Hogwarts Towers

Harry and Daphne both stared at each other for what felt like the longest minute.

Harry was so sure it was Hermione after what happened in her room, that he now almost felt bad for ever even accusing Draco. In thinking about it further, Draco was this imposter's first target. Would he really send someone after himself and blame Daphne for the results. No! That made no sense. Hermione, on the other hand, pushed the point so much about the entire Draco sleeping with Daphne thing. Hermione was determined to turn him against Daphne.

Daphne knew what she heard. Draco mistook her for the imposter and threatened to expose her secrets if she didn't go after Harry again. She knew Draco was behind it. He had to be. She believed there was no other way to interpret what he said.

After a few more moments, and staring into each other's eyes, Harry finally broke the silence. "What makes you so sure it was Draco?" he finally asked.

"I paid Draco a visit to ask about the marriage contract. He mistook me for the imposter. He tried to boss me around and was about to try to blackmail me, but then he realized his mistake as soon as my sister showed up," Daphne explained.

Harry was pretty sure it was Hermione, so he dismissed this much quicker then he should have. "Draco is pretty bossy anyway. That easily could have been a misunderstanding," Harry suggested.

"I didn't misunder…" Daphne was going to say she didn't misunderstand anything and then she was going to explain that Draco was ordering her to go after HIM again, but she realized if Draco got busted, so would her sister. Draco would see to that. "You could be right. I may have misunderstood," Daphne admitted half-heartedly.

"I doubt it was your sister. Would she really use a polyjuice to pose as you?" Harry asked what he intended to be a rhetorical question.

"Sure she has, a few times," Daphne answered without thinking. She briefly closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, and immediately regretted saying that.

"Really?" Harry couldn't hide his shock.

"Yeah, last summer, she posed as me, so I could sneak out of the house and meet up with Robert," Daphne smiled at the memory. "She did such a good job. Mom and dad fell for it every time."

"Then I doubt it was her," Harry said. "Whoever it was, did a terrible job pretending to be you. If your sister can do it well enough to fool your parents…"

"That is such a good point. You are probably right." Daphne forced a smile. 'Unless she didn't want you to fall for it and deliberately messed it up!' Daphne thought to herself. "I guess whoever it was, didn't know me very well, or messed it up on purpose!" Despite what Harry said, she still believed it was her sister, but she didn't want to let Harry realize it.

"She did say she was actually glad I didn't fall for it," Harry nodded with a bit of as scowl. "She was quite rude about it too. She said the thought of sleeping with me made her feel like vomiting!"

"That sounds like something Pa…" Daphne was going to say that sounds like something Pansy would say. She even remembered her saying similar things to Crabbe and Goyle when they tried to make advances on her. Astoria knew that and she wanted Pansy blamed for it. If Astoria was trying to get Pansy falsely blamed, Daphne did not wish to contribute to that. "Something I would never say."

"True! From what I have seen so far, it is the complete opposite of you." Harry forced a smile.

"What do you mean by that?" Daphne narrowed her eyes and backed away, not quite sure how to take that.

"She insulted me as much as she could while insisting I sleep with her. You would be very polite while turning that down."

"Um… Yeah, it is too soon in the relationship. After what Hermione said, you are right. That can't happen. I wouldn't want to risk hurting you," Daphne gently ran her finger tips across the side of his face. Then she kissed him on the cheek. "What makes you think it was Hermione?" Daphne quickly changed the subject.

"I went to study with Hermione and Ginny," Harry began.

"Ginny? Who is Ginny? I don't think I know her," Daphne asked.

"Ron's younger sister. She has a bit of a crush on me, so it makes sense that if Hermione blackmailed her into actually sleeping with Draco, she might call out my name by mistake. Ginny had used a polyjuce that made her look like YOU and she flirted with me. They had a very weak cover story. Hermione claims someone stashed some polyjuice potions in her room and Ginny drank one by mistake. Mistook it for a butter beer!" Harry raised his hands making air quotes and chuckled a bit.

"As unlikely as it may seem, she still could be telling the truth," Daphne suggested. She wasn't ready to out Draco mainly because the consequences would likely fall on her sister too, but she didn't want Hermione falsely accused either.

"No!" Harry firmly shook his head from side to side. "I did have a polyjuice potion before and I can tell you from personal experience it was one of the worst things I ever tasted! Nobody would ever mistake it for a butter beer. As dumb as he is, even Goyle wouldn't make that mistake."

"Oh!" Daphne chuckled. "I wouldn't know. I never had one before."

"Look on the bright side. At least you know it wasn't your sister." Harry smiled at her. "Unlike Ginny, your sister does not have a crush on me. I don't care what Parkinson says. I think your sister has a crush on Cedric. She was definitely checking him out in the hospital."

"True," Daphne admitted sheepishly with a nervous chuckle. "She wasn't even sick. She just went there to check him out!"

"I figured as much. I just wish I realized it sooner."

"Why?"

"That day, when you tried to hook me up with Cho, Cedric was debating which girl he should ask out. If I knew your sister was interested, I definitely would have suggested he ask her," Harry said.

"Astoria would have really appreciated that." Daphne smiled at Harry. Then she went to kiss him on the mouth, but stopped herself before making that mistake. She kissed him on the cheek instead. "You are so sweet." Astoria was probably the one who tried to trick Harry and yet he is still so sweet to her. Then her smile faded.

"What is wrong?" Harry asked.

"Please try not to overreact with Hermione. I would hate to see you make the same mistake Draco did with me and unnecessarily lose a good friendship only to find out you were wrong in the end," Daphne said. She meant it when she said she didn't want to cause any problems between Harry and Hermione.

Harry was going to protest, but he looked her in the eye and he could tell she was hurting, probably at the loss of her friendship with Draco. He wanted to make that pain stop. After seeing them together, they legitimately had a strong friendship. Even in the few minutes Harry spied on Draco and Daphne, he could see why Daphne considered Draco to be a good friend. He was clearly very protective of her when they perceived Hermione to be a threat. He even said he was going to talk to her father and try to get him to give her the Hogsmeade privileges back. He even took her side when talking about Buckbeak. The most shocking one of all was when Draco took her side when Daphne refused to join them in their smear campaign against him. Harry still thought of Draco as a horrible person, but he definitely wasn't horrible to Daphne. "Don't worry! I won't." He hugged her.

They held each other's hand as they descended the long spiral staircase and left the tower. They went outside and enjoyed the crisp cool air of a cloudless night that allowed for all the night stars to shine so brightly.

Elsewhere in the Court Yard

Ron and Astoria enjoyed the view of the night sky and pointed out various constellations to each other. "Look, there is Orion's belt," Ron said. He pointed up at the night sky in the direction of the three stars commonly referred to as Orion's belt.

"The heck with Orion. Right now, I am just thinking about Ron's belt," Astoria gave a smirk and her gaze went down slightly below Ron's waist. Ron smiled at her and they kissed with a full open mouth kiss. Their tongues explored each other's mouth.

"Hey, maybe next Hogsmeade weekend, you, me, Harry and Daphne can double date," Ron suggested.

"As much as I like the idea, Daphne can't. Long story, don't ask," Astoria said. "But maybe you and me at Three Broomsticks?"

"Love that place," Ron nodded in approval. He knew he would need to keep his gawking at Madam Rosmerta to a minimum if he took a date there.

"Oh, the weekend after next, I will be going home. Mom and dad are throwing me a birthday party. I would invite you, but I am afraid that if you met my father, I would need to find another date for the Yule Ball!" Astoria let out a nervous chuckle.

Ron chuckled at that. "I am dating you, not your father," Ron repeated what Harry said when Hermione tried to warn him about Daphne. "I heard all about your father Elliot Greengrass. He won't scare me away."

"Gryffindor is known for bravery," Astoria said. Ron struck a heroic pose that made Astoria smile and laugh. She ran her hand along his now upturned arm to feel his muscle. "Most of the other guests are in Slytherin. I am not so sure it would be much fun for you, but you are still welcome to come. Harry is welcome to come too. I would completely understand if you didn't want to." Of course, Astoria realized if Ron went to the party, she would have to be careful not to be too obvious in how much she checks out Draco.

"I will talk to Harry about it. If he agrees to come, I will too," Ron said.

"Fair enough," Astoria kissed Ron. She started with an innocent peck on the cheek, but moved on to a heavy full on snogging fest. She wrapped him in her grip with her arms around his back. Her hands not so innocently meandered down his back and then gently caressed his butt.

Ron fully cooperated and held her in his grip and kissed her in return with a fiery passion. He pulled her in closer and could feel her against his body.

Daphne and Harry spotted them snogging. Daphne looked on with a bit of envy. She knew she couldn't do that with her boyfriend, not without serious consequences. Still she chose not to disturb them. She didn't want to ruin this for her sister.

Once they stopped kissing, Ron noticed Harry and Daphne watching them. "Hey, Astoria just invited us to a party," Ron told Harry.

"You invited them to your birthday party?" Daphne asked. She felt very conflicted about this. She would love to have Harry's company at the party, but on the other hand, most of the guests were in Slytherin and Harry and Ron both had issues with many of them, especially Draco Malfoy. She wasn't so sure she wanted Harry talking to her father either. That couldn't possibly go well, could it?

"Yeah," Astoria nodded. "I would understand if you didn't want to go though."

"Why wouldn't we want to go?" Harry asked.

"I can think of a few reasons," Daphne admitted sheepishly. "Many of the other guests are people you can't stand… Like Draco Malfoy."

"Yeah, and you would probably have to meet dad," Astoria restated her main reservation about inviting them in the first place.

"Oh, I would love to have a little chat with him about certain things," Harry's facial features hardened and his eyes narrowed and seemed to get darker.

"Please don't tell him I told you about the curse," Daphne began.

"Oh, not about that!" Harry assured her that her secret was safe with him. "About the marriage contract between you and Malfoy."

"You told him about that?" Astoria questioned.

"No, I thought you did," Daphne retorted. She knew full well that it was the imposter who first told Harry about it.

"No, I didn't. Too bad you and Robert didn't break that contract last year," Astoria nudged her sister. "Until recently, I thought you already had."

"No, we did not!" Daphne let out a nervous chuckle. She knew exactly what Astoria meant. "So, I need to find some OTHER way to break that contract." Then her voice dropped to a mere whisper. "So if I disappear for a bit during the party, please don't call attention to it."

"Oh, so in other words, you are going to sneak into dad's office and get a peek at that contract," Astoria assumed to which Daphne simply nodded. "Too bad you are not still friends with Draco. Isn't he the one who usually distracts dad for you while you do stuff like that?" Astoria deliberately reminded her sister about her friendship with him. "It is a shame you are giving up your friendship with him because of that stupid bitch!"

Daphne rolled her eyes and let out a slightly annoyed huff. "I don't need him." She felt certain that the only reason Astoria was trying to fix her relationship with Draco was because Draco himself was forcing her to.

"I will help you," Harry smiled at Daphne. If she needed someone to distract her father at the party, he would gladly do it. Much to his own surprise, he found himself agreeing with Astoria. He also wanted to help repair the friendship between Daphne and Draco. Draco might not deserve it, but Daphne definitely does.

"You are too good to be true!" She kissed him on the cheek.

Slytherin Halls – Just outside of Daphne's room

After talking with Harry, Daphne returned to her room. She found Draco standing there just outside her door waiting for her. "We need to talk," he exclaimed as Daphne approached.

"I have nothing to say to you," Daphne said as she fumbled with the lock on her door.

"It is about your sister's birthday party next week. Am I still invited?" Draco asked.

"You would have to ask Astoria that question. If it were up to me, Pansy would be invited and you would not, but it is my sister's party, not mine," Daphne said.

That made Draco really mad. Of course, he was mad at Pansy, not Daphne. He almost felt like ratting out Pansy on the spot, but he reframed. Having so much power over her was fun and he didn't want to give that up just yet.

"Of course, where you are blackmailing my sister, she isn't going to revoke your invitation and you know it," Daphne said. She continued to fumble with the lock and couldn't understand why it wasn't working.

"I am NOT blackmailing your sister," Draco said firmly.

"Yeah, it is a big coincidence that you suddenly realized your mistake when my sister showed up."

"Yeah, as a matter of fact it was. Astoria's little ploy to id the imposter didn't go quite as expected. The imposter did approach me again, looking like you still. She told me she was being blackmailed and she was sorry for how much she messed things up for me. She didn't say who was doing the blackmailing, nor did she say what she was being blackmailed for. Something serious enough to be expelled out of Hogwarts if she didn't successfully break up you and Harry. I was just reminding you of that when I mistook you for the imposter. It was a misunderstanding. I am not the one who was actually behind it all, but what could I possibly blackmail your sister with?" Draco grabbed her arm, leaned in close and whispered. "The fact that it was her who posed as Professor Snape and stole that book out of the library?"

Daphne's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. She looked away at the stubborn door that wouldn't open. "It wasn't her."

"Yes, it was!"

"Prove it!"

"On the contrary, I want to help cover it up and make sure nobody ever finds out about that. I really want to make up with you. If not, could you please at least fake it that you and I are still on friendly terms for our parents? Just for the party! Please."

"Are you kidding?" She looked at him and rolled her eyes.

"We certainly don't want our issues to ruin your sister's birthday. If your father realizes you are not going to the Yule Ball with me, he will probably revoke your permission to go at all," Draco suggested.

"You are probably right about that," Daphne admitted. Of course, she was an expert at sneaking out of the house and definitely would do it to go to the dance with Harry if she had to. Daphne got frustrated with the lock on her door. "What did you do? Hex my lock?" She pulled out her wand and casted the unlocking spell.

"You are so cute when you are mad." Draco laughed, knowing full well that she was correct. He did use a little magic so she would have to talk to him just a little longer, but he wasn't going to admit to it.

As expected, Daphne finally opened her door and walked through. "Good night, Malfoy," she said just before slamming the door shut.

"Damn it!" The sound the door made really grated on Draco's ears as he felt his opportunity slipping away. Even the use of his last name, not his first was unusual for her and definitely served as a sign that his friendship with her was over.

A/N - I would like to thank everyone for the favorites, follows and reviews. I would also like to thank CSGT for helping with this story.