A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome back to another story, this one a commissioned fic for 5Firehawk!
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Bold = Parseltongue
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September 4, 1994
"You're sure everything's fine, Harry?" Daphne asked for the second time, a noticeable amount of concern in her voice.
They'd only just left the Defense class for the day, and while it was something both of them typically looked forward to, the new Professor had proven himself… off. Mad-Eye Moody, as everyone called him — except during his class — had come to the school on his first day as a legend. Everyone, everyone, had heard of him and what he'd done back in his days of being an Auror.
Understandably, the legend he had filled everyone with a sense of eagerness; it wasn't often you learned from the second most famous man in your home country! Daphne's eagerness had been perhaps the highest of all Hogwarts students too, Harry included, despite her family's darker history. Harry enjoyed learning offensive and defensive spells as much as any bloke did, but his proficiencies lay in Charms, Transfiguration and Potions more than anything else. Daphne, on the other hand, was Queen of the classroom when it came to Defense.
He didn't suppose their proficiencies or favourite subjects mattered much when classes went the way as that one had; the three darkest curses used on creatures as a 'lesson' was hardly educational. It wasn't like anybody didn't know what the three did by name alone.
"I'm good," He answered, shaking his head before his thoughts devolved. "What about you?"
Daphne nodded once. "Fine. It wasn't the first I've learned of them, not remotely thanks to my earlier memories, but it is the first I've seen one in action," Daphne looked as if she were ready to add on to that, but she must've changed her mind based on the next words that exited her mouth. "I don't imagine we'll have another class along those lines. It's a sad thing too, as I do think the specifics of those spells are necessary to learn lest the first time you see them they're used on you… he just went about it the wrong way."
Harry cracked a smile and tried to add some levity. "Guess that's why Mad is the first word people say when they reference him, yeah?"
He felt Daphne's elbow before he saw her head incline behind them. When he followed her motion, he saw Neville and Hermione speaking with Professor Ma-Moody. Harry turned back to look at Daphne with an odd expression, he only knew a bit of Neville's story and if anybody had more information on the boy, it was her.
"Wh—"
Two figures joined them in their walking, and one interrupted him immediately in her typical jovial tone.
"What do you suppose that's about?" Tracey Davis, one of the only two housemates in his year that didn't treat him poorly or coldly asked.
Millicent had come with her as she always did, the large Viking-like girl standing imposingly next to Daphne; she was taller than Daphne, stronger than Crabbe and had longer hair than Hermione. In his opinion, Viking was the best descriptive word for her while Angel nearly worked for Tracey — she had the soft expressions, round face, shy voice and slight figure perfectly matched, it was her mischievous and oftentimes snarky remarks that did away with her first impression.
"Neville has more reason than most to dislike those curses, specifically the Cruciatus," Daphne said quietly, the four of them now wandering one of the many halls of Hogwarts. "I don't know the complete story, only what I've learned over breaks when relatives and family friends speak — Neville's not in my trio of friends… unfortunately. As I recall, his parents were tortured into insanity by the spell, and his grandmother he lives with is far from ideal."
"He didn't mention insanity as a result of the Cruciatus in class," Harry commented, more dislike of the spell now built up.
"No, he didn't," Daphne agreed with a shrug before she mused, "Perhaps it comes as a result of more powerful witches or wizards casting it, there's the chance it could be an anomaly or caused by another spell too. As I said, I've not the full story."
"That's quite sad," Tracey said, an expression to match the word she'd used on her face. But as was often the case with her, she changed expressions and energies after only a scant few seconds had passed. "Snacks?"
Millicent looked between Harry and Daphne, then, she prodded the pair of them. "You two need it. Daphne, you're too thin, and Harry, you need to get taller unless your crush forever remains inches higher."
"Thin?"
"Crush?"
"Food!"
Daphne, Harry, and Tracey spoke in turn, the single boy of the three having redder cheeks than his two female compatriots.
He didn't like like Daphne, she was a friend, simple as that. All the times she'd blushed, pretty as she was when she did so, were because of her social skills… or lack thereof. Merlin knew there was a reason neither he nor her had many friends aside from the two Slytherin girls who oftentimes invited themselves into conversations or interactions.
"Food," Millicent agreed with a nod as she ignored Harry and Daphne's remarks.
It was as the four of them were making their way that Daphne side-eyed him, a sly look on her face. "Crush, huh?"
Harry picked up the pace and brought up pies, a favourite snack of Tracey's.
That should work, Harry thought.
One look over his shoulder at Daphne who herself was now blushing told him it'd only partially done so… at the most.
September 29, 1994
"Have you overheard anything in your common room?" Daphne asked as she joined him at a table in the library, her facial expression filled with annoyance and her voice short. "I hear whispers from the upper-years of all houses, it's as if they know more than us about the 'surprise' that's happening this year."
"All of the Slytherin upper-years speak with privacy charms if they're in a public space, the only person you'll ever hear is Draco and that's when he's spouting off his usual nonsense," Harry marked where he was in his book and placed it on the table.
"He's still horrible to you?" Daphne frowned with her question, the previous annoyance of being out of the loop forgotten as she gauged Harry's reaction to it.
His cringe, the avoidance of eye contact and the half-hearted shrug he offered up as an answer to her question clearly hadn't been what she wanted. He couldn't lie though, not to her. Daphne could read him better than anybody else, despite the improvement he'd made at hiding how he felt — Slytherin housemates had forced that adaptation. Crabbe and Goyle would destroy whatever he liked, acting on Draco's orders as the blonde git felt a sick fascination towards breaking things… so long as they weren't his.
Harry would never understand why people chose to follow him. Draco was quite possibly the most arrogant, pompous prick he'd ever seen. Those were Daphne's words too, he'd stolen them quite recently considering how spot-on they were.
"Not answering isn't an option," Daphne said, elbowing him lightly as she looked at him expectantly.
Daphne knew how to get under his skin, her persistence at extracting an answer from him was unmatched. So, he caved and told her the answer despite the fact that it was already known to her. "Yes, Malfoy and the others are still less than fond of me."
"Has it gotten worse?" Daphne narrowed her eyes at him this time, the girl watching him like an owl as she awaited his answer.
"No," Harry said, telling the truth. "No, it's not. Can we talk about something else now? There's no point talking about Malfoy or the gits that follow him — nothing can be done so long as their parents run the wizarding world."
Daphne frowned again, but she nodded; neither of them could argue the point he made, for it was very much the parents of his housemates that were the root of the problems he faced. It wasn't as if Draco or the others had been born already hating him, no, it was taught by their parents. Had he his, Harry suspected he would've turned out similar to Tracey, as the girl's outgoing personality and ease at making friends was something he greatly admired.
"What would you like to talk about if you've not heard about the secret?" Daphne asked, resting her head on her arms and pushing aside his book with her elbows.
Harry snickered at her antics, she was never too fond of studying the topics as they were given. Rather than do that, Daphne would learn her own way with notes and tips from her grandparents. Her parents being out of her life in the same way his were, had left a scant few things to their daughter aside from darker spell books or the notes that went with them.
"Well…" Harry said, trailing off as he looked at her with puppy-dog eyes; she knew what was coming. "You could teach me some of those spells you've talked to me about, the ones that you said were really bad."
"You've never been good with offensive spells, Harry, we both know that," Daphne rolled her eyes. "Now that I think about it, how's your Transfiguration coming along this year? Do you still plan on taking the number one spot with it?"
He huffed at her words.
"Of course I do! I've been at the top of our year in Transfiguration since second year, and Charms too, starting last year! I know you've taken Defense and Potions too, Granger has the rest — between the three of us, I think we've got everything locked down," Harry laughed when he saw the touch of bitterness flash across Daphne's face.
She didn't hate Hermione anymore than Hermione hated her, which was to say there wasn't any animosity between them. But, while that was true, they had the strongest rivalry in the school when it came to achieving the most placements at number one. Hermione held the lead, currently, but that could change if Daphne had her way.
Her grandparents had given her private lessons over the summer, something Hermione didn't have as an option.
"We're a great team," Daphne commented. "With my offence and your defense, I don't think anybody could beat us. Not Hermione and that babbling Weasley that followers her around or Draco and his flower."
Harry nodded.
They'd proven very complimentary when paired together in classes since their first year, despite the awkwardness that'd been between them for the first few months. Once that had gotten out of the way, they'd quickly become the strongest pairing when they were used in the classroom. It'd gotten so strong that Hermione had begun to raise issue with it, citing that it wasn't fair the two of them worked together so often when groups earned marks that made up a good portion of their grade.
"Is that a no, then?" Harry asked again, elbowing her lightly in the same manner that she'd done to him earlier in their conversation.
Daphne tilted her head and let out a sigh, his hopeful expression was strong. Strong enough that Daphne eventually caved, though not without a few stipulations. "I pick the spell, you listen to my instructions, and… you rub my feet at the end of our lesson."
"I understand the first two, but the third?" Harry had never been asked to rub her feet before, so the question in his tone was very, very evident.
"My feet are larger than they previously were, and as such, the shoes I've extended to fit them don't feel as nice as they used to. It's a small price to pay, isn't it?" Daphne's face took on a thoughtful expression, a few seconds later, she snapped her fingers together. "I suppose I could use you as target practise if you'd prefer th—"
"Feet it is, let's go Daph!" Harry was already bounding towards the exit when she got up to follow after him, a victorious look on her face.
That day would go on to be a good one for them both, and, before long, there would be a great deal of change.
Comment Replies:
Matt9917: Thank you! Fire was great with his request and I'm great I could bring it to life!
Shazader: Thank you!
Freudentraene: I'm glad you liked it and a huge thanks again to Shaz/Firehawk! Thank you!
MonkiePawn: Thank you! We definitely liked Harry despite his faults too and you're exactly right. We'll have to see too (nope!) haha