firstly are you sure that you want Mr Potter here? I can guarantee that some of my questions maybe embarrassing and you will need to be honest and answer them to the best of your ability.'
Daphne swallowed, 'unfortunately he needs to be here, and trust me most likely he won't hear anything more embarrassing than we have already been through in the last few days.'
'I can wait outside if you need me to or you can cast a privacy charm on me if you want,' Harry said softly, unconsciously his thumb rubbed the back of her hand giving comfort without thought.
'Thank you, but you need to stay, if it gets too intense I may take you up on that second offer though,' Harry nodded.
'Neither of those options will be possible I am afraid,' cut in Slyvera, 'once we start I will be raising various different wards and charms which will help me sense your magic and what magics are interacting with you, so you need to decide now if Mr Potter is in or out.'
'He's in, you'll understand shortly.'
Slyvera nodded writing in the muggle pad that she had flicked open once Daphne had started talking, 'secondly have you developed occlumency shields and if you have how extensive are they?'
Daphne nodded before speaking, 'yes I have them and they are fairly extensive, I have been consciously working on them since I was thirteen and I have multiple levels of shields and traps within my complex.'
'And lastly do you have your wand with you?' she held her pen poised as she waited for Daphne to answer the question.
'No I don't have my wand but I believe that my mother has it, but I don't know if she brought it with her,' she stated with an enquiring look to her mother.
'I did,' replied Cassandra dipping into her robe and pulling out a wand of blonde wood, marginally darker and slightly shorter than Harry's.
'Very good, well then, why don't we all take a seat and get started?' Slyvera motioned them to the large two seater couch whilst her mother chose the other arm chair, whilst she walked around them casting various spells before moving to each corner of the room to draw a series of runes. A short time later she returned to her seat, 'so your mother and Poppy have filled me in on their reasoning behind today's session and shown me their evidence to support their hypothesis, but why don't you take me through anything that you think that I need to know.'
Daphne nodded and tightened her grip on Harry's hand and felt the comfort that he projected through the bond as he again rubbed circles on the back of her hand, but before she could start Slyvera cut her off.
'What did you just do Mr Potter, I felt that,' obviously noticing their flummoxed expressions Slyvera proceeded to inform them all, that one of the wards she had raised allowed her to sense emotions and emotive based magics.
And so Daphne with Harry occasionally adding his thoughts, launched into telling Slyvera about the bond, the sharing of emotions across it, how she seemed to be healing at an accelerated rate, that Harry's touch kept the fog from her mind, and that the longer they remained in contact the slower the fog descended. They also discussed, how the fog seemed to be able to control some of her thoughts, specifically around boys and if someone pushed her to get help, except her immediate family, who had never really seen any indication of an issue, until after the battle.
This exposition would take the better part of seventy minutes during which time Harry's calming presence never wavered, he would pick up the narrative when she faltered, but allow her to pick back up the train of thought once she had pulled herself together. Daphne couldn't help but feel safe throughout what she was sure would be a very nerve wracking conversation if Harry hadn't been there, it was like he was suppressing her anxiety thus allowing her to fully engage in the conversation, especially after the revelations that Slyvera uncovered using her mage sight.
As the topic of their tether or bond was drawing to a close, Slyvera had asked if she could use some wards and trigger a variation of mage sight to try and observe the bond or tether that they were taking about. Hoping that it would give her better insight to what had happened to their magics when Harry had saved her, not that long ago.
To say that they were shocked by what she revealed was an understatement; Slyvera's look of disbelief was the first indication that whatever Harry had done was nothing like anything the mind healer had seen before. It took a good couple of minutes before they could get any information from Slyvera and during this time the mind healer had left her seat and was wandering around them looking at them as though they might spontaneously combust and when it happened she didn't want to miss the ignition point.
'What is going on? What can you see?' asked Daphne, tired of being looked at like some sort of oddity.
'Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable,' muttered Slyvera, slowly coming to a stop in front of them again. 'I am sorry, for not answering you straight away but, I am not entirely sure what it is I am seeing, but I will try to explaining it the best that I can. What do you know about exposure to others magic?'
'Not much,' commented Daphne, but Harry had taken his time before replying, 'all magic leaves a mark.' Daphne looked at him puzzled before focusing on the mind healer to see what she would make of his comment.
'Very good Harry, yes all magic leaves a mark, not just on the user but also on others around us. Most of the time the marks are not visible unless you know how to look.'
Daphne looked puzzled at this explanation, 'what do you mean "how to look"?'
Once more Slyvera, waited for Harry to comment and again he took his time before answering, 'I think she means look at our cores or something like that, mage sight is used to look at for want of a better word, the meta-physical aspect of magic correct? You can see magical residues and the existence of wards etcetera using mage sight right?
'Right again Harry, and in this instance, I wasn't looking directly at your cores but at your auras, they are yet another manifestation of the physical you, they intrinsically linked to your cores but are also driven by and directly affected by your emotions. They are easier to see and given the emotional connection you both report having I thought it the best place to start.' She paused for a moment before obviously deciding on a metaphor, 'So for simplicities sake, imagine your aura as a large ball predominantly a single colour, dense at the centre with energy arcing out of it, now when you cast a spell obviously it is cast with your intent driving it so any changes to your core's aura will be infinitesimal, unless you are using very dark magic. Very dark magics twist the soul causing fluctuations within your own aura after prolonged use, but we don't need to get into that just now.'
'However if you are exposed to someone else's magic for years like a married couple, then the partners magic will start subtly leaving their mark on each other. A couple who have been married for more than fifty years will have streaks of their partners magic's within their auras this doesn't appear to affect eithers magic, but you will notice that these older couples instinctively know when their partner is not right, feeling off, or their sense of humour becomes more similar.'
Daphne and Harry nodded as one, and then shared a small chuckle as they noticed each other's reactions, but their merriment was sort lived as soon as Slyvera commented. 'And that right there is entirely what I am talking about, all magic leaves a mark, and it appears that when Harry gifted or lent you his magic so that you could be healed, that it left its mark on you both as if you had been married for significantly more than a century. But what I find most interesting is that your magic Daphne is trying to find equilibrium and is slowly seeping across your bond to Harry, and is beginning to leave your mark on him. I believe that the pain you feel when separated for too long is both your magic's longing for equilibrium, nature abhors a vacuum or put another way, imbalance.'
Daphne found her voice first, 'so what do you think that this means?'
Slyvera sat back on her chair, tapping her lips with a finger, 'I have an idea but it is only an idea at this stage, I will have to do some in depth further research into this, but here is what I believe I can say for sure.' She waited a moment before continuing, 'with the way that Harry's magic is being incorporated into your core's aura, I would conclude that the bond you have created will be at least semi-permanent. What I don't know is if that semi-permanent state will last one more week or ten years or whether once your magics have reached an equilibrium whether the tether that you feel will dissipate or strengthen.'
'We have gotten a long way off track so why don't we take a short break, I will take down some of the wards so we can step out and get some fresh air before we start again. Maybe Daphne you can take your wand and reconnect with your magic for the next five or ten minutes using your wand instead of Harry's before we start again. I will need you to be in control of it given my suspicions of what has occurred to you in the past,' Slyvera said slightly ominously.
Daphne nodded and reached out to her mother, stretching away from Harry as she did so, causing their hands to separate. Her mother placed the wand in her hand, and before she could utter more that 'No,' the fog descended, trapping her back in the far reaches of her mind.
- AFW –
Harry felt Daphne's magic change the moment that she touched her wand becoming muted and cloudy, he was moving before her fingers had even closed around her wand, reaching out to try and slap the wand from her hand but he had moved fractionally too slow.
Daphne's eye's blazed with unbridled fury, turning her body trying to bring her wand to bear on the emerald eyed boy who had the audacity to try and take her wand from her. She pushed at him with her other arm pushing him forcefully from the couch, watching as he rolled on one shoulder, his wand flicking out into his own hand. His eyes widened as she brought her wand to bear and a sizzling blue spell launched from the end of her wand at him, as she smiled a victorious smile as the spell raced towards him.
Her victory was short lived however as his shield shimmered into place dissipating her spell in an instant, Harry had never stopped moving gaining his feet from the roll he closed the gap to her in an instant slapping her wand away with his left hand just as it was beginning to glow again and stunning her with his wand in his right, before catching her as she was sliding of the couch. Gently he gathered her in his arms before arranging her back on the couch, standing up whilst looking down on the stunned girl he commented drily 'well I think that we can all agree, that was a mistake.
Neither Cassandra nor Slyvera had moved in the seconds that it had taken for the action to break out and for Harry to stun Daphne, turning he looked at the mind healer, 'So what the hell just happened?'
'Honestly I have no idea, I felt a surge of something as Daphne took her wand but, couldn't get a good sense of it, and then all hell broke loose and you were moving and then it was over. You moved incredibly fast Mr. Potter, I am impressed,' Slyvera answered him in voice coloured by confusion. Cassandra just looked dazed staring concernedly at her daughters still form on the couch.
'Yeah occupational hazard of being me I guess, so what do we do now? Whatever that was has to do with her wand, I felt her magic change, become muted, and dirty… I don't know about you but I am not a fan of giving it back to her again whilst we are trying to figure out what happened.'
'I agree, if you would pass me the wand, I will examine it whilst you take Daphne outside for that break, I think all her problems start and potentially end with her wand, I would suggest that you not wake her until you are settled outside, and I think it would be best if you maintained physical contact with her when waking her, I have a feeling that she will be very unsettled and that she will blame herself for what happened when clearly there is something else at play here.'
Harry nodded plucking the wand from the floor, a mien of distaste coming across his face, 'it feels… off… contaminated,' wiping his hands on his top after handing the wand over to Slyvera who had another puzzled look on her face, before scooping up Daphne, 'are you coming Cassandra? I think she could use her mother's comfort, don't you?' he asked softly, it had the desired effect jolting Cassandra out of her stupor, before she answered him 'yes… yes of course.'
'One moment Mr Potter, I need to take some of the wards down otherwise I will suffer a severe backlash,' Slyvera halted him whilst she waved her wand over certain points within the room. 'There, all done, its safe for you to leave now, I will be in contact via elf, as soon as I can.'
Nodding Harry again turned his attention to Slyvera, call us when you are ready,' before he strode out of the room Cassandra following along behind him.
- AFW –
It was two hours before Slyvera asked for their return; it had taken Harry and Cassandra thirty minutes to calm Daphne down from the brief episode that had occurred. Cassandra had made Harry hold the stunned girl on his lap cradling her to him as she cast the rennervate charm on her.
Daphne was almost hysterical upon waking trying her best to get away from both of them; but Harry held her firmly, talking gently to her as her mother tried to reassure her that everyone was okay, only after Daphne sobbed out that she had felt like a passenger in her own body, watching as she had tried to turn her wand on Harry and the others in the room, did they understand what was happening in her mind. That revelation had come as a bit of a surprise that she was going to turn on her own mother. But in the end they had managed to convince her that no damage was done, only for Daphne to spend the next fifteen minutes sobbing silently into Harry's shoulder before she fell asleep in his arms emotionally exhausted. Cassandra had wanted to see how the mind healer was getting on and had left Harry then letting him know that she would send an elf when it was time to come back in.
Harry carried Daphne back into the room, he had woken her softly before commencing the journey and she had just nodded her understanding with large sad red eyes as she clung to him like a life preserver, instead of placing her down on the sofa next to him he again cradled her on his lap, her grip had not slackened and he knew that she needed his comfort for whatever news they were about to receive, his right hand gently tracing circles on her back as she nestled into the crook of his neck, red eyes silently observing the mind healer.
'Thank you for returning, please know that what happened before was in no way your fault,' started Slyvera in a morose voice, 'I have run a battery of tests on your wand, Daphne, and have discovered that there are dozens of dark charms to do with mind control and the bending of thought patterns have been cast and anchored to your wand, most I don't even recognise and I only have a vague inclination of what they do. What I do know is that they have been syphoning off some of your magic to power and strengthen them, so that each time you cast a spell they would slowly exert more control over your mind however I couldn't initially figure out was how they were tied together until your mother helped me discover this, which is even more insidious, please look at your wand, but don't touch it.
Harry, Daphne turned their vision to Daphne's wand whilst Cassandra watched her daughter with pity plaguing her eyes. As Slyvera cast some sort of revealing charm across the wand, slowly as though a shadow passed across its exterior, runes began to appear across the entire surface of the wand.
'These runes from what we have been able to translate, tied the charms together giving them access to implanted memories and instructions within your mind to slowly warp your sense of self and give limited but still significant control over your mind and actions. How this was actually done I am unsure but it would not have been a single event and what the purpose was I can only guess, but it is likely that someone was grooming you for something, though I cannot tell what.'
'So what can we do,' Cassandra's voice was heavy with emotion, and Harry saw a resigned look upon her face.
'There is little we can do, whilst this wand is in existence it will exert its influence over Daphne, unless you have a way of returning the wand to its original condition and being able to untie all the charms placed on it, then and I hate to say this, but we need to break this wand. It is the only way to ensure that its hold on Daphne is erased, and even with that we are still going to have a tough time isolating and removing what has been implanted into Daphne's mind.'
That was the straw that broke her, Harry saw her eyes lose all hope, the small amount of light and courage that had been dancing within the glacial blue eyes dimmed, Daphne turned her head back into his chest and quietly started sobbing again as he felt a crushing weight of desolation flood the tether.