The Devil in Me

My Lifes Up in Flames, and I Lit It

The chapter title is from the song:

Better Days by Hedley.

When Harry woke up the following day, the light was streaming through the window, and he suddenly remembered that it was Monday and, therefore, he should be in school. He was about to curse and jump out of bed to check the time when he remembered that he wasn't alone.

He turned his head and saw Reyna, still dressed in her clothes from the night before. She was sitting up in his bed, drinking tea.

"Where'd the tea come from?"

"A house-elf brought it. They're very friendly around here," Reyna mused.

"Probably cause they're terrified of Lucius beating the shit out of them," Harry said, yawning and standing up. Sleeping half-clothed had been a bad idea, and jeez, why did his back hurt so damn much this morning?

He must have asked that last question out loud because Reyna said, "You were snoring. I may have accidentally kicked you once or twice."

Harry snorted, "Accidentally?"

Reyna shrugged, "Okay, so maybe it was on purpose. But hey, it looks like we do sleepovers now."

"Apparently so," Harry said, getting out of bed and putting on his watch – it had only just gone 7 am. He had time to get back to school before his first class and hopefully not get caught out on his absence.

Reyna got up and transfigured her clothes in the bathroom while Harry was dressing in the walk-in wardrobe. When he got out, she was leaving his bedroom, so Harry darted out after her.

"Are you sneaking out?" He whispered.

"No, dumbass, I'm just tiptoeing through the house for a laugh," Reyna whispered back, shooting him an amused look over her shoulder.

Harry chuckled, "You didn't even sleep with me, and you're sneaking out?"

Reyna shot him a glare and continued sneaking anyway.

"See you at the Winter Solstice then," Harry joked.

With a nod, Reyna tiptoed down the stairs into the entrance hall, where Lucius greeted her with a cheerful, "Good morning, Reyna."

Harry bit back an amused grin and jogged down the stairs, "Morning, Lucius."

Lucius raised an eyebrow at Harry, "Really, Harry? A Rookwood? You could do so much better."

"Ah, well, she's my friend," Harry said, smiling over at Reyna.

"Fond of women who sneak out before the sun has completed its ascent, are you?" Lucius quipped.

"Who says she was sneaking out?" Harry asked, grabbing Reyna's hand.

"She was just coming down for breakfast. Come on, Reyna," he gave her hand a pull, and she followed him, amused by his antics.

Lucius rolled his eyes and followed them into the breakfast room, "That was not my intention."

Harry smirked and sat down at the table, grabbing himself a croissant and pouring a cup of coffee for himself. Reyna did something similar, and Harry picked Lucius's paper up and flipped it open.

With a sigh that Harry couldn't decide was exasperated and amused, or genuinely irritated, Lucius said, "I do not have to put up with nonsense from Draco, but I have had to put up with a lot from you."

"What are you talking about? I'm a joy to be around," Harry quipped as he cocked his head at the newspaper, "Wonder if Rita's crushing will make the front page? Who knew that Hermione Granger was capable of it, hm?"

Lucius looked at Reyna, who seemed as bemused as he was exasperated.

"Indeed," he drawled.

Once Reyna got past the wards to Rookwood Hall, she snuck into her room from the back of the house. It wasn't the first time she had done it, which was why she kept a particularly large log by the back wall to transfigure it into a ladder and climb into her bedroom via the window.

She figured she would be able to change her clothes, have a shower and make it look like she had just gotten back from Malfoy Manor later than her father the previous night. However, those plans were dashed when she turned on a light and saw Gus sitting in a chair by the fire.

"Good morning, Reyna. Did you have a good evening?"

Reyna resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "Really, Dad?"

Gus fixed her with a stern look.

"I am nearly 19," Reyna pointed out, "I think that entitles me to have sleepovers."

Gus tapped his wand against the arm of the chair, "Sleepovers? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?"

Reyna cocked her head at him, "Nothing happened. We talked, we drank firewhiskey. He was a good friend, and then we had breakfast together this morning. How's that for domesticity?"

Gus called her out straight away, "Lucius caught you, and Harry saved your pride by keeping you for breakfast, didn't he?"

Reyna muttered irritably, "How did you know that?"

"It's what I would have done at his age," Gus replied honestly.

"So now he's okay in your book because he's a chip off the old block?" Reyna scoffed, "Can you get out of my room, please?"

Gus held out a piece of parchment.

"What's that? And have you been sitting in that chair all night?" She asked, taking the parchment from her father.

"No, I have been sitting here for the last half an hour," Gus said, smirking at his youngest daughter, "Because I know what time you wake up at, and if you hadn't been caught sneaking out, you would have gotten home half an hour ago."

Reyna hated how right he was. She rolled her eyes and opened the parchment, "Is this…"

"An offer of apprenticeship at St Mungo's?" Gus finished, "Yes, you were recommended by Narcissa Malfoy. I wonder who you could know to pull those strings. It's not like you just had a 'sleepover' with the boy she has practically adopted, after all."

"If you're going to sit here and judge my life choices, I will curse you," Reyna said, glaring at her father.

Gus smirked and got to his feet, "I know 51 different shield charms. You wouldn't stand a chance, young lady."

With a roll of her eyes, Reyna threw a pillow at him, "Get out of my room, Dad!"

Gus grabbed the door handle with an amused smile, and Reyna muttered, "I need to get my own place."

Harry figured by sneaking into the great hall, in his school uniform, there was no way he would get caught out. Unfortunately, that did not go to plan for him. The moment he sat down in the great hall, he felt judging eyes on him.

"Nice night?"

Harry looked at Draco in disbelief, "You're a bigger bitch than all the girls, you know that, right?"

Some of the girls snorted in amusement at this, but Daphne was not amongst them. For a brief crazy moment, Harry wondered if she was jealous, then he realised it was more than likely to do with her opinion of Reyna's social standing.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Harry remarked calmly, "I came back here last night, granted later than you all did. But that was why I slept in this morning."

"You didn't come through the Slytherin common room. I was up until after 1 am," Draco said, narrowing his eyes at Harry.

"I went through the head common room. I didn't want to disturb your beauty sleep, princess," Harry said, smirking at his friend.

"No, you didn't," Lily's voice said. She paused behind him and wrapped her arms around him. At first, Harry thought it was a hug; then, he realised that Lily was smelling him.

"You smell of Reyna Rookwood and Malfoy Manor, three guesses who you were doing last night and where you were doing her," Lily remarked.

Draco frowned, "Malfoy Manor has a smell?"

"Yeah, what does it smell like?" Harry asked curiously.

With a smirk, Lily replied, "Opulence and peacocks," then she sauntered over to the Ravenclaw table.

"Does anyone else think she's kind of hot in a psychopathic way?" Tracey asked, cocking her head at Lily's retreating form.

"Yes," Most of them echoed.

"But she's also off-limits," Harry pointed out. He didn't want anyone getting brutally killed for flirting with Toms favourite.

One of them, Tom thought, having wormed his way back into Harry's head, You assume I can only favour one person at any given time?

Harry bit back a sarcastic thought about how he was honoured, and then he focused on the conversation at the table once more; it appeared to be about Reyna.

"I wonder what Reyna smells like," Daphne mused, "Firewhiskey and regret, perhaps?"

Some of the others laughed, but Harry rolled his eyes, "Okay, for starters, I didn't sleep with her last night. I spent the night hanging out with her because she's my friend. I drank firewhiskey with her and let her talk shit about the kind of girls who put other girls down."

He gave Daphne a pointed look, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Because do you know what, Daphne, if you were insulting her because you didn't like her, that would be fair enough, but you've barely even spoken to her, so the sole problem you have with her is the fact she's from a family lesser than your own."

Daphne raised an eyebrow, "Is lesser a strong enough word? She's a Rookwood; it's not even a wizarding name. The whole line is a bastardisation of the Wood line, and it's full of squibs."

"But Reyna isn't a squib; she's a brilliant witch. Her sister is a brilliant witch, and her father is as powerful as he is intelligent," Harry snapped, "And that's rich coming from you, by the way."

Daphne's eyes narrowed, "You said you wouldn't research that."

"Well, guess what, Daphne? I lied because I'm a bad guy, and that's what bad guys do," Harry said irritably, "I did research it, so I know all about your squib niece and the rather interesting story behind your sister's disownment. All you have to do is look at Lydia's date of birth to work out that your mother was still in school when she fell pregnant, so either your dad was sleeping with a minor ten years younger than him, or Lydia is your half-sister."

Daphne got to her feet, reaching for her wand, "How dare you!"

"Grow the hell up!" Harry snapped, "Stop judging people based on the amount of squibs in their family or on how much money they have! Because nobody respects you for being the 'It' girl that gets high from putting other people down. Slytherin has Pansy for that shit; we don't need two of you."

Daphne threw her hand in his direction, a show of pure power and raw rage. Harry reached up with his seeker's instincts and opened his balled fist, creating a fireball as he did so. He threw it at her, and the two elements met mid-air, a stream of ice and fire separating the two students.

At the head table, most of the teachers looked stunned.

Bill rolled his eyes and got to his feet, "I'll deal with this," he said, strolling over to the altercation at the Slytherin table.

When he reached Harry and Daphne, he lazily threw a portkey at them. They disappeared in a blur, and Bill stalked out of the hall and went down a flight of stairs into a dungeon classroom.

He walked in, shut the door and encased Harry and Daphne in protective bubbles.

"Enough!" Bill said loudly, "Don't try and curse each other, you're in magic-proof bubbles, and you're going to stay in them until you work out whatever that was."

"He insulted my mother's honour in front of the whole great hall!" Daphne hissed.

"So Lydia is your half-sister then?"

"If she is, it's the first I've heard of it! Yes, my mother got pregnant in her final year of school, just like Lydia did, and of course, we try to keep that quiet!" Daphne fumed, "Did you have to drag my mother's honour through the mud by saying it in front of everyone?"

"Surely everybody has already worked it out," Harry scoffed, "Anyone could work it out from Lydia's date of birth."

"If it is true, my parents would have told me about it, or they would have told Lydia," Daphne snapped.

"Yes, there is a large age gap between my parents, but they were engaged from the beginning of my mothers final year at school, and I worked out from Lydia's date of birth that she was likely conceived during the winter solstice when my parents would have been together."

"And your mother would have been-"

"17," Daphne snapped, "Legal, and the same age Lilith Black is right now, while she's sleeping with the Dark Lord, who is definitely more than ten years older than her!"

Harry shut his mouth.

"So, at what point did you feel that it was necessary to spout that out in front of the entire student body?" Daphne asked furiously.

"Uh, how about the point when you started mouthing off about the Rookwood family being full of squibs like a hypocritical bitch?"

Bill grimaced, "Jeez Harry, you know how to charm a woman," he muttered sarcastically.

Daphne actually growled with frustration, "There's a difference! The Rookwood family is full of squibs because they marry their cousins like the bloody Gaunts did! My uncle was the first squib born into the family in two centuries, and then Lydia had a child with a muggle-born."

Harry raised an eyebrow as she got into a rant.

"And we all told her not to because we feared it might lead to her having a squib child, but she ignored us and low and behold, she had a goddamn squib child. Is that what you wanted to know? Are you happy now?"

Bill shook his head and ran his hand through his hair, "Honestly, you two are acting like children. You-" he pointed at Harry, "- you're a Death Eater, act like one and you-" he told Daphne, "you're a Greengrass, have a bit more class."

They both looked at Bill in disbelief, and the redheaded man smirked, "You planning on telling her that you put a muffliato charm up before you even mentioned her mother, Harry?"

Daphne spun to look at Harry, "What?"

Harry smirked, "Nobody heard the specifics of our argument. I just needed to rile you up to get the truth out of you. You're incredibly guarded when it comes to family secrets."

"You are a terrible person!" Daphne spat.

"I know. It keeps me awake at night," Harry replied dryly.

Daphne shook her head in disbelief, "Well, unlike you, I actually have a family to protect. I don't suppose I could expect you to understand."

Bill grimaced once more.

"And you know something?" Daphne added, "Despite that, if you had asked me, I would have told you because, for some stupid reason, I was starting to like you. But you never asked, you just assumed I'd shut you out."

Harry's face fell.

"Maybe you should try a little less manipulation and a bit more common curtsey."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Daphne had whipped her head in Bill's direction, "May I leave, Professor Weasley?"

Bill ended the spell and nodded, "Of course."

Daphne stalked out of the classroom loudly, and Bill leant against an old desk, crossing his arms over his chest, "Happy now? You had that girl eating out of the palm of your hand for a total of what a week?"

Harry kicked the anti-magic bubble irritably.

"Then you gave it up, and for what? To defend Reyna Rookwoods honour? Mate, no offence, but she's your bit on the side."

"No, she's my friend!" Harry snapped, "So I'm not sorry for defending her honour. Yeah, she's made some mistakes, but you and I both know how much she suffered for the last one."

Bill nodded, thinking of what had happened to Fawley.

"And Daphne was a hypocrite," Harry added irritably, "I like her, but I don't like the way she puts other people down."

"She's a Greengrass," Bill reminded them, "Her family think very highly of themselves."

Harry shook his head, "Well, she can be pissed at me if she wants, but Reyna is my friend, and it's not her fault she's a Rookwood. You can't help the family that you were born into, all you can do is make the best of your situation."

"Oh, don't I know it," Bill said with a slight smile, "But they call that one the Ice Queen for a reason. You might not get her forgiveness."

"Trust me, she's not as cold as she pretends to be," Harry told his friend.

Bill gave a final nod and ended the spell, freeing Harry from the bubble, "Watch your back till she cools down or warms up, I guess. That's all I'm saying."

Harry brushed the comment off, "I'm a Death Eater, and I used to be the chosen one. I can handle anything Daphne Greengrass throws at me."

"You ought to get that on a t-shirt!" Bill called at Harry's retreating back.

Harry just gave Bill the middle finger in response.

Daphne ignored Harry for the rest of the day, and if he was honest, he didn't really care. He went about his day, played chess with Draco that night and woke up the following morning, expecting to go through the same motions again.

After all, it was a week until the Winter Solstice, which meant that nothing was really happening.

Harry knew that Tom had something up his sleeve for just before the solstice. He had spoken about shock value, but Harry didn't know the whole plan, and every time he had tried to pry, Tom had pushed him out.

In fact, Tom had been closed off and more antsy than usual lately, and Harry had no idea why. He could feel the irritation resonating off him, and the following day when even Lily had been shunned, Harry decided to bring it up. After class, he hung behind and decided to skip lunch; he didn't care that much about eating these days anyway.

"Harry," Tom said, "You smell like drama and a headache. Please get away from me."

Harry rolled his eyes, "I just want to talk."

"I know. I can sense your curiosity, and I am not in the mood to indulge it," Tom returned dryly.

"Well, you do need to talk about what's going on with you," Harry said, leaning against the door of the classroom.

"You've been oozing discontent for the past week. I would have thought you would be pleased. The banshee was killed, and we had such strong support this full moon."

"Even if you did try your best to ruin that fragile peace by infuriating Daphne Greengrass," Tom said dryly.

Harry made a face, "She'll get over it, and her father and I have an arrangement anyway."

"Yes – kill Mathias Jones brutally in return for their support," Tom agreed, "Something I doubt you had any qualms agreeing to."

"No, but this isn't about me," Harry said, "It's about you and whatever is going on with you."

Tom looked up at him irritably, "Leave it alone."

"No, Tom, I'm sorry, but something is obviously bothering you, and I want you to know that you can talk to me about sensitive matters," Harry said sincerely.

"I'm in your head all of the time, and you're in mine. Sometimes it hard to tell whose feeling what. We're irrevocably linked, and I think your irritation is bleeding through to me."

"You have been uncharacteristically antagonistic lately," Tom mused, surveying Harry with interest for a moment.

"Yes, because your extreme discontent is rubbing off of me," Harry retorted, "So what is it? Has a follower pissed you off?"

"A follower other than you, you mean?" Tom quipped, "Because you irritate me almost every day."

"Yes, apart from me, obviously," Harry replied dryly, "And in the past, you have made it abundantly clear when you are annoyed with me, so I know it's not me."

Tom sighed, "It is not a follower."

He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a blueprint with an old photograph attached.

"This is what is bothering me."

"A house?" Harry asked stupidly.

"Sweet Merlin, Harry, you are skilled at stating the obvious," Tom remarked sarcastically, "It is not just any house, it is my house."

Harry looked more closely at the plans, "The Riddle House?"

Tom's eyes darkened, "That is precisely the problem. It is a wizarding home, and it belonged to the Gaunt family before the muggles stole it from us. Now that it has come back into my possession, I intend to live there. When she is born, my heir will need a home."

Harry nodded, understanding Tom's problem, "And you don't know what to call it."

"Or her," Tom confessed, "I will not burden her with my filthy muggle surname, but the name 'Gaunt' evokes images of madness or inbreeding."

Tom wasn't wrong there, so Harry nodded.

"I had thought to use the surname Slytherin, as I am the last of his line," Tom continued, "But Lilith informed me that doing so may be slightly presumptuous."

"Hm, just a tad," Harry agreed, trying not to sound too sarcastic.

He picked up the plans and turned them over, looking at the old photograph and frowning, "That looks familiar."

"Of course it does, it was where I killed your Hufflepuff friend-" Tom began to say.

Harry shook his head, "No, I know what it looks like now as the Riddle House but this old drawing? It's pre-reformation, probably before it even belonged to the Gaunts. I feel like I've seen it in a dream, but I always dream about the Peverells for some reason."

Tom's eyes widened slightly, "You are descended from the Peverells too?"

Harry looked up at his master, "What do you mean too?"

"The Gaunts are also descended from them," Tom explained, "The ring that contains the resurrection stone was passed down through the Gaunt line, as was the locket of Salazar Slytherin."

"Oh," Harry said, his eyes wide, "So this was Peverell House before it was Gaunt or Riddle House then?

"It appears so," Tom said quietly. He took the plans back from Harry and tested the name on his lips, "Peverell…I could adopt the name. It is an old, pureblood name that died out a long time ago."

Harry nodded, "Thomas Peverell has a ring to it. But you'll always be Tom Riddle to me."

Tom looked up and smiled at that, "Just as you shall always be the Boy-Who-Lived, to me. Even if the papers are calling you the Man-Who-Turned now."

Harry chuckled, "What is Bellatrix going to call the baby?"

"I have no idea, and I do not wish to give any input," Tom remarked, "I had planned to raise her in the house. I feel that my heir should be raised by her parents in her family home."

Harry raised an eyebrow, "And where does Lily come into that?"

"She is welcome to stay as well, of course."

Harry snorted, "You, Bellatrix and Lily under one roof? It sounds like a bad reality show."

"What is a reality show?" Tom asked disdainfully.

Harry waved his hand, "Never mind," he said, he wondered if the conversation had taken a weight off of Tom's chest because the irritation that had been clouding Harry's judgement had lifted slightly.

"Perhaps I did need to talk," Tom conceded.

Harry smiled at the Dark Lord, "That's what friends are for."

Tom smiled back, more genuinely than usual and not for the first time; Harry wondered if his soul was beginning to knit itself back together.

After his conversation with Tom, Harry realised that he probably owed Daphne an apology. Even if she had offended Reyna, he had been overly rude to her.

Harry gave her another day to thaw, but then he tried to apologise to her at breakfast. Halfway through the apology, she poured pumpkin juice down his robes then frowned at him.

"Oops," She said, getting to her feet and hiding a smirk, "How clumsy of me."

Draco had sniggered while Harry cleaned himself up, and Harry had shaken his head, unsure whether her rejection made him want her more or just want to curse her.

Later that day, he had been talking with Draco on the grounds after Herbology. They had been talking about how Reyna would be starting her apprenticeship at St. Mungos soon.

"She'll think she's the best thing that's happened to that place, no doubt," Draco was muttering under his breath.

Harry snorted, "Well, she might make a better Healer than you think, and it will give her a sense of purpose, but- " he cut himself off when Daphne walked alongside them for a moment, " – she's no Daphne Greengrass."

Draco snorted, "Like that's going to work," he muttered.

All the same, Harry continued, "Who looks like she - " Daphne continued to walk away from them, " – is going to ignore me. Yeah, okay, so she's still pissed then."

"This is Daphne Greengrass. She might never stop being pissed," Draco pointed out.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Don't you think it's a little petty?"

"You're asking me if I think her behaviour is petty?" Draco asked in amusement.

"Yeah, good point," Harry mused.

They headed up to the castle, where Daphne proceeded to ignore him for the remainder of the day, and things moved in much the same fashion for the following two days.

Harry had hoped he could have a civil conversation with her when Tom paired them up in Offensive Magic. Harry mentally thanked Tom for that one and was dryly informed that he had not done it on purpose and that if Harry was so intent on burning his bridges, then that was his problem.

The civil conversation Harry hoped for did not happen, however.

The task was to practice spells that affected the heart because, as Tom had pointed out, they effectively controlled, incapacitated, and killed a person.

Harry felt more than a little uncomfortable about Daphne using heart-stopping spells on him, but all the same, they got on with the task at hand, silently, of course.

When Daphne managed the spell (the heart pausing one, not the heart-stopping one), Harry gasped and clutched at his chest because wow, that was the most unpleasant thing he had ever felt.

Daphne ended the spell pretty much instantly but dramatically said, "Oh, Merlin!"

"What?" Harry asked anxiously, patting his chest as if to make sure his heart was still in there.

"You do have a heart!" Daphne exclaimed as if this was some massive shock.

Harry gave her a long-suffering look, "Really?"

With a smirk, Daphne looked down at her scroll of parchment, and Harry glared at his guffawing best friend, "Shut up Draco."

The day after that, things had gone from bad to worse.

Harry was minding his own business in the middle of the night in a dark hall, which was, granted, a bit creepy. That was probably reason enough for Daphne to curse him on sight when she bumped into him after a raid of the kitchens.

Her curse had thrown him against the railing of one of the moving staircases and then bound him there, "Really, Greengrass?" he cried in disbelief.

Daphne cocked her head, "Why are you creeping around at 2 am?"

"I couldn't sleep," Harry exclaimed, "But you don't bloody hang around, do you? Curse first, ask questions later approach, is it?"

"It usually works quite well," Daphne said, a smirk coming to her face, "I don't suppose anyone else will be out this late at night. The Head Girl will be too busy with Professor Riddle to patrol, I suppose."

Harry glared at her, "If you leave me here, I will carve out your cold fucking heart."

"Potter," Daphne tutted, her eyes sparkling with amusement, "Such a flirt."

Harry would have rolled his eyes if it wasn't for his irritation.

"Do you need a hand getting down?"

Harry glared at her, "Does it look like I need your help?"

Daphne raised an eyebrow, "Do you really want me to answer that, or would you like to maintain plausible deniability for later?"

With a long-suffering sigh, Harry replied, "Yes, please get me down from here, and for the umpteenth time, I am sorry for arguing with you."

Daphne cocked her head at him, "How are you with cushioning charms?"

Harry snorted, "Cushioning charms? Are you kidding me? They are second-year level at best-"

"Diffindo!"

Harry cried out in alarm, then a few seconds later, a soft thud sounded, and Daphne peered over the railing.

"You dropped me six floors, you psychotic bitch!"

"Don't piss me off again!" Daphne called down, "Night, Potter!"

Harry got to his feet and cursed the entire way back to the Slytherin common room. When he got there, Daphne was sitting by the fire, and the common room was empty.

"I have had enough of you treating me like shit!" Harry snapped, "Yes, I used you and betrayed you, but frankly, that shouldn't come as a surprise to you. We're both Slytherins, and I don't belong in this house because I'm a bloodthirsty serial killer. I am manipulative, and you are too, so don't act like you're perfect."

"Not a bloodthirsty serial killer, no, just a slightly deranged sociopath," Daphne said coolly, "Who tried to kill me."

"You tried to kill me too," Harry said irritably, "Actually, you tried to kill me twice."

Daphne raised an eyebrow at him.

"You dropped me six floors!"

"You said you were good with cushioning charms," Daphne remarked.

"You're infuriating," Harry said, shaking his head irritably, "Maybe you would have told me about your sister if I had asked, but how was I to know that, little miss Ice Queen? You've earned yourself a reputation for being a cold bitch."

Daphne glared at him and took a step forward, "To protect myself! I don't expect you to understand."

"You don't expect me to understand?" Harry fumed, "I've spent my whole life protecting myself. I became a Death Eater to protect myself, and I spared you from this life to protect you, so don't act like nobody gives a shit about your welfare."

"Well, you don't act like a loving friend, do you?" Daphne countered.

"You ever thought that's because I don't want to be your friend?" Harry asked, his anger ebbing slightly as he caught her eye.

Daphne faltered slightly, "Excuse me?"

Harry's anger was all but gone, "I lied to your uncle. I mean, I'm a 17-year-old guy, and I'm not naturally a pureblood, so I wouldn't call what I'm doing 'eyeing you up for marriage', but I would like it if you gave me a chance to prove myself."

Daphne swallowed.

"If you gave us a chance," Harry added.

Daphne said nothing, but her eyes stayed on Harry's.

Having held all of this in for almost a week now, Harry felt relieved to have it all out in the open.

"But…Reyna?"

"She's my friend," Harry said quietly, "With benefits, yes. But neither of us want a long-term relationship, she knows how I feel about you, and she has someone she misses too. It wasn't…it was never like it is between you and me."

Harry saw surprise flicker in Daphne's eyes, but she covered it up as quickly as she could.

Harry took a breath to calm himself down. Now that he wasn't angry at her, he was suddenly aware of how closely he and Daphne were standing.

"When you catch my eye across a crowded room…I feel like I've been hit by lightning," Harry admitted, "It's like there's an invisible string between us because no matter what you say or do, the pull is just so damn strong and I hate it because you are infuriating."

"So now you don't like me?" Daphne remarked sarcastically.

"No, actually, I quite fancy you from time to time, when you're not yelling at me," Harry replied, his eyes on her lips.

Daphne noticed the shift in his gaze, and without really thinking about it, she took the final step towards Harry and brushed her lips against his. It was tentative; she was testing the waters to see if she had gone too far; there was every chance he would reject her out of spite.

Harry wasn't that proud, though; he had been trying to thaw Daphne for months, only to fuck it up and get ignored for a week. The last thing he intended to do was throw away a chance when she handed it to him on a silver platter like that, so he brought his hands up to cup her face.

Daphne deepened the kiss by nipping at his bottom lip. Harry let out a soft groan and pushed her back against the wall, kissing her hard as he pressed himself against her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and they melted together. The kiss was fuelled by desperation, pent up tension and desire.

They broke for air then crashed back together again; Daphne dropped her hands from Harry's neck. He grabbed one of her hands in his own and pressed it against the wall with his own hand against it. She deepened the kiss by slipping her tongue into his mouth, and he instantly wrestled her for control over the kiss.

Without warning, Harry's hand sparked as his magic spiralled out of control, and Daphne's turned ice-cold, extinguishing the sparks before they could become a fireball.

The little display made them break apart. Daphne dropped his hand like it was hot coal, but not because he had hurt her. They were both breathing heavily as they looked down at their hands.

"Elemental magic," They said in unison.

Harry looked up into her surprised blue eyes, and he suspected that his green eyes were filled with the same expression. Neither of them said it aloud, but they were both intelligent people who had been educated about ancient magic and pureblood traditions.

It was early morning on the eve of the Winter Solstice, a time that ancient magic like that was at its height, but that wasn't what had shaken them both to the core.

Elemental magic was meant to be linked to the soul, to soulmates.

Daphne swallowed and slipped out from the gap between Harry and the wall, "That didn't happen, okay?"

Harry opened his mouth to object, but Daphne shook her head, "We never talk about that again."

He had no intention of keeping that promise, but as Daphne rushed towards her dorm room, Harry kept that thought to himself.

* TBC *