I do not own Harry Potter or gain anything from writing this other than the opportunity of expanding on an already brilliant universe for my own entertainment, and hopefully yours.

CHAPTER 13 - DARK

'Harry, Ron and Ginny climbed aboard the Hogwarts express. Harry and Ron found a compartment with their friends while Ginny went running off to tell her boyfriend she's breaking up with him for Harry Potter.'

'Shut it Ron!' Ginny said, exasperated.

'All I'm saying is that you've been all over Harry this break and it's been difficult to watch,' Ron said. 'Think of his fragile heart! To know you're just going to toss him to the side for your boyfriend of all people.'

'I think Harry's fragile heart will be just fine,' Ginny said pointing.

Harry was currently in the middle of a very intense snog with Luna Lovegood. He could only vaguely hear his friend's antics behind him as they blocked the corridor in the Hogwarts Express from annoyed students.

'Oi!' Ron shouted at them. 'Move down the line would you?'

Harry lifted a giggling Luna over his shoulder and made his way to an empty compartment.

'I see you've upgraded your jewellery Luna,' Ginny said as she sat across from her friend, admiring the Jade necklace and earrings.

'A Christmas present from Harry,' Luna said even more dreamily than usual.

Harry let out a content sigh as Luna leaned lazily into him and told Ginny about her Christmas. Hermione walked in a few moments later and gave Harry a fierce hug, telling him how much she loved the book.

'My parents can come into the memories too!' she said excitedly. 'I can give them a full tour of Hogwarts. Did you know we're actually in the tour? Dumbledore did it in our first year!'

Harry didn't know that but was suddenly very curious to see it. Hermione and Ron soon left for their prefect duties, Harry caught the gleam of the bracelet he'd got her as she waved goodbye. Hannah and Neville came in soon after.

'Where do you get off buying me such wonderful things Harry Potter?' Hannah asked playfully.

'You deserve it,' Harry shrugged, 'and there's more to the jewellery than meets the eye.'

'How mysterious,' Hannah said smiling. 'Going to tell me what you mean?'

'Not yet,' Harry said simply, settling back and shutting his eyes.

'Luna, can I borrow him?' a familiar voice called from the doorway.

Harry's eyes popped open as Katie walked in. Ginny stood to leave immediately but Katie put a hand on her shoulder and whispered something in her ear. Ginny turned beat red and scurried out of the compartment.

'What'd you-'

Harry's question was cut off as Katie's lips crashed into his.

Neville mumbled something that sounded like, 'should we go?' but Hannah responded with, 'nah, who cares.'

When Katie pulled out of the kiss and snuggled into his chest, Luna returned to her spot against Harry's side.

'How are you feeling?' Harry asked quietly.

'Amazing,' Katie said, sighing contentedly, 'have you done it for Luna yet?

'No,' Harry said, looking over to the dirty blonde, 'she'll be next though.'

'No time like the present,' Katie said, standing to sit beside Hannah and Neville, chatting amicably about her stay at St. Mungos.

'You want to?' Harry asked Luna.

'Most definitely,' she answered.

Harry undid enough buttons of his shirt to expose the green word Rosiotti which was already glowing. They went through the same process as he had done with the other three and Luna bounced up around the room, dancing, testing her new found energy.

'It really is magnificent,' Luna said dreamily.

Neville and Hannah watched the process with an intense curiosity.

'So it's like a power boost of some kind?' Hannah asked curiously.

'Makes your soul more active,' Harry explained. 'The results are a boost in physical and magical energy.'

'Could you do it with me then?' Hannah asked hopefully.

'Well, not right now, since Hermione is my Earth and I'm in the middle of the ritual,' Harry smirked wickedly at Hannah. 'The process does require a link though.'

Hannah knew enough about the ritual Harry was performing to know what the link required. She blushed profusely at the implications.

'What if I made this link with Hannah?' Neville asked. 'Could we power each other up like that?'

'That's an excellent idea Neville!' Harry said loudly, grinning at Hannah who now had her face buried in her hands.

Luna moved serenely over to Neville and whispered something in his ear. The boy turned a few shades redder than Hannah and looked at her wide eyed. Harry couldn't help noticing he didn't look displeased at the prospect.

'Well maybe you should get to know her a little better first,' Harry said flippantly, 'but Hannah, there is something serious I want to talk to you about later. In private. I'd like you and Ron there for that conversation as well, Neville.'

At the lack of any playfulness in Harry's eyes, Hannah and Neville regained their composure rather quickly and gave Harry a slow nod. Soon Hannah left to meet up with Ernie for their scheduled prefect rounds and Hermione returned alone, explaining that Ron went to spend some time with Lav-Lav. After rolling her eyes in derision, Hermione became a bit of a hypocrite by climbing into Harry's lap and kissing him thoroughly.

Katie begged off to spend some time with her friends before they disowned her and the four of them remained together for the rest of the journey.

'How do you do it Harry?' Neville said in awed confusion.

'Do what?' Harry asked.

'Do what?!' Neville all but growled. 'I just watched you snogging three different girls, all of which were in the same room at one point.'

Harry grinned like a shark at his friend.

'Neville,' Harry said sagely. 'I have no bloody idea how I've pulled this off.'

Neville and Hermione snorted in unison.

'It's true!' Harry protested. 'I mean, I came into this term with a plan but I didn't really expect it to work out this well.'

'It's because you've been completely honest the entire time,' Luna explained, then changed the subject completely. 'Would you like to kiss me Neville?'

Neville went wide eyed and looked over to Harry in fear. Harry regarded Luna curiously then looked back to Neville and shrugged as if to say "go at her mate".

'N-no thanks Luna,' Neville stammered. 'Y-you should kiss Harry if you want to kiss someone.'

Luna nodded in agreement and kissed Harry before turning to Hermione.

'Would you like to kiss me Hermione?' Luna asked serenely. 'I've always thought you were quite pretty, and I'm very curious what it's like to kiss a girl.'

Hermione blinked in surprise. Then looked at Harry incredulously, who gave the same shrug he'd given Neville.

'No I don't want to kiss you Luna!' Hermione said abruptly.

'That's a shame,' Luna said unconcernedly. 'I bet Susan would have kissed me. Or Katie. Perhaps I will ask them later.'

'Can I watch?' Harry asked with a roguish grin.

'Yes,' Luna said thoughtfully, 'but you have to participate.'

Harry beamed at the girl. Hermione shot him a glare that was more amusement than anger and Neville just shook his head disbelieving.

Harry sat alone in the Room of Requirement, staring at the green and silver banners hanging on the wall. He had eaten dinner rather quickly and arrived in the room an hour earlier than the indicated time. The first time he'd glimpsed Daphne and Tracey since the night of the Christmas party was while he was boarding the carriages. They were getting on a carriage a few back from him and he and Daphne had frozen with one foot on the step when their eyes met. Harry almost walked towards them but stopped when Daphne stepped down and Tracey held her back. Tracey tossed him a wink and shoved Daphne up into the carriage.

The second time he saw them was at dinner. Daphne watched him for a bit, pushing around her food with her fork and then abruptly left the great hall. Harry took a moment to wolf down some food and followed her out, heading straight for the Room where they were planning on meeting later. She wasn't there, however. So Harry sat on the lone sofa, wondering if she would come. A glance at the clock that appeared showed that it was two minutes to the time they were supposed to meet. Had she decided against it?

One minute to go. He felt nervous. The words in her letter replayed in his ears. It was so unlike anything she'd ever said in person. Was it even her that sent it?

Of course it was, he trusted her and he trusted her words in the letter.

It was time, the clock that the room formed chimed eight times, an ominous reverberation in the silent room. Nothing. She wasn't here. Maybe she wasn't coming after all. Harry buried his head in his hands, his heart sinking in his chest. Then the sound of a door opening and he whipped his head up.

His jaw hit the floor when he saw her. She was wearing a similar black dress to what she had on for the Christmas party. This one left much less to the imagination however. The sheer lace fabric wrapped around her neck and fell down her front, where it faded seamlessly into a solid black. He could make out her pale skin almost perfectly from beneath the lace, making it seem like if he looked hard enough he would be able to see that her entire dress was see through. It hugged her body perfectly down to just above the knee, the curves of her bum and breasts accentuated by the tight fabric.

Her long slender legs ended in two matte black four inch stilettos. Her hair was a little frazzled though he could tell she'd put forth a great effort to style it. It was tied in a loose bun with one strand hanging down her flushed face. She must have run to get there. She was breathing hard, a light sheen of sweat on her red face as she regarded him nervously. He would have noticed her nervousness had he not been so distracted by her slightly parted midnight black painted lips. His heart was pounding.

'S-sorry I'm late,' she stammered out, 'took a bit longer than I…'

She trailed off awkwardly and Harry realized he was on his feet.

'Y-you're not late,' Harry replied nervously.

Why am I so bloody nervous?

His heart was pounding in his chest as he recalled sections of her letter. Words that she wanted to say.

I think I love you.

The words found their way to the edge of his lips but he gulped them down. Confused as to where they had come from.

'You're right on time,' Harry managed a little steadier.

He gave her a small smile and she returned a larger one. She stepped up into the room and stood in front of him, fiddling her hands awkwardly.

'I-'

They both said it at the same time then lapsed into nervous laughter.

'You look beautiful,' Harry said quickly, stepping closer to her and rubbing the side of his hand gently across her face.

He felt her breath hitch as she leaned into his touch, eyes fluttering. His hand trailed down to her shoulder, lightly touching all the way down her arm then taking her hand in his. She squeezed it and he pulled her a step closer, meeting it with a step of his own.

'I read your letter,' Harry said quietly.

Daphne's eyes jumped from their linked hands to his face, her cheeks still flushed, she audibly gulped and blinked once, twice.

'I-' she tried but had to swallow once more, 'I want to be your friend,' her voice was hushed.

She had always been beautiful. He noticed it more and more since the night they met properly in the kitchens, but she'd never looked as beautiful as when she said those words to him.

Harry kissed her, stepping into her body so they were flush against each other and tilting his head to capture her lips perfectly. She melted into him and he had to wrap his arms around her to keep her upright. Her mouth opened to gasp for breath and Harry dove inside it with his tongue. She whimpered into his mouth as her arms locked around his neck to pull him tighter into her. Then suddenly she pushed him away and he felt cold, breathless and lonely.

She looked down to study herself then looked him dead in the eye.

'I-' she tried, voice quivering as her breath came out ragged, 'I think I…'

'I think I love you,' Harry finished for her, watching her eyes widened and mouth move silently, 'and… I would like to find out.'

Daphne gave him a goofy smile before schooling her features and looking at him seriously.

'I think I love you too,' she said in a stronger voice.

Her hand reached up behind her head and she pulled at something. Her black dress fell to the floor in a heap. Her black bra and knickers were the same shear material as the lace on her neck. Harry could see absolutely everything. He swallowed nervously as he looked upon every inch of the unbelievably gorgeous girl in front of him. She was perfection in every sense of the word.

Daphne smiled knowingly at him, a bed appearing behind her as she sat. She slid back seductively onto the covers until she reached the headboard, lifting her arms above her head and shifting from side to side. Like a snake. She had clearly found her stride and was enjoying the dumb look on Harry's face immensely. She reached behind her, and then threw the useless piece of fabric that was covering her breasts to the side.

'Take off your clothes Harry,' she said through a moan.

He obeyed without hesitation, opting to point his own wand at himself, his clothes falling into a ragged pile on the floor.

She giggled at him as he walked over to the bed then crawled over to her. She placed her stiletto against his chest once he got close, stopping him in place.

'I'm already yours Harry,' she said breathily, she moved her other foot onto his chest, reached down and slid off her panties, then she spread her legs wide in front of him to reveal her damp sex, 'but why don't you make it official?'

He slid up smoothly between her legs and inside of her in one motion. Slowly but steadily he moved into her, revelling in the sound of her gasping his name. He moved quicker than he had in the past when he took a girl's first time, he was confident that he would keep her from hurting. If her wide eyed gasps of, 'Tracey was right,' was any indication he'd been successful.

He moved at a steady pace inside of her, keeping a constant stream of pleasure building slowly for his newest lover. It was magnificent and it was too soon that he felt himself nearing his finish. He'd managed to hold off long enough to feel her begin to spasm around him when he emptied himself in her. He kissed her flushed face as their pleasure crested their peak and felt the words on the tip of his tongue again, but knew when he said them the first time, it wouldn't be with a brain addled with lust.

Vaguely he saw a dark glow between them and leaned back to watch the words form. Once they did the glow intensified and spread to the other six names. Harry jumped back in surprise at the sudden heat that assaulted his skin, but it faded soon afterward.

Harry ran a finger over the newly formed black letters.

Olbohn.

'Are you alright?' Daphne asked in concern.

'Yeah, sorry,' he said, sliding up next to her.

'So that's what Tracey was talking about?' she said touching the word Tote then her own Olbohn.

'Yes,' Harry said, cuddling close into her. 'I think it's about time I told you two the full truth about it.'

'I want to hear all your stories Harry,' she said excitedly. 'I feel like there's so much I don't know about you.'

'To be fair,' Harry said. 'You know the real me better than most.'

'I don't know about the things you've done though,' she explained. 'All those rumours have to be at least partially true. I probably know a fair bit more than most because I had a bad habit of stalking you, but I know you have more.'

Harry slid himself on top of Daphne with a Roguish grin.

'Something about you stalking me is quite exciting,' Harry said, lining himself with her entrance.

Daphne looked down and gave a small, 'oh,' of surprise, her smile turning deliciously coquettish.

'I suppose story time can wait for another time,' she murmured distractedly as Harry slid inside her a second time.

Harry marvelled at how energetic he felt, he wondered if it was a side effect of completing the first phase of the ritual.

He could feel his magic roaring inside him like a dark thunder cloud waiting to unleash itself at his command. As he moved inside Daphne the black name on his chest started to glow, he wanted her to be able to keep up with him after all.