By the time Daphne had calmed Harry down, they had missed dinner. Together with Luna, who had asked if she could stay with Harry, they went to the kitchens for dinner with the elves before returning to his office, where the Clearwater girl who had asked Harry to add her family to the list of houses taking offence to the attack on Luna was waiting. As soon as she saw Luna, the girl nearly tackled Luna and started to sob apologies.
"I shouldn't have listened to you!" The girl cried. "You were friends with Professor Potter, you should have let us be friends too!"
"But then you wouldn't have any friends, Olivia," Luna stated matter-of-factly.
"I don't want any other friends if it means I can't be friends with you!"
Harry smiled and cleared his throat, drawing the girls' attention. "That was a very brave thing you did back in your common room, Olivia," Harry said. "Would you like to join us? I was just about to open up my office."
Olivia blushed and nodded, sticking by Luna's side for the entirety of the time Harry allowed students to come for help.
Within a week, word of Harry apparently breaking into the Ravenclaw Tower and threatening the Cruciatus Curse had started to make it around the school, while the Prophet somehow learned the same thing with the exception of the implication that he would cast an Unforgiveable. Harry sighed as he walked to his office after lunch. The only news bigger than what he had done after the attack on Luna was the upcoming dance that Dumbledore had announced would take place on Christmas. This sparked a general atmosphere of either jubilance mixed with excitement, or panic and dread that usually correlated with gender of the people discussing the event. Harry knew he wanted to ask Daphne to the dance, but to do that, he had to actually know how to dance first. For that reason, he had eaten a quick lunch after his duties in Arithmancy were finished and hurried up to his office, bumping into Professor Moody as he rounded the last corner. He had tried to apologise to the aging auror, but all he got was an angry grunt in reply as Moody hurried back down the hall. That confused him, as Moody had seemed to have taken an unhealthy interest in Harry this year, and their last encounter seemed strangely out of character. Not to mention that Harry's office, and the entrances to the Astronomy Tower and Divination classrooms were the only things in the area.
Listening to his gut, Harry opened his map and searched for Moody's name instead of Minerva's, like he had been intending to do. He looked near his office, but the only name he found was Barty Crouch. Idly wondering what the ministry official was doing in the school, seeing as the next event wasn't for another two months still, Harry was further confused by how Moody, who had a limp from an old injury on one leg, and a prosthetic on the other, had managed to get back to his office so quickly. Fear trickled down Harry's spine as he watched Crouch make his way for Moody's classroom and walked up to his office. He suddenly remembered the strange flask that Moody would randomly take swigs from throughout the day, and how he had thought that it smelled both familiar, and yet unlike any of the pain-relief potions Poppy had made him brew. Pouring over the map, Harry desperately searched for Minerva's name, not finding it by the time came for him to go to his next class: Defence Against the Dark Arts.
The next hour was spent with Harry putting everything he had learned about controlling his emotions to disguise the fact that anything was off. With luck, any suspicious behaviour would simply be attributed to the fact that Harry had always been uncomfortable around Moody. For the entire forty-five minute class, Harry forced himself to think only of helping the first years in class at the moment. Whenever his mind tried to wander and figure out why the stuffy man from the Ministry was disguising himself as their defence teacher, and how long he had been doing it for, Harry would force himself to look at the many potential victims that could be caught in the crossfire, and focus on maintaining his cover. Once the class was over, Harry pulled out the fourth year essays he had helped to mark, and shuffled through them for Daphne's.
"You not done with those essays yet, Potter?" Moody growled.
"Sorry, sir, I got distracted doing some research for the second task," Harry lied smoothly. The tournament had proven to be an excellent cover, if nothing else, to get away with most things. Finding Daphne's essay –which was nearly perfect because she hated Harry in particular proving her wrong (even if their bond told him that she secretly loved the challenge and the way she was improving) –he started scribbling a note in the margins to warn her what he had found.
"You know," Moody said casually, "Me and Longbottom were talking about how good gillyweed would be for exploring the bottom of the lake for treasures that had been lost or taken. Could easily stay down there looking around for an hour or more without coming back up for air if you had enough. I imagine there's probably some loot down in those murky depths that could make the cost for ordering it more than worth it."
Clamping down on his emotions, Harry proceeded to spend the rest of his time rereading Daphne's essay as he waited for the fourth years to arrive. Once they did, Harry handed out the essays, thankful that Daphne, Tracey, and Blaise were sitting near the back of the class, so there was no risk of one of the other students seeing his note. The next hour and a half were spent learning about Erklings, and then practicing hex-deflection. Harry's already dwindling patience made him particularly harsh with Ron when he tried to instigate a small duel with Malfoy, causing both boys to scowl when he gave them detention with Severus and Filch respectively.
"Alright, that's enough!" Moody/Crouch shouted. "Get out! Greengrass, Davis, Zabini, stay!"
Harry's heart stopped when his friends were forced to stay. Once the last student had left, Crouch waved his wand and the door slammed shut, making Tracey yelp while Blaise jumped. Not waiting for anything, Harry immediately shot a stunner at Crouch, which was easily deflected, but had the desired effect of taking his attention off of Harry's friends while Harry dove out of the way of a nasty orange spell that made the wall behind him start to melt.
Flexing his magic, Harry started hurling desks at Crouch and transfiguring them into all manner of weapons, and anything else he could think of between dodging Crouches spells and hurling his own. Shouting as a cutting curse hit his leg, Harry transfigured the blackboard behind Crouch into smoke that filled the air before retaliating with a streak of purple fire at the same time as a brownish-red light rocketed towards him, just barely grazing his ankle, but still causing Harry to drop to the ground and snarl in pain as white-hot knives seemed to stab through his entire body. His mind was torn between begging for the pain to end, and screaming at him to move for a never-ending handful of seconds before gloriously fading as the glancing blow of the curse forced it to mercifully wear off, and allowing Harry to sit up and lean against a desk.
"You can't hide from me, Potter!" Crouch shouted, firing a spell and blowing up the upturned desk Harry was behind as the smoke faded. "The Dark Lord may have ordered us to leave you for him, but surely he'll forgive me for seizing an opportunity when it presents itself! Now come out and face your death like a man! Or do I have to kill these three little hostages of mine."
"Harry! Don't do it!" Daphne screamed.
"He's just going to kill us anyway!" Tracey added, though Harry could hear the fear in her voice.
"You're the only one who stands a chance against him, Potter, don't do it!" Blaise finished.
There was a part of Harry that desperately wanted to listen to them. It screamed at him to stay behind the desk. To just stay alive, because surely someone had to hear the ruckus they were causing, and they would come with help.
But by then, they'll be dead, a quiet voice whispered. She'll be dead, and you'll have done nothing.
Knowing what he needed to do, Harry took a deep breath and struggled to his feet from behind one of the few desks that were left. Walking out from behind it, he frowned as he saw a tall, spindly man standing in the middle of the classroom where he expected either a Moody replica, or Barty Crouch. Figuring that he didn't want his potential last thought to be another question, Harry turned to look at Daphne, smiling softly as he looked into her shining blue eyes. Placing his hands to his side, Harry fought to not react as he was reminded of the small lump he was carrying in his pocket. The man then raised his wand and he sprang into action. There was a flash of green and a loud crack followed by the man slumping to the ground and screaming in pain, while Harry leapt in front of his friends, transforming into Nightfire mid-jump and blocking the shards of steaming ice that had flown in every direction with his impenetrable skin before transforming back and firing a quick series of spells to disarm, stun, and incarcerate the man.
He had just opened his mouth to call for Dobby when he heard a loud buzzing sound before the man suddenly vanished while a feeling of something breaking surged through Harry's mind, inexplicably telling him that the anti-portkey wards around the school had been shattered. Swearing violently, Harry turned to his friends and started checking them over for injuries while ordering Dobby to fetch Severus and Minerva. Daphne barely waited until he had finished speaking to fling herself at him and tightly wrap her arms around her neck, tears wetting his chest, which he belatedly realized was bleeding from a curse that must have hit him at some point during the duel.
Maintaining his grip on Daphne, Harry limped up the stairs to the office at the back of the class, blasting the door open with a thought. Looking around, he dimly focused on a trunk near the back of the room where he blasted open the lock before slumping to the ground. He was vaguely aware of Minerva and Severus showing up, Dumbledore on their heels, before screaming in pain as he was apparated to the Hospital Wing, where Poppy ran out and helped him into a bed.
"I told you we shouldn't move them like that!" He heard Minerva shout.
"Perhaps, but we cannot risk the rest of the school learning that there was an imposter in our midst," Dumbledore replied calmly. "The sooner we can get Alastor back into his class and clean up this mess, the better."
"You would have us cover up the fact that a mad man managed to infiltrate this school, and nearly killed four students?!" Minerva shrieked.
"We cannot risk a panic until we know everything," Dumbledore said calmly while Poppy healed Harry's wounds.
"Headmaster, he shows signs of having been under the Cruciatus Curse," Poppy informed them, making everyone but Severus and Dumbledore gasp. "Not to mention that Alastor will require time to heal as well."
"Don't worry about me," the real Moody growled. "If Albus says we should keep this quiet, then we'll keep it quiet."
"And with the holidays so near, I'm sure Potter and Moody will have ample time to recover," Severus said coolly, channeling his anger for the man he would have once followed without question to maintain his façade.
"I trust you four will keep the events of today to yourselves as well?" Dumbledore asked, finally acknowledging Harry and the others crowded around his bed.
"Yes, Headmaster," Harry replied calmly. He could feel Daphne's shock through their bond as his three Slytherin friends hid their emotions. Harry felt a tickling at the back of his mind and looked away from the twinkling blue eyes.
"With that matter settled, I believe it would be prudent to examine the students' memories so that I may ascertain just who it was that snuck into the school, and why he would impersonate young Harry," Dumbledore said with a hint of finality.
"With all due respect, Headmaster," Harry retorted. "While I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you have, I'm not comfortable with people examining my memories like that."
A shadow passed in front of Dumbledore's eyes, momentarily blocking out his trademark twinkling, but it was gone faster than it came as Dumbledore merely smiled and nodded.
"I understand, Harry. In that case, you can tell Professor Snape what happened while I go and begin work on repairing the classroom you destroyed."
The subtle hint of disappointment in his tone was not lost on Harry, but he merely smiled and thanked the headmaster before watching as he strolled out of the Hospital Wing. Harry then waited for Moody to be put under with a potion before describing the events of that afternoon with Daphne, Tracey, and Blaise joining in where they could, particularly in the description of Harry's duel with the man impersonating Moody, as Harry's attention was more focused on stopping the man threatening him and his friends than memorizing the aspects of the fight for later study.
"Though I am loathe to admit it," Severus said once they were finished. "That map your father made with Black and the others is a rather impressive piece of magic. If it said that the man impersonating Moody was Barty Crouch, then that means that you must have been fighting his son Barty Crouch Jr."
"But he died in Azkaban over a decade ago," Poppy countered.
"Apparently not," Severus replied. "And if a Death Eater is involved…"
"Voldemort's involved," Harry finished, scowling at the way everyone flinched at his name. Even Daphne stiffened slightly. "And seeing as Crouch is most likely the one who put my name in the Goblet of Fire, that means that there's something going on behind the scenes, and the tournament is just a means to an end."
"How do you know?" Tracey asked. "Couldn't You-Know-Who have ordered him to force you into the tournament in an attempt to get you killed."
"I doubt it," Harry replied. "I've been reading some of the files on Tom Riddle while he was here. Based on what I've read, and the two times I spoke with him, he wouldn't be satisfied with their being a possibility of me somehow surviving. Plus, it wouldn't explain why Crouch was trying to help me in the tournament. He was the one who suggested I summon my broom to take on the dragon, and just before class started, he casually mentioned how gillyweed would be a good way to stay underwater for an extended period of time."
"I believe you're right, Harry," Severus added. "The Dark Lord is far too methodical to leave anything to chance. You even said yourself that Crouch mentioned his orders to keep you alive for him."
"So, we're left with yet more questions than answers," Minerva surmised. "Wonderful."
"Speaking of questions," Blaise said turning to Harry. "What spell is it that you keep using to block the Killing Curse? That's the third time in a row you've managed to stop it."
"Oh, that," Harry chuckled sheepishly while Tracey mumbled something about not being surprised to have seen the Killing Curse three times in less than six months. "It's kinda complicated."
"Harry, I know you are not prone to sharing," Severus said quietly. "Especially when it pertains to anything regarding your personal studies and training. But if you've managed to come up with a way to reliably counter that abomination of magic, we need to know."
Looking between the five sets of pleading eyes, Harry tensed at the idea of disclosing his skills. He knew that Dumbledore had a vested interest in seeing him not reach his full potential –the bindings on his magic that he was still shedding were proof of that –and if he learned of what Harry was capable of, it would undo almost everything Harry had worked towards since learning about the truth of his heritage, and the secrets in his blood. Dumbledore would see that Harry was growing too fast, and would restrict his magic once again. He would finally notice that the various tracking methods he had placed on Harry had failed, and without a doubt, Harry knew he would be back at Privet Drive before he could do anything. Even disclosing the discoveries Harry had made through his studies could be dangerous. He and Dumbledore were somewhat aligned at the moment, but Harry knew that his desire for independence and Dumbledore's wish for control had set them on a collision course, and he was wary of giving up any potential advantage. Especially after seeing that the headmaster wasn't above using subtle Legillimency to try and gleam secrets from his students.
"Harry, I have made several mistakes concerning you," Minerva confessed softly, drawing Harry out of his thoughts. "You, more than anyone, have the right to be distrustful of those around you. Between Dumbledore's attempts at manipulating you, the Ministry trying its hardest to smear your name through the dirt, and V-Vo-Voldemort and his forces trying to kill you, I can see why you would need to play things supremely close to the vest. That's why I swore that vow to you in September. I knew that it would be the only gesture you would accept. But I beg you to remember that withholding all information in the interest of security is exactly what Dumbledore has done, and his secrecy cost people their lives –your parents among them. Don't turn into the very thing you are rebelling against."
Looking between the five of them, Harry stopped on Daphne. Her blue eyes shone, and she gave his hand a comforting squeeze as he sighed in defeat and reached his free hand into his pocket, pulling out the impressive, plum-sized diamond he normally kept with him.
"This is how I did it," Harry began, handing the diamond to Severus.
Severus examined the diamond carefully, eyes widening in awe as he handed it to Minerva.
"Harry, are these Runes?" Minerva asked as the carvings in the jewel glowed a warm green, showing a design that depicted an intricately carved tree, its winding branches reaching down to link with the system of roots to form a circle around the trunk. Looking closely, Minerva could see that many of the branches and roots seemed to actually be composed of tiny runes.
"Yeah," Harry replied uncomfortably, unconsciously pulling Daphne closer as he struggled to open himself up to them. "There are still a few kinks to work out, but it's the best I've been able to come up with."
"I've never seen an array like this," Severus murmured. "Nor have I ever seen something so complex carved into something so small.
"That's because you're not really looking at the array," Harry explained. "I wanted to come up with a way to create complex arrays that could both be compressed without having to shrink the receiver, and hidden so that an expert can't deconstruct them and steal my designs."
"So, how does this particular array work?" Poppy asked.
"And why did you inscribe it on a diamond, of all things?" Daphne added.
"The Killing Curse is especially dangerous because no magical shield can stop it," Harry explained. "The only times people have been able to stop it is by conjuring something to physically block the spell. However, conjuring is a difficult thing to do successfully, let alone with a bolt of green death flying at you, so I went for something easier. I have it cast a freezing charm."
"But the freezing charm only works on water," Tracey retorted. "Those weird steaming blocks of ice just… appear, out of thin air!"
"That's exactly what they do," Harry replied. "Magic is a form of energy that bends to the will of the witch or wizard using it. The array I designed casts a freezing charm, while sucking the energy out of the air to make itself stronger. Since heat is another form of energy, the air cools extremely rapidly, turning into a liquid that the freezing charm then turns solid, which makes a block of ice that forms almost instantly in front of the Killing Curse. The block stops the curse as soon as it comes within twenty-five feet, which is the radius of the detection ward surrounding the rune, and the explosion from the impact and rapid change in air pressure sends shards of frozen air everywhere. The reason it steams is because it's a few hundred degrees below the point where water freezes, and it's heating back up so fast that it doesn't have time to melt. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out a way to reliably keep the shards from flying everywhere, but as long as you are still trying to dodge the spell, you're likely to be fine."
"So this is what you have been doing with all those muggle texts," Minerva concluded. "You've found a way to mix magic with their sciences to reliably overcome what is generally thought of as the most dangerous and powerful spell ever created. Fascinating!"
"I presume the diamond has some importance as well, then?" Severus asked.
Harry nodded. "Diamond is particularly good for channeling magic. It makes it so that the already tiny amount of magic needed to keep the Runes activated is even more reduced as well as being the material able to conduct the most amount of magic through it before burning out."
"Harry," Daphne whispered in shock. "Do you understand the significance of this?"
"Yeah, I figured once I had worked out the kinks, Griphook would help me get them into distribution, and then people wouldn't be nearly as afraid of Voldemort and his Death Eaters anymore," Harry replied easily.
"Harry, the importance of this discovery goes beyond national security," Minerva explained. "It's safe to assume you have found other ways to combine science and magic, correct?" Harry nodded, still confused as Minerva shook her head in astonishment. "Harry, no one has ever thought of doing this before. The closest the Wizarding World has come to exploring the muggle ways of understanding of the universe is the basics of Astronomy, and Alchemy. What you are trying –and succeeding –to do, has the very real potential to become a brand new branch in the study of magic, if not revolutionize the subject as a whole."
"I was just curious," Harry said awkwardly, seeming to shrink in on himself.
"All the greatest minds are," Poppy said. "Now, I'm afraid that I'm going to need everyone to leave if I'm to patch these two up enough to maintain appearances, as per this horribly unethical idea of Dumbledore's."
*(OoO)*
About a month had passed since the duel between Harry and Crouch Jr. and, save for Neville and Susan, no one in the school seemed to be any the wiser. Harry and Moody did fantastic jobs covering up the fact that they were in any pain, with Moody seamlessly taking over the class everyone had thought he was already teaching. Daphne couldn't decide who the better actor was: Crouch for his near flawless impersonation of Moody and his many… eccentricities, or Harry, who hid the residual pain his body was in from the effects of the Cruciatus Curse better than the veteran auror. That thought always brought a frown to Daphne's face as she thought about what it must have taken for Harry to get so good at acting like everything was fine. Not even their bond could provide her much insight, as the only hint she got that he was in any pain was a touch of discomfort over the connection between them.
Knowing that he already dwelled on the fight more than he should, Daphne and the others had taken to trying to distract him with things that kids their age were supposed to worry about. So far, a mixture of asking for his help with their homework, Padma providing whatever latest gossip her sister and Lavender had forced her to listen to, and generally acting their age for once had worked to keep Harry's mind from wandering. Even better was the fact that Madam Pomfrey had declared that Harry's ability to progress in the Healing Arts had plateaued, which led to her giving him Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays off, while Daphne had been found to be rather proficient with the field, leading to the hour he had between the end of classes and his personal training was now generally spent with her. On their days off, she and Harry would head outside and walk around, generally wandering to anywhere with magical creatures for Harry to spend time with. Madame Maxime had even come out and started to speak with them when she saw how much her Abraxans seemed to enjoy Harry's company.
They quickly found that she was a fountain of knowledge, having traveled all over the world, and sharing stories of her adventures when she was not gazing dreamily at Hagrid. Every time they spoke with her, they came away having learned something new –which Daphne observed seemed to be the quickest way into Harry's good graces (assuming his instincts didn't tell him otherwise) –and Daphne soon started to bond with Fleur as well, having, mostly, gotten over her irrational jealousy of how close she and Harry seemed to be after having a quiet tete-a-tete one day while Harry was helping some first years with their Levitation Charms after they approached him out by the lake.
"You know you 'ave no reason to be jealous, non?" Fleur asked quietly, making Daphne whip her head around fast enough to make her neck crack and snap up her mental barriers in case Harry felt the sudden rush of emotion.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Daphne stuttered, staring intently at a thestral she could just see across the lake and cursing her fair complexion as it glowed pink against her will.
"I am sure zat you are aware of my veela 'eritage, correct?" Fleur asked.
"What about it?"
"Because of zee allure, it 'as always been… difficult to make friends," Fleur explained sadly. "I am forced to maintain a level of self-control at all times, and even zen, it causes men to act like buffoons at best and monster at worst. Because of zis, women look upon me and my kind wiz scorn and disgust –fearful zat we will swoop in and seduce zeir 'usbands away from zem."
"That sounds pretty lonely," Daphne replied sadly. "When my mother found out she was pregnant with me, the House of Greengrass found itself faced with the potential of a scandal. We were already hemorrhaging money due to a lack of allies and surplus of threats, and if word got out that the heiress to the Noble House of Greengrass had gotten herself pregnant with no knowledge of who the father was, it would spell the end for our family. The only solution was to hurriedly accept a marriage proposal from the wealthy Temple family, which would absolve us of our debts at the cost of Cyrus Temple becoming the new Lord Greengrass. Only my mother and I know the secret of the circumstances surrounding my birth, and I've been forced my whole life to lock down my emotions and play nice with people who made me sick every time they opened their mouths. In public, I have to play the part of the frigid Heiress Greengrass, so that others will keep away from me, while in what should be the safety of my home, I have to carefully think through my every action lest they invite my father's ire."
"It seems like zee two of us are well acquainted wiz loneliness," Fleur remarked.
"When I came to Hogwarts, I finally had a chance to make friends. Only I was sorted into a house filled with the same kind of people as my father. Tracey and Blaise were the only two I could get along with, and even then, we were all forced to hide behind masks just so that we wouldn't be targeted. That all changed when we happened to stumble into Harry's compartment on the train last year. He accepted us, even going against his very best friends because he didn't like the way they treated us. We had to tiptoe around our friendship with him last year; been seen with him enough to let people think we were under his protection, but not enough to arouse suspicions that we might be traitors to the ideologies so many in Slytherin followed. This year, with the tournament, among other things, and Harry's promotion, we've been free to really be close with him, without having to hide in the library or abandoned classrooms. And the more I get to know him, the more I see that he has suffered through more than any single person ever should. The fact that he is so sweet and caring is a testament to his character."
"Eet sounds as eef you care for 'im very much," Fleur said quietly.
Daphne nodded turning her head to watch fondly as Harry instructed the first years on the proper way to move their wands. "I do. I also know that, due to certain circumstances, there's no way he can fall for you –or anyone for that matter –and yet, I can't stop this feeling from creeping up whenever I see you two together."
"It ees as you said," Fleur replied. "'Arry and I get along very well because we understand zee loneliness of 'aving everybody's eyes on you all zee time. Zee fact zat 'e is immune to my allure is nice too."
Daphne chuckled. "Of course he is. Yet another thing that makes him special. I bet he loves that."
"In zis case, he does not complain. But zee interesting zing ees zat you are zee reason why 'e is immune."
"What do you mean?"
"Zeir ees a connection between you two stronger zen anyzing I 'ave ever seen," Fleur explained. "Eet ees zanks to zis zat 'e ees unaffected by my allure. Zee connection ees simply too strong for somezing like my allure to get in zee way of."
Daphne smiled as she remembered the conversation with Fleur. Having shared the secrets of her past with the other champion, Daphne had started to see Fleur as a sort of older sister figure. This reminded her of the hilarity that had ensued around Harry as the date of the Yule Ball got closer and closer. While Daphne had no trouble viciously turning down any potential suitors hoping to bring her as their date, Harry simply didn't have the heart to do anything other than let the growing crowd of girls down easy whenever they cornered him in the hall. Almost the entirety of the third year female population seemed determined to be his date, as they would not be able to attend otherwise, and Daphne had thought it was only a matter of time until Harry caved when Angelina, Katie, and Alicia had suddenly started sitting with him and scaring away anyone looking to harass him.
The look of confusion on Harry's face had been both adorable and heartbreaking as he tried to figure out how he had suddenly gotten himself three sixth year lionesses as bodyguards. Daphne noticed that all three girls seemed to consider Harry as their own surrogate little brother, and was glad that there were more people who would be protective of him, even going so far to scare away Granger when she tried to approach Harry one evening during his open study session. As well as surrogate older siblings in the pretty much the entirety of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Daphne had also seen how Luna and her friend Olivia hung around Harry whenever they could as well as her own little sister.
When Harry had idly commented how similar he thought Daphne and Astoria were, Daphne had realized that Tori had yet to reveal that she was related to Harry's best friend. When Daphne asked her little sister why she hadn't told him yet, Astoria merely shrugged and said that it hadn't come up before convincing Daphne of how funny it would eventually be when he realized the connection between them. It warmed Daphne's heart seeing how well her little sister, one of the two or three people she could without a doubt say she loved above all others, got along with her best friend. It made silly schoolgirl visions of a future she would not admit to hoping for flash across her mind's eye and invade her dreams, and as the end of term neared, Daphne couldn't help but wonder what Harry would look like all dressed up.
"Why do they have to be so… unapproachable," Neville complained one night in Harry's office during his study session. Earlier that day, he had stuttered his way through trying to ask Marietta Edgecomb to the ball, only to find that she had left by the time he had managed to finish the question.
"It's not as hard as you think," Blaise replied casually over the book he was reading near Harry's fireplace. Daphne was seated nearby helping a Hufflepuff girl with her second year Potions homework, and shook her head at her friends' antics, making the girl giggle.
"Oh, please," Tracey groaned. "You're not even going to the dance and girls are throwing themselves at your feet. Let the rest of us mortals complain about not having the guts to ask who we want to."
Daphne caught the way her oldest friend glanced across the room at where Susan was speaking quietly with Fred and George Weasley, and restrained a sad sigh. It was bad enough that Tracey was ostracized in Slytherin for her parentage, the fact that she had to hide who she was just made life even harder.
"You know you complain a lot," Harry quipped as he walked over to help another student who had raised their hand with a question on their Charms homework.
"You're almost as bad as Blaise!" Tracey shot back. "Half the female population is competing to be your date, and yet you still haven't asked anyone! Didn't you say that you and the other champions were, like, the only ones who actually needed dates?"
That made Harry pause as he considered Tracey's words, before a delightful mixture of mischief and hopefulness flowed from him to Daphne, making her chest fill with warmth.
"I did say that, didn't I?" His grin turned positively devious as he turned around and called across the room. "Hey, Sunshine, you wanna go to the ball with me?"
Daphne fought down the embarrassed heat that threatened to flood her cheeks, and turned to stare at him neutrally. He had taken off his robe and blazer in the warmth of the office, and he had the sleeves of his tight, white button up rolled up to expose his toned forearms. A few locks of hair had escaped the low ponytail he kept his shoulder-length hair in, and they framed his face perfectly as his green eyes glowed. Fighting the heat as it threatened to spread to distinctly more embarrassing parts of her body, Daphne decided to play along with his little act and shrugged her shoulders. "Sure, why not. But if you step on my toes during the opening dance, I get free reign to hex you in the bits."
"Fair enough," Harry replied casually, though not even his own mental barriers could stop the tidal wave of his happiness from washing over her. As Daphne rolled her eyes good-naturedly and turned back to helping the stunned girl before her, she couldn't decide if she should be happy or not about the fact that the feelings Harry was projecting told her that, on the conscious level, he was simply ecstatic about getting to spend the night with her in a purely platonic sense. If she dove deeper into his feelings –an ability she was somewhat guilty about practicing –she could feel the hints of an emotion more powerful than anything she had ever felt. It had taken hours of intense analysis of Harry's emotions for her to finally come to a conclusion about what it was.
She wasn't really a fan of using their bond to psychoanalyze her best friend, but considering how repressed Harry was even before the inability to properly articulate his thoughts and feelings, she knew that it was sometimes necessary to properly understand what was going on his head, and it became easier and easier the more she did it. When she had finally figured out and identified the strange, overwhelming feeling and its presence in a sort of limbo between his conscious and subconscious feelings, Daphne had to cast silencing wards around her bed as she was afraid her heartbroken sobbing would wake her roommates.